Am I Saved? The Journey to Salvation || Pastor Adam Mesa

Today we're going to talk a little bit about what

salvation is a lot of people in our church have

asked the question what does it mean to be saved?

And so I want you to see this video real

quick of people in our church who've asked those questions.

How can you walk in your faith with God when

sometimes doing things such as even reading your Bible sometimes

feels like a chore instead of something that you want

to do out.

Of love for God.

I'm struggling so much with how to maneuver and find

my way back to God. How do you know when

you're fully one hundred percent fulfilled in life?

How do you help one of your parents see the

light when you're already on your journey? How do you

continue to support them even though they're not, you know,

on the same journey now?

But you know you want that light?

Forum?

And how do I know I'm saved?

Well, let's talk about that a little bit today for

a few moments, and then we'll be baptized together. It

says this in First John, if you want to stand

for just a moment, We're going to honor God with

the reading of his word. And only reason why if

you're new to Patriot just visiting this. The only reason

why we stand is because we want to give God

all of the attention that he deserves and all the

honor that he deserves. First John chapter five, just three verses.

Here's what it says. It says this, and this is

the testimony that God gave us eternal life. And this

life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life.

Whoever does not have the Son of God does not

have life.

I read these things.

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.

Amen, you may be seated.

While you're sitting down, I want you to let someone

know next to you, let them know you have life

when you have Jesus. Look at the other person that

you don't like as much that you didn't turn you

and just say yeah, you too. Clearly you're not a

fan of them today. You know, we read in First

John chapter five the scripture says, those that have Jesus

have life. It's God's desire that he would give us

eternal life. And the question is how would God give

us eternal life? Well, he would give you eternal life

through his son, Jesus. God gave us Jesus to deliver us.

God gave us Jesus to save us. God gave us

Jesus to redeem us. I want to just be able

so that we start on the right foot today. I

want to define two things for us. Number one, I

want to define salvation for us. I have it up

on the screen. Here's what just the simple definition of

salvation is. To be saved is this deliverance from harm.

So let's just say you were about to walk across

the street and you were looking down at your phone texting,

which I'm sure no one here ever or anything like that,

and you're about to cross the street and there's a

car coming and that car's not paying attention.

And so as you're about to walk the street, I see.

The car coming and I grab you by your shirt

and I pull you back, and you see the car

whiz right past you. You would turn around and you

would say, Adam, thank you, you saved me. Gave me salvation.

In that moment, or maybe one day, you and I

we were eating lemon pepper chicken wings from Wingstop, specifically

lemon pepper. That's the seasoning that God gave us, and

let's just say you.

Were eating that chicken wing. You had a little bone.

Stuck in your throat, and you started coughing and holding

on to your chest, and I started smacking your back,

and all of a sudden, you spit out that chicken wing.

You would look at me, you say, Adam, you saved me.

But here's the difference between natural salvation and spiritual salvation.

Natural salvation, I may save you from choking on a

chicken bone, but that doesn't mean that you can never

choke again.

You could choke an hour later.

I may save you from crossing the street, but that

doesn't mean that you would never potentially be hit by

a car again if you weren't paying attention. But spiritual

salvation is a powerful moment that says, when God delivers

you and saves you, this is eternal. What Jesus did

was a once and for all moment. Jesus dying on

the cross and resurrecting was so that you and I

can have peace and assurance to know I don't have

to give my life to Jesus every single day. When

I confess him as Lord and believe in what He's done,

that I'm saved.

When I was a youth pastor.

I'd always have those young teenagers every Sunday when i'd

do an ultra call. There was always that one kid

that raised his hand every single week. And I'd go

to that young kid, I say, why you keep giving

your life to Christ every Sunday? And he'd say, because

I don't know what Monday's gonna look like. You don't

have to always do that, though. You see, when you're saved,

you're saved now. The spiritual definition of deliverance is this.

It's deliverance from sin and its consequences. That's deeper than

just choking. That's deeper than not paying attention. It's God's

desire when he save you. It is that God would

deliver you from sin and its consequences. And then there's

this term in salvation that we call assurance. It's this

thing that says, well, how do I know it? How

can I trust it? How can I believe it?

Every single day?

The word assurance is this a positive declaration intended to

give confidence.

It's a promise. So there's two.

Things God desires for our life. Number one to save

you and redeem you. And that's through the work of

Jesus But the second thing God also wants you to

do is have confidence to know he did it. When

I was on the altar with my wife and I

said I do. When you asked me the next day

if I was married, I didn't go, oh, I don't know.

I made the vow.

I made the vow on October sixteenth, twenty fifteen, and

on October seventeenth, twenty fifteen, my life look a lot

different because I made a commitment. I wasn't like, oh, shucks,

we'll see if I stay married or I will see

if I love her. When I said I do, that

was a commitment in the same way that when you

say yes to Jesus, that is a confession and an

assurance for you, a confidence that Jesus did a work

in your life. And be confident to know that confidence

is in pride. Knowing something without a doubt is not arrogance.

It's trust in God. That's what salvation is. I want

to just for a few moments, would you guys, participate

with me for this, for just a moment. I just

want you for a second, if you would just close

your eyes. This is just a question between you and

the Lord.

I just want you to think about God as I

asked this question.

You may be in the courtyard, cafe, wherever you're at

this for a moment, just close your eyes if you're

willing to. I'm gonna ask you a question from a

scale of one to ten. Okay, so you're gonna raise

your hand depending on what number you feel like you

resonate with.

And here's the thing.

On a scale of one to ten, I'm gonna ask

you right now, if you were to stand before God.

How sure are you that you're saved?

How confident are you that you would hear from God

well done, good and faithful servant. Okay, but I want

you to describe a number to that. I know that

it's not fool proof, but I just want you for

a moment in your own confidence.

Though.

If it's a five, it means I'm fifty to fifty.

If I stood before God, I don't know, I'm half.

Maybe he would receive me, maybe not. Maybe I'm saved,

maybe I'm not. A ten would be hey, without a

shout of a doubt. A seven or an eight would

be like, yeah, I mean, you know, I love the Lord,

you know, Look, I just I don't know. I don't

know really, and then a one would be I've never

really thought about it before. A two and three would

be I kind of know. I don't have a relationship

with God. I know if I stood before God, I

don't think that he would receive me.

And so just by show of hands.

I want to see if you're if you're like a

like a five, six, or a seven, raise your hand

a scale of one to ten.

Five, six, seven, Thank you, Thank you for your honesty.

It's about it's about half the room. Uh.

If you're a two, three or fours, raise your hand,

raise your raise your hand up in the air.

Thank thank you for your honesty. On that. If you're

a one, raise your hand.

You're one one Like I've never really thought about where

I stand with God or anything like that. As one,

thank you for your honesty. If you feel like you're

a ten, raise your hand. I'm confidence. I know, I

know that I'm saved. I know. Thank you so much. Okay,

you may open up your eyes. We're gonna revisit this

at the end. But I wanted you to be able

to self realize word you believe that you are with God.

But here's the thing I want to encourage you with

today because I would love to give every person in

this room a confidence in their relationship with.

God, not just a confidence, but.

Also a realization of what does it mean to be

say j I.

Packer says it like this.

Our salvation does not depend on our holding tightly to God,

but on God holding tightly to us.

That's what salvation is with God. I'm a father.

There are so many times that I'm holding my sons.

I got a six year old and I have a

four year old, and there are often times when they're

holding onto me, like when I got them under my arm,

or where they're jumping on me on the.

Bed or whatever it is. Most times they think.

That they are responsible for the strength for me to

hold them up. So let's start getting worried. They'll be like, oh, dad,

let me say. I don't want to fall, I don't

want to slip. But how many of you guys know

me their dad. I'm a lot stronger and I can

hold a four year old up pretty easily. So there

are times that my son gets insecure that I'm gonna

drop him or I'm gonna slip. But I'm trying to

tell my son's son, you can let go and I'm

still gonna be holding on to you because God holding

onto this is dependent on His strength, not your strength.

It's like if you were riding behind God on a motorcycle.

You think you're responsible for holding his waist, but he's

holding your hands. That's what salvation. It is not a

work of your strength. It's a work of God's strength.

And it's the strength of Jesus that endured the Cross

for our life. And it is the strength and the

power of God where Jesus resurrected three days later. That

is a strength that you and I don't have, but

God does. And God offers that strength to you, not

to do it on your own, but to do it

by Him. You see, salvation is not just about escaping hell.

Steve Larson puts it like this, Salvation is not a

reward for the righteous.

It's a gift for the guilty. That's what salvation is.

See a lot of times when we think of salvation,

and I know some of those. When you rose, we

as your hand and you were thinking, like five six seven,

what you were doing was you were kind of weighing

how obedient you've been to God, how disobedient you've been

to God. So you're thinking to yourself, you know, I

do this, I do that, but I also mess up

and I do this. And when we think of God,

we think of God somewhat in a natural human relationship,

like in a human relationship. I remember growing up and

my parents and even me and my wife, we do

that with our sons to time.

I remember my parents.

Would say something like this, if you guys clean up

and do your chores today this afternoon, we'll take you

all for ice cream.

So we'd run upstairs.

So they say, hey, if you did everything you need

to do this Saturday, then in the evening we'll go

to Round Table pizza. So then what in me and

my brothers do you end up getting clothes? You shove

them under the bed, you go above your closet, and

you stick it above your closet. You put everything everywhere

cause you want to be obedient for what though, because

you want the ice cream.

And we think a relationship with God is this.

As long as my room is tidy, as long as

I have good grades, as long as I do everything

that God wants me to do to the best of

my billy, I'm hoping that at the end of the day,

he'll give.

Me an ice cream.

And so when you think of salvation, you're thinking to yourself,

when I stand before God in heaven, will he reward.

Me with an ice cream or not? Did I earn

it or not. That's not what salvation is.

You see salvation as you being a teenager caught in

your room doing something you're not supposed to do. It's

you with the window open, blowing smoke outside, hoping mom

and Dad don't smell it from downstairs. It's you thinking

no one's home and you doing something in your bedroom

you shouldn't, so when they come home, you go hide

under the bed. But what God does is when God

catches that smell, or when God catches you under the bed,

he doesn't say it like this, what are you doing here?

Stay down there and think about what you did. That's

not what salvation is. That's not what God does. What

God does is he catches you in the middle of

the act. He catches you under the bed, and he says, this, what.

Are you doing under there? Come with me, Let's go

for a walk. Why don't you come do life with me.

Let me put my arm around you, and why don't

I journey with you?

It means he catches you. You've been guilty. You already know

you have been doing what you're doing.

But he doesn't reciprocate with this harshness. He reciprocates to say.

You know I love you. You know I can forgive that.

You know that I can walk with you.

It's like you being caught in the middle of robbing

a bank and God says, put the money down, let's

go get a bite to eat. You're like, wait, am

I going to jail or not? And God offers grace

in that moment. Someone who's forgiven in the act, they

want to say, okay, the moment God turns around, I'm

gonna go back to the bank and rob it again. No,

when you're caught in the act, you go like this, God,

you are so gracious to me. I know what I deserve.

But because your love and your grace and your forgiveness,

you offer me a way out. You offer me a

strength and a love that I could not get on

my own. The Book of Ephesian says it like this,

that salvation is something like this, for by grace, that's unwarranted,

that's unfavored.

For by grace, you've been saved through faith. This is

not of your own doing, but it.

Is a gift of God, not a result of work,

so that no one may boast. My children often compare

who did chores better than the other. Dad looked in

and I brush my teeth better, smell my breath. Dad

looked in, and I cleaned my side of the room

better than my brother's side of the room. And many

of us we get into the salvation comparison game that says,

as long as I'm not as bad as my cousin

day day, then I'm not all that bad.

But Ephesian says that salvation is a gift of.

God, so that you cannot boast in yourself, so that

you can't look on the left and right and think

to yourself, I'm so much better than this person. I

live so much of a holier life. I'm so much

more obedient to God.

You didn't work for it to begin with. So if

you didn't work for it to.

Begin with, it means that you can't put your grades

up on the kitchen sink to show off how good

of a Christian you are or how obedient you are.

Because it was unwarranted to begin with. But God loves

you and He saved you.

We kind of share about salvation theologically being a three

part process.

This is what we say is we say this, when

you give your.

Life to Jesus, it means that God looks at you

and you've been justified.

We call it justification. What is justification, It's this, It's

you have been made right with God.

It means that when you fall temptation to sin or

when the enemy tries to point you out, God looks

at you. And when you've given your life to Christ,

it means that God has justified.

In other words, he says, they're okay, they're with me.

They've rested their faith and I have enough strength for them.

They don't have to do this on their We call

it being justified.

There are times that me and my wife will decide

to take our boys, or we'll go see a movie,

and my wife will say, I'll go pick up the boys.

You go check into the movie theater for us, and

kind of start getting all the snacks. So there are

times that I make it ahead of her to the

movie theater. But it feels like nowadays, it feels like

like only one person works in the entire movie theater.

It's like the same person is checking the ticket, who's

the same person serving the popcorn, who's the same person

refilling the sodo Dismand I mean it's like I'll walk

in and I'll just like, is there only one person

that's working here right now? So there are times that

the person taking the ticket is also the person serving

the popcorn.

And so I'll go in and they only scan.

It's all one ticket, and so I'll say, oh, my

wife and my son's they're on their way. So the

person will say, okay, when your wife comes, just point

her out and I'll remember you, and she's free to

come in. And there have been some times where by

time my wife made it, a new employee came and

I'll hear my wife, who is not a very quiet person,

and I'll hear her in the distance. My husband's already here.

My husband's already here, and the.

Person says, well, if you don't have a ticket, you

can't come in. And she says, I do have a ticket.

I have a ticket.

Someone's already checked it, and they going, no, unless you

have the ticket, you can't come in.

And then sometimes what's happened?

And I'll get the other employee who checked us in

and they'll say to the other employee, Oh, they're good already,

check them in, Let them in. You see, when you're

justified by God, when Satan comes to point out how

when you've given your life to Christ, that you've made

a mistake on Monday, or you've made a mistake on Wednesday,

say see see God, look at this hypricate. The Bible says,

Satan's the great accuser. So he's looking for you to

make a mistake, and he's looking to accuse you before God.

And I'll say, look, God, look at this guy. Adam.

He goes to church. He says he loves you. He

says he reads his Bible. He says he prays, but he.

Just cuts someone out, or he just made a missay,

or he just did this, or he just told a lie.

And God says this.

He looks at Jesus and he says, Jesus, who is

this And Jesus says, that's Adam, he's with me. Or

that's Mary she's with me. Or that's John he's with me.

And then what happens is God, you've been justified. The

Father says, Oh, if they're with you, then they're good.

They're part of the family.

That's the goodness of God, but that's also being justified

by God.

It's that God sees you and he says that you've

been saved.

The second thing is this if you've been sanctified, so

you're justified, but then you're sanctified, and in other.

Words, it's this.

It's that you don't immediately give your life to Christ

and live this perfect life. You don't give your life

to Christ on Monday morning, wake up with a halo

around your head that follows you everywhere that you go.

When you're being sactified, it means every single day more

and more you are being made righteous by God. And

it's a process where you are living your faith out.

There are so many times that people will come to

me and they'll come to me so discouraged, and they'll say,

pastor autem, I need prayer.

I don't feel saved.

I don't feel like I don't feel like I fully

gave my life to Christ or surrendered my life to Christ.

I feel like I'm back at square one. And I'll

say tell me what you mean, and they'll say, well,

because last night I had some friends in from town

and they wanted to go out drinking.

And when I gave.

My life to Christ, I had such an issue with alcohol,

and I made a promise to God that I wouldn't

drink anymore. Or I made a promise to God that

I want to sleep around anymore. I made a promise

to God I wouldn't do X anymore. And then they'll say,

but I did it last night, and they'll say I

blacked out.

So I feel like I'm just back at square one.

I feel like feel like I haven't been taking this

Jesus thing serious or following Jesus serious. And then I'll

always look at them and I'll say, Okay, tell me this.

How long How long has it been since you get

in your life to Christ. They'll say something like it's

been six months. And I'll say, prior to six months ago,

how often were you drinking?

How often were you getting drunk? Sh Oh?

I mean when was I wasn't uh, I don't know,

three four days a week.

Or I'll say, how often were you sleeping around prior

to me Jesus?

Oh man, I mean every weekend I would take someone

home or this or that.

And then I'll tell them.

I'll tell them, okay, so you're telling me, prior to

six months ago, you would get drunk three or four

days a week since you were what twenty twenty one

years old. And you're telling me you went six months

for the first time in your life from drinking alcohol

or from sleeping around.

And you're saying that you had a.

Mistake last night and you feel like you're starting back

at square one. I say, that's not true, my friend.

You just went six months with God on your side.

You didn't go one day without God. You went six

months with the power of God in your life. You

are looking at this all wrong. God is sanctifying you,

and you are better today. Just because you fall in

a race doesn't mean you're back at the starting line.

It just means you fail in the race and you

have only one option you gotta do.

I gotta get up and keep running.

Just because you fall, does it mean that God is

not in the race with you, and God is not

on your side.

That's what being sanctified means.

It means as I live this life, I may fall,

I make mistakes, I may do things that I once did,

But the reality is this time my heart is different

and I have a desire now that I want.

To please God.

The fact that you have a desire to please God

means that God is doing something in your life. And

so though you may trip or though you may fall,

the goal is not you getting yourself right. It is

you going to Jesus so that he can renew you

and so that He can give you the strength that

we all need. The last one is this, in this

is that God will glorify you. So justification, sanctification is

a process. Last one glorification, which.

Is this that if you would put your hope.

On Jesus to redeem you, not by your might but

by his strength, and you will allow God to do

this process with you in your life, then what will

happen is when you stand before God, as first John

five says, you will be with God eternally. It's an

eternal relationship. You say, well, how can I have confidence

of that? Is Jesus's grave empty? We think, how can

I have confidence? And you're looking at your rolodex of

how good you've been living or how much victories you've

had in your life, or what's in the four to

one K or what's your accomplishments. But when you know

that the grave is empty and Jesus has risen and

that's been done, then you can bet your life that

you will.

Be glorified with God.

If Jesus is risen, then you will have life that's

not based off your strength, that's not based off your standard,

that is based on God. Because there are times in

our life where we say this, I don't feel saved.

But if you treat your salvation by your feelings, then

you'll never feel saved. It's like the California weather. In

the morning, it's twenty degrees. By eleven o'clock, it's one

hundred and four. By four o'clock it's cloudy, and by

nine o'clock it's back to forty five degrees. If you

treat your salvation as your feelings, then every day you

will wake up and say, I don't feel this way,

because what happens you're confusing faith with feelings and you're

letting guilt cloud God's grace. If you continue to look

at the mirror of your life, then you will continue

to see the issues.

In your life.

But if you begin to reflect the work of Jesus

in your life, then you will see that though you

may fall, though you may fail, Jesus has the strength.

Jesus has the power.

To redeem us.

That's the goodness of God, and that's the mercy of Jesus.

Philippians one point six says this, He who began a

good work in you will carry it to completion. If

you believe that God is working in your life, then

God is bearing the responsibility and the way to finish

the work. God will finish the job. All we got

to do is submit in humility and say, God, would

you work on me? God, would you take this heart.

Of stone and give me a heart of flesh.

There are times that I'll fly on an airplane, and

I'll be on the airplane, and I'll sometimes sit in

the exit seat, and I'll look out the window and

I'll see the wings, and then I'll see the little

things that control whether we're going left or right or

whatever it may be, the pitches and all that, And

then I'll look at the propellers. And there's times I'll

think to myself, how are we all up in the

air right now? This thing, this plane is heavy, Like

we got no worries about any birds at this altitude

at all. But just because I may not know how

the plane works doesn't mean that I'm not gonna make

it to the destination. As long as the pilot knows

where it's headed, as long as the pilot is in control,

I may not fully understand how this thing operates and

how that gets there.

But the reality is is I am trusting.

I'm not flying the plane, and as long as Adam's

not responsible for flying the plane, I know I will

be Okay, we'll make it to the destination. But if

you give me those controls, yeah, I don't know how

to control this thing.

Mayday we're going down.

If Jesus is the pilot of your life, you may

have questions, how does this work?

What works about this, What's God's view on this?

But the reality is if you would trust him to

God your life.

I'm not on the plane wondering.

I wonder if I'll make it through security, TSA, I

have a ticket, I'm in the air, I'm headed to

the destination. God is your security. God is your joy,

and God what is your strength? Trust him and know

if that God is leading you and God is flying

the plane, then you can have one hundred percent assurance

that God will finish the job.

That's God's desire is.

That we would say God, I give you full control. God,

I decrease so that you would increase. I recognize who

Jesus is in my life. Salvation is in the work

of Jesus. But the way that you can be assured

of it is the reality that we say, God, you

did it. Jesus has risen. And so therefore I will

bet my life on you. And so as we close

right now, if you're in this place right now and

you say you know what I'm I'm wanting to make

a decision, I'm gonna ask that everybody right now, wherever

you're at, would you just bow your heads one more time,

close your eyes. I'm gonna take you back to that

one to ten. And when I shared earlier, you may

have said to yourself, when I said, hey, how confident

are you they saved?

You may have said I was a three, I'm a four.

There were a lot of hands that raised their hands

at five and six and seven.

Which means you know who Jesus is.

You're aware of who Jesus is, but you you really

haven't given him everything.

You haven't gone all in.

And also you don't have a ten level confidence to

know that Jesus has saved you well, wherever you're at

in this place, I'm going to ask you if you're

ready to take whatever number you raise your hand at,

and you're ready to step into a ten. Just know this,

it's not on how much you have figured out. It's

not how strong you are. It's about how willing you

are for God to hold on to you.

It's about how.

Willing you are to trust that Jesus Christ has redeemed

you and saved you. If you're here today and you say,

may I started in here at a six, but I'm

ready to go to ten. If you're in here, he said,

I started at a one, but I'm ready to go

to ten. Or I started at three and I'm ready

to go to ten. I'm going to ask you on

the count of three that if you're ready to step

into confidence and step into that ten, that fullness to

know God, I believe you have redeemed me and I

can my life to you, then I'm gonna ask you

on the count of three to stand on your feet.

The reason why we're standing today is because standing.

Is a confidence movement.

I'm not gonna just raise our hand if we're confident

that Jesus can redeem us if we're confident to give

our life to Christ today, then that war and standing

on our feet and saying God, I give it to

you today.

So wherever you're at, whatever you started at, if you're.

Ready to step into that next moment, a full declaration

that Jesus is your Lord and savior. On the counter

of three, I'm gonna ask you to stand to your

feet and we're gonna celebrate God today.

On the count of three.

If that's you, wherever you're at, one two, one, two, three,

stand up on your feet. If you're ready to step

into that confidence that God has saved you and redeemed you.

Praise God, hallelujah, and other people outside welcome to.

The family of God.

It's a big moment, it's a big decision, and God

is good today.

I want you to stay standing. Would you say this

with me?

Would you say, Dear Lord Jesus, in this moment, I

confess to my sin and I make a commitment Lord

to trust in you. I fully believe that you died

on the cross and you rose three days later.

From this day forward, I choose to follow you for

the rest of my days. In Jesus' name.

A man praise God, you may be seated. Hey, we're

about to worship together. But here's what's gonna happen. People

are gonna be water baptized today. They're making a public

declaration of what just happened. They're telling the world I

gave my life to Jesus. That's what they're here to

do today. And so maybe you came here today and

you said, I just came here to celebrate someone, or

I just came to church for a regular Sunday. If

you believe, and you feel like God's stirring in your

heart to be water baptized. But you say, man, I'm

wearing jeans, or I'm wearing a jacket, or I'm wearing

a dress.

Here's the thing.

Our team on the other side of the water, we

have an entire change of clothes. So we don't want

that to stop you from being baptized today. So whether

you get baptized next time, but you may say today's

the day you're gonna see hundreds of people get baptized

in the clothes that they came in with.

If that becomes you at any point at.

The end of the towards the end of these baptisms,

Pastor Diego is gonna make an invitation to get in

the water. I encourage you if you feel like God

is encouraging you to do it, just know that we

got to tow and we got a change of clothes

for you. I'm gonna pray one more time. Would you

stand on our feet because we're gonna worship God together

and celebrate this moment. God, right now, we pray and

we pray and believe that your presence would dwell in

this place. Lord, thank you Holy Spirit for moving in

this room today as we celebrate not what anyone here

has accomplished on their own. We celebrate the accomplishment of

the Cross and the resurrection.

So God, as you have transformed our hearts.

Today, Father, I pray that we live lives that are

no only pleasing to you, but lives that give glory

to You. Though we take may take steps and trip

and fall, I pray that we get up and we

continue to pursue You. May we all fit finish our race,

and maybe we finish it well in Jesus' name.

Amen, Let's worship together.

Day m hm hm