Do You Have "Assurance" Or "Insurance"?

Do you have “Assurance” or “Insurance”?

1 John 5:12-13

Let’s start by talking about the title of my sermon. Do you have “Assurance” or “Insurance”? Both words sounds very similar and have similar meanings. One of the definitions of both is a guaranty. Assurance is a guaranty of your word and Insurance is a guaranty of payment. The same, yet different.

I have assurance that if certain people tell me that they will do something that I don’t have to worry about it. There word is all I need. This is a quality that we all should have, especially those of us who profess to be Christians.

And I have insurance; lot’s of insurance. I have life insurance, car insurance, house insurance, and health insurance. They guaranty me compensation if anything were to happen to my possessions or my family or me.

But the one huge difference is that assurance is not based on anything I do. Insurance has everything to do with what I do.

Recently I received a “Final Notice” from my insurance in mail. They said that I owed $ 37.00 from my home insurance. I asked my wife about it and she assured me she had paid the bill. I went on line and bank statement and it assured that the money had been withdrawn from our account. So I contacted our agent and he didn’t understand why we got the notice either. But he told me he would research it and get back with me. Now it ended up that our company had put in a new computer system in and it caused the glitch.

But the point that I want is that my insurance was only good as long as I paid my premiums were being paid. And like a good neighbor, the only way that they are going to be there for you, is if you pay the bill. If you don’t pay your bill, then your insurance will be cancelled.

So back to the question and the title of my sermon. Do you have “Assurance” or “Insurance”? Do you have assurance that if you died today that you would end up in Heaven with our Lord and Savior or do you have insurance, thinking that as long as you do the right things that you will end up in Heaven.

Let me answer the insurance question first. I read recently that according to a survey taken in 2001, only 30% of the people surveyed believed that there is nothing we can do to earn your salvation. That means that 70% of the people surveyed thought you could get to heaven on your own. And in that same survey, 50% of professed Christians believe that they have to be good or have to do something to earn their way to heaven.

Reminds me about a story I heard about a boy named Billy. Little Billy, caught in mischief, was asked by his mother, "How do you expect to get into heaven?" He thought for a moment and then said, "Well, I’ll just run in and out and keep slamming the door until they say, ’For heaven’s sake, either come in or stay out.’ Then I’ll go in."

We cannot do anything to earn our way to heaven. Like you have heard me say before, there will be a lot of good people who will not make it to heaven. And I think that is where a lot of people make the mistake. They think that all I have to do is live my life the best I can by doing the right things and being the best person that I can be. But that is not what the Bible says.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

There is nothing you can do. You can pay your premiums with your good works all you want, but that’s not going to get earn your way into heaven. There is only one way to get to heaven. And Jesus paid that premium in full by giving His life on the cross for our sins.

When Jesus tells His disciples that He is going away to prepare a place for them and Thomas ask Him how do we get to this place? How do we get to Heaven? And Jesus replied in John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

I have asked people before about there relationship with the Lord and I hear replies like. I think I will go to heaven. I hope I will go. I want to go. But I am here to tell you this morning that it is the desire of God as our text says that you know. Not hope, not wish, but know where you are in your relationship with God.