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Rev. Paul Jeyachandran leads the Intentional Disciple Making Church (IDMC) Movement, which is all about calling churches back to its disciplemaking roots. Visit us at idmcmovement.com
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The Blessed Assurance of Our Salvation 0:00 Shall we give the Lord a clap offering, church? Hallelujah. What a joy and a privilege for us to worship the Lord together and to study the word of God. Today, we're continuing in our sermon0:12 series on the book of Ephesians. This is part 7 of the Ephesians series. I'm titling today's sermon, the blessed assurance of our salvation. We're gonna meditate on 20:24 verses, Ephesians chapter 1 verses 13 to 14. Hallelujah. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Thank you, Jesus. Blessed0:36 assurance,0:39 Jesus is mine. Oh, what a full taste of glory divine0:53 Heir of salvation purchase of God, born of the spirit,1:07 washed in his blood. This is my story. This is my song,1:20 praising my savior all the day long. This is my story.1:34 This is my song. Praising my savior all the day long.1:48 Praising my savior all the day long.1:57 Heavenly father, we come before your throne room of grace this morning, knowing that we have been loved by you, and in love that you have chosen us to be adopted as your2:09 children. You sent your son to redeem us, and you gave us your holy spirit to seal us and give us a guarantee of our salvation. This2:21 morning we come before your throne room of grace, mighty God. Undeserving, people who have never been able to come before God, unless God opened the way. And he2:33 did through Jesus. And we come through Jesus to you. And today, we come as your children, forgiven of our sins, cleansed from all unrighteousness, standing in the2:45 perfect finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and accepted in the beloved. We come before you Lord. Lord minister to our hearts. Continue to give us that grace to develop that you will2:57 get us mindset. A mindset that this praises God, a praise worthy God, a praise worthy God. Hallelujah. Lord, give us grace to worship you this morning.3:09 Speak to our hearts. Holy Spirit be our teacher. In Jesus' precious name, and the people of God said, amen and amen. Praise the Lord. Today, we're continuing our sermon3:21 series on the book of Ephesians. Today, I'm titling my sermon, Blessed Assurance of Our Salvation. Ephesians chapter 1 verses 13 and verse 14 is for our meditation3:33 today. I wanna give you the context. We started by looking at verse 3 of chapter 1. In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3, Paul says, blessed be the God, the3:44 father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. In other words, from verse 3 to verse 14, it's 1 long sentence and in this3:56 1 statement, Paul is breaking out in praise to a praise worthy God. And this is the principle. He says, we bless God because he has richly blessed4:07 us. In other words, we bless God who has richly blessed us. So verse 3 is the introductory principle and he introduces there are 4 key blessings that God4:19 gives us in Christ. So in the context, the first blessing he talks about is adoption. In verse 4 to verse 6, he says, he predestined us for adoption to himself4:31 as sons. In other words, we have been predestined for adoption. God has now adopted us into his family. The second blessing he talks about is redemption. In verse 74:43 and verse 8, he says, in him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. Hallelujah. We have been forgiven for how long? Forever. We have been redeemed4:55 and God says, now you have been adopted into my family. The third blessing is revelation from verse 9 and verse 10. Paul says, making known to us the mystery of his5:07 will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ. And what was the mystery? The mystery is to unite all things in Christ. 1 day, the consummation of all things5:19 is the crowning of Christ as lord over everything. Hallelujah. That means every knee will bow, every tongue will confess, and everything will find its fulfillment in5:31 Christ. Hallelujah. And today we're talking about the fourth blessing, the confirmation. From verse 11 to verse 14, Paul deals with this. In him, you also when you heard the word5:43 of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him, you were sealed with the promised holy spirit. He talks about being sealed with the promised5:54 holy spirit. Hallelujah. In other words, you have been confirmed. The assurance of your salvation is now guaranteed. It's given to you. Praise God. From this context,6:07 there are 3 things I want you to capture. The father has selected us, the son has saved us, and the spirit has sealed us. In other words, the father has6:18 planned our salvation. The son has purchased our salvation and the spirit preserves our salvation. So the key question I want to address in this sermon is6:30 this, do you have the blessed assurance of your salvation? Can a believer actually boldly state, I have the blessed assurance that salvation is6:42 secure? Now, why don't some people feel that way? Why don't some people have that blessed assurance of salvation? Can I ask you to think theologically with me? There are6:54 2 ways you can look at salvation, looking unto self. The other 1 is looking unto Christ. Now the key question is when you look unto self, you7:06 are putting all the emphasis on yourself for you to work out your salvation. Now listen carefully. Salvation cannot be earned. It's not by your7:17 good works that you earn your salvation. In fact, many believers still think that they have to perform. Can I humbly say this? As long as you keep looking at self, you keep asking7:29 yourself this question, can I fulfill the demands of living a Christian life? You know, many times people come to the conclusion it is highly impossible. Why? Because it is so hard7:41 to live the Christian life in the flesh. That's why no matter how good we are in our moral life, in our behavior, in our conduct, we will always be wanting before God.7:54 So this is the key. Are you trusting in your unfinished work of self or are you trusting in the finished work of Christ? Because salvation is8:05 dependent upon work. Salvation is by work. Now when you hear that statement, it could be jarring for some of you because you know that salvation is only8:17 by grace. But can I humbly say this? Salvation is by work, but the key question to ask theologically is whose work? If it is my unfinished work, the8:29 end result will be condemnation. But if it is upon the finished work of Christ, then the end result is salvation. So can I ask you this question8:40 again? Do you have the blessed assurance of your salvation? The blessed assurance of your salvation can be guaranteed if you look at the finished work of Christ. Hallelujah. That is what Paul8:52 is saying in this text because he says, you and I should be worshiping God. We should worship the father. We should worship the son. We should worship the spirit. We should praise9:04 God who has blessed us. And how did he bless us? He sent his son to die on the cross for us. Now he has sent his holy spirit as a guarantee9:17 of our salvation. So let's look at the text and there are 3 things I want you to capture that will give you that blessed assurance of your salvation. We can have the blessed assurance of our salvation because9:30 of the sufficiency of Christ, the seal of the holy spirit and the steadfastness of God. That's what we have in these 2 verses. Let's look at it 1 by 1. Number 1, the9:41 blessed assurance of our salvation because of the sufficiency of Christ. You know, in this context of Ephesians chapter 1, Paul is dealing with the sufficiency9:53 of Christ. See, there's another beautiful passage in Colossians. Colossians chapter 1, I did about pen messages on Colossians 1. It's available on the Internet. Colossians 1, he10:05 deals with the supremacy of Christ. Look at this. In Colossians chapter 1 and verse 18, he says, and Christ is the head of the body, the church. He's the beginning, the firstborn from10:17 the dead that in everything Christ might be preeminent. Circle that word. Underline that word. In other words, what was the focus of Paul's writing in Colossians?10:30 The supremacy of Christ that Christ will have preeminence in everything. That was what was explained theologically in Colossians chapter 1. But in10:41 Ephesians chapter 1 but in Ephesians chapter 1, Paul deals with the sufficiency of Christ. I want you to pay attention to this. From verse 3 all the way to verse10:53 14, Paul deals with this 1 thing. You will read this over and over again. In Christ look at this. Blessed be God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ11:05 with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Even as he chose us in him, in other words, in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him.11:17 In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. I want you to look at verse 6 now. It says, to the11:29 praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved, referring to in Christ. And then in verse 7, in him, we have redemption through the blood, the11:41 forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace. Hallelujah. And then in verse 9, he says, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and11:52 insight. And then he carries on to say, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ. In other words, again, he reveals to us the mystery of his will. What12:04 is the mystery of his will? Verse 10 says to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Verse 11 says in him, we have obtained an inheritance. Verse12:16 13 says, in you, in him, you also verse 13 says, in him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, believed in him and were12:28 sealed. In other words, what was Paul highlighting? The sufficiency of Christ. Let me give you a principle. Christ alone is sufficient for all of God's blessings to12:40 flow to us. And the people of God said, amen. Now this should energize you. The sufficiency of Christ. See, what is the opposite of sufficiency? The opposite of12:51 sufficiency is inadequacy. In other words, no matter what we try to do, it is always inadequate. The only thing that God looks for13:03 is the sufficiency of Christ and in him, he had chosen you. In him, he has accepted you. In him, he has adopted you. In13:15 him, he has blessed you. In him, he has given you an inheritance. In him, you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. Can we give the Lord Jesus a clap offering? Come13:27 on. Hallelujah. In other words, we have sufficiency in Christ. Why can't we have the assurance of salvation? Because of the sufficiency of13:39 our Lord Jesus Christ. That's why I don't look at my unfinished work of self. I look at the finished work of Christ. When you rest upon the finished work of Christ,13:51 continuously you can have the blessed assurance of your salvation. So this begs the key question this morning. Where do you stand in your relationship with Christ?14:04 I want you to listen to me carefully. You could be a person who admires Christ. In other words, you admire him as a good human being. You may even admire his teaching14:15 and appreciate his teaching and say, Christ is a good teacher, a good model for us to follow. But can I humbly say this? You will not be saved even if you just admire him14:28 or appreciate him. You have to acknowledge him as your Lord and as your only Lord. See, there are people who would think, yes, I have other14:39 gods in my life and Jesus is also 1 of the god in my life. In other words, just like I pray to other gods, I may even pray to Jesus. I just add14:51 Jesus as 1 of the god in my life. Can I humbly say this? The Bible is very clear. Either Jesus is lord of all, if not, he is not lord at15:03 all. The key question to always keep coming back to is, do you trust in Christ alone for your salvation? But the problem with the church world today is this. The15:15 problem is we give lip service to the sufficiency of Christ. You know, when we go through difficult and challenging circumstance, whether we are experiencing15:26 difficulty in our marriage, whether we are experiencing a challenging time in our finances, or whether you're going through a health crisis. Sometimes, we are shaken. And during15:38 the time when you're shaken, you're expecting God to do certain things and you get anxious and you're worried and you you you're afraid to face the future. But can I humbly say this, even in that15:50 season of your darkness, the most important thing that you and I have that we can rely upon is the sufficiency of Christ? There was an evangelist by the name of16:02 Mario Murillo and this is what he said about people who came to him for counseling. He has counseled numerous number of people and he concluded this and he wrote it in his16:14 book. This is what he says. You know, he says that many people that he has encountered, they actually don't need counseling. What they need is a desperate confrontation.16:26 Now let me humbly say this. This is the evangelist Mario Murillo's words. He says that many people don't need counseling. What they need is a loving16:38 confrontation. Confrontation to do what? To really examine the state of their life. And he says the problem is this, the problem is that you don't love God at the core of your16:50 being. That's the first problem. You don't love God. Secondly, the problem is you have not encountered God in power. In other words, you go through life with a limp17:02 because you have not encountered god with power. Thirdly, he says, you are a spiritual birth defect. In other words, there is something fundamentally wrong in our17:14 being. What is it? The sin has come and plagued and tainted and corrupted our being. So what do we need? We need to have a genuine encounter with the lord Jesus17:26 Christ. We need to have that experience of rebirth. That's what he was talking about. In other words, people need to be confronted. You know, sometimes you think that the problems can be solved if you just talk to a17:37 therapist or you go through counseling and you just dialogue around the problem. Can I humbly say this? The deepest need of man is to solve his relational crisis with God. And that's17:49 what God came to do. God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for your life, for your sin so that you can be redeemed. You can be adopted. Your sins can be forgiven, you can be18:00 reconciled back to God. And now because of that reconciliation, you can have a genuine encounter with God and his power. The sufficiency of Christ18:12 in every aspect of our lives. So the key question to ask, where do I stand in my relationship with Christ? So how can I have18:24 the assurance of salvation in my life? Number 1, the sufficiency of Christ. Number 2, it is the seal of the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians18:36 chapter 1 and verse 13 and verse 14, Paul says, in him you were also when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him was sealed with the promised holy18:48 spirit. I want you to look at this. Right there in the verse 13, there is a beautiful progression of salvation. In other words, this is what happens when a person believes in Christ.18:59 First is they hear the word of truth. In other words, the moment you hear the gospel of your salvation what is the gospel of your salvation? That God loves you. The 119:11 who created you loves you, but man has rebelled against God. But God sent his son to live the life that man could never live, but died the death that man deserved19:24 so that man can be forgiven of his sins, man can be redeemed, and man can be reconciled back to God. Hallelujah. You gotta hear the truth. When you hear19:36 the truth, the second thing happens. You believe in Jesus Christ. In other words, you have to believe that Jesus not only died for the sin of the world,19:47 Jesus died for my sin. My sin was placed upon Jesus and Jesus is my savior. You gotta believe. The Bible says in Romans chapter19:59 10 and verse 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ. In other words, the more you hear the word of Christ, Christ being proclaimed, Christ being preached through the word of God, faith is20:11 arise within your heart and with that heart you believe and then you confess. And how do you believe? You believe that Jesus Christ is my20:22 lord. Hallelujah. So the first thing is they heard the word of truth. Secondly, they believed in Christ. That is in verse 13 of Ephesians20:34 chapter 1 verse 13. He says, they believed in Christ. Hallelujah. Thirdly, they were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. In other words, the moment20:46 you have placed your faith in Christ, Holy Spirit comes and indwells you. See, many people can say, yes, I've heard the gospel and20:58 I believe in Jesus, but they never have this third experience. Can I humbly say this? No 1 is saved until you have this third experience, which is they were sealed with the Holy21:10 Spirit. What does the Bible say? In John chapter 3 and verse 5, truly truly I say to you, unless 1 is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. In other words, you have21:22 to be born by the spirit. The spirit of God has to regenerate you. There has to be a transformation inside your heart. I want you to listen to me carefully. It is not just giving a mental21:33 ascent to believing in Christ and to just repeating his prayer after a pastor. But can I humbly say this, it is God allowing the Holy Spirit to resurrect your dead spirit,21:46 regenerate your heart back to God? Hallelujah. In John chapter 1 and verse 13 says, you who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. In other words,21:58 salvation is purely the work of God. It is he who wills it and it is he who accomplishes it. Hallelujah. Praise God. So here, the Bible says22:10 that we who have been who believe in the work of Christ, we have heard the gospel and we have believed in our heart. The bible says we have been sealed with the22:22 promised holy spirit. I want you to pay attention to that. What is that word sealed? What was Paul referring to when he says sealed? You know, in those days in the22:34 Roman Empire, they used seals. They used seals for 3 things. 1, for authentication. In other words, when the emperor is sending a letter22:46 or when there is a contract or a treaty between 2 nations or there is an official document, there is a there is an, law that is being passed. They have to put the seal and the22:58 seal will have the signature of the emperor. And so when they put the seal, the seal is this, it authenticates the document to be genuine.23:10 Secondly, there is a security. So when the seal is there, not everyone can open it. In other words, only those who are authorized to open can open the seal.23:21 That means there is whatever document they are attesting, it becomes secure. You know, in the gospels we read that the priest went and asked the pilot to put a big stone23:34 on the entrance to the tomb of Christ and put a seal. It was sealed. Why? To protect. In other words, it is to secure. Thirdly, seal is used for ownership.23:46 In those days, you have to mark things that belong to you. In a way in other words, they they may have a slave and they would put a seal on the slave to say that this slave belongs to this master.23:58 So even if that slave run away, they can identify the slave by the seal of the master. In other words, it talks about ownership. Now when you think about this, God has given us a24:10 seal. What is a seal? Holy spirit himself. You know, in first Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 16, the bible says, do you not know that you are God's temple24:22 and that spirit of God dwells in you? Hallelujah. In other words, God didn't just give us gifts of the spirit. God doesn't just give us the fruit of the spirit. God gives24:33 us the spirit himself. Hallelujah. The bible says, you have now become the temple of God. The word temple there Paul is using is not the outer courts.24:45 He's referring the Greek word there refers to the holy of holies. In other words, that's where the presence of God dwells. And now he says, your body has now become the temple of24:57 God where the holy spirit of God dwells. Hallelujah. In other words, the moment someone has heard the gospel, the moment someone has believed in Christ, the25:09 moment that moment of salvation, the holy spirit comes and indwells that person. And the Bible says that is a seal of the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah.25:20 Praise God. So when the seal is given, it it again does 3 things for us. Number 1, the Holy Spirit authenticates our spiritual birth. Holy Spirit authenticates25:32 our spiritual birth. Go with me to Romans chapter 8 and verse 9. However, you are not in the flesh but in the spirit. In fact, the spirit of God dwells in you. In other25:44 words, if the spirit of God dwells within you, you are not in the flesh, you are in the spirit. Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. In other words, only those who have25:56 the spirit of God living within them, they are the children of God. Go with me Romans chapter 8 and verse 16. The spirit himself bear witness with our spirit that we26:08 are the children of God. Only those who have the spirit. You may say I believe. You may say I acknowledge. But unless and until the holy spirit has taken residence in26:20 your life, he has brought in and the seal of God has come upon you. He there is no way of knowing that you are born again. Holy Spirit authenticates our26:32 spiritual birth. Secondly, Holy Spirit secures us for salvation. Look at this. In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 14, he says, who is the guarantee of our inheritance? Who's the26:43 guarantee? The promised holy spirit is the guarantee. That word guarantee is the word for initial payment, down payment, a pledge, a deposit,26:55 a bond. You know, when you buy a house, you don't you don't pay everything in in, as soon as you buy it. You put a down payment. You put a deposit. And the deposit is to say,27:07 1 day, I'm gonna buy it. In time to come, I'm gonna buy it. So this word can also be given a metaphor like engagement ring. You know, when you when a man puts an engagement ring on27:19 a girl, he's saying, I'm gonna secure this relationship. I'm gonna marry you, but a time will come when I marry you. But now I give you a token, a ring. In other words, the holy spirit is now27:31 that security, that guarantee, that pledge, that bond, that deposit of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, the bible says. Hallelujah. Thirdly, holy spirit confirms God's27:43 ownership of us. I want you to read the verse 13 and verse 14 in NIV. Just read verse 14 in NIV. It says, who is a deposit guaranteeing our27:54 inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession. I want you to listen to me carefully. He says, until the redemption of28:06 those who are God's possession. In other words, you and I are God's possession. We are his. We belong to him and that is the28:18 seal. How do you know that we belong to him? The seal has been given. What is the seal? The holy spirit. Hallelujah. Now the bible says, it is the seal of the promised holy28:30 spirit. In other words, he's the holy spirit of promise. In other words, it's not something that God just came up in the new testament. It is something he has been declaring throughout the old testament. In many28:42 passages of the scripture, he has talked about the holy spirit will 1 day reside in us for how long? Permanently. Look at this in Ezekiel chapter 36 and verse 26 and28:54 27. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. In other words, I will remove the heart of stone29:06 and give you a heart of flesh. I'll put a new spirit within you. Next verse, I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.29:18 Hallelujah. In other words, God says, 1 day I will give the people my spirit. The spirit of God will come in and dwell within us. Right here in this passage,29:30 it's so beautiful. It says that God will give us a new spirit. His spirit will come upon us. And he says the reason why he gives you the spirit. The reason why he gives you the spirit is so that you will29:42 obey him. You will you will follow the leading of the spirit. You will walk in the spirit. You will bear the fruit of the spirit. You will exercise the gift of the spirit. Listen to me carefully,29:54 because you acknowledge that you cannot be saved unless you depend on Christ. And the Holy Spirit comes to help you to continue to depend upon the sufficiency of30:05 Christ for all of your life. Hallelujah. In Acts chapter 5 and verse 32, the Bible says, and we are witnesses to these things and so is the holy spirit whom God has30:17 given to those who obey him. Why did we get the holy spirit? Not so that you can wear a badge and say I'm holy spirit filled. No. No. So that you would obey him. Listen to me carefully.30:29 The outcome of the indwelling spirit is the transformation of life. In other words, the power of Christianity is a transformation life. It's a transformed30:41 life. Listen to me carefully. That's why you you can't say you're a Christian and live the same, tame, lame life. There will be a freshness in your life. There will be a vitality in your30:53 life. There will be a spring in your step. Why? Because God has taken the stone, a heart of stone, and given you a heart of flesh, a heart that is soft before God, a heart that is tender and loving and31:05 compassionate, that wants to obey the promptings of God, that wants to fulfill the mandate that God has for your life. Listen to me carefully. Unless and until you experience that,31:17 Christianity will be just boring. Have you ever seen people who have come to church, they can attend church, they can even do work in the church, but their life31:29 are never transformed. In other words, they don't have the reality of God in their life. They haven't encountered the power of God in their life. Listen to me carefully. How can you31:41 live the same lame, tame life when you have encountered with the living God? When you have God himself living within you in his spirit, he energizes you. He gives you vitality. There is a31:52 freshness in your walk. There's a spring in your step. Why? Because you are excited about what he has, what he does, and what he wants to accomplish in you and through you. Hallelujah. So the key question I have for you32:04 this morning is, are you living a spirit filled, spirit empowered life of obedience? If you continue to do that, it is a guarantee again. It's a blessed assurance of your32:16 salvation. You can have a blessed assurance of your salvation because of the sufficiency of Christ. Secondly, because of the seal of the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, it is because of32:28 the steadfastness of God. Go with me to verse 14 in the NIV. Who is a deposit guaranteeing? In other words, Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing32:40 our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory. In other words, God has given us32:52 a guarantee. It's almost like God has saying, I've put an engagement ring on you. I have paid the penalty for your sins. Now I'm continuing to work in you to set you33:03 free from the power of sin. But 1 day I will set you completely free from the presence of sin. In other words, God is steadfastly in love with you. In this whole context from33:15 verse 3 to verse 14, Paul is exuberant about 1 thing. He says, he loves me. The father loves me. The son loves me. The holy spirit33:27 loves me. In other words, it's the love of God. It's the steadfastness of God, how he chose you from the foundation of the world to adopt you. He sent his son to redeem you, and33:39 then he gave you the Holy Spirit to seal you, to preserve you for salvation. Hallelujah. Why is this so important? I want you to see this, the steadfastness of God33:51 towards you. He loves you. And here the word says, he we are God's possession. You know, the Bible says we are God's possession. That's not a new idea in the34:03 in the New Testament. It is an Old Testament idea. In Exodus chapter 19 and verse 5, the Bible says, now therefore, if you indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you34:15 shall be my treasured possession among all peoples for all the earth is mine, says the Lord. Hallelujah. In other words, listen to that word again. It says, you shall be34:27 my treasured possession. You know the Hebrew word there for treasured? Actually in another translation in the English, it uses the word peculiar. You are a peculiar34:39 possession. That treasured possession, another way of saying it in English would be a movable possession, a portable possession. Now why does he34:51 why does God say you are a treasured possession, you are a portable possession? In other words, I take you with me. I I I move you move with me wherever I go. It's not just talking35:02 about moving around. You know, it's not about moving us around, but it's about a treasured position. In other words, he's moving us towards himself. That's what it means.35:15 I want you to listen to me carefully. God says, this is my heart. I'm steadfastly committed to you. Why? Because you are my treasured possession, my portable,35:27 my movable possession and I keep moving you towards me. Every circumstance you go through, God is moving you closer to him. God is bringing you, drawing you closer to him and35:39 that is the beautiful gospel we believe in. You know, it started with the Jews. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11 onwards, if you read it, he says, in him,35:51 we were chosen. When he refers to the pronoun we, he includes himself and the Jews that came to Ephesus and brought the gospel. He says, in him,36:03 we were also chosen. And then in verse 13, he says, you were also included. In other words, you, the Gentiles in Ephesus.36:15 Hallelujah. In other words, this gospel, this salvation started with the Jews first, but then it included the Gentiles. It started with Abraham and Moses36:27 and the Jewish nation, but now Paul says it included the Jews, but now it includes the Gentiles. And then you see that in verse 14, he says, who is now a deposit36:39 guaranteeing our inheritance. Can you see the progression? We, the Jews, you, the Gentiles, and us, our inheritance. In other words, we36:51 are God's possession. There is no longer Jew nor Gentile, but there's only 1 man in Christ and that's what Paul refers to in Romans chapter 1 and verse 16. He37:03 says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. In other words, the salvation came to the Jews,37:15 but it included the Gentiles. And today as a new man, the church which included Jews and gentiles, today as 1 man, we worship God. Hallelujah. Thank37:26 you, Jesus. We are steadfastly loved by God. We are our treasured possession. Hallelujah. So the key question I want you to consider is, how can we37:38 have the blessed assurance of salvation? The only way you can have the blessed assurance of salvation is if you believe in the sufficiency of Christ. You lean and37:50 depend upon the sufficiency of Christ and you know that you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and you believe and trust in the steadfastness of God. Hallelujah. Every38:02 head bow, every eye closed all across this place. I only have 1 burden in my heart this morning. Do you believe in Jesus Christ? The gospel has38:14 come very clearly to you 1 more time in this sermon. But do you receive it? Do you accept it? Do you believe it? How do I believe it, pastor? You believe in your38:26 heart that I let go of my own works. I let go of all my idols. I trust in the only true Lord38:37 and his name is Jesus. I depend on what Jesus did on the cross. I do not want to lay hold of my own work. I don't want to trust in my38:49 honest unfinished work of self, but I want to trust in the finished work of Christ. And the moment you place your faith in him, you believe in your heart, You confess39:01 with your mouth. Jesus, I believe in you. I believe you are my Lord. You are my savior. You live the life I could never live, but died the death that I39:13 deserved. Because you died, I'm forgiven. Because you shed your blood, all my sins are forgiven. I'm redeemed by your blood. I'm bought with a price. I belong to39:25 God. And then you can join with Paul as he celebrates and worships and praises God. Hallelujah. Blessed be God, the father of our Lord JesusShow more In this video 0:00 The Blessed Assurance of Our Salvation
Paul Jeyachandran
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