The Bible Way to Heaven
The bible is really clear on salvation. It is not based on how good you are. A lot of
people think that they’re pretty good, and that they are going to get to heaven because
they’re pretty good but the Bible says, “For all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) The Bible says, “As it is written there is none righteous,
no, not one.” (Romans 3:10) I’m not righteous. You’re not righteous, and if it were our
goodness that would get us into heaven, none of us would be going.
1. Admit you are a sinner.
The bible even says in Revelation 21:8, “But the fearful and unbelieving, the abominable
and murderers and sorcerers and whoremongers and idolaters, and all liars shall have their
part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” I
have lied before. Everyone has lied before, so we have all sinned, and we have done things
worse than lying. Let’s face it: we all deserve hell.
2. Realize the penalty for sin.
But the Bible says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Jesus Christ, because he loves us, came
to this earth. The bible says he was God manifest in the flesh. God basically took on human
form. He lived a sinless life. He did not commit any sin, and of course, they beat him,
and spit on him, and nailed him to the cross. The Bible says that when he was on that cross
he “himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree.” (1 Peter 2:24) So every sin
you have ever done, and every sin I have ever done - it was as if Jesus had done it. He
was being punished for our sins. Then they took his body when he had died, and buried
it in the tomb, and his soul went down to Hell for three days and three nights (Acts
2:31). Three days later he rose again from the dead. He showed unto the disciples the
holes in his hands. The Bible is really clear that Jesus did die for everybody. It says
that he died “not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1
John 2:2). But there is something that we must do to be saved. The bible has that question
in Acts 16, “What must I do to be saved? And they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” That is all. He did NOT say, “Join a church,
and you’ll be saved. Get baptized, and you’ll be saved. Live a good life, and you’ll be
saved. Repent of all your sins, and you’ll be saved, NO. He said “believe.”
3. Believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again for you.
Even the most famous verse in the whole Bible, whose reference is written on the bottom of
the cup at “In and Out Burger.” It’s so famous. Everybody’s heard of it: 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.” And everlasting means
everlasting. It means forever, and Jesus said, “I give unto them eternal life, and they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John 10:28)
The Bible says in John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath
everlasting life.” So if you believe on Jesus Christ, the Bible says you have everlasting
life. You are going to live forever. You can’t lose your salvation. It’s eternal, it’s
everlasting. Once you’re saved, once you believe on him, you’re saved forever, and
no matter what, you can never lose your salvation.
Even if I were to go out and commit some awful sin, God will punish me for it on this earth.
If I went out and killed somebody today, God would make sure that I got punished, I’m
going to prison, or far worse, or the death penalty. However this world punishes me, and
God is going to make sure I get punished even more, but I’m not going to Hell. There is
nothing I can do to go to hell because I’m saved, and if I went to hell, then God lied.
Because he promised that whoever believeth has everlasting life, and he said, “Whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” That is why there are a lot of examples of
people in the Bible who did some really bad things, yet they made it to Heaven. How? Because
they were so good? NO, it’s because they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Their sins
are forgiven. Other people who may have lived a better life in the world’s eyes, or maybe
they really even lived a better life, if they don’t believe in Christ, they are going
to have to go to hell to be punished for their sins.
4. Trust Christ alone as your saviour.
Let me just close on this one thought: one thing that I wanted to be sure and bring up
today is that there was a question that was asked to Jesus by one of his disciples, and
that question was this: are there few that be saved? That’s a good question, right?
Are most people saved? Or is it few that are saved? Who here thinks that most people are
going to heaven - that most people in this world are going to heaven? Guess what the
answer was: he said, in Matthew 7, “Enter ye in at the strait gate because wide is the
gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few
there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) Then he went on to say this: “Not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the
will of my father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and 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.” (Matthew 7:21-23)
First of all, the majority of this world doesn’t even claim to believe in Jesus. Thankfully
the majority of this classroom claims to believe in Jesus, but the majority of the world does
not claim to believe in Jesus. But God warned that even amongst those who claim to believe
in Jesus, even among those that call him Lord, many will be saying to him, “We did all
these wonderful works! Why aren’t we saved!” He is going to say, “Depart from me, I never
knew you.” That is because salvation is not by works, and if you are trusting your
own works to save you, if you think you’re going to heaven because you’ve been baptized,
if you think, “Well, I think you have to live a good life, I think you have to keep
the commandments to be saved, I think you have to go to church, I think you have to
turn from your sins…” If you are trusting in your works, Jesus is going to say to you
one day, “Depart from me, I never knew you.”
You must have all your faith in what he did. You must put your faith in what Jesus did
on the cross when he died for you, was buried, and rose again. That’s your ticket into
heaven. If you’re trusting other things, and you say, “Well, I’m going to heaven
because I’m such a good Christian, and I do all these wonderful things.” He is going
to say, “Depart from me.” Notice what he said, “Depart from me, I NEVER knew you.”
He didn’t say, “I used to know you.” Once he knows you… remember I mentioned
this earlier: it’s everlasting its eternal. Once he knows you, you are saved forever.
He is going to say, “Depart from me, I never knew you,” because if you go to Hell, it
is because he never knew you. Because once he knows you, he knows you. Just as my children
will always be my children. When you’re born again, when you’re his child, you’ll
always be his child. You may be the black sheep of the family. You may be somebody who
gets disciplined by God heavily on this earth. You can screw up your life down here, but
you can’t screw up salvation. Once you are saved, it is a done deal. That is the main
thing I wanted to present to you about the end times, and we do have just a few minutes
for questions about either salvation or about the end times.
Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I know I deserve to go to Hell.
But I believe you died on the cross for me and rose again. Please save me right now
and give me eternal life. I'm only trusting you, Jesus. Amen.