“What do you mean by, ‘Yes?’”

Just what I said—Yes.

“But you can’t possibly mean that.”

Yet, I certainly do!

“Did you hear me correctly?”

Yes, again.

“But I asked you whether or not you knew you were going to heaven when you die. How could you possibly give an unequivocal ‘Yes?’ Suppose you do something that so displeases God you won’t deserve to go to heaven?”

I’ve already don’t plenty of things that displease God enough to keep me out of heaven. Besides, no one deserves to go to heaven. Even one sin would mess heaven up—it’s a perfect place.

“Then . . . then . . . how can you possibly believe you’re going to heaven?”

Because I won’t get there on the basis of my works. Neither will my bad works keep me out.”

“’splain that one to me, if you can!”

Gladly. We are all sinners. Even one sin would keep us out of heaven. It’s not a matter of how many sins one commits, or how bad they may be. They’re all bad—because they’re all offences against a holy God.

“Then, how could anyone get to heaven?”

Not by what he does –or by what he fails to do. I’m going to heaven because of what Jesus Christ did for me. He died for all of my sins. He paid the price that I should have. He bore my punishment on the cross so that I could not only go to heaven—but be sure of it.

“So . . . what makes you so certain is the fact that you aren’t depending on what you do—you’re trusting in what He did for you?”

You got it.

“But are you sure?”

Yes. As sure as that God raised Him from the dead to prove it!

“That’s it?”

Yes.

I see we’re back to where we began.”

Equipping

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