Grace 02

Grace Series #2

Grace And Assurance

By Bill Denton

Introduction

A.  Illustration

When asked by interviewer Meg Grant to name three wishes, actress Candice Bergen, responded, "Aside from eternal life?"  --  Reader's Digest (September 2002), p. 93

1.  I think Candice Bergen's response might be more telling than we suspect

a.  within the human heart, there is a great desire for eternal life, some way to

     connect with the divine, and to have some assurance that whatever lies on the

     other side of death it will be something we want

b.  the problem is that I'm not so sure that many Christians are confident about

     what lies ahead

2.  The sad, often unspoken truth about too many Christians is that salvation is an iffy

     subject to them

B.  Milton Jones in Grace, The Heart of the Fire

1.  Describing his first visit to the Bible Chair at Texas Tech University

     When I first walked into the Bible Chair, a smiling coed greeted me and acted thrilled  that I would have chosen to pay this place a visit.  Patti asked the usual questions about hometown, major, dorm, etc.  Then she dropped the bomb.

     "Milt," she said.  "Are you saved?"

     She didn't ask if I went to church.  She didn't ask if I was religious or even a good guy.  Somehow she wanted to know the ultumate. She wanted to know if I had a blimpse of my eternal destination.

     Why hadn't anyone asked me this before?  I don't know.  My church attendance had been impeccable.  I knew by rote all the scriptures on how to become a Christian.  I had become a Christian.  I was a Christian.  Why then was this such a difficult question for me?

     I paused, pondered, and stumbled around in answering the question.  Patti knew she had asked a good one.  She could have let me off and changed the subject, but she didn't.  Oh, I longed for one more question about my major.  But the topic at hand was my salvation.  "Was Milton Jones saved?"

     I wanted to say "Yes!" but I didn't think that was true or an appropriate answer.  I couldn't say "No" because that was to admit more than I was ready to reveal.  And after all, I was a Christian.  Finally, I was able to mutter a feeble reply.  "I hope so" was the best answer I could conjure up for the most significant question of my life.

2.  I believe the struggle Milton Jones experienced trying to answer that question is a far

     more common struggle than anybody knows

a.  I say that from my personal experience and background

b.  I say that from my experience as a preacher

C.  We need to know that God's grace is the only thing that will produce spiritual confidence

I.  What Happens When Somebody Asks, "Are You Saved?"

A.  A lot of people seem to think that it is the height of presumption to give a positive answer

     to that question

1.  I know people whose concept of salvation is that it's an ever-shifting conclusion

a.  if they're having a good day and haven't done too much wrong, then they are

    inclined to believe that maybe, perhaps, possibly they're saved

b.  if they're having a bad day, said or did something wrong, then they are

     inclined to believe that probably, most-likely, almost surely they are lost

2.  The idea people have about God's judgment also produces this insecurity

a.  they see judgment day as a kind of weighing in experience

b.  God is going to put you on some sort of spiritual scale and weigh your good

     against your bad -- whatever the "weigh-in" result determines saved or lost

B.  Where does this thinking come from?

1.  Mostly, it comes from a faulty view of salvation that leaves out grace, and creates

     the idea that people are saved because they are either good enough or right enough

2.  This thinking more common than anyone wants to admit, and it directly contradicts

     the biblical declaration that we're saved by God's grace

a.  think about it -- if our idea is that we're saved because we're good enough or

    right enough, how does that square with grace which says God saves those

    who are undeserving and have earned nothing?

b.  still, this idea of "better and righter" often prevails over grace

C.  "Better and righter" thinking leads to some real problems

1.  Consider the person who thinks that salvation depends on their morals, ethics, or

     accomplishments

a.  the honest person is all too aware that however morally good they are, or

     however great their accomplishments - they have failed too many time

b.  that person may also know somebody else, perhaps from a different religious

     background, who is their moral or achievement equal (or superior!)

c.  what happens is that if he thinks salvation depends on those morals, ethics, or

     accomplishments, then there is always work to be done -- salvation is always

     just a bit ahead of where they are -- they're not quite there yet

2.  Consider the person who thinks that salvation depends on their being more right than

      other people

a.  but everybody recognize that "being right" depends on knowledge and insight

     that grows, develops, and sometimes changes over time

b.  what happens when you find somebody more right than you are

c.  again, "being right" becomes a burden with salvation just out of reach

D.  Now ask that person, "Are you saved?"

1.  They may want to raise their hand and say, "Yes!"

2.  But their conscience will fight them tooth and nail

a.  "Maybe, but you have done a few things wrong, or you haven't done some

     things you should have done"

b.  "Maybe, but how do you know you are right on every subject, that you have

     every important doctrine lined up exactly right?"

c.  "You can't really be sure, can you?"  "Don't claim something you don't think

     you've achieved"

d.  or worse, "You're not saved!"

3.  That is the dilemma too many "Christians" face

4.  And so we find ourselves in conflict with plain statements of scripture

1 John 5:13  --   13These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. NASB95

II.  Other Problems Add To Our Hesitation

A.  Churches of Christ tend to think we're saved if you're talking about the whole, but we tend

     to doubt salvation if you make the question personal and individual

1.  What a strange view, but there is some evidence that this is how we think

2.  It betrays the fact that we have a faulty view of the church

a.  Acts 2:37-41

 37Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39“For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” 41So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. NASB95

b.  Peter preached to individuals about the need to be saved, and it was the

    individuals who responded to his preaching

c.  individuals repented of their sins, were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ

    for the forgiveness of their sins, and received the gift of the Holy Spirit

d.  those individuals who were baptized were added to the body of saved people

     and that is what the church is -- is the assembly of saved individuals

B.  Listen carefully -- you can't have a saved church (as a whole) unless you have saved

     individuals, for the whole is made up of the individuals

1.  What is true about the individuals is true about the whole

2.  Nothing is true about the whole that is not true about the individuals

3.  How can we possibly think of ourselves as a whole as saved, but we can't think of

     ourselves as individuals as saved -- it makes no sense whatsoever

C.  Another problem is that for far too long we've been too focused on how wrong everybody

     else is and we've neglected to learn how to be right with God ourselves

1.  We have a historical track record of picking apart the beliefs of anybody and

     everybody who is not themselves part of our fellowship

2.  We have also turned on ourselves and picked apart the beliefs of people in our

     fellowship of churches, but who hold different ideas, opinions and beliefs from us

3.  Once we finished them off we then turned on ourselves with such a critical and

     abrasive approach that we left ourselves dazed in in doubt

D.  No wonder we have so many church members who can't say for sure they're saved

III.  What We Need Is A Good Dose Of Grace

A.  Illustration            (Our songbook, page 454)

            Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

            Let me hide myself in Thee;

            Let the water and the blood,

            From Thy riven side which flowed,

            Be of sin the double cure;

            Cleanse me from its guilt and pow'r.

            Not the labour of my hands

            Can fulfil Thy law’s demands;

            Could my zeal no respite know,

            Could my tears for ever flow,

            All for sin could not atone;

            Thou must save, and Thou alone.

            Nothing in my hand I bring,

            Simply to the cross I cling;

            Naked, come to Thee for dress;

            Helpless, look to Thee for grace;

            Vile, I to the fountain fly;

            Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

B.  The gospel of God's grace declares a salvation that does not depend on how good we are, or

      how right we are

1.  That's hard for some people to swallow, because in some ways, we like to think that

     we're good and right (and certainly God desires for us to be both)

2.  Grace says that God sent Jesus to die on the cross so that people who are not always

     good or right can be saved

3.  There is a salvation in which I can find comfort and assurance

C.  The testimony of scripture

1.  2 Timothy 1:8-10

 8Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, 9who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 10but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, NASB95

2.  How much clearer can it be?

a.  God does not save us based on what we do

b.  God saves us based on Jesus Christ

Conclusion

A.  How can a person confidently, with full assurance answer "Yes!" to the question, "Are you

      saved?"

1.  He can't if he's trying to be good enough or right enough -- something will always

     get in the way of that one

2.  He can if he understands that salvation depends on Jesus

a.  did Jesus die for your sins?

b.  have you believe in, trusted that sacrifice on your behalf?

c.  have you responded in faith, repenting of sins, confessing Jesus as God's Son,

     and being baptized for the forgiveness of your sins?

d.  was all of that done, not in an effort to good enough or right enough, but to

     show your trust in Jesus?

3.  Listen up!  You are saved!

B.  Receive God's gift that you can't earn and don't deserve - a gift of grace wrapped up in Jesus

     Christ who died to save you from your sins

1.  Jesus saves

2.  He will save you

3.  Can you confidently declare that he has saved you?

4.  If not, grace can provide a fully confident answer today

C.  Invitation