1 295 341 625 @ Gen 49:18 I have waited for Your salvation, O Jehovah.

Exo 15:2 Jehovah is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will glorify Him, my father's God, and I will exalt Him. Its been such a long time since I have been here Sometimes I wish there was just a simple formula for preparing a sermon then you all could know what to expect and therell be no surprisesBut you see, while I preparing a sermon I tend to get distracted by all sorts of interesting stuff about god and his word, and then sometimes I end up with a hectically theological sermon like today sorryNo popcorn sermon today Are you ready? In the last few weeks I have been struggling with an issue that should lie close to the heart of every Christian. Often we know things based on context and not experience, in others words, we accept and believe what every one else accepts and believes. As I tell my students all the time: If youre not doing the thinking, someones doing it for you. Brothers and sisters, Satans been doing a lot of thinking, and this week he has been challenging my faith. That is why I have titled my sermon @ Knowing were going. You see, there is a belief system in the world today that says once saved, always saved. Beloved, today I am not going to spend the time disproving that theology rather, I wish to examine my faith and what the Bible says. You see, this is no small issue, because in discussion last week with a dear friend of mine who holds to this thinking, I was put against the wall and made to reflect upon my own salvation. So let us look at this in detail, because the question we have asked ourselves is: @ Can we have assurance of salvation? You see, what my dear friend argued, is that all joy and peace would be sucked out of Christianity should we NOT have assurance of salvation. The daily struggle would be too much, the worry, the uncertainty of whether or not we are saved. My friend is a dedicated and loving Christian one of those rare people who live out their faith in word and deed. And my friend is also happy. Happy, confident, at peace, joyous in Christ. So I have to ask myself am I happy and confident in Christ and in my future destination? Do I worry that my daily sins will exclude me from heaven? Well, where should go for answers? I love David Asscherics quote when he says: Dont ask your pastor about the Bible, ask your Bible about your pastor! @ 1Jn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us

2 Ok, so John, what you are telling me is I have sin. Thank you for that John, without that verse I would never have guessed. Here I am happily going along thinking I am perfect. I think my wife will disagree @ Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, Just in case I thought John was a bit harsh, Paul tells me the same thing! There seems to be no escape for my inflated ego @ Psa 32:1 A Psalm of David. A Contemplation. Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Just in case I thought the New Testament is a bit harsh, here David admits he has sin! David, the Lords chosen, great- great grandfather of Jesus himself! And he has sin. @ Psa 32:5 I confessed my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, I will confess my transgression to Jehovah; and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Brothers and sisters, David knew he had sin, John knew he had sin, Paul knew he had sin how much more should I know I have sin? The question then is: @ How does sin affect my salvation? I have now realized that I am sinful, so logically I now have to analyze what the effects of my sins are. What role does sin play in me being saved? At which point am I not a slave to sin anymore? You see, at first glance it seems an easy question to answer but its not, because I need to know when and where I am going to be saved, if at all @ Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death Wow You know, most of the time I havent got a clue what Paul is writing he seems to be about 17 notches above my intellectual ability! But not this time! This time Paul didnt mince his words. This time Paul didnt sugar-coat it for easy consumption. Even I can understand this text @In 1982, "ABC Evening News" reported on an unusual work of modern art--a chair affixed to a shotgun. It was to be viewed by sitting in the chair and looking directly into the gun barrel. The gun was loaded and set on a timer to fire at an undetermined moment within the next hundred years. The amazing thing was that people waited in lines to sit and stare into the shell's path! They all knew the gun could go off at point-blank range at any moment, but they were gambling that the fatal blast wouldn't happen during their minute in the chair. Yes, it was foolhardy, yet many people who wouldn't dream of sitting in that chair live a lifetime gambling that they can get away with sin. Foolishly they ignore the risk until the inevitable self-destruction. 1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin Beloved, sin separates us from God! I know there are people who dont want to believe this but the Bible tells us in @ Pro 17:9 He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends. Are we friends with God? Does sin separate us?

3 @ Eze 14:7 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger who lives in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart I Jehovah will answer him Myself. So sin separates me from God. Brothers and sisters, based on the information thus far, I am lost. But I want to be saved! Saved from eternal damnation! So I accept that I am a sinner and in need of repentance. So the next logical question then is: @ When am I saved? Is it when come the realization that I am a sinner and in need of repentance? Is it at baptism? Is it at my first communion? My friend who I told you of can recite the date, time and place when they were savedWe have heard people giving their testimony on TV reciting the exact time and place with absolute joy! Am I saved, and if so, when did it happen? Well you see, here is where it becomes a little more complicated because my Bible doesnt tell me when I am saved My bible tells me that God is the Judge and he decides whether I am saved or not. My bible also tells me being saved is a process, a process consisting of three time frames not just one! So this morning, we are going to talk about the three frames involved in our salvation, and how we can be knowing were going The first time frame is @ past tense we are saved 2Ti 1:9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the eternal times. So grace was given long ago already? Before I was even born? So when He was on the cross, I was REALLY on his mind? @ 1Jn 5:13 I have written these things to you who believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have everlasting life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. Knowing something means its happened already, so we know that we have everlasting life! Praise the Lord then, not so? @ Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. If you already have something, then its past tense, its happened already. So then we have peace with God, praise the Lord then, not so? @ This, brothers and sisters is Justification! Websters defines it as: The act of justifying; a showing to be just or conformable to law, rectitude or propriety; vindication; defense. The court listened to the evidence and arguments in justification of the prisoner's conduct. Our disobedience to God's commands admits no justification. I prefer my own definition: As if it never happened

4 It seems that there was a man in England who put his Rolls-Royce on a boat and went across to the continent to go on a holiday. While he was driving around Europe, something happened to the motor of his car. He cabled the Rolls-Royce people back in England and asked, "I'm having trouble with my car; what do you suggest I do?" Well, the Rolls-Royce people flew a mechanic over! The mechanic repaired the car and flew back to England and left the man to continue his holiday. As you can imagine, the fellow was wondering, "How much is this going to cost me?" So when he got back to England, he wrote the people a letter and asked how much he owed them. He received a letter from the office that read: "Dear Sir: There is no record anywhere in our files that anything ever went wrong with a Rolls-Royce." That is justification. But most of the world stops their religion here they exclude the following and necessary 2 steps: @ Present tense we are being saved 1Co 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those being lost, but to us being saved, it is the power of God. Beloved, this denotes a process, an ongoing process. If I am in the process of being saved, when does the process end? @ 2Co 3:18 But we all, with our face having been unveiled, having beheld the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord Spirit. So I am being changed at the moment? So by beholding I become? So my ever-nearing quest to the glory of God changes me? Daily? Hourly? @ Php 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, cultivate your own salvation with fear and trembling. Php 2:13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Oh dear Jesus, please dont stop working in my life! If this is an ongoing process, dear Jesus let me be the clay and you the Potter! Dont let go Lord, dont let me be lost! Brothers and sisters, this process is called @ Sanctification. I am not what I might be, I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish to be, I am not what I hope to be. But I thank God I am not what I once was, and I can say with the great apostle, "By the grace of God I am what I am. John Newton. The act of making holy. Websters says: In an evangelical sense, the act of God's grace by which the affections of men are purified or alienated from sin and the world, and exalted to a supreme love to God. Oh yes Jesus, I want to be made holy I understand that I wont achieve holiness on this planet, but I still want

5 to be made part of the act, the process, the ongoing manufacturing of my salvation! And, the last step is @ The future tense we will be saved. 1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He shall be revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. That means that cannot claim my heritage just yet. I can only claim my heritage when I am holy, and last time I checked, I wasnt! @ Heb 9:28 so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And to those who look for Him He shall appear the second time without sin to salvation. Beloved, do I need to look for something if I have it already? Do I need to hope for something if I have it already? Do I need to be saved if I am saved already? @ 1Pe 1:5 by the power of God, having been kept through faith to a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Brothers and sisters, can this be? Is this telling me that my salvation has to wait until the end? Really? Beloved, this last part of the process is called @ Glorification! 1. The act of giving glory or of ascribing honors to. 1. Exaltation to honor and dignity; elevation to glory; as the glorification of Christ after his resurrection.

Anonymous writer, about an American tourist's visit to the 19th century Polish rabbi, Hofetz Chaim: Astonished to see that the rabbi's home was only a simple room filled with books, plus a table and a bench, the tourist asked, "Rabbi, where is your furniture?" "Where is yours?" replied the rabbi. "Mine?" asked the puzzled American. "But I'm a visitor here. I'm only passing through." "So am I," said Hofetz Chaim Brothers and sisters, as much love and respect as I have for my dear friend, I cannot accept a once saved always saved theology, since that would negate the need for the daily, hourly, minute-by-minute working of the Holy Spirit in my life! I cannot imagine living a life whereby I dont need Jesus Christ in my life all the time!

6 The plan of salvation was put in place at the fall of Lucifer, before the creation of this world. That means that God knew me before I was born! He knew I would be a rebellious, arrogant, self-centered sinner in need of salvation. Therefore he put a plan in place that started millennia ago, is presently ongoing, and will be fulfilled on that glorious day when Jesus appears on the clouds. @ Php 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I am pressing on, if I may lay hold of that for which I also was taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Paul tells me here that I cannot live as if I have already attained salvation, but rather that I must press on, press up, along the upward way! The Greeks had a race in their Olympic games that was unique. The winner was not the runner who finished first. It was the runner who finished with his torch still lit. I want to run all the way with the flame of my torch still lit for Him. @ 2Pe 1:10 Therefore, brothers, rather be diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things, you shall never fall. So we must strive to ensure our salvation by doing good things? Ofcourse not, but by a daily closer walk with our Savior! @ Mat 24:13 But he who endures to the end, the same shall be kept safe. You see beloved, God will save me, if I endure If I keep to His promises and adhere to his commands. If I have fellowship in His sufferings and I accept His grace on a daily basis. Does this mean that I lose out on the Joy and Peace that once saved always saved gives? Do I have to walk around moping about my sad lot and the struggle and suffering I have to endure? @ Psa 5:11 But let all who put their trust in You rejoice; let them always shout for joy, because You defend them. And let those who love Your name be joyful in You.

Brothers and sisters, we should be the happiest people on the planet! We have a fuller understanding of Gods Word than most there should be no excuse for not having an inner joy, an inner assurance of salvation! The Danish philosopher, Kierkegaard, tells a parable of a theater where a variety show is proceeding. Each show is more fantastic than the last, and is applauded by the audience. Suddenly the manager comes forward. He apologizes for the interruption, but the theater is on fire, and he begs his patrons to leave in an orderly fashion. The audience think this is the most amusing turn of the evening, and cheer thunderously. The manager again implores them to leave the burning building, and he is again applauded vigorously. At last he can do no more. The fire raced through the whole building and the fun-loving audience with it. "And so," concluded Kierkegaard, "will our age, I sometimes think, go down in fiery destruction to the applause of a crowded house of cheering spectators

7 Assurance of salvation. Beloved, lets us not going down in flames to the applause of cheering spectators. Lets not be fooled by popcorn religion, lets open our bibles. Lets us look up at our salvation, let us grab hold of Jesus in these deceitful time like never before. Let us all, as we sit here today, sit, one day, at the feet of Jesus. Let us not look back from heaven and ask, where is so and so, where is sister or brother so and so. Leave no-one from Howick behind! Amen.