Certainty

About two years after becoming a follower of Jesus Christ, I began to doubt if I was saved. At the end of the message on Sunday morning, July 4, 1976, the pastor invited people who wanted to become followers of Jesus to meet him at the front of the auditorium. Basically, I’m an introvert, but I was under such piercing conviction I went to the front of the auditorium in front of all the people. The pastor asked if I was a Christian. When I was a child at children’s camp, I had gone forward at the invitation and had a very moving experience. No one counseled me about what took place at the altar. This experience is what I thought of when he asked me if I was a Christian. I said yes. Therefore, I didn’t pray a sinner’s prayer.

I’m attending college and Carol and I are very involved in our church. I get involved in the evangelism program. Every week we visit homes and seek to share the gospel presentation in which we are memorizing. Eventually, I trained others in this gospel presentation. My team would sit in a person’s living room. I’d present the gospel, and invite them to pray to receive Jesus. If they did, I took the time to assure them of Jesus’ promise to them: they were forgiven of sin and reconciled to God. Many times, in my mind I’d be saying, “I wonder if I need to pray this prayer?”

Our church began to experience an usual movement of the Holy Spirit. Many leaders in our church, deacons, Sunday School teachers, and some of my friends, began to testify that they had never been saved. They were professing faith in Christ and being baptized. I was miserable. Carol and I talked about my lack of assurance. Carol said if she’s ever known anybody to be saved, it was me. Though I appreciated Carol’s confidence, I was not willing to risk my eternal destiny on her confidence. I had to know.

Each week before the trainers met with their trainees in evangelism, the trainers would meet for a time of instruction with the staff leader. He addressed the issue of people being saved and baptized because they were uncertain of their salvation. He told us a story from his days of pastoring.

In a small restaurant in Colorado during breakfast, he was explaining the gospel to another man. The little café was crowded, and he knew the man would be hesitant to bow his head and pray to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord. The preacher told the man if he was willing to admit that he was a sinner and confess that he needed Jesus to be his Savior and Lord, to reach across the table and take his hand. This is exactly what the man did. The minister smiled and said as they shook hands, he bowed his head and lead the man to say a sinner’s prayer.

Then he asked the trainers, “When did the man get saved? Was it when he reached across the table declaring he wanted Jesus or when he said the prayer? It was the man’s commitment that resulted in salvation not the words of the prayer.” That did it for me!

When I answered the invitation of my pastor for salvation, I came to Jesus lock, stock, and barrel. Since that time, I have had peace and security in my salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift — (9) not from works, so that no one can boast. One of the works of the Holy Spirit is to assure the Christian you are a child of God. He does this by helping us understand the work of Christ and the love of Christ. What does Christ’s work mean for the believer? No charges of guilt. What does Christ’s work of love mean for the believer? No separation from God.

He speaks of Christ’s work in Romans 8:33-34.

I. CHRIST’S WORK: NO CHARGES (ROM. 8:33-34)

Who can bring an accusation against God's elect? God is the One who justifies. (34) Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the One who died, but even more, has been raised; He also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.

The answer to the question in v. 33, “Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect,” is no one. The one who has the right to accuse us is God, the Judge of the universe, and He is the one that declares us not guilty.

Our conscience accuses us of being lawbreakers. We are very aware that we have sinned and come short of the standard of righteousness expected by a holy God. The word “devil” means “slanderer.” He’s always seeking to point out sin. No doubt we have human enemies that are quick to point out our faults and failures. However, none are admissible before God. Why? He declared every believer innocent. Right now, and forever, God has decided you are right with Him and not condemned. There is no higher court to appeal this decision. God has decided about you and that’s it. If you have received Jesus as your Savior and Lord, God has decided in your favor. It is final, irrevocable, and already in effect. Therefore there is no one who can bring charges against you. God is bigger than your conscience, the devil, or your enemies.