-David Jeremiah

EL CAJON, Calif. (BP)–As Christians, we’ve been given a genuine deed to heaven — the promise of eternal life, an inheritance and a mansion that can never be foreclosed on. Our ownership in Christ is documented in the Word of God, and our names are registered in the Lamb’s Book of Life. But many Christians fear that a thief — the devil — is going to rob them of their title deed. They have little assurance of ownership.

Paul’s attitude was, “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Timothy 1:12). Paul also wrote, “Neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

Job said: “I know that… after my skin is destroyed… that in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:25-26).

THE PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE

Our salvation is guaranteed because Christ himself paid the price. He “purchased (us) with His own blood” (Acts 20:28) once for all — “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). He said, “I give them eternal life.” No mights, ifs, ands or buts.

THE PROTECTION OF ETERNAL LIFE

We also have the protection of eternal life: “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28).

When we accept Christ as our Savior, we’re placed in His hand. And His hand is in the hand of the Father, “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand” (John 10:29).

We’re in a hand within a hand — safely enclosed in the hand of Christ, and the hand of Christ is securely encased in the hand of the Father. No one can pluck us out of those omnipotent fingers!

The Psalmist said, “Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved” (Psalm 16:8). But we can say, “Because I am in His right hand, I shall not be moved” — not moved, afraid, insecure or worried.

THE PROOF OF ETERNAL LIFE

How, then, can you know you have eternal life? In John 10:27-28, we read, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”

Christians are not perfect, and all of us do sin along the way. But genuine Christians hear His voice and follow Him. As a Christian, when you know God has told you to do something, you do it. If we love Him, we’ll keep His commandments. A person who is genuinely saved is going to obediently hear what the Lord says.

God has given us His Word to assure us of our relationship with Him so that we may walk as Christians with confidence, knowing that our salvation is in Him. The aged Apostle John put it this way at the end of his first epistle: “This is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life…. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:11, 13).

Your heavenly home was bought for a price, and that payment results in a title deed that can never be lost through foreclosure. You can go joyfully into your day’s activities and rest peacefully tonight knowing that your salvation is secure and your home in heaven is being prepared for you! “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” (John 14:2).

David Jeremiah is the founder of Turning Point for God, senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, Calif., and chancellor of San Diego Christian College. For more information on Turning Point, go to www.TurningPointOnline.org.

from Baptist Press, http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=28502

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