Bibles if you would, 1st John. 1st John, well it's been five
weeks since we've met. It's nice to meet again on a
Wednesday night. We'll continue our study here in 1st John. 1st
John. We'll actually be reading, starting
reading in chapter 1, verse 5, and we'll read all the way to
chapter 2, verse 9. This then is a message which
we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and
in him is no darkness at all. Now we see here in that text
right there that God is light, which we looked at earlier in
our study, means that he's holy. He's holy and in him is no darkness,
no sin. He's perfectly holy. He's pure,
holy and righteous. That's our God. If we say that
we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and
do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as
He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If
we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make him a liar. And his word is not in us. My
little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin
not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Again,
remember John's writing to born again believers. And rejoice,
you who are born again. You who are a believer on the
Lord Jesus Christ. We have an advocate. The Scripture
plainly declares here we have an Advocate, and His name is
Jesus Christ the Righteous. Every believer can say, the Lord
Jesus Christ is my Advocate. He's my Advocate with the Father.
He's the propitiation for the sins of all His people, all the
elect, from every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, which is
indicated in verse 2, with the word world in verse 2. And He
is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but also for
the sins of the whole world. All the elect that are in the
world. The next four verses will be
our text this evening. It says here, and hereby we do
know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith
I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the
truth is not in him. But whosoever keepeth his word
in him, verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we
that we are in him He that saith he abideth in him ought also
so to walk even as he walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment
unto you, but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning.
The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the
beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing
is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passed, and the
true light now is shining. He that saith he is in the light,
and he that is his brother, is in darkness even until now. Now
in chapter one, the Apostle John has told us that God is light.
And if we walk in that light, which is the light of God and
the light of his word, and the light of truth, and that's in
Christ, then we have fellowship with the Father. And we have
fellowship with the Father through the Son. And again, the Son is
called light in the scripture. You notice, as we study this
epistle, that John is bringing forth, as we go through this
epistle, you'll notice that John is bringing forth the difference
between the reality of being saved by Christ and one who has
a mere profession. And we're gonna see that evidently
through this. We already saw it in chapter
one, didn't we? We already saw it clearly in chapter one. Well,
John continues this vein, and while he's continuing this vein,
he's reassuring believers that we know God. And he shows us
how we can know that we know God. And it's absolutely wonderful.
So he's differentiating, again, those who are in Christ and those
who have made a mere profession of Christ. And here, contrast
between, again, the fact of one being saved and one being delivered,
or the one who is deceiving themselves. Because really, someone who makes
a profession is merely deceiving themselves. They're deceiving
themselves. Let's turn to a few passages
in John where we see, or actually in this book, 1 John here, where
we see dealing with this. In the sixth verse of chapter
one, John has been speaking of those who walk in the light and
have fellowship with God. Then he speaks of the false professor.
Look at verse six of chapter one. If we say that we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. The person is self-deceived. Now think of all the people in
this world who have made professions, or prayed a prayer, or walked
an aisle. Think of that. Think of that. As opposed to
those who are truly born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Then we see a contrast with a
real believer in verse seven. But if we walk in the light as
he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin. Praise be to
God. Praise be to God. The true believer,
the true born-again believer is cleansed from all their sin. This is the most wonderful news
that a sinner can hear. The most wonderful news that
a sinner can hear. In our text, in verse 3 of chapter
2, he speaks of those who know Christ. Look at this. And hereby
we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. Then he transitions again to
a mere professor in verse 4. Look at it. He that saith I know
him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not
in him. See again. We see the contrast
being brought forth by the Apostle John. In verse 9 and 11. of this chapter, John again marks
the divide between true believers and mere professors. Look at
verse 9. He that saith he is in the light
and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. So a
person who says they love Christ but hate the brethren, they're
deceiving themselves. Because the scripture plainly
says that they're in darkness. They don't know the Lord. No
matter what they say. No matter what they say. So a
person A person who hates the brethren
is not a believer, and this scripture plainly brings that forth. Because
he who hates the brethren is still in darkness. And now note
the contrast in verse 11, as the true believer loves the brethren.
Or verse 10, I mean, verse 10. He that loveth his brother abideth
in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. He who loves the brethren reveals
a work of grace in their hearts. That's evidence of a work of
grace, beloved. For the love of the brethren
is of God. You know, love in the brethren
is not a product of the men. Think, before you were saved,
did you love the brethren? No, I didn't want to be around
them at all. Did you love the gospel? No, I didn't want to
hear it at all. Did you love the Bible? No, I
didn't want to read the Bible. It sat collecting dust. Some
were either, well, I didn't even have one on my nightstand, my
dad had one on his nightstand, and none of us even cracked the
Bible open. We were good Catholics, though. But we never cracked
the Bible open. It was sad. And when I did crack
it open, just to look at the pictures that we kept in there,
it was very sad, because the Bible is the word of life. It
speaks of Christ. It speaks of Christ, it's wonderful.
It's absolutely wonderful. Go over to chapter 4, look at
this in chapter 4 verses 7 and 8. Again, he who loves the brethren,
it's not a product of our nature because in our natural state
we do not love the brethren. It's a product of God, it's the
Holy Spirit working in us. Look at verse 7 of chapter 4,
love and let us love one another for love is of God. And everyone
that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not
knoweth or he that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. And I can honestly say that in
my natural state, I did not love the brethren. And I know it's
so for every believer. And now that we're born again,
now that we're saved, we love the people of God because the
Lord saved them just like he saved us. We're all saved by
the same grace and the same mercy And we're all saved by the same
Savior, aren't we? The Lord Jesus Christ. And we're
gonna spend eternity together. Love does not lead to sin, as
hate does. You ever think of that? Hate
leads to sin. Love doesn't lead to sin, as hate does. But love
is the rule of life and produces obedience. What is it that constrains
us from sin? The love of Christ. The love
of Christ constrains us from sin. So what does hate do? Hate
produces the opposite of love, doesn't it? Hate produces division,
envying, jealousy, strife, and rebellion. The complete opposite
of love. Because when you love the brother
you esteem, your brother is better than yourself. It's what scripture
tells us to do, right? And we love, we're not jealous
of the gifts that the Lord gives certain people. Well, I'm not
jealous of that. Not at all. And there's not,
when you love the brethren, there's not envying, there's not strife,
there's not division. You're one in Christ. Why are
we here, beloved? For the furtherance of the gospel.
Let us always remember that. We gather together for the furtherance
of the gospel. And that's what we're here for
in Alma, for the gospel to go forth. And the Holy Spirit does
what he wills with the preaching of the word. And we rejoice,
don't we? We rejoice. Turn, if you would,
over to Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13. Look what
Paul pens over here in Romans chapter 13. He pens that love
works no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment
of the law. Look at this. Romans chapter
13 verses 8 to 10. O no man anything but to love
one another. For he that loveth another hath
fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt not commit
adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt
not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and if there
be any other command, it is briefly comprehended in this saying.
Namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And then look at
the next verse. Love worketh no ill. Isn't that amazing? That's amazing. Love worketh
no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment
of the law. Well, who's loved like no one
else? Who fulfilled the law in our place? The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. But this
is wonderful here. Let's go back to 1 John and we'll
look at chapter 2. Look at verse 11. We see John
bringing forth that if one hates the brethren, then they are unregenerate. And they walk in darkness. They're
unregenerate and they walk in darkness no matter what they
profess. No matter what they profess.
If they hate the brethren, they are not born again. But he that hateth his brother
is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither
he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. Now go
over to 1 John 4. Again, we see the contrast between
a true believer fought forth in 1 John 4, verses 20 and 21. Look at verse 20. If a man sayeth, I love God,
and hateth his brother, He's a liar. For he that loveth
not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has
not seen? Nothing can be more contradictory
than for a man to say, I love God and hate his brother. It's nothing but a lie that he
speaks. And this is a thing that is impossible
for a child of God. A man cannot love God and hate
the image of God before his eyes. Look at verse 21, in this commandment
have we from him that he who loveth God loveth his brother
also. You see the contrast? So again, another argument for
brotherly love is drawn from the authority and commandment
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He not only commanded us concerning
the love of the Father, but commanded us to love one another. Now,
I want us to take note of one word in verses three and six.
This is the word no. No. Now, we know this is speaking
of knowing God, the father. As John has brought forth that
we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous,
and John wrote of having fellowship with the father through Christ
in the first chapter. And we know that the only way
we can have fellowship with the father is in and through the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way we can know
the Lord Jesus Christ is that the Holy Spirit reveals Him to
us. Otherwise we don't know Him at all. Look at verse 3, and
hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandment. Hereby John writes in light of
everything he said beforehand. knowing that God is light, knowing
that our God is merciful, knowing that our God is faithful, knowing
that He's a just God, knowing if we confess our sins, who we
are and what we are, that He's faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteous, knowing
all these things. Hereby we know that we have an
advocate of appreciation, of appreciation. If we didn't know
we had an advocate, beloved, If we didn't know we had a propitiation
before God, we'd be in despair. We'd be in utter despair. Utter
despair. But God has revealed to his people,
those who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God, he's revealed
to us that we have an advocate. He's revealed to us that we have
a propitiation. for all our sins before God. And he's revealed to us that
his name is Jesus Christ the righteous. We know that, don't
we? And we rejoice. We rejoice. So he's writing in verse three,
and hereby do we know? Well, we know those things because
God has shown us those things. We didn't know anything about
that before the Lord saved us. But oh my, now we know. We know
now. Hereby through Christ we know
we have salvation and the forgiveness of all our sins. Now let's read
verses 4 to 6. And observe the word know again
in verse 5. It's the same Greek word that's used in verse 3. He that saith I know him and
keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not
in him. But whosoever keepeth his word
in him verily or truly is the love of God perfected. Hereby
know we that we are in him. Same Greek word there. He that
saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even
as he walked. Now the Greek word used there
in verses 3, 4, and 5 is the word gnoska. And the meaning of the word is
this, to learn, to know, to come to know, get a knowledge of,
perceive, feel, to become known, to know, understand, perceive
again, have knowledge, to become acquainted with, to know. And
again, you've heard me mention this word before. It speaks of
the intimacy with the Father, of knowing that we have a personal
relationship with the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ,
and only through the Lord Jesus Christ, a personal knowledge
of Him. not just knowing some things
about him, but the believer knows him through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now turn to chapter five of this
book and look at verse 13. The believer knows some things
that they did not know before, before the Lord saved them. And
we know these things to be true now. Now the Scriptures declare
that God is sovereign, but do you know Him who is sovereign? Do you know God? The Scriptures
declare that God is faithful and just, but do you know Him
who is faithful and just? Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ
personally? Has He revealed Himself to you? Because God's people, oh my,
He's revealed Himself to us. We know Him. We know Him. Look at verse 13. These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God. So God's people believe on Christ.
They believe on Him. They don't just merely profess
to know Him. They believe Him. They believe on the Son. That
ye may know ye have eternal life. and that ye may believe on the
name of the Son of God. Now the Greek word no here in
verse 13 is a different Greek word for no. The Greeks were
amazing at that. They had different words, four
or five different words sometimes for one word. But this word is
idol in the Greek, idol. And it means, listen to this,
it means to perceive with the eyes. To perceive with the eyes. To perceive, notice, discern,
discover. My to turn the eyes the mind
the attention to anything So think of that These things have
I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God
that she may know that you have eternal life and That she may
believe on the name of the Son of God to perceive with your
eyes, and we know that speak in spiritual eyes a right to
notice to discern to discover well he's been revealed to us
and Turn the eyes, the mind, and the attention to who's the
object of our faith? Who's the one we look to no matter
what? The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son, the Son. It's all by
God's divine power. Now let's turn back to chapter
one and consider these verses in
light of what we just looked at with that word there, those
two words. Look at this in verses one to three. that which was
from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen
with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have
handled the word of life. For the life was manifest, and
we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal
life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. That
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. that ye
also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship
is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Now think of that over there,
I'll read that verse in chapter 5 again. These things have I
written unto you, that ye may believe on the name of the Son
of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that
ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. So John is setting
forth Christ. He's setting forth the Son. And
he's writing this book so that God's people know know that we
have eternal life. And how do we know? Are we trusting
Christ and Christ alone? Oh, my. Now, John saw the Lord
Jesus Christ face to face, didn't he? But we see Christ by faith. We look to Christ by faith. It's
Christ who we look to now. We were once blind again to the
things of God. We were once blind to the things
of God, we're blind to God himself at one time. Ask yourself, would you have
been sitting in church tonight if you were still in your natural
state? I wouldn't be here. I'd have no desire to be here.
But God's people want to be here, don't we? We want to hear the
Lord. We want to hear the gospel. We desire to hear the things
of Christ and learn the things of Christ. And we desire through
the preaching of the word to look to Christ, to look to Christ. And so with the eyes of faith,
we look to the Savior, we look to the Father, we who have been
taken from darkness to light. And how have we been taken from
darkness to light? We're born again in the Holy Spirit of God,
transformed from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of
God's Son. It's a miracle, beloved. It's
an absolute miracle. And what are the things spoken
of in verse 13 of chapter five? These are the things concerning
salvation. 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 and that you may believe on the name of the Son
of God. Some of the things we know is that we have salvation
in Christ and Christ alone. These are not written just to
encourage us as believers, to encourage sinners to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, to come to Him, that they might be saved. And it gives the believer confidence
and assurance, doesn't it? In this world of woe. Vicki and
I were talking about how today, how this world is a world of
sorrow. You know that the only sorrow
we're experiencing is in this world? There'd be no sorrow in
glory, beloved. There'd be no tears. The only
pain that we experience will be here. There's no pain in glory. These old bodies that the back
goes out and different things happen to us, there'd be none
of that in glory. No, we're glorified bodies, oh
my. It'd be amazing. It would be
absolutely amazing. So daily, beloved of God, we
are to come to Christ, aren't we? We're to come to Christ daily,
to seek Him, to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And how is our faith confirmed? How is our faith increased? Well, by having the person and
the work and the office and the power of Christ explained to
us, preached and proclaimed to us again and again and again
and again. And we love it, don't we? Tell me
about Christ. Tell me about the one who died
as my substitute on Calvary's cross. Tell me about what He's
done. Tell me that I have the forgiveness
of all my sins through Christ and Christ alone by the shedding
of His precious blood. This is marvelous, wonderful
news. Tell me that my Savior is victorious
and that He's risen and that He's seated at the right hand
of the Father right now interceding for me and if you're a believer,
for you. It's wonderful. Tell me, tell me more and tell
me more and keep telling me. Keep telling me, because that's
all I want to hear. He's about my Savior. Oh, it's wonderful. God's preachers don't tell you
what you have to do. God's preachers tell you what's been done by
Christ alone. It's all done. Work is finished. And he right
now is ruling and reigning over all things visible and invisible.
And eternal life is found nowhere but in Christ. Nowhere but in
Christ. Absolutely nowhere but in Him. And God's people are assured
as Christ is preached and salvation in Christ alone is preached and
proclaimed, we are assured of the salvation that we have in
our great God and King, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we are
told through the preaching of the word that this marvelous,
wondrous grace, which comes to us in and through Christ alone,
is all from a gift from God and all according to the mercy of
God and the grace of God. Never let never ever ever forget
that. You are saved by grace. according to the mercy of God
in Christ. Never forget that. Never forget,
I was thinking about that in the study today as I was looking
at Deuteronomy 6 for Sunday morning. And I was sitting there in the
study and I thought, it just came to my mind like I used to
hear Henry preach it all the time. Never forget the rock you
were hewn from. And it came to my mind, don't
forget the pit that the Lord pulled you out of, Wayne. Oh my. Don't ever forget that. Don't
ever forget the pit you were in, because you couldn't get
yourself out of that pit, just like I couldn't get myself out
of the pit I was in. But by the grace of God, the Lord took us
out of it. Oh my. And that pit, I like what Jeremiah
said, that pit was like a miry pit. They used to throw people
in these pits. And they had water and stuff
in there too, or when it rained, it'd get all miry. And if they
tried to climb out, they'd just slide right down. That's the
kind of pit we were in, in our natural state. Now, sometimes
we tried to clean out, right? I admit, sometimes, oh Lord,
forgive me, please, I'll never do that again. And what happened,
the next two, three nights later, I'm doing the same thing again
that I was doing when I was, I didn't know Christ, I didn't
know God. Trying to climb out of that pit on my own. By something
I did, oh, I'm going to be good and then maybe God will show
favor to me because I'm going to be doing good. No. The only way God shows mercy
to us and grace to us is in and through Christ and Christ alone.
That's the only place. That's the only place. And so
when we hear about the great substitutionary work of Christ,
that he's wrought out for his people, that salvation that He's
obtained eternal salvation for us. Oh, it gives us such assurance.
It gives us this confidence in Christ and Christ alone. Oh,
it's wonderful. So think of this in light. Turn,
if you would, to John chapter 17. John chapter 17. But keep
your finger on 1 John, because we'll be going right back there.
We'll not be going too much out of this book tonight, but a couple
of times here we'll be going to John chapter 17. And then
actually, Keep your finger there on John because we will be going
back to chapter 13 after we go back to 1 John. Look at this
here though. Think of this in light of our
Lord's high priestly prayer. Let's look at what he says here
in verse 13. one to three in John chapter 17. These words
speak Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father,
the hours come glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify
thee as thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. What an
incredible statement there in in verse two. He gives eternal
life to as many as the father's given. And this is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou sent." Remember the Greek word there? Remember the
Greek word, ginoska? Same word. Same word right there
in John 17, 3, beloved. And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou sent. How do we know Him in an intimate
way? Because He's revealed Himself
to us, beloved. Isn't that marvelous? Same Greek
word below it. With that in mind, let's
go back to 1 John 2. But again, put your finger in
John 13 because we'll be going there shortly. 1 John 2, verses
4-6. Again, we'll read that again
with that in mind. He that saith, I know him, and
keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not
in him. But whoso keepeth his word in him verily, or truly,
is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in
him. He that saith, he abideth in
him himself, also so to walk, even as he want." Now take note
of these three verses here before us, and we know that the person
who says, I know and am acquainted with Christ and the saving interest,
If a person who professes that, say a person professes, oh, I
have a saving interest in Christ, but again has no love for his
teaching or his commandments, then they're lying, beloved.
They're lying. And the truth of the gospel is
not in him. That's what is being bought forth
here. We see that in verse 4, if a
person professes to be a believer and has no love for the Word
of God, and no love for the commandments of God, then you can be sure
they're a liar, beloved. And the truth's not in them.
God's people love the Word of God. We love it. Now, did we love it before we
were saved? No. No, every time I looked at the
book, I've told you many times, it's just paper and ink to me,
before the Lord saved me. But now it's wonderful. These
are words of life. When I read that all my sins
are forgiven in Christ, just makes my heart leap, does it
yours? But I didn't know those things before I was born again. Turn if you would to John 13
now, John 13. Our Lord's commanded us that
we are to love the brethren. And look at that. We see this
over here. We see this over here in John
13, I hit on that earlier, and we're going to we're going to
see more of that as we go through this book, John. That's something
John really stresses as we go through this book, the love of
the brethren. The love of the brethren, look
at this in John chapter 13 verses 31 to 35, Therefore when he was
gone out, Jesus say, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God
is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God
shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify
him. Little children, yet a little while I am with you, ye shall
seek me, And as I said to the Jews, wither I go, you cannot
come. So now I say to you, a new commandment I give unto you.
Now this is the Lord speaking. This is our Master speaking. That ye love one another. As I have loved you, that ye
also love one another. Because remember, love is the
opposite of hate, beloved. And love will not produce strife.
And love will not produce division. And love will not produce envy
and jealousy. Love, the love of God produces
a love for the brethren, a love for the gospel. It's all new. It's all new. New commandment I give unto you,
that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love
one another. By this, now look at this, by
this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have
love one to another. My, what a verse. And this is one of the main things
that John's bringing forth in this epistle, that God's people
love one another, as one old preacher of old said, we love
God's people warts and all. It's true. Faults and all. Right? We all got faults, even
if we don't think we do. We all got faults. Every one
of us. We all got them. But we love
God's people. And the believer in Christ is
a new creature. They're a bond slave of Christ. They've been
bought with a price. And the price is the precious
blood of Christ. And their whole life and desire
is to become more deeply and personally acquainted with Christ.
Do you want to know Christ more? I do. Do you desire a deeper walk with
Him? I do. Do you desire when the gospel
is preached for Him to reveal Himself to you more and more?
Yes, we do, don't we? And that's why the gospel preacher,
he just keeps chiming that bell. Christ. Christ and Him crucified,
beloved. No, we desire to know Him. Take note here and take note here again in verse
5, but whosoever keepeth his word in him verily or truly is
the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in
him. So through the preaching of the
word of God, through the preaching of the gospel which points us
to Christ, we who believe We hunger and thirst after righteousness,
don't we? And how is that hunger and that
thirst for righteousness, how is that fed? Through the preaching of the
Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. Preach to me Christ. Tell me what he's done for me,
for me. We desire, as scripture says,
the sincere milk of the word, don't we? The sincere milk of
the word. A man or woman who says they
love Christ and has no desire for the gospel and no desire
for the Bible is deceiving themselves. They're deceiving themselves
and the truth is not in them. And all we have to do is look
back to our natural state when we had no desire for the word
of God. Again, verse five, but whosoever
keepeth his word in him barely or truly is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in
him. John brings forth here before
the saints, he's writing to about the union that they have in Christ.
Right in this verse, a union. Hereby know we that we are in
him. Oh my. So John is bringing this
forth. And this is written a lot, this
fact is written about a lot in the New Testament. This is not being in Christ just
by a mere profession, but being in Christ as he's our head. We're
the body. He's the vine. We're the branches. He's the head again and we are
the body. The man or woman who's in Christ will love his word,
love his gospel, and love his people. That's been very evidently
set forth tonight. And always remember, now remember
this too, you who are in Christ, Always, always, always remember
that you are in Christ by the grace and mercy of God. That's
the only reason. That's the only reason. It's
God who has made it so if you're in Christ. You're born again
by the Spirit of God. You're granted faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ according to the will of God. It humbles
us, doesn't it? It humbles us. Again, we're taken
from darkness to light. We're taken from the pit that
we're in to the glorious light of the gospel, beloved. Oh, my. And it's all by God's sovereign,
almighty, And it's because it pleased him
to do so. That's really the thing that tops it right off, isn't
it? Not only are we saved by the almighty sovereign hand of
God, which in itself is absolutely amazing. But we're saved because
it pleased God to save us. My. Look, it says he that abideth
in him himself also so to walk even as he walked the believer
in Christ. Who says he or she loves Christ ought to walk as
Christ walked. Love. In love. Forgive as Christ forgave. Just
let things go. You know why? Because without
Christ we can do nothing. Can do nothing. I'll close with
this from John chapter 15 verses 4 and 5. Abide in me and I in
you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself. We can't produce no fruit of
the Spirit, can we? Nope. Except it abide in the
vine. No more can ye except ye abide
in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches.
He that abides in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit. It's God who works it in us. Joy, peace, love. For without me, oh this is the
kicker right here. Without me you can do nothing.
That's the truth right there. Praise be to God for all he's
done for us.