All right, let's turn in our
Bibles to 2 Peter chapter 1. I want us to go back to verse
10. I preached on this last week
and I told you I'd be coming back to it. And actually I'm
going to get over to Hebrews chapter 6 that Brother Jim read. But what I want to talk to you
about this morning is assurance. Assurance of salvation. And I've
entitled this message Assurance in our surety. Assurance in our surety. And that's what Peter is talking
about here in 2 Peter 1 verse 10 when he's talking to those
who have been given by God, through God's grace in Christ, the greatest
gift that God can ever give a sinner and that's salvation. This little
book that I wrote called what is salvation I called a biblical
study of God's greatest gift salvation and all of its blessings
and when God brings a sinner to salvation When he brings that
sinner to realize it experience it in the new birth He gives
that, he does it through what the Bible calls a holy calling. Look at what Peter said, wherefore
the rather, verse 10. Brethren, give diligence, be
adamant on this now. He said give diligence to make
your calling and election sure. And the word sure there is what
I'm basically dealing with today, assurance. in the surety. How can I know? The election,
I talked about that last week. Election is the biblical teaching
that God chose a people to save before the foundation of the
world and gave them to Christ. Placed all of the responsibility,
all the conditions of their salvation upon this one person, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the surety of his people. He's called the
surety of a better covenant, a better testament in the book
of Hebrews. And that better testament, that better covenant is the new
covenant. The new covenant is the working
out in time of the terms of the everlasting covenant of grace
made before time. The Bible speaks in 2 Timothy
chapter 1 how That salvation was given to God's people in
Christ before the world began. That's the everlasting covenant
of grace. David spoke of it on his deathbed.
God has made a covenant with me, he says, that is ordered
in all things. Now, who ordered it? Well, not
you and not me, but God did in his infinite power and wisdom.
In His grace, God ordered it. Set it all in order. Set the
order of it. Predestinated it. That's what
the Bible teaches. And that's mind-boggling, isn't
it? Aren't you glad? I mean, if you could bring it
down on our level, it wouldn't be God, would it? But He ordered
it. He set the parameters of it.
He set forth the conditions of it. He laid it out. for his people,
a people whom he chose, called the elect of God, and he put
all of the accountability and responsibility and the conditions
upon one person, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
was made the surety of that covenant. And so give diligence, he says,
to make your calling and election sure. Now election in time comes
before calling, but as far as God's eternity, But in our experience
of it, calling comes first. How do I know that I'm one of
God's elect? It's by our calling. That's what
I dealt with last week. This calling is a calling of
the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the gospel, whereby he empowers
it to bring a sinner to faith in Christ. and repentance of
dead works. And he says, if you do these
things, you shall never fall. Now this exhortation is practically
the same that the Apostle Paul gave in 2 Corinthians chapter
13 and verse 5 when he talked about how we are to examine ourselves,
whether we be in the faith. Self-examination. The problem
with most people in self-examination is this, they are looking within
themselves to find assurance. And so somebody might say, well,
have I done enough? Well, the stock answer to that
question is enough for what? Have I done enough to get saved,
somebody might say. And the answer is no, you haven't.
Neither have I. You say, well, you've preached
this thing for over 30 years, still haven't done enough. Somebody
says, have you done enough? Have I done enough to make this
thing sure? You know, Peter says, give diligence
to make your calling and election sure. Well, here's a question
for you. How do we make our calling and election sure? How can we
do that? The first thing we've got to realize that this, we
don't make it sure in the sense of gaining our assurance by what
we do or don't do or what we even decide to do. First thing you need to realize
is that the assurance of salvation, salvation for God's people, has
already been made sure by God himself. By God himself. Now turn over to that passage
that Brother Jim read, and I'll show you what I'm talking about.
Hebrews chapter six. Now in this passage, I'm not
gonna be able to go through the whole chapter in one setting. But he's talking about people
here who profess to be believers and for a time gave evidence
of being a believer, but then who forsook the gospel, who apostatized
from that, from the truth, from Christ, left the gospel, went
back into essentially here Judaism, legalism, unbelief. Now the world,
or most, a lot of people who call themselves Christian would
say, well, they lost their salvation. And the point here is that they
didn't lose salvation. In fact, the point here, and
it's made in other places in Scripture, especially in the
book of 1 John, because he deals with this specifically, he says,
they went out from us. Remember, John says that in 1
John 2.19, they went out from us, they were We thought they
were of us, but they weren't of us, and we know that because
they went out from us. For had they been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. In other words, salvation
is something that God preserves under glory. He keeps us, he
saves us by grace, he keeps us by grace, and he'll bring us
to glory by grace. Paul said it this way, he said,
I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able,
Christ is able. I'm not able. If God said at
any stage of your life as a believer that I'm gonna let this moment
be dependent upon you whether or not you're truly saved or
have assurance, you'd fall. Now you've gotta realize that,
that's what the Bible teaches. God's grace is upon his people
eternally through Christ. The righteousness, for example,
the blood that saves us and continually pleads on our behalf, it's never
taken from us by God, and we cannot lose it. Most people today
who call themselves Christian will say, well, Christ died for
you, but that really doesn't seal the deal. You've got to
seal the deal with your cooperation, your believing. Well, that's
not biblical, folks. And it's not gonna be, it wouldn't
be hard to show you that going through the scriptures. We don't
seal the deal. God already sealed it. You know,
that's what David was praying on his deathbed. Although my
house be not so with God, my house, my kingdom, my household
is a mess. Isn't that right? David himself was a mess. But
he said, here's my assurance. God has made with me an everlasting
covenant that's ordered and in all things and sure. Well, David
didn't make it sure. His household didn't make it
sure. God did in Christ. All the promises of God in him,
in Christ are yea and in him, amen. And he said, this is all
my salvation. This is my whole salvation. It's
not what I did for him or what I decided for him. David was
a believer, and like all of us, he messed up royally. We mess
up too. We're sinners saved by grace.
We're totally dependent upon God's grace in Christ to save
us, to keep us, and to bring us. He said, this is all my salvation.
This is all my desire, though he make it not to grow, though
his family and his kingdom was a mess. And that's our confession
throughout life. So John says they never were
of. In other words, if right now, if one of you men or women
who I call brother or sister today, if you would leave this
gospel, that would tell me one thing first about you, you never
really believed it to begin with. That's what the Bible teaches.
And that's what he's saying here in Hebrews 6. But he's talking
about, he tells his people here, the people that he's writing
to, He says in verse nine, but beloved, look at verse nine of
Hebrews six, but beloved, we are persuaded better things of
you and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. Things that accompany salvation.
What accompanies salvation? Faith in Christ, repentance of
dead works, obedience of faith, motivated by grace, love, and
gratitude, perseverance, because God preserves us, He's able to
save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him. That's
what preserves us. That's the better things that
accompany salvation. We don't seal the deal. We don't
make it sure by our efforts and even by our faith. We have moments
of unbelief. We wrestle with the flesh. We're
in a warfare, a warfare which we would lose were it not for
our surety. Isn't that right? If it weren't
for our surety, we'd lose that warfare. And you know it's true
if you're a believer, because you've been convinced of sin.
Well, you've been called. Hebrews chapter three there,
just back a page, he says, wherefore, verse one, holy brethren, you've
been separated out, partakers of the heavenly calling. You've
been a heavenly calling. That's the calling of the Holy
Spirit unto faith by the preaching of the gospel. You know, in the
Bible, there's two different callings. There's a general call,
which man, if left to himself, any man or woman, if left to
ourselves, to our own volition, to our own will, we reject. There's the calling of nature,
the heavens declare the glory of God, Psalm 19, the firmament
his handiwork. There's the call of conscience,
Romans chapter two, That's the general call, again, of which
we would all reject. We won't turn there, but sometime
go in and read Acts chapter seven, and there was a man there, a
gospel preacher, an evangelist named Stephen, and he preached
unto a group of people, and when he finished, they were cut in
their heart. They were cut to the heart, it
says. In other words, they were offended
by what Stephen said. Because what he told them, he
said, salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the son
of God incarnate, and we've crucified him. We rejected him. And they were cut to the heart,
and they gnashed with their teeth. That means they were so angry,
they gritted their teeth. And what'd they do? They picked
up stones and killed him. And you remember what Stephen
said? He said, you do resist the Holy Ghost as your father.
What he's talking about is the general call of the preached
gospel. But now if you turn back a few
chapters in Acts, say Acts chapter 2, there's another man preaching
there named Peter at a place at the time of the Feast of Pentecost.
And he preached and there was a group of people there. It says
they were pricked in their heart and they cried out. Men and brethren,
what are we gonna do? Look, we've crucified the Lord
of glory. We're sinners. We have no hope in ourselves.
We have no righteousness. We have no way of salvation by
our work. And what did Peter say? He says,
repent. Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of sins. And he said this, this promise
is unto you and to as many as are called. That's, you see,
what Stephen called them to faith in Christ, that's the general
call. Peter called them to faith in Christ and the Holy Spirit
intervened and cut them, pricked them in their heart and brought
them down in their sinfulness and showed them there's no way
out of this mess of sin and death except Christ. That's the holy calling. That's
the heavenly calling, the scripture calls it. And that calling always
brings a sinner to Christ. It's a calling of faith in Christ.
How do we make our election? How do I know I'm one of God's
elect? By this calling. Check your calling out. It's not being emotional at a
revival meeting and walking down an aisle. It's the call of the
truth of the gospel. It's not a calling under a lie.
A bad tree cannot produce good fruit. That's what that means.
Any preacher who preaches the broad road that leads to destruction,
that's the only way you've got to go. So it's not the calling under
a lie. It's the calling of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus,
who He really is and what He actually accomplished to save
His people from their sin. It's the calling unto Christ
and away from self. It's the calling of repentance.
turning against myself, counting it all but lost, Paul said, even
dunk, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having a
righteousness which is on my own, but that which is through
the faithfulness of Christ. It's a calling under righteousness. It's not a calling that I need
to straighten up and get better so God will receive me. That's
not righteousness. It's a calling to Christ who
is my righteousness. Somebody said, well, shouldn't
you straighten up and try to be better? Yes, but that's not my
righteousness. You understand what I'm saying? It's a calling
unto repentance. It's a calling unto obedience. But the obedience not motivated
by legalism, fear of punishment, legal fear, and it's not the
call of a mercenary trying to earn his rewards in heaven. That's
a mercenary. It's the call of grace. It's
the call of love. It's the call of gratitude. It
makes a person in the power of God a willing, loving bond slave
of Christ. That's the calling. And this
is what the writer of Hebrews is talking about here. I'm persuaded
of better things of you and things that accompany salvation. And
he says, look here in verse 10, he says, for God is not unrighteous
to forget your work and labor of love. Now that work and labor
of love is work and labor not aimed at saving myself, not aimed
at sealing the deal, but it's a work and labor of love. That's
the product and the fruit of God's grace that is revealed
in this calling that brings a sinner to serve God, motivated by grace,
love, and gratitude. You may be a religious person.
A fella told me one time, he's a preacher of a false gospel,
he said, well, if I didn't believe in rewards in heaven, I wouldn't
preach. And I looked at him, I said,
well, you're a mercenary. Isn't that right? I'm not preaching to earn my
rewards in heaven. Here's what I preach to you.
The thief on the cross, you remember him? God saved him at the last
moment of his life, isn't that right? Brought him, called him
to the gospel. by the gospel unto Christ and
repentance in the last moment of his life. What I'm telling
you is that thief was just as saved, just as holy, just as
righteous as the Apostle Paul who gave his last years of his
life to preaching the gospel and died as a martyr. That thief
was no less righteous and no less worthy to enter heaven's
glory than the Apostle Paul. That's grace, isn't it? If God
had given the thief what the thief deserved, he would be condemned
forever, isn't that right? But listen, if God would have
ever given Paul what he earned and deserved, it'd been condemnation
unto death. I'm telling you right now, if
God were, here's what Psalm 130 verse three, Lord, if thou, Lord,
shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand? Not me. Although
my house be not so with God God has made with me an everlasting
How do I know God's made that covenant with me by this calling? Have you been called to faith
in Christ is Christ your surety is he at yours see I have assurance
Not in myself. I have confidence not in myself,
but in my surety That's what I'm saying. Look back here at
Hebrews 6. He says, God is not unrighteous to forget your work
and labor of love which you have showed toward his name, that
is for his glory. When you do it in his name, you
do it for his glory. And that you have ministered
to the saints, well it's a saint, sanctified ones, sinners saved
by grace, and do minister. Verse 11. And we desire that
every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance
of hope unto the end. Now, what is that full assurance
of hope unto the end? Well, we just got through singing
about it. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but I wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
I don't have faith in me. I don't even have faith in my
faith. My faith looks outside of itself to one who is my surety. He's the yea and the amen of
God's promises, Christ alone. And so he says in verse 12, that
you be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and
patience That is faithfulness. Inherit the promises. We don't
earn the promises now, we inherit them. Because Christ, our elder
brother, earned them. And then verse 13, for when God
made promise to Abraham, okay? Now think about this. When God
made promise to Abraham, now what is Abraham? Well, he's an
example of how God justifies who? Romans 4, the ungodly. God doesn't justify the godly.
You know why? Because the godly don't need
justification. What is it to be justified? It's
to be forgiven. Isn't that right? Forgiven of
all my sins. What is it to be just? It's to
be righteous in the sight of God. How in the world can I be
forgiven and made righteous in the sight of God? God, well God
does it, and he has to do it on a just ground. And he does
it through the blood of his son. And that's his righteousness.
Romans chapter three tells us that, Romans four. And so all
the promises that we inherit are based upon the just ground
that Christ died, was buried, and arose the third day. And
he says in verse 13, he says, for when God made promise to
Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swear by himself. Now, think about this in the
context. Look what he says, well, let's
read on verse 14, saying, surely blessing, I will bless thee,
multiply and I will multiply. See, this wasn't conditioned
on Abraham. God didn't look at Abraham and say, now Abraham,
if you'll do your part, I've already done mine, or I will
do mine. No. It was all the movement, the
power, the grace of God, wasn't it? It wasn't Abraham doing his
part. Abraham was acting upon the grace
and power of God. Just like that calling. How did
Christ put it? He said, if I be lifted up, I
will draw all unto me. In other words, it's by his death
that his people are drawn to him through this calling. He
said in John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Somebody told me one time about
election. He said, well, it doesn't matter if I try to come to God
or not. He said, if I'm not elect, he
won't accept me. No, you've got it all wrong, friend. If you
come to God, his way, as revealed in the gospel, he will receive
you because he chose you before the foundation of the world. We talked about that last week.
Through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto he called you by our gospel. So he says in verse 15
of Hebrews 6, and so after he had patiently endured, he obtained
the promise. That's talking about, of course,
the promise that God would give Abraham and Sarah a son. And
he did. And you say, Abraham patiently
endured? Well, he did in his life by the
power of God. But go back and read Abraham's
biography. Was he always a stalwart of faith? Or did he mess up every now and
then, like we do? Oh, he messed up. Went into Egypt. And his wife was so beautiful,
he thought Pharaoh would want her. And so he lied, he said,
and would have him killed to take his wife. And he lied and
said, she's my sister. He actually did that twice, you
know that? And then one time when he was getting old and he
knew God had promised them a child, but he wasn't having a child
and Sarah was getting old. She come in and talked him into
going to bed with their servant, Hagar. Abraham was a sinner saved by
grace. Just like us, if we're saved.
But God made a promise. One condition on Abraham, even
though he did patiently endure, and so after he obtained the
promise. Why did he obtain the promise?
Because he was such a good guy? No. Because God had made the
promise and ordered it in all things and made it sure. And
then look at verse 16. He says, For men verily swear
by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end
of all strife, wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto
the heirs of promise, That word heirs, don't let it pass by you.
We are heirs, we're not earners. He says, heirs of promise, the
immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath. Now here's what
he's saying. You know, if you strike, you know, back then especially,
if they were striking a deal with each other and they'd swear
an oath. In other words, they'd take them at their word. And
they would always swear by something greater than themselves. I swear by this, I swear by that.
People today, they take an oath when they go to, if you're a
witness in a trial, you know, swear on the Bible. Something
greater than ourselves. Well, how does God swear an oath?
There's nothing greater than God. Tell you how, he swears
by himself. He swears upon his own honor,
his own glory. You see, in this promise, and
what he's talking about here, he's talking about the promise
of the salvation of his chosen people in Christ. And what he's
saying is this, God swore an oath. God engaged his honor,
his glory, in this promise. And for anyone whom God promises
to save, to end up perishing, would dishonor him. He swore
by an oath, and so he swore by himself, and he confirmed it
by an oath. Now look at verse 18, that by two immutable things,
what are these two immutable things? Here they are, God's
promise is unchangeable. Remember Malachi 3.6, I am the
Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
God's promise, all the promises of God are in Christ, J and Amen.
God hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things,
and sure," David said. That's immutable. You can't stop
it. You can't hinder it. You can't
earn it. You can't deserve it. It's all
in Christ. So his promise and his oath, his glory, that's what
ensures the salvation of his people. And it's all wrapped
up in Christ, and it says that by two immutable things, in which
it was impossible for God to lie. Why? Look at it, verse 18. We might have what? Strong consolation. Strong comfort. Strong assurance. You know one of the names of
the Messiah in the Old Testament? is the consolation of Israel. Remember who mentioned that in
the book of Luke chapter 2? A man named Simeon when the Christ
child came and his mother and father brought him to the temple
to do what the law said to do and it was revealed to that man
Simeon that he would see the Christ child before he left this
earth and when he saw him he took the babe in his arms and
he said the consolation of Israel. And he said, Lord, I'm ready
to depart. I've seen your salvation. That's assurance in the surety. He didn't say, Lord, I'm ready
to depart. I've done what was required. He didn't say, Lord,
I'm ready to depart. I've done enough now. Somebody
said, well, Paul said he's run his course. Well, yeah, he has. And when I die, I'll have run
my course. But I'll tell you what, my assurance
is still in my surety look at it again he says strong consolation
who have done what fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before us have you fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before what hope set before you well Christ did his part now
you do yours is that the hope that set before you well that's
not the hope that the writer of Hebrews is talking about.
The hope he's talking about is the one we sang. Oh, when I stand before the throne,
dressed in righteousness, not my own. Christ is our hope. How do you know that? Look at
verse 10. Which hope we have as an anchor for the soul, both
sure and steadfast. Who's that talking about? Is
that talking about us? No, it's talking about Christ. and which
entereth into that within the veil, who did that, whether the
forerunner for us is entered, even Jesus, salvation, made our
high priest, and high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
One verse over in Hebrews chapter 10, and I'll close. See, that's
assurance, that's what the calling, you wanna make your calling election
sure, is your calling unto this hope, not a hope that conditions
it on you. or places that are upon you,
but all on Christ. And look at this in Hebrews chapter
10 and verse 19. Here's our hope. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness, confidence, liberty, to enter into the holiest,
on what ground? What assures me of my entrance? By the blood of Jesus. That's
it. That's his righteousness. by
a new and living way, which he, Christ, hath consecrated, he's
the one who did it all, for us, through the veil, that is to
say his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God,
let us draw near with a true heart, a sincere, holy spirit,
regenerate heart, in full assurance of faith, that's assurance by
looking to Christ, that's what faith does, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, a condemned conscience, a legal
conscience, a guilty conscience, and our bodies washed with pure
water, washed clean in the blood of Christ. What can wash away
my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.