Now I'd like for you to open
in your Bibles back to 1 John chapter 5, Brother Joe just read. 1 John chapter 5. The title of the message this
morning is in the form of a question. And it's a question that I believe
every one of us should ask ourselves and answer scripturally. The
question is this, can we have assurance? Can we have assurance? Now, I'm talking about assurance
of salvation. Can we really have assurance?
And I know a lot of people have assurance. And then there are
those who say we really cannot have assurance and should not
have it. I'm going to answer that. But here's what I want
to do. The way I arrived at this message, the way the Lord laid
it on my heart, is, you know, for the past several weeks I've
been preaching messages just concerning the various aspects
and the glorious truths of salvation. What is salvation? What is it
to be saved? And that's really what I'm going
to deal with in this message and the following messages. I've
tried to make each message an entity in and of itself, you
know, so that each one stands on its own. But at the same time,
they're all revolving around this great, great truth of salvation. Salvation is such a big and beautiful
word in the scriptures. And so what I want to do in today's
message and some of the messages that are coming in the future
is to answer this question, how can we know we are saved? Now,
the testimony of men in that subject to whether or not I'm
saved, whether you tell me I'm saved or not saved or whatever,
and I've been accused of being everything from a zebra to a
false preacher, but it doesn't matter. I mean, if you come to
me and say, I believe you're saved, I take, I'm glad you think
that. I hope that your thoughts on
that subject are right and based upon the right evidences of Scripture. But really, it doesn't matter
whether you believe I'm saved or not. What matters is this,
what does God's Word say? Now, look down here at 1 John
5. Brother Joe began reading here in verse 10. It says, he
that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. Now what witness is he talking
about? Now this witness, this idea of a witness in the scripture
has to do with an eyewitness. Like if you're called into court
to testify, either for or against someone, it's because you know
some facts. you know something it's true
you you're an eyewitness to a crime or to uh... an alibi something
like that and that's what this is he has the witness in himself
now whose witness does he have within himself he has the witness
of god that's what he's talking about there he that believeth
on the son of god who's the son of god jesus christ who is our
salvation you believe on him hath the witness in himself,
the witness of God in himself, by the power of the Spirit, who
leads a sinner to Christ. All right? And so he says, he
that believeth not God hath made him a liar. In other words, if
you reject God's testimony, God being this faithful, true witness,
you know, Christ in the book of Revelation is called the faithful
and true witness. You're calling him a liar. If
you went into court to testify over something that you saw with
your own two eyes, and the attorney who is against you comes up and
says, well, you're a liar, well, I don't believe what you're saying,
he's calling you a liar, even though you know the truth. So
to not believe God's testimony, concerning Christ, concerning
myself, who I am and what I deserve, concerning salvation by grace,
and all, is to call God a liar. Now, do you understand that?
You know, it's not just that, there is no indifference when
it comes to the gospel. Christ said, you're either for
me or against me. You cannot walk away, you cannot walk out
of this building today with an indifferent attitude as far as
God sees things. Because to walk out in indifference
is to scorn the truth. It's to call God a liar. And
so he says, because he believeth not the record. Now what is the
record? You've got it right there in
front of you. I hope you've got a Bible, but if you don't, get you one.
But he says, believe the record. That's the scriptures. That's
the written word of God. That's the recording. that God
gave of His Son, verse 11, and this is the record. This is the
written record that God hath given to us eternal life and
this life is in His Son. You cannot be saved without Christ. You cannot have eternal life
without Christ who is life. That's why He died. to bring
life. He died, was buried, and rose
again the third day because He gives all of His people life,
eternal life. Life and immortality has been
brought to light through the gospel and the power of the Spirit,
and the record bears witness of that. The record from Genesis
to Revelation. Verse 12, it says, He that hath
the Son, do you have the Son? That's the issue. Now, you know,
when people go to checking themselves out or examining themselves about
this thing of salvation, usually they don't even think about this.
It's usually, well, have I done enough? Have I believed enough?
Have I repented enough? Or have I done all this enough?
And the answer I'm going to give to you is my stock answer, no,
you haven't done enough of any of that. No, I haven't either.
Enough for what? Enough to save myself? No. Nobody's
done enough to save themselves. If you could do enough to save
yourself, you don't need this record, you don't need this Christ,
you don't need grace. And so he says, he says, he that
hath the Son hath life. Verse 12, and he that hath not
the Son of God hath not life. So the issue in salvation is
do I have Christ or do I not have Christ? Now obviously that
begs the question, how can I know if I really have Christ? How
can I know that? How can I know I'm saved? Are
you interested in that? I am. I want to know that I have
eternal life. Well, look at verse 13. He says,
These things have I written, that's the record now, unto you
that believe on the name of the Son of God, to believe on His
name. His name is not just throwing up the name Jesus in the air
where somebody within earshot can hear it. It's not just walking
around saying praise the Lord or putting it on a bumper sticker
on your car. To believe on His name is to
believe that which identifies and distinguishes Him as the
one and only Savior and Lord. That's what it is to believe
on His name. You see what I'm saying? I mean, if you say the
name Bill today, it's either going to be talking about me
or some other Bill in the audience. We've got a lot of Bills, got
a lot of Joes, got a lot of Rons. So just saying Ron or Bill or
Joe is not going to get the job done. But now, this name which
is above every name, this name at which every knee will bow
and every tongue confess, this is a name that identifies Him.
It means something. We've seen that. His name shall
be called Jesus. For He shall save His people
from their sins, Matthew 1.21. His name shall be called Emmanuel,
Matthew 1.23, which being interpreted as God with us, this person who
did a marvelous work, a powerful work, you see, that identifies
Him and distinguishes Him as the way, the truth, and the life.
No man comes unto the Father but by Him. to believe on him,
to believe the record that God gave of his son. All right, that
you may know, now listen to this verse 13. These things have I
written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life. I love that. That's
why this book was written. that you may know that you have
eternal life, that you may run to Christ for eternal life, and
that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may
believe on the name of the Son of God. Now some of the earliest
manuscripts of the earliest scriptures didn't even have this last phrase
in there. which says, and that you may believe on the name of
the Son of God. But there's nothing wrong with that because the continuation
of it simply means this. It simply means that not only
that you may know that you have eternal life in Christ, but that
you may continue believing. continue believing. And that
makes sense with the context of John. Because the context
of John, 1st John here, is that there were people who claimed
to believe in Christ, who claimed to have eternal life, but then
totally, what the scripture says, apostatized or fell away and
rejected Christ later on. Now you know what religion says
about that. Religion says, well, they were saved today and lost
tomorrow. But that's not what God's Word says. That's not what
the record says. The record says that they never
were saved to begin with, and John says that over in 1 John
2. But here's the thing. If I'm going to know that I'm
saved, I want to know first of all, and that's what I want to
lay the foundation of today, is it possible to have assurance?
And the reason I say that is many claim that we cannot really
know for certain that really we just do our best, try our
hardest, and just wait till the end and find out. Wait till the
judgment and find out. And they go to a verse. Now I
want you to turn with me to this verse. It's Jeremiah chapter
17. They go to this verse, verse
9. And I've heard this quoted several
times in this issue. You know, there's some people say, you
really cannot know for sure. You cannot know for certain.
And there are a lot of people who claim to know for sure, know
for certain, but they're wrong. You know, they talk about presumption.
Well, we don't want to be presumptuous, but I don't either. Many say
that to claim any assurance of salvation is presumption. But
I want you to understand what presumption really is now. Now
listen to me. To presume upon God. To presume
that I know I'm saved. Presumption is any hope or assurance
or expectation of salvation based upon anything other than God's
Word in Christ. Do you understand what I'm saying
there? You say, well I know I'm saved because I had a dream.
That's presumption. I know I'm saved because I just
feel saved. That's presumption. I know I'm
saved because I got baptized. Presumption. I know I'm saved
because there was a great change in my life. Now listen to me.
When you're saved, there is a great change in your life. But don't
go around talking about, I know I'm saved because there's a great
change in my life. That's presumption. What's true assurance based on? Right here. What God says. God's judgment of things. God's
testimony. This is the record. These things
are written that you may know that you have eternal life. Okay? Anything else is presumption. And here's, a lot of people say,
well, you can't have it. You can't have assurance of salvation. And they quote this verse. Look
at Jeremiah 17, 9. It says, the heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? You
can't even know your own heart. I believe I'm saved, but I could
be deceived. That's not what this verse is
saying. Now it's true. The heart of sinful, fallen,
depraved, unregenerate man is deceptive, deceitful above all
things. It's desperately wicked even
in religion. I'm going to tell you something. A person who claims to have assurance
of salvation based upon anything that they did, that's a deceptive,
deceitful, desperately wicked heart. And he can't even know it. He's
fooled by his own heart. So where do we go? What do we
turn to? Well, look at the next verse.
Read this in context, you see. Verse 10, I, the Lord, search
the heart. God's got to search my heart. You can't search my heart. I've
had people say, well, he's preaching what you all want to hear. They'll
say, I'm preaching what you all want to hear, but I don't believe
it in my heart. How in the world do they think
they know my heart? Where do they get off setting
themselves up as judges over anybody's heart? He says, I the
Lord search the heart. God's the only judge of people's
hearts, not man. He says, I try the range. You
know what a range is? They put a bit in a horse's mouth
and have the range and you tell him where to halt, go, go right,
go left. It's what motivates. God says,
I test what motivates you and me, the heart, even to give every
man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his
doings. Now go back up to verse 5. What's the whole point of
this? Look at verse 5 of Jeremiah 17. He says, Thus saith the Lord,
Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his
arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. Are you trusting
in self? Are you trusting in your own
works? Are you trusting in the works
of the flesh? The arm of the flesh is the power
of you to do anything. Are you trusting in your own
free will? There's a lot of people who do that. Are you trusting
in your baptism? Are you trusting in your confession?
Are you trusting in anything other than Christ and him crucified
and risen again? Look at verse six. For he shall
be like the heath in the desert and shall not see good when good
cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness
in a salt land and not inhabit it. But look at verse seven.
But blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord. Jehovah, our salvation. and whose hope is in the Lord.
My expectation of salvation is not in me, not in you. It's not
in anything I've done, plan to do, will do, try to do. It's
in what Christ has accomplished at Calvary. And he says, for he shall be
as a tree planted by the waters that spreadeth out her roots
by the river and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaves
shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought,
that is, anxious, and neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
You see that? Turn over to 1 John again. Look
at 1 John chapter three. You see, who you trusting in?
Has the Lord searched your heart? Well if he has, I can tell you
exactly what he said about your heart and my heart too. He's saying without Christ, without
grace is nothing but sin. Now how do I know that? Because
I feel that way? Or you feel that way? Or we look
that way? Or just because we say? We know it because that's
what the record says. There's none righteous, no not
one. There's none that doeth good, no not one. There's none
that seeketh after. That's what this record says.
This is what God says about me. My name is not even in here.
You won't go through Genesis to Revelation, you won't find
Bill Parker, but I'm gonna tell you something, I'm in here. And
you are too. And here's what God, when He
searches, tries my race, without Christ, without grace, without
His blood, we're saying, when I see the blood, I'll pass it.
Without Christ's blood, I deserve nothing but damnation, and I've
earned nothing but damnation. At my worst, at my best, and
everything in between. That's what God's Word says about
it. That's God's judgment of me, according to the record,
on my own. The best prayer I ever prayed,
the best song I ever sang, the best message I ever preached
will not save me or make me righteous before God. When God tests his heart, that's
what he sees. Without God, I'm nothing. Without Christ... And then this
same record commands me to run to Christ, and rest in Him, and
trust Him, and plead His blood and righteousness as my only
hope of salvation. Is that what I've done? Not by
my own power, but by the power of God unto salvation, by the
power of His Spirit. Look at 1 John 3, look at verse
19, and I love this. Now you talk about the testimony
of your own heart. your own conscience, your own
mind, your own will, your own feeling, all right? And he says
the heart's deceptive. In other words, I can't even
go by my own heart. I have to go to God's Word even
on this thing of salvation. And listen to this in 1 John
3, 19. He says, And hereby we know that
we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before Him.
For if our heart condemn us, you see that? And our hearts
will do it. You wake up tomorrow morning,
you may not feel saved, whatever that means. I don't know how
you really feel when you feel saved, you know. But he says,
if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and
knoweth all things. God's record, God's testimony
is even greater than what my own heart says about me. And
I'm going to tell you, I have no other hope or assurance of
salvation. but Christ, who is seated at
the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession
for me. Do you see that? Let me give you some considerations
about this thing of can we know for sure? Can we have assurance
of salvation? Let me give you these considerations.
Number one, here's your first thing, and this is the basis
for everything, and I'm going to spend more time on this than
any of them. Number one, consider Christ. Now, you'll sit around considering
yourself. And that's not all bad. We're to examine ourselves.
But our consideration in this matter of salvation, being saved,
being kept saved, being assured of salvation, number one, consider
Christ. Now, consider Christ not mystically. Some mystical person. Or some
mystical name. Or some mystical idea. But consider
Christ as He's identified and distinguished in the record.
What does the Word of God say of Him? Who is He? How do I know,
for example, I'm trusting the true Christ and not a counterfeit?
Christ said in the last days they'll come saying, here's Christ,
there's Christ. He said don't believe them. He
said in 2 Corinthians 11 that in the last days, and in his
day, in Paul's day there when he's writing there, Paul wrote,
he said, they come preaching another Jesus, another gospel
by another spirit. How do I know the difference?
How can I keep from being deceived? What does the record say? That's
it. What does God's testimony say?
Here comes somebody and they get up and they say, now today
I'm going to preach Christ to you. He is just a good man who
did some good things to provide an example for us. He's not God. Well, is that man telling me
the truth? What does the record say? His
name shall be called what? Emmanuel, which being interpreted
as what? God with us. What did he say
in John chapter 8? He said before Abraham was what?
I am. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. Who is He? What did He accomplish? Why did He do it? Where is He
now? What does the record say? Consider Christ. I love that
passage in Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 1. Let me just quote it
to you, or read it for you. He says in Hebrews 3 and verse
1, he says, Wherefore, holy brethren, Now, he calls them holy brethren.
Do you know if you're in Christ, that's what you are? You're a
holy brethren. You say, well, I don't feel holy.
Well, I'm glad you don't. And I'm glad I don't. But that's
the record God gives. What is it to be holy? It means
to be set apart in Christ. It means to be a sinner saved
by the grace of God. And if you ever feel holy, stay
away from me. Because I'll corrupt you. And he says, wherefore, holy
brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. Our fellowship is in
a calling. That's what that means. Well,
what is the calling? It's the calling of a sinner
to come to Christ and find salvation, find eternal life, find righteousness,
find holiness, find peace, find rest in Christ. It's the calling
of the Holy Spirit. convicting me of sin and of unrighteousness,
showing me what I am under God's judgment of my heart and my person,
then I'm a sinner. And then if God doesn't save
me by His grace and mercy sovereignly, I'm a goner. I have to have Christ. And then he says, consider the
apostle, that's the messenger, and the high priest, that's the
representative, the substitute and the altar of our profession. We profess Christ. He says, Christ
Jesus. Consider Christ as our surety. That's what John means here when
he says this is the record. What does the record say? Christ
is the surety of his people. Let me say this, put it to you
this way. Now we all want to be sure of
our salvation. What are you doing to make your
salvation sure? If you're trying to make your
salvation sure by your works, you know what that is? That's
legalism. That's what that is. That's legalism and that's deadly.
What you're actually saying is this, Christ is not my surety,
my works are. That's deadly. You see, the scripture
tells us in Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 22 that Christ was made
a surety of a better testament. He was made a surety. That all
the promises of God, this is in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse
20, all the promises of God, the promise of salvation, the
promise of blessedness, the promise of eternal life, the promise
of righteousness, the promise of heaven and glory, all those
promises are in Christ, yea, sure. And in Christ, amen, sir. They're sure and certain in Him,
not in you, not in me. Because if it's conditioned on
you and me, we'll lose it. We never got it to begin with.
But in Him, they're sure and certain. You've heard this. Someone says, it's not my hold
on Him that saves me eternally and ensures my glory in heaven,
but it's His hold on me. Well, that's right. His hold
on you, if He ever had a hold on you, it's eternal and it was
established at the cross when He died for your sins and established
righteousness. He made that statement in John
10. He said, no one shall pluck them out of my Father's hand.
He's got a hold on us. Now, His hold on you, now listen
to me. If you're saved, if He has a
hold on you, if He has a hold on me, His hold on us was not
made sure when we believed. No sir, it was sure before we
believed. His hold on us was not made sure
when we obeyed. His hold on us was made sure
before we obeyed. Let me show you that. Turn to
2 Samuel chapter 23. 2 Samuel chapter 23. This is King
David. And you know who King David was
and you know his history. You have a no-holds-barred biography
of David from half of 1 Samuel and the
whole of 2 Samuel. And then you have David's own
testimony in many of the Psalms. And here's what David said in
verse 5. Now listen to 2 Samuel 23 or read 2 Samuel 23 in verse
5. He says, although my house or
my household, some say you could say his kingdom, It's both. Although my house be not so with
God. My house, my family, my kingdom,
my household is just in shambles. Not right with God. Yet he hath
made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure. And he says for this is all my
salvation and this is all my desire although he make it not
to grow. Now let me ask you this question.
When was this covenant made that David's speaking of here? This
everlasting covenant. When was that made? Was it made
when David believed? Was it made when David defeated
Goliath? Was it made when David sat down
and penned Psalm 23? And let me ask you this. Was that covenant ever broken?
Was it broken when David went in and had sex with Bathsheba?
Was it broken when he connived to have Uriah killed? Was it
broken then? And the answer to all those questions
is no. You know, when this covenant was made, it was made before
the foundation of the world. That's what the record says.
And we read about it in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9 several weeks
ago. He talked about that salvation
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. That's the covenant David was
talking about. Now, when was that covenant confirmed in time? When David believed it? No. No, it wasn't confirmed then.
When was that covenant confirmed in time? That covenant was confirmed
in time at the cross of Calvary when Christ died. In fact, His
blood in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 20 and 21, His blood is
called the blood of the everlasting covenant. It was ratified and
confirmed by the blood of Christ. not by David's faith, not by
David's obedience, and not by the greatest psalm that David
ever sat down and wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And that
covenant was not broken when David committed sin. It wasn't. It was made before
the foundation of the world. You see, he said it's ordered
in all things. Who ordered it? Did David order
it? That means it was set up and ordered out. It was preconceived,
predetermined. That's what that means. That's
what the record said. Well, who did all that? God did.
Salvation's of the Lord. And it was ordered in all things
and sure. Who made it sure? Christ did. The surety. He's the surety. And when did
He perform the duties of His suretyship on the cross when
He died for our sins charged to Him and established the righteousness
that God had charged to us? Well, what about faith? Well,
when did David himself enter into that covenant? When God
the Holy Spirit called him and brought him to faith in Christ
and repentance of sin. And then the life of the Spirit
given to David, imparted to David began. The knowledge, faith and
repentance and love, that all began. David's life and experience
of salvation began when the Spirit regenerated him and converted
him when he was born again. He entered into a covenant that
had already been ordered in all things and sure. And David believing
it, didn't make it any more sure, And if David had not believed
it, it would make it unsure. It's still sure. It's ordered
in all things and sure. What about faith and good works?
Are they necessary? Yes, but not to make the covenant
sure. They're only the fruit and the
work of Christ who alone, by His obedience unto death, made
the covenant sure. You see, listen to me. to claim
that Christ is all my salvation or that He's my all-in salvation
and then to doubt my salvation is to doubt and deny Him. That's
unbelief. If I'm looking anywhere for my
salvation or for my assurance but Christ alone, then I should
doubt. In fact, I should even be assured
of damnation. Now, I've heard this. I've heard
people say, well, I don't doubt Christ, but I doubt myself. Well,
you ought to doubt yourself. But see, the Gospel is of this
nature. The Gospel is salvation conditioned
not on yourself, it's conditioned on Christ. Somebody says, well, I believe,
but I don't believe enough. Well, what is enough? You know, if the Bible said that
your assurance of salvation is based upon you believing enough,
You show me in God's record what scale that we're to gauge that
on. Well, you'd never be sure, would you? You see, the essence
of it is not believing enough, it's believing in Christ who
has done enough and is doing enough. You see that? Those blind
men that came to Christ and said, would you heal us of our blindness?
You know what his question to them was? He didn't say, well,
do you believe enough? You know what he said? He said,
do you believe that I'm able? What did Paul say? He's able
to keep that which I've committed. Someone says, but I'm not worthy.
I know you're not. Neither am I. But what's the
song of the redeemed in Revelation 5? What is it? Somebody tell
me. Worthy is the lamb. That was slight. You see, he's
worthy. There's my assurance. He's worthy.
My assurance is not in my abilities. He's able. My assurance is not
in my worthiness. I'm unworthy. He's worthy. Worthy is the Lamb. You see that?
Consider Christ. Now let me give you these other
things briefly because there's the foundation. Here's the second
thing. Consider faith. The nature of
faith And assurance are the same thing. Now, I've heard preachers
say that faith and assurance are not the same. A person can
have faith and not have assurance. I don't believe the record will
back you up on that. I don't believe God's Word will
back you up on that. Faith. What is faith? It's believing
in Christ. It's trusting in Christ. It's resting in Christ. You either
believe it or you don't believe it. Faith is not saying, well,
I believe it but I'm not sure. That's unbelief. That's sinful
doubt. Paul in 2nd Timothy chapter 1
and verse 12 that we read. He says, He says, Nevertheless,
I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto him against that day. That's the nature of faith. You
see, people today in religion, they've misunderstood the reality
of faith according to the record. The faith that they trust in
is their act of believing. How much do I believe? Do I keep
on believing? Preachers will tell you. today
on TV that if you believe that God will give you a million dollars
and you believe it's strong enough, He'll give it to you. Now let
me tell you something. This may shock you. You may believe that God's going
to give you a million dollars and He may give it to you. But
He may not. And now, of course, you know
what they say. You've got to send in the 10,000 first, you
know. You've got to sow the seed first. You may send in 10,000
and He may multiply it. But that means nothing about
salvation. No, sir. But I'll tell you this. You believe
that Christ is able, the record says that's salvation. You put
all your trust in Him and Him alone, not in yourself, that's
a promise from God that's given in the record. That's salvation. The Bible talks about faith in
His blood, faith in what He accomplished. That's what that means. We come
boldly before the throne of grace because of the blood of Christ.
We fight and turn back Satan, Revelation chapter 12, by pleading
the blood of Christ. He is our surety. What He accomplished
is our surety. Consider that in faith. Thirdly,
consider God's Word. What did John say here in 1 John
5 and verse 11? He says, this is the record.
What did he say there in verse 13? These things have I written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. 2 Peter
chapter 1 and verse 10 makes this statement. Give diligence
to make your calling and election sure. That's a command from God,
His Word. In other words, to claim that
Christ is all in my salvation, but not have assurance based
upon God's Word in Him, is to deny God's Word. So consider God's Word. Consider
Christ. Consider the nature of faith.
Consider God's Word. Here's the fourth thing. Turn
to Hebrews chapter 6. Let me show you this. It's one of my
favorite passages on this subject. Hebrews chapter 6. Consider God's
will. Consider God's will. God not
only says we can have assurance based on the right ground, His
testimony in Christ, but it's His sovereign will and revealed
will by way of commandment that we who are looking to Christ
and resting in Him for all life and salvation and righteousness
and glory, we are to have it. It's honoring to Him to have
it. It's not presumption. having assurance based upon God's
testimony in Christ. Look at Hebrews chapter 6 and
look at verse 16. He's talking about God making
a promise to Abraham and he says this, For men verily swear by
the greater and an oath for confirmation that is to make it sure, is to
them an end of all strife. When men strike a bargain, or
a pact, or a covenant with each other, and they swear by something
greater than themselves, and that oath makes it sure and certain,
I'm going to keep my word. Now, he says in verse 17, wherein
God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise,
now who are the heirs of promise? That's believers. Those who've
been called, those who've run to Christ for salvation, the
heirs of promise, the immutability or unchangeability of His counsel,
that's His covenant, that's His predetermined Word, confirmed
it by an oath. That by two immutable or unchangeable
things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have
a strong consolation, strong assurance, strong comfort. Now
who's to have that? Those who have fled for refuge
to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which
entereth into that within the veil. Who is that? It's Christ
entered within the veil. Based on two things. It's based
upon God's covenant, God's word, His promise to save us in Christ
and God's oath, which means He engaged everything that He had.
You see, God made us. He made an oath. He swore. But
He can't swear by anything greater than Himself because there's
nothing greater than God. So He swore by Himself. He engaged
everything that He is to assure this promise to those who have
what? Fled for refuge to Christ. That's
God's will. And then fifthly, consider the
nature of godly obedience. Turn to Romans 8. The nature of godly obedience. Now to be saved is to obey God. There's no doubt about that.
And this obedience is the obedience of love and grace and gratitude. It's not legalism. It's not trying
to earn our way into God's favor, but look at verse 14 of Romans
8. He says, for as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Now, how do
I know if I'm being led by the Spirit of God? Now listen to
this. Number one, my only hope and assurance of salvation is
in Christ and what he accomplished on Calvary. The living Lord who's
seated at the right hand of the Father right now, ever living
to make intercession for me. If I know that and trust in Him,
I'm being led of the Spirit. Number two, to be led in His
truth, in His Word. I'm not out there on my own just
dangling in the wind, but to be led by His Word in humility
and obedience, alright? Not in order to be saved. but
because I already am. So he says in verse 15, For you
have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, doubt,
fear, legalism, but you've received the spirit of adoption whereby
we cry, Abba, Father. That's the assurance of salvation
there that God is my Father. The spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit. Now remember what John said in
1 John 5? He said those who trust Christ, They had this witness
in themselves. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit, or Himself, that we are the children of God. My friend, in Christ, I have
a hope. A hope that is sure and steadfast. An anchor for my soul. And you
know what? That's the motivation for godliness. That's the reins. Remember he
said, I try the reins? What is your motive for obedience?
What is your motive for avoiding sin? Fighting sin? Are you trying to work your way
into God's favor? Are you trying to work your way,
earn your way into His blessings? If that's your assurance, then
that's damnation. But my friend, the assurance
of faith, full assurance of the faith, the Scripture says, is
that which obeys God because of love. because of grace because
of gratitude all right