Q #1 – Do you know for certain that if you were to die today that you would go to heaven? Have eternal, everlasting life?
Q #2 – Suppose you were to die, and stand before God, and God were to say to you, “Why should I let you into My heaven?” What would you say?
• Good News! The Bible says we can know for certain that we have eternal life, and why.
1. Eternal life is a free gift.
• Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• Grace is God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.
2. It is not earned or deserved.
• Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
3. Man a sinner.
Romans 3:23, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
4. Man cannot save himself.
• Matthew 5:48, “Therefore you shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
• Galatians 3:10, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THE THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO DO THEM.”
• If we want to get to heaven on our own, all we have to do is perfectly obey everything God says for y\our whole lives. We will all fall short.
5. God is merciful.
• 1 John 4:8b, “God is love.”
• God doesn’t want punish people.
6. God is just.
• God God must punish sin.
• Exodus 34:6, “God is compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth.”
• Exodus 34:7, “yet, He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.”
• God is loving and merciful. He wants us in His heaven. But God is also just, and must punish our sin, and ultimately God will punish all evil in a place called hell.
God solved this problem in Jesus
7. Who is Jesus? – The Bible says Jesus is fully God and fully Man.
• John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and Jesus was with God, and the Jesus was God.
• John 1:14, and the Word [Jesus] became flesh.
• Jesus is God in flesh. The God-Man.
8. What did Jesus do?
• Jesus lived a perfect life.
• He never sinned. He never disobeyed God. He was always loving, just, and truthful.
• He died on the cross, not to pay for His sin, but to pay the penalty for our sins -- and rose from the dead to prove it.
• He purchased a place in heaven for us which He offers as a free gift.
• 2 Corinthians 5:21, “GOD made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
• Isaiah 53:6, “All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the wrongdoing of us all, To fall on Him.
• Jesus death on the cross was a double substitutionary sacrifice. He took our sin on his body and died for it. He gave us His righteousness in return.
How do we receive the gift of eternal life that Jesus purchased for us?
The key to heaven is faith.
9. What faith is not
• Faith is not just a head faith. Just knowing facts about God and Jesus and the Bible won’t save anyone.
• James 2:19, ”even the demons believe in God”, but they will have no part in heaven.”
• Faith is not just an emergency faith, or a 911 faith.
• Everyone prays before major surgery, when we lose a job, or when we are lost. But, when the emergency is over faith disappears. That’s not saving faith, that’s temporary faith.
10. What faith is.
• True saving faith is believing Jesus and trusting in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life.
• Acts 16:31, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”
Chair Illustration - We see a good chair but we do not trust the chair until we rest on it.
• Saving faith means resting totally on Jesus for eternal life.
Review: Now what would you say to the two questions?
Q #1 – Do you know for certain that if you were to die today that you would go to heaven? Have eternal, everlasting life?
Q #2 – Suppose you were to die, and stand before God, and God were to say to you, “Why should I let you into My heaven?” What would you say?
* If your answer to question #2, is "I'm a good person" you are still trusting in yourself to save you.
* Would you like to recieve the gift of eternal life?
* Just pray and tell God you repent of your sins and trust Jesus alone to save you.
Assurance
This is vintage Christianity. Long before there were Baptists, Lutherans, Reformed, Catholic, or Alliance churches there was the church of Jesus -- those who simply trusted in him alone for eternal life.
**John 6:47, Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who believes has eternal life.**
Do you believe?
