## Absolutely

## II Timothy 1:7-12

Read Text. I have a nephew who has been in the 101st Airborne unit of the Army for nearly 15 years. He is 100% squared away military. You can tell it by looking at him, but when you talk with him it becomes very evident. He uses a term quite often in conversation. 'Absolutely!' I have, on occasion heard the same term from others. It is used to give assurance and to make things clear. Absolutely means: Complete, not mixed, pure, unrelated to, or dependent on something else. Not partial. Not weakened down. It means there is no doubt about it! You can count on it! In the passage we have before us, the apostle Paul wants to make things crystal clear concerning his relationship with the Lord. If he had lived in today's culture, he would have used the word 'Absolutely'!

(2 Tim 1:12) "For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."

I want to present some questions to you this morning. Your answers will determine your relationship to the Lord, and point out the need for action.

I. Are you 'Absolutely' saved?

- Note that I didn't ask are you a Christian
- I didn't ask have you been baptized
- I didn't ask are you a member of a church.
- I didn't ask if you were religious
- The question is are you absolutely saved?

A. Salvation Is Complete In Christ Only.

Heb 9:12 "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."

1. Christ finished salvation.

John 19:30 "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost."

2. Christ's blood shed on Calvary provided salvation complete.

3. We don't have to wonder about it, nor do we have to question it.

4. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe…He finished our salvation.

B. Salvation Is Given To All Who Believe.

1. When the Bible talks about believing in Christ for salvation, it is more than just an act of the mind.

2. Biblical belief includes confession and repentance.

3. When Paul told the Philippian jailer to '…believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved…' he wasn't talking about a mental decision.

4. He was talking about complete trust in Jesus Christ as the sole way of salvation!

C. God Never Partially Saves Anyone.

1. To be partly saved is to be completely lost.

2. That's like almost breathing.

(Acts 26:28) "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."

3. To be almost redeemed is to have totally rejected Christ.

4. Are you absolutely saved?

5. To not be is to be absolutely lost.

6. To be absolutely saved means coming to the realization that we are lost without Christ and by faith accepting what He did on Calvary as the atonement for our sins.

II. Are You Absolutely Sure?

A. This may sound redundant, but we not only need to be absolutely saved, but we also need to be absolutely sure of our salvation!

B. The majority of failures in the Christian life are caused by the lack of complete assurance of salvation.

1. If we are saved and really know it on a day-by-day basis then we can live a victorious Christian life.

2. However, if we live in uncertainty, then it is not likely that we will make much of an impact on this lost and dying world around us.

C. Our testimonies are all different.

1. It doesn't matter whether we were at home and someone came by our house and told us how to be saved.

2. It doesn't matter whether we were out in a cornfield and we trusted Christ.

3. It doesn't matter whether we wept or rejoiced with laughter, or neither.

4. It doesn't matter whether we kneeled at a prayer altar and openly received Christ or whether we were standing in a pew.

5. What does matter is that we accept Christ's finished work on the cross as total payment for our sin.

6. When we have accepted that, repented of our sins, and invited Christ to come into our life and take total control...then we are saved.

7. If we are holding on to anything else then we are "absolutely lost".

D. Our assurance must come from the Word of God.

1. Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.

2. We are saved because we have obeyed the Bible.

3. We are saved because we have accepted Christ as our Savior, not because we feel saved!

(Rom 10:9-10) "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. {10} For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

III. Are You Absolutely Surrendered?

A. A totally surrendered person has no future except what God has planned for him.

B. That may seem a bit extreme, but it is the way of victory.

C. Note the example of Jesus.

(Phil 2:7-8) "But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: {8} And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

1. As Jesus allowed the angry mob to take Him away from the garden, He was surrendered.

2. As He stood at the whipping post with His back being torn with every blow of the whip, He was surrendered.

3. As He stood at His mockery of a trial and was abused by the religious crowd, He was surrendered.

4. As He carried the rugged cross upon His beaten and bloodied back up the hill called Calvary, He was surrendered.

5. As the on lookers spat upon Him and accused Him of being an impostor, He was surrendered.

6. As He hung on the cross, naked in shame, beaten beyond recognition, He was surrendered.

7. As he hung on the cross, and as the spear was plunged into His side, He was surrendered.

8. As He raised His head and looked toward His Heavenly Father, only to see His Father turn from Him in rejection of sin, He was surrendered.

9. As He gave His last dying, grasping breath, and cried, "It is finished", He was surrendered.

D. To be absolutely surrendered is to do God's will without hesitation, or complaint.

"All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live."

This morning, are we absolutely saved? Are we absolutely sure? And are we absolutely surrendered? If not, we need to come today and do business with God. Do not delay; if the recent tragic events have taught us anything, it is that time is short and life is fragile. Come today.