I hope I never get over the wonder
of the fact that Christ, God's darling son, took my place upon
the cursed tree. Would to God, I never had a moment
that I didn't think of it. Let's read together tonight Ephesians
chapter 6 verses 10 through 20. Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10
through 20. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole
armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. Wherefore taken to you the whole
armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore. having your
loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield
of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench the fiery darts
of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all
prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints, and for me, that
utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an
ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought
to speak. You have my text and my subject
in verse 17, and take the helmet of salvation. The soldiers of
Christ must take the helmet of salvation. Being soldiers under
the banner of our Lord Jesus Christ, the banner of the cross,
we must take to ourselves the whole armor of God, being covered,
being clad from head to foot with armor that's proven and
proven to be useful. You and I who are gods, while
we live in this world, are soldiers at war all the time. We're marching
as soldiers in the enemy's territory. We're in the country of an enemy
who never gives quarter. And we have foes we're engaged
with, foes engaged against our souls with whom we must never
make a truce. Be sure you know who your enemies
are. the world, the flesh, and the
devil. By the world, I mean specifically
all the care of the world. I mean specifically all the fashion
and influence of this present evil age. By the flesh, I mean
all the lust of our nature. all the evil passions of our
hearts, all the corruption of our souls, and the devil, the
prince of darkness, that one who is as a roaring lion, seeking
always whom he may devour, constantly opposed to us. Right up to the
river's edge, the conflict must be waged. The ground must be
taken foot by foot. inch by inch, and not one step
may be taken this side of Jordan without this conflict and strife. It's that we have to deal with
all the time. Once the battle is over, once
we've crossed into the land of promise, then we can lay down
our swords and take up our crown. But until then, we must learn
the art of warfare as our master teaches it. With those things
in mind, the Apostle Paul tells us we must take the helmet of
salvation. This helmet of salvation is that
by which we have our heads protected. Where Paul speaks here of salvation,
if you look at 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 8, we will in just
a moment, he calls it the hope of salvation. Like the soldier's
helmet, a well-founded hope of salvation. preserves God's people
in this day of spiritual conflict. When he speaks of the heaven
of salvation, obviously he is writing here to men and women
who know God, to men and women who are believers. So he's not
talking about us taking salvation itself, but rather he's talking
about this blessed, confident, comfortable hope of salvation. It will hold our heads erect
with confidence. It'll guard us against the blows
of the enemy. And a good hope of salvation
would defend the soul from the attacks of the world, the flesh,
and the devil. A soldier wouldn't fight very
well without a hope, or without a good hope of victory. And the
soldier of Christ can't very well contend against the world,
his flesh, and the devil without a confident good hope of everlasting
salvation at last. What Paul here teaches is this.
The knowledge and assured hope of salvation and of eternal glory
by Christ will sustain the believer throughout his warfare upon the
earth. and bring him at last into heavenly glory. If we have
the hope of salvation, a sure, steadfast hope, a confident hope,
then we have it as an anchor of our souls and we have nothing
to dread. Turn back to Isaiah 59 for a
moment. I want you to look at this. Isaiah 59. And all that
Paul urges us in Ephesians 6, 10 through 20, he's simply telling
us that as the soldiers of Christ in this world, as in all other
things, our Lord Jesus, the captain of our salvation, has set for
us the example to follow. Here in Isaiah 59, the prophet
of God gives us the example Paul urges us to follow. Isaiah 59
verse 16, And he, that is the Son of God, our blessed Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, he saw that there was no man and wondered
that there was no intercessor. Therefore his arm brought salvation
unto him, and his righteousness it sustained him. For he put
on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon
his head. And he put on the garments of
vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly
he will repay. Fury to his adversaries, recompense
to his enemies. To the islands he will repay
recompense. So shall they fear the name of
the Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the
sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of
the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. As the enemy comes
in like a flood upon our souls. Oh, may God the Holy Spirit lift
up the banner, the standard of the cross, Jesus Christ in him
crucified in our hearts. Let me talk to you for a little
bit about this helmet of salvation. What is it? Paul is drawing attention
to the head, the mind, the brain, the understanding, the thinking
of the heaven born soul. He's already dealt with our feelings,
our emotions, our sensibilities, the desires that we have. We've
seen how the enemy attacks those various points, but now we must
be careful to see to it that the head is protected as well.
You see, some folks seem to be satisfied to protect the feelings
and emotions, and they will subject truth to their feelings and emotions. I know it's needful that we protect
feelings, but that's not sufficient. The emotions of the heart and
the understanding of the head can never be separated, neither
with the believer nor the unbeliever. Both the heart and the head must
be protected. Both are vital. By all means,
get the breastplate of righteousness and cover yourself with the shield
of faith, but don't overlook your head. The helmet protects
against the battle, the sword and the battle rams and the blows
that come to the head. When Paul speaks of the helmet
of salvation, he's speaking of our entire attitude toward God's
salvation. Let me look at it three ways
with you. First, we must have sound doctrinal
understanding of God's salvation. It is true. I can't stress it
adequately. You can have true doctrinal knowledge
and go to hell. Doctrinal knowledge is not itself
salvation. But without doctrinal knowledge
of salvation, there is no salvation. That doctrinal knowledge may
be in the simplest form. I don't suggest that you have
to be able to recite things in exactly the words and theological
phrases that preachers should and do. But the simple form is
itself truth. But the knowledge is necessary. Faith without knowledge is nothing
but superstition. Faith without knowledge is nothing
but superstition. See to it that your heart burns
with fervent love, but see to it that your head is established
with knowledge. This was Paul's admonition and
exhortation to young Timothy. This admonition he gives to every
man who preaches the gospel. God hath not given us the spirit
of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And it is our business to convey
to God's people that sense of power, mental, spiritual power
of love and of a sound mind. I said to you just recently,
and I make no apology for saying it again, I make no apology for
being a doctrinal preacher. I know folks, Pope Fortuna, he's
a doctrinal preacher, or Fortuna's a doctrinalist. I make no apology. It is the responsibility of every
gospel preacher to feed those who hear him with sound doctrine. You remember God's promise to
his church in Jeremiah 3? He said, I will give you pastors
according to my heart. And those who are pastors according
to my heart shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. Knowledge of the word and understanding
of your soul's needs. Knowledge of the word and understanding
of what's needed in the hour. In most places, when churches
seek a pastor, they seek everything in him except the God-given ability
to feed God's people with knowledge and understanding of his word.
Most congregations want a man who is good at working with young
people and old people and good to go visit folks a lot and good
at counseling people, but for sound, thorough, consistent exposition
of Holy Scripture, there's not one church in a thousand that
has any care or interest at all. Turn to 2nd or 1 Timothy 4 for
a minute, 1 Timothy 4. I'm gonna spend a little time
here. It is the business of a pastor.
It is the business of every pastor. If a pastor doesn't do this,
he's got no business pretending to be a pastor. It is the business
of a pastor to preach. And the only way for him to feed
the congregation with knowledge and understanding is to spend
his days in prayer, meditation, and study of Holy Scripture.
Every gospel preacher must give himself wholly to this work. Every gospel preacher must give
himself in the entirety of his life to this blessed work. This
is the work of the ministry. I can't stress this adequately.
Visiting and counseling and sipping tea with old ladies and entertaining
children and playing ball with folks is not the work of the
ministry. Let other folks do it. There
are plenty of folks better at it than I could be. But preaching
is the work of the ministry. First Timothy chapter three,
verse 13, or chapter four, rather, verse 13. Paul says to Timothy,
till I come, give attendance to reading. to exhortation and
to doctrine. Make that your business. Give
attendance to reading, to exhortation, preaching, and to doctrine. Neglect
not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy
with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery. Meditate upon
these things. Give thyself wholly to them,
that thy profiting may appear to all. heed unto thyself, and
unto the doctrine. Continue therein, for in doing
this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. The
doctrine by which I am required of God to feed your souls is
the doctrine of the gospel. Not the doctrine of this creed
or that, not the doctrine of the Baptist church or another
church, but the doctrine of the gospel. This is the message of
God's book from beginning to end. The Word of God is designed
to show men the necessity of and the way of salvation by Christ. I want to repeat that. I hope
preachers are listening to this. I know some do. I hope they'll
listen to me now. The Word of God is designed to
show men the necessity of, and the way of salvation by Christ. That's the purpose of the book.
No matter what our subject is, no matter what our text is, we're
to preach the gospel to men. Mr. Spurgeon told a story, I
think, I think I saw it in his lectures to my students. I know
I saw it in one of the sermons of a young man who went to preach
a sermon. And he was a very young man,
fresh out of college, and he was going to preach at this place.
And he got up to preach a sermon. They introduced him. He climbed
the stairs like they do in those European pulpits and stood up
and he just Preached and got done. Folks went out and just
complimenting him and just very complimentary of his work and
all the way he spoke things. But there was one old man in
the congregation sitting down close to the front who didn't
say anything. And the pastor was really wanting, or this young
preacher was really wanting to hear this man, hear what he had
to say. And he said to him as he went out the door, he said,
you've said nothing about my sermon today. Did you not think
it was a good sermon? He said, no sir, it was a very
poor sermon. What was wrong? Was something
wrong with my organization? No, no, you were very well organized.
Was something wrong with my handling of the text and the interpretation
you gave of the text? No, you're very grammatically
correct in that as well. What was wrong? He said there
was no cross in the message. And the pastor said, but the
cross wasn't the subject. He said the cross is the subject
of every text. And the best thing you can do
is find your way straight to Calvary from every place in Scripture,
without the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Oh,
would to God I could get the ear of every preacher. I want
you to hear me. If I drop dead tonight and you
look for another pastor tomorrow, hear me. Hear me, there is no
preaching of Holy Scripture except by the preaching of the Gospel.
The pastor must study, give himself to prayer and meditation, so
that as he reads the Word, he finds in the Book of God how
all the Scripture speaks of Christ. We must continually set before
men their utter depravity, inability, and condemnation. We must rigorously
maintain God's absolute sovereignty. We must rejoice to encourage
the hope of sinners with the message of unconditional, personal,
eternal election. These things are not offshoots. These things are vital. Our hearts
rejoice to declare to men that Christ Jesus has actually accomplished
the salvation of his people in effectual redemption. We make
men see that there's no possibility of salvation without the calling,
the omnipotent, irresistible call of God the Holy Ghost. And
we delight to comfort every sinner who looks to Christ, trusting
him as Savior and Lord with the blessed declaration of the sure
perseverance and preservation of God's saints unto the end. And we must constantly labor
at assuring poor needy sinners with the promise of God that
whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. This is that's spoken of in the
covenant over and over again in the Old Testament. He said,
I'm going to cause you to obey my commandments and then I'll
bring you to dwell in my land. and we obey his commandments. We fulfill the law by faith in
Jesus Christ. Bind your life, bind yourself
to God's altar, and you will never perish. Bind yourself to
Jesus Christ, who is our altar, and you will find everlasting
acceptance with God. Come then, trust the Savior,
and live forever. In a word, We must make all men
and women to know that man is sinful, condemned, rebellious,
hell-deserving, and that God is glorious in mercy. We say
salvation is of the Lord, purposed in eternity, accomplished at
Calvary, applied in time, and perfected in glory by the three
persons of the Godhead. Shall we apologize for that?
Never. Luke 24. These are familiar scriptures
to this congregation but I want you to read them with me again.
Luke 24, Our Lord is with His disciples on the road to Emmaus
and He teaches them the meaning of Holy Scripture. Verse 25,
Then He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken. These were disciples. These were
disciples. The Lord has been crucified and
now suddenly their faith seems to be completely gone. He said,
oh fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken. And then he tells them what the
prophets spoke. That started with Genesis chapter one, going
all the way to Malachi chapter four. Ought not Christ to have
suffered these things? And by suffering these things
to enter into his glory, and beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things
concerning himself. I sometimes listen to preachers
or read their sermons and they go in great detail about grammar
and grammatical construction, and word studies, and history,
and prophecy, and church stuff, and this thing and that thing,
and just run by every opportunity possible to preach the gospel.
I don't understand that. I just don't understand that.
The scriptures are not given to be dissected. The Scriptures
are given to be proclaimed and being understood by the proclamation
of the Gospel. The Scriptures are given to show
us Jesus Christ Himself. Look at verse 44, Luke 24. And
He said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto
you while I was yet with you. that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me." Everything Moses wrote in
the law, everything the prophets wrote in the prophets, everything
written in the Psalms is talking about me. Then opened he their
understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures." The
key to this treasure chest is Jesus Christ crucified. I know one thing you need this
hour. You need Christ. You need to
know Him. You need to see Him. You need
the fresh, fresh, fresh, oh God, give us the fresh sense of His
sin-totaling accomplishments as our Redeemer. Look at verse
45. Then opened He their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them,
Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day. And that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these
things. I've told you many times in my
first visit with Brother Henry Mahan in Ashland, I met him just
a few weeks after his son Robbie was killed in Vietnam. I heard
him preach twice. I was working and we had a midweek
service in the church that I was attending in Winston-Salem. He
was preaching in another place. So I only heard him twice. The
first time he preached to us about Ruth, from Ruth, about
Christ, our kinsman, Redeemer. And for the first time, I was
just a young man, I was 19 years old, 1969. I thought, my, what
a picture of our Redeemer. I'd read the book of Ruth, but
I didn't understand a thing on earth about it. It's all about redemption
by Christ. And the next time I heard him
preach, he preached from Hosea and Gomer and told us all about
the grace of God. And the book of Hosea just became
precious to me. But I didn't see or hear from,
or it was not in Brother Mahan's company again until I was 25
years old, I think it was. and went down to see him on our
way down here to Lexington. Another preacher and I stopped
by and we visited a while and I had heard lots of things about
this old man in Ashland. He was about 48, 49 then. And
I thought he could probably profit a good bit by some of my knowledge.
I had studied the best of writers and if it had been me, And I'd
been talked to by a 24, 25-year-old fellow that way. I would have
opened the door and sent him out. But Brother Mahan was very
gracious. He was preparing his message for television that night.
And he listened to everything I had to say. And when I got
done talking, I jammed for it. He said, Brother Fortin, I want
to show you something. And he turned his Bible around
and had a page open of Colossians 3. He said, read that right there.
And I started reading Colossians 3. He said, no, that right there.
He pointed to verse 11, so I started reading verse 11. He said, no,
what I got underlined right there. Christ is all. He said, if you
ever learn what that means, you just might become a preacher.
And I haven't forgotten it. That's all. Christ is all. And more than
nothing else makes any difference. Christ is all. That's all the
Scriptures teach. Look at Acts chapter 20. I want
you to turn there and then turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Just
hold your Bible open at Acts 20 and put your finger at 1 Corinthians
2. I want you to see this. This is the message God uses
to save sinners, to comfort His saints, to edify His saints,
and to magnify the name of our Lord Jesus. You tell me, you
men and women here, what compares with the message of Jesus Christ
crucified to charm your hearts, to comfort your souls, to inspire
your devotion, to correct your lives, to give you direction
in life? What compares to Jesus Christ
crucified? Well, brother Don, nothing does.
Well, nothing else then is important. Nothing else is important. For us who know the gospel best,
no message is so sweet. so comforting, so joyful, so
edifying, so refreshing, as the old, old story of Jesus Christ
and His love. Look at Acts 20 and verse 20.
Paul was about to leave, or verse 26, rather. Paul was about to
leave Ephesus. And it says, wherefore I take
you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all
men. For I have not shunned to declare
unto you All the counsel of God. Does that mean Paul had, in his
brief stay at Ephesus, given these folks a complete exposition
of Genesis through Malachi? Certainly not. Certainly not. We have no indication that he
ever did such a thing. What does it mean then? I've
declared to you all the counsel of God. I'm pure from your blood. Whether you believe or believe
not, my hands are clean. For I have declared to you everything
God has revealed. I've been your pastor for a while
now. And whether you believe or believe not, I'm clean of
your blood. Because I've declared to you
the whole Word of God. The whole Word of God. That is
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Look at 1 Corinthians 2. I'll
show you. 1 Corinthians 2. I, brethren, when I came to you,
came not with excellency of speech or wisdom. I didn't come to impress
you. I didn't come to make you think
I was smart. I came declaring to you the testimony
of God. Now, here it is. Mark, this is the testimony of
God. This is it. What is it? I determined not
to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I hadn't even had a chance to
tell Shelby this, I told the men back in the office. I thought
she was going to make coffee this morning early. The first
thing I got early this morning on email, I checked it, I had
a long letter from a fellow in, what did I call it just a minute
ago? Where are they having trouble? Zimbabwe, yeah, Zimbabwe. When
he was 19 years old, somebody gave him or he got a copy of
Grace for the Day and started reading it. And then he started
listening to messages on the internet. God saved him, he's
29 now. Raised a Muslim, God saved him. And if you could read the letter,
I'll print it off for you so you can read it. He'd been listening
and reading, because he just recited everything I just got
through telling you. It's almost word for word. And he's trying
to preach the gospel of God's grace down there, 29 years old.
You pray for him as God enables you. Because God promised, my
word will not return to me void. And this is the word, Jesus Christ
crucified. Jesus Christ crucified. Let there
never be a time. Oh God, let there never be a
time. when an immortal soul sits before me as I endeavor to preach
the gospel and leaves without knowing how it is that God saves
sinners and how he can obtain that salvation by trusting God's
Son. If he does, I've done disservice
to him, disservice to God, and disservice to you. That must
never be the case with any man who's sent of God to preach the
gospel. We have one message, Christ and
Him crucified, and God blesses it as He will. I recall as a
young man, I was listening to two much older men talking about
various things regarding ministry. I was sitting in the back seat
of the car. These two fellows were talking and I was just listening.
Sometimes I could do that. And one of them said to the other
one, he said, if I could just get an issue, if I could just
get an issue, I believe I could make something happen here. And
I thought to myself, don't you have an issue? What issue are
you looking for? Abortion? Pornography? Alcohol? What issue are you looking for?
We have an issue. The issue God has with you is
his son. You must believe on the son of
God. When the saints of God have a
good understanding of the gospel, it will give you a sound mind
to serve him like the soldier's helmet. A good understanding
of the gospel will protect us from the attacks of skepticism
that arise in our own hearts, let alone in the world. Do you
ever find yourself amazed, shocked, that's a better word, shocked,
as you read the scripture and you begin to think that just
can't be, that's gotta mean something, that just can't be true. A good
understanding of the gospel will protect you from the skepticism
of your own heart. Gospel knowledge will protect
us from the assaults of heresy that come from all quarters.
A sound knowledge of the gospel will protect us from our horrid
times of personal unbelief. A thorough knowledge of the gospel
of Christ will protect us from the vain philosophies of men.
And the gospel will protect us from all the doctrines of men
that are contrary to the gospel. Get a clear grasp of the gospel,
a clear grasp of absolute free grace, of absolute union with
Christ, of absolute life in Christ the Lord, of absolute substitution. And you won't have much trouble
understanding what scriptures teach about the Lord's table
and church membership and your relationship with other folks.
Those things become crystal clear. We don't need to study what various
cults believe or various heretics believe. I've never been inclined
to spend our Tuesday evenings or Sunday evenings or Sunday
mornings or Bible classes teaching about the cults. You don't need
to understand that stuff. We need to study the gospel of
Christ. Then when you see heresy, you'll
know it. When you hear heresy, you'll
know it. Brother Mahan used to say, the best way I know to show
a fellow that he's carrying a crooked stick is to lay down a straight
stick beside him. And if he's got any sense at
all, he'll pick up the straight stick. For another thing, Paul
here means that we need to have a good hope of salvation. Not only sound doctrine, but
sound doctrine that gives us a good hope. The best way to
interpret Scripture is by Scripture. So turn over 1 Thessalonians
5. 1 Thessalonians 5. I want you
to see this. This is certainly what Paul is
talking about when he says, take the helmet of salvation. 1 Thessalonians
5 verse 8. Let us who are of the day be
sober. putting on the breastplate of
faith and love, and for in him the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Hope
in this context is the desire and expectation of certain eternal
salvation. The soldier fights with confidence
because he has a good hope of victory. All children of God
fight on. Christ gives us real hope. It's called a good hope through
grace. It's called a sure hope. Sure and steadfast it serves
as an anchor of the soul to give stability in the midst of the
storms and cares and troubles and heartaches of life. We have
hope in Christ. Sure and steadfast, good hope
given by grace. It is true that our salvation
is finished from the foundation of the world, accomplished, purchased
for us at Calvary, performed in us by God the Holy Spirit,
and yet we are now being saved. We are continually coming to
Christ, coming to Him with confident hope, hope of acceptance, hope,
as Merle prayed a little bit ago, We call God our Father with
confidence, because Christ is ours. If that doesn't give you
peace, I don't know what will. If that doesn't inspire you,
I don't know what will. There is for us this blessed,
blessed, sure, confident thing. When we shall see him, we shall
be like him. For we shall see him as he is.
Then shall I be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. When I was a boy, I had a few scrapes. Not a lot,
but I had a few scrapes. Most boys did that when I was
growing up. And I'll tell you what I never did. Tell you what
I never did, unless I was forced to do it, I never got in a fight
with a fella I didn't think I could win. I just, I wasn't smart but
had better sense than that. I just never got into a fight
with a fellow I didn't think I could win. And that's kind
of foolish to do that. Kind of foolish for one country
to go to war against another one when they know they can't
win the war. That's absurd. But when you're in a contest
and you have confidence, I can do this. I can do this. Then the contest is easy. And
the conflict is not too hard, no matter what bruises you take
along the way. No matter what else, when I played football.
We have a good team, and we didn't often get beat, but once in a
while, once in a while, that school across town, Reynolds
High School, they were the rivals. They had all the money, they
had everything, everything. And we seldom ever beat them.
But man, when there was just the slightest thought we might. right up to the last play of
the game, we would go through anything because we had hope,
even not a real sure hope, we had some hope of victory that
day. Hear me, children of God. The
Lord Jesus Christ says to you, my sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow
me, and I give unto them eternal life. And they shall never perish. Oh, what a blessed, blessed hope. God our Savior has given us this
declaration. Now, this helmet then, refers
to certain doctrinal stability. It refers to certain hope. But the helmet he's talking about
here is take to you the helmet of salvation. He's talking here
about an assured knowledge of our interest in Christ who is
our salvation. There is an assurance we should
be aware of. When I was seven years old, made
a profession of faith for the first time, A fellow got through
taking me down to Romans Road, and he did the best he knew. He just didn't know anything.
He said, when I got done, he said, now Don, son, you're saved.
Don't let anybody ever tell you otherwise. And you have the delusion
of presumption. Because you've done this or done
that, then you must be saved. Many have the presumptuous idea
that they have assurance and they sing, blessed assurance,
Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. But they base that upon their own goodness, their own
work, their own legal obedience. And some of God's true people
struggle all their lifetime seeking assurance. And they struggle
all their lifetime because they seek it always in the wrong place. Take this helmet of salvation. God said, God said, he that believeth
that Jesus is the Christ hath everlasting life. God said, whosoever
shall believe on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. That's
God's word, that's God's word. Our savior taught us plainly
by his apostles and as he himself taught it. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. I believe that Jesus is the Christ,
do you? Now I've got a lot of struggles
inside me. And the ones inside me bother
me a whole lot more than anything outside me. My sin, my unbelief, my depravity,
my vile, corrupt mind, my hardness of heart and coldness
toward God. But in the teeth of all I know
I am, I believe that Jesus is the Christ. And God said, I have eternal
life. I dare to believe I have eternal
life. And I, to the end, shall endure. God said so. God said that's
not presumption. That's not presumption. That's
called faith. Coming to Christ, walking with
Him as I received Him. And that means victory is sure. Victory is sure. Because greater
is He that is in you than he that is in the world. When this
thing's done, We shall forever wear laurels
of victory and crowns of glory as we sit at his feet and worship
him. So courage, my brother. Courage,
my sister. Victory is just around the bend. Soon, soon, all shall end in
the glory of God our Savior and in the everlasting glorious salvation
of our souls. Amen.