Blessed Assurance - Evidence #1 Series

“BLESSED ASSURANCE” – Evidence #1

INTRODUCTION: We are in a series on “The Assurance Of Salvation”.

Last time, we looked at the importance of KNOWING that you’re saved.

You can’t have a vital, meaningful, effective Christian life unless you have the assurance that you are saved.

How do you get this “assurance”?

You don’t get it from:

o Someone telling you that you’re saved (when you may not be saved).

o Feeling like you’re saved (feelings rise and fall with your emotions).

o Acting like you’re saved (you can fake it … even the lost often act like a Christian).

You get the assurance of salvation from the WORD OF GOD – 1 John 5:13 – “written”

TONIGHT, we are going to look at the FIRST evidence of the assurance of salvation.

EVIDENCE – When I was with the Police Department, I handled a lot of evidence.

I had to gather evidence from a crime scene … document it … take it back to the Crime Lab … and process it.

I’ve had to testify in court concerning the evidence that I gathered regarding the crime.

It was legal testimony to the facts of the case.

So it is with the EVIDENCE of salvation … it is a testimony as to whether you are really “born again”.

Let’s take a look at our FIRST piece of EVIDENCE … KNOWING JESUS.

Philippians 3:10

There is a difference between KNOWING ABOUT someone … and KNOWING them.

EX.: I “know” Billy Graham … I have met him … talked with him … eaten with him (April 28, 1976) … shook his hand … have his autograph … had my picture taken with him (it’s in my study) … personally heard him preach … read his books … met some of his staff … we even graduated from the same school … he spoke at my graduation … had some of the same professors … I know the man who stole his girlfriend while they were in Bible College!

BUT … Even though I “know” Billy Graham … I don’t really KNOW him.

I don’t have a personal relationship with him … he doesn’t “know” me from Adam … he doesn’t remember ever meeting me.

Some people “know” Jesus … they have read His Bible … go to church … sing about Him … pray to Him … might even use His name in vain occasionally.

They “know” He lived … that He was a great prophet, teacher and man of God … that He died and rose again … that He is the Son of God.

BUT … they don’t have a personal relationship with Him.

When you have a personal relationship with someone, you KNOW your standing with them.

EX.: I personally KNEW my father … he wasn’t a “dead-beat” Dad … I lived with him for 21 years … I knew him for 45 years before he died.

I had a personal relationship with him … and no one could tell me that I wasn’t his son or that he wasn’t my Dad.

I had the ASSURANCE of my SON-SHIP, because of my RELATIONSHIP with him.

I inherited many of his traits and qualities (not all of them good, I hate to say!).

I have his hair … his nose … his impatience … his temperament … his good looks!

My Dad has had a big influence on my life … I am what I am today, in a large part, because of my relationship with my father.

There’s no mistaken that I am Jim Scott’s son!

The same can be said of our relationship with Jesus … and the assurance of our salvation.

The longer we walk with Jesus … the more closely intimate we become in our relationship … the more I am personally involved with Him on a daily basis … THE MORE I WILL BECOME LIKE HIM.

We should become more CHRIST-LIKE the longer we walk with Jesus … and that gives us the ASSURANCE of our salvation.

If you are no more Christ-like NOW, than when you were first saved … you will doubt your salvation.

AND … maybe for a good reason.

It might be because you were never saved … OR … it might be because you’re saved but you’ve strayed so far away from Him that He’s had little influence on your life.

You are what you are today, in a large part, because of your relationship with Jesus.

If it’s been a CLOSE relationship, then He has influenced your life for godliness.

If it’s been a DISTANT relationship, then you won’t see much of His influence in your life.

The Apostle John KNEW Jesus … he had a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Him.

1 John 1:1

John HEARD with his own ears Jesus preach, teach, and talk … he SAW with his own eyes the miracles, the crucifixion, the resurrected Jesus … he TOUCHED Jesus with his hands.