One day, I attended a seminar and a preacher asked, “How many here are very sure that if Christ comes right now, they will go with him to heaven?”
It may sound simple until you sit down and think. This question reminds you of what you have been doing recently. The sin you are hiding and no one knows about. This question confronts you in the face. Well, I didn’t raise my hand, because I was living very inconsistently with what the Bible taught.
I was not assured that I would go to heaven.
Well, we are not saved by works but by grace through faith in Christ Alone. I don’t place my hope in my worthless works to take me one inch upward toward heaven. All the hope I have is in Christ Jesus alone. No man will get into the gates of heaven, receive a crown and be welcomed by the words, ‘good and faithful servant’ by their own works.
That said, the Bible makes it very clear that someone who continues to live in willful unrepentant sin should not boast of going to heaven. Saving faith will always produce good works. It is not saving faith that which does not have any effect on the life of a believer.
J.C. Ryle in his book, Holiness writes
“Another common cause of the lack of security of salvation is an inconsistent conduct. With great sadness, I feel embarrassed to say that I fear there isn’t something to stop men from reaching firm hope than inconsistent conduct. The current of professed Christianity is wider in these days than it used to be, and I’m afraid we have to admit that at the same time it’s much less profound. Inconsistency in life is something that totally destroys the tranquility of conscience. These two things are incompatible with each other. They can’t walk together and they never will. If you prefer to continue fomenting your dear sins, without deciding to give up on them; if you don’t willing to cut your right-hand orbit down your right eye, when the occasion so demands, then I can already say that you will not be able to enjoy the sense of safety of salvation.
A wobbly walk, procrastination in taking on a bold and resolute line, the readiness to mold the world, a hesitant testimony in favor of Christ, a hesitant tone in his religion, a carelessness to maintain a high standard of holiness and life spiritual – all of these things make up an infallible recipe to make your soul garden go into sequence and crestation. It is useless to assume that you will feel safe and well persuaded that you have been forgiven and accepted by God, without you taking into account all God’s commandments regarding all things, as something righteous, hating any form of sin, regardless of whether it’s light or serious (Psalm 119.128).“
Our lack of assurance is mostly because of our inconsistent walk. We should not build our hope of heaven by good works for it is God who is working through us and neither should we doubt our salvation because of our sins. We should repent and place our trust in Christ alone.
