Security

[0:00] The subject is the eternal security of the believer.

[0:15] ! I'm touching on tonight a touchy subject, you could say.! It's a bit controversial. A bit of a stirring subject.

[0:26] An important Bible truth, nevertheless. A subject around which there's a degree of controversy.

[0:38] And it's good to touch on those things from time to time, and to stir our hearts to think about these truths. So, as I say, there is a degree of controversy over this subject.

[0:52] The subject is the eternal security of the believer. Some call it once saved, always saved.

[1:03] I think this phrase can be misconstrued. But certainly the Bible teaches the security of the believer. Now, there was a time when I personally didn't see this.

[1:15] I actually used to think that a Christian can lose their salvation. I used to teach this. I used to think this. I used to write articles promoting that view, that a Christian's salvation is something that can be lost.

[1:30] I used to think that a Christian can be lost.

[1:43] But I do not think so now. That something that is a value and a benefit will be imparted. For your glory we pray.

[1:54] In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. The salvation of God. The salvation of God, I put to you, is as sure as God's promises.

[2:05] The Bible teaches the security of the believer. Now, I have always believed that. but there was a time when I thought that the security of the believer was conditional.

[2:17] That it was conditional. I put it to you that the security of the believer is unconditional. Unconditional. And I'd like to put some scriptures to you to show this.

[2:28] Firstly, we'll start with John 5. John 5, 24, if you'd like to turn there. John 5, verse 24. John 5, verse 24.

[2:46] The Lord Jesus speaks and he says, Verily, verily, I say unto you. So verily, verily, truly, truly. I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life.

[3:09] There's a definite relocation here. There's a change of status. There's a change of location. Passed over, crossed over from one place to another. Passed over from death unto life.

[3:22] From one state, from one condition to another. And it says from death unto life. Is passed over. And note the quality of the life that is spoken of here.

[3:35] The life that Jesus gives. It is eternal. Eternal, everlasting. Everlasting life. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life.

[3:51] Hath, it means you have it now. Here and now, present sense. You have everlasting life. So, friends, today I urge you to grasp this truth. That salvation is not dependent on you or me.

[4:07] Thankfully. Not dependent on your efforts or mine. Salvation is dependent on God. Some people have got the impression salvation can be lost and regained.

[4:20] Then lost again and regained. And so on. As if it can be born again and again and again and again. Such people's concept of salvation is that it hinges on what man does or doesn't do.

[4:38] It's therefore very uncertain and shaky. A very shaky kind of salvation. It's effectively a works based salvation. So it's saying that you've got to add works to grace.

[4:50] It's clearly wrong to think that salvation depends on us. It depends on God. Otherwise, we're all sunk. Ephesians 2, 8 through 9.

[5:01] It says, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

[5:12] Now, if it was works, we'd be saying, Oh, my salvation is greater than yours. Or vice versa. You know, it'd be a kind of one-upmanship. You know, but no, it's nothing of that.

[5:23] Not of any of our works. It is the gift of God. I like to put it when I'm witnessing to someone that salvation is the gift of God. You know, it's like, I'm giving you this, and you don't reach into your pocket to say, How much do I owe you for that?

[5:39] When you're receiving it. No, it's a gift. You owe nothing for it. You do nothing for it. It's a gift. So too with salvation. And I'm told here that this is perfect tense, where it says, Ye are saved.

[5:53] Or by grace, are ye saved. So it refers to an action or an event completed in the past that has results existing in the present.

[6:05] So, and there's various passages such as this, where there's the perfect tense. It stresses the saved state of the believer who is trusted in the Saviour. So it's like that in John 5, 24.

[6:18] He that hears my word and believes on me, have everlasting life. Has present tense. We have everlasting life.

[6:29] And so too, we are saved. We are saved. Perfect tense. Present. Perfect. Something that happened in the past has an effect in the present.

[6:40] And we have everlasting life. There's a wonderful promise here that we can place our confidence in this word. We can place our confidence in God's grace.

[6:52] Thankfully, that we are saved by grace, not through any working of our own. Salvation. It's not of human works, of human doing, of works of righteousness which we have done or can do.

[7:05] And so, it's putting our trust in a person, the person of Christ, and in His work for us. And what a relief it gives to us to know the salvation that we have, it cannot be lost.

[7:20] It's His gift that He has given to us, not by what we do or not do, because if it were so, we're saved by works. And the Bible definitely teaches us we are not saved by works.

[7:34] For example, Titus 3 verse 5, not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy. He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.

[7:48] Now, I'm quoting some passages of commentary that I've picked up along the way, so I must make it clear that much of some of the things I'm saying have been borrowed from here and there.

[8:04] So, everywhere in the Bible, in fact, 99 times in the book of John alone, the single and only condition for receiving eternal life is believing.

[8:16] Is believing. 99 times in the book of John alone, the condition of receiving eternal life is believing in Christ for it. Faith alone, in Christ alone.

[8:28] And never does the Bible teach that to get eternal life or to keep eternal life. We have to perform or any good works or prove that we have eternal life.

[8:40] And so, the truth is it's faith alone, in Christ alone. It's eternal life. If it's not, if it's not eternal, if it's not forever, it's not eternal.

[8:55] And it cannot be through faith alone if we've got to add works to it. So, if eternal life can be lost or a simple faith in Christ is not enough, works have to be added.

[9:09] Faith plus. So, it's the cross plus what you do or I do. And, friends, that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that works play no role in getting us to heaven.

[9:22] So, we fall in the categories of the cults like the Mormons and JWs and you name it where they add works. They've got to do something to prove, to gain, to keep their salvation.

[9:36] But no, it's none of that. Not at all. Some people point to some passages in the Bible and try to read into them that you can lose your salvation.

[9:47] For example, there's passages that speak of judgment time and of some who are professing to believe. In fact, they've preached, they've done good works, many marvellous things, yet our Lord rejects them and they think, for example, in such a case speaks of some who lose their salvation.

[10:05] But when our Lord Jesus rejects these ones, he does not say, I used to know you, but you forfeited my favour and I do not know you any longer.

[10:17] No, he says, I never knew you. Never knew you. So these ones, they didn't lose their salvation, they never had it to begin with. They were never saved.

[10:29] And the danger is to miss the whole point of the finished work of the cross. The finished work of the cross. Whenever man, by his own effort or reasoning or philosophies, thinks they have to add to their salvation, they're adding to the finished work of the cross.

[10:47] Friends, it was finished back there at Calvary's Hill. It was finished by the blood that was shed for your sin. That was where it was finished. It was done there. Everything that had to be done was done there.

[10:59] Jesus finished with our sin there. You know, there was a preacher asked one day when a lady was talking with him after a service and she said, I can understand Christ died for my sins that I committed up to the night of my conversion.

[11:13] But you're telling me that Christ died for my future sins. And he said to her, think of it. How many of your sins were in the past when Christ died on the cross?

[11:24] And she looked at him and then the light dawned on her, yes, how thrilled I had been that all my sins were future when Christ died for them.

[11:35] I had not committed any of them. And so, if you are saved, God has dealt with all your sin at the cross. That's an amazing concept, but it's the reality.

[11:50] And search as hard as you can, you cannot find a Bible passage that says salvation can be lost. Now, there are passages that speak against false professors of salvation, such as these of whom it said, I never knew you.

[12:07] They were never saved. Never, ever saved. They profess to be saved as people profess to be saved today. They say, oh, I'm a Christian. I did this and did that and something happened here and there.

[12:18] But for some, it's just empty words repeated after a preacher. And that's not to negate there's some place for that. But for some, it's just token words that were said, parrot fashion, and it wasn't real.

[12:35] It wasn't a heart conversion. There are passages that speak about losing rewards. Yes, some of you, as unfaithful Christians, you may lose rewards.

[12:46] And we'll talk a little about that. You may lose your eternal rewards, but you cannot lose your eternal salvation. These are different things. There are passages that warn us, that urge us, that exhort us to be faithful, to press on.

[13:04] There are serious calls to holiness of life, to living righteously and godly in Christ Jesus. These are serious calls. But it's aside from our salvation.

[13:16] These are calls to sanctification, to living the life of the Christian walk. We should take our salvation seriously. We shouldn't do despite to his grace.

[13:30] But our salvation is secure. Secure. And there are such things as apostates. In other words, pretend believers. And this is a very serious threat.

[13:42] In these days, we have big rallies and big peer pressure and we play the music and everything's just engineered and people make a profession of faith.

[13:55] But do they possess faith? Is it just a profession where they say some words and it is not salvation? it is sadly some deceive themselves they're saved when they're not.

[14:11] And it is possible to be a self-deceived person who thinks they're saved when they're not or a pretend believer going through the motions. They might be the most faithful attenders of the church.

[14:25] Morning, noon, night, midweek, yet still lost. Still not saved. And it says of some, they were not truly saved. In 1 John 2, they went out from us but they were not of us.

[14:38] For if they had been of us, they would not, no doubt, have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest they were not all of us. So again, speaking here, some, they had an appearance of being saved but they were not actually of us.

[14:54] So friends, let me cover tonight some encouraging scriptures that we can take heart in that encourage us to see the truth that we have an eternal security as believers.

[15:06] There is an absolute assurance that we can have that we are saved and we can know that we are saved and we can know how long eternal life is.

[15:18] How long is it? Eternal. Eternal. So if you have eternal life, you have eternal life. End of story. You can put a period there, a dot point there, the end of sentence.

[15:33] If you've got eternal life, you've got eternal life. That's the quality of it, the duration of it. And so when do we have this eternal life? In 1 John 5, and this is the record that God had given to us eternal life and this life is in His Son.

[15:48] 1 John 5, 11, God has given to us eternal life. He that hath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son hath not life. These things are written unto you that you may believe on the name of the Son of God and that you may know that you have eternal life.

[16:06] and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. So these are short truths for us we can rest in. Let's go to some short truth that you can rest in today.

[16:16] That as a believer, you can have this rock solid guarantee from God, a confidence in God about salvation. Our confidence is not in ourselves but in God.

[16:29] In Philippians 1, verse 6, it says, being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[16:41] So if you're saved, He has begun a good work in you, He's going to perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, until the day that He comes back again. And I'm told that this word, being confident, is a very strong word.

[16:56] It's a very strong word. It means fully persuaded, being absolutely certain. In other words, beyond a shadow of a doubt. There's no doubt whatsoever that we can be confident of this very thing, that He that has begun a good work in us shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[17:13] No doubt at all, He will perform it. So we can rest in God's perseverance. There's some that talk about the perseverance of the saints. Really, it's God's perseverance with us.

[17:24] God is persevering with us. It's not our own perseverance. God perseveres with us. Who began the work? God. Who's going to complete the work? God. He brought us under conviction for our sin.

[17:38] He helps us receive Christ. He is the convictor. He is the converter. And He is the completer of our salvation. And friends, the Bible says that God always finishes what He starts.

[17:51] In Ecclesiastes 3.14 it says, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Whatever God does shall be forever.

[18:04] If you've received God-given salvation, it's a sure, it's a sure thing. And if any believe they could ever be lost again, it would mean that God's eternal purpose is defeated.

[18:17] As if God can't perform what He started in you. It's impossible. He will finish it. He will complete that good work. And God knows those who are His and He will keep all true believers.

[18:29] In John 10, in verse 27, it says, My ship hear my voice and they follow me and I will give unto them and I give unto them eternal life. And they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

[18:44] My Father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. Jesus says, I give unto them, give unto them eternal life.

[18:57] And they shall never perish. Now this shall never, I'm told, is a double negative. It's especially emphatic. So there's a strong emphasis on this phrase, shall never, shall never perish.

[19:12] Someone has put it like this as a literal rendering of this verse. You could say it in a literal wording, wording, I give unto them eternal life. And they shall not at all by any means, in any case, in any place, at any time, for any purpose, whether they be male or female, perpetually or eternally, ever perish.

[19:36] Now there's a very strong wording here in John 10, at 28. God's hands, the hands of Christ.

[19:47] He says, my hands, He says, the Father's hands. You know, there's a double emphasis, shall never, and there's two hands. The Father's hand and the Son's hand.

[19:58] Friends, do you think God is butterfingers? Has he ever seen people try to catch a ball and when they drop it, they say, butterfingers. God's not butterfingers. His hand will hold you.

[20:11] If you're in His hand, you're sure and secure. When does eternal life begin? It happens not when you die, but at the moment you believe. You have eternal life.

[20:23] You have a present tense possession. And we can be assured by the Father, the Father's hand. We can be assured by the Son's hand. And we can be assured by the seal, of the Spirit, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[20:37] In 2 Corinthians 1.22 it says, of God who hath sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. Now this sense of sealing is God's work.

[20:50] What does it mean? To set a seal was a mark of protection. They set a seal on the tomb of Christ. In Matthew 27, verse 66, a seal is a sense of ownership.

[21:01] You know, they had these wax things and they pressed the seal into the hot wax to mark a stamp of ownership as the signet ring was applied to the hot wax.

[21:15] And it was a mark of ownership. It means that that which is marked is owned. It belongs to the one marking it. And a broken seal indicates that the protection wasn't adequate.

[21:28] can God, can anybody break the seal of God? Can Satan? No. No. If you're sealed, you're sealed.

[21:40] And there's an earnest, a pledge. It's a legal concept. It means a first instalment. It's a secure illegal claim. You know, when you buy something such as a property, you put a down payment, you put a deposit.

[21:53] It's an evidence of good faith. It means the commitment is there that it will be paid. And that is what happens when we seal. There's an earnest, there's a seal, there's a down payment.

[22:04] As it were, we seal on that day that we trust Christ, God enters into a pledge, into a commitment. It's a work of God that depends on Him, a guarantee that He makes.

[22:17] And nothing can break the seal. Jesus said, John 6, 47, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

[22:31] That's a promise from God to you. John 6, 47. You have present tense, everlasting life. A question. When does your name get written in the Lamb's book of life?

[22:44] When does it happen? Philippians 4, verse 3 tells us it happens while we're still alive. It tells us some whose names are in the book of life.

[22:55] Their names were already in the book of life while they were still alive. And friends, it's very important, we're talking, this message is largely to encourage believers, but if you're not saved today, it's very important that your name is answered in the Lamb's book of life.

[23:13] there is a register, a record that is kept and there's names there of those that trust Christ. And friends, it's important that your name is written down in the Lamb's book of life.

[23:27] And that happens when you trust him. At that moment, you trust Christ, your name is written there and it's written for eternity. Some of the things that we can rest in, we can rest in God's promise.

[23:40] Romans 8, we're told that I'm persuaded neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[24:01] He holds us and we are saved. Nothing shall separate us from his love. There's a story told of some people exploring some botanists were out looking for some flowers on the mountainside and they saw these lovely flowers down deep in a ravine deep in this deep crevice in the rock and they wanted to go and gather these flowers for their study and these flowers were a beautiful rare species that only grew in these low parts of the gorge and they noticed this young man here fairly slim young boy and they told him that what they wanted to do was tie a rope around him and lower him down into that deep crevice in the rock down to the floor of the canyon and he was quite apprehensive he was quite worried about this as much as he was glad to have a special important role and he said wait

[25:01] I'll be back and off he dashed and then he came back with an older man and he approached the head botanist the leader of the group and he said I'll go over this cliff now and get that flower for you now but this man must hold the rope he's my dad he's my dad he could trust his dad to hold the rope for him and friends so too for you as a child of God you can know that he holds the rope for you he holds the rope for you and he will not let you go you are his child forever and God will not give up on you no matter what even though you may not feel like you're saved sometimes even though you feel you've fallen if you're a child of God you're a child of God you're his your loving father will never forsake you and God has promised his salvation is sure he's given his assurance he's guaranteeing in Romans 4 we see how

[26:07] Abraham it says of him being fully persuaded that what God had promised he would also perform we can have Abraham's kind of faith being fully persuaded that what God has promised he's able to do he's able to perform it so we can rest in God's wonderful promises in God's wonderful preservation in God's wonderful predestination now this is a word that's used in all kinds of ways but it is a Bible truth that we are predestined Romans 8 29 it says him he did foreknow he did predestinate he did predestinate and he called them and he justified them ultimately he's going to glorify them the Bible says that as a Christian God knew that you were going to trust him that's a wonderful reality so it says earlier nothing shall separate us from his love nothing in the entire universe can separate you from his love and it also says the truth that he already knew that you would trust him he already knew he foreknew it and he predestined it he had that destiny for you so it's impossible to be saved and then lost again because it destroys the predestined plan of God his purpose for you do you think

[27:32] God would purpose and predestine that you get saved and then that you would lose it no sir his destiny is sure he's omnipotent he's omniscient he's all powerful he's all seen he's all knowing and he's settled in eternity in eternity past that you would be saved and nothing can undo it in this time in this earthly time so we can rest in God's promise we can rest in God's predestination we can rest in our perfection now that's a crazy one isn't it but God actually says to you to me you are perfect you are perfect because here is 10 verse 14 and we're not teaching sinless perfection here because we know that we're sinful even as Christians but there is a reality that we are perfected God declares you perfect it's like he sees you through rose coloured glasses through the blood he sees that you are perfect in his sight because you're clothed with his righteousness because it says in Hebrews 10 14 for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified that's an amazing thought isn't it that he has declared you he states that you are perfect because of the blood that was shed for you so as a

[28:52] Christian you don't get a fresh start you get a new life it's a brand new life that happens you don't just get a new beginning you get a new nature there's an amazing transformation that happens as you trust him he says you're perfected forever of course as a Christian we know as we step out of line sometimes our heavenly father will chasten us and that's for our good too but we still his sons and daughters in Romans 4 it says verse 5 to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness so friends your faith is counted for righteousness then it goes on to say that God imputes righteousness without works that's Romans 4 verse 6 now get a load of that scripture God imputed righteousness without works that's amazing isn't it that it's without your works he imputes he accounts you righteous by faith so we're not saved by good works and we cannot lose it by bad works we're saved through the imputed righteousness so in other words it's like it's kind of like an accounting term

[30:11] I understand where it's credited to your account it counts it on your account even though you're flat broke maybe you're in the red even worse maybe you're so badly in the red you're badly in debt that God credits his riches to your account and he wipes out all your debt and in fact you've got something in the bank for a change isn't that good that's what salvation is amen he imputes his righteousness to our account that's a wonderful truth and we can rest in our position in Christ it says in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17 therefore if any man be in Christ he's a new creation a new creature old things have passed away behold all things are become new so when you receive Christ he actually it's almost like he erases your old identity you know you don't exist any longer you're a new creature you're born again old things have passed away he throws out all the yucky stuff that was the old me and he replaces that with himself you're a new creature in Christ and you're adopted into his family you're made sons and daughters you've become a part of the body of Christ you are actually as safe people a part of the body of Christ that's how integrally connected we are with God with Christ we become part of his body we're adopted into his family and it says we are in

[31:50] Christ if any man be in Christ it says we're born with a price in 1 Corinthians 6 we can rest because we are his possession his possession and we're given eternal life it's a gift it's a gift not how much do I owe you for that it's a gift he gives to you and you're saved and it's eternal life the duration is eternal eternal life it's not a 10 year life or until I sin life it's eternal life you possess it now it's eternal it's the eternal possession of every child of God it's interesting I read this that a lack of eternal security of the belief in eternal security leads to legalism it leads to legalism because if you're constantly worried have I done enough to keep myself safe today or have I not done what I shouldn't do enough to not be safe today that you're constantly in this push and pull this mind warping confusion of where do you stand with

[33:04] God if it's about what you do if salvation is something you have to do to earn it to earn it or!

[33:33] all that said we can lose our fellowship with God these are important things to consider I've been assuring you about your salvation it's secure in Christ but I want to just balance that with just some thoughts about hey we don't want to take this as a easy ride let's call on us on how we are to live because it is a truth that we can lose our fellowship with God that relationship with God can grow dim it can grow cold we can lose our rewards at the judgment seat of Christ it says every one of us shall appear before the judgment seat every one of us shall appear and every one of us shall give account you will give account for your life I will give account for my we will be called to account we will be called before the throne of almighty

[34:35] God and will stand empty naked bringing nothing and we'll have to give an account for what we've done with the breath that we've breathed with the lifespan that we've been granted with the time span that we've been given and we can lose our rewards the judgment seat of Christ friends we shouldn't take it lightly we can lose our testimony before the world and dishonour our Lord as a Christian there's many Christians that I know and they've blown their testimony big time they've made a total mess of it and yet they're still saved look at Peter he was saved and Peter Peter for goodness sake you could say we can lose our testimony and dishonour our Lord we can as God's children be so unruly and disobedient that our father must chasten us and he can be heavy handed with his chastening in love but for a needful correction and friends it's true that some will be ashamed before him that he's coming as we see that some will have gold silver precious stones some will have wood hay stubble just a pile of ashes nothing to show some will be saved as by fire so we can lose our fellowship our rewards our testimony we can be ashamed before him we can be saved as by fire having nothing much to show but a person who is truly saved cannot lose salvation a person truly saved is saved a person who has eternal life has eternal life eternal life present tense a person saved has passed from death to life you're already on the life side make it count friends we can rest on

[36:38] Christ's prayer in John 17 he says I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil so our Lord never prayed a prayer that wasn't answered and he always prayed in God's will in the Father's will and in verse 24 of John 17 it says I pray for these that they will be with me where I am that they may behold my glory so he prays for us and he's praying for you for me now he's praying for you sister for you brother he's praying for you now in heaven that you will be with him in heaven someday and he's praying for your keeping and he's praying for your home going and you can rest assured in the rest of that knowledge that you're saved and secure it says he is able to save them so the utmost to come unto God by them seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them so he's still praying for you right now

[37:43] Jesus Christ is praying for you just as he prayed for you in the garden he's praying for you in glory now and he's praying that you'll be with him where he is that you may behold his glory we can rest in God's power it says who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready so revealed in the last time that's 1 Peter 1 verse 5 the context speaks of an inheritance uncorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you now Julie's quite a stickler when we go away on a holiday I just tend to just think I'll just jump in the car and we'll just find somewhere to stay but Julie says no we've got a book ahead and we've got to do that with salvation amen you've got a book ahead you've got to make sure you've got that reservation that your name is written down that you've paid your deposit as it were or God's paid the deposit as it were that you've got a reservation made it's very important it's vital that you make sure of that and friends the Bible says that we've got this inheritance incorruptible undefiled and fadeth not away it's reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time so this power keeps us saved

[39:08] God's power is great it's greater than any other power it's eternal and friends we've just covered a lot of ground tonight just to quickly recap what we've covered tonight there's many scriptures that warn us that exhort us to live a holy life there's no question of that you should live a holy life as a Christian you should take your salvation seriously and live like you're saved and be an ambassador of heaven's glory to those around about you and if you mess up pray confess and get right with God friends just to put it in context now just to recap the ground we've covered tonight about your eternal salvation your eternal life you can rest in God's perseverance he is persevering for you as he did at the cross he is not dependent on you but on him God's perseverance you can rest in that you can rest in

[40:11] God's promise there's many promises exceeding great and precious promises many that speak of this eternal life but you can know you can rest in God's promise you can rest in God's predestination that in eternity past he knew that you would trust him in eternity past he knew that you would be his forever he's predestined he's purposed it you can rest in your perfection he declares you perfect by the spotless precious blood that he shed for you by his substitutionary death he was on the cross in your place you don't have to go through the cross because he's already been there he's been through hell for you he is the one who declares you made perfect you can rest in your position because you're a son a daughter of the body of Christ you're adopted you're his present possession you're no longer your own you are bought with a price he's paid the price for your salvation you can rest in

[41:13] Christ's prayer for you but even now even this moment and in the days ahead he'll be praying for you he'll be praying for your walk to be faithful he'll be praying for your testimony to be clear and sure he'll be praying for you to be that Christian that he wants you to be and you can rest in God's power the power that made creation the power that put the stars in place the power that makes the solar system function and the earth in its perfect fashion that power holds you that power keeps you that power has control over you if you're a believer here today and you can rest in that power tonight friends just to wrap up I've been speaking to Christians here today these assurances are only for believers and not for pretend believers but for real ones and it behoves me to stress to you to settle your salvation tonight if you're not sure that you're

[42:18] Christian here today settle it once and for all once and for all for all eternity settle it today that it's not resting in any works that you have done are doing or will do but entirely in his finished work for you when he says it is finished everything was done when he breathed his breath and gave up his spirit that at that moment everything that had to be done to save you was done you simply got to trust his work tonight and I urge you today if you'd like prayer if you're not sure you might say preacher I'm not sure that I'm a Christian I'm not sure that I'm saved I've got all these doubts and uncertainties and I just don't know where I'm out you can know for sure tonight for a certainty tonight for an eternity tonight that you know that you know that you know that you saved because it is written this is the record that God has given to us eternal life and this life is in his son so those who believe on his name

[43:23] I urge you seek prayer before you leave this place tonight seek prayer that you might know how to trust him and a fellow Christian can guide you or I'm sure I can point you to one if you are a lady we get a lady to pray with you a man to pray with you let us pray well we pray tonight if there's any yet to trust you yet to have that confidence yet to know that assurance tonight that they can know it for a surety today that they can know an eternal saviour an eternal salvation and know present chance eternal life as a present possession here today we pray for each soul that they might know that for a surety today and for each Christian that we might be assured and not take it carelessly or flippantly not do despite to your grace not live shamelessly but to live unashamed for your grace to live righteously and godly in

[44:24] Christ Jesus we pray help us Lord until you come that grace may teach us how to live righteously and godly in this present world we pray Lord help us to walk in victory in Jesus name amen