"Am I lost or am I saved and how can I know"
Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23
Jesus said that many shall stand in his presence believing they really knew him but instead be thrown into the fires of hell for as long as God lasts. Some people want to know just how close they can come to heaven but still go to hell and I would remind you of Judas Iscariot who kissed the very face of Jesus but is in hell this morning. I would remind you of Felix who trembled in fear at the judgment to come but told Paul that he would wait for a more convenient season to think about his soul. I would speak to you of Agrippa who was almost persuaded through the preaching of Paul to give his heart to Christ. For all these people that could challenge us, the ones who scare me the most are these in Matthew 7.
Most people don’t really know what will happen to them when they die. They hope that their good deeds outweigh their bad or that God would never really send anybody to hell for their sins. Surely there must be someone else who is worse than I am maybe I can be judged next to them and my sin won’t seem so bad. In Zechariah 3 it tells us of Joshua the High Priest standing in the presence of God and being clothed in filthy rags with Satan there to accuse him. We think that that means Joshua’s sins were what he was clothed in but that’s not the filthy rag. The filthy rag is the righteousness of all his good works.
"But we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness are as filthy rags…" Isaiah 64:6
If our good works are as filthy rags in God’s eyes what must our sins be like unto him? Can I tell you that the Bible is very plain in it’s speech to our hearts and God doesn’t stammer or stutter when He speaks. Matthew 12:30 says "he that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad."
At this moment everyone within the sound of my voice is either saved or they’re lost. You’re either all the way in the family of God or you’re still a child of the devil. You’re either justified by the blood of Christ Jesus or you’re still condemned in your sins. Your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life or you’re bound for a devil’s hell. You’re born again by the Holy Spirit sealing you for time and eternity or you’re lost in your sins because you have not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
· Nicodemus was a religious man in John 3:1-8
· But he was a lost religious man by the standard of Christ
Want everyone who hears this message to draw an imaginary circle around them and create if you will a bubble that only you and God are in. I am going to ask you 4 questions from the Word of God and explain what each question means. If you can answer yes to all 4 questions in your circle alone with God, you can be sure that you’ll go to heaven when you die. But if you can’t answer all 4 of these questions or can’t answer yes to any one of these questions, I wouldn’t leave this place today thinking I would go to heaven when I die. Never seen anyone who was saved offended by this message because it just gives them added assurance to remember their salvation experience but I have seen the lost cut to their very core being as they tried to rationalize their goodness as a way to heaven. I’ve seen people try to pick this message apart to justify themselves but I’m so sure of what I’m about to share with you that I’ll meet you at the judgment and not be ashamed.
Are you in your circle? Will you be honest with God as we continue?
· First question: have you at any time, at any place under any condition ever been convicted of your sins by the Holy Spirit?
· John 16:7-9 (read)
When the Holy Spirit comes to take hold of a lost person’s heart, He always come with the express purpose of laying the weight of that person’s sins on their shoulders. He come to convince that person that they are a sinner as he lays a burden for sin on the heart convincing us of our lostness. The Holy Spirit enables us to say I AM LOST! I have no hope of saving myself because in God’s eye all my good works are as filthy rags. Believe me that only the Holy Spirit can convince you of your lostness because even though we may try, God truly knows your heart.
Don’t be afraid if God lays the weight of your sins on your heart because that means that He is trying to save you. Jesus said that unless the Father who sent Himdraw us, we can’t come to salvation. The one who should be afraid is the one who can hear this and nothing stir him in his heart because he or she is in danger of the fires of hell. Just as there are signs to a physical birth there are signs to a spiritual birth and it is always preceeded by the LABOR PAIN OF CONVICTION.
· November 1998 in my living room
· John 6:44
SECOND QUESTION: Did you respond to or reject the conviction of your sins by the
Holy Spirit?
The response to the conviction is called repentance. Jesus said in Luke 13:3 and 5 that unless we repent we shall all likewise perish. Impossible to repent without first being convicted by the Holy Spirit. In Hebrews 12:17 says that though Esau cried carefully with tears he found no place of repentance letting us know that repenting is also a work of the Holy Spirit.
· 2 Corinthians 7:9,10
· More than regret or wishing you hadn’t
· A godly sorrow that reaches up out of your soul towards God because you have sinned against God. Psalm 51 is a good example of godly sorrow.
In the Greek the word that is used is Metanoeo meaning a grief over one’s life course and then changing that course. This is the heart of repentance.
· Isaiah 55:7
· Romans 10:9 You cannot keep even one of those sins
You either repent of your sins knowing that you repent of them or you refuse to repent knowing that you refuse to repent. 1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive us our sins if we repent.
Have dealt with 2 persons in my ministry who refused to repent of their sins but can I tell you that they are aware of that time in their life and have never felt God move their hearts again. You must be able to repent before you can trust the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you repented of your sins or did you refuse to repent?
The THIRD QUESTION is Did you trust Jesus to save you?
Acts 16:29-31 (read) You repent towards God and then you turn and trust Jesus to save you from your sins. In the gospel we’re told of a woman who wanted to touch the hem of Jesus garmet in faith that she would be healed. Elsewhere in the gospel we’re told of another group of people who also desired to touch the hem of his garmet because virtue went out from him to heal completely according to Luke 6:19. When this woman believed that she could be "made whole" the Greek word that is used is SOZO which is defined as the spiritual and eternal salvation granted immediately by God to those who believe on Christ.
She touched the hem of Christ’s garmet which symbolized HIS FULFILLMENT OF ALL GOD’S COMMANDMENTS believing in her heart that she would receive salvation, not a physical healing! She wanted to be whole! Jesus said in Matthew that people would have eyes to see and seeing SEE NOT and ears to hear but hearing HEAR NOT for if they really heard and really saw then I would convert them and heal them. What is the greatest disease known to all mankind that infects each of our bodies?
DEATH! There is only one cure for Death and His name is Jesus! Trusting in Jesus to salvation means three things beloved…
1. Intellectual agreement is saying with your mind that you believe 2000 years ago Jesus died for your sins to wash you in His blood. It means that you believe that he died for you personally. Do you believe that?
2. Receiving Jesus into your heart. John 1:11-12 (read) When you receive Jesus he becomes your Savior and gives you the power to become born again. Revelation 3:20.
3. Heart of trusting Jesus with saving faith means to lean upon or rest upon or cast all your care upon him.
· Trusting in a chair to hold my weight
· Grand Canyon illustration
· When these three things happen in the believer, then Romans 5:1 and 8:1 come alive to give us peace with God that we have fully trusted Jesus.
We know that we’re saved because the moment we respond to the conviction of our hearts in repentance toward God and trust Jesus’ death for our sins on the cross, THE WEIGHT OF OUR SINS IS TAKEN FROM OUR SHOULDERS AND PEACE COMES INTO OUR HEART.
Isaiah 55:12 (read)
The first know fruit of salvation is peace toward God for our sins because they are covered in the righteousness of Christ Jesus. You have the peace of God and you’re at peace with God because you’ve been truly saved! Brings us to the last question, are you ready for the last question? I believe that if you’ve done the first three, you’ve done or will do this fourth part as soon as I explain it to you.
Last question: After you were saved did you confess Jesus before men?
(1) Matthew 10:31,32 and Romans 10:10,11
After you were saved did you go forward unashamed of what had happened in your heart to confess Jesus before men? Jesus said in Matthew 16:24 that many people would never take up their cross and follow him. Want to explain to you that some of you may have joined the church and they let you in, but you were really lost. But after joining the church the Lord has saved you and you’ve never made that fact known to men and been obedient in baptism. Can I say to you that if you were saved after you were supposedly baptized that you were only dunked.
(My baptism experience)
Little boy on mountain illustration…
Until he let go of what he thought was saving him and truly trusted in his father to lift him out of the dangerous predicament he was, the little boy wasn’t saved completely. If you will respond to God as he deals with you and repent of your sins toward God with sorrow in your heart for the sins you’ve committed and trust Jesus completely, HE WILL SAVE YOU!
Invitation.
