Make Your Call and Election Sure: Part 2

for us to continue our study as we look at part two and make your call and election sure.

Call and election sure. Now I want to confess to you right now that as your pastor,

I do not have an outline to go through. I'm just going to preach the word to you and let the word of God come to you and what

God has brought to my heart and my memory and my recollect as I've been studying.

But it's something I've really been blessed with and needed in my own personal life with the assurance.

And I had no idea as I was going through this, I've had to resist temptations throughout the week.

And I'm not talking about temptations of the lust. Temptation comes through many ways, more than just lust of the flesh.

Sometimes it comes through the pride of life. And to give you one example, on social media, there was a person that was trying to stir up some problems about Calvinism and Arminianism and doctrine of election.

They were opposing. They basically said, in effect, that the doctrine of election is heresy.

And that really stirred my heart. And I said, you know, I wonder if I ought to just go right into this on social media and just start debating.

And the Holy Spirit just pricked my heart and says, you know, it would not be glorified to God to do this.

So I did not say a word. I'm going to leave. God really needs no defense.

Now there is a time to speak. I'm not saying that. There is a time to speak out. We know this.

The word apologetics basically means, and actually it means this in the evangelistic sense, to the people that are without Jesus.

To give a reason for the hope that's within us.

We got to be careful how we cast pearls. Sometimes if you cast it among very religious people, you know what

I'm talking about. Jesus called them swine. And honestly, He did. To false teachers, that's already convinced.

That's a bully trying to pick a fight. That's calling the doctrine of election.

It's all through the Scriptures. Heresy. That's serious words. But I left them with God.

I said, Lord, you can take care of this. And I really sense

God's leading in this. It would not be glorified unto God. So that was a temptation. Now I had another temptation.

I went into a grocery store, and an elderly gentleman, I respect, started to, wanting to debate.

When he found out I was a pastor, he wanted to debate me about something on the doctrine of men.

And he started out, actually he started out, he quoted from 2 Peter. And I said, this is so interesting.

And he quoted the verse, verse 3. He even said it. He knew the verse by heart.

He said, and His divine power is given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.

And I said, that's a great verse. I said, actually, as a pastor, you know, we're going through that verse, we're going through that chapter.

But he had something else in mind. Then he asked me, he said, God's given us faith, hasn't

He? And I said, absolutely, God gives us faith. God gives each and every one a measure of faith.

I didn't realize it at the time, but he's been listening to a whole other movement of heretics, and I'm going to call them heretics because they are, that believe that God has already done it all, and God has.

Now this is how they twist things. The devil is very subtle, folks. He says, well,

God's done it all, so it's up to you now to have dominion over the land.

And I said, well, God has given us stewardship, but in salvation. Then he asked me the question this, and this is where he was getting, this is where I really picked up on it.

He said, if God's done everything, then He's handed everything over to you, so you're to have faith.

So therefore, God's not really working. He's did everything. And so he sits back on his throne, and basically, he said, now

He's given you dominion to be on the throne. You see what I'm saying? I said, hold on, hold on.

I said, we'd have dominion, but man is not in charge here. And see, it's what this is, and he was listening to people, and I'll call them out by name.

Joel Stain, that teaches that man is basically his own center.

Be careful, we're hearing this. It sounds good from a motivational speaker, but the devil is very subtle and cunning.

And it's exactly where Brother Keith went this morning. You go back to Genesis, and the lie is that when man fell, you shall be as little gods.

You shall be like God. And this is what they teach. They basically teach you are your own

God. You could speak to this mountain, and you basically, like God, you just say God's word.

And the mountain will be removed, but we're not God. We are, and they even say, they say little gods.

No, we're not little gods. That's idolatry, folks.

That's blasphemy. And I'm telling you, and you know, I didn't argue with the

God, I just, like I said, I'm here to put milk in. I'm a milkman today.

I started to say, I didn't say that, but maybe we can pick this up another time, but I'm not going to, he's already convinced.

But anyway, I said, that was a temptation. I said, and I asked

Brother Keith, I said, these temptations come to me hard this week. Brother Keith, thank you for that encouraging word.

He says, any wonder? Look at what you're preaching on. I mean, this is talking about our call in election, folks.

This is what God has called us to. He's called us into holiness.

He didn't call us to debate. He called us into holiness. Call and election share.

We continue this study. 2 Peter, look at chapter 1, two verses, verse 10 and 11.

The Apostle Peter inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. This is not his idea.

Holy man of God was moved by the Holy Spirit, and actually he says that later on. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation, right?

Prophecy never came by the will of man, but by the

Holy Spirit, and moved by the Holy Spirit. That word moved, God was breathing upon him. This is

God's word. Aren't you glad that this is God's word? And what I said earlier, by the way, let me have a footnote.

Any time I'm just a man, that's why we're to go to the scriptures and be good

Bereans to see whether those things are so, and line scripture up with scripture. Never take in, even though it sounds good, we must be careful.

The devil is very cunning, folks. There's a lot of people out there believe in this dominion theology, that you are your little

God. Scripture is opposite of that. We're worms.

We're God's servants. God is God. There's none other. There's none other beside Him.

Well hear the word of the living God, profound, penetrating words. Verse 10, therefore brethren, be even more diligent, this is the new

King James, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things, you will never stumble.

Verse 11, for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let me stop right there.

May God richly bless His holy word to our hearing this morning and into our hearts. Just not our heads, but our hearts.

That's what He's after. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much, our

Lord, that before we sought you, you sought us. You're the seeker.

You seek us. You're not the one that's lost. We're the one that was lost.

And like the good shepherd, you go after your sheep. Father, we thank you.

How wonderful it is to come today, knowing that we have your holy word, and you have given all power and all sufficiency for it, to it.

There's nothing that can compare to it. As a matter of fact, Lord, we should rejoice in it, and we also should tremble before it.

So help us, Lord, to have the right attitude as we come before your word this morning. It endures forever.

It converts the soul. It transforms our lives forever. There's nothing like it.

And you conform us into the likeness of the image of Jesus.

How, oh, how we need to be changed. Oh, how we need to be changed. So Father, I pray that your word will search us out.

Lord, that your word will try us to test us and see if there be any wicked way in us. It's me, oh

Lord, that stands in the need of prayer. Not my mother, not my brother, not my sister, but me, oh Lord.

So Lord, lead us into the way of everlasting. Speak unto us today, Father. And I pray, help us by your spirit to understand and to receive this truth for your glory and honor.

And we pray and ask this in Jesus' name, amen and amen. Well, it's already been spoken of, but Peter says, as we've been looking at verse 5, 6 and 7, those are the virtues, the seven graces.

And what he's talking about, for these things are yours and abound, you would be neither barren.

In other words, you would neither be useless nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our

Lord Jesus Christ. And he's talking about maturity. You know, honestly, if we walk around with our eyes closed, it's very obvious that you're going to stumble and bump into something and stumble.

Not completely, he didn't say anything about going completely apostate, did he?

But he said, you will stumble. And I believe that's happening today a lot in the churches, unfortunately.

There's a lot of stumbling around. But the growing Christian, the

Christian that is growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, that walks with his eyes open to the word of truth, to the word of God, with confidence in God that he knows that he knows that he is secure in the

Lord Jesus Christ and his salvation is secure. Now, we're going to continue to wrap and unpack all this in probably a couple more series.

Lord willing, next week we're going to have communion, once we get the rest of our family back, and we're going to have communion.

And I'd like to take us to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and when our Lord was crucified between two thieves, we're going to look at that story,

Christ's greatest trophy, the assurance that the thief on the cross that he received in his last dying breaths.

So I'd like for us to look at that. Lord willing, next. Lord's Day.

Warren Wearsby, who is one of my favorite writers, he said this, it is not our profession of faith that guarantees that we're saved.

It is our progression in faith, our progression in the faith that gives us that assurance, and that is so true.

It's not our perfection, right? We fall far from the perfection, but our direction that gives evidence that we are saved.

And that is everything. It is the direction in which we are going. There are evidence, and we're going to look more,

Lord willing, at the evidence next Lord's Day. I don't have time to unpack it all today, but we're going to touch on it.

Now that gives evidence that we are saved, and you see in verse 5 -9, that pretty much

Peter the apostle speaks of that. The assurance of our salvation is simply put, and if you were to define it, it is knowing for sure, that for sure, you know that you know that you're saved.

But as I said last Lord's Day, that our remaining sin, as Paul speaks of in chapter 7 of Romans, has clouded our vision, and that we end up stumbling.

We end up stumbling. But we can know, for sure, that we are saved without a shadow of a doubt.

Now again, I'd like for us, Lord willing, next week to look into the evidences, the signs, the test.

We're going to look through a series of tests from the Word of God that would give us the correct signs, the evidence that we are

God's children. There's a lot of scriptures that speak of this, and a lot of it's from 1 John. Now again, it's the knowing with certainty that really matters, right?

That certainty. That certainty is sometimes strangled.

That certainty is, by unbelief, as Brother Keith said, is taken away, and it clouds us and it keeps us from entering into that rest, as Hebrews speaks about.

And unbelief, many times, causes that stumbling. Many Christians throughout history have written many, many volumes of books of their personal struggles in being assured of their salvation.

There's many books out there, Christian books, many of them, most of them I wouldn't even take the time to read, unless they're a

Puritan, and I really mean that, because the

Puritans go to God's Word. But really the problem is that many devoted believers in Jesus Christ look, stay with me now, they look for the assurance of salvation in the wrong places.

The greatest place we can look is the cross. Looking unto

Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Looking unto

Jesus. Look and live. Look to Christ. But we all have a tendency in our flesh to seek assurance of salvation in what we do.

This is the flesh. You see this among churches, among religion, you know that is really, really the bedrock of religion, of all religions of this world, it's what man performs to do to get to God.

But God in Christianity, true religion by the way, which is pure and undefiled, is

God, what God has already done, come to us. That's everything.

We have nothing to do with our salvation, Jesus paid it all. But there is faith, and faith as you know, you go to the scriptures, by grace through faith we're saved, right?

That tells us, then Paul says, it is the gift of God. What's the gift of God?

The faith. Now Paul in another part of his epistle,

I believe it's in, I want to say Romans I think, I might be wrong, thanks be unto

God for His unspeakable gift. It speaks of Jesus. For the wages of sin,

I know this is in Romans, Romans 6, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our

Lord. So the gift really is from the Father, Jesus.

But there is another gift that He gives us in regeneration. Or we could not be regenerated.

And that's the gift of faith, the gift of believing. So regeneration always precedes faith.

We don't believe in order to be born again, we're born again in order to believe. That's the order.

Actually, Martin Lloyd -Jones has got a whole series on this called God's Unbreakable Chain.

Isn't it wonderful? But it's those who believe that are appointed to eternal life, or should

I say the other way, that are appointed to eternal life, believed.

I got that right. Actually, this Armenian guy that wanted to debate me on this, tried to tell me, you don't know, he was telling me, you don't know

Hermeneutics 101. And he was wanting to argue about that one verse from Acts.

I did not respond. I said, I don't have time for this nonsense. I said, but I'll tell you this.

I wanted to tell him, but I didn't go there because it would be not glorifying to God. But honestly, you can go to the

Scriptures yourself. That belief, we are unable to believe. Jesus said this, you cannot believe.

We don't have the ability. Jesus said to strive, to agonize, but see, in that we seek

God. It's really a mysterious thing, but we'll look at this in a few minutes from Scripture because there's none that seek

God. That's proven in Scripture. Man's lost. Notice back in Genesis. You go back to Genesis.

When man fell, man ran. Man is still running. Man is still hiding.

Adam hid. He took fig leaves. That's his religion. He was trying to cover his nakedness.

He couldn't cover his nakedness. God seen him. God had to cover him.

God had to do the seeking. God had to kill the animal. God had to do the sacrifice.

God had to do it all. And it's amazing when God comes as like a loving parent.

He comes to Adam. Adam, where are you? Where are you, Adam? Well, God knew where Adam was, right?

The problem was Adam didn't know where he was. And Adam is still that.

That is still the order. Never changes. Man still doesn't know where he's at.

He's religious. And then we still have another example even after that. You have Cain and Abel.

Both were very religious. Only one was right. And the one that was right was martyred. The first martyr was

Abel. His blood was shed. Cain was very religious. Thought he was doing something very religious, even killing his brother.

Then he got angry with God, right? Now, that's another sermon. But let us look here on our assurance of salvation.

We all have a tendency to seek salvation, assurance of our salvation by our performance. By we doing law keeping rather in what

God has already done in Jesus Christ. Because that's where the resting place is, is all in Christ.

Even our most sincere performance will mislead us.

We can be sincere, but we can be sincerely wrong. And we need to remember that.

There's a way that seems right unto man, but the end thereof is death. You see, there's so many examples in Scripture on that.

God has to give us the way. And he has in Jesus. Because Jesus said, absolute truth.

He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And actually, if you see in the book of Acts, when they followed

Christ, the followers of Christ, it was known for the way. They were the way followers.

And they were persecuted for it too. Well, such is our spiritual growth, beloved. Even our spiritual growth can mislead us.

Even our good works for Jesus can mislead us. And let me say this with boldness, even our obedience to God can mislead us.

Even all these external things, which are signs, by the way, and evidence of salvation, by which they should, it should be evident in our

Christian walk, externally. But what about the internal? That's where it matters, because there's a lot of people that do these things externally, and they're religiously lost.

So this is why we're going through this, because it's critical. Because look at Judas. Look at Judas and Peter.

Two apostles, one basically defects from the truth, the other repents.

Repents in sorrow, he repents, and he truly repents. Judas, he doesn't repent.

Could he have repented? Absolutely. But Jesus already knew he was the son of perdition. He says that.

While these things, by the way, can be, should be evident in our salvation, of salvation, these things are always not what we should, and here's the key, base the assurance of our salvation on.

We do not base our assurance by how many times we go to church. Look folks, there's people that's in hell right now that's going to church their entire life.

Very religious. They probably said prayers all their life. People say, how can a person be lost doing that?

But they never come to the knowledge of the truth. They never truly repent. You see what

I'm saying? And here, and I think this is the keystone, they really never loved

God. Now that's, I think that's one of the greatest evidences of being a born again child of God, is loving

God, and loving the brother. And that's where John the apostle goes in 1 John, notice that.

He's constantly bringing that up. Well, we'll touch on that later on, but to put it very simple, we should find the assurance, we should, rather I say, rest in our full confidence, and this is the way

I put it, in the objective truth of God's word, not the subjective. That is, we should have confident trust in the one and the only one that has given us that assurance, and the promised one, the righteous one that is

Jesus Christ, and Christ alone, who died as our substitute, as the lamb of God, who took our place, who took our sin, who died in our place as the lamb of God.

And I like what Spurgeon says, it's not our hold on Christ that saves us, but his hold on us.

That's where salvation is. That's where assurance is. It's not even our faith,

Spurgeon says, though it is a gift from God to lay hold of Christ, though faith is an instrument to lay hold of God, it's not our faith necessarily that saves us, even though that may not sound right to you, but it's

Jesus and Jesus alone that is the Savior. See, a lot of times we can idolize faith.

That would be like idolizing a gift. God is the giver.

He is the blesser. Abraham even said, you are my great, you are my exceedingly great reward.

That's the way we should see. Job understood this. God basically gave him all these gifts and God took away the gifts.

Why did God do that, people say? Why did God do that? God has a right to do that, folks. Doesn't He? God can do whatever

He wishes. And little man bucks up against that. Little worms and maggots bucks up against it.

How dare you, God? Well, who are they to even speak about that? God gave them breath and life.

God can do whatever He pleases. He's God. He's wielding His will. He knows exactly what

He's doing. And if you read the book of Job, we see that God knows exactly what

He's doing. Brother Keith touched on that this morning. But go with me very quickly to 1

Corinthians 15. I want you to see what the gospel is. This is where our assurance is.

By the way, it's according to the word of God, not according to man's word, right? Even if a man calls himself a so -called apostle, which there are no apostles today,

I can prove that from the word of God. But Paul was an apostle.

He was an apostle to the Gentiles. He witnessed the resurrection, the resurrected

Christ. Notice what he says in chapter 15, verses 1 through 4. He says,

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received.

They received it. In which you stand. We stand in it. You receive it. You stand in it.

And then what is he saying? By which also you are saved. And notice what he says.

If you hold fast. Now what he's talking about there, it's not necessarily our good works.

What he's saying is, if you persevere. And by the way, God's children will persevere.

There is perseverance, but there is also, we never want to fall lax into this.

Because a lot of times when we think we have eternal security and we've got this so -called ticket to salvation, ticket to heaven, and I've seen this on signs, by the way, on my milk route,

I see churches put this up. They put the same thing. I can't, I said, it's unbelievable. I said, they're in communication with one another.

They said, free ticket to heaven, details inside, and I think, oh folks, why can't you just put

God's word on them signs? Quote the scriptures, stop quoting these little cute sayings.

That really lightly, I mean, that makes light of God's word.

Ticket to heaven, details inside. Now if you want to know the details, really, it's in the

Bible. A lot of these churches could be way off the wall. A lot of these churches could be churches of the tares.

So our faith is not in churches, our faith is not in preachers, our faith is in God.

Faith in God's word. Paul goes to that. Notice this. I preach to you also what you received and what you stand, which also you are saved if you hold fast, that word which

I preach to you, unless you believe in vain. Now that's a whole sermon right there.

What does it mean to believe in vain? There's people that's believed in vain. And then he says this, for I deliver to you first of all, notice what he says, first of all priority, which also

I received that Christ died for our sins according to Paul, no, according to the scriptures, according to the scriptures.

And this was an apostle. And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to Paul, no, according to the scriptures.

Even Paul was leaning on the scriptures, the prophets, the prophecies from Genesis to Malachi, of all those prophecies about the coming of Jesus.

So there you have basically in a nutshell the gospel. This is God's gospel. This is the testimony of God.

This is where our assurance lies, is in the gospel. The good news.

It is good news, isn't it? It's the greatest news that we will ever hear. And by the way, always based on objective truth, not subjective experiences.

And this is where people go wrong, folks. Subjective experience will lead you astray from the truth.

That's why we go to the scriptures. Satan is very cunning, like I said earlier.

He would even take the scriptures and misquote it and twist it. And he did this in Genesis, as Brother Keith pointed out.

But as Jesus was going into the garden, not the garden, by the way, he was in the desert, not a garden, if you notice.

He was in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, and the Bible says the

Spirit of God led him. You know what that word led means? Drove him. Drove him into the wilderness, and this is after he was baptized in the

Jordan River by John the Baptist. And John the Baptist said, I'm not worthy to even unlatch your shoes.

Who am I to baptize you? He knew who he was by the revelation that God spoke to him.

Jesus goes through it, and he says, suffered to be so, to fulfill all righteousness.

Isn't that wonderful? To fulfill. You know why he said that? Because he's just not representing himself.

He's representing God's people. That basically means that as he died for us passively, that means that when he died for us as the substitute, the

Lamb of God, he died in our place, but also Jesus lived for us. He represents us.

And as he goes into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, and the devil takes the Scripture every time and twists it,

Jesus comes back again and it is written again. It is written again. It is written again.

And I read a devotion about this years ago from Tozer, truth has two wings. You've got to have that balance, and you've got to know the

Word of God. That's why I'm saying, if the devil knows the Word of God that much, how much more should we be in this

Word? We should be meditating on it, we should be memorizing it, we should be saturating ourselves with it, and the problem is, where's the love for the

Word of God? See Satan hates the Word. He knows the Word, intellectually, as a fallen angel, but we are

God's children. We love that Word. We meditate on it. We live by it. He don't live by it.

He's opposed to it. Well again, it's always the objective truth, never the subjective experiences.

Now the Apostle Peter, back to our text, verse 10 and 11 speaks here to make your call and election sure.

Make your call and election sure. Now, God desires His people to be confident in salvation.

Again, Spurgeon says, quote, full assurance is not essential to salvation, but, he didn't stop there, right, but, it is essential to your satisfaction.

And he says, may you get it. And may you get it at once. May you never be satisfied to live without it.

Amen to that. We should get it. Now, let me give you a question.

How can we have the blessed assurance we've sung about today in salvation? How can we have it?

Well, let's consider some verses. And I touched on this at the last

Lord's Day from 1 John. Go with me to 1 John and look at chapter 5.

This is a great verse. Look at chapter 5. Look, I'm just going to read verse 11 through 13, 11 through 13, verse 11, and this is the testimony.

Now, he tells you right here, underscore that. This is the testimony that God has given.

I want you to underscore that. God has given. How many times do you hear people say,

I know Jesus, I gave my heart to Him. They are sincere folks, but they're sincerely wrong.

We're not saved. A .W. Pink said this. We're not saved. This is scriptural.

We're not saved by our giving. We're saved by God's giving. You can take that to bank. You can take that and cash it in.

We are saved by God's giving. That God has given us what? Eternal life. This is what He's given us, eternal life.

And then He expounds on it. And this life, not temporary life, but eternal life, this life is in His Son.

And notice what He says. He who has the Son has life. Another translation, or has the life.

I like that even better because the life is in Jesus Christ. That's what He said.

You cannot separate Jesus Christ from eternal life because He is eternal life.

It's in Him. He who has the Son has life, has or the life.

He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

Verse 13, these things have I written to you who believe in the name of the

Son of God that you may know, underscore that, that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue, there's perseverance, to believe in the name of the

Son of God. Now let's break this down, very simple. Who is it?

Who is it that has the Son? Who is it that has the Son?

It is those who have believed in Him. And no one can believe unless it regenerates.

I'll prove that from Scripture in just a minute. Go with me to John chapter 1.

We look at this. Don't you love John chapter 1? Now, if you really study the Gospel of John along with 1

John, you will see that this apostle, he was known as the apostle of love, he continues his writings, but he continues that writing in 1

John not only to warn unbelievers about salvation, but to give encouragement to believers and assurance of their salvation.

That's the reason really he wrote it. But if you go to 1 John chapter 1 verse 12, we're going to look at some verses here.

I think this is incredible. Very well -known verses here, but I want us to look very closely.

Look at verse 12. But as many as received Him, now keep that in mind what

John just said in 1 John 5. To as many as received Him, to them

He gave the right or the authority, the power to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name.

Verse 13 is very key, and actually we can look at the doctrine of election right from this verse here.

Who were born, notice what he says, who were born not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor the will of man, but of God.

That's the key right there. There's your key verse. That's the key phrase.

To all that God is saying is found in verse 12. As many as received

Him, to them He gave. Now the contrast verses is found in verse 10 and 11.

Let's back up a little bit. Look what he says. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him.

What does that tell us? Jesus Christ is the Word. The second person of the

Trinity. He is God. He created the world. He is the

Word. He's deity. Why does it say

He was in the world? He came in flesh. He was incarnate, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know

Him. And we're talking about people who are lost in the world. And notice what it says.

He came to His own, His own people, the Jewish people,

Israel. And also, some translation says His own things, His own dominion,

His own people. And His own, His very own did not receive

Him. There's a rejection. And Paul talks about the rejection in Romans 9, 10, and 11.

He goes into that. Theologically, it's very deep. But let me take you to Romans 3. Keep this in mind.

Go to Romans 3 now. I want you to see this. It just blows my mind how people can reject this and think there's something good in them that they can get themselves to heaven.

But I'm telling you, this world did not have room for Jesus when He came into this world. And He was born in a stinky stable, and He yet entered.

And I'm going to say this. And if we have Jesus Christ and received Him, the world ain't going to have room for you either.

Romans 3, look at 10 through 12. Theologically, Paul understood this.

Notice how he begins in verse 10. As it is written. You see what he's saying? He goes to the

Word of God. He goes to the prophecy. He goes to the Scripture. There is none righteous.

No, not one. Notice how many times he says none. There is none who understands.

There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable.

There is none who does good. No, not one. How many times does he say none?

None. None. None righteous. No, not one. None who understands. None who seeks after God.

None who does good. No, not one. None. None. You can't get this in people's heads today.

I'm telling you folks. People want to have something to do with their salvation. You want me to tell you why?

It's the flesh. It's the pride of life. We're going to see this.

Now back to verse 12 of John 1. As many as received Him, who are those who believe in His name?

Or I should say, or ask how? That's the question, how?

Why is in the believing? It's actually the why is in the believing and the how is in the receiving.

Do you see that? The why is in the believing and the how is in the receiving.

And the receiving is from the giving. Take it to God. God is the source.

Man is not the source of his salvation. Faith is outside of Him. Faith comes as a gift to us to take a hold of Christ.

But the Savior is waiting. He gives us the faith whom

He, the elect. And but yet that we do not do away with whosoever will.

That again, we looked at the general call is to all people. But we do know that all people is not going to be saved.

Only those who believe. And those who believe are those who were appointed into eternal life.

It's in Scripture. I almost want to shake people sometimes like R .C. Sproul. What's wrong with you people?

It's there. But to them, He gave the right. Listen to that.

The right, the power, the authority. Notice God's first, John 3, 16.

For God so loved the world, what did He do? He gave His one and only,

His only begotten Son. That whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. There is the general call.

The power, the authority. God is first, man's not first. God is first. God's the author and the finisher of our faith.

It is God who gave. He gave, He gave, He gave. To become what?

Children of God. We cannot be born again outside of God.

We cannot be born from above unless the Holy Spirit does the changing. The debate out there is who was first?

And that should be obvious. God was first. God's the seeker. We already saw from Romans chapter 3, right?

There's none righteous. There's none good. There's none that seeks God. There's none who understands. There's none, none, none.

It's in Scripture, folks. And the children of God is to those who believe in His name.

Verse 13. It's the divine side of salvation because salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the

Lord who were born not of blood. Notice what he says. Born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Folks, this verse says with clarity that salvation is not of man's free will.

By the way, it's God's will. It's God's free will. And if you really look at it, only

God is free. Amen? Only God is free. We're in bondage to sin or into righteousness.

Depends who you serve. Who are you a slave to? Read Romans 6, right? Pastor, prove this from Scripture in a much more simple way.

I don't think it can be any more simple in the way Jesus put it to Nicodemus. Look at John 3.

Go a couple chapters over. In verse 6 through 11, Jesus says to old

Nick. Don't you love this story? Old Nick. Nicodemus. Jesus says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh.

This is the Pharisee, by the way, and keep that in mind. He's a teacher of the law. Jesus says to him, that which is born of the flesh is flesh.

That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Do not marvel. Do not be surprised that I said to you, you must be born again.

By the way, he was telling Nicodemus that personally. You must be born again. Verse 8.

Jesus gives a wonderful illustration from the nature.

He talks about wind. Notice what he says. The wind blows where it wishes.

And you hear the sound of it. Pay close attention to what he's saying here.

There's a wind. You can't see the wind, right? It blows where it wishes. It blows where it wills.

You hear the sound of it, but you can hear it. But cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.

Such a simple illustration, but profound. You know why it's profound? Jesus says, so is everyone who is born of the

Spirit. Can you figure it out? The Spirit of God does

His work. It's an incredible, amazing truth, isn't it? Jesus is basically giving His point that just as the wind cannot be controlled or be understood by human beings, in which we still can't do it.

So also it is with the Holy Spirit. We cannot control it.

We cannot understand it. But the proof is awesome. The proof is evident.

The proof is that God is working. The proof is very apparent. The effects of it.

It's effective. The effective call. You see that?

The effective call that one comes into the Kingdom of God by the Spirit of God. Such a mystery.

But God knows exactly what He's doing. He knows how to transform a person born from above.

And where the Spirit works, there's also the undeniable, unmistakable evidence of it.

And that evidence is a holy life. That evidence is the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit, you got the root, then you got the fruit.

God's work of salvation. Isn't it glorious? Aren't you so glad that God is God? We're not.

God has it all. He knows exactly what He's doing. And we're going to look at this. It is eternal life that He gives through Jesus Christ.

1 John 5, 13. We can know that we have eternal life. Blessed assurance. Let me give you something from Anthony Burgess, a

Puritan. In 1664, he says this. What is assurance?

What is assurance? Assurance, this is just one quote, but there's much more that can be said on it.

And Lord willing, I could touch on it next week. Assurance is a joyous, strong certainty of one's present and future salvation.

We must not confuse assurance and presumption, which is a delusion based on self -love, self -righteousness and self -flattery,

Proverbs 16, 2. We must also be careful not to confuse faith and assurance.

That's good. Don't confuse faith and assurance. One may have justifying faith without assurance.

Assurance is, he says, the effect of faith or grows out of faith,

Ephesians 3, 12. And he goes on to say this. Faith is a direct act of the soul toward Christ, taking

Him, clinging to Him. I love that. We cling to Him.

We cling to Him. Assurance is a reflective, I like that, reflective act of the soul.

It's a work of God. It's a gift from God. Perceiving of one's own faith by the power of the

Holy Spirit. I'll stop right there. That's an amazing quote. It's so scriptural, everything he says.

It's the work of God. It's the work of the Spirit. Even our clinging, even our trusting.

That's why the song says, oh, for grace to trust Him more. We are too weak. We do not have strength to lay hold of Christ.

But He lays hold of us, brings us into the kingdom. And then you've got that gift.

And by the way, those who are truly saved, and I can tell you right now, they will not lose that.

They will not lose that. Now, people may fall on the wayside. They may go prodigal. They may lose that assurance.

They may backslide. But I'm telling you, they will come home and repent. Look at Peter. He's a perfect proof of that.

He denied Jesus three times. Jesus, why? Number one, it was all in the plan of God.

But Jesus came to him and He says, Peter, Satan has desired to sift you like wheat.

He's going to sift you. But I have prayed for you that what? Your faith would not fail.

That prayer was answered. That prayer was answered. Jesus prayed for Peter.

His faith did not fail. He came back. He was restored. And look at what happened.

This man became a powerful apostle, a servant of Jesus Christ, a slave of Christ.

Up until his death, he was crucified upside down with his wife. As tradition says. Powerful.

First John 5, 13. These things have I written to you. What things? Everything that the apostle has written in the letter.

Everything that he says written to you that you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, that you may continue to persevere, to believe in the name of the

Son of God. Eternal life. John wrote his epistle, his gospel to bring the believers, but also namely with confidence to encourage the believers of eternal life.

Now, if you go to 2 Peter 1, 3 and 4, as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by the glory and virtue, called us.

Now, let's look at the calling. We looked at it a little bit. This calling is God's calling. It's God's effective calling.

It's effective, right? The effects. That's what Jesus was saying.

The effects. It's effective. It's powerful. It brings us into communion with God.

And by the way, this is where sin comes in. Sin separates our fellowship with God.

You could still be a child of God, but when we do sin, what happens? It severs us in our relationship with God.

That's where we got to repent. Not that you're repenting for salvation, but that you're repenting because you have salvation.

Only God's people sees this because they see their sin. You think the world that's lost out there cares about their sin?

Not on your life. They're living it up. They're having their best life now. They're indulging in sin.

They're living all for the pleasures of the world, for money and all the love and all the external things.

But we see something greater. We see the invisible God. We see who is invisible.

We love him, as Peter says, who is invisible. Joy unspeakable, full of glory.

Go with me real quickly to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. This is wonderful. Look at verse 26.

But you see these verses, how they connect, okay? Paul says this,

For you see your calling. Oh, now he's talking about calling. Let's talk about the calling.

You see your calling, brethren. He's speaking to believers. He's not speaking to unbelievers here.

He's speaking to believers. You see your calling, brethren. Notice what he says. He tells us.

Oh, I love this. He actually gives us the reasons why God doesn't choose certain ones.

You see your calling that not many, he didn't say not any, because wise men came to know the truth, right?

But not many wise according to the flesh. Not many mighty, not many noble.

You know what that word noble means? Not many that are well born, pedigree, are called.

Verse 27. But God, I want you to see this how many times God has chosen.

Who? Not man, God. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.

And God has chosen, again, the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.

And the base things, you know what the word base means? Insignificant. He has chosen the insignificant, the lowly things of the world and the things which are despised.

God has chosen. God has chosen. God has chosen. How dare anybody dispute this?

God has chosen and the things which are not, the bring the nothing, the things which are. Verse 29.

Reason why? That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Now hang on to this verse. Verse 30. But of him, of him, of God.

That's what he said. Of God, of him. You are in Christ Jesus. In other words, it's all of God who became for us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

I'm telling you, you could stop right there and go into doxology and worship. All in Jesus.

He is our wisdom. He is our righteousness. He is our sanctification. He is our redemption.

Not man, not us. Our flesh is too weak. And don't you love the way he closed that out?

Verse 31. That as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. You know what he's showing reference to?

Jeremiah chapter 9. Let me read it. Verse 23 and 24. Thus says the Lord. This is what he's going to.

Let not these wise men, not let the wise man glory in his wisdom.

Let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches. But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me.

That I am the Lord, exercising love and kindness, judgment, that means justice, and righteousness in the earth.

For in these I delight, says the Lord. Don't you love it?

Thus says the Lord. Beloved, nothing but a true knowledge of God can save us.

Not nothing but a true knowledge of God. Only a true knowledge of the truth of the living God can save us. Not man's wisdom, not man's strength.

Not man, not man, but God, God, and God alone, folks. You see,

God does not call to salvation many whom the world would call. By the way, what the world as Israel thought,

Saul was the chosen king, externally he was head and shoulders and handsome, externally he looked like a great king, but he was not

God's chosen king. The chosen king was a little shepherd boy. Lowly, lowly, insignificant.

Not wise necessarily, not mighty, not noble. Matthew 11, 25, listen to Jesus.

And by the way, this is after he is rejected by Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum.

In chapter 11, they were all lifted up in their pride, and Jesus says to them in verse 23 and 24, notice this, and you

Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven. Actually, the critical text of the

Greek New Testament says this, you will, will you be, and it says in question,

I'm sorry, it says in question, will you be exalted to heaven? And the original says, no, you will be brought down to Hades.

And then he says this, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, he mentions

Sodom, we all know about Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable.

You know what he's talking about there? He's talking about the punishment will be even more severe, because what he's saying is you have the light, you have the

Messiah, you have Christ, you have rejected Jesus. He basically what he was saying as they rejected him, he turns on them and he pronounces judgment on them.

He says it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in that day of judgment than for you.

I tell you, if I heard that, I'd just absolutely just be trembling and fall to my face. They didn't do that.

He says you're going to be brought low, you're going to be brought down. So what is God saying? Because they were lifted up in their pride.

They were indifferent to Jesus, they were apathetic to Jesus. Therefore that made them worse than Sodom's gross wickedness.

Notice what Jesus says in verse 25. Look at the prayer he says. At that time, after he said that, at that time

Jesus answered, now he goes into a prayer and he says, I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and have revealed them to babes.

He says, even so, he accepts it. Even so, Father, for it is seen good in your sight.

Verse 27. All things have been delivered to me by my Father. Notice what he says.

And no one knows the Son. No one knows the Son except the Father. There's eternal election, folks.

Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one whom the Son wills to reveal. Reveal him.

And then he says this in verse 28. Come unto me. And he gives the general call. All you who labor and heavy laden.

By the way, the heavy labor, a lot of times we think of physical work. But what he was talking about was people that were burdened under the law.

They were condemned under the law. And Jesus is saying, I am your Savior. Come to me. I will give you rest.

I will give you rest. Take my yoke, my yoke upon you. Learn from me.

Don't you want to learn from Jesus? Just like Mary at the feet of Jesus. For I am gentle.

I am meek and lowly in heart. And you will. Don't you love that? You will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burdens light. He has a yoke and he has a burden. And his yoke is easy and his burdens light.

By the way, this goes hand in glove. Matthew 5, 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

So we come to Jesus in brokenness, true humility, recognizing one's spiritual bankruptcy, apart from God being conscious of their own lostness and hopelessness, apart from God's grace.

I need to close this out. We'll pick up the rest next Lord's Day. I had a wonderful breakdown on true and false assurance by A .A.

Hodge. Lord, I want to share that next week. Let me end this.

There's so much more, but I could just pick it up next Lord's Day. I'm out of time. I've used this story many times, and I think it's very appropriate, very fitting right here.

About knowing. How can we know we know? We go to the Scriptures.

It's based upon what Jesus has done. The security that Jesus has ransomed us on the cross, right?

That we may have a living hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and that our inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled, does not fade away.

And Peter says it's reserved in heaven. Don't you love that? It's reserved in heaven. It's there.

It's there. But it's here too. It's in Jesus. It's in Jesus.

We're kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. That's the goal.

To be glorified, right? To make it through this life, to make it through the battles, by God's grace, and then arrive and hear

Jesus say, well done, good and faithful servant. That's all that really matters, right? A full assurance.

Thieves, robbers, nor a wolf can harm them. In John 10 verse 29, it makes it very clear that the

Father ultimately stands behind the sheep's security. Jesus said, for no one, no one is able to snatch them out of my

Father's hand. So the question I leave with you in application to everything

I've said is this. Do you know the shepherd? Do you know the shepherd?

As David says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Do you know him personally?

Notice what David says, the Lord is my shepherd. Isn't that deep?

It's simple, but it's so deep. My, is he your shepherd? Personally. Do you trust in him?

Are you leaning on him? Are you clinging to him? Do you rest in him?

Are you resting in his bosom? Let me conclude again with the story of David.

I've given many times, it's my favorite story. And you'll hear me again say it because I love it so much.

It's so important because it bears everything that is said in this, what we're looking at.

There was an actor one day that went to a small town. It was actually a western town.

He was a very good actor. He came to the town hall meeting that was packed.

And the audience was enthusiastic to hear this great orator. Recite passages by memory from great plays and poems and literature.

And at the end of the particular play that he had one evening, a performance, everyone shouted out for more, more, more for their entertainment to hear this man that had such great oration.

The actor agreed to take a few requests, but immediately an old man in the back who was a pastor went up.

He was weathered beaten in his face and clothes that were clean, but definitely patched up.

You could tell he wasn't very well to do. He said this,

Sir, would you please recite the 23rd Psalm? And there was an agreement that afterwards he would recite it, the pastor would recite it as well.

So the actor already had the audience in his palm of his hand, right? So the actor began with great oration.

He articulated with great eloquence. Psalm 23.

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He went on and on.

He infused the words with all the tricks of art, of eloquence. He said it perfectly. One by one, phrase by phrase, known and loved by all, rolled off the tongue with persistence.

He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil. Thou art with me. He says it precisely. When all the words of the great beloved

Psalm 23 were delivered with great art and eloquence, the audience gave him a standing ovation, clapping, cheering, standing.

But the old pastor, it was his turn. They made an agreement. So the old pastor got up, requested.

He gave the psalm, came to recite it. His face, again, not so handsome.

He had a broken, graveled voice. Very thick, he's worn, uncultured.

Yet, as he began to speak, his face took on a glow of joy.

Broken with the sincere love of God, he leaped from his mouth. With his graveled words and his graveled, old, broken down voice, recited this beloved

Psalm 23, and he concluded in verse 6, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the

Lord forever. After he finished, the only sound that you can hear in that whole place was the rustling of handkerchiefs as they wept their tears from their faces.

Their eyes. Silence was finally broken, and the actor stepped forward and said,

Now, ladies and gentlemen, this is the moral of the story. Ladies and gentlemen, tonight,

I quoted to you Psalm 23 with great eloquence. I know the psalm, he said.

But this old pastor, he knows the shepherd. That's a big difference.

I don't know if that story was true or not, but nevertheless, I pray it's true. It contains some great truths and highlights and questions that maybe we should be asking ourselves today and searching our own hearts.

Do we really know the shepherd? It's important to know the psalm.

We can quote it, and we can quote it right. We can even quote the

Lord's Prayer, can't we? We can quote John 3 .16. We can do this all from memory, and rightly so.

But do we know? Oh, by the way, we can know all the right answers, right, theologically. We can know all the moral questions.

We can know all the theology, but do we know the shepherd? That's really all that's going to matter. More important, do we know the shepherd?

Do you know Jesus personally? That's really all that's going to matter. Do you know him?

Paul said it, that I might know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings.

John Bunyan said it like this, run, John, run. The law commands, but gives us neither feet nor hands.

Far better news the gospel brings. It bids us fly, and gives us wings.

Amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day. Lord, we thank you for the word.

It's your word, Lord. I've just brought it to the table, just as it is from your word, from your

Bible. Lord, you honor your word. It goes forth, and it has great power.

It gives us the right kind of conviction to pierce and convict our hearts. It convicts us, but conviction's our friend.

We thank you, Lord, that it brings eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, and we thank you that you have given us everything, everything that pertains to life and godliness, and all these things by your grace.

Nothing of us. Jesus paid it all, and all to him we owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.

He washed it white as snow. Thank you, Lord. May we be grounded and know that we know that we can have this blessed assurance.

Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. We pray this in Jesus' name.