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:
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!