For our Scripture reading this
morning, turn with me to John chapter 8. Beginning with verse 1, Jesus
went unto the Mount of Olives, and early in the morning He came
again into the temple, And all the people came unto him, and
he sat down and talked to them. And the scribes and Pharisees
brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had
set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman
was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law
commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him
that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus
stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though
he heard them not. So when they continued asking
him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without
sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and
wrote on the ground. They which heard it, being convicted
by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at
the eldest even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone, and
a woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself,
he saw none but the woman, and he said unto her, Woman, where
are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither
do I condemn thee. Go, and sin no more. Then spake Jesus again unto them,
saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The Pharisees
therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself, thy
record is not true. Jesus answered and said unto
them, though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true. For I know whence I came and
whither I go, but you cannot tell whence I come and whither
I go. You judge after the flesh, I
judge no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment
is true. For I am not alone, but I and
the Father that sent me. It is also written in your law
that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness
of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.
Then said they unto him, Where is thy father? Jesus answered,
You neither know me nor my father. If you know me, you should have
known my father also. These words spake Jesus, and
the treasure is he taught in the temple, and no man laid hands
on him, for his hour was not yet come. Then said Jesus again
unto them, I go my way, and you shall seek me, and shall die
in your sins. Whether I go, you cannot come. Then said the Jews, will he kill
himself, because he saith, whether I go, you cannot come? And he
said unto them, you are from beneath, I am from above. You
are of the world, I am not of this world. I said therefore
unto you that you shall die in your sins, for if you believe
not that I am, you shall die in your sins. Then said they
unto him, who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, even
the same that I said unto you from the beginning. I have many
things to say and to judge of you, but he that sent me is true,
and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of
him. They understood not that he spake
to them of the Father. Then said Jesus unto them, When
you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that
I And that I do nothing of myself,
but as the Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me.
The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things
that please him. And as he spake these words,
many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, If you continue in my words, Then are
you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. If you will turn back with me
to John chapter 8. Book of the Bible is distinct
in some way, yet every book in the Bible is in harmony with
all the rest. It's distinct. The Book of John
is distinct. It's not like the other three
Gospels. It contains the Gospel. But his theme is distinct from
the other. John was the first of the Gospels
I taught when I came here, and no doubt the most quoted of the
four Gospels. And I personally love his writings
for their simplicity and for their clear declarations. The distinction in John's theme
is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The others talk of Him as the
Son of Man, the Servant of God, and so forth. But John's thing
is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He starts right off with this
statement, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. Nothing was done apart from Him.
He's the Creator. Jesus Christ is the Creator.
He spoke and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast.
In Him, John said, was life and the life was the light of men.
Now my subject this morning is about true disciples of Christ. I titled the message, Disciples
Indeed. There's one question that's asked
of every true disciple. Am I a believer? If you are, you've asked yourself
this question. Am I a believer? Do I truly believe? Now listen to me. Everything
else is of no value apart from me. I don't care what you know. I don't care how well you can
speak it. If you're not a believer, none of these things are doing
you any good. He very plainly tells us in verse
24 of this chapter, if you believe not that I am, he is in italics. You can lift that out. But you
could put he in there, it means the same thing. But if you believe
not that I am, he said, you shall die in your sins. And actually
the word he is in italics, and if you lift it out it reads,
except you believe that I am. And this is the name, this is
the name that God revealed himself to Moses. He's not, whom shall
I tell him sent me? You tell him I am. The word believe in all of its
various forms is used in the book of John 98 times. 98 times. So if you're looking for answers
about faith, John's your gospel. John's your gospel. 98 times
he talks about Also, in this wonderful gospel,
God, through his apostle John, gives us seven I am sayings. He told Moses, you tell them
I am sent thee. What does that mean? Well, he
gives us seven of those to think about. He tells us I am the bread
of life. What's he mean when he says I
am? He means I am the bread. This is what believers feed on.
I'm the bread my father sent down from heaven, that bread
that you ate in the wilderness, but I'm the bread. I am the light of the world.
There's no light apart from Christ. I don't care if you can quote
this book front to back. It's no light apart from Christ.
If you don't know Christ, you don't understand this book. This
is a hymn book, H-I-M. I am the door of the sheep, John
10, verse 6. No other way. No other way to
deal with the sheep of Christ than the door, which is Christ. Also in John 10, he said, I am
the good shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, David
said. He tells us in John 11, verse
25, I am the resurrection and the life. No resurrection apart
from Him. And then he tells us in John
14, he said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. So if any of those things interest
you, it's all in Christ. I am. And then the seventh thing
he says is in John 15.1, he said, I am the true vine. Apart from being in me, grafted
into me, you can't do anything. Jesus of Nazareth is the Son
of God, our Savior and Redeemer, and to know Him is to know God,
and to know God is eternal life. And this knowing is much deeper
than just an acknowledgment of some facts. Satan and all the
fallen angels know all the facts. We know thee who thou art. Isn't
that what they say? The Holy One of Israel, they
knew who He was. They know who He is and all that
God says about Him, yet they have no faith. True faith is that which allows
the mind and heart to be persuaded to reason, to trust, and to appropriate
the benefits of Christ to ourselves. True faith. Somebody said it
was the hand. Christ is the medicine, Christ
is the cure, faith is the hand. Believers not only see the rock,
Christ is the rock, they not only see the rock, but they build
their house upon it. They don't just understand the
facts of His death, they rest in the finished work of Christ.
And faith commits the soul to God for its keeping. True faith. In John chapter 8, our Lord is
dealing with a people who were religious and lost. He tells
them back in John chapter 5, he said, you search the scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they
which testify of me. But you won't come to me that
you might have life. They had the Word of God and
they read it. They taught it. They outwardly
practiced it. But they did not believe on the
Son of God. You will not come to me. You'll
come to the front. Some preachers stand up here
and cry a little bit and tell a sad story about a dog down
the aisle to come, making commitments to God. A preacher, you shouldn't make
light of that kind of thing. Something you need to know, that
is a joke. That coming down the aisle is a joke. We're never
commanded to come down an aisle. We're never commanded to come
to a preacher. We come to Christ. Come unto
me, he said, all you that are weary and heavy laden. Come to
him. How you going to do that? True faith in Christ does not
deal with him in a general way, but in a special regard to himself. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. I know. I can't speak for Timothy. I can't speak for anybody else.
My suspicion and conviction is that they're saved, but I don't
know that. But I know whom I have believed. True faith in Christ. Doesn't deal with him in a general
way, but a personal and special regard to him. Our Lord said
this to his own disciples. He said, Blessed are your eyes,
for they see, and your ears, for they hear. He that believeth, that's what
the scripture said, and is baptized shall be saved. He's a believer. Am I a believer? Do you see the
importance of this question? Am I a believer? One man said
it's a going out of oneself to Christ. It's renouncing of ourselves
and trusting in Him alone. And in John 8, our Lord gives
to us four distinct marks or evidences of true saving faith. Do you want to answer that question?
Am I a believer? There's four distinctions here
that He gives. This is the question. He told
them, He said, except you believe that I am, you're going to die
in your sin. And then He gives them four distinctions
between common religion, traditional religion, worldly religion, and
true saving faith. May God the Spirit help us to
examine ourselves this morning with better eyes than those of
religious reprobates. Here's the first work of a true
disciple of Christ. He continues in the doctrine
of Christ. Look down here at verse 31. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are
you my disciples indeed. Now the term he uses here, my
word, is not talking about the Bible, though everything he said
was rested on scripture, but that's not what he's talking
about here. He's talking about the doctrine that he taught,
the doctrine of Christ. That's why it's called the doctrine
of Christ. In 2 John verse 9, it says, Whosoever
transgresseth and abideth, abideth in the doctrine of Christ, hath
not God. He don't have God. He got religion.
He got a profession. He got a title that he gave to
himself, but he don't have God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. He said, if there
come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him
not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For he that biddeth him God's
feet is a partaker of his evil deeds. If this man comes and
he don't bring the doctrine of Christ, then he's an imposter.
He's a false teacher. He's a false prophet. And he's
coming to you on a religious basis. and talking to you about
salvation and talking to you about critical things that has
to do with your salvation before God. And he don't bring the doctrine
of Christ. Don't say, well, have a nice
day. No. No, you don't want to put any
kind of stamp of approval on him. Just tell him to hit the
rope and go back in the house. It's an evil deed to preach,
teach, practice, or promote a false gospel. Paul wrote to the churches
at Galatia, and he said, Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. That is, you're not hoping that
that man is going to be accursed, but you're counting him accursed
of God. He's a liar, he's an imposter,
and he's an enemy of your soul and the souls of your children.
He does not deserve your respect or reverence in any way. And
to say so much to him as have a good day is to be partaker
of his evil deeds. Why? Because you're putting your
stamp of approval on him. You're giving him some reverence. The gospel of Christ or the doctrine
of Christ is not like any other gospel. All false gospels look
to men. They look to man. They glorify
man. They're reasoned by man. Earthly
principles. Free will works religion. Man
don't have a free will. He's free to sin. You take a
prisoner, he's convicted by law, he's judged guilty, and they
take him over here to the penitentiary and they put him in a cell. Now
he's free in that cell. He can go anywhere he wants to
go in that 12 by 12. He can walk north and south,
east and west, walk on diagonals if he wants to. He's free to
move around all he wants to. But he's not free to do anything
outside that cell. By one man's offense, huh? Oh, my soul. By one man, sin entered into
the world, death by sin, and so death passed upon all men. What this world don't know, the
reason they don't get upset, somebody stands up and preaches
to them and talks to them about the Lord, the reason they're
not upset, the reason they're not in any kind of hurry. The reason why they can have
indifference is they don't understand they're under the judgment of
God. Is that right? Let me read it
to you. Therefore, by the offense of
one, I'm reading from Romans chapter 5, verse 18. And by the
offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Huh? Everybody under that federal
head, Adam, is under the condemnation of God. Man fell in the garden. Men don't know that. They don't understand you're
under the judgment of God. If something's not done, if God
don't intervene, you're as sure for hell as if you was already
there. You're under condemnation. You're not in a vacuum. You're
not floating around here somewhere and God's waiting to see what
you're going to do. He already knows what you're going to do.
Does that make any sense? That's what
the Scripture said. We're sinners. Salvation is for
sinners. Guilty sinners. All false gospels look unto man.
Why would you want to look to him? There's nothing in him.
Wounds and bruises and putrefying souls. No soundness in him. All these gospels, they look
unto men to reason with worldly reasoning and earthly principles.
Telling him he's got a free will. Telling him he can actually produce
a righteousness before God that God will accept. The doctrine of Christ begins
and ends with God. The doctrine of Christ is the
doctrine of the sovereign grace of God and salvation. God, of
his own will, begat he us with the word of truth. But we'll
go do anything else. Whatever man can imagine, we're
going to do that without question. But you tell somebody they have
to hear a preacher and the first thing they'll do is shake their
head. Well, that's crazy. Is it? What are you basing your
information on? I'm basing mine on the Word of
God. How should you hear without a preacher? That's what the Holy
Ghost said. I didn't say it. He did. And how's this man gonna
preach if he's not sent? God may just leave you floundering
around here like a fish out of water until you find something
that pleases you and then you'll go there every week. You'll join
them, you'll sing their hymns, hold hands with them and talk
about this and talk about that. But not if God intervenes. If
God intervenes, He'll turn you upside down and inside out. He'll
make you sit in judgment of yourself. and you'll side with him against
yourself. The doctrine of Christ is a doctrine
of the sovereign grace of God and salvation, not of works lest
any man should boast. The doctrine of Christ is a dogmatic
declaration, not a suggestion or an invitation. I'm not suggesting
for you this morning to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. God
commands it. He commandeth all men everywhere
to repent. He don't suggest it. The doctrine
of Christ is the declaration of salvation in Christ alone.
You'll be saved in Him or not at all. No other remedy. Nothing else
affects you. He is the propitiation for our
sins. And the doctrine of Christ is
the means whereby chosen sinners are called out of darkness, given
the gift of faith, and kept by the power of God unto salvation. Am I a believer? Hear what our
Lord says to those who profess to believe. He said, if you continue
in my word, in my doctrine, then are you my disciples indeed.
And you'll know the truth. And knowing the truth will set
you free. Hear what he says over here in
Hebrews chapter 10. Listen to this. He's coming down
to the end of everything. He said, now the just shall live
by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure
in him. But we are not of them that draw
back unto perdition, but of them who believe to the saving of
the soul. He continues in the doctrine
of Christ. He loves it. He's found peace
in it. He's discovered love. He's discovered
the glory of God in the preaching of the gospel. Now he understands
why Christ had to die. Now he understands why one had
to come in his place as his representative, be born under the law, sit under
the law, obey the law perfectly in every jot and tittle, fulfill
all that the law commanded of men, and fulfill all that was
pictured of the redeemer. and then die as our substitute
and be raised again for our justification. I tell you, when a man hears
the gospel, he falls in love with Christ. Oh, but preachers, what about
them who leave? John himself said this, they went out from
us, but they were not of us. For had they been of us, they'd
know death. would have continued with us.
But they went out that they might be manifest that they were not
of us. Read it for yourself over in
1 John chapter 2. Am I a true disciple of Christ?
I am if I continue in his gospel. Here's a second distinction concerning
true faith. Look down here at verse 39, John
chapter 8. All true disciples do the works
of Abraham. What kind of work did Abraham
do? He believed God. What must we do to work the works
of God? He said, believe on Him that
the Father has sent. That's the work of God. That's
the work of God. But it's more of a miracle for
a man to believe than it is for a man to raise the dead. Did
you know that? This is the crowning work of
God. He raises the dead. Huh? He gives him faith and he
believes God. You don't do the works of Abraham.
That's what he told them. If Abraham was your father, you'd
do the same thing he did. Same thing he did. What did Abraham do? He did what God told him to.
Everything God told him to. Abraham, leave your father's
house. Where am I going, Lord? I'll
tell you in time. He left his father's house, didn't
he? He sojourned out in the wilderness.
He was a sojourner. He never built a house. Abraham
was a rich man. He could have built ten houses.
He never built a house. Why? Because he didn't plan on
staying here. He just lived in a tent, raised
his children in a tent. He sojourned through a land not
knowing his final destination and he offered his son on an
altar. What would you do if God spoke to you and said, take your
son up there on Mount Moriah. Get the knife and the fire. I
want you to offer him a burnt offering. You know what that
entails? He had to dissect his son with
a knife and lay him out on the altar. Abraham, offer your son. Abraham. His son said, I see
the fire and I see the wood. Where's the sacrifice? Abraham
said, God will provide himself a sacrifice. He's going to be
the sacrifice. And if I have to kill you, he's
going to raise you from the dead, because he's already given me
his promise. And he raised that knife and
would have slayed his son, and God stopped him. And behold,
there was a ram caught in the thicket. He revealed himself
to Abraham as Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. A true disciple is obedient to
God. He obeys God in his doctrine.
He obeys God in his means. He doesn't fight with God over
the means. If you was a homeless person,
you didn't have a name or money or anything, you're just homeless.
God's providence would lift you out here with nothing. And somebody
comes along and gives you everything. Would you argue with him about...
And he said, well, but you're going to have to go over here.
Well, I ain't doing that. Huh? No, you wouldn't argue with him.
You wouldn't care, would you? He told you you had to go to
Canada and live on a mountain. You'd run up there because he'd
given you everything. And yet people profess faith
in Christ, but they want to argue about the means. What do you
care? You're a sinner. I don't care if he's going to
save me through a preacher. Is that going to make me mad?
Uh-uh. If he saves me, I'm happy. I don't care how he does it. He's God. Believers obey God
in God's means. He obeys God in his providence. Every time something happens,
he don't blame God. This is the will of God. Ain't that what the old saint
said? Come and told him his children's been slain. Well, it's the Lord
let him do what seemed to him right. He obeys God in his word. He
takes God at his word. And he obeys God in the position
that God gives him. Whether he's a parent or a wife
or a child or a servant or a master or a preacher or an apostle or
whatever he is. Abraham bore the name of the
father of the faithful. And he's an example of true faith
and that's exactly what our Lord told them. They wanted Abraham's
name and they wanted identification with Abraham's fame in the Word
of God. But they didn't want to do the
works of Abraham because they couldn't. James said, Was not Abraham our
father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son upon
the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought
with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? That
is complete. If you were Abraham's children,
you'd do the works of Abraham. For a true disciple is a person
that not only hears the gospel, but he continues in it. He loves
it. He wants to hear it. Nobody has
to twist his arm and get him to come and hear. He wants to
be here. And his faith produces the fruit
of good works. And then the third distinction
of a true disciple, a true believer, is that what they believe, what
they practice, and what they say is based entirely upon the
Word of God. John 8, 47. He said, He that is of God heareth
God's Word. You therefore hear them not,
because you are not of God. Those who are no more strangers
and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household
of God are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Faith understands
that the worlds were framed, they were built, arranged, put
into place, brought to pass, they did not evolve, They did
not begin with something already here. That's the big bang theory,
isn't it? Something's already here. Scientists,
so-called, produced such theories based on what limited evidence
they had to work with. They take something already here
and they break it down. They said, well, we'll fill in
the blanks. You weren't there. God asked his Saint Job, he said,
where were you when I hung this world on its... What's it fastened to? What holds
it in place? What's the foundation thereof?
What keeps it from just imploding or running into something? Huh? Faith understands that the world's
reframed by the Word of God. Faith takes God at His Word and
His Word says that Jesus Christ spoke this world into existence
and that the things which we see were not made of things which
do appear. The fact of the matter is that
we have no information about God to base our faith on except
the Word of God. All scripture given by inspiration
of God is profitable. What's it profitable for? Doctrine. Doctrine. Reproof. I don't like to be reproofed,
but if you're going to do it, use the Word of God. Because
I don't care anything about what you think. You show me in the Word of God.
You reproof me to the Word of God. It's profitable for that. It's profitable for correction.
And it's profitable for instruction and righteousness that the man
of God, the true disciple, may be perfect, truly furnished unto
all good works. Paul said to young Timothy, he
said, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearance.
Man, what a charge. Preach the word. Roots of the
Word. The Word of God. That which holy
men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Isaiah
said this, if they speak not according to this Word, it's
because there's no light in them. This is a book inspired of God.
God breathed. And this book is a book of redemption.
It's the very record that God has given to us eternal life,
John said, and this life is in His Son. And this book is the
witness of God which He testified of His Son. And he that believeth
on the Son of God hath a witness in himself. Now here's what we're
talking about. We're talking about distinctions
between false professors of faith and true discipleship, true believers. Distinctions between outward
religion and real saving faith. He that is of God, heareth God's
words. You therefore hear them not,
because you're not of God. And here's the fourth distinction,
and I'll stop with this. The fourth distinction as to
a true disciple of Christ is that real faith produces real
love. Real love. Our Lord said to these
men, you do the deeds of your father. Talking about both Adam and talking about Satan. But
Satan in particular. And they said unto him, verse
41, we'd be not born of fornication. We have one Father, even God. Every false professor of faith
is born of spiritual fornication. Proverbs 7 is the story of false
religion and how it works, and a warning to all who will be
drawn in by her. She's a prostitute. There's a
difference between lust and love. Solomon said, whoso committeth
adultery with a woman lacketh understanding, and he that doeth
it destroyeth his own soul. I'm not trying to spiritualize
away what ought to be common sense. It's wrong to commit adultery. I don't care who you are or why
you're doing it. It's wrong. But spiritual adultery, spiritual adultery will destroy
your soul. You can read it, read Proverbs. They said, we'd be not born of
fornication, we have one Father, even God. Now watch this, John
8, 42. Jesus said unto them, if God were your Father, you'd
love me. How do I know if I'm truly born
of God? I love Christ." Huh? Ain't that what it all comes
down to, isn't it? He said, if God was your Father,
you'd love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God, neither
came I of myself, but he sent me. And this coming forth of God
has two applications here. He's the Son of God, God over
all, blessed forever, the eternal Word made flesh. He proceeded
forth and came from God. He came from being one with God. He was God, even though He was
a man. He's the God-man. And He's the gift of God. And in particular, that's what
he's talking about in this passage. Neither came I of myself, but
he sent me. He sent me. Paul said, I know
whom I have believed. And to know him is to understand
both. It's to understand both. Let
me tell you a story. I was about 14, 13, 14, somewhere
in there. Had to go to church every Sunday.
Didn't want to, had to. Dad made sure that I went. And
while I was up there, we got a new pastor. And he had a daughter my age. And boy, I had a crush on her. I had a crush on her. I wanted
to sit with her in church. I wanted to be with her. what they call that puppy love,
baby love, call it what you want to. I had a crush on her. And it was in the fall of the
year, best I can remember, about October or something. I was helping
dad with, we raised corn and we cut it by hand and harvested
and all that. It was a lot of work to do and
he'd give me a little bit of allowance and help me along and
boy, I saved every penny. I wanted to get this girl a gift. that would show my true affection
for her. And I saved every nickel I could
get. And best I can remember, my dad
had to chip in a little so I could get whatever it was. That's the
way it always is, ain't it, David? You always have to chip in. And
so I got this gift. And boy, I couldn't wait. And
just a few days before Christmas, I had the occasion there at the
church to give it to her. And she, by herself, standing
out the vestibule. And I come out and handed it. I said, here, I want you to have
this. And she took it and handed it back. And I said, don't you
at least want to look and see what's in it? She said, no. I
said, you don't want my gift? And she said, oh, there's probably
nothing wrong with the gift. She said, but I don't want you. Why won't a man receive Christ? He don't want him. He don't want
the gift because he don't want God. He hates God. Huh? Ain't that what it is? And let
me tell you something. Oh, it slew me as a little kid. Man, it wiped me out. It just
wiped me out. Jesus Christ is God's unspeakable
gift. That's what Paul calls it. And
preaching is how this gift is given and received. And when
this gift is unacknowledged, And when this gift is refused,
rejected, or just treated with indifference, it's called in
Scripture, trotting underfoot the Son of God and doing despite
to the Spirit of Grace. That's what it is. You can imagine in that story
how I felt. But you can't imagine what God,
when a man, he said, I held out my hand, you refused. I stretched
out my arm, and you received right back open proper. He said, now, you're going to
get in trouble, and you're going to come to me. He said, I ain't
going to hear you. I'm not going to hear you. I want you to hear what he said.
If God were your Father, you'd love me. You wouldn't be treating
me the way you're treating me. You wouldn't be hearing me the
way you're hearing me. You think God sent me to this
place? Then hear me that way. Hear me that way. That's what
Christ is telling them. If God was your Father, you'd
hear me. You'd love me. You'd look forward. You'd pray for me. And you'd
sit there expecting another word. You'd continue. You'd continue
in the Gospel. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that He loved us. and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sin. Preacher, am I a believer? Am I a believer? Honestly, I
don't know. I don't know. But I presented
to you all the evidence that I've been able to find. You be
the judge. You be the judge. I've given
to you four distinctions between traditional religion and true
saving faith. And now Paul says, examine yourselves,
whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know you're
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
you be reprobates. Read it for yourself, 2 Corinthians
13, 5. And may the Lord himself help
us today to know