Have I been confirmed? The Old Testament prophets spoke
of the burden of the Word of the Lord. And I certainly feel
that with regard to this message for this hour. Have I been confirmed? Now, I believe most, probably
all of you, believe that I preach the truth. I believe that most, if not all
of us, believe what we call the doctrine of grace. Total depravity,
unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace,
perseverance of the saints. We believe the doctrines of grace
and we really would not listen to anything else. We wouldn't
go to a church where grace was not preached. Believe I'm telling the truth,
aren't I? Now, can you imagine how horrible it would be to go
through life believing that grace is the truth and going to a church
where grace is preached and dying and waking up In hell. I say with a broken heart. I
believe that will happen to some of us. In this room. And I don't have any particular
person in mind. I know that's just the way it
is. Now I know the elect will persevere
to the end. I know that. And I believe every believer
should have full assurance of faith. And I mean full assurance. Really believing that what Christ
did is enough to give me full assurance of my acceptance before
God. And I also fear falling away. I fear that for myself. And I
fear that for you. And you know, this is a scriptural
sentiment. Look over in First Corinthians nine at the words
of the Apostle Paul. And this is Paul speaking under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And he says in verse 26, I therefore,
so run not as uncertainly so, but I'm not as one that beats
the air. that I keep under my body and bring it into subjection,
lest that by any means, here's what I'm scared of, when I preach
to others, I myself should be a castaway. Now, Paul feared
that. I do not want to be a castaway. Now, in 1 Corinthians 1, in verses
6 and in verse 8, Paul speaks of being confirmed. Have I been confirmed? What does
it mean to be confirmed? You know, the word actually means
to be preserved from falling away. It's not he that begins. But he who finishes the race. That will be saved. Our Lord
said he that endureth to the end. The same shall be saved. Now, do you see why when I even
deal with this subject, it scares me. I preach with fear. I preach fear with fear for myself.
I preach with fear for you. I have full assurance of faith. This almost seems paradoxical.
I have full assurance of faith and I'm afraid of falling away. To be confirmed, To be preserved
from falling away. To be confirmed is to be established
is to be settled, so you don't move. You stay in one place,
you're not moved. And I think the parable of the
sower illustrates what I'm trying to say. You remember how our
Lord gives the parable of the sower. It's in three of the Gospels.
And the Lord gives the four different types of hearers. And he's talking
about those who hear the truth. Remember the so or so, the word,
the word is the truth. The word is the gospel. It gives
four different kinds of hearers. We read of the wayside hearer
who hears and it just really isn't that important to him.
It doesn't register with him. He goes on his way and never
really believes. It's just not that important
to him. And then we read of the stony ground hearer who hears
the word. And he goes further than the
fellow who just left and didn't mean anything to him. He heard
what was said and he understood. And he believed. And he received with joy. The Scripture says with joy he
received the Word. But he only endured for a while,
but when persecution came because of the Word, by and by, he left. He was offended. It wasn't worth
that to him. character that scares me the
most is the thorn choked hearer. He hears the word, he receives
the word, but the scripture says the cares of this world and the
deceitfulness of riches, the quote good things of this world
and the lusts of other things enter in and choke the And he
becomes unfruitful. He does not bear fruit. Now this
fella never leaves the church. He never leaves the assembly.
He's still there, but he's choked. He bears no fruit. This man was
not saved. That man scares me. I don't want
to be that man. I don't want you to be that man.
And then there's the good ground hearer who receives the word
and he brings forth fruit. Now, I want to look at a couple
of places where this word confirm is used. Would you turn with
me to Hebrews chapter two? Hebrews chapter two. The writer to the Hebrews says
in verse one, therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed
to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let
them slip, let go of them, and they get away from us. For if
the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression
and disobedience received a just recompensable reward, how shall
we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first
began be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed, there's the word,
it was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. What a fearful
thing to neglect this great salvation. How valuable is the gospel to
me? How valuable? Is it everything? You know, so many people are
miserable in their religion. They're unhappy most of the time.
They always feel guilty, and it's because they're always trying
to make Christ the first priority. Need to make Christ the first
priority, the gospel the first priority. Now listen, if all
Christ is is the first priority, I've missed him. He's the only
priority. How shall we escape if we neglect? Look over in Hebrews chapter
13. You know, the theme of the book
of Hebrews is against falling away. Verse nine. Says, be not carried about with
diverse and strange doctrines, contrary to the word of God is
what he's talking about, for it's a good thing that the heart,
the heart, the heart Be established, that's the same word confirmed.
Be established with grace. Has my heart been established,
confirmed with grace so I won't move back and forth and be carried
to and fro with every wind of doctrine? Look in Colossians
chapter 2. Verse 6. As you, therefore, receive Christ
Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him." How did you receive him?
Now, I do know something about this. I received him as an empty-handed
sinner with no experience to look back
to, with nothing in which I could trust in and of myself. I received
him as a bankrupt, empty-handed sinner. Now he says, as you receive
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up
in him, and established, there's the word, confirmed in the faith
so that you don't leave the faith. Confirmed, established. Turn
to 2 Peter chapter 1. Second Peter chapter 1 verse
10, Wherefore, the rather brethren give diligence, give all effort
to make your calling and election sure. Now that word sure is confirmed. Confirmed. You give diligence
to make your calling and election sure and firm. Now, how do we
go about that? Now, let me make some statements.
I want to be very, very careful about this. Assurance, I do not draw assurance
from anything that I do. I can say that with all honesty. You know why I have assurance
of my salvation? Because what Jesus Christ did
is enough to make me perfect in God's sight. And I don't need
anything else to make me to give. As a matter of fact, if I draw
assurance from anything else, if I draw assurance from the
fact that I'm giving diligence to make my calling election,
sure, it's a false assurance. If I draw assurance from any
works that I do, well, I'm doing, I'm reading the scripture, I'm
praying, I'm really, I'm really, I'm witnessing, I'm doing all
these things. If my assurance is drawn from that, it is a false
assurance. It's not Christ. Now, that being
said, that's the truth. What I said is the truth. That
being said, if I'm not giving diligence, I won't have any assurance. Look in verse five of this same
chapter. And besides this, giving all
diligence, there's that word, add to your faith virtue. And
to virtue, knowledge. And to knowledge, temperance.
And to temperance, patience. And to patience, godliness. And
to godliness, brotherly kindness. And to brotherly kindness, charity.
For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that
you shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things
is blind, and he cannot see afar off, and he hath forgotten that
he was purged from his old sins. In other words, he's not going
to have assurance. He's not going to have assurance if he's not
giving diligence to make these additions. That's how I make
my calling and election, sure, by giving diligence. Now, my
assurance doesn't come from my diligence. But if I don't give
diligence in these things, you know what that means? That means
I will not have assurance. Now, Paul was writing to the
church of Corinth. When he made these statements regarding them
being confirmed in his introductory statements. Corinth was the chief
city of Greece, not only from a military standpoint, but in
luxury, in wealth, In arts, in education, it was the seat of
commercial and intellectual life. And Paul had gone there and was
encouraged by the Lord to continue preaching. Turn to Acts chapter
7 for a moment, or I mean Acts chapter 18, and we read of the
beginning of this church at Corinth. Verse 7. And this is what took place in
Corinth. And he departed thence and entered into a certain man's
house. named Justice, Acts 18, 7, one that worshiped God, whose
house joined hard to the synagogue. And Crispus, the chief ruler
of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all of his house,
and many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized. And then spake the Lord to Paul
at night by vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace,
for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee,
for I have much people in this city. Now, what an encouragement
he had to preach. He said, I have much people in
this city. So Paul stayed there for 18 months
preaching in the church of Corinth was formed. But this church. Turn back to first Corinthians
one, this church had some real problems, I touched on this last
week. But Paul was aware of these problems when he wrote this epistle,
and that's why he begins with this statement concerning their
confirmation and their need of being confirmed. Now, this church
within it has divisions. Look in verse 9, I'm sorry, verse
10 of 1 Corinthians 1. Now I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the
same thing. And that there be no divisions among you, but that
you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same
judgment. For it's been declared unto you, unto me of you, my
brethren, by them that are a house of Chloe, that there are contentions
among you. Now, this I say that every one
of you said, I'm a Paul and I'm of Apollos and I'm of Cephas
and I'm of Christ. Now, four different divisions
with the church. Some people said, well, I'm one
of Paul's converts. I prefer Paul's preaching. And
then there were others who said, well, I'm partial to Apollos. He's a more eloquent man. He's
a more powerful speaker. I'm more impressed with his preaching.
And then maybe the Jewish converts said, well, I like Peter. I'm
more of a Peter fan. And then the real pious ones
said, well, I don't follow any man. I follow Christ. How pious. And Paul is addressing these
contentions and divisions that were going on in the church.
This church was always questioning Paul's authority. He deals with
this in 1st and 2nd Corinthians. They were questioning whether
or not he was really called to be an apostle. He wasn't one
of the original twelve. He said to them in one place, he said,
it's a small thing for me to be judged of you, but they were standing
in judgment of Paul, questioning his authority. Look in chapter
five, verse one. It is reported commonly, this
is common knowledge, that there is fornication among you, sexual
immorality, And such fornication as is not so much as named among
the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife. And look
what he rebukes them for. He says, you're puffed up and
have not rather mourned that he that had done this deed might
take it away from you. What Paul is saying is, is you're
OK with this. This is my problem. You're OK with this. You're saying,
well, salvation is by grace. Salvation is by grace. This is
OK. I mean, It's not that big of a deal. It's bad, but it's
not that big of a deal. And Paul said, you're puffed up and you've
not mourned over this. And then these people were bringing
each other to the law. Look in chapter six, verse one,
dare any of you having a matter against another go to law before
the just and unjust and all before saints. These people were actually
suing each other. Their wrong views of marriage
are addressed in chapter seven, their lack of love for each other
is addressed In chapter 8, they didn't worry about offending
the weaker brethren. In chapters 9 and 10, we read
about the dangers of mixing with unbelievers. In chapter 11, we
read of the horrible abuse that was going on at the Lord's table.
They actually had people getting drunk at the Lord's table. And
then the abuse of the gifts in chapters 12 through 14. They
had people running around all over the place speaking in tongues
when they shouldn't have been. claiming to have certain gifts.
And then in chapter 15, the errors the people had concerning the
resurrection, there were people that were actually denying the
resurrection of Christ in this church. So we can see why Paul
so greatly desired them to be confirmed, to be settled. You see, if God didn't confirm
them, they would prove to be bad apples. That's why Paul so
greatly desired to see them confirmed. So he had all this in mind when
he was writing this letter. Now, Paul knew he was going to
be addressing these grievous faults in the church, but he
still begins this letter on a very positive note. And I think we
can learn something from this. I can learn something from it.
You can learn something from it. He doesn't begin by pointing
out all the error. He says in verse four, I thank
my God always on your behalf for the grace of God, which is
given you by Jesus Christ. That's where he begins. I thank
God for the grace that's given you by Jesus Christ. It all comes
from him. He says in verse five, that in
everything you are enriched by him, in all utterance and in
all knowledge. In Christ we have everything.
How enriched we are, and he mentions two things, utterance and knowledge.
And by utterance, he's not talking about being able to speak well
and has nothing to do with what he's saying. This is the word
that's generally translated word. It's the Greek word logos or
logos. I don't know how you pronounce
it. Nobody knows anybody else. Nobody's alive when they were
using that word. But how do you pronounce it? It's the doctrine,
the doctrine, the word from God. In the beginning was the word.
It's the same word, the doctrine. In all doctrine and in all knowledge,
What he means by that when he's commending this church, he says,
you have the true doctrine and you understand it. You have the
truth preached and you have the truth apprehended. And what a
blessing that is. He says to these people, you're
second to none in this. You have the truth preached to
you and you believe the truth and you understand it. You understand
God's way of saving sin, which he says in verse six, even as
the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. Now, the testimony of
Christ is the gospel. It's the gospel. You remember
that passage in 2 Timothy 1, verse 8, where Paul said to Timothy,
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.
Here it is. Nor of me, his prisoner, but you be a partaker of the
afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God, who has
saved us. And here's the testimony of Christ.
He saved us. He called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace. which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. That's the testimony of Christ.
And Paul says it was confirmed in you to where you believed
this is the gospel. This is the only gospel that
will save me. No other message will do me any
good. This message was confirmed into you to where you held tightly
to it and would not let it go. You believed that. Verse seven.
so that you came behind in no gift waiting for the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that is not talking about
coming behind like you're in second place. That means you
lack no gift. You lack no gift. You know, if
you're a believer, everything God requires of you, you have. You possess. You have it all. You lacked no gift. And here's
the evidence of it. You lack no gift waiting for
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how is it that someone
could wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with confidence? Him coming back after me? How
is it that somebody can really be confident regarding his coming? I know the answer to that question.
The only way you can be confident at his coming, that everything's
going to be all right with you when he returns, is if you really
believe that you're complete in Him and you don't need anything
else. It's not because you think you're so holy, well I'm really
holy and doing good and witnessing and so on and therefore when
He comes I'm going to be in good shape. No, it has nothing to
do with that. You really believe that His righteousness, His personal
obedience before the holy law of God is your righteousness. And that's it. So you can look
for His coming without fear, waiting for the coming. of our
Lord Jesus Christ, verse 8, who shall also confirm you unto the
end. They're given this assurance.
He will confirm you. This is His work. We can't confirm
ourselves. If perseverance was dependent
upon me in some way, I would not persevere. Now, I know that. If it was up
to me in any way to any degree, degree to keep myself from falling,
I would fall. I would not persevere. But we're
given this promise. He will confirm you to all the
way to the end so that you'll be blameless on Judgment Day. If I persevere on Judgment Day,
there will not be anything laid to my charge. That's what that
means to be blameless. Nothing will be laid to my charge,
not guilty. perfect, justified in his sight,
blameless, holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight.
He'll confirm you into the end that you may be blameless in
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom you were
called into the fellowship of his son. God in his faithfulness
will enable you to be confirmed all the way to the end. Now,
this is the preservation of the believer. It's God's work. This
is what is so encouraging. What if you believe that you
could fall away, or it was up to you to keep yourself from
falling? How miserable would you be? Oh, I'd be so unhappy. I'd be, you'd wonder, is this
the day? Is this the day I'm going to fall away? But thank
God the scripture teaches that I'm preserved, blameless. into the day of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This preservation is by God. His sheep will not fall
away. Our Lord said, or the Lord said
through John in 1 John 2, 19, they went out from us. They left,
but they were not all of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might all be manifest, that they were not all of us. The
preservation of God's people. Now I want to ask a question.
Does this mean once saved, always saved? Does this mean once saved, always
saved? You've heard that doctrine, haven't
you? Once saved, always saved. Is this what this means? Well,
it depends on what you mean by saved. That's what it depends
on. Do you mean salvation is by grace? And God will preserve His people.
Therefore, even if I get taken up with this world, I'll still
be saved. Is that what that means? Once
saved, always saved. Therefore, if you're saved, even
if you get taken up with this world, you'll still be saved
because salvation is all of grace. Is that what is meant by once
saved, always saved? No. doesn't mean that at all. And
let me tell you why I say that. Here's why. There's no love to
Jesus Christ in that kind of thinking. Well, salvation is
by grace. Therefore, I can get taken up
with the world. It'll be OK. It'll still all be all right
for me on Judgment Day. There is no love. If I'm thinking
that way, if you're thinking that way, what we mean by that
is we have no love for Jesus Christ. Now, what if my beloved
wife said to me, Todd, I love you and I am committed to you
forever. I'll never leave you. There's
nothing you can do to run me off. What if I said, you know,
good, good. You know what that means? That
means I can go out and do whatever I want. She'll stay with me.
I can go out with somebody else and there won't be any consequences
to it. I'm glad she told me that so now I can go ahead and do
whatever I want. Now if I had that kind of attitude, if I said
that, would you listen to me preach? If you knew I did my
wife that way, she said I love you and I used that as a springboard
to go ahead and live a lascivious life and so on, would you listen
to me preach after you knew I did that? You know you wouldn't. You wouldn't listen to a word
I said. Everything I said would have lost all its credibility
with you. God's people are preserved by
God through perseverance. God's people are preserved by
God. This is God's work. And they
are preserved through perseverance. Now, I don't want to be like
the stony ground here. Who falls away. I don't want
to be like the thorn choked here who sits there but never bears
fruit and is not saved. I will continue in his word.
He said, if you continue in my word. Then are you my disciples? Indeed. I want to look at a few
scriptures regarding this thing of continuing in His Word. Would
you turn to Colossians chapter 1? Let's begin reading in verse
20. And having made peace, that's
what the Lord did, and having made peace with the blood of
his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him
I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven,
and you that were sometimes or before time alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in
the body of his flesh through death to present you Holy, and
that is literally having presented you holy and unblameable and
unreprovable in His sight. It's a work already done. We
don't have to wait to see if it's going to happen. When Christ
ascended back to the Father, He brought all the elect with
Him, and they were all declared by God at that time to be holy,
unblameable, and unreprovable in the very sight of God. Now,
that's impressive. I love thinking about that. Talking
about preserved, I was preserved that my salvation was accomplished
before I was ever even born. When he was ascended back to
the Father, it was taken care of. But look in verse 23. We read the word if. You continue in the faith. Grounded. And settled. And be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel. Turn to Hebrews 3. Verse 6. But Christ, as a son over his
own house, whose house are we if we hold fast That means hold tightly. Hold
fast, as a matter of fact, sometimes this word is actually translated
serious. You see something that you want so bad that you must
have. It's nothing you're indifferent and half hearted about. No, you
hold fast. We are partakers of Christ whose
house are we if we hold fast. The confidence and the rejoicing
of the hope Firm, that's that word. Firm. Confirmed. Same thing. Firm until we won't
fall away all the way to the end. Look down in verse 14. For
we are made partakers of Christ if we hold. There's that word
again. If we hold. Have you ever held something
to where you were not going to let go of it no matter what? You ever held something that
tight? I remember one time, this is true, I was driving, I was
driving my pickup truck at the time, it happened in 1992, I
can remember when it happened, and I didn't have a seatbelt
on, and I hit ice and started spinning, and I held on to that
steering wheel, I knew I was going to hold on to it, and I
hit a telephone post, towed my truck, and I bent the steering
wheel holder. Now that how I did that, I don't
know, but I knew at that time I'm going to hold on to that
steering wheel. There's a determination there
by his grace. Now, he tells us you're made
partakers of Christ if we hold just like that. If we hold. The beginning, look what he says
in verse six, if we hold fast the confidence, what is your
confidence? What is your confidence? What are you confident in? I'm
confident that Jesus Christ is all in salvation. I'm confident
in that. Now, I'm to hold fast that confidence all the way to
the end. And I'm to hold fast the rejoicing
of the hope. Now, you think of the hope. Oh,
the hope that I'm going to be accepted on Judgment Day. The
hope that what Christ did is enough to save me. That makes
me rejoice. I'm not talking about trying
to manufacture rejoicing either. I really do rejoice in the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that glory in the cross. And I really
believe that what he did, that makes me happy. It makes me glad.
If salvation were by works in any way, I wouldn't be happy
at all. But thank God what he did is enough. Now, I'm a major
partaker of Christ if I hold on to that. Firm to the end. And then he says in verse 14,
We're made partakers of Christ if we hold, there's the word
again, hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast. That's the same word, steadfast,
confirmed, firm, all the way to the end. Now, how do you know if Christ is holding
on to somebody? Now, I know this. Nobody would
be saved with those people he holds on to. The only people
who don't fall away are the people he preserves from falling away. How do I know that Christ is
holding on to somebody? There's a way of knowing. The
person that Christ is holding on to, holds on to him. They hold on to him and they
will not let go. They will not be deterred. They
will not let the cares of this world. And the deceitfulness
of riches. And the lusts of other things
keep them from holding on to him. The people that Christ holds
on to are identified by this one mark. They tenaciously hold
on to Him. That's it. Have I been confirmed
to where I hold on to Him? Well, I'll tell you this. The
only way I'm going to hold on to Him is by Him holding on to
me. I never will forget some Eight
or ten years ago, Bruce Crabtree preaching here, and he coined
a new word. He was trying to talk about perseverance
or preservation. He wasn't real sure which one
he was talking about. He talked about perseverance. And that's the best word to describe
this thing of holding on. Preserverance. He preserves me. And I persevere looking to him. I fear looking at this congregation. I fear the thought of someone
saying, I believe grace. I believe what you preach is
the truth. And never really laying hold of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said lay hold upon eternal
life. And so what I would challenge
each one of us right now. If I've not laid hold on Him
before, let me do it right now. May I
truly lay hold upon Him. Hold on to Him like I was holding
on to that steering wheel, knowing that if I don't hold on to that,
I'll crash. And the only way I can hold on
to Him is for Him to hold on to me. I realize that. May the Lord cause us all to
lay hold upon Him and to be confirmed, confirmed in the faith. Am I
confirmed by Him? May God cause all of us to be
that way. I wish that I could make us all confirmed,
me and you. I can't. But I pray the Lord will cause
every one of us to knock down whatever is in
the way, to lay hold upon the Lord Jesus Christ. To believe
on him, may God give us grace to do it. I feel so frustrated
right now trying to preach this message. Knowing that. I'm totally powerless. To do
anything. To make myself believe or to
make you believe. But thank God. It's his work. And he can enable. every one
of his people, and he will enable every one of his people to lay
hold upon the Lord Jesus Christ. May God give us grace to do so.
Let's pray together.