God's Word to the Wise

(John 3:16) “For God so loved the world, that He gave us His only begotten son. That whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have everlasting life.”

Do you want to live forever? Most would answer, yes. The question is: How? The Bible is clear. (John 17:2–3) “For you granted him”—that is, Jesus—“authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

You see, everybody everywhere is basing their hope of eternity on something—basing their destiny on the forlorn dream that there is nothing, when deep in their heart they know there is. And this morning some who read this have never come to a personal, living faith in Jesus Christ, have never settled the issue of this great, taboo subject of death—actually they live tyrannized by it! You don’t have to. So why do you? Will you not just trust in Christ? Will you not just cast yourself upon him and say, “Lord, I don’t trust myself to anything or anyone else; I trust myself only to you, who is the one who came to give eternal life”? Now, is this your faith? Is this your faith this morning? Do you live with a sense of fear? I will ask you two questions. If you died tonight, would you go to heaven? Do you know? And secondly, how do you know that you won’t die tonight?

Now, if your answer is anything other than YES to question one, and since you cannot answer categorically to question two, are you prepared simply to throw the dice for another time, for another day, another bedtime, another week, another plane flight? And since you’re going to base your hope of your destiny on something, I say to you again: Why not—why not—cast yourself on the strength and authority of the Bible? After all, it has stood the test of time. Cast yourself on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only one who died and now lives. Why live your life on the basis of your imagination, mythology and pagan superstition? Why in the world would you ever do this?

I’ll tell you why: because you are blind, and you cannot see the truth of the gospel. Therefore, you need to cry out to God, “Take the scales off my eyes so that I can see that I ought to be really afraid of death. ’Cause I have no hope beyond it. And then come to me and show me the wonder of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom I can have forgiveness and the stain of my sin wiped clean. And then place within my heart the assurance and hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who is able to subdue all things—even death—unto himself.”