This devotion is a monthly ministry of the Pee Dee Baptist Association, comprised of 31 Southern Baptist churches in Dillon and Marlboro Counties. For more information, call 774-8062.
Featured this month is Dr. Dick Alderman, the pastor of Little Rock Baptist Church, Little Rock.
SURE THINGS
The internet ad said, “It’s A Sure Thing,” referring to a stock purchase. I watched it for a few days and saw it fall from $2.00 to $1.00, then to 70 cents, then disappear. The only sure thing about it was that the investor would lose it all. There are few things absolutely certain in life, one of which is death if the Lord does not come back first. But the Christian is told in the Word of God about some absolutely certain things he has.
1 John 5:13 says, “These things are written to you that believe on the name of the son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” Verse 20 says, “We are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” John 3:16 (most familiar verse in the Bible) says that when we believe on Jesus after repenting of sin, we have eternal life now as a present possession. By its very definition we cannot lose “eternal” life. It is a sure thing to those truly born again.
Another sure things we have is answered prayer as I John 5:14-15 declares: “This is the confidence that we have in Him, that is we ask anything according to His will, He hears us; and if we know that He hears us we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” We are God’s children by faith in Jesus and can walk up to Him anytime and ask him anything. His bank is “The First Bank of All There Is.” Of course, we must pray in His Name, on His merits alone – we deserve nothing, but HE does. And we must pray as He wills for us.
Another sure thing we have is victory over sin as I John 5:18 states: “We know that whoever is born of God does not live in the habit of sin, but He that is born again of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one (satan) does not touch him.” Sin goes against the new nature that we are in Christ. He now lives in us empowering the life that He gives us. Victory over sin is not automatic because we yet live in this old body of flesh with its lusts and sinful desires. Final liberation from sin takes place when we receive our resurrection bodies like His. Until then we must guard against sinning by staying in His Word and maintaining a close personal daily walk with Him.
A fourth sure thing we have as Christians is the knowledge that we belong to God Himself. I John 5:19 says, “We know that we are of God.” This is an absolute certainty for each one who is born again in Christ. Everybody else (not in Him) is in the lap of the devil, as the verse continues to say, “And the whole world lieth in the wicked one.” Without exception, no matter how good a person tries to be, without Christ in the heart, each one is totally, eternally, and irrevocably lost.
A final thing we believers know as a sure thing is that Jesus Christ is the True God, as in 1 John 5:20: “We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true; and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is true God and eternal life.” So, if you are a saved believer in Christ, then enjoy living for Him in victory, serve Him with confidence, rejoice in Him with hope, and rest upon Him and His Word with certainty. It’s a sure thing …
