I invite you to turn with me
this evening to Psalm 125. And while you're finding my text,
let me say that I'm thankful that you thought well enough
of me to have me back, invite me here to preach, and I count
it a great privilege to preach my Lord's Gospel anywhere where
He opens a door for me to speak. There's no doubt a lot of reasons
why I'm here. A lot of things in God's providence
comes to pass to bring us to any place. But the bottom line
with me is when I get to a place, I thank God because it's his
providence that brought me here. Now, I'm not denying that somebody
thought of me and somebody called me, but why did you think of
me? Why did you call me? God's behind
these things that we take so much for granted. God's behind
it. And I may worry about it until
I get here, but after I get here, I know this is, I told our folks
down there, I said, I've come to cherish these words It came
to pass. Those things have a whole new
meaning for me, and they grow stronger all the time. I'm here because the Lord has
ordered it in His wonderful providence, and I preached this morning in
Kingsport, Tennessee out of Psalm 124, and the title was, The Song
of Intervention. And tonight we'll be looking
at Psalm 125, and my subject is the Song of Assurance. The Song of Assurance. Several
weeks back, I began a series of messages on these Songs of
Decrees. And beginning with Psalm 120,
all the way through Psalm 134, if you look up above the Psalm,
it says, of degrees it says that on every one of them and these songs called also songs
of ascent as best I can find out they were sung by Jewish
pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem to partake of those typical feasts
by faith They didn't have any hope in
the feast itself, but what that feast represented. They were
taught, just as we are. There's no hope in the water.
There's hope in what that water signifies. There's no hope in
baptism, but in what baptism confesses, what it understands. And the same thing in the Old
Testament. These were men of faith. Christ
said, Abraham. Boy, that's going back a ways.
Abraham rejoiced to see my day. Now listen, and he saw it. How did he see it? By faith.
By faith. When he saw that lamb caught
in the thicket, he understood what that meant. And so these
pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem, they're gonna partake in these
feasts. And not all of them, but some of them were believers.
And they understood that those feasts were typical and that
they set forth Christ and His work. And these wonderfully inspired
songs are the song of every believer. Every believer. And we sing these
things on our way to God's designated place of worship. God's always
had a designated place of worship. People talk about worshiping
God out on the river and in their closet and all over the place,
but God's always had a designated place of worship. It began with
an altar. They gathered around that altar.
Adam and Eve, their two sons, gathered around an altar to worship
God. And then later on, they worshiped
God in a tabernacle. Everything in that tabernacle
pictured Christ. But that was the designated place. And then the temple, a more permanent
form. They went to that temple. And
in our day, where do men go? Where is God's designated place
of worship today? It's where His saints assemble. That's where it's at. So these wonderfully inspired
songs are the songs of every believer who goes to God's designated
place of worship, and he goes there calling to memory all that
the Lord has done, all that the Lord is doing, and all that the
Lord yet shall do. And his heart's lifted up, and
God enables him to worship. How does he worship? In spirit
and truth. Now if God's not done anything
for you, then you've got nothing to sing about. But oh my soul,
when I think about what God's done for me, oh, I want to sing,
don't you? Oh, amazing grace. That tells
my story. How sweet the sound. Is there
anything sweeter to you than the love of my soul? That saved a wretch like me. I was lost. Lost. Now I'm found. I was blind, but
now I see. These songs are also called songs
of ascension. I told them this morning, if
you read about going to Jerusalem in the scriptures, it always
says they were going up to Jerusalem. Now you may have lived on a mountain
looking down on Jerusalem, but if you went to Jerusalem, you're
going up to Jerusalem because of what Jerusalem signified,
that heavenly Jerusalem. That heavenly city, that old Saint Abraham with his
children, he looked for a city that had foundations whose builder
and maker was God. That's why he lived in tents
here. He wasn't planning on staying. That's not what he was looking
for. I'm talking about death a while
ago. I read a bulletin article. I just loved it. I can't remember
who wrote it. I was so happy about the article. I forgot who
wrote it. But here's what he said in the article. Believers,
they don't wonder why God killed somebody or why somebody dies. The believer wonders why didn't
he kill him. Why am I still here? Why am I
still alive? It's not death that surprises
me, it's life. It's life. I deserve death. I don't deserve life, I've been
given life. It's the gift of God. And so these songs were called
songs of ascension. And we're to view these songs
with Spiritual trifocals, we'll say it that way. First of all,
we're going to read these Psalms and we're going to think about
these things that we read as they pertain to Christ. And His mind and spirit as He
passes through this world, as He sojourns through this world,
going up to His Father's house. And then secondly, seeing the
attitude and spirit of God's elect as they sojourn through
this present evil world on their way to their Father's house. And then thirdly, and I want
this to come home, let's talk about me and you. As all the elect of God in our
day, on our way to worship God as we came here tonight, to prepare our hearts and minds
to go to God's place of worship and give praise and thanksgiving
to God, to the God of all grace. That's what we want to do. And
how are we going to do it? We're going to call to memory
all that God's done, all that God is doing right now, and all
that God yet shall do. May the Lord bless these studies
to that end for Christ's sake. The song of assurance. Can you
sing it? Can you sing it? When you leave
here tonight, can you sing that song of assurance? What is assurance? Assurance is a wonderful work
of God in the heart of all His elect. You mean all God's elect have
assurance? Absolutely. Paul told the Thessalonians,
I know your election of God. When my gospel came to you, it
came not in word only, but it came in power, it came in the
Holy Ghost. Now listen, with much assurance. What is assurance? Well, I'll
tell you first of all what it's not. Assurance is not confidence
in your confidence. If you start examining your confidence
in your confidence, you're not going to have any assurance.
It's full of holes. It's confidence in God, confidence
in Christ, and confidence in His Word. That's assurance. They could take away Job's health,
and they could take away his wife, and they could take away
his family, and they could take away all of those things, but
they couldn't take away his hope. Job's hope was in his Savior.
They couldn't touch him. I lost my wife to cancer back
in 2019. We've been married 47 years.
I loved her, she loved me. Left a giant hole in my life. But I'll tell you this, my hopes in Christ, and it didn't
have anything to do with that. Nothing to do with that. Fact
is, that's what gave me hope in the whole thing. She's got
what I'm looking for. She has right now in her possession
what I want. She's with Christ. In these several verses, I have
three things for us to consider as we go through this blessed
psalm, three verses to the psalm, if you will. And since these
are a recollection of our own experience of grace, I'll give
them to you in the order of our experience. What is the source of the believer's
assurance? What brings this confidence to
his mind and heart? What is it that a man finds? What is it that he looks at that
gives him this assurance? Well, first of all, recalling
my own experience concerning the means of grace. What means? Well, first of all,
the providence of God. They murmured when Christ told
them the truth over there in John 6, didn't they? He said,
don't murmur. Don't murmur. No man can come
to me. except my Father draw him. Coming to Christ is not a fluke. You don't bump into the truth
in the darkness. It's an order of God's providence. Paul said it's nigh thee. It's
right in front of you. It's so close you could reach
out and touch it. It's the gospel we preach. And
then he quoted an Old Testament scripture, whosoever, I used
to, I didn't like that word. Boy, I've grown to love it. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But there's
some problems. How you gonna call on him in
whom you had not believed? And how are you going to believe
in Him of whom you have not heard? And how are you going to hear
without a preacher? And how is He going to preach if I don't
send Him? Isn't that what God said? Someone
told me one time, I don't believe that. I said, well, you don't
believe God. That's what God said. I didn't
say it. He said it. Take it up with Him. Believers believe God, don't
they? Absolutely. So I go back and look at the
means of God and the first of those means was the providence
of God. I had a booming business up in
Northern Ohio. Had all the housing construction
sold up in the whole place. I didn't have to bid on jobs,
they just called me and said, come and start. God interrupted all that. Everything
I'd worked so hard for, he just tore it to pieces. I got aggravated,
and I said, I'm gonna go back down to Kentucky. I'm gonna go
down there and live. I've had it. Went down there,
things wasn't no better. Finally, I talked to my wife,
and I was raised in religion, so I said, I think what we need
to do is go back to church. Boy, that was a step downhill. I didn't find no comfort there.
I didn't find any comfort there. They kept giving me things to
do that I couldn't do. Just believe. Oh, what a crazy thing it is to hear
somebody say that. Just believe. What must we do? What can we
do to work the works of God? That's what all them men wanted
to know. He said, this is the work of God, that you believe
on him whom he hath sent. Whose work is it? God's work. The rich young ruler walked away
and they looked and they said, well who then can be saved? Christ
said, with man. it is impossible oh you mean
faith is an impossibility it is with man but not with God
by grace are you saved through faith and that that what? that faith not of your sins it
is the gift of God not of works lest any man should bow Providence of God. You ever think
about the Providence of God? Our great God and Savior in whom
we're predestinated to the adoption of children? He gets down later on there in
Ephesians 1, I think it's verse 11, and he's talking about Christ
being the steward of all things and even of time. When the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth His Son. He's the steward
of time. What time? All times. Paul said,
when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb, called
me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. He's the great steward
of time and in Him also we have obtained an inheritance. being
predestinated according to him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Oh my soul, how did I come to
believe on him? He predestinated me and he worked
everything in time and eternity to that end. And in his time,
me a preacher and he gave me ears to hear. He gave me an understanding. All my soul. Everything I ever
heard about God, I didn't understand. I didn't be born again. Do what? I was worse than Nicodemus. I
didn't know what to say. Born again. Are you born again?
I don't know. I don't know what it is. I don't
know what it is. I don't understand anything. Let alone when I come to begin
to actually read the Word of God and not just listen to men
quote it. I started to read the Word of
God and started running on all these things about predestination
and election and eternal purposes of God. Off my soul. I didn't
know Ignorant of everything. But God gives you an understanding. The ark didn't make any sense
to me. God's going to kill everybody, but he ain't going to kill no
one. He's got a few sons there and daughters-in-law, and he's
going to save them. And so he builds this boat, and he puts
them all in the boat. I didn't understand that until I understood
what the ark was. That's Christ. How do you understand
those things? Comparing spiritual things. We've not received that spiritual
understanding of the world, that little spirit. That's what he's
talking about there in 1 Corinthians 2. Paul said, we've not received
the spirit of this world, the understanding, the reasoning
and logic of the world, but the spirit which is of God that we
might know the things freely given to us of God. which things
we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit of God teacheth,
comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. That's predestination. That's
not talking about every little detail of our lives. Oh, yes, it is. Oh, yes, it is. Paul said, we know that all things,
you said that in your favor? All things. What things? All
things. Work together for good, for good. Don Fortner used to say, he went
to England, he got up there, he always wanted to see Big Ben,
and they took him up and let him look inside Big Ben. He said,
I've never seen so many splines and gears, and they're all turning. When it's all done, that little
hand out there tells the time. All things working together.
Everything. Working together. For good. It's gonna accomplish good. and
for the glory of God. Our Lord is the Lord of the dead
and the living and he'll call Nebuchadnezzar a servant, my
servant. Do what? He come down and destroyed
Jerusalem. He come down and burnt the temple
down, tore it all down. Wasn't a stone left standing. Rabbi to Jerusalem, took all
the holy vessels and took the people and led them captive back
up to Babylon. God said, that's my servant. He's the Lord of the dead and
the living and he'll call Nebuchadnezzar a servant as much as he will
Moses. He'll call Pharaoh to raise the
deliverer of Israel. He's standing up there swearing
he's going to kill the deliverer and he's ordering all these babies
dead. And God just floats Moses right down to the palace and
said, you're going to raise him. And he did. And he did. He'll make Pharaoh raise the
deliverer of Israel just as He used this evil world and all
the nations in it to provide the means of the crucifixion
of Christ and accomplish our redemption. They did what God's
hand and God's counsel determined before to be done. You can read
about it over in Acts chapter 4. They were all sitting there,
they were doing exactly what they wanted to do, and they had
their little council meetings, and they discussed it back and
forth. Well, no, maybe we ought to do
this. Well, okay. We'll take a vote
on it. You know what to do? What God's
hand and God's counsel determined before to be done. Don't you
find assurance in that, my soul? I'm glad I ain't in control of
anything. I'd have killed some politicians by now. I'm not in control of anything.
He is. He is. Beloved, you and I were in the
right place at the right time, not by chance, not by circumstance,
but by God's sovereign providence. And then secondly, here's another
means of grace, the preaching of the gospel. It pleased the sovereign, unchangeable,
all-wise, omnipotent God through the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. There was a fellow way up in
Iowa, and he told me, he said, You think God might make an exception
because there ain't no preachers up here. I said, no, God don't
change his mind. He don't change his mind. Maybe
you ought to think about finding a preacher instead of a preacher
finding you. Brother Mayhead wrote a fellow
one time and told him, he kept telling him his bad situation
and he said, your situation ain't going to change until you change
your situation. When we learn about God's means
and quit kicking them and quit fighting them and find out that
this is God's means of intervention, this is God's means to save your
soul, you'll quit kicking. Oh yeah, you will. You'll come
and see it. I had a young fellow, he came
because his mama wanted him to and he loved his mama. Bless
his heart, she was so sweet. She's passed on now, went to
be with the Lord. But she was so sweet. And his
son just loved his mom. And he'd come, and then we'd
have a fellowship dinner or something after the services, and he'd
get to go down there. And you wouldn't see him again
till the next year. Well, he started coming, and
they never had a pastor. And when I went down to pastor,
now they're preaching every week. So he came three or four times,
and he just, after a while, he'd run out of things to do. He already
knew how many ceiling tiles we had, and he'd look up at that,
and he'd look out the window, and he couldn't see anything
out there, and he just, boy, one day got a hold of that boy. He sat right where these two
ladies are sitting, in my chair. And he sat up in the pew while
I was preaching, and his knuckles were white. He gripped that pew,
he listened, he hung on every word. on every word. And God saved him. God saved
him. Oh, my son. How shall you hear without a
preacher? In the wisdom of God, this is God's wisdom from all
eternity. In the wisdom of God, the world,
all the whole world, by wisdom, knew not God. but it pleased
God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Of his own will, James said,
begat he us with the word of truth. Wherefore, my beloved
brethren, let every man be swift to hear. God may speak. He may not, but
He might. And He sent out those 120 preachers
and they didn't have a whole lot of preparation. They'd been
listening to Him and hearing Him. I know they were ignorant
about a lot of things, but He sent them out and here's what
He said, He that heareth you, heareth Me. How can that be? Because He's
going to speak through them. That's how. That's how. So we got the providence of God.
We're talking about assurance. Where did my assurance come from?
Well, it begins, in my experience, with the providence of God. And
then it moves on to the means that God, the preaching of the
gospel, and then the power of the Holy Ghost. Ain't nobody
going to believe apart from the Spirit of God. That ain't going
to happen. Now listen to me a minute. The gospel we preach is the revelation
of God. I don't preach and then a month
later you have a revelation of God. I'm preaching to you tonight
the revelation of God. God's will, God's Son, God's
salvation. That is the revelation of God.
I don't have anything in myself to preach. I preach Christ. I'm preaching from the Word of
God. The Gospel we preach is a revelation
of God. We don't preach and then down
the road have a revelation of the Spirit. The Spirit of God
works in conjunction with the preaching of the Gospel. Paul
told those Thessalonians, he said, I know your election of
God. My gospel didn't just come in word only. I didn't get up
and say some things and then you kind of halfway understood
what I said and you made a profession. My gospel didn't come like that.
It didn't come in word only. It came in power. What's that
mean? That means when I'm talking about
sin, God makes you understand that you are the sinner. And
now your mind sees your own heart and sees that darkness and greed
and that conviction of God, you're dead in trespass. You're guilty,
not because somebody said you were, but because God said you
were. It becomes a reality. And when it does, so will the
grace of God. It will become a reality. He said, I know your election
of God. Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but in power
and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. And I don't know
if you know this or not, but according to 1 Peter 1, 23 through
25, you read it and give it some time. Preaching of the gospel
is the seed of regeneration. being born again not a corruptible
sin but incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and
abideth forever then what you say in verse 25 this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul said,
I have not seen or heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by spirit. And he tells us in verse 12,
we've received not the spirit of the world, spiritual understanding
of the world, but the spirit or spiritual understanding which
is of God. Which things we speak, not in
words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth,
comparing spiritual things with spirit. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, because they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. They are discerned through the
Word of God. The Spirit of God inspired every word in that book.
Do you believe that? Every word. This is not a bunch
of ancient men's opinions. It's God-breathed, God-inspired. They wrote as they were moved
by the Holy Ghost. And that's why it's profitable
for doctrine to approve correction, instruction, and righteousness.
We're truly furnished unto all good works, right here. I don't
need anything. I don't need your opinion. I
got it right here. And this book is unlike any other
book because the Word of God is a discerner of the thoughts
and intentions. I can read you like a book through
the Word of God. The same way you read me. It
tells you all about me right in here. The Holy Ghost teaches us these
things. the means of assurance, God's
providence, the preaching of the gospel, the power of God's
Spirit, and the Word of God. I've got no other foundation
for the things that I believe than the Word of God. And the
same goes for what I preach. Paul told those Thessalonians
this. You very rarely read this. This is in 1 Thessalonians chapter
2. He's already told them that he
knew their election of God, and he gave several evidences of
it. One of them is they become followers of Him and the Lord.
Whoa, there's that guy down there. You didn't go down to that cult,
did you? There's some guy down there, he thinks he's right and
everybody else in the world is wrong. You didn't go down there? Yeah, I went down there. Are
you still going? Yeah, I'm still going. The fact
is, I love it down there. You ought to come. Why? I've become followers. What
policy have you become followers of us and the Lord? You realized
I'm a servant of God. As long as I am, and I'm in harmony
with this book, follow me. Mark them which walk well among
you. God with them. That's God's He said, For this cause also
thank we God without ceasing, because when you received the
word of God, which you heard of us, that is, you heard expounded
by us, declared by us. When you received the word of
God, which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of
men. Oh, that's just your opinion.
No. No it ain't. No it ain't. Which ye heard of us, ye received
it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of
God. Now watch this. Which effectually worketh also
in them that believe. All my soul. Can you put up with a few eccentricities
if you know that's how God works? I can overlook a lot of faults.
A lot of faults. And I think every believer, if
he's truthful, will have to say this is how his assurance was
born. It came as I heard the gospel.
The very message of the Word of God as it's expounded by God's
ambassador in the power of God's Spirit. And then here's the second
thing I want you to see. Assurance has to do with a person. The person of Jesus Christ the
Lord. There is no knowing God apart
from Christ. No man knoweth the Father, save
the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal. There is no knowing
God. Knowing God is eternal life. And that's what I'm saying. There's
no life. Well, I've been born of God. He quickened me from
the dead. Not if you don't come to Christ. No man knoweth the Father saith
the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal." He said, they said, where are
you going? He said, I'm going to the Father. In my Father's house many mansions,
I'm going to prepare a place for you. That whither I go, there
you may be also. And he said, and you know the
way. And they said, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, we don't know
the way. What did he tell him? I am the way. I don't know if I know the truth.
I am the truth. I don't know if I have life.
I am the life. Huh? Oh, it's all in a person. We
know, John said, that the Son of God hath come What did He
do? He given to us an understanding
that we might know Him that is true. But that ain't all. Know that we're in Him that is
true. Even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. Now stay with me. The hope of
glory is what? Christ in you. How? How is he in you? By faith. By faith. There's no mystical,
invisible person in you. I heard a man expand quite a
while back and he was talking about this invisible person in
him. There's no invisible person. There's no mystical person in
you. Talk about this new man and talk
about what this new man can do and what it likes and all that
kind of stuff. Christ in you by faith. That's the new man. That's the
new man. The Holy Ghost works in us. He said when He comes, He ain't
going to speak of Himself. No need to talk to me about evidences
of the Holy Spirit. He ain't going to speak of Himself.
What's He going to do? Christ said He's going to take
the things of mine and show them to you. The hope of glory is Christ in
you, and He is in you by faith. He reveals Christ to us. No evidence of salvation in a
feeling. All the evidence is in the revelation
of Christ. Evangelists and pastor-teachers
over in Ephesians chapter 4 are given by the ascended Christ.
And they're given for the edification of the body of Christ, His church,
and the work of the ministry. Now I want you to listen to this,
Ephesians 4 verse 13. Here's the result of it. Till
we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of
the Son of God. Can we agree on that? of the knowledge of the Son of
God. Now listen, unto a perfect man. Oh, you ain't got no hope
in you. You ain't gonna be no perfect
man. Henry used to say, if you're
looking for the perfect church, he said, when you join it, it
won't be perfect anymore. That perfect man is Christ. There's
only one perfect man, that's Christ. And that's what he says, unto
a perfect man, now listen, and unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ. And to those who oppose this,
Paul says in that same chapter, you have not so learned Christ. I don't know what you learned,
I don't know where you learned it, but that ain't Christ. But he said, if so be you have
heard him and have been taught by him as
the truth is in Jesus Christ. That's eternal life. Verse 23 of that chapter.
We're renewed in the spirit of our mind. He's talking about
God coming and restoring the soul. When He does, here's what
He does. We're renewed in the spirit of our mind and we put
on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness. And there's only one man like
that. That's Christ. So what do we do? What do we
do with this remnant? We put it on. We put it on. Then what do we do? Well, as
you've received Christ Jesus the Lord. How did you receive
Him? He's the Son of God. He's the Savior. He's your righteousness. He's your representative. He's
your justifier. He's your intercessor. As you
have received Christ Jesus the Lord, now listen, so walk ye
in Him. What's that mean? That means
He's my righteousness. So walk that way. He's my justifier. I don't need to walk around and
hold nothing. I don't need to do that. Justify. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's will? It's God that justifies. Walk
that way. God loves me. Where's that love
at? In Christ Jesus the Lord. Have I got Him? I've got the
love. Is that right? That's assurance. Assurance is in a person. It's
in a person. You can't find anything in Christ,
you doubt. What is it in Him you'll doubt?
One old member of my church, he's up in his nineties now,
he said, Pastor, he said, I just never, he said, I believe what
you're preaching, but he said, I just never had assurance. I
said, you mean you don't believe God can't condescended down and
robed himself. Oh, yes, I believe that. I said,
you don't believe that he came down as a representative man
and lived under that law with a representative obedience unto
death, even the death of the cross? Oh, he said, I believe
that with all my heart. I said, you don't believe God
raised him from the dead to justify us? Oh, he said, I believe that.
I believe that. I said, you don't believe he's seated at the right
hand of God making intercession for us? Ordering all things,
arranging all things? Absolutely, I said, that's assurance.
That's assurance. All my soul. Now he has assurance. Assurance is in a person. Listen to the psalm, I haven't
even read it to you. Verse 1, They that trust in the
Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. As the mountains
are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people
from henceforth even forever. Paul talking to that bunch of
Gentiles who didn't know anything about God. He said, I know whom
I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. That's assurance. And I don't
care what gets missing in your life or what you have to face.
They can't take that away from you. That's assurance. What constitutes our assurance
in Christ? Four things. Who He is. Who is that man? He's the God-man. He's the God-man. Jesus Christ
is God our Savior. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. First, we learn who He is, and
then secondly, we learn why He came. Why did He come? This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, Paul said, of whom I am chief. Why did He come? He came to do the Father's will.
What will? His redemptive will. I came down
from heaven, he said, old John 6, not to do my own will, but
the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which has sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should
lose nothing. And this is the Father's will
which sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth
on Him, may have everlasting life. We learn who He is, and then
we learn why He came. And thirdly, we learned what
he did. What did he do? He came to redeem. He redeemed.
He came to save. Did he save? This man continueth ever, Paul
said. His priesthood goes forever. Wherefore, he's able to save
to the uttermost. Brother Mahan used to say, to
the guttermost. all who come unto God by Him. Everything He came into this
world, He merged His deity with humanity, and He manifested that
eternal union of God's elect with Christ, chosen in Him, predestinated
in Him, represented in Him, raised up, seated with Him in glory,
it says in Ephesians 2. Everything He did, He did for
us and to the glory of God. He gave Himself for us. And the
Scripture said, Of God are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
And here's why. He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. Represented in Christ, is fully
redeemed, fully justified, perfectly righteous. He's the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Delivered for
our offenses, raised for our justification. Our assurance
is in a person, and while I might and will lose confidence in myself,
I've got no excuse for not trusting the Lord. I have every reason
to trust in Him. Every reason. And I tell you,
what God's gonna do when He convicts you of sin, He's gonna convict
you of your unbelief in Christ. And you're gonna look at Him,
and you can't find any reason not to believe in Him, yet you
still don't believe in Him. This is condemnation. Light come
into the world, and men love darkness rather than light. Why? Because you do, No man cometh to the light, lest
his deed be reproved. Paul said it's Christ that died,
yea rather that's risen again. So assurance comes as we contemplate
His means of grace and His great providence. And then that confidence,
it ascends to its strength as we see our substitute and redeemer
and his accomplished redemption. And lastly, we find assurance
in the reigning grace of God through faith. Listen to this,
Romans 5, 9. Much more then, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him For if
when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death
of His Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by His life. He's not in the tomb, He's on
the throne. He's not in a place where He
can't intervene, He's in the very place that He can intervene. You see what He's saying? While
you was kicking and being an enemy, and like you said, oatmeal
cussing like a sailor. Oh, but then God saved you while
you were doing all that. And now he's seated at the right
hand of God. And he's going to save you in
spite of yourself. Peter said, God's not willing
for anyone to perish. None of his elect are going to
perish. You might try to perish. You might try to shoot yourself
or something, but you ain't gonna perish. God's not willing for
any believer to perish. But all's gonna come to repentance,
every last one of them. Our hope, Peter said, is a living
hope. It's not a hope, a hope, a hope.
My hope's up there and he's alive and he reigns. And as sin hath
reigned unto death, His grace is going to reign through righteousness
unto eternal life. Not a doubt in my mind. Having died on the cross and
ascended unto glory, our Sovereign didn't lay down to rest. He took
His seat at the right hand of the Father, and as testator of
the will of God, He sees to it that every heir gets the inheritance
that God laid up for him. He's going to have it. He's going to have it. And now we can work out our own
salvation. And we do it in fear and trembling,
because it's God who worketh in us both the will and the do
of His good pleasure. What a gracious, gracious song. What a merciful song. What a
wonderful song for the believing pilgrim. The song of assurance. Oh, my soul, I can worship God
when I think of that. Unto Him that's able to keep
us from falling and to present us faultless before the presence
of His glory. Now listen, with exceeding joy. It's not a labor for me. shake
his head and say, well, I saved him. Now he does it smiling,
exceeding joy. You remember that father who
ran out to meet that prodigal? He didn't go out there backwards. He didn't go out like this. He
ran out, throwed his arms around that boy and smothered him with
kisses. Mother didn't want to kiss him.
And he had this little speech, y'all. I did that one time. Got
my little speech, y'all, in order of what I was going to tell God. He never got to tell it. Father ran out. He said, bring
me that ring, that family seal. Put it on his finger. And he
said, that calf I've had pinned up back there, go get it. That
fatty cat, we gonna celebrate. This, my son, that was lost,
is found. I tell you, if you can't find
assurance in that, you don't know God. That's just the truth. All right.