It's so good to be with you. I love and appreciate your pastor. I can tell you that he loves being able, I know,
to be in other places, to minister to the Lord's people. But I can
tell you also, I can speak for him. I can tell you this, that
he misses being here with you. There's no true place like home. Pray for him. The Lord has truly
blessed you with a faithful pastor. Lift him up. I'm thankful to
be able to be here with you. And I pray that this day that
the Lord might be pleased to meet with us. I think about that scripture
when the Lord said where two or three are gathered together
in my name. I am in the midst of you. As I've said before, surely there's
two or three here. And that being the case, the
Lord is here, which is truly convicting to me. I think, should
I not be as sensitive to that thought as I ought to be? Lord, forgive me for my insensitivity. I pray the Lord meet with us.
I'm gonna ask you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the
book of John, chapter 19. John 19. Our Lord, the passage that I'd
like to consider this morning, beginning in verse 28, John 19,
verse 28, after this, Jesus, knowing that all things
were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar. They filled a sponge with vinegar
and put it upon hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus,
therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished, and
he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. The older I get, the more I'm
made to realize the surety of this thought. To everything,
there is a season. and a time to every purpose under
the heaven, a time to be born, and a time to die. I know this. Except the Lord come back and
we which are alive remain on this earth, except it be for
the second coming, we're gonna die. And the more I think about that,
the more I'm made to realize I need some comfort. I want to be comforted. I know that I'm going to stand
before God. According to God's Word, the
books are going to be opened in the book. I know that. I need to realize afresh for
a believer. This is not our home. I need some comfort in the realization
that I'm a sojourner here for just a little while. I need some
comfort from the fiery darts of Satan. I need that. I need
some comfort. from the hatred of the world.
I'm amazed, the older I get, the resentment that I see toward
the gospel. The resentment toward God's people.
And I need some comfort from the battle that goes on right
here. I struggle. I struggle with prayer. I struggle with reading. I struggle
with study. I struggle. I was getting ready to get up
here to preach. And I mean, it's just all of a sudden I realized,
wait a minute. I'm going to stand up in front
and I'm here to preach to dying people that are going to meet
God. And just that realization, I
just, it arrests me. There's a fearfulness and a respect. I need some comfort. Well now,
is there any comfort found in this world? Is there any comfort
found in myself? Is there any comfort found in
my works? No. I have comfort in one. That's what he said. He said,
come unto me. all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Now I know, I know, I know it
in my head for sure. And I pray, Lord, Lord, teach
me this fresh, that which I've been taught, that which I've
believed. Why, but yesterday's faith, that's
gone. You can't grab that. Faith cometh
right now. I need right now. I need the
Lord to grant me faith to believe right now. Today is the day of
salvation. I need to hear, I need comfort
right now. I need to know when it comes
to the eternal security of my soul, I'm gonna die. I'm gonna stand before God, I
know that. In that day, I will need the
assurance that I need right now. And right now, I need some comfort
from the Lord. When it comes to my eternal standing
before God, what does the Lord say to His people? Here it is. Verse 30, when Jesus
therefore had received the vinegar, He said, now listen to these
words, it is finished. It is finished. No words demand
more respect. In those words, it is finished. What has been finished? All that Almighty God demands. for obedience, righteousness, judgment, satisfaction
before God Almighty has been finished for God's people, for
God's elect, for the sheep. It was finished at Calvary. It has been completed And the
comfort for me, the comfort for every believer here, I don't
understand the fullness of that which has been completed. What
has been completed, it, that He knows is enough. That Christ has finished the
work. I know this, that to the carnal
mind, all men been born in Adam, we all thought like this at one
time, man by nature doesn't believe that. He believes that his work
is needful for the completion of his salvation and therefore
he doesn't believe that it, God's demand for righteousness, He
does not believe that that has been finished. That thought,
that man must add his work and his thoughts and his deeds to
the finished work of Christ, refutes. He takes God's word
and he said, I don't believe that. You listen to this, Romans
3 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. Now you consider this insinuation.
For a man to think that he's got to do something when the
Lord said it is finished, it's finished. For a man to think
that he must add his work to the accomplishment of salvation
first of all implies that God is not the finisher of his own
will and the salvation of his people. It implies that salvation
is not of the Lord. What Jonah said, salvation's
of the Lord. When the Lord said it's finished,
for a man to believe that he's got to do something is to say
that it's not finished. I've got to add something. It
declares that Christ's blood was not sufficient to put away
sin. that His glorious sacrifice at
Calvary must be mingled with my choice, and God's got to see
the blood of Christ and my work together to pass over me. It supposes, the man thinking
that he's got to add his two cents, that the blood of Christ
is impotent, and that it was shed in vain for many, and that
many for whom he died are now in hell. Therefore, he was a
failure. If it wasn't finished at Calvary,
that's what you're saying. It insinuates that God's love
and purpose mean nothing, and that His glory, to show mercy
and compassion to whomsoever He will, can be thwarted. That's
what you're saying. That His will becomes a servant
to man's will if you think it wasn't finished. And it states that if the work
wasn't finished at Calvary and you believe you've got to do
something, your choice, your will, it means that man's not
truly dead in trespasses and sins. And that therefore there's
some good in all men that God was mistaken when he tells adam
in the garden in the day that you eat you're going to die man
according to these scriptures brother lindsey was insinuating
we believe what god says this is what god says man is dead
in trespasses and sins and he has no will he has no ability
he has no power to change that. Salvation is of the Lord. I will, he told Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Now you let you let the
the potter's of this world strive against that truth. You let them
say whatever they want to say. That's not fair, that's not...
Here's what God says. I will have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. And for a man to dispute that,
the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of God's Spirit, said in Romans
9, Who art thou, O man, that replies against God? I've told you this before. I've
heard Brother Scott say this. Who's running this show anyway?
He is. The Lord is. Mr. Spurgeon made this statement,
he said, when we see the dead rise from the grave by their
own power, then may we expect to see some ungodly sinner by
his own free will turn to Christ. Dead means dead. Salvation is
by the grace of God. Salvation is of the Lord, or
it's no salvation at all. If Almighty God does not do something
for us, I promise you, we're gonna perish. But for all that's been given
eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to believe, these
words are precious. It is finished. These words to a needy sinner. I had someone come a few days
ago to study, called up and said, can I come over and talk to you
for just a few minutes? I said, absolutely. Came over,
we sat down for a few minutes, and they began to express to
me, they were just tore all to pieces, and said, I just don't See, I'm just struggling. I just don't see anything in
me. I see no consistency in me. I see nothing in me worthy of
His mercy. It just bothers me. And I said,
well, just keep talking. You're just being so encouraging
to me. Just go ahead. I need the encouragement. Go
ahead. I told her, I said, I don't think, no, I said, I know no
believer sees anything in themselves. She said, yes, but she said,
I don't, I don't feel that I have faith that'll, you know, answer
to God's demand. I said, I don't either, but it's
not your faith. That's the issue. It's Christ's
faith. The faith of Christ, not yours. No believer sees anything. This is what a believer wants
to hear. You tell me one more time how it is finished. The fullness, the completion
of the will of God concerning the rescue and redemption of
God's elect. All that Almighty God ever purposed
according to His everlasting covenant of grace, that covenant
that David said, this is all my salvation. He made with me
an everlasting covenant. God chose to show mercy to me. And then in time, put me under
the sound of the gospel and told me about it. Told me what He
did for me. Saved me by His grace. In Calvary,
all the types, all the shadows, all the pictures in the Old Testament. There was the revelation. There
was the fullness. It was finished. All those pictures
that we see and all that we don't see. I see something in the ark. I see something in the smitten
rock. I see something in the brazen serpent. I see something in that of Christ,
a picture of him. But oh, how many. I was thinking
about those two on the road to Emmaus. And beginning with Moses. and all the prophets He expounded
unto them, and all the scriptures, those things concerning Himself.
Can you imagine those things He told them? Those things they
realized and they thought, I never realized, I never saw it that
way. But does your heart, you that believe, does your heart
not burn when you get a glimpse of Him and you see something
of His glory? And you just rejoice, that's
what they said. Did not our heart burn within
us? Every once in a while you'd be
reading something, you're just reading some scriptures and I'll
be looking at something and all of a sudden it's just like I
see something and my heart just rejoices to tears. I think that is, that's so good. But just like I see it for about
that long, then all of a sudden I just think, can I be so dull
toward Him who has been so merciful and kind and compassionate to
me? It is finished. All that the Lord demanded for righteousness for obedience
to the law. I can't. Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all your heart. Mark, I'm done. I'm done. Thou shalt have no other gods
before me. Well, I'm done. I mean just the
moment I set my eyes on something that's just fleeting. I'm done. Thou shalt not covet. I'm done. Oh, but that which
God Almighty demanded, God Almighty supplied. Faithful is he who
calleth you who will do it. Oh, what a word of comfort. That which He has accomplished,
that God Almighty charged to my account, and robed me in His
righteousness, and then saying to me, well done,
well done. I think of that woman with the
issue of blood. If I can touch the hem of His
garment, I'll be made whole. Came and touched the hem of his
garment, he stopped. He said, who touched me? Disciple
said, what do you mean, who touched you? Everybody's touching you.
You're standing in the press. He said, virtue has gone out
from me. He knew it. How did he know it? He drew her.
What do you mean, how did he know it? He called her to himself. Come unto me. Here she comes.
In the day of His power, she's willing, and she touched Him
by faith that He gave her. And then the Lord turns to her,
and she's trembling, and He said, thy faith hath made thee whole. All that He has demanded for
obedience, all that was demanded For judgment against me he bore and declared it is finished. Principalities, powers that once
were against us held us captive. Christ defeated, made an open
show of their defeat at Calvary. Now in him we're free. free captives to Him. Greatest freedom that a man or
woman would ever know. A servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And a believer hears that term
and he just says, Amen. Who are you? I'm His servant.
And I don't want to be anything else. I want to be His captive. I want to be to Him what He says
I am to Him. And by the blood of His cross,
all God's sheep, God's elect are reconciled. Peace has been
made in Him toward God. Peace will never be gone again. And that blessed thought and
will that his purpose has been satisfied is the assurance of
my salvation. Almighty God has done for me
what I could never do for myself. He finished the work. When he
died, the scripture says he died for his elect. I know that. I know that when he died, here's
what he said, John 10, 15, I laid down my life for the sheep. But you know, for me to have
any comfort, this is what I want to know. Am I one of them? He laid down his life for his
people. Can I have any assurance that I'm one of them? I know
I can. Listen to what Job said, Job
19.25. For I know that my Redeemer liveth. I know that my kinsman
Redeemer, I know, Job said. I know. Well, I can tell you this, I
know this, Job just like me. He's just a sinner. But the Spirit
of God moved upon Job to write, pen, I know that my Redeemer
liveth. Job was saying, the one that
finished the work of redemption for me. He said, my Redeemer,
I know that my Redeemer. And that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth, and though after my skin, worms destroy
this body, yet in my flesh, changed flesh, But it's gonna
be me. In my flesh. I shall see God. With these eyes, I'm looking
at you right now. Now this is a great mystery.
But we're gonna be changed. All God's people, we're gonna
be changed. But it's gonna be us. And Job said, I know that my
redeemer. So I know that there can be some
assurance. I want us to look for just a
few minutes at the assurance for God's people. What are the
marks? What's the characteristic? I
want you to turn to 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians, chapter one. Oh, how blessed is the promise
of the Holy Spirit to assure God's people of their life in
Christ and to teach them something of the character of their election in the Lord
Jesus. Here's what I wanna know. Is
this for me? Again, I go back to that statement that I made
at the beginning here. I know I'm gonna die. And I'm
gonna stand before him. I want to know something right
now. Do I have to wait until the day
of judgment to know? No, there's some assurance right
now. I want you to look at 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1. Look at verses two to four. We
give thanks to God always for you, all making mention of you
in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, your
labor of love, your patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the sight of God and our Father. Now listen to this. Knowing,
brethren, beloved, your election of God. Now I've preached on this passage
before. I've heard other men preach on
it too. That's okay. I wanna hear it again right now.
I wanna know again. You tell me one more time. Refresh
my memory. Tell me again what God has to
say concerning the characteristic. And Lord, would you help me to
be honest? Can I find any hope in what the
Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of God's Spirit, is getting ready
to say? Four, verse five, because knowing,
verse four, knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God,
because, four, because our gospel came not unto you in word only,
but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. Here's what I know concerning
the characteristic of a believer concerning their election in
Christ. The gospel comes to them not
in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much
assurance. I'm sure I told you this before,
but this is one of the best examples that I can think of concerning
not coming to someone in word only. If you've heard this example,
that's okay. I want to hear it again. When
my youngest daughter was 18 years old, She came to me one night
and she said, Dad, can I talk to you about something? I said,
yeah. She said, I'd like to confess the Lord in baptism. And I said,
okay, why? You tell me why. Why do you want
to confess the Lord in baptism? She said, I grew up hearing what
you've said from the pulpit. I grew up hearing that. And she
said, I understand everything that you said. I understand it.
I understand the difference between the gospel and Arminianism, free
will and free grace. She said, I understand what you're
saying. And I can give a good argument
for it. I can argue with the best of
them. But she said, though I understand it, I had no heart for it. It just came to me in word only. But she said, I believe the Lord's
given me a heart for it. The Lord's given me a heart for
Christ. And she said, I not only understand
it, I believe it. And I wanna confess to the Lord
in baptism. I said, I've never had a better explanation. I told her, I said, I understand
communism. I can tell you the precepts,
concepts of communism, but I don't have a heart for it. If I had
a heart for it, I'd be a communist. I'm not. Our gospel came to you,
not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost. It's not
an external thing only, where I've just come. Yep, yep, that's
it, yep. I understand the concept. It
was made clear by a new heart. Lydia heard Paul preaching, but one day the Lord opened her
heart, and then she attended to the words that were spoken
by Paul. The Lord made her see herself
what she was. This is when the gospel comes
in power. You see something of who you
are. A sinner, a rebel against God. That's what Apostle Paul said.
Oh wretched man that I am. And you see something of the
glory of Christ. It comes in power. And secondly,
here's what scripture says in that latter part of verse 5.
It said your gospel came not unto you in word only, but in
power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as you
know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. The way a believer knows something
of his election of God is that he discerns God's servants are
preaching truly in the name of the Lord. Now there's a lot of
people standing up and standing in pulpits today. Paul says,
you know what manner of men we were among you. You know that
God sends preachers and they preach the glory of God in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what they preach. They
preach Christ and Him crucified. They don't appeal to man's and
man's work to preach Christ, he who finished the work. The scripture set forth that
my sheep, they hear my voice, I know them, they follow me,
I give unto them eternal life, they'll never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand. You listen to what
a man says, and I'm telling you, you that know him, that believe,
I'll tell you what you're gonna do. You're gonna hear the glory
of Christ, or you're gonna hear the glory of man. And a believer,
when he hears the voice of the master, it's gonna be that voice
that honors him. Through God's preachers. Through preaching, please God,
They're preaching to save them that believe. And they recognize
that. They recognize, somebody might
say, it doesn't really matter where you go as long as you go.
No, no. No, to a believer, he said, I'm gonna go where Christ
is honored. You know what matter of men. And thirdly, verse six says,
and you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received
the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. God's
elect know God's distinguishing grace and mercy toward them because
they follow the Lord. They're with God's people and
they've received that word in much affliction. You let this
world cast its dispersion upon the truth of God's electing and
redeeming and regenerating grace, but God's people Receive it. They'll be hated for His sake,
and God's people receive it. You'll be outcast. You'll be
talked about. God's people receive it in much
affliction. Why? It's the truth. It's God's
Word. They receive it, though they're
persecuted. You're in a world, but you're
not of it. Will that draw you away from Him? Many of them that were following
the Lord heard the truth and he said, no man can come unto
me except it were given unto him of my father. And then some
said, wow, that's a hard saying. That's making salvation of the
Lord. That's making salvation to be of sovereign grace. And
he left. It wouldn't follow him anymore.
As soon as they left, this is what the Lord, He turned to His
disciples and He said, will you go away also? People said, Lord,
where are we gonna go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. You're the Christ. Where are we gonna go? Knowing
your election of God, beloved. Knowing, why? Because God Almighty
has given you a new heart and He keeps you. You can't drive a believer away
from hearing the truth because they're kept by God. Fourthly,
verse seven, so that you were in samples or examples to all
that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. We know something of
our election of God because being led by God's spirit, we're found
to be examples of those that believe. You know, No believer
puts any confidence in their flesh. They don't. You ask a believer, won't you
sum up your life of faithfulness? Won't you sum up your life of
faithfulness to the Lord? Let me tell you what a believer
is going to say. Old wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the bondage of this death? But that believer that places
no confidence whatsoever in his flesh is set forth as having
this spirit about him. 1 Timothy 4, 12, Let no man despise
thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word, in
conversation, in your walk, in charity, in spirit, in faith,
in purity. A believer looks at himself,
he says like John Newton, I look and I see nothing but that which
is dark and wild. And then ask myself, can I deem
myself a child? But that believer that sees no
confidence in himself, has no confidence in himself, I tell
you what he does, he loves God's word, because he loves God. He
loves the gospel, he loves God's people. And he adorns the gospel, the
doctrine. A believer strives and desires
to walk in obedience to him. That's what examples. And then
lastly, fifthly, verse eight. For from you sounded out the
word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Chaia, but also
in every place your faith to God which is spread abroad, so
that we need not to speak anything. A believer is one that sounds
out the word of the Lord in every place. I got here yesterday, got over
Mark and Regina's house, I'll tell you the first thing
that's gonna be talked about. We're gonna talk about him. We
have fun, we chit-chat. You give it just a second and
everything's gonna come back to him. We're gonna speak of
him. There was a demoniac in the land
of Gadara. And the Lord was pleased to cast
out a legion of demons out of that demoniac. And after the
Lord had done that, that demoniac wanted to go with the Lord, wanted
to stay with Him. And when the Lord was leaving,
he wanted to go. And the Lord said, no, no. I want you to go back to your
city and you tell your family what great things the Lord has
done for you. You get two believers together
and I'll tell you what they're going to talk about. Even in
the midst of everything, no matter what they're talking about, it's
going to come around to the glory of God, to the providence of
God, to the good mercy and grace of God. Everything that they
talk about is going to be mingled with the grace of God. If you want some confidence in
that day that you're going to stand before God, if God be pleased
to teach us anything today, Lord let it be this, it is finished. All that's demanded by God has
been finished in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said,
when I see the blood, not the blood in my faith, not the blood
in my works, when I see the blood, I'm gonna pass over you. May
the Lord be so. Be gracious to us. Teach us this
afresh. For Christ's sake and our good.
Amen.