“Heaven Bound with the Hammer Down!”
Pastor Steve N. Wagers
April 22. 2007
There’s a little town in Texas near the Louisiana border named Uncertain. How would you like to live in Uncertain, Texas? Someone asks you where you’re from and you would say, “Uncertain.”
As a Christian you don’t have to live in “Uncertain,” spiritually speaking. You don’t have to struggle with doubts about your salvation. You can know that you are saved!
A little fellow was standing on the side of the road when a man came up, stopped and rolled down his window: “Son, do you know how to get to town?” The little boy said, “I don’t know.” The man asked, “Well, do you know how to get to Route 20?” Again the little boy replied, “I don’t know.” The man then asked, “Where does this road go?” The little boy, as before, said, “I don’t know.” The man asked, “Do you know the name of this road?” As before, “I don’t know.” The frustrated man looked at the little boy and said, “Son, you don’t know anything do you?” The little boy replied, “I know I ain’t lost.”
1. The PROMISE of the SCRIPTURE that GETS Me In!
[1 John 5:13] “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. “
KNOW: Gr. oida
“To know by perception/experience”
The words “know, knoweth, or known” appear 38 times in 1 John.
D. L. Moody:
“I have never known a Christian who was any good in the work of Christ who did not have the assurance of his salvation.”
A) His Eternal WORK
[1 John 5:6a] “This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood.”
The Lord Jesus was thrust in the side by a spear, and “forthwith came out blood and water.”
This is the eternal work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved by blood. We are sanctified by water.
TABERNACLE:
1st—Brazen Altar
(Where the bloody sacrifice was made.)
2nd—Laver
(Where the priests would wash to cleanse themselves)
First the blood, then the water.
The blood of Christ PROCURES our salvation; the water of Christ SECURES our salvation.
Let the water and the blood
From Thy wounded side which flowed
Be of sin the double cure
Save from wrath
And make me pure
B) His Eternal WORD
[1 John 5:10-13]
This is the basis for our belief. We are not gullible fools. Jesus Christ died. He gave forth His blood and His water. It is all attested, affirmed and acknowledged by the Word.
To doubt your salvation is to call the Bible unbelievable, and call God unreliable. To doubt your salvation is to call God a liar!
Salvation is not based on feelings, because feelings come and go.
Salvation is not based on faith, because our faith may weaken.
But, salvation is based on FACTS! The facts are that Christ died, giving His blood and water; Christ was buried and rose again for your Justification! The BIBLE is the Final Authority.
“I don’t feel saved”—I didn’t ask you if you felt saved; if you placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, the Bible says, YOU ARE SAVED!!
If you have done what the Bible says to do to be saved, then leave it there. If God cannot lie, and His Word is true, YOU ARE SAVED!!
2. The PRESENCE of the SPIRIT that SEALS Me In!
We often underemphasize the work of the Spirit in salvation. But, His work is just as important as the Father and the Son.
A) A Work of COOPERATION
[1 John 5:6b-8] “And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. [7] For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. [8] And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.”
The Holy Spirit cooperates with the work of the Father and the Son.
The Father promises salvation, the Son provides salvation, but the Spirit produces salvation.
He is come to make salvation real to our heart. He is the Heavenly Executive of the Trinity. He is the eyewitness that gives the first-hand account of our salvation.
[C. p. Romans 8: 16] “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
[C. p. Ephesians 4: 30] “grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are SEALED unto the day of redemption.”
The Holy Spirit is the high-pressure cooker that seals us into the Family of God. No one can break His seal.
B) A Work of CONVICTION
The Holy Spirit is the Heavenly Detective. When we sin, if we are saved, He immediately convicts us.
[C. p. John 16:8] “when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment”
Reprove: lit. “To convince”
When we sin, the Holy Spirit convinces us that we are wrong and we need to get right.
No Conviction-No Conversion
C) A Work of CORRECTION
When we sin, the Holy Spirit convicts us. If we dismiss conviction, He moves to the next step of correction.
[C. p. Hebrews 12:6-8] “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. [8] But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.”
God is obligated to correct His children. He doesn’t have any Grandchildren.
If can sin, and sin, and sin and the Holy Spirit never convicts you or corrects you, then
YOU ARE NOT SAVED!!
3. The POWER of the SAVIOR that KEEPS Me In!
Sidlow Baxter:
“Your emotions are the shallowest part of your nature. Salvation is the deepest work of God. And He is not going to do His deepest work in the shallowest part.”
A) SUFFICIENT Power
[1 John 5:9] “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.”
The same power that created the world; the same power that hung the stars in space; the same power that shut up the rain of the Heavens; the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that KEEPS us in the circle of God’s family.
[C. p. John 10:27-30] “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: [28] And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. [29] My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. [30] I and my Father are one.”
Jesus rules out the external (world), the internal (flesh), and the infernal (devil.)
Nothing in the world can take you out of His hand. Nothing the devil can do can take you out of His hand. Nothing you can do can take you out of His hand.
“No man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”
B) SUSTAINING Power
[1 John 5: 11] “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”
[C. p. 1 Peter 1: 5] “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Kept: Military term
A garrison of troops guarding a city. They would block up every way of escape.
In the same way, God the Father, God the Son, and the God the Holy Spirit has blocked up every way of escape. You are safe and secure through the sufficient and sustaining power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are many famous bridges in the world, one being the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge has a total length of 8,981 feet (a little over 2 miles), is 90 feet wide, and weighs more than 887,000 tons. It opened on May 27, 1937 and has averaged 40 million crossing the bridge each year, with the one-billionth car crossing the bridge on February 22, 1985. Today, it is the seventh-longest main span in the world.
During the early construction of the bridge, 23 men fell to their deaths. But then a safety net was added and some 19 men lives were saved as a result of the safety net. What was interesting is that work increased 25% once the nets were added. The net gave the men assurance that they were safe.
Have you placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ ALONE for your salvation?
Have you asked Him into your heart to forgive you and be your personal Lord and Savior?
If so, then what are you worried about?
He is the Net that will catch you when you fall, correct you when you fail, and comfort you when you fear.
You have the promise of the scriptures that gets you in, the presence of the Spirit that seals you in; and, the power of the Savior that keeps you in.
If you are saved, you couldn’t go to hell if you wanted to.
I am so saved that if a mosquito from hell bit me, he would fly off singing, “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine!”
My name is in the Book of Life,
O bless the name of Jesus!
I rise above all doubt and strife,
And read my title clear.
I know, I know my name is there;
I know, I know my name is written there.
You are saved!
You are safe!
You are sealed!
You are secure!
You are sanctified!
That should mean that
You are satisfied!!
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