Who Gets Into Heaven — E.A. Johnston

The Question of Who Gets Into Heaven

There was a time in my life where I was clueless on how a person got to heaven. I remember it well. A co-worker who was a Christian asked me a question. She said, if you died, do you know if you'd go to heaven?

Heaven Requires Righteousness Beyond the Pharisees

And I replied, I hope so. But my hope of heaven was like most folks. It was nothing more than a hole in the wall. The title of my message today, friends, is, Who Gets into Heaven? We can see the answer in our text today, found in Matthew's Gospel, in chapter 5 and verse 20.

Jesus is speaking here, and he makes an astounding statement. Well, there was no religious group more religious than the scribes and the Pharisees, who kept every letter of the law, even adding some of their own.

Jesus explains the requirements by saying, if you want to get into heaven, your righteousness must exceed theirs. Jesus sets the bar high, and these religious leaders didn't even get in themselves. So this begs the question, friend, who gets into heaven?

Salvation Is Not Earned by Good Works

We will answer this by the process of elimination. Number one, it's not by good works. You cannot earn heaven by doing good deeds. We see this in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, which declares, For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Well, who gets into heaven? First, we must eliminate all those people who are working their way to heaven, for it's not by good works. Number two, it's not by good character.

Good Character Cannot Meet God's Standard

A friend once asked me to go witness to his aunt who was dying in the hospital. And when I got there, she told me that she was going to heaven because she'd never robbed a liquor store or killed anybody.

That's what the old girl said. She believed she was good enough for heaven because she wasn't bad enough for hell. But that was her bar that she said that she could jump over. But the bar Jesus set was much higher than that.

He said your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. That knocks out everybody because my Bible says in Romans, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

You see, friends, when I replied to my co-worker years ago that I hoped to go to heaven, I didn't know how high God had set the bar to get into heaven. He requires perfection, and no man or woman is perfect.

All have broken God's holy law by sin. I didn't understand at the time how strict and how severe the law of God is that God will hold each person accountable to his law. Every mother's son will be judged by the strictness and severity of the law of God, and all will fail that test if you stand there in your own goodness or your own merit.

So we see it's not by good character either. Number three. It's not by good church membership. Many today mistake salvation for church membership, but it won't help you if you are a member of the Methodist Church, or if you're a member of the Catholic Church, or if you're a member of the Presbyterian Church.

Church Membership Cannot Save

Even if you're a member of a Baptist Church, your church membership by itself will only send you to hell. George Whitefield used to look heavenward while he was preaching and cry out, Gabriel, have you any Methodists in heaven?

No, no Methodists here. Gabriel, have you any Baptists in heaven? No, no Baptists here. Gabriel, have you any Presbyterians in heaven? To which the angel replied, no, all we have here are Christians washed in the blood.

Christ's Righteousness as the Only Ground of Acceptance

In other words, friends, I know I am a sinner, and I need a substitute for sin in the person of Christ Jesus. So the answer to the question, who gets into heaven? It's not by good works. It's not by good character.

It's not by good church membership. But only by the good shepherd. The only ones whom God will allow into his holy heaven are those persons who have the merits of the Lord's life laid down and applied to them.

So when a thrice holy God looks at you, friend, he says, when I see the blood. The best way I can answer our question today, friends, on who gets into heaven is by relating the following story, and then I'll close.

The Thief Welcomed Into Heaven by Jesus

Listen to the story, friends, for it can change your life. A man was traveling through the city of St. Louis on a Sunday morning. So he decided to park his car at a downtown church and go into the service.

Once inside, he realized he was the only white man in an all-black church. He took a seat on the back row so not to disturb anyone, for the service had already begun. Up on the platform was a well-dressed man who was the pastor of that church.

And he was speaking on the subject of heaven that morning. And this is what he had to say. He said, some folks call heaven a paradise. Other folks call it Abraham's bosom. But I see heaven this way. Here is Jesus, just returned from his earthly ministry.

And the angel Gabriel greets him at the pearly gates. Hello, Jesus. Sure is good to see you, Jesus. We sure missed you up here, Jesus. Welcome home, Jesus. But wait a minute. Who is that with you? Is that that thief?

That thief from the cross? Oh, no, sir. I'm sorry, Jesus. We can't have any thieves up in here. Jesus replied, never you mind, Gabriel. Never you mind. And Jesus placed his arm around the thief in a big hug and said to Gabriel, open the gate.

He's with me.