You can grab your copy of God's word and turn to Hebrews chapter six. This is where we've been camping out lately. Hebrews chapter six. I will read again verses six to 12. But you know what, I think to frame a little bit of the context, let's back up to verse four. Hebrews chapter six, verse four. It says, for in the case of those once having been enlightened and having tasted the heavenly gift and having become partakers of the Holy Spirit and having tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the age to come and having fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put him to open shame. For the ground that drinks the rain, which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receive a blessing from God. But if it yields thorns and thistles, it is unfit and close to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. And then the passage we'll focus on this afternoon. But we are convinced about you, beloved, of things that are better and that belong to salvation. Though we are speaking in this way, for God is not unrighteous so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward his name in having ministered and continuing to minister to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not become dull, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. This is God's ancient, holy, inerrant word. Let's pray. Blessed Lord, who has caused your holy scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of your holy word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life which you have given us in our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine was the personal theologian of the Pope during the Protestant Reformation. And so, he was a formidable theologian. He led the way in the counter-Reformation movement, which, by the way, if you didn't know, this is Reformation Sunday. And so, he led the way in the counter-Reformation movement, and he said, the greatest Protestant heresy is fill in the blank. That's your pop quiz for this morning. What do you think he might have said? The greatest Protestant heresy is, would he have said that it's justification by faith alone? Would he have said that it's salvation by grace alone? Maybe even unconditional election? What would the leader of the Counter-Reformation say is the greatest Protestant heresy? His answer is the doctrine of assurance of salvation. That somebody could know that they have eternal life. He saw this as the greatest threat to Roman Catholicism. And it sort of makes sense, right? If you believe in a system in which to get to heaven requires you performing all the different sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, you can't possibly have assurance of salvation. Now, you may be wondering, well, how do they account for people in the Scripture who clearly did have assurance of salvation? For instance, the Apostle Paul says, for me to live is Christ and to die is what? Gain. Paul knew he was going to heaven. They said, well, Paul, he had special revelation from God. God spoke to him and told him he was going to heaven. And so, the claim is that unless you have direct revelation from God, you cannot have assurance of salvation. But of course, when we look at the Scriptures, the Scriptures say that a believer can and indeed should have assurance of salvation, a certainty that when they close their eyes in death, indeed they will go to heaven. In fact, the author of Hebrews here had a measure of certainty that the audience to whom he's writing to were genuinely saved. They could have assurance. Now, if you just stopped at the verses we read last week, you might think that he didn't think that, right? He thought it's impossible for them to be renewed again to salvation, as he's addressing some people who had not only stopped in the Christian life, but they had turned around and gone back to Judaism and abandoned Christ. And so he gives this warning, don't be like them, right? Don't be like those people who turn back away from Christ because you can go beyond the point of no return. That was a scary message last week, right? A scary message about the reality that somebody can become so hardened in their heart and turn away from Christ that there's no hope for them ever coming back. And these warnings, by the way, and this isn't the only warning in the book of Hebrews, these warnings, which should provoke a measure of fear in our hearts, a lump in our throat, they drive us to the promises. The peril, the peril, the danger of turning away should push us to the promises that are found in Christ. To hold fast and say, Lord, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. And so, as one author says, the warning disturbs while the promises give assurance, but they serve the same end, which is that the listeners might persevere in the faith. And so, last week, we looked at this sharp warning about not turning back. And this week we're going to see the author, he's assured of their salvation, he's confident that indeed they are saved, and he's going to point out three evidences of this, okay? So there's three fruits of salvation that should give us a measure of comfort in our lives as we see these evidences of His grace, okay? Now, these are, to be sure, very much more subjective evidences. And these aren't the only things that a Christian can go by or should go by when it comes to assurance of salvation. The grounds of assurance are the promises that we have in Christ, the promise as we sung of him as high priest, the promise of justification that's found in Christ, the promise of the Father's love towards his own. These are those objective realities that are the basis in which we can have confidence that when we die, we will go to heaven. It's not based upon anything in us. But then the question sometimes comes up, well, how do I know I'm believing in those promises? How do I know that I'm not like one of those devils in James chapter 2 who says the demons believe and shudder? I don't want to have merely a demonic faith, right? My faith needs to be more than the faith of demons. A genuine saving faith. And so here, the author, much like the Apostle John and 1 John, gives us some of these fruits or evidences of a living faith. And so we're going to look at three of these. Now, the first is loving service to God. Loving service to God, and so let's read verse nine. It says, but we are convinced about you, beloved, of things that are better and that belong to salvation, though we are speaking in this way. And then verse 10, for God is not unrighteous so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward his name. So notice verse 9 is a contrast with what preceded. Notice it begins with but. This is a contrast. The previous verses have been the sharp warning about those who turn back, that it is impossible for them to be renewed again to repentance. And remember that description of them, right? At a first glance, we might think that they were genuinely saved, that they had once been enlightened, they had tasted of the heavenly gift, been partakers with the Holy Spirit. But then notice verse nine, and we pointed this out last week, but we are convinced of better things for you, things concerning salvation. So whatever he was describing in verses four through eight, it was people who had not been genuinely saved. And now he points to them and says, but we're convinced of better things. And notice the word better. because it is a word that is repeated throughout Hebrews. It is a very important word. In fact, I'm convinced you could probably summarize the entire book of Hebrews with that one word. If you were to narrow it down to one word, what's the book of Hebrews about? You could say, better. It's about Jesus being better. It's about the new covenant being better. It's about everything being better that's found in the new covenant with Jesus as the mediator of the new covenant. Jesus, and we saw this early on, right? Jesus is better than the prophets. Jesus is better than the angels. Jesus is better because this group of people was tempted to go back to Judaism and abandon Jesus. And so the author here says we're convinced of better things. John MacArthur says, they do not focus on the elementary truths of the resurrection and the judgment, but on the believer's blessed hope. Not just on being enlightened, but on being made new. Not just on tasting salvation, but feasting on it. Not just partaking of the Holy Spirit, but having him indwell. Not just on tasting God's good word, but drinking and eating it, not just seeing God's miracles, but being one of His miracles. These are the things that accompany salvation. And so, this here is what the author is convinced of. He's convinced of better things, things that accompany salvation. And so, the obvious question is, what are some of these things? I mentioned it already with the first point, loving service to God. Verse 10, for God is not unrighteous or unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward his name. What a fascinating way the author argues here. God is not so unrighteous as to forget your loving service of him." Now, at first glance, we look at that and think, God being unrighteous, it seems to suggest, at first glance, that if people are loving God, it's like you scratch God's back, God will scratch yours. You do this for God, God will do this for you, and you did this for God, so now God owes you. except for the fact that the Scripture never says anything like that. In fact, it teaches the opposite. In fact, Romans chapter 11, the apostle Paul says, who has first given to God that it might be paid back to him? And the implied answer is nobody, right? God doesn't owe anybody anything. And then he says, from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen." God doesn't owe anybody anything. It's not a point system with God. So then the obvious question is, well then why would he put it this way that God is not unjust so as to forget your work and your love which you have shown toward his name? What is he talking about here? Well, it seems to me what he's saying is that God says that this is evidence of genuine salvation, and if it's evidence of genuine salvation, God would be unrighteous to say no. Let me put it to you this way. Imagine a friend of yours buys you a gift, a Christmas gift, and this is to go to a concert. And they send you this ticket digitally, they've paid for it, and you then go to this concert, and you're in line to get into the concert, and you show them the ticket, and they say, nope, we can't admit you into the concert. Doesn't work. That would be unjust, right? That would be unfair. Now even though you weren't the one who purchased the ticket, but this venue is saying if you have the ticket, you can get in. But they don't let you in. And so if God says, those who believe upon the Lord Jesus and have a living faith, God would be unjust to forget this. And again, this living faith manifests itself in loving service, loving service to the Lord, and loving service to others. But these, again, aren't in any way meritorious, but they are evidences. Again, you may say, well, how does that work? I mean, after all, when we read what the scriptures say about all of our righteous deeds being like filthy rags, well, again, these are not righteous deeds that are trying to earn God's favor, but these are righteous deeds in the believer's life. This is work in the believer's life that is motivated by a love for God, even if that is a very imperfect love. I've used this illustration before, I'll use it again. My children, even some of the children in this congregation sometimes hand me little pictures. Little pictures that are often drawings of me, sometimes drawings of me preaching. And these budding artists, often don't have very good fine motor skills and sometimes my head is like the size of a giant pumpkin. Sometimes I look very disfigured, right? But when they hand me this picture, do I look at it and say, wow, that's really awful. You need to do some Art Hub, you know, because this is really bad." Well, why don't I do that? Because I know these little people are doing these drawings out of love for me, out of admiration for me. And I warmly receive these despite their imperfection. despite their not being the highest quality artistic work. But I know that it's motivated by a sincere love. And again, the believer is the one who can practice this sincere love because their hearts have been regenerated and renewed. And one of the evidences of that is that there is a genuine love for God. And even though that love does not manifest itself perfectly and it's intermingled often with sin and tainted with filthiness, God receives it with delight because he knows that it's the heart of one of his children. And so, this is what the author is saying, that God is not so unrighteous as to forget your work. your work in love towards his name. And again, there's the outward, that's the work, but there's the inward, the affection of the love. Note the work here, concerning the work, John Owen says, they did not attend to it occasionally, or when they'd had nothing else to do, as in the case with some people, religion was their business, and gospel, obedience, their daily work. It is also called their work as they labored in it, and took such great pains about it. For faith to be a living faith, it has to be a working faith. And again, this is Reformation Sunday, and we do believe in justification by faith alone, but we also believe that that faith will what? Never be alone. We believe that we are justified by faith, apart from the merit of works, but not apart from the presence of works. And so don't break out in the hives when you see the word work here. It should be the outflow of the Christian's life. It is in evidence. Again, it is not earning points before God, but if it is absent, then it may very well be because faith is absent. Listen to John in 1 John, 1 John 2, 3, and 4. By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. The one who says, I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. Talk about shooting straight. You say, I know him, and yet you don't obey him. John says, you don't know him, you're a liar, get out of here. He doesn't say get out of here, but that was my addition. But those are hard words, right? And again, it's not going to be the perfection of a believer's life, but it will be the progression because genuine faith will produce work. Genuine love will produce work. Joel Beakey in his systematic theology says, the practical syllogism was based on good works. It emphasized the Christian's life of obedience provides confirmation of his experience of grace. The argument went thus. And he's quoting from several different Puritan authors, this syllogism. So here's, some of you budding logicians will like this. The major premise is this, according to the Bible, Only those who possess true saving experience, only those who possess true saving faith experience the Spirit's witness that their lives possess the fruits of sanctification and good works. Minor premise, I cannot deny that by the grace of God I have received the Spirit's witness that I possess the fruits of sanctification in good works Therefore, here's the conclusion, I must therefore be a partaker of saving faith. So, there's the argument that the older writers would use that genuine saving faith produces work. I can't deny that there's some work in my life, therefore, I must have genuine saving faith. And this faith is the over, or I'm sorry, these work, or this work is the overflow, notice, of that affectional love that we see here in verse 10. Notice he says, for God is not unrighteous so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward his name. Love toward his name. Name is the encompassment of God's holy character. that the author of Hebrews, though he's been warning them, don't turn back, he sees their work and he knows that this work is the overflow of a heart that loves God. Because this, again, only believers can do this. Consider what the scripture says about the heart that has not been born again, that has not been regenerated. Romans 8, verse 7 and 8. Because the mind set on the flesh is at enmity toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God. How is the heart that is in the flesh, which is contrasted with in the spirit, not regenerate, not born again? What is its disposition towards the creator? enmity. Some translations say hostility against God, contrary to Him. The human heart does not, by nature, love the Lord. In fact, the human heart, by nature, hates God. Hates God. Listen to John 3, 19 and 20. And this is the judgment, that light has come into the world, but men love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds are evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed. Obviously, in this context, the light is the Lord Jesus. Light has come into the world, but men love the darkness rather than the light. They hate the light. And in case you're wondering about that, just, you have to read the rest of the gospel account. What did they do to Jesus when God came to this earth? What did humanity do? They stuck him on a Roman cross and publicly executed him. That is what man does by nature. They want to commit deicide. They want to murder the Almighty. And so, again, in a strange way, this is wonderful because if, my dear friend, there is a love for the true and living God in your heart, then this is evidence that the Spirit is at work in your heart. Because that ain't normal. That doesn't happen by accident. No amount of the right environment can produce that. Only the Spirit of God and His renewing work in the heart can produce that. And so, friend, do you love this true and living God? Are you attracted to Him? This glorious God who's the creator of the universe, who in His infinite wisdom has designed this world, albeit we see it in its fallen and corrupted state, we can look past that to the God who created it in its original innocent State of sinlessness and to the Creator who not only created this world But but in in this world and its fallen state has set his love Upon a people has sent his own son to die for that people and is one day going to completely renew the cosmos This is an amazing God Does your heart have warm feelings towards this great God? Do you love Him, albeit imperfectly? Do you want to serve Him, live for Him? Then the author would say, I'm convinced of better things concerning you, because this is the heart of a saved person. But friend, if you examine, if you put the spotlight on your own heart this morning and realize, I love video games, I love pizza, I love chicken wings, but God, that is not a good sign. And you need to get honest with God. because if you die in that state where there's no love for God in your heart, there's no evidence of you being united to Christ, then that means you stand on your own. That means what we sang earlier with this great high priest above, that is not a promise you can claim, that you're still dead in your trespasses and sins, and you are on your way to hell, and so you need to get honest with God and say, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, and you cast yourself upon the mercy of God that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ and He is merciful. He will welcome you. Jesus says in John chapter six, all that the Father gives me will come to me and everyone who comes to me, I will and no wise cast out. Jesus will not shoo you away. In fact, he invites people to come to him. He says, come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. He is a kind savior. He loves to save sinners. So go to him. But not only we see that first evidence of a loving service to God, but secondly, loving service to the saints. Notice the second part of verse 10, in having ministered and continuing to minister to the saints. And this author here, he knew of their service, their ministering and continuing to minister, a persistence in serving the saints. Who are the saints? Are those people who have a holy glow, a halo coming around their head? No, unfortunately we've been infected by Roman Catholic theology that has a whole canonization process of saints. No, no, saints in the Bible is any and every believer. If you're a believer, you're a saint. Almost all the letters written in the New Testament address the saints in Corinth. The saints in Ephesus, or fill in the blank. And so, this ministering to the saints are ministering to other believers. This love for the saints is loving other believers. We find out some of this love later on in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 32 to 34. It says, but remember the former days, when after having been enlightened, you endured a great conflict of suffering, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and afflictions, and partly by becoming shares with those who are so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted with joy the seizure of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better and lasting possession. He's talking about how they were helping those who had been imprisoned. You have to consider the prisons of the ancient world did not just take taxpayer dollars and feed the prisoners. The only way a prisoner ate was if family or friends came and gave them food. And so, these believers took it upon themselves to visit those who were in prison and help them out. And because of such, they became the objects of persecution. As they demonstrated this loving service towards their fellow persecuted brothers and sisters, they reaped consequences. And so, the author here is reminding them, I know of your loving service, and you're continuing to lovingly serve the saints, and God is not so unjust to us as to forget it. He sees it. He sees what you're doing, that this is evidence that you are his children. Remember Jesus speaking of that great day of judgment in Matthew chapter 25, a verse that's often abused. misused and supposed to endorse every government program. Then the king will say to those on his right at that Judgment that separation of the sheep and the goats he will say to those on his right Come you who are blessed of my father? Inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for you from before the foundation of the world For I was hungry Jesus says and you gave me something to eat I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink I was a stranger and you invited me in naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me I was in prison and you came to me Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry? When did we feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger invite you in or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick and in prison and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of the least of these fill in the blank, brothers of mine, you did it to me. You see, Jesus says, I have such a solidarity with my own people that when you extend love to my own people, you are extending love to me. When you are feeding one of my people, one of my children, you are feeding me. When you are clothing one of my own, one of your brothers, you are clothing me. As you extend loving kindness to me, or to one of mine, you are extending it to me. And again, this is evidence of genuine salvation. Listen to 1 John, 1 John 2, 9 and 10. The one who says he is in the light, I'm in the light, and yet hates his brother, John says, is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there's no cause for stumbling in him. 1 John 4, 7 and 8, beloved, let us love one another for love is from God and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God because God is love. Again, over and over, the Apostle John highlights, if you have love for the brother, this is evidence of the genuineness of your salvation. Evidence that you have been born again. And again, this love is never going to be a love in perfection, but it should be a love in progression. It may not be the perfection of your life, but it should be what? The direction of your life. Again, 1 John 3, 14 and 15, we know that we have passed out of death and into life because we love the brothers. The one who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. And so again, Joel Beeky breaks out the syllogism, the puritanical syllogism. He says, you keep reading till you get to Verse like 1 John 3.14, which we just read, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. Again, you ask yourself syllogistically, knowing that only those who are true children of God actually love the brethren. And you say, do I have a genuine love for the people of God? Perhaps you can reply, yes, I certainly cannot deny that I have a special love for God's people. I love to be with them. I consider them my true brothers and sisters. I treasure seeing Christ in them. I serve them with my prayers, time, attention, abilities, and resources. You conclude, therefore, I must truly be a child of God. One of my favorite theological works is entitled, Sammy and His Shepherd. It's funny how that works over the years, you know, when I'm young and single, you know, you're reading Calvin and Owen and, you know, and then you're reading children's books. But these little children's books that I love are packed with adult-sized truth. And one of the parts of Sammy and his shepherd, it's piggybacking off of Psalm 23 and John 10, and Jesus being the good shepherd, and Sammy's shepherd is the good shepherd. As Sammy is looking at the different sheep of the good shepherd, he's observing that, you know, wow, this sheep over here may be a little bit cranky. I see the shepherd's love for truth in that sheep. This sheep over here may be a little bit slothful, but you know what, I see in that sheep whom the shepherd owns, I see a kind of gentleness and compassion that is reflective of the shepherd. And Sammy loves all these different sheep as they reflect the good shepherd. And so it is within the body of Christ as we see God's people, our heart loves them because we see the image of the shepherd in some way, shape, or form reflected in them. And we love the shepherd as we love the sheep. Warts and all. You know, sometimes people have a love for the church that's a kind of, they love the church for what she ought to be, rather than for what she actually is. Because there's always what ought to be, and there's always what is. And what is, is not what ought to be. And yet our love for the church is for the church as it is, spot and wrinkle, wart and all. Because Jesus loves his bride despite all of her imperfections. I mean, imagine somebody coming up to me saying, Matt, you know, I really like you a lot, but I can't stand your wife. We're one, right? That's really not an option for the Christian. We love the bride of Christ as she is. And again, this is an evidence. This is an evidence of genuine salvation. And so, my friend, do you love the saints? Do you lovingly serve the saints? It was such a joy yesterday to see so many hands involved serving. Such a delight. See, everybody putting their shoulder behind the shed, the sled, I'm sorry, it's a football illustration. Putting their shoulder behind the sled and pushing forward to this goal of seeing more and more people hear the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know in some ways it didn't look so glorious, you know, whether it was flipping a hot dog or shoving some chips in a bag, but it was all part of the effort for Christ to be exalted as His name goes forward. This is an evidence. This loving service is an evidence of the genuineness of salvation. But it's not only loving service towards God, loving service towards the saints, it's also longevity in the race. You know, I had to keep the Ls. Verse 11 and 12. The author says, and we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not become dull, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. He says, we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize," notice this phrase, the full assurance of hope. What is that? I think this is that assurance that when I close my eyes in death, I will make it to Emmanuel's land. I will get there. It's that hope, that confidence, that assurance that I am Christ and He is mine. And he says, we want you guys to have this. This is so important in the Christian life because when you don't have it, when there's a question mark over it, am I saved, am I not saved? It's hard to live the Christian life. It's doubtful you can live a healthy Christian life without an assurance of your salvation. And a genuine believer can and does often struggle with that. But I'm urging you to go after it. to go after that certainty. Now, don't misunderstand me. Eternal salvation, if you are saved, it doesn't matter whether you have assurance or not in the sense of you will get to heaven. It's a done deal. If you are united to Christ because of his death and resurrection, you will make it. But wouldn't you like to enjoy it now? In fact, the newly canonized patron saint of Sovereign Grace Chapel, Thomas Brooks, wrote a book on assurance of salvation called Heaven on Earth. Isn't that good? Heaven on Earth. Because when you have that assurance of salvation, it's like heaven on earth, that full assurance of hope. It doesn't matter what happens to you. Punch me in the face. When I die, I'll be with Jesus. Fire me from my job and chain me, put me in prison. I mean, you can live with such confidence. You can live for eternity with such zeal because you know that your eternity is secure. Arthur Pink says, faith rests on the power and veracity of God to make... Good, his word. The heart ponders these blessings and sees them as yet future. Hope values and anticipates the realization of them. Like faith, hope has its degrees. Full assurance of hope signifies a steady, prevailing persuasion, a persuasion which issues from faith in the promises made concerning the good things to come. You see what he's saying there? It's this full assurance of hope. It's latching onto those promises, and it knows that those promises are theirs. It knows these are for me. It has that confidence. And notice, at the end of verse 11, it's until the end. Until the end. He wants the recipients of this letter, sermon, to have this full confidence until the very end so that when they're staring death in the face, they're able to smile. Say, my eternity is secure in Jesus. That's what He wants for them. He doesn't want them to be biting their nails, wondering, is this hope for me? And then notice the longevity of this faith in the race is also seen in verse 12. So that you may not become dull, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Those who through faith, again, faith, this is that latching on to the promise, and patience, enduring suffering, enduring ill treatment, continuing on, persevering in the midst of it, you finally one day inherit the promise. So this means we need to be, the Christian life is to be in it for the long haul. to persevere in the faith, to persevere, to aim, to have this certainty. Now, let me give you some help. I think there's some hints here. If you struggle with assurance of salvation, he drops some hints here on how to pursue this full assurance of hope. One of the first obstacles to that is sloth. Laziness. Notice what he says in verse 12. So that you may not become dull. Dull. He's used that word earlier in this same context. Remember in chapter five in verse 11, he says, concerning him, namely Melchizedek, we have much to say and it's hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. You've become a lazy listener. And so, when it comes to this assurance of salvation, You can't be lazy about it. You can't be slothful about it. You can't say, well, I've struggled this for a good chunk of my Christian life. I guess it's just not for me. No. Put off that sloth. Say, no, I need to have a measure of certainty with this. Now, you may not, you know, sometimes people think they're going to get mathematical certainty like 2 plus 2 equals 4. You're not going to get that kind of certainty, but you can have a measure of certainty to know that you are in Christ. but not only to put off sloth, to put on diligence. Did you see this in verse 11? And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope. Diligence. This carries the idea of eagerness, effort. You have to put forth effort to have this assurance of salvation. Which, by the way, this assurance often comes as you are growing and maturing. When you're growing and maturing, you're seeing the life of God within you. You're seeing that process taking place in you, and you realize, okay, I know I'm not what I ought to be, but I also know I'm not what I used to be. When I'm looking at my pitiful garden, and trying to discern whether a plant is alive or dead, I'm looking for growth. I'm looking for signs of life, but also looking for the maturing of little peppers and little tomatoes. And so, in this, by the way, 2 Peter 1 and verse 10, a great section on assurance of salvation is 2 Peter 1. He says, therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make to make your calling and choosing sure, for in doing these things you will never stumble." Be all the more diligent to make your calling and election or calling and choosing sure. What is he saying there? Be sure of your salvation. Be sure that indeed God has chosen you. Be diligent with it. And that's not the only time he mentions the word diligent in this section. If you look a couple verses earlier, he says, with all diligence, add to your faith knowledge. Add to knowledge this, add to this. What's he talking about? Grow, mature in the Christian faith. And when you do that, diligently, not with any kind of arrogance, but you're able to look and see, indeed, I can trace the finger of God in my life. I can see what he's doing. It's not perfect. There's still a lot of mess to clean up, but I've grown. I've matured. Again, Owen says, our course of obedience is a call to running in a race, fighting as in a battle, and those who are slothful on such occasion will never be crowned with victory. Wherefore, upon a due compliance with this caution depends our present perseverance and our future salvation. So be diligent. But also, thirdly, imitate the pace setters. Imitate the pace setters. You know, I've heard, I've never actually ran in a race myself, but I've heard of it, that people sometimes run races, long distance, and there's pace setters, right? If you're running a marathon, somebody maybe for four miles will run alongside you, pushing the pace. I have a verse for people who run for fun. Proverbs 28, the wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are bold as a lion. Just kidding. But who are these pace setters? Notice he mentions them here in verse 12. He says, but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises." There are certain pacesetters who've gone before us. And then, if we were to keep reading in verse 13, he introduces a pacesetter by the name of Abraham, who, through faith and patience, inherited the promise, right? God gave a promise of a land, of a nation, of a people, and he didn't have any children. But he believed, right? Through faith, through years of infertility, through years of obstacles, he did believe. Now, did he believe perfectly? Not exactly when he married Hagar, right? But he did believe. And he persevered in that belief. He continued in that belief. If you fast forward all the way to Hebrews chapter 11, there's all those variety of pace setters who the author says, by faith, Noah, fill in the blank. By faith, Abel, fill in the blank. By faith, by faith, by faith. All of these, what we typically call heroes of the faith, they set the pace for us because their faith latched onto the promise and they persevered in the faith. These are the pacesetters that we are to imitate. And the best people to imitate are those who've died, because they can't disappoint, because they've finished the race before us. They crossed the finish line. They've won the crown. And we want to imitate their perseverance. We want to keep following in their footsteps and to not give up until we cross the finish line. I love attending the funerals of saints. I know that sounds morbid and disturbing. But I truly do. a believer who died well, crossing the finish line. Yes, there's tremendous sorrow, there's grief for those of us who've been left behind, but there's also intermingled with it a joy, a confidence that one of our own has graduated to glory, they've crossed the finish line, they've died in Jesus. And I wanna die like them, I wanna cross the finish line, I wanna do the work that needs to be done, and then when Jesus calls me home, I'm ready to go home. We need to imitate such. And this, again, this is our hope. These who have gone before us, they had faith that was latched onto future promises, a confident hope in God's promises. And that really, ultimately, is the grounds of our assurance. But that enables us to persevere, that gives us longevity in the Christian life. Because when you know that there is a end line, when there is a finish line, You can keep enduring, right? You know, any of those who engage in working out or in a game, in a sports, in an activity, when you know there is an end to this pain and suffering, it gives you motivation. I can keep going. I can keep pumping my legs. I can keep moving my arms. I can keep doing it. Why? I know it's going to be done before long. I know that there's only, you know, five minutes left on the clock. I'm going to give my all to do everything I can. In a similar way in the Christian life, you know the promises are true. You keep running the race. You keep persevering. We mentioned last week Bunyan's Man in the Iron Cage. Well, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress gives us another illustration of assurance of salvation. Bunyan talks about how he received this scroll right after passing through the Wicked Gate, which symbolizes his conversion and his burden is rolled away. He receives this scroll that he's to read that would give him comfort. And to be sure, Bunyan is highlighting Christian's assurance of salvation, but There's an occasion where Christian lies down by a tree and he gets lethargic and he starts sleeping. And when he wakes up, he's informed of danger that's on the horizon and this strikes fear in Christian's heart and he goes to look for his scroll. and he can't find it. And he's in a panic because he's lost his assurance of salvation. And he has to work to get it back. Friend, is that you this morning? You've lost your joy of salvation. You need to cry out with David, create in me a clean heart, oh God. Renew a steadfast spirit within me. Restore unto me the joy of salvation. That you put off sloth, put on diligence, and imitate those who've gone before you, let's pray. Lord God Almighty, we thank you for your word and the instruction we have in it. Lord, may we take this matter seriously. Lord, indeed the greatest thing in the world is to be saved. And the second is to know that you're saved. And may we, those who are not saved, pursue that. and those who are but are uncertain about it, oh Lord, may they pursue a certainty, a knowledge of it, an assurance, a full assurance of hope. In Jesus' name, amen.