NOTE: Updated text from a tract written by William MacDonald, published by the Good News Publishers in Westchester, Illinois USA which is no longer being printed.
Instructions
Check
the statements upon which you are basing your hopes for reaching Heaven after
you die.
|
|
Statement or action |
Yes |
|
1 |
I try to keep
the Ten Commandments |
|
|
2 |
I give gifts to
charity. |
|
|
3 |
I do my best in
all things. |
|
|
4 |
I lead a good
life. |
|
|
5 |
I do good works. |
|
|
6 |
I try to obey
the Golden Rule. |
|
|
7 |
I tithe and/ or
give money to the church. |
|
|
8 |
I’m a member of
a church. |
|
|
9 |
I attend church
regularly. |
|
|
10 |
I pray
regularly. |
|
|
11 |
I fast
regularly. |
|
|
12 |
I’ve been
baptised. |
|
|
13 |
I always take holy
communion. |
|
|
14 |
My parents were
Christian. |
|
|
Total number
of statements above I’m counting on to get to Heaven |
|
|
Check your answers with the Truth
For Statement 1
No. You are not on the way to Heaven. The Bible states unmistakably:
“Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to
those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the
world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh
will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”
Romans 3:20
“For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a
curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things
written in the book of the law, to perform them.’ Now that no one is justified by the Law
before God is evident; for, ‘The righteous man shall live by faith.’
“However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, ‘He
who practices them shall live by them.’
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for
us -0-0 for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree – in order
than in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so
that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Galatians
3:10-14
For statements 2, 3 and 4
No. You are basing your hopes on something that,
according to God’s Word, will never save you.
“But when the kindness of God our Saviour and His love
for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done
in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration
and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out up on us richly through
Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that being justified by His grace we would be made
heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:5
For statements 5, 6, 7
No. You will never see Heaven’s golden streets,
for the emphatic declaration of God is:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no
one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
For statements 8, 9, 10 and 11
No. You are bound for Hell, not Heaven. Although these things are all good in
themselves, and although they might seem to you to be sufficient to save you,
yet God declares in His sacred Word:
“For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and
all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a
leaf, and all our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on Your name, who
arouses himself to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and
have delivered us into the power of our iniquities.” Isaiah 64:6
For statements 12 and 13
No. You are utterly mistaken and deluded. Baptism and communion are for those who are
already saved, for those who are true believers.
“So then, those who had received his word were baptised;
and that day there Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart,
and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?’
Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptised in the name of Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you
and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will
call to Himself.’
And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them,
saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation!’ were added about three
thousand souls.” Acts 2:41
And: I Corinthians 11:2, 23-32.
These ordinances cannot save anyone and were never intended
to do so.
For statement 14
No. You
are resting your soul on a false hope. Children
born into Christian homes need to be saved like anyone else. This is stated plainly in
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right
to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were
born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of
God.” John 1:12-13
Conclusion
Therefore, the inescapable conclusion is that the way to
Heaven is not found in any one or in any combination of the items listed
above.
Even if you did all these things, you would still fail in
your attempt to enter Heaven’s gates at the last.
What then is the divinely ordained way of salvation? The Bible gives a very definite answer. The one and only means of spending eternity with the Bible gives a very definite answer. The one and only means of spending eternity with God in Heaven is:
FAITH
IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ALONE.
It was because man could not save himself by any means that
God sent His only begotten Son to die as a substitute for sinners. If man could have achieved righteousness in
some other way, then obviously the Saviour did not have to die.
When the Lord Jesus died on Calvary and rose again on the
third day, He finished the work necessary for salvation - He paid the price for our sins. Now all that God requires is that we should
feel our need of Him and receive Him as our Lord and Saviour.
Thus, we read repeatedly in the Bible that the way to Heaven
is by believing on the Son of God. Acts 16:31
·
[John the Baptiser speaking] “’He who
believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not
see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.’” John 3:36
·
[Jesus speaking] “’For God did not send the
Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved
through Him. He who believes in Him is
not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.’” John 3:17-18
In short, man is a sinner and cannot reach Heaven by
so-called good works, good character, personal effort or merit of any
kind. His only hope of salvation rests
upon the finished work of Christ upon Calvary’s cross. Only when the sinner trusts the Saviour, is he saved, and on the authority of God’s Word alone he is bound for the promised land –
Heaven.
Now the
question is:
‘Will you accept God’s way of salvation? Will you renounce the ‘dead works’ in which
you are now trusting, and base your hopes for Heaven henceforth upon the
finished work of Christ?’
The choice is yours. You may continue to trust in those statements you ticked above, but if so, you will go to a
Christ-less grave and wake up in a lost for eternity. Or you may believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and be saved.
Be wise! Choose
Christ! Then indicate your choice by
writing the statement below in your Bible with today’s date:
‘My hopes for Heaven are based upon the Lord Jesus Christ,
my Lord and my Saviour alone.’
