HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE SAVED?
ACTS 9:1-19
I would like to take a look at Saul’s conversion experience in Acts 9 this morning to help us answer a basic question that people sometimes have when they are Christians. The question is: How do I know I am saved? Can I be sure? Saul became saved and came to know Jesus Christ and trust Him as Lord and Savior. The man Saul who became Paul, had no doubts when it came to his salvation.
You might say that this was because he was an Apostle and so had extra assurance.
You might say that he was overconfident.
You might say that he put up a brave front, but did not really know if he was saved or not.
I want us to look at Acts 9:1-19 today and look at the conversion of Saul (I will probably say Paul a lot, forgive me) and see if we truly can know if we are saved.
READ ACTS 9:1-19
I. YOU MUST KNOW WHO YOU ARE (VERSES 1-2)
I want us to look and see who Saul was here in the beginning of the passage. Who is this man that is ‘breathing murderous threats’ against Christians in verse 1? What kind of person would do this? Who was Saul? Saul was born into a good family in the leading city of Tarsus. In the time of Rome, Tarsus competed with Athens and Alexandria as the learning center of the world. His family had the honor of being Roman citizens. Now this is no easy thing to get-- being a Romans citizen was a very prestigious and costly thing. You either had to buy your citizenship with half a lifetime’s wage or it had to be given to you because of great service to the Empire and your descendants would receive this honor as well. It gave you rank, influence, priveledge, and honor. Saul happened to be born a Roman citizen (Acts 22:28) and enjoyed this status his whole life. He even used it to get out of some scrapes now and again in his missionary work (Acts 22).
He was also as he put it, ‘advanced in Judaism beyond many Jews [his] own age’ (Galatians 1:14) and was ‘the Pharisees among Pharisees.’ Saul received the best training of his day under a teacher by the name of Gamaliel. Gamaliel was so influential he received the title of ‘Rabban’ which was higher than Rabbi and was given to only a few Jewish leaders. Saul learned under this man and was taught all about the law and being zealous for God (Acts 22:3). It was Saul, Roman citizen and up-and-coming leader of the Jews, that when faced with these new people called Christians-- started to persecute them. He put people in prison. He tore families apart. He killed. We know that he sanctioned the killing of Christians because in Acts 7 he ‘gave approval’ for the stoning of Stephen. He was the leader of persecuting the Christians. He even traveled around looking for Christians to put in prison or kill.
So, let me put Saul into some perspective for you and sum up who he was. Basically, if we boil down everything and get to the core of what Saul was, we find that Saul was... a sinner. Now let’s think about us for a minute. I don’t know everything about you all. I don’t know exactly how you grew up. I know where some of you work and some I do not. I do not know every aspect of your lives, but I do know one thing. You are a sinner. I am a sinner. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We have all sinned and fallen short of what God wanted for us and broken our relationships with Him. Now, whether you admit that about yourself or not is the difference between some of us.
It takes several steps to admit that you are a sinner. First step, it takes a person being honest with themselves and with God that they have sinned. I love the words of 1 John 1:8-9, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
We have to be honest and say that we have done the opposite of what God wanted us to do.
We have to be honest and say that we have thought things contrary to God’s desire for us.
We have to be honest that we have hurt God and hurt other people.
Second step, is to humble yourself. The steps do in fact get harder as you go along. The easiest thing to do is to be honest with yourself. The second one is not so easy. Humbling yourself before God is tough. The Book of James tells us, "He gives us more grace. That is why the Scripture says: God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble... humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up" (4:6,10). We cannot be prideful and come to the Lord about sin. We have to be humble. James uses the word humble here to let us know we have to be the lowliest of the low in our spirits about sin. Sorrowful. Contrite.
The third step is to decide to submit yourself to God on this sin issue and not let sin rule your whole life. You have to choose God and not the world. James 4:7-8 encourages and commands us, "Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands you sinners and purify your hearts." The biggest part of admitting that you are a sinner is to say no to evil and yes to God. That is what repenting is. That is what confessing Jesus as your savior is. When we confess that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God, we are saying no to the devil and submitting ourselves to God.
ILLUSTRATION... Calvin and Hobbes on confession
The cartoon character Calvin says to his tiger friend Hobbes, "I feel bad that I called Suzie names and hurt her feelings. I am sorry I did it." "Maybe you should apologize to her and tell her you did wrong," Hobbes suggests. Calvin ponders this for a moment and replies, "I keep hoping that there is a less obvious solution." When we want to restore our relationship with God, we need to remember that God has a liking for the obvious solution.
II. YOU MUST LET JESUS WORK (VERSES 3-16)
Here was Saul, trotting down the road to Damascus when something happened. He was on his way to Damascus to persecute more Christians when a miracle happened. Saul had an experience. Light flashed all around. He heard the voice of Jesus. Apparently he was the only one having this whole experience because his traveling companions could only hear the voice.
Jesus was working in Saul’s life. There are two different time periods that we see Jesus working in Saul’s life to save him. First, Jesus had worked before Saul even began to persecute the church by His ministry here on earth. Jesus went around teaching, preaching, healing, and baptizing. His ultimate work though, was dying on the cross. Jesus paid the price for Saul’s sin. Jesus paid the price for my sin. Jesus paid the price for your sin. He died on the cross for each and every one of us so that we can have the opportunity for a personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe. Jesus had worked in Saul’s life before his Damascus Road experience. Second, Jesus was still working in Saul’s life. He told him to go to Damascus and wait. Meanwhile, Jesus spoke to a believer named Ananias who would come and minister to Saul. Ananias obeyed the Lord and went to this murderer of Christians and found Saul blind and humble and ready to believe in Jesus. Saul, persecutor of Christians, Pharisee of Pharisees, Roman citizen from Tarsus-- came to believe and accept Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior.
So, Jesus worked in Saul’s life in two ways. The first was His ministry here on earth and His sacrifice on the cross. Without that, we have no salvation and no way to gain forgiveness. The second way was bringing people into Saul’s life to minister to him and to explain the Gospel.
Do you know that the same thing happens for us? Jesus works in our lives in the same two ways. He worked in our lives before we were even born through His life, death, and resurrection. He also works in our lives in the here and now. He brings people into our lives to share about Jesus-- perhaps a family member, a co-worker, or a preacher. Perhaps you heard a sermon at church or on the radio that moved you. Somehow you found out about Jesus Christ and were convinced of the Truth and placed your faith in Him. That was Jesus working.
ILLUSTRATION
III. YOU MUST OBEY (VERSES 17-19)
Jesus told His disciples many things while He was with them. Jesus told them, "If you love Me, you will obey what I command... Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me" (John 14:15, 21a). On the same occasion, Jesus also said, "I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me" (John 14:6). What is Jesus trying to say in these verses and the countless other ones like them in the New Testament? I will put it simply because I believe it to be a simple message: If you love Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will follow and obey Him in all His commands. When you commit your life to Jesus by placing faith in Him, a transformation takes place inside of you. You become a new creation that serves God (2 Corinthians 5:17).
What did Saul do? Here he is, sitting in the dark because the experience on the Damascus Road has left him totally blind. He was this way for three days. He fasted. He prayed. He was staying in the house of a Christian and I’m sure his host told him all about Jesus. Three days he waited. God’s servant Ananias came to him and prayed over him. Saul was healed. I want you to look and see what he did:
* He got up and was baptized
* The rest of the book of Acts and more than half the books of the New Testament are proof that he sought after God with his whole heart and obeyed.
How do you know you are saved? That is the question is it not? We have looked at the conversion of the Apostle Paul to help us with the answer. I look at the Apostle Paul and I see someone like you and like me. He was a sinner. He found himself powerless to change his standing with God. He was powerless and blind. He needed help. Romans 5:6 tells us, "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly." Saul needed Jesus. Saul came to Jesus in humbleness and confessed his sin and accepted Jesus for Who He is and what He did. He obeyed Jesus and was baptized. And after that, he remained faithful all the days of his life.
How do you know you are saved? How can you know you are saved? Is there a way to be certain of your standing before God is to face three questions. If you can answer all of them honestly with a yes, you can be sure of your salvation.
1) Have you confessed Jesus as Lord and asked Him to forgive you? = (know who you are)
2) Have you been baptized and repented? = (allowed Jesus to work)
3) Have you remained faithful? = (obedience and faithfulness)
CONCLUSION
