WEBVTT 00:00:19.932 --> 00:00:23.166 You know the problem is, we make God out to be 00:00:23.166 --> 00:00:25.107 a very small god when we say we can 00:00:25.107 --> 00:00:27.458 lose our salvation. 00:00:27.458 --> 00:00:28.861 (in response to a comment) 00:00:28.861 --> 00:00:32.409 Yeah, He's not strong enough to keep us. 00:00:32.409 --> 00:00:34.181 But... 00:00:34.181 --> 00:00:36.489 He's not only strong enough to keep us, 00:00:36.489 --> 00:00:39.995 He's strong enough to keep us doing good to the end. 00:00:39.995 --> 00:00:43.143 He's strong enough to keep us persevering, 00:00:43.143 --> 00:00:45.820 all the way. 00:00:45.820 --> 00:00:47.857 You see, you make God weak either way. 00:00:47.857 --> 00:00:50.837 If you say, God can't keep us, you make Him weak. 00:00:50.837 --> 00:00:54.489 And if you say, we're going to make it, 00:00:54.489 --> 00:00:57.199 but we're not going to make it doing good works, 00:00:57.199 --> 00:00:58.489 you make Him weak too. 00:00:58.489 --> 00:01:01.753 Because you're saying basically, He's going to drop the ball. 00:01:01.753 --> 00:01:04.832 Those who bear fruit are the true deal. 00:01:04.832 --> 00:01:06.736 Those who don't bring forth fruit, 00:01:06.736 --> 00:01:08.204 aren't the real deal. 00:01:08.204 --> 00:01:09.458 And they fall out. 00:01:09.458 --> 00:01:12.355 Why do people fall out? 00:01:12.355 --> 00:01:13.872 We know it. 00:01:13.872 --> 00:01:17.557 This has been true of Christianity for 2000 years. 00:01:17.557 --> 00:01:20.398 People start the race and they fall out. Why? 00:01:20.407 --> 00:01:23.335 You've got Demas. What type of soil was he? 00:01:23.335 --> 00:01:26.407 I'd say he was a pretty good indicator of the third type. 00:01:26.407 --> 00:01:28.696 What happened? Cares and riches. 00:01:28.696 --> 00:01:32.446 What'd he do? He loved the world. He fell out. 00:01:32.446 --> 00:01:35.978 Paul talks about others that made shipwreck of the faith. 00:01:35.978 --> 00:01:38.780 Why do people make shipwreck? 00:01:38.780 --> 00:01:40.318 What about Judas? 00:01:40.318 --> 00:01:42.550 He made shipwreck. 00:01:42.550 --> 00:01:46.330 People right in Paul's own company made shipwreck. 00:01:46.330 --> 00:01:48.799 Brethren, it's been that way throughout history. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:50.612 People don't make it to the end. 00:01:50.612 --> 00:01:52.470 Christ says if you don't endure... 00:01:52.470 --> 00:01:54.834 So you have it from both standpoints. 00:01:54.834 --> 00:01:57.474 You have the truths that God gives to us 00:01:57.474 --> 00:02:01.313 that are meant to encourage us. 00:02:01.313 --> 00:02:04.356 Nothing can separate me from the love of Christ. 00:02:04.356 --> 00:02:08.341 My faith sinks its teeth in that. 00:02:08.341 --> 00:02:10.310 But you know what, there are some people 00:02:10.310 --> 00:02:13.532 that when the allurements of the world come along, 00:02:13.532 --> 00:02:17.752 they look at that, and they look at the world, 00:02:17.752 --> 00:02:19.430 and they'd rather have the world. 00:02:19.430 --> 00:02:24.989 It doesn't mean anything to them that the Bible says, 00:02:24.989 --> 00:02:27.835 nothing can separate them from the love of Christ. 00:02:27.835 --> 00:02:28.635 They don't care. 00:02:28.635 --> 00:02:30.638 They don't have faith to even lay hold on that. 00:02:30.638 --> 00:02:33.052 They're looking at the worldly things over here, 00:02:33.052 --> 00:02:36.853 and they weigh it out, and they go. 00:02:36.853 --> 00:02:41.146 You know why the true Christian doesn't bail out 00:02:41.146 --> 00:02:44.229 when the trails come? 00:02:44.229 --> 00:02:47.795 Because he wants Christ more than anything else. 00:02:47.795 --> 00:02:50.922 He wants Christ. He loves Christ. 00:02:50.922 --> 00:02:55.367 And when trial comes, He doesn't like the trial, 00:02:55.367 --> 00:02:58.846 any better than the other guy. 00:02:58.846 --> 00:03:01.843 But he wants Christ more than he wants ease. 00:03:01.843 --> 00:03:04.058 He wants Christ more than he wants money. 00:03:04.058 --> 00:03:06.857 He wants Christ more than he wants anything else. 00:03:06.857 --> 00:03:09.263 And so no matter how hard the trial gets, 00:03:09.263 --> 00:03:11.114 even Paul getting beat by the rods, 00:03:11.114 --> 00:03:15.682 and scourged, and in the sea, and false brethren, 00:03:15.682 --> 00:03:17.430 and all that came upon him, 00:03:17.430 --> 00:03:19.298 he never bailed out of the race, why? 00:03:19.298 --> 00:03:23.083 For him to live was Christ, 00:03:23.083 --> 00:03:26.083 and to die was gain to be with Christ. 00:03:26.083 --> 00:03:28.750 Be absent from the body and present with the Lord. 00:03:28.750 --> 00:03:32.624 Folks, when Christ is your all, you'll hold the line. 00:03:32.624 --> 00:03:34.561 No matter what comes, no matter what riches 00:03:34.561 --> 00:03:36.919 you're tempted with, no matter what trials come, 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:38.439 no matter what persecutions come, 00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:40.199 no matter what pain, suffering, sorrows... 00:03:40.199 --> 00:03:42.957 you'll toe the line. Why? 00:03:42.957 --> 00:03:45.443 Because, it comes back to faith. 00:03:45.443 --> 00:03:50.252 Faith believes in a Christ we have never seen. 00:03:50.252 --> 00:03:53.073 Bottom line: the only way people will hang on to Christ 00:03:53.073 --> 00:03:54.880 at the expense of everything else 00:03:54.880 --> 00:03:57.482 is if they have a faith that really believes 00:03:57.482 --> 00:04:01.041 if somehow in their faith, they've seen in their mind's eye 00:04:01.041 --> 00:04:05.211 the beauties, and the glory, and the preciousness of Christ. 00:04:05.215 --> 00:04:08.535 That in their estimation outweighs everything. 00:04:08.535 --> 00:04:10.985 We love Him, folks, not having seen Him. 00:04:10.985 --> 00:04:13.058 We believe in an unseen Christ. 00:04:13.058 --> 00:04:16.758 You and I haven't seen Him. 00:04:16.758 --> 00:04:19.797 There was Thomas, 00:04:19.797 --> 00:04:22.012 "My Lord and my God." 00:04:22.012 --> 00:04:25.261 And Jesus said to him, "you believe - you've seen, 00:04:25.261 --> 00:04:28.783 blessed are those who believe and they haven't seen." 00:04:28.783 --> 00:04:32.009 Right? 00:04:32.009 --> 00:04:37.812 The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit. 00:04:37.812 --> 00:04:40.097 And if you read you see where that love's coming from; 00:04:40.097 --> 00:04:42.483 it's coming out of the cross. 00:04:42.483 --> 00:04:46.934 And I would say this, that bottom line, 00:04:46.934 --> 00:04:51.178 if somebody is truly saved, 00:04:51.178 --> 00:04:53.598 they love Christ, 00:04:53.598 --> 00:04:56.730 they believe Christ, they trust Christ, 00:04:56.730 --> 00:05:00.033 they look to the cross and they find hope in Christ, 00:05:00.033 --> 00:05:05.764 and the Spirit of God energizes that look to the cross 00:05:05.764 --> 00:05:09.755 and floods that person from one degree to another 00:05:09.755 --> 00:05:11.196 with assurance. 00:05:11.196 --> 00:05:13.634 And that Spirit is the Spirit of adoption that is 00:05:13.634 --> 00:05:15.643 bearing witness. 00:05:15.643 --> 00:05:18.256 And it's that Spirit of adoption that brings 00:05:18.256 --> 00:05:21.770 an inner compulsion now to look at God 00:05:21.770 --> 00:05:24.420 not as a far and a distant God, 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:26.055 but as a God who is very close 00:05:26.055 --> 00:05:29.405 and who's a Father. We cry, "Abba, Father." 00:05:29.405 --> 00:05:33.903 And so, bottom line is, the Christian feeds 00:05:33.903 --> 00:05:37.076 and finds his strength in Christ. 00:05:37.076 --> 00:05:38.968 The Spirit of God - Christ said that He was 00:05:38.968 --> 00:05:42.804 going to send a Helper or a Comforter. 00:05:42.804 --> 00:05:46.060 And He said that "He's going to glorify Me." 00:05:46.060 --> 00:05:48.269 I guarantee this, no matter what operation 00:05:48.269 --> 00:05:52.105 the Spirit is involved with, Christ is the focus, 00:05:52.105 --> 00:05:55.575 Christ is always the focus, not the Spirit. 00:05:55.575 --> 00:05:58.415 Christ is the focus. 00:05:58.415 --> 00:06:04.479 The man doesn't exist who has true assurance 00:06:04.479 --> 00:06:07.255 from the Spirit and no works. 00:06:07.255 --> 00:06:09.211 It's a strawman. 00:06:09.211 --> 00:06:12.489 The man who in the end falls out, 00:06:12.489 --> 00:06:15.623 was a man maybe who in self-righteousness 00:06:15.623 --> 00:06:20.822 was striving to please God in his own merits; 00:06:20.822 --> 00:06:23.660 he's a man who maybe was a Pharisee 00:06:23.660 --> 00:06:28.194 and he put up a good outer shell show; 00:06:28.194 --> 00:06:30.757 he had confidence in a lot of things, 00:06:30.757 --> 00:06:34.198 maybe in his church going, maybe in his efforts, 00:06:34.198 --> 00:06:36.616 but like Demas, he ends up falling out. 00:06:36.616 --> 00:06:38.458 But I guarantee you, 00:06:38.458 --> 00:06:41.695 whatever confidence he had was a vain confidence, 00:06:41.695 --> 00:06:44.532 and it wasn't a Spirit of God wrought thing. 00:06:44.532 --> 00:06:49.311 And so, no I would adamantly say that's not true. 00:06:49.311 --> 00:06:52.316 The true Christian doesn't all of a sudden 00:06:52.316 --> 00:06:55.480 find out at the end of the race that he's true. 00:06:55.480 --> 00:07:02.442 The true Christian had that Spirit of God indwelling, 00:07:02.442 --> 00:07:08.598 and there was true, living manifestations of His presence 00:07:08.598 --> 00:07:11.140 that gave the believer confidence. 00:07:11.140 --> 00:07:13.325 And where the Spirit gives confidence, 00:07:13.325 --> 00:07:18.186 the Spirit also works love and works the fruits of the Spirit 00:07:18.186 --> 00:07:22.538 and works these works in us, giving us the desires, 00:07:22.538 --> 00:07:26.158 giving us the compulsion, giving us a love for God 00:07:26.158 --> 00:07:30.139 that compels us and constrains us by the love of Christ 00:07:30.139 --> 00:07:31.794 to carry this out. 00:07:31.794 --> 00:07:34.063 And the two go hand in hand. 00:07:34.063 --> 00:07:37.559 Where men and women fall out of the race, 00:07:37.559 --> 00:07:39.299 they didn't have that. 00:07:39.299 --> 00:07:42.442 They had confidence and they believed certain things, 00:07:42.442 --> 00:07:45.545 but in the end it was a vain confidence. 00:07:45.545 --> 00:07:50.423 And I believe the truth is the flags were always there, 00:07:50.423 --> 00:07:54.039 because Jesus Christ says this in Matthew 7, 00:07:54.039 --> 00:07:58.566 "Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness." 00:07:58.566 --> 00:08:03.658 And bottom line, it was there. 00:08:03.658 --> 00:08:05.673 There was lawlessness. 00:08:05.673 --> 00:08:09.146 The Spirit of God was not communicating with them 00:08:09.146 --> 00:08:11.474 the way the Spirit of God does. 00:08:11.474 --> 00:08:13.434 Because they weren't children. 00:08:13.434 --> 00:08:17.886 And in the end, it wasn't true. 00:08:17.886 --> 00:08:20.920 We have a lot of people with vain confidence. 00:08:20.920 --> 00:08:25.079 A lot of people believing that everything is ok, 00:08:25.079 --> 00:08:28.290 but it's vain. 00:08:28.290 --> 00:08:32.161 The Bible never is going to give confidence 00:08:32.161 --> 00:08:34.814 to a person who's walking a wicked life 00:08:34.814 --> 00:08:38.710 to believe that the power of God has ever transformed them. 00:08:38.710 --> 00:08:41.738 They shouldn't expect to have any hope. 00:08:41.738 --> 00:08:43.977 Think about 1 John. 00:08:43.977 --> 00:08:48.433 What are the proofs in 1 John that we're true believers? 00:08:48.433 --> 00:08:51.365 We keep His commandments. 00:08:51.365 --> 00:08:56.318 We walk as He walked. 00:08:56.318 --> 00:08:59.563 We have answer to prayer. 00:08:59.563 --> 00:09:03.467 We love the brethren. 00:09:03.467 --> 00:09:06.506 Basically, you go through all these proofs, 00:09:06.506 --> 00:09:08.612 and you get to the last chapter and he says 00:09:08.612 --> 00:09:10.545 I write things things that you might have assurance. 00:09:10.558 --> 00:09:12.563 And there's no question about it. 00:09:12.563 --> 00:09:15.969 Folks, I don't know how it is with you... 00:09:15.969 --> 00:09:19.969 I look at the cross, and the Spirit of God assures me 00:09:19.969 --> 00:09:22.794 I am His child. 00:09:22.794 --> 00:09:26.826 Then I look at my life and I see, 00:09:26.826 --> 00:09:29.826 I'm not what I used to be, 00:09:29.826 --> 00:09:32.003 and that gives me assurance. 00:09:32.003 --> 00:09:35.592 And then I find out that when I stray, 00:09:35.592 --> 00:09:38.852 the Spirit of God - my Father comes for me. 00:09:38.852 --> 00:09:40.698 And He lays the rod on my back. 00:09:40.698 --> 00:09:42.344 And He brings me back. 00:09:42.344 --> 00:09:48.507 I have found that the corrections of God in my life 00:09:48.507 --> 00:09:52.634 they give me assurance like few other things do, 00:09:52.634 --> 00:09:55.144 that I see as faithfulness to me, 00:09:55.144 --> 00:09:57.923 that if ever I begin to stray, bang, He's there. 00:09:57.923 --> 00:10:00.516 He's on me, and He pulls me back. 00:10:00.516 --> 00:10:03.475 I mean, sometimes that has caused me to go to tears 00:10:03.475 --> 00:10:06.501 more than anything - He is so faithful. 00:10:06.501 --> 00:10:08.091 That gives me such confidence. 00:10:08.091 --> 00:10:09.688 He's not going to let me go. 00:10:09.688 --> 00:10:11.714 I'm in my Father's hand. 00:10:11.714 --> 00:10:18.319 I mean, if I start drifting, He puts the clamps down. 00:10:18.319 --> 00:10:22.044 This thing is real, it's living. 00:10:22.044 --> 00:10:25.123 I look at this thing and realize, 00:10:25.123 --> 00:10:27.137 I need to make it to the end. 00:10:27.137 --> 00:10:30.130 I pray, "God, get me to the end!" 00:10:30.130 --> 00:10:31.881 "Help me to the end!" 00:10:31.881 --> 00:10:35.354 Because I feel that if God let me go, 00:10:35.354 --> 00:10:38.850 I would run away. 00:10:38.850 --> 00:10:41.977 I mean, that's just prone to wander, 00:10:41.977 --> 00:10:44.770 Lord, I feel it. I feel it! 00:10:44.770 --> 00:10:47.485 If You let me go, I'm going. 00:10:47.485 --> 00:10:50.372 Not that I want to, but I feel that. 00:10:50.372 --> 00:10:54.653 I feel the battle. 00:10:54.653 --> 00:10:59.612 But at the same time, I feel this confidence. 00:10:59.612 --> 00:11:02.029 Do I expect that God's going to take me to the end? 00:11:02.029 --> 00:11:03.932 Yes, I don't feel like I have to wait to the end 00:11:03.932 --> 00:11:05.776 to figure out whether I'm truly saved. 00:11:05.776 --> 00:11:08.618 I believe with all my heart that God has truly saved me. 00:11:08.618 --> 00:11:11.737 And I've seen a massive transformation in my life. 00:11:11.737 --> 00:11:14.866 And I think that's exactly what the Bible tells us we should see. 00:11:14.866 --> 00:11:18.725 And on top of that, I've known repeatedly 00:11:18.725 --> 00:11:20.911 the floodings and the sheddings abroad 00:11:20.911 --> 00:11:24.552 of the love of God in my heart 00:11:24.552 --> 00:11:26.624 at sights of the cross. 00:11:26.624 --> 00:11:31.161 I know that He has caused me to will 00:11:31.161 --> 00:11:33.792 in a way that I never willed before. 00:11:33.792 --> 00:11:37.118 I have wills and I have a desire now to do things 00:11:37.118 --> 00:11:40.282 that I never had a desire for before. 00:11:40.282 --> 00:11:42.340 I know I don't love the brethren perfectly, 00:11:42.340 --> 00:11:44.129 but I love the brethren. 00:11:44.129 --> 00:11:46.107 I want to be around Christians. 00:11:46.107 --> 00:11:48.954 I want to be where they are. I want to talk with them. 00:11:48.954 --> 00:11:50.689 I love the same Christ they love. 00:11:50.689 --> 00:11:53.856 I love being at church with them. 00:11:53.856 --> 00:11:57.627 I love hearing preaching. I love hearing about Christ. 00:11:57.627 --> 00:11:59.148 I mean the simple Gospel still... 00:11:59.148 --> 00:12:03.029 there are times when I'm studying for a message 00:12:03.029 --> 00:12:14.150 and I'm looking at the old truths, 00:12:14.150 --> 00:12:15.885 and they flood over me again, 00:12:15.885 --> 00:12:20.990 and I find myself falling out of my chair on the floor. 00:12:20.990 --> 00:12:23.271 Can you guys relate to this? 00:12:23.271 --> 00:12:24.659 This is Christianity. 00:12:24.659 --> 00:12:26.868 This is the living reality. 00:12:26.868 --> 00:12:30.817 This is life in Christ. 00:12:30.817 --> 00:12:35.865 This isn't make-believe.