Sin, Grace, & Eternal Security: Once Saved, Always Saved? The Truth That Sets You Free Forever

[0:00] Tonight we're looking at grace, sin and the believers security. All important subjects and subjects! There's a lot of confusion about some of these matters about grace and what it means! about sin in the life of a believer, what does that mean, what's the impact. And friends tonight the devil hates grace. He doesn't want believers to know a sure salvation. He wants us to be doubting our salvation. I've known people like that over the years. They're tormented not having a secure salvation. They don't have a security, they don't have an assurance about their salvation and that's a real issue and the devil wants to keep people in that situation where they don't know for sure that they're saved or am I going to keep it, lose it, what's the conditions to have it? All of those kind of questions. So we're going to unpack some of that here tonight hopefully to increase biblical understanding on these important issues. And the devil hates grace. He knows if he can add works to the front door of salvation or attach performance to the back door of assurance, he's going to keep

[1:22] God's people in this fear, this confusion, this uncertainty, this bondage really. So at salvation he wants to add works in as part of the saving of God. That works have to be added at the front door and then at the back door as if you've got to look back and did I really get saved? That we've got to have performance all the time. We've got to be measuring ourselves and working out have I got enough performance that I've really got salvation? That it's all about me. And that's the problem, it's all about me. It's all about my works and the devil wants to cause that kind of confusion that really causes people to have a whole lot of uncertainty. And today you could say there's three deadly errors that plague the church. Three deadly errors. We're going to unpack these three deadly errors here tonight that we can look at. And the first one, some people think sin again and you never were truly saved. As if somehow sin means, well you weren't really saved in the first place. Some think that. Then some think, or if you sin seriously enough, you're going to lose your salvation. That salvation is so insecure that if you sin or you don't believe well enough or you don't perform really enough that you can lose your salvation. That it's so insecure. And then thirdly, there's another extreme which is on the other end of the scale. Under grace you can sin freely and it doesn't matter. Now all three of these are poison. All three of these poison the gospel. There's a false aspect to all of these three things. And they're really three lies you could say about salvation.

[3:16] And scripture crushes these three lies with one truth. One truth. That salvation is 100%. It's the work of Christ. It's finished at the cross. That everything was done at the cross. When he cried, it is finished. That was the finished work. It was finished there at Calvary's Hill. And it's received by faith alone. And we're kept forever by God's power alone. The grace of God. We're kept. We're safe.

[3:45] We're in his hands. We've got a sure and simple salvation. It's really sure and simple. Now some would discount it and say, well that's easy believism. Well it is sure. It's simple. It's costly because Christ has paid it all. Christ has paid it all. But it's free to the believer.

[4:04] And so it's important to be clear about sin, salvation and grace. These three truths. And God says that a man is eternally saved the moment that he believes on Christ. When you believe on Christ, you're eternally secure. You're eternally saved. You're given as a gift. Eternal. Life. Eternal. And that gift from God, it is without works. It's without reformation. It's without promises that we make or commitments that we make. It's without rituals or any ceremonies or baptism or any such things. It's through faith.

[4:43] As we believe on Christ, we receive the gift. It's the gift of God. Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal. Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So I wanted to underline that at the start here that salvation can be sure and it is simple. It's easy in the sense that Christ has paid everything that we can be saved by trusting his eternal work that was done, finished at the cross of Calvary. And once saved, it tells us that we are saved forever. The scriptures tell us that once we are saved, we're saved forever because salvation is all of Christ and none of us. There's many Bible verses we could go to and we'll touch on some. So let us hear then, what does the Word of God tell us?

[5:38] What does the Word of God say to us to help us understand this question of sin, of grace, and of the believer's standing? These are important things. Really, it's a fundamental. These are fundamental things we want to be sure about. We want to be sure about salvation. We want to be sure about our sin, that it's dealt with, that it's paid for, and we want to be sure about the security that we can know for sure, I'm saved because of God's promise. So let's look at some of these truths then tonight. The first one, what is sin? What is it? Sin. Sin. 1 John 3, 4 gives us a Bible definition. The Apostle John tells us there, 1 John 3, verse 4, it reads, Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law.

[6:29] Sin is a transgression, it's a trespassing, it's a rebellion, it's a lawlessness, it's a rebellion against God. Sin is lawlessness, it's committing sin, it's a transgressing the law, it's disobeying God, it's rebellion against God. There's other definitions we could talk to about sin. For example, it tells us also that sin includes wrong actions and it also includes failing to do right.

[6:58] So James 4, 17 tells us, if we know to do good and do it not, to him it is sin. So when we fail to do the right, that is sin as well. It's not just what we do wrong, it's what we don't do that's right that we ought to do, that's sin too. And so you see wrong actions and failing to do right. Sin also, it's outward behaviour, but even more so it's inward motives. We see there, as our Lord says in Mark 7, it says, from within, out of the hearts of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. And he says these are from within, within the man, from out of the hearts of men.

[7:47] And so there's this truth that it's not just outward behaviour, it's in the heart of men. Sin is in the heart of a man and it comes out. Other things about sin, the Bible tells us that sin is universal.

[8:04] None is accepted. Everyone is a sinner. We're all in the same boat. It's universal. It says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Every man and woman since Adam has been born in sin, that we are sinners. It makes me wonder when you think about it and contemplate it, that Adam had the whole world full of trees, of fruit trees. I don't know how many thousands, maybe millions of trees he had. God said, don't eat of that one. Could he just keep away from that one and not eat of that one? But Adam, being Adam, that sin came. He chose to sin. He fell into sin.

[8:46] And we're all sinners now. We're all sons of Adam. We've all got the same curse of sin. It's universal. All have sin. And another truth about sin is that sin is deadly. It says, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Ezekiel 18, 20. Sin is universal. Sin is deadly. Think about some of the effects of sin.

[9:12] What does it bring? Sin kills. The weight of sin is death. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The sin kills things. It kills joy. Sin kills peace. It kills our testimony. Sin also enslaves.

[9:25] It enslaves the lost. In John 8, 34, Jesus answered them, verily, verily, or truly, truly, he says, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. The one who commits sin, they're this slavery. There's this enslavement. They're serving. They're servants of sin.

[9:45] And Romans 6, 17, likewise uses that language that sin is like an enslavement. We're captives. We're in this bondage, in this servitude of sin. So sin kills, it enslaves, and man is totally fallen, but not incapable of believing. The good news is that we can trust Christ and we can be saved.

[10:12] And the good news is also that Christ has paid for our sin completely, if we'll trust him. So what happens the moment a person believes the gospel? Here's the good news.

[10:25] We've heard about sin and the dire consequences, the effects of sin, but thank God Christ has paid for our sin and he's paid for our sin completely. It tells us in part there, as Paul unpacks the gospel, 1 Corinthians 15, as he defines it, he says, Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

[10:45] Christ was buried according to the scriptures. He rose again the third day according to the scriptures. That's the good news. It's God's message for man is that Christ died for our sins.

[10:56] And what happens the moment a person believes the gospel? The gospel is clear that Christ died for our sins. At salvation, when you trust Christ, not when you clean up your act, but when you trust Christ, you receive God's gift immediately and forever. Romans 6.23, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. At that moment, at that moment, in that instant that a person trusts Christ to pay for their sin, trusts that Christ died for their sin, and believes that they receive God's gift of salvation. And we see at salvation, you could enumerate many blessings that we have. If you're a believer here tonight, this is true for you. These are scriptures that apply to you as God's safe people here tonight. If you're a believer here tonight in Christ, at salvation, at that moment in time, at that moment when you trusted him for the first time for all time, at salvation, you received lots of things. You received full forgiveness of all sin, past, present and future. Having forgiven you all trespasses, it says, Colossians 2.

[12:11] We have full forgiveness. We have eternal life. It's eternal in duration. We have everlasting life. And it says that we've passed from, John 5.24, we've passed from death unto life. We've made that transition from being in death, the wages of sin, death, into life. God's gift of eternal life, passed over from death to life. We've made that transition unto life. And John 10.28 says that they shall never perish. No one's going to pluck you out of his hand, out of the Father's hand. So you have eternal life. Thirdly, you see there that you've got right standing with God. You've been given right standing with God. And perfect righteousness is credited to your account. You don't deserve it.

[13:00] I don't deserve it. But perfect righteousness was credited to your account. It's like that some amazing donor has given you a cash injection to your bank account. Where did that come from?

[13:12] I didn't deserve it. And that's the grace of God, isn't it? Perfect righteousness credited to your account. You were bankrupt. And perfect righteousness was credited to your account. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God. In him there's this transfer, this exchanged life that happened. And Romans 4.5 talks about, to him that worketh not. To him that worketh not. We didn't have to work for it. We didn't have to pay for it. We didn't have to be having any credit of merit of our own to receive it. It was totally undeserved, unmerited.

[13:52] And then we see also that when we trusted Christ, we're sealed with the Holy Spirit, a permanent seal until heaven. It tells us that we're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise until the day of redemption, until glory marked with that permanent seal that cannot be broken, that we are his. We're in his ownership. It's a seal of ownership, of possession, of purchase, a permanent seal until heaven. So there's an assurance in all of those things at salvation. And when you think about it, friends here tonight, that salvation is all of grace, isn't it? It's all of grace. Do we deserve any skerrick of it? Do we serve one iota of it? Do we deserve anything that we have worked for or deserved or merited? No, it's all of grace. It's all by grace. As Paul and Silas told the jailer in Philippi, as he called on them and he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

[14:57] They say to him, Believe on, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe saved. And belief alone saves no works, no reforms, no rituals, no works. And Romans 11, 6 echoes that thought that if grace requires works, it stops being grace. The wonderful truth is God's grace is enough to save the sinner who believes, who gets credited God's forgiveness for their sin because of the virtue of Christ's shed blood for their part. And grace that can be lost or must be proved by performance, it's not grace at all. We don't lose God's grace and we don't have to perform to show that we have God's grace. It's received by faith, God's grace by faith. It's not of works. So what then is the believer's position in Christ? Once you are in Christ, there's many scriptures that tell us of this changed life, of this changed position. It says that you are dead to sin. Talking about sin's penalty and power. You're dead to sin's penalty, dead to sin's power. It says you're no longer under law, but you're under grace. You're under that umbrella that is God's grace, that cover of his grace. And it tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

[16:25] Nothing can separate us from his love. Not even your future sins can separate you from his love. And there is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. There's zero condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There's a wonderful assurance that grace can give by faith. That once we're in Christ, we have an assurance, we have a certainty, we have a sure salvation. And it's not that we should take that lightly, which we'll talk about, but there is an assurance that we can know that there is no condemnation for me. So we can have a full assurance that sin and a believer cannot break your union with Christ. It tells us that we're in his hand.

[17:12] No man can pluck you out of my hand. But we're safe in his keeping. He's holding us. We're in union with Christ. Sin cannot break that union with him. And sin cannot remove your justification. We are justified by faith. And sin cannot cancel your eternal reward.

[17:33] 1 John 5.11 through 13 tells us that we have a sure salvation. It says you may know that you have eternal life. I'll just turn to that one because it's a really important one. 1 John 5.11.

[17:50] And this is the record that God had given to us eternal life. And this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that, know that you have, you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. So we've got that assurance, God's promise, and you that believe, even if there's sin going on, that sin cannot cancel your eternal life because you have it. It's a gift. But don't get too comfortable though, sin. Because sin does impact the believer. Sin in a believer's life, it has a grievous impact.

[18:35] Not that we should take it lightly. Sin in a believer's life is a grievous thing. It grieves the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4.30. We don't want the Holy Spirit to be grieved. It breaks our fellowship.

[18:50] Not our relationship, but our fellowship gets stretched and hindered. Our fellowship with God gets damaged. We don't have that closeness to our Father that he wants for us to have because sin breaks the fellowship. And then sin also brings loving discipline. The Father's loving discipline. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens. He chastens us. He scourges the Son that he loves. And that can be painful. If you're out of God's will, if you're in sin, believer here tonight, if as a believer you're not in that right place, then there's a pain there.

[19:36] There's a grievance there. There's a chastisement there. There's a pain there to be scourged. That you're out of sorts with God. And he brings loving discipline because he loves us. He wants us to sort that out. And I know some of you, you might think, and I could probably reckon on times of my own where I've backslidden, and you know you're not in the right place with God. You've got to get back to the Father. And so there's that loving discipline. And then there's a diminishing of joy and of witness. You're a poor testimony when sin is going on. You're not really being that clear testimony of your faith to others. And it diminishes your joy. As David said, restore unto me the joy of my salvation. We can lose the joy of our salvation. We don't lose the salvation, but we can lose the joy of our salvation. We want to pray to get it back, to restore it.

[20:35] And it can diminish our witness too, as God's people, that we're not always an effective witness when there's sin. Now, a disobedient child is still a child, but he will be disciplined, not disowned. So there's that truth where I've got a father, but my relationship with my father might be strained, because I'm not an obedient son. But he's still my father. And it's the same spiritually too, that we can be out of sorts with our father when he wants that closeness.

[21:10] So sin does impact the believer. And we want to take that very seriously and not excuse that. And the truth is, the fact is that believers still sin. Of course, some people teach sinless perfection. This error called sinless perfection, that a Christian will stop sinning and will be perfect. They'll have no more sin. And that is manifestly not true. In 1 John 1.8, it says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So if we say that we have no sin, we're sinning because we're deceiving ourselves because the truth is not in us. We know that we do sin. And it is a reality. It's a constant battle for every believer. As Paul himself told, the great man of God, the great minister of the gospel, the apostle Paul, he tells us there of his own struggle with sin. He says of that ongoing struggle after salvation, he was well and truly saved.

[22:12] But he tells us this, he says, for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, not one good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not.

[22:24] For the good that I would do, I want to do, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do. So we see this ongoing struggle. Sin is a real issue and believers battle with sin. It doesn't mean that you're not saved. It's the reality of the flesh that we still have to fight. And we see in the reality of the really two natures that remain as saved people. You've got the new man created in righteousness.

[22:54] It's created for good works. It says in 1 John 3, 9, that it cannot sin. That's the new man. That's our new nature. But then we see the old man, the flesh. And it says, as Paul tells us, that in his flesh, he says, there dwells no good thing. It cannot but sin. We see the flesh there.

[23:13] We're going to have that battle with the flesh. Brother, sister here tonight, believer here tonight. There's those two natures. It's just realising that struggle on the inside of us, in our insides, the flesh, the spirit, the old man, the new man. There's a battle. And we're going to keep having that battle till glory. It tells us that the flesh will stay with us until we receive glorified bodies one day. So back to the initial thought of these three lies, you could say, of these three lies. Again, the devil hates grace. He tries to cause confusion and doubt. So here's the three lies again that I talked to earlier. First one, prove salvation by your works. You could call that lordship salvation. So in other words, your salvation has got to have works. And it's got to have works or it's not valid. If you just believe, well, that's not enough. You've got to have works.

[24:11] It's what the lordship salvation people would say. But no, Romans 4, 5 tells us that it's to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness.

[24:26] So God justifies the ungodly. He justifies the ungodly. He declares the ungodly just. He declares the ungodly as righteous. He justifies the ungodly, not the worthy. And then some would say, well, we're all going to have to have given account. Yes, there will be that. 1 Corinthians 3, 15. It tells us the time where we'll all have the judgment seat of Christ as God's people, as safe people. We will have our time in court, as it were, at the judgment seat of Christ, but not in judgment of our salvation, but in examination of our works. And it says that for some, every work is going to burn, but that believer shall be saved. So it tells that even a believer who's got no good works to show, only invalid or ineffective works that are going to burn up, they're going to be saved. They shall be saved. That's 1 Corinthians 3, 15. Even if all of our works burn up. So there's the truth that we can't rest on any of our works giving us any credit. Salvation is by faith alone, not by faith, plus commitment, plus perseverance. Grace and works don't mix.

[25:45] If you earn it, it's not grace, like we read before Romans 11, 6. And if by grace, then it's no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. Some mix grace and works when grace is grace. It doesn't need grace plus our works for us to get saved. So the second one there is this conditional security view.

[26:07] You can lose salvation by sinning. Now, I used to be in that camp myself at one time. I thought that I could lose my salvation. That salvation was conditional. That was conditional security.

[26:19] Well, God saves us, but we've got to keep measuring up. God saves us, but we've got to keep performing. That somehow we keep ourselves saved. But no, the Bible doesn't teach that.

[26:30] Nothing can separate us from God's love. And they shall never perish. There's the truth that we can have an assurance of salvation. Our salvation, we cannot lose it. We cannot lose it.

[26:41] It's a gift. And there's an assurance that they shall never perish. John 10, 28. It's very sad for some Christians that they get this concept, and it's common in some circles, in some quarters of churchdom, that they teach that you can lose your salvation. And people get in this torment.

[27:06] They get tied up in knots. Well, am I saved today? Did I lose it yesterday? Can I get it back? Can I be born again, again, and again, and again? Because I keep losing it because of my sin. And it's this treadmill of having performance in the equation where it's not that. It's not by works. It's by grace through faith. And we can have an assurance. You cannot lose your salvation because God holds you.

[27:34] You're held. You're kept. Kept by the power of God unto salvation. And you cannot lose salvation. God holds you. And then you've got the third kind of school of thought here. Some, you could call it hyper-grace, where they say that, well, if we've got such grace, then we can just live like we like. Grace is freedom to sin.

[27:55] A hyper-grace, you could call it. But no grace teaches us to say no to sin. Titus 2. We don't treat grace lightly. And that's the technical name is antinomianism, where this license to sin, it slanders grace. But Romans 6, 1, it tells us, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid.

[28:17] God forbid. No. Grace is not a license to sin. It's a liberty from sin. And we want to be very wise about that and not treat sin lightly. So again, this is kind of recapping a little, again, to prompt us again, that sin is never harmless for a child of God. God disciplines us. He disciplines us as a loving father, not as a judge. But there are real consequences, serious consequences for sin in the believer.

[28:47] I know we're repeating a little here. Broken fellowship, grieving the spirit, God's chastening, loss of rewards, possible death, premature death. 1 John 5 talks about a sin unto death. And then there's the damaged testimony.

[29:02] Prayers can be hindered. It says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But the good news is that sin cannot ever bring condemnation. There's therefore now no condemnation.

[29:15] We've got that assurance that we're his sons. He deals with us as sons, not as criminals. Sure enough, he'll take measures to chasten us as a loving father would chasten the son, the daughter, who he loves. And that will help us to be corrected.

[29:32] How then does grace produce godly living? Here's a real classic scripture, this passage in Titus 2, 11 through 14. It teaches the whole Christian life in one passage. You could get a lot out of this if you were to dive in and harvest some of the nuggets out of this little section here. But just in passing, look at the truths here about the grace of God. It says, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation have appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. He wants us to deny ungodliness, to deny worldly lusts, to live soberly, righteously, godly, looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our Saviour who has redeemed us from all iniquity, purified us as his very precious, special people, zealous of good works. Think of those things tonight. And what a wonder it is, truly, to think of grace. Sometimes we can take it lightly. Think of grace. Think of the wonders of his grace, the marvels of his grace, amazing grace, grace that saves us, grace that teaches us, that changes us, that motivates us, that purifies us, that fits us, that makes us zealous for good works.

[31:12] And this is God's plan. This is really God's best for us, is that grace will be teaching us, that we'll be under this training school of grace. In this training course of grace, grace trains us to deny sin and to live godly, to live out our faith. And we looked at this one last time, how the love of Christ constraineth us. It's his love. We just constrain. There's this, we're moved. We're compelled by this love. Why? Because if one died for all, then we're all dead. And that he died for all, that we which live should not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us and rose again. Think of these things of the love of Christ. We don't live for ourselves anymore because grace has impacted us.

[32:07] And so as far as sin goes then, what are we to do? Some practical things, some things that the Bible tells you as a believer. What should we do about sin? How can I get victory? Reckon yourself dead to sin.

[32:24] Make that your stand, your standing that you're dead to it. You're a dead body to it, that it has lost its attraction. A yield to God. As that living sacrifice, yield to God. Lay yourself on the altar and walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And then also confess quickly as well, where we know it tells us that if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It's that daily fellowship with him that he wants us to have.

[33:05] And so we want to get things right when things are not right. So practical steps. And brother, sister here tonight, victory over sin, it's not really from self-effort of our own striving, but from abiding.

[33:19] Realize that you're abiding in him. And so there's a comfort there. In conclusion then, think about, you're standing here tonight addressing believers, believer, all your sin, all your sins are paid in full. You are eternally secure. There's the truth that Christ died for our sins. Christ paid for our sins. Every payment for your sin was paid. And you have an eternal security. Yet there is the truth that sin is deadly. We should avoid it. We should keep a wide barge pole between us and sin.

[33:57] We should steer away from sin, not put ourselves in situations where we will sin, to run from sin, to hate sin, and honour the one who died to free you from sin. Believer, know that you can't have an assurance about your salvation. And then if you're an unbeliever at present, know that you cannot earn your salvation. But the good news is that Christ has paid it all. When he died on the cross, it says that he took our sins in his own body on the tree when they nailed him there, when they pierced him, when he suffered, that he paid for our sin. And you cannot pay, but Christ paid it on your part. You simply must trust him to make that payment for you. And you cannot clean up enough to be saved. Some people think, well, I'll get my act together, then I'll get saved. Or I'll do this or do that to reform myself.

[34:54] No, it's not about that. It's about whether you trusted Christ to make the payment for you. You can't clean up your act enough to be saved. You can't measure up enough. You can't reform yourself enough. Simply trust that Christ died for you and that he rose again, that Christ made the payment such that the forgiveness of your sins can be possible, that he can pay for your sin.

[35:16] And you can ask him to forgive you of your sin and receive his payment for your sin that was made at the cross. And the moment that you do trust him, God declares that you're righteous forever. There's that exchange that happens. He takes your sin and he gives you his righteousness and you do a swap.

[35:34] You put your sin on him, he puts his righteousness on you and he declares you righteous forever. And what a wonder to think that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. So you can't ever be so far from God that his grace cannot abound towards you. You think of Paul, he called himself the chief of sinners and he was really very aware of his unworthiness. And he said, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. So you can't get so far from God that you cannot trust him. You cannot receive his gift of salvation because sin is overcome by his grace. Even if we feel that we're a big sinner, his grace is bigger. Amen. His grace is more abounding than our sin. And so friends here tonight, I pray you've had some encouragement to think about what is at times a confusing subject. There's many voices that tell different stories about grace, about sin. There's false ideas about sin and of salvation that make it contingent upon us. And that's when we get the emphasis wrong. Because it's not about us, it's about his overwhelming grace. And our simple trust that his overwhelming grace is enough. That the blood of Jesus

[36:59] Christ cleanseth us from all sin. We can believe it. We can rest in that grace. We can live from that grace. And no one's going to rob that grace from us because the grace is God's gift. It's his free gift, unmerited, undeserved, his love, unconditional, self-sacrificing. I pray tonight you've been encouraged to think more earnestly of these truths and know that victory from sin in the practical day-by-day living.

[37:27] Let us pray. Lord, we thank you that your grace is sufficient. Our sin is our constant battle, even as saved people. Yet Lord, you help us overcome. You give us victory. And you give us that assurance that as saved people, we can know that sure salvation, that simple salvation as we've trusted you.

[37:55] It's not that it was any workings of our own, any pleadings of our own at an altar. It was simply a receiving of a gift, undeserved, that we still don't deserve, that you've given so freely your grace. Lord, help us to value it, not to treat grace as a license to sin. Lord, not to treat grace carelessly, but to truly value the astonishing grace that you give. Lord, we pray if there's any present or watching that has yet to trust you, they'll say, Lord Jesus, forgive me of my sin. I trust you to be my saviour, to pay for my sin, to take my sin burden, and to pay it in complete fullness, that I can know my sin's forgiven. I can know a home in heaven. I can know that I'm saved, made a child of God as I've received Christ. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. We pray, Lord, each one might have that blessed assurance here tonight. And assure us again, Lord, of that secure salvation, not that we'll treat it flippantly or carelessly, or take it for granted, but that we'll truly value that free gift of salvation.

[39:18] Confirm that, Lord, to our hearts. Help us to overcome the enemy and all those doubts that we might have at times. Because we know, Lord, that we're unworthy and we can never be deserving or measure up to your perfect standard. Yet, Lord, you impute your righteousness to such as we, such that it's not our righteousness, it's yours. And that also is a gift to us, your very righteousness. Help us, Lord, to walk in these truths and to be assured as a saved people here tonight that we've got a secure salvation. We've got a sure saviour, a sure salvation, so great salvation. Lord, we praise you for it.

[40:05] In Jesus' name. Amen.