In December 1998, my family was shocked to learn that my youngest brother Michael, who was three years old at the time, had cancer-Stage IV Neuroblastoma. The doctors warned us that Michael only had a ten percent chance to live. Over the next three and a half years, Michael endured chemotherapy, radiation, a bone marrow transplant, two major surgeries, monoclonal antibody treatments, and countless tests. From June 2000 to October 2001, Michael’s cancer was in remission, and for much of that time he felt great. But he started having pain, and we soon learned that his cancer had returned. Hearing this news was as difficult as hearing the initial diagnosis. The doctors told us that there was nothing more they could do to cure him. After a tenacious final battle with cancer, Michael went home to be with the Lord in heaven on March 30, 2002. Now he is safe in the arms of Jesus and will never experience pain or tears again.

God often uses distressing circumstances to compel people to think about their spiritual condition. Whether it is a natural calamity like an earthquake, a man-made calamity like a terrorist attack, or a physical calamity like a little boy’s cancer, calamities make us ponder life’s brevity and uncertainty.

My brother Michael possesses eternal life because he is a genuine believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. My family desires that every person familiar with Michael’s situation takes the time to consider what the Bible teaches about eternal life. Nothing is more important than knowing God personally through His Word and having the assurance that you possess eternal life.

Let me give you my personal testimony in about sixty seconds.

1.  I thought I was OK. I grew up in a religious home. My parents were Christians; we went to church three times a week; and I lived a pretty clean, innocent life. I assumed that I was on my way to heaven.

2.  I realized I was lost. In one Sunday night church service, I listened carefully to the preacher as he proclaimed God’s Word. The thought of a real hell scared me, and as I considered it, I did not understand how a loving God could send somebody there.

3.  I turned from sin to Christ. But I did know that what the Bible says is true, and when we arrived home, I asked my dad to show me what the Bible teaches about heaven and hell and how I could know for sure that I possessed eternal life. After he showed me what the Bible says, I believed God’s Word, and I trusted Jesus Christ alone to forgive all my sins and give me eternal life.

4.  Christ changed my life. Since that time Christ dramatically changed my life both inwardly and outwardly. That is why I have such a strong desire to proclaim God’s Word and tell others what Christ has done for me and can do for them.

Question #1: If you were to die right now, are you 100% sure that all of your sins-past, present, and future-are forgiven and that you have eternal life? Many people would answer: “One hundred percent sure? I don’t think anybody can be that sure. But I think I have a pretty good chance.”

Question #2: What do you think a person must depend on to receive forgiveness of sin and eternal life? Many people would answer that question, “I think you have to be a good person. Just live a good life, keep the Ten Commandments, and treat others like you want them to treat you.” Unfortunately, that kind of reasoning is not supported by God’s Word.

Allow me to take a moment to show you what the Bible teaches about eternal life. You can know for sure that you have eternal life if you believe what God says in His Word. You can do this by understanding three biblical truths and by responding to those truths biblically.

Nobody is perfect. Other than Jesus Christ, every human being is a sinner. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says, “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.”

But what is sin? First John 3:4b says, “sin is lawlessness.” In other words, sin is breaking God’s law. God is the Creator of the entire universe, and we break more of the commands in His Word than we realize. We sin in two ways: (1) by not doing what God has commanded us to do; and (2) by doing what God has commanded us not to do.

Consider the Ten Commandments. Have you ever taken the Lord’s name in vain by using it flippantly or as an exclamation? Have you ever dishonored your parents in any way? Have you ever stolen? Have you ever lied? Have you ever coveted? If you are honest, you will admit that you have broken God’s law. Every person breaks God’s law because every person is a sinner by nature and by choice.

Obviously, nobody is perfect. But some people think that their sins are not that big of a deal since they are not as bad as other people. However, Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Let me illustrate. Imagine that Michael Jordan, you, and I were at the rim of the Grand Canyon where it is over eight miles from one side to the other. If we tried to jump across, Michael Jordan would no doubt jump farther than each of us, but all three of us would fall far short of the other side and end up at the same place-the bottom of the canyon. Unfortunately, some people think that they can earn heaven by doing good works and being better than other people, but everyone falls far short of God’s perfection because everyone is a sinner. God will not allow sinners into heaven because His holiness demands perfection.

I am not sure that I can emphasize this point enough because it contradicts the basic tenet of every world religion except biblical Christianity: you cannot be good enough to earn eternal life. You cannot work your way to heaven. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” Titus 3:5b says, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy.” Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

So Romans 3:23 universally states, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” You may be thinking, “OK, so everyone’s a sinner. I agree with that. So what’s the big deal? Why is that such a problem?” The problem is that we deserve something for our sin.

Romans 6:23a explains, “For the wages of sin is death.” When we use the word wages today, it usually refers to one’s salary or hourly pay. If you work for an employer, you expect him to pay you for your work, and that money is your wages. You deserve the money because you worked for it. In the same way, you deserve wages for sinning, and the wages for your sin is eternal death in hell. You deserve eternal death in hell because you are sinful.

Since the wages of sin is spiritual death, it would not be just for God to overlook someone’s sin and let him into heaven because Revelation 21:27 says “nothing unclean…shall ever come into it.” Revelation 21:8 says, “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

What is hell? The Bible clearly teaches that hell is the ultimate destination where all unbelievers suffer eternal punishment in literal fire. I used to think, “How can a loving God send somebody to hell? How can a loving God even allow hell to exist?” These common questions reveal a great misunderstanding about God. Yes, God is love, but God is also holy and just. Our sin offends God’s white-hot holiness, and since He is just, He must punish it.

What is hell like? There is unquenchable fire in hell (Mark 9:47-48). There is “outer darkness” in hell (Matthew 25:30; 2 Peter 2:17; Jude 13). There is conscious torment in hell (Luke 16:23-24).

How long does hell last? Hell never ends. The Bible describes hell as a place of “eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:46; cf. Daniel 12:1-2) and “eternal destruction” (2 Thessalonians 1:9) with “eternal fire” (Matthew 18:8; 25:41). Hell is a place “for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever” (Jude 13). The ascending smoke of the ones tormented in hell (Revelation 14:11; cf. 19:3) as well as the torment itself (Revelation 20:10) goes on day and night “forever and ever.”

God described hell as expressively as human language can convey it. It is not something to be shrugged off, joked about, ignored, or explained away. It is a literal place where unbelievers suffer eternal punishment in literal fire. Nothing “hurts like hell.”

These first two biblical truths are bad news. The problem is our sin, and the penalty for our sin is eternal death in hell. The third biblical truth is good news, but before we move ahead to the good news, first think about this question. If you died right now, where would you go? Are you concerned about that?

Thousands of people wear around their neck and in their ears jewelry that is shaped like a cross. You have probably seen religious pictures or symbols of a man nailed to a cross. What is the real significance behind Jesus’ work on the cross?

The word gospel literally means good news. What is the gospel? The gospel, according to 1 Corinthians 15:3b-4, is “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins by dying on the cross in our place. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” First Peter 2:24a says, “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross.” First Peter 3:18a says, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God.”

The death and resurrection of Christ are the heart of the Gospel. Because Jesus was man, He legitimately died in the place of mankind, and because He was God, His death and resurrection have infinite value. Jesus is the God-man, and He is the exclusive Savior. “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). That is why Jesus Himself made the exclusive claim in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

So those are the three biblical truths that you must understand before you can know for sure that you have eternal life.

1.  The problem is our sin.

2.  The penalty for our sin is eternal death in hell.

3.  The payment for our sin is Christ’s work on the cross.

So what should our response be to those three biblical truths? How can we have eternal life? The invitation of Romans 10:13 applies to you: “for Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

4. You must turn from your sin and trust Christ alone as your Savior and Lord.

You must repent of your sin and believe in Christ. Acts 3:19 commands, “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away.” Acts 16:31a commands, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” Where there is saving faith, there is always genuine repentance. Saving faith is a repentant faith, and genuine repentance is a believing repentance. Repentance and faith are two inseparable sides of the same coin; they are two facets of the single act of conversion.

To repent of your sin means to turn from your sin. Repentance is a change of mind and heart that results in a change of life. Genuine repentance consists of sorrow for your sin because of the wrong you did to God, and it consists of a genuine desire to abandon that sin. It does not mean that you reform your life or do acts of penance to earn God’s favor. It means that you stop trusting yourself or anything else and instead turn to Christ alone to deliver you from your sin. It means that because you agree with God about your sin, you turn from your sin to Christ in saving faith. Only Christ can deliver you from your sin.

To believe in Christ for salvation means to place saving faith in Him, and the essence of saving faith is dependence. Saving faith is an unreserved trust in who Christ is and what He did on the cross. This involves more than just understanding and agreeing with the gospel; it involves depending on Christ alone and surrendering to His authority. It involves a commitment to Christ with an attitude that is willing to obey Him as your new Master (Romans 6:17-18; 2 Corinthians 5:15). God will not save you if you are trusting yourself in any way for your salvation; you must depend on Christ alone. God will not save a rebel; you must lay down your arms of rebellion and surrender to Christ as the Lord of your life.

The Bible is very clear that the act of repentance and faith is absolutely necessary for salvation. Jesus declared in Luke 13:3, “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Paul preached in Acts 17:30b, “God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent.” (See also Luke 24:46-47; Acts 2:38; 11:18; 20:21; 2 Peter 3:9.) John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

So will you turn from your sin and trust Christ alone for salvation? Would you like to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord today? To do so you must:

1.  Admit that you have sinned against God, and ask Him for forgiveness.

2.  Believe that Jesus Christ is God and that He died on the cross in your place and rose from the dead.

3.  Call upon Jesus Christ to be your Savior and Lord.

You can do this by genuinely praying something similar to the following prayer: “Dear God, I realize that I cannot be good enough to earn heaven. I know that I am a sinner and that I deserve eternal death in hell. I believe that you paid for my sins when you died in my place and rose again. Lord, please save me from my sins, make me a new person, and give me eternal life. Thank you for saving me. Amen.”

If you prayed something similar to that prayer and genuinely meant it, then you are a new creature. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). To use Jesus’ terminology, this means that you are “born again” (John 3:3). Let me encourage you to grow spiritually by reading your Bible every day and regularly attending a Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church.

Jesus promised in John 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but,” He warned, “he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” If you have not turned from your sin and trusted Christ alone to save you, you are in an extremely dangerous position. Many people understand and even agree with the biblical truths explained above, but they are hesitant to depend on Christ alone to save them. Why? Jesus explained why people do not depend on Him in John 3:18-20, “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” Some people love their sins so much that they are not willing to forsake them.

1.  The problem is our sin.

2.  The penalty for our sin is eternal death in hell.

3.  The payment for our sin is Christ’s work on the cross.

4.  You must turn from your sin and trust Christ alone as your Savior and Lord.

This is what the Bible teaches about eternal life. Do you have eternal life? I conclude with the words of Jesus Himself in John 5:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

All Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible (1995 Update). The majority of the above material is not original with the writer; sources that influenced the writer include: Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary’s tract “The Bridge to Eternal Life”; Rolland McCune’s Systematic Theology III syllabus; Mark Minnick’s booklet The Doctrine of Eternal Punishment; and John Van Gelderen’s Netcasters Soulwinning Course.

If you have any questions about the above content or would like to rejoice with me that you have turned from your sin and trusted Christ alone to save you after reading “What the Bible Teaches about Eternal Life,” please do not hesitate to contact me via e-mail at Andy.Naselli@juno.com.