How to get to Heaven

Before sharing God’s gospel message with you, it is important that we have the same definitions for important biblical words. Though this may sound inconsequential and pointless to some, Satan is a master deceiver, and has been twisting God’s Word from the beginning. In Genesis 3:5, Satan said to Eve, “ye shall be as gods". Though it seemed like the same thing God had said, Satan meant something completely different by it—he had changed the definition or meaning of what God said. Likewise, in Matthew 4, Satan continually twisted what God said. Satan still exists today, and He is still using the same tactics that he has always used—Satan is in the business of twisting God’s Word. Below are some important words to know the Biblical definitions for because Satan has twisted the meanings of them in certain religions:

Grace: Saving grace is God’s unmerited favor; God freely giving us some good thing we didn’t deserve or earn. Romans 11:6 helps us understand this definition, it says, “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” Basically, something cannot be by grace and works, because they are opposites. Likewise, something cannot be a gift (something that’s free; something that’s by grace) and a wage (something you earn; something you deserve; a work). It is either one or the other. Salvation is not by grace after that all we can do. Either salvation is purely by grace or purely by works and the Bible makes it abundantly clear it is by grace alone without works.

Jesus Christ: It is important that when we are talking about Christ, we are talking about the same Christ. The reason is because if you are believing on a different Christ, then you aren’t believing on Christ, you’re believing on a false Christ. The Bible says that many anti-Christs and false Christs will go into the world to deceive people. Matthew 24:5, 23-24 says, “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many…Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” How are we supposed to know whether we are believing on the true Christ or a false Christ? The answer is by knowing and believing who the Bible says Christ is. There are many things that could be said here, but here are some aspects of Who Christ is based on what is prominently misunderstood about Him and what is of utmost importance: Christ is Jehovah God. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Christ isn’t “a god” but rather “The God” because there is only one God. Isaiah 43:10b-11 says, “…before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour.” Christ was never a human that became a god, nor did He have a beginning because He has always been the one, true God. This also means that Christ cannot be the brother of Satan. Christ is the creator of everything. Colossians 1:16-17 says, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” This means that Christ was also never created, because He has no beginning (Micah 5:2). Everything that was created was made by Him (John 1:3). (3) Christ is one of three people in the Trinity (Isaiah 48:16). The Trinity is God in three persons: The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. These three are one (John 10:30; 1 John 5:7).

Heaven and Hell: There are only two places the Bible speaks of where souls of men will go after they die: heaven or hell. Concerning heaven, there is only one heaven. There aren’t multiple heavens that people will go to based on how good and obedient they are. The worst born-again Christians and the best born-again Christian will all go to the same place. Someday, however, in the future there will be a new heaven and earth created and believers will dwell there for eternity. Concerning hell, it is the only place the Bible speaks of where unbelievers will go after they die. There’s no such thing as a purgatory, outer darkness, or some other place for the unredeemed.

Saved or Salvation: When dealing with eternal life and heaven and hell, the words “saved” or “salvation” refer to a being rescued from hell to heaven for eternity. Nobody is partially saved, or 50% saved—either they are 100% saved or they aren’t saved at all. You cannot get saved little by little, it is a one-time act. Also though, salvation lasts for all eternity. You cannot get saved, and then leave your church or commit some other “wrong” act and thereby have your salvation taken from you. Once you are saved, you’re always saved. Eternal life wouldn’t be eternal if you could lose it, and the Bible says in John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

Faith: Faith means to believe; to trust. Believing on Christ to save you does not mean to be faithful to God. Though in our English language faith and faithful seem like the same thing based on the way they are spelled, they are actually very different. You are not saved by being faithful, you’re saved by God by believing on Him. It is also important to note where (or what) our faith is supposed to be placed in. We are not supposed to have blind faith that is placed in someone that hasn’t proven we can trust Him. This type of blind faith would mean to believe in something without evidence. To believe in your religion, your scriptures, or your god because “I just know this is the truth” or because “My heart tells me it’s true” or simply because “I just want to” is blind faith. God doesn’t expect us to believe the Bible is His Word blindly. Instead, He has proven, without a shadow of a doubt, that the Bible is His Word and because He has proven that, it is not blind faith to trust Him for something we cannot see. So, faith is believing or trusting, but it cannot be blindly placed in someone or something that hasn’t been proven.

Sin: Sin is not just an accident, or something small in the eyes of God. Many misunderstand the Bible and the gospel because they have formulated their own definition of sin that teaches that sin is not a big deal. However, if sin isn’t a big deal, then how come the perfect, sinless, all-powerful, omniscient Creator-God had to die a cruel, vicious, excruciating and humiliating death on the cross for it? The fact that Christ went through that to pay for sin means that the price for sin is exceedingly high and costly. We don’t like to think that our sin is deserving of much, and that God doesn’t care about it, but that is wrong. Sin is transgression; it is a violation against Him and what He has said. If we cannot humble ourselves and come to an understanding of the wickedness of each and every sin we commit, then the gospel of God isn’t going to seem important to you and the possibility of you going to hell will seem essentially impossible.

To know whether you’re going to heaven or hell is the most important truth to understand. May your heart be soft, your mind open, your pride broken, and your spirit ready to receive God’s Word. God bless you as you meditate upon what is said below.

The Gospel Message

Sin: The problem mankind faces is sin. The Bible says in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” There’s absolutely nobody who has not sinned. Since the garden of Eden in Genesis till now, sin has been in the world and has affected everyone. This is very important to understand because if we don’t think we’ve sinned then we don’t think we need the good news of the gospel. The problem is not that we haven’t done enough good works or that we aren’t good enough people, or we’ve sinned too much, or we’ve committed “big” sins, the problem is that we’ve already sinned at least once.

The Problem

Separation: The penalty of sin is separation. There are two really negative consequences of sin: (1) We are separated from God out of heaven, and (2) we are separated from God in hell. Because of sin, we cannot get into heaven, and we deserve hell. Psalm 5:4 says, “For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.” It doesn’t matter how little of sinning we’ve done or how many good works we’ve done, we still cannot dwell with God. In fact, the Bible says we’d have to be perfect in order to earn heaven. Galatians 3:10 says, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” and likewise James 2:10 says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” Just like we must be perfect to get to heaven we must also be perfect to escape hell. The Bible says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Death means separation. When we physically die, our soul is separated from our body, but when we spiritually die, we are separated from God in hell for eternity. The Bible says God is holy, righteous and just, and because He is holy, righteous and just, we cannot dwell with Him and He has to punish sin. We, in our finite minds, cannot fully grasp just how horrible sin is, but in the eyes of God it is absolutely abominable.

To further help you understand how severe the problem is, image you play soccer, and you lost the first game. It doesn’t matter if you won a thousand games after that, you still don’t have a perfect score because you lost that first game. Likewise, we must be perfect to enter heaven and escape hell, but we’ve all sinned. It doesn’t matter if we’ve only sinned a little, nor does it matter if we’ve given our entire life to doing good works. We’ve already sinned and therefore deserve this separation. This is the problem we all face. We’ve already lost and have no way, in and of ourselves, of winning—we have no way of removing our sin and escaping hell.

The Penalty

Sacrifice: Christ sacrificed His life to save ours. God loves us and desires for us to have an eternal relationship with Him. He knew there was absolutely no way for us to remove our sin and pay the penalty for it so He paid the price for us. The Bible says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Christ, being fully God, came down and became a man. He became a man so that He could feel pain, bleed and ultimately die on the cross for us. The Bible says that Christ took our sin upon Himself and suffered God’s wrath in our place. We deserved God’s wrath, but Christ suffered it for us and paid the penalty with His blood. The Bible then says that Christ was buried and then rose again three days later, proving that He had conquered death and provided salvation for all, and proving that we can trust Him.

Many claim to believe in Christ and what He did on the cross, yet they still think they must do good works and be a good person and avoid sin in order to go to heaven, but that actually proves that they don’t understand the gospel. Did Christ pay for all of sin for all of eternity or not? If He didn’t, then we all still deserve hell, because remember, if we’ve sinned even just once then we deserve hell. So, either we don’t ever have to worry about sin sending us to hell anymore because it has been paid for or we all are going to hell because we all have sin. Most “Christian” religions still claim they must cease from sin in order to get to heaven, but that clearly shows that they do not understand the gospel and what Christ accomplished on the cross. Christ paid the debt we owed and we no longer have to worry about sin sending us to hell.

The Payment

Salvation: God promises salvation to all who believe. Though Christ paid the penalty for all, not all are going to heaven. How come? The reason is because not all want to accept what Christ did. If someone buys you a gift, you have the choice of either accepting it or not. Nobody can force you to receive a gift you don’t want. Likewise, the Bible says that eternal life is now offered to the world as a gift. Romans 5:15 says, “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many” and Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Did you catch that? God says that eternal life is a gift—it is free! Romans 3:24 says, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” God offers this gift of eternal life to the world, and all we need to do is accept it, because it is free. Obviously, we cannot see God so how can we accept it? The Bible says that we accept this gift through faith. The following verses show us how we receive salvation:

Romans 4:5: “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

Romans 3:28: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”

Galatians 3:26: “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

John 3:14-15: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Christ provided salvation for you by dying on the cross, and offers it to whosoever. Christ’s promise is this: If you believe on Him then He will save you. Christ doesn’t say, “You might be saved” or “You’ll have a better chance at getting saved” but rather “He that believes on Me has everlasting life.” That is an irrevocable promise from the God who cannot lie.

The Promise

Surrender: Surrender your eternal salvation to the Lord. Stop trying to save yourself through works and good deeds, but rather trust Him alone to save you. It can be hard to surrender our salvation to someone else, but Christ is not just someone else—He is someone you can trust. Christ cannot lie; therefore, He won’t lie to you, and Christ says in John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” He will not take back this promise. Christ is all-powerful, therefore nobody, such as Satan, can overpower Him and win. That also means He was able to truly do what He said He was going to do on the cross—pay for the sins of the world. There’s absolutely no reason to not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ today.

Will you trust Christ today? Would you believe on Him alone to save you? If you want, you can pray to Him right now and tell Him something like this: “Dear God, I understand I am a sinner and that I deserve hell for my awful sin. However, I understand also how that Christ died on the cross for me by paying for my sin with His blood. I believe that Christ was buried and then rose again, and I believe on Him to save me. Thank you, God, for providing eternal life for me and for saving me from my sin.”

It is important to note that anyone can pray, but prayer doesn’t save. Prayer is simply one way to express our faith. Trusting Christ alone is what saves and therefore if you truly mean those words in that prayer, then you are saved. If you truly believe that Christ died, was buried and rose again, and you trust Him and what He did to save you, then you are saved.

If you understood what was said in this gospel message and you trusted Christ to save you just now, we’d love to hear about it. Please contact us by clicking the button below “Contact Us,” and let us know what God just did in your life. Also though, if you read all of this and you’re still confused or you have questions, please contact us. There’s nothing more that we want in this world than to see people get saved from death to eternal life.

The Proposition

Service: Here’s where works and being a good person finally come into play. God didn’t intend for us to do good things to earn salvation, because we can never earn eternal life, but rather to do them because we love Him. Now that God has saved us, we ought to desire to serve Him with our lives. Seeing that God gave His all, we too should give Him our all.

God, for some strange reason, wants to partner up with us and use us to share His Word and the gospel with the world. 1 Corinthians 3:9a says, “For we are labourers together with God…” If you who are reading this are saved, here are some things to do in order to help you be a wonderful servant for the Lord:

Pray to God: It is so important to have a relationship with God, and prayer has to be one of the most essential things we can do to accomplish that. Prayer is not just vain repetitions, but rather, a heartfelt, sincere, conversation with God. When you pray to God give Him thanks for everything you can think of, praise Him for Who He is, confess and say sorry for your sins just like a child does to their father, and ask the Lord for help in the life of others and yours. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.” James 5:16b says, “…The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Read your Bible: Psalm 1:2-3 says, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” By praying, you’re talking to God, and by reading your Bible, God is talking to you. The Bible is our sole authority for life today, so we must study it, learn it, meditate upon it, and keep it in our hearts.

Go to church: After the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), the rest of the New Testament is essentially dealing with churches. God wants believers to come together in order to edify and build each other up. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

Share the Gospel: If you had cancer and you found the perfect cure for it, wouldn’t you want to share that with the world? Well, we’ve found the cure for something far worse and devastating than cancer, and that is sin, and the cure is faith in Jesus Christ. Even more so then, we should share that cure with the world. Go, share what Christ did in your life with your family, friends, acquaintances, fellow employees, and whoever else.

God wants to partner up with us and use us for His glory. We must now allow Him to work through us. You’ll never regret serving the Lord, but you will regret serving yourself.

The Problem: Sin
The Penalty: Separation
The Payment: Sacrifice
The Promise: Salvation
The Proposition: Surrender
The Partnership: Service