I THINK I AM… I THINK I AM… I THINK I AM…

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness… —Isaiah 61:10

Have I done enough good things to get to heaven? I hope so! I mean, I am not as bad as a lot of people who do much worse things than I have done. I have never killed anyone… Surely God will let me into heaven. I deserve to be there as much as anyone else. I truly hope He lets me in… I hope… I hope…I hope…

I am glad to tell you that you don’t have to “hope” you make it to heaven, but that you can KNOW that you can get to heaven. More importantly than that is that you can have a relationship with God through Jesus His Son now, have your sins forgiven forever now, be able to serve God now and know that you are properly fitted for heaven now. All of this and it does not depend on you and your good works. It all rests on Jesus and His finished work at the cross for you.

None of us can do any “good work” that will get us to heaven. None of us can resolve the sin issue that looms over us and in us (Romans 3:23; 6:23). This is why Jesus came. He took our sin on Himself and was sacrificed for us. The work needed to save us was finished at the cross (John 19:30; Hebrews 10:1-18; I John 2:1-2), proving Himself to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4).

II Corinthians 5:21 is such an exciting verse to meditate upon— “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus was a sin offering for us on the cross so that everyone who trusts in His finished work can have the righteousness of God. That is the only way to know God, serve God and be with Him in heaven one day. Galatians 3:26-27 says, “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” We who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ are children of God, have been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ— the church, and have been CLOTHED IN CHRIST! Those who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, those who have called on His Name are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. Now, God does not see our sin when He looks upon us. Instead, He sees His Son’s righteousness. God sees us as He sees Jesus. This is not because of any good work that we have done (Titus 3:5), but by putting our faith in what Jesus has done for us (Ephesians 2:8-10). As the verse above says, “he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness…” No good work can get me to heaven, but out of loving gratitude for what He has done for me I now desire to serve Him through the work He has for me to do.

In the Parable of the Wedding Banquet we read, “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:11-13). Do you have the proper clothes on which were bought by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Being clothed in His righteousness is the proper clothing and can only be gotten by truly trusting in the finished work of Jesus at the cross. Everyone who calls on the Lord Jesus will be saved (Romans 10:13) and clothed with His righteousness making them fit for knowing God now, serving Him now and being with Him in heaven one day. This is not a hope so, but a know so! Do you know for sure?

Dear Father, thank You that we can know we are saved and forgiven through Jesus!