Five out of five will be part of the ultimate statistic…we will all die (unless our Lord comes back – if He does, the following is still 100% applicable). Sobering? Probably should be…in his book, The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren writes that when we die God is going to ask us two questions: 1) what did we do with His Son?; and, 2) what did we do with our time? I submit to you that only the first question really matters…if our answer isn’t “right” for the first it won’t matter or make a difference what our answer for the second might be.
Hope = ἐλπίς (elpis), a looking forward to in confident expectation
Unlike the English word “hope,” the New Testament word contains no uncertainty; it speaks of something that is certain, but not yet realized. The believer’s ultimate destiny is to share in the very glory of God (Romans 8:29, 30; John 17:22; 2Cor. 3:18; Phil. 3:20, 21; 1 John 3:1, 2), and that hope will be realized because Christ Himself secures it (1 Tim. 1:1).
Can we really know in advance where we’re going when we die? The apostle John, the same one who wrote about the new heavens and New Earth, said in one of his letters, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13, NIV). What would keep us out of Heaven is universal: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, NIV). Sin separates us from a relationship with God (Isaiah 59:2). God is so holy that he cannot allow sin into his presence: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing” (Habakkuk 1:13, NIV). Because we are sinners, we are not entitled to enter God’s presence as we are.
In the midst of these discussions about being with Jesus, being reunited with family and friends, and enjoying great adventures in Heaven, we dare not assume we will go there without asking ourselves “how?” We can’t “wait and see” when it comes to what’s on the other side of death! We shouldn’t just cross our fingers and hope that our names are written in the Book of Life (Revelation 21:27). We can know—we should know—before we die. And because we may die at any time, we need to know now—not next month or next year. Do you know?
People who want to get to Florida don’t simply get in the car and start driving, hoping the road they’re on will somehow get them there. Instead, they look at a map and chart their course. They do this in advance, rather than waiting until they arrive at the wrong destination or discover they’ve spent three days driving the wrong direction. The goal of getting to Heaven is worthy of greater advance planning than we would give to any other journey. Only when our sins are dealt with in Christ can we enter Heaven. No other prophet or religious figure—only Jesus, the Son of God—is worthy to pay the penalty for our sins demanded by God’s holiness (Revelation 5:4-5, 9-10). When Christ died on the cross for us, he said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The Greek word translated “it is finished” means “paid in full.” Christ died so that the certificate of debt, consisting of all our sins, could once and for all be marked “Paid in Full.” Because of Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross on our behalf, God freely offers us forgiveness. “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities…As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:10, 12, NIV).
Forgiveness is not automatic. If we want to be forgiven, we must recognize and repent of our sins. Forgiveness is established by self acknowledgement: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, NIV). Christ offers to everyone the gift of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life: “Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17, NIV).
This gospel gift, offered to us by God’s sovereign grace, cannot be worked for, earned, or achieved in any sense. It’s not dependent on our merit or effort, but solely on Christ’s generous and sufficient sacrifice on our behalf. Ultimately, God’s greatest gift is himself. We don’t need just salvation; we need Jesus, the Savior. It is the person, God, who graciously gives us the place, Heaven. A place purchased by his blood.
GBU – Ephesians 2:8-10
