How Can I Know I'm Really Saved?

Title: How Can I Know I’m Really Saved?

Text: Hebrews 10:19-25

Introduction

A famous tightrope walker once strung a cable across Niagara Falls from the American side all the way to the Canadian side. To the applause of thousands of people, he would walk across that tightrope right on the very edge of the falls, the rushing, cascading waters thundering underneath him. He would walk back and forth, people applauding wildly. Then to further wow the crowds, he would put a blindfold on and go back and forth. Then he would ride a bicycle back and forth, and then he would push a wheelbarrow back and forth. Every day, people came out to watch him. He quite simply was the greatest.

As the story goes, one day while pushing the wheelbarrow back and forth, he called out to the crowd on one end, inquiring whether or not they thought he could successfully push the wheelbarrow across with a human being riding in the wheelbarrow. The crowd went berserk: "Surely you can. You’re remarkable. We’ve watched you for days. We understand and appreciate your skills. We believe in your abilities. You are the greatest."

On and on they went, to which he responded, "Then someone volunteer. You come right up here, single file, form a line, and get in the wheelbarrow to prove your trust in my ability."

A deafening silence overtook the crowd. There were no takers. (Bill Hybels, "Christianity 101," Preaching Today, Tape 43.)

This illustration points out with amazing clarity the quality of the relationship many Christians have with the Lord. They say they trust Him, but they’re not really sure how far that trust can go. They say they are going to heaven, but often wonder if they’re really going to make it.

The reason many Christians do not live victorious lives is because they don’t really have complete confidence in the Lord. They have doubts and fears about whether or not they’re really good enough to make it to heaven. But Jesus has not given us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7), and we can know with complete assurance that we have eternal life (1 John 5:13). If we trust in Christ, and trust in His Word, we can know with absolute certainty, according to the writer of Hebrews, that we really have been saved.

I. I CAN KNOW I’M SAVED BECAUSE I HAVE A BOLD CONFIDENCE TO ENTER INTO GOD’S PRESENCE. (Hebrews 10:19-22)

Illustration: Holding A Confirmed Ticket

Sometime when you’re in an airport, observe the difference between passengers who hold confirmed tickets and those who are on standby. The ones with confirmed tickets read newspapers, chat with their friends or sleep. The ones on standby hang around the ticket counter, pace and smoke, smoke and pace.

The difference is caused by the confidence factor. If you knew that in fifteen minutes you would have to stand in judgment before the Holy God and learn your eternal destiny, what would your reaction be? Would you smoke and pace? Would you say to yourself, “I don’t know what God’s going to say--will it be ‘Welcome home, child,’ or will it be ‘Depart from me; I never knew you’? (Too Busy Not To Pray, Bill Hybels, IVP, p. 113. Contributed by: Sermon Central Pro.)

A. My Confidence Is In The Blood Of Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:6-7)

Note: We enter into His presence by a “new” and living way. MacArthur points out that “new” (prosphatos) in verse 20 is used only once in the New Testament. Its original meaning was "freshly slaughtered." Jesus is the new way, the freshly slaughtered sacrifice, who opens the way to God. It seems contradictory that the freshly slaughtered way would also be the living way. But Jesus’ death conquered death and gives life. His death is the only way to life that is everlasting. (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, (c) Moody Press and John MacArthur, Jr., 1983-2002.)

Illustration: Precious Blood

Several years ago in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, George and Vera Bajenksi’s lives were changed forever. February 16, 1989, a very normal Thursday morning. The phone rang at 9:15 a.m. "There’s been an accident..." It involved their son Ben.

As they approached the intersection of Adelaide and Simcoe Streets near the high school, they could see the flashing lights of the police cars and ambulance units. Vera noticed a photographer and followed the direction of his camera lens to the largest pool of blood she had ever seen.

All she could say was, "George, Ben went home--home to be with his Heavenly Father!"

Her first reaction was to jump out of the car, somehow collect the blood and put it back into her son. "That blood, for me, at that moment, became the most precious thing in the world because it was life. It was life-giving blood and it belonged in my son, my only son, the one I loved so much."