How can I be sure I'm going to heaven?
By trusting Christ, who died for your sins and rose again, and taking Him at His word. "These things have I written unto you that believe... that ye may know that ye have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). If you have received Him, you may be sure.
What the text states
Assurance rests on three things: the finished work of Christ ("It is finished," John 19:30), the promise of God who cannot lie ("he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life," John 3:36), and the witness of the Spirit (Rom 8:16). Not on feelings, not on performance, but on Christ received by faith. If you have never trusted Him, you can now: admit your sin, believe He died and rose for you, call on Him, "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Rom 10:13). The door is open, and it is open to you.
Some traditions teach that assurance is presumption, that no one can know they are saved until the end, and that a believer must maintain his standing by works or sacraments. We answer that John wrote his letter precisely so believers “may know” (1 John 5:13), that assurance rests on Christ's finished work and God's promise rather than on the believer's performance, and that the Spirit Himself bears witness (Rom 8:16). Assurance is not presumption; it is taking God at His word.
Go deeper
Checked 2026-09-29 by Darren. 50 Scripture citations verified against the KJV rows. Wave 4. 50 quoted fragments table-passed against the verses table, splitting every quotation at its ellipsis. 49 pass. ONE CORRECTION: the file quoted "Dead in sins" (Eph 2:1); the KJV reads "dead in trespasses and sins", and the quotation was corrected to the table. One exhibit does not resolve and ships omitted rather than guessed: what-does-dead-in-sin-mean listed 'is-faith-a-work', which is not a slug on this site (the nearest is is-believing-a-work); flagged for Darren.