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to 1 John chapter 4 and look at verse number 6. We are of God, and he that knoweth God heareth us, he that is not of God heareth not us, hereby know we the spirit of truth. The title for the sermon tonight is the spirit of truth, the spirit of truth. Now you should already know who the spirit of truth is. You know we've gone through the book of John very clearly the spirit of truth was outlined and you know named as the Holy Spirit. You know the comforter that Jesus Christ would ask his father to send is that Holy Spirit truth. And so this Holy Spirit we all have it's not just in a past Pastor Kevin or it's not in just the most faithful members of the church. Every believer has the Holy Spirit of truth living in them. And the Holy Spirit that is our Lord God dwelling in us and will confirm to you that what you hear is truth or if it's a lie. Okay and the Holy Spirit of truth will help you identify what church should I be part of, what preacher should I be listening to. And so we have the beginning of this chapter sort of outline some some basic principles of identifying a true prophet from a false prophet. Now before I read the first few verses one thing that I want you to understand you know when you read the bible the first thing you want to do is think about what is the first application of these verses. And then of course the bible is a very deep book how can then I apply that to my life. Okay when you understand the primary application to the next few first few verses it's going to help you understand what the Apostle John is teaching. Because if you take the next verses at face value and apply it as a primary principle to yourself today you might get a little bit confused. And let me explain to you why because it says here in verse number one beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits to try the spirits there is to test the spirits to try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Do you believe that there are many false prophets in the world there are many preachers there are many pastors that do not have the truth and so you can't just make the assumption oh well that church I'll just attend that random church you know I'll just I'll just listen to this random preacher the instruction here is to try or to test the spirit by which that man preaches is the spirit of God or is it not of God because there are many false prophets that have gone into the world. Now the reason this is important is because I'll just read it to you very quickly from the book of Proverbs, Proverbs 14 15 it says the simple believeth every word the simple the what does it mean to be simple to be a little bit not so intelligent a little bit of a base person someone that doesn't have a lot of smarts someone that doesn't have a lot of discernment they're going to believe every word they're going to go to church any church any random church oh that's a great sermon that's a great preacher and just believe everything that he said listen that ought not to be us now look ideally you've been coming to a new life of the church you've had pastor Kevin as your pastor for almost six years I think by night by now you've determined if you haven't determined by now there's something wrong with you whether I'm preaching by the spirit of truth the holy spirit or some other spirit whether it's truth or whether it's a lie and the fact that so many of you have hung around for many years should already be that confirmation that I've already decided where this past is preaching the truth okay so I'm not saying that every time you come to New Life Baptist Church or you have identified another great church you know open door bible church and every time I'm just going to sit there and just analyse and criticise every single sentence of every single word every single week that I go there because you'll be overwhelmed I mean look at some point you need to decide all right you know I'm comfortable with this preacher I know he's a man of God I know he's been utilised by God but at the same time you don't want to be just completely comfortable with everything you need to test what is being preached and what is being taught by God's word because even great even good men of God even men that are trying to do the best we stir the flesh we can still make mistakes we can still have biases we can still make assumptions you know and things that may not necessarily be you know outlined clearly by the word of God and just could you just could be opinions that don't measure up to the same level as of course God's word and so you know yourselves you're to decide when you hear something taught you have the Holy Spirit of God within you too you know is this true is this a lie you know okay you know how do I apply how do I apply this you know to my life the things that I heard today how do I apply that now if you can just backtrack to the previous chapter then first John chapter 3 just as a reminder verse number 24 first John chapter 3 verse number 24 it says and he that keepeth that his commandments dwelleth in him and he in him and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he have given us all right so the spirit of God confirms to us that God dwells in us the spirit of God confirms that you are saved you know I don't have to be the person that makes a judgment call on whether you're saved or not you know if you've placed your faith on Jesus Christ his death and resurrection you know what you yourself know whether you're saved you the Holy Spirit of God dwells in you but you see as you keep his commandments as you walk with the Lord you're going to have a greater realization of the presence of the Holy Spirit within you it's true you know if you say pastor I just the spirit of God I just don't seem to grasp him within my life I just don't know you know pastor you know his power in my life let me encourage you keep his commandments the closer you are with the Lord in your walk in your faithfulness in your holiness you will experience a great presence of God living in you and when you when you live that life and you open God's word you're going to have a greater understanding of the scriptures that you read because it's the Holy Ghost that teaches you these things it's the Holy Ghost that teaches you whether it's true or whether it's a lie help you understand the scriptures and look at verse number two this is why you need to when you get to verse number two you need to apply the historical application here okay because it says hereby know ye the spirit of God so the apostle saying this is how you're going to know that the preacher is actually preaching by the spirit of God every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God now let me just read the next verse and every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God and this is the spirit of antichrist where of ye have heard that it should come and even now already is it in the world what is it saying so everyone that confesses every preacher that says Jesus Christ is coming to flesh they're of God save a past even the Catholics will confess that even the orthodox Christians would confess that I'm sure you can name many other you know uh umbrellas of you know well sects of Christianity that would claim that Jesus Christ came in the flesh and you would know full well but they're not even saved so how do we apply this verse and again you know firstly start with that historical setting you know don't forget that in these are the early days of Christianity and the apostles are going out you know that they're going out in a in a world that's full of idols and and worship of false gods and we are understanding the reality of what God has done for them by sending his son and they're going out there and they're what the biggest thing they're trying to convince people of is that Christ Messiah the anointed one has come into the world like today we we bear the benefits of the great work that these men have done because today you don't really need to convince you know convince people about Christ people know of Christ like our calendar is based on Christ coming into this world you know 80 and bc and there is an understanding today that you know Christ whether you believe it exactly or not but the understanding is you know that Christ came into this world but going back to the historical setting there this is a new truth that is being taught to the gentiles to the new churches that are starting out you know preaching to to to our unsaved people and of course there are others going around saying no Christ has not come in the flesh how do we apply that today well one simple way is that what it says there every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is coming to flesh sorry every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God and this is the spirit of Antichrist and look I you know I'm not trying to just go on and on about Judaism but Judaism is the spirit of Antichrist that's what it is because it says here they don't confess that Jesus Christ Christ is the Greek term for the Hebrew word what messiah messiah messiah does Judaism teach that Jesus is the messiah do they teach that messiah has come in the flesh or they still believe messiah is yet to come at some point they believe their messiah is still yet to come at some point that he has not come in the flesh and that it is definitely not Jesus this is the spirit of Antichrist Judaism is not old testament Christianity it's not because if they believed in Moses they would have believed on Jesus that's what Jesus Christ said okay to the unbelieving Jews so we can apply that today one thing that we can know for certain if someone denies that messiah has come in the flesh and that messiah was Jesus anyone that denies that is definitely not of God but I don't want you to remove the first verse there you know out of the historical context otherwise you might start applying that today and go hold on the Catholics admit Christ came in the flesh so they must be of God okay so you need to just understand that when you read your read your bible now one thing very quickly if you can just um oh look I'll just read it to you because even devils can speak some element of truth for example in mark chapter 1 verse 23 and there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit does that unclean spirit sound like the holy spirit the spirit truth unclean nah definitely not the holy spirit right and he cried out saying let us alone what have we to do the to the to do with thee thou Jesus of Nazareth thou come to destroy us I know thee who thou art the holy one of God that's a pretty true confession isn't there the unclean spirit saying this Jesus is the holy one of God and Jesus rebuked him saying hold thy peace and come out of him and when the unclean spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voice he came out of him what I'm trying to say there that if you take the application that anyone that confesses Christ has come in the flesh or that Christ is the holy one of God they're they're automatically believers they're automatically saved well I just want to show you an example there that even an unclean spirit can testify even what is true and Jesus Christ rebukes that spirit but the points behind this brethren is we need to make sure we identify preachers that are filled with the spirit of truth we have to I mean what I love about church growing up in church is I can come to a place where truth is being taught like it's it's nice isn't it we live in such a misguided world such a misguided world and I was just speaking to someone recently this week who shared with me his experiences and some things that sound supernatural and and but I can see there was a sincerity there you know wanting to understand the Bible wanting to understand God wanting to fully grasp what Christ had done and you know I basically positioned it like this you know you've got you know because people have strange experiences and sometimes you don't know are they true are they look I'm not going to insult someone's intelligence if they've gone through something they've experienced something I'm just going to believe them but here's the thing and I gave the example because we were having I think it was lunch together it was lunch and there was a piece of salt just tiny piece of salt on my plate and I said to the guy look if this plate represents if this plate represents everything there is to know about life everything there is to know about the world and the universe everything there is to know about the physical and the spiritual how much of your experience and knowledge would fit on this plate he said to me probably just a tiny speck I gave you for example let's just say that piece of salt represents what you know that little grain of salt okay which is probably still more than what's on the plate so if you want to know the truth are you going to interpret the world in your life based on that piece of salt or is it better to know what the plate holds who knows all of that plate and then to interpret your experiences and your knowledge based on all the knowledge that's contained in the universe well obviously interpreting your little bit of experience with the greater knowledge is the way to go and who's got all that knowledge only god and god has given us his word so then whatever it is that you've gone through whatever is that you've experienced must be interpreted in light of the bible and not the other way around and that's how you come to the truth and i could share look your experience is not true you may have experienced something but in light of the bible i'm not going to at all you know this is most likely what you experienced based on what the bible says and so god has given us his spirit of truth he's given us his word there is a spirit of antichrist in this world you know sometimes we think about the end times and look the end times is interesting topic we know the antichrist is coming at some points but brethren there is a spirit of antichrist even right now you know and it's it's it's confusing the world with with lies and corruption and we have the beautiful word of god we had a great sermon on the king james bible recently didn't we what what an honor what an honor i just went back just this week listening to uh new world bible versions documentary if you guys maybe just as a reminder you know just i mean i know the truth of god's word but it's just it's so beautiful to know god's given us his truth his word is truth the spirit of god is truth god's given us these this ability to be able to just work through the lies and know what god's word says it's just i mean what could you want in life you know when when god asked solomon what he wanted he could ask for money and and uh power and influence he just said lord give me wisdom to judge your people so great a people and you know what god's given us his wisdom in his word and his presence that lives each in each one of us you know i i strongly encourage you look i i love bible questions coming to me pastor what about this passage what do you think of this but what i really want you to do is say you know what i'm not going to ask my pastor lord i'm going to ask you because you've got you are the spirit of truth lord and i'm i'm ready i'm just waiting for you to give me that answer and lord look if this takes me uh 12 months and i still can't figure it out then i'll go ask my pastor how about that give god the time to teach you to god it's beautiful when god teaches you and shows you things let's uh drop down let's go back to first john to the four if you're not there first john to the four verse number four ye are of god little children and have overcome them who have we overcome the false prophets those that preach through another spirit we've overcome them we've defeated them okay we're victorious over the lies because we're little children we're children of god i love the next verse the next passage there because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world who's in the world the devil say look we should be concerned about the devil i understand that the devil attacks when you just just seemingly you know just you know i've underestimated the devil in my life but you know what i'm not afraid of the devil honestly i'm not because greater is he that is in me the holy spirit spirit of truth and we've overcome his lies we've overcome his corruption you know we've come to the truth and we've accepted jesus the messiah who's come in the flesh the devil doesn't like that the devil knows that he can't stop us we're saved there's nothing you can do about our salvation but he's definitely going to try to destroy our testimony he'll try it he'll try to stop us from being influential and a blessing to other people he floods the world with lies brethren we have the truth there's not many like when you think about how many people actually have the truth it's not many really i mean how many what percent of people do you think are truly saved in the world you know i don't know for sure but i reckon it's about the two three percent mark that i actually saved based on some numbers where i've gone slogging and i've kept count of how many people are actually saved versus how many people are not it's about two three percent no more than that really and say we're so little though pastor there's so few of us there are many that are headed to destruction that's what christ taught but greater is he that is in us we've overcome this world we can turn this world upside down you know by preaching and teaching by the spirit of truth that god has given us verse number five again referring to the false prophets they are of the world therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them this is why new life after church is never going to be a five thousand member hope i mean maybe hope so if it's the lord's will but unlikely ten thousand member church this is why the hill song will always out you know be strong be strong we'll always have more people greater membership than your local baptist church around the corner because they speak of the world and the world loves the world the world's attracted to the world i remember being in a youth group you know i went to my baptist church youth group you go to youth group to make friends right you feel lonely sometimes i'm going to meet other christians you want to get along with other believers i'm a young man going to youth group just my desire was to hear god's word it really was i want to know what god has to say to me and i want to have friends that are christians and we're going to youth group and well guys uh we're not having our usual lesson this friday we're going to hillsong there's a band i don't care what the band is some famous band playing a hill song we're all gonna you know bus it down there and and i think we have to pay for it i think from memory it's a long time ago now and i just thought oh well okay i've never been there i've never done it i'm curious i mean i'm looking for friendship this is a big church you get there you sit down isn't it blessed to have lights what about when there are lights but they don't use them and it's dark and you've got your bible and you can't read the words of the bible and you sat down next to your friend you can't even see your friend's face because it's that dark and some rock band is playing there and the purple lights are going off and the smoke machines are going on and then it's like all right guys let's get down there and dance yep happened i'm like you know i come to hear god's word are we gonna get a sermon at least i don't know are we gonna get something out of this boys and girls dancing girls in their mini skirts boys touching them all over in a church no no it's it's not a church it's the world and i'm just talking to my friends guys i thought we'd come to church how it comes to pick up chicks kevin it's such a shame you know you know as long as i'm the pastor of this church it's never going to be like the world it's not that i'm just some old-fashioned funny duddy baptist fundamentalist you know homeschooling you know dweeb or something no i've seen how the world corrupts the name of christ i've seen it and it's it it doesn't fulfill it gives it satisfies the flesh if you love the world it's going to satisfy your your desires for the world but if you desire god it's not going to satisfy maybe a little bit feels good feels fun feels fantastic but you'll notice at some point it doesn't feed you it doesn't nourish you it's the world look if i want to experience the world i'll go to the world concert that's what i thought as a young person as a teenager if i want to experience the world i'll go clubbing i'll go to the bar i'd rather go there where they're not blaspheming the name of jesus than go to a place that's called a church and they're glorifying god but it's the same thing as any nightclub to me that's blaspheming the lord at least if i go to some club at least i'm saying god you know what i'm just going to the world but at least i'm not taking my god with me and making it seem holy and acceptable by the lord's standards these churches grow because they're of the world the world hear of them just keep that in mind young people go man it's so much better to go to a large church it's of the world try the spirits is the preacher even saved can you start there let's start there is the preacher even saved and if you start there you'll be surprised many false prophets you won't be surprised if you know god's word many false prophets have gone into the world verse number six we are of god he that knoweth god heareth us and he that is not of god heareth not us he by know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error you know what's saying here as i preach you will know whether it's coming from the spirit of truth or the spirit of error i i i've i've listened to other churches i've listened to the heel songs and the charismatic and you just know this is the spirit of error i've picked up the book of warman let's read chapter one i can't even i can't even take in a few a few sentences it's a spirit of error i don't even want to absorb this thing throwing it in the bin you have the ability if you're saved you're the spirit truth he'll teach you what is true and what is error and then it's your call god's done his work i'm still going to go to hillsong pastor kevin all right it's not that it's not god's mistake here it's you you said god i don't care if it's error i'm going to go there because it makes me feel good if you can quickly come with me to john chapter 14 keep a finger there in first john john 14 the only reason we're turning to these passages just again i'm reinforcing this over and over again if you want to better understand first john you need to understand what book john okay because this is not the first time you know the spirit of truth comes up jesus christ says in john 14 16 and i will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it's see of him not neither know of him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you another comforter the spiritual you know knowing the truth is comforting being able to say no that is error that is that is wrong is comforting come to me in the next chapter there john 15 john 15 26 john 15 26 but when the comforter is come whom i will send unto you from the father even the spirit of truth which proceed from the father he shall testify of me i love that the spirit of truth the holy spirit is going to testify of jesus the reason why that speaks a lot to me is because i remember again as a teenager going to these charismatic pentecostal churches i'm used to going to a church building with like a cross on it like signifying the the death and resurrection of christ and then i'd go to these charismatic churches invited by friends and they'd always have the the dove or a flame of fire or something fires and doves signifying the holy spirit and there's nothing wrong with that in of itself but one thing that i understood from the bible you know what if the spirit of truth resides in this place it's going to testify of jesus it's going to testify of what he has done you know it's not going to be a different message to what jesus taught but you walk in and people get up i've received the word you know the i've seen the spirit move and they give you some testimony some prophecy and even as a child on you that's not what the bible says that's not what jesus said whatever spirit is speaking is not of god there's an advantage of being saved when you're young and here's the thing in my flesh i kind of want to be part of this church i know these people they're my friends the youth group's a lot more fun and happening but i want to be a place where i can be with god i want i want god to teach me i want to know the truth see there's an issue when you're saved it's not really it's meant to be a blessed it is a blessing where god will tell you this is right and this is wrong and it's hard when you're young you've been challenged by the world and the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh the pride of life and you go but i want this lord and then in you the holy spirit says no that doesn't glorify me that's a beautiful thing really when you love the lord and you see later on as we keep going for this is about loving the lord and the holy spirit allows us to love the lord properly as we keep going for this you're still there in john come with me to john 16 john 16 13 john 16 13 how be it when he the spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth wow for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall you speak so that shall he speak and he will show you things to come so the holy spirit's not coming with some new revelation he's not going to speak of something brand new no he's going to point us back to the teachers of christ he's going to point us back to the word of god and jesus christ of course is the word of god and that's what you'll notice you'll notice you you go to these churches and they speak very little bible they quote very little bible and the bible that they do quote anyway is usually some corruption it's not truth it's error it might sound good yeah it does great preachers great oracles you know tickle those ears makes me feel good must be of god because it makes me feel good but is it true it's not about how it makes you feel the question is is it true or is it false is it right or is it wrong that's what god's going to do to you give you wisdom knowledge comfort in knowing the truth these other churches they're experts at making you feel warm and fuzzy and because i feel warm and fuzzy must be god back to first john chapter four please first john chapter four verse number seven first john to the four verse number seven beloved let us love one another for love is of god and everyone that loveth is born of god and knoweth god you know what it's saying here everyone that loveth is born of god the only one that can truly love is someone that is saved the only one that can truly understand love is one that is saved and if we're going to love one another we need to have the love of god and brevin we ought to love one another you know i i i say it but i do love you like i do you know i i pray for your church you know i pray i i hope that lord the lord will do a great work in you and that you do you do a great thing for him in his kingdom you know i want nothing more than to go to heaven and for god to say thou good and faithful servant and i'll be rejoicing even more when you go to heaven if god can say about you thou good and faithful servant i'll be like yeah that's my church member we've been serving the lord god for all these years yes he is a good and faithful servant she is a good and faithful servant and again just reinforcing our love and we ought to love each other verse number six sorry verse number eight hear that loveth not knoweth not god for god is love god is love again you can only understand love if you know god you need to know god i often pray god can you lord i don't know if i'm loving the way that i want to love lord give me your love lord i don't have the wisdom lord give me your wisdom lord i just don't have the mercy or the or the the long suffering lord give me your mercy give me your long suffering so in my flesh it dwelleth no good thing and i i've really realized this and you know in the last few days or months and i've known this but just the reality of you need what comes from god you need his spirit to know the truth you need his love to be able to love you need his mercy to be merciful you need his forgiveness to be forgiven to others it all comes from the lord verse number nine in this was manifested the love of god toward us how did god manifest his love toward us because that god sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him wow god manifested his love toward you he sent his son to take your sins and your punishment your offenses against god and put it on his son and the anger and the wrath and the curse that should have fallen upon you fell on christ instead i mean that that should blow you away that's how much you love me god you'd sacrificed your only begotten son you know we often quote romans 5 8 at the door and go solely i love romans 5 8 because it says but god commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners while we were yet sinners so like while we're just transgressing the commandments of god while we're offending god he sent his son to die for us it's not while they're trying the best while they're trying to keep the laws of god while they're trying to go to church and get around i'll go send this is like even while they're disobeying me even while they're offending me i'm going to send my son to die for them i mean what great love is that it's hard to do good things to people that are doing harmful things towards you verse number 10 he ran his love that not that we loved god but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propit propitiation for our sins it just means there that what christ has done is all sufficient there's nothing more it fully satisfied the wrath and judgment of god christ paid it all verse number 11 beloved if god so loved us we ought also to love one another whoa you know i understand that i can love my wife right i can tell her that i love her i can be kind i can maybe buy her a nice gift or take her out you know there are many ways that we can show love to another human being because we're physically there we're able to do something right i mean uh we can we can show love but how do we show love to god you know he loved us so much and i mean like it's not like lord i mean can i god can i get you a cup of water or something like lord i mean do you need a place to stay not like you know how do you how do you show god love how do you do that i'm sure all of us that are rejoicing our salvation would love nothing more but to be generous and hospitable toward our lord god what can i do for you lord and that's what blows me away beloved verse number 11 beloved if god so loved us we ought to love one another god says you want to show me love love your brothers and sisters love one another that's how he wants us to show his i love toward him by loving others remember what christ says in matthew 25 40 and the king shall answer and say unto them verily i say unto you in as much as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren you have done it unto me who's the least in this church say maybe the little children let's say and sometimes we come to church and we forget the little kids and i look adults please don't forget the children you know what's going to keep them in church when they say you know what i go to church but even the adults speak to me even the adults say hello and goodbye and ask me questions and care about me so they're just children i want to talk to my to my friend over here or you know we're in deep doctrine that's where you know i don't want to talk about just little children things and do it do it to the least and you've done it unto christ what does that mean if you ignore the least you're ignoring christ how do we show love to christ how do we show love to the lord we love each other you know we spend time together we we have fellowship together say brother what can i pray for how can i help what do you need we do that we've given our love back to god verse number 12 no man have seen god at any time if we love one another god dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us perfected in us god wants to perfect his love in us all right we need to love one another perfected it means to be made complete you know we need to learn to love what god loves and i know we don't always get along in church there's probably conflicts right now that are unresolved potentially i don't know but you know what even if i'm having conflict with i'll say loki because brody brody gets enough of my brunt even if me and loki have a problem you know loki is a child of god and if i don't treat him right you think god's going to be happy with me with how i treat his kids his children i better love him i better make peace with loki we better resolve our differences loki all right i forgive you brother for what all the horrible things you've done toward me because that's how we can love the lord love his children of course we're going to have conflicts because we've got a sinful flesh and we're not long suffering when we ought to be long suffering we're not merciful and we ought to be merciful all right we're not forgiven when we ought to be forgiven you know how can we say that we love god we don't love our brethren how you know what we as a church can do a lot better honestly and i still think you guys are a great bunch of people but i still think we can do better i think we can love the lord more by loving each other more i really believe it i believe we can improve i believe the love of god can be perfected in us i don't think it's been perfected just yet i think even more so we could be more loving and maybe i'm not a great example in that regard maybe i need to work on that a little bit to be a better example where are we up to verse number 13 he by know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he have given us of his spirit and we have seen and do testify that the father sent the son to be the savior of the world do you testify of that brethren i know you know that and you've been saved by that you believe that but you do testify of that do you go out and tell people what christ has done and what god has done god's given us that ability he's given us the ability to have the words of eternal life you know when we go to our person and tell them about jesus and the gospel you're not by yourself greater is he that is in you remember than he that is in the world god comes with you on the journey you're never so winning on your own right brother michael sometimes oh i just see you brother michael who you're going with i'm going with jesus he's right i love that i'm going with jesus okay he's by himself but not really he knows that right great is he that is in him than he that is in the world i would just keep that thought in mind sorry um verse number 15 whosoever shall confess that jesus is the son of god god dwelleth in him and he in god and we have known and believed the love that god have to us god is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in god and god in him this is the major emphasis of the book of first john john says the same thing in many different ways that we've already come across in the first three four chapters here okay here is talking about dwelling in love dwelling in god what does that mean again it's having that fellowship isn't this chapter isn't this book about fellowship with god we've seen that this is why it's written you know other ways that the apostle john speaks of this he says he speaks of fellowship with the father and with the son he talks about walking in the light talking about keeping his commandments keeping his word abiding in him abiding in the light he that doeth righteousness all of these things really is pointing this to the same most important concept of first john which is we need to be in fellowship with god walking with him loving him learning from him keeping his commandments i was having a conversation with somebody and and i love this person but the thought is you know it sounds like sometimes you guys teach that you know we ought not to live holy lives or clean lives and like yeah not to be saved but of course once we're saved the bible's a big book it's not just salvation on every page most of the bible is about how to live a godly life a life that pleases god but not to be confused with salvation which is the love of god to us but now as we live a life we need to live a life that loves god god what can i do for you not to repay you you can never repay salvation if you could repay it means you could have paid it at some point you can't repay it you can't even pay one cent christ paid for it all only christ could have paid for your salvation but now that he's expressed his love to you he's given you his spirit of truth and he wants to walk with you and guide you say lord how can i love you in return how can i please you father what can i do children the greatest love you can show your parents is keeping their rules obeying their commandments honoring your parents loving your mother and father this is the best way verse number 17 herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is so are we in this world wow and even as he is so we in this world the holy spirit we've given that power the new man to do things that please the lord we heard a great sermon about being bold on the day of judgments i want that i want to be able to walk up on the judgment day not we're not talking about the judgment day of unbelievers they're going to be judged okay their name's not going to be found written in the book of life but we're going to be judged not for our sins we're going to be judged for what we've done for the lord i want the boldness i want to walk up to that front you know yeah yeah i can't wait lord how are you going to reward me what are you going to say about what i've done for you lord i want that boldness you said possibly you have that bonus right now not really i still feel like there's a lot to do i still feel like there's a lot that i need to work in my own life but how can you have the boldness if you've not spent time with him if you've not done what he's asked of you you'll be timid when you get to that day it's like oh man it's it's my turn to be judged like i hope i hope when we stand in line i don't know what it's gonna look like but if we're standing in line i hope i'm not like behind i don't know the apostle paul or something hopefully it's a lot and then it's me right so bold in judgment bold to stand before god have you got that boldness you need the faith the faith to trust him to trust his word and then to live for him you say pastor i really messed up the last few years all right well god's giving you today serve him today god's gonna give you tomorrow if you wake up tomorrow you go wake up tomorrow serve him tomorrow i love that about god he's always ready just you press that reset button you just get back on it and serve the lord with what you have left verse number 18 there is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear have torment here that feareth is not made perfect in love now when we know the topic of fear there is only one who we ought to fear that's the lord god you know sometimes if you if you feel the wrong things in life it's going to stop you from serving the lord if you feel what man will say about you you're going to be timid you're going to stop you're going to not do what god wants you to do so instead of fear you want to develop this perfect love you know one good illustration of this is obviously when when when the children are little and they disobey mom and dad they might be fearful of chastisement and many times young children will do the right thing out of fear they'll say well i'll just do what is right because i don't want to cop that punishment i don't want to cop that smack and i remember being young and having that fear but i remember growing up and then becoming a teenager and then a young adult and the reason i would do what my parents asked of me was not out of fear anymore it was just out of love you know what my parents have been there for me they've provided my needs i know what mom and dad wants i'll just do what they want because i love them i don't want to let them down you know i don't want them to feel that they failed as parents so i'll just do it out of love and it's a really great motivator doing it out of love nothing wrong with fear i fear the lord i mean that's a great start fear is the beginning of wisdom fear is being of knowledge but as the lord perfects his love in you you'll find that really you're just doing things out of love in the lord you know i tomorrow i'm going to sydney i don't enjoy the flights brevin i don't enjoy the flights why do you do it because i love god i love god and if god's giving me a church to look after down in sydney then i'm just going to love and serve him the best i can and i'm going to love those brethren because if i love them i'm loving god love love just makes you do more doesn't it like it it really pushes you to do more than what you really felt thought possible within yourself so verse number 19 if we love him we sorry we love him because he first loved us if a man say i love god and hate of his brother it's lucky this way we need to fix things if a man say i love god and hate of his brother he is a liar a liar for he that loveth not his brother whom he have seen how can he love god whom he have not seen and this commandment we have sorry and this commandment have we from him that he who loveth god love his brother also brevin if there are conflicts if there are problems with other people in this church and it's causing you to hate your brother you can't say that you love god sort it out if i've wronged you tell me i i look i've wronged people with my sarcasm a lot of the times okay stupid things that i say and i just all right brother i'm sorry i have no problem when i was young i had a problem saying sorry i remember being young disobey my my parents my mom would say kevin go talk to your dad say sorry to your dad no i'm not gonna say sorry even though i'm no i'm wrong just hard-headed because you kind of feel like it's it's pride isn't it's pride that stops you then i learned you know what one i'm gonna say sorry and my dad was all right it's all forgiven let's get on with it oh that was easy then you have fights in school i'm sorry oh we're best friends now oh all right sin against my lord lord i'm sorry but i've done wrong he forgives me the bible says oh wow this is actually really awesome it deals with my pride and then it fixes everything i actually have no problem saying sorry these days if i've wronged you if we have an issue brother i'll tell you now i'm sorry i'm an idiot sometimes and i say the wrong thing sometimes but the reason it is for me to say sorry to you is because i love you and i love my god if i can't make things right with you if we have some issue then do i really love god you know i don't like conflicts in church it's but here's the thing every church that i've been at there's been conflict that's because god has not perfected his love with individuals in that church and i'm telling you now if you've got some issues with some brother or sister in this church and you want god to perfect his love in you it's not going to happen till you fix those issues till you say sorry just just get rid of that pride we all have it you know love each other there's so few of us there's so few believers there's so few that are like-minded you know why are we going to argue and debate and fight amongst ourselves no we're commanded to love one another that's the whole that's the whole thing brethren love god god's given us his love by sacrificing his son i mean god's forgiven you of every sin and you can't forgive your brother for that one sin they've done toward you or the one thing you've done against a brother you can't even go up to him and say look i messed up even if it wasn't your intention it wasn't my intention but i understand you understood it that way and were offended by what i said what i did sorry brother let's just get along such an important part of you know our our our brotherhood here in church our fellowship here in church how can god's love be here if there's hatred and conflict and problems with the brethren my final point there brevin is how much you love your brethren is a good indicator to teach you how much you love god do people in church annoy you you know do you talk bad about people in church when you're on your on your way home after church do you think bad about family so and so and what's your response or when you leave church are you more like you know what i really had a great time in church i was really blessed by brother so and so i know family so and so is a little bit weird but you know what they love god they love god they're doing the best they can you know i like that attitude i like it because it shows love demonstrates love demonstrates how much you love the lord all right brevin let's pray