How To Be Sure I'm Saved
Introduction
I am absolutely 100% sure that when I die someday, I will be in Heaven! Now some might say, "Man, that's the most arrogant and self-pious thing I have ever heard anyone say. I mean there is no way you can really know for sure you have eternal life until you die...and then and only then will you find out if you've made it." But that's not what the Bible says. In fact, this same John who was used of the Lord to write the Gospel of John also declared, "These things have been written (the Word of God) that you may KNOW you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). You can know for certain that you have eternal life right now and some of us need to settle this issue once and for all!
Here's what I've discovered. I have discovered if you are unsure of your eternal salvation, it will affect you in at least 4 areas: Your service- One of two things will happen.
#1) Service for Christ will become a way of trying to gain assurance you are saved, rather than an act of true service because you are saved.
#2) Or, you'll not serve the Lord at all. D.L. Moody, the great evangelist of a century ago said, "I have never seen a Christian who doubted his salvation who was worth anything in the service of Christ." Your spirit- you will have very little joy as a believer until you get this matter settled. You will not be very excited or enthusiastic about your faith because you can't be enthusiastic about that which you are not sure has happened in your life. Your strength- when the tough times come you won't have that sense of a relationship with the Lord to rest and trust in Him. You will feel as if you are bearing the burden alone. You will forever be asking yourself, "Am I really saved? Am I going to be in Heaven some day? It will affect your eternal soul.
There are 4 important truths from God's word that give our hearts full assurance of eternal salvation. It is my prayer that you will walk away with a heart of full assurance today.
I. The Provision of God's Son
(John 3:14-17) When it comes to eternal security some of us are like the astronaut who was asked what it was like to be inside a space capsule and did he feel safe and secure inside? He responded by saying, "Well, it really makes you think when you know NASA has built everything according to the lowest bidder."
There was nothing cheap about the price God paid for our eternal salvation! Listen what Jesus said in John 3:14-16. He had just declared to Nicodemus, a religious ruler, that unless he was born again he would not see or enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Listen to the message Jesus proclaims in verse 14...Verse 14 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, (15) that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (16) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." What did Jesus mean when He spoke of a serpent being lifted up? Look at Numbers 21:4-9.
The Israelites were out in the desert and they got real discouraged and then began to talk against the Lord and against Moses. "Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die out here in this wilderness? There's no food...no water...and this 'ba-manna' bread is making us sick!" So the Lord sent "fiery serpents" into the camp and they bit the people and many of them died. So the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned against you and against God.
Pray that God will take away these fiery serpents from among us. So Moses prayed for them and then told them to do something very unusual. "Make a serpent out of bronze ... put it on a pole ... and all those who look upon the serpent shall live." And they did and they were.
What a picture of the cross! Every one of us was stung by sin. Every one of us was a victim to sins death sentence. But God provided the remedy. He sent His Son to hang on an old rugged cross that all who look upon Him and trust in Him, as God's provision for eternal life will be saved.
Look and live, my brother live. Look to Jesus now and live.
It's recorded in His word, Hallelujah. Tis' only that you look and live.
He came to pay a debt He didn't owe, because we had a debt we couldn't pay!
Jesus is God's only provision for the stinging bite of sin and death. You can know you have eternal life by trusting in God's only provision for your sin...His Son, Jesus Christ!
I need no other argument; I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died, and that He died for me.
II. The Promise of God's Word
(Romans 8:35-39) Some of us are uncertain about eternal salvation because we just flat do not know what God's Word says. A recent Gallup poll revealed... Only three out of five Christians could recall the names of the first four books of the New Testament, and only half of the Christians interviewed correctly identified Jesus as the person who delivered the Sermon on the Mount. A full 42 percent of the Christians interviewed said that without the government's laws, there would be no real guidelines for people to follow in daily life.
Let's take a little quiz...if I were to ask you, "Which of the following statements ARE NOT in the Bible"? What would you say?
Cleanliness is next to godliness.
God helps those who help themselves. Confession is good for the soul.
We are as prone to sin as sparks fly upward.
Money is the root of all evil. Honesty is the best policy.
None of them are!
I heard about a new minister was asked to teach a boys' class in the absence of the regular teacher. He decided to see what they knew, so he asked who knocked down the walls of Jericho. All the boys denied having done it, and the preacher was appalled by their ignorance. At the next deacons' meeting he told about the experience. "Not one of them knows who knocked down the walls of Jericho," he lamented. The group was silent until finally one seasoned veteran of disputes spoke up. "Preacher, this appears to be bothering you a lot. But I've known all those boys since they were born and they're good boys. If they said they didn't know, I believe them. Let's just take some money out of the repair and maintenance fund, fix the walls, and let it go at that."
Some of us have no assurance of salvation because we do not know the Word of God! What does the Word of God say about our eternal salvation? Let me point your attention to just one passage of Scripture in Romans 8:35-39. Notice the 17 things that cannot separate us from God's great love: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation? Distress? Persecution? Famine?
Nakedness? Peril? Sword? (38-39)... Death? Life? Angels? Principalities? Powers? Things present? Things to come? Height? Depth? Any Created thing? Folks, that's the promise of God's Word!
That's why just before Christian author Michael Farraday passed away he said, "Speculations I have none. I am resting on certainties. 'For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day.'"
That's why Fannie Crosby could sing, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood."
III. The Presence of God's Spirit
You and I know we are saved because we sense the Holy Spirit living within us. There are 3 great works of the Holy Spirit in our lives:
A. His Presence Convicts Us (John 16:7-8)
Verse 7 "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. (8) And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment": I know I am a believer because now when I sin I have a witness within me that convicts me of that sin.
I go out hunting on a day when it has been raining cats and dogs. I have slogged my way through the mud all day long and I am covered from head to foot. My old hunting dog is covered from head to foot. And then I come back to the house, go in my beautiful elegant living room, bust off my clods from my muddy boots, let the dog come in and shiver and shake mud all over the walls and carpet, take off my coveralls and drape them across the beautiful white upholstered couch - if I do all that and I don't immediately hear momma screaming at me, "You get out of this house and take that old muddy hound dog with you," then it is a pretty good indication that momma ain't home.
If you and I can bring the filth of sin into the presence of God and we don't immediately hear the Holy Spirit screaming at us to get that out of the presence of God - it's a pretty good sign that the Holy Spirit does not live within us. It's a pretty good sign we are not saved.
B. His Presence Seals Us (Eph. 1:13-14)
Verse 13 "In Him (Jesus) you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, (14) who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory."
It's interesting to study how many times and in what way the word "sealed" is used in the New Testament. In Matthew 27:66 it says the tomb of Jesus was sealed by the Romans. In Revelation we are told that Satan will be sealed in the abyss for a thousand years.
In Revelation 6 it speaks of the books that were sealed. During the Tribulation, God will place a seal on the 144,000 Jewish evangelists that will proclaim the Messiah. In every case the term sealed carried with it the idea of security and protection...to close it off from outside influences and interferences.
C. His Presence Assures Us (Rom. 8:16)
(Verse16) "The Spirit Himself also bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." Oh the reality of His presence in my life
Before I got saved His presence called me
When I got saved His presence cleansed me
When I am in sin His presence convicts me
When I continue in sin His presence chastens me
When I am in despair His presence cheers me
When I am broken-hearted His presence comforts me
When I am growing cold His presence challenges me
When I begin to stray His presence corrects me
When I am filled with anger His presence controls me
When I need to serve His presence compels me
When I am confused His presence councils me
But when I begin to doubt His presence convinces me
That I am a child of God!
IV. The Power of God's Sovereignty
(John 10:27-29) C.H. Spurgeon- "There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God's sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that sovereignty overrules them, and that sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children ought to more earnestly contend to than the doctrine of their Master over all creation--the Kingship of God over all the works of His own hands--the Throne of God and His right to sit upon that throne...for it is God upon the Throne whom we trust.
Look at our Scripture text today...notice the double grip of a sovereign God on your life and mine. Verse 27 "My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow Me. (28) And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither will anyone snatch them out of My hand. (29) My Father who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. (30) I and My Father are One."
Let me ask you a question...When Noah built the ark did he install any pegs on the outside of the ark and proclaim, "The storm and the flood of God's judgment is coming! Now, if you'll just hang on to these pegs through the storm, you'll be saved." NO! He preached, "Get inside! The floods are coming! Judgment is on its way. You'll be safe and secure inside!" Safety, security, and salvation were ONLY found inside the ark!
Your salvation is not dependent on you holding on to God, but on our being securely held by the power of a sovereign God and knowing you are safe and secure inside an ark called JESUS. I find it hard to believe that my oldest son is 25 and I could potentially be a grandpa in the next few years.
When my kids were small, we'd go on walks together. There were times when they would put out their little hand and I would grasp their hand with mine...they wanted to hold my hand and to know that I was holding their hand. Invariably, they would stumble from time to time, but they never fell because I had them in MY grip. There were times I had hold of their hand but there was no "reciprocal grip." On other occasions they wanted to be completely free from my grip. They would even fight against my grip. But oh no! In every instance I had a death grip on them. You see I knew what they wanted to do. They wanted to wander. They wanted to run across a busy street or go a different direction than I wanted to go. But I loved them too much to ever let them escape my grip.
You and I cannot escape the double-grip of the Lord Jesus and the Heavenly Father...as well as the Spirit who seals us unto the day of redemption even if we wanted to. It's all about a sovereign God holding us - not us holding on to Him. It is because of these 4 truths that you can proclaim, "I know that I know that I know Jesus Christ is my Savior and Heaven will be my home."