IS THERE A HEAVEN AND WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE?

A Summary Analogy

What God is offering you is similar to the movie portrayal of “Little Orphan Annie.”  Like Annie, we are born into a world to the likes of Miss Hannigan (the cruel keeper of the orphanage) and her sidekick Rooster.  But Daddy Warbucks extends us the opportunity to be adopted into a new life that we could never imagine or hope for.

 

Your way to Heaven has been purchased and fully paid for.  Eternal life in Heaven and forgiveness of your sins is freely offered to you as a gift from God.  And with any gift, it is your choice to accept it, which Jesus will freely give you, or to decline it. It is your choice.

 

           In fact, the Scriptures says, “The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and

in your heart.”  And that message is the very message about faith that we preach:  If

you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised

him from the dead, you will be saved.   For it is by believing in your heart that you are

made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.  As

the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”  Jew and

Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously

to all who call on him.  For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 

           Romans 10:8-13 New Living Translation

IS THERE A HEAVEN AND WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE?

Continuing the "How Do You Get to Heaven" string:

Here are the requirements for getting to Heaven. WE HAVE TO BE:

• Perfect like God – no mistakes, no failures, no sins – ever
• Holy like God – completely set apart and not blemished by sin or any imperfection
• Blameless like God – no one, including and especially God, can have anything against us  

Now do you understand why we cannot make it there on our own?  None of us are capable of measuring up to this unreachable, impossible standard.
 
BUT, here is the Good News:

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God

reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on

earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.  This includes you who were once

far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts

and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ

in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you

are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

            Colossians 1:19-22 New Living Translation

But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were

dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is

only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)  For he raised us from the dead along

with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with

Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible

wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are

united with Christ Jesus.  God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t

take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we

have done, so none of us can boast about it.  For we are God’s masterpiece. He has

created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long

ago.    Ephesians 2:4-10 New Living Translation

Next time a Summary Analogy.

IS THERE A HEAVEN AND WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE

How Do You Get to Heaven?

The answer to this question is HUGE – “You cannot get there on your own – someone has to take you there.”  And the only someone who is uniquely qualified is Jesus.  Randy Alcorn is his book, Heaven, makes an excellent point: “Heaven is not our default destination.  No one goes there automatically.  Unless our sin problem is resolved, the only place we will go is our true default destination … Hell.”

Here are the requirements for getting to Heaven. WE HAVE TO BE:

• Perfect like God – no mistakes, no failures, no sins – ever
• Holy like God – completely set apart and not blemished by sin or any imperfection
• Blameless like God – no one, including and especially God, can have anything against us  

Now do you understand why we cannot make it there on our own?  None of us are capable of measuring up to this unreachable, impossible standard.