Certainty in Christ: A Biblical Guide to Knowing You Are Saved

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] Look at it clearly and plainly.
[00:00:02] These things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may...
[00:00:08] Now you help me. What's the next word?
[00:00:10] Know, K-N-O-W, that ye may know that ye have eternal life.
[00:00:20] Not think, not guess, not hope, not surmise, not wonder, but know!
[00:00:28] With a rock-ribbed assurance that you have eternal life.
[00:00:35] Every Christian ought to have this privilege.
[00:00:41] Today I want you to take God's Word and turn with me please to 1 John chapter 5, and in a moment we're going to begin reading in verse 11.
[00:00:53] Now this is the second message in a series entitled Back to the Basics.
[00:00:57] There's a story told, I don't know whether it is true or not, but Vince Lombardi, whose Green Bay Packers were not doing very well, and that's a football team, ladies, and it is said that in practice Vince Lombardi said to the boys, we're going back to the basics, and he picked up a football and said, gentlemen, this is a football.
[00:01:23] One of the boys said, give it to us again, coach.
[00:01:27] Now what we're going to do is go back to the very basics.
[00:01:33] Last week we talked about how we know the Bible is the Word of God.
[00:01:39] Today we're going to be talking about how to be saved and know it.
[00:01:45] I was in the hospital.
[00:01:47] A lady was dying.
[00:01:49] Her family around the bed was one of those tense and sad moments.
[00:01:54] Someone said she's not ready to die.
[00:01:57] She doesn't know.
[00:01:57] She doesn't know the Lord.
[00:01:58] She's not saved.
[00:02:00] And I said, may I have an opportunity to speak with her?
[00:02:04] And very gently and courteously I said, I'd like to talk to you about the Lord.
[00:02:09] Would you like to know how you can be certain that you're going to heaven?
[00:02:14] She said, I really would.
[00:02:16] And so I shared the gospel.
[00:02:18] I told her how Christ died for her sins and paid her sin debt.
[00:02:23] And I told her that if she would by faith receive the Lord Jesus, she could be saved.
[00:02:27] She could be saved, forgiven, and on her way to heaven with divine certainty.
[00:02:31] She said, oh, I want that.
[00:02:33] And I led her in prayer.
[00:02:34] And she prayed and asked Christ to come into her heart, to forgive her sin, to save her eternally.
[00:02:40] And I turned to the family, and the son-in-law was there, and I said to him, isn't it wonderful that she has been saved?
[00:02:49] Do you know what he said to me?
[00:02:51] Oh, he said, no one can know that they're saved.
[00:02:54] I said, oh, yes, they can.
[00:02:55] He said, no, no, no, no.
[00:02:57] The best that a person can do is to say, I hope that I'm saved.
[00:03:03] And then I shared with him a verse of Scripture.
[00:03:06] It's the Scripture we're going to read for our text today.
[00:03:09] I want you to look at it.
[00:03:10] First John chapter 5, beginning in verse 11.
[00:03:14] And this is the record that God hath given to us, eternal life.
[00:03:21] And this life is in His Son.
[00:03:25] He that hath the Son hath life.
[00:03:27] And he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
[00:03:33] And then here's the verse.
[00:03:35] Look at it clearly and plainly.
[00:03:37] These things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may, now you help me, what's the next word?
[00:03:45] Know, K-N-O-W, that ye may know that ye have eternal life.
[00:03:55] Not think, not guess, not hope, not surmise, not wonder, but know with a rock-ribbed assurance that you have eternal life.
[00:04:11] Every Christian ought to have this privilege.
[00:04:14] You ought not to be a question mark with your head all bent over, wondering whether you're saved.
[00:04:20] You ought to be an exclamation point, standing up straight and tall and saying, thank God I know if I died right now I would go to heaven.
[00:04:28] And I know that I'm living this day in the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in me because I have been redeemed, I have been saved by His power divine.
[00:04:38] You ought not to be a doubting Christian.
[00:04:41] You ought to be a shouting Christian.
[00:04:44] You ought not to have a hope-so salvation.
[00:04:46] You ought to have a know-so salvation.
[00:04:50] And this verse tells us that we can know it.
[00:04:53] These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know.
[00:04:58] But also, these verses tell us that we can doubt.
[00:05:02] Because if we couldn't doubt, why would John have written this?
[00:05:05] John is writing this that those who might doubt will not doubt.
[00:05:10] Now, so if you have doubts, that doesn't mean that you're not saved.
[00:05:15] It could mean that you're not saved, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you're not saved.
[00:05:20] You can be saved and have doubts.
[00:05:22] Let's just take a test.
[00:05:24] How many of you have ever had any doubts?
[00:05:26] Let me see your hands.
[00:05:27] Well, that's most of us.
[00:05:29] Most of us.
[00:05:30] Like this.
[00:05:31] You didn't want to say, I really doubt it, so you kind of like this.
[00:05:34] Uh, we, we know that, uh, doubts come.
[00:05:38] Doubt is to your spirit what pain is to your body.
[00:05:44] Doesn't mean you're dead.
[00:05:45] It means something's wrong.
[00:05:47] As a matter of fact, dead people don't feel any pain.
[00:05:49] Uh, the doubt there is in a, in sort of a strange sense, a backward affirmation of faith.
[00:05:55] You only doubt that which you believe.
[00:05:58] And so, it's possible to have doubts, or John would not have written this, but it's also wonderful to have assurance, and that's why he did write it.
[00:06:06] These things have I written unto you to believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that you have eternal life.
[00:06:12] Now, the assurance of your salvation is extremely important.
[00:06:18] We're not talking here about denominational preference.
[00:06:21] We're not talking here about little idiosyncrasies of doctrine.
[00:06:26] We're not talking here about political opinions.
[00:06:30] We're not talking here about matters that only count in this world.
[00:06:35] We're talking about eternal life.
[00:06:38] We're talking about your soul.
[00:06:40] When God made you, God breathed into your nostrils the breath of life, and you became a living soul.
[00:06:47] You could no more cease to exist than God himself could cease to exist.
[00:06:50] Your soul will go on endless, timeless, dateless, measureless, either in heaven or in hell.
[00:06:58] How important it is, therefore, that you absolutely know that you're saved.
[00:07:05] And so, I want us to think a little bit, first of all, about how we are saved, and then what are the results?
[00:07:13] What are the proofs?
[00:07:14] What are the evidences that this has taken place?
[00:07:17] Well, you're in chapter five.
[00:07:18] Look in chapter five in verse one here.
[00:07:20] You will.
[00:07:21] First John five and verse one.
[00:07:23] He says, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.
[00:07:29] To be born of God is another way of saying being saved.
[00:07:32] It's being born again.
[00:07:34] And it's very clear and very plain.
[00:07:36] The way that you're saved is by believing that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus, the name Jesus means Jehovah saves, is the Messiah.
[00:07:47] You believe that.
[00:07:48] You trust that.
[00:07:49] And something happens.
[00:07:51] You are born again.
[00:07:52] You say, is it just that simple, Pastor Rogers?
[00:07:55] It's just that simple.
[00:07:57] It is gloriously simple, but it's simply glorious.
[00:08:02] Acts 16 verse 31 says it again the same way.
[00:08:06] And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
[00:08:14] Friend, it's not so high that few can reach it.
[00:08:17] It's really so low that few get down to it.
[00:08:20] It is so plain.
[00:08:21] It is so simple.
[00:08:23] We're saved by trust in the Lord Jesus.
[00:08:25] Now this word believe doesn't mean just intellectual belief.
[00:08:28] The devils believe like that.
[00:08:30] But it's a word that means trust and commitment.
[00:08:33] I think it's clearly delineated in another verse, and this one I'd like for you to turn to, and then we'll spend the rest of our time in First John.
[00:08:41] But I really want you to look at this one over in Ephesians chapter two.
[00:08:45] It's so clear and so plain.
[00:08:46] Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine.
[00:08:51] God makes it so abundantly clear because He wants you to be saved.
[00:08:55] And so God here tells us not only what does save us, but what does not save us.
[00:09:00] And here's what He says.
[00:09:01] Are you listening?
[00:09:03] For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.
[00:09:11] It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
[00:09:18] All right, are you ready to look up here?
[00:09:20] Do you see my blackboard up here?
[00:09:22] You can't see it?
[00:09:23] Well, it's there.
[00:09:24] Just imagine it's there.
[00:09:25] You see this chalk?
[00:09:26] We're going to write on this side of the blackboard what does not save us, okay?
[00:09:30] Now you look in Ephesians two, verses eight and nine, and tell us what does not save us.
[00:09:34] He says, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of your, what?
[00:09:39] All right, I'm writing up here self.
[00:09:42] All right, self cannot save.
[00:09:44] Do you see it?
[00:09:45] And then He goes on and He says, And not of works, lest any man should boast.
[00:09:51] W-O-R-K-S.
[00:09:53] Works.
[00:09:54] All right, there it is.
[00:09:55] Self and works.
[00:09:56] Do you see?
[00:09:57] That can't save.
[00:09:58] Do you see that?
[00:09:59] Self and works can't save.
[00:10:00] Now, let's come over here on this board, and let's write what does save us.
[00:10:05] For by what?
[00:10:07] Grace.
[00:10:08] G-R-A-C-E.
[00:10:09] Are you saved through what?
[00:10:11] Faith.
[00:10:12] F-A-I-T-H.
[00:10:13] There you have it.
[00:10:14] It's just that plain.
[00:10:15] It's just that clear.
[00:10:16] Actually, it's, it's more clear than that, isn't it?
[00:10:18] All right, because you can't see that, but you can read it right there on your page.
[00:10:23] What is, that does not save?
[00:10:25] Self and works.
[00:10:26] Now, you say, Well, everybody knows that.
[00:10:28] No, they don't.
[00:10:29] If you were to walk down the streets of this city or any city and say, Uh, are you saved on your way to heaven?
[00:10:34] You know what most folks would say?
[00:10:36] They would say, Well, I hope so.
[00:10:38] I think so.
[00:10:39] I am doing the best I can.
[00:10:42] I, self, am doing works the best I can.
[00:10:46] Isn't that right?
[00:10:47] So no wonder they don't have assurance.
[00:10:49] How could you have assurance if it depended upon what you do?
[00:10:52] I wouldn't trust the best 15 minutes I ever lived to get me into heaven.
[00:10:55] I am doing the best I can.
[00:10:58] Self and works.
[00:11:00] That's what the average person is doing.
[00:11:02] They think that God is like Santa Claus, making a list, checking it twice, going to find out who's naughty or nice, that you're going to die and come to the judgment and somehow he's going to put everything in the balances and if your good works outweigh your bad works, he'll say you made it.
[00:11:16] And if your bad works outweigh your good works, he'll say you didn't make it and that you're going to hell.
[00:11:21] Now, you'd be amazed how many people believe that, folks.
[00:11:24] They believe that.
[00:11:25] Now over in contradistinction to that is what God says.
[00:11:28] God says over here, For by grace, now what is grace?
[00:11:32] Grace is the unmerited favor and love that God shows to sinners such as we.
[00:11:37] It's what made God love us when we were unlovely.
[00:11:40] We're not valuable because, uh, uh, God doesn't love us because we're valuable.
[00:11:44] We're valuable because he loves us.
[00:11:46] He just loves us out of grace.
[00:11:48] It, it's what sent Jesus to die for us.
[00:11:51] God commendeth his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
[00:11:55] Friend, that is grace.
[00:11:57] That is amazing grace.
[00:11:58] For by grace are ye saved, through what?
[00:12:02] Faith.
[00:12:03] Now grace, let's have a little acrostic.
[00:12:06] G-R-A-C-E, that's God's riches at Christ's expense.
[00:12:09] That's grace, okay?
[00:12:11] Faith, F-A-I-T-H, forsaking all, I trust him.
[00:12:15] Faith is not intellectual belief.
[00:12:17] That's only part of it.
[00:12:18] Faith is trust, commitment.
[00:12:20] Now that's what saves, for by grace are you saved through faith.
[00:12:24] Think of grace as the hand of God reaching down out of heaven.
[00:12:28] And God says, I love you, I want to save you.
[00:12:31] Think of faith as your hand reaching up to God.
[00:12:34] Now God puts down the hand of grace, you put up the hand of faith, and when you put your hand of faith in God's hand of grace, that's salvation.
[00:12:41] For by grace are you saved through faith.
[00:12:43] Do you have it?
[00:12:44] Now, the devil doesn't want you to understand that.
[00:12:47] The devil wants you to think, still, it's part of what you do and part of what God does.
[00:12:51] But friend, if any part of it depends upon what you do, you'll never have assurance.
[00:12:55] Isn't that right?
[00:12:56] Because you'll always wonder, am I doing enough?
[00:12:58] But when it all depends on what God does, then you can have assurance.
[00:13:02] You say, Adrian, do you know you're saved?
[00:13:05] Well, of course I do.
[00:13:07] Well, you say you have a lot of confidence in yourself.
[00:13:09] That's how I know I'm saved.
[00:13:10] If I had confidence in myself, I could not know it.
[00:13:13] My confidence is in the grace of God.
[00:13:15] Now, the devil never gives up very easily.
[00:13:18] So the devil will say this.
[00:13:19] He'll, he'll, he'll say, now wait a minute folks.
[00:13:23] Really, the truth is like everything else.
[00:13:25] It's sum of each.
[00:13:26] It's part of works and part of faith.
[00:13:28] And so he says, it's, it's grace and works.
[00:13:32] And, and, and you can hear people saying, you do your part and God does his.
[00:13:38] Now doesn't that sound so good?
[00:13:39] They say it's like crossing a stream in a rowboat.
[00:13:42] If you just take this oar and pull on this oar, and we'll call this oar faith, you just go around in a circle this way.
[00:13:48] But if you pull this oar, we'll call this one works, you just go around in a circle this way.
[00:13:54] But they say with a big smile on their face, faith and works together.
[00:13:58] That gets you across.
[00:13:59] Doesn't that sound good?
[00:14:00] There's just one thing wrong with that illustration, and, and it is this.
[00:14:04] We are not going to heaven in a rowboat.
[00:14:07] Now friend, listen, we are going to heaven by the grace of God.
[00:14:12] In Romans 11, verse 6 says, and if by grace it is no more works, otherwise grace is no more grace.
[00:14:19] And then he goes on to say, and if it is by works it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work.
[00:14:25] What does that mean in Romans 11, 6?
[00:14:28] It's not part grace and part works.
[00:14:30] That's impossible.
[00:14:31] It is all of grace.
[00:14:32] When you put your hand of faith in God's hand of grace, when you say, God, I'm a sinner, I don't deserve to be saved, in my hand no price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.
[00:14:43] Lord, I am trusting you to save me.
[00:14:46] When you do that, when you say that, hallelujah, you're saved.
[00:14:51] Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.
[00:14:54] Okay, now, having said that, however, what is the result?
[00:15:01] What are the traits of the twice born?
[00:15:06] What are the birthmarks?
[00:15:07] What are the birthmarks of the believer?
[00:15:11] Now, this little book of first John was written to give you assurance, and the word know, K-N-O-W, is mentioned almost forty times in this epistle.
[00:15:22] Now, he mentions ways that we can know that we have been born again.
[00:15:29] I want to just take them and reduce them down to three, because basically all of those forty can come down basically to three basic things.
[00:15:40] So I want you to take the test today.
[00:15:42] Are you ready to take the test?
[00:15:43] The assurance test, to find out whether or not you have any right to say, yes, praise God, I know I'm saved.
[00:15:51] The very first test is the lordship test.
[00:15:54] Is Jesus Christ the Lord of your life?
[00:15:57] Look in first John chapter two, verses three and following.
[00:16:01] First John chapter two, and let's begin in verse three.
[00:16:05] And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments.
[00:16:15] Now, he doesn't say that we are saved by keeping the commandments.
[00:16:19] No, no.
[00:16:21] Salvation is the gift of God.
[00:16:22] It says, we know that we know him if we keep his commandments.
[00:16:26] He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
[00:16:33] Now, the apostle John, he doesn't beat around the bush.
[00:16:36] You don't have to, you know, he's not using esoteric terms here.
[00:16:40] If you say that you are saved, if you say that you know God, and you're not keeping his commandments, God says, you are a liar.
[00:16:51] Now, you say, Pastor Rogers, wait a minute.
[00:16:56] Are you telling me if I ever break any of God's commandments, that means I'm not saved?
[00:17:00] No, I'm not saying that.
[00:17:02] Because there's not a one of us that has not failed and sinned in some time, some way, some manner after we've been saved.
[00:17:09] Isn't that true?
[00:17:10] All of us have.
[00:17:11] And John understands that.
[00:17:13] Go back to chapter one, verse ten.
[00:17:15] If we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
[00:17:20] Well, that's past tense.
[00:17:22] We say, yes, that's past tense.
[00:17:25] But now look, chapter two, verse one.
[00:17:28] My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.
[00:17:31] And John says, And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
[00:17:40] He's saying it is possible, it is possible that you can sin and need an advocate, need Jesus Christ to come and help you as a child of God to get cleansed from your sin.
[00:17:49] And yet, he goes on to say in verse three, And hereby do we know that we know him if we keep his commandments.
[00:17:55] So, what is the answer to this riddle?
[00:17:57] On the one hand, the Bible says we know that we're saved, because we keep the commandments.
[00:18:02] On the other hand, it says it's possible for us to sin.
[00:18:05] The key is in this word keep.
[00:18:07] Look at the word keep in chapter two, verse three.
[00:18:10] We know that we know him if we keep his commandments.
[00:18:12] Now among other ways that this word was used, it's the word that a sailor would use, a navigator back in this day.
[00:18:18] When they sail by the stars at nighttime, the sailor could keep his course by keeping the stars.
[00:18:27] That's what they call sailing by the stars.
[00:18:29] They would plot the heavens, and the man with his chart would look at the heavens and keep his hand on the rudder, or his hand on the wheel.
[00:18:37] And he would sail by the stars, and that was called keeping the stars.
[00:18:42] That is the, the determination of his, uh, of his course.
[00:18:47] The goal, the way he steered was by the stars.
[00:18:49] He's keeping the stars.
[00:18:50] Now to you as a child of God, those stars are the commandments of God.
[00:18:54] That is what you steer your life by.
[00:18:57] That is what, that is the guide, the goal of your life.
[00:19:01] You keep the commandments.
[00:19:04] Now a sailor might go to sleep at the wheel.
[00:19:08] He might get distracted.
[00:19:10] He might have his attention diverted.
[00:19:13] He might get blown off course.
[00:19:15] These things could happen, but when he recognizes it, he goes right back on course.
[00:19:20] Because it's not the desire of his life to get off course.
[00:19:23] The desire of his life is to steer according to that course.
[00:19:26] And that's the way it is with a child of God.
[00:19:28] Yes, sometimes we get blown off course.
[00:19:31] Yes, sometimes we take our eyes from the stars.
[00:19:34] Yes, sometimes we may fail.
[00:19:36] Yes, sometimes we may oversteer or understeer.
[00:19:39] But the great desire of our life is to keep the commandments of God.
[00:19:42] And John says, if that desire is not in your life, you need to get saved.
[00:19:48] You need to get saved.
[00:19:49] Just that plain and that simple.
[00:19:50] You're not saved by keeping the commandments.
[00:19:52] You're saved by the grace of God.
[00:19:54] But one of the birthmarks that a child has been saved is, that he has this desire to live according to the commandments.
[00:20:01] That's the lordship test.
[00:20:03] Jesus said, Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?
[00:20:12] You see, the Bible says, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:20:18] And there's no such thing as, as saying I want Christ as Savior, but I don't want Christ as Lord.
[00:20:24] That's impossible.
[00:20:25] Believe on the lordship of Jesus.
[00:20:28] You make Christ the Lord of your life.
[00:20:32] He's already Lord, but you make Him your Lord.
[00:20:35] You receive Him as your Lord.
[00:20:37] You say, Well, Pastor Rogers, do you mean to say that you don't sin anymore?
[00:20:42] No, I sin.
[00:20:44] But I'll tell you there's a difference.
[00:20:45] After I got saved, and there was before I was saved, before I got saved, I was running to sin.
[00:20:51] Now I'm running from it.
[00:20:53] That's the major difference.
[00:20:55] I'll tell you something else.
[00:20:57] If you're a member of this church or anybody's church, and you can sin willfully, consciously, continually, without any remorse, without any regret, without any repentance, with no compunction, you are just living a sinful life, it is my duty to assure you that you are not saved.
[00:21:24] It is my solemn responsibility to tell you that you are in for a rude awakening at the final judgment.
[00:21:31] Hereby do we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments.
[00:21:38] Is that the burning desire of your heart?
[00:21:41] It is if you've met the Christ of Calvary.
[00:21:44] It is if you have been born of God.
[00:21:47] That's the lordship test.
[00:21:49] Now we're going to take another test.
[00:21:51] Not only the lordship test, the second test here in I John, in I John is the fellowship test.
[00:21:57] The fellowship test.
[00:21:58] Now let me show you what John has to say about that, if you would please.
[00:22:02] Turn to I John chapter 3 and look in verse 14.
[00:22:08] We know, that's our word again, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.
[00:22:19] He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
[00:22:23] That's what John says.
[00:22:25] Now again, turn if you will to I John chapter 4 and verse 20.
[00:22:30] If a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he's a liar.
[00:22:34] For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
[00:22:40] And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.
[00:22:47] And then look in chapter 5 verse 1.
[00:22:49] Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone that loveth him that begat, that is, everyone who loves the Father, loveth him also that is begotten of him.
[00:22:59] When you love the heavenly Father, you love his children, you love your brothers and sisters in Christ.
[00:23:05] It's one of the traits of the twice born.
[00:23:07] It's, it's a test.
[00:23:08] You see, when you get saved, you want to be with the children of God, and you want to be right with the children of God.
[00:23:18] Now, there, there's some people say, well, I can just worship God all by myself.
[00:23:24] I don't need to go to church.
[00:23:26] God knows my heart.
[00:23:27] God knows I love him.
[00:23:28] I don't need to assemble together with the brethren.
[00:23:31] Well, then why did God say, forsake not the assembling of yourself together?
[00:23:35] Why did not God, why did God keep on telling us that when we love him, we are to love the brothers and the sisters.
[00:23:43] We are to love the brethren.
[00:23:46] You see, here's, here's the reasoning, and I want you to listen very carefully.
[00:23:51] Why is fellowship a test of your salvation?
[00:23:54] Well, what happens when you get saved is this.
[00:23:57] You receive the divine nature, don't you?
[00:24:00] The Bible says we're made partakers of the divine nature.
[00:24:04] Now, what is the nature of God?
[00:24:06] The nature of God is love.
[00:24:08] Turn with me to I John chapter 4, and look, if you will, in verse 7.
[00:24:12] Beloved, this is John 4, 7, I John 4, 7.
[00:24:16] Beloved, let us love one another.
[00:24:19] Now watch this.
[00:24:20] Listen to it.
[00:24:22] For love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
[00:24:28] And he that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.
[00:24:31] Now, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out.
[00:24:34] When you're born again, you're born of God.
[00:24:37] The Holy Spirit of God comes into you, and you're made a partaker of the divine nature.
[00:24:42] Now, what is the divine nature?
[00:24:43] God is love.
[00:24:44] Now, if that nature is in you, then you're going to have love in you, right?
[00:24:49] Now, if you don't have love in you, you have not become a partaker of the divine nature.
[00:24:53] And he's not talking here about loving God alone.
[00:24:57] He's talking about loving one another, for God is love.
[00:25:02] And so it would be absurd for you to say, I have been born of God.
[00:25:06] I have the Holy Spirit in me.
[00:25:08] The nature of God is in me.
[00:25:10] I have been born of God, but I just don't, I just don't love.
[00:25:14] No, friend, there must be the lordship test, and there is the fellowship test.
[00:25:19] It's right there, just as plain as can be.
[00:25:22] Now, you're not saved because you love the brethren.
[00:25:25] You're saved because Jesus died for you on that cross, and you, but you love the brethren because you're saved.
[00:25:31] You love the brethren because you're saved.
[00:25:34] You see, love is the nature of the Christian because it's the nature of God.
[00:25:37] And I'll tell you another reason that, uh, you must pass the fellowship test.
[00:25:41] Not only is it the nature of the Christian, but it is the nature of the church.
[00:25:45] What is the church?
[00:25:47] The church, I'm not talking about the building now.
[00:25:51] I'm talking about the church, the people.
[00:25:54] The church is the body of Christ, and the church is the bride of Christ.
[00:26:00] In the Bible, the Bible uses this analogy.
[00:26:04] The Bible says the church is like a body.
[00:26:06] Christ is the head, and all of us are members of that body, right?
[00:26:11] Well, if you love Jesus, you can't just love the head without loving the body.
[00:26:17] If you said, Adrian, I love your head, but I really don't mind stepping on your body.
[00:26:23] That won't make my head too happy.
[00:26:25] And, and, uh, if you say, Well, Adrian, I love you, but I don't love your wife, Joyce.
[00:26:33] Well, Joyce is my bride.
[00:26:35] And not only is the church Jesus' body, it is Jesus' bride.
[00:26:40] And so, if you love me, love Joyce.
[00:26:45] And if you want to get my attention in a hurry, abuse her.
[00:26:50] And I'll guarantee you, you'll have my attention, my full attention.
[00:26:53] I mean, as quick as I can get there, you'll have my full attention.
[00:26:56] Maybe in some ways you wouldn't want.
[00:26:59] Because she is my beloved.
[00:27:01] She's my bride.
[00:27:03] Now, the church is the body of Christ, and the church is the bride of Christ.
[00:27:10] And that's the reason that if we love the Lord Jesus, it follows as night follows day, we are going to love what Jesus loves.
[00:27:20] Christ and the church are not identical, but Christ and the church are inseparable.
[00:27:27] He's the head, we're the body.
[00:27:29] He's the groom, we're the bride.
[00:27:30] And, uh, and it's all in the Lord Jesus Christ and His church.
[00:27:35] And so, if you are a, a Christian, and yet you're not in fellowship with a New Testament, Bible-believing church, I mean organized fellowship, I don't mean a once-in-a-while visitor.
[00:27:47] I mean a part of the body of Christ.
[00:27:51] Maybe you need to ask yourself this question.
[00:27:53] Am I truly saved?
[00:27:56] Or am I, I've just been playing at this thing.
[00:27:58] Have I been saying I have believed in Christ and trusted Christ?
[00:28:01] But have I really, really met the Christ of the Bible?
[00:28:06] Now, you may be saved and be in such a backslidden condition that you don't love people.
[00:28:10] But if you're in that backslidden condition, you have no real right to save.
[00:28:14] You can't say you know you're saved.
[00:28:16] The only way that you can say that you know you're saved is when you have these birthmarks of the believer.
[00:28:22] And just some intellectual, uh, uh, la-di-da.
[00:28:26] That's not enough to do it.
[00:28:28] All right, now let me give you the third test.
[00:28:30] Here's the third test.
[00:28:31] And of these three tests.
[00:28:33] The first test, the lordship test.
[00:28:35] He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar.
[00:28:38] The second test, the fellowship test.
[00:28:40] You say I love him and, and you love him and know him and you love not the brethren, you're a liar.
[00:28:44] Now here's the third test, and it is the relationship test.
[00:28:48] The lordship test, the fellowship test, and the relationship test.
[00:28:52] Now, salvation is a vital relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:28:57] Now go back to 1 John chapter 5 and look in verse 11.
[00:29:01] 1 John chapter 5 and verse 11.
[00:29:04] And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
[00:29:13] Now just underscore that.
[00:29:14] Who is God's Son?
[00:29:15] The Lord Jesus.
[00:29:16] This life is in his Son.
[00:29:18] He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
[00:29:24] These things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that you have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
[00:29:33] Now he's talking here about a relationship with Jesus.
[00:29:36] He's talking about having the Son, knowing the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:29:40] In another place he says that God's Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
[00:29:48] There's that inner witness, there's that relationship with Jesus Christ.
[00:29:52] Now, 1 John chapter 5 verse 13 says this, and listen very, very carefully.
[00:29:58] These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.
[00:30:04] It does not say these things have I written unto you that believed, past tense.
[00:30:09] This is present tense.
[00:30:11] Now I'm going to say something here that may upset some of you.
[00:30:15] It may upset some of your theology.
[00:30:19] I've often heard it said that if you cannot name the time and the place where you were saved, you're not saved.
[00:30:28] Have you ever heard that?
[00:30:29] Let me see your hand if you ever heard that.
[00:30:31] If you can't name the time and the place, you are never saved.
[00:30:34] Well, there's one thing wrong with that, friend.
[00:30:36] It's not in the Bible.
[00:30:38] Somebody made that up, but it's not in the Bible.
[00:30:42] The Bible never tells you to look back to a past experience for the proof of your salvation.
[00:30:48] It does not say he who believed has eternal life.
[00:30:53] It says he who believes.
[00:30:56] Now, it doesn't matter what you've done in the past.
[00:30:58] If you're not believing on Jesus, you're not saved.
[00:31:01] And if you are believing on Jesus, you did believe on Jesus, because it's impossible to be believing on Him without having believed on Him.
[00:31:09] You see, indeed there was a time.
[00:31:11] Indeed there was a place.
[00:31:13] There had to be if you're believing on Jesus.
[00:31:15] But if you're not believing on Jesus now, whatever you call the time and the place, there's something wrong with it.
[00:31:21] What is the biggest question?
[00:31:23] Did you get married or are you married?
[00:31:25] Well, if you are married, I'll guarantee you did get that way, right?
[00:31:29] And the big question is not, did you believe in Jesus?
[00:31:33] The big question is, are you believing Jesus?
[00:31:36] Do you have a relationship with the Son of God or is the man, the woman, the boy, the girl sitting in that seat right now this morning believing on Christ as his or her personal Savior?
[00:31:47] Now, if you have the time and the place, wonderful.
[00:31:52] I can remember the time and the place.
[00:31:55] But if you don't, that doesn't mean you're not saved.
[00:32:00] Because if you're trusting Jesus right now, you are.
[00:32:04] I mean, you may not know exactly when it happened.
[00:32:07] Let me use this illustration.
[00:32:09] Suppose you leave this service and you're going to go to Birmingham by airplane.
[00:32:14] And you get in the airplane out here, the Memphis International Airport, and you fly to Birmingham and get off the airplane.
[00:32:22] Now, did you cross the state line?
[00:32:24] Of course you did.
[00:32:25] Did you know when you crossed the state line?
[00:32:27] No, you didn't know it.
[00:32:28] Why?
[00:32:29] Because you were up there in the air.
[00:32:30] You didn't know when you crossed the state line.
[00:32:32] Now, let's suppose you get in your automobile and you drive to Birmingham.
[00:32:35] You cross the state line.
[00:32:36] Do you know it?
[00:32:37] Yes, because there it is, you cross the state line, welcome to Alabama and so forth, and you cross the state line.
[00:32:43] Now, both persons cross the state line, or you as one person cross the state line, two separate ways.
[00:32:51] Now, the question is simply this.
[00:32:53] How do you know you crossed the state line?
[00:32:55] One of the best ways I know is, if you get out of the airplane in Birmingham, you did, right?
[00:33:00] I mean, you did.
[00:33:01] If you get out at the Birmingham airport, beyond the shadow of any doubt, you had to cross that line.
[00:33:05] And if the person sitting in this auditorium right now is saying, with all of my heart and soul, I am trusting Jesus.
[00:33:13] I may not know exactly when it happened, but I know now that person right here in this seat this morning has a relationship with the Son of God.
[00:33:21] You see, it is not some distant experience that you had.
[00:33:24] It is a present reality.
[00:33:26] It is a relationship, not theology.
[00:33:32] You say, well, I know the plan of salvation.
[00:33:34] Well, you're not saved by the plan of salvation.
[00:33:36] You're saved by the man of salvation.
[00:33:38] His name is Jesus.
[00:33:39] The life is in Christ.
[00:33:41] Are you trusting the Lord Jesus Christ?
[00:33:44] Do you have that vital relationship with Him right now?
[00:33:48] They tell a story about Will Rogers.
[00:33:50] No relation to me.
[00:33:51] I guess I wish he was, but Will Rogers, that Oklahomian philosopher, he wanted to get a passport, and he went in for a passport.
[00:34:00] And they said, well, we'll need your birth certificate.
[00:34:02] He said, what do you need that for?
[00:34:04] They said, for proof of your birth.
[00:34:06] He said, well, well, friend, what he was saying is that what is standing there right now is more important than what may have happened some long time ago.
[00:34:15] Indeed, there was a time when he was born.
[00:34:17] And, but the proof that he was born is he's standing there.
[00:34:20] Indeed, he that believeth on Jesus is born of God.
[00:34:24] But the proof is that you are believing right now as your personal Savior and Lord.
[00:34:31] Now, the end of the message.
[00:34:33] Let me say this.
[00:34:35] It is possible that you could be saved and not have that full assurance.
[00:34:42] If I were your case today, you know what I would do?
[00:34:45] I would do exactly what I did because I had done that as a teenage boy.
[00:34:49] I was saved, or I think I was.
[00:34:51] I'm not certain even yet whether I was or not.
[00:34:54] But I, I just got it settled.
[00:34:57] You see, I was not fully instructed when I gave my heart to Christ.
[00:35:01] And I rode a roller coaster for a long time, wondering whether or not I was truly saved.
[00:35:07] Now, I remember stopping one night on the corner of 39th Street and Calvin Avenue in West Palm Beach.
[00:35:14] By then, I'd learned something about the Bible.
[00:35:17] I looked straight up into the heavens, and I said, God, I've got to have assurance.
[00:35:24] I don't know whether I am lost and the Holy Spirit has me under conviction, or whether I'm saved, or whether I'm saved and the devil is trying to make me doubt it.
[00:35:38] But one thing I know, dear God, I want to get certain tonight.
[00:35:46] And you said if I would believe on you, if I would trust you, you would save me.
[00:35:50] So I just turned my face up to the heavens, and I said, Lord, right now, with all of my heart, as much as in me is, once and for all, now and forever, I trust you to save me.
[00:36:04] If I was saved, I still am.
[00:36:06] But if I wasn't, I am now.
[00:36:08] I'm just driving down a peg.
[00:36:10] And I want to say that from that time on, a river of peace began to flow in my heart, and it's still flowing.
[00:36:16] And if you had those serious doubts, maybe you've not understood, maybe you've kind of tried to mix in some works, or you didn't know that a person could truly know it, maybe you'd like to do the same thing today.
[00:36:28] Maybe you'd just like to come forward in this service and tell one of our ministers, today, I'm going to put down a stake.
[00:36:34] I'm going to get it settled once and for all and say, I know that I know that I'm saved.
[00:36:40] Well, you say, Pastor, you know, I did that, and I still have doubts.
[00:36:47] Then you know what's wrong with you?
[00:36:49] You've got some unconfessed, undealt with sin in your life, and God won't let you have assurance until you deal with that.
[00:36:56] Well, one of those two things is true about you.
[00:36:59] And so, I want you to come this morning and say, you know, I'm just going to give everything to Jesus.
[00:37:05] I'm tired of playing church.
[00:37:06] I'm going to give it all to Him, because I want that blessed assurance.
[00:37:09] I want to be able to say, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.
[00:37:13] Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine.
[00:37:30] It's according to the word of God.
[00:37:32] It's Cuz I've Been Being Forgotten.