If you were to die tonight, would you go to “Heaven or Hell?” Reading below will give you the answer. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Our sins have separated us from a righteous and holy God, but in His mercy and love towards us He has made a way of escape for all those who seek it. I am talking to you, right here and right now. God has an amazing gift for you, it costs you nothing but it caused Him to shed every drop of blood He had so He could purchase it for you. What is it? “It’s your salvation.”
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5: 8-10)
There is a “penalty” for your sins – eternal torment in a place called Hell. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)
Jesus Christ is God’s provision for your sinful condition. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
You can be saved right now. Just recently, a young man named Bob stopped to listen. We presented him with the exact same gospel that you are reading right now, and asked him if he knew he was a sinner. He was very honest, and said “yes, I do.” We told him that salvation is not a “magic bullet”, a “get out of jail free card”, or some “30 second prayer” someone gets you to pray.
Salvation is a legally-binding transaction, as the Bible declares, when you the sinner take your sins to a sinless Savior, Jesus Christ, and you trade your sins for His Righteousness.
Jesus Christ was crucified, died, buried and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures. He did all that for YOU, to buy your pardon to set you free. All you have to do is “accept or reject” that free gift. If you reject it, when you die, you will burn forever in a place called Hell. If you accept it, the Bible says the moment you die your “soul” will be with Christ in Heaven never to die again. Which one do YOU want?
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)
Do you know for sure that you would be in Heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ, or is there a nagging doubt that tells you perhaps you are headed in the other direction? Pray and ask the Lord, “Lord Jesus, be merciful to me a sinner, and save me. I now, with a repentant heart, receive you as my personal Savior.”
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13) God has made salvation so simple a 6 year old child can grasp it. God did it all for you on the cross at Calvary, all you have to do is accept it or reject it. Do you know what Jesus was doing on the cross? He was making a payment on your sin debt and paid it in full on your behalf. And if you’re lost, that payment is just sitting there at the foot of Calvary’s cross waiting for you to come and claim it.
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:12-13)
But know this. Reject that payment and you will pay for your own sins yourself in hell for all eternity. Can you accept that? God is not a Calvinist, no one was made to be destroyed, no one will be put in hell against their own will. God gives you a “free will” to either accept or reject Him. You don’t work to get saved, and you don’t work to stay saved, but you do need to make a decision whether or not you will make the “great transaction” of your sins for His sinless righteousness.
When the Bible speaks of “eternal life”, it refers to a gift of God that comes only “through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). This gift is in contrast to the “death” that is the natural result of sin. The gift of eternal life comes to those who believe in Jesus Christ, who is Himself “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). The fact that this life is “eternal” indicates that it is perpetual life—it goes on and on and on, with no end.
It is a mistake, however, to view eternal life as simply an unending progression of years. A common New Testament word for “eternal” is aiónios, which carries the idea of quality as well as quantity. In fact, eternal life is not really associated with “years” at all, as it is independent of time. Eternal life can function outside of and beyond time, as well as within time.
For this reason, eternal life can be thought of as something that Christians experience now. Believers don’t have to “wait” for eternal life, because it’s not something that starts when they die. Rather, eternal life begins the moment a person exercises faith in Christ. It is our current possession. John 3:36 says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” Note that the believer “has” (present tense) this life (the verb is present tense in the Greek, too). We find similar present-tense constructions in John 5:24 and John 6:47. The focus of eternal life is not on our future, but on our current standing in Christ.
The Bible inextricably links eternal life with the Person of Jesus Christ. John 17:3 is an important passage in this regard, as Jesus prays, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Here, Jesus equates “eternal life” with a knowledge of God and of the Son. There is no knowledge of God without the Son, for it is through the Son that the Father reveals Himself to the elect (John 17:6; 14:9).
This life-giving knowledge of the Father and the Son is a true, personal knowledge, not just an academic awareness. There will be some on “Judgment Day” who had claimed to be followers of Christ but never really had a relationship with Him. To those false professing people, Jesus will say, “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Matthew 7:23).
The apostle Paul made it his goal to know the Lord, and he linked that knowledge to resurrection from the dead: “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10–11).
In the New Jerusalem, the apostle John says “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:1–2).
In the “Garden of Eden”, we rebelled against God and were banished from the tree of life (Genesis 3:24). In the end, God graciously restores our access to the tree of life. This access is provided through Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Right now, every sinner is invited to know Christ and to receive eternal life: “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” (Revelation 22:17).
How can you know that you have eternal life? First of all, confess your sin before our holy God. Then accept God’s provision of a Savior on your behalf. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for your sins, and He rose again the third day. Believe this good news; trust the Lord Jesus as your Savior, and you will be saved (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9 –10).
John puts it so simply: “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:11–12).
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