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John, 1 John chapter 5, 1 John chapter 5. I have been speaking about grace for the last couple of three weeks. And... inside joke, sorry. I've been speaking about grace. One of the things as a young man that I struggled with, I was saved late in life, but one of the things, even as a pastor, I struggled with, was what is called the assurance of salvation.
Now, I want you to understand that every Christian, at least that I've ever met, has struggled at some point with the reality of their assurance. They have looked at, oh, well, maybe I've lost my salvation, or maybe this, or maybe that.
And Baptists, traditionally, does anyone need notes, by the way? Anybody need them? If you do, Brother Al, Brother Rodney. A lot of... the Baptist church has really failed. Religion as a whole has failed, but sometimes Baptists seem to be in the forefront of failure when it comes to addressing things.
And one of the little caveats that they came up with is, once saved, always saved. The problem with that is, and it's not that it's incorrect, but a human colloquialism will not replace the sovereign word of God.
And when you paraphrase God's word, and yet try to memorize man's word as a solace or a balm upon the worries of your heart, it's going to come up failing big time. And so when I was struggling with this, and it was horrible, I'm not going to go, I've told the story to you before, I'm not going to tell it again, but I mean, I'm talking about emotional destruction.
What did they call it? Whatever, where I went crazy for a while. I lost my ever-loving cookies on this thing. And man, the grace of God. It's not just about, I don't want to go to hell. It's about God healing me today.
Right here and right now. Healing that heart. And so I just want to read to you 1 John chapter 5. Nervous breakdown. That's what they call it. 1 John chapter 5 verse 13 says this, I write these things to you.
Now this is John. And you got to remember what's so cool about John is, he was the last apostle to live. He had written the book of Revelation. He had written 1 and 2 John. He had written the gospel of John.
And he was living in Ephesus at this time. We think he died about 103, 104 AD. And he was being carried around because he was so old. He was being carried around on a pallet. And they loved this guy. And he was just so full of grace and of love.
And he said, now listen, church, I write these things to you under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And he addresses who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know you have eternal life.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you, not based upon your works or not based upon a feeling, not based upon your praise or your worship, but based upon the word of God, you today can know you have eternal life.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are doubters by nature. Our skepticism just is absolutely profound in our lives. And I'll tell you, it's something we need to embrace. I always say, and Pastor Josiah and others always say this too, truth should be able to stand up to skepticism.
On Wednesday nights, we answer any question unapologetically and unafraid. And we've had some great ones over these last few months. In fact, if you have a question, whether it be on how we got the Bible or some of the early codexes or translations or whatever, we go through step by step, scripturally, historically, and we peel apart that because truth does not have to be propped up by lies.
It can stand alone. But that skepticism and that doubt sometimes can become greater when that is all we look at. John Knox, that great Scottish reformer, that great man of God, fearful constantly that he would somehow anger God and lose his salvation.
Charles Spurgeon, for those of you that don't know, he was an eminent Baptist preacher in the late 1800s. Probably, in my opinion, the greatest writer and preacher this world has ever known besides John the Baptist.
He said this, he said, my doubts outweigh my confidence sometimes. And I take solace in that today because sometimes you feel like you're all alone, don't you church? You feel like I'm the only one feeling this way.
Well, the reason for that is because we have taken church and made it something that it was never designed to be. Confess your faults one to another that we may be healed. Ladies and gentlemen, it does no good to hide your sin.
It does no good to hide your doubts. It does no good to hide your fears because God has given us the church, i .e. each other, to help encourage us and correct us and strengthen us. I'm going to give you three things today on the assurance of grace and I hope you will at least take notes and please take these home with you and hand them to someone who doesn't have that assurance.
Number one, I want you to understand that there is no experience necessary. Ladies and gentlemen, hear that verse again. I've written these things to you that believe on the name of the Son of God. Now, we all know in the Koine Greek of the New Testament, of which it was written, that that word believe is really translated thus.
It means those who have walked down an aisle, who have confessed to the pastor their sin, who have then subsequently gone on to be baptized, who have then joined a conservative right-wing Southern Baptist church, and then, after that, be sure to tithe every week, those can know they have eternal life.
Man! Guys, you know what we do sometimes? That's silly, but here's what we do. Those who believe, we translate it for those who believe and quit doing this sin that I struggle with. For those who believe, who want to look and feel like other people during worship, who work to believe, but you compare yourself not to the Word of God or to God Himself, you start comparing yourself to other people around you.
Listen to me. Guys, this is written to you. Not you and everybody else. To you. Today, you as an individual. That's not a plural pronoun there. And I know in y 'all's generation, pronouns are a struggle.
But listen to me. It is you. You can know today, absolutely without a doubt, you can know today that you have eternal life. Let's look at the second thing. Believe. The reality of that word is this. Everywhere, in the Old Testament and New, everywhere, faith was the regenerating factor given to us as a gift by God.
And Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. I want you to think, before the church, there was faith. Before the law of Moses, there was faith. It is faith that saved Abraham.
It is faith that saved John. And it is faith that saves you today. It is faith is the only thing, sola fide, sola fide. It is the only thing that you have to understand for you to have eternal life. Our works do not save us.
Are you feeling guilty today about something? Do you know that your failure has neither a debit nor a credit to your salvation? Now, it can be a signpost for you today. But we'll get to that in another day.
But I want you to know today that no experience is necessary. You don't have to have a great testimony of, I was in drugs and demons showed up and the light of heaven shone down. My wife can't even remember when she was saved.
She don't even know how old she was. She don't even remember the day that it happened. But I can tell you for a fact, I know that woman saved after 30 years. And God has blessed her with a husband like me.
In that, don't look at where you are as evidence of your salvation. Look at your faith and the faith in God's word. Number two, I want you to hear this. Stop being a spiritual hypochondriac. My gosh. I remember when I was younger, especially, I'd get a new pain.
It was late 20s, early 30s. I'd done crack cocaine a bunch in my life. Had a lot of blows to the head. Ate a lot of paint chips when I was a kid. And so I was worried. Really, I'm joking about paint chips.
But I was worried that somehow I'm going to miss the boat. And every little pain I had, if you need some more illustrations on this, go talk to Bill Floyd for a minute. If every little pain I had, every little thing that was wrong, everything that was anomaly, it was a tumba.
And I was going to die in a horrible death of twisted steel and burnt flesh. And dogs were going to sleep with cats. And the whole world was going to go to chaos. Well, some of us take that hypochondria and we apply it to our spiritual lives.
Because we didn't grow up, and I pick on Bill a lot, but he and I have very similar experience with our fathers. We didn't have security drilled into us. We had abuse drilled into us, right? We didn't have the peace of God as we were growing up.
We looked to our own selves for self-validation. And guys, when you do that, you always come up with the goose egg. When you keep looking inside, I hear people all the time say, well, just trust your heart.
That is the dumbest thing you can do. The dumbest thing. Because your heart will flip-flop on how you feel that day. You could sit there and be in a great worship time, and you could see the stairs of Jacob, the ladder of glory descending on you, and you could feel them goosebumps, and you're like, oh, I love Jesus.
The very next day, you're in a car wreck, or your wife does something mean to you, or your dog doesn't greet you, and you're like, oh, I'm a loser. And the same confidence you did have is floated away.
Why? Because you are looking at self. Guys, the hypochondriac of spiritual is this, we lose our hope. Read with me John 16, verse 33. We'll get back to expository in a second, but a topical understanding is this, and this is tattooed on Pastor Josiah's chest.
Maybe some of y 'all need to get it there. John 16, verse 33 says this, I have said these things to you, that in me, you may have peace. In the world, you're going to have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world.
Now, look at, am I doing something wrong? Is the sound going up? Okay, how about, oh, thanks, man. How about, is that better? Man, y 'all say something, man. This ain't Bellevue. I mean, come on. Relax, man, it's just us.
Hey, listen to me for a second. I want you to note in John 16, 33, notice those three key words, that in me, you may have peace. It doesn't say because you walked down an aisle. It doesn't say because you prayed some stupid prayer to have Jesus come into your heart like he's some Labrador retriever.
No, it says in Christ, you may have peace. You may be a Christian, but you don't have hope. Here's why, because you've put your hope in something else other than Jesus Christ. You're looking at your workload or you're working at your goodness or you're looking at something else or your sin.
You have to keep focused on Christ. I know that I know that I know that I know that if my heart stopped right now, I would go to glory, not based on what I've done, but based on what Jesus Christ has already done.
You see, I'm focused on him and in that, he gives me hope and it gives me that confidence that some people say is cockiness. Well, the reason usually the ones that are talking about cockiness are usually the most insecure people in the world.
Christian, it's okay for you to believe. It's okay for you to be like Paul at the end of his life, living in a prison. He came to this point and said, I know now, I am now persuaded even at the end of my life that Jesus Christ is able to keep everything that I have committed unto him, including my eternal life.
Guys, don't lose hope and the way you do it is you focus on him. Now also understand this, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy. Now listen, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for that hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect.
Guys, you know what I want you to do today? I want you to start feeding the pig. In your spiritual life, I want you to start feeding the pig. Can someone tell me what propitiation is besides pastors? I swear I'm getting a two by four.
What is propitiation, church? You ain't Bellevue, you speak up. That's vicarious, turning away of God's wrath. The turning away of God's wrath. You see, when Jesus, and you can go to 1 John 1, and it talks about the propitiation of Christ, it's not a made-up word, it's a Bible word.
Literally, the wrath of God was turned away from me and was poured out on Christ. You know, I've told you this before, you know what the scariest sound in the world is? Truck tires on a gravel driveway.
I ain't going into the story, but you probably get what I'm saying. Scariest, scariest freaking thing in the world. I ain't scared to hell. I don't look forward through my life, and I'm 55 years old now, you know?
I'm going to be dead soon, right? I mean, I got more years behind me than I do in front of me. I don't look through the veil of time, whether it be 5 years, 10 years, or whatever, and worry about what's going to happen on the other side of that grave.
You know why? Not based upon me. But look at that Scripture again. Being prepared. You know what I did differently? I started reading the Word of God and understanding it. What is justification? Rendered innocent.
That is a biblical term. I am rendered innocent. What is glorification? It's the final state of the believer. I will be glorified. Romans 8 tells us that whom God saved, He will glorify. Well, except for, of course, Tara.
Except for Johnny. No, that's not what it says. It says what God will do in justification, He also will do in glorification. Guys, feed the pig. Feed that self of yours with Scripture. And sometimes the questions that you got to answer ain't coming from the atheist.
It ain't Richard Dawkins attacking you. It's your own doubts and fears. So feed that pig with the Word of God and quit coming up with pithy little stupid Baptist church saying and start fighting it with the Word of the living God.
Last thing. Got faith. Got faith. How much of a hypochondriac are you? The disciples and Jesus, and you can read the whole account there in John 9. Disciples and Jesus are going along. And this guy comes running up to Jesus.
And he says, hey, my kid. My kid, he has these seizures. And when he has them, it throws him into fires or into water trying to kill him. And this is what the guy said. If you can, make him whole. Now, I want you to watch what Jesus says in verses 23 through 24.
I'm sorry of Mark 9, not John. Mark 9 verses 22 through 24. And it is often cast him into fire to water destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Now look at verse 23.
And Jesus said to him, if you can, all things are possible for one who believes. Immediately, the father child cried out and said, I believe, help my unbelief. Let me put this to you in context. Here is the King of kings and Lord of lords who people have watched, watch feed 5 ,000 people who have watched him walk on water, who have watched him bring the lame to walk again and the blind to see, who have unstopped the ears of the deaf.
This man comes running up to Jesus and says, if you can, and look at Jesus' response. If you read it correctly, harmonetically, Jesus goes, what do you mean if I can? But he doesn't point simply to himself.
What does it say? With faith, all things are possible. It's not, I'm not going to say anything, Johnny. I promise I won't. I'm not, I'm not going to say it. I'm not going to say it. He has to go do something real quick.
She has to go feed a baby squirrel. Anyways, Jesus sits there and goes, what do you mean if I can? I am the son of God. But notice what he puts. He puts us all in that same boat. He says, for if you have faith, all things are possible for one who believes.
Guys, your faith can overcome your doubts. If it's rooted in faith in Jesus Christ, not your stupid prayer. That's why I get onto that stupid sinner's prayer thing. Not only is it not found in scripture, but if you got to keep reaching back into your testimony at that moment where you walk on the aisle and put Jesus Christ in your heart, Lord and Savior.
If that is the height of your spiritual experience, number one, you may not be a Christian, but number two, it's going to be weak and flimsy when real trials come against you. Now, I also want you to point out to that man.
Look at the dichotomy of what he said. He said, I do believe. Help my unbelief. I have been in that situation many times. In times of prayer, I believe that Jesus Christ is capable of helping me. And I believe that and I pray that.
But even through my prayer sometimes, guys, as a pastor, I have to go, God, I believe You, but please help me to believe. And that may seem like a contradiction. But to those of you that have walked with Christ for any length of time, you resonate with that verse very well.
You resonate. God, I've had a lady one time tell me, Pastor, I've lost the desire to have the desire, but I have the desire to get the desire back. I got her. I got her. Now, you lost people aren't like going, man, you Christians are on crack.
It ain't crack, baby. You get it. You understand. I want the desire to have the desire because I have the desire to have the desire. But man, I struggle with that desire thing. Oh God, I believe, but help me with my unbelief.
Don't use that as a metric of God's faithfulness. Don't question God's faithfulness from your lack of faith. For God said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Spurgeon tells a story of a lake frozen.
And two men set out across the lake. The first guy is on a sled with a team of four horses, just getting it and getting across the lake. The other guy hears the ice crack. And so he's on his hands and knees.
And he's going across the ice, fearful that he's going to fall in. They both make it across. Spurgeon says, that's the Christian walk. You know, we may be afraid. But if we put faith in the ice, no matter how our lives look, our destination is secure for we have faith in the ice and not in how we get there.
Guys, I know without a shadow of doubt, my failures are many. When that came out of my mouth, I felt shame. My sin is many and it is great. But guys, I can't look at my failures. I have to look at the faithfulness of the foundation of my salvation, which is not my actions, but it is Christ and Christ alone.
Last thing and I'm done. Guys, the struggle is real. But so is God's Word. Guys, we will win. And when I say we, if you're one of them hippies in here, oh, we're all God's children, smoke another rock, take an Adderall and listen to me.
We are not all God's children. We are not all God. We are all God's creation, but we are not all God's children. There is all throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, an us and them mentality.
It doesn't take five years of literary hermeneutics to understand. There is an us and them everywhere in Scripture. Guys, there are people in this room today that are not Christians. You are not a Christian.
But there are other people in this room that are, yet they struggle. Listen to me today. Understand this, even in the midst of your struggles, you're going to win. 1 John 5, going back to 1 John now, 1 John 4 -5 says this, for everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world, period.
There's not an if, and, or, but. If you are born of God, you will overcome the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. That's the victory that we have. It is not the great monuments to great men of God, for those things will fail and burn and let the glory only be to Jesus Christ our Lord.
But there is a reality that your faith is going to take you from where you are. Given to you by Christ, strengthened by your sanctification and the Holy Spirit, that faith is going to carry you to glory.
And there is no if, ands, or buts. Let me ask you another question. When is eternal not eternal? It doesn't even make sense. You doubt, and in your doubts, you sound stupid. I'm afraid I've lost eternal life.
If you can lose it, it was never eternal to begin with. Read with me, if you will, in 1 John 5, 11 and 12, the verses preceding our text this morning. And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life.
Let me stop right there. Where does it say God let us earn? Where does it say to those who are worthy? Where does it say that those who have the suit and the tie and the 10-inch hair part, who are blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white, Republican, Southern Baptists?
Where does it say that? It ain't there. And I can read Greek. It ain't there. Gave is this. It is a free gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Oh, well, pastor, I didn't do this. I didn't do this.
I didn't do this. I've had people who were worried and wanted to get re-baptized by immersion because they were sprinkled as a child. Well, you ain't baptized, but that don't mean you're going to hell.
I mean, always people lose their minds over baptism. If baptism was a prerequisite of hell, the thief on the cross is burning today, and Jesus Christ is a liar. For he said to him, today I will be with you in paradise.
Paradise. What do you think? The Romans said, oh, well, we got to go baptize this guy now. There's some just interior on an organ just as I... No! No! And I've actually had an idiot tell me, well, it rains real hard.
You can't live being that stupid, y 'all. You can't live. My salvation was given to me, not earned. The day I got saved, I was living with a chick. The day I got saved, I had some addiction issues. The day before I got saved, I had done some bad things.
Guys, at what level of earning the grace of God did I bring to the table when Jesus Christ converted me? None. None. You know what's beautiful? Is that God causes the blind to see because they're incapable of it themselves.
I had nothing to offer Jesus when he said, that is my son. Man, the Bible says he adopted me as one of his own, and that it was naturally born unto him. Listen to me today. Please stop trying to earn what is eternal.
Look at verse 12. Here's that us and them mentality that I was talking about. It's very simple, okay? Even Alabama fans can understand this. Ready? Whoever has the son has life. Whoever does not have the son of God does not have life, period.
It's just that simple. Even a carpenter and a civil servant can understand that. I mean, it's not that hard. I know sometimes theologians that sell books want to make it a lot harder than it is, but God knew that we were not all gonna be theologians.
It's real simple. You got Jesus Christ and faith in him, you're going to heaven. If you don't, you're going to hell. End of story. Let's eat, right? Last thing is this. And when I say last thing, this was the last point of, sub point of the last point.
You know? So I wasn't lying. Thank you. Pastor Josiah always gets on to me about that. Shut up, Jim. Guys, yes, you. Yes, you can have confidence right now. Call now. Watch this. 1 John 5, 11 through 12 again.
And this is the confidence we have towards him. That's not true. That's a different verse. But anyways, verse 14. And this is the confidence that we have towards him. That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
Has your wife ever done this to you? Men, has she ever played the silent treatment with you? I do. As you matriculate in your marriage about year 20, you'll enjoy it. But that isolation sometimes. That isolation sometimes.
Men, have you ever been, what's the, have you ever been salty? Have you ever been salty? Women, have you ever talked to your husband and you know he's sitting there going, and he ain't hearing a word you say?
That is a special skill. I teach a class on it, men. Sign up. But have you ever prayed and felt like your prayers didn't get further than the ceiling? Do you ever feel like you and God are this far apart?
Do you ever call out on the God and all you hear is the crickets? Verse 14. We can have confidence. Confidence. That anything that we ask, now listen to the caveat, according to his will, he will hear us.
Let me ask you a question today. Let's forget about new Lamborghinis and jet skis or whatever you're asking God for. Let's keep it within the realm of your salvation. Are you concerned that you're not a Christian?
If you are, according to verse 14, God wants you to be saved. He does, according to all of Scripture. He wishes that none should perish. He wants you to be saved today. Well, pastor, but I'm not sure if I can just, read verse 14 again.
You can have confidence right now, according to his will, that anything you ask, he will hear you. Now, let me, we're going to close. In fact, little music nerds can come up. But listen to me. Listen, if you're in this room today and you walk down an aisle and pray Jesus into your heart when you were nine or ten years old and, you know, you got the little picture with the certificate and the little New Testament pocket version when you were baptized, but nothing has changed in your life and you've lived like a godless heathen, you're, look, look right here.
You are not a Christian. You're not. You're not. And if you're one of the idiots in your mind that just said, is he judging me? No. The Word of God is. Okay, because you can go back to 1 John chapter 1.
If anyone claims to know the truth yet continues to walk in darkness, he is a liar and the truth is not in him. Okay, it's that simple. Okay, that simple. But that can change today. Right now. You can have that confidence right now.
And it's not a stupid church or some fat ugly pastor that's going to give it to you. It is confidence from knowing the Word of God that his hand of grace is extended to you right now. Well, pastor, first, I got to quit this.
Pastor, first, I got to do this. I got to do that. You ain't got to do nothing except put faith in the name of Jesus Christ. You can have that today. Second thing, if you are a Christian and them doubts are causing you to be weak, you're not a witness.
You're the idiot at the water cooler at your office telling jokes about the big blue blonde. And you're like, oh, that's funny. You're the guy that's not living out a Christian testimony. You're the guy who says, yeah, I'll go to, I love Jesus.
And you show up to church. By the way, real quick thing. Why do you come to church? If you come to church to be fed, if you come to church to do corporate worship, that's great. But you are the center point of both of those things.
That's probably why you're a weak Christian. You know why you should come to church? To serve God by serving each other. What ministry are you in? That's probably why you weak. That's probably why you weak.
But that's another story for another time. If you're in this place today and you have doubts, nail it down today. Nail it down. Come up here and pray with someone. And you'll have a person make it for sure today.
And you'll be accountable to learn God's Word and the confidence God wants you to have. If you're not a member of a church because, well, you just kind of float. Guys, I can tell you from personal experience, personal experience, if you do not have an older, stronger brother or sister in Christ all up in your butt, all the time about where you are with Jesus, you are going to float away into left field.
You will. You will. This whole thing, well, my Christian life is private between me and God. You are an idiot and you will fail. You will. I am a pastor. I've got to have accountability. I got to. Now, I'm 50-something years old.
The things that I used to be struggling with, you know what I'm saying, man? Www .hotpastorjeff .com that I know a lot of you guys look up, you know? I don't really struggle with that anymore. I just really don't, you know?
Only thing a woman's good for now is to bring me a sandwich. But, was that too much? Yeah, yeah. She needs to bring me a sandwich and a drink. But guys, guys, listen to me. I still struggle with other things.
I still struggle. I've got to have accountability. My staff, my deacons, my friends, other pastors will get on the phone to me and ask, hey, have you done X, Y, and Z? Did you just lie to me? Mofer. All right.
You got to have that. If you need that in your life, I want you to come forward. If you need to be baptized, I want you. If you need to join church, come forward. If you need to get saved, come forward.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about and you're confused, we have people up here to help you. If you are a born-again believer in the Son of God and you are in good stead, then please don't sit in your chair or stand behind it.
Hold on to the back of it. Look at your watch and be ready to go and look at some stupid screen. They are all capable of singing. They don't need your help. Go and minister to somebody right now. If you claim to be part of the church of God, then act like it and go minister to someone right now.
Whatever the case is, stand with me this morning. Ministers and pastors, come forward. If God has spoken you today, don't leave here the same. You come this morning as God leads.
