While you're turning to the book
of 1 John, I want to read something to you. When I got in my office this
morning, the very first thing that I read was a letter from
a dear lady in deep trouble of soul. This is what that heavy
laden soul wrote to me. Dear Brother Don, I know that God will save His
elect and only His elect, but Mr. Fortner, I'm terrified that
I'm not one of them and I don't know what to do. I have not slept
through the night for nearly six months now. constantly waking
up in the night and so afraid. Much of the time it's very hard
for me to pray, and when I do pray, it feels like I don't pray. My eyes have turned into a fountain
of tears, and I literally feel as if I could be crushed under
the weight of depression and fear and pain that I'm feeling
in my soul. On top of that, I'm bombarding
with blasphemous thoughts, and I'm continually fighting against
them and praying and confessing them. I hate them, but they plague
me and I feel hopeless and helpless. It feels like I'm two people,
that I'm fighting myself, fighting my own thoughts and impulses
and feelings. I'm really scared. I don't know
what to do, but I'm really terrified. I'm terrified of not being in
Christ and of dying in my sins. I'm terrified that He has cast
me away, that He will not have mercy on me. I'm terrified of
not being His elect. What can I do? And I can't tell
you how many times In the last 40 years, I have read those words
in correspondence or heard those words almost identically expressed
by people all across this country and around the world. Everywhere
I go, and I'm preaching somewhere almost every week, I run across
someone who has similar care and heaviness in their soul.
So tonight I want to try, if God the Holy Spirit will enable
me, to answer this question with simplicity and clarity from the
Word of God. My text is 1 John chapter 5,
and the question is this. How can I know that I'm one of
God's elect? Let's begin with this. We know
that there is an elect people in this world. Thank God for
electing love. Our Lord Jesus said, You have
not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you. Were it
not for God's election, nobody would ever be saved. There are
some people in this world who must and shall be saved. They
are called God's elect. A people loved of God from everlasting,
loved freely, loved eternally, loved immutably, loved in Jesus
Christ the Lord who must be saved. Our Lord Jesus Christ lived on
this earth in perfect righteousness and died upon Calvary's cursed
tree, as our brother just sang, in the room instead of those
elect people. He redeemed us with his precious
blood. For those elect people, for them
and them alone, there is redemption. For them and them alone, there
is forgiveness. For them and them alone, salvation
is certain. Christ redeemed God's elect. He laid down his life for his
sheep. The Spirit of God will call them,
everyone. At the appointed time, the time
ordained of God from eternity, under exactly the right circumstances
as arranged by divine providence, each one of those chosen, redeemed,
immoral souls shall be regenerated and given life and faith in Jesus
Christ, called to Him effectually, irresistibly, made willing in
the day of His power to come to Him, believe Him, and receive
Him. My question is this, how can
I know that I'm one of God's elect. How can I know that Jesus
Christ died for me? How can I be certain that I have
been born again, called, regenerated by God the Holy Spirit? Now,
I want us tonight to look into the Word of God here, and I want
you to see and see clearly that there are certain infallible
witnesses by which believing sinners may be assured of a saving
interest in Christ. The Scripture does speak of drawing
near to God in the full assurance of faith. I know that all of
you at one time or another, probably all of you many times through
a day, struggle with this matter. full assurance of faith. How
on this earth can I have such? Not just talk about having it. Not just have it right doctrinally. How can I know that I'm one of
God's elect? Here in 1 John chapter 5, the
Apostle John shows us who the children of God are in this He
gives us, by divine inspiration, certain, indisputable, infallible
witnesses by which believing sinners may know they have eternal
life. In fact, if you look at verse
13, he tells us, this is the reason I wrote this epistle.
This is the reason this whole book of 1 John was written. 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. This
whole book was written, not just the book of 1 John, this whole
book that you hold in your lap was written to and for you who
believe on the name of the Son of God. And it is written specifically
here, John says, that you may know that you have eternal life. Let's back up to verse 1. Now
listen to this marvelous profound statement, so simple in its statement,
so profound in its breadth and depth that very few people can
get hold of it. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Now, Brother Don, it can't be
that plain. Well, let's see if it is. Whosoever believeth, not
whosoever has made a profession, not whosoever once believed,
but whosoever believeth, not whosoever believed this morning,
whosoever believeth, present tense, continually believeth,
Do you believe on the Son of God? I didn't ask you how strong
your faith in Him is. I didn't ask you what you know
about Him. I didn't ask you do you believe
in the doctrines of election and predestination and divine
sovereignty. You can go to hell believing
those things. But you can't go to hell believing on the Son
of God. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, is born of God, and every one that loveth him
that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. The sinner who believes in Christ's
atoning blood is justified from all things and saved by the grace
of God. Yet sin within remains When vile
corruption rise, then Satan tempts us to despair, and God's free
grace despise. Our flesh with him agrees and
says we cannot be partakers of God's saving grace, and yet such
sinners be. But faith looks out of self,
and trust in Christ alone. Our hope is not in what we do,
but what our Lord has done. His blood and righteousness,
the anchor of our souls, assures us in the teeth of sin, free
grace has made us whole. John's statement is so emphatic. Anyone in the world, any man,
woman, or child, old or young, rich or poor, learned or unlearned,
anyone who believes that Jesus That Jesus revealed in this book
is the Christ. The Christ promised in this book
is born of God. Not shall be, is. If right now
you find yourself believing on the Son of God, it is because
you are born of God. Did you hear me? Oh, God help
you now to believe Him. Believe on the Son of God, and
if you can, it's because you are born of God. Do you trust
Christ? If you do, you're born of God. Your faith in Christ is not the
cause of you being born of God, but the evidence of it. That's
what Hebrews 11.1 says. And the fruit of faith is love.
All who are born of God Love God and love one another. Now,
having said that, listen carefully. Our love for God and our love
for one another is so shallow, so fickle, so sinful that we
dare not presume to think that our love for God or love for
one another is any basis of assurance. It is not. How do you know that
you're born of God? Well, I love Clare Sheridan.
Well, that doesn't mean anything. That doesn't mean a thing. I've
got some folks who love me who don't know God from the Lord.
That doesn't mean a thing. And my love for Clare Sheridan
ain't much. And my love for my Redeemer is even less to brag
about. No, no. love, brotherly love, love for
Christ, love for God, love for his word, love for his gospel,
his people, his worship. Those things certainly accompany
faith, but they are not the basis of our assurance. Read on, verse
2. By this we know that we love
the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments.
Now, how on earth do you know that you love God and love His
people. Well, I just have a sweet, oozy, gooey feeling in my soul
when I hear the name Jesus. No. Look back in chapter 3, verse
23. We know that we love the children
of God when we love God and keep His commandments. And did you
know all His commandments are one commandment? All of them are one. You keep
all of them when you keep one. And if you don't keep this one,
you keep none. This is His commandment, that
you should believe on His Son. How do you know you love God
and love His people? I believe His Son. I believe
His Son. Love is made manifested by works. No question about that. My love
for my wife, however, is not revealed to me by the things
I do for her. If your love for your wife has
to be made known to you by the things you do for your wife,
if I were your wife, I'd find somebody else. My love for my
wife is not made known to me by the things I do for her, but
my deeds of love reveal my love for her to her. You understand
the difference? Sure you do. And our love for
God and his children is revealed by our works. Not to us. It's not made known to us. No. It's revealed to them. Made known
to our brethren. A lot of times people start talking
about assurance Start pointing to their love for the Lord and
their love for God's people and their deeds and their outward
works and say, now, as long as you have these things, now you
can have some assurance. But if you don't have these things,
then you can't have any assurance. All right, let's try that pseudo.
Let's try to stretch out on that bed for a little bit. Now, just exactly how is it you
love God? Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how
I wish I did. how I want to. My love for that lady right there
is not sufficient. We're in a basis for faith and
assurance to give me confidence for God. Now be honest with yourself.
John Williams, what did you ever even think about wanting to do? It's sufficient for that. Works-based assurance is nothing
but self-righteous assurance. It is nothing but presumption
and arrogance and the promotion of self-righteousness. No, no. John's not making our works the
basis of personal assurance. He's telling us that God's people
identify one another by their faith and love. Look at verse
3. For this is the love of God,
that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not
grievous. Love for God obeys Him. No question about that. Love
for God obeys Him with a willing heart. No question about that. But John is not unless I'm mistaken,
and I don't think I am, talking about our love for God. He says
here, this is the love of God. This is the love of God. This same love of God by which
we are born of God, by which we were chosen of God, by which
we're redeemed by God, the love of God. is made known and revealed
in giving us this faith, which is the keeping of His commandments. All right, read on, verse 4.
For whosoever is born of God, or whatsoever is born of God,
overcometh the world. Now, I'm certain of this. That which is born of God can't
die. Those who are born of God shall
be triumphant. If you and I are born of God,
we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. And we shall overcome
Satan, the God of this world. We shall overcome the lusts which
are in this world, the religion of this world, the cares of this
world, and the trials of this world. Not possible that we won't. If something gets you before
God takes you home, It's because you've never been born of God. If something gets me before I
leave this world and enter into glory, it's because I never was
born of God. That's just simple fact of plainly
revealed truth. I talked to a dear friend yesterday. This lady had been professing
faith, sitting under the gospel. 25 years. Got sick, though she
died, and ran off to Campbellites, got them to baptize her. And
he was, a pastor called me and just devastated. If you're in the grip of God's
grace, He won't let you go. And if you can leave Him, it's
because you never knew Him. That's just the simple reality.
Verse 4, then, and this is the victory. that overcometh the
world, even our faith." Oh, I've got strong faith in the Lord.
See, I said strong faith. We know they'll be all right.
That's not what he's talking about. Faith, drawing strength
from Christ, works wonders on this earth. Read the eleventh
chapter of Hebrews. Seduces kingdoms, stops the mouths
of lions. receives the dead from the dead
raised again to life. Faith in this world works wonders.
And that faith drawing strength from Christ persistently and
ultimately overcoming the world is our faith. Our faith. God's gift to us, yes. God's
gift to us by all means. The operation of His grace in
us, yes. But our faith. Oh, you dare not say that. Well,
let's see if I can make good sense of that. Watch this. Whose breath do you reckon that
is? Watch again. I know this is difficult. Whose breath? My brother Don,
that's your breath. It sure is. Now, I couldn't breathe
without God giving me breath. God created the breath in me.
God pumps the love every time I take a breath. But it's still
my breath. And the faith by which we believe is God-given, God-sustained
faith. But it is your faith. Your faith. Verse 1, John said, Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And he assures
us that faith produces both love and good works. He draws us away
from our love and our good works as the ground of our assurance.
Our confidence is not the victory of our love or the success of
our works, but the triumph of our faith. Because Christ, the
object of faith, is triumphant. Faith resting on him alone also
is triumphant and victorious. John's laying the foundation
for confidence. He's laying the basis for assurance. But in order to do so, he must
show us that it is not in ourselves. It is not in our experience or
our emotions or our knowledge. It's not in our works. It's not
in our feelings. It's not in our doings. Our assurance
is in Jesus Christ the Lord and Him alone. My hope is built on
nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not
trust the sweetest rain, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Verse 5, who is he that overcometh
the world? Well, look at this. Look at this. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. Who shall ever believe that Jesus
is the Christ? Is born of God. And who's going
to overcome the world? Going to overcome the lust of
the flesh, and the lust of the world, and the power of Satan,
the prince of darkness in this world, and all the cares of this
world, and the trials and assaults that go on from within and without?
Who shall overcome? He that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. It's not faith in myself or faith
in my love or faith in my works or faith in my faith that overcomes
the world, but rather faith in Christ. The singular basis of
assurance, then, is faith in Jesus Christ the Lord. Now, sometimes people talk about
faith, both blasphemers who know they're blasphemers and religious
folks who are real blasphemers. And they say faith is a leap
in the dark. You just have to launch out by
faith. You just have to take a leap
of faith and not knowing where you're going to land. Just take
a leap of faith and that's what it is to believe on God. No,
not at all. Faith is the reasonable response
of an awakened heart to the revelation of God. Now listen to me, that's
worth remembering. Faith is the reasonable response
of an awakened heart to the revelation of God. If we rest our immortal
souls on the merits of the man Jesus Christ, trusting that he
is indeed the Son of the living God, we must either have undeniable
irrefutable reason for doing so, or we're absolute fools. If we rest our souls on the fact
that Jesus, the man, is the Christ, the Son of the living God, we
must have irrefutable reason for doing so, or we're fools
to do so. here is given before us in plain
statements such reasons to believe in. In verses 6, 7, and 8, God
the Holy Spirit gives us a reason to believe. Now, you'll remember
that under Mosaic law, everything that was raised as an issue of
law in Israel had to be established by two or three witnesses. One man's testimony was never
sufficient. If a man's on trial, his guilt
must be established by two or three witnesses. And in any reasonable
court of law today, anything must be established by two or
three witnesses, witnesses giving the same account. Now it's tough to find two or
three witnesses who give you exactly the same account of anything.
But here we have three witnesses given with regard to the three
vital issues of faith. First, in verse six, we have
three witnesses to the deity, to the eternal Godhead of Jesus
of Nazareth, that man who was born at Bethlehem 2,000 years
ago and died upon the cursed tree as the sinner's substitute.
We believe that man, the carpenter's son, is the Christ, the Son of
God. Why? What's the basis of our
faith? This is He which came by water. Now, if you want to, I'll tell
you other reasons to say this after the service, if you're
curious about it. But the word water, as it's used by John,
almost universally, when John uses the word, refers to the
Word of God. This is He which came by the
Word, by the Scriptures. and blood, even Jesus Christ,
not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit
that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth." Now here
is the witness of the Word, the blood, and the Spirit. We believe
that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God. because he came in exact accordance
with everything written in this book. I challenge you, go through the
Old Testament scriptures, read just the prophecies Not even
including the more detailed, perhaps the ones that aren't
crystal clear. Just read the prophecies that
clearly have reference to the coming of Christ, that clearly
have reference to the last day, that clearly have reference to
the Messiah. Go back and read them. Everyone,
mark them down on a piece of paper. And I defy you to put
them all together and find any other person in history of whom
those passages all must speak. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
one who came in fulfillment of all the types, all the prophecies,
and all the promises of the Old Testament, and fulfilled them
all at one time. At one time. The scepter will
not depart from Israel until Shiloh comes. That is, the Jewish
nation. Way back in Genesis 49, the prophecy
was made that the Jewish nation would stand as a political, civil
nation until Christ came. That there would be civil law
in Israel until Christ came. Our Lord Jesus Christ came. He
said, before this generation dies, this place will be turned
upside down and there'll be no nation here. And it came to pass.
Bethlehem, Ephrathah, is the place of his birth, exactly according
to the prophets. The Old Testament types? My soul,
what pictures they were of our Redeemer. The ark that Noah built
by which he saved his family under the direction of God. What
a picture of our Redeemer. God brought him into the ark.
God poured out His wrath on the ark. Noah endured all the fury
of God's wrath at one time by which the whole world was swept
into hell. And it never touched him because
he's in the ark. That's Christ Jesus, our Redeemer.
And so it is with every Old Testament title. All the promises, all
the prophecies in Scripture. The Old Testament plainly spoke
of our Lord's incarnation and virgin birth, spoke of His willing
submission and obedience to His Father, spoke of His betrayal
by His own familiar friend, spoke of Him being wounded in the house
of His friends, spoke plainly of Him being made sin for us,
suffering God's wrath for us until He was at last forsaken
of God and slain by the sword of divine justice, and spoke
plainly of Him rising again the third day. All the Old Testament
Scriptures then speak of Him. We know that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, because He came by the witness of the Word, the
water. And we know it because He came
by blood. This is He which came by water
and blood. Even Jesus Christ, not by water
only, but by water and blood. Had the Lord Jesus met every
other requirement. Had he fulfilled all the law,
every jot and tittle, had he met all the prophecies head on
and said, this is what the prophet's talking about, I'm fulfilling
it. Had he done all those things and lived in perfect righteousness,
even as God incarnate in human flesh, if that's all he did,
he's not the Christ and we still look for another. We still look
for another. Oh, no. He of whom the prophets
spake, God in human flesh, must die as a man, shedding his life's
blood as a willing sacrifice for sinners to redeem us from
the wrath of God and the curse of his holy law. The Lord Jesus
claimed to be the Son of God. He demonstrated his power as
God. Then he proved it. by sacrifice. In the Old Testament, in the
tabernacle and later in the temple, in the Holy of Holies was the
Ark of the Covenant. Over the Ark, the mercy seat.
On each end The cherubs facing one another, wings touching one
another as they looked down continually facing one another, but looking
continually on that mercy seat, which was the place of atonement
where God said, there I will meet you on the mercy seat, because
there the blood continually was that which represented sacrifice
and the atonement of our Savior, covering, completely obliterating
the broken law of God. And rising up from that mercy
seat, there was a light, a light that shone and hovered over the
tabernacles all the days in the wilderness, giving the children
of Israel light by night and a cloud of covering and protection
by day. And that light was called the
Shekinah, the glory, the glory. What's that? God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, our crucified Redeemer. That's the only place
where God in all the fullness of His being In all His glorious
majesty, in all His attributes, in all the wonder of His goodness,
grace, justice, and truth is revealed. That's in the crucified
Son of God. And we know that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, because the Spirit bears witness to His
deity. It is the Spirit that beareth
witness. I love that word, beareth. I've
told you this many times. One of the great beauties of
our old King James is those ETH endings on verbs. You can't get
that in any form of modern English. It implies that which is continual. It is the Spirit who perpetually,
without ceasing, bears witness. Bears witness of what? bear witness of Christ. John
the Baptist spoke of the Lord Jesus, and he said, I didn't
know it. Now, he knew who he was. He was his first cousin. He knew who he was. He said,
I didn't know it. But he who sent me said, when
you see the Spirit descend and abide on Him, that's it. And
John said, I saw the Spirit, and he bore witness of Him. On
the day of Pentecost, the prophet spoke of a day, a day when the
king, David's son, would sit upon David's true throne and
rule over all flesh. Spoke of the Messiah, the king
of Israel. When he was enthroned, he said,
when that happens, God will pour out His Spirit. And when it happened
on the day of Pentecost, those Jews who were still looking for
the Messiah. They said, these fellows are
drunk. He said, boys, it's just nine o'clock in the morning.
They ain't had time to get to the liquor store yet. They said,
no. This is what Joel said was going
to happen. Watch. And so it continues to
this day. The Spirit beareth witness to
the deity and dominion of Christ, and He does it by the preaching
of the gospel, convincing sinners, chosen, redeemed by Him, that
he has the power as God the God-man mediator to give repentance and
the forgiveness of sins by himself. Every believer there knows with
absolute assurance that Jesus Christ is God the Son. That Jesus Christ has accomplished
redemption. I can walk around this room and
for every one of you who have the least glimmering light of
hope and faith. Of this I'm certain, not one
of you has a question about what I've just told you. Jesus is
the Christ. He is the Son of God. But knowing
that, and knowing I'm His, is two different things. So second,
look at verse seven. Here are three witnesses to the
accomplishment of redemption by Christ. There are three that
bear record in heaven. Bear record of what? Bear record
that Jesus is the Son of God? No. Heaven needs no evidence
of that. These three bear record in heaven
that God has given us eternal life, that he has done it in
strict accordance with his just, righteous law, by the merits
of Christ's obedience, and his death is our substitute. Now
here's the record. There are three that bear record
in heaven. The Father, the Word. Here speaking about the Lord
Jesus himself and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. God
the Father bears record that redemption is accomplished. How'd
he do that? Let me give it to you just briefly.
Do you remember in John 17 our Lord Jesus said, Father, the hour has come, glorify
thy Son with thine own self, with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was." Before the world began, God put all
things in the hands of his Son as the God-man mediator, our
covenant surety. And now, when he has finished
the work of redemption, he says, Father, glorify me with that
glory that I had with you before the world was. That is, give
me this glory manifestly. And so the Father has seated
him in his own right hand, giving power over all flesh to give
eternal life to as many as the Father has given him. How could
that be done? When he, the Spirit of truth,
has come, He will convince you of righteousness. How does He
do that? How can you be dead, dead sure,
Matt Vinson, that He fulfilled righteousness perfectly? How
can you be absolutely sure? Because I'm going to my Father.
I'm going to my Father. I couldn't go if I hadn't finished
all I came here to do. I couldn't go if I hadn't fulfilled
all righteousness. I couldn't go to my father if
I had not put away sin by the sacrifice of myself and brought
in everlasting righteousness for my people. I could not, as
the God-man mediator, go back to my father. The father received
his son, and he says, hear me, heaven and earth, redemption
is done. Iniquity has been put away. Righteousness has been established. My people are redeemed. God the
Son, the living, eternal Word of God, He who was forever from
the beginning with God and was God, without whom was not anything
made that was made, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, bears
record of our right to eternal life. by His perpetual advocacy
and intercession. He is the propitiation for our
sins. The blood of Jesus Christ, His
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. I love it when God throws a monkey
wrench in theological systems. I hear fathers say, well, we've
got to get this right. Sid was all put away at one time
at Calvary. You're right, it was. It was.
But he's still putting it away. Is that what the book says? He justifieth us? His blood cleanseth
us from all sins? Not in the court of heaven, no.
But in our own consciences. Continually cleansed because
His blood continually bears witness in heaven as our advocate. If
any man sinned. These are some of the sweetest
words in all the book. We have. Isn't that amazing? We have. Have you sinned? Are you sinning? My brother, my sister, oh, if
you sinned, You've got to despair, you've got to start checking
up on yourself. People actually have folks convinced
they don't really sin. Once in a while they make a few
mistakes. Let me tell you something. Sin is what you are and what
you do all the time in your best state. While you're sitting here
right now trying to worship God, the reason you have so much trouble
is because you're so full of sin, just like the one preaching to
you. But what do you do if any man sins? Despair of hope! Oh
no, bless God, if any man sins. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation the
justice-appeasing satisfaction for our sins, not just yours
and mine, but for His people all over the world. And God the
Holy Spirit, the third person of the Sacred Trinity, bears
record of the same thing. He bears record of it by graciously
sprinkling our hearts with the blood of Christ giving us faith
in Him, He shall take of mine and show it to you. Let me see if I can put that
in shoe leather. How often have you, my brother,
my sister, endured such desertions of soul, and such blindness and darkness
within, such a keen sense of corruption, depravity, vileness, that the very thought of standing
before God calls you to hang your head with utter dismay and
shame and fear. You cry, how can one such as
I be born of God? And then God the Holy Spirit,
by His Word, sweetly, graciously, sprinkles your heart afresh with
the blood of Jesus Christ. And in your soul, you hear God
declare by His Word, your sins are gone. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. Your sins are pardoned and you
are free. They're all taken away. And you stretch yourself out
on this bed. And you rest. And you wrap your nakedness in
this clothing. And you warm yourself. Because
the witness of God is greater than the witness of man. And
then, in verse 8, John speaks of three witnesses of our saving
interest in Christ. I'll just give you the highlights.
I had to fill it in another day. And notice the order that's given.
The witnesses to Christ's deity are first the Word, then the
Blood, and then the Spirit. The witnesses to redemption and
its accomplishment are first the Father, then the Son, and
then the Spirit. The witnesses to our saving interest in Christ
are first the Spirit, and then the Word, and then the Blood. And there are three that bear
witness in earth, the Spirit, the water, the Word, and the
blood. And these three agree in one.
Why that order? Because that's exactly how it
is experienced. The Spirit comes in saving power,
gives life to the dead sinner, and He takes the Word, the Word
of the gospel, and causes you to hear the gospel of your salvation. I had heard one way or another,
all my life that Jesus Christ died for sinners. I had heard
it all my life, one way or another. And at last I began to have some
sense of my sin. And I knew Jesus was the Christ,
that He died for sinners. I understood that. I understood
that. I didn't have any question about that. I was absolutely
sure of that. But I didn't have any idea of what grace and salvation
was. And one day, Just as surely as the father
in Israel took hyssop and a bowl of blood in his hand and painted
the doorpost and the middle of his house with the blood of a
paschal lamb and said to everybody in that house, stay inside, judgment
is over for you. God the Holy Spirit from inside
painted the blood of Christ on my soul and said, judgment is
over for you. And it's done. And it's done. The Spirit, the Word, and the
Blood, and these things are written that you may know, that you may
know that you have eternal life. Oh, may God write them upon your
heart for Christ's sake. Amen. Thank you, Don.