NO EXCUSE ANYMORE

Saved and Sure
Dr. Ernest L. Easley
John 5
February 19, 2006

For the last few Sundays .. we have been thinking about salvation .. and more particular the assurance of it! And yes .. I'm talking about the Bible doctrine of the Security of the Believer. That once you are saved .. you are saved forever!
And that is a wonderful truth taught in the Bible. But just as there is the Security of the Believer .. there is also the Security of the Unbeliever. That's the doctrine that says that a person can walk an isle .. say a prayer .. get baptized and join the church and then walk out of the building and live like Hell.
That's not taught in the Bible! There is no salvation without repentance. Conversion brings change! You cannot meet Jesus and be saved and then live like the world. If there are no evidences of righteousness and godliness in you .. if there is no fruit of the Spirit in your life (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control) .. it's because you have never been born again. In talking about those that are saved .. Jesus said in Matthew 7.20, ".. by their fruits you will know them." There is no such thing as a fruitless saint.
God wants you to know that you are saved! God wants you to know that your sins have been forgiven! God wants you to know that you're on your way to Heaven as though you were already there! The Bible says in 1 John 5.13, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God."
There is something that God wants you to know as a fact: that you have eternal life. And having assurance of salvation will eliminate fear and liberate your life. Back in 1937 when the Golden Gate Bride was being built in San Francisco .. it was so tall that when the people doing the iron work looked down .. they got so dizzy that 23 of them fell to their deaths.
So ..to help eliminate their fear .. a large safety net was built under the bridge. Now let me ask you a question: after the safety net was in place .. do you think more fell or less fell? Less fell and do you know why? They said that with the safety net in place .. that they could concentrate on what they were doing. Once your future is secure .. you can handle to present. And you can have your future secure. You can be saved and sure and that's what I want to talk to you about this morning.
Now look with me to John 5. Beginning in verse 24 ... I want to give you three bible reasons why you can be saved and sure. Three bible reasons that will give you a "know-so" salvation rather than having a "hope-so" salvation.
Now in John 5.24 Jesus says, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from (lit. the death) death into (lit. the life) life."
No ...