Since God is perfectly sinless, holy, and righteous, I also must be perfectly sinless, holy, and righteous in order to be in His presence (Matt 5:48). According to scripture, I have two options. The first is to be "good enough" to be deserving of heaven. As long as I can live a perfectly sinless, holy, and righteous life (from birth to death) I will be "good enough" for heaven when I die (Matt 5:20). But if I commit one sin (in my entire life), I am disqualified, and headed for eternal punishment in hell (Rev.16:1-21, Rev.20:10,15, Luke 16:23-31,Rom 6:23). I am as guilty as any murderer (James 2:10). God tells us that none of us is righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10). Believe it or not, not even someone like Mother Theresa or Billy Graham was or is good enough to enter heaven based upon their own merits.
So, what is the other option? God’s Son, Jesus, the Christ, DID live a perfectly sinless life. Although each of us is born spiritually dead, and separated from God because of sin, He (Jesus) was born spiritually alive, in eternal fellowship with God the Father. He voluntarily laid down His own life, as the perfect, eternal sacrifice for the sins of you, me, and the rest of mankind. He took away our sins forever (past, present, and future). They will never be seen again (John 1:29, Heb8:12). This sacrifice "cured" the cause of our spiritual death, which is sin (Rom 6:23). This alone, however, does not provide our entrance into heaven. We must each (individually) be raised from our spiritual death and be credited with the righteousness of Christ (Rom5:10,17). Because Jesus is eternal God, He had the power to raise Himself back up from the dead. Through His resurrection, Jesus has the power to give His own eternal life, along with His own righteousness, to all of us who will receive Him. At the point when a person recognizes his helpless spiritual condition and receives the life of Christ he is "born again" (John 3:3-7). He becomes a "new creation" in Christ (2Cor.5:17). His life and eternal destiny are changed forever. He is transferred out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (John 5:24, Col 1:13-14, etc.). Once a person has Christ living in him or her, he or she is sealed by the Holy Spirit of God as a guarantee of his eternal inheritance when he or she dies (Eph.1:13-14).
So, what do you do if you want to get to heaven? If you believe that Jesus is Who He claimed to be (God in the flesh, who completely paid your sin penalty for you; Resurrected from the dead to offer you His righteous life), and you agree with God concerning your own spiritual condition (spiritually dead, unrighteous, sinful, helpless to save yourself from eternity in hell) the next step is the "moment of truth". Abandon all trust in your own efforts to make yourself acceptable to God. Place your trust entirely in the work that Jesus completed on your behalf at the cross. And finally, trade your sin for His righteous life (2Cor5:21, Rom5:10). Call upon Jesus to become your life and make you a new person: eternally alive, eternally forgiven, eternally saved, eternally free, eternally secure. And spend the rest of eternity thanking Him for His gift. This is something no one can ever take away from you (John 10:28, Rom 8:28-39)
There are no magical words to pray for this transaction to take place. It is between you and God. Just speak to God from your heart. Let Him know that you want to be saved from the penalty of your sin and from the power of sin. Let Him know that you realize you are helpless to save yourself. Let Him know that you want to be changed. Let Him know that you want to be raised from spiritual death, to walk in newness of life. God tells us that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Rom 10:9-13).
Once this takes place, you may have a sense of peace, or a sense that a burden has been lifted from you. Or, it is also possible that you don’t "feel" anything different. That is ok, too. The important thing is that your faith is in what Jesus Christ did for you at Calvary. It would be a good idea to spend some time reading God’s Word (the Bible) to encourage you and strengthen you in your new relationship with the Lord Jesus. You will also want to locate a church family where you can learn more about this new relationship in Christ. You will probably find that since you have been forgiven, you are now able to forgive other people that you were not able to forgive before. You will find that you want to treat people more kindly than you did before. You may also find that you have a desire to live according to God’s purposes (i.e. to do "good works"). Eph2:8-10, Titus 3:3-7
It’s important to know that these new desires to "please God" do not in any way contribute to your salvation, or to your acceptance before God. They are simply the natural result of the love of Christ being expressed through you. I would expect that you would want to do these things out of gratitude for what Jesus has done for you, not to "earn" His acceptance in any way. You may also find that you have a desire to tell others about your new Savior and Lord. 2Cor5:14-21. I encourage you to do so today.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Pastor Rick at (717)732-0972 or Jim Benna at (717)732-4444.