A lot of you have asked "How do I live like a Christian"? Well in order to live a spirit filled Christian life you first of all need to be saved. Evangelism Explosion is a great course that explains the gospel in a 13 week study. Roughly 17 years ago I took the course and it helped me not only have the tools to share the gospel of Jesus but it helped me understand by own faith.
The bible was written so that we may know how to inherit eternal life.
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."
"If you were to die today and God were to ask you, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" what would you say?" Over the years I would have to say that 85% of the answers I get are "I have tried to be a good person, I have tried to be a good parent, I have tried to go to church and teach Sunday school and I have tried to give money to the poor." The key words in all these answer are I HAVE TRIED. Instead of me telling you that answer is wrong I am going to tell you that I have good news for you and that is
"Heaven is a free gift." Romans 3:23 says that "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Now if someone were to give you a gift and you tried to pay even a penny for it then it would not be a gift anymore, would it? Of course not. But in this world we associate all good things with something that we either have to work hard for or sacrifice a lot to get. It is hard to wrap our minds around heaven as free. Well it is free to us but cost Someone His life.
A lot of people in this life try to do THINGS that would put them into a favorable position with Jesus. If I do _________ then Jesus should love me. Plus my life has had so many trials that God will take pity on me.
Ephesians 2:8,9 "For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast."
Here we see that God's grace is what gets us into heaven but look at what Gods grace is. God says that no amount of works, not even ONE will get us into heaven. God does not want anyone to boast because of his works. So now you may be thinking "If I have done ALL these things over the years then how do I get in to heaven?"
First of all we need to realize that everyone on this earth is a sinner. Sin is any word, thought, deed or attitude that falls short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God."
So if we all fall short and no sin is allowed in heaven then we are starting to see that we are in deep trouble.
Exodus 37b "Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished."
Since God is a Holy and just God, God MUST punish sin. So here we have a huge dilemma. Heaven and God are perfect. Since we now know the definition of sin let's say that you only committed 5 sins a day. Since sin is any thought or deed by the time you get to work in the morning you may have already committed 10 sins, maybe even more. By the end of the day you may have 100 sins accountable to you. But for numbers sake lets just use 5 a day. Five sins a day times a year is over 1,800 sins a year. Over and average lifetime we would be well over 70,000 sins. If we stand before God and NOT ONE SIN is allowed into heaven then YIKES. God would look at not one page but a book and we would be finished.
So God saw a need that you and I are dead in our sins with the need of a Savior. There is NO WAY that we can get to heaven in what we do or who we are. Now in order to save mankind God needed a perfect sacrifice, one without sin to pay for all those of us with sin. Jesus was born of a virgin and Jesus was God in the flesh.
John 1:1,14 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Amen for God's mercy to send Jesus to this earth. Jesus lived with us BUT DID NOT SIN. Jesus knows your pain, how we are tempted and how we hurt. But in order to pay for our sins Jesus had to be sacrificed. In the Old Testament animals without blemish were sacrificed and that blood atoned for the peoples sins. But they had to keep doing that over and over and over again. That is why Jesus is called the "Lamb of God". He willingly submitted himself to insults, being spitted upon and hung on a cross for YOU and for Me. We are the ones who deserved to be crucified not Jesus. But God needed a perfect sacrifice to save mankind. Jesus
John 19:30 "When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."
Yes Jesus paid the price and now Satan is rejoicing. Jesus is dead. Probably many people thought that the work of Jesus was finished and there was nothing more He could do. BUT, death could not hold Jesus. On the third day God raised Jesus from the dead. He conquered death so that we would not only have forgiveness for our sins which keep us out of heaven but that we would have one who would take us to heaven with Him.
But how can we have that assurance that we have heaven in our future? There are three types of faith and only one will work to get into heaven. There is a temporal faith where we may pray to God to get over a sickness or pass a test but after the crisis is over we forget about God and get back to business as usual. Then there is an intellectual faith. A lot of people believe in Jesus like they do George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. They believe that He lived and that He died but that He has no power.
James 2:19 "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder."
You see, Satan and his demons believe in the person of Jesus but they are not going to heaven. The only Faith that will work is a "Saving Faith." So what is a saving faith? Since I love to fly let me use this analogy. Let's say you are flying from New York to Los Angeles and you are waiting in the terminal for the boarding announcement. That plane will carry you to Los Angeles but you first of all have to get up where you are and board that plane. Even though you look at that plane and know in your heart that that plane can take you to LA. You need to get up and take action. You need to get up walk down that Jet Way and find your seat.
I believe that NOTHING happens by chance. It is not by chance that you are reading this devotional today on "How To Be Sure You Know You Are Going To Heaven".
Acts 2:21 "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
The great news is that EVERYONE can inherit eternal life with Jesus. It is everyone who calls on the name of the Lord by a "Saving faith" as no amount of works we do will get us into heaven. Some of you may be asking then why do good works? We do good works for what God has done for us not what we can do for God. There is NOTHING we can do to get us into better standing with our creator. We will be joyful believers when we do all things out of thankfulness instead of duty.
So here is the moment of truth in everyone's life. Do you believe that Jesus came to this earth, was God in the flesh, lived a sinless life, died on the cross and rose form the dead to pay the penalty for your sins and to purchase a place for you in heaven? If so then if you pray this prayer and it is the desire of your heart then YOU WILL BE SAVED for eternity. But also remember God calls us we do not call Him. God is the one who changes your heart. If you read this devotional and your heart was stirred for God then God did that. He is bringing YOU unto Himself. If you read this devotional and had no feeling about the gospel then no prayer will get you into heaven. It is only the prayer of a repentant heart that sees his or her need for a Savior. Please pray this prayer if it is your desire to spend eternity in heaven.
"Lord Jesus I am a sinner and finally realize that my works will not get me into heaven. Forgive me for my sin, for trying to be the captain of my destiny and trying to control my future. It seems that everything I have done has been futile and my joy has been incomplete. I know Jesus that you died on the cross and rose from the dead to pay the penalty for my sins. Jesus please come into my life now and take over. I desperately need your help. I turn my life over to you and trust in you Jesus for my salvation. Jesus thank you for saving me. Please help me to get to know you more each and everyday." Amen
If you prayed this prayer and it was your hearts desire then you are now a child of THE King with an inheritance in heaven. Nothing can take that away. Satan may throw roadblocks at you as He cannot take away your salvation but he can try to do things that stop you from trying to share this good news with others. Now that you have prayed this prayer Jesus has sent His Holy Spirit to now live inside of you FOREVER, AMEN!!!!!! When you read the bible now it will come alive, when you pray you will have promptings to do things. Your life now will have new meaning. If you have made this decision please e mail or call me so we can send you some literature to help you grow in your faith. This is the most important decision that you could ever make in your life. Rejoice in the Love of God that He sacrificed His Son so that you could have eternal life.
That is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen to God's love and Amen to those of you whose names are now written in the Lambs book of life.
Have an awesome day and please pass this e mail along to others who need to know about the Good News of Jesus. The link for this devotional with be on our website "How to get to heaven" at link http://www.theultimatedecision.com/howtogettoheaven.html
Thank you all for spreading God's word and the greatest news ever.
Brad
