What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Romans 7:24-25 (NIV)
Is it possible for him to go to heaven?
Earlier this week, one of our well-known world leaders shared his thoughts about the possibility of getting into heaven. He joked that he didn’t see the likelihood of this happening. Perhaps he was reflecting on the choices he had made in his life and believed that they automatically disqualified him from heaven. A reporter questioned the world leader about whether he thought his recent amazing accomplishments might be the thing that gets him into heaven.
Could his extraordinary feat of possible peace in this war torn area be his open door to heaven?
It’s not about earning our way
The answer to that question is solidly NO according to the word of God. Life in heaven is part of the gift of salvation; the gift offered by God to everyone as stated below in Ephesians:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)
Good lives, good deeds and good reputations cannot provide us passage to heaven. There is nothing this leader nor any of us can do to earn or buy our way into heaven to spend eternity with God.
As I listened to the leader contemplate his worthiness to get into heaven, I understood why he felt it would be difficult. Because I too can’t see myself getting into heaven based on how I’ve lived here on earth. All of us have our skeletons in the closets that should cause us to say what a wretched man or woman I am! (Romans 7:24). There are things in there that we wouldn’t want the light of day to expose.
The word of God is true when it says, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23 NLT). This leader’s honest self-evaluation in that moment reminded me of this truth: the gift of salvation we possess has nothing to do with us but everything to do with The One, whom God provided, to be the only way back to Him (see John 14:6).
Awareness of unworthiness is the beginning
After watching this world leader honestly and rightly assess his inability to get to heaven on his own merit, I wanted him to know that the awareness of one’s unworthiness was not the end. In fact, it is the beginning for all of us. It is the beginning of understanding that we cannot save ourselves but need a rescuer to save us from the very real deathly consequences of our sinful state. Once we are aware of our wretched state and recognize the death that stares us in the face, we are able to grasp the enormity of the gift God offers us through His Son Jesus Christ.
For the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 (ESV)
This is truth that gives us hope in spite of who we are and what we have done in our lives. So many are walking around thinking there is no hope for them because they are so fixated on their past and are completely unaware of what Jesus has done for them. As believers we still have much work to do to get the Gospel message out.
Can he go to heaven?
So, is it possible for him to go to heaven?
The answer to that question is solidly YES! I pray that a believer took this world leader aside and shared the life changing truth that entry into heaven wasn’t about what he has done but what Jesus did years ago on the cross. I pray that the Lord will reveal to us others who also wrongly believe that being heaven bound is dependent on them so we can replace this lie with the truth. Then they all can join us as we profess humbly:
What a wretched man I am!
Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Romans 7:24-25 (NIV)
Considerations 