Hope Church LV Sermons
God I've got a Question :: Do all Religions Ultimately Lead to Heaven
I grew up in a little small town in the northwest corner of Alabama called Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Muscle Shoals, Alabama is probably not on most of your radar. It's just a little small blip on the map. It's such a small town that when you grow up in Muscle Shoals, I think I was 12 years old before I knew Sweet Home, Alabama wasn't the national anthem. I thought that that's just what everybody's saying. If you were going to travel from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, you could head out towards Old Henderson and take that 93 highway down to Kingman, Arizona. And in Kingman, Arizona, you could jump on the Interstate 40 heading east. And you could drive across I-40 East, and you would go through towns like Flagstaff, Arizona, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Amarillo, Texas, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, until you finally reach Memphis, Tennessee, home with some great barbecue in Memphis, Tennessee. When you get to Memphis, Tennessee, you have to get off of I-40 and jump on to a little highway called Highway 22 and take that east over a couple of hours. And you will finally arrive there in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. But if you're not partial to Interstate 40, for some reason you don't like I-40, you could go on South Pass, Kingman, Arizona. And you could go all the way down to Phoenix. When you get down to Phoenix, you could jump on the I-20, the I-20, one of the southernmost interstates in America. And you could start heading east on I-20, and you could drive all the way to you get to Texas, and then the I-20 splits. And I-10 and I-20, I-10 goes a little further south. And you could stay on I-20 all the way until you get to the state of Alabama. You'd roll into a place called Birmingham, Alabama. But you got to get off I-20 at Birmingham, by the way, there's some good barbecue in Birmingham, too. And I can show you where that is. Dreamland ribs. If you've never had it, go online and order it. It's worth it, I promise. In Birmingham, you jump off the I-20, 'cause if you don't get off I-20, you'll wind up in Atlanta, Georgia. Get off the I-20 head north on I-65 until you come to a little highway called 157. You jump off on that little highway and head west. About an hour later, you'll be in the little town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Now, if you don't want to spend 40 hours in a car, another alternative is you could drive about 10 minutes down to McCarran International Airport. You could buy an airplane ticket, and that airplane ticket would take you from here to Memphis, Memphis to Tupelo, Mississippi, Tupelo, Mississippi, and to Muscle Shoals. That's the only way to get there by airplane, I promise. If none of those suit you, and you wanna just do something real crazy, you could drive down to San Diego and rent a boat. And get on that boat and take it all the way around Mexico until you get to the Panama Canal, you could go through the Panama Canal, come out into the Gulf of Mexico, drive that boat north up until you hit Gulf Shores, Alabama, in the Gulf of Mexico, also known as the Redneck Riviera. (audience laughs) Now, I can call it that 'cause I grew up there, and that's what we call it, right? When you get to Gulf Shores, Alabama, you have to rent a car, drive up through Mobile, head north on I-65, do you get to Birmingham, get off I-65 there at Birmingham? Onto the highway 157, drive west, until about an hour you'll get to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Now, the point is, there's a lot of ways to get from Las Vegas, Nevada to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. And it's kinda silly, and it's kinda funny when we talk about all the different ways you could travel from Las Vegas, Nevada to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, but unfortunately, it's not as silly, nor is it funny when you realize that that's the way most people also view eternity. Most people think eternity's a real place, heaven's really out there, but there's a lot of different ways to get there. Probably the most influential media personality of my lifetime has been Oprah Winfrey. And her prime Oprah Winfrey was watched daily by tens of millions of people all around the world. Oprah did an interview in 2002 with Christianity today, and in that interview, in that magazine, you can still find the article entitled "The Church of O," in that article, Oprah expressed pretty succinctly what is the predominant view of the path to eternity in our culture in America, and here's what she said. One of the biggest mistakes we make is to believe there is only one way. There are many diverse paths leading to what you call God. She's simply expressing what most people in our culture believe, that it does not matter what you believe as long as you are simply sincere. It doesn't matter what religion or faith expression you follow, because ultimately all of these faith expressions are leading to the same place. As a matter of fact, the Washington Post did a survey, one of the largest surveys ever done around this subject, they surveyed 36,000 Americans. Listen what they reported. 70% of those affiliated with a religion believe that many religions can lead to eternal salvation. George Barna went on and did another survey, and he discovered that 43% of Americans believe that it does not matter what religious faith you follow because they all teach the same lessons. In that same survey, he uncovered that 59% of Americans believe that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, even though they have different names and beliefs regarding God. 59% of American. Last weekend, we began a series here at Hope, simply entitled, God, I've got a question. Trying to look at some difficult questions that people ask and provide some answers to those questions. And last weekend, we began by answering the question, "God, can I really trust the Bible?" Now, if you were not here last weekend, let me encourage you to go online and watch last weekend's message because it's in that message that we lay the foundation for the source from where we're looking for answers to the other questions that we're going to address. Last weekend, and you can go and watch it online, we lay down the foundation that the Bible is the most documented source work that we have from antiquity. So you may not agree with everything in the Bible, you may not like everything in the Bible, you may not even believe everything in the Bible, but you have to at least deal with what the Bible says because it is a credible historical document. This weekend, we're asking a second question. God do all religions ultimately lead to heaven. Now, to begin, I want you to use your imagination with me this morning, all right? And I hope you've had your coffee because it's going to require you using a little bit of your imaginative powers. But I want you, everybody in the room right now, to imagine that you are holding a blank index card. You ready? All right, come on, grab your card and hold it. I'm serious, grab your card and hold it. I want you to imagine with me. We all got our index card, it's blank, except at the top, there's one question on your card. Look at it, you see it? There's a question right there. Now, here's what the question is, look at it up here on the screen. If you were to stand before God, and he should say, why should I let you into my heaven? What would you say? At your card, you got it? Let me see it. Everybody got their card? There's the question. You stand before God and he says, why shall I let you into my heaven? What would you say? Now, here's what I want you to do. I want you to reach and grab your imaginary pen, all right? Now, I want you to write down your answer. Now, we're doing it like this because I didn't want you to be embarrassed, anybody looking over your shoulder and seeing what you write down, all right? But I want you to do it right now. Take a couple seconds. How would you answer that question on your imaginary index card? Just write it down right there. Now, I want you to take your index card. I want you to fold it. I want you to put it in your pocket. Now, we're gonna come back to it in just a little bit, all right? Remember where you put it? (congregation laughing) 'Cause we're coming back there. Before I answer this question, I want to read to you from the Bible where Jesus basically gave the answer to that question. Jesus was talking about heaven. He was talking about eternal life. And in the middle of his conversation, one of his disciples said, "Lord, how do you get there?" I want you to look at it. You have your Bible, open it to John 14, and I'm gonna read verses one to six. John chapter 14, we're gonna start in verse number one. Here's what it says. Jesus says, "Do not let your heart be troubled. "Believe in God, believe also in me. "In my father's house are many dwelling places. "If it were not so, I would have told you "for I go to prepare a place for you. "If I go and prepare a place for you, "I will come again and receive you to myself "that where I am, there you may be also. "And you know the way where I'm going." And Thomas said, "Lord, we do not know where you're going. "How do we know the way?" Jesus said to him, I am the way. The truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, but through me. What I wanna do this morning is I wanna ask and answer three questions to answer the big question, but I wanna give a little disclaimer up front, all right? You ready, don't you love it when people do that? Here's the disclaimer. Don't turn me off until you hear everything I'm going to say, all right? Don't run out of here and say, "Well, Pastor Vance, you gotta hear it all, all right? "If you agree with me that you'll listen to everything "before you bring Judge and Jerry to the table, "not your head at me, all right? "You're gonna listen to everything "before you give judgment on what I say today." Here's the three questions. Here's the first one, what is religion? What is religion? If you look it up in the dictionary, here's the definition that you'll find. Religion is an institutionalized or personal system of beliefs and practices relating to the divine. I wanna leave that definition up there for just a minute. He says, first of all, the dictionary says, "It's an institutionalized." That means something that is very formal and is highly structured. In one sense, religion can be a highly structured, very formal with all the bells and whistles and creeds and credences and uniforms and rituals and rites and ceremonies and robes. In some cases, religion is a highly structured system relating to the divine. But he also says sometimes it's just a personal. Meaning it's not as highly structured and institutionalized and organized. Sometimes it's just what I believe. I've created my own system and you've met people like that who would say, "I'm not religious," but they've actually what they've done is created their own system of what they believe and why they believe what they believe. Even if it's atheism, they can't prove it. So they've developed a system that enables them to express their belief about the divine. Here's what I want you to hear me say. The core of every religion. If you boil every religion down to its core, here's what it is. Every religion is man's systematic attempt to make himself acceptable to God. That's what religion is. And what's interesting, I've literally had the opportunity of the privilege to travel all over the world. I've been in some of the, I never dreamed a little boy from Muscle Shoals, Alabama could be in some of the places, I've been in some of the strangest, remotest parts of the world. And in every corner of the globe, let me see what I found. Everywhere, now they call it a million different things, but in every corner of the world, society has created a system. Some measurement, some system of steps and works and do, and they say if you just do these things, then God will accept you. And you can have heaven when you die. You can call it the five pillars of Islam, the seven sacraments of Catholicism, keeping the law in Judaism, the three jewels and five precepts of Buddhism, or the do's and don'ts of so-called Christianity that is taught all over America, you boil it down and here's what it teaches. If you just do these things, then God will accept you. That's religion. Here's second question, are all religions the same? Yes. No, wait a minute, that's not what I thought you could say. Now that's why you guys stay with me to the end, all right? But all religion is the same. It doesn't matter what label you put on it or what you call it. Let me give you three reasons why all religion is the same. Number one, all religion begins with the wrong assumption. Now with every one of these statements, I'm gonna give you a motto, if you will. All religion begins with the wrong assumption. Here's the motto, I can, I can. You see, all religion wrongly assumes that there is something I can do to save myself. There's some work I can perform, there's some activity I can get involved in. And if I just do it long enough and faithful enough and am devoted enough to it and am sincere enough about it, if I simply do these things, then somehow God will accept me. Religion begins with the wrong assumption. The religion of Jesus' day, the predominant religion, was the religion of Judaism. Now what had happened over time is that the Jews had taken the law of God that was divine and precious. And they'd taken the law and by the time Jesus came on the scene, the scribes had interpreted the law and written down literally hundreds of practical applications of the law, down to all kinds of little minute details to the point where you could not spit on the Sabbath because if you spit on the Sabbath, that was watering the ground and that was deemed to be work and therefore breaking the law of God. There were all these hundreds of laws that the scribes had interpreted out of the original law and the Pharisees had taken that law and they were imposing it onto the people saying if you won't God to be happy, if you won't God to accept you, if you won't God to relate to you, then you've got to keep every one of these laws doing the very best they could to be good. Can I show you what the Bible says about the law? I want to put a verse up on the screen. Hebrews chapter 10 verse one, look what it says. Now I've underlined some things here, we're going to get to that in a minute, but listen what it says, for the law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year make perfect those who draw near. Here's the Bible making a statement about the law and I've underlined really the essence of what it says, I want you to read the three underlined phrases out loud with me, you ready? Here we go, one, two, three, the law can never make perfect. Say that again with me, the law can never make perfect meaning that there is no way that you and I can ever earn a right standing before God through the law. There's nothing I can ever do to make myself right with God even keeping God's divine law. Did you know that that's not even the reason the law was given? God didn't give us the law for us to keep so that he would accept us. Let me tell you why God gave us the law. The law is a picture of the holiness and the righteousness of God. And when I look at the law, you know what I found out about myself? I'm not holy, I'm not righteous, I'm not perfect. The law shows me how unlike God I am because of my inability to keep the law. It doesn't matter how hard I try, I can't undo the reality that I have broken the law of God. You say then what's the purpose of the law? The purpose of the law is to show us our need for a savior. Let me show it to you in the Bible, John chapter five. Listen what Jesus said to the Pharisees. He said, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. Here's what he says. He says, you guys are consumed with the Old Testament law. You're writing down all the rules and regulations believing that in them you have life. But look what he said, it is these that testify about me. And you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have the law was given to show us our inability to perform up to God's standard and our need for a savior to reconcile us. To God, James Montgomery boy said it this way. They missed the major point of the law. For the law was not given to help them do better than others, but to show them that no matter how well they did, they could not do well enough to satisfy God. That's why Paul and Romans said it this way. There is none righteous, not even one. Put that verse up on the screen. Romans chapter three and verse 10, read it with me. There is none righteous. And in case we didn't understand none, let's read the last phrase, not even one. Here's what that means. There's none of us that measure up to God's standard on our own. Religion begins with the wrong assumption because religion says you and I can earn a right standing before God. Let me tell you the second reason all religion is the same. All religion pursues the wrong direction. Here's the motto, I must. You see, because the assumption of religion is I can, here's the essence of religion, I must. Because I can do these things, then I must. And so now the focus of religion, what's happening this weekend all across our country and all over the world, in synagogues, and mosques and temples and in churches. There are people standing up claiming to be spokesman from God who are saying, if you will simply do these things, if you'll do this, this, this, this, and if you'll not do this, this, this, and this, then you can know God. You can have a relationship with God. The assumption is you can. And so the impetus of the challenge is you must. And they lord it over people. Exactly what was happening in Jesus' day. Lording the rules and the regulations and the do's and the notes. And when you're called in that system, here's what happens. No matter how hard you try, you never measure up. And it doesn't matter what you call it. I've sat twice in the mosque of Muhammad Ali, not the boxer, the guy from Egypt, where his remains are buried in Cairo. I've sat twice in that mosque. When you enter the mosque, you have to take your shoes off and if you have shorts on, you have to wrap a blanket around your legs to come in. And twice I've sat there and listened to an imam explain to me the five pillars of Islam. Pillar number one, declare. Every Muslim must declare that there is no God, but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. Secondly, every Muslim must pray five times every day and listen to me. You want to talk about sincere? I know we see stuff on the news and it's bad, but the vast majority of the Muslim world that I've encountered and been exposed to are not what you see on television. Any more than what they get of us on television is who we really are. Don't believe that filter is just broken one way. That's broken both directions. I've been in those Islamic cities five times a day when the call to prayer breaks out from the mosque. And I've watched hundreds of devout, sincere Muslims stop in markets and in airports and on busy streets and roll out a carpet and start bowing down towards Mecca to the point where they're rubbing their head on the carpet so long that it begins to literally wear the skin off of their forehead. Number three, they're commanded to give two and a half percent of their income annually to a needy Muslim. They're commanded to fast during the month of Ramadan during daylight hours. And then finally, if physically and financially they have the ability they are required in their lifetime to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. And a devout Muslim is told if you will simply do these things, you can go to heaven when you die. But it's not just Islam. In our own country, we have a pseudo Christianity that's being taught in churches all across America this morning that says go to church, read your Bible, pray every day, give some of your money, serve in the city, go on mission trips. Oh, and then by the way, there's this list of stuff you're not supposed to do or I grew up. They said you don't drink smoke or chew or run with those that do. Right? That's the way it was explained in my town. What's funny is depending on where you live in America, the box of what you're not supposed to do is a moving target. They call it Islam, we call it Christianity, but at the end of the day, it's the same thing. Here's the four or five things you got to do. Here's the things you're not supposed to do and you hope for the best in the end. You know the problem with all that? The problem with all of that is that it doesn't fix the problem. You see, the problem is not on the outside. The problem that I've got is not an exterior problem. My problem is a heart problem. It's a problem on the inside where on the inside, my heart has rejected God. My heart has worshipped at the altar of myself, wanting what I want and because of my sin, I'm separated from God. The problem is not an external problem that I can just cover up with adding a few activities to my life. The problem is a heart problem on the inside. Listen to me. You can take a hog and you can clean him up and wash him and you can put a bowl on his neck. But as soon as you open the door, let me tell you where that hog is going. He is going straight back to the pig pen. Why? Because on the inside, he's a hog. I know for some of you city folks, you don't understand that. You think hogs are pink. You read about him in your little storybook. (audience laughing) You can clean it up on the outside. Here's the reality. There's some of you sitting in here this morning and you're here because you think this is something you must do in order for God to accept you. (audience laughing) You're here today checking off a box of one of the things on the to-do list you have to do to be able to go to heaven when you die. The most religious group of people in Jesus' day were the Pharisees. Now we hear the word Pharisee and we think of the bad guys in the New Testament, but they were more than the bad guys in the New Testament. The Pharisees were the most respected religious people in their community. So matter of fact, if you'd ask any Jewish mom or dad, they'd wanted their kids to grow up and model their lives after the Pharisees. They were the most devout, the most religious. Not only had they devoted themselves to keep the law, but they had made a public declaration that they would keep all of the hundreds of the scribble interpretations of the law and they devoted themselves to keeping every one of those points of the law. Devout, sincere, most of them very respected, honorable men. Listen to what Jesus said to them in Matthew, chapter 23. He said, "Whoa, to you scribes and Pharisees. Hippocrates, for you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you too outwardly appear righteous, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." Listen, there is no religious expression that we can participate in that will change the fact on the inside. We are dead to God. Religion can't change that. Religion begins with the wrong assumption, I can. So it pursues the wrong direction, I must. Number three, the reason all religion's the same is because all religion ultimately trusts in the wrong savior. I am. You see, here's the fallacy of religion. If it's really a system that earns you a right relationship with God, at the end of the day, you can put your faith in God. You put your faith in you. You see it? You're not trusting God for salvation. You're trusting you. How arrogant. How arrogant for us to have an attitude towards the God of heaven that says, "I am my own savior." You see, all religions are ultimately the same because all religion, it doesn't matter what you call it, is a cheap counterfeit for what God offers in the Bible. I'm gonna say it again. Religion is a cheap counterfeit for what God offers in the Bible. But here's what's said. Some of you think you're walking around with real money in your pocket. You don't know it's counterfeit. You think it's real. And you're passionately sincere about the reality of what you believe is gonna get you to heaven. Well, pastor, if religion's not the answer, then what he is. You know what's interesting? That's really the very question Thomas asked Jesus in John 14. Lord, for three years, I've walked with you. And for three years, I've seen you challenge these Pharisees who in my mind were the most spiritual people I knew. And Lord, you said they don't have a clue. And now you're telling me about a place you've prepared and I don't even know where it is. I don't even know how to start the thing how you get there. And Jesus looked at me, I want you to hear it again. Here's what he said. I, I am the way and the truth and the life. Now, it's important that you notice this. He did not say I am a way. Now, I'm not trying to be egotistical or arrogant from my point of view. I'm just telling you what the book says. You don't have to agree with it or believe it, but if you're going to do an honest evaluation of the integrity of this text from a historical standpoint, you got a lot to deal with. And I'll tell you what the book said. You can't take what the book said and then make it say what you want to say. I can't delude it through the lenses of my culture. The book says Jesus looked him in the eye and he said, I am definite article the way. Meaning, I am the way to God. Then he said, I am definite article the truth, the truth about God. Then he said, definite article, I am the very life of God. And just in case Thomas did not understand what he meant, he then said, no one. No one comes to the Father, but listen, you cannot say, Jesus Christ is one of many ways to be respected. Jesus is either a bold face liar, he's absolutely lost his marbles, or he is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to know God. (congregation applauding) Again, I'm not saying intellectually, you've got to agree with me. What I am saying is you can't lump him into a category of one of. He doesn't fit there. You see, Jesus in these verses, it's that little phrase, I am. It's in the Greek, it's emphatic, meaning that it could literally be translated, I myself am. Here's the point, he was not inviting them to a system. Listen, he was inviting them to a savior. You see the difference? He didn't say, here's the way, do this. He said, I myself am the way. Let me give it to you in a statement, following Jesus is a relationship, not a religion. It's a relationship. You see, Jesus didn't invite us to participate in a religion, he did not simply invite us to get involved in church, he didn't even invite us to simple moral activity. He invited us to know the very God of heaven through a personal relationship with him. You say, how is this possible? Let me give you, I wanna close by giving you three statements that summarize the whole message of the Bible. You ready? Here's the first statement. God loves you and created you to enjoy a relationship with him. I don't know where that statement finds you today, but I want you to think about it. You talk about what is the meaning of life, there it is. Now, you can chase money, you can chase sex or gender, you can chase money, you can chase sex or drugs or pleasure or fame or popularity or power. Let me tell you what's gonna happen. You're gonna wind up empty. You know why? 'Cause the meaning of life is you were created by God to be loved by God and to live your life in a fellowship relationship with God. Until that is the center, everything else will fall apart. It will never hold water. It may bring some temporary joy, it may bring some temporary happiness, but it will not last because you and I were created to know, God, let me show it to you in the Bible. First Timothy chapter two, verse three, listen what it says. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. The word desire, there's a word that means to want or to purpose, meaning that it is God's desire. It's God's purpose that every human being can only enjoy life in the context of a loving relationship with him. Here's the point, God made you and desires a relationship with you. Hmm, that's the first statement, here's the second one. Sin separates us from a relationship with God. Why is sin a big deal because sin robbed us of the very thing we were created to enjoy? You see, we were made for a relationship with God because we sinned, we're separated from God. Imagine with me for just a moment that these two fingers here represent, this finger represents me and then this finger represents God, all right? This Bible I'm gonna let represent sin. You and I come into this world, separated from God because of sin. Let me show it to you in the Bible. Isaiah chapter 59 and verse two. Look at it on the screen. He says, but your iniquities, it's another word for sin, your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God and your sin has hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. Sin separates us from God. Let me tell you what religion is. Religion is man's attempt to deal with this. Religion is man's attempt to try to somehow bridge the gap to get me back to God. You see, we know it. We know, we know from eternity being written on our hearts. We know from the truth of God that's even manifest in creation. We know that left to ourselves, we're not accepted by God because of our sin. And so man's created systems of religion all over the world to try to do everything they can to deal with this sin thing and to somehow make ourselves acceptable to God. The problem is, no matter how hard we try, no matter how much good I now do, it doesn't change the fact that I've still sinned against a holy God. All religion, man's attempt to deal with this problem. But religion always falls short because religion always looks to self to be the solution. Can I give you the good news? Here's the good news. God loves you and me so much. That through Jesus, he did for me what I could not do for myself, he removed my sin. Here's why Jesus came. Jesus came as God in the flesh. I don't mean a God, I mean the God. The Genesis 1-1 in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Jesus Christ took on human flesh, came into this world as God in the flesh. 100% God, 100% man. And he lived a completely sinless life. Why? So that his life was a qualified and acceptable sacrifice to a holy God. And on the cross, Jesus died. Why did he die? The Bible says the wages of our sin is dead because I'm separated from God. There was a penalty that had to be paid for my sin to be removed. On the cross, Jesus took all of my sin. On the cross, Jesus took all of your sin. And on the cross, Jesus died for our sin. He didn't just die though, he rose again as a testimony that God had accepted his sacrifice for my sin. Now Jesus on the cross took sin out of the way. (congregation applauding) And when I put my faith and trust, not when I go to church, not when I get religious, not when I turn over newly. No, when I just receive what Jesus already did, I'm given, listen, I don't deserve it, but I'm given by grace a personal relationship with the God of heaven. That is the good news of the gospel. Jesus did for us. Let me show it to you. I read a moment ago, first Timothy two, verses three and four, where it said God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Look at verse five, there is one God. Not two, not four, not eight, there's one God. And one mediator. You know what a mediator is, right? A mediator is somebody who comes in when a relationship has been broken and a mediator comes in and he reconciles those parties and brings, listen, there's one God. And because of my sin, I was separated from that God, but there is a mediator, thank God. One mediator, his name is Jesus Christ and he came to offer himself as a ransom to reconcile us to God. Listen, listen to this quote by James Merritt. I love this, look at it on the screen. Every other religion in the world spells salvation, D-O, because the way to God depends in some way on what you do. Christianity, real Christianity, spells salvation, D-O-N-E, because Jesus Christ has already done what we need for salvation through his death on the cross. So how do you get in on that? Well, the Bible says I simply repent, turn from my sin, and receive what he's already done. Nothing I have to do, just receive what's been done. I want you to reach in your pocket. I want you to grab your card. You remember where you put it, right? Why don't you pull it back out? Why don't you open it up? I want you to look at it. If you were to stand before God today and he were to say, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" What would you say? What did you say when you wrote down your answer? Did you say, "Well, I'm a good person?" Did you say, "I'm very religious." Did you say, "I'm very sincere in what I believe to be true?" Did you say, "I read my Bible every day. "I pray every day, I try to help other people." There's only one right answer to the question. And it's just Jesus. Why should I let you into my heaven? Jesus. I don't deserve it. But I know Jesus. And Jesus knows me. If your answer is anything, but Jesus, listen, not Jesus plus, if your answer is anything, but Jesus. Let me invite you today to turn from the sin of trusting in you and embrace who Jesus is. He is the way and the truth and the life. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. You [BLANK_AUDIO]