Doctrines of Grace - Part 6

All right, good morning, everybody.

It's good to see everyone.

It's nine o'clock.

People will be rolling in as we go.

As we embark on just a wonderful topic of God's love for us,

Father in heaven, we thank you that you have an everlasting love for your children,

that this is an inseparable love,

a love that had no beginning and will have no end.

And, Father, as Jesus told his disciples,

those whom he loves, he loves to the very end.

And so we pray that this time we would glory in this love together

and how you persevere with us in your grace.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen.

Okay.

Well, last week, if you recall, we discussed God's distinguishing love for us.

At the cross, he goes with your name on his very heart.

Jesus loved his sheep with a special, unique, covenantal love, a distinguishing love.

And in this class, we'll consider the topic that those whom he loves,

he loves to the very end.

This everlasting love, this special love that we discussed last week,

is the ground of our assurance.

John Owen, who we used last week as a conversation partner,

right before he died, he wrote one final letter to his friends.

And these were some of his last words.

Owen wrote,

So this everlasting love is a ground for your consolation as well, brother and sister.

Before we begin, let me ask you a question.

It's a rhetorical question.

But have you ever started a race that you weren't sure that you could finish?

Have you ever started a race that you're not quite sure you could finish?

Have you ever run a race where there were difficult hills?

Struggling?

Weary?

You're tired?

You feel like you can't go any further?

This is the Christian life, after all.

Hebrews 12 depicts the race of faith in this way.

Not as a leisurely jog, but an agonizing race.

A struggle.

Faith wanes and weakens.

Hands drooping.

Knees are weak.

We stumble in many ways.

The devils accuse us.

Inwardly, our flesh and pride drag us down.

And in this race, we see others just limping along.

Exhausted.

We see fellow participants dropping out of this race.

Paul would write,

For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me.

And so, as you run this race, you carry the heartache of beloved companions who have deserted you.

And you run this race against the grain of the world.

Because in this race, spectators aren't cheering us.

No, they're jeering us.

The wind is not at our back.

Jesus said, Expect as much in John 15, verse 18 to 19.

John 15:18–19

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.

But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you.

And this hatred, for many, leads to the runners being persecuted, slander, beatings, even death.

The hour is coming, Jesus said, when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.

Mocked, ridiculed, scorned by your family.

Some even killed.

Of course, the apostles knew this firsthand.

History tells us Paul was probably beheaded by Emperor Nero.

Peter tortured for a long while, then crucified upside down.

In Rome, Circus Maximus.

But whether it's physical death or not, there's always the death of the old man or woman in this race.

As Bonhoeffer said, when Christ calls you, he bids you come and die.

In this race, there are dangers not only from outside, but inside, aren't there?

Fellow participants can deceive us.

Satan comes as an angel of light.

They run alongside you.

They talk about loving Jesus.

They say, you know, you see the hill of difficulty?

There's an easier way.

Follow me.

And then they lead people astray to a dead end of destruction.

Jesus warned of these false teachers.

They'll come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly, they're ravenous wolves.

Have you ever run a race that you're not sure you could finish?

Are you confident that you will finish?

Friends, this everlasting love that Owen speaks of is the ground of our comfort.

A security that whom Christ has loved everlastingly, he will love to the very end.

And in this class, we'll say not only will Christians finish, God has made such a promise.

Paul would write, I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

By the power of God, he will make sure his children are preserved until you reach the finish line.

A helper will come alongside you in this race, brother and sister.

Here's how our statement of faith puts it.

It's a pretty good way of putting it. I like that.

So the first point is simply this, that we'll discuss today.

All who are truly born anew by the Spirit will finish the race.

In this race, the Apostle John writes,

Everyone that is born of God overcomes the world.

1 John 5, verse 4.

1 John 5:4

We limp, we stumble, we fall.

But if you are born of God, you will overcome.

You will keep limping along until you reach the finish line.

The Apostle John is so confident that this is the case, that he puts this overcoming in the past tense.

Speaking to Christians on Satan's schemes in chapter 4, he says,

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them.

Past tense. It's already happened.

What's the ground of this confidence?

Well, John tells us, he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

John's confidence is God's Spirit working powerfully and persistently in you.

And like John in Paul's mind,

this guarantee that is so sure that he can speak a future glorification in the past tense.

Romans 8 is about the eternal security of the believer.

Romans 8, Paul would write this,

God will lose none in the process.

So there's a golden chain that began in eternity past.

He predestined.

You were beloved before the foundation of the world.

This love was expressed at his death.

This love was expressed in the Spirit's calling you.

And this love continually is expressed in our lives each and every day.

And this love will go into eternity future.

He glorifies.

And Paul puts this future glorification in the past tense.

And in his mind, it's as good as done.

You've already been glorified in God's minds.

No one can break the chain.

Romans 8 is the Mount Everest of eternal security.

Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God.

So when the grace of God takes hold of you, it will never let you go.

The chapter begins with no condemnation.

It ends with no separation.

And there's a perfection of God's love for us, isn't there?

An inseparable love.

For I'm convinced, Paul writes, that neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons,

neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, nor height, nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us

from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He says not anything else in all creation.

That includes everything.

That includes the sins that constantly tempt our hearts to be drawn away from Christ.

Pornography.

It includes your own fallen human heart.

What a triumphant note.

Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of Christ.

Inseparable love.

We said last week, if he gave us the most precious object, his son,

will he not give us lesser things?

If he was willing to expend his son's blood to gain you, will he now deny his power to keep you?

Of course not.

No, he will keep you.

He sent his son to die for you.

Now, if you turn to John 6 with me, notice the certainty of Jesus' words in verse 38.

Jesus is speaking about his mission.

Why he has come down from heaven.

Verse 38.

I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me,

but raise them up at the last day.

Jesus will not look out at the countless multitudes of sheep and say,

well, I'm glad that 85% made their way home.

No.

Notice the certainty, the totality of verse 38.

Jesus will lose none, no one, that the Father has given him.

And if that's the belt, he adds suspenders and then a clasp connecting the two so nothing falls to the ground.

It's not just the will of the Son.

This is the will of the Father in verse 40.

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life.

And I will raise him up at the last day.

In no uncertain terms, Jesus makes a promise here.

Everyone who believes in Christ has eternal life.

They will never perish.

That's the nature of eternal life.

He will cause us to persevere through deep valleys and hard trials for his glory.

We walk with a limp, but we keep walking.

Our safety, our security, is that each person of the Trinity loves us.

One author whom I love is Richard Sibbes.

Richard Sibbes was a...

Yeah, 16th century in Cambridge.

And just a congenial man.

People called him the sweet dropper.

Because people who came with guilty consciences would just find that his words developed...

Give him a consolation about Christ's love.

And it says that hardened sinners would have intentionally avoided going to that part of town.

Because they didn't even want to have the chance that they might hear Sibbes and be converted.

So that was kind of his reputation in Cambridge.

Richard Sibbes says this.

We are far more safe in his comprehending of us than in our clasping and holding of him.

As we say of the mother and the child, both hold.

But the safety of the child is that the mother holds him.

See, Christ's love holds us up the way a mother holds up her child.

The mother loves the child.

It will not let the child go.

Remember Jude's doxology?

We say it all the time at our benediction.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling.

And to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.

I love that verse.

Maybe an underrated verse in the book of Jude is verse 1 of that chapter.

He writes,

To those who are called, beloved in God the Father, kept for Jesus Christ.

Called, beloved, kept, protected, preserved.

So brother, sister, you are secure because he keeps you.

One more, Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13.

Ephesians 1:13

Speaking of our complete assurance that when we put our faith in Christ,

every Christian was sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.

And Paul writes,

That is a guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,

to the praise of his glory.

Do you see the certainty of those words?

It's a guarantee.

All who are truly born anew by the Spirit will finish the race.

Not because of our personal fortitude,

because God has an everlasting love for us as his children.

Well, that's point number one.

Point number two is only those who finish the race are truly born anew.

So many go astray at this point.

They've heard everything that we've just said.

And they wrongly think,

Well, if you're secure, it doesn't matter what you do.

You know, someone says,

You know, I have a son named Bill.

When Bill was eight, he said a prayer at a Bible camp.

And he walked the aisle.

He was baptized.

Well, today Bill is a Buddhist.

He denies the divinity of Jesus,

but I believe he's secure, right?

Well, no.

That's not what the Scripture teaches.

Only those who finish the race are truly born anew.

Hebrews 3, verse 14.

Hebrews 3:14

Paul would write,

Well, we don't know who the writer of Hebrews is,

but maybe it's Paul.

For we have come to share in Christ,

if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

You see, eternity hangs on a two-letter word there.

If.

It's an ongoing condition.

If we hold our confidence until the end.

The point that the author of Hebrews makes

is that remaining in the faith

is one of the clear signs

that someone truly is in the fold,

that you've come to share in Christ.

And the book of Hebrews sees two possibilities.

The first possibility is we hold fast our confession.

And the other possibility

is that our hearts become hardened

by the deceitfulness of sin

and fall away from,

with the heart of unbelief.

The writer of Hebrews gives warnings.

And the primary function of those warnings

is to test us.

Do you have a true faith?

And that warning goes to the church

because you see that the membership

in a visible congregation

does not automatically prove

that you have membership in the invisible church.

The visible church,

the member roles in a congregation,

the visible church

consists of those who are Christians

and those who are not.

And Hebrews really is all about

a book on how to persevere,

calling each person to account,

to test ourselves.

And God who ordained the ends

also ordains the means.

And those means are an obedience

flowing from a renewed heart.

The writer of Hebrews 3, verse 13,

Hebrews 3:13

he says this,

Now this verse has been massive

in my own life.

When I don't feel like attending church,

I'm like, not this week.

I just don't feel like coming.

I remember this verse.

I remember that the writer of Hebrews

is warning me that my heart

is being hardened.

Sin is deceiving me.

This week, out of all weeks,

I need to be with the people of God.

I need to be exhorted every day

so that my heart might not be hearted.

And friends, isn't that the same for you?

When you come to church,

you might not feel like

you even belong here.

But then God used your brothers and sisters

to help you.

Think of all the one-anothering.

To love one another,

to meet with each other,

to pray for one another,

to partake of the Lord's Supper together,

to exhort and admonish each other.

Maybe it's after the first, second hymn

where your icy heart begins to thaw

and you begin to worship God

as He deserves to be worshipped.

God will use those means of singing together

for your brothers and sisters,

for you to be around them

to secure the ends that He has ordained.

Maybe like Florence made Chadwick.

Florence made Chadwick,

she was a swimmer,

a long-distance swimmer in 1952.

And she attempted to swim 23 miles

across the English Channel in both directions.

Fifteen straight hours she spent swimming in the water.

Emotionally and physically,

she was exhausted.

And toward the end,

there was a thick fog that began to set in.

And the fog clouded her vision.

She couldn't see the end,

which made the swimming much more difficult.

All she could see was the fog.

And she had a trainer who was there

to look out for sharks.

And she begged him to pull her out of the water.

Another hour passed and she called it quits.

She said, I'm done.

And she later discovered

that the shore was only a half mile away.

A half mile away.

If she would have kept going,

she would have made it to the end.

And the next day she said,

afterward in an interview,

she said, all I could see was the fog.

I think if I could have seen the shore,

I would have made it.

Doesn't the Bible repeatedly command us

to do such a thing?

In the fog of difficulties,

set your sights on Jesus.

Set your sights on the finish line.

And the following year,

Chadwick tried again.

And the fog set in again,

just like last time.

But this time she had a mental image

of the shoreline in her mind.

And she pushed herself along.

And this time she finished the race.

And she did it in record time.

She became the first woman

to swim across the English Channel

in both directions.

So our actions do matter.

Don't they?

The message of the apostles is never,

they never say, you know,

since you are secure,

your actions don't have any significance.

Paul tells the church in Corinth

to stand firm.

firm.

Paul and Barnabas urged churches

to continue in the grace of God.

Continue in the faith.

One of my favorite Christmas movies

around this time of year

is the movie Rocky.

Rocky Balboa, the boxer.

Yeah, it's a Christmas movie.

It's definitely a Christmas movie.

Rocky, Die Hard,

is a Christmas movie as well.

Yes, it is.

So Rocky beats

the Soviet Union's

most dangerous boxer, Drago,

a 15-round heavyweight contest

on Christmas Day

and ends the Cold War.

I mean, that's a Christmas movie

if I've ever heard of one.

And The Karate Kid,

Easter movie,

but we can talk about that

another time.

So Rocky's determination

to go the distance,

that resonates with me.

The apostles' message

to the churches is always

go the distance.

Fight it out.

Finish the race.

Not in our own strength.

No, we rely upon God's grace.

And the paradox

is that God,

who is keeping us,

is working that grace out

in our hearts

as we have perseverance

and persistence.

You'll recall the preaching series

we just went through

in Revelation.

What is the repeated refrain

to the seven churches

that we heard about?

Jesus continually comes back to,

He says,

you must overcome

to be a conqueror.

You must conquer.

In Rome,

all the citizens

would be clothed in white

as the general returns

after a great victory.

And white is a prominent color

in Revelation.

White represents forgiveness,

but it also represents conquering.

Believers are said

to be clothed

in white garments.

They overcome

their conquerors

after their earthly struggle.

Jesus,

speaking to the church

of Thyatira,

says,

to the one who is victorious

and does my will

to the end,

I will give authority

over the nations.

So only those

who are finished

the race

are truly born anew.

We must conquer.

We must finish

the race.

And Hebrews

and Revelation

have many passages

like this.

And they also have warnings.

They say,

to those who do not conquer,

God will not delight in you,

but He will destroy you.

There's stark warnings.

Hebrews 10,

but the righteous one

shall live by faith

and he shrinks back.

My soul has no pleasure in him.

And those verses,

those warnings

are not put in there

to frighten you,

but to make sure

we do not fall away.

It's a warning.

It's like you're driving

down a highway

and you see a road sign

that cautions drivers

about the dangers ahead.

The scriptures will warn us,

be careful,

do not turn back.

You know,

parents,

we might do this

with our children.

You say,

dear,

you see that substance

you're about to eat?

Please don't eat that.

Well,

it has one of those

hazardous toxic signs.

You probably shouldn't eat that.

Well,

we might not say it like that.

We probably use

much stronger language.

Honey,

if you eat it,

you will die

in no uncertain terms.

And that's why Hebrews

and Revelation

have such stark warnings for us.

And God uses these warnings

to accomplish his ends.

His children cry out for strength,

keep me safe, Lord.

Keep me safe.

Okay, well,

I think this question

has been asked

in previous weeks.

What about those

who fall away like Bill?

What about us?

Could we think

that we're Christians

and not be like Bill?

Well,

that is a possibility.

It's a very real possibility.

Now,

Bill is somewhat

of an obvious example.

Oftentimes,

we don't know

what is in someone's heart.

You know,

Judas appeared

like a real disciple.

He wasn't.

Samson,

on the other hand,

with all his flaws

and foibles,

he did not commit apostasy.

He's in the Hall of Faith

in Hebrews 11.

You know,

Peter denied Jesus,

just like Judas,

but Peter was restored.

You know,

one story

that I think about

in these terms

about those

who fall away

and the warnings

that Hebrews gives us

is Thomas Cranmer.

So,

Thomas Cranmer

is one of the people

that created

the Book of Common Prayer.

He was an Anglican.

He's very similar

to Peter.

when Queen Mary

came into power

in England,

Cranmer was stripped

of his power

as archbishop

and he was imprisoned.

Queen Mary

threatened to burn him

at the stake

unless he recanted

his gospel teachings.

Afraid of such a prospect,

he recanted everything.

He denied Jesus

everything.

But,

in Cranmer's life,

that wasn't the last word.

While in prison,

the spirit began

to work on him.

He became deeply sorrowful

over his denial

of gospel teachings.

And the authorities

wanted to make

an example of him,

so they had him

read his recantation

publicly.

But to their surprise,

he withdrew it.

And in his final words,

he offered to put

his right hand,

the hand that signed

the document

that Mary gave him,

into the fire first.

And that's exactly

what he did.

He was burned.

The issue is

whether we definitively

deny Jesus or not.

We often don't know

what's in someone's heart.

When someone

might be

seeming like

they're denying Jesus,

God by his grace

might bring them back.

So we don't know

what's in their heart.

But if there is

continued unrepentance,

it's a very good indication

that their faith

was never

real or not.

1 John 2,

1 John 2:19

verse 19,

sums this idea

well.

John writes,

They went out from us,

but they did not

belong to us.

For if they had

belonged to us,

they would have

remained with us.

But their going

shows that none of them

belonged to us.

Right?

Jesus is very clear

on this topic.

Not everyone

who says to me,

Lord, Lord,

shall enter the kingdom

of heaven,

but he who does

the will of my Father

who is in heaven.

On that day,

many will say to me,

Lord, Lord,

did we not prophesy

in your name,

cast out demons

in your name,

and do many mighty

works in your name?

And then I will

declare to them,

I never knew you.

Depart from me.

There's some scary words.

Notice the language here.

It's,

I never knew you.

Remember last week?

I never had that

covenantal,

intimate knowledge of you.

I never knew you

in an intimate,

loving way

that I know my sheep.

And those who fall away

may give external signs

of conversion.

All right,

remember Jesus' parable

of the sower.

You recall that the seed

was put on rocky soil

and it sprung up

in different places?

And the seed grew

for a time

in the rocky soil

and they received

the word with joy.

Can you imagine

meeting somebody

in the sanctuary?

They received the word

with joy

about Jesus'

death and resurrection?

But Jesus says

they have no root.

They last only

for a short time.

The cares of the world

choke out the faith.

So there is a real possibility

that you begin the race

but you don't finish the race.

Well,

if that's the case,

can we actually truly

have assurance

in the race?

Can we actually be assured

that we will finish it?

You know,

we know that God

preserves His people,

but how do we know

that we are actually,

in fact,

one of God's own,

that He will protect

and preserve

until the very end?

I think many

good Christians

have questions about this.

There are a lot

of good Christians

who sincerely love

the Lord

and there's sometimes

a black rope figure

of doubt.

You know,

a Dementor

from Azkaban,

one of those guys.

They might follow you around,

perhaps on a Sunday,

sit right next to you

on the pew,

whispers in your ear

that you're no child

of God.

Look at your life.

many earnest Christians

have experienced this.

They doubt regarding

the reality of God's

forgiveness in their

own life.

Normally,

it's an ongoing sin.

It's a grievous sin.

Our conscience points

the finger and accuses us.

The clouds of doubt

just seem to be

hanging over our heads.

In fact,

we can actually see

some of that

in David's own life.

One of my favorite psalms,

Psalm 3,

Psalms 3:2

verse 2 of that psalm,

David wrote this,

many are saying

of my soul,

there is no salvation

for him and God.

They're saying,

you know,

God can save others,

but there's no salvation

for you.

You had your chances.

God has forsaken you.

You are irredeemable.

You know,

we know the Lord

loved David,

but David is hearing

loud voices

of condemnation.

Maybe you can relate

to those loud voices

of condemnation

in your own conscience.

You know,

in fact,

in 2 Samuel 16,

we read that

there's a guy,

Shimei,

who's actually

following him around

and yelling

and screaming at him,

David,

you are a man of blood.

You are a worthless man.

So those loud voices

of condemnation

were not just coming

from his own mind.

They're actually

from people

who are following him around.

And certainly,

David had his flaws,

but he was not

a worthless man.

But the,

I think what one

of the complexities

of this is that

David's own conscience

knew that the enemy

had grounds

for these accusations.

David is fleeing

from Absalom

in Psalm 3.

And those events

were set in motion

how?

Well,

it's his own

grievous sin

against Bathsheba.

His murder

of Uriah

and his subsequent

adultery.

Right?

So,

Satan's accusations

often are not

just falsities.

Like,

there's bits of truth

in them.

You have done wrong,

haven't you?

In Bunyan's

Pilgrim's Progress,

one of my favorite books,

which I'm rereading now,

which is an allegory

of the Christian life,

there's a character,

his name is

Mr. Littlefaith.

Mr. Littlefaith

was assaulted

and robbed

by faintheart,

mistrust,

and guilt.

Three robbers.

And he was wounded

and left for dead

by guilt,

mistrust,

and faintheart.

Mistrust

picked his pockets

and then guilt

beat him over the head.

And the robber

stole all the coins

out of his pockets.

And so,

Mr. Littlefaith

was left to beg

on the streets

mostly for the rest

of his life.

And being hungry,

Mr. Littlefaith's heart

was filled with grief

and bitterness

over this,

his current condition.

But then Bunyan

points out,

while Mr. Littlefaith

had a weak faith,

it was still a sincere one.

These robbers

couldn't reach

or steal the jewels

that he carried

with them.

And those jewels

represented

Mr. Littlefaith's

inheritance

in Christ's kingdom.

And he had the

opportunity to sell them,

just like Esau

sold his birthright,

to relieve

some of the hardships,

but Mr. Littlefaith

refused to do that.

He would not,

he could not

ever part

with the jewels

that God

had given him.

And so Bunyan

is saying,

there's a difference

between the jewels

and the coin purse.

The coin purse

is our assurance

and peace of mind.

It can be plundered

when we fall prey

to doubt,

shame,

and guilt,

but our jewels

are secure.

Those are always safe.

The value of those jewels

are immeasurable.

And who can overcome

these robbers?

Well, Bunyan writes,

only Mr. Great Grace

could overcome

the robbers.

It was the great grace

of our Lord Jesus

who restored Peter.

And he could restore you too.

But I think

rather than going

to Mr. Great Grace,

the Lord Jesus Christ,

we tend in those moments

when we feel

those feelings of guilt,

we tend in those moments

to constantly

and obsessively

look at ourselves.

We say to ourselves,

if I can just act better,

be better,

maybe I'll feel

more like a Christian.

I'll feel like

a child of God.

And so maybe

when you're feeling guilty,

we start to

white-knuckle

obedience

for a little while,

but then we fall

and we're sitting

right next to that

black-robed

Dementor,

that figure of doubt.

He visits us again.

And so what happens

is we're on a

performance hamster wheel.

We're all

inwardly legalists.

We stumble

and we're right back

where we started.

Our friend,

the black-robed

figure of doubt.

But I think

it's instructive

what David did

in Psalm 3.

What David did

is at the end,

well,

he doesn't look

inside himself.

David looks

outside of him.

Psalm 3 ends

with this statement,

salvation belongs

to the Lord.

David writes,

look,

I'm in a small tent,

I'm going to be killed,

but God is still

on his holy hill.

God is still God

and he gets

the last word.

1 John 3,

1 John 3:20

verse 20

makes the same point.

For whenever

our hearts condemn us,

God is greater

than our hearts.

So John

and David,

they both know

our hearts condemn us.

There will be moments

where we do feel

condemnation

for those grievous

sins in our lives.

But see,

God is greater

than your hearts.

See,

he holds the gavel

and his verdict

over your life

is what really matters.

So take what

your conscience

tells you seriously,

brother and sister,

but don't let your conscience

have the final word.

Don't let it have

the last word.

And there are

a few sources

of assurance.

So if this is you,

let me just encourage you.

There are a few sources

of assurance

that the scripture

gives us here

that we can

hold on to.

And the first one,

which is what we just

kind of talked about,

is the truth

of the gospel.

The first foundation

of assurance

are the truths

of the gospel.

The believer,

when struggling

with their own sin,

must flee

for refuge

to Christ crucified.

Paul asks,

who will bring

any charge

against God's elect?

The answer to that

is nobody.

Is it because

we never fail,

we never stumble,

we never fall?

No,

it's because

we believe

in a message

of grace.

Christ has

accomplished it

for us.

Paul continues,

it is God

who justifies.

So the verdict

over your life

is from the court

of the highest jurisdiction

and that already

has been handed down.

It's the message

that when you are

resting on Christ,

God declares

that you are

in the right

and His righteousness

imputed to you.

So that exists

whether you feel

like a Christian

or not.

And no one

can reverse it.

Robert Murray McShane,

an old Scottish minister,

says,

for every look

itself,

take ten looks

at Christ.

I've always

thought about

this verse

because,

you know,

when you're driving,

right,

and you notice

the windshield

is dirty.

It's all these

stains and smudges

on them.

You don't constantly

look at how dirty

your windshield is.

You're going to

crash the car.

No, you look

through the windshield

at the object.

So when we look

inside ourselves,

we will see

our faith often

is like a dirty

windshield.

But we look

at the object

of our faith.

You must look

to the promises

of God

in all their

bright array.

Even if you

believe you are

ungodly,

sinful,

utterly hopeless,

the worst

of the worst,

friend,

the cross

beckons you

to look to

the cross,

to Jesus.

There is simply

no condemnation

for those who

belong in Christ

Jesus.

There is nothing

that can separate

you from the

love of Christ.

God chose to set

his love on you.

He didn't have

any help from you

to accomplish

that salvation.

So you put

your trust

in the cross.

So the truth

of the gospel

are the first

main source

of assurance

that we have.

The second

source

is the subjective

witness of the

Holy Spirit.

The subjective

witness of the

Holy Spirit.

Now this is a

supernatural source

of assurance,

especially in

suffering.

Will you cry

out with Fanny

Crosby,

blessed assurance,

Jesus is mine.

Oh, what a

foretaste of

glory divine.

Now we don't

have much time

to talk about

this supernatural

form of

assurance,

but read

Romans chapter

Romans 5 · chapter mention

5,

read 1 Peter 1.

There is a

subjective witness

of the Spirit

where the love

of God is

poured into

your heart.

and they

begin to

pray,

God,

begin to

pray for

that

witness of

the Spirit

in your

life.

And finally,

and this is

the most

complicated one,

the last

source of

assurance are

the fruits

of obedience

in your

life.

Ah,

there's the,

I don't know

if I can,

I don't know

if that's

going to help

my cause.

but Jesus

says you

will know

them by

their fruits,

right?

You can look

at the fruit

in your

life,

and that

should give

you a

sense of

whether you

actually are

in Christ

or not.

Of course,

this causes

all kinds

of questions,

and I

will say

you might

not be the

best person

to assess

this in

your own

life,

and that's

why you

become a

member of

a church,

right?

We look at

each other's

lives,

and we can

say as best

I can tell,

I think the

Lord is

working in

you,

brother and

sister.

You know,

C.S.

Lewis,

he once

counseled not

to compare

yourself with

others in

this respect.

He says,

suppose there's

an advertisement

for toothpaste

to make your

teeth whiter,

cleaner,

and suppose

someone inherited

greater teeth

and another

bad teeth.

A person

with bad

teeth is

genuinely

using the

toothpaste

to brush

their teeth

every morning,

but their

teeth don't

look as nice

as someone

born with

just naturally

good teeth.

Mrs.

White's

smile,

he says,

who never

once uses

toothpaste,

but she

was born

with great

teeth.

Does that

mean the

toothpaste

doesn't work?

No,

of course not.

In the same

way,

Lewis writes,

some people,

you know,

they can be

naturally very

angry,

but God,

by his grace,

you are making

improvements in

that area of

your life,

despite the

fact that you

might be more

angry than

other people.

Right?

Your temperament,

you're born

with it,

but it's

under new

management.

And so,

don't compare

yourself with

other people.

Right?

Be encouraged

that God

is,

he is,

he's working

your life,

and even

small improvements

are ways that we

can be encouraged

of the fruits of

obedience in our

lives.

But now,

the fruits of

obedience do

not drive our

assurance.

They confirm

and corroborate

that we,

in fact,

are children of

God.

If you see

fruit,

you should

improve your

confidence that

you are a new

creation,

that the old

is gone,

the new has

come.

But if the

cupboard is

barren,

scripture would

have us to

be warned.

So,

if you're not

sure of

whether,

how to view

this in your

own life,

you know,

let me encourage

you to read

Galatians chapter

five this week

and ask yourself,

is my life

characterized by

the fruit of the

spirit or the

fruit of the

flesh,

and then pray

that God

would reveal

that to you.

But if

you're not

quite sure,

you know,

maybe,

I just feel

like I'm

more characterized

by the fruit

of the flesh

than I'd like

to be.

We don't

approach the

problem of

fixing that

by trying to

yield more

fruit,

right?

Let me give

you an

illustration.

When driving

a car,

you know,

our works

are kind of

like a

speedometer,

right?

If the

speedometer

is at

zero,

how would

you try

to fix

that?

Well,

would you

try to

reach out

to the

speedometer

and then

move it

from zero

to 60?

Then you

kind of

get more

works.

And so

everything's

all solved.

The speedometer

says it's

60.

No,

you don't

do that.

What you

would do

if the

speedometer

is not

working is

you would

lean your

weight on

the accelerator.

You lean

your weight

on the

promises of

the gospel

and God's

character.

Right?

And if it's

not moving,

maybe the

engine needs

to be

something in

the engine.

Maybe your

faith,

you need to

go back to

the truth of

the gospel

and ask

yourself,

am I really

trusting in

these?

Am I relying

upon them?

If you see a

tree with

mushy brown

fruit,

right,

you don't

like go to

the tree

and like take

one out and

start painting

it red or

green,

right?

You have to

attend to the

root of the

tree.

So don't

ignore the

root and

just start,

you know,

painting fruits

to make it

look like,

you know,

maybe that

will solve

the problem.

And this

is how Romans

Romans 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4

describes how

Abraham grew

in his

faith.

He grew

in faith

and so he

grew in

holiness.

Abraham

convinced of

God's

promises,

Romans 4

20 says

this,

no unbelief

made him

waver

concerning the

promise of

God,

but he grew

strong in

his faith

as he gave

glory to

God,

fully convinced

that God

was able to

do what he

had promised.

You see

that he

grew strong

in his

faith as

he gave

glory to

God.

So maybe

one of the

best things

you can do

to help

you grow

in your

fruit bearing

is to really

consider and

meditate on

these doctrines

of grace

we've been

talking about.

If you give

God more

glory,

you grow

more strong

in your

faith,

that is what

grows your

holiness.

Okay.

All right.

Well,

one final

piece of

advice that

if you say,

look,

I'm doing

that,

I'm still

struggling.

You might

say,

look,

I don't

love the

things I

ought to

love and

I don't

hate the

things I

ought to

hate.

Well,

one piece

of advice

I give

you,

which has

been such

an encouragement

to me and

many other

people,

is that

struggling

against

indwelling

sin is

in fact

evidence

of grace

in your

own life.

John

Owen writes,

the spirit's

operation is

known by

the flesh's

opposition.

We find

a man's

strength by

the burden

he carries,

not the

pace that

he goes.

He says,

oh,

wretched

man that

I am,

who shall

deliver me

from this

body of

death?

Owen writes,

that's a

better evidence

of grace

than saying,

God,

I thank

you,

I'm not

as these

other men.

So if

you can

say,

oh,

wretched

man that

I am,

I don't

do the

things I

want to

do,

that's

actually a

very strong

indicator the

spirit is

working in

your life.

And God

mercifully

receives even

the imperfect

obedience of

all who are

accepted in

his son.

John Owen

continues,

know that

God despises

not small

things.

He takes

notice of

the least

breathings of

our hearts

after him

when we

ourselves

can see

nor perceive

no such

thing.

He's

saying,

look,

you might

think your

faith,

it's kind

of like a

smoldering

flax.

There's

not much,

it's just

a small

little flame.

It feels

like it's

about to

go out.

It doesn't

feel like a

roaring flame.

Owen writes,

look,

you might

just see

lead or

clay,

but he

sees the

gold.

Even

when we

continue in

sin,

your struggle

against sin

pleases

God more

than your

actions.

Everything

that is

of him

is noted

in his

book,

though not

in ours.

Here's

what I

love about

what he

says.

Here's a

wonderful

verse,

a wonderful

piece of

advice that

Owen gives.

He remembers

the duties

which we

forget,

and forgets

the sins

which we

remember.

There is

more mercy

in Christ

than sin

in us.

So the

very things

that you

constantly

remember in

your mind,

if you're

in Christ,

God has

forgotten

about those

things.

And the

things that

you've

forgotten,

those true

works of

faith that

you've

actually done

in the

name of

the Lord

Jesus,

he still

remembers

those

things.

And

he's a

God of

grace.

All right,

let me

conclude.

We begin

reflecting on

the everlasting

love of God

by Owen.

Let me

conclude with

Amy Carmichael

who found

this same

love as

an everlasting

consolation for

her.

Amy Carmichael

has great

poetry.

If you've

never read

her stuff,

you ought

to.

She has

one poem

which I've

carried with

me for the

last few

years,

and it's

called

Before I

Was.

Amy writes

this,

speaking to

God,

You love

me because

you love

me.

No other

reason can

I find,

no other

reason can

there be.

No human

love,

were it not

blind,

could ever

care for

me.

But thy

pure eyes

do read

me through.

My soul

is naked

unto thee,

and yet,

oh,

wonder ever

knew,

my Lord,

thou

lovest

me.

And thou

wilt love,

if good of

mine had

caused thy

glorious love

to be,

then surely

would thy

love decline

and weary

Lord of

me.

I may

not fear,

for to the

end thou

loves,

oh,

Lord,

oh,

who but thee,

the sinner's

savior and his

friend,

would set his

love on me.

And on thee

now my heart

is set,

thy name is

music unto me.

Oh,

help me never

to forget