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BLESSED ASSURANCE, JESUS IS MINE
By Pastor Dennis Dills
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Booklet Number 6B
The Importance Of Being Sure Of
Your Salvation
It
is a Biblical fact that Satan will do all he can to keep lost men and
women from being saved. He
will hinder them in every way possible to make sure he can doom them to
Hell, where he is going. He
will especially try to keep them from hearing the Gospel of the Grace of
God.
Every passing day that the Devil can keep the
lost soul from being born again, makes them another day closer to their
eternal torment in the flames of hell.
The longer Satan can keep an
individual from repenting and being saved,
the harder the heart of the unbeliever becomes and the more the Devil
controls the destiny of their soul.
The Devil works on the sinners soul one day at a time.
He continues this process until he gains the victory over the
sinner in death or loses the battle in the sinners salvation.
But even after you are saved, the Devil will keep on working
against you to keep you from doing anything for the Lord. One of the
biggest tools he uses against God’s people is doubt.
If he can make you doubt that you are eternally saved, then he
can and will keep you from being an effective witness for the Lord Jesus
Christ. If you are not sure
you are going to Heaven and what you have is real, then you certainly
can’t convince anybody else that they need the Lord.
Many are sitting on the Church pews every Sunday not knowing
where they will spend eternity when they die.
They are living defeated lives and of course, their lives are
non-productive. In this sad
state they become stumbling blocks instead of stepping stones for the
Lord. Certainly, the last
thing the real Child of God wants to be is a stumbling block.
The sad fact is, many learn to live with this and never try to
overcome. The Devil has
them where he wants them and they have become tools in Satan’s hand.
On the other hand, there is nothing more joyous than to know that
you are going to Heaven when this life is over. To be 100% sure of your
salvation is something to be thankful for.
If many are asked the question “Do you know that you are saved?”
their reply would be, “You can’t know until you die.”
Other replies are, “I haven’t given it much thought”, “I’ve been
pretty good”, “I’m not sure”, “I hope I would go to heaven”.
These statements may sound good but they are not good enough to
die by. Man can face God
with more assurance than that.
As a matter of a fact, man can know without any doubt whatsoever
that he will go to heaven when he draws his last breath here.
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.”
To live without the assurance of salvation is to live below what
God intends for you to have.
To have the blessed assurance will give you a joyful, victorious
life. With all the things
we see around us in these last days, the assurance of our salvation will
give us the added boost that we need to get through our trials.
After all, the best thing that could happen to the Child of God
is to be taken to heaven.
There is nothing on this earth that will compare to what we have
awaiting us on the other side.
This should make us live with great anticipation and excitement.
But multitudes everywhere are living discouraged lives and they are at
wits end when it comes to their assurance of Salvation.
Many live tormented lives because of their lack of assurance.
The Devil has always been busy putting question marks in the
minds of God’s people.
Are you going to
Heaven or Hell?
Do you know the answer right now, or are you waiting to find out
after you die?
Unfortunately, most people
DO NOT KNOW
the answer and are waiting to
see how things turn out.
People are living as though the Bible had never been written. People are
living their lives in uncertainty, not considering the fact that God has
spoken very clearly about their eternal destiny.
What about you? Are you going to ignore God’s Word, or are you
willing to take a few moments to see for yourself that God says it
IS possible to
KNOW your eternal destiny?
With and open Bible (King James Authorized Version) and a
prayerful heart, take a few minutes to search out the truth about your
salvation.
Remember, after death it will be too late to do anything about
it. Your soul hangs in the
balance. Please not to be
confused. There are
basically two reasons why you have doubt in the first place.
Either the Devil is tormenting you and trying to defeat you with
doubt or the Holy Spirit is convicting you and trying to convince you
that you are lost.
Once you have determined which, then you can correct this and go
on. Life is too short and
eternity is too long to go on living without the blessed assurance that
you are truly born again.
In order to have full assurance of salvation, one must first of
all:
Be able to go back to a place when you had a personal
experience with the Lord Jesus
Christ.
John 3:3, “Jesus answered and said
unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Many
can remember when they joined the Church or were baptized.
They can remember when they shook the preachers hand or just
started going to Church.
But it takes more than that.
You must remember a time when you repented of your sin and called
upon the name of the Lord for salvation.
You must remember a time when your life was completely changed.
This change must be from your heart and not from your head.
There are many who have started going to Church, turned over a
new leaf, or just started living better.
All this is good but if your heart has not been changed you are
still in your sin and on your way to hell.
If there was not a change from the inside of your heart, then the
Devil slipped you a counterfeit.
You can bathe a pig and wash him clean, powder him, and perfume
him, but when you turn him loose he will go back to the mud hole.
That is his nature.
You can change the outside but it takes God to change the inside.
Salvation is of the Lord and from the heart.
It does not matter how many bad habits you quit if the Lord did
not move into your heart to stay.
Many are trying to get assurance of salvation when they have
never been saved. This is
impossible. There can be no
assurance of what you do not have.
Only God can change your heart, your
head, your habits, and your household.
I have met some who claim to have been saved when they were very
young. When they reached adulthood, they left the Church, lived in sin,
and professed Christ all at the same time.
In later years, they returned to the Church as though they did
nothing wrong with no remorse and no repentance and expected to be
accepted as though they had always been in the will of God.
Human flesh hates the will of God and will fight to be conformed
to it. Unfortunately, they
are accepted and later become unstable church members and trouble makers
simply because they have never been born again.
They have been deceived by Satan.
Let me repeat, an individual who has never been born again cannot
expect to have assurance of Heaven when they die.
It just does not work that way.
The first step to obtain full assurance of salvation is to know
that there was a definite experience in your heart when you called upon
the Lord.
If you cannot remember a special time and a special place when
you repented of your sin and called upon the Lord, then get that
established today. You may
not remember the exact minute on the clock but you will remember a place
where you repented. If you
can always take the Devil back to a time and a place you got it settled,
then you have the battle won.
So many can’t do this and thus they are always disturbed with
their life because of doubt.
If there has never been a time and place that you can remember
then you must bow your head and repent today.
A truly born again Child of God can take the Devil back to his
conversion ever time the Devil crawls upon his back.
A Child of God can march Satan back to the altar of repentance
with joy and great confidence in his heart each time the Devil tries to
convince him otherwise.
Not only must you remember a time and a place you repented to
have full assurance, but:
You must
trust and believe
This means more than just believing that the Bible is the Word of
God. It means having a
total commitment to and a trust in the Word of God.
If there is any doubt about the authority of the Bible, then you
can rest assured you will never have assurance.
The Bible demands your total commitment and trust.
You must be willing to trust the Bible for what it says about
eternity and your destination.
The Bible is the final authority.
Nothing else will do.
You cannot trust your feelings or your own theology.
The Bible is the Christian’s handbook of life.
Let God be true and every man a liar.
Many are looking to the doctors and psychiatrists to help them
find peace of mind and heart.
Medication may hide the problem but it won’t make it go away.
The Word of God is the means God intends for you to find peace
and assurance in your heart.
There are two extremes that people get involved in concerning
salvation.
The idea that lightening strikes when
an individual gets saved.
Many think that an individual is not saved if they did not feel
cold chill bumps run up their spine or some great feeling come over
them. The greatest feeling
in all the world is when a sinner is changed and transformed by the
Grace of God. But we are
not saved by our feelings but by faith.
I have seen some stay in the altar for hours trying to get saved
simply because they had been taught that there would be some type of
physical experience to the flesh.
Remember, it is the soul that is saved and not the flesh and this
salvation is a free gift of God given by His
GRACE and only through faith.
Ephesians 2:8, 9, “For by grace
are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift
of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if
any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things become new.
Again, you must remember an experience when the Lord changed your
heart and made you a new creature.
Salvation is an inward change that will work its way outward.
Many are changing the outside and hoping it will work its way
inside. But this will not
happen. Painting and fixing
up the outside does not change the inside.
Matthew 23:27, “Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited
sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full
of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”
Another extreme is that Salvation
is a change of the mind and not a change of heart.
Many
would have you to believe that you can just change yourself.
This is not so.
Belief of this sort is without repentance.
No one ever got saved without repenting of his or her sin.
Repentance is an act of realizing that you deserve hell because
you are a wicked sinner.
Without repenting and confessing is like trying to obtain God’s gift by
our own works. We are not
saved by works. We could
never do enough to obtain favor with God.
Our salvation has been purchased on Calvary.
Repentance will change your mind about sin but salvation is more
than a mind change it is a heart change.
Repentance is something that is missing in the lives of men and
women today. But God said
it is absolutely necessary in order to go to Heaven.
Luke 13:3, “I tell you, Nay: but,
except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
We are living in a day when many have cheapened the Grace of God.
There are many who have a bad view of what repentance is.
Some can go out on visitation and in one night for a period of
two hours or less can win as many as ten or twelve souls or even more.
In this day of apostasy, it is hard for me to conceive this.
I have seen sinners under conviction for days before they got
saved. You may convince
somebody they need the Lord in a short time, but it has been my
experience when the Holy Spirit convicts a sinner, there is some serious
business going on.
Convincing a sinner of Christ is more than selling a set of
encyclopedias. Many sinners
have just agreed and stated they were saved just to get rid of those who
were visiting them. Many
have been pulled green as a result and will go to Hell.
Their blood will be on the hands of those who have deceived them
into thinking they were really saved.
Now don’t take me wrong.
I believe that the Holy Ghost can convict and convince a sinner
of his sin and save him in seconds.
It does not take all day or all night for Jesus to save a soul.
But as a general rule, I have found that the sinner may live
under conviction for days and be troubled for a while before he actually
commits himself unto the Lord for Salvation.
Others may bow and confess Christ as their Savior within a few
minutes after they are witnessed to.
The teaching of easy-believe-ism has spread like wild fire all
across our nation. To think
that you may approach a mechanic working on a car, witness to him while
he’s working, get a profession of faith out of him while he never stops
turning a bolt, and be on down the road in a matter of minutes, is
absurd. No man can get
saved without old time Holy Ghost conviction and a man or woman under
conviction will not be calm or normal.
I remember when I was under conviction, my world was upside down.
The only thing on my mind was getting this settled in my heart.
BIBLE WAYS THAT YOU CAN KNOW THAT YOU ARE
SAVED AND ON YOUR WAY TO HEAVEN.
1. You
love the Brethren.
1 John 3:14, “We know that we have
passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that
loveth not his brother abideth in death.”
The brethren mentioned here are the saints of God.
All those who are born into the family of God are brothers and
sisters in Christ. We are
to love our Christian family.
The new birth will bring a strong love for the Church and the
Church family. If you have
had an experience and it has not caused you to love the people of God
and the Church, then beware, the Devil has slipped you a counterfeit.
2. You love the House of God
God has given us a command to go to Church.
Hebrew 10:25, “Not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but
exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day
approaching.”
You don’t have to pray about going to Church, God has already
told you to. How can you
love the brethren if you do not love the House of God.
3. You keep the commandments of
God.
1 John 3:24, “And he that keepth
his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him.
And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he
hath given us.”
The new birth will bring a desire from the heart to obey the Word
of God. There will be a
love for the Bible that you never had before. As you study it and read
it, you will have a desire to obey its commands.
If this has not developed in your heart, then the Devil has
slipped you a counterfeit.
We as God’s people are not perfect yet, but we desire to obey the
commandments of God. One
who has full assurance of salvation will do everything possible to try
to live by the Word of God.
He will not want to walk or live against the Bible.
I have seen multitudes argue with the Word of God.
Especially when the Bible is against what they are doing or the
way they are living. But full assurance will give you the peace of mind
that the Bible is real and it should be followed.
Remember, sheep hear the Shepherd’s voice and follow him.
John 10:4, 5, “And when he putteth
forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for
they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee
from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.”
4. You will have the Spirit of God
dwelling in you.
Romans 8:9, “But ye are not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of
his.”
Everyone who has been born into the family of God will have the
Holy Spirit indwelling in them.
The Spirit of God is the still small voice that convicts us when
we sin. The Spirit of God
also comforts us, guides us, and teaches us of the commands of God.
The Child of God has the Holy Spirit to ever be by his side in
all circumstances of life.
The lost man or woman does not have the indwelling Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit will convict the Child of God of sin each time he
does wrong. The absence of
this conviction should raise a flag that something is wrong with your
salvation or “so-called” salvation.
5. We confess that Jesus is the
Son of God.
1 John 4:15, “Whosoever shall
confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in
God.”
1 John 4:1-3, “Beloved, believes
not
every spirit,
but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets
are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesseth that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that
confesseth not that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of
antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it
should come; and even now already is
it in the world.”
How can a man confess that Jesus is the Son of God except he be
of God? Those who deny
Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God do not possess the Lord in
their hearts. They are
without God and on their way to hell.
6. We know the Truth.
1 John 4:4-6, “Ye are of God,
little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is
in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore
speak they of the world, and the world hearth them. We are of God: he
that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us.
Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.”
Those who are born again speak of the things of God.
You can know your heart by the way your mouth speaks.
If you are saved, you will speak of heavenly things.
If you are of the world, you will speak of worldly things.
I know that I’m going to Heaven because God
is preserving me. I’m not
preserving my own Salvation.
I wasn’t saved by my good works (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:5), so
I do not STAY
saved by my good works.
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are
ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of
God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
I
am
KEPT by the
POWER OF GOD, not by my own power!
God is able to keep me from falling.
Jude 1:24, “Now unto him that is
able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the
presence of his glory with exceeding joy,”
I am
HIS child and I’m in the palm of
HIS
hand.
John 10:28-29, “And I give unto
them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is
able to pluck them out of my
Father’s hand.”
Ephesians 4:30 says that I have
been SEALED
by the Holy Spirit of God until the day of redemption!
I’m not worried about losing my salvation.
I KNOW
I’m going to Heaven because I’m being preserved by God’s power.
I know I am going to Heaven because God has
already given me
ETERNAL LIFE.
I am not waiting to receive
eternal life,
I ALREADY HAVE it as a present possession.
When I received the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour, God
placed His Eternal Spirit within me and gave me Eternal Life.
As a child of God, I am still waiting to see Jesus, to enter
Heaven, and to receive my glorified body, but I am not waiting to be
saved. My soul IS saved,
and I know I am going to Heaven because God has given me Eternal Life.
Ponder these things over in your heart.
Please base your salvation on the Bible and not on the doctrines
of men or even on your feelings.
After all, you have to answer to God for your own soul, not
someone else’s. We will be
judged by the Word of God and not what we or anyone else thinks.