Recently, a prominent Minnesota sports radio personality passed away. Known for his rude but oddly endearing behavior, his charm was in his pervasive connections to the pulse of sports in the city and he is currently being memorialized by several of his radio friends on air. It was a tragedy. He was well-known to be quite involved in horse racing and, as we move towards the final Triple Crown race of the season, one of his radio friends was predicting the action, saying that the deceased man would be watching from heaven with a line on the race at the betting table in heaven.
Needless to say, the man's comments had his tongue fixed firmly in his cheek, and I certainly mean no disrespect; however, the reception and sanctity of eternal salvation are at the heart of his statement, whether he knew it or not. What is striking about such a reference to the holiness of eternity with the Holy Lord is not its glibness as much as it is its affirmation about the presumed nature of the divine. Unfortunately, perhaps unbeknownst to many, this misconception is all-too widespread and eternally disastrous.
At the onset, it needs to be stated directly: salvation and life eternal are dependent solely on personal faith in the work of Christ Jesus as the Son of God (John 3:16; Acts. 4:12; Rom. 10:9; Eph. 2:8-10). This cannot be stated more emphatically, unless one has a personal, regenerative relationship with Christ Jesus, they will be NOT enter heaven's pearly gates, they will NOT spend eternity in the presence of the Holy Lord, but they WILL be condemned to torment for all eternity. While this may not seem warm and fuzzy, it is true.
Moreover, no amount of "goodness" in this life has any merit in gaining admittance into eternal life (Isa. 64:6; Rom. 3:23). There is no thing, nothing, that man can do to earn salvation by a life well lived, or by goodness. It is by His doing that we are predestined to be called sons of the Holy Lord, through the work of Christ Jesus, and only in Christ are we blessed with eternal life and salvation (Eph. 1:3-14).
All this being true and objective, found to be sure in His Holy Word, there is a spreading heretical doctrine that would delude the Gospel of its power and of its truth. This heresy would like the world and its inhabitants to believe that the only requirement of admittance into heaven is death itself. Far be it! A variation of this would state that if a man lives a reasonably good life, then God would have to let Him into heaven. Woe to the men and women led astray by this teaching, for it is an accursed lie!
The difficulty with death is that it reminds humans of their feeble mortality and recalls their utter dependence on a transcendent God. However, even in these moments of ultimate clarity, many would rather pull tighter the veil to conceal the truth that they need God on their side, instead of drawing in humble, repentant faith to Him. In truth, the nature of eternity and God is the utmost pinnacle concern for every human that has and that will ever live. We do not want to leave the state of our eternal affairs so up in the air. Assurance is found in Christ Jesus and He alone. Either we can neglect the truth as poppycock or we can repent and turn to Him in faith. These are the only two possibilities.
Apart from making further appeals to Scripture, perhaps a picture of the situation may be of benefit. Consider an American who goes to the White House and begins knocking on the door. As the Secret Service agents sight their sidearms on the man, the man throws his hands up cooly, exclaiming that he voted for the President, that he knows all about the President, and that he should be allowed to come in based on those credentials.
Certainly, only if the President knows the man personally will the man stand a chance at entrance. Similarly, only if God knows us can we enter in. Let us be then sure that He knows us personally, and let us pass this pertinent bit of information along to everyone, for their very eternal lives depend on it!
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