What it Takes to go to Heaven

What it takes to go to Heaven (minimum)

[1] BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

Mark 16:15-16
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

[2] OBEY

Hebrews 5:9 - "And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;"

[3] KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD

Revelation 22:14 - "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."

[4] - BE STEDAFAST IN THE FAITH UNTIL THE END (DON'T DENY JESUS)

Hebrews 3:14 - " For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;"

Revelation 2:10 - "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."

[5] LIVE GODLY IN CHRIST JESUS

Titus 2:11-13
11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

[6] REPENT FROM SIN

Revelation 3:1-5
1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

List of sins Christians need to repent from fornication, adultery, homosexuality, uncleanness, abuser of themselves with mankind, thievery, covetousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, wrath, strife, sedition, envy, drunkenness, filthiness, foolish talking, jesting, variance, emulation, extortion, sorcery, all liars, murders, fearful, unbelief, heresy (1 Cor 6:9-10, Gal 5:20-21, Eph 5:4-6, Rev 21:8, Rev 22:14-15)

Forgive

Ephesians 4:31-32

³¹ Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

³² And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

People are human and they sin. Their sin against us can hurt us in many different ways. Whether a person's sin against us is sexual, physical, emotional/psycholoical, spiritual, financial, or in some other area it effects our relationship with them. We don't want to be around them.  We don't care about them.  We don't care about what they need.  We don't have any respect for them. We are malicious in our gossip about them to others. We become critical and judgmental.

We become bitter and resentful. Sometimes we become full of hatred towards them and even entertain the thought of wanting to kill them or at least desire for them to experience the same kind of sin we experienced so they can hurt like we do.

Our relationships with others are affected as well.  Sometimes in a similar way as it was with the person who originally hurt or sinned against us.

We don't forgive because we feel justified in our feelings against them. And justified we are.

We sin against God. God is justified in his judgment or anger against us. But God is a forgiving God. He wants us to be forgiven. That is why He had His Son the Lord Jesus Christ pay for our sins on the cross and rose Him from the dead so we could be forgiven if we accept what Jesus did for us, and receive Him into our hearts.

As God has forgiven us He wants us to forgive those who have sinned against us.

God wants us to be kind towards one another, tenderhearted, and forgiving. If we don't forgive those who have done us wrong then we will walk in vs 31. If we forgive those who have done us wrong then we will walk in vs 32 because when we forgive God  heals our wounded spirit and set us free to love others.

Salvation, the Afterlife, and the Reconciliation of all Things

Scripture teaches that a person who dies in their sins will suffer conscious torment day and night forever.  There are some in the Christian community, like Rob Bell, who teach otherwise.

There are many different beliefs about the fate of the damned in eternity.  Some believe that all in hell will eventually accept Christ and will be allowed to go to Heaven.  Others believe that God will allow everyone, whether they believe or not, to go to Heaven when they die.  Yet others believe that if a person dies in their sins they will not have any consciousness until they are awakened after the millennial reign of Christ and stand before God at the Great White Throne Judgment,  and cast into the Lake of Fire because their names were not written in the Lamb's Book of Life and will  be annihilated a short time later.

So, who is right?

Scripture establishes what truth is (John 17:17).

This is my commentary on what Scripture teaches in regard to salvation, the afterlife, and the reconciliation all things to Jesus Christ.

Salvation

1) Jesus died for the sins of all mankind. (1 John 2:2, 1 John 4:14, John 4:42, 1 Tim 2:6, 1Tim 2:10)

2) Jesus desires that all men be saved. (1 Tim 2:4)

1 Tim 2:4 - "Who, will [desires to] have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of truth."

3) Man has a free will to choose. (Joshua 24:15, Rev 22:17)

4) Not everyone wants Jesus.

Some Examples: He was rejected by His own people (John 1:11), people wouldn't come to Him because they loved their sin (John 3:19), the Jews and religious leaders rejected Him and wanted Him to be crucified (Mark 15:13,14, Luke 23:21, John 19:6,15), people hated Jesus (John 7:7, John 15:18, John 15:23,25), on the cross 2 thieves were put to death along with Jesus, one wanted Jesus and turned to Him for salvation the other did not (Luke 23:32-33, 39-43), during the end-time many will reject Jesus (2 Thess 2:10-12) and those who are Christian will forsake him and turn to the anti-Christ (Dan 11:30), people during the millennial reign of Christ will turn on Him at the end and go to war with Him (Rev 20:8-9).

The Afterlife

1) Jesus said that once a person dies it is all over with. There is no second chance at redemption. Where ever you end up in eternity that is where you stay. (Luke 16:26)

a. People who die in their sins will be eternally separated from God in a place called hell/Lake of Fire and will suffer conscious torment day and night for ever. (Luke 16:23,24, Rev 14:10-11, Rev 20:15,10)

Scripture does not teach that a lost person who is in hell or the Lake of Fire will have a chance to or will ultimately be reconciled to God and be allowed to go to heaven.

b. People who die in the Lord, meaning that they believed on and received Jesus as Savior and Lord (John 1:12, John 3:16, Rom 10:9-10, 13) will inherit eternal life if they live godly in Christ Jesus (1 Cor 6:9-10, Eph 5:3-5, Gal 5:19-21, Tit 2:12), walk in obedience to Him (Heb 5:9), be steadfast in the faith unto the end (Heb 3:14, Matt 10:22). They will be in the presence of God forever (Luke 16:26) knowing the love of God without comprehension and without measure. (1 Cor 2:19) They will rule and reign with Christ forever. (Dan 7:18, Rev 20:4,6)

The Reconciliation of all Things


1) At the end of the great tribulation Jesus reconciles all things in heaven and on earth to Himself.

Col 1:20 - "And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven."

a. Note that Paul does not mention anything in hell being reconciled to Jesus nor will you find it anywhere in scripture.

b. God gave Jesus for the world, which is the cosmos, the created order (John 3:16). Because Jesus paid for sin by dying on the cross, Jesus is heir or is given the right to take back from Satan, who is the prince of the world (John 12:31; 14:30) and the prince of the air (Eph 2:2) all the created order; this includes all things seen and unseen, all thrones, dominions, principalities, power (Col 1:16); that is, in part, since Jesus rules in righteousness (Is 11:5) then it will affect government (Col 1:16), way of life like no more war (Is 2:4), and laws that govern society (Is 11:4), health of all life (for example, people have a long length of life (Is 65:20), animals are at peace with people and one another (Is 11:6-9), religious worship (Zach 14:16-19, Is 66:23), restores the earth and the heavens after his fiery judgment. He restores or removes the effects of sin in the non-conditional part of the created order.

c. The reconciliation of the created order is non-conditional except for people. Their flesh is restored non-conditionally but not their soul/spirit [soul-mind,will,emotions], though they will not have to deal with the temptations of Satan for a 1000 yrs because he is bound in the bottomless pit (Rev 20:1-3), Jesus rules with a rod of iron (Rev 2:27, 12:5, 19:15), He requires of people in the millennial reign of Christ obedience to righteousness and to worship Him . Lack of obedience to righteousness results in death (Is 11:4) and failure to go up to Jerusalem to worship King Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles from year to year will result in no rain. (Zech 14:16-19)

d. People during the millennial reign must be saved to go to Heaven as well. We know this because at the end of the 1000 yr reign of Christ they will stand before the Great White Throne of God and be judged out of the books. If their names were not written in the Lamb's Book of Life they are cast into the Lake of Fire where they are tormented day and night forever. (Rev 20:11-15, Rev 20:10)