We're going to look at several different passages of Scripture tonight, but I wanted to kind of follow up on what we did this morning. And, you know, we read, unless someone is born again, they can't even see the kingdom of God. How do we know that we're born again? I thought it was neat that Amy came up and asked me that tonight, too. You know, because we hear all kinds of things in our culture, don't we? We hear all kinds of things like, sometimes people will say, unless you've had a dramatic conversion experience, you're not really saved. Unless you can know the day, the minute, the hour that you were saved, you can't know that you're a believer. Well, no, that's just not true. And we're going to look at some verses of Scripture, but I'd remind you of some famous people that we know that didn't have dramatic experiences. Take Billy Graham's wife, Ruth. Ruth grew up in a Christian home. Her father was L. Nelson Bell, the Presbyterian minister to China. She grew up in that situation, and Ruth's testimony was that she probably couldn't remember a day in which she didn't know Christ, she didn't know that He was Lord and Savior, and that she couldn't remember a time when she didn't know that He had loved her and died to save her. And how wonderful that is as a testimony. And there's a lot of us that came to Christ as young people. And we didn't have that dramatic. A lot of us didn't go like the Apostle Paul and fight the church and throw Christians in jail and vote for Stephen and others to be executed. We didn't do that. But, how do we know that we're born again? So, I'll tell you what Susan's dad used to say. Susan's dad, Preston Sartell, used to say, that he would go around the church with the Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship, and he would talk to people, and he would say that the biggest problem he saw was that people lacked assurance of their salvation in Christ. And he would often speak on assurance. In fact, he wrote a little tract on assurance of salvation. And you know, that's very true. I'm sure it's as much an issue today as it was in his day. So how can we know for sure? Number one, let me say this. The first thing is to know that we believe in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you believed in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? The word for believe, you know, is the word trust or put your faith in. It's an action word. So when you believe it's an action word, we're putting our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This morning we looked at 2 Timothy 1 verse 12. You remember that verse? We can almost probably all say, I know whom I've believed and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep what I've entrusted to him against that day. We even sing, we even sing that, I know whom I've believed. You remember that hymn that we sing? Alright, there's the three stages of belief right there. Number one is to know it. To know up here with our heads, to know that Christ is the Savior, to know that we've put our trust in Him, to know that He is the Lord and the King of our lives. So we know academically, we know up here. But you see, that's not enough, because Paul says, I know whom I believe. So we've got, we're convinced of the truth, we're convinced of it, we've placed our belief and our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're convinced of it. I know whom I believe and I am persuaded, it says in the scripture, persuaded or convinced that we, that he is able to guard what we've committed to him. So there's academic knowledge, head knowledge. Secondly, there's being persuaded that it's true. And the third thing is that we've entrusted our lives to Christ. That we not only academically know. You see, that's what happened to me. I grew up in the church. I went to Sunday school and youth group. I did all those things. I joined the church when I was 12 years old. But when I was in college, and you know when you're in college, There's a whole lot of difference because there's a lot of things that I had in college that I'd never had growing up. There's a lot of things that happened, you know, in the uncertainty of those days. And you have professors that throw these things out, all this as you think. Is this all true? Is what I believed all my life true? And you come along and It was my sophomore year that I was out reading my scripture one day, reading the Bible one day, sitting out on the campus, and I remember saying, Lord, if I've never done this right before, if I've never put my trust fully in Christ, I do it now, and I mean it with all my heart. I had to entrust myself to Christ. I had to entrust my life to Him. So you see, it's not enough just to know it up here, academically. It's not enough to be persuaded that it's true. Because remember, in EE training, they tell us the devil is persuaded. The devil knows that Jesus is God. The devil fights Jesus. The demons fight Him. They believe and they tremble. But you see, it's more than just believing. It's more than just head knowledge. It's more than just being persuaded. But you've got to entrust your life to Christ. And that's what we've got to do. We've got to entrust our lives to Christ. These are the three stages of belief. Intellectual knowledge, being convinced that it's true, and then placing the full weight of our trust in Christ. In Evangelism Explosion, you know, they use what they call the chair illustration. You remember the chair illustration? I can look at this chair and I can say, I believe this is a good chair. I believe it's a strong chair. But I won't know whether it's any good or not until I actually place the full weight of my body on this chair and not hold myself up at all, but let the chair hold me up. You see, I could look at a chair and think it was a good chair, and it might have two broken pieces on the side, and as soon as I sat in it, I fell right on the floor. And it wouldn't be a good chair. But you see, you never know until you put the weight of your body on it, until you commit your whole weight to it. And that's exactly what we have to do when we trust Christ. We have to put the full weight of our trust in the Lord Jesus. We're not trusting in ourselves to get ourselves to heaven anymore. I'm not trusting my good reputation. I'm not trusting my past performance. I'm not trusting my piety, that I've been a good person, that I've read the Bible, that I've gone to church, that I've taught Sunday school. I'm trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ to say, So you see, those are the three stages of belief. So how do we know that we're believers? How do we know that we're a Christian? The number one way you know is you believe and trust in what God has told you in His Word. That He that has the Son has life. We come and we commit ourselves to something that we know is true. So have you believed intellectually? Have you been convinced that he died for sinners like you? Have you put all your trust in him for salvation and you're depending upon him alone? You see, that's what the Reformation taught us. The Reformation taught us that we're not depending anymore on Believing in Christ plus doing good works. That's what Roman Catholicism teaches Roman Catholicism teaches I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but I do good works to make myself completely saved. You know, I can't get saved until I do those good works that authenticate that work. Well, see, what we believe is, of course, that we're trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation. I can't die on the cross for me. If I die on the cross to pay for my sins, I'm going to go to hell because I don't, I'm not a perfect Savior. And my life, I would have to be judged forever for my sins because the soul that sins must die. But Christ died for me because He died for me on the cross. He took my sin, my hell, and my judgment. Because He was the perfect Lamb of God who never sinned, He could bear my sins in His body on the cross. Because He was infinite, He could bear our sins, all of ours. He could take care of all of His people all over the world in all of history and all of time to the very end. Because He's the infinite God-man. That's why, if I can divert a little bit, that's why we're not Jehovah's Witnesses, we're not Mormons, we're not Christian science people, we're not any of these other cults. Because they don't, any of them, believe that Jesus is God the Son. They just say He's the Son of God. Or that He's something else. You know, He's not God the Son, He's not the Trinity. The Trinity's not true. And that's where the Jehovah's Witnesses come along. They throw the Trinity out. If we have to believe that Jesus is the one that died on the cross, that he was the perfect lamb of God, that he died in our place. Now, if we've trusted that, listen to these verses. If I'm a reliable person, you will follow, you will believe what I say. Right? I mean, if I've always told you the truth, if I'm a reliable person, you're going to believe what I say. If I'm a guy that lies all the time, you're never going to believe. You're going to say, well, you can't ever take anything Calvin says because he lies all the time. Alright, but if you're a liable person. Now, this is the Word of God, right? It's fully authoritative. It's infallible and inerrant, we say. In other words, it's incapable of error because it comes from God. If God is the author of Scripture, then it has to be true. Because God can't lie to us. Jesus said, Scripture cannot be broken. All Scripture is given by inspiration is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the person of God may be fully equipped for every good work. You see, if this is not true, let's just shut this thing, let's shut that door and let's go home and not ever come back. Because the only reason we're here is because we have a reliable testimony from God who sent us his word to tell us about his son who died on the cross for us and how we can live the Christian life. Alright, now, John 3.16. Let's take a tour through the Gospel of John tonight. We're going to look at John 3.16 again. Remember what it says, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal or everlasting life. Now that's what Jesus said to you. Right? Jesus said to you, whoever, because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus, that whoever believes and trusts in Him shall not perish, shall never perish. So we're never going to die. We're going to die physically. But for us, physical death is like walking through that door. We're absent from the body, present with the Lord. We're going to leave this place one day. Our hearts are going to stop. We're going to be immediately transferred into the kingdom, the eternal kingdom of God. We're going to be with Him forever. And we're never going to be in hell. Because Jesus said that. will have eternal life. Look at John 3.36, the last verse of that same chapter. He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him. He says in the first, he who believes and trusts in the Son has eternal life. Okay. Now hence, if I say I have five dollars in my wallet and I'm a truthful person, that doesn't mean I'm going to get five dollars next week. It means I've got five dollars in my wallet now. If God says you have eternal life now, you have it now. It doesn't begin just when you die. You've got eternal life in you now because the Holy Spirit's in you. You have eternal life now. Now, that's because Christ is living in us and He is life itself. So we're going to go transfer, we're just going to transfer from this life to the next. We're going to transfer like walking through that door. But that's all it is for us, is we're going to transfer. And we get to be with the Lord forever. So we don't have to worry about anybody that died who's a believer, right? Any of our relatives that have died believing and trusting in Christ? Son, daughter, grandchild, uncle, aunt, mother, father, grandmother, grandfather. If they've died trusting in Christ, hey man, we're going to see them again. We're going to be with them for all eternity. We've got nothing but joy in a future that is wonderful beyond belief, that we can't even take in. That's the joy. Now let's look at John 6, 37 to 40. John chapter 6, verses 37 to 40. Look at this. All that the Father gives me shall come to me. And the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. Now that's a double negative. And basically in there it says not never. Now we won't, our English teachers won't let us get away with that. The English teach you a smackdust and say that's a double negative. You can't use a double negative. But basically what they're using in the Greek is a not never. He that has the Son, John 6, 37, all that the Father gives to me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will not never cast out. We're never going to be thrown out. Never. You're never going to be thrown out. Now, I have good pre-will Baptist friends and they come up to me and one of my pre-will Baptist friends said to me, well, I said, you know, we're thankful for eternal life. And he says, well, yeah, if we don't mess up, like if you see him and hit a telephone pole, you're not going to have it. And how can God be an Indian giver? How can God give you eternal life today and take it away tomorrow if you mess up? What kind of salvation is that? How can you call that eternal? That can't be eternal. In other words, if it's their way, then I have to keep myself safe. And if I have to keep myself safe, I'm a terrible person living a sinless life. I can't live a sinless life. I mess up every day. So I cannot keep myself safe. So that's very depressing. If I have to keep myself safe and not ever sin again, and not ever do anything wrong, Now, that's not good news, that's bad news, because nobody can live like that. There isn't anybody that lives a perfect death. But Jesus, only He did. Alright, so, if God says, truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life, shall not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life. Are we going to believe that or are we just going to say that's part of the Bible? I don't know why it's in there, but it's in there. No, it's in there to comfort us and to give us encouragement. John says, All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will not never cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that of all that He has given me, I lose nothing." In other words, Jesus is never going to lose one of His. He's never going to lose one of His. He's bought you. He's never going to lose you. He's never going to let you fall. He's never going to let you go away. Now, does that mean we're going to live sinless lives and never let Him down? No. We're going to let Him down still. Tomorrow. Tonight. Next week. Beyond. Because we're sinful people living in a sinful world. But, Jesus says, those that the Father has given me, I'm not losing a single one of them. All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will not never cast out, for I have come from heaven to do, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that of all that He has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day." He's going to raise every one of us up that trust in Christ on the last day. None of us are going to be lost. Because He's keeping us, not we're keeping ourselves. Susan's dad used to use an illustration like this. He used to take a little child in the congregation and put his arm, put the child's hand in his hand. They'd walk, and then he'd knock the child's foot out, and the child would want to fall on his head. Well, he's holding on to our hands, right? When God holds on to us, he's not going to drop us. When God holds on to us, He's not going to drop us. Because He's got us. It's not me. It doesn't depend on me holding my hand up here and saying, God, you're going to hold me because I know I'm going to mess up and I'm going to sin and fall and hit the telephone pole and die and go to hell. No. He says, I've got you. And I'm not going to lose one of my own and I'm going to take all of my own to be with me where I am. And now let's go to John 10, 27 to 30. John chapter 10, 27 verses 27 to 30. Now, you know this one too by heart, I'm sure. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give eternal life to them. Wow. God gives us eternal life. Not temporary life, not life for five years and then we mess up and go to hell, but eternal life. And they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. That's what I was talking about with Dr. Sarteff. Nobody's going to take them out. Nobody's going to take us out of God's hand. Now, David messed up and lived a year in his sin, and God had to strike down that child that was born in order to wake him up and to call him back. And David repented and came back. But if he died in that thing, trusting in God, you're going to have to say, is David going to hell? David's not going to hell. Any more than when we sin and not repent, we're not going to hell. You know, how often do we have hard hearts and not forgive people? How often do we gossip about other people? How often do we criticize? How often do we say hateful things and not repent? If we died in that state, you think we're going to hell? No. You know, that's why the Roman Catholics have last rites. Because they come up and say, OK, you've got to forgive all these people. You've got to forgive this poor fellow right here because he's got all these sins on his conscience. He's going to die and go to hell if you don't You know, that's why they're so scared not to have last rites. It's because they've got to get rid of all those sins that are on there that they hadn't repented of and gotten forgiveness for. It doesn't work like that. God says. that he that hath the Son hath life. He says, I know them, I give eternal life to them, nobody can snatch them out of my hand. Now does this, Paul says in Romans 6, should we then, because grace is so good, can we just live any way we want to? God forbid, that's exactly what he said. God forbid. Should we take all this casually because God forgives our sins? He says, absolutely not. We're not to take our Christian life casually. We're not to say, oh, well I can just live any way I want because God's going to forgive me. He says, no. We cannot live like that because we bring shame to Christ that way. Now another wonderful verse is 1 John chapter 5. Let's jump to that one. 1 John 5.11 1 John 5.11 Listen to what it says. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things have I written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may think, so that you may hope that you have eternal life. Does it say that? It says, so that you may know that you have eternal life. Notice what he says, these things I've written to you who believe already. He could write this to Princeton Presbyterian Church. These things have I written to you that believe already, so that you may know that you have eternal life. We can know that we have eternal life. My mother, I remember going to my mother saying, how do you know that you have eternal life? And that's when she gave me, in her early years, she didn't say that at the end, I think. But in her early years, she said, we've got to live a good life and be a good person. And you'll go there. And I said, later on, I knew that wasn't the answer. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you do, you can know you have eternal life. Some people come up to me and they say, Calvin, it's arrogant for anybody to say that they know that they have eternal life. I said, it would be if it was just me. But look at what God says. And God's told me, these are written to you who believe so that you may know that you have eternal life. It's not arrogant for me to take God at His word, is it? He doesn't lie. So it would be stupid for me not to take God at His word. God says these are what's the record. This is the testimony or the record that God has given to us eternal life. This life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life. How do you know? You take God at His word. You believe what Jesus did for you on the cross. You not only believe, but you've obeyed, trusting your life to Christ. And you have the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. All right, I may stop. And just let me just do this one. Look at Romans 8, 14 to 17, and we'll close with this one. Romans 8, 14 to 17. Romans 8 14 to 17 listen what it says here I'll read it for you for all who are being led by the Spirit of God. These are the sons of God For you have not received the spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him. All who are led by the Spirit, these are thus what? The children of God. And if we're children, we're heirs. And he says, you've not received the spirit of slavery leading to fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption by which we cry Abba Father. In other words, the Holy Spirit is working in the believer's life and the Holy Spirit convinces you that you belong to Jesus, that you belong to God. The Holy Spirit is the internal testimony. The outside thing is, I take God at His word. I believe John 3, 16. I believe John 6, 47. I believe John 10, 27 to 30. John 3.36. In other words, the first thing I do is I believe what God's told me. He said, He that has a son has life. He that has not the Son of God has not life. So if I believe and trust in the Son, I've entrusted my life to Him, I have life. It's simple as that. Just believe in what God says to you. If God said to you, Greg, if you have Christ in your life, you're going to heaven and have eternal life forever. And I will never drop you. I'll never kick you out. I'll never lose any of you that I have died to save. I mean, how wonderful would that be? But God's already done that. He's already done that in the Scripture. He just didn't put your name in there. But you can put your name in there if you want to. He that has the Son has life. Mary Bell, who has the Son, has life. So we believe what God said to us and we believe the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit's in us. And you remember what 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, if any person is in Christ, he is a new person. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. God the Holy Spirit makes us new. He changes our desires. I had a friend in Marion who was not a believer, and he believed everything this one writer in the newspaper said. And this one guy was a typical liberal, he had all these dumb ideas. And my friend would read those and say, oh that's true, that's exactly right. God got a hold of him. There was a professor at Appalachian State that led my friend to Christ. and discipled that young man. And you know, he said, Calvin, ever since I've become a Christian, he says, Pat, Job's articles in the paper don't, they're stupid. They don't make any sense to me anymore. And I said, you know why? Because God's in you. Because God's Holy Spirit lives in you. He's changed your whole life. He used to think all kinds of things were right that were obviously wrong. He used to believe all this other hooey. And, you know, God changed his heart. God changed his heart. He was completely different. If any person is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. How can we know that we are saved? We believe what God said in John 3, John 6, John 10. 1 John 5, 11-13, we believe what God says, and then secondly, we have the internal testimony of God in the Holy Spirit. He testifies to your heart that you're a believer and that He's changed your life. That's how you do it. Let's bow and pray. Father, we thank you that we can know that we're believers, that we're saved, that we're going to heaven, that you've purchased us with your own blood, Christ's blood on the cross. We thank you now that we can celebrate together, that we can enjoy fellowship, that we can walk together, and that we can plan, Father, to serve you this week. We pray that you'll give us the grace to do all that we need to do. In Jesus' name, Amen.