Dwight Nelson recently told a true story about a pastor. The pastor had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and was then afraid to come down. The pastor coaxed, offered warm milk, etc. The kitty would not come down. The tree was not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car he could bend the tree down enough to get the kitten. He did all this, checking his progress frequently. But as he moved the car a little further forward, the rope broke. The tree went "boing!" and the kitten instantly sailed through the air - out of sight.
The pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they’d seen a little kitten. No. Nobody had seen a stray kitten. So he prayed, "Lord, I just commit this kitten to your keeping," and went on about his business.
A few days later he was at the grocery store, and met one of his church members. He was amazed to see she was buying cat food. Now this woman was a cat-hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, "Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?" She replied, "You won’t believe this," and told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the Mom finally told her little girl, "Well if God gives you a cat, I’ll let you keep it." (Can you see where this is heading?)
She told the pastor, "I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat. And really, Pastor, you won’t believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws outspread, and landed right in front of her."
Never underestimate the Power of God!
That story is not true—it’s a load of hogwash. The problem is that it has been passed around as true for quite some time. But it sounds so authentic and real and good, that we want to believe. The problem is, it isn’t true.
We are finishing up a five-part series this morning on how to experience the abundant life. The abundant life that Christ came to give. Remember what Christ said? “I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly?” Christ came not just to pay the penalty for our sins on the cross and give us eternal life, but to give us life!
And remember, abundant life doesn’t mean that we will have everything—it’s not a health and wealth gospel that Christ preached while he was here. What it does mean is exactly what 2 Peter 1:3 tells us—3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
I like the way the New Living Translation puts it—3As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness!
We’ve looked at four words so far during this series. The first was SUFFICIENT—everything we need (3). The second was CERTAINTY—they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive (8). The third was FOCUSED EFFORT—make every effort to add (5). The fourth was QUALITY—possess these qualities in increasing measure (8). Today, we add the fifth word, which is ASSURANCE.
10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Maybe you remember the television commercial for a deodorant stick—Raise your hands if you’re sure. The idea was, unless you wear our deodorant, you might not want to raise your hand, because you never know what smell might come out from there.
How do we have assurance of our salvation? What is it that shows us how to have full assurance that when we die, we will go to heaven? As Peter says, “be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.” But he precedes it with the word, “THEREFORE”. Basing it upon all of the rest of what we have been talking about, make your calling and election sure. Well, what is Peter basing this on?
8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
In other words, based upon your desire to add these qualities in your life, make your calling and election sure.
Now I’m going to say something that sounds mighty strong, but this is what the Scripture tells us. It is not our profession of faith that guarantees that we are saved; it is our progression in the faith that gives us that assurance. The person who claims to be a child of God but whose character and conduct give no evidence of spiritual growth is deceiving himself and heading for judgment.
Let me repeat that—emphasize the bold print.
There are people in this world who will say that, “Yes, I’m saved—I remember a day in my life where I repented of my sins, but I’ve decided that I don’t have to live the way Christ wants me to, because I can do what ever I want. Someday I’ll confess my sins, but not today.”
That person has no hope, NO ASSURANCE.
Let me give you some scripture to show what I mean:
This is in the context of John the Baptist speaking to Pharisees and Sadducees. Do you remember who they were? They were the religious leaders of the day. This is what John the Baptist said to them.
Matthew 3: 7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9And do not think you can say to yourselves, ’We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
John 15: 1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[1] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Jesus would say, “By their fruit you shall know them.” Do you know what the context of this is? Let me tell you.
15"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
21"Not everyone who says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ’I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
It is possible to say, Lord, Lord, and not know the Lord as their personal savior.
And in James, we all know his passage on faith—17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
A saving faith is a living faith.
How can we have assurance of election and calling? Well, begin by asking this question—what is the quality of my life? In other words, is my life filled with trying to add these qualities that we looked at—goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love?
I hope you caught that those qualities are all inward characteristics that eventually work themselves outwardly. It’s easy to go through the motions, but unless you have these qualities at work in you, going through the motions will not last.
Consider this story—a man died and went to heaven.
He had been richly blessed in life. He had a warm personality and a special gift of gab that naturally influenced people. But rather that use his talents to lead people to the Savior, he was known as a brilliant raconteur, the life of every party. He also had a great deal of physical energy, it seemed as though he could go on forever. But rather than use his energies in service to Jesus’ church he spent himself in travel, sports competition and an endless round of meaningless activity. To top it all off it seemed as though he had the Midas touch—everything he did turned to money. But instead of using his wealth to support the spread of the gospel through Christian charity and mission endeavors, he lavished everything on himself.
At the Pearly Gates, he was greeted courteously. An angel was summoned to escort him to his eternal residence. They passed stately marble mansions with sweeping green lawns. As they walked, the houses gradually became smaller. Finally they came to a small, unfinished tar-paper shack. "This, sir," said the angel, "is your heavenly home."
What!" snorted the man. "There must be a horrible mistake. I’m was a wealthy man. This will never do."
"We’re sorry, sir," the angel said, "we did the best we could but these are the materials you sent us."
Of course, that’s not the way heaven works. They don’t build materials out of the things we do on earth, but often times that is the way we live our lives on earth. We settle for the tar-paper shacks that this world has to offer us, instead of the abundant life that Christ came to give us. And what’s more, it’s those qualities at work in our lives that give us full assurance of our salvation! It’s not a feeling—feelings change day-to-day. It’s not a memory, because sometimes our memories fail us. It is the assurance of Scripture that if we live a life of godliness (these qualities), we have the security to know that we are saved.
I want to remind you of the words of John the apostle--6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[2] sin.
4The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love[2] is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
Maybe you’re thinking that I’m trying to scare you this morning—absolutely not. I’m excited about this. You can have full assurance! Remember why John wrote those words? 13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
I want you to know that you can have full assurance of eternal life! It means that even though we sometimes fail, if our lives are made of trying to be more godly (adding those qualities), we can be assured of abundant life on this earth and eternal life in heaven!
Not only that, but we can be assured that we will not fall. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
That’s being able to enter into the kingdom and hear the words of Christ. ’Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Someone wrote referring to this passage, “The Christian life begins with faith, but that faith must lead to spiritual growth—unless it is dead faith. But dead faith is not saving faith (James 2:14–26). Faith leads to growth and growth leads to practical results in life and service. People who have this kind of Christian experience are not likely to fall prey to apostate false teachers.”
Let me put it in terms that explain how I’ve been going through this passage. As we put these qualities to work in our lives, we have full assurance of eternal life and a heavenly reward. How do we know this to be true? Because it is because of Christ’s divine power at work in us! Not only will that give us assurance of eternal life, we have the certainty that we can experience abundant life on this earth, the life that Christ came to give.
That’s why I love this passage. It gives us full assurance of eternal life AND life. We have a sufficiency. We have a certainty. It takes effort on our part. It takes adding certain qualities. And it gives us full assurance.
I don’t want this sermon to be a downer for you, and some of you may feel that way. This should uplift you! This passage should give you the full assurance to be able to say, “Blessed assurance, JESUS IS MINE!” Let’s pray.
