How Can I Be Sure That I Am a Christian?

a drugstore, go in Walmart, any kind of pharmacy, and buy an over-the-counter drug like Aleve.

It takes a lot to get into it. They're packaged securely today. You know, this box, you got

to break it open. You got to get the little box out or the little bottle out. You think

you're going to just open it? I can't even open this. It's got another seal here. Everything

today, every kind of medication that you can just walk in and buy over-the-counter, some

bodies, every company basically has gone to great lengths to make it secure. How many

of you know why it's like that today? Raise your hand. Only old people raised their hands.

Did you notice that? No, not really. Not really. Back in 1982, some crazy psycho in Chicago

put cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules in some bottles in a drugstore. One lady took one of those cyanide-laced

pills, thinking it was Tylenol, and it killed her. Before the whole thing was over, seven people,

seven people lost their lives, thinking that they were taking Tylenol, a pain reducer, fever reducer.

But it was laced with a poison that killed them. You know, there is an important lesson about faith in that tragic story.

And that is, it's not enough to just sincerely believe something.

Those people were as sincere as they could be in going in there and thinking that that bottle labeled Tylenol,

that it would help them.

But as it turned out, they were sincerely wrong.

Because what was in it killed them.

Faith is only as good as its object.

Faith in faith is meaningless.

Just being sincere about believing something, that can even be fatal.

Faith is only as good as the object it's placed in.

That Tylenol tragedy helps us to understand it's important to know what you believe in.

Who you believe in.

It's important for every one of us from time to time to just examine,

investigate what it is that we believe.

You know, the Bible actually commands us to do that.

The Christian faith is probably the only faith known to humanity.

It teaches us, don't believe blindly.

Don't not think.

The Christian faith says, look carefully at who you believe in, what you believe.

Test it.

I'll give you an example.

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to Christians now,

Paul's letter to the Corinthian church, second letter.

In chapter 13, verse 5, he's coming to the end and he tells them,

examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.

Test yourselves.

Or do you not realize that this about yourselves, that Christ Jesus is in you?

Unless indeed you fail to meet the test.

Now think about what he's saying here.

Paul is writing to church members like us.

Not writing to people out on the street,

people who wouldn't even profess faith or might have some casual faith.

Paul is writing to people who profess faith.

They're meeting as a church in the city of Corinth.

He says, examine yourselves to see whether you are truly in the faith.

Test yourselves.

Well, Jesus makes an even more startling,

take you back kind of statement about genuine faith in Matthew chapter 7,

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

beginning in verse 21.

I want you to turn there with me.

That's where we're going to spend most of our time this morning.

Matthew chapter 7, beginning in verse 21.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Last week we had John Blanchard here.

And you probably were not aware of this,

but he actually preached two different messages.

He preached one in the first service from the book of Philemon.

And he did a topical message and basically walked through several passages

in this, the second service.

But they were both basically the same,

or rather they had the same theme, made the same point.

We need to make sure that we understand what it means to be a true Christian.

In both messages, he gave a description

about what Christians believe and how Christians behave.

Well, I want to take what he said last week,

that thought.

Know what you believe.

Examine yourself.

I want to turn that into a short series of studies

on the subject assurance of salvation.

What I'd like for us to do is look at several passages of Scripture

over the next few weeks,

and they'll most all come from the book of 1 John.

A little book toward the end of your New Testament.

1 John.

And as we do this, I want us to answer the question,

how can I be sure that I am a Christian?

I want to begin, though, not with 1 John,

but with what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7,

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

one of the most sobering and disturbing passages

in the entire Bible.

I want you to think, as we read this,

Jesus is speaking to professing disciples.

This is the Sermon on the Mount,

where Jesus is seeking or is preaching to,

teaching these who are following Him.

And He makes it very clear in what we're going to read.

There are some people who think they're right with God,

but they are not.

There are some people who think on Judgment Day,

they're going to be welcomed into heaven,

but they will not be.

And that should get our attention.

Let's read it.

Matthew 7, verse 21.

Matthew 7:21

Jesus says,

Not everyone who says to me,

Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven,

but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Think about what He's saying.

Not everyone who says to me,

Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

In other words,

only those who do the will of my Father.

Verse 22.

On that day,

this is Judgment Day,

many will say to me,

Lord, Lord,

did we not prophesy in Your name

and cast out demons in Your name

and do many miraculous works in Your name?

Then I will declare to them,

I never knew you.

Depart from me,

you workers of lawlessness,

or you evildoers even.

There is no greater need

than that anyone has

than to know that we have eternal life.

There is no greater need

that you or I,

anyone we know,

there is no greater need

that a person can have

than to know for sure

that they have eternal life.

and to know as much as we can

that our family members

are truly Christians

and right with God.

We want to know that

if we're Christians

because if they're not,

we want to be able to pray for them,

talk to them,

encourage them,

actually share the gospel with them.

As we begin this study on assurance,

I want us to start out

by noticing three kinds of assurance

found in the Bible.

First, right here in Matthew chapter 7,

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

there is undeserved assurance,

or we can call it this,

false assurance.

Jesus is pointing out here,

some people have assurance,

they call Him Lord,

but they shouldn't have that assurance.

They have false assurance,

undeserved assurance.

Now what kind of people

are Jesus talking about here?

People who profess faith in Christ,

but their faith did not result in obedience.

Look at verse 21 again.

Not everyone who says to me,

Lord, Lord,

not everyone who proclaims, professes,

I'm their Lord.

Not everyone who says to me,

Lord, Lord,

will enter the kingdom of heaven.

But the one who does the will of my Father

who is in heaven,

that's the one who will.

He's talking about a false,

or a faulty,

profession of faith here.

Here's what Jesus is wanting us to know.

People who truly know Him,

people who truly have a relationship with Him,

people who really have true,

saving faith,

trust,

confidence in Him,

will also desire to please Him

and be like Him

in that they want to know and do the will of God.

See, that was Jesus' food.

That's what fueled Him.

That's what kept Him going in this world.

He wanted to know the will of His Father.

He wanted to do the will of His Father.

He wanted to bring glory and honor to His Father

and all that He did in this world.

And if we are His followers,

we'll want to know the same.

You know, Jesus taught us to even pray that way.

In Matthew chapter 6,

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

in verse 10,

we see that a part of the model prayer

Jesus taught us,

His people to pray,

includes this statement.

As we pray, we pray to God,

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus teaches us to pray that way

because that's what we want.

That's what we desire.

As God's people,

we want to please God.

We want His will to be done.

In other words,

Jesus is telling us here

that real Christians

don't just talk about what they believe.

they live out their faith.

And a part of living out their faith

is seeking to know and do God's will.

Now let's be real clear about this.

Some people may get the idea,

well, Jesus is teaching about

some kind of working your way to heaven

by doing God's will.

Well, no, that's not what He's saying at all.

Jesus in no way is

de-emphasizing the fact

that salvation is by the grace of God,

it's unearned, it's undeserved,

it's by the grace of God

through faith in Jesus,

through faith in who He is

and what He's done for us.

But what Jesus wants us to understand,

what Paul emphasizes so much

when he talks about faith,

is that real faith,

if we truly do trust in Jesus,

His Spirit will come to live within us

and make a difference in us,

make a change in us,

and the Spirit of God

who lives in every Christian

will cause us to want to put our faith

into practice, into action,

to do God's will.

Now when you think about God's will,

some people think in terms of

some kind of special thing God has for me.

Usually, the majority of times,

overwhelming majority of times,

when God's will is mentioned in Scripture,

it's talking about God's moral will,

how He wants us to live.

God's will as a man

is to be a godly husband to your wife,

godly father to your children.

God's will is that you

not compromise

His Word, His truth,

biblical morality,

as you do your work,

as you do your job,

even if they expect you to,

people that hired you.

God's will is very practical.

It's living the way

that He's called us to live

because as Christians

indwelled by the Holy Spirit,

that's our desire.

That's what we want to do.

Now, genuine faith

is a visible faith.

It will be seen.

And any faith that is not seen,

in other words,

if people can see you

and they don't see any signs

that you're a Christian,

you're not.

James says it this way.

Look at James 2.17.

Really, the whole book of James

is about how faith works.

Faith is visible.

Faith produces fruit.

But look at this.

Faith by itself,

if it is not accompanied by action,

is dead.

It is non-existent.

So, Jesus is warning us

about a faulty profession of faith.

But He's also here warning us

about a faulty expression of faith.

Look at verse 22.

He's warning us about substituting sensationalism

for substance.

Look at that verse again.

On that day, judgment day,

many will say to me,

Lord, Lord,

did we not do all kinds of miraculous things?

Prophesy in Your name.

Preach in Your name.

Cast out demons in Your name.

And do many mighty works in Your name.

Jesus is talking about there are people.

At that day and time,

they claimed to be His followers,

and they preached.

They cast out demons.

They actually performed miracles.

But Jesus is saying

they were not really His.

They had no relationship with Him.

They're going to be condemned

on judgment day.

This goes to show us

miraculous signs

do not necessarily mean

that God's involved.

You can look at it

throughout Scripture.

For example,

in Moses' day,

in the book of Exodus,

Pharaoh had his wizards

and magic guys

who could perform

a lot of the same miracles

that Moses did

under God's command.

You see that in other places

in the Old Testament.

Prophets, false prophets

doing miraculous things.

You see that in Paul's ministry.

He encountered this

in Acts chapter 19

Acts 19 · chapter mention

for an example.

Jesus even said

throughout history

up until He comes back

to this world,

miracle workers

will be found.

Look at it in Matthew 24,

Matthew 24:24

verse 24.

Jesus says,

For false Christ's

little sea

and false prophets

will arise

and perform great signs

and wonders

so as to lead astray

if possible

even the elect,

even true believers.

There are some people

who are empowered

by the devil.

There is spiritual warfare

that goes on

in this world

that sort of what we call

behind the scenes.

and there are people

who are doing

some amazing,

miraculous things

in the power

of the devil.

And Jesus is talking

about people

who are actually deceived

and deceiving people.

They're not seeking

to do what they do

for God's glory.

They're seeking

to do what they do

for their own

or some other

unacceptable means,

reason.

Jesus is emphasizing

just another way here

in verse 22

that our faith,

real faith,

will result

in us being

obedient to God,

doing God's will,

living very practically

daily a life

that pleases God,

that meets

other people's needs,

that serves other people,

that upholds the truth,

living an honest life,

living a godly life.

And I want you

to note what Jesus

says to those

who think

that a mere

profession of faith

or some kind

of experiential

miracle,

sensational thing

is the key

to salvation.

Look at verse 23,

the last verse we read.

And then I will

declare to them,

I never knew you.

Depart from me,

you workers

of lawlessness.

Jesus.

These are some

of the most chilling

words in the Bible,

aren't they?

Jesus will say

to somebody

who thinks

they're his follower

on judgment day,

I never knew you.

Jesus is not talking

about somebody

losing their salvation.

You see that.

He's describing people

that he never

had a relationship with,

people who never

were saved.

I never knew you.

How could somebody

be deceived like that?

How could somebody

think that they

were true followers

of Jesus when they

were not?

How does this

happen today?

How is it that there

are people today

who claim to be

a Christian,

but they're not?

There's no real

evidence in their life.

No godly character.

No doing God's will.

Probably a lot of

reasons could be cited,

but here's one.

They have a faulty

understanding of what

salvation is.

You know,

some people equate,

and especially this is

found in some

Baptist churches.

Some people think

that salvation is

somehow or another

equated with,

in a service like this,

at the end of the

service,

walking down an aisle

and taking a pastor

by the hand and

saying something to him.

That's the dumbest

thing that's ever

been brought up

in church life.

To actually think

that by just

standing up and

coming down and

shaking the pastor's

hand, that makes me

right with God

somehow.

Or some people think

because they have an

emotional experience.

They come to a church

service the way things

are, maybe something's

said, a story's told,

music and such,

and they just break

down, you know,

they're thinking some

good thoughts.

And they're just sort

of overcome with

emotion.

You know, I would

never let you see

this, but sometimes

I can become

overcome with

emotion with

certain country

songs.

I can cry.

It just touches

my heart.

But it's not some

kind of spiritual

experience.

It's an emotional.

Touch your heart,

touch your feelings,

make you feel a

certain way that

absolutely does

nothing to change

your life.

And because you

had got emotional

in church one Sunday

and you walked down

the aisle and

shook a pastor's

hand, and somehow

or another you wound

up getting baptized,

that does not make

you a Christian.

That does not in any

way equate to

salvation.

And you can't find

it anywhere from

Genesis to Revelation

in your Bible that

anything like that

is what it means to

become a Christian.

Now, it could be, I

don't want to discount

this in any way, it

could be that this

morning even, the Lord

could speak through

this message.

The Lord could just

work through his

spirit in your life to

cause you to realize

I'm not a Christian,

but I want to be

saved.

And you right there

where you're sitting

right now, you just

think to yourself, you

say to God, I hate my

sin, I want to turn

from my sin, and I

really do believe that

when Jesus died on the

cross, he died for me.

And I trust him right

now as my Savior.

And when this service

is over, you walk

down the aisle and

you tell me, I have

put my faith and

trust in Jesus this

morning.

You confessed your

faith here, you want

me to tell people here,

or you want to tell

people here, that's

fine.

That is, you walking

down the aisle and

telling me or telling

the congregation, that's

just an external way of

expressing what internally

happened.

And every Christian

should be baptized in a

baptism or in a

pond or a church

or a lake or river or

somewhere, every

Christian.

See, that's the New

Testament way for

Christians to make it

known that they are

followers of Jesus, to be

baptized.

But you know what

baptism actually literally

does?

It just gets you wet or

cold.

Baptism is just a symbol,

it's a picture of what

happens when a person

truly trusts in Jesus for

their salvation.

You go down in the water,

it symbolizes you've died

to the old person you

were before you came to

know Christ.

You died and been buried,

that old person.

You come up out of the

water, it symbolizes the

new life that you have when

you put your faith and

trust in Jesus to save you.

Jesus wants us to

understand real salvation.

salvation.

It's not these external,

emotional things that we

sometimes equate with that.

Salvation is a gracious

work of God in which He

works in a person in their

mind to cause them to think,

in their heart to cause them

to feel.

At some point in their mouth

to cause them to profess

faith.

And God so works when He

does all these kind of

things, He changes us and

our lives will show it by

our desire to know and do

God's will.

A person is saved when God

convicts them of their sin,

that they are separated from

Him because of their sin.

And God, when He convicts a

person, He's not just making

it known they're sinful.

Every one of us in here, we

know we're sinners.

You find the sorriest human

being you know.

The person who would just

say, I hate God.

And they would say, yeah,

I know I'm a sinner.

Knowing you're a sinner means

nothing.

That's just, you're an idiot if

you don't think you're a

sinner.

You've deceived yourself.

You're a liar to yourself if

you don't think you are a

sinner.

We all know we are sinful

people.

But when God truly is one who

makes that known, makes it

aware, we feel guilty.

We feel broken.

We have dishonored, offended

Him, broken His laws.

And if God's doing that work

in us, we'll want to stop it.

We'll want to change our

minds.

We want to turn from that

kind of thinking and living.

That's repentance.

When God works in us to save

us, He convicts us of our sin.

He gives us a desire to repent,

to turn from it, change our

mind.

And God really does open up our

spiritual eyes, so to speak,

and causes us to see that when

Jesus died on the cross, He died

for me.

He paid the penalty for my sin.

And I trust Him.

I love Him.

I'm committing my life to Him.

That's how God works to save a

person.

And when God does this in us, we

not only trust Jesus as our Savior,

as John Blanchard talked about

last week, we simultaneously will

submit to Him as the Lord, the

master, the boss of our lives.

You see, if we really understand

that Jesus gave His life for me,

we want to give our lives back to

Him in return.

He's bought us.

Paul talks about that with His life.

And so real salvation is a trust in

Jesus.

It's a commitment to Him.

It's a love for Him.

That will in some way, or a lot of

ways rather, change who we are.

It will never make us perfect in

this world.

We'll still have that sinful nature.

We're still going to come up short.

We're not going to do God's will

perfectly.

But we'll have the desire to.

And we will, because God motivates us

from within, we'll want to do His will.

We'll put forth the effort to do it.

That's how the Holy Spirit will work in

us.

Now, Jesus is telling us here in Matthew

7, some people have false, undeserved

assurance.

You need to ask the question of yourself.

Is He talking about me?

Next, we're going to deal with in this

series, not today.

Well, the second kind of assurance we're

going to deal with is uncertain

assurance.

It's possible to be a Christian but

lack assurance.

That's why John wrote the book of 1

John.

1 John chapter 5, verse 13, says this.

1 John 5:13

Look at it on the screen.

I write these things to you who believe

in the name of the Son of God that you

may know that you have eternal life.

He wrote that because evidently he knew

there were people, Christians, who didn't

know, who wondered, who struggled, who

doubted.

Most Christians doubt their salvation at

some time or other.

It doesn't make you an inferior Christian

or less spiritual Christian.

I truly believe that if a person thinks

and understands what God has called us to

do, how He's called us to live, and we

have experienced at times in our life a

true desire, a love for following Jesus,

being like Him, I truly believe that when

we fail to do that, when we, as some

people would use the word, when we backslide,

when we move away from the Lord, when we

become indifferent, I think it's very

natural at that point in time to doubt our

salvation.

I don't think God's going to give any person

true, confident assurance if they're living

in indifference or rebellion against Him.

That's just not how it works.

We're going to be learning that, seeing that

in the book of 1 John over the next few

weeks.

We're going to look at some of the reasons

why people may have doubts and how to deal

with our doubts over the next few weeks.

There's a third kind of assurance.

Our goal in this series is for all of us to

have or develop undisputed assurance, good

assurance, confident assurance.

John's telling us the reason he wrote the

letter, just what we read in verse 13 of

chapter 5, is to give Christians assurance of

their salvation.

We can and we should, if we're Christians,

have assurance that we really are children of

God.

If you struggle with a lack of assurance,

the first and best thing you can do is read

slowly, carefully, prayerfully this little book

of 1 John.

That's where we're going to spend most of our

time in the next few weeks.

Now I want to ask you, as we begin this series,

this study, what kind of assurance do you have?

Do you have an undeserved assurance, a false

assurance that God's made known to you this

morning?

Or if you suspect this is true, you really need to

get serious about this and ask God to clearly reveal

to you where you stand with Him.

Don't go through this day without spending some time

with Him.

Spending some time in 1 John.

Don't try to justify yourself.

This is one place where you want to be honest with God and

hear Him and be clear.

And make sure you're right with Him.

Do you have an uncertain assurance?

Don't rest.

Don't be satisfied with that.

Don't give up and say that's the way it's going to be.

No, it doesn't have to be that way.

Having uncertain assurance, doubts, will rob you of the joy and

the satisfaction, the confidence that you should have as a

child of God.

It will keep you from serving God in a meaningful, productive

kind of way.

So again, read 1 John.

Hopefully you have an unquestioned assurance, confident

assurance.

And as you read the book of 1 John, if you are God's child, it

should just be affirming to you.

I want to end this service by asking you to bow with me in

prayer right now.

I want to direct a prayer.

Please bow.

Heads bowed.

Eyes closed.

Some in this room most likely are not Christians and you know it.

And I want to ask you right now, if that bothers you, if you don't

want to be that way, if you want to have a right relationship with

God, admit to Him that you don't.

Turn from your sins.

Change your mind.

Put your trust in Jesus and call upon Him to save you right now.

Some in here are Christians but you lack assurance.

Don't just accept that.

Ask God to speak through His Word and His Spirit to give you

confidence.

Ask God to help you to do that as you read through the book of 1 John.

Some in this room have good assurance because you are a committed Christian.

I want to encourage you to thank God for that and ask Him to help you to grow and to mature and

become a source of strength and encouragement and help to others.

Father, help us to know what we need to do individually so that we might respond appropriately.

Work in us.

Help us to know and help us to obey you now.

And in an attitude of prayer, you listen to the Lord and you obey Him.

I'll be here at the front and be happy to pray with you.

Help you in any way.

If you think that would be helpful at this time.