Wednesday Night Bible Study

Well, praise the Lord everybody. >> Oh, I think we can do just a little bit better than that. Praise the Lord everybody. >> I feel the Lord here tonight. Don't you, man? The spirit of the Lord has been here since the very first moment of our word and worship for Wednesday night. And I believe the Lord is going to meet with us again through the study of his word. Let me say I feel weird weird. I told that to Bishop. It's weird that uh I would be teaching and he'd be sitting down there uh because he is the world's greatest Bible teacher that there is. We are blessed with the greatest Bible teacher and I am so thankful for all he has done and so I will not try to fill his shoes. I will try to simply follow in his footsteps. So, Sunday morning, I told you I've been studying the book of First John for the past at least 10 months, and it has been a very, very fruitful and transforming uh study. And so, I shared some of that with you uh on Sunday morning. And so when uh Pastor Anthony uh mentioned to me about uh teaching tonight for Bishop, I wanted to continue uh maybe jump off where we uh where we started Sunday morning. And I want to help you. I had several several people uh text send me messages after Sunday morning service saying how much uh they appreciated the topic of assurance and how easy it is for many of us to worry or fear or have uncertainty about our own salvation. If we think that this is something that doesn't happen within uh the congregation of First Apostolic Church, we would be very naive. It's everywhere. It's everywhere. People uh live in in fear and worry and doubt. And so I thought, well, let me just continue this. I wrote a little a little lesson for this Bible study on First John. And then I thought, well, I'll just expand upon that and see if I can help you here tonight. So, first John chapter number five, and we're going to read verse 13. We read that Sunday morning, but I want to read it to you again. I believe this is the purpose statement of the letter. This is why John wrote his letter. He even does the same thing in his gospel. He tells us he wrote these things so that we might believe. He reiterates that here in this first letter that he writes. So 1 John 5:13, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know. Someone say know >> that you may know that you have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the son of God. My title, my topic tonight is tests for assurance or tests of assurance. I'm going to give you 10 of them. Okay? Now, not now, each point's not going to be uh 20 minutes long. I'll try to be very brief and cognizant of the time, but I'm going to give you 10 tests of assurance. Now, we're living in a day of uncertainty. Socially, culturally, uh, economically, politically, instability seems to be the norm. Every idea, every idea of truth seems to be under suspicion. Facts are questioned. Uh, the news is distrusted or distrusted. And doubt itself, I think I mentioned this Sunday morning, is celebrated. And and if you were to say, "Well, this is what I am sure of. This is what I am sure of." People might look at you strange. They might think, "Well, how can you be sure of anything?" They might say you're close-minded or arrogant to say that you are sure of anything. It seems, and this is my opinion, I wrote this down. tolerance and uncertainty have been grafted in to the modern spiritual fruit. That tolerance and uncertainty, tolerance and doubt are spiritual fruit. That's not the case. God wants us to be sure and he wants us to be certain of who he is and what he has done. And this type of sentiment of being uncertain is definitely in the church. I've spoken over the years to many who struggle with uncertainty, especially about their own salvation. Now, again, I know I'm repeating myself, but please, please let me explain. There are those who can tell you the when the where they put their faith in Jesus, repented of their sins, were baptized, and filled with the Holy Ghost. And yet all of this time later, they are plagued by guilt. Their sins whisper accusations into their present life. It's as if forgiveness was offered but not really applied. Now, you don't have to raise your hand, but I'm I'm assuming there are many in this room who feel like or have asked this question. Did he really forgive me? Am I really forgiven? Is this all real? And and and I want you to understand if you have those types of thoughts and those questions, you're normal. You're normal because John's readers felt that way as well. But God does not want his people to live in doubt about him or to doubt their salvation. He makes it abundantly clear through the pen of John. These things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know. Someone say know again. >> Not hope, not guess, not wish, not speculate. You do not have to leave your salvation to chance. God wants you to know. There is a great hymn we used to sing, blessed assurance. You know, we need that blessed assurance in 2025. If they wrote that song in the 1800s or the 1900s and they needed assurance, then we need assurance right now in the 21st century. We need blessed assurance even now. You don't have to hope or guess or wish or speculate on your salvation. God has assured us of who he is and what he has done. Someone say amen. Amen. >> And that's why John opens the way he does. When he opens his letter, he does not say uh to the churches in Ephesus, and this is from uh the beloved apostle John. He doesn't say that. He opens right up and gives us doctrine. And he gives us what we call the technical term christologology. He opens up and says, "This is who we worship. This is what we know. That which was from the beginning which we have heard, seen with our eyes looked upon, our hands have handled the word of life. It has been manifested and we have seen it. What is he trying to do? He is trying to root them in historical fact that what you can believe is truth. This is not a fairy tale. This is not an imaginary God. John says, "We have seen him. We have heard him. We have touched him. Now we are declaring unto you the word of life." He starts this way with this doctrine of Jesus because that's where our assurance begins. We must be sure of who he is. You better get it in your heart. You better get it in your mind that you may know. Not just yes, you must believe, but you also need to know. Belief, brothers and sisters, is not faith. We we some might say this. It's blind faith. We do not have blind faith. Our faith is rooted in the word of God that was written by men of God who are inspired by the spirit of God. And they give us the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. So I can put my faith in the word because those who have written the word have seen and heard and touched and they are declaring unto us. You need to know who Jesus is. >> You can't simply say, "Well, that's what Bishop believes or that's what brother Nate believes." That's you can't do that. That you might know. If you don't know who he is, you will certainly doubt your salvation. >> You got to know it. He says, "These things that I have that I have written," it's a written record. What greater certainty could we have than God himself recording the assurance in the inspired word of God? And let me just add this. This is not in my notes, but it might need to be. A lot of us have uncertainty because we spend more time on the internet than we do his word. If all the only time that you get into the word of God is Wednesdays and Sundays, you're going to have uncertainty. If the only time not we need Wednesdays and th we need we need the we need to be gathered together and do what we're doing right now. But you also need to do it. It is your daily bread. daily bread. You just can't simply snack on this 45 minutes three times a week. If you're going to have certainty, you must have certainty in the word of God. Now, let's talk about assurance. Assurance. Even the second song they sang tonight had the word assurance. Many who wrestle with doubt do so because they let their emotions guide their faith. Instead of letting their faith guide their emotions, they ride the highs and lows of spiritual good days and bad days as though salvation were as fragile as their mood. If you don't feel saved today, try tomorrow. Right? I'll feel saved when I get to church on Sunday. That that brothers and sisters, if you're waiting for the feels, faith overrides feeling. If you're if you're relying upon your feeling, feelings are fickle. You can wake up on the wrong side of the bed having ate a terrible Pizza Hut pizza the night before and you wake up and all of a sudden you're all your things are all out of whack. And then somebody puts a microphone in your face. Hey, are you saved today? Well, how I feel right now is I'm a little sick from the Pizza Hut. Didn't wake up where I should have. You see what I'm saying? And a lot of us do this with our salvation. We let our moods and our emotions and our feelings. But God doesn't God does not want us to root our assurance in our feelings. I don't feel like I'm in love today. Right? Maybe you felt love the day you got married that wedding day. and you felt love for a few weeks and a few months after that, but then you add a few years and you add children and you add a mortgage and you add bills. Do you still feel love? Or is the covenant that you made stronger than the feelings that you have? >> Because you see, the covenant is greater than our feelings. >> My God, I feel him. Now >> you have to understand you have to go to something beyond your emotions and your feelings to get assurance not how you feel. Now I I am still madly in love with Ashley. I am madly in love with her. But my the covenant that we made with each other is stronger than the emotions that we might feel for one another. We have to go to something stronger than our emotions. Now, let me put I haven't even got to our points yet. I want to get there, but I I want to rest. I want to give some people some some just remove some anxiety because when we talk about assurance, we start to get afraid about a little phrase called once saved, always saved. Yeah. Hold on, brother Nate. I don't want that kind of assurance. Once saved, and so once saved, always saved. I'm not trying to build a straw man. Once saved, always says, "Well, I was I was saved at this moment. Now I can do whatever I want. I can sin. I can behave. I can live any old way that I want to, and I will always be saved." John in his letter would say otherwise. >> But correction sometimes leads to overcorrection. So we try to avoid once saved always saved and so we swing the pendulum this way and we remove all assurance. Both extremes are wrong trying to help you. John would say there are tests. There is a litmous test that something must match your profession in Christ that you can have something to cling to and something to hold on to, something to stand upon that's stronger than your emotions and your bad days. one, don't don't try to overcorrect. There is biblical balance in assurance or John wouldn't have wrote about it inspired of the Holy Ghost. Assurance, listen to me now, is not a license for sin. Paul would say in Romans 6, since grace abounds, should we continue in sin? He says, God forbid, I'm not going to live the way I used to live because something has happened within me that causes me to live differently. And what happens in me is proof of the salvation that took place in me. Therefore, I don't live as I used to, but hear me now. I'm not perfect, but the God I serve is. >> He has not called us to perfection. He has called us to reflection. You ain't hearing me. I'm I'm I'm on fire right now. I'm so I've been I've been reading and studying this for months and I'm on fire. God doesn't call us to perfection. He calls us to reflection. And so just because you have a bad day does not mean he's had a bad day. I want you to know God's greater. Oh God, he's greater than your past. He's greater than your present. And I'm going to tell you, he's going to meet you in your future because we have a firm foundation. [Applause] God, I feel him. Someone say, "Amen." Let's go through this for a little bit. Let's go through the tests. The test of assurance. Number one, and brother Derek's going to help me here. Number one, so you can write these down. Number one, do you enjoy fellowship with God? Here's where now I've got these numbered in my notes, but they're not one's greater than the other. That's not what I'm trying to do. This is not Casey Casem's countdown here. Uh these are just 10 points I want you to see from the letter of John that we can know, hear me, hear me, >> that we can know >> we're saved. Okay. Number one, do you enjoy fellowship with God? First John 1 2 through3. For the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the father and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. Here's what he's saying. that because that leading to ye also may have fellowship with us who have seen, heard, touched. And truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ. But I want you to notice how John switches from past tense to present tense. We have seen it which we have seen and heard. He flips it to present tense that you also may have. Possess fellowship with us and fellowship is with the father. Our faith brothers and sisters is rooted in historical evidence and it aligns with apostolic authority. We do not place our hope in creeds and councelss. We place our hope in the word of God, Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone. And he's given us the the the apostles and the prophets. We are in line with them. that our fellowship with with Christ is because we are in fellow to be apostolic means to be in fellowship with the apostles. So we have fellowship with them. And because of that revelation that we have from the word of God, we have fellowship with God. Now growing up, the church I grew up in, we had a fellowship hall. Anybody know what that's called? A fellowship hall. Anybody, you know, some some of y'all might know what I'm talking about. Fellowship hall is what was was a place designated uh in the church. That's where you had fellowship after church. And so I when I was working on this Bible study, I immediately my senses I smelled coffee, which I smell coffee just about all day every day. But then I also had the taste of ham salad and chicken salad and come to my come to my pallet because when I was growing up fellowship halls when they were brewing coffee and they were they were giving us cold cut sandwiches, ham salad and chicken salad sandwiches and chips and we were doing fundraisers. And then I started thinking about the fellowship hall. That's where we had our vacation bible school and they gave us uh they gave us Kool-Aid and cookies and all of that. And so when we think of fellowship, we have a kind of a let me just say this. We have a very low view of fellowship. We think fellowship is drinking coffee and chitchat before or after service. That's not the New Testament definition of fellowship. Fellowship is way more than that. The word fellowship in the Greek is coineia. Coia, you may have heard of that before. And it's one of the richest words in the New Testament appearing several times, at least four times in John's first letter. Now there is no English word that fully captures its Greek depth though partnership or participation or sharing something common would come close. So at its very coreia or fellowship refers to sharing something in common to the point of deep personal connection. It's not just simply about being in the same room. It's about being joined in the same life. So, do you enjoy fellowship with God? Will you We might enjoy fellowship with each other, but do you do you enjoy fellowship with God? Are you so connected to him that you can't wait to get up and pray? Are you are you so connected to him that you can't wait to open up the word of God and see what he has to say today? Do you enjoy just turning on worship music? Whatever you like to do to begin to worship and praise and that's fellowship. You are getting in contact. Another way that the New Testament views fellowship is a close connection to communion. So when we have communion at the beginning of the new year, when we have communion and we come to the table and we partake of the wine and we partake of the bread, what we are doing, we are coming into fellowship with God. We are recogn that that Christ robed himself in flesh and he became what we weren't. He became man so he could redeem us. He became what he wasn't to redeem us so we could come into fellowship. Listen, salvation is way more than just getting you from here to heaven. It's way more than that. It's fellowship with him. It's enjoying his presence. Paul said this, this was his prayer. Philippians 3:10, that I may know him. John uses that word know. Same Greek word inosco. It is not simply intellectual ascent. It is experiential. It is something that I have experienced. And Paul says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and what the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. So number one, assurance, test of assurance. Do you enjoy fellowship with God? Number two, are you sensitive to sin? Are you sensitive to sin? One of John's strongest tests is how we deal with sin. He says in in uh chapter 1 vers8, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. You can't say that you don't have sin. And if you say, "I have never sinned. I want to be the first to tell you there's your first one. You are a liar. >> That's what John said. >> Or I'm sorry, me said in 2025, an untruth. Are you sensitive to your sin? The true believer doesn't excuse or hide sin, but confesses it and seeks cleansing through Christ's blood. What he says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Now, stop. If you don't think he's true, if you don't think he's just, if you don't think he's faithful, you will not believe that he can forgive. You are going to him based upon his character that he's faithful and just, not that I'm worthy and deserving. When you go to him to confess your sins, you go, that's why he's that's why John began this way. Those first four verses, he wants you to make sure that you know who he is. And if you have any doubt on who he is, if you don't think he's good, if you don't think he's faithful, if you don't think he's worthy, if you don't think he's powerful, then you're not going to believe that he can forgive you. But if you know him and you know him as father, you will believe that he will forgive you. So much of our doubt about whether or not we're forgiven or not is really rooted in we don't believe in who he is. Y'all okay. Now, I'll talk about another piece of the puzzle of of John's picture of sin in a few moments, but I want you to see this that a true genuine believer confesses their sin and forsakes it. Sensitivity to sin means that when you stumble, your heart is grieved and you run to God for mercy. Adam and Eve when they rebelled, what did they do? They hid themselves. But the grace of God, he came looking for them. A genuine believer runs to him, not hides from him. Now, a hardened heart can sin without remorse. Look what John says here. I'm going to read two versions. The the King James version and the ESV. 1 John 3:9. Whosoever. Now, again, let me stop here. If you open up your Bible and you read 1 John 3:9, that's the first verse you read and you read it in the King James version and you don't know what I've told you so far Sunday morning and tonight about the context of why he's writing what he's writing. And you read this, you'll read this and all of a sudden you don't have certainty, you have anxiety. But if you know the context of why John's writing this letter that you might know, then you realize there's something to this. And not only that, he said something earlier to help us. So, let's read first John 3:9. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, oh, oh, oh, no. Oh, no. There's no hope for me. There's no repentance for me. Keep reading. For his seed remainth in him, and he cannot sin. Whoa. Whoa. That sounds like I'm bad shape. And he is born of God. Now, let's read it in the ESV because it's way, way more clarifying. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning. That makes me feel better, right? Because when you're really born again, you don't want to sin. Now, John says, let's go back to chapter chapter number one. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Who's our who's he writing to? Believers. He's not contradicting himself. What he's saying is you will sin. Don't say you're without sin. You will sin. But if you sin, we have an advocate. >> But the true believer does not keep on sinning because they don't want to. They can't. It's impossible for them. It's not saying that you won't, but you're saying, "I don't want to keep sinning. I hate my sin. I'm sensitive to my sin. There are things that I no longer want to do." Right? But if you constantly do it and you're constantly going back to it, here's the test. You might want to see if your profession is genuine. That should strike fear in our hearts, brothers and sisters. Right? We must be sensitive to our sin. If we sin, if we fail, if we have a bad day, he's faithful and just. But if we continue in it, we do it over and over. You listen, you're making a decision to do it over and over again. And that decision right there shows the condition of your heart. John is saying it is impossible for you to continue to say I am a Christian and continue to live like a sinner. That's that's what he's saying here. There is not for John. It is not once saved always saved. He is saying either you are in the light or you are in the dark. That's what he says. Right? You okay? We have an advocate when you have a bad day. Please. But I want you to understand this and I feel like the Lord's given me a revelation about this. When we sin as believers, we experience an interruption with our fellowship with God. We experience an inter when you listen. When you wrong somebody, what happens? The relationship is harmed. If you say an ill thing to somebody, what happens? Cold shoulder, silent treatment, there is an interruption in the relationship. But if you will confess, baby, I am sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Now, she's not going to leave me. I hope because I was short with her. I didn't get my 10 hours of sleep or whatever, whatever I'm blaming it on. But she's going to that I I've I've experienced an interruption, but the covenant remains. But if I continue over and over and over and over and over and over again, I am telling her what I am saying to you is not truth. You all hear me? Okay. But when you do sin as a believer, he says, as for our sins, look at verse, look at chapter number two. I've gone on two already. Can you believe that? My little children, these things I write unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propiation for our sins. Look at this. Mark this, highlight this, circle this, and not for ours only. Ours, but for the whole world. I want you to know that there was grace the day that you are saved. And there's going to be grace 10 years from when you are saved. And when you have a bad day, it does not mean, >> are you okay tonight? I'm trying to help you to get some assurance in your heart. Someone say amen. Number three, moving fast. I'm not going to get through all of these, am I? Are you obedient to God's word? Test of assurance. Are you obedient to God's word? Chapter 2:3. And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. Obedience is not legalism, but love in action. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." I'm afraid Christianity today has become allergic to obedience. Contrary to what some people think, we don't work for our salvation, but our salvation works. I'm going to say that again because this is way too good for you not to say amen. We don't work for our salvation, but our salvation works. Yeah. You're going, he said, ' Don't let us love in word and neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Can't just say James said this. He said, "You show me your faith and I'll show you my works because my works are proving my faith." Obedience, faith without obedience is like a car without an engine. It looks like a car and has all the right parts, but it can't move or take you anywhere. Faith always produces obedience. Obedience to the word of God. Testing tests for our assurance. Number four, I talked about this Sunday morning. Do you reject the world? If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. This goes back to what we were saying about sin. You can't continue in sin, but also you can't stay in the world either. Where's the what? And this is not talking about the create. He's not talking about the created order. He's talking about the world systems and the ideals, the antirist spirit that's in this world, anti- good, anti-purity, anti-holiness, that that the things that are in the world are anti- good. Well, you must reject that, right? Must reject that. Paul said in Galatians 6:14, "The world is crucified unto me and I unto the world." That's what we must do. We must reject the world. Number five, moving fast now. Do you eagerly await Christ's return? I'm worried we don't talk about eternity enough in the church. our and I'm I'm including myself in this just for the sake of not trying to be accusatory. I'm afraid our sermons in Christianity have become so selfentered and human centric in today right now. Get your blessing. Get your get your get your promotion. Get this world is not my home. Come on. This is not heaven. I'm not sure if y'all know that or not. This is not heaven. I I I want to make sure John Jonathan Edwards, the great Puritan, part of the Great Awakening, said, "Stamp eternity upon my eyeballs." Meaning, I want to be so encompassed with a vision for eternity that I don't get distracted by this world. Brothers and sisters, let's not fall in love with this world. John would say, "This world is passing away. We must have eternity on our minds." We need We need to think about heaven every once in a while. >> You know, we need to think about his return every once in a while. He's coming back. >> Are you eagerly awaiting it? Or or are you so filled with dread and fear Chapter 2:28. And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, assurance, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. We must be like John at the end of Revelation. Even so, come Lord Jesus. I want to make sure that's still a part of our prayers. I don't want to get so down and out with this world and so persecuted then I look for him. We must say listen now Lord come now Lord Jesus don't wait another day. Come now Lord Jesus. Let that be our refrain. Don't let's not be afraid of his. He is coming back. Are you awaiting his return? He will come as a thief in the night. It will be as the twinkling of an eye. Will you be ready? We must be ready. He says this in chapter 4, there is no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear because fear hath torment. He that fearth is not made perfect in love. He's saying this. He's talking about the judgment day. We should not fear the judgment day. We should await the judgment day. Why? Because we will stand before our savior. We will stand before our king. We will stand before our God. and he will say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." I don't want to fear that. I want to eagerly await that. Would you lift up your hands right now? I want us to await and eagerly await his return. Let us get eternity in our hearts. Oh, Jesus, help us. Number six, I'm moving fast. I promise. Do you see a decreasing pattern of sin in your life? This is a this is built on the the second point here that we're growing that we are maturing. If you look at chapter number two, he says, I write unto you little children. I didn't give this to brother Dick. I apologize. Chapter 2, verse 12. I write unto you unto you little children because your sins are forgiven for your name's sake, for his name's sake. That's the very beginning of it. That's little children. He's He's not using this to speak down or be condescending. He is he is he is he is viewing them new believers. Your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. That's the first step. You need to know that. Need to be reminded of that. Your sins are forgiven. I write unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning. He's saying there is there is a trajectory of your life, a maturity that takes place. Listen, when when when we we had Eastston, we took her to the doctor like every what? Three months, six months, something like that. I don't know what we had to do. You have to take your take your baby to the doctor. And what they're doing is this, looking for growth and start asking questions. Is she grabbing for anything? Is she talking? Is she walking? Is she talking? I'm like, is she talking? She hasn't stopped. Is she using complete sense? She's been using complete sentences since she was one. We got full paragraphs. We have whole books. And that's just the morning. But we're looking for growth, right? We're on the right trajectory. How's she eating? Has she had solid food yet? How's her digestion with all of that? The doctor's looking for growth right now. If she is if she's still couping and gagaing when she's 10 years old, we have a problem. >> If she's still crawling when she's 10 years old, we have a some there's something wrong here. I'm afraid, brothers and sisters, we have too many little children. and you've been in it for 50 plus years. >> You got gray hair, but you don't have gray in your soul. >> You're as just as immature. Oh, brother Nate. Come on now. Paul said, "When I was a child, I thought, I talked and I acted like a child. That's expected of me. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. Let me tell you, some of us need to experience a revival of maturity. >> Some of us need to grow up in Christ. Nine minutes. I'm writing unto you, young men. This is the the vigor. This is those who are ready to fight. These are these are those who have energy. They've got all they're ready to do it because there's an in between. There's the little children and there's the fathers. But then there's the middle of the life when you are to give your all, your energy to this work, to the kingdom, to your God. And this is I want you to understand. There is a trajectory in your spiritual life. You must be growing. And here's what we need to test. Are we growing in Christ or do the same things that cause us to stumble causing us to stumble for 10, 15, 20 years? It's not Jesus, it's not the spirit, it's not the word, it's not the church, >> it's you. If you still get jealous, you still get envious, you still get bitter, you still fight, still get your feelings hurt, still explode with an anger problem. How long you been in this now? You got to grow up. You got to grow up. You notice we don't have any many tent revival saying the grow up revival. We might need that though. Someone say amen. Do you see a decreasing pattern of sin in your life? Number seven, do you love other Christians? I love Jesus. I just don't I just don't like the church. Let me tell you what John says. 1 John 3:14, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. When you are born of God, you are born into the family of God. And you are not an only child. So stop acting like it. These are your brothers and sisters in Christ. Some are harder to love, but you're called to love them no matter what. We love one another. And if you can't love this person that's sitting over here, your spirit's wrong. Come on now. John's saying it's light or dark. You're either in or you're out. I love Jesus. I just don't love his word. Then you don't love him. I love Jesus. I just don't like his people. Then you don't love him. Do you love the brethren? Do you love other Christians? When you are born of God, you are born into the family of God. Hatred is incompatible with life in Christ. If a man say, "I love God and hateth his brother," he is a what? An untruth. He's a liar. Don't you dare say you're a Christian and you can't talk to each other at Walmart. >> Don't you say you're a Christian and you get on Facebook and fight other Christians about nonsense. You must love one another. [Applause] >> We need a revival of love in the church today. We need a revival of loving one another. You're my brother. You're my sister. Number eight. Do you experience answered prayers? John assures believers. And this is the confidence. Go mark that word up every time you see it in his letter. And this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. What's I I said it the Sunday morning, Brother Nate. What's the will of God for my life? Here it is. Manual instruction book. If you will do the word of God, you'll know the will of God. But so many get outside the word of God. Is that girl going to keep you out of church? It's not the It's not the will of God. Is that job going to keep you out of the house of the Lord and keep you away from your family? Answered prayers. answered. God wants to answer prayer. I've said this before. God always answers prayer. Yes, no, and wait. But he always answers. But do you experience the yeses in your life? Do you experience the confirmation of his answers in your life? John added, "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him because we keep his commandments. The will of God is always connected to the word of God. You pray according to the word, not according to how you feel. You pray his will when you pray his word, but if you're not doing his word, you're not going to do his will. If you do the revealed, if you do the revealed word of God, he will reveal his will for you. Number nine, do you experience the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life? Do you experience the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life? And I'm not talking about goosebumps or or your or the hair on your neck raising. And by the way, that didn't happen. That didn't happen to a whole lot of people, especially to me. I don't have any hair on the back of my neck or on my head. I'm talking about is the spirit working in your life in John this letter the spirit teaches and guards from error bears witness to Christ's true identity gives asssurance of salvation produces love among believers grants victory over the world's deception but other places in the New Testament the spirit bears witness to our adoption as sons and daughters empowers obedience produces spiritual ual fruit and spiritual gifts. When you receive the Holy Ghost with the initial evidence of speaking with other tongues, the spirit then begins to work in your life. But that's only the day one. That's only the first thing. He wants to work in you, empower you, sanctify you, and give you assurance. Which leads us to our last test. Would you stand with me? John repeatedly warns against false teachers and antichrists. But one mark of assurance is the ability to recognize truth from error. John wrote chapter 2 verse 20, "But you have an uncction or an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things." Now, that's not saying that when you get the Holy Ghost, you're downloaded with this hard drive of information. What he's saying is that when you John Wesley said this said it this way that the word of God is in is uh dually inspired or doubly inspired. There's a dual inspiration. The word of God is inspired by the Holy Spirit. That the uh men of God were moved on by the Holy Ghost, right? that every word that is written is inspired of God. It's authoritative. But then John Wesley would say that the Holy Spirit that inspired the word that's in you as a believer then inspires you not inspires you to create something. No. And it's another word for it would be illuminate. When you read the scripture, does something happen to you when you begin to read it? It's been happening to me for months. I'm on fire right now. The writer of Ecclesiastes said this. Much study is a weariness to the flesh. That's what he said. My flesh is tired, but my spirit is on fire. When you begin to study the word of God, the spirit begin when you hear preaching and you hear anointed singing, does the spirit all of a sudden begin to well up in you, begin to move in you? The spirit inspires you when you begin to open up his word and he begins to speak to you through his word and you're like, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe. Can you see, brother Nate? Did you see this? I want to show you something." And the word of God begins to inspire you. But it inspires you and helps you to discern between truth and error. Deception, brothers and sisters, is on the rise in our world. If the devil can't get you to leave the church, he'll try to get on your phone and sew seeds of deception through social media. It sounds right. Sound that. But your the spirit, the Holy Ghost should say, I don't know about that. Let me go to the word of God. Let let me let me let me ask bishop let me ask pastor let me ask let me this sound right to you then you must have some assurance happening in your life. You don't want to have your mind so open that your brains fall out. But you also want to be able to discern between truth and error. Paul said this, and I'm closing. If we or an angel preach any other gospel, let him be accursed. You need to be able to discern between right and here's how you do it. You know what truth is. You get so so enamored and so he said John said to abide in the truth. The word abide means to remain in it. Means you got to be you gota you got to dig into it. You got to get it in your spirit. Ezekiel eat the scroll. John, eat the book. Why? Because you must be nourished by the very words of God. And the spirit of God takes the word of God. And all of a sudden, you can hear things and you can partake of things and go, "Now listen, that's fine and well. I feel something with that. But I want you to know that that's not right. I might enjoy that song, but I might enjoy that singer. I might enjoy that little sermon, but I want you to know that there is still truth. That there's one God. That we must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. You must receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, speaking with other tongues that you must live right and less. Must live holy, discern between truth and error, tests of assurance. Would you lift up your hands right now in the name of Jesus? Father in heaven, I feel your spirit right now. God, I'm so on fire with your word to help your people know you know truth and know this salvation. And that there be any person in this room who may be struggling with doubt and uncertainty. Let them feast upon the very word of God this day and this week. Oh God, assure them. But if there's anybody, oh God, who has listened and read these tests, God, and they're unsure, let them come to you. Let them come to an altar of repentance, because you are faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And you are also faithful and just, oh God, to save us and turn us around. Father, be with every believer. be with us this week. But I pray right now a special prayer. As every believer walks out of the doors of this church, let them walk out of here with confidence. Let them walk out of here with assurance, not in themselves, not in their emotions or their feelings, but God, let them walk in confidence and assurance of who you are. and let them face every deception, every deceiving spirit that would try to you stir up your authority and cast it down through the power of your name and word and spirit in the name of Jesus we pray. And would you say amen?