HOW IS ONE SAVED TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN AND GO TO HEAVEN?
A. This is the most important question in a person's life.
1. It is not a question that is left up for us to invent our own answer, as many people attempt to do today in religion.
a. JEREMIAH 10:23 says: “...The way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”
b. Jesus said, “Not everyone that saith unto me 'Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (MATTHEW 7:21).
2. To answer the question of salvation, it only makes sense to seek out the answer from the one who originated the plan for salvation.
a. That of course is God, and He reveals His Will and Answer in His Word— the Bible.
b. PSALM 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
c. PSALM 119:130 “The entrance of thy words giveth light: it giveth understanding unto the simple.”
B. In God's Word, the Bible, we learn from JOHN 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
1. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one cometh unto the Father but by Me.” (JOHN 14:6)
a. So if we want to go to heaven, we can't look to Mohammed, or Krishna or Buddha or anyone else.
b. We can go to heaven only by way of Jesus Christ.
2. It is by reading and studying the Bible that we learn of Christ and establish our Faith in Him.
a. ROMANS 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
b. HEBREWS 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."
(1) From this passage we learn two important things about Faith: that
(a) First, that we must be convinced that Jesus is the Christ; believing He died for our sins on the cross, was buried in the tomb, but rose again on the third day. These are the great facts of the gospel.
(b) Secondly, that we must establish a commitment of trust in Him.
(2) This brings us to the third element of true faith in Jesus found in HEBREWS 5:8-9 “Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; And being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.”
(3) Obedience implies trust, commitment and action.
(4) Obedience puts feet under our faith.
3. Faithful Obedience logically leads us to want to change from our old life in order to embrace the new life we want to have in Christ. This is repentance.
a. ACTS 3:19 “Repent, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”
b. 2 CORINTHIANS 7:10 “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”
4. Faithful Obedience through repentance naturally leads us to acknowledge our faith in Christ. This is the great confession of faith “Yes, I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
a. 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.”
b. In MATTHEW 10:32-33 Jesus said, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”
C. If I sincerely believe in Jesus with trusting faith; and repent of my sins, and without any doubt can acknowledge, or confess my faith to others, I am now ready to put on Christ in my life. How does that happen?
1. GALATIANS 3:27 has the answer: “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
2. We know that it is the blood of Christ which He shed on the cross that cleanses us of our sins, because the Bible says:
ROMANS 3:23-25 “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;”
a. We see everything coming together: God's grace, our faith, the blood of Christ, the remission, or forgiveness, of sins when we are baptized into Christ
b. When people on the day of Pentecost asked what they had to do to be saved, Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (ACTS 2:38)
3. Jesus died for our sins, and we die to sin in likeness of His death through our repentance.
Jesus was buried in a tomb, and our old sinful self is buried with Him in the waters of baptism, in the likeness of His burial.
Jesus was resurrected from the dead, and we are resurrected from Baptism to walk in newness of life—the Christian life.
a. That is how we obey the gospel.
b. The Apostle Paul summarizes the transformation very beautifully in ROMANS 6:3-5 “Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection:”
D. How important is it for us to make the decision to obey the gospel as soon as possible? What if I don't obey the gospel?
1. I PETER 4:17 “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
2. 2 THESSALONIANS l:7-9 answers this question: “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God: and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.”
3. Do you want that to happen to you?
4. The Holy Spirit, who guided Ananias to speak to Saul His instructions, speaks to you today the very same thing, as we read in ACTS 22:16 “And now why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”
E. Once you have by faith repented and been immersed in baptism into Christ, and His blood, in that act of faith, has washed away your sins, Jesus adds you to His body, the church (Acts 2:47).
1. Now you have work to do.
a. JAMES 1:22 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
b. Jesus said in MATTHEW 7:21 “Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.”
2. New Christians are referred to in the Bible as newborn babes. As such, you are expected to grow and mature, just as happens in nature. The Bible helps us to get a successful start...
a. I PETER 2:2 “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.”
b. 2 PETER 3:18 “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
F. In REVELATION 2:10 Jesus says to Christians, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
1. Again, the Apostle Peter tells us how we can walk the Christian life faithfully and successfully on the narrow road to Heaven:
2 PETER 1:2-11 (NASV) “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted unto us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply
MORAL EXCELLENCE, and in your moral excellence,
KNOWLEDGE, and in your knowledge,
SELF CONTROL, and in your self control,
PERSEVERANCE, and in your perseverance,
GODLINESS,
a. And let me interrupt this list to comment on Godliness.
(1) This word includes all that we do in WORSHIP.
(2) As the Lord's church, we assemble each week on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7), to pour out from our hearts our worship to God through PRAYER (1 Timothy 2:1-3); BIBLE TEACHING AND PREACHING (2 Timothy 2:15; 4:2); SINGING (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16-17); THE LORD'S SUPPER ( Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26); and GIVING (1 Corinthians 16:1-2; 2 Corinthians 9-7).
b. JOHN 4:24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
c. Now let's return to the list of Christian duties:
“and in your godliness BROTHERLY KINDNESS; and in your brotherly kindness, CHRISTIAN LOVE.
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things are blind or shortsighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.”
2. Jesus sums it all up in REVELATION 22:14 in these words: “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
3. Have a great journey!
Stanley Sherman
