February 17th 2019
Are You Good Enough To Deserve To Go To Heaven?
Luke 18:14 (NIV)
"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Jesus once said, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.” Are you good enough to deserve to go to heaven? The Bible teaches us that we live in a cursed world, which was cursed by the first sin ever committed in the world God had created in a perfect form. God was meeting with Adam and Eve and talking to them, and they were sinless beings. Since they were the only people, they had no one else to compare themselves to and admire how good they were compared to other members of mankind. We now have the luxury of have billions of other people in the world that we can compare ourselves to and claim how superior we are. Millions of people are imprisoned around this world, and surely, we can compare ourselves to them and claim how good we are in comparison! Jesus also said, “he who humbles himself will be exalted." In the selected verses Jesus was comparing two men who were praying to God the Father at the time!
Even when these two men were praying, one of them was telling God how good he is, while the other was asking God to have mercy on him, because he knew he was a sinner, and did not deserve for God to overlook his sinful nature. When you pray to God the Father, your Father in heaven, do you compare yourself to someone else who is praying, and claim superiority over the other person to God? When you pray do you expect God to listen to you, and to bless you because you deserve God’s blessing? Now read the rest of this parable that Jesus told His disciples. To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ (Luke 18:9-13).
Paul wrote about thinking of other people as being worthy of your respect. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3). This idea of putting others in front of yourself is a very difficult process and most of us will avoid trying to do it. People cutting in front of you when you are in a line, will give you a feeling of being cheated, and you will tell them to go to the end of the line, without asking them why they need to replace you in the line. Do we feel ownership of our spot in this line? If you truly “consider others better than yourselves,” then don’t they deserve to go in front of you in the line? What do you think about this concept? If you read this, please let me know your thoughts on this!
In the line cutting situation do you consider the offenders to be your enemy? A psalmist wrote about knowing when God was for them, by how their enemies reacted toward them. Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll—are they not in your record? Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me. (Psalm 56:8-9). If God records, or remembers my woes, then God will cause “my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me. Would prospective line cutters turn away and go to the end of the line, if they believe” God is for me?” Do you believe God is always aware of what we are doing, and what may cause us pain? Are line cutters giving a believer an opportunity to shine their eternal light by allowing them to get in line? Jesus once said, In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16). Yes, I know I’ve beaten this kind of normal happening to death, so to speak, but I do think this is a common kind of occurrence we can all identify with. Think about it the next time it happens to you!
Peter wrote about how grief or problems in our life may cause our faith to grow, if we can look for the silver lining around the cloud of misfortune. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1Peter 1:6-9). Peter who knew Jesus is telling us who did not know Him, that we must believe in Him and love Him, and most importantly, we must realize Jesus is the only hope we have for attaining heaven through our faith in Jesus as, “the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Some people seem to think that God somehow owes them and that He should allow everyone to go to heaven, if heaven exists, when they die. Some people seem to think they are doing God’s work on this earth, and thus God needs them. The writer of Acts wrote about the truth of our need for God not the other way around. "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. (Acts 17:24-25). God does not need you, but you need Him, just to breathe, as “he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.” God loves you, but He does not need you! God created mankind to have fellowship with us.
God does need His followers to help their fellow man, if they need help. However, we are not capable of saving their immortal soul, only knowing Jesus can accomplish that task. None of us can do anything to save our immortal soul. Our salvation is a gift from God, He grants it because of what Jesus did, and it comes only through God’s grace. Paul warns us to seek God’s grace and to not receive this gift in vain. As God’s fellow-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. (2Corinthians 6:1-2). Paul wrote that, “now is the day of salvation.” Is there someone you believe who may not yet have accepted their gift of grace? If they do not accept this gift of grace, they will go to hell when they die!
The Bible teaches that there is a place we call heaven, and when each person dies, they either go to heaven or they go to hell. It also teaches there is only one way anyone can go to heaven. Jesus told His disciples about the fact that He is the Way! You know the way to the place where I am going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:4-6). Jesus commanded His disciples to tell other people His story!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
Luke 18:14 (NIV)
"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Jesus once said, “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.” Are you good enough to deserve to go to heaven? The Bible teaches us that we live in a cursed world, which was cursed by the first sin ever committed in the world God had created in a perfect form. God was meeting with Adam and Eve and talking to them, and they were sinless beings. Since they were the only people, they had no one else to compare themselves to and admire how good they were compared to other members of mankind. We now have the luxury of have billions of other people in the world that we can compare ourselves to and claim how superior we are. Millions of people are imprisoned around this world, and surely, we can compare ourselves to them and claim how good we are in comparison! Jesus also said, “he who humbles himself will be exalted." In the selected verses Jesus was comparing two men who were praying to God the Father at the time!
Even when these two men were praying, one of them was telling God how good he is, while the other was asking God to have mercy on him, because he knew he was a sinner, and did not deserve for God to overlook his sinful nature. When you pray to God the Father, your Father in heaven, do you compare yourself to someone else who is praying, and claim superiority over the other person to God? When you pray do you expect God to listen to you, and to bless you because you deserve God’s blessing? Now read the rest of this parable that Jesus told His disciples. To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ (Luke 18:9-13).
Paul wrote about thinking of other people as being worthy of your respect. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3). This idea of putting others in front of yourself is a very difficult process and most of us will avoid trying to do it. People cutting in front of you when you are in a line, will give you a feeling of being cheated, and you will tell them to go to the end of the line, without asking them why they need to replace you in the line. Do we feel ownership of our spot in this line? If you truly “consider others better than yourselves,” then don’t they deserve to go in front of you in the line? What do you think about this concept? If you read this, please let me know your thoughts on this!
In the line cutting situation do you consider the offenders to be your enemy? A psalmist wrote about knowing when God was for them, by how their enemies reacted toward them. Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll—are they not in your record? Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me. (Psalm 56:8-9). If God records, or remembers my woes, then God will cause “my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me. Would prospective line cutters turn away and go to the end of the line, if they believe” God is for me?” Do you believe God is always aware of what we are doing, and what may cause us pain? Are line cutters giving a believer an opportunity to shine their eternal light by allowing them to get in line? Jesus once said, In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16). Yes, I know I’ve beaten this kind of normal happening to death, so to speak, but I do think this is a common kind of occurrence we can all identify with. Think about it the next time it happens to you!
Peter wrote about how grief or problems in our life may cause our faith to grow, if we can look for the silver lining around the cloud of misfortune. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1Peter 1:6-9). Peter who knew Jesus is telling us who did not know Him, that we must believe in Him and love Him, and most importantly, we must realize Jesus is the only hope we have for attaining heaven through our faith in Jesus as, “the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
Some people seem to think that God somehow owes them and that He should allow everyone to go to heaven, if heaven exists, when they die. Some people seem to think they are doing God’s work on this earth, and thus God needs them. The writer of Acts wrote about the truth of our need for God not the other way around. "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. (Acts 17:24-25). God does not need you, but you need Him, just to breathe, as “he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.” God loves you, but He does not need you! God created mankind to have fellowship with us.
God does need His followers to help their fellow man, if they need help. However, we are not capable of saving their immortal soul, only knowing Jesus can accomplish that task. None of us can do anything to save our immortal soul. Our salvation is a gift from God, He grants it because of what Jesus did, and it comes only through God’s grace. Paul warns us to seek God’s grace and to not receive this gift in vain. As God’s fellow-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. (2Corinthians 6:1-2). Paul wrote that, “now is the day of salvation.” Is there someone you believe who may not yet have accepted their gift of grace? If they do not accept this gift of grace, they will go to hell when they die!
The Bible teaches that there is a place we call heaven, and when each person dies, they either go to heaven or they go to hell. It also teaches there is only one way anyone can go to heaven. Jesus told His disciples about the fact that He is the Way! You know the way to the place where I am going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:4-6). Jesus commanded His disciples to tell other people His story!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
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