I have not done a post about my favorite quotes from Randy Alcorn’s book Heaven lately, so I thought I’d share some with you today.  These are from Chapter Three of that book (if I make comments, they are in italics):

• “God is so holy that He cannot allow sin into His presence….Because we are sinners, we are not entitled to enter God’s presence.  We cannot enter Heaven as we are.”
• “It’s of paramount importance to make sure you are going to Heaven, not Hell.  The voice that whispers, ‘There’s no hurry; put this book down; you can always think about it later, ‘ is not God’s voice.  He says, ‘Now is the day of salvation’ (2 Corinthians 6:2) and ‘Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve’ (Joshua 24:15).  It is so easy to procrastinate, or rationalize, but really, tomorrow is not guaranteed, is it?
  
• “Many imagine that it is civilized, humane, and compassionate to deny the existence of an eternal Hell, but in fact it is arrogant that we, as creatures, would dare to take what we think is the moral high ground in opposition to what God the Creator has clearly revealed.“  Ouch.  I used to have some form of belief of no eternal Hell, and even now every fiber of my flesh wants to deny it because I want no one I know or love to be there, but my God is sovereign.  I love and trust Him, and it is in Him where my faith lies.
  
• “By denying the endlessness of Hell, we minimize Christ’s work on the cross.  Why?  Because we lower the stakes of redemption.  If Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection didn’t deliver us from an eternal Hell, His work on the cross is less heroic, less potent, less consequential, and thus less deserving of our worship and praise.”  Oh, Amen!  I love chewing on that thought, especially around the upcoming Resurrection Sunday.
  
• “Satan has obvious motives for fueling our denial of eternal punishment:  he wants unbelievers to reject Christ without fear; he wants Christians to be unmotivated to share Christ; and he wants God to receive less glory for the radical nature of Christ’s redemptive work.”  Scary, chilling, so true…think about it…
• “In the Bible, Jesus says more than anyone else about Hell…”  I think this one speaks for itself.
  
• “We are born with our autopilot set toward Hell…All roads do not lead to Heaven.  Only one does:  Jesus Christ.  He said, ‘No one comes to the Father except through me’ (John 14:6).  All other roads lead to Hell.”
• “The high stakes involved in the choice between Heaven and Hell will cause us to appreciate Heaven in deeper ways, never taking it for granted, and always praising God for His grace that delivers us from what we deserve and grants us forever what we don’t.” Mercy and grace.
• I love this one…“The best of life on Earth is a glimpse of Heaven; the worst of life is a glimpse of Hell.  For Christians, this present life is the closest they will come to Hell.  For unbelievers, it is the closest they will come to Heaven.”  One of my favorites out of the whole book, I think.
  
• “Consider the wonder of it:  God determined that he would rather go to Hell on our behalf than live in Heaven without us.  He so much wants us not to go to Hell that He paid a horrible price on the cross so that we wouldn’t have to.”
• “…but it isn’t ours until we choose to receive it.”