FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 2:9-14

2. The Bible Is the Only Book That Gives Assurance of Salvation

Not only is the Bible the only Book that is able to make us “wise for salvation,” it is also the only Book that can let us know we are saved.

I have asked people before in conversation, “Are you sure you’re going to Heaven when you die?”

The answer is often, “Yes.”

I often then ask, “How do you know?”

“I saw a vision; I saw three crosses, God Himself told me I was good,” or something just as weird.

Someone said, “I know I’m going to Heaven because I had a certain feeling. I went to church one night and while they were singing “I’ll Fly Away,” chills ran up my spine and my hair stood on end.” Sadly, if you are a Christian already, you know that none of these things have anything to do with getting saved or getting to Heaven!

Many people in the world want their feelings, their experiences, their visions, and even their philosophy and everything else to prove to them that they are saved. Sadly though, that is not the proof of salvation. The proof is the written Word of God: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). It doesn’t say, “These visions have I given unto you.”

Someone might ask, “Preacher, do you know that you’re going to Heaven?”

“Yes, I do.”

“But you can’t know that. It’s presumptuous to say that you’re going to Heaven.”

“Thankfully, no, it’s not!”

“You must think you’re awfully good.”

“No, I know I’m not good. The Bible tells us that no one is good, not even one person. Therefore, I’m awfully bad.”

“Then how do you know that you’re going to Heaven?”

“I’m taking the promise that Jesus Christ, who died for all us, gave me in 1 John 5:13.”

Most people who know that they’re going to Heaven know that they’re not good, and they know that you don’t go to Heaven through goodness which is dependent on your own works and ability. They know they are going to Heaven because they have trusted Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross and that He already did all that was necessary for us to get to Heaven and God, the Father.

I know I’m going to Heaven because I have something better for the assurance of my salvation than I do for the assurance for instance, that I’m married. I don’t say, “I think I’m married; I hope I’m married; I’m working on it; I presume I’m married. I stood before someone who said I was.” I know I’m married because I have ears which heard my wife say, “I do”; I have my memory that remembers when my wife said, “I do”; and if I lose my memory, I have the preacher’s written signature on a marriage certificate, and that marriage certificate will remind me that I’m married. I have written proof and the words of my spouse that says, “I’m married.”

I’ve never met anyone who ever doubted they were married. I’ve never filled out a form that gave the choices for marital status as:

□ Married □ Separated □ Divorced □ Don’t Know

That’s how I know I have salvation, because I’ve got God’s written word in a Book called the Bible. Once again, He said, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36). If God lied about it, then there is no Heaven, no Hell, and the Bible is a lie all the way through. All those through the centuries then have been deceived with no hope. But God didn’t lie about it because He can’t lie! It’s not within His character. Therefore, I have better assurance of my salvation than I do of anything and everything else under Heaven.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 2:9-14

It is not being sincere in what you believe that will get you saved; it is believing in the right thing, the truth, that will accomplish the goal.

I once read an illustration about a man who went deer hunting but didn’t get anything. Later when he was watching a big-game show on television, a big deer came across the screen, the first deer he had seen all year. He picked up his gun, sincerely thinking that he had unloaded it. He sincerely aimed it at his television set. Sincerely he believed he could pull the trigger and nothing would happen. But he sincerely blew the guts out of his television set!

You can be sincere and good all you want, but you are only going to get to Heaven one way: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.”

To believe on the Son simply means to trust Him, to rely on Him, to depend on Him. Here are four things about believing on Jesus:

1. You accept as fact what the Bible states, that you “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
2. You also believe the Bible when it says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and so, as a sinner, you’ve earned those wages, in other words, a penalty.
3. You believe the Bible truth about how God “gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
4. You not only believe that Jesus died for you on the cross to pay your debt for sin, but you accept as fact that it is “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works” (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is depending on that which will get you to Heaven.

These four things are what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

I can give mental assent that a certain chair will support me; but I’ll never enjoy the benefits of the chair holding me up until I sit on it and lift both feet off the floor. Only then do I prove that I have trust in that chair and depend on it to hold me up. Another example of faith in action would be entering a darkened room and believing that by flipping a wall switch, light will flood the room. I won’t experience that light until I flip that switch. I won’t experience Heaven until I trust totally in Jesus Christ.

You can say in your head, “There is a Christ. I believe He did die for me on the cross,” but you must go a step beyond that by putting actions to that belief and determine to absolutely, totally and unreservedly trust, depend on and rely on what Jesus did at the cross to get you to Heaven. Just like turning on a light takes action to put that belief into what you desire (a lighted room) so you must give action to what you sincerely believe concerning Christ. You must trust Him totally.

That’s as simple as I can make it, but those instructions come from one Book: the Bible. “From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 2:9-14

In this lesson I want to give you five important applications of the Word of God. Since it is His verbally inspired revelation, it is the best source we have to showcase the five needs I’m going to list.

The Bible says:

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Thirty-five times in Psalm 119 we read “your word.” Look at just three of those verses:

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word” (verse 9).

“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (verse 11).

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (verse 105).

The Bible is the Word of God.

1. The Bible Is the Only Book That Tells How One Can Be Saved

The first application for which only the Bible is sufficient is in salvation, to be born again, simply put, how to be saved.

“From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15).

There is no other book but the Bible that can tell one how to go to Heaven. Good gospel tracts and other literature show the way to Heaven, but only because they contain portions of the Bible.

The Bible alone is able to “make you wise for salvation,” and any hope of salvation apart from the Bible is absolutely and utterly futile.

Some people say, “Well, my opinion is . . .” Never mind your opinion. In this lesson I’m going to give you what the Bible says, not mine or anyone else’s opinion.

Someone else might say, “But I know a fellow who believes . . .” It doesn’t matter what that fellow believes. He may have enough degrees to make him look like a thermometer, but he is not smarter than God!

Only in the Bible can anyone find how to be saved and how to go to Heaven. I give part of it here briefly: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36). “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Notice that each one of these verses, doesn’t say maybe. Rather they are emphatic. You will have eternal life and you will be saved.

Yet someone might argue, “But there are a lot of different religions. As long as a man is sincere in what he believes, and lives a good life, he’ll go to Heaven.” Don’t be fooled. You are wrong! The Bible doesn’t say that, or even hint at it; but it does say, “Whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). The King James Version comes right out and says they “shall be damned.” There’s no sugar-coating the truth in any version.

Your logic about being sincere, doing good, and then going to Heaven will not hold water. If I leave here today and head in the opposite direction of my home, even if I am sincere in believing that my house has been moved over in that direction, I will never get home. I will have to change my mind and direction in order to arrive at my destination. Sincerity doesn’t always equal truth.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.