Assurance by Knowing the Sav..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. the second letter of Peter. We're going to continue with our studies and this second letter that the Spirit of God gave to the Apostle.

So let's please open up your Bibles. And this evening, by God's grace, we are going to be addressing in chapter 1, verses 8 and 9, the second letter of Peter. And the topic that we are going to be addressing tonight, the topic of the thought that the apostle has in these two verses, in verses eight and nine, is the topic of the assurance of salvation or the certainty that a person is genuinely saved, the assurance that a person is indeed in Christ and perhaps more than the assurance of salvation or the certainty that you are in Christ, It would be best the power of assurance of salvation for the believer. And that is the thought that the apostle has in verses 8 and 9 of the second letter of Peter. So let's read from verse 1 to verse 11 to get the context of what the apostle is saying.

May the Lord bless the reading of his word. This is the perfect, all-sufficient word of the Lord. Let's read, paying much attention to each one of the words. This is 2 Peter. Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control and self-control with a steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love. Verse eight, for if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord. and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

This is the word of our Lord. And as I said, brothers and sisters, we're going to be addressing verse eight and nine that says, For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being an effective and unfruitful or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind. having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Beloved of Christ, brothers and sisters and friends, there is no more important question that every single human being, there is no more important question that every single human being has to answer of where that person is going to spend eternity.

The answer to that question, the final destination of our souls, it is the most important matter. That is the most important question that every single human being under heaven, on the earth, through history will have to answer. That is, where are we going to spend eternity? And that question, brothers and sisters, is very important because the Bible, the revelation of God speaks that indeed it is appointed for men to die. And after that comes the judgment, the reality of hell, the reality of heaven, that those who are not in Jesus Christ, that when the day of judgment comes, that when they die, they're going to become or they come before God, and they're gonna have to give an account for the things that they have done.

And if they are outside of the grace of God, and if they are outside of Jesus Christ, then those people will indeed spend eternity. In hell, that is the most important thing that a human will have to come to know and to understand. It does not matter how much money we have. It does not matter how much power we have. It does not matter our reputation, where we live, the things that we know.

It does not matter our background, where we come from. What matters is if we are in Christ and therefore eternity is given to us in heaven, in communion and fellowship with God, or for those who are not in Christ, then the destination, the eternal destination for them is hell. Brothers and sisters, even though that question is very important, and knowing where we are going to spend eternity is very important, there's something that is powerful for that question. And it's powerful, actually, not only to give an answer to that question, but actually to have certainty of what our destination is. It is to know for sure what our final destination is, our eternal destination, to have absolute certainty of it, to have absolute knowledge and confirmation that if the Lord is going to request our lives tonight or after or even as we are speaking, that we are going to be taken up to glory and that we're going to be invited into eternal communion with God and that we're going to spend eternity with God.

there is power in actually knowing for sure and for certain where the final destination of our souls is. Not only for the believer, but also for the unbeliever. You see, when you're sharing the gospel, when you're speaking about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and when you're sharing the message of salvation of Jesus Christ, one of the reasons why people do not see the need of a Savior is simply because They do not know that actually their final destination is hell and judgment apart from Jesus Christ. Whatever you're saying about judgment and the judgment that is coming and the need of a savior is just simply going over their heads. But when a sinner, by the work of the Spirit and the accusing power of the work of the law written in their hearts, points them to the judgment that they truly deserve, When they know, when they have certainty that indeed, if they die, they're going to have to give an account to God and spend eternity in hell.

When that happens, then the eyes of the sinner are open. The conviction of the spirit comes and those people are drawn into union with Christ by repentance and faith. You see, having certainty of where you're going to spend eternity has power. has power either to save. A person cannot know that they are going to be in hell apart from the accusing power of the work of the Lord written in their hearts and the convicting power of the Holy Spirit opening their eyes to see Christ and their condemnation and the need of a Savior.

It is powerful when that happens. It is majestic, it's glorious when that happens. Their eyes are open to the reality and then Christ is the only solution, is the only option for them. But just as there is power for the sinner who is lost in coming to certainty and knowledge of their final destination, there is also power for those who, by grace through faith, are really in Jesus Christ, united to Him, and to have absolute certainty that they are going to make it into heaven. That if they die, that if they die, that if they That is the last day or the last minute of their life that they indeed know for sure that they are going to spend eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, one would say, why are you addressing these particular things? And brothers and sisters, the Bible address the certainty or the assurance of our salvations. And experientially, the Christian is going to go over the Christian. Christians go through seasons of lacking assurance of salvation or having assurance of salvation. And what the apostle wants to do in this section of scripture that we have in front of us, as many other apostles do in the rest of scripture, is actually provide encouragement to believers because There is power in having absolute certainty that we will be with the Savior.

Now, brothers and sisters, do you have absolute certainty that you are going to spend eternity in heaven? Do you have absolute knowledge and certainty that if the last day of your life comes, that you are going to spend eternity with the Savior, that your soul is going to be taken into heaven and that you're going to receive the words from the divine court saying, come into your eternal rest? Do you have that certainty in your heart, in your soul? And beyond that, where is your certainty established upon? Where are you deriving your assurance, your certainty, that that is the final destination for your soul?

Is it that you prayed a prayer a few years ago, and that you joined Christianity? And then you prayed this prayer, and then you became a Christian, and now you know that people say that for Christians who die, they are united to Jesus Christ in eternity? If that is the source of your certainty, Then you're simply relying on your words, in your ability to know something, even to recall the past. Or are you simply establishing your peace and your certainty and the confirmation of your final destination in the fact that you believe that you say, I believe in Christ? Well, you have to be careful not to have faith in your faith.

The heart is deceitful. The heart and the mind is deceitful, wicked above all things. Or are you establishing your trust and your certainty about of your final destination on simply that you are a Christian and that you come to church from time to time and that you do the things that Christians do and therefore you have gone into this category of Christianity and you know that all Christians will spend eternity in heaven? Brothers and sisters, we have to be very careful where our faith is established. or you are one a little bit more like holier and with better understanding, are you establishing your peace and your certainty in a doctrine that of eternal security?

That someone says that one saved always saved or eternal security or whatever other theological name you want to give it? and you're deriving rest from this concept, from this idea that once saved, always saved, that once you profess faith in Jesus Christ, that then you are going to make it into heaven and that you are going to be taken to glory with the Lord. Are you deriving satisfaction and peace from any of those, from your past professional faith, or from the faith that you have? Or even, are you deriving satisfaction from your fruits, from your works? You see that you've done things, that you know things, that now you understand this, you understand that, that you don't care so much as you used to, or that you don't do those things that you used to do, or even that you don't do them anymore?

Are you deriving peace, certainty, knowledge from all of those things? There is power in biblical assurance. There is power in scripture-given-based certainty assurance that we are saved. Any other thing that is not biblical, scripture-based assurance of salvation, is man-centered. and lacks power.

And brothers and sisters, understanding or having complete certainty and knowledge of our ultimate and final destination is not only important for us to understand the power that it is or that there is in having that certainty or that assurance, but something more important. The Bible says that not everyone who calls the Lord, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven. But everyone who does the will of the Father, in that day, Matthew 7 says, in that day, many will call him, Lord, Lord, didn't we do all of these mighty things? Didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we cast out demons?

Didn't we do all of these religious things in your name? Depart from me, you who work in equity. Brothers and sisters, there's an urgent need in having biblical scripture based Spirit given assurance that our soul belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. So that when we think, where am I going to spend eternity? My mind does not go to the prayer that I prayed five years ago, or to the faith that I had seven years ago, or the church that I joined 10 years ago, or the religion that I inherited from my parents whatever years ago.

Brothers and sisters, it is very important. The Bible speaks about the need of believers having certainty and knowledge that they are indeed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Just think about the apostle John in first John, this very strong letter. And when he's actually calling believers to examine themselves, if you're walking in darkness, you're a liar. You're not walking in the light of God.

If you sin and you don't confess, you don't have the righteousness of Christ. If you don't obey the commandments, you're a liar. You are not in the Lord. If you don't love the brothers and sisters, then you're a liar. You love the world.

If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. He calls to discern the spirits. He says that we are supposed to have the anointing of the spirit. And then in the end of the book, after all of these exhortations and calls for the Christian to examine themselves, he says, I have written these things in first John, chapter five, verse 13. I have written these things to those who believe in the son of God, to those who believe those Christians, that they may know that they have eternal life.

The Bible. calls those who believe, those who are Christians, exhorts them. He writes all of those things, difficult things, that calls us to examine ourselves so that you may know that you have eternal life. Even the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians, that's something that Reformed people and Calvinists will be afraid of doing. He says, I know of your election.

I know that you have been chosen. Why? Because when the word of God came to you, it did not come as the word of men, but it came as the word of God in the power of the Spirit. And I see the fruit of faith and love in you, and you who were idolaters, verse 10, now you have turned from those idols. The apostle says, I know of your election, not even of your salvation, but I know of your election in eternity past, because when we preach the word of God, you did not receive the word as the word of men, but you received it as the word of God.

And that word of God transformed you completely. Faith and love for the brethren and renouncing or leaving behind the idols and preaching in power and love and offerings to the churches that were in need. Even the Apostle Paul says that he knows. So brothers and sisters, beloved of Christ, there is much power in having certainty and assurance that once we are taken up to glory, We're indeed taken to glory, that we indeed belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the same burden of the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians, and the burden of the Apostle John in 1 John, that I'm writing these things that you may believe that you have eternal life, or that you may know better that you have eternal life, is the burden in the spirit of the Apostle Paul in the verses that we have here.

It's the same burden. He doesn't want to test that if we are fake Christians or if we are not really in Jesus Christ. He wants to encourage the church so that they will know that they are saved. And they will enjoy of the power of having biblical assurance of salvation, of having biblical certainty that we are in the person of Jesus Christ. The way that the postal is going to present it is in two clauses with comparing comparison and a conditional go to verse eight.

This is what he says in this text. Remember that we have spoken about these qualities of the Christian. I described them a couple of weeks ago as this golden chain of the Christian life. These are those qualities, a faith and virtue and knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love. Now he says in verse eight, for if these qualities, all of those are yours and are increasing, They keep you from being an effective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And then he continues, for whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. He's establishing just a comparison in something that we have or something that we may not have, namely these qualities. And he says, if you have these qualities, if you possess these qualities, Now you're going to be increasing in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if you do not have these qualities, the opposite to having the qualities, if you do not have these qualities, now you're going to be blind. And he's going to use an expression to define that, having forgotten.

So from your mind departs that you were cleansed from your former sins. He compares the knowledge and certainty of Christ with the ignorance of forgetting my former sins being cleansed. So that is the summary of my sermon. Real, genuine, biblical assurance is just simply knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, I will give you a little bit more than that, but this is basically what I just want to share with you.

biblical assurance, it is increasing, growing in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is super important for the apostles. That's why he makes that the core message of the letter. In the end of the letter, he says in chapter three, verse 18, but way better in verse 17. You therefore, beloved, in the end of the letter, you therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, Take care that you're not carried away with the error of lawless people, the apostates, and lose your own stability, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Now, the question is not if we understand what biblical assurance is. The question is, is it a reality in your life? That is the question that each one of you before the Lord will have to ask after we finish our meditation here in these verses that we have, because any type of certainty, any type of assurance that you have of your final destination, that it is not rooted in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, is man-centered. I have just given you the conclusion of my sermon there. It is man-centered.

Anything that departs from the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is man-centered, and therefore it is powerless. Everything that is focused in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is not only biblical and according to the Spirit, but what I want to communicate to you today is that it is powerful. It will not only give you certainty and assurance and peace, but also will be powerful. Go to 1 John. Before I get into the text, I just want to show you this verse.

Go to 1 John. This letter of self-examination that the apostle writes to the churches, this letter of examine yourself, examine yourself, which the apostle says in verse 13 of chapter five that I write, I have written these things to those who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. Now, pay attention to this glorious verse. Pay attention to this glorious verse about certainty and assurance of salvation. And just compare this with the reality of those men in Matthew chapter 7.

Those who say, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we do mighty things in your name? Didn't we cast out demons in your name? And the Lord says to them, depart from me, you workers of inequity. They were never in the Lord.

Now, did they believe that they were in the Lord? Did they think that they were in the Lord? Yes, they did. all the time. They went to church, they did things, they preached the gospel, perhaps they even preached from a pulpit.

And they did mighty things. They were convinced that at the end of the days they were going to make it into heaven, that they were going to receive the voice of the Lord saying, come into my eternal rest or your eternal rest. What a big surprise. Now the flesh and the mind may be tempted of, how am I going to know? How can I know?

How am I going to trust my mind? How am I going to trust my heart about my eternal destination? If all of these men that prophesy and did mighty works and miracles that I don't even can change a bottle of water, all of these people will receive from the Lord. Depart from me, you workers of inequity. How can I know?

Well, the Bible speaks that we can know. So go to verse there in chapter two. Chapter two in first John. Let's just read it from verse 26. Just pay attention to this glorious verse.

It's not 26, it's 28, but let's just read from 26. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you receive from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and it's true, and it's no lie, just as he has taught you, abide in him. Now, this is the glorious verse here.

And now, little children, now, little children, abide in him. By the way, him is Christ. Abide in him so that when he appears, remember the ones, depart from me, you workers of inequity, so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. What a glorious verse. What a glorious verse.

That those who abide in him, those who are in Jesus Christ, they have confidence, confidence, no fear when he appears. With the sudden coming of the Lord, when the wrath of the Lord comes to judge the living and the dead, those who are in Christ have confidence and no fear. The Bible speaks of those who are not in Christ going into the mountains and hiding from the wrath of the Lamb. The genuine Christian abiding in Christ is filled with confidence. When wrath that we have not seen before, like the greatest tribulation that we have seen, is coming to the world, then we can have confidence and no fear.

So you think that these people got this confidence just at the end of the day, like the last day when the Lord comes? No, they leave. The Word says that we can have this confidence and this certainty and this assurance that we are going to be with the Lord when we see Him coming as He is. And even then John says later that this hope that we have in Jesus Christ of His coming purifies us in the present. But that is not my sermon.

Let's just go back to the computer. So the Apostle Peter, beloved of Christ, is just simply comparing here. He says, if you have these qualities, if you have these qualities, then you are increasing in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He uses different words. And then he says, if you lack these qualities or if you don't have these qualities, You're blind.

You cannot see. And you have forgotten your purification. You have forgotten. You have forgotten your salvation. You have forgotten the atonement of your sins.

You have forgotten that you are saved. Now, brothers and sisters, this should show us that there is a possibility for Christians to actually forget the cleansing of their sins, forget their salvation, forget their purification, forget the fact that they have been justified. But the apostle is going to present it with a condition. It says, if if you have these qualities, So the condition for us to increase in the knowledge of the Savior, which is contrary to forgetting the cleansing of our sins, namely having assurance that we are in Jesus Christ, the opposite to forgetting that you have been cleansed and your former sins have been cleansed. It's actually having certainty that your sins have been cleansed and therefore you're assured you have certainty that you're in Jesus Christ.

That is the knowledge of the Savior. but there is a condition. He says, if these qualities are yours, all of these qualities that we have explained before, faith and virtue and knowledge and self-control and steadfastness and godliness and broadly affection and love, but not only the reality of those qualities, beloved brothers and sisters, but actually what the apostle says in verse five, for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith. So if the Christian, it is a reality for the Christian that he's in the spirit, making every effort to supplement their faith with all of these qualities, all of these things, all of these virtues. If that is a reality, then the knowledge of Jesus Christ comes.

But Apostle explained to us what that increasing is. He says, if those qualities are yours and are increasing. Now, these two words, brothers and sisters, are very powerful words, because basically what the apostle is telling is not if those qualities you practice them from time to time, But rather, when he says, if those qualities are yours, that is, if those qualities are in you, if those qualities belong to your spiritual structure, if those qualities belong to your spiritual personality, just as some people have black hair or beard, and that defines who they are physically. If those qualities or characteristics are in you spiritually, and not only that, but if they are continually then you are not going to be, you're going to be protected and kept from being ineffective or unfruitful. Namely, you are going to be effective and you're going to be fruitful in the knowledge of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

You have to see, brothers and sisters, the existence of that condition so that a person will have biblical, scripture-based, spirit-given certainty and assurance that we are in Jesus Christ and therefore we can have confidence that when we see Him, we're not going to have fear, but we are going to be taken up in glory. Now, Just pay attention to what he says. He could have said, the apostle could have said, if you have these qualities, if they are increasing, you will be effective and you will be unfruitful. But the apostle chooses to speak from that which you are removed or prevented from. He says, if you have these qualities and if they are increasing in you, you will be kept from being ineffective and from being unfruitful.

That is, brothers and sisters, that the natural condition of the Christian, even when he's saved, is not a condition that possesses all of these virtues. The only one that we possess is faith. That's why the apostle says, take your faith and add virtue, knowledge and self-control and all of the others. Why? Because the natural condition of the Christian is absent from those ones.

We are to grow in those qualities. Very important. We are saved by grace through faith, and faith is given to us from on high, and that is the condition of the one who is saved. But that faith has to be added to all of those virtues. That means that if a Christian is not making every effort to supplement their faith with virtue, with knowledge, with self-control, and all of these qualities, they are just simply walking a path of being ineffective and just simply being unfruitful.

It is not that once you're saved, now you become just holy, practically holy, and that you become just like Jesus Christ. He has given you eternal life, but you are called to make every effort. to supplement your faith with all of those glorious qualities. Now, the vocabulary that the apostle uses here is a vocabulary of something that is organic and something that is natural. He says, if these qualities are in you, He doesn't say if you practice these things, he's going to say later, but he doesn't say if you do this from time to time or if you try to do this from time to time, but rather, he says, if these things are in you and belong to you, just as the color of your eyes are in your eyes, if these qualities are in you and therefore increasing, then you will be kept from being an effective and unfruitful.

Therefore, you will be, in other words, effective and fruitful. The question that we need to ask now here, it is, what is being effective or what is being fruitful in your Christian life? Now, this is very important, brothers and sisters, because in John 15, when, you know, the teaching of the, I've forgotten the word in Spanish, in English now, the divine and the branch. When you have this teaching of the divine, what do you call it, divine? the vine and the branches.

He says, abide in me so that you will give much fruit. If you do not abide in me, I will prune you or cut you and throw you into the fire. If you abide in me and my word abides in you, you will give much fruit. And in giving much fruit, you will prove that you are my disciples. And then he says, if you bear much fruit, then you glorify the Father.

I'm pretty sure, and I've heard it from your mouth, that you want to glorify the Father. That means that, biblically speaking, for a person to desire genuinely to glorify the Father, that person has to desire to bear much fruit. What is the fruit that the Apostle Peter speaks in this verse that we have here. Perhaps it comes to your mind that this is just simply good works, right? This is the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 2 after he says that by grace you have been saved and this is not of you.

This is the work of God that no man may boast. And then he says, for you have been created or you are the workmanship of Christ, created in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world for good works, a person might say, OK, my my fruit, the fruit of my faith of who I am is just simply that I produce good works because the same apostle Paul in Philippians chapter one, he says that in Jesus Christ, we produce the fruit of righteousness. righteousness for the glory of the father or the same apostle in Galatians chapter five is speaks of the fruit of the spirit, which are very popular, right? Chapter five verse 22. He speaks of all the fruit of the spirit, joy and peace and kindness and goodness and patience and self control, all the fruit of the spirit.

Now, this is when I need your attention here, brothers and sisters, because all of those things are indeed fruit, but the apostle has something greater in mind, that these fruits of good works and external righteousness and things that we do outside He speaks of something that is greater. He speaks of something that it is of supreme importance. It goes beyond those external things. And it's very clear in the text that he simply says that if we are kept or if you have these qualities and are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being an effective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is, that if we have the qualities, if we do have those qualities, we will be effective and fruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, brothers and sisters, give me your mind here. This is very important. He could have said, you know, you will do good works. You will have fruit of, you know, serving or giving or loving the brothers and sisters or whatever, whatever, whatever. But he says ineffective and fruitful or effective and fruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is something that is not only consequential and of greater importance, but it is foundational. Let me just simply explain what I mean. The apostle has already made a condition for fruitfulness in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, all the things that comprise the fruit of the spirit and righteousness. He has already said that if you add to your faith, virtue and your virtue, knowledge and your knowledge, self-control and all of these virtues, that this is the condition for you to be effective and fruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that means that if you want to increase in the Lord, in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, you already have added to your faith virtue and knowledge and self-control and godliness and steadfastness and all of the virtues.

The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is consequential. It is the result of already bearing the fruits that the Bible calls us to bear. So the type of fruitfulness that the apostle has in mind, it's something that is of greater importance, and it goes beyond not only that, but this knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is not only the gold of fruitfulness, but it's also the beginning of fruitfulness. Read carefully in verse three. His divine power.

has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. That is that every single thing that we are going to produce as fruit in our Christian life is the result of the divine power that has been given to us from on high. Whatever good work, whatever good thing that we do is the result of the divine power that has been granted and given to us. But that divine power or those things that pertain to life and godliness have been given to us through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence. With my very limited words, and with my very limited brain today, and with my very limited English this evening also, what I'm just trying to do, my brothers and sisters, is just present this to you.

The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is the first step in the giving of power to the Christian for being and do everything that they are supposed to do. And it's also the apex and the climax of fruitfulness in our Christian life. So we know that we are saved, not because a prayer that we prayed five years ago. We know that we are saved, not because I have faith. We know that we are safe not because of the fruits that we bear.

We know that we are safe and that we are going to be in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ because of the church that we attend and because we have managed to profess Christianity for 5, 10 or 15 or 20 years, but rather because we have been shown the glory and excellence, the one who knew us first, And the knowledge of that savior is the one that empower us to bear fruit according to his knowledge. And the biggest and greatest and most glorious fruit that we bear is to grow in an understanding of him. Very limited words. I have to use a puzzle. Come with me, please, to Efficient Chapter one.

Ephesians chapter 1. Brothers and sisters, this is one of the very interesting things between the writings of Paul and the writings of Peter. They write very different, very different. They write very different. But from the little concepts that they share in the writings, The knowledge of God or the knowledge of Jesus Christ is one of those things that they share exactly with the same words.

Before we go to Ephesians, let's go to Colossians. Sorry, let's go to Colossians. Colossians chapter one. Let me just show you this from the words of the apostle. Colossians chapter one.

Perhaps I'm just going to read a text and then I'll just explain what I want to say. Read with me carefully, but when I say carefully, let's just read it carefully from verse three. Okay. It says, we always, this is the apostle Paul. We always thank God for the father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When we pray for you, this is the church. Okay. This is the believers. When we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints. So what do they have, this church?

They have faith and they have love. Right. And the apostle is saying, we praise you for the faith and the love that you have. Now, it says, and this faith and this love is because of the hope that is laid up for you in heaven. So the present faith and the present love that the church has, it is the result of the hope that they have of what is to come.

Then it says, of this, this hope you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you as indeed in the whole world. It is bearing fruit and increasing as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He's a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in this period of attention. And so. From the day we heard of your faith and your love, we have not ceased to pray for you.

Now, this is a good church, right? They have faith and they have love. They have all of the things that are required, namely Peter, faith and love and all the virtues in between. They already have those things. Asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all the spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." And increasing in the knowledge of God. This was already a church that was worthy of the praises of the Apostle, because they had faith and love for the saints, and they were walking according to the commandments of the Lord. Yet he prays, the Apostle prays, and this is very important. He prays that they may bear fruit and increase in the knowledge of the Savior.

A person from outside of the church would have said, they are already walking in the knowledge of the Savior. They are already Christians. They are already going to heaven. But the apostle prays that they may increase in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Now go back to Ephesians, the part of the passage.

Ephesians chapter one. Now just hear the same vocabulary of the apostle here in chapter one, verse 15. For this reason, verse 15 in Ephesians chapter one, for this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints. OK, are they a good church or not so far? They are good, right?

They have love for the saints and they have faith for this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints. I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. the Apostle praying for the church, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, now pay attention, might give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. Okay, let's just stop there, brothers and sisters. What is the requirement for the knowledge of Jesus Christ?

Namely, having a biblical assurance that if I die tonight, I'm going to make it into heaven. It is that the spirit of wisdom reveals to us and gives us the knowledge of Jesus Christ. That means that you cannot obtain certainty of your salvation on your own, but just as faith was given assurance and confidence and certainty of the knowledge of Jesus Christ is also given. And now the apostle is going to speak in a very Peter language, but just with opposite words, which is that this is just the way that I understand it. Verse 18.

Having the eyes now, when you when you see in English a verse with I.G., this describes whatever it was said before. Verse 18. having the eyes of your heart enlightened.

What was the opposite of not having the knowledge of God or the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ according to Peter? Being blind, being nearsighted, and having forgotten, right? Having forgotten the purification and the cleansing of our former sins. That it is that not knowing the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ covers your eyes. the eyes of your heart, you are made blind.

And when you're made blind, you forget the cleansing, the purification of your sins. But when you are given this Spirit, given revelation from on high, this knowledge of Him, then having the eyes of your heart enlightened. Now, please see the connection to the end. that you may know what is what the hope to which he has called you the hope to which we have been called it is not today you know that right the hope the undefiled hope that is kept and reserved for us in heaven it is when it's coming in the future so he says the hope to which he has called you What are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, the inheritance that we're going to receive? And what is the immeasurable greatness of His power towards us who believe?

That is the only thing that we can hold now for this moment. Brothers and sisters, when we have this spirit of revelation opening the eyes of our heart that are enlightened in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, Then he says that you may know, just please read that in verse 18, read it with your own eyes. It says, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know, not that you may hope, not that you may wish, but that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. What are the riches that you may know? What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints?

And that you may know what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe. That means that when the eyes of the heart are spiritually open to behold the beauty of Jesus Christ, our hearts are filled with certainty of the hope of our calling. Our hearts are filled with certainty of the inheritance of the saints. Our hearts are filled with certainty of the power of God that is given to us a power to endure, a power to persevere, a power to love one another, a power to be holy, a power to put all self to death, a power to continue, a power to preach the gospel, the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ for everyone who believes. So Peter can say in 1 Peter 1, verse 5, For it is the power of God, the one that guards you, the one that preserves you, the one that keeps you through your faith until the day of the salvation that is ready to be revealed.

That is ready. It says the salvation that is ready, that is kept, that is reserved. It is the power of God through your faith, the one that keeps you and preserves you. What is it required of the believer? The same thing that is required of the lost sinner when they come to salvation Look to christ Look to jesus christ because when you look to your profession of faith five or ten years ago when you look to your works As every day that passes when you look to your church membership of what you do in church When you see your fruits when you see your friends when you see To men, the only thing that there is is blindness, nearsighted, and you forget the cleansing and the purification of your sins.

The knowledge of Jesus Christ, it is the beginning of the power given to the Christian for producing all the glorious virtues of the Christian life. And the knowledge of Jesus Christ, it is the final destination. How are we going to live in power by being in the presence and always seeing, looking unto Christ. You know, I was just reading something just very recently, and they said that most of the revivals, I don't know every revival, but you know, I just read that the most of the revivals started when there was an increasing of the assurance and certainty of salvation of the Christians. Why?

Because being assured of our salvation, it is not that I'm going to enter into heaven when I die. It is that the hope of my calling is clear, that the inheritance of the saints is made clear to my heart, that the power of God working in me and in all Christians, it is a reality. And when you see those things that are above, you remove your eyes from the things that are on the earth. When you set your mind on things that are above, all the things that are passing away are of No value, including your works, including your profession of faith, including what you do. So everything that you do, you do it removed entirely from the temporal.

And you do it always for Him, for Him that you preach a sermon that you do this or that is absolutely nothing. What He wants, it is our heart, soul completely taken for Him, for Him, so that there is no ideology. Whatever that replaces the Lord, as I think the brother said, It is idolatry, whatever it takes is placed. But now, let me just show you now, let me just show you just one more thing. Please go to Romans chapter 8.

Romans chapter 8, brothers and sisters, because, you know, someone said the preachers are very good at saying what it should be, but they don't say how to do it, right? So just go to Romans chapter 8, please. How are we actually going to be in this knowledge of God that is a spirit given? It's a spirit given revelation of who he is. Please pay attention to this.

Perhaps I'm just going to say two things. Chapter eight, verse, let's just read it from verse nine. Pay attention. Romans chapter eight, verse nine. You, however, let's just read from verse eight.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. And then he says, You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If, in fact, the spirit of God dwells in you. The apostle Peter is writing for those who are genuine believers, those who the spirit of God is dwelling in them. He says anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. Now pay attention. So then, brothers and sisters, so then we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit are sons of God." Brothers and sisters, we should never, never, never feel discomfort I'm using the word of being led by the Spirit, because some charismatic brothers or sisters may have made bad use of being led by the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and be filled by the Spirit and live in the power of the Spirit. It says, verse 14, For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear.

but ye have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father. Just as when the little child is scared or afraid of something that is going to happen. And the first thing that comes to their mind is not to think about, oh, I can't just, you know, kill that little spider or I can just remove that little thing that is scaring me. No, they don't think about that. They just simply run to father or to mother because they know that they find protection there.

Verse 16, the spirit himself bears witness with their spirit that we are. Children of God, the work, the word there means he confirms that you are the Children of God is when a person is walking by the Spirit, when a person is led by the Spirit, when a person is not walking in the flesh, but is walking according to the Spirit of God, then that person will receive the supernatural confirmation of the Spirit of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And the Spirit will bear witness to us that we are children of God. It is impossible for you to have absolute certainty of your ultimate and final destination. The certainty and the assurance that we have hope and that we have called to eternity is given by God.

It is given by the Spirit. It is a confirmation of the Spirit, bearing witness to us that we are children of God so we can cry, Abba, Father. And if we are children, the apostle continues, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we might also be glorified with him. You see, brothers and sisters, that the Christian life is everything everything except man-made religion. Christianity as a whole is everything except man-centered religion, traditions of men.

The systems of doing things and doing that, and then just ticking boxes and just following rituals and traditions. Everything about Christianity is divine. It is from the moment of the cross to the life of the Christian and to eternal glory. Salvation is of the Lord. from the beginning until the end.

And the only thing that that should show us and prove us is that the only hope that we have is Christ. There's nothing that we can do. Absolutely nothing that we can do. If you try to reach a certainty of your salvation by your works, by your deeds, try it. That is called do things in the flesh.

I'm going to wake up every morning to pray for five hours. Do it for five days. You will see that at six, you don't do it anymore because you're doing it in the flesh. Distinguished to do things in the flesh and to do things in the spirit. preaching, speaking, between you, loving one another.

Distinguish between doing things in the flesh, just to please yourself and to appease your conscience, to tick just a little box. I'm a good Christian, and I derive satisfaction, and I sleep in peace, or at peace, from doing things in the Lord. Because when you put your head on the pillow, then it is just because of Christ, and then you sleep in peace. And that is the peace that the Christian has that cannot be provided by works or by deeds, so that we might always walk, brothers and sisters, with our eyes open to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, that we may have full certainty and assurance of the hope that is given to us, of the power that He has given us, of all of these glorious inheritance, because that power is what makes us preach with power, speak with power, love with power, exhort one another with power, not with man-made efforts. And just before I finish, one of the things that Apostle Paul does in Colossians and Ephesians, did you notice what he does for the church?

What does he do for the church? He prays. He prays for the others, that they might grow in the knowledge of the Savior. They are walking in faith, and they are walking in love. So that means that growing in the knowledge of the Savior requires the intercession of other believers.

So that means that if someone is going to intercede for me to grow in knowledge of the Savior, that means that that person praying for me is not praying in the flesh, but is praying in the spirit because he loves me. So that means that if we're going to intercede for the church to walk in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, that means that we need to have genuine love. So that means that you have added to your faith virtue and knowledge and self-control and steadfastness and godliness and brotherly affection and love. And if these qualities are in you, then you're increasing in the knowledge of him who called you to his glory and excellence, our Lord Jesus Christ, the one that we're going to see reigning We're going to see Him reigning when He comes and when He takes us up to glory. Amen.