Love Worth Finding

Adrian Rogers: Do you know that you know that you're saved? You ought not to be a question mark with your head all bent over, wondering whether you're saved. You ought to be an exclamation point standing up straight and tall and saying, "Thank God, I know if I died right now, I would go to heaven. And I know that I'm living this day in the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in me because I have been redeemed, I have been saved by his power divine." You ought not to have a hope-so salvation. You ought to have a know-so salvation.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the powerful, dynamic messages of Adrian Rogers. Every Christian ought to have the privilege of knowing, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that they're saved. But having doubts doesn't necessarily mean that we're not saved. Adrian Rogers said, "Doubt is to your spirit what pain is to your body. It doesn't mean you're dead; it means something is wrong."

First John chapter five reveals the assurance of our salvation without hesitation. If you have your Bible, turn there now, beginning in verse 11, as Adrian Rogers shares how to be saved and know it.

Adrian Rogers: Today, I want you to take God's Word and turn with me, please, to 1 John chapter five. In a moment, we're going to begin reading in verse 11. Now, what we're going to do is go back to the very basics. Today, we're going to be talking about how to be saved and know it.

I was in the hospital. A lady was dying, her family around the bed. It was one of those tense and sad moments. Someone said, "She's not ready to die. She doesn't know the Lord. She's not saved." And I said, "May I have an opportunity to speak with her?" And very gently and courteously, I said, "I'd like to talk to you about the Lord. Would you like to know how you can be certain that you're going to heaven?" She said, "I really would."

And so I shared the gospel. I told her how Christ died for her sins and paid her sin debt. And I told her that if she would, by faith, receive the Lord Jesus, she could be saved, forgiven, and on her way to heaven with divine certainty. She said, "Oh, I want that." And I led her in prayer, and she prayed and asked Christ to come into her heart, to forgive her sin, to save her eternally.

I turned to the family, and the son-in-law was there. And I said to him, "Isn't it wonderful that she has been saved?" You know what he said to me? He said, "Oh, no one can know that they're saved." I said, "Oh, yes, they can." He said, "No, no, no, no. The best that a person can do is to say, 'I hope that I'm saved.'" And then I shared with him a verse of scripture. It's the scripture we're going to read for our text today. I want you to look at it.

First John chapter five, beginning in verse 11: "And this is the record, that 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." And then here's the verse. Look at it clearly and plainly. "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may—" Now, you help me. What's the next word?

"Know." K-N-O-W. "That ye may know that ye have eternal life." Not think, not guess, not hope, not surmise, not wonder, but know with a rock-ribbed assurance that you have eternal life. Every Christian ought to have this privilege. You ought not to be a question mark with your head all bent over, wondering whether you're saved.

You ought to be an exclamation point standing up straight and tall and saying, "Thank God, I know if I died right now, I would go to heaven. And I know that I'm living this day in the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in me because I have been redeemed, I have been saved by his power divine." You ought not to be a doubting Christian. You ought to be a shouting Christian. You ought not to have a hope-so salvation. You ought to have a know-so salvation.

And this verse tells us that we can know. "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know." But also, these verses tell us that we can doubt. Because if we couldn't doubt, why would John have written this? John is writing this so that those who might doubt will not doubt. So, if you have doubts, that doesn't mean that you're not saved. It could mean that you're not saved, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you're not saved.

You can be saved and have doubts. Doubt is to your spirit what pain is to your body. It doesn't mean you're dead; it means something's wrong. And as a matter of fact, dead people don't feel any pain. The doubt there is, in a sort of a strange sense, a backward affirmation of faith. You only doubt that which you believe.

And so, it's possible to have doubts, or John would not have written this. But it's also wonderful to have assurance, and that's why he did write it. "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." Now, the assurance of your salvation is extremely important.

We're not talking here about denominational preference. We're not talking here about little idiosyncrasies of doctrine. We're not talking here about political opinions. We're not talking here about matters that only count in this world. We're talking about eternal life. We're talking about your soul.

When God made you, God breathed into your nostrils the breath of life, and you became a living soul. You could no more cease to exist than God himself could cease to exist. Your soul will go on, endless, timeless, dateless, measureless, either in heaven or in hell. How important it is, therefore, that you absolutely know that you're saved.

And so, I want us to think a little bit, first of all, about how we are saved, and then what are the results? What are the proofs? What are the evidences that this has taken place? While you're in chapter five, look in chapter five and verse one here, if you will. First John 5:1. He says, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." To be born of God is another way of saying being saved. It's being born again.

It's very clear and very plain. The way that you're saved is by believing that Jesus is the Christ. That Jesus—the name Jesus means "Jehovah saves"—is the Messiah. You believe that, you trust that, and something happens: you are born again. You say, "Is it just that simple, Pastor Rogers?" It's just that simple. It is gloriously simple, but it's simply glorious.

Acts 16:31 says it again, the same way. And they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Friend, it's not so high that few can reach it. It's really so low that few get down to it. It is so plain, it is so simple. We're saved by trust in the Lord Jesus.

Now, this word "believe" doesn't mean just intellectual belief. The devils believe like that. But it's a word that means trust and commitment. I think it's clearly delineated in another verse, and this one I'd like for you to turn to, and then we'll spend the rest of our time in 1 John. But I really want you to look at this one over in Ephesians chapter two. It's so clear and so plain.

Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine. God makes it so abundantly clear because he wants you to be saved. And so God here tells us not only what does save us, but what does not save us. And here's what he says. Are you listening? "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."

All right, are you ready to look up here? Do you see my blackboard up here? You can't see it? Well, it's there. Just imagine it's there. See this chalk? We're going to write on this side of the blackboard what does not save us, okay? Now, you look in Ephesians 2, verses eight and nine, and tell us what does not save us. He says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of your—" what?

"Selves." All right, I'm writing up here: "self." All right, self cannot save. Do you see it? And then he goes on and he says, "and not of—" what? "Works." Lest any man should boast. W-O-R-K-S. Works. All right, there it is. Self and works. Do you see? That can't save. Do you see that? Self and works can't save.

Now, let's come over here on this board and let's write what does save us. "For by—" what? "Grace." G-R-A-C-E. "Are ye saved through—" what? "Faith." F-A-I-T-H. There you have it. Now, folks, it's just that plain, it's just that clear. Actually, it's more clear than that, isn't it? All right, because you can't see that, but you can read it right there on your page.

Now, you say, "Well, everybody knows that." No, they don't. If you were to walk down the streets of this city or any city and say, "Are you saved and on your way to heaven?" you know what most folks would say? They would say, "Well, I hope so. I think so. I am doing the best I can." "I—self—am doing—works—the best I can." Isn't that right?

So, no wonder they don't have assurance. How could you have assurance if it depended upon what you do? I wouldn't trust the best 15 minutes I ever lived to get me into heaven. "I am doing the best I can." Self and works. That's what the average person is doing. They think that God is like Santa Claus, making a list, checking it twice, going to find out who's naughty or nice.

That you're going to die and come to the judgment, and somehow he's going to put everything in the balances, and if your good works outweigh your bad works, he'll say, "You made it." And if your bad works outweigh your good works, he'll say, "You didn't make it," and that you're going to hell. Now, you'd be amazed how many people believe that, folks. They believe that.

Now, over in contradistinction to that is what God says. God says over here, "For by grace—" Now, what is grace? Grace is the unmerited favor and love that God shows to sinners such as we. It's what made God love us when we were unlovely. God doesn't love us because we're valuable; we're valuable because he loves us. He just loves us out of grace.

It's what sent Jesus to die for us. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Friend, that is grace. That is amazing grace. "For by grace are ye saved through—" what? Faith. Let's have a little acrostic. G-R-A-C-E. That's God's Riches At Christ's Expense. That's grace, okay?

Now, what is faith? F-A-I-T-H. Forsaking All, I Trust Him. Faith is not intellectual belief. That's only part of it. Faith is trust, commitment. Now, that's what saves. "For by grace are ye saved through faith." Think of grace as the hand of God reaching down out of heaven. And God says, "I love you. I want to save you."

Think of faith as your hand reaching up to God. Now, God puts down the hand of grace, you put up the hand of faith, and when you put your hand of faith in God's hand of grace, that's salvation. For by grace are ye saved through faith. Do you have it? Now, the devil doesn't want you to understand that.

The devil wants you to think it's part of what you do and part of what God does. But friend, if there's any part of it that depends upon what you do, you'll never have assurance. Isn't that right? Because you'll always wonder, "Am I doing enough?" But when it all depends on what God does, then you can have assurance. You say, "Adrian, do you know you're saved?"

Well, of course I do. Well, you say, "You have a lot of confidence in yourself." No, I don't have any confidence in myself. That's how I know I'm saved. If I had confidence in myself, I could not know it. My confidence is in the grace of God. Now, the devil never gives up very easily. So, the devil will say this: he'll say, "Now, wait a minute, folks. Really, the truth is, like everything else, it's some of each. It's part of works and part of faith."

And so he says it's grace and works. You can hear people say it: "You do your part and God does his." Now, doesn't that sound so good? They say it's like crossing a stream in a rowboat. If you just take this oar and pull on this oar, and we'll call this oar "faith," you just go around in a circle this way. But if you pull this oar, we'll call this one "works," you just go around in a circle this way.

But, they say with a big smile on their face, "Faith and works together, that gets you across." Doesn't that sound good? There's just one thing wrong with that illustration, and it is this: we are not going to heaven in a rowboat. Now, friend, listen. We're going to heaven by the grace of God.

And Romans 11, verse six says, "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace." And then he goes on to say, "And if it be of works, then is it no more of grace: otherwise work is no more work." What does that mean in Romans 11:6? It's not part grace and part works. That's impossible. It is all of grace.

When you put your hand of faith in God's hand of grace, when you say, "God, I'm a sinner. I'm lost. I cannot save myself. I don't deserve to be saved. In my hand no price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Lord, I am trusting you to save me," when you do that, when you say that, hallelujah, you're saved. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." Okay.

Now, having said that, however, what is the result? What are the traits of the twice-born? What are the birthmarks of the believer? Now, this little book of 1 John was written to give you assurance. And the word "know," K-N-O-W, is mentioned almost 40 times in this epistle. He mentions ways that we can know that we have been born again.

I want to just take them and reduce them down to three. Because basically, all of those 40 can come down, basically, to three basic things. I want you to take the test today. Are you ready to take the test? The assurance test to find out whether or not you have any right to say, "Yes, praise God, I know I'm saved."

The very first test is the Lordship test. Is Jesus Christ the Lord of your life? Look in 1 John chapter two, verses three and following. First John chapter two, and let's begin in verse three. "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." Now, he doesn't say that we're saved by keeping the commandments.

No, no. Salvation is the gift of God. It says we 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." Now, one thing about the Apostle John, he doesn't beat around the bush. He's not using esoteric terms here. If you say that you are saved, if you say that you know God and you're not keeping his commandments, God says you are a liar.

Now, you say, "Pastor Rogers, wait a minute. Are you telling me if I ever break any of God's commandments, that means I'm not saved?" No, I'm not saying that. Because there's not a one of us that has not failed and sinned in some time, some way, some manner after we've been saved. Isn't that true? All of us have. And John understands that.

Go back to chapter one, verse 10. "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." Well, that's past tense. We say, "Yes, that's past tense." But now look, chapter two, verse one. "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not." There's the standard: don't sin.

But he says, "And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." He's saying it is possible, it is possible that you can sin and need an advocate, need Jesus Christ to come and help you as a child of God to get cleansed from your sin. And yet, he goes on to say in verse three, "And hereby do we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments."

So, what is the answer to this riddle? On the one hand, the Bible says we know that we're saved because we keep the commandments. On the other hand, it says it's possible for us to sin. The key is in this word "keep." Look at the word "keep" in chapter two, verse three. "We know that we know him, if we keep his commandments."

Now, among other ways that this word was used, it's the word that a sailor would use, a navigator back in this day when they sailed by the stars at nighttime. The sailor could keep his course by keeping the stars. That's what they called sailing by the stars. They would plot the heavens, and the man with his chart would look at the heavens and keep his hand on the rudder or his hand on the wheel.

And he would sail by the stars, and that was called keeping the stars. That is the determination of his course, the goal of the way he steered was by the stars. He's keeping the stars. Now, to you as a child of God, those stars are the commandments of God. That is what you steer your life by. That is the guide, the goal of your life.

You keep the commandments. Now, a sailor might go to sleep at the wheel. He might get distracted. He might have his attention diverted. He might get blown off course. These things could happen. But when he recognizes it, he goes right back on course because it's not the desire of his life to get off course.

The desire of his life is to steer according to that course. And that's the way it is with a child of God. Yes, sometimes we get blown off course. Yes, sometimes we take our eyes from the stars. Yes, sometimes we may fail. Yes, sometimes we may oversteer or understeer. But the great desire of our life is to keep the commandments of God.

And John says if that desire is not in your life, you need to get saved. You need to get saved. Just that plain and that simple. You're not saved by keeping the commandments. You're saved by the grace of God. But one of the birthmarks that a child has been saved is that he has this desire to live according to the commandments. That's the Lordship test.

Jesus said, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?" You see, the Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's no such thing as saying, "I want Christ as Savior, but I don't want Christ as Lord." That's impossible. You believe on the Lordship of Jesus. You make Christ the Lord of your life. He's already Lord, but you make him your Lord. You receive him as your Lord.

You say, "Well, Pastor Rogers, do you mean to say that you don't sin anymore?" No, I sin, but I tell you there's a difference after I got saved than there was before I was saved. Before I got saved, I was running to sin; now I'm running from it. That's the major difference. I'm going to tell you something else.

If you can sin willfully, consciously, continually, without any remorse, without any regret, without any repentance, and with no compunction—you are just living a sinful life—it is my duty to assure you that you are not saved. It is my solemn responsibility to tell you that you're in for a rude awakening at the final judgment. "Hereby do we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments."

Is that the burning desire of your heart? It is, if you've met the Christ of Calvary. It is, if you have been born of God. That's the Lordship test. Now, we're going to take another test. Not only the Lordship test, the second test here in 1 John is the fellowship test. The fellowship test. Now, let me show you what John has to say about that.

Turn to 1 John chapter three and look in verse 14. "We know—" that's our word again. "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." That's what John says. Now, again, turn, if you will, to 1 John chapter four and verse 20.

"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? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also."

And then look in chapter five, verse one. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat—" that is, everyone who loves the Father—"loveth him also that is begotten of him." When you love the heavenly Father, you love his children. You love your brothers and sisters in Christ.

It's one of the traits of the twice-born. It's a test. You see, when you get saved, you want to be with the children of God, and you want to be right with the children of God.

Guest (Male): And coming up tomorrow on Love Worth Finding, we'll hear part two of this vital message. We hope you can join us then. Maybe today you have questions regarding how to place your faith fully in what Jesus did for you. We'd love to offer an insightful resource on our website. It's our "Grow Your Faith" page.

There you'll discover answers you may need about your faith. Simply go to LWF.org/Radio and click the tab that says "Grow Your Faith." We can't wait to hear from you today.

Cary Vaughn: Hi, this is Cary Vaughn, and this program has been brought to you by Love Worth Finding, a non-profit ministry showcasing the powerful preaching and teaching of Pastor Adrian Rogers. We operate solely through the generous gifts of individual supporters just like you.

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