a drugstore, go in Walmart, any kind of pharmacy, and buy an over-the-counter drug like Aleve.
It takes a lot to get into it. They're packaged securely today. You know, this box, you got
to break it open. You got to get the little box out or the little bottle out. You think
you're going to just open it? I can't even open this. It's got another seal here. Everything
today, every kind of medication that you can just walk in and buy over-the-counter, some
bodies, every company basically has gone to great lengths to make it secure. How many
of you know why it's like that today? Raise your hand. Only old people raised their hands.
Did you notice that? No, not really. Not really. Back in 1982, some crazy psycho in Chicago
put cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules in some bottles in a drugstore. One lady took one of those cyanide-laced
pills, thinking it was Tylenol, and it killed her. Before the whole thing was over, seven people,
seven people lost their lives, thinking that they were taking Tylenol, a pain reducer, fever reducer.
But it was laced with a poison that killed them. You know, there is an important lesson about faith in that tragic story.
And that is, it's not enough to just sincerely believe something.
Those people were as sincere as they could be in going in there and thinking that that bottle labeled Tylenol,
that it would help them.
But as it turned out, they were sincerely wrong.
Because what was in it killed them.
Faith is only as good as its object.
Faith in faith is meaningless.
Just being sincere about believing something, that can even be fatal.
Faith is only as good as the object it's placed in.
That Tylenol tragedy helps us to understand it's important to know what you believe in.
Who you believe in.
It's important for every one of us from time to time to just examine,
investigate what it is that we believe.
You know, the Bible actually commands us to do that.
The Christian faith is probably the only faith known to humanity.
It teaches us, don't believe blindly.
Don't not think.
The Christian faith says, look carefully at who you believe in, what you believe.
Test it.
I'll give you an example.
The Apostle Paul, in his letter to Christians now,
Paul's letter to the Corinthian church, second letter.
In chapter 13, verse 5, he's coming to the end and he tells them,
examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.
Test yourselves.
Or do you not realize that this about yourselves, that Christ Jesus is in you?
Unless indeed you fail to meet the test.
Now think about what he's saying here.
Paul is writing to church members like us.
Not writing to people out on the street,
people who wouldn't even profess faith or might have some casual faith.
Paul is writing to people who profess faith.
They're meeting as a church in the city of Corinth.
He says, examine yourselves to see whether you are truly in the faith.
Test yourselves.
Well, Jesus makes an even more startling,
take you back kind of statement about genuine faith in Matthew chapter 7,
beginning in verse 21.
I want you to turn there with me.
That's where we're going to spend most of our time this morning.
Matthew chapter 7, beginning in verse 21.
Last week we had John Blanchard here.
And you probably were not aware of this,
but he actually preached two different messages.
He preached one in the first service from the book of Philemon.
And he did a topical message and basically walked through several passages
in this, the second service.
But they were both basically the same,
or rather they had the same theme, made the same point.
We need to make sure that we understand what it means to be a true Christian.
In both messages, he gave a description
about what Christians believe and how Christians behave.
Well, I want to take what he said last week,
that thought.
Know what you believe.
Examine yourself.
I want to turn that into a short series of studies
on the subject assurance of salvation.
What I'd like for us to do is look at several passages of Scripture
over the next few weeks,
and they'll most all come from the book of 1 John.
A little book toward the end of your New Testament.
1 John.
And as we do this, I want us to answer the question,
how can I be sure that I am a Christian?
I want to begin, though, not with 1 John,
but with what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7,
one of the most sobering and disturbing passages
in the entire Bible.
I want you to think, as we read this,
Jesus is speaking to professing disciples.
This is the Sermon on the Mount,
where Jesus is seeking or is preaching to,
teaching these who are following Him.
And He makes it very clear in what we're going to read.
There are some people who think they're right with God,
but they are not.
There are some people who think on Judgment Day,
they're going to be welcomed into heaven,
but they will not be.
And that should get our attention.
Let's read it.
Matthew 7, verse 21.
Jesus says,
Not everyone who says to me,
Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Think about what He's saying.
Not everyone who says to me,
Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.
In other words,
only those who do the will of my Father.
Verse 22.
On that day,
this is Judgment Day,
many will say to me,
Lord, Lord,
did we not prophesy in Your name
and cast out demons in Your name
and do many miraculous works in Your name?
Then I will declare to them,
I never knew you.
Depart from me,
you workers of lawlessness,
or you evildoers even.
There is no greater need
than that anyone has
than to know that we have eternal life.
There is no greater need
that you or I,
anyone we know,
there is no greater need
that a person can have
than to know for sure
that they have eternal life.
and to know as much as we can
that our family members
are truly Christians
and right with God.
We want to know that
if we're Christians
because if they're not,
we want to be able to pray for them,
talk to them,
encourage them,
actually share the gospel with them.
As we begin this study on assurance,
I want us to start out
by noticing three kinds of assurance
found in the Bible.
First, right here in Matthew chapter 7,
there is undeserved assurance,
or we can call it this,
false assurance.
Jesus is pointing out here,
some people have assurance,
they call Him Lord,
but they shouldn't have that assurance.
They have false assurance,
undeserved assurance.
Now what kind of people
are Jesus talking about here?
People who profess faith in Christ,
but their faith did not result in obedience.
Look at verse 21 again.
Not everyone who says to me,
Lord, Lord,
not everyone who proclaims, professes,
I'm their Lord.
Not everyone who says to me,
Lord, Lord,
will enter the kingdom of heaven.
But the one who does the will of my Father
who is in heaven,
that's the one who will.
He's talking about a false,
or a faulty,
profession of faith here.
Here's what Jesus is wanting us to know.
People who truly know Him,
people who truly have a relationship with Him,
people who really have true,
saving faith,
trust,
confidence in Him,
will also desire to please Him
and be like Him
in that they want to know and do the will of God.
See, that was Jesus' food.
That's what fueled Him.
That's what kept Him going in this world.
He wanted to know the will of His Father.
He wanted to do the will of His Father.
He wanted to bring glory and honor to His Father
and all that He did in this world.
And if we are His followers,
we'll want to know the same.
You know, Jesus taught us to even pray that way.
In Matthew chapter 6,
in verse 10,
we see that a part of the model prayer
Jesus taught us,
His people to pray,
includes this statement.
As we pray, we pray to God,
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus teaches us to pray that way
because that's what we want.
That's what we desire.
As God's people,
we want to please God.
We want His will to be done.
In other words,
Jesus is telling us here
that real Christians
don't just talk about what they believe.
they live out their faith.
And a part of living out their faith
is seeking to know and do God's will.
Now let's be real clear about this.
Some people may get the idea,
well, Jesus is teaching about
some kind of working your way to heaven
by doing God's will.
Well, no, that's not what He's saying at all.
Jesus in no way is
de-emphasizing the fact
that salvation is by the grace of God,
it's unearned, it's undeserved,
it's by the grace of God
through faith in Jesus,
through faith in who He is
and what He's done for us.
But what Jesus wants us to understand,
what Paul emphasizes so much
when he talks about faith,
is that real faith,
if we truly do trust in Jesus,
His Spirit will come to live within us
and make a difference in us,
make a change in us,
and the Spirit of God
who lives in every Christian
will cause us to want to put our faith
into practice, into action,
to do God's will.
Now when you think about God's will,
some people think in terms of
some kind of special thing God has for me.
Usually, the majority of times,
overwhelming majority of times,
when God's will is mentioned in Scripture,
it's talking about God's moral will,
how He wants us to live.
God's will as a man
is to be a godly husband to your wife,
godly father to your children.
God's will is that you
not compromise
His Word, His truth,
biblical morality,
as you do your work,
as you do your job,
even if they expect you to,
people that hired you.
God's will is very practical.
It's living the way
that He's called us to live
because as Christians
indwelled by the Holy Spirit,
that's our desire.
That's what we want to do.
Now, genuine faith
is a visible faith.
It will be seen.
And any faith that is not seen,
in other words,
if people can see you
and they don't see any signs
that you're a Christian,
you're not.
James says it this way.
Look at James 2.17.
Really, the whole book of James
is about how faith works.
Faith is visible.
Faith produces fruit.
But look at this.
Faith by itself,
if it is not accompanied by action,
is dead.
It is non-existent.
So, Jesus is warning us
about a faulty profession of faith.
But He's also here warning us
about a faulty expression of faith.
Look at verse 22.
He's warning us about substituting sensationalism
for substance.
Look at that verse again.
On that day, judgment day,
many will say to me,
Lord, Lord,
did we not do all kinds of miraculous things?
Prophesy in Your name.
Preach in Your name.
Cast out demons in Your name.
And do many mighty works in Your name.
Jesus is talking about there are people.
At that day and time,
they claimed to be His followers,
and they preached.
They cast out demons.
They actually performed miracles.
But Jesus is saying
they were not really His.
They had no relationship with Him.
They're going to be condemned
on judgment day.
This goes to show us
miraculous signs
do not necessarily mean
that God's involved.
You can look at it
throughout Scripture.
For example,
in Moses' day,
in the book of Exodus,
Pharaoh had his wizards
and magic guys
who could perform
a lot of the same miracles
that Moses did
under God's command.
You see that in other places
in the Old Testament.
Prophets, false prophets
doing miraculous things.
You see that in Paul's ministry.
He encountered this
in Acts chapter 19
for an example.
Jesus even said
throughout history
up until He comes back
to this world,
miracle workers
will be found.
Look at it in Matthew 24,
verse 24.
Jesus says,
For false Christ's
little sea
and false prophets
will arise
and perform great signs
and wonders
so as to lead astray
if possible
even the elect,
even true believers.
There are some people
who are empowered
by the devil.
There is spiritual warfare
that goes on
in this world
that sort of what we call
behind the scenes.
and there are people
who are doing
some amazing,
miraculous things
in the power
of the devil.
And Jesus is talking
about people
who are actually deceived
and deceiving people.
They're not seeking
to do what they do
for God's glory.
They're seeking
to do what they do
for their own
or some other
unacceptable means,
reason.
Jesus is emphasizing
just another way here
in verse 22
that our faith,
real faith,
will result
in us being
obedient to God,
doing God's will,
living very practically
daily a life
that pleases God,
that meets
other people's needs,
that serves other people,
that upholds the truth,
living an honest life,
living a godly life.
And I want you
to note what Jesus
says to those
who think
that a mere
profession of faith
or some kind
of experiential
miracle,
sensational thing
is the key
to salvation.
Look at verse 23,
the last verse we read.
And then I will
declare to them,
I never knew you.
Depart from me,
you workers
of lawlessness.
Jesus.
These are some
of the most chilling
words in the Bible,
aren't they?
Jesus will say
to somebody
who thinks
they're his follower
on judgment day,
I never knew you.
Jesus is not talking
about somebody
losing their salvation.
You see that.
He's describing people
that he never
had a relationship with,
people who never
were saved.
I never knew you.
How could somebody
be deceived like that?
How could somebody
think that they
were true followers
of Jesus when they
were not?
How does this
happen today?
How is it that there
are people today
who claim to be
a Christian,
but they're not?
There's no real
evidence in their life.
No godly character.
No doing God's will.
Probably a lot of
reasons could be cited,
but here's one.
They have a faulty
understanding of what
salvation is.
You know,
some people equate,
and especially this is
found in some
Baptist churches.
Some people think
that salvation is
somehow or another
equated with,
in a service like this,
at the end of the
service,
walking down an aisle
and taking a pastor
by the hand and
saying something to him.
That's the dumbest
thing that's ever
been brought up
in church life.
To actually think
that by just
standing up and
coming down and
shaking the pastor's
hand, that makes me
right with God
somehow.
Or some people think
because they have an
emotional experience.
They come to a church
service the way things
are, maybe something's
said, a story's told,
music and such,
and they just break
down, you know,
they're thinking some
good thoughts.
And they're just sort
of overcome with
emotion.
You know, I would
never let you see
this, but sometimes
I can become
overcome with
emotion with
certain country
songs.
I can cry.
It just touches
my heart.
But it's not some
kind of spiritual
experience.
It's an emotional.
Touch your heart,
touch your feelings,
make you feel a
certain way that
absolutely does
nothing to change
your life.
And because you
had got emotional
in church one Sunday
and you walked down
the aisle and
shook a pastor's
hand, and somehow
or another you wound
up getting baptized,
that does not make
you a Christian.
That does not in any
way equate to
salvation.
And you can't find
it anywhere from
Genesis to Revelation
in your Bible that
anything like that
is what it means to
become a Christian.
Now, it could be, I
don't want to discount
this in any way, it
could be that this
morning even, the Lord
could speak through
this message.
The Lord could just
work through his
spirit in your life to
cause you to realize
I'm not a Christian,
but I want to be
saved.
And you right there
where you're sitting
right now, you just
think to yourself, you
say to God, I hate my
sin, I want to turn
from my sin, and I
really do believe that
when Jesus died on the
cross, he died for me.
And I trust him right
now as my Savior.
And when this service
is over, you walk
down the aisle and
you tell me, I have
put my faith and
trust in Jesus this
morning.
You confessed your
faith here, you want
me to tell people here,
or you want to tell
people here, that's
fine.
That is, you walking
down the aisle and
telling me or telling
the congregation, that's
just an external way of
expressing what internally
happened.
And every Christian
should be baptized in a
baptism or in a
pond or a church
or a lake or river or
somewhere, every
Christian.
See, that's the New
Testament way for
Christians to make it
known that they are
followers of Jesus, to be
baptized.
But you know what
baptism actually literally
does?
It just gets you wet or
cold.
Baptism is just a symbol,
it's a picture of what
happens when a person
truly trusts in Jesus for
their salvation.
You go down in the water,
it symbolizes you've died
to the old person you
were before you came to
know Christ.
You died and been buried,
that old person.
You come up out of the
water, it symbolizes the
new life that you have when
you put your faith and
trust in Jesus to save you.
Jesus wants us to
understand real salvation.
salvation.
It's not these external,
emotional things that we
sometimes equate with that.
Salvation is a gracious
work of God in which He
works in a person in their
mind to cause them to think,
in their heart to cause them
to feel.
At some point in their mouth
to cause them to profess
faith.
And God so works when He
does all these kind of
things, He changes us and
our lives will show it by
our desire to know and do
God's will.
A person is saved when God
convicts them of their sin,
that they are separated from
Him because of their sin.
And God, when He convicts a
person, He's not just making
it known they're sinful.
Every one of us in here, we
know we're sinners.
You find the sorriest human
being you know.
The person who would just
say, I hate God.
And they would say, yeah,
I know I'm a sinner.
Knowing you're a sinner means
nothing.
That's just, you're an idiot if
you don't think you're a
sinner.
You've deceived yourself.
You're a liar to yourself if
you don't think you are a
sinner.
We all know we are sinful
people.
But when God truly is one who
makes that known, makes it
aware, we feel guilty.
We feel broken.
We have dishonored, offended
Him, broken His laws.
And if God's doing that work
in us, we'll want to stop it.
We'll want to change our
minds.
We want to turn from that
kind of thinking and living.
That's repentance.
When God works in us to save
us, He convicts us of our sin.
He gives us a desire to repent,
to turn from it, change our
mind.
And God really does open up our
spiritual eyes, so to speak,
and causes us to see that when
Jesus died on the cross, He died
for me.
He paid the penalty for my sin.
And I trust Him.
I love Him.
I'm committing my life to Him.
That's how God works to save a
person.
And when God does this in us, we
not only trust Jesus as our Savior,
as John Blanchard talked about
last week, we simultaneously will
submit to Him as the Lord, the
master, the boss of our lives.
You see, if we really understand
that Jesus gave His life for me,
we want to give our lives back to
Him in return.
He's bought us.
Paul talks about that with His life.
And so real salvation is a trust in
Jesus.
It's a commitment to Him.
It's a love for Him.
That will in some way, or a lot of
ways rather, change who we are.
It will never make us perfect in
this world.
We'll still have that sinful nature.
We're still going to come up short.
We're not going to do God's will
perfectly.
But we'll have the desire to.
And we will, because God motivates us
from within, we'll want to do His will.
We'll put forth the effort to do it.
That's how the Holy Spirit will work in
us.
Now, Jesus is telling us here in Matthew
7, some people have false, undeserved
assurance.
You need to ask the question of yourself.
Is He talking about me?
Next, we're going to deal with in this
series, not today.
Well, the second kind of assurance we're
going to deal with is uncertain
assurance.
It's possible to be a Christian but
lack assurance.
That's why John wrote the book of 1
John.
1 John chapter 5, verse 13, says this.
Look at it on the screen.
I write these things to you who believe
in the name of the Son of God that you
may know that you have eternal life.
He wrote that because evidently he knew
there were people, Christians, who didn't
know, who wondered, who struggled, who
doubted.
Most Christians doubt their salvation at
some time or other.
It doesn't make you an inferior Christian
or less spiritual Christian.
I truly believe that if a person thinks
and understands what God has called us to
do, how He's called us to live, and we
have experienced at times in our life a
true desire, a love for following Jesus,
being like Him, I truly believe that when
we fail to do that, when we, as some
people would use the word, when we backslide,
when we move away from the Lord, when we
become indifferent, I think it's very
natural at that point in time to doubt our
salvation.
I don't think God's going to give any person
true, confident assurance if they're living
in indifference or rebellion against Him.
That's just not how it works.
We're going to be learning that, seeing that
in the book of 1 John over the next few
weeks.
We're going to look at some of the reasons
why people may have doubts and how to deal
with our doubts over the next few weeks.
There's a third kind of assurance.
Our goal in this series is for all of us to
have or develop undisputed assurance, good
assurance, confident assurance.
John's telling us the reason he wrote the
letter, just what we read in verse 13 of
chapter 5, is to give Christians assurance of
their salvation.
We can and we should, if we're Christians,
have assurance that we really are children of
God.
If you struggle with a lack of assurance,
the first and best thing you can do is read
slowly, carefully, prayerfully this little book
of 1 John.
That's where we're going to spend most of our
time in the next few weeks.
Now I want to ask you, as we begin this series,
this study, what kind of assurance do you have?
Do you have an undeserved assurance, a false
assurance that God's made known to you this
morning?
Or if you suspect this is true, you really need to
get serious about this and ask God to clearly reveal
to you where you stand with Him.
Don't go through this day without spending some time
with Him.
Spending some time in 1 John.
Don't try to justify yourself.
This is one place where you want to be honest with God and
hear Him and be clear.
And make sure you're right with Him.
Do you have an uncertain assurance?
Don't rest.
Don't be satisfied with that.
Don't give up and say that's the way it's going to be.
No, it doesn't have to be that way.
Having uncertain assurance, doubts, will rob you of the joy and
the satisfaction, the confidence that you should have as a
child of God.
It will keep you from serving God in a meaningful, productive
kind of way.
So again, read 1 John.
Hopefully you have an unquestioned assurance, confident
assurance.
And as you read the book of 1 John, if you are God's child, it
should just be affirming to you.
I want to end this service by asking you to bow with me in
prayer right now.
I want to direct a prayer.
Please bow.
Heads bowed.
Eyes closed.
Some in this room most likely are not Christians and you know it.
And I want to ask you right now, if that bothers you, if you don't
want to be that way, if you want to have a right relationship with
God, admit to Him that you don't.
Turn from your sins.
Change your mind.
Put your trust in Jesus and call upon Him to save you right now.
Some in here are Christians but you lack assurance.
Don't just accept that.
Ask God to speak through His Word and His Spirit to give you
confidence.
Ask God to help you to do that as you read through the book of 1 John.
Some in this room have good assurance because you are a committed Christian.
I want to encourage you to thank God for that and ask Him to help you to grow and to mature and
become a source of strength and encouragement and help to others.
Father, help us to know what we need to do individually so that we might respond appropriately.
Work in us.
Help us to know and help us to obey you now.
And in an attitude of prayer, you listen to the Lord and you obey Him.
I'll be here at the front and be happy to pray with you.
Help you in any way.
If you think that would be helpful at this time.