The first thing to remember is that
nobody "deserves" Heaven. Not the holier-than-thou religious elite, and not the serial murderers. We all stand equally undeserving before God.
If you look at Jesus' ministry, you'll see that he didn't spend much time hanging out with the religious intelligentsia (Pharisees, mostly). He spent the majority of his time hanging out with thieves, whores, and other generally undesirable people.
One time, the Pharisees called him on it. They said, "Hey, if you're the Son of God, why is it that you're eating dinner with these lowlifes?" Jesus then related three parables, the most powerful of which is the parable of the prodigal son.
In that story, a rich landowner has two sons. The younger "quits the family" by claiming his inheritance early and leaving for a foreign country. He squanders everything he owns until he is penniless, cleaning up after pigs just to make enough money to eat.
He realizes he has seriously screwed up, and his father's servants have it ten times better than he does. He decides to return home so he can beg his father for a job as a lowly servant. Upon returning home, his father sees him,
runs to him, and embraces him with open arms. He won't even hear his son's request to be made a servant, but instead returns him to his original position as an heir to the family and slays a prime cow to celebrate with.
Now, here's the important part. The older son has been working hard in the field all day. When he returns home, he sees the commotion and realizes his brother has returned. He complains to the father, basically saying what you're saying. "I've worked hard all my life and you won't even give me a goat to celebrate with my friends. However, when your other son returns after partying away his entire inheritance, you give him the best animal in the entire stockyard for his celebration."
The father pointed out this: "You shouldn't be upset. Your brother had gone away, but has returned again. What was lost is now found."
You and I have the position of the Pharisees and the older brother. We sometimes think we're "more deserving" because we haven't killed anyone, haven't raped anyone, haven't molested anyone, etc. If you're honest with yourself, though, I'm quite certain you'll find some areas in your life that you aren't too proud of. A speaker once said, "If my innermost thoughts were open for examination,
they would shame Hell."
The admission requirements for Heaven are steep. Quite simply, they are
perfection. I'm not perfect, and I'm willing to step out on a limb and assume you're not perfect either, which is why Jesus comes into the equation.
Are you familiar with the "Roman Road"? It's a short set of scriptures found in the book of Romans that addresses your standpoint perfectly. Romans 1:19-20, 23, and 10 address the question of our standing before God prior to salvation. I'll paraphrase for ease of reading...
Quote:"At the very least, we know the law says that everyone is guilty. Every mouth will be stopped, and all the world is guilty before God. Therfore, because of the law, nobody will be justified in his sight, because the law gives knowledge of sin."
"For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."
"It is written, there are none righteous, no, not a single one.
Again, nobody deserves Heaven. Not you, not me, and not the lowliest lowlife scum in the prison of your choice. Why? Take another step on the Roman Road in Romans 5:12 and you'll see the answer.
Quote:"Sin entered into the world through one man (Adam), and death entered through sin. Thus, death spread to all men, because all sinned."
Adam screwed it up. I could get into a great deal of theology here and discuss Adam's role as our seminal and federal father and exactly how that obligates us to carrying his burden, but suffice it to say that Adam screwed up and we're still paying for it.
You see,
that is what is keeping us out of heaven, and
that is why Jesus had to die on the cross for us.
Here's another question for you to think about.
Which sins did Jesus die for? Did he
only die for the occassional lie, the binge drinking session, the pre-marital sex, etc? Did he
not die for rape? Did he
not die for child molestation? Did he
not take the sin of murder upon his shoulders at Calvary? I contend that he
did. He took upon himself every single sin that had ever occurred, was occurring, or ever would occur. Including rape. Including murder. Including child molestation.
We are no better than the Pharisees when point out a specific sin and say, "They're too lost for God to save them." Moreover, we're limiting God's power and Jesus's saving grace when we say He can't do something. Don't limit God!
One last thought. A saved person is completely incapable of escaping their salvation. There is nothing you can do to renounce or lose your salvation. The Bible is very clear about that. One thing to remember is that "your" salvation isn't really yours at all. God saves you, and "your" salvation belongs to Him. Here's what Jesus had to say about the matter, paraphrased for clarity...
John 10:29 - God gave the saved people to me, and He is greater than anyone else. No man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Nobody. Not even you can remove yourself from God's grace. It's a permanent, irrevocable decision and God isn't going to let you out of your obligation once you've made your commitment. Not even if you kill someone.
-b0b
(...was slightly long winded.)
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