Lesson 25

      Going to Heaven must be our number one priority in this short life here on the earth.  Nothing is as important.  If going to Heaven is not our number one priority then most likely we will not go there.  Let us go back to the Bible.  As God tells us in 1 Peter 4:11, "If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God."  In other words, we are to speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent.  We must call Bible things by Bible names and do Bible things in Bible ways.  To do this we must get rid of all the manuals, creeds, disciplines, and confessions men have written and follow only what we can read in the Bible, because the Bible is our only guidebook to Heaven.  The doctrines of men will keep us out of Heaven.

     We must dust our Bibles off and start studying them for ourselves.  We must stop taking someone else’s word for what it says and find out for ourselves what God is trying to tell us. This is very important, for God says in Hosea 4:6, "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you."  It is a very serious matter to be rejected by God because we did not care enough about what God is saying to us in His Word to read and study it for ourselves so we can obey it.  When we don't know God's will, false doctrines of men will arise.  Instead, people have taken someone else's word for it.  This is the reason there are so many different kinds of false denominational churches today.  The commandments of men have the power to turn people away from the truth of God's word (Titus 1:14).  

     Satan fights hard to prevent people from obtaining the salvation God wants us to have.  First Satan tries to keep people from believing in Christ.  If he fails at this then he tries to keep people from repenting.  If he fails at this and people want to be baptized, he tries to get them to substitute sprinkling or pouring instead of immersion.  If he fails at this and people want to be baptized (immersed), Satan then tries to get people to first "accept Jesus as your personal Saviour" and say "the Sinner's Prayer" in order to be saved and have their sins forgiven.  Satan then tells people "who think they have already been saved" to go ahead and be baptized to join a denomination, but not to be baptized to be saved.  Those people who have been baptized, but not for the forgiveness of their sins and to be saved, but just to join a denomination, still have every sin they have ever committed and will be eternally lost in Hell.  Galatians 1:7 says, "there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ".  A perverted gospel will save no one but will cause one to be eternally lost in Hell.

     Also in addition to what God requires for one to be saved, Satan has also perverted what God requires in our worship.  Jesus says, "And in vain they worship Me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" (Mark 7:7).  Because of what Satan has done, many people are worshipping God in vain and their worship is useless.  None of the more than 600 different denominations have any Biblical authority to exist, but are sinful and ungodly counterfeit organizations of Satan.  I do not know of any denominational group which teaches God's plan of salvation as it is contained in the Bible.  Most of them reject, condemn, and even laugh at what God says in the Bible that we must do to be saved so we can go to Heaven.  If one continues to be a member of a denomination, one will not be able to enter Heaven, but sadly end up in Hell.  These counterfeit denominations give false hope.  The Lord has only one church He is going to save (Matthew 16:18), the church of Christ (Romans 16:16).   Anything that is more than, less than, or different from what the Bible says is false doctrine (Revelation 22:18-19). 

     In summary, we ask the question again.  Are You Really Sure Of Your Eternal Salvation?  We cannot afford to be wrong about our eternal salvation.  If you have seen from the scriptures that have been pointed out in this course that you have not done all the will of God and only the will of God, so that you can be saved and go to Heaven, then please make those changes now so that your salvation can be assured.  We are told in Amos 4:12, "Prepare to meet your God."  On the Day of Judgment we will be either prepared or unprepared.  Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.  Those who are unprepared will be lost in Hell.  What are your plans for eternity?  Are you going to be spending eternity in Heaven or in Hell?  The choice is yours.  Remember that only a few will go to Heaven but the vast majority of people will go to Hell because they chose to go there.  Are you going to be among the few or the many?  We will not accidentally go to Heaven.

     If you are not prepared to go to Heaven, then make things "right" now.  Don’t put it off.  Satan wants you to put it off.  Satan works on all of us all of the time.  He does not want us to change for the better.  He wants our company in Hell.  One of Satan's greatest triumphs and falsehoods is that men can be saved before and without obeying Christ in baptism.  Since baptism is the line of demarcation between being lost and being saved (Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, 22:16, 1 Peter 3:21), Satan has arranged a subterfuge of counterfeit doctrines to hide the truth of what God requires for one to be saved.  Satan has people believing that baptism is not necessary for one to be saved, but only necessary to join their denomination.  He also has people believing that sprinkling and pouring is baptism.  He has fooled people to “baptize” their infant children.  Infants and little children are innocent and have no sin.  When one who was "baptized" as an infant matures and becomes accountable, he doesn't think he needs to be baptized again to be saved.  Satan knows when people, who were "baptized" as infants, become accountable and begin to sin, they will be eternally lost if they themselves do not obey the Lord in baptism.  All these baptisms are useless counterfeits since they are not done by a believing person for the remission of sins and to be saved.  All they will do is to cause one to lose his soul eternally in Hell.  Jesus says, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul" (Mark 8:36).  We cannot afford to lose our soul in Hell.

     Everyone of us have two appointments that have already been made for us and that we will definitely keep.  They are, "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).  These two appointments: death and the Judgment cannot be cancelled.  We will definitely be there for these two appointments.  "For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ" (Romans 14:10).  If you were to die today, do you know for sure, without a doubt, that you would go to Heaven?  We do not know the day nor the hour of our death.  It can come unexpectedly and without warning.  It can come before we are ready.  Are you now ready for that day to come?  

     Remember the vast majority of people will go to Hell and only few will go to Heaven.  Jesus says, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14).  The Lord says that only a few people will go to Heaven.  There are only two roads to eternity and everyone of us is on one or the other.  If we miss Heaven, we will be thrown into the eternal fires of Hell forever.  One of the saddest things about being thrown into Hell is the fact that it could have been avoided.  The majority of people will be lost in spite of what the Lord had done.  Hell is not what God does to us, but Hell is what one does to himself.  A person who ends up in Hell is his own worst enemy and only has himself to blame.  The many people who are lost shall be "cast into the lake of fire and brimstone...and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever" (Revelation 20:10).  There is no way out of the place.  Hell is permanent and horrible.  After a person has been punished in Hell a billion years the punishment will have just begun.

     Heaven is the very opposite of Hell.  There is no way that the glories of Heaven can be adequately described to us mortal human beings.  As we read in 1 Corinthians 2:9, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him".  Concerning Heaven we read in Revelation 21:4, "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.  There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away".  In Heaven there will forever be joy, peace, and happiness beyond description.  Our number one priority in this short life here on earth must be to go to Heaven.

          Do you believe in God and Christ?  I am sure you do.  Are you willing to repent of your sins and confess that you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?  God's word also says to "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38).  Jesus says in Mark 16:16, "He that believes and is baptized will be saved."  It is at the point of baptism that God has chosen to cleanse us of all of our sins and to save us, but not before.  Tragically many refuse to hear the voice of Jesus and will not obey Him.  Will you be baptized (immersed) for the remission of your sins so you can be saved?  Then the Lord will add you to His church, the church of Christ.  We read in Acts 2:47, "And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved".  In the church of Christ we can worship Him faithfully until death when we will receive the crown of life in Heaven.  Jesus says, "Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Revelation 2:10).

     Christ only established His one church, the church of Christ, on the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 in 33 AD.  Since Jesus did not build any of the denominational churches, they all stand under His condemnation.  It does one no good to belong to and worship in any of the denominational churches, all of which are counterfeits.  A counterfeit is made to resemble the genuine in many ways, but the resemblance does not make it genuine.  Counterfeits are illegal, useless, and worthless.  These counterfeits will cause many people to lose their souls in eternity!!!  People of the denominational churches do not qualify for God's inheritance of Heaven, because they have not obeyed what God requires, but they have obeyed some man-made doctrine.

     I have tried to be open and honest with you.  If you have any questions concerning the things discussed in this course, please let me know by email using the address below.  If you would like to locate a congregation of the Lord's one true church who follows only what God says in the Bible and who will help you in your being baptized for the forgiveness of your sins so you can be saved, then locate a congregation of the church of Christ in your community.  Or you can E-mail me at hartfordcofc@sbcglobal.net  with your city, state, and ZipCode and I will help you locate a congregation of the church of Christ near you.

     Please answer the following questions as they applied to you at the time you were saved and not as you now understand what you need to do to be saved.

1)  Have you ever been saved?

2)  Did you go forward in church at the time you were saved?

3)  Did you accept Christ as your personal saviour in order to be saved?


4)  Were you saved and your sins forgiven at the time you accepted Christ as your personal saviour?

5)  Have you been baptized?

6)  At what age were you baptized?
     

7)  How were you baptized? 

8)  How long after you accepted Christ as your personal saviour were you baptized? 
    

9)  Were you saved and your sins forgiven before or after you were baptized?  

10) Did your baptism put you into Christ where all spiritual blessings are such as: salvation, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life?

11) Do you wear only the name Christian?

12) Are you really sure of your eternal salvation?

     If I can help you to become a Christian or to locate the church of Christ in your area then please email me your city, state, and ZipCode.  Or if you would like for me to study with you further by email, please E-mail me your questions to hartfordcofc@sbcglobal.net .  Or you can locate a congregation  of the churches of Christ near you by clicking on  World Wide Directory Of The Churches Of Christ    I deeply care.     Ron Boatwright 

     Another Bible course you might be interested in studying is entitled: