I invite you to turn to the gospel of John chapter twenty this morning or tonight John chapter twenty and then we want to read from the first epistle of John chapter five John's gospel chapter twenty and we want to read verses thirty and thirty one and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life to his name. Here the Apostle John gives us the reason for his writing this epistle, that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Here is application of everything that he's written. He's applying it, but we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing have life through his name. Now from the first epistle of John, chapter five, and verse thirteen, I read these very familiar words. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. So here John at the close of his first epistle, he again applies what he has written, and he says, I wrote these things unto you, and what you have in the first epistle of John are a series of tests, tests that we apply to ourselves to determine whether we are truly born of God. So That is the portion that we want to deal with tonight. Let me just remind you that at Gospel Baptist Church, where our brother David Morris is, beginning today and through Wednesday night, they are having special gospel meetings with Brother Kent Clark from Michigan, a fine preacher. And if any of you can go, I know that a warm welcome will await you there. with Brother David and the dear believers at Gospel Baptist Church. So keep that before you. And if you can see your way clear to go, feel free to go. I'm almost tempted to say if the men who come to the Bible class tomorrow night, if you wanted to go hear Brother Clark, I always say it wrong, it's Kent Clark. And I want to say Clark Kent. I'm still living back in the days of that newspaper reporter and who was faster than a speeding bullet and all those other things. But it's Brother Kent Clark and he's a dear minister of the Word of God. David's wife told me that he really preached this morning. He started preaching at eleven thirty and they got out at ten minutes to one. So they had a good meeting this morning and she said he really preached the gospel. I just thought you'd be interested in knowing that. I looked one way and you know which way I looked. He preached for about an hour and fifteen minutes or more. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the joy of the Lord. We thank you for those who you have given as gifts to the body of Christ. We ask your blessing upon the ministry to Brother Kent tonight there at Gospel Baptist, blessed abundantly, and the other evenings as well. And Father, as we turn to your words, we thank you that we can have blessed fellowship one with another and with thyself and do give us something from yourself that will result in rich blessing to our soul in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, I'm very impressed with what the Word of God gives us concerning God's purpose in salvation. And what impresses me is that a holy God demands holiness of us. In the Old Testament, in Leviticus chapter eighteen, God says, Be ye holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy. When I come to the first letter that Paul wrote to the saints that were scattered abroad in the early days of the church, he wrote, Quoting the words from Leviticus XVIII, Be ye holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. And when I read Ephesians chapter one and verse four, the purpose for which we were chosen in Christ, the purpose of God's electing grace, is that we might be holy and without blame before him in love. God didn't save us just that we escaped the lake of fire. God saved us in order that He might make us holy. Now, holiness in the Word of God, and I'm thinking of practical sanctification, or as another phrase would put it, a progressive sanctification, a making progress in holiness as a child of God. When I think of this, I think of the foundation, and I want to deal with a foundation tonight, the foundation for holiness in the life of the child of God. For if I miss this, I have no assurance that I am truly born of God. For when I read First John chapter five and verse thirteen, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that you have eternal life. But what things did he write? First John five, thirteen doesn't give anybody any assurance. You don't get assurance from first John five, thirteen, no matter how often it's quoted to you, nor how often you quote it. you get assurance from first John five thirteen by applying what first John five thirteen says and as we examine the test in the first epistle of John I find that there is a test of walking as he walks there is a test of keeping his commandments there is a test of purifying ourselves even as he is pure Now these are tests that we apply in our own lives. One week in my ministry, there are two women, two different women who made and gave me a word of testimony, and the Lord knows when to give you this testimony. Especially if you are living at a time and you've become discouraged with yourself, wondering if you're accomplishing anything in the Lord's work. And both of these women told me that they had professed to be saved, but they had a real problem with this area of assurance. And for years, they couldn't talk to anybody else about being saved. Because really, deep down in their own soul, they weren't sure about themselves. And you know, I'm of the conviction, friend, that there are a lot of people in this condition. And this may surprise you, I was in this condition as a young believer. I was in this condition for a good year, I believe, when I was a teenager. I'd listen intently to one or two of my favorite preachers. One of them at that time was Dr. M.R. DeHon. If you remember that gravelly voice preacher, M.R. DeHon, and as he would present the claims of Christ, I would sit there and I'd wonder, am I truly born of God? And I'd go for a long walk all by myself, and I'd meditate. And I'd talked to the Lord over this. And time and again, I said this to the Lord. Now, Lord, if I'm not really saved, I want to trust you right now. I don't want to be lost. And that would do all right for about maybe an hour or two. And then the same doubts would come back to me again, concerning whether I was really saved or not. Now, this may sound strange to you. But I had a real hard time with assurance. Until one day, alone with the Lord, from his word he gave me assurance that I was truly born of God. You want to know something? From that time on I could talk about the things of God to others. For I knew that I was truly saved myself. And this to me is a foundation. for practical holy living. May I ask you a serious question? Don't answer the question to me, but answer it honestly to the Lord. Can you speak to others about being saved? Can you speak to others about being saved? Now one of the questions I usually ask someone when they want to get married, and they tell me they're saved. I say, now suppose your brother or your sister came to you and said, can you tell me how to be saved? What would you say to him? How would you tell them to be saved? How would you lead them to the Lord? And that's one of the ways that I know whether they have truly been born of God. You ask the average person or you're saved, especially someone who comes to a meeting like this, and they'll tell you, yes, I'm saved. and I have no reason to doubt them but if they're like I was when I was a teenager about seventeen eighteen years of age when the doubts began to settle in and I wasn't sure whether I was truly born of God or not can you really speak to others you see in the epistle to the Hebrews chapter five and verse twelve we read these words maybe we should read them together Hebrews chapter five and verse twelve where we read for when for the time ye ought to be teachers ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God and are become such as of need of milk and not of strong meat Paul here is saying at the time It's time for you to be a teacher. But you can't teach because you have nothing to say. You need to be taught again the first principles of the oracles of God. And then the next verse says, For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness. And it was gnawing in my own soul all how I need to witness to people. And how can I do it? How can I do it? I was unskillful in the word of righteousness. And if I, as a child of God, am unskillful in the word of righteousness, I am not able to speak to that person as a child of God and genuinely witness to him. What is the difference between a child and an adult? You see, when I read this verse, when for the time ye ought to be teachers, you're still a child yourself you're not mature enough to be a teacher you need milk and you can't even give out meat you can't even handle strong meat he's saying to these people and at time you were teaching others you see what is the difference between a child and an adult and that's what this text is saying you see when a person who should be an adult is still a child. There's such a thing that enters into the human heart called pride. And pride does something to us. We are so self-conscious that we are afraid to admit to others what the true condition of our spiritual soul is. We get into this, we're so filled with pride. Oh, I couldn't admit that I had any doubts as to whether I was saved or not. Well, what would brother so-and-so think? You know, there's that time in my life I didn't care what brother so-and-so said. I wanted to know for a certainty and for a certain that I was truly born of God. And God gave me that assurance, and with that assurance, the ability to express it to others. Now, during my high school years, I was a Western Union messenger boy. I rode my bicycle delivering telegrams throughout World War II in a northern city. Now, I couldn't pick and choose what telegrams I was going to deliver. When those telegrams came across the desk, I had one job, read it, put them in an envelope, and deliver. I had to read it because I had to know the urgency of what was in, and I was not allowed to say anything about anything that I read. And one day, I went over and picked up the telephone and called my mother and told her what was in the telegram. with a boss sitting across the desk and guess what happened to me now I'll tell you what was in that telegram tonight see the day before I had delivered one that a man was missing in action and the next day I had the telegram that he was found he was in good health And I was so excited about delivering that telegram I had to tell somebody and I called my mother. And I was discharged for that. You're not allowed to do that. And I did it. So you see, I was all excited about the message. Well, I was rehired the next Monday. And the people that I delivered that message to had a nice size tip there for me. I believe was one of the biggest tips I ever got for delivering a telegram to someone. There was a message that their son was safe. Friend, my job has not changed. I'm still delivering telegram. I cannot pick and choose. This is what the Word of God says. And the preacher is like a Western Union boss. He doesn't make up the contents of the telegram. And he may not change the contents of the telegram. The telegram stands. So I have a message of God. Assurance means what is assurance? Oh, we sing blessed assurance. Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. And it's true. Everything that hymn says by Fanny Crosby concerning assurance is true. What is assurance? It is a knowledge that the work of salvation has been done in our hearts and that it has been done once and for all and forever. Now that's assurance. And I'll tell you, the day I got that, it was like getting saved all over again. There was no more struggling. There was no more fighting. There was no more fear. I knew it was the Lord. How did I know? God's word said it. Now there is no person that can enter into the depths of the Christian life or ever become useful to God until he comes to the place of certainty relative to his own relationship to God. This is why I'm afraid there is a hindrance in Christians being able to witness in Christians telling others there is an uncertainty in their own lives deep down in their own souls about their own relationship to God. Now the first thing I want to deal with tonight is what does it mean to be saved? What does it mean to be saved? I'm not carrying it tonight, but when I explain salvation, I usually have a silver cross. I wanted to stick it in my pocket and I forgot it. I usually carry a silver cross pen in my pocket. You know what a cross pen is? It's a silver one. But I have one that's special. And I like to say, now I want, if I were to lock this building and tell you that I want you to give me a pen like that, exactly like it, that cross silver pen, exactly like it, and you cannot leave this building until you put in my right hand a cross silver pen exactly like this one. There isn't a person in this room If I held up that cross pen, who could do it? David has a silver cross pen in his pocket, but his would not be. I tell you why. That cross pen of mine has written on it Philip Baumberger. And you see, what God does, God makes a demand that none of us can ever reach. can ever fulfill, God's demand upon the sinner is, Be ye therefore perfect, even as my Father in heaven is perfect. God demands perfection. And unless we present to God perfection, we are doomed under the condemnation of God's holiness and justice, which is righteousness demands him and requires him to require. God's own righteous character demands it. But then, my friend, if I take my left hand and I put that ballpoint pen of mine into your hand and you hand back to me that which I gave to you, I would be satisfied. And that's what God did at the cross. At the cross on Calvary's Hill, God announced to the world something that rejoices my heart. God announces to the world your case has been settled out of court. That's what God announces to the world. And oh, when I learned that truth, that instead of me coming before the judgment for God to be condemned forever, he announces in the gospel that he settled my case. not at the court of his judgment throne, but on a cross outside the city wall of Jerusalem, when he laid my iniquity on his dear son, and Christ died for the ungodly. My case has been settled out of court. You see, when God says to me, I demand perfection from you I have to cry back, but I have nothing to offer. And then God takes and puts into my hand the very righteousness of Christ. He imputes it to my account so that I come before the bar of God, the throne of God, dressed not in the filthy rags of my own righteousness, but I am clothed with the imputed righteousness and perfection of Jesus Christ. which God's holiness requires him to require. Beloved, I am condemned unless God does something for me. And the good news of the gospel is God has done it. For he takes me by the hand and he leads me to a cross. And he enables me to behold what transpires when Christ died for the ungodly there on the cross on Calvary's Hill. For it is there that God gives to me the righteousness I need. Now, only the man who possesses and knows that he possesses great wealth can live largely and help others. Let me say that again. Only the man who knows that he possesses great wealth can help others and live largely himself. Now, if I'm not sure that I possess, that I have the money in the bank when I write a check, I'm no better off than the pauper, who doesn't have anything. And you see, until I have assurance, I'm no better off to really talk to others about it than the man who doesn't have anything. And this is why assurance is a foundation, friends, for Christian growth. And assurance is a foundation for practical holiness. How can I talk to someone about something I'm not sure I possess? I can't do it. And how can I spend money if I'm not sure I possess the money to begin with? How can I write a check if I don't have the money in the bank? I can't do it. And this is how it is, friends, with a present possession of eternal life. My friends, I'm just as sure tonight of being in heaven, as I am that the Lord Jesus Christ is already there. You see, the person who speaks like this, his hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Now could it be possible for a man to believe he is saved and that he could lose his salvation? Now if salvation friends were conditional, who would not live in mortal fear? In other words, if salvation depended upon what God did plus what I did, I'd live in mortal fear every day. I never knew, I'd never know if I did enough. I'd never know if what the little bit that I had to contribute would be satisfactory to a God who demands perfection. I would never know. But you see, there's only one way to get rid of fear. Do you know that? Perfect love cares. Fear. Verse John chapter four and verse eighteen. And you see, fear has torment. And week after week I'd be tormented by the devil. You're not saved. You see? You're not saved. And I know what it is to go through that. And that might surprise you when I tell you that I had that kind of an experience, but I would not be telling the truth were it not so. And I thank God for that day that I realized that my salvation doesn't depend on my coming to God and saying to him, now, if I didn't trust you the last time when I came, I'm doing it now. Boy, God couldn't. If I couldn't take God at his word then, how do I know that I can take him at his word now? It didn't make any sense. And God brought me to the place that I understood that when he says something, he means everything that he says. And that's true. Now when God told me that the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses from all sin, and that he accepts me on the basis of the work of Christ, my soul was totally satisfied, for I wasn't looking within at what I could do to make me feel good enough for God's presence. I looked totally away at the cross of Calvary's Hill. And I saw that Christ had done it all. And God has fully accepted His work. And I got assurance. And I want to tell you, that was a great day in my life. You'll never know. I don't know how to explain it. It was like getting saved all over again. Oh, what a happy day it was when I knew for certain that my sins were forgiven. for his name's sake. Now, when our word Jesus was here on earth, in Matthew chapter seven and verse twenty nine, I read these words that Christ spoke with authority and not as the scribes. You see, God is not interested in the intellectual opinions of men. God isn't interested in that. He's not interested in the intellectual opinions of men. He doesn't care what a bush thinks concerning salvation, and he doesn't care what Dan Rather thinks, or Peter Jennings, or any of these so-called intellectuals. He's not interested in that at all. God is interested in a belief in him which results in life. That's what I have in John chapter twenty. These are written. that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and believing have life through his name. That's what God's interested in. He's not interested in how far I went in college. He's not interested in how many doctors degrees I have or how many nursing degrees I have or if I don't have any degrees, but temperature. God is interested that I have a belief that results in life. John when he wrote, he said, many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. There were only seven miracles in John's gospel. And our Lord performed many more than seven. But he said, I selected these seven. These are written. Why? Application that you might believe. God is not interested in your being able to explain how he turned water into wine. God is not interested in your explanation of how he stilled the storm in John six. Nor is he interested in your explanation on how he healed the blind man of John chapter nine, nor how he raised Lazarus from the dead in John eleven. Your intellectual opinion don't impress God. But what does impress God is your belief that results in life. These are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And believing in Jesus as a Christ means that my case has been settled out of court, that God laid my iniquity on him, and he has settled the case at Calvary. Now to the sinner. This gospel is a message of supernatural life. This is how we have life. Now, in John chapter twenty, and in first John chapter five, you see, you have a word in each one, and there's a difference between it, and yet it's the same word. In John chapter twenty, I read, and many other signs truly did Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you might believe. And that word you is very important. Now when I come to First John chapter five, verse thirteen he says, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that you have eternal life. You see, sermons on the Christian life are worthless to the person who doesn't have life. They're worthless. Now, let me illustrate that for you. We just came through a presidential election, and both men that were running to be the president, they all gave us the same message, and it had the word you in it. Each one of them said, I want you to get out and vote on election day. Did you hear that? I hope you did. They said it. I want you to get out and vote on election day. But you see, the candidate that won said to his wife, I want you to stand by my side when I take the oath of office. Now that word, you. in the first command I want you to get out on vote on election day that is very general that is very general and that it was as broad as a population of the United States who is old enough to vote but the other you is restricted to one person now if you have never been saved and you try to read first John chapter five and verse thirteen you're trying to take something that was not addressed to you. If I try to take the words of President-elect Bush, I want you to stand beside me that he said to his wife, on the day I'm inaugurated, I'm not going to get there because it was not addressed to me. And for a sinner to try to claim First John chapter five and verse thirteen, it will never work. It's not written to sinners. It is written to those who believe on the name of the Son of God. And it's no use for us to try to give assurance to people who don't have life. They're trying to read someone else's mail, and it will not work. First John chapter five is written to people who have a life in order that they may know that they have it. These things are written unto you that believe. What does it mean to believe? It means that we have placed our full trust in the message that God has given to us concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. And we have stretched ourselves out upon that message. All our weight, the whole of our being, is resting upon that message that God has given us concerning his son. So Paul could say to his son in the faith, Timothy, in Second Timothy, chapter one, and verse twelve, I'm not ashamed. I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. I have placed all my confidence in Jesus Christ. That's what Paul says. I'm not ashamed. I can talk about it. This is what I've done. I can talk about it. Now let us come back to where we were in the beginning. Can you talk about it? If I came to you the night after the meeting, he said, tell me, how would you lead your little sister or your little brother to the Lord? What would you tell me? Or, if I were to say to you, suppose you went with me to the county prison on Saturday, and five men stayed behind and wanted to talk, how would you tell them to be saved? What would you tell them? This is important, friends. for when we have this settled then we can really begin to grow in holiness for this is the purpose of God when for the time you ought to be teachers you need that someone teach you what are the first principles of the oracles of God this is important where do I stand in relation to God's dear Son. In relation to this great salvation, am I saved? Am I able to tell us? And I'll tell you, friends, as I told you concerning my own life and my own experience, when I had this settled, from that time on, there was genuine growth And there was a genuine desire and a willingness. And I know I made a lot of mistakes in witnessing. But there was a desire to witness. And I wasn't ashamed to talk about it. These things have are written unto you. That they leave on the name of the Son of God. That you may know that you have eternal life. That's written to believers. but when he said you in John twenty he says many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and believing have life in his name there's an invitation to the sinner to believe to receive life and there's an invitation to the saint to rejoice that he has life by examining himself in the light of that which is written in first john relative to the test of eternal life now let's pray together our father in the precious name of our lord jesus christ we thank you that you have made every provision so that we're happy and not frustrated as a child of God. That we can rejoice in thy great salvation. You have written that we might believe. You have written that we may know after we have believed that we really have it. All we bless you tonight for your goodness and mercy which have followed us and caught up with us. Take the word now and bless it to every heart For the Lord Jesus' sake, amen.