What must I do to be saved? How can I go to Heaven?

This will probably be my lengthiest post. That is because it is regarding the most important decision that one will make.

As detailed in the previous blogs, a glorious, perfect eternity in the new heaven and new earth awaits the believers who are in Christ. On the other hand, a terrible, tormenting, and never-ending future awaits the unbelievers in the lake of fire. The only factor that will determine if one will spend eternity with God and fellow believers or be separated from God forever to eternal punishment is whether one is saved or not. So… what does it mean to be saved? How can a person get into heaven?

There are many beliefs about justice and fairness in regards to the destiny of the afterlife. The prevailing idea even among most of the religions is that ‘good’ people go to heaven and ‘bad’ people go to hell. The theory that if one’s good actions outweigh one’s bad actions while on earth should translate into a good eternity may sound reasonable in our finite minds. Conversely, if someone did horrible things in their lives, for ex, Hitler, an eternity in hell also sounds just. There are some who believe that eventually everyone makes it to heaven. For example, the concept of purgatory is such that the people who weren’t quite ‘good enough’ during their life will go to a purifying place after their death and work their way towards being perfect. Certain teachings encourage one to regularly pray for their dead loved ones, do sacraments on their behalf etc. to help their dead loved ones to ‘advance’ into heaven. Another view is that while good people will go to heaven, all the bad people will just stop existing after their death without going to heaven or hell. And of course, the atheists believe there is no heaven or hell or afterlife. As ‘fair’ as some of these philosophies may sound to our human mind, none of these theories are biblically based or taught in the scriptures. Per biblical standards, there will be plenty of ‘good’ people in hell, and plenty of ‘bad’ people in heaven which does not make sense to our standards.

To elaborate further, let’s pretend that there is a merit scale God uses to judge how ‘good’ a person is to decide the eternal destiny of the individual. Let’s say the standard is if the person’s works are weighed and he/she scores a 50 out of 100, he/she will be considered a good person and will go to heaven. Anyone who scores below 50 will go to hell. Would this be a fair system? What about the people who scored 49? Do they deserve to be punished forever in hell just because they missed the standard by 1 point compared to the person who barely scored 50? Let’s say God decided to be a little more gracious and allow the people with 49 points into heaven as well. Would it then be fair to the people who scored 48 and just missed the 49 mark? In this example, the fairness of the judgement could be questioned to the point where God will have to let everyone in so that it’s not unfair to the person who just missed the mark by 1 point. You can see how flawed this would be if this was the actual criteria used for judgement into eternal glory in heaven or eternal punishment in hell. Although this is a very simplified illustration, this is the type of judgement that most people intentionally or unintentionally approve of/believe in when they say good people will go to heaven and bad people will go to hell. As demonstrated, it is hard to measure exactly at what point ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are separated. Per this standard, there will always be one person who will fall just below the required 'point' and go to hell and one person who will just be right above it and get into heaven. Doesn't seem like a 'fair' judgement, does it?

Now let’s look at some biblical examples. Meet convict number 1. He was a king who abused his power and influence to commit adultery with the wife of his trusted soldier. Upon finding out she became pregnant and to avoid the truth from getting out, he came up with a plan to get the soldier killed in a battle and then married the soldier’s wife. This king also had multiple wives at the same time. This person would be labeled as a murderer and adulterer by any standard. I bet most people would consider him guilty. Meet convict number 2. He was a high-ranking religious fanatic who persecuted, imprisoned and approved of violently killing many early Christians, which included women and probably their children as well. I assume he would be labeled as a terrorist by most people and receive the guilty verdict as convict number 1. Many of you might have figured out who I am referring to here. For the ones who are not familiar, convict 1 is King David and convict 2 is Paul. You can read David’s account in 2 Samuel chapter 11 and Paul’s in Acts 8 to verify that these charges are true against both men. Yet, they are considered to be among the greatest of our Christian faith. David is written in the scriptures as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22). This is also the same man who wrote 73 of the 150 psalms. Psalms 51 is particularly expressive of the remorse David felt while appealing to God for mercy for his sins. Despite his transgressions, David was confident of going to heaven after his death. After mourning over his son’s death, David said “But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I am going to him, but he will not return to me.” (2 Samuel 12:23). In addition, it is written that David will be given the honor to rule over Israel (under the authority of Lord Jesus who will be the supreme ruler of the whole world) in the millennial kingdom (Jeremiah 30: 9, Ezekiel 37:24). Similarly, Paul is considered to be the greatest apostle by most bible scholars. After Paul’s encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, he became a radically changed man. Paul is probably responsible for the most conversions as he tirelessly travelled all over the regions proclaiming the gospel while he was constantly imprisoned and persecuted. He also wrote 13 of the 27 New Testament books. Paul referred to himself as, “the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” (1 Corinthians 15:9) and “worst” among sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). Despite being aware of his horrendous sins, Paul was assured that he will go to heaven. He states, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14). In fact, he looked forward to death as a welcome relief “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.” (Philippians 1:23-24). So what gave these ‘criminals’ the confidence and assurance to say that one day they will go to heaven despite being aware of and guilty of having committed heinous crimes in their lives? Even though they did some ‘good works’ after their atrocious crimes, how is it still fair if God allowed these 2 to get into heaven? In fact, this may seem even more unfair than the above merit points system.

In order to understand the standard of ‘goodness’ from God’s perspective, we need to study the scriptures. Let’s take a look at some verses. “As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12) …” for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10). In addition, Jesus states, “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be answerable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be answerable to the court; and whoever says to his brother, You good-for-nothing,’ shall be answerable to the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” (Matthew 5:21-22). “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28). These are some scary verses. It may seem unfair and extreme to us that even a small transgression in our mind is considered to be worthy of hell in God’s eyes. We need to remember that God is completely holy and perfect. He cannot be in the presence of even the smallest sin. Man became separated from God after Adam and Eve sinned and we inherited that unrighteousness. The above are only just a few verses that highlight the depravity of man. Our own sins also convict us how guilty we are in God’s eyes. Per the perfect standard God requires, nobody would make it to heaven and we are all destined for hell.

So what is the solution? Is it doing enough ‘good works’ with the hope that it will cancel out the horrible things we have done in our lives? No, God made it clear what He thinks of our ‘works’ to achieve righteousness with Him. “We continued in our sins for a long time; Yet shall we be saved? For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment” (Isaiah 64: 5-6). The bad news is no matter how hard we try to be perfect, we will never reach the perfect standard that is required to enter eternity with God on our own merit. The good news, however, is God already knows this and has provided the perfect provision for our sins. A holy God requires a perfect and holy sacrifice for the payment of sins. While we who are born and lived our whole lives as sinners, will never be able pay for it, God can and God did. Per God the Father’s will, Jesus Christ graciously entered His creation to rescue us and pay the ultimate sacrifice as the payment for our sins that God the Father will accept. Jesus, being fully God and fully man (after the virgin birth), lived a perfect and sinless life pleasing to the Father. He was then brutally tortured and killed by His very own creation who rejected Him as their Messiah. It is through the belief and acceptance that Jesus died for our sins that man can be assured of their righteousness with God. The following verses make this abundantly clear. "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved." (Romans 10: 9-10). "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:23-24). "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9). “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8-9). “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23). To quote Jesus Himself, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6).

Does this mean that we cannot 'earn' our salvation? It may be hard for us to digest since we are used to the idea that to get anything we have to do something in return. That concept may be true for almost everything in this life; after all we know nothing comes free. We like to think that somehow we can also contribute to our salvation and entrance into heaven to feel good about ourselves. However, as quoted earlier, our works are like filthy rags in God’s eyes in attempts to gain righteousness and salvation with Him. Remember the criminals who were crucified along with Jesus? Crucifixion was among the worst forms of punishments reserved for the worst types of criminals at that time. Thus, it is safe to assume the two criminals committed some horrible crimes to deserve the punishment. “One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other responded, and rebuking him, said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our crimes; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43). As you can see, one mocked and questioned Jesus. The other accepted that he deserved the punishment and believed in Christ. One criminal’s eternal destiny is the lake of fire, while the other’s is eternal glory as promised by Jesus. The criminal who was saved didn’t do any works for his salvation other than accepting Christ.

Well, does this mean that you can go on and live your life sinning as much as you like as long as you repent and accept Christ? The answer is no. If your repentance is genuine, then you will change by the help of God the Holy Spirit and it should reflect the way you live your life afterwards. Let me illustrate this point with a simple example of a father and son. The son is a habitual drunkard. One day, while driving drunk, he killed an innocent person who was crossing the street. The son was caught and faced trial. The judge sentenced the son to die as punishment. At that moment, the father stepped in and pleaded with the judge to allow him to take the place of the son as he loved him so much. The judge accepted this ‘payment’ on behalf of the son and sentenced the father to receive the punishment and let the son go free. Heavily grieved by this, the son changed his life to honor the sacrifice his father made for his sin. What if the son had instead, after getting away for free, continued to live his life like he did before? Many would question the genuineness of his repentance if that was the case. Similarly, if the repentance of your sins and acceptance of what Christ has done for you on the cross is genuine, then your lifestyle should reflect that. While we will never be perfect and sinless until we receive our glorified bodies at the rapture, the work of the Holy Spirit should be evident in how we conduct our lives. We are not doing good works to be saved, we do good works as a result of being saved.

After we are made righteous in God the Father’s eyes through acceptance of His Son as our Savior, then, our good works will be pleasing to Him. Remember, we shall all give an account of ourselves to God. (Romans 14:12). As scriptures state during the believer’s judgement, “Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet only so as through fire. “(1 Corinthians 3:12-15). Although our salvation isn’t dependent on our works, the rewards we as believers will gain or lose (for the millennial kingdom and the following eternity) at our judgment will be based on how we lived for Him. You will not want to stand in front of Lord Jesus empty handed at your judgement, although still saved, without much rewards to show for it. Many of us will stand before Him feeling guilty and ashamed for not having lived our lives for Him as best as we could. Conversely, while an unbeliever cannot be saved by his/her good works, the gravity of his/her punishment in the lake of fire will be based on their actions on earth as determined during the great white thrown judgement. For example, Hitler will have a harsher degree of punishment in the lake of fire compared to someone who rejected Christ out of pride even though he didn’t kill anyone. Regardless of the degree of punishment, the lake of fire is a place that you will want to absolutely avoid as it is eternal separation from God, with constant pain, suffering, remorse, weeping and sorrow forever and ever without any hope of escape! If you don't believe me, please read Revelation 20 & Matthew 25.

Some of us may still have a hard time understanding and accepting this concept of salvation. We may feel that many will get in for free undeservingly. Keep in mind, if others really knew what some of us have done, we would also probably be labeled as evil people who don't deserve heaven as well. Remember, per God’s standard, none of us would get in deservingly by our own merit. It may seem free to us, but remember how much it cost our Lord Jesus Christ. “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus paid for each one of our sins (if we accept Him as Savior), even for the worst type of criminals, by suffering a humiliating, excruciatingly painful, brutal death. Jesus said, “it is finished” (John 19:30) before His death on the cross. By thinking we need to add to His finished work, with our own good works as well, is not being humble. Infact, it is insulting to God as if by saying what He did on the cross was not sufficient for us. What about the people who never heard of Jesus is a common argument. We may discuss this on a later blog due to length constraints. However, we can be assured from the scriptures of God’s character being perfectly just, fair, and impartial (Acts 10:34, Colossians 3:25, Psalms 89:14, Isaiah 61:8). Nobody will walk away from their judgement thinking they got an unfair deal. Everyone will accept that their judgement was deserved. As each person reacts to truth that is revealed to them without rejecting God, more will be given. It is not that people haven’t heard of Jesus. It is the denial and pride in thinking they don’t need Him that is almost always the case. One of the last things Jesus said before His ascension is, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20). Jesus didn’t utter a single word in vain. He is God and you can be absolutely certain He meant every word. He didn’t say I am one of the many ways to the Father; He said He is THE WAY. He didn’t say leave everyone alone and just let them remain strong in their own independent beliefs, He said go and make disciples among all the nations.

To conclude, the choice we make about Jesus Christ is the most important decision that will matter in this life and for eternity. It is an individual decision each one of us have to make while we still have breath in our lungs. “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:27-28). There are no second chances after death. You do not want to postpone accepting Christ until later as there is no guarantee of You being alive the very next second in this fallen and dangerous world. Not everyone may get a chance to reflect and repent like the criminal on the cross. Your alive loved ones cannot influence or change your eternal destiny by praying for you or accepting Christ for you on your behalf after you die. Today is the day. If you don't believe in Jesus, ask Him if He is real sincerely and make Himself known to You. Have you accepted Christ? If yes, are you telling others about Him?

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