Who is Jesus?
 What sort of “faith”?
 Historical evidence
 Reliability of the Bible
 Was He only human?
 What Jesus claimed
 His teaching, works
character; prophecy
 The problem of the
resurrection
Why did Jesus die?
 The pollution of sin
 The power of sin
 The penalty of sin
 The partition of sin
Pictures from …
 the Law Courts (justice)
 the Market Place (debt)
 the Temple (sacrifice)
 the home (relationship)
How Can
I Be Sure
of my
Faith?
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
Faith: a decision to trust based on a
careful examination of the evidence
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
“When someone becomes
a Christian he becomes a
brand new person inside.
He is not the same
any more.
A new life has begun”
2 Corinthians 5 17 Living Bible
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
“I now have hope where previously
there was only despair. I can forgive
now, where before there was only
coldness … God is so alive for me. I
can feel him guiding me and the
complete and utter loneliness which I
have been feeling is gone. God is
filling a deep, deep void.”
“I felt like hugging everybody in the
street … I cannot stop praying, I even
missed my bus stop today because I
was so busy praying on the top deck.”
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
BUT …
Experiences
do vary
greatly!
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
There is a
difference
between the fact
of a relationship,
and the feeling of
the relationship
When we receive Christ, we become a child of God
“… to all who received him, to those who
believed in his name, he gave the right to
become children of God” John 1 12
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
Just as good parents want
their children to be sure about
their relationship with them, so
our Father in heaven wants us
to be sure about our
relationship with Him
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
Q. “Would you have described yourself as a
Christian at the beginning of the course?
• Yes, but without any real experience of a
relationship with God
• Sort of
• Possibly yes / think so
• Not sure
• Probably
• Ish
• Yes - though looking back, possibly no
• No, a semi-Christian
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
“I write these things
to you who believe in
the name of the Son
of God so that you
may know that you
have eternal life”
1 John 5 13 (emphasis added)
The Word of God
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
Feelings change
weather … breakfast … bad hair day … hormones …
God’s promises in the Bible are totally reliable
“Here I am! I stand at the door and
knock, If anyone hears my voice
and opens the door,
I will come in and eat with them,
and they with me”
Revelation 3 20
The Word of God
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
Holman Hunt:
“The Light of
the World”
The Word of God
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
Jesus says: “I am with you always”
Matthew 28
20
Jesus promises “ eternal life”
John 10 10
Past dealt with … present power … future promise
The Word of God
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
“The term is over: the holidays
have begun. The dream is ended :
this is the morning … all their life
in this world … had only been the
cover and title page: now at last
they were beginning Chapter One
of the Great Story which no one
on earth has read: which goes on
forever: in which every chapter
is better than the one before”
C. S. Lewis: “The Last Battle”
The Work of Jesus
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
Repentance:
“Laying down your arms, surrendering,
saying you are sorry, realising that you have
been on the wrong track and being ready to
start life over again from the ground floor that is the only way out of this hole”
C. S. Lewis
Faith:
“Leaning your whole weight upon …”
John Patton - 19th century missionary to South Pacific
The Work of Jesus
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
JeanFrancois
Gravelet
1824-1897
(Blondin)
at
Niagara Falls
The Work of Jesus
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
“God so loved the
world that He gave
his one and only
Son, that whoever
believes in Him
shall not perish but
have eternal life”
John 3 16
The Witness of the Spirit
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
When someone becomes a Christian,
God’s Holy Spirit comes to live within them
Transformation from within:
The character of Jesus in our lives
“Fruit of the Spirit”:
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control
Galatians 5 22, 23
A different way of looking at life
people’s faces … attitudes … Christians!
The Witness of the Spirit
How Can I
Be Sure of
my Faith?
When someone becomes a Christian,
God’s Holy Spirit comes to live within them
An inner experience of
the Holy Spirit