Can I Be Sure I’m Actually Saved

Can I Be Sure I’m Actually Saved?

Jesus lets us look into the spiritual world; he sees things we don’t. One of the things he sees is the work and activity of Satan.

Jesus described Satan as a “thief” and a “robber” who came to “steal” “Kill” and “Destroy.” (John 10:1, John 10:8, John 10:10)

Have you ever been robbed?

• In 2008 the Daily News stole the Empire State building. (Just google it)
• In 1911 the Mona Lisa was stolen.

What’s the most valuable thing can be stolen? Your confidence in Christ.

Think about some things that steal our assurance of salvation:

1. Sensitivity to sin. When we are saved, we are like people who have never seen before and suddenly with our eyes opened we are very sensitive to the world around us. More than that, our new spiritual nature is sensitive to sin.

2. Lies about doctrine. Satan takes the places in the Bible where we are commanded to be holy, and twists them into demands for perfection. We can feel that because we fall short of Scriptures high calling, we cannot possibly possess Christ’s Great Gift of Salvation.

3. Guilt. Bluntly, we can just feel unqualified and unworthy to be doing the work of God. We feel like fakes.

• Some sins that are perpetual cause us to feel that we can’t be saved.
• Some sins from our past can make us feel that we are beyond the scope of God’s forgiveness.

3. Our faith gets tired. We start to slow down on spiritual discipline; reading the Bible praying, going to church. It can be replaced with work, video games, school. But soon we are feeding the flesh more than our souls; and spiritual starvation sets in.

Story:

Charles H. Spurgeon was a great (maybe the greatest) Baptist preacher in London’s long history. He began his ministry at 19 years old (1854) and remained in the same pastorate until he died at age 57.

Long before the modern mega church, more than six thousand people per service would fill the sanctuary to hear the great preacher deliver the Word of God.

When hew as only 27, Spurgeon preached to almost 24,000 people at the Crystal Palace. . . without amplification! Sometimes his church would ask members to stay home so that visitors could come and hear the Gospel. His collected sermons are sixty three volumes. Thick volumes!

In his autobiography, Spurgeon wrote: “I felt at that time very weary, and very sad, and very heavy at heart; and I began to doubt in my own mind whether I really enjoyed the things which I preached to others.” And, “It seemed to be a dreadful thing for me to be only a waiter, and not a guest, at the gospel feast.” V.2: p.365

Pause on that! If the great preacher Spurgeon would wonder about his salvation, maybe others do also.

Text: John 10:1-29

Can A True Believer Lose Their Salvation?:

Jesus called himself the “Good Shepherd.” He’s good of heart; he’s also good at what he does. Good shepherds don’t lose sheep! They talk to their sheep, they know their sheep and they lead them to abundance.

1. My Shepherd my salvation.

• The Shepherd becomes the door for the sheep. Nothing can come in or go out without overpowering him.
• John 10:28, Jesus said no one can snatch us out of his hand.
• By the way, if you could lose your salvation… you would! All of us would. We lose everything else. You even lose your kids in the store. Do you really think it’s up to use to guard eternal salvation?

2. My Shepherd my salvation in full.

• John 10:11, John 10:15, John 10:17
• Jesus’ mission was to save us. In John 19:30, he declared that mission, “Accomplished.” He said, “It is finished.” It is a finished transaction. Everything necessary to pay for our salvation was done on the cross.
• John 10:18, to pay for sin you would have to have “authority” from God to do that. Jesus made it clear, you and I do not have authority to pay for our sins; only Jesus has been given that right from the Father.
• If something is “paid in full” (Like my college bill) it means they can’t charge anyone else!
• When Jesus died, all my sins were forgiven. In fact, at that time, all my sins were still future.

3. My Shepherd my salvation.

• John 10:21, he “gives” us eternal life. Salvation is the free gift of God.
• Ephesians 2:8, we are saved by grace.
• Grace is not earned. Once we are saved, we do not keep our salvation by any other means than that by which we obtained it; by grace.

4. My Shepherd said his salvation is

• John 10:28, Jesus said he gives us “eternal” life. Salvation is an eternal gift. And we will “never” perish.
• Jesus’ gift is eternal. The duration is forever without end. Eternal life that can be lost isn’t eternal. If you could lose salvation, it would be temporary life. If it could be stolen, it would be insure life. If you could lose it based on behavior, it would be conditional life.
• There’s a cool sense in which God stands above time and already sees you in heavne before you get there. (Ephesians 2:6) So you’re going, “Am I still saved?” And God looks at future you already in heaven, and goes, “Yeah. I see you right there! Seated in heaven!”

5. My Shepherd Promises I Will

• John 10:28, it’s clear as day. “They will never perish.” A child of God will not experience “perishing” (Hell.)
• Jude 4 warns us against “Godless men” who might turn that doctrine into a “license for immorality.” For the saved, sin is not the desire of their heart, Jesus is. In fact, the truly saved hate their own sin!
• Hell is not an option for the truly saved, but severe discipline is. (See Proverbs 3:11, and quoted again in Hebrews 12:5.)

Romans 8 clarifies so much. (Romans 8:37-39)

What does God do when I stumble?

• Convicting
• Speaking
• Chastising
• Advocating
• Watching
• Grieving

Things a Real Christian will do:

• A Real Christian will
• A real Christian will
• A real Christian will

In the season when Spurgeon felt so low and wondered if he was even saved, he wrote that all that changed one Sunday when he attended church in a town in the English countryside.

The man who conducted the service that day was not an experienced preacher but an engineer. He read the Scriptures, prayed, and then preached. Instead of developing his own message, however, and unaware of the identity of the visitor, he preached one of Spurgeon’s own printed sermons!

Spurgeon later wrote, “The tears flowed freely from my eyes; I was moved to the deepest emotion by every sentence of the sermon, and I felt all my difficulty removed, for the gospel, I saw, was very dear to me, and had a wonderful effect upon my own heart.”

When Spurgeon introduced himself afterward, the embarrassed man confessed, “Why, it was one of your sermons that I preached this morning!”

“Yes,” replied the great preacher, “I know it was; but that was the very message that I wanted to hear, because I then saw that I did enjoy the very Word I myself preached.”

Some of you need to clarify your spiritual position:

1. Review your testimony.

2. Renew your commitment to discipleship.

3. Make a clear commitment.

4. Release some past sins.

5. Repent of sin before get old.

1 John 1:9

James 5:16