Lest you should become weary of my tendency to dwell on the unpleasant realities of sin, judgement, and eternal death (realities though they are), we’ll wrap up this look at eternity with a summary of the wonderful truths of God’s forgiveness and the life that awaits the forgiven!
Those who have trusted Christ’s finished work on the cross to save them and have turned from sin have no reason to fear the “lake of fire.” Theirs are the names written in the Lord’s “book of life,” and God won’t forget or overlook any of His own children. So, what exactly is meant by “trusting Christ for your salvation,” “placing your faith in Christ,” or similar expressions? A more important question has never been asked. First of all, it means personally confessing to God that you are a sinner, guilty before a holy God and deserving of eternal punishment, just as the Word of God declares. It is acknowledging that what the Bible says about Jesus Christ is true – that He is fully God and fully man; that His death on the cross is the only offering sufficient to completely satisfy God’s justice in your behalf; that He bodily rose from the dead, defeating death for Himself and all those who truly trust Him; and that His righteousness being credited to you is the only grounds of your being justified (declared righteous, or just) before God. Finally, it means simply asking God to forgive you for the sins that you’ve committed and asking Him to save you from the punishment those sins deserve – fully believing, or trusting, that God will indeed save you, for His Son’s sake, as He has promised to do in His Word.
It is important to understand that true, saving faith is always accompanied by repentance and sorrow for sin. Repentance literally means “a change of mind,” and in reference to our sins, it means seeing those sins for what they really are (offenses against God), and turning from them out of a desire to please the Lord. Today it seems that the world (and even our churches) are full of people who would claim to be Christians, yet their lifestyles seem to tell a different story. The person who has no regard for the Bible’s clear instructions for God-honoring, day-to-day living shows that his claim to saving faith is empty (see John 2:3-6).
Although every Christian will continue to commit sin until the day he meets the Lord, he will struggle against the sin in his life, rather than embrace or excuse it (even the Apostle Paul, who penned much of the New Testament, struggled much with sin; see Romans 7:14-25). Before being saved, we are servants of self and sin; after the Lord sets us free from our bondage to sin, we are servants of Christ and desire to submit to Him as our Lord and master.
Along with faith and repentance, the desire to please the Lord rather than ourselves comes as the result of the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts. “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgements, and do them” (Ezekiel 36:26-27). That God would sent His Holy Spirit to live within man is too great a truth to fully comprehend, but God’s Word clearly affirms that reality. Paul says in Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” When the truths contained in these verses really sink in, they should leave us in awe of the love that the Lord has shown to undeserving mortals; we must marvel with the Apostle John, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God” (I John 3:1).
As we regularly read and study the Scriptures, spend time in prayer, and gather with other believers to worship together, encourage one another, and hear preaching and teaching firmly rooted in the Bible, our faith grows and matures. We grow in our love for the Lord and His people; we grow in our understanding of what God has done for us and how we can live in ways that honor and please Him. It’s a lifelong journey that is often difficult and even painful as we are forced to face our own shortcomings, but it’s a journey that God Himself leads us through, encouraging and sustaining us at all times by His written Word and His own Spirit within us. It’s also the process through which His Spirit produces in us the very qualities we desire to have at our most fundamental level: love, joy, and peace (among many other virtuous qualities; see Galatians 5:22-23).
We can take assurance and comfort from the fact that although we will often fail to love and obey the Lord as we should, we can never lose His love and forgiveness (see Romans 8:33-39). We who have trusted Christ are called God’s “workmanship” (Ephesians 2:10), and we can be “confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in [us] will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6; see also I Thessalonians 5:23-24).
Who could ever imagine anything more comforting as we go through this life of difficulty, loss, and pain, than knowing that God the Father loved you enough to send His own Son to die in your place (Romans 5:8), that He is sovereignly working all things in your life for your eternal good (Romans 8:28), and that no matter what hardships or trials you may experience during this earthly life, when it’s over you’ll be welcomed into the sinless paradise of Heaven itself to enjoy being in the presence of God Almighty, enjoying fellowship with and worshiping your Savior literally forever alongside countless other believers and even angels (Revelation 7:9-12)? This is the reality for every person who truly believes. “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (I Corinthians 2:9).
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That’s it; that’s the Gospel (meaning “Good News”) of the Lord Jesus Christ in short form. If you already know and love the Lord, that’s awesome! I hope you’ve been reminded to thank and praise God for His love and sacrifice on your behalf, and also encouraged by His promise of the life that awaits you.
If, however, you have been trusting in your own inherent goodness to merit God’s favour, or have simply been living as if there is no One to whom you must some day answer, I would urge you to consider seriously the reality of someday “meeting your Maker.”
No matter what great things you may achieve or posses in this life, the day is coming when you, like myself and everyone else, will leave it behind (I Timothy 6:7). Jesus said, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37).
Regardless of what we may perceive it to be, our greatest need in this life is not more money, more time, less stress, better health, or even more fulfilling human relationships; what we all desperately need is forgiveness from God for our sins. Without that, nothing else ultimately matters. Furthermore, though we may spend a lifetime pursuing the world’s pleasures, none of them can ever truly satisfy us; they can only (temporarily) distract us from the real problem - the guilt of our own sin. The forgiveness you and I need - and the hope of eternal life it brings - is found in Jesus Christ alone, and it is received by placing our faith in His having died in our place.
If you’re feeling the weight of your sin and guilt before God, stop trying to cover it up or brush it off. Confess it to the Lord. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:8-9).
We would do well to remember these words from James 4:14: “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” Jim Elliot was a young Christian missionary who was murdered in 1956 while attempting to take the gospel to a violent people group who had never before heard of Jesus Christ. Some years before his death, he wisely wrote this: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” The life that God graciously provides through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a life that the believer can never lose. To reject the Lord’s offer of eternal salvation in favor of the fleeing pleasures or comforts of this world is to turn your back on God Himself, and as we have seen, it is a decision you would regret for all eternity.
John 3:36 says, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” By the grace of God alone, I know that my sins have been forgiven, and I look forward with joy to spending eternity with my Savior and King. What are you looking forward to?
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