CAN someone know that they will have eternal life in Heaven?
Well lets see what God says about it:
I John 5.10-13
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11) And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.12) He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13) 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.
Here God tells us that eternal life (what we call Heaven) is found in His Son Jesus, and then in verse 13 he says that he has written this portion of Scripture to us so that we may KNOW that we have eternal life.
God there quite plainly tells us that we CAN know that we have eternal life in Heaven. In fact God WANTS you to KNOW that you have eternal life – that’s why He put this in there.
Well if God wants us to know that we will get to Heaven how do we come to where we can say we KNOW?
First we must understand our. Condition as fallen men.
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
God here says that we have ‘come short’ of His glory. We have ‘come short’ of deserving his presence and even Heaven itself.
Our sin is what has separated us from God and caused us to ‘come short’ of any hope of getting to Heaven.
Secondly, we must realize that not only has our sin separated us from God but it also incurred a debt upon us.
Romans 6:23a “For the wages of sin is death…” God here says that the wages (or the payment) that we must pay for our sin is death. Now understand, this is not just talking about a physical bodily death. This is referring to our soul’s death.
In Revelation 20:14 God says “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” Here we see that this death is an eternal punishment.
The Bible here is teaching that because you and I have sinned, the price that we deserve to pay is death in Hell.
Here’s the good part!
Romans 5:6-8
“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7) For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Here in Romans 5 we see that when mankind was without any strength or any way to escape that awful place called Hell that God commended (or demonstrated) His love for us. How did he demonstrate that love? – Christ died for us!
Now many folks Christian and non-Christian alike have heard folks say “Jesus died for us” or “Jesus died for our sins”
But how does understanding this help us KNOW that we have eternal life?
Well think about it this way.
Our sin incurred a debt that we must pay – that debt is eternity in Hell but here Jesus died FOR US.
Jesus died in our stead and in I John 4:10 the Bible says this: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
The Bible here says that Christ is the ‘propitiation’ for our sins. Propitiation is atonement. It is satisfaction of a debt that is owed. So when Christ died for us, he was actually paying the debt for our sin.
But not only that!
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; BUT the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
God here says that his gift to us is eternal life.
Something unique about a gift is that is paid for by someone else and made freely available to the person who is receiving it.
Many times a gift is something that we could not afford on our own, but someone who loves us pays the price for it and gives it to us freely.
That is exactly what God is teaching here.
God here says that eternal life is His gift to us THROUGH the payment that Jesus made on the cross. Jesus paid the price for eternal life FOR us, and God has it as a gift freely available for you and for me!
All that a person has to do is accept the gift that God has made available to us.
Can you EARN Heaven?
Nope
Ephesians 2:9-10 says “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9)Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
God here is pretty clear that we are saved from Hell by God’s gift, not by any works that you or I can do.
Besides, IF we could earn it, it wouldn’t truly be a gift, it would be a trade.
So what does the Bible say about Heaven and how can we KNOW that we will go there?
• We have all sinned and come short of deserving Heaven
• Because we have sinned we deserve to pay the price of Hell for our sin.
• When Jesus died for us He was paying the debt that we owed and also paying the price for Heaven to be our gift.
So how do we KNOW that it is ours one day?
We put our Faith for eternal life in the only thing that can never fail.
Titus 1:2 “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”
Here the Bible says that God has promised us that we could have eternal life.
So what do we do?
We trust HIS word to get us to Heaven.
If we trust in our own goodness to get us to Heaven, we would let ourselves down.
If we trust our church or religious practices to get us to Heaven, those things would let us down.
But God cannot lie! So when God tells us that we are sinners and deserve Hell, but then tells us that Jesus paid the price for our sin we can believe Him. When God tells us that he has made eternal life in Heaven His gift for us, and that all we have to do is put our faith in that gift, we can believe Him.
THAT is the only way that we can KNOW Heaven will be our home. If we put our faith for eternal life in Heaven in God’s promise that He has paid it, and He wants us to have it.
Would you like to pray and put YOUR faith for eternity in God’s promise?
You can accept His gift right now.
We could not tell you how to ask God for His gift but we would like to help you word a prayer to God.
If you would like to accept His gift of eternity and put your faith in His promise, just say this prayer to God in sincerity – and realize that merely repeating a prayer isn’t the point, but it is what you are asking of Him that matters.
“Dear God, I know that I am a sinner. I know that I deserve to go to Hell for my sin, but God I don’t want to have to worry about going to Hell. I believe what you said in your word that Jesus died for me. I believe that Jesus’ death paid the price for my sin. I also believe that his death made Heaven available to me. God I ask that you would forgive my sin, save me from that place called Hell, and promise me that gift of eternal life. I now put all of my faith for eternal life in your promise that it is paid for and I will receive it. Thank you for Heaven. Amen.”
Dear friend I want you to understand that if you sincerely put 100% of your faith for eternity in God’s promise, that, according to God, you can confidently say that you KNOW you have Heaven as your home. Not because you deserve it, but because God has promised it to you, and no matter what happens, God will not break His promise to you. – You have His Word on it. If this has been a help to you, and you have asked Christ to save you, I would sure love to hear the good news! Please give me a call or send me an email and let me know about your decision.