Category Four
Do you have God’s full assurance of salvation? Assurance is confidence and freedom from self doubt, confusion, and anxiety. It means to be fully persuaded, convinced, and convicted by the object of trust. God’s will is that you should know the hope of your calling and the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints. Most men are motivated by fear instead of faith. God has called us unto full confidence, trust, and believing in Him for His word is Truth.
In years past, preachers used to emphasize the hell fire and condemnation of God’s righteous judgement to convince people to turn from sin. However, there is a balance between God’s justice and his mercy and grace. The pendulum has swung to the other extreme: today’s churches de-emphasize the consequence of sin and iniquity. The question is, “how shall we share the gospel of salvation in a culture that has no concept of sin?” The answer is to share the gospel of salvation and then allow God to convict the hearts of those he has called.
When sharing the gospel, there are two diagnostic questions to determine the condition of a person’s heart. The first question is, “If you died today, where will you spend eternity? ” Regardless of their answer, the gospel of salvation is the key to life everlasting.
The second question is,If you died and Jesus asked you, “Why should I let you into heaven?” What would you say? Most people will answer, “If I’ve done more good than bad, then Jesus should let me in.” Theirs is a works-based system and they think that they are saved by works. However, our works are not good enough to save us from the wages of sin. Without God’s gracious gift of salvation, the handwriting on the wall at King Belshazzar’s sacrilegious drunken party still applies: “thou art weighed in the balances and thou art found wanting.”
There are four categories of responses when people hear the gospel of salvation. These categories are illustrated by Jesus’ parable of the sower and the seed in Matthew 13. Jesus taught in parables so that those who had eyes to see from a spiritual perspective could perceive and understand the truth of his Word. Others understood the parables as a story but those who perceive the truth understand the story in the context of His-Story. Some of the parables were never explained. However, Jesus gives a detailed explanation of the meaning of this parable.
The sower went forth to sow the seed. The seed is the word of God. The seed falls on four types of ground. Each type of soil represents the four categories of people according to their heart’s response when they hear the Word.
Some of the seed fell on the hard packed path. This type of ground represents people who have hardened their hearts so that the seed of the world of God cannot penetrate. They cannot receive the truth of the Word of salvation.
The second response to the seed of the gospel is represented by the stony ground. These are people who hear the gospel and with joy they receive the Word. However, because they have no depth of soil, when the sun comes up the seedling withers and dies. These people fade away when persecution and troubles arise.
The third type of soil receives the seed and then the weeds and thorns grow up and choke the seedling. The weeds are the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. These people have a heart of flesh and not a heart for the things of the spirit. Jesus said, if you love the world the love of the Father is not in you. To turn away from sin we must forsake the world and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance means to turn from myself and unto the Lord.
The fourth category is those who know that they know that they know Jesus is Lord. According to 1 John 5:11, “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 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. 14. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:”
Many people think they’re saved but they’re really not saved. Salvation is on His terms not ours. Salvation means to subject my will to his will. It means to make Jesus Christ Lord. Lord means owner. We’re no longer our own…He is.
According to Romans 6:16, “…his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Without Jesus Christ we are slaves to sin. We inherited our sin nature from Adam’s original sin and the wages of sin is death. We’re without God and without hope unless we accept the Saviour from sin. It’s not sin that keeps us from salvation, but rather rejection of the Saviour from sin.
The devil’s best-kept secret in the church today is that it’s not about us, it’s all about Him. It’s none of me and all of thee. 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.
The Old Testament law of sin and death convicts us as sinners. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Grace is a gift given by the one who didn’t need to give it to the one who didn’t deserve to receive it. For Jesus Christ who was without sin became the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him.
Some men will say, “I need to be controlled so that I won’t commit sin.” However, Jesus said, be not drunk with wine wherein there is excess, but be ye filled with the Holy Spirit. The spirit of life in Christ has made us free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. (Romans 8:3-4)
Oswald Chambers, author of the devotional “My Utmost for His Highest,” said that he was saved as a child. However, years passed before he gave himself wholly to The Lord’s work. He was a tutor in college when he heard a sermon about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Prior to receiving the holy spirt, the bible was dull and uninteresting. God took him to the dark places of his life and soul. He became desperate searching for what he was lacking. Then he read Luke 11:13, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Chambers wondered how could he ask God for his gift with a corrupt heart? He realized that he had to confess with the heart of Christ instead of his heart of the flesh. To get out of his current condition, he had to pray even even though he did not have a clear vision of God. Even though he didn’t “feel the spirit,” he took the initiative and asked God to help him
It’s not our feelings that validate the truth of the Word of God. Rather, it’s deliberate, intentional and obedient confession according to His word. When we come to him with meekness and humility, then he will give us his gift of Holy Spirit. Then when we operate the gift of the Holy Spirit according to His promise, our loving Father will grant us our petition. The spirit will teach us what it means to love with His love.
Category four is those who understand the emancipation proclamation: The ultimate freedom is when he frees us from our selves. For I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life that I now live, I live by faith in the one who loved me and gave himself for me.
Through the eyes of the spirit of Christ in us, we are witness of our Lord’s resurrection. 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. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which he has foreordained that we should walk in it.
For those of us in Category Four who rest in the full assurance of God’s salvation, may we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
MIchael