Lesson 10 – Only One Way to Heaven

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1. CAN ANYONE GET TO HEAVEN WITHOUT FAITH IN JESUS?

Matthew 19:17 — If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.

A man could go to heaven if he could keep God’s commandments.

2. WHAT ARE THESE COMMANDMENTS?

Matthew 22:37-39 — Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 5:48 — Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

James 2:10 — For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

God commands that we love him more than anyone or anything else, and that we love others just as much as we love ourselves. (The Ten Commandments are recorded in Exodus 20:3-17.)

3. WHO CAN KEEP GOD’S COMMANDMENTS?

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 — Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

The Commandments

  1. You shall have no other gods.
  2. You shall not misuse the name
  3. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
  4. Honor your father and your mother.
  5. You shall not murder.
  6. You shall not commit adultery.
  7. You shall not steal.
  8. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
  9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
  10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, workers, animals, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

A Common Sin

  1. Feeling secure only when you have money.
  2. Saying a prayer without thinking about it; cursing.
  3. Having no desire to worship God.
  4. Ignoring parents in their old age.
  5. Holding hatred in our hearts.
  6. Enjoying pornographic films or literature.
  7. Hurting someone's reputation.
  8. Cheating on income tax.
  9. Wanting someone’s property when you’re not supposed to have it.
  10. Wanting someone’s wife.

Romans 3:23 — For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

No one can keep God’s commandments. Therefore no one can get to heaven by obeying the law.

4. IS THERE, THEN, ANOTHER WAY TO HEAVEN?

John 14:6 — [Jesus said] No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is the only way to heaven.

SUMMARY: Anyone could go to heaven, without any help from Jesus, if he could only keep the Commandments. There are some who imagine that they have done this. And maybe they have kept some commandments, their own commandments, but not God’s Commandments. God’s Commandments cannot be kept without perfect, unselfish love for God and for others. And no human being has that kind of love all the time. Therefore no one, not even a Christian, keeps God’s law well enough to get into heaven. We get to heaven only because Jesus died to take our sins away. He is the only way to heaven.

QUICKIE QUIZ (T or F)

  1. ___ It’s not wrong to be angry, as long as you don’t hurt someone in your anger.
  2. ___ Without love no one can obey God’s Commandments.
  3. ___ If you sin against one of the Commandments, you sin against all of them.
  4. ___ You can’t live a perfectly holy life until you become a Christian.
  5. ___ God knows we can’t be perfect. Therefore he is satisfied if we do our best.
  6. ___ Most people are guilty of murder before God.
  7. ___ We sin when we do not forgive those who hurt us.
  8. ___ It’s a sin to want something that belongs to someone else, even if you don’t try to take it from him.
  9. ___ There is only one way of getting to heaven.
  10. ___ No one will get to heaven by keeping the Commandments.

WHERE DOES THE BIBLE SAY

  1. that God wants us to be perfect?

    Matthew 5:48 — Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

  2. that all have sinned against God's Commandments?

    Romans 3:23 — For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

  3. what the summary is of the Ten Commandments?

    Matthew 22:37-39 — Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

  4. that a sin against one commandment is a sin against all the Commandments?

    James 2:10 — For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

  5. that Jesus is the only way to heaven?

    John 14:6 — [Jesus said] No one comes to the Father except through me.

For more information you can watch this lesson presented as a Bible study HERE.  Please click HERE to find the complete series of Bible studies.

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