Well with my soul, it is well
with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Isaiah 3.10 says, Say ye to the
righteous, it shall be well with them. Those in Christ who has
made unto us righteousness. Colossians 2. Read verses 1-3
with me again. I would, you knew, what great
conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea. And for as many as have not seen
my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted, be
knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance
of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of
the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. Paul's great desire for the Colossians
and mine for you and for me is that our hearts might be comforted
and that we might be knit together in love, bound together by love's
strong cord, the song said. And we might have full assurance,
not just part assurance, but full assurance. And it's all
in Christ. We're going to see that. It's
all in Christ. Now, before that, he talked about, in chapter 1,
look back there, in verse 28, he said, we preach Christ, whom
we preach, warning every man. and teaching every man in all
wisdom. Warning. Before there is any comfort,
there must be a warning. We do not first hear of God's
love and mercy and grace and forgiveness of sin to us in Christ
first, do we? We hear about our sin against
a holy God, which creates the fear of the Lord.
That's the beginning of wisdom. Fear of the Lord. Psalm 51 tonight,
against thee and thee only. That's what we first hear. The
Lord used men like Jonathan Edwards to preach, to bring about a great
conviction of sin. He preached that famous message,
remember? Sinners in the hands of an angry
God. And that's sure not preached
today, is it? It's only studied in English classes as some kind
of history lesson. But that message needs to be
preached today. It is being preached where the
truth is declared. A warning. John preached this. And who hath warned thee to flee
from the wrath of God? So the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom. David said this, that the transgression
of the wicked saith within my heart that there's no fear of
God before they're out. What men say about God and do
and how that God's name is on everybody's lips tells me clearly
that our generation does not fear God. So, but you do. Why do you? Who made you the
devil? We believe that God sent truth,
and that's where it begins. Warning. Warning. To all who
fear Him, though. You know, the Lord said to all
those that fear Him, He said, fear not. Didn't He? To all who
really fear Him, fear not. All those are in Christ. And
this is what Paul said here in verse 1 of chapter 2. He said,
I wish you knew. I would that you knew what great
conflict I have for you. to them at Laodicea and others
I haven't met yet. I wish you knew, he said, what
great conflict. The Lord God said to Jeremiah
to tell us that he would send pastors after his own heart,
didn't he? There's so many of these charlatans
out there. So many false prophets. Many,
our Lord said. There are more false prophets
than true ones. Always have been. But thank God. He said that he
would send pastors after his own heart, men with the heart
of God, the love for God, love for His truth, love for His Son,
love for His people. One of the old writers, I'll
never forget this as a young preacher reading this, he said,
it's one thing to love to preach, and a lot of men do that. It's
just another thing to love those to whom you preach. That's what
the Lord gives. He gives pastors after his own
heart, according to his own heart. And they have a heart for the
people. And that's what Paul is saying
there. It's like a, well, it is. It's like a father. And one
time Paul said, I've begotten you in the faith. You remember
that? He said, I labor until Christ be formed in you, like
a mother, like a father worries. And that's just the way it is. You lose sleep, you worry, you're
troubled, and their problems are your problems. That's the
way it's got to be. That's the way it is. A real
care and concern. And he says, like a father would
say to his children, I wish you knew. I wish you knew how concerned,
how I fear for you and worry for you. And those at Laodicea, he said. Laodicea. Now that's... Listen
to me now. Laodicea. Go over to Revelation
chapter 3 with me. This is so significant and so
relevant. Laodicea. Do you remember anything about
the church at Laodicea? It's gone now. It's gone now. We went through the whole book
of Revelation, but we've been through these letters to the
churches, seven of them, a couple of times. And he mentions Laodicea. Well, look at this dire warning
for our learning. These things are written for
our learning. Laodicea in chapter 3, verse 14 of the Revelation.
under the angel, that's the preacher of the church who laid the sea
aright. These things sayeth the Amen, the faithful and true witness,
the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works. He's
talking preacher and people. Okay. I know thy works that thou
art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou were cold or
hot, then because thou art lukewarm. Woe is unto us if we become lukewarm
to the message of God's mercy and grace and love. Woe is unto
us. It might happen to us what happened
to them. And here's why. In verse 17,
he says, Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with
goods, and have need of nothing. That's prosperity. We're living in perilous times.
These are the very last of the last days. I am convinced of
that. We can see the sign of the time,
can't you? Clearly. 2 Timothy 3 gives just a clear
description of the day we live in. And it says there are perilous
times. Men are lovers of pleasure more
than lovers of God. Lovers of themselves. Boastful,
proud, covetous, heady, high-minded, disobedient. It's now, isn't
it? More than ever. Rich and increasingly
good. These are perilous times mostly
because they're prosperous times. Pastor, is it not the most dangerous
time of all? More men and women forget God
over prosperity than they do over troubles and trials. I counsel thee, verse 18, to
buy gold tried in the fire. What's that? David said, Thy word was unto
me as gold better than silver, sweeter than honey, that thou
mayest be rich. Rich as he talked of it. White
raiment. What's that? White raiment. Well, buddy, I
won't be clothed in it. Come and buy it without money,
without pride. It costs nothing from you, but
I'll love you. And on and on it goes. Verse
19, isn't this relevant to what we've been studying? As many
as I love, I rebuke and chase them. Chase them. So, Laodicea, he just mentions
this. I wish you knew how much I'm
concerned I am about you and Laodicea. Because I worry about
our children, don't you? Not that the times are more evil,
but they're just... Paul's great desire for them
and mine for us is this, verse 2, that their hearts might be
comforted, that you might be knit together in love and have
this full assurance. Heart comfort. That's what he
tells us to do, doesn't he, Gabe? Say unto my people, Comfort you,
comfort you, my people. Comfort my people. The opposite of comfort is worry.
It's trouble, unrest, anxiety. That's the opposite. And here
are some things that give a believer the greatest worry and trouble.
And I want, through His Word, to allay these worries and troubles
to comfort. He said, comfort ye my people. There's only one comfort, one
source of comfort, the God of all comfort, the gospel of our
comfort. All right? The believer, the
greatest worries we have, the greatest distress that we have,
the greatest thing, the thing that gives us the most anxiety
is our sin and our guilt. Doesn't it? Number one, that's
it. Past sin, past life, past sin, past guilt that you can't
get rid of. Present sins that you can't seem
to get rid of. And worry about the future, what
you might do, prone to do in the future, right? Sin. Sin. Well, comfort ye, comfort ye
my people, saith the Lord. Comfort ye, speak to their hearts,
say unto them, the warfare is accomplished. What's the next
line? Their iniquity is pardoned. That's from the Lord. It's a
command to his preacher to tell his people, all those that trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you tell them. Their iniquity is
pardoned. What iniquity? Doesn't say, does
it? Well, it must mean all of it.
Past, present, and future. It's pardoned. Well, he did say
this. Their sins and their iniquity
will I remember no more. Past. Look at chapter 3. Look at verse 3. You're dead
and your life is hid with Christ and God. Your secret's safe with
Him. In fact, he can't even remember
it. Past is past. Your past is hidden. It's under the blood. Paul wrote
this. Did Paul need comfort? You say,
Paul was a great man. Hold on now. This was Saul of
Tarsus. Do you think he ever got out
of his mind looking at Stephen's face as they hurled the stones? And
he said, yeah, beat his brains. Do you think that ever got out
of his mind? Do you think he ever got over
that? Do you now know why he said,
I'm the chief of sinners? I'm not worthy, he said, I used
to persecute the church. I'm not worthy to be called an
apostle. I am less than the least of all
the saints. Do you see why he said that?
He could never get that out of his mind. We can't forget our
path. God can, and he did. He said so. Trust him. Your sin
won't find you out because they're under the blood. Besides, when
Moses said that to the people, they said, we'll worship the
Lord, and they had no intention of it. He said, we'll find out
about that. It'll find you out. God's people trust in Christ.
Their sins are blotted out. Didn't we read that? Blotted
out. Buried with Him in baptism. What's past is past. Your past
is past. Is that good news? It's good
news to a sinner. It's past. What's past is past. Paul said in Philippians 3, forgetting
those things that are past. God did. Present sin. What about present sin? Christ
said this. And he can't lie. He said, heaven
and earth will pass. Not one word of mine shall fail.
He said, sin shall not have dominion over you. But you don't know
the wrestling's out. Oh, yes, he does. He wrestled
with them. He was tempted at all points,
like as we are. He knows. Touched with the feet
of our infirmities. I'm going down, Peter said. No,
you'll never. You know, your head's always
above water. Present sin. Christ said it will
not have to make. Future? What about the future? What's the future hold for me?
I don't know, but I do know who holds the future. And I do know
who holds me. Is that presumption? No, it's
just fact. Christ said, I give unto them
eternal life and they shall never perish. Didn't He? And those who don't love that
must not need it. Those who don't love that the
eternal security of God's people must not need it. Nobody sinners
do, don't they? Don't you love that? Christ said,
don't you cling to that? Isn't that your hope? Isn't He
your hope? And He said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee. Your father and mother may, but I won't. They will never
perish. I will in no wise cast out. Other things that bother us,
that give us great fear and worries and distress and anxiety is the
world and the dangers in it and the temptations and the toils
and snares that trouble us, worry us and our children. Well, look at verse 2. He says,
you need to understand, have full assurance of understanding
to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God. Now, the world really does not believe
in God. They don't believe God. They
don't believe there is a God in the true living and true God
in whom we live and move and have our being and who hands
our breath is, who worketh all things after the counsel of His
own will, who does as He will, who orders all things, who has
made a covenant concerning all things, who determined everything,
predetermined everything before the world began, wrote it all
in a book, the book of life, and sealed that book, and it's
all known unto Him and all His works from the beginning. They
don't believe in God like that. That's God. That's God. And for our comfort concerning
us and our children, our times, we sing, are in His
hands. My God, I wish them better. It
goes on to say, we and everything about us, including our children,
are in the hands of the eternal God. If you don't leave this place
with full assurance, at least for one hour, you haven't heard
anything. See, our assurance must be completely
in Him. You don't look anywhere else
for assurance. Don't look within, don't look without. Man, don't
look anywhere. You look, look unto me, he said,
and be ye saved. I am God. Beside me there is
none else. Oh, but Satan, but Satan, what?
God said, we don't make fun of Satan. We don't do that. We don't
speak evil of dignities like false prophets. Oh, no, no, no,
no, no. Michael the archangel wouldn't even do that. Oh, no,
we're no match for him. But we do know who is stronger
than he. We do appeal to him. We do say,
the Lord will be with me, Satan. That's the only way. He's God's devil. Boy, men hate
this. I love it. Believers that are
vexed by Satan, their adversary, they love this, that God's got
him on a chain. And he can only go as far as
he lets him out, and he chucks his chain back. Isn't that what
he said to Job? He made fun of Satan, didn't
he? He said, where you been? He knew
where he'd been. He said, I'm running all around
the earth to and fro. Have you considered my servant
Job? Well, sure, Satan had. He said,
I can't touch him. He put a hedge about him. That's
right. It's the same with all of his people and everything
concerning them. Now, there's rest there. There's
peace there. There's assurance there. Comfort there. There's no comfort anywhere.
My God. God. The mystery of God. It's a mystery to most, but God
has revealed Himself to us. He's given us an understanding
that we might know Him and His truth. And we're in Him that
is true. In Him, safe and secure from
all alarm. We're in Him. Are you with me? Better yet, look at verse 2.
He says, the mystery of your Father. God is your Father, if
you're in Christ. And our Lord Jesus Christ said
this. He said, now, if you then, being evil, know how to give
good gifts unto your children, How much more shall your Heavenly
Father, who is altogether good, altogether merciful, altogether
gracious, altogether kind, who is love, who cannot do anything
that's not in love to His people. And if you're in Christ, He's
your Father. What have you got to worry about? I never worried about a thing. I trusted my earthly father. I loved him and I knew he loved
me. I didn't love him like he loved me. But I trusted him. I believed in him as a child.
The only thing I worried about was that he'd catch me doing
something. But I still didn't worry that
he was going to kick me out. That never crossed my mind. Never crossed my mind. I wanted
out later on as a rebellious teenager, but he never kicked
me out. How much less the mystery of your father. He
said, you pray this way, our father. He said, I go to my father and
your father. Oh, no, he's not my... Well,
whose father is he? Who's your father to? The Romans
8 says he's given us the spirit of adoption. Where's that from?
Christ is the elect. And we're chosen in Christ. He
didn't choose us because there's a good boy, I'll take him as
my son. No, no, it's exactly the opposite. God looked down
to see if there were any. None. So who did he choose? The
chief of sinners. Lowest of the low. They're all
black sheep when he finds them. He said, there is my son. Chosen in Christ. Adopted. Oh, my. If this won't give any comfort,
it's not my fault. Boy, he says, God's your Father,
and Christ's the mystery. The world doesn't believe in
God, they don't believe in Fatherhood. They don't believe me. And of
Christ. Christ. The one who came down here is
God's Christ. God's Messiah. There's only been
one. One. God manifest in the flesh. And
this is not where I was going with this, but let's go with
it. God's Christ. God's covenant head. God's second
Adam. The one with whom God deals with
on behalf of men, the only one, the great high priest, forever
after the order of milk is dead. God's Christ, that's what that
means. The substitute for sinners. The covenant head, as we say.
This is the one that God deals with all of his people through. You're not accepted in yourself.
You're accepted in the beloved. There's nothing about us. that could, in ourselves, could
please God, that Christ is all together lovable to His Son.
And if you're in Him, you're accepted. You're loved. I've used the analogy before
of a woman with, and it says that in Christ, in Christ, in
Christ, of a woman who's pregnant with child. The gospel is often
referred to as the pregnant gospel by the old writers, meaning full
of life. Christ is life. Christ prevailed
in birth for us. We are in Christ. Like that woman
with that child, wherever she goes, the baby goes. Whoever
receives her, receives the baby. Huh? Whoever loves her, loves
the baby. Whatever she does, she does it
for the baby. That's what it means to be in Christ. He went
to the Father. We're in Him. He's seated down. We're seated with Him. They're
accepted. He's accepted. Well-pleasing.
So are we. The Father loves you. He loves
us, too. Then cry. Then cry. Oh, my. My, my. The mystery of
crying. The world doesn't believe that.
They don't believe that. Do you believe that? There's
no assurance anywhere else. When a man comes to die, And
it gets any inkling of the greatness of God and the holiness of God,
if he thinks that he's going to stand before God anyway, except
in Christ. He had no assurance. No assurance. My, my. All right, look at this
next thing. He said, I would that your hearts
might be comforted and knit together. Your hearts knit together. All
of us in here, all believers are united. We're bound together.
We're family. We're family. We have the same
likeness. I look at you, I look at me.
You look just like Adam. Sinner. Sinner. You may think
I'm more sinner than you, but you shouldn't. We should esteem
others better than ourselves, shouldn't we? We all have the
same likeness, Adam. When I look in the face of my
brethren, all I see, what I see is a sinner. Yet, if Christ is
in you, I do see his likeness. I do. I do. I love that, meant to use that
illustration Sunday when I talked about Christ in you. A little
girl came home from church and the preacher was talking about
Christ in us and she said, asked her daddy, she said, Dad, how
big was the Lord as a man? And he said, I don't know, I
guess about my size, average height, 5'9", 5'10", like that,
170 pounds or something like that. She said, She said, if he was in me, he'd
stick out, wouldn't he? That's exactly right. If Christ
is in somebody, we'll stick out. We'll show. You don't have to
go around, you know, tooting your horn and let your little
light shine. That stuff, you know, it'll show. You don't have
to put bumpers. Ah, that doesn't show anything. That just proves
ignorant. Bumper stickers and t-shirts.
It's an attitude. It's the Spirit. It's the true
Spirit. It's faith. Same likeness. We have the same one Lord, one
faith. We're bound together. We have
one faith and we're bound together to strive together for the unity
of this faith, to uphold this faith. We all have a vested interest
in this church. Our children, if they're going
to hear it in this community, I believe. We've been here a long time now. And I'm just not hearing it out
there. I'm not hearing it. There may be some places I'm
not aware of. Do you hear it on the radio?
Do you see it on the TV? We have a vested interest in this place. We need this place. Our children
need this place. Our grandchildren. Do we? I want
to see some hands tonight, please. We have a vital interest that
this continue. One common denominator, bound
together, knit together. Our Lord said this, John 13,
go over there, let me just see what he said. Our Lord's last command to his
disciples before he went to the cross was this, and he's repeated
it. It's a command. It's a command,
like we would tell our children something. These are his last
commands to his children, to us. John 13, 34, he says, A new
commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I
have loved you. But ye also love one another. Verse 35, By this shall all know
that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
And most in here have been a part of religion in which there's
a lot of fussing and fighting and schisms and divisions and
all of that. In fact, a lady not long ago
came here and she said to us, that she didn't want to go to
her place because they were going to have a business meeting and
all they do is fuss and fight. That's what she said. Well, we've
never had anything like that. Have we? And by God's grace,
we don't have business meetings, number one. It's the family. My wife and I have never sat
down and had a business meeting. Family. What do you need? Here it is. Let's do it. Seek
the Lord's will. Chapter 14 of John. Chapter 14,
verse 10. The Lord said this. I'm sorry. Chapter 15, verse
10. Chapter 15. If you keep my commandments,
you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments
and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto
you that my joy might remain in you. Joy of giving and loving
others the Lord had for the joy that was set before him, serving
his brethren, not being served, that your joy might be full.
And this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have
loved you. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are
my friends, he said, if you do what I command you. Lay down your life for them. These are my friends, aren't
they? David said, I'm a companion of
them that fear thee. They that fear thee will be glad
when they see me, they say. Oh, my. You know, we by nature
love those that are like us, don't we? Family, blood. We love those that are like us
and those that are not like us. Don't do things like us. You're talking about loving somebody
unlike Him. How did the Lord love us? You're
talking about loving somebody that is despicable to Him by
nature. That everything about us is repulsive to Him. Oh my, surely we can love somebody
like us. Oh, my. Talking about forgiving
an offender. Oh, he offends me. She's offensive
to me. I don't like the way he or she
does. Oh, my. Everything about us is an offense
to the Holy God, yet He loves me. Oh, my, my, my. Oh, he said,
I wish you knew. We need to be knit together.
Our hearts knit together in love, especially in these perilous
times we talked about. We need each other. We need each
other. We've been together a long time,
haven't we? A long time. We've been through some things
together, haven't we? We've watched some loved ones
die together. Been through some troubles together,
haven't we? We need each other. How many ties do we have? How
many ties do we have? Family ties. They keep growing,
don't they? Parks and sonnakers and mayhems
keep growing, don't they? All these ties. We're tied together
the way we like it or not. Integrated. Oh, my family. Family. Oh, I wish you knew, he said,
that your hearts might be knit together in love. And that lastly,
this full assurance of understanding. Full assurance. Gospel assurance. The word assurance
means this. It means freedom from doubt and
uncertainty. It means to be certain. It means
to be persuaded. It means to be confident. Those are words for faith. Persuasion. Confidence. Assurance. Assurance. Full assurance is
only found in a surety. Let me say that again. Assurance, full assurance, can
only be found in a surety. You know what a surety is? That's a guarantor. That's Jesus
Christ, the surety of the everlasting covenant. That's the one who
has guaranteed, who has pledged himself an oath and a covenant
to do everything concerning you. pay all your debts, provide all
for you, protect you, keep you, hold you, save you, present you
to the Father. That's assurity. Like Paul said
to Philemon, if he owes you anything, if Onesimus owes you anything,
put it on my account. You lay it to my charge. That's
Jesus Christ. Assurance only comes through
assurity. Freedom from doubt. Confidence
is only found in Christ. And I can say this from God's
Word. If the chief of sinners, yea,
even a thief on the cross, will but look to Jesus Christ, it
will all be blotted out. As soon as the debt is acknowledged,
it's blotted out. Look to Him. You may have full
assurance of a full pardon, full free forgiveness forever, just
by looking. Isn't that good news? Good news. Freedom from doubt. Freedom from
worry. Comfort. Rest, just by looking.
Look into Him. Christ died to give us peace. Peace with God. That will comfort.
That will unite. Now let me just say a few things
in closing about this assurance. Assurance is not presumption.
We're afraid, almost, to believe God. But John wrote this, that
we may know. These things are written that
you may know. Didn't he write that so many times? These things
are written that you may know that you have eternal life. By
this shall all men know. Job said this, I know that my
Redeemer liveth. And he was getting charges from
all of his friends, even. His friends. They were supposed
to comfort him. They came down and he said, the
root of the matter is in me. I know whom I have believed.
Paul said that. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. Not what I've done. I know what
I've done. I know what I... No, no. I know whom. David said this. Is David a sinner? Did David
ever get out of his mind having that friend of his put to death?
Never. Ever before me, he said. It's
ever before me. Well, David said this, The Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no whip, for thou
art with me. How do you know that? Because
the Lord is my shepherd. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me. How do you know that? Because
the Lord is my shepherd. And I shall dwell, he said, in
the house of the Lord all the day. How do you know that, David?
Because the Lord is my shepherd. It doesn't have anything to do
with me. Assurance is looking to Him. You couldn't hear a better message.
The assurance is looking to Him. You look to Him and be saved,
not only eternally, but temporally. I'm going to die from this. Look.
I'm going down. Look. As long as Peter, Simon
Peter, kept looking, he was walking above the waves. He looked down,
he sunk. You look within, you'll sink
in despair. You look within, you'll sink
in depression. You look without, you'll sink
in worry. Look! There's a vast gulf fixed between
us and God. We've got to walk over a red
sea. Left! Stand there holding a rod. Walk on. Don't look to the right. Don't look to the left. Look
straight on, he said. Full assurance. There's a few reasons why we
don't have assurance. Here's a few reasons. I got this
from you. I listened to this today, preached it back in 1979. And I had something to do, I
had to run somewhere and get something, and I'm glad I did,
because I got to hear this message. And three things that cause us
for no assurance. Number one, a lack of understanding,
or at least forgetting how God saves sinners. This is what he
said here, that you might know the riches of the understanding
and mystery of God. When God Almighty chose you,
you were, well, you weren't even around before the world. And when you came into this world,
you were without God, without a center, unclean, undone, like
that baby in Ezekiel's field, to the loathing of that person.
That's how you were. Well, how about now? The old
man, how is he now? No better. The old man, he's
no better. He's still a sinner. Well, God
didn't choose you, okay, because you were good. He's not going
to cast you out. Alright? How did He save you?
When you accept Him, when you... He sent Christ, and as a matter
of fact, you were saved when God said it, before the world
began. When Christ died on the cross,
you were saved. And after the fact, you came,
you must believe, you must call, yes. But that's the sure thing
for all whom Christ died and all whom God chose. They're going
to believe, they're going to repent. That's not fatalism, it's just
Bible. All right? But we're not saved because we
believe. We're not saved because we repent. We're not saved because
we do this, because we do that. We're saved because Christ died.
Remember that. We're not kept because we keep
ourselves. We're kept because Christ died.
And this is how you hollered, too, today. You used to holler. We're saved not because of anything
in us. We're saved because Christ died. Remember that. Don't ever forget
that. To give you full assurance. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Here's
faith. That woman guilty. Everybody knew it. Totally ashamed
of herself. But she had to come to Christ
and stood behind Him weeping because of her sin. That's faith. Casting all her care on Christ
because she knew she was His only hope. He was our only hope. And we have no assurance because
we lose sight of that. We lose sight. We forget that
we weren't saved because of anything in it. We weren't saved because
of anything we did. We weren't saved. It wasn't us.
It wasn't a cooperative effort. It's God that saved us. It's
by grace He saved us. Keep that in mind. That gives
you assurance. We don't have any assurance because
of this slow growth in grace. Slow growth in grace. Everybody
that's born of God is a new creature, and this new creature grows in
grace. Fruit of the Spirit grows. And
we get discouraged when we don't see much growth. No. Even after years. And especially a new believer,
we think, oh boy, I believe, love this gospel, and you don't
see any, you don't have the immediate complete peace and comfort and
joy and all that. Fruit doesn't come overnight,
does it? I planted some fruit trees in
my yard last year. This year, two of them didn't
have any fruit on them. So what am I going to do? Cut
them down? Well, just little saplings. I had a fig tree. I planted a
fig tree. I didn't know they'd grow here, but they will. Fig
tree. Went down and there was one fig. I was so happy. I was so happy. A deer or something got it. Charles,
I planted a pear tree last year. Boy, it was fruitful. It had
six pears on it. I was really pleased with that
pear tree. The deer got it too. But it doesn't come overnight. I planted asparagus plants. You
don't even harvest them until after four years or so. Right? What about us? Well, this spiritual
growth is a lot like physical growth in that it takes years.
A lifetime. A lifetime. So, let that not
be a cause for lack of assurance. Christ, He said this, He promised
this, that He will perfect that which concerns us. He did. He did. And He said,
dung it. Dung it. Dung that big tree.
Preach the gospel of a beggar on a dung heap. I'll bring forth
the fruit. And then lastly, He said this,
The thing that gives us lack of assurance is our old nature,
our struggle with this flesh. The struggle with this flesh.
The fellow says, could I possibly be a believer
and have these wicked thoughts like I do? Yes, every single
one of God's people did. You see, if there was not a new
man in there, you wouldn't struggle. If there was not a new man in
there, you would have no conflict whatsoever with the old man.
Do you remember struggling with these things before? You relished these things. Huh? Do you remember any struggle
before? There was no struggle until you heard the gospel. So
let that give you some assurance that because there's this conflict,
Paul said in Romans 7, our favorite, one of our favorite books, along
with Psalm 51 and Isaiah 53, he said, O wretched man that
I am, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And that wasn't before
he was saved, that's after. And he said, the things that
I would do, I don't do. The things that I don't want
to do, that's what I do. He said, the things that I want
to do, I can't do. I find within me a law of warring
in my members. He said, with my flesh I serve
the law of sin, with my mind the law of God. Tell me, is it
so with you? That's because there's two men, two natures in that. And let this give you some assurance.
That when God puts this new nature in there, then for the rest of
your life, and it's not going to end until that old man is
dead and gone. Until he's put away. It's not going to end. He's going
to be with you forever. And he's going to get more and
more and more vital to you. The more you grow in grace, the
more vital that old man gets. Where are you going to look?
Who's your help? Lord, help me. He's promised
it. Sin won't have dominion over
you. He's promised that new man will
have his victory created in Christ Jesus, just like Him. Thanks
be unto God to give us the victory in Christ. In Him we can do all
things. Alright, stand with me.