Reliable Salvation

Some folks have a green thumb. My little brother has a greasy thumb. He loves to tinker on old motors. Today he has a job working for Pipestone County, but after work he still loves to “play” in his shop.
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I remember when he was barely a teenager, and we pulled an old ‘36 Dodge truck up from the pasture. The motor was shot, but there was an old Dodge car in the grove that Dad said he could take the motor out of. With a lot of time and just as much determination he got the motors swapped out and that old truck running again. Sure we had to pull it to get it started and it popped and banged a bit, but he was able to drive it around the yard. The tires barely held air, the signal lights didn’t work, and don’t even ask about the brakes.
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It was exciting to get that old truck running again, but we would not have trusted it to take us very far. There is no way I would want to rely on that truck for a cross county trip, let alone a ride to town. If I ever have to drive to California, I want something much more reliable than that old Dodge truck with rotten tires, rusty valves, and useless brakes.
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We just recently bought a used van. It is much newer than that old truck, but since I have not had it all that long, I still am not all that confident in it for such a long trip. I’ve had my pickup much longer, and it has been fairly reliable, but with around 190,000 on the odometer I’m not so sure I would want to take that either. We still have our car and it is fairly new and has much lower miles on it. That is probably the vehicle I would chose for the trip. Still even with fairly reliable transportation I realize I am not guaranteed to get there. The engine could blow, the transmission go out, or a computer chip could stop working. We could even have an accident.
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What if our hope for salvation was like a cross country car drive? Sadly, a lot of people think it is like that- thinking that, maybe I’ll make it, maybe I won’t. What if instead of just taking a car or a truck, God said, “just trust me, I’ll get you there.” Now God doesn’t do that for us when we plan a trip to California, but He does do that for us when it comes to eternity.
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John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” That makes it clear that if we are to have eternal life, we must believe on Jesus Christ. Instead, too many people try to find there own way to heaven and come up short as Romans 10:3 proves, “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”Let us realize if we depend on our own works, they are just as unreliable as that old truck from the pasture for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Some people suggest that Jesus does 90% of the saving and then we have to do the other 10%. That’s like saying God will get you 90% of the way to California, and then you have to drive that old truck the rest of the way. I’ve been in that truck. Trust me- it won’t make it even that far.
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an we really believe God when He promises to save us? Can we really have assurance of salvation? Folks, that is what faith and belief is all about. It is about putting your full confidence in Jesus Christ who is God in the flesh- trusting in Him alone to save you. Romans 3:3-4 makes it clear that God tells the truth and we can believe Him, “For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” I John 5:13 makes it clear that if we believe on Jesus Christ we can know that we are saved, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” (emphasis mine)
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If you are trusting in anything other than God’s power to save you, you have no reason to have any assurance. But notice the assurance that comes with exercising faith, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9).