Have you considered that heaven is accessible from any point on Planet Earth? You can go to heaven from the Bible Belt, the Rust Belt, and the Dust Bowl. You can get there from the jungles of Africa, the Great Plains of the American West, an igloo in Alaska, a board shanty on the outback, and the tiny islands of the Pacific. You could get there if you died in a rocket on the way to the moon, or if your oxygen expired in a submarine a mile under the ocean’s waves. You can get there from the holy land or from “Sin City USA.” You could arrive in the city foursquare from a rural address or could leave the busiest avenue on earth to walk the street of gold. You can get there from Siberia, or from the Sahara. You can get there from a country with “In God We Trust” on its currency, or from a communist nation that denies that there is a God.

The truth is: heaven is only four steps from any place you’ll ever find yourself on earth.

Step 1: ADMIT we are lost. Daniel Boone explored the great wilderness of Tennessee and Kentucky. He marked the Wilderness Road that most settlers used to get to “the west.” He often wandered over vast area of forest, living off the land and dodging Indian arrows. Once he was asked if he had ever been lost. He replied that he had never been lost, but did admit that he was “a mite confused once for about three or four days, though!”

It matters little that Boone’s pride would not allow him to admit that he had been physically lost, but it matters much if our pride keeps us from admitting that we are spiritually lost. Since salvation is a universal need, no accountable person can truthfully claim he does not need a savior (Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:9, 23; 1 John 5:19). James listed “save your souls” after “receive with meekness the engrafted word” (1:21). This is always the required order.

No one takes the first step in the direction of heaven until he admits he cannot save himself (cf. Jeremiah 10:23). One man went to a boat show once in Los Angeles where there were all kinds of water craft. He asked the man tending a large Yacht, “How much does it cost?” He said, “If you have to ask what it costs, you can’t afford it.” “Well,” he replied, “I already knew that I could not afford it. I was just wondering how much it would cost someone else!” Because we couldn’t afford our salvation, we needed a savior—someone who could pay its high price.

What Savior is available? There is only one—Jesus Christ (Luke 2:11; John 4:42; Ephesians 5:23). His Father (the Judge) ac-cepted His blood as payment for the penalty of our sins (Isaiah 53:10-12; Romans 3:23-26). Learning of Jesus (John 6:44-45; Romans 10:17), and faith in Him as the Son of God is essential to ever coming to God (John 3:16; Hebrews 11:6).

First Steps Are Difficult. A child’s first steps are usually difficult. They stumble and fall. They “teeter” before they “toddle.” The first step of admission is also difficult for many people. We do not want to say that we are not self-sufficient—that we are sinners in desperate need of saving. Interestingly, only ten people in the Bible—out of the thousands of characters in it—are recorded as saying, “I have sinned”:

• Pharaoh (Exodus 9:27; 10:16)
• Balaam (Numbers 22:34)
• Achan (Joshua 7:20)
• Saul (1 Samuel 15:24, 30; 26:21)
• Shimei (2 Samuel 19:20)
• David (2 Samuel 12:13; 24:10, 17; 1 Chron. 21:8; Psalm 41:4)
• Job (Job 7:20)
• Micah (Micah 7:9)
• Judas (Matthew 27:4)
• Prodigal (Luke 15:18, 21).

Of these, perhaps only David, Job, Micah, and the Prodigal¹ were sincere.

Change also comes hard for many people. Repentance is a change of mind that produces a change of behavior (2 Corinthians 7:10), and most preachers believe it to be the hardest of the requirements of salvation (Luke 13:3). A willingness to repent demonstrates whether we are “good soil” or not (Mark 4:20; Luke 8:15).

While difficult, change is powerful. A changed Saul became the missionary Paul (Acts 9:11; 13:9; Colossians 1:23-29). A changed “son of thunder” became the “apostle of love” (Mark 3:17; 1 John). A fickle Simon became the rock Cephas (John 1:42). What could God make out of you with a little change? The following words were written on the tomb in the crypts of Westminster Abbey: “When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country. But it too seemed immovable. As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it. And now as I lay on my deathbed, I suddenly realize: If I had only changed myself first, then by example I would have changed my family. From their inspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better my country and, who knows, I may have even changed the world.” God will help us change ourselves (2 Corinthians 3:18). He will make us a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Moral Goodness is a Counterfeit Ticket. Some want to depend on their own goodness to be their pass into heaven, but this is a counterfeit ticket that will be rejected at the gate. Our “goodness” is relative; we are not the proper judges of what is a good life and what is a sinful life. Karl Barth, a principal leader in religion’s resistance to the Nazi government, once said that he knew a man who was a vegetarian, who did not smoke or drink hard alcohol, who lived very sparingly, and who loved children. Sounds like a “good” man, right?

The man was Adolf Hitler.

Footnotes:

¹ A fictional character, of course, who represents the humble publicans coming to Jesus for salvation (Luke 15:1).