Safety, Certainty, and Enjoyment for the Christian

Safety, Certainty, and Enjoyment for the Christian

By George Cutting

Table of Contents

• Which Class Are You Traveling?
• Safety: The Way Of Salvation
• Certainty: The Assurance Of Salvation
• Enjoyment: The Joy Of Salvation

Which Class Are You Traveling?

As you are traveling through time toward eternity, I would like to ask, "Which class are you traveling?" There are only three:

1. First Class travelers are eternally saved from their sins, and they know it.
2. Second Class travelers are not sure of their salvation but want to be sure.
3. Third Class travelers are unsaved and don’t care about their future.

A man came running through the airport just in time to catch his flight. Gasping for breath, he took his seat on the plane as the engines started.
“You just made it,” said the passenger seated next to him.
“Yes,” he replied, “the next flight is four hours from now. It was worth the run to save four hours.”

I wonder if he’s as concerned about eternity as he is about those four hours! Intelligent men and women all over the world today are carefully looking after their interests in this life but are blind to eternity. Despite God’s love for man, His hatred of sin, the brevity of life, and the terror of judgment after death, people hurry on as if there were no God, no sin, no death, no judgment, no heaven, and no hell. If you are like this, I hope this booklet will open your eyes to the danger of your position. Don’t travel through life third class!

But you may say, “It’s not that I don’t care about the welfare of my soul. I’m just not sure. I guess you’d call me a second class passenger because I’m uncertain.” Both indifference and uncertainty result from unbelief. Indifference comes from unbelief about sin and how it condemns man. Uncertainty comes from unbelief about God’s plan to save man. The more you are concerned about your eternal future, the more unhappy you will be until you know for certain that you are eternally saved.

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mk. 8:36).

Suppose you are driving far from home. You are low on gas, so you stop to ask a passerby the way to the nearest gas station. He says, “I think a left turn will get you there.” Then he says, “I hope that’s right.” Would his directions satisfy you? Unless you have certainty about it, every mile down that road will increase your anxiety. People can really get sick worrying about the eternal safety of their souls!

One poet expresses the value of the human soul this way:

To lose your wealth is much.
To lose your health is more.
To lose your soul is such a loss
That no man can restore.

I want to show you three things from the Bible: the way of salvation (Acts 16:17), the knowledge of salvation (Lk. 1:77), and the joy of salvation (Ps. 51:12). A person might know the way of salvation without knowing for sure that he, himself, is saved. Also, he might know for sure that he is saved without having the joy that should accompany that knowledge.