Richard Baxter once made a statement that has often been quoted from this pulpit. He said, I preach as a dying man to dying men as one who might never preach again. If ever I could learn this, and you men who preach could learn this, we speak to men and women who live on the brink of eternity who are but a breath from eternity that keep us from playing little theological religious games with folks and debating trivial nonsense with folks. And it might make us a little more honest with people we preach to and with ourselves.

I have a struggle in my own soul constantly And I'm honest constantly. I don't share it much openly with anyone except with God himself. Folks ask me frequently, you know, they write to me or meet me after service somewhere when I preach, they call me, do you think so and so saved? I get so sick of hearing it. I have difficulty determining whether or not I am. And I dare not presume that you are. I dare not presume that. I love you dearly and because I love your soul for the glory of God, I must be honest with you. If you lean on a false refuge, if you make a refuge of lies for yourself, I hope God will enable me to tear every fabric of that refuge out from under you and that he will tear it out from under me.

So pastor, how can you talk like that? I recognize that most people in this world, most people in this religious world, if I understand the teaching of this book, and I'm certain I do, most of them, most of them in most churches are just as lost as they can be, good churches and bad, most of them. Many profess faith in Christ, but very few possess it. Most people have been deceived with some form of human religion and they walk in that broad way that leads to destruction, which all men approve of. I'm equally certain that most who profess and practice the same things I do. Most who profess and practice the same doctrines, the same ordinances, the same manner of life that I do, are still unconverted.

Is that what the scripture teaches? I hear the word in the parable of the sower, This one hears it, and it's like seeds on stony ground, just vanishes away. Another hears it, and it's like seeds that's sown out here, and the birds gather it up, and it goes away. Another hears it, and it's like seeds sown among thorns, and care of the world, and the seedfulness of riches choke out the word. And then there's one over here. He got it. He got it. The seed was sown in his heart by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, who prepared the soil of his heart to receive the good word of God.

I said, Pastor, do you think this applies to me? It just might. If I cared for my soul, I'd sure listen like it did. I've been studying this for this message since late last night with my own self in mind. And I've had it on my mind all day today, and I have just now finished preparing it, and I want to give it to you.

So, Pastor, how can anybody have real assurance if you struggle? How can anybody have real assurance if most people who profess faith are lost? Well, I'll tell you this. Anybody who tries to convince you you're saved doesn't know God. Anybody. Ralph Barnard said it, and I fully believe he knew exactly what he was talking about. He said, the only man who'll try to convince a lost man he knows God is another lost man. Only one. I'm not here to try to convince you of something that's not so. So we'll give you some scripture verses. Scripture verse assurance is kind of like birth certificate assurance that you're alive. Utterly useless. Utterly useless. Well, how can anybody know that they're saved? By bringing their faith to the word of God. and in examining their faith. And that's the only way. Only God, the Holy Spirit, can give you the assurance of his work, and he gives it only by his word.

This is what the psalmist David said. We ought to learn to pray like this. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Now, Paul, that was man after God's own heart. That's one of the most remarkable men who ever lived. That man who walked with God from his youth to his dying breath. He says, search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me. God, prove me, prove me, prove me, not to anybody but me. Prove me and know my heart. You can bake on it, he does. He's the only one who does, but he does. And see if there be any wicked way in me. A better translation would be, see if I'm in the way of wickedness. There's not any question, there's a wicked way in you. There's not any question about that. David's concern was, am I in that way, which is the way of the wicked? And if I am, God, don't leave me there. lead me in the way everlasting.

Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 13 for a moment. 2 Corinthians chapter 13. I may come back to this again another time, but here's Paul's exhortation. I say Paul's, it's not really his, it's God's exhortation. God the Holy Spirit is one who inspired these words.

He says in verse five, 2 Corinthians chapter 13, examine yourselves. Yourselves. That's the toughest person there is in this world to examine, Lindsay. Toughest one. Harder to be honest with yourself before God than to be honest about anything else in this world. Examine yourselves.

I love that dear blonde-headed lady sitting back there. In my eyes, She is one of the most remarkable human beings I've ever met. The most remarkable, remarkable. But I can't examine her soul. You got to do that. You got to do that. Examine yourself.

I've had folks say, well, I can tell a Christian as soon as I talk to him. No, you can't. No, you can't. But what are you supposed to examine? How long you wear your hair, how much you watch TV, how much you read your Bible, how much you pray, how often you go to church, how much money you give? No. All of those things will indeed be affected by true faith in Christ. But here's the issue. Whether you be in the faith.

Well, I know I am, preacher. I used to be mean. I used to be bad to drink, I used to be bad to cuss, and I went to revival meeting, and they talked me into making a profession of faith, and I know God was in that thing, because I turned my life around. Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you? except you be reprobates.

Now, Jimmy Ray is talking to you and me. Prove yourself. Is Jesus Christ in you? You better find out, lest you wind up reprobate like the rest of the damned.

Now, this is what I'm saying. This is what the book teaches us. We must prove ourselves by Holy Scripture and by the Word of God, make our calling and election sure, else we have no grounds for confidence and assurance before God. I can't give a certain formula by which assurance may be gained, but I do know this. There are at least three graces. created in the hearts of every true believer, of everyone who is born of God's spirit. And if you and I are born of God's spirit, if we are in the faith, if we have that gift of God's grace called eternal life, these three things are in us. They're in us. Now you can bank on it. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 13, I'm not going to take the time to read the preceding 12 verses, but I'd recommend you read them carefully. In verse 13, the apostle writes by inspiration and says, now abideth faith, hope, charity. Charity. I'll use the word love. Charity is really a better translation, if you understood what charity is. Charity is an unconditional, unqualified, free, spontaneous gift. That's God's love. Free, unconditional, unqualified, spontaneous, benevolence, kindness, and commitment.

Now abideth faith, hope, love. These three. But the greatest of these is love. You know how I read that? I don't know why, Lindsay, I'm surprised that he made that last statement. The greatest of these is love, not faith, not even hope, but love. Love doesn't save, no. Love is the result of God's salvation, but the greatest of these, faith and hope. Now we're said to be saved by faith. We're said to be saved by hope. But Paul says the greatest of these is love. Now hang on to that and I'll show you why.

All right, now I've got three questions. Spirit of God, stick them in my heart and answer them for me and for you. Do I have the faith of God's elect? Do I? I know faith is a gift of God. We believe according to the working of God's mighty power. I know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But do I have that faith, which is the faith of God's elect?

I wish I could get the ear of all my brethren, as well as the rest of the world, and understand this statement. True saving faith is concerned with one thing. Only one thing. Only one thing. And Oscar ain't nothing else much worth discussing. It's true saving faith is just concerned with one thing. Jesus Christ crucified. That's it. It's concerned with the person and work of Christ. The Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Rhodians, they came to our pastor and they asked him all kinds of questions. They were religious folks with religious training. They'd been catechized and scrutinized and educated and they'd had their creeds and they had their confessions and they had everything lined up and they asked all kinds of questions. They could debate theology for days on end and never draw a breath. He's asked you one thing, what think you of Christ? What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? And I'm telling you that true faith in Christ has to do only with Jesus Christ himself. It's taking God and his word, it's believing what God says with regard to his son as it's set forth in Holy Scripture. It is submitting to the revelation of God in Scripture with regard to his son. Faith is trusting, believing, receiving Christ as he's revealed in the book of God. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. It doesn't matter what else you have.

And yet saving faith is more than a mental assent to the truth of divine revelation. John Owen, who lived in the 1600s, made this statement, and it's even more pertinent in our day. He said, 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. The devils believe and tremble. That's right. Saul of Tarsus, that proud, doting Pharisee, that proud, persecuting man, was as thoroughly orthodox before God saved him as he was after God saved him. He believed all the Old Testament scriptures and all the letter of the law. He just didn't know God. That's his only problem. He just didn't know Christ.

You see, saving faith is a work of the heart. It is a willful, deliberate, voluntary confidence of my heart in the power and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is trusting the merits of God's dear Son for all my hope before God. That's it. That's it. It is the commitment of myself to Him.

Oh, commitment. Hard to talk about commitment in religion because folks don't know anything about it in any other aspect of life. Commitment. Bill and Michelle just got married. Committed to one another. Lock, stock, and barrel. come hell or high water. Doesn't matter what comes down the pike. Doesn't matter what changes or doesn't change. Doesn't matter what difficulties arise or don't arise. Just doesn't matter. Commitment doesn't consider anything except the one to whom it's committed. That's all. Committed to Christ.

This is what our Lord said. Turn over to Luke chapter 14. I'll show you what I'm talking about. Luke chapter 14. You see, if you believe God, If Bobby Estes, Buddy Darty, and Don Fortner believe God, if we believe Him, if we believe Him, if we believe Him, we so believe Him, Buddy, that we commit everything to Him. Perfectly? No. Not by an indescribably long shot. Consistently? Yeah. Entirely? Yeah. Everything. Everything is Will's best. His purpose is best. His decree is best.

Luke chapter 14, verse 25, there went great multitudes with him and he turned and said to them, the Lord Jesus, he wasn't much of a soul winner. He'd never make it as a preacher on the circuit these days. No, he didn't make it in his day. If any man come to me, you want to follow me? You want to be my disciple? And hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and himself also. He can't be my disciple.

What on earth does that mean? Exactly what you think it means. Exactly. That means Shelby Fortner cannot stand in my way walking with my God. Neither her praise nor her frame. Neither what pleases her or what displeases her. Neither consideration of what's best for her or what's not best for her. You do not consider anything but me and my will. If you'll follow me, the master says. That's what he said when he said, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. When he says he hated Esau, all he's declaring is that he gave no consideration to Esau. And I'm telling you that if you would follow Christ, if I would follow Christ, if we would follow Christ, we must give no consideration to anything but him. That's all. And just to the degree we consider anything or anybody else, we're not following him.

Let's see if that's what he says. Whosoever doth not bear his cross to come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you intend him to build a tower, saideth not down first and counteth the cost? Whether he hath sufficient to finish it, lest happily after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, everybody comes by and begins to laugh at him. Saying, this man, verse 30, began to build and was not able to finish. But what king going to make a war against another king, saideth not them first to consulteth, whether or not he can whip the devout side of the fellow, whether he can with 10,000 meet him that cometh against him with 20,000, or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an ambassage and desires conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you. that forsaketh not all that he has. He cannot be my disciple.

Well, now you're talking about good, faithful Christians. They ain't any other kind. Well, what about those carnal Christians? They're no such an animal. What about those folks who just accept Jesus as their Savior, but haven't yet bowed to Him as their Lord? They're no such animal.

If Samuel believed the Son of God, he bows to the Son of God as his Lord in the totality of his being. True faith in Christ. is a persevering commitment to him. The just shall live by faith. They all do. They all do.

Here's another question. The Apostle Paul in Romans 8 24 says we're saved by hope. Well, do I have the hope of the gospel? Where there is true faith in the heart, there is also a confident hope of the gospel. Paul says that a man who is saved cannot be moved away from the hope of the gospel. Colossians 1.23, you can't drive him off. You can't get him away from it.

Faith unites us to Christ. Faith brings us all the blessings of grace and salvation in Christ. But hope is the anchor of my soul in the stormy sea of life. It's hope that inspires courage in the midst of trial and trouble. It's hope that causes believers to persevere, looking beyond the things of time to eternity.

Maybe this can be better illustrated than preached on. Turn to 2 Corinthians 4, verse 16. Paul has described him being beaten and shipwrecked, described his dying continually in the flesh. is being constantly persecuted for the gospel sake. And now he says in verse 16, for which cause? We think not. Larry, we just have too many fainting fits for folks who believe God. We get down too quick. We despair too easily. We think not.

But our outward man's perishing, so what? It's supposed to. It's supposed to. Yet the Edward man is renewed day by day. Now look at this. For our light affliction. Find out something about what this man had been talking about just in this chapter, in his own life's experience, and then find a reason to murmur about anything. Find a reason for you and me to gripe about anything. He calls it his light affliction, which is but for a moment, just to look. Whatever affliction we have, it's light compared to what we deserve. Light in comparison with what others have experienced. Light in comparison with the affliction of our Lord. And it's just momentary. It's soon gonna be over. Works for us are far more exceeding and eternal way to go.

And that's what that means, Oscar. That means heaven's going to be better because Earth's been so bitter. That's exactly what it means. Why, we look not at the things which are seen, but things which are not seen. For everything you can see is just temporary. Oh, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

I believe I'll go on a while longer. What do I hope for? I hope for everlasting glory. I hope for eternal bliss in perfect righteousness with the smile of God's face uninterrupted forever upon me with approval. Well, preacher, what's the basis of your hope? Christ alone. That's all. Just his righteousness, just his blood. Well, what about your feelings? Martin Luther said, feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. I trust the living word of God, and all else is worth believing. And he was right. He was right.

Sometimes I feel up, sometimes I feel down, and I think maybe when I feel down, I'm up. When I feel down, I'm up. When I feel up, I'm down. My feelings, they'll deceive me.

Well, I know my heart. No, you don't. No, no, you don't. That's one thing you don't know. You don't know your heart. I know this book, and this book declares he that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting And I don't care what passed yesterday, this morning, or 25, or 30, or 35 years ago. I don't care. I forget what's behind right now. This sinner, my God, trust Christ alone. And that's my hope.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest rain, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.

But there's another question. It's more telling than any of the three. His search is deeper and tells more than either of the other two. Do I have the love of Christ in my heart? And I want to tell you what the love of Christ is. It's love for Christ and it's Christ's kind of love. That's what it is. It's love for him and love for you created by him.

The apostle Paul tells us that if we have all other things and have not love, it profits us nothing. When you read this 13th chapter, 1 Corinthians, don't think, well, love's a very great thing. Boy, I sure wish I had some. This is something we must have. The Holy Spirit tells us that this love is something which characterizes those who are born of God. Spurgeon said this is the everyday livery of all God's people. It's that which all of God's people walk in and live in.

not a condition to be met in order to be saved, no. But it is the fruit and the result of God's saving grace. This love is greater than all other gifts and all other graces. It's a marvelous thing to have understanding in the word of God. A marvelous thing to have gifts and abilities to preach the gospel of God's grace. But oh, there's no gift in the world like brotherly love. It's called the fulfilling of the whole law. And where this love is absent, all grace is absent, no matter what else is there.

The love of Christ or the absence of it, say, well, that's not very That's not something you can stick your finger on. You got to have something more than that. I beg your pardon. Love's the most definable thing in this world by anybody who lives on this earth. Somebody said, well, how do you know when you meet somebody who loves you? Man, you won't need me to tell you. How do you know when you meet the person you love? You won't need me to tell you.

You read verses four through seven of this 13th chapter. Love is what causes a person to be kind, patient, content, gentle, even-tempered, humble, self-denying, generous, honest, truthful, forbearing, and forgiving. That's not too hard to understand, is it? You say, I don't know anybody like that. Well, you haven't met anybody who knows God. I know somebody like that. That's somebody who knows God.

And love is preferable to all other gifts and greater than all other graces because that's the only thing we have on this earth we're going to carry with us to glory. The only thing. Jonathan Edwards wrote a book one time called Heaven, A World of Love. That's a pretty good description. Pretty good description. Faith will be no more when we see him face to face. Hope will be no more when we possess heaven's glory. But love, that's eternal. That's forever.

Oh, God, teach me to love my Redeemer and to love you, his people, for the glory of his name. Amen.