HEAVEN

I once heard the story about a conversation that took place between a father and his son. The father asked the boy what he was going to do with his life. The boy told his father he planned to finish school. The father asked him “what then?” The son responded by telling his father that he would get married. The father asked him “what then?” The son smiled and said that after a long career he would retire and enjoy life! The father again asked him “what then?” Finally, as the smile left the son’s face, he said to his father, “I guess I’ll die.” The father looked into his son’s eyes and asked one last time, “what then?”

Friend, I want to talk to you about the “what then?” and what it means to you. I think you will agree that being uncertain about where you will spend eternity is not a pleasant place to be. God doesn’t want you to be uncertain about what will happen to you when you die. He loves you and He has made a clear way to heaven for you. I hope you will consider the following as I explain God’s plan for you to go to heaven.

Let’s begin. Every person has failed God. There are no exceptions! God is perfect and people are not. God demands that every person be absolutely perfect to enter into His presence. In other words, God doesn’t allow sin into Heaven. That presents a huge problem for every person including both me and you because we are less than perfect. The Bible way of saying this is that all of us are sinners and are undeserving of God. Don’t feel alone. We all have the same problem. You are not any better or worse than anyone else. We are all sinners. The Bible says it this way in Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Since God is in heaven, and since sinners aren’t allowed into God’s presence, then that means that we sinners have only one place to go when we die and that’s hell. Now everyone has his own particular version of what hell might be like, but we can all agree that it’s always a bad place. In fact, hell is described in the Bible as the most horrible place imaginable. Sinners, which all of us are, earn hell as a penalty for our sins. The Bible tells us sinners in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…” That’s right. There is a penalty for our sin, and that penalty is death. If we die as a sinner then hell is the only place we can go. Therefore, because of sin, Heaven becomes off-limits.

My friend, God does not want you to go to hell. He loves you! He wants to spend eternity with you in heaven. To prove how much God loves you, He did something that provided a way for you to be with him when you die and to spend eternity with Him. The Bible says in Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Let’s consider this truth a little further. God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die in your place. Instead of you paying for your sins in hell, Jesus took the penalty by suffering and dying on a cross. God gave you a way to have all of your sins forgiven. He punished Jesus on the cross so that He doesn’t have to punish you later in hell. Why did God do that? First, because God demands that sin be penalized. A holy God is offended by sinners. Second and this is the good part. It was because He loves you!

Now you may be wondering if the payment that Jesus made on the cross was really good enough to get you out of paying for your sins in hell. The answer is, “You bet it was!” To prove it, after Jesus suffered a brutal death on the cross for your sins, he died and was placed in a tomb. After being placed in the grave, Jesus Christ arose from the dead and showed Himself alive to many witnesses. This is the proof that God accepted the payment Jesus made for your sins! This truth is stated in the Bible in Romans 4:25, which says of Jesus that he, “…was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”

You may be asking yourself what you should do now. The answer is simple. The Bible says in Romans 10:9-10 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

What good news! We often use the word “gospel” to describe this truth. After all, gospel means “good news.” So when you hear the expression, “Gospel of Jesus Christ” what the Bible declares is that the DEATH, BURIAL, and RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ was the payment for YOUR sins and that believing means you will go to heaven and be with him forever when you die.

Does that sound too easy? My friend, it is easy at this point because Jesus did all the hard work. The only thing that God requires from you is that you believe in His only Son Jesus Christ. That’s right; you must trust Jesus as the payment for your sins and that He is now alive from the dead.

Why don’t you place your trust in Jesus by praying to Him right now? Right where you are simply pray and tell Jesus that you are a sinner and that you need Him to pay for your sins. Let Him know that you trust Him to pay for your sins forever. Thank Him for what He’s done for you! Then start living in a real and personal relationship with Him and become a part of a local church. This will help you to develop a closer relationship with Jesus.

If you meant that prayer my friend then you are SAVED!

If you have prayed to Jesus and asked Him to save you then we would like to encourage you in your new life as a child of God! Please send us an email or give us a call, or if you’re in the area, come by and see us. But wherever you are, it is important that you become associated with a Bible-believing church where you can be nurtured and grow in your faith. Don’t delay!