Assurance of Salvation

two-chapter series, if you will. We have two chapters, one's called the Assurance of Salvation, one's called the Security of Salvation. And it's funny, I don't know whether you had the same experience. I looked at that and I said, well, isn't that the same topic? I said, well, it's like he's covering it twice. But the more I looked at it, the more I studied those two chapters, the more I began to realize that the reason for why he has a chapter called the Assurance of Salvation and a chapter called the Security of Salvation, they really are different aspects of our salvation.

And they fit very much into what we've been talking about over the last couple of weeks. So we're going to look today at the assurance of salvation, and the next week, the security of salvation. So I kind of built a little chart here with some of the words from Dr. Schaefer. So I thought it might be wise to, as we start out in these two chapters, Contrast, assurance and security.

And they're both in terms of salvation. The assurance of salvation and the security of salvation. They're really, you know, something we looked at before. Remember the picture that Hal had? Actually, he drew, I think, he borrowed it from Barnhouse about our condition and our position. I think they're very much that issue.

Assurance talks about a confidence. It's really It's our confidence in what God has done. A confidence that a right relationship exists between the believer and God. It speaks of our condition. So, we're going to be talking a lot today about our walk by faith. How do we see ourselves in our walk by faith? Do we see ourselves uncertain of what God has done in our lives? Do we see ourselves uncertain that He'll carry out what He promised?

That's very much about what assurance is about. Talk about personal confidence in our salvation. It's a matter of what one believes at a given time concerning his personal salvation. We'll see that it's possible for groups of believers, even ourselves, to doubt what God is about. That seems to happen in our lives as believers. Something will happen in our life, a difficulty, a trial will come along, and we'll doubt that God is even real.

Can he really carry through what he's promised? That's kind of the focus with assurance, where security really is the facts from Scripture and what God has done, are facts due to God's faithfulness. And they may be realized by the believer, they may not be realized.

They speak of our position in Christ, relates to the absolute eternal safety of those who are in Christ. And it's basically, they're the facts of what God has done. So these are, you know, condition, position kind of aspects. And then two lines of evidence are offered in terms of assurance. The first is a manifestation of Christ in the life of the believer and his walk in Christ. And then the truthfulness of God's Word, the veracity of God's Word, that it's true, unchangeable. So we're going to look at both of those and kind of step through that. So I was kind of thinking about the assurance, you know, it relates to our Christian experience. And it really kind of leads us to say, to be able to say with confidence, I know I'm saved. Some people have a difficult time with that. I know I'm saved. In fact, actually, I was listening to a tape talking about the early 1900s, late 1800s.

And it was speaking about the fact that many, many groups of believers did not have an assurance of their salvation, and it was not taught, and that they felt it was presumptuous of them to believe that they could be eternally saved, and how that hurt the church in general. I haven't read enough history about the church to really know, but this person was expounding that, and it sounded interesting that the assurance of salvation was something that was not taught and understood, so they were kind of wishy-washy. And I can relate to, I have some personal experiences with that in terms of some of our relatives.

You know, you always have your relatives someplace else. When you go to visit, you get there, you know, and I'm thankful, I'm thankful. All right. That's good. Those arrows hurt. But you get, you know, you come and you're visiting them and, you know, you know, being personally assured of your salvation is almost, well, that's, you know, once saved, always saved.

You don't really believe that, do you? Yeah, I do believe that. But how can you know? That's what the Baptists believe, or that's what, you know, it's always somebody else that believes, and we don't, you know, we believe something different. So you'll hear that, you'll come across that in your Christian experience. So, you know, hopefully today we'll be able to go through and show some of those things.

And actually, I thought a really good verse, just to kind of set the stage here, was in 2 Timothy. So let's look at 2 Timothy. And it talks about having this confidence in what God has done for us. 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 1. And let's read verse 12. It says, For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

So I think this very much talks about this idea of being convinced and being assured of what God, and that he's going to carry it through. I think assurance has very much to do with realizing that God has saved us. We haven't saved ourselves. Since He has saved us, He's going to carry it through to completion. It's not depending upon us to carry it through. I think actually a lot of assurance has to do with, is God going to carry it through?

Did I somehow save myself? People get confused in their mind. Well, I somehow had a key role in my salvation. And with that kind of view, your feelings may change, and you're thinking, well, I don't feel the same way I felt, and you're going to feel that you've lost your salvation. So God's Word, I believe, teaches very much that we can have an assurance that we're saved.

Okay, with that in mind, let's kind of go on to the next chart. So I tried to maximize the color today. from Maryland. She's not here, but, you know. Anyway, it makes it a little more interesting, maybe, to look at this. So, these are five. There are actually more in the book. I thought these were the five key ones.

And this is looking at the perspective of assurance of salvation. As we look in Scripture, what does Scripture say about Christ in our life? What should we see when Christ is in our life. And five aspects are a knowledge of God as our Father. That's one of the aspects.

A new reality in prayer. One of the ones that I just really can identify with is the one, a new ability to understand scripture. You know, the Bible is a closed book to the unbeliever. It really is. They may be scholarly. Have you ever read greeting cards? I don't know whether you've had that experience. I read this and they have this verse and they make some comment about it and you think, it doesn't have anything to do with that verse because a believer understands what that verse means. An unbeliever looks at that and he tries to make it fit some situation. It doesn't fit.

So that's one of the aspects of the indwelling Christ in our lives. And then the bottom two talk about a relationship we have with the lost and with the saved. And we have a view of those two groups of people that I think is unique. A real deep desire for those to be saved. I mean, that's just a natural thing. I can't speak of my experience. That's all I can do. And a love for the saved, that can be a tough one. But I think it's good. I'll give you my two cents on that. Whatever you think about that one.

Okay, so those are the five. And then in the last part, I have one chart that talks about the truthfulness of God's word. So these are the five ones we're going to talk about in terms of what do we see in a believer's life. So we're going to step through this one. Okay. Is there anything else about that one? Okay, so let's turn to Matthew chapter 11 here. We're going to talk now about the knowledge of God as our Father. And Marilyn, you missed out on the really pretty charts. I'm sorry, we got past those. I'm sorry. Matthew chapter 11. Maybe before I start this, let me just tell you a story that I'm hoping I'll disprove with this verse and with this section on the knowledge of God as our Father.

I had an experience early on in my Christian life where we were overseas in England and I had a boss I worked for. We were on a US base there. And I just really had a desire that he come to know Christ. So, I would talk with him now and then, and then at the church I was attending there, they had some meetings, some evangelical meetings, so I invited him to come, and amazingly enough, he came. Actually, I went to his house, he and his wife, and we drove to the church and went through the service. So, I was with him the whole time, and we drove back. So, at the end of all that, he listened, and his wife had some... some background, but she was a little bit antagonistic.

She wasn't really that helpful, so at the end he said, you know, I'm not sure I can understand about God, because my father was so awful to me, was so terrible to me. I just, I don't think I can ever relate to God, because I don't, I didn't have a father that really loved me, and you're telling me that God loves me, that, you know, God the Father loves me. And so, at the time, I thought, well, I guess that's true. In my mind, I was kind of limiting God. Well, God says that's not an obstacle. Man may have all kinds of terrible situations in this world, but that's not an obstacle for him.

I think this verse, hopefully, will show you that in Matthew 11, 27. So, can I get someone to read 25 to 27 in Matthew 11? At that time Jesus answered and said, I praise thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent, and didst reveal them to they. Yes, Father, for thus it was well pleasing in thy sight. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him.

OK, so this verse talks about this relationship. And we're going to hear the word no a lot as we go through these verses. Not this verse, but other verses. And there are a bunch of words, several words, maybe eight words in the Greek for no. But there's three that seem to pop up all the time that are just really critical. And if you notice, I've kind of highlighted the word nos or no. First of all, the first couple of phrases here, no one knows the son except the father, nor does anyone know the father except the son.

So they have this knowledge of each other which is unique. And this word know, in this case, one of the words for know is the word gnosko, which is the knowledge of experience or ongoing knowledge. I might know Harry. And over time, I get to know him better and better, and we get to know each other very well. So our knowledge of each other is growing and increasing over time. That's this word, gnosko. Well, there's another, what they call intensified form, which has the idea of fully perceiving. It lays stress on the participation between the objects being known or the people being known.

And that's the word, and that's epinosis. this knowledge that exists fully perceived between the son and the father. And actually, in the Weiss translation, it's rendered having a full and experiential knowledge. So it would be rendered no one knows, no one fully knows, I'm not sure I can say it, no one fully, I can't say it. No one is having a full and experiential knowledge of the son except the father. nor does anyone have a full and experiential knowledge except the Son. But there's this full and experiential knowledge between the Son and the Father. And what's amazing is the last part that says, and to anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal.

So from that, what would you say? Is the Son willing? This is kind of a rhetorical question, but is the Son willing? Actually, that word could be rendered desires to reveal Him. What do you think? Is the Son unwilling or is He willing? The hand thing, how do you say yes, how do you say no? Well, I think it's pretty obvious that the Son is willing.

He's not willing that any should perish. that all should come to repentance. He's willing, but what's amazing to me, he's willing for this intimate knowledge between the son and the father to be revealed to the believer. He wants that to be revealed to the believer. And what's really neat, and that word reveal is the idea, it's like a veil, a cloud or a covering over the understanding of the father and the son. He wants to remove that veil, remove that covering. There are a couple of verses that talk about, that use that word reveal, and I want to show you those. One is also in Matthew. Let's turn over to Matthew 16. In Matthew 16, and let me just read Matthew 16 and verse 17. And it's going to use the same word reveal.

And 17 says, And Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. So this revealing is not going to be through flesh and blood. It's going to be through God working in a life, in a person's life. And that's what he's saying. He says, Simon, this wasn't revealed to you by flesh and blood, but my Father who is in heaven. And there's another verse that carries this idea along as well, in 1 Corinthians 2. And can I get someone to read maybe verses 9 and 10 in chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians? Harry?

But just as it is written, things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him. For to us God revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. So in verse 10 it says, For to us God revealed them, the things he's talking about there, the things which eye has not seen, through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. So we see that from this Matthew 11, 27 passage, that God desires to reveal the things about himself, what he's done. And that's part of this knowledge of God he wants us to have. That's his desire, and he's carrying that out in the believer's life.

Now, in verse... in John 17, let me use my... Does this thing work? Oh, there we go. Yeah, Ryan got me this for Christmas, so I haven't been using it. Anyway, so in John 17, verse 3, a very familiar verse, "...and this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. So, let me ask you a question here. I haven't told you all the words for no, but what do you think about this word no?

Do you think this word no in John 17.3 is the same no as the one up there in Matthew 11.27? Or they might be different, you think? What would you suspect?

One's talking about this relation between the Father and the Son, and now it's talking about And this is life eternal, that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. That's right. Good. So this is basically this word gnosko.

So this is this knowledge of experience, that we're coming to know him over time. It means we've experienced that. We've experienced this knowledge of God, but it's expanding and increasing over time. So that's a couple of verses on the knowledge of God, and we see from that that God desires that we know Him.

He desires to reveal Himself, and He tells us that eternal life is knowing Him. That's what eternal life is. And it starts when we believe, from John 17, verse 3. Eternal life is knowing Him. And that starts as we become a believer. So, okay, the next one is a reality in prayer. Let's look at Romans, turn to Romans 8, verse 26. Romans 8, verse 26. And I'll just go ahead and read this. I have most of it up there, but let me just read the full thing then. In 826 it says, In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

At first I kind of puzzled why this verse was included in this list. Because it kind of says that we're kind of... This is supposed to be, as a believer, we have a new reality in prayer. So what I think he's pointing out is that really, when we understand prayer, we understand that we can't make up the right... The world kind of thinks... I think, well, if I have the right prayer, I can somehow twist God's arm. I get the right words, the right combination of words, God's going to... I put him into a corner, so to speak.

And he said, no, God says no, we really don't know how to pray. He wants us to come to Him, realize and we really don't know all, we don't know the full situation, so we may pray the opposite of what should be. And I quote, the seeming tragedies of life. Well, you don't know what God's purpose was for that, quote, seeming tragedy. You don't know, so you may pray the opposite. And scripture actually has situations where people prayed, in the Old Testament and their life was extended and terrible things happened.

So what really struck me is that we don't know how to pray, but God in His mercy and His grace, the Spirit of God comes alongside and that word intercede really is a tremendous worry. It talks about this idea of, you know, the story of the Good Samaritan where he's walking along the road and he finds this man in the ditch, he's been accosted and he helps him out and takes care of him. Well, this idea of inner seeds is the idea that you happen upon a person and you're rescued. So the Spirit himself is rescuing us and he's helping us and he's aiding us with these groanings. I struggle with that a little bit. inexpressible or unutterable words that can't be expressed, inexpressible, that cannot be uttered.

So he's helping our prayers. He can see our deep desire inside and he's helping our prayer. So in a way, in our prayer, we're handing it over to God. We're saying, Lord, I don't know how to pray about this, but you know the situation. Let your will be done. So many times I think that's very proper to say, your will be done, because we don't know how to pray exactly. And prayer, the more you think about prayer, prayer is an exercise of faith. You're trusting that God will carry out what His plan is for that situation. You may have an idea what it should be, but you're trusting that He will carry it out.

And then in Jude 1.20 it says, building yourself up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. The believer's prayer is praying, is praying in the Holy Spirit, or it's rendered in the weast, praying in the sphere of and by the means of the Holy Spirit. He's our conduit. He's taking our prayers and making them real to the Father.

The idea about building yourself up, it seems like, well, I'm going to go out here and really work up a storm here, building yourself up in your most holy faith. That idea of building is used in other parts of Scripture in terms of the Christian life. Let me just show you one of those. Let's look at Colossians chapter 2. Let me just read verses 6 and 7 in Colossians chapter 2.

It says, ìAs you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, having been firmly rooted, and now being built up in him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.î So this idea of being built up or established, as you As you pray in the Holy Spirit, that's building up your faith. As you trust God for this situation, as you pray and trust God for that situation, that's building up your faith.

And just one thing, in Scripture it talks about prayer, and it kind of gives some... I'm not going to cover all the verses, but it talks about the fact that we're to pray to the Father, in the name of the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit. And there's a collection of verses that talk about that. God has prescribed an order, if you will, that we pray to the Father in the name of the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit. So that's kind of the picture that we see in Scripture.

I think this is addressing more the fact that our prayers are rendered to God in faith. And then the last one, if you think about it, When we give thanks, that's a form of prayer. It's hard to see that one. Giving thanks, Ephesians 5.20, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So here's another exercise of faith in terms of prayer. Always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's a tough one.

Can I give thanks when things go awry, when things go wrong, in my estimation, in my view of life, when they go wrong, can I give thanks for that? I don't think that means... I had a lot of discussion about that. We're not giving thanks for evil, necessarily. We're giving thanks that God is in control, that He knows what He's doing. We're not giving thanks to murder or awful, we're not giving condolence to that. We're not thanking the Lord for things that are wrong. We're thanking Him that He... It's in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's one of the places, many, many places, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Okay. So, other thoughts? Questions on this? There are probably lots of questions, but... You know, I find it hard to give thanks. I had an experience the other day where I was thinking, Lord, I really want to witness these people. And to make a long story short, it didn't go well.

Right. Okay? And I'm thinking to myself at first, I'm thinking, Lord, why didn't you let that happen? You know, why didn't it go the way we prayed about it? Right. But then later on I realized, you know, God has ways of doing things. That's good. The bottom line is, how do you go back to Him and say, Lord, you're right? Right. Right. That's good. You have other purposes. That's good. That's great, Ray. That's good. Now, I've had the same experience. You think, boy, this has just got to happen more. I've just got to do this. And then, in retrospect, you think, well, well, wait a minute. And that's okay.

And that's where, you know, the more you look at prayer, and I think, you know, hopefully sometime in the future we'll have maybe a series on prayer. I think it's something that we need to understand better, because there's a picture in the Old Testament of prayer, and then there's a picture of prayer in the New Testament, and they come from a totally different perspective. We're believer-priests. So anyway, there's just a lot of neat things. I think that, come away from here, that the new reality in prayer is that in faith we bring our offerings before God and we give them to God, whereas it seems like the world says, well, we're going to have a prayer service now, right? It's just not the same thing. This is talking about a relationship that exists between you and your Heavenly Father, and you're coming to Him, you're giving Him thanks. That's good, Ray. Thank you. Okay. Okay.

Okay, so the third one is a new ability to understand scripture. So before I start here, what do you think, maybe I've kind of given them away here already, we're going to talk about the Holy Spirit's ministry. Can you read it just in your own words? Kind of remind us, what's the Holy Spirit's ministry in terms of the believer, or one of the primary ministries? Well, that's true. That's true. I was looking for one that... Good. That's good. I realized that when I had the question at this point, it was probably not exactly the best place, but anyway.

Well, to answer my own question, I was going to say that I think we'll see in John 16, which is just, I think, if anybody ever asks you, what's the ministry of the Holy Spirit in terms of the believer? Turn to John 16. It's to show us Christ, to reveal Christ, to explain Christ. It seems like the Holy Spirit is... God has a plan and a purpose, and the Holy Spirit is fully God, but His ministry, His plan is to show us Christ. So in John 16, I'll just read through in my version. Actually, I have a little bit different version, trying to emphasize.

We've been through this passage before in previous weeks, and looking at these things that He desires to show us, the things of God. And in John 16, I'll start in verse 12, it says, I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will disclose it to you, and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall take of Mine and shall disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are mine, therefore I said, he takes of mine and will disclose it to you. So kind of just taking in summary form here, the Spirit says, I have many more things, I'm sorry, the Lord Jesus said, I have many more things to say to you. He says, and they're not ready for it now. And then 13 talks about the Holy Spirit, Many things as he hears, he will speak.

He has this intimate knowledge of the Father and the Son. And he's going to tell us the things that are to come. And that all things that the Father has are mine. Here again we have this wonderful knowledge between the Father and the Son. And he said, he shall take of mine and shall disclose it to you, make it known to you. So we see in this passage that there are the things of the Father, the things of Christ, and the things that are to come that are spoken about in this passage.

So I wanted to give an example. A really good example is in the account of the Lord on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24. So I thought we could go through that, maybe read a little bit of that. And this will demonstrate how the Lord desires to show us through Scripture, explain the Scriptures to us. So in Luke 24...

Well, could we do this? Wouldn't mind, maybe we could just start, maybe each read about five verses. We'll just start with Ray. So, Ray, if you could read the first five verses, starting in verse 13. This is Luke 24, starting in verse 13, and read, say, five verses, then Harry will read the next five, and Vonnie, until we get down to verse 32.

And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Minas. which was from Jerusalem, about three square purlins. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they communicated together in reason, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.

But their eyes were beholden, that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of conversation are these, that ye have one to another, as ye walk and are sad? One of them, named Cleophas, answered and said to him, Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days? And he said to them, What things?

And they said to him, The things about Jesus of Nazarene, who was a prophet, mighty indeed, and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to the sentence of death and crucified him, But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel.

Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. But also some women among us amazed us when they were at the tomb early in the morning. And did not find his body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. And some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just exactly as the women also had said, but him they did not see.

And he said to them, O foolish men, throw apart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and with all the prophecies, he explained to them the things concerning himself and all the scriptures.

And they approached the village where they were going, and he acted as though he were going farther. But they urged him, saying, Stay with us, for it is getting toward the evening, and the day is now nearly over. So he went in to stay with them. When he had reclined at the table with them, he took the bread and, blessed in breaking it, he began giving it to them.

And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. They said, one to another, were not our hearts burning with us while he was speaking on the road, while he was explaining the Scriptures to us? And so God asked... That's fine, Davis. That's great. Thank you. That's great. Good reading. Okay, so we see in here that there's some... really interesting things that the Lord...

He started with Moses in verse 27. First of all, in 19, He kind of asked them. They don't recognize who it is, and it seemed that that was divinely decreed. They were kind of blinded from recognizing Christ. And then in 27, He explained to them the things concerning Himself. He started back at Moses. He apparently went through and explained all the things about Himself. And then, Mark, I just really think it's tremendous.

They say in verse 31, we're not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road, while he was explaining the scriptures to us. And the idea of their hearts burning, it was continually, something that was going on continually, while he was speaking continually, they were amazed and just astounded. And the word explain there is the idea to interpret, he was interpreting the scriptures, explaining them. And then later on, and we don't have to go there, but later on in Luke 24, the Lord comes to them at a later time and he opens their minds again to understand the scriptures. So my question is, can that happen today? Can our minds be open to understand His Word. Amen. Amen. It better be. Amen. Good. Good.

And I just, you know, this is not a time for, you know, I have a testimony about this anyway, but what I think is interesting, and I hope it's been the experience of all of you, that as you look at God's Word, and you study a passage, and maybe you've read it many times, the Lord will show you something.

Something will occur to you. You think, wow, I never saw that before. I never understood that before. And I've had that experience. And I'll just relate a little bit of it to you. And it happened more than one time. And it should happen more. It should happen, in my mind, it should be happening constantly as we study God's Word. As we look at His Word and we see the wonderful truths, we say, wow, that's what He's saying. That's what He means. And our hearts will be burning.

I can remember early on as a believer, The Gospel of John, the first chapter of the Gospel of John, I can remember getting up in the middle of the night and just reading that and saying, ìIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.î I said, ìWow, this is talking aboutÖî I was just amazed. Hereís a book thatís telling me about the beginning. ìIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.î I just, I was just, I'd read that first chapter, I'd just be astounded. It was like God was talking to me personally, right there.

And then as time went on, over in John 1.14, it talks about this, this is the truth that kind of came down the road in the same passage, and I just love the Gospel of John.

John 1.14. I need to turn to it here, but it says, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only-gotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." You know, as I learn more about the original language a little bit, and the Word became flesh, and as that idea of coming into a new state of being, something He never was before, the Word, the Lord Jesus became flesh, He came to a new state of being. He never was that before, and He will be that for all eternity.

I mean, just, you know, as you see these truths, that's what That's what it's all about. That's what the Lord desires to show us. That we see who he is and what he's done. And that's something that only a believer can understand. So, I mean, that's my personal. I'm sure that others could testify as well about their seeing. Wow, look at this. I never saw that before.

How, you know, Ray, you had something you wanted to add? Sorry. It may be interesting that even in a group of ourselves here, believers, how the Holy Spirit speaks something different to you than it does to me. You would think, in reality, that all being of the one Spirit, we all believe the same truths. Right. You know, there are Bible doctrines that we may disagree on. And it doesn't fit in a different perspective altogether. Right, right, yeah. And some people, and I've had the experience, some people that really bothers, that really, really bothers, they say, well, I don't see why. Every believer doesn't believe the same way. They just can't understand that.

What's that? Can I help? My thought is, and once again somewhat from my experience, is that we're at different places where we are. So I may see a truth that my brother or sister doesn't see. Now the question is, do I beat them over the head with my Bible until they see my way? Right. And we're different places. And the Lord, I think he's so gracious, he's not stamping out robots. And that's very true.

You may come to see that down the road, you'll say, you know, I believe five years ago that was out to lunch. I don't know why I got off on that. And you may realize that. Okay, so we have two here that talk about our relation to the lost and to the saved and how that, when you become a believer, how that is different. The first aspect, I think, which is important is that we see the lost as Christ sees them. It says in 2 Corinthians 5 that one died for all and he died for all, that we should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again. So we see the lost as the ones that Christ died for.

And I'm always just struck, you know, the passages that talk about Paul, I mean, and his, it was for the lost house of Israel. I mean, he just, he was so concerned and so burdened for them, to the point where he gets down in Romans 9, he says that he's willing to lose his salvation to be a curse for them. incredible statement. He's so concerned for his brothers that he says, I'm willing to give up my salvation. I mean, that's an incredible statement.

I mean, but I think there is a, there is a, and I think it's just like Ray was saying, you see people and you want them to know the Lord. And I think sometimes our flesh gets in the way and we try to do it by, you know, not the way that God had planned. We need to be patient about that and God has He's not in a hurry. We're in a hurry many times, but he's not in a hurry. There's something else about that.

He ceased not to pray for them. He desired that they know him in Romans 15-20. And he was willing to be a curse for they might know Christ. Now we come down to the relationship with the saved. There are a couple of key verses here, and this is one of them.

This is one of the verses in 1 John 3.14. And it says, we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. You know, 1 John is a book of just stark statements. I mean, they're so emphatic.

And this one here, it says, we know. And this is another word for know. And this is this word for know called oida. And it talks about an absolute knowledge. And it says, if I can say this rightly, we know absolutely that we have passed permanently out of death into life because we are habitually loving the brethren. So this is a verse that God says we can hang our hat on. We know with absolute certainty that we have passed out of death into life because we are continually loving the brethren. So that's a verse he wants us to hang our hat on. And then it comes down in John 13 and 34 and 35. It says that you love one another even as I have loved you. By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

You know, I was thinking about this, and this is one of the areas where you say, well, but my brother or sister, They're hard to get along with. They're not reasonable. They're unreasonable. And you know, it kind of struck me as I was saying this, thinking about the fact that sometimes telling your brother and sister, your brother or sister in the Lord, that maybe you don't agree with them in love, that you see things differently maybe. Maybe you don't see scriptures the same way.

That's the right thing to do. Just like with your... You love your children very dearly, but you say, You shouldn't do this and you shouldn't do that. You tell them things that maybe they don't want to hear, but you do it in love. And I think that's loving your brethren. So it doesn't mean you always have to be a good Joe and agree with everything and smooth everything over. There's never any disagreement. There will be disagreements. There will be difficulties. But it's the attitude you come to your brother or sister, you know, I see things differently. And that's loving them. That's caring about them. If you say you don't, then you're being untruthful.

I just that just kind of struck me as I went through this. So, OK, I want to show you we're getting almost time here. I'll ask you a question here. Someone tell me what that is. It's supposed to be a certificate and has a little seal down at the end. What? Anyone else? Moni already knows. She already guessed it at home. I was on the computer. She was looking at it. Well, I'll try to give you, I'll just try to tell you here basically.

I noticed that Dr. Schaefer was going through, he was pointing out how God's Word and the promises of God's Word are a title deed. They're a title deed. It's like you have a title deed to your house or to your car. They're title deeds that you can hang your hat on. So I just, it just kind of struck me, I found this and I thought I'd just, you know, throw it up. They're title deeds.

And it's colorful for Marilyn. Yes. Poor Marilyn. Send me colorful emails. See, Marilyn gets to me during the week if I'm not careful. She can task me and make me work really hard. That'd be nice to her. Okay. Okay, so the last chart. Basically, the truthfulness of God's Word.

And Dr. Schaefer kind of points out the fact that sometimes our experience, our walk by faith, we can, as I mentioned before, something happens, we can be overshadowed by our carnality, by the flesh, and say, God is not who He is. I can't believe this. I can't believe He'd do this to me. I can't believe He'd allow this to happen to me. Sometimes my mind just goes...

Imagine God knowing all the hurts, all the troubles of this world. Just like today, this one point in time, this one day. There are just a tremendous number of hurts and difficulties in this world. Insurmountable. And He knows them all. And He understands them all. And, you know, just a God that's able to do that just boggles my mind. I can't handle the problems within my role, I mean, in my own self, I cannot handle that. But He knows them all. He's able to do that.

And His Word is to give us that abiding, that Title D evidence. And I'll let you read the ones about the promises, the written promises, the Title D. But I'd like to just, before we close here, just look at another key verse, one you can hang your hat on, is in John 15, 1 John. 1 John 5, 13. So let's just look at that for a second. So it's talking about the things that are written.

It says, These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life. So here's a verse that tells us that the things that are written and His Word are written, that we may know that we have eternal life.

And once again, this know is this oida, this absolute knowledge. And it can be rendered, you may know with an absolute knowledge that you have eternal life. That's a pretty incredible statement. You can know with absolute knowledge that you have eternal life. So this is one of the verses that is a title to you. Hang your hat on this verse. If you say, God, you've said that your word is written, then I know that I have eternal life. Take him at his word.

And the place where you see, I point around here, where it says, in order that, every time you see in order that, it goes, it's dying on me there. In order that, it could be rendered with a purpose that, with a purpose that you may know that you have eternal life. So, this is a little thing for your Bible study. In order, that is, it starts with what they call a purpose clause, with a purpose that you may know that you have eternal life. Okay. All right. I guess we better stop here. It's getting late. So, this is wonderful promises. The one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out.

He who hears my word and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life and does not come to judgment, but is passed out of death into life. He who believes in the Son has eternal life. For it, the gospel, is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved."

God's Word is what we hang our hat on. That's the assurance that we have. So next week we'll look at the security aspect, that we're secure in Him. And there are groups of theologians that have a different view of security. Anyway. All right. Dear Father, we thank you so much, Lord. We thank you for this day, Father. Thank you for your word. We're thankful that your word is sufficient, Lord, and that you say that we can know with absolute certainty that we have eternal life, Father. We thank you for that. We thank you that your word was given for that purpose. And you tell us that's one of the many purposes of your work. We thank you for that in Christ's name. Amen.