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favor of God, and in a state 
of salvation, which hope of theirs shall perish, yet such as truly 
believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity, endeavoring 
to walk in all good conscience before him, may in this life 
be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace, and 
may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. which hope shall 
never make them ashamed. This certainty is not a bare 
conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope, 
but an infallible assurance of faith founded on the blood and 
righteousness of Christ revealed in the gospel, and also upon 
the inward evidence of those graces of the spirit unto which 
promises are made, and on the testimony of the spirit of adoption, 
witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God. and 
as a fruit thereof, keeping the heart both humble and holy. This 
infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, 
but that a true believer may wait long and conflict with many 
difficulties before he be partaker of it. Yet being enabled by the 
Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, 
he may, without extraordinary revelation, in the right use 
of means, attain thereunto. And therefore it is the duty 
of everyone to give all diligence to make his calling and election 
sure, that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and 
joy in the Holy Spirit, in love and thankfulness to God, and 
in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the 
proper fruits of this assurance. So far is it from inclining men 
to looseness. True believers may have the assurance 
of their salvation diverse ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted, 
as by negligence in preserving of it. By falling into some special 
sin which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the spirit, by some 
sudden or vehement temptation, by God's withdrawing the light 
of his countenance, and suffering even such as fear him to walk 
in darkness and to have no light. Yet are they never destitute 
of the seed of God and life of faith, that love of Christ and 
the brethren, that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty, 
out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance 
may in due time be revived, and by the which, in the meantime, 
they are preserved from utter despair. Amen. Well, this is 
an important chapter, and it brings out some questions regarding 
assurance, yes, but regarding salvation even at large, as it 
rehearses the matter of our salvation and the champion of our salvation, 
questions such as, what are we trusting in as Christians, and 
wherein does our hope lie? If it lies in ourselves, obviously, 
if we look at the larger picture of salvation as a whole, we know 
that if we're resting upon ourselves and if we're trusting in ourselves, 
we're resting upon wrong things and we're trusting in wrong things. 
Our hope isn't built on us. Our hope is built on the blood 
and righteousness of Jesus Christ revealed in the gospel. And so 
with assurance, as it is with salvation, it's a similar question. What are we trusting in and what 
are we hoping in? Horatius Bonar has this quote 
regarding faith, because we want to note that it is not the strength 
of our faith that is the ground of our assurance. And he makes 
this note. He says, the strength or kind 
of faith required that is in believing the gospel and that 
by which we are justified, the strength or kind of faith required 
is nowhere stated. The Holy Spirit has said nothing 
as to quantity or quality on which so many dwell." We'll just 
pause for a moment there, because I think that's often a mistake 
in assurance, is that the one perhaps lacking assurance is 
dwelling upon the quantity or quantity of their faith, rather 
than on the surety of Jesus Christ. So he says, the Holy Spirit has 
said nothing as to quantity or quality on which so many dwell. and over which they stumble, 
remaining all their days in darkness and uncertainty. It is simply 
in believing, feeble as our faith may be, that we are invested 
with this righteousness. For faith is no work, nor merit, 
nor effort, but the cessation from all these and the acceptance 
in place of them of what another has done. done completely and 
forever. Of course, that's Christ. The 
simplest, feeblest faith suffices, for it is not the excellence 
of our act of faith that does anything at all for us, but the 
excellence of him who suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, 
that he might bring us to God. And so as we're investigating 
this doctrine of assurance, as we're rejoicing in this doctrine 
of assurance and seeking seeking to anchor ourselves to Christ 
the champion, we're to recognize that it isn't the strength of 
our faith that is the ground, the objective foundation of our 
assurance, but once again and rather it is the blood and righteousness 
of Jesus Christ. So this chapter could be outlined 
We're not going to look at every article and sort of parse out 
every single section of the chapter, but the outline of the chapter 
could be seen this way in four ways, because there are four 
paragraphs. First off, assurance stated. Secondly, assurance grounded. Thirdly, assurance realized, 
and then lastly, assurance disquieted, or difficulties pertaining to 
assurance. We'll spend probably most of 
our time on chapter two, assurance grounded or the foundation. the 
foundation of assurance. But let's just have a quick look 
here at paragraph one. And notice assurance stated. 
We see here first off negatively. It says, or it reads, although 
temporary believers and other regenerate men may vainly deceive 
themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being 
in the favor of God and in a state of salvation, which hope of theirs 
shall perish. Now, we need to understand here 
that this This negative statement isn't saying that there are some 
out there who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who trust 
in Him for His blood and righteousness as revealed in the Gospel, who 
will ultimately and finally perish. In other words, as we looked 
at perseverance, there is no one who is saved by the grace 
of God and has been given salvation by a loving and merciful God 
that will ultimately fall away. So this, it speaks in the language 
that it uses, hopefully is clear, temporary believers and other 
unregenerate men. And I think we should have in 
view here that What they're resting upon, or the foundation or ground 
of their hope, is not the blood and righteousness of Christ. 
It is themselves. It is what they are doing. As 
we read, in fact, we can just turn to a couple places for a 
moment. Turn to Luke 18 for a moment. Because this is a wonderful example, 
the way that Luke sets up the parable by the Lord Jesus Christ, 
the language that he uses, so in Luke 18 at verse 9, notice 
the language as he describes someone who would have a false 
assurance. Luke 18 9, also he spoke this 
parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous 
and despised others. So, you know, temporary believers 
and other unregenerate men may have this false presumption, 
this carnal presumption, this presumption of being in divine 
favor, but it's not built upon the blood and righteousness of 
Christ, it's built upon their own self-righteousness, that 
they are justified in themselves. You can also turn back to Luke 
10 for a moment. Luke chapter 10, with regards 
to the parable of the Samaritan and him who fell among the thieves, 
notice in Luke 10 at verse 25, behold, a certain lawyer stood 
up and tested him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal 
life?' Notice verse 29, speaking of the same lawyer, but he, wanting 
to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor?' So There 
is this posture, this reality among temporary believers or 
unregenerate men who may have this vain deception, these false 
hopes, these carnal presumptions. But again, it's because they're 
resting on things that they ought not to be resting upon. They're 
resting upon themselves, their own doing, their own good works. We could think of Matthew 7, 
and those who said, Lord, Lord, have I not cast out demons in 
your name? Have I not done many miracles 
in your name? They're not resting upon the 
blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. You know, that should 
never be a passage for Christians to seek out assurance based on 
doing more than what those people were doing. You know, as Pastor 
Butler has often preached on that passage, that's not a passage 
encouraging us to do more that we might have assurance. That's 
a passage calling upon people to rest upon the blood and righteousness 
of Jesus Christ. We don't come on that final day 
before the judge of heaven and earth and cast our good works 
at his feet. but we claim the blood and righteousness 
of our champion, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this language 
here, this negative reality, these who have a false hope, 
who deceive themselves, are not those who are faithfully and 
with meekness and weakness and that sort of a thing, resting 
with a palsied hand, gripping with a 
palsied hand the things of Christ Jesus and His blood and righteousness. No, it's those who are resting 
upon themselves, the self-righteous, the self-justifying. Positively 
stated then, notice what the language says with regards to 
assurance. We see, so which hope of theirs 
shall perish? And then we read, yet such as 
truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love him in sincerity, endeavoring 
to walk in all good conscience before him, may in this life 
be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace and 
may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall 
never make them ashamed. And so we see the difference 
there. These are those who believe on Jesus, not those who believe 
in themselves, ultimately. Let's turn to 1 John for a moment 
for a clear statement regarding the joy of assurance and how 
it is linked to our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. So in 1 John 5, at verse 13, 
it's a similar statement that John has near the end of his 
gospel, where he writes, these things I write to you so that 
you may believe that Jesus is the son of God and believing 
have life in his name. This is a very similar statement, 
but now he's writing to those who believe to his dear children. 
He's writing now so that they might have assurance, so that 
they might have hope. believing so notice in 1st John 
5 13 these things I have written to you same language as his gospel 
who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know 
that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe 
in the name of the Son of God I think this this does at least 
two things it connects assurance to believing on the Lord Jesus 
Christ But in addition, it lets us know that we may have that 
hope of assurance, the certainty of assurance, because it's linked 
to Christ. We are not to, though, as we'll get to the confession, 
we have those seasons where the storms do roll in, where the 
floods do pour in, and we have the light of His countenance 
removed, and we're stumbling and we're tripping. However, 
that reality does not mean that we are to have some doctrine 
which completely removes assurance from our walk as Christians. We are to know, God says here 
through His Apostle, that we have eternal life. And that that 
life is in the Son of God and is for those who believe in the 
name of the Son of God. And so we can have that assurance. 
We can have that certainty. And as we'll see here in a moment, 
it is linked. It is linked inextricably or 
it is linked inviolably to the blood and righteousness of our 
Savior. So let's let's have a look then at well, actually here before 
we have a look at that, notice notice Matthew Henry here on 
on this particular doctrine. Actually, excuse me, Edward Fisher. 
When we get here to paragraph two, one of the things we want 
to note and we want to emphasize here is that to go about seeking 
assurance, We are not to force ourselves into a striving after 
obedience to the law of God. We are to be obedient, cheerfully 
and joyfully to the law of God, but when we lack assurance, when 
we're weak in assurance, we don't somehow, in order to garner that, 
go about some sort of slavish obedience to the law in order 
to cheer our hearts, because we're gonna fail. if we're lacking 
assurance and if we're weak in our walk and if we are in a season 
where we're perhaps unrepentant or we're weighed down by sin 
and by having sinned against our great God, we're to immediately 
fly to the Advocate, even Jesus Christ the righteous, because 
in Him is our hope and in Him is our trust. And Edward Fisher 
in his Marrow of Modern Divinity writes this, he says, let me 
warn you to take heed of forcing and constraining yourself to 
yield obedience to God's commandments, to the end that you may get an 
evidence of faith again, or a ground to lay your believing, that you 
have believed upon. and so forcibly to hasten your 
assurance before the time. But the right way for you in 
this case to get your assurance again is, when all other things 
fail, to look to Christ. That is, go to the word and promise, 
and leave off and cease a while to reason about the truth of 
your faith, and set your heart on work to believe. That is the 
blessed advice from our brother of old with respect to this doctrine 
of assurance. So paragraph two then, we want 
to look at assurance grounded or the foundation for our assurance. There's a type of certainty here 
that is stated. First off, it's stated negatively. 
Notice, this certainty is not. It is not a bare conjectural 
and probable persuasion grounded on a fallible hope. This is the 
blessed thing with regards to our Christianity, is that our 
Christianity, our faith, our believing is not built upon fallible 
things. We have a God infallible. We 
have a word infallible, inerrant, and inspired. We have those accounts, 
for example, as we read a number of Sundays ago, Luke 1, 1 to 
4, and Acts 1, 1 to 3, where the author Luke stresses the 
infallibility of the story that he is writing under the inspiration 
of the Holy Spirit, the story he is writing. The true account, 
the design narrative, the theological narratives that he is writing 
regarding the doing, the dying, the rising again, and the work 
of the ascended Christ, these things are built upon infallible 
proofs. Luke had certainty in writing. 
And so when we come to our Christian faith, we don't have probable 
persuasions, we don't have stuff grounded upon fallible hopes, 
it's not built upon bare conjecture, but rather it's built upon the 
surety of an, the certainty of an unchanging God, the surety 
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has perfected salvation, and 
upon a word that comes to us proclaiming that Christ, which 
is infallible. And so our assurance, therefore, 
the certainty of our salvation, that we may know that we have 
eternal life, is negatively not fallible, but rather, notice 
the positive statement, but an infallible assurance of faith 
founded on the blood and righteousness of Christ revealed in the gospel. 
So it is grounded upon an infallible assurance of faith, an infallible 
hope. And that's the blessing that 
we have in Christianity, among so many blessings, is the certainty 
of salvation by Jesus Christ, the Savior, and a hope that doesn't 
fail. You know, what's different about 
Christian hope is that. I mean, hope in anything else 
is hope in changing things. It's hope in things that wax 
and wane. With sports teams, for example, 
I often bring up this comparison. I've hoped for a long time that 
the Vancouver Canucks would win the Stanley Cup, but man, that's 
probably never gonna happen. And that sort of fallible, earthly 
hope is not to be transferred to our Christian sojourn, our 
Christian walk. The hope that we have in Christianity 
is the certain expectation that God is true to His promises. 
That is the hope that we have as Christians and as we walk 
our walk of faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave 
Himself for us. It's built upon an infallible 
hope and an infallible assurance of faith. Notice, secondly, under 
this assurance grounded then, so we have the type of certainty 
that we have, and then secondly, the objective foundation of assurance. Notice, but an infallible assurance 
of faith founded on the blood and righteousness of Christ revealed 
in the gospel. There's a wonderful passage that 
we have that links blood and righteousness in a statement 
concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. You can turn to 1 Peter for a 
moment, the first epistle of Peter. And it comes simply in 
the greeting, but it's a blessed statement rich with glorious 
theology. that we have, and it brings forth 
the stuff of this statement concerning the blood and righteousness of 
Christ, revealed in the Gospel. Notice 1 Peter, beginning at 
verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, 
to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, 
Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the 
Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and 
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." Now, I think it's often 
thought that this language of for obedience speaks to the Christian's 
obedience. And there's nothing horrific 
or heretical about landing upon that interpretation. But I believe 
what Peter is speaking to is here, he's speaking of the obedience 
and the blood of Jesus Christ. You see, we receive as Christians 
the glorious reality of an imputed righteousness received by faith 
alone, and we are the blessed beneficiaries of the shed blood 
of the Savior. And so, Peter is emphasizing 
here the righteousness that is the obedience, and the blood 
that is the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. So, our 
the infallible certainty of hope, the infallible assurance of faith 
that we have is built upon the obedience and the sprinkling 
of the blood of Jesus Christ. So first off, let's just have 
a look at some biblical texts that speak not just generally 
to the blood of Jesus Christ, as if we can ever talk generally, 
I mean, but specifically as it pertains to assurance, to perseverance, 
to the fact that in the shed blood of the Savior, we have 
certainty and we have this infallible hope. You can turn to Matthew 
26. In the inauguration of the Lord's 
Supper, we have this language of blood and how it's connected 
to something that is infallible. Notice in Matthew 26, and when you get there, we'll 
pick up at verse 26. And as they were eating, Jesus 
took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples 
and said, Take, eat, this is my body. Then he took the cup 
and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, 
all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is 
shed for many for the remission of sins. So Christ's blood is 
the blood of the New Covenant. And remember the sort of language 
that we have with regards to the promise of the New Covenant 
in the Old Testament. It's a promise of certain things. Remember, it's not going to be 
like that covenant which I made with you, which you broke, even 
though I was a husband to you, says the Lord. The old covenant 
was breakable. But this promise of the new covenant 
brings a measure of certainty with regards to the forgiveness 
of sins, with regards to the knowledge of God, with regards 
to the law written upon the heart, with regards to the fact that 
all covenant members will know the Lord God and have all of 
those spiritual blessings which are in the heavenly places in 
Christ. The promises of Ezekiel regarding 
that same new covenant where God said all of those I will 
divine statements given in the context of promise to his people, 
I will put my spirit within you so that you may walk in my statutes. I will take out the heart of 
stone. I will put in a heart of flesh. 
I will give you my spirit so that you might not depart from 
me." And so the blood of the new covenant is shed and it is 
inviolably linked to the inviolable promise of the new covenant. And so we have that certainty. 
We have that assurance in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Another statement that we have, 
you can turn to Romans chapter five. Continuing with these statements 
concerning the blood of Jesus Christ as it pertains to assurance, 
and we would want to say that whenever we have a reference 
to the blood of Jesus Christ, it always pertains to assurance, 
because by that blood, we can have it. By that blood, we have 
the certainty of salvation, and by that blood, Christians can 
have assurance. So notice in Romans 5 at verse 
6. For when we were still without 
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely 
for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man 
someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own 
love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ 
died for us. Much more then, having now been 
justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Now, this comes upon the heel. 
It uses this language of justified by His blood. It's a wonderful 
language that we have by Paul in the book of Romans, because 
he uses the language of justification, and he uses it in three ways. 
Not in three different ways, but he uses three terms, he has 
three statements that he uses to bring together the same blessed 
truth. Justified by faith, justified 
by grace, and justified by blood. These are not three different 
justifications, this is the same justification by the perfection 
of the work of Jesus Christ our Savior, but he brings together 
these three theological, these rich theological terms, faith, 
grace, and blood, to speak of our of our justification. And notice, previous to this, 
at the beginning of chapter 5, therefore, this is verse 1, having 
been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord 
Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into 
this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory 
of God. So there is this blessed reality 
that by virtue of the blood of Jesus Christ, we have this peace 
with God, we have this hope with God, which peace and which hope 
can never be taken away. We can also turn to Hebrews 9. You'll remember that in the book 
of Hebrews, Paul is very often emphasizing the certainty, the 
surety, the reality that in Christ Jesus, we are to have a boldness, 
that we are to have an assurance. In fact, he uses that language 
in chapter 10, verses 21 and following. But first off, in 
Hebrews 9, notice the language picking up at verse 12. Verse 
11, sorry, Hebrews 9, 11. But Christ came as high priest 
of the good things to come with the greater and more perfect 
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, 
not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood 
he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained 
eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and 
goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies 
for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood 
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without 
spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the 
living God?" It's a wonderful link between the blood of Christ, 
to our assurance, and also to the freeness by which we approach 
God in our service to Him. Christ's blood is the foundation 
of that hope and of our abiding and continual service, our joyful 
and cheerful service to God. But we see here that the blood 
of Jesus Christ has has certainty connected to it. I know I'm preaching 
to people, hopefully preaching to people that all believe this, 
but we need reminders, brethren, because the floods do come and 
the storms do roll in. Because we do stumble, we do 
trip, we do fall, not fall away ultimately and finally, but as 
the chapter says here, we may have for a time the light of 
God's countenance removed and we will abide in darkness for 
a time. We need to understand then, we 
need to be reminded continually of the certainty of the work, 
of the perfection of the Son of God, our Savior, and in this 
specific context, our present focus, His shed blood. We are 
not to be, remember those who come sheepishly, to the throne 
of grace. We're not those who come with 
this uncertain trepidation as unto a tyrant God. But by virtue 
of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we can come confidently and boldly 
and freely free of trepidation, free of condemnation, because 
of, not of ourselves, not because of ourselves and our own blessedness, 
but because of the blessedness of another, that is Jesus Christ, 
by virtue of the shedding of His precious blood. And that 
language of assurance, remember, is used starting in verse 19 
of Hebrews 10. Verse 19 of Hebrews 10, Therefore, 
brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood 
of Jesus by a new and living way, which he consecrated for 
us through the veil that is his flesh, and having a high priest 
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in 
full assurance of faith. having our hearts sprinkled from 
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." You 
notice in the context here, that full assurance of faith isn't, 
okay, you've looked in the mirror, you've considered yourself, you 
know, you've reflected upon your week and, you know, you've done 
pretty good, you've done sort of okay with the first four, 
you've done okay with the, you know, the last six, that is the 
commandments, you know, you're doing pretty good. And so, you 
know what? I'm feeling pretty assured today. That's not how 
we are to approach assurance, and hopefully we all understand 
that, because notice how this is connected here. It's connected 
to the blood of Christ. It's connected to the shed blood 
of the Savior. This language, let us draw near 
with a true heart in full assurance of faith, and notice, having 
our hearts spread sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies 
washed with pure water." The ground of our assurance is, in 
this context here, the perfection of the blood of Jesus Christ, 
and the washing of regeneration that that sprinkling prefigured. 
You know, the sprinkling of goats and calves, sprinkled, it said 
here, for the flesh with regards to those unclean things, but 
it prefigured the sprinkling of the blood of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, which is linked to that blessed washing of the Holy Spirit. 
We're not saved by deeds of righteousness, which we have done, but according 
to His mercy, He saved us through the washing of regeneration and 
the renewing of the Holy Spirit. And so this assurance of faith 
is grounded upon the perfection of the work of the unchanging 
triune God, by the saving work of our blessed Savior, and by 
the irrevocable applications of irresistible grace by the 
third person of the blessed Trinity. And so, Again, and blessedly, 
our assurance is linked inviolably to the shed blood of the Savior. 
Just a couple more passages regarding that, and then we'll look at 
the righteousness of Christ, as that is what is stated in 
the Bible, yes, but in the confession here with regards to this doctrine. 
But in the book of Revelation, we can look at Revelation 1. Revelation 1 and verse 5. Notice the language here, connecting 
the blood of Christ to certain blessed realities. Grace to you, 
this is the end of verse 4, and peace from him who is and who 
was and who is to come. And from the seven spirits who 
are before his throne and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, 
the firstborn from the dead, and ruler over the kings of the 
earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His 
own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, 
to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." And 
then flip, if you will. We're going to bring these things 
together to Revelation 5. Notice in Revelation 5 at verse 
8, And they sang a new song saying, you are worthy to take the scroll 
and to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed 
us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people 
and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God, 
and we shall reign on the earth. I don't think we should ever, 
and actually I know that we should never, when we come across this 
language connecting the work of God to certain results, And 
what I mean by that is this language, have redeemed us to God. We're 
not to somehow import weakness, or imperfection, or doubt, or 
anything, or failure, or fallibility to the work of the triune God. 
The language is that Christ, our champion, has redeemed us 
to God by His blood. There is a certainty to the redemption 
when we read in the scriptures that God has done a thing, that 
Christ has performed a thing. There is a blessed certainty. 
And turn lastly here, wrapping it up, not that we're exhausting 
the revelation of the blood of Christ as it pertains to this 
book, but notice in Revelation 12 at verse 11. Then I heard a loud voice saying 
in heaven, Now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our 
God and the power of his Christ have come, for the accuser of 
our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, 
has been cast down. And they overcame him by the 
blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and 
they did not love their lives to the death. Notice this language 
of overcoming as it's connected to the blood of Jesus Christ. 
The devil cannot assail us with his accusations and with his, 
you know, wicked machinations because we have the certainty 
of salvation by virtue of the shed blood of Jesus Christ our 
Savior. They overcame him by the blood 
of the Lamb and by the word of the testimony. We are overcomers, 
not by virtue of ourselves, but by virtue of the blood of Christ 
and the abiding seed of God within us, the Spirit of God, as He 
is our seal and guarantor unto that great day of redemption. 
So the blood of Jesus Christ is inviolably linked to assurance 
and is an objective foundation of it, and also the righteousness 
of Christ. Remember the language of the 
Confession here, that the certainty of our infallible assurance of 
faith is founded upon the blood and righteousness of Christ revealed 
in the Gospel. So with respect to that righteousness, 
There are a number of passages that we could look at. We could 
look at, and if you're making notes, you can jot these down, 
Romans 5, 17 and 18, 2 Corinthians 5, 21, and Philippians 3, 9, 
speaking of the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ and the 
righteousness that is His imputed to us and received by faith alone. 
the righteousness of Jesus Christ is, at the foundation, is one 
of these two things stated that are the objective foundation 
of our assurance. The righteousness of Christ. 
Imagine if we were to think that our act of obedience is the ground 
of our assurance. I think that's how many stumble 
and how many fall and how many are are just sort of cowering 
in the face of what they think the doctrine of assurance actually 
is. That it's their act of obedience 
that is the ground and foundation of their assurance. And that's 
not the case at all. It's the act of obedience of 
Jesus Christ and His passive obedience in His death that are 
the foundations for our assurance. And so, if we learn anything 
from the doctrine of assurance, it's that our assurance is in 
Christ. is that our assurance is in His active and in His passive 
obedience. So the righteousness of Christ, 
as it's brought out in Romans 5, 17 and 18, remember, by one 
man's disobedience, sin came to men, but by one man's obedience, 
life and justification came. We no longer have condemnation 
because of the champion Christ and His righteousness imputed 
to us and received by faith alone. We have that wonderful language 
of 2 Corinthians 5.21, that our sins are imputed to the Lord 
Jesus Christ. He bore our curse in our stead, 
the curse of the law, and His righteousness is imputed to us, 
again, received by faith alone. We have that wonderful language 
of Philippians 3.9, that Paul doesn't trust in his righteousness, 
he trusts in the righteousness of another, the righteousness 
of Christ by faith. not by His own deeds of righteousness, 
but rather the righteousness of Christ. That righteousness 
which God demands, but that righteousness again which He provides through 
Jesus Christ, the Son of His love. So it is the blood and 
it is the righteousness of Jesus Christ that are the objective 
foundation of our assurance. And notice that the confession 
goes on to say here, so, maintaining the statement, founded on the 
blood and righteousness of Christ, revealed in the gospel. So we 
kind of have a threefold thing here. We have the blood, we have 
the righteousness, and we have the revelation of these things 
in the gospel. The objective foundation of our 
assurance is published in the good news concerning Christ. The gospel proclaims the righteous 
Christ who shed his blood. You know, when we look at, when 
we consider the Gospel, when we consider the death and the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is, you know, the sum and 
substance of the Gospel, that the Son of God lived, died, and 
rose again for us. Remember, it's not just a historical 
thing, though it is a historical thing. It's not just that Christ 
died and that Christ rose again, but there is theological explication, 
there is theological explanation connected to those historical 
events, the death and the resurrection. Remember the language of Romans 
4, and you can turn there. the language of Romans 4, connecting 
salvation to the proclamation, or in our context, connecting 
assurance to the proclamation of the gospel, and that the objective 
foundation of our assurance is proclaimed in the gospel. In 
Romans 4, at verse 25, the recognizable language Christ was delivered 
up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification. So the objective foundation of 
our assurance is proclaimed in the good news concerning that 
one who is the objective ground of our salvation. The good news 
comes to us and it proclaims a Christ who was righteous for 
his people and who shed his blood for his people. And so we have 
the blessed reality that God has given us this revelation 
wherein the foundation for our assurance is laid out for us. 
He has revealed the foundation for our assurance. He doesn't 
call us to come to the scriptures and to come Lacking assurance, 
He doesn't call us to come to the Scriptures and thereby find 
some perhapses and some maybes, but rather He calls us to come 
to the Scriptures to lay hold with eyes of faith of the Son 
of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us, and to therein 
and to thereupon see the objective ground of our assurance. The Gospel proclaims the righteousness 
of Christ, who shed His blood. Thirdly, under assurance grounded. or the foundation for assurance, 
we want to note the evidences of the truthfulness of our Christian 
profession. Notice the paragraph goes on 
to say, and also, that is founded, and also upon the inward evidence 
of those graces of the Spirit, unto which promises are made, 
and on the testimony of the Spirit of adoption, witnessing with 
our spirits that we are the children of God, and as a fruit thereof 
keep keeping the heart both humble and holy. So there are those 
things that we have as the evidences of the truthfulness of our Christian 
profession. They are not those things that 
we are to link the caboose of our assurance to. Again, if we're 
struggling and we're weak, we're not to look with you know, with 
one eye upon Christ and the other eye upon the inward motions of 
the Holy Spirit upon our own hearts, were to look with both 
eyes upon Christ. But there are those things, remember, 
that God has revealed in the Holy Scriptures that testify 
to the veracity of our profession of faith. Well, let's just turn 
there. Let's turn to 1 John for a moment, 
because there are a number of passages there that John brings 
out for us, that John sets forth for us, whereby we can know that 
we are Christians. If we act as devils and run about 
as demons, I think we can know that we're not Christian. If 
we are looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, but we stumble and we 
fall and we sin and there is that remaining corruption, the 
flesh is lusting against the spirit, the spirit against the 
flesh, but we're in the struggle. We're looking to Christ. We don't 
have the perfection of faith, and we're not perpetually holy 
and always holy and personally and exactly and perpetually holy, 
but we're in the struggle, we realize our remaining corruption 
and we're looking faithfully to the Savior, yes, we are gonna 
have assurance assailed and assurance disquieted, but we don't look 
to ourselves in order to build up the cheerfulness and the joy 
and the hope that we have, we look to Christ. But there are 
evidences of the truthfulness of our Christian profession. 
Notice in 1 John 2 at verse three, now by this we know that we know 
Him if we keep His commandments. So if we're seeking in cheerful 
obedience, in loving obedience, in response and in gratitude 
to our salvation by free and saving grace, to do those things 
that are obedient in the sight of God, we can know that we're 
Christian. We're not saved by those things, 
but these are evidences that testify to the veracity of our 
profession. We're not justified by our works, 
but our works are so many testifications to, that is, witnesses to, the 
truthfulness of our profession. So again, we don't rest upon 
that as the ground of our assurance, but rather we can see those things 
as, if we're going about always violating the Ten Commandments 
unrepentantly as just venomous, vitriolic human beings, unregenerate 
men, temporary believers, whatever it may be, I think we can know 
that we're not Christian. We need to look to Christ and 
believe the gospel. But in our weakness, as the flesh 
is lusting against the Spirit, as we're going about our Christian 
sojourn, struggling with that battle, but looking to Christ, 
coming to Him, in repentance, flying to the Advocate with Jesus 
Christ the righteous, and yet we are doing those things which 
are pleasing in the sight of God, having been saved by amazing 
grace, we have evidences to the truthfulness of our profession 
of faith. Also in 1 John 2 at verse 9 to 
11, he who says he is in the light and hates his brother is 
in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides 
in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But 
he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness 
and does not know where he is going because the darkness has 
blinded his eyes. So we see here, the commandments, 
cheerfully doing the commandments of God, and love to brother. 
We also see, if you look at verse 10 of chapter 3, in this, the 
children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. Whoever 
does not practice righteousness is not of God. Nor is he who 
does not love his brother. For this is the message you have 
heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not 
as Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. 
And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and 
his brothers righteous." And then finally, well not finally, 
there's two more here. 1 John 4, 7, just looking at 
some proofs, some evidences to the veracity of our profession 
of faith. 1 John 4, 7, Beloved, let us love one another, for 
love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and 
knows God. He who does not love does not 
know God, for God is love. In this, the love of God was 
manifested toward us, that God has sent his only begotten Son 
into the world, that we might live through him. In this is 
love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us. and sent 
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God 
so loved us, we also ought to love one another." And finally, 
but not exhaustively, in 1 John, look at 1 John 5, 1, "...whoever 
believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone 
who loves Him who begot also loves who is begotten of Him." 
So John brings out these evidences to the veracity, the truthfulness 
of our Christian profession. And seeing these, understanding 
these, we are not to have the comfort that the blood and righteousness 
of Christ affords us, because that's a different foundation, 
that's a different ground, that surety, that certainty, that 
is inviolable hope. but we do have these evidences 
to the truthfulness of our profession. And we ought to seek diligently 
to be those Christians, those grateful Christians who are saved 
by amazing and victorious grace, who seek to cheerfully do those 
things which are pleasing in the sight of God. Notice then 
lastly, with regards to this ground of self, this assurance 
grounded, we have the testimony of the Holy Spirit to our spirits. This wonderful language that 
we have here in paragraph two near the end here, and also upon, 
excuse me, and on the testimony of the spirit of adoption, witnessing 
with our spirits that we are the children of God, and as a 
fruit thereof, keeping the heart both humble and holy. So the Spirit of God testifies 
to us, to our spirits, that we are the children of God. This 
language is brought out of Romans 8. We have this wonderful reality, 
this wonderful When we look at the doctrine of assurance, we 
talked a lot about the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, 
and we ought to speak a lot about the blood and righteousness of 
Jesus Christ. But let's also remember the perfection of the 
triune God and the the reality that we have this full orb, whole 
and perfect salvation brought to us by Father, Son and Holy 
Spirit. And we have the blessed Spirit 
of God that testifies to us that we are the children of God. We're 
not left alone to grasp and to grab at this assurance. We're not left alone in our Christian 
sojourn, but the Spirit testifies to us. You are resting upon the 
blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. He brings us fresh apprehensions 
of the fact that we don't stand upon ourselves, we don't stand 
upon some slavish economy of salvation whereby we have to 
climb the mount unto divine favor, because we would always fail, 
or even unto the reality of assurance. but that Christ is the ground, 
that Christ and His blood and His righteousness are the ground 
of this blessed realization. And in closing, we're skipping 
past some of the stuff of paragraph three. Maybe just one quick thing 
to note from this paragraph is the encouragement of the use 
of means. One of the things that this paragraph says here, it 
says near the middle or near the middle, just to the top of 
the middle, that God may, or that we may, without extraordinary 
revelation, in the right use of means, attain thereunto a 
certainty in assurance. you know, we are not, God does 
not, you know, sort of, you know, zap us. God does not use, you 
know, visions and divine appearances and theophanies. He doesn't impress 
upon us by some grand supernatural, you know, measure in that manner 
to bring us to a point of assurance. There's a doctrine, probably 
in view here is maybe the Catholic, well actually certainly the Catholic 
Church, but also perhaps the Quakers and others who had a 
doctrine. The Catholics, for example, had 
this doctrine where you could only really attain unto the certainty 
of an assurance by a supernatural imposition of God, an extraordinary 
revelation. But rather it says, in the right 
use of means we may attain thereunto. That's why the chapter on saving 
faith talks about attending unto the means of grace. That there 
is a blessed simplicity in the Christian religion. If you want 
to avail of the assurance that saints can avail of, come to 
church. Engage in the ordinances. Read 
your Bibles, come to church, pray, not because those activities 
themselves and the performance of them are the objective ground 
of your salvation, but because by virtue of the finished work 
of Jesus Christ, the triune God works through those things in 
order to pour out grace upon our hearts and to strengthen 
us in our Christian walk. So don't wait for extraordinary 
revelation. Attend joyfully and cheerfully 
to the simple means of grace. Go about those things that God 
has called us to do, and by the Spirit he impresses upon us the 
glories, the excellencies, and the riches of Jesus Christ, so 
that we might have this assurance. The stuff of paragraph four, 
that though we're tempted, though we're tried, though we're assailed, 
Though the world allures us, though the devil does assail 
us, though the flesh fights against and lusts against the Spirit, 
we will be restored. We're never destitute of the 
seed of God. We will be assured in due time. 
We will be revived. And in the meantime, we are preserved 
by virtue of the perfection of God and Christ from utter despair 
in our faith. Well, let's close in prayer. 
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this doctrine of assurance. We pray, Lord God, that you would 
help us in this to rest fully and solely and alone upon the 
blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we 
might see in Him our assurance, the certainty of our grace and 
salvation. And we pray, Lord God, that we 
would rest upon Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the one who 
is unchanging and eternal and glorious and all of those perfections 
and we pray as we go into worship that we would come into worship 
joyfully and cheerfully help us to be resting upon our Savior 
to be resting joyfully upon our God that we might go about these 
these means of grace the the exercises of worship the elements 
of worship with cheerful Christian hearts and that we might truly 
give you worship and lift up one another in our most holy 
faith we pray in Christ's name amen