20 - Who have vs those who do not

20. 1 John 5:12

The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life. — 
1 John 5:12

Writing in a Gideon publication, Garry O. Parker recalled an exciting day when he was in the sixth grade. Several visitors were passing out a special gift. As each class was called to the assembly room, these Gideons gave a New Testament to every child who promised to read it. Garry raised his hand and received his copy.

A few months later his mother passed away after a long illness, and the following years were unsettled and difficult. One February night in 1957, Garry was sitting in his room reading his New Testament. He came to 1 John 5:12: The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life.

He saw clearly that our eternal future depends on whether we have Jesus as our Savior and Lord, and that message pricked his heart like a needle. “In that moment,” Garry recalled, “God awakened my understanding, and I quietly put my trust in Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and Lord.
It was not an overly emotional moment but one of quiet certainty.

 It was the beginning of an adventure in faith with Jesus Christ, which has continued to be exciting every day.”

Garry became an effective pastor and now, retired, continues serving the Lord with this message:
This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The One who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life.
 

Great Assurance-of-Salvation Verses in the Bible

• I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord! (Rom. 8:38-39)
• I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to Him until that day. (2 Tim. 1:12)
• I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.... No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (John 10:28-29)

Memory Tip

The full 100 verses in this book include: (1) 1 John 5:11-12 about assurance of salvation; (2) and 1 John 5:14-15 about assurance of answered prayer. Why not memorize verse 13, too, and you’ll have an entire paragraph of assurance packed away forever in your mind.

The assurance of salvation is plainly written over the pages of the New Testament. Christ and His apostles lived in the air of certainty.... The epistles glow with the truth that we may know we possess salvation. —   Herbert Lockyer

* 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart.