Pastors' Panel Podcast- How can I know I'm saved?

Good evening and welcome to the pastors panel podcast. I'm so thankful that you're joining us tonight.

Thank you for watching the video We would love for you to to share to like the comments to ask questions

We would love to fellowship with you to join with you partner with you in reaching our community through this medium

We're so appreciative of your support. I've got a great group tonight, and I'm excited. I've got brother

Claude brother, Dan Brother John and and brother Roger with me tonight, and they're going to help us tackle this important question that scripture calls us to which is examining ourselves to see if we're in the faith and I Think even without that command we often

Have those questions in ourselves sometimes many Christians do so I think this will be a great topic and this is going to come on the tail end of our

Look at the doctrines of grace. We looked at the sovereignty of God total depravity

Unconditional election limited atonement irresistible grace perseverance of the Saints and we looked at the sufficiency of scripture and I wanted to tag this one on because when we when we look at the perseverance of the

Saints that question of Salvation comes up who's in charge of salvation.

How does that work? Are we secure in our salvation? All those questions come up and then once you start to ask yourself those questions

We wanted to find in scripture where we can answer those questions and in John the

Apostle John Is so kind to us God working through him and writing his his gospel and his epistle of the books of the

Bible that he writes He is so kind to us in how he he presents his message especially for people like me who are

Aren't the best learners John is probably one of my favorite authors in scripture because he so clearly tells us why he writes his books

If you look at his gospel in John chapter 20 verse 31 He must have had me in mind when he when he wrote these verses he says in his gospel in chapter 20 verse 31

He says but these things I have written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ The Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name

And so he tells us right there why he's writing the book and what we need to be looking for as we

Read his gospel read his letter and he does the same thing in first John so in the gospel, it's it's so that people will believe and then

He doesn't just give us one reason he actually gives us three reasons in first John why he writes the book

So the first one I like to point out is first John chapter 5 verse 13 He says these things

I have written to you who believe so you're moving from the gospel reason He's writing so that you believe now to those of you who say you believe

In the name of the Son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life

He's writing these things so what an encouragement to have this security and this

I Think many like to call it a test that that John gives us in his first epistle there

But there's two other reasons that he gives in first John why he writes the book First John 1 4 and these things we write so that our joy may be made complete

And then first John chapter 2 verse 1 My little children how how compassionate is our apostle

I'm writing these things That you may not see What a what a hard Topic to address and he does it in such a compassionate way.

So We have we have a compassionate apostle we have a compassionate God and I'm thankful for how he wrote these books because it helps me when

I'm trying to learn what he's trying to say So, why do we need to test ourselves as we look to these verses well, it's commanded and then so that So we may know we have eternal life.

We can have security and we can we can move forward past that You know if you if you live in that It's difficult to move on and grow in sanctification

If you are, you know living in that doubt living in that insecurity, so we want to move past that we want to have some assurance and and John wants our joy to be made complete and we want to We want to end sin we want to stop sinning

I would I believe that would be the goal But in every Christian that the Holy Spirit is working in us.

We just want to be done with sin We want to be finished with it And as I said earlier this test is so kindly given to us in in first John And there's one thing that I wanted to point out as we go through this test

I wanted the test to kind of be the bulk of what we talked about here and Let our brothers here explain the text and and why we can have assurance and what we need to look for in our lives in our hearts

But as we go through these verses and that they explain the text, it's it's from my understanding that These verses and the and and the words that we're going to be looking at are written

If we're gonna be talking about grammar in in the present subjective Subjective, so they are they are things that have a starting point and they they're continuing

There's a continuation to them. And so it's things that we want to look for in our lives that that started and Are continuing

But we also want to be encouraging that we're all not going to have these signs all at the same level or the same degree and For me personally,

I'm not going to have all these different signs at the same level or the same degree there there's

Ten or more signs that first John gives us and I'm not going to have all of those equally.

I may have one more than the other more than the others so I would encourage you not to be discouraged if You see one more in someone else than you've seen yourself

Or you see yourself more in one than you see in someone else What we're looking for is evidence of the

Holy Spirit Working these things in your life to some degree where you can see

That it started and he's continuing to work on these things we want to look for evidence of these things in our lives

And then he also gives us I've been

I've been using the word negative The negative column or To answer the question no, no, you're not born again.

Yes, you are born again or no, you're not born again. So he gives us He phrases the the test in such a way that we can say if you have this then no, you're not born again and When I think about those verses

I go back to verses like James chapter 2 verse 10 where it says if you've kept the whole law and yet stumbled at one point

You're guilty of them all and so You know to a degree if you're if you're in that column

We we want you to be aware and that's what this test is all about to be aware of your standing before the

Lord and And the work that he's done or not done in your life And we want all we want all of you to come to a saving faith

Saving knowledge of Jesus Christ want to be born again want to be brothers and sisters

So with that out of the way, let's jump into the text and we're going to look at the the affirmative column first and Each of our brothers here are going to look at a an individual verse or verses

And give us the context tell us what the verse is saying and what we should look for in our lives

To see if God is at work in our lives. So our first verse is chapter 1 verse 7 that goes to Claude All right, so first John chapter 1 verse 7

John states, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light We have fellowship with one another in the blood of Jesus Christ.

His son cleanses us from all sin so the the large context of the epistle is that John is

Addressing the issue of those who say that they are quote unquote of us meaning of the

Christian faith We're not necessarily of us and he gives these is

Robert Explained there. He gives us these assurances assurances or denials

Affirmatives and negatives like Rob said if we walk in the light if we walk in the light that is a conditional

It is both. What was the word you used? It was a big Yes, so what was that subjunctive?

Yeah conjunctive conditional that's hard to say I'm gonna

I'm gonna give myself a bowl of ice cream after we're done saying that So it is it is conditional or contingent not upon necessarily an action stemming from Ourselves because salvation doesn't come from ourselves but it comes from the

Lord if you walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another as an example or as a consequence of if we walk in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ or The blood of Jesus Christ having cleansed us from all sin.

All right, then chapter 1 verse 8 And this comes right on the heels of what

Claude was just talking about and you talk about if you're in the light You walk in the light as he is in the light, you know fellowship with Christ now in the next verse

It says if we say we have no sin you deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us

So If you think about it, it's kind of one side and then the other side

If you walk in the light if you trust in the Lord if you're going If you're going toward towards the

Lord you have fellowship with him Because the blood of Jesus cleanses you from your unrighteousness because you have trusted in Christ now if you say

I don't have any sin Then what business do you have with Jesus because he's the one who takes away sin

It's kind of like what Jesus said when he was he was on earth He came and he talked to the Jews and he was saying to them.

I don't I don't come I come to heal the sick I don't people who don't aren't sick don't need a physician

It's sort of the same idea there. So what he's saying is if you claim that you have no sin You're wrong and so if you say that You need to repent of that because you are in fact a sinner.

So you need Christ This may have been better for the negative column, but either way

You can it worked really well with claws. It's kind of like one way other way so basically

And say I'm good, I don't have sin then you're saying I don't need

Christ I don't need forgiveness And if you say you don't need if you don't place your trust and faith in him

Then you are lost and you won't have forgiveness So it's really a kind of scary place to be if you're going through your life and say well

I can't really pick out any sin. You better just sit there and wait and God will show you something You know in his time, of course, but it'll point you to Christ and his his forgiveness on the cross

Thank you, Dan. All right, Roger Chapter 2 verse 3 I'm gonna drop back to verse 2 and read that part first for a little bit of context and then 3

Verse 2 states he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world verse 3 by By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments that last part right there really says it all

Let me read read to you something out of my commentary. I got here. This is a John McCarthur stuff

No, keep the repetition of these words emphasizes that those generally born again display the habit of obedience

That's one part that's key obedience results in the assurance of salvation That these two words are among John's favorites is clear

He uses no approximately 40 times and keep approximately 10 times in this epistle

From Some research I did today First John wrote this letter because he had some people false teachers pop up in his church

Some of them were known to be Gnostics and They were messing up the deity of Christ.

They were messing up salvation and they were even Denying the full severity of sin and It looks to me like John's formulated all this and saying all this

To reaffirm who Jesus was what real salvation was and this is how to know you're saved

But as I read the end of that verse right there, it's that old cliche We say my church often you'll know somebody's saved by the fruits.

They bear fruit of the Spirit I'm somebody walking Spiritually minded instead of carnally minded.

They're gonna bear that fruit It may not be a straight uphill, you know slope all the time on the bar graph foot or on the graph

But they're gonna bear fruit. All right, brother

Jonathan All right chapter 2 verse 10 Good deal.

I love this book of the Bible. This is one of my favorite books to walk through with people

It's it's the to know book. It's the measuring stick It's what I tell people a lot of times and and so so I'm really excited that that we're doing this.

So I want to put 9 and 10 together. They really like go hand in hand

So first John 2 9 says he who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now

He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause For stumbling and so you've got this this concept that hate and darkness love and light and that that is contrasting each other and so Again, I want to make sure that that we're recognizing

We're not talking about the means of salvation, but we're talking about the fruit of salvation And so so here

John is just saying something really simple and it unpacks on all throughout first John It is impossible for someone who's a follower of Christ to hate his brother.

It's impossible Christians do not hate people now. We disagree we dislike

Those kind of stuff, but anybody that says hey, I hate and especially up or up another

Christian He says I hate him Then that's a big red flag that we need to go back and work out our own salvation with fear and tremor

Because it's very clear here that it's a and if you ever said in a Baptist business meeting You got a lot of red flags, by the way guys

But That is in the light And he that says is in the light hates his brother.

He's in darkness until now. So in other words, he's lost That's the hate is an evidence of lostness But verse 10 is the main text that that I'm dealing with he who loves his brother abides in the light and There is no cause for stumbling and so notice the change there in verse 9 it says he is versus he abides and and that's really the

Concept in the Greek of that verse 10 is that there's this abiding There's this present tense that we're abiding with Jesus and the evidence that we're abiding with Jesus is we're gonna love our brothers

We're gonna love one another Jesus's command is love one another just as I loved you

And again, it doesn't mean we don't have disagreements that we don't have doctrinal discussions and all those kind of things but at the end of the day

We deeply love one another because Christ first loved us in the second part of that That that was very interesting to me a long time ago

I preached this passage and it takes a little bit to unpack this but there's no cause for stumbling or that he will not stumble and And really and truthfully what it's talking about is how the light when you walk in the light

You're gonna love your brother and then there's nothing that's going to entangle your feet That that Christ the

Word of God thy word is a lamp. It's in my feet Christ is the light that goes before us and it's going to keep you from getting ensnared and and there's a lot of commentators like debate over this that That okay

You're not it means you're not going to become a stumbling block in the context of having a brother or you yourself are not going

To trip over things It's really both ends It just means you're not going to be a person that becomes an entangler

That that you're not going to be a person that becomes an offender The gospel in of itself is offensive enough, but you're going to be a person that that loves people well and so so the evidence of our

Christianity and that we're a follower of Jesus is our love and When we love one another we're walking in the light abiding in the light.

All right, brother Claude chapter 2 verse 23 All right, chapter 2 verse 23

Whoever denies the son does not have the father either

He who acknowledges the son has the father also Is is yeah, yeah be yeah 23 be 23 be oh

I didn't distinguish that so that's my apology. I thought no, sorry So so B would be the last statement right he who acknowledges the son has the father also

Amen Because Jesus said if you have seen me you have seen the father

And if you deny me you're denying the father. All right, then

Chapter 2 verse 29. Sorry. I was writing something had to get down Chapter 2 verse 29

Um Says if you know that he is righteous

You may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness Has been born of him

He kind of what he does is he sets up as a standard for what is righteousness what is good what is is right as Jesus His holiness is perfection is what is right?

It's what is righteousness to say if you recognize that standard You can be sure that everyone who actually practice as a lifestyle

But looks towards that righteousness of Christ as being the standard for their own That those are born again now flip side

If righteousness is not your practice What he's saying there is not necessarily that you've lost your salvation or thrown it away or that you never had it

It's kind of saying You need to take stock of what you are and who you're doing What you're doing because you're not acting as one

Who has been born again? Now at any point in time

Any one of us could go and read that and say oh snap. I am not doing well

You run and repent and that's I believe why this is here It's to say there is a righteous standard that righteous standard is the holiness of God That is where the thrust of my life needs to be going when

I look over the long term I need to be one that practices Righteousness as God has defined it and if I find myself either in an instance or for a time not doing that I need to recognize

I'm acting like a pagan like a heathen and I'm acting like one who has not been born of God so I need to go back to Christ repent of my sin turn to him and Find the forgiveness that is always there waiting for us

That goes for believer and unbeliever alike that if we find ourselves in that situation If we find ourselves not being as one who's born again, we need to turn to Christ and there will find forgiveness for our sins

Amen, can I can I interject something here to Rob real quick? I think What everybody is saying here is so important because it's pointing to evidence we we can have assurance of salvation because of the evidence the

Evidence of the new birth and in I'm gonna say this

Lordship salvation is what we're talking about here because through the years there has been controversies and arguments amongst the church of Lordship salvation versus no lordship salvation and no lordship salvation is not salvation the the

Puritans actually Understood this I'll say this I'm reading from an article here

This is because the Puritans understood what many evangelicals ignore today That many who profess

Christ have no real evidence of true faith in Christ what we're looking at here in first John is evidence of biblical evidences and demonstrations of salvation

So that's very very important Absolutely, and what you're saying is speaking to the character and nature of God yes as I was talking about earlier

Just as the Apostle here is compassionate. He's reflecting his God who was compassionate and And our

God is so compassionate that he gives evidence and we can go all the way back to Genesis How do we how do we know that there's a

God he gives us evidence that the heavens speak of his glory How do we know that how can we know that we're saved?

Because he gives us evidence We see evidence of his work and so that we can have confidence in him

Our joy can be made complete because he is so gracious to give us evidence Our God is so kind To do that for us when when we don't deserve it and he didn't have to Wow All right,

Roger. You ready? Three two, right chapter three verse two. Yep All right first verse two reads

Beloved we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears

We shall be like him because we shall see him as he is

Jesus is who we're talking about there, but that first part beloved we are God's children now

We're talking about somebody that's come to genuine saving face somebody that's been born again Justified whatever terminology you want to use there

Somebody's had a true conversion But we know But we know that when he appears we shall be like him and we're talking about Christ coming back

Because we see him as he is To an extent this ties to a little bit of stuff

I was doing on Romans for a Bible lesson last night But that's a whole nother.

I don't want to go down that rabbit hole I I think this ties Directly the second part of this person to the sanctification process that will go on until we're called home

Then eventually, of course, we're going to be glorified But beloved we are

God's children now That's to say and what we we will be has not yet appeared

It's gonna appear when we're called home where the Lord comes back first, whichever happens first But we know that when he appears

Jesus we will be like him because we shall see him as he is We'll be heirs with him adopted in Anyway, that's all

I got for my exegesis on that one. I can't read you what Johnny Mack wrote if you want me Well, you're welcome to do it.

Um, and I've heard people talk about this verse Speaking of people who look forward to that and that's kind of that's kind of how you were speaking of looking forward to that time of glorification

Looking forward to that time of of seeing him face -to -face and being in his presence and and being done with with this sin

The simple world being done with our simple selves And in a second part of that verse right there

Um Who we're going to be but we don't know yet. We're supposed to be walking in the spirit until that happens

Let me read you this right quick. Um One who exercises genuine saving faith becomes a child of God that's the first part at the moment of belief

Though the truly heavenly divine life in that person Will not be revealed until Jesus appears in the meantime.

The holy spirit is working into us the image of christ Uh to me that spells out sanctification this phrase introduces poor feature that believer believers hope

When christ returns he shall conform every believer to his image his nature

Attention exists between the first part of the verse Um now we are children in the latter part.

We shall be like him All right, john.

Um chapter 3 verse 7 Good Little children let no one deceive you he who practices righteousness is righteous just as he is

Righteous and so dan already kind of covered that to a degree. Um, but it's going right back to What called was saying it's a practice of righteousness is the evidence that you are righteous and so So it's the imputation the imputed righteousness of christ that we have and so not to make any confusion

Uh, it's not because we do righteousness that we become righteous Because you are made righteous through the imputed righteousness of christ

And now it's just normal for righteousness to come out. That's right that's uh, that that is the context and and Just to affirm what you've already heard.

I always say it this way guys It would be absolutely impossible for god to inhabit a human

And god not begin to come out Amen, does that make sense? I mean you think about that the one who spoke and the sun shines and the stars are hung and the earth creation the waters parted and he just spoke and now he

That power that rose christ from the dead that power that created there now lives inside of us.

Yeah, it's absolutely impossible for the light to not dispel the dark

And and And righteousness just come out of us. It's impossible to happen. So therefore if righteousness is not coming out then you're not

Made righteous the one that is righteous is not living within us And so so it really is the whole book of first john gives these things that are positives

But I usually I usually give the other adjective too that they are absolutely definitives John john is saying this is definitive for this is not negotiable

This is not tighten your belt and work harder This is an apple tree produces apples.

This is an orange tree produces oranges a righteous person righteous in christ produces righteousness

Nail on my head brother nail on my head right there. That's the truth Well jonathan while we're on you if you don't mind

Let us know what imputation means So it's the it's it's the sovereign deposit of righteousness

Into your life not earned um not bought by self

But it is the work of grace where god We have believed on christ by believing it pleased god and as it pleased god he says righteous, you know, so the the simple phrase that That we have in the bible is that abraham believed god and god attributed it to him as righteousness like so in other words

In the simplicity of our faith that we believe As crazy as it sounds We believe that the cross of jesus and the power of the resurrection was absolutely enough when he said it is finished

It's not it is finished plus my works It is finished plus my good behavior like it is finished to the it is finished to the nth millionth degree.

It is finished Everything that is needed is sufficient in the cross and the power of the resurrection for my salvation and I believe that and god looks at us and says

Now you're righteous. I mean, it's not something that I earned. I just simply my faith is there and now

Apart from works. I am imputed with I am given the righteousness of christ. It pleases god to do that And he changes us

I will be the first to say guys uh in in my finite mind

It is a tremendous mystery. It is a work of god that I don't think we have words that perfectly can capture

The miraculous work of regeneration of the change of a heart that changed the mind eyes to see ears to hear the gift of faith

Uh, but somewhere there by the powerful work of god We believe that and then he says

Now you're righteous and it's it is a gift of the lord apart from works. And then when that gift

Is imputed into our life of righteousness when it is given it is imparted unto us deposited into us

Now we're a new creation the old has gone that has come but all things may new and then I will from that righteousness that is given produce righteousness

Amen I hope that makes sense. Absolutely. Absolutely I just want to make sure that you know, those who may be watching who are not from here with some of these words that Um, we give an explanation

Yes Chapter 3 verse 14.

I believe that's you. No, no number nine Number nine number nine chapter 3 verse 9.

Whoever has been born of god does not sin For his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he has been born of god

By the way, thanks for giving me that one that is one of the most hotly debated and highly questioned uh passages of scripture

So it's not saying it's not teaching sinless perfection. Let me start there the the doctrine of sinless perfection is

I will say it a heresy We as long as we are in this flesh will battle with sin the sin or the sin in us

Will fight with the spirit by the way Hallelujah, that's even an evidence of salvation that we fight against sin

We don't submit willingly to it, but we constantly war and fight against sin but what this is saying that as a practice as a regular practice, um,

I think a few weeks ago dan gave a perfect example Dan, make sure i'm attributing if if you like this take this and say yes,

I said that if you don't like it Just say no that wasn't me, but I think it was you a couple weeks ago on the pastor's panel.

Yeah, you talked about You know the difference between basically, uh, a snapshot in a video, right?

There are times where if If any of you men zoomed in on my life for just that moment

You would say holy crap that guy is a piece of garbage And guess what?

You would be absolutely right but If you watch so see rob's rob admitted it claude's a piece of garbage

But but in the the the big picture the the full -length motion picture of our lives from the moment of in time as we know salvation to be

We see a continuing pattern of Holiness and righteousness not that we become sin less but that we do sin less

In on intention for intentional reasons because the holy spirit in us is sanctifying us and making us like christ

So what that's saying is long long story long run

Big picture long game. We don't practice sin Intentionally and willfully so to speak but that we

Seek to honor and glorify god by living lives of holiness Yeah It goes back to the grammar.

Go ahead. Go ahead. Could I inject one quick thing, too? I love the cross reference this one with colossians 3 and and and And where our lives are hidden in christ.

Yes, and and without without going too deep into this I really think here too.

You you could insert the importance of the doctrine of the trinity and because You do have god the father

For those that are in christ who no longer sees our sin, but he only sees christ So you have the father

And you have the son who is at the right hand of the father ever interceding for us. So in the eyes of the father

We are forever Without sin we cannot sin in the eyes of the father because it's already all been paid for our our sin has been nailed to the cross

Blotted out of the way with its legal demands And so I think too there is uh, it's definitely in the lower story

The flesh living out holiness and and righteousness and we will not it is impossible to continue in sin

But I think there's also an upper story message in that That our lives are hidden in christ and and later in chapter three

He deals with that that even if our own heart condemns us even if we're feeling Condemned we feel worthless god is greater than even our own heart.

He's greater And so the gospel is greater than our feelings greater than than our sin.

I mean, he's greater than all of that. So um, so it's it's working that out with a with a heavenly understanding

Of the gospel and and the goodness of that so so it's a parallel it's exactly what you said is exactly right claud

I just want to add to it too because it's one of the places I like to look in places where the bible gives us glimpses

Into the upper story of where god exists and and this is one of those passages that's why it's so heavenly debated because it's a

I think there's that upper story glimpse of a life hidden in christ. Yes and so so We can say we're poor wretched sinners

Well, no, you're not in ephesians chapter 2. We're already seated in heavenly places with him We're children and sons of god.

So Thank you in christianity We need to be keenly aware of our capability of sin or even our failures and sin

Yeah in the flesh and thank god for the holy spirit Amen, that does see our sin that convicts us of sin and then the evidence is we're going to want to match up with what the father sees

We want we want the holy spirit to see in this flesh we want those things to line up and so Uh, so it's it's a deeper subject.

I know but um something important to parallel there Amen, and if I was watching this that would be part of the this video that I would want to rewind and and watch again because that story right there was a

Beautiful picture the lower level and upper level explanation That that we just heard and what and what claude was telling us was just a beautiful picture of knowledge and truth to bask in Um who god is and what he's done for us

That was just an amazing beautiful picture that you painted guys and I really appreciate it and what

I was going to say was just you know Just tagging on and similar to what you guys were saying going back to the lower level it goes back to talking about the grammar the the present subjective that We will not sin.

It will not be our lifestyle. We will not have a lifestyle of sin anymore That that habitual lifestyle continuing

The the picture versus the the video that you were talking about So thank thank you guys for that.

That was beautiful Can I have one thing robert? Absolutely. Yeah We this is a discussion we had in a men's discipleship group that i'm part of A few weeks ago, not too long ago

Um, not same subject not the same verse but the same subject And um all of us in that group.

We noted that um Occasionally, you know, we do have a day where we blow it we mess up whatever fall the temptation.

However, you want to word it but since Our conversion since we've been born again, it's different than we were when we were just in the flesh

Because the holy spirit's dwelling in you Um, it just eats your lunch when you blow it and you know, it did afterwards, you know i'm saying it it

It uh, it convicts you and convicts you hard. It's not like it was before and Usually you can't rest.

You've got to get up and do whatever it takes to make this thing, right? Um, you you can tell that the spirit's dwelling in you

Even if you you know had a fall now Here's a temptation that I think many of us

Struggle with and I know that I struggle with it and whoever wants to dive in and answer this question

Go right ahead. So based on what you guys just said I'm convicted of my sin

And I want to do something about it now. Now, how do I balance? That the understanding the truth that we just learned and talked about that that when when god sees jesus

He sees perfect righteousness and and i'm in him and that's what god sees versus Uh -oh,

I blew it i've got to do something to Make up for it.

You see I'm sure you guys have heard that struggle or you struggle with it yourself How would you how would you encourage somebody who's who's in that battle against sin?

um to not fall into the ditch of You know trying to earn god's favor or work

Work back into his favor as opposed to seeing their selves in christ who wants to tackle that Since I brought it up i'll i'll start and anybody else can dive in romans 8 -1.

It's just like the starter point of that But therefore there is no condemnation for them that are in christ And I think

I think one of the the greatest faults in christianity today is not empowering believers

To know they are absolutely forgiven of sin and empowered by the holy spirit over sin

But that's the thing there that is that is that is romans the whole chapter of romans 8 and in romans 6

Do I continue in sin that grace could abound? I mean How could you know the power of god lives in you?

So so there's obviously failure and typically what I want with people in that is

I I I personally believe there's two definitions Of repentance when it comes or two applications rather of repentance, okay repentance of sin um is a product but repentance is a part of Salvation, so you've got repentance that stands alone, which is a literally a changing of your mind

I've changed my mind that I no longer can earn my salvation, but it's only through christ alone So my my mind is changed and in the product of that is a repentance of sin

We are transformed from glory unto glory um, so so again I've often wondered why is there a trinity?

why do we believe in the doctrine of the trinity of god the father god the son and god the holy spirit and it is It is a great mystery, but this is how god has chosen to reveal himself that there's a father

That that we are completely righteous and holy in his sons in his eyes through The son of jesus christ who is ever interceding for us at the right hand.

There's no way That the father can ever see our sin unless the son Is removed now if the son is ever removed then the father sees our sin and now we're back under condemnation

But as long as jesus is seated at the right hand of the father ever interceding for us Which will never change praise the lord that we are secure.

We are absolutely secure in our salvation But there there is god the spirit who is in the world convicting the world of sin

And he is sanctifying us and transforming us more and more and more into the image of christ

And so it's not that i'm a sinner as much as that i'm becoming more like jesus in my everyday life

And so I think sometimes in the repentance of sin part It does become a relational aspect with us with the holy spirit if sometimes just to say i'm sorry

Um, I really blew this if I offend one of you brothers Uh, I grieve you um

And and and I do something grievous against you that the very first thing I should do is come to you

And want to repair that relationship repair that and say say brother. I am I am very very sorry

And and that is the repentance of sin. It is a recognition of Of that and being sorrowful even though I personally believe according to scripture.

We're already forgiven of that sin But it doesn't mean we should not grieve over that or say i'm sorry or be broken over that It's not a permission to continue in sin without consequence um god the spirit

Still chooses to discipline those whom he loves he spanks us. He he he corrects us that is there evidence that where he is um, so So I don't

I don't want to pretend to understand how that works. But but there's a tension there that there is no condemnation

But then also We are still leading people to say i'm sorry. I am really really sorry.

I I I I stumbled I stumped my toe I was not bearing the image of christ in this and i'm sorry lord.

I am sorry. Holy spirit. I'm sorry jesus, you know I am sorry That today

I was not Living up to what i've already been given and I pray by your power That that I won't continue in this and that and I think that's the whole context of what we're dealing with here um, it's the relational working out that salvation not working for right working out the the absolute certainty of our salvation

That it becomes manifested in these mortal bodies And and that's that's what we're grappling with and for any child of god.

We deeply desire that we deeply desire that So that goes back to what roger was saying just a second ago

Absolutely, if we fail we fall and we do something that is that is not in line with who jesus is

Thank god for the holy spirit. Thank god for the spirit that that convicts us and Says, hey, this this ain't me that that's you that's flesh.

That's that's You're trying to resurrect the old man that's supposed to be dead and gone and you have new life and he's reminding us now to walk in that new life and And so so again, it's never permission to sin

But i'm afraid that christians really don't know our identity And that's what we're talking about.

We have an identity in christ and it's really hard for us in faith to receive

What paul wrote that the old is gone? The new has come we hold all things are made new

If i'm really made new then why am I still struggling with the stuff? The same struggles that i've had all my life, you know, why am

I still battling with the lust of the flesh or Or or greed of money or the love of money or why why do

I why do I still have a propensity? And so so that means i'm not glorified yet So that's the way

I try to teach it So there is really there really is christian liberty and to know our identity in christ and and to know we're not bound

Uh in an old fleshly identity, but we still be on guard very much aware

And then be very quick to say man. I am so sorry, man. I'm, sorry, uh in in from an authentic place

So I would and I would if I can jump on this train that pastor jonathan's

Preaching on right here because that's the it's the truth what he said And we need we need to be um as christians,

I would say this too that we need to be realistic Repenters, right?

We need to recognize what? Who we are we we constantly recognize what god has done.

This is something that's You know that you generally only hear preached in an evangelistic salvation type message, but it is a sanctifying message

The message of the gospel is not only salvific, but it is sanctifying and so it sets us up to where we

Have a realistic expectation and a realistic understanding that we continually

Remember and I know this is alliteration but This is one of the few days where I can actually have thoughts that are coherent.

But But we have a realization of of who we are and whose we are jonathan talked about imputation earlier, right?

and and it's important for us to realize as christians that even the

Righteousness and the holiness of god that is imputed to us If we'll just keep in mind and i'm going to speak personal here that I have to keep reminding myself

I can't I can't lose something that I don't Control, I don't control my salvation.

The lord controls my salvation And the lord is faithful and the lord is true and the lord is steadfast and the lord is unfailing he is

Unchanging his mercy never ends is what the scripture says the character and the nature of god and so as a as a christian

I must constantly keep before me that when I sin I have an advocate with the father

Who ever lives and ever sits at the right hand of the throne of god to make intercession for who?

For his people for his children and that the righteousness that I think that I have lost

Which is a you know a catholic ideology that you fall from grace

We can't fall from grace because the grace of god has been given to us and so in that in that idea remembering that Positionally, I am sanctified but still in and of myself.

I have nothing to offer I have nothing to offer god when it comes down to the last day and I stand before the lord

I'm, not going to be able to say but yeah, lord. I did this this and this All I can say is

I trust completely and wholly in what your son has done

And guess what that's it because that's the only thing that matters the finished work of jesus christ for our sins

And so right it we we should rightly just like jonathan said We should feel guilt and remorse for our sins

We should be sorry as the old saying goes for our sins, but it takes it takes more than tears to demonstrate sorrow for sin it it will

It will result in a changed life and that's what we've seen throughout the text that we've looked at Amen yeah

All right, then we're in a chapter 3 verse 14 and this is going to sound repetitive but I think sometimes our our authors repeat things for reasons.

So, um, talk about chapter 3 verse 14, right? Well Just keep in mind everything that claude just said, right?

Oh, yeah, the people have been you know called by god hates then turn to christ love him and then

Come to this verse back up into 12 Uh, we should not be like cain

Who was of the evil one murdered his brother? And why did he murder him because his own deeds were evil and his brothers were righteous

So it sets up something between evil and righteousness Do not be surprised brothers that the world hates you so the world hates righteousness there was a battle between you know cain and abel because Cain was evil and he hated his brother's righteousness.

So look at what it says in verse 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers

If you find that you love the brothers, what is it that you're actually loving? You're loving the people who have heard the call of god to turn from their sin to turn from the wickedness

And to follow jesus christ and his salvation on into eternity Yeah, so if you hate

Christians if you hate if you think they're Cringy, well,

I mean we are sometimes but yeah hate christians. You can't stand them. I don't like organized religion or This one you need to maintain unity

So don't be divisive with one another and you keep people from hearing the message of the gospel repenting of this believing in christ

You hate brothers Because you hate the forgiveness of christ who has drawn us together as the family of god

So what you're doing is you're setting yourself up as one of those who is of the world who hates Christ and his church.

Yeah, you cannot hate christ or you cannot hate christ church and love christ because The church is his people that he's called together to himself for the purpose of salvation

Well and to glorify god, um and enjoy forever, you know live on the earth and be fruitful multiplying

All those good things That's what it's getting out there if you hate what god loves

Then you do not have the love of the father in you you you need to look to christ for salvation

Because you're you're on the side of evil, even if you've deceived yourself into thinking that you

Do love christ amen Yeah, and that just logically and logic and reason come from the from the father anyway

But just logically that doesn't make sense, you know, we we can't say that we love jesus and love

And and hate that which he gave his life for and and hate that which he's going to offer up to the father

Of pure and spotless. It just doesn't make sense All right, roger

Chapter four verse six a the first part Hey, okay, we are from god, let me let me read part of verse five first, okay

They are from the world. Therefore they They were speaking of the lost here. They are from the world.

Therefore they speak from the world And the world listens to them first part of verse six.

We are from god whoever knows god listens to us and We're we're christ's sheep.

We hear his voice jesus said that same thing himself that we would hear his voice and it's it's the

It's the positive and the negative it's the opposites here verse five we're speaking of the world the world hears here's the world's voice

They're of the world they act of the world and it listens to them. We are of god. We hear god's voice

We hear christ's voice Um, we have the holy spirit dwelling in us if you're safe, so you're hearing that voice you're feeling

Um, whoever is not from god does not listen to us That's how I flesh that out

And what johnny mack had was pretty close to All right, uh chapter 4 verse 13 john

I am so glad I got this one. This is uh, this is right in my well house, man

I I love this truth. We've already we've already spoken to this so, um 4 13 says this by this we know that we abide in him

And he in us because he has given us his Spirit and so as we've already said, this is the to know book

We have that constantly saying and he's like by this here's another Indicator, we know we can have confidence.

We can have assurance That we are abiding in him. In other words that we're we're not

Like the waves and the wind and the sifting sands. We have a sustainability a consistency a security

In him so by this we know that we abide in him and then this is so important not just us abiding in him but he and us

That that's so good it's it's I heard a guy say this one time.

It's not about whether I know god, but if god knows me You know Apart from me.

I never knew you and so so so the confidence of our salvation is not me trying to just cling to jesus

But praise god, he's clinging to us That he is in us And he has filled us so we have this confidence.

We know we're abiding And then how do we know that he's given us his spirit?

And and that spirit is the work of of the gift of god It's not a spirit that comes up on us.

But according to the new testament is the spirit his spirit Indwells us it's the picture of the work of regeneration the heart of stone and we're generated and washed by the holy spirit the spirit seals us

Until the day of redemption the spirit spirit is a deposit of what is guaranteed Uh, we've already talked about the convicting work of the holy spirit which convicts us of sin

Uh, we have the comfort of the holy spirit that the evidence that we have peace that surpasses understanding joy

That is unspeakable in the midst of trials and chaos There's just something that runs deeper and then then the one we skip over a lot then is the power of the holy spirit

I think so many times in reformed circles and so many others We're so afraid of talking about the power of the holy ghost because we're afraid of being accused of being charismatic

But listen There are gifts and anointings that come from the spirit of god that he has equipped us and empowered us for the mission of god

And the spirit of god gives us a confidence to go into all the worlds Then he's going to give us everything we need

Every gift that we need to accomplish that mission and we can spend hours and hours which I love to do by the way

I love to debate about the gifts of the spirit and all those kind of things But I think a lot of times those foolish arguments are just a simple distraction of the enemy at the end of the day

God is building a body 1 corinthians 12 says that and he makes that body function the church

Function for the sake of the mission and he gives several gifts as he wills

So at the end of the day i'm thankful that that that even what we're doing tonight is not a work of the flesh

It's not a gift of the flesh. It's not a gift of the wisdom of men even tonight This podcast is a gift and a work of the holy spirit in our lives because otherwise

I can promise you if it wasn't for the holy spirit. None of us would be here tonight, you know We wouldn't even call jesus lord except by what by the spirit holy spirit.

That's right So, uh, man, there's a there's a great powerful sermon in that so just that one little verse so i'm thankful to be affirmed

In the gospel to know that i'm saved because the spirit of god's in me. Amen Guys i'm gonna jump out here in a minute for a minute

I'm gonna jump out here in just a moment But I don't know if you noticed me about life when you started first started talking there jonathan

And it wasn't disrespect. It was because the mental image when you talk, you know not being able to get away from the lord um

I don't know if y 'all have seen the video but the video the guys on the golf course They had apparently tied a string or something or fishing line to their friend's belt loop with a rubber snake on it and showed him that This big old dude squealing like a little girl running around the golf course and that Couldn't get away from that.

Sorry He couldn't get away from that snake That's what popped in my head when you were talking about that.

But how true it is how true it is Guys thank y 'all for letting me be on with yans.

I love you all i'm gonna jump off talk to y 'all later Yeah, we'll try to wrap it up too here in a few minutes, um, just want to make the make it through these verses but Yeah, I appreciate what you just said and i'm thankful that the lord has

Allowed us to be alive and me to be alive in this time where um Correction of some of our language is happening

And and that's some of what you were talking about and one of the other things that i've heard other corrections that i've heard is um

We don't accept god. He accepts us And just and i'm thankful to be in this time where god has allowed a lot of the correction to happen.

Um, So, let's see. Where are we at verse chapter four verse 15 dan

Sure, what's that one say? Whoever confesses that jesus is the son of god abides in him and he in god

Like claude said earlier amen Yeah, it's just one of those that uh, it's it's kind of simple but it's it's crucial um

You have to confess that jesus is the son of god, I mean you can't just say he was just some guy a teacher or Whatever else he he was who he who he said he was and he is the one who was you know, the prophet of Deuteronomy is god coming to flesh

Uh, you believe that he is who he said he was and that he uh, he came to take care of sins

Yeah, I didn't even think about um Taking away the verses that you guys were already assigned to so why don't you just um scoot on over to the one that You were assigned to because you're next in line and then we'll we'll fall back in order chapter one verse six.

Yes uh chapter one verse six

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness We lie and do not practice the truth um

If we say that sin does not separate us from our god Then we're lying we're deceiving ourselves

And we do not practice what is right and true that that sin does

Take us and separate us from god And that's why it's so important that we know christ the forgiver of sins so that he can take away that barrier between us and god

That our sins will be forgiven that we can be hidden in his righteousness and have access to the father in heaven

Have the benefits of the power of the spirit um Yeah, we we we we can't say we can't just live any we can't live like like the devil and Expect to have anything else other than what's gonna happen to him happen to us um

No real like like We're so hold on a second. My brain's kind of turning off because it's getting late but you uh

This is we're starting back in the beginning of the book he's making that case again This is starting to make that case that there's a change going on in your life

And what he's getting at here is if there's no change if you keep on walking in Darkness, if you can't say like you did in first corinthians such were some of you that still are you or is you?

then You you need to re -examine where you're at You need to turn to christ and buy forgiveness of your sins

And it's a bold statement to use the word lie You know that you're if you if you say you're in the light and you continue in darkness, you're a liar

And and I think that's one of the greatest concerns of any pastor is looking over his flock

How many people are there worshiping supposedly? um They're deceived or or they're even intentionally here in the south it's the

Common practice thing of sunday morning. I go to church. Yeah, i'm a christian But they're liars and the truth's not in them.

And so that's something that should keep us up at night Um, it is it is the hypocrisy of the church um

That we have a lot of liars And that people that don't know the truth that continue in darkness and then they'll show up on a sunday morning service and say

Oh, yeah, praise god, you know, but they're they're liars And their their worship is empty and meaningless.

So Greater condemnation. Yeah, and and we're speaking these things as first john does

To look at our hearts And so we're encouraging Ourselves to do it and if you who are listening to to examine your heart

Um, all right roger chapter two verse chapter two verse four

Chapter two verse four whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar

And the truth is not in him. We're right back to that truth again, don't we and liar again? uh

God's got something he's trying to say here, don't he? That was verse four whoever says

I know him. In other words whoever's claiming to be Of god of christ born again

One of the saints but does not keep his commandments You're not bearing any fruit, um, if you know christ you're going to be working and keeping him commands if you don't it's not on your mind

Um, and he's a liar. The truth is not in him. Well, he's got the truth right there And that ties back to what he was just saying about the verse.

He just had right there That liar being a strong statement. Um John had something let me see if I can find it right here

It's very important about that I broke out all my books for tonight as you can tell

I want to be prepared two four two three two four I know and keep the representation of these words emphasizes that those

Generally born again display the habit of obedience and I agree with that at least they're working at it

Obedience results in the assurance of salvation Yes That these two words are among john's favorites is clear since he uses no approximately 40 times um in this epistle

So Again, I go back to what I was saying a while ago if you know him if you're of god

Um, there's got to be some kind of evidence of it and keeping the commands of christ would be certainly part of that Uh, you may not be keeping all of them all the time, but it should be on your heart.

It should be your goal You should be reaching out to the holy spirit to accomplish it john chapter 2 9 and 11

Okay Um, i'm gonna look at this real quick I meant to grab this right quick I think it's working out pretty good.

So I think You guys are getting similar You know as we talked about earlier, there's a there's a positive and a negative really close to one another

I think you guys may be getting some of the verses that you had Yeah, we are And this this is one that I had just said, you know

He who says he's in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now He who loves his brother abides in the life and there is no cause for stumbling in him

And we didn't talk about verse 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going

Because the darkness has blinded his eyes And so the cross reference that I wanted to use in there is second corinthians

And I want to just make sure that I was using the right cross reference in second corinthians chapter 4 verse 6

And in verse 5 and 6 it says the god of this world has blinded their eyes For god who said let light shine out of darkness made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge

Of god's glory displayed in the face of jesus christ. And so so there's this stark contrast

That when you are a believer You you know where you're going. There's a light that shines and even though we struggle in that direction

That's following the commands. That's everything that we've been doing We we have a direction that we are striving daily for and we are pressing in But for the one who is an unbeliever the evidence of unbelief is they walk in darkness

And they have no idea where they're going In other words, they don't have any drive toward christ. They don't have any drive toward holiness

They don't have any drive for the glory of god. They don't have any drive toward mission They're just wandering in darkness.

In other words, they're still living of the world They're wandering around in the things of the world and the god of this world has blinded

Their eyes in other words darkness has blinded them. And so so So it's not church attendance, it's not these kind of Baby steps or things that we would consider just simple christianity

It's really the lifestyle of a person is what we've been talking about is what we're measuring And what john is measuring what scripture is measuring rather um, so again, and the only thing

I want to say as a as a statement in this um So the these are the exact passages that people throw out say well now don't judge me

Okay, but these are judgmental passages These are passages that you do accurately make judgment on people's lives

And it's not us by our opinion passing judgments. It's saying this is what god's word says

And so there's been many times that i've sat down with with people who would call themselves christians or brothers

And I said, let's read a few passages of scripture and you tell me Which one your life looks like are you one that is striving after christ and walking in the light?

Are you still wandering around in darkness? And and and by the holy spirit i've seen a lot of people come to a saving faith come to an authentic salvation

By walking with him in first john, even though they've been in church all their life um That they still were very confused about what authentic salvation is

And they come to the conclusion. I am still in darkness. I'm actually lost And what hope do

I have well call upon the name of the lord and be saved you know receive christ and so So I would hope no one that watches this would think that we're just a bunch of judgmental guys sitting around Trying to figure out how to condemn people or how to make people question their salvation

We're we're reading and studying this because even for our own selves We want to be confident

Of the salvation that we have and we want you if you're watching this to be confident And our greatest concern would be that you would say.

Hey, yeah, I I love jesus. I follow jesus But yet you're deceived and wandering around in the darkness

And then hear what john is saying if you're one that's wandering around in the darkness You have no idea where you're going. I had lunch with a guy

Yesterday and you just saw light bulbs go off in his head Because he said, you know, i'm i'm hopeful

In other words in the english word hopeful i'm i'm i'm pretty sure

That i'm saved But I still have just a lot of baggage And so there was a residue of darkness still in his life

He had no idea about how christ had really dispelled all the sin paid for all the sin in his life

And he was still measuring his salvation At least a little bit by his works

And so when we were able in conversation over coffee yesterday to kill that I mean we killed that belief

And and dude, it was like the light bulbs come off. I mean he left there walking 10 feet higher I mean, it was just beautiful to see his faith.

And so so that's our heart in this Is to is to help people Come to a full knowledge

To know that you are born again. And so so it's a real serious matter

Um, he who hates his brothers in darkness and walks in darkness Does not know where he's going because the darkness has blinded his eyes

And so that means the world and the things of the world the things the god of this world have blinded his eyes unless There is light that comes in the face of jesus christ into this life.

He'll remain in darkness. It's the only hope he has That's right. Yeah And this is like jonathan said this is for us as well

It's worked for everyone and it's good to look at the context I know I mentioned it at the I mentioned the verse at the beginning of the podcast but i'm not sure that I gave the reference or read the whole verse but Second corinthians 13 5 test yourselves to see if you're in the faith examine yourselves

Or do you not recognize this about yourselves that jesus christ is in you unless you fail the test and that's when we go to first john, so it's

You know, it's for the people in the context of that chapter. It's it's not just for People that we're talking to it's it's for us

And uh, and we want to have that joy that you're talking about on the other side second peter wants in Make your election and calling sure, you know

Be sure of this So and if you want to be sure of anything in this world, that's it

That's it. All right, so i'm going to tackle the next one And put the paul chapter 2 verse 15 do not love the world nor the things in the world if anyone loves the world

The love of the father is not in him and what i'm seeing in that verse is i'm going to I'm going to point out three things that that may affect

All of us here on the screen. Um, I I don't think that I know

Dan and and roger what your Maybe hobbies Um, I I think i'm pretty sure about jonathan one of his hobbies that he likes so i'm going to point out three things golf fishing and hunting

All those things may affect us in some way. Um If you look in genesis from the beginning and all throughout the scripture

We're commanded adam. Adam and eve were was commanded Commanded to subdue the earth have dominion over it to enjoy it make things out of it.

Um Be in charge of it And enjoy his creation what he's given us and make good things out of it that that point to him but but those things that I mentioned and i'm sure all these guys would agree with me when they

When they increase to the level of idolatry word where we love them

More than we love christ and we find our satisfaction In them more than we do christ

Then that's where this verse is speaking. I think Um, and I think that's what he's pointing at in in the next verse down It's not the things of the world, you know, those things are good

Those things that you enjoy that god has given you here on this earth Those things are good and they can be used to point to him

Um But in verse 15 he says for all that is in the world What is he what is in the world the lust of the flesh?

The lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the father, but it is from the world

So what we're what we're examining is our desire And our our heart in the matter toward those things and I feel like that's where he's coming from here

So we we love christ above all those things And enjoy those things that he's given us

And use them to to glorify him All right. Let's get to our next verse chapter 2 verse 23 eight

I feel like that's where he's No one who denies the son has the father um

Um This is uh talking about those people who say i'm all right with god. Well, do you know jesus?

Well, I don't really read my bible. I don't really know about jesus. He may have been a good guy He's saying if you don't come to the father through the son, you don't have the father either

And in fact it backs you back up in the verse before it says who is the liar?

But he who denies that jesus is the christ Um, this is the antichrist who denies the father and the son so if you deny the son

You don't have the father either and it says that you're a liar and antichrist It's not a good position to be in he's using strong language here.

I think he's doing it on purpose To show you that this is really where the rubber meets the road

No, it it matters who jesus is and what jesus has done because without that We don't have any access to god and we are still under our sin so um

The one who denies the son denies the one who can pay for sins denies the one who has come and to Reclaim and uh

There's another word there redeem the world If you deny that one, then you don't have any business with the one

Who has created you because you've rejected him as god All right, roger

Going on chapter 3 verse 8 You said 8?

Yep Verse 8 whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil.

I'll amen to that for the devil has been sinning from the beginning The reason the son of god appeared was to destroy the works of the devil well

Boy, that's over and over again in the gospels ain't um I had this underlined here somewhere

He who sends his phrase means habitually practices sin Um is of the devil the phrase give the source of the false teacher's actions the term devil means accuser

Yes or slanderer that only does satan or the adversary oppose god and his plan

But he's the originator and instigator of the sin and rebellion against god and his law

That's from uh, john mccarthur's commentary right there uh I just wanted to add whoever makes practice of sin

Of sinning is of the devil for the devil has been sinning from the beginning It notice it says practice there practice of sinning is of the devil.

In other words, that's your That's your lifestyle. That's your worldview. I guess you'd say it's what you do

Um, that's certainly going to be somebody to come repentant Um, the reason the son of god appeared was destroyed the works of devil.

Well it did um Devil's minded god stayed, excuse me.

Jesus is seated at the right hand of god Reigning over his kingdom. He's the cornerstone of the church and he brought in a new time a time of Being saved by grace through faith in jesus.

It was no longer a time of keeping the law Um, he destroyed the works of the devil.

He destroyed the works of sin. He brought us absolution against the salvation All right, jonathan chapter 5 chapter 3 verse 15

It says whoever hates his brother is a murderer And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him and so we had strong language earlier of liars and now

Now we're murderers and you get a revelation 21 8 and it gives the list and of of sinful practicing people who will not

Have eternal life that are in in fear of fiery damnation. We we see other passages

As dan mentioned the things that we once were but now who we are and paul says i've warned you before and I warned you

Again, those that practice these things shall not inherit the kingdom of god So this practicing of hating your brother

Makes you just as guilty and as wicked as a practicing murderer And therefore if you are a practicing hater and a practicing murderer

You should not have any expectation of salvation and realizing that there is no eternal life abiding in you and so it's just It's very very very plain um, and so it's again given that litmus test of If hate is abiding in you then

Then there's evidence that christ is not abiding in you. And so it's uh a very very pointed uh passage there to to cause us to pause and question and test ourselves

And our last one for the night, uh in first john john first john chapter four verse six be the second half there

He who is not from god does not listen to us By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error

And so somebody who is who is not of god who does not have the spirit who's not been born again Someone who's not saved will not will not listen not just not hear but not listen not obey those things that um, the bible is teaching us the authors of scripture, um,

We we won't listen. We won't obey. We won't want to follow. We won't have that desire to follow god's word and the teachings of god's word, um

And this is This is so clear by this we know that the spirit of truth and the spirit of error

Uh, he's he's saying this is one way to make it clear within yourself Whether you have the spirit of truth or whether you have the spirit of error is whether Your relationship with god's word

Do you desire it? Do you want to read it? Do you want to hear it? Do you want to obey it? And So what is your relationship to god's word?

Um, I happen to be listening to one of claude's podcasts earlier today when he was interviewing some somebody on a here

I stand theology podcast and his interviewee uh was making the analogy he said

It was either analogy that he heard or experienced from his life when he was And and jonathan you'll be familiar with this.

Um, this is a carpentry type analogy. Um he said that he was

He was working and somebody gave him the measurement where he wanted the two by four cut I'll just use a two by four so i'm going to botch his analogy.

So my apologies to his interviewee But let's say he had a two by four and he and the guy was you know, yelling out the measurement

This is what I need up here. And so he measured it off but then instead of um having a standard or having um using his measuring tape each time he used the um,

Uh the board as his standard and so each time he made a cut because you you gotta

You gotta give room for the the width of the blade there each time the board cut the next board got shorter and the next word got shorter because Um, he was using the the board

That he had just previously cut as his standard instead of the original standard. And so he was

He was using that analogy to point that we need to always go back to Scripture as our standard to measure everything by that will never change.

Um And I thought that was interesting and and fit to to this verse that We desire to read it desire to listen to it and always go back to it

And even with what we're saying or your pastor Which it you know your pastor would say the same thing if he's worth his salt compare what i'm saying with scripture um you know listening to a man or listening to a commentary an author is like measuring

Measuring your theology your doctrine the things that you believe with a shorter board and not the original

Not the ultimate standard god's word. So always go back to god's word And know in your heart

If you have the spirit of truth or spirit of area error By knowing whether you want to hear it and listen and obey to god obey god's word

There's there's one additional Test if you will if you want to go to um

But before I go there, I want to make this comment. Um, this was very encouraging to me um, and I think it will give you some security, um to know this and and to um

To ponder on these thoughts, uh satan wants you to doubt But the spirit wants you to determine, you know, why

Why is the spirit giving us these verses like jonathan quoted in first peter or we have in second corinthians to?

Make sure you're you're calling the election. Sure examine yourself. See if you're in the faith. It's because the spirit wants us to be

Determined or confident in him the satan wants you to doubt So there's a difference there and being doubtful and determining and satan will condemn you but the spirit will convict you and we spoke about that earlier

We also talked about Looking at our lives as a video instead of just one snapshot

And so we can do that in this second test, which we're not going to go through I'm, just going to give you the reference of where to go

Um, and it goes back to the verse that jonathan had I think it was chapter four Yeah chapter 4 verse 13 by this we know that we abide in him and he and us because he has given us

His spirit, so where would we go from there galatians chapter 5 verses 22 and 23

To know that we're growing in holiness To see the evidence of the work of the holy spirit within us

We will see love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self -control not perfectly

We'll fail at it fail at it every now and then Fail at it a lot But to a degree we will have it and we'll be moving forward

And we can look to see if we have love joy and peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self -control

Thank you guys My brothers for being with us tonight and walking us through first. John um helping us be obedient to second corinthians, um to peter

And examining ourselves and making our calling election. Sure. I really appreciate your insights and your input um to end this

Jonathan, would you mind to uh, give that call of the gospel and roger? Would you mind when he finishes to close us in prayer?

Absolutely Okay, right In genesis, we find that god had this perfect relationship with mankind through adam and eve

And they walked with god And sadly in genesis chapter 3 There's this fall sin enters into the world

And there's this dna then from adam and eve that is imputed into all people use that word imputed

Now sin has become a part of our dna And by this one sin adam and eve sin now all have become sinful

The will of man since that time has always been to rebel against god and to sin against god and the bible says god's revelation or god's judgment over mankind

We find it there in the psalms and and paul condenses it in romans chapter 3 that there's none good not one

There's no one that seeks god All like sheep have gone astray all have sinned And fallen short of the glory of god we find in john chapter 3 that he that does not believe on him in verse 36

The bible says that the wrath of god remains On him and so it's not like jesus came into the world to somehow tip the scales to give us

The chance to to choose righteousness or unrighteousness or those kind of stuff god has already brought condemnation

To the world because we've all sinned against god So god being a just god looks at the world and says

I cannot ignore sin Therefore all have become guilty before me all have become worthless before me.

Therefore all must be judged And so the heart of god then in love does something miraculous

What we all deserve is the wrath of god. We all deserve hell, but then the bible says that in love

God made a way through jesus christ. Jesus came into the world God himself came into the world and said what they can't do for themselves

I'm now going to do for them Because the law of god is this that there's no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood

And the wages of sin is death And the only option god being perfectly just would be that god would have to destroy us

All he would have to condemn us all And so god's heart was I don't want to condemn them all for they are my children and I love them

So i'm going to save them And so he comes into the world And what we could not do it for ourselves

He does That's the cross. He fulfilled his own law And that the forgiveness of sin is by the shedding blood and therefore he hung himself on a cross

And the bible tells us in the gospel of john that the spear was thrust in his side and blood and water poured out

It was the perfect sacrifice for mankind And so the finished work of the cross the last words of jesus on the cross is it is finished

I already shared that earlier tonight That work paid for all of our sin That's colossians 3 another reference that I gave us that in that moment

God took our sin and nailed it to the cross And absolutely blotted it out of the way with its legal demand when jesus said it is finished

It was really finished in that moment and it would be horrific if We had to remain dead in the transgressions of our sin

That's what the bible says because of sin. We're the same as dead to god But jesus Came right to where we are and then by the power of his resurrection on the third day

We're coming up on the easter season where we specifically celebrate Soberly the cross and the crucifixion and the power of the resurrection

And so where we were dead in our sin, where do we have the power to become new? Where do we have the power to become?

To have life it's in christ and the power of his resurrection And so god's been telling us this story all along that you have sinned against me

But I sent my son jesus that paid for your sin And that was enough to pay for all of it

And then by the power of his resurrection, I will resurrect you to new life If you just simply believe my story believe me believe my covenant believe the promises that i've made you that what jesus did is

Absolutely enough And call upon me tonight and say what god says is call upon me

Not me as far as jonathan. I hope no one misunderstands that but call Upon jesus and say I need a savior.

Would you come save me? There's this beautiful passage that I love in the bible that jesus says whoever calls on me

I won't turn you away. I won't turn you away No matter where you've been and we've used strong words, but thank god that he saves liars because I was a liar.

Thank god that he saves murderers Maybe never with a firearm or with a knife but definitely my mind and heart i've been a murderer

Thank god that he saves adulterers and those that have been entrapped in sexual sin My mind and my flesh we have wondered

But praise god that he saves people and why because the power of the cross is enough And so tonight we would plead with you

Turn from your sin turn from the thoughts that somehow you can outwork it and somehow overcome it

You can't you're already guilty. You're already guilty before a righteous judge that will not ignore any of your sin

But what he will do What he will do is apply The the price that was paid on the cross your sin being nailed to the cross blotting it out of the way

Forgiving you not because of what you've done or not because of even who you are But because of what jesus has done and because of who he is

And you can call upon jesus tonight and say jesus. I can't save myself But I need a savior.

Will you save me? And upon the word of god, which he never breaks. He will save you and I hope that you'll do that tonight

Roger, would you close us? I will Dear lord heavenly father. We come to you tonight always grateful always thankful for the shed blood on the cross that brought our salvation brought to church

It brought us here by holy ghost conviction. I thank you for the opportunity to get together with these brothers and sharing your word and grow

Thankful for the opportunity to bring it out there even if it just touches one more somewhere and that kingdom grows

I will count it as positive Lord, look after these men Make them bold like paul

And keep them all safe. Keep the family safe As we go through the rest of our week lord christ's name.

I pray and give thanks. Amen Amen Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. Remember that jesus is king

Go live in the authority the power and the victory of jesus And go share the gospel of jesus.