HOW TO KNOW YOU WOULD GO TO HEAVEN

Page 1
If you were to die right now do you know for sure that you would go to heaven?
Yes. – Turn to page 3.
No. – Turn to page 2.


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Page 2
According to the Bible you can know that you would go to heaven. 1John 5:13 says,
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

The question you may now be asking is, “How do I get this eternal life?”

Turn to page 4.


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Page 3
On what do you base your “yes” answer? If you’re basing your answer on “because I have placed my complete trust in Jesus and what he did on the cross for me, plus nothing else,” that is a good answer. But if you’re basing your “yes” answer on things that you do: I don’t sin, I go to church, I’ve been baptized, or, I belong to such and such church, or “me and Jesus have got our own thing going,” or any other reason than - Jesus plus nothing else - you aren’t going to make it to heaven.

Turn back to page 2.


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Page 4
In the beginning, God put Adam in the garden of Eden. God gave Adam only one rule, Genesis 2:17 says,
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Did Adam eat that fruit?

Turn to page 5.


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Page 5
Genesis 3:6, And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

When we break God’s law it is called sin. Adam’s sin that day caused him to die spiritually that day and he began a process of dying physically which resulted in his physical death.

We inherit from our parents. Since we all descended from Adam we inherit Adam’s sin. Therefore, because of Adam we are all born sinners. Do you see that we’re born sinners?

I see. – Turn to page 6.
That doesn’t make me a sinner, I don’t sin. – Turn to page 7.


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Page 6
We must understand that even if we think we’re pretty good, we’re still sinners, nevertheless.
Romans 3:10 says, As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

None of us are righteous. No, not one of us.

Romans 3:23, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

This means that I have sinned, the preacher has sinned, the Pope has sinned, and you my friend have sinned. Indeed, we have all sinned, according to the Bible. Have you ever told a lie? That’s sin.

It’s easy to sin; it’s hard to not sin.

I have never sinned. – Turn to page 8.
Okay, I admit that I’m a sinner. – Turn to page 9.


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Page 7
Romans 5:12, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Here we see two things, first, death passed upon all men (through one man, Adam), and second, even if we didn’t inherit sin from Adam, we all have sinned.

Now do you see that you are a sinner?

Sure, I sin. – Turn back to page 6.
I don’t make it a practice to sin. – Turn to page 8.


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Page 8
I John 1:8, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

God through His written word, the Bible, says that we do sin.

Turn to page 9.


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Page 9
There is a penalty for sin. The penalty is death.

Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The first part of this verse says the wages (that’s what we get for what we did) of sin is death. We admit that we are all sinners; therefore we all should die. What kind of death is being referred to here?

To see, let’s turn to page 10.


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Page10
Revelation 20:14, And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

The second death! You mean we’ve got two of them? Yes! This is the death for sinners. It’s called Eternal Death.

But…

Turn to page 11.


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Page 11
In the first part of Romans 6:23 we saw that the wages of sin is Eternal Death, but the second part of this verse is what we want to focus on now.

Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ah…the gift of God is eternal life. Eternal life means everlasting life without end. No Eternal Death in the Lake of Fire. What does one have to do to get a gift?

Nothing. – Turn to page 13.
Be good – Turn to page 12.


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Page 12
At Christmas time we tell children to “be good or you won’t get any presents.” But do they behave after that? Well, for about two minutes, then they’re back to fighting, screaming and climbing the curtains, like all kids. Do we go ahead and give them presents anyway? Yes. Why? Because they were good? No. We give them the presents because we love them. If they had to be good to get a gift then it wouldn’t be a gift anymore, but it would be wages that they’ve earned.

So you see, God gives us eternal life as a gift, because He loves us. Not because we’re good. We don’t get eternal life because of anything we do. Jesus did it all by dying on the cross for us, in our place.

Turn to page 14.


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Page 13
Nothing! That’s right! God gives us the gift of eternal life because He loves us.
If we had to be good or do some other good work, then it wouldn’t have been a gift; it would be wages that we’ve earned. Jesus did all the work when He paid the penalty for our sins on the cross. He died in our place! As our substitute!

Do you see?

Yes, I see. – turn to page 14.
No, you don’t get anything for nothing. – Turn back to page 12.


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Page 14
So you see, eternal life is not something we can earn. If we could earn eternal life in heaven then Jesus wouldn’t have needed to die as our substitute on the cross.

Turn to page 15.


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Page 15
Romans 5:8, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

…while we were yet sinners (and therefore we deserved to go to hell), Christ died for us (in our place).

If you pumped $5.00 worth of gas into your car and then discovered that you’d left your wallet at home, you’d be in a jam with the man at the gas station! But if I saw that you didn’t have any money and I said to the man at the gas station, “As a gift, I want to pay his debt,” and then I paid the man for your gas. How much money would you owe the man for gas?

$5.00 – Turn to page 16.
Nothing. - Turn to page 17.


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Page 16
You wouldn’t owe the man anything because I paid it for you. You wouldn’t owe me anything either because I said it was a gift. You might think I’m peculiar to pay for your gas and not expect anything in return but someday maybe I’ll be in a jam and someone will return the favor. Jesus died for us and it was a free gift from Him. We don’t owe Him for this gift. It is free. Maybe someday you can do something for Him, but you don’t have to. Whatever you do for Him will be because you want to.

Turn to page 17.


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Page 17
You would owe the man nothing. You wouldn’t owe me anything either because I gave it as a gift. That’s what Jesus did for us. We owed the wages of sin, but Jesus paid the debt for us by dying on the cross for us as our substitute. Jesus is the only person who could have paid your sin debt. I couldn’t. Your mother couldn’t. Only someone who had never inherited sin and has never personally sinned, and therefore not already condemned, could die as your substitute.

The gift of eternal life is available to everyone, free. But you must accept this gift. It is possible to refuse it. Sometimes a person should refuse a gift, like when a gift is offered to a girl but there are strings attached.

The choice is yours:
Eternal life – yes - turn to page 18.
Eternal life –No- Eternal Death – yes Turn to page 19.


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Page 18
Romans 10:9, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
…Saved from what? The second death. If you don’t experience Eternal Death, what do you have? Eternal life!
…if thou shalt confess with thy mouth…this means, to say out loud, to publicly proclaim, that you believe in the Lord Jesus.
…that God hath raised Him from the dead…you all know the Easter story, how Jesus was crucified and died on the cross then placed into a tomb, but three days later He arose from the tomb alive! You must believe this.
…and believe in thy heart…the heart? I thought the heart was just a blood pumper. This means that you are putting all your trust in what you believe.

Turn to page 20 for an illustration.


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Page 19
Revelation 21:8, But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

To have all these sins paid for and receive eternal life, turn back to page 18.


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Page 20
There was a man out West that stretched a rope across a deep canyon. Then the man walked across that deep canyon on the rope. Then he turned around and walked back. Then the man took a wheelbarrow from which he’d removed the front tire, and pushed it across the deep canyon on the rope. When he got to the other side he turned around and pushed it back. Quite a crowd had gathered around. The man asked them, “How many of you believe I can put a man in this wheelbarrow and push him across and back?”

A man in the front of the crowd was shaking his head affirmatively so he asked him, “You sir! Would you get into the wheelbarrow?” The man wouldn’t get into the wheelbarrow although with his head he believed the man could safely do it. He believed with his head, but he didn’t believe with his heart.

Turn to page 21.


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Page 21
As we just read, to receive eternal life you must confess out loud that you believe in the Lord Jesus. I suggest you pray this prayer:

“Dear Lord Jesus, I admit I’m a sinner. I believe that you died for me and arose from the grave to be my Savior. I am trusting you to forgive my sin and save me. From this moment on I am fully depending on you to take me to heaven. Thank you for paying for my sins and saving me. Amen.”

You do not save yourself by saying this prayer. But if you prayed this prayer and meant what you said, then God saved you.

According to the Bible, the Word of God, if you died right now, would you go to heaven?

Yes – go to page 22.
No – go to page 23.


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Page 22
Yes! You will indeed go to heaven! If you really meant it!

I John 5:13, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

Next you should inform a local Bible believing, Christ honoring pastor that you have prayed this prayer and that you would like to be baptized. Baptism isn’t required for you to be saved, you’re already saved, but it is an outward show of an inward change, identifying yourself with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

You have been born-again this day. Born of the Holy Spirit. Remember this date, it is your spiritual birthday!

Turn to page 24


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Page 23
You answered no, you would not go to heaven. To be saved you must believe. If you were serious when you prayed that prayer, then you must believe that God keeps his promises, no matter how bad of a sinner you are.

If you now believe that you would go to heaven then go back to page 22.
If you still don’t believe that you would go to heaven then go back to page 6.

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Page 24
Please cut and paste this posting into an email and send it to all your friends or at least send this link to your friends: http://dennyschristianwritings.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-to-know-you-would-go-to-heaven.html I do claim copyright protection on this posting but I do give everyone permission to freely copy this post and to distribute the printed material to any and all. May God bless your evangelistic efforts.

http://dennyschristianwritings.blogspot.com/