How to go to heaven

UNDERSTANDING THE PLAN OF SALVATION

Understanding the importance
There are many priorities in people’s lives: family, health, work, etc. Without a doubt though, the greatest priority in life is our eternal salvation. Jesus once asked a very pointed question in Mark 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Jesus also told the story of a man who was very successful in his earthly life but made no preparation for eternity. He called him a “fool” (Luke 12:20).

Jesus said, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able,” Luke 13:24. Jesus also said there would be “few” who would find the strait gate (Matt. 7:14). Will you be one of the many or the few?

Understanding the need
Most people neglect to make sure of their salvation because they do not understand their need of salvation. We are not saved just because we believe in God. James 2:19 warns, “The devils believe and tremble.” We are not saved because we do the best we can. The Bible says “not by works of righteousness which we have done…” Titus 3:5. Neither are we saved by being religious. Jesus said, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not... in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity,” Matt. 7:22, 23.

The reason that these things are not sufficient is that we are all sinners. The Bible says, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23. How much we sin is not the issue. James 2:10 says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” We must not make the mistake of those who seek “to establish their own righteousness” (Romans 10:3), because we have none. “There is none righteous, no not one,” Romans 3:10. In fact, the Bible says that “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” in the sight of God (Isaiah 64:6).

Furthermore, the Bible says, “the wages of sin is death” Romans 3:23. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die,” Ezek. 18:4. Because we have sinned, we are under the sentence of death. This death is eternal separation from God in the lake of fire. “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,” Rev. 20:14, 15.

The thief, the murderer, the adulterer, the moral man, the religious man, everyone, including you, is in need of salvation.

Understanding the plan
Jesus, who was in fact God in the flesh (Matt. 1:23, 1 Tim. 3:16), came down to earth to die for our sins. As He died, He shed His precious blood so that our sins could be washed away. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly,” Romans 5:6. “Christ died for our sins,” 1 Cor. 15:3. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,” 1 Pet. 3:18. “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,” 1 Pet. 2:24. “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood,” Rev. 1:5.

After Jesus died on the cross, He arose from the dead proving that He had paid for our sins and conquered death, hell, and the grave. He was “raised for our justification” Romans 4:25. Now He says, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me,” John 14:6.

Understanding how to be saved
Are you willing to admit that you are a lost sinner and that you cannot save yourself? Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins on the cross and that He rose again on the third day so that you could be saved? If so, then you can be saved today if you will fully trust Jesus and receive Him as your Savior? “He came unto his own and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,” John 1:11, 12.

Jesus said, “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out,” John 6:37.

Understanding assurance
Once you accept Jesus as your Savior,God wants you to have the assurance that you are saved. In 1 John 5:13 we read, “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.”

Unfortunately, many “profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him,” Titus 2:16. Therefore the Bible gives evidences of genuine salvation. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new,” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Two main evidences are stated repeatedly in 1 John. The first is a life of obedience to the commands of God. “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him,” 1 John 2:3, 4. We are not saved by keeping His commandments, but a saved person will do his best to obey the commands of God.

The second is a genuine love for other Christians. “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death,” 1 John 3:14. And this love is one of deeds, not just words (1 John 3:18).

Is your life obedient to the Word of God? Do you love God? Do you love Christians? Do you attend church faithfully? Do you pray and read your Bible regularly? Your answers should either assure your heart before God or trouble you (1 John 3:20, 21). Whichever, do everything necessary to make sure you are saved.