Why Should I Let You Into My Heaven? -By Brother Chuck

By Brother Chuck

On your day of judgment, when God asks you, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" How will you answer that question? Some day my friend, you're going to die. We all are. There's absolutely nothing we can do about that. Death is like a speeding freight train, it's on the tracks and it's coming your way, and you can't slow it down, you can't change its course, you can't do anything about it. Death is coming for you! And it will find you. On that day, you're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of your life to almighty God. You're going to receive your just reward for the good and the bad you did in your life (2 Corinthians 5:10 NIV). Some of you will joyfully enter heaven. Sadly, some of you won't.

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Solomon revealed that imminent day to us. "God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad" (Ecclesiastes 12:14 NLT). The apostle Paul confirmed Solomon's revelation in his second letter to the Corinthians when he wrote, "For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body" (2 Corinthians 5:10 NLT). Make no mistake about it my friend. Some day, you're going to die and you're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of your life. And God just might ask you, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" Do you have an answer for God? There's only one right answer.

After God has justly judged you and you've answered every charge, God will either invite you into heaven, or He'll deny your entry and send you away. "I tell you, I don't know you. You can't come in here, guilty as you are. Go away" (Luke 13:27 TLB). Those are the words you do not want to hear God say. That would be frightening. But you do want to hear Him say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. You may enter my rest" (Matthew 25:21 NLT; Hebrews 4:3 NLT).

Going to church or being religious won't make you a Christian...

...anymore than sitting in your garage makes you a car. Religion can't save you.

The First Man

There once was a religious man who died. He stood before almighty God, and God asked him, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" The religious man answered and said, "Well God, I'm a very religious person. I was baptized as a child. I was confirmed by the church. I follow most of the rules and traditions of the church. I try to help people. I don't steal. I've never killed anyone. I don't even smoke. I give to the less fortunate and I let everyone know that I did, so they'll give too. Oh, and I try to go to Sunday School once in a while. Plus, I go to church most of the time. And occasionally, I even watch church services on TV. I'm a good person! So, I guess that's why you should let me in. Oh, and by the way, I helped Mrs. Mitchell get her cat off the roof. So you can see, I'm a good religious person. I'm not like those sinners. May I come in?"

God replied to the religious man, "I tell you, I don't know you. You can't come in here, guilty as you are. Go away." "Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Luke 13:27 TLB; Matthew 22:13 NLT).

"I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God." (John 3:3 NLT)

Jesus recognized the religious people of His day and so did the apostle Paul. Listen to Jesus' own words when he rebuked the religious leaders and teachers (Pharisees) about their own hypocritical religiousness.

"You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God'" (Matthew 15:7-9 NLT).

Claiming to be Godly doesn't make one Godly. Claiming to be a Christian, doesn't make one a Christian. Doing religious "good works" doesn't get you anywhere near heaven. Because we're not saved by what we do. We're saved by what Jesus did, ...on the cross.

"So don't be surprised when I say, 'You must be born again." (John 3:7 NLT)

While the apostle Paul was waiting in Athens for Silas and Timothy to arrive. He walked around the city and became deeply troubled by all the false idols he saw everywhere. He preached Christ crucified and risen again all around the city and tried to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles about their false idols. He even debated the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. Eventually, they took Paul to the city's high council.

"So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: "Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: 'To an Unknown God.' This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I'm telling you about.

"He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't live in man-made temples, and human hands can't serve his needs-for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.

"His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him-though he is not far from any one of us.

"God overlooked people's ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead" (Acts 17:22-27 NLT; Acts 17:30-31 NLT).

Religious people can sometimes portray a religious outward appearance by going to church and following basic rules. But in their hearts, they have no real relationship with God. They don't know Him. And He doesn't know them either. They might go to church every Sunday, but then ignore the rest of the week. Holy on Sundays; sinners on Mondays. Come Monday morning at work they're back telling inappropriate jokes, stealing a pair of gloves for home, cursing and drinking the rest of the week. Can you hear Jesus say to them, "You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me" (Matthew 15:7-9 NLT).

The Second Man

There was a second man who died, he too was a religious man. He stood before almighty God, and God asked him, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" The religious man began to answer and said, "Well, I'm a good person. I'm religious. I was baptized as a child..." And God stopped him right there in his tracks and said, "Self-righteousness and pride won't get you into heaven."

Then God said to him, "Throughout the Bible I listed 613 commandments for mankind to obey. And mankind disobeyed them all. So, I narrowed it down to my top ten. Maybe you've heard of them, The Ten Commandments?" And the man answered, "Yes, I've heard of them." And God said, "You say you're a good person, so let's see how you measure up to a few of my ten commandments. One command I give is, you shall not lie. Have you ever told a lie?" The man answered, "Well, yes, I've told lies before." And God asked, "What does that make you?" The man answered, "A liar?" And God said, "Right. Another question. Have you ever stolen anything? That's another command I give, you shall not steal." The man thought about it and said, "Yes, I've stolen." And God said, "What does that make you?" The man, looking down and answered, "A thief." Then God replied, "Right again! Another command I give, is you shall not commit adultery. And Jesus took it a step further when He said, whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery already with her in his heart. Have you ever done that?" And the man sorrowfully replied, "Yes, Lord I've lusted, many times." And God said, "We've only covered three out of ten commandments and you've failed them all. By your own admission here today, you're a lying, thieving, adulterer at heart and now here you stand before me on judgment day." The man looked down and said nothing. Then God said, "I tell you, I don't know you. You can't come in here, guilty as you are. Go away." "Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Luke 13:27 TLB; Matthew 22:13 NLT).

The Third Man

There was a third man who died. He wasn't religious at all. But he was humble, and he was confident in his salvation. He stood before almighty God, and God asked him, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" And the man answered "It is because of the name of Jesus Christ that you should let me in. I've trusted in His name for many years. He died on the cross for me. He took the punishment for everything I ever did wrong. Jesus gave His life to pay for all my sins. And then He rose again. He is my righteousness. He is my right to heaven."

And God said, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. You may enter my rest" (Matthew 25:21 NLT; Hebrews 4:3 NLT).

Friends, there's only one answer that will satisfy God. The third man answered correctly because unlike the other two men, he didn't focus on what he had done or on his own self righteousness. He focused on the righteousness of Christ and His finished work on the cross. He trusted God for his own salvation. And God rewarded him.

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