But I want to talk just a little
bit about faith and assurance this morning. Last week I talked
about boldness and full assurance. And so I want to say a few things
about faith and assurance. If you have your Bible, you want
to turn with me to the book of 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy
chapter 1. Faith and assurance, these two
things are linked together both in the scriptures and in the
experience of God's people in this world. And we need to learn
to depend wholly upon the scripture. Somebody says, do you mean that
I'm always to believe what the Word of God says? Absolutely. It is not presumption for you
to believe the scriptures. Somebody says, you know, well,
these people that believe you can be saved once and then you're
saved for eternity, well, that's presumption. Well, it's not presumption
if the Word of God teaches it. If the Word of God spells it
out, teaches it, then it's not presumption for you to believe
it. Now, beloved, where we get into trouble about this assurance
business is where we leave the Word of God. We leave the Word
of God and we start looking into our own hearts for some evidence
of salvation. Now, we could rake around in
the muck in our old nature for a hundred years and never find
one thing that would indicate that we were children of God,
not one thing. only that which would discourage
us and disappoint us. Everybody who looks inside, everybody
who looks at themselves, bound to be discouraged by what they
see. That is if they have seeing eyes. If the Holy Spirit has really
enlightened their soul, you look in and you can't find anything
to encourage it. But the scriptures we need to
come back again and again to the Word of God and believe what
the Word of God says. And so I'm saying that faith
and assurance are linked together both in Scripture and in the
experience of God's people. The Word of God points to the
Lord Jesus Christ and we must do our looking at Him. Always do your looking at Him.
It's wonderful, you know, to be able to look at one who is
altogether lovely. It's what, you know, in contrast
to ourselves that are altogether ugly. To be able to look to one
who is altogether lovely, one who is so pleasing to the Father,
one who is such a suitable substitute for our souls, One in whom we
will find no imperfection, only perfection and completeness we
will find in the Lord Jesus Christ. So we need to do our looking
at Him. We read in the Psalms where it
says that we looked into Him and were lightened. And certainly
the people of God will be lightened continuously if they look to
their Redeemer, the Lord Jesus. We know that salvation is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is in a person. We've
said that so many times through the years. But we need to remember
that. Our acceptance is in another
beloved. It's not in ourselves. It's in
another, namely, the Son of God. the Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice
here in 2 Timothy chapter 1, I'm just going to hurry because
I am not going to speak but about 10 minutes here. But I want you
to look at verse 12 where the Apostle Paul says, For the witch
cause I also suffer these things nevertheless I'm not ashamed
for I know whom I have believed. Now, you take note of his statement
of faith. He says, for I know whom I have
believed. Of course, he could have told
us what he believed, and he probably could have told us when he believed.
But he didn't do that. He said, I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded. Now, beloved, the one, if the
one be true, the other is also. Notice this connection. He says,
For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. The Apostle Paul lived on the
Lord Jesus Christ. He lived by Christ. He lived
by the faith of the Son of God who had loved him and gave himself
for him. He trusted in the Lord Jesus
Christ and therefore he could say boldly, I'm persuaded. No question about it. No doubt
about it. I'm persuaded that he, that is
the Lord Jesus Christ, is able to keep that which I've committed.
I've committed my soul unto him forever. And I'm persuaded that
he is able to keep my soul forever. So then you see then you have
a connection what he believed, and in whom he believed, and
he believed that his soul was safe because he was
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, I want you to turn
back with me to the book of Job, and we'll see this again. Job
chapter 19 and verse 25. Job 19 verse 25 and 26. Job said, For I know that my
Redeemer liveth. That's faith. I know that He
lives, my Redeemer, the One who purchased my soul, the One who
gave Himself as a ransom for my soul. I know that He liveth. I worship no dead Christ. I worship
the living Christ, He that was dead, now is alive forevermore. I worship Him. And he said, I
know that he lives, and that he shall stand at the latter
day upon the earth. Now, beloved, this is the faith.
We enter into the spirit of Job here, and we see his faith, his
declaration of his faith. He said, I know the Lord Jesus
Christ is going to stand at the latter day upon the earth. And
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God. So you see the connection between
the two? You have here his faith, I know
that my Redeemer liveth, and then you see that even after
he says, I go to the grave, and my body passes through the sieve
of the worms, and my body is destroyed, yet in my flesh, I'm
going to have a glorified body, I'm going to have a resurrected
body, and he said, in my flesh, I shall see God. I shall see
God. Now, beloved, that's assurance.
Faith and assurance. They're linked together. And
we must see that. Whom I shall see, he says in
verse 27, for myself and mine eyes shall behold, and not another,
though my reins be consumed within me. He said, I'm going to see
Him for myself. Reminds me of what we read in
the book of 1 John. about how that it does not yet
appear what we shall be, but we know when He shall appear,
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Another
place that we see faith and assurance linked is in the 23rd Psalm.
Turn there quickly if you will. Psalm 23 and look at verse 1. And here the psalmist David,
we enter into the spirit of David and we hear him say, the Lord
is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, no question
about it. He is my shepherd. And therefore,
he says, I shall not want. I shall not want for life. I shall not want for spiritual
life. I shall not want for everything that is demanded of me, because
the Lord is my shepherd, and he will provide all for me. But
then look in verse 6. You have the statement of faith
in verse 1, and then in verse 6 you have his assurance. Surely,
he says, surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
You see that assurance there? You see that assurance? Because
the Lord is my shepherd, goodness and mercy is going to follow
me all my days, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Is that not where we want to dwell forever? is in the house
of the Lord. So you see, beloved, faith, if
you have the one, then you have the other, and the two are connected. If the one be true, if the one
be true, if the Lord truly is my shepherd, then the second
is also true. Now then, quickly to the New
Testament, turn to John, the Gospel of John. Chapter 3, I
want to just cite a couple passages here, and then we will be through. But in John chapter 3, one of
the verses that just, there's so many of them in the Gospel
of John, but I wanted to call your attention here to a couple. One in the third chapter, verse
36, where it says, He that believeth on the Son, He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. Now you see, it speaks of the
faith of those who have heard of the Son of God and who have
been given faith to believe in Him. He that believeth on the
Son. You know, we told you last week
that faith was a gift of God and that God created faith and
the faith that God creates in the soul, that it is the faith
of Jesus Himself and that it is a perfect faith and it's not
a doubting faith, it's a believing faith. God cannot create a faith
that is imperfect. The faith that He creates in
the soul of the elect is the very faith of his own Son, Jesus
Christ. That's the faith by which we're
justified. That's the faith that we embrace
the Son of God with. And if that faith be in your
heart, if you do believe on the Son with that faith, then you
have everlasting life. Eternal life. Everlasting life. And he goes on and he says, He
that believeth not the Son shall not see life. In other words,
if the one be true, then the other is true also. If you don't
have this faith, then you're not going to see life. If you
have the faith of the Son of God, then you're going to see
life. You have life. You have eternal
life. And if you don't have that faith,
they say that's simple, but it is simple, but profound, very
profound. We're talking about God creating
faith in a man to believe in his own Son, is what we're talking
about, and that faith embracing Christ, therefore eternal life,
everlasting life is the gift. Now turn over to the 5th chapter,
the 5th chapter of John at verse 24. And this also is a very precious
verse in which we see this same connection. Verily, verily, truly,
truly, the Lord Jesus says, I say unto you, he that heareth my
word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life. He that heareth my word and has
the ability, the God-given ability, to believe on him that sent me. You say, Preacher, you keep talking
about the God-given ability to believe. You mean I just can't
up and believe? Well, my friend, if you can,
do so, please. Do so, believe. Like for you
to. Get up and tell us about it,
if you can believe. The most of us here found that
we could only believe when we were enabled of God to believe.
And the only faith that endures to the end is the faith of which
God Almighty Himself is the author of. He is the author and the
finisher of the faith that saves His people from their sin. He's the author and the finisher
of it. Okay, so he says, I say unto you that if you hear
my word and believe, On Him that sent me you have everlasting
life. Now that's no small boon, is
it? That's no small bounty to have
everlasting life. There are people that would give
their right arm this morning if they could be assured that
they had everlasting life. There are people in the vestibule
of death today that is near the grave, that if they could just
know that they had everlasting life, they'd give any possession
they had in this world, sign it over to you, if they could
just know they had everlasting life. You know, sometimes we
read these verses, and we read them, and we read them, maybe
memorize them, and they become so common to us that we really
lose the significance of what they're saying. Everlasting life
and shall not come into the judgment. Not coming into condemnation.
Never going to have to face the judgment. Our sins so thoroughly
put away in the Lord Jesus that we'll never have to face the
judgment. Now that, my friend, is to be
sought after, wouldn't you think? to be in such a standing with
God, and he'll say, no judgment, the judgments already fell on
my son. The judgments fell on Christ,
and it won't fall on you. Well, shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed already, right now, from death unto life. So you see the faith, and then
the assurance. Do you know this morning, do
you know this faith and have you ever felt it working in your
soul? Have you ever felt it working?
If so, then you can't have the one without the other. You have
the faith, then you have the everlasting life, you have the
assurance, the assurance. May the Lord bless these few
remarks to your soul.