Who Gets to Heaven Anyway?

Heaven is a free Gift.
Heaven cannot be earned or deserved.
No one gets to go to heaven under their own power.

What must I do to be Saved?

Yet, it has very little to do with you.
It is really not about YOU. It is all about God.

Let me explain.

We are all separated from God because of our breaking of God’s laws (sinning) and of treason against God. “There is none righteous, no not one. For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.”

We have no means of communicating with God, no connection with God in any form. We are eternally separated from God.

“No one is perfect,” we have all said at one time or another. But do we really understand the gravity of that truth?

We are all sinners. No one is good, at least not as good as God. God is perfect and only perfect people will be in heaven. “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

A sin is anything that we think, do or say that breaks God’s law. God’s law is written in the Scriptures, but it is also written upon our consciences.

So that, if I have a thought of hate, greed, jealously or adultery, that is a sin; even if I do not have the opportunity to act upon my thoughts. If I use God’s name as a curse word that is a sin. If my neighbor is sick and I am too busy watching the ball game to bring over some food for him that is a sin.

How many sins does it take to be disqualified from entering heaven? ONE!

How many sins did Satan commit so that he was condemned for eternity? ONE!

If you have committed one sin, you are forever disqualified from heaven.

With such standards, no one can enter heaven. So we have a big problem.

Ok then, I am disqualified from heaven. Is there any hope for me?

God loves humans. “God is love.” Yet, God has taken an oath upon himself that he will punish each and every sin. “The wages of sin is death.” “I will by no means clear the guilty. I will visit their iniquities upon them with a rod and their transgressions with lashes.”

Our answer is that God sent his son Jesus, to take our punishment upon himself. Jesus is two persons. Jesus is fully human. He had to be fully human and die a real human death to pay the penalty for sin. Jesus is also fully God. Jesus had to be God in order to take all of our sins upon himself and to rise from the dead.

So Jesus is two people? I thought he was one person.

This is known as the Hypostatic Union. Jesus is two persons, not a hybrid or mixture, both living in one body in perfect unity. Therefore, this God-Man is the only bridge between God and Mankind. Jesus is the only perfect human and he is the only way to the Father. Jesus has presented himself as a sacrifice of payment for our sins. Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.”

Why would the death of Jesus pay for my sins?

Levitical Priest sacrificed animals (lambs) for thousands of years, spreading the blood on the alter as a payment for the sins of the Jewish people. The animal sacrifices were a foreshadowing of Jesus being sacrificed for our sins.

Jesus was the ultimate, once for all, lamb that was slain and His blood takes away our sins. All other ways are false and without power, because they do not provide a sin offering to God.

Who does Jesus save us from?

Jesus saves us from the Father!

“He who knew no sin became sin for our sake.” Jesus came and lived a perfect life, obeying all of God’s commandments. Jesus lived the life I could not. The Jesus allowed himself to be crucified in my place. The punishment that God had for me was poured out upon Jesus as he died on the cross. That is why the cross is so important. The cross is where God’s mercy and justice are both satisfied. “The penalty for sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.”

My sins are all paid for by Jesus who is the Christ, the Anointed One.

How can this Jesus be fully man and fully God at the same time?

Jesus was the spoken Word of God that became a man. “And the Word become flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”

So how do I receive this payment for my sins? Did you know that the Scriptures do not teach that Jesus died for every person. Jesus only died for His People. So who are His People?

So Jesus did not die for everyone? I thought he died for everyone.

We become His People by Grace alone through Faith alone in Christ alone. Only those who receive his payment by Faith in Jesus Christ will escape hell.

Then what is Faith? I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Am I saved?

There are many types of Faith. There is only one Saving Faith, only one kind of Faith, which allows us to go free form judgment.

Saving Faith is not just believing in Jesus. It is not just an intellectual acknowledgment. Satan and the demons know that Jesus is the Son of God and they are damned.

Saving Faith is completely trusting in Jesus alone for our eternal life.
Faith is believing that what is written in the Bible is true and that God has shown us mercy in only one way.

God’s mercy has a name. That name is Jesus. That is Saving Faith. That is the Key to Heaven.

Trusting in ourselves and our goodness is the quickest way to Hell. We need to stop trusting in our goodness and our good works, and begin trusting in Jesus’ good works and in His sacrifice alone.

So it really has very little to do with me?

You see it is not about you. It is all about God.

We go to heaven not as a reward for our good deeds, but to serve God. We are saved for God’s purposes, to work for God. Living forever in heaven is just a perk of the job.

So what must I do to be saved?

Trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation.

Trusting in Jesus means that you turn your entire life over to Jesus. You turn over your job, your bank account, your family, your business and your marriage over to Christ.

Turning everything over to Jesus seems extreme? Is there no middle ground, no compromising?

No compromise.

In the vernacular of the 70’s, you must become a Jesus Freak! If you do not go ‘overboard’ you are not saved. You must become a priest to God, devoting your life to following Christ. Once you are ‘sold out’ for Christ, you will be born again. “Therefore, for all who received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become Children of God. Children not of a flesh, nor of human decision, nor of a husbands will; but born of God.”

“For that which is born of flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is of God.” Flesh cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (heaven).

Jesus must be your Lord and Master. Jesus must by your Savior and King.

But much more, you must repent for your sins. You must confess your sins, be truly sorry for your sins and be baptized. Repentance means turning and going in the opposite way in life. “Enter through the narrow gate. For most will travel the board path and enter into the wide gate, which leads to destruction. But few will find the small path and enter the narrow gate, which leads to eternal life.”

You have been going the way of sin and death in your life. Now you must go the way of Christ.

But you said it has nothing to do with me? Why must I obey?

Obedience is a symptom of being born again, of having the new nature. Obedience does not save you. Being saved makes you obedient. You obey because you want to, not because you are compelled to. There is a big difference in the two.

Will you now live a perfect life? No!

But you must want to live a perfect life.

You must mourn when you sin against God.

Just as a son is truly sorry when he has hurt and disappointed his beloved Father.

I still do not understand. What must I do to be saved?

If these things make sense to you, you can be born again right now, in front of your computer screen.

Pray to God in the Name of Jesus that you wish to turn your life over to God, that you accept Jesus’ death as payment for your sins and that you repent for your sins. If you do this from your heart, you will be saved. “He that calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” Amen.

If you have done this, send me and email with your name and address and I will send you a little book so that you can get started with your new life in Christ. Email me at info@christianworldviewbooks.com.