When I was young, my parents took our family to a small evangelical church each Sunday. The first time I remember placing my faith in Jesus as my Savior was during a Sunday evening service when I was nine or ten. I remember days later, swinging on the swings at the playground of my school, sensing that I was spiritually clean and bound for heaven. But I soon began to doubt whether I was going to heaven. What if I sinned—especially if I sinned willfully? Would I lose the eternal life God had given me? How could I know for sure I was going to heaven?
In my preteen and early teen years, I delivered newspapers on my bike to about a hundred customers every morning except Sunday. Several customers I had were grouchy, complaining types, rarely satisfied with where I tossed their paper. I often asked myself what would happen to me eternally if, in meanness, I purposefully threw their newspaper in an inconvenient spot or left it where the rain would get it all wet. My only conclusion was that my sin would cause me to lose heaven. My childlike solution was to pray, “Lord, please forgive me a minute before each sin I commit.” That way I thought I could make it to heaven for sure.
It wasn’t until after I graduated from college that I understood the unbreakable, trustworthy nature of Jesus’ promise of eternal life. He said, “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life” (John 6:47), a guarantee that eternal life is the present possession of anyone who believes in him. Jesus pledged numerous times that “everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life” (John 3:15 HCSB). So if one has believed in Jesus as his or her only hope of eternal life and heaven, that person can claim that he or she has eternal life. Such a claim is not presumption—it is faith. According to the teachings of Jesus, then, it is a contradiction to say you are relying completely on him by faith alone to get you to heaven, but in the next breath you express doubts that you have eternal life.
So in my early twenties, as I saw these truths, I claimed Jesus’ promise as my own. I have never doubted my eternal destiny since! I continue to claim Jesus’ promise as my only hope of heaven.
Eternal life is a permanent gift from God. I have a Christian friend who says, “If eternal life can be lost, it has the wrong name.” How true! Eternal life is forever. Jesus said this in varying but clear ways. “It is my Father’s will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise that person up on the last day” (John 6:40 NJB). According to Jesus, the Father’s will was that Jesus resurrect every person who believed in him. Has Jesus ever failed to do the will of his Father? Will he ever fail in the future to do the will of his Father? Do you believe that Jesus is your only means of getting to heaven? Then claim his promise of resurrection and eternal life.
We have all heard someone make a promise that we believed he or she would keep: a political candidate, a bride or bridegroom, a boss, a contractor, etc. We accept human promises even though we know that people often fail to keep them. But God and Jesus never fail to keep their promises. The promises of Jesus are far more trustworthy than any human pledge or vow. Consider again the absolute guarantee of the Lord’s promise: “Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die—ever” (John 11:26 HCSB). Jesus was referring to the impossibility of one who believes in him ever dying an eternal death or experiencing an eternal punishment.
God wants us who believe in Christ to be fully assured of his promise and to know that we have eternal life and heaven.
We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I [the apostle John] write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:9–13, italics added)
God’s testimony is that he has given eternal life in Jesus, and that everyone who believes has (right now) eternal life. Ask yourself these simple questions: Do I accept God’s testimony? Do I believe in Jesus, God’s Son? Then, according to this promise, what do I have? If a person “has the Son,” i.e., “believes in the name of the Son of God,” what does he or she have? Answer: eternal life. According to this promise, can one who believes in Jesus know that she has eternal life? Of course! Would God lie to us? Certainly not! Then how can we know for sure that we have eternal life and will be in heaven one day? We can know because God promises that it will be so! Read again the italicized words in the quote above.
Some Christians think the Bible teaches that we can only have assurance of heaven if we are living a godly lifestyle. They challenge us to ask ourselves, “Am I living like Christ teaches I should live?” But this can be spiritually defeating. I can always find some inadequacy in my spiritual life that can cause me to doubt my relationship with Christ.
Christlike character reinforces the fact that I am a true Christian. But it is not the basis of my assurance of heaven. Only faith in the Bible’s promise of eternal life can give true assurance. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as our assurance: “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see” (NLT). If you are weak in your confidence about being in heaven, then I would suggest reading the gospel of John. See how many times Jesus guarantees eternal life to the one who believes in him for it.
FOR FURTHER STUDY
John 5:24; 6:37–40; 10:27–30; 20:27; Romans 4:18–21; 2 Timothy 1:12