Do
you have “Assurance” or “Insurance”? I battled with this word when I joined Insurance
Company. Both words sound very similar and have similar meanings. One of the
definitions of both is a guaranty. Assurance is a guaranty of your word and
Insurance is a guaranty of payment. The same, yet different.
I have assurance that if certain people tell me that they will do something
that I don’t have to worry about it. Their word is all I need. This is a
quality that we all should have, especially those of us who profess to be
Christians. And I have insurance; lots of insurance. I have life insurance, car
insurance, house insurance(yet to be completed), and health insurance. They
guaranty me compensation if anything were to happen to my possessions or my
family or me. But the one huge difference is that assurance is not based on
anything I do. Insurance has everything to do with what I do. Insurance was
only good as long as I paid my premiums. And like a good neighbor, the only way
that the insurance company will be there for you, is if you pay the bill. If
you don’t pay your bill, then your insurance will be cancelled.
Therefore, do you have “Assurance” or “Insurance”? Do you have assurance that
if you died today that you would end up in Heaven with our Lord and Savior or
do you have insurance, thinking that as long as you do the right things that
you will end up in Heaven.
Let me answer the insurance question first. I read recently that according to a
survey taken in 2001, only 30% of the people surveyed believed that there is
nothing we can do to earn your salvation. That means that 70% of the people
surveyed thought you could get to heaven on your own. And in that same survey,
50% of professed Christians believe that they have to be good or have to do
something to earn their way to heaven.
Reminds me about a story I heard about a boy named Billy. Little Billy, caught
in mischief, was asked by his mother, "How do you expect to get into
heaven?" He thought for a moment and then said, "Well, I’ll just run
in and out and keep slamming the door until they say, ’For heaven’s sake,
either come in or stay out.’ Then I’ll go in."
We cannot do anything to earn our way to heaven. Like you have heard me say
before, there will be a lot of good people who will not make it to heaven. And
I think that is where a lot of people make the mistake. They think that all I
have to do is live my life the best I can by doing the right things and being
the best person that I can be. But that is not what the Bible says. Ephesians
2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;
it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
There is nothing you can do. You can pay your premiums with your good works all
you want, but that’s not going to get earn your way into heaven. There is only
one way to get to heaven. And Jesus paid that premium in full by giving His
life on the cross for our sins. When Jesus tells His disciples that He is going
away to prepare a place for them and Thomas ask Him how do we get to this
place? How do we get to Heaven? And Jesus replied in John 14:6 Jesus said to
him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through Me.”
...to be continued
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