1st Corinthians 1:21, There's No Toll Gates To Get Into Heaven

1st Corinthians 1:21, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

God promised to SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE!!! If you drive a vehicle, then you know the unpleasant feeling of being required to pay a toll to travel a road. I couldn't believe that in some places, like New Jersey and New York, that drivers are required to pay upwards of $50 just to pass through a toll gate. In fact, the Pennsylvania Turnpike will cost you a staggering $112 toll to drive on it. Wowza! The turnpike is owned by over 100 investors, mostly from China. Go figure! I don't think anyone should ever have to pay a toll. The government already takes too much in taxes. Thankfully, there won't be any taxes in Heaven.

I admit that I dislike paying tolls. Very few things in this earthly life are free. That is the wonderful thing about salvation, it is a completely free gift from God. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Eternal life is a gift. A gift is free! Why then did Evangelist Billy Graham (1918-2018) make the following horrible unbiblical statements, 6 times saying that salvation will “COST” us something?...

How To Be Sure You're Saved

First, you must recognize your need.

Second, you must understand the cross.

Third, you must count the cost.

He also said, “Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost? … So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:28, 33).

Many people come to Christ without first counting the cost. The cost includes repentance, the forsaking of sin, and a continual, daily, open acknowledgment of Christ in your life.

Fourth, you must take a definite step.

One day at Stanford University, a student of a non-Christian faith came to me and said he was convinced that Jesus is the Son of God but said he couldn’t confess Him publicly. He said that back in his own country the cost socially would be too great.

I had to tell him that the Bible says: “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33).

Like the rich young ruler of old, the student went away sad. He had counted the cost and was not able to pay the price of open acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as his Savior.

We ask people to make a public confession of Christ in our meetings because Christ demanded a definite commitment. Christ had reasons for demanding that people openly follow Him. He knew that an unwitnessed vow is no vow at all. Until you have surrendered to Christ by a definite act of your will, you are not a Christian.

SOURCE: How to Be Sure You’re Saved | Decision Magazine | BGEA

Dear reader, kindly said, Billy Graham was a false teacher, who perverted God's grace by adding to God's Words. Nowhere in the inspired King James Bible are we taught that eternal life will COST US anything. Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins (Romans 5:6-9). JESUS PAID IT ALL (1st John 2:2; John 3:16; 2nd Corinthians 5:21). Getting saved will cost you NOTHING friend. Anybody who says differently is complicating the Gospel.

In hundreds of places throughout the inspired King James Bible we are taught to simply BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” In the precious Gospel of John, we find the word “believe” mentioned 85 times, but no mention is ever made of anything else. God intentionally made His plan of salvation for mankind very simple, because He knew that many people are not very smart, and God wanted to make sure that salvation is easy, free and simple so that everyone who wants it can have it. Our all-wise (omnisapient) God knows what He is doing.

Sadly, men come along and always complicate everything, making God's simple plan of salvation hard. As a matter of fact, Pastor John MacArthur even wrote a shameful book titled: “Hard To Believe.” Dear friend, it is not HARD to believe, it is very easy, free and simple.

“Don’t believe anyone who says it’s easy to become a Christian. Salvation for sinners cost God His own Son; it cost God’s Son His life, and it’ll cost you the same thing.” [emphasis added] —Dr. John MacArthur, Grace To You, an updated quote from his book 'Hard To Believe', page 93.

I triple-dog dare you to show me in the Bible where it says that eternal life will COST YOU anything. You cannot! These wicked men are theological liars. Sadly, Billy Graham went to Hell in his false religion. There is no way that a man is saved who is wrong on the Gospel. If Billy Graham went to Heaven, then so also do Seventh-Day Adventists who trust in the heresy of Lordship Salvation. Then so also do Church of Christ with their damnable Baptismal Regeneration (i.e., the false teaching that you must be water baptized to get to Heaven). I mean, 'com on, would God deny someone entrance into Heaven just because they got dunked in water, thinking it was necessary to have eternal life? Friend, you had better believe that God won't let you into Heaven!!!

There is only ONE WAY into Heaven, and Jesus told it what it is, HIM. John 14:6, “ Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 6:40, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” I am now attending the Campus Church in Pensacola, at Pensacola Christian College, and am so thankful that they preach a simple free grace Gospel. I am so thankful that they only use the King James Bible. I am so thankful to be a part of a great soulwinning church. I am humble and grateful for my new Christian family.

I got the idea for this article while checking today to see if there is a toll to drive to Pensacola Beach. I want to go check it out. Yes, there is a $1 toll. I need to soak up some sun. This hotel room is gloomy. Because I am a fundamentalist Baptist preacher I am always looking for new ideas to convey Bible truths to people. I think the example of having to pay a toll is a perfect illustration of Lordship Salvation, showing us what the Gospel is not! God does NOT require that we pay a toll to get to Heaven. The Pearly City cannot be purchased, deserved, earned, merited or obtained by any means other than wholly RESTING (trusting, relying) in Jesus Christ. I care about you, whoever you may be, and I want you to go to Heaven someday.

The Bible is abundantly clear that the ONLY WAY to eternal life is by faith in Jesus. 1st John 5:20, “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” I love that! Jesus is the true God and eternal life. If you have Jesus you have eternal life!!! There are no toll gates to get to Heaven. There is no cost to count nor price to pay. There are no works that you must do. In fact, Jesus forever laid to rest the question of what “WORKS” are required to get to Heaven. John 6:28-29, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” The only WORKS which God requires or allows to get to Heaven is to BELIEVE ON JESUS!!!

I hope that I have made it clear from the Word of God that there is no toll booth to enter into the Kingdom of God. Jesus has already paid the price for our sins, all of them (1st Peter 1:18-19). Please don't allow some satanic false teacher to rob your faith. If you admit that you are a sinner (Romans 3:19-23), leaning wholly on Jesus' name (Acts 16:30-31), by believing the Good News (Gospel) that Christ died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and resurrected three days later, then you are saved (1st Corinthians 15:1-4).

Please don't let heretics' Marty Herron, Steve Pettit, John MacArthur, Billy Graham or any other false teachers deceive you into believing that you must repent “OF YOUR SIN” to be saved, because no such requirement is taught in the Bible. If you press them to explain what they mean by “repent,” they will all tell you that you must prove the reality of your faith by forsaking a sinful life and being faithful to serve God. That is NOT the Gospel, it is a toll booth!!! All they can do is wrest Scripture passages and quote heretical men as secondary authorities to bolster their counterfeit plan of salvation. Look at this garbage that Ray Comfort preaches. Ladies and gentlemen, that is NOT what the Bible teaches, as I have kindly shown you.

What Billy Graham preached is NOT the Gospel of free grace. What John MacArthur is preaching is NOT the Gospel of free grace. What the shameful Bob Jones University crowd are preaching today is NOT the free grace Gospel. God does not require that you turn away from your sinning to be saved, for to do so is equivalent to a toll booth. God does require that you repent, but repentance is simply a change of mind; that is, laying aside your wrong thinking about what you think you must do to be saved, to trusting in what God says in the Bible you must do to be saved—which is “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:30-31). Thank you for reading my blog. God bless you!