What could ever be more important than knowing whether your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? That alone determines whether you spend eternity in heaven, or hell… forever with the Lord; or tormented in the flames of hell with no end… ever. When you leave this earthly body behind, you will stand before the righteous Judge of all, and there is no chance then, of changing your eternal destination.
If you KNOW your name is in the Book… what an amazing, happy, fruitful life you can have right now, because everything in this present life is put in perspective by the glorious confidence of eternal life! You will be overflowing with the good news, wanting others to also know that blessed assurance! “Such as I have, give I thee” will be the story of your life!
If you’re not sure, you will have endless fears and frustrations, here and now, in this life. To escape those fears, some will close their eyes and stop their ears, and try to get as far away as they can from any reminder of eternal judgment. Or they will cling to people or doctrines that tell them they’re OK. But still unable to shake that deep down insecurity themselves, it will be hard for them to give people much more than a friendly greeting.
Some will struggle to do more, more, more… trying to gain the assurance that they have done enough to please God, so that they will qualify for eternal life. But that true assurance never comes, because when they honestly examine themselves, they realize that they have fallen short of the standard, especially if their standard is perfection. Even if they set their standard much lower, they still never find true peace, because the peace they seek comes only from being justified by FAITH.
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” [Romans 5:1-2 KJV]
Some, convicted of their own imperfection, will ‘water down’ the Word of God, and adjust the requirement for eternal life to be a matter of your level of sincerity, or desire, or effort. They’ll say that if you just REALLY love God, and really, really, WANT to please Him, God will accept that. But be honest now… is your love for God and your neighbor ever pure enough? Is your desire to please God ever intense enough? Can’t you push just a little more… TRY a little harder… burn a little hotter? Come on, now!
What’s the gauge for how much is enough? God says, “Nothing less than ALL!” ALL your heart, ALL your mind, ALL your soul, ALL your strength! (See Mark 12:30 & Luke 10:27) That’s His commandment, so if you’re falling even a little bit short of that, you’d better know that you are justified by “the faith of Christ, not by the works of the law.” [Galatians 2:16]
Some say that if you just do everything to the very best you know to do, and you walk in all the light you have, you’ll make it. Some may tack on, that at least you must have a ‘goal’ of perfection. But good intentions, or making a super effort, or having the highest of goals, will not outweigh or erase a single sin! If becoming like Jesus is your goal, that is wonderful! We absolutely should… but ARE you really walking just like Jesus? Are you really faithfully doing EVERYTHING according to the light you have? Your conscience says, “No.”! So, to deal with the inevitable guilt, frustration, and fear, many will seek comfort and peace from people or doctrines… latching on to a false security, which is even worse than the INsecurity.
Yes, the Bible speaks of books that will be opened at the great white throne judgment, and a price has to be (or HAD to be) paid for every evil deed, and every idle word. But there is only ONE book which determines whether you spend eternity in heaven or hell… the Lamb’s Book of Life! (See Revelation 20:11-15) For those whose names are written in that book, someone has ALREADY paid for everything written in the other books! That someone is THE LAMB! It’s HIS book… the spotless One whose holy blood was shed for us, that we may be JUSTIFIED, by faith.
How justified? Hebrews 10:14 says, “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Wow! ‘Perfected’! The obvious next question: How do we get sanctified? Hebrews 10:10 says, “…we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
1 Corinthians 6:11 says, “…ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
Once we rightly divide the work that God has called His church to accomplish, and the work that was finished at Calvary, we can quit trying to do ourselves what HE has already done, and get to work fulfilling the individual calling that God has given each and every one of us! Let us all… as the justified, sanctified, perfected body of Christ… go DO the work of our Father!
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” [Ephesians 2:8-10]
God writes our names in the Lamb’s Book of Life at the moment we are saved… by grace, through faith… NOT when all our deeds are weighed in the balance. At the moment we are born again, we are created IN Christ… a new creation… HIS workmanship! Then our good works follow naturally… because are IN Him, and He in us, and HE is doing the works. When we are IN Christ, IN the Lamb, it is certain that our name is in His Book. Amen!
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