Sermon Central
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Blessed Assurance - Evidence #2 Series
Contributed by Ray Scott on Jun 3, 2003 (message contributor)
Summary: Continuing in our series on "The Assurance Of Salvation", how you deal with sin in your life gives evidence if you are LOST ... or SAVED.
“BLESSED ASSURANCE” – Evidence #2
INTRODUCTION – We continue in our series on “The Assurance Of Salvation”.
A Christian will have EVIDENCE in their life if they are truly born-again … and this gives them the ASSURANCE of their salvation.
We have already seen that:
A Christian cannot be effective if they don’t have the ASSURANCE of their salvation.
One of the EVIDENCES (Evidence #1) is that they have a love-relationship with Jesus.
TONIGHT, we are going to examine another EVIDENCE of salvation … How you deal with SIN in your life.
A lost person doesn’t feel the heavy weight of sin in their life. They don’t worry about it … they don’t care about it … they aren’t aware of it as even being a “sin” against a Holy God.
What about the Christian?
The true born-again believer will have a conscious awareness of sin in their life. It is like a heavy weight, weighing him down in spirit and soul.
Unconfessed sin is a barrier to fellowship with Holy God … his Heavenly Father.
Continual sin causes guilt, shame, and regret. It steals our joy, delays our victory, and replaces our peace.
The Christian is sensitive to sin, and aware of its presence when left unconfessed.
How one deals with sin in his life is an EVIDENCE of whether one is truly saved … or faking it. Dealing with sin in our life can give us the ASSURANCE of our salvation.
As we continue in our study of the ASSURANCE of salvation in I John, turn to 1:5.
Seeing SIN as SIN, requires a STANDARD.
John uses the standard of “light” as compared to “darkness” … they are on the opposite extreme.
When the LOST person looks at the “sin” in his life, he has nothing to COMPARE it to as a STANDARD … a model, a gauge, a yardstick, a guide, a pattern.
When a CHRISTIAN looks at the “sin” in his life, he has a STANDARD … the HOLINESS of God.
Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
That’s why the LOST person has no NATURAL conviction for his sin … CONVICTION is the work of the Holy Spirit, Who places his sin against the Holiness of God.
The sin of the LOST person BLENDS IN with the world around him … it is CONFORMED to the things of the world.
ILLUSTRATION VISUAL: – LOST - A black background … a black piece of paper has no contrast.
SAVED – a white background … the contrast of a black piece of paper.
When the Christian compares our sin with the Holiness of God, it stands out … THUS … giving us the ASSURANCE of our salvation.
Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord, and angels declaring (Isaiah 6:3) - "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory."
NOTICE the reaction of Isaiah, when he compared his sin with the Holiness of God (Isaiah 6:5) – “Then I said: "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."
NOTICE what Peter did, when he was confronted with the glory of Jesus (Luke 5:8) - “But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!"
The CHRISTIAN stands in the LIGHT … the LOST live in DARKNESS.
John 3:19-20 - "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. [20] "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”
If a person doesn’t deal with the sin in their life, it is because they are LOST.
“say” – There are many who “say” they are a Christian [repeated a prayer, baptized, attend Church, live a moral(?) Life].
BUT – If they cannot see the sin in their life (sensitive to sin/light), thy are SPIRITUALLY BLIND … living in DARKNESS.
The CHRISTIAN is contrasted with the LOST:
1.- “walk in the light” – It’s impossible to see the dirt in your house at night with the lights out … you’ve got to turn the lights on … use a flashlight under the couch, behind the refrigerator.
If you don’t see SIN as SIN, you are walking in DARKNESS.
2.- “fellowship with one another” – this is VERTICAL, not a horizontal fellowship … with CHRIST.
Jesus not only walks in the light, He IS the light - John 8:12 - “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."
