I want you to come with me to an underpass outside of the freight yards of one of our great railroad centers. Here are two or three men – hobos, vagabonds, tramps. One says, “I hope that I will have a million dollars.” Another says, “I hope that I will have two million dollars.” A third says, “I hope that I will have ten million dollars!” The total assets of the three men actually only amount to forty-three cents in their worn-out pockets!
Now let’s go to the paneled board room of one of New York’s great banks. Here are several leaders of industry. One explains that the expansion of our economy calls for the expenditure of 2 trillion dollars to build a new production plant. Apple Computer executives say that they will put up 500 million dollars; Amazon Execs agree to duplicate this sum; Elon Musk and Bill Gates nod their agreement and the matter is settled. But you ask them, “Gentlemen! Do you really have money like that?” They nod with assurance and say, “We know that we have it.”
“You mean that you hope that you will have it?” we question. “No,” they reply, “we know that we have it.”
The difference between a tramp and a multimillionaire is the difference between a professing Christian who hopes that he will have eternal life and a possessing Christian who knows that he has eternal life.
I can promise you this. God wants you in His kingdom more than you do. He offers salvation freely. Have you accepted this gift? If you answered “yes” — then it is done. You are saved by His grace. That’s settled. Now you have the privilege, and sheer FUN, of living a life with Christ at the helm. There is NOTHING more assuring and invigorating.
1 John 5:12-13 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.