You have been sent on a journey. You had no choice about when or where it started. You don't know when, where or how it will end. You have no map. All you know for sure is that it's bound to end sometime. There are rules that apply to this journey, but you've had to learn them as you go. And you cannot control them. You may not even know the purpose of the journey, even though others claim to know. All you know is that once started, you must continue every day, whether you feel like it or not. You start with no possessions, and when you finish you must turn in all you have accumulated. In the end, say some, you will be rewarded or punished. But how do they know for sure? That's life, my friends, and you cannot change it. A little faith and a sense of humor, fortunately, help cushion some of the bumps. (Anonymous, as quoted by Brian Cavanaugh, T.O.R., The Sower's Seeds, Paulist Press, 1990, p. 27). I recently came across that little quote. There is some truth in it suppose, but it really sound a bit fatalistic, don’t you think? It makes it sound as if what ever will be will be, and that you have absolutely no choice in the matter at all. The saying is filled with uncertainty, the same uncertainty that has robbed thousands of the joy of the Christian life. Thousand are made to feel plainly miserable by doubt, even those who read their Bibles, pray every day, and attend church faithfully. Yet they have no assurance of their salvation. The past two weeks we have gotten a head start on the Lenten Season, with a sermons on the death and the resurrection of our Lord. Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Lent, when Les will be preaching, and the Sunday after, Mr. Stanley Mayes will be here representing the Gideon International. We will be back the next Sunday when we will continue our Lenten journey. Today I want to wrap up this short series pre-Lent sermons by asking the question, "Can we be sure?" Is it really possible for us to know without a doubt that, that Christ died for our sins, and was raised again, in order that we might have salvation? How can we be sure?

Let me urge you today; don't waste your time in doubt. I would also say that you should not just depend on your feelings here either. Perhaps you have a just good feeling about your salvation, but that too isn’t enough. What do we need. We need certainty, and assurance. So how can we be sure that because of Jesus Christ salvation is ours, and that because of Easter, we will some day be with him, in the place we call heaven.

Allow me to suggest some more words to think about, as I did a couple of weeks ago, common everyday words, which we will use in connection with the certainty, and assurance we need.

The first word is facts. We should always very carefully consider the facts, and the facts of the Gospel speak for themselves. Let me remind you again of the words we read from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians last Sunday. "“Now, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). This is the nucleus of the Gospel. Without that there would be no Gospel, no Good News. These are the facts of the gospel. Christ died for our sins; Christ was buried; and Christ rose again, the third day. And all of this, according to Scripture. What does that mean? When we think of Scripture, no doubt the first thing that comes to mind is the Bible, the Old and the New Testament. But we need to remember that when Paul wrote this, there was very little New Testament in existence. As a matter of fact, Paul was the first New Testament writer, not Matthew, as we might think. The order of the four gospels, and then the rest of the New Testament came a number of years after it was written, and it is not in chronological order. So when Paul mentions the Scriptures, he is talking about the Old Testament, which was in existence in his day. Allow me to mention Isaiah 53 again. Centuries before the birth of Christ, Isaiah had already prophesied his death. That’s a fact. Over and over again the Old Testament tells us that atonement for sin is necessary, before it can be forgiven. They used the blood of animals to atone for their sins, but this was only a sign pointing to the real thing, namely the blood of the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29) . That is fact number one. Christ died for our sins.

Fact number two is that he was buried. Jesus was put in a tomb. He himself said that he would buried for three days. "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40). But that would not be the end of it. Fact number three of the Gospel says that he rose again. As we heard last time, without that truth, the rest of the gospel has no meaning. Christ’s resurrection is the basis for the assurance of yours and mine! Listen to these words of assurance. "For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:9&11). The resurrection is God's proof to us that we may have eternal life. That is fact. You can take it to the bank!

The second word is faith. Facts can do an individual no good unless he or she can exercise faith in them. I ogten say that faith should be of the heart, rather than of the head, but this doesn’t mean we just believe everything blindly. Blind faith is no better than no faith. Faith is made relevant by facts. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb 11:1). Faith is believing, being sure of the facts as God presents them to us in his Holy word, and accepting these facts personally for yourself.

George Sweeting has a great illustration for this. "Imagine a prisoner being offered a pardon. He is so overwhelmed after reading the document of pardon he is in a daze. You ask him, 'Have you been pardoned?' 'Yes,' he says. 'Do you feel pardoned?' you ask. He replies, 'No I don't, it is so sudden.' ' But,' you ask, 'if you do not feel pardoned, how can you be sure that you are? You are not yet released from prison. You say that you not feel anything. How can you be sure that you are pardoned?' The prisoner points to the document and remarks, 'this tells me so.'" That is an example of faith. He believed and accepted the truth. He knew the document was true. You may point to the Word of God as the document of pardon for you. You have the assurance written there for you. All you need is to accept it by faith. ". . .We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Cor 4:18)

A third word we may use here is the word fruit. Jesus once said "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). What does this word fruit mean in this context? It means good works. This kind of fruit, or good works, is the result of faith. Good works in the life of the believer is like fruit. Given the right environment, they just grow naturally, cultivated and nurtured by the word of God. Because we know what Christ has done for us we just naturally want to reach out into the world with our good works.

What are some good works in the life of the believer; that which Jesus called fruit? Things such as love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, all of these are mentioned in Scripture as good works. If one has these, and uses them to further kingdom of God, that is evidence of salvation. Ah, you say, but an unbeliever can have any of those qualities too. Right! But the Bible tells us that the works of the unrighteous are like "filthy rags" in God’s sight. (Isaiah 64:6) Fruit; good works, must be motivated by our faith. We do it for God, not for ourselves. We reach out into our community with words and deeds, not because we want to gain anything for ourselves, but we want to gain everything for God, and for the recipients of our outreach. Even when we reach out further afield, where ever we can help, it can never be for our own gain, but always, only because we have these good works as evidence of salvation.

The next word is peace. In Philippians 4:7, the apostle Paul writes about, "the peace of God, which passes understanding. There is s sense peace in one's life that is a sign of salvation. Worries are let go. Anger is no longer evident. Bitterness is gone. The ability to accept adversity, and just giving it over to God, becomes second nature. It is peace that goes beyond understanding. The world does not have this peace; indeed cannot even imagine such peace. Do you have such peace in your life? If so, salvation is at hand. There is a word closely connected with peace, and that word is joy. Listen carefully. Joy is not happiness. They are different feelings, different emotions. Happiness can come and go. We all know that. We can be elated one minute, while the next, something happens, and our happiness is turned into sorrow. But joy. . .joy is not dependent upon circumstances. Joy is something that can always be with you, regardless of what might happen in your life. How? Because salvation gives one such joy, for then you will have the Spirit of God within you, and if God is for you, who can be against you! "He gave us his Spirit as the guarantee of all that he has in store for us" (2 Cor 5:5b).

You have been sent on a journey. You had no choice about when or where it started. You don't know when, where or how it will end. Or do you? Yes, each must appear before Christ, but we know the facts, and if your good works are motivated by faith, then peace and joy will be yours for eternity!