Do not reject the grace of God!
Many people think they are good enough to go to heaven, or do enough good to go there.
All the religions that men have invented require man to be good, or to do something, to earn the right to go to heaven.
Heaven would then be filled with boastful people, righteous people, and people who have earned it.
But this is completely false! Access to heaven is not meritorious. If it were, the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, on the cross would be unnecessary! If it were possible for even one person to be saved by his or her own works, it would mean that Jesus would have suffered the wrath and judgment of God in our place unnecessarily.
No, God is not going to let anyone into His presence in heaven on the basis of any good a person may have done. It’s impossible. This false and illusory thinking must be abandoned altogether. Forget it! Do not rely on your good works and your own righteousness to get into heaven. That would be to reject the grace of God! For yes, God has provided a way to get to heaven and escape the judgment that our sins deserve.
The question of sin
It’s very important to understand that no sinner can enter the presence of God. His sins must be dealt with before he can go to heaven. God is holy, without sin, and his eyes are “too pure to look at evil” (Habakkuk 1:13 NASB). To go to heaven, one must be holy, righteous, and morally perfect.
So if you’re honest before God, even if you are a good person, you know very well that you have done bad things in the eyes of God. So have I. But there is a way in which God can declare you entirely righteous before Him.
God’s way of dealing with the issue of sins
What is this way? Not good works! God does not require man to do works in order to be accepted before Him. God Himself gives freely what is needed for you to go to heaven, into His presence. He does not ask you to do something, but to believe.
He asks you to take His word for it when He says that Jesus Christ is His Son, the holy Son of God. All the miracles that God gave Him to do are proof of this.
He asks that you believe that His Son Jesus Christ died on the cross to receive in your place the judgment you personally deserve because of your sins. Sin is such a serious and horrible thing before God that He said that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23)! It is this death that Jesus suffered in your place. He let Himself be unjustly condemned and crucified in order to take your place under the judgment of God.
That’s all God asks: that you acknowledge that you have sinned before Him—your evil deeds—and that you believe that Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, died to pay the wages you deserve for your sins, death. Death and eternal judgment.
God gives the forgiveness of sins
God graciously gives salvation to the one who believes. “For you are saved by grace, through faith; and this not of yourselves” (Ephesians 2:8). It is by faith that you can be saved! By believing! That’s it! It is not of ourselves, “it is God’s gift: not on the principle of works, that no one might boast” (Ephesians 2:9). There will be no one in heaven who has earned his heaven. No one will boast, but all will give glory to Jesus Christ for having paid the debt of their sins in full.
Do not reject the grace of God! But receive God’s salvation. He wants to declare you righteous! He can declare you righteous, because His Son Jesus has fully and perfectly satisfied God’s justice and holiness by voluntarily offering Himself for you as a substitute to pay the debt of your sins.
It’s through Him alone that “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offences, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
This salvation will be given to you if you accept it personally! It is not given de facto to everyone. No. You have to believe it personally. Accept God’s offer of grace for the complete forgiveness of all your sins through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Believe!
Place your trust in Jesus and His work at the cross. Believe that it is by His blood shed on the cross that your sins are completely washed away before God. This is what believing is, what faith is, it is trusting, it is believing what God has said. Jesus has taken upon Himself the judgment that you deserve.
He who truly believes will no longer want to live in sin because he has understood that Jesus had to die for that. He will want to “walk worthily of the Lord unto all well-pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work” (Colossians 1:10), not only out of gratitude, but also because God’s Holy Spirit—who will now come to dwell in him—will give him new desires for what is good and right. He will lead him into all truth.
Repent and receive God’s salvation! Believe in Jesus and His work done for you at the cross! Yes, Jesus took your sin and paid the debt. If you believe, God will declare you righteous before Him, because of His Son Jesus Christ. Not because you are better than anyone else, but because Jesus’ work on the cross will be credited to you. You will have eternal life!
When will you put your trust in Christ?
When will you give up your sins and put your trust in Christ to be saved? Do not delay. Jesus promised that He would soon return to take into His presence all those who believe in Him; and we do not know how long our days are.
Pray now, yes, talk to God, He hears you very well. He sees your heart and He knows your thoughts. Acknowledge before Him that you are a sinner, and tell Him that you understand that the sins you have committed deserve His judgment, and that you believe that His Son Jesus has paid the full price for you. Express your thanks to Him. Yes, thank God for His forgiveness, which is free for you. God will cleanse you of all your sins and give you a new heart to do what is pleasing to Him.
“He that believes on the Son has life eternal, and he that is not subject to the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him.” (John 3:36)
Do not reject the grace of God! Believe in Jesus and His work and have eternal life!