THE BANK OF HEAVEN
II Tim. 1:12
INTRO. These are likely the last words of this great old soldier of the Cross. He ends this letter with 4:6. He is in prison, his death sentence already passed against him and he is merely waiting for the time when his soul will fly to be with his Saviour.
As he looks back over his life he remembers the Damascus Road incident in which he first met Jesus Christ...and as he thinks of all that has transpired since then he writes (text). All those years he had committed his soul into the safekeeping of Jesus, he knew he was safe...as safe as though he was already in heaven.
You may place your faith in gold but you cannot eat gold and gold can’t buy one minute of time; you may put your money in the world’s best bank only to loose all because the bank fails; you may place your trust in a tried and true friend only to be betrayed but when you entrust your soul to Jesus you are safe forever.
I. There Is A Joy In Knowing Jesus.
A. "I know in whom I have believed." There is no sense of doubt here. He is not expressing hope in some imagined figure but rather, he is stating his firm belief in One who is real and personal.
1. Like Enoch who walked with God and finally went to live in God’s house without dying.
2. Paul met Jesus in a blinding light on the road to Damascus and from then on he knew Christ as his Saviour. Persecutions had come (II Cor. 11:24-28) but with the persecutions came blessings.
3. For instance, see Acts 14:19. What he saw is recorded in II Cor. 12. Jesus never let him down.
B. John knew Jesus. He walked with Him for 3 years, leaned on Him the night of the Last Supper, and wrote of Him in the Gospel of John.
1. Over and over again in I Jn. he stated the steadfastness of his knowledge concerning Jesus Christ.
a. I Jn. 2:3-5
b. 3:2, 5, 14, 19, 24
c. 4:2, 6, 13
d. 5:13, 15, 18-20
2. Is it any wonder that he ended the book of the Revelation with the words, "Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus"?
C. Peter knew Him. He was weak in his faith at one time but he eventually gave his life for the testimony of Christ.
1. His motivation is stated in I Pet. 1:3-6a.
2. How could a man die for Jesus? It is not likely that a man would die for a feeling. But there is a joy in knowing your soul is in the safekeeping of Christ that overshadows anything the world might do to you.
D. The joy in knowing Jesus comes from the difference between "what" and "whom". The basis of my assurance is not my knowledge of doctrines, church histories, or theological liturgies. My confidence is in a person. As the old song says, "MY HOPE IS BUILT ON NOTHING LESS THAN JESUS’ BLOOD AND RIGHTEOUSNESS."
II. I Know That He Is Able.
A. I know that He is able to create.
1. (Jn. 1:3) -- "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."
2. Man may make skyscrapers, mighty ocean liners, faster-than-sound jet planes, and rocket ships to fly to the moon.
3. But it was Jesus who made the ocean, the sky, space, the moon, and the men who try to conquer these things.
B. I know that He is able to re-create. God builds, Satan destroys, Jesus re-builds.
1. God created the earth. Satan destroyed it. God re-created it. God made man. Satan destroyed him in sin but in Jesus man is made again in the image of God.
2. A child is born in a state of innocent inexperience. But as the child grows and sin becomes more of an influence on him his innocence turns to guilt. Then Jesus comes and, through faith, the man is remade, transformed, born again from a child of Satan to a child of God.
C. I know that He is able to comfort and inspire.
1. Paul -- II Tim. 4:6-8
2. Stephen’s dying words. Acts 7:54-60
3. How many millions of saints have gathered strength and comfort from the words of Rev. 21 -- "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away."
III. I Know That He Is Able To Keep.
A. He keeps the soul entrusted to Him by faith.
1. Jones Furniture Store completely burned to the ground but when the smoke finally cleared the store safe was still standing and all the important files were protected.
2. Jn. 10:27-30
B. He keeps our good deeds.
1. Often gratitude is expressed but soon forgotten. Not so with Jesus. Your good works are remembered and deposited in the bank of heaven to draw interest.
2. Woman with the alabaster box of ointment. (Mk. 14:3-9) (vs. 9)--"Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her."
3. The angel told Cornelius that his prayers had come up as a monument before God. Then in Rev. 5:8 John saw the 24 elders who sit before the Lord with golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints.
C. He keeps our future.
1. The promise of a worldwide 1000 year kingdom in which the faithful will rule with Christ. Rev. 5:9-10
2. That’s quite a return on investing your soul to Jesus. By faith, you place your eternal destiny in the hands of the Son of God and His grace returns multiplied blessings in this life and in the life to come.
IV. I Know That He Is Able To Keep Me In The Day Of Judgment. (text) "...against that day."
A. There is a day of reckoning coming. A day when we shall meet our Maker.
B. Those who have placed themselves in the hands of the One who is able to keep them, will have no fear.
1. (Rom. 8:1) -- "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
2. The born-again Christian knows that heaven is his home. God is his eternal Father and Jesus is his eternal brother.
C. Men may deny it or try to put the thought of death from their minds but sooner or later it comes to call and after that is the judgment and a very very long eternity.
CONCLU. You can make eternity pay off for you by trusting your soul to the only One who is able to keep that which you commit unto Him, against that day.
