Can you please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7? Matthew chapter 7. It was a number of weeks ago that I thought that I was going to be able to preach one sermon on the entirety of the concluding section to the Sermon on the Mount. And in preparing that sermon, very quickly realized, really, that that wasn't going to be possible. And so I had to divide it up into three sermons. Well, this is the third of those sermons. which now brings us truly to the end of the Sermon on the Mount. We'll be covering this morning verses 21 to 27. But let us read these verses again in their context. We'll begin at verse 12 that really marks this concluding section to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. So then let us read these words together. So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, Inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? But then I will declare to them, I never knew you, Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell. And great was the fall of it. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let us pray together. Father, as we come to your word, we do pray earnestly that you would be with us by your spirit, granting to us understanding. Help us to perceive the truth of these words. Help us to lay a hold of them. Help us to then apply them to our lives. Father, we know that each one of us as individuals here this morning needs something a little different from your word. Some of us need a hard word of correction. We need to be admonished. We need to be shaken up. Others of us are in desperate need of comfort. and consolation from your word. Father, you know what our needs are. You know the needs of each one. And we do pray that you would minister this morning to the needs of each one as your word would be preached. Be with us then. Bless us as your people. In Jesus' name, amen. What Jesus reveals in this passage, and it's a deeply sobering truth, is that spiritual self-deception is possible, and it is deadly. A person can genuinely believe that they're a Christian when they're not. A person may sincerely think that they have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ when they do not. And Jesus is clear about this point, isn't he? Look again at verse 21, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, we'll enter the kingdom of heaven. And in verse 22, he doesn't say that some, some will say to him, Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? What does Jesus say? He says that many will say such words to him. Many people, says Jesus, are self-deceived. Many people have a false assurance of salvation. They claim to have a relationship with Jesus. They claim to serve Jesus, and yet in the end, Jesus will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. And these words are terrifying. Can you imagine hearing These words from Jesus spoken to you depart from me. I never knew you. How can we be sure that these words will never be spoken to us. Can you have assurance that these words will never be spoken to you. Is it possible to have full assurance of salvation true assurance of salvation and if so How can you come to possess such assurance? Well, first of all, full assurance of faith is possible. Consider these words from Hebrews 10. These words from Hebrews 10 that no doubt will be very familiar to you. Brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. The author of Hebrews plainly states that because of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have confidence to enter the holy places, through Christ we can boldly draw near to God. The author of Hebrews exhorts us to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. This passage plainly teaches us that it's possible for a Christian to possess full assurance. It's possible for a person to know that they're not self-deceived. It's possible to know that you're truly saved. Now, this passage may expose the fact that you're a false disciple. It may reveal to you that you're self-deceived. But if you come to that realization this morning, then rejoice. Rejoice, because you're being set free from self-deception, and God is showing to you mercy. And then come to Jesus. throughout this sermon, we'll consider what it means to truly come to Jesus, and we'll consider what it means to have a real relationship with him. At the same time, you may be a true Christian, and we believe that most of us, as the gathered people of God this morning, are, yes, true believers. Yet even so, this passage may still terrify you. It may terrify you. Does it stir up anxiety in your heart? Does it unsettle you, these words of Jesus? Do you often find yourself doubting whether you're truly saved? Many genuine, true Christians wrestle with a lack of assurance. And if that's true, my prayer is that this passage will ultimately, in the end, be a comfort to you, a balm to your soul. A passage like this can make you feel as though you're adrift in a storm-tossed sea. and yet at the same time it may also bring peace to your soul. In this sermon, and we're not just going to consider what this passage in isolation teaches us about assurance of salvation, we're going to consider what the whole of scripture teaches us about true and false assurance of salvation. How can you discern the difference between genuine assurance, true assurance of salvation, and deadly self-deception. How can you discern the difference? How can you know whether you're a true disciple or a false disciple? Now, if you want to possess assurance of salvation, there are really three things that we need to consider. The first two are essential, such that without them you cannot be a true Christian. The third is deeply important, though a true Christian may at times lack it. So then what are these three points? Firstly, you must have faith in Jesus. You must believe the promises of God. Secondly, your faith and your union with Christ must be evidenced in good works. True faith will manifest itself in obedience. And thirdly, You may experience the Holy Spirit testifying to your spirit that you are a child of God. Now in this passage, Jesus is emphasizing the second of these three points, namely good works as the evidence of saving faith. But that second point, it assumes the first. As I said earlier, both the first and the second points must be true of you if you're a true Christian. However, the first point is more important than the second, in the sense that it's, of course, foundational. Faith comes first, and good works, they follow as the evidence of saving faith. And you cannot reverse that order. Salvation is received through faith, and the fruit of that faith is obedience. And with that in mind, we'll now proceed by considering each of these three points. in turn. So then number one, believing the promises of God through Christ is the foundation of our assurance. Believing the promises of God through Christ is the foundation of our assurance. When the Philippian jailer, so this is Acts 16, knowing himself to be a sinner, asked Paul and Silas, what must I do to be saved? How did they answer him? Did they tell him, you must obey the law of God, you must keep the Ten Commandments? No. They said to him, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. We're not saved by works of the law. We're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. In Ephesians 2, verses 8 to 9, the apostle Paul proclaims, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. We cannot earn God's forgiveness. We cannot merit his favor. We cannot be forgiven or declared righteous on the basis of our own good works. Our good works are simply not good enough. And they certainly cannot cancel out all the wrong things, all the bad things, all the sin that we have done. Salvation comes from God. Salvation is of the Lord. We cannot earn it. We can only receive it. And we receive it through faith in Jesus Christ. In order to be saved, you must believe in Jesus. You must be united to him through faith. And yet, we must also distinguish between true faith and false faith. The sad reality is that many people are self-deceived because they don't possess genuine faith. They have a counterfeit faith. And a false faith cannot unite you to Jesus. In this passage, it's clear that the people who claim to be Christians don't possess true saving faith. How is that clear? Well, because faith unites us to Jesus. True saving faith brings us into a relationship with Jesus that can never be severed. Once you're in union with Christ, you cannot be cut off from Christ. It's impossible. Yet concerning these false disciples, Jesus says in verse 23, I declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me. So then, what is true saving faith? And how can we distinguish it from false faith? Well, true faith is made up of three essential components. Knowledge, assent, and trust. Knowledge, assent, and trust. In order to believe in Jesus, you must first understand something about him. You need to have some grasp of the reality that you're a sinner in need of a savior. And as Peter proclaimed, there is salvation in no one else but Jesus. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And to have faith in Jesus, you must understand the basic facts of the gospel. You must recognize that you're a sinner and that Jesus is the savior. You must understand that you're not saved by your works, but by the works of Christ alone. Again, salvation isn't something we earn, it's something we receive. It's a gift from God that we don't deserve. What we deserve is, of course, judgment. We deserve judgment, but in Christ, God offers to us full and free forgiveness of all of our sins and reconciliation with himself. What we deserve is death, but in the gospel what God offers to us is life, life with him forever. So then the first component of true saving faith is knowledge. The second is assent. It's not enough just to know the facts. You must also believe that the facts of the gospel are true. You must acknowledge the truth of the gospel. Yes you must understand that Jesus is God but you must also believe that he is God. You must understand that Jesus died for sins and rose again on the third day. But you must also believe that he died and rose again. Many people of course understand what the Bible teaches and yet they don't believe it's true. To have true saving faith you must understand the gospel and you must believe that it's true. However if that's all you do then you still don't have true saving faith. Even if you understand the gospel and you believe that it's true you must also have trust. Trust. You must personally trust in Jesus. There's a world of difference between believing that Jesus is the Savior and believing that he is my Savior. Now imagine someone cooks you a meal and sets it down in front of you. You can understand what's happened. You can see that on the plate in front of you there is a delicious looking piece of steak with a side of fries and salad. And you can assent to that truth. You know, you can believe that you're not hallucinating, that the food isn't an illusion, it's real. But what else do you need to do? What else do you need to do? If you want to enjoy this meal and be nourished by it, you must pick up your knife and your fork and you must eat it. You cannot just look at it. You must receive it and actually eat it. How does the Westminster Shorter Catechism define saving faith? It states, faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation as he is offered to us in the gospel. We'll consider also this definition from William Ames, one of the early Puritans who defined faith in this way. Faith is the resting, the resting of the heart on God the author of life and eternal salvation, so that we may be saved from all evil through him and may follow all good. Notice then the language of receiving and resting. Receiving and resting. It's this that ultimately distinguishes false faith from true faith. True saving faith personally receives Jesus. It means finding rest in Jesus, fully trusting and relying upon him rather than striving to earn God's favor through your own efforts. Resting in Jesus means finding peace and security in his finished work. Do you have true saving faith? Do you understand your need for a savior? Do you understand the gospel? Do you believe that the gospel is true? And then most importantly, have you received Jesus? Are you trusting in Jesus alone for your salvation? Are you resting in him so that you're no longer striving to earn God's favor by your own good works? If that's true of you, then you can have unshakable assurance of your salvation. Why? Because of God's promise, his promise to you. God has promised that anyone who believes in Jesus will not perish but have eternal life. Does God keep his promises? Is God able to keep his promises? In John 6, 37, Jesus says, All that the Father gives to me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. That's a word of promise, isn't it? Whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. Did Jesus really mean those words? Did he really mean them? Does he really want you to believe those words? Does he want you to be comforted by those words? Of course he does. Ultimately, our assurance is not based upon our works. It's not based on our performance. Our assurance is anchored in the promises of God. Therefore, we can have an unshakable assurance of salvation. We can possess full assurance of faith because our faith is in God. and we know that the Lord will never let us down. It's impossible for God to lie. It's impossible for God to take back his promises. If you stand upon the sure foundation of God's word, you cannot be shaken. You can stand firm. An infallible assurance of faith is founded on the blood and righteousness of Christ revealed in the gospel. Now, I do need to say that it's important to understand that full assurance of salvation, it does not belong to the essence of faith. Full assurance does not belong to the essence of faith. As our confession states, this infallible assurance does not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long and struggle with many difficulties before he may be a partaker of it. You see, faith and assurance are not the same thing. It's possible for you to possess true saving faith and yet lack assurance of salvation. However, it is true to say that assurance follows after faith. If you have faith, and the more you grow in faith, the more deeply rooted and grounded you become in Christ, the more your assurance should grow. the more your confidence will increase. And understand that God wants you to be confident. He wants you to have peace. He desires to comfort you with his promises. Having assurance of our salvation, it honors God. When we have assurance of our salvation, what are we doing? We are exalting God's faithfulness and we are exalting his love for us. So then believing the promises of God through Christ is the foundation of our assurance. If you're believing the promises of God and have true faith in Christ, you can possess assurance of salvation. But the next thing you must understand about assurance is this. This is our second point. Good works are necessary evidence of true saving faith. and union with Christ. Good works are necessary evidence of true saving faith and union with Christ. And this is the point that Jesus really is emphasizing in this text. True saving faith is a lively faith. It is a living faith. And the fruit of this faith is love. It's love-filled, love-empowered obedience. James challenges us with these words. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? And he asks this question. Can that faith save him? He goes on to say that faith apart from works is useless, and that faith is completed by works. If you trust in Jesus, If you've been brought into a relationship with him, a true relationship with him through faith, it will change how you live. You cannot say, for instance, I trust in Jesus, yet I refuse to live in obedience to his teachings. You cannot say I trust in Jesus, I have a relationship with Jesus, but choose to live however you want. Now we must be clear. It's not obedience to Jesus' teachings that saves you. It's not doing his words that justifies you. Your life of obedience doesn't contribute to your justification. You don't produce fruit in order to be engrafted into the vine that is Christ. If fruit bearing were a precondition to being engrafted into Christ, well, that could never happen. A branch cannot produce fruit apart from the vine. Good works are the evidence of faith. Good works are the fruit of our union with Christ. And if good works are not present in your life, then faith cannot be present in your life. Because the same gospel that justifies us likewise sanctifies us. The same Jesus who justifies us likewise sanctifies us and if you've been united to him through faith he will work in your life to sanctify you. When you're united to Jesus through faith you are justified that is you're forgiven all of your sins and you're declared righteous by God by virtue of being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. However yes you will also be sanctified your life will be transformed. God will write his law upon your heart and you will be You will be progressively transformed from one degree of glory to another. Your sanctification does not save you. Rather, sanctification is one of the benefits of your salvation. It is the outworking of your salvation. You cannot be saved and not be sanctified. Sanctification is an integral part of what the Bible means when it speaks of salvation. It is part of the gift of God to us in Christ. When Jesus says to the false and self-deceived disciples, depart from me, I never knew you, how else does he describe them? How else does he describe them? What does he call them? Workers of lawlessness. They show no evidence of the law of God having been written upon their hearts. Now, what is it that they say to Jesus? What objection do they raise when Jesus tells them that they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven? Well, look again with me at verse 22. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? Now, what are they drawing attention to? Their works. But what works are these? Prophesying, casting out demons, and doing mighty works. All of this sounds very impressive. And yet, are these the things that Jesus has been emphasizing to us throughout the Sermon on the Mount? Has Jesus instructed us that a true disciple must perform mighty works? No. How did he begin the Sermon on the Mount? He began the sermon by stating that a true disciple is not a mighty worker of miracles. A true disciple is poor in spirit. A true disciple mourns over their sin and is meek and merciful. A true disciple is a peacemaker and is pure in heart. A true disciple hungers and thirsts for righteousness. These so-called disciples boast about mighty works. but they've replaced what truly matters to Jesus with what seems to be most impressive in their own eyes. The emphasis of Jesus's teaching is entirely absent from the things that these false disciples boast about and having accomplished for him. So what does Jesus require of us? He requires that we live lives of repentance, faith, and obedience. And it's Jesus who defines what obedience is. We cannot redefine that. These false disciples redefine obedience to mean outward, impressive displays of power. However, Jesus defines obedience in the first instance as gospel-empowered, spirit-filled cultivation of virtue that begins in the heart. Jesus here isn't impressed by outward displays of power. Rather, what is he seeking? He is seeking true disciples that have heartfelt humility, true repentance, a turning away from sin, real faith, real trust in him, and love. He wants us to be both hearers and doers of his word. Therefore, we must be attentive to his words, his words. You see, many people want forgiveness, but they don't want to live a life of discipleship. What do they want? They want cheap grace, grace without demands. They want to feel good message about God's love, but they resist God's law. They don't want Jesus telling them what to do. And yet, Jesus warns us just how foolish it is to listen to his words and to not obey them. And of course, this famous parable of the two builders in verses 24 to 27, the wise man is both a hearer and a doer of Jesus's words. He is like a man who built his house upon the rock and when the storm comes, the house stands firm. Conversely, the foolish man hears the words of Jesus but does not do them. And he is like a man who built his house on the sand, and when the storm comes, the house falls, and great is the fall of it. Jesus is here speaking of the last judgment. And Jesus will divide the sheep from the goats. He will separate false disciples from true disciples. And on what basis will he separate them? How will he distinguish those with true saving faith from those with a counterfeit faith? Or by their works? Your works will either confirm the genuineness of your faith or expose that you never truly possessed saving faith in Jesus. Now, our works are never meritorious unto salvation. Never meritorious unto salvation. but they are the necessary evidence that we are true citizens of the kingdom of heaven and recipients of the grace of God in Christ. Despite what you may say or believe about yourself, if you have no fruit, no fruit whatsoever, you are not a Christian. All true Christians bear fruit. All true Christians trust and obey their savior. If you're not trusting in Christ, you cannot have assurance of salvation. There is no salvation outside of Christ. And if you have no fruit, if your life isn't marked in some way by faith and obedience, if that is not what you desire, you should not have assurance of salvation. True faith in Christ is transformative. Many who wrestle with assurance often find themselves asking, is there enough fruit in my life? Am I doing enough? Does my ongoing battle with sin mean that I'm not truly saved? I wonder, have you asked yourself any of those questions? They wonder how they can keep falling despite trying so hard. Now, while introspection is necessary from time to time in the Christian life, There is a problem with this way of thinking. When you focus on your own efforts and shortcomings, you are looking to yourself. And in so doing, what are you doing? You're looking away from Christ. So recognize the danger. Don't become a fruit inspector. Don't become obsessed with measuring your own fruit. Instead, as Robert Murray McShane said, for every one look at yourself, and yes, there is a place for that, but for every one look at yourself, take 10 looks at Christ. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, rather than on our own imperfect efforts. What is the foundation of our assurance? It's the all-sufficient works of Jesus Christ. Our confidence ultimately rests not in ourselves, but in the finished work of Jesus on the cross, his perfect obedience, his sonatoning sacrifice, and his death-defeating resurrection. If you're truly united to Jesus, this union will inevitably bear fruit in your life. So do you trust in Jesus? Do you trust him? Do you love him? And does your trust and love for Jesus, does it change the way you live? If your faith in Christ affects how you think and feel and act, if it leads you to desire and pursue obedience to him because you love him, then there is fruit in your life. This is evidence of genuine saving faith. And no matter how small or imperfect that fruit may seem, it should nonetheless encourage you and serve to assure you of your salvation. We must likewise be careful not to misunderstand what God promises to us in this life. Does God promise to us that we'll attain sinless perfection in this life? No, he doesn't. As scripture is clear that the Christian life is one of ongoing struggle, The sinful passions of the flesh will wage war against our souls until the day we die. And this tension is part of the already not yet reality of our Christian pilgrimage. Yet at the same time, God does promise that you will progressively be transformed by his spirit from one degree of glory to another. And yet the progress may at times be very slow. Now this sanctification is real and it's ongoing, but God has not laid out a precise timetable for your sanctification. Scripture doesn't give to us a daily or a weekly schedule for how quickly God will sanctify us. Understand that the presence of even small amounts of fruit in your life should not be dismissed. Rather, these are signs of growth, no matter how small, and they are real evidence of God's gracious work within your life and are a confirmation of your union with Christ. Don't forget, assurance doesn't come from having a perfect, struggle-free life. If it did, none of us would have assurance of salvation. Rather, our confidence is rooted in God's unchanging promises and in the new life that he has brought to birth within us. Of course, there is a sense in which how much you grow in Christlikeness depends in part upon your own faithfulness. For example, a Christian who is diligent in daily Bible reading and prayer will generally make more progress in sanctification than one who neglects these disciplines. While sanctification is a work of God's grace, we are called to actively cooperate with the spirits working in our lives. as the Apostle Paul instructs us, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. So how can you become more deeply assured of your salvation? In the first point of this morning's sermon, we saw that assurance grows as you immerse yourself more deeply into God's promises. The deeper you're rooted and grounded in Christ, the greater your assurance will become. And again, this is foundational. From this second point, which must always follow the first, we understand the more sanctified we become, the more assured of our salvation we can be. In 2 Peter 1, Paul exhorts us to add to your faith virtue. He urges believers to supplement their faith with godliness. He writes, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. When you live faithfully and pursue holiness, you are confirming your calling and election, says Peter. Trusting and obeying Jesus strengthens our security in him. If you're struggling then with assurance, Yes, return to the foundation, keep looking to Christ and press into the promises of God, wade more deeply into the depths of his love as revealed in those promises. And yet secondly, keep cultivating virtue. The more you grow in Christ like this, the greater confidence you will have of your salvation. If you often find yourself entangled in sin, and repeatedly succumbing to the same temptations, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're not a true Christian. And many believers go through seasons of backsliding and times when the battle against certain sins is especially fierce. During these seasons, it's crucial to not give up. Keep pressing on. Keep pleading the promises of God and keep fighting the good fight. C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter to a friend, No amount of fools will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time. We shall all, of course, be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home, but the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes are in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one's temper and give it up. Glorification comes later, and until then, until we reach home, We'll all struggle with sin until we enter the presence of God in glory. In regard to our sanctification, not one of us will cross the finish line into glory perfectly clean. We'll all carry sins that haven't yet been fully conquered in this life. What matters most is that you don't give up. No matter how many times you fall, remember that Christ will be there to pick you up Remember, Jesus intercedes for you. He loves you. Whenever you stumble and fall, he is not frustrated with you. Rather, he has moved with compassion for you. He will never abandon his sheep, no matter how stubborn and foolish they may be. So then, good works are necessary evidence of true saving faith and union with Christ. When it comes to possessing and to cultivating assurance of salvation, Scripture teaches that we must both trust in God's promises and live out our faith through love. As our confession of faith states, all those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love him sincerely, endeavoring to work in all good conscience before him, may in this life be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And yet, briefly, there is a third way in which God is pleased to give to us assurance that the scriptures teach us about. And that is by the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8, 16, we read that the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And in Galatians 4, 6, we read, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, When someone truly belongs to God, the Holy Spirit gives them a deep conviction that they are, yes, part of God's family. And this isn't just an emotion. It's a spiritual confirmation. And yet our subjective experience of the Spirit abiding within us and testifying to us that we are children of God may at times be shaken. It may at times be diminished. It can ebb and it can flow. It can come. and it can go, and for many reasons. Perhaps you fall into a sin that hardens your conscience and grieves the spirit. Sometimes God's felt presence is withdrawn from us for a season, such that we feel as though we are walking in darkness. There are many psalms about that. The Lord may also do this though, to discipline us or to test us in order to further refine our faith and to purify our lives from sin. Now, it's not wrong to pray and to seek after this experience of the Spirit in our lives. You should pray for it. You should seek after it. God desires to give it. And yet we must also understand that there is a danger in this. To experience the Spirit testifying to us that we are children of God is truly wonderful. and yet we can so easily deceive ourselves. A warm, fuzzy feeling is not necessarily a guarantee of the Spirit's presence. Mormons often speak about a burning in the bosom as a confirmation to them of God's presence, and yet their faith is misplaced. As we considered last week, their faith is in another Jesus, a false Jesus, a Jesus who cannot save. And regardless of how they feel, And regardless of how many good works they endeavor to perform, they are not building upon the firm foundation of the word of God. And when the storm comes, they will find themselves, unless they repent and come to the true Christ, they will find themselves swept away in judgment. And this is true for everyone who does not receive the Jesus of the Bible. If you rely on feelings or boast in your good works, You are in great danger of being self-deceived. You may sincerely believe that you're a true Christian when in fact you are not. To be a true Christian, you must be united to the true Christ through faith. And if you trust in Christ, you will obey Christ. Therefore, if you believe the promises of God and live a life of faith and gospel-empowered obedience, you can have assurance You can be confident that you're the wise builder, building your life upon the rock. If you have true saving faith, and your faith is working through love, then you can be assured that Jesus will never say to you, depart from me, I never knew you. If you believe in Jesus and live by faith, evidenced in obedience, you can be confident that Jesus will never reject you or cast you aside. Rather, when you die or when he returns, you can be assured of hearing these words. Well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master. Let's pray together. Father, we do thank you that you sent your son into the world to save sinners. We thank you that we can have assurance of salvation as we trust in him, as we receive him and rest in him alone for our salvation, looking away from our good works, looking away from anything that we ourselves might boast in, but looking only to him and to his all-sufficient work, that Christ and Christ alone is our only boast. And we thank you that, therefore, if we have faith in him and we trust him and we love him, we can most certainly be assured that we are justified and that we are sanctified and that we will be progressively sanctified. And we do pray that you would be with anyone who has, even over this time, come to realize that they are not a true Christian. Be with them. Show to them your mercy. Be with them and grant to them true repentance and true faith, even in this present moment. For those that so often struggle with assurance and who lack assurance and who are afflicted. Draw near to them and comfort them. Reassure them of your great and precious promises. And Father, I do pray that you would continue to be with each one of us here that are gathered as your people, that you would continue to be at work by your word and spirit in our lives, further confirming to us our calling, and our election, that it would be made sure by, yes, our faith, but also by the outworking of that faith in our love, our love for you, our love for one another, and our love for the lost. Be with us, continue to bless us, and build us up as your people at Cornerstone, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.