Some good people are not going to go to heaven. That’s what God says. Take a look at John 3:17-18 and you‘ll see that God has laid down the criteria of what it takes to get into heaven and it’s not what many of us expect.
And it’s hard. It’s hard to think of people we love who are not going to be there. Not because they’re not generous, kind, loving, thoughtful, committed to their family and spouse, because they are. I was talking to my husband about a guy we know who is all those things. He’s what the world would see as ‘a good person,’ who has helped a lot of others. But he is not going to heaven.
It’s not that he doesn’t believe. He does have a belief structure. It’s just that his faith is in the wrong thing.
Years ago I remember a minister using this illustration about driving along a road and you come to a T intersection where one road leads to Sydney the other to Wollongong. (For those of you not in Australia, Wollongong is a number of miles south of Sydney – about an hour or so away) He said you can take the road and believe all you like it’s going to take you to Sydney but if you’re taken the wrong turn you’re still not going to reach Sydney. You’ll find yourself in Wollongong instead.
This is a clear picture of those who sincerely believe in something other than what the Bible teaches. They believe being good will get you to heaven, or they believe in Buddha or some other religion as they way to heaven but the Bible says categorically this is not the case John 14;6, John 3:18, Mark 16:16. They are on the wrong road, going the wrong way. God says those who do not belive in Jesus are condemned John 3:18.
There is on way only faith in Jesus. Have you taken a wrong turn? Can I urge you to get yourself on the right road? What about your loved ones, which road are they on. How can you be a signpost pointing them to the right way?
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