The Gospel

Jesus Christ is the
ONLY way to Heaven!!!

“I am the way, the truth, and the life; NO MAN cometh unto the Father, BUT BY ME.” — Jesus Christ (John 14:6)

Am I Going To Heaven?

You Can Be Sure!  
   

Dear Friend,

I am asking you the most important question of life. Your joy or your sorrow for all eternity depends upon your answer. The question is: Are you saved? It is not a question of how good you are, nor if you are a church member, but are you saved?

Are you sure you will go to Heaven when you die? Remember you only have ONE LIFE to live. Once you're dead, it's straight to either Heaven or Hell.

Hebrews 9:27 declares, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”, once dead, it's over and there is NO Purgatory for a temporal punishment for sins or reincarnation for a second life. It's either rejoicing in Heaven or burn in the Lake of Fire forever. Your choice matters now!

God says in order to go to Heaven, you must be born again. In John 3:7, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again.”Whether we think about it or not, all of us will one day face the reality of death. Because death is a certainty, a wise person will prepare for it.

Religion is ONLY fooling you. You better STOP trusting religion and read God's SIMPLE plan of salvation.Don't let your Pope, priest, mission president or any religious leader sweet talk you- start LISTENING to what God has to say!

The Word of God says that you are an unrighteous sinner not worthy of Heaven as Satan the Devil has caused sin to fall into mankind.Man has fallen ever since Adam and Eve sinned. Man was destined for HELL as a result for being a dirty, rotten sinner.

In the Bible God gives us the plan of how to be born again which means to be saved. It is very simple to be saved and takes only minutes to explain. You can be saved today. How? 

Some people THINK if they do these things they will make it into Heaven:

1. Obey God's laws and commandments

Trying to keep the commandments cannot save us but only shows us that we are sinners:

James 2:10 "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."

God never designed the Ten Commandments to be a way of salvation, but to show us our sin and need of the Saviour. (Romans 3:20, 3:28; Gal. 2:16, 21, 3:10, 3:24-26)

2. Do good deeds or live a good life, go to church, tithe or give money to the poor

No deeds, charity, contributions to churches, nor any good work by you, can take away your sins or save you. The Bible says:

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."

3. Be sorry for / Repent of / Turn from your sins and stop sinning

Being sorry for your sins, or confessing your sins cannot take away sin. The Bible says the penalty for sin is death. We all die physically, but we also deserve to die spiritually by spending eternity in Hell.

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

1 John 1:9 is a condition for believers to have "fellowship" with God (1 John 1:3, 6, 7) as a child of God (1 John 2:1), not a means to be born again for the unsaved (John 1:12-13). And while one must see he is a sinner before a holy God in order to see his need of a Saviour, the solution is not confessing ones sins to God. Instead, it is believing that Christ made full payment for your sins upon the cross (1 John 2:2, 4:9-10). Otherwise, how many sins must you repent of, how often, in what areas, and how perfectly in order to know you are saved? Confusing, isn't it? One must repent (change their mind) about trusting Jesus Christ versus something else.

Doing your best is commendable, To turn from your sins and stop sinning is also very desirable (yet impossible). Will doing these things make you perfect? No! Heaven is a perfect place and you must be perfect to enter.

The Bible says:

Revelation 21:27 "And there shall in no wise enter into it (Heaven) anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the lamb's book of life.

4. Make Christ the Lord of your life, submitting to Christ's mastery / lordship in your life

James 4:7-10 is clearly a passage for believers (1:2, 1:16, 1:19, 2:1, 3:1, 3:10, 3:12, 4:1, 4:11), not for unbelievers. And while there is no debate that Christ is Lord, the issue in salvation is... "BELIEVE on the LORD JESUS CHRIST and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16:31)
 
5. Ask Jesus into your heart

He comes when you believe the Gospel, not by asking Him in. (John 1:12; Galatians 4:6)

6. Give your life to Christ

He does not want your "dead-in-trespasses and sins" life, but wants to give you a new life in Christ. (John 10:11; 2 Corinthians 5:17)

7. Make a commitment to Christ

Salvation is not assured by your promise/pledge to Christ but on God's promise/pledge to you. (1 John 2:25, 5:13)

8. Turn over the controls of your life to Christ

Romans 12:1 is an exhortation to believers ("brethren"), not to unbelievers.

9. Believe plus be baptized in water or take a holy communion

Water baptism and communion cannot pay for sins. They are for those who are already saved. Titus 3:5 "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us..."

A believer's baptism is to be done as a public testimony of one's faith and identification with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection as a result of being saved and not as a means to salvation. (1 Corinthians 1:17; Acts 8:36-38, 18:8)

10. Pray the sinner's prayer

Which is found nowhere in the Bible. Where do you find anyone in Scripture leading someone else in prayer to be saved? Nowhere!

11. Come forward

The issue is not getting out of your seat, but coming to Christ by faith in Him alone. (John 6:35-40)

12. Trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and also serve him

Incorrect! You can do nothing to add to the finished work of Christ. By doing so, you are not trusting in Christ alone as your Savior but only as your helper. You cannot go to Heaven that way. You must forget about your good works and commitments as a means of saving yourself, and put your trust ONLY in the Savior - Jesus Christ.

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

All of these make (some) sense, but is this what the Bible teaches about the gift of God and knowing you have eternal life?

Now I can almost hear someone screaming out, "But isn't this all simply a matter of semantics?" My reply to that objection is "yes" and "no" depending on what you mean. Yes, it is a matter of semantics if you mean that word meanings and definitions are very important. On the other hand, this is not a matter of semantics if you mean that "trusting in Jesus Christ alone" and one of these inaccurate, misleading statements are really saying the same thing.

There is nothing more wonderful in life than discovering God's plan for eternal life, and you can KNOW for certain that you will spend eternity with God.

Please let me show you how to get to Heaven from the Bible, God's Word...

I. All Men Are Sinners

The fact is, all are sinners in the sight of God. Some have sinned more and some have sinned less -- but ALL have sinned!

• Romans 3:10-20, 23 "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin...For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God..."

• 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall NOT inherit the kingdom of God? Be NOT deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God?”

The truth is: the law SHOWS your sins, it does not save you from sin. Your works are useless before a God who never sinned.

• Galatians 2:21, “For I do not frustrate the grace of God. If righteousness were attained by the law, Christ died for nothing.”

II. There is a price on our sin―eternal death in Hell.

• Romans 5:12, 21; 6:23, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned…That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord…For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

• Romans 5:16, 18, "And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification...Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."

• 2 Thessalonians 1:8, "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Sin must be paid for -- and the Bible declares that the price is death. The Bible teaches that there are two deaths: the physical and the spiritual death.

Just as physical death is separation of body from soul, spiritual death is eternal separation from God in hell -- which the Bible describes as a place of eternal fire, sufferings and torments.

III. Jesus paid our sin debt by dying on the cross and shedding His blood.

God in His mercy gave the solution: His Son the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Word made flesh, the Creator of the Universe who left His glory above, was born of a virgin and He the Word who made the world came as the solution- to take your place.

• 1 Timothy 1:15, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."

• Romans 5:8, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

• 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Because of God’s love, Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross, died, was buried and rose again the third day. He paid the penalty for our sins that we must pay in Hell. This is the only way for us not to suffer in Hell. This proves that salvation cannot be attained by man by himself, but only by the grace of God.

• Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

And His wonderful precious blood washes away sins- that's why He died on that cross all wounded and battered JUST FOR YOU!

• Colossians 1:14, “In Him we have redemption THROUGH HIS BLOOD even the forgiveness of sins.”

And best of all, He rose from the grave to prove He is Jehovah and that He alone did it.

• Luke 24:2-7, “And they found the stone ROLLED AWAY from the sepulchre. And they entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass as they were much perplexed thereabout behold two men stood by them in shining garments. And they were afraid and bowed down their faces to the earth they said unto them, ‘Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here but is RISEN: remember how He spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee saying, The Son of Man must be delivered unto the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day RISE AGAIN.’ ”

Although we cannot understand how, God said my sins and your sins were laid upon Jesus and He died in our place. He became our substitute. It is true. God cannot lie.

IV. Real Salvation is NOT found in a religion or good works, but in a Person... in The LORD JESUS CHRIST Alone, by faith!

Faith in Jesus will not save you if, while believing that Jesus died for your sins, you also believe that you must reform your life, change your behavior, promise God to serve Him and be a better person, confess Christ publicly, commit or surrender your life to Christ, put Christ at the throne of your life, be a disciple of Christ, stop from sinning, turn from a sinful lifestyle, forsake or confess or be sorry for all your sins, be baptized, go to church, be religious, come forward at the altar, recite the sinner’s prayer or obey the Ten Commandments to "help" get you to heaven; You cannot simply add Christ to a long list of other things that you must do or be to get to heaven.

Saving faith does not simply affirm that Jesus' death is "necessary," it must affirm that His death is enough! That it is sufficient all by itself to pay for your sins apart from any human effort or good work, and that it is a free gift available only through faith and apart from any human effort or good work.

• Ephesians 2:8-9, "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."

This same God-man conquered death for his people as he rose from the dead the third day, and after teaching and comforting the believers, he ascended into Heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father.

What are you to do? “God . . . commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30).

To repent is, to change your mind by agreeing with God that you are a sinner, and you cannot save yourself, that you are a GUILTY sinner, under the condemnation of God's LAW, deserving of Hellfire, and also agreeing that Jesus is the Son of God (God in the flesh) who died upon the cross, sacrificing His precious blood to pay for your sins. It is also turning from all other things you trust (other than Christ alone) such as religion, penitence, good works, etc., to save you from your sins.

• Mark 1:15, "And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel."

• Acts 3:19, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.’’

• Acts 17:30, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:”

• Hebrews 6:1, "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God."

• Acts 20:21, “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God,and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

• Acts 26:18, "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."

In Acts 16:30-31, the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas: “ . . . ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ And they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved . . . .’ ”

Believe what the Bible says about you – you are a sinner who deserves death and the wrath of God because of your sin. Believe what the Bible says about Jesus and what He did – He is the only begotten Son of God (God in the flesh), the eternal Word who became flesh and was sinless and perfect; He was crucified on a cross and died in your place bearing your sin, was buried, and rose again on the third day, sacrificing His precious blood to pay for your sins. His resurrection powerfully assures that the believer can claim everlasting life when Jesus is received as Savior, receiving the gift of your salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and trusting Him alone to save you.

• 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures."

• 1 Corinthians 3:11, "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."

• Galatians 3:26, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."

• Romans 4:5, “To him that worketh not but believeth upon Him which justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

• Romans 3:21-28, "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."

V. If you have trusted in Jesus alone for your salvation, God says that these things are now true of you (regardless of your feelings or circumstances):

• You have become a child of God. (John 1:12-13; 1 John 3:1).

• Jesus is in your life, and He promises to never leave you. (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:27; Hebrews 13:5).

• All of your sins are forgiven—past, present, and future. (Colossians 1:13-14; 2:13-14; Hebrews 10:15-18).

• Jesus has given you a new life. (John 10:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:4-5)

• You have eternal life, forever. (John 5:24; 10:27-30)

God says that you can know for sure that you have eternal life! In the future, you may disobey and fail God; and you may doubt that He has really forgiven you. When you have such doubts, read back over these truths and memorize these promises in God’s Word:

• Romans 8:1,”There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, …”

• 1 John 5:11-13," And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

• John 10:28, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

• John 1:12, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

• Romans 8:17, “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; …”

After having trusted in Christ alone for salvation, is there anything a Christian could do to no longer have eternal life? No. God will not take back the free gift of salvation. Salvation is eternal, not temporary (John 6:37-39; 10:27-30; 2 Timothy 2:13).

• John 5:23-24, “That all men should honor the Son (Jesus Christ) even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent Him. 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.”

• Did you "hear" God's word?

• Did you "believe" what God said and trust Christ as your Savior?

• Does "has everlasting life" mean later or right now?

• Does it say "shall not come into judgment" or "might not"?

• Does it say "has passed from death" or "shall pass"?

Eternal life is based on fact, not feeling. Do not trust your feelings. They change. Stand on God’s promises. They never change. After you are saved, You can also express gratitude to God by getting to know Him better through growing spiritually.

• Talk to God (in prayer) about everything. (John 15:7)

• Allow God to talk to you; read His Word. (Acts 17:11)

(The Gospel of John is a good place to begin reading.)

• Obey what God shows you in His Word. (John 14:21)

• Talk to and spend time with others who have trusted Christ. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

• Talk to those who have not trusted Christ; tell them how they can receive the free gift of eternal life. (John 15:8)

Everyone in God’s family must receive spiritual "food" and nurturing to "grow up" as a Christian. You need to be trained to be a disciple of Jesus to:

(1) obey God,

(2) introduce others to Christ, and

(3) make disciples of others.

We encourage you to get involved in a church that:

• believes that the Bible is without error;

• teaches the Bible; and

• practices what the Bible teaches.

After having trusted Christ for your salvation, you became a part of God’s family and an heir of His righteousness. The salvation that you received can never be lost. Just as you were born physically to your parents, so you were born spiritually into the Family of God when you believed on Jesus!

Please understand that we are not saved because we pray a prayer; but because we believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. It is certainly appropriate to ask the Lord in prayer to forgive and save us; but it is our faith which prompts us to pray. You could just as easily believe in your heart upon the Lord to be saved, and not pray at all. Salvation is of the heart, as we read in Romans 10:10, "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness..." It's not what you're doing that gets you to Heaven, it's where you're looking. Look to Jesus! You do NOT have to be water baptized or doing anything to get to Heaven other than trust upon the Lord as your Savior.

Romans 4:5 proclaims... “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him (Jesus) that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” What a wonderful truth! Our faith is COUNTED for righteousness! There is NO self-righteousness involved in salvation.  It is the gift of God. You see, we have no righteousness of our own to offer God. No amount of good can undo the bad we've done. Thus, Jesus paid a debt that He did not owe, because we owed a debt that we could not pay.

Salvation is receiving; not giving. We are Sinners and Jesus is the Savior. Jesus is precious! Unbelief is the only sin which can keep you out of Heaven.

Just take God at His word and claim His salvation by faith. Believe, and you will be saved. No church, no lodge, no good works can save you. Remember, God does the saving. All of it!

God's simple plan of salvation is: You are a sinner. Therefore, unless you believe on Jesus Who died in your place, you will spend eternity in Hell. If you believe on Him as your crucified, buried, and risen Savior, you receive forgiveness for all of your sins and His gift of eternal salvation by faith. You say, "Surely, it cannot be that simple!" Yes, that simple. It is scriptural; it is God's plan. My friend, believe on Jesus and trust Him as your only Savior today.

If you've never been saved, then now is the time to believe upon the name of Jesus, the Christ, that your sins will be blotted out forever and you can know that your name is written in Heaven. Christ died for your sins. You are a sinner by nature and by choice. Jesus took your sins and charged them to His own record. He went to the cross and paid the penalty for your sins. He says if you're willing to receive Him in faith; He will transfer His payment to your debt, and His righteousness to your sins. He will impute to you His goodness, and impute to His own record your sin; if you in faith will trust Him as your Savior.

If you have decided to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you have made a good choice. If not, the wrath of God will abide in you forever in the Lake of Fire.

Please do not delay for the Bible declares: 2 Corinthians 6:2 says, "(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)"

If His plan is not perfectly clear, read this tract over and over, without laying it down, until you understand it. Your soul is worth more than all the world. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). Be sure you are saved.

If you lose your soul, you miss Heaven and lose all. Please! Let God save you this very moment. God’s power will save you, keep you saved, and enable you to live a victorious Christian life.

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).