Our consciences tell us we are not good enough. This is what makes dying so scary. We don’t want to face God. We are afraid of what he will say to us.

The Story of Martin Luther

In the early 1500’s, a Roman Catholic monk named Martin Luther was afraid of what God would say to him . This fear is what led him to become a monk in the first place. Because of the false teaching of his church, Luther believed that he must do his part to please God to enter heaven. His church taught that living the monastic life was the surest way to do this!

But the harder Luther strived in the monastery, starving and beating himself, sleeping in the cold, the more he became convinced: "I will never be good enough." He became even more afraid of facing God.

But one day, God took away Luther’s fear by giving him faith to believe the very good news of the Bible. Jesus Christ, God's Son, had already opened heaven to him despite his sins and heavy conscience! Jesus Christ, God's Son, had already saved him and all people!

What Jesus Did to Save

While we all deserved to be punished by holy God for our sins, and to find heaven closed, Jesus, God's eternal Son in a human body, gave his sinless body over to punishment in the place of the whole human race. This happened at the cross where God the Father poured out his anger for our sins on Jesus in order to pour out his mercy on us. As the Bible says: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8: 1). You see, Heaven is open to all who believe!

The Confidence of Faith

What an effect the Bible's message of Jesus had on Martin Luther! Now believing in Jesus, he exclaimed: "Immediately I felt that I had been reborn and that I had passed through the wide- open gates of paradise."

This message of Jesus is for us too! When our consciences remind us that we are not good enough to enter heaven, we can say: "You're right, conscience! I'm not! But I'm still going to heaven! My Jesus died on the cross to atone for all of my sins! Through him, I am forgiven and heaven's gates stand forever open to me! No doubt about it!"