Jeremiah 7:4: “Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.'”

October 6th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The people of Jerusalem found great confidence in the temple building. But God was warning them that they were trusting in a false hope, mistakenly believing that the temple itself could save them. There are many people in my extended family today who are trusting in the religious traditions of the “mother church” to save them, but they are in the same position as the people of Judah that we read of here. No building, religious organization, denomination, ritual, membership, or birth can save a person and get them into heaven. What can save a person is believing in and accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, which will result in a radical change of life, a deep-seated change in our way of doing things. We go from a life of obeying our own wishes and desires to obeying God and following Him.

We had a conversation with a man once who was trusting in his life-long membership in his denominational church to get him into heaven. He had pretty much the standard beliefs of that denomination, and it became obvious that he was very unsure of his salvation. Simply put, his salvation was based on attendance and participation in certain religious sacraments. When we suggested that he had no real assurance of salvation, he politely said that he thought us rather presumptuous for saying that we knew that we were saved. “You can’t know until you die,” he said. “Isn’t that a little late to find out?” we asked. Then we read together the Apostle John’s very clear purpose in writing his gospel: “but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). John wrote again even more clearly in his first letter:

He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.” (1 John 5:12–13)

God desires for us to be sure of our salvation. Do you know that you have eternal life?

“LORD, we believe and trust in You and in what You have done to gain salvation for us. We recognize that there is salvation in no other name, so help us share that gift with others this day.”