HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
That is a question I had to face back when I was in my
teens. Some neighborhood friends and I
frequently played ball together. One of
those friends was suddenly killed in a car wreck. I was shocked! I was stunned by his sudden death! One day we were together playing ball. By the week-end he was dead.
I attended his funeral and heard the preacher talk about my
friend being in heaven. I wondered if my
friend really had gone to heaven or whether he, instead, had gone to hell. I had no answer to that question.
Then it dawned on me:
What if I were to be suddenly killed in a wreck or if I should die some
other way? Where would I go? Would I go to heaven? Or would I go down into the pits of
hell? Frankly, it scared me. It shook me up plenty. I had no definite answer to that question
either, but I strongly suspected that I would not make it to heaven.
Not long after that another good friend invited me to go to
church with him. I went. In fact, I started going regularly. One Sunday at the close of the evening
services when the congregation left the auditorium I just sat there. I had my arms folded on the pew in front of
me and my head lay on my arms. The
pastor came and read some Scripture to me.
I cannot remember what Scripture he read, but he gently explained to me
that if I would acknowledge my sin and call upon Jesus to save me from the
penalty of my sin that Jesus would save my soul. He said that Jesus would keep from going to
hell and would make sure that I would go to heaven when I die.
That was what I wanted.
Right then and there I did call on Jesus. I asked Him to cleanse me of my sin and save
my soul. A great burden was lifted from
me. My cheeks were flooded with tears
and it must have appeared that I was greatly disturbed. But I was not disturbed. ---- not any longer. I had
been disturbed, but now I was relieved.
I was greatly relieved! I was happy.!. Now I no
longer wonder where I am going when I die.
I am sure that Jesus is my Savior and that I will go to heaven.
But what about you? As it stands right now, where are you
going? Where would you go if you were to
die right now?
Here is what the Bible has to say about our need of salvation
and about our need to call on Jesus and be saved::
“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” Romans
“... except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.,”
Luke 13:3 and 5. Jesus said that
you need to acknowledge that you are a sinner and repent. Unless you do, you will not make it to
heaven.
“For God so loved the world that whosoever believeth in him should not perish , but have everlasting life,” John
“For by grace are ye saved through faith...,” Ephesians 2:8. Grace is unmerited favor --- undeserved,
unearned favor. Salvation is by
grace. It is undeserved by the guilty
sinner. It is unearned. You can get saved. You can go to heaven, but you cannot deserve
to go there. You cannot earn the right
to go there. You can only go there by
the grace of God --- by the undeserved unearned favor of God.
Listen further to what God says:
“Not of works, lest any man should boast,” Ephesians 2:9. You cannot ever deserve to go to heaven. You simply cannot live that good. No matter how many good works you may do, you
cannot earn your ticket to heaven by your good works.
But you can call upon Jesus and ask Him to save you. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of
the Lord shall be saved,”
Romans 3:10. This
verse is talking about your need to call on the Lord Jesus Christ for one
specific thing. You need to confess that
you are a sinner and call on Him to save you from your sin. You need to call on Him to keep you out of
hell and to carry you to heaven when you die.
You do not have to pray out loud to Him, but you do have to call upon
Him and ask Him to save your if you are going to make it to heaven.
“He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not
is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of he only
begotten Son of God,” John 3:18. If one has called on Jesus trusting Him to be
his Savior, he is no longer condemned to hell.
He is saved and he will go to heaven.
But everyone is condemned until he calls on Jesus and trusts Jesus to be
his (or her) Savior. If you have called
on Jesus trusting Him to save you, then you are no longer condemned. You are saved. But if you have not trusted Jesus to save you
then you are still condemned and need to put your faith in Jesus.
“...behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of
salvation,” II
Corinthians 6:2. Now is the only
time that you can be certain that you have opportunity to call on Jesus and be
saved. It is dangerous to put it
off. “Whereas ye know not what shall
be on the morrow. For what is your
life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth
away,” James