Are you sure?

Would you like to be certain that your sins have been forgiven? Would you like to be sure of heaven?

The first step to heaven is to realize that you can't get there by trying.  Many try to earn heaven by doing good works, thinking that getting to heaven depends on how good or bad they've been.

But in Proverbs 14:12 we read that "there is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."

What might some of these "ways" be that "seem right" to men, leading them to hope for heaven?  Being baptized?  Joining a church?  Doing one's best?  Keeping the Ten Commandments?  Loving one's neighbor as one's self?  These are only a few that people follow, but they all come under one heading: "Do good."

But it's not a question of how good or bad we've been, it's of whether or not we've sinned.  We need commit only one robbery to be a robber, burn only one house to be an arsonist, kill only one person to be a murderer — and commit only one sin to be a sinner.  This is why Scripture says that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). 

None of us are good enough for heaven! 

But, Paul goes on to say in the very next verse that those who believe in Christ are “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).  And further on he writes, "therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).

Salvation is simply and only “the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast"  (Eph 2:8-9).

So you see, it's not by trying, or joining, or loving, or keeping, or by doing anything that will get you to heaven; it's only by believing. God says that He loves us, and that Christ died for our sins, and rose again!  Will you believe this, and trust Jesus Christ as your Savior?

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (Jn 3:16).

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" (Jn 11:25-26)