How can I be sure I’m going to heaven?
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ChatGPTHow can I know when I leave planet earth that I am bound for heaven? I find a lot of people don't know the answer to this question. But the Bible has a clear answer. It tells us in 1 John 5:13 that "These things I have written to you that you might know you have eternal life." Yes, you can know you are going to heaven but the question is how?
Back in 1962, I discovered the answer when I learned that it was not through my efforts to be good enough (some people today think this is the gateway to heaven), but sadly they are wrong, for the Bible says no one, no matter how good he or she may be is good enough to inherit eternal life..
It was in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin at a Fellowship of Christian Athlete's Conference that I learned the answer to this question, and my life forever changed.
I had a simple formula for arriving at my heavenly home. I figured if my good works outweighed my bad works, I was in. As a result, I always lived my life wondering how I was doing on the eternal life scale.
Had I done enough good things to outweigh the bad things I had done? Had I gone to church enough, prayed enough, helped people enough?
It was all about me and my accomplishments, and I thought that if I could just keep myself on the right side of the 'good works ledger' I'd be in.
However, I always lived in fear that I had never done enough. Little did I know that my good works had nothing to do with my entrance into heaven. Even if I were living in the 99th 'good works percentile' that would not be good enough to open heaven's door.
You see, I didn't know how high the good works standard really was to gain eternal life. The Bible makes it clear that heaven's standard was perfection, "You must be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). Since I had never met anyone who is perfect, I knew there must be another way.
I still remember when I heard those words, "It is by grace that you are saved, through faith, it is not because of your works, but it is a gift of God that no one could boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
It is not through by my works that I am saved, for no matter how high or wide the pile of my good might be, they would never be enough to open the doorway to heaven. I learned that it was not through my good works that I was saved, but only through the good work of Christ who died for me upon the cross. It was His death that open the door to heaven.
You may have heard those words, "You must be born again to enter into heaven."
When Nicodemus came to Jesus, he thought he had already purchased his ticket to heaven by virtue of his religious prominence, for he was one of the Jewish spiritual good guys. But Jesus had a surprise for him. He said, "Nick, you must be born again." You need a new birth, not one that is physical, but one that is spiritual for this is the only way you will get into heaven. It is only by trusting in me and me alone that you will find your way to heaven.
God demonstrated his love for us while we were still sinners. He went to the cross and hung and died for our sins. "He bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness (and) by His wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24).
In the words of that wonderful old hymn Rock of Ages, we can confess that, "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling."
It is on the cross that Jesus died to take away your sins and my sins, and in so doing he provides us the way to heaven and eternal life. Jesus took the rap for my sins, and his righteousness became mine, and so now when God looks at me, he sees me as perfect and complete, just like his perfect Son. I am justified, "just as if I had never sinned."
So, if you are striving to find your way to heaven, stop trying and start trusting in the only one who can assure you of life eternal. The moment you start relying on anything but Christ alone for your salvation, you are doomed to spend eternity apart from him. Good works can't save you, no matter how good they might be.
If you have never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I hope you will do so today. If you do, not only will it be the greatest decision you will ever make, but you will know with certainty that you are headed to heaven.
P.S. If you are not sure about anything that I have said, let me encourage you to take the Roman Road journey, a road that many unbelievers have traveled to find eternal life. It is called the Roman road because all of the verses come from the book of Romans. Romans 3:10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23; Romans 5:8; Romans 10:9-11; and Romans 10:13.
 | Tom Crenshaw serves as Connections Pastor of the New Monmouth Baptist Church (non denominational) where he previously served as a three year interim.He has been married to Jean for almost 50 years, and they have four children, all of whom are teachers.Tom loves perennial gardening, umpiring high school baseball, coaching baseball and football, fishing for small mouth bass, rooting for his favorite team, the Cleveland Indians, and listening to ‘real’ country music, the classic kind. Learn More » |
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