I want to do a little something unusual this morning. I'm going to preach my sermon and then I'll give him a text. I think that you will see the reason why when I get there. We know, I do, and I think you do, that God has chosen a people in eternal sovereign election people whose names were written in heaven in the Lamb's book of life before the world began. The scriptures are explicit and clear in that regard. There is a remnant according to the election of grace. There are some people of whom the apostle says God has chosen you in Christ before the foundation of the world. There are some people of whom the scripture declares we're bound to give thanks to God for you of the Lord because God has from the beginning chosen you. We are elect by God the Father if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now those men and women who are the objects of God's eternal love, sovereign grace, and immutable purpose must and shall be saved. It is not possible for an elect sinner to perish until it's possible for someone to resist God's will. It is not possible for an elect sinner to perish until it can be said, by God Almighty I am the Lord, I cannot do all my pleasure. God's elect must be set safe. Those whom it is his pleasure to save, he shall save. There's no question about that.

And we know that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, redeemed that elect multitude from the curse of the law by his death and his atonement made upon the cross as our substitute. The scripture declares, I keep repeating, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. What a blessed word. Not Christ has made redemption possible, not Christ has made it possible for us to be redeemed, not Christ has done the best he could to redeem, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a truth.

The blood of Jesus Christ was not shed in vain. Every sinner for whom Christ died shall be saved. If even one of that elect multitude for whom Christ shed his blood to make atonement by the satisfaction of divine justice. If even one were to perish under the wrath of God and be lost forever, then the Son of God must bear the shame of frustration and failure forever.

And that cannot be. The Lord Jesus Christ, we are told, shall not fail. That sin which was transferred from God's elect to Christ, their substitute and surety, The sin for which he suffered and died under the wrath of God can never be transferred back to those for whom Christ died. Do you understand that? Payment God cannot twice demand. First at my bleeding, shirtless hand, and then again at mine.

It can't be done. Justice will not allow God to punish the same crime twice. Justice will not allow God who is just and must do right, God who is right and just in all his ways. Justice will not allow God Almighty to punish the sinner and the sinner substitute. It can't be done.

If Christ died for you, you're going to glory. That's all there is to it. If Jesus Christ bore your sins, you can't bear them. If we put away your sins, God will never dig them up, because they're cast behind his back. He remembers them no more against us forever.

We also know that God the Holy Spirit effectually regenerates, calls, and saves all the elect. There's no question about that. The scripture declares, blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and calls us to approach him today. The scripture says, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. So there's no question concerning it.

It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. You have be quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sin. That means, Bill, if you're dead, the only way on this earth you can ever be brought to life is for God to do something for you you can't and won't do for yourself. You're dead. Well, how do you live? God came, and God gave life. That's how. How does a dead sinner come to believe on Christ only if God gives him faith? How does a dead sinner come to repent only if God works repentance in him? We were dead, but He quickly does.

So salvation, the effectual call of the Spirit, is an irresistible operation of grace. All those whose names were written in heaven in eternal election All those who were redeemed by the blood of Christ shall be effectually and irresistibly called in time, born again, saved, and brought to faith in Christ by that almighty, irresistible power of God the Holy Spirit that we call grace. God's grace comes and snatches us from the ruins of Adam's fall and sets us among the sons of God.

Salvation is not by the will of man, but by the will of God. Salvation is not a cooperative effort between God and man, where God does his part and you do your part. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is not by the power of man, but by the power of God. It is not by the work of man, but by the work of God, and by the work of God alone. So then, the scripture says, it is not of him that will it. nor of them that run up, but of God that showeth mercy.

And we know also that every sinner in the world who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ as everlasting life, has everlasting life. He that believeth on his Son has everlasting life. Do you believe it? Do you believe it? He that believes has life. All who have faith in Christ have salvation. All who look to Christ live forever. Every sinner in this world who believes on Jesus Christ was chosen by God in sovereign election, redeemed by Christ in perpetual atonement, and called by the Spirit in irresistible grace.

That's absolutely certain. There's no question concerning those things. Now, everyone who reads the Bible with any measure of spiritual discernment or understanding knows these things. They're simple, elementary truths of the gospel plainly revealed in Holy Scripture. All who are chosen, redeemed, and called by God the Holy Spirit, and redeemed by God the Son, chosen by God the Father, every one of them comes to Christ in faith.

And all who believe have everlasting life. That's just the elementary truths of Scripture. The deep, profound, profound doctrine. That's just on the surface. If you just open the Bible and read it, there it is. You can't miss it. You can't possibly miss it unless you despise God. The only way you miss it is if you despise the God who chose, the Son who redeemed, and the Spirit who caused. You understand that?

These things are just elementary. They're just elementary. Now, I think I can safely say that everyone here has some interest in these things. Some have a vague, fluctuating, up-and-down interest. You have some interest. Others have a deep, deep, abiding interest. But all of us have some interest in these things.

We all attain some hope that we are among the number of those sinners whom the Father loved with an everlasting love, whom the Son redeemed with effectual blood through the Spirit called by Almighty Grace. We hope that we are among those shall at last be brought by God into heaven itself, to sit in the presence of God and share the glory of Christ, the mediator of all. That's our hope.

That's what we're here for, I suspect. I suspect. I may be wrong. It may be you're just here because for some reason you just come and walked in and sat down. I don't know, but I suspect you've got some interest in these things, or you wouldn't be here. Now, let me ask you a question. And this is the title of my message.

Where's your evidence for such a hope? Where is your evidence for such a hope? You hope to go to heaven when you die, don't you? You hope that you're a child of God, don't you? You hope that you're among God's elect, don't you? You hope that Christ redeemed you and the Spirit's called you.

Where's your evidence? Where's your evidence? Now, that question I'm going to answer, and I want you to understand the foolishness of this question. Preachers and folks ask the question all the time, if you were put on trial for being a Christian, would it be enough evidence to convict you? And by doing so, they're asking you, do you behave well enough? Have you experienced what you feel enough? Are you repented enough? Do you believe enough? And they keep you turned to yourself to look for evidence of being a Christian.

And such examination is utter folly and totally contrary to the revelation of God. Now let's put ourselves this morning on file. We claim to have a title to a saving trust and interest in Jesus Christ the Lord. But what evidence do we have that our title is good?

Now I know for some of you, nothing in the world is of more importance or of more vital concern to you than this question. Your soul is constantly, constantly at turmoil with this issue. You ask whether rightly or wrongly, you ask the question that Newton raised in his hymn, "'Tis a point I long to know, oft it causes anxious thought, Do I love the Lord or no? Am I his or am I not?

You read text like 2 Corinthians 13. Turn that if you want to. 2 Corinthians chapter 13. The Apostle Paul says in verse 5, examine yourself. Examine yourself. Whether you be in the faith. Prove yourself. Prove yourself. prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Christ Jesus is in you, except ye be recognized. Now that's pretty strong language.

And the apostle demands of us, by inspiration, that we examine ourselves, whether we're in the faith, prove ourselves for ourselves, not anybody else prove us, prove ourselves, whether Christ is in us, we'd be reprobates and damned forever. Now, let's examine the evidence and find out the truth of this matter as to whether or not we are in the faith, as to whether or not Christ is in us. If we can rightly lay claim to that salvation, that eternal salvation that's in Jesus Christ, if we can do so with assurance and confidence we must be able to prove that our own, to our own heart's contentment and satisfaction, and to God's justice, that we are indeed, according to this word, among God's elect. Now how can we do it? How can we do it? The assurance of saving faith, the assurance of a saving interest in Christ, must be built upon evidence that is acceptable both in the court of heaven and in the court of our consciences. Now, did you get that? You say, I know I'm saved because. Now, before you answer the because, you've got to have a reason that will satisfy the court of heaven and the court of your conscience. You've got to have such a reason as that.

We claim to be Christians. We hope that we're the children of God. We hope that we're the heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Where is your evidence? Where is mine? Let me give you three or four answers to that question. First, I know this. No experience of grace, no feelings of spirituality, no works performed by me, past or present, is evidence that I'm a child of God. Now you ought to get that. You ought to get that. No feelings, no experience, and no work is evidence that I'm a child of God.

I know that those who are born of God experience regeneration, conversion, and faith. I know that every true believer feels remorse for sin, conviction, inner conflict between his old nature and his new. He feels and experiences love for Christ and love for the brethren. He experiences and feels things like joy and peace, and I know that everyone who is born of God maintains good works in the center of his life.

There's no such thing as a believer who does not follow after righteousness. There is no such thing. If a man or a woman doesn't feel or experience these things, certainly they're not born of God. But I want to tell you this, you may experience and feel and do all these things and not know God.

You understand that? Judas did. He said, I know I'm a Christian. I was there when it happened. I don't know how many times I've heard folks say, don't you question my salvation. I know I'm a Christian. I was there. I was there. I experienced something. You can't take it away from me. I'm not interested in taking away what you've experienced, but I'm telling you, you've had nothing to compare with Judas.

That fellow cast out demons. He cast out demons. That man was numbered among the apostles. He preached, and he walked with the apostles and walked with Christ for three years, and when it came time for our Lord Jesus to begin to expose his corruption, and he said, one of you shall betray me, everybody suspected anybody but Judas. Anybody. He was a man who walked uprightly. He walked uprightly. This man Judas experienced things that he might look to and see a radical transformation of his life.

I don't know. I don't know what kind of man he was. He may have been a vagabond or a bum. He may have been a self-righteous fanatic. I don't know what he was. I don't know what he was. But I expect he could look back to the time when the Lord called him to be an apostle. And he can say, now, fellas, I can point to you and show you what happened to me. I can show you a great change that took place in me. I can show you what I felt and experienced.

And Judas was lost. He didn't know God. Feelings are no basis of experience. We keep looking for feelings. Folks, I don't feel saved. I don't feel like a child of God. I don't feel like I know the Lord. How about you telling me how you're supposed to feel if you're a child of God?

Would somebody stand up and tell me that? Tell me how you're supposed to feel if you love the Lord. Somebody stand up and tell me that? Sometimes, and I love that lady sitting there, love her dear, sometimes I feel all gooey about it. to feel all happy about it. And sometimes my love for her caused me to join with her and weep. Now you tell me how I'm supposed to feel and identify love by feelings. Martin Luther said, feelings come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving.

I trust the living word of God, nor else is worth believing. Oh, get hold of that. When I feel safe, and when I don't feel safe, my faith makes none of my feelings safe but in what God's saying. That's all. Nothing else. Well, good works. We'll look to our works. I know a man couldn't do things you do. I know a man couldn't do things I do. Bessie was born of God.

I mean, after all, how on this earth could someone like Who's that little old short woman who lives over in Calcutta? Mother Theresa, yeah. How on this earth could somebody go over there and spend their life living in this squalor, living with poor children and poor people and devote themselves sacrificially to all those things, and you say that's not Christianity? Why, hell yeah!

How dare you suggest that a person could do such things and not be a child of God? I don't. I don't make any such suggestion. But I point you to this word, Matthew chapter 7, where some men stand before God on the day of judgment and say, Lord, have we not done? And he'll say, depart from me, you person, I never knew you. That's what he said. So our experiences And our feelings and our works are no basis of assurance. Answer this question.

What evidence do you have that you're a child of God when your conscience disturbs you? And I know it does sometimes. I know it does. I look at Merle's heart and I swear in her face I love that dear name. Love it. I thank God for your faithfulness and commitment. But I know good and well the time you lay down a night and your conscience toils you.

How can a man be a child of God and think and feel and say and do what I do? How can it be? And how do you answer your conscience? How do you soothe a disturbing conscience and silence it? When doubts arise, how do you settle them? When you examine yourself, if you're honest enough to do so, by what do you prove yourself to be a child of God in the faith?

Does your heart go back to an experience, or remember a feeling, or hold forth the work that you've performed, and say, now there, now there, that's, I know it, I know it was all right because I did this. I experienced that. I said this. I performed that. You think to yourself, no one could have felt that. No one could have experienced that. No one could do that unless it's a child of God.

Now if your interest in Christ, if your assurance of saving faith, is built upon such a foundation, I'm going to tell you something, and I want you to hear me. Either you're a very proud, self-righteous hypocrite, deceiving your own heart to the refuse of lies, or you have no peace with God, no assurance of faith, no comfort of heart before God at all. In your inmost soul you cannot say with Paul, 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. The evidence you offer to silence your conscience will not hold up in the court of conscience and certainly will not hold up in the court of heaven.

Experiences of grace Feelings of spirituality and good works are no evidence at all that I'm born of God. These things cannot give assurance to an honest man. They cannot do it. I'll tell you why. Any grace that I experience may be a counterfeit work of Satan. Any grace I experience may be a counterfeit work of Satan. Any feelings I have may be no more than natural emotions. You, uh, I suppose most all of us have been through experiences in religion where you're, somebody tried to scare you into hell. Somebody, where on earth was it? Somebody told me this week, it was in, uh, somewhere in their town, they had, somebody had 700 professions of faith in one week. Know what they did? I'll tell you exactly what they did.

They showed a scary, scary movie about hell. And then had a man dressed up like they think the devil looks like, a red fellow with horns and a pitchfork and long and pale, jump out in the audience and scare kids to death. Now I'm not lying to you. I'm telling you what fools do in remission. And folks got scared, children were scared to death, and they got them talked into the face of the face.

Now I don't have any question, they'll remember till they die. I remember it to the death. I remember being scared to death to go into hell when I was six or seven years old. I mean, I remember it like it was this morning. I had an experience that tore up my heart and I was scared to death of falling into the hands of an angry God who might test me into hell. And my natural emotion was, find refuge. Find refuge. And you can't find it. You can't find it. Every work I perform, the best of it, God forgive me, is marginalized, the best of it.

I have yet to pray a prayer that ought to be prayed. I have yet to read this Word with anything like the sobriety and faith with what you ought to do with it. I have yet to know. I read the book of God that deals with the most holy of things, and my mind runs through the most perverse things. I read this book that deals with the most spiritual things, and I sit and think about the most carnal of things.

Tell me, is it so with you? Anybody here any different from that? We try to witness to folks the gospel of God's grace, And even our witness of his grace is so full of pride, he cast the world into hell. Is that honest? That's just real. And yet folks point to that and say, now that's what I place my hope on. When are you going to get any peace? When are you going to get any satisfaction?

I know this too. This is the second point. Those graces and works which convince other men and women that I am a child of God can never convince my own heart and conscience. Even the fruit of the Spirit is no sure evidence that I'm one of God's beloved. Now there are many, many things by which other people are convinced that we belong to God. Many things which cause both the world and the church to call us the disciples of Christ. Turn over to Matthew chapter 5, I'll show you. Matthew chapter 5, verse 13. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Now, that is not saying that forgiveness by God depends upon you forgiving another. It is declaring that those who are forgiven of God are forgiving one to another. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses. Moreover, when you fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their And I'm treating chapter 6, excuse me. That's also true. Let's go to chapter 5, verse 13.

You're the salt of the world, the salt of the earth. But the salt has lost its flavor, lost its influence. Wherewith shall it be salted? It is bids forth good for nothing, but be cast down and trodden under the foot of men. You're the rod of the world.

A city set on a hill can't be hid, neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth forth light to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine, get it now, before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Now, these are the things by which we identify one another as believers. You understand that? your generosity, your kindness, your love, your commitment to Christ. I see your steadfastness in the things of God, and I see in you a reflection of Christ. I say, these are my brethren. I see your profession, and I see your profession backed up by your works. And I say, these are my sisters in Christ Jesus. But that man or woman who makes these things, are the flattering opinions of others with regard to these things. The evidence of salvation is a fool. We hear others talk about us, and we take their opinion of us for reality, when we know that it's not. Don't be so foolish. Don't be so foolish.

But what about those gracious influxes of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life? Does not the fruit of the Spirit prove that a person is truly born of God? And without question, all who are born of God have the fruit of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit bears fruit in them. That's what Galatians 5, 22 and 23 says.

We have fruit toward God. Love, joy, and peace. If Bob Puncture is born of God, He loves God, he rejoices in God as he revealed him to Christ, and has peace with God, if he's born of God. Not only that, but we have fruit toward men. Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness. If Don Fortner is born of God, he deals with men in his house, in God's house, and in the with long-suffering, gentleness, and goodness. And we have fruit within faith. Faithfulness. Faithfulness. Oh, how I admire faithfulness. How I admire faithfulness. Meekness.

Recognizing who we are before God. Temperance. Controlled from within by God's But when these things, this love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, when they're held up as evidences to convince us that we're God's children, well, they fall short. They just fall short. You see, my love, joy, and peace toward God, at best, fluctuates. Sometimes it's hot, sometimes cold, sometimes fervent, sometimes languished. My long-suffering with you is impatience. My gentleness is horribly hard, and my goodness is terrible service. That's true. Generally, is that true to God? The best we've got. The best we've got is corrupt.

My faithfulness is unpredictable. My meekness is full of pride. My temperance lacks discipline. And so my conscience would accept none of these things as evidence that I belong to God, because my conscience, like the law of God itself, demands perfection. If I'm going to point to my love and say that's my hope, my love's got to be perfect love. If I point to my faithfulness, I've got to point to it and say it's perfect faithfulness. Well, it won't give me any satisfaction.

So if you look to the fruit of the Spirit, a proud, self-righteous hypocrite deceiving your own heart, or you have no real assurance and confidence of heart and peace of conscience before God. You may sing blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, and you may protest vehemently against the possibility that you're not yet saved, not yet a child of God, not yet an heir of eternal salvation. But in your inmost soul, in your quiet, quiet, quiet, solitude of heart. In the still, lonely watches of the night, your conscience torments you, and your conscience says, you're a hypocrite. You're a hypocrite. All that you pretend to hold as proof of Christianity, when examined honestly, Thirdly, I know this, even my love for you, my brothers and sisters, is no sure evidence of a saving interest in Christ. I know that all of God's people love one another. If a man does not love his brethren, he does not love his God. I don't deny that in the least. Our Lord said, by this shall all men know that you're my disciples, if you have love one for another.

But the issue is not what other men know. That doesn't give me any help. That doesn't give me any help. Bobby and Judy Estes can sit and have the highest, most honorable, most high esteem for me as a man. but that would give me no peace of conscience before God. That won't help me one bit when I come to die and prepare to meet God in judgment. It just won't help.

I want a personal, full assurance that I have a legitimate title to eternal life. I want evidence that will satisfy my conscience and heart, answering to the Word of God. that I am one of God's elect, one whose sins have been put away by Jesus Christ the Lord, one who has been born of God's Spirit.

Now, I do love you. I can say that honestly. I do love you. I love the Lord Jesus Christ. I say that with honesty. I love him. I don't like to sing about I don't much like those songs that we sing and talk, oh, how I love Jesus. I wish I loved him that way, but I don't. And so my love for you and my love for him is no sufficient evidence to convince me that I'm born of God.

Well, what about 1 John 3.14? We read it a little bit ago. We know that we pass from death into life because we love the brethren. Isn't John telling us that our love for the brethren is the basis for assurance? I don't think so.

John is telling us that if we love one another, we know one another to be the children of God by our love for one another. This is the way we judge between men and the world. The children of God love each other. and do righteousness. And the children of the devil are malicious and wicked and do wickedness.

But love for the brethren can never be a basis of personal assurance for two reasons. I'll give you two reasons. Yes, Al? I know I'm a child of God because I love my brethren. Now wait a minute. We don't know who our brethren are. Not really. Not really. We've been fooled a bunch of times, haven't we? I don't know who my brethren are. I can't tell. And you can't either. I think you know. I just don't know. And secondly, my love for my brethren does not measure up to the requirements of Holy Scripture. And so cannot be honestly called love at all. Let me show you.

Turn to 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Verse 4. Charity. Charity. Now, if you understand the meaning of the word charity, that's the best possible translation of love in this chapter. It is a self-sacrificing, self-denying, self-abasing commitment of heart. Charity. Love suffereth long and is kind.

Don't you find it astonishing? that the folks you love most are the ones with whom you are least loyal to. You'll suffer long with real offenses, long-standing offenses for those you love most, but in the day-to-day, the rut of life, I'm more quick-tempered with that lady right there than anybody in this world. love envieth not. Anybody here free of envy? And you're going to tell me your love's evidence you're child of God?

Love vaulteth not itself, but every one of us sticks our face out front. That's what it means. Love doesn't stick its face out front. When we pretend not to stick our face out front, we're sticking our face out front. That's what we are. We're sinners. I'm telling you, we're sinners. Love is not puffed up.

I was talking to Brother Scott Richardson at one of the conferences. You know, sometimes preachers can speak a little bit extravagantly. And this fellow, we were talking about something. I forgot what it was. One of the younger fellows popped up and he said, Scott said not much of it. Love does not push us, and yet we push them.

Love does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, it never fails. I read that and I stand here and tell you I love brother and sister and I'm convinced they love me and I love for each other. The only way I can get any comfort from this is to read it of him who is love and perfection.

Christ is not, Christ hath not himself, is not but does not behave himself unseemly, seeketh not his own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not iniquity, rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endeareth all things, Christ never fails. If you make your love for your brethren the basis of your assurance and the evidence of your salvation, I've got to tell you, either you are a proud, self-righteous hypocrite, deceiving your heart, or you have no assuring evidence of a saving interest in Christ. Now, the lack of these things, I think, The lack of these things is evidence that you're not a child of God. But the presence of these things is no evidence that you are. Now understand what I'm telling you.

Evidence is drawn from personal experience. Evidence is drawn from gracious attitudes. Evidence is drawn from spiritual feelings. Evidence is drawn from good works. When they're fairly and honestly examined, are no evidence of a saving interest in Christ. If these things are not evidences of salvation, then certainly legal works are not. Now I ask you again, where's your evidence? Where's your evidence? I'm looking at the oldest and the youngest professed believer in this same thing. Where's your evidence? I'm taking in everybody else. Where is your evidence?

Is it all destroyed? Have I torn down your refuge? Are you now naked, defenseless, without hope, and exposed to the wrath of God? If you've been hiding in a false refuge, I hope it's now destroyed. But I want every child of God, every true believer, to know and enjoy the full assurance I want every child of God here to be able to walk out that door with this song in his heart with confidence, blessing, assurance.

Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. I want you in the face of trial and difficulty, in the face of adversity and temptation, in the face of your sins, in the face of your ups and downs, in the face of darkness and in the face of death to be able to walk with confidence and say, I know whom I hate. I am persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. And so, Pastor, how on earth can a sinner, such as you've been describing, have any kind of assurance like that?

Turn to my text. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1. Now faith is the substance. If you have a marginal translation in your Bible, faith is the ground or the confidence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. This is the last point of the message. The only evidence I have of my saving interest in Christ is faith in Christ. When Satan accuses me, when my heart condemns me, when my sin torments me, when I examine myself, and I constantly do, I constantly do, I find comfort, peace, and assurance in one And in one thing only, I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And my conscience says that He's enough for us without anything, in me, from me. He's enough. You understand that? And God says He's enough. He smells the sweet savor of Jesus Christ He says this is my beloved son in whom I'm worthy.

Let me show you three things very quick when I wrap this up with regard to this faith. First, understand that faith in Christ is the gift of God. I call on you to believe him. I call on you to commit yourself to him. If you can, if you do, God gave you faith. And if God doesn't give you faith, oh, if God doesn't give you faith, you'll never have faith.

Faith's the gift and operation of God. Secondly, faith in Christ is born in the hearts of God's elect only by the preaching of the gospel. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Faith without knowledge is an impossibility, and faith that is based upon false knowledge is false faith. true faith is faith that is based upon and born of the knowledge of the gospel as the gospel reveals the word of God to us. And I say to you again, quit trying to convince yourself that you were saved before you learned the gospel. You weren't. You weren't.

No one can or will trust Christ until he sees his need of a substitute. understands by divine revelation how it is that God can be just and yet justify the ungodly through the merits of Christ, and sees that salvation is by grace of the Lord. Confessions from his heart, salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. And thirdly, faith in Christ is the sure, certain, infallible evidence, proof, and assurance of eternal salvation. Now listen to me.

Faith is not the cause of grace, the cause of salvation, or the cause of eternal life, but faith is the substance, the evidence of that salvation and eternal life. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. That simply means it's the essence, the assurance, the certainty of things hoped for. Faith possesses beforehand what God promises to give. That's a good definition. Faith possesses beforehand what God promises to give.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath right now in possession everlasting life. Now, wait a minute. I haven't entered into everlasting life yet. I'm still living here in this temporal life. Well, I have entered into it. It's begun and it's possessed by faith. Heaven's mine right now. I mean right now. Right now.

Possessed by faith. How do you know you're going to persevere in grace? Because I believe God. How do you know that one of these days this body is going to rise from the corruption of the grave. Oh, God said it. I believe God. I believe God. Why, how do you know there's even such a thing as heaven? What are you talking about eternal glory?

Nobody's ever discovered that. Man's been to the moon. We got, we got These cameras out in space floating around way out there taking pictures of the whole galaxy around us and the galaxies beyond us. Nobody's ever discovered heaven yet. Never saw God yet either. How do you know there's such a thing as heaven? You ignorant fools. I believe God. Just that simple. I believe God. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. You know what the word evidence means, don't you? Proof. Faith is the proof of things not seen.

The judge and jury and prosecuting attorney in this fiasco they call the trial out in Los Angeles, a little day since then, are trying to demonstrate without any aid from justice, evidence that will prove that man committed those murders. Now, they've got their hands tied. The law kind of prohibits the possibility of convicting criminals. But if they can find the evidence, if they can mount the evidence and overcome the prejudices of twelve men and women sitting in the jury box, and cause them to see the evidence is solid, That's the proof in the man of God.

If I can't find the evidence, he goes free. Understand what I'm saying? Faith is the evidence for things not seen. Faith proves things that are past. For things that were done in eternity, faith is the evidence. God chose and adopted me, and predestined me to everlasting life, and inscribed my name in the book of his electing love before the world was. And I know it. Bill Raleigh, I know it better than I know your name. I know it. How on earth can you know that? I believe God. That's simple enough. I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. There's evidence.

Well, what about when you sin? Now, when you say that, you mean what about when you get caught sinning? Because I sin all the time. I've never done anything without sinning. I can't do anything without sinning. Well, where's the evidence then? Right where it was before I was born.

I believe God. Faith is the proof of things done in time, but now unseen. I've listened to these buffoons who think they're so brilliant, scientists investigating the age of the world. They've got that spacecraft out there now, investigating the origins of the universe.

They ain't going to find it. They're not going to find it. Whatever they find, I'll guarantee you this. I'll make this guarantee for you. Whatever they find out there is going to contradict something they thought they knew yesterday. Whatever they find out there.

Well, what do you know about creation? Were you there? No. But the Savior I trust was there because he made this world. How can we be wrong? You can laugh and say, well, you folks are just fools. You don't test your faith by scientific investigation. I'll tell you what, let me be a fool believing God and live and die with peace, and you be a smart aleck and live in torment of conscience and go to hell. I'm just telling the truth.

I believe God. Jesus Christ established righteousness while he walked on this earth, which God said is enough to satisfy his demands of his holy law. Jesus Christ brought in redemption by his death upon Calvary, and God says that's enough to satisfy divine justice. And I say his name is Jehovah Zekiah, the Lord my God. the Lord my Redeemer. Faith is the proof of pleasant things, though unseen.

Some people think they can see the Spirit of God working regeneration in a man. I learned a long time ago, I can't see that. The wind blows where it is. I hear the sound of it, but I can't tell you where it came from or which way it's going. I just know Now the Spirit of God is moving right now. I don't have a question about that. I don't know where. Don't know where. Don't know what the results will be. But I know the Spirit of God has moved in my heart to give me life with God in Christ Jesus. How do you know?

I believe that Jesus, I trust Him. I trust Him. I look at God's competence, and I see the hand of God in everything. I just, intellectually, mentally at least, I see the hand of God in everything. And I'm learning, sure enough, to see the hand of God in everything. God did it. Our brothers stayed in hospital and been in Africa. God put it there. If he comes out, God will bring him out. If he goes to glory, God will take him to glory. God will.

Now, folks think, you see, I've been talking about this yesterday, driving down the road. Folks think, well, boy, this is not very practical doctrine. Let's talk about whether or not Christians ought to go to the picture shop. That's practical stuff. That's such nonsense and foolishness.

The most practical doctrine in this world is God's sovereignty, Christ's redemption, God's providence, God's providence. You see, it is not me telling you how to handle your troubles that'll get you through them peaceably. It is me telling you who handles your troubles that'll get you through them peaceably.

You understand that? I believe God. How do you know that all things work together for good to them that love God? Because the Savior whom I trust, is God sitting on his throne who works all things together for my good. I have an intercessor at the right hand of God who makes intercession for me according to the will of God. Therefore, God will not charge me with sin. How do you know? You can't see him, can you? Oh yeah, I see him, but I don't see him yet. I see him at the right hand of the majesty on high, because it's written right here in the book, I believe God. And I'm calling for you to believe God.

If you believe it, if you believe it, the Lord God Almighty shows you the whole world again. and said, I'll be your God, and you'll be my son. If you believe it, Jesus Christ died at Calvary and put away your sins, satisfied God's justice for you, and purchased faith as God's gift for you. If you believe it, you believe it. God the Holy Spirit has called you from death to life. And before he's done with you, he's going to bring you to glory in the perfection of holiness in Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.