FAITH AND SALVATION Am I Going to Heaven? Marion Rosenthal
The most important question in this world regarding the world to come is an enigma to the majority of people. Amos tells us, “prepare to meet thy God” (Amos 4:12). But, so many are not prepared for that great event because they do not know our great God or His great provision. Such was the case with some of the people who attend a Bible study which I teach on Monday evenings. Before the class started, one of the unsaved women was talking to our gracious hostess, Maria, and Maria was mentioning a “tract” in her conversation.
“What's a tract?” questioned Tess. With that, I whipped out a tract entitled, Am I Going to Heaven? and gave it to Tess encouraging her to read it. “On second thought,” I said, “I have enough of these for each one here, and everyone needs to read it. We can do that right now. Take out a pen or pencil, because inside is a checklist, and you may want to check what you believe is the best basis for reaching Heaven.” Everyone diligently read through the checklist which enumerated seventeen items that could merit eternal life (according to man); among them - keeping the Ten Commandments, gifts to charity, doing one's best, leading a good life, good works, trying to obey The Golden Rule, fasting, prayers. etc.
All were very quiet. The subject was serious. Some were busy checking this and that while some never touched a pen to the paper. When they were finished, I told them I did not want to see their answers but if they checked even one item they did not have salvation according to God's Word.
“Perhaps,” I suggested, “instead of going into our scheduled lesson, would you like me to share with you what God's requirement is for eternal life with Him?” All were in enthusiastic agreement, and I proceeded to relate five important facts from the Bible.
Fact 1) Heaven is a free gift; it is not earned or deserved.
Fact 2) All men are sinners, and sin separates us from God.
Fact 3) God is holy and “of purer eyes” and cannot look upon iniquity, but He wants all men to live in Heaven with Him.
How is this dilemma solved?
Fact 4) The answer is that God sent His Messiah into the world to pay a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay. This He did by giving His life for us, the Just dying for the unjust.
Fact 5) Tells us how we receive this free gift. In Acts 16:3 we read, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
I turned the attention of the class back to the tract in their hands. “If you continue to trust in the things you checked, you will be spurning the gift Jesus died to provide; or you can repent of that right now. We can all go to God in prayer, and I can lead you in a very simple prayer of faith where you will acknowledge to the Lord that there is nothing you can do to merit eternal life, but depend on Jesus and Him alone for forgiveness of sin. Good works will follow that decision, but then it will not be to get to Heaven, but because you are going to Heaven.”
There were several voices that followed mine in prayer. When I looked up, Tess was wiping her eyes, and there were joyous looks on some faces. Gary, a sweet, Jewish gentleman, had been exposed to Christians and the things of God for a long time, but it seems as though the “light” went on for him that night. The following week he said he had something to say to all of us. “After I gave my life to the Lord last Monday,” he shared, “I was aware all week that God was really working in my life through circumstances with my son and at work with others.”
Tess said the first thing she did when she got home Monday evening was to call her grandson who is a born-again Christian and tell him of her decision. That was an answer to his prayer.
Another precious lady said in her thick Italian accent, “You maka clear what I never understand before. Whya don't our pastors tell us whata you did?”
It was Nate Saint who died as a martyr in Ecuador. He said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” So how shall we translate the fleeting wealth of this world to the forever wealth of heaven? Our Apostle, Paul, is writing to the Philippian believers from prison, and thanking the church there for their support of his ministry.
After everyone left, how Maria and I rejoiced over the events of that night. Two Gentiles and one Jewish person became rightly related to their Creator. The Spirit of the living God did His work in their hearts, and we were privileged to be witnesses of those three births.