I would first have you this morning
to turn with me to the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy
chapter 28. Deuteronomy chapter 28. Let me, in the beginning of my
message, address those of you here that are yet without Christ. There are some of you present
this morning that have yet to trust Christ as your only hope
and remedy to the pardon and forgiveness of your sin. You
see, He's the only one who can pardon your sin. God is going
to punish sin. The scriptures makes that very
clear. He's too holy and he's too just not to. God is so holy
and his justice is so strict that he can by no means, under
no circumstances, clear the guilty. And all of us Every single one
of us are guilty of transgressions and iniquities against God Almighty. That's what David said. He said,
for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Now, I want you to listen to
what he says about his sin. He says, against thee and thee
only, praying to his God, Against thee and thee only have I sinned
and done this evil in thy sight." Friends, sin is evil and it's
against God and God only. And David said that thou mightest
be justified, that you might be right when you speak and be
clear when you judge us. All of us have sinned and come
short of God's glory. We know that. We must acknowledge
our transgressions. Like David, we must confess and
admit that our sin is ever before us. Oh, I wish it wasn't so. But it every day, most every
minute, it seems, raises its ugly head. Has God enabled you
to be conscious of your sins? Do you see that they're ever
before you? God makes his people to see that
all our sin, all of it, is against God and God alone. And because
of that, God is justified. As I said, God is right when
he speaks against us. Some would tell you that God
loves too much to speak against you. No, God's too holy not to
speak against us. God has every reason to speak
the truth against us. Every negative thing that God
can speak against us is true. He's justified, He's just, and
He's right when He speaks against us. And He's clear of any injustice,
any unjust actions when He judges us and condemns us. Do you see
that? Has God shown you that He doesn't
unjustly judge or condemn any sinner? All sinners deserve the
judgment, the wrath, the charge, the conviction, and the sentence
that the holy justice of God brings against them. We know
that whatsoever the law saith, Paul said, it says to them that
are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world become guilty before God, Romans 319. We can't say
a thing when God speaks against us. We can't defend ourselves
when God judges us because we're guilty before Him and our sin
is against Him. And here in Deuteronomy chapter
28, we have a word to the unbelieving sinner from Moses. I would have
you first notice in 58 that these words are written to all who
will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written
in this book. This is written to all who do
not fear the glorious and fearful name of the Lord thy God. Now that word fear here means
to stand in awe of, to revere, to stand in reverence, to stand
with total regard of who the Lord God is. If a sinner fears,
reveres, and stands in awe of God Almighty, they will believe
Him. But if men and women and sinners
do not fear God, they'll never believe Him. Now that's what
Moses is saying here. Look at it, verse 58. He says,
if you will not observe, Attend to, regard, and obey to do all
the words God has written and commanded in this book. Friends,
there's gonna be some hard consequences to endure. What kind of consequences
you might ask? Some bad ones. Look at verse
59. The Lord will make thy plagues
wonderful. And the word wonderful there
doesn't mean wonderful in the sense of good. But wonderful
here would have been better translated in the Hebrew as great and difficult. The Lord will make your plagues
great and difficult. Notice Moses says even great
plagues, long continuing plagues. Plagues of long continuing sickness. And that word plague is not a
pleasant word. As a noun it means disease, sickness,
epidemic, pestilence, infestation. And as a verb it means to afflict,
to torment, to strike a blow, to be beaten, wounded, slaughtered,
to be cursed. Look at verse 60. Moreover He
will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt. That's talking
about that plague. which thou wast afraid of, and
they shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness and every
plague which is not written in the book of the law, them will
the Lord bring upon thee until thou be destroyed. This is written to the unbeliever,
to those who will not bow to Christ as Lord and Savior. Verse
62, Moses says, you'll be left few in number. Why? Because you
won't obey the voice of the Lord thy God. Verse 63, and it shall
come to pass that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good
and to multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy
you and to bring you to naught. And you shall be plucked from
off the land, whether thou Whither thou goest to possess it? Now,
I understand that this is speaking of rebellious Israel while in
the wilderness. As you know, the Lord delivered
them out of Egypt with a mighty hand and no sooner than they
got out. My, they didn't even get to the Red Sea before they
begin to murmur and complain and tell Moses, did you bring
us out here to let us die in the wilderness? So unthankful
they were. The heading in my study Bible
and home for this chapter says, The Blessings for Obedience and
the Curses of Disobedience. That's how they describe this
chapter. And throughout Israel's journey
in the wilderness to the promised land, Israel gives us a true
picture of us by nature. And look at verse 64, and the
Lord shall scatter thee among all people from the one end of
the earth, even into the other. And there thou shalt serve other
gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even
wood and stone. And among these nations shalt
thou find no ease, neither shall the soul of thy foot have rest,
but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart and failing
of eyes and sorrow of mind. And as I read that verse, I thought
to myself, doesn't that so well describe the doubting and the
unbelieving men and women of our day? Folks in this world
without God are so hopeless. Verse 66 is the verse that I
wanted you to see. Look at it. And thy life shall
hang in doubt before thee. That's what doubt is. It's the
opposite of faith. The opposite of believing. And he says, and thou shalt fear
day and night. Fear is the opposite of peace
and rest. and thou shalt have none assurance
of thy life." No assurance, no hope, no confidence. Now the
definition of assurance is defined as a positive declaration of
something that's intended to give confidence. Assurance is
a guarantee, so to speak, a certainty, a competent expectation of something
positive and good. Moses tells these faithless,
unbelieving, rebellious people that because of their disobedience
to God and His Word, that their life shall hang in doubt. That they would fear day and
night. I remember Roth Barnard reading
one time that Roth Barnard, that outspoken evangelist, said that
he, in college, led an atheist group and said he would propagate
the beliefs of an atheist during the day and then would, at night,
pray to the God that he claimed didn't exist that he wouldn't
kill him. Oh, I'm telling you, men without God fear day and
night. Moses says that these unbelieving,
rebellious people would have no, none confidence, none assurance,
no positive, confident expectation of hope. And the word assurance
here in the original Hebrew means refuge, safety, security. The unbeliever has no assurance,
no refuge, no safety, no security in their life. What a sad existence. Every saved believing sinner
desires assurance. Every sinner that trusts God
wants to have some confidence that they're saved. I do, don't
you? They want to know that when they
die, they'll be accepted into heaven and heaven's glory and
forever be with Christ. But they know that they're accepted
only in the beloved. who's the Lord Jesus Christ.
They want to know, they want to have confidence, assurance
that their sins will be put away and redeemed. They want to know
that they're a child of God. They want to have some assurance,
a good hope, a confident expectation that everything is all right
between them, the sinner that they are, and a thrice holy God
whom they have offended. Don't you want to know that?
Don't you want to have that assurance and that confidence? Sure you
do. That's what assurance is. The unbeliever has none. That's
what we just read in Deuteronomy 28 verse 66. But the true believer
must have assurance. So, let me first assure you of
this. If salvation is not totally and
completely by the sovereign power of God in the Lord Jesus Christ,
there is no assurance for any sinner. Absolutely none. If salvation for sinners, if
the forgiveness of sins, if the imputation of righteousness,
if the full accomplishment of redemption is not totally, completely,
and entirely in the hands of God Almighty, there's no such
thing as assurance. None. If salvation is not of the Lord,
then there is no such thing as a good hope or a confident expectation
of life eternal. If salvation is not by the sovereign
grace of God, by His mercy and His grace, there is no way any
of us can have any confidence, hope, or expectation of everlasting
life. If the forgiveness of sin is
at all, in the least, based on what the sinner has done, is
doing, or is going to do, then there's no hope of redemption.
For none of us can do what God requires, and God requires perfection. We say that every message, don't
we? Because it's true. That's the
dilemma we're in as sinners. We cannot provide what God requires
of us. So I'm telling you, I am determined
to put no assurance, no confidence, no hope of being saved in what
I do. Just not going to do it. Because
there is no hope, assurance, or confidence there. We can do nothing to save ourselves.
It's by grace that we're saved, through faith in Christ that
we're saved. It's not of ourselves. Boy, we
ought to underline that in our Bibles and Ephesians too. Not
of ourselves. It's the gift of God. Here's
another thing to underline. Not of works. Underline it. Highlight it. Whatever. Lest
any man should boast. When all is said and done, Men
and women, sinners, will believe that salvation is accomplished
in one of two ways. In themselves, in, by, and through
a work of so-called righteousness that they do, or in Christ. And in Christ alone, according
to His perfect work of righteousness that He's done for them. That's
one of the two. Those who trust in a work of
righteousness that they supposedly do have a false assurance, a
false hope of salvation. No salvation to be found in what
we do. And to them, Moses said, your
life hangs in doubt before you, and fear is your lot day and
night. And you have no assurance of
life everlasting. Seven times in the word of God,
the word assurance is found. The first time is found in the
verse that we just looked at here in Deuteronomy. Every other
time the word assurance is used, it's used in a positive way to
and for believers. And I'm telling you, I love the
assurance found in the gospel. I love it. It's all I wanna hear. I love to tell the story, don't
you? I love the message of sovereign
grace. God cannot fail. God is almighty. My salvation is sure. My salvation
is certain. My salvation is determined. I'm
saved by the determinate counsel and purpose of God. And if God
could or did fail, I'm telling you, He would cease to be God.
But perish the thought. He told Abraham, he said, is
anything too hard for the Lord? No, no, no. Nothing's too hard
for Him. He can do anything. He can do
everything. He's able to save them to the
uttermost that come to God by Him. That's our message. God
is able. Don't doubt it. There's a day
coming now when my assurance will be fully realized. For on
that day, I won't be hindered or hampered by my sin anymore. Paul talks about it in Romans
8. He talks about being glorified. The day that, as we talked about
in the first hour, that when we see Christ, we'll be just
like Him. We'll be conformed perfectly
to His image. That's what Paul was talking
about, and to Timothy, he said, I know whom I have believed.
Salvation's in a person, I know whom I have believed, and I am
persuaded, fully assured, that He, God the Father, that
He, Christ, God the Son, is able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him against that day. That day that's coming, I can
trust my soul in Christ and be confident that He will keep that,
that I've committed to Him. That being my soul, I'm confident
of this very thing, that He, God the Father, that He, the
Lord Jesus Christ, hath begun a good work in me and that He
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Boy, I have
such assurance in that. Don't you? Something that every saved sinner
must learn is this. In order to be reconciled to
God, in order to have renewed fellowship with God, the sinner's
got to be perfect in every way. The Scripture puts it this way.
Holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight. That word unblameable
means unblemished. It means perfect. The word unreprovable
means unaccused, irreproachable, so perfect that not even a holy
God can accuse you. Perfectly holy, perfectly righteous,
perfectly just, perfect in every way. God accepts nothing less. And there's only one way a sinner
can be made perfect. And our Lord told us how in John
chapter 17, you don't have to turn there, verse 23. He said
this, so simple, so plain. He said, I in them and thou in
me, speaking to his father, that they may be made perfect in one. Oh, in Christ, friends, we're
one with God. We're one with God the Son. Christ in me is my perfection. Christ in you is your perfection.
Christ in you is the hope of glory. Isn't that what the Scriptures
say? Colossians 127. The Lord says
that they may be made perfect. I love that word, made. When
it's in the Scriptures, I do. The believers have been made
perfect. The believer has been made righteous. We quote that verse, and we discuss
it all the time, 2 Corinthians 5.21. You know, I'm sure, the
verse by heart. For He, God, hath made Him, Christ,
to be sin for us. And those words, to be, are italicized. That could read, God hath made
Him sin for us. His elect. For Christ, who knew
no sin, was made sin, that we might be what? Made. Made the righteousness of God
in Him. Did you know that the Greek word
made here, I was amazed at this, it means finished. It means fulfilled. We have been finished. the righteousness
of God in Christ. We've been fulfilled the righteousness
of God in Christ. You see, by way of substitution,
mediation, intervention, Jesus Christ was made to be sin. He
took the sin of His people upon Himself and He satisfied God's
holy justice. By satisfying the justice of
God, Christ paid the debt of sin that we owe and He made us. He finished us. Perfectly righteous. You know what? We actually have
the righteousness of God in Christ. We have it. Right now. Right
now. What does that mean? Well, it
means everything. Let me show you the second time
that the word assurance is used in the Scriptures. Turn with
me to Isaiah chapter 32. Isaiah chapter 32. I want to
look at one verse here. Verse 17. We're talking about being made
righteous. Made righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 32 verse 17, and the work
of righteousness shall be peace. And the effect of righteousness,
quietness and assurance forever. That work of righteousness that
Christ did for us shall be our peace with God. The righteousness
of Christ that was wrought out by our substitute removes the
guilt of sin from the conscience of the saved sinner. And those
to whom this perfect righteousness is given, justifies them in the
eyes of God from all their sin, and they see themselves that
they are made conscious that God no longer sees their sin
because Christ put it away forever. And if Christ put our sin away
forever, then we have no sin. When Christ paid the debt of
sin that the law demanded from the elect sinner, God's wrath,
God's judgment, God's justice against that sin was completely
and forever extinguished. In Christ we have peace with
God, a peace that passes all understanding, Philippians 4. Do you remember the story of
Elijah and the prophets of Baal? When Elijah offered that sacrifice
upon Mount Carmel, The fire of the Lord fell upon that sacrifice,
and it consumed the burnt offering, it consumed the wood, it consumed
the stones, and the dust, and it even licked up the water that
was in the trench around about it. And when all the people saw
it, the scripture said they fell on their face, and they said,
the Lord, He is God. But when the fire of the Lord
fell upon Mount Calvary, something very different happened. Something
very different from that which occurred on Mount Carmel occurred. That time the outcome was much
different. On Mount Calvary, When God the
Son, the Holy Lamb of God, was offered as the sacrifice for
the sin of His people, when the holy wrath of God fell, when
the holy judgment of God extracted payment for sin, when the holy
justice of God sought satisfaction for all the sin of all the elect
throughout all time, the sacrifice wasn't consumed. No, no, no,
just the opposite. The wrath and the judgment and
the justice of God was consumed and extinguished upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. What a Savior. You see, this
man, the God-man, he offered one sacrifice for sins forever. And God was satisfied. And the sins of the elect were
consumed Never to be seen or remembered again. Child of God,
you have no sin. Oh, and that doesn't even sound
right to us, does it? We're just like, you must be
talking about somebody else, preacher. No, no, I'm talking
to you. Those of you who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we
have no sin. That's how Isaiah can say here,
and the work of righteousness shall be peace. We've got peace
with God. God is no longer angry with you. He who was angry with the wicked
every day, and wicked is what we are, now there's peace. Oh, the peace that passes all
understanding, that keeps our hearts and our minds through
Christ Jesus. That's where it's found, through
Him, in Him, by Him. Oh, I love to tell that story,
don't you? I love to hear that story. All for whom Christ died have
peace with God. And that's not all. You're still
in Isaiah. Read on. There's an effect that
that righteousness had. What is it? Quietness and assurance
forever. I not only have assurance now,
Sharon, I have assurance forever. That perfect work of righteousness
that Christ performed as a servant in obedience to the law in the
room instead of His people produces quietness of soul under the mighty
hand of God. Oh, and I'm telling you that'll
mean something to you amidst all the calamities of this world.
This world is in such a mess, including all the judgment and
reproach cast upon the unbelieving sinner. including all the charges
and the accusations of Satan and the accusations of the law
upon the guilty, the believer, the saved child of God, finds
quietness, rest, peace, and assurance forever. Oh my. Paul said nothing or no
one shall separate us, the elect of God, from the love of God,
which is where? In Christ Jesus. Child of God,
does that not comfort your heart? Do you not find great assurance
in what Christ has done for us? It's found in knowing Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Knowing that He has done for
us what we can never do for ourselves. Is your hope found in the Lord
Jesus Christ? Turn with me to the book of Acts
chapter 17. Here we find the story of Paul
before the highest court of Athens. Acts chapter 17. They asked him in verse 19, they
said, What is this new doctrine of which you speak? And in verse
20 they said, you bring strange things to our ears. What do these things mean? And
here's why they wanted to know. They didn't want to know because
they had an interest in Christ. They didn't want to know because
they had a desire to be saved. They didn't want to know because
they wanted to discover the real truth. Verse 21 tells us why
they wanted to know. Look at it. For all the Athenians
and strangers which were there spent their time and nothing
else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Boy, as
I read it, there's a whole lot of that going on today. Whole
lot of that going on today. It seems to me that religion
is always attempting to tell or to hear some new thing. Tell
me something new, tell me a new thing. Oh, let me tell you, I
heard this preacher, he preached, I've never heard it before. Chances
are, if that's the case, it's not the gospel. No, there's not,
chances are it's not. It's not. We tell that old, old
story, and we tell it over and over and over again, and the
child of God never grows tired of hearing it. You don't ever
grow tired of hearing it, do you? I can tell by the way you
smile when you hear it. You don't grow tired of it. Verse 22, then Paul stood in
the midst of Mars Hill, and he said, you men of Athens, I perceive
that in all things you're too superstitious. All for men that
would stand and tell the truth today. Religion too superstitious. Men have made a God out of everything.
He said in verse 23, for I passed by and beheld your devotions,
and I found an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God,
whom therefore you ignorantly worship, and Him declare I unto
you. The God that is unknown to you,
Paul said, is the true God. God that made the world, verse
24, and all the things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven,
He dwelleth not in temples made with hands. I'm telling you,
here's what Paul's saying. He says your view and opinion
of God is way too low. Neither is worship with men's
hands as though He needed anything. Isn't that how God's preached
today? Oh, God needs you to give Him your heart. God doesn't need
anything. He says whom He wills, how He
wills, when He wills. He's not dependent on you for
anything. And He doesn't cease to be God if you never give Him
your will. He's holy and He's just and He
continues right on to be. He's not worshipped with men's
hands as though He needed anything. Seeing that He giveth to all
life and breath and all things. And that's all His elect, not
all the world. Verse 26, and hath made of one
blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the
earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the
bounds of their habitation. The God of this Bible declares,
this Bible declares, I'm telling you friends, he's running the
whole shoot match. Don't you ever doubt it. Verse 27, that they should seek
the Lord, if happily they might feel after Him and find Him,
though He be not far from every one of us. And you know that
phrase, that happily they may feel after Him? I just picture
a blind man, can't see, just feeling his way around, trying
to find God. Look at verse 28, for in Him
we live. and we move and we have our being. As certain also of your own poets
have said, for we are also his offspring. For as much then as
we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the
Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art
or man's device. In the times of this ignorance,
that's what it is, ignorance, God winked at. But now commandeth
all men everywhere to repent." I tell you what, there's a lot
going on today in religion that's caused by nothing more than ignorance. Don't know God. Don't know His
Word. Don't know His salvation or how
it's accomplished. Ignorance of His Word. Ignorance
of God's Christ and the salvation that's found only in Him. But
don't you fool yourself, the day is quickly approaching, and
I speak of the day that God has appointed. Look at verse 31,
because God hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained, whereof
He hath given assurance, there it is again, unto all men. And I had to have you notice
that the word men here is italicized. The word was added. This is not
speaking of every man and woman in the world. This is speaking
of all believers, all the elect of God in the world. And this
is their assurance in that he raised Christ from the dead. We talked about that in great
detail a couple of weeks ago. the resurrection of the dead.
The fact that Christ has been raised from the dead gives us
great assurance. It gives us great proof that
God has accepted Christ's sacrifice and payment for sin. Because
death couldn't hold Him. He was perfect. He was holy.
He was just. He paid that debt. He paid that
justice that God required. God's holy justice is totally
and fully satisfied. And that's where all my assurance,
confidence, and hope resides. How about you? How about you? I want to read you a passage.
You don't have to turn there. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse
4 and 5. Knowing brethren beloved, Boy,
I like to be called that, brethren beloved. Knowing your election
of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance. Our salvation started with God's
choosing. Apart from anything in us or
done by us, God saved us by His grace. I say it all the time
and I'll say it again. I love election because it removes
all doubt about who did the saving. By doing so in the election of
grace before the world was ever created, God took away any opportunity
for us to glory or boast in any work that we did to obtain redemption. The Gospel didn't come to us
in word only. No, sir. I sat for a long time
and heard the Gospel and it never moved me. It never did anything.
It wasn't the words that He said that made the difference. It
was the power that came with the Word. Oh, the Gospel didn't
come to us in word only. It came to us in power. The power
of the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. And why in much assurance? Why with much sureness and certainty? Because Christ is our assurance.
Christ is our surety. Our assurance is found only in
what Christ has done for us. Isn't that what we said in the
beginning of this message? Our salvation is completely,
entirely, solely in the hand of God Almighty. So let me leave
you with the words of our Savior. I couldn't leave you with better
words. He said, My Father which gave them Me, speaking of His
elect. He said, He's greater than all.
He's greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them
out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one. Dear sinner, there's no reason
that your life should hang in doubt before you as Moses said.
No reason. None whatsoever. There's no reason
that you should fear day and night and have no assurance of
eternal life in this life. Oh, I hope that when I die, right
now, there's no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.
For he that hath the Son hath life. If you desire eternal life, you
can have it. None that ever wanted it have
ever been refused it. He said it Himself. Can you hear
Him? He said, come unto Me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Can
you hear Him say it? He said, learn of Me and you'll
find rest for your souls. He'll give you assurance for
your heart. Can you hear Him? Peace I leave
you. Peace I leave with you. My peace
I give unto you, not as the world giveth. Let not your heart be
troubled. I'll come again and receive you
unto Myself. I go and I prepare a place for
you. I'll come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I
am, there you may be also." Now you can write that down. You see, these promises that
Christ gives to us when He enables us to trust in Him alone is all
our assurance. That's our assurance. What He
says. He's not a man that He should lie. He's not a son of
man that He should change His mind and repent. The words of Christ, these promises
that He gives to His people is all our hope. All our confidence. It's all in Him. May God enable you to trust in
Christ alone. That's where your assurance will
be found.