If You Die Tonight, Why Would God Let You Into Heaven?

If you died tonight, why would God let you into Heaven?

To answer that question, let’s look at two statements that don’t make sense to most people:

1: You cannot be GOOD enough to get IN to heaven

2: You can’t be BAD enough to stay OUT of heaven.

Statement #1. Our own goodness or righteousness is not good enough or righteous enough to get us into heaven. Neither our goodness nor our righteousness can overcome the stain of sin that is on us in order to make us saved for eternity in heaven.
 
The Old Testament says that compared to the perfect righteousness that God expects, our righteousness is like an unclean, filthy rag.

• “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away” (Isaiah 64:6 NASB). When Isaiah wrote those words, he was speaking to a group of religious Jews, but his words apply to us today as well because sin exists in every person in the world today.

In the New Testament, in the Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul says the same thing that Isaiah said:

• “as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one (Romans 3:10-12 NASB).

It’s only by the saving grace of God that we are saved and can go to heaven.

• “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Ephesians 2:8 NASB).
   
  The gift of grace comes from God; we can’t earn it or deserve it. And we don’t come about grace naturally. It is God who imputes grace to us, and it is God who saves us. Grace is unmerited favor by God.

God wants a relationship with us; that’s why He formed us. But because God is sinless, and because there is no sin in heaven, we cannot go to his heaven in a sinful state. That’s why He sent his son, Jesus Christ, to earth…to make us worthy before God by paying for our sins – past, present, and future. Christ became sin for us on the cross so that as believers we are called saints and cleansed of all sin. It does not mean that Christians won’t sin, but we will sin less, and we will not remain in the continuation of the same sins if we are truly converted as Christians.
 
A. W. Tozer, a preacher and writer, once wrote, “God wants us to worship Him. He doesn’t need us, for He couldn’t be a self-sufficient God and need anything or anybody, but He wants us. When Adam sinned it was not he who cried, “God, where art Thou?” It was God who cried, “Adam, where art thou?”
 
Statement #2: You can’t be BAD enough to stay OUT of heaven. A lot of people think there is NO WAY a good God would ever let them into heaven, because of something terrible they have done to someone else or to themselves. The proof, that no matter how bad you have been you could still get in to heaven, is illustrated by the person who wrote down the words of God as inspired by the Holy Spirit. This person wrote about half of the New Testament, was a murderer of Christians. We’re talking about the Apostle Paul.
 
If Jesus Christ can convert a murderer of Christians into a Christian, couldn’t He do the same thing in your life no matter what you have ever done?  That’s the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Today’s podcast answers more questions about If you died tonight, why would God let you into Heaven?

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If you are not a Christian but you are feeling a prompting in your heart, it may be God who is asking you to accept his Son as your Lord and Savior. Accept Jesus into your heart NOW, proclaim Him your Lord and Savior, and ask forgiveness of your sins. There are no second chances to accept Christ IF YOU DIE before you accept Him. Do it now if He is prompting you.

Popular Resources: 

• How a Christian Can Know If He or She Is Really Saved. 
Click here to read the article.
• Why Self-Help Books Don't Really Help. Self-help books don’t work for any extended period of time because self-help books TELL someone WHAT to do but do not GIVE someone the POWER to change. To access Holy Spirit power, we must accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Learn more by clicking here.


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Pastor John Haggard