How To Know That You Will Go To Heaven

 The following article is by Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995), former faithful editor of the Sword Of The Lord in Tennessee...

FIRST, YOU MUST ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE A SINNER.

(Romans 3:23), "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."

(Romans 3:10), "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one."

No one is perfect. No one has lived up to God's perfect standard.

SECOND, YOU MUST ACCEPT THAT AS A SINNER YOU OWE A PENALTY.

(Romans 6:23), "For the wages of sin is death ... ."

(Ezekiel 18:4), "The soul that sinneth, it shall die."

This death is described in the Bible as the second death, the lake of fire,

(Revelation 20:l4), "Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."

If we pay what we owe as sinners, we must spend an eternity in the lake of fire (Hell).

THIRD, YOU MUST ACCEPT THAT JESUS CHRIST HAS ALREADY PAID OUR SIN DEBT.

(Romans 5:6), "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

(Hebrews 2:9b), " . .that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man."

Christ was not a sinner, and the Bible teaches that God took all of our sin and placed it on Christ. While Christ was bearing all of our sins in His own body, God punished Him in our place to pay the debt we owe. This is not something God promised to do. It is something God has already done.

(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."

(II Corinthians 5:21), "He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

It is a fact, Jesus Christ has already paid your sin debt.

FOURTH, YOU MUST ACCEPT BY FAITH WHAT JESUS CHRIST DID FOR YOU. NINETY TIMES IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN THE BIBLE SAYS, "BELIEVE."

(John 3:36), "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."

In this verse. Jesus divides the world into two groups: those who are believing and those who are not believing on the Son. Those who believe have everlasting life, and those who believe not shall not see life.

The word believe means to trust, to depend on, to rely on. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ means that you accept the fact that you are a sinner, that as a sinner you owe the sin penalty, and that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the debt you owe. But it means going one step further. It means that you will completely trust Christ to get you to Heaven - that you will put the matter of your salvation in His hands and depend on Him for everlasting life.

Now the moment you do this, God promises you are not condemned but have everlasting life and that you shall never perish.

(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."

If you will trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour, pray this simple prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner, and I deserve to pay my own sin debt, but I do believe that You died for me to pay the debt that I owe. Today, the best I know how, I trust You as my Saviour. I will depend on You from this moment on for my salvation, Now help me to live for You and to be a good Christian. Amen.

Now, to clarify, I personally never lead a lost sinner to pray a prayer. I deliberately don't do it because of the 7 years of struggle, tears and fear that I suffered as a teenager because I was led to pray a prayer. The truth dear reader is that you DON'T need to pray a prayer to be saved. You can simply BELIEVE (i.e., put your confidence in) the 'GOOD NEWS' (Gospel) of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen the third day to be saved. Jesus died in your place and mine on the cross, paying our massive debt of sin that we simply could not pay. The wages of sin is death, not doing good works or turning away from sin. That is why Christ had to die on the cross to pay for our debt of sin. Jesus paid it all!

It is not wrong to pray a sinner's prayer. When I got saved at age 13, I did ask Jesus silently in my soul to save me. It is a natural thing to do. But it is critically important that you understand that you could just as easily BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (Acts 16:30-31), without praying at all and still be saved. You don't need to ask, confess publicly or call (pray) upon the name of the Lord to be saved. You just need to put your trust in the GOOD NEWS, which God has recorded in His written Word concerning His only begotten Son. If you receive that GOOD NEWS, you are immediately and forever born-again. You are then a child of God.

That is how 3,000 people got saved on the Day of Pentecost. No one prayed. No one called. No one confessed. The Apostle Peter simply preached the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen the third day, and the people gladly received the truth of God's Word. Acts 2:41, “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” One of my favorite related Bible verses is found in Galatians 3:2, “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” I love that phrase... THE HEARING OF FAITH. That is how a person gets saved! When you hear the Gospel being preached, you simply put your faith in it.

What saith the Scripture? Hebrews 4:2, “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” This passage of Scripture is about the Jews who wandered lost in the Wilderness for 40 years. They tried to find their way out, but God confounded them for 40 years as punishment for their constant complaining. The Bible teaches that Moses, their leader, preached THE GOSPEL unto them for 40 years, but the people didn't have FAITH in that GOOD NEWS, so they went to Hell, sadly. Here again we see how easy it is to be saved. If the Jews had simply BELIEVED the Gospel that Moses preached unto them, about remission of sins through faith alone in the coming Messiah, they would have been saved (Acts 10:43).

The Gospel plus faith alone equals eternal life.

The Gospel plus human effort equals eternal damnation.

The Gospel plus turning away from your sins equals eternal damnation.

The Gospel plus following Jesus as your Lord equals eternal damnation.

The Gospel plus water baptism equals eternal damnation.

The Gospel plus surrendering all to Christ equals eternal damnation.

Remember, it's not...
FAITH IN CHRIST, PLUS;
it's... 
FAITH IN CHRIST, PERIOD.

“The issue at salvation isn't repenting of your sins, the issue is changing your mind about the one who died for your sins, Jesus Christ.” —Pastor Dennis Rokser

“You can slip off the front pew of this church and go to Hell, because no church can save you.” —Pastor Dennis Rokser

Good works are not the payment for sin, the payment for sin is death.

Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty!

Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith.

Turning away from sinful ways would be a work. Faith puts all of the merit where it belongs, on the object of our faith, Jesus and His work.

If to “repent” means to forsake our sinful ways TO BE SAVED, but Jesus already paid for our sins by dying on the cross, then what are we repenting from?

The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.

I Never Knew You
(Michael P. Bowen)