Will You Go to Heaven?
September 22nd, 2009If you were to determine what your chances of going to heaven what would they be? 50%? 80%? 100%? According to a Gallup Poll, 62% of people with no religion whatsoever believe they are going to heaven, 75-88% of the members various denominations believe they will go to heaven. What about you?
The Apostle John wrote his First Epistle “that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). Did you catch that? Not that you may want to have eternal life, not that you may wonder if you have eternal life, but that you may KNOW you have eternal life. We can be 100% sure of going to heaven. Throughout this epistle John clearly outlines who is in Christ and who is not. All those in Christ, will be saved without a doubt.
Let’s look at just a few points from this epistle. First, salvation is dependent upon belief in Jesus as the Son of God (1 John 4:15, 5:1). Second, salvation is dependent on the cleansing power of the blood of Christ (1 John 1:7). How do we gain access to this blood? The Bible says it is when we put on Christ through baptism for the remission of sins (Romans 6:3, Galatians 2:24, Acts 2:38, and many others). Third, salvation is dependent on walking in the light (1 John 1:5) This does not mean we are sinless (cf. 1 John 1:8, 10), but means we are no longer practicing sin (1 John 2:1, 3:3-5). Instead, we are practicing righteousness (1 John 3:7-10).
Walking in the light involves several factors. First, obedience to the words (i.e., the commands of God. 1 John 2:3-6 tells us those who say they know God, but do not follow His words are liars without the truth. Second, it involves confessing our sins—an acknowledgement before God that we have hurt him and will repent of wrongdoing. This is the difference between sins leading to death and those not leading to death (cf. 1 John 5:16-18)—our willingness to change. Third, it involves love. This is more than the appearance of love or the words of love, it must be manifested in deeds and truth (1 John 3:18). 1 John 4:20-21 says those who say they love God, but hate the brethren are liars without the truth and in darkness (1 John 2:9).
We can be 100% sure of going to heaven because it is based upon the promises of God (1 John 2:25). These are just a few of the treasure the First Epistle of John has in store for us. Why not study the entire book?
