Can I Be Sure Of Heaven?
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. - 2 Corinthians 5 17:21
Yes you can and here is how....
God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, He was buried and He rose again! Romans 4, specifically 4:25 tells us that Jesus Christ died for our offenses and was raised to make us righteous with God. It is the issue of righteousness that keeps mankind out of heaven because in order to enter into God's holy domain, a person MUST be as righteous as God Himself! Therefore, God The Father, through Jesus Christ's redemptive and all-sufficient work at Calvary has established righteousness FOR ANYONE WHO WOULD BELIEVE. In other words, Jesus will impute or "charge your account" with His righteousness if you would only believe it!
That is why our apostle Paul told us in 2 Corinthians 5: "For he (God The Father) hath made him (God The Son) to be sin for us, (Christ) who knew no sin; that we might (...here is the condition...mankind needs to exercise his free will and believe God in this matter) be made the righteousness of God in him. Any person who simply trusts in the very righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself as the only means to enter into heaven will be saved. Simply speaking, anyone who takes God The Father at His word concerning this good news will have the certainty of eternal security.....What a deal! Now read again what the bible says in 2 Corinthians 5 and in Romans 5:
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 - 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Romans 5:8-11 - 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
Since Jesus Christ took sin out of the picture 2,000 years ago at Calvary while "we were yet sinners", He has now established a righteous standing for mankind with the Father through His shed blood and has therefore provided the way of salvation from the wrath to come!
No money, no water baptism, no begging or pleading for forgiveness, no altar calls, no flickering lights....no spiritual guide, no priest, pastor, or pope required! If you believe the above, you are saved and will go to heaven! Do not listen to the gainsayers who would complicate what the apostle Paul calls "the simplicity that is in Christ"; then follow you around as a Christian "fruit inspector" ready to pounce on you and ask you whether or not you are really saved every time you sin.....
When a person believes this good news (or what Paul refers to as the Gospel of Christ) The Holy Sprit baptizes them into Jesus Christ. In other words, He now permanently dwells in believers and marks them as Christ's property forever! With the above in our hearts and minds through faith, believers can now establish their new life in Christ themselves through the power of God The Holy Spirit; this is a lifelong process as we battle our fleshly desires to do as we please. All our lives, He teaches us through the Word of God and as we learn about all that Jesus did for us and come to understand our heavenly position, we will mature in the faith and grow in the grace of God. Our output SHOULD be thankfulness to God that is demonstrated to others by agape or unconditional love. Believers are established by studying and reading Paul's epistles so that we can learn more about this glorious transformation from death unto life. These writings, also known as letters include books from the New Testament: Romans through Philemon. All scripture is profitable for us including the Old Testament but we find our day-to-day Christian living from the letters of Paul as he received them directly from Jesus Christ!