1 John 5, verses 11-13. The Bible says, And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that ye have eternal life. This session, I want to really get down to the nuts and bolts of this matter of assurance. of salvation i’m going to read to you a testimony it came uh it’s in a um a newsletter i’m hold i’m covering the newsletter up here but a newsletter that will articulate the stories that we come across the experiences that we have and maybe you may find a similarity in this testimony but i
thought it would help to read this versus uh just giving you one right off the cuff or giving you a hypothetical situation so listen carefully and see if you find any resemblance in this testimony i’m going to cover i’m going to change some of the names and change some of the uh the titles here this is a 13 this is a young lady uh and she says i first went to this particular home at the age of
13 she went to a children’s home i went to this particular home at the age of 13 though i was raised in a good Christian home and went to Christian schools the devil had a strong hold on me using whatever he could to pull me away from my family and God I know I hurt my family more than I could ever begin to imagine as a parent I know the love and pain it must have taken for my parents
to exhaust every option available and have nothing left but to take me to this girl’s home I stayed there for a minimum of 15 months during that time I went from being bitter and hateful toward my parents, God and the staff to conforming good enough to the rules to make my parents and pastor believe I would be OK if I went home in a short time. I was worse than I was at first. And that
led me back to this girl’s home a second time. That was a bitter, sweet reunion. I had always loved everyone at this home and missed them very much. I was welcomed back with more love and many
hugs, but my heart was still hard and I was very stubborn. I never changed. I went home less than year later just as rebellious as the first day I stepped into the girls home I did not realize that I would cause more heartache for myself and those who loved me in the coming years than I had brought in the previous years once I got back home my parents thought they knew how to keep an eye on me
I had gotten a job after school from which my parents dropped me off and picked me up however they did not know I was not always at work the whole time as a result I was 17 years old and six months pregnant when I graduated from high school. I thought I was in love. So less than a month later, I was married.
We had to move to another state because he was in the army. That made things even worse because I was not really accountable to anyone but God and I was busy ignoring him. I always knew I was living wrong and I would occasionally end up back in a good church, but that never lasted long. Our lifestyle eventually landed us in jail and our children
in DSS custody. That was a real eye-opener for me. I realized then it was not just my life, I was scarring. When we got out of jail, my husband still wanted to lead
the same lifestyle that got us in trouble. Tragically, this led to a divorce. I was still very worldly and ungodly. I was searching so hard to find something
to fill the emptiness I felt. I moved in with a girl I met from work and spent nine months in drunken debauchery. I again ended up as an unwed mother. Because I was raised with biblical truth and morals,
I always knew the difference between right and wrong. I also knew how to outwardly conform, though my heart was wicked. My life never changed. I was weary enough of my sin to hear God’s call
and my parents nagging to get back into church. I had kept in contact with the staff at the girls’ home, and they helped me find a church in which I am now a member. On Sunday morning, this particular Sunday of September, The pastor at that church I had just started attending preached a message titled, There is something that we can be assured of. He closed his message by giving this list and said point blank,
You are not saved if… Number one, there is no reality of Christ in your life. Number two, you are not saved if there is no change.
Number three, you are not saved if there is no commitment to God in your life. Number four, you are not saved if there is no chastisement. Number five, you are not saved if there is no conformity to God.
And then number six, he said you are not saved if there is no conflict within. This girl said, I could not answer a wholehearted yes to any of those propositions. You have heard that you have to get lost in order to be saved. I guess because I clung to a previous profession of faith,
I had never actually seen how utterly lost I was. When I doubted my salvation in the past, the devil quickly pushed the thoughts away. As with anyone getting saved, did not make my life pretty and smooth.
I deal daily with sins and scars of my past. Now I have a whole new life, a whole new family of God, friends to help me and guide me in the right direction and who pray for me and my girls. Do not ever think it is too late to be saved.
This testimony is one that is not uncommon. In fact, we would hear something like this on a regular basis, especially when you begin to touch on the matter of assurance of salvation. Whenever you begin to deal with this matter, you find that people who doubt their salvation is something that is not uncommon.
One of the problems with this testimony is that the basis of their salvation, the basis of getting assurance of salvation, is based upon the wrong thing. The Bible tells us in 1 John 5, verses 11-13, the verses that we read, that there is something in which we are to base our confidence and our assurance upon, we get our assurance from. And the Bible tells us that this matter of assurance really is something that is simple.
Now the handout we gave you, you can maybe tuck it aside. We won’t necessarily go through this. I was doing this for a different group in mind and something completely different.
And I’m going to skip a lot of this and get right down to the nuts and bolts of this. I want to make it, I want to do the application part. I want to make this as practical as it ought to be.
Truth must be practical. If it’s not practical, it’s not profitable. This matter of assurance, I even put on this handout that you have, it really is a simple matter.
And we need to understand this from the very outset. When we talk about salvation, we’re talking about something that is extremely simple. So when we talk about assurance of salvation, we are also talking about something that is extremely simple.
This is not complicated. There was one who came to me who was a pastor’s wife. And this pastor’s wife, who was in her 70s, said to me, Brother Ingram, would you pray for me?
She said, here I’m in my 70s, and I’ve been a pastor’s wife most of my life. But she says, in these later years of my life, I am struggling with whether or not I’m even saved. She said, it just wrecks my day.
It just ruins my week. She says, I feel like I cannot help others. I cannot minister to others.
I cannot have an effective prayer life. I cannot go soul winning with confidence that God is going to work because I’m not even sure if I am saved. Well, it’s a simple matter.
The Bible does tell us that there is great simplicity that is in Christ. And one of the things that Satan is trying to do in 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 3 is rob us of the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ. Understand, the issue that we’re dealing with is really one of simplicity.
Have you ever doubted your salvation? Have you ever wondered as to whether or not you really, truly were saved? Well, what does it mean to have assurance of salvation?
What does this matter of assurance really talk about? What does it mean? Assurance of salvation is simply having a confidence and certainty that the believer has been accepted by faith, or that when he accepts by faith, God’s promised security that God has done it. Thus, assurance of one’s salvation is not based upon how one performs, feels, acts, or thinks,
but rather on Christ’s finished work sustained by His Word. Let me ask you this question. Is it possible for you to be saved and not know it?
Is that possible? The answer is yes. That’s why in 1 John chapter number 5, John writes, These things, in verse 13, have I written unto you that believe.
These things have I written unto you that are saved. These things have I written unto you who are saved. Know that you’re saved.
See, it is possible to be saved and not know it. Hence, that’s why people sometimes doubt as to whether or not they’re saved. They will say, I’m not sure if I am saved.
I don’t know if I’m saved. So it is possible to be saved and not know it. Is it God’s will for you to be saved?
Yes or no? Yes. Is it God’s will for you to know you’re saved?
Well, sure. So what we’re talking about is something that is the will of God. God wants you to be saved.
God wants you to know that you’re saved. And the key to understanding real revival is this matter of assurance of salvation. I’m convinced of this. If you do not know if you’re saved, you will not know what Jesus spoke of in John 10.10,
that abundant Christian life, that revived normal Christian life. You can’t. You cannot know revival.
You cannot know about the greater works. You cannot know about the leading of the Holy Spirit in a full and filling way until we know this matter of assurance of salvation. In this matter of assurance, what is it that is key for us in getting assurance?
What is key to helping us know that we are saved? The key is the gospel. When we talk about salvation, what we’re talking about is how can someone be saved? When we talk about assurance,
we’re talking about how can someone know that they’re saved. Before you can know that you’re saved, we’ve got to back up, we’ve got to talk about this matter, the gospel. The gospel means good news, and it literally is good news.
It is the good news of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Many times people will say, if you’ve ever talked to anybody who’s lost, have you ever been out soul winning? Any of you have ever gone soul winning, talked to somebody lost?
Have you ever talked to somebody about the Lord, about eternity, about getting saved? And you hear somebody say something like this, Oh, I believe in God. You ever heard that? Well, what they mean sometimes, a person who you talk to on the streets, who is unchurched, who’s not really familiar with the Bible and Bible truth, when you talk to them about eternity, you talk to them about getting saved, they may say something like this,
I believe in God. And what they’re saying is simply, I understand who God is. I understand who God is I understand that there’s a God but listen young person is it possible to understand who God is and still die and go to hell is that possible? yeah sure so when the Bible tells us in Acts 16 verse 31 believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved the Bible is talking about something more than simply understanding who God is
it is important that you understand who He is but believing means more than understanding Sometimes when people say, I believe, they’re just simply saying, I understand. I believe Abraham Lincoln was a president, but he doesn’t change my life on a regular basis. And God has not changed a lot of people’s life because they do not believe in Him the way the Bible puts it.
They simply understand. Sometimes people say, I believe in God. I believe in Jesus.
And what they’re simply saying is, I agree with what Jesus says. I agree with the gospel. I agree that I’m a sinner.
I agree that I deserve hell. I agree that only Jesus can save me. But think with me. Is it possible to understand and even agree with the gospel,
but still die and go to hell? Is that possible? Well, is it?
Sure. Judas Iscariot did. So when the Bible says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, it is telling us something more than just understanding and agreeing. When the Bible says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,
what is the Bible telling us? Well, it’s the idea of faith, the concept of faith. It’s the idea of dependence.
And you’ve heard that many times. Believing is depending upon Jesus to be your Savior. See, this matter of salvation, it hinges upon what God promises.
What does God promise with respect to salvation? He promises, whosoever shall call upon Him might be saved. Is that what He promises?
No. Whosoever shall call shall be saved. We know verse 14 of Romans 10 tells us that this is the matter of depending upon Jesus.
That’s what it means to call. Acts 16.30, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? The answer was verse 31, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
So it hinges upon what God says, what God promises. In salvation we have a part. What is our part in salvation?
Is our part to do the best we can? Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 tells us no. It’s not by our works.
Titus 3, 5, it’s not by our works. What is our part when it comes to salvation? Our part is to believe what God says.
God says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. So what is our part? Our part is a faith issue.
It’s a faith part. So what are we to do in order to obtain Bible salvation from sin and hell? Our responsibility is to depend upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is salvation. Salvation is answering how can we be saved. The condition to being saved is believing the promise.
Believing on Jesus. The promise is you’ll have eternal life. When do you get eternal life?
The moment you believe. The moment you depend. So then when we talk about this matter of salvation, we recognize you must understand, you must agree, but you must also depend upon certain truth.
It’s not enough just to understand. It’s not enough just to agree. You must depend, you must exercise by your will that you’re going to choose to trust, depend, believe upon Jesus for salvation.
If a person does not understand the right facts, you cannot be saved. If you understand the facts, but you do not agree with the facts, you cannot be saved. You cannot understand that I’m a sinner, but you say, I don’t agree with that.
I’m really not a sinner. I understand that the Bible says that I’ll go to hell if I’m not saved, but I don’t agree with that. You can’t be saved if you understand and don’t agree.
You’ve got to understand, agree, and then make a choice to depend only upon Jesus to save you. And what is God’s promise to those who believe on Him? What is God’s promise?
You will have eternal life. Alright, then we come to this matter of assurance. If salvation is answering the question, what do I have to do to be saved?
Then assurance is answering the question, how can I know it? salvation is telling us how we can be saved. How can we be saved?
We can be saved by depending upon… Well, who’s the only one who can save you? Jesus.
Who died for your sins? Who’s the only one who can save you? So, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Acts 16, 31, believe on thee, Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. So how is it that we are saved? We’re saved by depending upon Jesus.
Are you with me? You’re not with me. I’ll throw a hymnal at you.
Are you with me? You’ve got to get this. Alright?
So salvation is clarifying what do we have to do to get saved? What do we have to do to get saved? Somebody comes up to you and they ask, What do I have to do to get saved?
What is your response? Depend upon the Lord Jesus Christ. See, it’s not what we do, but our responsibility is to make a decision.
The decision is, depend upon Jesus and thou shalt be saved. Alright, so this matter of assurance, how can someone know that he is saved? The answer is found in the promises.
In the promises of the gospel. We’ve got to go right back to the promises. The focus of 1 John 5, verses 11-13 is the record.
Notice what it says. in verse number 11, and this is the record. The record is the testimony. So what we’re doing is we’re focusing our faith
on the object of what God says. See, the key to having assurance is focusing on the promises in the gospel. Remember the testimony of the young lady that we looked at? The preacher said,
you are not saved if these things are not in your life. If you do not have a changed life. If you do not have commitment to God in your life. if you do not have love for the brethren within your life,
if you don’t have these things, then you cannot be saved. 1 John 5 doesn’t say that. 1 John 5 tells us that the way we know we’re saved is not by looking at your life, but it’s by looking at what He says. Someone comes up to me every so often,
they’ll say, Brother Ingram, I’m not sure if I’m saved. Would you pray with me that we can just nail it down and if I didn’t get saved before, I really want to get saved now. And Ken, would you just pray with me and let me accept Jesus right now and do it?
My answer is, no way. Uh-uh. Because the Bible teaches us in 1 John 5 that if you doubt the fact that you are saved, if you doubt what God promises, what does God promise? God promises,
He that hath the Son hath… What is it, verse number 12? Life.
And if you doubt that, you’re calling God a liar. So I’m not going to help you call God a liar. Somebody came to me, a college student, a preacher boy in college, came up and said, Brother Ringram, I ask God to save me almost every revival meeting.
I sit there and I say, Lord, if I didn’t mean it then, I mean it now. And he says, I’ve asked the Lord to save me so many times, I don’t even know how many times I’ve prayed and I’ve asked God to save me. I said, well, how is it working for you?
He says, I’m still just as confused as I ever was. And here’s a young man who’s in college training for the ministry, but he is wrecked on the inside because he doesn’t have that confidence. He doesn’t have the assurance. And the reason why many lack the assurance of whether or not they are saved
is because they’re not quite certain as to what a person has to do in order to get saved. What do you have to do to get saved? I’m going to keep reiterating this.
What do you have to do to get saved? The answer really is nothing. Christ did everything for salvation But you have a choice You have a decision to make in order to get saved The decision is Who are you going to depend upon?
Are you going to depend upon yourself? Or are you going to depend upon Christ? Are you going to depend upon your baptism?
Or are you going to depend upon Christ? Are you going to for salvation really makes assurance just as easy did i tell you that this matter of salvation is very simple and this matter of assurance is extremely simple why because it has everything to do with jesus christ this is not about how you live i had an assistant pastor come up to me in a revival meeting it was actually in the invitation and i did my invitation part and i turned it over
to the pastor and stepped down and and the assistant pastor was standing down front taking people as they came and he stepped right over to me he said can i talk to you i said sure and we walked right out i figured he was ticked off at something i said and he needed to make it right and i was ready to forgive him and move right on but i was shocked he said i need to talk to you because he says i
don’t know that i’m saved i said why don’t you know you’re saved he said because i don’t know if there’s been a change in my life since I got saved. I don’t know if I love the brethren. I don’t know if I am really committed to God as I should be. I don’t know if there’s really chastisement
in my life. I don’t know if there’s really that conflict taking place that the Bible teaches will take place within the believers. I don’t know if it’s there. The next night, there was an evangelist,
a well-known evangelist. His daughter was in the, an adult daughter was in the service and came up to my wife and she said the next night in the invitation she said can you come and let me talk to you and they walked out she said to my wife i just don’t know if i’m saved and this goes back years one lady came down the aisle one time she was in her 70s her name was
ethel she came down and i stepped out and i said yes ma’am what’d you come forward for she says i’m not sure if i’m saved well i didn’t know her i didn’t know she’s a guest or a visitor or or a member and and i said why don’t you uh uh why is it that that uh you don’t think you’re
saved and she said because when i got saved that’s a key statement i don’t know that i’m saved and but she said when i got saved uh the deacon told me when i got saved i will love the brethren and she said i don’t know if i love the brethren i said ethel i don’t know if i do either but salvation doesn’t have anything to do with loving the brethren
the bible says sirs what must i do to be saved the answer is believe on the lord jesus christ and love the brethren and thou shalt be saved is that what it says no no it says believe depend upon jesus and it’s a done deal you shall be saved well why is it then that we’re struggling with this matter of assurance i uh put on your your sheet and might as well just uh look at it here
for a second there are enemies of assurance um and i listed some i don’t know what page it is but these tests and um these tests of salvation in other words they are ideas they are evidences that people look for in the believer’s life that are critical to proving whether or not you’re saved these evidences these tests and that’s many times is that’s what this young lady is referring to in
her testimony this pastor preached these tests these tests many times are coming from first john chapter number five they walk through first john and they begin to highlight and talk about the different aspects in first john chapter five they talk about the fact that you’ll love one another if you’re saved so the way you know if you’re saved is if you love one another they will talk about in 1 John, this matter of change within your life. They’ll talk about commitment.
So they use 1 John to be a litmus test to look at your evidences in your life. If there’s no fruit in your life, then they determine that there’s no salvation. Well, these tests, one of the problems with these tests is that they’re very subjective.
In other words, these tests are depending upon you. Let’s suppose you sit there and you look at these tests. Remember the young lady mentioned those that the pastor preached?
Change, commitment, chastisement, charity, loving the brethren. And she mentioned a few others. Let’s just stick with those. Let’s say you sit there and you say,
Now I passed that test. There’s change in my life since I made a profession. And I love some of the brethren.
And there’s chastisement. And there’s commitment in my heart towards God. You passed the test. But somebody sitting beside you says,
Well, I don’t know if I have enough change. I don’t know if I’ve had enough chastisement I don’t know if I have enough love for the brethren See that’s the problem with it It’s so subjective The Bible is telling us in 1 John 5 That the way we get assurance Is not by subjective Examination But it’s by objective truth In other words it’s what God says A person doesn’t get saved By looking at their life
Because it’s not by works of righteousness Which we have done that will save us. So if we don’t get saved by what we do, then we should not look for assurance based upon what we do. And many are confused because they’re looking at these evidences. These evidences, again,
will be highlighted in 1 John. But understand, 1 John is not about a litmus test as to whether or not you’re saved. 1 John was mentioned in Dr.
John’s message today. It is referring to believers in the opening chapter. In fact, he tells us in 1 John 1, here’s why I’m writing to you.
I’m writing to you that you may have fellowship with Him. Knowing how to walk with the Lord. I’m writing that you would have joy in your life.
And one of the key words that he uses is this word of abiding. Abiding is what a Christian does. Abiding is this matter of getting into revival.
Abiding is this matter of experiencing the dynamic Christian life. It is a responsibility of a Christian. So he’s not talking about here’s how you know if you’re saved.
What he’s telling us is here’s how you can know if you’re abiding. About 22, 23 times the word abide is used in 1 John. The word know is predominant in 1 John.
And many times people will say the way you know you’re saved is based upon these evidences. But understand this. I’m going to say this.
You can take it home and you can think about it perhaps. but maybe it’ll help you down the road. The word know that is used in chapters 1 through 4 predominantly is the word gnosko.
Which simply means you will know based upon experience. Well, what is 1 John about? It is about how you can have fellowship and how you can live the abundant Christian revived life.
How do we know we are in revival? How do we know we’re living the abundant life? It’s an experiential knowledge. In other words, this is not something that you know because you see it,
but it’s something you know because you’re experiencing it. And then we can look at some of these evidences. I know that I’m living in revival because there is a love for others.
It’s not my love, but it’s His love through me. It’s because I am committed to God. It’s because I have a heart for God.
It’s because there’s victory over sin. 1 John 2 and 1 John chapter 3. So this matter of knowing is not really referring, in chapters 1 through 4, to salvation.
It’s referring to revival, normal Christianity abiding in Him. But in chapter number 5, the Bible tells us, uses another word, know, and it’s the word oida. It’s the Greek word oida.
And it really is referring to an absolute assurance. This absolute assurance of 1 John 5 and verse 11 is based upon and tied to the Word of God. So how do I know I’m in revival? Well, I can know that I’m in revival
because of certain things that God is doing within my life. That’s not the entirety of it because it is a faith issue. But we can experientially know some of these things about God working within our life. But the way I know that I’m saved has absolutely nothing to do with how I live,
what I look like. It has everything to do with what He says. So these tests, that’s one of the enemies of assurance.
I’ve got another word down here. It’s Calvinism. I really don’t want to go into that, but you can take it and you can look at it. In case you wonder if I’m for it or against it,
I’m against it. I am anti-hostile against Calvinism. And Calvinism is the vain, the soteriological salvation issue coming out of Reformed theology.
I’m not for it, and neither is God. But you say, I’m not a Calvinist, and so where am I struggling? Well, here’s what happens. Many, many times, the reason why people in our churches doubt their salvation
is because of us evangelists, preachers. You know, it doesn’t take much for a preacher to come in and say some things and cause people to doubt their salvation. This girl thought she was saved because of a preacher saying, here’s how you can know if you’re saved. You can know if you’re saved if you have these things within your life,
these evidences out of 1 John. But again, 1 John is not talking about evidences of salvation. is talking about evidences of abiding in Him. But you take the wrong interpretation and application of a passage, then you can take it and you can really throw somebody into a tailspin
and call somebody to doubt. For example, a preacher can say something like this. Now listen, young people. If you haven’t read your Bible this past week,
you probably don’t love God. And if you don’t love God, it’s because you don’t know Him. Some people can say, that’s just not true.
Others may say, I must not know him. I was listening to a preacher this past week on a recording that someone gave me. And this preacher got up and talked about, he was in a meeting where two pastors got saved.
And two pastor’s wives got saved. And he made this statement. I believe about 70% of our church members are not saved.
What do you think that’s going to do to the people who are sitting there? See, what He’s doing is He is causing people to doubt. And I will say this, that if you doubt your salvation, would you please just understand that it’s a sin?
Romans 14, 23, whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Anytime you doubt what God promises, it’s unbelief, it’s a sin. Sometimes people doubt their salvation because they’re looking at the matter of their prayer.
One person said, I’m not sure if I’m saved because I’m not sure if I prayed the right prayer. Let me ask you a question. What is the right prayer?
Does anyone know? What is the right prayer? You remember the thief on the cross?
The one who did get saved? Remember what his prayer was? Lord, remember me.
Remember that? That really was a dumb prayer theologically. Don’t you think the Lord could remember him just fine? but it wasn’t his prayer that saved him it was the attitude and condition of his heart he was casting his dependence upon Jesus the best he knew how and Jesus understood what he was communicating and because of that Jesus said this day see salvation is not wrapped up in a prayer listen if you’re drowning you’re drowning in a lake somewhere
and you’re about to take your final and last breath and you recognize you would rather live a little bit longer than give it up and you see that there’s a lifeguard nearby, how would you get the lifeguard’s help? What is the correct, proper way? Yeah, you don’t have to say, Oh, thou great lifeguard, with the bulging biceps and the white stuff on your nose.
Would you please just helpest thou me? Amen and amen. No, no, no, it’s just help.
Listen, the prayer is not the issue. Sometimes people say, Well, if you don’t remember the exact time when you got saved, then you’re probably not saved. Well, that’s not fair. There are many, many people who don’t remember the exact day they got married,
but they know they’re married. The issue is, did you ever put your faith, trust, dependence upon Jesus? If you put your dependence upon Jesus, what does He say?
Acts 16.31, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. So if you depended, then you’re saved. So it’s not wrapped up in the prayer.
The prayer cannot save you, only Jesus can. Sometimes people will say, well, I don’t know if I really meant it. You know, I went forward and I was about four or five years old.
But I don’t know if I meant it enough. Listen, how much can a four and five year old mean it? You know, here you are, 13, 14, 15, 16, whatever you are. I’m sure if you were to make the decision today to get saved,
you would mean it more than you could have as a four or five year old, perhaps. But can you? Listen, I got married 12 years ago.
But I think I would be more serious about it if I were to get married today. But at the age of 25, 12 years ago, I meant it all I knew to mean it. I mean, I said I do.
She said I do. We did. I didn’t know how much more to mean it.
And what happens is we’re analyzing, did I mean it enough? And you think because I was a child, you know, there just hasn’t been a great change that has happened within my life. Can Jesus save a child, yes or no?
In fact, Jesus said, you better come to me like a little child. How does a little child come? Insistently, they come and say, Jesus is the only one who can save.
That’s enough. I will depend upon Jesus. Listen, I’m not trying to tell you you are saved.
But what I’m simply telling you is this. Is this, is that if you’ve ever put your dependence upon Jesus to save you from sin and hell, then Jesus tells you that you are saved. Sometimes people say, well, you know, I just, there’s not been a great change.
There’s not been a lot of fruit. From the time I got saved, there hasn’t been a great change. Sometimes people will use the verse, 2 Corinthians 5, 17, If any man be in crisis, he’s a new creature.
Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Time’s running out, so let me just say this.
That is not talking about the change in how we live. It’s talking about change in our position. If it talked about change in how we live, When you got saved, it would change how you live, just like that.
All things become new. If it’s talking about that, we wouldn’t be preaching, get right with God and get right with God. It’s not referring to the change of my behavior.
It’s referring to the change of my position. And because of my position in Christ, now I can go forward in victory. But if we’re just thinking, well, the Bible says all things are going to become new. And when I got saved,
I don’t know that I became a brand new person and everything changed. One young man sat down and he says, I’m just not sure that I’ve changed enough. I don’t know if I’m saved.
I said, when did you get saved? He says, I was five years old. Well, how much can your life change at the age of five?
How many murders did you commit prior to getting saved? You’re looking at the wrong thing. You’re not looking.
We’re not to be looking at my life. Listen, if I looked at my life and to determine whether or not I’m saved, I would doubt my salvation all the time. Why?
Because my life is not the litmus test. Sometimes somebody will come up and say, I’m just not sure if I’m saved. And I will take a good tract, a good tract, a good gospel tract, like the good news tract. And I have even taken the good news tract and I will say, do you understand that a person who’s lost
has a problem called sin? Yes. Do you understand that there’s a penalty called hell?
Yes. Do you understand that only Jesus Christ died for your sin and can pay for your sins? Only He can save you, yes.
Now look at this decision. Read this decision of faith dependence upon Him. Read the decision and tell me, have you ever done this?
They look at it and they say, man, I have done that. So what do I do now? Stop calling God a liar.
That’s what you ought to start doing. Why? Because He that hath the Son hath life.
How do you know, how does a person know what to do to get saved? How do we know if we can be saved? We can know that we can be saved because He promises if you depend, you can be saved.
How can I know if I’m saved? What does He say? If He promises eternal life, how long does eternal last?
Forever. It hinges upon what He says. Josh, come right up here for a second. a lot of times people who doubt their salvation doubt their salvation because they’ve been saved for a little period of time and most of the preaching that causes people to doubt their salvation is geared around people who’ve been saved for a little bit of time it’s causing people is putting doubt in people’s mind because the way they live if josh were just to have gotten
saved a few moments ago we walked through it and josh just got saved he bowed his head prayed he asked jesus christ to save him i would ask josh some questions you’ve heard these questions and maybe you’ve even asked these questions but i want to make a point i want to follow up josh just now asked christ to save him and so uh i’d follow up with some of these questions like this josh the
best you knew how did you just now put your faith trust dependence upon jesus to save you yeah how many of your sins did jesus wash away are there any left so if you were to die right now where would you go what if you were to die five years from now where would you go how do you know that josh okay and how do you know that he saved you you put your trust in him and how do you know that that’s enough
because the bible said so now here’s the here’s what is very interesting These tests, it wouldn’t work with Josh. I wouldn’t say, now Josh, now you’ve been saved now about three minutes. In those three minutes period of time, have you had any chastisement within your life?
That wouldn’t work real well. Now Josh, these last three and a half minutes that you’ve been saved, do you have love for the brethren? Now Josh, these last three and a half minutes that you’ve been saved, do you feel really, really committed to God? Now Josh, these last few minutes that you’ve been saved,
has there been a great change within your life? You know, it doesn’t work. where do we use these tests we use these tests with somebody who’s been living a long time and who is not experiencing revival now listen how can josh know he’s only been just four minutes ago he asked the lord to save him how can he know that when he prayed christ
saved him how can he know that well how the bible says so how can a lost person know that jesus can save them how the bible says so how can a person who just prays and asks jesus to save them how can they know that christ did it how can they know the bible says so so if it works for a five minute old Christian, then why can’t it work for a five-year-old Christian, a 10-year-old Christian, a 15-year-old Christian? Don’t you see?
The matter of assurance is not based upon what I do, how I live. It is based upon what He says. How do I know that I’m saved?
Because the Bible says so. The Bible says, He that hath the Son hath life. How do I know if I’m saved?
How do I know I have the Son? Well, The Bible says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord in dependence, whosoever would believe on Him, shall be saved. That’s what He says.
So what is our responsibility? Believe Him. And understand, if you ever doubt what He says, you’re calling God a liar.
Don’t do it. Don’t do it. You will never experience revival until you’re confident that God means what He says when He saved me.
Doesn’t that sound simple? How can you know you’re saved? The Bible says so.
What’s your part? Believe Him. Depend upon Him.
Let’s pray. Lord, we do thank You so much for the simplicity that is in Jesus. You paid it all.
My faith has found a resting place that’s not in device nor creed. I trust the ever-living One, His wounds for me shall plead. I need no other argument.
I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died. And that He died for me.
Amen.
