How To Know That Your Salvation Is Secure
August 31, 2003 Chester’s FBC, Chester, IL
Romans 8:28-30
Introduction:
A college man walked into a photography studio with a picture of his girlfriend… He wanted the picture duplicated…
A The owner of the store noticed the inscription on the back of the picture, it said,
a "My dearest Tom, I love you with all my heart… I love you more & more each day… I will love you forever & ever… I am yours for all eternity…" It was signed "Diane," and it contained a P.S.:
b "If we ever break up, I want this picture back…"
Friends, when Christ calls us & we follow Him, there’s no "PS" with Christ… You’re His & He’s yours…
B Today we are going to look at a message entitled, "How to know that your salvation is secure."
a Romans 8:28-30
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. [29] For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. [30] And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
b Paul told the believer their salvation was dependent on God. (ETS)
C Once believers respond to God’s call they are never they same again. (ESS)
a I hope you’ll have a better understanding of what it means to be one of God’s chosen. (Objective)
b How do you feel about your salvation? (Probing Question)
T.S.: Let’s look at three certainties that allows us to be secure in our salvation.
I The first certainty that allows us to be secure in our salvation is. . GOD SAVED US.
1 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
A If God works good for those who love him, what does he work for those who don’t love him?
a It’s never a good day to bury a parent, child, or be told that you have the "c" word- - -for anybody. (saved or lost!)
b God is saying, "If you love me, I will bring you through your grief to good."
B How do you know you love God? You have been called according to his purpose.
a Called is different than being invited!
b Called means you have been convinced/persuaded that God’s Word is true, embrace Jesus Christ & his gospel.
2 A former Army Ranger wrote of his experience in watching the movie, "Saving Private Ryan." Tom Hanks character gives his dying words, "Earn This." Although Hank’s character wasn’t an army ranger, it made the Army Ranger thank what actually say in this situation.
a "No Ranger would ever say, "Earn this!" because the Ranger motto for the past 200 years has been Sua sponte, "I chose this."
b When we accept the salvation offered to us by Jesus Christ we are not told to earn this because we can’t. We can only receive the sacrificial gift that He chose to give us!
II The second certainty that allows us to be secure in our salvation is. . . GOD IS SAVING US.
1 [29] For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
A 1 Cor. 8:3, Gal. 4:8-9a
[3] But the man who loves God is known by God. (1 Cor. 8:3)
GAL 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. [9] But now that you know God--or rather are known by God–
a God has had his eye on you for a long, long time.
*He had to love me before I was born because I haven’t done much earn his love since then.
b God does not select some sinners to be saved and select some to be lost.
Matt. 18:14
In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world. . .all of it!!!"
I Tim. 2:4
[4] who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
2 Peter 3:9
[9] The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
*Some folks push this predestination issue to the point of saying that some children who die go to hell because the child never would have been saved.
B He has predestined a plan and purpose for your life!
a ". . .to be conformed to the likeness of his Son,. . ."
*God wants us to look like his Son, Jesus. God sent his Son in our likeness so we could look like his likeness.
b God is saving me everyday so I can look more and more like his son!
2 Ivan the IV was the first Czar of all Russia. He was such a cruel man that they called him "Ivan The Terrible." He married 7 wives & abused them all. He was immoral & violent. He used to throw animals off the Kremlin Walls just to watch them die.
A But when he died in 1584, historians record that they shaved his head & dressed him for burial in the robes of a monk, hoping that God would think that Ivan the Terrible was a monk, & thus allow him into heaven.
a Is that how you get into heaven - by disguising yourself & hoping God will think you are someone else?
b Don’t try & look like me, Bruce, Billy Graham. . .look like Jesus!
B The only external proof that you’re a Christian is how much you look like Jesus!
III The third certainty that allows us to be secure in our salvation is. . . GOD SAVE US.
1 [30] And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
A JUSTIFIED: begins and ends with God.
a When you were saved you were saved from the penalty/guilt of sin. God thing!
b We who are Christians are being seen by God the same way we are going to be seen by him in heaven!
*Romans 5:1,9
RO 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
RO 5:9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
*Justified means that God see’s me "just as if I’d" never sinned!
(Don’t put in bulletin!)
B Our salvation is a done deal (. . .he also glorified.)
a glorified (past tense) Paul is writing as if our salvation is a done deal. It is!
(Prophetic perfect)
*ISA 53:3-5,7 (do not put this text in listening guide. Put on Powerpoint, but don’t show where the text is from until I tell you too!)
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
*The prophet Isaiah wrote about the crucifixion as if it had already happened although it wouldn’t happen for another 800 years! The crucifixion was so certain it was wrote about as a certainty.
b Paul is us this style of writing to describe your salvation!
*Your salvation is so secure that Paul writes about as if it had already happened!
Romans 8:35, 39
[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
[39] neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD!!!
Conclusion:
Paul told the believer their salvation was dependent on God. (ETS) Once believers respond to God’s call they are never they same again. (ESS)
A We’ve looked at three certainties that allows us to be secure in our salvation.
a God saved us. (Called us)
b God is saving us. (Justified)
c God will save us. (Glorified)
B I hope you’ll have a better understanding of what it means to be one of God’s chosen. (Objective)
a Chose to not respond to his offer of salvation! God won’t save you.
Chose to look more Kid Rock over the Son of God!
Chose to be scared about your salvation, secure with your salvation.
b I hope you’ll have a better understanding of what it means o be one of God’s chosen. (Objective)
C How do you feel about your salvation? (Probing Question)
Names like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods roll from the lips of those who talk about golf’s premier event, the Masters. One name that will probably never surface in a conversation about golfing legends is Doug Ford. Few people would have any idea that Ford won the 1957 Masters. He never won another green jacket and he hasn’t made the cut since 1971 (four years before Tiger Woods was born), but he is invited to play in the Masters every year. The Masters’s rules include a lifetime invitation to every champion of the event. Ford only won the tournament once, hasn’t qualified with his golf skills in nearly three decades, and hasn’t been able to break par in the event since 1958. Nonetheless, he gets to play in the tournament every year because on one single occasion he won the jacket. Our salvation is similarly linked to a single event. If we have at one point made a commitment of our eternal security to Christ, we do not need to requalify. Regardless of our abilities and performance, the invitation of eternal and abundant life remains constant.
Next time you’re in an airport notice the difference between passengers who have confirmed tickets and those on standby (Hybels, Too Busy Not to Pray 113). Those who have confirmed tickets are relaxed, their confident and expectant. Those on standby hang around the ticket counter, they pace and smoke, pace and smoke, pace and smoke…all because of uncertainty. God offers us freedom from the burden of uncertainty, so we can know for sure where we stand with God.
