thinking there as Brother Al
was talking about bitterness. And we often think of bitterness
as something that arises because of something someone has done
to us or against us. And that is true that it does
arise from that, but I think it probably just as often arises
in us because of the things that we thought somebody else should
do that they didn't do. We often put in our mind what
we deserve for somebody to do, what they ought to do, and then
when they don't do it, we feel slighted. When in reality, we
don't deserve anything. You know, we can't ever think
that we do, but we do rejoice, and I thank Brother Al for bringing
out the fact that even that bitterness is sent to us to teach us. You know, to teach us that first
off, God's absolutely sovereign, and whenever we are mad and walking
contrary to the way the Lord said, you know, not to let the
sun go down upon our wrath, there's no justification for prolonged
anger. Now you can't help yourself,
I mean, let me say this rightly, the weakness of the flesh often
is evidenced by the fact that anger rises up within us. There's
nothing you can do about that anger that rises up within you.
But by the grace of God, as the Spirit of God works in us, he
does work in us to recognize what that is, and that's what
the Lord, through Paul, said, let not the sun go down upon
your wrath. We're not to be those that harbor
anger. We can't help sometimes being
angry, but we're not to be those that lash out in anger and those
that would seek to harm others in anger or to be bitter in anger
because all of these things are sent by the hand of the Lord
to bring us to the place of being conformed to the image of Jesus
Christ. And how that could ever be, I
don't know. And it can't be really in this
life. But the Lord is, he has ordained
all things to come to pass in our lives, whether we like it
or not, or whether we won't think about it like that or not. It's
a true thing. And so when somebody gives you
reason, at least in your mind, to make you mad, remember, that
you get mad at the Lord because He's in control of all
things. May He give us grace in these
things. We're looking at 1 John still. I want to go back over some of
these verses and just touch on them. Verse 18, we'll read that to
the end of the chapter. It says, 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 no doubt have continued with us. But they went out, that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But
ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I am 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. If ye know that
he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness
is born of him. Now, we've touched on this and
talked about it, about this term antichrist, and you hear that
term often used among those that would major in prophecy, as they
call it, And they say, well, the Antichrist
is coming. We're looking for him. When's
he gonna be here? Well, John already told us exactly
when the Antichrist would come. He said there are Antichrists
among us. There are many Antichrists. Antichrist
is not a person, but it is a mindset. It is an error. It is a It is
the way of the world. He said, love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world, because the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience is the spirit
of Antichrist. And so he says here, they went
out from us, who? those who have the spirit of
antichrist. They went out from us, why? Because
they were not of us. They did not want to worship
Jesus Christ alone. They did not want to give him
praise alone. They wanted something else. Whatever
it might be. It might be they wanted more
of an emphasis on what people ought to be doing. I've had people
tell me that. Well, you know, that's good,
you know, you talk about grace and what Christ has done, but
you know, the Bible has a lot to say about what people are
supposed to be doing. I wouldn't disagree that the
Bible has a lot to say about what people ought to be doing,
but you see, the thing is that when we preach Jesus Christ and
him crucified, If that Word of God comes and is implanted in
the hearts and minds of God's people, then they are moved by
the same grace that moved them to Christ to seek to walk in
obedience to Him and to perform those things that He said to
do. That's just the way the Spirit works in us, both willing to
do of His good pleasure. Now, we don't do a very good
job of it. And the man that thinks he's doing pretty good is the
most mistaken. And the man that knows how weak
and barely his efforts to serve the Lord are, he has come to
understand what he is by nature. And as the more that we understand
that, the weaker that we get. What I thought was supposed to
be getting stronger. Well, we're strong, but we know
that our strength's in Christ. See, there, the Lord said, Paul
said, when I'm weak, then I'm strong. That's what he meant.
He said, when I come to the place where I realize, hey, I don't
have any strength, that's when I'm the strongest. That's when
I am lifted up. And so it is. And they went out
from us. He said, no doubt they would
have continued with us. if they'd been of us. I mean,
if they love Jesus Christ, if they are constrained by the Spirit
of God to magnify the name of Christ alone, why would they
have ever left? They left for some reason. They
went out. That it might be made manifest
that they were not all of us. Now, we know that the Spirit
of Antichrist is alive and well in the world. and the world's
religions are a testament to it. Because anything that does
not confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is indeed
God and is indeed has walked among men as a man and laid down
his life in a flesh and blood body, and arose again from the
dead in the same. Man that denies that is Antichrist. Man that does not hold on to
that with all that's within him is Antichrist. Because that's
our hope. And he says here, but, he said,
they went out from us, but ye have an unction from the Holy
One and ye know all things. That's a pretty broad statement,
isn't it? You know all things. Well, you don't know all things.
John didn't mean that you know everything that could possibly
be known, but he said you know all things that are needful.
See, if you know Jesus Christ, that he is indeed the Savior
of sinners, the only Savior of sinners, that he is that one
who lives, rules, and reigns in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and there's none that can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Then you know all
things. What else do you need to know?
You know, what else could possibly be of greater benefit to you
than that knowledge? And so he says, you have an unction
from the Holy One. You didn't get it on your own.
See, you never learned this, what I'm talking to you about,
by studying. Nobody ever came to town and
imparted it to you. But he said, you have an unction
from the Holy One, the Spirit of God. must teach a man the
things that I'm talking about here today. I can't do it. By the grace of God, he has given
those that would proclaim the gospel a message that he sends
them forth with that's to bring life and immortality to light. See, we're sent to preach the
gospel so that the gospel might be illuminated in the eyes and
minds of the people of God, but we can't give men life. Only
the Lord can do that. Only the Lord can cause a man
to see. You remember when Lazarus came out
of the tomb, and he was wrapped in the grave
clothes, And the Lord said, loose him and let him go. See that's
what the preaching of the gospel is. It's the unwrapping of the
grave clothes. It's the taking off of that which
had us bound. Because it's bringing forth who
Christ is and what he has done for us. And so that's a glorious
thing. We have an unction from the Holy
One and we know all things. I have not written unto you because
you don't know the truth, but because you do know it. See,
we're not trying to get people to know the truth. We're preaching
to them because they know the truth. That's what he's saying
here. He says, you already know what
the truth is. See, when the Spirit of God teaches
a man who Christ is, He doesn't need anybody else to tell him
anything. Now, I'm saying that in a loose
fashion, of course, because there is a place, of course, where
we're taught the things of God by the Spirit of God as he leads
us along the way as we grow in grace and the knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But he says here, we know the
truth. And we know this, that no lie
is of the truth. And then he tells us who is a
liar. Who is a liar? You know, that's
a, what is a lie? You know, I've pondered these
things as Brother Al and Brother Al and I have talked about this.
I mean, Rahab, she obviously said something that wasn't true,
but was it a lie? I mean, in the sense in which
the scripture says that no liar shall enter the kingdom of God.
That same thing? If it is, then we're all done
for. But you see, this is what a lie
is. You can tell people a lot of
stuff, but I'm gonna tell you what a lie is, is when you tell
men that they can be saved according to their own will and their own
desire without the Lord. In other words, if a man believes
that he can come up with faith apart from the gift of God, that's
a lie. Now you can cut that any way
you want to do it, but when men tell men that sort of stuff,
that is a lie. Because it undermines what the
truth is, and who God is, and who we are, and what kind of
shape we're in. Who is a liar? But he that denieth
it, Jesus is the Christ. Now if Jesus is the Christ, then
he is the savior of sinners. And if he is the savior of sinners,
he is the savior of sinners. He's not the one who's hoping
to save sinners. He's not the one who's trying
to save sinners. He's not the one who's trying
to save as many as he can. He is the one who has saved his
people from their sins. That's what the angel told Joseph
in the book of Matthew. He said, thou shalt call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now,
dear brethren, I don't know any other way to say it, but anything
other than that is a lie. It can't be the truth. That's
what Jesus Christ has come to do, is to save his people. And
that's exactly what he has done. And so, If a man denies that,
is he not denying that Jesus is the Christ? If the Christ
is someone who saves and he says, well, you know, somebody's gonna
go to hell that Jesus Christ died for because they didn't
make a decision. That's a lie. Can't be true. He is antichrist that denieth
the Father and the Son. He denies the Father and the
Son, that they are one. There's one God. Now he has shown
himself to us. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
But there's one God. The Father and the Son is one
God. And when men try to divide that
up and to make it something that scripture doesn't, to me, that
is a lie. Now I don't fully, I'm not capable
of describing and giving you understanding of how that can
be, but I'm telling you it's what the scripture says, and
I believe that it's true, and anything that goes contrary to
it cannot be the truth. Whosoever denieth the Son, the
same hath not the Father. He said, I and my Father are
one. The Pharisees didn't have any
doubt about what he was saying. Did they? They said, this man's
blaspheming. He made himself God. Well, he
didn't make himself God. He is God. He was just telling
them the truth. But what happened? They didn't
believe it. I was with a guy the other day
that was a Jehovah's Witness. We didn't talk about the Bible
or nothing else. I just know that he is a Jehovah's
Witness. A good fella, an upright fella. You know, a moral man. But he denies these very things
that I'm talking to you about here right now. And so it is, dear brethren.
You know, I have no, I can't condemn somebody who don't have
the power. I don't know who the sons of
God are. Some people do. They go around
telling you who is and who ain't and all of that. I don't know
who is. But I know this, that the sons of God are those for
whom Jesus Christ has come into the world to save. And they are
those who confess that he is the Savior. That there is no
other. That they fall down and worship
him alone. as man and God. That's the truth. Whosoever denieth
the Son, the same hath not the Father. 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 shall also
continue in the Son and in the Father. Now see, he said, you've
been taught the truth. You know what the truth is. And
if that which you have believed abides in you, then you will
continue in it. As I've said many times, can
the children of God not believe? They can't help it. I mean, could the woman with
the issue of blood not believe? that if she touched the hem of
his garment, she'd be made whole? No, see, the Lord put that faith
into her mind and her heart, and it was there, and she was
gonna do that. Why? Because she believed it.
And blind Bartimaeus, he said, Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. And what'd the crowd do? Be quiet. Could blind Bartimaeus say, oh
well, had my shot, but that was it, I missed it? No, what did
he do? He said, Jesus, thou son of David,
have mercy on me. So this, which ye have heard
from the beginning, shall remain in you, and ye shall continue
in the Son and in the Father, if that word abides in you, and
if you abide in it. And by the grace of God, if he
has put you in that, you will abide unto the end. Even in such
times as you might be filled with doubts and fears, you might
be confused, But you see that spirit of God
that has drawn you will continue to draw you. And he might lead
a man in a very circuitous path. I believe I came on a circuitous
path through a bunch of foolishness and stupid ideas. But the Lord
who's rich in mercy, he drew me unto himself and I can't help
it. And this is the promise that
he has promised us, even eternal life. This is the promise. He said,
if you believe, he will give you everlasting life. Is that not what the scripture said? Now we know that the believing
is not the cause of being given everlasting life, but it's the
evidence of it. See, everlasting life comes into
a man long before he ever believes. The spirit of God moves in him,
because that's what causes him to believe. See, a dead man can't
believe. Lazarus, when he was in the tomb,
he couldn't believe. But when the Spirit of the living
God came forth upon him by the word coming straight from the
mouth of Jesus Christ, he was awake. And the Lord said, come
forth. And he couldn't stay any longer
in there. And this is the promise. He hath
promised us eternal life. Now, that's a glorious thought,
is it not? Now, some people don't have any
consideration of that. Some people just think everybody
has everlasting life. I mean, you hear people talk
about it all the time, that people, you know, well, he's got a, he's
got a immortal soul. And he's got to live. So, you
know, when he dies, everybody's going to heaven, because everybody's
gonna live. Dear brethren, life is that which
is given by Christ. We're dead in trespasses and
sins apart from the gift of life. We live because he lives. We presently live because he
lives. In him we live and move and have
our being. We have no life except that which
he gives us, but brethren, that's the promise. He said, I give
my sheep everlasting life and they shall never perish. Can't happen. This is the promise. And so then he says, these things
have I written to you concerning them that seduce you. Because
there are. There's all kinds of stuff out
there in the world to turn our eyes away from those things that
we believe. Now, thank God, if we belong
to Christ, these things are not going to seduce us. They're not
going to cause us to go into the path of destruction. But the anointing which ye have
received of him abideth in you. He gave it to you. He anointed
you. You didn't anoint yourself, he
anointed you. But the anointing which ye have
received of him abideth in you, and ye need not than 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 coming back again,
we need not that any man teach us. Brother, is there anything I
could teach you that would lead you to believe that Jesus Christ
is not who he said he was? No, because the anointing teaches
you. You don't need anybody to teach
you. Now he's not saying here that we don't need teaching.
about things, but he's talking about this teaching, this truth,
that which is opposed to what the Antichrist is. You don't
need anybody to teach you those things, because the Spirit of
God has taught you that. As the same anointing teacheth
you of all things, and is truth and is no lie, even as it hath
taught you, ye shall abide in him. How could a man lose his salvation? Now you know there are some people
that teach that. They believe you can come in,
you can be lost, saved today and lost tomorrow. Now unfortunately, they believe
the way you get saved is something you do. And if that be true,
I have to agree with them. If it's possible for you to start
believing on your own, It's possible for you to quit. That is a true thing. But if
the spirit of the living God teaches you these things, you
can't get out, because you didn't put yourself in. See, I mean
the Lord is the one that does the saving, and so you can't
be lost. Ye shall abide in him. And now,
little children, abide in him. How can you abide in him? What
can you do to abide in him? Not a thing in the world. But
because he abides in you, you abide in him. And that we exhort
one another to abide in Him. I want you to follow Christ.
I want you to embrace Him. I want you to love Him. I want
you to follow Him. I want you to seek Him. But I don't really have to tell
you that because the Spirit of God does that. But you see, he
does bring us together as brethren that we might exhort one another
in these things. We don't exhort one another trying
to get us to do something that we don't want to do. But we're
exhorting one another to do what we know to do. And it's a good
thing. I'm glad, I want somebody to
exhort me to abide in Christ, even though I'm certain by what
the scripture says that we shall abide in him. There's no doubt
about it. 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. If you know that he is
righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born
of him. Now, little children, he says,
I write unto you that you might abide in him. So that when he
shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed at his coming. Why would we not be ashamed at
his coming? Because we abide in him. We're not gonna be ashamed at
his coming. There's nothing you're gonna
do that would either make you ashamed at his coming or keep
you from it. Because he is the one that is
keeping you. Now, a lot of people don't like
that. Religious men don't like that.
Because they say, well, you're just encouraging people just
to do it. No. I'm encouraging God's people
to abide in Him. But I know that they will. See,
because I know that the Spirit of God draws them, holds them
steadfastly. You see, the Lord is far more
interested in your safety than you ever could be. I mean, you couldn't ever be
more concerned for your well-being than the Lord is. Because the
scripture says that he has designed all things to work together for
your benefit. I know sometimes it might not
seem like it because we don't know what we need, but the Lord
does. And that's our hope, dear brethren,
that he is that one who holds us in the palm of his hand. You
can't escape. He said, no man shall pluck them
out of my hand. They belong to me. What a glorious
thing. If you know that he is righteous, Then here's the key to this.
If you know that he is righteous, then everyone that doeth righteousness
is born of him. What is it to do righteousness?
Now a lot of people try to define that as by adhering to this set
of rules or some plan they got or some idea, rules of decorum
or whatever that they've got laid out. This is what it is
to do righteousness. But dear friend, he says here,
if you know that he is righteous, now if you know that Christ is
righteous, righteousness, he is righteousness, then everyone
that doeth righteousness is of him. Now what does it mean to
do righteousness? It means to be in him. Because
he's their righteousness. I mean, if you do righteousness,
that is, you're in righteousness. And the only righteousness that
I want is His. The only righteousness that's
any good is His. And so if a man is walking in
righteousness, that is, he is in Christ, then he can't be lost. Oh, that the Lord might constrain
our hearts to love him, to love his way. I believe he will. Sometimes
I believe the process of that's very agonizingly slow. It's got a lot of gaps in it
that I wish would fill in. But the Lord will never lose
one of those who he has given to Jesus Christ. in whom Jesus
Christ hath come into the world to save, and who he comes back
again to receive unto himself. Gonna be the same ones. Not one
more, not one less. But by the grace of God, all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I'll in no wise cast out. What a glorious promise that
is, brother. That's the promise of everlasting life because it's
in Christ.