(Ephesians 2:8-9) "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast." Yesterday evening I heard someone make a statement that was very disturbing. That person was mentioning about going to Heaven and saying that we would be surprised who makes it into Heaven and those who won't. The one statement that I found startling was "A person will be lucky to enter into Heaven." Those weren't the exact words but I'm paraphrasing them. I was contemplating that statement and I recognized the folly of that statement. Entering into Heaven when one dies has nothing to do with luck. A person is saved by grace through faith. You either are saved or you aren't. You will either enter into Heaven as a saved person or you will enter into Hell as a lost person. There's no luck or blind chance involved when it comes to Heaven. There's people that have this belief that they hope that the good will outweigh the bad when it comes to the type of life they've lived on this earth and in the end the Lord will allow them to enter the Pearly Gates. It doesn't happen that way. Acts 4:12 says, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
I was looking up the words luck and lucky in Webster's dictionary and here are the definitions for both words. (1) Luck - The seemingly chance happening of events that affect someone; fortunate; lot. Good fortune. (2) Lucky - Having good luck. Resulting fortunately. Entering into Heaven has nothing to do with luck. God doesn't have a lottery draft board in Heaven in which there's a huge fishbowl with a list of people's names and the Father draws "x" number of names out of it and those that he draws out will enter into Heaven when they die. God doesn't work in that fashion. The Bible says "whosoever will". Some people are confuse over the Bible term "predestination" meaning God chooses for some to enter into Heaven for eternity when they die and God chooses for some to spend Hell in eternity. God has predestined that mankind will be saved. He desires all to be saved. However, only a few will choose to enter the straight path. God will not interfere with man's free will when it comes to salvation. Saying that a person will be lucky if they enter Heaven when they die is likewise saying there's another way to salvation other than the finished work of Christ on the cross. Luck doesn't enter into the equation. That's a trick of the Devil to deceive people into thinking that if they live a good, upright life, then God might be compassionate enough to allow them to enter into Heaven.
The reason why some people utter the statement that people will be lucky if they make it into Heaven is because of the poor testimonies of many people that claim to be saved. However, most of those people that live such worldly lifestyles are more than likely not saved. There's been many people that have made false professions of salvation but they weren't geniune. What's a good way to determine whether or not someone's profession is real? Nobody can really judge a person's salvation to be on the safe side, but there are evidences to know if a person's been saved. One of the evidences is a changed life. They're not the same person they were prior to salvation. They've changed in spite of themselves. Another evidence of salvation is their desires. The desires of a person that's experienced the new birth change. Those that are saved have a desire to attend and be faithful in church, to participate in the things of God, they have a new song to sing, and they want to fellowship and know the Lord. If a person that claims to be saved doesn't have any of the desires I just mentioned above, then they might not be saved. There are some people which you can obviously tell that aren't saved because there's no evidence of fruit growing in their lives. We know those that are atheists, homosexuals, and whoremongers, etc. who aren't saved. There's others that we can be suspicious of, but only God is the final judge. The best thing to do is pray for those people.
Nobody has ever been lucky to enter into Heaven. The only way a person can enter into Heaven is through the new birth. Nevertheless, luck isn't part of the equation. Nobody has ever entered into Heaven by blind chance. A person has either been washed by the blood or they haven't been. It's as simple as black and white. Any person today that enters into Heaven when they die must enter the same way the Apostle Paul, Peter, all those saints in the New Testament, and all those heroes of the faith throughout church history. No exceptions. Jesus paid the debt on Calvary. Salvation is clear-cut. Anybody that proclaims one can die and go to Heaven through luck is deceived.
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