← Back to sermon library

e e e e e e e e e e e Church in Provo Utah with us this evening it was a joy and a blessing to have him uh preach for us this morning and we're looking forward to him bringing the word of God this evening well let's turn in our Bibles to Psalm 113 Psalm 1 13 for our call to worship Psalm 113 we'll read the entirety of the psalm this is the word of God praise the Lord Praise oh Servants of the Lord praise the name of the Lord blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forever more from the rising of the sun to its going down the lord's name is to be praised the Lord is high above all nations his glory above the heavens who is like the Lord Our God who dwells on high who humbles himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth he raises the poor Out of the Dust and lifts the needy out of the ash Heap that he may seat him with princes with the princes of his people he grants the barren woman a home like a joyful mother of children praise the Lord well let's stand together and sing our first hymn this evening it's hymn 291 hymn 291 let's stand and sing [Music] together Redeemer praise the glories of my the tri of his gracious master and my God me toim spre through all the Earth Jesus the name that our [Music] [Applause] srow he the power of he sets the his is a GL he [Music] and the broken hearts Loos T and behold your saor for Glory praise and love now and again above [Music] Earth let's go to our God In Prayer let us pray Heavenly Father we rejoice in this Lord's Day evening we thank you that we can gather again this second time on this your Lord's Day Sabbath for the worship of Father Son and Holy Spirit and we do pray that you would bless that worship we pray that you would help us now as we've gathered as the Saints of Christ that you'd help us to hallow your most high name we pray that you would give us those measures of your spirit that we might worship you a right in spirit and in truth we long to be those worshippers who worship such and so we pray that you'd help us not to be distracted not to have wandering thoughts but to be wholly collected that we might that we might worship you a right that we might be fully attentive uh to the various elements of worship as we sing as we read the scriptures uh as we pray and Lord God as we hear the preaching of the word that Central act of worship we pray that we would be focused upon you we thank you for salvation by Jesus Christ Our Savior we know that we are not saved by Deeds of righteousness which we have done but wholly according to your mercy you saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the spirit and all of this by virtue of the perfect life the perfect death the Glorious resurrection and that conquering Ascension to your right hand and we rejoice in the fact that he ever lives now to intercede for us and that he rules and that he reigns over our enemies we do pray Lord God that you'd be with those who rule over us that you would cause them to do so not in wickedness but in righteousness and proper Justice we pray Lord God for those persecuted throughout the world for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you would be near to them that you would watch over them in the midst of much Affliction opposition and tyranny we pray that you would G them up that you would cause them by your spirit to lay hold of the faith once for all delivered to the Saints we do pray Lord God for those who are unable to join us those who are sick uh those who are unwell those who are uh diseased or injured Lord we pray that you would strengthen them in body give them uh give them gains in strength and we do pray that as they suffer the these afflictions of the body we pray that you would encourage them in the Inner Man and cause them in their spirits to rejoice in our precious savior we do pray that you would lift our own Souls this evening and any who are struggling spiritually that you would lift them up you would cause them to know the joy of their salvation and cause them to rejoice in you the Triune God and in Jesus Christ whom you have sent we do pray then Lord God for our our brother here Pastor Ed Romine we pray as he brings the word and number of minutes that you would strengthen him and cause him to know that confidence and courage uh in the Pulpit that uh that only Ministers of the Gospel en Joy by virtue of the Sint spirit and we do pray that you'd be with him help him as he opens up the word and we do pray for us Lord God as we receive it that your Saints would be strengthened that your Saints would be edified and encouraged by the word preached and Lord God that Sinners would be saved and that all that we do in worship this evening would be done unto to the praise of Father Son and Holy Spirit and we pray in Christ's name amen well let's stand and sing together we're going to sing uh Psalm 48a Psalm 48a and that's stanzas 4-6 stanzas 4-6 [Music] in holy we are your loing kindness the wonders of your PR your people sing your praise Your Name Is [Music] [Applause] [Music] by all sing withness the J [Music] beh and all [Music] well to the children after you glor to for God our for in death will be our faithful [Music] can turn in your Bibles with me to the Book of Judges as we continue to read through the Book of Judges in our Old Testament consecutive reading through the Bible we're now in Judges 3 I'll read the entirety of the chapter once again the word of God now these are the Nations which the Lord left that he might test Israel by them that is all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan this was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know War at least those who had not formerly known it namely five Lords of the Philistines all the Canaanites the sidonians and The hivites Who dwelt in Mount Lebanon from Mount B Hermon to the entrance of HTH and they were and they were left that they might test Israel by them to know that he might test Israel by them to know whether they would obey the Commandments of the Lord which he had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites the Hittites the amorites the perizzites the hivites and the jebusites and they took their daughters to be their wives and gave their daughters to their sons and they served their gods so the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord they forgot the Lord their God and served the Bales and ashas therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and he sold them into the hand of kushan risham king of Mesopotamia and the children of Israel served kushan r 8 years when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord the Lord raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel who delivered them annel the son of canaz Caleb's younger brother the spirit of the Lord came upon him and he judged Israel he went out to war and he judged Israel he went uh or excuse me he went out to War and the Lord delivered kushan rathame king of Mesopotamia into his hand and his hand prevailed over kosan rathame so the land had rest for 40 years then othneil the son of kenaz died and the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord so the Lord strengthened eglon king of Moab against Israel because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord then he gathered to himself the people of Amon and amalec and uh went and defeated Israel and took possession of the city of Palms so the children of Israel served EG king of Moab 18 years but when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord the Lord raised up a deliverer for them ahud the son of gah the benjamite a left-handed Man by him the children of Israel sent tribute to eglon King of Moab now ahud made himself a dagger it was double it was double-edged and a cubit in length and fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh so he brought the tribute to eglon King of Moab now Egon was a very fat man and when he had finished presenting the tribute he sent away the people who had carried the tribute but he himself turned back from the stone images that were at gilgal and said I have a secret message for you oh King he said keep silence and all who attended him went out from him so Ehud came back now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber then ahud said I am I have a message from God for you so he arose from his seat then ahud reached with his left hand took the dagger from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly even the hilt went in after the blade and the fat closed over the blade for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly and his entrails came out then ahud went out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room before him excuse me behind him and locked them when he had gone out egon's servants came to look and to their surprise the doors of the upper room were locked so they said he is probably attending to his needs in the cool chamber so they waited till they were embarrassed and still he had not opened the doors of the upper room therefore they took the key and opened them and there was their Master Fallen dead on the floor but ahood had escaped while they delayed and passed beyond the stone images and escaped to Sarah and it happened when he arrived that he blew the trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains and he led them then he said to them follow me for the Lord has delivered your enemies the moabites into your hand so they went down after him seized the Fords of the Jordan leading to Moab and did not allow anyone to cross over and at that time they killed about 10 10,000 men of Moab all Stout Men of Valor not a man escaped so Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel and the land uh and the land of Israel had excuse me and the land had rest for 80 years after him was shamgar the son of anath who killed 600 men of the Philistines with an ox go and he also delivered Israel amen well just very briefly we've noted in the previous on the previous two Sundays in the Sunday evening services that judges certainly points forward to the Lord Jesus Christ reminder that uh those those words of Nehemiah Cox in all our search after the mind of God in the Holy scriptures were to mind our inquiries or manage our inquiries according to Christ we see here in just the account of othneil Elsewhere as well but if notice in the account of othneil the language beginning at verse 99 when the children of Israel now as we're reading this manage your inquiries according to Christ when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord the Lord raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel and now notice verse 10 the spirit of the Lord came upon him and he judged Israel in verse 11 so the land well actually in the end of verse 10 his hand prevailed and then verse 11 so the land had rest 40 years hopefully you can see as that this points forward to the better judge the ultimate and glorious judge Jesus Christ the one who is sent as a deliverer the one who has the spirit of the Lord resting upon him the one who prevails over our enemies and the one who brings his people rest what a glorious Testament yes to the historical goings on of Israel but more to that higher point the Lord Jesus Christ the deliverer who brings rest to his people what a glorious savior we have well let us pray Heavenly Father we thank you for your word we rejoice in its Clarity its goodness its Testament to your longsuffering and to the fact that you send a deliverer even Jesus Christ the Lord to conquer enemies the enemies of your people and to redeem your elect from out of every nation under heaven we thank you for your truth and we pray As We Now sing another hymn and as we hear the preaching of the word that you would remain with us that the Lord Christ would be amongst this lampstand and that we would rejoice in Father Son and Holy Spirit and we name we pray in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord amen well let's stand and sing our final hymn before the preaching is 195 let's stand and sing 195 together [Music] true and through [Music] the my my little on the wonders [Music] of us living [Music] give th the heing F out the wondering we the [Music] great for us Lord in all [Music] according to th word and all our teaching that [Music] true love th within us Lord th might will beore and serve with all our by children th and Lord speaks for me with [Music] if you have your Bibles we'll be in the book of Ephesians once more this evening but this time we'll be in Ephesians chapter 1 Ephesians chapter 1 looking at verses 3 through 14 Ephesians chap 1 verses 3 through 14 and as you are turning there let me just say if you were not here this morning I again bring you greetings from the First Baptist Church of Provo Utah and I'm so glad that so many of you came back but I hear that that's the custom to come back and we Worship the Lord and what a joy it is to be able to give so much of our time to the corporate worship of God on his weekly day so thank you so much for coming back to Worship the Lord with me and let me just say if I can encourage you all with one thing not related to the sermon Richard barelis was right about y'all you all or a singing church it was such a joy for me to be up here and have the wall of sound coming at me but knowing that it was directed to the praise of his glorious Grace and that's what we're going to talk about tonight is trinitarian Assurance trinitarian assurance and if you like sermon titles uh that's the title trinitarian assurance and before we get into the text proper I just want to say that I feel that there's a problem in reformed and Evangelical Evangelical communities and that we often times lack good biblical balanced teaching on the Assurance of the believer what I preach this morning about us being predestined for good works and we are God's workmanship that is true the believing Christian ought as a way of life bear the singular fruit of the spirit in their lives and if that is not there the church has a right and responsibility to be concerned for that person's soul however I also said that we often times struggle with sin don't we and When we struggle with sin when we're fighting with sin one of Satan's greatest tactics is is to get us to doubt our Salvation because we are not bearing enough good works we are not bearing enough fruit and the tendency is we can often times look inwardly and judge our Salvation not by the finished work of Christ dear ones but by how much fruit we are bearing and I would submit to you very forth rightly that that should not be the case we should not be those who look inwardly all the time and constantly judging as to whether or not we've borne enough fruit but rather we ought to be looking to Jesus Christ and more specifically Our trinitarian God for our assurance so with that said I want us to read this text in its entirety God's word again says to us and for us through the Apostle Paul starting in Ephesians chap 1 verse3 blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places in Christ Jesus just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and Without Blame before him in love having predestined us to adoption as Sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the Beloved verse 7 in him we have Redemption through his blood the Forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and Prudence having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him verse 11 in him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will that we who are who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory in him verse 13 you also trusted after you heard the word of Truth The Gospel of your salvation in whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the Redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory let us bow together father this is your word you have spoken to us through it and we pray and ask as we continue to worship you this evening in the preaching may you help me to preach clearly may you help your people that call themselves fre R Baptist Church to listen well and may you get all the glory as we come before you in all of what you have done for us and we ask all this in the name of your son amen so I mentioned in my introduction that we ought to have Assurance well in tonight's sermon I want to argue that our Triune God gives us Assurance of Salvation our Triune God gives us Assurance of Salvation and it's very curious to me that after his greeting in the first two verses the Apostle Paul to to this church immediately opens up in doxology he opens up in worship and we know this because he uses the word blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ this whole section dear friends is one of trinitarian doxology you you'll see all three persons of the Triune god mentioned in this text if you read closely and what we see here is that this doxology we know from reading the rest of the book that Paul wrote the Ephesian letter while he was under arrest he was in Chains and yet the very first words out of his mouth is to praise and bless his Triune God and that ought to be instructive for us if anybody had any reason to be whole home and downcast it would have been the Apostle Paul who after a glorious conversion on the road to Damascus lived a life that none of us would ask for people say oh I want a Ministry that that's glorious be careful you don't know what you're asking for the Apostle Paul had a Ministry that glorified God and it put him in jail and in jail he wrote this letter and it says here that he starts out with blessing look at what the text says first he he says blessed is the god and father of our Lord Jesus Christ so he starts out by blessing the father and extoling the excellencies of the father and then we're going to see in verses 7 through 12 that He blesses and extols God the son and then in verses 13 and 14 I want you to see that the focus is on the Holy Spirit now I'm going to get a little bit technical here but I want to set up some guard rails before we go go any further theologians have a doctrine that they have termed Inseparable operations Inseparable operations and what that means is that's taking in the fact that God is one in essence that there really is one God and by virtue of their only being one God that in a very real sense when one person of the godhead does something in Redemptive history they are all doing it because there is one God there's a scholar that has an academic book that is called the the same God who works all things I believe the author's name is adonus Fu if I mess that up he'll have to forgive me if he ever hears this but adonus Fue if for more of the scholarly mindset has a great treatment on Inseparable operations and it's it's a slow read but it's a profitable read so as we talk about each person of the Trinity I don't want you to think of it this way the father only Els and predestines and the son only redeems and purchases and the spirit his role is only to seal his role is only to regenerate his role is the only open eyes do not do not do not think of it in those terms because we we know from a wider reading of scripture that the father does all these things and the son does all these things and that the spirit does all these things but what Paul is trying to do in his doxology is as some have said Shine the Light upon each person of the Trinity so he can give better Glory to all of what God has done so with that said I want us to look at with those guard rails the work in this text of each person of our Triune God so I told you that in verses 1 through six I want us to see the goodness of the father and what he has done for us Paul starts out in doxology saying blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places in Christ just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and Without Blame before him in love having predestined us to adoption as Sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the pleasure of his will you see here the Glorious truth that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing we have everything we need given to us by our heavenly father th those spiritual blessings include our sin being forgiven they include the glorified body purchased for us they include the fellowship and communion of the Saints for all of eternity and it include seeing God without sin and and without defect and being able to look upon the face of Jesus Christ and not being cast into hell we have every reason to Rejoice dear Saints because God has as the text says blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places how in Christ you see how this is connected to this morning's sermon we talked about being saved by grace through faith and it's by being in Christ being unified with him being made to to be with him when before we we could not be with him because of our sinfulness once our sins are forgiven dear Saints we are given the very righteousness of Christ and we are actually put under the shelter of his wings we are unified with him to be in Christ means that his righteousness humanly speaking is your righteousness to be in Christ means that his perfect life is credited to you to be in Christ dear ones means that you are no longer outside the camp you are no longer cursed you are now blessed to give you an example from scripture remember the baptism account of Jesus when God the Father spoke from Heaven what did he say of the god man he said this is my son in whom I am well please now you listen to this dear Saint if you are in Christ if you've had your sins forgiven if you've had your debt wiped away in the doctrine of justification being declared right before a holy God God the Father looks at you and he says this this is my adopted son this is my adopted daughter in whom I am well pleased you ever thought about that that in Christ the the way the Triune God looks at you is it is as if you are just as sinless as he is even though you know you're not your sins have been wiped away you've been declared right before him and there's nothing in heaven Earth or hell that will ever make the holy God of the universe displeased with you that's what it means dear friends to be blessed with every spiritual blessing and the scripture says that the Triune God has done this that God the father specifically has done this and I'm not I'm not even to the son or the spirit yet and that alone should give you all the Assurance in the world you know what that means if you're struggling with sin dear Saint and we all are that means that you can go to God and he's not your judge he's just as much your father father through adoption as he is the Eternal son and you can go to him and prayer you can go to him not as judge but as your loving heavenly father if that it's not good enough say that God chose us in him in Christ before for the foundation of the world that we should be holy and Without Blame before him in love you see how this connects to this morning's text you see how this connects the all of the Bible that God's election is not only about being born again but God's election the text says is also about the Holiness and the loveliness of the Saints the text says that we are chosen in him the same way we get the Heavenly blessing is in Christ the same way we were chosen was in him through his life death burial resurrection and Ascension it says before the world was God God chose us he chose us that we would be saved that we would be holy and Without Blame before him in love verse five having predestined us to adoption as Sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will we've already talked a little bit about adoption but God not only predestined to save us by being born again he predestined in the sense that we would be adopted as well and this adoption dear Saint the scripture say is according to his good pleasure it was God's will to save you and you know what if if something is God's will will and the Eternal Mind Of God it's going to get done election has implications for the perseverance of the Saints for eternal security you and I may struggle we may fail but God's got us dear Saints God's not going to let us go because to be a Ed into his family he would no sooner let Jesus Christ go than to let us go you are as much his son via adoption as Christ is the Eternal Son and The Trinity that familial relationship of Father and Son and The Trinity can never be broken up neither can your adopted status as his beloved children and that's guaranteed in the predestination of our salvation and that's guaranteed in the the the election of us and just ass sure as we are his sons it says that he predestined us to be holy and Without Blame your your Holiness is just as much a guarantee as your salvation that doesn't mean you'll be sinlessly perfect but it does mean that you will bear fruit of the spirit it does mean that you will continue on and persevere to the end but you don't persevere to the end dear Saints by looking inwardly to yourself all the time you persevere to The End by keeping your eyes upon Christ and looking to him that is the end goal of the Christian life is to Behold Him and all his goodness and All His glory and that's why we see here in verse six this adoption this predestination this election before the foundations of the world this being blessed with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places it is all to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the Beloved how often do you think of yourself as accepted in the Beloved in Christ Jesus remember I read from Romans this morning what did I say I said we are helpless and and of ourselves we are sinners we are ungodly we are enemies of God As I said this morning that means that we're at war with God and we are God's enemy and God is our enemy how horrible is that but yet in the Beloved Eternal son in his gospel the enemies of God are accepted the enemies of God are at peace the enemies of God become friends even and and we see the focus upon beloved in the next few verses verses 7 the 12 in him this is in Christ in Jesus Christ we have Redemption through his blood the Forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace which he made to abound toward us all in all wisdom and and Prudence having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his there it is again good pleasure which he purposed in himself look at what this text says in Christ we have Redemption through his blood and we know that that God in his Essence does not have blood he he is not in his Essence a mortal man is he that he would shed blood but we do know in the Incarnation the son assumed human flesh and being truly God and truly man that truly man really did shed the blood that was inside his body that is how his is able to be the perfect Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world as John the Baptist proclaimed in the old levitical system under the Mosaic law they would have to constantly shed the blood of bulls and goats and Hebrews tells us the blood of bulls and goats doesn't take away sin but this perfect Lamb of God who shed his Divine blood if I may speak of it that way as him being the God man he had a once for all sacrifice and his sacrifice brings about perfect Redemption his sacrifice brings about total forgiveness of sins remember we talked about acceptance before that has the idea of reconciliation you were once at enmity with God now you're not you were once a sinner in God's sight but now you're declared righteous well the way he does that is through forgiveness of sins and it's not as though he'll Wily nearly forgive sins no no no he must have a sacrifice and that sacrifice as we know from the teaching of scripture is his only son only begotten son Jesus Christ look at what the text says this forgiveness of sins verse 7 is according to the riches of his grace we notice similar language in Ephesians to 2 verse 4 this morning didn't we which says but God who is rich in Mercy because of his great love with which he loved us he is Rich not only in Mercy but Ephesians 1 verse 7 says that he is rich in his grace often times we can sing Amazing Grace and and the words just roll by CU we all know it so well all over this continent and when's the last time you've thought about what the grace of God has saved you from and what the grace of God has saved you to we have so many blessings given to us by God's grace and the shed blood of his son goes on to say that that this Grace which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and Prudence that in God's Eternal wisdom he decided to save a people for himself through the death and sacrifice of his only begotten son will never understand just how great our Salvation is we spend all of eternity comprehending the goodness of God and the wisdom of God in Salvation he goes on to say verse n having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself and here's that mystery dear saints that in the dispensation of the fullness of the time he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth and it's all what in him even the consummation of all things when God makes all things right when God does away with this old Fallen World and brings about the newness of the new creation it'll all be because of what Jesus Christ has done and it says in the fullness of the times we long for the day of the fullness of the times don't we that day when all suffering is done away with that day when all the promises of God find their yes and they Amen in the Glorious second return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ well if that's not enough verse 11 says this in him in Christ also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will and and here's what he predestined in verse 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory and that trust that we have in Christ brings to us an inheritance what do we inherit well we inherit eternal life we are treated as Sons and Daughters of the Kingdom equal status with Christ according to his Humanity in the adoption we are Sons just like Jesus Christ is a son as far as status however we are not the Eternal son that only belongs to Jesus Christ he is eternally begotten we are adopted but we are brought into the family of God that's what it means that we have obtained an inheritance we are brought into the family of God do you think of yourself that way I'm part of God's family this church is a part of the family of God and this family is going to go on for all of eternity in praise and worship ship and adoration and glorification of the Triune God that's what he means when he says we've got that inheritance he's bought for us the right to worship God for all of eternity in spirit and truth without worrying about Sin anymore and being a part of his family and being accepted and being beloved in his family and it's all because he's made us to trust in Christ so I ask you for those of you that have trusted in Christ are these truths bringing an amen to your soul are these truths causing you to look to Christ and Trust in Christ more because you love him and you long to be with him you long for that fullness of the times when all things will be made new when we'll be reunited or rather United for the first time with the church triumphant in heaven do you long for that day dear Saint when you you'll be in Eternal rest that's why I said this morning that Gathering of the Saints is a slice of Heaven on Earth our meetings today are just a drop in the ocean of what heaven's going to be Heaven is our inheritance as Spurgeon said even in this life it's heaven to serve Jesus that's our inheritance we we get to serve the Triune God and God the father has won this for us God the son has won this for us and God the spirit has Oneness for us look at verses 13 and 14 in him also you trust him after you heard the word of Truth The Gospel of of your salvation in whom also having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise do you remember when and how the Lord saved you if you do you may remember the moment that you trust in the word of truth that you heard this word of Truth truth the gospel of your salvation perhaps you're here tonight and and you got saved under Pastor Jim's Ministry perhaps you remember the sermon that he preached I don't remember the sermon that the old Preacher Brother Roy Ford preached back in 2006 specifically but I do remember that the gospel was clear c l presented that God is good God is Holy that I am not I'm a sinner I deserve to be justly condemned before this holy God because I've broken every law he's ever made I've broken his Covenant and because I deserve to be judged and condemned I had no hope in and of myself but the good news if I can use the language of all of our texts today is at the right time Christ died for the ungodly that Christ Jesus assumed human flesh and in his Assumption of human flesh being truly God and truly man he lived the perfect life was never a law breaker never a covenant breaker fulfilled all of the covenants on my behalf and fulfilled all of the law on my behalf but died as if he had broken everything he died as if he were a sinner he died under the just Wrath of a holy God for a sinner like me and I didn't understand that in those terms necessarily but I grew in my understanding of theological truth but I knew that I was a sinner and I needed Jesus guess what everybody in this room needs Jesus even if you believed on the gospel 40 years ago you need Jesus today you need to continue looking to him and continue trusting in Him and continue holding fast to him as he holds you you fast look to Christ look to Christ look to Christ perhaps you're here and you're realizing oh my goodness I I fall under the dead and sins and trespasses category I'm a sinner I've never truly believed upon Christ don't sit here and wonder dear sinner if you're part of them El tonight believe upon Christ believe upon Him trust him alone and you can have salvation you can be as the text says in verse 13 filled with or sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise and it says in verse 14 that this promised Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until the Redemption of the purchased possession once again to the praise of his glory many of you have bought a house you know you have to put a down payment on that house even though you haven't bought the house in full you're now on the house the holy spirit in a sense his ceiling is a down payment guaranteeing that the purchase of Jesus was made good and we are as good as he is he owns us we're bought with a price we are not our own but one day soon and the fullness of the times he's going to make good on every promise he's ever made your Assurance of Salvation will one day be sighted you will see your savior dear Church face to face you will know the glories of glorification you will one day be sinless you will one day have a resurrected body and you will one day be in sinless communion with the church historical and Universal to the praise of his glorious Grace and as I said before he's not going to let anyone or anything Rob him of Praise or glory and it's because our God in his Triumph Glory works for our Salvation that we can have Assurance our Salvation dear ones is not based in us it's all based in him the father son and spirit will get the glory that they've set out to accomplish God gets the glory and our salvation he will lose none of it and to lose one of his own would be to fail he won't do that so if you're wondering tonight am I truly saved I I would tell you the same thing I would tell an unbeliever look to Christ trust in Christ look to the cross of calvary don't look to yourself look to him and in looking to him you'll bear the fruit of the spirit let us pray together father we love you so much we pray that you would help grow in our Assurance of Salvation uh we pray that when we do doubt that you would bring this text to our mind that you would help us to know our salvation's not in us but it's in you and we pray and ask that you would help those who are struggling that they would find renewed Assurance in in The God Who works all things and we pray all these things in the name of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ amen stand 68 in our [Music] 568 Praise Him All [Music] Creatures praise the heav H praise Father Son and Holy [Music] Ghost now may the God of Peace who brought up our lord Jesus from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the Everlasting Christ make you complete in every good work to do his will working in you what is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen please be seated we'll have a brief time of prayer when the piano's finished your e e e e e