“BLESSED ASSURANCE” – Evidence #1
INTRODUCTION: We are in a series on “The Assurance Of Salvation”.
Last time, we looked at the importance of KNOWING that you’re saved.
You can’t have a vital, meaningful, effective Christian life unless you have the assurance that you are saved.
How do you get this “assurance”?
You don’t get it from:
o Someone telling you that you’re saved (when you may not be saved).
o Feeling like you’re saved (feelings rise and fall with your emotions).
o Acting like you’re saved (you can fake it … even the lost often act like a Christian).
You get the assurance of salvation from the WORD OF GOD – 1 John 5:13 – “written”
TONIGHT, we are going to look at the FIRST evidence of the assurance of salvation.
EVIDENCE – When I was with the Police Department, I handled a lot of evidence.
I had to gather evidence from a crime scene … document it … take it back to the Crime Lab … and process it.
I’ve had to testify in court concerning the evidence that I gathered regarding the crime.
It was legal testimony to the facts of the case.
So it is with the EVIDENCE of salvation … it is a testimony as to whether you are really “born again”.
Let’s take a look at our FIRST piece of EVIDENCE … KNOWING JESUS.
Philippians 3:10
There is a difference between KNOWING ABOUT someone … and KNOWING them.
EX.: I “know” Billy Graham … I have met him … talked with him … eaten with him (April 28, 1976) … shook his hand … have his autograph … had my picture taken with him (it’s in my study) … personally heard him preach … read his books … met some of his staff … we even graduated from the same school … he spoke at my graduation … had some of the same professors … I know the man who stole his girlfriend while they were in Bible College!
BUT … Even though I “know” Billy Graham … I don’t really KNOW him.
I don’t have a personal relationship with him … he doesn’t “know” me from Adam … he doesn’t remember ever meeting me.
Some people “know” Jesus … they have read His Bible … go to church … sing about Him … pray to Him … might even use His name in vain occasionally.
They “know” He lived … that He was a great prophet, teacher and man of God … that He died and rose again … that He is the Son of God.
BUT … they don’t have a personal relationship with Him.
When you have a personal relationship with someone, you KNOW your standing with them.
EX.: I personally KNEW my father … he wasn’t a “dead-beat” Dad … I lived with him for 21 years … I knew him for 45 years before he died.
I had a personal relationship with him … and no one could tell me that I wasn’t his son or that he wasn’t my Dad.
I had the ASSURANCE of my SON-SHIP, because of my RELATIONSHIP with him.
I inherited many of his traits and qualities (not all of them good, I hate to say!).
I have his hair … his nose … his impatience … his temperament … his good looks!
My Dad has had a big influence on my life … I am what I am today, in a large part, because of my relationship with my father.
There’s no mistaken that I am Jim Scott’s son!
The same can be said of our relationship with Jesus … and the assurance of our salvation.
The longer we walk with Jesus … the more closely intimate we become in our relationship … the more I am personally involved with Him on a daily basis … THE MORE I WILL BECOME LIKE HIM.
We should become more CHRIST-LIKE the longer we walk with Jesus … and that gives us the ASSURANCE of our salvation.
If you are no more Christ-like NOW, than when you were first saved … you will doubt your salvation.
AND … maybe for a good reason.
It might be because you were never saved … OR … it might be because you’re saved but you’ve strayed so far away from Him that He’s had little influence on your life.
You are what you are today, in a large part, because of your relationship with Jesus.
If it’s been a CLOSE relationship, then He has influenced your life for godliness.
If it’s been a DISTANT relationship, then you won’t see much of His influence in your life.
The Apostle John KNEW Jesus … he had a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Him.
1 John 1:1
John HEARD with his own ears Jesus preach, teach, and talk … he SAW with his own eyes the miracles, the crucifixion, the resurrected Jesus … he TOUCHED Jesus with his hands.
He had a PERSONAL relationship with Jesus … he had FELLOWSHIP with Him.
NOW … John wants to share with YOU his personal relationship with Jesus – 1:2
John wants to share the fellowship that he had with Jesus … so WE might ALSO have fellowship with Him – 1:3-4
It’s hard to have FELLOWSHIP with someone that you don’t know very well … or that you have nothing in common with.
As a sinner, we had NOTHING in common with Holy God.
Before we were saved, our sins had separated us from Him, and there was no fellowship.
THEN … when God saved you, He took away the barrier that divided us from Him.
NOW … we have something in common with Him … His Son, Jesus Christ.
When we trusted Jesus to save us from our sins, God created a link between us and Him … the cross.
He put within us the Holy Spirit … so we could be partakers of His Divine nature.
THUS … NOW we can have a sweet fellowship with Him.
BY FAITH, we can know Jesus and experience Him just like John did 2000 years ago … BY FAITH.
I can’t “see” Him physically, like John did … but I can “see” Him at work in my everyday life.
I can’t “hear” His physical voice, like John did … but I can “hear” Him speak to me when I pray and read His Word.
I can’t “touch” Him physically, like John did … but I can feel His “touch” on my life the closer I walk with Him.
1 Peter 1:8 – “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him, and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.”
Listen to the words of the Hymn, “He Lives” - #438 in our Hymnal …
1 John 1:4
What gives you the ASSURANCE of your salvation?
ANSWER: the JOY that you get from being with Jesus.
If you don’t have the joy of Jesus in your heart, you don’t have the ASSURANCE of your salvation … or of your relationship with Jesus.
If you don’t ENJOY your relationship with Jesus … it’s either because you don’t have one … OR … because you’ve not kept in touch with Him.
Jesus said in John 15:11 – “These things have I spoken to you, so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
If we’re so far away from Him that we can’t hear what He’s saying … we will lose our JOY.
The closer you are to Him, the more you will hear Him speak to you … and the more JOY you will have.
Psalm 16:11 – “In Your presence is fullness of joy.”
WHY DON’T WE HAVE THIS JOY … and thus lack the assurance of our salvation?
1.- We aren’t in close fellowship with Him (we just went over this).
2.- We have unconfessed sin – 1:9
All unhappiness is the result of sin in our life.
Each sin is like a brick … the more UNCONFESSED sin we have, the bigger the wall we build between us & Jesus.
After awhile, it will block us out from hearing the voice of Jesus.
Every time we CONFESS our sin, it takes a brick down from the wall.
The smaller the wall, the more joy we have … sin steals our JOY.
3.- We aren’t obeying Him – 2:5
When you were younger, did you find great JOY when you disobeyed your parents … teacher … police … ?
NO! JOY comes with obedience … I’ve been to jail many times (on the OTHER side of the bars!) … and I’ve yet to see much JOY in jail!
4.- We live for the world – 2:15
That’s where a lot of people look for “joy” … at a party … in a bar … in a bottle … in a cocaine pipe … in a bedroom …
The pleasures of the world are only temporary … a good hangover will tell you that!
BUT … true joy is found when you choose to love Jesus … not the world.
This JOY can be yours ONLY if you have the ASSURANCE of your salvation.
If you doubt your salvation, your life will be filled with frustration.
You can’t live a fulfilled life and doubt your relationship with Jesus.
CONCLUSION:
Do you have an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus?
Do you experience the presence of Jesus in your life?
If you DO … you have no doubt of your salvation.
If you DON’T … then you may doubt whether you are really saved or not.
You can have RELIGION …but you may not have a RELATIONSHIP.
There is no JOY … without a real, vital relationship with Jesus.
STAND - PRAY
