Life Assurance
The High Cost—the Premium
You never know what will happen next. Since our lives are full of the unexpected, one of the keys to a successful and fulfilling life is being as prepared as possible. Most of our vehicles come with a spare tire—just in case. We try to sock away money in savings—just in case. When the weather forecasters call for snow, we stock up on food and other supplies—just in case.
One of the ways that we deal with these “just in case” possibilities is buying insurance. We buy auto insurance to cover us in case we’re in a wreck. If you’re a homeowner, you probably have some kind of insurance for your house in case it’s damaged by a storm or fire. If you can afford it—because it sure is expensive—you might have health insurance in case you get sick, develop a disease, or have a medical emergency. A lot of you have some kind of life insurance policy, to help your family financially in case you die.
Actually, repeated studies have proven that 100% of people eventually die. Death is not the most popular subject. It’s common at a party or at the office to hear people ask, “So how’re your kids doing?” “Did your wife get that promotion?” Or, “Where are you taking the family on vacation?” But it’s kind of rare to hear people saying, “So, how do you want to die? What do you think will happen after you take your last breath?” If you try this tactic, you might notice a decrease in the number of party invitations that end up in your mailbox, and the number of people wanting to have lunch with you will probably hit a sharp decline.
Thinking about our own death is not a favorite pastime, and yet death is inevitable. It’s not a “just in case” situation—it will happen. It’s been said that the only two things in life that are certain are death and taxes. By tomorrow evening most of us will have sent in our tax returns for the year; but how many of us are prepared for the other inevitability? Insurance prepares us for things that might happen; are we prepared for what we can be sure will happen?
SonRise Church’s commercial that is currently airing addresses this question. We’re going to toss this issue around for the next three weeks in a series called “Life Assurance.” To start it off, let’s watch the commercial together now. As we do so, I want to ask you: Is this commercial about you?
[Commercial]
Well, are you this man? When it comes to spiritual matters, insurance is helpless. But rather than insurance, we can have assurance. Assurance is having the confidence of knowing where you’ll spend eternity. It’s knowing that you have life with God forever and ever. Jesus said in John 10:28-29, talking about His people: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from Me, for My Father has given them to Me, and He is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.” Catch that? “No one.” This raises a lot of “what if” questions, which Pastor Daryl will address in next week’s worship gathering.
Now insurance is outrageously expensive—so expensive, in fact, that many people cannot afford it. Every kind of insurance has a premium—the cost to open and maintain a policy. But assurance—having the confidence of knowing where we’ll spend eternity—is even more expensive. If it’s so costly, how can anyone afford it? That’s what we’re going to discover together this morning.
[Offering, music, prayer, video clip]
So what do you think is going to happen to you when you die? (Not even “if,” but “when.”) Notice that the man conducting the interview asked what these people thought would happen. Some said they knew where they were going after death, some could only guess, others said they had no idea. What about you?
There’s a difference between thinking and knowing. The truth is that we can know what will happen to us when we die. God does not leave us to guess, wonder, or even just hope. We can know for sure. We can have assurance.
What people think is important and we should value one another’s views, but have you noticed that people’s preferences and opinions don’t affect what is actually real? A couple months ago, I truly thought that the Seattle Seahawks would beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL. It didn’t matter. In reality, the Steelers won, regardless of what I thought or preferred. In 2004, millions of people predicted George Bush would win the presidential election. Millions of others thought John Kerry would win. In the end, it didn’t matter what people thought or predicted. All that mattered was what actually happened.
When it comes to eternity, we don’t have to take shots in the dark. We don’t have to guess. We can know for a fact. Where and how we’ll spend eternity—or more importantly, who we’ll spend it with—is the most important decision we’ll ever make. There’s too much at stake to simply guess. Our lives are on the line.
But the good news is we don’t have to guess. We can have assurance of eternity with God in heaven. That’s the good news. But it’s expensive. It’s so expensive, in fact, that no higher price was ever paid for anything. None of us could afford it. Even if you put all of our resources together, we couldn’t afford it. The reason it’s so unaffordably expensive is because of something called sin.
Sin is a problem that we all have. It’s a problem because it makes it impossible for us to be in God’s presence. The Bible teaches us that the reason God even made us in the first place was so that He could enjoy our company and we could enjoy His. But every time we rebel against God and insist on doing things our way, being our own gods, it’s so offensive to Him that we’re no longer able to get close to Him. Unfortunately for us, this is something we’ve all done. We’ve all sinned and created a huge rift between God and ourselves. The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that “everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” All of us! There’s not one person in this room or anywhere on the planet that measures up to God’s standard.
It gets worse. Not only have we all sinned, but our sin carries serious consequences. Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” If we’re all guilty of sin, and sin deserves death, and sin is so offensive that we can’t pay for it ourselves, what can we do?
Now it’s possible that you may be sitting there thinking, “I’m really not that bad. I’ve never killed anyone or cheated on my wife. I believe in God. I try to help people.” Jesus addresses this thought. He says in Mark 7:20-23: “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”
Have you ever had a bad thought pass through your mind, and you wonder, “Where did that thought come from?” Have you ever said or done something and then thought, “I can’t believe I said or did that!” These instances prove the truth of this passage we just read. God sees right through us and into our hearts—He sees the darkness that lurks within us. Our sinfulness is visible to Him. He sees that regardless of what we may have actually done or not done, our hearts are full of things like lust, slander, pride, and greed.
There’s still the old argument, “Well, I’ve done a few bad things in my life, but overall I’m a good person.” Sometimes we can trick ourselves into thinking that God’s judgment of our lives will be like a courtroom where everything we’ve ever said or done is admitted as evidence. All the good things will be on one side, and all the bad things will be on the other side. When everything is placed on a scale, whichever way the scale tilts determines your fate: if the good side is heavier, you go to heaven; if the bad side is heavier, you go to hell.
However, not only is this method of judgment not found anywhere in the Bible, it’s not found anywhere period! In a criminal court case, the question is always whether or not the person on trial is guilty of committing the alleged offense. Everything else is completely irrelevant. When the prosecuting attorney shows all the evidence that the defendant broke into the victim’s house and stole their TV and diamond-studded watch, the defendant’s attorney doesn’t come back with, “Well, he may have committed this one burglary. But he volunteers at the nursing home twice a month, he carries groceries for old ladies, he buys nice presents for his girlfriend, and he calls his mom every Mother’s Day.”
That wouldn’t cut it! If the man is guilty of the crime, he is sentenced to pay for it. It doesn’t matter that he sometimes goes to church. That’s not the question. The same is true when it comes to God’s judgment of sin. The question is not: Does your good stuff outweigh your junk? The question is: Are you in fact guilty of that lustful thought? Did you in fact spread that bit of gossip? Are you holding on to that bitter thought? If so, you’re guilty. Guilty as sin. You have a sin problem. Welcome to the club. Right now membership is estimated at about six billion.
So we’re guilty of sin, our sentence is death, and the damage is way too expensive for us to ever repay it. The premium for life assurance is much more than we could ever afford. That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news: Jesus paid the cost. Jesus paid the cost for you. He paid it for me. Jesus paid the premium for your life assurance policy.
Remember what we established was the wages of sin? Death. Sin brings death. That truth never wavers. But Jesus paid just that—He died to pay for our sins.
The reason He is able to do that is because He had no sin of His own. Think about it: He never had a lustful thought. He never held a grudge. He was never greedy. He never gossiped or slandered anyone. He never told even one “little white lie.” He was perfect, sinless. He did not deserve death. If ever anyone deserved life, it was Him. That’s how He was able to pay for our sin and buy forgiveness for us—He was innocent; He had no sin of His own.
But just because He was able to do something didn’t mean that He had to do it. Why would He die for you and me? Simple: He loves you! He loves me. He wants to be with us. Since our sin separated us from God, the only way for us to be reunited with Him was for His perfect Son to die in our place. God loves you so much that He’d rather die than live without you.
This is why Jesus came. His death on the cross was not an accident. Before He even went into the city where He was tortured and nailed to a cross, He repeatedly told His disciples exactly what would happen to Him. In Mark 10:33-34a, He said: “Listen, we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence Him to die and hand Him over to the Romans. They will mock Him, spit on Him, flog Him with a whip, and kill Him.”
Even though He was perfectly innocent, Jesus was arrested, beaten, made fun of, spit on, humiliated, whipped almost to the point of bleeding to death, and crucified. He didn’t have to; He chose to. He had the power to stop the whole thing. Jesus did it because He loves you and me. He did it so that we can be forgiven for everything we’ve ever done wrong and ever will do wrong. He did it to pay the premium for your life assurance. He did it because He’d rather go through hell than go to heaven without you. So what’s the catch? What’s the fine print? There’s not any. Next week Pastor Daryl will answer some questions that people often have about maintaining their life assurance policy.
Jesus’ suffering was not only physical, as horrible as that was. He enjoyed perfect peace and joy with God the Father in heaven, but He left that to come to earth and die. As our church planter John Coleman put it, “God pulled Himself apart” when Jesus left heaven to march toward the cross for us. Because of His great love, because of His sacrifice, you can have life assurance. Jesus Christ gives you total coverage, fully paid 100% up front. He signed His name in His own blood over every one of your sins.
[Drama]
There are still cards to be written, in your life and in mine. But we can rest in the completed work of Jesus Christ on the cross. We can have life assurance because even though the wages of sin is death, the rest of that verse reads, “but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Jesus paid the high cost of the premium so that you and I can enjoy the benefits.
But it gets even better! We saw in Mark 10 where Jesus described His suffering and death, but we didn’t finish verse 34. That verse in its entirety says: “They will mock Him, spit on Him, flog Him with a whip, and kill Him, but after three days He will rise again.” Romans 4:25 promises us: “He [Jesus] was handed over to die because of our sins, and He was raised to life to make us right with God.” That’s what Easter is all about! Three days after Jesus died for us, some friends of His went to mourn at His tomb. But He was gone! Some angels there told His friends that His body was gone because He had risen to life again. Soon they saw the risen Jesus with their own eyes when He revealed Himself to them, and to this moment the living Christ is showing His love and His power by changing lives all over the world every day.
Jesus wants to change your life. Maybe you’re feeling broken this morning—He wants to make you whole. You might be feeling worthless and dirty—He wants to wash you clean and show you how valuable you are to Him. Perhaps you’re stuck in bad habits or addictions and feel powerless to break free—Jesus wants to come to your rescue and give you freedom today. Maybe you’re hurting, and can’t see any relief from the pain—Jesus wants to heal you and give you that relief. You might feel like it’s too late for you—Jesus wants to assure you that He still has a plan for you, that He is your hope, that He can give you life. His invitation is open to everyone—His invitation is for you.
If you’ve never received the gift of life that Jesus gives freely to us, you can do so right now. I’d like to ask everyone right now to please bow your heads and close your eyes. I’m going to lead a prayer for those of you who want to receive your own personal life assurance right now. If you say this prayer silently in your heart, and really believe it, you can begin enjoying your eternal life today:
Dear God, I know that I’ve not lived a perfect life. I admit that I’ve done things I knew were wrong. But I believe that You love me so much that You gave Jesus to die in my place, to pay the penalty of my sins so I can be forgiven. I accept your gift of eternal life right now. I ask You to forgive me, to sign Your holy name over all my sins. Help me to follow You from this day on. Thank You Jesus. Amen.
If you just made that decision, we really want to help you get started in this new chapter of your life. So if you just said that prayer with me for the first time, please pull out your Friendship Card and check the box that says, “Today I made a first time decision to accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior,” and drop it in the basket on your way out the door. We have something we’d like to send to you to help you get started. Or you can just see Pastor Daryl or me after the worship service. Speaking of Pastor Daryl, I hope you’ll join us next Sunday as he teaches us about what happens when we need to make a claim on our life assurance policy.
Let’s stand together now and celebrate this Easter Sunday once more by singing “Amazing Love.”
[All Scripture is from the New Living Translation, second edition.]
