Am I Saved Or Am I Lost And How Can I Know?

"Am I lost or am I saved and how can I know"

Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23

Jesus said that many shall stand in his presence believing they really knew him but instead be thrown into the fires of hell for as long as God lasts. Some people want to know just how close they can come to heaven but still go to hell and I would remind you of Judas Iscariot who kissed the very face of Jesus but is in hell this morning. I would remind you of Felix who trembled in fear at the judgment to come but told Paul that he would wait for a more convenient season to think about his soul. I would speak to you of Agrippa who was almost persuaded through the preaching of Paul to give his heart to Christ. For all these people that could challenge us, the ones who scare me the most are these in Matthew 7.

Most people don’t really know what will happen to them when they die. They hope that their good deeds outweigh their bad or that God would never really send anybody to hell for their sins. Surely there must be someone else who is worse than I am maybe I can be judged next to them and my sin won’t seem so bad. In Zechariah 3 it tells us of Joshua the High Priest standing in the presence of God and being clothed in filthy rags with Satan there to accuse him. We think that that means Joshua’s sins were what he was clothed in but that’s not the filthy rag. The filthy rag is the righteousness of all his good works.

"But we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness are as filthy rags…" Isaiah 64:6

If our good works are as filthy rags in God’s eyes what must our sins be like unto him? Can I tell you that the Bible is very plain in it’s speech to our hearts and God doesn’t stammer or stutter when He speaks. Matthew 12:30 says "he that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad."

At this moment everyone within the sound of my voice is either saved or they’re lost. You’re either all the way in the family of God or you’re still a child of the devil. You’re either justified by the blood of Christ Jesus or you’re still condemned in your sins. Your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life or you’re bound for a devil’s hell. You’re born again by the Holy Spirit sealing you for time and eternity or you’re lost in your sins because you have not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

· Nicodemus was a religious man in John 3:1-8

· But he was a lost religious man by the standard of Christ

Want everyone who hears this message to draw an imaginary circle around them and create if you will a bubble that only you and God are in. I am going to ask you 4 questions from the Word of God and explain what each question means. If you can answer yes to all 4 questions in your circle alone with God, you can be sure that you’ll go to heaven when you die. But if you can’t answer all 4 of these questions or can’t answer yes to any one of these questions, I wouldn’t leave this place today thinking I would go to heaven when I die. Never seen anyone who was saved offended by this message because it just gives them added assurance to remember their salvation experience but I have seen the lost cut to their very core being as they tried to rationalize their goodness as a way to heaven. I’ve seen people try to pick this message apart to justify themselves but I’m so sure of what I’m about to share with you that I’ll meet you at the judgment and not be ashamed.

Are you in your circle? Will you be honest with God as we continue?

· First question: have you at any time, at any place under any condition ever been convicted of your sins by the Holy Spirit?

· John 16:7-9 (read)

When the Holy Spirit comes to take hold of a lost person’s heart, He always come with the express purpose of laying the weight of that person’s sins on their shoulders. He come to convince that person that they are a sinner as he lays a burden for sin on the heart convincing us of our lostness. The Holy Spirit enables us to say I AM LOST! I have no hope of saving myself because in God’s eye all my good works are as filthy rags. Believe me that only the Holy Spirit can convince you of your lostness because even though we may try, God truly knows your heart.