THE BIBLE WAY TO HEAVEN by Pastor Steven Anderson

the Bible is really clear on salvation. It’s not based on how good you are. A lot of people think they
are pretty good and they are going to get to heaven because they are pretty good. But the Bible says,
“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” The Bible says, “As it is written, there is
none righteous, no not one.” I’m not righteous. You’re not righteous. And if it were our goodness
that would get us in to heaven, none of us would be going.

1. Admit you are a sinner.

The Bible even says in Revelation 21:8:

I’ve lied before. Everybody has lied before. We’ve all sinned, and we’ve done stuff worse than lying.
Let’s face it. We all deserve hell.

2. Realize the penalty for sin.

But the Bible says:

So Jesus Christ, because he loves us, came to this earth. The Bible says he was God manifest in the
flesh. God basically took on human form. He lived a sinless life. He did not commit any sin. Of course,
they beat Him and spit on Him and nailed Him to the cross. The Bible says that when He was on that
cross, He Himself bare our sins in His own body on the tree. So every sin you’ve ever done, any sin
I’ve ever done, it was as if Jesus had done it. He was being punished for our sins. Of course, they
took His body when he died and they buried it in the tomb, and His soul went down to hell for three
days and three nights (Acts 2:31). Three days later, He rose again from the dead. He showed unto
the disciples the holes in His hands. The Bible is really clear that Jesus did die for everybody. It says
that He died not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world. But there is something
that we must do to be saved. The Bible has that question in Acts 16: What must I do to be saved?
They said:

(Acts 16:30-31) Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

And that’s it. He didn’t say, “Join a church and you will be saved. Get baptized and you will be saved.
Live a good life and you will be saved. Repent of all your sins and you will be saved.” No. He said,
“Believe.”
3. Believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again for you.

Even the most famous verse in the whole Bible, that is written on the bottom of the cup in an
OutBurger, it is so famous everybody has heard of it: John 3:16:

(John 3:16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

Everlasting means everlasting. It means forever. Jesus said:

(John 10:28) And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand.

The Bible says in John 6:47:

So if you believe on Jesus Christ, that Bible says that you have everlasting life. You are going to live
forever. You can’t lose your salvation. It’s eternal. It’s everlasting. Once you are saved, once you
believe on Him, you are saved forever and no matter what, you can never lose your salvation. Even if
I were to go out and commit some awful sin, God will punish me for it on this earth. If I went out and
killed somebody today, God is going to make sure that I get punished. I’m going to prison or far
worse or I will get the death penalty, or whatever this earth punishes me with. God is going to make
sure I’m going to get punished even more. But I’m not going to hell. There’s nothing I could do to go
to hell because I’m saved. And if I went to hell, God lied, because He promised that whoever
believeth in Him has everlasting life. He said:

(John 11:26) And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

That’s why there are a lot of examples of people in the Bible who did some really bad stuff, yet they
made it to heaven. How? Because they were so good? No. It’s because they believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Their sins are forgiven. Other people who may have lived a better life in the world’s
eyes, or maybe even really they lived a better life, but they don’t believe in Christ, they are going to
have to go to hell to be punished for their sins.

4. Trust Christ alone as your savior.

And let me just close on this one thought, one thing that I wanted to be sure to bring up today.
There was a question that was asked to Jesus by one of his disciples. That question was this: Are
there few that be saved? That’s a good question, right? Are most people saved? Or is it few that are
saved? Who here thinks that most people in this world are going to heaven? Guess what the answer
was? He said in Matthew 7:

(Matthew 7:13-14) Enter ye in at the straight gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that
leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and
narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Then he went on to say this:

(Matthew 7:21-23) Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy
name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart
from me, ye that work iniquity.

First of all, the majority of this world doesn’t even claim to believe in Jesus. Thankfully, the majority
of this classroom claims to believe in Jesus. But the majority of the world does not claim to believe in
Jesus. But God warned that even amongst those who claim to believe in Jesus, even amongst those
who call him Lord, many will be saying to him, “We did all these wonderful works. Why aren’t we
saved?” He’s going to say, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” That’s because salvation is not by
works. And if you are trusting your own works to save you, if you think you’re going to heaven
because you’ve been baptized, or if you think “Well, I think you have to live a good life. I think you
have to keep the commandments to be saved. I think you have to go to church. I think you’ve got to
turn from your sins…” If you’re trusting in your works, Jesus is going to say to you one day, “Depart
from me, I never knew you.” You have to have all your faith in what he did. You have to put your
faith in what Jesus did on the cross, when he died for you and was buried and rose again. That’s your
ticket into heaven. If you’re trusting, “Oh, I’m going to heaven because I’m such a good Christian and
I do all these wonderful things,” he’s going to say, “Depart from me.” And notice what He said:
“Depart from me, I NEVER knew you.” Not, “I used to know you.” Because once He knows you, as I
mentioned earlier, it’s everlasting. It’s eternal. Once He knows you, you’re saved forever. But He’s
going to say, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” If you go to hell, it’s because He never knew you.
Once He knows you, He knows you. It’s just like how my children will always be my children. When
you’re born again, when you’re His child, you will always be His child. You may be the black sheep of
the family. You may be somebody who gets disciplined by God heavily on this earth. You can screw
up your life down here, but you can’t screw that up. You’re saved. It’s a done deal. So, that’s the
main thing that I wanted to present to you about the end times. And we do have just a few minutes
for questions about either salvation or about the end times.

Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I know that I deserve to go to hell, but I believe you died on the
cross for me and rose again. Please save me right now and give me eternal life. I’m only trusting in
you, Jesus. Amen.