"We
know that we have passed from death unto life, because we
love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." (verse
14) Now
isn't this interesting, we pass from death to life, we love
the brethren. One of the things I really love to do,
is, before the communion services, sometimes to stand backstage
as the musicians are playing and just listen to the chatter
that's out here, thousands of voices. And the sense of it
is, there's such great anticipation, there's such great
excitement, and to see people together laughing and crying,
no drugs, no alcohol, nothing that the world needs to inebriate
itself. As Paul says, be ye not drunk with the
wine, but be ye being filled with the Holy Spirit. It's a remarkable thing to see the body
of Christ together.
I think sometimes we take it for granted, too.
You shouldn't.
You know, it's sad, we had someone from the church
this week, 39 years old, drop dead.
And I'm sure there will be some person around that
life, there will be those that will say 'I wish I had said
this', or 'I wish that I had asked forgiveness' or 'I wish
that I hadn't said.' More often we wish that we hadn't said
than we had said.
But while you have one another, don't take each other
for granted. If you pray for one another, God will
do remarkable things in your heart toward one another. Now I consider it a privilege to be here
with you, and I consider this to be my family. Because when my heart is broken,
and things are tough for me and I'm down and out, it is
my co-laborers and the people that God has given me relationships
with in the body of Christ that rally around me and hold
up my arms and help me along. I had never experienced that when I was
in the world. [And
all of us should have that kind of relationship within their
congregations and denomination they are a part of.
I felt that within the Sabbatarian Churches of God
(Torah observant), and I have felt that kinship in the many
other congregations I have fellowshipped with and attended. That's how I know these are all God's
people. People
often look from the outside in and like to call such closeness
as being a part of a cult. But it's not.] I have a very, very close friend who is
a leader in a seal team, United States Seals, and the thing
that he says to me is, "What I love about it is the camaraderie. I know when the guy next to me is gonna
breathe, I know when he's gonna move."
And I know what he's looking for is what we enjoy. He is looking for the communion, the koinonia
that he can only have in the body of Christ with other believers. And he's experiencing the closest thing
to that kind of belonging that he's known in the world. And I do try to remember to pray for him.
So "we know we've passed from death to life
because we love the brethren.
He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."
(verse 14) "Whoso hateth his brother is a murderer:
and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in
him." (verse 15) And I'm telling you, the world is
crazy. Look
at people shooting each other at the corner, shooting each
other at red lights, shooting each other at, remember a
few years ago at L.A. on the freeway, people just driving
around shooting each other out the window.
Somebody told me they saw a sign that said "LAST
AMMO BEFORE FREEWAY".
It was a joke, of course.
But you know the way it is sometimes now.
And the pressure in the world is so tremendous, again,
if you pull in front of somebody and you look in your rearview
mirror sometimes and you just see it, you know, they're
giving you obscene gestures, blowing their horn, cutting
you out, wheeling along-side of you, follow you home-you
know, the world is so crazy you never know by simply offending
somebody whether you're going to get shot anymore. And the Bible says that. "Whoso hates his brother is a murderer, and
no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." (verse 15) "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life
for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."
(Verse 16) Instead of being a life-taker, he
is as life-giver.
The way that you and I perceive the love of God is
in this, that he has sent his Son to die for us, to take
away our sins. John
says it here, "because
he laid down his life for us".
The idea is, throughout the New Testament, when
God wants to prove to us his love, he points us to the cross.
And again, I know in my own experience, and all of
us understand, that so many times we find ourselves praying
"God if you love me, you'll give me this job." "God, if you love me you'll give me this
car." Like
he's up in heaven going 'Oh no, I've got to prove it again,
they don't believe, they don't believe', you know.
"God if you love me you'll give me this husband."
"God if you love me you'll take this husband away
from me." [laughter] Because we think, we do this thing, 'Well,
if I was God.' Like
he's up there saying 'Why didn't I ever think of that? Now what a great suggestion.' 'He would have made a good god and I didn't
even think of it.'
He sees the end from the beginning, he is the One
who is, and who was, and who is to come (Revelation 1:8).
He's the One who is, that's why he sees us and says
to us "We are justified, sanctified and glorified" because
right now he is, that is sanctified, he was, that is justified,
and he is to come, that's glorified. And he sees us that way, he's the God
that calls things that are not as though they were, and
here we're trying to bargain with him, saying 'Well, if
you love me you'll give me this date', you know, 'if you
love me you'll give me this car.' And God's going 'Oh no.' The amazing thing it says, is 'Herein
is the love of God demonstrated to us, and this is how we
perceive the love of God, that he laid down his life for
us, that he's given his Son for us.' There can be no greater demonstration
of God's love than that.
You know, if you have ever watched one of your own
children on the verge of life-and-death, you know the panic
that ensues. Again,
I have my own Joshua, not of course the Son of God, but
the son of Joe, and watched him bleeding to death in front
of me, and I would have done anything and did everything
that was in my power to try to stop and turn that situation
around. I can't
imagine God almighty giving up a sinless Son who he never
broke communion with, who every day of his life said 'I
don't say anything unless my Father says it, I don't do
anything unless my Father does it.' God Almighty as Jesus comes to be baptized
at the river Jordan says "This is my beloved Son in whom
I am already well pleased."
He'd [up until after that moment] never preached
a sermon, he'd never done a miracle, he had been in the
carpenter shop with him for thirty years at that point in
time. And [God the Father] willingly gave him
for us, and stood back.
Jesus said, 'Don't you think, Peter, you know, put
your sword in its sheath, if I gave command 12 legions of
angels would come now. [And back in Kings, I believe in the time
of Hezekiah, one
angel slew 185,000 battled-hardened Assyrian soldiers in
one night.] All of heaven was restrained. Michael and the angels were saying, 'God,
just give us the command, we'll go down and stop this crucifixion.',
and it tells us that the angels desire to look into the
things concerning the heirs of salvation, because there
is no savior for angels, they don't understand why God,
their own creator would have taken on human flesh and allowed
himself to be brutalized by his own creation, they don't
understand that. And it is the greatest demonstration of
God's love. He
will give us no greater proof.
And whenever we are wrestling life's circumstances,
and granted sometimes we do, when there's cancer in our
family, or there's a very difficult situation, and we find
ourselves broken, and looking up to heaven, and saying 'God,
how can I reconcile this with your love?'
'How can I reconcile this pain, or this suffering,
or this difficult situation with an all-powerful God who
has the ability to change it, who tells me that he loves
me unconditionally-'Lord, how can I believe that you love
me in the midst of this heartbreak?' And the answer is always the same. "Hereby perceive we the love of God, that he laid down his life for
us." (verse 16) It
is always back to the cross.
When we are faced with things that we do not understand,
we always fall back on what we do understand, and that is, that God
was in Christ on the cross reconciling the world to himself. "Hereby perceive we the love of God, that he laid down his life for
us: and we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren.
But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother
have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in
him?" (verses
16-17) Very,
very practical Christianity.
If you have the means, and you have the resources,
and you see someone who's close to you that you love, a
brother or sister in Christ suffering and in need, and instead
of going to their aid or anonymously helping that person
financially or in another way, instead of doing that you
shut up your bowels of compassion, it says 'well how does
the love of God find its way to live through you fully?'
Because God laid down his life we ought to lay down
our lives for those around us. So, when those needs come to us, we have
to say 'Lord, OK, are you putting this across my path?' And I'm gonna tell you something. There are times, granted, when helping
someone is not helping them.
There are times when you are around a user or an
abuser who may call themselves a Christian, and by bailing
them out one more time you're only helping them to maintain
their irresponsibility.
And granted, there are times, and you will sense
the Lord, check you spirit and [he] will say 'Stand back
and let me deal with this guy, stop bailing him out.'
But that is the exception and not the rule, and
I think if we are going to err, if we're not sure of God's
leading, we should always err on the side of mercy, and
not on the side of judgment.
I think we have to be careful that our agape love
doesn't develop into discernment. Because I think as that happens we lose
something. [I
just want to add something here.
Pastor Joe referred specifically to our helping out
those close to us. But these two verses can and should also
be applied to where we know of others that are in need,
and the only way we can help is through one of the major
international evangelistic help organizations, say like
Samaritan's Purse, or the JESUS Film Project. See and scroll to the 2nd half
of this site's Mission Statement to learn more (http://www.unityinchrist.com/missionstatement.htm). See also http://www.unityinchrist.com/evangelism/sisterchurches/BlessiOrphanHome.htm. The first link outlines a simple and very
inexpensive
$5-a-week
giving plan that would move virtual mountains if followed
by a sufficient number of Christians. The second one is a tiny Christian Orphanage
in South India which I contribute about a $1.00 a day to,
or what amounts to $15 every two weeks.]
If we see our brother in tremendous need and we don't
go to his aid when we have the means, how can we say the
love of God is within us. "My little children, let us not love in word,
neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." (verse 18) "Though I speak with the tongue of
men and angels and have not love, I am a noisy gong and
a clanging cymbal." That's Paul's way of saying it,
the Greek says, talk is cheap.
[James said the same identical thing in James 2:14-17] "And hereby we know that we are of the truth,
and shall assure our hearts before him."-or persuade
our hearts before him.
If we're not loving in word or tongue only, if we
are loving other people in truth and in deeds by action-again,
I mentioned this morning, even your dog knows when you love
him, not by a three-point sermon.
I had a dog awhile ago.
He was not interested in my study in 1st
John chapter 3. But he knew when I loved him, because
I didn't love him in just word and in tongue, but in deed
and in action. Again, my wife and my kids are trying
to talk me into getting another dog.
Never gonna happen, they tricked me once, not gonna
trick me again, they're saying is 'Ah, we want a dog, we
want a puppy', and what they're really saying is 'We want
a pet a dog that you walk, and clean up after and feed
and pay for his medical bills-and keep him clean so our
hands don't smell like a dog after we pet him-will ya?'
You know the story.
But that dog, great dog, he loved me, because I was
the guy, and most importantly, that fed him.
It was an action. He wasn't interested in a sermon in love,
it was my demonstration.
And it's the same thing with human beings.
It's easy for us to say 'I love you, be warmed and
filled' and not do anything [James 2:14-18].
That's what it's saying here.
It is by our actions when we begin to lay down our
life, hereby we know, it begins to convince us that we are
of the truth, and we begin to persuade our own hearts before
God. But if
our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and
knoweth all things. "And hereby we know that we are of the truth,
and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater
than our heart, and knoweth all things." (verses 19-20) Isn't that a great verse. I think you should underline that in your
Bible. Because
most of us are so prone to condemnation.
"If our heart condemn us, God is greater
than our heart." Thank
God. "And he knoweth all things." "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then we have confidence toward God."
(verse 21) We're able to enjoy life, to look forward
to his coming, to walk in his presence, to ask him for things. "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him,
because we keep his commandments and do those things that
are pleasing in his sight." (verse 22)
Now let's look at this verse 22.
"Keeping his commandments and doing those things
that are pleasing in his sight.", it almost sounds like
the law again-OK, what does this mean, 'God's gonna like
us because we keep his commandments, you know here we are
back under the Ten or Nine or how many of them [the OT version
of God's law is 10 major commandments, which includes the
Holy Days of Leviticus 23, the NT 'law of Christ' includes
nine of the ten commandments, brought to the higher spiritual
intent]. Well, the next verse clearly tells us
what it means to keep his commandments and do those things
that are pleasing in his sight.
"This is his commandment. That we should believe on the name of
his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us
commandment." 'This is the greatest of the commandments,
that we love the Lord God with all of our hearts, soul,
minds and strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves,
and Jesus said 'in these two are all the law and the prophets
fulfilled.' [i.e.
the Big Ten, the whole torah, are based on those two, and
so is the entire NT law of Christ, which is 9 of the 10
commandments re-stated, and sometimes amplified, such as
in Matthew 5] So,
look, Augustine said 'Love God with all your heart and do
what you will. If
you love God with all your heart, what other law needs to
be in place? [Here's the age-old dynamic of 'law and
grace' being played out here.
We are to obey God's law, whether under the freedom
of the new covenant we chose to adhere to the "OT big Ten"
or the "NT 9 of the Big Ten" given as the 'law of Christ'.
John defines "sin as the transgression of the law".
But by the very definition of the new covenant, the
simple Bible definition given in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews
8:6-13, God says he will write his laws in our hearts and
upon our minds.
Throughout the New Testament we read of how we are
told not to sin, and if sin is the transgression of God's
law, as John defines it in this 3rd chapter (verse
4), then we are clearly told not to transgress God's law. So we see a dynamic here between our efforts
to obey, and God applying his power and effort to write
his law within our innermost being, so it's really him obeying
within us. The whole history of ancient Israel from
Joshua through Ezra and Nehemiah show Israel totally incapable
of obeying God's law on their own, without God's Holy Spirit
indwelling them. Only the prophets were able to obey, and
a few kings that had the Holy Spirit, as the prophets did. We have our part in making ourselves willing
to obey, but God I would say has the greater part, making
obedience possible in the first place, by actually writing
the higher, loftier spiritual intent of God's law within
our minds and upon our hearts-as well as giving us the inner
desire to obey. No
legitimate Christian denomination, whether it be Church
of God Sabbatarian, Baptist, Methodist, evangelical, Calvary
Chapel, you name it, has been able to properly define "law
and grace". Everyone
differs in their spoken and written doctrinal definition
of what "law and grace" really is.
Some, and perhaps rightly, will say that verse 22
defines the whole of God's law, based on 1 John 3:4, and
they may be right. But what is amazing, and I have noticed
this in my travels throughout the differing denominations,
from Torah observant Church of God Sabbatarian, Messianic
Jewish, Baptist, Calvary Chapel-from what some term legalistic,
to the super-grace oriented churches-all of their definitions
for "law & grace" differ, but all of the Holy Spirit
indwelt individuals that I have fellowshipped with within
these differing parts of the body of Christ all, to a man or woman of them, are living
by the same godly standards of obedience to God's law, whether
that be the OT 10-C version, or the NT 9-C law of Christ
version. So something vital is missing from all
our human attempts to properly define "law & grace". Pastor Joe falls down on this, as do the
Torah observant Church of God Sabbatarians do. Everyone's off on this one. The key is the simple Bible definition
of the new covenant.
Paul says that we are to work out our own salvation
with fear and trembling. That is our part. But God says he will write his laws-and
I believe "law" is in the plural, both in Jeremiah and Hebrews
8-within our minds and upon our hearts.
It's a dual responsibility, God's and man's, and
it is talking about the whole law of God,
in it's spiritual intent, whether it's lusting, stealing,
lying, killing-hating, dishonoring God, idolatry, coveting-all
wrapped up in the two great commandments Jesus quoted from
Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Obedience to God's whole law, whether
the OT version or NT version, is not legalistic if it's
being done in and through the power and inspiration of God's
indwelling Holy Spirit. It is merely God doing what he promised
to do in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:6-13. Hope this helps make a little clearer
a subject that defies a proper explanation from the human
point of view. Many of the differing denominations will
read this study, and in no way am I implying you should
stop or alter your habits of obedience to God's law, for
whichever system of definition for law & grace you are
using, God himself is using that system of definitions you
have chosen to adhere to as an aid to write his laws within
your minds and upon your hearts.
And it is God who is doing the major work of accomplishing
this directly by the indwelling of his Holy Spirit within
you. What person
among you can walk away from an alcohol addiction, or a
lusting habit, or whatever, all on his own?
Not one of you.
The intensely powerful chains of sin can only be
broken by God through the divine miraculous power and inspiration
of his indwelling Holy Spirit.
True obedience is a work of God within you. And if that is so, true obedience is never
legalistic or legalism, and must never be defined as such-unless
you like blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
That is why it is so important not "to judge another
man's servant" as Paul says in Romans 14, and by that Paul
means that we are not to be judging the way other Christians
define the way their walk should be, whether OT Torah observant
(which group Paul was talking about in Romans 14) or NT
grace oriented churches (which Paul was also talking about
in Romans 14). So I hope this helps a little. Had to insert this explanation in here,
due to the varied readership this site ministers to, from
Torah observant to grace oriented.]
You remember what it was like to be in love with
someone when you first met them. You're attention was always on that person.
You brushed your teeth, you combed your hair, you
put on deodorant, you cleaned the car, you opened the door,
you shaved, you changed, you put on real clothes [laughter]. Love is a powerful force. "And this is his commandment, that we should
believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one
another as he gave us commandment." (verse 23)
"And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in
him, and he in him.
And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the
Spirit which he hath given us." (verse 24) The idea is, there is that new nature,
there is that ability to love one another, there is that
ability to deny the things of the world, there is that Spirit
in our hearts that cries Abba, Father.
1st John 4:1-3
Now, because we have the Holy Spirit, now he comes
to this kind of short exhortation here, ah, where he says
to us [going on into chapter 4] "Beloved, believe not every spirit,"-we
have the Holy Spirit, but don't believe every spirit-"but try the spirits whether they are of
God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every
spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this
is that spirit
of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come;
and even now already is it in the world."
(verses 1-3) In chapter 2 he said there are already
many antichrists.
So, as he says, 'we have the Spirit of God, we have
the Spirit moving on our hearts, but he says "Beloved,
believe not EVERY spirit, but try the spirits." Now, by the way, this is not written
to the pastor, this is written to you.
It is your responsibility to test the spirits, and
this
is not the gift of discerning of spirits that is
spoken of 1st Corinthians 12 to 14, because there,
as Paul talks about the gifts he said "Do all speak in tongues,
do all prophesy?" The idea is, not all of us then in that
context would have the gift of discerning of spirits. That's not what it's talking about [here
in verse 1 of John 4].
It is saying to us that all of us are responsible
to test the spirits, plural, and when it says that, it is
speaking-it is your responsibility to test me-you should
never come here just every week to find out what to believe,
go home, put your Bible on the shelf and open it up again
next Sunday! Paul said the Bereans were more noble
because they went home and searched the Word of God to see
what he was saying was true.
Again, it is your responsibility to search the Word
of God. Do not believe what I say, test the Scripture,
read it yourself, see if I'm telling you the truth, that's
your responsibility.
Because I'll tell you this, things are going
to get stranger and stranger before Christ comes.
The world we live in is scheduled to be deceived,
and it is scheduled to be deceived by false prophets and
false teachers. Your
safety is not listening to me, your safety is you have the
blood of Jesus, you have the Holy Ghost, and you have the
Word of God. And
you do not need to be intimidated by any man. So you, it says, the responsibility falls
on you, for your wife, for your children, for your husband,
you yourself test the spirits to see whether they are of
God-because many false prophets-and that seems to be the
context, the movement of what's motivating a ministry or
a minister or a preacher-it says "many
false prophets" in context with spirits, "are gone out into the world. And this is how we know [or Hereby we
know] whether the spirit is of God, whether it's the Spirit
of God." And here's your test. "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is of God."
And here's the test, and take note to it, you
might miss it. Every spirit that confesses, now to confess,
homologeo, to
say the same thing as God, to agree with God about this-that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.
Again, the background is, the Gnostic heresy and
a heretic named Cerinthis that John had to confront, who
basically said in his day, again, that the Spirit of Messiah
or the Spirit of Christ came upon Jesus when he was baptized
in Jordan, came upon him like a dove, and stayed upon him
until the crucifixion, but that he was born a man, he died
a man, that the Christ Spirit was only on him during that
[short 3 ½ year] time.
And you see again, that smacks of Eastern philosophy,
it smacks of the New Age movement, and it smacks of those
who are waiting for avatars and new prophets and so forth. No, what it says here is "Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ
is come into flesh"-and the Greek insinuates pre-existence. [Remember Jesus said "before Abraham was,
I AM". One
of the names for God was I AM, given to Moses at the burning
bush. The Jews understood this, and wanted to
kill Yeshua, Jesus, because he was claiming pre-existence
as very God, the Great I AM.]
The idea is, he is come from somewhere else, he already
existed, of his own will [he came] into flesh. "In the beginning", John says in his gospel,
"was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God,
and the Word" not was made, but "became
flesh and dwelt among us.
And we beheld his glory." John 1:14.
So what he's insinuating here is the Deity of Christ
and the incarnation, that the Jesus we believe in.In other
words, if you tell me you believe in Jesus, and you say
'Yah, but I don't necessarily believe in the virgin birth,
you know, that's, we don't know what Mary was up to, but
I think he was a great teacher, and he's the Jesus of the
Bible, I don't necessarily think he took away the sins of
the whole world, but I believe he had some great things
to say. I don't necessarily believe that he rose
from the dead, this 2nd coming of Jesus stuff
is a little.' Well let me tell you something, [if you
believe in that stuff he just mentioned] you don't believe
in the same Jesus I believe in, because
I believe in the Lamb that was slain from the foundation
of the world, that of his own will came into the womb of
a virgin miraculously, was born, sinless, died on the cross
to take away the sin of the world, rose on the 3rd
day, and is ready at any moment to come back again.
That's the Jesus that we're talking about here. And every spirit that confesses that is
of God. There's
your test. "Every spirit that confesses not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is not of God." So, watch a ministry, what is the
emphasis in a ministry?
Is it healing, or is it Jesus?
And I believe that God heals, we pray for the sick,
I see people healed. Is it prosperity, or is it Jesus? And I believe there may be seasons in
our life when God prospers us.
Paul learned to be abased and abound.
Is it holy laughter or is it Jesus?
What is the emphasis?
Are they building on sand or are they building on
the Rock? Jesus said, "when the Holy Spirit comes
he will not testify of himself, but he will take the things
that belong to me and show them, and he will speak of me."
So if you go to a Holy Ghost meeting, that is not
a Holy Ghost meeting.
Because the Holy Ghost won't talk about himself.
If you go to a Jesus Christ meeting, you are at a
Holy Ghost meeting. You know, again, I appreciate so much
some of the great men we see in the media, there are those
that, it was beautiful to see the Graham team [Billy Graham
and Franklin Graham] and the integrity, and to see thousands
of people come forward, without all the nonsense, without
people rolling around on the floor with, without all the
insanity-beautiful, peaceful demonstration of power and
integrity. I appreciate that greatly. And Jesus said when the Holy Spirit comes,
he will not speak of himself but will take the things that
belong to me and show them unto you.
So, it's up to you.
Test the spirits. If the spirit behind a ministry or a movement
confesses and places before you the incarnation, Jesus Christ,
coming in the flesh, being God from birth-not from baptism-on
through his resurrection, still on the throne of God, if
the spirit [of that ministry] confesses, if that is what
the emphasis is, it is of God.
"If the spirit
[of that ministry] does not confess that Christ is come
in the flesh, it is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, whereof
ye have heard that it should come; and even now already
is it in the world."
(verse 3) Now, again, some of the major movements
in the world today are antichrist.
Islam. And
I am not putting down any individuals that are Muslim.
But Islam is a movement that is antagonistic to Judaism
and Christianity.
And it is a major force-and if the Lord tarries much
longer, that we will all recon with in the world today. And Mohammed did not like Jews and Christians
because they are "the
people of the Book" and he could not convert them. Marxism, Communism is antichrist, what
motivates those movements.
The politically correct politics that surround
us today are antichrist.
They mock Judeo-Christian ethics, family values,
righteousness, morality, the identification of sin, the
need of a Savior. And all of those movements will ultimately
culminate in a single individual that the Bible calls the
Antichrist, who will rule the world with tyranny.
Just interesting, I saw a show on TV today talking
about Nostrodamus and how he was so excellent with his prophecies,
and everything he said, he said would happen, and he also
prophecied that a great leader is about to come and bring
peace to the whole world-Oh boy, what a set-up, Nostrodamus,
he ate too much Pizza before he went to sleep, Edgar Case
the sleeping prophet, you know.
This is the Word of God, and if they're not testifying
that Jesus is come in the flesh, the spirit is not of God.
Ah, we can't go any further.
We're kind of breaking in the middle of a, ah we're
breaking where we shouldn't break, but obviously in God's
sovereignty that's where we're supposed to break [off]. We will pick up in verse 4, if you will
read ahead "Ye are
of God, little children, and have overcome them"-plural,
false prophets-"because greater is he"-Jesus, the Holy Spirit-"that
is in you, than he that is in the world." (verse 4) You're security in the midst of deception
that will come on the world is not your own strength or
wisdom, it is that he will work within your heart and he
will keep you and he is committed to you, and will give
you that ability to test the spirits. Let's stand, and let's pray." [sermon transcript of 1 John 3:4-24; 4:1-3
given by Pastor Joe Focht, © Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia,
1996, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]
