Here are my questions this morning
for you. Since our subject is assurance
is assured, here are the questions. Are you sure
of your salvation? Now you answer it just to yourself. Write it down if you want to.
I'm not going to ask you to demonstrate what you believe. Question number two, do you desire
greater assurance? I've met a lot of people. I've
pastored quite a few for a while. They either left or I did. They
didn't like to be asked questions. Don't disturb me. I'm satisfied
as it is. Don't disturb me. You're always
trying to disturb people, trying to instill fear and doubt in
people. So watch my questions. The second
one was, do you desire greater assurance? I'll give you mine. I can never get enough. I can never get enough. Sure,
I have assurance, but I can never get enough. Question number three. Would you enjoy, and this is
what we're doing this morning, would you enjoy a deeper investigation
of your assurance? Would you enjoy? That's a question
I could ask most people and whatever answer they gave, if they didn't
give the correct one according to the scriptures, then I would
say, I'm really wasting my breath. Question number four, do you
think that the last two questions that I gave, you can look at
them, indicate some doubt about your salvation? I wish I had
time this morning to give you my personal encounters with people,
with church members in the past, some that are very vivid to me.
Do you think the last two questions Do you desire greater assurance
and would you enjoy a deeper investigation of your assurance?
Do you think that these two questions indicate some doubt about your
salvation? I'm going to mention one which
is in my own family. My sister that is now deceased
was buried a little over a month ago. She just volunteered one
day. She was so angry at the new preacher
they got in the church in Warren, Texas. He had visited her because
she hadn't been coming. And according to the record,
she hadn't been in a long time, several years. And she lives
only about a half a mile, half a mile right down the road. And
when he asked her if she was a Christian, she got fighting
mad. And when I say fighting mad,
folks, I mean fighting mad. And Juanita, she said, well, Mabel, are you? And then, boy, she turned to
Juanita. And Juanita just kept grinning.
I tell you, that's one thing I had to learn about Juanita.
When we were going together, we were deep in love with each
other, but she could just laugh things off. And she didn't mean
to just do it in the sense of making fun, but she's like that
now. You can't always tell how she
feels. She'll look at you and laugh. And when she may just
be having pain, tremendous pain, that's just her personality. The next question. What is the
basis of true assurance? What's the basis of it? And the last question, do you
think I am trying to make you uncomfortable? Now, I've been accused of that.
a number of times in my pastoral work. You just try to make people
uncomfortable. And my reply has always been,
if I can make you uncomfortable, you need to be uncomfortable. That's the reason I have made
so many friends. And I do have a few friends. There are two chapters this morning
I would like for us to get in our minds. I'm sure that all
of you are familiar with the 10th chapter of the gospel according
to John. So open to that chapter first.
I want to read a few verses of scripture scattered around in
the 10th chapter because it's a rather long chapter, 42 verses,
and we can't give a verse-by-verse exposition. That's not my purpose
this morning. But in the 10th chapter, we have
Christ and His sheep. The word sheep is the word that
stands out throughout the 10th chapter of John. Look at verse
1. Truly, truly, I say to you, He
who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, that
climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door
as a shepherd of the sheep, the word sheep, you need to underscore
it every time you come to it. To him, the doorkeeper opens
and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by
name. and leads them out. Now you know
what he leads them out of. He leads them out of religion,
human religion. And he's talking to the Pharisees
here. Did you know that? In order to really get the proper
preparation for chapter 10, you need to read verses 35 through
41 of chapter 9 when you have time. We're not going to take
time to do that this morning because that takes in another
subject. Drop down to verse 6. This figure
of speech, what? Sheep. Jesus spoke to them, but
they did not understand, those Pharisees of the last part of
John 9, did not understand what those
things were which he had been saying to them. Jesus, therefore,
said to them again, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of
the sheep. All who came before me are thieves
and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. Oh, I love the
language of this book, don't you? I love the language of this
book. I am the door. If anyone enters
through me, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find
passion. The thief comes only to steal
and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life
and might have it abundantly. I'm the good shepherd. The Good
Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. Folks, He didn't die
for goats. He died for the sheep. And we were lost sheep before
we became saved sheep. That means we were chosen by
God. Look at verse 11. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good
Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hireling,
and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, beholds
the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. This is true
of all false teachers, false teachers, false prophets. And
the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is
a hireling and is not concerned about the sheep. I'm the good
shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me. Don't tell me you can't have
assurance. Don't tell me you can't really
know Him. You see what I'm saying? Assurance
is assured. Look at verse 15. Even as the
Father knows me, and I know the Father, And I laid down my life
for the sheep. Now, verse 16 is a very interesting
verse. I've taught it many times through
the years, but I want to call your attention to it again. And
I have other sheep other than apostate Jews, many of whom he
was speaking to, see. I have other sheep. from among
the Gentiles, the non-Jews. It doesn't say that. Well, if
you know the Scriptures, it says it. The Scriptures teach it.
So I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring
them also, and they shall hear my voice, and they shall become
one flock and one shepherd. Drop down, please, to verse 26. Still talking to these Pharisees.
And what a message this is to them. But you do not believe. In other words, they didn't believe
what he was saying. They were religionist, but they
didn't believe. But you do not believe because
you are not of my sheep. I didn't say that. He said it.
I believe it. I believe it because he said it. Now someone says,
oh, but that's your interpretation of it. This doesn't need an interpretation,
folks. The English translation here
is good enough, and I'll tell you, the Greek isn't going to
change your mind. Now notice what he says in verse
27. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them. and they follow
me. And I give eternal life to them,
and they shall never perish. And no one shall snatch them
out of my hand. My Father, who has given them
to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them
out of my Father's hand. We'll be looking at a few passages
later in 1 John. But I wanted to read that to
begin with. So really, our scriptures are
taken from John 10 and 1 John 5, and especially verses 9 through
15 of 1 John. Let's begin our exposition this
morning. The first epistle of John not
only gives assurance but it counteracts the tendency of many today who
magnify knowledge at the expense of practice. Are you with me? 1 John 1, 6, and 7. We'll not
take time to read them. I'm just giving you proof text.
Chapter 2, verses 3 through 6. and chapter 3 verses 6 through
10. God's chosen ones go from regeneration
to the knowledge of fellowship, to practical service, and finally
to the eternal kingdom. The sin problem And 1 John is
one of sanctification, not justification. Did you know Catholicism makes
a terrible mistake in not making the proper distinction between
justification and sanctification? But not only are the Catholics
guilty of that. In my 60 years of study, I found
that a lot of people who are Protestants make the same mistake. So watch this, now we have already
dealt with this a little bit in the last several months, but
I'm trying to put it all together, but getting into a new area this
morning that is so meaningful, so meaningful. I shared these
things with Juanita one day, and she was really rejoiced in
it, and she wasn't feeling well at all. The sin problem in 1
John is one of sanctification rather than justification, and
you know what I'm talking about. Christ's death dealt with a judicial
act of sin, aspect of sin. Christ's death dealt with a judicial
aspect of sin. His death. Now watch this. His life that He is living, His
resurrected life, He is now dealing with the practical
aspect of life. With the practical aspect. Not
the judicial, but practical. He's already dealt with the judicial
aspect. He offered himself once in the
end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
He's not going to die again. It is finished. In John 19.30, those of the important
words of that chapter when the Lord Jesus hanging on the cross
said it is finished. Turn if you will please to Romans
5 and let's read verse 10 together. Let's see it now from a biblical
point of view. Paul said in this verse, for
if, I want to come back to if, the article if in a few minutes.
For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through
the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall
be saved by His life." There you have it, death and life.
Death and life. So Christ dealt with the judicial
aspect of sin at Calvary. He is dealing with the practical
aspect of sin in our lives now as he lives, making intercession
for us at the right hand of God the Father. There is strong criticism. by
many Reformed theologians, of those who distinguish, now watch
this carefully, of those who distinguish between the objectivity
and the subjectivity of salvation. And they do it at their own peril.
Their controversy is at their own peril. They say the character
of faith resolves all tension between the two. Now think that
through. I'm going to have you thinking
now. However, one must understand that faith has significance only
in the orientation to its object, the death of Christ at Calvary. Propitiation is objective reconciliation. Propitiation, which means merit
without favor. So propitiation is objective
reconciliation. Godward. Godward. Watch this. Reconciliation. Reconciliation. Different Greek word entirely.
But we can't take too much time in getting into the Greek. I
want to give you the notes and the important things to remember
in your study. Reconciliation is subjective. It's in you as a Christian. It's in me as a Christian. Because
it removes the enmity God brings. I'll run that by again because
this is a very important statement and you'll see as I enlarge upon
it in a few minutes. So propitiation is objective
reconciliation because it restores favor manually. Reconciliation is subjective
because it removes the enmity Godward. This is reconciliation
to God which takes place subjectively in regeneration. You know why a lot of people
don't enjoy it? And I believe there are some Christians who
are I believe they're Christians, but they've never had any instruction.
And they can't rejoice in some of the things because they've
never been taught. That's sad, folks. That's sad. I'm thinking about some of my
own relatives when I said that. Satan cannot duplicate what God
gives in regeneration. He can't duplicate it. It shouldn't
take a very smart person to understand that. The Spirit of God speaks
to the inner man, notice what I'm saying, inner man, of the
regenerated person. And the message conveyed does
not contradict, oh, and this is so important, the objective
truth He has given to inspired men for our benefit. In other
words, the spirit of regeneration in you is not going to lead you
to believe something that is in contradiction to what He's
already given by inspired men. And we have it in the Bible. He has given the God-inspired
men for a purpose, hasn't He? But their work is finished. We
don't need them now. As I stand here before you this
morning, I am not speaking by inspiration, as Paul and the
other disciples wrote down the Scriptures, as it was being God-breathed,
and that's the literal meaning of 2 Timothy 3.16. God-breathed
Word. There is perfect harmony. between
the objective Word of God and the subjective truth that the
person believes in his heart. No contradiction. That's a pretty strong statement.
Investigation of the antecedents of every experience will manifest
whether the experience is genuine or false. If you'll be honest
this morning as you search the scriptures, then you have to
say, and you should be willing to say, I've been wrong on something. I better get this straight. Let
me say it again. Investigation of the antecedents
of every experience, and I'll illustrate all of these in a
moment, whether the experience is genuine
or false. Christ gives us some great examples
in Matthew chapter 5, and you'll remember these, of the antecedents
overruling what was being said by men. Now listen, this expression
is found several times just in Matthew 5. Here it is. Christ said, you have heard that it was said. But I am saying
to you, you have heard that it was said, but I am saying to
you, there was a vast difference between what they had heard and
what Christ was saying. And that's why we have the objective
truth. We can know where we stand, folks. We can know exactly where
we stand. I think that all of us have heard
about virtual reality, haven't we? Let me just mention this
as an illustration, and you can look it up sometime when you
have time. It came to my mind, and I remember studying this
a few years ago when I was writing this. There is a technology called
VR, virtual reality. What does it mean, basically?
It means possessing the power of acting without the agency
of matter. Now, I could go ahead and say
some other things, but when you check into it, you'll have the
pleasure of unraveling it. In short, it is not the real
thing. In other words, virtual reality,
in short, is not the real thing. What is it? It is synthetic. It is synthetic. Now we want to illustrate something.
The antecedents of every religious experience must be investigated in order
to know if the experience is really true or false. You've
got to test it by the Word of God. I don't find many people
today who are willing to do it. It's been my experience through
the years. The Spirit's act of regeneration is followed by His
witness of confirmation. We believe and know. That's John,
I think it's 669. Check me out on that. I think
it's John. We believe and know. If you truly
believe, you'll know. But you'll only know by testing
your religious experience. So the Holy Spirit condescended
to be our witness as recipients of God's grace. Compare this
with a condescension of Christ. I want you to listen closely
now to this. This came to me and I'll see
if And I'd studied, I'd gotten into it years ago, but it took
a long time for it to come back. I just happened to be in the
vein of thinking that brought it back. Both persons of the
Godhead were limited in their condescensions. Now, I want you to think about
that for a moment before I expand on it. God the Son, the second
person of the Godhead, and God the Holy Spirit, both were restricted,
were limited. in their condescensions. All right? Let's look at that.
The Son was limited in the assumption of the human nature. He was limited. Certain things he couldn't do
as the God-man. And the Spirit dwelling in the
human spirit is also restricted. The spirit of regeneration is
in you and he's in me. But I can grieve him, are you
with me? I can grieve him. And we'll look at some other
things in a moment. So as the son was not overcome, he was
not overcome by the human nature. The Spirit is not overcome by
the human spirit. Aren't you grateful for that? Let me say that again. The Son
of God was not overcome in the assumption or by the assumption
of human nature. And the Holy Spirit is not overcome
by what? By the human spirit, by my human
spirit. However, as the Son had certain
limitations in His un-glorified, see what I'm saying folks, un-glorified
human nature, the Spirit, Holy Spirit in us, has certain restrictions
in the un-glorified human spirit. Now, we'll explain that in a
moment. The reason for the fluctuation of the believer's witness is
because the indwelling Holy Spirit has been grieved, like Ephesians
4, verse 30, and suppressed, suppressed 1 Thessalonians 5,
19. The Spirit's act of regeneration
is followed by the witness of confirmation. In other words,
we're in the state of being confirmed. The confirmation is not directed
to our feelings about God. Folks, you want something to
shout about now? Let me back up and give it again. I got her attention with this.
The confirmation is not directed by our feelings about our feelings
about God, but to God's feelings about us. And I just read them
to you to begin with this morning in John 10. Those are his feelings about
Ishii. This destroys the often repeated
statements. I think this. You ever talk to
somebody, you get in a real discussion, well, I think this is what it
means. I don't like when somebody says,
I think this. Then somebody will say, well,
I feel this way about it. Are you with me? Or I believe,
et cetera, et cetera. THIS CONFIRMATION, FOLKS, COULD
NEVER BE RECEIVED BY EITHER THE AUTHORITY OF MAN OR ANGELS. There's a lot of talk about angels
today. I believe in angels. The Bible teaches it. But I don't
believe a lot of the things that are being said by men today concerning
the subject of angelology. This confirmation could never
be received by either the authority of man or angels. Beware of anyone,
anyone who gives assurance where none
exists. Don't you ever try to give somebody
assurance. When he manifests to you, he
doesn't have any. Don't you do it. Leave it right
there. That's the greatest help you
can render that person. As anyone can do, all anyone
can do is just give the truth that God has committed to our
trust, which the Holy Spirit uses if the person is regenerated. The spirit of the believer is
not the author of his conviction. Although his spirit possesses
conviction, which is assurance, he did not originate it. Galatians 4, 6 says, turn to
it, let's read it. Galatians 4 verse 6, notice the
wording. Paul said to the Galatians, and
you know he had a lot of problems with the Galatians, as he did
with the Corinthians. God sent forth the spirit of
his Son into your hearts. God sent forth the spirit of
his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. This was done because they were
sons. Let me illustrate that. Are you
thirsty for God this morning? The Spirit made you thirsty.
You didn't make yourself thirsty. Look at Galatians 4, 6 again
and just keep repeating it. Secondly, do you hunger for God's
Word? The Spirit made you hungry. If
you're hungry, the Spirit made you hungry. Are your eyes open? It is God's
work to enlighten. That's what He does. He enlightens. Do you hear? It is God who made you hear. And folks, there's scripture
on all these statements. I'll let you look them up. Has your affection been turned
from self-consciousness to God-consciousness? If so, who turned it? God did. Does your will yield
to God's will? It is God's Spirit, or it is
the Spirit's work to subdue. The Spirit alone subdues. You
know when a person has been subdued, he'll manifest it. Finally, is
your heart at peace with God? It is the Spirit who quickens,
makes alive, and seals unto the redemption of the body. The spirit of the believer is
second witness in man's assurance of salvation. Second witness.
I want to stress that. Distinction must be made between
the Holy Spirit and man's spirit. And there's no better passage
than 1 Corinthians 2, 11 through 16. Turn to that passage. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, beginning with verse 11. For who among men knows the thoughts
of a man except the spirit of the man. See, notice the word
spirit is spelled with a lowercase letter. Spirit of man, not spirit
of God, spirit of man, which is in him. Even so the thoughts
of God no one knows except the spirit of God. Now we have received
Not the spirit of the world, notice again, spirit of the world,
lowercase s, but the spirit, uppercase, who is from God, that
we might know the things freely given to us by God. Which things we also speak, not
in the words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by
the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept
the things of the Spirit of God. Don't expect politicians to accept
it, unregenerate men, or anybody
else. speak in their language. Let's
read all of verse 13 again. Which things we also speak not
in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit,
combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept
the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him. and he cannot understand them
because they're spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises
all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. For who has known the mind of
the Lord, that he should instruct him? But we have, we have the
mind of Christ. So it is not one's spiritual
life that bears this testimony, but it is the Spirit of God bearing
testimony with man's spirit. The testimony is not some emotional
feeling, because that would be man's spirit bearing testimony
with itself. And that's what we hear mostly
today. Being a child of God is a privilege,
folks. What a privilege. Marked by greatness. The greatness of salvation began
with election, then purchased by redemption. then applied by the spirit of
regeneration, then confirmed by the spirit of God, giving
testimony to the spirit of the one who has been made alive. That's greatness, folks. That's
the abundance of life. No wonder we have in 1 John 2,
20 and 27, the divine unction within us. And then in verse
27, He is our teacher. The witness of the Spirit is
further explained, of course, in the very passage that we just
read. And these are the words you want
to put down and think about when you read 1 Corinthians 2, verses
10 through 14. The first word is revealed. The
second word is known. The third word is communicated. And the last word is discerned. revealed, known, communicated,
and discerned. The Holy Spirit's witness to
the believer's spirit, now we're getting into assurance is assured. The Holy Spirit's witness to
the believer's spirit is not a vague or mystical, something
obscure in meaning, experience, but it is accomplished by making
the testimony of Scripture meaningful. Therefore, the believer is assured
of his identity. He's spiritual. His ability,
now he discerns, and immunity being called to account by no
human being. See, it's by grace that we're
not afraid of man or any human tribunal. If we're right with
God and we're doing what we do on the basis and authority of
Scripture, all who live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution. The believer's inner witness
is not so much an emotional feeling. See, some people, when they go
to church, if they can't jump up and down and kick their heels
and scream and holler and all of that stuff, and I can say,
they don't think it's spiritual. Folks, when I see that, that's
100% flesh. Nothing spiritual about it. So the believer's inner witness
is not so much an emotional feeling as it is a possession. What I possess. What I know about
my Savior. What has been taught and I have
understood. The ministry of the Spirit to
the elect is twofold. Number one, that we might know
the Lord through regeneration that results in conversion. And number two, that we might
know the Word through revelation that results in illumination. Illumination. It is false to assume that one
cannot have present assurance of salvation. And there are a
lot of people who say, you can't be sure. Well, it's unsaved people
talking. So it's false to assume that
one cannot have assurance of salvation. Let's turn now to
1 John chapter 4. Verse 13, then I'll read a few
verses in the 5th chapter. Close out with the 20th verse
as far as the reading of the scriptures are concerned. 1 John chapter 4 and verse 13. By this we know. that we abide in Him and He in
us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have beheld
and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior
of the world. And of course, that's the world
of believers. I hope you understand that without sidetracking too
much. Whoever confesses that Jesus
is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. And we have come to know and
have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who
abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected, completed
with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment. And I assure you, according to
Romans 5, 5, we will not be ashamed, because as he is, So also are
we in this world. There is no fear in love, but
perfect love casts out fear, that is, slavish fear, because
fear involves punishment. And the one who fears is not
perfected in love. We love because he first loved
us. If someone says, I love God and
hates his brother, he is a liar. For the one who does not love
his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not
seen. And this commandment we have
from him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. A person is no better than his
conviction. 2 Timothy 1, 8-11. So the results
of what we've been talking about. A person is no better than his
conviction. And write down 2 Timothy 1, 8-11. Secondly, a person is no happier
than his assurance. 2 Timothy 1, 12. Thirdly, a person
is no more secure than his anchor. Hebrews 6 verse 19, and Christ
is our anchor. Please observe the preposition
with, which is the prefix to the compound
verb, Sum Martireo. Sun means with, and Martireo
means bear witness, affirm, or confirm. And I'm talking about
Romans 8 16 now. So it says, I left out something when I was
writing. I got stopped, I guess, and so I'll put it together. So the passage in Romans 8 and
verse 16. We have the present active indicative
form of Sum Martireo. And so The Spirit of God is bearing
witness with the believer's spirit that he is a child of God. Believing with. It's not done
alone, folks. So that's a very important compound
verb. Sun Martireo. The indicative
mood is the mood of reality. And the inner affirmation is
not merely an abstract testimony of our feelings that is conceived
apart from the concrete reality. But it is an affinity with our
spirit, with our spirit. So this is because that in regeneration
we have been given a new heart and a new spirit. Ezekiel 36,
25-27. In closing, the new principle
of life has an affinity for God. Since the Holy Spirit is the
author of the new principle of life, He also manifests His existence
and grace to us. This makes the Holy Spirit the
first witness. Watch this. The first witness. And the believer spirit, the
second witness in our salvation experience. So God always comes
first. Assurance is assured. Let us stand.