How To Be Sure You'll Get To Heaven.

In Psalm 94:14 God promises not to abandon us but in Matthew 22:14 God also says that many get invited; only a few make it.

What God starts in us He is willing to complete. Does accepting Him mean we can just relax and bathe in His love, or does becoming a Christian bring responsibility?

Luke, one of Jesus’ disciples, recorded this:
A bystander said, “Master, will only a few be saved?”
He said, “Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you’ll sit down to God’s salvation banquet just because you’ve been hanging around the neighbourhood all your lives. Well, one day you’re going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you’ll find the door locked and the Master saying, ‘Sorry, you’re not on my guest list.’ Luke 13:23

So how do we remain on His guest list? The Solution Is Life on God’s Terms…

Romans 8 leaves no doubt of all we’ve received in Christ and what we must do to receive our reward. – Romans 8

When you came to Christ, He set you free from your evil desires, not by a bodily operation of circumcision but by a spiritual operation, the baptism of your souls. For in baptism you see how your old, evil nature died with Him and was buried with Him; and then you came up out of death with Him into a new life because you trusted the Word of the mighty God who raised Christ from the dead.

You were dead in sins and your sinful desires were not yet cut away. Then He gave you a share in the very life of Christ, for He forgave all your sins and blotted out the charges proved against you, the list of His commandments which you had not obeyed. He took this list of sins and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ’s cross. In this way God took away Satan’s power to accuse you of sin and God openly displayed to the whole world Christ’s triumph at the cross where your sins were all taken away. Colossians 2:11-15

God is constantly working miracles of provision, blessings and favour in you:

Answer this question: Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, His Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does He do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust Him to do them in you? Don’t these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God. Galatians 3:5

God loves a cheerful giver. When we give He promises this:

God is able to make it up to you by giving you everything you need and more so that there will not only be enough for your own needs but plenty left over to give joyfully to others.
2 Corinthians 9:7-8 See also 1 Corinthians 2:8-9

But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:48

He is the one who has helped us tell others about his new agreement to save them. We do not tell them that they must obey every law of God or die; but we tell them there is life for them from the Holy Spirit. The old way, trying to be saved by keeping the Ten Commandments, ends in death; in the new way, the Holy Spirit gives them life. 2 Corinthians 3:6

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15

Then he said, “This is God’s message to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty—you will succeed because of my Spirit, though you are few and weak.’ Zechariah 4:6

If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1:7

Do what God’s teaching says; don’t just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen, you are fooling yourselves. James 1:22 ERV

So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. James 2:17

Merely hearing God’s law is a waste of your time if you don’t do what he commands. Doing, not hearing, is what makes the difference with God. Romans 2:13

If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:16-17

God is with those who obey him.

If the LORD delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand. Psalm 37:23-24

That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 NIV

The old has gone, the new has come…. so

Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire.Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Colossians 3:9-10

But we still have a free will and we have responsibility to nurture this enormous gift because The Bible also says:

“If anyone acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will openly acknowledge that person before my Father in heaven. 33 But if anyone denies me here on earth, I will deny that person before my Father in heaven.” Matthew 10:32-33

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. “Matthew 6:14-15”
://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+6%3A14-15&version=TLB

So what does this mean?
For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory.
And the ones who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross — not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit also gives us the testimony that this is true. 1 John 5:4-6

If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. Romans 6:5

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptised to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was.
Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.

For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.
And since we died with Christ, we know we will also share his new life.
We are sure of this because Christ rose from the dead and He will never die again.

Death no longer has any power over him. He died once to defeat sin, and now he lives for the glory of God.

So you should consider yourselves dead to sin and able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus.

Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires.
Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning.
Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life.
And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.
Sin is no longer your master, for you are no longer subject to the law, which enslaves you to sin. Instead, you are free by God’s grace.

So since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does this mean we can go on sinning? Of course not!
Don’t you realise that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive his approval. Thank God!

Once you were slaves of sin, but now you have obeyed with all your heart the new teaching God has given you. Now you are free from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness.

I speak this way, using the illustration of slaves and masters, because it is easy to understand.
Before, you let yourselves be slaves of impurity and lawlessness. Now you must choose to be slaves of righteousness so that you will become holy.

In those days, when you were slaves of sin, you weren’t concerned with doing what was right.
And what was the result? It was not good, since now you are ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom.

But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6

The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. John 12:25

Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the Cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life – no longer at sin’s every beck and call! Romans 6:6-7

All of us who look forward to His Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own. All who indulge in a sinful life are dangerously lawless, for sin is a major disruption of God’s order. 1 John 3:3-4

Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward and the Master you are serving is Christ.

But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favourites who can get away with evil. Colossians 3:15-25

Thank God! Call out his Name!
Tell the whole world who he is and what he’s done!
Sing to him! Play songs for him!
Broadcast all his wonders!
Revel in his holy Name,
God-seekers, be jubilant!
Study God and his strength,
seek his presence day and night;
Remember all the wonders he performed,
the miracles and judgments that came out of his mouth.
Seed of Israel his servant!
Children of Jacob, his first choice!
He is God, our God;
wherever you go you come on his judgments and decisions.
He keeps his commitments across thousands
of generations, the covenant he commanded,
The same one he made with Abraham,
the very one he swore to Isaac;
He posted it in big block letters to Jacob,
this eternal covenant with Israel:
“I give you the land of Canaan,
this is your inheritance;
Even though you’re not much to look at,
a few straggling strangers.”
1 Chronicles 16:12 The Message

Read Romans 7:4-25

Set yourselves apart for a holy life. Live a holy life, because I am God, your God.
Do what I tell you; live the way I tell you. I am the God who makes you holy. Leviticus 20:8

That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home. Ephesians 2:19 MSG

And this world is fading away, and these evil, forbidden things will go with it, but whoever keeps doing the will of God will live forever. 1 John 2:17

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second commandment is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling short changed. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! Romans 5:5

I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us. Philippians 3:14 TLB

God desires that we shine like the sunrise for Him:
May all your enemies perish, Lord! But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength. Judges 5:31

The Spirit however, produces in human life fruits such as these: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, fidelity, tolerance and self-control—and no law exists against any of them. Those who belong to Christ have crucified their old nature with all that it loved and lusted for. If our lives are centred in the Spirit, let us be guided by the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-25

You are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted. 1 Peter 2:9-10

“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the loveable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”
Matthew 5:43-48"://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A43-48&version=MSG

How can you be sure you’re going to heaven?
If you’ve accepted Jesus but there’s still doubt in your heart that you’re His child it’s not too late, you can right now accept Him again and begin walking the path He has always planned for you.

Please share this message with those you love and help to bring light and hope to someone else’s world! 2017 Elaine Costin – Capturing Sunrise /Blog