How to Spend Eternity with God
From doubt to assurance
Do you know what it actually takes to get to heaven?
Many people think they know, but how can you be sure?
In this pivotal episode of our ongoing series, How to Handle Life, Shay contemplates one of the most important questions you will ever face: How do you spend eternity with God? And more importantly, can you know if you’ve gotten the answer wrong?
Using Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18, Shay unpacks why the path to God isn’t secured by achievement, but by humility. This is a story that flips our instincts upside down, because the one who goes home right with God isn’t the one who had his act together. It’s the one who showed up with nothing.
The good news of the gospel has to start with the bad news: no one can earn their way into eternity with God. In fact, it is a spiritually dangerous place to stand before God with your arms full of your own goodness. Tim Keller’s pointed reminder is sobering: “All you need to get to heaven is nothing, but very few people have it.”
Whether how to spend eternity with God is something you’ve wrestled with or never even considered, this episode ends with a hopeful invitation: Come to Jesus with empty arms and he will give you everything you need to spend eternity with God. This is a great episode to share with a friend!
Highlights from This Episode
Today we’re continuing in our how-to series by looking at how to spend eternity with God. That’s a really important question, isn’t it? How do you spend eternity with God? Can you know? Has God revealed that to humanity?
God has revealed the way of salvation in the Scriptures and in his son, Jesus Christ. Your relationship with him can begin even now before you die. But unless you’re really old or in poor health, you may have the mindset that you’re going to live forever.
But every day you’re confronted with reality, right?
Someone you know gets cancer and has a year to live. Someone’s in a car accident and passes away. Death is all around us, but somehow we don’t think that it’s going to ever happen to us. Deep inside, we all know that it will. We will all die; it’s normal to wonder what will happen when that time comes.
Can You Be Sure?
There’s a cemetery in Indiana that has an old tombstone. The epitaph reads:
“So once was I; as I am now, so will you be. Prepare for death and follow me.”
An unknown passerby read those words and underneath scratched this reply:
“To follow you, I am not content until I know which way you went.”
Another illustration is about a politician who said in an interview, “I want to try and to get to heaven if possible, but I’m hearing that I’m not doing well. I’m at the bottom of the list. I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to get me into heaven. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make it.”
Have you ever felt like that? I don’t know if this politician was sincere or not, but the Bible says that admitting you don’t have what it takes to get to heaven is an essential part of what it takes to get to heaven. If we don’t get this truth right, we’ll miss it. In other words, the good news of the gospel begins with the bad news that the Bible says we all have to accept: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23).
From Pride to Grace
Jesus once told a story about two men who went to the temple to pray. It’s found in Luke 18:9-14. It’s one of my favorite passages, because I think it’s very clear in explaining how we can have a relationship with God. Beginning in verse nine, it says:
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable.
He said, “Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee, and the other, a tax collector. The Pharisee, a religious leader, stood by himself and he prayed, ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people, robbers and evildoers and adulterers, or even like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week and I give a tenth of all I get.’
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but he beat his breast and he said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’”
Jesus shocks his listeners by saying it’s the tax collector, not the religious leader, who went home justified before God. It’s the exact opposite of what you might think. Jesus is saying that the first step to heaven is admitting that you’re a sinner and that you can’t save yourself. In other words, understanding the good news starts by admitting the bad news.
Jesus is saying that the first step to heaven is admitting that you’re a sinner and that you can’t save yourself. In other words, understanding the good news starts by admitting the bad news.
However, this is only bad news if you decide to trust in your own goodness, your own works, and your own moral righteousness compared to other people. If you do this, Jesus says you are far from heaven.
Nothing But Jesus
Pastor Tim Keller, who has now passed away, had a huge influence on my life and many others. I remember he used to say, “All you need to get to heaven is nothing, but very few people have it.”
In other words, if you show up on judgment day with your arms full of good works and say, “God, you owe me. It’s now time for you to pay up for all the good things that I’ve done in life,” you’ll be turned away.
But if you show up knowing you have nothing but Jesus, you’ll be accepted and welcomed. In fact, if your faith is in him, you are already accepted and welcomed today. The way home to God is through humility, admitting that you’re a sinner, and seeing your need for God’s mercy.
The Promise of Forgiveness
The most spiritually promising words you can say are, “I don’t think I’m okay. In fact, I know that I’m not.” God doesn’t wait for you to fix yourself or prove yourself or perform for him at a certain level of moral righteousness before you can come to him.
That’s not what the Bible teaches. If heaven were a reward for being important or for having status, that means that only the good people and those who grew up in the best of homes and went to the finest of schools will be there. But it’s not. It’s for sinners. It’s for people who have no hope. That’s all of us.
That’s why Christianity has been so attractive to the poor, to the marginalized, to the outcast, to those who know in this world they have no hope. It really is ‘the good news’. It’s good news for politicians, for the poor, for prisoners, and everyone in between.
Heaven isn’t a reward. It’s a gift. The life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus opens the way not for the worthy, but for the weary. Not for the polished, but for the poor in spirit. Not for the upwardly mobile, but for the brokenhearted who cry out and say, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
If you think back on your life and remember your worst day on this earth, you probably wish you could go back and choose to not sin and live that day differently or that time in your life differently. But whatever you’ve done, you can be forgiven in Jesus.
Putting Your Doubts to Rest
You’ve probably wondered, am I okay with God? Have I done enough? Is there hope for someone like me? The gospel answers, you haven’t. You never could. But Jesus has. And he lived the life you should live. He fulfilled the law perfectly in your place.
He died the death that should have been your punishment, and he rose from the dead and conquered death for you so that you may live for eternity with him. His invitation to us still stands. Come to me, all who are weary and burdened in your sins, and I will give you rest.
The question that I leave you with today is: Have you found your hope in Jesus? Are you repenting of your sin? Do you see him as your Savior, as the only one that can save you, and are you following him with your life? If you have any doubts at all, you can pray the sinner’s prayer:
Acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness.
Repent of your sins before God and state your desire to turn away from sin.
Believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose from the dead.
Surrender to Jesus and receive him as your Lord and Savior.
If you pray this prayer, please drop us a line at withyouintheweeds@thecrossingchurch.com. We’d love to know about your new relationship with Jesus. If you know someone who struggles with doubt or has never given their life to Jesus, please share this post with them, and let them know how much you care.
Recommended Resources
Two books by Pastor Erwin Lutzer:
One Minute After You Die - What does the Bible teach about death and heaven? Be prepared for your own final moment.
How You Can Be Sure You Will Spend Eternity with God - Will good deeds get me into heaven? Is it wrong to doubt my salvation, and what do I do if I doubt?