to Psalm 35. Psalm 35. I'd like to read the first three
verses. Plead my cause, O Lord, with
them that strive with me. Fight against them that fight
against me. Take hold of shield and buckler,
and stand up for mine help. draw out also the spear, and
stop the way against them that persecute me. Say unto my soul,
I am thy salvation. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. I wanna speak this morning on
the subject full assurance, full assurance. We believe here at
the New Covenant Baptist Church that when God saves a sinner,
that he saves him for all eternity and we believe that God is pleased
when he saves a soul to in his good time we're not putting any
time limit on the Lord saying when the Lord must do it but
we believe that in the Lord's good time that he will say unto
the souls of those that belong to him I am thy salvation now we believe
that and it has been some of our experience to have heard
the witness of the Spirit of God in our hearts saying unto
us I am Thy salvation. I want to read a poem at the
outset this morning. We believe that salvation is
all together of the Lord from the beginning to the end. We
believe that salvation is of God. It is a divine project. We've often said that salvation
is not what we do for God. Salvation is what God does for
us and how we rejoice in what the Lord has done for us. David
said, I have triumphed through the work of thy hands. Through
the work of thy hands, thou hast made me glad. Well, we have triumphed
also through the work of his hands. And his work has made
us glad. We have gladness in our heart
because the Lord has saved his people. Let me read this poem. Not all the outward forms on
earth, nor rights that God has given, nor will of man, nor blood,
nor birth, can raise a soul to heaven. The sovereign work of
God alone creates us heirs of grace, born in the image of His
Son, a new, peculiar race. The Spirit, like a heavenly wind,
blows on the sons of flesh, creates anew a heavenly mind. a new,
peculiar race. Our quickened souls awake and
rise from the long sleep of death. On heavenly things we fix our
eyes and praise employs our breath. This is a wonderful testimony
of the salvation of God in the soul. Surely this morning, if
we're here and if God has touched us, with his amazing grace. Surely we're here to praise the
Lord this morning for full salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. David
here has said, saying to my soul, I am thy salvation. Beloved,
there are some who never knew that they were saved. There are
some here this morning, and you don't know whether you're saved
or whether you're lost. You don't know whether you're
in or whether you're out. You know not whether you're under
the favor of God or under the curse of Almighty God. You're
here this morning and you may be one of little faith. Maybe
the Lord has saved you, but you're of little faith. Well, beloved,
I'm here to encourage you this morning. The Bible says in Romans
chapter 10 and verse 17, that faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. We cannot expect that people
that have not been taught how God saves a sinner can ever come
to the assurance of faith. We live in a world where there's
so much error, so much confusion, where there's so many damnable
heresies that are being preached in our day and time, that it
is a rare thing to find anybody that truly, clearly understands
how it is that God saves his people. And so it's no mystery
to me that we find people on every hand who do not know whether
they're saved or not, who have no assurance in their heart that
they really belong to the Lord. And I know that there are many
who may have faith, and you may think, well, I must have greater
faith before I can possibly ever know whether I'm saved or not. Well, beloved, I'd like to encourage
you. You know, I believe that any bridge that can hold a strong
man, hold a full growing man, that that bridge can also hold
the babe in Christ. That that bridge can hold the
infants in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now if you're here this morning
and you believe, well, there's some strong among us who have
full assurance. There are some here that can
sing the hymns of Zion, speak the language of Canaan. There
are some here who have full-grown beards, spiritually speaking,
and they know the Lord, and they know the things of God. And I
believe that they are saved, and I believe they do know the
Lord. Well, beloved, if the bridge that we're on, the bridge that
the strong are on, If that bridge will hold them, it surely will
hold those that are babes, those that are the weaklings in the
faith. That bridge will hold, beloved.
And I want to encourage you to believe this morning at the very
outset that if God has begun a good work in you, that he will
perform that work until the day of Jesus Christ. And I believe
that God is on the way to giving your soul the fullness of assurance. Now there are some who never
knew that they were saved because they never cared to know. They
never really cared to know. You may be here this morning
and you say, well, there are other things, preacher, that
concerns me. I really am not too much concerned one way or
another whether I am saved or not. You know, preacher, I'm
just a young man, I'm a young lady, and it really doesn't concern
me a whole lot whether I have full assurance of salvation or
not. You see, I'm concerned, preacher,
about my health. I'm very concerned about that.
And I'm concerned about my education. And I'm also concerned about
my marriage. But I'm not concerned necessarily
as to whether or not God has really saved me or not. Beloved,
I would say to you this morning that you need to begin to become
serious about your never-dying soul. You have a soul and that
soul is going to live somewhere for all eternity. and you need
to become concerned about your soul. It'll matter very little
in a hundred years about your marriage. It'll matter very little
in a hundred years about your education or about how much money
you had. It'll matter very little. But
it's going to matter for eternity whether or not you know the Lord,
whether or not you're saved, whether or not you have the Lord's
salvation, whether or not He has ever said unto you, I am
thy salvation. You need to consider, you need
to get your priorities straight and begin to think about your
soul and about the fact that if you're to leave this world
in the state that you're in, You will never never see the
Lord you will never never those streets that you've walked Those
paths that you walked in this world will never turn to gold
on the other end if you do not know the Lord now beloved the
reason that I preach this message this morning is just for this
reason A number of years back, I stopped in Clinton, Missouri
and visited my oldest sister, who at that time was about 65
years old. And I talked with her at length
about her soul. She claimed to be a believer. She says, I do believe. John,
I do believe. I try to believe everything that
I read in the Bible. Well, I received word on Friday
morning that my oldest sister had passed away and she's went
on. and will be buried Monday in
Plainfield, Indiana. And I thought a great deal after
hearing of her death. I thought about the conversation
that we had. I remembered it quite well, and
that it was around this subject of whether or not you can know,
really know, whether or not you're saved or not. And she never had
assurance. As far as I know, she never came
to have full assurance of her salvation. I do not know whether
Pearl was saved or whether she was lost. I would like very,
very much to have been at the funeral on Monday, but the scripture
says, let the dead bury their dead, go thou and preach the
kingdom of God. I have responsibility before
the Lord and so I must stay at that business of preaching the
gospel. But I would have liked very, very much to have been
there, to be a witness to my brothers and to my remaining
sisters. But in the providence of God,
it's not to be. But that conversation is what
prompted me to choose this text this morning and talk to you,
talk to you soberly, talk to you sincerely, talk to you from
my heart this morning about this business of knowing whether or
not you know the Lord. Whether you have ever heard the
Lord say to you, I am thy salvation. Now some think it's a very easy
thing to be saved, and so they say, why bother about it? Why
bother about being saved? Well, just do your duty, attend
your church, be the best you can, and come make sure you go
to church on the holidays. No need making a fuss about being
born again. No need of having a new heart
and a right spirit. Just simply do the best you can
and don't get too wrapped up in this. Don't become a fanatic.
I'll tell you what, you won't be dead five minutes before you
wish that you'd been fanatic enough to find out whether or
not you knew the Lord or not. Now I'm telling you sincerely,
my sister right now knows, she knows now whether she knew the
Lord or whether she didn't. She knows now whether or not
she was in or whether she was out. She knows now whether her
sin was forgiven or whether they were upon her. She knows now,
you see, because death reveals all these things. And you may
be in a fog this morning about it, but death is gonna reveal
the truth and reality to your soul about where you stand. And
I'm here to inform you of that this morning. This is the delusion
of America. Nominal Christianity. Everybody
thinks they're all right. Nobody ever gets serious about
this business of whether or not they are really saved, or whether
they really possess eternal life. So much profession, but so little
possession. I speak to those of you this
morning who never knew that you were saved, how foolish you are,
you are to die soon as we've said, heaven or hell is going
to be your eternal home. If you were to say, I do not
know this morning, there are some things that you know that
we might say we don't know, but we're going to get busy in a
hurry and find out. First of all, if a man thinks
that there's something wrong with him physically, he immediately
is going to try to find out what it is. If somebody suggests you
may have cancer, Do you think that a person will dilly-dally
around about finding out whether they have it or whether they
don't have it? Well, beloved, when you have the disease of
sin, how miserable you must be if you don't know anything about
the cure, if you don't know anything about what God has done through
the Lord Jesus Christ. in order to secure eternal life
for your never-dying soul. If you're not concerned enough
about that, how miserable you must be. My friend, this morning
without Christ and without assurance, you cannot be comfortable in
this world. You cannot be comfortable not
knowing whether you're saved or whether you're lost. Now let
me say a word here about the psalmist. When he wrote these
words, he was surrounded with many, many ferocious enemies. He pleads with God, yet he feels
that there's only one thing which God needs to do in order to remove
all of his fears and make him strong in this day of conflict. And what is that? He says to
the Lord, just say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. I am thy
salvation. Now beloved I believe this morning
that if the Lord was to speak these words to your heart that
it would forever change the way that you feel and it would forever
change your inward condition. Now it might not change your
outward condition but it would change the inward strength of
your heart. Brethren there is nothing that
can make an individual strong in this world to labor for God,
bold to fight against our enemy, which is the devil, the flesh
is our enemy and the world is our enemy, and mighty to resist
the various temptations that fall out to a believer in this
world, like the full assurance that God is your God and you're
sure salvation. If you want to be strong, beloved,
be strong in the Lord. Hear these words. David said,
I need to hear these words. I need for God to say unto me,
I am your salvation. Now doubts and fears are gonna
weaken when God speaks to you. This is a generation of unbelieving
believers. We do not believe the word of
God as we ought to. We need to hear anew from the
Lord. I am thy salvation. A fully assured
believer is a very giant in Israel. I said before that they're very
rare. to find anybody that believes
anything in our day. Find anybody that's really driven
a stake down and say, this is what I believe. To find somebody
that is convinced with all their heart that God has touched them
with His finger and that they've been under the blessing of God. To find somebody that's really
sure. But beloved, a fully assured
believer is a giant in Israel. For happiness and beauty, he
stands like Saul, head and shoulders taller than the rest. While for
strength and courage, he can match with David and is like
the angel of the Lord. To find somebody that says, I
know, I know, I know, I know the Lord. Now then, there are
some objectors to this truth. I said, I believe that believers
can know. I believe that children of God
can have within them the witness of the Holy Spirit saying unto
their spirit, I am a child of God, Abba Father. But there are
some who object to this. Some believe that it is impossible.
Somebody said, I never knew that my sins were forgiven. How can
you possibly know? I beg your pardon this morning.
The word of God is clear that we can know. Somebody said, well,
with the exception of a few, I think the eminently holy or
those profoundly spiritual can know, but I don't think that
the average Christian can know. Well, let me ask you this question.
Does the spirit of God teach men to pray for an impossibility? Would the Spirit of God lead
David to pray, oh, saying to my soul, I am thy salvation? I believe David prayed in the
Spirit here. And I believe the Spirit of God
taught him this prayer. I don't think the Spirit of God
is gonna teach any man to pray for impossibilities. And when
David said, saying to my soul, I am thy salvation, I believe
he expected that God was gonna say it to him. No, David prays
for it here. The thing is possible. It can
be granted by the Lord. It can be received by the Christian.
Else this prayer would not be in the inspired record. It would
not be in the Word of God. Would the Spirit of God exhort
us to do an impossible thing? No, but we read, and I'd like
for you to turn in your Bibles with me, if you will, to a few
texts. First of all, turn to 2 Peter chapter 1. Would the
Spirit of God exhort us to do something that was impossible?
In 2 Peter chapter 1, in verse 10, it says, Wherefore, the rather
brethren, give diligence to make your calling, and your election
sure. For if you do these things, you
shall never fall. It says you give diligence to
make your calling. That call there is the irresistible
call of God's grace. The Bible speaks of it about
165 times. Salvation is attributed to a call from God. And here
we're told that a man ought to make his calling and his election. You know what that is? That's
God's choice of his people in old time. That is God having
selected God having set His love upon, God having purpose, God
having willed, God having ordained a people for His name and set
them apart from the foundation of the world and pin their names
in the Lamb's Book of Life. But Peter here tells us we ought
to make our calling and election sure by giving diligence. I mean
being sober, being prayerful, being students of the word of
God, finding the mind of the Lord, seeking the mind of God,
knowing whether or not God has called us or whether he's chosen
us to everlasting life. Okay, there's some other verses
we need to look at. Turn with me to 2 Timothy. 2nd
Timothy and it's chapter 1 and look at verse 12 and Paul here
says for the which cause I also suffer these things nevertheless
I'm not ashamed and listen to this now you ought to commit
this verse to memory maybe we will a little later but he says
for I know whom I have believed Paul says, for I know whom I
have believed. He says that I know the Lord
Jesus Christ. I have believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which
I have committed unto Him against that day. Now Paul had committed
his soul into the hands of Him. Into the hands of Him. the Lord
Jesus Christ, and he says, I know him, I believe in him, and I
know whom. It's not I know what, I know
whom I have believed. He believed in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and he said, I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I've committed unto him. The Bible is a hymn book. hymn book. This book is about
him, the Lord Jesus Christ. I think I told you about the
old lady one time who memorized this verse when she was, before
she became an old lady and she knew it by heart and she would
say it every time she had opportunity. And as she got older, her her
mind or memory began to fade away and she could just say part
of the verse and just gradually, it slipped her mind, more parts
of it slipped her mind. But then when she come to die,
all she could remember was Him, Him, Him, Him. What I've committed unto Him.
Him, don't you see? And so, beloved, we see here
that the Spirit of God exhorts us to know Him. Paul says, I know whom I have
believed. And so this, beloved, is because
we can know Him and we ought to know Him as Paul did as he
expresses it here in this verse. And then turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 13. 2 Corinthians chapter 13. And in verse five, the Apostle
Paul says, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith.
Examine yourself whether you be in the faith. Now, why would
the Spirit of God say to us, examine yourself to see whether
you're in the faith, prove your own selves, know ye not your
own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates. Why would he make a statement
like that if it were not possible for an individual to examine
themselves to know whether they were in the faith or not? To
be in the faith means that we're saved. To be in the faith means
that we're joined to Christ. To be in the faith means that
our sins have been forgiven by Christ and that our sins are
under his blood. To be in the faith means that
the Holy Spirit abides in us. They that have not the Spirit
of Christ are none of his. And so we are to examine ourselves
whether we be in the faith and prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves. Paul said to these Corinthians,
don't you know? Know you not your own selves.
How that Jesus Christ is in you. Paul says in Colossians, it is
Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is Christ dwelling in us.
And so if you know Christ is in you, then you have hope. of eternal glory. You have the
assurance of your salvation. Christ is the assurance of our
salvation and Him dwelling in our hearts. Well I like this
verse of scripture because it tells us, it exhorts us to find
out whether or not we are in or whether we're out. Now then
there are verses And there are several of them in the book of
1 John, but I'd invite you to turn there with me at this time.
I wanna make sure that I leave you with these verses. I don't
wanna get carried away here and jump a rabbit and get to running
after a rabbit and forget to give you these verses. I want
you to know these verses. So 1 John 3 and verse 14, I want
you to see this. John said, we know. 1st John
chapter 3 and verse 14 we know that we have passed from death
unto life That means that in we were in a state of death when
we were born into this world spiritual death and We know we
passed from death unto life Spiritual life now we're alive in the Lord
because he says we love the brethren and God has put a love in our
hearts for his people. Everyone that God begets by the
Holy Spirit, they have a love for those that have been begotten.
That's what it means. John spells that out in the fifth
chapter here. But so we have received in our
hearts love and we love the brethren. John said, we know by that that
we have passed from death into life. All right, I do want us
to look into the fourth chapter now and look there. at verse
13, verse 13. Hereby know we that we dwell
in him. This is written to believers.
Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us. Well, isn't
that wonderful? Praise God. We know that we dwell
in him and he in us. God put us in him. Sovereign
act of God put us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
We were put in him, in Christ. First Corinthians 1.30 tells
us that. Who of God, Christ has been made
into us, but of God are we in Christ Jesus. That's what that
verse says. So hereby know we that we dwell
in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit. He has given us his Spirit, and
his Spirit abides in us. The Holy Spirit has come and
taken up residence in our heart. When one is regenerated, he's
regenerated with the Spirit of God. To be regenerated means
that one is brought out of death. He was dead, and he's immediately
made alive, and the Spirit of God is the agent in that regeneration,
and the Spirit of God takes up his abode in the heart of that
believer. And that is what it means for
us to be in the spirit and for us to have the gift or the earnest
of the spirit. It's like you go pay down payment
on a house and that house, you tie it up. because you put a
down payment on it. And so when God saves a believer,
he puts the Holy Spirit in that believer, and that is the down
payment. That's the earnest money, if
you please, on the soul, body, spirit of that individual. God
has taken into possession the entire being of every one of
those that he's chosen. And the Holy Spirit being in
you is evidence of the fact that God owns you. that you belong
to him. And if the Spirit of God ever
says, says I have a father in you, the Spirit of God ever enables
you to call Jesus Lord, then my friend, you can know beyond
a shadow of a doubt that you are a child of God, that you
belong to God. The Holy Spirit is there. If
any man have not, I'm gonna preach a sermon on this in a week or
two, the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. You must have
the Spirit of God in you. And that's what this verse says.
John said, hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us
because he hath given us of his Spirit. Now in the fifth chapter,
notice in verse 10, listen to this very clearly. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth
on the Son of God does not have to take somebody else's word
for it. He doesn't have to take his mother's word, his father's
word. Doesn't have to talk to Grandpa Spook and Dyke. He doesn't
have to go somewhere else way off to find out. Because it says,
he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He has the witness right in here.
He has the witness in his heart. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his son. Now 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, verse 13, have
I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know, that you may, K-N-O-W, that you may know that
you have eternal life. and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God. I've written these things to
you, John said. I've told you about the record that God has
given of His Son, and that God said, that God said that he that
believeth, that God said he that hath, The Son hath eternal life. And so do you have the Son? Do
you have the Son abiding in you? Then if you have the Son, you
have life. If you have not the Son of God,
then you don't have life. There is no life for those that
are outside of Christ. If you're in Christ and Christ
is in you, then you have life and you can have assurance. John
3 and 36 says, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,
present possession. You have it. If you believe on
the Son, you have everlasting life. Alright now then the testimony
of the Spirit of God in the believer is that I know that I've been
born again Now let Chris take care of the beat. We'll we'll
just stick here to the word I know that I've been born again, and
I'm sure that my sins have been put away They've been forgiven,
and I'm neither afraid to live or die I can do either one My
sins are under the blood, I know the Lord. I'm in Christ. I have
the Spirit of God abiding in me. I can either live or die,
for living Christ is with me, and dying I shall be with Christ. And so really, a believer has
this blessed assurance that he is in the Lord, he knows the
Lord. Well, there are those around, the religionists, that say, well,
I'm afraid that if people get full assurance that they'll grow
very careless. This is an old objection. I believe
that if people have any assurance, if people ever get contented
and get comfortable in their hearts, that they will begin
to live a loose life. That they won't be quite as diligent
as it was before. Well, in the days of Martin Luther,
this was an idea that the religionists had. and uh... they they they
were the kind of people now listen to me now there's a whole lot
of religionists in this world that that if some dear child
of god poor member of the living family of god humble poor in
spirit comes to that religionist, that preacher, you know, who
is a right reverend father in God, and he begins to tell that
individual about the joy of his heart, and the assurance of his
heart, and the fact that God has revealed Christ to him, and
he knows that he's a child of God, and that preacher, see,
he has no such assurance. He doesn't know this. He doesn't
have an idea about what that young child of God, true child
of God, heaven-born heir is talking about. He didn't know anything
about it. And so he says, well, you can't possibly have something
I don't have. Therefore, therefore there's
nothing to it. There's nothing to it. Well,
I tell you what, there's a lot of people in this world that
are involved in religion. they're dead, it's against the
law to bury them, but they're dead. And they don't know anything
about what we're talking about when we're talking about really,
really having the Spirit of God to come and indwell you and to
be a witness to your heart that you know the Lord. Well, beloved,
I want you to hear this text. I talked to you about some of
the objectors and we've heard them. Now let's hear a little
bit about this text. I do deny that if a man knows
that he's saved, why, if a man knows that he's been brought
out of death into life, if a man who was naked is clothed, I mean,
if a man that was hungry is fed, is he gonna go out and just completely live in such
a way as to dishonor the one who clothed him and fed him and
spiritually I'm talking about. Well, no, of course not. He'll
bring honor to that individual. And lost men and women, they
don't do good works. Nobody does anything good before
God until they're justified by faith. It's a well-grounded assurance. It's a believer that's well-grounded
that's most active in the kingdom of God. He's the most valiant
warrior in the battle and the most patient sufferer in the
furnace. Let a tree be planted in this
soil this soil of blessed assurance, and watered with this river,
and the boughs of that tree will bend with fruit, beloved. I deny
that men become lascivious when they know they're saved. I do
not believe it's presumption. I believe it's based on what
the word of God says. I want you to hear this text,
Time's Getting Away. First thing I want to point out
is that David had his doubts. Why would he pray, Lord, say
unto my soul, I am thy salvation, if he didn't have his doubts?
The best of believers are sometimes troubled with fears and doubts.
Abraham had the greatest faith, but he had some unbelief. David
was not content though to live where he had doubts and fears
because immediately he went to prayer. He went to prayer. He
said, I can't live with this. I've got to hear from God. I've
got to know whether or not the Lord is my salvation. So David
knew where to obtain full assurance. And he would not be content unless
his assurance had a divine source. He wasn't interested in some
priest, or some preacher, or the deacons, or the people lining
up between the chairs and the door, and as he went by, say
to him, the Lord is your salvation. Oh, David, the Lord is your salvation. He didn't need to hear it from
the preacher, didn't want to hear it from the preacher, and
he didn't want to hear it from the deacons or from the church
members. Now, beloved, this is so important.
If you should say this, listen. Nothing short of the divine testimony
in the soul will ever content. the true believer. You've got
to hear from God. David cannot be content unless
his assurance has a vivid personality about it. My soul, thy salvation. If you should say this to everyone
else and not to me, it were nothing. Let me have a pointed, personal,
infallible, indisputable sense that I am thine and thou art
mine. Lord, this is personal. I've
got to hear it. I've got to hear it from you.
It's not good enough for me to hear it from these people that
I know and fellow believers. David must have this come deep
into his inner being. Say unto my soul, not merely
in my ears, let me not fancy that I've just heard it, picked
it out of the air, or that I received it in a dream. Don't let me,
oh no, this is, let the inner man hear it. Our soul must be
sound and healthy to the very core. Lord, say unto my soul,
in my bowels, in the inner depths, I am by salvation. Say it way
down deep. in me so that I know it to be
real and that I know that it's the voice of God. Say it so that
I can hear it. I don't want this thing to be
a mystery any longer. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. They wanted present assurance,
not I will be thy salvation when you come to die. But I wanna
know right now, are you my salvation? And David said, saying to my
soul, tell me now that you're my salvation. You know, this
business of waiting till we die to find out whether we're saved
or not, I'm not interested in that. I'm not interested in that. Now there's something that I
want to say. We've heard the objectors and we've heard the
text. Now I want you to hear the preacher
just for a moment in closing. How are we going to ever hear
this in our hearts? How can we receive this assurance? Well, I believe that it must
be obtained by the hearing of the Word of God. It must be obtained
by the hearing of the Word of God. We must have a thus saith
the Lord and be able to camp to drive our stake deep on what
God says. Now, if you were to look in John
three, and I don't ask you to turn there now, but if you're
really seeking to have the knowledge as to whether or not you're saved
or not, I wish that you would take your Bible when you get
home and you'd turn to John chapter three, and you'd read that chapter
very carefully. And when you began to read, he
that believeth, he that believeth, He that believeth over and over
again, beloved, this is where you drive your stake. I am a
believer, I do believe. Lord, if I've never believed,
if the devil says, why the devil says you don't believe, and you
say, Lord, if I have never believed, I start right now. I believe
to the best of my ability today, today, today. I believe that
these words were written to me and I believe, I believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we've got to drive that stake. John 5, 24 says, verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
the judgment, but is passed from death unto life. Glorious, glorious
message. Romans chapter eight. And verse
one says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. There is therefore, N-O-W, now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. These words
were brought home to me very forcibly. uh... sometime ago
i read a story about an old baptist preacher right after the civil
war uh... who was uh... uh... he lived down south and the carpet
beggars came and uh... they were doing much mischief
in the land and uh... this old baptist preacher because
he was about to lose all of his earthly possessions his farm
that had been in the family for years He shot one of these carpet
beggars, shot him right between the eyes and killed him dead.
And the authorities and various people around who were sympathizers
with the carpet beggars, they threw this preacher out of his
church. A humble man he was indeed. but they threw him out. He got
a horse and a buggy and he backed that horse and buggy up to a
little grove of trees on Sunday morning at service time and he
got up in the back of that buggy and he preached a sermon on there
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus
and everybody has said why he killed a man. He killed a man.
He can't be a Christian. There's no way in the world he's
gonna miss the judgment. He's gonna die and go to hell
because he killed a man. He shot a man dead. This man
cannot be a child of God. He can't be saved. He can't be
anybody. He shot somebody to death. And
how many times do we hear that? Oh, somebody committed a sin.
Somebody committed a sin. Somebody said, well, and you
know, oh, that's such an awful sin that so-and-so committed.
But listen to me, the Bible said you're gonna have to sooner or
later know what the Word of God says, and you're gonna have to
drive your stake down on what the Word of God says. There is
therefore now no condemnation. If I shot a man yesterday, there
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
If I be guilty of what David was guilty of, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. wherever
you are at if you're a child of God and there is very few
children of God that lives their lives out in this world to where
sooner or later sometime or another they're going to come face to
face with the reality that there is not enough goodness and righteousness
in them to get them into heaven and they're gonna have to face
it. That salvation is altogether of God and if you're not saved
by what God has done in you, you're not saved. And if you're
saved by what he's done in you, then you are saved regardless
of what else happens. Salvation is of the Lord. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
We commit enough sin every day to send us to hell if it wasn't
for the grace of God. There's nobody in here that's
got a mind pure enough to live 24 hours without sinning enough
to send them to hell. I'm telling you that. If you're
going to heaven, you're going by what Jesus has done, by what
he's done, and what he's done all together. To close, let me
read these words to you. Surrounded by a host of foes,
stormed by a host of foes within, nor swift to flee, nor strong
to oppose, single against hell, earth, and sin, single yet undismayed
I am. I dare believe in Jesus's name. What? Though a thousand hosts
engage, a thousand worlds my soul to shake, I have a shield,
shall quell their rage, and drive the alien armies back. Portrayed,
it bears a bleeding lamb. I dare believe in Jesus's name. There it is. Now the difference
between me and going from heaven to hell is Jesus. Would everybody
say amen? Amen, that's the only difference. The difference is
not I stayed out of trouble. The difference is not that I
never got involved in things that I ought not to have gotten
involved in. I'll tell you the hope of glory
is Christ dwelling in a man, in a woman. You know, boy or
girl, salvation is not, and nobody said anything, salvation is not
what a man does for God, it's what Christ has done for us.
And if you'd ever get anything else, you get that well fixed
in your heart, because the day's gonna come when you're gonna
have to face what you are, honey. You see, I'm a young fella, and
I've been a mighty nice guy. You and me, you have, and I'm
proud of you, just as proud of you as I can be. But I'll tell
you this. This thing is real, and this
is a man's game. This is not a boy and girl's
game. This is a man's game. Salvation. Salvation depends upon what a
holy God. Holiness is not the way to Christ. Christ is the way to holiness. And you cannot be holy except
you're holy in Him. And when you get in Him, then
my friend, that's where the life is. It's in Him. And there ain't
nothing in your flesh. The body is dead because of sin,
but the spirit is life because of righteousness. Romans chapter
8 verse 10 I'll tell you we need to get a full assurance in our
hearts there is no condemnation therefore there is no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus are you in Him? if you're in
Him there ain't no judgment awaiting you the judgment is past the
judgment fell on Jesus and I dare believe in Jesus' name. I believe
in him. Say what you want to. Get your
crowd together. Throw me out. Do what you want. I dare believe in Jesus' name,
and I shall die believing in his name by the grace of God. Oh, yes. Somebody said, well,
I don't know, preacher, whether I'll ever be that sure or not.
Well, I'll tell you what. I love you all. And I wouldn't
want anybody up here preaching to you that wasn't as sure as
I am. And if you would listen to somebody
preach that wasn't as sure as I am about this, you're nuts.
You're foolish. Pardon me saying so. You're foolish. You better read the book. You
better read the book. You better study the book. Drive
your stake. what the Word of God says, and
be ready for the onslaughts of the devil. Be ready. Be ready. Mike, could we have a hymn? Could
we have a hymn in closing, please? Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. this is Oh Oh Oh Oh This is my story, this is my
song Greeting my Savior, Abundance This is my story, this is my
song. Oh, this is my story. This is my son, praising my Savior.