Chapter III: Three Rules

From this point on I shall assume that I am speaking to people who do want to go to heaven. On this assumption I can give you three little rules to follow, which will insure your success. I do not mean that the mere formality of doing these three things will make you safe for heaven. There is not necessarily any virtue in the mere routine suggested. But granting that you want to go to heaven, if you will follow these three simple rules, they will enable you to do what you want to do. The beauty of them is that they are so simple that anybody can follow them who wants to.

1. The first one is to read the Bible every day. If you want to go to heaven, you are willing to do that much, aren’t you? If you really want to go to heaven, won’t you _want_ to read the Bible? It’s the book that tells you how to get there. It is the road map that shows you the way. If you want to go to heaven, the first rule then is to read the Bible every day. From doing that you’ll learn what God wants you to do in order to _be_ saved and in order to _keep_ saved. The Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonians “because they received the word with all readiness of mind and _searched the Scriptures daily_” (Acts 16:11). Now, if you don’t read the Bible every day, I believe you’d have a hard time establishing the fact that you want to go to heaven. Don’t you believe you would? How can you prove that you want to go to heaven when you fail to read the only book in the world which can tell you how to get there?

I suspect that I’m talking to two or three hundred people right now who don’t read the Bible daily, and if I knew how to make this more emphatic, I’d do it! I’d like to fix it so you never would forget it. The Bible is the only book that can tell you how to do what you propose to want to do. It is the word which _God hath spoken_. The mere fact that you are a member of the church is an announcement that you want to go to heaven, but your behavior contradicts your profession, if you do not read the Bible every day.

I have found sometimes that those people who argue the loudest and take the most dogmatic positions on points of doctrine are the very ones who don’t read the Bible. They think they know! They can tell you what’s right and what’s wrong. If you ask them how much they read the Bible, they’ll hang their heads in shame and say, “Well, I haven’t read it much.” Sometimes they even preface their remarks by telling you they haven’t read it much. They say, “Now, preacher, I don’t read the Bible much, and I know you do, and so and so” and then proceed to tell me just exactly how it is. _A man who doesn’t read the Bible has no right to express an opinion in the field of religion._ A man who begins his conversation by saying, “Now, I’ll admit I don’t read the Bible,” ought to stop right there until he has read it. He doesn’t have any right to talk about it, nor to undertake to tell anybody what to do, or what one ought to do until he has read the Bible—the only reliable standard of right living. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby” (1 Pet. 2:2). “Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls” (Jas. 1:21). “Study to show thyself approved unto God ...” (2 Tim. 2:15).

If you will read the Bible every day, there is not much that needs to be done for you; if you will not read the Bible, there is not much that can be done for you! Anybody who doesn’t love the Lord well enough to read this letter that He has written, anyone who doesn’t want to go to heaven bad enough to be a daily student of God’s word, I just can’t see much chance for him. One of the most alarming things is the ignorance of our own people concerning the Bible. Many of our own members are not daily students of God’s holy word. I wish I could say something that would scare you just as much as the second boy who fell in the grave. If I knew what to say, I’d say it. I’d like for you to become so badly scared that you would read the Bible every day.

Now, you can do it! If you don’t read it, you cannot blame anybody but yourself for your failure. You say, “But, Brother Dark, I don’t have time.” Oh, yes, you do; you have as much time as anybody. There are twenty-four hours in the day and you have all twenty-four of them. You say, “Yes, but I have so many other things to do.” Well, are those other things as important as going to heaven? Do you love them more than you love going to heaven? Do you want to do them more than you want to be saved?

How many of you read the newspaper every day? I suspect we would get a unanimous response on that. How many of you listen to the radio every day? Now, it is not wrong to listen to the radio. It’s not wrong to read the newspaper, maybe, but certainly you will agree that a man who loves the newspaper and the typical radio program more than he loves the Lord isn’t much interested in going to heaven. He had rather go where they have newspapers and radios, than to go to heaven where they have the word of God and a choir of angels singing.

You see, your behavior reflects your interests. So, you _can_ read the Bible every day; and if you don’t do it, you can blame no one but yourself for your failure. You can’t say, “I tried to be a Christian and couldn’t.” You’ll just have to say, “I didn’t try. I didn’t do what I could. I didn’t do my best.” Sometimes I hear people say, “Well, I’ve done the best I can,” when I know they have not. I know they are telling a falsehood when they make that statement. Anybody who doesn’t read the Bible daily is not doing the best he can!

2. Rule Number 2 is just as simple: “Pray every day.” You _can_! The Bible commands you to pray without ceasing (Eph. 6:18). Anybody, who can talk, can talk to God. I am afraid that there are a great many church members who do not pray to God every day. One cannot believe the Bible and deny the efficacy of prayer. Prayer is powerful! Prayer moves the hand that rules the universe. Prayer will cause God to do things that He would not have done if you had not prayed. Prayer is a means of drawing upon the riches and the glory and the wisdom of God. What a wonderful thing it is to be able to write a check on the bank of heaven with the assurance that it will be honored. That’s exactly what prayer is. Through prayer you can draw a check upon a bank whose resources are inexhaustible, with the full assurance that the Teller will honor the draft or check. Prayer changes things. God will do things for you after you have prayed that He would not have done if you had not prayed.

Whatsoever ye would therefore, that God should do unto you, ask him for it. “Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matt. 7:7, 8). He will withhold no good thing from them that call upon Him according to faith and in the name of His Son. “If ye then, being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matt. 7:11). If you haven’t been praying to God daily, you ought to begin to do so right now. I heard Brother H. Leo Boles say one time that he never even bought a pair of shoes without first asking God to guide him in the choice that he made. One should ask God’s guidance in every choice, however trivial it may seem to be. If you are not using the power which can come to you through prayer, then you are going along without a great blessing that you could be enjoying. You are not doing what you can. You can only blame yourself for the failures that come your way.

3. Rule Number 3 is one that I have emphasized here many times: “Go to worship every time the congregation meets.” Be faithful and regular in your attendance at worship. Now, you _can_ do this also! Of course, I know there are legitimate exceptions in cases of severe sickness on your part or some member of your family or something else of like nature; but you know the difference between that and just staying away because you prefer to sleep, read the paper, listen to the radio, go fishing, take a trip, or some other such illegitimate, unscriptural excuse.

You need to have the contact with other saints upon the first day of the week. God knew what He was doing when He arranged for us to meet together to worship Him. He knew we would get inspiration and encouragement there that could not be found anywhere else. Whenever you show me a man who is neglecting his church attendance, I’ll show you a man in the same person who is drifting away from God. I believe there is no exception to this statement. Whenever a man willfully stays away from worshiping with God’s people, he certainly drifts away from the Lord.

I read a story one time about a certain family who had been missing the worship. One of the overseers of the church went to see this family. He went into the room and exchanged the customary greetings; then sat down before the open fire. He picked up the tongs and got a red hot coal, just glowing with heat, and laid it out on the hearth by itself. It wasn’t long until it cooled off and turned black. The man of the house spoke up and said, “Brother, you need not say anything. We’ll be at worship next Sunday.” That illustrates what happens to anybody who deliberately stays away from worshiping God with the saints. You can attend worship regularly; if you don’t you can only blame yourself for your failure. You cannot say, “I tried, and couldn’t.” You’ll have to say, “I didn’t try.”

One time in West Virginia, I closed a meeting by talking along this line. When I went back a year later one of the elders got up and said, “We had twenty-four additions when Brother Dark was here last year. Eighteen of them are still with us. Three of them have moved to other towns, and three have fallen from grace.” I asked whether the three backsliders had followed these three rules. Of course they had not. They couldn’t have fallen from grace if they had been following these three rules; at least I have never heard of anybody’s falling who did. Have you? I have heard of people’s falling from grace while following one or two of them, but not all of them. These are not the only requirements but when faithfully performed they make it possible and easier for you to do your duty in every way. May I insist then, if you want to go to heaven—and you say you do—that you read the Bible every day, pray to God every day, and go to worship every time you can.

Let me read a Scripture before I close this lesson. It’s found in the first chapter of 1 John 1:4. It’s one of the sweetest promises in all the Bible. “These things write we unto you, that your joy may be made full.” God wants us to be full of joy. He said, “I’m writing these things that you may be full of joy.” Well, what is it, John? “This, then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Will you note this promise again? “If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” This promise is to those who walk in the light.

The word “walk” suggests continuation. The blood cleanseth from all sin those who continue in the light. Just as the word “walk” suggests continuation, I believe the cleansing is also a continuing process. The best way I know to illustrate this point is by the blood of the human body, one purpose of which is to remove poison from any place which becomes infected, and eliminate the poison through the natural channels of elimination. So the blood of Jesus Christ flows, so to speak, through the veins of a Christian, keeping all impurities removed therefrom. This I believe with all my heart.

But don’t get the wrong impression. Somebody might say, “Well, if that’s the way it is, I’ll not be so careful. I’ll just take it easy and drift along and let the blood of Jesus keep me clean.” Well, it won’t do it in your case. You’ve missed the point entirely. The promise is to those who walk in the light, to those who are doing the best they can, to those who are working at the job, to those who really want to go to heaven, who read the Bible, go to worship, and pray to God, and do everything they can. In spite of all this they’ll make some mistakes.

This Scripture doesn’t say that you won’t sin. The promise is to those who do sin—who sin in spite of the fact that they are walking in the light. If people who are walking in the light can’t sin, then this promise would be out of order; but this promise is to those who are walking in the light, who are doing the best they can, and yet they sin. When they do so, the Bible says the blood of Jesus will cleanse them from all unrighteousness—keep them clean. In that sense, you see, you can stay in a saved condition all the time.

Suppose I were to ask you right now, how many of you believe, if you were to die at this minute, that you would go to heaven; I wonder how many would raise your hands. I find very few people who answer this question properly. They say, “Well, I hope I would. I’d like to. I don’t know.” People go through life in doubt about their own salvation. God didn’t expect his people to experience such uneasiness. He has written these things that our joy may be full. A lot of people have doubts and fears. They think if they were to die just after saying their evening prayers, confessing their sins, that they would go to heaven, but if they were to die five minutes before, that they would go to hell. If I felt that way about it, I’d want somebody to shoot me just after I’d finished my evening prayer so I’d be sure to go to heaven.

I’m not boasting when I say that I believe with all my heart that if I should fall dead in the midst of this sentence, I would spend eternity in heaven. That’s not because I’m so good; it’s certainly not because I have never sinned. But I _can_ say this: if there is a single sin against me of which I have not repented, I do not know it. If I did know it, I would repent of it before I finished this statement. I wouldn’t wait till time for my evening prayer. The time to repent of a sin is just as soon as you become aware of it, right then and there. That’s what you have to do in order to be walking in the light. Never allow an unforgiven sin to hang over you for one minute for you might die during that minute, and have to spend eternity in torment.

God doesn’t expect his children to go through life having so many ups and downs, thinking one minute they’re on their way to glory and the next minute on their way to hell. It isn’t necessary to be like that. God doesn’t want you to be. He wants you to be full of joy. If you will read this verse, meditate upon it, and conform to the conditions stated, it will certainly help you to be full of joy.

I’m emphasizing the fact that you can go to heaven if you want to. I’d like to read one more Scripture and then we close. This is found in II Peter, chapter one, verse 5-10, “And beside this, giving all diligence; add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.” Do you notice that word “sure”? “Give diligence to make your calling and election _sure_”; it didn’t say to make it likely, or to make it probable, but to make it _certain_. It requires diligence, but if you will give the proper diligence, you can make your calling and election certain. “For if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

A man who does these things will not barely slip in by the skin of the teeth, but for him the gates will stand wide ajar. He will receive an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, inherit eternally a mansion which Jesus has gone to prepare for those who love him, for those who walk in the light, for those who do the best they can.

Do you want to go to heaven? I suspect if I were to take a vote on it and ask all who want to go to heaven to raise their hands, that every person in the house would raise his hand. You say you want to go, but do you? Are you on the road which leads there? A man driving toward Louisville, Kentucky, at sixty miles an hour, knowing that Atlanta is in the opposite direction, would have a hard time convincing me that he wanted to go to Atlanta. He may want to go some day but he doesn’t want to go now, because he is going in the other direction. The man who is going toward hell at sixty minutes an hour can’t convince me that he wants to go to heaven, unless he is just mistaken about his direction. Do you really want to go to heaven? If you do, let’s be on the way. The Bible reveals the road which leads there. Get up and follow the sign posts and some day you will get there. Why not start right now? Will you come to Jesus now?

FOOTNOTES

[1]Harry Emerson Fosdick “The Revolt Against Paganism” in _Ladies Home
Journal_, February, 1946.

[2]For a similar discussion see J. W. Brents, _Gospel Sermons_,
(Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1891), pp. 282-298.

[3]See Chapter II.

[4]See Chapter II.

[5]Bracketed text is a conjectural reconstruction of line omitted in the
printed copy.

Harris J. Dark was born in Maury County, Tennessee February 8, 1905. He graduated from David Lipscomb College and did additional work at Vanderbilt University and Randolph-Macon College where he received the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1934. He received his Master of Arts degree from the University of Richmond in 1940. He has studied one year in the Vanderbilt School of Religion and one year in the Union Theological Seminary at Richmond, Virginia. He is just now completing work for his Doctor of Philosophy degree at George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tennessee.

Transcriber’s Notes

—Silently corrected a few typos.

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.

—Where a line was omitted in typesetting, inserted a reconstructed line
within {brackets}.