As a pastor, I obviously sometimes get involved in counseling. So one day, a friend of mine who was a personal counselor, and I got into a conversation about counseling. And just out of curiosity, I said to her, what is the number one problem that people come to see you about? What do you think she would say? Could that be an interesting question? What she said was anxiety or depression, and then she added a few minutes later, or maybe just conflicts with relationships. Now, if you were to ask me that question, there was a time in my life when I would have said, oh, without question. The number one question people come to see me about is, the assurance of salvation. Interesting. I think that that was because at that time in my life I was functioning as an evangelist and I was constantly speaking on the subject, so naturally people came to me to talk about the assurance of salvation. As a pastor, I don't get that as much, though I do get it. As a matter of fact, I think this is a fairly widespread problem, that there are people who have made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, but there are times in their lives when they doubt, that they question, they're not sure. So I want to talk about one of the most basic spiritual truths we can think of. That is the assurance of salvation. Now, I'm doing this for two reasons. One is there are people listening to this who need to know it for themselves. And the other is even if you say, well, I know I'm saved, good. But how do you know to tell somebody else about that who is struggling with it? In other words, where would you show them in the Bible that they can know that they are saved? Well, I want to explore this subject to not only educate some, but to equip us all. So with that in mind, let's talk about assurance of salvation. And I'm going to begin by talking about the fact that there is confusion on the part of some. That is, some obviously are confused about whether or not they are saved. What causes the confusion? and there are a number of answers to that, but I'm going to suggest that one of the problems at the top of the list are preachers. Really. It's what preachers say, and I've dealt with this more than once, many times, that causes people to doubt their salvation. Now, for starters, I just want you to turn with me to Acts 18. I want you to turn to Acts chapter 18. And I want you to begin with verse 14. It says, now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord. though he knew only the baptism of John. So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue when Aquila and Priscilla heard him. They took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. and when he desired to cross Arcadia, and the brethren rode, exhorting the disciples to receive him. And when he arrived, he greatly helped those who believed through grace, for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the scripture that Jesus is the Christ." Now, this is a fascinating passage. The issue is a preacher named Apollos. And the Bible says he was eloquent, that he was mighty in the scripture, that he was instructed in the way of the Lord, and he was fervent in spirit. I mean, what a great characterization of a preacher. That's wonderful. But he didn't know everything. And so Aquila and Priscilla took him aside and instructed him in the way of the Lord more perfectly. Now in this case, I take it that he wasn't saying anything wrong, it's just that he didn't know enough about everything he should have been talking about. In our case, I think that there are preachers who need to be instructed in the way of the Lord more perfectly. If you doubt that, I just invite you to listen to Christian radio for a couple of hours. One of them or two of them needs to be instructed in the way of the Lord more perfectly because they don't agree with each other. One of them's right and one of them's wrong. So let me just insert here. that you don't believe anything any preacher says, including this one, until we show it to you in the Word of God. And unfortunately, so much preaching is what a preacher thinks or what his theology taught him, rather than what the Scripture says. So, frankly, Today, there are preachers who need to be instructed in the way of the Lord more perfectly, and in their case, they are saying things that simply are not true. For example, on the subject of assurance of salvation, there are some who say, well, you have made a profession of faith, but that wasn't real faith. And that causes a lot of people a lot of trouble. They base it on a passage in James chapter 2. So would you turn with me to that passage? James chapter 2. Now, in order to understand this passage, you've got to understand the context. And the context begins in verse 12. So speak, so do, as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. The law of liberty is the law of love. For judgment without mercy, that is, if you don't have love or mercy, then you're going to be shown mercy. But if you practice a life of love and mercy, it's going to triumph over the judgment. In other words, he is saying, look, you've trusted Christ. You know you're going to heaven. You're a believer. Great. All of us are going to be judged at the judgment seat of Christ. And the criteria is going to be whether or not you lived a loving life, that you showed mercy to people. If you do, You pass the judgment. Now, he doesn't go into that here, but other passages, many passages say, and you're going to be rewarded. And if you don't live a life of love and mercy, then you're not going to be rewarded. That's the context of the next passage. That next passage is what preachers uses that teach, well, there's a faith that's not a real faith. Well, let's look at it. Look at James chapter 2 and look at verse 14. It says, what does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith? Ah, there it is. He says he has faith, but he really doesn't have the genuine commodity. Is this passage suggesting that you can say you have faith and not say it? And my response to that is, as you just read the verse, if that's all you read, you would come away with the conclusion that maybe you could say you have faith and not. But that's not James' point. The very next phrase indicates that. He says in verse 14, can faith save him? Now, is there any doubt that the faith in that next statement is genuine? No, the whole point is that if all you had is faith, you can't be saved. So, this passage is not suggesting that there's a faith that's not real faith. It's talking about real faith. You say, hey, wait a minute, preacher. That thing says, can faith save him? All right. The word saved is used five times in the book of James. And none of those is it talking about saved in terms of going to heaven. For example, in chapter five it says, the prayer of faith shall save the sick. That's being saved from disease, not being saved from damnation. The word saved throughout the New Testament is used in all kinds of ways. Sometimes it's used of us being saved from sin and going to heaven. For by grace are you saved through faith, Ephesians chapter 2. But the Bible also talks about Being saved. So in the past, I've been saved from the penalty of sin. In the present, I'm being saved from the power of sin. So you can be saved from danger. You can be saved from physical death. You can be saved from disease. The word saved is used of all kinds of things. So you've got to ask, how is the word saved used in this context? What is he talking about being saved from? Answer, what's the context? The judgment seat of Christ. So if all you have is faith, can faith save you from being judged at the judgment seat of Christ? And the answer is no. What does verse 12 and 13 say you have to have? Love, mercy. So if all you have is faith, You're not going to fare well at the judgment seat of Christ. But if you have faith and then you've added to that love and mercy, you're going to triumph at the judgment seat of Christ. So can faith save you? If that's all you got at the judgment seat, the answer is no. Look, he continues, if a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of them says depart in peace and warm and be filled, and you do not give them those things which are needed for the body, how does it profit? Now, what's he saying? I'm giving you an illustration. Mercy is helping people who have a need, and the need may be food or clothing. But he doesn't say doing those things will save you. Look at the verse. Then if you do those things, verse 16, if you don't do those things, what does it? What's the word? Prophet. Salvation is a gift that has nothing to do with profit. The judgment seat of Christ has to do with profit. So if you don't live a loving life, you're not gonna have profit at the judgment seat of Christ. You're not gonna be saved from the judgment at the judgment seat of Christ. That's clearly the point from the very beginning. He says, what does it profit? My brethren, he's not doubting they're saved. He's saying, I want you to have profit at the judgment seat of Christ. Got it? It's real simple. But preachers mess up this passage. And they challenge people and say, well, you gotta have works. Or you didn't have real faith. Really? Is that true? Do you have to have works to be saved? No. Turn to 1 Corinthians. Put your finger in James 2, I'm coming back. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. First Corinthians chapter three. Show you where works come in. First Corinthians chapter three. And I want you to look at, well, where did we start? Let's look at verse 12. If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble, each one's work shall become clear on the day and that day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test everyone's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built endures the fire, it's made out of good stuff like precious stones and gold and silver, then it says he will receive a reward. All right, we're standing at the judgment seat of Christ. All of our works are going to be tested. If they pass the test, you're going to be rewarded. Now look at verse 15. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss. So all your works go up in smoke. You didn't live a life of love. You didn't live a life of mercy. You didn't meet people's needs. You didn't minister to people. You just lived for yourself. When you stand before the judgment seat of Christ, everything you did's gonna go up in smoke. It was worthless as far as God is concerned. Well, then you're lost, right? No. Look at the rest of the verse. But, 1 Corinthians 3 15, but he himself shall be saved, yet as through fire. So all your works go up in smoke, but you'll be saved. You just won't have any reward. Now go back to James 2. James 2 is saying, let me tell you how to get rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ. Work! And the work is life of love. It's a life of mercy. It's a life of meeting other people's needs. Now, there is more. If you look at the passage, he goes on to say, Well, we read down through verse 16. He says in verse 17, see, if faith is by itself, it does not have works, it's dead. Now, think about this for a second. If it's dead, what does that mean? It was once alive. Make sense? Then what is dead? It's not active. It doesn't have life. It didn't move it. Doesn't mean it never existed. You see, that's the fallacy preachers make when they come to this passage. Let me illustrate. My car battery is dead. Does that mean it was non-existent? No. It just means it doesn't have enough power to do what it's supposed to do. Now, that's what he's talking about. And he's saying, if you don't have works of love and mercy, and clearly the illustration is meeting people's needs, love and mercy, that's what it's about, then you have no reward at the judgment seat of Christ. So you gotta have faith plus works. Number one, to be profitable at the judgment seat of Christ. Now, verse 18 says, but someone will say, Now that phrase is only used twice in the New Testament. The other place is Romans, and in Romans it means an objector is talking. Now some preachers come to this passage and they really mess it up. They say it's an ally. Just read what he says. Now I don't have time in this message to go through all that. I have preached through the book of James. That's all available on the app. I think it's all available on our church website as well. You can go listen to me explain this whole passage in more detail, but I want to get to something else. I want you to go down to, uh, where he says, verse 20, do you not, oh foolish man. He's calling whoever started speaking in verse 18 a foolish man. That also proves that it is an objector and not an ally. Then he says this, wasn't that Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? You've got to be justified by works. You gotta be justified by works. I mean, that verse says you gotta be justified by works, right? Just settle down. James doesn't mean you gotta have works to be justified. He says that in verse 23. And the scripture was fulfilled, which says Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. James believed in justification by faith. But James also believed in justification by works. You ever heard of that? What's the difference? Well, Paul says in Romans 4, you're justified by faith, be for God. And James is saying, you're justified by works, be for people. But look at what he says between the two verses. Look at James 2, verse 22. Do you see that faith was working together with the works? Now, he pointed out that Abraham had faith that justified him. That's verse 23. He pointed out that Abraham had works that justified him. I take it before people. But he's saying between the two that those two things work together. Now, what does that mean? Read the rest of the verse. By works, faith was made perfect. Ah, again, he's not saying there's a false faith. That verse proves he's talking about a genuine faith. Then what does faith plus works do? It makes you perfect. That's a Greek word that means brought to its end. We would say in modern English it means mature. Now, this passage is teaching that you're saved by faith. It says that very clearly in verse 23. It then says you need to have works and the works are clearly defined as living a life of love and mercy. Now, why do you need to add works? Two reasons. Number one, to be rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ. Number two, to be mature in this life. Is that clear? My point is, this passage has nothing to do with having some kind of false faith, but it gets used that way all the time by preacher after preacher, and I have talked to people who heard them and got totally confused because, well, am I saved? I mean, how much work do you have to do? It's massively confusing. So I react to it. The point is, that you are justified by faith before God, but you need works to be justified before people now, to bring to spiritual maturity now, and to be rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ. Did we clear that up? I hope so. This is one of the major passages in the Bible that get messed up. There is another, and it comes from preachers. They say, oh, 1 John is a list of tests to see whether or not you're saved. And I've talked to people and said, well, I heard those tests, and I'm not sure I'm saved. Well, what are the tests? Well, it depends on what preacher you listen to. Some preachers say that there are three, and some preachers say there are Nine, the people who say there are three say the three are, believe that Jesus is the son of God, obey his commandments, and love others. That's what you know. They are saying that's the test to know whether or not you're saved. Well, what if you've been a little disobedient? What if you weren't as loving as you were supposed to be? Then what happens? You get confused over the assurance of salvation. Oh, it gets better. Some have nine. Let me give you that list. You gotta walk in the spirit. You gotta be confessed sin. You gotta be obedient. You gotta love the brethren. You gotta hate the world. You gotta have perseverance and doctrine. You gotta have righteousness. The spirit testifies and discipline. And I even heard a preacher once who, a well-known preacher, who said there were 11 tests. Now, Hear me, hear me clearly. You don't believe anything any preacher says, including this one, until they show it to you in the text, right? So question, is John questioning that they're saved and giving them tests to see if they're saved? And the answer is a categorically dogmatic no. Say, well, how can you be so dogmatic about that? I read the book. Turn to 1 John 2. John isn't doubting they're saved. I read the book. Look at the text. 1 John 2, verse 12. I write to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven for His name's sake. I write to you, fathers, because you've known Him from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. Does that sound like John was doubting their salvation? Of course not. He said the very reason I'm writing to you is you know you're saved. How could he write that and then give you tests for salvation? It's absurd. This book is about fellowship. It's not about test of fellowship. He says that in the prologue in the first four verses of the book. Now my point is that there are preachers out there preaching things that cause people to doubt their salvation. Like, well you may have faith but it's not the real faith. Or they're a test and you don't pass the test. None of that is scriptural. And I trust I've just demonstrated that from the text. I once knew a man, came to me and he said, Mike, would you please talk to my son? His son was in his early 20s. And I said, sure, I'd be glad to. Son came to see me. Didn't attend the church that I was pastoring at the time, but he came to see me. He said, nine months ago, I knew I was saved. I never really doubted that. But I started attending a church where A well-known preacher was preaching that these are tests of salvation. And I've listened to him preach for nine months. And he said, Pastor Mike, I don't know whether I'm saved or not. Now that's but one illustration of somebody listening to the wrong preaching and then deciding that somehow, well, I'm not saved because of what that preacher said. Look at the text. Those passages they use are not saying what they say they are saying. Look at the text. But this brings up the whole issue of then, well, is it possible to know you're saved? And how do you know it? Now, the first point I'm making is people are confused. And I'm suggesting that's because of preachers. There are other reasons people are confused. I hear them say, well, I don't feel saved. Or they've sinned, and now that I've sinned, I wouldn't have sinned if I'd been saved or something. They blame themselves. Now, I'm gonna come back to some of that in a minute. But first, I wanna just address the problem. The second thing I wanna do is, we talked about the confusion. Is it possible to know you're saved? Because there are people who teach that it's not possible. A good five-point Calvinist says you can't know you're saved until you persevere, and you haven't persevered yet, so you can't know you're saved. I once had a conversation with a theological professor, a seminary professor who taught theology, and he was a strict five-point Calvinist. We had lunch together, and I said to him, let me ask you a question. Do you know for sure you're saved? And he said, well, Mike, I have every reason to believe that God is working in my life. I said, you dodged the question. Do you know for sure you're saved? And he gave me the same wishy-washy answer. He could not say yes, because his theology taught him you got to persevere, and you don't know whether you're going to persevere or not. If you don't persevere, then that proves, according to them, you were never saved. Now, here's my point. Is it possible for you to know you're saved? How do you know that? Now, all of you are agreeing with me, but how do you know that? What verse says that? Well, they're all over the place. Since we're in 1 John, turn to chapter five. 1 John chapter five. Look at verse 13. These things I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. Is he questioning whether or not they've believed? No! I'm writing to you who believe that you may know you have eternal life. What could be clearer that you may know? Now, what's going on in this book is there are some people denying that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. that's causing some who believe truly and they've trusted Christ to perhaps have a doubt and he's writing to say no Jesus did come in the flesh and I'm writing to you to let you know you can know you're saved don't doubt that that verse says you can know you are saved and that is only the beginning Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12, I am persuaded. He says, I know in whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day. Paul said, I am persuaded. I've committed it to him. He'll take care of it. By the way, the point, it's not presumptuous to say you're saved. I mean, it sounds to some people, if I walked around and said, you know, I know for sure I'm going to heaven, they'd say, well, who in the, I mean, what kind of pride is that? You know you're going to heaven? Who are you? Answer, somebody that believes God. That's all. I'm a sinner, I don't deserve to go to heaven, but Jesus died for me, I can know. And I'm showing you the Bible says you can know. John said that, Paul said that. Let me give you some more verses. In 1 Thessalonians 1.5, Paul said, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance. Wow. In Hebrews 6.11, it says, let us draw near with a true heart of full assurance of faith. Full assurance. I mean, the Bible not only talks about assurance and says you can know, it says I'm persuaded and I have full assurance. Commenting on some of these verses, one commentator says, this means unwavering confidence, no room for doubt. Another commentator says, utter confidence in the promises of God. Still another said, with no doubt as to our acceptance. So, it is possible you can know you're saved. Amen? Amen. I feel strongly about this because it messes people up. I've talked to them all my spiritual life and that's why I get so exercised about this. You need to know you're saved and you can know you're saved. Let me go one step further. You can even know you're saved on the day you're saved. Remember that Calvinist that said you got to endure? Read the Bible. In Luke chapter 18, Jesus told a parable about two people who went up to the temple to pray. And the Pharisees thanked God that he was not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even tax collectors. The tax collector prayed, God be merciful to me, a sinner. That's Luke 8, 13. And Jesus said, quoting Jesus, I say to you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. He got saved and Jesus said he was justified that day. How about them apples? Oh, it gets better. You want to know for sure you're saved and on the day you're saved? Listen to this. When Jesus was dying, he said on the cross, it is finished. What it takes for us to be forgiven of our sins and go to heaven is finished. Jesus died for our sin. And one of those thieves said, uh, will you remember me when you come into your kingdom? And Jesus said, well, if you get off the cross and if you get baptized, and if you give money to the church and... What did Jesus say to him? Today, you will be with me in paradise. Does that prove you can know you're saved the day you're saved or what? Absolutely. You can know you're saved and you can know you're saved the day you're saved. All right, so far I've done two things. Number one, I've talked about the confusion. There's all kinds of confusion caused by all kinds of things. Second thing I've said is the Bible is very dogmatic and very clear that you can know you're saved. There is no such thing of a false faith in the New Testament. I was taught that as a young Christian. I believed that until one day a professor said to me, there's no such thing. the New Testament. And I was stunned. Well, what about James 2? We looked at that. And there are only a couple other passages they used. One is Luke 8, and I talked about that a couple of weeks ago. And then there's a passage in John 2 that says, they believed in his name. They say, see, they just believed in his name. Well, did you read the book? These are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ and by believing in him, you might have eternal life. John 1 12, but as many as receive him, they should become, they have the power to become the children of God, even to them that believe in his name. Believing in his name is only used three times in the gospel of John. And in the other two, it's very clear. It's talking about people who generally got saved. All those passages they use aren't legit. Read the text. I'm getting exercise. All right, I've talked about confusion, I've talked about the Bible says you can know you're saved, we got one more question left. Then how do you know? Isn't that the ultimate issue? How do you know you're saved? All right, I'm gonna say a couple of things about this. The first thing I'm gonna say is, you need to know what is the basis of salvation to begin with. So, let me just talk about that for a second. Member on the cross he cried it is finished The blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanses us from all sin What's the basis of our forgiveness? What I do or what he did? What he did I was very clear about that When Jesus died on the cross he died to pay for our sin All right then that means you should realize he died for you. The Bible says he died for the sin of the world, and in case you haven't noticed, you're a part of the world. Harry Ironside, the pastor of the Moody Church for many years, wrote a book called Full Assurance, one of the finest books on this subject I think has ever been written. And in that book he said, and I quote, Our peace with God, quote, rests not on me, not on the frame of my hand or experience, but from the finished work of Christ and the testimony of the word of God, end of quote. Later in that book, he quotes Isaiah 53. Listen to this very carefully. It's priceless. He was wounded for our transgressions. Make it personal. Put yourself and your own sin there. Read it as though it said, he was wounded for my transgressions. Do not get lost in the crowd. If there's never been another sinner in the world, Jesus would have gone to the cross for you. Oh, believe it and enter into peace. He was bruised for our iniquity. Make it personal. Think of what your ungodliness in yourself will cost him. He took the blows that should have been fallen on us. He stepped in between you and God with the rod of justice which was about to fall. It bruised Him in our stead. Again, I plead, make it personal. Cry out in faith, He was bruised for my iniquities. Now go further. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. All that is necessary to make peace with God, He endured. He made peace through His blood of the cross. Changed the hour to my. Make my peace. End of quote. I don't know how it can be said any better. Please hear me. I feel very strongly about this subject. But that's because I want you to know for sure you're going to heaven. And it has nothing to do with what you do. It has everything to do with what he did. So the basis is the death of Jesus Christ. But how do you know you're saved? Well, let me talk about the nature of faith. There's a sense in which, if you understand what the New Testament is saying, if you believe, you have assurance. I mean, that's, in a sense, the essence of what you're believing, is that he gave you eternal life. There's a verse in Hebrews, chapter one, that says faith is the substance of things hoped for. Many have translated that verse, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for. A number have translated it that way. No less than John Calvin teaches that faith includes assurance. He defines faith as a firm and sure knowledge of the divine favor toward us founded on the truth of the free promise of Christ and revealed to our minds and sealed to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, end of quote. John Calvin. He called faith, quote, fully persuasion of truth and speaks of being firmly persuaded. A few years ago, there was a man named R.T. Kendall that wrote his doctoral dissertation for Oxford University on John Calvin. And he came up with a similar list of expressions used by Calvin. According to Kendall, John Calvin would use for faith, certainty, firm conviction, assurance, firm assurance, full assurance. In other words, John Calvin captured the essence of faith as being persuaded. assured. Assurance comes from faith. Is he trustworthy? Can I trust what he said? Well if I'm trusting him to give me eternal life, what have I got? This is not complicated. J. Gretchen Mason, one of the great Calvinistic theologians of a bygone day said, and I quote, he wrote a book called What is Faith? And I'm quoting him. Quote, faith means not doing something, but receiving something. It means not earning a reward, but accepting a gift. Birkhoff and his systematic theology, another reformed theologian. says, one who lacks assurance of salvation did not possess true faith. If you really understand what you're trusting for, you got it. That's Burkoff talking. He goes, points out that the Heidelberg Catechism, it's a very famous Baptist catechism of the past, quote, conceives that assurance of salvation is belonging to the essence of faith. I mean, I'm trusting him for salvation. So I got it? If he says that's all I got to do, is he trustworthy? Then I got it. Matter of fact, I think this is very important. In 1 Timothy 1.16, Paul says that you trust him for eternal life. I'm not just believing a bunch of facts about Christ. I'm trusting him for something. Well, if I'm trusting him for eternal life and he promised to give it to me, what have I got? Does that make sense? Don't make it complicated. Let me come at it another way. Let me just say it like this. Do you want to be assured you're saved? This is the bottom line of what I have to say today. Take God at His word. Now, if you forget everything else I said today, remember that one statement. Take God at His word. John 3, John 3, 15. Whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. Jesus said that. Whoever believes in Him, not Jesus, but about Him, believes in Him. That means, I pointed that out in the last message, you're trusting Him. All right? This is my favorite one. John 3.36. He who believes in the Son, has everlasting life. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. God said, he who believes in the Son, right now, present tense, has everlasting life. Believe in means to trust. You trust Jesus for eternal life, 1 Timothy 1.16. And God says you got it. So take God at His word, period. Or there's 1 John 5, 1 John 5, 12. He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have the Son does not have life. God promised that if you trust Christ, you have eternal life, period. Matter of fact, 1 John 2.25 says, this is the promise that he has promised us, dash, eternal life. It says it's a promise. Then take God at his word. One Greek professor said, faith is, quote, the inward conviction that what God said to us in the gospel is true, end of quote. And faith is, open quote, taking God at his word. Saving faith is taking God at his word in the gospel, which means Christ died and Christ arose. It is nothing less than that, but it is also nothing more than that. I love that statement. It's nothing less than me trusting Christ. It's nothing more! God said, He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life. Francis Schaeffer An apologist of a bygone day said, and I quote, the Bible makes it plain that the man who is a Christian has a right to know that he is saved. It is one of the good gifts of God to know truly that he is a Christian. This refers not only to the initial fact that one has accepted Christ as Savior, it also applies to those great and crushing moments in our lives when the waves get high and it seems psychologically and spiritually that we can never find footing again. In such a moment, a Christian can have assurance. His salvation rests on the finished work of Christ, whether he accepts the peace that he should have or not, he can have assurance to the extent to which he believes the promise of God at that moment. I like that statement. You can have peace if you take God at his word. Of course, you can start doubting the promise and listening to preachers and get confused. It's up to you. All right. R.A. Torrey said, it is the blood of Christ that makes it safe. It's the word of God that makes it sure. Take God at his word. I've talked to people who said, well, I don't feel saved. It's got nothing to do with how you feel. It has everything to do whether you're where your faith is. It's not feeling, it's faith. By the way, I say to those kind of people, in the past I've said to those kind of people, are you an American citizen? Are you? How do you know? Well, my mother told me I was. How does she know? Well, I was born an American. I know your mother didn't lie to you. I mean, prove to me you're an American citizen. That fellow on the third, fourth row said he had a birth certificate. That's all you got? I mean, you're going to hang something as important as your citizenship on a piece of paper? Well, let me just tell you, folks, I'm hanging my eternal destiny on a piece of paper. It's called the Bible. Only in this case, it's the word of God. How we doing? Guy on the second row got saved. Not today, but earlier. Here's my point. Because God said, he who believes in the Son has everlasting life. Those who trust Christ for everlasting life are going to heaven and they can know it the day they trust Christ. I turn to that blank page in the back of your Bible. In the first session, first message in this series, I said right at the top of the page, basic truths, basic spiritual truths, or spiritual basics. I think that's what I said. Number one, salvation. And beside that, you should have written Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. This is the second message. Drop down under one, and I want you to write number two. And number two is assurance. And beside that verse, I want you to write John 3, 36. He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life. Write down John 3, 36. Now I got two more things and I'm done. Number one is this. Another way to say everything I've said today is that salvation depends on what Christ did, not what I do, right? Everybody agrees with that. Assurance agrees with that. Assurance comes based on me trusting what Christ did, not what I do. I said at the beginning of this message, there was a time in my life when I got to ask this question more than any others. Let me tell you how I answered it. I took an eight and a half by 11 piece of paper, or I went to a board, and I turned the piece of paper landscape, and I drew a line, a horizontal line across the bottom. On the extreme left of the paper, I'm going to turn the page around, I drew a figure, a stick figure. And then behind the figure, I drew an arrow from the figure. I drew a cross and I drew an air to the cross up in the air behind him, above him. And I said, look, when you got saved, you trusted Christ because he died on the cross to pay for your sin. And that settled it. And you just look to Christ, right? Then I went down that horizontal line. to the right side of the page. I drew another little stick figure. I said, here you are now, later, and you're doubting your salvation. Why? And it's because you are looking at yourself. You're looking at what you did. Now, how did you get saved in the first place? You looked at the cross. You looked at Christ. You trusted Him. then that's the basis of assurance. God said it, I believe it, and that settles it. Next subject. I said I was gonna do two things. First, I'm gonna read you a story, true story. Queen Elizabeth of England heard a sermon that greatly impressed her. Later, she asked her chaplain, is it possible to be absolutely sure of this life of eternal safety? He replied, I know of no way that one can be absolutely sure. There are those preachers that need to be instructed in the way of the Lord more perfectly. This incident was later published in the Court News, which came to the attention of a minister named John Townsend. As a result, he sent the following letter to the Queen, quote, to Her Gracious Majesty, Our Blessed Queen Victoria, from one of her most humble subjects. with trembling hands but loving-filled heart, because I know that we can be absolutely sure that even now of eternal life in the home that Jesus went to prepare. I would ask you, Most Gracious Majesty, to read the following passage of Scripture, John 3, 16. mentioned some other passages, but he went on to say, these passages prove that full assurance of salvation by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ for those who believe and accept his finished work. Several days later, Townsend received this note, quote, your letter of recent date received, and in reply, I would state that I have carefully and prayerfully read the portions of scripture referred to. I believe in the finished work of Christ for me and trust by God's grace to meet you in that home for which he said, I go to prepare a place for you. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the blood of your son. for the assurance of your word, for saving us and giving us the possibility to know it now. Father, thank you for your grace. In Jesus' name, amen.