Now today I want to talk about something that's probably something that a lot of people have
struggled with or maybe even everybody has struggled with this at one time or another
and it's something that people often ask me about and that is the subject of doubting
your salvation.
Now most people at some point in their life, even after they're saved, will go through
a time where maybe they doubt their salvation a little bit.
Now a lot of people are doubting their salvation because they're not saved and they need to
get saved.
But then there are a lot of people who are saved who do doubt their salvation.
Now you say, wait a minute Pastor Maxim, I don't think that anyone who's saved would
ever have any doubts about their salvation or any doubts about the Bible.
Well look at Matthew chapter 11 where we just read.
First of all I like what it says in verse 1.
And it came to pass when Jesus had made an end of command in his 12 disciples, he departed
this to teach them to preach in their seed.
See the thing about Jesus, he didn't just tell people what to do, he showed them how
to do it.
You know that's what a great leader is.
He doesn't just preach on soul winning and send people out to preach the Gospel, he sends
them out and he says, okay now I'm going to go out and preach the Gospel myself.
That's what's going on in verse number 1.
But look at verse 2.
Now when John, this is John the Baptist, had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he
sent two of his disciples and said unto him, art thou he that should come or do we look
for another?
Now that's a pretty odd statement isn't it?
Given the fact that John the Baptist is the one that was preaching the coming of Jesus
Christ, given the fact that John the Baptist is the one who pointed at Jesus and said,
behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world, given the fact that John
the Baptist was the one that baptized Jesus and he said, I have need to be baptized to
be and come and stop me and Jesus said to him, sufferer to be so now, for thus it cometh
us to fulfill our righteousness, then he suffered him.
John the Baptist baptized Jesus and pointed to him and said, this is the Lamb of God,
this is the Savior of the world.
And yet at this time John the Baptist has been thrown into prison, he's lost his following,
he's lost his popularity, he's lost everything, he's just sitting in a prison cell and he
begins to hear about Jesus and some of the things that Jesus was saying and doing were
not exactly what he expected.
For example look at John chapter 1, keep your finger in Matthew 11, look at John chapter
1.
In John chapter 1 this is where John is pointing out Jesus as being the Lamb of God, as being
the Savior of the world.
Watch what he says, verse 29, the next day John seeeth Jesus coming unto him and saith,
behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world, this is he of whom I said
after me and cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me.
Watch this in verse 31 though, and I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest
to Israel, therefore am I coming, come baptizing with water.
And John bare record saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and abode
upon him, and I knew him not, but he had sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto
me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same as he was baptizing
with the Holy Ghost.
And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God.
Now is John the Baptist safe?
Of course he was safe, he believed on Jesus Christ, he believed even before he saw him,
he believed the Old Testament, he believed that Jesus Christ would come and be the Savior
of the world.
When he looked upon him, he pointed at him and said, this is the Son of God, he was saved.
Not only was he saved, he was the greatest man who ever lived, the greatest Christian
who ever lived.
You say, well on what authority do you say that?
That's what Jesus said.
Jesus said, among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the
Baptist.
Now I'm saying, at least the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
And so we see here that John didn't recognize Jesus, Jesus didn't look a certain way or
fulfill some kind of an idea in John's mind of what the Messiah would be like, what Christ
would be like.
The only reason that he knew, he said, I wouldn't have even recognized him, except for the fact
that I saw the Spirit of God descending from heaven like a dove and lighting upon it.
That's the only way I even recognized him.
So John's hearing things in prison, and who knows if he's even getting the full report,
who knows, he's getting stuff secondhand, he's discouraged, he's depressed, and he's
sitting in jail.
And he begins to have doubts.
He says, art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
Look for another?
It's the Son of God, right, it's the Messiah, the Lamb of God, saved of the world.
Look at Matthew 28, I'm going to show you someone else who had doubts.
So don't tell me that no Christian has ever doubted salvation.
Don't tell me no Christian has ever doubted their own personal salvation, because even
John the Baptist had doubts about Christ at one time, and he was definitely saved.
Look at Matthew 28, you say, well, that was before people were en-dwelled by the Holy
Spirit, the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified, true, but here's
Matthew 28.
Jesus has already breathed on the disciples and said, receive ye the Holy Ghost.
They're already en-dwelled by the Holy Spirit, Jesus has already risen from the dead, that
happened in John chapter 20.
But in Matthew 28, watch what it says in verse 16.
Then the eleven disciples, this is not really this is scary, these are the eleven disciples
who believed on him, according to previously the book of John, Judas was the one who did
not believe on him, he never believed on him, he was the devil from the beginning, the other
eleven believed on him, it says several times in the book of John.
But here they are, Jesus about to ascend up into heaven, it says the eleven disciples
went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus appointed them, and when they saw him
they worshipped him, but found Galilee.
Now look, these guys are saved, these are the men who would turn the world upside down
with the Gospel, these are the men who have been with Jesus for three and a half years,
the Bible says they believed on him, the Bible says that they were saved, and yet here they
doubted, they had some doubts.
So it's possible for a Christian to have doubt.
Now, in order to understand this subject of doubting your salvation, let me say this,
by the time I'm through with this sermon, you should not doubt your salvation.
Now if you're not saved, then you should get saved, and if you are saved, by the time you're
done with this sermon this morning, you should have no doubts about your salvation at all,
because of what I'm going to show you from the Bible.
But in order for us to not doubt our salvation, first we have to understand what salvation
is, right?
That's the first thing, if we can see what salvation is, then we're going to go through
all the reasons why people doubt their salvation, and why those reasons don't hold up, okay?
Number one, you've got to understand, salvation is by faith alone, first of all, I mean that's
the basic.
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Okay, that's the first thing you've got to see, and we'll get into more of that in this
sermon.
Number two, you have to understand that salvation is not a process.
Salvation is being born again, okay?
Now think about this, I was born on July 24th, 1981, at 4.11 PM.
Now everyone has a birthday like that, right?
But if you stop and think about it, no one says this, well you know, I was born, it was
a process where I was born from July 20th through July 31st, no.
Now maybe your mother was in labor for a long time, but being born is instantaneous, right?
Being born happens in a moment, I mean I can tell you the exact time.
July 24th, 1981, 4.11 PM in the afternoon.
Now let's say I didn't know that time, I didn't know that date, does that mean that I wasn't
really born?
No.
There are people in this world who do not know their birthdays, literally.
It sounds silly but it's true, they don't know, there are people in this world who do
not know how old they are.
What does that mean?
Are you testifying?
But that doesn't mean that they're not living, it doesn't mean that they haven't been born.
There are people who don't know who their parents are, okay, but they're still out of
parent, okay, do you understand what I'm saying?
So the bottom line is, number one, salvation is by faith alone, alone, alone.
Number two, it's not a process, it happens in a moment, okay?
You're born again, the Bible calls it, and God says this, he says, verily, verily I say
unto you.
This is John 5.24, one of my favorite verses, he that heareth my word and believeth on him
that sent me, there's your faith, hath everlasting life, present tense, has everlasting life,
and shall not come into condemnation but is cast from death unto life.
It's done, saved has a D on the end because it's past tense, it's done.
Salvation is not a process.
Now many people think that salvation is a process, you say, why would people think that?
But one reason why is because they're reading all these phony new Bibles, these modern versions
of the Bible that change what the Bible says.
Like for example, this is the New King James Version.
Now if you have a King James Bible, hey, you're saved, right?
You believed, it's all past tense, it's all done, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved, you're passed from death unto life.
But turn to 1 Corinthians 1.18, a lot of people today think salvation is a process, like you'll
see a lot from the Lord asking, hey, do you know for sure if you died today you'd go to
heaven?
And here's what they say, well, I hope so, I'm trying.
Now first of all, they're not realizing it's by faith alone because they're trying to work
it, they're trying to earn it.
But number two, they think it's a process, they think it's something that they're working
on over time.
Being born is not a process, and being born again is not a process, it's in an instant,
you're passed from death to life, you're saved eternally.
But listen to this, this is from the New King James Version, and you say, Pastor Anderson,
why do you get so upset about these false Bible words, these new versions?
Because they change doctrine.
You say, oh, no, they don't change any doctrine, tell me if this changes doctrine.
1 Corinthians 1.18, you're looking down at the real Bible, I've got the New King James,
for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who
are being saved, it is the power of God.
Now do you see a difference there?
The King James Bible says, us who are saved.
It just says, those of us who are being saved, like it's a process, okay?
And then he has just one example, but that's part of where people are getting this from,
they've got the long Bible.
They've got these new phony Bibles.
Somebody asked me that day, they said, well, how could the King James Bible be accurate
when the Dead Sea Scrolls had not even been discovered?
So you're telling me that the real Bible was under a rock for 2,000 years and somebody
finally dug it up?
That doesn't make any sense.
So for all these hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, we've all been wrong, but
then, thanks be to God for some archaeologist, some pencil neck guy with a hard hat and a
little light on it, you know, digging a hole somewhere, he found the real Bible.
No, my friend, the Bible's been preserved from generation to generation.
Jesus said, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
They've been preserved to every generation.
And then the third thing we need to see in order to understand what salvation is, is
that it's eternal.
You can't lose it.
It's everlasting life.
He said, I'll never leave you, don't forsake you.
So if we understand these three things, it's going to be easy for us to understand.
Would you mind scooting over a couple here?
So we have to squeeze in a few people.
Everybody who's on an aisle, try to move to the outside a little bit.
There we go.
So if we first understand these three things of what salvation is, then that's going to
help us deal with the subject of doubting ourselves, okay?
So number one is by faith alone.
Number two, it's not a process.
I was born in a moment.
You're born again in a moment.
You're saved.
It's done.
And number three is eternal life.
You can't lose your salvation.
So with that prerequisite, let's go into some of the reasons why people sometimes doubt
their salvation.
John the Baptist doubted his salvation.
We saw that.
The disciples doubted, so no one is above having doubts.
But after this sermon, you shouldn't have any doubts, okay?
Look at Acts chapter 8, okay?
Acts chapter number 8, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts.
And we're going to look at the first reason why sometimes people doubt their salvation.
Because let's face it, if you're doubting your own salvation, you're not going to be
very effective to get other people saved, number one.
And number two, you're going to be tormented by fears or anxieties.
What if I'm not really saved?
And you say, yeah, that's fine.
I've never felt that way.
Look, if you go to faith forward back to church, you probably have a pretty clear grasp of
what salvation is because we preach on it clearly and doctrinally.
But I'm going to tell you something.
Growing up in a lot of Baptist churches, you could doubt your salvation because sometimes
it gets a little cloudy what salvation is.
A lot of people aren't making it very clear.
And for example, a lot of people say, well, if you want to know if you're saved, look
at your lifestyle.
God's going to tell you if you're saved.
That is so wrong.
Salvation is not by works.
It's not by living a good life.
And so why, if it's all by faith, why would your lifestyle tell you whether you're saved
or not?
There are some people in the Bible who lived a terrible lifestyle and yet were saying,
look at Samson.
Look at King Saul.
You know, just to name a few.
Look at the mistakes that Abraham made, that Moses made, that David made.
So we can't go by our lifestyle.
But when you grow up in church and you hear these things, and a lot of us preachers will
make false statements like, well, if you're still doing the same sins you did before you
were saved, you're not really saved.
Okay, well, I guess none of us is saved then because we've all sinned.
There's none righteous, no, not one.
And so you can be confused if you've been listening to this kind of preaching.
But the Bible's going to make it clear.
Okay, salvation is by faith.
So number one, here's the first reason why I think people doubt their salvation sometimes.
This question, how much do you have to believe?
Did I believe enough?
Who's ever heard somebody say something like that or you've thought about that?
Because the Bible says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
But then the question is, oh, did I believe enough?
Okay, so how much do you have to believe?
Well, look at Acts chapter 8 and verse 36.
This is Philip preaching to the Ethiopian eunuch on his way back to Ethiopia.
It says, and as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water.
And the eunuch said, see, here's water.
What took him to be baptized?
So this guy just finished hearing about the Gospel of Jesus Christ from Philip.
Philip opened his Bible, he started the book of Isaiah, showed him a bunch of other scriptures,
preached unto him Christ.
He sees some water and he says, hey, I want to be baptized right now.
So Philip has preached to this guy, but this guy's just jumping right into, oh, I want to be baptized.
He says, wait a minute, you've got to be saved before you're baptized.
He wants to make sure that he's saved.
So he says this, and Philip said, if thou believeth with all thine heart, thou may.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Now, was that answer good enough for Philip?
Absolutely, because he commanded the chariot to stand still, they went down both into the water,
both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
Now you say, well, past parents, what does that mean, believe with all thine heart?
Because it says, if thou believeth with all thine heart, thou may.
Now look at Luke 17, just go back a few books, before Acts is John, before John is Luke.
Look at Luke 17, because what did Philip say?
If thou believeth with all thine heart, thou may.
And he said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Here's what I want you to understand about that.
Look at Luke 17, verse 5.
The Bible reads, and the apostle said unto the Lord, increase our faith.
So again, we're talking about a quantity of faith here, right?
We're talking about an amount of faith.
And the Lord said, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed,
you might say unto this sycamore tree, be thou plucked up by the root,
and be thou planted in the seed, and it should obey you.
Now, does anyone have that amount of faith?
To just say to this mountain, you know, be removed to the sea,
or to say to this tree, you know, be...
You know, and nobody...
He's basically saying, look, you have so little faith,
that's why he's trying to explain to them.
It doesn't even amount to a grain of a mustard seed, okay?
Various times throughout the Bible, Jesus said to his disciples,
O ye of little faith.
Now look, God does not expect us to have a lot of faith in order to be saved.
The question is, and turn to Romans chapter 12,
while I'm explaining this, but right after Acts is Romans,
Romans chapter 12, it's not that God requires a certain amount of faith,
or some great faith, and we have to really believe a lot to be saved.
The question is, where have we placed our faith?
Not how much. How much is the wrong question?
They asked the wrong question when they said increase our faith.
He said, look, if you had faith even of the grain of a mustard seed,
this is what you'd be able to do. Nothing would be impossible to do.
So it's not the quantity of faith. Look at Romans 12, 3.
For I say, through the grace given unto me,
to every man that is among you,
not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think,
but to think soberly, watch this last phrase,
according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
So, God has given every man a certain amount of faith,
the measure of faith. Is it much?
It's not much, right? But he's given us all faith.
Everyone has faith.
We say, what about atheists? They have faith.
What about the evolutionists? They have faith.
What about the Hindu? What about the Muslim? They have faith.
Because they all believe something.
The atheist believes that there is no God.
The atheist believes that this world came from nothing,
that it evolved, that there was a big bang,
that, you know, AIDS turned into human beings.
The Muslim believes that, you know,
there's one God named Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.
The Hindu believes that he's going to be reincarnated
forever and ever and ever. He might even turn out being an animal.
And he's really lucky to be a cow.
You know, that's like the best thing you can be
as a Hindu, you know.
Or the Buddhist believes he's going to keep being reincarnated
until he, you know, reaches the state of Nirvana.
Everyone in this world believes something.
You say, what about the agnostic?
The agnostic believes that it's impossible to know
whether there's a God or not.
But he still believes that. Everyone has faith.
Everyone has belief.
And the question is not how much faith do you have.
It's where have you placed your faith?
Like, for example,
okay, let's say this is my faith.
Yeah, that's not very big.
This represents the faith of Stephen Anderson.
Now,
am I going to place that faith over here
on evolution?
You know, am I going to place it right here
on Jesus Christ?
Am I going to place it over here on Buddhism?
These are some options that I have.
There are many more than that.
Now, in order to be saved,
I have to believe with all my heart.
So all my faith has to go right here.
Now, it doesn't matter whether this is my faith
or this is my faith.
Now, I'm going to eat these in a minute
just to demonstrate that.
It doesn't matter whether my faith is this big
or this big or this big.
That's the point.
The point is, is my faith here?
Is my faith here?
Or is it here?
Now, here's the thing, though.
Let's say that this represents my faith right now
because Twix sounds a little better than Stephen.
Let's say this is my faith right here.
Here's what a lot of people are doing.
This is why Philip said,
if thou believeest with all thy heart thou mayest.
Okay, say this, you know.
I believe in Jesus, right?
Okay?
If I'm living a good life, I'm keeping the commandments.
Okay?
I'm going to put some of my faith over here.
Okay?
And then here's the fact that I'm baptized.
Hey, that might help, right?
That might help get me in.
Okay?
Now, is this person saved?
According to the Bible, no.
Because the Bible says, for example, in Galatians
that those who are in Galatians who thought they had to believe
and be circumcised, he said, you're not saved
in chapter 5.
You can't trust circumcision.
You can't trust baptism.
You can't trust your own good works.
It's not up works.
You have to take all of your faith
and say, you know what?
I'm only going to heaven for one reason
and that's because Jesus Christ
died on the cross for my sins
and that's the only reason I'm going to heaven.
That's where you believe with all your heart.
And you may be a person of weaker faith than someone else.
Some people may have more faith than others,
but you know what?
Somebody who has a minuscule faith may have some doubts
at times, but does that mean that they're not saved?
If this is all they're trusting in,
how much or how little they're
trusting it is not determining whether
I'm going to leave this on my hands
or make a mess in my suit
the whole time.
Just think about that for a second
while I do this.
Digest that first point
for a minute.
Everybody got it?
Alright.
Maybe stir up.
You know, I don't want to move too fast.
I want to make sure that sinks in.
But number two.
So the first reason why people doubt their salvation
is like, well, how much do I...
You know, when he said believe with all your heart,
it's not like, I do believe, I do.
You know, like the Wizard of Oz,
you know, like, click your heels,
there's no place like home,
there's no place like home.
You know, I do believe, I do believe.
That's nonsense.
Are you trusting something else?
That is what salvation is.
Do you believe on Christ or not?
Not how hard do you believe on him or how much do you believe on him.
But I'm telling you, I asked him to raise a hand
but a lot of people raised their hand and said, yeah.
You know, a lot of people have doubted because...
or they've known someone who doubted because they said,
well, how much do you have to believe?
But number two, look at 1 John chapter 5.
Another reason why people doubt
their salvation sometimes
is because of this question.
Not just how much do I have to believe,
but what exactly do I have to believe, right?
Because there's a whole Bible here.
What exactly do I have to believe to be saved?
And a lot of people wonder that
because they'll say, you know, well, back when I got saved,
you know, I didn't really know much about the Bible
and I didn't really know a lot of things,
so I don't know if I believed the right thing.
Well, look at 1 John chapter 5.
Here's what you have to believe in a nutshell.
In order to be saved, this is where God kind of lays out
a very simple formula of what it is
that you have to believe in order to be saved.
1 John 5, 10.
It says, he that believeth on the Son of God
hath the witness in himself.
Talk about the Holy Spirit if you read it a little further up.
He that believeth not God hath made him a liar
because he believeth not the record
that God gave him the Son.
Here's a great definition of what believing is
because a lot of people will try to twist,
well, what does believe mean?
Some people say, well, believing means
that you're going to follow his commandments.
You know what I mean?
And they'll try to say, well, believing is worse.
Then why did he say it's faith not of works
if believing has to do with works?
Oh, the two are inseparable.
Well, God separated them when he said it's faith not works.
That's a separation.
What we see here, he said that the opposite of believing
is calling someone a liar.
For example, I say to you, I have a red car.
Do you believe me?
Now, let's say he said no.
What's he saying?
That I'm lying.
And if you say, well, the Bible's not true,
you're saying that God's lying.
So what does it mean to believe?
It means to confess that this is the truth.
Okay, that's what believing is.
People will try to twist this and say,
no, believing is when you acknowledge
the truth of God's work.
He says this.
He that believeth not God hath made him a liar
because he believeth not the record
that God gave his Son.
That's the record right here.
He says, and this is the record,
that God hath given to us eternal life
and this life is in his Son.
Now, there's three points in that statement.
Number one, he says God has given to us.
That means it's a gift.
That means it's free.
That means you can't earn it.
You can't pay for it.
The gift of God's eternal life.
He says he's given to us eternal life.
That means it's eternal.
It's not temporary.
It's not, now I'm saved, now I'm not,
now I'm saved, now I'm not.
He says no, you're saved eternally.
Once saved, always saved.
He says I give unto them eternal life.
He says God has given to us eternal life.
And then the third point,
and this life is in his Son.
Now, if that's what you believe,
you're saved according to the Bible.
If you believe that salvation is only through Jesus Christ,
that it's a free gift,
you can't work for it,
you can't earn it,
and that it's going to last forever,
that's what you have to believe
in order to be saved according to this.
And then he says this in verse 12.
He that hath the Son hath life.
And that he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
Verse 13.
These things have I written unto you
that believe on the name of the Son of God
that you may know that you have eternal life
and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
This is the opposite of doubting your salvation
and knowing that you're saved,
knowing that you have eternal life.
He says I've written this so that you'll know
that if you believe on this,
if you believe on God's Word,
if you believe on Christ,
if you believe this record,
you are saved and you can know you're saved.
You have to doubt your salvation.
So number one,
how much do I have to believe?
You know what? Irrelevant.
You just have to put all the faith on Jesus,
however much it is.
You can't be trusting anything else.
You can't say well I'm a Christian
and I'm also Buddhist as well.
I'm taking elements of hope.
No.
You must believe with all your heart.
Number two, what do you have to believe?
Right here, he lays it out.
You've got to believe Jesus on the way to heaven,
that he paid it all,
that it's all through him.
If you're trusting anything else,
if you're trusting anything else again,
you know, you're not saved.
Now, you say, wait a minute,
what if somebody doesn't believe something else in the Bible?
You know, because the Bible is a big book, right?
It talks about a lot of things.
Well, wait a minute.
Jesus said this.
He said, my sheep hear my voice.
He said, he that is of God heareth God's Word,
ye therefore hear them not because you're not of God.
He talks about people taking away from and adding to God's Word
and hearing God's Word and not believing it,
making God a liar.
Because if you were to deny another part of the Bible,
you're still making God a liar,
because God has to fake all these words.
So here's the thing.
Do you have to know everything in the whole Bible to be saved?
No, you just have to know the part about Jesus Christ being the Savior.
But see, one of the tests of a person that is saved,
they have the witness in themself.
Therefore, they're not making God a liar,
according to verse 10 of what we read.
So for example, if I go to him,
and let's say he just got saved.
He's a new believer.
He doesn't really understand a lot, right?
And he's not even sure about certain things,
about how creation took place or something like that.
He's not sure if there's anything to evolution,
but he believes on Jesus Christ.
He believes on the Bible.
Well, if I go to Brother Dave,
and I show him and say,
Look, look, Dave.
Here's Genesis chapter 1.
God created them in the earth, and then look.
Everything breaks forth after its own kind.
He said that about six times.
Look at this.
Six literal days.
Evening, morning, day, night.
Pretty clear, isn't it?
Now, he walks away and says,
Well, I don't believe that.
Basically, he's showing me that he's not saved.
Because if he's calling God a liar about that,
he's calling God...
Now, he may not have known that before I showed it to him,
but once I showed it to him,
he's going to receive it.
That's just kind of an evidence of his salvation,
the fact that he believes God's Word,
the fact that he's a believer.
But it starts with just believing on Christ.
So, look, you say,
Well, I don't know.
I didn't understand everything back then.
Well, I don't understand everything right now.
But when I got saved,
I understood that Jesus was a savior,
that he was the only way to heaven.
And once people believe that,
the Holy Spirit involves them,
and they'll hear God's Word.
They'll hear the voice,
and when you show them something,
they can see it and believe it.
Okay, that's an evidence of salvation.
Number three, look at Romans chapter 10.
Here's another thing that people struggle with
when it comes to having doubts about their salvation.
Number one, did I believe enough?
Number two, well, what exactly do you have to believe
to be saved?
But number three, here's one that's kind of silly,
but a lot of people struggle with this,
and so I'm going to bring it up.
Did I pray right?
You know, because a lot of people
put a really big emphasis on the praying,
like, and asking Jesus to save them, okay?
And a lot of people have this out.
Did I say the right thing when I prayed,
when I asked to be saved,
did I pray right?
Now, who's ever heard that or thought that
or known someone who thought that?
Yeah, sure, very common.
I say it's silly just because, you know,
when you're on the side of it where you know the Bible,
it seems silly, but you know what?
There was a time when I wondered this,
you know, growing up,
just because of the different emphasis
that was placed in different church style with you.
And here's where some of this comes from.
Look at Romans chapter 10, verse 9.
The Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth,
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God has raised them from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
And then look at verse number 13.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
How then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed?
And on and on, it goes on.
Now look, you say, is it scriptural to ask God
for salvation to pray and ask God to be saved?
Yes it is, because all throughout the Bible
you see people asking to be saved.
You look at the publican who went down the temple
and said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
And it says that he was saved.
You remember the thief on the cross,
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
Okay, you think of the woman at the well.
Jesus said, if thou knewest who was the sinner
that thee give me to drink,
he said, thou wouldest have asked of me,
and I would have given thee living water.
So asking and receiving salvation is a very biblical concept.
Here he talks about someone believing in their heart
and then confessing that with their mouth,
they'll be saved.
But look at 1 John 4.
1 John 4, toward the very end of the Bible.
Here's what you have to understand,
because before we even discussed this,
we had to have our three prerequisites.
Number one, salvation is faith alone.
The Bible says that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have eternal life.
So let me ask you this.
Is there anyone on this earth who believes on Jesus Christ,
all their faith is on Jesus Christ,
who is not going to heaven?
Does that person exist in this world?
No.
Otherwise, God's not telling the truth.
Because he said, everyone that believeth,
whosoever believeth, shall not perish but have everlasting life.
So everyone who believes on Christ is faith.
No matter what they prayed or what they said,
if they prayed it right or said it right,
you know, when people get hung up on this,
look at 1 John 4. 13.
Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us,
because he hath given us of the Spirit.
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son
to be the Savior of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God,
God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
Now look, when a person believes on Christ,
and then they articulate that with their mouth,
that is basically nailing down the decision.
Like, for example, Philip was saved before he even said,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
That was just, Philip wanted to make sure that he was saved.
He said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
that's when he baptized him.
Salvation is by faith alone, by believing alone.
Now, confessing with your mouth is the result.
The Bible says, I believe, therefore have I spoken.
What happens is, sometimes a person is hearing the Gospel,
and they're deciding whether or not they believe it or not,
because we all have that choice,
where we're going to place our faith.
A person hears the Gospel,
and they come to a point where they make a decision,
say, you know what, I'm going to put all my faith in Jesus Christ.
I'm not going to call God a liar.
I'm going to believe God's word.
I'm going to believe the record of the Bible that God gave his Son.
Well then, that's when a person says that with their mouth.
It's the natural thing.
If somebody's telling you, you say, you know what, yes, I believe that.
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
You know, Lord save me, God please save me.
I want to go to heaven, I'm trusting you alone.
But a lot of people are hung up, well, did I say the right thing?
Well look, if you believe the right thing, you're saved.
That's what you ought to be worried about.
Not did I say the right thing, it's did you believe the right thing?
Because think about what some of the people said in the Bible at God's sake.
Lord, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom.
Now, is that really doctrinally correct?
Does that really make sense for us to be saved?
Lord, remember me, you know, I'm going to go ahead and die and go to hell
and pay for my sins, but can you just think about me?
You know what I mean, if you took it literally, just remember me.
You know, or maybe take me out of there or whatever, you know.
No, but all that matters is that he was just calling out to God in some way.
The real thing that mattered was that he believed in his heart.
He said to the guy next to him, he said, this man has done nothing amiss.
He said this, you know, he was basically confessing, hey, this is the son of God, this is Jesus.
And he knew, he said, I'm a sinner.
I mean, he said, we deserve to be here.
He told the guy next to him, remember the feet upon the cross.
He said, we're here rightfully.
This man has done nothing amiss.
Lord, you know, he's acknowledging this is God, this is not just a man.
He says, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
And Jesus said to him, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
So the bottom line is, instead of getting hung up on what did you say,
because people said all different things throughout the Bible.
God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, is what Philip said, right?
All these different things that people said, it's not what they said that's the common denominator.
It's that they all believed the same thing.
That Jesus Christ died and was buried and rose again,
and that that was their only ticket into heaven. Period.
And so this objection doesn't really hold up, did I pray the right thing.
I mean, do you really think that God in heaven who loves you,
who died on the cross for you,
who was beaten and spat upon and self-hurt and died,
and then went to hell for three days and three nights,
and then rose again, all because he loves you,
and wants you to be saved, is going to say, oh, you didn't say it right.
You said the wrong thing.
No, he wants you to be saved more than you even want to be saved.
And so if you believe in your heart, whatever you say,
hey, you're saved if you believe in your heart,
because otherwise the hundreds of verses that don't even mention what you say,
they just say, whosoever believeth in him,
should not perish nevertheless,
he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life, it's that simple.
And so there are hundreds of verses that don't even mention what you said
or a confession of that, okay.
But if you believe and confess, you're saved.
But if you believe and stand on your head, you're saved.
It's as if you believe that you're saved.
But those who believe, you know, are going to express that in words,
because that's how we express what we believe when we think.
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
And so don't get too hung up on that.
And some people are so hung up on this, they forget to believe.
And they make salvation just all about the prayer.
I mean, I've asked people, how do you know you're saved?
They say, oh, because I prayed.
Because I asked Jesus into my heart.
But then you start talking about what they believe.
They don't believe it's by faith alone.
They don't believe that Jesus is really God.
They don't believe that the Bible is God's word.
And so it doesn't matter what they say.
They could have said the most perfect thing,
and yet if they don't believe right, they're not saved,
because it's not about what you said, it's about what you believe.
Asking Jesus into your heart is not going to save you.
Basically.
You can ask to be saved every day for the rest of your life
and go to hell if you don't believe the record that God gave us up.
See, it's what you put.
If you believe you can lose your salvation,
if you believe you have to earn it by good works,
it doesn't matter how many times you ask.
It's not asking that saves you.
It's believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and I shall be saved.
I'm saved by faith.
And so in...
Look at Luke chapter 8.
And I'm losing my voice, but...
Luke chapter number 8.
I'm going to deal with a fourth objection really quickly.
You know, quick review.
What is salvation?
Well, number one, it's faith alone.
Number two, it's not a process.
Number three, it's eternal.
You can't lose it.
Why do people doubt it?
Because they're not sure if they believed enough.
Because they're not sure what exactly you have to believe to be saved.
Because they're not sure if they prayed right.
And then number four, they think that they're not saved
because they had doubts.
Because they sometimes doubt.
Now, Luke chapter 8,
we've already talked about John the Baptist,
the greatest man who ever lived, according to Jesus,
who said that Jesus...
who said that Jesus parked out and he that should come
or do we look for another?
After he'd already baptized him and told everybody
he's the savior of the world,
later when he's sitting in a jail cell,
John the Baptist started to even doubt
whether Jesus was really the Messiah.
But he was still saved.
He was obviously saved.
The disciples who we know were saved, according to the Bible,
the eleven, some doubted
as Jesus ended up in heaven.
But look at Luke chapter 8, verse 12.
It says,
Those that hear by the wayside are they that hear,
then cometh the devil,
and taketh away the word out of their hearts,
lest they should believe and be saved.
Because if you believe, you're saved, right?
So it was taken away lest they should believe and be saved.
They on the rock are they which when they hear,
receive the word with joy.
So these people believe and it says this,
And these have no root, which for a while believe.
Okay, and in time of temptation fall away.
So these are people who believe on Christ,
and they receive the word with joy.
They're excited about it,
but they come to church as soon as any tribulation
or trouble or testing or trials come.
They are not rooted and grounded enough.
And some people, you know,
they don't read the Bible.
They don't know what they believe very strongly.
They haven't really been grounded in what they believe.
And because they're not rooted, they might fall away.
We may not see them anymore.
They may quit the church or, you know,
and they may even stop believing for a while
and doubt the truth of the Bible.
But does that mean that they're not saved?
No.
Because it's possible, according to Luke 8,
according to Matthew 11,
according to Matthew 28,
to believe on Christ,
then later on they have doubts about that.
But that doesn't mean that you're not saved.
Look at 2 Timothy 2.
Now, you say,
Pastor Anderson,
do you ever doubt whether the Bible is true?
Do you ever doubt?
I do not doubt that at all, ever.
But wait a minute.
You know, when I was younger,
when I hadn't read as much Bible,
when I hadn't been in church as much,
when I had not been walking with the Lord,
then doubts can enter your mind, okay?
Now, the more rooted you are,
the more grounded you are in what you believe,
you're not going to doubt the Bible.
But if somebody's never going to church,
never reading the Bible,
and they're constantly just hearing all the world's lies
over and over and over again,
it could cause them to have doubts about the Bible.
Now, part of the reason why I never doubt my salvation
at this point in my life
is because the Bible says in Romans 8 and 16,
the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit
that we are the children of God.
So I'm saved.
If I'm walking in the Spirit,
hey, God's Spirit is constantly saying to me,
you're saved.
You're a child of God.
God's Spirit is bearing witness with my Spirit
that I'm a child of God.
So if you're saved,
that Holy Spirit is living inside of you.
But if you quench the Spirit,
if you're walking in the flesh,
if you're not spending time with God,
you're not hearing the Spirit's voice telling you,
you're God's Son, you're Savior.
That's why it's possible to doubt when you're backslidden.
You see what I'm saying?
John the Baptist got a little backslidden.
He started having some doubts.
Not that he wasn't a great man.
But if you're walking in the Spirit,
if you're reading God's Word,
you're not going to have those kind of doubts.
It's when you get away from God,
get away in terms of what the Bible says.
You can doubt, but does that mean that you weren't saved?
No, because the Bible describes it
because the Bible describes a lot of groups of people
who did have those doubts,
yet they were truly saved.
Listen to this, 2 Timothy 2.13.
Keep in mind who this is talking here.
This is the Apostle Paul.
You know, John the Baptist was the greatest man
that was ever born of a woman.
This is probably number two,
and the Bible is probably the second best guy in the Bible.
He's speaking to Timothy,
another preacher who'd been saved for decades.
And he's explained in doctrine,
and he says in verse 13,
if we believe not,
he's saying, you and I, Timothy,
let's say we were to believe not.
It says, yet he abideth faithful.
He cannot deny himself.
So God cannot break his Word.
And so, let's say Steven Anderson
were to come to a point where I doubted,
you know, the truth of God's Word.
You know, God forbid that that would ever happen.
And it's been, you know,
I can't even remember how long
since I doubted, you know, the truth of God's Word.
But let's say I did doubt it.
Let's say I did fall in the sea and say,
oh, it's impossible for you, Pastor Anderson.
No, it's not impossible for anybody
to get backslidden, to get into sin.
We ought to constantly be on our guard
against temptation, against the devil trying to attack us.
Let's say I were to doubt it.
He says, wait a minute.
God's still going to keep his promise to you
in hope of eternal life,
which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.
The Bible says, and this is the promise
that he had promised us, even eternal life.
Jesus said, verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me has everlasting life.
Jesus said, and I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Once you're saved, you're never going to perish.
No one's going to pluck you out of God's hand.
You're his son, just as my son will always be my son.
It doesn't matter what he says.
It doesn't matter what he thinks.
It doesn't matter what he does.
My son, I'm talking about my physical son now,
will always be my son.
He could say, Dad, I hate you.
You're not my dad anymore.
I'm still his dad.
He could go out and commit every sin in the book.
I'm still his dad.
It's an unseparable, unbreakable bond.
Now think about marriage.
Marriage is a bond that ends.
Some people get divorced.
And not only that, when a spouse dies, it's over.
That's why it's till death us do part.
It's not eternal.
The Mormons are wrong.
Jesus said that in heaven they neither marry
nor are given in marriage, but are the angels in heaven.
And so I'm not going to be married to my wife in heaven.
I'm married to my wife until one of us dies.
But father and son, that never changes.
Even if my son dies, it's still my son.
We're going to be replaced.
So father and son is the eternal bond,
and that's what salvation is.
Jesus said, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me
shall never die.
Now, even if theoretically we were to doubt
and stop believing, would God break his promise
of everlasting life?
Would he break his promise when he said,
OK, you live right now, you believe on me right now?
You'll never die.
You'll never come to condemnation.
You're my son.
I've adopted you as my son.
He cannot deny himself.
He will abide faithful to his promise.
Whether we stay faithful or not, he will be faithful.
So that's another thing.
Well, I've doubted.
I've had all these doubts.
Am I safe?
You know what?
It's possible to have doubts.
You just need to do more reading.
You need to spend more time with God.
You need to get closer to God.
You need to walk in the Spirit, and those doubts
will begin to fade.
The Spirit will bear witness with your spirit,
your children of God.
Turn to Acts 10.
This is the last place we're going to turn.
You say, well, wait a minute, Pastor Anderson.
How do I apply this sermon to my life?
Well, number one, there could be somebody here
who's listening to me in Greek right now who's not safe.
And if you're not safe this morning,
it's because you believe the wrong thing.
Because if you believe the right thing, you'd be safe.
If you're not safe, it's because you believe the wrong thing.
It's because you still have some of your faith
on your own works or on baptism or on living a good life
or on turning away from your sins
or on quitting this or starting this
or being willing to quit this.
You're trusting in yourself in some way, shape, or form
or trusting in some religion.
But if you do believe the right thing,
if you do believe the record that God gave this sermon,
if you do believe this moment, hey,
I believe that Jesus is God in the flesh,
that he died on the cross, that he was buried,
that he rose again, that he's the only way to heaven,
and that I'm only going to heaven because of his shed blood.
Hey, if you believe that this morning, you are safe.
Why don't you just realize it, nail it down,
and say, you know what, I know that I'm safe,
not because the pastor told me, not because some church told me,
not because of a book I read or a track I read,
because the Holy Bible says that if I believe, I'm safe.
Nail it down, settle it.
Don't waste another minute worrying about it.
Now, if you're not sure that you believe that,
well, wait a minute, you do have something to worry about.
You could be making God a liar.
And you say, wait, I think I was saved like five years ago,
but I'm not sure.
Hey, don't risk eternity.
Don't risk your eternity on something that happened in the past.
Decide right now in your heart, say, you know what,
if I didn't believe it then, I'll believe it now.
If I didn't have all my faith in Christ, then I'm putting my faith in Christ now.
And you know what, just tell that to God,
just to nail it down in your own heart.
He already knows your heart anyway.
But tell that to God, say, you know what, God,
open your mouth and say to God,
God, I am trusting in you,
you're blood on the cross alone for my salvation.
And then you won't have to worry about it,
because if you don't go to heaven, then the Bible's not even true.
But thanks be to God, the Bible is true,
and if you believe that, you are going to heaven.
And so look at this last passage, Acts chapter 10, verse 43.
To him give all the prophets witness, this is talking about Jesus.
So all the prophets, I mean, we're talking about from Abel to Zacharias.
We're talking about Moses, we're talking about Samuel,
we're talking about all the Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel.
To him give all the prophets witness that through his name,
through whose name? Jesus' name.
Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
Your sins are going to be forgiven, right?
Your sins are going to be wiped away if you believe one,
and that's the whole message of the whole Bible, all the prophets.
While Peter yet spake these words, so he's not even done preaching,
he's still preaching the sermon.
While Peter yet spake these words,
the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word,
and they of the circumcision which believed were astonished,
as many as came with Peter,
because that on the Gentiles was poured out to get to the Holy Ghost,
for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God,
then answered, speaking in tongues, is that the...
No, of course not.
If you read Acts chapter 2, when it talks about speaking with another tongue,
it lists 17 foreign languages.
Medes, Persians, Elamites.
Today it would be English, Spanish, German, Norwegian, you know.
We're talking about foreign languages, we're not talking about gibberish.
Nobody in the Bible ever talked of gibberish.
Every language is...
And you know, these charismatic churches,
the tongue talkers rolling in the aisle,
slapping people on the forehead, the bending hand,
it's all faith, it's all false.
But here, they heard them speak in another language,
because here's what happened.
Peter's preaching to people that were all Italians, if you know the story.
They go to this centurion who's an Italian.
All of the people in his household are Italians.
He is a Jew, and he has these Jews with him
that were astonished when they saw this miracle,
where basically these people heard the preaching in their own language,
Italian language, you know, which back then, the Italian language didn't exist,
it was, you know, all Latin, or older Latin, okay?
He's preaching them God's word,
all of a sudden they hear in their language these people confessing,
hey, I believe that, I believe Jesus Christ, okay?
And when they saw it, they were astonished.
Isn't that amazing?
Then answered Peter,
can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized,
which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
And he commanded them to be baptized.
Now, do you suggest you may want to be baptized?
No. Baptism's a command, right?
Baptism's not optional.
Now, you're still going to go to heaven if you haven't been baptized,
but, you know, you're still going to go to heaven if you tell a lie,
but is telling the truth optional in God's word?
No, he commands us to tell the truth.
Do we have to keep all the commands to be saved?
We don't have to keep any commands to be saved, we have to believe.
But is baptism optional or is it commanded?
It's a command.
You see, I was sprinkled as a baby.
You weren't baptized.
Jesus was baptized and went down into the water and he came up out of the water.
Ethiopian eunuch was baptized, they both went down into the water,
and he was dumped under water.
It represents the death, burial, and resurrection, okay?
And, you know, this isn't baptism.
You know, this is what a lot of churches are doing.
Oh, you're baptized, you know, or pouring.
You know, we're going to do a little pouring.
Hey, baptism's my immersion, okay?
But notice here, what was the message that Peter preached?
That believing on Jesus Christ will save you and wash all your sins away, right?
He said, hey, that's what the whole Old Testament has taught.
All the prophets.
What was the message they preached?
Believe!
What did the people who listened to him do?
Believe.
They said, hey, I believe that.
They were saved.
He said, hey, let's get these people baptized.
They're saved.
Look, if believing was enough to show that Philip,
that the Ethiopian eunuch was saved,
wait a minute, why didn't Philip watch him for a while to make sure he was really saved?
That's what a lot of churches are doing.
To be baptized, you have to go through a six-week class.
Where is the...
Boy, that was a really accelerated program for that class here.
You know, and all it is, all it is is they got it from the Catholics, the Catechism class.
And then they just adapted it over to a Baptist Catechism.
Wrong.
Hey, I'm going to tell you something.
If you believe, you're ready to get baptized today.
If you believe, you're ready to get baptized right...
I mean, Paul was crazy.
He was baptizing people in the middle of the night.
He got a guy saved at midnight in Acts 16.
The same hour.
He's like, hey, I'm going to baptize you right now.
You say, oh man, he's nuts.
No, you're nuts if you think a six-week class is biblical.
You're nuts if you think we have to watch people to see if they're really saved.
Oh, let's watch them, see if their lifestyle changes.
Your lifestyle doesn't have to change for you to be saved.
What you believe has to change for you to be saved.
You say, what about repentance?
Yeah, you repent and turn from what you used to believe to what you should believe.
You don't turn from a life of sin to a life of righteousness because I'm still a sinner.
You're still a sinner.
But if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves in the truth that's not in us.
And so look, they believed and the next step was, hey, let's get them baptized.
Let's not watch them, let's not test them.
No.
He said immediately, you're ready to be baptized.
You say, what about children?
You know what?
I got saved when I was six years old.
And let me tell you something, I know that I got saved when I was six years old.
I don't think I might have got saved.
At the time I knew I was saved, thereafter I knew I was saved,
I know today that I got saved when I was six years old.
And you know what I did when I was six years old?
I asked to be baptized.
I said, you know what?
I want to be baptized.
Mom and Dad said no.
Gotta watch them.
And you know, my parents are saved.
They believe right on salvation.
But this is where we went to church.
It's like, oh, you're a little young, let's make sure he understands this and that.
I knew I was saved.
I could explain it doctrinally.
You know, I was a precocious young child.
I could explain it start to finish.
I even, one time I even gave the gospel to somebody else when I was six years old.
You know, a neighbor boy.
Explained it to him and then my brother, my older brother came over and helped me.
And we both explained it to him and he ended up getting saved.
You know, we both, or it was probably more of my brother than me.
He understood a lot more than I did, you know.
But I was explaining, I was telling the person, I was trying to explain it to him.
I had the salvation verses written in my Bible as a little kid.
Okay?
You know, I was ignorant of a lot of things, but I knew I was saved.
I knew Jesus was the only way to heaven.
I got baptized when I was nine.
You know, that was when I finally was alive to be baptized.
But you know what?
You know, my son Solomon, you know, he believed.
He was like, you know, five, six years old.
I baptized him because he was able to clearly explain to me and show me
that he truly understood what it meant to be saved.
And if you could confess that with his mouth, if it was good enough for Philip,
if it was good enough for Peter, I keep saying Paul, but it was Peter preaching in chapter 10.
It was Paul in chapter 16.
If it was good enough for Peter, good enough for Paul in chapter 16,
good enough for Philip, and everybody else who's name starts with P in the Bible,
hey, it's good enough for me.
And so, what is it about this doubting your salvation that you need to know?
Hey, if you believe, there's no reason to doubt.
I went through all the reasons.
If you believe the right thing, now, if you're not sure you believe right,
if you're still not sure that Jesus is the only way,
if you're still not sure whether there's some works involved in salvation,
if you're still not sure, well, maybe you can't lose your salvation if you do this.
You know what?
Then you're not saved.
You ought to be doubting because you believe wrong,
and so it's time to just quit calling God a liar and say, you know what?
Hey, I believed wrong before, but now I believe it.
Now I believe what the Bible says, and then you won't have to doubt anymore
that you may know that you have eternal life, the Bible says.
That you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Let's go ahead and have a word of prayer.
Father, I pray that if there's anyone here today that's not saved,
I pray that today will be the day that they've nailed us down
and finally just decide, you know what?
I'm taking my faith off everything else.
I'm putting it all on Jesus.
I'm trusting Jesus alone for salvation.
And God, if there are those that are already saved but they've been having doubts,
I pray that this sermon would have cleared up their doubts
and that they would be able to go forward from this point and say,
You know what?
I know I'm saved on the authority of the Bible.
And then maybe there are those who are here today and they know they're saved,
but they've not been baptized.
Father, help them to take that first step of being willing to be baptized
in obedience to you.
If they've never been baptized, you know, the way the Bible says underwater,
then God, I pray that today, right away, they would say,
You know what?
I'm going to do what's right.
I'm going to be baptized.
I'm going to follow God's command.
I want to obey the Lord in baptism.
Father, we love you and thank you for your salvation
that you've given us through Jesus Christ.
And thank you for the work of God that gives us our assurance of salvation.
And in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.