For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.     John 3:16 KJV

One of the most important things we must know is how to get to heaven. In the case of the rich young ruler, He went to Jesus and asked in Matthew 19:16, “What must I do to have eternal life?” The simple short answer is we must be truly saved. We must accept Christ as our Savior. We must believe in Him and confess our sins to Him. We must put Him first in our lives. This is why He told the rich young ruler to sell all his possessions and follow Him, because He knew the rich young ruler put His possessions before God. This is why the rich young ruler walked away in sadness, because he simply couldn’t part with his possessions.

I say we must be truly saved because there is such a thing as false salvation. We recently discussed Matthew 7:21 where Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.” It is God’s will that we be saved. Once we are saved, we want to do what is right. We want to do God’s will. We align our will with God’s will. Simply put, we no longer desire to sin. Our desire for sinful living has been replaced by a desire to honor God in all we say and do.

This doesn’t mean that we never sin again. Sadly, even though we don’t want to sin, we still do. We are all works in progress, and we will not be made perfect until we get to heaven.

Matthew 7:13-23, in my Bible, has the subheading “Entering the Kingdom”.  Jesus begins by telling us to enter through the narrow gate because the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction. Many will choose the wide gate and the broad road.

In verse 15, He warns us to beware of false prophets. We must remain close to Jesus through daily Bible study and prayer. We must pray for wisdom and discernment to know when we encounter false teachers or preachers.

He tells us to inspect the fruit. Our former pastor used to say that we are not to judge, but rather to inspect the fruit. Jesus said Every good tree produces good fruit, and every bad tree produces bad fruit. When someone claims to be saved, they will be fruitful and work for the Lord. They will try to lead others to Christ, therefore producing good fruit.

In verse 21, Jesus tells them that many who call Him Lord will not enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of His Father in heaven. When we are truly saved, we want to do God’s will. This goes back to surrendering to Him. We surrender our will to do His will. We trust in Him to know and do what is best for us.

Many people believe they can have some kind of arrangement with Jesus that doesn’t require them to put Him first in their lives. They believe they can keep one foot in the church and one foot in the world and be just fine. This is just another lie the devil tells us. Don’t believe Him. God wants all we have.

Matthew 22:37, Jesus said the most important commandment is that we love the Lord with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. In Matthew 6:33, Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and God will provide all you need.”

If you want to get to heaven, surrender your life to Christ, and He will guide your way.

Have a great day!