Can you
know you are going to Heaven?
“Soon you will read in the
newspaper that I am dead. Don’t believe it for a moment. I will be more alive
than ever before.” D.L. Moody…Earth recedes…Heaven opens before me. (on
deathbed).
Rev 21:27
“Nothing
impure will ever enter the city, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or
deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”
We
attended a wedding banquet recently- I was presiding. We received a beautiful
invitation. I forgot to RSVP. We got to the hotel and it was on the pent house
level. We needed our name on the list for the Maître D’ to let us in. We were
turned away- told to go down the service elevator- Until family saw us and up
we went.
For
centuries countless people have been too busy to respond to Christ’s invitation
to his wedding banquet... Many assume that buying gifts or giving to the
church, or attending or being baptized; singing in the choir or helping in the
soup kitchen will be enough to gain entry to heaven. But people who do not
respond to Christ’s invitation to forgive their sins are people whose names are
not written in the Lamb’s book of life. To be denied entrance to Heaven’s
Banquet (Lk 14- people too busy)- will mean more than going down the service elevator
to the garage. It will mean being cast outside into darkness- HELL Away from
the presence of God FOREVER. In that day no excuse will count. All that will
matter is that our names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life. The wedding banquet in heaven is for all of
us if we except and RSVP Christ’s invitation to join Him at the feast and spend
eternity with Him.
In Andy
Stanley’s book, How Good is Good Enough? He
answers the question, how do you get there from here? Kids would say when
asked, You gotta be dead. All religions but one say, you must be good enough to
get to heaven. God never tells us how good, no measures or criteria. The
problem is that, “we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans
3:23). None of us can keep the law and we must be sinless to go to heaven. So
there is a problem. And there is a solution. Good guys don’t get to heaven,
“forgiven people do.” He (Jesus) paid, because we can’t. He is the only sinless
one. The solution is that we must choose Him. Good guys and bad guys, just need
to realize they cannot pay. This may seem unfair, but it’s true. It is open to
everyone, in the same way.
Have you
ever said YES to Christ’s invitation to join him? If so you can rejoice-
Heaven’s Gates are open to you.
If you
have been putting off the response, or you assume you can enter heaven without
responding to the invitation, one day you will deeply regret it.
PREPARING FOR THE JOURNEY
Tombstone:
Pause stranger, when you pass me by: as
you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so you will be. So prepare for death
and follow me.
(Passerby wrote: To follow you I’m
not content- until I know which way you went.
Can you
really know in advance where we’re going when we die?
Apostle
John (Revelation writer)- “1 John 5:13-“I write these things to you who believe
in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
We can
know for sure!! Do You??
What do You Need to Know and Do?
To sin is
to fall short of God’s standards- Sin is what ended Eden’s paradise. – You and
I are sinners- Sin deceives us and makes us think that wrong is right and right
is wrong. (Prov 14:12).
Solution:
“The
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23). Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, loved us so much that he became a man to deliver us from sin
(John 3:16). “He became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God”
(2Cor 5:21). He died on the cross as our representative- substitute. We are declared innocent and may enter into His
presence in heaven and be at home with Him there.
We can’t
pay our way- “Salvation is found in no one else (but Jesus) for there is no other
name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Jesus
died and rose again for us- Conquering death and sin on the cross (1 Cor
15:3-4). It is finished, paid in full.
Forgiveness
is not automatic. If we want to be forgiven, we must recognize and repent of
our sins “He who conceals does not prosper, but he who confesses and renounces
them finds mercy” (Prov 28:13). Forgiveness is established by our
confession- 1 John 1:9- If we confess…
Christ
offers everyone the gift of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life with Him.
Empty
handed- “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not
of ourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast”
(Eph 2:8).
Joining the Body of Christ: The
Church.
No one
deserves forgiveness- On the cross Christ experienced the hell we deserve, so
that we could experience eternity in heaven we don’t deserve. Once forgiven, never to lose.
Not religion- but relationship-
- “Not everyone who says to me
Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of
the Father who is in heaven. …I will say plainly I did not know you” (Matt
7:21-23).
Do not
merely assume that you are a Christian and going to heaven. Make a conscious
decision to accept Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross on behalf of you and
me. When we accept Christ and surrender control of our life to him we can be
certain that our name is written in the Lamb’s book of Life.
“He
who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water
of life” (Rev 21:6).
For those
who know Christ secure place is Heaven, those who don’t, Hell.
John
14:6- “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by
me”
“Come,
whoever is thirsty let him come and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift
of the water of life” (Rev 22:17).
CS Lewis
said- “All your life an unattainable ecstasy
has hovered just beyond the grasp of your consciousness. The day is coming when
you will wake to find, beyond all hope, that you have attained it, or else,
that it was within your reach and you have lost it forever.”
We are
made for a person and a place- the person is Jesus. The place is heaven- they
are a package.
We will
explore the joys and wonders of heaven in this series. But make sure you are
going there.
“Seek
the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near” (Is
55:6).
Have you
confessed your sins? Asked Christ to forgive you? Place your trust in His death
and resurrection on your behalf? Asked Jesus to be your Lord and empower you to
follow him? Wouldn’t it be tragic to not
get there when you can?
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts.