Two Ways People Try to Get to Heaven

There are only two ways people can try and get to Heaven. One is to obey all of God's commands without breaking a single one of them. The other is to trust in Jesus. If we were capable of obeying all of God's commands the Bible would be different. In the book of Acts some people had become Christians who weren't Jews. A group of Jews wanted these gentile believes to be circumcised and to obey the laws of Moses. Acts 15:1-12. The Apostle Paul accused them of inflicting a burden on these Christians which neither they nor their forefathers could bear. Following lots of rules is a huge burden and even if you can do it, you tend to forget about the more important things. The pharisees would give God a tenth of everything, even tithing the herbs they gathered from the side of the road. Matthew 23:23. Jesus criticises them for their lack of justice and mercy. The pharisees were the ultimate holy club. They fasted twice a week. This only caused them to become proud and arrogant, looking down on other people. We can follow all the rules of religion, many religious people don't eat pork, don't smoke and don't drink alcohol, tea or coffee, and find that, in the end, our religion has robbed us of our compassion and simply given us a condescending attitude to other people.

There were two men who were praying. Luke 18:9-14. One was a pharisee and one was a tax collector. The pharisee said, "Thank you God that I am not like other people. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. Thank you that I am not like this awful tax collector." The tax collector beat his breast and said, "God have mercy on me, a sinner." It was the tax collector and not the pharisee who went home justified before God. It is impossible for us to obey the whole of God's law. Some time in our lives we are going to break at least one command. The Bible says that if we break one of God's commands we have become a law breaker. James 2:10,11. He who said, "Do not murder," also said, "Do not commit adultery." So if you haven't committed murder but have committed adultery, or stolen something, or told a lie, you are a law breaker.

Jesus' attitude was completely different to the holier than thou attitude of the deeply religious people of his time. There was a woman who had committed adultery. The crowd wanted her stoned to death, as the law of Moses commanded. Jesus said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." They all left. Jesus told the woman to go and sin no more. John 8:1-11. God's attitude is to forgive the sinner and to restore them. But that restoration can't be achieved by turning over a new leaf. I've given up making new year's resolutions because I realise that I can't keep them. Our attempts at self improvement can be useless.

We are hopelessly lost sinners. Our transgressions and sins have made us spiritually dead. It is impossible for us to have any interest in God. The devil rules this world, not God, and he is also lord of our hearts. Ephesians 2:1-10. God loves us much too much to allow us to stay the way we are. God makes us alive in Christ Jesus. Throughout eternity we will be seated with him in the heavenly realms and God sees us as being seated with him already. We are saved by grace through faith, through the undeserved favour of God, in order that we might be made good and have changed lives. We must be born again of the Holy Spirit of God. John 3:1-8. Then we will know the Kingdom of God as God reigns inside us. The Holy Spirit will transform us and we will be full of God's love, joy and peace, no longer enslaved to the sinful desires that controlled us before. Galatians 5:16-25. Just like my computer is writing these words to its hard drive, God will put his laws in our minds and write them on our hearts. Jeremiah 31:33,34.