Turn if you will to 1st John,
1st John chapter 5. We're going to read just three
verses and we're not going to go too far from these three verses. We're going to try not to. Chapter
5 of 1st John verses 11 and 12 and 13. My subject to you this
morning is assurance. the believer's assurance. John
speaks so much of that in this epistle. And then in the conclusion
of it, he sums up what he's previously said and tells us the reason
he wrote the epistle. Verse 11, and this is the record
that God had given to us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. Nowhere else. Verse 12, Here's
the logical conclusion of that. If that be so, then this is so.
If verse 11 is true, then this is true. He that hath the Son
hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Verse 13. These things have I
written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
not you that work, but you that believe. that ye may know that
ye may know that you have eternal life and that ye may believe. Just keep on believing. Just
keep doing what you're doing. Keep looking unto Jesus that
ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. Now I'm aware
that it's possible. I've met men and women that's
had this experience. that they profess faith in Christ,
that they're saved, but they don't have an assured confidence
of their salvation. That's true. That's true. It's
sad, but it's true. But I think this is also true.
You may agree with the first, I trust that you do, but I hope
that you'll agree with this second statement as well. Although it's
possible, For a man to be saved and lack an assured confidence
of that salvation, it's not good. It's not a good thing. It's not
a spiritual thing. Every believer ought to desire,
and I think they do, every believer desires to have confidence, assurance
of his salvation. And I think every preacher, every
gospel preacher, should seek to promote assurance among God's
people. It should be our desire that
every one of us, every one of God's elect, have the full assurance
of faith. That's a scriptural term, the
full assurance of faith. And so is this, the full assurance
of hope. Assurance is a blessed gift,
just as faith itself is. The assurance of our salvation
is a blessed gift of the grace of God, which we should seek
after. And there are good reasons why
we should do so. Let me just name you a few. Consider
a few. There's nothing that will give
a man or a woman so much comfort and peace in this life as the
assurance of his saving interest in Jesus Christ, I know whom
I have believed. If I know that the great business
of my salvation is settled, is assured, and that my great debt
of sin has been paid, and that the plague of my heart has been
healed by the grace of God, and that the great work of redemption
is accomplished, It's done, the hymn writer said. It's done,
the great transaction's done. I am the Lord's and He is mine. There's nothing that'll give
us peace in this world as the knowledge of that, the assurance
of that. It sweetens every bitter cup. We have our bitter cups. We have
our troubles. In the world, you'll have tribulation. That's a promise of our Redeemer
as well. But this assurance of our salvation
sweetens every bitter cup, it lightens every burden, it smooths
the rough places, it gives light in the valley of the shadow of
death. Assurance enables Job to worship
God after he's lost every material thing. He still is enabled to
worship God. He still knew, he still knew
that his Redeemer He still knew that he was accepted by God Almighty. He still had assurance and peace
with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Assurance enabled Paul
and Silas to sing a song at night while they were bound in a prison
cell. They sang in Philippi when the
jailer heard them. Assurance enabled Peter to sleep,
sleep like a baby. At the very time he too was in
Herod's prison, When he thought that the next day he was going
to be executed, he slept. Remember? The angel had to wake
him up. Assurance caused the apostles
to rejoice when they suffered shame and persecution for Christ's
sake. When they were beaten and threatened,
we read in Acts that they left that place rejoicing that they
were counted worthy to suffer for his name's sake. Assurance
caused the martyrs, we can read about them in church history,
to die like men. Assurance gives a man comfort
and peace in life. I want that, don't you? I want
that. I want that sweet peace of heart
and blessed assurance to know that a better day is coming. Bless God, a better day is coming. You remember when the women who
stood at the cross of Christ when he was crucified, several
of them, among them Mary Magdalene. After the Sabbath was ended,
they came, we read in chapter 28, to finish preparing his body
for burial. But we read as they came, he's
already risen, and it began to dawn toward a new day. After the Sabbath was over, Christ
is the end of the law, For everyone that believeth, oh, there's a
better day coming. There's a new day dawning. There's
going to be an eternal, everlasting rest for God's people because
Christ is their Sabbath. Another thing, nothing will ever
make a man so bold in the cause of Christ as an assurance of
his saving union with Jesus Christ. Never did the world meet with
such bold men as John the Baptist. As James, as Peter, as John,
as Paul, as Luther, Calvin, Knox, Edwards, Whitefield? And what
was the source of their boldness? What made them so bold? Their
assurance. Assurance of their salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing that will enable
a man to do this. And this is no easy task. This
cuts against the grain. This is contrary to old Adam,
that fallen nature, to deny himself. to deny himself. Our Lord in
those verses that we read earlier in Matthew 16, unless a man denies
himself and takes up his cross, he'll never enter the kingdom
of God. And there's nothing that will enable a man to do that,
that is to deny self and seek the glory of Christ in this world
like the assurance of salvation in Jesus Christ. Another thing. There's nothing that will so
strengthen a man in the hour of death. Better have something real then,
hadn't we? Better have something substantial then, hadn't we?
And there's nothing that will enable a man in the hour of death
so strengthen him and give him peace as the sweet assurance
of his part and acceptance before God and Jesus Christ. Paul said,
we know. We know. Sounds just like John,
doesn't it? Not that we doubt, or we hope
so, or we think so, or it might be so. He said, we know. John
threw out this epistle. I don't know. I should have counted
the times. I don't know how many times he
said, we know, we know, we know. And Paul likewise said, we know.
that if the earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved,
we have, not that we hope to have or we might have or maybe
we'll have, we have, we know we have, a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Matthew Henry
made this statement concerning this subject. He said, though
the grace of faith is of universal use throughout our whole lives,
yet it is especially so when we come to die. Then faith has
its greatest work to do at the last, to help believers to finish
well, to die in the Lord so as to honor him by patience, hope,
and joy, so as to leave a witness behind them of the truth of God's
word and the excellency of his ways for the conviction and establishment
of all who attend them in their dying hour." So you see how important
It is for us to have this assurance spoken of so much in the book
of God. Next to having faith in your
hearts, there is nothing we can desire more for each other than
that we enjoy in our hearts the assurance of faith. Here's faith. I know whom I have believed.
Here's the sweet assurance of that faith, and I'm persuaded.
I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. And John tells us that's exactly
why he wrote this epistle. Again, 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 and that
ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." An old preacher
of many years ago by the name of Joseph Irons made this statement. He said, I am as sure as I am
of my own existence that wherever God the Holy Spirit awakens the
poor sinner by his almighty grace, and imparts spiritual life in
his heart, nothing will satisfy that poor sinner but a believing
assurance of eternal union with Christ. Unless the soul obtains
a sweet and satisfactory consciousness of this in the exercise of a
living faith, it will never enter into rest this side of eternity. And so it is. If you're a believer,
if you truly have the faith of God's elect, John says, know
this, you have eternal life. Notice the word you have. Not
that you will have, you may have. He says you have. It is a present
possession right now. I won't have eternal life when
I enter heaven. I have eternal life now. It will
continue there in the full blossom and enjoyment of it. In closing
his letter, John repeats this three times in two verses. Look
down, if you will, here in chapter 5, verses 19 and 20. This shows how important this
is. Verse 19, and we know, there
he goes again, we know that we are of God, and the whole world
lieth in wickedness. And we know that the Son of God
is come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him. That is true and we are in him
that is true even in his son Jesus Christ. This is the true
God and eternal life that ye may know. This is a matter of
record, John said. This is the title of my message,
A Matter of Record. In the courts, if something is
sure and certain, It's referred to as a matter of record. It's
on the books. And often, a matter of record
is the law. It's legal. It's the law. When
Robin and I were in Orange Beach about a month ago or so, we left
our room, was going out for something or other, and I looked in my
rearview mirror and there's some blue lights behind me. What's
he want with me? Must not be me. It was me. I
pulled over and he came up to me and said, buddy, you were
speeding. I said, man, are you sure? He said, I'm sure. You
were doing 45. I said, isn't that speed limit? He said, no,
you were in a construction area. It's 25. I didn't see any sign
saying that. I didn't see any sign that said
it's on the books in a construction area. You've got to lower your
speed limit. But it was still so. Thankfully,
he didn't give me a ticket, but it was on the books. It was the
law. And John tells us this is a matter
of record. It's on the book of heaven. God's
word. These things are written in the
court of heaven where the judge of all the earth presides, and
there's no appealing past him. We know that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God. Turn, if you will, to chapter
1 of this book. Chapter 1. John says, we know
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Verse 1, that which
was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, sounds much
like John's gospel, doesn't it, in chapter 1. And our hands have
handled the Word, the everlasting Word, the Word of God that was
made flesh and dwelt among us, the Word of life. For the life
was manifested and we have seen it. and bear witness and show
unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested
unto us. We know that Jesus is the Son
of God and we know that he has accomplished the redemption of
his people. We know that he obtained eternal
redemption for us. It's a done deal. It's over. It's complete. It is finished
as he himself cried after he laid down his life for us. Look,
if you will, in chapter 4 of this same epistle. Chapter 4,
verse 10, John says we know that he's accomplished our redemption.
Verse 10, chapter 4, hearing his love, not that we loved God,
we do love him, but because he first loved us. Hearing his love,
not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son
to be the propitiation for our sins. And if we sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous,
and he is the propitiation for our sins. And every sinner who
believes on the Son of God has eternal life. Look, if you will,
chapter 2, verse 25, along with our text. John again says, and
this is the promise, that he had promised us even eternal
life. Now let's look at these three
verses. And as we do, may God the Holy Spirit, let it be our
prayer that God the Holy Spirit would bear witness again to our
spirits that we are indeed the children of the living God and
enable us to leave here rejoicing in our hearts something like
this, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. My soul, if that won't
make you rejoice, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste
of glory divine, heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his
spirit, washed in his blood. I like John's dogmatism, don't
you? Now we live in a day where, especially
in the religious world, you hear so much talk about God wants
to, and God's trying to, and if God had his way. I've heard
people... I had a lady tell me, an old
lady, who professed to have served God for 50 or 60 years. She said,
we can't really know we're saved until we get to heaven. I beg
your pardon? Really? No wonder she always
looked like she was sucking on lemons. No wonder she always
looked so sad and downcast and downtrodden. Because she thought
that the basis of her acceptance before God was determined about
what she did and not what Christ did. She was looking in the wrong
place. It's no wonder that she lacked
assurance. Oh, I like John's dogmatism,
though, don't you? His matter-of-fact way of speaking. Just matter-of-factly. After
all, John was copying his master, was he not? Did not his master
speak in the same matter-of-fact way? John chapter 14, and where
there I go, you know. You know, he told the disciples,
and the way you know. If you had known me, you should
have known my father also, and from henceforth you know him,
and you've seen him. John 17, his higher priestly
prayer, verse 7. Our Lord speaking to His Heavenly
Father concerning His disciples and He says, They have known
that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee. For
I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me. And they
have received them and have known surely that I came out from Thee. And they have believed that Thou
hast sent Me. O righteous Father, verse 25,
the world had not known Thee But I have known thee, and these
have known. These have known that thou didst
send me." The first thing, verse 11. This part of the record,
eternal life's source. And there's really the grounds
of assurance, the grounds of hope. The source of this eternal
life, verse 11, and this is the record. May God have given to
us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Period. Period. There is no place where
eternal life exists for a sinner except in Jesus Christ. Yes,
God the Father has life, and God the Holy Spirit has life,
but the sinner cannot receive it from either one of them. No,
and for this very good reason, the book of God tells us plainly
that there's no possibility, none whatsoever. None whatsoever.
There's no wiggle room here. No wiggle room here. There's
no possibility for a sinner to receive eternal life apart from
the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. You can't have life except you
receive it by me. Not me and, me plus, but only
me period. John chapter 5 verse 25. Again
our Lord speaking. Verily, verily I say unto you,
the hour is coming and now is. When the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live. Salvation
is not this easy fickle thing that men make it out to be today.
Salvation's not determined by walking an aisle or making a
decision for Jesus. My soul, you can't find anybody
today that hardly hasn't done that. Oh, no. Salvation is nothing
less than a miracle of God's amazing grace. It takes a miracle
to raise dead sinners to life. It takes a miracle to grant them
faith. It takes a miracle to bring them
to Jesus Christ. And when they hear the voice
of the Son of God, they that were dead shall For as the Father
hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life
in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment,
because he is the Son of Man. Marvel not at this, for the hour
is coming into which all that are in the grave shall hear his
voice, saved and unsaved, lost and found, believer and unbeliever,
and shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection
of life. and they that have done evil
unto the resurrection of damnation. There is no place for a sinner
to come for life except to Christ. Again, verse 2 of chapter 1 in
1 John, for the life was manifested and we have seen it, and bear
witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the
Father and was manifested unto us. Again, John chapter 5, our
Lord speaking, verse 39, Search the scriptures, for in them you
think you have eternal life, and they testify of me. And you
will not come to me that you might have life." It's like this. As Pharaoh decreed and commanded
concerning Joseph, his right-hand man, nobody could come directly
to Pharaoh and receive anything. Because Pharaoh had already declared
the creed and made it law. It was a matter of record. You
want anything from me? You want anything from me? You've
got to go to Joseph. You've got to go to Joseph, even
so. Even so. Only Jesus Christ has
eternal life. You can't get it from anybody
else. And once we have this life, mm-mm-mm. Blessed assurance, once we have
this life, We can never, ever lose it. We can never lose it.
Our Lord speaking to Martha concerning her dead brother. Jesus said
unto her, I'm the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. and whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die." My soul, how dogmatic. How certainly he speaks. He shall
never die. Do you believe this, Martha?
Do you really believe this? Do you believe that your brother
shall rise again? Do you believe that he'll live
forever? Do you believe whosoever believes in me shall never ever
die? Do you believe this? Bless God. I believe it. I believe it, don't
you? I believe the Son of God. A believer
can never die again spiritually. That life in Him is the same
life in Christ. It's the same life in Christ.
The life that resides in the Son of God this very moment as
He sits upon His throne of sovereign majesty is the same life that's
in every believer, every true child of God. Imagine that. The life in him is the same that
is in the believer that's in Christ. One and the same. Our
Lord said, because I live, you shall live also. You shall live
also. Christ will have to die before
one member of his body, the church, which is his body, can die. Christ would have to die first.
They've got to kill the head before they can destroy one member
of his body. Every believing redeemed called
sinner. I was watching Western. a while back. Wyatt Earp. Wyatt
Earp. Man, that man, he was quick on
the draw. But he was going out to meet
Ringo. Ringo was faster than him, but he was leaving his dying
buddy behind, Doc Holliday, was leaving him at this ranch. Perhaps
you've seen the movie. And as he, before he rode off,
he told the man, the owner of the ranch, he was concerned that
after they killed Earp, they might come after his friend Doc.
This guy said, I tell you what, don't you worry about that. Don't
you worry about your friend. Before they get to him, they're
going to have to come through us. Listen, believer. Before
Satan can get to you, he's going to have to come through your
glorious captain, the captain of your salvation, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Before they get to you, they've
got to get to him first. And that's impossible. Rejoice
to hear him say. Oh, we rejoice to hear our victorious
Redeemer say I'm he that liveth and was dead and behold I'm alive
forevermore amen so be it let it be so and have the keys of
hell and of death we don't begin this eternal life when we die
but when we're born again and by faith we know that that is
so whosoever believeth verse 1 of chapter 5 here Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Everyone that
loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of
him. We know this. We know that we're born again
because we believe. Everyone that believeth is born
of God. Our faith is not the cause of
the new birth. It's the opposite. It's the opposite.
Like everything else in our religious day, men have it backwards. Believe
and you'll be born again. No, no, no, no, no, no. It's
exactly the opposite. You must be born again before
you can believe. Faith is the evidence of the
new birth. An entrance into Christ's kingdom,
the kingdom of grace, as well as an entrance hereafter into
his kingdom in glory can be accomplished in no other way. You must be
born again, Nicodemus. Yeah, you're a leader in Israel.
You're a Pharisee, a Pharisee. You're a teacher. You're a master
in Israel. And you don't have a clue, Nicodemus. You must be
born again or you'll never see the kingdom of God. You'll never
enter the kingdom of God. Oh, what sweet considerations,
both of faith on earth and glory in heaven from that same eternal
life we have in the Son of God." John said, I want you to know
this. I want you to know this. Robert Hawker had a sweet comment
on this. He wrote this. He said, you are
now in the womb of time as the infant when in the womb of its
mother, living by the nourishment of faith on the eternal life
in the Son of God. as the child on the nourishment
in the womb of its mother. And often now, so strong are
those principles of spiritual and eternal life in Christ, communicated
to your spirit by the God the Spirit, that when, like Elizabeth,
she heard the salutation of Christ, your soul, like the baby in her
womb, leaps for joy. Is it not so? And this is the
utmost to be enjoyed by faith, before we leave the present state. But no sooner shall the life
of faith cease than the life of sight begins. Oh, we shall see Him. And then
you'll come forth from the womb of nature and enter into the
glory and joy of our Lord. And then that eternal life here
begun in grace and there consummated in glory and all in all from
Jesus Christ will bring the whole church to the highest state and
to the united praise of the holy undivided three which bear record
in heaven and these three are one. When Christ who is our life
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. The second thing, verse 12. He that hath the Son hath life.
Here we have eternal life possessed. The source of life is the Son.
The possession of this life. He that hath the Son hath life.
Present tense. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. Literally, it reads this way.
He that has the Son has the life. The life. The life of God Almighty. The life everlasting. Life unending. Being born again. Not of corruptible
seed, Peter wrote. but incorruptible by the Word
of God which liveth and abideth forever." A child of God usually
in this life, some do, but usually not. It's the exception. He may
not have the riches of this world, oh, but he's got something better.
He's got something better that he'll never lose, the riches
of God's grace because he has God's Son. He may not be known
as anyone special here, Anyone of importance here, but he's
known in heaven. He's known in heaven. The Lord
knows those that are his. He may not have membership in
any club here, but his name is written in the Lamb's Book of
Life. He has no inheritance below,
but he sure has one above. He that has the Son has everything. He who has the Son has everything.
What could God withhold from those that He gave His Son for?
What will He not give? This is Paul's argument, so to
speak, in Romans 8. He that gave His own Son, how
shall He not with Him freely give us all things? All things. If we have the Son, we already
have all things. 1 Peter 1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you. Child, do
God remember, nothing, nothing can take you from Christ, nothing,
nothing. and nothing can take Christ from
you. It's never going to happen. There
is something else stated here, though, in the verse. Just as
plainly, just as emphatically, he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not the life. A man can have religion, but
he doesn't have life. He can have the right doctrine,
but he doesn't have life. He can have baptism, but he doesn't
have life. Listen to this statement. Of
all the poison which at this day is diffused in the minds
of men, corrupting them from the mystery of the gospel, there
is no part that is more pernicious than this one perverse imagination
that to believe in Christ is nothing at all but to believe
the doctrine of the gospel. Yet that horrible heresy is taught
and promoted by many today." That was written by somebody
today, although it's just as true today, if not more so than
when he did write it. That was written in the 1600s
by John Owen. Without the Son, you are without
life, without faith, without God, without hope. I like to
read biographies of God's people. George Whitfield, in his biography,
tells the story that along with the Westleys that he met while
he was in school in England at Harvard, they started what came
to be known as the Holy Club. I think, if I'm not mistaken,
that's where they were tagged as being Methodists because they
were so methodical in their practice. And Whitfield, at that time,
before God had saved him, He thought he could earn his way
to heaven. He could work his way into acceptance
with God Almighty. The man would fast days at a
time. He almost killed himself. He
almost killed himself. He almost died by trying to recommend
himself to God by his fastings and denying his flesh, as they
called it. And one day, by chance, no, by
the sweet providence of God that he worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will, someone put into the hands of Whitfield
a little book entitled, The Life of God in the Soul of Man. And he read it. And he said,
man, if this is true, I'm a lost man. If this is true, I don't
know God. And God used that to bring him
to his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now last of all, last of all,
the joy, the joy of this sweet assurance of eternal life. Again,
verse 13, these things have I written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God, that ye may know that you have eternal
life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
Mr. Newton, John Newton, wrote many
great, great hymns. I suppose my favorite, I think
as I mentioned to you last Sunday, was His Amazing Grace. But he wrote another one, and
it's had eight or ten verses. I won't quote them all. I'll
quote three or four. It said, "'Tis a point I long
to know, oft it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or
no? Am I his or am I not?" This is not one of my favorites, by
the way. "'If I love, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless
frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
who have never heard his name. Could my heart so hard remain?
Prayer a task and burden prove. Every trifle give me pain if
I knew a Savior's love." When I turn my eyes within, aha, there's
the catch. There's the problem. When I turn
my eyes within, all is dark and vain and wild. Filled with unbelief
and sin, can I deem myself a child? I must confess to you, I would
be telling a story, an untruth, if I told you that's my experience. It's not a point I long to know.
It doesn't often cause me an anxious thought whether I'm a
believer or not. No. By God's grace, and it's
only by God's grace I know, whom I have believed. And I've not
had those struggles so often as Mr. Newton spoke of, and I
know it's only due to the grace of God. But here's the reason
he had such struggles, as he confessed in the first verse
that I quoted you. Often it causes anxious thought,
do I love the Lord or not? When I turn my eyes within, all
is dark and vile and vain and wild. Filled with unbelief and
sin, can I deem myself a child? Is that not the problem? Was
that not the problem? And is that not the reason for
the doubts about his interest in Christ, when I turn my eyes
within? Faith fetches full assurance
to the believer's heart, not from within. Not from within,
my soul. Look within, and there are people
that do that. People are always looking within. And most of the
time they're sad, they're unhappy, they're full of doubts and fears
because they're looking within. My soul, what are you going to
find there as an assurance of your acceptance before God Almighty?
Oh no, I look without. By faith, I look to that one
at the right hand of the majesty on high who makes intersections
for me, who is able to save me to the uttermost as much as I
need saving. I look to him, Jesus. That's
who I look to when I first began this race. And that's who I look
to as I continue all along life's journey. Faith fetches full assurance
to the believer's heart, not from within, but from without.
from the precious person of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word
of God. The Word made flesh and the written
Word. Our knowledge of Christ is not
a carnal apprehension of the intellect, but the gift and revelation
of God the Holy Spirit. not according to our mere intellect,
but a miracle of God's saving grace by which He drops faith,
living faith, into the heart of all those He calls to His
Son. If we turn our eyes within to
find assurance, then the only thing we will see is this, all
is dark and vain and wild. I like what another hymn writer
said, but faith looks out of self. and trust in Christ alone. A hope is not in what we do,
but in what our Lord has done. Not what these hands have done,
as Bobby's saying. His blood and righteousness,
the anchor of our souls, assures us in the teeth of sin. In the
very teeth of my sin, free grace has made me whole. Oh, that Sweet, blessed word
that I heard at the first. Look unto me and be ye saved
is the same word that I hear now. And by God's grace, I continue
to do. The just not only begin by faith,
the just shall live by faith. Feelings come, feelings go. Do
they not? Feelings are deceiving. I trust
the written word of God. Nought else is worth believing. Listen to this statement. This
is very good, very good. So your assurance of redemption
is not enhanced by the more you work, but by the more you trust
and rest in Him. Your assurance of redemption
is not enhanced by the more you work, but by the more you trust
and rest in Christ. Let us therefore labor to enter
into that rest. That's Brother Henry Mayhem.
That's a good, good statement, is it not? Shortly after Mr. Newton wrote his hymn, he had
a friend, a contemporary, a Baptist pastor, preacher, who read it. And he responded by writing one
of his own. He'd hoped it would help Mr.
Newton and others struggling with this thing of assurance.
And it goes like this, again, just a few verses. This man wrote,
his name was Daniel Herbert. What is this point you long to
know? Methinks I hear you say, it's this. I want to know I'm
born of God, an heir of everlasting bliss. Is this the point you
long to know? The point is settled, in my view.
For if you want to love your God, it proves that he first
loved you. So where a want like this is
found, I think I may be bold to say, that God is fixed within
your heart, what hell can never take away. However small your
grace appears, There's plenty in thy living head. These ones
you feel, my Christian friend, were never found amongst the
dead. Oh, may God, the Holy Spirit,
give each of us faith in Christ and the sweet assurance of that
faith in Christ. Faith, someone said, is the echo
of my heart through the voice of God's Holy Spirit speaking
to me by the gospel. His Spirit bears witness with
our spirit that we are the children of God. Christ is our chosen
head, and we are his chosen members. Christ is the accepted head,
and we are accepted in him. Christ is the living head, and
we are living members. To be assured of our salvation
is not arrogant. It's just faith. It's devotion.
It's not presumption. It's believing God's promise. Charles Spurgeon said this, The
bridge of grace will bear your weight, brother. Thousands of
sinners, thousands of big sinners. That's the only kind God saves,
big sinners. Thousands of big sinners have
gone across that bridge. Yay, tens of thousands have gone
over it. Some have been the chief of sinners,
and some have come at the very last of their days. But the arch
has never yielded beneath their weight. And I will go with them,
trusting in the same support. It will bear me over as it has
borne them over. And so it is. 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, and that you may
believe on the name of the Son of God. Amen. Amen. Lord bless you.