The Bible indicates that you can know for sure that you
will spend eternity with God in Heaven. In fact, The Bible
says: “These things I have written unto you...that ye may
know that you have eternal life...” (1 John 5:13). Here’s
how: The Bible says there are 5 things you need to know
and personally affirm about eternal life:
(1) GRACE: Eternal life with God in heaven is a free gift!
The Bible says: “...the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23). Because heaven is
a free gift, like any genuine gift, eternal life cannot be
earned or deserved. No amount of personal effort, good
works, self-sacrifice, or religious service could ever earn
you a place in heaven. The Bible says: “For by grace are
ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the
gift of God: Not of Works, lest any man should boast.”
(Ephesians 2:8-9) Why is it that no one can earn his/her
way to heaven?
(2) MAN: Because people are sinners. The Bible says:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
(Romans 3:23) Sin is anything that falls short of God’s
perfect standard and includes things like lying, lust,
cheating, deceit, evil thoughts, immoral behavior, and
much more. You could ask yourself: “How often am I not
perfect every day?” Every time you are not living perfectly
according to God’s standard, you are sinning, and because
of this, you cannot save yourself. In fact, if you wanted to
save yourself by your own good deeds, do you know how
good you’d have to be? You would have to be completely
perfect, without even one single stain of sin throughout
your entire life. Jesus commands us to “Be ye perfect, even
as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew
5:48) With such a high standard, no can save him/herself.
However, in spite of our sin...
(3) GOD: God is merciful, and therefore doesn’t want to
punish us. This is because the Bible says: ...God is love.”
(1 John 4:8) He says elsewhere: “...I have loved thee with
an everlasting love...” (Jeremiah 31:3). But the same Bible
that tells us that God loves us, also tells us that God is
just, and therefore He must punish sin. He says: “...[I] will
by no means clear the guilty...” (Exodus 34:7), and “...the
soul that sinneth, it shall die...” (Ezekiel 18:4). And
therefore, we have a problem, God loves us and doesn’t
want to punish us, but He is just and He must punish sin.
Well, God solved this problem for us in the Person of…
(4) JESUS CHRIST: Who is He? Jesus Christ is fully
God and fully Man. In fact, He is the infinite God-Man.
The Bible says: “In the beginning was the Word [Jesus],
and the Word [Jesus] was with God, and the Word [Jesus]
was God. And the Word [Jesus] became flesh, and dwelt
among us…” (John 1:1, 14) Jesus Christ came to earth
and lived a sinless perfect life, but while on earth He died
on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and He rose
from the grave to purchase a place for us in heaven. The
Bible says: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid
on Him [Jesus] the iniquity [sin] of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)
Jesus Christ bore the wrath of God the Father in His body
on the cross and when the last penalty for sin was paid for,
He cried out: “It is finished!” (John 19:30) Jesus purchased
redemption for us through His perfect life and vicarious
substitutionary death on the cross, and He offers this gift
to us through…
(5) FAITH: Faith is the key that unlocks the door to
heaven. However, many people commonly mistake 2
things for saving faith. It is important to understand that
saving faith is not mere head knowledge about who Jesus
Christ is and what He did. It is not just believing and
agreeing with certain historical facts. The Bible says that
the devil believes there is one God, so believing that
there is one God is not saving faith. Second, saving faith
is not a mere temporal faith, that is, trusting in God for
temporary crises such as financial, family, or physical
needs. Now these are good, of course, and you should
trust Christ for these types of things, but they are not
saving faith. Saving faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone
for eternal life. It means that you have made a personal
decision at some point in your life to stop relying upon
your own good works in terms of your standing before
God, and you have decided to put all of your hope and
trust for eternal life in Jesus Christ and what He has done
on the cross to save you! The Bible says: “…Believe
[trust] on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved… (Acts 16:31)
The question you must now ask yourself is: “What is my
trust and confidence in with regard to my standing
before God?” If you believe that your standing with God
depends upon the degree to which you keep or don’t
keep God’s law, then you need to be converted! You
need to make a decision to stop relying in any way on
your own personal behavior in terms of your eternal
standing before God, and you need to transfer that trust
completely to what Jesus Christ has done to save you. In
other words, it’s not what you must do that gets you into
heaven, but rather what Jesus has done for you (and that
alone) that gets you into heaven! If you would like to do
this, you can go to God in prayer right now where you
are. You can receive His gift of eternal life through Jesus
Christ right now. The Bible says: “For with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. For whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans
10:10, 13) If you want to receive the gift of eternal life
through Jesus Christ, then call on Him, asking Him for
this gift right now. Here’s a suggested prayer:
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“Lord Jesus Christ, I know I am a
sinner and do not deserve eternal
life. But I believe that you died
and rose from the grave to
purchase a place in heaven for me.
Lord Jesus, come into my life; take
control of my life; forgive my sins
and save me. I want to turn from
my sins and now I place my trust
in you for my salvation. I accept
the free gift of eternal life.”
If that prayer is the sincere desire of your heart, look at
what Jesus promises to those who trust in Him: “Truly,
truly, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath
everlasting life.” (John 6:47)
If you just prayed to receive this free gift of eternal life -
WELCOME TO GOD’S FAMILY! Today is your
spiritual birthday – a day you will always want
to remember.
In order to grow now as a Christian, we recommend that
you ask one of the leaders of our church how you can
grow more spiritually and learn all about God and what
He has done for you and what He intends to do through
your life! |
