Mentoring Men for the Master

SURE

We are now in a series which will last about two months.  Our major focus is on our 8th “I” of our curriculum, “Intense Devotion to our Family, especially our wives.”  However, in order to be a godly husband and father, one must first know he is saved from sin and be sure of this fact.  Last Friday and Saturday, we showed that for anyone to be saved, he must be saved from sin, the great separator of all humans from a holy God, and that one must admit he is lost in sin, believe Jesus paid for his sins, turn from those sins, trust Jesus with all his heart (surrender), after which the Holy Spirit entered into his heart, whereby he experienced a spiritual new (2nd) birth, making him a “new creation” with a new lifestyle (2 Cor. 5:17).

Let us today to move on  to consider the question, “Can we be sure we are saved now?”  The apostle John wrote his gospel to tell us how we can experience eternal life (John 20:31), and then followed by writing 2nd John, which sets forth the proofs of true salvation.  John’s argument can be reduced to three great truths:

  1. You And I Can Know We Are Saved – note carefully 1 John 5:13 three key words, BELIEVE, KNOW AND HAVE.  Lets be careful to understand what John is teaching:
    1. He is clearly declaring that one’s belief and knowledge must be based on his relationship to Jesus Christ in the present, not something which happened in the past. While it is desirable for one  to know the day and hour he was saved, this is often not the case.  Example:  Doris’ and my conversion.
    2. John is also teaching that one who is saved may doubt his salvation; else he would not have given the proof that one is saved in 1 John 5:12-13.
    3. John’s real point is this: What your present relationship to Jesus is the proof of whether you are saved or not.    If you do not have a relationship with Jesus now, you are not saved, no matter what you did in the past.  “He who endures to the end shall be saved,” (Matthew 24:13)  and conversely “If you have no relationship now, you are not saved.”  “A faith which fizzles out before the finish had a fatal flaw in it from the first.” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).
  2. If Saved, We Will Show Outwardly That We Do Have That Relationship.  That is, if you are truly saved or born again, you will have seven birthmarks, says John:
    1. You will be following Jesus – 1 John 2:3-4. Caution:  John is not teaching we are saved by keeping the commandments, but if we are saved the result will be that  you will obey His commands.  Example:  The 1st commandment Jesus gives following conversion is “Be baptized” (immersed).  While baptism does not save, if we persist in not being baptized we ought to be concerned if we were ever saved.
    2. You will be fellowshipping with God’s people. 1 John 3:11.  If you have no desire to fellowship with God’s people, no love for the family of God, etc., you give evidence of not being truly saved.  Illus:  Young man who joined First Baptist Church, Paducah, Kentucky.
    3. You will be faithful in following Christ. 1 John 2:19.
    1. You will show you are saved by the fruit of your personal lifestyle. 1 John 3:6-10.  John is not saying that a saved person never commits an act of sin, but he is clearly saying that he will not make sin his practice.  Example:  Wrestling with assurance, I asked my Dad, “How can you know if you are saved?”  He asked me, “How do you feel about sin?”  I replied, “I hate it.”  He said that is the best evidence there is that one is saved.
    2. You will know by your inward feeling. 1 John 3:24; 4:13.  You are not saved by feeling, but when saved you will sense the presence of the Holy Spirit in the form of relief, assurance, joy.  Illus:  Ed Hackney, “I have inside information.”
    3. You will show it by being a foreigner to this old world. To put it plainly, people will see something different in your life; spiritually speaking you will be a foreigner to this world who knows not God (1 John 2:15).
    4. You will know by depending on Jesus as Lord and Savior, with no single thing added. 1 John 5:12.
  • We Should Settle The Matter of Relationship With Jesus TODAY, THIS MOMENT.   How do you nail it down?  Read 1 John 5:12 and ask, “Do you have Jesus?  What are you really trusting in?
    1. If you have Jesus, you have eternal life.
    2. If baptism, no life.
    3. Church membership, no life.
    4. Good works, no life.
    5. Belief in God, no life.
    6. Sincerity, no life.
    7. Doing the best you can, no life.

Or using another Scripture (Doris’ life verse, Phil. 1:21) fill in the following:

  1. For me to live is CHRIST, you know you have eternal life now and will have it when your body dies.
  2. But suppose you have to say, “For me to live is money; then to die is to leave it all behind. Example:  Barney Beach.
  3. For me to live is partying, etc, then to die is eternal death.
  4. For me to live is fame to die is to be forgotten.
  5. For me to live is power, to die is to lose it all.
  6. For me to live is to pile up wealth, then to die is to live in hell forever. (Luke 12:20).

After settling the matter of your salvation, you will have the motivation and power to obey the 8th “Intense Devotion to Your Family, Especially your wife.”  Moreover, we will be focusing on the details of how you should treat your wife for about 2 months or 60 days.