When did you get saved?
Well, that is fair enough to ask. I mean to say, why should I come and lecture you and you not be able to investigate my soul? Yes, fair enough. When did I get saved? Well, to be frank with you, I think when I get home to heaven the good Lord will tell me I was saved long before I thought I was. I remember as a child saying, and sincerely meaning it, as best as a child can, a part of a Christian chorus that I had been taught:
Into my heart, into my heart,
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus;
Come in today,
Come in to stay,
Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.
And our blessed Lord has promised, 'I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in' (Revelation 3:20). But if you ask me when I came to personal faith and assurance of salvation, it was at the age of ten, and I'm not going to tell you my age, but it was over seventy years ago.
I was in bed at the time, and my father had come, as he normally did, and prayed with us before we went to sleep. I didn't listen to his prayer, actually, but there came into my head that famous verse in Paul's Epistle to the Romans, 'That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved' (see Romans 10:9). I said, 'Well, I do' (just talking to myself, of course); 'I do believe and confess Jesus as Lord. I do believe that God has raised him from the dead. The verse says I'm saved.' I turned over and went to sleep. I have lived nearly seventy-two more years since then to prove that that was true. In that sense, it is not any complicated thing. It is simple, but real. And when I grew up I learned, of course, the context of it.
Some people do say, don't they, 'But it's so difficult getting saved, that word you keep using.' And Paul says, 'Nonsense, it isn't difficult. The word is near you, even in your mouth.' All you have to do is close on it and say, yes. Believe it. Thank God for it.
'The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart' (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:8–10)
But in my experience, a lot of people find it very difficult to get hold of that bit. I was told of a preacher, and he was a little bit unusual, and he'd been preaching, like preachers do. And, at last, a lady of some substance had invited him to tea. And he went round in the afternoon to talk to her, and she was saying, yes, she'd enjoyed his sermons, but she couldn't get this business of eternal life, and how you could be sure you have it. She'd often prayed for it, but couldn't be sure. And the preacher tried to explain it to her: uphill, down dale, sideways on and backwards as well. No good. So he suddenly said, 'I wonder if you'd make me a cup of tea.'
'Oh, yes,' of course she would. So out she went, and brought back the tea on a beautiful tray; it looked lovely with a doily on it, or whatever you call them, and china of the best and the milk and the sugar and the tea, and said, 'There you are.'
He said, 'Oh, how I wish you would give me that tea.'
'Yes,' she said. 'Yes, well, I've made it for you.'
'Ah,' he said, 'but if only you knew how much I wanted that tea, you would give it to me.'
She said, 'Yes, you asked for it, didn't you? I made it for you.'
Then he got down on his knees, 'Please,' he said, 'give me this tea!'
She thought he'd gone bonkers. She wanted to know why he was behaving like that.
He said, 'Why do you treat God like it?'
This is the testimony. This is what God is saying to us. God is not saying, 'I will give eternal life', but 'I have given eternal life. That life is in my Son. He who has the Son has the life' (see 1 John 5:12). How would you know? Well, simply because God says so.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24)
Listen again, 'I have given eternal life, and that life is in my Son. He who has the Son has the life.'
Now, suppose there should be some extraordinary reason why you would like this bit of paper that I have here in my hand; perhaps it was antique or something. And I said, 'Right, as far as I'm concerned, I've given you that, and if you want that paper, I've given it to you. There it is, and the paper is tucked up in this closed book here. So, he who has the book has the paper.'
I shall be watching you to see what you do next. You wanted the paper. Will you come and take the book? And then I should watch you very closely after you'd taken it. If somebody saw you going out the door with the book and said, 'What have you got that for?' you might say, 'Because I wanted the bit of paper and he said it was in the book.'
They might reply, 'Do you think you've got the paper?'
What would you say next?
'Well, he said it was there but, you know . . .'
I would say, 'Is that what you think of my truthfulness?'
And God is listening to us, isn't he? He says, 'I've given eternal life. It's in my Son. If you have the Son, you have the life.'
How do I know? Because God says so, and God says, 'If you don't believe me when I speak, you are making me a liar.' I don't have that option, ladies and gentlemen, of making the almighty God a liar. What he says, I believe and must believe, and I want to believe it anyway as best I know how. I'm not boasting of anything for I, like all, am a sinner. I cannot lay any claim to salvation, but I need to be saved, and I want to be in God's heaven. He says to me, 'I've given you eternal life, and that life is in my Son. He that has the Son has life.'
Do I accept Christ? Have I got Christ as my Saviour? As best I know how, ladies and gentlemen, I have Christ. I have no other hope, and I have taken Christ, and I have Christ, and he, of course, has taken me, and I have eternal life because God himself has said so.
