Once you put your faith in Jesus, what should you expect? If you are listening for the crashing of thunder or the blaring of trumpets, you’ll be disappointed. What happens when we confess our sins to God, ask His forgiveness and invite Jesus into our lives to be Lord and Savior? We are given three guarantees. We are accepted, secure and significant.
It’s like getting a receipt for payment. In this case it is payment for our sins and forgiveness from God. This rock solid, take it to the bank, eternal and absolute guarantee is written down, never to be over tuned or taken away. Three things happen to you.
YOU ARE ACCEPTED
If you’ve ever joined a club or organization there’s that feeling of being an outsider. Maybe you don’t know what’s going on, or you’re unfamiliar with the culture. Through Jesus you become a member of God’s family, one of His children. You are a full member in good standing, with full rights and privileges as an heir to God’s Kingdom. You are a brother with Christ.
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15)
God pours out His love for you
Nothing is holding you outside the gates of heaven. You haven’t earned it and you can’t buy it and you don’t deserve it, but God’s love is poured out just by exercising an act of faith. Accepting Jesus as your Savior is the key.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (Romans 5:1)
Whosoever believes in Him shall not parish, this is what Jesus told Nicodemus the Pharisee and what He promises us as well. We become part of something much bigger than ourselves.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27)
Because we are accepted and are a part of the family, we can go to our Heavenly Father and, like a shall child crawling up on daddy’s knee, we can tell him our troubles and ask for help.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)
YOU ARE SECURE
Having been accepted and adopted into the family, you need not worry about your future. Jesus paid the price for your sin and nothing is going to change that.
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
That seal of ownership is powerful and cannot be broken. We are all sinful creatures and just because we have been adopted into God’s family, through the Lord Jesus Christ, that does not mean we are free from sin. No, we are free from the consequences of our sin, while we strive to be like Jesus.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)
YOU ARE SIGNIFICANT
As accepted and secure members of the Kingdom, believers are called to spread the word to others. It’s a task not to be taken lightly, but to be embraced as a privilege. Jesus taught His twelve disciples to share the faith. We are called to do the same. That makes us significant to God’s unfolding plan.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)
As joint heirs with Christ, believers are indeed significant members of the family. Jesus said he calls us brothers (and sisters). We are not servants but friends. We are with him forever.
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, (Ephesians 2;6)
Accepted, secure and significant are God’s promises to those who have the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. A simple act of faith can change all of eternity for you and me.