Okay, we're here and it's live. Most likely we could get a drum roll for that. It says going live in this little circle that spins and spins and spins. Sometimes it'll spin for like 2 seconds, other times it's like 15 seconds. Anyway, welcome to today's program. I'm going to do a program today on assurance. Assurance of salvation. And one of the great burdens that I have as a minister of the gospel is You want people who ought to have assurance to have it. You want people to have a robust sense of their own assurance and to really, really know that they stand in God's favor, in Jesus Christ, and you want them to have that wonderful benefit of knowing that they have eternal life, of having that wonderful expectation that come what may, in this sad life, in this veil of tears, as Augustine called it, God has promised me eternal life, and I have that. It's my present possession. You want people under your ministry who should have assurance to have more of it and to have a greater measure of joy and to have a greater measure of expectation and anticipation of eternal life. And it still is amazing to me the way that God made the world and that we in his sovereign plan and providence and decree live just these short lives, you know, very short lives and they're infinitesimally small compared to eternity. And that's one of the things that God has revealed to us in scripture that is just so astounding is that Our existence does not end at death. It goes on for ever Eternity Everlasting into the future and it's a it's an incredible thing to think that Um, the, the very short life that we live here, uh, really is, I guess you really, you can't compare something that's finite to something that is infinite. I mean, if, if eternal life really is, you know, that term, um, eternal, their eternal life, life in heaven will be world without end and it will be forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever. And it's one thing to know the concept, yes, life will last forever in heaven or hell. It will never, ever end. It's just, it's such a mind-blowing thing to think about. Will the passage of time be similar to what it is here? I would think probably it would be similar because Adam and Eve, it's not like they existed outside the realm of time when they lived in the pre-fallen world. But it's an amazing thing to think what people spend their lives on in this world and what they value in this world when What we should value is knowing God. And if we boast of anything, it is that we know the Lord. And we shouldn't worry about anything at all. We often do. We have worries that are sinful. It's one thing to be concerned. It's one thing to embrace responsibility. But sinful worry should be something that slowly we overcome in life. But I want to get to the subject of assurance. You want people that should have assurance, people that are true believers, to have more assurance. And you want people who do have assurance but shouldn't have it because they're not converted, you don't want them to have assurance. And what's remarkable about the Westminster Confession, if you have a copy of the Westminster Confession or have access to one in some way, chapter 18 is a wonderful, wonderful chapter of biblical truth that was given to us by the Westminster Divines on the topic, the subject of assurance. And it begins with a somewhat ominous idea, but it really is a great place to start because they want to point out immediately that there are a lot of people out there who have assurance, who have no right to have assurance. There are a lot of people, and I would say in America today, especially here in the Bible Belt where supposedly everybody's a Christian in some way, that there are a lot of people who have assurance, who are very confident they're going to heaven, and in fact they are not, at least not in the condition that they are right now. It begins with, although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God and a state of salvation, which hope of theirs shall perish? Yet, such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace and may rejoice in the hope or the expectation of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed. Okay, so let's break this down here and we'll talk about it. Hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God and a state of salvation. Now, this would refer to the person who is smug in their heart and believes they're good enough to go to heaven in some way. There's a very disturbing passage of scripture here. Let me clone Bible works here so I can pull up larger passages while we're going through this. It's in Deuteronomy chapter 29, and this comes after God explains to the people of Israel that he wants the law to be read in the presence of the people. He wants the curses, the covenant curses and blessings to be read in the sight of all the people. And why is this not working? so that all the people can shout, amen, when the covenant curses are read. Hey, there's lukewarm no more. And there's some of my kids, that's gotta be Lily, hopefully, maybe Gianna or Ruth is watching too, but it's good to have you guys on there. Listen to Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy shall have peace. Let's see, Deuteronomy chapter 29, here it is. So, here's the reason why God wanted them to read these covenant curses out loud and have the whole congregation shout amen to all this stuff. Listen, so it may not happen, this is Deuteronomy 29 and 19, so it may not happen when he hears the words of this curse that he blesses himself in his heart saying, I shall have peace even though I follow the dictates of my heart as though the drunkard could be included with the sober. Oh, really? Is my sound- is the sound not working? Is the sound not working? I can't understand you. No! No! Okay. Uh, let's see. Let's put some stuff over here. Others... Okay. Uh, please let me know if you can't hear me. Okay, so Deuteronomy 29, 18, the people, the congregation, the assembled people of God there would all shout amen and amen and amen to the blessings and curses so that it won't happen, hopefully, hopefully, someone's not standing there saying, I shall have peace in my heart, even though I follow the dictates of my own heart. I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my own heart, as though the drunkard could be included with the sober. Now, what's that talking about? It's talking about the person who is unrepentant in their sin. Someone who sins and they're not troubled by it. And they just follow the dictates of their own heart. They don't care about what's right and they don't care about loving the Lord or anything of the kind. And those individuals are presumptuous and they're unregenerate and they vainly deceive themselves. And their hope will perish. Their hope will perish. There's Art Shannon. Good to see Art. And hopefully, maybe Elizabeth is there with you. Okay, so hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions. We know that the Apostle Paul was one of those. We know from Philippians chapter 3 that he had vain hope and, you know, carnal presumptions. Philippians chapter 3, he kept very tight track of his own resume. He said, hey, if anyone thinks that they're confident in their own works and their flesh and what they accomplished, I have more reason to think I was going to heaven than you could ever have. Then he goes down through it. I was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless, And then he says, but what things were gained to me, these I have counted lost for Christ. And so this is one of the keys to having a real assurance. having a true assurance that a believer, a regenerate person has the right to. It's when you come to that realization, hey Gianna, when you come to that realization that everything that you used to trust in is really just garbage in the sight of God, and it's not worth trusting in. And as a matter of fact, had you died trusting in it, it would not have brought you to heaven, but rather to hell. That's the person that is ready to have some sense of assurance. Because Paul was very impressed with himself, and he had all these things working in his favor. He thought these things were working in his favor, but they actually were sins. They actually were working against him, and he didn't realize it. He was an unregenerate man who was very presumptuous. He thought all this stuff that he had done, all of this pedigree and all these works, he thought that this would get him eternal life, that this would get him into heaven. And then he says, what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but the righteousness, which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness, which is from God by faith. Okay, so the first step, the first thing a person has got to get in their thinking is that the righteousness by which alone they will enter into heavenly glory at the Day of Judgment is that righteousness that was achieved by Christ alone. If you don't understand that part, you're not gonna have assurance. You'll never have assurance. You'll always be on the treadmill. You'll always be wondering if you've done enough. And just to let you in on a little secret, you'll never have done enough. And the day you think you've done enough, you're still deceived. So the first, the key to having assurance, the key to having assurance is truly believing in the Lord Jesus. And that's why 18.1 says, yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus. And what that means is to truly believe in Jesus means to receive and rest on him alone for your salvation. That what you're relying on to get you past the final judgment on the day of judgment before God, is Jesus Christ's righteousness imputed into your ledger, into your legal account before God, your sins put into Christ's legal ledger before God, and he was treated accordingly at the cross, and that's it. That is the grounds upon which you will enter heaven, such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus. That's what it means to believe in Jesus. It means you're trusting in the imputation of His righteousness into your account and that the guilt of all your sins was laid upon Him at the cross. So that's the first thing. Such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and then the next thing, and love him in sincerity. Now immediately, people feel convicted. Well, I don't, I don't love Jesus as much as I should. Well, welcome, welcome to the club. None of us do. I have never loved Jesus in the way he deserves from me. But the question you need to ask is, do you love him at all? Do you love the Lord Jesus at all? Only a true Christian will be able to say, yes, there is definitely some love in me for Jesus. Is it perfect? No. Is it always falling short of perfection? Absolutely. Will it ever be something I'm satisfied with in terms of its depth and its level of affection and attachment? No, I'll never be satisfied with it. It'll always be something that upsets me that I don't love Jesus as much as I should. But do we love him at all? Yeah, I definitely do. I love Jesus. I'm so thankful for him. And I love Him, and I'm thankful that He created me, that He died for me, and that He sought me out, that He put my parents in my life, who prayed for me so earnestly and made sure I was in church. And I'm thankful for the times my mother smacked me in church when I was asleep and made me pay attention. And I'm very, very, very thankful for all the people that Jesus brought into my life, who put up with me and prayed for me and led me to Christ. And so I love him. I love Jesus. Not just because of what he's done for me, but because of the beauty of who he is. I love Jesus because he's better than me. He's more righteous than me. He has a mouth that never sinned. He never had deceit in his mouth. He never had lust in his heart. He was never discontent. He never grumbled. He had perfect love for God. And I admire him. I admire him for that because he's so much better than me. And I love Him because He first loved me. It says in 1 John 4, 19, we love Him because He first loved us. And so my love to Him is a response to His love for me. Such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love Him in sincerity, endeavoring, it means trying to walk in all good conscience before Him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." Okay? And so that's really the foundation. That's the ground of assurance, Jesus Christ, and recognizing that He alone is our righteousness before God on the day of judgment. His cross is the full payment. The discharging of all the debt that we owe to God for our sins happened at the cross that Jesus bore. And we do love him. And I see that in my own heart. It's never been as strong as I want it to be. And it makes me have a sense of poverty and mourning, sadness, grief in my heart that that love is not deeper. But it is there. It is there. endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him. Yeah, I hate my sin. If I could push a button to turn off every sin that I deal with and struggle with, I'd push it right now without an instant of hesitation. If I could flip a switch and know I'd never be tempted to do this or that ever again, I would do it in a second and I would be glad to do it. Absolutely delighted to do it. We can be certainly assured that we are in the state of grace, and there's so many tests in the book of 1 John, if we keep his commandments. Not perfectly, never perfectly, but there will be those beginning steps of new obedience. We can know that we know him. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. Do you love your church? I mean, that says a lot about whether you really know Christ or not. 1 John 3, 14. We know we have passed out of death into life, which is a way of saying we know we're saved because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. And so, the ease with which people can turn their back on their Christian families is frightening. But if there's a sense of love and attachment and loyalty to our Christian brethren, that's a good sign. Okay? All right. Point number two. Point number two under chapter 18. This certainty, this assurance of our salvation is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope. Okay, it's not just, yeah, I'm pretty sure, or I'm probably saved. It's not that, it's not conjecture, and it's not a probable persuasion. It's not grounded on a fallible hope, but an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation. Listen to the scripture, 2 Peter 1.4. For by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, that means being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence and in your moral excellence, knowledge, et cetera, so on and so forth. But God gives us those precious promises, the promises of his word, the promises of salvation. And there are so many of them in scripture. Think of Romans chapter eight. Let me pull this up here. Romans eight, one and following. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. That's a promise. If you're in Christ, and what it means to be in Christ is you've repented of your sins, you see the depth of your sin, and you truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and your confidence for entering heaven rests only upon Him, there's no condemnation. No judicial charge of wrongdoing or of sin can or will ever be brought against you if you're in Christ. He goes on to say there, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, what does that mean? What could the law not do? Save us, justify us. Why? Because it was weak through the flesh, weak through our sinful nature. What the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did. sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh so that the requirement of the law would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. Now, those who walk after the flesh are unbelievers. Those who walk according to the spirit are believers. Okay? So it's very, very important distinction there. Okay? So that's one of the promises there. That's one of the promises of salvation there. Just a couple more. Yeah, Romans 8, 15. You have not received a spirit of slavery, leading you to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. There's that subjective element, the inward evidence of the graces unto which those promises are made. Now, I also wanted to read a very short section from the Canons of Dort. If I can find this here. Yeah, there. The Canons of Dorb has a wonderful section. It's very pastoral. Here we go. The Assurance of Election. This is Article 12 under the heading of Divine Predestination. Listen to how wonderful this is. Spot on the money in biblical and wonderful. Article 12 under divine predestination, unconditional election, the assurance of election, this is called. The elect in due time, though in various degrees and in different measures, attain the assurance of this, their eternal and unchangeable election. not by inquisitively prying into the secret and deep things of God. Okay, just stop there for a minute. John Calvin addresses that in the Institutes of the Christian Religion and says, if you try to find your assurance by trying to pry into the secret counsels of God, you will enter a labyrinth from which you will never escape. Rather, how do we know we're one of God's elect people? Listen, not by prying into the secret counsel of God, but by observing in themselves with a spiritual joy and holy pleasure the infallible fruits of election pointed out in the word of God, such as a true faith in Christ. And what is that? You are relying upon Christ's righteousness to get you into heaven. You're relying upon His cross work as the satisfaction of divine justice in your behalf. That's what a true faith in Christ is. It's not mixed with works or with sanctification or putting sin to death or anything like that. True faith in Christ looks away from works to Christ alone. That's the first fruit of election. How do you know if you're one of the elect? John Calvin said it best in the Institutes of the Christian Religion. He said, Jesus Christ is the mirror of our election. It's like looking at yourself in a mirror, but you see Christ. Looking to Christ, that's how you know you're one of the elect. Only the elect can do that. Only the elect will really trust in Christ alone for their salvation. Filial fear, what that was referring to is a childlike fear of God, a childlike fear of God as your heavenly father, as one that you hold in the deepest reverence, a childlike fear of God, a godly sorrow for sin. See, so often people feel so sad over their sin, and I'm just, I'm not what I know I should be, and I'm disgusted with myself, and I wish I could do better. That's a good thing that you feel that. That sense of sorrow over sin is a fruit of election. The person who's not sorry, who doesn't have an ongoing sense of spiritual poverty, I worry about them. Jesus said, you are among the blessed if you're poor in spirit. And he's talking about self-assessment. What do you think of yourself? Am I a very godly man? No. Do I desire godliness? Yes. Do I love the Lord Jesus? Not the way I should. But do I love Him at all? Oh yes, I do. I do. Am I satisfied with the depth of it? No. In fact, I'm sorry for how weak my love for Christ is every day. That godly sorrow for sin, that's a sign that you're one of God's election, or one of God's elect people. And one of the great passages I would encourage people to reflect on this, 2 Corinthians 7, 10 and following, Paul here speaks of how he knew that the Corinthian congregation's repentance was real by the following things. Paul makes the distinction, a very important one, between the sorrow of the world, which is more like, I got caught, and then there's sorrow that really comes from the heart where you really despise what you did. And you really want to make it right. And it's created an intensity in your heart that you despise that sin and want to be done with it for good. He says in 2 Corinthians 7 10, For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret leading to salvation. But the sorrow of the world produces death. And then he gives this description in 2 Corinthians 7 verse 11 of here's what real repentance is all about. Behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you. You hear that? If you're one of God's elect, you're gonna have sorrow in your heart. You will feel very sad at how sinful you are. A lot. And that's why we need things like the Lord's Supper. And that's why we need to not miss church. That's why we need to make sure we're not falling asleep in worship services. That's why we need to make sure we have gotten on our knees, if we can, and prayed, God, don't let your word be wasted on me this Sunday. Help me to listen, to turn to the passages, to have my mind engaged so that I hear from you so that you can convict and shape and mold and encourage and change me. Godly sorrow produces that very thing. It's produced this in you. Verse 11 says what? Vindication of yourself what indignation? What does that mean anger? The Corinthians they were they were angry Over the sin that they had committed. They were upset about their their fists were coming down on the tables We've got to make sure we never do this again. They were angry at themselves What fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong. In everything, says Paul, the Holy Spirit writing through Paul here, in everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. Meaning, the repentance that you demonstrated, it was a genuine article, it was godly sorrow that can only be produced by the Holy Spirit. If you have that sense of sorrow in yourselves, and you have a sense of, I get angry at myself, disgusted at myself, that kind of thing, that can only be produced by the Holy Spirit. And that's a good indication. You have good grounds to be assured of your election, of that you're one of God's children. Listen to the canons of Dort again. I'll just start over again. But not by prying into the secret and deep things of God, but by observing in themselves with a spiritual joy and holy pleasure the fruits of election, the infallible fruits of election pointed out in the word of God, such as a true faith in Christ. That's the first thing. You gotta get the gospel right. If your confidence for getting into heaven is in Jesus plus something else, you don't have a true faith in Christ. True faith in Christ includes a repudiation of all works or anything done in you or by you. That's the first thing, filial fear. You have a childlike fear of God, a childlike sense of awe over his greatness and his divine majesty. Third, a godly sorrow for sin. Really? Sorrow is one of the fruits of election? Absolutely. And it's one of the things that keeps us clinging at all times. It's one of the ways the Holy Spirit of God keeps us clinging with both hands to the cross and to the righteousness of Christ alone. That godly sorrow for sin, that sense of personal wretchedness is a gift of God to his elect people. So we can all rejoice that we feel like wretches together, because that's what we are. And that's why we need the righteousness of Christ to save us. a hungering and thirsting after righteousness, etc. Why would we hunger and thirst after righteousness? Because we don't have it. We long to be righteous, and so we hunger and thirst for it. I mean, have you ever been really hungry or really thirsty? It's a form of pain. So really, sadness and pain are sources of assurance? Yep, they are. True faith in Christ is gonna be accompanied by that stuff. A childlike fear of God, a sorrow over sin, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, but that sense of thanksgiving to God only grows in time. As you grow in your Christian faith, you start to see how gracious God truly has been, how patient He really has been towards us throughout all the time that we've known Him and how much He's put up with through all the time that we've known Him. So that's a real important stuff. Okay, so this, okay, let's see, that was point number two. The inward evidence of those graces under which these promises are made, the testimony of the spirit of adoption, witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God. There's that inward witness where God confirms that to us by the witness of the Holy Spirit, which spirit is the earnest, the down payment of our inheritance. whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption. That's a great, great biblical theme. That's in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, I think it's verse 21, and then Ephesians chapter 1 speaks of the fact that we're sealed by the Holy Spirit. It's like the impress of God's signet ring on wax. Real quick here, let me make sure nothing serious is wrong. I do, my father has been kinda, has been struggling with, okay. Yeah, my dad's been dealing with stuff related to kidney failure. So if you can remember my father, please pray for him. He's a godly Christian man, but he's had quite an ordeal with dialysis and all kinds of stuff like that. But anyway, so sorrow over sin and the testimony of the Spirit and knowing that the Spirit is the one who gives rise to that godly sorrow. It's the Spirit who creates true faith in Christ. It's the Spirit of God who creates that hungering and thirsting for righteousness. And we can know that we are sealed for the day of redemption because only the Holy Spirit can produce those fruits. Only the Spirit can do that, and that's where our sense of assurance comes from, the Spirit within us and the fruit that He bears and the effects that He bears, true faith in Jesus Christ, sorrow over sin, and things like that. Okay, 18.3, the next point. Now, this is an important point here, because I think there's a slight difference between the Westminster Standards and the Heidelberg Catechism. I think they're a little bit slightly different, although the canons of Dort seem to agree with this, but anyway. This infallible assurance does not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long and conflict with many difficulties before he be partaker of it. Now, what they mean by saying this infallible assurance does not so belong to the essence of faith, what they mean by that is faith and assurance are different things. And I think in some traditions, faith really is a form of assurance. Because to believe in Jesus is to believe that what he did was for you and that it's sufficient. So the two are very, assurance and faith are very closely related to each other. But the confession is making a distinction here. I think it's an important one because a lot of people have a monumental struggle to finally get to where they really do have a sense of assurance that they are saved and are going to go to heaven. And some, as it says, may labor long to have that sense of, I really am in God's favor. I am a Christian, and what Christ did was for me. People often suffer a long time. Read Psalm 88. Psalm 88 is a difficult psalm to read, and the person there feels, you know, completely abandoned by God. And yet, they still refer to God as the God of their salvation in the opening verse, but the rest of Psalm is feeling totally forsaken and undone, like they're under God's wrath and judgment. Okay. Secondly, there in 18.3, and therefore, or wait a minute, yet being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given of him, given him of God, he may without extraordinary revelation and the right use of ordinary means attain thereunto. And why do they say that that way? That the believer can know that they're saved without extraordinary revelation? That's a direct shot at Roman Catholicism. Because Catholicism teaches that assurance that you're going to go to heaven is presumption. It's a sin. Which makes sense, since they believe that ultimately we save ourselves by works that we do with the help of infused grace. They think that God has to like dispatch an angel to come tell you, okay, you've done enough good works, you're going to heaven before you can really have assurance. And what the confession here is saying, since that's totally unbiblical and anti-Christian. and betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of sin and the work of Christ. They're saying that we can know that we have salvation apart from an extraordinary revelation from God, okay? And the right use of ordinary means, meaning prayer, Bible study, Bible reading, meditation on the Word of God, the use of the Lord's Supper, and fellowship with God's people, a diligent use of the ordinary means, we can attain unto a real true, infallible assurance. We can know for certain that we're going to go to heaven when we die. And I firmly believe, from looking at scripture, looking at the Word of God, it's God's will, it's God's will for His children to know that they have eternal life. And it's normal for a Christian to know that, to know that they have eternal life. Okay? And therefore, it is the duty of everyone to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure. Okay? Now, that's a direct quotation from 2 Peter 1, verse 10. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you. For as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble. And that's on the tale of that passage that says, be diligent to add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge, brotherly kindness, and things like that. If you do these things, you will never stumble. We are to be diligent to make our calling and election sure. And so here's the thing, this is kind of difficult for some folks to grasp, but it's sinful for a Christian not to have assurance. We're supposed to be diligent to make our call on election sure. Sure to who? Well, God already knows, sure to ourselves. Be diligent to make your calling an election sure. I remember listening to R.C. Sproul's series on assurance long ago, and he says, the first thing you need to know here is that you and I are duty bound to attain to assurance. We are to study the word of God and the work of Christ and look in depth at Hebrews chapters five through 10 and look carefully at what he did, read Romans over and over and over again, read Galatians over and over, read Ephesians over and over, read Isaiah over and over. We are duty bound to have assurance, to make our call and election sure. That thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost and love and thankfulness to God and in strength and cheerfulness and the duties of obedience. Proper fruits of this assurance? So far is it from inclining men to looseness. J.C. Ryle uses one of the best illustrations I've ever, ever seen. It's in his book, Holiness, I believe, in the chapter on assurance. In fact, let me see if I can find it, because if I try to paraphrase it, it won't be anywhere near as good as good old J.C. Ryle. Okay, yeah, there's holiness. And there's a chapter in here on assurance, if I'm remembering the right book. Yeah, there it is, ha ha, okay. And how does he say that there? Land, a parcel of land. Let's see, you are here. Where is it? I will find it, just be patient, please. Be patient, please, talk amongst yourselves. Talk amongst yourselves. Let's see. Haha, there it is. Okay, listen. A believer who lacks an assured hope will spend much of his time in inward searchings of heart about his own state. Like a nervous hypochondriacal person, a hypochondriac is someone who's convinced they're constantly sick when they're usually not. Like a nervous hypochondriacal person, he will be full of his own ailments, his own doubtings and questionings, his own conflicts and corruptions. In short, you will often find he is so taken up with his internal warfare that he has little leisure for other things and little time to work for God. But a believer who has, like Paul, an assured hope is free from these harassing distractions. He does not vex his soul with doubts about his own pardon and acceptance. He looks at the everlasting covenant sealed with blood, at the finished work and never broken word of his Lord and Savior, and therefore counts his salvation a settled thing. And thus he is able to give an undivided attention to the work of the Lord. And so in the long run to do more. And just a break from this subject here for a moment. Undivided attention to the work of the Lord. Married people, one of the most practical ways you love the Lord is loving your spouse. One of the most practical ways we love the Lord is loving our local church and loving our children, being kind to people, the people that we live with. Don't always think of loving the Lord as me out on the streets trying to witness to people or me doing, you know, kingdom work or teaching Sunday school. Those are all wonderful things. But the love that we have for the Lord shows up most, shows up most in the people that were called the most to love by God. If you're married, that's your spouse. Okay, listen, here's the illustration. Take for an illustration of this two English immigrants and suppose them set down side by side in New Zealand or Australia. Give each of them a piece of land to clear and cultivate. Let the portions allotted to them be the same, both in quantity and quality. Secure that land to them by every needful legal instrument. Let it be conveyed as freehold to them and theirs forever. Let the conveyance be publicly registered and the property made sure to them by every deed and security that man's ingenuity can devise." So what he's saying is take two people, give them each a track of land, make sure they understand this is your land. It will always be your land. Don't worry about it. We've taken care of all the legal stuff. It's all registered. That is your land. Suppose, then, that one of them shall set to work to clear his land and bring it into cultivation, and labor at it day after day without intermission or cessation. Suppose, in the meanwhile, that the other shall be continually leaving his work and going repeatedly to the public registry to ask whether the land is really his, whether there is not some mistake, or whether, after all, there is not some flaw in the legal instruments which conveyed it to him. The one shall never doubt his title, but just work diligently on. The other shall hardly ever feel sure of his title, and spend half his time in going to Sydney or Melbourne or Auckland with needless inquiries about it. Which now of these two men will have made most progress in a year's time? Who will have done the most for his land, got the greatest breadth of soil under tillage, have the best crops to show, be altogether the most prosperous? Anyone of common sense can answer that question. I need not supply the answer. There can only be one reply. Undivided attention will always attain the greatest success. God wants his children, those that really are his children, to recognize your salvation is settled. It's a done deal. Now go get busy loving other people and laying your life down for them and living for others. That's what God wants from us. That's what he wants us to recognize, that the work of Christ, it is sufficient, yes, to save someone who is as stubborn in their sin as we are. Stubborn in their sin as I am. He can save even a Christian. Even a pastor can be saved by the perfection of the work of Christ. Yes, indeed. Praise God for that. I mean, look at the way the Westminster Confession, 18.3 after the second footnote, and therefore it is the duty of everyone to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure that, in order that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Did you know it's not God's will for you to constantly be anxious about whether or not you're a Christian? It's not God's will for you to constantly have angst and be unable to sleep and have turmoil and sadness in your heart because, I don't really know, I mean, is the cross really going to work? Is the righteousness of Christ really enough? Do I feel sorry enough for my sins? God wants your heart to be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness and the duties of obedience. The proper fruits of this assurance. So far is it from inclining men to looseness. That was what Rome said. Oh, you guys teach this stuff. You teach people they can know now they have eternal life. They're going to live like pigs. The irony is, The only people who will ever take a true crack at being godly, at being obedient, are those who know they have eternal life, and that God will never leave or forsake them, and that God owns them as his own children, and they always will be his children. Those are the people who will make progress in holiness. Those are the people who will be the most useful to God. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through whom we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we exult in hope, in expectation of the glory of God. Isn't that wonderful? It's so encouraging. So encouraging. Titus 2, 11. The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desire and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed. If you've been redeemed by the blood of Christ from every lawless deed, you have salvation. You're a Christian. And it goes on to say, and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works. Paul summarizes it so well, 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1, he says, therefore, having these promises, these promises that Jesus made, John 6, 47, most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me has eternal life. There's such a beautiful simplicity about that. We have these promises, 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1, Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Since you have the gift of eternal life, you don't get the wages of sin, which is death. Christ got the wages of sin, which is death. We get the free gift, eternal life. And in the light of that, we can go out there knowing that's a done deal. It's a settled issue. Let's get busy loving people. Let's get busy shining the light of God to our families. Let's get busy loving our spouse better. Let's get busy investing for the kingdom of God. Let's get busy praying. Let's get busy worshiping, learning, growing, encouraging one another. 18.4 true believers may have the assurance of their salvation, diverse ways, shaken, diminished, and intermitted. Really? Yup. There have been times I've been more assured than others that I'm saved. Listen, it can be shaken, diminished, intermitted, as by negligence in preserving of it. It always worries me when I see people sleeping in the service, or they don't show up. Not because they're out of town or providentially hindered, just didn't come to church this weekend. I made it twice this month. Those people will suffer. and they may end up collapsing altogether, going off the rails entirely. If we neglect what scripture teaches about how we preserve our sense of assurance and keep close communion with God, listen, by falling into some special sin which wounded the conscience and grieveth the spirit, by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God's withdrawing the light of his countenance and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light, God does that sometimes, yeah, if we're not diligent in the use of the means of grace. Listen, yet are they never utterly destitute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty, out of which by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may in due time be revived, and by the which, in the meantime, they are supported from utter despair. Now, let me just take a look to make sure there's nobody's over here asking good questions. Okay, real quick, there's one passage I'd like to walk through in closing. Brian Thomas, hey man, I've definitely come to see that spending a lot of time in scripture is the antidote to this uncertainty you're speaking about. Yeah, there's no question about it. I have a confession to make. I've been, you know, I try to read through the Old Testament, read through Psalms, Proverbs, and the New Testament a little bit every day, and I finished the book of Acts and came to Romans, and I thought, man, I have read the book of Romans, like, so many times. And I almost skipped it because I've read it so many times and I can't believe I did that. And I reread it and learned and was encouraged and wanted to jump up and shout amen as usual. So don't think, I know the word of God. There's something about opening that book and putting your nose down in there and reading it. Yeah, I've read this before. Well, read it again. Read it again. It's food for your soul. You don't want to starve your soul. Okay. Is it sinful not to have assurance issues? Uh, good question. Um, no. If a person has a very strong sense of assurance and very, very little doubt, if any at all, that's a good thing. That's a good thing. I knew a few acquaintances from when I was in the Eastern church who just couldn't get to the place where they did have assurance. They'd hang up for them and they ended up swimming the Tiber. Really? They went from East to Rome? Yikes. That's not good. Okay. The reason the world flees to the cross is because they know inwardly it is... The reason the world flees the cross is because they know inwardly it is death. True. To self. That's right. You and I, the old man, died when we came to Christ. Romans 6, 6. It's such a great passage. Knowing this. That our old man was crucified with him. That the body of sin will be done away with. Such a glorious truth. I go to church twice on Sunday and to prayer meetings other times. That's good. That's good. We have a prayer meeting every night that we have an evening service, which is every Sunday but the first one. We do a fellowship meal after we do communion on the first Sunday of the month and people stay here for a very long time. Okay, let's see. Before we finish up here, I just want to make sure I get through the comments over here. I appreciate that people leave comments, even though they distract me a little bit. That's okay. I've never had assurance issues, but my wife and eldest son have, yeah. I have. I have, and do at times, even now. Not as much as I used to. God has disciplined and smacked me enough times that I know how much I need to be in God's Word every day. So it's really important. Okay, Theophilus Most Excellent. What would you say to an Arminian, besides repent, who argues against total depravity by saying we're made in the image of God? So they're arguing that God's image isn't naturally sinful, and so we can't be either. I would just say, look at the textual scripture. The argument that being in the image of God means we can't be totally depraved or fall into sin, that doesn't logically follow at all. Just look at the cannot and not able passages. They're very clear. Man is not able. When we talk about total depravity, what we mean by that is there's no part of us that was untouched by sin so that we're not able to believe. There's not like a little island of free will that's not enslaved to sin. We are enslaved to sin. So good question. Okay, Psalm 51, okay, people who are very godly and have a deep and abiding love for Christ can sin in very serious ways, as we all know the narrative about King David. Okay, Psalm 51, David did lose a sense of assurance. I mean, he asks in this prayer of repentance here, after he prays, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin. I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is always before me. Against you and you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, in sin my mother conceived me. It goes on from there. He says, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me by your generous spirit." And notice he says, he asks for the restoration of joy over his salvation. And he asks God to take not your Holy Spirit from me. Now, does God ever leave his children, put them back in their sin and abandon them completely? No, of course not. but they can fall under his fatherly displeasure and under his disciplining rod of correction. But David prays there, restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me by your generous spirit. And then verse 13, then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall be converted to you. It's those who have seen the depth of their sin and have been restored to a sense of assurance and joy in their salvation in Christ. They'll be effective at evangelism. They'll teach transgressors the ways of God and sinners will be converted to them. If we have no joy over our own salvation, no joy over our sense of being in the favor of God solely by His grace, we won't be very good at teaching transgressors the ways of God, and sinners are not going to be converted through our witness. Okay, so that's the end of chapter 18 there of the Westminster Confession. I can't recommend it enough, but the last little part of that says They're never utterly destitute of the seed of God. They can fall under God's displeasure and walk in darkness for a season, but they're never utterly destitute of that seed of God that's coming from 1 John 3, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may in due time be revived, and by the which, in the meantime, they are supported from utter despair. Um, are those two words you're familiar with? Utter despair? Yeah, I felt that a few times. Um, but God preserves us from utter despair. We can feel pretty abandoned and pretty, pretty bad and like, why does God put up with me? And am I really a Christian? But God never leaves us entirely. He may put his fatherly hand upon us and remove the light of his countenance, but we're never abandoned. Disciplined, chastened, yes. Abandoned, never. Whew, okay, wow, 52 minutes. Okay, well, everybody, appreciate y'all and thanks for watching or for listening. This is Pastor Patrick Hines of Bridwell Heights Presbyterian Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. You can visit us on the web at bridwellheightschurch.com where all the sermons and podcasts are put into our sermon audio feed which is accessible in iTunes as well as the podcast app. You are welcome to join us any Sunday morning for Sunday school for all ages at 10 a.m. and then worship for everyone at 11 a.m. If you ever have any questions about the Christian faith or the Bible, you can email me at pastor at brittleheightschurch.org. May the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.