[0:00] Thank you, everybody. Youth Sunday, amen. Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen, for your service to us today.
[0:15] Praise the Lord. I just want to give a quick shout out to, and I've mentioned this before, I think, and I certainly have told him, but I want to thank God for Pastor Jim Drexler.
[0:26] Pastor Jim, he volunteered to raise the funds for our school, and I was so grateful. I really don't think God would have used me in this city the way he used him.
[0:40] God can do anything, so I know that, okay? But I'm just saying, I really thank God for how God used our dear brother to raise the funds throughout this city and touching base with so many foundations and people.
[0:55] I think some people are still planning to give, and so we thank God for your efforts, brother. I mean that sincerely, and I want everybody to know that. I wouldn't have any hair left if y'all had made me do that.
[1:14] That was, you didn't have to laugh about that, but I love this church. Thank you for being fun people. Thank you for having a sense of humor. Oh, thank you.
[1:26] Let's pray together. Father, as we come to your word, we come with joy. We come with laughter because, Lord, life is good because you make it good.
[1:37] Even when we're going through tough times, Lord, we know it could be a lot worse without you. But with you, Lord, we can make it. With you, Lord, we can go through anything.
[1:49] As long as you are with us, just don't leave us. And thank you that you said you would not. And we believe it, for we know we are your children. We have been saved by your son.
[2:01] So we stand with you. Even if we have to stand on our knees, we stand with you. Father, bless your word now. Cause us to hear it from you and cause it to have its effect in our hearts and lives.
[2:13] Oh, God, making us the agents of grace, justice, and mercy that we talk about. Lord, we want to be used by you in this city, around this city, wherever we go.
[2:25] We want to be used by you. Oh, Lord, get glory in the word now to your people and in our lives as we leave this place. Use your unworthy servant, please. Oh, God, help him.
[2:38] Help him to be clear. Help him, Lord, to be biblical. Help him, Lord, to preach according to this passage. Even though it's a topical sermon, Lord, let it be according to this passage that we are studying.
[2:54] And may you feed your flock. Save souls. Save someone today. Oh, that you would do that. That we would rejoice to see someone added to the kingdom.
[3:05] Do it for your glory, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Ephesians chapter 6. Again, I'm reading, starting at the verse 14, which is the beginning of the listing of the armor of God.
[3:20] Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
[3:34] In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. And finally, take the helmet of salvation.
[3:47] Our text for today. That ends the reading of the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[3:57] Amen. One of the negative critiques of what we have called the black church coming even from the black community, especially those who follow the nation of Islam.
[4:21] Remember, the nation of Islam came to popularity through the work of Elijah Muhammad and now continues through the aging Louis Farrakhan.
[4:33] They referred to the work of the civil rights movement and those, especially those in that part of the black church, as believing in pie in the sky by and by.
[4:47] That's what the, that's what the, that's what the, that's what the, that's what the, that's what the, that's what the, that's how they described Martin Luther King and those with him as they were having worship services before they went out to march and were calling upon people to be nonviolent in their protests.
[5:08] It was, it had a very Christian intent to it. Everybody wasn't a Christian in that movement, of course, but it was greatly influenced by clergy who were, many of whom were men of God.
[5:22] And pie in the sky by and by. You know, you know, you probably know this phrase, don't be so heavenly minded, you're no earthly good.
[5:36] Now that's not, that's not, that's not, now everybody says that. I don't care where you're from, what your ethnic background is, but that has been a critique of the church, period. That we are so heavenly minded, we are no earthly good.
[5:51] The funny thing about that, sometimes this comes from people in the church, have said that about other people in the church. Don't be so heavenly minded, you are no earthly good.
[6:02] The problem with that statement is that those who are the most heavenly minded are the ones who do the most earthly good. Truly heavenly minded now.
[6:13] What it really means to be heavenly minded, they really do the most good. Has always been so. So, biblical assurance of salvation is true heavenly mindedness.
[6:28] And all such people are equipped, empowered, and motivated by the Spirit of Christ to be of immense heavenly earthly good.
[6:42] So let me ask you a question. Are you letting true assurance of salvation impact how you live right now? We've been talking about assurance, we're going to keep talking about it, but is that truth impacting how you live right now?
[6:59] Now last time, remember, we spent our time looking at the security of our future eternal salvation. We are in the grip of the Father and the Son, and we saw that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit.
[7:12] Our salvation has a very Trinitarian stability. The Father, Son, Holy Spirit are all three involved in making sure Sam, Elder Sam, is theirs and will make it to glory.
[7:28] I don't see how anything can stop that then. Nothing can destroy it. This leads naturally to another truth though. Salvation cannot be lost.
[7:42] That's part of our security. We should know that. But our assurance of it can be. Salvation can't be lost, but there are people who are struggling with knowing that they are saved.
[7:57] And they really are. In other words, too many Christians live like a football player in the game without a helmet.
[8:11] The game today, I'm sure. Can you imagine these 300-pound men who can run the 40 in 4.5 seconds, who can bench press 500 pounds?
[8:25] Can you imagine these guys going out there trying to hit one another without a helmet? I can tell you assuredly that they would be tentative about it.
[8:38] They would be worried about getting hit in the head and knocked unconscious and therefore out of the game. They'd be worried about serious injury.
[8:51] They'd be afraid to commit to a hit. They'd be afraid to engage in the battle on a game level. But the Christian is even in worse shape.
[9:03] All true Christians have been given the helmet of salvation. You already have it. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, if you have been transformed by his love and grace and forgiveness to you, you have on the helmet of salvation.
[9:25] But if you don't rely upon that fact, you will be skittish. You will find yourself in times of great trial, in times of, we're going to talk more about that, but you will find yourself being beat up by the enemy.
[9:44] So what can we do to deepen our sense of assurance of salvation? Meaning, how can we grow in our confidence that we are saved now and will be saved in the future?
[9:57] How can we grow? Well, let's talk about that. In this process of growing in assurance, the Bible, the Word of God, is central.
[10:09] Okay? Central. So, I came across this article providentially, the January-February issue of Bible Study Magazine. And I just happened, I always take a look at it, and I look, open it up, and it had this article on assurance of salvation.
[10:26] Three uses of the Bible for assurance of salvation. I thought that was providential, so I thought I would give it to you. So here we go. Good stuff. Number one, personal reading of the Scriptures.
[10:40] Your personal reading of the Scriptures, in other words, to see how God has bent down to bind up the wounds of those who suffer, will encourage you in your own assurance.
[10:53] You see, too often, the devil takes advantage of the Lord's people by using suffering to discourage our assurance of God's salvation and love.
[11:03] Because we are going through a difficult time, the devil will tell you, it's because you're not saved. Christians don't go through that. Christians don't have those problems.
[11:16] That doesn't happen to people who truly belong to Jesus. And some of us find ourselves really beginning to doubt, do we belong to Jesus? But when you come to the Scriptures in your personal reading, you will see the prayers and the groanings of God's people as they call out to Him in the midst of their suffering.
[11:40] You'll see God's faithfulness to them. When God seems absent, we call that the dark night of the soul, when God seems absent and the devil waves your sins in your face, press into Christ by going to His Word.
[11:58] Listen, that may be the last thing you feel like doing. When you're hurting, sometimes, it's amazing how that happens, isn't it? When you're hurting and you know where the medicine is, you don't feel like taking it.
[12:14] But that's what you must do. Take the, go to the gospel. I'm sorry, that wasn't in my notes.
[12:24] I just slipped out. Take the medicine of the Word of God. Go back to the gospel. Let God, the very thing you don't. Listen, sometimes you have to take it in small bites.
[12:37] When you're going through a tough time, you may not even have the mental capacity to read a lot. Come on, somebody. I'm not talking to myself here. I'm trying to be real here.
[12:49] I know this. You don't have a lot of energy. And so you have to take the Word of God at small bites. But take it.
[13:00] Go, go. Just take a minute. Ask God, Lord, you see, I want you. I want to know. I feel lost. I feel like you've left me. Go, just small bites.
[13:11] You'll be surprised what the Lord will do in your small bite. Your Father will comfort you and speak to you. Will you trust Him? Go to the Word.
[13:23] No matter how you feel. Sometimes you just have to put it on stream, you know. Put the Bible. I got Audible. On Amazon Audible. I got my Bible on Audible.
[13:34] And I'll just listen to it sometimes. Just listen. I mean, if I don't have energy to read, I can listen. Let, however you get the Word in, small bites.
[13:47] Call upon Jesus and fight for assurance. Amen? Okay, that's one thing. But second way, others' use of the Bible to bless us. Sometimes, you know, a believer can become so spiritually weak and exhausted that she fails to drink from the only source where refreshment is found.
[14:07] You can't feed yourself, but let the saints feed you. Listen, I hope you understand that when a brother or sister in Christ is having a hard time, the last thing they need to hear is your philosophy.
[14:29] And, and, and, and, and, I don't want to hear the, I'm sorry. Then paraphrase the Bible. What they need to hear is God speaking.
[14:40] I'm not saying preach a sermon, but sometimes, you know, you know, imagine you're in the desert, right? And, and you're crawling to the spring. You're thirsty. You're dehydrated. You have no energy to put, to get, to even get the water to your mouth.
[14:55] Isn't it wonderful if you got a couple friends who come by, lean you up, get a cup of water out of the stream and bring it to you and pour it in your mouth?
[15:06] Wouldn't that be beautiful? Would you say, oh, I don't, I don't, I don't want that because that's just a quick fix. Would you complain?
[15:16] I know sometimes people can feel like, I don't, you're just quoting scripture to me. I don't need to hear that. That's because they're hurting because what they do really need to hear is God to speak to them.
[15:31] They really do need to hear it. And then you have to be sensitive, be sensitive and work with them. But what they need to hear is Father. Pray for them.
[15:43] But they need the word of God. Bring them to church. And don't feel, you know, when I first got saved, I'll never forget it. I had professed faith in Christ, been on the altar at this church, called on Jesus, and I went home feeling great.
[15:59] And I didn't go to church for three weeks. My best friend would come by to pick me up. He would say, come on, I'll be like, oh, Sunday, I wasn't used to going to hear it on Sunday morning. Sunday morning, that was a time to chill, you know, to get up, sleep late.
[16:12] He'd come, I'll be like, maybe next week, Craig, maybe next week. But he kept coming. And then Easter Sunday of 1981, I went with him to church.
[16:26] I haven't missed since. Not just church, but Jesus. Jesus. So, hearing the word from the saints coming around one another.
[16:41] Send texts, emails, cards, conversations, whatever. Encourage one another in the Lord. It's amazing how sometimes we don't do that.
[16:52] Because we feel like we shouldn't. We feel like we don't know what to say. Well, God does. You let him speak. It's okay. You don't know what to say. I got you. Let God speak.
[17:05] But, of course, pray. But they need the word. The word will build them up. The last one is, and the third one is kind of interesting, but it's got a point.
[17:17] They mentioned God's own use of the Bible to instruct us. Well, that's really the other two, I think, but something unique about what they're saying here. God himself uses his word to keep us, to form us, and in time to give us assurance.
[17:33] Here's the thing. It may not seem much is happening in your soul. You may not feel like you're growing all that much. Nothing may be going on, but if you're sitting under the word of God, if you're reading it, if you're sitting under it, if you're really listening, I don't mean just showing up in church.
[17:50] That's not sitting under the word. It's active listening is paying attention and prayerfully asking God to speak through his word to your soul.
[18:02] That's active listening. But here's the thing. Philippians 2 says this. Work out your own salvation, and I will put with the word, with fear and trembling.
[18:17] That's reverence and awe for God, by the way. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
[18:28] The point they're making is that God is working whether you know it or not. God is working behind the scenes in your very soul to conform you to Christ.
[18:39] He's always at work. The Spirit of God didn't come into your life just to hang out. He came to take over. He came to do a work in you. He's not inactive.
[18:51] He's always active. And as you're sitting under the word of God, he's taking the word and causing it to percolate. It's percolating back there.
[19:02] And you never know. All of a sudden, boom, it pops up in your heart. And you never even, you didn't know, you didn't memorize that text, but the Spirit of God said, boom, there it is.
[19:14] You'd be surprised. He's working in you. Building up your continual assurance of His presence, your assurance that you belong to Him.
[19:27] Even your assurance that your destiny is sealed. Heaven, glory, the new heavens and new earth is where you are going. Now, this brings up another thought then.
[19:43] Another way that our assurance is deepened, okay? The word, but our assurance of salvation is also encouraged or deepened as we grow in the likeness of Christ.
[19:55] As we grow in the likeness of Christ. This happens as we are transformed by the Holy Spirit to live in growing dependence and obedience to Jesus as His disciple.
[20:07] In other words, we begin to see the reality of Christ at work in us and so do people around us. Have you ever known, has someone ever said to you who knew you back when and say, man, you're different.
[20:28] Have you, have you noticed even in your own self that, that, that five years ago you were a certain place in your Christian life but today you find that you've moved forward. That things are happening, you are being transformed, you are being changed, listen, listen, now watch this, this is not perfect because this is about your works, it's not perfect, it's your works and God's works together, don't get me wrong, but it's not perfect because let's, because we always have to rely first and foremost on the objective truth that Jesus died for our sins past, present, and future.
[21:06] That is where our central assurance always rests on the gospel, on the work of Christ but your assurance can be deepened as you are finding your life, your actions, your thoughts, your words being transformed to look more like Jesus.
[21:31] Wow! you will see the presence of the Spirit in your life. You know, the Bible calls it the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5, 22 to 23, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
[21:51] The Spirit of God is doing that in you. He's working in you. You should see some sign of this in your life that you are growing, that God is doing so.
[22:05] You may find that you may not have been a very patient person and you may still struggle but you see a difference. You're not the same impatient so-and-so he used to be.
[22:17] You know? Kindness. Do you see the Spirit of God moving in you that your heart goes out to bless people, to be kind to people?
[22:28] Are you finding yourself being more gentle? You know, I'm talking to the men. You're still a man.
[22:40] You're 100% man. All beef, no additives and no preservatives. But are you a gentle man? Do you find yourself being gentle?
[22:53] You find yourself treated, you know, because Jesus, listen, the fruit of the Spirit is nothing but the attributes of Jesus. No one is more gentle than Jesus.
[23:04] No one is more meek than Jesus. No one is more good, as it were. No one is kinder. No one is more patient. This is a picture of Jesus. If the Spirit of Jesus lives in you, then we should begin to see Jesus in you.
[23:21] We call this sanctification, by the way. That's the big word, sanctification. sanctification. We are progressively, incrementally being transformed into the image of our Savior, our elder brother, the Lord Jesus.
[23:40] There should be a family resemblance. Jesus. And I love the fact that what Paul says here, and I mentioned it last week, but I didn't mention it like this.
[23:51] Paul tells us that the Spirit's work in you. He'll say this, remember we talked about the Spirit being a seal last week, authenticating you?
[24:04] Just turn back on to chapter 1, 13 and 14. Here's what he says. In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, believed in him, you were saved, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
[24:21] Remember that? But watch this, verse 14, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.
[24:34] The Spirit, he's a guarantee. In other passages, he's called the down payment. God, it's like the Spirit comes to assure you.
[24:47] He's there in you working to transform you, which assures you that your inheritance is coming. It assures you that you will take possession of the full transformation.
[25:03] salvation. Man, that's good news. He's doing something in me. In other words, assurance of salvation, assurance of our present and future salvation causes us to deal with sin in our lives right now.
[25:26] If you are assured, if you truly understand that you are assured of your salvation right now, that the helmet of salvation, if you are truly relying on that, you have a sense of your present and your future salvation, that should mean, therefore, that you are dealing with sin in your life right now.
[25:47] Here's another example of that. 1 John 3. See what kind of love, I love this passage, the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God and so we are.
[26:03] Are you assured of it? Do you know? The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is.
[26:26] Here is the punchline. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure. Here, let's break it down.
[26:39] If we know we are God's children, assurance of present salvation, we are not surprised by the world's distaste of us. the world didn't like Him.
[26:54] If we live in assurance of future salvation, that is, the Son is coming to finish the work in you, to transform you, to make you fully like Him, if you're sure of that, then we will pursue a life of following Christ in purity now.
[27:20] Now. What's the effect upon assurance of salvation on us right now? We are pursuing purity.
[27:33] In other words, we are pursuing, like Hebrews says, we are laying off the sin that so easily besets us. We are tossing away.
[27:44] We are looking at our life and we are saying, anything like you, unlike you, Lord, take it. When someone says to you, hey, that's wrong, man.
[27:59] And you realize that's right, you say, Lord, help me. when you say something or do something that hurts somebody else, you say, oh my gosh, Lord, help me know, help me to walk away from that.
[28:13] You're asking God and you're dealing with stuff. You're not dodging and making excuses for your sin, but you are saying, hold it, that's me.
[28:25] because you know you are saved. You know you are son of God. You know you are daughter of God.
[28:35] You know you belong to Jesus. You know he is coming for you and he's going to transform you to be fully like him and your heart's desire right now is to be like him now.
[28:46] And so therefore, you deal with stuff and listen, listen, here's the beauty of it. You can do that because you're not afraid. If God accepts you and loves you and has saved you and wants you and will not turn his back on you, you don't have to be afraid to deal with your stuff with other people.
[29:09] You can, if they turn their back on you, it'll break your heart, but you know you'll be okay because you've been, you're loved. You're accepted by the one who matters most.
[29:22] But because you belong to him, there's truth in you. There's honesty and integrity building up in you and you will be a bit more transparent.
[29:34] You're going to deal with stuff. When this, when this, when this, when it, when, when, when, instead of saying amen, you'll say, I'm the man. He's talking about me, pastor. When your wife, spouses are the worst, we're the worst, I tell you.
[29:48] When your spouse points out stuff in your life, the first thing you want to do. That's the, that's the last thing you should do.
[30:02] Repent of that. Let, somebody who knows you, come on, if you don't have to be married, you got friends, people who know you and they tell you, man, what's going on?
[30:14] Don't run. Don't hide. Feel the pain. Just stand there. Just take it. Oh. Oh. Lord, is that true?
[30:25] Yeah. Okay. It's okay. Deal with it. You're saved. You're loved. You're accepted and you have the Holy Spirit in you.
[30:39] Don't run. Let him do his work. Let him do, we'll talk more about this when we come to the sword of the Spirit. Let him do some work. We'll get back to that. It's okay.
[30:53] You know where you, who, to whom you belong. If you really believe this, you'll be propelled to deal with this. I'm going to give you a passage to read for yourself in Ephesians because he talks about this.
[31:08] Just write this down. Chapter four, 17 to 24. Go back and read that for you. For the sake of time, I'm not going to do it. But I want you to go back and look at that. And look what Paul says happens to you when you know you're saved.
[31:22] But the next thing I want you to notice too is that this, this, this assurance of future salvation causes us to be willing to do good.
[31:32] to do good works before the Lord. To not be afraid. Listen, good works are social. Because you're not just doing good to yourself, you're doing, to do good works, you're usually doing good to somebody else.
[31:52] I mean, I know we talk about self-care and all that kind of stuff and I'm down with a little bit of self-care. We all do it, by the way. We just naturally take care of ourselves. But on occasion, yeah, you have to be aware that you're too spread, too thin, you know.
[32:06] You got to take, you know, take a step back. Go play some disc golf or something, you know. You know, do something. I understand that. Amen. But when he talks about doing good in the Bible, it usually means to others.
[32:20] Romans 2, 6 through 11. He says, He will render to each one according to his works. To those who by patience and well-doing, listen to this, patience and well-doing, seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
[32:36] But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good.
[32:56] to Jew first, also the Greek, for God shows no partiality. You get the impression that doing good is important to God?
[33:09] I'm just saying. Now keep in mind now, Paul is not preaching works for salvation. Those who do good are those who have been saved by God's grace, who are filled with his spirit, but they have a future sense of glory, honor, and immortality guaranteed to them so their good works that they patiently pursue demonstrate they've been saved.
[33:40] They are pursuing good because they have been saved by the one who is good. So don't get it twisted.
[33:53] Do you have a sense that you are destined for glory, honor, and immortality because of Jesus' work for you?
[34:08] Do you understand that he is going to magnify you? He's going to bless you in the new heavens and new earth when he rewards his people for the good he put in us.
[34:24] The good deeds you did which he foreordained that you should do. The duty that you did that you owed him, duty is a good word by the way, the duty that you did, he said, when you've done all that you have, that when you've done what you should have done, say I'm an unworthy servant, I've only done what I ought.
[34:46] When you've done God's will, you still don't get to pat yourself on the back. Let him do it. He's going to pat you. He's going to bless you.
[34:58] Good works come because we recognize our future. Glory, honor, immortality. glory. It belongs to us, the people of Jesus.
[35:12] Here's the beautiful thing about that. Hardships will come because you do good. People will take your good and twist it.
[35:28] But understand, when that happens, you can be strengthened, that will strengthen you in your assurance rather than destroy it. What?
[35:40] Are you serious? Yeah. Matthew 5, 10, and 12. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
[35:55] Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. So they persecuted the prophets who were before you. righteousness' sake, doing good, treating people right, and you're going to suffer for it from time to time.
[36:16] And Jesus, our Lord, says to you, let that encourage you. Wow. Be encouraged. Don't give up.
[36:27] Don't let it, don't let it, encourage your sister of salvation because you're, you're standing in line, he says, with the prophets who were before you. The Isaiahs, who we believe was sawn asunder.
[36:42] The Jeremiahs, thrown in pits and whatnot and running for his life. Probably, we believe, kidnapped, taken back, run off to Egypt when the, when the city was attacked.
[36:56] The prophets were people who, John the Baptist, who spoke truth to power and lost his head. You're in good company.
[37:10] And most of all, the Lord Jesus himself. Nobody ever did more good than him. No one ever blessed people, loved people, healed people better than him.
[37:20] And yet they cried, away with him, give us Barabbas, crucify him. Amen. Amen. Amen. So yeah, when you suffer for doing good, for righteousness sake, he says, listen, you're in good company.
[37:36] Don't let it discourage you. You're blessed. Wow. Do you believe that? You see, when I know I'm secure in my salvation, when I, when my helmet is on, and I, and it always is, but when I'm relying on that helmet, when I'm not being skittish and worried, when I'm trusting in the work of Christ for me alone, and, and I'm following him, listen, I'm encouraged even when the wall hits me.
[38:04] Not I hit the wall, the wall hits me. Because I know I'm following him. And he's doing a work in me. I'm not going to give up because people don't like it.
[38:19] And you will find people don't always like it. Sometimes, I hate to say it, sometimes it'll be the saints. On occasions, we can be mean to each other.
[38:37] Those good works you do for others in the name of Jesus, according to his word. On occasion, you might take it on the chin.
[38:51] It's okay. You're in a good place. You're just where God wants you. Do you know you're saved?
[39:03] Do you have a sense that God is with you because he has done a work in you, because he is living in you? Do you, is the gospel dear to you?
[39:15] Is Jesus everything to you because of what he has done for you? Not because you just think he's, you know, little Jesus, meek and mild. You could all send him on the way at Christmas.
[39:27] No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about being a disciple. A disciple is a learner. The word means learner. Are you learning from Jesus?
[39:39] Are you following him because he has snatched you up in love and won't let you go? Is his word your joy to hear?
[39:53] You want to read? You want to, speak to me, Lord, your servant is hearing. He's, I'm listening, speak to me. Do you long to hear his voice, see his face?
[40:07] I'm reminded of how really counterintuitive all this is.
[40:23] You know, this is not the way the world thinks. Salvation is by works. By works, not by grace. you get what you earn.
[40:36] You get what you deserve. But we've been brought into an upside-down kingdom. In this upside-down kingdom, the weak are made.
[40:49] The weak are strong. In this upside-down kingdom, we don't fight for power. We recognize that we don't fight for power.
[41:00] We give up power. We're not clawing our way to the top, stepping on people. We recognize that God will exalt us in due time.
[41:12] In this upside-down kingdom, because we know we're saved, we can go into places that other people say, I ain't going.
[41:24] But the people of God have always gone into places like that. Within the name of Jesus, places of plague, places of the hood, places of all kinds of places, Appalachia, wherever.
[41:36] Wherever it was tough, the people of God have gone with the good news of the gospel. Because you know you're saved. You know to whom you belong. You know you're destined for glory.
[41:48] You're not throwing away your life. You're actually giving your life to Jesus. The people of God have gone to all kinds of, left home, and gone to all kinds of countries and places. Why?
[41:59] Because they knew they were saved. They knew. They understood. The glory was theirs. Jesus was theirs. And they were therefore able to go. Leaving family and friends, people they love, able to go.
[42:12] Why? Because again, they were assured of their salvation. The helmet was in place and they were relying on it. Missionaries, stories are told of missionaries who would actually take their coffins with them to the mission field.
[42:29] Take their coffin. We ain't coming back. Friends I know over the years who've moved into very tough neighborhoods for the sake of the gospel and suffered.
[42:48] But God used them. maybe nothing as dramatic as that. But when you know you are saved, you can take risks for Jesus.
[43:02] I said for Jesus, for him. You can stretch out there in faith. You can interact with somebody who may be a little scary looking to you.
[43:14] You can do things. You can give yourself to your work. Whatever your work is, you can do your work well. It may even seem menial to you, but you can do it well.
[43:25] Why? Because your work is part of the kingdom and you know to whom you're doing it for. You know you are saved. You belong to him and this work matters in his kingdom.
[43:36] If you're a checkout person at Walmart or you're a judge on the bench or you're an investment banker or you're a trash man, it don't matter. What you do matters.
[43:47] Why? Because you belong to him and you can do it well. You can do it with all your heart because you know your life is hidden in Christ. Even this job that I don't like ain't my life.
[44:02] And the job I do like ain't your life either. Your life is hidden with him. Huh? With him. There's so many implications for understanding that you belong to Jesus.
[44:20] That you're destined for glory because you're here right now. So many. When you ask God to show you in your life, what are the implications? Story is told.
[44:35] A lady got on a train. She was on her way from D.C. to Philly. Amtrak. I've caught that train a few times myself. It's pretty nice. But she got on a train and she was skittish.
[44:47] She was just worried like my mother. My mother would be just like this. I'm on the right train. You ever ride a train and be wondering to yourself am I going to especially a subway or whatever you know city train am I going in the right direction?
[45:02] We were like that in Japan. We were right. The signs thank God they were in English and Japanese but we were still wondering are we going the right way? What is it? She's on the train. She's wondering she's going the right way so as she's going on the train she asks this guy excuse me sir is this train going to Philly?
[45:18] He says oh yes of course. I said thank you. She gets on the train but she said in her mind he didn't look too smart. I better ask somebody else.
[45:30] She gets on the train and she sits down and she's behind somebody because you know you've got big seats and you can sit by yourself a little bit. He says excuse me sir is this train going to Philly? He said oh yes most definitely a few stops up.
[45:42] Okay. Man she just felt I don't know he might have just been saying that just to make me feel good you know. He saw him kind of weird.
[45:53] Anyway so the the ticket guy comes by you know and he's taking tickets and he says sir I'm on the right train to Philly.
[46:06] He said baby girl I'm going to get I'll make sure you get there I'll make sure you get off if you go to sleep I don't care what happens you go on the right train and I will make sure you get off at the right stop I got you covered don't worry about it relax.
[46:19] She went whew because he asked the person who knew am I safe she asked the person who really knew the expert the one in charge as it were family when you if you're feeling like sometimes you don't know where you stand with God ask the one who knows go to the word let God speak to you let him assure you of your salvation let him speak and if he said and if you come to the conclusion you know I'm on the wrong train well that's alright today is the day of salvation get on the right train repent fall before Jesus Lord have mercy on me he'll do it right there he'll do it but if you are on the right train relax trust him and do the work he's called you to do do good care for people care love your neighbors do good work on your jobs care about those in our community who are hurting you can do that you can care about those who are hurting you can get involved sometimes with those whose lives are a bit messy why because you know who you are you know to whom you belong your salvation won't be hurt you can get involved
[47:52] I don't want to get involved that should never be us it should never be us because if Jesus had ever said that and he could have none of us would be saved but because he got involved you can get involved too matter of fact as he shows you from time to time you must get involved love your neighbor don't be afraid father in Jesus name lord we are we lord lord we thank you we so much so often we think of salvation as just for us and we just happen we're going to heaven and we forget all about the fact that you saved us that you might use us to bless others oh god have mercy upon us forgive us for our limited assurance of salvation our limited understanding and father for those who are struggling lord because they're being beat up they're being beat by the enemy will you please encourage them will you please wrap your arms around them to let let them know that they're not lost they belong to you they may they're getting beat up they're being hurt by the enemy he's attacking them in so many different ways father but lord I pray that you would remind them that they're saved by your grace alone through faith alone and your son
[49:17] Christ alone father just bless them and set them free to trust in your helmet of salvation and live set them free lord do it for your glory and for their good in Christ's name amen