Can You Be Sure That You’re Going To Heaven?

2005-01-11

There is a way you can be sure that you are going to Heaven! The message I present to you in the following paragraphs is the most important message that you and I will ever hear, so I encourage you to take time and think about these things.

The Bad News: We Are Sinners

The Bible says in Romans 3:23, “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” “Sin” is another word meaning “missing the mark.” God, the infinite creator and sustainer of all things, is perfect and has a perfect standard for us. But as finite creatures, we have all turned away from God. We have “missed His mark.”

Let me show you how we are all sinners: If you have ever lied (no matter how trivial it might have seemed), taken God’s name in vain, lusted, gossiped, or cursed your parents, then you are a sinner. I personally have done all of these things at some point in my life, and I am sure you have fallen short in at least one of these areas. If not, the first five books of the Bible contain over 600 laws; have we been faithful at every single moment of our lives? No way! The Bible also says in James 2:10, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” God’s Law shows us that we are all without hope before God.

God demands of us in Deuteronomy 18:13, “Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God.” And the consequences to all who do not live up to God’s standard is summed up in Romans 6:23, “the wages of sin is death.” A wage is what we earn, and because we have sinned, we earned death. The reality of our situation is that we all have sinned, and therefore we must face the penalty of death.

The Good News: Jesus Died For Us and Rose Again

The Bible says, in Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” In other words, God loved us so much, that even when we had turned away from Him and gave Him no thought, He sent His Son Jesus to die in our place. For example, if it were possible for a person to take a terminal disease another had, such as cancer, to die instead of the sick one, this is what Jesus did. He took our terminal disease, sin, and died in our place. Again, if someone could serve the death penalty for another’s crime, that is what Jesus did, He served the death penalty for our crimes.

But Jesus did not remain dead. On the third day, He rose from the dead, proving His victory over sin and death!

We Can Be Saved Through Faith

The Bible says, in Ephesians 2:8-9, “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.” Since we are sinners, we cannot “win God over” by our own performance. Jesus did everything for us to be reconciled with God. Now “faith” in this sense should best be thought of as “trust.” When you sat down today, you did not examine the craftsmanship of the chair before you sat; you trusted that the chair would hold you. Likewise, you must trust in Jesus Christ alone to save you. You cannot trust in church membership, doing “good deeds,” baptism, confirmation classes, being “a good person,” etc. While many of these things are good things, they do not bring us into favor with God. You must trust in Jesus Christ, and Him only, to have eternal life. God did what we could never do; that is to reconcile us to Himself by sending His Son to die in our place.