Have you ever spent any time around an individual who is a liar? Some people lie despite themselves. Even when they don’t have a reason to do so, they lie. Even when it would be more convenient to tell the truth, they lie. This kind of person has a spirit of lying, and they need to be delivered. Well, where did this spirit come from? It comes from the devil.
In the book of John 8:44 (KJV), the scripture tells us this about the devil and those that are his:
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
So, according to this Scripture, the individual who is bound by lying has the devil as his Daddy.
There is one lie that the devil loves to use to deceive people. That lie is that no matter what evil you have done, what sins you have committed, when you die, you are going to wind up in Heaven.
Have you ever been to the funeral of a gangbanger who was shot down while stealing somebody’s TV or committing some other crime? Have you heard the people talk about what a good dude he was? They talk about his sharing with others, as though sharing his drugs and booze was a good thing. Then they have the nerve to talk about seeing him at the pearly gates? You want to ask, “Who lied and told him he was going to heaven?”
And what about the young girl that died on the abortion table? Just because she was just thirteen years old, they feel that she made it to Heaven. If she had reached the age of accountability for her and knew that she had sinned when she got pregnant or if she knew and understood that killing that baby was a sin, she did not go to Heaven.
Some people have never repented of their sins, have never been saved, and have never been filled with the Holy Ghost but still think they will go to Heaven. They believe it just because they want to believe it; they are lying to themselves. There is something that we all must do to go to Heaven. Salvation is God’s free gift, given by grace and received through faith in Jesus Christ. We must repent of all sins and turn our backs on them to be saved. Having several people say good things about you after you’re dead won’t get you in.
Let’s look at some of the variations of Satan’s lie about going to heaven.
- If you got baptized as a baby or young child, you’d make it in.
At some funerals, you will hear expressions like: “He accepted Christ at an early age.” But they fail to add this bit of truth: “And he lived like the devil ever since.” Besides, who remembers being sprinkled as an infant? The Bible says in Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, not, those whose parents had them sprinkled shall be saved.
- Once saved, always saved.
I know this is a hot topic, but I hate to burst that bubble. (Not really). If you don’t live for the Lord Jesus Christ, you are not saved. You have to be saved to go to Heaven. Even those who have lived a righteous life must continue therein.
Ezekiel 18: 24 says But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.
- You’re going to Heaven because Mama and Dada were saved.
Many people relate how devout their parents were when you invite them to be saved. But no matter how saved the parents were, every individual must be saved for himself. The Bible says in Romans 10:13, they that call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Not they who had parents that were saved will automatically be saved.
- If you are an excellent giver, that will get you into Heaven.
Giving is an excellent thing to do. We are instructed to give in Luke 6:38.
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
However, you cannot give your way into Heaven. Your giving should be the result of salvation. You can’t buy your way in.
- If the good things you do outweigh the wrong things you’ve done, you will make it into Heaven.
Isaiah 64:6 lets us know that our being good is never good enough to earn us a seat in Heaven.
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
You are only saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. You cannot work your way in.
- As long as you don’t do terrible sins like commit murder, suicide, or take someone’s husband, then you’ll make it in.
All unrepentant sin will keep you out of the Kingdom of God. Murderers, adulterers, or even suicide individuals, if they repent, can be saved. But, not doing these things is not what gets you in.
- If you just don’t overthink it, you will go to heaven when you die. “Just push it out of your mind,” they say. “Don’t worry about what happens after death.”
Believers in this lie should know that you are already on your way to hell if you have not repented of your sins. Hell is the default destination, not Heaven.
The Bible says in Heb. 3:15 Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, God also says in Gen. 6:3 My spirit shall not always strive with man
Open your eyes, people! There is only one way that will assure you a ticket into heaven. That answer is through Jesus Christ. Let’s review the story of what got us in this shape in the first place, the story of Adam and Eve. Adam, our natural father, sinned. He and Mother Eve believed the lie of Satan when he told them if they ate of the fruit of the tree that God forbade, then they would be as gods, knowing good and evil. He said to them that God did not tell them the truth about the consequences of disobedience. “When God told them they would die,” he said to them, “they would not die.” Adam and Eve believed in Satan’s lie and disobeyed God.
It was their disobedience that brought sin upon each of us. Every individual born has the death curse upon him, and He is bound for Hell. If we do nothing, hell is our destination. But God, in His compassion and love for man, devised a plan. He asked his Son, Jesus Christ, to come to earth to live a holy life as a man, then die for our sins. That is the only way that the yoke of sin can be broken from over us. No other person than Jesus Christ was found worthy to take the yoke of sin from our necks.
So how do we assure that we are in right fellowship with God? How can we know beyond a reasonable doubt that we will go to Heaven when we die?
- Recognize that you are a sinner. Salvation is an individual affair. Every human being has to recognize that they are a sinner who needs salvation through Jesus Christ. Everyone has to realize that Hell is their destination if they do nothing.
- Act on what you know by repenting of your sins. Salvation is reasonably simple because when Jesus died for our sins, He did the hard part. When your Heavenly Father draws you to the point that you recognize that you need to be saved, let nothing stop you. Don’t let neighbors stop you, don’t let pride or the opinions of others stop you. The Bible says in Heb. 3:7 The day you hear my heart harden not your heart. Let nothing stop you from your goal.
- Confess your sins. Ask God to save you and write your name down in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
- Romans 10:9-10 says, 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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
- Then ask God for the Power of the Holy Ghost. The initial evidence that you have been filled with the Holy Ghost is that you speak in other tongues. God will give you the power that you need to live for Him. He gives it to them that ask for it.
Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Luke 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
- Once you have done these things, commit your life to Jesus. No matter what comes or goes, as long as you are clean and holy when you die, you will make it into the Kingdom of God. Get right, stay right, live right, die right, and you can get up right. That’s what will get you into the Kingdom of Heaven. God bless you.