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Text: John 3:16; Acts 4:12; Ecclesiates 12:13-14

***Excerpt from a conversation between Robert Leslie Holmes and his uncle Sam Heslip from the book: The Breath of Abundant Life.***

“Leslie, have you reached that point in your spiritual life where you know for certain that if you died today you would spend eternity with God in His heaven?” Uncle Sam’s words gripped me because they were direct and because I felt they begged for only one acceptable answer. For me that answer was “No.” It seemed to me that for anyone to “know for certain” was presumptuous and egotistical.

I replied, “I don’t think anybody can know that for sure.”

GOD WANTS YOU TO KNOW

“Really?” Uncle Sam opined, “Suppose I could show you that God actually wants you to know? What would you say?”

I said, “If that was the case, I’d say that I need to know.” Without saying a word, he opened one of his Bible on his desk and pointed out these words: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13).

Uncle Sam continued, “If God wants you to know that you have eternal life, shouldn’t pursuing that become one of your life’s main goals?” His words made sense. Somewhere within me there was a rapidly growing desire to listen carefully. It was God’s Holy Spirit prompting me to take careful stock of what I was being told.

Uncle Sam asked me another question, “Suppose you were to die today and God asked you, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’ What would you say to Him?”

VIRTUE IS A BAD THING!

I do not recall the exact words of my answer, but something about this question brought me face to face with the reality of mortality. I knew that I could die today. None of us will leave this world alive and most of us will have no control of when we do die. I was at the same time realizing that I could die at any moment and recognizing that it was clearly foolish for me not to have made preparation for that possibility and trying to frame what would be my best answer in words God might find acceptable. What would I say to God? What could I say to God?

To the best of my recollection, my answer went something like this: “I would say that I had not committed any big sins like murder or adultery and I had attended church and I pray sometimes.”

I was caught! The twinkle in my Uncle Sam’s eyes told me he knew already exactly where I was with God. He said, “Leslie, there is nothing worse than good works that think they can satisfy a sinner’s need of God!”

He proceeded at that point to tell me his own story of coming to faith. He began with a reassurance that there was a time in his own life when he would have answered as I had just done. “I needed to learn,” he said, “that all my good works together could never save my soul. One day I read in Isaiah, ‘We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags” (64:6).’” Then, he said, “I made the most amazingly wonderful discovery of my entire life. I learned that heaven is a free gift. Would you like to learn what I did?” I said I would and he invited me to draw my chair to his desk where we could look together at his Bible.

WAGES AND GIFTS

He pointed out these words: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). I had seen these words before. I remembered that they were painted on the side of a barn along the coast near where I had grown up.

“Do you realize what this tells us?” he asked. Quickly he added, “What, in your opinion, is the difference between wages and gift?” “The difference between wages and a gift”, I answered, “is that wages are something we earn and a gift is something someone gives us for nothing.”

“Exactly”, he said. “Now think about your answer a moment ago when I asked what you would tell God if you were asked why you should get into heaven. Were you describing wages or a gift?”

I realized immediately that my answer was all about wages. It spoke about what I might have earned by what I had done and not done. I had done what I considered to be some commendable things and I had not committed what I called “big sins.” Here was God’s own Word telling me that all the wages I had ever earned could never total enough to make me fit for heaven. I thought of that barn sign again and realized that as many times as I had read it I had never thought about what it was telling me.

Uncle Sam said, “Let me show you something else.” Opening his Bible at another place, he pointed out these words: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:8-10).

I knew these words too. I remembered preachers reciting them in sermons. I had read them in the Bible previously, but they seemed to have no particular meaning to me. “It’s not that works are a bad thing,” Uncle Sam said, “It is just that works by themselves cannot earn heaven. It takes something more. That something more is called grace. ‘For by grace are ye saved.’”

SINNERS UNANIMOUS

He opened his Bible at another place and showed me these words, “There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Romans 3:10-12). “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

“Do you see our human predicament?” he asked me. “All of us are stained by the same thing; you and me and everybody else in the world. We have all fallen short of God’s glory. We are unanimous in our guilt.”

He paused again before adding, “God, however, is holy. Look at what the Bible says here, ‘Be ye holy; for I am holy’ (1 Peter 1:16)… ‘The Lord our God is righteous in all His works’ (Daniel 9:14). He always does the right things. Because God is holy and righteous, He must keep His Word and His Word says, ‘the soul that sinneth, it shall die; and this, of course, ‘For the wages of sin is death’ (Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 6:23). This means that we have an impossible predicament. We have sinned and our death sentence has already been pronounced.

…Uncle Sam added, “what is more, we cannot save ourselves.” I knew that, for already I had resolved more times than I could remember to do better than I had done and I had failed every time. Like a kite on a windless day, I kept falling. I lacked the necessary power.

Truly, we all lack the necessary power to save ourselves. “Not the labours of your hands can fulfill the Lords demands…” There is salvation in no one else other than in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). And God has commandeth His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

Love has paid the prize for our death, and none other can equal the sacrifice Jesus made for you and I on the Cross. “There is no love greater than this, for someone (Jesus Christ) to die for His friends, for you and I” (John 15:12-13).

Finally, the whole essence of this piece is to reveal God’s will and desire for your life, to help you search deep into your soul and discover where you stand spiritually, and to help you determine your end when the roll is called up yonder. However, just re-echoing Uncle Sam's pertinent and profound question begging an answer, “Suppose you were to die today and God asked you, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’ What would you say to Him?” RSVP

*** Slightly edited by Jacobs Adewale (Admin) ***

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