Third Person | Week 3

Thank you for listening to the Riverbend Church Podcast.

Riverbend Church exists to lead all people to know, love, and

live new life in Jesus Christ. We hope that you enjoy this

message. This morning we're actually in

week 3 of a series called Third Person, where we're taking a

look at the person and the work of the Holy Spirit like we've

talked about in weeks, weeks prior.

I. Think there's probably a wide

spectrum of people here with us in the room and with us online

in terms of our familiarity and our understanding of who the

Holy Spirit is, who he is and what he does.

And, and one of the things that Riverbend that we do is we

actually think that that wide spectrum is a good thing because

it allows us to all come together, come to the table

together, equal footing and be able to learn together to be

able to discover the third person of the Trinity, the Holy

Spirit of God, who he is, what he does and what he has for us.

So if you're new to Riverbend, first of all, welcome.

Thank you so much for choosing to be with us this morning.

But I want to introduce you to a big idea.

Truth has been serving as a big idea throughout our series.

Just kind of get you on the same page.

And if you've been with us throughout this series, then

this is going to sound pretty familiar to you.

If you're taking notes with us. Here's the big idea, the person,

the President's power and path of the Holy Spirit in my life

are necessary for my life. The person, the presence, the

power, and the path of the Holy Spirit in my life are all

necessary in my life, are all necessary for my life.

And a few weeks before, we talked about how the keyword in

this truth is not necessarily power, but it's actually this

word. In.

Is this word in and and here's why is when Jesus came into this

world, he stepped into this world.

He was stepped into this world as a baby God with skin on.

And if you were in Israel at that period of time in history,

you could actually talk to Jesus with with your with your own

mouth. You could hear Jesus with your

own ears. You you could touch Jesus with

your with your own hands. It's talking to God and.

Hearing God and touching God for yourself.

But after Jesus died on the cross and he resurrected from

the dead and he returned to heaven, he returned.

Before returning, He gave a twofold promise to US.

Number one is he promised that he is going to return again.

You see, that's one of the things that we are waiting for

as a church, as followers of Jesus Christ, is the second

coming of Jesus to where he promises to come again for those

who follow him, for those who surrender their lives to him, to

where he will take them to heaven with him.

And that's something that we greatly look forward to.

But in the meantime, in the meantime, he also promised to

give us a helper to send to us, a helper.

And that's the Holy Spirit. You see, as incredible and as

awesome as it was to have Jesus, God the Son, the second person

of the Trinity walking among us, this Emmanuel, God with us, the

awesomeness of God with us has actually been exchanged for this

even greater reality of God in US.

And that's the Holy Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit.

So over the last several, over the last several weeks, we've

talked about the person of the Holy Spirit, who is the Holy

Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit.

A couple weeks ago, we talked about what happens when the Holy

Spirit shows up and is freed up in our lives.

And we talked about the presence of the Holy Spirit.

If you were with us, then you remember those two messages and

kind of the the 1st 2 building blocks of this series.

If you weren't able to be with us, I would encourage you go to

our website, Riverbend Church dot life.

And from there you can you can look at the messages, you can

watch the messages. You can actually link to our

YouTube page. You can also listen to listen to

the messages back through wherever you listen to listen to

podcast. And I would highly encourage you

to do that just so that you have a firm foundation and a solid

foundation on the person and the presence.

Of the Holy Spirit. But this morning we're going to

be talking about the power of the Holy Spirit, more

specifically, the power of the Holy Spirit in me, the power of

the Holy Spirit that is offered to you and to help guide us and

where we're going this morning. I want to ask if you have a

Bible with you to find Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8 with

Romans 8 · chapter mention Romans 8 · chapter mention

me this morning, and Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Give you a little bit of background.

Own Romans 8. Romans 8 was written by the

apostle Paul. It has been referred to by many

as perhaps one of the greatest chapters in the entire Bible.

Romans, chapter 8. It is so rich.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

In fact it is so. It is so rich and so full that I

would highly, highly encourage you in your time with God this

week that you read through Romans 8, that you pray through

Romans 8, and maybe that you even copied.

Down Romans 8 in a journal. That that you have it is so rich

and so filling that I guarantee Romans 8, if you're not familiar

with Romans 8, it is a chapter is a passage of the Bible that

you'll find yourself. Gravitating back to Tom and Tom

and Tom again. So there's no way that we can do

such a rich and full chapter like Romans 8 justice in a

singular service. But that doesn't mean that we

can't learn and be encouraged. By what it does tell us in

regards to the power of the Holy Spirit in US.

Check this out Romans chapter 8, starting in verse one.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

This is what Paul writes. There's therefore now no

condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ

Jesus from the law of sin and death.

So if you're taking notes with us, here's what we want to

answer. What in the world is that all

about? What in the world is that all

about? And why is it actually really

good news? For why does it matter?

Why does it matter? Well, if you're taking notes

with us, I want you to look at the power of the Holy Spirit in

me #1 the power of the Holy Spirit in me sets me free.

The power of the Holy Spirit in me sets me free, and in order to

fully understand this truth in the power of the Holy Spirit,

then we. Have to have.

An understanding of who we are, of who we really are and what's

really going on behind the scenes.

Again, taking notes with us. Put it like this in your notes.

There is a raging waging. War within me.

And the problem with me is actually in ME.

You know, elementary school, been sitting in speech therapy

for six years. That speech therapist would be

so proud of me for being able to say raging, waging war.

We worked on that for six years anyway.

But here's the thing. There is a raging waging war

within me. There is a raging waging war

within you, within all of us. And here's what we're saying.

Is the problem with me is in me and the problem with you is in

you, is in you. And This is why, Paul, to kind

of help us get a little bit more context to this, Romans 8 is

preceded by Romans 7. And at the.

Very end of Romans 7. I want to show you a verse that

Paul gives us and see if you can resonate a little bit.

Romans 719 and 20 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil

I do not want. It's what I keep on doing.

Now. If I do what I do not want, it

is not no longer. I who do it, but sin that dwells

within me. It's kind of one of those like

mental tongue twisters, right? Listen, I want to do good.

I just don't and what I do that's not good.

I keep on doing. Why is that?

Why is that? Well, we've been talking about

throughout this entire series. An attribute of the Holy Spirit

of God is he is the third person of the Trinity of God.

And if you're with us in that. 1st in our.

In our. First Message Throughout this

series we talked about Trinity is just the term that we use to

talk about we worship one God that exists in three persons

Father, Son, Holy Spirit, all equal God in equal measure.

There there's no like ranking of of the godhead.

It's not like the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit are like

varsity JV 8th grade. It's all equal God in equal

measure one God existing in three persons, the Trinity.

And here's one of the things that we've discovered together

and we'll continue to discover together.

Church is the Trinity of God. God always invited invites us,

but did you know that there's something called the unholy

Trinity that doesn't invite us but the unholy Trinity effects

all of. Us.

You see, the Holy Trinity invites all of us.

The unholy Trinity effects all of us.

And here's the Unholy Trinity. It's not in your notes.

You can ride out to the side. If you want to first of all, we

have Satan and his demons. Second of all, we have our lost

and broken world and culture. That never default or drift

towards godliness is actually the opposite.

And then third is what the Bible refers to as my flesh, my flesh.

You see, this is what Paul is talking about when he says

listen the. Good that I want to do, I don't.

Do. And what I what I actually end

up doing, I don't want to do, but I keep on doing.

Why is that? It's because of the flesh kind

of give you a little different definition of the flesh.

Our flesh is that. Sin nature that every single one

of us are born with. That's why nobody has to teach

you, sit you down as a kid and have the sin talk of how to sin,

how to lie, how to be selfish. We're all born with that.

We're all born with a sin. Nature that actually leads us

when we're talking about how the Holy Spirit of God in me sets me

free. It actually when we start to

understand the sin nature in me and I start to understand that

the problem with me is actually in me.

It actually leads us to this next truth.

Check this out. Without the Holy Spirit in me,

I'm left to my own demise. I'm left to my own destruction.

I'm left to my own. Ruin.

I'm left to rubble. I'm left to sin having its way

in my life and playing out those drastic consequences.

So let me get kind of get you to do an exercise.

If you wear this online, invite you to do this exercise with us

as well. If you're with us in the room.

Here's what I want to ask that you do.

I'm not saying that you need to to write it down and you know,

don't whisper to the person next to you what they should be

answering, but here's what I wanted to get you to do.

Think about your greatest sin struggle in your life.

Give you a few seconds. Think about your greatest sin

struggle in your life. If you're having trouble, like

identifying what that is, lean over, ask your spouse.

Think about what your greatest sin struggle is in your life.

It could be. It could be lust, it could be

anger, it could be materialism, it could be it could be

unforgiveness. It could be an addiction.

An addiction to alcohol or, or, or some other type of substance.

And listen, we're not doing this exercise as a, as a way of

judging one another. We're not, we're not doing this

exercise of going, man, I can't believe that you struggle with

that. I've never struggled with that.

I only struggle with this. Therefore, I'm better than you

are. That's not what we're doing

here. We're just identifying the

commonality of every single person with us, whether you're

in the room or online. We all struggle with sin, right?

So what is your greatest sin struggle?

Now here's a question I want to pose to you.

What would happen to you if that sin had free reign to just run

rampant in your life? Let me give you an example of

your greatest sin struggle this morning is lust.

Here's what you already know about lust.

Lust giving into the temptation of lust.

Leaves you lonely and empty, living a life of secrecy and

shame while also permitting you to to engage in true intimacy.

That's that's how lust plays out.

Maybe your greatest since struggle this morning is just

completely flying off the handle.

And it's anger and you already know this.

And if you don't know what the people around you and the people

closest to you already know it. But if you're if anger is

allowed just to run rampant, to run free in your life, then

guess what anger is going to do? Anger is going to continue to

damage and destroy vital relationships in your life.

What about materialism? What about if your greatest sin

struggle is materialism to where you have this insatiable need

just to have more and more and bigger and better?

If that sin struggle continues to run rampant in your life,

guess what's going to end up happening?

You're going to find yourself in in even more and more debt while

at the same time experiencing even less and less contentment

in your life. What if your greatest sin

struggle is unforgiveness this morning?

Well, if your greatest sin struggle is unforgiveness, and

unforgiveness is able to run rampant and to run free in your

life, guess what's going to end up happening?

Is this going to create within you an even greater and more

harming form of bitterness? That is going to.

Grow and metastasize and you're going to become even more bitter

while also eliminating any possibility of finding healing.

What if your greatest sin struggle is is an addiction to

to alcohol or any other type of substance?

Well, that addiction, if it's allowed to run free and rampant

in your life, guess what's going to end up happening?

You're going to become an even greater slave to a substance,

and that substance is going to take more and more from you and

rob you more and more. A vitality in life.

Here's the point. Do you know one of the reasons

that God hates sin so much? One of the reasons that God

hates sin so much is he hates what sin does to us.

And without the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, you

and I, we are left. To our own demise, we're left to

our own demise. You see, some of us, we think

that God's hatred of sin is rooted in his hatred towards you

or is rooted in His disappointment towards you.

And what I would tell you is it's not His hatred of sin is

rooted actually in His love for you.

He loves you so much that He doesn't want to see that sin

destroy your life. But without the person and the

presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, you

and I, we're left to our own demise.

But that does not have to be our destiny, right?

Check this out with the Presence.

However, with the presence of the Holy Spirit in me, I am a

new person. I'm a new creation.

With the presence of the Holy Spirit in me, I'm a new person.

I'm a new person. This does not mean that you have

a new name, or that that you take on a completely new like

persona, or that you have a new Social Security number.

We were at Connor and Tabitha's wedding yesterday.

Please pray for Tabitha. We were at Connor and Tabitha's

wedding yesterday and it reminded me of, of when Julie

and I got married to where we, we, we go up to we, we got

married and we moved immediately up to Raleigh, NC and we had to

go to the Social Security number to get her name legally, legally

changed. Her last name legally changed to

to Wallace. So we're waiting there for for

two hours in this office and there's a guy that's waiting

there in the same office as we are.

And you know, it's kind of like the DMV to where they call you

up. And so Julie and I were sitting

right here in front of this partition and then.

This gentleman that's been waiting in the room.

For over 2 hours with us, he's probably much longer than two

hours because he was already there by the time that we had

gotten there and we've been waiting for two hours.

He's sitting in the partition next to us.

And I know you're not supposed to listen in to what happens in

the other partition, but it's not like my last name was

getting changed. So after two hours, I'm getting

bored, right? So I'm listening in on the

conversation that's going on beside me.

This dude gets up and he goes waits for over 2 hours and he

asked this question when the when the lady behind the desk

says, Sir, what, what can we help you with?

He goes, I'm here to get a new Social Security number.

He goes, well, excuse me, why do you need a new Social Security

number? He goes, well ma'am, I got a lot

of debt and I just figured if I got a new Social Security

number, I get AI get a clean start and I was like, that's not

how it works. I know that.

But you know it like. Being a new person, being a new

creation, it doesn't give you new Social Security number.

As a matter of fact, we're able, we we, we have this beautiful

context in John chapter 3 to where Jesus has a conversation.

John 3 · chapter mention

With a very. Well known and renowned

religious leader man by the name of Nicodemus and Nicodemus is

asking Jesus, Jesus how can I be made right with God?

And Jesus tells Nicodemus you have to be born again and it

just completely rocks Nicodemus world.

This is what Jesus was talking about.

You see, with the person and the presence and the power of the

Holy Spirit in me, it means that that I have the power of God

himself in me and it means that He is transforming me and

changing me from the inside out. It means that the things that

before. I had the Person in the presence

and the power of the Holy. Spirit in me.

That I no. Longer really crave those things

anymore. Those are not my chief desires.

And it means that now I have, yes, I still have a sinful

flesh, but now I have the power of God himself, the Holy Spirit

in me to counter that sinful flesh and those sin struggles in

my life and to bring conviction in my life.

And, and if you're new to church, that word conviction,

let me kind of unpack that for you.

Conviction is when I do something or I don't do

something that God tells me to do or tells me not to do.

If I live my life and make a decision or a choice that's

contrary to the ways of God, then if the Holy Spirit lives in

me, then there's like a twinge within me to where it's almost

like the Holy Spirit's telling me, Ben, that's no longer who

you are. Then that wasn't right.

Then you know that that was sin. Then you know that you fell into

that temptation again. And he doesn't bring conviction

into my life to quote UN quote, convict me or to condemn me.

He brings it into my life and brings it to my attention so

that I can confess it before God and ask God to forgive me.

Of it, you see, without the Holy Spirit in my life, I'm left my

own demise. Sin actually has free reign in

my life because there's nothing to counter my flesh and it will

destroy me. It will eat me up.

But with the Holy Spirit in my life, with the Holy Spirit of in

my life, then I am a new person. I'm a new creation.

This is why Paul so could so confidently say check this out

the beginning of Romans 81. Therefore there is now no

condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

That word condemnation. It's a pretty interesting word.

Let me show you, and I think I wrote this in your notes.

It's actually a Greek word, katakrema.

It literally means shocker condemnation.

Be like wow that was worth the price of admission.

Condemnation means condemnation. Here's what you may not know.

It's actually a legal or forensic term.

This word kind of cream is a legal or forensic term.

It means it includes both the sentence and the execution of

the sentence. So it's almost like standing

before a judge and the judge delivers.

The verdict and says because you are guilty, here is what is

awaiting for you. This is the sentence and then

later on the execution. Of that sentence.

So when Paul writes, there is therefore now no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Let me kind of unpack what that means.

That means that if you have the Holy Spirit of God in your life,

if you surrendered your life to Jesus and you've asked God to

forgive you of your sins, it means that there is no sentence,

there is no execution of the sentence and there is no

judgment hanging over your life anymore.

Here's why. It's because the sentence, the

execution of the sentence, and the judgment, it's already been

paid for by Jesus. You see, when Jesus hung on the

cross, he took on the full weight and the pavement of my

sins and and your sins. That's what we mean when we say

Jesus died in our place. So now if you've surrendered

your life to Jesus and the Holy Spirit of God lives in you, now

when God the Father looks at you and looks down on you and looks

in you, here's what he sees. He sees the blood of Jesus on

you and he sees the presence of the Holy Spirit in you.

All the while the Holy Spirit, I can just picture the Holy Spirit

whispering in the ear of the Father when he looks at you.

And when he looks at me and goes, he's mine, she's mine.

You see, to a follower of Jesus, there is no sentence or sentence

or execution of a sentence or judgment hanging over our lives.

But tragically, the reverse is true.

If you haven't surrendered your life to Jesus, you still have a

sentence and execution of the sentence and judgment hanging

over your life. Here's why.

Somebody has got to pay the price for your sin.

Somebody has got to pay the price for your sin.

You may say, well, Ben, I'm a good person.

I try to do good. I have good intentions.

So listen, I'm just banking on the fact that when I die and I

stand before God, then he's going to sit there and go, hey.

You're good outweighs the bad. We'll let you slide.

He can't do that. God will never allow sin to

simply go or to sweep it under the rug.

Here's why. Because God is a holy God and

God is a just God. And this is a different message

for a different day. But that's why we can actually

actively practice forgiveness towards another person, even

though they may have vastly wronged us and they've never

asked for forgiveness. Forgiveness is just simply

releasing our perceived right to take vengeance on somebody

because we know that God is a holy God and a just God.

And even if somebody that has greatly done us harm and wrong

never answers for their offense in this life, they will stand

before God and give an account for their life.

That's why, as followers of Jesus, we can sit.

There and go, God I. Forgive them, not say what they

did was OK, but I'll leave that in your hands.

But if you're not a follower of Jesus, you need to understand

that God is a holy God and God is a just God.

Therefore he will never allow sin to simply slide or to sweep

it under the rug. Furthermore, because all sin is

committed against God. Follow me on this, because all

sin is committed against God, and God is eternal, the

consequences of our sin, or eternal in nature.

The consequences of our sin or eternal in nature.

Here's the consequence of our sin.

If we stand before God and we're the ones that pay the price for

our sin, the consequence of that sin is eternal separation from

God, from a loving, holy God in a very real, very horrible place

called hell. There was actually not created

for you, not created for us, not created for the bad guys of the

world. It was actually created for

Satan and his demons. And what is so terrifying about

hell is not the mere existence of hell, is the fact that

because our sins have been committed against an eternal

God, the consequences of our sin are eternal.

What's so bone chilling about the reality of hell is the

eternality of hell, the fact that it is forever and ever and

ever. There are no second chances.

You see, somebody's got to pay the price for our sins.

And here is the great grace and mercy and compassion and

invitation of God is right. Now we have a choice of who pays

for our sin. We can either stand before God

and go God, I'll, I'll pay for my own sin and you allow your

pride to lead you to hell. Or you can come with humility

and you can go God. Listen, if Jesus died for my

sins, God, I don't want this X this sentence or the execution

of the sentence or judgment hanging over my head.

God, I want to know that I am made right with you.

Would you forgive me in my sins based off of what Jesus did for

me on the cross? And instantaneously the answer

is yes, you will be forgiven. You see, the Holy Spirit of God

sets. Me.

Free. Ultimately of me.

But that's not. Where it ends Did you know that

the Holy Spirit of God also wants us to know this morning

that He does something else and it's one of the most beautiful

gifts that He could give us. The Holy Spirit of God in me

assures me. The Holy Spirit of God in me

assures me. So here's what that means.

Before we get into the assurance that the Holy Spirit gives us, I

think there are a couple things that God wants you and God wants

me to know about Him. The first one if you're taking

notes. Here it is.

God wants me to be confident in my salvation.

God wants me to be confident in my salvation.

Not, hey, I have a pretty good idea that I'm saved.

I have a reasonable expectation that I'm saved.

God wants me to be confident in my salvation.

Why is that so important? It's so important that you and I

that we know that we are saved, that we know that we are saved

because if we're not confident in our salvation, then at least

for two reasons. Number one is we will always be

paralyzed by the question. Have you ever been there to

where you're doubting your salvation and you find yourself

kind of like, it's almost like. On offense, am I arnta, am I

arnta, Am I arnta? And you're paralyzed by the

question. And here's The thing is, as long

as you and I are paralyzed by the question, we will never be

able to live out the life that God has created us for.

Second of all, when we're not confident in our salvation,

listen very closely what I'm about to say.

We will find ourselves trying to live for the love of God rather

than living from the love of God.

And we see this happen all the time and religious people trying

to live for the love of God rather than from the love of

God. And the difference is so

distinct. Living from the love of God is,

listen, I know I have a confidence that I am a son of

God, that I'm a child of God, and I'm able to live in that

freedom and in that knowledge and in that peace.

Rather, if I'm trying to live, for the love of God, I'm trying

to earn. Something that I can never earn

at all. God wants us to be confident in

our salvation. So what wars against our

confidence? Well, what?

In other words, what brings about doubt?

I think doubt in our salvation is going to come from one of two

sources. Number one, Simply put, it's

either going to come from heaven or it's going to come from hell.

If you're with us this morning in the rumor online and you find

yourself doubting your salvation, that doubt is coming

from one of two places, is coming from heaven or is coming

from hell. It's either coming from God that

is trying to get your attention and an open invitation for you

to come to him and to receive his forgiveness and receive the

new life that he wants to offer you, or is coming from hell

itself. This wanting to neutralize you

for the purpose of the Kingdom for living out your.

Purpose and the purpose in which you and I were created So here's

the question how do we know the difference between which where

each of these voices is coming from Simply put, if the voice of

doubt is more of a tugging at your heart and you're sitting

here with us in the. Room or wherever you may be

online and there's a tugging at your heart to where you can

almost sense and feel and almost audibly hear within your own

head. Go and he's talking about you.

You've never you've never you've never asked me to become king of

your heart. You've never asked me to forgive

you of your sins. This is something that you need

to do. That tender voice of invitation

is coming from God. That's not going to come from

hell. Hell doesn't want you to turn to

to to God. Hell doesn't want you to

surrender your life to him. But.

If the voice. This is how we know that if the

voice is actually coming from hell and the voice is a lot more

times than not, the voice of doubt that is coming from hell

itself is going to come, is going to be associated with a

self loathing. To where you may be with us in

the room or with us online. To where you know, you may be

doubting your salvation and you may have this like voice or you

may have this, this like tinge in your heart.

And it's almost this audible voice in your head.

Be like, you know what? You're a piece of trash.

God could never love you. God could never like he's

talking about everybody else but you.

If they only knew what you had done and what you're about.

Honestly, if they'd only know what you've been thinking about

earlier this morning, man, you're just a piece of garbage.

If there's a self loathing hatred of self that's probably

coming, that voice of doubt is probably coming from hell.

So what do we do? What do we do with the voices of

doubt? Well, number one, I think that

we have to ask ourselves the fundamental questions.

Here's the fundamental questions.

Number one, who do I say that Jesus is?

Who do I say that Jesus is not just on a Sunday morning at

during church time, but it. With my life.

Who is Jesus? Is Jesus just a historical

figure? Is he a good moral teacher?

If I implement some of his principles in my life, I'll win.

Or is Jesus Christ the Son of God who came to die on the cross

for my sins? Is he Lord and Savior of my

life? Who is Jesus #2 Have my sins

been forgiven? Can you sit here this morning in

the room or with us online? Can you sit here this morning

and know without a doubt that your sins have been forgiven?

And if the answer is yes, on what basis?

And on what basis? Who is Jesus?

And how my sins been forgiven. You want to know one of the

greatest weapons that we can have in our arsenal?

It's a weapon called place and date, Place and date.

Here's what I mean by that. Is there some of us that we

struggle so much with? Am I arnta?

Am I arnta? And it's so tricky for us to be

able to discern the voices of doubt and the source of that

doubt. They were missing one of the

greatest weapons in our arsenal. The greatest weapon in our

arsenal is when those voices of doubt come against me.

I can go. No, no, no, no.

Late May 1988, Dacula High School football field, eastern

end zone. Sitting across from a family

friend of mine, I know that I gave my life to Jesus Christ.

One of the one of the young ladies that we had the honor and

privilege of baptizing last week.

If you were with us last week, you know that we got to

celebrate baptism. One of the things that you may

not know is after the service, we got to baptize a mom and her

two daughters after the 11:00 service.

It was awesome. But a couple weeks before last

week, about 3 weeks ago, we're sitting at El Sombrero having a

conversation with his family because we know that the Holy

Spirit moves around chips and salsa, right?

If you ever want to free up the Holy Spirit order queso.

But I remember talking, I remember talking to this, to

this, to this young lady in high school, brilliant young lady.

And she was telling me, she goes, I'm pretty sure that I

gave my life to Jesus, but there's just this is doubt.

I keep doubting. Why do I keep doubting?

And I was like, I can't really answer that question for you,

but can you go back to, can you go back to a place and date?

And she goes, well, no. And I said, listen, I said, why

don't you go home? I'm not trying to talk you into

anything. If if I could, I definitely

would. I'm not trying to manipulate

your emotions, but why don't you go home and just nail it down

tonight? To where?

When those. Voices of doubt come up.

You're able to counter those voices of doubt in my bedroom On

this date. Here's why I would tell you,

church, if you're struggling with those voices of doubt, one

of the greatest pieces of ammo in your arsenal, spiritual

arsenal, is place and date. Where May 18th Riverbend Church

can become a sacred date on your calendar and it can become the

greatest weapon in your spiritual arsenal.

When those voices are doubt of doubt start to swell up.

And I'll tell you exactly what I told this young lady.

Let's assume. That you may have already given

your life to Jesus. It's not like Jesus is going to

sit there in heaven when you say Jesus.

I want to nail this down. I want to be sure.

I've got to be sure of this. I can't live on this fence

anymore. It's not like Jesus in heaven

going, Oh my goodness, this is so frustrating.

He's going to say, yes, absolutely.

I want you to have confidence in your salvation.

So here's what I would tell you, church, if you are doubtful if

the Holy Spirit of God lives in you, then you've got to nail it

down. Just nail it down.

Make today a sacred date on your calendar.

Because if you don't, what are we doing?

If you don't, then we will not be able to receive or to live

out everything else that God has for us in His Word.

So not only does God want us to be.

Confident in our salvation. God also wants me to be

confident in my eternal security.

God wants me to be confident in my eternal security.

And it may sound like the same thing, but there's a slightly

different nuance there. This simply means being

confident in my eternal security.

This simply means that I know that no matter what, God loves

me and God has saved me. And there's nothing that will

ever change that there was. There's nothing that will ever

change the fact that God loves me and that God has saved me.

Simply put, if I am saved, I can never lose my salvation.

I can never lose my salvation again at the beginning of our of

our time together this morning. I encourage you to go back

through Romans 8 in your own time.

But one of the things that you're going to find out is that

the very end of Romans. 8 is this beautiful promise that God

gives us, and this is where we pick it up.

In verse 35, Paul is asking a rhetorical question.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or

nakedness, or dangerous sword? If anything happens to me, is

anything going to? Is anything so?

Big and bad, that is. Never going to separate me from

the love of God. And then he goes on down to

verse 38. For I'm sure that neither death,

nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor

things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything

else in all of creation. Will be able to.

Separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Do you want to know why this is such a big deal And why you need

to have eternal security is because you need to have the

peace of knowing. That no matter what you do, no

matter where you go, God will never not love you and God will

never cast you aside. Because listen to me, church,

God's love for you is not based on anything that you did to

begin with. It's all based on who He is.

Second of all, if we think that we can lose our salvation, then

we would be tempted to start to erroneously fall into this trap

and this, this, this false thought that there was something

that we could do to ever earn our salvation.

Listen, if we couldn't earn God's love or earn our

salvation, there's nothing that we can ever do to unearn God's

love or to unearn God's salvation.

And I love how Paul puts it here in Romans 838 through 39.

And basically he's asking this question, what do you think is

big enough and bad enough to force God's hand out from around

you? Once he has got you, he has got

you. And here's the beautiful thing

of where we go from here if you're a follower of Jesus.

Like if I know what happens to me when I die, let come what may

even the worst if I die, when I die, I know that I will spend

eternity with God in heaven, and I'll go ahead and tell.

You a person that has eternal security or security and their

eternal destination is going to live life differently in the

time that they've got here than somebody that doesn't have

eternal security. You see a lot of us, we live

life as if we don't have eternal security.

So we got to get all that we can get here because life is short

and it's going to end and we can't take it with us anyway.

No, no, no. This place is as a follower of

Jesus, this place is not our home and we can have eternal

security. But here's a question that I

have for you. As we kind of come to an end

knowing that God wants us to be confident in our salvation and

knowing that God wants us to be confident in our eternal

security, I want to turn it on the personal.

How confident are you in both of those things?

How confident are you in both of those things?

Your eternal security and your salvation.

If you've been taking notes with us, I want to direct your

attention to something you probably already noticed at the

bottom of your note sheet. It's a, it's a spectrum one

through 10. If you've been, if you haven't

been taking notes with us and you just been like listening to

us and, and, and kind of taking it all in, I want to encourage

you to take out the take out your note sheet.

I don't. You look at the bottom of that

note sheet, there's a spectrum one through 10.

And this is just a time between you and God.

And I'm not going to ask that. I'm going to ask that you don't

look at anybody else. 'S at all.

But if one represents I am absolutely have no confidence in

my salvation or I know that I haven't asked Jesus to take

control of my life and God to forgive.

Me in my sins and the Holy Spirit doesn't live my life.

I have 0 confidence in that 10 being been I've been here with

you the whole time and I have 100% assurance to where if I

were to die right now, I know that I would spend eternity with

God in heaven. Here's a question for you

church. One through 10.

Where are you? Where are you in your

confidence? Here's what I want to ask that.

We do. We're about to come to a close

just wherever. You're at if you'll take out a

pen or a. Pencil or a marker or

highlighter or whatever. I just want you to circle where

you are. I just want you to circle where

you are. Not going to ask you to bring

these up, turn them in. We're not going to stand in

front of a microphone and read out loud.

Not going to like hold it up. This really just an exercise for

you. Wherever you marked on that

spectrum, I just want you to know God wants you to be 100%

confident this morning. And through the power and the

person and the presence of the Holy Spirit with us this

morning, guess what? You can be.

You can be. So here's what we're about to

do. We're about to stand and we're

about to worship and we're about to go into a time of response.

Maybe for you this morning, maybe the greatest thing that

you can do. As a matter of fact, the reason

that God brought you. Here this morning, make no

mistake. About it.

The reason that God brought you here this morning is because

this morning he wants you to nail it down.

He doesn't want you to be paralyzed by by doubt anymore.

And if you feel that like, then I need to nail it down this

morning. I need to make May 18th, 2000,

2020, 5A sacred date. Then I'll be down here.

Pastor Todd will be down here. We would love to pray with you.

Maybe there's a small group leader.

Maybe one of your small group leaders is sitting beside.

You or or or spiritual? Mentor that's sitting beside

you, and maybe you just need to grab him by the arm and go, hey,

can we step out in the hallway for a second?

Just have a conversation with them.

Maybe there's somebody in your life to where the Holy Spirit's

been tugging and moving at your heart to where it's not that

you're trapped in this Am I aren't I am I aren't I?

It's. Is he?

Is she? Is he?

Is she? Maybe this time is a time to

where you come down and you pray on behalf of somebody because

they may not be here with us in the room.

But I'll tell you this, the person and the presence and the

power of the Holy Spirit is not contained to a room.

We lift up men and women and other students and other guys

and girls by name. The Holy Spirit has this

unbelievable way of going exactly where they are right now

during this time, even though they're not with us physically

in the room and to become be able to soften their hearts.

But the invitation for us is to nail it down and to pray for

others that we want to make sure that they have a confidence in

their salvation and their eternal security.

So would you pray with me? God?

We love you. God, we thank you.

God, we are just absolutely in awe of the fact that you would

love us so much that you would send your son Jesus into this

world. To die for.

US. We got to walk among us to where

we can live just in awe and wonder.

This was God with us, but God. When Jesus ascended back to

heaven, God, there was a great exchange that took place with an

even greater promise. Not just God with us, but now

there's a promise and there's an invitation of God in US.

So God, I pray that your Holy Spirit would move throughout

this place and online and beyond these walls to our circles and

spheres of influence, to where this morning would be a morning

to where we would nail things down.

If we have doubts, then May 18th, 2025 will become a sacred

day, God for us in the room and for other people.

God, that we would lift them up by name, that you would meet

them exactly where they are. You would begin working in their

heart and softening in their heart and draw them closer to

you. God, I pray that you would.

Be that you would allow us the. Freedom just to get over

ourselves and get over our pride of what we think that other

people may think. If we need to step out and come

and just nail things down, God, that is our.

Greatest decision. That is our greatest choice.

This morning. So I pray that you would grant

us freedom and boldness and obedience and doing what you've

called us to do this morning in Jesus name that we pray.

Amen. Thank you for listening to the

Riverbend Church Podcast. Learn more about who we are as a

church and how to connect. You can head over to our

website, Riverbend Church dot Life.