2 IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
Do you know for sure that when you die you will go to Heaven?
Suppose you died and you find yourself standing before God and He asked you: “Why should I let you into My Heaven?”
What would you say?
If you are not sure that you have eternal life then this book is for you. The Bible tells us how we can know for certain that we will go to be with God in Heaven when we die. The few minutes you spend reading these pages may be the most important time you will ever spend.
Man thinks there are many ways to get into Heaven!
- Good works
- Follow the 10 Commandments
- Obey the Golden-Rule
- Be nice
- Do not hurt anybody
- Avoid committing crimes
- Being better than most people
- Give to charity
- Be religious
- Be sincere
The trouble with all these ways is that they all depend on us.
But none of us is perfect. We can’t keep all the rules all the time. We all fail and so we can never be sure that we have done enough to earn our place in Heaven. In fact the harder we try, the more we realise our imperfections. We don’t keep to our own standards let alone God’s standards. If you are not sure of your eternal life in Heaven then get ready to hear: the BEST NEWS you have ever heard!
This Good News is that:
HEAVEN (ETERNAL LIFE) IS A FREE GIFT !
The Bible says: “The wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
God wants us to have a close personal relationship with Him and to experience His ABUNDANT LIFE both now and for all eternity. So He offers it to us as a free gift.
Since ETERNAL LIFE is a free-gift, like all genuine gifts:
IT IS NOT EARNED OR DESERVED
No amount of personal effort, good works or religious deeds can earn a place in Heaven for you. The Bible says: “By grace you have been 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).
Suppose out of love, you gave a friend an expensive gift and they say: “Here is a pound for it.” How would you feel? Insulted? Yes, because any true gift must be accepted freely. If you pay anything for it, then it is no longer a gift. No gift can be paid for or be earned or deserved.
In the same way God offers us eternal life as a free gift. We cannot pay for it. It is not earned or deserved. God refuses any payment for it, because He offers it to all men as a gift. In fact it is an insult to try and pay for it. It can only be received on a free-gift basis.
WHY is it that no one can earn his way to Heaven?
Because:
MAN IS A SINNER
The Bible makes it clear that we are all guilty in the sight of God, for “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
Our own experience tells us that we often fail to come up to our own standards, let alone God’s standard of perfection.
SIN DEFINED.
Sin is anything that displeases God and transgresses His law. It is not just crimes like murder, rape or robbery. There are sins in deed, for instance: cheating, losing our temper, stealing and immoral behavior; and sins in word such as lying, gossiping, cursing and swearing; as well as sins in thought and attitude such as lust, pride, bad thoughts and hatred. Sin is selfishness.
Sins of commission are things we do that we should not do. As well as these, there are sins of omission, such as failing to love God, to pray to Him and worship Him, as well as failing to love our neighbor as ourselves. All these sins show that each of us is a sinner by nature and undeserving of eternal life in heaven.
Even if I was really good and only commit 3 sins a day, then in one year that would be 1000 sins! In a lifetime, 70,000 sins. In fact it would be worse than this. What do you think would happen to an habitual offender in a court with 70,000 transgressions on his record?
This means that:
MAN CANNOT SAVE HIMSELF
No amount of good works, religious rituals or trying hard will impress God enough to allow you into heaven. You cannot earn your way into Heaven.
If you wanted to save yourself by good deeds, do you know how good you would have to be? What is God’s standard?
Jesus said: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in Heaven is perfect” (Matthew5:48).
God has only one standard – PERFECTION! A perfect God, in a perfect heaven, requires perfection. But imperfect man does not meet the standard and so he cannot save himself.
With such a high standard, no one can possibly save himself, for God also says: “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). It just takes one sin to make us guilty.
In exams, there is a passing-grade, which you need to get to move onto the next class. God has a passing-grade in His class of life. Some of us may get 5%, others 10%, others 20%, but it makes no difference, we all fail! Why? God’s passing grade is 100% (perfection). Because of sin no one can pass on their own performance.
God gave His Laws in the Bible to show man His high standards, and in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus showed that God requires perfection in our heart-attitudes as well as in our actions. “Cursed is every one who does not continue to do all the things that are written in the book of the law” (Galatians 3:10).
It is as impossible to reach Heaven by our own efforts as it is to swim the Atlantic! Some may get further than others but all would fall a long way short of the goal. So, even though some people are better than others, we all fall short of God’s standard. The gulf between us and the glory of Heaven is far greater than the Atlantic Ocean. In fact it is infinite.
Trying to save yourself is also like serving up an omelette that contains some rotten eggs mixed in with some good eggs. It would be unacceptable. The bad eggs spoil the whole omelette. Similarly, when we try to serve our lives up to God, they are unacceptable because they contain the rotten eggs of our sins mixed in with our good works.
*Do you now see why it is impossible for us to save ourselves?
In spite of our sin, however…
GOD IS MERCIFUL and therefore does not want to punish us.
This is because: “God is love” (1John 4:8). He says: “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). God loves us and wants us all to go to Heaven.
But the same Bible that tells us that God loves us also tells us that…
GOD IS JUST, therefore He must punish sin.
He says: “I will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus34:7) and: “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4).
We all believe in justice. If a criminal robs and murders someone, then we know he should be punished. We would be outraged if he were let off. He must pay the penalty for his actions. Just as a human judge must pronounce sentence upon a criminal, so God also must punish the guilty. God cannot turn a blind eye to sin. If a human judge is required to punish law-breakers because of justice, how much more must the Just and Holy Judge of the universe punish every sin? Otherwise God would be unjust. Therefore all men are under the sentence of death.
We have a major problem. We have all sinned and the penalty for sin is eternal death. We need forgiveness so that we can have a right relationship with God.
On the one hand, God loves us and does not want to punish us (He wants us to go to heaven); on the other hand He is Just and must punish our sin, which would mean us going to hell.
God solved this problem for us in the Person of JESUS CHRIST
Who exactly would you say Jesus Christ is?
A good man, a great teacher, a prophet perhaps?
The Bible tells us He is all these things but also so much more.
He is God – the Creator of the whole universe. He created you.
He also became a man and lived among us. Jesus Christ is the unique God-Man, both fully God and fully man.
“In the beginning was the Word (JESUS) and the Word (JESUS) was with God and the Word was God …and the Word (JESUS) became flesh (a man) and dwelt among us” (John 1:1,14).
So you see, He was and is God!
2000 years ago, God became a man, clothing Himself in human flesh. God loved us so much that He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, to come and save us from our sin and from hell and give us life.
As a man, Jesus lived a perfect sinless life and did many miracles that proved He was the Son of God, but it is what He did in His death that is of supreme importance.
*What did Jesus do?
When Jesus died on the Cross, all our sin was laid on Him. The Bible says: “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah53:6).
God hates our sins but because of His love for us, He has placed them all on His Son. Christ bore our sins in His body on the cross. When He cried: “It is finished”, He announced that He had paid the price for our forgiveness in full.
Jesus died on the Cross to pay the penalty for our sins and to purchase a place in Heaven for us.
He was buried and our sin was buried with Him. On the third day He rose from the dead and is alive forevermore!
He now offers you the gift of eternal life, which He purchased through His death.
THIS GIFT is RECEIVED by FAITH
Faith is the only key that opens the door to Heaven. Many try to use the key of their good works to get in, but they will fail.
The Bible says: “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John3:16).
But what is saving faith?
FAITH IS BELIEVING THE GOOD NEWS.
Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?
Do you believe that He died for your sins?
Do you believe He rose again on the third day?
Do you believe He offers you forgiveness and eternal life?
If you said ‘Yes’ to these questions then you have the first ingredient of faith, called intellectual assent, which is believing certain historical facts. But this alone will not save you, for the Bible says the devil believes in God and in these facts. So just believing in God is not saving faith. Something else is required and that is a personal response and commitment to Jesus Christ. Faith must be of the heart as well as the head if it is to be effectual.
SAVING FAITH IS TRUSTING IN JESUS CHRIST ALONE FOR ETERNAL LIFE.
FAITH means TRUST. If you really believe someone, you trust in them. Now perhaps you have prayed and trusted God for temporary crises such as financial, family or physical needs. Now this is good, but it is not saving faith.
Saving faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, forgiveness and eternal life. It is entrusting your whole being to Him for your eternal destiny. It means resting, depending and relying upon Christ alone and what He has done, rather than what you or I have done to get us to Heaven.
The Bible says: “Believe (trust) on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts16:31).
True faith is trusting in Christ ALONE. This means that you TRANSFER all your TRUST from your own goodness and from what you have been doing to Jesus Christ and what He did for you on the Cross.
Imagine you are sitting in the chair of your good-works and you can see the chair of Christ across the room. You may believe it is there but until you get out of your chair and sit (trust) in Christ, He does not hold you up.
Faith is like the hand of a beggar receiving the gift of a King. We don’t deserve the gift of eternal life and we cannot pay for it, but we can have it today if we reach out and receive it by faith, trusting in the genuineness of His offer of a free pardon if we trust in Him.
You have just read the greatest story ever told about the greatest offer ever made by the greatest Person who ever lived – Jesus Christ.
The question God is asking you now is:
Would you like to receive the gift of eternal life?
It’s up to you! It’s the most important choice you will make.
Because this is such an important matter, let’s clarify what this means: It means putting all your trust in the resurrected living Jesus Christ, receiving Him into your heart and life as your Savior and Lord.
Jesus said : “Behold I stand at the door (of your heart) and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and dine with him and he with Me” (Revelation3:20).
When He comes in, He comes as your Saviour. He forgives your sins and gives you eternal life. He also comes into your life as your Lord for He is God. There is a throne-room in your heart, and that throne is rightly His. He made you. He bought you with His blood and He wants to take His rightful place on the throne of your life. So trusting in Jesus Christ as your Savior also means surrendering to Him as your Lord.
If this is what you really want, you can come to God in prayer right where you are. You can receive His gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ right now: “For all who call on the Name of the Lord Jesus shall be saved” (Romans 10:17).
If you want to receive Jesus and His gift of eternal life, then call on Him, in prayer, asking Him for this gift right now, and He promises that you will be saved.
SAY this PRAYER from your HEART to GOD.
Dear God, I come to You, I confess that I have sinned.
I have gone my own way. I do not deserve eternal life.
But I believe you sent Jesus to save me.
I believe He is the Son of God.
I believe that on the Cross, He paid the penalty for my sins.
I believe that He rose from the grave on the third day.
Right now, Lord Jesus, I invite you into my heart.
I receive you as my Savior and Lord.
Please forgive my sins and take control of my life.
I receive your free gift of eternal life.
I give my life to you.
I trust you alone for my salvation.
Thank you for saving me.
Amen.
If you have genuinely prayed this prayer, look at what Jesus promises to those who truly believe in Him:
“Truly I say to you, whosoever believes (trusts) in Me has (possesses now) eternal life” (John6:47). If you have received Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you are now a child of God!
WELCOME TO THE FAMILY OF GOD!