The Way To Heaven
The Way To Heaven
I believe that the most important question that any person can ask in their entire life is, “How can I make sure that I will be in Heaven when I die?”
There are many voices out there in the world today that will say many different things about what a person must do to go to Heaven.
Some say, “There is no such place as Heaven, and there is no such place as Hell.” But what I want to tell you today is that these voices are all wrong!
You must go to the only book in this world that has the authority to speak on this subject to get the only true answer to the question. That book is the Holy Bible.
The Bible has proven itself to be the true voice of God in our world today by fulfilled prophecy. No other “holy book” in the world attempts to give prophetic utterances as the Bible does. The Bible has prophesied an incredible amount of things about the future. The Old Testament gave multiple prophecies about the life of Christ, many hundreds or even thousands of years before he was born into this world, and they were all fulfilled in His life some two thousand years ago. For these prophecies to all come true in the life of one man has been estimated to be mathematically impossible without God Himself directing the fulfillment of these prophecies.
With that in mind, let’s ask the question again. “How can I make sure that I will be in Heaven when I die?”
In the first place, the Bible clearly says that you can know that you are going to Heaven.
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, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Secondly, we must understand that salvation and the way to Heaven is not based on a religious ceremony. Salvation is based on a person. In fact, salvation is a person and that person’s name is Jesus Christ.
In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
Thirdly, if I can know for sure that I am going to Heaven by receiving Jesus Christ as my Savior, “How can I receive Jesus Christ into my heart and life?”
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
The gospel is the “power of God unto salvation”. You must believe the gospel in order to be saved.
I Corinthians 15:3-4 informs us that the gospel is the death, the burial, and theresurrection of Jesus Christ.
Believing that Jesus Christ did these things is of no value to you unless you believe that he did it for you. So why did Jesus Christ have to come into this world and die on the cross of Calvary? The answer to this is that we are all sinners, and we cannot earn a home in Heaven.
Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us…
There is a cost to sin.
Romans 6:23a For the wages of sin is death; What does the Bible mean here? We humans die because of our sin problem. Not only that, but when a person dies without Christ living in his heart he faces a second death:
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.
Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever:
Jesus Christ has paid the cost of our sins.
Romans 6:23b but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What does this mean? We have a sin debt that we cannot pay. Jesus Christ paid a sin debt he did not own.
In fact Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth (showed / proved) his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Salvation and Eternal Life is a free gift.
Like any gift, however, it will never be of any value to you unless you receive it. You must make the personal decision to invite Jesus Christ into your heart and life.
John 1:12 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:
The Way To Heaven
- Realize you are a sinner and that because of your sin, you have a debt to pay.
- Believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, understanding that when he died, he died for you.
- Pray and receive Jesus Christ into your heart and life.
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
If you would like to be saved right now, you could pray this simple prayer or one similar to it:
“Dear Lord, I know that I am a sinner and that I cannot pay my own sin debt. I believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay for my sins and I know that He is the only hope I have of making it into Heaven. So Jesus, please come into my heart and life and save my soul right now. And Jesus, I want to thank you for saving me today!”
My friend, if you have prayed this prayer and received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior today, we at First Baptist Church of Westland would like to celebrate with you and we would also like to give you some encouraging material to help you always remember this most important event in your life.
On the website page titled “Contact Us” you can write a little note, along with your name and personal information to let us know of your decision. If you would like we would love to visit you and congratulate you on this wonderful event.
May God Always Bless You,
Pastor Kent Burke
And the Members of First Baptist Church