Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 10
February 12, 1959
NUMBER 40, PAGE 12a

Do You Want To Go To Heaven?

Robert L. Craig, Port Arthur, Texas

"My little children, let us love not in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth, and hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him" (I Jno. 3:18-19.)

As far as I know there is no one who actually does NOT want to go to heaven when he dies. You could stop people on the street and ask them if they wanted to go to heaven, and I am almost sure the answer would be unanimously "Yes". Even he who calls himself an atheist would say, "If there is such a place, yes."

And, I am persuaded, if we went further in our conversation, nearly everyone would agree that a man can not go to heaven unless he does what God wants him to do. This conversation would then lead us into a discussion of, what does God want us to do? By quotations from the Bible, the honest person should soon agree that "whatever the Bible says" is the thing that must be done to make a man well-pleasing to God.

It would not take long then to show the honest person that to become a child of God one must be a believer in Christ (John 8:24), that he must repent of his sins (Acts 17:30), that he must confess his faith in Christ (Romans 10:10), and that he must be baptized into Christ for the remission of his sins. (Acts 2:38.)

And, to almost all Christians, there would be very little talk necessary concerning the nature of their duty before God. They would agree immediately that a Christian must "assemble with other Christians" (Heb. 10:25), sing (Col. 3:16), pray (I Tim. 2:8), contribute (I Cor. 16:2), and partake of the Lord's Supper upon the first day of the week. (Acts 20:7.) They would also agree that the Bible teaches that a Christian must be doing good. (Matt. 25:34-46, Gal. 6:10.)

But, with saint and sinner alike, there would be an almost universal hesitancy to DO what they are convinced is the will of God. There is this slowness and hesitation present even among those who know that if they fail in those things they have learned, they can not hope for heaven as an eternal home.

Therefore, the only conclusion I can logically draw is: "very few people have considered very deeply the real question of heaven and hell" — the eternal hereafter. This is a lesson for you and me as individuals. No congregation, preacher, or group of people can decide it for us. Do YOU want to go to heaven when you die? I do.

Let us begin this day to cleanse our hearts of all evil, to let the spirit of God rule in our souls and be shown in our lives. If this is not done in all the things we have mentioned above, then we shall not dwell throughout eternity in the bliss of God's presence.

"The day is fast passing, the night is at hand — let us labor while it is still day for the night cometh when no man can work."