to 1st John chapter 4. 1st John chapter 4. It's been
three weeks since we last met and we'll be looking at this
book again. 1st John chapter 4. We'll be reading in
verses 7. Verses 7 to 16 of chapter 4. The name
of the message is, Some Things Believers Know. Some Things That
Believers Know. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and
knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. And this was manifest, the love
of God toward us. And remember, he's writing to
believers, because that God sent his only begotten son into the
world that we might live through him. Herein is love. Not that we loved God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sins. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we
dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believe
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Again, three weeks
ago when we met for our study in this wonderful book, we looked
at the one whom God sent to be the propitiation for our sins. And that is Jesus Christ the
righteous. God the Father sent the Lord Jesus Christ to this
earth to be the propitiation for his chosen people. to appease
the wrath and justice of God in our place before God. Now remember, our sin is before
God. It's He who we've sinned against. So it's He who has to
be appeased, beloved. It's He who has to be appeased.
And in Christ, the believer is reconciled to God. through the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the propitiation. He is
the only one who could make satisfaction for our sins. We could never
satisfy God's law for one sin. We could never satisfy God's
justice for one sin. No one can on this earth. No
matter what they say, no one can. But Jesus Christ, the righteous,
remember we looked at that, the righteous, our advocate, the
advocate of God's people, was sent here to be a propitiation
for our sins. And he accomplished what he was
sent here to do. He accomplished what he was sent
here to be. Look at verse 10, here in his
love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his
son to be the propitiation, the propitiation, the only one. singular,
the propitiation for our sins. And remember who he is. He's
the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. He's perfect in life, he's
sinless in life, and he's sinless in death. He's perfect. He's perfect. He's God incarnated
in flesh, beloved. He's God incarnated in flesh.
And he is the only one who has made satisfaction before God
for the sins of all the elect, of all the ages." How? By the
sacrifice of himself. By the sacrifice of himself.
Now, I had us read verses 7 to 16 tonight to get the context
of what we'll be looking at tonight. John again, we see, brings up
brotherly love, again in verse 10. And he brings up the fact
that God's love was manifested for us, for us, in the fact that God the Father sent his son of
the world to be the propitiation for the sins of his people. Look
at this, here in his love, not that we love God, but that he
loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. And verse 7 is where we see the
love for the brethren brought up again. Beloved, let us love
one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. And then look at verse 11. So
first of all, he's John's bought forth, first of all, God's love
for his people, which is always paramount. Remember that. We
love him because he first loved us. His love is always paramount. It's always before ours. Right? So, look at verse 11 now. This
is a theme, again, that's been bought out throughout this book,
and he's going to hit on it again. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. Now we've seen in our past studies
this brotherly love is the fruit of the Spirit. This is, as one
grace preacher said, this is the one thing that Satan can't
counterfeit. He cannot counterfeit the love
that God's people have for the brethren. He can counterfeit
lots of other things, but he can't counterfeit that. Why?
Because it's a fruit of the Spirit. It's a fruit of the Spirit. It's
wrought in us by the Holy Spirit of God. And this is what distinguishes
the believer from a mere professor of religion. Right here, it's
right. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. And God's people love one another.
We love one another. Look at verses seven and eight.
We see that this love for the brethren, which again comes from
God, we know that, is evidence that we who are born again are
God's people. Look at this. Beloved, let us
love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth
is born of God. So this love that the believer
has for the brethren is evidence that we've been born again. Is
evidence that we've been born again. Beloved, let us love one
another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. Now again in verse 12, we see
that we know that God dwells in us by the fact that we love
one another. It's a constant theme we see
through this book. We love those whom God the Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, we love those for whom he shed his blood.
We love those for whom Christ shed his blood. Why? They're purchased with the same
blood we are. purchase with the same blood. Look at verse 12.
No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells
in us, and his love is perfected in us. Now again, we've seen all through
this epistle that John has declared that knowing God, walking in
the light, keeping God's word, the indwelling of the Spirit
of God in the new birth, being in Christ, creates a specific
result in the believer, which is they love the brethren. It's
just evidence that we've been born again. It's nothing that
we can muster again. It's not from us. Because we know in our natural
state we did not love the people of God. But now we love God's
people. Now we love God's people. And
this comes from God. It's a fruit of the Spirit, beloved.
It's a fruit of the Spirit. So the result of being loved
by God results in love in the brethren. Because remember, His
love is paramount. His love always precedes ours. Always. He loved us. We love
Him because He first loved us. We'll see that later on when
we study through the rest of this chapter. Look at verses
19 to 21 of this chapter. We love Him Why? Because he, God, first loved
us. If a man say I love God, look
at this, and hateth his brother, he's a liar. Very plain. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? In this commandment have we from
him that he who loveth God love his brother also. So we see clearly
in verse 20 that if one says he loves God and hates his brother,
he's a liar. Very plain in scripture. We also
see in verse 21 that love for the brethren is a commandment
of God. It's a commandment of God. It's equally clear that
those who are born again do love the brethren. So we've seen very clearly in
our text that if we love one another, then that proves that
God dwells in us. It's evidence of the new birth. It's wonderful. And it's all
God's work. It's all God's work. All of it. Now natural man will not like
the fact that we love the brethren. They will not like that. They
will not like that fact. And there hates you for it. We
probably all experience that in our lives. We love the brethren. And there was a time before I
was saved that I did not love the brethren. Didn't even want
to be around them. Did not want to be around them. In John chapter 15, turn there
if you would, Remember, this will tell us, in John 15, why
the world hates us. And remember, John chapter 15,
in verse 5, the Lord spoke about the vital union that every believer
has with Him, right? It's the portion where He says,
I'm the vine, you're the branches. But in verse 5, He says, without
me, you can do nothing. Nothing. Now look at this. In
John chapter 15 verses 17 and 19. These things I command you
that ye love one another. That's from our master's lips.
It's a commandment from our king, right? If the world hates you,
you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, which
we were at one time, right? When we were dead in trespasses
and sins. The world would love his own. Never had any problem with the
world before I was saved. Is it so for you? But after the
Lord saved me, oh, man. I found out people who were my
friends and didn't want to be around me anymore. Oh, you're
one of them holy rollers now. You think you're better than
us. No. No, I don't. I'm a sinner saved by grace.
But the world does not love God's people. It's plain here. If you have the world, the world
would love his own. But because you are not of the
world, why are we not of the world? Because we're chosen in
Christ before the foundation of the world. We're sanctified
in Christ. We're made holy in Christ. We're born again of the
Holy Spirit of God. We're not what we used to be. Now people still see the outside
frame of us, right? And they think, well, you're
no different. And then they get talking to you, and they find,
yeah, you're different. Yeah, you're different. Because we
tell the wondrous things that God has done for us now. Look at this. If you love the
world, the world will love his own. But because you're not of
the world, but I, look at this. Now here, look at this. Why are
we not of the world? Because I've chosen you out of
the world. Look at that. Chosen there means chosen. You
can't get around that. And it's amazing. The Lord says,
I've chosen you. Think of this. Out of all the
people in your generation, and in my generation, in this whole
world, God's chosen us. That's incredible. And we know it's because of nothing
we did, is it? It's all by His mercy and His grace. Look at
that, though. He says, I have chosen you. Think of that. Out
of all those people in Israel, the Lord chose those men. Why? Because they were chosen in Him
before the foundation of the world. They were given to Him
by the Father, just like every one of us. Marvel at that. He didn't look down through time
and see who would choose them. No. Not at all. We're all a bunch of rebels shaking
our fists at him. He chose to have mercy on this
one, and this one, and this one, and this one, out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation, out of every generation. And marvel, if you're one of
his people, marvel. Don't ever let it become common.
marvel at the fact. The Lord says here, but I have
chosen you out of the world. Therefore the world hateth you. Think of all the people we've
known in our whole life. All the people when we were young
we played with and we grew up with. Brothers and sisters, cousins,
aunts and uncles, friends and co-workers. And the Lord says to his people,
I've chosen you. God himself, the sovereign of
the universe. There's no greater love than
this, beloved. There's no greater love than this. No greater love
than this. So here's a question for us.
Is it possible that we can love God who we've not seen and hate
our brother whom we've seen? Well, we saw the answer in verse
20, didn't we? Of chapter four. It's impossible. Look at verse 20 again. 1 John
4.20, if a man say I love God and hate his brother, he's a
liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, we
see. How can he love God whom he hath
not seen? So we see that John brings forth
that we should know that we know God by him dwelling in us. We
see that in verse 12, that the Holy Spirit, who is God, dwells
in the believer in the fruit of his dwelling in us. is that
we love the brethren. We love the brethren. Look at
verses 12 and 13. No man hath seen God at any time.
If we love one another, God dwelleth in us. And his love is perfected
in us. Hereby know that we dwell in
him and he in us, because he hath given us of his spirit. We know what the source again
of this love for the brethren is, it comes from God. We see
that in verse 19, we love him because he first loved us. And God's love to us is also
the basis for the manner of love that we have for our brethren. Now we who are the children of
God, we who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God, We who
have all our sins forgiven by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ, by his shed blood to make atonement for our sins,
there are some things that we know. There are some things that we
know. Number one, we know we pass from
death to life. We know we pass from death to
life in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that. We
know we were once dead in trespasses and sins, don't we? We know that. We had no spiritual life, the
scripture says. No love of God in us. We had
to be born again. We had to be born again, beloved.
And it is God who's regenerated us. All by His grace and mercy,
the believer has passed from darkness to light, in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's passed from death, spiritual
death, to life eternal in Christ. Note that John, in this wonderful
epistle here, brings forth the fact the believer in Christ is
born of God. Look at verse 7 of this chapter.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone
that loveth is, what? Born of God. Born of God. And knoweth God. Look at that.
Knoweth God. So there, right before us, John
brings forth the new birth, just like Paul did. Ephesians chapter
2 he says you're dead but God he quickened us right now turn
over to chapter 5 and look at verses 1 look at verse 1 this
same thing is the same topic is brought up again whosoever
believe it that Jesus is the Christ is what born to God born
again by the Holy Spirit of God and everyone that loveth him
that begot loveth him also who's begotten of him Well, who's begotten
them? All the elect of all the ages. This is why I have a problem
with people who say they love God and they hate the brethren. Because that's what the scripture
says. I can't get along with that person. Well, they're born
again of God. They're washed in the same blood. My. Look at verse 4. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who's the object of our
faith? Christ. So John is bringing forth, the
apostle John is bringing forth, you must be born again. Just
like he did in his gospel. John chapter 3. when the Lord
Nicodemus visits the Lord and the Lord says to him, you must
be born again. You must be. So we see again John emphasizing
this in verse 7 of chapter 4, in verse 1 of chapter 5, and
in verse 4 of chapter 5. Born of God. And since we were dead in trespasses
and sins, Ephesians 2 tells us that very clearly. We were dead
in spiritual, dead in trespasses, and we had no spiritual life,
did we? We had no spiritual life. We had to be born again by God.
We had to be born again by God. And think about how, think about
how you thought before the Lord saved you. My gosh. Just think about how you thought
before the Lord regenerated you. Think about how you had no hope
before you were born again. I had no hope. No hope at all. I lived a life reckless. It's only by the grace of God
that I survived. By his preserving grace. Multiple
times I should have died in my life, but the Lord preserved
me. I can look back and see multiple times I'm sure you can too in
your life. And as we look back and see our
state before the Lord regenerated us, we were in an awful state,
beloved. I was in an awful state without
God. I didn't know Christ. I had no
care for Him. I rejected him by my actions,
by my thoughts, and by my words. And now, now, oh what wondrous
love, my soul, oh my soul, my soul. What a change the Lord
has wrought, and he's done it all by his grace, and by his
mercy. And the believer in Christ, we
know that we have life, we know that we have eternal life, and
we know that it's only in Christ. Here's a question. Can anyone
save themselves before God and before His holy law and justice?
Can anyone do that? Nope. Nope. The scriptures declare all guilty
before God. That's what the scriptures declare.
All guilty before God's holy law. And what does the law do? What does the law of God do?
It reveals our sinfulness. It reveals the holiness of God. And it reveals the sinfulness
of man. That's what it does. And it's
a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. It shuts us up. It shuts us up. Like when you're putting cattle
going through and you want to take care of a cow, you put them
in that chute, right? And you hem them right up. They
have nowhere else to go. That's what the Lord does to
his people. He hems us right up to Christ, beloved. And we
have nowhere else to go. Nowhere else to go. And we see in the law the unbending
holiness of God and the unbending justice of God must be satisfied. And praise be to God for the
believer it is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's satisfied. Paid
in full. So no son or daughter of Adam
can save themselves. Yet must be born again. Salvation
is only in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see in our
text in verse 10 that the only way a sinner can be forgiven
is through Christ. Look at verse 10. Here in His
love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His
Son to be the propitiation for our sins. There's only one way.
There is only one way that a sinner can be forgiven, and that's in
and through Christ, who is the propitiation for the sins of
God's people. And we read that text, and we
who are born again, we rejoice that Christ has propitiated God
for our sins. He's appeased God. That's what
it means. He's appeased God. Hallelujah. What a Savior. What
a Savior. God is completely satisfied,
appeased as to the exacting justice of His law. The debt owed by
His people is fully paid by Christ. And God alone is satisfied with
Him. And now God is satisfied with
His people in Him. He don't see us in our sinfulness
anymore. He sees us in Christ, beloved.
And the only way a sinner can be saved is by trusting and resting
in the One who is sent by God to be the propitiation for the
sins of God's people. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Behold what manner of love is on display here, beloved. Everlasting,
eternal love. And this love was manifested
again when God the Father sent His Son into this world to be
the propitiation for the sins of His people. And therefore, we're to love
the brethren in the knowledge that Christ has satisfied God's
law and justice for them, just as he's done for us. So when
our brothers and sisters fail and falter, and surely they will,
just like we will, we are to account that God does not hold
that against them, beloved. God does not hold that against
them, and neither should we, because what? Love covers a multitude
of sins. Love covers a multitude of sin.
It does not expose our brother or sister's faults. No, beloved,
it covers them. It covers them. Listen to what
Brother Tim James says. This is wonderful. For us to
diminish in love to the brethren because they have fallen is to
declare that we are not satisfied with the work of Christ and call
them to question whether God is satisfied with them. Our love
for each other ought to be propitiation, being satisfied with them because
God is. We owe this to them because of
what God has done for us. When we are dissatisfied with
our brethren, we are questioning their righteousness. And such
a delusion comes from some warped notion of our own self-righteousness,
because they're clothed in the righteousness of Christ. They're
clothed in the righteousness of Christ, just like we are.
And then he goes to say this, Beloved, if God so loved us,
we are also to love one another. So we love those who are forgiven
by God. They're saved sinners just like
we are. Here's another question. Here's another question for us
tonight. Can we know that we have eternal life? In religion, you run into all
kinds of folks that say, well, you can't never know. I remember
running into some folks one time, and they said, well, if you die
without confessing the sin, you can go to hell. My goodness gracious. All our sins are covered under
the blood of Christ, aren't they? Even the ones we don't even know
we do. And there's a whole lot of them. There's a whole lot
of them. Do you sin when you're dreaming?
Do you sin when you don't even know it? Uh-huh. Do you sin in
your thoughts? Uh-huh. Do you sin in your speech?
Uh-huh. From the top of our head, the
scripture says, to the bottom of our feet, right? Believers
are safe sinners. We hate sin now. We hate sin. I know you sin more than you
want to, because I do too. And oh man, what a day that'll
be when we don't sin no more. But what a comfort it is for
the believer. What assurance the believer has knowing that
we have eternal life. Turn if you would to 1 John 5,
verse 13. We haven't left this book much
tonight. We're gonna stay in this book quite a bit. Look at
this. 1 John 5, 15. Let's read what the scriptures
proclaim. There's some things that God's
people know. And one of them is that we know we have eternal
life. Look at this verse. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God. Do you believe
on the name of the Son of God? That ye may know that ye have
eternal life. And that ye may believe on the
name of the Son of God. Now note the word know in verse
13, that ye may know ye have eternal life. Not that, well,
well I think I have eternal life. Or not to ponder or wonder if
I have eternal life. Or hope I have eternal life.
The text proclaims that you can know that you have eternal life. You can know. This is one of
the things a believer knows. We know we have eternal life.
And we know it's not based upon us, eh? Because we're fickle,
we're up and down, like a seesaw. Remember when we were kids, you
used to get on seesaws, you'd go up high, then you'd go up low, then
you'd go up high. That's us in our life, eh? Up and down. But the Lord is constant, and
our salvation is in Him, beloved. It's not dependent upon us. And
the believer says, hallelujah, that's a fact. It's based upon Him. And we can
know that we have eternal life. And the believer in Christ has
eternal life. And it's only in and through
Him alone. Listen to what John writes over
in the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verse 31. He writes this, but these are
written, the gospel's written, that ye might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, and that believing ye might have life through his
name. But these are written, the gospel
of John, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ. This
whole book, this whole book, beloved, that ye may believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing
ye might have life through his name." And we just saw over there,
over there in 1 John, right? We saw that we can know that
we have eternal life in Christ, in Him alone. The believer in Christ, you know
what we believe? We believe what God says. Don't
we? There was a time when we didn't
believe what God said, but we believe what God says. We believe
it. We believe what he says in this
word, beloved. We believe it. We believe what
this word says and the wondrous words in it. We believe it. We believe in 1 John 5, 521 it
says in you and we know that the son of God is coming up giving
us an understanding that we may know him that is true and and
we are in him that is true even in the son Jesus Christ this
is the true God in eternal life we know these things and these these things are not
based upon our opinion I always, when I'm talking to folks and
they start giving me their opinion, I always, and tell people this,
if you start talking to them about the Lord and they're giving
you their opinion, say give me chapter and verse. Nine times
out of ten people can't. They're just spewing out what
they've heard someone else say. Give them chapter and verse.
What about election? Take them to Ephesians chapter one. Take
them to that portion in John we just read. I've chosen you.
You can't get around these things. We believe what the word of God
says, don't we? And the word of God says God
chose us in Christ. And we believe it. We believe
it. It's not our opinion. We believe
God's word. And God's word, we see there,
tells us that we can know we have eternal life. And that's
right now while we're here on this earth. That's not in the
future. That's right now. Right now. And what comfort, what assurance
that gives the believer in Christ. Here's a question for all of
us who listen to this message. Do we believe God? Do we believe God? Do we believe God? Do we believe
God by faith as Abraham did? Do we believe what the Word of
God says? Now for us to worry and fret,
beloved, is God dishonoring. For us to worry and fret is God
dishonoring. We are to take God at His Word. We are to take God at His Word.
So again, I ask you, do you believe what God says in His Word? As one grace preacher said, to
believe God is one of the most God-honoring things that a believer
can do, just to take God at His word, just to believe what God
says. It's one of the most God-honoring
things we can do as believers, just to take Him at His word,
just to rest in what He says, to rest in His promises, to rest
in what He says to us through this marvelous book. It's God-honoring. to believe God honors him. Why? Because it gives him all the
glory. It gives him all the glory. It praises his mighty name for
the wondrous things which he's done for us. That the word of
God focuses upon him. It teaches us who he is. How do we know that God dwells
in us and we in him, how do we know this beloved God? Look at
verse 13 of chapter four in our text. Hereby know we that we
dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit. Now note, that's capitalized. We know that that's speaking
of the Holy Spirit of God. Here are some questions for us.
to help us know that the spirit of God dwells in us. And each
of us have to answer these questions for ourselves. For ourselves. As to whether God's spirit dwells
in us. Are you interested in spiritual things? Are you interested in spiritual
things? Are you interested in eternal things? Is God the main interest of your
life? Are the things of God, the things
of Christ, the word of God, are these your greatest interest
over all the things in this world? Over all these things in this
world. Is your greatest desire to know God, to grow in grace?
To grow in grace. to know the things of Christ,
to hear his gospel preached, you desire to hear his gospel
preached. Or are you interested in the
things of the world? What are the things in this world
in comparison to the things of God? What are the things of this world
in comparison to the things of God? What are the cares and concerns
of this world in comparison to knowing that you have eternal
life in Christ? There is no comparison. There's
no comparison at all, is there? The things of this world are
nothing in comparison to the things of God. Absolutely Our God's eternal in everything
that we look upon in this world, those beautiful trees outside,
everything else, it's all temporal. Even we are. But God's eternal. But God's
eternal. Here's a question for all who
are listening or will listen to this message. Are you concerned
for your soul? Are you concerned for your soul?
Do you cry out with the Apostle Paul and saying, that I may know
Him, and the power of His resurrection, that I may be found in Him? In
Him. Paul was a saved man, and yet
he desired to know Christ more and more. More and more. So I ask you, are you concerned
for your soul? Are you concerned for your soul? Are you more concerned about
knowing God than anything else? And we know this is how we know
that the Spirit of God dwells in us. Before we were born again, we
had no care for these things. All those things I listened.
We had no care for them before we were saved. But now, oh my. Oh my, beloved. We have a concern
for our soul. We have a concern for the souls
of our loved ones, of our friends, of our family. We want to see the gospel go
forth. We love his word. We love the gospel being proclaimed. Oh, what the power of God does
when he converts a sinner. He makes us love the things we
once hated. And hate the things that we once
loved. He turns our world upside down, beloved. That's what he does. He gives
us a new life, we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God, new
desires, new interests, and the things that charmed us in the
past in this world, we now despise. They don't hold our interest
anymore. They don't hold our interest like they used to. And
now sin grieves us when at one time in our unregenerate state,
we had no care for it. It didn't bother us at all. What did you mind when you were
unregenerate? if you would, to Philippians
chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3. Well, when we were on regenerate,
we were interested in the things of this world. But listen to
what the scriptures declare of man in their natural state. Look
at this, Philippians chapter 3, verses 18 and 19. A clear
declaration of man in their natural state. From any walk of whom
I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, That they
are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction. That's natural man's end. Destruction,
beloved. Whose God is at their belly,
and whose glory is in their shame. Who mind, look at this, who mind
earthly things. So the natural man minds earthly
things. People apart from God mind the
things of the world, the trinkets of this world, which will all
one day pass away, beloved. But when God the Holy Spirit
dwells in a believer, we love the things of God. We love the
Savior. We love his word. We love the
gospel. We love the people of God. Look at verses 20 and 21 of the
same chapter. For our conversation, that's
our citizenship in the Greek. This is speaking of believers.
For our citizenship is where? In heaven! It's in heaven! Who's in heaven? Our King! Our
Savior! From whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according
to the working whereby he is even able to subdue all things
unto himself. Why is he able to subdue all
things unto himself? Because he has all power, beloved.
He's absolutely sovereign. He subdued us, didn't he? Yeah. Oh yeah, he did. He subdued his
people. And those who have been born
again by the Holy Spirit of God, we all have the same spirit,
we're redeemed by the same precious blood. And we have eternal life
all through Christ in him alone. Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers to feed the church of God which he purchased with
his own blood. God the Son. God incarnated in
the flesh, purchased the church, purchased his people with his
own precious blood. So how do we know that God's
Spirit dwells in us? What's your greatest desire?
What's your greatest desire? Is your heart set upon the things
of Christ? Well, Paul was inspired to write
by the Holy Spirit. In the book of Colossians, he
wrote this. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of
God. Set your affection, your heart and your mind, on things
above and not on things of the earth. Set your mind on the eternal
one, not on the things of the earth, and everything again we
see is going to pass away below it. Set your mind on He who is
eternal, the Lord Jesus Christ. For you are dead and your life
is hid with Christ in God. So I ask you, is your heart set
upon eternal things? Spiritual things? Knowing God? Resting in God? Honoring God?
Think of this now. Here's another question for us.
What now is your sense of sin? What now, after you've been born
again, is your sense of sin? What do you know about sin now? We know a whole lot more about
sin than we ever knew before. Don't we? We know we're sinners
again from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. Scripture
declares that. We know all that we do is tainted
with sin. And we know we're still sinners even after the Lord saves
us. I ask you this, did you know
those things before the Lord saved you? Did you know those things before
the Lord saved you? I don't know what the answer
is. We didn't know what sin was until
God revealed to us our sinfulness. And then we cried out to God. Before the Lord saved you, did
you see yourself as a sinner before God? Well, we know those things now,
don't we? Because the Holy Spirit of God dwells within us. And
now, the believer has a civil war within them. Don't you? Do you battle with sin every
day now? That which never bothered you
before now bothers us all the time? My, did you know about that civil
war before the Lord saved you? No. It didn't bother me at all
because I was dead, spiritually. Paul penned this by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God. As a saved man, for what I would,
that do I not? But what I hate, that do I? He penned that in Romans 7. So how do we know that God the
Spirit dwells in us? Well, now we know what sin is. Now we have a sense of what sin
is. And we know about sin, and we
struggle with sin. But praise be to God, the believer
knows that all my sins are forgiven, are washed clean in the precious,
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I am complete in
Him. Oh, how that fills my soul with
joy. Does it fill yours with joy to
know that? Oh, my. Paul said this, for I know that
in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. The braver knows
that now that we're saved. We didn't think that way before.
Well, we thought we were pretty good. We thought that God would take
us and weigh us in the scales and our good definitely would
outweigh our bad. Well, no, it's the opposite way.
But that's how we thought in our natural mind. But now the
believer says, in me dwells no good thing. In Romans 7, Paul
writes this in verses 18 and 19. He says, for I know that
in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing. For the well is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would do,
I do not. But the evil which I would not,
that I do. Turn, if you would, to Romans
7. Until you're born again, beloved,
you have no sense of sin. None of us. Of what sin really
is. Listen to what Paul brings forth
here in the latter part of Romans chapter 7. And then we'll read
verse 1 of chapter 8. Look at this. What does he write
here? Romans 7, starting in verse 22. He writes this. For I delight
in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in
my members, warring against the law of my mind. There's that
civil war. And bringing the spirit battles
the flesh, doesn't it? Every single day. But I see another
law in my members, worn against the law of my mind, and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? Well, we can't deliver ourselves,
can we? Thankfully, it doesn't end there.
I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind,
I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of
sin. Don't separate Romans 8.1 from Romans 7.25. There is therefore
now no condemnation, no judgment to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Praise
be to God. Praise be to God. Now, after we're born again,
we have a sense of sin. We know what sin is. How do we know that the Spirit
of God dwells in us? Turn back to 1 John 4, if you
would. Well, by faith, we know that
the Spirit of God dwells within us. Look at this in 1 John 4,
verses 12 to 15. No man has seen God at any time.
If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected
in us. Hereby know we that we dwell
in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son
to be the Savior of the world, to be the Savior of his people.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. Notice in verse 13, the Spirit
is capitalized. Again, this is speaking of the
Holy Spirit of God. And notice how verse 15 clearly
brings forth that those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God,
that he's God, that he's God and that he's Jehovah incarnated
in flesh. Right? The Spirit of God dwells in them.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. Now, the Greek word for confess
there means to concede, admit, confess, hence to confess publicly,
acknowledge openly, profess. We profess Christ. And we say
by faith. What Peter said, when the Lord
asked the disciples if they'd all go too, he said, Lord, to
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure,
we believe, because we've been given the gift of faith, we believe
and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. That's what every believer says. So we see that God's people know
that the Spirit of God dwells in us, and we in Him, because
we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that faith is a gift
from God. And now we trust Him, and now
we look to Him for our salvation in Him alone. Lastly, how do
we know that we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us? Turn,
if you would, to 1 John 5, verses 19 and 20. Look at this. And we know that we are of God.
There's another thing that God's people know. We know that we're
of God. And the whole world lieth in wickedness. We know that the
whole world lies in wickedness. We know that now. We didn't know
that before. We were just going along with the world before.
And we know that the Son of God has come and hath given us an
understanding. Now look at that. Did you have
an understanding before the Lord saved you of God and of the things
of God? Not a clue. I didn't have a clue. I was religious,
but I was lost. I was religious, but I was lost.
And has given us an understanding that we may know him, that is
true. And we are in him, that is true. Even in his son, Jesus
Christ, this is the true God and eternal life. Beloved set
forth in this text is the fact that God incarnated in the flesh
has come, and God's people believe this truth. We believe that.
He who is equal to the Father, he who is equal to the Spirit,
has come from the Father into this world, in the flesh, to
accomplish the work the Father sent him to do. And that is to
save his people from their sins. By his obedience, by his suffering,
and by his death in our place, he has accomplished the work.
And we see here that it is God the Son who has come and has
given us a knowledge of spiritual things we had no clue before.
Again, we may have been religious, but we were lost. Look at this. We see here that it is God the
Son. It is Him. And He's given us a knowledge
of spiritual things. He's given us a knowledge of
Himself. He's given us a knowledge of the truth of the Scriptures. It's all Him. He's opened our
hearts and our minds, beloved. We now have hearing ears and
seeing eyes. Hearing ears to hear the Gospel
and to hear the words through His Word and seeing eyes just
to look to Him. Look at verses 11 to 13, we're
closed with this, and this is the record that God hath given
to us eternal life, and this life is in who? His Son. He that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Very clear, isn't it? These things
have I written unto you, that ye believe on the name of the
Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and
that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. So looking
at these questions and knowing that God, the Holy Spirit, dwells
in us all by his mercy and his grace will give us assurance,
beloved, will give us assurance as we go through this world of
woe. Oh, what a great God we have. What a Savior is Jesus
Christ, our Lord. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for allowing us to gather together. O Lord, as we close in song,
let our hearts and our lips praise thee, O Lord, for the wondrous
things that you've done for us. Oh Lord, we know that your word
will not return unto you void and we pray that it would go
forth and accomplish what you have said about to do. We love
you. We who are your people, we love
you and we are in awe of who you are. And we are so thankful,
so thankful that you've revealed Christ to us. So thankful, Lord
Jesus, that you shed your precious blood on Calvary's cross, that
you were made a propitiation for our sins, oh Lord. What a
Savior, what a Redeemer you are. And we love you because you first
loved us. In Jesus' name, amen.