Holy Spirit Power Part 2

Let me say something at this point. And again, here this whole thing may be you’ve never heard a pastor say this to you. There are times when I, Francis Chan, doubt my salvation. And there have been times in my life when I’ve even doubted the existence of God. Now I can look back at those times, and I may have them in the future, but every time I have those doubts about my salvation and even the existence of God at times, it is always when I have not been strong in my prayer life because when I am praying, and I’m reading the Word of God, and I’m pursuing what He wants, the way He answers my prayers it is so blatantly obvious. And this is not just this crutch that I’m trying to make up. No, this is reality. During those times when I am tight with God, and I am walking with Him, I am praying like crazy, you can’t tell me that God doesn’t exist. I would look at you like you’re crazy, like you’re mom doesn’t exist. What are you talking about? You know what I mean? Gosh, no, it’s like you made it up, you made her up. It’s just- this is it. There is no way. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt. I am His. He is mine. The Spirit’s crying out, ‘Abba, Father.’ We are just so tight, and there is no doubt. And the answered prayer, everything else where I just think, ‘I know, I know. Thank you, John. I know that I’m saved. I know I have eternal life.’ Then I’ll stray a little bit, and I won’t be so close to God. And I won’t be praying, and I’m not pursuing diligently and working hard toward making sure my election is sure or I really am saved. And those doubts start creeping in. See, you know what I’m talking about. See, you understand. It’s this thing. Where He says, don’t do that. He says diligently pursue these things, and you won’t fall. Go after it.

And then He finally, He says in verse 11, I’ll close with this. He says, “For in this way, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For in this way,”-I love this- “For in this way, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the kingdom.” [2 Peter 1:11 ESV] It’s talking about when you die, and coming into the presence of God, and entering what we call the Kingdom of Heaven, however that looks. This eternal Kingdom that there would be an abundant or a rich entrance. Ok, I’ve never really thought about this a whole lot, but I was thinking about it this week. Have you ever thought about the reception you’re going to get when you get to heaven because the Bible teaches we don’t just all go in the same way? We’re all saved by His grace, absolutely. But 1 Corinthians talks about depending on what you did on this Earth and how you lived your life, some of everything you did could be burned up. It’s going to be shown to be wood, hay, and stubble. And it talks about you yourself would be saved, but as though through the fire. It’s almost like you went through the fire, and you came out, and you have nothing left. You’re sitting there, everything’s just- you smell like smoke, and you have nothing to show for your life. And it’s like, ‘Oh, hi guys,’ versus the person who really did things for the sake of the Lord, for His glory, for His majesty. You’ve suffered, and everything else, and you put up with it, and you stayed firm until the end, and you were just going after it. He says you pursue these qualities, and you won’t live an unfruitful life where everything is burnt up. In fact, you’re going to pull it off. You’re not going to fall. You’ll get to the end, and you’ll have a rich entrance into the Kingdom. And I’m willing to bet, I would bet my house on this, that many of you have never even thought about this because you’re so insecure about your own salvation that you would be happy just to get in at this point. And that’s all you think about. You don’t think about this entrance. It’s like ‘Kathleen’s here! Yay!’ It’s not like this. ‘You know what she did when she was down there the other day?’ It’s not like this whole- you’re not even thinking about that. You’re just thinking, ‘I don’t even know if I’m one of those that are in. I don’t see the fruit in my life. I’m stuck in this, this, this.’ And you’re stuck in that insecurity, and I’m not here this morning to tell you, ‘Oh, no, no, don’t worry about that, you’re good. You’re good. You’re good,’ because that never works anyways. No one else can assure you of your salvation. Even if I did sit down and show you all these verses, still you’d go to bed at night or any time you would open up the Word of God, you would think, ‘Oh, that’s not me. Oh, that’s not me either. That’s not me,’ and you’re just thinking, ‘Wow! I wonder if the change ever happened?’ Look, that’s the way it’s designed. If you’re not living for Him, you don’t see the fruit. You are going to question. And God doesn’t want us to live that way. That’s why He just says go after it. And if you go after it, you’re never going to fall. You’ll stand until the end because that’s what My saints do. He says besides I’m doing this work in you. I’m the one. Just know Me, stay close to Me, and I’ll give you all of these things. Remember, He is the one that’s given it to us. He granted us by His divine power everything that pertains to life and godliness. And this is an amazing passage. And He says diligently pursue those things. You pursue those things. You won’t fall. You pursue those things. You won’t be so insecure. Your election, your calling, you’ll be sure of it, and not only that, but when the end comes, there’s going to be this rich reception for you. And you think, ‘That’s awesome.’ So let’s follow the Word of God. I just love it. I love it. I love the Word of God.