How do we get to Heaven?

Let's start with a simple question: How do we get to Heaven, in your opinion?

Many people answer: "By being a good person! If you do good, you'll be in Heaven!"

Let's say that's the case for a minute. Have you always been a "good person"?

If we're honest with each other, none of us have been good all our lives; we've all done bad things before, especially in the eyes of God.

Let's take it to the courtroom…

Say I got a speeding ticket. I could try to tell the judge: "I'm sorry I sped, it was wrong and I'm sorry for it and I won't do it again. But I still do all these good things! I give back to the community by giving food to homeless people, donating to charity, I even volunteer at the pet shelter to get homes for puppies! If you sent me to jail, that stuff would stop and we don't want that right? So could you please just forgive me and let me go?"

If the judge is a good judge, following the law, what would he or she say to that?

Obviously no. It doesn't matter what good I've done in the past or promise to do in the future; if I broke the law, the punishment has to be paid for.

But, what if someone else came in…

…and said to the judge: "Judge I know he's guilty, but I'm here to pay his fine." What would the judge say to that? Well by the law, if the punishment is paid for, the judge would say: "well you still committed the crime, but someone's taken your punishment for you, so you're free to go."

And that's LEGAL! Even in this fallen world.

I didn't deserve it nor did I do anything to earn it; it was an amazing and generous gift from someone else.

All of us have broken God's law. Here's just four of those laws:

• Have you lied before? Even a white lie?
• Have you stolen anything? No matter the value? What about when you were a kid?
• Have you ever looked at someone with lust before?
• Have you ever dishonored or disobeyed your parents?

I'm guilty of all four of these. If you're honest with yourself, you've broken at least one of these four. So what does the Bible say is our punishment for breaking God's law?

Wages means something we earn — like a paycheck for working, or a punishment for breaking a law. We're all on death row, as that's how serious sin is to a perfect God. Just like a judge, God can't overlook any crime, sweeping it under a rug, otherwise He'd be unjust. But that's why I love the other half of this verse:

Think back to the courtroom example; I was clearly guilty, but someone else stepped in to pay my fine for me as a free gift. Likewise, God offers us the free gift of eternal life — Heaven — in Christ Jesus. For our case though, it wasn't just a random person that walked into our courtroom. It was the judge Himself who rightly declared you guilty by the law, but then stepped down off of His throne, took off his robes and said: "I love you too much to give you the punishment you rightly deserve. I want to take it for you."

If I were to hand you a birthday present, what would you have to do? You'd have to reach out and take it of course! It's a physical gift so it required a physical action to accept it.

How do we accept God's free gift, which isn't physical?

The same way you'd accept a promise from any trustworthy person.

If you had a friend that you knew was dependable walk up to you and say "I wanna give you a gift, I'll cover supper for you. I know exactly how much you need and I'll bring it all to you. Even if you leave this spot, I'll find you and bring it to you. I promise I'll come through with this" — you'd accept your friend's promise by trusting, believing, and/or having faith in them.

It's the same way with Jesus.

Jesus promised us eternal life; we accept this by believing in Him.

I could say that I believe Abraham Lincoln or George Washington were real people, but that's not the type of belief Jesus requires of us. The Greek word He uses is pisteuó, which implies trusting in Jesus — that He paid the fine for all your sins and promises you eternal life in Heaven.

The demons have the belief that God exists and is one, but they don't trust in Jesus — they rebel against Him.

Here's the beautiful part:

When you put your trust in Jesus, He gives you the Holy Spirit as a seal and a guarantee that you will be in Heaven. "How can I know that for sure?" — because the person who promised you that is God, the most perfect being of all. If God is perfect, He cannot lie and will always pull through with what He promises! It's for this reason that John writes:

"I don't know — I feel like I need to clean up my life first."

I've tried to clean up my life on my own. I tried to stop my addictions, I tried to be better on my own. Spoiler alert — it never worked. Why? Because I was relying on my own strength to do it. God knows that we can't do it on our own. That's why God gives us the Holy Spirit, not just to guarantee us Heaven, but also to give us a new life in this world.

Jesus speaks of the necessity of the Holy Spirit as well:

We've all been born of the flesh — we all have a body. Being born of the Spirit is receiving the Holy Spirit, the same one mentioned in Ephesians 1:13–14, that those who believe and trust in Jesus are gifted by God.

Think of it like this…

We all start out as a dirty cup, sin all over our lives. Isaiah 64:6 tells us that "all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags." So if we tried to clean a dirty cup with a filthy rag, how clean do you think we'd get? Not clean at all — we may even bring more dirt into the cup.

But what if we took that same dirty cup and put it under a clean faucet? It would get clean! Would it be instantly clean? No, it'll take some time. Is the cup cleaning itself? No, it's the water.

We are the cup, and in this example, God is the faucet who's pouring the Holy Spirit into our life. That's how we get clean. God gives us the Holy Spirit to strengthen and convict us so that we are sanctified — made more holy — as time goes on. I've lived it myself, and God will do the same for you if you put your full trust in Jesus.

I cannot make you trust in Jesus. Neither can your friends, your family, not even your pastor. Only you will be standing before God, the most just and righteous judge. Remember what the penalty is for even one of your sins? Death. Hell.

You do not have to take that punishment on yourself. God made a way for us to be saved from our sin — to change our mind about Jesus and our sin, and put our trust in Jesus alone, that He paid the punishment for our sin on the Cross. In this amazing way, justice is fulfilled as the fine for breaking God's law is paid, and the most perfect love is shown to us, to lay down one's life for another.

Well what if I sin in the future?

That's the incredible part — Jesus paid for the past, present, and future sins of those who put their trust in Him.

Let's think through this together…

Say someone put their trust in Jesus Christ today:

Now, let's say someone else walks up and answers: "I'm going to Heaven because I'm a good person." If that's truly what they're trusting in, would they go to Heaven or Hell? Hell — because even though they may call themselves a good person, they are guilty in God's eyes. As we walked through before, everyone has broken God's law; Hell is the punishment for breaking God's law. As 1 John 1:8 says, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

Someone else walks up and answers: "I'm going to Heaven because Jesus paid for all my sins on the cross and it's by His merit alone that I'll be there." If that's truly what they're trusting in, would they go to Heaven or Hell? Heaven! Jesus will take their place on Judgement Day and their punishment for breaking God's law will be paid for.

Lastly — what if someone answers:

"I'm going to Heaven because I trust in Jesus, and I'm a good person."

Would that person go to Heaven or Hell? Unfortunately, Hell. Why? By trusting in two things to get them to Heaven, are they trusting 100% in Jesus, or only partially? They're not fully trusting in Jesus — they're trusting partially in their own good behavior. Paul warns us about this precisely:

Jesus even speaks to people who would trust partially in their good deeds to save them:

These people were trying to be justified partly by their own actions — trusting in themselves. The standard God requires is perfection:

Only the person who fully trusts in Jesus alone to save them will make it to Heaven.

So how do I put my trust in Jesus?

The same way you'd trust anything. Say you're standing next to a chair. You realize that your legs are tired and you need rest. Before you moved a muscle, you trusted that if you were to sit down on that chair, it would hold you up and give you the rest you're seeking. At that moment, before you took any action, you trusted that chair. By your actions, you show to those around you that you trust the chair to hold you up.

In the same way, I trust that when I die, Jesus will take my place on Judgement Day, taking my punishment for me. I didn't have to take any action to trust that Jesus will do that for me, just like I didn't have to sit on the chair to trust it. Paul similarly describes what faith is: