Christians, like healthy fruit-bearing trees, will bear much spiritual fruit. And this spiritual fruit is not comprised of mere human works, self-improvement efforts, or attempts at better behavior. Good spiritual fruit is the correct testimony concerning Christ and His Gospel flowing from the abundance of the heart. Good fruit is a product of a changed mind concerning Christ, the “fruit of our lips that acknowledge his name.”

While grumblers and malcontents follow their own sinful desires in trying to pursue a righteousness apart from Christ, God’s people rest in the completed Gospel work, being persuaded by the testimony of Scripture that God is able to keep His people, presenting us blameless through Jesus Christ our Lord. The keeping power of God in the person and work of Christ serves as proof positive that the redemptive work is truly complete. True Christians rejoice in the power of God to keep His people. And one day, God will present us faultless before the presence of His glory in, by, and through the work of Christ.

Christians are called ‘believers’ precisely because we have been

granted faith to believe the true testimony concerning Christ as contained in His precious Word. Those who trust in any other message

short of God’s Word stand guilty of second-guessing the authority and providence of God, ensuring their own sure destruction. To follow the mere dreams of men, said by Jude to be “barren trees and waterless clouds,” is to forsake the clear teaching of Scripture.

Our Lord Christ is not surprised when false teachers attempt to sway His people away from the truth of the Gospel. Much to the contrary and long ago, God designated the false teachers precisely for the condemnation awaiting them. And, as the Scripture declares, “Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Gen. 18:25). False teachers rail against the Gospel. But even their wicked deeds are ordained of the Lord to fulfill His plan and purpose. They shall “burned up in the brightness of His coming.”

Christians rejoice, knowing that salvation is

absolutely secure in Christ. God, who has called us in love, keeps us faithfully in, by, and through the merits of the finished work of Christ Jesus. Through Christ’s obedience unto death, God’s people have complete confidence, joy unspeakable and full of glory, all because of Christ, who has put away sin and fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law for His elect people.

This is a sermon preached by Jason Boothe, Pastor of Horizons Baptist Church of Piketon, Ohio. For more information concerning the ministries of the church, please visit www.HorizonsBaptist.org.

While the world misinterprets Christ’s tarrying as a sign that He will never return, believers should rest comforted in the knowledge that the Lord tarries in saving patience to redeem those, all of those, God has chosen before the foundation of the world. Christ does not delay His coming like some sluggard! On the contrary, He graciously exercises saving patience for the sake of His beloved

elect, returning precisely at the sovereignly appointed day and hour!

Though scoffers mock and ridicule the truth of our Lord’s coming judgment, God’s people trust in the promise that one day, God will finally judge the wicked and dwell with His children eternally. This place, a new heaven and earth where righteousness dwells, will serve as the eternal home of God’s redeemed children.

This sermon was preached by Pastor Jason K. Boothe at Horizons Baptist Church of Piketon, Ohio.

False professors, though appearing to have many or all of the external marks of God’s redeemed people, will always forsake the truth of the Gospel. This sermon was preached by Jason Boothe, Pastor of Horizons Baptist Church of Piketon, Ohio. More information is available at www.HorizonsBaptist.org.

This is a message preached by Pastor Jason Boothe of Horizons Baptist Church of Piketon, Ohio. Scripture alone is the sole source of infallible information concerning the Christian faith. Today, as in the days of the Apostles, God's Word remains a light in a dark place.

In this message, Pastor Jason Boothe begins a verse-by-verse study of Peter's Second Letter. While this opening chapter has been utilized by Lordship Salvationists as a proof-text for works-based assurance, Pastor Jason demonstrates from the passage how Christians trust in the great and precious promises of Christ as their only source of biblical assurance. In light of this assurance of faith found only in the work of Christ, believers have freedom to perform acceptable works. Assurance is the spring from which acceptable works flow.