Verse: John 5:24
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Devotional Thoughts:
I remember as a boy growing up I was terrified of the idea of the rapture. The Left Behind books were big and popular at the time, but they were terrifying to me. My dad and I would go deer hunting, and since my stand was closer to the truck than his, he would walk to my stand on the way out to possibly spook a deer my way.
Good idea, but there was one problem, and it had nothing to do with deer hunting. This was a time before everyone had a cell phone – all I had was a watch. If dad said he’d be at my stand at 10:00am, and it was now 10:20am, then that feeling of dread would begin to grow and grow. The idea of what it could mean terrified me – maybe, unbeknownst to me, I wasn’t really a Christian, and the reason dad was running late was because he’d actually been raptured and I’d been left behind.
Perhaps you’ve asked yourself the question, “Am I really saved?” at some point in your life. In all likelihood you probably have. The great evangelist D.L. Moody was talking with a lady one time who claimed she’d been saved for 25 years and never had a doubt. He responded, “I doubt you’re saved.”
Points to Ponder:
Can we be absolutely sure that we’re saved?
It’s wonderful news that we can be absolutely sure that we’re saved. In order to be sure though, we have to base that certainty on something more secure and rock-steady than our own emotions. We have to base it on what the Word of God says.
Adrian Rogers calls this verse above, John 5:24, a believer’s spiritual birth certificate. While talking with a man who had just accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior, they read this passage. Rogers tells the story like this:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you,” I read. Then I told him, “It’s Jesus who is speaking. Do you believe this?”
“Yes,” he said.
“‘He that heareth My word. . . .’ Have you heard His Word?”
“Yes.”
“‘. . . and believeth on Him that sent Me. . . .’ Have you believed on the God that sent the Lord Jesus?”
“Yes.”
“‘. . . hath everlasting life. . . .’ Do you have everlasting life?”
“Well, I hope so,” he said.
I said, “Let’s read it again.” And we did. Again, he answered yes to every question except the last. Again, he said,
“Well, I hope so.”
“Let’s read it again,” I said. This time, when I asked him if he had everlasting life, the light went on inside.
“Why, yes! Yes!” he shouted.
“Who says so?”
“God says so! God says so!”
That is how we can know that we’re saved. We don’t look for a feeling. We don’t ask God to write “You are saved” in the sky, or give us any kind of sign. We don’t think, “Well, I walked down the aisle when I was 9.” Jesus said that “whoever hears my word and believes…” He didn’t say whoever “believed.”
What God says is the basis of our certainty. What God says gives us assurance that we are saved. We can have, as Rogers says, a know-so salvation instead of a hope-so salvation, and we can know it because of the promise Jesus has made to us.
