Question Series

Assurance of Salvation

Ok I want all of my Clemson fans on this side

and all of my Carolina fans on the other side.

and I want all of my undecided or don’t care about either team members to be a third group over here.

Clemson & Carolina fans, I want you to present to the group why your team is the best and why the undecided fans should choose your team.

Undecided group, I want you to argue why nobody should be watching or paying attention to football.

GO!

DEBRIEF:

was anyone swayed to change their opinion?

Why not? Are you always going to be a fan of that team?

What if your spouse one day is a fan of Clemson/Carolina (opposite of you) would you change your fandom for them?

why or why not?

Point: Football is entertainment. It has not bearing on our lives.

it’s simply fun.

Yet if I had to guess, supporting a team is one area that most of us if not all of us would say, I am assured of my fandom.

You will never sway me to another team.

For me, I’m locked in with Clemson.

Let’s say Clemson is erased from history 10 years from now, I will honestly probably just stop pulling for anybody.

Why?

Because they are the team I pull for. Nobody else gets my time the way they do.

So in life, something as inconsequential as football, we still see a commitment from fans that won’t be broken.

What about with our faith?

Am I always going to be committed to Jesus?

Tonight I’d like us to consider this question...

“How do I know I said or did the right things to be saved?”

Get in new groups of 3-4 tonight and I want you to answer this question and a few others on the screen.

Here they are.

What is Salvation?

What is assurance of Salvation?

What would make you question someone’s salvation who claims to be saved?

How can I be assured of my own salvation?

What are some things that make me doubt my salvation?

Does God want me to be assured of my salvation?

___________________________________________________________________

LESSON:

How do I know I said or did the right things to be saved?

This question is reflective.

It’s looking to the past for comfort in the present.

It’s saying, How do I know I’m good today based on something I did in the past?

Or, How do I know that what I did in the past is enough for salvation today?

There’s so much we could talk about here and maybe we will get more into it from other questions.

But here’s what I want to focus on tonight.

Are you assured of God’s love for you?

There are an alarming number of people in the church today who think they are going to heaven because of something they did 40 years ago, but care nothing about what they have done in that 40 year time.

To say that differently.

There are too many people who say, “Yeah… I prayed a prayer once...” But then that’s the end of the story!

There’s nothing else.

No passion for Jesus today.

No desire to read his word.

No desire to talk to Him.

Ladies, if a guy came up to you one day and asked you out and you said Yes!

Then he never talks to you again.

What is the status of the relationship?

Guys same question?

Why would we think it’s different with God?

At the same time, could you give the person you love gifts every single day.

Could you buy them things and do things for them every day and still not have a good relationship with them?

Absolutely!

Why?

Because at the end of the day, relationships aren’t about doing things.

It’s about two people’s hearts aimed in the same direction.

And yet, in our relationship with God, we are constantly aiming our hearts in other directions aren’t we?

so really one sub question to our big question today is this:

Am I still saved if I have sinned today?

If I’ve aimed my heart away from God, but I have given Him my life at some point, am I still saved?

Do you know God’s love for you?

This is perhaps the biggest question with regard to assurance.

I think most of us just do not understand the depth of God’s love.

We never will fully, but man how deep the father’s love for us that He died on a cross.

The rejection felt by God.

The shame

The humiliation.

Yet the Love still the same.

John 15:9 “9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”

Jesus doesn’t sit around wondering if God the father loves Him. He is assured of it. and he wants us to have that assurance as well.

Galatians 2:20 “20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

If Christ has also been placed in those of us who belong to Christ, then we also need not wonder about Jesus’ love for us.

We have Christ; therefore, we have God’s love.

Dude, the biggest step towards be assured of your salvation is first understanding the relentless love of God.

How much He loves us as we sang about tonight.

If you’re not assured of God’s love for you, then you will act in ways that seek his approval.

In other words, rather than living loved, living from God’s approval of you, you are living lost, hoping to find approval.

One way of living is living from acceptance.

The other is self-preservation.

Secondly, the hard times you experience in life will solidify your faith.

2. Friction and hard time sin life solidify your trust.

Paul said.

2 Timothy 1:12 “12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.”

Religion commands us to change our behavior, but it cannot change our hearts.

It can tell you what to do, but it can’t make you love to do the right thing.

Hard times though show you what you really believe.

Like we talked about Sunday with Abraham on the mountain,

The same guy who was freaking out internally about sacrificing His son was also the guy who told His servants

“We will come back to you.”

The same Paul who hated Christians and persecuted them, one day became persecuted himself and He told Paul, “I know whom I have believed.”

And I can say the same guys.

Hard times show you what you really trust in.

I promise you, the more life you live, the more you will see Jesus’ love for you.

And the more you will be assured of your salvation.

3. What is your desire?

You’re not going to follow Jesus perfectly.

You’re not going to read your bible and pray every day.

You’re not going to tell everyone you pass in school about Jesus.

But here’s a simple question.

Do you want to?

Is there something inside of you that stirs and says yes… I want Jesus.

I want more of Him than I had today.

That desire is evidence you are in Christ and He is in you.

Jesus wants to be known by you and He is constantly making Himself known to you.

If you want to know Him too, then friends, be assured of your salvation.

In the 17th century, John Bunyan wrote one of the most famous Christian books ever to exist “Pilgrim’s progress.”

In it, he writes an allegory about the Christian life.

He got in trouble and even thrown in prison for his preaching of God’s grace.

From prison Bunyan stated, “If people really see that Christ has removed the fear of punishment from them by taking it into Himself, they won’t do whatever they want, they’ll do whatever HE wants.”

1 John 5:13 “13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

God’s desire is that we know whose we are.

Where we will belong.

1 John 5:10-12 “10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

“The best proof that we were saved in the past is our posture in the present.”

J D Greear.

If you are seeking Him today, then have assurance.

You are in Christ.