What Do You Think About Your Salvation?

Introduction

How many of you heard the name in the last eight days, ten days? Luke Aikens. No? Luke Aikens. Forty-two years old. No. Luke. I’m going to tell you about him. Has successfully made roughly 18,000 parachute jumps in his life. He’s an instructor. But do you know what that crazy man did? He set a record plunging from 25,000 feet in the air, roughly five miles, without a parachute. Landing in a 100 by 100 foot net. The stunt was called heaven sent. It was telecast live. Now, you would have heard about it had he not completed the jump successfully. I saw a video the next day where he landed somewhat precariously close to the edge of that 100 by 100 foot net. Because it was being broadcast on Fox, I was hurt, I was told, the screen actors guild said, but you must wear a parachute, which he did not do at the last second because he said I had to roll over to make the landing into the net, and the parachute might have complicated that.

So he did it without a parachute on his body. Don’t try this at home. I’m not even going to parachute, period. In my life. Unless somebody drugs me or something, doesn’t mean it gets my will, but I’m not even going to do that. The guy dropped 25,000 feet without a parachute, landed in a little net. How do you see that? 100 by 100 foot net. As crazy as that is.

That a lot of people live their lives parachuting or even without parachute, plummeting toward eternal destruction without a spiritual safety net. And so I want to explore with you this morning this question. What do you think about your salvation? I like to make these things very personal to engage everybody in the audience. So you don’t have to think about the person sitting next to you or the person across the auditorium. This is about you and God. What do you think about your salvation? Are you going to hit God’s net when it’s all said and done? And I’m going to go to the quintessential text in the New Testament about people who were deceived, about their standing with God, people who at one time were baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, who were in fellowship with God, but things have gone tragically awry by the time Jesus writes them.

Their assessment of their salvation was everything’s fine and dandy. We’re rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And yet, Jesus’ assessment, and that’s the one that matters, says, You are blind, miserable, poor, and naked. You are lukewarm. And if that doesn’t change, Jesus says, I’m going to spew you out of my mouth. So what they thought about their salvation was not what Jesus thought about it. And that leads me to the text that I really want to talk to you about this morning and make a few observations from in John chapter 5. Some important things we learned there, similar to the message to the church in Laodicea, Jesus’ discussion with the Jews. Now, really, to get the flavor of this, you really need to read the entire chapter, John chapter 5.

I’m going to let you do that on your own time. But we come to the end of this in John chapter 5, and we’re going to pick up in verse 39 when Jesus makes this powerful statement. He says, You search the scriptures. Okay, these are diligent students of the Word of God. This being a reference to Old Testament scripture at this point. The New Testament has not been put into its final form, hasn’t even been written yet. You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. Okay, this is their assessment of their spiritual condition. He says, You search the scriptures, the beloved scriptures of the Old Testament, and you think that you have eternal life in them. He says, It is these that bear witness of me, Jesus says.

And you are unwilling to come to me that you might have life. I want you to notice what Jesus offers. And they’re not getting it. He goes, I do not receive glory from men. Oh, there were people who spoke highly of Jesus and certainly would send a lot of platitudes his direction, but that was not Jesus’ goal. I do not receive glory from men. But I know you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in my Father’s name and you do not receive me. If another shall come in his own name, I’ve come in my Father’s name, other people come in just their own name.

But verse 44. How can you believe? Underscore that question. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another? And you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God. Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father.

The one who accuses you is Moses.

In whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me. For he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? Now I want to make a few observations before we get to three points about this text. The Old Testament, Jesus calls Scripture. And that’s important. Scripture cannot be broken, he would say later in John chapter 10 and verse 35. Jesus’ assessment of the Old Testament was that it was scripture, and he calls it so on a number of occasions. And then he says, this.

The great leader who brought them out of Egypt. The law was delivered to Moses in Sinai, their leader all the way to the edge of the promised land. Moses was huge in their minds. They adored Moses. But he said to his audience, you don’t believe it. And I would just be amiss, being the person that I am who talks about figures of speech all the time, if I did not point out the metonymy of this text. And you know that’s one of my favorite words because it’s me, Tony, my.

1. Careful Analysis of the Text May Not Be Enough

They turned over every stone, every leaf. They were meticulous students of the Old Testament. But careful analysis of the text may not be enough. And so one thing I’ve noticed is that we can meticulously work through the text, analyze words and phrases, and still not really get the point of the message. I was reminded of that this week when Shane Scott inadvertently drew me in to a conversation about translations as he made the observation that he used to preach of the New American Standard. He went to the ESD for a while, but now he’s going back to the New American Standard. I just said long overdue. But in the midst of the conversation that unfolded, of course, when you start saying something like that, somebody preaches from the English Standard Version.

And then yet somebody else still believes that Paul used the King James Version. We laugh because Paul did not use the King James Version. But there are a lot of reputable translations that I’m pretty sure if you use them would not be led down the path of destruction because you chose that translation. And so we talk about the merits of translation. What is a translation? Somebody asked me that in the midst of this long discussion that I got wrapped into. What’s the purpose of a translation? It’s very difficult, really, even for Greek scholars. Because you’re trying to take the original Greek text and to provide the sense of all of those Greek words and sentences into a different language, including verb tenses, the meanings of words, and that changes over time.

That’s why there’s revisions to all the translations, because words that the King James people were using in 1611 sound really strange to us now. Is that really English? Well, it was in 1611. And word usage changes over time. Some words fall out of favor, new words take their place. We’re inventing new words all the time. And so it’s a very difficult thing to put the Greek text to capture its meaning and to do so in a readable way, which was another part of the discussion. Is the New American Standard wooden or not? Like the accusation was always brought against the 1901 American Standard Version. It’s too wooden, it’s not readable enough. Well, I found the New American Standard to be plenty readable. And my observation was simply if you use the ESD, fine.

I don’t like some of the things the ESV does, but every translation has strengths and weaknesses. I just personally believe that the New American Standard has more strengths and fewer weaknesses than all the other translations. But having said that, so we use the most accurate available English translation of the scriptures.

So I want to conduct a little test here this morning and declare who is the most wise Bible student among the church at Decker Prairie. Oh, this could be a divisive thing. The most wise Bible student. You know, if there actually could be such a declaration made, the person who would win it would be all sheepish about it, because this would probably be the most humble person in our group. Oh, I don’t want to be afforded such an honor to be acknowledged as the most wise student of the Bible in the Decker Prairie Church. But that gets to the point that I want to make. Colossians 3 16 says, to let the word richly dwell within you. Teaching and admonishing one another with Psalms and Hands of Spiritual Psalms.

Colossians 3.16. So I’ll just tell you this. I think I’m right about this. The most wise Bible student in our group is the one in whom the word most richly dwells.

The one whose life and thinking is most consistently like that of Jesus Christ. Now I can’t assess who that is in particular, but it’s not necessarily the person who can quote the most scripture. Or even who has the best grasp on the most verses and the most contexts and can give you the right answers as to what’s going on in the context or what that verse is saying. It’s not necessarily that person. I want to tell you, as Bible students, as those who analyze the text, these people Jesus is writing to in John chapter 5, they were textual experts. He goes, You search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life. And he says, if you don’t come to me, you don’t have life.

2. Your Motives Are Messed Up

You’ve missed it. So in the midst of all of our studying, which is good and beneficial, we need to understand as much of this document as we can grasp before we get old and forget it all. But the true wise student is the one who successfully applies what one learns to one’s life. That’s always been the great challenge. It is far easier to study than it is to live. The scriptures. And that ought always to be the ultimate goal, not just to know, but to live what we know. The second observation that I would make is Jesus gives us here some important keys about first discovering truth. Or once you have done that, like the Laodiceans did in Revelation chapter 3, then continuing to make the right application of the text.

What he said was the reason why you guys are falling short is that your motives are messed up. The reason why you can’t see me when you read the Old Testament is because you are approaching religion and your faith with wrong motives. You want people to pat you on the back. You want people to revere you and exalt you, and that’s why Jesus said such things. He who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted. Part of that wisdom I was talking about, the most wise person. He who humbles himself is exalted. You want to receive glory. You want to be recognized. It’s all about self-image and self-promotion. Some of them even believed in him. But they would not confess it.

Because they love the approval of men more than the approval of God. John chapter 12, verses 42 and 43, some of the chief priests. As long as your motive is self-promotion, self-exaltation, self-self-self, you’re not going to get the point. Because it’s not about you, it’s about God, first of all. And about his son Jesus Christ. And he says, not only are you seeking glory from the wrong sources. Remember what Jesus said, I do not seek glory from men. It doesn’t matter if the whole world rejects him as the Messiah. And pretty much it did. And that’s how he became the Messiah by dying on the cross after that rejection. He who humbled himself to the uttermost was then exalted to the uttermost, Philippians chapter 2. Jesus was not about getting strokes from men, but pleasing his father.

But he says to them also in verse 44. Verse 42 and 44, he says, You do not have the love of God in yourselves. Here are people who have heard all about the God of the Old Testament, a God of love and compassion over and over again. He said, But you’re not getting it in application. Why are you doing this? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. The essence of the Old Testament scriptures. The greatest commandments. He goes, You have failed in the greatest commandments, that which should leap off the page at you in regard to what the scriptures are all about. If any man is willing to do his will, he shall know of the teaching whether it is of God, Jesus said in John 7 and verse 17.

Don’t have time to look at all the context of that. But again, what are your motives? Is the supreme motive that you have to properly honor and exalt God and revere and fear him and then to look upon all others as he does, and to have compassion and concern for their spiritual predicament and their physical predicament, but mostly their spiritual predicament. Are you earnest about wanting eternal salvation for others? The Jews were only concerned about themselves. Two key motives that you must have. I’m going to glorify God and not myself. I’m going to love God and love others above being self-consumed. And so I’ll tell you where this leads us. As you assess Jesus and who he is and what he claims and what he stakes as a claim in your life, you have to consider things like, here’s what it’s going to cost.

3. What Saving Belief Demands

Jesus said, You’ve got to sit down and count the cost in Luke 14. And then you’ve got to consider the benefits, and I’ve got to tell you’ve got to consider that the benefits far outweigh the cost. Jesus says, If you come to me, you have life. Here’s one who comes of the scripture with the right motives. And I want to make just a brief point here about saving belief in the gospel of John. He’s already made this clear in John chapter 3, the passage that says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. So many people misunderstand that verse as just simply I have to simply acknowledge that Jesus is the Savior and I’m saved and saved forever.

That doesn’t work in the context of John 3 because the one who believes practices the truth and comes to the light in verses 19 through 21. Just need to draw an arrow from verse 16 down to 19 through 21. Saving belief practices the truth and comes to the light. John 6, the same thing. The chapter following the one we’re looking at. When he says to believe equates to eternal life, but he says, to believe means you have to eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man in John chapter 6 and verse 53. And his audience knew that he was asking for a very extreme commitment. And thus many withdrew and would not follow him anymore. But people want to isolate single verses and statements and say that’s what it means to believe.

You read John 3, 4, 5, and 6 together, belief is something more than certain convictions that you have. And look at his audience. Did they believe in God? Strongly so. Did they believe in the Scripture as the Word of God? Absolutely. But that wasn’t, that didn’t constitute real belief, does it? If you miss the point, your belief isn’t any good. Because you so revere Moses, and you don’t even believe him. And so we have a definition of saving belief. So what does saving belief demand? Jesus made it abundantly clear.

Why do you call me Lord, and do not do the things which I say? We must acknowledge him as Savior. Yes, Messiah of the Old Testament or Christ. We must acknowledge him as Savior, Christ, as reigning King and Lord and judge. And he commands all men everywhere to repent because he’s going to judge the world of righteousness, as we saw in Acts 17, verses 30 and 31 this morning. Just a few lessons that we learned from this powerful text where men thought they were saved, but were in a precarious spiritual condition. So what do you think about your salvation? One more text I want to look at with you briefly, and then this lesson will be over. Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. This goes well with the things Daniel was saying a moment ago at the Lord’s Supper.

4. We Exult Through Our Lord Jesus Christ

Verses 6, and I want to go to the end of this verse, verses 6 through 10 are incredible. That display what Jesus did, this one who was the subject of Moses’ writings in the Old Testament scripture, what he did. He died for the ungodly while we were still helpless and evil. Before anything was fixed in regard to our sin, Jesus died for us, demonstrating the love of God toward us. While we were still helpless, it says in verse 6. But I want you to notice a word that appears three times in Romans chapter 5. It is the word exalt. That’s a great word. Got a whole sermon on that. Exalt. That’s not just happy. That’s an extreme response of rejoicing. And we, as a result of what Christ did, can exalt through our Lord Jesus Christ, because we have received reconciliation.

So let me ask you, what do you think about your salvation? Are you certain that you have been reconciled to Christ? And that you are living in him, striving to please him. Can you say, I know whom I have believed. And it’s really quite simple. And we sing about this regularly. How do we gain this access on the basis of what Christ did? We’ve got to come to Him to receive life, we saw in John chapter 5. How do we get this access? It’s really simple. We say the old hymn, but it’s an oldie but goody. Can you guess it? I grew up singing this. I should have had Alan lead it, but you know the song. We can lead the way when the roll is called up yonder is good too.

Trust and obey. For there’s no other way. In Romans 5, he says justification in Christ. He goes on to explain it, the results of it in verse 1 and beginning. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. Everything’s been made well in our relationship. We are brought into union with God. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained our introduction by faith, properly defined, by faith into this grace in which we stand. And if we do that, he says, we exalt in hope of the glory of God. And I want to tell you, it’s going to be spectacular for the righteous. We exalt in hope of the glory of God. And I’ll tell you, we can even exalt, and this is amazing when you think about it.

Exalt in hope of the glory of God and exalt in tribulations. That sounds odd. You mean the righteous go through difficulty and struggles? Yes. But we can exalt because we exalt in hope of the glory of God, and we know that these tribulations are temporary. We exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance will improve your character, and that character. What you become, that proven character produces the hope that does not disappoint. And I have that underlined in my Bible. The hope that does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts. And there’s the motives we were talking about at point number two. Because we are now dominated by love. Love for God, love for his cause, love for his people.

Conclusion

The proper motives. So let me end with this. How wise are you? True wisdom is seeing the world. Seeing behavior.

Measuring beliefs and especially ourselves. Through the same lenses that God uses with the same standards with which God measures them. You want to walk out of here a wise person this morning? You need to see the world as God sees it. You need to see behavior in the world as God sees it. You need to see yourself as God sees you. Do you match what he sees? Are you certain? We can know these things by examining carefully this message in our lives in relation to it.

What do you think about your salvation? Do you need to respond to the invitation of the Lord to be his child, to be his disciple? It is Jesus who said, He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. That’s where it begins. Do you possess true wisdom? You know, really, once you’ve done that, once you’ve become a Christian, really the rest of your life is a path of gaining wisdom. Better seeing things as God sees them. Honing our understanding of what this life is really all about from God’s perspective. Won’t you join us in that awesome journey? Let’s stand and sing.