I was in the National Dishonor
Society. Took math courses that I can't
even imagine. Calculus and stuff like that. I never got past geometry. Took
geometry twice to pass one. Make sure you got it right. Congratulations. You did a great
job. We're all real proud of you. That's great. Other than that,
I can't think of any prayers. I remember the Panther family
animal patch, and also Trish's... Tramper. Tramper. Trish Tramper
is about the same as our hospital, you know, where the kidneys are
going. So, I remember that, but I don't have any prayers. Let's
see if it works out for them. And other than that, I can't
think of any announcements, so let's begin our worship service.
Can you add Dan McCoy? I have Dan McQuay on there. Okay.
Dan McQuay on there. Any change in this situation?
He got to go home, but I haven't heard anything else. Okay. All
right. Hymn number 40. Great is Thy
Faith. Praise Thy faithfulness, O God
my Father! There is no shadow of turning
with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy confessions
they fail not. I see Summer and winter and springtime
and harvest, sun, moon, and stars. His own nature in gladness or
weakness. Hear my great thankfulness, mercy
and love! Praise Thy thankfulness! Praise Thy thankfulness! Morning
by morning in mercies I sing! Oh, I am He, with my hand and
foot by Him. Praise, I praise Him! I sing in the peace that you've
read My own dear friends, to cheer and to guide Stay for today
and I look for tomorrow Blessings, O mine, with ten thousand beside
Praise thy faithfulness! Praise thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies
I see All I have needed, I have had After Scripture reading and prayer,
we'll sing hymn number 449. We have your Bibles turned to
1 John chapter 2. because you know not the truth,
but because you know it, and that no liar is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ, he that hath the Christ, that denieth
the Son, that denieth the Father and the Son? Whosoever denieth
the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth
the Son hath the Father also. Let that, therefore, abide in
you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which
ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also
shall continue in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise
that He has promised us, even eternal life. These things have
I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the
anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye
need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teaches
you of all things, and is the truth, or is truth, and is no
lie, even as it has been taught you, you shall abide in Him.
And now, O children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear,
we may also have confidence and be not ashamed before Him that
is coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone
that doeth righteousness is born of Him. Father in heaven, blessed
Savior, sovereign Lord, true and living God, we come before
you with thanksgiving and praise for what you've done for us. Thank you for showing us and
teaching us the truth. We thank you that the truth abides
in us, for your word abides in every believer in his heart.
He's able to understand and know things. He has an option from
above, a very holy spirit of God, the spirit of truth dwelling
in him. Father, we pray this hour that
you might give us true worship in spirit and in truth. Pray
for those who are sick, those who've lost loved ones, those
who are going through trial and tribulations. I know it's never
a case. May I ask, Lord, your comfort for them, strengthen
them, and where they know not Christ, we pray that you would
bring them to an understanding of who He is and what He has
done, and give them faith to believe. Father, we ask this
morning that you would be pleased to meet with us by your Spirit,
to take the things of Christ and show them unto us, to glorify
our Master in our midst, You are worthy of all praise
and all thanksgiving for you've done it all. Thank you, Father. In Christ's name, amen. In number 449, from God Be the
Glory. God be the glory, great things
He hath done So love it over when He gave us His Son The year
lives like an adornment for sin And open the life gate that all
may go in Praise the lord. praise the lord. In three things He hath done. O perfect redemption, a purchase
of blood to every man. Praise the lord. Let the people rejoice! O come to the Father, through
Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory! Great things He has done! Great things He has done! Great things He has done! With Jesus, the soft, the pure,
and higher and greater will be our wonder, our transform when
Jesus we see! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear His voice! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice! Glory to the Father, through
Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He hath done. that because of His death and
willingness to go to the cross and His obedience unto death,
that name that you have positioned above every name unto heaven,
that that name we all shall bow and all declare Him to be Lord. that which belongs to you. Let
us do so with thanksgiving and praise, knowing that in this
great scheme of salvation, you have made it so that these worms
of the dust that you have raised up, clothed in the righteousness
of Jesus Christ, forgiven, are able by your grace to participate
in the preaching of the gospel here and in other places. Help
us to remember our privilege, we pray in Christ's
name, amen. and and and Chapter 2. Kind of my message
this morning is knowing the truth. We hear a lot, that term used
a lot, that word used a lot night and day. People talk, this is
the truth. People talk about adding truth to power. They talk
about their truth or our truth or my truth, which is generally
nothing more than their opinion or defense of the position The Bible speaks of truth. Our
Lord said, you shall know the truth of his people and the truth
shall set you free. The only people who are free
in this world are those who know the truth. Everybody else is
in a cage. Everybody else is in bondage.
The truth is that man is totally and completely depressed. We
don't know the depths of that depravity because our mind will
not even go to those dark places. We know that he comes forth from
the womb as soon as he is born, speaking lies. We know that he
drinks iniquity like water. We know that he's said to be
halt and lame, impotent, dead in trespasses and sins, dying,
wicked, vile, A worm and a maggot on a dunghill
is how he's described and where he lives. That's the truth. Now for a man or a woman to stand
inappropriate and say that that's not the truth, there's some goodness
in man, there's a spark of divinity that needs to be fanned by working
on real good, that person is a liar. And according to this,
the Antichrist. That's the truth, man. It's totally
the play. He can do nothing and cannot draw himself one inch
closer to God and does not care to. By nature, his heart is black
as a thousand midnights. By nature, he hates God. The
carnal mind, his enmity against God, is not subject to the law
of God, neither did he care to be. That's the truth, man. It's
totally the play. God has chosen, out of that totally
depraved race of men, some people to save. He did the choosing,
He did the electing, and He did it unconditionally. There was
nothing about them that could recommend them to Him. Before
the world was, before man existed on the top side of this planet,
before this planet was, the Lord chose people in Jesus Christ
whom He would save. He elected them or selected them.
And those, or who, are going to be saved. And that's the truth. And for a person to say that's
not the truth, that person is antichrist. It's that simple. Jesus Christ came into this world
to die and redeem those depraved individuals whom God had chosen
before the foundation of the world to save. He came to save
them. And 2,000 years ago on Calvary's
tree, he went to the cross, suffered the punishment that they deserved
for their sin in three hours of darkness, and on the other
side came out and gave up his life because the payment for
sin is death, and he died the death that was due them, and
they were redeemed, saved, justified, sanctified, made holy. and accepted before the Father.
That's what happened on Calvary, and that's the truth. If a person
said anything else that happened on earth, he says salvation was
made possible? Or that Jesus tried to save everybody? That's a lie. And that's the
Antichrist. That's the Antichrist. In time, those whom Jesus Christ
had redeemed, they were, at time, did not exist. I didn't exist
at that time, but in time, and according to God's purpose, and
according to God's timetable, those people were made to hear
the gospel. And they were irresistibly drawn
to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit drew them by
giving them an understanding of what Christ has done. They
did not find out that they could be something. They found out
that something had taken place 2,000 years ago that secured
their salvation. It was their salvation and they
didn't even know it. It was their salvation. The word
says that. You believed after you heard
the word of truth, the good news of your salvation. And after
you heard it, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit. And from
that day forward, your interest would be on Jesus Christ. That's
the truth. The truth is those whom Jesus
Christ has saved will go to heaven. They will be preserved here on
this earth and they will be preserved to the day they're brought to
glory in the presence of Jesus Christ. That's the truth. That's the truth. John writes
to his people and he says, I'm not writing you because you don't
know the truth. He says, I'm writing it to you
because you do know the truth. John brings the reader's attention
to the light and what it is to walk in it. Back in John chapter
1, verse 6 and 7, he says this, if you say that you have fellowship
with Christ and walk in darkness, you lie and do not the truth. But we walk in the light as He
is in the light. We have fellowship one with another
and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all That's the
light. That's the truth. The light is
Christ and he's revealed in the gospel. And walking in the light
is abiding in the word of God. That's the light we have. Our word is a light. It's a lamp
unto our feet and a light unto our path. Thy word giveth light
and understanding to the simple, saith the scripture. And our
singular, glorious possession as believers is this thing called
the gospel. That's what we have. That's what
we have. We cannot trust in feelings.
We can't have no confidence in anything that has to do with
the flesh. Our experiences and anything we see serve to actually
draw our minds away from Jesus Christ rather than undergirding
our faith. Faith is subjective, you see.
It lives and is fruitful only as it abides in what is written
for us to read and what is written abides The unction of the Holy Spirit,
spoken of in this very chapter, the unction of the Holy Spirit
given us by Jesus Christ operates in the singular realm of His
Word. Verse 20 says, but ye have an unction from the Holy One. You know all things. That don't
mean you know everything, but that means you know all things
that matter. all things that will last, all things that will
pass with us when this earth goes away. Ain't one thing you're
going to take with you when you go. That's what the Word of God
has done for you. That's it. That's it. We're all going to turn back
to dust. The carnival of worms will eat up our bones. All we have is what we have in
this world right now as a child of God, and that's the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is that spirit, he says
in John 16, and he continually leads and guides us into what?
Truth. Into the truth. The gospel is
what we have, and we have the gospel, and the gospel is all
we need. It's what sustains us. Can you
name one thing in this world that holds you up? Name one thing
in your life hold you up other than the gospel. One thing that
gives you peace and hope, one thing that can reach you, one
thing that comforts you, not one thing save the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. In this being the case, John
first declares that those who have this unction know the truth. The wording of verse 21 is John's
way of saying that he's not teaching them anything. He said, I'm not
preaching to you as if you don't know the truth. I'm telling you,
you know the truth. He's not teaching them anything. rather
is rehearsing with them what they already know. They know
because the Word of God according to Scripture abides in them. The Word of God abides in them
and they in them. Remember Jeremiah when he was
talking about that new covenant, he says they'll all know God.
No man will have to say no to the Father. No man will have
to say no to God because they'll all know God from the greatest
to the least and He'll forgive their iniquities and put away
their sin. They'll know God. You don't have to tell the child
to go know God. He knows God. He knows the truth. You don't
have to tell a child of God to believe the truth. He knows the
truth. He knows it. There is no lie
in the truth, he said. The writing of the gospel will
never deceive you. Never will the gospel deceive
you. People will deceive you. Your
heart will deceive you. Your mind will deceive you. But
the gospel will never deceive you. liar, the Antichrist, who walks
in darkness and despises the truth, sets his attack on the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every false teaching, every false
teaching begins and ends with denying Jesus Christ, Jesus as
the Christ, and thus denies his deity and his sonship. The deity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is either gone or
you're lost. There's no hope for you if Jesus
Christ is not God. But to take God, let's say, the
ramification of denying the sonship of Christ is that God is not
his father. And it sets forth so that it
makes God and his son to be both liars. If this foundation could
be destroyed, then the Antichrist had won the day. But such is
not possible. The elect, according to scripture,
shall not be deceived, cannot be deceived. God is sure today
that the elect will not be deceived. I know a lot of people, preachers,
they get all vexed. And even those who believe in
grace are vexed, you know, with all these false teachings going
around. And we have to tell people what's false and what's not.
But we do that by telling them the truth. They get all vexed. God's elect are going to be saved.
Every last one of them. And we say it a particular way.
Somehow, in the scheme of things, in the mind of God, according
to His purpose, He's going to send them a preacher. They're
going to hear about Jesus Christ. And they're going to believe
on Him because they've heard about Him. And they'll do that
because God sent them a preacher. Preacher ain't nothing. He's
just a person. He passes off the scene like
everybody else and somebody else will take his place. He's a mouthpiece. He tells about a record that
happened. He tells an account that took place. That's what
we do when we preach the gospel. We're not telling you to do anything.
We're not telling you to be anything. We're telling you something has
happened. Something wondrous took place 2,000 years ago. Something
wondrous took place. God saved ruined, wretched sinners
from one man hanging on a cross. He saved them. And that's a wondrous
thing. That's an account. We're not
saying go back to that cross. You can't go back. The cross
is gone, and Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father.
That's why Paul said to the Corinthians, I've determined to know nothing
of you among you save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. Jesus Christ,
who was crucified. Jesus Christ, who now sits enthroned. He's Lord of lords and King of
kings, and He's the one who 2,000 years ago was crucified. And
when Paul said that, it ought to be about 30 years. He said,
but that's what I'm preaching. I'm not preaching Christ on the
cross. I'm preaching Christ having been on the cross, finished the
work there, and now because he was on the cross, he has been
exalted to the place of Lord over all as a human being. There's
a man in glory who is God and who is man. And when we get to
glory, we're gonna meet a man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
king of kings. and the Lord of Lords, and that's
the truth! And you know it. You know the
truth. Not possible for the antichrist
to do anything about what Christ has done, that's done. That's
a done deal. What the truth does is expose
antichrist's lies. In verse 9, in 2 John, is this whosoever transgresseth,
and this is what it is to transgress. Well, it's drinking and smoking
and going to the movie show. No, here's what it is to transgress.
Whoso transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ
hath not God. Is that clear enough? Is that plain enough? I can't
find any navigated way to get around what that says. It says
just what it says. He who transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ, the teaching of Christ, doesn't
have God. Doesn't have God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. The remedy against these who
would in which you abide, where you
live and function. I think it was Peter said, no,
but Paul said, in Him we live and move and have our being in
Jesus Christ. This verse says a great deal.
Those who separate doctrine from knowing Christ abide in the doctrine
of Christ. Doctrine. I've had people tell
me they don't believe doctrine. Well, you don't believe Christ.
You don't have Christ, you don't have the Father if you don't
believe doctrine. It's that simple. That's simple. There are those
who separate doctrine from knowing Christ. That's because they don't
know that they can't say His name without saying doctrine.
They can't say His name without saying He's the Savior and that
He saved His people from their sin. You can't say His name without
His teaching. Sometimes men discount the importance
of doctrine and speak only in terms of personal relationship
or experiential salvation or even traditional salvation like
christening. Such ideas permeate the religion of this day and
lead men to discounting justification and majoring on what they call
sanctification, what they call sanctification. What they mean
by that, by sanctification, is life enhancement, self-help,
an increase in personal merit, progressive sanctification they
call it, all of which can be attained without anything more
than a cursory mention of doctrine. People can talk about being better,
doing better, and being gooder to people all they want to, and
never talk about the doctrine of Christ. But you, the simple
thing is, you will not have Christ without his doctrine. And you
will not have doctrine without Christ. These two are flip sides
of the exact same coin. His doctrine is the gospel, and
the gospel is unknown without him. His spirit teaches us through
the preaching of the gospel, and Paul spoke to Timothy and
Titus, the young preachers, as they were preparing for the ministry.
Nineteen times in those three books he mentioned sound doctrine,
sound teaching, and sound words. John tells us to abide in what
we have heard from the beginning. That's what he says. What we
have heard from the beginning. What did we hear from the beginning?
Well, he's talking about the beginning of your salvation as far as you
understood it happening. What happened in the beginning?
Somebody stood up on his hind legs and told you the truth about
Jesus Christ. And wonder of wonders, that person
was nothing. He couldn't do anything for you.
He couldn't make you believe. He couldn't stir you in your
heart. He just said words. Over and over again, he's repeating
and rehearsing the same words over and over again. And wonder
of wonders, God took that which was spoken, those words, and
like a guided missile, put them in the target of your soul and
heart. And all of a sudden, in a wonder of wonders, you who
were an unbeliever all your life to that point, to that nanosecond,
suddenly you believed. If the gospel that which you
have heard abides in you, it says, and you abide in it, you
will continue in the Son and the Father. You're not going
to give up God. God will persevere you and preserve
you. You will persevere. And it says,
in opposition to those who profess to believe but have departed
and prove themselves antichrist. Back in verses 18 and 19 it says, It is the last time. I know people
like to talk about the last days. Well, this was written about,
I think, 1870, 1880, which is about 40 to 50 years after our
war went to glory. And he's calling it the last
days. You know when the last days started? When Jesus Christ
went to glory. It's been the last days ever
since. The last time you've heard that Antichrist shall come, even
now, there are many Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the
last time. They went out from us, he said,
but they were not of us. Well, if they'd been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that
they might be manifest, that they were not of us at all. How
do we know that we continue in the Father and the Son? Do we
look for evidence in our works, our prayers, our studies, our
feelings, or some unassumed personal merit? No. That's in the Christ.
And to our Christ. If that which we have heard from
the beginning remains in us, we continue with the Son and
with the Father. And what you heard from the beginning
was the gospel. The gospel. Remove abiding in
the gospel, the doctrine, from this equation, and there is no
salvation. None whatsoever. But leaving
the gospel, what is that? That's walking in the light. Jesus Christ is the light of
the world. He said that several times in this very book of John,
in the very beginning, the first chapter. John the Baptist said,
He's that light. He's that light. In Genesis chapter
1, when the Lord said, let there be light, it was talking about
Jesus Christ. Sun, moon, and stars came four
days later. That was natural light. He was talking about spiritual
light. And that was in comparison to the fact that Adam had fallen,
which is presented by the world being without form and void. Well, how does that stop? Well,
the Spirit moves upon the waters and upon the deep. Now, what
does the Spirit do? He takes the things of Christ and shows
them unto you. The Spirit moves and God said, let there be light,
truth. Understand that. Walking in the
light is walking in Jesus Christ. Now, I know religion is going
to tell you a thousand ways to do that. There's one way to do
that. Just one. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe the gospel. That's how you walk in the light.
Now people have all kinds of religious ideas of what you're
supposed to look like, what you're supposed to smell like, what
you're supposed to read, what you're supposed not to read,
what you do in the world, and all that stuff. They got all
out of this. But every believer knows this. There's nothing about
him. Nothing about him that differentiates
him from any other person on the top side of this world. Nothing! Go to the Trinidad was that they
put them in prison down in Nicaragua. You're one of them. It's only
by the restraint of God that you're not. Go to the drug addicts and the
pedophiles and the whores on 42nd Street. Go there. You're
one of them. There's no difference in you. And people look at you
and say, well, you don't act like a Christian. Well, I was
a Christian, man. What does it say in this book
that you act like something? We're not actors. What makes you different? God
chose you to salvage you. And you walk in this world, in
the midst of the mess that it's in, believing the gospel. And that's the difference. Who
maketh thee to differ? And what hast thou that thou
hast not received? And why do you boast as if you've not received? and nobody else does. That distinguishes you. You believe
the doctrine of God. Walking in the light and having
fellowship with the Father and the Son, this is eternal life.
Believing the gospel is knowing God. It's knowing God. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son, and whosoever believeth in him shall
not perish, but have everlasting life. The Lord said to some people
who didn't believe him, though they were very, very religious,
and they knew the Bible from A to Zizek. The Bible then was
only Genesis to Malachi. But they said, we don't believe
you, the Christ. We don't believe you, the Christ. He said, well,
that's because you're not my sheep. You're my sheep. You're
my horse, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life,
and they shall never, ever perish. over here in 1 John chapter 5,
verse 9-12 says, We received the witness of men. The witness
of God is greater, but this is the witness of God in which He
has testified of His Son. He that believeth on the Son
hath the witness in himself. What is that witness? He that
believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth
not the record that God hath given us of His Son. And this
is the record. You wonder what the record is
that God has given us of His Son? Here it is. He that hath
the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. This is the record. How simple,
how plain that truth is. Verse 20 of the same chapter,
it says, And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath
given us an understanding, that's that unction, that we may know
Him, that's the reason for the unction, that we may know Him,
that is true, and know that we are in Him, that is true. This
is the true God. And this is eternal life. Back
in our text, in verse 27, John is reiterating the fact that
the believer knows all things. Verse 27 says, But the anointing
which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not
that any man teach you. As the same anointing teaches
you in all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it
hath taught you, ye shall abide. And so the job of the preacher
is that he is the one representing what is on the record. He just
tells it out. The spirit is the truth because
he is the spirit of Christ. He is the God of truth. The word
of truth is his. He is the truth and he is the
spirit of truth. And he has taught you, and if
he has taught you, this happens. You abide in him. You abide in
him. Again, there's no separation
between knowing Christ and knowing doctrine. It's the truth that
resides in you, and the truth is Him. He's out of the way,
the truth and the light. The admonition then is simple.
Abide in Him. That's what it says in verse
28. Now, little children, abide in
Him. You don't need to look to yourself
or something other than Him. Abide in Him, so that when He
appears, you'll have confidence in Him. When preachers talk about Him
appearing today, they talk about, oh man, that's scary business.
I remember when I was a missionary, they had this picture of the
rapture. Planes coming out of the air.
Disappearing from their cars. Oh my. Awful. Awful. People scared to death.
Going to hell. That's all they talk about. Going to hell. If
you wasn't in that rapture. Using that plane as a crash landing.
You going to hell. Having people raptured out of
that plane. Oh, it was scary business. It was scary business. This says, In fact, you'll be looking for
him according to scripture. It'll be a surprise to everybody
else, but it won't be a surprise to the people of God until 1
Thessalonians chapter 5. It says you'll be seeing him. You'll
see him. You'll be ready for him. You'll be ready for him. The Day of Judgment. Do you fear
that? People would like to. Preachers tell believers. I've
heard preachers say, I'm going to come away from here smelling
like sulfur. Like, the judgment's really gonna
hurt me. The judgment can't hurt a believer. He stands, he's not
even part of the judgment for which the world of evil men is
judged. That's two different sets of books. According to Revelation
20, the whole wicked world is judged out of a set of books
to judge for their sin. But not the children of God.
They're bookended in the book of judgment. It's an attendance record. It's
a roll call. It's the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And they open that book and all
they do is call out the names. And there ain't no judgment involved.
Why? Because 2,000 years ago in Calvary
Street, all my judgment, all the judgment that was due me
was taken care of. Jesus Christ was judged for my
sins. Paul said that he called heaven
and earth to it, and hell to it. Who is he that can do it? Who? It is Christ that died,
yea rather is risen again. That's one of the most powerful
statements of particular redemption there is in all of Scripture.
If Christ died for everybody, everybody can say that. And everybody
can't say that. The elect again, who should lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who is he that could deal it?
It is Christ that died. There is therefore now no condemnation
to him that are in Christ. No condemnation. Admonition is simple. Abide in
him. Assurance and confidence is present
when the believer is looking to Christ alone. I become unsure
when I look away from him and so do you. That's why we meet
here on Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon, and Wednesday night.
Here at one time because we go out into the world and don't
give a hoot about what we believe. who don't believe what we believe,
who could care less whether we live or die, who don't love us,
we go out in that world and three times a week we come back in
here. Tell us one more time, Breacher, what's this thing?
What's this confidence? What's this peace of mind? Where
does it come from? It comes from knowing Lord Jesus
Christ, in chapter 4 and verse 17. It says, Herein is our love
made perfect, our love made perfect in us, that we may have not only
confidence, but boldness in the day of judgment, because we're
just like Jesus Christ before God, because He is now, so are
we, now in the world. I'm not like Christ, but God
you are. And He's the one that matters.
He says in 1 John chapter 3, my people don't sin. My people
don't. He that hath the Spirit sinneth
not. My people don't sin. Father, I know I sin. Father,
I know I sin. I don't see it. I'm sorry. Because
I'm looking at you in Jesus Christ. And as He is, so are you right
now in this world. Exhausted, glorified, sitting
at the right hand of the Father. waiting to that day when you,
with Jesus Christ, come back to this world and judge it, and
judge the world. If you're looking elsewhere,
when He comes, Himself, signs, wonders, you'd be ashamed because
His coming would be a surprise, but people won't be surprised. Finally, John ends this chapter
with a statement Verse 29, if we know that He
is righteous, we know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born
of Him. Doing righteousness does not
refer to personal works or merit, but rather to the same doing
of the will of God found in chapter 2 and verse 17. Anything could be called righteousness.
It'd be that. It'd be that. A believer does
righteousness as he believes the gospel. Because the gospel
is where the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to
faith. And Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to end of belief. Abide in the doctrine of Christ. Abide there. Live there. Set
your affection on things above and all the things below. Where
Christ is. Where Christ who is our life
is. Look to Him. I can tell you from
experience upon experience, I've been doing this for an hour and
a half or a century now. The only time I have peace, the
only time I have joy, the only time I have hope and confidence
is when I look to Him. And when I look at Him, I have
the truth. And it sets me free. Free from
all that mess. And for in those blessed few
moments a week, I'm at peace. And I know that
whatever happens out there, happens because my Heavenly Father has
ordained it.