Heaven and Eternal Life: Good for a Salvation Presentation
by admin ~ September 4th, 2011. Filed under: Brandenburg, gospel.Should the plan of salvation be about heaven or eternal life? Did Jesus make it about those things? Is it really about something different? The problem in a presentation of salvation to the lost is not in offering eternal life. Paul wrote in Romans 6:23 that the “gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Jesus did not repudiate the question of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19 when he asked what he must do to obtain eternal life. Eternal life and heaven are about eternity and God wants us to think about, focus on, and consider eternity rather than the here and now, the temporal, and that which will pass away. Most people aren’t focusing on or even considering eternity. They are obsessed rather with their time on earth. They are more concerned at being rich in this world than in the next. They are laying up treasures on earth rather than heaven. A presentation of the gospel that targets eternal life for the hearer is a biblical presentation. The problem comes in the terms for eternal life. We don’t receive eternal life by works. We won’t receive eternal life if we won’t give up this life by faith. We won’t receive eternal life without repentance. We won’t get heaven if we are so caught up with this earth that we dismiss Jesus Christ. Eternal life comes by faith, faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work. You’ve got to believe in Him.