If You Died Today…

Do you know if you would go to Heaven? God’s Word tells us how we can be sure.

You must realize that you are a sinner

God’s Word says that we are all sinners.

Romans 3:10-12 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

Romans 3:23 “For ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

“Sinned” means “missed the mark.” Jesus is God’s standard of righteousness and nobody–not you, not me, not anyone else–measures up to God’s standard of righteousness. We have all missed the mark.

You might say, “But doesn’t every person have have some good in them?”

Isaiah 64:6 “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteounesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”

So, how did we get in this condition in the first place?

Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

We are sinners because the first man and woman who God created (Adam and Eve) made a choice to sin, therefore, we inherited the sin nature from them. We call that being a “sinner by nature.” However, we also choose to sin as they did. We call that being a “sinner by choice.” There is not one person who can claim in truth that they are sinless but the Son of God–Jesus Christ.

You might argue, “But can’t I just keep the law and be good enough to go to heaven?” Well, let me ask you this, have you kept all of the law all of the time that you have lived here on this earth? None of us have.

James 2:10 “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

You must realize that there is a penalty for sin

God told Adam and Eve that the consequence for disobeying His command was death. It still is! They died spiritually the day they sinned and eventually they died physically.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

What kind of death is the Bible referring to here? Don’t we all end up dying? The word “death” means separation. When we die physically, our soul and spirit separates from our body. Our soul and spirit will continue somewhere for all eternity. However, the Bible also speaks of the second death.

Revelation 20:14-15 refers to the God’s Great White Throne Judgment that is still to come in the future “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

This “death” is when the body is reunited with soul and spirit to stand before God in judgment. If a person dies without trusting Christ for their salvation, they will partake in the “second death.” The “second death” is when body, soul, and spirit are cast alive into the lake of fire to be separated from God for all eternity. Is this what you want?

Hebrews 9:27 says that it is “appointed unto men once to die; but after this the judgment.” Judgment is coming, my friend. We need to prepare to meet our God.

You must realize that you can do nothing to save yourself

We have already said that we can’t keep the law in order to be saved.

Romans 3:19-20 “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

Neither can we do enough good works in order to be saved.

Ephesians 2: 8-9 “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.”

“Grace” means unmerited favor, getting what we don’t deserve. We don’t deserve eternal life. “Faith” is placing your trust in what someone has done or what someone has told you. In this case, it means that we trust what Jesus did for our salvation believing that He has the power to save us. I am assuming you know what a “gift” is. You don’t work for a gift.

Titus 3:5 “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.”

“Mercy” means we don’t get what we do deserve. In God’s mercy, He has provided an escape for us from the penalty of sin.

In the Bible, a Philippian jailor once asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30-31) They replied to him, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

They didn’t tell him to do the best he could. They didn’t tell him to keep the 10 commandments. They didn’t tell him to join the Church. They didn’t tell him to get baptized. They didn’t tell him anything but to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 4:12 says, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

What then does it mean to Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?

You must realize that your sin debt has been paid by God's Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross of Calvary, and that he alone can save you

If we could be saved any other way, God would not have sent His son to die in our place. But, there is no other way.

In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”

Romans 5:8-9 “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”

Jesus Christ is God the Son who became flesh so that He could die in the place of sinful man. God performed the miracle of the virgin birth in the womb of the virgin Mary. That was necessary because His Father was God, not man, therefore, He was not born with the sin nature as we were. He was and is the perfect, sinless Son of God.

John 3:16-18 “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. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

You must place your trust in Christ's finished work of salvation (that is what the Bible calls "the Gospel," which means "good news")

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.”

We get saved by believing “the Gospel.”

In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Paul said that the “Gospel” is “. . .how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that he was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

Jesus paid our sin debt in full! We just need to trust Him fully and completely for our salvation. That means we believe that He died in our place on the cross of Calvary. He shed His blood for our sin. After three days in the grave, He arose victoriously from the grave showing that He was God in the flesh. And we take what He did as being sufficient to save us from our sins with nothing added to it and nothing taken away from it.

You can believe on Him right now. Do you believe you are a sinner? Do you acknowledge that you owe a sin debt? Do you acknowledge that you cannot save yourself? Do you believe that Jesus died in your place, that He was buried and that He rose again the third day? It doesn’t take praying a particular prayer to save you. It takes believing the Gospel in your heart. Do you believe the Gospel? Do you now take Jesus as your Lord and Saviour?

If so, why not call on the Lord right now and thank Him for providing the payment for your salvation and coming into your heart and life and saving you from your sin through Jesus Christ. Acknowledge that you are now making Him the Lord of your life.

If you have trusted Jesus for your salvation, believe God's word when it says you are eternally saved

1 John 5:13 “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.”

If you just trusted Christ Jesus as your Saviour as a result of reading the Gospel message on this page, please share that with us by sending us an e-mail. Our e-mail address can be found on the Contact Us page. We would like to send you some information to help you in your Christian walk and we would like to help you get plugged into a local Church in your area that preaches the Word of God.