Can I be Saved and Certain?
Notes
Transcript
Handout
How to Strengthen your assurance of God's Secure Hold
Think about ordering online.
Or taking a vacation. Purchasing insurance to guarantee you will get what you order.
Doubt may be one of the Best arrows Satan has in his quiver.
If Satan can’t stop you from becoming a Christian, his next goal is to sideline you.
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
1. Salvation is a Relationship, not a business transaction. (v.12)
2. God cannot Lie.
18 so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.
3. Sources of Doubt
3a. Satan.
44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
Doubt discovers difficulties wich it never solves. Believe is the Word which speaks life.
3b. Unresolved Conviction.
Absence of good works, caring about Christ’s church, and building Kingdom relationships.
James Doty
James Doty
James Doty is a man of many talents, among them neurosurgeon, entrepreneur, and university professor. Early in his career he was heavily involved in developing the technology and bringing to market the Cyberknife. In the process he became wealthy beyond his wildest dreams.
Doty is also very generous. With a net worth of $75 million he pledged stock worth $30 million to charity.
Not long after the pledge his investments were hit hard by the dot.com crash of 2000-2001. Doty lost almost everything. The only thing left was the pledged stock.
His lawyers advised Doty that he could get out of the pledge. They told him people would understand that his circumstances had changed, and that they wouldn’t expect him to follow through.
Doty considered his options. He later said, “One of the persistent myths in our society is that money will make you happy. Growing up poor, I thought that money would give me everything I did not have: control, power, love. When I finally had all the money I had ever dreamed of, I discovered that it did not make me happy.”
Doty decided to follow through with his pledge and give away the last of his fortune. And how did he feel after the gift was given? Doty stated, “At that moment I realized that the only way that money can bring happiness is to give it away.”
You can add one more item to Doty’s list of talents: integrity. With the price much higher than he initially thought it would be Doty followed through on his commitment of giving. The irony is that only after the gift was given did James Doty find the happiness he had been searching for.
Note: James Doty is the founder and director of The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University.
17 So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.
3c. Lack of Clarity about the gift of Salvation.
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
Listen it wasn’t up to you in the first place. He made it a gift. You didn’t plan or prepare the good works, He did. When you don’t walk in those works, it’s a sign that you’re not walking with Him at that time. That means your fellowship is off. The Holy Spirit one feel right.
But that’s the trick of Satan. He loves to get you to prioritize the work you do rather than the One you walk with. He wants you to think about how you failed Him or how demanding He is rather than the joy He planned.
Listen if you’re a believer and you find yourself hating the things God has for you, that’s a heart issue, not a salvation issue. It’s a problem, but it’s not a salvation issue.
Think about this, a lost person, a worldly person doesn’t worry or care about the things of God. The fact that it bugs you is a sign that you’re a child of God who’s out of sorts with the Father. Your fighting the old nature versus the new. That’s part of growing into Christ, not that you aren’t His.
4. Solution, focus on the Source of Salvation. (v13)
Knowing is higher than believing. Knowing means there is no doubt.
Understanding surpasses belief. When you know, there is no room for doubt. If you find yourself questioning your salvation, begin by examining your relationship with Christ and His priorities for your life. Focus on the quality of your fellowship with Him rather than on how well you are adhering to commandments or tallying your sins.
28 so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
Illustration of a young child crossing the street holding her father’s hand. She is not safe because of her holding the father’s hand. Nor is he saved by her holding His hand. But that father will not let go of her no matter what.
Your are not secure in salvation because of the strength of your grip. You are secure because the Lord God’s hand is mighty to save.
Your Father in Heaven is better.
People focused on the flesh don’t worry about salvation. They remain blissfully ignorant.
Questions for Reflection:
How can focusing on our relationship with God instead of viewing salvation as a transaction help to combat doubt?
Share how knowing God cannot lie provides comfort and assurance?
What memory verses would help you combat doubt?
What tends to shift your focus from the source of our salvation?
How can you actively build Kingdom relationships, care for Christ's church, and engage in good works to strengthen our faith and combat doubt?