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Know You Are Saved

In this fist message of Pastor Floyd's new series he talks about the Importance of Knowing that you have eternal security by a relationship with Jesus Christ.

$6.00 — $12.00

We are living in difficult times. Do you understand today that the triumph of Jesus Christ that you have seen portrayed in front of your eyes today, the sacrificial death, the bodily resurrection, the resurrection appearances serve as an emphasis, serve as a launching pad, and serve as empowerment for you to make it through difficult times.

Walking in difficult days should not surprise us. The Bible talks about it. The scripture says very clearly over in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 1, but know this, difficult times will come. And the closer we come to the Lord’s coming, the more we will see, and the more we will face difficulty. I do not know of a time in my lifetime when I have seen more people troubled about where they are in life, more people concerned about the difficulties they’re facing not only in their families, but also in their nation, and in our world. Because living triumphantly through difficult times even though it is a high chore to accomplish, it is a possibility.

That’s why over the next several weeks I want to take you on a journey whether you can come with me for a few weeks, or you can come with me for all 10, I want to talk to you over the next several weeks out of the book of 2 Timothy because I want to talk to you about “The Top 10 Ways to Make it Through Difficult Times.”

There is a way to make it, and these words of hope will bring you encouragement in your life, and help you to do that with the Lord by your side. You see there are a lot of people today who don’t have the Lord by their side, and even some, who have the Lord by their side, they still walk with an element of fear. People right now are very fearful of the times in which we live.

Just a few weeks ago I talked out of 2 Timothy the first few verses, and I really centered in on verse number 7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but,” what? “…one of power, and of love, and of sound judgment.” I want you to know today you do not have to fear the times in which we live. There is a way to work through your fear, and there is a way to overcome the fears you may face even here today.

Oh my dear friend listen carefully, Paul knew all about what it was like to live in difficult times. There was a man who was transformed by the power of Jesus Christ one day, his name was Paul. And Paul became known in scripture as the Apostle Paul. That’s how we refer to him, as the Apostle Paul. And do you realize that the Apostle Paul penned much of the New Testament under the leadership of the Holy Spirit and God’s power. And one of the books that he penned was 2 Timothy; the final book that Paul ever wrote was 2nd Timothy.

He’d already been in prison once in Rome, but now he was imprisoned again in the city of Rome. There was a leader by the name of Nehro who was bringing mighty and massive persecution to the church of Jesus Christ in his generation. He was doing everything he could to stamp out the advancement of God’s kingdom in the Roman Empire, and one of the ways he was doing it was to bring great and immense persecution to those who identified with Jesus Christ.

Paul knew the days were serious. Paul knew this was it for him. Paul knew that this would be his last moment, his last letter. Somewhere between 64 to 67 AD Paul penned this letter. We know that Nehro ceased reigning in Rome in 68, so we believe that somewhere toward the end of 67 AD they took Paul, who the real heartbeat of his message in 2 Timothy is one word for Timothy, and one word for you, and one word for me today. Persevere. They took that man, who was such a saint of God, such an advanced leader of the gospel, and they ushered him out of that Roman jail, and they beheaded him. They beheaded him because of his faith, and his love, and his trust for Jesus Christ.

Paul was telling Timothy, “Timothy it may cost you your life, it’s about to cost me mine, but you persevere, and you stay faithful to God. I need you too. The church needs you to in the advancement of the kingdom of God needs you to do so.” We’re going to look in his book over the next several weeks, 2 Timothy chapter 1 beginning, begin reading in verse number 8, reading through verse 12 if you have a copy of God’s Word, I hope that you’ll turn with me to that passage.

I’ll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, listen carefully to the reading of the scripture, “Son don’t be ashamed by the testimony about our Lord, or of me His prisoner, instead share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God who has saved us, and called us with a Holy calling. Not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. This is now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death, and has brought life, and no mortality to life through the gospel. For this gospel,” Paul said, “I was appointed a herald.” Which means he was a preacher, a proclaimer of it. He was appointed “an apostle,” meaning one that had been sent with a divine authority. And he was also “appointed as a teacher,” meaning one that would open up the scripture and teach the scripture. And Paul said, “That is why I suffer these things, but I am not ashamed because I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.”

I want you to understand today that the most important way you’ll ever make it through difficult times is the way that I want to begin with in our journey together over the next several weeks. Out of all things that you need to know, and out of all things that you need to do, this is above them all. You see what Paul told Timothy is what we need to hear today. You need to, “Know You Are Saved.” Know you are saved.

Sometime people ask a question, “What does that word mean?” Sometime we hear someone in church, or someone we know in our life say, “You know I was saved at this age. Or I was saved when I was a child. Or just recently I was saved.” What does that word mean? If you were to take the original language in which the New Testament was written, and you were to look at that word “saved” there in verse number 9, you would find the word transliterated “sozo.” S-O-Z-O. What that word means is, “to rescue.” You see what it means to be saved means to be rescued. And that’s exactly what the cross and the resurrection has done for every one who will receive God’s gift of eternal life, and God’s gift of grace for the forgiveness of our sins. He rescues us.

You say, “Ronnie I don’t think I’m in trouble. I don’t know why in the world I need to be rescued.” Oh listen my friend, we’re all in much greater trouble than we ever imagine. You see there is rescue from the penalty of sin. Sin has a penalty. Every one of us in this room we have sinned from time to time in our lives. Some sin little, some sin a lot, bottom line is, we all sin. It doesn’t matter what the sin is, sin is sin. Well the penalty of sin is eventually death. So what we are rescued from is the penalty of our sin.

But we’re also rescued from the penalty of death. Death is not our final resting place if we know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. But we’re also rescued from the penalty of Hell, separation from God for all of eternity will be the result when you respond, and receive God’s grace and His forgiveness and eternal life in your life.

Oh my friend listen carefully today, we need to get it today, and what we need to get is what the scripture says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” You see people think all the time, “Hey I can do what I want to do. There’s no price for me to pay.” Oh listen, you can’t do what you want to do, there is always a price to pay when you don’t live right. It doesn’t matter if it’s me, doesn’t matter if it’s you, doesn’t matter if it’s a simple choice, or a big choice, doesn’t matter if it’s one, or several in a row, listen carefully today, the wages of our sin is one thing: death. Death. But thank God, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And the great news I have for you today is that there is hope for you, and you know why there’s hope for you? Because:

1. God is calling you today. God is calling you today. It doesn’t matter what your background may be, what religion you’re a part of, or no religion whatsoever at all, it doesn’t matter what your motive is for being here today, or whether you just came because someone invited you. Oh my friend, I want you to know God is calling you today.

Verse 9 talks about that calling from God that comes in the life of everyone who would choose to believe. Oh I’m the outward voice of that call. I’m calling you today to receive God’s offer of grace in your life, to be forgiven of your sins. I’m the outward voice today calling you. But much greater than my voice, there’s an inward voice that is calling you. That inward voice is something that is making you at times when you hear things about God, you hear things about Jesus, you see things that witnesses about the cross, it makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable, you don’t know how to respond to that, yet there’s an interest. Do you know what we call that? We call that a tug in our heart. We call that the Holy Spirit drawing us into a relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ.

Oh listen my friend; He is literally calling every one of you today into a relationship with God. You say, “Ronnie there’s no way in the world in my life I could ever have God calling me. I’m not good enough.” It’s not about being good enough. None of us are good enough, but because of God’s grace, God is always calling you into a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ. God is calling you today.

The scripture in verse 9 calls it a holy calling. That means that there is something new, and there’s something better for you than what you have. You say, “How in the world could there be something new and something better than what I have today?” Oh my friend listen, the way of our own selves is not the proper way, and the ultimate way; the way that we need to go is the way towards Jesus Christ when we open our hearts and we receive Christ as Lord, receive His forgiveness, and receive His eternal life when we die.

In a crowd of this magnitude today I want you to know God is calling hundreds of you today. He’s calling you into a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ. In fact, in just a few moments from now I’m going to give you an opportunity to respond to that call from God. I’m going to give you an opportunity in a few moments to live where you’re seated, and for you to come, and for you to respond to God’s call in your life. That tug in your heart that’s something about this cross experience makes me want that forgiveness. Something about that cross experience that makes me want the hope of eternal life. “Ronnie, can I really know that I can go to heaven when I die?” Absolutely. All because of what Christ did for us on the cross. God is calling you today.

2. God also will give you purpose today. That purpose is talked about in verse 9 as well. It’s a purpose that means a big purpose, a high purpose, a sovereign purpose; a purpose that sometimes is so much bigger than us. Now I realize today that many of you have a great life. Many of you have a life that’s filled with a lot of humph, a lot of gumption, a lot of stuff that makes you get up, and you want to get after it, and you want make a difference in your life. I congratulate you. Some of you say, “Boy my life is good, I live here. I drive this. I have a job. I’m doing well. I’m on my way to the top.” Wonderful! Thank God you’re on your way to the top, whatever your top is. But you listen to me today. You will never, never, never discover your ultimate purpose for your life until Jesus Christ comes into your life, not until Christ comes into your life will you discover whom God created you to be. There’s so much more than what you think it is today. So much more because there’s something new, there’s something better, and there’s a purpose that’s much higher than you, and much bigger than you, that God is right now ready to give you today.

MY friend listen this morning, God is not only calling you today, but God will give you purpose today in your life. Will you come in a few moments and receive God’s purpose for your life? But let me tell you what God wants more than anything in your life.

3. God wants you to experience Jesus and His grace today. More

than anything else, God wants you to experience Jesus and His grace today. A few moments ago we witnessed the drama, and in that drama we witnessed various people interacting with this character called Jesus in our drama time together. And you know what? When Christ was here, people did know Him. They did know Him. And thank God for that. Some knew Him very intimately like Peter, and James, and John, who He hung out with. And the disciples whom He invested His life with, and ultimately changed the world with, as well as many others. But what I’m telling you today is that you have the privilege to even get to know Jesus more intimately then they did. I’m talking about Jesus Christ coming into your life. I’m talking about Jesus Christ taking away all of your sins because of His gift of grace.

You see what is grace? Grace is free. Grace is God’s forgiveness for everything you’ve ever done that’s wrong. Can you imagine that? All of your sin, all of a sudden, in one quick moment erased for all of eternity. Anything you ever thought about that’s wrong, anything you’ve ever done that’s wrong, erased immediately! God’s forgiveness, all of that is possible because of the gift called grace.

But grace is also receiving what? Not only grace, but eternal life. Eternal life, you receive it. It’s not something my friend you work for. My soul! None of us could work hard enough. None of us could work long enough. None of us could be good enough to ever receive God’s gift of eternal life and God’s gift of grace. There are people all over this room today who have good intentions. They have a good heart. I mean you’re really wanting; you’re trying your best to make it. You’re trying your best to get to heaven. You’re trying your best to live right, and to treat people right. Hey I commend you! That’s awesome! But I want to tell you today, it doesn’t matter who the best of us is today, that’s not what it’s about. It’s about one thing: you coming to a place and a point in time in your life when you open your heart to God, and Jesus freely gives you His grace. He freely gives you eternal life. It’s not anything you work for.

That’s why the Apostle Paul wrote to the church Ephesus, and he said, “For by grace you are saved. For by grace you are saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is God’s gift.” And why did God do that? So you couldn’t run around here and boast because it’s not from works, or else you’d run around and you’d tell everybody what you did so you can have forgiveness, and so you could have eternal life.

Oh my friend, listen, it’s about God’s grace. You say, “Ronnie you have no idea what I’ve done, who I am.” Let me tell you something this morning, our jail pastor who visits the jails of NWA and ministers to those jailers, he was in our earlier service today. In the midst of that conversation with me to the people, I looked at him and I said, “Earl, you know what? What a great opportunity you have. People in our jails need hope and forgiveness, and the canceling out of sin.” But you know what? We’re just as guilty as anybody who would ever commit a crime. Sin is sin. And we’ve all offended God. And Jesus has come so that the offense will no longer be existing, and so that we can come to know Christ in a personal way, and it’s not from our works, but it’s by His wonderful grace. And you know when He died on the cross the Bible says in verse 10 that He abolished death. Literally that means that He rendered death inoperative. He rendered death as annulled. He rendered death as inactive. When Jesus was raised from the dead, He declared for those of us who will come to know Him, death is now inoperative! Death is now inactive! Death has now been annulled!

And you may say, “Ronnie I see people who supposedly are Christ-followers, and they died.” Oh yes, if the Lord doesn’t come we will all die. But the moment we die, and we have followed Jesus, and we have received His gift of grace, our spirit immediately that moment whether it be in a hospital room, or a highway, it immediately goes into the presence of God, and one day when Jesus comes again! One day when Jesus comes again, listen carefully, He will raise that body that is without life, and He will join it with your spirit, which is already in heaven with the Lord! And there my friend God will grant you something all of you wish for and hope for, and that’s a brand new body! I mean a transformed, glorified body! And I want to tell you that can only happen because of grace.

You see, Paul said while on one hand Jesus has annulled all death, on the other hand He is giving us life, and life for all of eternity. And then Paul said, “You know what? You know whom I have believed.” That word, “know whom I have believed” could be stated like this: I know in whom I have put my trust. I know Him who I trust now, and I know in whom I will trust in the future because I am trusting in Jesus Christ and Him alone for my salvation. That was the heartbeat of the Apostle Paul. The reason I know God will guard my heart, and never let me lose my faith, is because of one reason, now you listen very carefully, I didn’t do anything to gain my faith, I didn’t do anything to save myself, I didn’t do anything to gain salvation; God did it all! And since God did it all, it’s not on me to keep it; it’s on Him to keep it! And it’s kept. Kept by Him. Guarded by Him!

Oh dear friend I want you to understand today God is calling you today. God will give you purpose today. And more than anything else in your life, God wants to give you Jesus, and His grace today.

I’m always amazed about the various ways people come to Christ. And the various ways that people make this decision. Even the various places in which they make it. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve thought about my own family. I mean our immediate family. When you look at it, and you think about it, it pretty well personifies a lot. When I was 15 I was at a student fellowship, and a student prayer meeting, probably wasn’t over 25 or 30 people there, and my young 20, 21 year old pastor, because I was a part of a church about just a little bit bigger than where the band plays, that’s about how big it was. And he knelt down with me, and that night in 1971, I gave my life to Jesus Christ. I turned from not having Christ in life anymore because that’s the greatest sin in the world, and I opened my heart, and I declared that I would follow Him. I placed my trust when I was fifteen, I placed my trust today, I place my trust in Him. I can tell you when it happened, how it happened, I can tell you where it happened.

And then I think of my son Josh. Josh is a football coach. When Josh was 7 years of age, one night he walked into our den crying, telling us that he really believed he needed Jesus as Lord and as Savior. As we begin to dialogue with that 7 year old, trying to walk him to the point of receiving Christ, it became apparent that he was ready, it became apparent that he understood sin, and he understood the importance from turning sin, and giving life, his life to Jesus Christ. And that 7-year-old boy, in the den of our home, he knelt down with his mom and his dad, and he gave his life to Jesus Christ.

And then I think my 12-year-old Nick at that time. Now he’s much older than 12. He’s our preaching assistant here. But when Nick was 12 years of age, on Sunday morning worship service, God spoke to him in his heart, in the worship center there at Springdale, and Nick came forward and he received Jesus Christ to be his Lord and his Savior. Now think about this with me: I was 15, at a student fellowship at a small church in SW Texas, on a Saturday night. Josh was in our home at age 7. Nick was age 12 in a worship center.

But ah, then there’s Jeana. Jeana, what a story. Jeana did not come to Christ until she was 29 years of age. You see Jeana has a story that probably to some degree needs to become your stories today. She was raised in the home of a pastor. She has a degree in piano; I mean she’s an accomplished pianist, used to play the piano all the time in church. Grew up playing the piano, was playing it at 29 years of age in the church in which we were attending, involved in that music ministry in many ways, and then, here she did, she married a pastor. Even after serving as a summer missionary one summer, I’ll never forget the night when she told me about that.

It was during the week and we were in a series of meetings at our church. I was not speaking, someone else was. But I was down here greeting people for them to come to Christ, and Jeana came down very emotional, and told me, she said, “I believe I need Jesus to be my Savior. I believe I’m lost. I need Christ in my life.” And I said, “What did you say?” She began to articulate it again. And I responded in the most spiritual way I could as a pastor. I said, “Let me tell you something. You go back to your chair and when we get home, we’ll talk about it.” [LAUGHTER] Honest to God. That’s exactly what happened. That night we talked about it. And in a few short hours Jeana knelt on our kitchen floor, in our home in Texas, as a pastor’s wife, as a pastor’s kid, and gave her life, and her heart to Jesus Christ. And for the first time in her life, sins forgiven. For the first time in her life, everything became new, and the promise of heaven became real.

Think about it with me. I was 15 at a student fellowship. Josh was 7 in our home. Nick was 12 in a worship serve. Jeana was 29, and received Christ on a kitchen floor. I’m telling you today God is calling you today. God is offering for you His free gift of grace. It doesn’t matter what your background is, what your religion is, it doesn’t matter any of that stuff. What matters is one thing: what this Book says, and this Book says, Jesus loves you, and Jesus died on the cross to give you forgiveness of your sins, and eternal life. And if you will repent, if you will turn from that sin, the most costly sin you have is not giving Jesus Christ the rightful place in His life. If you will do that, Christ will do all that for you. But if you will not do that, the wages of your sin will be death, the grave, and Hell for your eternity.

Scripture says these words: Romans 10:11, “Whoever believes in Him will not be ashamed.” God is calling you today.

Would you bow with me all across the room this morning?

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2Y215L

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http://www.ronniefloyd.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/2Y215L-Know-You-Are-Saved32.mp3

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