ISS:Assurance of Eternal Life  by Jerry Carr

   Over the centuries with many teachings and doctrines, much confusion
has risen about eternal life. The church has not done very well in
presenting the good news that God wants us to have eternal life. The
Bible gives us all we need to know on how to receive eternal life.

   First we have to know that heaven is a free gift. The Bible says
"the wages of sin is death but the GIFT of God is eternal life" (Romans
6:23) and we can never earn it or deserve it because God's standard is
perfection. Matthew 8:48 says "Be ye perfect even as your Father in
heaven is perfect." But the Bible in Romans 3:23 says "All have sinned
and fallen short of the glory of God." So we see that by God's
standards we can not measure up. Although we may have lived a good life
and have done many good deeds. If we, on an average day, sinned just
three times a day where we offended God by some unkind thought or bad
word, or even not doing what we knew to do and didn't, we would
accumulate over 1000 sins a year. In a lifetime of, perhaps, 70 years,
we could have a total of 70000 sins. If you were going to make an
omelet for dinner guests, and you had six good eggs, and one bad egg,
you couldn't just mix them together and offer that to your guests. In
the same way our life is contaminated by our sins, and God can not
accept it since He is a holy God. If we look at what the Bible says
about God, we see that God loves us (John 3:16), and even that God IS
love (I John 4:8). But on the other hand, God must punish sin (Exodus
34:7). This problem God solved with his son Jesus. We see in the Gospel
of John 1:1 that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God" and John 1:14 "the Word (Jesus) became flesh
and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten Son
of God." Because the wages of sin is death, the penalty was paid by
Jesus on the cross. As a parent I am struck that God was pleased to
"Crush him and cause him to suffer" (Isaiah 53:10 NIV) for our
iniquities. God took our sins and laid them on Jesus at the cross so
that when God sees us he sees us free from sin.

   Our question then becomes how do we receive this gift? We receive
this gift by faith. There are many types of faith that are not the
saving faith we're talking about. I have a bunch of keys in my pocket
that are all similar but there is only one key that will open my front
door. You can try all the others, but only one unlocks the door to my
house. You may have prayed for a family member who was sick and used
healing faith or you may have believed God to help with financial
problems and exercised financial faith, but that faith is for temporal
things that will pass away. Also, some people believe in Jesus like
they believe in George Washington, in that he was a real person but
he's not around any more, and cannot help us with anything now. Another
way of thinking about this is to look at a chair across the room. Do
you believe that the chair can hold you up? But it's not at the
present, is it? You have not placed yourself in it, you are only
looking at it. It's the same way with Jesus. You ahve to trust that he
paid the price for you, and it is him and him alone that you are
trusting for your eternal life.

   This is the faith that unlocks the door to heaven for you, so that
when you die and stand before God, and he asks you "Why should I let
you into my heaven?" you may answer "Because I am trusting Jesus and
the blood he shed for me for my place in heaven." Does this make sense
to you? If it does, do you want to receive the gift of eternal life?
Then you must talk to Jesus. Jesus says in Revelation 3:20 that he
stands at the door of your heart and knocks and if you will open the
door, he will come in to you and have fellowship with you. You see,
Jesus is alive, and IS God. Therefore He is with you right now, and
knows your very thoughts and loves you. He died for you so that you may
come to him and have eternal life.

   Pray this prayer:

   Jesus, I do believe that you died for me. I open the door of my
heart to you now. Please come in and be the Lord of my life. I will
honor you and obey you. Give me your Holy Spirit that I may have the
power to live my life for you. Thank you Jesus for Eternal Life!

   If you have prayed this prayer, you have met the entrance
requirements for eternal life. It is important to know you are a new
creature in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17) and old things are passed
away...your old sins are not counted against you. You should read the
book of John and the gospels to renew your mind. It is important to
PRAY daily. It is also important to worship God with other believers
and to fellowship with people that can help encourage you in your faith
so you also can tell others how to receive eternal life. I pray that
God will bless you and your house richly above your best expectation.

   God Bless You!
