We're turning this afternoon to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight, we're commencing our reading at the opening verse of the chapter. Romans chapter eight, Paul's epistle to the Romans. Romans chapter eight, the verse number one. The chapter begins with this tremendous statement. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit for they that are after the flesh to mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is enmity against God For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you. He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by a spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you shall die. But if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together amen and we end at the 17th verse our bible reading let's seek the lord in a word of prayer our father in heaven we come before thy word a word of truth What a grand and glorious statement stands at the very head of the chapter. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation, now I dread. We rejoice, dear Father, that that which Satan would accuse us of has been answered on our behalf by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And as we gather round thy word, we pray, Spirit of faith, come down. Reveal the things of God. Grant, dear God, the workings and the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in our midst. If only we hear from a man, what good will that ever profit to our souls? But oh, to hear from God, to hear from the Word. Grant, dear God, therefore, the infilling of thy Spirit. Grant, oh God, a listening ear. an attentive heart, and may we know much blessing and much help in our Christian lives as we meet around the open Bible. For we pray these, our petitions, and through our Savior's precious name. Amen and amen. Well, last Lord's Day, we came to understand from the Word of God that God the Holy Spirit comes to indwell the life of every true Christian at the moment of their conversion. He who is the spirit of grace, he who is the spirit of truth, he who is the spirit of holiness comes and takes possession of the child of God. With such a one now resident in the life, it is only then reasonable to expect a change to occur in our behavior, our desires, and how we live in this ungodly world. The apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 5.17 spoke of that when he spoke about a Christian being a new creature in Christ Jesus. All things passing away. All things becoming new. Today we want to begin thinking about the ministry that the indwelling Spirit of God exercises within the life of the child of God. Now whenever you think about it, the ministry of the Holy Spirit within the Christian has a threefold aspect to it. He has a ministry to us, as it were, in our past. That really incorporates the work of regeneration and conversion, and we have been thinking about that over recent months and over recent weeks. How the Spirit of God regenerates the heart, how the Holy Spirit converts us and brings us, conveys us to Jesus Christ, gives to us the gifts of faith and repentance that enables us to leave our sin and to come into saving union with Jesus Christ. And so we have the past aspect of the Spirit of God's ministry in our lives. And then we have His present ministry in our lives. And really that entails everything from the sealing off the Spirit, right through to sanctification by and through the Spirit of God. and then he will have a future ministry in us. It involves really his work on the day of resurrection, when the Spirit of God will raise the saint from the grave of death. Verse 11 of this chapter speaks of that, but if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, Speaking of the Holy Spirit, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. And so the Holy Spirit has a role to play on the day of resurrection and to our ultimate glorification. And so he has a ministry. ministry that is past, present, and future. And as I've said, having considered his past ministry in our lives, we want to move and start to consider what God is doing, what God the Holy Spirit is doing in us at this present moment of time. Now the matter that we will think about in this particular message today is a matter that causes that causes many Christians great concern in their lives. The matter I refer to is the assurance of salvation. The assurance of salvation. I've dealt with this matter on a number of occasions, but I believe it will do no harm to deal with it again, because a person may go through their lives for many years without doubting their salvation, and yet, all of a sudden, Without any warning, that Christian becomes plagued and tormented with doubts concerning the assurance of salvation. I want to focus primarily on the Holy Spirit's work in this work of assurance of salvation. So I've entitled the message simply, The Holy Spirit, Our Assurer. The Holy Spirit, Our Assurer. Now there will be those who would report or purport that the assurance of salvation can never be attained to in this life. They would say that it is presumptuous on the part of the believer to be confident that their sins have been forgiven, that they have been accepted by God, that they've been adopted into the family of God, that they're confident and sure of a place in heaven. One religious grouping would be the Roman Catholic Church. The doctrine of assurance of salvation is contrary to Catholic teaching. In fact, it was specifically rejected by the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Trent. That counsel stated, whosoever shall say that he holds it absolutely and fallibly certain that he shall have the great gift of perseverance even unto the end, if he has not learned this by special revelation, let him be anathema. Roman Catholic dogma teaches that those who speak of assurance of faith are guilty of the sin of presumption. But the Bible teaches that a man, a woman, a boy or a girl can be sure that they are saved on this side of God's eternity. And one way that we know that is by the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. Let me turn your attention to two verses of Scripture that really highlight the Holy Spirit's involvement in this assurance of salvation. The first is found, you'll know it, it's found in verse 16 of the chapter that we've read together, Romans chapter 8 verse 16, the Spirit itself. or himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." And I really highlight that verse to you, first of all, because we see that it is the role of the Holy Spirit to assure the child of God. It is by the witness of the Spirit to the spirit of the child of God that a believer can be brought into the full assurance of faith. The second verse is found in 1 John 3 24. 1 John 3 24. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us. And so it is by, it is through the Spirit that we are assured that Christ abideth in us. that we are a member of the family of God. John is affirming, re-emphasizing what Paul speaks of in Romans 8, in the verse 16. The Christian can be assured that all is well, that Christ dwells within by the ministry of the Spirit of God, by His witness within. Now, as we look at this matter of assurance of salvation, The Holy Spirit of God brings through His witness. We want to think firstly of what this witness is. What is this witness? The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit. What really is the witness of the Spirit? Well, I readily admit that the witness of the Holy Spirit is easier declared by the preacher than it is defined. by the preacher. It's easier for me to say, and to read the scriptures, and to leave it there, that there is such a thing as this witness of the Spirit. But what is it really? How can you define what this witness is? It's really, can I say, a blessing that is more difficult to put into words, and yet it is a real and a true blessing nonetheless. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones spoke of the Spirit's witness as an operation of the Holy Spirit within us, which is definite and distinct, and by means of which he gives us a realization and a consciousness of the living Lord. Christ, he says, manifests himself to us, and we know him with a kind of inner intuition, over and above all that we believe about him by faith. Now there are those who would confine the witness of the Holy Spirit to the Word of God, which he is the author of. For example, the godly Dr. Chalmers stated that what he had experienced within his own life with regard to the witness of the Holy Spirit did not believe him or lead him to believe that the Holy Spirit ever gave any witness to our being the children of God apart from the written and the ordinary workings of the Spirit of God within our hearts. However, the godly Charles Haddon Spurgeon questioned Dr. Chalmers' rigid dogmatism on that particular matter and said that it was really only Dr. Chalmers' experience, but not the experience of every man. Mr. Spurgeon said, I do believe that there is a supernatural way in which apart from means the Spirit of God communicates with the Spirit of man. My own little experience leads me to believe that apart from the Word of God there are immediate dealings with the conscience and soul of man by the Holy Spirit without any instrumentality, without even the agency of the truth. I believe that the Spirit of God sometimes comes into a mysterious and marvelous contact with the Spirit of man, and at times the Spirit speaks in the heart of man by a voice not audible to the ear, but perfectly audible to the spirit which is the subject of it. He assures and consoles directly by coming into immediate contact with the heart. And so we have two men, two schools of thought about this witness of the Spirit. Chalmers believes that it's only by the Word of God, whereas Spurgeon believed that there was a mysterious, a marvelous contact of the Holy Spirit in the heart of man. moving a man, compelling a man, directing a man to go in a certain direction. I was speaking to people recently, I trust they don't mind me using the example here today concerning a loved one. that was very seriously ill and minister, felt compelled, constrained by the Spirit of God to ring an individual. That individual would be able to take that preacher down to the hospital. As he went into that hospital little ward, that person who had been in a coma for many hours, possibly many days, that individual immediately came out off that coma. That person then was challenged about their state of soul, they were unsaved, and that person placed their faith and their trust in Jesus Christ. When they did so, they slipped into the coma again, and within at least one or two hours, that person was out into God's eternity. There is a man of God sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Feeling that God would have him to go to speak to someone, constrained. A little bit like Philip there in Acts chapter 8. Whenever the Spirit constrained him to go down into the desert, leading him down there to speak to the Ethiopian eunuch. And I suppose this is what Spurgeon is speaking of. Now I'm going to place a qualifying statement on what is being said here. Because I'm not preaching here today that individuals should be getting visions and doing things by and putting the name of the Holy Spirit upon something and they've never been led by the Spirit of God. It's really only their own human impulse that has led them to do such things. But these two men, they speak about the witness of the Spirit. And if you take your hymn book, you'll find many a hymn many a hymn within our own hymn book that has taken this truth, the truth of the witness of the Spirit, and they have incorporated and they've wove them into the warmth and the being off their particular hymns. I'm thinking about the American hymnist Philip P. Bliss. He wrote that great hymn, I Am So Glad That Our Father in Heaven. In the four stanzas off the hymn, he wrote these words, F1 should ask of me, How can I tell? Glory to Jesus, I know very well. God's Holy Spirit with mine doth agree, constantly witnessing. Jesus loves me. The hymn writer Charles Wesley referred to the Holy Spirit as the witness. In his hymn, Spirit of faith, come down. Spirit of faith, come down, reveal the things of God. Make to us the Godhead known and witness with the blood. Russell Kelso Carter was another American hymn writer. He wrote that hymn, Breathe Upon Us, Lord, from Heaven. And in that hymn he said, While the Spirit hovers o'er us, Open all our hearts, we pray, To thine image, Lord, restore us, Witness in our souls today. Another man, we've just sung the hymn, Trusting in Jesus, Frank Gold. He wrote that opening verse, Trusting in Jesus, my Savior divine, I have the witness that still He is mine, greater the blessings He giveth to me, O I am happy as mortal can be. Now whilst we must not think that all hymology makes good theology, Those hymn writers, they did speak of an experience of the Spirit of God's witness, assuring them that they were seen, assuring them that they were a member of the family of God, assuring them that they were loved by God. The Spirit of God beareth witness with our spirit that we are, that we are the children of God. So let me ask you, Is the Holy Spirit in agreement with your spirit today? Is He constantly witnessing to you that Jesus loves you? Have you ever felt that the Holy Spirit has borne witness with your spirit in the Word and in His work in you? And in that still, small voice, have you ever heard Him say to you, you're my son, you're my daughter, I am thine? and you are mine, the witness of the Spirit, what it is. As I said, it's better declared than it is defined, but it's in the Word. The second point I want you to think upon as we consider the witness of the Holy Spirit is brief, but its briefness makes it no less important because I want you to think about when the Spirit of God witnesses with our spirit. Now, the Spirit of God does not witness to us when we are in our unsafe state, when the heart is unregenerate. When we are in our sin, the Spirit of God does not witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. That cannot be the case. We read of here, verse number 9, But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And so the Spirit of God does not dwell in the life of the unconverted person. But now we have in the verse number 17 and the verse number 16, this phrase, the Spirit itself beareth witness. And it is that statement, beareth witness, that we need to think upon because it's found in the present tense. What that simply means is that the Spirit of God's witness is an ongoing witness. It is a witness that is constant, that is perpetual. The Holy Spirit's witness with our spirits that we are the children of God is a continuous, an unremitted witness within that God brings to the child of God as they make their way heavenward and homeward. Our circumstances, our progress, our lack of progress in the Christian life, It does not affect the witness of the Spirit. Now, it may affect what He witnesses to us. In case you think, well, I'll always have this witness and I live in sin. No, that's not the case. He may witness to you by convicting you of your sin while you are in your sin. As a Christian, He will do that. He obviously will do that. He'll convict you of your wrongdoing, your backsliding, your going astray. And so I'm not saying that His witness will always be a comforting witness. It may be a reproving witness, a convicting witness. drawing you away from your sin and your worldliness and back on to Jesus Christ. But this witness, He continually beareth witness. That's how we could read it. The Spirit continually beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. So I ask you, have you the sweet and blessed comfort of the witness of His Spirit in your life today? If you don't, seek Him for it. Ask God to witness to you through His Spirit and through His Word that you are His child, that it would witness with you, I am His and He is mine. Now you may ask, how does God the Holy Spirit do this? How does He witness to us. Well, that brings us to consider the ways in which the Spirit of God witnesses to us. I want you to point you to two key ways in which He witnesses to us, and thereby He delivers us from our fears, our doubts, this lack of assurance of faith. How does He witness to us? Can I say in the first place, the Spirit of God witnesses to the Word of God. He witnesses to the Word of God. Now, lest I have been misunderstood, and have already said concerning the witness of the Holy Spirit, I want you to underline in your mind that no experience, no matter how it comes or through whom it comes, can never take the place of the revelation of God's Word. I say that because every experience, even every Christian experience, has its counterfeit. It has its counterfeit. And therefore, no experience, no experience is valid that is not solidly based on the Word of God. It is to the Word and to the testimony that we must take all of our experiences to. and especially when it comes to the assurance of salvation. Donald Barnhouse made this most helpful statement. He said, the certain fact of our reception as sons of God must be based objectively on the written word of God and then subjectively on the fact of the Holy Spirit's joint witness with our spirit. Barnhouse was saying, get to the word. Get to the Bible. Yes, we have the witness of the Holy Spirit with our witness, but we must not base the assurance of salvation entirely upon some feeling that we have within, some inner tuition that we may possess, but rather we need to get to the solid bedrock of the Word of God. What does the Bible tell me? It's not how I feel. It's what I know. Not how you feel this morning. You may be here today or this afternoon. You may be here this afternoon and you may feel, I don't feel that I'm saved today. I don't feel this assurance of salvation. I'm doubting my salvation. But it's not what you feel today, it's what you know. And where do we know? Well, we must get to the Bible. We must get to the book. You see, Barnhouse was a believer in First of all, or he took the believer to the Word of God and then to the witness of God, and really by the mouth of two witnesses, one witness in harmonious agreement with the other witness, then this matter of assurance is established. And so what does the Spirit of God do to the doubting saint? He takes them to the word of God. He takes them to the scriptures of truth. He conveys them. He causes them to forsake how they think and how they feel. And He brings them into contact with the living Word of God and with the written Word of God. And by that, He gives them a foundation upon which they can build the assurance of their faith. He brings them to the promises of God, showing them that their doubts concerning their assurance of salvation are ungrounded. And so he takes it out in scent to promises such as the ones that we find in In Romans chapter 8, sure, we're in the chapter, note verse 38 and 39, Paul said, for I am persuaded, I'm convinced, I'm fully convinced of this matter, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. When you're in union with Jesus Christ, nothing can separate you from the Word of God. How do I know that? Because the Bible tells me, the Word of God assures me, it is this which gives me confidence, that nothing shall separate me, either in this life or in the life that is to come. Anything that comes along life's journey will not be able to separate you and I from the love of Jesus Christ. That should put away your doubts. That should put away your fears. That should subdue all your anxiety, whether or not I'm a Christian. Bible, if you are now one in whom there is no condemnation, you can make your way to the end of the verse or the end of the chapter. As you've come into the chapter 8, now no condemnation, you can come to the end of chapter 8 and say there's no separation to the one of whom there is no condemnation. Let me ask you, are you condemned today because of your sin? May that condemnation drive you to the place of redemption, the place of cleansing, the place of pardon, the place of forgiveness. May that feeling of dread and guilt and shame and disgrace over your sin convey you to the place where burdens are lifted, the place called Calvary. I'm not going to repeat every verse that the Spirit of God could bring you to. What about the one there in Philippians 1 verse 6, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. What about the one there in 1 John 5 verse 13, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know. That ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. John 10, 28, I give on to them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. George Everett, he remarked, it is the Holy Spirit sealing upon the heart the reality, the eternal verity. and the personal application of such truths as these, speaking of these promises, promises in the word of God, it is by this that they become to the soul a pillar of strength, a foundation of immovable security. Take God at his word. As a sinner, I came. As a sinner, I repented. As a sinner, I trusted in him. And because of that, I shall never perish. When the Scottish reformer John Knox lay dying, he made the following appeal to his wife, go read where I cast my first anchor. Go read where I first, or I cast my first anchor. Knox knew, or Knox's wife knew immediately that her husband meant her to read John chapter 17 verses 2 and 3. Thou hast given him authority over flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him, and this is life eternal, that they may know thee, that only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Knox knew where to find assurance in his dying hour, It wasn't the experiences that he had down through church history, the great reformer that he was. His assurance wasn't based on his works or the labors of his own hands or his knowledge of the scriptures. Mentally, I'm speaking off, but in the word of God, here's my assurance. This is my anchor. This is what's going to take me through the storm of death. This promise from God who cannot lie. John Knox was willing to stake his eternity and to stake the eternal safety of his soul on the promise of God, on the promise of God, and so ought we. We ought to rest confidently on the promises of God. There's no reason for us to doubt, is there? Can we doubt the one who cannot lie? There's no ground for us to believe His promises, that He will keep that which we have committed unto Him against that day. There's no just cause for us to call into question His power or His ability to secure us until our final glorification. And therefore, we take God at His word, a word authored by God the Holy Spirit. And by taking him at his word, our doubts and our fears are put to bed once and for all. If you're a doubting child of God today, may the Spirit of God take you to the Word of God. And by its witness, by its witness, may every fear and doubt be driven out of your mind and your heart concerning your salvation. And so the Spirit of God, this witness to us, he takes us to the Word of God. But the Spirit of God witnesses secondly to the work of Christ, to the work of Christ. Speaking of the coming Comforter, the Lord Jesus Christ said this about the Holy Spirit in John 15 verse 26, but when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." And one of the things that the Spirit of God testifies of is the cross work of Jesus Christ. I know that because of what I read in 1 Peter 1, in the verse 11, speaking of the Old Testament prophets, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified, speaking of the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. Here we find the Holy Spirit, His ministry in and through the prophets. What did He testify in their writings? It was concerning the sufferings of Christ, the cross work of Jesus Christ. It is His role to speak, to testify, to bring us to the work of Jesus Christ. And when He does so, He reminds the doubting saint that the sufferings that Christ endured on the cross were vicarious sufferings. They were vicarious sufferings. What I mean by that was, he reminds a child of God that Christ suffered on behalf of sinners. He suffered for sinners. He takes their place. He stands in their room. He dies as a substitute. He pays the sin debt on their behalf. He takes to himself the responsibility of fulfilling the entire law. perfectly, completely on their behalf, and then dying the death that was required by a broken law, the penalty of the law, by dying for sin. And he takes the doubting saint to look away from their works to the vicarious work of Jesus Christ, and he reminds the doubting saint that the work is done. Salvation has been secured by the sufferings and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He removes our fears by assuring us that all that is necessary to reconcile me as sinner to God has been accomplished by the sufferings and by the death and by the bloodshedding of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Reformer John Calvin emphatically warned against looking to ourselves, to our works or to the fruit of the Spirit for certainty of our salvation. that if we should look to Christ, he taught that we should look to Christ as the objective basis of our assurance. To look to ourselves, he said, produces doubt, and it detracts from the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So let me encourage you to look away to Calvary. Let the Spirit of God today in this house transport you from this place to the foot of the old rugged cross. standing under the shadow of that tree. Understand, as Christ suffers and sheds His blood and endures the wrath of God and endures the forsaking of the Father, understand that it was there on Calvary's hillside that God put an end to all your sin. That the debt has been paid, the work has been complete, the cry goes up, it is finished. It is finished. And then have him taken you to the cross. Let him take you into the garden, that little garden, to that garden tomb, and view God's verification and ratification of that crosswork. Let him show you the empty grave. Let Him show you the vacated tomb. Let Him show you that Christ is risen indeed, that He's at the Father's right hand. He's ever living to make intercession for us. He's praying that you'll be with Him in the glory. John chapter 17, I pray, I pray that they may be with me. He's praying for us. And as you consider all of these things, the work of Christ, His cross work, His intercessory work, then what have you to fear? What have you to fear? If the shedding of blood has paid your ransom price, oh, may the Spirit's exaltation of the cross work banish your doubts and your fears this very day. These are the two main ways. The Spirit of God witnesses to us, assuring us of salvation. But there are times, there are times when we do experience His sweet influence in other ways that again affirm that we are the children of God. He may witness to us one day in a manner that melts our eyes and tears as we pray and as we get before the Word of God. And yet the next day, He may witness to us in a manner that convicts us and reproves us of our sin. We're melted again with tears, but again, this time it's because of our backslidings and our falling away. The next day, he may assure us with some promise that is so fitted for our circumstances. Just a word from God, I was speaking to a young man last night, and speaking to him, and he was listening, he was speaking to my father, and there were meetings over in MacDuffell quite some time ago, Dr. Paul Ferguson was there. My father was speaking to this young man, and encouraged him just to listen to those messages, they would be an encouragement to him. And as he started to listen, he says he was just amazed. at how fitted those messages just were for that young man, and what his family was going through. His father had just been diagnosed with cancer, but no one knew. The family knew, but no one else knew. They had kept it quite private. But just how God ministered to that young man through the Word of God, just giving him a word in season. And how the Spirit of God does that, maybe through a little devotion, or through the gospel meeting, or through the ministry meeting here, or in your own private readings, maybe some friend texting you, or sending you a word of encouragement, and how the Spirit of God providentially controls, at times, these things. But as I say, we must not place these to a preeminent position. but rather to the witness of the Word and to the work of Christ is where we go to for the assurance of salvation. When the Spirit of God comes to guide you, when he comes to encourage you, convict you, to reprove you, to revive you, to reveal his will unto you, to restrain you, to constrain you, to enable you to live a holy life, By these things we can be assured that we are the children of God by His ministry in us and through us. However, any witness, it never contradicts the Word of God. It's always in perfect agreement with it. If our sentiments, feelings, and actions are invariably opposed to God's revealed Word, we can boast all we want, but our divine relationship But the matter of fact is that you're self-deceived. If your life is not in living up to the Word of God, you can witness and say, well, I have the witness, I have this feeling, I have this sense that I am a child of God. If you're living in disobedience to God, you have got some counterfeit experience. The witness of the Spirit is always in perfect harmony with the witness of the Word. with the witness of the word or work of Jesus Christ. Let me make three points of quick application. Application number one, assurance of salvation, of which the witness of the Holy Spirit plays a part in, is not actual salvation. It's not actual salvation. There are some people who are genuinely saved, and yet they never attain to the assurance of salvation in this life. Ezekiel Hopkins was a Puritan who said, some Christians never have any full assurance at all, and no Christian has full assurance at times. But if you never come to possess the assurance of salvation, make sure at the very least you come to possess actual salvation. And so if you're not saved, my counsel is for you to be saved today. Application number two, the inner witness of the Spirit is always verified by the outer witness of sanctification. I've emphasized that to you. That means that if the Spirit of Christ is dwelling in your heart, then the fruit of the Spirit will be exhibited in your life to others. Worldliness will be avoided. Sin will be separated from and Christ will be your crowning joy. As I've said, you can protest all you want and say that I'm sure that I'm saved, but if your life is being governed by sin and you have no guilt over that sin, then I fear that you have a counterfeit assurance. The inner witness of the Spirit is verified by the outer witness of sanctification. Application 3, though genuinely converted, a Christian, though they can never lose their salvation, they can lose the assurance of their salvation. David lost it. Peter lost it. Thank God each found it again, but not until bitter tears and divine chastening. It is then incumbent upon us individually that we quench not the Spirit of God, that we do not grieve Him, that we do not vex Him. We must avoid driving Him away by tinkering with even the smallest of sins. Inconsistencies within our Christian lives will cause a distance to open up between us and God, the Holy Spirit. David said in Psalm 51, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. And part of that joy is the assurance of salvation. Because whenever a person is not assured of salvation, they have doubts and their fears, and they go mourning, and they lament, they lack joy. But whenever they are assured what joy, what blessing, what confidence, what faith it gives to that particular child of God, Oh, then that the Spirit of God would witness with your spirit, would witness with my spirit today, enabling us and enabling you to confidently say, I am His and He is mine. Would you be able to say, mine, mine, mine? I know thou art mine. Savior, dear Savior, I know thou art mine. No preacher can give you the assurance of salvation. Only the witness of the Spirit, only God can bring a person into full assurance of faith. Get to the Word, and get to the work, and understand that the Word is a solid foundation, and the work of Christ is sufficient to deal with your sin, past, present, and future. And as you come to know and understand these things, then I believe the Spirit will begin to witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. May God bless the Word to our hearts today. Let's bow in prayer. Our loving Father, our gracious God, we come before Thee. We recognize, O God, that we must have a full round ministry Recognize that there are people here, and Lord, they're not doubting their salvation. They have got strong confidence and strong hope, a hope that's not like the world's hope, a hope that is solid and enduring, but that they are the children of God. And yet there are doubting saints here. There are people like Thomas who are doubting. And we pray, oh God, I pray that this message will have helped them encourage them, enable them to look away from themselves and to rest on the word and work of Christ and the work of God. Lord, answer prayer. We thank Thee, dear Father, that Thou art the one who assures Thy children. Come with much assurance in our hearts in these days. Meet with us, we pray. May we know the witness day by day. And when we do wrong, Lord, witness to our spirit that we have done wrong. Cause us to feel the guilt of it. Lord, then take us to the blood of Christ and the place of cleansing. O God, answer prayer we pray. Glorify thy son. Bless, O God, in the afternoon meeting, the open air, and then also at the evening service. Fill this house with thy glory. Fill it with sinners seeking after thee. And may we see God at work, helping and assisting. even the preacher as he preaches. The Word of God. Answer our petitions, we pray. These are prayers in and through our Savior's holy name. Amen and amen. Thank you.