you So, I'm going to show you how
to do it. So, I'm going to show you how
to do it. So, I'm going to show you how
to do it. So, I'm going to show you how
to do it. So, I'm going to show you how
to do it. A real inward, personal, abiding
relationship. That's what this thing of knowing
God is. A real, more than just a head
knowledge, or more than just an agreement of some facts, but
a real inward persuasion or relationship. I call it a relationship, not
a concept. but a relationship. And some,
after that message, some expressed concern to me, and all of us
are concerned, including me, that we really know him in this
way and not just having a head knowledge. Everybody in here,
if you're really interested in your soul, you Have to ask yourself
that question, is it just a head knowledge or really do I know
this person? But let me say this for your
comfort, that's good evidence. The fact that you want to know
and you want to give diligence to make your calling and election
sure, that's good evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work. Because
a religionist, a mere religionist is very satisfied with their
state. very satisfied, and you really
can't bother them, shake them too much. And I believe that
most of you, I know you've seen this in the Psalms, I believe
that most of you have prayed with David where he said, say
unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Have you asked the Lord that?
Lord, tell me personally. Have you? Oh, you must have. I don't have anything. Lord,
please. I say it every day. Lord, please
tell me. I want to know. Say unto me that
you are my salvation. Say it to me. We want a true,
real, felt relationship and communion and love for the person Jesus
Christ. Do you? All right. How do you know? How do you know? How do you know? Can you know? Can you know him in this way?
Can you know him and not know you know? Let me repeat that
again. Can you know him and not know
you know? Have I got your interest now? Is full assurance possible? Let me say this. All assurance,
now listen to this very carefully, all assurance should be full
assurance, or else it may be only insurance. It depends on
where your assurance is, who your assurance is in. If you're
looking for assurance within yourself, no. If you see him
as your assurance, If you can assure your hearts before him
concerning him, then it has to be full. Why? All fullness dwells
in Christ. As he is, so are we in this world. Look at 1 John chapter 4. Can you know? Can you? Or is it presumption? Look at
1 John chapter 1. Let's read about 18 verses of
Scripture, looking through the first epistle of John. Look at
chapter 1, verse 4. John says, "'These things write
we unto you, that your joy may be full.'" Is that what you want?
Fullness of joy? What is fullness of joy? Knowing
that he loved me and gave himself for me and died for me and I
am in him and I am saved. Is that fullness of joy? Would
that be fullness of joy to you? It would be to me. So what he
says is, these things, what things? We're going to write five chapters.
We write unto you that your joy may be full. Now look at chapter
2, verse 3. Hereby we do know that we know
him. Look at verse 5. Whoso keepeth
his word in him, verily, is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in
him. Verse 13. I write unto you, fathers, because
you have known him." Verse 21. I have not written unto you because
you know not the truth, but because you know it. Look at chapter
3, verse 2. 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
will be like him. Look at verse 14. We know that
we have passed from death unto life. Verse 19. Hereby we know
that we are of the truth. Verse 24. And he that keepeth
his commandment dwelleth in him, and he in him, and hereby we
know that he abideth in us. Look at chapter 4, verse 2. Chapter
4, verse 2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God. Verse 6, We are of God, he that knoweth God heareth us,
he that is not of God heareth not us, hereby know we the Spirit. Verse 13, Hereby know we that
we dwell in him. Verse 16, We have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. Chapter 5, verse 2, By this we
know we love the children of God, and we love God. These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." Verse
19, we know we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
Verse 20, we know, we know, we know. Can you know? No less than
18 times he says it in one short letter, we know, we know. Now, this was written by the
Holy Spirit. It must be true. It must be so
that you can know. You can know. Are you interested? Well, I am. Now, listen to this. I've got to lead up to the message
here. John, listen carefully. John, who wrote this, is called
the Beloved Disciple, isn't he? That's what he's called through
the He is called the Beloved Disciple,
or the disciple whom Jesus loved. Remember who is doing the loving
here, the Beloved Disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. John is
always seen real close to the Master, or as Maurice would say,
hugging up to him. You see him sitting at the table,
hugging up to him, got his arms around him, a grown man leaning
on him. the bosom of Christ. And the
Lord tells him special things. He asked him, Lord, who is it?
And the Lord whispered in his ear and told him who the traitor
was. Why? He was close, hugging up to him. He was there at the Lord's death,
the only one, the only one of the disciples that hung around.
He was there, and the Lord gave some of his dying words to the
Apostle John. woman, behold thy son." The son
gave him his dying words. And he enables John to write,
to my heart, the most glorious gospel account of the four, the
gospel of John, and to speak now in certain positive terms
like this. Why? Listen to this. Here's the key. Perfect love
casteth out fear. Perfect love casteth out fear."
In other words, casts out doubts, hesitancy, confusion. It eliminates
envy and jealousy. And I'm not talking about John's
love. John's just a man like the rest of us. John's no different
than Joe Parks. He's a man. He's a man. But the only reason John loved
Christ was because John was convinced that what? Christ loved him. He's convinced. Why can't we be? That which enabled John to love
Christ without doubt, that's what we want, without reservation,
was his firm belief that Christ loved him and gave himself for
him. Now listen, I'll give an illustration.
Stay with me now, this will rejoice your heart. If I am sure of my wife's love
for me, I won't doubt her for a moment,
will I? I won't be worried about a thing. Not a thing. I could send her halfway across
the country for six months with a strange man and not worry about
it. If I was certain of her love
for me, assured of it, But you say, well, she might go out on
you. You can't be sure of that. That's true. She's only human.
This man is not just a man. He's not only human. He's God. He's God. And God can't lie. Right? His love is perfect. Like Danny's song. He's got a
love that'll never run out. on his feet. He says, though
I'll never leave thee, nor forsake thee, you may leave me, I'll
not leave you. Why? He's more than just a man,
more than just a man. His love is perfect, perfect
love. If you can be assured of his
perfect love to you, it will cast out all fear. You know, the scripture says
in 1 Corinthians 13, love never faileth. Whose love? Our love. Our love fails every day, doesn't
it? Perfect love doesn't fail. Who has perfect love? Herein
is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us. It's in
his Son. Oh, we just get old with it.
Simple, simplest, simplest truth. Simple faith. Just believe God. Take him at his word. And this
is the reason we're talking about perfect love. This is the reason
all this universal love of God stuff is such blasphemy. Talking
about God loving everybody, it makes God a liar, doesn't it?
It says love never fails. Well, Henry, if he loved me and
it fails to save me, he lied, didn't it? I detest it. It's an abomination
to me and most definitely to God Almighty. Blasphemy. And
it makes God's love so useless? Our love is useless. The man says to his wife, I'll
love you forever, and makes that two-bit vow before the preacher,
you know, till death do we part. Shoot, till you get in a bad
way financially, and you're on down the road jacked. Not him,
right? It's impossible for him to lie.
True love for someone will, and listen to this, true love for
somebody, now, let's just, let's reverse it a little bit, our
love for him, true love for someone will not rest until it is certain
of their love for them as well. And that gets back to the first
point I made. You want to love him, don't you?
You want to know he loves you, don't you? Do you? Do you, Deborah? You want to know he loves you.
True love, love that's really begetten in the heart by the
Holy Spirit, will not rest until it finds out. Tell me about when
you're dating your husband or wife. You men, courting that
girl, acting some silly, making a fool out of yourself. Why?
You loved her, and you weren't going to settle for no. You were
going to have that woman, weren't you, John? You were going to
have her. You were going to have her. You
weren't going to rest or be satisfied until you know that she loved
you and would marry you, right? You loved her. That's a pretty
good sign you loved that woman. It's a pretty good sign. The
same holds true here. Now, listen. Listen. He says, we know. We
know. Look at verse 20. Let's start
right here, verse 20. We know that the Son of God has
come. Now, there are several forms
of this knowledge, saving knowledge. We're talking about saving knowledge. What it is to really know God. Now, listen very carefully. I'm
going to give you about seven things here. Several forms of
knowledge. First of all, there's instruction.
Verse 20 says, We know that the Son of God is come. Now, that's
a fact. That's just a fact. OK? We believe
the fact. You believe that fact, Jerry?
You believe there was a man that came to this earth named Jesus,
called the Christ. He died on a Roman cross, and
they say he rose again. You believe that fact. OK? We
must believe the facts. That's simple. We must believe
that. But this is a blessing. In itself, really, this is a
blessing. We've got the account. We don't
have to resort to superstition or whatever. We've got the account.
That's a blessing in itself, that we have the facts. And there's
everywhere, really, a great ignorance of the facts, even. Henry, we
look into the facts of the Word of God. We look verse by verse
by verse by verse. We write book after book after
book, don't we? We're looking into the facts of things. And
that's a blessing, because there's a lot of people who don't even
have the facts. They're not even looking into the facts, are they? They're
not even looking at the Word. A preacher would get up and read one verse
of Scripture and close the Bible and rant and rave, you know.
We're looking at the facts. That's a blessing in itself.
The fundamental truths of the Scripture, we've looked into
sin, righteousness, judgment, wisdom, sanctification, redemption,
all these things. And bless God that we have the
facts. But more is needed. The devil believes in one God
and trembling, okay? Facts won't save you. You've
got to have them, you've got to believe them, but that won't
save you. It leads to this. Look at verse 20 again. We know
that the Son of God has come, that's a fact, and we know that
he hath given us an understanding. It goes a little deeper than that. It leads to an understanding.
Many may believe the facts, yet not know why, or how, or what
for, or wherefore Christ came and died, not care. You've got to have some understanding.
Now, complete, listen to me, complete, articulate, or that
is, a careful wording, a full understanding of all doctrine
is not necessary to salvation. Oh, no. Anybody that says it
is, is deceiving people. It's deceiving people. It's not necessary to have a
full understanding of all doctrine to be saved, but there must be
some understanding. The principle of it must be there.
The principle must be there. Who God is. You're not going
to worship any God you don't know is God, right? Who we are. Only real sinners need saving.
Nobody's going to cry unto God for mercy if they don't know
they're hell-bound and lost, are they? You've got to know
that. Like Barnard said, men have got to get lost before they
can get saved. You've got to know who Christ
is. How are they going to call on him whom they've not believed?
You're not going to call on somebody you don't think is Lord. How
are you going to do that? You're not going to call on a
Jesus that can't save or wants to and can't because you won't
let him. What would you want to call on
him for? You've got to know something about the Sovereign Lord, don't
you? Yeah, you do. And how? Well, how is he going
to save me? You've got to know something
about how he saved you. He lived for you, justified you
by his life, and died for you, and paid for your sins, and enabled
God to be just. You don't necessarily have to
be able to articulate all this carefully and perfectly, but
you've got to know some of the principles inside, right? else
throw the Bible away. That's why they go on. That's
the reason epistles are written and so forth. Well, what a blessing
to have the Word, the facts of it, and especially to understand
it. We understand these things. Most everybody in here understands
the things I've just talked about, who God is, who we are, who Christ
is, how he's saved. Bless God for that understanding.
What a gift. Everybody wouldn't have this.
They haven't gotten to second base yet. What a blessing. Christ said, blessed are your
eyes, they see, and your ears, they hear. Blessed. To know, understand the truth
of the gospel is a tremendous blessing, and it's the workings
of saving knowledge. But it goes on to this. Let's
go on to the third thing. It goes on to a personal acquaintance,
love, communion, fellowship, receiving in the heart by faith
of the person of Christ. It goes on from understanding,
it goes down into the heart to be a personal acquaintance, love,
communion, fellowship, and love for the person of Christ. Now listen, I'm going to give
you several illustrations to help you remember these things.
Let me ask you, here's a situation. I ask you if you know such and
such a person. And you say this, you say, well yeah, I know he
exists, he lives at such and such a place. He lives down at
518 Avon Street. That's instruction. That's that
word, Edo. You know, you know the facts.
Yeah, you know, you've heard of Joe Parks? Yeah, he lives
over on Windsor. Yeah, I know. You know the facts
of the matter. Well, but do you know him? Do
you know Joe? Well, I've heard that he's fifty-something,
tall, good-looking, handsome, weighs such-and-such. I know
that about him. I know he lives over there. Well,
that's something of an understanding of his personality. I'm not a
very good understander, but that's something of a persuasion based
on the facts and the evidence of what you heard and so forth.
But I go on to ask you, but do you know Job? Have you met him? I know you know, you believe
he exists, and you've heard some things about him, and you believe
those things, but do you know him? Have you met him? Well,
you say, I can't say that I ever have met him or know him. I wouldn't
know him for solid. Well, we must know God and Christ
in this sense. Okay, now listen. Listen. The
scripture says, though, no man has seen God at any time. Nobody
in here has seen God. We haven't even seen the Lord
Jesus Christ. He left this earth some, almost
2,000 years ago. Nobody in here has seen God with
these eyes, heard the voice of God with these ears, or Jesus
Christ, but he says, this is life eternal. Well, listen, it's
got to be something else then, doesn't it? It's got to go a
little deeper, it's got to be something else. But I can say
this, and I believe some of you can, that he has spoken to you,
and you have spoken to him. Not with these ears, or with
these eyes, you haven't seen him with these eyes, but we're
sure we've heard him have. with the heart, by faith. Now, listen. How? How do you hear? How do you know
when you've heard the voice of the Son of God? This is going
to help you out a whole lot. How do you know? Have you heard
his word, and has it convicted you? Has it? I mean, really. Let's be honest.
Let's open up here. Has his word convicted you so
that you Have you trembled at it at times? Oh, and it's bowed
you low, made you contrite and broken? What did he say? He said, I dwell with that fellow,
him that is broken of a contrite heart and trembles at my word.
Isn't it? Evidence number one. Has it convicted
you of your sin? Has it shown you your awful self?
Do you believe, do you really know and feel deep down inside
what an awful wretch that you are? How would you have known that,
unless God the Holy Spirit convinced you of sin, righteousness, and
gentleness? Huh? You would not have. He would
have left you to yourself, and you'd be like any other self-righteous
Pharisee out there walking around, searching for heaven in his yard,
where good had no need of nothing, or no desire for God or anything.
But you feel this. Evidence number two. Has it broken
you? Evidence number three. Have you
been irresistibly drawn to the gospel? Has the gospel at times been
sweet and precious to you, like honey from a honeycomb? I mean,
really now, come on. You can't fake this. You can't
fake desire. That's God-given. Has it been
at times just, oh, that's the greatest thing I've ever heard.
That's such good news to me. Has it? Now, boy, have you been convinced,
evidence number four, that there is absolutely no hope for you
whatsoever except in the man Christ Jesus? You've heard his voice. Heard
his voice. Has it melted? Have you been
melted at times by that old, old story? by his love, mercy, and grace,
and it keeps melting. Same old story? How many times
have you heard it and yet it still melts you? Now, what kind
of human story, what kind of book could you read fifty-eight
times and still cry at the end of it? Unless you're just awful
weak in Constitution. This story really breaks you,
not all the time, but yet if it still does, and meets your
every need, evidence number, where was it? I don't know. Do
you delight in and agree with God's Word? Every bit of it. Delight in it. Agree with it,
no matter what it says, even if it says something against
you, again you, Huh? Even if they call you a low-down,
filthy, no-good, worthless, wiggling maggot, scum, no-man, nothing
worthless, and you say, what do you say about that? That's
true. You've heard his voice. You've
heard his voice. Sheep don't hear that. Goats
are bye-bye. Nah. I don't believe that. Sheep just hear it, believe it. Follow right behind him. Turn
around like a good master with his dog. Beat him over the head,
and what'll he do? He'll keep on following him.
Crawl up and leave his hand. So I ask you, have you heard
this gospel with your heart? Do you believe it? That's another matter. Do you
believe Christ alone, your only hope? Do you love it? Do you need it? That's a good,
all the fitness he requires, the psalm says, is to fill your
need of him. Do you want to hear it again? Obviously, some people
do. Here it is Wednesday night, and
it could be who knows what, doing who knows what. Is it the only
thing you want to hear? Or do you want me to stand up
here and talk about, I don't know, ecclesiology or amylenalism? Huh? Or do you want to hear the
gospel? Just tell us the gospel. Huh? Good sign. Good sign, you've
heard his voice. That's the Spirit of Christ speaking. You look down at verse 10. He
that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.
That's the witness of the Holy Spirit in you. That's Christ
speaking to you. And that's salvation. Yeah, it is. A small child, when
it's first born, may not know much about its parents. This
will be comforting to you. A small child, when it's first
born, may not know much about its parent in the fullest sense.
It's got to grow up a little bit. It's got to get some understanding.
The faculties have to grow and so forth. But they can feel that
heartbeat. They feel Mama's heartbeat. They
cry on their way from Mama and they're satisfied when they're
nursing on Mama. And you might not be able to
put your finger on it, but that's it. But in time, they grow, and
so will our love and communion with Christ and with God. If
we suck on and desire the milk of God's Word, you'll grow. If
you stay out from under the milk, you'll stay a baby, stay a baby. And let me say this, spiritual
maturity, real growth and grace in the knowledge of Christ, and
a real close, intimate Love and communion with Christ, that's
what we all want, isn't it? Should be. This comes in time
through seeking Him, through the preaching of the Word, the
reading of the Word, prayer. Prayer is a key that unlocks
the Scripture. You have trouble reading the Scripture? Prayer
is the key. Prayer is the key. Yes, it is. Unlock Scripture. But it all revolves around this
right here. This right here. All growth, maturity, everything
right here. Instruction, understanding leads
to a personal acquaintance, belief, a personal sheriff, witness in
the heart. Fourthly, this personal acquaintance
leads to a firm persuasion or certainty of the truth. A mere intellectual knowledge
produces doubts and questions. Well, I know it says it but.
You figure these things out in your head. You try to rationalize
it out. Well, if God is sovereign, that's
what makes sense. But it says that man is in confusion,
you know, confusion. Understanding diminishes the
confusion. Well, I understand. I see now
that God is sovereign, and yet he uses means and so forth. Personal
acquaintance gets rid of him completely. Like Paul says, I
know whom. And like John keeps saying, I
know, I know, I know, we know, we know, we know, I know. Why?
Why do you know? Because we have handled of the word of life,
we've seen and we've heard him with our own ears. Why? How? When you know him. Now look
at verse 20 again. Now, we know that the Son of
God has come, that's a fact. And he's given us an understanding,
we have some understanding, that we may know him that is true. Him that is true, and we're in
Him that is true. Now listen, when you know a person,
like I was using the illustration about my wife, you can be assured
about the way they do things. Say somebody started a terrible
rumor about your wife or your husband, started a terrible rumor.
I mean, I'll just pick on somebody here. I saw Stan Anderson down
last night, drunk, stoned, drunk at the bar, hanging out with
women, cussing, carrying on, just awful, saying bad things
about the Church and all that, cussing you out. Would that bother
me? If I heard that, if somebody
said, yeah, I said, somebody off the street said that to me,
that wouldn't bother me in the least, would it? I know you. I know you. It wouldn't bother
me. The more I come to know this
man, the less I believe garbage like that, right? I know him. I'm firmly persuaded of his character. I know him. Sad fact is, Stan
Mudd. Stan is just a man, Stan the
man. But this, like I said, is more
than just a man. This is God. He cannot lie. God cannot lie. He's not a man
that he should lie. He's not a man that he should
repent. When he says something, he's not an Indian giver. He
doesn't take it back. On the Son of God hath the Lord!
Jeanette Baird, do you believe on the Son of God? More! Whew! Gracious saints! We get a hold of just this simple
truth to believe God, take Him at His Word. How do you? By being certainly firmly persuaded
of whom? Who it is that says it? That's
the reason, Joe, you have to believe he's Lord, right? He's
God, he doesn't change. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob,
you awful, deceitful sons of Jacob, just like him, you're
not consumed. Why? Because we're going to keep
ourselves because we're better than Jacob? Because he's the
Lord, and he doesn't change, no, he doesn't go back on his
words. He says, all that the Father giveth me shall come to
me. And he that cometh to me, I shall know the wise cast out.
Have you come to him, Terry Kinsley, by faith? Have you? My, my. Somebody say whoop. All right,
number five. This brings about, a personal
acquaintance brings about discernment. Look at chapter 2 with me. Chapter
2, and I'll try to hurry here. Time's rushing on. Look at chapter
2, verse 18. "'Little children, it's the last
time, and you have heard that Antichrist shall come, and even
now there are many Antichrists. Whereby you know now, now you
know now, little children, it's the last time. They went out
from us, they're not of us, for if they'd been of us, they no
doubt would have continued with us. But they went out that that
might be made manifest. But they were not all of it.
You have an unction from the Holy One and you know these things.
We can look on these things and see, can't we? We can see it.
You have an unction. Look at chapter 4, verse 2. Chapter
4, verse 2. He says, Hereby know ye the Spirit
of God. Every spirit that confesses that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. So you know
the Spirit of God. You have the Spirit of God. We
are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us.
He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit
of truth. We know the truth. Discernment. You have some discernment about
some things. Other people are tossed about with every wind
of doctrine that comes along. Other people are unsettled, unstable. This is the scriptures that are
on destruction. Other people delight more than anything in
to tell and to hear of some new thing. But you have some discernment. You have, like Paul said, the
mind of Christ. What do you want to hear about?
Christ! And Christ said again, a stranger
they'll not follow. Why? They don't know the voice
of strangers. I hear a voice, but it sure isn't
the Son of God. I hear a man preaching, but it
sure ain't the gospel. He's saying some good things,
but something's missing. Can't right put my finger on
it. You ever been there? Sure you have. That's discernment. Professors, listen to this, I
got this, it's not my quote. Professors can be fooled by high
oratory or intellect. But believers say, no, that's
just flowers. I can't eat flowers. Professors, mere religious, oh,
that sounds so good, Dr. Duguid. Sounds so good. Oh, aren't
you impressed with that? No, it's flowers. I can't eat
flowers. I've got to have bread. I'm eating potatoes. I've got to have something to
eat. That's flowers. Listen to this. Bill Clark gave this illustration.
He said over in Africa there are sheep. You know how the Lord gave the
parable of separating the sheep from the goats? Well, that sounds,
you know, surely anybody can see a sheep, tell a sheep from
a goat. No. Over in some countries, sheep
and goat look just alike. Bill said down in Africa, some
of the sheep and goats look just alike. He said, you know how
you can tell the difference? Goats walk around with their
tails up. Sheep. Every one of the sheep.
He says it's true. Everyone's sheep have their tails
down. Goats have their tail up and
their noses too. Well, I started to say something.
Sheep have their tails down. Have their tails down. Humble. And he said this too, you know.
He said a goat, and some of you have had goats. Goats will eat
anything, won't they? They'll eat anything, comes along.
Ten cans, they'll eat anything. Sheep won't. Sheep, buddy, they're
so particular. Just give me some fresh green
grass. Sheep have to have pasture. Ten cans won't do. Pasture. Pasture. Ah, boy. You can tell them apart. Like I said, you may not be able
to put your finger on some preaching, but you know something's missing,
and it's probably a meal very devoid of vitamin C, and it will
render rickets and scurvy and all manner of disease. OK, sixthly,
and I said I'd hurry, didn't I? Assurance. Assurance. Some people are always fearful
and doubting. Some people may stay that way. Some people always
say this. I sure hope I know him. Hope
I'm not deceived. Hope I'm saved. I sure do hope
so. And they feel like it's presumptuous
to say, I know him. Yeah, I know him. You a Christian?
Well, I hope so. Some people, you may feel that
way. But listen to this. If you invested all of your life
savings into a certain stock or bond, what would you do? If you invested, if you sold
your farm and everything you had and invested it in some stock
or bond, would you check the New York Stock Exchange tomorrow
morning? Huh? Oh, you'd have that thing out.
What's it doing today? You'd have a radio on, you'd
have the TV on, wouldn't you? Huh? Or would you just be whistling
on down the road, whistling Dixieland? Who cares what it does? Oh, no. You'd make sure, wouldn't you,
that things are safe, that things are all right. Everything's at
stake. Everything is at stake here.
Our souls are at stake. Eternal life is at stake. Right? That's the reason he says, give
diligence to make your call in an election. Sure. Sure. Don't quit until you find out.
Well, can it be settled though? Can it? Here we go again. Whosoever believeth on the Lord
Jesus Christ shall be saved. Now, I believe him. I know I'm up and down, but I
do believe Him. Do you? Can you say that? I do
believe Him. I do. I do trust Him. Well, can
you doubt God's Word? Why doubt God's Word? Huh? That's what He said. He said
that. Bible, He's the one that said that. I didn't say that.
Christ said that. God said that. It says, we know
that we've passed from death unto life because we love the
brethren. Christ said, by this shall all
men know you are my disciples if you have love one to another.
I love Joe Parks. God is my witness, Joe Parks.
I love you, buddy. I don't always show it like I
want to or should or could, but I do, buddy. And Henry and John. Why should I doubt God then?
That's what he said. That's of God. That's of God. Listen to this. I'll give you this illustration.
Say I had two children. I promised these two children
I'd take them to the zoo tomorrow. I promised both of them, I'm
going to take you both to the zoo. All right? One of them, all day long, I
don't believe it. I don't believe in it. Mopes
around and groans and complains and all that. I'm going to take
him to the zoo, right? I promise, if I'm as good as
my word, I'm going to take him to the zoo. But he's going to
be miserable all the time before he gets there, right? And really,
he dishonors me, doesn't he? Why won't you believe me, son?
Oh, I just believe him. I said, that's dishonoring me.
Don't you believe that, eh? Well, another one, the other
one says, goody, goody, gun drops, you know, and jumping up and
down and clicking his heel, can't wait, can't wait, can't wait. Is that presumption? No, it's
love and it's trust, right? Well, lastly, this assurance
based upon the person now will bring you to staggering, unstaggering
faith, active, strong faith. Okay? Assurance based upon the
person, knowing who it is, will bring you to this. Unstaggering
faith, active faith, strong faith that can do things because you
know somebody really exists and they died for you and love you
and are going to take you home and this thing is real. That
will lead you to active and unwavering, unstaggering faith. Now listen,
another illustration. Say I give, if I'm a wealthy
man and I give Sherry a thousand dollar check, my name on $1,000. And Sherry carries his check
around, $1,000. And she goes up and shows it
to Violet. Says, looky here, you got me
$1,000 here, Violet. Violet says, no you don't, it's
just a piece of paper. It's just a piece of paper. Sherry
says, no, no, no, look at the name. Right? The check's as good as the name.
If I got the money, And if I remain in my word, my name, I put my
name on it, right? God's got his whole name on this
book. His name's on the line, right? We got the piece of paper. It's as if it was just a piece
of paper. No, we got the money. We got the riches. We got life. Eternal life. I sure don't feel
much like it has to. He's got his name on it. It does
not yet appear what we shall be, but we know, that's what
he said, we know that when he appears we'll be just like him.
Got his name on it, put his name on the line, on the dotted line
there, put his name on it. So what I'm saying, I boil this
whole thing down, and I could have just said this in the beginning
and just walked off. It all boils down to this. The
only way to be saved to believe God. Abraham what? Believed God. And it was counted to him for
what? Holiness, righteousness, acceptance, a son of God, a son
of the King, an inheritance that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for Abraham. Why would he do? He hadn't done
anything yet. He said, And it led to doing things, yes.
But according to his firm persuasion, okay, yeah, he's God. I believe
him. He's able. Hadn't done it yet,
but he believed he was able. The only way to commune with
God, to walk with God, is the same thing. Believe God. Enoch walked with God. How did
he walk with God? God wasn't a person. He wasn't
on this earth. He wasn't walking. Can two walk together except
they be what? Agreed. Enoch just agreed with
God, evidently. Whatever God says is true. And
he was no more. God took him. He communed with
God. God talked with Abraham face
to face like a man does his friend. Why? Abraham believed him like
a little child. Yeah. Except you may convert
and become as little children, with your mouths wide open, like
a little bird, receiving the Word, dependent. Ah boy, only one way to withstand
trials. Believe God, right? Close this
book, leave this book on the table, be out from under the
sound of the Word, He's, oh, goodness gracious, he's torn
all the pistons. Strong, just torn, just shaken
up, twisted. Get in here and start believing
God. I'll take him in his word. He said, you must, through much
tribulations given unto you, not only believe, but suffer.
Okay, Lord, you say it's the Lord. The Lord gave, the Lord
take away. It's the Lord, it's the Lord, it's the Lord. It's
the only way to withstand trial. The only way to do any good works?
Believe God. Without me, you can do nothing.
But in Christ, we can do all things. The only way to know
God, like we said, here in verse 13, look at it, I'll close. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that that
you have eternal life. The only way to know God is to
believe God. And if you start believing based
upon his word, start believing, trusting just simply, trusting,
looking to Christ, quit fretting, worrying, doubting, take him
at his word. That's the reason you have to
read the word to take him at his word, doesn't it? You have
to hear the word to take him at his word. But take him at
his word And his spirit will bear witness with your spirit
that you're a child of God. He speaks right here. Right here. And right here, what we're doing
this evening. Maybe he's spoken to you not.
No, no. Go away from here and let the fowls of the air pick
it away, you know. This is how he speaks. Think
about it. Go home and think about it. Dwell
on it. Chew on it a little bit. That's two on it.