My text this morning is Colossians
chapter 2 and verse 8. Colossians chapter 2 and verse
8. Beware lest any man spoil you,
ruin you, corrupt you, corrupt your faith and spoil your faith
through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, that is, carnal ordinances of religious
practice and ceremony, and not after Christ. Beware, lest any
man by any means turn you subtly with philosophy tradition and
religion away from Christ. We are warned repeatedly to beware
of false religion, false doctrine, and false prophets. Here, Paul
urges us to beware of those who would spoil us with deceitful
religious philosophies and the traditions of men, particularly
those who would spoil us by bringing us back under the rudiments of
this world, those who would again make us subservient to the carnal
ceremonialism, sacramentalism, and legalism that was set forth
in the Jews' religion in the Old Testament. Now this warning
is given, and given repeatedly, because we are all naturally
prone to carnal religion. We are all naturally prone to
self-righteous, free will works, and idolatry. We all want a God
we can see, touch, and handle. We want religion that we can
feel and have something to do with. Did you ever notice how
often in the Old Testament the Lord warned those who worshiped
Him that they must never at any time or for any reason put their
hands upon those things which typified the Lord Jesus Christ? Turn back to Exodus chapter 20.
I want you to look at two passages. Exodus 20 and 1 Chronicles chapter
13. In Exodus 20, after the giving
of the law, Israel said, we're going to do everything God said
we were to do. Moses knew better. But they said,
we can do this. Yes, sir. Oh, we're going to
set our minds to it. We'll keep God's law. And then
the Lord gives Moses specific commands as to how he's to go
about building an altar to him. He says in verse 25, if thou
wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn
stone. And you know what hewn stone
is? Those are rocks you go out in the quarry and you cut them
out and make them fit to the size and shape you want them.
You don't build me an altar out of something you've hewn out
of the quarry. You can't worship God on an altar that you have
made. For if thou lift up thy tool
upon it, thou hast polluted it. Don't you dare lift up your tool
on the altar when you come to God. If you do, you've polluted
it. He says in verse 26, neither
shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar. That is, you don't
walk up my altar and worship me on steps that you've made
so that you gradually step by step ascend a little higher until
finally you've arrived at the place where you can worship God.
Because when you walk up the steps, you're going to show your
nakedness. You're going to show your shame. Now in 1 Chronicles
chapter 13, There are many, many passages.
The Lord spoke to the sons of Korath in Numbers 4, and he says,
Thou shalt not touch any holy thing, lest they die. We're told in Deuteronomy 27,
Moses told Joshua and the children of Israel, when you go over and
inherit the land, you build an altar, an altar of stones, but
thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. And that's exactly
what Joshua did. In 1 Kings, when Solomon built
the house of the Lord, there was neither the hammer, nor axe,
nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in building. Now then, we come to 1 Chronicles
13. David is going down to get the
ark of God. He's been residing away from
Jerusalem. He's going to bring it up now
to Jerusalem, the place where God's going to build his house.
This is the place where the ark is to be. This is the place where
the mercy seats to be. This is the place where the sacrifices
are to be made. A noble, noble desire. He's going
down to fetch up the ark of the covenant, which typified redemption
by the blood of Jesus Christ through covenant grace. That's
what it's all about. And David says, let's go get
it. And they went down and got it and put it. They didn't just
put it anywhere. Man, they built a new cart to
put it on. That'll be good. Don't carry that thing up there
on pieces of wood, just sticks. Oh no! It'd be much more impressive
to put it in a hearst. Let's put this thing on a Cadillac
and tow it up there. And so they'd go get the Ark
of the Covenant and put it on a new cart. But God said, carry it
on staves. And He said, carry it on staves
and don't you touch it. Don't you touch it. Because this
Ark of the Covenant represents redemption. It represents grace. It represents salvation. It represents
Christ. You put your hand on it, Bob,
you polluted it. You put your hand to it, you've destroyed
the whole thing. So David is carrying the Ark
of God up. And look what it says in verse
9. When they came to the threshing floor of Chiton, Uzzah put forth
his hand to hold the Ark. Because the Ark stumbled. Picture
the fall in the ditch. Uzzah puts forth his hand, so
we can't have that thing fall in the mud. God's ark doesn't
need your help. God's salvation doesn't need
you. God will not allow you to put your hand to this thing.
But what happened? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against
Uzzah, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark, and
there he died before God. Let's stand back and look at
this thing now. Looks to me like God means business. Don't you
put your hand on it. Don't you touch any holy thing.
Don't you lift up your tool on any altar when you come to build
an altar before me. Now there is one form of religion
that is even more subtle and just as deadly than Arminianism. freewillism, and works religion. One form of religion which more
subtly promotes the mixture of works with grace than any other. And that is what men call reformed
theology, reformed faith, or reformed doctrine. I am fully
aware that those who call themselves reformed profess to believe the
doctrines of grace. I go, as you know, literally
around the country and around the world preaching the gospel,
and I hear folks talk about the Reformed faith and Reformed doctrine,
Reformed churches. We're Reformed. We're Reformed.
We're Reformed. And they talk about the Reformed
faith and the Reformers and the Puritans more than they do about
the Word of God, Christ, and the gospel of God's grace. They're
concerned very much about Reformed things, but not about the things
of God. Now, I realize the Reformed faith
has become very popular, especially among smug religious people who
think themselves academically superior to others. I'm fully
aware that in preaching this message, I'm going to incur the
wrath of many, but that's all right. The message has been on
my heart and mind for months, literally for years, and it's
got to be delivered. Because about three, maybe four
years ago, Brother Gary Shepard, myself, and several other preachers
were sitting in Cherokee, North Carolina, in our room discussing
this very thing. And Gary and others said, sure,
we should bring a message on that. And it's been kind of stowed
away back here. And I've been working on it.
And after finishing the message last night, I sat down and I
thought, now, have I got this right? Is this really something
that's got to be dealt with? And then I got an email. I just
checked the email right before I went to bed and the same foolish,
religious, legal nonsense again. I got it right. I'm bringing
the message to you because I'm going to deal with some things
that you, if you have not been faced with, you will be faced
with. And you need to be forewarned and forearmed. My concern is
for you, for whose souls I'm responsible before God. I'm concerned
for your eternal welfare, for the glory of God, and for the
truth of God. And therefore, I cannot be silent
when these things are at stake. I want all who hear my voice
to understand clearly, we are not Protestants. I recognize
that in the political, secular world, you fill out a job application,
you're either, well, these days, you know, we've got all kinds
of religions in the world. You could have a list a hundred
yards long. But generally, when I was growing up, you fill out
a job application when they used to be allowed to ask you about
your religious preferences. They'd ask you, are you Catholic
or Protestant? That's it. Catholic or Protestant. Because if you professed anything
concerning Christianity, that's how the whole religious world
looks, everybody, either Catholic or Protestant. But Protestants
are those who came out of the Roman Catholic Church in a protest
movement 500 years ago called the Great Reformation. We didn't
get our eyes there. We didn't begin with the Protestant
Reformation. We do not find our heritage in
the Roman Catholic Church. We are not reformed. There has
never been anything from which we've needed to reform. We didn't
reform doctrine, and we're not in the business of reforming
doctrine. We're Baptists. Now, I realize in this day that
means a lot of different things to a lot of different people,
but I'm not quite ready to give it up yet. We wear the name Baptist
because it simply means baptizers. John the Baptist came and was
called John the Baptist because he baptized many women in the
name of the Lord Jesus. And we who are in the tradition
of John the Baptist ought not be ashamed to wear his name.
We are Baptist, not Protestant, not Reformed. When I speak of
the Reformed doctrine, Reformed faith, or Reformed theology,
I'm basically talking about Presbyterianism and various branches of it. Presbyterianism
is just one denomination of various Reformed pedo-Baptists who claim
to believe the doctrines of grace. And also I'm talking about those
who go by the name of Reformed Baptists. Back in the late 60s,
there was a strong movement in this country and around the world
to establish reformed Baptist churches. And folks went everywhere
setting these things up. And they used a confession of
faith that was developed three years after the Westminster,
a Presbyterian confession was developed. And basically, it
was just written exactly like the Westminster confession of
faith, except for the issue of baptism. Because in reality,
reformed Baptists are really Presbyterians who duck. That's
the only difference. They would really prefer to be
Presbyterians, but they can't bring themselves to sprinkle
water on a baby's face and call it baptism, so they're Reformed
Baptists. You say, well, how can you say that? That's exactly
what one of them told me. One of the most prominent Reformed
Baptist fellows told me years ago, he said, I would be a Presbyterian,
except I just can't bring myself to sprinkle water on that baby's
face and call it baptism. And the fact is, most Reformed
Baptists are exactly that kind. As you know, we have no confession
of faith but the Word of God. No creed but Holy Scripture.
I don't say that with an air of superficial superiority or
piety. I simply state it as a matter
of fact, our only rule of faith and practice is the Word of God. However, as I said, I've been
preparing this message for a while. And for the last three or four
weeks, I've been reading considerably from the confessions of faith
that are most commonly used by Reformed people, the Westminster
Confession and the 1689 Baptist Confession. And I'm going to
refer to those a few times this morning. I'm not going to quote
them probably nearly as often or as fully as I have written
out in my notes. But I want you to see the things I'm saying
are not just drawn out of the air, not just pulled out of my
hat. They're things that are stated plainly, clearly, and
distinctly by men and women who claim to believe the doctrines
of God's free grace. And I guarantee you, you're going
to be shocked. Guarantee you're going to be shocked. I'm bringing
this message to you because these things are not matters of indifference. These issues are not things about
which we can look at and say, well, we'll just agree to disagree
and we'll go on and it'll be all right. These are matters
of vital importance. The fact is any teaching, now
get this, any teaching that mixes the grace of God with something
you do, Any teaching that mixes the grace of God with something
you do for salvation at any point, to any degree, is an utter destruction
of the gospel of God's grace. Is that what the book teaches?
Revelation or Romans chapter 11, verse 6. Look at it. Romans
chapter 11, verse 6. You remember Paul said, if you
be circumcised, Christ your prophet, you nothing. Now this is what
that means. That means if Bob Pottser, in
order to get God's favor, or in order to keep God's favor,
or in order to be assured of God's favor, or in order to improve
your standing in God's favor, if you are circumcised or do
any religious act, That's a broad sweeping statement. If you do anything, anything,
anything, Christ will profit you nothing. Nothing. Oh, but I believe in
Jesus' hand. That's where you messed up. I
trust Christ back. That's where you messed up. Salvation,
trust in Christ. It's not feeling, it's not doing,
it's not learning, it's not coming to, it's simply trusting Christ. Look in Romans 11, verse 6. If by grace, then it is no more
of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's
no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. Now, before I proceed any further,
let me clarify one thing. I know. Somebody will hear this
message, you know, Presbyterian or Reformed Baptist, say, well,
I don't believe that. Please understand, if you don't believe
these five heresies I'm going to deal with, I'm not talking
about you. I'm talking about these five heresies of Reformed
doctrine. Now, I want to show you these
five subtle heresies as they're set forth in these creeds of
the Reformers themselves. The first, I want you to look
at 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy 3 and verse 16. The first heresy of Reformed
doctrine is the heresy of necessary consequence. Now, if you're taking
notes, you wrote that down or writing it down, and as you're
writing it down, you're scratching your head saying, what on earth is
that? Most of you probably never heard tell of it. The fact is,
it is a doctrine that is seldom talked about, but is at the very
root and essence of all reformed doctrine. That is, of all doctrine
that came from and has its roots in Romanism. The doctrine of
necessary consequence is that doctrine which says, this book
contains either explicitly or implicitly all that God would
have us to know of grace and salvation and worship. Now that
sounds pretty good, except for the word implicit. It is the
teaching that our rule and our authority in all things is the
written word of God and that which may be logically and reasonably
deduced from the word of God. In other words, The basis of
our faith, our rule of life, our judgment in doctrine, our
judgment in worship, is founded upon the Word of God and our
brilliant manner of deducing from the Word of God that which
must be deduced from it. You say, well, surely no one
says that. Listen carefully. 1689 Baptist Confession reads,
The sum total of God's revelation concerning all things essential
to His own glory and to the salvation and faith and life of men is
either explicitly set down or implicitly contained in Holy
Scripture. The Westminster Confession is
even more blatant. The whole counsel of God concerning
all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith,
and life is either explicitly or expressly set down in Scripture,
or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture. Now that's just wrong. That destroys
the authority of Scripture altogether. That makes not the Word of God
the final say in anything, but rather your conclusions drawn
from the Word of God. So that you read the Scriptures
and say, well, since this is so, then this must be so. I'll
give you an example. There are many who will hear
you talk about divine predestination and sovereign election. And they
hear us preach that God has chosen men to salvation before the world
began. They say, well, if that's the
case, then y'all preach that He predestinated somebody to
go to hell. He chose some folks to be damned. Now that's the
consequence of man's logic, but man's logic is nonsense. Our
faith is based on the Word of God. Our faith is based upon
that which is plainly written in the Word of God. If I cannot
show you in this book the statement of doctrine that I believe, then
Bobby, I have no right to believe it, to preach it, or expect you
to believe it. If I can't turn to this book and show you why
I believe it. And I lay this on you as well.
Don't you depend on me to be your Bible interpreter. If you
can't go to the Word of God and display from the Word of God
why you believe, what you say you believe, you don't believe
anything. Your faith must stand in the Word of God. If I can't
go to the Word of God and show you why we practice baptism by
immersion, why we observe the Lord's table with bread, unleavened
bread and wine, why we observe it as we do, opening the doors
of the Lord's table to all the Lord's people, if I can't show
you that from the Word of God, then I have no business doing
it, and you have no business listening to me. By the same
token, and I said this, I'm not saying this because I'm standing
here talking to folks in a Baptist church. I said this in a Presbyterian
church in Louisville a few years ago, they asked me to come down
there and preach. I said, now if you fellas can show me somewhere
in this book, anywhere, anywhere, just one example, where anybody
ever sprinkled a little water on somebody's face and called
it baptism, I'll start tomorrow. If you'll show me one place where
anybody ever sprinkled a baby and called it baptism, I'll start
baptizing, I'll go on and baptize every baby in our congregation.
But if you can't show me in this book, you ought to quit. We dare
not add to the Word of God. Listen to what Paul says in 2
Timothy 3. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect,
freely furnished unto all good works. God says, Whatsoever thing
I command you, observe to do it, thou shalt not add thereto,
nor diminish from it. And you better not. You see,
it is this doctrine of necessary consequence which gives way to men writing
creeds and confessions of faith. And it's gone on throughout church
history, not only in what's called Christianity, but in all forms
of religion. Men have gotten together and
they draw up creeds and confessions about what the Word means. And
when they draw up a creed, when they draw up a confession of
faith, they take their creed and lay it on top of the Word
of God, and everything that they do, they do because of the creed. Everything they believe, they
point to the creed. rather than the Word of God, and thus the
Word of God becomes subservient to man's wisdom. And I'm here
to tell you, no sir. Our wisdom must bow to divine
revelation. We must submit to the Word of
God or we utterly spit in the face of God Almighty. We do not
draw up our creeds and confessions. Our creed, our confession is
thus saith the Word of the Lord. All right, secondly. The second
heresy. It's that of conditional grace.
I know people will respond by saying, well, that's simply,
that's absurd. How could anyone dare suggest
that those men in churches known everywhere for preaching unconditional
election, limited atonement, and irresistible grace are teaching
conditional grace? Well, let me show you, again,
in their own words. In the matter of justification,
now listen carefully to this. Lindsay has been doing such a
good job dealing with this matter of justification in Romans 3,
4, and 5. But in this matter of justification,
Reformed doctrine teaches that sinners are justified by the
merit of Christ's blood through the instrumentality of faith. They tell us that we are justified
not when Christ died, not when He satisfied the justice of God,
but when we appropriate the work of Christ to ourselves by personal
faith. Let me read it to you. The Westminster
Confession of Faith says this. Faith receiving and resting on
Christ and His righteousness is the alone instrument of justification. And when the Word of God declares
that we are justified by faith, it does not teach, it does not
imply, it does not suggest that faith is a condition of justification. Or that faith is an instrument
by which we are justified. But rather, faith is the mere
recipient of justification. Our justification was accomplished
by the Son of God when He shed His blood for us at Calvary.
He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. When He said, it is finished,
lo, it was finished. When He made atonement, our sins
were put away. Let me show you in the Scriptures.
Turn to Romans 5, verse 8. This passage Lindsay was dealing
with this morning. Faith merely receives justification
and the benefits of it. Faith does not accomplish it.
We are justified freely by the grace of God through the redemption
that's in Christ. Look here in Romans 5 verse 8.
God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, look at it now,
being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through him. For if, when we were enemies,
look at it, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son. This is what that means. That
means, Laodiceus, you, now believing on Christ, were reconciled to
God when Christ died by the merit of His blood. You were reconciled
to Him long before you came to believe on Him. Read on. Now
then, since you were reconciled to Him by the death of His Son,
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only
so, but we also join God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we have now received the atonement. We've received the atonement. Our faith does not make atonement.
Our faith does not justify us. Our faith is not a condition
by which we are accepted before God. Our faith in Christ is the
result of the atonement, the result of justification, the
result of our being accepted of God. It's the gift of God.
The Apostle Paul tells us in Hebrews 10, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. For by one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. The Reformers also
make sanctification a conditional, progressive work, and a progressive
attainment of personal holiness. Now, I have no quarrel. I have no
argument at all with anyone who says that believers grow in the
grace and knowledge of Christ. You know that. Rex Bartley, if
we don't grow in faith, in love, in commitment, if we don't grow
in the knowledge of Christ and in consecration to Christ, it's
because we don't know Him. Where there is life, there is
growth. And if there's no growth, there's no life. There's no quarrel
there, none whatsoever. Don't ever suggest or don't ever
get the idea, let anyone put the notion in your head, well,
y'all don't believe that a man grows in grace. Oh, no. We recognize
believers do grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. But
I do object most strenuously to the reformed doctrine of progressive
sanctification as stated in the confessions themselves. while
humbly acknowledging, and I use the word humbly in the most trivial
way possible, while humbly acknowledging there abideth still some remnants
of corruption. We must acknowledge that there
are still some remnants of corruption. The Westminster Confession says,
They who are effectually called and regenerated, having a new
heart and new spirit created in them, are further sanctified,
really and personally. And the several lusts of their
flesh are more and more weakened and notified, and they are more
and more quickened and strengthened in the saving graces, in all
saving graces, to the practice of true holiness, without which
no man shall see the Lord. The Baptist confession is even
more explicitly heretical. This personal work of sanctification
is indeed carried further. Sin's mastery is completely broken. Evil desires are increasingly
weakened, moving towards a fullness of holiness in the fear of God. And Merle, that's just not true
to my experience. Is it yours? Is it yours? The lust of my flesh is no weaker
than ever were. And the fact is, yours aren't either. If you
think so, you fooled yourself. The corruptions of the flesh
have not gotten less vile. Oh, no. The believer does not,
by some progress of lifting himself up by his own strength and by
his own works, by his diligent use of the war and prayer and
devotion, lift himself up until at last he arrives at holiness
without which no man shall see the Lord. That holiness without
which you shall not see the Lord is Christ. Not yours. The Jews were forever seeking
after righteousness by their works, by their obedience, and
stumbled over Christ, and so did most everyone else. They
flat miss Him because they think righteousness is something they
do. Not so. I challenge you to find in the
Word of God any Any place where sanctification
is in any way spoken of as something that depends upon us, or something
that we manage to accomplish by our diligence, or no. Sanctification is the work of
God's free grace alone. Now listen carefully. The word
sanctify or sanctified, as it's used in the Old Testament, has
these three significances. First, it means that something
has been set apart for holy purposes. Secondly, it means that it's
declared holy. And thirdly, it means that it's
actually made holy. Now let me show you. See this
communion table here? Try in your mind's eye to picture
the Ark of the Covenant. Here it is. It's just shit on
wood. That's all. Most common wood
to be found in that part of the world in that day. Just common
wood. It's overlaid with gold, but
it's still just wood and gold. There ain't a thing holy about
it. It's just wood. Just wood. Just like that. Just
wood. But God said it's mine. Now you
touch it and you're dead. It's mine. It's set apart for
my holiness. Now this is exactly how God sanctified
James Jordan before the world was. Jude verse 1. Sanctified
by God the Father. Before the world began, he said
that stinking piece of flesh is mine. And he says to all hell,
don't you touch it. He'd been set apart to be holy. I'm going to make him holy. Nothing
changed. James came into the world just
as unholy as any son of Adam, just like you. Just as sinful
as any son of Adam, just like you. And yet God said, he's mine! I set him apart to be holy. Sanctification,
secondly, means that a thing is declared holy. When the Son
of God died for you, God said he's holy. No change intrinsically
in him. Nothing's changed about him,
but God declared that he's holy, just like he did after the covenant.
He said, it's holy. Now, nothing was changed. It
was still just wood. But God said, I set it apart
for me for holy purposes. I declared it to be holy. No
change is made. Hold on, though. On the day of
the atonement, the high priest comes into the holy of holies
with that censer in his hand. That sweet incense. And it comes
in with that blood. And it comes in with the name
written across His forehead, Holiness to the Lord. And it
sprinkles the mercy seat seven times with blood. Now she's holy. Something has happened! Blood! Make it holy! So that there's
been a total change in the ark. In that piece of wood. It's all
covered with blood. Now this is what happens in regeneration.
We're sanctified by God the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit comes
to the dead center and sprinkles the heart with the blood of Christ
and he gives you a holy nature. You're born of God. It's not
that the old man is reborn. Oh no, that which is born of
flesh is still flesh. But there's a new principle of
grace created in you. It's called being made partakers
of the divine nature. So that the believer now loves
what once he hated. He is no longer under the rule
and dominion of sin, but the power and dominion of sin has
been broken in him, and yet his lust remains within him, so that
there is a constant warfare. And he cries, O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
He constantly recognizes the corruption of his nature and
the evil of everything about him. Thirdly, there is the heresy,
and this is as disturbing as any of them. of self-righteous
assurance. Without question, this heresy
is more prevalent in religious people around the world than
any other. Without question, this heresy
has more effect on you and me and this congregation than any
other. When do you have assurance? You talk about assurance when
you feel saved. You talk about assurance when
you feel like you've done good. You talk about assurance when
you read up and prayed up and attended up. You read your Bible
like you ought to. You prayed like you ought to.
You come to church like you ought to. Now I've got assurance. Now
I've got assurance. Now when I speak of this self-righteous
assurance, That's exactly what I'm talking about. It is assurance
based upon the presumption of personal holiness, of personal
worth, of personal merit. At present, I have neither the
time nor the desire to quote any more from these confessions.
If you want to look at it, I'll be glad to show it to you word
for word in the confessions, both the Westminster and the
1689 Baptist confessions. They state that the assurance
of salvation is something to be attained by personal obedience,
but lost by disobedience. Attained by doing those things
that are pleasing to God, but lost by grieving the Spirit of
God. Attained by a satisfactory examination
of self and lost by an unsatisfactory examination. I've told you before,
And you may think, some of you, that I joke when I say this,
but I'm telling you the truth. During the Dark Ages, there was a group
of monks. I've forgotten what their name
was. They have all kinds of different
names, Dominicans, and Franciscans, and Augustinians, and so on.
But a bunch of Roman Catholic monks who were very, very pious
people, very pious people. They had a discipline which they
practiced. By which they meditated and communed
and drew close to God. These fat monks would sit around
and lift up their robes and stare at their navels. They just stare
at themselves. You look at them and say, what
for? Because they are introspectively examining themselves. Most people
do just that all the time. You look for peace and assurance
in here. And boy, when you look in here and you feel so good,
and you've done things you ought to have done, and you hadn't
cussed too much, and you hit your thumb with a hammer, and
instead of saying what you wanted to say, you said, bless the Lord.
And you've read your Bible, all the assigned readings, and you've
prayed, And you wear your clothes right, and you haven't fussed
at your wife, and she hasn't fussed at you, and everything's
been going well. Well, I believe maybe I'm the
Lord's. I'll be honest with you. I believe
maybe you're not. I believe maybe you're not. That's
not where Peter found assurance, was it? The Lord Jesus came to
the apostle Peter. Now remember, here's a man who
has just cussed three times denying that man who died for him. And the Lord Jesus comes to him
and says, Peter, do you love me? Three times he asked him,
do you love me? Lovest thou me more than these?
Finally, he used the strongest word imaginable. He said, Peter,
now I'm asking you one more time. Do you really love me? And this
is how he responded. He said, Lord, you know everything. John doesn't. James doesn't. Bobby doesn't. And Larry doesn't.
But Lord, I'm standing here in front of You, and I'm talking
to You. You know everything. In spite
of everything You see in me, in spite of everything I am and
everything I've done, You know that I love You. How could He say that? Because
He did. Hey there! David didn't find
assurance based on his good obedience. Oh, no. When David had been for
nearly a year without a word from God, when he could not speak
to God and God would not speak to him. When he could not pray
and God would not hear his prayer. When God sent no word to him
and no word by him. When God brought judgment upon
his house and said, David, the sword will not depart from your
house. But David walked in, after hearing those words, and knelt
before God. For he had heard the prophet
say, he said to Nathan, I sinned. And Nathan said, the Lord put
away your sin. And David said, blessed is the
man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Restore unto me, not restore
thy salvation, not restore the assurance of thy salvation, restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation. You see, biblical assurance is
the assurance of faith, not the assurance of evidence. Let me
show you. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. I want you to look at three texts.
Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 22. Let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith. How? How do you get that? Having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. That
is, being redeemed by the blood of Christ and sanctified by the
Spirit of God. Look in chapter 11, verse 1.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. Well, I believe that where men say there'll be evidences
and you can see it, you're right. You can, but he can't. Did you get me? Oh yeah, you
can, but he can't. We know one another because we
love each other. And I love you. I do love you. But my God, I
don't love you like I ought. I don't come close to loving
you like I love myself. So I can't really say I love
you, can I? But if a man is a believer, his
life will show characteristics of a believer. Yes, sir! Yes,
sir! But not to him, because he sees
the motives. He sees it for what it is. His
faith, he recognizes his unbelief. His faithfulness. Other men bag
on a man's faithfulness, and if he's faithful, he cringes. He says, If you only knew me. Other men
bag on a man's courage for Christ and he sits down in shame face. If you only knew how timid I
am. Other men bag on someone's diligence in the cause of Christ
and they blush with shame because they recognize nothing but corruption
in them. Well, where is your evidence
then? Faith is the evidence. Faith is the evidence. We sang
it this morning, I know He died for me because I come to Him
with all my sin and believe Him. I believe Him. Look in 1 John
5. If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God,
which he hath testified of his Son. Verse 10. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth
not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the
record God gave of his Son. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Well, not like I ought to. Not
like I won't to. Do you believe on Him like, maybe
like that woman with the issue of blood who said, if I could
just touch Him? Or if I could just touch Him, I'd be made completely whole. Yeah, I do believe the Son of
God. In the teeth of all my sin, in
the teeth of all my corruptions, in the teeth of all my weaknesses,
I believe on the Son of God. Read on. 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.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have
I written unto you that believe. Oh, I'm so glad he said that.
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. Oh, may God give you grace to
believe on His side. And I'm telling you, if you believe
Him, if you believe Him, you have eternal life. And I didn't get that out of
a confession. I got that out of the book right there. Right
there. And the Lord willing, tonight,
pick up right where I left off, and I'm going to deal with the
same thing. I'll just hold on to the message on Mark until
next week, but I feel like those last two points are too important
to just hurry through them, so I'm going to deal with those
tonight, Lord willing. All right, Lindsey, you come lead us in
a hymn, if you will, and we'll be dismissed with a word of prayer.