How can I be sure - I am being saved
How can I be sure I have been saved?
How can I be sure that I haven’t got it all wrong?
How can I be sure that my life is not just a waste of space?
John 10:27,28
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no-one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.
Last week we looked mainly at the proof that we have been saved. The crucified Jesus is what assures us that we have been saved.
You can be sure because the bible tells the truth about a real human being, Jesus Christ, living, dying and being raised from death in our history. He has done what is needed to save us. Our sin and our choices to turn away from God can only be forgiven by the death of Jesus on the cross. Life can only be promised by his resurrection from the dead.
There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, the only way is by believing in Jesus, his sacrificial crucifixion and resurrection. When you believe in Him you can be sure because Jesus has promised that no-one can snatch you from his hand.
- When I see the crucified Jesus I know I have been saved (week one)
- When I know the living Jesus I find I am being saved (this week)
- When Jesus returns I will be fully saved (next week)
HOW CAN I BE SURE? BECAUSE I AM BEING SAVED
It is not easy being saved – in fact it is impossible without the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
1 Peter 1:1-9
This is a letter that Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, wrote to Christians living in Asia Minor around 30 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Verse Text Comments
|
1
|
Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ. To God's elect strangers in the world scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia
|
Foreigners, strangers – not because they were immigrants but because they had dual citizenship. They were citizens of the world in which they lived but also citizens of the kingdom of God.
|
|
2
|
who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctifying work of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
|
we are being saved by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
Ongoing, present tense, changing us, making us more like Jesus.
|
|
3
|
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
|
he has given us new birth. New life. His death and resurrection are the merciful means by which we can lay down our old life and lift up a new life, one in which our souls have been saved (this is what we symbolise when we baptise someone). We have been saved.
|
|
4
|
and into an inheritance that can never perish spoil or fade— kept in heaven for you
|
we are given an inheritance into a new life which is kept in heaven for us … a salvation that is ready to be fully revealed at the end of time. We will be saved.
|
|
5
|
who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
|
|
|
6
|
In this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith— of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire— may be proved genuine and may result in praise glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.
|
|
|
8
|
Though you have not seen him you love him; and even though you do not see him now you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy
|
|
|
9
|
for you are receiving the goal of your faith the salvation of your souls.
|
we are in the process of receiving salvation, being saved
|
This sanctifying work: salvation is not just the forgiveness of our sins and the restoration of our relationship with God, the giving of new life – but also the making whole of our body, mind and spirit for this new life.
Sozo – to make whole, saved and healed, rescued and restored.
The on-going process of becoming more like the person we were created to be, more like Jesus. We still live in a world that is fallen, broken, sinful and therefore being saved in this sense is a process not an event.
Although we see the kingdom of God, heaven on earth, we also live within the constraints of the existing creation. We live in the now and the not yet.
You will have seen war films about the Normandy landings in June 1944 at the end of the 2nd WW. Saving Private Ryan, The Longest Day. etc. Operation Overlord – the re-taking of North West France – started on D Day, Tuesday, 6 June 1944 at 6.30am. This particular battle was a decisive military success but the German forces did not surrender for nearly a year, until 8 May 1945.
In between, although the war had been won there were many battles and casualties until peace was finally declared.
This is a good metaphor for the kingdom. When Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead the war was won. He had established forgiveness for sins and victory over death. We are now in the interim stage between that decisive victory and the final declaration of the end of the war. We are on the winning side but we still suffer casualties and lose battles along the way.
This means that we live out our salvation in the sure and certain knowledge of final victory but we experience losses from time to time.
So we persist in praying for the sick. Sometimes we seen wonderful healing, sometimes we don’t. When the Holy Spirit comes, he brings power to change our lives: to bring physical healing, emotional healing, and the healing of our spirit. We will not always see healing when we pray - indeed we will all die one day unless the Lord returns first.
Although we are being saved, being made whole, sozo, we are not perfect, we will still sin from time to time and stray from his path.
This process of being gradually made more like Jesus is called sanctification (verse 2). Our circumstances are sometimes wonderful and sometimes terrible. It doesn’t change our role in the big story which is to continue in the battle.
Part of the battle being to become more like him - until he returns when we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2
I love this summary which is a paraphrase of a sermon by John Newton
I am not what I ought to be; I am not what I wish to be; I am not what I hope to be. But by the grace of God I am not what I was.
What happens when we enter this new life, when we start following Jesus?
Amidst all the doubt and uncertainty and the loss and suffering how I be sure I am being saved?
This is not a way of judging someone else. What I am describing is the answer to the question, How can I be sure? Well you can be sure because you can see yourself changing. Don’t score yourself, it is not a competition; just recognise new life, the activity of God in your life.
LOVE GOD
- Worship. You find that you are fed and nourished by worship. It becomes a natural and overflowing response in your heart. For many you find yourself weeping during worship and not really knowing why. It is the intimate touch of the Holy Spirit in your life.
- Relationship. 1 Peter 1:8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. It comes and goes but you develop a stronger and deeper relationship with Jesus as you work your way through the ups and downs of life. Your conversation with him becomes a natural and frequent form of prayer. You become able to say, Meet my friend.
His influence begins to outweigh the influence of others: you dance to a different tune, run a different race, spend to a different budget, decide by different priorities.
- Guidance. You have your own, subjective, testimony of a sense of being led and in relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit speaking to you. Through prayer and reflection on scripture, through increased understanding of how the Holy Spirit speaks to you, you learn to hear his voice and live accordingly. Isaiah 30:21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, This is the way; walk in it.
- Biblical. You love the scriptures. Whether or not you are the type who reads much you do read the bible. You begin to learn it and become familiar with the book. When life decisions need to be made, when doubts arise, when hard times come – you turn to the bible. 2 Timothy 2:16: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
- Orthodox. As you learn about Jesus and gain understanding of the Christian faith your thinking comes more and more in line with traditional Christian beliefs. This is not as a result of being brainwashed in the sense of being bullied into believing certain things. It is more a matter of beginning to understand and come into alignment with the ancient wisdom of the church. There is scope for creative thinking and application of some doctrines in our culture. But the core elements of our faith sit well with you.
LOVE PEOPLE
- Fruitful. You see increasing evidence of the fruit of the Spirit: Galatians 5:22,23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. You learn to love the unlovely and forgive the unforgiveable.
- Love one another. John 13:35 By this will all men know that you are my disciples, that you love on another. The way a community of faith behaves, one that follows Jesus, is radically different from any other community. It should be the most inclusive, welcoming, gracious, forgiving, humble group of people that there is. As we see that happening in us and through us and around us we know that we are being saved.
- Love the church. You begin to understand what it means when we say that the church is the body of Christ. The church here and across Leeds and the nation and all over the globe. We learn to love this community and its wonderful variety in expressing the kingdom.
LOVE IN ACTION
- Obedience. John 14:23 If anyone loves me he will obey my teaching. Living in obedience to Jesus’ commands is not natural for most of us. So when we are in the process of being saved we get forgiven for what we have done but we find we have to start behaving differently. Can you look back a few years and see how you behave differently now compared to then.
- Freedom. You begin to get free from the bad habits and addictions that have bound you. You learn to seek comfort in your relationship with Jesus not Facebook friends, or money, or shopping, or food, or work, or status.
- Generous. You become more and more generous. Giving to the church becomes something you love to do. Giving to others in time and energy and money isn’t done begrudgingly or with expectation of reward but because you have learnt in your being that everything we have comes from God you are able to give with joy.
- Awareness of the poor. Your desire to see justice and to care for and provide for the poor increases. You give generously and you minister with poor. Maybe on a mission or taking refreshment to the homeless. Maybe in your choice of career. You are more and more orientated to the poor.
Being saved is a journey, a process, by which we become more like Jesus. Impossible by sheer effort on our part; only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit at work, doing every day in our lives what Jesus did for us on the cross – saving us.
HOW CAN I BE SURE?
- God’s promise is declared in the bible and based in history
When Jesus died for us it was sufficient, it did the entire deed of forgiveness needed.
When Jesus rose from the dead he triumphed over death and brought life.
- A personal relationship with Jesus through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
- Becoming more like Jesus, sanctification.
- Decisions and declarations in your life – milestones.
Times and places when you have chosen to follow Jesus, when you have turned a corner in your journey. Maybe you knelt and prayed, or were filled with the Holy Spirit, or when you were baptised.
You can be sure that you have been saved.
John 10:22-30
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no-one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.
This is Jesus’ promise to you and he has paid the price to make it possible.
I know I am saved and you know that you are saved too when you repent of your sin and give your life to Jesus. Receive his mercy and forgiveness. You can be sure of your salvation and I invite you to commit to following Jesus more and more every day.
I call you to continue in the faith, pressing on through the hard times and enjoying the good times. Grow in him, abide in him, commit to becoming more like him through the power of His Spirit. I call on you to trust the risen Saviour for the power to transform your life and to change the world.
You have been saved and one day you will be fully saved. For now you are being saved – lift up your heads with celebration that the war is won and we serve the victorious king.
David Flowers, 11/09/2011