Am I going to heaven? - Part 4

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you.' Leave me, you who practice lawlessness. - Matthew 7:21-23 (NASB)

There are some who say they are saved before they ever have any sense they are lost. - Arthur Pink

The following are excerpts from John MacArthur's sermon Saved or Self-Deceived.

When all is said and done in terms of the ministry of the word of God, the most important thing that we do is preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. The most important thing we do is to tell people there is a heaven and there is a hell, and you will spend eternity in heaven or in hell, and then to tell people that there is a way to heaven, guaranteed, absolutely sure, and final. There is a way, therefore, to avoid hell. And since heaven and hell are forever, this is the most important message that anyone can ever give or anyone can ever hear.

Every human being lives forever. Every human being is eternal. After this life is over, we will live forever. We will live consciously, personally, intelligently. We will live fully aware of every detail of our existence. We will experience every moment of our eternal existence in a sense that we have never experienced in any moment of this life – without distraction, with full comprehension, full understanding of every moment and every experience in eternity without ever sleeping or being unconscious.

The experience of every person in the life to come will be unlimited and unmitigated and unrestrained and unprotected. We will have, in our final form, fully functioning minds and bodies. We will feel, we will think, we will emote at a level that far exceeds the most exhilarating moment in this life. We will be fully conscious of every detail in the eternal experience of heaven or hell.

The biblical description of hell makes this obvious. It is described as a place of a relentless accusing conscience, unrelieved guilt, remorse, sorrow, regret, isolation, agony, suffering, and punishment by God, described as fire and darkness, where there is gnashing of teeth and weeping and wailing forever. On the other hand, the biblical description of heaven is stunningly attractive: unending, unlimited joy, bliss, happiness, satisfaction, no pain, no sorrow, no suffering, no loss, no remorse, sheer joy forever.

It should be obvious that heaven is the place to be, and hell is the place not to be. The most important choice a person makes is the choice of heaven. And it's a challenging choice. And sad to say, there are many people who think they have made that choice, but they have not. They think they are set to avoid hell and enter into heaven, but they are mistaken.

You may be respectful of Christ. You may have orthodox views about Christ. You may see yourself as fervent and zealous. You may be active in some level of devotion to the church. You may make a public proclamation. You may be busy building your little religious house adjacent to all the others built by those around you. You may be deceived, only to have your house smashed to a million pieces in judgment. Go back, dear friend, and check your foundation. Go back and check your foundation.

How do you know if you don't have a firm foundation? 

A few things you might think about – marks of the many with only sand under their religious house:

Do you find in your life an unwillingness to yield to Christ?

Are you irritated by the commands of Scripture?

Does it bother you that Christ is restrictive?

Does it bother you that the Bible is restrictive?

Do you not like the fact that there are sins that you would like to do and you restrain from doing them because pressure is put upon you?

Do you come to church because your parents expect you or your friends expect you?

Do you come to church because you're trying to make a good impression on someone?

Is there anything in you that thinks you can earn your way to heaven? 

Even if it's a small component, even if you believe in the cross and the resurrection, if there's anything in you that thinks it can contribute to your salvation, you have no foundation. "If you love the world," – 1 John 2:15 – "if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you." If you can't let go of the evil world around you, if you're characterized by pride, if you do what you do for self-glory, if you love pleasure more than you love forsaking pleasure for the glory of God – any of these marks would indicate that, perhaps, your religious house is on sand. And that would be true of most professing Christians because many will say, "Lord, Lord," but few come in the narrow door.

Examine your heart and examine it carefully.

My hope is built on nothing less

than Jesus' blood and righteousness;

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

but wholly lean on Jesus' name.

When darkness veils his lovely face,

I rest on his unchanging grace;

in every high and stormy gale,

my anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, his covenant, his blood,

support me in the whelming flood;

when all around my soul gives way,

he then is all my hope and stay.

When he shall come with trumpet sound,

O may I then in him be found:

dressed in his righteousness alone,

faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:

all other ground is sinking sand;

all other ground is sinking sand.

Be Encouraged to have your foundation firmly fixed on Christ, the solid Rock.

-Jeffrey Thornton