Heaven?

There are many important questions in the world. Where am I going to work? Who am I going to marry? Where am I going to go to church? Where am I going to live? Where will I go to college? etc... However, there is one question that surpasses them all. And that is the question I pose to you today. The question is...

Do you know for sure that one day you will be in Heaven?

One day, howbeit hopefully far away, I will no longer trod this earth. I am here for a very short time, and then my life is gone almost as quick as it came. Some dread the thought of death, but I do not and neither should you, IF you are prepared for that day.


After I'm gone, what will it matter where I've been? Or how big of a number I had in my bank account? Or how nice of a car I had? Or how big of a house I owned? Or where I went on vacation? What will all of that amount to after I'm gone? Not much really. All that will matter is where I will spend the rest of my life eternally.


I believe that most everyone wants to go to Heaven. But how do we get there? If I am going to spend forever somewhere, I had better know for sure where I'm going! :) Which brings me to ask you this:

If you were to stand in front of God, and He were to look at you and ask, "Why should I let you into Heaven?"...what would you say?

It's a tough question, but think about it for a second. I have had the wonderful opportunity to talk with literally hundreds of people on this subject. I would say, MOST of the time the response to the previous question is this:

"Well, I guess I would say, 'God, I haven't really done anything that bad. I think I'm a pretty good person.'"

Will that answer "fly" when we stand before God? Many people believe that if a person lives a good life and doesn't commit any horrible sins, then God will let them into Heaven. In the religion of Islam it is taught that there is a good angel on one shoulder and a bad angel on the other who record everyone one of your deeds, good and bad respectively. If you have done more good than bad, they say you go to "Paradise". If more bad than good, you get "Hellfire." Most religions are typical of this scenario. We call this a "works based religion." Is this true? Can we work our way to Heaven? If that is true, then the best we can do is "hope" that we've done enough to go to Heaven. I do not believe that the God of Heaven would take much joy in His children fretting every day of their lives as to whether or not they have 1 or 2 more bad deeds than good. God is not a God of fear, but a God of hope and love. It doesn't seem very loving to only let people "hope" or think that they could go to Heaven, and yet this is what many people are willing to settle for.


Honestly, I would hate to live my life "hoping" that I've done enough good things to get into Heaven! I want to KNOW!!! I know for sure, and I believe that YOU can know for sure as well! In fact God has given you a promise from His Word that you can know without a single doubt!

     I John 5:13 - "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life,"

I would like to share with you how I know for sure, 100%, without a doubt that when it's my time to go, I'm going to Heaven! How selfish would I have to be to conceal this! If a man had the cure for cancer and refused to release it, we would all be angry with him! How much more selfish would it be of me not to tell someone about the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, and that is knowing for a fact that my life after death is taken care of!


First, let me ask a couple simple questions for you to consider:


1. Who is in charge of Heaven?


You need not be a rocket scientist to figure this one out. GOD is in charge of Heaven! So, if God is in charge of Heaven....


2. ...Then who decides how we get in?


GOD DOES! I cannot waltz up to God and say, "Now listen, I'm going to give you 5 bucks and you're guna let me in!" No!!! God would have to say, "You don't understand, this is MY house. I lay down the terms as to how you get in." That is just common sense. However, the next question is the one of which this post will now address.


3. So...if God is in charge of Heaven, and if He alone decides how we get in, how am I supposed to know the terms?


Wouldn't it have been nice of God to write it all down for us??? Well...HE DID! He wrote it down in a wonderful Book called The Bible! The Bible is God's Book to man and in it lie the terms for Heaven! The Bible says, "God is not the author of confusion," - I Cor. 14:33 Any confusion about how to get to Heaven is not God's fault. He has laid it down for us in black and white, once and for all, if we will just, "Seek ye out the book of the Lord, and read" - Isa. 34:16 Let us now look to the Bible and see what God has said about this subject of Heaven and how we get there.

What Does the Bible Say?

1. The Bible says that we are unfit for Heaven.

Romans 3:10 - "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:"

This verse states simply states that no one is perfect! That word "righteous" means, "perfect, holy." I think that we would all agree that there isn't anybody on the earth right now who has never done anything wrong. The fact is that we have all done things that we shouldn't. Agreed? No matter how big or small, we have all messed up.


But, why does that make us unfit for Heaven? This next verse will explain:

Romans 3:23 - "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"

The word "For" in this verse means, "because". So..."For (because) all (does that word "all" leave anybody out? No!) have sinned (messed up/done wrong/not done good/etc.) and come short of the glory of God. The last phrase "and come short of the glory of God" gives the reason why we are unfit for Heaven as we are. Because of our sin, we "come short". Come short of what? - Heaven! The Bible teaches from cover to cover that no one, no matter how "good" or how "bad" deserves Heaven. None of us deserve the glory of God, in fact, we ALL fall short. Why is that? "For (because) all have sinned," Our sin makes us unfit for Heaven!

But, why does our SIN make us unfit for Heaven? Sin seperates us from God. Why? The Bible says, "the LORD our God is holy." - Psalm 99:9 The world holy means, "seperate from sin,". If God is totally seperate from sin, how can I enter into Heaven with a heart full of sinful thoughts and deeds? God is so far away from sin that He cannot even look at it, much less allow sin into Heaven! Because of the sin I have in my heart, God cannot allow me into Heaven because of His holiness. (I know this concept may be new to some of you, but please hear me out. Most importantly, notice that all the conclusions I have drawn and will draw are from the Bible, which is the "Final Authority." It matters not what I think to be true. It matters what God has said!)

We are unfit for Heaven because of our sin, and are in fact seperated from God because of it. But unfortunately, the Bible teaches that not only are we seperated from God, but we are also in debt to Him because of our sin. Allow me to explain.

2. The Bible says there is a penalty for sin.

The Biblication definition for sin is, "breaking God's law." When we sin, we are not just doing something wrong. But rather, we are sinning AGAINST Someone. God wrote down a list of Do's and Dont's in the Bible. These are known as commandments. When we (and we all do) refuse to obey these commandments, that is sin. Just like if I was to break a law of the United States of America, there is a penalty that I must pay. The same goes for God's law. I have broken God's law because of my sin, and am therefore under a certain penalty. The Bible describes this penalty in the verses below:

Romans 6:23 - "For the wages of sin is death;"

Ezekiel 18:4 - ":the soul that sinneth, it shall die."

Romans 5:12 - "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"

The Bible states that the penalty for violating God's law is "death." In the first verse above the Bible uses the word "wages". The word wages means "payment". The only payment that God will accept for my sin is death. God did not say, "For the wages of sin is doing a bunch of good deeds to make up for your sin." Good deeds can never make bad ones go away. If I were to break the glass door at the hotel where I work, that would be bad. (My managers would not be happy! lol) But let's say I broke the glass. To make up for it, I went and fed the poor and gave money to a charity. Does that repair the door? No! I must pay the price for breaking that door! The price is $$$$!!! That is the only thing that will pay for the door! Likewise the only thing that will pay for my sin is death. Not good works, baptism, sacraments, or some freaky experience.

Many have said that there are mortal sins, but the Bible teaches that all sin is "mortal". The 2nd verse uses the word "shall". There is no other choice but death...someone must die. I know that this sounds gloomy, and it may be bad news, but fear not because there is good news just around the corner. But first, we must realize our condition. We were born with a sin nature. No one had to teach me how to disobey or do wrong. It was natural. Because of my sin, I must die.

When the Bible speaks of "death" in the context of our subject it is not speaking of the physical death of our bodies but rather the spiritual death of our souls. This is seen in the book of Revelation:

Revelation 20:14-15 - "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

Here we see the phrase "the second death." This obviously refers to the spiritual death. These two verses are not pleasant to hear, but they are truth. Jesus said, "thy word is truth." - John 17:17 I do not like to talk about "hell" but the Bible talks 2x as much about Hell as it does Heaven, and I must mention it here. The Bible teaches, as we have already established, that the payment for sin is death. This is the second death, which is death in Hell. That is the price that you and I have to pay because of our sin. Death in Hell is the only price that God will accept. Some interject here and say, "God wouldn't send anybody to Hell!!!" If that is your mindset, I TOTALLY agree with you! God doesn't send anybody to Hell...instead, He has given us a choice. It is our decision whether we go to Heaven or to Hell. God has given us a free will to decide. He has made a way for you and I to escape this "death penalty". I would like to present that opportunity to you right now!

3. God already paid your penalty for you!

Romans 5:8 - "But God commendeth (shewed) his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

Friend, God looked down from Heaven a long time ago and said, "I know that ________ (fill in your name) has sinned against me. They have broken my law. The punishment is death, and that is the only price I'll accept. BUT...I don't want them to have to die! So, I am going to make a way for them to live in Heaven forever with me! Jesus, I want you to go down to Earth, live a perfect life, and die in their place. This will satisfy their penalty, and give them the opportunity to live with me forever! It will be my gift to them!"

That is why Jesus came! Jesus came to die! He came to die in your place! The most famous verse in the Bible says,

John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

God loved you so much that He allowed His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to die for you on the cross! Think about this: If you could live a really good life and quit some of your sins, and if that would get you to Heaven, why would God send Jesus to die in our place? If we could just be really good and go to Heaven, then there would have been no need for Jesus to die! God obviously saw that we needed something to save us from our spiritual death, and Jesus, who was God in the flesh, died so that we might live!!!

So...if the penalty was death, and Jesus died, did He or did He not pay for all your sin? YES! Jesus paid for all your sin, past, present, and future! When Jesus died all your sins were in the future! But not only did He die, but he rose again on the third day from the grave:

Mark 6:16 - "And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him."

When Jesus died, was buried, and rose again, not only did He pay for our sin but He also bought us a gift!

Romans 6:23b..."the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Jesus Christ offers all men ETERNAL LIFE as a free gift! A gift is something that you don't have to earn or deserve. As already proven, we do not deserve Heaven. Jesus, knowing that we are unfit for Heaven presents us with eternal life in Heaven with Him as a free gift! "Do I have to do anything to get it?" No, Jesus did it all! "Do I have to work for it and build up some merit to pay for it?" No, Christ did al the work for you on the cross! The only work that was needed to be done was death, and Christ died for you! No other work is needed! Christ said right before He died, "It is finished.", meaning, 'The price has been fully paid!'

Isn't that exciting! Now, Jesus died for all men, but obviously not all men will go to Heaven. What seperates the people who go to Heaven and the people who go to Hell? Simply this: The people who go to Heaven have accepted Jesus Christ's death as satisfactory for their sin, and accept His free gift of etenal life BY FAITH. Those who go to Hell have rejected Christ's offer and have decided to try and pay for their sins another way such as with good deeds, sacraments, offerings, etc. However none of those things pay for the penalty of sin which is death. If you want to go to Heaven, you must accept what Jesus did for you on the cross as your payment for sin and accept His gift of salvation.

"How Can I Do That?"

4. All You Must Do Is Believe!

The Bible says that we accept eternal life from Jesus Christ by faith:

Romans 10:9-10 - "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

God is offering you a wonderful gift. A gift of faith in Jesus Christ that will take you to Heaven when you die. Would you like to accept that gift now? If so, God says "confess with thy mouth". We talk to God through prayer, so we must tell God that we want the free gift of eternal salvation!

Pray something like this:

"Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I have broken your law and for that I deserve to die. I realize that the only payment you'll accept for my sin is death. But I know that you also sent Jesus your Son to die for me so that I wouldn't have to go to Hell. I accept what Jesus did on the cross as the payment for my sins, and ask for the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ and Him alone. I know that there is no good thing I can do to take me to Heaven, and no bad thing that I can quit that will help me get there. I put my heart's trust in You and You alone. Please come into my life and save me right now! In Jesus Name, Amen."

If you just prayed that prayer to God, and accepted the gift of eternal life in Heaven by faith, then you have done EXACTLY what the Bible says one must do to go to Heaven!!! All I have to say now is CONGRATULATIONS! I hope you feel a peace in your heart and assurance that you now possess the eternal gift of Heaven as your home!!!

P.S.- If you read this post and accepted Christ please leave a comment in the "Comments" box and let me know so I may rejoice with you! Please email me with any questions you might have. My email address is: thezman22@gmail.com