I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of 1 John, chapter
4. 1 John, chapter 4. We're going through the book
of 1 John, but I have felt compelled to jump ahead and deal with a
passage of Scripture this evening that I truly believe
the Lord laid on my heart. I'd like to look at chapter 4,
verses 1 to 3. And this text begins with words
that actually are a warning to hearing messages that are preached. So as I read these, I'm going
to read the first three verses, ask the Lord's blessing upon
it, and then we'll consider these passages for a few minutes. Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they
are of God. Because many false prophets are
gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist. whereof ye have heard that it
should come, and even now already is it in the world." Let's pray
together. Our Father, this evening we call
upon you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, we
ask, would you teach us tonight by your Holy Spirit. Lord, make
these words come alive to us. Help us to see. Lord, give us
eyes to see, ears to hear. May the sun be glorified. May
your people be encouraged and edified. These things we ask
for Christ's sake. Amen. Now the Apostle John Now
John walked with the Lord. When the Lord was here in the
days of his humiliation, in the days of his manhood on this earth,
the apostle John was one that walked with him. That apostle
that Jesus loved, that's how he referred to himself often. And under the inspiration of
God's Spirit, he says this, don't put faith Believe not, every
spirit. Now that word spirit right there
actually doesn't mean Holy Spirit, doesn't mean evil spirits, demons
and stuff, but it means preachers. It's talking about preachers.
Don't put faith in every spirit, but he says, Try the spirits. That is, test them. Test them. Prove that spirit,
that preacher's message, by the Word of God. That's the only
standard that we've got. Because, John said, many false
preachers, prophets, are gone out into the world. What he's
saying is this. Believe that which agrees with
the Word of God and reject that which doesn't. There was a group
of people in a city called Berea in Acts 17. And here's what they
did. They'd hear something preached
and they would search the Scriptures daily to see if those things
were so. Man stands up and preaches something,
and the Bereans said, I'm going to have to see that in the Word
of God. If I can't find that in the Word of God, I'm not going
to believe you. Because the only thing worth hearing is what God
has to say. So I want you to do something
tonight. I'm going to preach. I'm going
to preach this message. And I want you to go through
these scriptures with me. And then if there's, you write
down anything, you got a question or something like, come talk
to me. If we can't back up what's being preached by this word,
well then I got a problem. If I can't back it up, but if
I can back it up, by the Word of God, then what I'm saying
is so, and I'm being consistent. So I don't mind being put to
the test. That's what John said. You try
the spirits. Find out if what they're saying
is so. Because it matters what we hear. Why? Faith? Faith. With that faith, it's impossible
to please God. Faith cometh by hearing. And when it says in hearing by
the Word of God, it doesn't mean a distortion of the Word of God.
It means the Gospel. The Word of God. The Gospel of
God's grace. So it matters. Even the Lord
Jesus Christ warned of carelessness in hearing. Listen to what He
said in Matthew 24. And Jesus answered and said unto them,
Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my
name saying, I am Christ. and shall deceive many." Now,
let me tell you what He said, what the Lord said when He says,
many will come in my name and say that I am Christ. It's not
that they're claiming to be the Lord Jesus Himself. But what
they're saying is, what I'm preaching is the truth concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. I am the true message. I'm the
true church, is what he's saying. Many will come at saying, I am
Christ. Now here's what I know. Not everybody
can be right and be saying different things. Somebody is not telling
the truth. If I'm telling you that it's
dark outside and somebody else says it's light outside, but
one of us is lying, or blind, it can't be the same way. So
we've got to understand what John is saying. He says, brethren,
don't believe everybody. Try it. Try it. Find out what's
being sold. You know, if the Lord admonishes
us to be cautious on this matter of hearing, on deception. Write it down. We need to do
it. I mean, try everything that I
hear, that I say, try it by the Word of God. If you hear somebody
else preaching, try them. If somebody comes and stands
in this pulpit, well I can tell you this, if somebody stands
in this pulpit right here, I'm going to be pretty sure I know
what you believe. If I had never heard you preach or I don't know
who you are or something, well, you won't be here, but you know.
He said in Matthew 7.15, Beware of false prophets which come
to you in sheep's clothing. They don't come mean and haughty
and arrogant. No, sir. They come with a spirit
of humility. I love you, I love everybody.
They come in sheep's clothing, but the Lord said inwardly they're
ravening wolves. If they're not telling you the
truth, they're wolves. Philippians 3, 1-3, Finally,
my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Paul says to write the same things
to you. To me, indeed, is not grievous,
but for you it's safe. This is the safest thing that
you could possibly do, is to hear the truth. To hear the truth
of Almighty God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the safest thing, because what you're doing, every time you
hear the gospel, I tell you what a believer's doing. They're examining
themselves to see if they'd be in the faith. Most amazing thing
about a believer, they're the ones that are absolutely, they're
believers, they've cast themselves upon the mercy of God. They're
the ones that are truly, by heart's confession, safe. And they're
the ones that's most diligent to make their calling and election
sure. You know what? No, you tell me one more time.
You tell me one more time. I just want to hear it one more
time. You tell me what God has done. One more time. That's what
Paul said. He said, to write the same things
to you. To me, he says, not grievous.
He said, it's safe for you. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil
workers. Beware of the concision. What
is that? What do you mean the concision?
You know, legalist. Legalist. Those who make the
works of the law to be necessary for salvation. That you got to
do something. That you got to do something.
Paul said, be careful, beware of them, beware of them. If somebody
tells you, you've got to do something for salvation, and you know good
and well, it's not by works of righteousness that we've done,
you know something's wrong. Somebody tells me, well, all
you've got to do is blank. Something's wrong. Now, will
a believer believe? Yes. Do they have faith? Yes.
But the Lord gives them faith, and then they believe. Belief
comes after life. Belief is not for life. Somebody
said, well, now all you have to do is exercise your faith
and the Lord will save you. Well, if you've exercised faith,
Jeff, you're alive. Something has already happened
to you because a dead man can't do anything. Alright. Paul says,
you know, for we are the circumcision. What is that? Those whose heart,
not their flesh, has been laid open by grace to believe that
the putting away of sin was by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that our righteousness before God is actually the righteousness
that He earned as a man. gave us, imputed to us. That's our righteousness. I've
never been faithful. You haven't either. You know
you haven't. No. No. We cannot. Paul looked at himself
and said, Oh, wretched man, to will is present with me. What? To obey God. Oh, but how to accomplish
that which I would? I find not. I don't. So, he said,
Paul said, We are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit.
We rejoice in Christ Jesus, that is, for what He's done for us.
And we have no confidence in the flesh. None. None. We have no confidence because
we're not able. So I know from the Word of God,
based on what the Apostle John has said here, what the Lord
said, what the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of God's Spirit
said, that there's many false preachers in the world. And at
this point, here I am standing before you. And let me tell you
the truth about myself. Either I'm a false preacher or
I'm not. There's not but two kinds. It
doesn't matter what denomination, that has got nothing to do with
it. Either they're telling the truth
or they're not. You know? It's either dark or
it's daylight. One of the two. So, I know that
there's only two kinds of preachers. True and false. And I know this,
I don't want to be found to be a false preacher. I don't. I don't want to be telling a
lie. Because if I'm lying to you, then I'm lying to myself.
And I'm going to stand before God. And I've already read Matthew
7. I know what Matthew 7 says. Many,
Fred, will say to me in that day, I preached Wednesday, Sunday,
Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday at Katie. I prophesied
in your name. We cast out devils. We've done
many wonderful works in your name. And to hear him say, depart
from me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you. I don't want
to be deceived. I want God to do something for
me. So here's the thing. There's
got to be a standard. There's got to be some way. There's
got to be a touchstone by which the truth is known. There's got
to be an acid test that beyond a shadow of a doubt, I can know. that this issue is settled. I want to know. And I don't want
to know what man has to say. What difference does it make
if I write the test or you write the test and hand me a piece
of paper and say, well, okay, this is it right here. What does
that mean? I want to know what God has to say. And knowing what
the Lord has to say, Then Lord settle it in my heart that this
is what I'm doing. So here's the, I'm going to read
you the test. And we'll just examine the scriptures
for a few minutes and find out what does God have to say. Here's
the test. All right. Hereby know ye the
Spirit of God. All right, here we go. Now here's
where we're going to get down to it. Hereby know ye what the
Spirit of God has got to say. Every spirit, every preacher,
every prophet that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And those that don't confess
that Jesus Christ is coming to flesh, that's the spirit of Antichrist. Whereof ye have heard that it
should come, and even now already is it in the world. Okay. So here's the way you can
know, perceive, recognize the working of the Holy Spirit. Now,
if we just take that passage of scripture just in a general
way, the way that you and I would just naturally read it, accept
it at just face value, we'd probably come to this conclusion. As far as I know, except for
maybe a few way far out, denominations, you know, just, you know, as
far as I can tell, obviously most people would say that they
believe that Jesus Christ is coming to flesh. Don't you believe
that? You believe that? I believe it.
I believe he did. And if that's the test, And that's the criteria to find
out if they're of God. And I would say, as far as I can tell, just on the
surface, most everybody I know must be of God. But obviously,
from the warning in verse 1, something is being said that
we obviously don't immediately get or understand, because the
Apostle John says, Beloved, believe not every spirit. Try the spirits,
whether they of God, because there's many, many false prophets
that have gone out into the world. Now, let's just look and see. Now, here's where you've got
to look and find out what is being said. What do these words
mean? All right. First, the Scripture
declares every spirit, every preacher, okay, now here's a
word I want us to just look at for a few minutes, that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Now, what
does it mean to confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh?
There's the first question we ought to ask. It means more than
just acknowledge. It doesn't say every spirit that
acknowledges, because that's not the word. Devils acknowledged
that Jesus Christ was coming to flesh. You remember when the
Lord was going through the country of the Gadarenes and He came
to this demoniac and He had a legion of demons in Him. And that demoniac
ran up to Him and the Lord commanded those demons. It was a legion. He asked them, what's your name?
He said, legion. He commanded him to come out.
He commanded those demons. And here's what the demons said.
Luke 8, verse 28. Here's what the demons said.
What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.
Do you know what that demon did, that legion of demons did? He
acknowledged. He knew who he was. and obviously
knew that He had come in the flesh. He recognized that the
Lord Jesus Christ is God, the Son of God, the Most High. Did
that demon acknowledge Him to be the Son of God, obviously
come in the flesh? Did he? Yeah. He sure did. Did
he confess Him to have come in the flesh? No. No. we're missing something in the
word confesseth. So to confess means more than
a natural acknowledgment. A lot of people acknowledge.
Demons acknowledge if you come into flesh. Listen to the words
of our Lord. The Lord Jesus in Matthew 10.32,
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men. Now I'm going
to read you something concerning this word confess. or confesseth,
and tell you what that word means. To ascribe salvation before men
to be of the Lord, apart from any works on man's part, giving
him all honor, glory, and praise for salvation is to confess it. Whosoever shall confess me, before
men. Not that He merely exists. Everybody and their brother will
admit that He exists, but that they have cast themselves by
faith upon Him alone, trusting Him alone, who is God's salvation,
and having no confidence or trust in themselves. That's what it
means to confess the Lord. to say, Lord, salvation is of
you. Not of you and me. Not of you
moving upon me and waiting on me to make a decision. No, salvation
is of the Lord. That's what it means to confess.
Whosoever shall confess me before men. Him will I confess also
before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny
me before men." What do you mean deny me? To deny that He even
exists? No, that's not what it means.
Contradict. Whosoever shall contradict or
oppose me. concerning my person, my office,
or my grace, declaring that works must accompany salvation. If
you say that you have to do anything for your salvation, you're denying
Christ. You're saying salvation is not
of the Lord. You're saying that salvation is of me and the Lord. The Lord offered it, but I accepted
it. The Lord did all He could. But I did the rest. I believed.
I accepted it. My free will. That's to deny
the Lord. I'm telling you. You stick your
two cents in there, and I'm telling you, you're denying Christ. Salvation
is of Christ. And the Lord says, Him will I
deny also before my Father, which in heaven. So obviously, to confess
Jesus Christ is to agree in heart with God's declaration of Him
as being the salvation of His people. That's to whosoever every spirit
that confesseth, not acknowledges, demons acknowledge that He came,
but to cast themselves upon the Lord Jesus Christ for life. Whosoever
confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Every spirit that confesses that
is of God. What they're saying is, I believe
that Jesus Christ, and when we say Jesus Christ I told you this,
when you see the word, the title, Christ, that means God, the Messiah,
the Anointed. Jesus Christ, the God-man. Totally God. This is what I'm
saying. That the Lord Jesus Christ is
God Almighty. God Almighty, the fullness of
the Godhead. John 1, 1, in the beginning was
the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He's always been one with the
Father. He prayed in John 17, 5, and
now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the
glory which I had with Thee before the world was. Glorify me with
Yourself, and restore me. Here he is praying, the God-man. Restore me, walking as our representative,
God's people. And by faith, he was a man, he
was a man. He's God. He was God and he was
born just like all of us. conceived in the womb of a virgin. And nine months grew in her womb. And the time of her delivery
came and he was born just like we are. Just like we were. She nursed him. She cared for
him. She taught him. He was a man. And God, God Almighty, How long has He been though?
He's always been. Christ speaking His wisdom said,
when He gave to the sea His degree that the water should not pass
His commandments, when He appointed the foundations of the world,
then I was by Him as one brought up with Him, and I was daily
His delight, rejoicing always before Him. How long has Jesus Christ been? the Christ, the Messiah, the
surety. How long? He's always been. He's
eternal. He's the eternal God. Every spirit
that confesses that Jesus Christ, God Almighty, God Himself, is
come in the flesh Unto us a child is born. Unto
us a son is given. The government shall be upon
his shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace." To confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is to declare that God became a man, took upon Him, never relinquishing
obviously as God did. But that God Almighty was made
flesh. Flesh. And He will forever be
the God-Man. Forever. He was raised from the
dead, appeared to His disciples. They were fearful. He said, Behold
my hands, my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me. And see,
for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have. One tempted with the same temptations
like we are. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in
all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Same physical
needs. He slept. He got tired. He hungered. He thirsted. Born
like we are. Made under the law. Subject to
the same demand for obedience. And here was the father's account
of him, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. So
we believe, whosoever confesses, confesses him, you are my hope,
you're my life. Others went away, will you go
away? Peter said, Lord, where are we
gonna go? You have the words of eternal life and we're sure
that you're the Christ. You're the Christ. And we're
nothing. And we can do nothing. And if
you're pleased to save us, Lord, you will. If you leave us alone,
we're gone. And we can't do anything about
it. Salvation's of the Lord. That's what it is to confess
Christ. Not just acknowledge that He came. But there's one
thing that I'd like to close with concerning this thing of
Jesus Christ coming in the flesh. When we confess that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh. Here's one thing that we must
confess. Why? Why did He come in the flesh? That right there is the very
heart. Did He just show up? Did He come
to make salvation possible? Why did He come? If we miss the
why in our confession, you miss the whole point of the text.
Here's what Scripture says. Call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people. Now this has everything to do
with our confession. When we confess that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh, what we're confessing is that everything
that Almighty God eternally purposed, promised, concerning the salvation
of His people, Christ did. Now let me ask you something
here while I wrap this up. In type, Did God promise salvation to
His people by Christ's shed blood in the garden when He slew an
animal and covered Adam and Eve's nakedness? Did God promise that? The answer is yes. Adam and Eve tried to hide their
guilt before God by their own efforts, didn't they? What to
do? Well, let's just go get us some fig leaves. Let's get us
some fig leaves and just kind of make us a little apron and
we'll hide ourselves before God and He'll not be able to see
our guilt. Now you think how ridiculous
that sounds. No more ridiculous than thinking
that you can hide your guilt before God by walking down an
aisle. You cast yourself down on this, call it an altar if
you want to. I don't know if that would be
the altar or this would be the altar. I don't know which one would be the altar.
But anyway, you go ahead and just pray all you want to. And
then when you're done, you're still guilty. Without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission of sin. Justice is going to have
to be satisfied. When Adam disobeyed God, this
is what God said. In the day you eat, you're going
to die. You're going to die, Adam. You're going to die. How can God be just and justify
a sinner? God preached the message of absolute
substitution in the garden. He slew an animal. and covered
them with that skin. That message right there was
a promise. God shall be just and can save
his people justly, mercifully. Did he promise the Messiah in
whom all of God's sheep would find shelter? Tell me about a
haven of rest. Tell me about a cleft of a rock.
Tell me where I can be hidden from the wrath of God Almighty. Noah, I want you to build an
ark. This is how big I want you to
build it. Noah built that ark. And it came time, and God put
Noah, and his wife, and his three sons, and their wives, and all
the animals that God had purposed to put in there, He put them
in the ark, and God shut the door. And the earth opened up, and
water gushed out, and water came from heaven. It had never rained
before, just a mist. And Almighty God poured out His
wrath, on mankind, on all of mankind. How about Noah? Yep, on Noah too. But Noah was in an ark. And I'm telling you at Calvary,
the Lord Jesus Christ, God's ark for all of His sheep, and
all of His sheep were in Him. And He was made sin And God Almighty
poured out His wrath on the ark at Calvary, and the sheep were
hidden and safe, and safe. That's the only place that they
could find safety, is in Him who bore their guilt in His own
body. Did God Almighty promise that
He would provide Himself a lamb when Abraham was to kill Isaac? Isaac was laid upon the altar,
and God Almighty, when Abraham lifted up his hand to slay his
son, God stopped him. He said, you take that boy off,
and you take that ram right there that's caught in a thicket, and
you put the ram there. That ram was Christ. Almighty God has declared there's
redemption only in Him. Did He promise Moses that He'd
have mercy and compassion on whomsoever He would? Did every animal that was slain
in the Old Testament declare that Jesus Christ would come
in the flesh? Why did He come in the flesh?
Because God's people were guilty. They deserve death. And there's
only one way that God can be just and save them. The Lamb. Not to make it possible. I'm
telling you, God Almighty did not send Christ to make it possible.
He came to save His people. He saved them. He saved them. And saved them eternally in the
purpose and will of Almighty God in time Christ came. But God saw that from before
the foundation of the world. He saved them and then called
them. That's what it is to confess
that Jesus Christ has come into flesh. Not just to say He showed
up. Everybody knows He showed up.
I say that respectfully. That's what demons believe. He's
here. But why? Why was He here? To confess that Jesus Christ
has come into flesh is to believe by faith. that God Almighty has
promised, purposed, and willed to save His people, and He saved
them. Christ said, it is finished. Just a couple of verses here,
and then I'm going to quit. Look at John 10. I'm going to
show you an amazing thing here. John chapter 10, 7 to 11. John
chapter 10. Verse 7, Then said Jesus unto
them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. Do you know what to confess Christ
is? Here is the words. of Jesus Christ,
God, that has come in the flesh, and this is why He came. I'm the door of the sheep. You
know to confess that Christ has come in the flesh is to confess
that God has elected a people. He just talked about His sheep.
When you confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, you've
got to preach election. You cannot preach that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh and not preach election. He just
said, All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but
the sheep did not hear them. I am the door by me. If any man
enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find
pasture. The thief cometh not. But for to steal, to kill, to
destroy, I am come that they might have life, that they might
have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd, the good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. You cannot confess that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh and not proclaim and preach particular
redemption. to confess that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh according to the word of the Lord. You
must preach particular redemption. What does that mean? That Christ,
let me say it how the Lord said it. The good shepherd giveth
his life for the sheep. Did he die for anybody else? No. If he said, I lay down my
life for the sheep, that means only the sheep. To confess Christ
is to confess that God is the God of electing grace. That's
what he said. I'm the door. I'm the door of
the sheep. God elected them. God chose them.
That's how they got to be sheep. God chose them. He said, I lay
down my life for the sheep. particular redemption. Look at
verse 28 of John 10 concerning the Lord. And I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand. You cannot confess that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh and not confess the preservation
of the saints. To preach that Jesus Christ has
come in the flesh, to confess that Jesus Christ has come, is
to confess and to proclaim God Almighty has elected a people.
Talking about particular redemption. He said, I lay down my life for
them. Preservation of the saints. Look at John 6, 37. Here's the
Lord speaking again. John 6, 37. that the Father giveth me shall
come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out." Do you know what? You cannot confess that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh if you do not confess irresistible
grace. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. If that word shall would have
been might, I'd say, well, okay, man, there's a possibility there.
But when he said, shall, you know what he meant? Shall. There's
no doubt about it. They shall come. You cannot confess
that Jesus Christ is coming to flesh and not confess irresistible
grace. God Almighty is going to save
them. He's going to give them a new heart. They're going to
call upon Him. So the mark of a faithful preacher
of the Gospel is that he confesseth and keeps on confessing that
Jesus Christ, the surety of the sheep, is come in the flesh.
And that for needy, helpless, spiritually impotent sinners. That salvation for all that the
Father has given Him is sure It's eternal and it's totally
in the Lord. And then I'll end it. Last part, last part of 1 John
4. It says this, Every spirit that
confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, that does
not confess that salvation is completely and totally all of
grace by God's appointed Messiah, every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, but declares that
man must do something or add something of his work to make
salvation effectual, Every person that says salvation is any other
way except totally by God's will, God's work, God's purpose. Any
man that confesses that you have to do something is not of God. Maybe I didn't say it plain enough.
Any spirit, any preacher, any prophet, whatever you call him,
anyone, that makes salvation to be something that you have
to do in order to be saved is a false prophet. Is a false prophet. I want you to take these scriptures
and try what I've said tonight by the Word of God. And see if these things are so.
If salvation is by something that you have to do to be saved,
then salvation is not by the grace of God. It's by works. But if salvation is totally by
the grace of God, and salvation is totally in the person of Jesus
Christ alone, And God's given you a heart to confess that,
to believe it, to cast yourself upon Him for mercy, and to forsake
everything that you or I have ever believed or been told that
you had to do if you, God gives you a heart. Paul the Apostle
said, that's what he said, I consider that dumb, dumb refuge that I
might know Him be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
he said, which is of the law." The Apostle John said, this is
that spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye heard any preaching that doesn't
make salvation all of grace, I'm telling you, take yourself
out of the equation. This is that spirit of Antichrist,
whereof ye heard that he should come, and even now already is
in the world. the spirit or the preacher that
does not confess salvation to be all of grace. He's not anti-religion. He's not anti-works. He's not
anti-morality. He's anti-Christ. You understand
the difference? He's anti-Christ. That spirit is to say, I don't
believe that salvation is all of the Lord. I want to have a
part in this. I want to have something to boast
in. I want to have something to glory in for myself. I want to be able to stand before
God and say, I did my part. But if Almighty God gives you
a heart to say, I'm a helpless, needy, impotent
sinner. Lord, either you save me, like
Peter said, he stepped out on that water, and he said, Lord,
save me. You know where he was going?
Under the water. And the Lord reached down and
saved him, lifted him up. To confess that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh, is to say the salvations of the Lord.
Not of me. Blessed are those that God has
given a heart to confess Him. For Christ's sake and for our
eternal good. Amen.