All right, let's take our Bibles
once again and turn with me to the book of John. John, the gospel,
is penned by the apostle John. John chapter 19. John 19. The older a believer gets, I think the more he realizes
this truth. I know this is so. To everything,
there is a season. A time for every purpose under
the heaven. Now listen to this. A time to
be born and a time to die. And with that realization, that
believer desires some comfort. I need comfort because I'm in
a world that's not my home. I know, at least I know this
in my head for sure, and I know I know it, but it's not going
to stay like this forever. Everything around us is fleeting,
it's decaying, changing. I need some comfort from the
fiery darts of Satan. I need some comfort from the
hatred of the world. I need some comfort from the
battle that rages within. And I know this, there's no comfort
anywhere except in Him who says, come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest." I know that this morning that
every believer in this place wants some comfort. Tell me what
the Lord has to say about comfort, because I desire it. Now, this morning I want to look
at one verse of scripture. And it's this verse of scripture
is a verse that absolutely, if the Spirit of God has blessed
it to our hearts, is a verse of scripture where we'll find
comfort, some peace. I'm a dying creature and I need
to hear what God has to say. And here's what it is, verse
30. John 19, verse 30. When Jesus, therefore, had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. Now, no words for a grieving
comfort-seeking believer. Demand more respect than these. Because in these words right
here is the true and final declaration and satisfaction. The accomplishment
concerning God's purpose to save His people. Here's what it's
saying. Everything that has been demanded
by God has been fulfilled and accepted. It is completed. That's what He said. It's finished. Now, let me tell you what Our
carnal mind, this is the mind with which every one of us has
been born. To the carnal mind, those words
are not true. We call God in our hearts, we'd
never say it out loud because we wouldn't want anybody to think
that we were heathens, but in our hearts, this is what we say. I don't believe the Lord Jesus
Christ. What I believe is that everything
has not been finished. What man by nature believes is
that it's going to take the work of Christ plus my work. I'm going to have to do something. And we totally disregard God's
word that says, therefore by the deeds of the law shall no
flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law, this is the purpose
of the law. If you want to know what the
purpose of the law is, it's not for salvation to be kept. I can
tell you, the purpose of the law is the knowledge of sin.
That's what the law does. It exposes God's demand. And it exposes our inability
to keep it. Now, when we say that we have
to do something, just name whatever it is. Satan has invented all
of these false denominations. If you think that's not true,
just go back and read Revelation 12, where it said the flood came
out of the dragon's mouth after the woman. All that false religion. But the earth helped the woman. drank it in. All false religions,
and they're so diversified, they all have a different quirk about
them. You ever notice that? It's always
something a little different. We say you gotta do this. Well,
we say you gotta do this. I know that's not true because
this one says, this one says. Anything that tells you that
you have to do something is a lie. That's a lie. Whenever we insinuate that we
have to add our work, we have to add our faith, we will believe. But belief is the evidence of
regeneration. It's not the reason for it. We
don't believe in order to be saved. We believe because God
saved us and regenerated us, called us out of darkness. We
cry unto the Lord not in order to be saved. We cry unto the
Lord because He saved us. That's the effect of it. It's
not the reason for it. If we believe that we have to
do something, that it implies then that God is not the finisher
of His own will. That's what it believes. If you
say that you have to do something, you do not believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ finished the work. You don't believe that the blood
of Christ was sufficient to put away sins. You don't believe
that man is spiritually impotent. You don't believe that. You don't
believe that a man is dead in trespasses and sins if you believe
you've got to do something in order to be saved. If you believe
that you have to do something and then God will save you, then
that implies that God's love and purpose means nothing for
the Lord to show mercy and compassion to whomsoever He will. That means
that all of a sudden when you decided to give your heart to
Jesus, and all of a sudden the Lord started loving you, you
know, well there's another one. Glad for that. Now you're insinuating
that God changed. You're insinuating now that God
didn't have feelings for you before, but now He does. Man
is a dead creature. in trespasses and sins. Charles
Spurgeon made this statement. When we see the dead rise from
the grave by their own power, then may we expect to see ungodly
sinners of their own free will turn to Christ. It doesn't happen. Salvation is by grace. known through faith. And even that faith was not of
yourself. It was the gift of God. The Lord
gave you that. But now, to all that the Lord
has been given ears to hear and eyes to see and a heart to believe,
listen to what the Lord Jesus has to say concerning our salvation. He said, it. How immense is that word? It. The fullness of God's will, and
God's purpose, and God's choosing. The fullness of all that He has
eternally chosen to do in the rescue and redemption of His
elect. everything that was demanded. We don't even have a clue what
was demanded. Or we say, well, the fulfillment
of the law. Can you enter into the depth
of that? I mean, just think. We don't even know what was required. We're the most ignorant creatures. We think ourselves wise. But here's what the Lord said
concerning salvation being finished. He said, This is the Father's
will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me
I should lose nothing. but raise it up again at the
last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, that is, by faith,
believeth on Him, may have everlasting life. I will raise Him up at
the last day." All of the demands of the law, all of the prophecies,
all of the types and shadows are finished, completed, fulfilled. all principalities, powers that
were once against us, these charges, all of the charges. Can you imagine?
How many infractions have we committed? They were all nailed to His cross. All of them. And we don't even
know what they were. Wouldn't you have to I hate to
have to just give an account of the infractions that you or
I have committed since we've been here this morning. If Almighty
God say, if you go ahead and name all the ways that you sinned
against me this morning, and I'll forgive you for them, what are we going to say? You're
going to say, Lord, I don't even know. I don't know what to say. The Lord said concerning those
infractions, it's finished. All that we have done are doing
for God's people and shall do until the day we leave this earth.
This is what He said, paid in full. Every debt By the blood of His
cross, all God's elect have been reconciled. And they are now
at peace with God through His blood. And again, we don't even
realize. The more we hear of the gospel,
the more ignorant we know we are. We always pride ourselves
in knowing so much. We're ignorant children, frail
doves, just fearful, unknowing. Oh, and the blessed thought of
God's will being satisfied. Here's what a believer says,
Lord, whatever you say, whatever you say, Because the Father has
said of you, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.
Here's what I want to be. I want to be in that cleft of
the rock. Just hide me. Just cover me. Protect me. Lord, don't look upon my ignorance. Lord, look upon the blood on
my behalf. Lord, save me by your grace.
Now I know this. I know based on what He said. It's finished. I know that. I
know that he's put away the debt of his people. I know he died
for them. That's what he said. I know he died a distinguishing
grace. I mean, a distinguishing debt. Death. I'll get it right in a
minute. He died a distinguishing death and paid a distinguishing
debt by distinguishing grace. But I want to know something. Can I know that I have a part
in it? I'm no different than anybody
else. I'm like you. I don't want to be duped. I know that the heart is desperately
wicked. It's deceitful of all things. I understand five points of Calvinism. I understand that. I can give
argument with the best of them. I know it's not by free will.
I know that. But I know this. Devils know that. I want to know something. I need
some comfort. I'm going to leave this world.
Carl, I'm going to die. And I don't want to stand before
God. and find out then. Here's what
I know. Many, many, many are going to
stand before Him on the day of judgment and they're going to
say, Lord, Lord, you prophesied, cast out devils. We did many
wonderful works. And He's going to say, I never
knew you. And do you know this is going to be the first time
they realized it? It's going to be the first time they knew
it. I don't want to be there. I don't want to be there. I don't
want to be like that. I truly need some comfort. I want to know that when He finished
the work, He finished it for me. Can I know that? Yes. I want you to turn to 1
Thessalonians 1. 1 Thessalonians. And here's what
I'm going to say to all of us. We've looked at these verses
before, but we're going to look at them again one time. Until
the next time. I want to know, is there anything
in scripture that gives me any assurance of salvation? Do I
find myself with these characteristics, because this is what Paul was
writing down under the inspiration of God's Spirit. The characteristics
of a believer. This is what it is. Now listen,
1 Thessalonians 1 verses 2-4. The Apostle Paul says, We give
thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in
our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and
labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the sight of God and our Father, knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. Now, I know this. I know that
God has elected a people. I know that. I just read it.
Knowing your election. of God, that God's done something
for me. Paul is getting ready to give
seven evidences of election, seven characteristics, seven
truths, and the Spirit of God wrote this. So I want to hear
it. I want to hear it again. You
said, I've heard it before. I have too. I want to hear it
again. Tell me again. Here's the first
one. In verse 5, knowing your election of God, verse 5, for
or because, because. How can I know that I am one
for whom He's finished the work? Our gospel came not unto you
in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in
much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among you
for your sake. Here's the first one. Actually,
I read two of them there. Here's the first one. The gospel
to God's elect. comes not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy
Ghost, and in much assurance. Now listen, we've heard the gospel
preached before. We've heard it. And I know that
it can be understood in the head only, just a mental ascent. But Paul says, our gospel came
to you not only in word. It wasn't just a passing thing
where you could take it or leave it. Now this is the way that
the gospel comes in word only. It just doesn't make that much
difference. I mean, if I'm going to go somewhere,
I guess I'll go to a grace church, It doesn't mean enough to me
that my life and soul depends on it. The hearing of it. I must hear. I must have that truth. That message that Paul preached.
There was a woman named Lydia. And they were in Philippi. And
Lydia heard. She was a seller of purple. She
was a businesswoman and she was around there. You know, she was
from Thyatira and she was in the local area. Came down to
the river. Paul was preaching. There were
some ladies down there and Paul was preaching to them. But here's
what the Scripture says. The Lord opened her heart and
she attended to the words that were spoken of Paul. God smote
her. She knew what she was in herself. And she received that word by
the grace of God, and that word was life. Our gospel came not
unto you in word only. but it was the power of God unto
salvation. No more. No more works. No more
works. No. It's the power of God. This is life. So let me ask you
this. The gospel. Is it to you? Now you might as
well be honest. We might as well all be honest
with each other. I mean with ourselves, not each other. Don't
raise your hand. I don't want to raise my hand.
But let me just ask you this, the gospel, is it just, I mean
you understand it, I know that, but can you just take it or leave
it? Is there anything more important than this? Is there anything
more important than the gospel? I'm not saying do we not find
ourselves, you know, treating it with disrespect, we all do.
Is the gospel the message of life to you? Secondly, Paul said, and this
was that second part that I read, He said in verse 5, the gospel
came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the
Holy Ghost and in much assurance. And listen to this, here's the
second part. Here's the second evidence of election. As you
know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. Now listen, this is what the
Spirit of God says. This is written by the Apostle
Paul. He had been taught the gospel by the Lord Jesus Christ. And after he was taught the gospel,
he began to proclaim the gospel. Before he was a Pharisee. And
he hated this message. He hated the people of God. He
hated God. He hated this God. And as soon as God called him
out of darkness, he began to proclaim this gospel, the gospel
of God's grace. And everybody began to say, Saul,
The one that formerly persecuted us? He's preaching what we're
preaching. He's preaching the same thing.
Here's the second evidence given by the Spirit of God concerning
our election. It's that a believer knows because
he discerns God's servants. Paul said, you know what manner
of men we were among you for your sake. They were preaching
the gospel. And because the Spirit of God
had given God's people a heart for the gospel, they recognized
gospel preachers. How? By what they were preaching.
What they were proclaiming. They heard the voice of the Savior
as He spoke through His preachers. Now you know if you hear someone
preach something other than the gospel. How do you know? You hear Him. You hear His voice.
Now you're going to pick up real fast on whether or not the message
that you're hearing is truthful to these Scriptures or whether
it's not. You're going to hear if I'm telling
you something that gives man glory. You're going to know that.
You're going to know the difference. You're going to stand up here.
Somebody's going to stand up here and you're going to know
real fast. whether it's the truth. Paul says, here's the evidence
of election. You know what manner of men we
were. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, they follow me,
I give unto them eternal life, they shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. A believer, now you
listen to me, a believer will not follow a stranger, a false
preacher. Why? Because they recognize and
they follow only the voice of the shepherd. You would not sit and listen
to someone lie concerning the things of God. You won't sit
there. You will not sit there. You recognize this is a lie.
This is damnable to men's souls. I won't hear it. When they hear
the truth as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ, when they perceive
that what is being proclaimed is salvation by grace, they won't
go anywhere else. They will not. Here's the third
evidence. The elect know of God's distinguishing
grace and mercy toward them, because they have become followers
of the Lord and His people, having received the word in much affliction
with joy of the Holy Ghost. That's what verse 6 said. How
do you know one of God's elect When God calls them out of darkness,
they became, verse 6, followers of us, of the Lord. It doesn't
matter if someone comes to them and wears them out over what
they believe. Affliction from all sides for
what you love, what you hold to, to Him. and you will not
go. Why? Because He keeps you. You became followers of us and
of the Lord, having received the Word in much affliction,
and here's how you did it, with joy in the Holy Ghost. Let the world and its false religion
cast dispersion upon the truth of God's electing, redeeming,
and regenerating grace. But God's people know this is
the truth. People come up to you and they'll
tell you, say, if you believe this message right here, you're
going to die in your sins. And a believer will say, that's
not what the Spirit of God told me. The Spirit of God has borne
witness to my heart that these scriptures are true and has given
me a heart for it. They will receive the truth with
much affliction. Fourthly, the scripture sets
forth, verse 7, so that ye were in samples or examples to all
that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. A believer is known because they're
found to be examples of all who believe. They don't put any confidence
in themselves. They don't put any confidence
in their flesh. But they are still found to be
a pattern and an example to all believers. Let me tell you one
of the greatest sounds of a believer. When someone comes to me and
tells me, now here's the example, you became examples to all that
believe. Every believer that I know looks
at themselves with total disgust. That's a good example. Every
believer I know looks at himself and says this, in my flesh there
was no good thing. Every believer I know speaks
of his struggles and his need of Christ. His lack of faith,
the way he sees himself. His lack of ability, his lack
of consistency. That's how a believer talks. And he speaks of the Lord as
altogether lovely. How could one such as he is have
mercy on one such as I am? I'll be honest with you. Outward
actions and manifestations, you're going to find that unbelievers,
by and large, I find for myself, are a whole lot more outwardly
consistent than I am. I'm too lax, I'm too... Paul
said you were examples. I'm telling you, he said you
love one another, fellowship with one another, you worship. We're found to be examples. But I'm telling you, I'm not
going to sit here and tell you how to be examples of how good
you are, because there's none of us that's honest that'll admit
that. No believer looks at himself
any other way than that way. 1 Timothy 4.12, Paul says to
Timothy, let no man despise thy youth, be thou an example of
the believers. In word, in your conversation,
in your walk, in your love, your charity and spirit and faith,
purity. Every believer walks like a believer. Struggling. Like Jacob, when
the Lord touched the hollow of his thigh, and it says he hobbled
the rest of his life. What are you walking like that
for? God's touched me. God's reminded me of what I am.
God's taught me something of Himself. And what are you? I'm just a pilgrim. I'm just
a sinner. Saved by the grace of God. That's
the most consistent thing. I had somebody telling me that
the other day. They said, I just don't see anything
good in me. And I said, thank God for that. I'm so inconsistent. I said, praise the Lord. An unbeliever will never admit
that. They see themselves. I tithe. A believer strives and desires
to adorn the gospel, the doctrine of God, the Savior puts no confidence
in himself. Fifthly, Scripture sets forth
in verse 8, For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not
only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your
faith to God were to spread abroad, so that you need not to speak
anything. A believer desires to tell others
of His Lord. Remember I mentioned this the
other day, that demoniac that the Lord cast those legions of
devils out and he wanted to go with the Lord. He said, now you
go home and you tell them what great things the Lord has done
for you. Brother Scott told me that. I've
told you that before. I've told so many people that.
Somebody would be telling me, he said, I'm just struggling
on what to preach. And I said, well, let me tell
you what Brother Scott told me. He said, you can always tell
men according to the Word of the Lord what great things the
Lord has done for you. He says that you sounded out
the Word of the Lord. You say, well, I'm not a preacher.
I'll tell you this, you cross paths with people every day.
And I'll tell you what happens when you cross paths, especially
with a believer. Just give it a second. You'll
be talking about Him. That's how the conversation will
come around. You'll be talking about Christ. You sound it out.
A believer desires to speak about what's in his heart. About Him. To tell others what the Lord's
done for this needy sinner. And I'll tell you another thing.
I know God's got an elect. But there's some that's sitting
in this congregation today that I'm convinced don't know the
Lord. I pray I'm not one of them. But I want the Lord. I want the
Lord to save you. I do. I want to be truthful to
this Word. I want God to have mercy upon
us. Call us out of darkness. Whenever
one sheep is brought back, the Lord rejoices and He says, Rejoice
with me. I pray. I pray daily. Lord, save Your people. Lord, bless Your Word. Bless
the Word this morning. Call out those you've everlastingly
loved. And I'm telling you, I'm telling
you everything that I know to say that the Spirit of God has
revealed in these Scriptures that God's going to bless. If
there was something else that He had revealed, I'd tell you.
But this is all He's going to bless. So I'm not going to get
off of this. I'm going to say, you know, somebody
said one time, don't you have any other material? This is all
I got. This is it right here. And then
sixthly, a believer has some assurance of his election because
he doesn't put confidence any longer in himself. Look at verse
9. For they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you turn
to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Somebody
said, well, I tell you what, I know this, I don't worship
idols. Well, I'm not talking about these
little things that we, you know, little things you see down in
Mexico or in these churches, little statues and stuff. I'm
not talking about that. Before we were converted, we
served and worshiped the idol of ourself, of our ability. Now what you worship is what
you put your confidence in. Now you think about this. What
you worship is what you put all your confidence in. Before the
Lord called us out of darkness, what did we put our confidence
in? Well, there ain't nobody else but us in our will, in our works, in
our ability. That was the idols of our confidence. But Paul was saying, he said,
I know your election of God because there's only one way that you're
going to turn from your idols, the idol of yourself. God's going
to have to give you a new heart. You won't do it any other way. You will not turn. But when He gives you a new heart,
here's what you're going to do. You will think differently. Because
He's given you a new mind, a new will, a new purpose, a new love. And there's repentance, there's
a turning, there's a change of thinking. And he said, you turned
from the lying self-assurance of us, of ourselves, you turned
from that, from idols, to serve the living and true God. Because
we weren't the living and true God. Anybody that puts confidence
in themselves for salvation thinks themselves to be God. You're the only one that we're
trusting is me. And he said, you turn from that.
Only a believer does that. Every other creature worships
himself. And then lastly, the apostle
speaks of us knowing our election because we look for Him who is
the faithful witness, the one who lived for and died for His
people, who promised that He would return to His Father, prepare
a place for us in His Father's house, where He was, where we
would be. Look at verse 10. Here's the
last evidence. "...and to wait for His Son from
heaven..." Let me tell you the confidence.
You know, false religion says, well, we believe the Lord's coming.
We believe the Lord's coming back to receive His people. Everybody
admits that, that there's a second coming. But listen to what the
Apostle Paul just said. To wait for His Son from heaven. What did he just say? God the
Father sent His Son from heaven. Why? You call His name Jesus. for
He shall save His people from their sins. This is why He came. He came unto His own that He
might be made like unto them, and to live for them, and to
die for them, to save them. We wait for Him that God has
sent according to God's everlasting covenant of grace. See, there's
a lot of things. Some might say, well, I believe
the Lord's coming back. Why do you think he's coming back? Why
do you think he came the first time? If you don't know why he
came the first time, if you don't know why he came the first time,
you really don't want him to come back the second time. It's
like somebody that commits suicide because they say, I'm going to
end all my troubles. No, your troubles just started. He said, we know your election
because you wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from
the dead. Why did He raise Him from the
dead? Because He finished the work. Because He redeemed God's
elect and delivered us from the wrath to come. The God of all grace has not
left His people. in darkness to know whether they
are His people. Aren't you glad? Here it is. Knowing, beloved, your election
of God. Our gospel came to you, not in
word only. And man by nature can just take
it or leave it. But not a believer. Not a believer. This is life. Let me tell you
what a believer's life, what their life, how it goes. Concerning
the assembling of ourselves together, their life goes from Wednesday
to Sunday, or Wednesday to Tuesday, or Wednesday to, I mean, Sunday
to Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. They just, they go from service
to service to service to service to service to hearing the gospel.
Why? Because that's when He's promised
He's going to meet with us. It didn't come in word only,
it came in power. And he said, we know your election
because you know what manner of men we were. You know God's
preachers. I'm going to send you preachers,
pastors after my heart. I'm going to speak to you through
preaching. And he said, you became followers
of us. You received the Word in much affliction with joy in
the Holy Ghost. God has given you a new heart
for this. And let men say what they will. I'm going to burn
you if you don't. I'm going to throw you out of
the house if you don't. Well, I'm not leaving him. You are
examples. Examples of faithfulness, faith,
conviction of yourself, conviction of who He is. You sounded out
the Word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia, Achaia, every place
your faith to God would spread abroad. I want people to hear
the Gospel. We support missionaries. We support
preachers. Churches that are not, you know,
we support quite a bit, quite a few. Why? Because we want the
gospel to be proclaimed. And the scriptures set forth,
they themselves show what manner of entering we had, how you turn
to God from the idol of yourself to the true and living God. And
He said, you wait for the one that has been sent from heaven. God's lamb, the one God has provided,
the one that's coming back and you're looking for him, the one
that lived and died for you in particular according to these
scriptures. I pray God bless these messages to our hearts
for Christ's sake and for our good. Amen. Let's stand together.