The Assurance of Salvation

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. God wants you to know for sure that he is present in your life. Do not think it is presumptuous.

It is something that God promised you and your life will never take off spiritually until you are absolutely assured that you are his child, that there is nothing between you, and that if you died before your body hit the floor your soul would be standing in his presence. That's what he wants for you. Welcome back to Summit Life with Pastor J.D. Greer.

As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. I think one of the most painful things to hear from a loved one is, I don't trust you, especially when you don't feel like you did anything to break their trust. But many of us treat God that way. Today, Pastor J.D. explains that when we doubt our own salvation, we're really doubting God.

And not only does it cause us to be anxious, it actually damages our relationship with him. So we're learning how we can trust God and know with certainty that we're truly saved. So why don't you grab your Bible, take some notes, and let's learn more about the assurance of salvation.

Here's Pastor J.D. If you have a Bible, I want you to open it to 1 John 5. What I want to show you is that there is a theme that runs all the way through John 14-70, and that is the theme of assurance. That you know that you know that God is your father, that you are God's child, that you belong to him, knowing beyond any shadow of a doubt that if you died, you would go to heaven.

That is all through John 14-17. I'll show you that in a second. But it always amazes me. It always amazes me whenever I talk, how many people there are who struggle with this issue, who are like, you know, I kind of know. I'm pretty sure.

I hope. I think I got like an upper 85, upper 90 percentile, but I'm just not totally sure that I know that I belong to God and that God is my father. In fact, some people would even go so far as to say they think it's arrogant, you know, that for you to say that you know that God is your father and that if you died, you go to heaven, because who are you to presume upon God like that? Yeah, I say that I'm amazed at how many people struggle with this, but I really shouldn't be amazed because one of the worst struggles of my life was over this. Between the ages of 13 and 20 in my life, I prayed the sinner's prayer, I kid you not, no less than maybe 7,500, 8,000 times. Every time a speaker would get up and explain the gospel, I was always there and at the end, praying in my seat to receive Jesus, just in case it never worked before. I've been saved at youth camps all across the nation. I grew up in one of these churches where you had to walk forward and when you made a decision, so about every fifth time that I would pray to receive Jesus, I felt like I ought to walk forward. It got to the point where the pastor would just kind of shake his head as I was walking down the aisle. Like, what's wrong with you?

I got baptized four times between the ages of 13 and 20, four times because I want to make sure that I've done it right. All that to say is I understand this struggle, I really do. I realize that there are a lot of you who struggle with this thing probably more than you realize are in this room. I'll get all kinds of response back from this, I know.

I'm just telling you, I've read your mail, I know that. I know that every time we walk through this whole how you trust Christ, some of you are right there just sitting going, I just want to make sure I got to do this again. I understand the struggle. Here's what else I know, that your life will never really take off spiritually until you are assured of God's love and his presence in your life. Until you're assured of that, there are things that you're never going to be able to really do with God. There's commands you won't be able to obey. There are risks that you won't take, right?

I mean, it makes sense. Until you're confident of God's presence and his commitment and his love, there's just things that you're not going to be able to follow him in. There's an illustration that I've used for years to kind of give you a picture of this, and I've certainly given it to you before, but it's the difference between rappelling and rock climbing. Rappelling and rock climbing both involve a rock face and a rope, but there's a world of difference between the two. You remember that if you've ever gone rappelling, the first time that you went, what an unbelievably scary moment it is when you're standing on top of that rock and they tell you to lean back. You remember this?

You've got to lean your weight back and transfer your weight off of your feet onto this rope and there's nothing below you but imminent death. You're just standing there, and I can remember 16 years old just shaking, thinking like this is just crazy. I remember you guys like, well, you've got to lean back. I prayed right then. I just remember that. I just prayed again to receive Jesus at that moment. Jesus, I want to make sure one more time you come into my heart.

Just out of my bases covered. I lean back, and you feel your weight leave your feet, and you feel yourself go back, and then you... It's just a whole new experience. My best friend who had gone with me to this, he was way more scared of heights than I was. I remember when I was down at the bottom, I could look up there and see him on top of the rock just shaking. He stood there for at least 10 minutes and wouldn't move until finally he just grabbed the hold of the rope and slid his leg down and found a foothold, another foothold, and managed to slither his way down the face of the rock. There's a world of difference between what he was doing and what I was doing because when you're rock climbing with a rope as a safety net, you're really trusting in your arms and your legs to do the moving, but when you're repelling, you're leaning your full weight back on the rope. Well, see, in the same way... By the way, there's things you can do repelling that you can't do rock climbing. There's certain things you just can't do if you're rock climbing that you can do when you're repelling. In the same way, there's a lot of stuff you'll never do with God and with Jesus until you are confident that when you lean your weight on him, he holds you.

See? There's just things you'll never do. There's prayers you'll never pray. There's risks you'll never take. There's commands you'll never obey. There's sacrifices you'll never make.

There's people you'll never stand against. And it all goes back to this fact that Jesus is not confident in Jesus' love and presence in your life. The reason some of you are so weak in your ability to say no to sin is because you are so incompetent in God's commitment to and presence in your life. In fact, you could almost say it like this. The reason some of you are weak in your ability to say no to sin is that you are weak in your assurance of Jesus' yes in your life.

And instead of focusing on all the time on strengthening your no, what you ought to do is strengthen your assurance of his yes because the assurance of his yes is what becomes the strength for the no. Does that make sense? Now, again, we're going to end up in 1 John 5, but John 14 through 17 is just full of these statements of assurance. Remember, I've explained to you John 14 through 17 is the last thing Jesus said to his disciples before he went to the cross. This was given on the night that Judas betrayed him about an hour before Judas betrays him. He goes through John 14 through 17, not in the Bible because it wasn't in there yet, but he was speaking it for the first time. He goes through John 14 through 17, and he walks them through this, and then in about an hour, he's going to be betrayed, and the next morning, he's going to be crucified. So this is very, very important. Now, what you're going to hear is that he just peppers this with all these unbelievable statements of assurance.

I'll give you a few of them. For example, John 15, 9, he says, as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. You like how I'm acting like I'm reading, but it's not really there? As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. Just like the Father loves the Son, that is the same kind of love that Jesus gives to us. Do you feel like the Son sits around unsure of the Father's commitment to him? Do you feel like the Son of God is unsure about the Father's commitment to him?

Of course not. Do you want your kids to be unsure about your commitment to them? You know, when I leave on a business trip, do I look at my kids and say, hey, Daddy's coming back from a business trip in a few days, or maybe he's not?

That would be absurd. I don't want my kids doubting my love and commitment for them. I want them to know they've got a daddy who always loves them, always thinks about them, and is always present in their life. Do you really feel like you're a better father to your kids than the Heavenly Father is to us? Do you think the Heavenly Father wants us doubting that maybe he's not our daddy, our God? Luke, chapter 11, verse 9, Jesus said that in comparison to how the Father loves his kids, how we love our kids is evil.

I mean, it's not normally that you get called evil and it's a compliment, but in this case, it actually is. It's very comforting. Jesus said that the strongest emotion that I have is my love for my children.

Jesus said even that love compared to how much God loves his children would be like evil if you compare the two. John 14, 18, Jesus says to them, I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I will come to you. I'll come to you. I'll not leave you as, I don't want my kids feeling like orphans when I'm gone. I want them to rest in the assurance of their daddy. That's what God has for you.

Let me give you another image. John, chapter 14, verse 1. Jesus, as he's telling them he's going to leave, he realizes this scares them because there's going to be a lot of opposition to them, a lot of danger they're going to face. Here's what he says. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. Now, watch right here. He begins to quote something that you may not realize what he's quoting.

I'll show you. In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will take you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. Now, you may not pick that up, but that is a quote from the Talmud, which was a collection of Jewish customs from the time. And what he was quoting is what a fiancé or what a guy said to a girl after he had proposed to her. It was part of the ritual. After she would say yes, he would say to her, I'm going to go away to my father's house and I'm going to build us a place to live. Because in those days, what would happen is the groom would just add a section onto the father's house where they would live. And when he got finished, he would come back to pick the girl up. It was a big to-do and he would take her off to the house. So he would give her this assurance that I'm not going to be gone one day longer than I have to be just to get things ready.

Jesus quotes that image and says, this is how I want you to think about me being gone. Do you remember back when you got engaged, you guys? Did you want your fiancé doubting whether or not you were really committed to her? I remember when I got engaged to Veronica. She was a student at UVA and I was down here in school in North Carolina.

It was one of the most bitter things to have to leave on the weekend and for me to come back down here. I didn't want her sitting there up there at UVA thinking that maybe I was messing around on her down here. Hey, maybe I'm not going to come back.

Maybe I like another girl more. In fact, I bought her the most expensive piece of jewelry I've ever bought in my life to put that on her finger to remind her that I wasn't messing around because she and I both knew that if I messed around, she was keeping that thing, right? So yeah, I want her to be sure because I loved her. Jesus says that. I don't want you sitting around wondering. I don't want you sitting around wondering whether or not I'm committed to you. In John 15, 13, he says, you are my friends. You see, the whole point is you get this point, God wants you to know for sure that he is present in your life.

Do not think it was presumptuous. It is something that God promised you and your life will never take off spiritually until you are absolutely assured that you are his child, that there is nothing between you and that if you died before your body hit the floor, your soul would be standing in his presence. That's what he wants for you. I hope this message is bringing you hope even as you listen right now. We're taking a quick break so that I can tell you about a daily email devotional from Pastor J.D. Couldn't we all use encouragement first thing in the morning to remind us of God's love for us? I know the busyness of life can quickly choke out any joy that we feel in our walk with God.

So why not start each day with an encouraging word from the Lord? The devotionals even follow along with our current teaching here on the program so you can stay plugged in regardless of your schedule. Sign up for this free resource right now at J.D. Greer dot com slash resources.

That's J D G R E E A R dot com slash resources. Now let's return for the conclusion of today's message. Once again, here's Pastor J.D. Let me take you to first John now. First John chapter five and show you how John in his epistle takes us a little deeper.

Here we go. First John chapter five in verse 13. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may, what's that word? Know that you have eternal life.

Not that you may hope, not that you may be reasonably sure of or even beyond reasonable doubt. I write these things to you that you may know that you have eternal life. So what are these things that he is referring to? We'll go back to verse 10.

He'll explain it to you. Verse 10. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself.

Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar because he's not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. There are two components that he gives you in those four verses that he wants you to use to give you the assurance of eternal life.

Let me give you both of them and then we'll talk about them one at a time. Number one, there is a testimony to be believed. And then number two, there is a manifestation of that testimony in your life. Number one, there is a testimony to be believed. And then number two, there is a manifestation of that testimony in your life.

Let's talk about number one. There is a testimony to be believed. What is the testimony to be believed? Well, you get a little hint there in verse 11. This is the testimony that God gave to us, eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

That eternal life is a gift that God gave to us, and that it was not something that we had in ourselves. Now, he tells you more about this testimony earlier in his book, because he's kind of building up to 1 John 5. So if you've got your Bible open, flip back four chapters to 1 John 1, where he's going to basically build the case for this.

Watch this. 1 John 1. If we say we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves, and the truth, or the testimony, those words are interchangeable, the truth is not in us. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word, or the testimony, is not in us. The first part of the testimony is that we are sinful and utterly empty of eternal life.

God's testimony to us tells us that we are utterly unworthy of eternal life, which is really difficult for us to acknowledge because that is both humiliating and it makes us feel helpless, which are two things that we've spent our whole life trying to avoid, being humiliated and in a place where we feel helpless. We might admit that we're sinful. I mean, that's just kind of passe in Western culture to admit you're a sinner.

You know, to err is human. We all admit that we're sinners, but you ever notice that whenever we admit we're sinners, we're always trying to show why our sin is not really that bad? That our sin is, really, we got excuses for it, and really, we've done enough good stuff on the other side to make up for the bad things that we've done? That's all part of not acknowledging the testimony that God gave to us, which is that we were hopeless in sin. We were helpless in sin. That eternal life was nothing we could work up in ourselves.

It was something that God had to give us as a gift because we didn't have it in us at all, that it is entirely the result of God's grace and not our goodness, right? So he goes on. He says, if you acknowledge that, that's the first part of the testimony, and if you confess your sin, acknowledge your sinfulness, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and then to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In other words, if you acknowledge that you're utterly unworthy before God, you will be accepted. If you maintain that you're worthy before God, you will be rejected.

Let's keep going. By the way, the little break there between chapter one and chapter two, that's a terrible place to put a chapter break. John, of course, didn't have that when he originally wrote it, so just keep reading because it's all part of the same thought. He says, if you admit that you're a sinner, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. All right, so if you acknowledge the testimony that you are completely sinful and helpless, he says then you have an advocate with the Father. That word advocate is much like our word advocate, like a lawyer.

It's somebody who stands in a court of law and argues on your behalf. So what is our advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, what is he arguing on our behalf? Is he arguing our innocence? Well, of course not, because we've already maintained that we're guilty. Is he trying to explain that our sin's not that bad?

No! He's holding up before God, nails in his hands and his feet, and saying yes, their sin is great, but my sacrifice was greater. That's in that little word, propitiation.

That other really difficult word in that verse. I mean, how many of you have used the word propitiation in a sentence in the last 24 hours? Propitiation means a penalty that's been paid or wrath that has been absorbed.

For example, if you wreck into my car with your car, then your insurance company pays me a certain amount of money so that I can get my car repaired. And thus, I am propitiated towards you. I'm no longer angry. I no longer have a claim to hold against you, right?

I no longer have wrath towards you because that has been satisfied. He's saying that what our advocate is doing, if we acknowledge the testimony that we are sinful and unworthy, but God is gracious, Jesus becomes our advocate, not who maintains our innocence, but maintains that his sacrifice overcomes our sinfulness and is given in our place. The book of Zechariah gives you a great example of this in the Old Testament. It's a little thing that's buried in chapter three of Zechariah.

Zechariah has this vision of a high priest that he named Joshua, a high priest Joshua who is standing, getting ready to go in and offer a sacrifice on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Okay, now, in case you don't know this, the temple, the Jewish temple, was a big, huge structure that had four major parts to it. Part number one was called the Court of the Gentiles, and anybody could go into that and pray. Part number two was called the Intercourt, and that was where only religious Jews could come.

Then part number three was called the Holy Place. Only the priests could go in the Holy Place, and that's where all the really cool furniture was, like the seven-prong candlestick and all the altars and that kind of stuff was in the Holy Place. And then there was a big curtain that was about a foot thick, and on the other side of that curtain was called the Holy of Holies.

It's where the Ark of the Covenant was, and it's where God's Shekinah glory dwelt. And on one day a year, one priest, the high priest, would go into the Holy of Holies, and he would take a sacrifice and offer it on behalf of the people. It was a very important day.

It was very significant. God gave very explicit instructions to make sure they did it right, because if that high priest stepped into the Holy of Holies on that day with any defilement on him at all, he would be struck dead. So the Mishnah tells us that they used to put a little bale on the bottom of his robe, and then they would tie a rope around his foot so that if God struck him dead, they'd just drag him out, because otherwise how would you get in there to get it?

Right? So one scholar I was reading describes, that's why people are like, listen, quote, a week beforehand, before the Yom Kippur, the high priest was put into seclusion. He was taken away from his home and into a place where he was completely alone.

Why? So that he wouldn't accidentally touch or eat anything unclean. You know, having a salad with bacon sprinkled on it or something accidentally, just to make sure. So clean food was brought to him, and he'd wash his body and prepare his heart. Then the night before the Day of Atonement, he wouldn't go to bed. He would stay up all night praying and reading God's word to purify his soul. Then on Yom Kippur, he would bathe head to toe and dress in pure, unstained white linen. And he would go into the Holy of Holies, and he would offer an animal sacrifice to atone for, or pay the penalty for, his own sins. After that, he would come out and bathe completely head to toe again, and new white linen was put on him, and he would go in a second time, this time sacrificing for the sins of all the priests.

But that's not all. He would come out a third time, and he would bathe again from head to toe, and they would dress him in brand new pure linen, and he went into the Holy of Holies and atone for the sins of all the people. This was all done in public. The temple was crowded. It was almost like a sporting event, and those in attendance watched closely. There was a little thin screen, and he bathed behind that screen, but the people were all present. They saw him bathe. They saw him dress. They saw him go in.

They saw him come back out. He was their representative before God, and they were cheering him on. They were very concerned to make sure that everything was done properly and with purity because he represented them before God. One man, the high priest, one day of the year, Yom Kippur, in complete purity to offer one sacrifice for the sins of the people. This is Zechariah's vision.

Is this about to happen? But as Zechariah looks in chapter three, verse three, to his horror, he sees that as Joshua the high priest is about to go into the Holy of Holies, he is covered in excrement, human excrement from head to foot so that his linens are hopelessly soiled. As Zechariah begins to despair that his representative is covered in excrement, the Lord says to Joshua the high priest, take off your filthy clothes.

See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put new, rich garments on you. I will send my servant, and he will remove the sin of this land on a single day. The scholar I was reading says this, quote, centuries later, another Joshua would show up in fulfillment of this promise, another Yeshua. Jesus, Yeshua, Joshua, it's all the same name in Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew. Another Joshua showed up, and he staged his own day of atonement. One week beforehand, Jesus began to prepare. And on the night before, he didn't go to sleep. But what happened to Jesus was exactly the reverse of what happened to Joshua the high priest. Because instead of everybody cheering him on, nearly everyone he loved betrayed him, abandoned him, or denied him. And when he stood before God, instead of receiving words of encouragement, the Father forsook him. Instead of being clothed in rich garments, he was stripped of the only garment he did have.

He was beaten, and he was killed naked. He was bathed, yes, but he was bathed in human spit. But because he, who was pure, was treated as if he had on the garments of filthiness, I, who am clothed in filthiness, can be given the garments of purity in his place.

I, who deserve condemnation, can receive commendation in his place. That is propitiation, and that is the gospel. That's the good news, the focus of all scripture, the gospel.

It's not about our effort. It's all about Christ. That truth transforms every aspect of life, and it is the centerpiece of everything we do here at Summit Life. This month, we are featuring a special new resource from Pastor JD that we believe will help you grow in your understanding of the gospel message and transform your way of thinking. It's a video-based curriculum Pastor JD created, simply called Gospel. The Gospel Bible Study Kit includes two DVDs and five study guides, so you can complete the study with four of your best friends. It also comes with a copy of Pastor JD's book, titled Gospel.

The objective of this Bible study is to help you simply abide in Jesus. The entire curriculum kit is yours when you generously give to support this ministry today. Call 866-335-5220. That's 866-335-5220.

Or give online and request your kit at jdgrier.com. Don't wait another day. Let's dig deeper than ever before and truly embrace the full gospel message right now.

I'm Molly Vinovich. Tomorrow we're coming to the end of this hallmark teaching series called Gospel as we learn more about the assurance of salvation. Join us for the powerful conclusion of this study, Tuesday on Summit Life with JD Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries.