The Diagnosis
If there could be a highway to the moon, it would take 20 months of
constant driving at the rate of 400 miles per day to reach the land of the
moon. If there could be a railroad stretching up to the sun, a streamlined
train traveling 90 mph non-stop, day after day and year after year, would
require 116 years to reach sunny land. An airplane flying at 500 mph would
have to travel nonstop for 500 years to reach the nearest fixed star.
Yet far beyond the starry sky lie the pearly gates of God's great
heavenly sky city. No one knows how far it is in miles, and no one will
ever
develop a space vehicle for going there, but every one of us can get to
that
beautiful place by taking three simple steps that we're going to talk
about
in this little book.
In the book of Revelation, John declared that "nothing which
defileth"
would go through the gates into that dwelling place of God. The only thing
that defiles in God's sight is sin. Isaiah wrote, "your iniquities have
separated between you and your God" (Isaiah 59:2). In order to live again
in
the presence of God, each individual must be free from the condemnation
brought on by sin. The apostle John confirmed this fact by his description
of that great multitude that he saw in vision standing before the throne
of
God. They had palms in their hands and were dressed in white robes,
representing freedom from sin (Revelation 7:9).
So mark it down as the first giant step on the way from earth to
heaven: we must have our sins forgiven. This is probably the best-known
fact
about the entire salvation process. Yet the most perplexing questions are
raised about the way to take this step. The truth is that millions have
only
the vaguest idea about how to obtain relief from the guilt of their
wrongdoing. How can a person obtain pardon and be restored to a saving
union
with God
It is my belief that countless numbers of people really want to be
Christians, but no one has made it clear enough or appealing enough to win
their decision. In the next few pages you will read the most simple,
bottom-line explanation of the plan of salvation. Even the children should
be able to understand what it means to be saved. I do not believe that it
is
enough to just tell people they are lost and need to be found. We must
show
them step by step how to pass from death to life. The doctor doesn't tell
his patients that they are sick and need to be well without giving a
prescription for their healing. In the same way, we must be prepared to
offer a specific cure for those who have been diagnosed with the disease
of
sin.
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