garycg
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Adrian Rogers Sermon Series
by the late Dr. Adrian Rogers
Dealing With Doubt
Can you know for certain that you are saved? Is it ever okay to doubt your salvation? These are difficult questions, but both questions can be answered in just one verse in the book of 1 John. First John 5:13 says, “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...” [emphasis added]. Right away that tells me two things: you can be saved and know it, and you can be saved and doubt it. John wrote the book of 1 John in order that we may know---without a doubt---that we have eternal life. And he gave us three major tests to deal with that doubt.
The Commandment Test
The first test is found in 1 John 2:3-5: “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him.”
A person who says he is saved but doesn’t keep the commandments of God is lying. I don’t care whose church he is a member of, how much theology he has in his head, or what kind of experience he has had at an altar; John says if he’s not keeping the commandments of God, he doesn’t know Him. He is not talking about sinless perfection, but that the commandments of God are to be the standard by which we chart our course.
There are many people who join a church as if they were joining a country club. There’s no change and they continue to live the same ungodly lives. Those people have no reason whatsoever to think that they are going to heaven. If you can sin willfully, knowingly, deliberately, and habitually and feel no conviction or remorse; you have no reason to believe you are saved.
The Companion Test
There’s another test found in 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.” And in 1 John 4:20 he says, “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God Whom he hath not seen?”
If God is love and we have the nature of God, then we are going to have love in us. If we don’t have love, we don’t have the nature of God. If we don’t have the nature of God, we haven’t been born of God. It is very clear that another birthmark of the believer is love for the brethren. When I am saved, not only do I want to be right with my brothers, but I want to be with my brothers. If you love Jesus, you’re going to love His Church.
The Commitment Test
The third test is found in 1 John 5:10-12: “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. And this is the record, God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”
The word believe here really means “commitment” or “trust.” And that commitment and trust is in the present tense. I cannot find a single verse in the Bible that tells us to look back to some experience for the assurance of our salvation. The Bible doesn’t deal with what happened in the past for assurance. Verse thirteen says, “These things have I written unto you that believe…” It doesn’t say, “believed.” It means those who believe right now. Do you have that faith in your heart right now? Is there that trust and commitment to Jesus Christ right now? That’s how to have assurance.
You can be saved and know it! You can be free from nagging doubts. It’s so important to get this issue settled. Everything else builds on the strong confidence that God has saved you and will never let you go. Stand on His Word, and rest assured in your salvation.
Edited by garycg, 9/20/2006, 10:04 pm
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9/19/2006, 7:26 pm
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Winkks
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Re: Dealing With Doubt
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9/20/2006, 3:53 am
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garycg
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Failure Is Not Final
Failure Is Not Final
Genesis 28:10-22
Take a moment and think about some of the familiar stories we heard as children ---like “Cinderella” or “The Ugly Duckling.” What do they have in common? They are stories of transformation.
There’s a story of true transformation you will find in Genesis 28. Jacob turned out to be one of the brightest stars in the Hebrew heaven, but he didn’t start out that way. He began as a failure with so much going against him.
He had family problems. His father, Isaac, loved God, but he was a very sensual man. His mother, Rebekah, was a scheming woman who helped Jacob deceive his father. And Jacob’s twin brother, Esau, was a self-sufficient, self-centered lout who didn’t care at all about the things of God.
Jacob also had internal problems. His name originally meant “conniver” or “liar,” and that’s what he was by nature. It was hard for him to do right. He was just moving through life from one failure to another. But I want you to see God’s grace in Jacob’s life.
Redeeming Factors
With all Jacob had against him, he did have a couple of redeeming factors. The first thing he had going for him was that God loved him. The Bible tells us clearly in Romans 9:13 that God said, “Jacob have I loved.” He didn’t love him because of his faults, but in spite of his faults. God didn’t change him in order to love him. God loved him so he could change him.
The second thing Jacob had going for him was that he had a spiritual hunger. He wanted to know God. Early in his life, he had cheated his brother out of the birthright which was the spiritual blessing. Although Esau didn’t really care about the spiritual blessing, Jacob wanted it, but went about getting it in the wrong way.
A Transforming Love
Because of these two factors, Jacob experienced a transformation in his life. You’ll want to read the story in Genesis 28:10-22. Jacob had left his home because Esau was trying to kill him. He had been gone for many years. On his return trip he spent the night in the desert and had a dream about a ladder that came down from heaven with angels ascending and descending on it.
Up to this point, Jacob had been a religious man, but I don’t think he was a saved man. He was like a lot of people: he knew about God, but he didn’t know God personally. He was separated from God---separated by his deceitfulness and sentenced to death.
But God began to reveal Himself to Jacob. And suddenly Jacob had a new consciousness of God. Verse sixteen says Jacob awakened out of his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.” God revealed Himself to Jacob but he almost missed him!
Along with a new consciousness, Jacob also had a new communion with God. Verse seventeen says he was afraid. He said, “How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” It says that Jacob rose up early in the morning, took the stone that he had used for his pillow and set it up for a pillar. He poured oil on the top of it and worshiped God. Jacob then changed the name of the place as it’s told in verse nineteen, “He called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.” Luz means “separation” which is what it used to be. But now he calls it Bethel which means “the house of God.” It’s the place where he met the Lord. Meeting God at Bethel transformed Jacob’s life.
Your Own Bethel
Do you have a Bethel? Do you have a place where you moved from separation to fellowship with God? from failure to success? God loved Jacob, and He loves you. Even though you may see yourself as having so much against you, you have the same thing going for you that Jacob did, and that is that God loves you. God saw in Jacob a hunger for Himself. Do you have a hunger for God?
There’s a ladder that goes from Earth to heaven. His name is Jesus, and He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” He wants to transform you from a failure into a success.
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9/20/2006, 10:10 pm
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