Theology In Country Music: George Was Half Right

The song “Love Without End, Amen”  by George Strait is a song about a father’s love for his son. It is about the unconditional love that a father naturally has for a son.  The last verse of the song I find very interesting.  The last verse tells about a dream the singer has as he is  standing in front of the pearly gates of heaven.  As he stands there, he is wondering if he will make it into heaven because of all the things he has done in the past.  The response comes from the other side when he hears a  voice say that a father’s love is a love without end.

I would like to qualify that response the artist hears by sharing these 2 things.  1.  If you do not know Christ as Lord and Savior then you will not enter heaven.  The word of God says in

Romans 3: 9-20 So where does that put us? Do we Jews get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it:

There’s nobody living right, not even one,
nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God.
They’ve all taken the wrong turn;
they’ve all wandered down blind alleys.
No one’s living right;
I can’t find a single one.
Their throats are gaping graves,
their tongues slick as mudslides.
Every word they speak is tinged with poison.
They open their mouths and pollute the air.
They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year,
litter the land with heartbreak and ruin,
Don’t know the first thing about living with others.
They never give God the time of day.
This makes it clear, doesn’t it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it’s clear enough, isn’t it, that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin.

George is right when he sings: “If they knew half the things I’d done they wouldn’t let me in.”  We are all sinners and deserve the judgement of God, but God does not let us into heaven as many believe.  Many think that if their good works outweigh there bad then they will enter heaven.  I will be frank with you.  God does love everyone, but not everyone gets into heaven.  Those who will enter into his presence are those who accept Christ as Lord and Savior.  Your good works will not let you into heaven.

Ephesians 2: 8-10 declares:  ⁸ God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. ¹⁰ For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

So you see you cannot enter into heaven based on your good works.  If you could enter into heaven on your good works than Christ would not have had to go to the cross because heaven could be attained on our own.  Instead because God knows we cannot make it on our own, he sent his only son to die for our sins.  If we accept and believe what he(Jesus) did on the Cross for us then we will have eternal life.

John 1:12-13 says: ¹² But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. ¹³ They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

In conclusion, if you want to get inside the pearly gates you will not make it on your own merits. Instead accept and believe in Christ and then you can enter in.  God’s love is a love without end. Amen

Until next time, accept God’s love. Accept his son into your heart

pastor greg t.