Mount Isa Baptist Church

The last three sermons have followed these following themes:

“Are you ready?” If Jesus should return today, are you ready?

“How do you know?” looking at assurance of salvation.

“Does He know me?” I think I am a Christian, but does He know me?

My prayer is that you can answer a resounding “YES” to all these questions.

Yes, In am ready

Yes, I know beyond a shadow of doubt that I’m a believer

Yes, He knows me

Matthew 7:15: “Watch out for false prophets, they come in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ferocious wolves”

We were reminded this past Sunday to watch out, keep an eye out for false prophets because they want to deceive you. They want to take God’s Word and twist it for their own benefit.

Jesus continues in vs.16: “By their fruit you will recognise them”

By the fruit of the preacher, by the fruit of false prophet, you will recognise them.

By what they say, by the lifestyle they live, watch them.

The bottom line is, as Jesus says, a good tree produces good fruit, therefore if you see good fruit then it's a good tree.

And the opposite is the same, if it's a bad tree it will produce bad fruit.

You can't get good fruit from a bad tree.

Jesus carries on in vs.19: “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire”

Now we have been saying that in this context Jesus is referring to false prophets, but we can expand this a little, throughout all humanity.

If you bear bad fruit, if you stand against God, if you don't follow His decrees,

If you don't give your life to Him, you will be cut down, as we all will one day, and you will be cast into the fire.

And now we get to the issue at hand vs. 21: “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus is saying that not everybody that calls Him Lord, not everybody who acknowledges who He is, not everybody who knows that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, is going to be saved.

You see there is always two sides to this little coin called salvation.

There is the belief that is necessary.

You need to believe but you need to obey.

The two go hand in hand.

If I can divide this thing between belief and obedience into head and heart, belief in Jesus is head knowledge, I know who Jesus is

I know He is the Son of God.

I Know He is the creator of the world.

I know He died on the cross.

But obedience is heart knowledge.

I surrender my life to Him, I surrender myself to His authority, I put myself willingly under Him.

This heart knowledge is the kind of belief that leads to willing obedience.

In 1 John 5:13: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Let me say categorically this morning, in terms of "Does He know Me?"

Am I really saved?

You can and you should know that you have eternal life.

Christianity is the only, and I say this without exception and knowing I am correct, Christianity is the only religion where you know that you are saved.

Where you know that you have eternal life.

Where you can know that the moment that your eyes close in this world you will open them in the next.

If you have given your life to the Lord, you should know that you are going to go to heaven.

What is the process of being saved so that we can be sure

Acts 2:38: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins

What did Peter just say?

Recognise your sin.

Recognise Jesus Christ.

Beg for the forgiveness of your sin, repent of your sin, in obedience to Christ be baptised.

There is the thing of baptism.

It shows our obedience; it shows your hearts willingness to follow Christ.

In the name of Jesus Christ, all about Jesus.

Why? We repent for what?

For the forgiveness of our sins.

Don't be confused, we are not baptised for the forgiveness of our sins, we repent for the forgiveness of our sins.

We repent and are baptised because we repent and then show our obedience by being baptised.

That's what a baptism is!

Baptism is obedience.

Baptism is showing the world I am a Christian and I'm serious.

Romans 10: 9-10, Paul says very clearly that

“If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

There it is again: head - heart

“For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified.”

Not with your head, with your heart

“And it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

You believe with your head and that moves down into your heart which results in obedience and that obedience then turns into confession, I confess Jesus Christ as Saviour.

The bottom line this morning is this: “Does He know me?”

Only you can answer that question but it's an easy one to answer.

You must just ask yourself:

“Have you given your life to Christ?”

Have you given control of your life to Him?

If you cannot answer “YES” and would like to know more, please come speak to me that I can share with you. Maybe you do know but haven’t followed the Lord Jesus example of believer’s baptism please also feel free to come see me.