NAIL IT DOWN
“How can I know if I am Saved?”
Ephesians 2:1-9
There are many questions for most of us that we struggle with in the Christian life. Some of these questions sound like this...
• Why do my prayers never seem to reach God? How can I know if he is even listening? OR
• How can I know God’s will for my life?
We struggle with questions and many times if we’re not careful these questions can actually weaken our faith rather than strengthen it. Especially if we are going to the wrong source to look for answers. These questions can be very troubling.
You may be familiar with the board game called chutes and ladders. You may have played it with your children. You work your way up the board to get to your destination and as you do there are two things you are constantly on the lookout for. One of these you want to find as many of as possible—those are the ladders because when you get to a ladder you get to climb up and skip over a portion of the board but then there are the chutes and when you come to one of them you want to do everything possible to avoid it; because if you land on a chute it can drop you back down to the bottom of the board.
Now it occurs to me that often people think about religion, their relationships with God, as being like a game of chutes and ladders—on some days I make progress in my journey to heaven, I’ve really moved up in God’s eyes... I was here and now I’m here... So I’m getting closer to the top. And on other days, I’m doing so good---I ran into a bad spot I had a pothole, a pit, a chute and I fell back. And there are days when I feel like I went all the way back to the beginning.
There is an illustration that has been used for years, in churches actually, that teaches this: our salvation is based on a set of scales—on one side I place all of my bad deeds, my sins and on this side I place all of my good deeds-every good thing I have done on one side and every bad thing I have done on the other and whichever weighs the most, then that is where I stand with God on that particular day. Now immediately I want to tell you that there are at least two things wrong with this system.
1. It leaves us without any peace whatsoever. Because at any given moment our sins could outweigh our good deeds and our salvation would be gone. I find peace in knowing for sure that I am say that I want my salvation to be under scrutiny; to be undecided from day to day.
2. It is simply not biblical. Listen to what Paul says. Ephesians 8-9. You see it’s a lot like this game...
• We go to church-that’s a ladder
• read your Bible-that’s a ladder
• follow this rule-that’s a ladder
• put money in the offering plate-that’s a ladder
But as soon as I mess up-break a rule-sin, you slide back down to the beginning and your find yourself constantly trying to figure out a way you can get back up-back into the good graces of Jesus. And it is a very unfortunate way to live.
So we ask, how can I really know that I know that I know that I am truly saved? Is there really a more important question we can ask in life? 500 years ago people were asking the same question. And some of you are asking as well so I want to settle that question for you today. I started this series last week and I’m dealing with five questions every one of us ask and need answers to. Last week, we asked “how can I know the Truth?” The answer? Sola scriptura. Scripture alone.
Today-how can I know I am saved? The answer Sola Gratia. Grace alone. Now when Martin Luther pointed these truths out 500 years ago, they seemed like new ideas but they weren’t. They have been in Scripture all along. And they may sound like a new idea today but here they are in Scripture.
I do want to say something here-at the outset-if you think this series is about bashing the Catholic Church, you’re mistaken. That is not my goal. In fact many Catholics now look back at what happened during the Protestant Reformation and are now grateful because when you look at the church and its condition 500 years ago you would easily say, that is a church, an institution that badly needed to be reformed. I mean, let’s face it, the church was selling grace/forgiveness. At that time you could purchase an indulgence... Give a certain amount of money and your sin would be forgiven. And that practice is not biblical. The church in the 16th century badly needed Reformation.
But let me tell you another reason why this is not a rant against Catholics— I’m not talking to them, I’m talking to you. I am aware that many of you came to Eagle’s landing, having been in the Catholic Church previously-Jesus said it is wrong to point out the suspect in someone else’s and while there is a beam in your own. This is not just a truth that the church had to deal with 500 years ago. It is a truth you and I have to deal with today. I’m not preaching this because there were mistakes and theology 500 years ago... I’m preaching it because there are mistakes in our theology today.
Now I told you that Martin Luther was studying law. He left that study and became a monk. He fasted, he did all he knew to do to earn standing with God but he never could square the teachings of the church with his personal thoughts. He never found peace. There were many teachings he struggled with but this one was the main one-we could say this was the straw that broke the camel’s back-how can I know that I know that I know that I am saved? If you asked the question 500 years ago the answer was very complicated. The answer was that forgiveness was offered through the sacrament of the church. Sacrament was one of several ways the church dispensed grace period. Here is how that worked...
3 steps:
(1) A believer would present themselves before priest and confess their sin
(2) The believer would receive a statement of forgiveness granted by the priest
(3) After that, the believer would then need to do certain things to work off the remaining debt. Sold in simple form, how was forgiveness issue? How could someone know they were in fact forgiven?
(1) Grace through Christ
(2) Grace given by the priest
(3) Works
So I receive forgiveness, but I must still work. Here’s the problem. Verses 8-9. Now the thought was, what if you sinned and then died before you had a chance to work this debt off? Well you would go to purgatory where these things would then be burned off and in due time, no one knew how long, you would pass along to heaven. Purgatory would remove the rest of your sin and its effects. They also believed you could pray for them to pass through purgatory even faster.
So where did this idea come from? Not the apostles, not Jesus, it came along around the 10th century. 1000 years after Scripture was settled. How did this work? You could earn them or you could simply buy them... for someone in purgatory or buy them ahead of time for yourself in case you wound up in purgatory. In the 1500s the church was deeply in debt. Even in that day, millions of dollars in debt so the church said there are leftovers and you can buy them. Let me explain.
Did you ever go to grandma’s for dinner? She was a saint. She cooked more food than you could ever eat. My grandmother made the best fried chicken and chicken and dumplings you have ever tasted. But we still couldn’t eat it all. So it would go in the fridge. And someone came around a day later there were hungry... No problem... Grandma can take out the leftovers and feed them. And there was still plenty.
Well the church said hey there is left over work/grace from the Saints. The Saints did so many good things that they didn’t need all of theirs to get into heaven, so we can share their grace with you... For a price. An indulgence. And they sold grace and it helped the church get out of debt.
So what do you need to sell these indulgences? Salesmen. So preachers were hired to sell them. They went around with basically a three point sermon. Here it is. You want to be saved. (1) Be contrite. In other words be sorry for your sin. (2) Confess your sin. (3) Contribute your money. How much? Well how bad was your sin? And they raised millions of dollars doing this. In fact these preachers had a little jingle they would use... as they preached. It went like this... “As soon as the gold in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.” In other words, as soon as your coins hit the plate, it opens the gate. They receive a get out of hell free card. Hogwash.
So there were all kinds of things you could pay for that would help those you love who are in purgatory. And it worked and you know why-because people then and people now suffer from having a guilty conscience. You do…. I do….. All God’s children got a guilty conscience. You know you’ve messed up and so to live... You’ve messed up your relationship with God... So I’m not talking about 500 years ago... I’m talking about now. Ever turn on TV and hear evangelists say... You give to me and God will bless you. Sure you have greedy pastors who will always pray upon people to get them to give. So they can drive a Rolls-Royce, finance their newest airplane or buy a multimillion dollar home. It’s no different than what Martin Luther stood up against 500 years ago. Still happening, just on a grander scale.
Let me give you three things you need to take home from this message today. They answer this question, what must I do to be saved? Here it is. Good news and bad news.
(1) There is not a ladder big enough to get you to Heaven. Look at verses 1-3. And you were sick…. Crippled... They needed some help... A good guy... Nope. You were dead. The Mormon Church teaches: our purpose is to make bad men good and good men better. Hey that is the teaching of every cult. Let me tell you what the message of Jesus is... The message of Jesus is not about making bad men good and good men better. The message of Jesus is about making dead people come back to life. The gospel starts with some really bad news. It goes all the way back to Genesis. And it says this, if you sin you will surely die.
Verse two. In the Old Testament man had three problem areas….. 3 areas where sin was rampant. They were in the area of greed, sex and pride. And guess what that list has not changed in the 21st century. You think you’re the first one to struggle with it? No way. We are dead. We have been deceived. You say I haven’t been deceived …….that’s proof that you have. We have been doomed. We are under the wrath of God. And if you think that you are close to being good enough that is what we would call “almost Christianity” and it is never enough. It fact it will send you straight to hell.
But here’s the good news. Look at verse four. But God... 2. We are not made right because of our character, it is because of HIS character. Not because of what we have done but because of what he has done.
3. God knows everything about you and he still loves you in the condition you are in. You don’t have to earn it. You don’t have to climb a ladder. You just need to ask. If you are trying to perform your way into heaven then you need to get off the stage.
Martin Luther, on October 31, all hallowed Eve, we called Halloween. He went and nailed his statement to the door and said this is wrong. It is not faith plus works. It is faith alone. It is grace alone. Why? Paul tells us. So that in the ages to come God will display the immeasurable riches of his grace. Perhaps you have seen the play Les Miserables. I want us to look at a scene from it right now. LES MISERABLES
You see you and I were guilty. What must I do? Believe. Quit climbing the ladder. Quit playing the game and just believe. It’s grace. And to get it there is one simple thing we must do. Ask. Don’t try to make it so difficult. Just ask. Bill Frey writes a book called the dance of hope and in that book he shares this story. He remembers the day he tried to pull a stop out of the dirt in Georgia. He was 11 years old at the time. And one of his jobs was the gathering of firewood for their small stove and fireplace. So he searched the woods for stumps of pine trees that been cut down and chopped them into kindling. But this is the story he shares. He said one day I found a large stump in an open field near the house and I tried to pull it up. He said “I literally pushed and pulled and used a crowbar on it for hours, but the root system was so deep and so large I simply could not pull it out of the ground. I was still struggling with it when my father came home from his office, spotted me working and came over to watch.” “I think I see your problem,” he said. “What’s that?” I asked. “You’re not using all your strength,” he replied. He said,” I just exploded and told him how hard I had worked and for how long. “No,” he said, “you not using all your strength.” When I finally cooled down and ask what he meant he said, “You haven’t asked me to help yet.”
Have you asked of are you still trying to do it on your own?
