1 John 1, beginning at verse 7, the Word of God says, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. Once again, may God add a blessing to the reading of his Word. What does our day-to-day walk, what does it tell us about the doctrine of assurance? Can we learn anything about the reflecting of our day-to-day life, and the doctrine of assurance of grace and salvation. We began this morning with grounding the doctrine of assurance not in our own works, not in our ability to believe enough, whatever it may be, but in the righteousness and blood of Jesus Christ, and rightly so. Yet there is more to say concerning the assurance of grace and salvation, and I think it really does come by way of the first portion of this text in 1 John 1, verse 7. There's a contrast in 1 John 1 that you really can't get around, and that is the walking that comes by way of those who are outside of Christ and then the walking that comes by way of those who are in Christ. When you look at the first portion of this text, you'll notice that there are, that John talks about those who say they believe, say that they have a confession, they say that they believe in Jesus Christ, yet they walk in darkness. If somebody says that they believe in Jesus Christ, but walk in darkness, What is that likely an indication of? They're a false professor, right? Maybe an indication that they're living in sin, they're living in a state of darkness. But typically, and the way John's using it in this context, it's talking about those who have a false profession of faith. Those who may say that they believe this, live by this X, Y, and Z, but when you examine their life, when there is some self-examination done, they show themselves to not really believe what they're saying. This points us to this idea of walking in the scripture. We see this time and time again, both Old and New Testament, this idea of walking. There's a walking in darkness, and here a walking in the light. And what does it mean to walk? Walking in light here obviously is not the Christian life needing to have some illumination in front of us, and we step in that illumination every single step of the way until we get to the grave. To walk here is to live and act, really, or behave, and to pursue a particular course of life. So those who are walking in darkness are engaging, living, behaving according to darkness. according to the flesh, according to sin, according to their father, the devil. Yet the Christian does not walk this way. We are called to walk contrary to this way of life. We walk with Christ, or we walk in the light, that which is illuminated for us by faith. Those who walk in the darkness walk apart from Christ. And they do this whether in ignorance, many walk apart from Christ in an ignorant state, or in some cases, outright rebellion. Where people know, apostate children, this is an example, those who have left the faith entirely and become atheists or whatever they call themselves today, there's outright rebellion and then there's an ignorance, but oftentimes there's even error. And in this state of darkness, they usually bask and that which is ignorant, or that which is rebellious, or that which is erroneous. Yet it shouldn't be a surprise to us that this is common in our society and really in the world at large today. Paul writes in Romans chapter 1, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. So God has made himself known. He has revealed himself to all of creation, yet because of sin, we choose that which we love, which is sin, and not that which loves them, which is God. To sum it up quickly, those who are walking in the light are walking in the right direction, and those who are walking in darkness are walking the wrong way, and their destination is eternal torment if they die in their sin. So in contrast to this darkness, we have the light in verse seven. What does it mean to walk in the light? If I were to ask that question to you, what does it mean for us to walk in the light? What are some answers that come at the forefront of your mind or come to mind? Walk in obedience. That's a good one. Any other thoughts? Another way to say that maybe is to walk in accordance with the truth, the way things truly are, what truly is righteous, and avoid what truly is sinful. That's right, yeah, and those two answers definitely are hand in hand, right? To walk in the light is to walk according to his word. When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word, what a glory he sheds on our way, right? To walk in the light is to walk according to his word, by His Spirit, by His Spirit on the road to the Celestial Kingdom. Those two things are necessary when we think of walking in the light according to His Word and by His Spirit. Those two things are essential. Why are they essential, church? Well, because somebody can walk in obedience and be walking in darkness. Someone can be dead in their sin, obeying the law of God, right? Someone that happens quite often, actually. But with regards to assurance, with regards to our walking in the light, we must both be walking according to his word, by his spirit. Our obedience, therefore, must be spirit-led. So interestingly enough, when we think of this statement written by John, this too speaks of the doctrine of assurance. While our assurance is founded, that is, it's rooted, it's grounded in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ revealed in the gospel, we likewise confess that God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, and subsequently has given us his spirit, father and son, as a helper, a comforter, a witness to the end of the age. So the Lord Jesus Christ died, yet he tells us that both father and son promised to send the Holy Spirit, for what? To be a comforter, a helper, a guide. Therefore we, as recipients of this Spirit, those who have received the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, upon the inward evidences of those graces of the Spirit, unto which promises are made, these promises made to us, on the testimony of this Spirit, that is the Spirit of adoption, who does not lie, Right? The Spirit leads us to all truth. It is blasphemy to accuse the Spirit of any kind of deception or falsehood. But because of the Spirit and His work in us, we may know that we are children of God. So that the Holy Spirit's work in and through us says something about assurance. Says something about assurance. I want to be very careful here because we're not looking inward to our own works what we think using a sinful rationale to conclude that we are in a state of grace or a state of salvation. But we do look and examine our lives and see the inward evidences of the grace of the Holy Spirit, the working of the Holy Spirit, and may and ought to conclude that we are not only children of God, but we are in a sure state of His grace. In other words, to make this a little more simpler, the Holy Spirit working in us and through us is a great means to assure us that we are secured in Christ. The Holy Spirit working in and through us is a great means of God to assure us that Christ is with us, we can hold true the promises of God when he says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. This is a promise made to Joshua before his time of battle and quoted by the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews to show forth that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, also in Hebrews. But it's not just Paul, it's not just the Old Testament saints that said things of this sort. Saint Peter affirms this truth in 1 Peter 5 where he says, and hear this, but also for this reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control perseverance, and to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. And then hear this, congregation, therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the kingdom, excuse me, the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Be even more diligent to make your call and election sure. Call to what? Call to the beloved son in whom he is well pleased. Election unto what? Unto eternal life, which is secure in Christ. We are called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and in doing so, in being mindful of our walk in the light, that spirit-led walk in obedience, as we heard earlier, we indeed may find ourselves to have great assurance. Great assurance. Those that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and love Him in sincerity, as you've heard this morning, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before Him, may in this life be certainly assured that they are in a state of grace. So therefore, we will conclude with these four sub points that assurance is ever ready for those that first and foremost truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and love him in sincerity. Again, like we are to look at the cross and know that's what we believe, that's what we affirm, that's what we live by and for, we are to likewise look at ourselves and ask the honest question, do I believe this? Am I living for this? Why must we ask that question? Why must we examine ourselves to see if we're in the faith? Well, because false assurance may be had by those outside the faith. There is a such thing as false assurance. Those in darkness may and often do deceive themselves to believe that they are secure and comforted. Yet this belief falls apart by way of self-examination. It falls apart. When one examines what they believe and how they love God, the false professor almost certainly immediately sees that they are insincere and dishonest. This can't be said, though, with regards to those walking in the light. Well, because there's nothing false about the one that has redeemed us, and there is nothing false that comes by way of the faith that comes by hearing the words of Christ. There is nothing false about the things proclaimed to the true believer, as they are not from man, but from God. So our belief in Jesus Christ is all of grace. It comes from God. The testimony of the Holy Scriptures make this clear, right? Ephesians chapter 2, where by grace you have been saved through faith and is not of your own doing, it is a gift of God. Faith is a gift of the Lord to undeserving people, the outworking of God's electing grace and the atonement of Jesus for his own. Likewise, your sincerity in love is all of grace. The fact that you sincerely love the Lord is of grace. Why? Why can we say that? Brother? Because it only comes from a heart that's been made new. That's right. Before he chose to give me life, I could not and did not love him. That's right. We were at enmity with God. We were his enemies. We were not in a sincere state of love. Why else may we say that this sincerity that the believer has in love is all of grace. What are some other ways we may answer that? Yeah, it's right out of my notes. It's all of grace because we only love him because he first loved us. We only love God because he has poured out his love to us. I mean, it's true in so many ways. Like, how do we love God? How do we show our love for God? The answer is not however you want, right? Nadab and Ubayhu, I think that they were sincere with regards to wanting to give something to God. We should do this. But God makes it very clear in his word how he is to be loved. Like even our thoughts need to be held captive by the word of God. We can't go on a thought spree, if you will, thinking about how much we love God, right? reel our thoughts in and make sure they're in accordance with the scriptures, which tells us not only how he is to be loved, but they also tell us why we love him. And the answer is, like as Jared said, we love him because he first loved us. We don't muster up enough of our own works in order to finally get to the point of true belief. We don't love God because after this sermon you hear about God and you're like, well, he sounds kind of lovable, right? He sounds, you know what, my love is selective and I don't really give it out much, but this God that you're talking about, he sounds like he's worthy of my love, right? That's not why we love God. It's not because we learn that he's, we finally come to the conclusion that he's good enough to love. Rather, As the scriptures teach, He breathes life into us by His Spirit, turning a valley of dry, dead bones into living stones that are being built up as a spiritual house. And He bestows His love upon us in a special way that we may know who we are and what we are made to be in Christ. Therefore, we love. Our love and faith in Christ is of God. And I would submit to you that that alone is a great means of assurance. Like, when you're struggling, and you're thinking about the basics, and that you love God, and you're holding on to Him, even though life seems to be falling apart, the fact that you love Him because He first loved you ought to bring you to a state of assurance of your salvation. That alone. Well, I'm undeserving of your love, God. The wages of sin is death. I deserve death, not your mercy. I deserve your wrath, not your grace. But the fact that I know that I love, that I want to serve you, that it's hard, things are falling apart, sure, but the fact that I know that is only because you have first loved me. That should bring us to a great state of comfort as Christians. God has poured out his grace upon you. He has loved you. and loves you because He is love. Again, we actually, we would ground that in who He is. It's not just a state. God doesn't just go from this state of, you know what, I decide to be loving this day unto you. He is infinitely love. We can't measure His love. I was even very careful in my sermon, because I thought to myself, well, that sounds like we're, this is the theologian in pastors. It sounds like we might be saying this, when the reality is most of the congregation doesn't really hear that we're compartmentalizing the love of God, but that's a tangent, sorry. Right, so again, we have that assurance because we know, that assurance in loving God because we know that he first loved us. Likewise, you can't have the assurance of grace if you haven't received this love. There's nothing to be sure of. There's no grace or salvation to be sure of. if you haven't received the love of God. You can't truly know the love of God that you reject. You can't. But there is a way he allows himself and shows himself to be loved by us, and that is through his son. He freely offers his own love, his grace, as the word is proclaimed each and every day. He calls us to believe on his son, come to the altar, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household. His love is not far. He's not dangling his love over your head and saying, well, if you just try hard enough, you can get it. He makes his love crystal clear. I mean, even we think of John, we just followed John's thought process here. He says, greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. Well, Jesus in the scriptures is very clear to be a friend of sinners. He lays down his life, demonstrating his love for you. His love is freely offered in that sense. This is true when we think of who Christ is. Christ would never offer to us something that he doesn't have himself, or that he can't give. and seeing that all has been given to Him, everything has been given to the Son, we may conclude that love abounds in Christ. The problem is, is our nature. Problem comes down to our nature. Problem is, is that we see and know, even know these things to be true, even maybe believe, say we believe them, but we love our sin more than anything else. The reality is the love of sin leads sinners to hell. Sin only brings forth judgment and condemnation. I tell this to our congregation often. Sin is not our friend. It may lie and manifest itself and say friendly things to us, and I'm being hyperbolic here, but it's our enemy, it's not our friend. It's the absolute enemy, yet the only remedy to this enemy is found in Christ. the one who bore our sins in his body on the tree. Believers know this to be true and strive to walk with him. Strive, that's an interesting word as well. Yet I would argue our striving does say something about assurance in some way, shape or form. Strive to walk with him who is the light. This is another way of interpreting what John is saying here in 1 John 1.7. While assurance is founded on the blood and righteousness of Christ, the one who has saved us, the one who we believe in and love in in sincerity, it follows from the words of our Lord, if you love me, keep my commandments. If you love me, strive to walk with me. There has to be there has to be some kind of response to the love of God. We know this. This word, strive, we see it in Luke chapter 13, I believe. Strive to enter through the narrow door for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. This is a clear command in the Holy Scriptures and a great indication that if we want to know the love and grace of our Lord in a greater degree, we must not just lay back with our feet up and do nothing, but be diligent to that which is set forth in his word. We have a responsibility. One theologian says, strive teaches that a man must use means diligently if he would have his soul saved. I think this is J.C. Ryle, if I'm not mistaken. There are means which God has appointed to help man in his endeavors to approach him. What are some of those means, congregation? What are some of, I believe this is Ryle, he's saying we must use means diligently if we would have our souls saved, right? And everyone in this room are those who are being saved, right? Paul talks to the church in Corinth and says to those of you who are being saved, right, salvation, is once for all, but it's also an entirety. So how are we, what means, rather, are we to use that our souls would be saved, to use that language? We should reflect upon our baptism and what that signifies. The sacraments, yeah, that's definitely one. Baptism, that's a really good one. Remembering your baptism. What are other diligent means? He just kind of gave it away. Brother? Yeah, the means of grace. Means of grace. We must use the means of grace diligently. Reading your Bible, and that's not just on the Lord's Day, right? The means of grace are not just means of grace on the blessed Sabbath, right? We know that. reading your Bible, your daily Bible reading is a means that we must use diligently. Reflecting our baptism, one of the, one of the, I think, important, maybe lost truths in Baptist circles is that we look at baptism often as like one and done. Like, yeah, we were baptized 30 years ago, and that was then. This is now. Like, we should always be remembering our baptism. We should always be looking at our baptism. I'm not sure how a pastor baptizes here, but typically when you baptize, you're asked questions, right? Typically when you baptize, either during that baptism or prior, maybe you give a testimony and maybe you're grilled by the congregation to ask all the important theological questions. No, that doesn't happen here. Hopefully that happens nowhere, but nonetheless, The questions that you are asked are basic questions about the Christian faith. Do you believe that Jesus has died for you? That's a basic question. Do you believe in God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? Basic stuff, right? Well, how important is it that when we are struggling, that we go back to remember the answers that we gave before we were baptized? Those are oaths. Those are vows that you make. It's a matter of the first table of the law. We're affirming those truths before Christ and his people in corporate worship. That's like a big deal, baptism is. So we are to constantly look back at our baptism diligently, right, diligently. But there's other means too, but just public worship. The fellowship of God's people. Those are means that we may use in this striving for eternity, if you will. And not only are they means that we should use, they're means that we ought to use. We would be fools to not remember our baptism. We would be fools to sit at home and watch whatever sport instead of coming to the corporate worship of God's people, right? we would be fools to go and seek fellowship outside of in the world when we have so many lovely families here today. I mean, read Acts chapter two, read what the early church, how the early church lived their life. That wasn't just because they were like weird, but because they knew and they depended on the means of grace diligently, right? They asked Peter after that grand revival at Pentecost, What do we do? We don't know what to do. Well, first, that was the wise thing of them to ask the question, which we don't do enough of. We lean on our own understanding and just go and do what we want to do. That's the first mistake. But that was very important that they did that. And what did Peter tell them? Well, we know what Peter told them because of the fruit that they bore. They submitted to one another. They prayed. They broke bread and they fellowshiped, right? That's Acts 2.42. They heeded the wisdom that's found by way of the means of grace. And what happened with the church? It flourished. It absolutely flourished. I mean, you know, the Donetsk... I'm not going to get into that. That's too much. That's not necessary. But they flourished. were diligent with regards to that which Christ had commanded in his word and offered freely among his people. Everything in life with the Christian, really in general, everything in life that's worth having is worth striving for. So much more with regards to our salvation. You know, a man that desires a spouse, right? What does he strive for? He needs to know what God calls of him by way of his word. He needs to prepare for that said spouse that he desires. And then depending on if there is a spouse available, if there's somebody around that may be interested in him or vice versa or not, he might have to wait on the Lord. But nonetheless, there is a striving that needs to be done in that sense. Likewise, even more so, there is a striving that must need to be done with regards to eternity. A preacher once said that strive teaches It is worthwhile for a man to seek salvation. It is worthwhile for a man to seek salvation. So if there's anything that deserves a struggle in this world, it is the prosperity of the soul. And again, this isn't just to those who are lost, who are listening to the gospel, who are counting the cost of being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. to all those in Christ as the things that we might want to strive for in this world pale in comparison to the Christian faith. Yet how does our call to strive with regards to the Christian religion serve us to assure us of the hope that's found in Christ? How does the call to strive, to obey the words of our Lord, how does that help us with our assurance? What are some maybe some thoughts you might have there? Jared. faith without works is that likewise that offers glory to the believers when on the truth that assurance without works is that. And that practically bears out in the points and times in my life in my sin that the greatest life assurance is released for those walking outside of Christ. I'm sure there may be other answers but I'm going to hold off right now because that's really my first point in this outline that I have here. How does our call to strive with regards to the Christian religion serve to assure us of our hope found in Christ? Well, to kind of bounce off what Jared's saying there, the Christian striving is an evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in them. Again, striving is not muster up enough intelligence to finally get your act together and figure your life out. That's not striving. You may use that You may say that with regards to secular matters, right? Stop wasting your time at work by being on your phone the entire day and strive to, you know, do your tasks at hand. You may use it in that sense. You can apply that logic to, like, a job or an investment or even a secular friendship, perhaps. But with your salvation, which is what we are talking about being assured of, this is a matter of Christ in you. That self-examination That Christian striving and knowing, yeah, I am striving. I'm not doing it perfect, but I'm working. That's the Spirit's work in you. That is the Holy Spirit's work. That's Christ in you. You know, time and time again, and I know Pastor Martin has heard this before, but we've had saints, I've had saints, and I've had to counsel. And I often hear, you know, Pastor, I'm trying and I'm trying, but I keep falling down, right? And by falling down, I keep going into that sin, or whatever it may be. I know what I need to be doing, but the flesh is tearing me down, Pastor. I've heard that, in other words, a handful of times. And it sounds like the Apostle Paul in Romans 7. It sounds very much like Paul in Romans 7. And my response is simple. When I hear that at first, my response, there's a lot to say there, but something like this. keep coming back to the Lord Jesus Christ? You've come back to his minister, but do you keep coming back to Christ? You did the right thing by going to pastor, confessing your sins. That's good. We need more of that. We need to be more open and honest about where we are. But are you going back to Christ? Is God's goodness leading you to repentance in this battle with sin? If the answer is yes, well, praise God and press on. There's more to be said there. There's wisdom that would come with that counsel and all that. But the fact that they keep going back to the Lord Jesus Christ, that there is repentance. It might be falling. There is repentance. There is God's goodness. That is an indication that you are with the Lord. Press on, as he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. The Christian life, again, as I said in my sermon, is never said to be easy. But if God is at work in you and you know he's at work in you, then take comfort in these words. Do not be frightened, do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. These words were said to a man that was getting ready to be destroyed in battle, that was getting ready to roll up his sleeves and maybe die. Those are words of comfort that we must have in this spiritual battle of mortifying the flesh. Secondly, the striving. What does this striving tell us about assurance? Is there any other thoughts? Jared had a good one. Any other thoughts on that? The striving is the power comes from the Holy Spirit within us. As I read in 1 John, it's talking about the difference between people who walk in darkness and people who walk in the light. Jesus says to Nicodemus in the Gospel of John, that the world is condemned already, this is the condemnation, that light has come to the world, but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. And like you said, as we examine our lives, it's not, and John says, if we say we have no sin, the truth is not in us. So we look, and the unbeliever looks, and we both see sin, the thing that differentiates us is that instead of either denying or delighting in sin, or then despairing in sin, the Holy Spirit pushes us towards the belief in how God has dealt with our sin, and that brings us into the light so that our sins can be exposed and dealt with. Yeah, and shows that that God is still dealing with our sins, right? Amen. But it's not something that I, something that I'm slowly coming to, and the Holy Spirit is constantly pulling me along. Amen. If there are any other thoughts, we'll hold off because I have, I'm going to go to my next point here. So striving shows that we actually love Christ in sincerity. Striving for eternity shows, right, first and foremost, the Holy Spirit is at work in us. that he may be glorified. Striving is an indication that we really do love Jesus in sincerity. Men strive for what they love, and to be honest, that's not really a good thing most of the time. It isn't. When we think of that in a secular sense, it's almost always horrible, right? Men strive for women and lust over women and then go have adultery with every woman under the sun. Women strive for other things that are ungodly and so forth. Men and women both strive for power, wealth, greed. And ultimately, probably the worst thing, not probably, it is the worst thing that men and women strive for is to be God. They strive to be God. If a natural man had his way or her way, they would kill God and take his throne. That's sin. That's the degree of sin. This kind of striving sends people to hell. This kind of striving, striving for worldly things, striving for the flesh, striving for the sins that you want to keep beside you and not let go, will lead you to hell, period. But the believer strives for eternity, showing that they truly belong to Jesus and they love him for who he is, their blessed savior. the ruler of the world. If you love me, keep my commandments." Again, the first fruit of the Spirit is indeed love. A fruit, not of the sinner, a fruit of the Spirit. This is a great means of assurance. It really is. To strive to continue on in this life that's so difficult, that's so trying on us. Showing that the Spirit's at work in us, showing that we truly love God, is enough to make us stop and reflect upon His grace and give thanks. It's precisely what we do each and every Lord's Day. It's a great means of assurance, the love of God poured out unto you and the love of God for His people. From this you may know that you really belong to Him, that you are truly His. He's loved you and still loves you and is continuing to show His love unto you in many ways. Striving for eternity shows forth that you really believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Striving in your life shows that for you the good news really is good. It's something that you believe, that you hold fast to. This point, this comment really is interwoven through the rest of the examples I've given. But I want to flesh it out a little bit more. Part of our striving consists of us constantly preaching the gospel to ourselves and to those we love. It's the gospel as the power of God and the salvation. First and foremost, to those who believe, which would be us, we're the ones preaching the gospel to us. We need to remind ourselves of what Christ has done for us, lest we forget. And then to others, and that message is a great message of assurance. Again, though, notice I say preach to ourselves first, and then to others. Far too many believe that because they're saved, because they have received Christ, the gospel, like many look at baptism, is a check mark. They can check off the list. Well, I've already believed the gospel. I've already been baptized, right? Whatever the already been check boxes. But the same message that was a means to your salvation, to bringing you to Christ, is the same message that keeps you in Christ. We forget that. The same gospel message that has brought us to the foot of the cross keeps us at the foot of the cross, pleading, repenting, etc. I mean, what does it look like to have no assurance, at least in one sense? It looks like forgetting the gospel. It looks like forgetting the gospel. It looks like you making yourself wiser than God by thinking that you are good now that you're saved. That's a mistake. Again, our first parents were in a state of blessedness. They were in a state of righteousness. and we're still deceived. It's a mistake to think that we're good now that we've received the gospel, that we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now again, certainly your justification is not what we're talking about here. We're talking about assurance. But we are to continue to remember the words given to St. Peter by the Lord Jesus Christ himself in Matthew 16. where he says, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. This is a daily occurrence for the Christian. We must deny ourselves daily, lest self becomes God. We must take up our cross daily, lest we take up something else. And we must follow the Lord Jesus Christ daily, lest we follow another. We know that this was a problem in the early church. There were other Christs. And there was sectarianism in 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 1, where other people are following men. Paul says, thank God none of you guys are following me. I didn't thank God I didn't baptize any of you guys. Because there is an inclination that all men have to follow other men. It's very unfortunate, but we need to follow Christ. To close, because I think I'm Probably going over here maybe a little bit. No, not too much? All right. Okay. The Holy Spirit's work in us as we examine ourselves with regards to assurance is a constant means by which we are to remember that the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ. We are to examine ourselves, consider the work of the Holy Spirit in us, through us, in relation to the promises of God. that are given to us. God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should repent. Has he said and will not do good? Or has he spoken and will not make it good? Or as we read again in the scriptures, for when God made a promise to Abraham, because he could swear by none greater, he swore by himself. And beloved, you are Abraham's children. As it is written, if you are descendants to Christ and you are Abraham's descendants according to the promise. The promise that God has kept. The promise that God continues to keep by building his church. He is not like us, wavering. He doesn't back out on his promises. He doesn't say yes one day and have a string of faithfulness only to show a lack of faith. Rather, as we have sung this morning, he is holy, he is just, and as we see in our text, he is light. And when we walk in the light, knowing that he is faithful, we may be sure of our calling, knowing that the promises are yes and amen in Christ. I want to open it up just for any comments or questions before I go ahead and close us in prayer. If the questions are hard, I'm giving them to your pastor, just FYI. Yeah, I think there's a balance that we need to have but to answer your question there needs to be constant examining of yourself. I think we should I wouldn't say there needs to be a constant examination to see if we're saved, but I would say there needs to be a constant examination of salvation in our life. I know that sounds very similar, but to see if we're saved, typically, when I think of that, I'm thinking of justification. I'm thinking of the declaration of righteousness on our behalf because of the work of Christ. With regards to assurance, I'm thinking more the doctrine of sanctification. and if we're walking with the Lord, if we're being obedient to his word. What I want to be careful of is examining, encouraging someone to examine themselves and then realizing that what they're examining is not good because of whatever it may be, state of sin, state of rebellion, even hard times. Maybe it's not even a sin issue. Maybe just life is a struggle at that moment. You've lost family members and things like that. and conclude that they are not in a state of grace because of those things. I think that can be very dangerous. I hope that helps. If our assurance is grounded entirely on the work of Christ and what He is for us, yet there will be evidence of our salvation, and we should be looking for it, we should be examining ourselves and see if we find it. If we find it, then we need to set ourselves up for Christ. My question would be, how much belief, how much strife, It just seems like it could be very dangerous because I don't know about you, but whenever I look at myself, I see nothing but sin. I mean, even in my obedience, so often it's motivated by sinful motivation, whether it's self-exaltation, whether it's to impress others, whatever it may be. I see a lot of that in myself. So how much of it is how much strength? And the second part of my question is, is assurance available to a thirdly Christian? Yeah, the second one's the easier one. Assurance is not of the essence of faith. So it's not something that everyone has at all times equally. And as I mentioned in my sermon this morning, I do believe assurance of salvation comes both with the babe in Christ, the one who's newly saved, the one who has just been walking with the Lord for a short period of time, and for the older saint. been walking with the Lord for several, several years. So I do believe assurance is found even with a childlike faith. To your first question, it's a difficult question. How much? I don't have an answer for how much fruit one should conclude before concluding that they have assurance of faith and salvation. I would push back on the idea that Christians, when they examine themselves inwardly, that all they see is sin. Again, the fruits of the spirit, right? So love, self-control. I mean, even the love that I have for my wife rooted in Christ, I think, shows forth the work of Christ in my life when I examine the way I see I don't mean to put you on blast, babe, but when I see how I view my wife and how I love her and care for her and serve her in accordance with the scriptures, and I maybe think about how I was prior to coming to faith in Christ, I wasn't saved until my early 20s. So I lived a pagan life as a teenager. I can distinguish the wickedness of my sin and how it drove me with regards to things like adultery and just viewing women in general, to now seeing that there's still effects there with regards to my marriage. Like if I get angry or whatever it may be, I can see the sinfulness there. But what drives me to love her like Christ loves the church is the spirit of God. So I do see that in self-examination. That is a great means to assure me that I am a believer. may be distinguished there, I guess. Your question still stands, though. How much of that needs to be concluded before one can say, well, I'm sure of my salvation? I would start with just the Spirit's work in my life. How is the Spirit working in my life? What does that look like? How is that manifested? That's probably how I would start it. Now, with regards to how much of the Spirit is working in order for me to conclude, that I'm in a state of grace, I don't know how I would answer that. I would start with just the fact that he is working in my life. Brother. Are you talking about like the third use of the law and how God restrains evil by way of the law versus his working of the spirit in someone's life to obey the law of God? Yeah, I think it goes down to the heart, the motivation, right? God has given us new hearts, new desires, new joys by way of regeneration. So I think the determining factor is the motives and the heart behind that action. The unbeliever that, I mean, I've been a lot of, I know I get carried away saying this in Calvinist circles, but I've met a lot of good unbelievers where, They pay their taxes, they give to the Salvation Army, if you think that's good, I don't know. Or other... It's got the word salvation in it. Yes. Or something like that. But they're outside of the faith, right? Usually when you press them and ask, well, what's your motivation for living that kind of life? Well, I just think it's a nice thing to do. It's good for... It's good for my, you know, my neighbor. I care about them. I like them. They seem like good people. And then like the Salvation Army, it seems like it's a good, you know, good place to donate money and they help people. The motivation is, it still goes back to the self, I think, me, me, X, Y, and Z. But for the Christian, it's, well, because God has changed my heart. He's breathed life into me, given me a spirit. And now it's the spirit of God that leads me to love my neighbor. And while yes, it is a command, a command that I need to obey, it is a spirit-led command. I kind of flushed that out earlier. It's something that I do because I want to, because I desire to, because the joys and desires in me have been changed by the work of the Holy Spirit. That's probably where I would start when distinguishing those two, is the motives. Where is the motivation? An unregenerate person is not going to say, well, I'm motivated to do this because God has taken me, a sinner, and brought me to a state of grace and works in me and through me that he may be glorified. You're typically not going to hear that from someone who's unregenerate. But you will hear the good things about the law. Well, if I feed that person, then I'm doing my job and he's eating. You know, stop that person from committing murder. You know, I've worked with unregenerate people outside of abortion mills, and we both agree that what's happening there is wicked, and we want to stop it. There's a biblical impetus behind me that wants to do that and drives me to do that. Well, the unbeliever might be pragmatic at best, not to say that that's wrong, necessarily, But the motivations are different. I had two hands. Go ahead, Andy. Just that it gets really fuzzy when we forget that the exhortation is to make our own calling and election sure, and we start trying to make other people's calling and election sure. Right. Because we can't know for certain what their motivations are or how they view Christ and his work on behalf of sinners. Do they see themselves in that group of sinners that he died for or not? And it's just like we look over our lives, and we look at our works, and we, like John says, if we say that we don't find sin there, then we're lying. Yeah, we've lied. And so the biggest, one of the biggest maybe encouragements is that we no longer, now we are truly confessing. We are agreeing with God that that's not good. And yet we don't hide it or deny it. Instead, we bring it to Him, and we look on Christ, and we learn what He has done for us. And then that love for Him grows because of that He manifested His love for us. And while we were yet sinners, at the perfect time, and we were still without strength, Christ died for us. Amen. Amen. Amen. Brother. I will say, for me, assurance is, like you said, the foundational gospel. It's blood, it's righteousness, it's all these things. What tends to happen when it comes to not being sure about salvation is we Right. Right. State of confusion. What do I believe in? Am I on a point? Am I calling a checkmate? Is there anywhere else for me to go? You know what I mean? That's where you need to start. the root of the issue is like, where can I go to be saved? How can I? And then, once you realize that, oh, I only have one place to go, you can be assured of your salvation because only a person who is regenerated can say, I only have one place to go. That's right. And that's sort of the question of, How much, well, it's not how much our students are going to teach. It's... This is it, that striving, the striving of, I have no place to go, that striving, that all makes sense, and I agree with all that. But then, okay, yes, I believe, yes, I'm accepting that. But it's the evidence piece. There should be some evidence of that. That's where I need to build on. What does that evidence actually look like? That's the seed of faith. Yeah, I think it looks like the fruits of the Spirit. Yeah, I understood your question as the amount of fruit until we determine assurance. But I do think it's a good question, though. It is. It's a very good question. So I'm looking at the cross. I meditate on the cross. I know the blood of Jesus has atoned for my sin. Adam's sin is no more, I've been given the righteousness of Christ, that's the imputation, that's on the tip of my tongue, praise God. Now when we have that self-examination, what we're looking at is works of the Holy Spirit in and through us. So how many of those works? I think that could be dangerous if we're trying to quantify it, but the question is an encouraging one because if you see the Holy Spirit working in your life and you're like, Is he working to this degree or is he working to this degree? I think the fact that he's working in your life is, again, is a great means of assurance. It shows that he's never gonna leave us nor forsake us. It shows that he's dwelling within us. It shows that it's not me but Christ in me. Now to the amount of that I think could be, I think that's such a hard question to answer because our life is, I always explain the Christian life as a roller coaster. It is, like it's got its highs and lows, it's got its fast points, and even as a pastor, Martin's over here laughing at me, as a pastor he knows, even with the church, there are seasons where like, I wanna go on the roller coaster again, I wanna go on the roller coaster again, and then there are seasons where you're yelling at the guy on the ground to stop the roller coaster, because you gotta handle X, Y, and Z, and you don't wanna die, and you're worried about other people, and you're on the roller coaster dying with you, and you have to concern yourself with those things. So that's a tough question, but it's nonetheless, I think, a good one. Yeah. Mustard seed. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Any other? You know, You know, J.C. Ryle actually argued, and I'm not gonna argue this right now, but maybe later we can talk about it. J.C. Ryle actually argued that the Lord's Day, fellowship with the saints, are both means of grace. You know, I know we're very baptistic and reformed and consolidate the means of grace to the word and sacrament. By word, we mean prayer, the reading of the word, and sacraments, baptism, and supper. but he actually blew it up a little bit, good old Anglican. And he said that the Lord's day itself in its entirety is a means of grace and he grounded it in the rest and enjoyment of God's creation. And then the fellowship of the saints is a means of grace. Now I've said this to people and they said, well, pastor, I'm not a means of grace. I'm not a means of grace. I mean, I get where they're coming from, but in its entirety, as our brother said, The fellowship of God's people is a reminder of who we are. Because we're talking to people that are just like us. They're exactly like us. Purchased the same blood. Have the same Lord. That is very unique in our society. I mean, it's just completely almost foreign to our society. But I do believe it is a means of grace. I believe the fellowship of God's people. I mean, I don't know about you guys, but there are days where we're struggling. I mean, maybe it's not specifically sin in our own life, but maybe it's the consequences of sin. Maybe a death in a family, right? Death isn't our friend. It's not good. It does usher us into the kingdom of God if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but death's a thing we suffer with, right? And some of the times that we deal with such things, I mean, the only people that we really want to be around are God's people because they're our comforters, if you will, right, lowercase c. They are our exhorters, if you will. They're our family. And they're a means by which God bestows his grace upon us in Christ. I would definitely affirm that for sure. Any other last minute, brother? I sometimes feel like I'm not by myself. I'm not looking for assurance to have the same assurance that maybe God would have with my salvation that I don't think I can attain. Yeah. Yeah. No, you're right. And that's why it's important that we know that assurance is not of the essence of faith. You don't, just because you're a Christian, you don't always have assurance. Like, you're going to struggle. Jesus made that clear. You're going to struggle, right? You're going to have all kinds of trials and tribulations. But he also says that all things are being worked out to our good, as we've heard this morning in Romans. And that's the promise that we need to take to the bank, right? All right, I'm going to go ahead and close this in prayer, and then we'll have some time of fellowship. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we do thank you for this Lord's Day. It's been a blessing to our souls. We thank you for the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. Lord, we just are very thankful for an opportunity to rest, hear your word, partake of the means of grace, glorify you in the fellowship of the saints, and really, Lord, to reflect on what Christ has done for us, that, again, we do proclaim that he is risen, he was raised for our justification, that we may be declared righteous before you, a thrice holy God. So for that we give thanks and for everything else. Continue to work in us, Lord, that we would glorify you in all that we do. Continue to be with us as we participate in private worship, in our homes, with our families, and in all things make Christ receive the glory. It is in his name we pray, amen. Thank you, congregation.