This book speaks plainly about
the full assurance of faith. Full assurance of faith. I've
read a good many sermons, good many pamphlets and books on this
matter of assurance. Most of them, regrettably, were
harmful rather than helpful. Most of what you will pick up
is. If you are asked Do you have assurance of your saving interest
with Christ? Are you assured of your hope
of everlasting life? And you answer yes, do you answer
honestly? Do you answer honestly? Is your
assurance based upon what you did this morning or 20 years
ago? Is it based upon some experience
you've had? A decision you made? A change
of life you experienced? Is it based upon your growth
in grace? Is it based upon your attainments
in sanctification? Is your assurance based upon
your feeling? I just feel saved. I can't tell
you how many times I've heard folks say that. I know I'm saved
because I feel I'm saved. Is your assurance based on somebody
else's opinion? You're convinced you're saved
because somebody told you you were. Or is your assurance a matter
of faith? Is it a matter of faith? Now,
tonight I want to show you from the Word of God what this book
teaches about faith-based assurance. I've heard fellows say, if you
doubt, you're damned, and if you don't, you're damned. And
I would not dare to suggest that a man or a woman does not know
God because they have doubts. I have my share. But my doubts
always arise because I'm looking the wrong place. They always
arise because I'm looking to me for some basis of hope before
God. Merle could not have read a better
passage in the office in preparation for this message than he did
in Mark. Gospel where Mark speaks of Peter's terrible fall. And not just his, all the disciples
which took the Master were offended by him. Every one of them said
he wasn't telling the truth when he said they'd do it. Every one
of them. Well, what's the basis of their
hope then? What's the basis of their assurance? They must have
lost it when the Lord Jesus came to Peter after his resurrection.
And he said, Simon, do you love me? That man spoke with absolute
truth. And he said, Lord, you know everything.
You know what I am and you know what I've done. You know my sin,
you know my unbelief, but you know that I love you. Faith,
you see, is not based upon our experience, but rather upon this
book. I wrote a hymn early yesterday
morning. You'll have it next week in the bulletin. It goes
like this. The sinner who believes in Christ's
atoning blood is justified from all things save by the grace
of God. Yet sin within When vile corruptions
rise and Satan tempts us to despair and God's free grace despise,
our flesh with him agrees and says we cannot be partakers of
God's sovereign grace and yet such sinners be. But faith looks
out of self and trust in Christ alone. Our hope is not in what
we do, but what our Lord has done. His blood and righteousness,
the anchor of our souls, assures us in the teeth of sin, free
grace has made us whole. Assurance, if it is a good hope
of good assurance, is an assurance found purely in the word of God. Turn with me, if you will, to
1 John chapter 5. I want you to hold your Bibles
open to this passage of Scripture. In this chapter, the Apostle
John shows us who are the children of God. He plainly identifies
those who are true believers. By divine inspiration, he gives
us certain, indisputable, infallible witnesses. I chose my words deliberately. He gives us certain, indisputable,
infallible witnesses by which believing sinners may know that
they have eternal life. In fact, down in verse 13, he
tells us that's the reason this book is written. Look at it. These things have I written to
you that believe on the name of the Son of God. Now, that's
the issue. That's the issue. Do you believe, Christ, that
you may know that you have eternal life? I believe the doctrine
of election. I know this book teaches it.
But election doesn't give me much hope. I believe the doctrine
of effectual redemption. I know that all for whom Christ
died shall be with him in glory. But that by itself doesn't give
me much hope. I believe in God's absolute sovereignty. I know that he who is God rules
everything. I know that. But that doesn't
give me hope. I want to know how can I know
that I'm one of God's elect? How can I know that I'm one of
those for whom Christ bled at Calvary? How can I know that
I'm one of those who is called by his Spirit? If I know that,
now I've got hope. If I know that, I have some confidence. If I know that, I have some comfort. God's sovereign providence, God's
sovereign purpose, God's sovereign goodness, God's sovereign election,
redemption, effectual calling, all these things now give me
comfort if I can have some reason in this book to believe they
concern me and I have an interest in them. In 1 John chapter 5
verse 1, there's a plain stated declaration It is emphatic, it
is clear. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, not believe some notion about
Christ, not believe some notion about Jesus, but whosoever believeth
that Jesus of Nazareth, that man described in this book, who
was born from Mary's womb more than two thousand years ago,
that man who came here, the revelation of the righteousness of God,
that man who, by his obedience as a sinner's substitute, fulfilled
all righteousness and satisfied divine justice by his death.
If you ever believe that that man is himself the Christ, the
Son of the living God, he's born of God. I don't believe that half like
I want to. Not one hundredth like I want
to. I sure don't believe it like I ought to. But believe it? Bless God, I do. I do. I believe Him. I believe Him. I'm born of God. But what? I'm born of God. But what about
what you were thinking a minute ago? I'm born of God. But what
about what you say a little while, I'm born of God? But what about
the horrible weakness that says, I'm born of God? Either that
or this book is not so. What is it that I believe in?
And everyone that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that
is begotten of him. I love for God and I love for
one another. is so shallow, so fickle, so
sinful, like our faith itself, that it is not a basis of personal
assurance and cannot be. But it is an identifying characteristic
of true faith. By this, verse 2, we know that
we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. You see, love is manifest by
what it does. Love is not manifest by words,
but by deeds. Love is not manifest by profession,
but by deeds. Love is not manifest by saying
I love you. Love is manifest by acting like
you love me. Love is manifest by deeds. My
wife knows that I love her, not because I told her a long time
ago that I love her. And not because I told her this
afternoon that I love her. Not because I told her before
we came over here that I love her. She knows that I love her
because I love her. She knows it by the deeds. And
our love for God is manifest by our deeds. Our love for one
another manifests by our deeds. It's revealed and made known
to our brethren. By these things, men observe. Somebody sees a man and a woman
together, they watch them in their relationship, they watch
them in their day-by-day life, and man, they love each other.
They love each other. Somebody watches a believer walking
in this world with God over the course of his life. So that's
a man who loves God. That's a man who loves God. His life reflects it. Look at
verse three. Now John is not making our works
or our love a basis of assurance. But he is telling us that God's
people identify themselves. That is, they identify one another
by their faith and by their love. Verse three, for this is the
love of God. That we keep his commandments,
and his commandments do not grieve us. Now don't let any legalist
come along and throw you a curve. I can't tell you how many times
folks come up with that verse and they say, this teaches us
believers live under the law. Pick up your Bible, will you?
Just pick it up. Hold it in your hand now. This
is his commandments. You talking about singing that
song, oh how I love thy law? That's what David's talking about.
The whole revelation of God. And for the believer, there's
not anything in this book that grieves his heart. Nothing. Neither God's judgments
nor his goodness. We bow to him willingly. We keep his word. We seek to
walk by the rule of his word. We seek to mold our lives by
the pattern that his son has set for us an example. You see,
love obeys God Almighty. in all things. I didn't say always
obeys, Larry, but in all things. Love obeys God in all things
with a willing heart. I want Him to have His way everywhere. And if you know Him, you do too.
Verse 4. For whatsoever is born of God
overcomes the world. Now, I'm certain of this. That
which is born of God cannot die. Those who are born of God shall
be triumphant. If you and I are born of God,
we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. We shall prevail
at last. We shall triumph at last over
all our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. And this
is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Oh, what a remarkable thing faith
is. What a remarkable thing faith
is. You can make too much of faith and you can make too little
of it. Faith is not our savior. But faith drawing strength from
Christ works wonders in the earth. Faith does. Listen to this. The book of Hebrews, we'll be
getting to it in a few weeks, speaks of some men who through
faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises. stop the mouths of lions, quench
the violence of fire, escape the edge of the sword, how the
weakness were made strong, wax valiant in fight, and turn to
flight the armies of the aliens. Faith is always stripped from
Christ, works wonders. It still does. It still does. It still subdues kings. It still
works righteousness. It still obtains promises. It
still stops the mouths of lions. It still quenches the violence
of fire. It still escapes the edge of
the sword. It's still out of weaknesses
made strong. And it still puts to flight the
armies of the aliens. Faith does. Faith draws strength
from Christ persistently and ultimately overcomes the world. Now this is what John's telling
us. Faith alone is victorious. Faith alone conquers. And this
victorious faith is our faith. I get so weary of folks who think
they can put God in a box and get everything figured out. A
while back I got a letter, matter of fact I've had this same question
asked many times He said, well, really the faith we have is not
our faith, it's Christ's faith in us. No, it's not. No, it's
your faith. But it's the gift of God. Watch
this. That's my breath. That's my breath. God gave it,
but it's my breath. He made it mine. And if God gives
you faith, it is God's gift in you. But it's your faith. This
is the victory that overcomes the world, even our personal
possession, faith. Verse 1, John tells us, Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And he assures
us that faith produces both love and good works. But now watch
as he moves along. He draws our kitchen and our
thoughts and our confidence away from our love, our good works,
and even our faith as a grounds of assurance. Our confidence
of victory is not the victory of our love. It is not the success
of our works. It is not even the triumph of
our faith. Because Christ, the object of our faith, is triumphant,
then faith is victorious. It is He who is the victor, and
we are more than conquerors in Him. John is laying a foundation
for assurance. He's laying a foundation for
confidence. But in order to do so, he must show us that neither
love nor works will support our souls or give us confident assurance
of acceptance with God. If we would have assurance of
a saving interest in Christ, our assurance must be, as we
sang a little bit ago, my hope is built on nothing less than
Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
praise, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. All right, verse 5. Who is he
that overcometh the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. You see that? John tells us now,
now if you believe By these things, faith is manifest. Faith finds
the commandments of God to be delightful, not grievous. Faith
loves God, loves those who are born of God. But this is a matter
of assurance. Who is he that overcometh the
world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? The singular basis of assurance. The solitary, only basis of assurance
is faith in Jesus Christ. Not faith in faith, but faith
in Christ, the Son of God. You see, faith is not just an
emotion, though it involves emotion. Faith is not a feeling, though
certainly it involves feeling. Faith is not a leaf in the dark.
But faith is the reasonable response of the heart made new by grace
to God's revelation. The most reasonable thing in
this world is to believe God. The most reasonable thing in
this world. Now if we rest our immortal souls on the merits
of the man Christ Jesus, trusting that he is indeed the Son of
the Living God, we must have undeniable, irrefutable proof
that he is the Christ. the Son of the Living God. We must have undeniable, irrefutable
proof that this great God-man has accomplished eternal redemption
for us. But where on earth is such proof
to be found? Look in verses 6, 7, and 8. Under Mosaic law, every
word in a court of law had to be established by two or three
undeniable indisputable witnesses, eyewitnesses, eyewitnesses. And in a proper court these days,
in a proper court, the reason we have so many convictions overturned
in our courts is because we accept circumstantial evidence. In a
proper court, where there is justice prevailing, nothing is
accepted on circumstances. Nothing is accepted by circumstantial
evidences, but by two or three eyewitnesses. Credible, undeniable,
indisputable witnesses. Let's see if we can find them.
In these three verses, everything that is vital to our souls is
established by three infallible, irrefutable witnesses. They are
first, the deity of Christ. Second, the accomplishment of
redemption by Christ. And third, every believer saving
exists in Christ. All right, first look at verse
six. Here are three witnesses to the deity, the eternal Godhead
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God. How come? What's the basis of
our faith? This is he, which came by water
and by blood. even Jesus, not by water only,
but by water and blood. And this it is the Spirit that
beareth witness, because the Spirit is true. Now, if you have
a place in the margin of your Bible, write this word. Where
you've got the word water here, write word. Almost everywhere
the Apostle John uses the word water, both in the Gospel of
John and here in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, he is referring to
the written word of God. Almost everywhere. When John
says, this is he that came by water, he's telling us that Jesus
Christ is that one who came by the word of God. Our Lord Jesus
came and watched his disciples speak. And he said he had to
wash them, or they had no part with him. And he washes them
by the word, John 15 and verse 3. We are made holy by the word,
Ephesians 2, or 5 rather, and verse 26. We are cleansed through
the washing of regeneration by the word of God, Titus 3, 5.
We know that Jesus Christ, our Lord, is the Son of God, the
anointed one, and we know it for this reason. He came by the
word. by the word. You've learned this. The Old Testament scriptures,
in their totality, speak of one who was to come. Our Lord told
those disciples on the road to Emmaus, he opened their understanding
and caused them to understand in all the scriptures, things
concerning himself. All the scriptures. This book
was not written to be a Or they used to have sword drills
in churches so little kids can get up and find the verse, and
find it first for kids. It wasn't written to play games.
It wasn't written to give a textbook on Old Testament Jewish history.
It wasn't written to give us a code of moral conduct. It wasn't
written to give us laws by which to establish nations in the world.
It was written to reveal God's Son. And he who comes and fulfills
every prophecy and every type And every picture in the Old
Testament scriptures, that's the Christ. That's the Christ. And I challenge you to find me
a prophecy, or a type, or a picture, or a law, or a ceremony, or a
commandment of any kind in the Old Testament he didn't fulfill.
He fulfilled it all. This is he that came by the word.
By the word. The word of the living God. Our
faith regarding the deity of Christ is found in this book,
in the Testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures. The Old Testament. It do us good, it do us good
to study the Old Testament and look in the Old Testament to
learn of Christ. The New Testament is the unfolding
of the Old, but the Old Testament is the first revelation of the
coming of Christ. Not only did he come by the Word,
by water, but we know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God because
he came by blood. You see, the Old Testament scriptures
speak of the Son of God, the Christ of God, the one who is
the Messiah, the King of Israel, as one who comes to accomplish
redemption by the sacrifice of himself. Had our Lord Jesus Christ
come into the world as a man, would it be possible to prove
without doubt that he is indeed the seed of Abraham, the seed
of David, Had he lived in perfect obedience as a man, fulfilling
every requirement of all things in the law as a man? Had he performed
miracles and even raised the dead? We could not believe that
he's the Christ, Merle, until we saw him hanging on the cursed
tree and giving up the ghost. Can't believe it. Because that
one spoken of in the scriptures has come to die in the room instead
of sinners as a voluntary substitute, dying vicariously in the room
in place of his people, victoriously accomplishing redemption by the
sacrifice of himself. And when we're sat down with
that amazed centurion, having watched him from beginning to
the end of the ordeal. And we hear him cry out to God,
Father forgive them for they know not what they do. We hear
him cry out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? We
hear him promise life eternal to a dying one by his side on
the basis of what he was there accomplishing. We say truly,
this man is the son of God. This is he of whom all the scriptures
spoke. Not only did he come by the word
and by blood, but we know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of God, because the Spirit bears witness to his deity. The Spirit. God, the Holy Spirit. How? Well, I just believe because
the Spirit, my faith in him. No. The Holy Spirit bears witness
in accordance with his word. How did he bear witness? When
John the bad guy is the Lord Jesus, the spirit of God descended
from heaven in the form of a dove and lighted on him. It stayed
right there. When our Lord Jesus had arisen
from the grave and ascended to the right hand of the Father,
and took his place in heaven on the throne of David, sitting
and ruling and reigning as King, the prophecy of Joel was fulfilled,
and God poured out his Spirit, declaring, This is indeed the
King of Glory! And the Spirit bears witness,
the King is on his throne. And the Holy Spirit bears witness
to Christ's deity. to his dominion through the preaching
of the gospel, convincing sinners, chosen and redeemed by him, that
he has the power as the God-man mediator to give repentance and
the forgiveness of sins to all Israel. Read Acts chapter 5,
that's what it's all about. Him, God, exalted. To be a prince
and a savior, to give repentance and the forgiveness of sins.
So every believer knows, every believer knows, with absolute
assurance. Now, understand, please hear
this. Every believer knows with absolute
assurance that Jesus the man is the Christ of God, God the
Son. People send me stuff or recommend,
you need to read this, you need to read that. And I used to think
it was some kind of virtue in reading nonsense. You know, you
read a lot and you'll, oh, that'll help you to know stuff. If I
know as good as now what this book says, I'm not interested
in reading it and I'm not going to. I don't care who wrote it. I don't care how they, how highly
it's recommended. I don't care how much men say
this is, this is the final word. This is the final word. This
is it. And every believer knows that
Jesus, the man, is the Christ, the son of the living God, our
almighty Savior. We know it by the witness of
the word. We know it by his blood atonement. We know it because
God, the Holy Spirit, has declared it. All right, look at verse
7. Here are three witnesses to the accomplishment of redemption
by our Savior. There are three that by record
in heaven. What? By record where? In heaven. of what? Bear record that Jesus
is the Son of God? No, heaven doesn't need any record
of that. These three bear record in heaven
that God has given us eternal life, in strict accordance with
his just and righteous law, by the merits of Christ's obedience
unto death as our substitute. The three persons of the Holy
Trinity bear record in heaven that Christ has accomplished
redemption. Redemption for his people by
his blood atonement. Look at it. There are three that
bear record in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. God
the Father bears record that redemption is accomplished. How
did he do that? How did he do that? Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, given him a name that is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven
and things in the earth and things under the earth. And every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. When the father received the
son as our covenant surety, as our forerunner, as our mediator,
upon the grounds of justice satisfied and righteousness established,
the father said, this is him. This is the one of whom David
spoke in Psalm 2 verse 8, where God said, ask of me and I'll
give you the heathen for your inheritance. This is the one
of whom the psalmist spoke when he said, thy people, O Lord,
thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. This is
he of whom Isaiah spoke when Isaiah said, he shall divide
the portion with the great. He'll sit on his throne and save
whom he will. God the Father had borne witness
to it. And then God the Son. Now here John uses the word word.
And I suspect perhaps the reason he uses the word water in the
preceding verse to speak of the word, is because here he uses
the word to speak of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, is the ever living Word of God. He is that one who
is with the Father. He is that one who is one with
the Father. He is that one by whom all things
were made. And the Lord Jesus Christ, sitting
on the throne of glory, bears witness in heaven that redemption
is accomplished as the word. I'm so glad he said it that way.
As the word. The revelation. The revelation. The revelation of God. We know
God because his word came down here. because his word assumed
flesh, because his word lived among us, because his word revealed
grace and glory in his face, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. We know that redemption's
accomplished because now that word who came down to make God
known to men, having accomplished redemption, has ascended on high
and yonder saith the word. God Almighty revealed fully in
the accomplishment of redemption by his darling Son, whom he sat
down on his own right hand. The Word sitting on high intercedes
on our behalf. The Word sitting on the throne
in heaven declares that sinners, redeemed by his blood, chosen
by grace, now have the right, now have the right now have the
right to enter into heaven by the blood jade because he sits
there and makes intercession with his blood. We have the right,
did you hear me? The right to enter into glory
where men meet to be partaken of the inheritance of the saints
in life by the blood of him who is the word sitting on the throne. And then God the Holy Spirit,
the third person of the sacred trinity, bears record of the
accomplishment of redemption by effectually applying the blood
of Christ to the hearts of God's elect in effectual calling. When God the Holy Spirit comes
to chosen sinners at the appointed time of love, the spirit sent
down from heaven, he comes here and causes sinners to hear the
word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Every one of you sitting here
who believe God, every one of you, you heard the gospel and
you heard the gospel and you heard the gospel and you heard
the gospel and you heard the gospel and you never heard the
gospel. And then one day you heard the
gospel And God said, this is yours. You heard the gospel of your
salvation. You heard the word applied effectively to your heart
and believing on the Son of God, blood sprinkled on your conscience. And the Spirit of God says, Christ
redeemed you. Jesus Christ put away your sins. Jesus Christ, he whom you believe,
has established righteousness for you. And now we know him,
not after the flesh, Remember how Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians
2? He said, we don't know Christ after the flesh. We don't know
him after the flesh. Paul, the son of Christ, knew
him after the flesh. That's the reason he was enraged.
He was persecuting him by persecuting his church. He knew the historic
man, Jesus. He knew historic things about
Jesus, but he didn't know him. He didn't know him. We know him
after the spirit. I heard about him, Larry Chris,
all my life, one way or another. I didn't hear much truth about
him, but I heard about him. One way or another. I knew he lived. I knew he came into the world.
I knew he obeyed God. I knew he died on the cross as
a substitute. I'd heard it all my life. All
my life. I could recite facts about him,
but I didn't know him. Now I know him. This is life
eternal. That they might know thee. Not
know about you, know you. The only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. And these three are one. The three persons of the Godhead
are one. The record of the Father, the
record of the Son, and the record of the Spirit are one. And what
is that record? Redemption's accomplished. But
how can I know that it was done for me? How can I know that God's
given me eternal life? How can I know that I have a
saving interest in Christ? Read on, verse 8. Here are three
witnesses to every believer's saving interest in Christ. There
are three that bear witness on earth. The spirit, the water,
the word, and the blood. And these three agree in one.
Now notice how the order is changed. The witnesses to Christ's deity
are first the word, then the blood, then the spirit. The witnesses
to the Egyptian accomplice are first the father who received
the son, and then the son who sat down in heaven and took his
place at the right hand of the father, and then the spirit who
reveals it to us by the gospel. The witnesses to our saving interest
in Christ are first the spirit, and then the word, and then the
blood. A saving knowledge of Christ
begins with the revelation of God the Holy Spirit. The only
way a sinner can ever know God is if God reveals himself by
his Spirit in his soul. You can hear preachers preach
the very best of them. You can hear them preach all
your life if you live to be a hundred years old, and you'll never believe
God unless he reveals himself. Faith doesn't come by any means
but by the outstretched arm of God Almighty. And how does he
reveal? He reveals by the preaching of
the gospel, by the word of his grace. He convinces men of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment. He convinces me. He didn't come
to gently persuade. He didn't come to massage your
mind. He didn't come to massage your
will. He comes by divine power and convinces chosen redeemed
sinners that they are sinners, that Christ is righteousness,
and judgment is over, because Christ died in our stand. And
then the Word, this saving knowledge of Christ, is based upon the
record of the written Word of God, symbolized by water. The work of the Holy Spirit is
always in connection with the Word. You mark it down. God the Holy Spirit never teaches
anything but by the Word. He never directs anywhere but
by the Word. He never instructs in anything
but by the Word. He never reveals anything but
by the word. These deceivers. It's amazing to me people will
listen to them, but they do. Get on television, have a vision. And it always winds up with you
shelling out some cash. Have a vision. God's taught me
something. The Lord's given me a word. God gave us his word, there it
is. And God the Holy Spirit doesn't say anything that you don't find
in this word. This is the revelation of God.
This is it. He takes the preached gospel,
the record of the word, and makes the voice of God to be heard
in a man's heart by sovereign power. But what's the record
of the word? We've read it, Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God. He has accomplished redemption
for sinners. And whosoever believes that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. He has eternal life. And then
there's the witness of the blood. This saving knowledge of Christ
is neither more nor less than faith in the blood of Christ.
Trusting Christ. Trusting Christ. I have assurance
that I'm God's. That's all. That's all. Sometimes I feel as dead as a piece of cold steel. I'll be honest with you, Bobby,
most of the time I feel that way. My heart, most of the time, seems
utterly void of life. Most of the time. Thank God it won't always be
that way, but that's the way it is here. That's just the way
it is. But my feelings and my experiences
and my thoughts and my weaknesses have nothing to do with what
God reveals in this book. Martin Luther put it well, feelings
come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving. I trust the written
word of God and all else is worth believing. So how can you How can you have assurance? Tell
me where you'd rather have it. In your fickle feelings? In your
fluctuating emotions? In your faithless faithfulness?
In your vile good works? In your imaginary strength? Oh
no. Here, here is the solid rock
of Gibraltar. on which my faith rests. God
said it. That's it. That's it. Faith is
the echo of my heart to the voice of God's spirit speaking to me
by the gospel. The warrant of faith is the word
of God alone. God said believe. And the warrant
of my assurance is faith in Christ alone. That's all. Read this
book one more time. I challenge you. Go home and
study it. Assurance is never, not in this book, it is never,
never based upon feelings, or emotions, or love, or good works,
or spiritual growth, or faithfulness. None of those things. You see,
before you, I'm a pretty good hypocrite.
Now, I say that not in the least bit facetiously, because I have
concern for you. I don't always act like I feel.
I have concern for God's glory. I don't always say the things
I think. But what I am inside. And Bob Duff ain't one thing
on this earth I can do changing. I can't. I can read this word
every day. I can say prayers every day. I can be in church three times
a week or a dozen times a week. I've preached half of the last
several years. Over the last twenty years I've preached eight,
ten times a week. I can do that. But I can't make
my heart faithful. I can't do it. I can't put away the lust of
my flesh. Can't do it. Can't do it. Can't. But I believe God. And believe
him I do. As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Alright, look at verse
9. I'll quit. Will you or will you not receive
the witness of God? Give up your old profession.
Just give it up. Throw it away. It wasn't nothing
but trash. Sooner you give that up, better
off you'll be. Give up your old religion. It wasn't nothing but
garbage. Sooner you give that up, better off you'll be. Will
you or will you not believe on the Son of God? If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is great. For this is the witness of God,
which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the
Son hath the witness in himself. Faith echoes what God says. He
that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth
not the record God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God
has given us eternal life. And this life is in the Son. He that hath the Son hath
life. Shelby and I went to bed late
last night, early this morning. We were both exhausted. I said,
I'll give you something good to go to bed on. I read it early
yesterday morning. I forgot who said it. Give you
something to take home with you. One of the old writers said,
he that hath but a grain of grace must die to discover how rich
he is. He that hath the son hath life, hath not life. These things have
I written to you that believe on the name, the revelation of
the Son of God. Our Lord's name is what He is,
not just the name Jesus, His name is what He is. That you
may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe
on the Son of God.