Soul Winning - Part 4 — Roy Daniel

Assurance of Salvation for Children from Conservative Christian Homes

Answers for those who grew up in conservative evangelical Christian homes who are struggling to find assurance of salvation by Roy Daniel. Now, do you mind if I read this to you? Because I can give you a sermon, but it's not going to be as good.

Because this took hours and hours and hours and hours, and I've got the brains to remember what I wrote. So I'm going to actually do it tonight. I've never done this before. I've never ever read a sermon.

My dad would say, Roy, did you read a sermon? I'd say, well, Jonathan Edwards did. But Roy, did you read a sermon? I'd say, Dad, you know, I know, I know, but I did, after tonight. Okay, so forgive me.

This is not normal. This is due to Ezra's alarm clock not going off and a few other things. But mainly because I don't want to miss something, and something that is very simple, but that is very precious.

Okay, this is going to be, now just imagine, when I was a little kid, I was trying to justify my sin. When I was getting to the point of actually reading this to you. And one of the things I thought of was, you know, when I was very little, my mom used to take out books and read me stories.

And I so enjoyed it. So I thought, whoa, you can read something and people enjoy it. Okay, let's, and that was just justification, but I got down to the fact, I'm just going to do it whether people like it or not.

Let's pray. Father, thank you so much that we are gathered here tonight. We can look to Thee, not to ourselves, for Thee to work, for You to open up Your Word, for You to show us our souls, and the problems in our lives, and the lies in our lives, and how You can help us, and what You want us to do.

In Jesus Christ's name, Amen. Before I start, there's two types of things you have to think of when you're listening to this. Number one, you might have this problem. Number two, you might one day meet someone with this problem.

And it's probably only going to be about two or three people in a church, Evangelical church. But Christ died for those individuals. And if we were just worried about the masses, then we wouldn't worry about this message.

Because there are people like this that we meet, and I was one of them. Then it's very important that we understand how to deal with them. Okay, I'm going to read. I know a person who grew up in a religious Evangelical house.

He read his Bible and longed to know for sure that he was saved. He prayed to accept Jesus Christ often, but nothing happened. He went out in meetings and still nothing happened. He was desperate. He could not understand how God could mock him.

Why, when he prayed and prayed and tried and tried, did he still not know? He later started to give up and went into sin. He thought, what is the use of seeking God if you never find Him? He went into deep sin and said terrible things like that he wished people would land up in hell.

He was totally and utterly on the broad way that leads to destruction. So many people struggle with knowing they are saved. Many seek and can't find faith. Are you like this? Please, I beg you, don't give up.

I know exactly what you are going through and experiencing. This booklet is specifically for people who seek God and cannot know they are saved. Number one, it is not specifically for ungodly people who grew up in ungodly homes and hate God.

I have seen people throw me satanic signs with their fingers when I tried to witness at the university students late at night in the USA sector. At another university in South Africa, I have had drunk people, young scholars shout at me and tell me I am judging them.

Neither, number two, is it specifically for religious people who are proud and believe that their good works will get them to heaven. Number three, nor is it specifically for liberal evangelicals who believe to be saved all you have to do is pray a prayer and then you can carry on with your life sinning.

Just remember to sing in church a few times. This booklet is specifically for children who grow up in a conservative environment who are often told they must be born again. They are told from childhood that if they are born again, a miracle will happen in their heart which leads to biblical fruit in their lives.

These children are evangelical home children, kids, and they have their own set of problems and struggles. If you are the fourth type of person and are struggling to know that you are saved, this book is written prayerfully for you.

Repeated Prayers, Doubt, and the Search for Salvation

Here is the following, your story too. When I was a small boy, I prayed every day to be saved until my grandfather said you pray once for your past sins and then you are a child of God. I prayed once but nothing happened.

A few years later I went by and I felt scared of hell and prayed again to be saved. Nothing happened on the inside. I tried to be good by reading the bible and witnessing but every few years I would be scared of hell in a meeting or through something someone said.

And I would pray again to be saved and nothing happened. I kind of hoped I was saved but never knew. I once felt joy because I told myself I was saved but then it lasted for a few hours and was gone. Looking back I saw again that nothing had happened inside.

I started to get angry. I gave up and started to do sins behind my parents backs. I so wanted to be saved, this is my life by the way, but I tried so many times to be saved and nothing happened. God put me in a situation where I needed Him and cried out to God that if He took me out of my troubles I would serve Him.

In an hour or two God solved all my problems. I then tried to follow God in my own strength. Still I doubted day by day and could only hope my sins were washed away. My story is the story of this song.

This is a famous hymn. Oh how well I do remember how I doubted day by day for I didn't know for certain that my sins were washed away. When the Spirit tried to tell me I would not the truth receive, I endeavored to be happy and to make myself believe.

When the truth came close and searching all my joys would disappear for I did not have the witness of the Spirit bright and clear. If at times the coming judgment would appear before my mind, oh it made me so uneasy for God's smile I could not find.

When the Lord sent faithful servants who would dare to preach the truth, how my heart did so condemn me as the Spirit gave reproof. Satan said at once to ruin you now to confess your sin. Keep on working and professing and you'll enter heaven's gate.

But at last I tired of living such a life of fear and doubt for I wanted God to give me something that I would know about. So the truth would make me happy and the light would clearly shine and the Spirit gave assurance that I'm His and He is mine.

So I prayed to God in earnest and not caring what folks said I was hungry for the blessing of my spirit so it must be fed. Then at last by faith I touched Him and like sparks from smitten steel just so quick salvation reached me and I know, I know it's real.

See then one day I met with Jesus. I was so happy I went out and testified to people everywhere and eventually in many countries of the world to thousands of youth from evangelical homes as well. I suddenly found out I was not alone in my experience.

Thousands of kids in conservative evangelical homes everywhere were going through what I had been through. They had prayed for salvation many times in their life and nothing happened. They tried for a while and then prayed again.

This had been going on for years. They were so frustrated. They did not tell anyone much. But when you cornered them they admitted this was their sad Christian life. So many people I meet on the outside they smile but this is their experience on the inside.

They just don't want to talk to people about it because they are ashamed. I saw the following results in different people's lives. Some started to believe that their sad experience was all Christianity was about and they became religious people who went to church and that's about it.

They were often on false foundations believing that they are saved because they said a prayer while they actually still were spiritually dead religious people. Number two. One person I know and many are like him got so angry after praying again and again and finding nothing happened that he blamed God and turned to sin.

He said how can God say that he will meet with me and every time I pray nothing happens. This frustration led to rebellion in his heart and huge sin in his life. Some people number three experienced amazing feelings and miracles and thought they were saved when they were not.

They carried on in sin and thought they were right with God because of the miracles and feelings they received. Number four. Some people just carried on struggling on and on and on. Number five. Some people like me met with God and know for certain they are saved.

There is biblical fruit in their lives which followed their salvation. Now if you are in the situation that you pray and pray for salvation and nothing seems to happen. I want you to know two things. Number one.

You are not alone. You are not a special case. They will never know you are saved. Many thousands all were like you and Christ died for every one of you. Number two. There is hope. No one cannot know they are gloriously saved.

Amen. You can know. There is hope no matter how much you feel there is no hope. The three days before I got saved I remember this so clearly. I longed to know I was saved but felt I could not work up faith.

I was depressed and thought I would never be saved because I could never know that I had faith. On the third day something happened to me that was not mere emotional experience. I met with Jesus. I want to take you on a journey specially written from my heart for people who just can't know they are saved.

You try and try and nothing happens. Please pray. This is in the booklet. And ask God now to open up the truth of this booklet to you. The truth sets us free. Remember when you most despair of ever knowing is often when you are about to know.

You must have hope. You see the Bible talks of hope deferred which makes the heart sick. That is when you get hope to be saved and then nothing happens. The more you get such hope the harder it is to have true hope again.

Let's say after a meeting you feel to pray again to get saved. In your heart you have hope that this time God will hear me. You pray and nothing happens. It is as if something inside you gives up that you will ever know that you are a child of God.

It is wonderful to know that the Bible talks of another hope that maketh not ashamed. Hope that maketh not ashamed is a hope that works. With this wonderful hope you hope that you know you are saved. And then you come to the point where you know that you are saved.

That is very possible for every person on earth. Unless you don't want it. Paul talked of this hope in Hebrews when he says to them, They fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Those who have done that.

In this booklet I am going to by God's grace put a new hope, put a hope before you that works. I hope any sinner can flee to lay hold of him and know he is saved. I want to ask a question. Do you still have hope?

Do you still believe the promises of God concerning salvation? Do you believe you can know that they are part of your life and you are a child of God? I remember a time when I lost hope in an area of my life.

I got sick. I felt like I would die. I called an ambulance. Ezra, do you remember that? Later I went to three doctors. And I even went into a hospital for the night. They gave me pills. That is bad, eh?

For eight months. I eventually became so weak. If I ran thirty yards, my body would collapse. Honestly. I could do nothing. I couldn't even preach at that time. In USA, someone told me of a natural specialist.

I don't want to go because what could he tell me? I eventually was half forced to go. And there, as he tested me, and after a while he told me exactly what was wrong with me. Two weeks later, I was feeling better, off my pills and on my way to recovery.

I cried before that doctor when he explained the answer to my problems. You know why I cried? Because for the first time after so many doctors and specialists, I had hope. Do I hear Sarah laugh? Abraham was told by God that he would father thousands.

Sarah, his wife, knew about this. But time went by. She got older and older and nothing happened. A sad thing happened. Sarah lost hope in the promises of God. She did not believe that God could give her a child.

Then God came to visit her tent and he said that she should bear a child. She heard this and what did she do? She laughed. God rebuked her for laughing. Soon, at an old age, she was pregnant and had a child called Isaac.

Are you like that? Have you lost faith that God's promises of salvation can become true in your life? Have you prayed many times to be saved and nothing happened? Now you read this book and you laugh in your heart.

You say, this is just another person trying to help me. It never worked before. Why would this work now? If you are like that, then you have Sarah's laugh. I want to rebuke you. I want to rebuke you like God rebuked Sarah.

God said Sarah would have a child. And she did. God said that you can know you have eternal life. And you can. You have to run for refuge from God's wrath of your sins and a hold of the hope set before you.

You want to know how to know? Firstly, and these things might seem tedious to go through. But each one is important until we come to the point how to deal, how to get faith. I'm going to deal with that very radically.

Firstly, I would like to look at a few reasons why various people struggle to be saved or to know they are saved. And then I'll give you clear steps how to radically deal with the doubt in your life. This is biblical teaching and it works.

I've sat down with people and I've given them some illustrations. I'm going to give later in this booklet to you guys. And they've had years and years of doubting and immediately they've known that they're saved or not saved.

Repentance and the Motive for Coming to Christ

So let's go. The first thing is let us examine your motive. My friend Ian Watterson, he's a very funny guy there in Africa, watched a film as a kid on hell. He was so scared he went to his older sister and asked to pray with her to be saved.

She asked him, do you want to get saved? Because you want to get saved or just because you're scared of hell? He answered, because he wanted to be saved but he knew it was only because he was scared of hell.

He later said he was not sorry about his sin but merely scared of hell. Nothing happened in his heart. You see, God commands that we are to repent and believe the Bible. We have to repent, sorrow over our sins.

I met a man recently who said he used to be sick of his mother rebuking his sin. And now he was sick of his sin but every day he went back and did evil, gross sins with his friends. He was starting to hate his life of sin.

But that is not good enough. You have to be sick of your life of sin. So sick that you're willing to give it up. You can't just feel all bad. You have to decide you're willing to give up the life you once loved for Jesus.

For Jesus. He was not ready and so I did not pray with him. I wanted to see him so sick of his old life that he did not just feel all bad about it but would do anything to stop sin and have Jesus. I met a man once, he told me he went to church and prayed often to be saved.

He longed to know he was saved. I told him a few things. Later I saw him at a convention and on the last night he rode away early. The next time I saw him, which was two weeks later, tears rolled down his face as he saw me.

He said, Roy, it was my fault. It was my fault that I couldn't know that I'm saved. I had sin in my life and I did not want to confess it and give it up. I met with God the moment I was willing to give up my sin and I know that I'm saved.

If you are truly sick of your sin, you will want to give it up to have Jesus. This is very important. We must be careful now. The devil is usually clever. Some of you might have experienced this. He is evil and hates you.

One of his greatest weapons is the weapon of this question. Isn't there some sin you haven't confessed or don't know about yet? He will tell you that you cannot be saved until you know what that sin is.

Isn't that just like a torturer? He gives you a problem which has no answer. God's Holy Spirit shows you a sinner and expects you to be willing to give up all sins of the heart and deed that you know are biblically wrong.

And any he may show you. He doesn't tell you there may be something else, but I will never show you. That's not God. God doesn't leave you in torment. God wants to bring you to the point that you know you are his child.

And if you are humble, he is willing to help you every step of the way. If you want to know what is sin, look at God's word. You have broken God's law. You have lied or stolen or disobeyed your parents.

You have lusted in your heart. If you have, then know a million years of good works could never buy forgiveness for even one sin. You are helpless. There are many wrong motives for becoming a Christian.

If you simply want a better life, or you feel pressurized by your parents to become a Christian, or you feel pressurized because all your friends are Christians, then that is all wrong reasons to seek God.

Human Helplessness and Freedom Through Christ

You must be so sick of your life of sin that you want to give up the old life, and secondly you must want to have a relationship with Jesus in which he is the final highest authority in your life. Secondly, do you realize you are utterly hopeless?

Another thing that keeps people from salvation is they don't know they are hopeless. One of my friends was in a meeting. For years he had been living his own life in his own way. In this meeting he started to realize he was a sinner and on his way to hell.

The preacher brought an illustration. He asked a volunteer who came to the front and sat down on a chair. The preacher took ropes and tied the man with many loops around his legs and body. Eventually he knotted the rope behind his back.

The preacher then asked the volunteer to set himself free. He tried and tried but could not. The preacher then asked, how can this man be set free? The answer was something. Someone had to come from the outside, listen carefully, someone had to come from the outside and set him free.

He was hopeless to set himself free. Sin has a power in our lives. The power binds us in a way we could never set ourselves free. We are utterly helpless. We have but one hope and none other. That hope is, as Jesus said, if the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed.

We have to realize that God has to come from the outside. We are utterly hopeless. We must be willing to give up our sins. Only God can set us free from a life of sin. If Jesus comes and sets you free, then you will be free indeed.

If Jesus comes and sets you free, you shall be free indeed. He comes from the outside and sets you free through His mighty power. You can do nothing to set yourself free from the powerful chains of a life of sin.

You are like a man tied to a chair. Jesus is the someone who can come from the outside and set you free. You have to ask Him to do that. And now thirdly, are you looking for unbiblical proof that you are saved?

Rejecting Unbiblical Tests of Salvation

Or even unbiblical means to be saved that keeps you from simple faith? I'd like to go through a few things that people think they need to be saved. A girl who did not wear a head covering. I read the testimony of salvation of a girl and she said many years ago she prayed to be saved and afterwards remembered she prayed without a head covering.

I once was in a place and I prayed with a head covering and I forgot the men aren't allowed to do that. And I was in trouble. She felt because of this God could never have saved her. God does not have to wait for you to wear a head covering to save you.

God has saved people when they cried to God half drunk and He set them free in one moment. I know a girl God saved at a party. She suddenly came out of conviction and felt her life she was living was stupid.

She felt sick of her sinful life and went to a room and called out to God to save her. God did save her there. She had no head covering on when God saved her. We should come willing to be changed but we should come just as we are.

Another one, a child who randomly opened her Bible. You can't believe, I'm going through these things. Listen carefully to this. How the devil keeps people from being saved. A whole lot of things. A girl in America told me she struggled to be saved.

I sat with her for hours explaining how the devil can keep you from knowing. One of the things she said was that she knew she could not be saved. She said she knew she could not be saved because she tested God and the test failed.

Listen to this. She said she prayed to God and said, God if I'm saved then when I open the Bible randomly please give me a verse that proves I'm saved. She said she opened her Bible and nothing happened.

This is very dangerous. Unfortunately even godly people do this. In the early 1800s many Methodist lay preachers used to pray to God for guidance and then randomly open their Bible to get an answer. To illustrate how dangerous this is, read this true story.

A lady was phoned by a suicide case. The person on the phone told her I'm about to kill myself. The lady was terrified and did not know what to do. She took her Bible and prayed, God tell me what to do.

I'll open my Bible anywhere and you give me the answer. The woman opened her Bible and the verse she saw was this, Go and do thou likewise. Sad that people do this. Don't work out complicated tests of whether you're saved or not.

The Bible gives very clear and simple tests of salvation which we shall discuss soon. Next point and I'm going to start to give this as preaching. The person who thought meditating on heaven would prepare him to be saved.

I know a person and this person wanted to get saved and prayed to be saved many times and just couldn't get saved. And so eventually this person thought there's something missing. I've got to do something to be saved.

And so this person started to think if I meditate on heaven, eventually if I meditate for long enough I'll be ready to be saved. This really happened. I met this person last year. In an evangelical home.

And so he was meditating on heaven. Meditating, hoping that they will prepare him to be saved. This is an evil lie of Satan. If you're a sinner then you don't need anything but to repent and come to Jesus.

If you try to prepare yourself in any way, then you're saying Jesus is not enough. The cross was not enough. You need to add to God's work before he can save you. It is so clear from scripture that we have to have godly self over our sins and come to Jesus.

Nothing more. There's no head covering, no meditation, no good works. You need to precede salvation. You must come as you are willing to be changed. That's it. Then there was a lady who wondered if she was protestant.

Anybody here wonder if you're protestant? I'm definitely protestant. I was told by the Jehovah's Witnesses I'm one of the elect 144 ,000. Officially. In case any of you wondered. Many people feel that they cannot know if they are saved because they do not know if they are protestant or not.

My great aunt, a lovely aunt. She struggled with this for years. Let me ask you a few questions about the following verse. God does command all men everywhere to repent. Tell me, did Jesus say God commands all men everywhere to repent except if they don't know if they are protestant?

No. Nowhere did anyone ever preach the gospel message in the Bible and then say before any of you believe this message, just make sure that you're protestant. When I got saved, I did not think of whether I was protestant or not.

I thought of one thing and that was I was a filthy sinner. I saw only one hope and that was Jesus. And I called out to that Jesus and he saved me as he promised he would. All that call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Obviously if we're willing to give up our sin, if we're repentant. The great aunt who was bound by Satan, by that lie that she first had to know if she was protestant, fortunately was helped to resist the lie.

Hallelujah. And she came to the point when simplicity, she looked to Jesus to save her and he did as he promised he would. She became a deep godly person and a soul winner for God. And I remember when she died of cancer, knowing she was a child of God.

1 Timothy 2 verse 3 and 4 states,. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth. All men means all men, including you.

God wants you to be saved. Another thing that keeps you back, there was a man who had evil thoughts, Charles Spurgeon, had a wonderful salvation experience. And after salvation he experienced evil thoughts.

Evil thoughts came into his mind continuously. And he went to his grandfather and he really thought, I'm not saved. And his wise grandfather told him, these are the devil's breath, not yours. Don't own them to yourself.

You see the devil can often tempt you with evil thoughts and then make you feel miserable because he tells you the thoughts were sin and you are a deep sinner. Of course we must resist these thoughts, but the fact that they come do not mean we are sinners.

It just means we are normal Christians that have been tempted by an evil foe. I once prayed with a person, this happened. I prayed with him and he was literally shaking under conviction of sin. And I explained the gospel message and I just felt, tell him about this.

And I said, after salvation you're going to be amazed by the evil thoughts that come to you that you never had before. And straight after that he prayed and he went to his room and he came to me and he said, Roy, I'm so glad you told me that because straight after I prayed with you, there were just these evil thoughts coming to me.

And the devil came and he said to me, you can't be saved now. You can't be saved. It's impossible that you're saved. And I kept on reminding myself of the truth of what he said. The truth of what he said.

And eventually the light broke through and I realized I resisted the devil and he fled. And he's become a stable Christian who loves the Lord. He's an amazing man. He really met with God. When he came to me before salvation, he didn't even have a Bible.

But this is the thing that happens to Christians. It doesn't mean you're not saved if these evil thoughts come to you. Number five, the man who was angry with his wife. I met this man in Richard's Bay, South Africa.

I shouldn't have mentioned the time, but anyway. And I said to him, he said to me, Roy, I don't know if I'm saved. I've been preaching for 40 years and I can never come to the point where I know I'm saved.

I said to him, listen. Well, first he said, Roy, the thing is, you know, I've tried so hard and then I get irritated with my wife. And then I can't be saved because I'm irritated with my wife. I was like, what?

You think that you're not saved because you get irritated? Anybody here never get irritated? Ezra, you're not allowed to. Anybody here never get irritated? I mean, if that's the standard of salvation the devil gives to some people, of course you're never going to think you're saved.

I said to him, dear sir. I didn't say, let's look at your salvation. I just said this, do you ever rest? He said, well, actually, not really. We don't take one day of the week off. We work till about 12 o 'clock in the night, soul winning.

I said to him, brother, if I worked like that, I would never feel I'm saved. That's not the point. And I would get irritated. I mean, if you don't ever sleep. Anybody here never sleep and not get irritated?

I mean, sometimes when I haven't slept and there's nothing, I can drop a key and it's like, ah. And then I'm going to sleep for a few hours and it's like, oh, I love you, key. Not exactly, but that's how it is.

There's a few other things here which I'm going to skip because I'm going to bring in a sermon later during the week. People who think they do not have enough knowledge to be saved. You know, there's a boy I read of yesterday in the newspaper.

It was obviously not yesterday. And he was a genius. We don't have geniuses like this in Africa. He was an American. At age two, he could read. That's ridiculous. At age four, I wasn't even crawling, I think, at age two.

At age four, this is American, by the way. At age four, he was reading medium-sized complicated novels. Evil novels, maybe Harry Potter or something. At age 13, he was finished with school. And now he's in university at age 14 or so.

At age 13, and he's midway through working towards a few bachelor's degrees and ultimately his master's. You would think at age 13, he has such a knowledge, he would know how to know God. Well, he is an avid evolutionist.

He is studying evolution. The Bible states clearly, the world is such a precious place. By wisdom, need not God. This is the world's wisdom. It means you can know how to make a space rocket, an atom bomb.

You can be a brilliant scientist. And all this wisdom will not in and of itself equal knowing God. It will bring you to know God. You don't have to be clever to know God. Isn't that wonderful? I would never be saved.

The only person in this room who would ever get saved is Timothy. He's a clever guy. He's a clever guy in sheep's clothing. He doesn't look clever. Matthew 11, verse 25. I thank you, Father. Listen to this.

Lord of heaven and earth, Jesus says. Because thou hast hid these things from what? From the wise and prudent, and has revealed them unto the babes. God can save the wise. And he can use wise people. Paul was a learned Roman Jew, and Luke was a qualified physician.

But he loves to save the fishermen, like Peter, who don't have much education at all. And he used them mightily. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26, 27, 28. And it states, for you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty. And base things of the world and things which are despised.

That is wonderful words. God has chosen the base. Hallelujah. Now for those who came late, the reason I'm reading this, is Israel's alarm clock didn't go off. And I decided that I was going to, because I spent about 3 weeks working on this, that I could better say it, and not miss out important points by reading it.

I can bring it without reading it, but there's some points I'd really like to bring, without missing anything. And I was just seeing I was missing things with only an hour to prepare. Okay. Some feel God is biased.

God’s Impartiality and the Equal Need for Salvation

Some people think God would save the good looking. Disability, the good. And this is strange. Some people, they don't think this, but subconsciously they think it because they're ugly and they think, what am I?

Like me. The good, public speakers, the men above the women, but feel so worthless that they could never be saved. You know, we've just read above, God has chosen the base. God has saved lame people, and thin people, and fat people.

Sorry. He died for all of them. He has wonderfully saved people who are pathetic and mad. He does save people who are good looking and rich and sporty, but he does not love them any more than the base and not so clever ones.

God is not biased even slightly. He sees all the sinners and all needing salvation in Jesus Christ. No one has an easier or harder road to salvation. You come as a sinner and you come to Jesus. Psalm 147 verse 10 states that, God taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.