The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that , just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say , then?  Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means!  We are those who have died in sin; how can we live in it any longer?  Romans 5:20-6:2  NIV

This Father’s Day was kind of rough.  You see my Dad spent this Father’s Day, as he has the last five, with his Heavenly Father in glory.  Now I am very happy for my Dad, but sad for me.  You see, I really miss my dad.  One thing I knew growing up is that my daddy loved me.  I never doubted that.  There were plenty of times that we got into heated debates about one issue or the other, as we often disagreed on various topics. Often we agreed to disagree.  But one thing I always knew was that he loved me and wanted what was best for me.  This made me want to please my dad.  You see I was born 11 years after my youngest sister.  I was a mistake.  Some people don’t like that word, so let’s just say I wasn’t planned for.  They thought my mom had the flu.  Anyway with two girls, my dad was so hopeful that he was getting that boy that he had always wanted, but instead he got me.  I was determined, however, not to disappoint him.  I spent a lot of time with my dad.  He was self-employed and I could often spend the day with him.  I grew up close to my dad and wanting to please him.

Years later when I began dating, the rule was that my dad had to meet and approve of anyone that I dated.  There was one young man who had been calling and asking me to go out with him and I explained the rules.  He came by the house to meet my dad.  First of all he screwed up by showing up about 20 minutes early and my dad wasn’t there.  This didn’t make my dad too happy.  Furthermore, he was a big guy 6’4″ and was 18 years old.  I was 5’0″ and 16.  My dad didn’t think this was a good match.  So later that day when he called and asked if my dad had given his approval for him to take me to a movie, I had to tell him no.  I had to tell him that I would not be allowed to date him.  So his solution was for me to lie to my dad and tell my dad that I was going somewhere with girlfriends.  I had my own car, so this would be easy to do, right?  Wrong!  I had lied to my dad once and it had turned out to be a disaster.  I had really hurt my dad and caused him to worry that I had been abducted or in some horrible accident.  I didn’t want to do this again.  So I told him no.  I could have easily done it and I imagine my dad would have never known, but I didn’t want to.

This is what it is like, when we are truly saved.  We can sin, our heavenly Father will always know, but we can do it if we want to.  But when we are truly saved, we just don’t want to.  We want to walk in close relationship with our Heavenly Father and not disappoint him.

So the question today is are you absolutely sure that you are saved?  Are you 100 per cent positive that if you died today that you would go to heaven?  This is something that we need to be sure about.  We can’t just hope we are saved, we have to know, that we know, that we know, that we are saved.  This is eternity we are talking about here! This is way too important to be unsure.  So what does the Bible say about being sure that we are saved?

Romans 8:14,  For those who are led by the Spirit of God, are the children of God.    When we are truly saved, we want to be led by God’s Spirit.  1 John 2:29, If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of Him.  Can people look at you and the things you do and know that you are saved?  Do your actions prove that you have been saved?  Does your walk line up with your talk?

Many Christians believe that once we are saved, we are always saved.  We have to be on guard against being led astray.  Hebrews 3:12 tells us that we are to see to it that we don’t have an unbelieving, sinful heart that turns away from God.

Now the devil is always going to send temptation our way.  Even Jesus Christ was tempted.  We are told in 1 Corinthians  10:13 that, No temptation has overtaken you except that which is common to mankind.  And God is faithful;  He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.    Matthew 6:13, which is in the Lord’s prayer, says, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

If you are truly saved, then you truly don’t want to sin.  You avoid tempting situations. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 tells us to not only avoid evil, but to avoid even the appearance of evil. Now we know from Romans 3:23 that we all sin.  The difference for those of us that are truly saved is that we have experienced sinning and disappointing our heavenly Father and we don’t want to do that again.  Just as I didn’t want to disappoint my earthly father, I certainly don’t want to disappoint my heavenly Father.  Will, he forgive me? Of course he will, but I can’t use that as an excuse for sinning.

You see for years, I thought I was saved.  But there was one huge problem, I was doing what I wanted and trying to justify my sinful behavior.  I thought that God would just overlook it and understand it.  God wasn’t going to do that anymore than my dad was going to overlook my willful disobedience.  But once I was truly saved, I didn’t want any part of that sin that had been keeping me enslaved for all those years.  I felt free.  With God’s help I had broken those chains that were holding me back from a loving relationship with God, the Father.

So today I encourage you to take a good hard look at your life.  Are you wandering around in the desert hoping that you will get into the promised land?  Or, are you on the right path and know that you will get there?  This is one thing that you better be sure of.

Have  a great day!