How to know if you are saved and going to heaven

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Are You Saved?

Are you saved? Are you going to heaven? Not sure?
Then you may be wondering how you can know for sure
that you are going to heaven.

If you want to be sure that you are going to heaven, all you have to do is RACE.

RACE stands for Repent, Accept, Commit, Express.

Repent
Repent means to regret, be sorry for, and turn away from something. In this case, we are talking about being sorry for our sins. Romans 3:23 tells us that everyone has sinned and falls short of God's glorious standard. It is vital that we understand that we have broken God's law and that sin separates us from a holy, perfect God. We need to understand that we need saving. The best way to determine this is to take the good person test. We cannot be saved and go to Heaven unless there comes a time that we realize that our sins separate us from God, and pray to ask forgiveness for those sins through the death of Jesus on the cross. Romans 6:23 tells us that the payment for sin is death. This means eternal death--spending eternity in hell instead of heaven. If we have not repented and been forgiven for our sins, then we must pay the price of eternal death ourselves; or, we can regret our sins and accept that someone else has already paid the price of death for us. Read on...

Accept
Accept means to believe something is true, or to take something into your own possession. In order to be saved and know for sure that we are going to heaven, we need to do both. We need to believe that Christ died on a cross to pay for our sins, and we need to accept Christ's sacrifice of His very own life as payment for the times we have sinned against God. In Romans 6:23 we are told that the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We are also told in John 1:12 that to all who believe Jesus Christ and accept Him, He gives the right to become children of God. Did you notice that this verse says "accept" and "believe"? Just believing in God is not enough. Even Satan himself believes that God exists! We have to not only believe, but also accept Jesus' death as payment for our sins. And always remember that when the Bible talks about believing in Jesus, it doesn't mean believing Jesus exists, it means believing in the things Jesus teaches us in the Bible. Like I said, Satan knows God exists, but Satan does not live as Jesus teaches, and Satan has never been sorry for his sins and asked forgiveness--that's the difference!

Commit
Commit means to make every effort to do something. In this case, we are talking about making every effort to live the way Jesus Christ teaches that we should live. All this really means is that we must commit to making some changes in our lives to bring us closer to the God who let His own Son be sacrificed to pay for what we have done wrong. How could we say that we are sorry for our sins and accept Christs payment for those sins if we don't make any effort to stop sinning? In Luke 6:46 Jesus Himself said "why do you call Me Lord, Lord and not do the things I say?" Of course no one is perfect, but there is a big difference between sinning and not caring, and making mistakes while trying to avoid sin in our lives. In other words we can't really say that we regret our sins if we keep sinning without making any effort to change. How do we learn how Jesus wants us to live our lives? Read the entire New Testament in the Holy Bible. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus tells us everything we need to know.

Express
Express means to make something known. To let something show. If we have truly repented of our sin, accepted Christ's payment for those sins, and committed to making some changes in our lives to stop sinning, then we need to express those changes in our lives and we should want to tell others about what we have found. Others should be able to see that there is something different about us. Just think about it: if you say there's a difference in your life, and no one can see a difference in your life, is there really a difference in your life? If you are saved and going to heaven, then you are different. Very different! In fact, John 1:12 tells us that if we repent, accept and commit, we are literally children of God! We become God's kids! Now, that's a difference! In Revelations 3:16 Christ tells us that if we are "lukewarm," He will "vomit us out of His mouth." In other words, if we don't make the effort to live as He would want us to, He will not accept us into heaven. Why? Because if we say that we have repented, accepted and committed, but it doesn't show in our lives and we never tell others about it, then we didn't really mean it. How can you find something as amazing as peace and salvation in Jesus Christ and not want to tell others? Once you are saved and have become a child of God, other people should be able to see that there is something different about you and you should be looking for opportunities to tell others that Christ is the only way to heaven so that they can go to heaven too. If you truly believe you are saved, but don't feel the desire to tell others about Christ, you better take a real hard look at yourself and ask yourself if you truly meant it when you asked Christ to forgive your sins and then promised to live for Him. You need to ask yourself if you really are living the way Christ would want you to live. You find those answers in the New Testament of the Holy Bible.

The Holy Bible really said it best: "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son that whoever believes in him will not die, but have eternal life." John 3:16

If you are not yet saved, or are not sure, then this prayer will get you on your way.

Here is a very interesting audio file explaining, in under three minutes, how salvation actually works.

If you are curious about how Jesus' death on a cross could really have anything to do with you, please read the article Jesus Died On A Cross--So What?.

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