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October 27, 2002
Reformation Sunday
Galatians 5:1-6
Pastor Ben Berger

I'm Sure I'm Going to Heaven

If you were to die tonight, do you think you would go to heaven? Let me ask the question another way. Are you SURE you would go to heaven? About five hundred years ago lived a man by the name of Martin Luther. He was scared to death of not going to heaven. He spent nearly every waking moment doing whatever he could to assure himself that he would go to heaven. He became a monk; he tried to follow all the rules of the church at the time, the Roman Catholic Church. He did everything he was told, but he still wasn't sure that he was going to heaven. In fact, the harder he tried to do what the church taught, the less sure he became that he would ever make it to heaven. That's when Martin Luther stopped asking the church what to do to get to heaven and started asking God. Martin Luther turned back to God's Word and there he found what he was looking for. He finally knew for sure that he would go to heaven.

Are you sure that you're going to heaven? God wants you to be sure. The next question is: what makes you sure that you're going to heaven? There are only two possible answers. I'm sure I'm going to heaven because 1) I follow the rules or 2) I follow Christ.

The Jews in Galatia thought that they had a sure way to heaven. They told themselves over and over again, "I'm sure I'm going to heaven because I follow the rules." The rules were the laws given to them through Moses, and one of the biggest rules was circumcising every male in the household. Very often the Jews wanted everyone else to follow their rules as well. That's what was happening when Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians. After Paul left, the Jews went to work trying to convince everyone that the only sure way to heaven was to follow all the rules of Moses - especially circumcising the males.

Many other churches after the Jews also tried to convince people that the only sure way to heaven is to follow the rules. The Roman Catholic Church built its walls and foundations on the idea that you must earn your way to heaven. If you commit a sin, you must confess that sin, every single sin. And for every sin that you confess, you must do penance. You must say the Lord's Prayer so many times, or recite your prayers with the rosary, or do so many good things to make up for the bad you've done. That was the whole idea behind becoming a monk or nun; it gave you one more way to earn favor with God and more time to follow the rules. Still today you can find people confessing, praying, buying masses for the dead - all trying to follow the rules.

What about you? Are you sure you're going to heaven because you follow the rules? Do you think God should show favor to you because you're such a good Christian? Let's make a list. You go to church regularly. Maybe you even go to Bible Class. You've served on Church Council, or some other board or committee. You've helped out around church numerous times. You give regular generous offerings. You send your children to the day school or high school. You pray before you eat and before you go to bed. You follow the rules! Of course you're going to heaven! Right?! NO!

Following the rules is not a sure way to heaven. Rather it is a sure way to slavery. Listen again to what Paul says to the people of Galatia: Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

Paul makes two points. First, if you want to get to heaven by following the rules, you have to follow all of the rules. All of them, all of the time. God says, "Be holy because I the Lord your God am holy" (Lev 1:2). You can only get to heaven by following the rules, you have to follow all of them; you have to be holy. For the Jews that didn't mean just getting circumcised, but doing everything written in the law. For you that doesn't mean just coming to church on Sunday and helping out once in awhile the rest of the week. It means being perfect - everything you do, everything you say, everything you think must be perfect.

Second, if you want to get to heaven by following the rules, forget about Christ. Then he is no value to you at all; you have been alienated from him. To follow the rules means that you are on your own. It means that you don't need Christ. Either he does it all or you do it all. Don't try to earn God's favor by following the rules and then when you fall short, ask him to make up the rest. That's taking what he is willing to give you for free and throwing it back in his face saying, 'I don't need all of it; I can do some of it myself.' No, to follow the rules is to discount Christ's work for your own and therefore to be on your own. To follow the rules is to make yourself a slave who is in constant doubt.

I'm sure I'm going to heaven because I follow the rules. Really? I could never be sure by following the rules because I can't follow all the rules and I can't do it on my own. I am sure that I'm going to heaven though…just for a different reason. I'm sure I'm going to heaven because I follow Christ.

To follow Christ is a sure way to freedom. God says that I must be perfect to get to heaven. If I can't be perfect on my own because I can't follow all of the rules, how can I get to heaven? Ahh, the answer is there; one must simply look in the right place. Rather than asking the church how to get to heaven, we can ask God himself. He gives us a much better answer. He tells us that he will make us perfect...through his Son, Jesus Christ.

God sent his Son to keep all of the rules in our place. God never said that he would overlook the rules, that he would forget about the laws that he gave, or that he would sweep our sins under the rug. God is just. He demands perfection. However, God is also loving so he provides perfection. Because we can't keep his rules ourselves, he came down to keep them for us. When Jesus lived on this earth as a man, he lived with the same rules as every other man. He lived under the authority of his parents, of his government, and of his God. When he lived on this earth, he kept God's law perfectly.

Then God made the best trade known to man. God took our sin, our disobedience, and our failure to follow the rules and gave it to Jesus. Jesus paid the penalty for us when he died on the cross. As a result, God forgave our sins. In exchange God took Jesus' perfect life and gave it to us. As a result, we are perfect. In Christ you are perfect! Therefore, you can be absolutely sure that you are going to heaven. You can say with complete confidence, 'I'm sure I'm going to heaven because I follow Christ.'

Paul said it this way, "But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope." Paul and all believers eagerly await the righteousness for which we hope. That righteousness is the perfection that God demands and the perfection that God gives us through Jesus. That we "hope" for that righteousness does not mean that we merely wish for it, but rather that we expect it because God has promised to give it to us. By faith we trust God's promise and therefore are sure we're going to heaven.

The hope, the certainty, that we have gives us freedom. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. That freedom is freedom from the law, from the rules. That freedom is knowing that we don't have to keep God's law perfectly to get to heaven. That freedom is never having to doubt, never having to wonder if I've been good enough to get to heaven. That freedom is being able to say, "I'm sure I'm going to heaven."

Paul also encourages, "Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." No doubt about it - the people of this world will try to rob you of your freedom. They will try to take away your certainty of salvation. They do not want you to think that you can be so sure that you're going to heaven.

Look at what happened to those we heard about in our readings. Look at Daniel. When he was told he couldn't pray to his God, he did anyway. And he was willing to pay the price of being thrown into the lion's den. But, he wasn't afraid; he knew that even if he should die, he would go to heaven. Look at what Jesus told his disciples. Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over…and flog you…all men will hate you because of me (Mt 10:17, 23a). Don't give in. Stand firm. Jesus promises, those who stand firm to the end will be saved (Mt 10:23b). Don't let men tell you that you must follow the rules. Don't let them take away your freedom.

Rather, stand firm in Christ. Live every day confident that if it is your last day on earth, you'll spend the next day in heaven. Stand firm as many before you have done. Thank God for men like Martin Luther who refused to let anyone take away his certainty. Stand firm for your children and the many that come after you. Let them see and hear you say, 'I'm sure I'm going to heaven, not because I follow the rules, but because I follow Christ.'