HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN
(Message by Tanny Keng)
1. Highway to Heaven
a) According to a recent news poll from a major news organization, 85% of people who believe in heaven but are not necessarily Christian believe that they will go to heaven. Even more surprising is the fact that 77% of people who claim no religious affiliation feel that they are good enough to go to heaven because they feel they are a “good person.”
b) If this is true, there is a broad 6-lane interstate highway to heaven and there be many who will find it. But what does the Bible say about who goes to heaven? Is there a broad path to heaven?
c) Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 7:13, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Two key elements Jesus spoke of here are that the gate that leads to destruction is broad and not narrow and that many enter through it. This statement by Jesus seems to contradict what most people believe. Jesus said that instead of a broad path or highway to heaven, there is a narrow gate and in fact “small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:14). This is in direct opposition to what most people think. The way to eternal life is narrow, the gate is small and most importantly, only a few find it — not many as most people think! This is not good news for those who feel that they are a good person or good enough to go to heaven.
d) Isaiah 35:8 confirms the fact that there will be a highway as the prophet says, “a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.”
e) This highway is called the Way of Holiness. That doesn’t sound like a highway for “good persons” but for holy persons and the wicked will not be traveling it. Jesus warns everyone to “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to” (Luke 13:24).
f) Here the way to enter is called a door and the doorway in narrow, not broad. Jesus even says that many will try to enter it and “will not be able to.” What is even more frightening is Jesus saying that many will come to Him expecting to go to heaven but He says, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”(Matthew 7:22-23).
g) How tragic that will be. Many will come to Him calling Him Lord but He who is your Lord is the one whom you obey. If Jesus says, “I never knew you” this means that He really didn’t know them and they didn’t know Him. They were not in His Word (the Bible), in His Body (the Church), in fellowship with Him (in prayer), and in relationship with Him (saved by His blood).
The End ...
1. Highway to Heavena) According to a recent news poll from a major news organization, 85% of people who believe in heaven but are not necessarily Christian believe that they will go to heaven. Even more surprising is the fact that 77% of people who claim no religious affiliation feel that they are good enough to go to heaven because they feel they are a “good person.”
b) If this is true, there is a broad 6-lane interstate highway to heaven and there be many who will find it. But what does the Bible say about who goes to heaven? Is there a broad path to heaven?
c) Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 7:13, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Two key elements Jesus spoke of here are that the gate that leads to destruction is broad and not narrow and that many enter through it. This statement by Jesus seems to contradict what most people believe. Jesus said that instead of a broad path or highway to heaven, there is a narrow gate and in fact “small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:14). This is in direct opposition to what most people think. The way to eternal life is narrow, the gate is small and most importantly, only a few find it — not many as most people think! This is not good news for those who feel that they are a good person or good enough to go to heaven.
d) Isaiah 35:8 confirms the fact that there will be a highway as the prophet says, “a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.”
e) This highway is called the Way of Holiness. That doesn’t sound like a highway for “good persons” but for holy persons and the wicked will not be traveling it. Jesus warns everyone to “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to” (Luke 13:24).
f) Here the way to enter is called a door and the doorway in narrow, not broad. Jesus even says that many will try to enter it and “will not be able to.” What is even more frightening is Jesus saying that many will come to Him expecting to go to heaven but He says, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”(Matthew 7:22-23).
g) How tragic that will be. Many will come to Him calling Him Lord but He who is your Lord is the one whom you obey. If Jesus says, “I never knew you” this means that He really didn’t know them and they didn’t know Him. They were not in His Word (the Bible), in His Body (the Church), in fellowship with Him (in prayer), and in relationship with Him (saved by His blood).
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