The Bible says we are to put our faith on Jesus as our Lord and Savior and not on our works. Our good works are not our ticket to heaven but for God's blessings in this life and for the level of rewards we will get in heaven, or God's chastisement in this life for our sins and the level of punishments in hell. We cannot boast that we are good enough for heaven since we are all sinners (except for babies and toddlers who have never sinned). God requires us to humble ourselves and admit that as sinners, we cannot rely on our works so we must believe on Jesus to get to heaven. It is not enough to
believe in the existence of Jesus. We must rely on or
believe on Jesus as our way to heaven. If we put even just 10% of reliance on ourselves hoping we would be good enough, we will not make it to heaven. It must be 100% faith in Jesus. Pride makes it difficult for us to get to heaven when it should be so easy. Why is it supposed to be easy to get to heaven? Because it is a free gift from God. We cannot buy our way into heaven by being good since our quasi-righteousness are like filthy rags in the eyes of a completely righteous God (
Isaiah 64:6). So repent and ask Jesus directly (not through any human intermediary
1 Timothy 2:5) for forgiveness and believe on Him. He can hear you say it in your mind and your heart!
How does a person believe on Jesus? -
By believing that Jesus is the one true Christ (
Romans 6:23) who is God (
John 10:30;
Titus 2:13) and His holy blood washed away our sins when He died on the cross and was resurrected to eternal life three days later. He offers forgiveness to anyone who repents and asks Him forgiveness from their sins (
Ephesians 1:7). He gives eternal life to all believers (
John 3:36). This is what it means to be saved and is also known as being born again. Before we are saved, we are just one of His creations (
James 1:18). At the moment that we are saved, we have a conversion and are spiritually born again, adopted into His family (
Ephesians 1:5) and become His children (
John 1:12). The Holy Spirit then indwells each of His children (
John 14:17) to protect and guide them through this wicked world where Satan has made his playground (
Romans 8:11-17). A born again, saved person believes in the triune God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (
Matthew 28:19), and this person believes on God the Son whose name is Jesus to get into heaven (
John 3:18).
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:9-13)