"Dear Mr. President" | Gospel Tract

Ever since I heard President Trump say "I'm trying to make it to heaven," I feel compelled to write this gospel tract explaining how to get there. 

Is heaven a reward for good people or a gift for the undeserving? The apostle Paul says that "heaven is free" (Galatians 4:26, Worldwide English NT). Most people don't know this, but the Bible says that eternal life is a free gift! "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).

The story is told of Martin Luther, who as a young Roman Catholic monk, crawled up the long staircase of the Scala Sancta on his knees, hoping thereby to obtain the forgiveness of sins. Luther was under the mistaken impression that salvation is obtained through works and penance. But then one day as Luther was meditating on Paul's statement in Romans 1:17, "But he who is righteous by faith shall live," God opened Luther's eyes to the truth of the gospel and to God's amazing grace! Luther realized that salvation is "not by works of righteousness that we have done" (Titus 3:5), but rather by hearing through faith! As the apostle Paul says, "For we maintain that a person is justified (declared righteous) by faith without the works of the law" (Romans 3:28).

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus did all the work necessary for our salvation and now He offers it to us as an absolutely free gift! What is it that Jesus has done? Everything! The apostle Paul explains the gospel by saying "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen..." (1 Cor. 15:3-5). This is good news because Jesus is the only perfect person who ever lived, and He died in our place and "for our sins" (v. 3). God the Father accepted the sacrifice of His Son on the cross because it was a perfect and a complete sacrifice. It fully satisfied God's demands that "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). As Charlie Kirk has said, "Jesus died so we can live!" To receive eternal life, one must simply accept it for what it is: a free gift! It's like someone who is thirsty being given a drink of water. The thirsty soul must simply receive it by taking a drink! And that's also how to "believe" in Christ and receive eternal life, because that's exactly the illustration Jesus used. In John chapter 7, Jesus cried out: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink!" (Jn. 7:37). And in the very last book of the Bible, the offer is still available. In fact, it's available today to all who will receive it. And the offer is simply this: "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' And let whoever hears say, 'Come!' And let the one who is thirsty come; and let whosoever will, take the water of life freely!" (Rev. 22:17). Mr. President, when you believe in Jesus as your Savior from sin, death, and an eternity without God and as your only way of salvation, you are taking that drink of the living water! And I assure you on the testimony of Jesus Christ that He will give you eternal life and quench all your spiritual thirst so you will never be thirsty again! Another picture that Jesus used to explain what it means to believe in Him is that He described Himself as "the way": not merely "a" way, but "the way"! Speaking of Himself as the only way to heaven, Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me" (Jn. 14:6). To repeat Augustine's words, quoting the words of Jesus: "You were inquiring how you should go: I am the way; you were asking where you should go: I am the truth and the life. You won’t go wrong when you go to Him, by Him. This is the doctrine of the Christians."

Dear reader, I pray that you will cast aside whatever vainglorious thing might be in your hands that you would dare to present to the Almighty as an offering for your sin, and take the only Savior whom God has provided. He and He alone is "the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (Jn. 1:29). Jesus is the only acceptable sacrifice and the only way to heaven. In the Old Testament, Cain brought the work of his hands as an offering to God and it was rejected. Whereas Abel brought an animal sacrifice; perhaps it was a lamb. The Bible says that God rejected Cain and his offering, but accepted Abel and his offering. God accepted Abel's offering because "without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins" (Hebrews 9:22). A substitute had to die in Abel's place. Jesus is that perfect sacrifice: "the lamb of God" (Jn. 1:29) slain for us! "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3). Will you receive Him as your Savior today? He stands waiting with open arms to accept you into His family. Jesus is the door (Jn. 10:9-10). Will you enter in?

"Not the labors of my hands 

Can fulfill Thy law's demands; 

Could my zeal no respite know, 

Could my tears forever flow, 

All for sin could not atone; 

Thou must save, 

and Thou alone."

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved!" (Acts 16:31).