“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Acts 2:38-39

How is it that one can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost? How can one “be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:18-20)?

Peter, in his Pentecost sermon, gives to us the answer: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

To be filled and led by the Spirit of God does not require any great work on our part. It does not require a specific prayer or a holy and sinless life before the Holy Spirit enters into us.

Through the good news of Christ’s innocent sufferings and death for the sins of the world, God graciously calls us sinners to turn from our sins to Christ Jesus for forgiveness and life everlasting (cf. 2 Thess. 2:13-14). The Holy Ghost reveals our sinfulness and utter failure to live up to the demands of the perfect Law of God (cf. Rom. 3:9-20, 23); but then the Holy Ghost comforts us with the assurance that our sins have been paid for and are forgiven for the sake of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again (cf. Rom. 3:24-26; Ps. 51:1ff.).

When, by the grace of God, we believe this and trust in Christ as our Savior, being baptized in His name and according to His command for the remission of our sins (Matt. 28:19), we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. He takes up residence in our hearts, teaches us of Jesus from God’s Word and strengthens and keeps us in the true and saving faith (cf. John 14:16-18, 26; 16:13-15). And He who has “begun a good work” in us will dwell in us and “perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, our risen and ascended Savior, we thank Thee for granting to us the gift of the Holy Ghost – for bringing us to turn from our sins to Thee for forgiveness, being baptized in Thy name, and for dwelling in us by Thy Spirit that we might be kept and preserved in the true and saving faith unto life everlasting. For the sake of Thy bitter sufferings and death we pray. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.]

Since many people I meet show little interest in heaven and express little desire to go there, I thought I’d provide a few instructions on how to go to hell instead. Following are just a few sure-fire courses of action to arrive in eternal hellfire and brimstone:

• Ignore the whole issue of heaven and hell and put off all thoughts of God and eternity for another day.
• Avoid, as much as possible, reading the Bible or attending churches where the Bible is read and taught. After all, the Bible is so narrow in its views regarding life, God’s judgment and the age to come.
• Hope that God grades on a curve and will not condemn you if you have lived as well as the next guy.
• Believe that you can escape the fires of hell and obtain eternal life in heaven by doing good deeds.
• Live for now and indulge in all your desires because life is short.
• Give no heed to preachers who call upon all to repent and look to Christ Jesus for mercy and forgiveness.
• Treat the blood of Jesus shed for the sins of all as a worthless thing by continuing on in your sinful ways.
• Ignore Jesus and His pleas for you to repent and trust in Him for pardon, forgiveness and life everlasting in heaven.

Yes, I could go on listing ways to be sure of hell; but wouldn’t you rather be sure of heaven?

It’s simple: Acknowledge your sinfulness and shortcomings and place your faith and hope in Jesus and His innocent sufferings and death for all sins. In Jesus, heaven is sure. Why? Because Jesus died for everyone’s sins, rose again and ascended into the glories of heaven to prepare a place for you! All who look to Jesus in faith will be spared the eternal fires of hell and receive instead the eternal glories of heaven!

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31 NKJV).

Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:9-11 (Read 1-11).

This Word of God, which was spoken by angels to the disciples who had just witnessed Jesus’ ascension into heaven, teaches us that Jesus Christ will return visibly in the clouds of glory on the Last Day.

The Bible says: “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen” (Revelation 1:7).

As Jesus ascended into heaven, so He shall also return on the Last Day, the Day of Judgment. He will come again in clouds of glory. Every eye will see Him! Are you ready for His return and judgment? Are you prepared to meet Him?

Those who do not trust in Him for salvation will wail in sorrow at His return because they stand condemned for not trusting in the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10).

But those who do trust in Him as their Savior – believing that they have pardon for their sins and peace with God for the sake of Christ’s innocent sufferings and death in their stead – will rejoice at His return because He comes to take them to be with Him forever in the mansions of heaven (cf. Luke 21:27-28; Hebrews 9:27-28; John 14:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Dear Lord Jesus Christ, as You have ascended up into heaven to the right hand of God the Father, so come again and take us to be with You forever. Graciously keep us in the true faith so that, on that Day, we may greet You with joy and not with sorrow. Grant this unto us for the sake of Your holy life and bitter sufferings and death upon the cross in our stead. Amen.

[Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:2-3

Jesus’ disciples were troubled over His words that He was about to go from them to a place where they could not yet come (cf. John 13:33, 36). Jesus spoke words of comfort to them, telling them of the many mansions (dwelling places) in the house of His Father in heaven. Jesus was going to prepare a place for them, and He would come again and take them to be with Him forever in heaven.

To prepare a place for His followers to be with Him in heaven, Jesus had to go to the cross, suffer and die for the sins of the world, and then rise again and ascend to the right hand of God the Father (cf. Luke 24:46-47). From there (this exalted position of power and authority), He rules and fills all things for the good of His church; He intercedes for believers and leads and guides them by His Spirit (cf. Ephesians 1:20-23; Romans 8:34; John 14:16-18,26). Jesus continues to work for our eternal salvation; and He is preparing a place for us, that we might be with Him in the mansions of His Father’s house.

And Jesus will come again and take us to be with Him where He is! When He comes to judge this evil world, He will gather up all who have trusted in His name and take them to be with Him forever in heaven!

The Scriptures say: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

O dearest Jesus, cleanse away our sins with Your shed blood and prepare us to meet You on that glorious day when You come again to gather up Your elect and take them to be with You forever in heaven. Amen.

[Scripture quoted from the King James Version of the Bible]

Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24

Why would David ask the omnipresent and omniscient God to know and test his heart? Why would he ask God to reveal any wicked ways in him?

As we are by nature, we would rather not let the light shine upon our innermost secrets. We would rather not have the true thoughts and intents of our hearts exposed – and especially so since “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). It is as Jesus said, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19).

As a believer in the LORD God, trusting in His promise to send the Messiah and Savior of the world who would “redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (Psalm 130:8), David desired that the God who searches men’s hearts and tests their minds (Jeremiah 17:10) would search and test his own heart and reveal any iniquity in him that he might repent of his wicked and sinful ways and look to the LORD for mercy in the Son and the atoning sacrifice He would make for the sins of all. And he desired that God would not only forgive him but also give him the help and strength to amend his ways that he might walk in the ways of the LORD.

And what about us? Are we willing to ask God to turn on the light, to search and test our hearts and reveal our true thoughts and desires? As sinful human beings, that can be a frightening thing. But, like David of old, we too trust in the LORD God to be merciful to us and forgive our sins for the sake of Christ Jesus and His innocent sufferings and death upon the cross for the sins of the world.

We seek God’s mercy and forgiveness for our sins. And, as believers in Christ, we seek to be like Christ (Romans 8:29; Philippians 3:8ff.; 1 John 3:2-3). Therefore, we desire that God would search us and reveal to us those areas and aspects of our lives where we are not like Christ that we might repent, receive mercy and then amend our lives to live for Christ Jesus, who died for our sins and rose again (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:15).

David prayed that the Spirit of the LORD God would reveal His sinfulness and lead Him “in the way everlasting.” And we, too, seek that the Spirit of the LORD – given to us in our baptism, who dwells in us and keeps us in the faith – would lead us in the way everlasting by moving us to acknowledge and confess our sins and wickedness and to receive the forgiveness and cleansing offered and given us for the sake of Jesus’ blood shed upon the cross for the sins of the world (cf. 1 John 1:7 – 2:2). We seek God’s pardon and cleansing, and we seek to amend our ways and be more and more like Jesus, our Savior!

Search my heart, O God. Examine my ways, my thoughts and my desires. Reveal to me all wickedness within me and lead me to repent of my sinful ways, trust in You for mercy in Christ Jesus and amend my ways that I might live for You and walk in Your ways. I ask this for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.