NO LONGER SEARCHING
I COULD hardly believe what I saw one day, when I was a young
boy. My Grandfather had just returned from town, and was showing
my Grandmother a new pair of boots that he had just bought. In my
eyes, Grandfather was so old he would not live long enough to
wear out these new boots, and I was amazed that he did not
realise this. But I am sure he was hoping he would wear out not
only these boots, but a few more pairs also, before he died. When
he did die, a number of years and many pairs of boots later, I
remember hoping he was gone to Heaven, and hoping I would meet
him there some day.
For as long as I remember, I hoped I would go to Heaven when I
died. When I worked with the undertakers I saw a lot of
heart-broken people at funerals, all hoping their loved one, who
was being buried, was gone to Heaven. At Roman Catholic funerals,
the family, friends and priest were all hoping that the dear
departed one was gone to be with the Lord. At Protestant
funerals, the minister and mourners were all hoping the deceased
person was gone to glory. All of them were hoping, but none of
them actually knew.
I had been a devout Roman Catholic all my life. I attended mass
and the sacraments regularly, and did my best to be a good
person. But, having done all that, I was still only hoping that I
would go to Heaven when I died. I was searching for the assurance
of eternal life, longing to know for certain that one day God
would take me to be with Himself. Now, the friend who had
travelled to my town to share the gospel with me, told me that he
knew for definite that his sins had been forgiven. He said he had
the assurance of salvation, an assurance that he would be in
Heaven one day. This certainty was, he said, based upon what God
said in His Word. As I read the Scriptures, I could see what he
meant:
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and
this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works,
so that no-one can boast;" 1
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to
all men;" 2
"He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done,
but because of his mercy.-" 3
"Not by works!"; "not because of righteous things
we had done!" These words really struck me, for they were
saying that I could not be saved by works, whether they were the
works of the Church on my behalf, my own works, or both of them
together. God was saying in His Word that, regardless of which
Church I belonged to, or what efforts I made myself, salvation
could not be worked for, earned, or merited by me. "The
grace of God that brings salvation!"; "By grace you
have been saved!"; These were words that really encouraged
me to examine what God was saying here. I looked up the meaning
of the word 'grace' to see what it meant in this context. It
means 'God's unmerited favour to the sinner'. It is God reaching
down to the sinner, revealing to him that He loved him so much
that He sent His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to the cross.
There, He took the sinner's place, by becoming his substitute. He
paid the penalty for sin that the sinner should have paid. Christ
suffered Hell on the cross, so that the sinner need not go to
Hell.
According to the Scriptures, the outworking of God's grace to the
sinner, in fact, to me, as a sinner, is this; God puts Christ's
righteousness (all the merits of His sinless life and
substitutionary, vicarious death on the cross), to my account. He
also puts all the guilt of my sin to Christ's account. I would
actually be declared righteous by God. This is God's grace, God's
unmerited favour to a sinner!
"Saved by grace!"- This means 'To be delivered from';
or 'To be rescued from' the penalty for sin, which is eternity in
Hell. I would be saved from this penalty because Christ had
already, as my substitute, paid in full the penalty for the guilt
of my sin as He suffered and died on the cross.
"By grace you have been saved through faith!"-Here, the
word 'faith' means 'To believe in'; 'To trust in'; 'To depend
upon' Christ, and His work on my behalf. Here, at last, was what
I needed to know, namely, God's plan of salvation. The great
assurance of salvation I had been searching for and hoping for
all my life became a reality when I took God at his Word. He says
in the Scriptures:
"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" 4
"So that you may know!"-God was saying here in His Word
that it is possible to know your sins are forgiven, and that you
have eternal life. It is possible to know you will go to Heaven
when you die.
"Who were these things written to", I asked myself? And
then I saw the answer written so clearly in these verses: "I
write these things to you who BELIEVE." "You who
believe WHAT, I asked?" These things were written to those
who believe what God has said concerning His Son, which is this;
"God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son." So, here it was! Eternal life is in a PERSON.
According to the Scriptures, eternal life is in the Person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and His work on the sinner's behalf.
Remembering Jesus' own words: "Repent ye, and believe the
Gospel",5 I acknowledged the fact that I was a sinner,
deserving of Hell. I sincerely repented of my sin. This meant
that not only was there deep sorrow for my sin, which had caused
Christ to go to the cross, but also a determination to have done
with sin. There was a definite decision to turn my back on the
old sinful way of life, and to change direction. I thanked God
for showing me that I could never be saved by dependence upon the
Church's work on my behalf, or by dependence upon my own efforts.
Salvation was not by works, but by Grace. I asked God to forgive
my sins, not because I deserved to have them forgiven, or could
ever merit their forgiveness, but because Christ had suffered and
died to pay the penalty for them. I thanked God that he had sent
His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to the cross, where He purged
my sin, dying there as my substitute. I abandoned all dependence
upon religion, tradition and good works for my salvation. I put
my faith in Jesus Christ, believing that, as a result of the
merits of His sinless life and His death upon the cross being put
to my account, I would be saved. I humbly and sincerely asked God
to save me, and by His grace He did! He has given to me the great
assurance of eternal life. Now, I am NO LONGER SEARCHING.
1. Ephesians 2:8-9.
2. Titus 2:11.
3. Titus 3:5.
4. 1 John 5:11-13.
5. Mark 1:15.
INVITATION
Dear Friend,
Perhaps you have been 'doing your best' for many years. Maybe you
have been depending, for your salvation, upon the fact that you
are a member of a particular Church or Denomination. And yet
today, you are still searching for the assurance of eternal life.
Instead of looking to your own good works, or looking to religion
to save you, why not look to the Lord, who said: "Look unto
me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and
there is none else." 1
The Lord invites you to come to Him right now: "Come NOW,
and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; Though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool." 2
Acknowledging that you are a sinner, turn to Him right now in
repentance, trusting Him to forgive you and to save you because
of what Christ has done for you at Calvary. Through faith in
Jesus Christ, and His atoning work on your behalf, you can have
the full assurance of eternal life, the certainty of sins
forgiven, and the guarantee of a home in Heaven.
If I can be of any help to you, or if you would like to receive
any of the following, free of charge:
(a) A Bible;
(b) Literature explaining the Way of Salvation;
(c) A cassette tape containing a Gospel message;
Please contact me at this address:
Dick Keogh,
Cherith Gospel Outreach,
Email - Israel@esatclear.ie
1. Isaiah 45:22.
2. Isaiah 1:18.