Assurance Of Salvation

Well, Yonah, did your family make it okay? Haven't made it to their final destination. All right. I have been hearing some individuals here for the last couple of weeks talking about or mentioning a subject I'd like to share on.

We're not gonna look at 2 Corinthians. We're gonna kind of do something a little different this morning, but have heard some people talk about this subject of assurance, assurance of salvation. I haven't spoken about this for a long time.

And so I'd like to take this morning to address this subject of assurance of salvation. I'd like you to turn back with me to 1 John. We're gonna start there.

As a matter of fact, 1 John, this book or this letter was written for the purpose of giving assurance. And if you're like me, you know, assurance is the basis for joy. It's the basis for peace.

Many of the fruits of the spirit assurance is at its root. And if you sit here this morning and you don't have assurance of salvation then you're very limited. Let me say this.

If you don't have assurance, that doesn't mean you're not saved. It just means you're limited very much in your life and you're going forward. But if you do have confidence and assurance in your place in eternity, then you can have a lot more freedom and a lot more boldness and confidence in your Christian experience.

And here in 1 John 5 13, I want to read one verse here. Verse 13 of chapter five says this, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God. Those that profess that you're believers, I am writing these things unto you that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the son of God.

So this letter as Paul, or excuse me, as John is concluding this letter, he gives the purpose for it. These things as he's writing them, these things have I written unto you that believe those who are in the church that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And so this book, if you struggle with assurance, if you have questions about your eternity and where you're at there, this book was actually given by the Lord.

God inspired John to write 1 John and anytime anyone has struggles with assurance, I tell them just go and spend some time in the book of 1 John because 1 John was written to help with this subject of assurance. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know and have confidence that you have eternal life. And so that's why this book was written.

We also can understand from this verse that it is God's will. If he were here in person today in the person of the Lord Jesus, it's God's will for you to have eternal life. It's like, oh, I want my children to know that they have eternal life.

I want my children to know that and to have confidence. You know, the Lord's not up there in heaven thinking, oh, I hope they doubt and wonder whether they're saved or not. No, he's desirous of each one of us knowing and having confidence that we have eternal life.

And that word know, which is found here in verse 13, is the center focus of this entire letter. The word know actually shows up 33 times in five chapters and that's a lot, that's over six times a chapter. Know, know, know, and 33 times.

And so the very theme or the central theme here of 1 John is knowing that you have eternal life. Now, I've been around the Christian experience for a long time and there's been many groups and churches and situations I've been in where I've had people and myself also struggle with assurance. And a lot of people are trying to address it in different ways.

I think there are wrong ways to address this subject of assurance. I think the Bible has the way to address it. But I've been in situations where, you know, I've been told or others have been told just to, you know, go and pray the prayer again, to pray and ask Jesus to save you and then take a stake, a figurative stake and just drive that stake in the ground.

And when the devil comes to you and says, you're not saved or you're tempted to think you're not saved, you just point to that stake and say, look, I prayed that prayer on October 15th, you know, 1992, and that's that. You know, just kind of argue with the devil and put a stake in the ground. The only problem is with that, I don't find it anywhere in the Bible.

This whole idea of driving a stake in the ground. You know, some people, they need someone to tell them, well, my pastor told me that I'm saved. So I have confidence that I'm saved.

That's really not a very good way of going about it either. And so the Lord here gives us his avenue to give us confidence and give us assurance. Now I'm gonna shock you here this morning, but we're gonna take a paternity test here in this congregation.

And unfortunately, we don't have fathers to test. We're gonna test the children to see if their DNA matches the father. Usually you check the father to see if the father's DNA matches the children, but we're gonna do it a little bit differently because there's only two fathers.

Jesus said, you're of your father, the devil, or you're of God, the father. And the Jews were saying, we have God as our father. And Jesus said, no, you don't.

You're of your father, the devil. And the lust of your father, you will do. And so there are only two fathers.

And so the question is, does our DNA match one of those two fathers? And that's how John addresses this whole situation. It's kind of like a paternity test. As some of you remember, Steve Jobs, he was the one that ran, what was it? Not Microsoft, Apple.

Apple. Billions and billions of dollars he was worth. But he had a relationship with a young lady in high school, a girlfriend.

And he had actually had a baby, or his girlfriend had a baby out of wedlock. And her name was Lisa. And it came, of course, time when Steve Jobs passed away, but all this inheritance and billions and billions of dollars.

And Steve Jobs said, it's not my daughter. And so they did a paternity test and found that it was his daughter. And of course, there was a lot of ramifications to that if you're the daughter of a multi-billionaire.

So let's ask this question here this morning. Who is your father? And that's the question that needs to be addressed. Who is your father? And there's only two options here.

The Lord is your father or the devil is your father. And that's how the Bible goes after this thing of assurance. Let's check the spiritual DNA.

In the natural world, you check the blood, you check the DNA, and you link up the child to the father. In the very same way, there's some spiritual DNA that's mentioned here in 1 John. And I'd like to go through the three that are mentioned here, and you can check your DNA.

You know how these things work. There's different colors to them. If you've ever seen one of these DNA things, you know there's these marks and everyone has different marks in their DNA.

And so if you bring Papa out and you check his, if Papa is your father, you're gonna end up with exactly the same marks or the DNA is gonna be the same. And so that's what we're looking at here. Your spiritual DNA, when you look at your father, it's either the devil or it's either God the father.

The Bible says you're either a child of the devil, children of the devil, or you're a child of God. And so here in 1 John, there are three basic markings, DNA markings to determine whether or not we are children of God. The first mark has to do with my relationship with God this way.

The second mark has to do with my relationship amongst the brethren. And the third mark has to do with my relationship towards those outside or those in the world. And so I'd like to look at those here this morning briefly.

Look back to 1 John 2, and we'll look at the first one and we'll notice these words, know, K-N-O-W. That word will show up on a regular basis here in 1 John 2, starting in verse number three. Here's the first know that we can have to know that we have eternal life.

Verse three of chapter two, and hereby we do know that we know him. Here's how we know that we are his, or that we know him, or that he is our father. Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his commandments.

He that saith, I know him, I know the Lord, he's my father and I'm his son. And keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected.

Hereby, or in this way, know we that we are in him. Two times he mentions, here's how we know that we know him. Here's how we know that we are in him in the depths of our heart.

Yes, my pastor can say, well, I believe you're a Christian, just lay it down. But truthfully, we really can't have assurance that gets us through difficult times unless it's something that's deeply in us. It's something that's coming from within, something that's solid and something that's real.

And one of the first marks, or the first mark that John mentions here, those who have the spiritual DNA of God the father have this mark that they seek to keep his commandments, his commandments. He that saith, I know him, I'm a Christian and does not keep his commandments is a liar. Boy, James and I were at Akron this week preaching and young man, a lot of young people today have this attitude trying to talk about, to me about, you know, I'm a Christian and the whole idea of keeping his commandments is just not applicable.

As long as I prayed a prayer, as long as I believed on the Lord Jesus, all these other things. And we began to talk about what if it's a person's a homosexual? Well, if they're of a homosexual, I mean, everybody's tempted, we're all tempted. You can be a homosexual, go on in your homosexuality and still be a child of God, he thought nothing of it.

And that's very prevalent today that we don't have to keep his commandments. Well, hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar.

If you say you know him and you simply walk contrary to his word and to his commandments, I want you to know this ahead of time this morning that you are a liar. Amen. Amen.

You're a liar. I mean, I didn't say that, God said that. You are a liar.

And the truth, it says, is not in you. It's not in you. Of course, who is the truth? Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life.

I am the truth. So Christ is not in you. But whoever keeps his word, in him truly is the love of God perfected.

If you want to have a assurance that is deep and that will deal with the test and the storms of life and the test of time, you need to be one who is willing to obey his commandments and walk in the truth. So if you love me, Jesus said, keep my commandments. A lot of people don't have assurance of salvation.

Some sitting here right now because they're living in sin or they're dabbling with sin and they have commandments before them and they know what the commandment of the Lord is, but they're living contrary to it. And so we cannot have, expect to have, and there's no silver bullet here. Just teach me something that'll give me assurance.

No, the assurance has to come from within. As a matter of fact, it has to come from the spirit of God. The scripture says that his spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

And if his spirit doesn't bear witness with our spirit, there's a problem. And here we're trying to find out where is the problem. And so do you have a heart here this morning to pursue a life of holiness? This is the desire and ought to be the desire of every child of God, because this is the DNA of the Lord.

I am holy, so be ye holy, for I am holy. The pursuit of holiness. Now jump back here to chapter two, verse one.

It says this, my little children, these things write unto you that you sin not. That's the goal. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

And so the heart of God is for his children to not sin, to live a life of obedience to his commandments. Sin is the exception. It is not the rule.

And I've shared this in a children's lesson probably a year ago. You know, the lamb, that lamb with that white wool, when it goes into this mud puddle, it's trying every way to stay out of the mud, stay out of dirtying itself, because its nature is not to get muddy and dirty and mess itself up. And if it does fall into the mud, it's up and it goes and washes itself off.

But that pig gets it out there and just waddles in it, because its nature is to love it. The Bible talks about those who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. First John two, verse 29.

We're gonna stay here in first John most of the time today. First John two, verse 29 says, "'If you know that he is righteous, "'you know that everyone that doeth righteousness "'is born of him.'" They have the DNA of their father, who is the Lord, because he is righteous. "'If you know that he is righteous, "'then those who are born of him "'are going to do righteousness.'" Now, let's just cross this thing, because Caleb here this morning was making this point.

I don't do righteousness so I can somehow be born of him. I do righteousness because I am born of him. It simply comes out of my new nature.

It is a part of who I am, this new creation. And so one of the marks here in the first mark is how I deal with my life before the Lord. Do I keep his commandments? Is my life a pursuit of holiness? Hebrews 12, 14, here's a verse that's often misquoted.

You don't have to turn there. "'Follow peace with all men and holiness "'without which no man shall see the Lord.'" Now that idea here is to pursue it. You know, the heart of a child of God, a true child of God has the DNA to pursue holiness, to pursue obedience to his commandments without which no man shall see the Lord.

And so if you're here this morning and your heart is to pursue holiness, your heart is to pursue not only holiness, but peace with all men. People leave that one out when they quote that verse. Pursue peace with all men.

Oh, wow, that's something to pursue too. And holiness. "'Without which no man shall see the Lord.'" The DNA of a child of God is the pursuit of holiness.

So just look at yourself and say, now whose father is, am I? I mean, whose child am I? Am I God's child or I'm the devil's child? My question is this. Do you have a motivation within you, a drive within you, the spirit of God within you that's saying, you need to live holy. You ought to live holy and you are pursuing holiness.

That's a good sign. And you know, when you're pursuing holiness and you're crying out to God and you're, when you fall, you're confessing, but you're seeking the Lord, you're seeking to do that which is right. Just that pursuit of holiness is something that will give you assurance.

You know, there's no quicker way of losing assurance than just going out there and wallowing in sin. You'll lose your assurance real quick. One of the ways to get assurance is to say, Lord, let's go for this thing and let's pursue holiness and issues in your life.

If you know that they're wrong, get serious about them and address them and lay them down and pursue a life of holiness. You know, sometimes it's two steps forward and one step back, but at least you're moving in the right direction. Proverbs 24, 16 says, for the just man falls seven times and rises up again, but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

Notice the wicked falls and there's no rising up. Look over to 1 John 3. Here's a verse I read to this young man. Yeah, we had an interesting day there.

We weren't there for what, 45 minutes, James, when the three police cars pulled up. Come to find out someone called and accused me of chasing a transgender person. Can you imagine calling the police? There's a preacher here chasing transgender people around.

That would be a sight to see, wouldn't it? 65-year-old man chasing a 20-year-old transgender. 1 John 3, verse six says, whosoever abideth in him sinneth not, whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Now, that word sinneth is the ETH ending, which means they go on practicing.

Some translations translate that whosoever abideth in him does not practice sin because they're pursuing holiness. Whosoever practice sin or sinneth has not seen him, neither known him. So I just want to clarify something here this morning.

If your life has a profession that you're saved and that you're a Christian and yet you practice sin and you go on and your sin in your life is not a new creation, you are lying to yourself. By the way, the worst kind of deception is self-deception. It's one thing for someone, a false prophet, to deceive you.

At least you can blame them for it. It's another thing for you to deceive yourself. So don't deceive yourself.

Let's just be honest. James says faith without works is dead faith. And dead faith is not going to go very far.

Look at verse six. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not, whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you.

Can you see John's writing? Little children, don't let anybody deceive you. There's a lot of people out there saying that you could be a Christian and just go on living any way you want to. Don't let any man deceive you.

If you're truly a child of God, you've truly been born again, you will not continue down this road. He that doeth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil.

For the devil sinneth from the beginning. That's his nature. For this purpose, notice this, for this purpose, the son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.

A lot of people today, especially those young kids that get in these churches and are taught Jesus came to forgive you of your sin. And that's a wonderful thing. And that's half of the gospel.

But he came here, it says that he might destroy the works of the devil in your life. There's more than just being forgiven, amen. To destroy the works of the devil in your life.

And that brings assurance to you when you see that the spirit of God is destroying the works of the devil in your life. He's not building them. But the devil's not building those things in you.

Verse number nine, whoever is born of God does not commit sin, he's not practiced sin. For his seed, this beautiful thing, for his seed remaineth in him. He was born of the spirit, the spirit of God is in him.

He doesn't have the Adamic seed of Adam and Eve, the fallen nature, he has a new nature, the spirit of God, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. He cannot continue practicing sin. Now, say, well, I'll read that, he cannot sin at all, ever.

No, the Bible says, as we say, we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. The idea here is continually going on and practicing sin. Verse nine, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.

In this, here's the DNA, in this, the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil. Whoever does not, whoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. And so, we're talking here about assurance until John says, these things I write unto you that you might know that you have eternal life.

And the first thing I want to tell you is that if you really have eternal life, you're gonna have his seed in you, and his seed is gonna change your life. He's gonna set you free from sin and bondage. He's gonna begin to grow you up and move you in the pursuit of holiness.

And if you see your life moving in that direction, you ought to have assurance. Devil's not moving you in that direction. And your fallen nature's not moving you in that direction.

And if you are moving in that direction, praise God, that's the assurance you need. You're a child of God. Now, if you're sitting here and you're going in the other direction, no wonder you don't have assurance, right? Well, the last half of that verse says, and neither he, or verse 10, neither he that loveth not his brother.

Now, let's move on to the second thing. And we looked here at our relationship with God and righteousness and sin. Now, it's gonna talk about the brothers.

Here's the second mark of the DNA, spiritual DNA, of a true child of God. Look at 1 John 3 here. And we'll start in verse number 11.

For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his brother. Now, Cain and Abel were brothers, but Cain was of the wicked one and he slew his brother. Verse 13, marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you, we know that we have, here's another no, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.

We have assurance that we have passed from death unto life. By the way, when you're born into this world physically, I think of Zach and Tommy, they love each other. They really do.

I mean, they'll fight tooth and nail all day, but they really love each other. I mean, they can't get along without each other. You know, they're brothers.

And because they're brothers, physical brothers, they've been born of the same parents, they automatically love each other. There's a natural affection between those two. And we find that in families.

Families love each other more than they love the people outside that family. And in the very same way as spiritual DNA, we love the household of God. If you're a child of God and you're in this family, you're gonna love the children of God.

Verse 14, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. You know, we got people and can't get along with brothers and sisters.

They have problems, you know, it's always problems. Sometimes there's bitterness and hatred and ugh, amongst God's children. That's not a good sign.

Verse 15, whosoever hated his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. And so our family is the household of God and we have a supernatural affection to love one another.

My question is this, who do you like to be around? Birds of the feather flock together. Who do you love hanging with? Do you love hanging with the unconverted? And there's a good sign that that's where you're at. You're unconverted.

Or do you love the people of God? You love hanging with God's children. What's my family? Of course I love them. Loving the brethren.

It says we know that we have passed from death unto life. We have this assurance because we love the brethren. We have this mark of the DNA that matches the Lord.

Yeah. Yep, yep. God's my father.

Are you pursuing holiness? And do you love the people of God? Oh, it's not a good sign. He said, I just can't stand to go to church. I'd rather go out and hang with some of the people in the world.

I'd rather go hang with them. Oh, that's not a good sign. It's not a good sign.

David said, you know, he was rejoicing when he said, let us go into the house of the Lord. I like being around the people of God. That's my family.

You know, if you don't love your family in the natural world, maybe it's because you're not part of it. Now he goes on here and he talks about how this can practically be seen in our life. Look at verse 16.

Hereby perceive we. Here's how you can understand the love of God. Because he laid down his life for us.

And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso has this world's goods, you know, it's one thing to say, I love the brethren. Oh yeah, it's me.

I love the brethren. Yeah, I fit good on that one. Oh, you do? Well, let's see if you really love the brethren.

Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso has this world's good and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him. My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

So you see your brother have some sort of a physical need at the very minimum and you turn your back and walk away. And in book of James, it talks about you see your brother have need and you say, God bless you. Be warmed and filled and do nothing to help them.

What is the problem? Even though faith without works is dead. So when you talk about loving the brethren, do you lay your life down for each other? Are you loving in deed and not in word only? Verse 19, and hereby we know that we are of the truth. Here's how we know.

This is how you get that assurance that we're of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. And so a DNA mark of a child of God is that they love the brethren. They love the brethren and they are willing to, in a sense, in many ways, lay down their life.

And that might mean to hand over some money. That might mean to hand over some time. That might mean to lend a piece of equipment.

That might mean to go out of your way and help someone when you could be doing some of your own things, but it's to lay down your life and you love the brethren. We know we have passed from death into life because we love the brethren. And then John goes on to say, well, here's a good example of it.

And if you're living a life that's self-centered and you don't lay your life down for your brothers and sisters, then there is probably some concern in your heart that, well, maybe I'm not even in this family here. I'm not even a child of God. Let me read to you here a passage to bring this in.

This here is gonna actually be one of the tests for whether you truly are a child of God in the end. Listen to what it says. "'Then shall the king, when he comes, "'say unto them on his right hand, "'Come ye blessed of my father.

"'Inherit the kingdom prepared for you "'from the foundation of the world. "'For I was hungry and you gave me meat. "'You laid your life down.

"'I was naked and you gave me clothing. "'I was thirsty and you gave me drink. "'And I was sick and you visited me.

"'You loved me. "'You actually showed your love by doing something. "'I was in prison and you came unto me.

"'Then shall the righteous answer him saying, "'Lord, when saw we thee a hunger, "'and fed thee, or thirsty and gave thee drink? "'When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in, "'or naked and clothed thee? "'The king shall answer and say, "'Verily I say unto you.'" I didn't realize this until a number of years ago. "'In so much as you have done unto the one "'of the least of these, my brethren.'" You know, a lot of people think, like we do on Tuesday nights, we used to go down there and feed people and give and water and food. But actually, this is talking about the brethren, right here, my people.

And you know, do you help your brother? You know, if you help your brother, and you probably don't even realize it because you're just doing it because you have the love of God in your heart and the Spirit of God is motivating you, and say, well, when did we do this? "'Well, as much as you did unto one "'of the least of these, my brethren, "'you did it unto me.'" You know? Amen. My truck breaks down, James here comes and finds me a fuel pump, takes my bed off, puts the fuel pump on, brings me the truck, and says, it does no charge. "'In as much as you've done unto the least of these, "'you've done it unto me.'" Loving the brethren.

One of the distinguishing characteristics between a saved person and a lost person is a saved loves his brother and sister. And by this, we gain assurance that we're a child of God. See, there's no silver bullet.

Maybe you're expecting me to get up here and say, you do this and this and this, and then you'll have this assurance. But the truth of the matter is, assurance comes by the Spirit of God. He is the one that bears witness, and the Spirit of God will bear witness to us if we're willing to seek, pursue holiness, and if we are willing to love our brothers and sisters.

Amen. Now, the next one here, let me just review here. We are to walk in obedience to his commandments.

That's our relationship with God. And then the second one is our relationship with the brethren here. And the third one has to do with the world.

So I'd like you to look at 1 John here, chapter four, and this one goes outside of my relationship with God and outside of my relationship with the brothers. Here's the third way to know and have assurance that you have eternal life. In 1 John chapter four and verse 13, there are three things.

This is the third one. Verse 13, hereby know we, there's that word know again, hereby know we that we dwell in him. Here's how you can know that you dwell in him, and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit, and we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. This is how you know. The third way is you have a testimony within you.

And of course, that testimony is being motivated and generated by the Spirit of God. You shall receive power. After that, the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses.

But in verse 13, we know that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit, and we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Children of God will testify of the Lord, because they have the Spirit of God in them, and they bear witness of who the Lord is. The disciples said it this way, we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

And that's one of the evidences. Not only is it an evidence that the Spirit of God is in you by pursuing holiness, not only is it an evidence the Spirit of God is in you by loving the brethren, but there's also this evidence of testifying that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. I think many people struggle with assurance because they're not bearing witness of the Lord.

I think they quench the Spirit. They don't bear witness. You know, it is a wonderful thing for your heart to go out and just share, I believe in the Lord Jesus, and I want you to believe too, and to bear witness and to share the gospel.

You know how it is. People say this, psychologists say this, but even the Bible teaches this, that your heart likes to hear your mouth say what you believe because it assures your heart. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.

My heart likes to hear that. I want you to come to the knowledge of the truth. I want you to believe on the Lord Jesus.

And as you go and your mouth speaks those things, your heart is assured or you gain assurance. That's what it says here. We know that we're in Him and He is in us.

And so we have these three here. We have our relationship with God. He that keeps His commandments, He will know.

He will know. He'll have assurance. He that loves the brethren, this relationship here.

That's the way He will know and gain assurance and also He will testify of the grace of God. And of the gospel. And if you look here in 1 John, those three are sometimes repeated throughout this book.

And sometimes they're put together. But those three are the DNA of a true child of God. Living righteous before the Lord, pursuing holiness.

And I'd like to just ask you here this morning as we do our paternity test and see, we have all kinds of people here. And are you a child of God? Do you have a DNA that matches His or are you a child of the devil? Do you have in you the pursuit and desire for holiness? Well, that's a good sign. If you don't, it's not a good sign.

Do you have a love towards the brethren? Do you have a motivation or desire to testify of the grace of God? The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the spirit of God motivating you to that end. In the last chapter of the Bible, you have to turn there. Some of the last words, the same John the apostle wrote in Revelation 22, 17.

He says, and the spirit and the bride say come. Not just the spirit, but the spirit and the bride. And let him that heareth say come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely.

So you have the DNA. I keep His commandments and that's my heart. I pursue, I love the brethren.

I laid down my life for them and I share what's in my heart about the Lord Jesus. I testify of the gospel of the grace of God. And if you're sitting here this morning and that is your heart and your life, you're probably gonna say, and I also have the assurance of my salvation.

And there are some here who maybe sit and they don't have that. And you have to wonder whether that's, there's issues in those three areas. You know, I don't keep His commandments.

There are certain things I know that I should be doing, I don't. And there's certain things I know I shouldn't be doing and I am. Well, that's not gonna help your assurance.

Your heart's gonna say, whoa, whoa, whoa. And I know these are my brothers and sisters, but you know, when they have needs, I just kind of turn my back and walk the other way. I don't serve my brothers and sisters.

You know, it's a testimony to my heart that, well, maybe I'm not even a child of God. And then when it comes time to share the word and share the gospel of the grace of God, we close our mouths and don't say anything. All three of those will put a real damper on any assurance in your life.

They will. And so this letter was written that you might know that you have eternal life, that you would not be deceived into thinking that you do and self-deceive yourself. And so pursue holiness.

Love your brother and testify this way, this way and out there. And your heart will probably start rejoicing. Hey, you know what? I've got assurance of my salvation, but it's the spirit of God is the one that brings that assurance.

So I trust that that clarifies. And I just ask this question in closing here this morning, who is your father? Who is your father? And you ought to have the proper DNA. If there's a spiritual paternity test done today and your spiritual blood was taken and it was tested and compared to your father's, they're looking for those three things.

Keep the commandments, love the brethren, testify the grace of God. Oh, yep, you're his son. Yep, you're his son.

By the way, his only begotten son was very good on all three of those, all three of those. So if you're sitting here this morning and you don't hit on any of those, that's a real concern. Real concern.

So let's get serious about our future. I made a sign this year for the campuses and about three feet by four feet. And while I'm preaching, I hold it in front of me.

And on the top, it's got like a construction thing, danger, like a road sign danger underneath it. It says, eternity ahead. And then under that, prepare to meet your God.

With Revelation 20 on the bottom, the great white throne judgment. Eternity ahead. It's a good subject to talk about with these young people.

Prepare to meet your God. And so as Caleb started out this morning, we're oftentimes warned and cautioned and admonished and yeah, yeah, yeah, I can agree with that, yeah, yeah, yeah, but nothing is done about it, right? So it's the Lord's heart here in my heart that we all would have assurance. And these things have I written unto you that believe that you might know that you have eternal life.

All right, let's close with a word of prayer and then we'll open it up for anyone who'd like to share anything this morning that the Lord has spoken to you about. Heavenly Father, we do acknowledge, Lord, your word is true and it rings clear. And Lord, that we thank you that your desire is not only to save us, but for us to rejoice, to have the joy of the Lord in assurance that we're your children.

That we don't have to be ashamed of you or concerned and fearful at your coming or at death's door. We can have boldness and confidence by the things that we heard this morning, just a life that's being led of the spirit of God. And so Lord, may you take these words and minister to each one of us where we're at, different places.

Give us encouragement, admonishment, according to your will and purposes. We do love you. Thank you for all that you've done for us, showing us an example of laying down your life for each one of us.

And Lord, bless our congregation here. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.