Ephesians 2:4-9 is very specific as to how we “qualify” for a home with Jesus in Heaven. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the Heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through Faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (ESV – all emphasis mine)
Anyone who tries to say they “earned” or “paid” for their way to eternal life is absolutely wrong. For those who say “Pastor X,” “Priest Y,” or “Shaman Z” saved me from the lake of fire, they are putting their eternal souls in the hands of mortal beings. This also applies to Islamic leaders and even Jewish Rabbis who have the choice to save themselves but cannot guarantee paradise to anyone else. We are all here to share God’s word, but everyone makes their own choice.
Through the grace of Jesus the Christ, our true Savior, and the mercy of the Lord God Jehovah, the only true God and Creator of the universe and everything in it, we are given the opportunity to be saved. The only stipulation to being saved is we must choose this for ourselves.
Consider John 14:6; “Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Then we look at Acts 4:12; “And there is Salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” John 3:18; “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
In 1 John 1:23, “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” Then 1 John 5:11-12, “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
The gift that was given was not because we were good, deserving humans. Romans 5:8; “but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Too many people today are putting all their hope and expectations in what this earth has to offer. That amounts to not even one minute of time earned in Heaven.
For all who will have received and accepted the gift that our Savior gave us through His sacrifice at Calvary, they will spend eternity with Him. The steps are found in Romans 10: 9-13. The “secret” is to not make the simple steps complicated.
Jesus knew that more would take this world over His gift of eternal life. Matthew 7:13-14; “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
It’s easy to go along with the world and the “popular” views it has. The hard part is to believe that there aren’t more steps to having eternity with Jesus. If you can believe in A, B, and C, you can follow the simple steps:
- Admit you’re a sinner as every living, breathing human is (Romans 3:10; Romans 3:23).
- Believe and have faith that Jesus is the only way to the pathway that leads to forgiveness and the only way to the gift of an eternal home with Him (John 14:6).
- Call on Jesus to save you (Romans 10:13).
In 1891, Fanny Crosby wrote a Hymn called “Saved By Grace” It’s a very pleasant view of looking forward to being with our King and knowing that it’s only through His grace that we are saved.
1) Some day the silver cord will break, and I no more as now shall sing; but oh the joy when I shall wake within the Palace of the King.
Ref) And I shall see Him face to face and tell the story – saved by grace; and I shall see Him face to face and tell the story – saved by grace.
2) Some day my earthly house shall fall; I cannot tell how soon ’twill be; but this I know – my All in All has now a place in Heaven for me. (ref)
3) Some day, when fades the golden sun beneath the rosy tinted west, My blessed Lord will say, “Well Done,” and I shall enter into rest. (ref)
4) Some day: till then I’ll watch and wait, my lamp all trimmed and burning bright, that when the Savior opens the gate, my soul to Him may take its flight. (ref)
Satan is pulling out all the stops, as he knows his time here is getting short. There are far too many souls that are only too eager to follow his temptations, and Christians are considered the enemy. It’s all in the events our Savior and others described that would be taking place just before the end of this age. Nothing further has to happen before Jesus returns to call His flock up to meet Him in the air in the Rapture.
The key is in the old Boy Scout motto, “Be Prepared.” It isn’t too early to call on Jesus to save you and reserve a spot with Him in eternal glory. Waiting until a “more convenient time” could prove to be a very costly error.
He is always waiting and listening for lost souls to call out to Him to be Saved. Our Heavenly Father will force no one to receive and accept the gift that is offered but will gladly have a Home waiting in Heaven with Him for all who do.
Call Now! – Come, Lord Jesus!