Open your Bibles, please, to
First John, chapter one. First John, chapter one. My subject
tonight is identifying true faith. First John, chapter one. I received a letter this week
from a dear friend raised under the gospel of God's grace, but
raised under the influence of preaching that constantly taught
that we must look in ourselves for evidences if we would have
assurance of faith. In fact, almost all religion
uses evidences to keep folks beat down. or to keep them doing
what they ought to. If I stand here and tell you
that if you want to really know that you're a Christian, read
three chapters a day in your Bible. If you want to read three
chapters a day, well, you start reading three chapters a day.
Now I got it. When was the last time you spent
an hour in prayer? Believers wrestle with God in
prayer. Start setting my watch, five
o'clock every morning, pray till six. Now I got it. No, no, that's not how true faith
is identified. That's not how true faith is
identified. You see, Esau, as we saw this morning, may behave
better than Jacob, though Jacob worshiped God and Esau didn't.
In fact, believers, if they are honest and believers are. Many
women, if they are honest, recognize that there is nothing in them
and nothing done by them. Nothing in us and nothing done
by us that will give us any assurance of faith in Jesus Christ, nothing. Well, we love the Lord. Well,
let's talk about that a little bit. You really want to? You
really want to talk about your love for God? Boy, I believe
God. I live by faith. Let's talk about
that a little bit. You really want to talk about
your faith? Well, I love the brethren. Let's talk about that
a little. You really want to talk about
your love for me? I mean, really. are mine for
you. But brother Don, how then do
you identify true faith? Let's look in the book of God
and see. First John chapter one, verse one. That which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon in our hands have handled
of the word of life. For the life was manifested and
we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal
life which was with the father and was manifested unto us. That
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you
also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is
with the father and with his son Jesus Christ. And these things
write we unto you that your joy may be full. This then is the
message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that
God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Now in these
opening verses of his epistle, John speaks of himself as an
eyewitness of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the word of life. who is himself life, eternal
life. In him was life and the life
was manifested. The life in him was life and
the life was the light of men. He declares the eternal deity
of the Lord Jesus, the blessed unity of the triune God. He says that which was from the
beginning. Which was from the beginning
now in that statement John is not really so much talking about
the Lord Jesus in his eternal deity as he is talking about
him in his everlasting surety ship as our surety before God
the Father his Mediation as our mediator the one who stood forth
before God as our representative from the beginning. Let me show
you He's that one of whom Micah spoke and said his goings forth
had been of old from everlasting Turn to Proverbs chapter 8 look
at several scriptures here Proverbs chapter 8 Here our Lord Jesus
personifies himself as wisdom Wisdom being Christ who is made
of God and to us wisdom. He says in verse 23 I was set
up from everlasting and from the beginning or ever the earth
was. Now he was never set up as the
eternal son of God. He was set up as our mediator,
set up as our surety from the beginning, from the beginning,
the beginning of God's operations, the beginning of God's works
for us before ever the earth was made. Look in Isaiah chapter
46, Isaiah 46 verse 10. The Lord God describes himself
as he who declares the end from the beginning. From the beginning,
he declares the end of a matter, and then he does it. He declares
the end from the beginning, and from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, I will
do all my pleasure. From the beginning, the Lord
God declared, Christ shall be the end of the law. He's the
end of the law. From the beginning, the Lord
God declared, Christ shall make an end of sin. He made an end
of sin. From the beginning, the triune
God declares concerning this man who was to come, our mediator,
he shall be the end, the fulfillment of all scripture, all prophecies,
all promises. And he shall be the end, the
termination and the fullness of all things. Look in John chapter
one, John's gospel chapter one. In the beginning, you see that? In the beginning was the word.
In the beginning, the wisdom. In the beginning, the revelation.
In the beginning, the expression of God. In the beginning was
the word, the living word, of whom all this written word speaks. In the beginning was the word,
the means by which God will make himself known to men. In the
beginning was the Word, that One by whom God will make you
to know Him and make Himself known to you. In the beginning
was the Word, that God-man mediator in whom all the fullness of God
would be revealed. That One in whose face the very
glory of God would be made known. In the beginning was the Word.
Now look at this next line. And the Word was with God. The
word was with God. There are numerous words that
can be translated with, with, but a step ahead of, with, but
a step behind. If you see Shelby and I walking
together, unless I'm holding her hand and holding her back,
I'm with her, but she's always a step ahead and I'm always a
step behind. That's not, neither of those
are the words used here. The word used here is face to face
with. Equal with one with in the beginning
was the word this one by whom God would make himself known
this man Who would come in time in human flesh in the beginning
was the word and the word was with God and the word was God
God was the word God was the word then in John 6 64 Our Lord Jesus speaks and says,
there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the
beginning who they were that believe not and who should betray
him from the beginning. Nothing takes him by surprise.
Nothing comes about by accident. Nothing, nothing sneaks up on
God's backside from the beginning. He knew who would betray him.
He had ordained it. From the beginning he knew who
believed not and who believed. Look at one more passage in this
regard, Acts chapter 15. Acts 15 verse 18. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. From the beginning. Known to
God are all his works from the beginning. God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation. Election is from the beginning.
From the beginning. Before ever the world was, God
chose to save a people in this one who is the word, who's from
the beginning. And then here in 1 John 2. 1
John 2 verse 14. John says, I've written unto
you, fathers, because you've known him that is from the beginning. Him that's from the beginning.
The Lord Jesus Christ is that one who is the beginning of all
things. He is from the beginning. He
is that one who declares the end from the beginning. He is
our eternal mediator, our eternal savior, our eternal surety. And then John assures us that
his message is His message is no more and no less than that
which he had personally experienced. That which he had personally
experienced. Brother Jonathan here asked me
tonight about how do you find what you're going to preach on.
And I was thinking of other things when he was talking to me. One
principle thing, I don't preach what I haven't experienced. I
just don't do it. Somebody asked Brother Walt Barnum
one time, said, do you believe everything in the Bible? He said,
I don't know. Haven't experienced it all yet. As you're being honest,
we preach what we know by experience. And what you know by experience,
you never have to back up on. What you know by experience,
you never have to take back. What you know by experience,
you can speak with authority. John said, now that which I'm
declaring to you by the inspiration of God, the Holy Spirit, is that
which I personally know by personal experience. It's not secondhand
knowledge. It's what God taught me, what
God revealed in me, what God wrote on my heart. that which
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
have looked upon, that is, diligently and with delight gazed upon,
and our hands have handled the word of life. Christ, who is
life essential, swallowed up death in victory and brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel. Eternal life. I've told you many
times in the Word of God, the Scriptures speak about eternal
life and everlasting life. Why those two different words?
The words are exactly the same in the English, in the Greek.
But they use two different English words to translate them. Eternal
life, everlasting life. I wonder why they did that. Could
they not make up their minds? No, they did make up their minds.
Wherever it's spoken of as that which we come to experience in
time, it's everlasting life. When it refers to that which
we are given by God, it's eternal life. Because you see, we had
life with Christ before the world was. We had life with Christ
from the beginning. When he stood forth as my life,
I had life in him. And he stood forth as my life,
Merle, before the world began. And then he comes to me by the
power of his spirit and saving grace and gives me eternal life. And this life I have everlastingly. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 1.
Let's see if that's not so. 2 Timothy chapter 1. Verse 9, God hath saved us and
called us within holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. If it was given to me
in Christ, then I was in Christ when it was given to me. Make
sense? If it's given to me, given to
Christ for me, that's another story. But if it's given to me
in Christ, then I had my being with Christ when it was given
to me. It was given to me in Christ
before the world began. Oh, brother Don, that's primitive
doctrine. Do you know I don't care? Roman Catholics believe in the
virgin birth. Does that mean we shouldn't believe in the virgin
birth? It was given to me in Christ because I was in Christ
from the beginning. Read on. But is now made manifest. When we come to experience God's
grace. When we come to believe on the
Son of God, when God drops His grace in our souls, this life,
this salvation that was given us in Christ before the world
began is made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus
Christ. When it pleased God to reveal
His Son in me, it was made manifest. I didn't know my name was written
in heaven until Christ appeared in me. I didn't know he had redeemed
me until he revealed himself in me. I didn't know God chose
me until he revealed himself in me. I didn't know God had
called me until he revealed himself in me. And when I found myself
believing in him, bless God, he chose me. He redeemed me. He called me. Manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality to light by the gospel. Now here I am, Ron, preaching
the gospel. And I've been praying as I prepare
while I was sitting here last night. God, will you be pleased
to reveal Christ in those who hear my voice? Reveal Christ
in these who do not know him. Reveal Christ in their hearts.
And if he does, if he gives you faith in Christ, this is what
he does. He brings to light by the gospel
revealed in you what God has done for you by his grace altogether
without you. That's what the gospel does.
It reveals what God has done for you altogether without you
You giving you faith in Jesus Christ the Lord All right back
in first John That which we have seen and heard Declare we unto
you It's not glorying merely in the fact that he had seen
the Lord Jesus with his physical eyes and touched him with his
hands and leaned his head upon the Savior's chest. No, no, no.
Lots of folks saw him with their physical eyes and touched him
with their hands. Lots of folks were around him
and participated in the miracles that he performed. Lots of folks
heard his word who never knew him. Lots of people, lots of
people. There would be absolutely no
advantage. Now listen to me. There'd be
absolutely no advantage to your soul if the son of God were to
step through that ceiling tonight and stand right here in front
of you in a physical form. Oh, what a wonderful service
that'd be. No, just might send you to hell.
Had no advantage to that at all. No advantage to that at all.
God's given us his word. We don't need physical appearances.
But even his word would do you no good unless he gives you something
besides his word. He's got to give you his grace
and life and faith by his spirit. You see, the knowledge that we
have is not a carnal knowledge. This saving knowledge of Christ
is not something that comes by human reason. It's not something
that's learned by logic or by education or by teaching. We
teach the word of God. We teach the facts of the word.
We teach the doctrines of the word. But the knowledge of Christ
is not conveyed by carnal means. It's conveyed by life giving
spirit. We know not Christ after the
flesh. That's how I used to know him.
That's how I used to know him. I knew about him historically.
I knew about him because people told me about him. I knew about
him because I had read a little bit of the book, knew about him,
but I didn't know him. Then he came and made himself
known in me. This is knowledge by experience,
that which we have seen. and gazed upon intently with
delight. And our hands have handled. I'm
talking to you about life, talking to you about a person, Jesus
Christ, the Lord. And then John asserts that the
believers fellowship with God is in Christ and it's real. He asserts his desire for every
believer's fullness of joy. Truly, our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Union with Christ. That's the grand of all communion
and fellowship. Moses, when he spoke of this
blessed union, he said, happy art thou, O Israel, who is likened
to thee, O people saved of the Lord. Happy are you! God's yours. Happy are you! Christ is yours. Happy are you!
Your life is hid with Christ in God. This is the message then. God sent him and sends us to
declare. This is the message. God is light. And then him is no darkness at
all. Now, always read the scriptures in their context to find their
meaning. John is not here talking about God's essential, transcendent
excellence and purity. He's telling us what the message
is that we're to proclaim. He's talking about the revelation
of God, whom no man can see or has seen at any time. God, whom
no man can know or has known at any time, apart from Jesus
Christ, the mediator. This is the message. God himself
is light and Christ, the revealer of God, is the light of life
in whom God is revealed so that God causes the light of the glory
of the triune God to shine forth in dazzling brilliance in the
face of Jesus Christ, our crucified mediator. And if ever you come
to know him, you know that you know God. If ever you come to know him,
you know that you know God. We come now to God with full
assurance of faith. Full assurance of faith. Well,
that's something you have to, you got to work to get that.
No work is what keeps you from it. Full assurance of faith. How
do you come to God? As you therefore have received
Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk ye in him. How was it you received
Christ? You here who do not know my Savior,
will you listen to me? This is how you receive him.
You come to God with nothing in your hands. with nothing to offer him, with
nothing to give him, with nothing to appease him. Jacob comes to
Esau, he brought those droves and droves and droves and droves,
because I'm coming to appease a man mad at me. You can do that
with a man, but not with God. Not with God. How do you come
to God? With nothing. With nothing. Nothing. Just his sword. And do you know what God accepts?
His Son. He accepts His Son. He won't
accept your prayers, your works, your devotion, your sacrifices,
your deeds. He accepts His Son, His blood,
His righteousness. That's all. We come to God then
with full assurance of faith when we come to God with nothing
but Christ. Now, if you've got Christ in
one hand, something else in another, you've got no assurance. You've
got Christ in one hand, something else in another, you've got no
peace. You've got Christ in one hand, something else in another,
you've got no hope, no confidence. But you come to God with Christ
in both hands. That's all. You come to God with full assurance
of faith. I have no reason to question
that God will accept his son. Do you? Do you? Yeah, but I'm not talking about
his son, I'm talking about me. I didn't know there was a difference. I didn't know there was a difference.
I'm one with his son. And God accepts me in his son.
Do you understand that? We are one with Christ. And then
John, in the following seven verses, raises Issues that demand
serious sober consideration. I'll give them to you very briefly.
Six tremendous issues. Six matters of great concern.
By which we may identify true faith. Examine yourselves. Examine
yourselves. Each of you. Each of you. Every
one of you examine yourselves. Whether you be in the faith.
That's the issue. That's the issue. I'm not asking
you to examine how good you are. I know you're not any good. I'm
not asking you to examine how faithful you are. I know your
faithfulness is nothing. I'm not asking you to examine
and see how much you love the Lord. I know your love for Christ
is not worth mention. I know that. I'm asking you examine
yourself to see whether you're in the faith. Do you really believe
the son of God? Do you really trust Jesus Christ,
the Lord? Well, brother Don, that's what
I want to know. All right. Look at verse six. If we say that
we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and
do not the truth. We say we have fellowship with
him and walk in darkness. We lie and do not the truth.
Anyone who professes they has faith in Christ and fellowship
with God who is light and yet walks in darkness is a liar His
very profession of faith is a lie Those who remain in darkness
don't know God. What's he talking about? being
ignorant of the plague of your own heart and Ignorant of the
person and work of the Lord Jesus. Ignorant of the character of
God. Ignorant of salvation by God's grace. Salvation wrought
by God alone. Ignorant of the power and grace
of God the Holy Spirit. Supposing yourselves righteous
in yourselves, you walk in darkness. Your profession of faith is a
lie. You don't know God. They know the truth who walk
in the truth. And Christ is truth. We tend
to divide things. How many times tonight have I
used the word doctrines? I do it all the time. But you
know, the doctrine of God is not many, it's one. Truth is
not truths, it's truth. It's Christ the Lord. And those
who are born of God walk in the light. Christ is the light. They walk in the light of divine
revelation. They walk in the light of God's
truth revealed in them, written on their hearts by the finger
of God. Now, it is true. God's people often walk in darkness. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servant and walketh in
darkness and hath no light? God's people walk in darkness.
Not in spiritual darkness. They walk before God knowing
they have no light in themselves. No light in themselves. Therefore,
the prophet says, let him trust in the Lord. The lost religious
fellow, he has light. He's always got light. He's got
light. As a matter of fact, the very
next verse in Isaiah says it's called sparkles. Sparkles of
light. Do you know what sparkles are?
That's light that you make from which you cannot get any light.
And light that you make by which you, which cannot guide you.
Light that you make from which you can get no fire. Light that
you make that's just a sparkle of light. Nothing else. When
I was a boy, it's amazing, we didn't have computer games. We
used to play other games. We found ways to show off without
having to work joysticks. And we'd ride bicycles at night,
no lights. You'd way up on a high hill and
pedal just as hard as we could going down the hill, and take
a foot and push down that kickstand and just drag it as far as we
could. Look at the fire! Man, did I make some light! Where is it? Now let's go do
that again. Make some more light. Let's go
on again. Go make some more light. Just
sparks, no fire, no life, no light, no direction, just sparks
of their making. And that's what religion does
for man. Just sparks of their making. God's people walk in
the light of God himself, who is light. Acknowledging what
we are, knowing the corruption of our hearts, we walk in the
light. Knowing the plague of our hearts,
we trust a crucified savior. Look at verse seven. But if we
walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth
us from all sin. All who walk in the light Christ
gives by his spirit, in the revelation of the gospel, living by faith
in Christ, are united in blessed fellowship with the Father and
with the Son. We're brethren. We're brethren. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. I read Robert Hawker's statement
yesterday, and I can't say it better. He said, Every word here
is bigger and more important than all the world The blood
of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin Nothing but the
precious blood of Christ who is God's Son can put away sin
Nothing but the blood of one who is himself God of infinite
value can put away sin. I The precious blood of Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. Now you think about that a little
while. Past sin, present sin, future sin. Sins of thoughts,
sins of words, sins of deed. Lust, is that sin? Greed, is
that sin? Envy, is that sin? Hypocrisy,
is that sin? Unbelief, is that sin? The blood
of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanseth us from all sin. And I'm tickled
to death he put that present linear tense verb there. E-T-H
ending. Not the blood of Jesus Christ,
his son, has cleansed us from all sin. Well I said, I pray
for forgiveness. We were talking about that the
other day, Rod. What stupidity. I had a fellow argue with me.
I don't think I ought to pray for forgiveness. I finally said
to him, if you don't need any, don't pray for any. I happened to need it. The blood of Jesus Christ, His
Son, who before the world was cleansed us, who at Calvary cleansed
us, now cleanseth us in our consciences perpetually, day after day after
day after day, from all sin, cleanseth us from all sin, so
that we walk before God with no conscience of guilt.
Wondrous grace! I have a consciousness of guilt
of many things before every man and woman in this building. I
have no consciousness of guilt before God. None before God. How can that be? The precious
blood of Christ perpetually cleanses us from all sin. It so cleanses
us from all sin that it prevents all possibility a future defilement. The blood of Christ cleanses
us from all sin and he will never charge me with sin. What do you
do when you sin? I run to the blood. What do you
do with your sin? I confess it to God. What do
you do with your sin? I put it in his hands. What do
you do with your sin? I believe Jesus Christ God's
son. That's all. That's all. Somehow
we got to We've got to make up to God. These silly intellectual
giants you see on television, everybody talking about, well,
I believe in redemption. I believe in redemption. They talk about
you redeeming yourself. What stupidity. What stupidity. No, you can't redeem yourself.
But bless God, Christ has redeemed me. Cleanses us from all sin. John Trapp said, God beholding
us in the face of His Son. Listen now, seeth nothing amiss
in us. Can you get hold of that? God
looks at me. God Almighty looks at Don Fortner. And He sees me in His Son. and he sees nothing amiss. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord will not impute sin. All right, here's the third thing. Look at verse eight. If we say
that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and Christ is not in
us. I read it right. If we say we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Anybody
talks about being without sin He's a liar and he calls God
a liar Let's move on verse 9 if we confess our sins Confess our
sins Yeah, we're gonna give an invitation in a little bit Won't
you bow your head and close your eyes? Anybody here has any unconfessed
sin in their lives? Slip your hand up on nobody's
looking Now we're gonna sing a song y'all come down here.
We want you to confess your sin. I Go play games with papists
at papal altars. Don't pretend that in Baptist
churches. Well, what's this talking about, confessing your sin? I
don't need to hear about your sin. I got enough problem of
my own. Well, what do you do? Confess your sin to God. Now,
that's another story. Bill, it's easy enough to talk
to me about your sin. I'm just like you. If we confess
our sin, What's that talking about? Let's sit down and write
out a list. Now today I lusted after this and I committed this
crime and I made this offense and I didn't actually say the
cuss word but I cussed three times today and you write that
down and I confess it. No. No. Adam, it means you go into your
closet and you open your heart to God and acknowledge what you
are. Search me, O God, and know my
heart. Try me, and see if there be any
wicked way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting. We
confess our sin. We quit hiding behind a mask
of hypocrisy with God. You confess your sin. Quit pretending
what you know is not so. Quit pretending righteousness
when you know you're not. Quit pretending godliness when
you know you have none. Quit pretending goodness when
there's none in you. You confess your sin. If we confess
our sin, listen to this. He is faithful. Faithful. Faithful to his word. He said, turn to me and I'll
give you the sure mercies of David. He'll do it. He said,
he that blotteth out thy transgressions, he'll do it. He's faithful and
just. Just? How can God in justice
forgive sin? Ain't but one way. Sin's got
to be punished to the full satisfaction of justice. And in Jesus Christ,
God punished our sins fully. Holding back nothing, he poured
out all the fury of hell on his son. He's just to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, declaring
us righteous, declaring us righteous, as righteous as God's own son. With his spotless garments on,
I am as holy as God's son. Verse 10, if we say that we have
not sinned, We make him a liar and his word is not in us. Now, what's the difference between
that and verse 8? Verse 8 says we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves and Christ is not in us. If we say we have not sinned,
we make God a liar and Christ is not in us. What's that talking
about? Now, here you are on a cold, freezing cold, snowy January
night. gathered in a church building
trying to worship God. Oh, man, that's good, isn't it?
That's got to count for something. God will surely accept that.
Brother David just sang that hymn. God'll accept that. Look at me. I'm standing here
preaching to you a sermon I've been working on for months. I've
been working hard and now preaching. That's got to count for something.
You can't say that's sin. Oh. It's not. Shot plum full of sin. Shot plum
full of sin. If in anything you do, anything,
anything, anything you do, your Bible reading, your prayer, your
missionary service, your sacrifices, your giving, anything, like the
harlot in Proverbs 7, you wipe your mouth and say, I have not
sinned. You make God a liar. Because with these filthy hands,
you can't do anything else. With this body of flesh, you
can't do anything else. Even our righteousnesses are
filthy rags before God. Now, Fr. Don explained that to
me theologically. I dare say, if that's your attitude,
you don't have a clue what I'm talking about. What have you ever done that
you'd hold up to God and say, that was good? What have you
ever thought? Just thought, forget about doing,
just thought that you'd hold up to God and say, now that's
good. Bring it on. What? Oh, well, Brother Don,
I wouldn't dare think that. Well, talk like you do. No, no,
no, no. Brother Don, if what you're saying
is so, that means that true faith is
shut up to and happily shut up to Christ alone. That's it. Christ alone. Christ is all. He's all I need. He's all I've got. He's all I
want. But what about our sins? Look
at verse 1, chapter 2. My little children, these things
write I unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, you can write that if, when. What happens when a believer
sins? What happens when a believer sins? Oh, God'll get you. That's how religion works. God'll
get you. Boy, you sin, that's the reason
that shipwreck down there off the coast of Italy, bad folks
on that ship. God'll get you. If you sin, God'll
get your children. If you sin, God'll put you in
the hospital. If you sin, God'll get you. If you sin, God'll get
you in the day of judgment. What happens when a believer
sins? Nothing. Nothing. Oh, much here. Much in our hearts. Nothing before
God. Nothing before God. You see,
the chastisement of our peace was on Him. And we have an advocate with
the Father. If any man's sin, he hasn't lost
his advocate. We have an advocate. One who's
called alongside the bar of God as our representative to plead
our cause with God. We have an advocate with the
Father. who spreads his hands and says, God, impute no sin
to Don Fortner. See, hear his righteousness. We have an advocate with the
Father. His name is Jesus, the Savior of his people. Christ,
the anointed, appointed sent one of God. God's Messiah, God's
Savior, God's Redeemer. The righteous. the righteous,
the only righteous man who ever walked on earth before God. Jesus
Christ, the righteous, my advocate with the father with whom I am
one and he, he is the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation, what
a wonderful word. Atonement is the word, mercy
seat is the word, propitiation. He satisfied and satisfies forever
the Holy Lord God for our sins. And true faith, trust Him. True faith looks to Him. Now, I don't have time to go
to the next one, down in verse three. He says, if we keep his
commandments, ah, now, now we're coming to works. Let's see. By faith, we establish the law. By faith. God commands holiness. Love God with all your heart,
soul, mind, and being. Love your neighbor as yourself. By faith,
we bring him Christ. All that he's required. So that
all his commandments are wrapped up in one commandment. This is
his commandment. That you believe on his son. Believe the son of God. Believe
the son of God and go home. with the smile of God in your
conscience forever. Amen.