Rev. David Holwick I T.U.L.I.P. #8
First Baptist Church (well-received)
Ledgewood, New Jersey
March 4, 2012
1 John 5:11-13
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I. Knowing where you are going.
A. A Jersey tall tale.
Albert Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a Jersey
Transit train when the conductor came down the aisle,
punching the tickets of every passenger.
When the conductor came to the professor, Einstein reached in
his vest pocket.
He couldn't find his ticket, so he reached in his trouser
pockets.
It wasn't there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn't
find it.
Then he looked in the seat beside him.
He still couldn't find his ticket.
The conductor said, "Dr. Einstein, I know who you are.
We all know who you are.
I'm sure you bought a ticket.
Don't worry about it."
Einstein nodded appreciatively.
The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets.
As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned around and
saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking
under his seat for his ticket.
The conductor rushed back and said, "Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein,
don't worry, I know who you are. It's no problem!
You don't need a ticket. I'm sure you bought one."
Einstein looked at him and said, "Young man, I too, know who I
am.
What I don't know is where I'm going."
This is obviously a tall tale - Jersey Transit would make him
pay for the ticket and add on a $5 surcharge for getting it
on the train instead of at the station.
#35423
B. Much of our faith is based on knowing where we are going.
1) Classic evangelism question: "If you were to die tonight,
do you know for a fact that you would go to heaven?"
2) We are what is called an evangelical church.
a) Among evangelicals, 88 percent claim they have an
excellent or good chance of going to heaven.
b) Only 3 percent of evangelicals believe they have an
excellent chance of going to hell.
#1909
c) Should we be this confident?
II. The uncertainties of salvation.
A. Many Christians believe you can never be sure.
1) To them, salvation is a cooperation between humans and God.
a) God offers it, and you have to accept it.
b) More than this, you have to show you have real faith
by living a moral life.
2) If your morality slips, so does your salvation. You lose it.
3) You cannot be sure you are saved until God announces to you,
"Come on in."
B. Even those who believe salvation is all of God have a dilemma.
1) If God predestines us to be saved, then our efforts don't
produce salvation and our sin cannot jeopardize it.
2) But how can you know if you have been predestined?
a) God usually doesn't open up the heavens and drop a
signed commitment paper on you.
b) So assurance, to us, always hinges on our perception.
III. The four possibilities.
A. Your salvation is not secure but you are sure it is.
1) In other words, you are not saved but you think you are.
2) This may be the most dangerous situation because you are
complacent and self-satisfied and don't know your danger.
B. Your salvation is not secure and you are not sure.
1) This would be someone who is not saved and realizes it.
2) They have sufficient understanding to know what God
requires but they are holding back for some reason.
a) Perhaps it is a lifestyle choice that they don't want
to give up.
b) Or, they may be confused by all the claims of other
religions and cannot commit to just one.
c) These people need to get off the fence and make a
decision for Jesus.
C. Your salvation is secure but you are not sure.
1) Such a person is actually saved but they lack assurance.
2) A letter written to Rev. David Cloud:
Dear Bro. Cloud,
I am writing to you to help me clear up some things in my
mind.
For many years now I have had extreme doubts about my
salvation, so much so that it cripples me at times.
These doubts cause me to shrivel up, and become useless to
my husband and baby.
I spend many days crying and reading my Bible, and begging
God to help me.
The thing is, I have had many professions of faith, about 5.
I have been scripturally baptized.
After hearing various preachers, I finally realized that
if God was satisfied with Christ's blood sacrifice for
my sins, then I knew I could be too.
So I told the Lord just that.
At that moment I had a very still quiet peace, and knew I
was accepted as God's Child.
Then why am I doubting?
Well, for one thing, I found a church website where they
have testimonies about people who thought they were
saved, but were really lost.
How do you know you have repented?
I have heard that you need to be so sorry for your sins that
you are sick and tired of them.
Well, Bro. Cloud, I am sick and tired of my sins, but I find
myself still sinning the same sins.
#29391
a) Most people in this category are very sensitive
Christians.
b) I have known several in this church.
c) They love Jesus, but their holiness and commitment
are never good enough in their eyes.
3) Genuine Christians are not perfect people.
a) The Bible teaches that Christians are capable of sin.
b) Our level of commitment will never be 100%.
c) You should try to improve but not beat yourself up over
it.
d) Remember that salvation is primarily what Jesus has
done for you, not what you have done for him.
D. Your salvation is secure and you are sure of it.
1) As long as you are not deceiving yourself, this is where
you want to be.
2) It is not presumptuous to claim to be saved.
a) Our status with God is not due to our own works.
b) We have received it, not earned it.
3) If you are secure in your salvation, help others who are
struggling with the issue.
IV. Assurance of salvation is more than a particular feeling.
A. You might feel you are saved, but feelings are a human emotion.
1) Emotions can be wrong.
2) People deceive themselves all the time.
a) Matthew 7:21-23, where the rejects call out "Lord, Lord!"
B. Dramatic experiences are no guarantee.
1) Many people pin their assurance on events in their life.
a) Their toes tingled when they were baptized.
b) One of their prayers was miraculously answered.
c) I am sure the Apostle Paul reminded himself again and
again of his Damascus Road conversion experience.
2) Unfortunately, our experiences are open to interpretation.
a) Would it be just as convincing to someone else?
b) Don't people in other religions, which we consider to
be false, have similar experiences?
C. Absolute knowledge is reserved for God alone.
1) Responding to human criticism of his ministry, Paul says
in 1 Corinthians 4:4 -
"My conscience is clear, but that does not make me
innocent. It is the Lord who judges me."
2) God always has the last word. Always.
3) It is only his word to us that gives us assurance of
salvation.
V. We cannot be certain but we can be confident.
A. Everyone needs some assurance from outside themselves.
1) The poignant example of Abraham Lincoln.
During a PBS program on the Library of Congress, Dr. Daniel
Boorstin brought out a little blue box from a small
closet that once held the library's rarities.
The label on the box read: CONTENTS OF THE PRESIDENT'S
POCKETS ON THE NIGHT OF APRIL 14, 1865.
Since that was the fateful night Abraham Lincoln was
assassinated, every viewer's attention was seized.
Boorstin then proceeded to remove the items in the small
container and display them on camera.
There were five things in the box:
1) a handkerchief, embroidered "A. Lincoln"
2) a country boy's pen knife
3) a spectacles case repaired with string
4) a purse containing a $5 Confederate bill
5) some old and worn newspaper clippings.
"The clippings," said Boorstin, "were concerned with the
great deeds of Abraham Lincoln.
And one of them actually reports a speech by John Bright
which says that Abraham Lincoln is "one of the greatest
men of all times."
In 1865 that was not the prevailing opinion.
The President's critics were fierce and many.
There is something touchingly pathetic in the mental picture
of this great leader seeking self-assurance from a few
old newspaper clippings as he reads them under the
flickering flame of a candle all alone in the Oval
Office.
#33880
2) Christians have something better than a newspaper clipping.
a) As the prophet Jeremiah says:
"The LORD appeared to us...saying, 'I have loved you
with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with
lovingkindness.'" Jer 31:3
b) That is something that can comfort you in a dark time.
B. Our assurance of salvation is based on God's power and promise.
1) 1 John 5:11-13 explains it succinctly.
a) Verse 11 - God is the one who gives us eternal life.
b) Verse 12 - Eternal life is centered in Jesus.
1> He is absolutely essential to our salvation.
c) Verse 13 - If you believe in Jesus, you can KNOW you
are saved.
1> The Greek word "oida" means "positive, absolute
knowledge."
2> It is more than hoping we are saved -- it is
something we can claim by faith.
2) As we mature in faith, our assurance should grow.
a) John 10:27-28 -- the true sheep listen to Jesus' voice.
b) Do you value Jesus and what he has done for you?
C. One day our assurance will be absolutely concrete to us.
The first Gulf War back in 1991 was different than the current
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those seem to last forever, but the first Gulf War was only
100 hours long.
Casualties were amazingly light.
But there were casualties.
Ron Hutchcraft shares that soon after the war, Dr. Billy Graham
received a letter that touched his heart very deeply.
Graham invited the mother of the soldier who wrote it to share
that letter at a stadium rally he was leading.
As the woman stepped to the microphone, staring out at tens of
thousands of people, she explained that she had never spoken
in public like this before.
But she felt that she should not pass up this opportunity to
honor her son.
At a time when all those victorious Gulf War soldiers were
coming home, her son was one of that small number who
wouldn't be coming home.
He had died in a helicopter crash in the final hours of the war.
The mother explained that her son had written a letter before
Desert Storm began.
He gave that letter to his best friend to pass on to his mother
in case "something happens to me."
Now that letter was in her hands and she read it to the silent
crowd:
"Mom, if you're reading this, I didn't make it.
But that's OK.
Because now, Mom, for the first time in my life, I'm smarter
than you are ... I have seen heaven.
I have seen Jesus!"
This was a soldier who knew where he was going - forever.
He knew he was ready for eternity, whenever and however it
came.
A fallen soldier had a lot to say to thousands of people that
day.
He has a lot to say to you and me about real hope, about
ultimate security.
There is no deeper personal peace than to know for sure that
death holds no fear for you, that when you die, you'll
"see heaven" ... you'll "see Jesus."
On an average day in America, almost 7,000 people go into
eternity.
Yesterday, I attended the funeral of my daughter-in-law Kara's
grandmother.
Most deaths usually don't make headlines as they might if they
had died in combat.
But a simple look at today's obituaries reminds us that our
time on earth is short and unpredictable.
God is the only certainty.
Are you sure you have been saved by him?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 1909 “Betting On Heaven,” Leadership, March 29, 1992; primary source is
U. S. News & World Report, March 25, 1991.
#16818 “Battlefield Promotion,” by Ron Hutchcraft, Ron Hutchcraft
Ministries, March 26, 2003.
#29391 “On Doubting Salvation and Struggling With the Christian Life,” by
Rev. David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service,
December 27, 2003, wayoflife.org; from an email submitted by
Rick Swenson of Hopatcong, New Jersey.
#33880 “Reassurance From a Few Worn Clippings,” by Rev. Chris Vogel,
Cornerstone Presbyterian Church; Waukesha, Wisconsin;
Kerux Sermon #7134.
#35423 “I Know Who I Am, But…,” by Greg Asimakoupoulos, quoting John A.
Huffman Jr., Pastor of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church of
Newport Beach, California. Abe Kudra Illustration Collection.
Further details were found at Snopes.com.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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