05-25-08 #Disciple Bible Study titled: ‘How Many Roads Lead To Heaven?’

[Disciple]

‘Heaven- A Travel Guide’
‘How Many Roads Lead To Heaven?’
John 14:4-7
Just how many different routes can you take to get to the same location? In America with our super highway system it is possible for us to travel different roads and eventually be able to arrive at a particular location.
Some of you may be expert navigators. You may be able to look at a map and figure out the best and quickest route to follow to reach your destination. For others, perhaps you limit your traveling to places you already know how to get to. Your attitude may be, ‘If I don’t know how to get there I don’t need to go.’
Still for others, in our age of modern technology there are devices and gadgets to help with navigation. What would we do without ‘ Magellan’, or ‘Garmin’, or ‘Tom-Tom’? Some of the cell phones now have capability to give you turn-by-turn directions. You can get on the internet and type in your address and the address of your destination and print off turn-by-turn directions.
These devices are helpful in our traveling today. But what about this journey to heaven? Just how many roads lead to heaven? The ideas and thoughts that people have about how to get to heaven are as varied as the kinds of automobiles you see on the highway today.
You’ve heard people say, ‘Do as much good as you can’ or ‘Live as good as a life as you possible can’ or ‘Keep the 10 commandments’. Jesus says something that you and I probably do not have any problem accepting. But many people in our society and even more in the world have a real problem accepting and believing.
Jesus says that he is the only way to get to heaven.
John 14:6
With these words Jesus is saying that he is not ‘a way’ to get to heaven, he is not claiming to be the leader of one of many ways to heaven. Jesus is claiming to be the only way. Jesus is saying there is no way to possibly get to heaven without him. Let’s examine this more closely and determine just how many roads there are to heaven.
I. A Sad Reality
A sad reality is not everyone is going to heaven. What is the old adage, ‘Not everyone talking about going to heaven is going to heaven’. In fact, according to Scripture the majority of people are going to hell.
Matthew 7:13-14
You cannot help but notice the contrast between the words ‘many’ and ‘few’. In Rev. 21:1-7, we have a beautiful picture of heaven as John lists for us some things that will not be present in heaven. Things we have experienced in this life and world. No more death, no mourning, no crying, no pain.
But then listen to the strong warning as John tells us who will not be in heaven.
Rev. 21:8
Sin is the culprit that will keep people out of heaven. Consider another warning contained in Rev. 21. John continues with his beautiful picture of what heaven will be like as he describes the gates of peral, the streets of gold, the jasper walls. But then he tells us that those who will be admitted to heaven are indeed a select class of people.
Rev. 21:27
II. Why Is Jesus The Only Way To Heaven?
Jesus is able to save us and keep us saved.
John 10:9
Jesus is the only way to heaven because he did something for you that you could never do for yourself. You can never be good enough. You can never do enough good deeds. Jesus died, pouring out his own blood to wash away your sins.
Rev. 7:9
Rev. 7:14
Note the connection between ‘washing the robes’ and the ‘blood of the Lamb’. The Lamb is Jesus, his blood was poured out on the cross of Calvary where he died to save you. The only way you can make your filthy robes white is to wash them in the blood of the Lamb.
Do you know anything that you can wash in blood and make it white? The only thing that can be made white by washing in blood is your soul that has been blackened by your sins and it has to be washed in the blood of Jesus Christ.
To be washed in the blood of the Lamb then is to have your name written in the Lamb’s book of life. This is extremely important because only those who have their names written in the Lamb’s book of life are going to be in the heavenly city. Consider those strong words of doom and condemnation from the judgment scene as John records it for us.
Rev. 20:15
No questions asked, no excuses offered. If your name is not in the book of life then you will not be in heaven. That sounds pretty narrow doesn’t it? That sounds pretty restricted doesn’t it? That sounds like there is only one way to get to heaven.
If your name has to be written in the Lamb’s book of life in order to go to heaven, then the all-important question is ‘how do I get my name in the Lamb’s book of life?’ To have your name written in the book of life you must be in Christ. The only way to have your name in the book of life is to have that which makes you dead taken away.
It is sin that makes us dead. In order to have life our sins must be taken away and forgiven. Forgiveness is found only in Christ Jesus. You must be in Christ to have your sins forgiven.
III. Faith In Jesus Is The Key To Heaven
The Bible clearly, without a doubt proclaims that forgiveness is found in and comes only through Jesus Christ. In Acts 13, we find Paul and Barnabas in Antioch of Pisidia. A sermon preached by them is recorded there. Listen to the words spoken by Paul regarding forgiveness.
Acts 13:38-39
Look at those words and let them sink into your heart and mind. Did you see that?
‘And by him all that believe are justified from all things’.
How great and wonderful is that? ‘justified from all things’.
As you study the Scriptures you can see the kind of faith that God wants and demands. He wants an obedient faith from us. In order to to be saved by faith we must be obedient to all that God says. Ananias came to Saul of Tarsus and told him what he needed to do to be saved and have his sins washed away.
Acts 22:16
Many are those today who proclaim ‘Just call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved’ and here is a Biblical example of what it means to call on the name of the Lord. To call on the name of the Lord is to be obedient to the Lord’s calling in your life.
When we are baptized into Jesus Christ our sins are forgiven and we are made holy. It is this holiness that we must allow to develop and increase in our lives as we continue to live for Jesus Christ and sere him as we wait for his second coming.
Yes, to go to heaven, you must be holy. Someone asked, ‘Just how holy do you have to be to go to heaven?’ the answer given was, ‘Holy enough to be comfortable with Jesus.’
How many roads are there that lead us to heaven? Some people will tell you that there are many ways and that whatever way you choose is okay and is right for you. If you’re asking Jesus that question, he will tell you, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father except through me.
Jesus says there is only one road to heaven and that one road is him. Are you in Christ Jesus today?
You can get to heaven through Jesus Christ. HE IS THE WAY!