to us. Thank you. That was good. I like that. Amen. That was always amazing me how people can do that. That's I'm, I know three chords on a guitar, but you got to tell me when to switch somebody else and I could follow along that you you know, my musical efficiency is the fault of one of your members. My sister didn't leave any. She's good at music. I'm not. And I still think there's something about that. But anyway, it's good to be here. I enjoyed the kids singing. Didn't they do a great job? That was wonderful. You parents, you got to come to practice and all that. You're doing the right thing. That'll pay dividends huge down the road. Let me just encourage you. You're doing the right thing. Keep it up. Amen. You won't believe the difference that'll make. Those kids need to have that memory of standing up in God's house and singing those songs and being a blessing. Those are seeds that can grow mighty oaks down the road. Amen. But I enjoyed the music tonight. I enjoyed being here. I came to you to pray for your preacher. Prayin' we hear good reports from Oklahoma, amen. Where the wind comes rushin' down the plain. I thought that was funny. Anyway, we'll pray and get home safe tomorrow. John 10, find John chapter 10, would you do that? And we're gonna do a little different kind of a message tonight. John chapter number 10, there's a, familiar verses we want to read verse 27-29 you will recognize those I'm sure. And then I want to talk about a vitally important doctrine I'm convinced in the Bible. It's good to be saved isn't it? We're in God's house, God's Word, among God's people. I'm right where I want to be. I believe this is where God wants me to be. I like that. I don't want to go anywhere else. I think it's right. If you can backslide and it not bother you, something's wrong, amen? I wouldn't want to be sitting somewhere else right now. I'd feel guilty for not being in church. I just would. glad to be here. John chapter number 10 and verse number 27 Jesus is speaking and He said, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. Jesus said, I and my Father are one. Let's pray together can we do that? Lord we thank you for your Word. Thank you that we have it Lord in our language and preserved. And Lord I pray that Lord we thank you for the music of God and all the practice and work that goes into it. And Lord the blessing that it was. Lord I pray now you'd bless the preaching of your Word tonight. Help me to say what I should. And Lord, if there's something I shouldn't say, I pray you'd help me not to even think about it. Lord, anything I should say, I pray you'd give me the courage and the resolve to say it. Lord, I pray that together, as we center around your word, you'd speak to all of our hearts. And Lord, starting behind this pulpit, Lord, any changes in my life that need to be made, help me willing to recognize it and be willing. Lord, let us leave here more in love with you than we were when we came in. Bless Brother Burke and Miss Stacy, and Lord, bring them home safe. Lord, I pray you'd put angels on the bumpers of the car, and just Lord, bring them back to us. Lord, we pray again for every need that's been voiced today, and Lord, surely in a crowd like this, there's many burdens on hearts, and Lord, some unspoken requests, but Lord, it's so important for that one that bears that burden, and Lord, I pray that you'd perform your will Lord for your glory and then for our own good. Lord after a while when these lights are out and this is a quiet and still place I pray you will have been pleased with what's happened here. Lord again we pray for the peace of Jerusalem and Lord you said that when we saw these things happening to lift our heads And Lord, help us to not be discouraged, but Lord, to be encouraged. And Lord, and remember that what a blessing it is to know that you have everything under control. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Wonderful to be saved. You say, could anything be better? I think so. I think to be saved and know it. To be sure. We'll talk about that a little bit later, if Lord willing. You say, well nothing could be better than that. Maybe this, what about being saved and being sure and knowing that it's forever? Knowing that you cannot, now that's about as good as you're going to get. How in the world could anything be better than that? There might not be a Bible doctrine that's down through, at least in my years, has been argued more, fussed about, and tore up more family get-togethers. than arguing about the doctrine of the eternal security of the blood-bought child of God. Many, many an argument has gone on that one. Some people call it a Baptist doctrine. Well, if it's a Bible doctrine, it's a Baptist doctrine. If it's not a Bible doctrine, it ain't a Baptist doctrine. Amen? There are a few people besides Baptists that will hold some Presbyterians because they're so Calvinistic, kind of lean that way. some Grace Brethren that believe in eternal security. But by and large, by and large a lot of those Grace Brethren they are Baptists and don't know it it's just they need to quit drowning people when they baptize them. They go three times forward have you ever seen it? Well I'll talk about it later, all right. But anyway there's not a, it's called a Baptist doctrine because Baptists believe it but it's not the reason we believe it is because it is taught in the Bible. Some people call it once in grace, always in grace. Once saved, always saved. Call it whatever you want to. I call it this, that person that's truly been born again will never, ever perish. They're saved by the grace of God. They're sealed until the day of redemption. And I believe that it is taught in the Word of God. It's vitally important. If you're not sure on this thing, if you don't get it nailed down, Do you remember when they made Caesar Creek Lake? I don't know if some of you guys fish and ladies too probably. I don't know if you remember back when they built the bridge on 73. That's more kind of up my end of the woods than yours. But I was amazed when they built that thing. Caesar Creek's a real deep lake. It's the deepest inland lake in Ohio. It's real, real deep. And when they built that bridge, because it was so high, They put nets under it, I mean big old, they weren't trying to catch fish, I mean big old nets and they stuck poles out and the reason was it was so high and it was so far down and the wind and everything, that the workers, they were just kind of trying to hang on all the time. And they weren't getting any work done. They finally decided, we got to make them, they got to be safe, or all they're going to do is sit there and hold poles all day. And they put those nets, and they do that not only at Caesar Creek, but many bridges and so forth in construction in America, so that someone wasn't always just trying to hold on. They could go ahead and do the work and get it done, build what they needed to build. And child of God, if you're forever more trying to hold on, making sure you don't end up being lost again, that's about all you're ever going to do. You're not likely to do much else of anything. You're going to be trying so hard to hang on. Heard about a little boy and his daddy, and they were crossing the street, and they was holding hands, and the daddy said, hang on, son. And just as it kind of started, a truck come around the corner, just going a little too fast. And the daddy kind of picked him up, you know, and took two or three steps real quick, and the little fellow's toes was kind of hitting, you know, and set him up on the sidewalk. The little guy looked up and said, I held on. And you listen to me, it's God holding on, amen? He's the one that's holding on, and I'm glad that we're there. If you don't, when someone gets off on this, and I'm not trying to give you ammunition to beat Uncle Huey at the next family picnic. That's not my point, it's really not. We got something better to do than that, amen? But I wanna get it settled in your heart once and for all, now and forever, no matter what anybody else tells you, that what God starts, he finishes. Amen. You ladies ever have a husband that doesn't finish something? Isn't that irritating? They start something, they quit. He will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He finishes what he starts, amen? And I'm glad for that. If you're off on eternal security, you're not gonna be right on grace. You're going to have a view of grace that's not really scripture. You're going to be off on faith. You're going to be off on mercy. You're going to be off on the atonement. You're going to be off on the advocacy of Christ. You're going to be off on the high priestly work of Christ. You're going to be off on God's chasing of his children. You're going to be off on a ton of things if you're off on this matter of how that salvation is of the Lord. It's of Christ. It's not of me and it's not of you. And he gets the glory for it. He does the saving and he does the keeping. Amen? It's not me and it's not you. I know there's, I've heard all, I've heard, I don't know all the arguments, but I've sure heard a bunch of them. There are many people that want to fuss about this. It just seems so inconceivable to them that someone can get saved and then not be perfect and then die and go to heaven. But you know, friend, if you're going to tell me that you're living perfect and that's why you're still saved, there's some verse that says something about if any man said that he has no sin, he's a liar and the truth isn't in him. You know, that kind of comes to mind, you know. And the whole truth is, you listen to me. If you think you're perfect, ask your wife. She probably has an insight on that. She's probably seen some chinks in the armor. Ask your husband. the whole truth is we're all just sinners saved by grace and the whole truth is, is that we're working on this thing called sanctification and the whole truth is, is that perfect sanctification will come when we're walking on the street of gold and not until then. We're still growing, we're still striving. I've heard arguments like this, preacher, eternal security's not even in the Bible. It don't even say that. That's true, that's true. you get your strong concordance out and you look up eternal security and you will not find it. Neither will you find Trinity, neither will you find vicarious death, neither will you find substitutionary atonement, neither will you find omniscience or omnipotence, neither will you find the word rapture, it is not in your Bible. But yet all of those things are clearly taught in the Bible, amen? Same thing with the eternal security of the believer. You will not find eternal security of the believer, but Ephesians 3 talks about the eternal purpose of God. 1 John 5, 13 says that he has eternal life. Hebrews 5, 3, his salvation is called eternal salvation. Hebrews 9, 12, he has been redeemed to an eternal redemption. Hebrews 9, 15, he is assured of an eternal inheritance. 1 Peter 5, 10, He is called to an eternal glory. Sounds pretty eternally secure to me, amen? And you're saying, but, but, but, but, but, but, you're not saying it, but this is what some people do. They're saying, but, but, but, but, but, that's talking about in heaven. No, it ain't. No, it's not. When someone walks this out or gets saved out on Saul's visitation or missionary you're supporting, they trust Christ, they turn from their sin, they turn to Christ that they believe what the Bible says, died for them was bread and rose again. The Bible says, for whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved. They refuse to call God a liar. They say, well, if it says that, then it's true. And on the authority of the word of God, they invite Christ into their heart. What happens? Well, lots of stuff happens beyond this message tonight. One of them is, is that God gives to them eternal life. Now, if they do pretty good for about six months and then blow it, they did not get eternal life, they got six month life. If they did okay for about three years and then they lose it, they did not get eternal life. What did they get? They got, what did I just say? Three year life. You know what, people that don't believe in term security, you know what they're thinking? I just got to get to heaven. If I can just, you know, throw another $5 over the plate, honey, you know, and, you know, don't listen to that song on the radio and, you know, got to keep my haircut right, you know, and all of that stuff. And maybe someday, whoo, if I could just get in heaven, I'll slam those portal gates behind me and go, whoo, made it. Oh, really? Wasn't there a bunch of angels that was in heaven? And they sinned? And where are they now? They're in the devil's hell. Why? Because salvation is not in a place, salvation is in a person. And even if you could get to Heaven and lose your salvation, the Bible says nothing about that. But salvation, you say, how do you know that you're saved? You're not there yet. Because it's not in a place, it's in a person, and that person is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen? And it's in Him, and it's in Him alone. That's why you can read your Bible, and a Christian, look at me, understand me, listen close. You read your Bible from Genesis to the end of Revelation, and you will not find one time where anybody ever got saved twice. Not once, but you'd think that old Peter, I'm talking about Peter this morning, lied, you know, three times, big old bald face lied about the Lord of all things, you know, at a time when the Lord, you know, when he could have said, I'm standing with him, yes, I know, but he lied. We don't read about him getting saved again. We read about him weeping. We read about him getting right with God. David, David, we all know about David. All we think about is his sin. That's really not fair. Hold up a white handkerchief, put a dot on it and hold it up. What do you see? A dot. Well, what about the handkerchief? We do that to David's life. There's much about it that is good, but we always center in on that sin. But after that sin, he didn't ask for God to save him again, but he did say, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. He needed that. In your Bible there are two kinds of promises. There's conditional and there's unconditional. It's real simple and both of them are wonderful and both of them are of God and it's not that hard to understand. 2 Chronicles 7, 14, if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways will I hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." Isn't that a wonderful promise? Well our land, nobody here will say our land is healed and America is having national revival. Our heart breaks when we look at our country. You love this country? We redefined marriage but God hadn't. We know that a little baby, born or unborn, is a little baby, amen? And when our nation is wrong on those things, it breaks our heart. Well, we can't say to God, well, God, you didn't keep your word. You said you'd hear from heaven and forgive our sin and heal our land. God didn't say that. God said he would do that if his people, which are called by his name, would humble themselves and pray and seek his face and turn from their wicked ways. still a good promise and God will still keep His end of the bargain if America would keep her end of the bargain and call upon Him and turn from our wicked ways. You see what I'm saying? God's not failed there. There's an if, there's an if, God said, if you will do this then I will do that. And that's a conditional promise. There are also unconditional promises. I think about watching the news last night about the Jerusalem. I mean some of you all are just like me you've been there. I mean I've looked at places where I've stood and those bombs and the missiles going overhead and thinking about you know, and just all of the, you say you reckon Iran is going to wipe out Israel? God said when you get rid of the sun and the moon and the tides you can get rid of Israel. As long as there is sun and moon and tides and Don't mess with Israel, God, God, amen, you know. Now there could be some rough days ahead and Jesus said, when you see these, you say, you're talking about this a lot, it's just on my heart. You know what Jesus said, when you see these things begin to happen, to lift your head. I used to think he meant, look for me, I'm coming, like you know, that's probably part of it, but I think there's more to it. I think the Lord might have known that when these days finally got here, we could be so discouraged we might have our head all down. and kind of sad, and crowds aren't as big as they used to be, and people aren't getting saved like they used to be, and sins flourishing, and all of that. Jesus said, lift your head up. Lift your head. Amen. We're still on the winning side. This is still all under control. One thing God ain't never said is oops. Amen. It's all right. He's got it. Amen. God's got this. Go home, go to sleep, go to sleep in the arms of Jesus, and if the trumpet sounds, then hallelujah. If it don't sound, hallelujah too. Amen, right? Amen. Now, Genesis 12, a lot of this fussing over there, of course, is about who owns the land. Bible says, now the Lord, and this is 12-1, this is repeated several times in the Bible, the Abrahamic Covenant. And the Lord said unto him, unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee, I will make of thee a great nation. There ain't no if, no if there. There's no if. God said, I'll make of you a great nation. There's no if. I will bless thee. There's no if. I'll make of you a great nation. I'll bless thee. I'll make thy name great. go all over the world even in false religions there is an admiration for the name of Abraham even when they got their doctrine wrong. And thou shalt be a blessing, name, land, seed and blessing. God made a promise to Abraham and to the people of Israel, to the Jew, God said to us, I'll bless them to bless thee and curse them to curse thee too, amen. When America waffles on Israel, it makes me nervous, it just does, as an American, we need to stop that. But that is an unconditional promise. I will bless thee, I'll make thy name great, I'll give thee a land, I'll be a blessing. God said, I'm doing it, it's done. There's no clause, there's no fine print, there's no yeah but maybe, it ain't there. Name, land, seed, blessing, God will be true to his word, that's as sure as happening as if it already did because the one that inhabits eternity promised. Back to John. My sheep hear my voice, I know them, they follow me, I give unto them eternal life. Does anybody find the if in there anywhere? And they shall never perish. Did anybody find the if there anywhere? Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Does anybody find the if there or a clause or a maybe? No, what does that mean? Unconditional, God said it, he will do it, not if we do this or this or this or that. God said, my sheep hear my voice, I know them. It doesn't say if they follow me. It doesn't say that, they do follow. A blood-bought child of God that's truly born again, you get something as big as God in you, if it don't change, You listen to me, if being born didn't change my life, I'd change my religion, amen? You get God inside of you and everything that God said would happen, you go on and nothing's different about you, you don't have the salvation that God talks about. There's a lot of false starts and professions but not possessions and people never truly born again and then people look at them and say, well, see, they lost their salvation. Well, if they aren't saved, they didn't lose their salvation, they never had it. They just never had it. You're judging. No, I'm not. You're judging them to be saved and lost. I'm just saying the Bible describes the saved person as one that follows the shepherd. Doesn't mean we always follow or that we never miss, that we live a perfect life. No, the Bible tells us that's not gonna happen. But someone that doesn't follow at all, doesn't pray at all, doesn't honor God at all, does not acknowledge God in his life at all, acts just like a lost person and lives that way on and on and on and on and on. You're talking about a lost person. You just are. I'm sorry, you just. I don't know, I have preached in my life hundreds. I mean, literally hundreds of our kids were at funerals. I remember our kids could barely talk. They'd rattle around the back seat, and I'd pull up to Swart Funeral Home. I did two or three funerals a week, every week for years. I said, Daddy, do you work at church or at a funeral home? She didn't know. It was always over there, you know. And you get the phone call. Hello. Preacher, you know. Oh, and so he's passed away. I'm so sorry. Will you do the funeral? I'll be glad to if I can help. What did they say? So often I don't know. My uncle died, my cousin, whatever. Were they Christians? It's heartbreaking. Well, he liked to watch Billy Graham. Well, I looked at this Bible. He had this verse circled, so I'm pretty sure. I'm telling you, that's what you get. Well, he was a man of faith. He didn't go to church, but he was a believer. Well, Brother Terrell, can't someone not go to church and be a believer? Yes, absolutely. I get that. But I want to tell you something. nothing else you need to live for God and let your yea be nay and your nay be nay and serve God so that you don't leave a family to walk by your casket someday with any doubt whatsoever about where you are at and meeting you again someday, amen? Let your testimony be clear. Let your yea be yea and nay be no. But let them know that. I'll tell you something else about eternal security. I'm glad to know that people are eternally saved because those people whose pictures are at our house, people that Diana and I know and love, I'm glad I don't have to worry about them messing up that last day. Well, couldn't I? Maybe they got the feeling bad and swung at the nurse or something. You know, you'd always have that little doubt somewhere. But no, they're saved eternally. It's an eternal life. No ifs, they hear His voice, they know Him, they follow Him. God help us to understand that. Have you ever seen the little illustration about where you're at? Let's pretend this is you. It's really a quarter. Anybody says you're not worth a quarter, I say you are, okay? This is you. And when you get saved, you get under what? The blood. So this is the blood. So when you get saved, you're under the blood. Jesus said, no man is able to pluck them out of my hand. So you're under the blood and you're in the hand of Jesus. And no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. This is what our life looks like hidden in Christ Jesus, the Bible says. Now the devil ain't going to get through the father, he tried that and he got kicked out of heaven. He's not going to get through the son because he tried that and Jesus come up out of the grave. and he ain't gonna get under the blood. If he got under there, he'd get saved himself. So you look at where you're at. How could you be anywhere more secure or more certain than under the blood and in the hand of Jesus, under the hand of the Father? That's how God describes your position. That's about as secure as you are ever gonna get. Amen? Yes, sir. I'm glad for that. I'm happy for that. There's a Satan, somebody says, well, but you can jump out yourself. No, nor any other creature, the Bible says. And a little girl says, I could never come because I'm part of the hand anyway. We are his body. She kind of had a point, amen. We'll let that one go for now. Satan can't get at you. Now are you in the body of Christ and members particularly. You say, Brother Terrell, but what are the verses? There are literally, Christian listen to me, there are literally hundreds. There really are. I mean there really are. People bow up at this doctrine because it just sounds too good to be true. How in the world can you really be certain, sure, ironclad, done deal, because God said so. because God said so. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so he should not perish, but have everlasting life. You can read John 6, John 14, I've got so many. John 17, Jesus said, keep through faith in the name of those whom thou hast given me. The Lord's Prayer is not, you know, what's normally spoken of as the Lord's Prayer. Father which art in heaven. The Lord's Prayer is John 17 that's the Lord's Prayer. And in that Lord's Prayer Jesus prayed to the Father He said, I pray that those whom thou hast given me be with me and share in the glory that was ours before the foundation of the world. What does that mean? That means that you are a gift of from the Father to the Son you are saved. And that Jesus prayed that you and I who have been saved by the blood of Christ one day would share in the glory that the Father and the Son have had through all of eternity. Jesus has prayed that. Jesus bats 1,000 on prayer, did you ever notice that? Amen. And that's what He's praying. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1, 8 and 9, He shall also confirm us unto the end that we might be blameless. The Bible says in Ephesians, if any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer first Corinthians. but he himself shall be saved. Paul said, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. The Bible says in the book of Hebrews, Jesus said, I will never leave thee or forsake thee. Hear about the little girl She was time to go to bed and her mama said, honey, it's time for you to go to bed. And she was afraid to go up there because it was kind of dark. And you know, she was the first one upstairs that evening. And, and, and she said, I'm afraid. And mama said, honey, just go on up there. It's okay. God's up there. God's up there. Just go on. He goes up there. He run in the room. She jumped out of the covers, pulled him up over her head. And she said, God, if you are here, don't you say nothing. You'll scare me to death. But you listen. He said he would never leave us or forsake us. Never. Sounds like eternal security to me. 1 Peter, just read 1 Peter, it just never stops. Jude 1, Jude 24, an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away. Salvation is not a probation, it's not a chance, it's not a perhaps, it's not a shot at it, it's not a maybe, it is a done deal. Done deal. God is the author, God is the keeper. Someone said, if a man was in a boat and going across and he falls out, a man might come by and another boat comes by and he says, you should have been more careful. He's just a critic. Another man comes by in a boat and this poor guy's out there and he's drowning. And another guy jumps out and he says, watch this. And he gets out and he does the backstroke and swims around his boat and hops up in. He's a teacher, but that's all that he is. Another man comes by and he pulls him up on the side of his boat and he goes about a hundred yards. He decides he don't like him and he kicks him out. He's a probation officer. That's all he is. But you ever hear the old song, I was sinking deep in sin. Far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, thinking to rise no more. But the master of the sea heard my despairing cry from the waters lifted me. Now safe am I. Let's sing. Love lifted me. Love lifted me. When nothing else could help, love lifted me. Love lifted me. Love lifted me. When nothing else could help, love lifted me. And God will always love you. God will always. Parents, you all doing a good job bringing them kids here. And I don't know a parent here that's ever said this. And so don't get your feathers up over here. But let me encourage you, don't ever, ever, ever, ever tell your kid if they do something bad, God won't love them anymore. Don't ever say that. To my knowledge, none of you have. But don't ever. Because His love is unending, amen? Unending. There's so many things. I wrote this down one time, listen to this. Just get, you see salvation, it's, one of the great illustrations of salvation is the ark. You know, pitch within and without, be of sin the double cure, save from wrath, make me pure. You know, they might have kind of messed up a little bit, maybe even stumbled inside the ark, but they never fell out. And when Jesus, when God called him, he said to come into the ark. He didn't put eight broom poles on the side and say, try to hold on. That's exactly what, so many of them yell, hang on. Nobody could, they say, well, and, and, and, and, and by the way, if you could lose it by sinning, how, how much sin? How much? They don't know. Well, if God is perfect, and He is, and nothing that defiles shall enter therein, and that's what it says, then the only thing that mathematically, scientifically or whatever, logically, the only thing that could possibly make sense is what? Unless you're going to accuse God of not being as holy as he said he's been, I don't think we want to go there. He's perfect. Nothing that, N-O-T-H-I-N-G, nothing that he follows to the other end. And if we would sin and lose our salvation, submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. Most Baptists I know have a tough time 25 miles an hour. You didn't submit. Submit yourself to every ordinance. Keep off the grass. 55 miles an hour. Most of us don't. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. You have the faith of a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, be thou removed and cast into the sea and it'd be done. I've got a problem here. I've never moved a mountain in my life. Is my faith all that it ought to be? No. And I have an idea, I'm not the only one in this room that needs to improve in that category. Is that okay? No, it's not. We're falling short. We missed the mark. That's one of the definitions of sin, we missed the mark. you say, do you answer everything perfectly? Is our prayer what it ought to be? Is our Bible study what it ought to be? Husbands do we love our wives as we should? If you don't love her more today than you ever have you don't love her near like you ought to. Amen, that's true. Wives are you in submission to your husband? Or do you kind of take that $10 and stick it over in the side and I might need it later and he don't need to know about that. I'm not mad at you. You all looking at me so somber. I'm just saying. We'd all be lost. We'd all be, amen? It'd be over. It would be over. Now, we're not, you know, Jesse James and all that, I get that. But yet, I'm telling you, if you lose because you sin, then the only thing that makes sense is one sin. And if you use the Bible as your definition, and we don't kind of use the good old boy, well, he's a pretty good guy. No, no, no, if we use the Bible definition of sin, I'm telling you, every one of us mess up every day. day. We would be lost every day. Unless God was doing the saving and God was doing the keeping, amen? I talked this morning about God judged our sins at Calvary. God deals with us as whom the Lord loves, every son whom He receives. That Hebrews passage, any bastards are not sons if you don't have the judgment of God. Why is that? Because God chastens His children. And when that judgment comes, when we do mess up, then that judgment comes into our life, the spanking, if you will, or the correction of the Father, which is however He chooses to correct. But that correction, the Bible, by definition, the Bible is not saying, see, you're lost. The Bible is saying, see, you are saved, because He is disciplining His child. You're still His child, that's why the discipline comes. Amen. And I'm, I John says, when we sin, we have an advocate with the Father. The old devil says, see there he's sinned, you know the wages of sin is death, the soul that sins it shall surely die. Aren't you glad that we have a lawyer that comes around and puts his arm around us and says, Father that's true but I died for that sin 2,000 years ago on Calvary and Father this one's mine, amen. If we confess our sin, John said, John, pretty good guy at the Bible, amen? Wrote five books of the Bible, lengthwise, probably as much or more than Paul. I've just never completely been convinced that Barnabas didn't write Hebrews, but we'll let that go for now, all right? But John's a great guy, and John said, if we confess our sins, the apostle John, the one that leaned on his breast, did you ever think he leaned on his breast? That means he hurt his heartbeat. God gives us people that still know how to lean on his breast and listen to his heart beat. His heart still beats for bus kids. His heart still beats for people that are in trouble. His heart still beats for people that are lost. We just got to learn how to listen, amen? But that John, that's so close to, and he said, he was saying, I'm not living perfect. If we confess our, that's not a license to sin. but it ought to be a behoovement to stay as right with God. A.W. Tozer said we'll have revival if we start keeping short lists. We wait till we get a list about this long and say maybe I better do some repenting with God. We need to repent at the first one. Keep a short list, amen? I'm glad that I know that I know that I know that I'm saved, amen? I'm glad that it's eternal. We have eternal life. It's not something that you're going to get the judgment seat of Christ. It's not something you'll get once you get into heaven. It's not something you'll get, you know, when you take your last breath and then you get it. When you got saved, you got eternal life inside and it's there. Boy, you know, we ought all go to the Pentecostals at least once and kind of take a little shouting lesson, and then we come back and have Baptist church. It might be a little worksite. We got eternal life. It'll never die. It'll be there 10 billion years from now. There it is. I'm glad for that. Here tonight, you may be saying, Brother Terrell, that all sounds kind of logical, but the whole truth is, preacher, I'm not so worried about having eternal life for years, I'm wondering if I got it now. That happens. That happens. A woman told D.L. Moody one day, said, I've been saved 20 years and I've never had a doubt. He said, I doubt if you've ever been saved. Remember when they sent word to Jesus, talked out here, do we look for another? Jesus said, what went you out to see? The reeds shaking with the winds had never been a man born a woman greater than John. You remember that? He didn't fuss at him. He loved him. He knew, he knew that. And God knows that we're not perfect. God understands that. If you're doubting your salvation, you don't have to live that way. You don't have to live that way. That's the April 24th, Diane and I got married April 24th, 1981. Rhonda sang Amazing Grace at our funeral, at our wedding. At our wedding. Whoo, that was a bad one. Someday you can sing at our funeral too. And we found out in 40 some years of marriage, his grace is amazing. Isn't it amazing? I remember, you say he's had a long, well, what is it? It's 81 to 19 and 24 or whatever that is, 43 or whatever. that I remember on vacation we went down to Kentucky, through Kentucky, and I decided I want to stop by and see my grandfather. He's the one that made the peaches we talked about, or opened the peaches. So we stopped there at Grandma's old cabin on Buckhorn Creek. And I mean, I spent a lot of time there and, you know, grew up as a kid, went swimming and all that. And I mean, I was looking forward to seeing my grandpa. We pull up, but there's a creek, and then you go to the cabin. There's a swinging bridge. I'm preaching over your heads here? I mean, I thought it was great. I used to sit on it and shoot crawdads, you know, a little single shot .22, you know. I think I was in the first grade. Times was different back then. You don't give kids guns now, but, you know, I'd sit there and shoot them crawdads. Well, I got out in the middle of that thing, and Diane's So I decided, well, she's not enjoying this. And I thought, I'll help her. I said, well, the fun part is you can actually make it swing. She's jumping up and down. She's, stop it! And her hands are white. She's holding on to them. And I saw she was really terrified. I said, maybe I ought to stop. She's not enjoying this at all. Now listen to me. I was having a wonderful time. I jumped up and down on that thing. It had big old telephone poles on both banks, you know, for the posts. It had steel cables, inch steel cables, you know, strung across, one-half inch oak boards. You're not, that bridge is gonna be there. I mean, it's safe as it can be. I mean, you know, there's, you're good, you're good. I had great faith in the bridge. Diana had little faith in the bridge. I was completely confident. She, not so much. I was enjoying it. She was not enjoying it at all. We might have had a funeral there if I hadn't stopped. But anyway, here's the point. She did not have near the maturity of faith that I had in it because of the experience that I'd had and the history and all that. But she was trusting the bridge and the bridge alone to get her to the other side. She was not trying to trust a submarine or a helicopter Lord knows she wasn't trusting me, I mean it had nothing to do with that. She was, her faith was immature, it wasn't developed, she did not have memories like I had, but she was trusting the bridge and the bridge alone to get across and she had stepped out on the bridge and the bridge alone to get across and she had no other plan than that, except to hit me, but she had no other plan than that to get her open. You know the Bible said, you know, for by grace you're saved through faith. A lot of times what people do though is they try to figure out how much faith. Four pounds and three ounces or 36 inches or two bushels or, there's nothing like that in the Bible. It's not so much great faith in God as it is faith in a great God. He was trusting the bridge and the bridge, you are doubting your salvation it is probably because maybe others seem to have more faith than you or whatever, maybe they do. But I would ask you, are you trusting Christ and Christ alone? That night I was on a visitation one day and we stopped by to see this lady and she began to cry and she said, I'm just not sure I'm safe. She had grown up in church. I mean she was there every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, every Wednesday night, you name it. And she had gotten married, had a little And she began to cry and she's talking to dad. She said, Brother Hudson, I'm just, I guess my faith, I don't know if it's enough. I said, I'm not sure. Dad always had the right word to say. He said, would you take a million dollars to deny Christ right now and say you want nothing to do with Jesus or the Bible or the plan of salvation? Would a million dollars do it? And she said, well, no, not at all. He said, well, that's a million dollars worth of faith, then that's a pretty good start. Amen? Trust in Christ and Christ alone. Old Spurgeon said, devil comes up to me and says, you're probably not even saved, you've messed it up like everything else, and you don't know what you're talking about, and you're just confused. And Spurgeon would say, well, you know, I do mess stuff up, devil, but I don't wanna talk about me, I wanna talk about Jesus. And he said, the devil runs off. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. If you try to look at yourself, You're always going to think I'm the one that thought I turned the coffee pot off. Found out I didn't. I'm the one that was sure it was blue and it turned out it was red. And by looking at yourself it will only engender doubt. You look at Jesus and when you look at Jesus all of a sudden your faith begins to swell up and thank God I'm not depending upon me. I like what an old preacher said, I would not trust the best 15 minutes I've ever lived to take me to heaven. My best 15 minutes I'm sure is probably somewhere when I was asleep, amen? I would not trust my best 15 minutes, I mean that. But when he shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in him be found dressed in his righteousness alone. Faultless to stand before the throne. So therefore salvation, when we know we're saved, And then we understand, we have that assurance that there's a God who will not lie. I heard Kenny Lynch say one day, he got so frustrated one time, he said, Lord, I've done all I know to do, and I did what you said to do to get saved, and if I ain't saved now, it's your fault. I did what you said, amen? Faith comes by hearing by the word of God. And I'm glad that 10 billion years from now, I'll still be saved. I'm still, amen. Let's pray. Father, I pray in Jesus' name, you Lord speak the hope. We thank you Lord for eternal salvation.