And it's somewhat familiar to
us. 1 John 4. I want to read a few verses here
in this chapter. 1 John 4, and let's begin reading
in verse 1. Beloved, believe, that is, don't
trust, every spirit. But try the spirits, prove them,
put them to the test, whether they are of God, because many
false prophets are gone out into the world. Here, spirits is synonymous
with false prophets. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh, is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And
this is that spirit of antichrist whereof ye have heard that it
should come, and even now already it is in the world. Ye are of
God, little children, and have overcome them. Because greater
is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They are
of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world
hears them. They understand what they're
saying, and they believe it. We are of God. He that knoweth
God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth, and the spirit of error. Now, I want to look this morning
mainly in verse 2, but I want to begin here in verse 1. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits. Prove the spirits, because many
false prophets are gone out into the world. In the early church,
as it is now, God saved sinners and He opened their understandings. He gave them knowledge of His
Word and He sent them out to preach. The devil being the great imitator
that he is, when the Lord calls men and taught them the truth,
the devil called men and sent them out to preach lies. And
we're told, therefore, and instructed here to beware of these false
prophets. Now, there's true prophets. There's
true apostles. We have all the apostles of our
Lord that He chose and taught and sent to preach. Those were
good men. We have men like Timothy. I have no man like Timothy, Paul
said. that seeks to do you good. He seeks the glory of the Lord,
and Titus, and Silas, and good men, the call of the Lord. But
we also have these that John refers to here as false prophets. Brother Larry mentioned some
of them this morning. What we call sometimes Judaizers. Men who says that we believe
in Jesus Christ, we believe that He was virgin born, that He died
upon the cross, we believe all of that, but we believe that
He's not enough. What He did upon the cross is
not enough, but we believe that there are certain ceremonies,
certain laws, certain commandments of men that you must keep. They
mix law and grace. And then we're told in all the
writings of the Apostle Paul, not only in John, but there were
many unruly and vain talkers, especially among the Jewish nation.
And Paul said their mouths must be stopped because they subvert,
they deceive whole houses, teaching things which they ought not to
teach. And this is the reason here in
verse 1 of my text, that you and I are to be careful what
we hear. And we are to prove what we hear. Put it to the test. If I've got
any problem with you going home this morning and opening your
Bibles and proving what I said, then I've got a real problem.
John said, when you hear a man teach, when you hear a man preach,
put him to the test. Try what He said, and how do
we try? By the Word of Truth. By the
Word of God. Put Him to the test. Don't just
believe everything that you hear. Don't take my word for it, dear
soul. Don't take our Sunday school
teacher's word. Go home and open up your Bibles
and let's say, prove that. Prove that. That's what John
means here when he says, try the spirits, prove them. Put
them to the test. Put them to the test. If these
false prophets here never received a hearing, if no one listened
to them, and nobody believed what they were saying, then it
would be no big deal. We'd never say anything about
it. But people are listening to them. And people are believing
what they're saying and men are losing their souls as a result
of it. Therefore, this is serious business. When John instructs us here under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to try these prophets, he gives
us this reason because many of them have gone out into the world
and they're preaching and they're teaching. Now listen to what
the Scripture says about these false prophets and about the
results of their teaching. Our Lord Jesus Himself said this,
Many false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many. That makes it serious, doesn't
it? If nobody listens to them, all
right, but they deceive many. And Peter said in his second
epistle, there shall arise false teachers who shall bring in damnable
heresies, and many shall follow their pernicious ways. Many follow it. They fill up
a house like this in no time and have to add on or move to
another location. They have to rent big gymnasiums
and stadiums to worship in. Many follow their pernicious
ways. The Apostle Paul said this about
it. The Spirit of God speaketh to me, he said expressly, that
in the latter times some will depart from the faith, that is,
the doctrine of faith, the doctrine of truth, given he to seducing
spirits and doctrines of theft. And he gave two doctrines of
devils. One, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from
meat. Do you know any religious organization in this present
time that forbids their preachers to marry? We know a big one,
don't we? That will not allow their priests
to marry. They forbid them to marry. You
know what Paul said that was? Doctrine of devils. And they
forbid them to eat certain kinds of meat. The Jews to this very
day aren't allowed to eat pork. And you know what Paul said that
was? The doctrine of devils. He said everything that God hath
made is good, and nothing to be refused. I tell you, I could
eat a snake, but there's nothing wrong with eating one. You fry
him up good and set him down and say, Lord, thank you for
this snake, and eat it. Nothing is unclean in and of
itself. If it be sanctified by the Word
of God and prayer, it's good, eh? And if a man says, don't
eat a snake because it's unclean, you're sinning if you do it.
That's the doctrine of devil. Try the spirits, whether they
are God. But Satan, being the chief imitator
that he is, And being so jealous of God as He is, everything God
does, Satan tries to imitate. The only difference is, the Lord,
He gives us truth, and Satan tries to imitate it with his
lies. Let me give you a few things here before I get into the message,
and you'll see it. Not long after the Lord Jesus
Christ was declared to be that holy thing from his mother's
womb. That's what it was said about
him. When he came out of the womb of his mother, he was called
that holy thing. And not long after that, Catholicism
set up their doctrine of what they called immaculate conception. That Mary herself was born sick. The Bible declares that there's
only one mediator between God and man. And it wasn't long in
the early church, and after that, that Catholicism set up Mary
as being the only channel, listen to this, through to Jesus Christ. I was reading a little book the
other day that Larry gave me, and he said, I read this and
I wrote this little quote down. There is no other channel to
approach unto Jesus Christ but by Mary. They have a mediator
between us and Jesus, our Lord. And listen to this, there is
no other channel by which Jesus can approach unto us but by Mary. Try the spirits. How many mediators
is there between us and God? One. Is there a mediator between
us and Christ? Not any. Not any. Oh, my goodness,
we don't need a mediator between us and Him, do we? That's why
the Scripture said in the book of Revelation that the beast,
those false prophets, they blaspheme the saints in heaven. Well, there's
a way you blaspheme a saint in heaven. You pray to him. You
set one up as a mediator. You blaspheme. Our Bibles instruct sinners to
call on the name of the Lord. When you seek me with all your
heart, you shall find me. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Satan seduces sinners to repeat
the sinner's prayer. See how he tries to imitate that.
The Bible instructs sinners to come to Christ and to God by
Him. Satan's ministers instruct people
to come forward in a religious service. The Bible tells men
that they're saved by the Word of Truth. Receive this engrafted
Word which is able to save your soul. Satan's ministers tell
men they're saved by mental persuasion. They can talk you into it. The Bible instructs believers
to cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ with purpose of heart. Don't
ever leave Christ. You've come to Christ, cleave
to Him. Satan's ministers tells men to
leave Christ and go to something bigger and something better.
He's an imitator. The Bible tells us that Christ
is all in all. You just quoted that. The Scriptures tells us that
Christ has did all. Satan's ministers tells us that
Christ has did all He can. But the rest is up to you. The Lord Jesus Christ says, You
have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. The false prophet
says, God has cast a vote for you, and the devil has cast a
vote for you, but it's your vote that counts. You must choose
yourself. Try the spirits. Take them to
the Word and try them. The Bible says if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature. He has a new heart. He has a
new spirit. He has new motives. He has new
desires. He has new goals. He has a new
God. But the false prophet says this,
a man may be in Christ and never be changed, and continue in his
old lifestyle, love sin and water in it, and yet be saved. Try
the Spirit. Why? Because many false prophets
are going out into the world. Some people, I know some people,
they're a little leery about dwelling on these scriptures.
And you know we wouldn't if the scriptures didn't. But when we
come here and find a verse of scripture like this, brothers
and sisters, we must emphasize it. Because men are losing their
precious souls. Okay, look here, let's go on
then. Look here in verse 2 and verse 3 of our text. 1 John 2
and verse 3. We're told in our text here the
difference between those who have the Spirit of God and those
who have the Spirit of Antichrist. And here's what he said. Hereby
know ye. Here's a way you're going to
know if God has called a man, if God has taught that man, Or
where he's a spirit of Antichrist, has the spirit of the devil.
Here's the way you gonna know. It's what he thanks of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh, is of God. Every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, but
this is that Spirit of Antichrist." Now, you and I look at this in
a general sense, and we look at it in a general sense John
would be saying here, everyone that confesses that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh, was made in our likeness, real humanity. That is the truth. And therefore,
as far as it goes, it's of God. It doesn't mean that he's saved,
that he's born again, but John said that person that confesses
that Jesus Christ has really come in the flesh, that's the
truth. So as far as it goes, that's
of God. If you look at it in a general
sense, but I don't think we look at this in a general sense. I
think we have to narrow it down. And look at it in a real particular
manner. I say that because look here
in 1 John chapter 5. You think as you look at John,
he speaks in a general sense, until you really start looking
at what he said, and boy, then it really narrows things down. Look here at what he said in
chapter 5 verse 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Now you stop and you think about
that for just a minute, and you'll say, who doesn't believe that?
Who doesn't believe that? I bet you everybody here this
morning believes that, don't they? Well, sure, I believe that
Jesus is the Christ of God, Son of God. Almost everybody believes
that. But John said, whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Is everybody born of
God? then it must mean something that we're not seeing at just
first appearance. And the key is in this word,
believeth. And this word believeth means
this, whosoever adheres to, whosoever pleads to, whosoever trusts in
and relies upon with all his heart, Now that changes things
a little bit, doesn't it? It really takes you from a notion
of the head to a true belief of the heart. I believe with
all my being that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I rely upon
Him. I count all loss for Him. I'm
dependent upon Him. What I am now, what I'm going
to be, it's all dependent upon this Jesus, the Son of God. That
changes things, doesn't it? You believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God, you're born of God. That's what John said. I believe that He's the Christ,
the Son of the Living God. And then you look at 2 or 3 more
places there in chapter 4 we won't look at, but when you look
at that you realize then that our text when He says that He
that confesseth that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh, He's not
speaking in the general sense. But it comes down to this word,
confess. What does that mean? He that
confesseth. This is a very, very strong word. And here's what it means. Here's
the way we literally have to read it. Everyone who assents
in his thoughts, and owns and believes in his heart, and acknowledges
with his mouth, and is truly thankful that Jesus Christ is
come in the flesh, is of God. He's born of God. This word, confess, it's a very
strong word. It's a whole heart acknowledgment. It means to own out of a sincere
and deep conviction of heart. When we start studying these
words, they mean much more than when you first look at them.
To own out of a deep conviction of heart. You believe that Jesus
Christ has come into the flesh. Is that your deep, deep conviction? Do you own that in your thoughts? Do you confess him with your
mouth? Consider these things with me
right quickly this morning. And I hope I don't weary you,
but consider this with me. Hereby know we the Spirit of
God. Every spirit that owns and confesses,
it's their deep conviction in the heart that Jesus Christ is
come in the flesh, is of God. He is come in the flesh. The
Scripture says he was in the world. Where was he before he
was in this world? He was in this world in his flesh,
but where was he? Where did he come from? I'm not
talking about when he came from Nazareth, or when he came out
of Egypt, or when he came from Bethlehem's manger, but where
was he before then? If he's come in the flesh, where
was he before then? Look over here with me in John's
Gospel. You mark 1 John Chapter 4. Look over here with me in
John's Gospel Chapter 6. John's Gospel Chapter 6. Look
at this. The Lord Jesus said this several
times in this one message. that He came down from heaven. Look at John chapter 6 and look
in verse 33. The Lord Jesus Christ is unique
from everybody else that's ever been born into this world. And
here's one of the things that makes Him unique. Look in verse
33 of John chapter 6. Now here's our Savior that came
in the flesh. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven. Where was he before he came in
the flesh? He was in heaven. And look at
this in verse 38. I am come down from heaven, not
to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. I came down
from heaven. Look at verse 41. The Jews then
murmured at him because he said, I am the bread which came down
from heaven. Look in verse 50. This is the
bread which cometh down from heaven. I am the living bread
which came down from heaven. Look in verse 58. This is the
bread which came down from heaven. And we finally get the message,
don't we? Every spirit that confesses that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, where did he come from? He came
from heaven. Down from heaven. How long had he been there? How long had he been there? And
what form did he have when he was there? He came in the flesh. What was He like before He came?
And how long was He there in heaven? I want you to turn to
another passage with me. And I want you to mark these.
Look over here in Micah. Go all the way over in the Old
Testament in Micah. If you need to, just don't be embarrassed
to jump over and look it up in front of your Bible. The book
of Micah, chapter 5. The book of Micah, chapter 5. This tells us something. This
is very important because John said this distinguishes between
those who are of God and the Antichrist. What they think of
Jesus Christ coming in the flesh. Where was he before he came? If he came, he had to come from
somewhere, didn't he? He said, I've come down from
heaven. And I want to show you here how long he was in heaven.
Now look at this. Look at Micah, chapter 5. You
remember when the Lord Jesus was born? And Herod called the
priests together, the scribes and so on, and demanded where
the Lord Jesus would be born. And they told him, and this is
the verse right here they quoted. But they only quoted part of
this verse. Let's look at all of it, because
you're going to tell us something. I came down from heaven. And
look at this. But thou, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though thou be little
among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come
forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel. Now that's speaking
of the Lord Jesus. Micah chapter 5, verse 2. Did
I give you the right place? You remember when the scribes
quoted that to Herod? Christ is going to be born in
Bethlehem of Judea, because they said that's what Micah prophesied.
But they stopped right there. Just where I stopped is where
they stopped. But boy, they stopped short, didn't they? Look what
else the Scripture says. He is going forth, have been
from of old, from everlasting. That's a long time in. I came
down from heaven. Lord, how long was you in heaven?
From everlasting. From everlasting. There's nine
scriptures, nine times in the scriptures, this word from everlasting
is used. Nine times in all the scriptures,
from everlasting. And it's God, it's applied to.
Before I formed the earth, before I made the world, From everlasting
to everlasting, I am God. Who is this? He came down from
heaven. And he said, I was not everlasting.
It's this one who came in the flesh. Who else but God, brothers
and sisters? Nobody but God is from everlasting. Everybody else and everything
else is mere creatures of time. Even those holy elect angels,
They're creatures of time. There was a time they did not
exist. You and I, humanity, there was a time we did not exist.
We have a time to be born and a time to die. But if you went
to heaven and you went back into eternity, there you would find
the Son of God. He had no beginning. He is indeed
God of gods. What farm was he in then? He
was in the farm of God. Don't your scripture tell us
that? We're told about the Lord Jesus Christ before He came into
this world, that He was the brightness of God's glory and the expressed
image of His person. That means the exact image of
God. He being on the farm of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, because He was. He was in the farm of God. If you could see that eternal
Holy Spirit, and you were back there in eternity, there you
would see the Son of God, because that's what He was. He was the
eternal Holy Spirit. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, Secondly, consider
this with me. First of all, where was he before
he came in the flesh? He was in heaven. How long had
he been there? From everlasting. What farm is he in? The farm
of God. Now, how did Jesus Christ get in the flesh? How did he become flesh? I want
you to look over here in another scripture with me. Look over
here in Matthew, a very familiar scripture. Just over to your
right. Look here in Matthew. I love the way the Holy Spirit
pens this down here in Matthew. I don't know of anybody that
can say this any better than Matthew did here in Matthew chapter
1, beginning here in verse 18. There was two eras. There's always
been two eras since the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. One
of the eras was that Jesus Christ is not truly God. That era is
still around with us today, that He's a creature, that He was
created somewhere back before the creation of the world. God
made Him, and then Jesus Christ made the world. That's an era
today that Jehovah Witness holds, and Mormons for the most part.
That Jesus Christ is not truly God. The other era was that Jesus
Christ was truly God, And because He was truly God, there's no
way that He could become a man. They said everything about man
is sinful, and that's true. But they said since Jesus Christ
was born of a woman, if He truly was, He would have to be sinful
too. So they denied that Jesus Christ
truly came in the flesh. They said He was some sort of...
He just basically took the appearance. of us. But he didn't take a real
flesh. He wasn't real humanity. Well, notice in the light of
that, how the Holy Ghost moves upon Matthew here to write in
verse 18. Look at this. Look at these first
three words. Now the birth. Now the birth. Well, well. You mean it's a birth?
He just didn't after all assume some body? No. It was a birth. The birth of
Jesus Christ. Well, Bruce, you just told us
that He was from everlasting. He was. We're talking now about
His becoming flesh. How did He become flesh, Glenn?
By birth. See how careful the Holy Spirit
is to say that? By birth. When as His mother Mary. Now, ain't that amazing? His
mother married. He had a mother, a real mother. His mother was married. She was a spouse to Joseph before
they came together. Jesus Christ was not the son
of Joseph. Joseph had never known Mary. She was found with child. Ain't that amazing? Ain't it
amazing how the Holy Spirit says these things? She was found with
child. Whose child was it? Her child. She had a child. She conceived
in her womb. But look at this, of the Holy
Ghost. That's out of measure. She was
with a child of the Holy Ghost. And Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take
unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her."
How did Jesus Christ get in the flesh? He was conceived in the
womb of the Virgin. Now, brothers and sisters, that
makes real flesh, doesn't it? You mothers, you know exactly
what this means, don't you? You can relate to that more than
us men can, because you conceived in your womb and you had a son. And it was a real son. Flesh
and blood and bones. Just like Mary did her son. But
the difference was, Mary never knew a man. This was the Son
of God, eternal Son of God, in her womb, a real man. And look here in verse 21. She shall bring forth a son,
her son. and shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And all this
was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of in the prophet,
saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which they
interpret God with us." Isn't that amazing? Then Joseph, being
raised from the sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden
him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not, till she had
brought forth her firstborn son." Is Jesus Christ the Son of God,
or is He the Son of Mary? Both. He's God's eternal Son. He's Mary's Son in the flesh. How did He become flesh? By real
birth. By real birth. Jesus Christ was
as much the Son of Mary as He was the Son of God. He had no
sin. He did no sin. He knew no sin.
But He was a man. He was real humanity. That's
how He got into flesh. Some have told us in our day
it doesn't matter whether Jesus Christ was virgin-born or not.
It does, doesn't it? If He wasn't virgin-born, He's
born just like you and I was. The amazing thing is, when He
was born to that virgin, she was a sinner. And yet He wasn't. She had a fallen nature, but
He didn't. She was tainted with sin, but He wasn't. Mary, bless
her heart, she was just like you and I. And she didn't die a virgin either. And she blessed God and called
him her Savior. She needed a Savior just like
you did, just like I did. And when he was born, he was
born a real humanity. And the Scripture tells us that
he was a real humanity because the Scripture tells us immediately
that his mother had to care for him. She got him out of the womb,
washed him up, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes. Why didn't
he do that? He's a helpless little infant.
You don't expect a helpless little infant to wrap himself up in
swaddling clothes. He had to be helped. She had
to hang him on her breast and teach him to suck. And an angel of the Lord came
to Joseph and said, the devil is going to seek to destroy this
child. Flee with him down to Egypt.
Protect him. And the Scripture tells us this,
that he was subject to his mother and Joseph, his supposed father. And the Scripture tells us that
he increased in wisdom and knowledge in favor with God. Don't that tell us immediately
that this is a man? You've got a man here. How can
God increase in favor with God? How can God increase in wisdom?
The manhood of Jesus Christ is set forth to us. You must look
upon Him as a real man, and that He was. Why did He hunger and
have to eat? He'd have starved to death if
He hadn't. He was flesh. Why did He grow weary and have
to sit down to rest? Why did he get Sartority laid
down in a boat and slept? He is a real man, Glenn. He was
as much man as you and I are. The only difference between you
and him, he is perfect and we are sinners. He was tempted in
all points, like as we are. He was a real man. Here is the
difference. He never sinned in his temptation.
He is a holy man, a good man, an obedient man, but a man He
was. And on the cross of Calvary we
see His humanity displayed as nowhere else because it was on
the cross of Calvary that He suffered and He died. And He was as dead upon that
cross as any man has ever been dead that gave up the gospel.
I am he that was dead. And in his flesh he arose from the
dead. His disciples saw him. They were
invited to handle him. Handle me and see, he said. A spirit don't have flesh and
bones, as you see me have. He was flesh when he came into
this world, he was flesh when he hung on the cross and died,
and he was flesh when he rose from the grave. And he's flesh
and bone today when he's seated there in heaven with all authority
given unto him, the man Christ Jesus. You and I confess this, don't
we? We own it out of a sincere and deep conviction of our heart. But we can't stop here. Look
back over my text. I'm closing. I'm closing, but
look back over my text. You see, brothers and sisters,
I dwell on these things, and you and I do here for this reason.
If the church had been faithful to preach these things, we'd
have cut off a lot of errors. But the church in our day has
got so busy growing in numbers, you see. and building their big
cathedrals and their family life centers, that we've left the
truth, and all kinds of errors have come in. So we don't stop even here. Look
here. Look at something else. Look here in 1 John chapter 4,
and look in verse 10. Look at this. Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh. Why did He come in the flesh? It's not enough just to
say He came in the flesh. Now we've got to ask this most
important question. Why did He come? Why did He come
in the flesh? Because see, the Son tells us
that He came to be a good example, and He was that. Oh, He is that. We can follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. But if that's all He came to be is an example, Then
He's just mocking us. Because we can't follow Him perfectly.
But here's why He came in the flesh. Look here in chapter 4. Look here in verse 10. Here in
His love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son. There it is, ain't it? Sent Him
down from heaven. Sent Him in the flesh. Real humanity. For what reason? To be the propitiation
for our sins. That's why He came. I want to read something here
to you. I want to read you a simple definition of propitiation. Because
we don't hear anything about this word in our day, do we?
Propitiation. Our dictionary says it's the
definition of propitiation. Listen to this. Here's why you
can. Get a hold of this if you can. Propitiation is the act
of atoning for a crime. The act of making satisfaction
for an offense by which the guilt is done away. But he doesn't stop there. Listen
to this. And the obligation of the offended person to punish
the crime is counseled. The crime is atoned for, the
guilt is put away, and the obligation for the one whom we send against
to punish us is counseled. That's what it means. The Jews
tried to propitiate for their sins. by their animal sacrifices
and their washings and purification. And some of the pagans are still
trying to do things like that today. But the Christian way
of doing it is this. God sent his Son to be the perpetuation. Ain't that wonderful? Oh, if
you can get a hold of that, dear soul. If you can get a hold of
that. Why did Christ come into the flesh? To bear our load. to bear our punishment. And God
looked upon him, and what did he say? I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. And every life soul that puts
their heart trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their sin offering,
you know what God says about that person? He says, I've looked
for their sin, and it can't be found. I've made diligent search
for it, and I can't find it. Where is it? It's been put away. Jesus Christ put it away. When? In the days of His flesh. Don't you find that to be wonderful?
In verse 9, look at this, chapter 4, verse 9. In this was manifested
the love of God toward us. Because God sent His only begotten
Son into the world that we might live through Him. There's life in the Son of God.
That's why God sent Him. And He says, I'm come that they
might have life and have it more abundantly to live. You say, Bruce, how in the world
can I have this? Well, the only way I know is
to believe on it. I mean, when I say believe
now, I'm talking about the scriptural sense. I'm talking about a cleave
into Christ. I'm talking about casting yourself
upon Him, lock, stock and barrel. That's the only salvation you
have before God. Your only acceptance before God.
Your only life, your only living. is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn loose of yourself and just fall right upon Him, and He'll
catch you. He'll catch you. God help us
all to do it. Let's pray.