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[00:00:24] Speaker B: I'm glad you're here. This morning we're beginning a brand new series and we call the series Marked. And we're calling the series Marked because I believe that people need the assurance of their salvation. They need to know that they know. And this morning I'm going to begin the series by talking about the fact that it is absolutely possible for you to know that you are a child of God. And I talk to people from time to time and they'll tell me something like, well, I hope so. I don't know that anyone can know. I saw the comedian Dane Cook interviewed this past week and he was saying, I was raised Catholic and as far as what I believe about eternity, he said, I don't think anyone can know for certain. He said, I think if you live a good life, maybe in the end, you know, it'll all bear me out and I'll be able to go to heaven one day. What I'd like to say to him, it is possible for you to know that you know on this side, not on the other side. In fact, if you don't know that assurance on this side, you won't get to the other side. It is important that we know that we know. Jesus. You know, uncertainty, uncertainty in any area of your life creates anxiety. I don't care what the topic is. Have you ever flown and noticed the people flying who are flying standby? There's just a nervousness and an anxiety that they have. They go up and check the monitor, they'll check the staff just to be sure that their name hasn't been called and they missed it. There's just an anxiety that comes with uncertainty. That's true. When I was a kid, you ever get one of those Jack in the Box things or you buy them for your kids? I don't know, man. It created anxiety. And me, it just did.
And so when that thing would pop, I mean, I knew it was coming. I know the tune, I just sang it. Yet it created anxiety in me. It was just that uncertain. What if it doesn't go? Or here's a better one, what if you were fire? You were Popping fireworks. You remember that when you were lighting the fuse, and the thing goes into the fire and it doesn't pop. I mean, it's just a dud. And the anxiety that's created by. Do I walk up? Do I get it? Do I do something with it? It's the uncertainty of it. Here's another one. Here's another example. The kids and I were at a hibachi restaurant, and we're watching the guy cook, right? That's always a lot of fun. You know, they do the train thing. I think they all go to the same school. The whistle with the train, remember? And they do the. You want to see the egg roll? Oh, rolling an egg. Oh, wow. Never saw that before. Anyway, so you laugh and you go along. After all, he is cooking your food. So everything he does is absolutely hysterical. And so I'm watching this guy cook, and this kid has a headband on, and he's really, really good. But here's what caught my attention. A drop of sweat on his brow.
I'm telling you, all of a sudden, I focused on that thing. I could not look away.
I was watching that drop of sweat, and I thought, if that drops onto that thing, I'm out.
I can't eat. It's just not gonna happen.
I know, I know. It's just. I'm quirky on things like that, but it created so much anger. And I'm happy to say it never dropped. I mean, it never did. Thank you, Jesus. It never fell on the thing, but it just created anxiety because I was so uncertain about what was about to happen. You walk through the house at night and then the house is dark. Even though you live there. You know where everything is, but because it's dark, it creates uncertain. Uncertainty creates anxiety. And that's just true in relationships. If you aren't certain where you stand in your relationship with another person, it creates anxiety. Do they love me as I love them? And are they committed to me as I'm committed to them? And when you go through life and relationships with other people and you're not certain where you stand with them, it creates enormous anxiety. So we all like to be certain. In fact, even in business. I read this. It was pretty interesting. They were talking about the. The one thing you can be certain of in business, that the number one concern of business is uncertainty. Stock markets hate uncertainty. And so everything in life, relationally, financially, politically, all of us like a sense of certainty. Because when we don't have certainty, it creates anxiety. I read an article in the Harvard Business Review and this article was on the significance of certainty. And listen to what they say. Certainty profoundly shapes our behavior. The more certain we are of a belief, the more durable it will be. The greater its influence on what we do. In short, depends upon our certainty. In short, certainty is the catalyst that turns attitudes into actions. It is what brings belief to life, imbuing them or inspiring them with meaning and consequence. Now, that's not true because they said it. They said it because it's true. So anyone you speak to in life will tell you there is something that is comforting and there's something that is assuring about certainty, about knowing that you know being sure about a thing. And when the Apostle John was writing, when he wrote the Gospel of John, he wrote the Gospel of John to evangelize the lost. That was the purpose of the Gospel of John. But when you get into the Epistles of John, now, the epistles are not the wives of the apostles, by the way, the Epistle means the epistles are letters of John. And when he wrote first, second, and third John, he wrote these three letters. He was writing to edify the saved. The gospel was written to evangelize the lost. The epistles were written to edify the saved. And the theme of these letters, first, second, third John, is so that we might know. That we might know. So doubting has always been a part of the religious experience. Doubting has always been a part of the relationship that we have with Christ. I talk to people all the time, and I'll be honest with you, I've gone through seasons of life where I doubt it. I received Christ when I was six years old. I was just a little boy. My dad was up preaching. I used to sit. I had to sit right next to my mother. She kept me on a very short leash. And I sat with my mom. And we had a ministry to the deaf. And my mom would interpret for the deaf. And if she had a weekend off where she wasn't doing the interpretation of my dad's sermon, then she would be in the service setting. And so I would sit next to her. And I remember. I remember distinctively the service one weekend where my dad had preached a very clear message on knowing Jesus as your Savior and receiving him. And I realized as a child that I haven't yet done that. And I remember kind of tugging on my mother's skirt during the invitation. We had an invitation time. Remember, if you grew up in a church like that, that's where they sing about 40 verses of just as I am compelling you to come and so we were doing that and I remember telling my mom, I think I need to invite Jesus into my heart. And of course she was like, are you sure? Are you ready on all this? Yes, I'm ready. And she walks to the front with me. My dad sees me there going, oh. And so he steps down and this was a good thing this time. And he stepped down. And I remember him opening his Bible right in front of the pulpit as we knelt there. And I remember him telling me, never forget, Bill, that Jesus went to the cross for you, he loves you, he died for you, he rose again for you. And if you will invite him into your heart, he will save you. And my mom and dad on that Sunday morning led me to Christ as a six year old boy. Now I know oftentimes when kids make a decision like that, we often wonder, well, were they old enough to understand? Did they really comprehend what they were doing? And I'll be honest with you, I didn't comprehend everything about God. I still don't comprehend everything about God. What I came to the conclusion and what I truly believe, that my salvation didn't rest in my knowledge as much as it rested in my faith. Nowhere in the Bible does he say, understand and be saved. He says, believe. In fact, he even used the illustration of a child. He says, you have to come to me with childlike faith. Not childish faith, but childlike faith. And I realized that I didn't have to get a PhD in sin in order to come to the Savior. And so as a little boy, I trusted Jesus, even though later on in life I questioned that. And I went through a season of doubt. And when I doubted, I talked to my parents about it. I was probably 12 or 13. I remember when I doubted, had a very, a serious issue with that, where it was really troubling me. I haven't trouble sleep at night wondering if I really knew Jesus as Savior. And they went through it with me and they said, well, what did you do the morning that you knelt? And I went through everything that I did. You invited Jesus in your. Yes. And they showed me the verses that basically said, you did everything it says to do. Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. Romans 10, 9. Believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead and you will be saved. You did that? Yes, I did that. Then they said, you're not doubting what you did, you're doubting what he did. You're wondering if God really heard you and if he really believed you and if he really saw the sincerity of your heart. So you're really doubting God. You're not doubting you. And that really helped me to understand that when you place your faith and trust in God and you begin to doubt, we're really doubting him. And really, you can't doubt something that you don't inherently believe. A doubt is rooted in a belief system. Think about it. Doubt is to your spirit what pain is to your body. You probably aren't aware of all the parts of your body that you have this morning until there's pain in one of them. And all of a sudden you start having pain and you're aware of a part of you you didn't even know existed. And all of a sudden you realize, those kidney stones are reminding me of my kidney. I'm realizing that I have a kidney. I didn't think about my kidney till I had stones and made me acutely aware of something that was going on in my body. So when you doubt, that is a spiritual indicator of some pain that is going on and associated somewhere within your spirit. You are struggling a little bit with your confidence and your faith in God. So as a spiritual doctor, if I could this morning, let me help you with the doubts. Let me address that and tell you that is a sign, and it's something that we can deal with. And it's something that I hope you'll walk away here with the assurance that you can absolutely know that you know. Now, in First John, chapter five is our text. If you have a Bible, you can join me there. If not, we have the Scripture for you on the screen. The Bible here says, if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. In other words, if you'll take the word of a friend for something that is true, wouldn't the witness of God be greater? If a friend tells you this is the way it is, and a friend tells you this is what you can believe, and you believe a friend, he's saying, how much more should we believe the witness of God? So he's laying out a case for this is the witness of God which he has testified of his Son. He who believes in the Son of God has this witness or the witness in himself. I'll cover that in a minute. He who does not believe in God has made him a liar because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of his Son. Meaning that you either receive Jesus or you reject him. You either know him or you don't. You are either a saint or you are an ain't.
So you are in or out. And he says again, and this is a life. Verse 11. And this is the testimony rather, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Here it is. He who has a son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. And watch verse 13. Listen carefully. These things have I written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. And mark this, write this down, highlight this that you may know that you have eternal life. John said, I want you to know that you know if you've trusted Jesus and placed your faith in him, you need to know that you know. Well, based on this narrative, I want to point out three things that tell us how we could know that we know here. It is based upon three things. Number one, the knowledge I have, the assurance I have, the certainty that I have that I'll go to heaven one day when I die, is based upon number one, the atoning work of Jesus Christ. The atoning work of Jesus Christ. I'll explain that in a moment. 1 John 5:6. This is he who came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ. Now, what does it mean to come by water and blood? Now, there's a lot of speculation on what John was referring to when he said that some believe by water speaks of his physical birth and by blood speaks of his death on the cross. So water and blood, possibly. Others speculate that water and blood is just symbolic of receiving Jesus being baptized. The blood cleansing you, either one is probably a correct interpretation. But he's simply saying, we have this testimony, we have this witness of the presence of God who came to us by water and by blood. Now look down verse 12. 1 John 5. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. John 6:37. He who comes to me, Jesus said, I will in no wise cast out. So think about the atoning work of Jesus. Think about the name Jesus. For example, Acts 4:12. You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Jesus said that to Mary. Rather in Matthew. And then in Acts 4:12, he said, there's no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved than the name Jesus. So the name Jesus is significant. The name Jesus means saving one, saving one. The name Christ. Christ means atoning one. The atonement. When I say the atoning work of Jesus, I'm talking about his priestly work.
It was a reference. When you think about the atonement, it is a reference to the work of the Old Testament priest Remember, the Old Testament priest would take the sacrifice when they brought it to the temple, he would place his hands on the sacrifice. And remember, the sacrifice had to be the first of the flock. It had to be something without a spot or blemish. You couldn't bring him something that was dead in the field. You couldn't bring him roadkill for an offering. You had to bring him the best of the flock, because that symbolized the coming of Jesus, who would come into the world without a sin, without spot, without blemish. So they would bring into the temple, into the sacrifice a lamb without spot or blemish. The priest then would take and received the offering. He would place his hands upon that head of that animal, symbolizing that the sins of that person were now being placed upon the head of the animal. And then he would sacrifice the animal for the payment of the sin. And what that would do is it would atone for sin until the next year. And those sins would be, think about it metaphorically. They were being rolled forward till the next sacrificial period. And next year, you'd have to do the same thing. Bring the best of the flock. You bring it to the temple and you would offer it as a sacrifice. The priest would go through that system of atonement, and your sins would be atoned for for the next year. And that happened year in and year out, time after time after time, until you get to the cross. And you remember what John said when he was baptizing on the banks of the Jordan. In John chapter two, when he looks up and he sees Jesus, he says, behold the Lamb of God. Now that's significant. He was saying, this is God's sacrifice. This is God's offering without spot or blemish. He said, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. And on the cross, Jesus Christ so completely became sin. Literally, when you have that moment where the Bible says God turned his back on his own son on the cross, where Jesus cries out in the darkness, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In that moment, Jesus Christ had so completely become sin. Think about this. All the sins of the past, all of the sins of the present, all of the sins of the future were rolled upon Jesus at the cross in that moment. And God, being a holy God, cannot look upon sin. And when Jesus so completely took our sins on the cross, a holy God could not look upon sin. And he turns his back away from his son as Jesus pays the ultimate sacrifice for sin. And one of the last things Jesus cries out from the cross, is it is done. It is done. He did not say, I am done. If he would have said, I am done. None of us would have been surprised to hear the dying words of a man to say, I'm done. I'm finished. That's not what he said. He said, it is done, meaning all of the work necessary for a person now to know Jesus is done. The sacrifice on the cross, the atonement, if you will, of Jesus on the cross was the sacrifice that would then end all sacrifices. In fact, you see the writer of Hebrews as he talks about the fact that there's now no more need of a sacrifice for sin. When you came this morning, nobody brought a lamb without blemish or spot. We don't have an altar down here at the front where I'm going to lay hands on it and kill it. And we're going to rejoice that our sins have been rolled forward for it another year. Aren't you glad that system is done away with? Wouldn't that be weird? And the point is, that's all done. That's done. We don't have that. Jesus completed that at the cross. So I'm suggesting to your heart this morning that if you have received his payment for your sin, if there's been a moment in your life when you said, lord Jesus, I cannot save myself, I cannot pay for my own sin. And I believe you died on the cross, and I've invited you, and I invite you into my heart to save me, then you can have the confidence that Jesus Christ is your Savior and his atoning work has been made manifested in your life. So you can have the assurance, you can know that you know because of the atoning work, the finished work of Jesus on the cross. And in that finished work of Jesus, there's several other things that happen. One of the things is the separation that we felt from God has been done away with. When sin entered the picture in the Garden of Eden, one of the things that happened was man was separated from God. I mentioned last week how that God would walk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. And then all of a sudden he doesn't any longer because sin entered the picture and now he's calling out, adam, where are you? Sin had separated man from God, and sin remained that way, separate. We were born in sin. David said, in sin, my mother conceived. We're sinners by nature, we become sinners by choice. And so we're born alienated from God, searching for something fulfilling us that we can't find on our own. And when we encounter Jesus Christ and we receive him, what he does is he bridges the gap. There's no more separation from God. Not only is there no more separation, there's no more condemnation. We don't live under the condemnation of God anymore. The Bible says in John, chapter three, verse 18, that people who have rejected Jesus live under condemnation. There's this impending doom and wrath that if they don't receive Jesus and move out from under that condemnation, they one day will face the judgment of God because they rejected his Son. So there's now no more separation. There's no more condemnation. And the third thing that we benefit from through this atonement of Jesus is there's no more guilt. You don't have to live in guilt for your past. Once God has forgiven you, forgive yourself. You say, bill, what do you base what you've just told us on? Romans chapter 8. Romans 8 opens with verse 1.
There is now therefore, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. He goes on to say, who shall separate us from the love of Christ that is in Christ Jesus, the love of God that is in Christ Jesus? He goes on to say, that who shall lay anything to the charge of my elect, meaning there's no guilt. So the three things that I'm suggesting that are accomplished in the relationship with Jesus, no guilt, no condemnation, no separation, are byproducts of the atonement of Jesus for sin. And when an individual receives his payment for sin, he marks that paid in full. In fact, it's beautiful to read what Paul wrote in Romans 4. He said, what shall we say? That Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, what did Abraham find? Abraham was the father of great religions, the father of many nations. And he's saying, well, let's talk about Abraham. Let's ask ourselves the question, what did Abraham discover when it comes to a relationship with Jesus? And here he answers the question. Romans 4, verse 2. He said, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him as righteousness. That word accounted is an interesting word. We have a doctrine in theological circles called the doctrine of imputation. It's kind of a mathematical understanding. To impute means to take a number from one account and place it on another account. It means to move the numbers around. It means to account for this number in such a way that it's now resolved on this account, and it's been added on the other account. And to have your sins imputed means the sins are taken off of your account, and they were placed on Jesus. Meaning that my unrighteousness was taken from me and placed upon Jesus at the cross. Meaning that I have the imputed righteousness of Christ. He took my sin and I took his forgiveness. He took my shame and I took his honor. He took my unrighteousness and I took his righteousness. And so, once I've received Him as Savior, I can have the assurance, remember John 6, if I come to him, he will in no wise cast out. So if I receive Jesus Christ as Savior, I then can know that I know that I know Jesus. So let me ask you, before I go a step further, can you remember a time in your life when you humbled your heart and you invited Jesus into your life? You might have been a young person. It might not be very clear. You may not even remember the exact words that you've spoken. But as you sit in this room or as you watch me online in this moment, you can say, without any doubt of my mind, I know there was a moment when I humbled my heart and I received Jesus as my Savior. If that's happened for you, then I can tell you on the assurance of God's word, you belong to Him. You can know that you know because you have trusted Jesus. Here's the second thing. Not only that, you can also know that you know because of the abiding witness of the Holy Spirit. The abiding witness of the Holy Spirit. First John 5, verse 10. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. Now, if you read that chapter in context, he's referring to the witness of the Holy Spirit. He's referring to the Holy Spirit as the witness. You see, Jesus said in John 14, When I leave, the Holy Spirit will come. And when I go, the Holy Spirit will make mention of me. The reason that I know Jesus as Savior and the reason I accepted him as a little boy was because of the work of the Holy Spirit within my heart. It is the Holy Spirit that brings us to an awareness of God. It is the Holy Spirit that brings us to conviction. It is the Holy Spirit that does the work of conversion. It is the spirit of God in the work of a. In a person's life that brings us to Christ. That's the reason why long after you leave this room and whether you ever come back to this church ever again or not, whether you ever go to any other church or not, there is the work of the Holy Spirit. If you do not know Jesus, that will continue to be with you and will continue to convict you and will continue to try to draw you to the Savior, because that's the initial work of the Holy Spirit, is to make much of Jesus. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to draw people to himself. And there is no conversion without Holy Spirit conviction. And once you know Jesus Christ, and I, as a little boy, received him, in receiving him, I received his Holy Spirit. You say, well, Bill, is it possible to have Jesus as your Savior but not have the Holy Spirit in your heart? That's not possible. Now, I have friends that disagree with me on this. They kind of believe you get God on the installment plan. You get Jesus now, you get the Holy Spirit later as a second work of grace, and then you get the relationship with God on down the road. And so we differ with that. I don't believe that. And I'll explain what I believe in a moment because I found they're wrong on other things. But anyway, here it is.
You receive. You cannot have Jesus without his Holy Spirit. There are three who bear witness in heaven. Those three are one. How can you have one and not all? Listen to Romans, chapter 8, verse 9. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. You cannot belong to Jesus and not have his Holy Spirit. Now, you may not be aware that you possess the Spirit of God. You may have his presence in your life, and you may never have acknowledged it. That's why he says in Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 18, that we are to yield to the Spirit. And as we yield to the Holy Spirit, he fills the area that we yield. Now, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I believe in that. And I believe it happens the moment I receive Jesus Christ as my Savior. I'm baptized in that moment with the Spirit of God. Now, the reason you have what they call the second work of grace, or this new anointing that happens later in life, is not necessarily the coming of the Holy Spirit in your life at that moment, as much as it is an acknowledgement of the presence of the Holy Spirit that's been with you all the while.
You say, bill, do you believe in the second blessing? I do. I believe in a third and a fourth, and a fifth and a sixth. I believe you get blessed all the time. The more I awaken to the presence of God in my life, the more I get blessed. But if I'm a child of God, I have the Spirit of God. And it's the biting witness of the Holy Spirit that gives me the assurance that I belong to him. Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 13. The Bible says we are Sealed with the Holy Spirit the moment we receive Jesus. So let's put this together. I received Jesus as a little boy in that moment. I'm sealed with the Holy Spirit. Now get the phrasing with the Spirit, meaning that the Holy Spirit is the seal that seals me in the deal. The Holy Spirit seals me in salvation. And my salvation is only as good as the seal is good. If the seal is ever broken, I'll be lost again. You say you believe you can lose your salvation. Well, if the seal is ever broken, I can. But the seal is the Holy Spirit. And how is the Spirit of God ever broken? He cannot lie. He cannot be defeated. There's nothing that can happen to the seal that will cause it to be broken. So I am as sure for heaven as though I'm already there. So I believe in eternal security. It's back to certainty. It's back to certainty if you can go through life, and if you go through life not knowing. Did that sin just cost me my salvation? I just had that thought. I shouldn't have thought, oh, my God, am I saved or not saved? I don't know. And if the devil can knock you off balance and keep you in a relationship with God where you're not certain if you belong to him, he'll take you right off the board and right out of the game. The certainty, remember, is what absolves the worry and anxiety. It is the uncertainty that brings worry and anxiety. So I'm trying to help a brother this morning. I'm trying to tell you if you've received Jesus, you have the abiding witness of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of God has sealed you in that relationship with Jesus. Now, I've used this illustration before, but it just bears repeating this morning. You remember when they had the Tylenol scare a few years ago, when people were lacing Tylenol with things and then all of a sudden, man, they were sealing those Tylenol bottles up. It was hard to get into. It was hard. As hard to get into one of those as it was a cd. You remember that?
And they sealed those things down so tight, we understood they had attorney somewhere in Thailand all saying, seal them down. We can't get sued anymore. And so you would never buy a product if you go to the. To the pharmacy, if you go to the grocery store, you wouldn't buy a product. If the seal is broken, you would say, because there's every possibility that the items there are contaminated. I'm saying, what good is a salvation if with seal can't be trusted. And so the seal that seals us in the deal is the work of the Holy Spirit, who not only calls us to salvation, but he seals us in salvation. And so you can know that we are sealed and secured by the work of the Holy Spirit. Not only that, in my continuing walk with God, I'm also convicted and directed by the Holy Spirit. The Bible says in Romans 8:14 that if I belong to Jesus, I'm led by the Spirit. In fact, in Ephesians 5 it says, Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You know what? I can give you a guarantee that you'll never mess up in your life. Not that you'll be perfect. But this will keep you from making some really big stupid decisions. That is if you walk every day in the spirit. Walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. I've shared this with you. Let me share it again. People who are doing things they shouldn't be doing are people who quit doing the things they should be doing. Because if you're doing what you should do, you cannot do what you shouldn't do. So the best way to keep from doing what you should not do is to do what you should do. Because if you'll do every day what you should do, you won't end up doing what you shouldn't do. So walk in the spirit, do what you should do, and you will not fulfill the lust of your flesh. Again, it's not your five year plan, it's your five minute plan. Make good calls in the next five minutes. Walk in the Spirit. So I'm saying, the Holy Spirit of God has sealed me and secured me. He convicts me and directs me. He keeps me on the right path. The third thing he does, he empowers me and he enables me. Acts 1:8. Jesus said, when the Holy Spirit comes, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and the uttermost parts of the world. Meaning that the Spirit of God will empower you and enable you to do the thing he's called you to do. And that is to be his witness. Listen to Romans 8:16. His spirit joins with our Spirit to affirm that we are God's children. How do you know that? You know the witness of the Holy Spirit. He bears witness with our Spirit. He affirms me. He confirms this. The same Spirit bears witness with our Spirit, that we belong to the children of God. So it's the work of the Holy Spirit. And 1 John 5:10 says, if you believe in the Son of God, you have the witness himself. So I've received Jesus. I know the atoning work of Christ. I have the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. Here's the third way, and we'll go home. You have the affirming word of God. You have God's word to underscore and to assure you a more sure witness than the witness of a man. Now you're listening to the witness of a man this morning. You're hearing me say things that I'm supporting with Scripture, but you're hearing me say things that hopefully are affirming to you. But the thing that I hope you will pillow your head on tonight is not what Bill said, but what God's word said. That is the affirming word of God. And the Bible says in First John 5, 13, I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. God said, I want you, my kids, to know that. You know, listen to second Peter 1:17. We receive from the Father honor and glory. He came in such a voice on him from the excellent glory, saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Now, let me stop and explain, because I'm kind of picking that up in the middle of the narrative. He's talking about the baptism of Jesus. You remember at the baptism of Jesus, when Jesus was baptized by John on the Jordan, not long after I quoted a moment ago where John says, behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sins of the world. Jesus came to be baptized by John on the banks of the Jordan, and John baptized him. Now, we baptize here. Let me chase a rabbit. We baptize here by immersion. And we do so because we believe that's the most biblical mode. Now, some religions sprinkle a little bit. They're like brill cream. A little dab will do you. Now, I'm not hating if that's your mode, but it's not the most biblical mode because burial is indicated in the baptism. The death is going down into the water. Burial is under the water. Resurrection is coming up out of the water. I've never had a funeral yet where we just sprinkle dirt on a person. We pretty much bury them. And so it is the most accurate and biblical mode of baptism. The word, in fact, baptize is baptizo in the Greek. It literally means to dip, to plunge, or to immerse. So we use that mode of baptism in our church because we think it is the most accurate mode. Biblically and we believe it is the one thing you and I can do exactly like Jesus did. Now back to this text. When Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water. The Bible says there was a dove that descended on him and listen of voice from heaven. You remember that a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And so they are saying with the certainty that we heard the voice of God saying that. Look at verse 18. This voice which came down from heaven, look, we heard and we were with him in that holy mount. He said, we also verse 19. But we have a mouth sure word of prophecy. What could be more certain than hearing an audible voice come down of heaven? A more sure word of prophecy. They were saying, we now have the written word of God. A more sure word than the witness of a man or even a voice from heaven. We have God's word. Here's what I know about God's word. The Bible says heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will not pass away. This is not everything we want to know about God in the Bible, but it's everything we need to know about God we can have in the Bible. And so the certainty that I need to know that I don't Jesus as my Savior is confirmed and affirmed by God's Word. So I look at a promise in the Bible like that and says, look, if you'll call upon the name of the Lord, you'll be saved. I did that. If I look at a verse that says, hey, when you receive Jesus, you have the witness of the Holy Spirit, I understand that. And when I look at the Word and go, hey, God will not lie. He cannot lie. He's given us word, his word to attest to the truth of that relationship we can have with him. I can rest my head on that. And I can know that I know based on my faith in Jesus, the work of the Holy Spirit and the affirming word of God. So I'm not saying to your heart this morning, there's not going to be moments when you doubt there probably will. I'm not going to say you're not going to go through seasons when you wonder and you drift a little bit away from God and wonder if maybe he's written you off or you're not in his family anymore. I'm not saying that you won't go through those seasons. But when you do, go back and remind yourself of what you did, go back and remind yourself of what he did and realize when you're doubting you're not really doubting what you did as much as you're doubting what he did. And God cannot lie. We sang that great old hymn a moment ago. Blessed assurance Jesus is mine oh, what a foretaste of glory divine and I'm glad this morning we can walk from this room with the assurance we can know that we know Jesus. And one of the marks of belonging to him is the assurance of his love. Let me give this to you. Years ago in our church, we had a family. And they've all passed on since this story. I was just a young boy when this came about. But they had a child in their family that was born in their home. And the child was regressing. He wasn't developing, he wasn't growing. And so they took him to what was then the Fort Worth Child Study Center. I think that was back when Fort Worth had the Fort Worth Children's Hospital and the Cook's Children's Hospital, before those hospitals merged. And if my memory serves me right, there was a. It still may be around, but it was called the Fort Worth Child Study Center. They were very concerned because the child was not hitting the markers that it should be hitting in its development and in its growth. The child seemed to be okay physiologically. They couldn't find anything wrong to account for it. And after numerous studies and after hours and hours of the experts and the most brilliant minds in those facilities, they finally came to the conclusion that the child was suffering from a lack of nourishment and love at home. Not physical food and not water, but love and embrace and nurturing, I guess, is the word I'm looking for in the home. And come to find out there was a problem in the relationship between this man and the child's mother. And when he would leave to go to work and she'd be left with the child, she was abusing the child. Even though it was an infant. And the way she was treating the child was actually keeping the child from developing. Instead of developing, the child was actually regressing. And once they identified the problem, they finally were able to actually remove the woman from the home. And the father divorced and ended up, you know, marrying a wonderful woman who nurtured and cared for the child. And the child still struggled developmentally throughout of his life, all because it went back to a period in time when it wasn't nurtured and it wasn't loved. Even an infant need the certainty. An infant needed the certainty that it was loved and that it was nurtured and that it was cared for. What's my point? I'm just ending where I started. And I'm just saying, guys, if you go through life without the assurance that your heavenly father loves you, he cares for you, he's trying to nurture you every day and through every experience of life, it will cause you to regress spiritually. You won't develop and grow all that you could be spiritually if you have that view of your heavenly Father. So let's look at him in a healthy way. Let's see ourselves in a healthy way, and let's embrace the fact that God loves us. He's received us, he's forgiven us. We belong to him. Let's rest in that and know that we know that we know Jesus. Let's pray together.
Father, thank you for your love. Thank you for your word that gives us such assurance that we can know you as our Savior and we can move forward in life with the certainty of that because of the presence of your Holy Spirit and because of the promise of your precious word. So, Lord, I pray for my friends who may be prone to doubt. Give them the assurance today. Help them not to walk out of this room without knowing that they know you. And, Father, if there's one in the room or one watching online, maybe they've never really come to that place where they can recall receiving you into their life. May this be that moment where they humble their heart and they pray a simple prayer like this, like I did as a little boy, and they just say, lord Jesus, with everything I know about me in this moment, I trust everything I know about you come into my heart. Forgive my sin. I believe you died on that cross. I believe you rose on Easter, and I trust you right now as my Savior. Thank you for hearing me. Give me now the peace and the assurance that I belong to you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[00:41:11] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.
