Heaven bound? Find out!
Question: How do I know if I’m going to Heaven?
The short answer: Those who are going to heaven have accepted Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as their Lord and Savior.
Here’s why: We are all sinners unworthy of heaven, but God loved us so much He sent His only Son to sacrifice His life for us, taking the punishment we deserve for our sins by dying on the cross. God then raised Jesus from the dead, proving He had accepted His Son’s sacrifice.
If you repent of (turn from) your sins, ask Jesus to forgive you, and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your place in heaven is secured! And as a Believer, you should live your life to please God!
How Did It Get This Way?
Our world is in a mess. Nations at war. Crime in the streets. Political corruption. Racial and social unrest. The constant threat of natural disasters. And with all our great science and technology we can’t figure out a way to keep people from deliberately hurting one another.
Things, indeed, are in a mess. But it wasn’t meant to be this way.
Paradise Lost
The Bible says after God created the world, He looked at the peace, harmony, and beauty of His creation and pronounced it “very good.” (Genesis 1:31) It was glorious! So, what happened? Sin happened!
God’s crowning achievement, human beings made in God’s own image, rebelled against Him. We rejected the rules our loving Creator set in place for our good and instead chose to go our own way. In other words, we wanted to be our own gods. (Genesis 3:1-7)
That sinful attitude which first appeared in our ancestors has been passed down from one generation to the next: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
As a result of our rebelling against God, His perfect order has been broken and we find ourselves where we are today:
“They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.” (Romans 1:29-31)
Our sin has broken our relationship with the God who made us, and we all are suffering the consequences: “…your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2)
Since God is holy and righteous, He must judge sin. And because we are all guilty, we all deserve His justice: death, and eternal separation from Him. That means an eternity in hell. “Their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8b)
Someone says: “But what about all the good things I’ve done in my life? Surely God will consider that!”
The Bible says: “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” (Isaiah 64:6) According to the Scriptures, “None is righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10)
The Good News
But is there any good news? YES! In fact, the greatest news of all!
Because the same God who is holy and just is also merciful. And because He loves us so, He has provided a way for us to be brought back into a right relationship with Him once and for all – while at the same time not letting sin go unpunished.
From the very first act of rebellion, God promised that He would send One who would crush evil. (Genesis 3:15) And as the Old Testament [the first section of the Bible] unfolds, there are dozens and dozens of prophecies that tell us about this One who is going to come and what to expect when He does.
And then we come to the New Testament, and we find out exactly who it was those prophets were speaking of: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus told the religious leaders of His day: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” (John 5:39)
Jesus came to live the perfect, sin-free life that we could never live and then die the death that we deserve, in our place. “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve,” Jesus told His disciples, “and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
Jesus performed many miracles to prove His authority, but the greatest miracle happened after Jesus willingly suffered crucifixion on a Roman cross: He was raised from the dead three days later, just as He said would happen. (Matthew 28:5-7) Jesus’ physical resurrection was proof the Father had accepted His Son’s sacrifice for us!
Repent and Believe
So, what now? Well, now comes our part. God has provided a way for our sins to be forgiven once and for all. But we must repent – that is, we must turn from our sins – and believe. The Bible says, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
When we put our faith in Jesus Christ and give our life to Him, our sin is transferred to Him (where He has already paid for it in full on the cross), and Jesus’ perfect righteousness gets credited to us. Since our sins are forgiven, our relationship with God is healed. And when this life is over, we are assured of an eternal home with God in heaven.
So, what about you? Will you accept God’s free gift of salvation? Don’t wait! Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed to any of us and after we die it will be too late. The Bible says: “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2b)
If you would like to receive God’s free gift of salvation, go to Him in prayer and say something like this: “Dear God, I confess that I am a sinner and not worthy of heaven. I deserve your judgment. Please forgive me! I believe you sent your Son Jesus to pay the cost of my sins for me, and to grant me His perfect righteousness. I believe You raised Him from the dead. Right now, I repent of my sins and receive Jesus as my Savior and my Lord. I give my life to Him. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray, amen.”
What’s Next?
If you said that prayer with a truthful heart, God’s word says you are saved. Welcome to the family of God! Now that you are saved, what’s next?
- Join up with other believers in Christ and begin worshiping and serving the Lord with them. (Ask the Lord to guide you to a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church that you can be a part of)
- Get baptized in water as a public confession that you are now a Christian. (Acts 2:38)
- Begin reading and studying the Bible. It is God’s personal love letter to His people. It will help you reject sin and live your life to please God.
- Tell others about Jesus and how He has changed your life!
- Pray to the Lord regularly, serve Him gladly, and live every day in anticipation of His coming back to rule and reign.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.