I often think about going to Heaven…

How do we get there?

What does the path consist of?

😎 Let’s see what the Bible says….

 

👉🏽 If they told you it was easy, they lied. Many are called to partake in eternity/heaven, but few are chosen (Matthew 22:1-14 NKJV).

 

👉🏽 It’ll be a few chosen on that day of Judgement to cross heaven’s gate. Choose the hard and narrow way that leads to life; Jesus! (Matthew 7:13-14 NKJV).

 

👉🏽 Why is it hard? You must continually deny a self-centered nature that wants to control you. (Matthew 16:24 NKJV)

 

There’s a nature inside of you that goes against the ways of God.

 

🤔 Think about it…

Do you have to teach a child to be selfish? Or do you have to teach them not to be selfish? Do you have to teach a child to be mean to their friends? Or do you have to teach them to be nice and kind to their friends?

 

There’s a sinful nature that comes with the flesh we live in (Genesis 8:21, Mark 7:20-23 NKJV)

 

🙌🏽 🙌🏽  I have Good news though…

 

👉🏽 Jesus paid a price for our sins by dying on a cross (1 John 3:5, 1 Peter 2:24-25 NKJV).

🤔  Why is this a big deal?

🤔 How does this relate to the children example?

Keep reading and I promise to tie it back in! 🤝 💯

👉🏽 The bible says that Jesus was God in the flesh. (John 1:14, 1 Timothy 3:16 NKJV). The Bible also says that He walked as a man who knew no sin. Yes, essentially, He was the perfect man. Spotless! (2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 John 3:5, 1 Peter 2:22 NKJV).

 👉🏽 Now, why did He have to die? 🤔

God’s law required a sacrifice to be given on behalf of the sins of God’s people.

(Mind you, these people had a sinful nature like the children. ☝🏽

I guess we would call them “can’t get rights”.. Lol)

There had to be a blood sacrifice given to compensate for the sins that were committed by people. It typically was a lamb that was considered spotless to be slaughtered for the sake of sin. The point of this was to represent something innocent taking the place of something that’s not innocent.

AKA Holy sacrifice.

I’m not going to get into detail about that now, but just know God set it up that way and what He says goes. 

(This happened in the Old Testament time frame of the Bible. I encourage you to look it up.)

👉🏽 Let’s fast forward to when Jesus came, which is the New Testament time frame of the Bible. Again, taking into consideration the fact that Jesus was God in the flesh and completely clean like a lamb, spotless without any sin. He died in the place of sin. The Bible tells us that He became our sin so that we can be set free from sin and the death that comes with it. We deserved death as punishment for our sin, but He became our replacement. Think of it this way, you commit a crime and then a friend goes to prison for the crime because he loves you and doesn’t want you to face the punishment.

This is what Jesus did!

Hallelujah 🙌🏽.

👉🏽 I said all that to say this, by Jesus dying on the cross, He took away our sins so we can now be spotless in the eyes of God (Colossians 1:21-23 NKJV). The keys to heaven are to maintain this position of being spotless from sin in the sight of God by following His commands (Revelation 22:14-15 NKJV).

Remember the Old Testament example where God’s people couldn’t stop sinning because of their sinful nature? Jesus circumcises the heart of man upon request to cut 🔪 away the sinful nature that we all have experienced (Colossians 2:11-15, Romans 2:29, Philippians 3:3 NKJV).

🧐 Here’s the tough part with this spiritual surgery; The cutting away does not take away the desires that are in our flesh. It cuts out the enslavement to these desires and gives us the ability to have Godly desires. Instead of being a slave to what the flesh desires we can now be a slave to what God desires for us (Romans 6:16-18 NKJV). By doing so, He gives us a brand-new heart ❤️ that’s filled with His Holy Spirit, which gives us the ability to love Him and our neighbor (Romans 5:5 NKJV).

Love is the root of obedience. This same Spirit gives us strength over the sinful nature that’s still present, so we can obey God instead of ourselves ✊🏽 🙏🏽  (Romans 6:19 NKJV).

 

The road is narrow, and the way is hard for believers due to the battle between the sinful flesh and the Holy Spirit inside of us. We will either follow the flesh or the spirit. How do we win this battle? We submit to the Spirit! 💯 (Galatians 5:16-26, Romans 8:1-17 NKJV).

So, how do we get to Heaven?

👉🏽  Choose Jesus over everything. It will be hard, it will be unpopular, it will be a narrow gate, but it will be worth it. God’s word does not come back void. He promises eternal life in Heaven with Him for those who follow Him. (John 3:16 NKJV).

I hope that makes sense!

God bless you!