Good to be here today. Always
a blessing when we can gather together, worship our Lord, look
into His Word. The aim of the message today
is we know. We know. Scriptures tell God's preachers
to comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. And the only way that
You can be comforted and the preacher can bring comfort is
to preach Christ and Him crucified. To let us know what we have in
Him. And to bring to remembrance the
things that He's taught us. On Wednesday nights for the last
three weeks we've been studying the book of 1 John. And I bought
forth that this precious little book brings forth the fact of
the humanity of Christ, and also speaks of the deity of Christ,
and also speaks of the fellowship that the believer has with the
Father and with the Lord Jesus Christ. We've also considered that the
believer has fellowship with the brethren through the Lord
Jesus Christ. And also that this book, 1 John,
is a book about assurance. It's a book about assurance and
the fact that the believer has eternal life through Christ Jesus,
our Lord. Now, there are some things that
the believer in Christ has been taught of God. And this is what I'd like us
to look at today as we study what the scriptures say. The
author of this little book is John, the son of Zebedee. He
was an apostle and he's also the author of the Gospel of John
and the Revelation. He was a fisherman, just a common
man. Just a common man. Told you oftentimes
my father-in-law is a fisherman. Just a common guy. So when I
think of John and Peter James, I just think they're just like
my father-in-law, just common people. But they were saved by
the grace of God. They were saved by the grace of God. He's referred to in the Gospel
of John as the Gospel whom Jesus loves. He never puts his own
name in there. He never draws attention to himself.
But he does pen in the disciple whom Jesus loves. One commentator
brings forth that this book, this little wee book, and the
style of the gospel of John is very similar, they're both written
in simple Greek. Simple Greek. Which would make
sense, wouldn't it? John's a fisherman. And when
I say common and simple, and when the scriptures say foolish,
God has saved the foolish of the world, it doesn't mean we're
dumb or stupid, it just means we're common people. So it would
make sense that this gospel The gospel of John in this book would
be written in just simple Greek. And he uses contrasting figures,
such as light and darkness, and life and death, and truth and
lies, and love and hate. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
6. We're set up with this. The scriptures proclaim that
God's people are taught of God. We're taught of God. We have
the Lord Jesus Christ we know. We have the Lord Jesus Christ
revealed to us, don't we? Because it's not something we
could learn on our own, is it? And even what we learn as we
grow in the grace and knowledge and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ,
we who believe acknowledge that we could never come to this understanding
on our own. We're taught of God, the wondrous
things of Christ. And as we grow in the grace and
the knowledge and the truth, we become more and more enamored
with the Savior, beloved. We fall more and more in love
with the Lord as He reveals Himself more and more to us. And we want to do what John did,
don't we? And just lay our head upon his breast and just sit
there. Or like the gathering demoniac
and he's in his right mind and he's clothed with pictures, regeneration
and the righteousness of Christ being clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. And what's he doing? He's sitting at the feet of Jesus.
He's just sitting. And that's what we want to do.
Just sit at the feet of the Lord. Just listen. We love him. And we're taught by God the things
of Christ through the preaching of the gospel. The Holy Spirit
of God reveals precious truths to us. And we grow in grace and
the knowledge of our of our Lord and Savior. And we're taught
some things, aren't we? We're taught some things. Look
at this in John, chapter six, starting in verse 44, it says,
No man. can come to me except the Father
which has sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last
day. So no one can come to Christ
unless the Father draws him. And he does that to his people,
doesn't he? The scripture says he makes us willing in the day
of his power, of his power. It is written in the prophets,
that's the Old Testament, right? They shall be all taught of God.
Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the
Father cometh unto me. We know that they didn't have
the New Testament when the Lord's bringing these words forth, right?
So Paul and James and Peter, they all preached out of the
Old Testament, beloved. And who did they preach? Christ.
Christ. But notice that. It is written
in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. And every
believer says, I'm taught of God. He's revealed Christ to
me. And everything I know has come from the Lord. Has come
from the Lord. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard, has been given ears to hear, and hath learned of the
Father, cometh unto me. All through Christ, in Christ's
law, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father, but by me. It's a scripture backing up scripture.
Not that any man has seen the Father, save he which is of God,
he hath seen the Father. Verily I say unto you, he that
believeth on me hath everlasting life. Now there's a little section
to underline if you like to do that. Look at that. Hath everlasting
life. He that believeth on me hath
everlasting life. I love these little words, hath
and shall. They just make my heart jump.
I love them. It's wonderful. Hath everlasting
life. Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? You have everlasting
life. So I'd like us to examine some
of the truths that John brings forth. Let's now turn to 1 John,
that John brings forth in this little book. Some truths that
God teaches his blood-bought, born-again people. And this is in no way exhaustive.
This is in no way exhaustive. Let's turn to 1 John. Remember
too, we'll read verses 1 to 4 to start out, which is what we've
looked at so far in our lessons. Remember that John was not only
an eyewitness to the things of Christ, but he was an earwitness.
Not only did he see Christ and all the miracles that he's done,
but he heard his voice. He heard them. He heard them.
Look at this marvelous truth brought forth here. That which
was from the beginning, from eternity, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes. Notice, notice he's heard them.
He's an ear witness and he's seen them. He's an eyewitness.
This, of course, is speaking to the apostles. Which we have
looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of life.
There's another title for our Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ
is here called the Word of life. We know that in the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
And then we know later on in John chapter 1, the word became
flesh and dwelt among us. So that's the same one being
spoken of right here. For the life was manifested.
Now he's going to bring forth his humanity. So he's brought
forth his deity. Now he's bringing forth his humanity,
beloved. For the life was manifest, and
we have seen it and bear witness. Again, he says we've seen it,
and now we bear witness of it. See, a preacher can't tell you
about Christ unless he's born again. That's why a whole bunch
of churches out there, they don't talk about Christ because they
don't know Christ. They don't know. And bear witness and show unto
you that eternal life is only eternal life in Christ and Christ
alone, which was with the father in eternity, the word. The second
person of the Trinity and was manifest unto us, the word became
flesh and dwelt among us. Look what he can, he brings it
forth because again, he's bringing forth the humanity of Christ,
that which we have seen and heard. Declare we unto you. That you
also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is
with the father. and with the Son, Jesus Christ, and these
things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." Now the
believer in Christ, now, we look by faith, we see Christ by faith,
don't we? And we hear the word, we hear
our shepherds speak to us through the word of God, all by faith,
we trust and rest in Him and Him alone. And now John writes
these things, it says in verse 4, that your joy may be full.
And what is one of the ways to have our joy be full? Well, one
of the ways is to contemplate the wonderful things that the
Lord has done for us. contemplate the wonderful things the Lord,
and then also to contemplate the wonderful things the Lord
has taught us. Things that we know. Things that we know. We didn't know them at one time.
And as we look at this, think of that too. There was a time
when we didn't know any of this. But God's people have been taught
some things. We've been taught some things, Bob. And this is
what I'd like us to contemplate today. Some things that we know
as believers. Some things that we know as God's
born-again, blood-washed people. And think upon this also later
on as we take communion. Think about this. Because we
take communion, we who believe take communion, don't we? Think
of how God's taught you these things. Think of how he's revealed
these things to you. He'll make you rejoice even more
at the table. Oh, it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And
remember the wondrous sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ made on
Calvary's cross to redeem his people from their souls, to save
our eternal souls by the shedding of his precious blood. Now I'd like us to consider from
this book how John, the beloved apostle, makes reference to certain
truths that the children of God know for certain. We know these
things for certain. And I believe that through seeing
and knowing that it is God who has revealed these truths to
his people, and knowing that we who believe know these things,
that it'll bring us great joy and comfort. Because I don't
know about you, but I need to be comforted. I like to be joyful,
and I don't believe in mountaintop Christianity where you're always
bouncing off the top of the ceiling. That's just not a reality, is
it? Because we have hills and valleys. Now, what's the quickest way
for us to get out of a valley? Think about what the Lord's done
for us. Think about how he carries us through these things. But
we still suffer through the veil of tears and sorrow, don't we?
Let's just bring it home. David said, why art thou cast
down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted me? Hope
thou in God. David was down. He was depressed. And David was a man after God's
own heart. See, he turned it back again,
looking to the Lord. Looking to the Lord. So let's
look at these things that the believer knows. John brings forth
the first scripture I'd like us to look at is found in 1 John
2, verse 3. Brings forth the fact that we
who are God's people know Christ. We know Him. Let's read verses
1 to 4. My little children, these things
write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, well,
we're all sinners, aren't we? We're gonna sin. We have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Praise God. Praise
God I have an advocate to you. I'm so thankful. Because I'm
a sinner. I'm a saved sinner, but I'm still
a sinner. And praise God that I have an advocate. The Lord
Jesus Christ, oh my. He is the propitiation for our
sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world. And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep
His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." Now
note what it says here. And hereby we know that we know
Him if we keep His commandments. Well, we're here upon this earth,
beloved. We who are believers, we struggle with inward sin,
we struggle with doubts, we struggle with fear, we struggle in trials,
we struggle with attacks from the enemy, and John masterfully
brings forth, this is how we discern daily by experience that
we are coming to know him. If we bear in mind and observe
and practice the teachings, precepts, and words of our Lord Jesus Christ,
his words and his commandments, in regard to faith, love, forgiveness,
humility, works of charity, kindness, giving, witnessing, and all that
relates to our daily walk, beloved. Marvel at these wondrous words
here. The saint of God has Christ revealed
to them, and they know Him. They know Him. They know the
love of Christ. And the words of Christ are what?
Our rule of life, aren't they? Our next scripture is found in
verse 5, same chapter. And will we see here that the
believer knows we are in him? Remember what John declared?
That he is the vine and what? We're the branches. We're the
branches. This is something that the believer
knows. Look at verse 5. But whosoever keep this word,
in him verily is the love of God perfected, hereby know we,
or we know, that we are in him. In him. in Christ. Ask yourself, do you treasure
the word of God? Do you treasure the word of God?
The believer in Christ treasures the words of the master. Treasures
the words of the master, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in him,
the believer has the love of God in Christ and Christ alone. How do we know that we are in
Christ? The scriptures were claimed. We love him. Do you love Christ? Do you love him? I don't mean
just with lip service. I mean, do we really love him? Now again, think back before
the Lord saved us. We didn't love him, did we? But
think of how we love him now. We know, don't we? We know we're
in him. We know we're in him, beloved.
Scriptures here proclaim we love Him, we love His Word, and we
love His will being done in our lives. We love His presence,
beloved, with us, and we marvel at the fact that He will never
leave us nor forsake us, don't we? We know that we are in Him. We know that. Born-again believer
knows this. And you cannot separate Christ
and His teachings or Christ and His commandments. Therefore,
the believer, what? Loves the Word of God. We love
the word, all of it. We love it. And we love the Christ
who the word proclaims, because it speaks of Him. It speaks of
Him. Next, we know something else.
We know that we're in perilous times. Look at verse 18. Look
at verse 18. Little children, it is the last
time, as ye have heard, that antichrist shall come. Even now
there are many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. We know. We know this. It is the last time. All the
apostles were now dead when John wrote this. John was the last
of them. Perilous times were now coming.
False teachers and heretics were rising up in the midst of the
church. And the apostle cautions the believers in Christ, who
he calls his little children, that perilous times were going
to come upon them. Perilous times were going to
come upon them. Also think of this statement. In light of all things are accomplished.
Nothing is prophesized, typified, or promised concerning redemption
that is not fulfilled. It's all done. Christ did it
all. Nothing remains except the coming
of Christ to gather his own. This is the last dispensation.
If the eternity of God's kingdom is kept in our minds also, both
prior to Calvary and afterwards, the time between Christ's death
and Christ's return will appear to us as a moment, as a day.
with the Lord, because one day with the Lord is a thousand years.
It's just a moment. It's just a moment, beloved.
And from the day of our Lord's death, we have moved steadily
toward that day of apostasy and the day of his return. These
are indeed the last days. Now let's go over to chapter
three. Chapter three. For our next truth, the believer
knows That we shall be like Him. Let's read verses 1 and 2. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. I won't sit there, but we could
sit right there. The eternal love of God to His people. That
we should be called the sons of God, therefore the world knoweth
us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that When he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is. We know that when he shall appear,
we shall be like him. The world does not recognize
God's saints as the sons of God, just as it did not recognize
who Christ was. And while we are here upon this
earth, we who believe, the believer in Christ is subject to many
temptations. Many. Many trials. Many sorrows. And we are made aware of our
own sinfulness, aren't we? We're made aware of that. Real
quick. Real quick. We don't have to
look at other people. We already know we're sinners. And we're convicted by the Holy
Spirit of God. As He shows us our sinfulness.
But we marvel in this fact. that for the born again believer
that now at this very moment we are the sons of God. It makes you marvel. It makes
you marvel. And then let us marvel on the
fact that we shall be changed. We know this from the word of
God, the word of his promise. that when Christ comes again
we shall be changed into His glorious image and we will behold
His glory. The scripture says this, Father
I will, our master speaking, Father I will that they also
whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory which Thou hast given me, that Thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world, that they may behold my
glory. In Philippians, turn if you would
to Philippians chapter 3. Oh, we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him. Look at this in Philippians chapter
3, verses 20 and 21. These are some things a believer
knows. And think about this as we're
slugging through this world, because it's tough. There's things
that pop up on us and we don't even know they're coming. But
God does, nothing catches him by surprise, nothing. Look at
this, Philippians 3, verse 20 and 21. For our conversation
is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. We look for his return, don't
we? who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned
like unto his glorious body according to the work and whereby he is
able even to subdue all things unto himself. He's able to do
this. Why? Because he's Almighty God.
And he has all power. So tie that in with what we read
over there in 1 John 3. But we know that when he shall
appear we shall be like him. for we shall see him as he is. Paul's writing about the same
thing. It's wonderful, absolutely wonderful. Let's go back to 1
John 3. Let's consider the next truth
that John brings forth, that the believer in Christ knows.
We know that we pass from death unto life because we love the
brethren. Now remember what John's writing
about here. Death, how are we born, beloved?
We're born dead in trespasses and sins, aren't we? Dead, that
means graveyard dead in Ephesians there. It means there's no life
in us spiritually. We're physically alive, but we're
spiritually dead. But oh, the believer has passed
from death unto life. All by the power of Almighty
God. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. Let's look at this. Let's look
at this. And how do we know? How do we
know this is so? The scripture can tell us. Look at this, because we love
the brethren who are loved by Christ. Oh my, we love those
who our Savior loves, beloved. This is wonderful. Look at this,
verses 14 to 16. We know that we have passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth
not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother
is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life
abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to
lay down our lives for the brethren. We know that we passed from death
to life. This is something believers know.
Now think of before you were saved, and my goodness, I don't
even, think, did you love people who professed Christ? I didn't want to go there. You didn't, did you? Didn't even
want to be around them. But who do you want to be around
now that you're born again? Who do you want to be with? Who
do you pray for, even if they don't know you're praying for
them? Who do you love? You love God, you love the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you love his people, don't you? You love those
whom he shed his blood for. You love the brethren. You didn't
before. Brother Tim and I have talked
often, we didn't have a care in the world before the Lord saved us. Think
about church or anything like that, think about God's people,
it's the last thing on our minds. It sure is different now, isn't
it? Oh, we've passed from death to
life. We're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Now we have
new loves. We love the gospel. We love the
Bible. We love the Savior. We love the
brethren. What a work of God. So that's
not something we could do ourselves either. We know that, don't we? But we
know, this is something we know as believers. We know. We know
we pass from death to life. And this is real, genuine love
for the brethren. It's not lip service. This is
real, genuine love, heartfelt, genuine love for our brothers
and sisters in Christ. And this is evidence, beloved,
that we're born again. This is evidence that we're born
again by the Holy Spirit of God, that we've been redeemed by the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because no one in their
natural state, natural man, no one who's dead in trespasses
and sins loves the brethren. We love ourselves then. You see
how it changes? It's incredible. No one sincerely loves the brethren
unless they're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. It's
God's love which has been shed abroad in our hearts. And it's
a miracle. And we know it. We know that
we've passed from death to life because we love the brethren.
And this love is the exact opposite of man's natural love, which
again is self-love. Noted in the verse, he that loveth
not, look at this, we know that we have passed from death into
life because we love the brother. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother
is a murderer and you know that no murderer hath eternal life
abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of
God because he laid down his life for us. We ought to lay
down our lives for the brother. And remember they had to do that
sometimes back then. They did that. They did that. Let's look at the sixth truth
to be found in verse 24. John brings forth that believer
in Christ knows this truth. That Christ abides in us. Verse
24. And he that keepeth his commandments
dwelleth in him and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth
in us by the spirit which he hath given us. Now John has been
bringing forth in this chapter that faith and conduct cannot
be separated, and belief and obedience are always found in
the same heart. When the Holy Spirit of God governs
our hearts and our lives, then it is evident that Christ dwells
in us. It was one grace preacher brought
forth. Whatever good works are done by us proceeds from the
grace of his spirit who dwells in us. The next truth that John
brings forth is that believer in Christ knows the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. We'll read verses one to six
here, but this truth will be found in verse four, or verse
six, I mean, verse six. We know the spirit of truth and
the spirit of error. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many
false prophets are gone out into the world. Now, there's many
false preachers out there, and it's been so since Paul wrote
this. I always like to say, how do
you know if a man's preaching the gospel? Do they talk about
Christ? Do they talk about what Christ
has done? Do they point you to Him? Or
do they give you a whole list of things you gotta do? I came
out of all that stuff. Just tell me what Christ has
done. Tell me about my Savior. Tell me about my King. It comforts
my heart. Tell me about the work that He's
done for me and it's in my place. Oh my. It's wondrous. It's absolutely wondrous. Don't
give me a list of things to do. The Lord said it's finished. He's accomplished the salvation
for his people. And here's a test for you, here's
a test for you, anyone. Any preacher you listen to, who
gets the glory? Who gets the glory? Does God
get all the glory through the preaching, or does the preacher
get the glory? Because if the preacher gets
the glory, that man's lying to you. Christ gets all the glory
of the Lord. He gets it all. He doesn't share
it with no one. No one. So hereby we know, we
know It says, Because many false prophets have gone out into the
world, hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every
spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come into the
flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of Antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already
is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children,
and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you
than he that is in the world. They are of the world, therefore
speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are
of God. He that knoweth God heareth us.
He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we, or we
know this again, the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
We can tell, God's people can tell, by listening to a message.
where that man's lying to you. Because, you know, I can't even
listen to preachers who lie on God anymore. I just can't do
it. I just can't do it. I just want to hear people that
are going to preach Christ to me. Tell me, again, tell me about
what the Savior's done. You flip the channel on, you're
flipping through the channels, and you've got all kinds of guys
lying on God on TV. All kinds. Just keep flipping
the channel, beloved. It's not even worth your time.
Not even worth, I get so mad I'm gonna throw the thing at
the TV sometime. It's just, it's awful what these
guys are saying. It's awful, it's horrendous what
they're saying. It's awful. But we know, don't
we? We've been taught of God. We listen for the Savior. We want to hear the gospel of
God's free grace. We want to hear about what Christ
has done. Don't give me anything else. Don't give me anything
else. Oh, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. We are of God, it says, that
being true preachers, true believers in the true gospel of Christ,
the Lord's people, we who are of God know and are chosen of
God and hear God's word or know the truth over error or know
it. And here's another question.
How do you know? How do you know? That one's preaching
the spirit of truth and the spirit of evil by the question of this.
And I ask this to people all the time now. This is a question
I ask all the time. It'll get right to the heart
of the matter, beloved. What think ye of Christ? What think
ye of Christ? If you're talking to someone
or witnessing someone, just ask them that. What think ye of Christ? You'll get to the heart of the
matter so fast, it'll be incredible. So quick. And most of the time,
unfortunately, they want to give you their opinion of who they
think Christ is. No, tell me, what do you think? Well, they
tell you, and you go, well, this is the Christ of the Bible. I
had someone recently, well, he's a good teacher. No, he's the
teacher. He's God incarnate in the flesh. He's God. So you can uncover a lot by asking
that question right there. And it's our Lord who asks that
question, isn't it? What think ye of Christ? What think ye of
Christ? The next truth the believer knows
is found in verse 13 of chapter 4. Hereby know we that we dwell
in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his spirit.
Remember again, he told the apostles that he would send the Comforter,
which we know is the Holy Spirit of God. And John brings forth
that there is now communion between God and his people, because we
have the Holy Spirit in us, indwelling us. He's a transforming influence
in our lives. And this is all evidence of our
true salvation in Christ. Next truth I'd like us to consider.
We'll read verses 16 to 19 of chapter 4. We'll see this and
marvel at this. That God loves us. That God loves
us. Now remember what our natural
state is. Dead in trespasses and sins. Look at this in verses
16 to 19. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.
Because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear
in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear hath torment.
He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first
loved us. Look at verse 16. We have known
and believed that the love that God hath to us. We know this. We know God's people know that
God loves us. But look at this in verse 19.
Marvel at this. We love him because he first
loved us. That's one just to make you just
marvel. Believers, confident faith and
assurance of God's love in Christ is not based upon external circumstances
which happen in our lives, but it's based upon the fact that
God loves us with an eternal love. I'm not ever gonna get
over that. I'm just not. And I'm sure it's
the same for you who believe. when we look back on our lives.
And I mean when we look in our lives and we know what we are,
even as believers we know how much of a sinner we are, and
to know that God has loved me with an eternal love. It's amazing. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. Beloved, faith is a gift of God,
and we know the love of God for us because we believe. God's
revealed that to us, isn't he? God has given us this faith to
know this truth, to know this truth. And such knowledge is
only attained by faith. And we know that the love of
God in Christ is absolutely incredible. And no man or woman can be certain
of the love and mercy of God to sinners except they believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Except they believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Except he be revealed to us. Matthew 11, 27, the scriptures
declare this, all things are delivered unto me of my father.
That means Christ has all power. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son.
And he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. If you know
Christ, it's because He's revealed Himself to you. That's amazing. And then in Him revealing Himself
to us, we know that God has loved us with an eternal love. The next truth I'd like us to
consider is found in verse 15. The believer in Christ knows
that God hears our prayers. And if we know that He hears
us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of Him. Marvel at this, you who are the
blood-washed, born-again saints of God. God hears your prayers. God hears your prayers. Now we're
commanded in the scripture, our Lord said that man always ought
to pray and not to faint. So we're commanded to pray in
the scriptures. And we're also taught by our
Lord to pray when we say, when we pray, say, our Father which
art in heaven. We have many examples of faithful
saints of God who prayed and we can be sure that in God's
own time and way, we shall have everything that we ask for, which
is in accordance to his will. That's the key. That's the key,
which is in accordance to his will. Not what we want. Because we ask a miss to not
what we want. But what is in accordance to
his will? Shall be done. Be careful, turn if you would
to Philippians chapter 4. We'll read this here. Philippians
chapter 4. Paul writes about this. About
bringing everything by prayer and supplication to God. Philippians
chapter 4 verses 6 and 7. And remember, God will answer
that which is according to his will. Philippians chapter 4 verses
6 and 7. Be careful for nothing. But in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known unto God. Nothing is too small to bring
to our God. Remember that. But always, always
remember to pray, Lord, if it be thy will. If it be thy will. But nothing is too small to bring
to the Lord. Nothing. Be careful for nothing
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Because we're thankful people,
aren't we? We're thankful for what the Lord has done for us.
We're thankful that he's redeemed us. We're thankful that we're
justified by the Lord Jesus Christ before God. We're thankful that
the law of God is satisfied in our place. We're thankful that
the justice of God has been appeased, being poured out on Christ. We're
so thankful for the things that he's done. We're thankful we're
born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Oh, we're so thankful.
We're very thankful people. So with Thanksgiving, let your
request be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passes
all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. God's people have a peace that passes all understanding,
a peace amidst the storms of life. The peace of God keeps
your hearts and minds, how? Through Christ Jesus. Again,
it's always through Christ. Always through Christ. Let's
go back to 1 John. 1 John. John brings forth the next truth
that we know. We know we're of God. And the
whole world lies in wickedness. Look at verse 19, and we know
that we are of God and the whole world lies in wickedness. This
is something we know. We know we're the Lord's people.
We live in this world, we know that the world lies in wickedness,
and this being natural man, we're again all born dead in trespasses
and sins, and we're born lovers of sin, aren't we? We're born
lovers of sins and haters of God. That's what we're born.
But then, after the Lord saves us, we become lovers of God and
haters of sin. It gets flipped right around,
doesn't it? It's amazing. It's absolutely amazing what
comfort the blood-wet believer in Christ can glean here from
this verse that we are of God. We know this. We know this. Born of God, born again of God,
loved of God with an eternal love, redeemed by God, the Lord
Jesus Christ is God incarnate in the flesh, called of God, We are sons of God and we are
seated in Christ in the heavens. We look for a better country,
don't we, beloved? We look for a better country.
We know we're passing through this world of wickedness. And because we are the people
of God, we are strangers and pilgrims in this world. This
world is not our home, is it? We're just passing through. We
are. We're going to see our Savior
one day. We're gonna see him. The next
truths I'd like us to consider are found in verse 20 of chapter
five, and we're closed with this verse here. There's multiple
ones in here. Look at this in verse 20. And note, we know,
and we know, he writes here, John writes, this is something
that God's people know. And remember too, as we read
this, all these truths, all these things we've looked at, there
was a time when we didn't know these things. But God has revealed
them to us as we've grown in the grace and knowledge and truth
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at this, and we know that
the son of God has come and has given us an understanding. Well, just think of what we're
looking at again, there was a time when we didn't understand the
things of God. We didn't know these things. Now we know that
we may know him. That is true. Again, he must
be revealed. and we are in Him, that is true. Even in His Son, Jesus Christ,
this is the true God and eternal life. Marvel at this, beloved
of God. You who are the people of God,
those whom Christ has redeemed, you who are born again of the
Holy Spirit of God, marvel, marvel, that you were chosen in Christ
by the Father in eternity. And we know that the Son of God
has come. We know that He's come to redeem us from our sins. And we also know that Christ
has given us an understanding. We also know that Christ is the
true God. We know these things, don't we? And we know that salvation is
found only in Christ. And we know that Jesus Christ
is the one true God. And we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ is eternal life. We know these things. Is it not wonderful, beloved
of God? Is this not wonderful that we know these things? We don't have to guess about
these things or assume these things. We have been taught of
God and know the truth about God, about who God is. We know the truth about Christ.
We know the truth about what He's done for us. We have been taught of God, that
salvation is only in and through the Lord Jesus Christ in Him
alone. We've been taught that Christ
alone is eternal life. Rejoice. Draw great comfort,
beloved of God, you who are His blood-bought people. Rejoice
and be comforted. Be comforted. If you know these
precious truths, there's many who do not know these truths. There's many. who do not know
these truths. But rejoice if you know these
truths that we've looked at today because it's God and God alone
who has revealed these precious truths to you. And we can say
we know these things, but only because God has taught us. And
we say glory to his name. Glory to his name. Heavenly Father,
we thank you for your goodness again and mercy and grace towards
your blood-bought people in and through Christ Jesus our Lord.
As we look at what we now know as believers, and we marvel that
there was a time when we did not know these things. We were
dead in trespasses and sins and darkness of our sins, and oh
Lord, you've revealed, the Lord Jesus Christ, you've revealed
yourself to us, Lord. And we marvel at that. We know
that we could never, never have known you. Left to ourselves,
we'd still be wandering around in the darkness, groping around,
But, O Lord, You've revealed Yourself to us. The light, we've
been bought from death to life, O Lord. And that life is only
in and through You, Lord Jesus. Father, we thank Thee for sending
our Savior, our Redeemer, to this world to purchase our eternal
souls. And we thank Thee for the Holy
Spirit who teaches us and guides us and points us to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Lord, we praise Thee We thank
Thee, Father, and it's in Jesus' name we pray to Thee. Amen.