Alright, brethren, if you will,
we'll be turning to 1 John 2. 1 John 2, we'll read our text first. It's going to be verses
18-28. 1 John 2, verse 18. Little children,
it is the last time. And as ye have heard that Antichrist
shall come, even now are there many Antichrists, whereby we
know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they
were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would have no doubt continued with us. But they went out. that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But
you have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you,
because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that
no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar, but he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist, that denieth
the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the
same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son
hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you,
which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have
heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall
continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise
that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have
I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the
anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you. And ye need not that any man
teach you, But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and
is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye
shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide
in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not
be ashamed before him at his coming." Now today, I feel this
morning like I'm going to be a little bold. You probably won't
think so. And I feel this evening I'm going
to be very bold. And you probably won't think so. But to me it
is. This is a bold passage. There's some bold statements
here and there's some of it that's often quoted. I've quoted some
of these scriptures many a time. But I've stopped short a lot
of times. Stopped short. What we're going to look at today,
the title of the message is, Perseverance Manifested. The believer's perseverance is
manifested in these things. It's shown to us. Perfected. There in verse 18, John writes
to his little children, At this it is the last time, and as ye
have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many
many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time."
Now if we turn over to Acts chapter 20, we know we live in the last
days because there are many antichrists, as Christ warned us that there
would be. In the beginning of this verse, John begins by saying,
it is the last time. He says it's the last hour, and
that's for John. Because he's in his last hour.
He's getting old. He was the last apostle to be
living. And he knew he was about to go home. He was about to go
be with the Lord. And he's warning us the same
thing that Paul tells these Ephesian elders here in Acts chapter 20.
In Acts 20 verse 28, It says, take heed therefore
unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers. Now he's speaking to these elders
and these preachers. To feed the church which he hath purchased
with his own blood. For I know this, that after my
departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing
the flock. Also, of your own selves shall
men arise for them people that's already in that local assembly.
Those wolves are going to come out of them. Speaking perverse
things to draw away disciples after them. After them, not after
something else, after them. Therefore watch and remember
that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears. If I warn you, night and day,
and I'm crying when I do it, I warn you with tears, it's probably
important. And if I've done that for three
years, that's probably something we ought to heed, isn't it? Now
in the time that the Apostle John was alive, many antichrists
were already on this earth. They were dividing the church,
and they were trying to draw away disciples after themselves. with strange and different doctrine. Something that departed from
the simplicity of Christ. They were anti-Christ. They were
opposed to Christ. Adversaries of Christ. That's
what the word means. But because we know that there
are anti-Christ, we know we're living in the last days. He says
there, back in our text, 1 John 2, As ye have heard that antichrist
shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we
know that it is the last time. Now these last days that he's
speaking of, they began when Christ came in the flesh. That begins the last days. The
Hebrew writer said, God, who at sundry times in divers manners
spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath
in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. When Christ came,
that began the last days. And Christ warned us of in these
last days, people draw on others after themselves to follow them,
to follow a person. He said in John 5, I come in
my Father's name and you receive me not. If another shall come
in his own name, him you will receive. Now like everything
else on and in this world, Antichrist, those that are opposed to Christ,
the gospel of Christ, they are under the sovereign rule of God
Almighty. The devil sows tears amongst
his sweep, but only by the consent of Christ. He allows it to happen,
and he does it to accomplish his purpose. And as much as it
hurts us, Watching men and women that profess to believe the gospel,
sit with us, seem to worship with us, they support a local
ministry, and we watch them leave. We watch them go out from us.
As painful as that is, we have to remember that the Lord is
performing His will in it. He is fulfilling the scriptures
in doing so. Now our sovereign God has a permissive
will and He has a determinate will. I can't really explain
that. I caution you to get somebody
that could. But I know it's so. There's times He permits things
to happen. He permitted Adam to fall in
the garden. And there's other times He has
a directive will. He sends the rains and the snows
and whatever it is in our lives. But either way, it's His will
and He's in control and He's sovereign. Now one of those permissive
acts is He allows Satan to sow tares in with the wheat. Now
John does not speak of Antichrist as one person. That'll show up
here in the last days. It's not just one person. He
said, even now are there many antichrists. But in 2 Thessalonians,
Paul describes antichrist as one man. Why is that? Let's turn over to 2 Thessalonians.
He's describing that great falling away of men and women who together,
as one unit, with one voice, just like they're one person,
they oppose the true and living Christ. be in 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. Now Christ is the head of the
church, his body. He's the head of it. And when
every elect child is called to know the truth, when that last
one's called, he brings that last saint to know Christ. Then the scriptures say we will
be one body. And it says we'll be a perfect
man, the stature of the fullness of Christ. However, that one
body with one head, it's one man, it's made up of many members.
I'm one Kevin, but I got a whole lot of bones and I got a lot
of different parts, don't I? Just like that church is. Now
the devil always tries to copy, tries to replicate what the Lord
does. Man does too. We butcher it. We set up monarchies. We try
to imitate God, and it doesn't work for us. We try to use that
pattern, but Satan is the head opposer of Christ. He is the
chief opposition of Christ. And his body is so united in
opposing Christ, that they're just like one person that's opposing
him. And that body, that one man, is made up of many members.
It's made up of many people that oppose Christ, that are anti-Christ. The devil and his seed are so
united in opposition to Christ that the scriptures say he sits
as one man in the temple of God. Look there in 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 3. Let no man deceive you by any
means, for that day shall not come. What day is he talking
about? The day of Christ's returning. For that day shall not come,
except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be
revealed, the son of perdition." Now here's the pattern, in verse
4, of the son of perdition, of the devil, and of those many
antichrists, his members, that make up his body. Here's their
pattern. who oppose and exalt himself above all that is called
God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the
temple of God, showing himself that he is God." That sounds
foolish. I hope that would frighten anyone. I wouldn't sit in my dad's recliner.
If I knew he was going to come home from work, why would I sit
in the throne of God and act as if I was God? That shouldn't
incite fear in everybody. But it happens. It happens all
the time. Just like those graves those
people walk over that they don't know they're walking over. But
there's a man over in Italy that calls himself a vicar. Mediator
is what the word means. He says, I'm between you and
God. He puts himself in the shoes
of Christ. Now that man is an singular. He is an antichrist. He's one of many. But in our
day, we see the same thing in so-called churches all over this
nation and all over this world. Everywhere preaching the message
of man's will. universal redemption. They exalt
sinners and they put the work of God and salvation into the
hands of a sinner. They put the sinner in the place
of God. Now, the most dangerous are those preaching the gospel,
but they mix in a little bit of leaven. They tell so much
truth, but they put one drop of poison in it, which cancels
out any truth that they had already said. Now, other cunning ones,
those teach the truth, but they live contrary to the Word of
God. They seek personal gain. They
seek glory for themselves. We were speaking this morning,
we had trouble with the internet. It may be up now, it may not. But
I thought I had this in my notes and I took it out. It's such
a blessing the Lord's gave us the technology to be able to
listen to sermon audio. We can download messages and
listen to them. We can tune in live. And there's so many brethren
that can't physically make it or through other means. The Lord's
put things in their lives that they can't come to services or
they live too far away and they can't move. That's understandable.
But if you only listen, you cherry pick those messages you want
to hear. You only listen to this guy on this subject and that
guy on that subject and don't assemble with the saints. One,
that's what we was talking earlier, you might be getting fed but
it's like eating fast food. It ain't good for you. It ain't
gonna sustain you forever. And also, you don't understand
the character of those brethren and that man standing in the
pulpit. I could stand here and tell you the truth about what
the Word of God says about Christ and about man, but if I step
out of here and that camera goes off and I live like a heathen,
and I'm just spewing divisiveness and trying to split the church
and divide and telling you, spreading rumors and just doing all kinds
of nasty things, I shouldn't be a man you follow. You need
to sit underneath one person and get to know them. Try the
spirits. But those people that do those
things, they may tell the truth in a recorded message. They may
tell the truth on TV. Next thing you know, well, they
was at this church for a while and then they got a promotion.
Now they got more people and more money. And then they go
to another place with a little better paycheck, a little better
honor, a little better prestige, and they keep moving up. That's
a poor sign. That's a dangerous sign. But they sowed discord among
those brethren all along the way at every place. Those are
anti-Christ too. They're against the gospel, against
Christ. So we know we're living in the
last days, but we're not alarmed. Why? That's exactly what Christ
told us would happen. He said, these last days will
come, they're going to be rough. But He's ruling all things well.
Now in our text in verse 19, We see where this Antichrist
comes from. 1 John 2, 19. They went out from
us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. I always stop there. I've quoted this scripture several
times. You all probably don't. But I stop there. There's more
to it, isn't there? Keep reading. But they went out
that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. Now in this life, those people
that leave, they sit underneath the sound of the gospel, sometimes
for a long time, and they leave. You think it's manifested to
them? They're doing something wrong? No, they think they're
doing what's right. If I thought I was doing something
wrong, I'd stop doing it. It's manifested to us. It's manifested
in the ones that the Lord sustains, the ones the Lord keeps. But
it says there, they went out from us, are those that leave the
gospel and they go to preach or to sit under preaching of
those that tell lies. They are those that leave for
the world who do not assemble at all, but they separate themselves
completely from the sound of the gospel, from the truth of
the gospel. True children of God will not
and cannot fall away permanently. Now, it may happen for a season,
but those that the Lord bought with His blood, those that are
His, His children, they will be forever preserved in Him. He will return them. And He'll
put them back under the sound of the gospel. He'll keep them.
How do we know the difference? We don't. How do we treat them
different? Well, you left. I'm cutting you
off. I'm never going to talk to you again. Well, no, that
might be the Lord's child. This might just be for a season.
That ain't our business to worry about it, and that ain't our
wisdom to know to sort the difference between the wheat and the tares.
So we treat them the same. Love them to Christ. But me turning
over to Matthew chapter 13. We looked through this last year,
Let's take a look at it again. Matthew 13. I've seen many people
come and hear the Gospel preached once, and they turn around and
they leave. They run away. And I've seen
several people attending faithfully for a while, maybe even a couple
of years, and then they walk away. And I've seen some people
profess to believe the Gospel for many, many years. 30, 40, 50 years, long time, longer than
I've been alive, and they turn from it. And I've seen a handful
of preachers proclaim to profess Christ and have preached Christ
and truth for a long time, for a good while, a good season,
and then they move on to what they think is a better doctrine,
or a better position, or a better position of honor. It happens. Now Christ said some of these
that stick around for a long time are stony ground hearers. Matthew 13 there in verse 20. It says, but he that received
the seed into stony places the same as he that heareth the word
and anon with joy receiveth it. Anon means immediately. And he
immediately with joy received it. hath he not not root in himself
but doreth for a while for when tribulation or persecution arise
because of the word by and by he's offended a person hears
that word of truth and they profess they believe it It is received
with joy. Oh, this is wonderful news. They're
excited. But then hardships or harassment
come. That's what the tribulation and
persecution means. Hardship and harassment come because of the
Word. Because of what's being preached.
And they're offended. They become offended. They may
be a family member that gives them trouble about what's preached.
And they ride them and pick on them. How can you listen to that?
Maybe a brother or sister that's in the church that offends them.
They do not see eye to eye with something. They don't agree with
how things are being done or what thoughts are. There may
be others that attack the church or they attack the preacher because
of the preaching of Christ alone or that they preach Christ too
much. I've heard that one before. All you preach down there is
Christ. I hope so. But they don't want to get grouped
in with those people. They see trouble brewing for
a group of people or for a gospel being preached and they don't
want to get drug into it. But sooner or later, whatever
is offending them, sooner or later the offense becomes more
important than the truth. Me being offended takes priority
over the truth of Christ. It happens. And they'll walk
away. My pastor always brought this
out. Have you ever been offended at your job? You ever had a boss
or subordinate or a peer make you mad and you get offended?
Did you walk away from your job? Well, no, I need that to live.
How much more so do we need this to live? And what does that do? This may be furthering my notes.
If I tell it to you twice, that's okay. This is manifested to believers. They went out from us to manifest
to those that the Lord keeps. What does that manifest in my
heart when I watch them leave? How fast could I leave? What
keeps me here? Lord, thank you for preserving
me. How prone I am to wander and
how fast I'd run if He had left me. But no, He keeps me in His
grace and His love and sustains me. That humbles us. That humbles
a believer. But a person that is against
Christ, that's anti-Christ, will sit under the gospel only so
long. And then it comes time to bear
that cross of sacrifice, that cross of burden, cross of shame,
and commitment, and he's gone. Spurgeon said once that a lie
can sit next to another lie for a long time, but a lie cannot
sit beside the truth but for a moment. And that's the truth,
isn't it? You get two liars together and
they'll They'll make for a good vacation, but you put them with
somebody that tells the truth, they can't stand it. Look here
in verse 22, Matthew 13, 22. Christ said, others depart who
are the thorny frown hearers. Matthew 13, 22. He also that
received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word and
the care of the world. And the deceitfulness of riches
choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful." Now he receives
the word and it seems to be that they're united for a little while.
Then he comes into success, or he gets a promotion at work,
or he gets some honor, and those things of the world choke out
the word. If he's a preacher, he may see
opportunity for more honor and more money at a bigger church.
And he will have to change his message a little bit. He'll have
to tweak the Word to be able to get that promotion. But Christ
said, "...and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of
riches choke the Word, and he becometh unfruitful." Why does
Christ allow false preachers, false brethren, false Gospels
to thrive in these last days? Why does He allow that? said,
but they went out from us that it might be made manifest that
they were not all of us. He's doing it to work His will.
He's fulfilling the Scriptures. One of the reasons they're going
out manifest to the saints that Christ is using His gospel to
do His winnowing work. We get discouraged when we see
folks come and go. It happens too often. But we
shouldn't. It reminds us to continue preaching
Christ and Him crucified alone. Because that's the winnowing
hand of Christ, His Word. And He's doing His work purging
His floor. And I wrote that and I thought,
there may be someone who does not know what that is. So the
wheat and the tares grow up in the field. And you don't pull
up the tares that are next to the wheat because it damages
the root. It'll hurt the wheat, so you
let them grow up together. And when they harvest, they go
to a winnowing floor. And normally they'll have a big
old sheet or a blanket, and they'll put all that wheat and the tares
down, and they'll bounce that sheet. And there's people there,
big old fans, huge fans, and they'd swing them, and it would
create a breeze. Well, as that wheat and that
chaff separated, it would blow the chaff away, and the tares
were lighter, and it would shift them a little bit, and they could
go through and sort them easily then. But that's what's happening. That wheat and that chaffs together
and Christ's Word goes out. It's like that big old fan. He
separates it. We don't separate, we cause damage.
It's His Word being done. Now the second reason made manifest
is to test His people and to prove who are His. Does He need
that proof for Himself? He knows His people. He proves
it to us. And Deuteronomy 13 says, Thou
shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer
of dreams, for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether
ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul. He puts those in our way to prove to us that He's given
us life, that we're His. The Lord in His infinite wisdom
gives us proof that He keeps us. 1 Corinthians 11 says, For
there must be also heresies among you, there must be heresies among
you, that they which are approved may be manifest among you. The Lord sends it on purpose. Now what keeps God's elect under
the gospel? When these heresies come up,
because it's not normally a quiet thing. It's loud. And they're
trying to get people and the disciples to follow them, to
follow a person, to follow a perverse doctrine. Look here in 1 John
2.20. 1 John 2.20 says, But ye have an
unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I'm thankful
I got to study that this weekend. I always thought I have an unction.
In my head, that's gumption. They used to call in the old
days moxie or drive zeal. It's not gumption. Unction is
something different. It's not motivation. Unction
is a balm. It's a salve. It's an anointing. Something that's applied to us. We've had something applied to
us from the Holy One. And because of that, we know
all things. Now God's true sanctified child has been born of God and
taught of God. 2 Corinthians says, Now He established
us with you in Christ and hath anointed us, gave us unction
from God, who hath sealed us and given the earnest of the
Spirit in our hearts. That Spirit's been applied to
us. Now when Christ sent this Gospel
to us and we heard it, the Scriptures say, but of Him are ye in Christ
Jesus who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. We know all things. Not just intellectually, but
you have a new man created in you which Christ has given you
an understanding to truly know all things. How do we do that?
We know all things because God's made Christ our wisdom. We have
the mind of Christ. We have that divine discernment
given to us because it's His, given to us. He's our wisdom
and we know through that wisdom that Christ is our righteousness.
That blood has purged me of all my sins and in Him I'm completely
righteous. We know Christ is our sanctification.
It's not Christ plus my works that make me holy. Christ alone
sanctifies. Today has sanctified us once
and it's done. We know Christ is our redemption.
Scripture says, Son shall set you free and you shall be free
indeed. We know all things because we
know Christ is all. He's our all in all. And if we
know that, what else do we need to know? I don't know why there's
a hurricane. You don't need to. Christ is
always in it. Alright, we turn over to John
chapter 10. By this anointing, by this unction that's put on
us, we know His voice from the voice of strangers when we hear
the Gospel preached. We know the difference between
somebody stands up and they preach a different Gospel. We might
not be able to explain it, but we know there's a difference.
Look here in John chapter 10, verse 4. And when he putteth forth his
own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers." Now keep your finger there in John 10. Those who can
go away from Christ, who rebel against Christ, He says this
in verse 27, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they
follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
My Father's hand. Sheep only follow the voice of
our shepherd. We don't follow a stranger. We
will not follow the voice of someone preaching a different
gospel. There's a message in this world and most so-called
churches, they love to hear it. Cross sheep can't stand to hear
it. They won't be able to tolerate
it. And likewise, on the opposite, there's a message that we love.
Lord's people love where Christ gets all the glory. He's the
one exalted and the world can't stand it They're against him
anti See that All right back back in our text. Let's look
over chapter 4 first John 4 Verse 5 Verse John 4-5, They are of the
world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth
them. They are accepted. We are of
God. He that knoweth God heareth us,
and he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby we know the spirit
of truth and the spirit of error. That's how we can tell the difference.
They don't want to listen to what we have to say, and we don't
want to hear what they have to say. The Lord has put a difference
between us. While those who can go, those
that can, the Lord allows, go out from us, they walk no more
with Christ. Christ says to us in John 6,
Jesus said unto the twelve, will you go away also? That's what
he says to us. He doesn't beg us back, does
he? He doesn't chase us down the street and go out in the
parking lot. Please! We need people. He put a billboard
up, begging people to come. He said, if you want to leave,
go ahead. You want to go with them? Pack your stuff if you
want to. What did Peter tell him? Lord,
to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. Peter knew that anything else wasn't the truth. Anything
else was death. Christ was what had life. And
he was sure that Christ was the Son of the Living God. If we are His, we won't be able
to hear lies about Christ for very long. I don't like to hear
lies about my loved ones in this earth. You talk about my earthly
father, or my wife, or my children, and you come tell me lies, we
may not talk indoors too long. We may go out back, won't we?
I won't be able to tolerate that. I don't like to hear lies about
my Heavenly Father either. But if they're not His and they
go out and they stay there and they commit that sin unto death,
that's the only way we know the difference, until we're dead.
So it's not for us to judge. But John said here in our text,
you have an unction from the Holy One and you know all things.
Those planted by the Lord never go out because we are kept by
the power of God through the faith of Christ. That's the only
reason we don't go away. This is how we persevere. In
the face of every trial, in the face of every offense, in the
face of all that persecution and harassment, while others
go out from us, no matter the case, we say with Paul in Romans,
for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things
to come, nor height, nor depth nor any other creature shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord." God's love for us and His keeping us, preserving
us, is manifested in these afflictions we face. They're manifested in
those times. This happens for each and every
one of His sheep. I've heard that said before,
they said, if you've got a marriage and you've never had a fight,
and you've never had an argument, and you've never been upset,
you might be in trouble. It's like in this life, we don't
face any trials at all. We're not being chastened. We're
not having that winnowing fan blew on us in hard times. That's
not a good thing. It's good for the Lord to chasten
His people, to send us trials, be hard on us. But when Christ
sent His gospel and power and truth to us, He brings each one
of us, He calls into the unity of the faith and the knowledge
of the Son of God, Paul wrote to Ephesians. So we, being many,
are but one body in Christ and every one member is one of the
other. I go through the same thing you go through. Might be
different trials, might be different times, different ages, different
periods in this world, but the Lord deals with us the same way. We're all His children. And as
many members we make up that one body. He knits us together
of one flesh. So we're all made of one body.
And it's about these members in this body, not me. The Lord
starts showing us that over time. It's about the other one, not
me. Put them first before myself. And if I do that, I can't cut
myself off from them. That hand's on my arm. There's
no stitches. That wasn't put there. The Lord
made it one. It came together. It was formed
together. I can't cut myself off. Christ suffered for each
member of His church to make us one. How can I not suffer
a little bit with Him? How can I not suffer a little
bit for them? How can I not bear a little bit of offense? That
makes it easy to be long-suffering, doesn't it? How can I separate
from them? How can I not do whatever it
takes to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond
of peace? That's my goal. Keep peace, unity. Why? Because then you ain't worried
about nothing else but listening to the Lord. Honoring Him, giving Him the
glory. Now here's our application, and I'll hurry. I went over too
far. 1 John 2, 24. Everything John's just told us.
Verse 24. Let that abide, therefore abide
in you. Let that soak in and live in
us. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from
the beginning. If that which ye have heard from
the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in
the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that
He hath promised us eternal life. That even is italicized. Here's
His promise, eternal life. These things have I written unto
you concerning them that seduce you. If we let that abide in us, we
give ourselves over. I pray I can give myself over
and I pray you can give yourself over to growing in grace, to
growing in knowledge of Christ. I'm going to commit to it and
let it abide in us. Remember how Eve was deceived?
She debated with the serpent, didn't she? Adding to and taking
from the Word of God. And then she parted from the
Word of God altogether. She went her own way. But how
did that all start? She gave ear to the serpent.
She listened to something different. After him, something perverse.
2 Peter 3 tells us, Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these
things before, beware lest ye also being led away with the
air of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness, but grow
in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, to Him be glory both now and forever." That should
be our goal, our application. Then 1 John 2.27, but knowing
that it's the anointing of the Spirit that's going to keep us.
Verse 27, but the anointing which ye have received of him abideth
in you, and ye need not that any man teach you. But as the
same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and
is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in
him. Now little children, abide in
him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and be
and not be ashamed before him at his coming. Our preservation
from the Lord is manifested in the saving work performed by
Christ and him alone. He shows us that and he reminds
us of it through every message and through every trial and through
every affliction and through every good time, every joy and
celebration. And now, after He does that to
us, we are made to know we shall abide in Him. Look into Him in
our final hour, the same as we did in our first hour. He's all. I hope that was a lesson to you.
Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're so thankful
for Your Word today. Lord, thank You for the trials
You send us. Thank You for making Your love
manifest to us in us. Lord, keep us always. We're so
weak and prone to wonder. Keep us trusting only in Christ
and not another. Allow us to give glory only to
Christ and not another. Keep us until that day, Lord.
Make Your Word effectual in the heart of Your sheep. Comfort
them with it. Give us that peace to know we
won't be ashamed in that day of your coming. Thank you, Lord. It's in Christ's name that we
ask it. Amen.