Hello, this is Pastor Patrick Hines of Brittle Heights Presbyterian Church, and glad to have you with us on today's live program. And as you can see, if you saw the thumbnail for the title, Keys to Assurance of Salvation and Heavenly Glory, this is an ongoing issue and problem, given the prevalence of false teaching about the gospel that's really becoming dominant in our time. So many true believers are really struggling to have assurance that they have eternal life. And it's a pastoral problem, it's an ongoing issue for many who sit in churches that historically hold to the gospel, but many churches, I think, are kind of moving away from a focus on the gospel and on God's law that shows our need for the gospel. And there's all sorts of false doctrine that's coming in, and there's false teachers that are coming under the radar, and I I'm not going to be talking about them. I've done that a lot in previous programs and have tried to do that over the years. But today I just want to speak from the heart and speak from God's Word on assurance and how we can know that we have eternal life. It is perfectly normal for a Christian to know that they have eternal life and that knowledge of eternal life is not based on our good works, our fruit, how well we're doing. certainly if we are walking strongly with the Lord that helps it certainly strengthens assurance when the means of grace are having that effect in our hearts and lives and our hatred of sin is increasing and our love for righteousness is increasing and so that's a blessed thing if we're walking in a measure of victory over the sins that we tend to struggle with as people. And we all have our own difficulties, our own specific types of sin, specific sins that we ourselves deal with. It's going to differ from person to person. There's certain sins that, you know, pretty much everybody struggles with, but everyone's got their own issues and their own battles that they fight. But I want to speak about assurance, the importance of assurance, and just kind of address that briefly here. One of the keys to the lack of assurance today is that there really has been a lack of emphasis on the gospel, on having a gospel-driven piety. Now, when I say gospel, what do I mean by gospel? The gospel is that sinners are justified before God by faith alone in Christ alone, completely and entirely apart from their works. That's why salvation is certain. It's certain because it doesn't depend in any way, shape, or form on my works or how righteous I am. When a person is truly born again and brought to faith in Christ, they no longer are believing in their works. They don't have faith in their works anymore. Their faith is in Christ. Their belief, their confidence for going to heaven does not rest on themselves or their works or anything that they do or how well they're doing. It rests upon Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone, on his righteousness imputed to us and his cross work, his death on the cross where he died there. the full satisfaction of divine justice against all of our sins and so a Christian who believes the gospel that were justified by faith alone that legal verdict of Condemned before God's law is permanently changed when God justifies someone and that justification is a one-time act that God does once when a person repents believes in Jesus Christ believes the gospel and they are justified before God, they are once and for the rest of eternity declared to be righteous in the sight of God while they're still sinful. in exactly the same way that Jesus was legally declared to be a sinner by the sins of all of his people being reckoned to him at the cross. Jesus dies on the cross not for his sins, he doesn't have any, but he's legally treated as if he did, as if he had done all the things that his people had done. So that's the beating heart of assurance. If people want to have assurance, the first thing they've got to have is the right understanding of the biblical gospel. And the way that Paul wrote about the gospel in the book of Galatians is that the doctrine of the justification of sinners before God by faith in Christ, that's the gospel. That is the good news. That there's a way for those who are condemned, those who are sinful, to be right with God and to be right with God forever. Now, that's the gospel. That's the good news. It is a full and free acceptance in Jesus Christ. It's based solely on the work of Christ, upon His righteousness and His cross. It has no reference to us or our works whatsoever. So the gospel is simply a free offer of salvation to the world, and it's that we are justified by faith alone. Now, when the Synod of Dort happened there in the Netherlands, 1618 to 1619, when they were responding to the Armenian protestations there, they wrote up the Canons of Dort and responded to the five errors of the Armenians. And one of the doctrinal points, the opening point is on unconditional election, that's one thing. The acronym, as far as the way the Senate of Dort addresses it, is not TULIP. It's actually ULTIP. U-L-T-I-P is the order that they actually address the five major headings of doctrine. But under unconditional election, Article 12 has a wonderful pastoral statement. It's called the assurance of election. How do I know if I'm one of God's elect? Listen carefully to this answer because so many people struggle to find assurance because they sit around wondering, am I one of God's elect? Am I one of God's elect? Maybe I'm just not one of God's elect and that's why I just can't. That is a death trap. Don't ever do that. Okay. We'll talk about that here in just a moment, but listen to what they said about assurance of election. Assurance of this, their eternal and unchangeable election to salvation, is given to the chosen in due time, though by various stages and in differing measure. Such assurance comes not by inquisitive searching into the hidden and deep things of God." Okay, so don't sit around. wondering, I wonder if I'm one of God's elect. Maybe I'm not. I guess it doesn't matter. I can't do anything about it. Don't do that. Don't do that. Assurance does not come by inquisitive searching into the hidden and deep things of God, but by noticing within themselves with spiritual joy and holy delight the unmistakable fruits of election pointed out in God's Word, in the Bible. What are the fruits of election? A true faith in Christ. A true faith in Christ. Let's talk about that one for a moment. They got a list of things here. You want to be assured that you're one of God's people, that you really are justified and adopted into the family of God. The first thing that you need to understand, the first thing that you have to look for in yourself is, do you have faith in Christ? Do you believe in Jesus and not in your good works to save you? That's the first mark of Romans 5.1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." What is faith? Faith in Christ means you're relying on His personal righteousness and His cross to get you past the final judgment into heaven. And you're not relying upon anything wrought in you or done by you. No works whatsoever. That's what it is to have faith in Christ. If you believe, well, yeah, I believe in Jesus, but I'm also trusting in my fruit and my sanctification and future works that I'm gonna do or whatever, you don't believe in Jesus then. You don't have true faith in Christ then. True faith in Jesus is a self-conscious lack of faith in works. If you say it's Jesus plus anything, you don't really believe in Jesus then. And that's probably why you don't have assurance. Because to the extent that you are relying upon anything that you've done, you're not going to have assurance then. Okay? Romans 5.1, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now another key passage. Romans 4.14. I love this. For if those who are of the law are heirs, in other words, if people who are relying upon what they do, they believe in Jesus, oh yes, but they're also relying upon what they do, if they're heirs of eternal life, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect. Because the law brings about wrath. Insofar as any part of you looks to your obedience, for your salvation, your justification, your entrance into heaven, or to your fruit for that. You're under the wrath of God. The law brings about wrath. There's the law and the gospel. You have to maintain that distinction when it comes to how you're made right with God. When it comes to the doctrine of justification, the distinction between the law and the gospel is not only important, it is essential. And if you miss that distinction, you're gonna miss heavenly glory itself. But I can tell you, for my part, from the day I was converted, I believe it happened when I was about 18 years old, my confidence for getting into heaven has always and only rested upon the finished work of Jesus Christ. I've seen tremendous changes in my life. God has sanctified me in so many ways, and I am so, so thankful for that. But there is absolutely no part of me that has ever, will ever, be relying upon that to get me into heaven. Or in some kind of eschatological vindication of the reality of my faith. No, none of that. I praise God for all the sin that He has helped me deal with in my life, and continues to help me deal with, and is helping me overcome. I'm still so far from perfect that it's laughable how far from perfect I am. And I should be so much further along than I am, but I can see God has helped put a lot of sin to death in my life, and I am very, very thankful for that. And one of the prayers that the Holy Spirit of God has helped me to pray is, Lord, help me hate sin more than I do. Why is it such a struggle sometimes? I don't hate it as much as I should. I don't love righteousness in the way that I should. I hunger and thirst for righteousness. Lord, help me hunger and thirst more And let there be a fire that burns in my heart and my soul as I study the word of God, as I read scripture every day, that will fan that flame so that I hate sin and love holiness. But no part of me trusts in how well I'm doing to get me into heaven. When I think about the judgment of God, when I think about dying, all I think of is Christ. his personal righteousness imputed legally to my account, just as my personal sin and guilt was imputed to his account at the cross. Folks, the thing is that people lack assurance because they're not hearing that with the kind of clarity that they need to hear it regularly. One thing I've told the the fellows here that I'm trying to help get ready for ministry You got to go back to this, you know if the text of scripture like right now I'm going through the book of first Samuel I try to weave the gospel into every sermon that I preach somewhere There's always a way to do it without you know, massacring your text, but you know talking about the the King Saul and his kingship is parallel there to the to the kingly office of Christ the office of the king so there's always a way to tie things to Christ, but Once every five, six, seven weeks, you gotta go back and just do pure gospel. And you've got to do pure preaching of Christ and Him crucified as the only salvation of sinners, because Christians need to hear that on a regular basis too. Because as Theodore Beza, John Calvin's successor in Geneva said, the law is in us by nature. The law is in us by nature. The gospel is not at all in us by nature. but comes to us entirely from the outside and is revealed to us and has to be spoken to us again and again and again. We are saved by grace through faith, not by works, lest anyone should boast. Not by works, not by works, not by works. That's not talking about initial justification. That's talking about the exclusion of all works done by us, all of our progress and sanctification. That plays no role at all Getting us into heaven because that is supplied by our Savior. That's why we call him Savior he's the one that does the savings he's not a coach or a therapist or a cheerleader who helps us along the way to Earn enough merit to get in there. He does all the saving Just like he does all the righteousness and he does all the dying my sacrifices my suffering has no atoning value whatsoever none and Jesus came because we are helpless. And that's why Paul summarizes there in Romans 4, 16, therefore it is by faith, a justification is by faith, not works, not by law keeping, i.e. the changing of your judicial verdict from condemned to justified at the last day is by faith so that it would be by grace. So the promise would be sure to all the seed. And as some translations render that as so the promise would be guaranteed. Guaranteed. Why is it guaranteed I'm going to make it into heaven? Precisely because making it into heaven does not depend at all, not even one iota. It's not, my works are not even one among a million ingredients to the equation. But rather, it is supplied to me, given to me, legally, judicially, by faith in Jesus Christ. Faith being the instrument by which I lay hold of Christ, through which His righteousness is imputed to my legal account before God. Once and for all, there is no future justification of our persons by works or anything like that. That's not what James 2 is talking about. That's not what the judgment of works in Romans 2 or 2 Corinthians 5, 10 is talking about, or 1 Corinthians 3. That's not what that's talking about. Our being justified as a one-time judicial act of Almighty God is the permanent changing of our verdict from condemned before the law to justified before the law. So certain was the great Apostle Paul of this that he even says in Romans 8.33, Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. What does he mean by bring a charge? He's talking about at the final judgment. Who's going to bring a charge against God's elect when it is God who justifies them? Nobody can. Nobody can bring a charge of sin against me because God's already declared once and for all, I'm righteous. And nothing can change that. And Paul even says that, I am persuaded that nothing in creation death, life, angels, principalities, powers, things present, things to come, height, depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And how is that love manifested? In the giving of Jesus Christ for His people. He came into the world so that everyone believing in Him would not perish, but have eternal life. Christ's righteousness is imputed to our account. Our sins are nailed to the cross, and we bear them no more. That is a once and for all legal transaction. Once that happens, I have a legal title to eternal life that can never be rescinded or broken by anything that I do. That's dangerous. That's gonna lead people to think that they can just do whatever they want. Not a believer. Not a Christian. No. A true believer wants to live a life of gratitude to God. And I can tell you, reading the Heidelberg Catechism for the first time many years ago, it was so refreshing. It was so refreshing. What are the Ten Commandments for once you're a Christian? Yes, they always show us our need for Christ, for sure. But now, that's the means by which I show my gratitude to God. Now I love my wife and my neighbor. I want to be pure in my thoughts and in my life, and I want to handle money with integrity, and I want to work hard in everything God calls me to do to show my thankfulness to God, to show my thanksgiving to Him for this. What kind of amazing gift is this? The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord. No, it's a gift. It's a gift of God. It's a gift of God's grace through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And that's the way we need to see it. It's a gift of God purchased by the blood of Christ and given to us freely by faith alone in Christ alone. That message has got to beat in the hearts of everybody, everyone that knows Christ, but especially men that are ministers of the gospel. That is something we've got to revisit again and again and again. We've got to go back to that again and again so people can see anew and see afresh the perfection of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. His righteousness, only what the sinless Son of God did, the way He lived His life, His motives, His works, that is the only righteousness that has what it takes to meet the requirement of the holiness of God. Only His righteousness is sufficient to save us. I think if that was revisited on a regular basis, maybe once a month, or I usually try to get back to it once every, usually once every five or six weeks, get back, sometimes, lately I've been doing a gospel sermon almost every first Sunday of the month, just going back, because there's, I mean, it's taught in so many places in scripture, and you can always go back to it, and it's such a joy to do that. It's such a glorious joy to do that. In fact, just to record a podcast, I think it's uploaded now, earlier this morning with a couple of brothers from CRPC, Henry Johnson and James Thornton, Jim Thornton, and we were talking about the gospel. We always want to end those programs by talking about the gospel and thinking about the man that died on the cross next to Jesus there in Luke 23, who at first, he's reviling Jesus too, but then something happens. Something suddenly changes. And he rebukes the other guy and says, do you not even fear God, seeing that you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving in ourselves the due penalty of our lives. We're getting what we deserve. And then he turns to Jesus and says, Lord, remember me when you come in your kingdom. He knows this is what I deserve. I deserve this crucifixion. I deserve all of this. All of this agony and pain. This is right. This is just. Why did he say that? The Holy Spirit opened his eyes. Not only to see his own sin, but to see the holiness and the glory of the one being crucified next to him there. And he rebuked that other man on the cross and said, but this man has done nothing wrong. So in a very rudimentary sense, a very low-level sense, but enough to be saved, this guy gets it. I'm getting what I deserve. Don't you have any fear of God? Look at us! And then he turns to Jesus, and Jesus gives him that wonderful word of assurance. I think that that man on the cross must have died the most assured man who ever lived. Today, you will be with me in paradise. But you know, we serve the same Savior. We believe in the same Lord. We believe the same gospel that that man believed. Why can't we have the same assurance? Well, the church is not being overly clear lately on the gospel. It's mingling works and faith and getting all this stuff wrong. We need to return to the scriptures, and one of the great ways to do that is to return to the great Reformed confessions of faith. You know, the Westminster Standards, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dora, the shorter and larger catechisms. You know, those great Reformed, Reformation confessions and catechisms. They open up the Word of God and they keep these categories clean and distinct. Faith in Jesus Christ is not works. Works is not faith in Jesus Christ. Okay? To believe in Jesus means you're relying only on Him to save you, to do all the saving. And it's Him who gives you a legal title to eternal life. And so that's the first thing. Do you have a true faith in Christ? The Canons of Dort goes on there. A childlike fear of God. Do you see in yourself a childlike fear of God, a childlike reverence for God? Do you suddenly find yourself talking to God when you sin? Lord, I'm sorry. Forgive me for that. Lord, help me to have wisdom in the way I speak to this person. Lord, help me work hard at this. Lord, I don't want to do this, but I know I need to do this. Help me to do it well. Do you have an ongoing fear of God, a childlike fear of God? where there's a genuine affection and reverence for Him, where you're speaking to Him a lot during the day, you pray to Him, you talk to Him, and you know He's there, you know He's listening to you. Do you have a godly sorrow for your sin? Do you have a godly sorrow for your sin? That great passage that's brought up often because it's so clear. 2 Corinthians 7 verse 9, listen to this great description of repentance, of true sorrow over sin. Paul says, Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance, a change in us, leading to salvation, not to be regretted. But the sorrow of the world produces death. Now, what's the difference there? What is godly sorrow and the sorrow of the world? 2 Corinthians 7, verse 10. What does the Holy Spirit mean by this? Godly sorrow if it's really a sorrow over sin that's from God it will lead to a desire to change stuff And that's why I really I really believe it was when I was 18 years old Because I remember sitting there in my dorm room my freshman year in college And I was reading my Bible and just being overwhelmed by the glory of who Jesus is and like man He died for me, and I'm trusting in him, and I'm saved. I know I have eternal life and And then I would sit there in that room and think, and just kind of go through a laundry list in my mind of all the stuff I've got to change. Like there were so many things wrong with me, so many things wrong with my attitude, so many things wrong with the way I thought, what I was working towards, the way I thought about people. There were people that I had wronged in the past that I needed to ask their forgiveness for, which I did. And that's why I think that's what had happened. Because before that, I just didn't care that much about things like that. But godly sorrow, it was real shame. It was real shame over things I had done. And then a real desire to put that all behind me. And it goes on there, verse 11. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner. What diligence it produced in you! Like, what does it mean to be diligent? It means to be passionate. It means to work hard at something. Meaning, I am going to go at this with gusto, to right the wrongs that I have done. What clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication? In all these things, you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. And Paul knew that the Corinthian congregation, although they had sinned so much, they had really changed. They did the right things. They showed that their repentance was real. The fruit that accompanied it showed it was real. Now, that's not a call to, well, trust in your fruit to save you. No Christian's ever gonna do that. So don't ever believe anything like that. But true conversion produces this kind of thing, a godly sorrow for sin. So, do you have a true faith in Christ, and your faith is only in Christ, and always in Christ, and not in anything that you do, or have done, or are doing, or any of the efforts that you're trying to make to better yourself? Do you have a true faith in Christ? It means your confidence for getting into heaven rests solely, completely, and only, and always for the rest of your life, on Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. Always remember that. When the scriptures say we're justified by faith in Christ, not by works, that's shorthand for justification by the righteousness of Christ, not our righteousness. not our works. Justification by Faith Alone is shorthand for Justification by the Righteousness of Christ. Alone. So, a true faith in Christ? Are you relying only on Him and nothing in yourself? Do you have a childlike fear of God? Do you see that hunger to pray to Him, to be closer to Him? Are you grieved at your spiritual poverty because you're not closer to God? Do you have a godly sorrow for your sin? You see your sin, it just makes you sad and you just want to be more holy, but you don't see the power to do it the way you want to. A hunger and thirst for righteousness, it says, and so on. There's more but do you see those those fruits in your life? You see the those are the footprints of God's grace has God really been there? Has he really visited someone? Has he really visited someone the first evidence that he has is what they're relying on to go to heaven Jesus not Jesus plus anything it's Jesus and only Jesus and His personal righteousness, His cross accepted as the full payment of our sins. That's where my confidence for going to heaven rests. Do I see these other things? A childlike fear of God, a godly sorrow for sin, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, et cetera, and so forth. Those are the unmistakable fruits of election. So folks, John Calvin taught the world, and he's exactly right about this, You do not find assurance by contemplating the doctrine of election, or unconditional predestination, or unconditional election. Calvin taught the world, following what Paul says, Christ is the mirror of our election. Christ is the mirror of our election. You wanna know if you're one of God's elect? Do you look to the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you look to him and him alone? Let me see if I can find the quote from there. Yes, Christ is the mirror of our election. Yeah, let's see. If we, there we go. First, if we seek for the paternal mercy and favor of God, we must turn our eyes to Christ, in whom alone the Father is well-pleased. Remember that? At Jesus' baptism, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. God can't say that about me. He can't say that about you unless we're hidden in Christ. If we're hidden in Him, God is pleased with us, not because we are righteous in ourselves, but because our federal head, our covenant representative, Jesus, was righteous for us. Says Calvin, When we seek for salvation, life, and a blessed immortality, to Him also we must retake ourselves, since He alone is the fountain of life, and the anchor of salvation, and the heir of the kingdom of heaven. Then what is the end of election, but just that, being adopted as sons by the Heavenly Father, we may by His favor obtain salvation and immortality? How much soever you may speculate and discuss, you will perceive that in its ultimate object it goes no farther. Hence, those whom God has adopted as sons He has said to have elected, not in themselves, but in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 1, 4, where He chose us in Christ. says Calvin, because he could love them only in him, and only as being previously made partakers with him, honor them with the inheritance of his kingdom. But if we are elected in him, we cannot find the certainty of our election in ourselves. Okay, now think about that. If we are elected in him, you can't find the certainty of election in yourself, and not even in God the Father. If we look at him apart from the Son, Christ then, is the mirror in which we ought, and in which, without deception, we may contemplate our election. Do you want to know? Are you one of God's elect? Are you trusting in the finished work of Christ to get you into heaven? Only the elect can do that. Only the elect will do that. The non-elect will say, oh yeah, I believe in Jesus, and I believe in future justifications by works, and future salvation by fruits, That's not, you're not one of God's elect then, at least you haven't been saved yet. But listen to that again. If we are elected in Him, in Christ, we cannot find the certainty of our election in ourselves, and not even in God the Father, if we look at Him apart from the Son. Christ, then, is the mirror in which we ought, and in which, without deception, we may contemplate our election. For since it is into his body that the Father has decreed to engraft those whom from eternity he wished to be his, that he may regard as sons all whom he acknowledges to be his members, if we are in communion with Christ, we have proof sufficiently clear and strong that we are written in the book of life. That guy was amazing. John Calvin's insights continue to blow my mind. Every time I read more of the Institutes, I'm like, this guy was such a theological genius, and he just really, really, really brought so much insight to this topic. So, don't sit around contemplating, am I one of God's elect? Am I one of God's elect? Christ is the mirror of your election. Rest upon Him, the whole Christ. Embrace Him as your all in all. Receive Jesus as your all in all, by faith alone. Trust in Him, not in yourself. That's where you can contemplate that you are one of God's elect. People will be like, well, how do you know? How do you know if you're one of God's elect? I trust in the finished work of Christ. I know, I see in myself nothing to hope in. Not even my finest moments of self-giving and humble sacrifice in my marriage to this church, things I've done that no one's ever seen or know about except God and a couple other people, I don't trust in any of that stuff. That's not gonna justify me or save me or play any role, not even one iota or ingredient in getting me into heaven. What's going to get me past the final judgment of God? Shed blood and the imputed righteousness of my dear Savior. And it's in Him I contemplate my election. God chose us in Christ. Look to Him. Trust in Him only. It's because you're one of God's elect. The non-elect doesn't care. The non-elect doesn't do anything like this at all. Not even asking these kinds of questions. Okay, a couple other things I'd like to share here about this. Yes, we know things by their fruits. It's the same thing. You know, you look at the fruit. What does scripture teach about the fruit of election and of conversion and all those things? Okay. And it's God's will that we know we have eternal life. It's God's will for us to know we have eternal life. 1 John 5, 13, it's a passage, you know, those that don't teach us possible To know you're you're saved don't don't like that passage, but it's just real simple beautiful passage These things are written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God in order that you may know you have eternal life Do you know you have eternal life? If you don't it, maybe you're not saved. Maybe maybe you're not converted Maybe you're not trusting in Christ if you're trusting in something alongside of Christ if you're trusting in your fruit or your covenant faithfulness or whatever then yeah, you don't believe in Jesus, you don't have a right to have assurance. But for those of you who feel poor in spirit, those of you who mourn, those of you who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those of you who have real godly sorrow over your sin and are trusting, relying only upon the finished work of Christ, rejoice in Him. Rejoice in Him and know it's God's will for you to have that blessed assurance so you can be as busy as possible in investing your gifts for His glory. It's not God's will for you to keep going back to him again and again and again. Do I really have eternal life? Do I really, do I really have it? Do I really have it? He wants you to know you have it so you can live your life for his glory and peace. It's God's will for his children to live and die in comfort, in the joy of the comfort of knowing Christ has satisfied divine justice for me. Christ has met the requirement of the law. There's nothing left to me except to show God my gratitude. by endeavoring with the help of his word and spirit and the sacraments to take a crack at obeying his commandments. And you know what? As a reformed Christian believer, I don't have to take myself overly seriously. I can laugh at myself, okay? I don't need to be that serious. I want to be serious about holiness, but I don't have to take myself that seriously. You know, we can enjoy life. It's God's will for us to have peace, to be happy in serving Jesus, and to persevere through our trials and the hardships and everything else, knowing He'll even turn those to gold for us. So that's kind of the basics of how we can have assurance. Those are the things that lead to it. Okay, let me see who's over here. There's Paul Gervey, Dan Cantrell, GDOT. There's Robert Vogler. Oh, yes. Yes, I remember you. And there's Lily. Hey, Lily. Hopefully Liz Ruth. Where's Hannah? Where's Hannah Bee? Gotta get her in there. Nicholas, where's Malachi? Is Malachi in there? Get him in there. Nicholas, Proclaimer of the Truth. That's right. Doug Caden. GDOTS. Yeah, you're welcome. It's good to have you with us. So there's Susan. Good to see you, Susan. And hopefully some of your kiddos are watching there too. Blue collar, man. Um, yeah. Here's someone who struggles with assurance. Yeah. What if I'm not elect? Yeah. Don't don't sit and contemplate election. Contemplate Christ. That's the key. Like Calvin said, he says in somewhere else in the Institutes of the Christian Religion, if you try to figure out if you're one of God's elect by searching into the mind of God, you will enter a labyrinth from which you will never escape. Only by looking to Jesus, trusting in Jesus, that's where you do it with safety. Look to Christ. That's how you know you're one of God's elect. Okay, Gerard Paul Byrne, I'm Irish Catholic, recently become interested in the gospel message. Wow. I confess and accept publicly I have been redeemed only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Yes, by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. I love the sermons you put on here. Thank you, Brittany, appreciate you. Doug Caden, yeah, that passage, 2 Corinthians 5, 21, great passage. God made him who knew no sin, Jesus who knew no sin, to be sin in our behalf so that we would become the righteousness of God in him. Okay, and let's see, who else is here? Man, I needed to hear this good, Antonio, good. Couple times lately. That's right. The righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity It's God's will if we collapse if we have a moral failure of some kind you dust yourself off figure out what led to it Cut off pluck out and press on man Don't sit and stare at sin Know that the blood of Christ the grace of God is greater than that and then move forward move forward. I Okay, let's see who else is here. Gypsies. That's funny. Let's see. Woke free Christian. You've been leaving some good comments. I've noticed you out there too. I am an egg for Roman Catholic. I have one and only one hope. That is double imputation. Wow. Okay. Let's see. Anybody else on here that I've not seen before? Yeah. Like and subscribe. like the channel, subscribe to it, share it on social media. Uh, the gospel, um, has almost disappeared, uh, from our culture. Um, but we need to, we need to get it out there. Uh, good gospel 14 says, I don't think you can know if you're saved until you die. Okay. Let's put this up here. Let me put this up for you. Um, Yeah, we're supposed to know that we're saved. It's perfectly normal for a Christian to know that they have eternal life. It's perfectly normal to know you have eternal life. That's God's will for us. It's not God's will for us to walk around unsure if we have eternal life. In fact, we're not going to be very useful to Him until we do know that we have eternal life. Romans 8 I would encourage whoever that is gospel or good gospel 14 I would encourage you read Romans 8 just read that chapter over and over and over again there's times you know I listen to it on my audible book and My audible app on there just reads it to me. Romans 8 is such a goldmine. Paul says nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Very commonly misunderstood, misused passage. It's very often misused in that way. The fear and trembling is not because of uncertainty that we're saved the fear and trembling is because it is God who is at work in us both to will and to do according to his good pleasure the passage has Nothing to do with being fearful and trembling. I might not be saved. I might not be saved that is scripture twisting and eisegesis and I've heard Roman Catholics Eastern Orthodox and and Every other kind of heretic butchered that passage for the last 25 years. Philippians 2, 12 to 13 has nothing to do with being fearful or trembling because I don't know if I'm saved. I don't know if I'm saved. That's not what Paul's talking about. It's not what Paul's talking about at all. I mean, if you even look at Philippians, what Paul's talking about there, he says, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. He doesn't say, oh, I'm fearful and I'm trembling. I don't know if I'm going to heaven or not. Maybe I'm going to go to heaven. Maybe I'm not. I mean, he says, verse 19 of Philippians chapter 1, For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness as always. So now also Christ will be magnified on my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Why is he saying to die is gain? Because he knows he's going to heaven. He knows he's going to heaven. And that's what, it's God's will for every believer to operate like that. To die is gain. And then he says, if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor, yet what I shall choose I cannot tell, for I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. It's God's will for us to long for the day when at last our soul departs to go to be with him and to know that we're going there. Philippians 2, 12 through 13 has nothing to do, nothing to do with being fearful and trembling about whether or not we're saved. I'm not upset. It's called passion. It's passion. It's just more fuel to the fire to preach the gospel. And that passage is misused by Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox and everyone else that hates the gospel. I've heard that passage misused. It's a great passage. We should have fear and troubling. God is the one who's sanctifying us through his word. And that's what the passage is talking about. In fact, let's look at it before we... Sign off here. Philippians 2.12. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Not work for your salvation, but work out the salvation that you already have. Work out your salvation. Work out the salvation that is yours already. Okay? Your own salvation is something you already possess in fullness by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. So, no, I'm not mad at you. Good Gospel 14. Please don't take it that way. I'm just passionate. When I hear passages being misused to try to overthrow the confidence of Christians in the gospel, it gets my blood going a little bit there, but that's okay. Love you. Just remember that passage is not talking about fear and trembling over whether or not I'm saved, but because it is God who is the one at work in us and that should cause fear and trembling. Okay. All right. Thank you for your clarification. All right. It's okay. Press on everybody. Love y'all. I got sermons to work on here, but Thankful for all of you over there. Share, like on Facebook and put it on social media and whatever else is out there. I'll never know because I don't have time for that stuff, but please do like, subscribe, get it out there. People need to hear the gospel and the truth. Love y'all. Press on. Thank you for watching or listening.