Our scripture this morning, turn
with me to 1 John chapter 4. If you have a marker, you can
put it there. I'll come back to this as my
text in just a few minutes. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God. because many false prophets are
gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come into the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come into the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of antichrist
whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already
is in the world. Ye are of God, little children,
and have overcome them, because greater is he that's in you than
he that's in the world. They are of the world, therefore
speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 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 and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and every
one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth
not knoweth not God, for God is love. And this was manifested,
the love of God toward us, because God sent his only begotten Son
into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love,
not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved
us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God
at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and His love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we
dwell in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear
in love. Perfect love casteth out fear,
because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. We love him because he first
loved us. If a man say, I love God, and
hateth his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth
God loveth his brother also. I invite you to turn back again
with me to 1 John chapter 4. What I want to talk about this
morning is knowing the Spirit of God. That's what John's writing
about all through this chapter, actually all through his book.
He's talking about, and we know, and we know, and we know, he
said, he just keeps saying. Knowing the Spirit of God. I
cannot speak for everyone here today as to their own experience
of grace, But I was raised in false religion. When I say false
religion, I'm not talking about any of the foreign, way-out religions
like Buddhism. I'm talking about so-called Christian
religion, but falsely so-called. John is not talking here about
such rank idolatry as they had Diana. They worshipped this big
statue called Diana. There was a whole religion built
on it, and Buddha, and on and on the list goes. The Gentiles
had all these gods. They were punishable by death
if you passed one of those memorials, one of those altars. with that
God on there and you didn't contribute money or you didn't stop and
pray or acknowledge that thing, it was punishable by death. This
rank idolatry. But I was raised in so-called
Christian religion and that's what John's talking about because
he gets down here just a little bit and he said this is Antichrist. You can't be Antichrist if you
don't know anything about Christ. This is Antichrist. This is false
religion that goes under the name Christian. That's what he's
dealing with here. And I was raised in false religion. There's a spirit about it. When
you talk about religion, I don't care. Talk about our religion. Talk about their religion. Talk
about any religion in the world. There is a spirit about it. A
spirit in it. that draws men to it, excites
the emotions, appeals to the affection, and makes him feel
good about himself. He goes in there and he sits
and he hears things and he feels good about himself. There's a
spirit that is mixed in that work that enables him to do that. As I got older and learned to
play the guitar, I began to go from this church to that church,
wherever I was invited, sometimes with a group, sometimes alone.
And I'd, of course, sit through the whole service and hear what
they preached. And I was in all these different
religions. They was all saying the same thing. I couldn't understand
why they didn't just go get a big church and all of them meet there.
They was all saying the same thing. The only difference was
the way they arranged their service, church government, And whether
or not they believed in one pastor or a priest, that's the only
difference I could see. Their message was exactly the
same. This was a religion that preaches favor, blessings,
and acceptance with God by the merit of men. Something you do
to be saved. I've heard this from so many
preachers over the years. God's done all He can do. Now
it's all up to you. That's the heart of their message.
It appeals to men. Do this. Do that. Say this. Say
that. Pray after me. Repeat after me.
And on and on it goes. It's a religion that preaches
favor, blessing, and acceptance with God by the merit of men,
whether intended or actual. It doesn't matter. You can talk
about doing something promising to do something way off in the
future, or something that you've already done, or something that
you're doing right now. Whether intended or actual, whether
immediate or promised. And Christ, they say, died for
our past sins. That's another thing that I heard
growing up. It's not of God. They say he
died for our past sins, and they quote Romans 3, verse 25 as a
proof text. And there he's talking about
Christ being pictured in the Old Testament, and when he's
talking about past sins, he's talking about sins of Old Testament
saints. Which one of your sins was past
when Christ died? They was all future, weren't
they? Sure they were. He's not talking about dying
for your past sins, One man took an eraser and he put all these
marks up here, the sin of this and the sin of that, and here's
what salvation is. God taking an eraser. That's
not what salvation is. And sin is not so much what you
do as it is who you are. Sin is a nature. We were by nature
children of wrath, even as others. That's what he says. I'm talking
about false religion. Christ, they say, died for our
past sins. This, along with decisionism,
you have to make your decision. Salvation ain't in a decision.
And if it is, it's in God, not yours. Huh? You mean God decides who he's
going to save and who he's not? Yeah, that's exactly what I mean.
That's exactly what the Scripture says. You have not chosen me,
I've chosen you. He said his apostles struck right
off the bat. Oh, you don't preach election.
He did. First thing he said. Well, these apostles didn't preach
election. You better read Ephesians chapter 1. You know what Paul
said to this church at Ephesus? The very first thing he told
them was God chose you in Christ before the foundation of the
world that you might be holy. without blame, before Him in
love. Not talking about your love for
Him, talking about His love for you. He chose you in Christ that
you might be before Him in love. He sealed His love for you and
His Son. Now listen, having predestinated
us, oh my soul, you can't get into predestination. That's the
first thing Paul told us. First time I mentioned it, the
preacher said, oh, that's a deep doctrine. Really? Paul called
it milk. Baby's milk, predestination,
election. Here's the problem. We don't
know God. And our religion's all bottled up and coming to
the front and praying through. When I was just a little kid,
I'd listen to them because they'd have an altar call. Every service
we had an altar call. And he said, every head bowed,
every eye closed, if you feel like you need some help, hold
that hand up. I see that hand. Well, I'm a
little kid and I'm looking around, there ain't no hands. This is a come on to get somebody
down that aisle. That's what it is. And that's
what religion's geared for. Filling up the pews, getting
the house full. Oh, so many things. Decision
is the malter calls, praying through, coming to the front.
All these things are commonplace. They preach the universal salvation. Christ died for everybody's sin.
No he didn't. Everybody Christ died for is
saved. Is that right? That's what he
said. He that begun a good work in you, he'll perform it unto
the end. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. And they said, if that be the
Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you plainly.
But you don't believe because you're not of my sheep. My sheep
hear my voice. And I call them and they come
out. And I put them out before me and they eat and they stay
there. They don't run off. And I give unto them eternal
life and they'll never perish. You mean God can save somebody
and then they'll perish? I never heard such foolishness. You think God's going to give
the death of His Son, the suffering of His Son, as a failure to do
what He sent Him to do? No way. No way. But I'd be giving all these examples. Yeah, but, yeah, but, and this
example and that example. Huh? Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? Huh? It's God that justifies. Oh, now that's a different story.
You mean God justified us in Christ? Yes, I do. When He raised
Him from the dead, He was delivered for our offenses. Now listen,
raised again for our justification. God said they're just. How so? By the righteousness of Christ.
They're just. You can't look yourself in the
mirror and say that, can you? But you can if you look to Christ.
In Him is no sin. And even my sin that was laid
on Him is put away. They preach false religion. They preach a universal salvation,
universal love. Can you even imagine a sticker
on the ark? God's elect went in. He shut the door. Began to rain. And here's a little bumper sticker
with a smiley face on it that says, Smile, God loves you. He loved Jacob. Now listen, this
is what he told them plain and long. Jacob, have I loved Esau,
have I hated? I can't find every reason in
the world for God to hate Esau, but try to find one for God to
love Jacob. Huh? God's election. And that's what
he said. He said, I said all that to establish my election. Read it for yourself. There is within all religion,
good and bad, real or pretended, fake or legitimate, a spirit. And there is in all religions
a spiritual influence drawing men, drawing women, making it
seem logical, making us to feel our need of it, whatever it is.
But here in John 4, the apostle John tells us, not all of these
spirits are of God. And he begins the chapter with
these words, Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits,
whether they are of God. And the spirits here are representative
of men, because here's how he ends the verse, because many
false prophets have gone out into the world. Well, is he talking about prophets
or false spirits? Yes. Yes, he's talking about
both. The spirits here are representative
of men. And it's through men and through
women that Satan does his work. In Ephesians 2, describing the
life of the believer before conversion, he said, You hath equipped them
who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now he's going to define
it, wherein you walk according to the course of this world,
according to the spirit, according to the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
Does that mean Satan personally works in everybody? No, but representing
him, he does. He does. Satan's work here is
in religion. All the rest of what men say
and do comes forth from a depraved heart. Isn't that what the Lord
said? Out of your heart proceed evil
thoughts. Oh, I thought that comes from
Satan. No, it comes right out of your heart. Man's heart is
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Satan don't
work in men to make them drunk. They're already drunks in their
heart, that's why they go and drink. Now any other sin comes right
out of the heart. Satan's work, now listen to me,
is in religion. That's where it's at, it ain't
in the bar, it's in religion. Read 2 Thessalonians 2. This
is the working of Satan, that's what he says. That's about plain
as you can get it. All the rest of what men do come
forth from a depraved heart and defiles the man. He said they
live in the lust of their flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath,
even as others. The apostle John ties all this
in at the end of the verse, saying, because many false prophets have
gone out into the world. These are not drug addicts. On
and on it goes. They're false prophets. And they
use the term prophet because a prophet was a man appointed
of God to tell men the truth. God speaks to men through men. He always has. He spoke to Israel
through a prophet. When that prophet died, he had
yet another prophet and called him. And that's who he spoke
to. The kings of Israel. Where did they go? They went
to the prophet to find out God's will about a matter. You remember that prophet came
to David after he'd sinned and done all those things, and he
made up this little story, and he's telling him what happened,
and David got angry. He said, you bring that guy here,
I'll put him to death. He said, thou art the man. But we get so angry, men build
strong men and beat them to death, just like they do in politics.
Politics and false religion have so much in common, it ain't funny. Oh my, God would use his prophets
to tell men the truth, to deliver to men the word of God and the
will of God and point them to a promised redeemment. And this
world is filled with religion, Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians
and Catholics and Nazarenes and Church of Christ, Episcopalians,
Apostolic and a thousand independent assemblies of any flavor you
like. And beholding all those memorials,
Paul was, God led him through Athens, Greece. This is where
all the philosophers lived. And he was talking and preaching
and testifying and he was downtown in the middle of the marketplace.
And these guys, the Epistolians and Stoics, they heard Paul preaching
and they went down there and they said, Paul, we never heard
anything like this. How about you come up on Mars
Hill and preach to us? Tell us what you believe and
in whom you believe and all these things. So he did. He did. And they got him up there and
he got up on that hill and he said, I was walking through town
all over Greece and he said, I was beholding all these memorials
everywhere to this God, to that God. And they give the name and
generally some kind of a key point to their philosophy and
so on. Finally, he come down and there's
one memorial there and it didn't have a picture on it, didn't
have anything on it. It just said to the unknown God. He said,
that's the one I want. This is the only one that I could
find in that whole place that has a connection to you. The
unknown God. You don't know God. That's what
Paul said. He said, Him declare I unto you.
And he preached to them. And I feel the same way. And
here's what Paul told them. He said, I perceive that in all
things you're too superstitious. Look that word up. It's religious. You're all too religious. You're
full of religion and don't know God. Our Lord told the Pharisees. These were the chief men of the
Jews. These were the men who would
appoint certain men out of their faith, and they had them in the
High Council of Israel, and their job was to look for the Messiah.
Those are the ones who opposed Christ. And he said, you neither know
me nor my Father. That's what he told them. They're religious. Paul said,
it's touching the righteousness which is of the law. I don't
blame them. I'm blameless. I went to church. I read the
scriptures. I paid my tithes. I did this.
I did that. I dressed a certain way. I talked
a certain way. Yeah, but you don't know God. That's what Christ said. You
neither knew me nor my Father. I perceive that in all things
you're too religious. You're too superstitious. We
live in a religious world that don't know God. And John's not
here talking about Buddhism or Diana or any of these things
or Baal. He's addressing religions that
claim to represent God, the God of glory, so-called Christian
religions. Believers have long known that
these strange gods are the god of reprobates, men and women
who become vain in their imaginations. Their foolish heart was darkened
and they changed the image of God. into an image made like
unto man, and birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. He's talking about men here who
claim to be representatives of God. And certainly these religions
exist to this very day. The spirit John's talking about
is the spirit of Antichrist. He makes that very clear in verse
3 of our text. Every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ come into the flesh is not of God, and
this is that spirit of Antichrist wherever you've heard. What's he talking about Antichrist?
Hollywood has a person, a man, make movies about him. People,
churches talk about him all the time. That day Antichrist is
going to be revealed. Antichrist is a spirit. It's
a spirit. And what it means is it's contrary
to Christ. It's a religion contrary to Christ. God's salvation is in Christ.
Heaven is about the glory of God in Christ. It means contrary to Christ.
It means against Christ. And it means the opposite. We was at a family reunion or
something. I don't remember where it was. And a guy come up to
me and told me, he said, I'm his cousin. He said, I'm a preacher. He said, what do you believe? And I thought about it a while.
Where do I start, you know? And finally, I just told him,
I said, well, you take everything that you believe and take the
very opposite. I said, that's what I believe.
I'm pretty confident that I was close. They believe in free will. I don't. They believe in decisionism. I don't. That's anti-Christ. That's anti-God. Anti-Christ. And knowing the
danger of such things, John gives them a test whereby these spirits
can be exposed as anti-Christ. Verses 2 and 3 of 1 John chapter
4. Listen to this. Hereby know ye
the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come into the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come into the flesh is not of God.
And this is that Spirit of Antichrist whereof you heard that it should
come. Now the test given to us by the Spirit of God himself
is a three-fold test. You want to know if somebody
you're listening, you want to know if I'm of God, here's the
test. I'll just give it to you. It's the doctrine of Christ,
number one. These spirits, these men who
represent the spouse spirit, not sin of God, but sin of another
spirit, they don't have the doctrine
of Christ. That's how you know. That's the
first reason. Secondly, they don't have the
faith of God's elect. Faith without works is dead.
Faith that doesn't have any effect on a man is not faith. And you
say, well, I believe, but I live out there, I rejoice. No, you
don't. You're a liar. You ain't got faith. That's not
faith. This test has to do with the
doctrine of Christ, the faith of God's elect, now listen, and
the love of God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. I don't care how much he can
jump up and down and what kind of languages he can spit out
and whatever else men do. He don't know God. He don't love. He don't love God and he don't
love God's people. He loves his own, he loves the
world, but he don't love God. So let's deal first with this
doctrine of the Spirit. In John's Gospel, chapter 16,
verse 13, it says, How be it, when he, now listen, the Spirit
of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall
not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak. And he'll show you things to
come. He's going to show you something about hell, and something
about heaven, and something about judgment. He's going to show
you things to come. He's going to show you something
about Antichrist. He's going to show you all kinds
of things that are to come. And they're coming. Now listen to this, verse 14.
He shall glorify me. Religion don't glorify Christ.
Religion glorifies man. It wants every man that comes
in that assembly to go out that door happy as a lark. I told Brother Barnard, he's an
old evangelist, started back in either early 1900s or late
1800s and preached up to 1950. And Brother Barnard, boy, some
of those old-timers, they looked hard, you know, and he was preaching
hard. And this lady met him back by
the door and said, Honey, you can catch more flies with honey
than you can with vinegar. And he said, Sweetheart, I'm
not trying to catch flies, he said, I'm trying to kill sinners. You know you're a sinner? Every
saved man knows he's a sinner. He knows he has a need of Christ. If Christ don't put away his
sin, he's going to face God in judgment. If he's not called, if God don't do a work in him,
intervene is the word I'm hunting for. If God don't intervene in
his life, he's gone. He's going to be swallowed up
of the world and swallowed up of religion and swallowed up
of everything else. He'll have love of family more
than love of God's people. You mean believers love other
believers more than they love their own family? That's what
Christ said. He said if they don't, there's a problem. Actually, he used the word hate.
That's a pretty strong language, ain't it? But it appears as hate,
because he loves God's people more than he loves him. He's going to glorify me, for
he shall receive of mine and show it unto you. And the presence
and power of the Holy Ghost, as He's made known in the ministry,
is by the preaching of the doctrine of Christ. And when John speaks
of the confession of Jesus Christ coming into the flesh, he's not
just talking about the fact of it, but what it implies, the
necessity of it. Who is this man? He's God. Why
did he come? That's the next question. There's
a necessity to his coming. If he don't come, we're all gone. The necessity of his coming is
the purpose of God. God created this whole world,
set it up exactly like it was, allowed man to fall in the garden,
to redeem man, to manifest his glory. The glory of his grace
and his mercy and his love. And that's where it's singing.
He's talking about here the necessity of it. He's talking here about
his officers assigned to him before the world was ever made.
God set him apart and gave him the name of Creator. Who created
this world? Christ did. Why do you know that? Because that's what he said. Huh? He created all things. Read Colossians chapter 1. It
tells you plainly. All things were made by Him,
listen, and for Him. For this work that He's going
to do. All made for Him. He's not just talking about somebody
saying, well yeah, I believe He was manifested in the flesh.
No, it has to do with all that that implies. It has to do with
the whole of the doctrine of Christ. He's not just talking about the
fact of it, he's talking about the necessity of it, the offices
concerning it, the purpose behind it, what he accomplished when
he got here, what he did after the third day when he arose.
It's the doctrine of his incarnation, which is the very heart of the
doctrine of Christ, And in John's second epistle, he writes, Whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath
not God. Whoa. And he said that when he
comes to your house knocking on the door, Hey, I'm Pastor
John Smith, and I want to invite you to come down here and listen
to me. And if you will, I'll come in and talk to you a little
bit. Get out of here. Huh? Shouldn't we be polite? No. No. He that bids this man
God's speed is partaker of his deeds. Here's what you do, you
put your arm around him saying, okay brother, you have a good
day. You think Christ's purpose for
that man to have a good day? No. You put your arm around him,
now you're partaker of his seed. If there come any unto you, and
bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither
bid him God's feed. And to show such a man any favor
at all is to become partaker of his evil deeds. These men are not God's servants,
and they are not to be treated as such. And to confess that
Jesus Christ is coming to the flesh is to confess the preexistence
of Christ Jesus as God. You can't come from somewhere
you've never been. Where'd he come from? He said,
I come down from heaven. If I confess that Jesus Christ
came into this world, I'm confessing his pre-existence. His coming
into this world is to save sinners. This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. So if I confess him to come into
the flesh, I'm confessing that there was a preexistence of Christ
and the purpose of God in sending him. You see what I'm saying?
This thing will take in the whole of the doctrine of Christ. Listen
to how Paul says it. He who thought it not robbery
to be equal with God made himself of no reputation and took on
him the form of a serpent. Secondly, to confess that Jesus
Christ has come into the flesh is to confess all the office
given to him by God. Christ is attached to his very
name. Call him Jesus Christ. Christ is not his name, that's
an office. Jesus, who is the Christ. He's
the promised Redeemer, the Messiah, God come into the flesh. To confess
that Jesus Christ has come into the flesh confesses the necessity
of His coming, confesses that Jesus Christ is preeminent. Couldn't God just sit up in glory
on his throne and say, well, I'm going to save him, him, him,
and him, and I'm just going to send the Spirit, and we're going
to take that man, and we're going to reform him by the power of
the Spirit. Isn't that what the Pentecostals
say? The power of the Spirit. No. Christ has the preeminence.
Read Colossians chapter 9. Please God that in him should
all fullness dwell. He's preeminent in the church.
He's God's head. He's God's representative. He
saves sinners through a person. And that person is Jesus Christ.
When I confess that God sent Him into the flesh, you see how
these things are tied in? They're tied right into this
person of Christ. This coming is not some portion
of the believer's hope. It's the very foundation of it.
and none other name unto heaven given among men, whereby we must
be saved." Jesus Christ. It's in a person. And the doctrine
of Christ is appointed to a specific person, Jesus of Nazareth, who
is the Christ. And to confess that Jesus Christ
has come into the flesh confesses our hope by union with him. There's
no other reason for him to come except to do for us what we can
never do for ourselves. That's what I'm talking about.
He's a representative. Christ is the head. That's what
they're talking about, federal head. Let me tell you something. I
don't know of any so-called Christian religion that don't confess that
Jesus Christ came into the flesh. Do you? I've never talked to
one, not even Catholics. They all believe he came into
the flesh. But none of them believe in the doctrine of Christ, which
is incorporated into his appearance in this world. And it's manifested
in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension into glory. What
John is testing the spirits with is salvation in the person of
Christ. Watch this man preach. I'm going
to listen to him. If he preaches salvation in anything
but Christ, better leave him alone, better get out of there.
You've tested the Spirit and it's not of God. The second thing
he gives us in this test is the confession of our faith in Christ.
When the Spirit of God does not work in us, which is effectual to the saving
of our soul, and he, what's he do? He begins to whittle off
everything that's not promised. I told this story to our folks
a long time ago. A guy was traveling up the mountains
of West Virginia, and back in the days of these old gas tanks
that were gravity, they'd pump up in that clear glass tube,
you could see how much gas was in there, and then they'd put
that thing in, you'd watch the gas come down empty into your
car. And all these old gas stations were also little stores for the
community. And a guy stopped there and filled
his tank up and he walked in and he was looking all around
the store. He wanted to buy something from West Virginia to take home
and give to his kids, you know, to be a memorial of where he's
been, you know. So he's looking around and all
of a sudden he looks up here. And when he come in, he passed
this old guy sitting out there bibbed over all in an old shirt.
sit there a piece of firewood whittling, you know, and he looks
up and he sees this perfect hound dog, old gig clamping hound dog,
and this thing set up there on the shelf, but the detail in
it is perfect. And the guy said, can I see that? Gas station attendant got it
down, he said, here, he said, where in the world does it come
from? Oh, he said, over eastern Whitley. He said, you mean that
guy on the front porch? He said, oh yeah. Man, he said,
that thing is beautiful. He said, how much is it? And
he told him, he bought it, went on the porch, and he introduced
himself to old Lester. And he said, Lester, he said,
how on earth can you take a piece of wood like that and make it
look like this? And he sat there for a few minutes. He chewed
in the back, and he spit. And he said, I just cut off everything
that ain't a hound dog. That's what Christ does. He starts
whittling. Huh? He intervenes. And he starts
whittling. And he cuts off everything that's
not just like Christ. Gets rid of it. Paul said all
these things that used to be his hope, he said, I took them
out and put them on the dung heap because that's what they
were. That I might know him and the
power of his resurrection. It's a confession of our faith
in Christ. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. And our election is made known
when the gospel comes, not in word only, but in the Holy Ghost,
and with much assurance. And that's not talking about
confidence in your confidence. It's talking about assurance
in Christ. We hear Him preach. We see Him exalted. We see His
work. We see God's acceptance of it,
and now we begin to see Him as He is, and we begin to get confidence
in Him, and we can rest in Him. And all those that believe Hebrews
4 entered into His rest. You can't see Him as He is and
not enter into His rest, not trust Him, not love Him. Now
if you see Him as religion presents Him, He's just poor little Jesus,
boy. Try and do what he can't do. People won't let him. My
soul, he's on the throne. He hath done whatsoever he pleased. Where? In the armies of heaven,
among the inhabitants of the earth. Everywhere. Faith is an active principle
of the heart. It hears, it believes, it bows,
it repents. It becomes subject to, embraces,
commits itself, rejoices, and perseveres in faith, and it rests
in Christ. Knowledge is to faith what air
is to breathe. We believe in Christ and on Christ
and submit to Him and rejoice in Him in exact proportion to
what we know. Faith is the work of God within,
and it's the work of the Holy Ghost, and it is effectual. Spirit of Christ is the author,
revealer of the Word of God, and the Word of God is the testimony
of God that He's given to us eternal life, and there's life
in His Son. So the difference between a godly
spirit and a ministry is, first of all, their doctrine. That's
what we're going to test them, see what they believe. I'm going
to listen to them, hear what they say. Second thing in the ministry
that is effectual to detect the difference is the Holy Ghost
who begats faith in God's elect. Paul said, I have begotten you
through the gospel. What a statement. And then thirdly,
John's test of the Spirit moves on to this thing called love. 1 John 4, 7. Let us love one
another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born
of God, and knoweth God." How is that? Why is that? I tell
you, if God ever makes known to you who you are, who you are, you're standing before a holy
God, David, and you can't even look Him in the eye. You're a
sinner. Your heart's filthy. He's already
told you that. It's deceitful above all those.
Desperately wicked. You can't trust in it. Well,
if I know my heart, you don't. That's what he tells us. You
don't. And I start to see myself and I start to see everything
I ever said and ever did and ever thought to be sin against
God. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned. That's what David prayed. That
you might be clear when you judge. His testimony's clear, mine's
not. And you see yourself, and here
you are, you raggedy old rebel, and here's God, and He loves
you. Does that mean He just likes
you? No. No. Well, how do I know He loves
me? Because He took His Son, His only begotten Son, and He
had them men butcher Him. Whipped him until his back was
just like a plowed field. Put him up there on a cross and
laughed at him while he suffered and died on a cross. He died
for our sins. The just, now listen, the just
for the unjust made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Can you see love
in that? Oh, I want to love like that.
I do. My love's nowhere near there.
But I do love. And I love him because he first
loved me. That's the test. Does a man love? If he don't, he don't know God.
Because when God manifests Hisself to men, the highest thing there
is His love. He loved us, listen, and gave
Himself for us. Am I going to confess to him
coming here and not talk to him? No, you're not. But boy, when
you see him saving your soul, loving you from before the foundation
of the world, and he says, read Romans chapter 8, the last three
verses. What's going to separate you
from the love of God? Huh? Things present, things to
come, life, death, any other creep, nothing. can separate
you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So why are you telling us all
this, Preacher? I'm telling you this because I'm trying to point
you to Christ. There's all the difference in
the world between Christ and religion. Christ is a person,
Son of God, who can save to the uttermost all that come unto
God by Him. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. I'm pointing you to a person,
not to a way, not to a decision, not coming down an aisle or joining
the church. I'm pointing you to a person,
and that person's able to save. He's able. And all the rest of
it's junk. It's junk. And the sooner you
know it, the better off you're going to be. It's junk. But oh,
in Him, in Him, is everything. And to show you the glory of
his grace, he takes an old sinner like me. No education. I forget what that one guy told
me. I didn't know how to conjugate a verb or something. Well, he's
right. But he takes an old sinner like
me, and he takes a doctrine that people just look at and can't
figure out for the life of them, and he lets me know what it means.
And I can point it to you. That ought to give you assurance
of His power, and of His Spirit, and of His effectual working
in man. Oh, might the Lord be pleased
to do such a thing.