Introduction
I
once heard about an elderly priest who went to visit a dying woman. It was
clear that she wasn’t going to last all that long, so the priest thought he
should do his best to prepare her for death and face the last judgement.
He
said to her, “Denounce the devil! Let him know what you think of all his evil
and wickedness.” She just lay there on her death bed and said nothing.
So
the priest said it again, this time a bit louder. “Denounce the devil. Say what
you think of all his evil and wickedness.” Still she said nothing.
So
the priest asked her why she refused to do it. “Oh,” she said, “Until I know exactly where
I’m going, I think it’s probably best not to aggravate anybody too much!”
Seeing
Salvation
We’ve
been looking at what salvation means in these last few weeks. And one of the
greatest things about salvation in Christ is that you never have to hedge your
bets or cross your fingers about what might await you beyond the grave.
The
Bible says that Jesus “is able to save completely [not partially, not
slightly, not to a certain extent; he is able to save completely]
those who come to God through him.” We won’t have to worry if we were good
enough. All that matters is that Jesus is - and always will be - good enough to
get you to heaven.
Scripture
has many different ways of representing exactly what Jesus has done for us. But
the starting point is that you and I have to face a hard and humbling fact; the
truth is that we deserve to be separated from God forever because of sin.
We
don’t like to hear that. It’s hard to find any nice way to put it. But the
Bible presents ‘being hopelessly lost in sins’ as the default position of every
human being who has ever lived.
But
grace has come. Salvation is here! Jesus has done it! God’s word says that we
can be thoroughly forgiven.
It
says that we can be born again to a completely new life.
It
says, by faith, that we are justified; meaning God gives his verdict on our
lives as “not guilty” and we are credited with the perfect righteousness of
Christ.
It
says we are redeemed, meaning bought out of slavery to sin and given freedom
forever.
It
says we are reconciled to the God from whom we were estranged because of
unbelief and our rebellion against his ways.
It
says we are accepted, that God lavishes his love over us, that we are chosen
and adopted into God’s family as his children and that we are made heirs
forever of every divine promise.
All
that is a gift. And it is completely free. I hope you’re glad about that.
About
ten years ago I broke my glasses. I took them in to the optician who tried to
solder the frame back together but it had snapped in an awkward place and that
pair will forever be two separate bits.
For
about a week, I had to see through a heavy and old fashioned pair I used to
wear in the 1980’s while my new glasses were being made. As you’d expect, my
eyesight had deteriorated a bit in 20 years so when I finally received my new
glasses the difference was amazing; it seemed like I was seeing a crisp, sharp,
focused and beautiful world for the very first time. Everything looked true,
and crystal-clear and well-defined.
When
we talk about salvation, we need new lenses, because we’ve got to see our lives
from God’s perspective.
Let
me try and tell you what God’s perspective about you looks like:
Your
story with God goes right back… not just to when you were small, but actually
to before you were born, before time even began, before the universe, before
creation, to a point when only God was.
It
was then that God chose you. He had it in his mind even then, because he loved
you, that he would be glad to adopt you into his family, knowing you would have
good days and bad days, knowing - like everyone else - that you would turn out
a sinner, knowing you would never really deserve it. All this was in his plan
from the start.
These
are the lenses through which God sees everything. And he wants us to enjoy
these truths as confident and loved children, fully persuaded that he will deliver
on his promises.
Assurance:
Our Part
It
was the FA Cup final yesterday. If you’ve ever been to a cup final, you can
tell the difference between fans who have tickets and those who are hoping to
pick one up from a street vendor.
The
ones with tickets drink in bars before the match, read the match programme and
enjoy a bit of banter with friends. The ones without tickets pace up and down,
hold up placards saying they want tickets and smoke. Fifteen minutes before
kick-off, the fans with tickets look excited and the ones without start to look
desperate.
If
you knew that in fifteen minutes you would have to stand before the holy God
and learn your eternal destiny, how would you look? Would you smoke and pace up
and down? Would you say to yourself, “I don't know what God's going to say -
will it be “Welcome home, child,” or will it be “Depart from me; I never knew
you?” Or will you be calm, knowing what the outcome is going to be?
If
you find yourself asking, “Am I really saved?” how can you know that the answer
is “Yes” and be absolutely secure about it?
Our
passage from Romans 10 contains a simple promise. It says in v9; “If you
declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
That
sounds straightforward doesn’t it? If you can genuinely say “Jesus is Lord”
[that means, he’s in charge, he’s the boss, not me, and I am placing my life
under his authority] and, v9 says, if deep down you believe that Jesus really
is alive today… well, then you will be saved.
Then
in v10, there’s an explanation. “For it is with your heart that you
believe and are justified, [so what you have to do to be justified is to accept
it by faith] and [the verse continues] it is with your mouth that you profess
your faith and are saved.”
In
other words what it’s saying is this; there has to be faith in
your heart. But although faith is deeply personal, you can’t lock it away like
a skeleton in a cupboard. Belonging to Jesus Christ cannot be a dirty secret to
be ashamed of.
Some
people don’t like this very much. When people suggest that faith should only be
a private matter what they usually say is, “Aren’t the best sort of Christians
the ones who live out the Christian life but never have to speak about
it?” And they usually point to some nice member of their family who they
say is a Christian but who never mentions it.
Nicky
Gumbel calls this the Uncle Norman factor. “Everyone has a kind of Uncle
Norman” he says, “who is this perfect Christian who never talks about his faith.”
But the question Nicky says he always wants to ask is, “how did Uncle Norman
ever hear about Jesus Christ unless someone else told him?”
And
unless someone had been willing to speak about their faith you wouldn’t be here
today either.
Believe
it in your heart. And confess it with your mouth. And you will be [not could be,
not might be, not perhaps, not “if you send a
stamped addressed envelope and 10 cereal packet vouchers…”] you will be saved.
That
is why you and I can have assurance of our salvation. We don’t need to go
through life wondering if we will be saved, hoping against hope. We haven’t got
to agonise about it. This is not something to lose sleep over.
And
if you do stay awake at night, worrying and doubting about it, as someone said,
“don’t count sheep; talk to the Shepherd instead.”
Assurance:
God’s Part
When
we look at what Jesus said on this subject, he confirms the truth about
assurance but doesn’t emphasise our faith. He highlights God’s
sovereignty.
Some
people get confused about this. Are we saved because God chose us? Or are we
saved because we believe and confess? Is it predestination or free will? The
answer is… both. It’s like two rails of a railway track. The train doesn’t run
on only one rail. So here’s the other rail:
John
6.37: “All those the Father gives me will come to
me…”
However
much it seems like we just decided to become Christians of our own choice and
our own initiative, the truth is that before you and I even had our first
thought about him, he was already moving in our lives.
And
here’s the glorious consequence of that; Jesus goes on to say “…and whoever
comes to me I will never drive away.” He repeats that thought in
v39; “This is the will of him who sent me that I shall lose none [How many
did he say? None. Not one] of all those he has given me…”
Here’s
the truth to hang on to. You can be absolutely sure of
your salvation not just because you have believed and confessed.
You
may know you gripped God’s hand – I’m glad you did. But he grabbed hold of you
too and his grip is tighter, firmer, stronger and more enduring than yours ever
can be.
You
can be absolutely sure of your salvation because
you have a faithful Father in heaven who has taken hold of you and will never,
ever let go.”
Isn’t
that glorious? “This is love” says the Apostle John; “not that we loved God,
but that he loved us first.” “You didn’t choose me,” said Jesus. It’s the other
way round. “I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will last.”
Jesus’
confidence in the great plan of salvation does not rest solely on the positive
response of good-hearted people. Far from it: Jesus is absolutely sure of one
thing - his Father’s unmoveable commitment to love you and hold on to you
whatever it takes. And he has promised in Revelation 3.5 to never blot out from
his book of life the names of those who are written there.
It
is said that Michael Faraday, the distinguished scientist, was asked as he
neared death, “What are your speculations now?” (Meaning ‘how do you feel about
the prospect of death?’)
Faraday
immediately replied: “Speculations I have none. I’m resting on certainties.”
Then he repeated slowly and deliberately, 2 Timothy 1. 12 – “For I know whom I
have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have
committed unto him against that day.”
Falling
Away? *
The
thing is, what about people who fall away from faith? We all know them don’t
we? What about the people who used to self-identify as Christian but who now
aren’t so keen to do that? What about the people who used to be in church – and
loved it – but who now always have something better to do?
What
about those who made a firm commitment to Christ, who got baptized or
confirmed, who even led other people to faith and were full on – and who
drifted into agnosticism or cynicism?
Are
they saved? Has God let go of them? It’s important to say that there’s only one
who can answer that question and that’s God himself. It is not for us to judge
whether someone is saved or not.
But
if you’re wobbling in your faith right now, how can you have genuine assurance
that you are saved?
There
are three questions you should ask yourself.
First
of all, “Do I have a present trust in Christ for salvation?”
Hebrews
3.14 says “We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original
conviction firmly to the very end.”
Do
I have a present trust in Christ for salvation?” Never mind if
you gave your heart to Christ as a child in Sunday school, or if you went
forward at a tent mission in your teens, or prayed a prayer during an Alpha
course five years ago. Forget that. Do you trust Christ today to
forgive your sins and give you eternal life?
If
I were to die tonight and stand before God’s judgement seat, and if he were to
ask me why he should let me into heaven, would I begin to think about all my
good deeds and hope they were good enough? Or would I say without hesitation
that I am depending on Christ’s goodness alone and I am confident that he is a
sufficient Saviour?
You
see Paul tells the Colossians that they will be saved “if you continue in
your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the
gospel.”
So
do I have a present trust in Christ for salvation?
Secondly,
ask yourself “Is there evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in my heart?”
Like
what? I’m not talking about all the jobs you might volunteer to do around the
church. I mean, for example, is my life producing the kind of character traits
that Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.
I
don’t mean “Do I perfectly exemplify all those things, but do I sense those attitudes
in my heart? Do other people, especially those close to me, see those traits in
my life?
Or
is my influence on others to discourage them, to drag them down, to discourage
their faith, to provoke jealousy and controversy and divisiveness?
Jesus
said “You will know them [in other words, you will be able to discern if they
are spiritually alive or dead] by their fruits.”
This
is not what you have to do to be saved. This is the sort of evidence that shows
that you are saved and that your faith is genuine.
And
the third question you might ask yourself is this: “Am I continuing to believe
and accept the sound teaching of the church?” People who begin to deny and
contest the major creedal beliefs of Christianity give serious negative
indications concerning their salvation.
I’m
not talking here about having questions or occasional doubts about, say, Jesus’
miracles or the virgin birth or the Trinity. I’m talking about a general
hardness of heart, an increasing cynicism and even an open denial about these
things. That is not evidence of someone abiding in Christ and allowing Christ
to abide in them.
Around
1870 a Native American called Crow Foot became a great chief of the Blackfoot
Indians. In 1884 the Canadian Pacific Railway gave him a lifetime rail pass. He
was very proud of that honour. He had a very elegant leather case made
especially for his rail pass. He carried it around his neck wherever he went.
But there is no record of Crow Foot ever using the pass to travel anywhere on
Canadian Pacific trains.
He
had been offered a gift – but he never really received it. It
was just decorative. In the same way, some people like to call themselves
Christians but they’ve never really received salvation.
They’ve never really understood what grace is.
Ending
Well,
I hope you can answer yes to all three questions. They’re not hoops to jump
through. They’re general indications that your faith is real and not just
decorative.
What
I want you to take away today is that you don’t have to go through life anxious
and troubled about your eternal destiny. If you haven’t ever believed with your
heart that Jesus is risen or confessed with your mouth that he is Lord – do it
today.
And
remember, God is faithful, he loves you and he is well able to hold onto you
and never let go.
Sermon
preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 12th May 2013
*
Thanks to Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology for much of the last section.
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