A recent survey revealed some interesting information in regard to America’s view of eternity. According to the polls conducted by the Pew Research Group and ABC News: Eighty-seven percent of Americans believe that there is a Heaven. Seventy-four percent believe that there is a Hell. Sixty-eight percent believe that they are going to Heaven. Eight out of ten people believe that after they exit this life, they will face eternity. The alarming fact is that thirty-two percent of Americans have doubts about where they will spend eternity. I would like to ask you the famous question, “If you were to die today do you know for sure that you would go to Heaven?” More than likely there will be those of you who will confidently say yes, there will be some of you who will confidently say no and there will be a good majority that answers, “I hope so.” For those of you who answered yes, this message will simply reinforce that belief. If you answered no, this message will hopefully open the door where you can learn what you need to do to confidently answer yes. For all of you that said, “I hope so,” this message will help you to be able to confidently answer this question one way or another. Today the question before us is, “Can I be sure that I’m going to Heaven?” For the answer to that question we are going to turn to Paul’s letter to the Romans and see three ways that we are united to Christ and how that should allow us to be certain of our eternal fate.
I. We are united with Christ through His death.
A. Paul skillfully shows us that one cannot die to sin and live in it at the same time.
1. The Greek word used here for “united with” is more accurately translated “planted together”.
2. The word is commonly used for the joining of two things that proceed to grow together as a unity, as in the fusing together of a broken bone or in the grafting of a branch into a tree.
3. We were “crucified with Him”. Believers, by definition, are those who by their union with Christ died with Him on the cross.
4. The “old self”, literally “old man” (palaios anthropos) is the believer before they trust Christ, the person who was ruled by sin and an enemy of God.
5. In the waters of baptism we are united with Christ and that “old man” is put to death and the power that sin once held over us is broken.
6. Our crucifixion with Christ did not take place on Golgotha’s cross, as if we were somehow literally yet mystically present there. We were not transported back in history; rather, the living Christ has become present in our history, specifically in the event of our baptism.
7. The power of the cross was there applied to our fallen soul, putting it to death as to its sin-ridden existence.
B. One cannot help but be amazed when you stop to consider what Jesus did for us on the cross.
1. When the Lord Jesus died, He died to the whole subject of sin once for all. He died to sin’s claims, its wages, its demands, and its penalty. He finished the work and settled the account so perfectly that it never needs to be repeated.
2. If you are really honest you will admit that you have a hard time wrapping your brain around the whole concept.
3. Faith can ask why, but it is not discouraged by the inability to understand fully.
4. It is more essential to believe in Christ and what He has done than to be able to completely explain how He did it.
5. Not understanding all the details is no excuse for withholding belief.
II. We share with Christ in His resurrection.
A. Paul shows that in relation to Christ we cannot separate death and resurrection.
1. If we have become united with Christ’s death in the baptismal event that is the likeness of His death, then we also have become united with Christ’s resurrection in that same event, which is also the likeness of His resurrection.
2. Death fulfills the demands of sin. But death opens the way for resurrection. Resurrection lies beyond the control of death. It is the victor over death.
3. With the old self rendered powerless, it is no longer necessary for a person to continue in bondage to sin. In Christ we are set free. Since sin exhausted itself in bringing about death, from that point forward it is powerless to overcome new life.
4. How can the Christian find the strength to overcome the world and the pressure of sin? This strength comes from the knowledge that the future is absolutely secure in Christ and the realization that He has conquered death and sin once for all on our behalf
5. Our death with Christ is one side of the truth. The other side is that we shall also live with Him. We died to sin; we live to righteousness. Sin’s dominion over us has been shattered; we share Christ’s resurrection life here and now. And we shall share it for all eternity.
B. Christ’s death and resurrection gives us the assurance of new life, so there is no need for believers to fear death.
1. We need to allow this truth to take root in our lives. If we do so it will definitely change the way we think and live.
2. The old life has been exchanged for new life, old habits and patterns must be exchanged for new habits and patterns.
3. Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:1-3—NIV)
4. Christ is our example. By His death He ended once for all His relationship to sin. Now He lives forever in unbroken fellowship with God.
5. Our confidence is based on the fact that the risen Christ will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over Him. Death did have dominion over Him for three days and nights, but that dominion is forever passed. Christ can never die again!
6. The church needs a renewed awareness of Christ as victorious over death and the grave. It is the resurrection that makes the news good news. Rising triumphant over Satan’s ultimate show of force, Jesus Christ is forever crowned King of kings and Lord of lords.
III. We are united with Christ through service.
A. We have new direction, new purpose and new power to accomplish Christ’s work.
1. The life of the believer should reflect both the self giving and the overcoming power that lie at the heart of the Gospel.
2. In this new life we look upon sin as our hated and defeated enemy, we look upon God’s law with loving reverence, and we regard obedience to His law not only as our duty but also as our delight.
3. God’s great plan was to set us free from the power of sin. Our attitudes, relationships and desires must change in light of the incredible events that have taken place on our behalf.
4. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:9—NIV)
5. We can commit ourselves to obeying Christ in perfect freedom.
B. The events that took place on the cross make it possible for us to truly have a new start.
1. Because of our union and identification with Christ, we are no longer obligated to follow through on the old motives, desires and goals that once dominated our lives.
2. We have a new start and the Holy Spirit will make it possible for us to become what Christ has declared us to be.
3. All this is true only “in Christ Jesus,” only because He too has died to sin and for our sins and has been raised again, and only because we have been crucified and raised up with Him in our baptism.
4. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4-5—NIV)
5. Now we are alive to God in Christ Jesus. This means that we are called to holiness, worship, prayer, service, and fruit bearing.
6. We can never allow ourselves to forget that we are alive to God because we have been given a new life and a new lifestyle and have been given the sure promise of eternal life.
There was a farmer who had become a Christian after a long sinful life. But after his salvation, this farmer would often be troubled with the memories of the things that he was now ashamed of. He’d be out plowing the field and the guilt and shame of what he’d done in his past would just roll over him in waves till he could hardly stand it anymore. He was a good church goer, and he knew that his feelings were wrong. He knew he’d been forgiven of all of that. And that the guilt was just Satan’s way of whispering in his ear. And Satan was trying to tear him down and get him to doubt his salvation. He knew all that… but he couldn’t quite conquer the feelings that would come on him now and again. (pause…) One day as he was out plowing in the field, the old doubts came back to haunt him. He became angry and decided he was tired of Satan bringing up the past again and again. So he got down off the tractor, went out back of the barn and drove a stake into the ground. And there beside the stake he knelt down and confessed his sins all over again to God. Then he went back out to field and began to plow again. From that day on, whenever his guilt came back to visit him he’d go out back of the barn and he’d point to that stake and he’d say: “Satan, you get out of here, because there lie my sins. Don’t you be bringing them up again, because they’re forgiven.”
