SALVATION,
ASSURANCE OF
ONE DAY, a lady got on a train. Now, there were a lot of trains at the station, but she had asked someone about which train was the correct train for her to get where she wanted to go. They told her which train and she followed their direction. She got on the train but she was nervous. She still wasn’t completely sure that she was on the right train. She sat down with the train getting ready to pull off, wondering if she was on the right one. She didn’t want to go the wrong way. Wanting to be certain that she was where she needed to be, she turned to the lady sitting next to her and said, “Excuse me, miss, is this the right train to St. Louis?”
She said, “Yep! You’re on the right train.”
So the lady went and sat down, but then started thinking that maybe the woman whom she had asked was on the wrong train too. She decided to check with somebody else. She turned to the man behind her. “Sir, is this the train to St. Louis?”
“Yes ma’am, this is the train to St. Louis.”
She felt a little better but that man didn’t look too smart. So the lady again found herself feeling uncertain, and without question, she didn’t want to take a risk of being on the wrong train. At just that moment the conductor came through. The lady said, “Sir, I’m going to St. Louis; am I on the right train?”
He said, “Yes ma’am, you’re on the right train to St. Louis. I will take you there as I’m running the engine.” The lady lay back and went to sleep.
Hearing from the person next to her is nice, but it isn’t enough. Hearing from the nice man behind you is nice, but it’s not enough. Hearing the pastor say “I think you’re a Christian” is nice, but that’s not enough. But when the conductor comes through, the one who is driving the train, that’s enough! Sometimes you are going to check your feelings and you’ll feel saved, but that’s not enough. Some days you are going to be living right but when something wrong happens that’s not enough. But when Jesus says, “I guarantee you eternal life because you have placed your total faith in My finished work,” brothers and sisters, that’s enough because He’s driving the train.782
[Eternal Security, Assurance of; Faith, Versus Feeling]
Job 19:25–27; John 5:24; 14:1–4
THE STORY is told of a king who pardoned two criminals who were headed for death. They were on their way to be killed for their crimes but he issued a pardon. Both men could now go free. But the reactions of the two criminals were totally different. The first criminal who had been pardoned was full of joy, excitement, and exuberance. He was shouting and screaming as he looked at the pardon: “What joy to know that I was on my way to death and I have been given life, and not because of anything I have done.”
The other criminal stood trembling and thinking, “Could this really be true? Was this a joke? Nobody would do anything like that for me. Look at what I have done!” He was terrified and rather than having the joy of the first criminal, he felt miserable. In fact, the second criminal tried to discourage the joy of the first criminal by telling him not to get too excited. He tried to convince him that this might not be real.
Because the first criminal believed the pardon, he had both the assurance and joy of his release. Because the second criminal questioned the pardon, he had neither the joy nor the assurance of his release. One criminal looked at the piece of paper that held his pardon and believed it. The other criminal looked inside of himself to see whether he really believed it, and because what he saw in himself was doubt, it took away the joy of his assurance.783
[Eternal Security, Assurance of; Joy]
John 3:16; 5:24; Rom. 10:9–10
A GREAT tragedy occurred in 1982 in Chicago, Illinois, when people went to a grocery store and bought Tylenol. Someone had laced some of the capsules in some of the bottles with cyanide. Many of the people went and picked up the Tylenol. Seven people died. They thoroughly believed they were only getting Tylenol, when the Tylenol had in fact been tampered with. They believed, but their belief was not sufficient because the contents in the bottle could not be trusted.784
[Trust in God]
WHEN people go shopping and pay for something, they get a receipt. That receipt validates that they made a purchase. If there is ever a question or if anything ever goes wrong, the receipt proves that the payment was made in full.
For Christians, bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, the payment for their salvation was paid in full on Friday night when Jesus was crucified on the cross. Early on Sunday morning, the receipt was given. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is our receipt.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s receipt for the payment of the death of Christ.785
[Eternal Security, Assurance of]
Rom. 1:1–4; 1 Peter 1:3