Open—D. Mossmon, T. Roach, T. Porter
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#276.
I'm gonna read some scriptures before we pray.
First Corinthians, chapter 14.
First Corinthians, chapter 14.
Verse 29.
Let the profits speak two or three. Let the other judge.
First Peter, chapter 4.
Verse 11.
Actually let's read verse 10. As every man hath received gifts, Even so minister the same to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.
And John Chapter 7.
Verse 18.
He that speaketh of himself seeketh.
His own glory.
Shall we commit this meeting?
Our father as we've sung, we would be fed, we would be guided through this scene.
And fed with the bread of heaven.
And our Father, we just would commit this meeting to the for this purpose and for the purpose that our Savior would be glorified.
And he alone.
Because he alone is worthy.
So we offer this meeting to the asking for my guidance through the Holy Spirit.
As we wait upon thee.
Desiring to be oracles of God.
That your word would be what is heard here, we ask it in Jesus name, Amen.
I would just like to bring before us, uh, a thought that came before me while we were considering in our reading John chapter 6. Might look at it there quickly.
I don't expect to take much time here.
But we have the account, we'll read it all, and we have the account of how the disciples were out in the ship and the sea arose because of the wind, and so on.
There are other accounts of, uh, similar circumstances.
And uh, some of them perhaps are the same occasion, maybe some that are different, but in this particular case, the Lord comes walking on the sea and they're afraid.
And he calms them really with two words.
I understand that when he says in verse 20, he saith unto them, It is I. It could be translated. I am.
When it comes to, uh, the Gospel of John, we have the Lord Jesus presented as the eternal Son of God.
And, uh, we have that expression many times given in, uh, this gospel.
And one occasion that comes to mind is when the crowd came to take him in the garden, he said to them, Whom seek ye? And they said, uh, Jesus of Nazareth, he says, I am. And they fell backwards.
Why was it that the disciples received him into the ship?
Because here was one that was the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
00:05:03
God who is omnipotent, a God who knows all things, who is ever present.
You know, if we apply this little story to the turmoils that sometimes come in our lives.
Then just those two words should be a great comfort to us.
If we have any appreciation at all as to who the Lord Jesus it really is.
Easy, I am. He's the God of this universe.
You know, it was mentioned how that, uh, this is a picture also of, uh, the believing remnant in the coming day during the Tribulation period when, uh, that uh, faithful remnant will recognize the Lord Jesus for who he is.
And it's interesting to look in the book of Zechariah and see how because of that revelation, they will mourn as if one that was mourning for the loss of his own son. You know, they're they're going to come to a realization that when he came here the first time.
They crucified the Lord of glory.
What a revelation that will be and when you read earlier in the book of Isaiah Chapter 9.
It is without doubt referring to the Lord Jesus Christ when it says unto us, a child is born, unto us a son is given, and his name shall be called, wonderful counselor, the mighty God.
Mighty God.
What a name.
Emmanuel, God with us.
You know, I find it myself unable to comprehend really what that means, that God himself came into his own creation.
Passing angels by down into this world to rebellious, stiff necked, stubborn man.
And would seek to redeem us.
There's no love like that.
And, uh, I believe that in the coming day, those that are faithful of the Jewish nation will appreciate in a fuller measure, uh, that love of God and the grace that, uh, is shown to them and so on, because all is of God when it comes to our blessing, salvation, and theirs as well.
There's one thing, at least, that's common between.
What happens for Israel and blessing and for us, and that is that it's all of grace.
There's nothing that we can.
Uh, boast of.
We know that, umm, all glory goes to the Lord Jesus Christ and to our God.
But it's, uh, is this thought that I really had before me is simply this, that if we really knew what it meant that God is for us.
And as Paul says in Romans, who can be against us? Well, how true that is. If God is for us, who can be against us?
And we trust Him, don't we, for our eternal salvation?
Well, it should become us that we trust Him too, for our little pathway, the short time that we're here in this world in time of difficulty, remember that the great I am is with us.
The hymn that we sang.
In verse one of 276 says we are weak, but thou art mighty, Hold us with thy powerful hand.
I was always taught.
That once you're saved, you're always saved and you can never lose your salvation.
But I used to get saved every night.
He used to pray, Lord, if I'm not saved, save me.
00:10:01
And I I didn't have insurance. I wasn't sure of my salvation.
Some of you remember Norman Berry.
At the gospel tent, he took some of us kids. He took us down to the, the stream and we were swimming and they had some raw, big, big rocks and, and the IT hadn't rained much that summer, so the water was a little low. So I dove off the rocks and down and I landed in the on the rocks on my head.
And my neck snapped.
Well, thankfully Mr. Berry was downstream and he pulled me out.
And there is a big rock in the middle and he pulled me up on that rock and he didn't think it was a wise idea to drag me to shore. So instead we walked down the rocks. I had to hold my head up because it kept flopping.
Well, he took me to his car.
To my father's house.
My dad, not the father's house.
And on the way, he said, Tim.
If you had have died, where would you have gone? To heaven?
I said yes.
But I knew in my heart I didn't know.
Then he brought me to to my dad's house. My dad and mom got in the car and they drove me to the hospital.
My dad asked me Tim.
If you have died and drowned, where would you go? Oh, I'd go, I'd go to heaven, but I knew I wasn't sure.
Once you are saved, you are saved.
And you can't lose that salvation.
But first you got to get saved. You have to be saved. The Lord has to save you.
Well, later that summer.
I was able to get out of bed and I came to one of the gospel meetings Mr. Barry was preaching.
And I got saved that night.
I might have been saved before. I don't think so. But that night I knew I was saved. I made sure.
Now I'm in the powerful hands of the Lord Jesus. Nothing can Take Me Out of His hands. Let's go to John chapter 10.
John chapter 10, verse 27. There may be some here today that you're not sure if you're saved. Well, this is not a gospel meeting.
I'm talking to those of you who maybe you have asked the Lord Jesus to save you, but you're not really sure because there's things in your life that you still do some things.
And, and the devil tells you, you know, if you do such and such a thing, you're not saved. And that's what the devil wants to do. He wants to put doubts in your mind. He doesn't want you to have assurance that you are saved because if you are not sure you're saved, he knows you're not going to live a life that gives glory.
To the Lord Jesus.
And so I just want to look at some verses that show us that we can know that we can have eternal life, that you can be sure that you are saved. And in verse 27, it says my sheep. That's the Lord Jesus speaking. He calls us sheep. I know we don't look like sheep.
We don't have fur or wool, Whatever they have, they don't. We don't have wool. We don't sound like sheep, but so sometimes we act like sheep. And the Lord, he calls us his sheep because he's the shepherd. He's the Good Shepherd, He's the great shepherd and he loves you and he's going to care for you in his powerful hands. And he says, my sheep hear my voice.
Do you hear the voice of the Lord Jesus?
Do you listen to what he says?
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them. The Lord Jesus knows you. He knows what you feel inside your heart. He knows that you sometimes have struggles to know whether you're saved or not. He doesn't want you to worry. He doesn't want you to struggle with those ideas. He says they follow.
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Do you follow the Lord Jesus?
Maybe sometimes. Do you follow your own will?
I think we all do. I do sometimes.
But the Lord Jesus says, I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life. Here when you ask the Lord Jesus, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ says you'll be saved, you'll, you'll receive the everlasting life, eternal life. And the Lord Jesus says, I give to you eternal life. So if you believe that you are a Sinner, if you believe that Jesus is God, if you believe that Jesus died because of your sins and he took the punishment for you, he's your.
Institute if you believe that.
And you say, Lord Jesus save me, then you're saved and he gives you eternal life. You have it.
And you can't lose it, he says. I give unto them eternal life. Now eternal life isn't something that starts and stops, and it's not something that depends on how good of a life you can live.
It depends on the Lord Jesus and if the Lord Jesus went to the cross and died for your sins.
That's what God's looking for. He's looking for what did Jesus do for you? He's not looking for what you can do for Jesus. He wants you to trust in what the Lord Jesus did. And so you can depend on what the Lord Jesus says. And he says, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. And so you can know that you will never perish. You will never stand before God. And.
Judged and punished for your sins because the Lord Jesus was punished for all your sins.
And it says neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father which gave them me is greater than all. And no one is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. That him that we sang at the start. We are weak, but thou art mighty. Hold us with thy powerful hand. We're weak. There's nothing we can do to try to keep our salvation.
There's nothing we can do to try to get a better place in heaven.
There's nothing we can do because the Lord Jesus has done it all. And the Lord Jesus said on the cross, he says it is finished. And so he gives you eternal life and no one can ****** you out of his hands. He's powerful. He has powerful hands and no one's going to take you out of his hands.
Verse 30I and my father are one. And so there's the Lord Jesus and there's the Father. We're in the hands of Jesus and we're in the hands of the Father, and there's no greater hands in the universe. Nobody. You can't take yourself out of the Lord Lord's hands. You may think, well, I've done such and such a thing, and I struggle with that. You can't take yourself out of his hands. Satan can't take you out of his hands. Satan is a powerful being.
But he doesn't have the power over the Lord Jesus to take you out of his hands. You are safe. You can trust the Lord Jesus when he says no one will take you out of my hands, believe the Lord Jesus. I used to I I that that's one thing that the verse that says it is impossible for God to lie. And so I knew that I was saved because it's impossible for God to lie because God says you have everlasting life. John 316 for God.
Of the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And I said, God, if you're a liar, I'm not saved.
But if you can't lie, if it's impossible for you to lie, God, then I'm saved. And I didn't have to worry anymore. I had peace. I knew that I was saved.
Well, in John 524 we have another verse.
John 524 says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me has everlasting life.
Have you heard?
Have you believed? Do you believe on the person of the Lord Jesus?
Do you believe in the work that the Lord Jesus did?
You have everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is past from death unto life. This is These are such important verses that give us assurance that I am saved, and you can have that same assurance. John first John chapter 5 is another great verse. First John chapter 5 and verse 13.
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And since these things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, do you believe? Do you believe on that person the name of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus?
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. You can know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. So you can put your full trust in the Lord Jesus. You can trust the work that He's done. You can trust the fact that He went to the cross and that he died for you and he took that punishment during those three hours of darkness, the Lord Jesus, he was hanging there.
On the cross, in the darkness, nobody knows what happened there. We can't see God turn the lights out, so no one can see the sufferings of the Lord Jesus experienced there. And during that time, the Lord Jesus took all the punishment for you because he knew you couldn't do anything yourself. That's why God gave us the law to the to the to Israel, because he wanted to prove to mankind.
But we can't keep the law. There's nothing we can do. We we fail every time we try to keep a rule. Maybe you can keep a rule or the commandments for a couple of days, but eventually you're gonna fail.
Lord Jesus knows that the the law is like a mirror. If you have mud on your face and you can't see, it doesn't matter how hard you look at yourself, you can't see your face. Everybody else can see how dirty you are, but you can't see your face. But then you get a mirror and you look in the mirror. Oh, and then you can you can wash the mud off your face. You can see what you've been looking like to other people and what you look like to God. And so when you look at the law, you.
It's like a mirror and it shows what you really are, and that shows us that you are sinners. But the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin, and so you can know that you have eternal life.
Another verse in Romans chapter 10 and this is a good one to help you have assurance of your salvation.
Romans 10 and verse 9.
Says, If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Have you ever told somebody, confessed with your mouth and said, I know Jesus as my Lord?
Tell your mother, tell your father, tell your friend. I know the Lord Jesus as my Savior.
And it's and that that helps you. It gives you the understanding, yes I am. I've confessed the name of Jesus. Jesus is my Lord. And it says thou shalt be saved.
So it can give you a confidence, it can give you an assurance. I know that I'm saved. I don't have to worry. There's another verse about being justified.
Romans 5 verse one.
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Justification being justified, that means the guilt is taken away. Maybe you've done some sin in your life.
And you know you've done it, and you feel bad about it.
But you can't undo what you did.
Maybe you've stolen something and you got caught.
Everybody knows you're a thief. You can't take that sin away if I invite you to my house and you steal from me and I know it and everybody else knows it and you know it.
Can you come and apologize?
I can forgive you.
But I might not trust you.
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Because I know you're a thief and you might do it again.
We had a we had a man in Malawi. He worked for us.
He was even gathered at the Lord's table.
And he worked for us. He was a watchman. He was a good watchman.
He watched everything we did.
And one day when we weren't there, he broke into the house, he broke into the safe and he stole a lot of money.
We didn't know it was him.
We told, we told the police somebody broke in and stole from us, so they investigated and they said this man did it.
Until they put him into prison.
And I went to the prison. I said, well, I can't prosecute this man, so I guess you have to let him go. He says we can't let him go. He's going to do it again.
I said, yeah, but I can't prosecute him, so you gotta let him go. They said, OK, well, I went back in there two or three weeks later and he's still in there. I said, I thought you were gonna let this man go. Oh, I said, we can't let him go. He's gonna do it again. And just then the the district, the chief, district chief of the northern part of Malawi, he was in the office at that time. He said, what's the problem here? And so they explained to him. And he says, well.
If you want to let him go, you got to let him go. And so they released him. So he took this man.
And he was in a, in the prison where a lot of the Somalis were there at that time. And they were in there and they slaughtered them smoke. And as he was allergic to the smoke and he had, uh, breathing problems. So I took him out and I'd take him to the doctor and get him some treatment and then I released him.
I can forgive him.
But I can't trust him. I know he's a thief.
Well, some months later somebody broke into our house again and they stole money from us and the only person who knew where the key was was that man, and he was able to break the window and reach in and get the key.
He broke in and he stole again.
I'm not going to give that man a job. I'm not going to let him be my watchman again. He's a thief.
I can forgive, but I can't take away his guilt. Well, the Lord Jesus says, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Apostle Paul, before he was saved, he used to murder people and kill Christians and arrest them and torture them.
Then he got saved and he and he came, he came to join himself to the assembly in Jerusalem. They said no. And the assembly had that responsibility. They, they didn't have to receive him. They needed to know about him before they could receive him at the Lord's table. And so they said no, they would not receive him. They're afraid of him because he was a murderer. He was a thief. He was a persecuted. He wasn't a thief, he was a persecutor.
But.
Then they heard.
Paul, let's all get saved.
He believes in the Lord Jesus, he was baptized, and now he's preaching the gospel.
And so now they received him at the Lord's Table in Jerusalem.
They couldn't call him a persecutor anymore. They couldn't call him a murderer anymore. He had been justified by God. The guilt had been taken away. Now maybe you are suffering from something that you've done and you have guilt about it and you don't know how to handle it. You don't know.
And, and, and you feel bad about it and, and if you don't have peace and, and when you come into the Lord's presence, you can try to forget about what you've done, but you still have that guilt, and that guilt holds you back.
Maybe you are the Lords and you are at the Lord's Table, but you are struggling with some guilt that you have.
The Lord Jesus says being justified by faith.
You can have peace with God.
First, John 19 says if you confess your sin, he's faithful and just to forgive you your sin, So confess what you've done to the Lord.
Let him take it and he justifies you when with his blood, when he died on the cross, he took that punishment, even that punishment that gives you all that guilt. He's taken that and he's given you freedom from that sin, from the guilt. You don't have to have that on your conscience. The Lord Jesus does is he's never gonna accuse you of that sin.
00:30:24
Because you've been justified, therefore being justified.
By faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our brother has spoken to us about.
Assurance of salvation.
I'm going to read a scripture that might, uh, unsettle you.
No matter who you are in this room.
Turn to Matthew, Chapter 7.
Matthew Chapter 7, starting at verse 21.
Not everyone that said unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
That he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name on many wonderful works?
And then I will profess unto them.
I never knew you.
I never knew you.
You did all these things in my name. I never knew you.
Maybe you stood up at a podium like this.
And spoke in his name.
And he says I never knew you.
Well, I'm not intending to unsettle anyone.
Who is saved?
But I want to.
Help you.
To become more assured of your salvation. And this is the way. It's very simple.
If someone said they didn't know you.
And you were sure that they did. Why would you be sure of that?
Let me put it another way if you want somebody to know you.
What do you do?
So.
If you wanna be sure that the Lord Jesus knows you, you need to do that.
With him.
There are many.
Who may presume to pray?
But their prayer.
And I wouldn't.
I wouldn't presume to judge any individual.
But I think that most, if not all could agree with this.
And many prayers are.
A performance.
For a speech.
The word Jesus talked about this, he said, you know, they his vain repetition, they think that God's gonna hear them, you know, because they do these words and repeat these things.
But if you want somebody to know you.
You don't put on a show, you don't put on a facade, and when you speak to them, you speak from your heart.
If you want somebody to know you.
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You opened yourself up to them. You're honest with them. You're truthful with them.
Is that right?
The Lord Jesus shed his blood.
And the scripture speaks of his flesh as a veil that was opened to give us free.
Free access.
To God.
When the high priest was to come into his presence, there was all kinds of.
Preparations Steps.
All had to be carefully followed and not one tiny thing could be missed. Or when he went into the holiest of all, he was done.
That's pretty scary.
It's not like that for you.
Because of the blood of Jesus, there's not a man on the earth that has to do anything except come.
Just huh.
And no matter what situation you're in, no matter what condition you're in, no matter what you've done.
No matter what state you're in.
You have free access right at the very moment.
You can talk to him.
So the question you should ask, we often ask people you know. Do you know the Lord?
You know the Lord.
Maybe ask yourself, do I know the Lord?
And sometimes you ask yourself that do I know the Lord and you're not so sure?
The better question is.
Does he know me?
Does the Lord know me?
And if you ask yourself that question, isn't it very simple?
You know, if I'm not sure whether the Lord knows me, I'm gonna tell him about me. I'm gonna make sure he knows me.
I hope this is a help to you.
We don't have to, uh.
Be so formal in our approach to God.
In, uh, many.
Evangelical or Evan, I'm not sure what the best term, many gospel meetings, we probably would call them, some of us were saved in those gospel meetings and they would have altered calls.
They would invite you down if you weren't sure you were saved. And they called it an altar call and we would go forward. And as we went forward, we sang a hymn.
And that him was one that many of you are familiar with, I believe it's called just as I am.
Within the little flock with the words changed a little bit, just as I was.
But we used to sing just as I am, without one plea.
That's eye blood was shed for me.
And that thou ******* me.
Come today.
He bids you to come to him.
All the time.
24 hours a day, seven days a week, Every moment he's waiting.
He wants to be involved in every aspect of your life. Make sure.
Make sure that he knows you.
And that this doesn't happen to you.
Our assurance shouldn't be in anything we've done for him.
We need to make sure that he knows us.
If you want assurance of salvation, you need to ask the question, Does he know me?
You need to make sure he knows you.
We've seen #193.
193.
Jesus, my Savior, thou art mine, Father's gift of love divine, all that is done, all thou art, and now the portion of my heart. 193.
$10 million, maybe 55955 and I did not give them together and all the women.
And we also sing #76 in the appendix.
76 in the appendix.
Uh-huh. All right. Joy. My God, my friend.
With things may make many times die.
In my life, Go home. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's all about it and it's unbelievable. And by my heart.
I got a friend as long as.
I don't know.
About the child account and I went to every day to my home.
00:45:36
And, uh, two.
My health cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth deep will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber.
And then in Hebrews.
Uh, Chapter 7.
And verse UH-24.
But this man, because he continuous ever has an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercessions for them.
Great.
Father, we, uh, thank you for the time that we've been able to, umm, enjoy.
Your character and umm.
Your, uh, unchangeable myth. And umm.
Your the confidence we can have in, uh, our salvation to prove it's done. Who is uh.
Ever, ever was and ever will be and, umm, to help us to enjoy these things as daily in our, uh, in our lives on earth. And, uh, thank you for these things and pray and, uh, ask your help on the remainder of the time together here in Jesus name.
Good evening.