The Only Way To Heaven

Added: 13.12.2010
Views: 167486x
Topics: How to Find God

Tisk

Jesus Christ lived, suffered and died to redeem us.  God allowed that His beloved Son left the kingdom of glory and came down to this by the sin corrupted world, He left honor and glory and suffered insult, scorn, hate and also death. He, who being in the form of God, felt in His soul that terrible separation between God and men that was caused by sin. This great sacrifice was an amazing manifestation of Father's love towards us.

Christ became the only mediator through whom God poured out his great love on the sinful world. It is only thanks to His sacrifice that the just God can cleanse from sin everyone, who believes in Him.

We should never forget the infinite price paid for our redemption and the new position offered to us. Through yielding to sin, we became servants of Satan. However, thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we again can become children of God - children of the Heavenly King. Nothing can compare with such love!

Jesus Christ offers us a second chance for free and it depends on us whether we accept Him deep in our hearts. It's up to us whether we will renew our communion with Christ daily.

It is not enough to say “I believe in Him”, and so I will go to heaven. This is not the true faith. True faith changes the heart. When a man realizes that the Creator, Son of God, could have destroyed all of us with one single word, and create new and more obedient people; and instead He came to this earth, suffered and died for us, it is something so unreal that cannot leave us cold.

Therefore, the first step of faith is a genuine and deep regret for our sins that crucified our Creator and a deep repentance.

Then, the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and changes us to His image in order to be full of love and do not transgress the law of God. It is a process, and the more we realize God's love the more we see our own failures and ask for guidance and forgiveness.

We can never refrain sin in our own strength. Our thoughts are corrupt and we have not the power to change ourselves. All human efforts for good conduct are vain as they cannot change human hearts. Only Jesus Christ can do that. He gives a new life in our heart and only then a man can turn away from sin, back to holiness.

One has to have a new heart, a new desire, new resolution, and it is not enough to have just good qualities. One has to be born again of the Holy Spirit. It is not enough to see the God's love and mercy. Also it is not enough to get to know the Wisdom and Justice of His law, but we have to accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and let our hearts to be changed by faith.

True repentance includes a sincere regret for sin and turning away from sin. We will never abandon sin, until we realize its sinfulness. Real change in our life comes when we turn away from sin with our heart.

If a heart surrenders to the influence of the Holy Spirit, conscience is woken up and the sinner feels something from the depth and holiness of God's law, the foundation of God's government in heaven and earth.

Our Savior's life is a great example of keeping the principles of God's law – love towards God and men. His life was full of indulgence and unselfish love. When looking at Him, we recognize the wickedness of our hearts.

The only reason why we cannot receive forgiveness of our sins committed, is that we are not willing to humble our hearts and we do not want to conform with the conditions of the divine truth. Confession of sins, whether public or private, must be sincere and done freely and not enforced upon the sinner. It cannot be done thoughtlessly and carelessly and enforced upon those who still don't have a clear idea about the terrible character of sin. Only a deep heart confession will find its way to God that grants us everlasting forgiveness.

Confession without sincere repentance and reform is not pleasant to God. Decisive changes have to take place in your life. Everything that is unpleasant to God must be removed as a result of a true repentance of sin. A profession of Christ without this deep love, is mere talk, dry formality. Those who do acknowledge their guilt will be justified, for Jesus will plead His blood in behalf of the repentant soul.

As your conscience has been quickened by the Holy Spirit, you have seen something of the evil of sin, of its power, its guilt, its woe; and you look upon it with abhorrence. You feel that sin has separated you from God, that you are in bondage to the power of evil. The more you struggle to escape, the more you realize your helplessness. Your motives are impure; your heart is unclean. You see that your life has been filled with selfishness and sin. You long to be forgiven, to be cleansed, to be set free. Harmony with God, likeness to Him – what can you do to obtain it?

Now, go to Him, and ask Him to wash away your sins and give you a new heart. Then believe that He does this because He has promised.

Now that you have given yourself to Jesus, do not draw back, do not take yourself away from Him, but day by day say, “I am Christ’s; I have given myself to Him;” and ask Him to give you His Spirit and keep you by His grace. As it is by giving yourself to God, and believing Him, that you become His child, so you are to live in Him The apostle Paul says, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him" (Colossians 2:6).

Jesus loves to have us come to Him just as we are, sinful, helpless, dependent. We may come with all our weakness, our folly, our sinfulness, and fall at His feet in penitence.

If the heart has been renewed by the Spirit of God, the life will bear witness to the fact. A change will be seen in the character, the habits, the pursuits. The contrast will be clear and decided between what they have been and what they are. The character is revealed, not by occasional good deeds and occasional misdeeds, but by the tendency of the habitual words and acts.

Those who become new creatures in Christ Jesus will bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, which is " love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Galatians 5,22-23). They will no longer fashion themselves according to the former lusts, but by the faith of the Son of God they will follow in His steps, reflect His character, and purify themselves even as He is pure.

There are two errors against which the children of God—particularly those who have just come to trust in His grace—especially need to guard.

The first is that of trusting their own strength and their own works, trusting to anything they can do, to bring themselves into harmony with God.

He who is trying to become holy by his own works in keeping the law, is attempting an impossibility. All that man can do without Christ is polluted with selfishness and sin. It is the grace of Christ alone, through faith, that can make us holy.

The second and no less dangerous error is that belief in Christ releases men from keeping the law of God; that since by faith alone we become partakers of the grace of Christ, and our works have nothing to do with our redemption.

But notice here that obedience is not a mere outward compliance, but the service of love.

The law of God is an expression of His very nature; it is an embodiment of the great principle of love, and hence is the foundation of His government in heaven and earth. It is still valid both in heaven and earth.

If our hearts are renewed in the likeness of God, if the divine love is implanted in the soul, will not the law of God be carried out in the life? When the principle of love is implanted in the heart, when man is renewed after the image of Him that created him, the new-covenant promise is fulfilled.

Hebrews 10:16 - " I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; "

And if the law is written in the heart, it will shape the life. Obedience—the service and allegiance of love—is the true sign of discipleship. Thus the Scripture says:

1 John 5:3; 2:4 - "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments" "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." Instead of releasing man from obedience, it is faith, and faith only, that makes us partakers of the grace of Christ, which enables us to render obedience.

We do not earn salvation by our obedience; for salvation is the free gift of God, to be received by faith. But obedience is the fruit of faith.

1 Jan 3:5.6 - " And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him."

Here is the true test. If we abide in Christ, if the love of God dwells in us, our feelings, our thoughts, our purposes, our actions, will be in harmony with the will of God as expressed in the precepts of His holy law.

1 John 3:7 - "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous."

Righteousness is defined by the standard of God’s holy law, as expressed in the ten precepts given on Sinai. That so-called faith in Christ which professes to release men from the obligation of obedience to God, is not faith, but presumption.

Ephesians 2:8, James 2:17 - "For by grace are ye saved through faith;" but "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."

If you give yourself to Him, and accept Him as your Saviour, then, sinful as your life may have been, for His sake you are accounted righteous. Christ’s character stands in place of your character, and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned.

More than this, Christ changes the heart. He abides in your heart by faith. You are to maintain this connection with Christ by faith and the continual surrender of your will to Him; and so long as you do this, He will work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure.

The closer you come to Jesus, the more faulty you will appear in your own eyes; for your vision will be clearer, and your imperfections will be seen in broad and distinct contrast to His perfect nature. This is evidence that Satan’s delusions have lost their power; that the vivifying influence of the Spirit of God is arousing you.

The change of heart by which we become children of God is in the Bible spoken of as new birth.

Consecrate yourself to God in the morning; make this your very first work. Let your prayer be, “Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee.” This is a daily matter. Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His providence shall indicate. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ.

Love to Jesus will be manifested in a desire to work as He worked for the blessing and uplifting of humanity. It will lead to love, tenderness, and sympathy toward all the creatures of our heavenly Father’s care.

No sooner does one come to Christ than there is born in his heart a desire to make known to others what a precious friend he has found in Jesus; the saving and sanctifying truth cannot be shut up in his heart. If we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ and are filled with the joy of His indwelling Spirit, we shall not be able to hold our peace.

The aspirations are elevated. There is no room for sloth or selfishness. Those who thus devote themselves to unselfish effort for the good of others are most surely working out their own salvation. If we want to work for Christ we can do this in the home circle, in the church, among our friends, neighbors or with whom we do business.

Learn to listen to God as He speaks to us. God reveals to us His will in His Word – the Bible, in His creation – the nature, and also through providence and our conscience.

When our conscience reproves us, why not listen to it and take heed of the voice of the Spirit of God?

It requires earnest attention from us to distinguish the voice of God. We must resist and conquer our inclination, and obey the voice of conscience without parleying or compromise, lest its promptings cease, and will and impulse control.

The Lord advises us to enter into our closet, and in silence commune with our own heart; listen to the voice of truth and conscience. Nothing will give such clear views of self as secret prayer.

When you once yield your natural independence and self-will for a child-like, submissive obedience, and are willing to be taught, you will hear the voice of the true Shepherd saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it.” (Isaiah 30:21) There is no time or place in which it is inappropriate to offer up a petition to God. There is nothing that can prevent us from lifting up our hearts in the spirit of earnest prayer. In the crowds of the street, in the midst of a business engagement, we may send up a petition to God and plead for divine guidance.

Keep your wants, your joys, your sorrows, your cares, and your fears before God. You cannot burden Him; you cannot weary Him. He who numbers the hairs of your head is not indifferent to the wants of His children. “The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” (James 5:11) When praying, do not think about yourself alone. Praise the Lord and thank Him for His mercy.

Christ will not undertake to teach the self-righteous, self-conceited, and self-willed. It is only the meek that he will guide in judgment; the meek will he teach his way.

The Christian life is one of daily surrender, submission, and continual overcoming, gaining fresh victories every day. This is the growing up into Christ

Love for God should be the main reason for our actions.

If sometimes we do not understand something, we have no reason to doubt God’s Word because we cannot comprehend the mysteries of His providence. In the natural world we are constantly surrounded with mysteries that we cannot fathom. The very humblest forms of life present a problem that the wisest of philosophers is powerless to explain.

The Bible unfolds truth with a simplicity and a perfect adaptation to the needs and longings of the human heart, that has astonished and charmed the most highly cultivated minds, while it enables the humblest and uncultured to discern the way of salvation.

There is an evidence that is open to all,—the most highly educated, and the most illiterate,—the evidence of experience. God invites us to prove for ourselves the reality of His word, the truth of His promises. He bids us “taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8). Instead of depending upon the word of another, we are to taste for ourselves. He declares, “Ask, and ye shall receive.” (John 16:24). His promises will be fulfilled. They have never failed; they never can fail. All this fills us with joy.

Soon the gates of heaven will be thrown open to admit God’s children, and from the lips of the King of glory the benediction will fall on their ears like richest music, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:.” (Matthew 25:34)

Then the redeemed will be welcomed to the home that Jesus is preparing for them.