Christianity

Overview

Heaven is a free gift only available by the grace of God through faith in His son, Jesus Christ. It means admitting to God that you are a sinner and accepting Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord. It is the most important decision you will ever make.

To learn more about your ticket to heaven by becoming a Christian, we recommend you read this article in its entirety.

Heaven

Begin by asking yourself this question:

Have you come to the place in your life where you know for sure, if you died today, you would go to heaven?

How did you answer? Are you confident you’re on your way to heaven, or are you a little unsure?

It’s interesting to note that the Bible says we can know that we have eternal life.  I John 5:13

Now ask yourself a second question:

Suppose you died today and stood before God and He said, “Why should I let you into my heaven?” How would you respond?

How did you answer this one?

If you’re like a lot of people, maybe you think that while you’re not perfect, you’re certainly not a rapist or a convicted mass murderer. Sure you make mistakes, but basically you’re a pretty good person.

Maybe your philosophy is to treat people like you want to be treated yourself: with decency, compassion and respect. Maybe you please God by obeying the ten commandments or another set of moral guidelines. Maybe you go out of your way to help people who are in need with your time and money. Maybe you do other things to please God like praying, meditating, fasting or constantly trying to improve yourself.

People throughout the world, both past and present, have done their very best to please God, to try and get to heaven.

In contrast, the Bible says that heaven is a free gift and cannot be earned.  » Ephesians 2:8-9 » Romans 6:23 » Titus 3:5

Generally speaking, there are two kinds of religions in the world: religions of human achievement, where men and women try and earn their way to heaven; and Christianity, the religion of divine achievement, where God does all the work and men and women humbly accept His free gift of salvation.

When’s the last time you went to a birthday party, received a gift and then reached into your pocket and tried to pay the giver back?A gift is not like a job, where we earn our wages. A gift is free. We cannot and do not earn it. We can only reach out and accept it.

If you’re trying to work your way to heaven, either by trying to please God with a good life or through a religion of dos and don’ts, the Bible says you’re on a dead-end street. Heaven is not in your future.  » Proverbs 14:12

Humans

All humans have a problem. The Bible says we are all sinners who fall short of the glory of God.

No matter how hard we may try to live a good life, sooner or later we’ll slip up. We’ll make a mistake. We’ll sin.

And in God’s eyes, we only have to slip up once to be denied heaven. That’s all it takes. Even one sin separates us from God and His perfect standard.  » Romans 3:10 » Romans 3:23 » Matthew 5:48 » James 2:10 » Isaiah 59:2

Let’s say we decide to play darts and you go first. Maybe you’re really good and your dart lands only an inch from the bulls eye. Then I take my turn and my dart misses the target entirely. Even though you almost got a bulls eye, you still missed the bulls eye just like me. In the case of sin, even if you’re a much better person than me, the bottom line is we’ve both fallen short of God’s standard. In God’s eyes, close isn’t good enough.

The Bible is very convicting and points out how sinful we really are. I’ll never forget how I felt when I began investigating Christianity by reading the Bible. I discovered just how sinful I really was. For instance, how many times had I heard that leering at women was OK, that “looking was free?” The Bible says that lust is sin.

How many times had I told a little “white lie” or misled and deceived others by simply not telling the whole truth? The Bible says that lying of any kind is a sin.

It wasn’t long before I fully understood the part of the Bible that says all humans are by nature objects of wrath.  » Matthew 5:28 » Proverbs 6:16-19 » Ephesians 2:3

For the first time in my life I saw how large the gap was between my sinful life and God’s holiness.

No matter how much I tried to clean up my life, I kept making mistakes, I kept on sinning. I couldn’t do it myself. I could no more help myself than a surgeon could operate on her own cancerous tumor. I couldn’t help myself. Nobody can.

What about you? Can you honestly look at your life and conclude that you’ve never done anything wrong, never sinned?

God

We know that none of us are perfect and all make mistakes. We sin. But what about God? What is He like?

One of God’s most important characteristics is His holiness.

He doesn’t make mistakes. He never sins. God Himself sets the standard for all of us.

Another one of God’s most important characteristics is that He is just and must punish sin.

In our court system justice doesn’t always happen. Sometimes the guilty go free. But not so with God. God cannot change who and what He is. He hates sin and has no choice but to mete out justice.

Fortunately, God has another very important characteristic: He loves us and wants to be merciful.

He doesn’t want to punish us for what we deserve. Check out all these great Scripture references regarding what we’ve just learned about God:  » Isaiah 6:3 » Revelation 4:8 » Leviticus 11:45 » Matthew 5:48 » Exodus 34:7 » Isaiah 30:18 » Psalms 45:7 » Isaiah 61:8 » Romans 1:18 » 2 Peter 3:9 » 1 Timothy 2:3-4 » Romans 6:23

But if we all sin and deserve to be punished by a perfect and just God, what can we do? We’re helpless. Our only choice is to humble ourselves and acknowledge that we’re guilty and ask God for mercy.

But how can God show us mercy if He must punish sin? He doesn’t seem to have any choice.

Or does He?

Jesus

In His infinite wisdom, God solved the problem of being just and having to punish sin, with His loving and merciful side which yearns to forgive us.

He solved it by coming to earth in the form of a man. A man called Jesus Christ.

God has tried communicating with humans throughout the history of time. One way is through what He has made. Another way is through our own consciences.  » Psalms 19:1-4 » Romans 1:20 » Romans 2:15

God has also reached out to us through prophets and prophecies in the Bible.

But unfortunately, most humans have either ignored Him or refused to acknowledge that He existed.  » Hebrews 1:1 » 2 Peter 1:20-21 » Romans 1:21

Finally, God communicated with us through His son, Jesus.  »  John 1:1-2 »  John 1:14 »  Hebrews 1:2

Imagine, for a moment, this less than perfect illustration: Let’s say you have an ant farm and desperately want to communicate with the ants. In addition to giving them life, you provide them with food, water and a place to live. You try communicating with them over and over again, but you’re repeatedly ignored.

But then you get a great idea. You decide that the best way to communicate with ants is to become an ant yourself. You become one of them and speak their language and live in their world.

In a similar way, God came to earth as a man. But not just a man: He was and always will be God. Jesus was God in human flesh. (For more information on Jesus Christ, go to Son.) »  John 14:9 »  Hebrews 1:3 »  Hebrews 1:8

In Jesus, God solved the dilemma of being both just and merciful. Jesus suffered the punishment that we, as sinners, deserved—even though He himself never sinned.  »  Isaiah 53:4-6 »  Romans 5:8 »  John 19:4 »  Hebrews 4:15 »  2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus was crucified on our behalf, because God loves us and wants to show us mercy.  »  1 Peter 2:24 »  Hebrews 9:22

It’s as if someone stands before a judge and is convicted of a crime, guilty as charged. But then the judge walks up to the criminal, sets him free, and serves the sentence himself.

On the cross Jesus got what He didn’t deserve so we could get what we don’t deserve. By the grace of God, sinners receive mercy and forgiveness.

If you took the word GRACE and put it in acrostic form, it would look like this:

G – od’s

R – iches

A – t

C – hrist’s

E – xpense

Every one of us, no matter who we are, no matter where we live, no matter what we’ve done, can humbly accept God’s free gift of forgiveness. All it takes is faith in Jesus Christ. The resurrected Christ.   »  Romans 6:23 »  Matthew 20:18-19 »  Acts 3:15 »  Matthew 28:5-6 »  John 20:24-28

How about you? Are you ready to learn about faith? Are you aching to experience God’s forgiveness?

Faith

The free gift of heaven for undeserving sinners isn’t found by carefully following a list of dos and don’ts. Forgiveness and the promise of heaven isn’t available through a variety of ways and through multiple religious systems.

Heaven and forgiveness of sins is only available through faith in Jesus Christ. Not every key opens your front door. Only one key can do that. In the same way, there cannot be many ways to God. Not all religions can be true. Only saving faith in Jesus is true.  »  John 14:6 »  Acts 4:12 »  1 Timothy 2:5-6 »  Ephesians 2:8 »  Hebrews 11:6 »  1 John 5:5 »  John 6:47 »  John 1:12-13 »  Acts 16:30-31

But what is faith? Let’s start by recognizing what is not faith.

Faith is not just intellectual knowledge. It’s not just head knowledge. Many people believe that there is a God, but not everyone who believes in the existence of God will go to heaven.  »  James 2:19

Others mistakenly believe that faith is trusting God to supply their needs for such things as food, clothing, shelter and a job. We can trust God for those things, but that is not saving faith.

This is faith: Saving faith is believing with all of your heart–not just your head–that Jesus alone can save you from your sins. He alone is Savior. He alone is Lord. Forgiveness and heaven is only available through faith in Him.

Consider this illustration of faith:

A tightrope walker stretches a cable across a very wide and very deep canyon and asks the nearby crowd if they think he can walk across without falling. The people cheer and yell “We believe!” So the man walks across the canyon on the cable and returns. Then he asks the crowd if they believe he can balance a chair on his shoulders and walk across without him or the chair falling. Once again the crowd says “We believe!” and cheers him on. The tightrope walker crosses the canyon and returns. Then the man asks the crowd if they believe he can cross the canyon while balancing the chair on his back, this time with a person sitting in it. The crowd cheers a third time and says “We believe!” The tightrope walker then asks the crowd one more question: “OK, who wants to be in the chair first?”

Saving faith is like that. It’s not standing on the sidelines saying “I believe.” It means getting in the chair. It means acting on your faith, faith that comes from the heart, not just the head and not just from emotions.

If you took the word FAITH and placed it in acrostic form, it would look like this:

F = Forsaking

A = All

I = I

T = Take

H = Him

Faith also results in obedience.  »  John 14:15 »  John 14:23 »  James 2:17

We’re not saved because we’re obedient. We’re obedient because we have faith and are saved.

Our life-long commitment to obedience begins in the following way:

- We turn our back on our old sinful way of life. We repent.  » Luke 13:3 »  Acts 17:30

To repent means to turn around or change directions. It’s like making a U-turn after you realize you’ve been driving in the wrong direction.

- We publicly express our faith by confessing Jesus before others.  »  Matthew 10:32-33 »  Romans 10:9 »  1 John 4:15

This identification with Christ shows that we agree with God, that we are sinners and need the forgiveness that only Jesus can supply.

- We are to be baptized.  Check Out  Matthew 3:16 » Acts 2:38 » Matthew 28:19 »  Acts 22:16

Jesus himself was immersed in baptism and He commands us to be baptized as well. (For more information on this subject, go to Water baptism.)

If you’ve understood what you’ve just read, God has just communicated with you.

- Heaven cannot be earned, but is a free gift.

- You, like all humans, are a sinner.

- God must punish your sin, but He wants to show you mercy.

- God came to earth as Jesus and suffered the punishment you deserve.

- Faith in Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord is the only way to receive God’s forgiveness and the promise of heaven.