DEAR reader, let me ask you a question. On what grounds do you hope to get to heaven? That you do hope to get there I have not the slightest doubt, but my anxiety is whether you are going the right way to get there.
There is a scripture (Prov. 16:25) which runs thus: “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
Now I ask, Are you sure you are going God’s way to heaven, or only pursuing the way that “seemeth right”?
It is a distinct understanding among nations that each country has the sole right to say on what conditions an alien shall be allowed to reside in the same; and shall we allow God any less authority than that which is accorded to the governments of the earth? There is one law of nations which is almost identical with God’s law, and that is, that no one shall be allowed to pass into another country while suffering from a malignant infectious disease―a law, moreover, to which everyone bows without the slightest question. Has not God the right to claim the same?
As a general rule people are allowed to pass from one country to another without much formality, but sometimes a particular country is attacked by some dreadful disease which is very infectious. Immediately every other country issued notices, through its representatives, that no one will be allowed to enter their country from the infected one except on certain conditions; and to this notice everyone has to bow. Remember, it is not the infected country that lays down the conditions on which their people may pass into the non-infected country. It is the non-infected country that issues the terms on which any can enter into their country from the affected one. So it is with regard to heaven, and hence my question at the beginning of this paper.
There was a time, in the garden of Eden, when Adam was innocent and uncontaminated with sin, and God could hold free intercourse with him.
But Adam listened to the voice of the tempter and fell. Immediately he became infected with that terrible disease―sin―a disease which has descended upon all his posterity. Because of this God drove out the man. God is too pure and holy even to look upon sin. When He who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Hine, He forsook that holy Sinbearer though it was His own Son. From time to time since that scene in the garden, God has issued through His messengers or representatives the conditions on which alone He would hold intercourse with man.
This is our position today. As descendants of Adam we are infected with this terrible disease, sin. It behooves us, therefore, if we desire to enter heaven, to find out and comply with the conditions God has made to govern our entrance there.
Where are we to look for these conditions? In the Bible, and the Bible only. God has caused the Holy Scripture to be written and preserved in order that there may be no mistake about the way He would have us go. In Old Testament times He gate conditions and terms to His people through the prophets; but in New Testament times, and up to now, God has spoken and still speaks through Christ, His beloved Son. Do you ask, Who is Christ? What is His authority? (and these are very proper questions, for the position and rank of a representative of a government give character and weight to the message he brings). I answer, Read carefully the following scriptures. First, Christ’s own words (John 5:39): “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me.” He was the subject of God’s testimony in the Old Testament scriptures. Now for His credentials.
At His birth it was said by the angel (Luke 2:11), “Unto you is born this day ... a Saviour which is Christ the Lord.”
At His baptism (Luke 3:22), Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased.”
On the mount of transfiguration (Matt. 17:5), “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.”
These are His divine credentials. Now what is His message? John 3:14-16 says, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Now, dear reader, I ask, ‘Do you personally know anything of this way of blessing, this way to “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, which fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4), that is, for every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ?’
If we ask people how they expect to enter heaven, many will answer, I go to church or chapel, I pray to God, I do my duty to my neighbor, and God is so good that if I do that He certainly will not cast me away at the last. But they totally ignore the principle that God has declared as governing His receiving of man into His presence.
Yet every person sailing to a foreign country is bound to apply to that country’s representative for a document (for which he pays) certifying that there is no infectious disease prevalent in the place from which he comes, and unless he can produce that document he will not be allowed to enter the country.
So it is with heaven. Hence we hear Christ, as God’s representative, saying, “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me”; and we have just seen His authority for so speaking. How is it that so few, comparatively speaking, do get a divine passport for glory? Look at the next verse to the one quoted above (John 5:39, 40), and you will find an answer: “Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” Solemn words, “Ye will not come.” Oh! I ask you most affectionately, Why not? Is it that the price is too high? No! for it will cost you nothing. Hear His word: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”; again (John 10:28, 29), “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, that gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.”
My unsaved reader, do you realize that you are suffering from a disease that will keep you out of the presence of God Forever unless you get cured? You are like a patient suffering from small-pox in an isolation hospital. His only hope of getting back to his home is being cured of his dreadful malady. If he die while suffering from it he knows he will never get back. His only real hope is the hope of being cured, and getting a certificate to that effect from the medical officer. Only then is he free to enter and enjoy his home. In like manner the one who comes to Jesus, believing on Him, is free to enter and enjoy the presence of God, because his sin has been Forever put away by the sacrifice of Christ; his faith is counted to him for righteousness. Thus only can God receive man back into His presence. Sin must be put away, or the sinner put away.
Do you believe, my reader, that a man is discharged from the hospital because he has a clean suit of clothes on? You know better. Neither can anyone enter heaven because of good works. “Ye must be born again” were the words of Christ to Nicodemus, and nothing but the death of the beloved Son upon the cross can remove sin from the eye of God or the heart of man.
My greatest grief. ― “When I die,” said William Grimshaw, on one occasion, “I shall then have my greatest grief and my greatest joy―my greatest grief that. I have done so little for Jesus, my greatest joy that Jesus has done so much for me.”