CROSSVIEWPOINTS
Offering perspectives and views on biblical & moral issues and current events.
A ministry of Chuck Vitel, Pastor-Teacher
March 16, 2011 – 30th Edition
“Not everyone is going to heaven!”
[Excerpts taken from Sermon presented to the Crosspoint Church Congregation
on Sunday, March 6, 2011]
On Sunday, March 6, 2011, I preached a message entitled, “Not everyone is going to heaven!” I felt led by the Spirit of God that previous week to set aside my series on “The Church” and deal with this very relevant topic. Little did I realize just how relevant and timeless my topic was that week because that was the week the internet blogs, facebook and twitter were all in a tizzy over a new book soon to be released titled, “Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who ever lived.”
The author of “Love Wins” is Rob Bell, Pastor of the Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, MI and a leader in the Emergent Church Movement today, a development within Evangelical Christianity having a major influence on young people ages 18-30. It wasn’t my intention to take issue with Rob Bell’s views or theology since I have not read the book. However, his new book certainly raises the questions about the “exclusivity of the Gospel of Christ” along with related questions of heaven, hell, judgment and the fate of the unsaved.
Here’s how all this relates to us today. Some of you are not going to heaven! Some of your relatives or family members are not going to heaven. Some of your neighbors or friends and coworkers are not going to heaven. When was the last you attended a funeral service where the officiating person said, “We are remembering today a person who is NOT in heaven? Actually, based upon his/her faulty belief system and his/her sinful life – he/she is now in Hell!” Probably never! That’s because most people presume or practice wishing thinking without any real basis – that all people will end up in heaven and all faiths lead to the same destiny.
In reality that is not true. In fact, if one studies all the major religions and their founders – you would find that they all differ greatly and none of the founders would agree with the presumption being made today. The Bible teaches that most people who die don’t go to heaven. It was Jesus Himself who said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:13-14 these words: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life [eternal] and only a few find it.” In other words, few choose the narrow way! That’s a pretty clear statement in any language or in any version of the Bible! The truth is - most of the world today is not going to heaven – contrary to popular opinion.
You may think that this is very judgmental – and how can one say that so dogmatically? [You will never grow your church speaking like that!] Especially in light of the thinking today, where it seems almost everyone is going to heaven or to some “Lala land” after they die. There is a growing philosophy today, including among some Christians and even churches led by Pastors teaching something contrary to the Biblical teaching and doctrines of the Orthodox Christian faith – “that all roads or paths [wide and narrow] lead to heaven.” No they don’t!
American people of faith, though devout, are very tolerant, so much so, that most believers also believe that good people, despite their religious affiliation, can go to heaven. But where does it say that? Can someone tell me what holy book or sacred text says that all people will go to heaven? Where does it say that all people who are sincere and basically good get all their sins forgiven and go to heaven? It's not in the Koran – it's not in the Bible, OT or NT – so who came up with this philosophy or concept? By what authority does that view come from? What man or prophet or guru says that? Or is this just wishful thinking on the part of a secular, godless world? Is it someone’s opinion?
Truthfully, those who try to accommodate other beliefs or attempt to have this kind of wishful thinking are doing no good for themselves or for others. In fact, if they profess to be Christians or followers of Christ, they may be doing great harm to a person's eternal destiny and leading them astray. And they will be held accountable for that by God.
I'm afraid what we are seeing today is a rise in the doctrine of Universalism – Universalism is the theological doctrine that says…all people will eventually be saved no matter what their belief system is. All religions lead to the same true God. No one goes to hell – hell is empty. Everyone goes to heaven.
Young people under the age of 30 are hearing this message and believing it. The majority of men and women under the age of 25 believe that all beliefs are equally valid. The fact is they are not. My fear today especially in America - is that the coming generation of younger evangelical Christians [not just in physical age but young in their spiritual walk] will abandon their conviction as to Christ alone and will begin to follow the broad path set by liberal church leaders and secularism.
It is in Christ alone, my friends, faith in Christ alone, faith or trust in Who He is [God in the flesh] and in His work on the Cross that one receives salvation and forgiveness of sins and gains entrance to heaven in order to stand before the holy God. The truth is …you can't do anything without faith in Christ – and you can't please a holy God enough on your own works or merit to get into heaven. Without faith in Christ – it is impossible to please a Holy God. [Hebrews 11:6]
Are we arrogant for proclaiming Jesus Christ as God in the flesh and as the Savior of the world? Are we arrogant or intolerant when we say that Jesus is the “only way” to heaven – as the one way to God the Father in heaven?
If we are going to take seriously the instruction of the Bible [The Word of God] – then as believing Christian people we accept the fact or truth that Jesus’ name is above every name – and that all of history is moving towards the day when at the name of Jesus – every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” [Phil 2:9-11]
To suggest that Christianity has got it right and there is no other way to heaven and that others have got it all wrong may come across as arrogant and exclusive to many. Christians are often accused of being narrow-minded and intolerant for proclaiming Jesus as the only way to salvation – certainly, that is the mantra of the Gay Rights Activists, the gay marriage supporters, and the pro-abortion people and almost every other proponent of immorality. In general we need to understand that Truth, God’s truth, is not a matter of pride or humility. It’s a matter of Fact! Speaking the truth or facts does not make one narrow-minded.
Our secular and godless culture has redefined the term “tolerance” – Tolerance, according to the new age thinking is the mistaken notion that we have to accept every viewpoint as equally true and of value. The new definition for “tolerance” cultivates a mind so broad that it can tolerate every opinion and every idea without ever detecting anything in it to reject. “That is not a virtue – but rather it is the vice of the feeble-minded” - [Dr. Alistair Begg]. “Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” – [G. K. Chesterton]
True Tolerance – actually involves treating with integrity and humility someone whose opinions you believe to be untrue and invalid. I can listen to and hear your opinions and views – but I don’t have to accept them as true and valid. Everyone has a right to their opinions and views and can voice them – but I have the right to reject them as invalid and untrue.
Not every opinion or view is right or true. I do not accept the opinions and views as valid of the Gay Rights Activists or Gay marriage advocates or the pro-abortionists or the Social Progressives – and it is my God-given right to reject them [their views]. To be a tolerant Christian doesn’t mean accepting contrary views and opinions as valid - but treating with grace and kindness those with whom you disagree.
Christianity makes affirmations that no other religion makes – such as God becoming flesh and being born as the baby Jesus and Christ suffering and dying the death on a Cross that everyone deserves and than He was raised to new life so that we too can enjoy new life in heaven one day. What’s wrong with the good news? There’s no other religion that has a God who would do that for His people. No, we don’t all worship the same God!
The uniqueness of Jesus is inescapable. Either Christianity is superior to all other religions – or it is totally irrelevant. Though the world culture may say that all the “stories” of various religions are equally valid – the Bible, the Truth of God, says otherwise. It is impossible to mix and accept the tenets or teachings of other religions with that of the Christian faith and still call yourself a Christian or follower of Christ’s teachings. It is impossible to believe what Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and yes, even Mormons believe and still call yourself a biblical Christian.
Personally, as a committed Christ follower and believer in the Bible as the Word of God – I will respect your beliefs, whatever they may be, but I am not going to sell out my beliefs or deny my Christian faith or accommodate your beliefs or views by saying – all people go to heaven – when in truth, they do not!
Who is heaven made for? Heaven is only for God’s children. The Bible tells us this in 1 Peter 1:3-6 – [NLT] Peter is writing to the saved, the elect, God’s chosen people living as foreigners in various areas around the world. God the Father knew them, and He chose them long ago, and His Spirit has made them holy. As a result, they have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.”
Heaven is only for God’s children – for those who believe in Him – for those who have faith. God will make sure His children will get to Heaven safely. How do you get to be His child? By asking in faith to become a part of His family, by trusting in God’s Unique Son, Jesus Christ, as God in the flesh and the One who died on the cross for our sins. Believing is not a feeling – it’s an act of the will – it involves the mind. When the Bible talks about saving faith - it doesn’t mean mere intellectual acceptance – it also means a step of your will or your heart. In other words, there’s a difference between “belief that… and belief in.” You can believe that God exists and still not be saved – you need to believe that Christ is God and is the Savior – but you also need to put your trust in Christ to be saved.
If you don’t believe, it is because you choose not to believe. Your choice to love Christ is an expression of your will and your response to the wooing of the Holy Spirit of God. Love must be freely given – it cannot be coerced. That’s why God cares about your belief in…belief in Christ Alone! In fact, the God of the Bible respects your choices so much that He will not force you into heaven against your will. If you don’t want God now or ever – He will not force Himself on you. He will separate himself from you. That’s what hell is – separation from God for eternity!
The Good News is – you can change and you can still choose today to exercise your faith and believe that and believe in - you may know Him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom the Father has sent.
Read the following passages from the Bible carefully:
John 3:3-7 – Read what Jesus says to Nicodemus, a self-righteous, religious man who thought his good deeds would get him into heaven. Nicodemus was wrong. Jesus told him, “You have to be born again spiritually.”
John 3:16-21 – Read this classic passage about who receives eternal life in heaven.
John 14:6 – Jesus said, “I am the way to God the Father in heaven, I am the truth and the life”
The Bible affirms that there is only one way to God and one mediator between God and man [John 14:6; 1 Tim. 2:5]
The Bible says, there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. [Acts 4:12]
1 John 5:12 - Whoever has the Son has life [eternal]; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life [eternal].
You see folks – it won’t do for us to offer our friends and loved ones - a God we invent to meet our assumptions, who does everything in general and nothing in particular. It sounds appealing to many today – but it’s irrelevant and not valid. And that makes for an irrelevant God and that leads to an irrelevant religion – and I, among many, don’t want to participate in that kind of irrelevant religion. Amen.
Chuck Vitel
Pastor-Teacher
CROSSPOINT CHURCH
847-587-7722
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