How can I know for sure that I will go to heaven when I die?

"There is nothing more wanted to make you safe," I replied. "If you have really believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, YOU ARE AS SAFE AS HE CAN MAKE YOU. Not one poor sinner who trusted in Him was ever lost. But it is one thing to be safe, and another thing to be sure about it. What you need is to have assurance, and this you may have on the authority of the Word of God."

Yes, my reader, nothing can be so sure as the word of the living God: "Be it known to you that through this risen man, Christ Jesus, is preached to you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses." "Are justified" — not may be after death. No, the believer is now beyond death, Jesus having died for him. If you are brought to give up all self-righteousness, and as a lost sinner to receive Christ as your entire salvation, you may be most certain you are saved. A person may be deceived in doing and enduring anything to save himself, but no man will trust alone in Christ, but, by the Holy Ghost. If this is your faith, you may be certain it is of God. You may be certain, therefore, you are saved. If you are trusting partly in Christ, and partly in something else, you never on that ground can be saved. It must be all Christ, or no Christ at all.

Only the Word of God can give certainty as to salvation. Redemption is secured through the work of Christ. Since He performed the work that was required, we need not worry. The certainty of our salvation derives, through faith, from the declarations of the Word of God. We are called to behold “the salvation of the LORD” and to stand still, resting fully on the many passages of the word such as Romans 8:1: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” and John 3:36: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life.”

If the simplest believer on the Lord Jesus takes in the thought of God’s pure grace and faithfulness to His own word, he or she will be delivered from all doubt as to the future. We are entitled to be as sure of reaching glory as that our Saviour, our great High Priest, is there already for us in virtue of His finished work, and able to save to the very uttermost all those who come to God by Him.

Of course, there are many things that are ours already, and do not come under the head of promises. The forgiveness of my sins is not promised to me when I get to heaven, but is mine the moment I believe on the Lord Jesus. So with salvation, although there is an aspect of salvation that is future. But the moment I believe on the Lord Jesus I am saved from God’s righteous judgment against me for my sins; I am saved from hell, and the future is divinely assured. So with justification. That is mine also.

Do you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead? Then fear not to rest on the inspired assurance; "thou shalt be saved" (Rom. 10:9). He that spared not but gave up His own Son for us all, when we were ungodly and enemies, is worthy of all trust, as His word is of all acceptation. To rest on it is "obedience of faith," the root of all the practical obedience that follows. The soul that receives His testimony sets to his seal that God is true. Why should you fear that He' in Whom you believe for the remission of your sins will abandon you afterwards? No doubt, you are weak; but what is Christ? Is He a little Saviour? is He not our great God and Saviour (Titus 2:13)?

"But shall I after all be in glory?" exclaim some of the uninstructed and feeble-minded of the household of faith. "Though I now rest in Christ, and am at peace with God, may I not after all be lost?" No, no, dear child of God; for the blood of Christ that speaks before the throne on my behalf now, will speak there for thee for ever; and Christ, who is thy righteousness now, will be thy righteousness for ever; and the Holy spirit, who dwells in thee now, though grieved and quenched, will dwell in thee for ever; and Christ, who pleads for thee in heaven now, will continually intercede for thee. Jesus hath thee securely, and will never let thee go: none shall pluck thee out of His hand; for thus saith the word of the Lord, "He is able to save them to the uttermost (i.e. right on to the end) that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." "The work which His goodness began, The arm of His strength shall complete; His promise is Yea and Amen, And never was forfeited yet. Things future, nor things that are now, Nor all things below nor above, Can make Him His purpose forego, Or sever our souls from His love."

There are two sides to every truth. Believers are saved and saved for ever. We are the sheep of Christ, and we have our Lord’s own word that we shall never perish. On the other hand we are in this world, pilgrims on the heavenly journey, and this is where responsibility comes in. We are therefore exhorted to steadfastness and continuance in well doing. This is why the Spirit is given, the Holy Spirit of God, the Power by which believers are enabled to walk to God’s glory, and answer to their responsibility on this earth. This is where the “if” comes in as a salutary challenge, since continuance in the faith is the most conclusive proof of the reality of conversion. This is especially seen in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the believers are exhorted to run the race set before them with patience (Heb. 12:1), and to look off unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of faith. And then we are told how God disciplines His children to help them on their heavenly way, to wean them from wrong ways and hindrances in the race.

There are ifs in the word; but not when our salvation is treated of, for this is perfect, and we possess it. This we have; all is completed; but we find the ifs when life for heaven is spoken of, as in Col. 1:23, Heb. 3:6, etc., although we have the promise that God will keep us to the end. With my responsibility, I have the certainty that I shall get to heaven, although I may be often in danger. It is the faithfulness of God up to the end of our course. The wolf takes away the sheep, but not from the hands of the Lord. The ifs bring out the fact of my constant dependence on the Lord, who never takes His eyes off the just, as He acted with Job even when he walked badly.

Verse 14. "Partakers" is the same word as that translated "fellows" in chapter 1. You are fellows of Christ if you are of this company. This place with the fellows is yours if you go on to the end. This kind of statement does not touch the security of the saints. Both Calvinists and Arminians might say, He will reach heaven, if he holds fast to the end. The certainty of salvation is the certainty of faith, and not that which excludes dependence upon God for every moment. I have no doubt that God will keep every one of His saints to the end; but we have to run the race to obtain eternal glory. Holding fast the faithfulness of God, it is important, along with this, to keep up the plain sense of passages such as the present, which act on the conscience as warning by the way. There is no uncertainty, but there is the working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. In 1 Corinthians 9:27, personal Christianity is distinguished from preaching to others. It is not a question of the work, but of the person being a castaway, and this means disapproved or reprobate, that is, not a Christian. Compare 2 Cor. 13. In Romans 2 eternal life is spoken of as the result of a course which pleases God. No doubt, His grace gives the power; but it is the result of a fruit-bearing course. In a word, it is equally true that I have eternal life, and that I am going on to eternal life. God sees it as one existence, but we have to separate it in time. Walk that road, and you will have what is at the end of it. This does not interfere with the other truth, that God will keep His own, and that none shall pluck them out of His hand. Our Father says as it were, That is my child, and I watch him all the way, and take care to keep him in it.

These Christians therefore see that every believer is warranted to have the fullest assurance of their present and eternal salvation, and that this assurance comes not through feelings or experiences, but by Christ's work once and for all. The believer can never be lost, but is as secure as though he were in heaven already because of Christ's death and resurrection (1 John 3:2, John 10:28-30).