Who Is Going To Heaven?
Who is going to heaven? In short, those who obey. That is the lesson brought to us by a man long ago dead. Not only dead but dead at the hands of his own brother. Abel, one of the first two males born of man, brings to us a lesson all people should learn.
Abel, the second son of Adam, born thousands of years ago, still speaks to us because he had a faith that was approved by God Himself. Hebrews 11:4, says “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts (his actions): and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” Was Abel given some special power that made him capable of keeping God’s commandments? No, Abel was not better than other men in any way. He had no special power or abilities. He would not be a source of encouragement to us if he was not just like us. He was just a man, yet he still speaks. Abel obeyed God and that alone made Abel our example, and that alone made him special to God.
Did Abel simply believe that God exists and so was approved of by God? Many today say we only have to believe. Is that true? Was Abel simply a good man and so God approved of him only because of his goodness? No. Abel offered “a more excellent sacrifice”. He was given instruction, by God, how he was to offer his sacrifice. Abel had something to do before he could be pleasing to God. This sacrifice was performed by Abel, by faith, that is, by understanding. The story of Abel illustrates to you and me that we can understand and follow, by faith. Faith is a path or as Jesus called it, the way. Abel had to do some things and there are things we have to do to be right.
How did Abel know what God wanted, so that he could offer a more excellent sacrifice? Why did he offer a sacrifice at all? Does the Bible answer these questions? God was not just picking favorites was He? The Bible does answer these questions and answers the most important question of all, ‘what is faith and how do we know we have the faith God wants us to have?’ Is your definition of faith as good as mine and mine as good as yours, or should we get the definition from the Bible? Abel got his definition from God, should we also get our definition from the same source?
God is not a respecter of persons, we learn this in Acts 10:34. Peter learned during his days as an apostle, that God wants every single human to become a christian. He learned that God, through Jesus, would save any man or woman of any and every nation. God desires that all people be saved, 1 Timothy 2:4. All are included. We have to make some choices, however, if we are to be included among the righteous. Cain and Abel were living in a different time, a different age, but God does not change in His love and desire for the well being of man. God makes His will known in every age and to all men. Cain and Abel were given knowledge of how they were to worship God. We know that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God”, Romans 10:17. Both Cain and Abel heard the word of God meant for their time. The word of God has been delivered in different ways during different times in the history of man, Hebrews 1:1-2, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son…”. So, God tells us what we need to know through His Son, Jesus. He told Abel and Cain to make a very specific type of sacrifice. He tells us what faith is and how we are to practice faith. He told those of the Old Testament age about their faith and how it was to be practiced. It was to be practiced differently than the faith that christians would practice many years later. We do not offer animal sacrifices, burn incense, tithe, build a temple or have a separate priest class and on and on. Even Cain and Abel were not instructed to do all of the things the Israelites had to do many years later revealed in the Law of Moses.
God makes clear the faith He wants practiced by people of different times. The type of faith practiced by Able has been removed. Old Testament faith has been removed, (Colossians 2:14). The New testament way has been established for us today. But, Abel is our example, not of how we worship God, but that we still must obey God. Don’t obey God and you will “go the way of Cain.”
Cain was a sinner and Abel was not. When Cain offered a sacrifice that God did not approve of, God spoke to Cain and warned him. God told Cain “sin lieth at the door.” God knew Cain’s mind, his heart, and he knew that Cain would make a decision to do right or do wrong. Cain chose wrong.
Sin is a transgression of the law. Sin is lawlessness or it is when you or I do things that are not approved by God. 1 John 3:4, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” When we transgress the law (the law of liberty) we have sinned, and you have sinned, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”, Romans 3:23. Cain “missed the mark”, that is what the word sin means, to miss what God wants you to aim for. Cain went his own way instead of going God’s way. That is clear in Jude 1:11 where it says, “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.” This verse in the New Testament is using Old Testament examples to show how christians who have made the decision to be sinners and not follow God’s instruction are in deadly risk of being lost! Cain was given instruction just as his brother was. Cain was a sinner, Abel was not. Abel was called righteous, Cain was punished as a sinner. If you go the way of Cain you will be punished.
Who will go to heaven? Those who have the kind of heart Abel had, a heart that desires to obey. What do we obey? Today we obey the Gospel of Christ. Those who wanted to do God’s will early in our christian age asked Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 1 and 2) what they were to do. In Acts 2:38 he told them to be baptized for the taking away of their sins. Mark 16:16 says, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” The first christians did this and as they obeyed God’s instruction given by Peter and the other apostles, they were added to the church, Christ’s church, Acts 2:47. Every person in the New Testament age, our age, has been instructed to obey in one specific way.
Your faith must be what God wants it to be. The “outline” of what faith is, is given in the gospel. Everyone who wants to be a christian must:
Believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is the Christ that died for the taking away of the sins of every person. Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” ,and, Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” and “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Mark 16:16.
Repent, Acts 2:38 and 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
You must confess that Jesus is the Son of God, Acts 8:36-37, “ and as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”, and, “confession is made to salvation” Romans 10:10.
You must be baptized. If you are not baptized for the purpose of having your sins taken away, you have not obeyed God and you are not saved. In every instance of a person being saved in the New Testament age they went through these steps and all who would be christians are baptized to have their sins washed away just as Paul did in Acts chapters 9 and 22. Baptism is for the taking away of sin, Acts 2:38.
You can not be pleasing to God nor can you be saved if you do not obey the steps above. Don’t do what men tell you to do, be like Abel, and do what God tells you to do. Jesus said that some people would worship, but as they did, their worship would be a waste of time! He said, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”, Matthew 15:8-9 How could worship be in vain? Because people often do the same as Cain... they make it up as they go.
By the way, not one person in the New testament age (the time after the resurrection of Jesus) not a single person, was or has been, or will ever be, saved by saying the “sinner's prayer”. There is no sinners prayer in any form found in the Bible that you should recite or rely on. The sinners pray, whatever that is, is NOT found by reading the Bible. You are like Cain if you think you can just "ask Jesus into your heart"
No sacrificing animals for you and me, but obeying God in the way He has prescribed and enjoying the fact that Jesus has become the propitiation for our sins. Ask your church leaders if you must be baptized to have your sins taken away, if they say no, they have gone the way of Cain and you had better run out of that place in a hurry and never turn back! Abel loved God because he kept His commandments, what are you going to do?
Balaam's Donkey