ONLY ONE ROAD LEADS TO HEAVEN
The only road to heaven is through Jesus.
Can you know for sure that you are going to heaven? Yes. But there is only one road to heaven. Jesus illustrated the narrow gate and road to heaven when he taught: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14 NASB). Jesus told the disciples to believe in him and God, that he was going to God the Father in heaven to prepare a place for his followers, and that he would come back to take them with him to heaven (John 14:1-4).
Then the disciple Thomas asked and Jesus answered, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how do we know the way? Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:5-6 NASB, see also Acts 4:12).
The apostle John explained that he wrote his first epistle/letter so that people who believe and trust in Jesus could know for sure that they will have eternal life in heaven. “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13 NASB).
You need to recognize and repent of your sin, and receive Jesus’ payment for the penalty of sin.
To go to heaven, you must recognize your sin, repent of your sin, and receive Jesus’ payment of the penalty for your sins, as demanded by the holiness of God.
Recognize your sin.
To sin means to live your life your way and fall short of God’s holy standards of spiritual perfection. Adam, Eve, and everyone born after them are sinners. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 NASB). Sin separates you from a relationship with God in this life and after you die (Isaiah 59:2). You most likely are so used to sin that you easily forget just how serious sin is in the eyes of God. Every sin you commit is an act of rebellion and rejection of God’s rightful authority over you. Sin also wrecks your soul, bringing heartache and spiritual brokenness into your life.
Repent of your sin.
To go to heaven, you also need to repent of your sin. You need to confess, renounce, and change your mind about your sins to receive God’s mercy and forgiveness (Proverbs 28:13). If you confess your sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive your sins and purify you from all unrighteousness and penalty of your sins (1 John 1:9).
Receive Jesus’ payment of the penalty of your sin.
To go to heaven, you finally need to receive Jesus’ payment of the penalty of your sins demanded by the holiness of God. Only Jesus is worthy to pay the penalty for your sins (Revelation 5:4-5, 9-10). God has provided a way to restore your relationship with God. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 NASB). God loved you so much that he came to earth as Jesus to offer himself as the perfect spiritual sacrifice on the cross (John 3:16) to pay the penalty for your sins demanded by the holiness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus, the all-powerful God-Man, rose from the grave, defeated sin, and conquered the curse of physical and spiritual death (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 54-57).
Forgiveness of sins is available to everyone.
Jesus graciously offers to everyone the gift of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life in heaven. “Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life“ (Revelation 22:17 NLT).
Why does God allow sin?
Although we don’t fully know the mind of God, the apostle Paul provided some insight as to why God allows sin: “For if by the offense of the one, death reigned through the one, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then, as through one offense the result was condemnation to all mankind, so also through one act of righteousness the result was justification of life to all mankind. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. The Law came in so that the offense would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, so also grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord“ (Romans 5:17-21 NASB).
Adam and Eve were humanity’s original federal representatives. Their sin passed on to the rest of humanity. Jesus Christ is the second federal representative of humanity and his sinless obedience to God to offer himself as the ultimate perfect sacrifice made it possible for humans to reconcile and restore their relationships with God. Therefore, the presence of sin in the world is an opportunity for God to display God’s grace or unmerited favor to you despite your sins. In other words, your sin and rebellion allow you to experience God’s grace, forgiveness, salvation, and an eternal relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in heaven. When Jesus sacrificed himself, he demonstrated his teaching on ultimate love: “Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13 NASB).
Your good deeds will not earn you a place in heaven.
There is no amount of good and righteous deeds that you can do to earn a place in heaven (Titus 3:5). Instead, it is by God’s grace through faith and trust in Jesus that you can have an eternal relationship with God in heaven. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast“ (Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV). “You were made for a person and a place. Jesus is the person, and heaven is the place. They are a package-they come together. You cannot get heaven without Jesus or Jesus without heaven.” Randy Alcorn, Heaven: Biblical Answers to Common Questions booklet (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 45. Therefore, as the Old Testament prophet Isaiah urged, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 53:6 NKJV). If you seek and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ to spiritually save you, you will have an eternal relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit for all eternity in the new heaven and new earth.
Randy Alcorn, Heaven: Biblical Answers to Common Questions, 31-37, 42-45.
Randy Alcorn, Heaven Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 78-81.
Billy Graham, The Heaven Answer Book (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012), 130-131.
Kenneth D. Boa and Robert Bowman Jr., Sense and Nonsense about Heaven and Hell (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), chapter 13.