And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 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 5.11-13, NIV84)
It's been almost a century (April 15, 1912) since
the unsinkable ship sank and over 1,500 passengers died in one of the deadliest
peacetime maritime disasters in history. The Titanic was the largest ship
afloat at the time of her maiden voyage and one of three Olympic class ocean
liners operated by the White Star Line. It took several years to build her (1909-1911)
by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. The Titanic carried 2,224 people.
The 100 year anniversary of this tragic event
has been garnering a lot of attention recently. There is a 3-D release out now
in the theaters of James Cameron’s award-winning Hollywood version. Many
prominent publications are running feature stories and there’s a host of
television specials all about the Titanic disaster.
Now it really hit home with me as I read the
article in this month’s National Geographic Journal and looked at the photo
images of the Titanic wreckage remains over 2.5 miles deep down on the bottom
of the icy cold North Atlantic Ocean. It just got real when I saw old black and
white pictures of the Titanic before her launch and also of some her passengers
– real people with real lives. I had read somewhere else about this large wall
that had two lists that they posted after the tragedy in the White Star Line's
Liverpool, England offices. Here are these anxious relatives waiting to hear
the fate of a passenger they loved, and a company representative who comes in
occasionally and adds a name to one of two lists: "Known to be Saved"
and "Known to be Lost."
The haunting images of that mighty ship going
down are just engraved in my mind. But then so are those two lists of souls.
Because everyone I know—everyone reading this Footnotes—everyone you know,
including you—is also on one of two
lists: "Known to be Saved" "Known to be Lost." Not
"rich" or "poor"...not "liberal" or
"conservative"...not “young” or “old”… not “good” or “bad” nor “naughty”
or “nice”… not even "Religion X" or "Religion Y"—just
"saved" or "lost."
God makes it so plain in our key Scripture
text found in 1 John 5.11-13… "God
has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has
life (saved); he who does not have the Son of God does not have life
(lost)." Now, if you have Jesus, you are rescued from the death
penalty for your sins and you've got the blessed assurance of heaven. And God
says if you don't have Jesus, you don't have heaven but an eternity of hell because
that rescuing or "saving" came at a very high price that only the Son
of God could pay. So, if you don’t have Jesus, you’re outside the lifeboat and
you’re lost.
Now you don’t have to remain among those who
are lost. Jesus, who had no sin, came to rescue us. He did all the dying for
all my sinning and all your sinning. Going through our hell so I, and so you,
could go to His heaven. So, if you ever feel that you are so insignificant that
God does not care about you or that you’re so bad that He does not want to
listen to your prayers, you should be encouraged by what He has done to save us
from sin, death and hell and to secure for us forgiveness, life and heaven. “And He died for all, that those who live
should no longer live for themselves but for Him Who died for them and was
raised again… God made Him Who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we
might become the righteousness of God” – (2 Corinthians 5.15, 21, NIV84)
“So, what do you
think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate
to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing Himself
to the worst by sending His own Son, is there anything else He wouldn't gladly
and freely do for us?” – (Romans 8.31-32, MSG)
You see here we are assured that our heavenly
Father loves us unconditionally, that there was nothing so precious to Him that
He would not give it up in order to provide for our rescue and salvation. When
the Father gave His precious Son to save us, He proved once for all that His grace
is boundless and His love is infinite.
The apostle Paul concluded that if God would
not hold back even His own Son in order to provide for our rescue, how would He
not willingly and freely give anything else at His disposal in order to save
us? Since He sacrificed His very best to give us eternal life, we can rest
secure in the knowledge that He also wants to give us abundant life (John 10.10).
So, realizing what God did for us at the cross, why should we not approach the
throne of grace with boldness, assurance, confidence? Isn’t it awesome to know for
sure that God loves us that much?! We can live with confidence and anticipation
knowing that almighty God is willing not only to give us eternal life, but also
to help us experience it fully!
Well, the great news of Good Friday, the
great news of Resurrection Sunday, is that you can change lists! In Jesus'
words, "Whoever hears My word and
believes Him Who has sent me has eternal life; he has crossed over from death
to life" – (John 5.24). I love the definite sounds of those words, “has crossed over from death to life”… "has
eternal life." Not “may have” or “might have.” Not “wishes to have” or
“hopes to have”—but has! It’s a done deal! We can know for sure, right now,
that if we died today, we would go to heaven—eternal life insurance. No fear, or
no if, and, but, or maybe about it! That’s what God says in
our key Scripture text – “God has given
us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life… you
may know that you have eternal life.”
Maybe you know some folks who are still
outside the lifeboat and they are facing a dark, chilling, tragic future. You
have nothing more urgent to do than in the Bible's words, "rescue those who are being led away to death" – (Proverbs
24.11).
Now if you're not sure, though, about
yourself – that you've ever offered yourself, heart and soul, to Jesus, you
have nothing more urgent to do than in the words of the Bible, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit… believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be
saved… the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him,
for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’... ‘In the time
of My favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you,
now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” – (Acts 2.38; 16.31; Romans
10.12b-13; 2 Corinthians 6.2). That transaction between you and Him could take
place this very day. Why not get this done? Why not get this settled? Why not
get in the only lifeboat that can save you?
You see, when you give your life to Jesus…
receive Him as the Lord and Savior, you go from one who is "known to be
lost" to one who is "known to be saved." Jesus assures us, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who
believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes
in me will never die” – (John 11.25-26) I’ll tell you it’s absolutely awful
to be lost – there’s nothing worse, but it’s totally amazing to be saved –
there’s nothing better!
“And if the Spirit of
Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He Who raised Christ from
the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, Who
lives in you” –
(Romans 8.11)
In a nutshell – in the risen Christ,
Web Shepherd
