Blessed Assurance

This is the First Mustang Pulpit Podcast, a podcast of the weekly preaching and teaching at First Mustang.! Thank you for joining us. If you would open with me again to Philippians 1, I've got to tell you if you ever ask me what my favorite book of the Bible is, I'll just tell you up front, I'll always tell you it's whatever I'm teaching because I'm living in that book every day.

And so whatever book I'm preaching at the time is my favorite. I don't know if I've ever had a book I'm preaching and studying captivate me as much as Philippians has the last several weeks.

I have found myself just completely unable to shut my mind off of it in reading and studying and working through upcoming passages. Honestly, I don't know that I've ever had more fun in my life than the last three weeks.

Just laboring in this book and studying the themes in this passage and seeing them lived out in our church, in an imperfect church like ours, but a real-life church that loves the Lord, loves the Word, cares for each other, and honestly strives to take what we study and put it into practice.

And the combination of laboring in this book and seeing it lived out among you as a congregation, these last several weeks have been so enriching to me.

And I find myself just about Monday around noon wishing it was Sunday again, so we could gather again and look at what the Lord has for us.

But last Sunday, we finished just through verse 6. I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

And I was already excited for today to get into verses 7 and 8, but before I reached my car last Sunday, I had already had several conversations with church members dealing with topics about assurance of salvation, the doctrine of eternal security, how can we know if we're truly saved, how can we rest in the Lord, bringing us to completion, to use verse 6.

By the time Sunday evening was over, I had had numerous other communications through email and text messages, and by the time I woke up Monday morning, I just knew, I really felt like the best thing for us to do was not to move to verse 7 yet, but to just stay here as a church together one more Sunday and consider in more depth and more detail what this means for us to understand the assurance of our salvation.

It is one of the hardest struggles a person can have when they go through doubts. And here's the thing, if you've ever had a time in the past or today where you doubt your salvation or you're struggling with assurance of salvation, you probably feel like you're one of the few people to ever go through that.

You may feel like there's something wrong with you. You may feel like you're the only person in the church that struggles with those doubts. I just want you to understand two things. Number one, if you have or are struggling with a lack of assurance, you're not alone.

And number two, it doesn't need to last. There is biblical ground we can go to to help you to understand this subject and this doctrine.

I pray today we'll serve you to help you with that. So I don't want you to feel like you're alone in this. I also don't want you to feel like this is something that has to just be there the rest of your life. The Lord has given us His Word.

So what I want to do today, we're going to do two things. We're going to revisit verse 6 and then in a few moments, we're going to go to the Gospel of John and I want to show you Jesus' words to you about assurance of salvation.

So last week in verse 6, we looked at it with these three headings. First was the word assurance. I am sure of this. Paul says there's something he's convinced of, something he knows, something he's certain of.

And the second word we looked at was the word author. That he who began a good work in you, the work of salvation was authored by the Lord Himself.

He is the one who began this work. You didn't begin it. You didn't start it. He did. And then the third word was the word accomplishment. He will bring it to completion.

Christ is the author of our salvation and He will accomplish its completion. And because of that, you can live with assurance to know that you belong to Him.

And I want you to know that. That assurance is possible and assurance should be what we have as believers.

Now, we've covered in, it's been a while ago, but for those of you ladies who come to our Ladies on a Theology, about a year and a half ago or so, we talked about the difference between assurance of salvation and security.

Assurance is more of a subjective feeling. Security is what is true. So, somebody can feel assured of salvation, but if not truly converted, they don't have security.

Conversely, someone can be truly converted, truly secure, but they lack assurance for whatever reason. So, our salvation is not rooted in our assurance, but it is the will of God for His people that are truly converted to enjoy the assurance of knowing you belong to Him.

So, what I want to do this morning is, if you were to come to me this morning and meet in my office and say, Pastor, I'm struggling with assurance of salvation, I want to talk to you this morning the way that I would talk to you if I was sitting across from you one-on-one with open Bibles of what I would say to you if you're struggling with assurance of salvation.

And if this is not something you currently struggle with, I hope you'll listen closely and it will help you if that day ever comes. And I hope it will help you in case the Lord allows you to minister and encourage somebody else who may be going through this.

So, let me just kind of talk to you heart-to-heart for a bit this morning, okay? Why do people doubt their salvation? Why would that be a situation that they go through?

One, it could be because of the presence of sin. Assurance of salvation can diminish, particularly in the presence of concealed sin.

Now, we understand that believers still sin. We should sin less. We should feel stronger conviction as we grow in Christ over our sin.

But we still sin. We understand we have a redeemed nature, but unredeemed flesh. And when we are harboring sin, practicing sin, tolerating sin, struggling in sin, that can be something that causes us to have our assurance diminished.

Psalm 32 says, Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

But listen to verse 3. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me.

My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity.

And I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. If you are harboring sin in your heart, if you are dabbling in sin, if you are allowing yourself to do things, and say things, and see things, and be a part of things that a Christian should not be a part of, it's one of the reasons why sometimes people struggle with assurance of salvation.

And if that's true for you, just take to heart what Psalm 32 says. Your body, your bones dry up as it were when we tolerate sin. Here's the good news. When we confess our sin to the Lord, He forgives us.

Number two, sometimes we struggle with assurance of salvation, the total opposite reason. Sometimes it's because of a season of strong spiritual growth.

And you say now, that's confusing. Well, what happens is, when we're saved, we are, by definition, brand new believers. You may already know the Bible quite well by the time you give your life to Christ.

That's possible. Or, it may be brand new to you. But, by definition, when you're saved, you're a baby Christian. A child in the faith. And sometimes, as you get older, you go through seasons where you're really hungry for the Word, and you're just wanting to hear the Word preached, and you're wanting to listen to songs that make much of Christ.

And that may be new for you because maybe formerly, the things that you did in your past time were not Christ-centered, and now they are. The music you listened to in the past was not honoring to Christ, but now you can't get enough of it.

And you want to talk about Christ and think about Christ and study His Word. And sometimes, you're going through such a time of spiritual growth that you look back, and your early days as a Christian feel very childish and anemic.

And you start to think, was I really saved back then? Because I hunger for the Word so much more today even than I did back then. And sometimes, it can be because of the passion and growing desire of your heart today that actually can cause people to look back and by comparison say, I don't know if I was really even saved back then because I long for the things of God so much more now.

Well, your hunger for the Word is good, and that's what it should be. But do understand that it would be a natural thing that the longer you walk with Christ, the more you would love Him and the more you trust Him and the more of His Word you love.

So just because you love the Lord more today than He did 15 years ago is not a bad thing. That's a good thing. But sometimes, people can look back and by comparison, see such an increasing appetite for the Lord the later in their life they are that it actually causes them doubts about their previous salvation experience.

A third thing, closely related, can be for those who are saved at a young age. Now, praise the Lord, God does save people at an early age. And many of us in this room, this may be our testimony that we were converted at an early age.

I came to a place very young in my life where I was aware of my sinfulness, where I was aware of my need to trust in the Lord and repent of my sin. I was very young when I gave my life to Christ. And by God's grace, I've not struggled with that.

I've not wavered from that. I also, though, have really vivid memories of my life.

I don't have many gifts or many talents in my life, but memory is one that's pretty good. And because of that, I can remember very specific days and very specific occasions and very specific things even in my young childhood that those memories are very alive in my mind.

But for a lot of people, the older we get, now I don't know what I ate for lunch yesterday, don't get me wrong, but I remember being a young child. But for many of us, the older we get, when we were saved at a young age, those memories become pretty fuzzy.

It was just a long time ago. And sometimes, for those who are saved at a very young age, the older they get, doubts can creep in. Did I really believe enough?

Did I really know enough? Could I really have understood enough? And the fuzzier those memories and moments get in our rearview mirror, sometimes that can create a lack of assurance of salvation.

Which brings us to the question of what do we do when we're struggling with a lack of assurance? Where do people go? Well, I've had the occasion to sit with, I would guess, literally hundreds of people through the years who have struggled with these very things.

And I see people turn to a few different places when they're struggling with a lack of assurance. Probably the first place, at least, what's articulated to me that people go to are their feelings.

Do they feel saved? Do they feel unsure? And this constant tension back and forth of feelings and emotions can be a very difficult thing for people.

It's difficult because sometimes people who are truly converted for whatever reason in a moment, in a day, in a season of life don't feel saved. Let's go back to the beginning.

Assurance and security. Security is what's true of you. You're either in Christ or you're not in Christ, period. Assurance is how you may feel about that. Well, some people who are truly converted may not feel, for whatever reason, saved.

The other side of that is also a big concern. There are some people who aren't converted. They've never trusted Christ as Savior, but they feel just fine. So, feelings are dangerous.

Feelings aren't bad. Emotion's not bad. God made us to have emotion. God made us to have feelings.

Feelings aren't a bad thing. It's just not what you base your security on. Another place people turn to are other people's opinions.

And I get it because people feel scared, they feel frustrated, they feel desperate, and so they'll kind of share with somebody else how they are thinking or feeling, and they go to someone, and whatever somebody else says can kind of become the verdict in their life.

So, somebody says to them, you know, if you don't know the exact moment, the exact place, the exact location, the exact time you were saved, you're lost. Maybe you've heard that. I heard that as a kid growing up in different crusade or revivals.

If you don't know the second you're saved, 100% for sure, the moment you were saved, then you're 100% lost. As if my salvation depended on my ability to tell you what time I was converted. My friends, that's a very, very man-centered view of your salvation.

You think you're going to get to heaven and Jesus says, I died for you, I chose you, I redeemed you, I converted you. Before you get in, what time do you think you got saved? Ah, so close.

Lost another one. No. No. But I heard that kind of stuff in preaching services.

Much less what you might hear from just a friend who's talking to you. Now, let me be clear. Christian friends and godly counsel is some of God's greatest gifts to the body of Christ.

We need each other. But if you're going to somebody else to get their opinions on you before you go to the scripture itself, I think you've gotten that out of order.

There are so many times where, you know, someone's asking me about their struggle with assurance of salvation and I feel like in this moment, I wish I were a medical doctor and I could like x-ray your soul and I could say it and point and say, there he is, you're good.

He's not there, you're in trouble. And you can't do that. Now, feelings aren't bad, but they're not the foundation for your salvation.

And the counsel of other people is a good thing, but never as your primary source of authority. So where should you go when you struggle with assurance of salvation?

You go to the same place you should go with every question. You go to the Bible, you go to the Bible. We turn to God's Word to say, what does the Bible say about who I am?

What does the Bible say about salvation? What does the Bible say about assurance of salvation? What does the Bible say about my questions, my struggles, my doubts? We want to go to Scripture.

2 Corinthians 13, 5, examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. If you're sitting in my office across from me, I would tell you this, that I'm happy to listen to you and I'm happy to try to help you, but my opinion on your condition is not authoritative.

Only God's Word is. So I would say to you, let's open our Bibles and test ourselves. Let's examine ourselves to see if we're in the faith.

And what I would give you would be from the book of 1 John and I would walk you through three tests of salvation. I've actually had this very conversation with numerous people in the last week or two.

Okay? So, I don't want anyone here to think I'm talking about you. This is just where I would take anyone. I've had this conversation with many people even since last Sunday.

Okay? So what I would ask you to think about would be these three things, these three tests. 2 Corinthians 13.5, test yourselves. Here's a biblical way to view it.

Number one, what do I believe? This is the doctrinal test. What do I believe? 1 John 1, 1 John 3, 1 John 4.

Do I believe Jesus is the Son of God? Do I believe that He died on the cross for my sins? Am I resting in His finished work? Do I believe that I cannot save myself?

Do I believe that it's only by His grace and mercy that I can be saved? What do I believe? Do I believe the truth? Okay?

If you feel saved and deny the truth, it doesn't matter what you feel, that's not a believer. Okay? What do you believe?

Number two, who do I love? The heart test. 1 John 2, 9. 1 John 4, 20. Do I love Christ?

Do I love His word? Do I love His people? Do I love the things that God loves?

What do I believe? Who do I love? If you were to say to me, I feel very safe and assured of my salvation, but I don't love the Lord, but I don't love His people, but I don't love the church.

Biblically, that's not what a believer looks like. This is why, and this just came out again through another person who was fairly well-known and popular a few years ago in Christian circles who has just come out and they don't go to church because they don't love the church.

They say that they love God but don't love the church anymore. And here's the thing. If you don't love who Christ loves biblically, you would have no basis for assurance of salvation.

If you don't believe the truth, there's no assurance. If you don't love Christ and love who Christ loves, there's no assurance. The third test is how do I live?

1 John 2.3, 1 John 2.17, this is the obedience test. Do I live in a way that honors God? Do I live in a way of striving to keep His commands?

I'm not asking if you're perfect, but when a Christian sins, there is something a Christian does. Confess and repent. That's what a believer does.

So if you are struggling with assurance of salvation, I would walk you through 1 John and I would say, let's look at these three biblical tests. What do you believe? Who do you love?

And how do you live? If you believe the truth, if you love Christ and His word and His people, and if the desire of your heart is to live in accordance with His word, that is why you have 1 John, to give you the assurance you belong to Him.

And if you were to say to me, but some days I just don't feel saved, but you affirm all those three things, what I would say to you is, I would hope that the feelings of assurance would come, but regardless, don't base the security of your salvation on how you feel, base it on the authority of God's word.

What do you believe? Who do you love? And how do you live? And what I would want to do is get your eyes off of your feelings and even off of people's opinions, including my own, as your authority, and try to drive you to the source of our authority, which is the word of God.

Are you with me so far? So when you struggle with assurance of salvation, just do what the Bible says. Examine yourself, test yourself, to see if you're in the faith.

Do you believe the truth? Do you love Christ? And are you striving to live according to His commandments? See, the demons believe there is one God.

The demons' theology, what they believe is not the problem. But they don't love Him. And they don't obey His commandments. And Christ died for people, not fallen angels.

That's why demons are not redeemed. But they are an example to us of the possibility of knowing the truth, but not being His.

It's possible for you today to have an intellectual kind of affirmation of some truths. You believe in a designer.

You believe in a creator. You believe in a powerful being. Well, I do too. But that powerful being is revealed to us in Scripture as the eternal God in the persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You're not saved by believing in some power out there. We're saved by knowing the God of the Bible revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ and His Word. So let's make sure we believe the truth.

And if we believe the truth, the evidence of conversion, of true assurance of salvation should be that now you love what God loves and who God loves.

So for the people who say, I love God, I just don't love the church, they're literally saying, I love God, I just don't love the people for whom Christ died.

It's dangerous, my friends. But if you love the things God loves and you believe the truth God has revealed, then I'm going to ask you biblically, do you see the desire in your heart to honor Him?

I'm not asking if you're perfect. We still need grace. We still need forgiveness. But is it the desire of your heart to honor Christ and walk with Christ? And when you sin, do you repent and turn to Christ?

Because that's what a believer does. They believe the truth, they love the things of God, and they strive to live in obedience. Okay?

So, that I think is a biblical place to put your feet, get beyond your feelings, get beyond your feedback of your body, not saying our friends' counsel's ineffective.

I think it's good, but it's not our authority. God's Word is. And then I want to say to you, Jesus Himself spoke about this.

I think we can say what Jesus would say if He were here in the flesh talking about this issue because He already has. So, turn with me to John 10 and let me show it to you.

That's a long introduction for a short message on this topic. John 10, verse 28 and 29. Let me back up and include verse 27.

My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.

Let me give you four truths from the lips of Jesus here about our salvation. Number one, our salvation was given by God. This is why theology matters.

Philippians 1, 6, the book we're studying says, He began the good work in you. John 10 tells us, I give them eternal life.

This is why your doctrine matters. This is why what you believe about salvation matters. If you believe that salvation is what you worked for, achieved, earned, any of those things, then you're going to be on the roller coaster of doubts the rest of your life.

But biblically, here's Jesus' words, I give them eternal life. You can't miss that. This is something God did for us.

So, our salvation was given by God. So, note two things. Number one, salvation was given to you, not something you earned. But number two, it wasn't given to you by someone or something that's not trustworthy.

It was given to you by God Himself. And what was the gift? Verse 28, I give them, say it with me, what's it say? Eternal life.

Say it again. Eternal life. That's what He gives His people. So, if it can be lost, forfeited, stolen, or taken back, it was not eternal to begin with.

Right? I give them eternal life. Did earn it, was given, wasn't given by just some small creature.

It was given to you by God. And what He gave you was eternal life. Now, you and I think most often in terms of our eternal life starts the moment we die.

Turn back to John 5. John 5.

Look at verse 24. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life.

He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Christian, you have eternal life.

You've passed over. You went from death to life, from darkness to light. You've passed over. You're a new creation.

You are in Christ. You are His. You have eternal life. Now, if that eternal life He gave you can be removed from you, given back by you, stolen from you, you did not ever possess something eternal.

but the word of Jesus Himself is, I give them eternal life. You have eternal life and you have passed over from death to life.

If you are in Christ, it was given to you by God and it cannot be taken away. Now, are there moments where you're aware of your sin and broken over your sin and you feel unworthy of salvation?

Sure. Are there moments where you may say, I sin more than I should? I say things I shouldn't say.

Do things I shouldn't do. Sure. And in those moments we confess our sin, we repent of our sin, we run and cling to Christ.

Christ. But don't ever let someone tell you as a true born-again believer that your sin forfeits your eternal life when Jesus Himself has already said, you've passed over.

You've crossed over. Your salvation was given by God. Number two, not only was our salvation was given by God, number two, our souls are guarded by Christ.

Our souls are guarded by Christ. Back to John 10, verse 28, I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Do you watch that? No one will snatch them out of my hand. Who's guarding your security? Christ is. Ultimately, my assurance is this, Jesus said no one will take me out of His hand and I trust Him in that.

That's my assurance. It's good to have someone guarding you, but your security only comes based on who is guarding you, right?

So, you guys, if you know my wife, you know she can do almost anything, you know I trust her with almost anything, but if I were at the gym, bench pressing, going as heavy as I can, and Marcy were to be there with me, I would know something's wrong, but she has no interest in watching me bench press, but if Marcy said, honey, go heavy, I got you.

I'm your spotter. I'm going to guard your neck. I love her. I would feel no safety whatsoever. And I would even trust that she means it.

I would even trust she would try. And I trust she would kiss me goodbye as she watched my breath go away as the bar wrapped around my neck, right? Because she can't guard me in that situation.

She's just not strong enough. Now, if Joey's standing over me, it might depend on his attitude that day, but he could do it.

If I couldn't bench it, he could just curl it, probably strong dude. I'd feel so much more secure if Joey was spotting me than I would if Marcy was.

Now, I'd rather go home to Marcy every day, don't get me wrong. But my comfort in the promise of I will guard you, well, who's guarding me?

Who is it that's protecting me? Because that's really what's going to determine how safe I am, right? Well, who's protecting your soul? Well, just listen to the words of Jesus himself.

No one will snatch them out of my hand. Jesus says, I'm guarding you.

So, the one through whom everything that was made was made by Christ, John, John's gospel tells us that, the one who died for us and paid the price for our sin, the one who is our advocate, according to the first John, is the same one who says, I guard your salvation.

No one will snatch you out of my hand. Not only was your salvation given to you by God, it is guarded by Christ.

Third, our sovereign is greater than all. Our sovereign is greater than all. Look at verse 29.

Jesus says, my father who has given them to me is greater than all. So, your salvation was given to you by Christ, guarded by Christ, and the one who has accomplished your salvation, the Lord Jesus says, my father, who is the one who, by the way, has given you to me, as a believer, you are a love gift from the father to the son.

Your salvation was his will, his decree, his work, to his glory, and he's the one guarding you, and Jesus says, my father who has given you to me is greater than all.

So, if you ever think to yourself, okay, I can't lose my salvation, but what about some demonic attack? What about the power of the enemy? Could the devil do something to somehow snatch me away from the Lord?

Jesus says, my father is greater than all. There's nothing and no one more powerful than our God, and he is watching over us.

I had the chance this summer to preach. I was the camp pastor at the camp our children were at, and our theme verse, Isaiah 40, 28 was this, have you not known, have you not heard, the Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He is greater than all. So, if you say to me, how do I know I can't lose my salvation?

salvation, I'm going to say to you, let's listen to the one who saved you in the first place. And he says, remember, your salvation was given to you by God.

Remember, I'm guarding your soul. Remember, your sovereign God is greater than all. And then one fourth thing I want to show you.

Our security is guaranteed by God. Our security is guaranteed by God. Verse 29, my Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

Our security is guaranteed by God. Jesus said, he holds us and no one will snatch us out of his hand. He says, the Father holds you and nothing will be able to snatch you out of his hand.

Jesus is just layering upon layer upon layer upon layer of biblical reasons for you to have assurance of your salvation. And it's not based on your feelings.

And it's not based on your church attendance. And it's not based on what your well-meaning friend said at work. And it's not based on what the book said that you read. It's based on this. God saved you.

And if he saved you, you've passed from death to life. And if he has saved you, what he has already given you is eternal. And if it's eternal, it can't be lost, stolen, forfeited, or taken back.

And your salvation was given to you by God. Your soul is guarded by Christ. Our sovereign God is greater than all. And our security is guaranteed, not by your emotion, not by your feeling, not by the opinion of some person, but by God himself who says, no one will take you out of my hand.

That's why we're secure. Not because of my works, but because of his. And you say, but wait a minute, pastor, what about the people who claim to be Christians, who taught Sunday school, who preached sermons, and then they deny the faith?

What do we do with them? Well, let's again, the Bible speaks to that explicitly. 1 John 2, 19 says, they went out from us because they were not of us.

If they would have been of us, they would have remained with us. The reason they went out from us is to show they were not of us. Are there people who are pretenders, who are false teachers, who are liars, who are charlatans?

Absolutely. Anybody getting to heaven because of that? No. And the Lord speaks to that. He says, I know my own. So, could you fool me?

Sure, you could. Have I been fooled before by people? Sure, I have. They didn't lose their salvation.

They just were given enough time to give evidence they were never truly converted in the first place. It's exactly what 1 John 2 says. So, the same human author who gave you the assurance of John 10 is the same human author who in 1 John 2 clarifies that there are some who are pretenders.

But all they did is make manifest that they were never truly his. You've heard me say before and I think this is true that the greatest assurance of your salvation should come from your belief in life today.

I've had the unfortunate occasion more times than I wish where someone has died and someone in the family says, you know, they didn't really walk with Jesus, they didn't really love the Lord, they didn't love the church, they didn't really even believe the Bible, but thank goodness he was saved 30 years ago.

And that's heartbreaking. because when we think about the doctrine of security or perseverance of the saints, yes, it includes that we can't lose our salvation, it also includes that we will persevere, we will keep following the Lord.

So, if you were in my office today, we're talking about these things, I would not ask you, what did you believe when you were 12? Not if you're 40.

I would ask you, what do you believe today? Do you believe the truth? Do you love Christ today? And are you striving to honor and keep his commandments today?

I was saved as a child, and if you asked me when I was saved, I could tell you, I could tell you where I was, I could tell you the day of the week, I could tell you the circumstances around it.

but those details aren't what saved me. God saved me. And if there were ever a day where I denied the faith and walked away from the Lord, I didn't lose my salvation, I would have just given evidence I've covered all these years.

no true believer loses their salvation. But what I want you to rest in today, in any other time when the doubts may strike you, or when somebody else's life brings confusion because of what they did, your assurance is in what Christ has done.

Your assurance is in the fact that he has changed you, he has delivered you from death to life. He holds you, he guards you, he secures you.

So as you've heard me say before, when my boys were little and we were crossing a street or crossing a parking lot, I would grab their hand and I would say to them, don't let go.

And I meant it. them to hold on to me. I want them to trust me. I want them to walk and step with me. I want them to let me lead them and guide them.

I didn't want them fighting against me. I didn't want them trying to pull away from them. I meant it when I said don't let go. But I promise you, I promise you, their safety and security in the parking lot was not in the strength of their tiny hands to hold on.

Their father would not let them go. My hand was wrapped around their hand. And I was bigger and stronger and looking out for them.

I meant it when I said hold on to me. But their safety did not depend on their ability to hold. It depended on my inability and unwillingness to let them go.

And the same thing is true for you as a Christian. Hold on to Christ. Follow Christ. Pursue Christ. Honor Christ. Examine yourself. Philippians 2, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

All those commands are there for a reason. But your security is not in your ability to keep you safe. It's in his complete inability and unwillingness to lose that which has been given to Christ.

And if you are in Christ you've already passed over. You're safe. You're his. Not because of your feelings but because of his faithfulness.

Jesus holds you. you. The Father holds you.

The New Testament says the Spirit seals you. You're held. You're guarded. You're protected. You're surrounded.

And Deuteronomy 33, 27 adds this. The eternal God is your dwelling place and underneath are the everlasting arms.

The arms of God are what holds us. The arms of God are what secures us. it was that verse that in the year 1873 prompted Fanny Crosby to write words familiar to many of us.

What a fellowship. What a joy divine. Leaning on the everlasting arms. I have blessedness and what a peace is mine.

Leaning on the everlasting arms. So there may come a day where you struggle with your assurance of salvation and when that day comes call me.

Let's sit down and talk about it. In about five minutes in you're going to have deja vu and say I've heard this before. And I'm going to say you have.

I'll tell it to you again. Because this is Jesus own words on the security of the believer for his people.

And you can't get better than the words of the one who promised it, started it, and has said he will complete it.

He who began a good work in you will complete it. Amen? Amen? If you don't know Christ as your Savior this morning, it would make sense you don't have assurance of salvation.

And honestly, if you're not converted, you shouldn't. What you need to have is conversion. So if there's never been a time in your life where you've repented of your sin, if you've never trusted in Christ as your Savior, this very day, this moment, would you call upon the name of the Lord Jesus?

This moment, in your heart, confessing your need for a Savior, acknowledging that you're a sinner, and asking Him to save you, and to hold you, and to keep you until He brings you home.

If you have questions about that, need help with that, have a question about how to know Christ as Savior, a question of how to walk with the Lord, any way we can serve you, make note on the back of that connection card, write down your prayer need, write down your question, we'll do our best to respond and help you and sit down with you and give you biblical direction, you can put that connection card in one of the giving boxes, have I gone too long?

Is that what, been here 25 years, that's it, alright, time's up. let us help you with that, if we can do that, we want to serve you in that way.

And church, let me just end with this before it goes pitch black on me, always go to scripture, always go to scripture, your feelings aren't bad, your friends aren't bad, but they're not authoritative, you base what you know, believe and love on the authority of God's word.

Lord, we thank you for your word, I pray that it's been helpful, I pray that it would encourage these dear people, I pray Lord that you would use it even today to bring comfort and assurance to hearts, it's in the name of your son we pray, amen.

Love you church, we'll see you five o'clock tonight, God bless. This morning for our live stream broadcast, we are so thankful for the gift of technology and that we are able to reach so many people not only across the state and in our nation but around the world and what a truly indescribable gift that is.

I do want to encourage you if at all possible, if you are able to be here in person, there is no substitute for gathering with the people of God in person.

So we encourage you to be here in person at any one of our services but once again, if we can help you in any way, please feel free to contact us and we would love to serve you in any way possible.

Have a great day. Thank you.首途 who has been here in many minutes.

Let's put it in there. There's no wait. There's no stop. Put it in there. There's no wait. There's no wait. There's no wait. There's no wait. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.