The dividing line for heaven and hell is not your works; the dividing line for heaven and hell is receiving Jesus Christ and the righteousness of God.

The moral man and the religious man both offer up to God reasons why they should have eternal life.  But in reality, they are going to burn in hell just like the drunk in the gutter if they don’t receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

The Bible says, “There is none righteous, no not one.”  All men have failed.  Romans 3:23 tells us, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  Man has his righteousness, his relative righteousness, but no one has God’s righteousness without Jesus.

It doesn’t matter how good you’ve been, how faithfully you’ve lived a religious life, or how much money you’ve given away.  You are no nearer salvation than Saul of Tarsus or the thief on the cross.  If you have not accepted Jesus Christ and based you hopes for heaven strictly on the merits of what He did on the cross, you have not received eternal life.

The Only Way to Heaven

There is only one way to get into heaven.  God gives the test, and you have to make 100 on it; 99 is failing; 99.9 is failing; 100 is the only passing grade.  Now, the difficult part is that no one can pass God’s test.  No one.  All have sinned and come short of the perfect score of 100.  No one can make it.

Except for one Man.  His Name is Jesus, and He passed the test.  For 33 years, He walked this earth and He never failed once.  He answered every question perfectly.  He made 100.

He went to the cross and died.  Why?  Because when He went to the cross, He swapped your flunking grade for His passing grade.  The Bible says the One Who knew no sin was made to be sin for you, so you could be made righteous.  In other words, the One Who knew no failure was made to be failure that you might have the 100 He scored on His test.  You can’t go to heaven unless you know the Man who can give You His score.  If you accept Jesus, then He will give you His 100.

When God asks, “What did you make on your test?” you can say, “I made 100 because Jesus gave it to me.”  Then God will say, “Walk through the door.  Welcome to eternal life.”  Praise God!

Making the Swap

The Bible makes it so simple.  Romans 10:6-10 tells how the exchange is made, how we can receive God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ:

“ But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down from above)

or “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):  

that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

When the religious man tries to establish his own righteousness, it is an insult to Jesus.  This verse tells us it is like pulling Jesus back down to the earth or going to the depths of the earth to lift Him back up and saying, “There is no sense in You going to hell for three days and three nights.  There is no sense in You ascending into heaven.  Your work doesn’t mean anything, Jesus.  It’s my work that means something.”

That is blasphemy!  There is no other way around it.  Anyone who tries to get saved by their own works is blaspheming the work of Jesus Christ.  Basically, they are saying. “So Jesus went to hell; it doesn’t matter.  So He ascended into heaven, it doesn’t matter.  I’m going to pay my own way.  I’m going to attend church.  I’m going to serve God.  I’m going to give.  I’m going to pray.  I’m going to do this and that.”  And Jesus is left out of the equation.

In contrast to this do-it-yourself salvation, what does the word of faith say?  It says, “Confess with your mouth Jesus is your Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, and you will receive the righteousness of God.”

Salvation is so simple.  It doesn’t take great works, it doesn’t take faithful church attendance.  It doesn’t take sacrificial offerings.  It is not hard.  In fact, salvation is so simple that anybody with a mouth and a heart can have it.

If it took work, some people couldn’t do it.  If it took a certain level of intellect, come people could never achieve it.  God made the plan of salvation so simple that the Old Testament says a wayfaring fool couldn’t err in it (Isaiah 35:8).  Both idiots and Ph.D.’s can receive it.  God made it so simple that short people, tall people, ugly people, beautiful people, intellectual people, nonintellectual people, moral, immoral, and amoral people can all receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Salvation is so simple.  It is a gift from God, offered to you as freely as it was offered to the thief on the cross.  If you have never received this free gift, you can do so today by praying this prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father,

You said in Your Word, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.  For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  I believe He died on the cross for my sins, and that He was raised from the dead.  I am calling upon His name – the name of Jesus.  I now confess Jesus as my Lord, so I know, Father, that according to Your Word, I am now saved!

Thank You, Father, for giving me the gift of righteousness.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

If you prayed that prayer, and meant it from your heart, a miracle just happened.  God swapped your human righteousness for the perfect, divine righteousness of His Son, Jesus.  God now sees you as spotless and blameless.  In His eyes, you are a new creation:  old things have passed away and all things have become new.

You have received the free gift of righteousness and it will never be taken away from you!