The Hope of Eternal Life
by Pastor Kevin Sadler
“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1:2).
Dr. Tony Evans says this about eternity: “If we were to empty the
Pacific Ocean, the largest body of water in the world, we’d be left with
a hole that’s beyond imagination. If we were then to fill that hole
with sand and make a pile as high as Mount Everest, we’d be talking
about a lot of sand because Mount Everest is the tallest mountain peak
in the world. Since the ocean is fairly deep and Mount Everest is fairly
high, we’d have a fairly sizable sandpile! Now, if we had a bird that
would take one grain of sand from that sandpile every 100 billion years,
how long would it take the bird to finish the sandpile? I don’t know
that in human language we have such a number. It is probably beyond
numerical count. Whatever that number is, when the bird finishes the
last grain of sand, you will have been in eternity your first second.” 1
It is glorious to think of spending eternity with Christ in heaven,
but it’s also heartbreaking to think of those who will be in the lake of
fire forever. Our faith rests on the sure hope of eternal life. We can
live our lives for Christ confidently and courageously, knowing that
nothing we do for the Lord is ever in vain (1 Cor. 15:58). We have
certainty in what we believe. The “hope” Scripture holds out is not a
hope-so hope. Our hope is a complete certainty, a confident expectation.
It is a destiny.
Eternal life is both a present possession and a future hope. It
doesn’t just begin when you die; we have it at conversion, the moment we
trust Christ as our Savior. God is “eternal” (Deut. 33:27), and having
“eternal” life means we have been given God’s life, which is Christ in
us (Col. 1:27; 3:4). Our future hope of eternal life is in the sense
that we confidently look forward to eternal life in its final,
victorious form when we’ll be in our eternal home in heaven, having
received our eternal, incorruptible, glorified bodies (2 Cor. 5:1),
dwelling in Christ’s presence forever (1 Thes. 4:17).
All the truth of the Bible and the hope of eternal life is based in
God Himself. Our faith is secure by virtue of God’s unchanging character
and the fact that He cannot lie. God is Truth and free from all deceit
(Deut. 32:4). Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that He should
lie.” Hebrews 6:18 tells us it is “impossible for God to lie.” TheHope
of Eternal Life By Pastor Kevin Sadler God’s character backs up our
absolute hope of eternal life. If He said it, it’s true, He cannot lie,
and it will happen.
From eternity past, “before the world began,” God proised what He
was going to do for those who believed (2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2). God is a
promise-keeping God. What He has said, He will do. You can place your
soul’s eternal destiny in His hands, and you don’t need to be anxious
about it. We can rest in Him because we can count on Him and on His
character. When (not if) we find ourselves in heaven one day, we’ll
praise Him saying, “The Lord was faithful, faithful to me, faithful to
all His promises.”
Through the Bible - with Les Feldick
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