Everyone wants it. Few agree, even on what it is. Many people believe they have it when in fact, they do not. Only a very few find an authentic and lasting version of it. You may have guessed I am talking about security.

What is security and how do you get it? People the world over long for various forms of security. They want economic security, job security, marital security, national security, home security, security of social position, which is not at all the same thing as social security; and the list goes on and on. Some in the world long for the simple basics of life security, like food, water, and shelter. While others fret over keeping their extravagance and luxuries secure. And perhaps most telling, this past year has proved a high percentage of the entire human race craves health security, many to the point of sacrificing personal freedoms and most—if not all—of the other forms of their personal security.

Insecurity is the opposite of security and is the root of all human fear. Moreover, fear can easily metastasize into a contagious panic—even global panic—when the conditions are right. In fact, I would argue that as we take the time to contemplate the true nature of security in its myriad forms, we see how incredibly insecure we really are, at least in terms of any security men or their worldly institutions can offer. Misplaced faith and hope easily give way to fear which begins to rise within us like a malevolent incoming tide, because, despite maximum thought and effort, we are indeed the most insecure people living in a ferocious fallen world.

Whether they know to think about it or not, all people hope for some form of eternal security. They want the seemingly elusive authentic and lasting security. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, of course, offers freely this very thing so hoped for! So why is it that so few seem to want to hear of it, and instead want to seek their eternal security—to place their faith—everywhere but in the most logical place, which is in the gracious and loving God who created them?

The Apostle Paul gives the answer in bold and cutting language in Romans chapter one, verses 18–21:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.  For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.  Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Paul here is declaring unequivocally that all men, even the most pagan reprobates, know of God’s “invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature.”  Every person, Jew, and Gentile alike has the witness of heart and conscience by which he is able to discern basic right from wrong. And all people know to some degree that judgment—judgment from the One True God—is coming. They have a gnawing fear of coming accountability, hence the observable obsessions with worldly security and seeming willingness to believe the unbelievable.

So many have unbelievably convinced themselves they are basically good, and that a just God could not condemn “good” people to hell. But Jesus spoke much of coming judgment and hell. Here are but a few of His warnings:

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Matthew 7:13–14“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:24–27

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.  And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,  who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.  The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried,  and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.  And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’  But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.  And besides all this, between us and you, a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’  And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—  for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’  But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’  And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’  He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. Luke 16:19–31

Luke 16 testifies that when an unbeliever becomes conscious of the tragic reality of hell immediately after his own death, it is already too late to humble himself before the gospel of Christ and the cross, which he has spurned hundreds or thousands of times; it is too late to believe in Jesus as Lord; it is too late to beg for divine mercy. Worldly security did the rich man no good whatsoever at the end of his temporal life.

 Today, you can have eternal security by trusting in Christ. Accept His perfect sacrifice for your sin by faith. Acknowledge your sin and repent. In your repentance commit to submitting all your life and security to His Lordship. He is the single source of the only authentic and lasting security. He alone can assure you of eternal security