If you'll turn back in your Bibles,
please, to the book of Galatians, the third chapter. I'd like to read verse 13 and
14. Verse 13 and 14. It's good to
see each one of you out this morning. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. There are many interesting verses
in the third chapter of the book of Galatians I just mentioned
just a couple of them to you here. Notice verse 6, if you
will. It says, even as Abraham believed
God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And then verse 26, for you're
all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Now, they're
much said in this chapter as to how God reconciles poor, lost,
ruined, held deserving sinners unto himself. We see that it's
through faith in Christ Jesus. Now we begin here in verse 13.
I want to speak on this phrase, Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. I want to talk about redemption.
Redemption, the redemption of Christ and it's proof and it's
proof in our own souls. And it pleases me to say at the
outset this morning of our message that redemption is not something
that Christ makes possible or provides to which man must add
his part. I'm glad to say this morning
that redemption is not something that we must add something to. The redemption of Jesus Christ
is complete. It's not something that Christ
has left undone which man must complete. Somewhere or another
we've got to do something to complete the redemption of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Redemption is something which
Christ hath effectually accomplished for God's elect by his death
on the cross. And the songwriter said, Hallelujah
tis done, I'm redeemed by God's Son, I'm saved by the blood of
the crucified one. Now, the word redemption, it
denotes to buy out. It means to buy up. Especially,
it refers to the purchasing of a slave with a view to his freedom. It's what the word really is
talking about. And it's talking about to release
on the receipt of a ransom. In other words, when somebody
is paid for Here's a slave on the market and there's a debt
due if that slave would go free and somebody walks up and volunteers
to pay the debt in order that that slave might go free. Well,
this is just exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ has done on
the behalf of all of his elect. The Lord Jesus paid what we owe
the justice of God in order that we might be released, that we
might be free. Now, let me say a little bit
about the method of redemption. The method of redemption, this
was substitutionary satisfaction. That's the method that God used
to release and to free all of his elect from the bondage of
sin and the penalty of sin. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. This is substitutionary satisfaction. Now how did the Lord, how did
he save us? He saved us by being made. He delivered us from the curse.
He redeemed us by being made a curse for us. Now that's substitution. That's
what it is. Now Christ took our place on
the cross and bore the curse of sin in our room instead and
in our place. That's exactly what we mean by
substitutionary satisfaction. We mean that Christ took our
place, that Christ stood in for us, that Christ volunteered to
pay all that we owed in order that we might obtain a release
from the justice of God and would not be held responsible any longer
for the debt of sin. Our sins were all imputed, they
were all accredited to the Lord Jesus Christ and he was slain
in our stead upon that cursed tree. Now before God could, in
justice, justify guilty sinners for their sin, sin must be punished
to the full extent of the infinite wrath of God and be put away,
and the Lord Jesus Christ has done just that. He suffered to
the full extent of the infinite wrath of God. The Lord Jesus
Christ suffered and He put away our sin and paid our sin debt
to the full. Now the people redeemed are Abraham's
spiritual seed. They're God's elect. They're
God's covenant people. They're those that Christ died
to redeem. They're those that are truly
the redeemed of the Lord. And Christ did not die to redeem
all men, all of the human race, all of Adam's race, but he died
to redeem Abraham's spiritual seed. He died to redeem the covenant
people, those that were given to Christ before the foundation
of the world as a love gift. And it's a very foolish thing
to speak of men in hell being redeemed. It's as foolish to
speak of men in hell having been redeemed by the blood atonement
of Jesus Christ as it would to speak of them as being saved
in that awful place. Now we know that nobody in hell
is saved. We know that people that die
and go to hell, that they're lost forever, eternally ruined,
eternally separated from God, and cannot ever enjoy the benefits
and blessings that Christ brought on Mount Calvary. But nevertheless,
there are people going around saying that Christ died as much
for those that are in hell today as He did for those that are
in heaven. Such cannot be the case, my friend. It cannot be
the case. The Lord Jesus paid the price,
and when He paid the price, He redeemed His people. He redeemed
us. Those who are redeemed, He redeemed,
and they're the only ones that are redeemed. Men who die and
perish, men who die in their sins, men who go off to their
own place when they leave this life are not the redeemed of
the Lord. And also I'd like to say just
a word about the results of Christ's redemption. The result of Christ's
redemption is salvation by faith of all of the elect. That's the
result of His redemption. Christ redeemed us for this purpose. For this purpose that the blessing
of Abraham might come on us. And what was the blessing of
Abraham? The blessing of Abraham It's
spelled out over here in verse 6 when it said Abraham believed
God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. The blessing
of Abraham is that he believed God and God accredited righteousness
to him sufficient to save him and sufficient to take him to
heaven and for him to be numbered among all of the holy people
of God in eternity. That's the blessing that came
on Abraham. He just believed God. And God made him righteous
enough to go to heaven. He was a sinner. But God made
him righteous. And he was able to go to heaven.
And this is the blessing. And this is the purpose of the
redemption of Jesus Christ. That the blessing of Abraham
might come on us. That the blessing of God's grace
might be ours, that it might belong to us who are the chosen
of God, that it would be ours in experience, and that we might
receive the promise of the Holy Spirit through faith. And that's
exactly what verse 14 spells out here, that the blessing of
Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we
might receive the promise of the Holy Spirit, the promise
of God's Spirit through faith. and that we might be owned by
the Lord, Him giving us this earnest of His Spirit, putting
it within us, and this all by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Christ's redemptive atonement,
effectually, let me make that clear to you. When I say effectually,
I mean it secured the salvation of God's elect which we receive
through faith and this is very important, we receive it through
faith but it was secured by the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. That made it sure. Now you can
count on this beloved that if God in Christ redeemed your soul,
that sooner or later there is going to be given to you the
experience of regeneration and faith in Christ will be imparted
to your heart, to your soul. Now notice this, faith does not
justify us, Christ is our justification, but faith receives justification. Faith receives it. Now faith
does not sanctify or set a man apart unto God. Christ is our
sanctification. We're set apart unto God, made
holy unto God by the Lord Jesus Christ and by His work on our
behalf. But faith receives this sanctification
which is of God. Now faith does not redeem us.
Christ is our redemption. He is our full Redeemer. But faith receives this redemption. It receives it. Faith receives
it into the soul. Faith is not the instrument by
which salvation is accomplished. Christ is our salvation from
A to Z, beloved. But faith is the channel. through
which salvation flows into our soul. And this faith is the blood-bought
gift of Christ to His elect, to His redeemed people. This
faith that is spoken of throughout this third chapter of the book
of Galatians. This faith is the blood-bought
gift of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is a gift to His elect
covenant people. Now then, faith is not a meritorious
work of man's free will by which he gives virtue and merit and
efficacy to the righteousness and the shed blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. No, it isn't. Now, we hear this
in Arminian circles all the time. We hear that faith is the cause
of regeneration. Men are called upon to believe
God in order that they might be redeemed, in order that they
might be saved, in order that they might have salvation. They're called upon to believe.
But my friend, let me tell you this this morning, faith is not
a work of man. Faith is not man's work. We know
that men believe, but they believe only when they're enabled of
God to believe. And they believe when God gives
them faith to believe. Faith is a gift of God. And God
is not in the business of calling upon men to do that which would
give merit and efficacy to the righteousness and shed blood
of Christ. He asks for no such thing. My
friend, He gives the faith. that enables the people of God
to receive that which the Lord Jesus Christ has sovereignly,
effectually accomplished upon the cross. And He gives it to
them because Christ did effectually secure it for them upon the cross. And if He hadn't done it for
them, they would have never received the faith to believe that He
did. And this is to be understood. Faith is the free gift of God's
grace sovereignly bestowed upon His elect. We receive the benefits
of Christ's effectual atonement by faith. Faith is not to any
degree the agent or the cause of redemption, but it is the
result of redemption. Now if you can, you can keep
these things clear in your mind. I want you to study these things.
I want you to think about these things. It's a difference between
death and life, beloved. And it's a difference between
a lie and the truth. When anyone tells you that faith
is the cause of regeneration, and faith is the cause of redemption,
and faith is the cause of salvation, they're lying to you. It's not
the truth. It is not the truth. Faith, my
friend, comes to a man because he is redeemed. Because he has
been redeemed. Faith comes because God by the
Holy Spirit breathes the breath of life into his soul and he's
made to come to life spiritually and he's enabled to believe and
repent. He's able to trust Christ because
he's alive now from the dead. He's alive unto God. Now do you
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Now that's a question, do you
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Now if you do, it's because you
were redeemed by Christ at Calvary. All who were redeemed by Christ,
they come to faith in Him. They eventually, sometime between
the cradle and the grave, they come to faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ if they were redeemed by Him. If He was made a curse
for them, then my friend, they sooner or later, He must be made
the righteousness of God in Him, the sinner. Sooner or later he
will come to that experience now hear me out this morning
all who were redeemed then Comes to Christ and comes to Christ
the faith and that is because they were Redeemed at Calvary
now let us talk a little bit about this faith, which is the
evidence of our redemption Let's talk about this faith a little
bit that comes to the sinner which is proof of the fact that
the Lord Jesus did die for him on Calvary's cross. Now listen
to me, there's no sinner alive that if he is conscious of his
sin, if he's aware of his sinfulness, if he's aware of the debt that
he owes God, if he's aware of the fact that he was born in
a state of nature separated and alienated from God, and that
he was deserving of the wrath and the judgment of God by nature,
there's no sinner alive who wouldn't be interested to know that Christ
did, sure enough, redeem him of Calvary. and that he was redeemed,
brought back in Calvary, and that there is no debt. He rejoiced
in light. He rejoiced to know this. Don't ever sinner hear this one,
don't you rejoice to know this? That there is evidence that you
were redeemed and that the curse of the law was satisfied on your
behalf. Now listen to me now. Assurance
in the Word of God is based upon faith. It's based upon faith. Now listen to this. The Scripture
never speaks of assurance of love. The Scripture never speaks
of assurance of works or the assurance of experience. The
Scripture never does. The Scripture only speaks of
the full assurance of faith. The full assurance of faith,
Hebrews 10 and 22. Let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith. And then in Hebrews 6 and 11
it speaks of the full assurance of hope. And hope is built upon
faith, beloved. This faith is the gift of God
the Holy Spirit brought in and given to God's elect in regeneration
by the preaching of the gospel. James 1 and 18 says, of his own
will begat he us with the word of truth that we might be a kind
of first fruit of his creatures. True faith is based upon and
born of the knowledge of the gospel. Remember that true faith
is based upon and born of the knowledge of the gospel. Now
no one can, will, ever trust Christ until they see a few things. Now just notice with me. Now
this is what faith is built upon. First of all, we must come to
the understanding, we must see that we need a substitute. that we cannot stand before God
ourselves. We cannot stand before God and
give an answer to God and meet the demands of God at the judgment. We cannot. If there's anybody
here thinks that you're going to go before God at the judgment
and that you're going to be able to stand there before God and
intercede for yourself on your own behalf and tell a story that
God's going to accept, you're foolish. You're foolish. The
first thing you need to learn, and before a man can ever come
to such knowledge as would enable him, I think God brings every
sinner to this, is that we need a substitute. We need one. We've got to have one. Somebody,
if I'm going to get out of this thing without spending eternity
in hellfire, somebody's got to stand up for me. Somebody's got
to stand in my place. Somebody's got to stand in my
room. Somebody's got to love me and
take my place. And my friend, not one in a thousand,
only one in a thousand, the Lord Jesus Christ can stand before
God as a mediator and take my place. And also I think that
a man's got to have some concept of how God can be just and the
justifier of the ungodly through the merits of Christ. How can God remain just and forgive
you of your sin, of your transgression and iniquity? How can he do that?
How can he be just? Well, he can only remain just
and be the justifier of the ungodly by imputing all your sin to Christ
and by imputing Christ's righteousness unto you. That's the only way
that he can remain just and save you. Now then, and also I think
that he must understand something about that salvation is by grace
alone. That we as poor, lost, ruined,
hell-deserving sinners destined to die and spend eternity separated
and alienated from God. That the only way that we can
be saved is by grace alone. That we have no merit. It must
be free grace. Now this is what faith is built
upon. We believe these things in our
hearts and the faith that God gives to his elect believes all
of this. It believes this. That's what
that faith believes. That salvation is free grants.
The faith of God's elect just simply doesn't believe that salvation
is a work that God and man enters into, and that it's a work that
we just mutually contribute to, and finally, if we all give enough,
that the Lord will accept us as saved. It's not true. It's
not true. Salvation is not something you
and God get together and mix this up. Salvation is something
that is free gratis. God gives it fully and freely
to sinners, to his elect people. He gives it free gratis. Free
gratis. Is the salvation you got free?
Is the salvation you got, did it come free gratis? I mean,
did you contribute or did God do it entirely and completely? Well, being a sinner like myself,
It had to be free grass. I mean, every bit had to be given
to me. I don't know how it is with you. I don't know how it
is with other people. You might have had something
you thought you could contribute, but I didn't have anything. I
had nothing. I was completely broke. I mean,
I was in debt, and I could not raise it. It had to be free gratis. And when God gave me faith to
believe that he provides what he demands from the sinner, then
I latched on to that because I needed it all. And that's the
only way I could be saved and spared eternal damnation. Now this faith in Christ is the
sure and certain and infallible evidence and proof and assurance
of eternal salvation. Did you get that? If you got
this faith, that believes what I'm telling you here today, if
you got it, it is sure and certain infallible evidence. It's proof
and it's the assurance of eternal life, if you got it. Now I say
again, that faith is not the cause of grace. Faith is not
the cause of salvation. I want to get that driven into
your heart. It's not the cause of it, and
it's not the cause of eternal life. You got the faith because
God has provided these things for you on Calvary's Mount. The faith is given to God to
believe it because it's true. It happened on your behalf. Now
then, faith is the proof and the evidence of these things. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews
chapter 11, look at verse 1. Hebrews 11 and 1, now faith is
the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things
not seen. Now you just watch this just
a little bit. Now, note here that faith is
the substance of things hoped for. That word substance means
faith is the essence, that it's the certainty, and it's the assurance. I am a child of God. I am saved.
I am his child. We are all the children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus is what the scripture says. Now faith
then is the proof of this. Faith is
the proof of things past, done in eternity, but not seen. by the eye of man. Faith is proof
that that name, as we said, is in that book. That's a blessing
to me. Now, it is the proof of my election. It's the proof of my election
and interest in the covenant of grace. And also, faith is
the proof of things done in time, though now unseen, like the creation
of the world. People have trouble with the
creation. What the Bible teaches about the creation in Genesis,
I don't have any trouble with I believe I just believe it Can't
explain all there is about it, but I believe it and faith is
the evidence substance of things not seen Okay, and not only that
but it's also to me. It's a proof of the righteousness
established by Christ. I I believe what the testimony
of scripture about the Lord Jesus Christ living in this world,
living vicariously for me. I believe that. And for all the
elect. I believe that when he lived, he lived for his people.
I believe that everything Christ done in response to God and to
the law of God, the holy law of God, that what he was in his
person and what he did in his work, that it was for me. I believe that. I believe that. I wasn't there, but I believe
it. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen by the eye. And also the redemption accomplished
by Christ. I wasn't at the cross, I was
in Christ at the cross, but I did not as a spectator view him upon
the cross that day when he died hanging between heaven and earth.
I was not there viewing that scene. But faith tells me He
died on that cross. Faith tells me that I was in
Him when He died on that cross. Faith is the proof of that, and
then my justification in Him. And faith is the proof also of
future things now unseen. For an example, the resurrection
of the dead. Do you believe in the resurrection of the dead?
Every child of God believes in the resurrection from the dead.
Well, we just believe it, don't we? I've never seen nobody resurrected
from the dead. I've seen some people spiritually
resurrected from the dead, and everybody that comes here that
says that God saved them, we bury them in a liquid grave. We do because we believe in the
resurrection. We believe that Jesus Christ
arose from the dead, and all of his people arose in him, and
we believe there's coming a day when all of God's people are
going to come out of the graves. Every one of them. Every one
that was buried in the faith of Christ. That they all will
come out, and we bury them in sure and certain hope of the
resurrection. Well, how do we know that? We
just believe it, that's all. We just believe it. This is a
faith situation. We believe it because God's given
us faith to believe it. And so it's sure to us, it's
the evidence. Faith is the substance of things
not seen. Okay, so we believe in the resurrection
and we also believe in the judgment. How can we preach judgment? How
can we preach that God's going to call the world before Him
in the great general judgment? How can we preach that unless
we believe it? Well, we've often heard men set
the scene of the judgment and describe what's going on there
at that great judgment. Well, we only can do that if
we believe God and also our eternal glory in and with Christ. We see it by faith only at this
time. It's faith that enables that
to be sure to us. I believe in future glory, don't
you? Absolutely, I believe in future glory. I believe in a
time when we're going to be glorified together with Christ. I believe
that. I've got evidence of it. Faith
is the evidence. Now then, what I'm saying is
this. It boils right down to this. that if you this morning
can now believe of the Lord Jesus Christ being enabled to do so
by God, I assure you upon the authority of God's word that
you have a saving interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. I can
assure you that if you can believe. Now then we read in 1 John 5
and 1, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of
God. Is born of God. Whosoever believeth
is born of God. Not born of God because they
believe, but believe because they're born of God. They're
born of God and they believe. Now if you can believe, it's
because you're born of God. You're born of Him. Now, these
things in 1 John 5 and 13, it says, Have I written to you that
believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that
you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of
the Son of God. Well, where is your evidence?
Where is your evidence? We claim to be Christians. We
hope that we're the children of God, heirs of God, joint heirs
with Jesus Christ. We hope that we're one of God's
elect. We hope that we've been redeemed
by the blood of the crucified one, the Lord Jesus Christ. We hope that we've been called
by grace, effectually called by the grace of God. But where
is the evidence of it? Where is the evidence of it? We hope it's true. Now if we
can rightfully claim to that eternal salvation which is in
Christ Jesus with full assurance and confidence, we must be able. Because the devil will demand
that you be able to do it! And your own soul will require
that you be able to do it! And you will not be able to lay
down on your deathbed and have any peace unless you're able
to do it. I'm telling you, it's going to
be demanded of you that you be able to do it, to prove that
it is ours by the evidence that God has given in His Word. And that's The thing that we're
driving at now, do you have the evidence? Where's the evidence
that your name is written in the book of life? Where's the
evidence that you're a child of God, called by grace? Where's
the evidence that this is all true, that God's free, greatest
gave you everything He demanded of you? Where's the evidence
of it? I'm telling you, it's going to be demanded of you that
you produce it. Where's the evidence? Sooner
or later, The devil never lets you get through this world saying
you're a Christian, you're going to have to have the proof of
it. Now listen to me. No. Of this I'm sure. Of this I'm
very sure. Of this I'm certain. That no
experience of grace, no experience, no feeling of spirituality, or
work that is performed by me, past or present or future, is
evidence that I am a child of God. Now did you get that? No
work of mine, no experience, no spiritual feeling that I've
had. Nothing that is performed by
me can be an evidence of my eternal life. Now I just want to prove
this to you. Now you turn over with me to
Matthew chapter 7. I want you to look at this. This is very
important that you see this. If you can, you listen to me
in the next few minutes here. I'll be done just shortly, but
you listen to what I'm telling you. Listen to verse 21 through
23 of Matthew 7. I'm telling you, not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth a will of my Father which is
in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, in thy name have
cast out devils, in thy name done many wonderful works? And
then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from
me ye that work iniquity. And this seals it in my mind
forever that an individual just simply having as a basis for
his assurance his works, what he's experienced, that it'll
never suffice. It will not get you by. The Lord
said to these people, they said, we've cast out devils in your
name. They said, we've done many wonderful works in your name.
And the Lord said, depart from me, I never knew you. You workers
of iniquity, you religious workers of iniquity, I never knew you.
This won't get it. I know that all who are born
of God do experience repentance and faith and conversion. All
believers experience conviction. All believers experience inward
conflict with sin. All of them experience love,
joy, peace in their soul. They have spiritual feelings. All God's children do. And God's
children all walk in good works. But these things may all be counterfeited
for Satan. Don't forget it. They can all
be counterfeited. If your assurance is built on
these things, either you are a proud, self-righteous hypocrite
deceiving your own heart with a refuge of lies, or you have
no real faith and confidence before God at all. Now hear me
out. You cannot base your assurance
on what you feel and on what you've done. You can't base it
on that. It won't work. Hear me. And those
graces and works which may convince others that I'm a child of God
can never convince my own heart and my own conscience that I'm
a child of God. Now let me explain that to you.
Even the fruit of the Spirit is no sure evidence to me that
I am a child of God. I may have some of the fruit,
I may be loving, I may be gentle, I may be meek, I may be all of
these things, but that's no evidence, that may be evidence to you,
but it ain't none to me. It may be evidence to you that
I'm a child of God, but it cannot convince me in my conscience
and heart that I'm a child of God. Now listen to me. There are some things by which
we know one another as well as men can to be believers. There's just some things that
tells us that others are believers and that tells them that we're
believers. But these things cannot convince
us ourselves that we are believers. Now let me explain this. Good
works for an example. Matthew 5 and verse 16 says that
we ought to do good works that we might glorify our Father in
heaven, that men might see our good works, glorify our Father
which is in heaven, our Father. In other words, it would tell
them, these people have good works, that's because their Father
is in heaven. They're children of God. Now
then, the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 and et cetera,
these things as we see them in one another's lives give evidence
that we are the children of God. But our conscience, like the
law of God, demands perfection and will not allow me assurance
upon the ground of my sinful works and my corrupt fruit. I've never in my life seen anybody's
life as a Christian whose the fruits of their life was perfect. Did you? Perfect. I've seen people
that I thought was a dear child of God. I said, they must be
children of grace. I believe them to be. But I've
never seen anybody whose fruit was perfect. But listen to me
now this morning. My conscience, your conscience,
like the law of God, demands Perfection. Something's got to
be perfect in this situation. Not my sinful works. And not my corrupt fruit. Listen, even love for my brethren
is no evidence of a saving interest in Christ to my own heart. I
may love you and it may tell you that I'm a Christian. Your
love to me may tell me that you're a Christian, but it can't convince
my own heart of it. Something else, our love for
one another convinces us of another salvation. 1 John 3 and 14 says
that we know we pass from death to life because we have love
for the brethren. And convinces us of others of
our salvation. John 13 and 35 says about this.
Shall all men know that you're my disciples, because you have
love one to another. In other words, other people
can use it for a basis, but we ourselves cannot use it. But my love for my brethren is
not anything like the perfect love described by Paul in 1 Corinthians
13. I want you to look back there
with me, if you will, right quick. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, I'll
read verses 4 through 8. And I want to just read this
to you to show you that our love is not perfect. It's not perfect
and you can't use it as an assurance in your own heart of your salvation. Look at this. Charity suffereth
long. Love suffers long. How long do
you suffer? And is kind. Love envieth not,
love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave
itself unseemingly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked,
thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in
the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth
all things, endureth all things, love never faileth. Now that's
talking about perfect love, brother, sister, is what it's talking
about. Perfect love. But our love is not perfect.
And because it is not perfect, it cannot be an evidence of grace. It cannot be. It cannot be an
evidence of grace, which brings me to say this, that the only
evidence that I have of my saving interest in Christ is faith. in Christ. That's the only evidence
I got. I believe. I trust. I rely upon. My soul's weight
I cast upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That is my only assurance and
my only evidence. I have no clear title to heaven
but by faith. And faith is enough. Faith is enough. We have all
these other things that make each other say, well, I know
sister so and so is a dear sister in the Lord, and she's a child
of God. And we have all these things
that say, well, I believe all the brotherhood is saved, and
I believe all the members of the church, New Covenant Baptist
Church is saved, I believe all of them are saved, and all of
that. But there can't be a one of us
take it individually as an evidence of it. The only evidence is I
believe God. I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I trust Christ. I rely upon Christ. My confidence is in Him and in
His shed blood and His redemptive work. And because I got this
confidence in Him, I know that He died for me. I know that He
answered to God for me. I know that He is mine and I'm
His. Because I got this faith given
by God to my heart. All this other stuff, brother,
sister, is not perfect. But this lays hold of perfection. This lays hold of Him who is
righteous, Him who is altogether lovely. It lays hold of a Christ
who cannot fail. It lays hold of the very purpose
of God in redemption, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's
our evidence of life. Do you believe God today? Do you trust Him right now in
your heart? I'm not asking you about something
you've done last week. I'm asking you about something
right now. Do you believe it now? Do you trust it now? Is the weight
of your soul on Him now? Is that your foundation? Are
you trusting Christ? God says it's enough. And my
conscience says it's enough. My conscience is at peace. And
somebody could say, well preacher, you're not always right about
a lot of things. That's true. Somebody could say, preacher,
I know you've stumped your toe and fell many times. That's true. Preacher, there's some things
you don't measure up in. That's true. But there is one
thing I know. I know that Christ loved me. That God loved me and chose me. And His Son gave me to Christ. And Christ loved me enough to
come and die in my room instead, in place. And I believe it with
all my heart that He's my substitute and that He's my Savior. And
find fault if you want to. This is perfect. No fault can
be found with this. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ alone is our
evidence of salvation. That is our assurance. Nothing
else. Will do I know folks like to
have something else like say preach I just wish you'd got
up here and told me that because I Because I'd give a little money
or because I've done this or because I've done that that I'm
a Christian I just wish you could have assured me. I was a Christian
my friend You must be assured before God in your own soul that
you have the faith of Christ That you believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ That you trust that you rely on you you you you just
shut off everything else There is nothing else but Christ in
view in your soul. That's all you look at. Christ
and His redemptive work. And you say that's enough. Now
look, turn, and I'll close here, turn to John. John's Gospel,
1st John, 1st John it is. Chapter 5. And I want to read
verse 10 through 13. in closing, just to back up and
support what I've said to you today. He that believeth on the
Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth on
the Lord Jesus Christ, he has the witness in himself, testifying
to him that he does believe and that Christ is his. He that believeth
not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the
record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God, that you may know, that you have eternal life, and that
you may just keep right on believing on the name of the Son of God,
because that's the only evidence you've got, that you've got anything
from God. is that you just keep right on
believing. Keep on believing. And brother, sister, that's what
it's about. I don't want any of you to go to your deathbed
saying, well, I was a member of the New Covenant Baptist Church.
Well, I was trying to tell the devil that. The devil never listened
to that. He'll give you no peace on your deathbed if that's all
you've got to talk about. He'll give you no peace on your
deathbed if that's all you've got to talk about is what little
money you've given in your time or what you've done here and
what you've done there. Somewhere else I won't get it. but you
throw it in his teeth. I believe. God gave me faith
one time to believe and I've believed ever since that day
that whatever I was make no difference but he is this and he's that
and he's something else and he's all God demands of a sinner and
I believe that he's mine and I trust him. I rely upon him.
My confidence is in him. My praise is unto him and my
song and eternal goal will be of him who has made me righteous
before God, give me right standing before God on the basis of faith
which God gave me as a gift. That's it. That's it. I'll stake
my life on it. That's it. That's all there is
to it. And we need to come to that and believe that and if
we do, we'll get a little peace, we'll get a little rest. Redemption
and it's proof. It's proof. Do you believe, are
you assured in your heart, not by what your mama said or your
daddy said, not even what the preacher said, but are you assured
in your heart that when Christ died on that cross, he's dying
for you? Are you assured of that? Do you got faith that says, I
just know it's true? That's all. I just know it's
true. You can't take it away from me. It's true. I know it.
I feel it. I know it's there. Faith that
you're a child of God. And that's the evidence, that's
your assurance. That's it. That's it. That's all anybody's
got. Don't let the preacher that says,
I've been preaching for 40 years, I've been doing this for 40,
I've got this. Listen, that don't mean nothing. Don't let the hyper-spiritual
Christians tell you he's got more assurance than you've got.
If you believe Christ died for you, God gave you that faith,
you've got as much as anybody else has got. Most of them's
deluded. They don't know what they're
talking about, not if they're basing it on something besides
what the Bible bases it on. It's faith. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath to witness in himself. That's it. May the Lord bless you. Could
we have a hymn, Mike?