The Unconverted “Believer” (19): Assurance of Salvation (3) 06/27/2021

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Well because of the time I think we'll forego that new testament reading. We'll let

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Jason do that next Sunday, Lord willing and so You might have looked at your notes.

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Maybe rolled your eyes. They were a little long. I realize that We'll probably have to skip over some

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I don't know But I did add some additional things to the end of the notes for your benefit

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And believe it or not I try and trim things every week, but I think well now this is this is this is what some somebody needs or might help somebody so I Feel like I need to include it

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And I woke up this morning. I got a trim this I went through it again, and I kept adding to it

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It just happens so and then again, I know that you know these notes are going out and And so they

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I'm thinking about how it might help others in a wider Audience as well, so please be patient We may have to skip over some stuff because of the time.

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We'll see let's pray Thank you father for your word for your grace to us in Jesus Christ Help us our

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God with this matter of assurance of salvation We pray father for every troubled soul that you would speak peace to him or her who truly is looking to Jesus Christ alone as Lord and Savior We pray our

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God the Comforter the other Comforter the Holy Spirit would give that peace that passes all

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Understanding as they look to the sufficiency the beauty And the ability of Jesus Christ to save his people and so help us this morning we ask in Jesus name

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Amen Several weeks ago. We gave attention to first John 5 13

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Which really describes the contents of John's first epistle first John It reads these things

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I've written on to you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the

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Son of God and so he wrote that they might have assurance and that they might persevere in their faith and Two weeks ago.

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We expressed at that time that when John makes reference to these things He was referring to his entire epistle the first John not just a few verses in the immediate context of this verse and so the purpose

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For which John wrote was so that his readers may be assured of their salvation That they had a legitimate claim to know

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God through Jesus Christ and that they had Possessed eternal life through him.

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And so today I want us to consider in Some detail the various things that John was referring to By which he wrote to true

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Christians that they may have assurance of salvation But before delving into these

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We want to state several matters of importance for review and for reinforcement regarding the

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Christians certain assurance of Possessing salvation that can never be lost or forfeited.

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Thank the Lord I think the Lord's salvation is contingent and based upon the promise of God The purpose and work of the

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Son of God not upon you or me Because that would make it uncertain And so first let's consider that there are three major assertions regarding the

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Bible's teaching regarding assurances salvation First we affirm that the

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Word of God teaches us that assurance is possible for Christians in this life

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And this possibility of settled certainty therefore repudiates Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Teaching that says it's not possible and they even say it's not desirable to have assurance of salvation in this life

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But it also shows that the teaching generally held and promoted by Arminianism is error

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There are many Christians who are taught and believe that although they presently possess salvation They have eternal life

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Through their own neglect and failure they can lose their salvation. There are many that believe that and taught that That they'll lose their salvation and be damned eternally this is terrible error and shows itself in troubled hearts of those who have fallen into this error and some of you have been taught this in the past believe

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This in the past and gone through periods of great difficulty because of this false teaching the

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Word of God teaches clearly and repeatedly that assurance of salvation is possible and Desirable for the true

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Christian. So here's a few verses of affirmation Paul affirmed

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I am sure I'm persuaded I'm confident that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present or things that come nor powers nor height nor depth

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Or anything else in all creation that just about covers it doesn't it? Will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our

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Lord That's all -encompassing Paul affirmed in faith for this reason.

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I also suffer these things Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and persuaded that he is able to keep that which

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I have committed to Him until that day. Have you committed your soul? With Respect to the judgment day to Jesus Christ.

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He's able to take care of it, isn't he? He keeps your soul. All you have to do in faith is commit it to him you'll take it and You're secure

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Now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments that affirms.

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Hey, we seek to do the will of God That's evidence that we know him We know that we've passed from death to life because we love the

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Brethren That's a test and we'll consider that in more detail He who does not love his brother not talking about your physical brother, but your spiritual brother in Christ Then you abide in death

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And we know that we abide in him he and us because he's given us of his spirit. Of course, this isn't a you know charismatic or wild Pentecostal notion of being

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Overcome or overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit in some Kind of ecstatic experience, but this is you have the evidence of the

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Spirit's work in your life The the concerns I have interests that I have loves I have desires

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I have they didn't come from me They're clearly the Holy Spirit Has put these in my soul

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Among other things and then of course again this verse in First John 5 13 these things

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I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know That you have eternal life.

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You can know it It's a certainty assurance is possible And yet second we affirm that though true

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Christians may have true assurance of salvation There are many in this world that possess a false assurance and that they believe themselves to be true

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Christians But they fail the test of Scripture Through the influence of the presumption of many lost but religious people bolstered by fallen false teachers led about by the devil

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Many are deceived respecting the salvation of their souls And so we take to heart the warning of the

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Apostle to professing Christians examine yourselves To see whether you are in the faith test yourselves

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Or do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail to meet the test

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Then of course the Lord Jesus spoke himself frequently and directly against the presumptuous and the hypocrite about their false assurance that they stood in favor with God and So our whole series the unconverted believer believer in quotation marks

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Of course has been our effort to expose this error through the grace of our Lord turn some perhaps to true salvation through Jesus Christ and May the

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Lord awaken our churches. I think one of the greatest evangelistic fields in the world today Are the so -called

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Bible believing churches in the world I fear this matter of nominal

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Christianity Thirdly however, we affirm that true

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Christians may struggle with obtaining or retaining their assurance of salvation This has always been the case and there are a number of possible reads for this we've identified numbers of them

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And we have Attempted to clarify them. There is a classic book of a

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Puritan writer Thomas Hooker He came over from England and he actually By this time the

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Puritans were becoming rather dead and formal there in Western, Massachusetts. So he

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Went down and started the city of Hartford, Connecticut and this is where he wrote he wrote a number of wonderful books that are available and Perhaps one of his most well -known widely read is the poor doubting

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Christian drawn to Christ What a wonderful book in which he addressed many of the issues of these struggling

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Christians and One matter he addressed it commonly arises in struggling Christians is when they think that their sins are it's too great

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And that they're beyond the point of God saving them True Christians who lack assurance sometimes fall into this way of thinking

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And so this happens when a Christian who's been introspective of his heart or life has become so aware of the presence and the wickedness of his sin that he despairs of any hope for himself

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These people see their sin clearly But they do not see the grace of God and the satisfaction of Christ life and death life and death

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Sufficient to save them from their sin. They really thinks their sin is greater than God's grace.

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That itself is sinful You think you're doubting yourself in reality, you're you're doubting

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God and God's promise and Hooker attempted to awaken people to this and so this is an extended quote

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But I thought that some might benefit from this and so I included it So here you have the first ground to stir up.

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Hope your sins are pardonable There's no one here in this room. That's beyond hope

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You might think so, but you're wrong in Thinking that there's more power in God to show mercy to you than power and sin to destroy you

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The Lord Jesus Christ came to seek and say that which was lost. It was the scope of his coming Now says the broken and humble sinner.

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I am lost Did Christ come to save sinners then Christ must fail of his end or I am of or I of my comfort

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God says come to me all ye that are weary and heavy laden. I am weary Unless the

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Lord intended good to me. Why did he invite me and bid me come surely he means to show mercy to me

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That's how we ought to think But then he warns about those despairing.

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Oh Take heed of despair Question your estate. Yes, you may you must but to cast away all hope is very heinous in the eyes of the

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Lord cast away all carnal confidence you must and Yet you must hope

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Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption

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The Lord takes this very ill at our hands When you doubt his ability to save you

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When you think your sin is greater than his grace You go to the deep dungeon of your corruption and there you say these sins can never be pardoned

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I am still proud and more stubborn in this distress God sees not God suckers not or comforts not his hand cannot reach his mercy cannot say

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Now mark what the Prophet says to such a perplexed soul Isaiah 40 27.

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Why sayest thou my way is hid from the Lord The Lord says why do you say so?

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The young men which shall faint and be weary but they shall wait on they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength

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Is anything too hard for the Lord you wrong God exceedingly you think it's a matter of humility to count yourself

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So vile Can God pardon such a wretched sin as mine? Mark that place of the psalmist they spake against the

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Lord. Can the Lord prepare a table in the wilderness? They doubted God's ability to provide for them

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They spake not against themselves, but against the Lord So we speak against God and charge

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God himself it is true says the soul soul Manasseh was pardoned, you know the wickedness

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King wickedness King in Israel Paul was converted God's Saints have been received to mercy, but can my sin be pardoned?

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You know, I think not can my soul be quickened or made alive? No, no, my sins are greater than can be pardoned says the despairing soul

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Consider how injurious this is to God To make the power of sin greater to condemn you than the power of God to save you to make the power of Satan Stronger to ruin you than the power of God to relieve you and suck or comfort you and what can you say more?

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What can you do more against the Lord is not this to make God and underling to Satan and to sin?

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this is just as to say the Almightiness of God is weaker than the weakness of sin and the sufficiency of God is weaker than the malice of Satan It is so Poor humble sinners many times will make bitter complaints this way and they think they speak against themselves

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No, no, they speak against the Lord They speak against the Lord when they said can the

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Lord prepare a table in the wilderness and so you speak in this disparate manner Why truth

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Lord this proud heart will never be humbled if anything would have wrought it would have been done before this day

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How many sermons how many mercies how many judgments how many prayers and yet this proud heart this stubborn heart will not be reformed

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You think you speak against yourselves now? No No You speak against the Lord and know this is one of the greatest sins you commit to say your sins cannot be forgiven

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That's a good word And then answer two as this sin is injurious to God so it's in dangerous to your own soul

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It's that which removes the bridge cuts off all passages and there can be no spiritual comfort or Consolation come into the soul of a poor sinner

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Luke 3 every valley shall be filled and all flesh. You'll see the salvation of Lord What are these ditches valleys?

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Why nothing else but those deep gulfs and ditches of despair and unless they be filled no man can see the

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Lord Jesus Christ The truth is this despair the soul is that which cuts the sinews of man's comfort

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Takes off the power and edge of all the means of grace Daunts all a man's endeavors nay it plucks up endeavors by the very roots for that man for that which a man despairs of he will never labor after it is here as With a man in the pegs of death unto such a man as all things are unavailable for his good

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His bed will not ease him meat will not refresh him Chaffing will not revive him and at last we say he is gone.

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He's a dead man Friends leave him physicians leave him They may go and pray for him and mourn for him

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But they cannot recover him and so this despair of soul makes a man cast off all hope and lie down in a forlorn

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Condition expecting no good to come Alas says the poor soul what skills for a man to pray.

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No, what good does it do to pray? What profits does it man to read what benefit in all the means of grace?

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The truth is that the stone has rolled upon me and my condemnation is sealed forever And therefore

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I will never look after Christ's grace and salvation anymore Let him come to hear the word and mark how he casts off the benefit of it

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It was marvelous and seasonable and profitable. It was the good word of God unto such as have share therein

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Why then may he not not you expect benefit therefrom no, says the soul the time of grace has passed the day is gone if Ministers would pray for him and good people pray for him.

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He bids them save their labor Wasting your time for hell is his portion. His condemnation is sealed in heaven see now and consider what desperate danger despair brings to a poor heart and Carries him beyond the reach of mercy

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That's a sweet passage of David Psalm 77 will the Lord cast me cast off forever

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I said this in my in my infirmity, you know my foolishness The word in the original this is my sickness as who shall say this would be my death

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What is mercy gone forever? Then my life is gone. Then is all my comfort gone

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I hope gone therefore take heed of this it takes off the edge of all our endeavors and God's ordinances that might do us good

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I Had to stop there, but hooker just went on and on and on. I thought this stuff is good

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I wish our folks could read some of it And in fact, I have this entire book on a

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PDF file that I can email to you if you just request it from me Another excellent book available on assurance of salvation was written by Thomas Brooks An Englishman it's entitled heaven on earth a treatise on Christian assurance

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This is what only a third Sunday. We're addressing assurance I mean this I just the table of contents opened up and I haven't even touched on this business as Of yet, and in fact,

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I found the table of contents so helpful. I Typed it out and it's at the end of your notes.

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That's a couple of pages and notes. Don't read it now but there it just it informs you of just how much can be addressed with regard to this matter of assurance and But I believe

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I have this book Well, this book is produced by the band of truth trust in a more modern English version and it's available

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But I believe I also have it a PDF form that I can email to you

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Of course the nature degrees of assurance to vary from person to person We just sang the soul you did as well with my soul

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I hope you and faith can sing that with assurance and confidence I Hope that you're you're not a

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Christian you saying that as though that applied to you because it doesn't It's not well for your soul if you don't believe on Jesus Some Christians enjoy great degrees of peace of mind that they are secure in Christ But there are other

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Christians who may rarely or perhaps never in this life Attained to a great level of peace about the eternal well -being of their souls people are different They have different life experiences.

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The Lord has different purposes for different people William Cooper the hymn writer co

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WPE are Cooper pronounced in English He was in despair for decades

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About his own soul and yet look at the index. So you read hymnal sometimes and read the hymns that he wrote

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Some of these in the depths of his depression John Newton his pastor Helped him sustain him daily sometimes for hours

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Because he despaired of his own soul People are different. They have different life experiences different conditions of their emotions and their experiences and what they've what they feel and then

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God may vary in the degree of grace that he imparts to the soul as he So as to give peace

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But thankfully again, our security in the Lord is not based on the degree of assurance we might possess for our salvation is secure by the grace of God through Jesus Christ alone and Therefore our salvation is secure equally for each and every one of us

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Peter declared that in first Peter 1 Your inheritance God is reserved in heaven.

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He's keeping it safe for you And he's keeping you safe to faith by his power and the two of you will come together one day

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Charles purged and Spurgeon wrote of the varied experience of Christians regarding their assurance many persons are greatly disquieted in mind because their experience of conviction or comfort has not been like that of others and The Bible says that's a foolish thing when you compare yourself with others

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That's not how you were to assess yourself they fancy that they cannot have come to Christ or right because they've not felt precisely the same joys or Expressions as certain

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Saints of whom they have read Now should these good people be so troubled we think not

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Uniformity is not God's rule of working either in nature or in grace No human faces display exactly the same liniments sons of the same mother born at the same birth

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Maybe as different as Jacob and Esau not even leagues of forest will two leaves be found in all respects alike diversity is the rule of nature and let us rest assured that variety is the rule of grace and So true

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Christians can struggle with this matter of assurance Well secondly, there are three major ways of course in which

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God imparts assurance We've touched on these we'll expand them a little bit here maybe abbreviate it because of time

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How may a person come to have a sound biblical assurance of salvation? What are the ways the means?

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Well, there are three different ways First assurance is possible simply through believing God's promises in his word

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That's the quickest and easiest way There is first that which may be obtained through believing and trusting the promises of Scripture For example,

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Jesus said all that the father gives me shall come to me and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out

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That's a promise of God. Have you come to Christ believing the promise? Have you come to him as a sinner?

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The only thing that disqualifies you if you don't think you're a sinner That's that's the only disqualifier

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If you come as a sinner to Christ looking to him and him only In no way will he cast you out?

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Second God may give assurance of salvation of his people through grace imparted directly to the soul by the

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Holy Spirit Sometimes the scripture describes this as a is a piece that passes understanding

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I Don't know why that makes sense when I consider everything else, but I've got it the

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Holy Spirit gave it to me This is subjective. It's not based on things. We see or read or think but it's based on what you feel.

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It's subjective There is an assurance that God himself gives to his own

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Not to everyone and not in every table one and every in the same degree It's personal spiritual

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Several verses may be cited Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about the

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Holy Spirit Being given to them in power and in much assurance the

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Holy Spirit gives assurance. He's the other comforter He assures souls and then

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Romans 8 he talks about the spirit of adoption the Holy Spirit by whom we cry

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Abba Father the Spirit the Holy Spirit bears himself within our spirit and our soul that we are his children through faith in Jesus Christ 20th century formed an evangelical leader

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D. Martin Lloyd -Jones Believed that this was the highest and most convincing manner of possessing assurance if the

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Holy Spirit gives you this sense of comfort After writing about the other two ways we've only addressed one so far to have assurance

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He wrote about this third one based on Romans 8 But there's yet another and higher form of assurance the spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God The first two

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I've mentioned refer to our spirits But the Spirit himself the Holy Spirit also bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God This is the highest and most glorious assurance of all and it's given to us

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It is not the result of our deductions from the scriptures Goodwin Owen Bolton John Preston John How many others of the

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Puritans as well as Jonathan Edwards indeed John Wesley have eloquent teaching concerning this

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The Assurance the Holy Spirit gives But the third assurance may be secured through the passing of the tests of Scripture.

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These are objective tests These may be classified or categorized into three kinds of tests all of which may be read in 1st

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John Again, we've mentioned these I've taught on these in the past Again, I hope a lot of the things that we're saying and these messages are nothing new to you

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I've heard this before. I hope so If I've been faithful and true to you, you have heard these things before there are some things that need to be repeated and reinforced and so passing the test of Scripture and We're going to give attention to these three here shortly

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However, there's been others that have identified more than three ways in which God gives people assurance of their salvation

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Robert Raymond wrote of five different ways He has an excellent systematic theology that I recommend

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He was a Presbyterian. He died a few years ago, but his systematic theology a new systematic theology is really quite good

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He wrote this such assurance of salvation and eternal life springs first from an intelligent understanding of the nature of salvation second the recognition of the immutability or unchangeableness of the gifts and calling of God third

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Obedience to the commandments of God fourth self -examination and fifth the inward witness of the

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Holy Spirit Raymond also wrote of the difficulty that some

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Christians have to retain their assurance and he said this is largely due to their own issues their own failures and So we've addressed some of these matters, but here are his words

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It's the duty of every Christian to cultivate such assurance through the right use of ordinary means in other words means of grace

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Reading the Bible praying meeting with the Lord's people being in church the Lord's Supper and these kinds of means

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Peter urges Christians to be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing or election but either because of immaturity and understanding the nature of their salvation or because of the weakness of faith due to the negligence in Cultivating their faith or to the disobedience to the commandments of God Worldliness prayerlessness or some other sin some true believers may have the assurance of their salvation

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Divers are different ways shaken diminished or intermitted. They have sometimes not others in other words

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God will not permit true believers to persist in their Immaturity or their sin and at the same time to continue to enjoy unabated peace of conscience and joy in the

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Holy Spirit See when he removes the assurance he kind of quickens your step doesn't it gives you a little sense

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I better straighten things out. I shouldn't be doing this. I better correct this I haven't been doing what

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I should be doing, you know, and you So he withdraws himself so that he might stir us on it's a matter of sanctification

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Sanctification He will chase in his true children. His hand of conviction will grow even heavier upon them in the words of the

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Westminster Confession They will incur God's pleasure displeasure Come to be deprived of some measure of comforts and bring temporal judgments upon themselves and if they persist in their waywardness

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He will even remove the light of his countenance from them and permit them to lose their assurance of salvation

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You can forfeit your Assurance of salvation you cannot forfeit your salvation.

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That's not possible Well, you can certainly forfeit your assurance of salvation through your own failure or neglect

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Thomas Brooks I mentioned above Did not state specifically the ways in which

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God gives assurance to his people But he did identify the things that Christians should do in order to gain well -grounded assurance

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Oh, here's a here's a good list of things If you lack assurance, this is in chapter 5 of his work

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Of his book nine activities be active in exercising grace

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Assurances obtained by obedience third follow diligently the instructions of the Holy Spirit For be diligent in attendance upon ordinances

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Five pay particular attention to the scope of God's promises of mercy Six matter six six matters in which

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Christ followers are distinguished from all others Seven seek to grow in grace eight seek assurance when the soul is in its best frames

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There's there's times when you ought to give yourself more diligently to these things who you'll probably be more successful and nine

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Ascertain whether you have the things that accompany salvation notably knowledge faith repentance obedience love prayer perseverance and hope and then he

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Dealt with a chapter for each of these this is where much of the book lies And So there's much information about assurance that's available and they're good resources

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That's a whole lot better than just saying a sinner's prayer and pronouncing. You've got salvation go on your way in peace and That's the way most of the world are taught through these evangelistic

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Crusades Well next let's consider the three tests the first John that we had mentioned earlier

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There are three major tests whereby we may be assured of our salvation These are the tests that we they're provided for self -examination

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Again we made note of these two weeks ago in our sermon notes But we didn't get to that part of the sermon if you read through them you already saw these mentioned

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They include first a test of faith This has to do with what you believe there are certain things you must believe if you're a true

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Christian Second there's a test of fellowship this concerns whom you love You love

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God you love Christ, but not just love God Christ you love the Lord's people Is what John emphasizes and thirdly the test of life?

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This is that this is the matter of how you live and by these three tests You can you can

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Know that you you have salvation in Christ Now just a reminder about the problem that led the

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Apostle John to write this epistle there were numbers of people in that region of Asia Minor who had professed to have become

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Christians and yet they had retained some heretical beliefs and some mystery

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Greek religions of the area and They twisted and distorted the Christian message and the nature of the

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Christian life Even while they joined themselves to Christian churches claiming they were Christian, but they weren't and John wrote this epistle to help the churches to identify and distinguish true from false

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Christians and to give reasons to true Christians that they may have assurance of their salvation and So the

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Apostle set forth that true Christians had a legitimate basis for assurance first John 5 13

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Even as he exposed the heretics as ones who had no ground of assurance for their salvation.

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They all claimed to be Christian They were condemned for their beliefs and practice showed they did not know the

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Lord savingly and so through John's inspired pen The Lord has given us this epistle as one of the clearest and fullest treatments of assurance of salvation

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Go to first John about this matter And each of these three tests would reveal those who espoused an aberrant faith.

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They claim to be Christian, but they're not Failure in any one of these three would be fatal to a sound hope of salvation

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You can pass two of the tests fail in the third You're in trouble False assurance is bolstered by either not submitting to examination or not submitting to thorough examination

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And so let's work through these the test of faith, what do you believe There are some truths taught in the

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Word of God that must be believed in order to be recipient of God's grace and salvation

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Every child of God must be able to pass this test of the faith of what you believe

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And so an example of this inquiry is first John 2 22 and 23 Which reads who is a liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the

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Christ? In other words that Jesus is the Son of God is what he's saying

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He is an Antichrist who denies the Father and the Son Whoever denies the Son does not have the

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Father either he who acknowledges Son has the Father also And so the false teaching that it infiltrated many of the churches was a refusal to believe in the incarnation of Jesus Christ That Jesus was the eternal

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Son of God who had assumed in addition to his divine nature a human nature

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He was both truly God and truly man But of these heretical members of churches, they denied this cardinal truth

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Some said he's God but not man others said no he was a man, but not God They did not believe that God who is a pure and Holy Spirit Could indwell in a human physical body because it was sinful

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And so some denied his deity. He's not he was not of the same essence of God the

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Father He was an a demi -urge. He was in a Hierarchy of angels.

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Yeah, he's the Son of God. He's up there, but he's not God. He can help you get to God But he's not

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God This is heretical Jehovah's Witnesses teach this

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Mormons teach this by the way, it's the same heresy. They deny that Jesus is of the same essence of God the

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Father They are not Christian, although they claim to be and So again, some of these heretics denied our

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Savior's humanity They said he was only an apparition while on earth and that people thought he was a man.

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He was not And the way that John opened this epistle Right from the very outset.

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He was saying these people are wrong John declared that he and the apostles had both seen

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Jesus and they handled him. You don't handle a spirit All right. He was a man He was indeed both

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God and man We won't read those verses but that's what he declared

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John was writing the true Christian principally both assuring them of their standing before God even while he was exposing heretics

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However, and so again we read in 1st John 2 22 who is a liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the

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Christ He's an antichrist Who denies the Father and the Son?

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Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges Son has the Father also

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And so anyone who failed this test of faith who failed to believe the essential truths of the person of Jesus Neither knew

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God the Father nor a son. They were not true Christians Apparently there had been some in the churches who had early professed a right doctrine about Christ.

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Yes. He is God. He is man He would they believed in the incarnation But when the false teaching came through the area they embraced the false teaching and they denied what they formally believed

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They adopted the teaching of these heretics and John wrote of them

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These ones that departed from the truth of Jesus who he is. They were never truly Christians If they had been true

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Christians, they would have never gone off into that heresy And so that's what he wrote in 1st John 2 19 and 20 little children.

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It's the last hour This whole church age is the kingdom age the last hour as you've heard that the antichrist is coming

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Even now many Christ have come by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us

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He's now talking about these heretics They went out from us, but they were not of us

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If they had been of us, they would have continued with us But they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us.

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I Saying like 80 % of Mormon converts were Southern Baptists They weren't

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Christian or they wouldn't have been converted to that false teaching about Jesus Christ in the

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Mormon Church that he was a creature born out of a Relationship between a god and goddess that some day will be a son of God like him.

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That's heresy You can't be a true Christian and go off into that error that proves that you were never a true

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Christian and That's what John declared The true Christians had refused to adopt this deep false teaching for God had preserved them

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In fact, John says that the Holy Spirit had anointed them in other words equip them so they could never

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Go off into this heresy about the person of Jesus Christ You have an anointing from the

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Holy One, you know all things about the person of Jesus Obviously Christians don't know all things and that they're not omniscient but know all things about the person of Jesus Christ and You can't convince a true

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Christian. Otherwise If I stood up here right now and said Jesus wasn't really

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God I suspect that most of you I would hope all of you would get up and walk out or throw me out

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There's no way in the world. I could convince you Otherwise because the Lord has given you an anointing the

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Holy Spirit You know that this is bedrock truth and reality and no one the devil or a false teacher anyone can convince you otherwise

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But they convinced these these phony Christians these heretics they were never

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Christian Well, we may conclude from this epistle of 1st John that in order to have salvation

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There are some biblical truths that are essential to understand and believe in order to receive the gift of eternal life

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Now we don't have the time or desire to Recite what we might think or every essential truth to believe but I propose a short list

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I'd listed some that this in about three minutes It may not be complete.

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I don't know but I Listed some things that I thought were absolutely essential that must be believed.

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I Don't think that we need to rehearse those because of the time I see I listed eight misnumbered them

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But eight and I'm sure there's others It's a short list but it serves our purpose in underscoring there are essential truth

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You can't be a Christian unless you understand and believe certain things that the Word of God says The test of the faith is essential to a sound assurance of salvation and if you pass the test you prove you're no heretic

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Heretics don't have salvation But you can pass that test and still not be a true

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Christian if you fail one of the other two tests And so secondly the test of fellowship, not only what do you believe but who do you love?

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And so this second test may be employed to assess and differentiate between the true Christian and the nominal or false

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Christian It's the test of fellowship. In other words to determine who you love with whom you desire and enjoy to be with Now some would say this test should be whether or not you love

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God or his son only But that's not true Obviously, we should ask ourselves whether we love

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God or Christ. I saw an R .C. Sproul video the other day about assurance He said do you love

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Jesus Christ? If you sincerely love Jesus Christ, you may have assurance and I understand what you say

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And I'd say amen to that but if you love God you love Jesus Christ You're gonna love his people too.

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And that's what John declares For even these false

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Christians in the churches that John was addressing claimed to love God and that he loved them But when

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John declared that in reality, they did not love God because they failed the test of loving true Christian God's own people

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You know, they were shown that they were not true Christian. So here's 1st John 4 20 and 21

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That states the fact of the matter If someone says I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar

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That's pretty clear For he does not look he who does not love his brother whom he has seen how can he love

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God who he's not seeing? Now, this is a Christian brother. I have physical brothers

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One of them's a Christian one of them's with the Lord one of them is not a Christian And we get along when we see one another once every five years, but we've got nothing in common but genes

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I've got a sister Who's about as far left liberal as you could possibly be?

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Worldly, I've got nothing in common with her. She lives in Maui filthy rich Travels the world.

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I don't you know, I talked with her once every couple years maybe and I you know,

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I love her as a sister But there's a real great affinity there

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But I love you as my brothers and sisters in Christ with a love for them that I've never had never known since I became a

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Christian That's just what it is to become a Christian This is the commandment we have from him that he who loves

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God must love his brother Also, we must and if and if it's if it's a problem that we don't then that should be a warning sign

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Those who had abandoned the true doctrine of Christ Did not love the true brethren who maintained their belief and their love for the true

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Jesus Christ one goes with the other They separated because they no longer love those Christians over there They separated them because they had a different view of God a different view of Christ One goes with the other when someone comes to love

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God he at the same time comes to love others who love God There's an affinity and an attraction

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Paul wrote to the church at Thessaloniki Concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you

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I don't need to write to you about this Christians why for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another

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I've mentioned this in the past my One of my younger brothers is with the Lord now. He professed

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Christ when my dad died I witnessed to him after he died in 1991

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He professed Christ. I was hopeful for him Read the Bible and whatnot, but he didn't have anything to do with Christians that concerned me

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Then after a few years, I'm living, you know in Germany's in California I learned that he started attending the church and Talking to him.

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He talked about the love he had for some of these because this church was all filled with old people and in our hometown, that's all there was and He told me about his friendship and attraction to one of the old guys that I had come to know

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He was old when I was converted in 1972 and my brother got to know him Charlie Spencer Who's no doubt with the

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Lord now and that was reassuring to me that my brother had an affinity for Christians That was confirming.

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Maybe he does know the Lord because one goes with the other John says if someone says

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I love God hates his brother. He's a he's deceiving himself. He's a liar Whenever Paul had heard of some in some place would become

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Christians he looked for two evidences For the legitimacy of their profession while I heard they're

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Christian are they Christians two things he looked for one was faith in Jesus a man secondly was love for the brethren and so he wrote at least in in Ephesians 1 and also

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Colossians 1 since therefore after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus 1 and Second your love for all the saints.

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I do not cease to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers Those are the twin evidences

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It was with this truth of salvation mind that John wrote in his first epistle these

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These words if someone says I love God hates his brother He's a liar for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen

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How can he love God whom he's not seen and this commandment? We have from him that he who loves God must love his brother also and there are other related verses we won't rehearse, but they're the same and Yet it's a sad thing.

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There are many who claim to be Christian. They say they love God They love their Bibles, but they have no interest or desire to be among the people of God.

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I Contacted me, you know, we'd done we'd done local programming here on WFGL for eight years, but then

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V &A contacted us and asked us to do the programming and They knocked off a national radio program

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They have a slot for us because they wanted a pastor from a local church in our region And the reason they said we figure about a third of our regular listeners are not in a local church

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And they were rightly concerned about that How can you say you love God?

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It doesn't don't you just kind of gravitate when you hear you beat another Christian? They don't have to be in this church, but somewhere else and you and you and you there's an affinity of spirit

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There's a common love and interest desire delights You just gravitate to them.

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That's who they are That's who you are and so there's something seriously deficient about someone who claims to love

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God But couldn't care less about those church members those Christians, and I know some people

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That are related to some of you that that's their attitude. I'm concerned about their souls

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And yet they'll profess all day long. They're Christians and Then lastly we have to conclude with this is the test of life.

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How do you live and John spent quite a bit of time in dealing with this first John 3

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Verse 3 everyone who has this hope of salvation purifies himself as he himself is pure Every true

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Christian is in the business of being sanctified maybe not as much as we should much we want much but but We're concerned about it, and we're concerned about the

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Lord Helping us to be more true and right according to his word and less prone to sin

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Whoever commits sin, and we've got to say this we can't stop with this whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness sin is lawlessness and And so whoever commits sin is not of God look at down to verse 9

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Whoever has been born of God does not sin and our English translations are unfortunate the way they convey that Because you think man,

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I said I must not be born of God if any man Sins he's not born of God.

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I said I must not be born of God But earlier John wrote if anyone says he has not said he's deceiving himself

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Every Christian has sin There's a point of emphasis here the Greek text.

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It's not always conveyed in the English It's it's it's set forth in the present tense of the

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Greek and so he's talking about The practice of sin that you're living in sin you can't be a

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Christian and living as a drunkard You can't be a Christian and living for the world and solely for the world

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You can't do that if you're living, you know as a liar your life is a lie

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You can't be a Christian they're incompatible and so the purpose of the

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Son of God was man manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil and destroy sin within us and Therefore the

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Christian because he has God's seed within him. He cannot continue in egregious flagrant sin

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Let's talk about another kind of life that your Christian brother and sister don't know about in reality.

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You're that kind of person And I'm thinking about one man years ago Who memorized the

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Bible his note by was filled with notes and whatnot, but he was a whore bonger I could use that crass word

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Frequented prostitutes because one day he was really happy and bragging. He hadn't done it in 30 days and You know

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The man wasn't born again. You cannot do that Now true Christians can fall in all manner of sin the most egregious kind of sin imaginable, but you cannot continue in it

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The Lord will do what he has to do to get you out of it And if you don't turn from sin, he just may take your physical life.

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What's the point of you living on here? You're a true Christian. He takes you home. I Remember a young Christian man growing up in church in Sacramento.

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I was talking to the older pastor He was about 40 years my senior at the time young man died and Because he'd gone off into the world.

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He said and then he died terribly. I told Lee pastor Lee, you know the fact that he died maybe more

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Evidence that he was a true Christian than had he lived. That's right. That's right. You know, the Lord probably maybe took him home

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Had he continued in that life? There would be no hope for him not that he lost his salvation

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But the Lord will not allow his people to continue in a life. That is a denial of who they are in Christ Will always struggle with sin and sometimes a sin that you conquered or beat comes back with a vengeance.

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I Listened to a wonderful video the other day of Stuart Alley odd. It was an hour long

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David Green Sent me the link a month ago. I only watched it the other night. I sent it to our men's group.

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It was a wonderful hour long Video of Stuart Aliot who's in his 80s now in England Retired as a wonderful reformed

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Baptist pastor faithful all those years and he talked he says one thing I'd tell young man is that You'd be surprised and he talked about the temptation to sin and he named him when in his he said well into my 70s

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My 80s I still have these sins of to toward temptation to dishonesty to immorality he says sin is always there always will be and Yet I know there's some people because they struggling with sin in their life.

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I can't be a Christian Because I'm struggling with this kind of sin and that's that could be a very wrong conclusion to draw

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We're always fighting with sin and sometimes we we we fall into it to our detriment through our neglect of means

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And so just because you said that's no not necessarily a reason to doubt your salvation that you don't have assurance

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If you don't struggle with sin, that's a problem if you can live on with impunity and thinking it doesn't matter.

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That's a problem But if you have a concern for sin and you desire to live righteously

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According to the will of God. Well, I Got hope for you. And so how do you live?

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And so that set forth quite clearly and I gave a number of pages That addressed that important matter

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About living a life consistently if you pass that test, then you're no hypocrite a

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Hypocrite is someone who claims he or she is a Christian, but his life her life says something else testifies else something else and Then again just didn't

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I attach at the end I attach some words from Thomas hooker the poor doubting

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Christian drawn to Christ and then also I included the table of Contents from Thomas Brooks book heaven on earth a serious discourse concerning a well grounded assurance

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I Thought this would probably do us on assurance, but I'm thinking I was thinking this morning you know being sanctified is one of the evidences of being a

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Christian and so maybe I ought to touch on that I've got a couple more

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I think and then we'll wrap this series up Lord willing Let's pray

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Thank you father for your word and for the tests that you provided us

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Thank you for the Holy Spirit who can give us assurance We pray that you would do so our father with that troubled soul

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That even now our God as they're looking to Jesus Christ alone for salvation that the

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Holy Spirit would speak peace our God to that troubled soul and give joy in believing and depart from here with a sense of sound assurance of salvation in Jesus Christ We pray for any here.

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However Through the examination of Scripture show themselves to be a stranger to the life that's in Jesus Christ We pray that you would unsettle them even further our

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God until they settle the matter by surrendering wholly Completely bowing the knee bowing the heart to Jesus Christ as both