Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine

Text: Romans 8:37-39

Theme: This hymn speaks of the believer’s assurance in Christ, and the perfect peace of soul that it brings.

Date: 06/08/2020 Sermon ID: #2

This evening, we have two texts. One is from the bible and the other from our Hymnal. In your hymnal turn to hymn #446. You'll notice that the music for this hymn was written by Phoebe Palmer Knapp and the words are by Fanny Crosby.

Many of you will recognize Fanny Crosby's name. She was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer, and a lifelong Methodist. We recognize her name because she wrote so many of the hymns that we sing. Fifteen of her works are in our hymnal. She has been referred to as the "Queen of Gospel Song Writers", and as the "Mother of modern congregational singing in America". She authored the texts of more than 8,000 gospel songs in her lifetime. Her capacity for work was incredible and often she would compose six or seven hymns a day. She is the most prolific hymn writer of Christendom. Her words and tunes have brought countless blessings to those who have sung her hymns.

What makes her story even more remarkable is that Fanny Crosby had been blind from birth.

In many instances musician friends would first compose the music and then ask Fanny to put words to the tune. That is the case with Blessed Assurance. The music for this hymn was composed by a close personal friend of Fanny Crosby. Her name was Phoebe Palmer Knapp. (Her husband was the founder of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.) One day Mrs. Knapp played a melody for Fanny and asked, "What does this tune say?"And without hesitation, Fanny immediately responded, "Why, that tune says, 'Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine." By they end of the visit, Fanny had completed the verses to this hymn. It is one of the great hymns of the faith.

It is great, because of the topic it speaks to. This hymn speaks of the believer's assurance in Christ, and the perfect peace of soul that brings.

There is no dearer topic to me than the majesty of the doctrine of assurance.

I. WHAT'S AT STAKE BY DENYING THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL SECURITY?

1. first, let me briefly define what I mean by the doctrine of eternal security

a. the doctrine states that the inner witness of the Holy Spirit and the outer witness of our faith and practice allows the follower of Christ to know they are redeemed and belong to Christ

2. for those who would deny the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer, several things are at stake

A. FIRST, THE BELIEVER’S ASSURANCE IS AT STAKE

1. if our eternal security hinges on anything but the finished work of Christ on the cross, we are in trouble

ILLUS. William Bradbury was correct when he wrote: My hope is built on nothing less then Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”

a. if we are saved by grace then we are also secured by grace

2. if you or I have any part in securing our salvation, it will be difficult to live with much assurance

a. a flimsy hope, yes

b. a final assurance, no

c. if I did something to merit grace, then I can do something to demerit grace

1) if you or I have any part in securing our salvation, we will always be asking the question: “Have I done enough?”

3. yet the Apostle John wrote an entire epistle to assure his congregation at Ephesus on how they could have assurance of their eternal home

“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.” (1 John 5:13, NIV)

a. where there is no assurance of one’s salvation, there is no peace

b. where there is no peace, there is no joy

c. where there is no joy, anxiousness rules one’s life

d. if my salvation is not a settled issue, how can I be anxious for nothing as the Apostle Paul instructs us to be in Phil. 4:6?

4. for those who would deny the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer the believer's assurance is at stake

B. SECOND, THE EXTENT OF GOD'S FORGIVENESS IS AT STAKE

1. when Christ died, which of your sins did He die for?

a. which sins were you forgiven of when you trusted Him as Savior?

b. if the sins you commit after becoming a Christian can annul your relationship with the Savior, clearly those sins were not covered at Calvary

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39, NIV)

2. forgiven is forgiven folks

a. to differentiate between forgiven and unforgiven sins is to make a distinction foreign to Scripture

b. the timing of your sins is irrelevant since they were all in the future from the perspective of the Cross

c. to disregard eternal security is to invalidate what happened at Calvary

3. for those who would deny the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer the extent of God’s forgiveness is at stake

C. THIRD, SALVATION BY FAITH ALONE IS AT STAKE

1. once personal righteousness, or religious rites are introduced into God’s plan of salvation, then salvation is no longer by faith alone

a. it becomes faith and works

2. to imply that salvation is maintained by good works is to take the daily burden of our salvation upon ourselves

a. if the believer must secure his or her own salvation by being good, the question is always, How good do you have to be?

1) have I gone to church enough times?

2) have I given enough money to the poor, or to my church or to missions?

3) have I lied one too many times?

b. and or course there is the difficulty of defining “goodness”

1) do you have to be “good” by 21st century, American cultural norms?

2) if so, you really don’t have to be very “good” do you?

3. for those who would deny the doctrine of the eternal security of the doctrine of salvation by faith alone is at stake

D. FORTH, THE CHURCH'S EVANGELISTIC EFFORT IS AT STAKE

1. Christians who are insecure about where they stand with God have a difficult time sharing god’s plan of salvation since they’re not sure of the plan themselves

a. they often find it impossible to get beyond their own struggle with salvation

2. how do you tell someone, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” if you’re not sure God’s plan really works?

3. for those who would deny the doctrine of the eternal security the church’s evangelistic effort is at stake

II. WHAT'S THE SOURCE OF THE DOCTRINE OF BLESSED ASSURANCE?

1. what gives the believer that ability to praise the Savior all day long?

2. surely, it is nothing less than the believer's assurance in Christ, and the perfect peace of soul that it brings

3. where does that assurance come from?

a. Fanny Crosby lists three reasons in the first stanza

A. FIRST, THE PURCHASE OF GOD IS THE SOURCE OF OUR ETERNAL SECURITY

1. thought it is difficult to know exactly what another person is thinking, I believe that Fanny is referring to the our adoption by God as sons

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8:15–16, NIV)

2. notice how Paul capitalizes on the relational value of adoption

a. we are encouraged to think of our heavenly Father in the most intimate way—as Abba Father

1) Abba is the Aramaic term for father and is a word of endearment that a young child would use for his or her father

2) it’s the equivalent of our word daddy

b. this relationship is contrasted to one of fear, which commonly existed between a slave and his master

c. God is not simply putting up with us as a master would with slaves

d. God desires an intimate relationship with us—as a loving father would with his child—and He has taken it upon Himself to remove every possible barrier

3. the Apostle Paul echos the same idea in his letter to the Galatians

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” (Galatians 4:4–5, NIV)

4. as a believer, you can never again be judged for your sins

a. that is a settled issue

1) it was settled the moment you were regenerated—born from above—by the Holy Spirit

2) at that moment the blood of Jesus covered your sins (atonement), and God the Father no longer saw you as a foul and unclean sinner, but as a pure and righteous son

b. it is so settled in the mind of God that at the moment of your salvation, knowing full and well all the sins you were yet to commit, God adopted you into His family

5. adopting us into His family was not simply a courtesy God was extending to poor wretched sinners—it was His goal from the very beginning.

a. and not just from our very beginning, but from the beginning of time

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—” (Ephesians 1:3–5, NIV)

6. the source of our blessed assurance is the purchase of God in adopting us as sons

B. SECOND, THE SPIRIT OF PROMISE IS THE SOURCE OF OUR ETERNAL SECURITY

ILLUS. Virtually everything you purchase these days—especially foods and medicines—come sealed in a variety of ways. And all come with a warning; This product is sealed for your protection. If the seal is broken or damaged, do not use this product. The protective seals on foods and medicines is just something we take for granted. The reason for all these protective seals dates back to 1982 and an event known as The Tylenol Murders. In September and October of that year seven people in the Chicago area died after taking pain-relief capsules that had been poisoned. The capsules had been laced with potassium cyanide. The case remains unsolved to this day. The result was that manufactures of anything that in ingested rushed to find ways to safety-seal their products. There is something comforting about seeing a seal on a product. It assures us that nothing inside the product container has been tampered with. We can be certain that the contents have been protected, regardless of where the container has been or who handled it last.

1. on a much grander scale, there is a supernatural seal assuring every true believer that no one has tampered with his or her eternal security

a. Paul said it this way:

“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:13–14, KJV 1900)

2. the term sealed is used various ways in the New Testament

a. in Matthew 27:66 we read that Jesus' tomb was sealed by the Romans

b. in the Book of Revelation we are told that Satan will be sealed in the abyss for one thousand years

c. also in the Book of Revelation there are several references to books that are sealed (Rev. 6)

d. we read that during the Tribulation God will place a seal on 144,000 people from the tribe of Israel (see Rev. 7)

3. in every case the term sealed carried with it the idea of protection and security

a. to seal something, whether it was a document or a tomb, or a person was to close it off from outside influences and interference

4. that is still true today

a. we seal windows and doors to keep the wind out

b. we seal letters to keep everyone out except the addressee

c. we seal our food to keep it fresh

5. as a believer, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit who indwells you

a. we know this to be true because in his second letter to the Corinthians the Apostle Paul does not qualify in any way this statement

“Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Corinthians 1:21–22, NIV)

6. only God can break the seal of the Holy Spirit in your life

a. the Scriptures clearly teach that He has already determined to leave the seal intact until our salvation is complete

1) this is what the Apostle means when he writes guaranteeing what is to come

7. how, then, could we possibly lose our salvation?

a. to be unsaved would mean to remove the seal and God ain't gonna do it

8. the source of our blessed assurance is the Spirit of Promise who indwells us

C. THIRD, THE BLOOD OF JESUS IS THE SOURCE OF OUR ETERNAL SECURITY

Romans 3:25-26 "God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." NIV

Romans 5:9-11 "Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." NIV

ILLUS. A few years ago, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was arguing over one of the most essential doctrines of the Bible—the penal substitutionary atonement of Christ. The issue received national attention after a Presbyterian committee working on a new version of the denomination’s hymn book decided against including “In Christ Alone (Our Hope is Found)” because authors Keith Getty and Stuart Townend would not agree to a change in wording of the second stanza. The committee wanted to change “Till on that cross as Jesus died/the wrath of God was satisfied” to “…as Jesus died/the love of God was magnified.” Well, yes. The love of God was magnified on the cross. But Townend and Getty are also correct when they write that the wrath of God was satisfied. That is expressly what the Apostle Paul says in Romans 5:9. Rev. W. Samford Turner, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of South Alabama opined at the time, “focus[ing] on the wrath of God ... may not be healthy as far as understanding who God is.” I think it’s extremely healthy. I’m sorry, but the older I get the more offended I become by professing Christians who are offended by the Gospel! The bible tells us that the lost will be offended by the Gospel. Lord help us when those who name the name of Christ are also offended by it!

1. it is the blood of Jesus, shed on the cross, that cleanses me from my sin and interposes between my unrighteousness and God’s wrath

a. the most powerful element in all the world is not iron or steel or titanium

b. the most powerful element in all the world is the blood of Jesus Christ

2. it is the most powerful element in all the world because it broke the power of sin in my life and canceled my debt to God

ILLUS. Another gospel hymn asks the question: "What can wash away my sin?" The answer comes ringing back, "Nothing but the blood of Jesus." Another question is asked, "What can make me whole again?" Again, the answer is, "Nothing but the blood of Jesus." The blood of Jesus is a "precious flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know; Nothing but the blood of Jesus."

Because God has purchased me, because God has sealed me, because God has justified me through the blood, I have blessed assurance that Jesus is mine. Has he done that for you?

Let me close with a word of warning. God’s grace is a marvelous gift, but we must never be presumptions with it. There is noting that is able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord—not even our own sin. But this grace does not give us licence!

Listen to what the Apostle Paul writes when he dealt with the same issue:

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:1–4, NIV)