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1-John-Msg-24-28 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Aren't children unassuming and disarming little creatures? At times? I
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  Speaker 1: think it's a shame we have to grow up and
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  Speaker 1: get sophisticated. As a matter of fact, most adults I
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  Speaker 1: meet seems so guarded that all of us don't like
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  Speaker 1: to remember the first time we attempted something as adults.
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  Speaker 1: Remember the first time you tried to ski? Aren't you
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  Speaker 1: glad there wasn't a tape recorder and a film maker
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  Speaker 1: there that was putting that into a new movie that
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  Speaker 1: was going to make it known to the world. I
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  Speaker 1: remember the first time I tried skiing. I was coming
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  Speaker 1: down on one leg, leaning very dangerously to the right,
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  Speaker 1: about forty miles an hour, and I came by a
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  Speaker 1: class of little skiers, and I remember hearing as I
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  Speaker 1: whizzed by, the teacher saying, that is not what I
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  Speaker 1: want you children to do. Remember that? Or how about,
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  Speaker 1: if you're a musician, remember the first solo you sang?
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  Speaker 1: Maybe you don't want to remember the first solo or
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  Speaker 1: the first instrumental piece you played, Aren't you glad that
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  Speaker 1: hasn't been preserved on record for others to listen to today?
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  Speaker 1: There was another first time that most every preacher you
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  Speaker 1: meet will agree. He will be so glad that the
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  Speaker 1: first time he preached was not known by anyone that
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  Speaker 1: he now is acquainted with. I have a friend who,
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  Speaker 1: for the first time stood up to preach, and just
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  Speaker 1: as he opened his Bible to preach in this little
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  Speaker 1: country church, an entire herd of goats came in the
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  Speaker 1: back door, an entire herd, jumping up and down over
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  Speaker 1: the pewd. And he said he literally separated the sheep
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  Speaker 1: from the goats in that very first message. Another friend
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  Speaker 1: of mine stood to preach, or at least he stood
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  Speaker 1: up from the bench, and on his way over to
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  Speaker 1: the pulpit, he dropped every note out of his Bible,
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  Speaker 1: and he had to go back and piece them together.
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  Speaker 1: How embarrassing. I have a friend who listened to a
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  Speaker 1: country preacher as he was preaching from the old King
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  Speaker 1: James Bible that had the Psalms in Roman numerals. He
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  Speaker 1: said he heard the man preaching on the Pislem Sieve,
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  Speaker 1: which is Psalm one hundred and four, and all the
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  Speaker 1: way through he referred to the Pislem's sieve. I heard
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  Speaker 1: a man give his testimony for the very first time,
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  Speaker 1: and he said that his life was a lot like job.
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  Speaker 1: As he referred to the man in the Old Testament
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  Speaker 1: first time, you just don't know those things. It's just
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  Speaker 1: brand new information. Well, I want to tell one on
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  Speaker 1: myself that the very first time I, as an adult,
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  Speaker 1: had the chance to teach an adult Sunday school class,
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  Speaker 1: I chose First John. You're not laughing because you haven't
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  Speaker 1: done that in your lifetime, and I want you to
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  Speaker 1: know that was not a good decision. The reason I
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  Speaker 1: did it was in ignorance. It looked so sweet and
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  Speaker 1: so neat tucked away over here in the New Testament
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  Speaker 1: sandwich between Second Peter and Second John. It seemed so simple.
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  Speaker 1: And as I began to wade through First John, by
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  Speaker 1: the time I got to the third chapter, I realized
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  Speaker 1: what a bad mistake I had made. If I were
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  Speaker 1: able to gather together those four people that wound up
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  Speaker 1: in the class by the time I had finished, I
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  Speaker 1: would like to say three words to them. I am.
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  Speaker 1: I mean. This maybe may have the appearance of a primer,
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  Speaker 1: but it is anything but bedside reading. In case you
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  Speaker 1: miss my point, I strongly suggest that unless you are
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  Speaker 1: fairly well versed in New Testament truth, and along with
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  Speaker 1: that Old Testament truth. You not attempt First John. Those
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  Speaker 1: of you who have been around know that I haven't
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  Speaker 1: yet attempted to teach First John in a series, and
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  Speaker 1: I'm still a few years removed from it. I don't
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  Speaker 1: mean to leave the wrong impression. It is certainly inspired
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  Speaker 1: of God. It is certainly a grand letter to learn.
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  Speaker 1: It simply has problems in it that I have yet
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  Speaker 1: to unravel and perhaps maybe never will grasp completely. Now,
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  Speaker 1: let me say some things about the overall writings of John,
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  Speaker 1: especially the Three Letters, and then I'll come back to
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  Speaker 1: some of the problems. In case you aren't aware of them,
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  Speaker 1: I need to alert you to that fact. For some
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  Speaker 1: things worth remembering. John actually wrote five New Testament documents.
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  Speaker 1: His most popular is The Gospel that all of Us
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  Speaker 1: Love and Appreciate, and his next most famous work is
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  Speaker 1: The Revelation, the last book in the New Testament. And
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  Speaker 1: sandwiched between these two very popular works are the Three
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  Speaker 1: Letters that are retained in the Testament, that of course
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  Speaker 1: have his name as they're heading. The writings of John
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  Speaker 1: were all done toward the end of the first century,
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  Speaker 1: and by that time a number of things had begun
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  Speaker 1: to get old. And we're thin. You see these three
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  Speaker 1: letters of John, and I'd like us to think specifically
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  Speaker 1: about them for a few moments. These three letters were
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  Speaker 1: written during a storm of heresy. By now antinomianism, a
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  Speaker 1: word meaning without law, we would call it today license,
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  Speaker 1: mysticism and gnosticism and intellectual heresy had begun to invade
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  Speaker 1: and rape the early Church. John wrote in that stormy setting. Furthermore,
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  Speaker 1: the newness was now worn off, and there were second
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  Speaker 1: and in some cases, third generation Christians on the scene,
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  Speaker 1: and that also made God's truth tough to handle. If
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  Speaker 1: you're dealing with brand new Christians, you've really got a
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  Speaker 1: wonderful experience in teaching the scriptures. If you're dealing with
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  Speaker 1: second and third generation Christians, where complacency has taken the
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  Speaker 1: place of enthusiasm, you got your work cut out for you.
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  Speaker 1: One man writes, in the very first days of Christianity,
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  Speaker 1: there was a glory and a splendor, of magnificence and
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  Speaker 1: a radiance in life. But now Christianity had become a
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  Speaker 1: thing of habit, It had become traditional, half hearted, nominal
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  Speaker 1: men had grown used to it, and something of the
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  Speaker 1: wonder had gone lost. The first thrill was gone the
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  Speaker 1: flame of devotion had died to a flicker. And in
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  Speaker 1: a situation like that, heresy has all the fertilizer it
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  Speaker 1: needs to grow wild. All occult needs is an indifferent
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  Speaker 1: church to feed on, and it will get numerous disciples
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  Speaker 1: to follow it. Complacency and indifference are enemies of authentic Christianity.
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  Speaker 1: Now why was it written? I find in the letter
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  Speaker 1: of verse John four stated reasons why he wrote it.
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  Speaker 1: You'll find them all in the text. The first is
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  Speaker 1: in chapter one, in verse four, these things we write
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  Speaker 1: that our joy may be made complete. So the first
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  Speaker 1: reason the letter was written was to bring back the
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  Speaker 1: joy that was apparently by now missing in the church,
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  Speaker 1: that our joy might increase. Second chapter two, verse one,
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  Speaker 1: My little children, I'm writing these things to you that
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  Speaker 1: you may not sin. So the second reason the letter
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  Speaker 1: was written was to help them live victorious lives rather
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  Speaker 1: than defeated lives. The third reason is given in chapter two,
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  Speaker 1: verse twenty six. You notice it states these things I
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  Speaker 1: have written concerning those who are trying to deceive you.
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  Speaker 1: So the third reason was to help them become informed
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  Speaker 1: of the deceivers as well as the truth that they
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  Speaker 1: were to embrace. So The third reason is clear. It
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  Speaker 1: was to counteract the deception of heresy, and fourth is
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  Speaker 1: over In chapter five, verse thirteen, he states yet another reason,
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  Speaker 1: these things I have written to you who believe in
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  Speaker 1: the name of the Son of God, in all order
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  Speaker 1: that see, he states his reason, you may know that
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  Speaker 1: you have eternal life. So it was to give them
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  Speaker 1: assurance of their salvation. It was to bring back their joy.
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  Speaker 1: It was to cause them to walk in victory and
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  Speaker 1: not defeat. It was to alert them to the deceivers
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  Speaker 1: and equip them to hand handle the deception. And forth.
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  Speaker 1: It was to increase their assurance of salvation. When was
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  Speaker 1: it written toward the end of the century. By now
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  Speaker 1: dullness and deadness had begun to set in. Heresy was
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  Speaker 1: on the move. To whom did it go? And by
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  Speaker 1: the word the question where I have in mind? Where
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  Speaker 1: did it land? We don't know for sure. There is
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  Speaker 1: no word here in this letter stating the address the recipient.
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  Speaker 1: It's impossible, therefore to determine who got it. Campbell Morgan
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  Speaker 1: is direct, in my opinion. He says, probably this is
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  Speaker 1: the last apostolic message to the whole church. There's something
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  Speaker 1: significant about final words and this last message to the
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  Speaker 1: whole church therefore remains very, very important. Perhaps it was
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  Speaker 1: complicated because the heresy that was rampant had within it
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  Speaker 1: certain tentacles that we today cannot unravel, and John was
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  Speaker 1: in his answers implying the question without stating them. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know now. The emphasis of first John is a
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  Speaker 1: practical application and moral implications of the Gospel. John is
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  Speaker 1: an applier of the truth. He applies the truth, and
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  Speaker 1: he implies a morality in this gospel in this letter
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  Speaker 1: that is for all generations. He writes to tell the
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  Speaker 1: people in the gospel how to have eternal life, and
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  Speaker 1: he writes in the first letter what that life includes.
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  Speaker 1: So it's sort of a display of the life of God.
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  Speaker 1: The Gospel of John will help a person come into
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  Speaker 1: the family of God. The Letter of John will help
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  Speaker 1: that same person understand what the life of God includes.
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  Speaker 1: And that's the reason for the two of them. Fellowship
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  Speaker 1: with God includes joy, purity, discernment, and confidence. In all
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  Speaker 1: four are directly addressed in the letter. Let me show
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  Speaker 1: you some of the tough problems. I think it's helpful
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  Speaker 1: to see that and to be properly alerted. Verses five
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  Speaker 1: through ten of chapter one address the issue of personal sin.
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  Speaker 1: Notice the conditions if verse five, if I'm sorry, verse six,
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  Speaker 1: if we say verse seven, if we walk verse eight,
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  Speaker 1: if we say verse nine, if we confess verse ten,
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  Speaker 1: if we say, you work your way through that, We'll
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  Speaker 1: come back to it in the moment. You will discover
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  Speaker 1: that there are some questions that are hard to answer.
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  Speaker 1: If you go to one extreme, you will become mechanical
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  Speaker 1: in your fellowship with God, and if you go to
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  Speaker 1: the other extreme, you will become mystical, and you have
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  Speaker 1: to battle the extremes in coming to terms with what
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  Speaker 1: these five conditions are all about. There's a second problem.
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  Speaker 1: It's what I call the problem of commandments. Chapter two,
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  Speaker 1: verse three. We know this by this, we know that
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  Speaker 1: we have come to know him if we keep his commandments.
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  Speaker 1: And yet the great message of the New Testament is
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  Speaker 1: that we are freed from the commandments. But this letter
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  Speaker 1: says not only here, but elsewhere a lot of things
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  Speaker 1: about keeping commandments. For example, Chapter three, verse twenty two
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  Speaker 1: down through verse twenty four three twenty two. Whatever we ask,
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  Speaker 1: we receive from him because we keep his commandments and
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  Speaker 1: we do the things that are pleasing in his sight.
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  Speaker 1: This is his commandment that we believe in the name
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  Speaker 1: of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just
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  Speaker 1: as he commanded us, and he and the one who
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  Speaker 1: keeps his commandments abides in him and he in him.
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  Speaker 1: If the commandments have reference to those two believing in
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  Speaker 1: the Son of God and loving one another, then what
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  Speaker 1: about the times when I don't love my brother? Am
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  Speaker 1: I still in the family of God? Of course we
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  Speaker 1: believe we are. But there's a battle there in coming
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  Speaker 1: to terms with what the text is teaching. Chapter two,
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  Speaker 1: verse eighteen, is yet a third problem? Is there one Antichrist?
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  Speaker 1: Are or there many? Verse eighteen, Children, it's the last hour,
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  Speaker 1: just as you heard that Antichrist singular is coming. Even
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  Speaker 1: now many Antichrists have arisen. From this, we know that
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  Speaker 1: it is the last hour. Not only is there the
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  Speaker 1: question of the Antichrist plural or singular, but he wrote
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  Speaker 1: that at the end of the first century, and yet
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  Speaker 1: twenty centuries have passed, and we wonder what he meant
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  Speaker 1: by that time as being the last hour. There were
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  Speaker 1: centuries yet to come. A real tough one is Chapter three,
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  Speaker 1: verse six. When I get through with this, you're going
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  Speaker 1: to wonder why in the world did I even worry
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  Speaker 1: about understanding First John, It's not my purpose. I just
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  Speaker 1: wish somebody had done this with me before I decided
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  Speaker 1: to teach Verse John. Look at Chapter three, verse six
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  Speaker 1: No one who abides in him sins. Uh Uh, got
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  Speaker 1: a little problem with that. No one who sins has
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  Speaker 1: seen him or knows him. Verse seven, Little children, let
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  Speaker 1: no one deceive you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous,
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  Speaker 1: just as he is righteous. The one who practices sin
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  Speaker 1: is of the devil, for the devil is sin from
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  Speaker 1: the beginning. Look at Chapter five, verse eighteen. We know
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  Speaker 1: that no one who is born of God sins. Now,
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  Speaker 1: go back to chapter three, verse fourteen. Okay, I would
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  Speaker 1: call that problem of the problem of continued sin. Now
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  Speaker 1: here's a problem of relationships. Look at three fourteen. We
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  Speaker 1: know that we have passed out of death into life
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  Speaker 1: because we believe in Jesus. No, because we love the brethren.
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  Speaker 1: He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who
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  Speaker 1: hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that
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  Speaker 1: no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. And then
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  Speaker 1: the classic of classics is Chapter five, verse sixteen. If
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  Speaker 1: anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death,
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  Speaker 1: he shall ask, and God will for him give life
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  Speaker 1: to those who commit sin not leading to death. There
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  Speaker 1: is a sin leading to death. I do not say
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  Speaker 1: that he should make request for this. One writer whom
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  Speaker 1: I deeply respect, Kenneth Weist, says this in his book
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  Speaker 1: In These Last Days. The present writer confesses his utter
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  Speaker 1: inability to understand this verse. Now is that honest? I mean?
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  Speaker 1: Do you admire a writer that does that? I do.
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate one that says I've met my match. He
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  Speaker 1: adds his utter inability to understand this verse, except that
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  Speaker 1: the sin unto death is the denial of the incarnation,
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  Speaker 1: and that it is committed by an unsaved person who
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  Speaker 1: professes to be a Christian. The rest of the verse
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  Speaker 1: is an enigma to him, meaning the writer, and he
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  Speaker 1: will not attempt to offer even a suggestion as to
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  Speaker 1: its possible interpretation. End of quotation, page one eighty two,
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  Speaker 1: marked in the margin of my book. You are an
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  Speaker 1: honest man. Now, Like I say, it's a tough letter.
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  Speaker 1: It isn't nice and neat and sweet and simple because
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  Speaker 1: it has five chapters and is tucked away between second
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  Speaker 1: Peter and Second John. But I will say with equal vigor,
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  Speaker 1: don't stay away from it because it's rough. I challenge you,
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  Speaker 1: many of you, to make a serious investigation of these chapters.
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  Speaker 1: These problems are in no way casting doubt about the Letter,
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  Speaker 1: only our lack of information the ability to put it
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  Speaker 1: all together. We who like simple and superficial kind of
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  Speaker 1: things will not like First John because it is neither.
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  Speaker 1: There isn't a chapter in it that comes anywhere near superficiality.
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  Speaker 1: It is a profound book about the fellowship between God's
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  Speaker 1: people and the Father, and there's a lot of things
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  Speaker 1: in that series of words that most of us will
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  Speaker 1: just not be able to plumb the depths of Now,
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  Speaker 1: that's why I'm suggesting we get an overview of the letter.
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  Speaker 1: That's an easy way out, Okay, means I will not
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  Speaker 1: answer any of the problems that I've raised, only help
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  Speaker 1: you see them. And as time passes, maybe when I'm
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  Speaker 1: seventy or oh, I have the feeling that when I'm
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  Speaker 1: seventy or over, I'll have this enormous amount of insight
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  Speaker 1: that will come to my window and chuck open the window,
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  Speaker 1: and I open a window. All this stuff is going
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  Speaker 1: to come in. I'll have answers. Now I do not
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  Speaker 1: have a lot of those answers. Let's look at the overview. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: look at the chart, this simple, superficial chart that I've
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  Speaker 1: given you tonight, that outlines the book of First John
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  Speaker 1: in four parts. I'm suggesting that it talks about the
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  Speaker 1: things that fellowship with God produces. Okay, I'm suggesting that
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  Speaker 1: there are four. The first I gather from the reason
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  Speaker 1: he wrote it. The first reason, and that is, as
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  Speaker 1: we read in verse four of chapter one. There is
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  Speaker 1: a rather tedious beginning to the letter. He says, what
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  Speaker 1: was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we
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  Speaker 1: have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our
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  Speaker 1: hands handled concerning the Word of life, and the life
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  Speaker 1: was manifested. And we have seen and bear witness and
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  Speaker 1: proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the
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  Speaker 1: Father and was manifested to us. I would write over
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  Speaker 1: both of those verses the Lord Jesus Christ. It seems
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  Speaker 1: as though in those words John is referring to the Savior.
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  Speaker 1: Our hands handled him. He was the word of life,
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  Speaker 1: He was with the Father, and was on display before
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  Speaker 1: us Jesus himself. What we have seen and what we
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  Speaker 1: have heard, those works and those words that Jesus taught us.
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  Speaker 1: Those of us who were with him, we proclaimed to
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  Speaker 1: you why that we might have fellowship. Indeed, our fellowship
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  Speaker 1: is with the Father and with his son, Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: So he sets us up in the beginning with fellowship.
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  Speaker 1: So a major term in the letter is fellowship. It
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  Speaker 1: means oneness, identity, joint partnership, a shared life, and close companionship.
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  Speaker 1: All of that is in fellowship. I don't like it
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  Speaker 1: that we toss words around lightly. We use them so
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  Speaker 1: much they lose their punch. One of them is fellowship.
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  Speaker 1: I was out of fellowship with God or I'm in
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  Speaker 1: fellowship with God. That's a very very heavy word. And
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  Speaker 1: those are significant terms being used all too lightly. Oneness, identity,
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  Speaker 1: close companionship, with a shared life, those are important things.
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  Speaker 1: Those are the evidences of God's life at work in
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  Speaker 1: me and in you. Now, when I have this kind
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  Speaker 1: of shared life with my Father through faith in his son,
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  Speaker 1: then there is true joy. Verse four. These things we
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  Speaker 1: write that our joy may be made complete. This is
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  Speaker 1: a rather complicated construction in the original text. Being literally translated,
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  Speaker 1: I would say, or are paraphrased, I would say that
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  Speaker 1: our joy I get this, having been filled completely full
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  Speaker 1: in the past, may persist in that state of fullness
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  Speaker 1: through the present. Okay, John says, back when we were
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  Speaker 1: with him and we knew him, and we handled him,
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  Speaker 1: and our words literally, our ears literally hurt his words,
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  Speaker 1: and we watched his works. Oh, the shared life that
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  Speaker 1: we had it was. It was a eyeball to eyeball
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  Speaker 1: connection that we had with him. Now, my hope in
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  Speaker 1: writing this is that the joy we had then related
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  Speaker 1: to the direct contact might have the same fullness that
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  Speaker 1: it had back then. Got the picture. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: his feeling is not that we look in the mirror
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  Speaker 1: and say, oh, what a great time that was, and
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: sort of do a reflection on today and long for that.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: But he says that the same reality of that relationship
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: might come to pass today. And that's joy. It isn't
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: giddy laughter, It isn't silly smiling. It is deep and
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: abiding joy that may come out in smiles and laughter
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: and may at times come out in a straight face.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: But there is a there is a solidarity in that.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: There isn't a fickleness, isn't moody. It is complete and full,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: and it's the thing that makes the person on the
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: street wonder about the Christian when he sees it, because
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: a person on the street doesn't have that. It includes
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: peace with God, it includes understanding God's general direction and working,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: and it's knowing that I'm connected with Him by faith,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: and if I die today, I'm in heaven. That's assurance.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: It's all of that, and it gives me pleasure, gives
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: me joy. Now these things I'm writing that our joy
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: may be made complete. Now what attacks that? Sin does
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: my old nature that drags me back to the old
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: life and my habit of operating on the basis of
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: sin rather than joy and righteousness. And so naturally, when
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: he gets to verse five, he he talks about God
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: as light and in him no darkness. There's no sin there,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: but there's sin here. So we have to come to
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: terms with the sin question in daily life as it
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: relates to God, who has nothing to do with sin.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: He's in constant light, and he goes through all the
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: things we say if we have fellowship with him, if
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: we say we have fellowship a meaningful of fulfilling, satisfying relationship,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: and yet we walk in darkness it's a lie. We're
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: not practicing the truth. But if we walk in light
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: as he himself is there, we have oneness and identity
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: and a shared relationship. It isn't spooky, it isn't mysterious,
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: It isn't even mystical. You can walk in that kind
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: of light that they knew back when they were with
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: him and saw him and handled him and heard him.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: We can have that kind of thing, but we have
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: to reckon with sin. We have to keep short accounts.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: We have to be sure it doesn't block out the light. Now,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: with that in mind, he gives another reason that he
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: writes down in chapter two. He says, I'm little children,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: I'm writing these things to you that you may not
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: live your life in the practice of sin. Now. I
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: love his realism. I think it's wonderful that he's able
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: to bring a balance between theory and reality. He says,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: I'm writing in hopes that you will live above the
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: drag of the old nature. But you're going to sin,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: and if anyone sins, you're not cast out in the
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: cold and left to pine away. We have an advocate
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: with the Father. Jesus Christ is his name, and he
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: is the righteous one. See the word advocate. It's a
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: great word. It's from two original terms meaning to call alongside,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: parah alongside, to call parocletas paraclet We get the word
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: from that. We have a parocleitas. We have one called
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: alongside who is righteous. And when we sin, the righteous
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: one is our defense before the one who dwells in
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: the light, God the Father. So between God the Father
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: and the child of the Father is the savior of
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: the child, Jesus Christ, the righteous one, the paroctly toss.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: I've found this from the writings of molten and Milligan.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: In the days of the of the first century, Extra
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Biblical literature used the word paroclitas to describe a friend
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: of an accused person, called to speak to his character
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: or otherwise enlist the sympathy of the judge. Isn't that good? Well,
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: I think it's good. I think you got it. Or not,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: I think that's great. Now here is a guy who
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: is who is deserving of judgment, and he has he
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: needs someone who will stand in his defense. And here
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: is a paroclitos, and he speaks to that person's character
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: and he sets him right. He gives at least sympathy
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: in the eyes of the judge. For this person who
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: is done wrong, he stands in his defense. We call
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: it defense attorney. Today he represents us in that intimidating
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: place of the court, and he speaks, and we remain silent,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: and we let him do our work for us, and
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: praise God spiritually speaking, it is a perfect work. I
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: love the second verse, though it was years before I
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: understood it. He himself is still referring to Jesus Christ.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: He himself, And this is the word that threw me.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: Is the propitiation. Just use the word satisfaction and you
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: got it wired. Jesus Christ is able to be our
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: advocate because between us and the Father, he stands as satisfaction.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: He is satisfaction to the Father for our sins, and
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: not for ours only, but for those of the whole world.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: When the Father looks in my direction and sees me
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: in sin, if it were not for the advocate, there
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: couldn't be a relationship. But when he looks through the
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: eyes and the heart and the person of the advocate,
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: he smiles because he looks through satisfy action. Jesus Christ's
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: death has satisfied the Father's righteous demands against sin, and
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: I now stand in that. You and I, as Christians,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: stand in that wonderful place of acceptance in the beloved
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: because we have the satisfying advocate between us and God?
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: Is that great? Is that terrific? Do we need that?
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Every day? We need that? I almost pointed to some
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: of you, and I was afraid to do that. Right then,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: how he's got you so wired in this thing, and
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: we need an advocate, and we've got an advocate. Does
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: it cost you a time? Cost him his life? And
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: the father remains on the edge of his chair as
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: a judge, looking in our direction and hearing the words
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: of the advocate, saying, I'm satisfied. That's sufficient. Because of
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: Christ we have access. I love it, and I need it.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: When you get toward the middle of chapter two, it
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: gets really tough, It gets, in fact, strenuous. He divides
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: us into several categories. Verse twelve. I'm writing you little children,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: he says some things to little kiddos, that is, adults
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: with little kiddo's maturity. I'm writing you fathers verse thirteen.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: I'm writing young men verse thirteen. I'm writing older men
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: verse fourteen, And he, having addressed the whole group. He says,
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: now there are some tough things you need to hear
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: about this life. And he doesn't pull any punches. He
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: says in verse fifteen, you don't just stand idly by
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: and get involved in enmeshed in the world system and
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: expect not to be burned. He says, I'm going to
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: tell you some tough stuff. Do not do not love
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: the world. Do not love the things in the world.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: If anyone loves the world, we're back again to square one.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: The love of the Father isn't in him. For all
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, and
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: doesn't come from the Father. It comes from the world.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: And the world is passing away with its lust. But
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: the one who does the will of the Father abides forever.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: Reminded me of President Teddy Roosevelt's address in eighteen ninety
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: nine April tenth. He spoke to the Hamilton Club, and
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: he said, I wish to preach not the doctrine of
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life. That's
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: what John does. That must have made an impression on
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: Roosevelt because The next year he published a book called
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: The Strenuous Life. In it, he wrote, no man is
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency. If
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: we seek get these words, if we seek merely swollen,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: slothful ease, if we shrink from the hard contests where
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: men must win at the hazard of their lives, then
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: bolder and stronger ones will pass us by and will
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: win for themselves the domination of the world. O first
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: for presidential speeches like that again, huh. The Strenuous Life. John,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: the one who refers to abiding and remaining and enjoying
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: the fellowship with the Father, is not afraid to say,
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: there's a tough assignment Christians, and when you're in the
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: world system, behave yourself. You play with it, you're gonna
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: get burned. John says, don't do that. Those things will
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: all be appealing, that they will not be satisfying. Now,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: the third part is beginning about verse eighteen, and here
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: he starts a rather lengthy thesis on deception and false teaching.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: Notice he in verse in chapter one he talked about
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: the joyful life, and we'd looked in chapter two, verses
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: one to seventeen, regarding the clean life, and that's what
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: the fellowship with God will produce. It's a clean life.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: You'll live higher than anyone else around who isn't in
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: the family of God, not because of you, but because
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: of that advocate. You'll be able to handle those battles. Now, children,
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: it's the last hour, and just as you heard, Antichrist
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: is coming. Even now, many Antichrists have arisen from this.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: We know it's the last hour. Look at nineteen They
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: went out from us, but they were not really of us.
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: See they were once in our group, but they were
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: not really of us. For if they had been of us,
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: they would have remained with us. But they went out
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: in order that it might be shown that they all
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: are not of us. It's a tough thing to admit
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: sometime that there can be deception in your midst. It
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: goes back as far as the very earliest church, Anonas
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: and Saphara. How severely the Lord dealt with that. I'm
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: intrigued with the word Antichrist, aren't you. I've done a
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: little research on the term, and I found this interesting.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: The derivation of the word antichrist can have two meanings.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: Anti is a Greek preposition which can mean either against
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: or in place of. When we use it in the
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: English language, it's almost without exception against, anti American, anti God,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: or anti righteous, meaning against. But in the Greek language
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: it can mean either against or in place of. Then,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: this writer says, stratagos is the Greek word for commander,
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: and anti stratagos can mean either the hostile commander of
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: enemy forces or the deputy commander who acts in the
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: place of the commander. Got it. Antichrist, therefore, can mean
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: either the opponent or adversary of Christ, or the one
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: who seeks to put himself in the place of Christ.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: There will come a day when there will be singular
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: the Antichrist, who will set himself up as God. In
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: the meantime, there are many little a antichrists who will
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: have you follow them as though following Christ. Watch out
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: for them, be discerning as a Christian. Put on your
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: thinking cap, which means the scriptures. In chapter three, he
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: gives the reassurance time and again of this business of
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: love and a love relationship on a horizontal plane between
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: us and other believers, and he uses that as a
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: checkpoint along the way. We dealt with that earlier, and
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: there's no reason to go further into that and you
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: get to chapter four. There's a warning still on the
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: subject of false teachers. Would to God that all of us,
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: before we were tempted to follow a cult, would just
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: abide in verses one through six, Beloved, do not believe
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: are from God, because many false prophets have gone out
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: into the world. By this you know the spirit of God.
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: the flesh is from God. Here's the old ultimate test.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: It also refers to the ultimate heresy. Every spirit that
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: from God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: is not from God. And this is the spirit of
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: the Antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: and now it is already in the world. You are
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: from God, little children, and have overcome them. Look at
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: the confidence He gives. Greater is the one in you
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: than he who is in the world. Verse six, We
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: are from God. He who knows God listens to us.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: He who is not from God does not listen to us.
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: By this we know the spirit of truth and the
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: spirit of error. Now with that word of confidence, he
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: moves into the last section of his letter, which has
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: to do with the confident Christian and are the confident life.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: And I've circled a couple of places where even the
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: word is used four verse seventeen, that we may have
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: confidence verse twenty eight. We may have confidence, says it
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: twice in the letter. But look at verse us seven. Beloved,
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: let us love one another, for love is from God.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: The one who does not love does not know God.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: For God is Love has in mind present tints all
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: the way through there the practicing of that. By this
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: the love of God was manifested in us. And I
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: love this. That God has sent his only begotten son
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: into the world so that we might live through him.
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: That a great way to put it. Not only believe
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: in him, but live through him. His life is available,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: and we can live through that life, his kind of life.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: Ian Thomas put it this way. The life that he
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: lived qualified him for the death that he died, and
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: the death that he died qualifies us for the life
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: that he lived, which is a lot more difficult way
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: of saying it. Than verse nine, so that we might
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: live through him. And this is love. Not that we
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: loved God, but he initiated it. He loved us and
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: sent his son There it is again to be the
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: satisfaction for our sins, not for our sins, only says
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: in chapter two, but for the sins of the whole
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: world beloved. If God so loved us, we ought to
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: love one another. Let it go, release it, let it free,
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: let it run. Now look at the power of this
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: last section verse four of chapter five. Whatever is born
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: of God overcomes the world. We're not helpless, pitiful victims
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: in a world. We are overcomers. We're born of God,
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: and we've overcome the world. This is the victory that
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: has overcome the world. Our faith, our attachment with victory,
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: is connected by the strong strand of faith that is
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: directly related to the life of Christ. And I live
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: my life on this earth connected by faith to his life.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: And as long as there is that strong connection, there
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: is that life line that keeps me strong in this world.
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: And who is the one who overcomes the world. But
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: he who believes that Jesus is the son of God.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: Look at verse ten. The one who believes in the
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: son of God has the witness in himself. The one
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: who does not believe God has made him a liar.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: The one who does not believe God has made him
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: a liar because he has not believed in the witness
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: that God has born concerning his son. The witness is this.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: This is simple, that God has given us eternal life.
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: These are my favorite verses in witnessing. By the way,
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: this is the witness that God has given us eternal life,
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: and the life is in his son. Well, where am
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: I verse twelve? He who has the Son has the life.
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: He who does not have the Son of God does
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: not have the life. Isn't that simple? I have a
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: very good friend who lives in New England, and he
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: witnesses to numerous people who come into his gas station regularly,
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: and he has a confraternity edition of the Scriptures because
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: many of those people that live there and traffic there
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: are Roman Catholics, and he uses their Bible and the
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: translation I should have brought a copy with me is
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: quite good. And he says, let me show you this,
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: and they'll look over their glasses and he'll read them this,
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: and they'll say, what Bible is that? And he says
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: your bible. And he said really, and they look. Read
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: that again. It's amazing exchange, and he'll read it again
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: and they will hear the beautiful message. He who has
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: the Son has the life. He who does not have
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: the Son of God does not have the life. Do
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: you do you not have him? I don't have him?
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: You want him? Oh? Yeah, I thought I had him.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: Do you have the Son of God? No? I can't.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: Really I get a church, not the church. But do
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: you have the Son of God? And the question is
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: how well? I'm glad you asked Verse thirteen. Is your answer?
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: These things I have written to you who believe in
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: the name of the Son of God, that you may
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: know you have eternal life Verse fourteen. This is confidence.
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: There's no reason to wonder. You don't have to scratch
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: your head. You don't have to walk around confused. Do
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: I have eternal life? Do I now have? I lost it?
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: I had it yesterday. It was a great day yesterday.
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: I don't feel so good this morning. I don't have
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: eternal life has nothing to do with feelings. Do you
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: have the Son of God? Well? I had him yesterday.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: Well where does it say he leaves? I've got him
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: because I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: I believe his death is sufficient for my sins. I
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: take him just like I accept a gift from someone else.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: He paid for it, and he gives it to me,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: and I take it, and I get with that the
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: confidence of eternal life. And he tells us, he writes this,
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: so we may know we have that kind of life.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to deal with the sin unto death. Okay,
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: So don't hold your breath. Check with sale Hammer, Stevenson,
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: any of those scholars. They'll just make it right. Let
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: me say three or four things about how all of
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: this applies, Okay, and I'll be quick because I know
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: you're antsy to get home and watch the last part
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: of whatever's on. I'm taping it, so don't. I'm not
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: in any hurry. Okay, here's the first. Since this is
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: a letter full of contrasts black and white, darkness and light, Antichrist,
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: in Christ, God's children and children of the Devil, et cetera,
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: et cetera, there ought to be some contrasts and application. Okay,
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: here's the first one. In an angry dark world, the
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: joyful Christian is a bright light. You live a joyful life,
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: and believe me, you'll capture attention like watermelon captures flies.
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: I mean they will just not be able to leave
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: you alone. They won't know what's wrong with you. As
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: a matter of fact, you're joyful. You're a bright light
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: in an angry dark world. Let your light shine. That's
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: an application from chapter one. Let your light shine. I'm
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: writing this so that your joy may be full. Let
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: it shine. Now. A second, in a sinful, lawless society,
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: the clean Christian is a silent rebuke. The application there
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: is stay clean, deal with sin when it arises, and
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: don't play with him. I loved something I found about
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: Chris System In his sermon on how to bring up Children.
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: He advises parents to give their boy some great scriptural name,
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: to teach him repeatedly the story of the original bearer
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: of that name, and thus to give him a standard
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: to live up to and an inspiration for living when
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: he grows to manhood. Not great, you know what your
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: name is, Child of God, Work on that child of light.
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: In a sinful, lawless society, a clean Christian is a
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: silent rebuke. Here's a third. In a whirlwind existence of
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: deception and confusion. The discerning Christian is a calm refuge
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: in a whirlwind existence of con fusion and deception. The
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: Christian is a calm refuge the application think straight, be discerning,
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  Speaker 1: Cut through the malaise, the fog of hype that Madison avenue,
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: stuff that shrouds the truth. Listen for truth, and if
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: you don't hear it, reject it. Listen for implications. Put
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: your thinking cap on. And these Christians in the first
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: century just like Christians. Now I had to realize there's
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: deception here. This person is coming across like Christ, but
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: he's not Christ. He's anti Christ. Fourth, Finally, in an
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: insecure uncertain age, the confident Christian is a stabilizing force.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: Stand firm. Stand firm. In an insecure uncertain age, the
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: confident Christian is a stabilizing force. Stand firm. I like
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: this quote. The proof of the Holy Spirit's presence is
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: not how high you jump, but how straight you walk
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: when you hit the ground. Isn't that great You've got
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: the spirit of God in your life. Don't talk to
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: me about jumping up and down and shouting all those things.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: Talk to me about how straight you walk when you
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: hit the ground. That's his business. You are God's life
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: on display, and so am I. That's good and that's bad,
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: depending on what's being displayed. I love the story that
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: comes out of World War Two where this this dear
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: little waif was on the streets and was cold. London
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: had been bombed and it was the wrap up of
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: the war, and he was standing looking through the foggy
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: glass into the into the bakery shop, watching him pull
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: out all those doughnuts and cinnamon rolls, and makes my
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: jaw squirt when I talk about that in need, and
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: he's just hungry for them, and he wants wants a
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: bad but he doesn't have a diamond his little ragged pockets.
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: And soldier comes around the corner and his jeep and
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: he stops and he sees this boy and he figures
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: it out and he walks over the boy and he says,
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: you want one of those donuts? Yeah, walks inside and
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: buys a dozen hot piping donuts, puts him in the bag,
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: brings him out and gives them a little boy. He
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: said here. The boy stared back at that soldier and
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: he said, mister, are you God? You display the life
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: of God? You'll have very little difficulty talking to him
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: about God, very little. Father. Thank you for the light.
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: Thank you for the fact that we're able to dwell
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: in it and live in it. Thank you for the
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: advocate Jesus Christ the Righteous. Thank you for hope. Thank
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: you for cleansing, for power, for victory. Thank you for
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: the ability to count on your word when our feelings
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: throw us a curve. Thank you for assurance. Thank you
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: that you don't change even when we do. Thank you
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: that your promise holds true even when we live as
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: though it's a lie. Thank you that it will work
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: this day and this week, because you have told us
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: in your word it will work. Believe it. We love you,
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: and we trust you in the name of Christ. Amen.
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: The preceding message, First John God's Life on Display was
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: copyrighted in nineteen eighty three and the sound recording was
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: copyrighted in two thousand twelve by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: All rights are reserved world wide.