The whole world is divided into
two groups. God's elect and the reprobate,
just those two groups. Those chosen to eternal life
and those the Lord God in justice and righteousness has passed
by and left to himself. This congregation is divided
in those two groups, just those two groups, sheep and goats. Goats will never become sheep
and sheep will never become goats. Two groups, those who are loved
of God and those who are hated of God. Jacob's and Esau's, of
whom God said Jacob Have I loved? But Esau, have I hated? Esau will never become Jacob.
Jacob will never become Esau. Just those two groups, everlastingly
divided. Between them, there is a great
gulf fixed, and none can cross over that gulf. Immediately,
we, if we are wise, Might ask ourselves, how then can I know
that I am loved of God? That I'm chosen of God, that
I am one of Christ's sheep, that I am one like Jacob, loved of
God with an everlasting love. The title of my message tonight
is God's love perfected in us. You cannot know the love of God
until the love of God is perfected in you. You cannot imagine on
any basis in the book. You cannot think, not by anything
written in the book of God, that God loves you until God's love
is perfected in you. I know that in this religious
age, that sounds so contrary to everything men say from pulpits
all across the world. and pulpits all across the world,
men are lying to you. People say, smile, God loves
you and has a wonderful plans for your life. Tell that to Noah's
generation. Tell that the folks are in hell.
If God loves everybody, God's love is meaningless. It's insignificant. It does nothing. Oh, no, that
is not true. And God's love is not declared
to anyone until God's love is declared in your heart. by God
himself and perfected in you. Let's look at 1 John 2, verses
3, 4, 5, and 6. God's love perfected in us. That's my subject. 1 John 2,
verse 3. 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 whoso keepeth his word, and
lest I neglect to point this out later, his commandments are
here spoken of as his word, not talking about ten commandments,
Talking about the whole revelation of God in his word. Whoso keepeth
his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. In him,
verily. In him of absolute certainty. In him, there's no question about
it. The love of God is perfected.
Hereby we know that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him,
ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. The spirit
of this sweet epistle is love. Every line in 1 John is perfumed
with tenderness. And throughout these short chapters,
God, the Holy Spirit, tells us by his servant John about the
infinite, eternal, unalterable love of God for us. He urges
us to love one another, and he assures us that our love for
God, our Savior, arises from and is caused by God's love for
us. God's love perfected in us. We love him because he first
loved us. Here in 1 John 2 verses 3 through
6, the apostle connects the blessed assurance of salvation with the
perfecting of God's love in us. This word perfected means completed,
fulfilled, brought to its end, finished. We have God's love
completed, fulfilled, brought to its end, finished in us if
we're born of God. And John speaks here about the
assurance that arises from the perfecting of God's love in us. When I think about this matter
of assurance as a believer and as a pastor and preacher of the
gospel, I'm faced with two problems. two facts that I have to deal
with for myself and for you. First, there are many people
in this world and probably some sitting in this assembly who
enjoy the assurance of salvation who have never experienced the
grace of God in Christ Jesus. There are many who enjoy the
assurance of salvation That assurance is a delusion, but they enjoy
the assurance of salvation, who have never experienced the grace
of God. You claim peace, but you have no reason to have peace.
You delude yourself with a false peace. Many live and die, being
fully persuaded they are saved, only to wake up in the day of
judgment, cast into hell, suffering the wrath of God. Our Lord said
so in Matthew chapter 7. There are multitudes who base
their assurance upon something past, a time, a place, an experience,
an event, a work, somewhere where they began to believe and to
look back to that time, that place, that experience, that
emotion, that work, that feeling. They say, now, I know I'm safe
because this happened or that was felt or this was experienced. If that's your assurance, you
have nothing but a delusion. If you have to look back to this
morning to find assurance, you have no reason to have assurance.
If you have to look back to yesterday to say, now I know I'm safe because
this happened yesterday, you have no reason to imagine that
you've experienced the grace of God. I know multitudes, multitudes,
personally known to me, family and friends who lived and died
Confident of everlasting life who as far as I can determine
as far as I can determine never Demonstrated anything like commitment
to Christ that attend church Abandoned the gospel didn't worship
God, but they had an experience of They had something happen
when they were a child or a young person or young adult. And they
said, I know I'm saved because, and then look back to that experience,
confident of their salvation. If you look back to this morning
to find assurance, your assurance is delusion. There are many who
enjoy the assurance of salvation who've never experienced the
grace of God. If you're among them, I pray that God will dash
your assurance in pieces tonight and give you faith in Christ
Jesus. Second, there are some who've
been saved by God's grace but have no assurance of faith in
Christ. Perhaps some of you, you believe
on the Son of God, you repent of your sins, you love the Redeemer
but you have never confessed Christ as your savior because
you lack the assurance of faith. You lack assurance that your
faith is real. You're looking for something
else. You have no climactic experience
you can look to and say, well, I know I've heard Brother Don
talk about when God first began to deal with him, I've never
had anything like that. My mama and daddy I talked about how
they went through experiences, and I've never had anything like
their experiences. You trust Christ. You repent of your sins. Before God, you love the Redeemer,
but there's been no climactic experience that you can point
to, so you sit back and reserve and don't confess the Redeemer.
Salvation is not always, I might even say not even usually, a
climactic experience. It sometimes, usually, I think,
is a gradual thing. We don't experience God's grace
alike. No two people experience God's
grace alike. There are a good many folks who judge people's faith, their professed
faith, by their experience. And Bob, the experience they
base the judgment on is their own. So if you haven't felt and
experienced and gone through what I've done, then, well, I
can't really believe you're saved. There are two men given in the
book of Mark, in Mark chapter 8 and Mark chapter 10. Some men
brought a blind man to the Lord Jesus and said, touch him or
speak the word and heal him. And the master took him by the
hand and led him out of the city privately and he spit in his
eyes and said, do you see anything? And he said, I see men as trees
walking. And then he touched him again
and made him look up and said, now what do you see? And the
man said, I see every man clearly. And then in chapter 10, he's
going through Jericho and there's a man by the name of Bartimaeus
sitting by the highway side begging. And he heard that Jesus of Nazareth
was passing by. And he cried, Jesus, thou son
of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still and he
called for his disciples to go fetch Bartimaeus and bring him
to it. And he said to Bartimaeus, what do you want? And he said
that I may receive my side. And he said, go your way rejoicing.
Your faith has made you whole. He didn't spit on him. He didn't
touch him. He didn't take him by the hand,
lead him out of the city. But this man was blind, just like
the other one. This man experienced the power of God's hand in giving
him light and life, just as the other one. But he experienced
it differently. Larry Brown was raised by a man
who feared God. What a privilege. Taught the
gospel all your life, is that correct? I was raised in a hell
hole. It's not likely, it's not likely
that we would come to experience the grace of God the same way.
The same grace, oh bless God, the same grace, the same salvation. But for him to compare his experience
with mine or me to compare my experience with him and say now
I have assurance because I've experienced the same thing he
has or I don't have it because I haven't is utterly ludicrous. God's people all experience the
same grace and receive the same salvation by the same power from
Jesus Christ the Lord. But rarely do you find two who've
experienced grace the same way. The fact is If you now trust
Christ, if you now repent of your sins, if you now love the
Lord Jesus, it doesn't matter when you began to, or where you
were when you began to, or what the circumstances were. It doesn't
matter. I urge you, children of God,
quit looking to yesterday. Forget those things which are
behind. Lift your hearts to heaven and
look away from the earth. Lift your hearts to Christ and
look away from yourself. If you trust the Son of God,
the Son of God is yours. If right now you find yourself
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, I call on you to confess Him
as Lord and Savior. He's yours if you believe the
Son of God. If you trust Him, you're born
of God. You're an heir of God. You have
eternal life. I hope that this message will
be used of God to give you the full assurance of faith. Men and women spend a lot of
time debating and arguing about who's saved and who's not saved.
Who knows God and who doesn't know God? Who will be in heaven
and who will not be in heaven? Men and women who speak so exposed
terrible ignorance and terrible weakness. The fact is, Alan Kidney
can't know anything about Don Fortner except what he sees with
his eyes. That's all you know about me. And I hide a lot. I hide a lot. You can be thankful. I hide a lot. God looks on the
heart. I can't hide anything. We judge by the outward appearance,
God looks on the heart. So it really doesn't matter in
the long term. It really doesn't matter what
anyone thinks about my profession of faith. Doesn't really matter. Doesn't
really matter. All that matters is whether or
not I know God. That's all that matters. All
that matters It's whether or not you know God. Old John Newton,
when he got to be an old man, made this observation. He said,
when I get to heaven, I will be greatly surprised by three
things. He said, many will be there whom
I never thought would be there. And many will not be there that
I thought surely would be there. And the greatest surprise of
all, is that John Newton will be there. It's not our business to sit
in judgment over men. It's not our business to try
to decide who's saved and who's not saved. We don't have the
ability to do so. We must each examine ourselves
and each determine for himself by the word of God and by the
spirit of God, whether you be in the faith. That's all. whether you be in the faith.
And I'm here to tell you that it is possible for a person to
know whether he is in the faith, whether or not he's saved by
God's grace. Peter did. Peter did. Peter. Now, remember the circumstances
after he had denied the Lord Jesus three times. After he had
walked away from them and said it's all over, went back to fishing.
The Lord met him by the sea and he said to him, Simon, lovest
thou me more than these? Lovest thou me more than these?
Lovest thou me more than these? And Peter, fully aware of his
sin, merrily looked the Son of God in the face. And he said,
Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Thou knowest all things. John
might not know it. James might not know it. But
you know that I love you. Paul had full assurance of faith.
He said, I know whom I had believed and I am persuaded that he's
able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that
day. I want that. I want what only
God himself can give. I want an assurance of hope,
an assurance of confidence, an assurance of faith, an assurance
that is built upon what God has caused to be written right here
in his word. An assurance that comes from
anything else is no assurance. I want an assurance of faith,
an assurance of confidence before God, assurance built upon what
God has caused to be written right here in his word. I hope
you're interested in that. If that's what you want, I've
got a message for you and I'll give it to you in three statements.
First, we'll look at verse three. Be sure that you know Christ. And then we'll look at verses
four and five. Be certain that you do not profess what you have
not experienced. And third, look for a moment
at verse six. Let those who say that they're
in Christ walk after his likeness. All right, here's the first thing.
Let me talk to you about knowing Christ. I lay this solemn exhortation
to each of our hearts. Be sure that you know the Lord
Jesus Christ. And hereby, we do know that we
know him if we keep his commandments. In this verse, John plainly lets
us know that it's both possible and profitable for God's children
to be assured of their knowledge of Christ. It's true that many,
many of God's saints don't enjoy the blessedness of true assurance. And many of those who normally
enjoy this privilege at times don't have it. I've been with John Newton on
the mountaintop and delight to sing with him the Lord has promised
good to me. His word my hope secures. He will my shield and portion
be as long as life endures. And I've been with him in the
deep, dark valley where I cried from my soul. Tis a point I long
to know. Oft it causes anxious thought.
Do I love the Lord or no? Am I his or am I not? Can the question be settled?
It can indeed. I want you to see that the Word
of God distinctly teaches us that a believer may and should
have the confidence of assured faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to the scriptures. God's
servant Job said, I know that my Redeemer lives. And though
after my skin, words destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God. That's written in the earliest
book written in the scriptures. Job lived at least as early as
Abraham. And this man Job said, I know
my Redeemer is alive. I know that though my body shall
go to the earth and decay and rot and the worms shall eat my
flesh, yet in my flesh with these eyes in resurrection glory I'll
see God face to face. That's assurance. That's assurance. David saying, yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thou art with me, thy rod
and thy staff, they comfort me. Isaiah says, thou wilt keep him
in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he
trusteth in thee. Thou will keep him in perfect
peace whose mind whose heart is fixed on you because he trusts
you Again, he said the work of righteousness shall be peace
and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever
the Apostle Paul Spoke without hesitation of the full assurance
of understanding the full assurance of faith the full assurance of
hope he said I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus the Lord. He said, if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Peter admonishes
us to give diligence, to make our calling and election sure.
And here in first John, the apostle John repeats his words many times. He says, we know in verse 14
of chapter three, we know we pass from death into life. We
know it because we love the brethren. He says in chapter five, verse
13, these things have I written unto you that believe on the
name of the son of God, that you may know that you have eternal
life. Verse 19 of chapter 5, John says,
we know that we are of God. And here in the second chapter,
in verse 3, we read, hereby we do know that we know Him if we
keep His commandments. I want to know Christ in reality
and truth. Eric, I'm not interested in any
kind of a show to impress you or anybody else. I want to know
Christ. And I want you to know it. I
want to know the son of God is my savior. And I want to walk
before him with this confident assurance. This confident assurance
that I'm his and he's mine. But what is it to know Christ?
We've never seen him. He left this world a long time
ago. And yet we can know him. We can
know him. There had been millions who,
having not seen him, yet loved him, who having never known his
physical presence, yet trusted him and believed him and walked
with him. They rejoiced with him with joy
unspeakable and full of glory. We too may know him. This word
know has many shades of meaning. It has the idea to know has the
idea of acknowledgement. Pharaoh knew not Joseph. Well, he knew who Joseph was.
He knew where Joseph was, knew where he came from, knew how
long he'd been in Egypt, but he didn't know Joseph. He did
not acknowledge anything about Joseph. He did not acknowledge
any debt that was owed by the Egyptians to Joseph. This Pharaoh
wasn't alive when Joseph came into Egypt and saved that land
in time of famine. He didn't acknowledge Joseph.
You and I must acknowledge Christ. But knowing Him is more than
acknowledging Him. We acknowledge that Christ is
our only salvation, our only hope of glory, our only desire,
our only Lord. But the word know also carries
the idea of trusting, of believing. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. We must believe him. We must
receive the report given concerning him by God through the prophets
and apostles as is written in this book. We must subscribe
to God's word concerning his son practically with all the
heart. If any man believes that Jesus
is the Christ, he's born of God. Any man believes that Jesus is
the Christ, he's born of God. That is, anyone recognizes that
this man, Jesus of Nazareth, actually did accomplish everything
the prophets said he would accomplish. Actually did redeem his people
actually did put away our sins actually did bring in everlasting
righteousness Actually did cause righteousness and peace to kiss
each other Actually did make it possible for God to be just
and justify the ungodly that man born of God that man born
of God This word no Has the idea of experience as well We're told
that our Lord Jesus knew no sin He never experienced it. While
he walked on this earth, he never experienced what it is to be
a sinner. He knew no sin. He didn't experience
it. We must become acquainted with
Christ. Knowing him in the experience
of his grace and his power. The experience of the power of
his blood to put away sin. The power of his grace to subdue
our lust. The power of his love to rule
our hearts. The power of his mercy to govern
our lives. The power of his spirit to comfort
our souls. The power of his word to enlighten
and instruct us. And the word no carries the idea
of love. love. To know Him is to love Him. To know Him is to love Him. If
any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be damned, the
Lord's coming. That's the language of the book.
Love Him. Love Him. But preachers were
not commanded to love Him, we're commanded to believe Him. That's
right. That's right. And if you believe him, you'll
love him. You can't know him and not love him. You can't know
him and not love him. Satan deceives many with a substitute
for this heart knowledge of Christ. There's a great difference between
knowing about Christ and knowing him. Many, I fear, talk about
Christ, but don't know him. Seek to know him. If you know
him, seek to know him more. Oh, that I might know him, Paul
said. I speak in simple terms about
this subject, but it's a matter of sublime importance. Life and
death, heaven and hell hang on this one thing. Do you know Christ? Do you know Christ? Do you know
him? I'm not asking If you've reformed
your life and quit doing some bad things, do you know the son
of God? I'm not asking if you've if you've
joined the church and been baptized, made a profession. Do you know
him? I'm not asking if you preach
the gospel or teach others about the gospel. Do you know the son
of God? Brother Don, how can we know
that we know it? How can we be assured that we
know it? How can we say with John hereby
do we know that we know him? There are some Christians who
truly do know Christ, who are yet in doubt concerning their
knowledge of him. And others who profess to be
Christians who never have a doubt and don't know him. God's people
all have faith, but they don't all have assurance. Don't ever
say if a man doesn't doesn't have assurance he's not saved.
That's just not so. That's just not so. Faith is confidence of
our Lord's grace and mercy. Faith is trusting him. The assurance
of faith is saying with Paul, I know whom I had believed and
I'm persuaded he's able to keep what I've committed to him. Faith
is that woman coming through the press and touching the hem
of his garment. He said, when I just touch the
hem of his garment, I'll be made whole. Assurance is Stephen standing
before his murderers saying, I see the Lord Jesus standing
at the right hand of God. Where there is faith, there should
be assurance. But often, there's not. Several
years ago, Shelby and I got on an airplane over here in Lexington,
and we were flying to Philadelphia. I was going up to preach. This
is back in the early 90s. And we got on a plane, this young
gal, oh, probably half our age, sitting right in front of us.
And it was obvious she was terrified. She was terrified. When that
fella got out on the runway and opened that thing up, she reached
back and took Shelby's hand with both her hands. I thought she
was going to break her hand off. The poor girl was terrified,
did the same thing when we landed. Shelby sitting on the same plane
and there were no sweat rolling off her face. She wasn't shaking. She wasn't upset. We're just
taking a trip, riding the plane instead of riding the car. There's
not much difference. Oh, what's the difference? She
got to enjoy the trip. That poor girl didn't enjoy a
second on that plane. She was in misery the whole time. Now
she was just as safe. as Shelby and I were, but she
had no pleasure in the trip. That's a crude, rough illustration
of what I'm trying to say. It is one thing to walk through
this world with Christ, believing him. Oh, but how blessed to walk
through this world knowing that you believe him. Knowing that
you're his and knowing that he's yours. If we would have assurance,
we must constantly trust Christ alone. Trust Christ alone. But Brother Don, this passage
says that we know Him if we keep His commandments. And fellows
will take this passage and they'll throw it at you and they'll say,
now you can't have any assurance unless you keep the Sabbath day.
You can't have any assurance unless you observe the traditions
of the church and keep the commandments that men give. You can't have
any assurance unless you keep the law. Well, let's see if that
measures up. Let's see if it measures up.
Which of you, which of you, I'm preaching to a congregation of
men and women, I don't just love, I admire, I admire you, your
faith and your faithfulness, your dedication to one another,
dedication to the Redeemer. Which of you, Men, women, or
children, which of you has ever done anything? You can look at
that and say, boy, now there I did good. Which one? Let's shut that out. Which of
you have ever even thought a good thing? Well, you can't have any assurance
there. You don't keep the commandments. Let's see if the book says that.
Turn back to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. The Lord's been talking to these
Pharisees about keeping his word. Said, if you were Abraham's seed,
you'd keep my word. If you was Abraham's seed, you'd
know me. And they said, John 6 verse 28, they said unto him,
what shall we do? that we might work the works
of God. That's a good question. What
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said unto them, This is the work of God. This is the one
thing by which you do all that God requires of men to do. This
is the work of God. that you believe on him whom
he hath sent. We know that we know him if we
believe him. Look in 1 John 3, verse 23. If we would have assurance, we
must constantly look away from ourselves and our obedience and
our works, trusting Christ Jesus as our only righteousness and
our only satisfaction. Our confidence before God is
in Him. Our acceptance with God is in
Him. 1 John 3, verse 23. This is His commandment, that
we should believe on the name of the Son of God. You mean,
Brother Don, all God requires of men is faith in Christ? That can't be right. That can't
be right. You mean to tell me that God
doesn't expect me to obey his law? It was never given for that
purpose. You don't have that ability.
It was never spoken to a Gentile. Never. God never required any
Gentile to keep the Sabbath. That ought to tell you something.
The whole of the law was to point to one who would come by whom
God would be honored perfectly. And that's the obedience of his
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. His obedience unto death, what
the theologians call active obedience and passive obedience. His fulfilling
all the requirements of righteousness as he walked on this earth as
a man and his fulfilling all the demands of justice when he
suffered under the wrath of God as our substitute. Still, still,
though we do not and must not seek assurance based upon our
obedience to the Lord's commandments, his word, let me swiftly say
and firmly declare that true faith seeks in all things to
obey Christ. Believers mold their lives. To the word of God. Believers do. Believers do. Our motto of life, we take from
the words of Mary, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. We
mold our lives by the word of God. I have no regard for the
opinions of men about anything spiritual, righteous, or godly,
or even right. I have no regard for the opinions
of any man concerning those things. No regard whatsoever. Men make
laws against smoking and those same men pass laws to murder
babies. I have no regard, no regard for the opinions of men
concerning what's right and wrong, concerning what's righteous and
unrighteous, godly and ungodly. I have no regard for that. But you show me something in
this book. Ron, I've got high regard for that. And I seek to
mold my life by that and have been doing so since I was 16
years old. Believers do. Faith sees that
baptism is a manifest commandment of Christ and obeys in a good
conscience. Faith sees that the Lord's table
is a symbolic remembrance of Christ's death and goes to the
table as Christ commanded. Faith hears Christ say, this
is my commandment that you love one another. And heartily seeks
to do good to God's people. Heartily seeks commitment of
life to the welfare of God's people. But Lindsay, we don't
do any of those things halfway right. You don't, I don't. And you can't have any assurance
based on your obedience to the Word of God or the commandments
given in the Word of God. If you do, it's a delusion. Our
assurance is somewhere else. Our assurance is found in Christ
Jesus. Now, let me make this warning. Let us be certain that we do
not profess what we have not experienced. Look at verse four. He that saith I know him and
keepeth not his commandments is a liar and his truth is not
in him. But who so keepeth his word in him verily is the love
of God perfected. Hereby we know that we are in
him. How is that? When the love of
God is perfected in us. When the love of God is perfected
in us. John is not talking about our
love for God. Oh, no. No, no one, no one, not not even
a brazen hypocrite would dare lift his voice and say, I love
God perfectly. No one, let alone one who's born
of God knows something about his own depraved heart. You don't
love God perfectly. You don't come close. You don't
come close. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the perfecting of God's love in us. He loved us with an everlasting
love. He chose us and ordained us to
eternal life, declared us to be his sons. He sacrificed his
son to redeem us. In this was manifested the love
of God for us, because he laid down his life for us. God commendeth
his love toward us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. But God's love doesn't find its
fulfillment, its completion, its goal, until God's love is
known by the one love. You want your children to know
that you love them. And as they get a little older,
they run in rebellion and godliness. And you're displeased with everything
they do. But you want them to know that
you love them. You want them to know that you love them. And
they reach the end of their rope. And you come at great pain and
personal cost. And you recover everything for
them. And they begin to know that you love them. And the pain,
the cost is nothing. Because now that boy knows I
love him. He knows I love him. That's the
goal of love. Turn to Romans chapter five.
Let me show you. Romans chapter five. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not
only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope
and hope maketh not ashamed. Hope maketh not ashamed. I have
hope before God. David, I hope to be presented
faultless before the presence of His glory. I have hope before
God and hope maketh not a shame. This hope doesn't make a shame.
You'll never be put to shame who have this hope. How come?
Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost which is given unto us. God's love is brought to perfection
in the experience of chosen redeemed sinners when God sends his spirit
to you in the new birth, giving you life and faith in Christ.
You look to Christ and believe in the Son of God. You clap your
hands and click your heels and say, blessed God, he loves me.
He loved me and gave himself for me. and you go your way rejoicing,
believing on the Son of God, assured of God's infinite everlasting
love for you. Now, I have time only to make
this one last statement. Let all who say that they are
in Christ, that they are born of God, that they know Christ,
walk after his likeness. He that saith he abideth in him
ought himself also to walk even as he walked. The Lord Jesus said, I've left
you an example. You go do as I've done. People ask all the time about
practical things. They want preachers to tell them
what to do. It's a strange thing. I have on occasion now, used
to be, for a long time this never happened. On occasion, I have
had people to come to me and ask me, what should I do? And
they were concerned about what they should do. But almost everybody
who asked me about religious rules, they're not the least
bit concerned about what they ought to do. They're asking me,
what should Bob Hunts be doing? What ought Shelby to be doing?
What should Larry do? How should Bobby behave? Because
they want to control you. Our Lord Jesus said, I've given
you an example. I've washed your feet. You go
wash one another's feet. You do as I've done unto you.
The Spirit of God puts it another way in Ephesians 4. He said,
Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. And walk in love as Christ
also hath loved us and has given himself for us. Is the love of
God perfected in you? Is it perfected in me? Are we
born of God? Are we in Christ? Then let us
adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. Pay no attention to someone who
says you were fortunate and says it doesn't matter how you live.
Character and conduct doesn't matter anything. I never said
such a thing. I never thought such a thing.
Adorn the doctrine of God dominary in everything. And the way you
treat the fellow who bags your groceries or refuses to. The
way you treat your wife, the way you treat your children,
the way you live in this world, adorn the doctrine of God in
all things. For the grace of God that bring us salvation hath
appeared to all men, teaching us who are born of God that we
should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. How come? Why? We're looking
for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that
he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a people,
a peculiar people, zealous of good works. He redeemed us
to make us His, that while we live in this world, we should
walk all the days of our life trusting Him, seeking in all
things the honor of His name. And thereby, believing Him, the
love of God is perfected in you. I know that he loves me. I know it. I know it, Claus,
for the same reason I know my name's written in the book of
life. I know I'm one of God's elect. I know that Christ redeemed
me. I know I've been called by God's
spirit. The love of God's perfected in me. I know it for one reason.
He's given me faith in his son. Amen.