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How can I be saved? How can I get to Heaven?
This is definately one of the most important questions one can ask for themselves. There is one thing that is necessary to have before we can really ask the question, "How can I be saved?", or "How can I get to Heaven", and that is, we must have a conviction of our sins. The bible says that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). It is not just that we have committed immoral acts in our lives (which we all have done), or broken the ten commandments (which we have all done), but we have gone against the will of God and have failed to glorify Him in our walk and ways. In your life, have you walked in such a way to glorify God in all your thoughts and actions? No one on this earth can honestly say yes to that question. And this is where we find ourselves in trouble. We stand before a thrice holy God and even in our own selves we know that we "have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." What is God to say to us? We have sinned against him, and He is holy. How can He accept us, being the way we are? Don't be mistaken: it is not only the grossest immoral acts that God takes offence to. He is ABSOLUTELY holy, and can tolerate absolutely NO sins in His presence. In the Garden of Eden, God had to put Adam and Eve out for what most of us would consider an inconsequential action: eating a piece of fruit from a tree (Genesis 3). It matters not how big or how small the sins are; they are not allowed in His presence, and having done them, neither can we. Even if we have not done anything particularly immoral, but we have just simply failed to act for His glory, we have sinned, come short of His glory, and are not allowed in His presence. Again, whether we have committed the grossest immoral acts, or have simply failed to glorify Him in our thoughts and actions, God says "there is no difference, for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:22-23).
What does this mean? How can we get to heaven, if heaven is where God is, and He cannot allow evil in His presence? What do we do? After feeling the conviction of our sins, and our NEED to be saved, we can come to ask, as the Phillipian jailor did "what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30)
The answer to the question is almost too simple for our hearts to comprehend. The answer, as given to the Phillipian jailor, is "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).
As most of us would, the Phillipian jailor asked, "What must I DO?" Our natural tendency is to think that we must DO something to make up for our sins. All the religiousness and religion in the world has been created to make up for the fact that we are sinners, and to somehow try to make amends for it before each other and God. Religion usually tells that even though we have sinned, we can make up for it before God by doing lots of good things, or at least, by NOT doing too many bad things. Religion sort of presents our life before God to be like a balance scale, with bad things on one side and good on the other. Whichever way the scale tips at the end of our life is how God looks at us and makes a decision as to whether we go to heaven or hell. This sounds reasonable, and nearly every religion in the world takes this approach in principle. However, the bible stands in contrast to this way of thinking. The bible reveals that God is holy, and that not one sin is tolerable to Him. The bible also says that our good works do not get us into heaven, but rather simple faith in Christ is what opens its gates to us. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Titus 3:5 says, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." According to the bible, if there was a balance scale for our good and bad works to be placed on, the tiniest speck of bad would slam the scale down on the bad side and all of the good works of the whole world combined would not weigh a thing. Before God, no amount of good works will make up for the bad works we have done. But yet there is hope for us. God has provided His holy, sinless Son to be a sacrifice for our sins, and if we put our faith in Him, by His name we can be saved. Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty of our sins. His blood was shed to wash us, and make us clean again. The weight of those sins was laid upon Him, to take that burden from us. It is not by our works that we can be saved, but simply, "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" (Rom. 10:9-10). It's as easy as that, but sometimes that is too easy for the pride of man. We like to think that we have something to offer God, something that WE can do to get our salvation. Like Adam and Eve, we like to try to use the fig leaves of good works to cover up our nakedness. But God sees through that, and simply wants us to admit our nakedness before Him, as Adam eventually did, and then GOD will cover our sins for us (just as He did for Adam, Gen. 3:21), through the blood of Christ. Don't wait. Don't let pride get in the way. Confess your sins to Him today and put your faith and trust in the love of God and the work of Christ on the cross. God says that He would "have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." He was thinking of you as He penned that verse. He would have YOU come to Him, even though He knew what you were like beforehand, even though He knows your sinfulness. Won't you put your faith and trust in Him today? Won't you admit that you are naked, sinful before Him, and let Him cover your sins through the death of His Son Jesus?
Have another question? Email Todd Asselborn your question by clicking on the contact link on the top or bottom of this page.