Speaker 1: All right, all right, I don't I don't like to
Speaker 1: compare services. Right, They're like kids.
Speaker 2: You know you can't.
Speaker 1: You can't have your favorite, no favorites. But you are
Speaker 1: more awake. Sorry, ushers. Ushers are coming down the aisles Bibles,
Speaker 1: bulletin pens. It'll be super super helpful for you. As
Speaker 1: you turn to first John, turn to first John. Whoa
Speaker 1: First John?
Speaker 2: Cool? Okay, okay, uh yeah.
Speaker 1: If you need a Bible, bulletin or pen, they have that.
Speaker 1: They're happy to help you. Just range your hand, catch
Speaker 1: their eyes. They will love to just serve you in
Speaker 1: that way this morning. I also I want to say,
Speaker 1: if you haven't filled out a connection cart, oh.
Speaker 2: Have I introduced myself? My name is Richard.
Speaker 1: I thank you. I work here at Crossway. I'm one
Speaker 1: of the pastors here and.
Speaker 2: It is a joy to be here with you this morning.
Speaker 1: If you haven't filled out a connection card, please go
Speaker 1: ahead take just a minute to do that. We do
Speaker 1: want to know that you're here. We want to know
Speaker 1: that you're here by name. We want to know how
Speaker 1: we can be praying for you. There are the team
Speaker 1: of men and women who actually go through and pray
Speaker 1: for the connection cards. That are filled out. If you
Speaker 1: do leave a pray request, so please do that. If
Speaker 1: you're new, you can leave some contact information for you
Speaker 1: or even better than that, go to the Step one
Speaker 1: table after the service. It'll be a great time. It's
Speaker 1: like a small party every week at the Step one table.
Speaker 1: We have a great time, all right. So usually usually
Speaker 1: our practice is to kind of make our way passage
Speaker 1: by passage through a book of the Bible. This next
Speaker 1: book we're going to be in is First John. So
Speaker 1: we're going to do a three weeks on this. It'll
Speaker 1: be so much fun. And that's not the weird part.
Speaker 1: There is a weird part, and that is.
Speaker 2: Well, let's just let's call it unique.
Speaker 1: If you've read John, you understand that John he doesn't
Speaker 1: use words and sentences and structure the way that like
Speaker 1: Paul does. For example, Paul makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1: John very hard to read. If you haven't heard it before,
Speaker 1: you'll see some of that. Essentially, what he likes to
Speaker 1: do is he will go he'll have a thought, he'll
Speaker 1: talk about that thought, and he'll be like, oh, and
Speaker 1: the next thought and they're not related. And then after
Speaker 1: he was talking about this thought, he's like, you know what,
Speaker 1: let's go back to this one. I got some more
Speaker 1: stuff to say about this, So we're not gonna be linear.
Speaker 1: I'm not just gonna be in one passage this week
Speaker 1: or the next two weeks after that. He loves commas,
Speaker 1: long sentences, just drawing out his stuff. That's why I
Speaker 1: think he and I get along so well. I would
Speaker 1: call it circular, but I like how the ESV Study
Speaker 1: Bible puts it. They said it has also been termed symphonic,
Speaker 1: and that he eight themes, moves away from them and
Speaker 1: then revisits them with variations.
Speaker 2: I love that. I'm gonna start using that.
Speaker 1: When Liz and I are having a conversation and she
Speaker 1: doesn't understand what I'm saying, I'm gonna be like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's just because you don't understand my symphonic argument.
Speaker 2: You don't know anything about symphonies.
Speaker 1: So we will not go passages by passage, but we'll
Speaker 1: kind of pick up three big themes over the next
Speaker 1: three weeks. As Josh said last week, there will be
Speaker 1: plenty of grapes left on the vine of First John.
Speaker 1: I will not hit everything, but do look with me.
Speaker 1: Everything is going to center around First John five thirteen.
Speaker 1: First John five thirteen says, I write these things to
Speaker 1: you who believe in the name of the Son of God,
Speaker 1: that you may know that you have eternal life. Wrote
Speaker 1: these words to a church that was going through an
Speaker 1: unbelievable challenge. Some key people, right, some teachers, some leaders,
Speaker 1: some good friends had all left the church and kind
Speaker 1: of started started their own church. So think of it
Speaker 1: this as like a really bad church split. And to
Speaker 1: the people who remained, these people who left, they weren't
Speaker 1: just names on a list.
Speaker 2: They were church family.
Speaker 1: They had done life together, and they were grieved by
Speaker 1: the leaving of these people.
Speaker 2: And they were also confused.
Speaker 1: Because this other, this new church is now teaching what
Speaker 1: seems like a different gospel. They're they're teaching something different
Speaker 1: about Jesus is and and so they might be asking themselves,
Speaker 1: do I have the gospel wrong? Maybe like maybe I
Speaker 1: don't actually understand who Jesus is.
Speaker 2: Maybe they have it right.
Speaker 1: Well, John wanted them to know that they already knew
Speaker 1: the truth, that they had it in God's word, and
Speaker 1: that they that that they did not need to know
Speaker 1: anything beyond that that that that they could have confidence
Speaker 1: in their relationship with God. And their salvation, and this
Speaker 1: still applies to us today.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: We we want to know, how can I be sure
Speaker 1: I'm saved?
Speaker 2: And and maybe that's you today.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're here thinking how how can I know? And
Speaker 1: if it's not you, maybe it's been you in the past,
Speaker 1: or maybe that that will be you in the future. Well,
Speaker 1: over the next three weeks, we're gonna look at what
Speaker 1: John has to say about how we can have confidence
Speaker 1: in knowing that we are saved. This week we will
Speaker 1: see that we can be assured we that we have
Speaker 1: eternal life when we have a right relationship with the truth.
Speaker 1: That we can be assured we have eternal life when
Speaker 1: we have a right relationship with the truth. John will
Speaker 1: in the next two weeks include a whole lot of
Speaker 1: looking at the fruit of our own lives. But I
Speaker 1: don't want to start there. And I think it's really
Speaker 1: important because when we're when we're talking about assurance of salvation,
Speaker 1: there's actually quite a bit about knowing that we have
Speaker 1: eternal life that has nothing to do with what we
Speaker 1: do right. It has to do with what God has done.
Speaker 1: It has everything to do with the life that we
Speaker 1: can find in the truth of the Gospel. And that's
Speaker 1: why I've named the sermon true Life in Truth. Now,
Speaker 1: since John connects our assurance of salvation to the truth symphonically,
Speaker 1: we are going to be in a couple different passages today,
Speaker 1: but I think a good representative passage is First John
Speaker 1: two twenty one to twenty seven. First John two twenty
Speaker 1: one to twenty seven. If you would turn with me there,
Speaker 1: that would be delightful. John says this in verse twenty one.
Speaker 1: I write to you not because you do not know
Speaker 1: the truth, but because you know it, And because no
Speaker 1: lie is of the truth. Who is the liar? But
Speaker 1: he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. This is
Speaker 1: the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
Speaker 1: No one who denies the son has the Father. Whoever
Speaker 1: confesses the son has the Father. Also, let what you
Speaker 1: heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you
Speaker 1: have heard from the beginning abides in you, then you
Speaker 1: two will abide in the Son and in the Father.
Speaker 2: And this is the promise that he made to us
Speaker 2: eternal life.
Speaker 1: I write these scenes to you about those who are
Speaker 1: trying to deceive you, But the anointing that you receive
Speaker 1: from Him, that is the Holy Spirit abides in you,
Speaker 1: and you have no need that anyone else should teach you.
Speaker 1: But as his anointing, the Holy Spirit teaches you about
Speaker 1: everything and is true and is no lie, just as
Speaker 1: it has taught you.
Speaker 2: Abide in him.
Speaker 1: Would you pray with me, God, would you help us
Speaker 1: to know and love the truth of your word. Would
Speaker 1: you help us to receive assurance? Would your children receive
Speaker 1: assurance from your word today that we are in you.
Speaker 2: God, You are.
Speaker 1: The one who changes hearts. You are the one who
Speaker 1: works in our hearts. And so we ask for you
Speaker 1: to do that this morning, in each and every one
Speaker 1: of us.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 1: All right, this morning, we're going to look at We're
Speaker 1: going to explore three ways that the truth can give
Speaker 1: us assurance of our salvation. Three ways if we number one,
Speaker 1: if we know the truth, number two if we test
Speaker 1: the truth, and number three if we abide in the truth.
Speaker 1: Let's start with the first point, knowing the truth right.
Speaker 1: Knowing the truth helps give us assurance of our salvation.
Speaker 1: First John two twenty one says I write to you
Speaker 1: not because you do not know the truth, but because
Speaker 1: you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
Speaker 1: It is so important for us to start here. One
Speaker 1: of the central claims of the Bible is that God
Speaker 1: has actually revealed himself who he is in this text
Speaker 1: of scripture. Though he is infinite, though he is eternal,
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean that he's unknowable. He actually has made
Speaker 1: himself known through his word. There is ultimate truth that
Speaker 1: we can be assured of. There is truth that we
Speaker 1: can know and put our trust in. John is convinced
Speaker 1: that the church already has the truth, that they already
Speaker 1: know it, and at this point they just need to
Speaker 1: stand firm in that. I think that's what John has
Speaker 1: for us today too. I want to be clear, there
Speaker 1: is a whole lot of truth that John kind of
Speaker 1: dips in and out of. So I'm going to try
Speaker 1: to synthesize this into kind of three big points, three
Speaker 1: big truths about Jesus that he wanted to emphasize. The
Speaker 1: first one, Jesus is God. Right, this is very important. Well,
Speaker 1: you need to be clear on this. Jesus is God.
Speaker 1: The deity of Jesus is one of those truths that
Speaker 1: John wanted to make sure he defended, make sure that
Speaker 1: the people stood firm in Jesus has eternally existed as
Speaker 1: the second member of the Trinity, along with the Father
Speaker 1: and the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: Eighteen times in this letter.
Speaker 1: In first John, John refers to Jesus as the son
Speaker 1: or the son of God or the son Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: And while Jesus was still one hundred percent God even
Speaker 1: after he was born in the flesh, this is important
Speaker 1: to say that that he was still God right. Jesus
Speaker 1: even showed some of his his character traits that that
Speaker 1: only God is right.
Speaker 2: He was. He was omnipotent. There's lots of omnies out there.
Speaker 2: He was he was.
Speaker 1: He was omnipotent. He showed this when he calmed the
Speaker 1: storm with a word, I can't do that.
Speaker 2: He did this when.
Speaker 1: He healed the sick, when he raised the dead. He
Speaker 1: was showing, yeah, I have the power to do these things.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm man, but I am God. He showed his
Speaker 1: his omniscience when he he knew the thoughts of those
Speaker 1: around him. I don't even know my own thoughts sometimes
Speaker 1: much less someone else's. And then at the end of
Speaker 1: the letter, John gives us this clear affirmation of Jesus
Speaker 1: being gone. One John five point twenty. It says, and
Speaker 1: we know that the Son of God has come and
Speaker 1: is get us understanding so that we may know him
Speaker 1: who is true, and we are in him who is true,
Speaker 1: in his son, Jesus Christ, he is the true God
Speaker 1: and eternal life. That's a first big truth that John
Speaker 1: wants us to know. And then he also wants us
Speaker 1: to know that Jesus is man. Jesus is man, the
Speaker 1: humanity of God.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: At different points these things are under attack from different
Speaker 1: false teachings, but the false teacher specifically that John was
Speaker 1: talking about, we're actually denying that Jesus was a person,
Speaker 1: that Jesus had flesh, had skin and bones, that Jesus,
Speaker 1: although he had always been God, had always existed forever.
Speaker 1: I don't know how long that is, but that's a while.
Speaker 1: He was actually born in the flesh about two thousand
Speaker 1: years ago and became both fully God, which he always was,
Speaker 1: and added to that fully man. This wondrous mystery is
Speaker 1: known as the incarnation. Just like you and me, he
Speaker 1: was hungry, he was thirsty, he was tired. The God
Speaker 1: of the universe needed a nap.
Speaker 2: That is crazy.
Speaker 1: But unlike you and me, he lived a perfect sinless life.
Speaker 1: There was no thought, no deed, no word that came
Speaker 1: out of his mouth that was rude, that was out
Speaker 1: of place, that was out of line. He was perfect
Speaker 1: in all of his words, in all of his actions,
Speaker 1: in all of his deeds. One John four to two
Speaker 1: gives us this clear affirmation of his humanity as well.
Speaker 1: By this, you know the spirit of God. Every spirit
Speaker 1: that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
Speaker 1: is from God. Again, very important God and man. And
Speaker 1: then the third big thing John wanted to make sure
Speaker 1: they knew jesus Us is savior. Jesus is savior, that
Speaker 1: he is the way to eternal life and salvation. One
Speaker 1: John four fourteen says, we have seen and testified that
Speaker 1: the Father has sent the son to be the savior
Speaker 1: of the world. And Jesus died as are as a
Speaker 1: substitute in the place of those who would put their
Speaker 1: trust in him. He took our sins upon himself and
Speaker 1: was punished for it so that he could give us
Speaker 1: his perfection and we could have eternal life, a real
Speaker 1: relationship with God. A couple of times in First John
Speaker 1: he uses this big word propitiation, which I don't know
Speaker 1: about you, but I've never heard outside of a church, right,
Speaker 1: I'm not just in the hub parking lot.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I was thinking about propitiation the other day
Speaker 2: and what it's a big word. But we don't need
Speaker 2: to be scared of big words of people. Okay, we
Speaker 2: can do this. It's a very important word.
Speaker 1: It means that Jesus not only bore our wrath, he
Speaker 1: bore our sins. He satisfied God's wrath and actually moved
Speaker 1: us from being in a place of a place where
Speaker 1: we were under God's wrath to being under his favor.
Speaker 2: All of that is encompassed in.
Speaker 1: The word propitiation, and that's why it's so important. We're
Speaker 1: no longer under his wrath. Jesus is satisfied that and
Speaker 1: now we can be his children. All of this was
Speaker 1: made complete when Jesus rose from the dead on the
Speaker 1: third Day and is now with the Father, where one
Speaker 1: day he will return and set everything right. He will
Speaker 1: bring perfect, perfect justice. He will punish those who have
Speaker 1: sinned against him and then not trusted him for their salvation.
Speaker 1: And he will fulfill the promise that he made in
Speaker 1: One John two twenty five, bringing eternal life to those
Speaker 1: who have trusted in him. These big truths are just
Speaker 1: a quick summary of what John wanted to make sure
Speaker 1: that his people knew. And we want to make sure
Speaker 1: that you know this too, right. Jesus, life, death, and
Speaker 1: resurrection is the central part of the gospel. So if
Speaker 1: you're here today and you don't know these truths about Jesus,
Speaker 1: or if you have questions about them, please go to
Speaker 1: the Step one table after the service or men and
Speaker 1: women there who will want to talk to you about
Speaker 1: these things want to make sure that you understand them.
Speaker 1: They'll give you a Bible. We've got some books there
Speaker 1: as well to this one. What is the gospel?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: We want to be crystal clear. What is the gospel
Speaker 1: is knowable? And then who is Jesus again another big thing.
Speaker 1: If you don't have clarity on who Jesus was, this
Speaker 1: will really help you in that really good conversation.
Speaker 2: Partners.
Speaker 1: We want to help everyone here have a relationship with
Speaker 1: God based on the truth of who he is.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: There is way more to trusting Christ than just knowing
Speaker 1: the truth. But we can't trust Christ without knowing the
Speaker 1: truth about who he is, and that includes those three
Speaker 1: big truths we.
Speaker 2: Just talked about.
Speaker 1: And putting these truths about the incarnation This is essential
Speaker 1: to having faith in him as he has revealed himself,
Speaker 1: and we can be assured that we have eternal life
Speaker 1: when we have a right relationship with the truth. I
Speaker 1: love my wife Liz. I will not apologize for this.
Speaker 1: I love so many things about her. She is godly,
Speaker 1: she is amazing, and if you don't know her, you should,
Speaker 1: really you should get to know her. I love that
Speaker 1: she just always wants to be the life of the party.
Speaker 1: She just she's so excited to just show up to everything.
Speaker 1: And I think her short blonde hair is stunning. And
Speaker 1: sometimes I just like stare at her in her deep
Speaker 1: blue eyes and just get lost like an ocean. And
Speaker 1: I love that she's so short. I tell her I
Speaker 1: joke with her. I'm like, You're like, like, you might
Speaker 1: keep growing at some point, but for right now, like
Speaker 1: you were just pocket sized. Now, what's a problem with
Speaker 1: what I just said. There's so many problems with what
Speaker 1: I just said.
Speaker 2: For some of you who.
Speaker 1: Don't know her, you're like, Okay, well, that's a guy
Speaker 1: who just gave a really weird description about his wife.
Speaker 2: That's cool.
Speaker 1: But if you know Liz, then you know that the
Speaker 1: woman I just described is definitely not my wife. Now again,
Speaker 1: I don't. She is amazing, she is godly, So those
Speaker 1: things were true.
Speaker 2: But long brown.
Speaker 1: Hair, like very long, very brown, very hair, her eyes
Speaker 1: hazel not blue, okay, And she's like six foot tall
Speaker 1: and so be a big pocket. And if you don't
Speaker 1: know her, you could have been fooled by that, right,
Speaker 1: it just sounds it sounds good. But if you know her,
Speaker 1: if you spend time with her, then you saw right
Speaker 1: through that. And there were several there was so much
Speaker 1: laughter that I'm like, Okay, I think they're catching on.
Speaker 2: In the same way.
Speaker 1: I'd love to know how well do we know that
Speaker 1: the Jesus that we serve, the Jesus that we love.
Speaker 1: How much time do we spend getting to know his character,
Speaker 1: getting to know about him?
Speaker 2: Do we know his heart?
Speaker 1: Do we actually long to be in relationship with the
Speaker 1: God of the universe who has come to us so
Speaker 1: that we might know him. God has has given us
Speaker 1: his words so that so that we don't have to guess,
Speaker 1: so that we don't have to.
Speaker 2: Make stuff up.
Speaker 1: He tells us who he is, and so we can
Speaker 1: go to his word and see if if what we
Speaker 1: have lines up with with with.
Speaker 2: What is true about him?
Speaker 1: Now, if someone came up to you and started describing Jesus,
Speaker 1: but this Jesus kind of sounded a little off, right,
Speaker 1: didn't didn't sound like the Jesus that.
Speaker 2: We know here?
Speaker 1: Would would your spidy senses start going off? And this
Speaker 1: actually leads to our second point this morning, testing the
Speaker 1: truth right, Testing the truth helps give us assurance of
Speaker 1: our salvation.
Speaker 2: Now, remember what these people were going through.
Speaker 1: Well known teachers and leaders and friends leave the church
Speaker 1: and start preaching another gospel, start talking about another Jesus.
Speaker 1: And John is trying to bolster them up, trying to
Speaker 1: strengthen them and say, hey, you don't.
Speaker 2: Need to question whether you know the real Jesus. You do.
Speaker 1: John gives them a simple test here, he gives them
Speaker 1: a warning, and he gives them hope for the simple test.
Speaker 1: We see it a couple times, but let's reread it
Speaker 1: in first John two twenty two and twenty three, where
Speaker 1: he says who is a liar? But he who denies
Speaker 1: that Jesus is the Christ. This is the anti Christ.
Speaker 1: He who denies the father and the son. No one
Speaker 1: who denies the son has the father. Whoever confesses the
Speaker 1: son has the Father. Also, here is a huge test
Speaker 1: that we can actually still use today. What does someone
Speaker 1: say say about Jesus?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: What does someone say about who Jesus is?
Speaker 2: Was he just a rabbi? Right?
Speaker 1: Was he just a guru? Was he just a good
Speaker 1: teacher who lived two thousand years ago? Was he merely
Speaker 1: a prophet and not God himself? Was he God the
Speaker 1: Father's greatest creation but not equal to the Father. Or
Speaker 1: was he someone that actually became God at his baptism
Speaker 1: or became God after he lived a good life. These
Speaker 1: are all pictures of what people believe about Jesus. But
Speaker 1: there is more to true theology than just Jesus. But
Speaker 1: man that has to be our starting point. See in
Speaker 1: John's day, there were a couple of false teachings that
Speaker 1: were kind of in the early stages of development. One
Speaker 1: group probably haven't heard of them called the Dosetists. I
Speaker 1: don't know what a doseetist is me neither until I
Speaker 1: studied dostists. These were people who said, well, Jesus only
Speaker 1: appeared to be in the flesh, like he just he
Speaker 1: seemed like he had a body, but he didn't really
Speaker 1: have a body. And this is why John goes through
Speaker 1: the pains of emphasizing not just that Jesus was God,
Speaker 1: but that Jesus came in the flesh, was skin and
Speaker 1: bones as well. Listen to Chapter four, verses one to three.
Speaker 2: Belove it.
Speaker 1: Do not believe every spirit, but test his spirits to
Speaker 1: see whether.
Speaker 2: They are from God.
Speaker 1: For many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Speaker 1: By this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit
Speaker 1: that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
Speaker 1: is from God, and every spirit that does not confess
Speaker 1: Jesus is not from God. Now there were another group
Speaker 1: of false teachers. You might have heard of them, called
Speaker 1: the Gnostics. They had a lot of theological problems, but
Speaker 1: two of them were addressed here by John. They said,
Speaker 1: number one, that God would never have a physical body.
Speaker 2: Right, that's too crude.
Speaker 1: The gnostics were all about escaping, escaping from the physical world.
Speaker 1: He wouldn't have entered into it. And then number two,
Speaker 1: God would never die to give salvation. That doesn't make sense,
Speaker 1: So they didn't think Jesus was the Christ who sacrificed
Speaker 1: himself for salvation. Salvation had to come through a secret
Speaker 1: knowledge that only they had, and since they didn't pass
Speaker 1: it on to me. I can't tell you what that
Speaker 1: secret knowledge was, but it was a secret, guys, was
Speaker 1: a secret And John couldn't have been clearer. They didn't
Speaker 1: need secret knowledge, they didn't need special knowledge. They already
Speaker 1: had the truth. All they needed was to stand firm
Speaker 1: in it. And so the test that John goes back
Speaker 1: to time and time again, how do people see Jesus
Speaker 1: when someone knocks at our door. We're not gonna get
Speaker 1: gnostics or doctists who are.
Speaker 2: Probably knocking at our door.
Speaker 1: But when someone presents you with a wrong picture of Jesus,
Speaker 1: can you identify it or can you smell it out? Now?
Speaker 1: What about the warnings? What about the warnings that John gives?
Speaker 1: Well three times in this book, John cols the's false
Speaker 1: teachers anti christs. Now you hear antichrist, and you're thinking,
Speaker 1: like capital a antichrist.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, this is not that.
Speaker 1: Instead John is saying, actually, there have been many Antichrists.
Speaker 1: There have been many who have set themselves up against Jesus.
Speaker 2: That's all. It means.
Speaker 1: Some of the people had left the church because they
Speaker 1: were deceived, that is true. But there were some, as
Speaker 1: we read in two twenty six that John was warning, Hey,
Speaker 1: there are false teachers. Are there are false prophets out
Speaker 1: here who were actively trying to lead God's people away
Speaker 1: from the truth. Sometimes you'll get a knock on your
Speaker 1: door and you know it's bad theology. Awne's easy. But
Speaker 1: just like Josh brought up last week, often when this
Speaker 1: gets brought up, God's not addressing errors out there and
Speaker 1: what they believe, but he's actually talking to Christians about
Speaker 1: what we believe. On its face, it might just look
Speaker 1: like a minor doctrinal disagreement. It might just look like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is just a variation of what you already know
Speaker 1: in love. This is not a different religion, this is
Speaker 1: not a different belief system. In fact, that's one of
Speaker 1: the tricky parts is sometimes they'll use the same words,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, hey, I believe in Jesus too, and then
Speaker 1: you talk to them and you're like the Jesus that
Speaker 1: you're talking about, it's nothing like the Jesus presented in
Speaker 1: the Bible. They'll use words like salvation and grace and
Speaker 1: they'll say, hey, I love those words too, But again,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna define it differently, and I'm actually gonna change
Speaker 1: what it means entirely. This is suddenly a different religion altogether.
Speaker 1: And this is why, in the wise words of mister
Speaker 1: Alistair Moody, we.
Speaker 2: Need constant vigilance.
Speaker 1: And if we are taking the warning from John seriously,
Speaker 1: it could even be someone within this own church, like
Speaker 1: within our own church. Body, Now, don't start looking around
Speaker 1: this room. Don't eyeball the guy in small group next
Speaker 1: week and be.
Speaker 2: Like, are you a false teacher?
Speaker 1: No, But just like God's word said through Jude last week,
Speaker 1: the Bible is the rule for which we contest truth.
Speaker 1: So when we do hear something that seems a little
Speaker 1: bit off, we can compare it and see how it
Speaker 1: lines up with scripture. If something is sounds a little off,
Speaker 1: take it there and don't be afraid to go to
Speaker 1: your pastors, to your elders.
Speaker 2: This is what we're here for.
Speaker 1: We want to help you walk through navigate these questions
Speaker 1: because we do understand there are some complicated ones out there,
Speaker 1: so please come to us. One of the things that
Speaker 1: we love is helping teaching and understanding right doctrine. I
Speaker 1: will let you into my brain for just a second.
Speaker 1: It's a scary place to be, but I'll let you in.
Speaker 1: It's really uncomfortable for me to talk about false teachers.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's just me.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's because I want to give people the benefit
Speaker 1: of the doubt. You know, be like, oh, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm probably misunderstanding what you're saying, but we need to
Speaker 1: see that actually, this warning is still for us here today.
Speaker 1: Did you know that there are over two point six
Speaker 1: four billion people on this planet who self identify as
Speaker 1: a Christian. One out of every three people on Earth says, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm a Christian. They don't have to prove anything to
Speaker 1: say that, they just say those words. In America, two
Speaker 1: out of every three people claim to be Christian. I
Speaker 1: don't mean for you to challenge the salvation of everyone
Speaker 1: who says they're a Christian and who you come in
Speaker 1: contact with. That would be the wrong application of this.
Speaker 1: But what we do need to recognize is that there
Speaker 1: are false teachers, That there are people who, like Jesus said,
Speaker 1: are out there to help, who want to hurt Christians
Speaker 1: who are, and who are actually out there to deceive us.
Speaker 1: Do you know how easy it is today to take
Speaker 1: your phone record a crazy idea about God. They're like, oh,
Speaker 1: I just had this thought, let me record it. Post
Speaker 1: it to the internet. Now it's on YouTube, and now
Speaker 1: you can gain of following. It is so easy to
Speaker 1: do that. It's not me saying YouTube is awful and
Speaker 1: from the devil dude again that don't hear that There
Speaker 1: are lots of good resources on the internet for Christians right.
Speaker 1: There are Christians who want to be there out there
Speaker 1: helping you praise God. All I'm asking is for us
Speaker 1: to recognize that not everyone who claims to be a
Speaker 1: Christian online on YouTube is actually out there for your sanctification.
Speaker 1: There are some out there who are trying to deceive you.
Speaker 1: In Matthew seven fifteen, Jesus talks about false teachers who
Speaker 1: are wolves in sheep's clothing. Right, they look like they're
Speaker 1: one of us, but they are not.
Speaker 2: They are wolves.
Speaker 1: When Paul leaves the Ephesian Elders in Acts twenty, he
Speaker 1: warns them.
Speaker 2: He says there will.
Speaker 1: Be men from actually within the church who will show
Speaker 1: themselves to be wolves, show themselves to be false teachers.
Speaker 2: Peter and Paul multiple times in their letters.
Speaker 1: Warn about false teachers seeking to deceive God's people. And
Speaker 1: then we have this in One John to eighteen and
Speaker 1: nineteen children, which again think of John. Everything he says
Speaker 1: in this letter to his church is very it's loving.
Speaker 1: He's saying this as a term of someone who loves him,
Speaker 1: but someone who loves them. Says, children, it is the
Speaker 1: last hour. And as you have heard that Antichrist is coming,
Speaker 1: so now many anti Christs have come. Therefore we know
Speaker 1: that it is the last hour. They went out from us,
Speaker 1: but they were not of us. For if they had
Speaker 1: been of us, they would have continued with us. But
Speaker 1: they went out that it might become plain that they
Speaker 1: are not of us. Now, praise God that no one
Speaker 1: is beyond his grace that false teachers can repent, can
Speaker 1: turn from their bad theology and be forgiven. Jesus could
Speaker 1: died for their sins as well. But we also need
Speaker 1: to recognize that when someone abandons the truth of scripture,
Speaker 1: the truth of Jesus and his gospel, it it's a
Speaker 1: sign that they were never actually true to God's word.
Speaker 1: To begin with, John makes it clear in those verses
Speaker 1: they went out from us. Right, they were among us.
Speaker 1: They went out from us, but they were never of us.
Speaker 1: And actually it shows that they hadn't been true to
Speaker 1: God the whole time. Pastor John Stott said this in
Speaker 1: his commentary on First John. He said their departure was
Speaker 1: there unmasking what is Counterfeit cannot remain forever hidden. And
Speaker 1: then he quotes Luke twelve two when he says, there
Speaker 1: is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden
Speaker 1: that will not be made known. But John, the writer
Speaker 1: of the Gospel, also gives the church hope after this warning,
Speaker 1: and John Stott continues on. He says, he who stands
Speaker 1: firm to.
Speaker 2: The end will be saved.
Speaker 1: Not because salvation is the reward of endurance, but because
Speaker 1: endurance is the hallmark of the saved. After talking about
Speaker 1: testing the spirit, John gives him this hope. In First
Speaker 1: John four four he says, little children, you are from
Speaker 1: God and have overcome them, for He who is in
Speaker 1: you is greater than he who is in the world.
Speaker 1: There will be false teachers. They will teach damning heresy.
Speaker 1: Their own actions will prove that they were never children
Speaker 1: of God. But if we first if we know the truth,
Speaker 1: and second, if we test the truth, we can have
Speaker 1: confidence in our salvation. We can have confidence that God
Speaker 1: is more powerful than these false teachers. And isn't that
Speaker 1: what First John is about? Think back to first John
Speaker 1: five thirteen. I write these things to you who believe
Speaker 1: in the name of the Son of God, that you
Speaker 1: may know that you have eternal life.
Speaker 2: Praise God.
Speaker 1: There's one last element that John brings up here, zero
Speaker 1: point three abiding in the truth.
Speaker 2: Abiding in the truth.
Speaker 1: Abiding in the truth helps give us assurance of our salvation.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I can prove what I'm about
Speaker 1: to say, but I'm gonna say I wonder if abide
Speaker 1: is one of John's faithavorite words.
Speaker 2: That's a big claim. It's a big claim.
Speaker 1: Probably not something I maybe could start a YouTube channel
Speaker 1: about that, but.
Speaker 2: I shouldn't. I'm just kidding. I will not do that.
Speaker 1: But think about it this way, John, about half of
Speaker 1: the of all the times that the word abide is
Speaker 1: used in the New Testament, it's used by John. And
Speaker 1: then on top of that, again, this is just a
Speaker 1: normal word, right, It means to remain or to stay right.
Speaker 1: She remained there three days, he stayed with Zechias.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: That word that just that's the word abide, which that's
Speaker 1: how everyone uses it. But he also has another sense
Speaker 1: in which he uses it, like how he uses it
Speaker 1: here when he's talking about our relationship with God. Turned
Speaker 1: to First John four thirteen for this final section. Let's
Speaker 1: see what John wants us to see about what it
Speaker 1: means for us to abide in the truth. In verse thirteen,
Speaker 1: John says, by this we know right this, we can
Speaker 1: can see that. Or actually, in another translation, here is
Speaker 1: the proof that we abide in Him and he in us,
Speaker 1: because He has given of us his spirit. Now, before
Speaker 1: we move on, I want us to actually recognize that
Speaker 1: John talks about the Holy Spirit within us is actually
Speaker 1: part of what part of the proof that John gives
Speaker 1: it we are actually abiding in God. Too often Christians
Speaker 1: think about the Holy Spirit in dwelling us and you're.
Speaker 2: Like, oh, that's cool, that's cool.
Speaker 1: That's how it's always been since I've been saved. So
Speaker 1: this is normal, right, there's nothing spectacular about it. We
Speaker 1: take it for granted. But if we actually look at
Speaker 1: the Old Testament, we'll see that this was not always
Speaker 1: the case.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: They didn't have the endwelling of the Holy Spirit. We
Speaker 1: see this in Deuteronomy twenty Moses is recounting to them
Speaker 1: everything a very brief list of what.
Speaker 2: God had done for the.
Speaker 1: People of Israel for forty years, and then in verse four,
Speaker 1: he says this, but to this day, the Lord has
Speaker 1: not given you a heart to understand, or eyes to see,
Speaker 1: or ears to hear. They literally didn't have the heart
Speaker 1: to understand and obey what God had for them. But
Speaker 1: then as we as we move through the Old Testament,
Speaker 1: as we move forward, we see a glimpse of what
Speaker 1: God would give in the future to believers in Ezekiel
Speaker 1: thirty six twenty six. In twenty seven, Ezekiel prophesies about
Speaker 1: what Israel could have only dreamt of. In twenty six,
Speaker 1: it says.
Speaker 2: And I this is God. I will give you a
Speaker 2: new heart.
Speaker 1: And in a new spirit I will put within you.
Speaker 1: I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh
Speaker 1: and give you a heart of flesh. And I will
Speaker 1: put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk
Speaker 1: in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Now,
Speaker 1: for Ezekiel, this was the future. But for us this
Speaker 1: is the past. Like this is history. Now, Jesus had come,
Speaker 1: and Jesus had promised, Hey, when I leave, I will
Speaker 1: give you my helper. I will give you a helper
Speaker 1: who will be with you. And then in Acts two
Speaker 1: we get to see the coming of the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: upon the apostles, and now all believers.
Speaker 2: Everyone who has put.
Speaker 1: Their faith in Christ has God living inside them. What
Speaker 1: an amazing blessing. We take it for granted, but we
Speaker 1: see it as commonplace. But like this is extraordinary. And
Speaker 1: part of our abiding in the truth is not even
Speaker 1: about us, right, It's about do you have the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit within you? It's about the power of what God
Speaker 1: has done, putting his Spirit in us so that we
Speaker 1: are capable of even being obedient. Through His Spirit living
Speaker 1: in us. Our abiding in the truth is God enabled
Speaker 1: and God powered. By this, we know that we abide
Speaker 1: in Him and he in us because He has given
Speaker 1: us of his spirit. Let's move on to verses fourteen
Speaker 1: and fifteen. And we have seen and testify that the
Speaker 1: Father has sent his son to be the savior of
Speaker 1: the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God,
Speaker 1: God abides in him and he in God. Here we
Speaker 1: see again that knowing the truth, that the right confession
Speaker 1: of who Jesus actually is, will lead to abiding in
Speaker 1: the truth. I want to again draw your attention to
Speaker 1: what John Stott said earlier. He who stands firm to
Speaker 1: the end will be saved, not because salvation is the
Speaker 1: reward of endurance, but because endurance is the hallmark of
Speaker 1: the saved.
Speaker 2: That is what abiding looks like.
Speaker 1: In a few minutes, we're gonna close the service by singing,
Speaker 1: Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery. And I want us to
Speaker 1: truly behold that song as we sing it together.
Speaker 2: Think about how beautiful those verses are.
Speaker 1: In each of the four verses they sing, We're gonna
Speaker 1: sing about a different aspect of Jesus. Jesus's life. We're
Speaker 1: gonna sing about his birth, then about his perfect life,
Speaker 1: then about his crucifixion, and then in the final verse,
Speaker 1: we will sing about his resurrection. This is glorious truth
Speaker 1: that is meant to shape our lives verse sixteen. So
Speaker 1: we have come to know and to believe the love
Speaker 1: that God has for us. God is Love, and whoever
Speaker 1: abides in Love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Speaker 1: John wrote first John because he wanted to give the
Speaker 1: church assurance of their salvation that there was truth, and
Speaker 1: having a right relationship with the truth would give them
Speaker 1: the assurance that they needed truth that they could know,
Speaker 1: and he pointed them to Jesus God in the flesh
Speaker 1: who came to save us.
Speaker 2: Truth that they could test.
Speaker 1: And he pointed them not to special knowledge, but instead
Speaker 1: to God's word, truth they could abide in. And he
Speaker 1: pointed them to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us,
Speaker 1: truth that they could find life in. He didn't point
Speaker 1: them to themselves. He pointed them here in four sixteen.
Speaker 1: He pointed them to the perfect and eternal love of
Speaker 1: the Father.
Speaker 2: John.
Speaker 1: We'll have more to say about our assurance of salvation
Speaker 1: here in the next two weeks as we look at
Speaker 1: kind of the fruit of our lives. But we couldn't
Speaker 1: start there with our actions, because fundamentally, our salvation is
Speaker 1: not because of our actions. It was God's love for
Speaker 1: us while we were still sinners. It was him pursuing
Speaker 1: us when we had rebelled against him. It was him
Speaker 1: making us alive when we were dead in our sins.
Speaker 1: For all these reasons, why would we look to our
Speaker 1: own actions as the primary reason for our assurance of
Speaker 1: our salvation. I've already talked about these two books that
Speaker 1: will have the table, but we're gonna have a couple
Speaker 1: more at the Step one table after the service. This one.
Speaker 1: How can I be sure I'm saved, very small, very helpful,
Speaker 1: helpful in us thinking, and then a few copies of this.
Speaker 1: This is assured by Greg Gilbert early on in the book.
Speaker 1: He says this, There's no such thing as a good
Speaker 1: or acceptable faith, only a good or acceptable object of faith.
Speaker 1: The value of your faith isn't in the faith itself,
Speaker 1: it's in what that faith is trusting. Would God give
Speaker 1: us assurance that though our faith in the truth may
Speaker 1: be imperfect, what is perfect is the object of our faith,
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, and that is that's all that matters.
Speaker 2: Would you stand and pray with me.