God wants you to know for sure that He is present in your life. Do not think it was presumptuous. It is something that God promised you, and your life will never take off spiritually until you are absolutely assured that you are His child, that there is nothing between you, and that if you died before your body hit the floor, your soul would be standing in His presence. That's what He wants for you. Welcome back to the Summit Life podcast with Pastor JD Greer.
You know, one of the amazing things about gospel media is that it meets people exactly where they are. For some, that's a daily commute. For others, it's a quiet moment early in the morning or late at night. And through radio, podcasts, YouTube, and devotionals, Summit Life brings the truth of God's Word into everyday moments. Moments God often uses to draw hearts back to Jesus.
But it doesn't stop there. These resources are designed to help people grow as disciples and then live out their faith in real, tangible ways: loving neighbors, sharing hope, and strengthening local churches. When disciples grow, the gospel spreads. That's how God has always worked. Media outlets become the megaphone, but the movement is people whose lives have been changed by Christ.
If Summit Life has ever encouraged you, challenged you, or pointed you back to Jesus, know this. You're part of something God is using far beyond what you can see. To explore these resources or learn more about the mission, visit jdcreer.com. Today, Pastor JD explains that when we doubt our own salvation, we're really doubting God. And not only does it cause us to be anxious, it actually damages our relationship with Him.
So we're learning how we can trust God and know with certainty that we are truly saved. It's the final message in our essential teaching series called Gospel. Here's Pastor JD. We're already coming toward the end of a series that we've been in, talk gospel. But what we're talking about is how the gospel is able to do things in us that no other religious message can.
And we've been spending most of our time in John 15, but today, if you have a Bible, I want you to open it to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5, because we're going to start in John 15, but we're going to very quickly get to 1 John. But what I want to show you is that there is a theme that runs all the way through John 14 through 17. And that is the theme of assurance. That you know that you know that God is your father, that you are God's child, that you belong to him.
knowing beyond any shadow of a doubt that if you died, you would go to heaven. That is all through John 14 through 17. I'll show you that in a second. But it always amazes me, it always amazes me whenever I talk how many people there are who struggle with this issue. Who are like, you know, I kind of know.
I'm pretty sure. I hope. I think I got like I'm an upper 85, upper 90% percentile, but. I'm just not totally sure that I know that That I belong to God and that God is my father. In fact, some people would even go so far as to say they think it's arrogant.
You know, that for you to say that you know that God is your father, and that if you died, you go to heaven. Because who are you to presume upon God like that? I say that I'm amazed at how many people struggle with this, but I really shouldn't be amazed because one of the worst struggles of my life was over this. Between the ages of 13 and 20 in my life, I prayed the sinner's prayer, I kid you not, no less than maybe 7,500, 8,000 times. Every time a speaker would get up and explain the gospel, I was always there and at the end, prayed in my seat to receive Jesus just in case it never worked before.
I've been saved at youth camps all across the nation. I grew up in one of these churches where you had to walk forward and when you made a decision.
So, about every fifth time that I would pray to receive Jesus, I felt like I ought to walk forward. It got to the point where the pastor would just kind of shake his head as I was walking down the aisle. Like, what's wrong with you? I got baptized four times between the ages of 13 and 20, four times. It's because I want to make sure that I've done it right.
So all I have to say is I understand this struggle. I really do. And I realize that there are a lot of you who struggle with this thing, probably more than you realize are in this room. I'll get all kinds of response back from this, I know. I'm just telling you, I've read your mail.
I know that. I know that every time we walk through this whole how you trust Christ, some of you are right there in your seat going, I just want to make sure I got to do this again.
So I understand the struggle. And here's what else I know: that your life will never really take off spiritually until you are assured of God's love and His presence in your life. Until you're assured of that, there are things that you're never going to be able to really do with God. There's commands you won't be able to obey, there are risks that you won't take. Right?
I mean, it makes sense. Until you're confident of God's presence and His commitment and His love, there's just things that you're not going to be able to follow Him in. And there's an illustration that I've used for years to kind of give you a picture of this, and I've certainly given it to you before, but it's the difference between repelling and rock climbing. Rappelling and rock climbing both involve a rock face and a rope. But there's a world of difference between the two.
You remember that if you've ever gone repelling, the first time that you went, what an unbelievably scary moment it is when you're standing on top of that rock and they tell you to lean back. Do you remember this? You gotta lean your weight back and transfer. Your weight off of your feet onto this rope, and there's nothing below you but imminent death. You know, and you're just standing there, and I can remember 16 years old.
Just shaking thinking like this is just crazy. You know, and I remember, you know, the guy's like, well, you gotta lean back and. I prayed right then. I just remember that. I just prayed again to receive Jesus at that moment.
Jesus, I want to make sure one more time you come into my heart. Just had all my bases covered. And I lean back, and you feel your weight leave your feet, and you feel yourself go back, and then you. You know, it's just a whole new experience. My best friend who had gone with me to this, he was way more scared of heights than I was.
And I remember when I was down at the bottom, I could look up there and see him on top of the rock, just shaking. You know, and just he stood there for at least 10 minutes and wouldn't move until finally he just grabbed a hold of the rope and slid his leg down and find a foothold, another foothold, and managed to kind of slither his way down the face of the rock. There's a world of difference between what he was doing and what I was doing. Because when you're rock climbing with a rope as a safety net, you're really trusting in your arms and your legs to do the moving. But when you're repelling, you're leaning your full weight back on the rope.
Well, see, in the same way, well, and by the way, there's things you can do repelling that you can't do rock climbing, right? There's certain things you just can't do if you're rock climbing that you can do when you're repelling. In the same way, there's a lot of stuff you'll never do with God and with Jesus until you are confident that when you lean your weight on him, he holds you. See? There's just things you'll never do.
There's prayers you'll never pray. There's risks you'll never take. There's commands you'll never obey. There's sacrifices you'll never make. There's people you'll never stand against.
And it all goes back to this fact that you're just not confident in Jesus' love and presence in your life. The reason some of you are so weak in your ability to say no to sin is because you are so inconfident in God's commitment to and presence in your life. In fact, you could almost say it like this: the reason some of you are weak. And your ability to say no to sin is that you are weak in your assurance of Jesus' yes in your life. And instead of focusing on all the time on strengthening your no, what you ought to do is strengthen your assurance of his yes.
Because the assurance of his yes is what becomes the strength for the no. Does that make sense?
Now again, we're going to end up in 1 John 5, but John 14 through 17 is just full of these statements of assurance. You remember, I've explained to you, John 14 through 17 is the last thing Jesus said to his disciples before he went to the cross. This is given on the night that Judas betrayed him, about an hour before Judas betrays him. He goes through John 14 through 17. Not in the Bible because it wasn't in there yet, but he was speaking it for the first time.
He goes through John 14 through 17, and he walks them through this. And then, in about an hour, he's going to be betrayed, and the next morning he's going to be crucified.
So, this is very, very important. Then, what you're going to hear is that he just peppers this with all these unbelievable statements of assurance. Give you a few of them, for example, John 15:9. He says, as a father has loved me.
So have I loved you. You like how I'm acting like I'm reading, but it's not really there. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. Just like the Father loves the Son, that is the same kind of love that Jesus gives to us.
Do you feel like the Son sits around unsure of the Father's commitment to him? Do you feel like the Son of God is unsure about the Father's commitment to him? Of course not. Do you want your kids to be unsure about your commitment to them? You know, when I leave on a business trip, do I look at my kids and say, hey, daddy's coming back from a business trip?
In a few days. Or maybe he's not. That would be absurd. I don't want my kids doubting. My love and commitment for them.
I want them to know they've got a daddy who always loves them, always thinks about them, and is always present in their life. Do you really feel like you're a better father to your kids than the Heavenly Father is to us? Do you think the Heavenly Father wants us doubting that maybe He's not our Daddy, our God? Luke chapter 11, verse 9, Jesus said that in comparison to how the father loves his kids, how we love our kids is evil. I mean, it's not normally that you get called evil and it's a compliment, but in this case, it actually is.
It's very comforting. Jesus said that the strongest emotion that I have is my love for my children. Jesus said, even that love compared to how much God loves his children would be like evil if you compare the two. John 14:18, Jesus says to them, I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I will come to you.
I'll come to you. I'll not leave you. I don't want my kids feeling like orphans when I'm gone. I want them to rest in the assurance of their daddy. That's what God has for you.
I give you another image, John chapter 14, verse 1. Jesus, as he's telling them he's going to leave, he realizes this scares them because there's going to be a lot of opposition to them, a lot of danger they're going to face. And here's what he says: Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
Now, watch right here. He begins to quote something that you may not realize what he's quoting. I'll show you. In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will take you to myself, that where I am. There you may be also.
Now you may not pick that up, but that is a quote from the Talmud. Which was a collection of Jewish customs from the time. And what he was quoting is what a fiancée or what a guy said to a girl after he had proposed to her. It was part of the ritual. After she would say yes, he would say to her, I'm going to go away to my father's house and I'm going to build us a place to live.
Because in those days, what would happen is the groom would just add a section onto the father's house where they would live. And when he got finished, he would come back to pick the girl up. And it was a big to-do, and he would take her off to the house.
So he would give her this assurance that I'm not going to be gone one day longer than I have to be just to get things ready. Jesus quotes that image and says, this is how I want you to think about me being gone. Do you remember back when you got engaged, you guys? Did you want your fiancée doubting whether or not you were really committed to her? I remember when I got engaged to Veronica, she was a student at UVA, and I was down here in school in North Carolina.
It was one of the most bitter things to have to leave on the weekend, and for me to come back down here. I didn't want her sitting there up there at UVA thinking that maybe I was messing around on her down here. Hey, maybe I'm not going to come back. Maybe I like another girl more. In fact, I bought her the most expensive piece of jewelry I've ever bought in my life to put that on her finger to remind her that I wasn't messing around.
Because she and I both knew that if I messed around, she was keeping that thing, right?
So yeah, I want her to be sure because I loved her. You see, the whole point is, you get this point. God wants you to know for sure that He is present in your life. Do not think it was presumptuous. It is something that God promised you, and your life will never take off spiritually until you are absolutely assured that you are His child, that there is nothing between you, and that if you died before your body hit the floor, your soul would be standing in His presence.
That's what He wants for you. All right? Let me take you to 1 John now. 1 John chapter 5. And show you how John in his epistle takes us a little deeper.
Here we go, 1 John chapter 5. Or in verse 13. I write these things to you. Who believe in the name of the Son of God? That you may What's that word?
Know that you have eternal life. Not that you may hope. Not that you may be reasonably sure of or even beyond reasonable doubt. I write these things to you that you may know that you have eternal life.
So what are these things that here is referring to? We'll go back to verse 10. He'll explain it to you. Verse 10. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself.
Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar because he's not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his son. And this is the testimony. That God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
There are two components that he gives you in those four verses that he wants you to use to give you the assurance of eternal life. Let me give you both of them, and then we'll talk about them one at a time. Number one. There is a testimony to be believed. And then number two, there is a manifestation of that testimony in your life.
Number one, there is a testimony to be believed. And then, number two, there is a manifestation of that testimony in your life. Let's talk about number one. There is a testimony to be believed. What is the testimony to be believed?
Well, you get a little hint there in verse 11. This is the testimony. That God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. That eternal life is a gift that God gave to us. and that it was not something that we had in ourselves.
Now, he tells you more about this testimony. Earlier in his book, because he's kind of building up to 1 John 5.
So if you got your Bible open, flip back four chapters to 1 John 1, where he's going to basically build the case for this. Watch this. 1 John 1. If we say we have no sin, Then we deceive ourselves. And the truth or the testimony, those words are interchangeable, the truth is not in us.
If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word or the testimony is not in us. The first part of the testimony. is that we are sinful and utterly empty of eternal life. God's testimony to us tells us that we are utterly unworthy of eternal life, which is really difficult for us to acknowledge because that is both humiliating and it makes us feel helpless. which are two things that we've spent our whole life trying to avoid.
being humiliated and in a place where we feel helpless. We might admit that we're sinful. I mean, that's just kind of passe in Western culture to admit you're a sinner, you know, to err as human. We all admit that we're sinners. But you ever notice that whenever we admit we're sinners, we're always trying to show why our sin is not really that bad?
That our sin is really, we got excuses for it, and really we've done enough good stuff on the other side to make up for the bad things that we've done. That's all part of not acknowledging the testimony that God gave to us, which is that we were hopeless in sin, we were helpless in sin, that eternal life was nothing we could work up in ourselves. It was something that God had to give us as a gift because we didn't have it in us at all. That it is entirely the result of God's grace and not our goodness. Right, so he goes on.
He says, if you acknowledge that, that's the first part of the testimony. And if you confess your sin, acknowledge your sinfulness, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. and then to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In other words, if you acknowledge that you're utterly unworthy before God, you will be accepted. If you maintain that you're worthy before God, you will be rejected.
Let's keep going. By the way, the little break there between chapter 1 and chapter 2, that's a terrible place to put a chapter break. John, of course, didn't have that when he originally wrote it.
So just keep reading because it's all part of the same thought. He says, if you admit that you're a sinner, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. All right, so if you acknowledge the testimony. That you are completely sinful and helpless.
He says, Then you have an advocate with the Father. That word advocate. Is much like our word advocate, like a lawyer. It's somebody who stands in a court of law and argues on your behalf.
So what is our advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous? What is he arguing on our behalf? Is he arguing our innocence?
Well, of course not, because we've already maintained that we're guilty. Is he trying to explain that our sin's not that bad? No! He's holding up before God nails in his hands and his feet and saying, Yes, their sin is great, but my sacrifice was greater. That's in that little word propitiation.
That other really difficult word in that verse. I mean, how many of you have used the word propitiation in a sentence in the last 24 hours? Propitiation means a penalty that's been paid or wrath that has been absorbed. For example, if you wreck into my car with your car, then your insurance company pays me a certain amount of money so that I can get my car repaired. And thus I am propitiated towards you.
I'm no longer angry. I no longer have a claim to hold against you. Right, I no longer have wrath towards you because that has been satisfied. He's saying that what our advocate is doing, if we acknowledge the testimony that we are sinful and unworthy, but God is gracious, Jesus becomes our advocate, not who maintains our innocence, but maintains that his sacrifice overcomes our sinfulness and is given in our place. The book of Zachariah gives you a great example of this in the Old Testament.
It it's a little thing that's buried in chapter three of Zachariah. Zachariah has this vision of high priest that he names Joshua. A high priest Joshua, who is standing, getting ready to go in and offer a sacrifice on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
Okay, now, in case you don't know this, the temple, the Jewish temple was a big, huge structure that had four major parts to it. Part number one was called the Court of the Gentiles, and anybody could go into that and pray. Part number two was called the inner court, and that was where only religious Jews could come. Then part number three was called the Holy Place. Only the priests could go in the holy place, and that's where all the really cool furniture was, like the seven-pronged candlestick and all the altars and that kind of stuff, was in the holy place.
And then there was a big curtain that was about a foot thick, and on the other side of that curtain was called the Holy of Holies. It's where the Ark of the Covenant was, and it's where God's Shekinah glory dwelt. And on one day a year, one priest, the high priest, would go into the Holy of Holies and he would take a sacrifice and offer it on behalf of the people. It was a very important day. It was very significant.
God gave very explicit instructions to make sure they did it right because if that high priest stepped into the Holy of Holies on that day with any defilement on him at all, he would be struck dead.
So the Mishnah tells us that they used to put a little bale on the bottom of his robe, and then they would tie a rope around his foot so that if God struck him dead, they just drag him out. Because otherwise, how would you get in there to get it? Right? So one scholar I was reading describes That's why people are like, listen, quote, a week beforehand. Before the Yom Kippur, the high priest was put into seclusion.
He was taken away from his home and into a place where he was completely alone. Why?
so that he wouldn't accidentally touch or eat anything unclean. You know, having a salad with bacon sprinkled on it or something accidentally, just to make sure.
So, clean food was brought to him, and he'd wash his body and prepare his heart. Then the night before the Day of Atonement, he wouldn't go to bed. He would stay up all night praying and reading God's word to purify his soul. Then on Yom Kippur, he would bathe head to toe and dress in pure, unstained white linen. And he would go into the Holy of Holies and he would offer.
An animal sacrifice to atone for or pay the penalty for his own sins. After that, he would come out and bathe completely head to toe again, and new white linen was put on him. And he would go in a second time, this time sacrificing for the sins of all the priests. But that's not all. He would come out a third time, and he would bathe again from head to toe, and they would dress him in brand new pure linen, and he went into the Holy of Holies and atoned for the sins of all the people.
This was all done in public. The temple was crowded. It was almost like a sporting event. And those in attendance watched closely. There was a little thin screen and he bathed behind that screen.
But the people were all present. They saw him bathe. They saw him dress. They saw him go in. They saw him come back out.
He was their representative before God, and they were cheering him on. They were very concerned to make sure that everything was done properly and with purity because he represented them before God. One man, the high priest, one day of the year, Yon Kippur. in complete purity to offer one sacrifice for the sins of the people. This is Zachariah's vision.
Is this about to happen? But as Zachariah looks in chapter 3, verse 3, to his horror, he sees that as Joshua the high priest is about to go into the Holy of Holies, he is covered in excrement, human excrement from head to foot, so that his linens are hopelessly soiled. And as Zachariah begins to despair, that his representative is covered in excrement. The Lord says to Joshua the high priest, Take off your filthy clothes. See, I have taken away your sin.
And I will put new rich garments on you. I will send my servant, and he will remove the sin of this land on a single day. The scholar I was reading says this: quote: Centuries later, another Joshua would show up in fulfillment of this promise, another Yeshua. Jesus, Yeshua, Joshua, it's all the same name in Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew. Another Joshua showed up and he staged his own day of atonement.
One week beforehand, Jesus began to prepare. And on the night before, he didn't go to sleep. But what happened to Jesus was exactly the reverse of what happened to Joshua the high priest. Because instead of everybody cheering him on, nearly everyone he loved betrayed him, abandoned him, or denied him. And when he stood before God, instead of receiving words of encouragement, the Father forsook him.
Instead of being clothed in rich garments, he was stripped of the only garment he did have. He was beaten and he was killed naked. He was bathed, yes, but he was bathed in human spit. But because he who was pure was treated as if he had on the garments of filthiness. I, who am clothed in filthiness, can be given the garments of purity in his place.
I who deserve condemnation can receive commendation in his place. That is propitiation. And that is the gospel. At Summit Life, our mission is simple but profound. To take people deeper into the gospel and to advance it wider across the world.
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Visit jdgreer.com or call 866-335-5220. Together, let's bring God's healing and truth to the world. Jesus in my place. Jesus taking and absorbing. The penalty for what I had earned.
so that I could receive The blessing. that he had earned in my place. And when you believe that unbelievable testimony. about what God has given you. God gives you eternal life.
And it is really Hard. to believe that, isn't it? Because it's humbling. It's hard to admit that you could actually be that wicked and God could be that gracious. And so, you know what we're always doing?
We're always trying to tweak it, aren't we? They're always trying to tweak it to say, well, yeah, and Jesus died for us, but you know, I mean, come on. You got to accept Jesus as your Savior and live a good life. You got to add to what he did, and then you'll get to heaven. The Apostle Paul said it like this, Romans 4, 5.
To the one who does not work, but instead believes in him. To the one who does not work means you realize that there's nothing you could do to make yourself worthy to God. There's no good work that you could do. There's no way you could up your claim. There's nothing.
You're totally helpless. But instead you believe on him. Who justifies the ungodly? You believe that he did it all? Not based on your worthiness, but entirely out of his grace to him, his faith is counted as righteousness.
Your faith that God did what God said God would do is counted as righteousness and you believe that and you just rest in it and it becomes yours. Eternal life is yours simply by believing the testimony that God has given about his son. Just acknowledging that God told the truth. Listen, it's not a ceremony that you go through. It's not even a prayer that you pray, or it's not being baptized.
That's what we turned it into. It's like this little ritual you go through that you pray this prayer and you get baptized. Listen, please don't misunderstand me, but not one time in scripture, ever, will you ever find the instruction to pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart. Never. It's okay if you express your faith that way.
But what you do is you just believe that God told the truth about what he did with Jesus. And because we've turned it into the ceremony, here's what happens: people start to base their assurance on how well they did that ceremony. That's what I did. You start to look back and think, did I repent enough? Was I sorry enough?
Did I ever shed a tear? How could you really repent of your sin and not shed a tear? Did I not understand the Trinity? Because I didn't get the whole DD of Christ day. Did I understand all the stuff that was going on on the cross?
What's the actual minimum amount of knowledge you got to know before it actually came? Did you ever go through this? Was I sorry enough? Did I believe strong enough? Listen, as if repentance and faith were the Savior.
Repentance and faith are not the Savior. Jesus is the Savior.
So when I think about how I know that I belong to God, I'm not, listen, I'm not basing my assurance on something that happened to me 10 years ago. I'm base my assurance on something that happened to me 2,000 years ago. I may have started resting and trusting in it 10 years ago or for me 21 years ago. But I am still in a posture of what I began 21 years ago, and I'm... Trust in what he did back then.
When somebody asks me when I was saved, when and where were you saved, JD? If I'm feeling a little sarcastic, I say this. Let's see, when and where was I saved? I was saved in this little hill. About a 20 minutes walk from downtown Jerusalem 2,000 years ago.
That's when I was saved. I began a posture of believing back when I was 16 that Jesus did what Jesus said he would do. Let me use an illustration that's almost a little childish. You're sitting on a chair. Most of you made a decision to sit in that chair.
Well, all of you did. If you're sitting there, you made a decision. How do you know that you made the decision to sit in the chair? Is it because you remember making the decision? You walked in and said, I can remember.
I looked at that chair and I thought, man, that chair will hold me up. It looks like a good chair. My feet are so tired. I can't wait to. Do you remember that thought process?
Anyone? Maybe one or two of you, but most of you just sat down. How do you know you made the decision to sit in a chair? It's not because you remember the decision, it's because you're seated there right now. How do you know that you put trust in Christ?
Is it because you remember what happened in the Sunday school classroom when you were eight years old? No, it's because right now you're trusting in Jesus, the testimony that was given about him, that God spoke in his word. That's all that it is. It's not a prayer that you pray. It's not a transaction.
It's not a ritual. It's just believing what God says. To saying, God, you told the truth. And I started to believe that when I was 16. 21 years later, I'm still believing it.
How do I know? Because. Because that's the posture right now. You've got one or two postures with Jesus. Either you are submitted to him as Lord and you're sitting in his lordship You are believing that he is completely paid at all.
Or you are standing in your own self-will and standing in your own righteousness. You got one of two postures with Jesus. The question is, which is it? That's why people are like, well, I can't remember when I was saved. I don't care.
You're like, but don't you need something in your Bible where your grandma and Billy Graham signed it to actually prove? No. No more than you need to remember when you sat down. The proof that you sat down is the fact that you're sitting there now. I base my assurance, see, not what happened on what happened when I was 16.
I base it on what happened 2,000 years ago. And I believe. Assurance is the present possession of those who are currently trusting the testimony that God gave about his son. Do you see that? There's a testimony to be believed.
The one who believes, the one who just acknowledges that God is true, has that because your faith is counted as righteousness. Which posture are you in toward Jesus right now? I could remember when this finally dawned on me. I know this seems like a totally nerd thing to do. You see this?
This is a copy of Martin Luther's commentary on Romans.
Somebody gave me this when I was 18 years old, and I still got all the notes in it from where I it was on a Friday night as I went through this, and it finally dawned on me. that Jesus had done it all. And I just had to believe it. And I stood up from the desk I was studying, and it felt like my soul was free. free.
Because I realized that it was done. And I just believed the testimony that God gave about his son. Believing. Does that make sense?
By the way, some of you have thought that it's presumptuous to know that you're saved. I would submit to you that it's more presumptuous to doubt God's word. Than it is to believe that God did what God said God would do. Talk about presumption. I think when you start saying, God, I really don't think that this testimony you gave about your son was true.
Assurance is a testimony to be believed. Did God tell the truth? And if so, are you just sitting in that? belief right now. That's it.
There's a testimony to be believed. Here's number two. There's a manifestation of that testimony in our lives. There's a manifestation of that testimony in our lives. Go back to verse 10 in chapter 5.
Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself, in himself. Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. Right, so he says what happens is you start to have this life in yourself. You start to manifest the signs of life.
What are the signs of life?
Well, it's these five things we've been going over for the last several weeks. That when the gospel is at work inside of you, you develop this passion to read the Bible, you develop godly character, you start to grow in your love for the church, you start to tell other people about Jesus, and you start to overflow with generosity. Those are the signs that Jesus is inside of you because that's how Jesus lived right there. That's Jesus' life. And when Jesus comes inside of you, your life starts to resemble his life because he's inside of you, working on the inside, making you on the outside like he is.
Here's how 1 John said it. If you. Have time. Flip back to chapter two there. Look at this.
Listen to what John says. By this we know that we have come to know him. if we keep his commandments. Whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments, is a liar. And the truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected or completed or manifested. By this we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. When Jesus is inside of you, he begins to live through you. In a way.
that your life begins to resemble his. This is kind of a cheesy illustration, but I had a friend who's a six-year-old girl. Pray to receive Jesus. My friend told me that about a week after this, she comes to her daddy with this little perplexed look on her face of just consternation and says, Daddy. I got a big question.
It's like, okay, what is it? She said, Daddy, I'm so confused. Daddy, how tall was Jesus? Her dad said, well, I don't know. I mean, Jesus was a grown man.
He was Jewish. He lived like, they were shorter back then, I don't know, 5'8. Daddy, how tall am I? I don't know, you're like six years old, four two, four foot two. Danny, wait a minute.
If Jesus is 5'8 and I'm 4'2, you told me last week that he came to live inside my heart. Shouldn't he be kind of sticking out everywhere? Her dad said, well. Yeah? He should be.
Because when Jesus has come inside, your life begins to resemble his life. And one of the ways that you know that he is inside of you is you begin to develop the same passions that he has, because that is the fruit. That is, you walking as he walked, because the life. is inside of you. He has this testimony in himself.
You begin to develop the same passions that Jesus has because he's working on the inside.
So here is the million dollar question. What do you do? When you notice that those signs aren't really strong in you. What do you do when you look at your life? You're like, oh.
Desire for the word? I don't leap out of bed in the morning just excited about what God's going to say to me that day. Yep. And I struggle to pray. Generosity, I like my money.
I like to keep it. I just, I don't manifest these signs. Do you ever go through this? Do you ever start looking at your life and say, How could I actually be saved and still have all these attitudes that I have? Anyone do this?
Are you tracking with this? Yes, you do. I know that you do. I do. I'm a pastor.
I'm like, how could I still struggle with these same areas of pride? Seriously? I should have gotten over this when I was 18 years old, two years after walking with Jesus. I still am consumed by all these petty little jealousies. How could I be saved and have Jesus and still have this jealousy in my heart?
How could I still have this problem with my temper? This is like elementary stuff I should have gotten rid of. Right, you ever had this?
So you start to have these questions like... Is he really at work? Do you ever Do this.
So the question is, what do you do when The signs are not nearly as strong in you. What do you do? Rest in Christ. That's what you do. There is only one treatment for the disease of sin.
Only one. Believe the testimony. Abide in God's love. Abide in the testimony that your acceptance is not based on how well you do these things, it's based on what He has done. Do you know the difference between diagnosis of a disease and prescription for the disease?
I know you're not all medical students, but you know the difference, right? Diagnosis tells you what's wrong, prescription tells you how to fix it. God's prescription is always faith in the gospel. God's prescription is always faith in the gospel. So you see a lack of fruit in your life?
Great. Confess that to God. but then put faith in the gospel. Rest in the fact that God's acceptance of you is not based on how much fruit you produce, but it's based on what Christ has done. We got a lot of people in this room that are trying to find assurance in their fruitfulness.
You're trying to look at yourself to prove. that you really know Jesus, God never told you to abide in your fruitfulness. It will always lead you to despair. What he told you was to abide in Christ.
So it means whatever your situation right now. No matter how discouraged you are. The prescription is always the same. Always the same. God's prescription is always rest in the finished work of Christ.
Your eyes should always be on him. Here's the secret. When you are resting in the work of Christ, you'll start to see these fruits begin to grow in your life. That's been the whole point of this series. Spiritual fruit is not developed in your life by focusing on the development of those fruits.
Spiritual fruit comes by focusing on what Christ has done for you. It is not a list of things that you need to do better for God that brings spiritual fruit. It is dwelling in the news of what He has done. Here's the little gospel secret. Those people who get better in Christ.
Are those people who realize that God's acceptance of them is not based at all on their getting better? That's the gospel secret. Those people who get better, those people who grow spiritually. Are only those who realize that God's acceptance of them is not based on their growing spiritually or getting better, it's based on what God has done on their behalf in Christ, and they believe the testimony. People are like, oh, but you know.
I just don't feel saved.
Sometimes I feel so far from God. I just don't feel Jesus in my...
So? This is what I always want to say, and I'm saying it right now. My feelings are not the final arbiter on reality. I don't feel safe. Who cares?
A guy named Watchmen Ni, who was a Chinese theologian, the underground church in China, made this statement I thought was brilliant. He said, um He said it's kind of like this. He says, imagine you got three guys walking on the top of a little narrow wall.
Okay, a little narrow wall. One of them's named Fact. The second one is named faith. The third one is named Feely. Like they're walking around a city wall.
He's like, so fact and faith and feeling are walking along this wall. He says, as long as faith keeps its eyes on fact and feeling keeps its eyes on faith, everybody's going to be fine. But the moment that faith turns around and starts to check on feeling, But he and Feeling fall off the wall. No, the point is this. Feelings come.
when you have faith in the facts. that God has given in the testimony about his Son. Feeling is a fruit of assurance. Feeling is not the basis of assurance. Which is why we tell you not to feel your way into your beliefs, but instead believe your way into your feelings.
Your faith is on the facts and the feelings, or what follows. You're like, Well, I don't feel saved. I don't care. You should acknowledge the testimony that God has saved you in Christ. And by believing that, see.
Eternal life becomes yours and that feeling will come. What I'm trying to explain to you right now is this. Listen. Absolute 100% assurance can be yours right in this moment, now. How?
By believing the testimony God gave him about his son. You've got one of two postures in relationship to Jesus, like that chair. You are either believing That it really is finished. That you really were beyond hope, and God did it all, and you are resting, and that is your only hope of salvation, or you are standing in your own righteousness. Oh, but I can't remember when I prayed the prayer.
Who cares? Are you seated there right now? He that believes has the Son. He that does not believe does not. Right now, assurance is a present possession.
for those who trust in Christ. You got time for one more word picture? I'll make it quick. There's a lot of people who treat salvation like this. They almost look at it like...
You got Jesus like over here, and you come up to Jesus and you want to receive him as your savior, so he's going to give you a certificate of salvation.
So you come up and you're like, Jesus, would you please come into my heart and give me a forgiveness of sins and salvation? And Jesus says, sure. And he reaches in a pocket and he writes you a little certificate of salvation. Signs it, stamps it with his name, puts Billy Graham's name at the bottom, puts it in your Bible, bam, you're safe, okay? And you're like, oh, awesome.
And then what happens is like three or four years later, you're like, oh, am I really saved? Because I've really had a rough week. And so you go back and you pull back out the certificate. But then by this point, it started to wear a little bit and you're like, oh no, it's fading. How do I know it was really Jesus?
How do I know that wasn't a dream? How do I know that maybe this is like a forgery or a fake? I better go get another one. And so you go back to Jesus and you get in to fill out another certificate. And this was my entire life for eight years between the ages of 13 and 20.
Okay, because I'm always going back get a new certificate because you know you can't have too many Right? That is the predominant idea people have about salvation. That is totally wrong. That's not how salvation works. A much better picture is the one that God gives in the Old Testament.
When you would bring a lamb for sacrifice. They would lay the lamb on the altar. And right before they slit its throat, to symbolize the atonement for sin, the pain for sin. Whoever was offering the sacrifice would lay out his hand and he would grab the head of this lamb. showing that the penalty for his sin was being transferred onto this lamb.
To put faith in Jesus means you recognize that He is the Lamb of God given once for all for your sin. He is the propitiation. He was the one who died in your place. And you reach out the hand of faith and you put it on his head. And you leave it there.
How do I know? That Jesus is my Savior? You can't see it because it's in my soul, but right now my hand is on the head of that lamb. And tomorrow when I wake up, it'll still be on there. And the day after that, when I wake up and whenever I have questions, I'm not going to go back to a prayer I prayed when I was 16.
I'm going to lay my hand on what he did 2,000 years ago. Salvation is a posture. Faith is a posture that you begin. but that you maintain for the rest of your life.
So my question is this. Right now, are you trusty? and what Christ has done. as your salvation. Forget the prayer.
Forget the baptism. Right now, are you seated in the promise of what he said he did 2,000 years ago? If not, then never before you're saved right at this moment. If not, I don't care how many prayers you prayed, you're not saved. The good news is you could do that right now.
I told you it's not prayer. It really isn't. It's a posture. Right now are you seated in submission to the Lordship of Christ? And are you seated in belief?
That he did what he said he did, and that is that he paid it all. If not, then never, if you are, then if never before you are saved right at this moment. You might express it in a prayer to God. You might say, God, Thank you that Jesus died for me. Thank you that it's done.
I receive you as Lord and Savior. You might express it that way. But it's just an expression of faith. Are you believing the testimony that God gave? About a song.
That was the conclusion of our Hallmark series, simply titled Gospel. You may have heard us say this before, but the gospel isn't just the diving board into Christianity. It's actually the whole pool. That's why this month, Summit Life is offering the Gospel Prayer Catechism, a digital resource designed to help you reflect on the gospel message every day. Through 31 brief Q ⁇ As rooted in Scripture, you'll learn how the gospel shapes your identity, your mission, and your prayer life.
When you give to support this ministry in March, we'll send it to you as our way of saying thanks. Request your digital copy of the Gospel Prayer Catechism today and start deepening your understanding of gospel-centered prayer. You can make your donation at jdgreer.com. Thanks for being with us today. We'll see you next time.
Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries. Yeah.
