Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Hebrews 4:1-2 - Here's How to Be Sure You Are Saved

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Hebrews 4:1-2 - Here's How to Be Sure You Are Saved · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Good morning, friends and faithful listeners. This is
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  Speaker 1: Jen with the Bible Explained Podcast. Well howdy everyone, welcome
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  Speaker 1: to the Bible Explain Podcast on this lovely morning. It
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  Speaker 1: has just been a fantastic week for me because the
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  Speaker 1: weather is finally breaking. It is about fifty degrees today
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  Speaker 1: and I went and sat out on my porch because
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  Speaker 1: there's no wind. There's no wind chill. The sun is
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  Speaker 1: out and it's just like the perfect weather right now.
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  Speaker 1: No bugs yet, which is fantastic. The birds are chirping,
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  Speaker 1: I can see the little buds coming in on the trees.
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  Speaker 1: So spring is in the air and it is just
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  Speaker 1: my favorite thing ever. Because I don't like winter all
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  Speaker 1: that much, I try not to complain about it because
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  Speaker 1: it's just the nature of where I live. But I
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  Speaker 1: do enjoy some nice warm weather that is for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Looking forward to that. So tell me what the weather
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  Speaker 1: is where you guys live. I love hearing from all
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  Speaker 1: of you, So if you would like to reach out
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  Speaker 1: and tell me about the weather, or how you found
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  Speaker 1: the podcast, or even if you have a prayer request,
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  Speaker 1: you can find my contact information listed in the description
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  Speaker 1: of this episode. However, before we get into today's episode.
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  Speaker 1: Here is a message or two from the first sponsor today. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if you get the chance to read along with me,
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  Speaker 1: I highly recommend that you do, because we are going
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  Speaker 1: to be talking actually more so out of the book
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  Speaker 1: of First John than we are in Hebrews today, interestingly enough,
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  Speaker 1: because First John lines up very well with the discussion
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  Speaker 1: for today. So if you get a chance to read
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  Speaker 1: through this, I do recommend that you do. But later on,
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  Speaker 1: even if you can't get to your Bible right now,
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  Speaker 1: maybe try to read through First John tonight if you
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  Speaker 1: get the chance. But let's read Hebrews for one through
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  Speaker 1: seven today, and as always, I'll be reading from the web,
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  Speaker 1: but feel free to grab the version of the Bible
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  Speaker 1: that you prefer, and let's jump in together. Let's fear
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  Speaker 1: therefore less. Perhaps any one of you should have seemed
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  Speaker 1: to come short of a pro promise of entering into
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  Speaker 1: his rest, For indeed we have had good news preach
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  Speaker 1: to us, even as they also did. But the word
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  Speaker 1: they heard didn't profit them, because it wasn't mixed with
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  Speaker 1: faith by those who heard. For we who have believed,
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  Speaker 1: do enter into that rest, even as he has said,
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  Speaker 1: as I swore in my wrath, they will not enter
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  Speaker 1: into my rest, although the works were finished from the
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  Speaker 1: foundation of the world. For he has said this somewhere
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  Speaker 1: about the seventh day. God rested on the seventh day
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  Speaker 1: from all of his works, And in this place again
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  Speaker 1: they will not enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it
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  Speaker 1: remains that some should enter into it, and they to
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  Speaker 1: whom the good news was preached before, failed to enter
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  Speaker 1: in because of disobedience. He again defines a certain day today,
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  Speaker 1: saying through David, so long as time afterward, just as
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  Speaker 1: has been said today, if you will hear his voice,
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  Speaker 1: don't harden your hearts. The one thing you should remember
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  Speaker 1: about the Bible is that the verses and page numbers
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  Speaker 1: in chapter breakdowns all of that was added later on.
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  Speaker 1: When the author first wrote this letter, it was one
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  Speaker 1: continual letter. So our passage for today actually lines up
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  Speaker 1: perfectly with what we talked about on Tuesday in Hebrews
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  Speaker 1: chapter three. So let's go back to Hebrews three and
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  Speaker 1: read verses twelve through fifteen. It says, beware, brothers, less,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps there might be in any one of you an
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  Speaker 1: evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the Living God.
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  Speaker 1: But exhort one another day by day, so long as
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  Speaker 1: it is called today, lest any one of you be
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  Speaker 1: hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become
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  Speaker 1: partakers of Christ. If we hold the beginning of our
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  Speaker 1: confidence firm to the end. While it is said today,
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  Speaker 1: if you will hear his voice, don't harden your hearts
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  Speaker 1: as in the rebellion. And on Tuesday, when we discussed
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  Speaker 1: all that, I mentioned how this verse kind of seems
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  Speaker 1: like Christians can lose their salvation right because it says,
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  Speaker 1: you've heard everything that God tells you, you can fall
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  Speaker 1: away from the Living God, don't be hardened by the
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  Speaker 1: deceitfulness of sin. All these things kind of sound like
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  Speaker 1: you could potentially lose your salvation. But what I pointed
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  Speaker 1: out is that there are too many verses in scripture
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  Speaker 1: that talk about how you cannot lose salvation, like, once
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  Speaker 1: you believe in Jesus, that is what it is. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus himself, I believe in John chapter ten, said that
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  Speaker 1: the sheep hear my voice, and they know me, and
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  Speaker 1: I know my sheep, and nobody can ever pluck my
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  Speaker 1: sheep out of my hand. So once you are saved,
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  Speaker 1: you are saved, which means that these verses in Hebrews
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  Speaker 1: are not talking about Christians losing their salvation, but it's
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  Speaker 1: talking about people that go to church, even call themselves Christians,
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  Speaker 1: but they've never taken that leap of faith into truly
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  Speaker 1: believing in Jesus. And then we also talked about James
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  Speaker 1: chapter two, where it says that the demons believe God,
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  Speaker 1: but they don't actually have faith in him, they don't
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  Speaker 1: have obedience in him. So it's not enough to just
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  Speaker 1: say that you're a Christian or believe that God exists.
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  Speaker 1: There has to be a true faith, a true obedience
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  Speaker 1: behind it. So that's what I'd like to talk about
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  Speaker 1: today in Hebrews chapter four. So let's read verse one
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  Speaker 1: of Hebrews four. It says, let's fear. Therefore, let's perhaps
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  Speaker 1: any one of you should seem to have come short
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  Speaker 1: of a promise of entering into his rest. Verse two,
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  Speaker 1: For indeed, we have had good news preach to us,
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  Speaker 1: even as they also did. But the word they heard
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  Speaker 1: didn't profit them because it wasn't mixed with faith by
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  Speaker 1: those who heard. So there you go. You have to
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  Speaker 1: have a true faith behind what you are hearing. You know,
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  Speaker 1: the people in the Old Testament. In the wilderness, they
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  Speaker 1: were the children of God. They called themselves God's children,
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  Speaker 1: they called themselves Israelites. But in the wilderness, even though
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  Speaker 1: they knew God existed and they could see all of
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  Speaker 1: the works that God did, in the miracles that He
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  Speaker 1: had performed for them for forty years, they didn't have
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  Speaker 1: a real faith in him. They didn't care about him.
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  Speaker 1: They just wanted what they wanted. And that is who
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  Speaker 1: Hebrews is warning us not to be a person who
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  Speaker 1: knows God exists, can see his works, but I don't
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  Speaker 1: actually have a true faith in him. That's why the
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  Speaker 1: author here warns us. He says, we should fear lest
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  Speaker 1: perhaps any one of us have come short of a
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  Speaker 1: promise of entering into his rest. So we need to
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  Speaker 1: be very careful, and we should fear that perhaps some
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  Speaker 1: of us are not going to enter into God's rest. Now,
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  Speaker 1: what is God's rest? Well, in the Old Testament, it
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  Speaker 1: was the promised land. But nowadays we don't have the
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  Speaker 1: promised land that was for the Old Testament people. So
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  Speaker 1: what is the rest he's talking about today. Well, it
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  Speaker 1: could be referring to heaven itself, but it could also
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  Speaker 1: be referring to some of the benefits of the Holy Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: You know, peace and comfort, and joy and love, all
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  Speaker 1: of those things that give us rest from our daily
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  Speaker 1: burdens in life. So this rest that the author is
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  Speaker 1: talking about here, we're going to go more into that
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  Speaker 1: at a later time, but just know that the word
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  Speaker 1: rest could have multiple meanings. But the point is we
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  Speaker 1: do want that rest, and we should fear that some
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  Speaker 1: of us might not be able to enter in to
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  Speaker 1: that rest, or rather come short of the promise of
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  Speaker 1: entering into the rest. Then in verse two, the author continues,
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  Speaker 1: for indeed, we have had good news preach to us,
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  Speaker 1: even as they also did. But the word they heard
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  Speaker 1: didn't profit them because it wasn't mixed by faith with
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  Speaker 1: those who heard. So who is they? Who is the
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  Speaker 1: author talking about? He's talking about the people in the wilderness.
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  Speaker 1: You know, they had the good news preach to them
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  Speaker 1: by God himself. You know, the good news of being
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  Speaker 1: able to go into the Promised Land, the good news
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  Speaker 1: of the Old Testament laws, the good news of God
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  Speaker 1: blessing the Israelite nation abundantly. They had all of that
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  Speaker 1: good news, But it says it didn't profit them because
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  Speaker 1: it wasn't mixed with faith by those who heard. They
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  Speaker 1: heard it, but they didn't truly have faith in any
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  Speaker 1: of that good news, and that could potentially be some
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  Speaker 1: of you faithful listeners, or maybe some people that go
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  Speaker 1: to your church, which is why the author really encourages
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  Speaker 1: us to consider our salvation. In fact, if you turn
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  Speaker 1: to Philippians, chapter two, verse twelve, here's what Paul says.
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  Speaker 1: He says, So, then, my beloved, even as you have
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  Speaker 1: always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now with
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  Speaker 1: much more in my absence, work out your own salvation
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  Speaker 1: with fear and trembling. We are supposed to work out
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  Speaker 1: our salvation, it says, with fear and trembling. Now that
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  Speaker 1: does not mean that we have to work for our salvation,
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  Speaker 1: like there's nothing we can do to earn salvation. But
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  Speaker 1: we're supposed to work out our salvation. Meaning understand, what
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  Speaker 1: Jesus did for us. Salvation is far more than praying
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  Speaker 1: the sinner's prayer. And that is what drives me absolutely
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  Speaker 1: crazy sometimes about certain church denominations. In fact, I grew
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  Speaker 1: up in one where the only thing that mattered was
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  Speaker 1: the sinner's prayer. If you prayed the sinner's prayer that meant,
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  Speaker 1: without a shadow of a doubt, you were saved. Some
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  Speaker 1: churches believe that if you are baptized into the faith,
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  Speaker 1: that is how you become saved. But it's far more
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  Speaker 1: than that. It's not just praying a prayer or getting baptized.
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  Speaker 1: They need to truly understand what God actually did for them.
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  Speaker 1: And how do we understand this on a core level?
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  Speaker 1: How do we really know if we're saved? Because none
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  Speaker 1: of this is supposed to make us doubt our salvation,
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  Speaker 1: but rather give us an assurance of our salvation. So
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  Speaker 1: doubting your salvation that is something that is of Satan.
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  Speaker 1: You know, Satan is telling you you can't possibly be
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  Speaker 1: saved because you did so many bad things in the past,
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  Speaker 1: or God doesn't love you, or you're not worthy of love,
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  Speaker 1: or whatever else Satan might be telling you. That is
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  Speaker 1: not the point of these scriptures. The point rather is
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  Speaker 1: to give us assurance of our salvation knowing that we
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  Speaker 1: are in fact a child of God. So how can
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  Speaker 1: we know that? How can we work out our salvation
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  Speaker 1: knowing that salvation is far more than being baptized or
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  Speaker 1: praying a prayer or even just saying you're a Christian,
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  Speaker 1: or being born into a Christian family, or even believing
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  Speaker 1: that Jesus exists. How can you have that true assurance
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  Speaker 1: of salvation. Well, for that, you got to go over
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  Speaker 1: to the Book of First John and essentially read the
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  Speaker 1: entire thing. The point of the Book of First John
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  Speaker 1: is actually laid out in One John five, verse thirteen.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what John says at the very end of his book.
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  Speaker 1: He says, these things I have written to you who
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  Speaker 1: believe in the name of the Son of God, that
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  Speaker 1: you may know that you have eternal life, and that
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  Speaker 1: you may continue to believe in the name of the
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  Speaker 1: Son of God. So that's actually the point of the
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  Speaker 1: Book of First John is to give Christians an assurance
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  Speaker 1: of their salvation. And the entire book kind of lays
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  Speaker 1: out these bullet points of just like basics that Christians
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  Speaker 1: need to do or understand in order to have an
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  Speaker 1: assurance of their salvation. So today I'm actually going to
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  Speaker 1: go through the entire Book of First John with you,
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  Speaker 1: starting in chapter one, and go through all of these
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  Speaker 1: bullet points so that you can have this assurance of
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  Speaker 1: your salvation. Let's start in First John one, verse six
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  Speaker 1: here's point one. If we say that we have fellowship
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  Speaker 1: with him and walk in the darkness, we lie and
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  Speaker 1: don't tell the truth. But if we walk in the
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  Speaker 1: light as he is in the light, we have fellowship
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  Speaker 1: with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son,
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  Speaker 1: cleanses us from all sin. So that's the first thing
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  Speaker 1: that we need to understand. And actually, if you have
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  Speaker 1: a notebook with you. I've never asked any of you
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  Speaker 1: guys to do this before, but if this is something
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  Speaker 1: that is concerning to you, like maybe you have doubts
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  Speaker 1: about your salvation, it might actually be really good to
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  Speaker 1: take a notebook and jot down some of these points
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  Speaker 1: and research them or pray over them, or go back
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  Speaker 1: to them at a later date or something along those lines.
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  Speaker 1: So grab a notebook real quick if you can actually
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  Speaker 1: do that, or maybe you can make little notes in
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  Speaker 1: your Bible or something. Okay, So the first point that
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  Speaker 1: you have to do in order to have assurance of
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  Speaker 1: your salvation, it says we have to walk in the
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  Speaker 1: light and not live in spiritual darkness. It says if
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  Speaker 1: we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk
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  Speaker 1: in darkness, then we lie and we don't tell the truth.
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  Speaker 1: So if we are walking in spiritual darkness, that means
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  Speaker 1: that we don't actually have a relationship with Jesus. So
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  Speaker 1: what is spiritual darkness, Well, spiritual darkness would be not
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  Speaker 1: believing the core principles of what the Bible teaches you.
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  Speaker 1: If you have questions about any of the core principles
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  Speaker 1: about Jesus being God, about Jesus dying for you, about
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  Speaker 1: Jesus rising again on the third day, about any of
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  Speaker 1: the other moral principles of the Bible. If you don't
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  Speaker 1: believe those things, or you believe that the Bible is
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  Speaker 1: core and is not the truth in some way, or
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  Speaker 1: that only parts of the Bible are the truth, well
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  Speaker 1: that would be you walking in spiritual darkness. Because Hebrews
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  Speaker 1: actually says that the scriptures, all of them, are profitable
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  Speaker 1: for teaching and are God breathed. So you can't just
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  Speaker 1: pick and choose different scriptures that you want, because the
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  Speaker 1: entire Bible is God's word. If it isn't, that means
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  Speaker 1: that certain parts of the Bible are lying. Or that
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  Speaker 1: verse from Hebrews where it says that the entire Bible
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  Speaker 1: is God breathed that versus lying, So either you believe
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  Speaker 1: that the Bible is the truth, or you believe that
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  Speaker 1: the Bible has lies in it. And if the Bible
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  Speaker 1: has lies in it, then it is not fully the
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  Speaker 1: truth from God. So you have to work that out first.
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  Speaker 1: Do you believe in the Bible. Do you believe in
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  Speaker 1: the spiritual principles that the Bible says? Do you believe
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  Speaker 1: that the Bible is the truth. And if you do
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  Speaker 1: believe that the Bible is the truth, then that means
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  Speaker 1: you are not walking in spiritual darkness. Instead you are
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  Speaker 1: walking in the light. Like verse seven says here, if
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  Speaker 1: we walk in the light as He is in the light,
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  Speaker 1: we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. So
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  Speaker 1: there you go. You have to walk in the light.
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  Speaker 1: That's the first point. The second point is right here
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  Speaker 1: in verse eight. If we say that we have no sin,
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  Speaker 1: we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
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  Speaker 1: So secondly, we have to understand that all of us
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  Speaker 1: are sinners. Jen is a sinner. You, faithful listeners are
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  Speaker 1: all sinners. Every single person on earth that has ever existed,
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  Speaker 1: except for Jesus himself, is in fact a sinner. We
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  Speaker 1: cannot escape that reality because if we believe that we
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  Speaker 1: have no sin, then that means that we don't think
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  Speaker 1: that Jesus coming down to earth and being our savior
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  Speaker 1: was actually necessary because we can save ourselves since we
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  Speaker 1: are supposedly sinless, and Jesus scond means nothing in the end.
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  Speaker 1: So not only do you have to understand the truth
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  Speaker 1: of the Bible and that Jesus is who he says
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  Speaker 1: he is, but you have to also understand your own sin.
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  Speaker 1: So that is point number two in order to have
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  Speaker 1: assurance of your salvation. Now, point number three is found
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  Speaker 1: in the next chapter, first John two, verse three. It says,
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  Speaker 1: this is how we know that we know him if
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  Speaker 1: we keep his commandments. One who says I know him
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  Speaker 1: and doesn't keep his commandments is a liar and the
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  Speaker 1: truth isn't in him. So not only do we have
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  Speaker 1: to understand the truth of the Bible, and we also
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  Speaker 1: have to understand the need for a savior that each
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  Speaker 1: and every one of us have and that we are sinners,
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  Speaker 1: we also have to keep God's commandments. That's actually what
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  Speaker 1: Jesus says. I quote this verse all the time. This
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  Speaker 1: might be the most quoted verse on this podcast to date.
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  Speaker 1: If you love me, keep my commandments. That is what
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  Speaker 1: Jesus told his disciples, his people. He said, Yeah, you
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  Speaker 1: might say that you love me, but if you don't
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  Speaker 1: keep my commandments, you're not actually showing me that you
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  Speaker 1: love me. I mean, you guys all know that old
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  Speaker 1: saying actions speak louder than words. You can say something,
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  Speaker 1: but if you don't do the actions based upon what
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  Speaker 1: you say, then you're kind of just lying. And that's
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  Speaker 1: sort of what Jesus told all of his people. So
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  Speaker 1: in order to truly know that you have assurance of salvation,
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  Speaker 1: you have to keep Jesus's commandments. You have to keep
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  Speaker 1: the commandments laid out in scripture. So that means you
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  Speaker 1: have to understand the morality of the Bible and the
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  Speaker 1: truth of the Bible and actually follow the principles that
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  Speaker 1: the Bible says to the best of our abilities. Now,
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  Speaker 1: we're not going to be perfect in this. You know
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  Speaker 1: what did John say in the last chapter. If you
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  Speaker 1: say you have no sin, you are deceiving yourself and
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  Speaker 1: the truth is not in you. So no, we definitely sin,
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  Speaker 1: and we're not going to be perfect at following the
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  Speaker 1: principles of the Bible. But we do our best as
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  Speaker 1: Christians to actually do the things that we claim to believe.
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  Speaker 1: And one of the biggest commandments that we can follow
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  Speaker 1: to prove that we love God is found right here.
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  Speaker 1: Jumping down to verse eight again, I write a new
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  Speaker 1: commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you.
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  Speaker 1: Because the darkness is passing away, and the true light
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  Speaker 1: already shines. He who says he is in the light
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  Speaker 1: and hates his brother is in the darkness even until now.
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  Speaker 1: He who loves his brother remains in the light, and
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  Speaker 1: there is no occasion for stumbling in him. But he
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  Speaker 1: who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks
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  Speaker 1: in the darkness and doesn't know where he is going,
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  Speaker 1: because the darkness has blinded his eyes. So that now
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  Speaker 1: is point four of how we can know that we
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  Speaker 1: are saved is if we love our fellow brothers and sisters. Now,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: the word brothers and sisters here could either be the
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: family of the church, you know, our fellow Christians essentially,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: But the word brothers here is actually kind of innocuous
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: because it could also mean our neighbors. And what did
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Jesus say to the guy who is like, who's my neighbor?
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Who do I actually have to love? Jesus said, well,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: everybody's your neighbor. Essentially, you gotta love everybody. So if
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: you hate somebody, the love of Christ is not shining
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: in you. You are walking in the darkness. So you
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: have to remove the hatred from your heart and you
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: have to actually love people. That is what Jesus said,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: a new commandment. I give you that you love one another.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Jesus said, that is actually how the entire law is
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: summed up, is love of God first and then also
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: love of other people. So you can't have hatred building
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: up in your heart. You can be disgusted at people,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: you can have a righteous form of anger over the
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: problems that you see in the world. But if it
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: crosses over into hatred, then that means that Jesus's light
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: is not shining in you. So you have to remove
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: that hatred from your body. And how do you do this? Well,
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: God helps you because that is a prayer within his will.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Jesus obviously wants you to love people, so if you
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: pray for more love, He's going to grant you that prayer.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Though it might be very, very hard to do that,
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  Speaker 1: especially if you are very angry or irritated at somebody
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: in your life. But still, that is something we have
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: to do as Christians. It is part of our walk
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: with Jesus. So now in verse twenty two we move
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: into point five. Who is the liar? But he who
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the anti Christ.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: He who denies the Father and the son. Whoever denies
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: the son doesn't have the father. He who confesses the
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: son has the Father. Also, so if you deny Jesus,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: that Jesus is not Christ, or that Jesus is not God,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: he's just a good man, or he's just a good
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: prophet or something like that. If you believe that, that
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: means you do not have the light of Christ inside
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: of you. So so far to recap the five points
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: of how to have assurance of salvation. First and foremost,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: you have to not be walking in spiritual darkness. Secondly,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: have to believe that you are a sinner. Thirdly, you
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: have to obey God's commandments, and the best commandment you
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: can obey. Fourthly is to love your neighbor as yourself.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: And fifth you cannot deny the godhood of Jesus. So
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: that brings us to first John three. Jumping to verse ten,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: it says in this the children of God are revealed,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: and the children of the devil. Whoever doesn't do righteousness
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: is not of God. Neither is he who doesn't love
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: his brother. For this is the message which you have
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and killed
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: his brother. Why did he kill him because his deeds
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: were evil and his brothers were righteous. So that is
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: the sixth point of how you can be assured of
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: your salvation. Are you living a righteous life? John gives
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: an example here of somebody that was righteous and somebody
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: that was unrighteous. Cain and Abel talked about way back
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: in the book of Genesis. Cain killed his brother Abel
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: because Abel was doing the right thing in front of
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: God and Cain was doing an evil thing, and Cain,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: out of his jealousy that Abel had a good relationship
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: with God, actually killed Able for this, even though God
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: had come to Cain before that and was like, hey, Cain,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: you know, if you do the right thing, you're also
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: going to have a good relationship with me. But Cain
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: did not listen to the words of God and instead
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: killed his brother Abel out of jealousy and anger. So
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: the point is, if you have any glaring sins in
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: your life that you are just constantly living out without
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: any care over what the Bible says, then that shows
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: that you are not living in the light of Jesus.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: A person who is a child of God is not
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: going to want to remain in these sinful tendencies that
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: they have. That's not to say you're not going to sin.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: You know, I already talked about that. You can't say
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: that you are without sin, even if you become a
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Christian just does not happen. But if you are living
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: in a sin without any guilty conscience of that sin,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: then that means it kind of goes back to point one,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: you're living in spiritual darkness because a person that is
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: a Christian is going to have a guilty conscience. They're
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: going to have the Holy Spirit telling them like, hey,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: you're doing something wrong. You should not be living in
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: this sin. So point one in point three actually kind
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: of correlate with each other actually, but essentially point six
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: is that you have to have a conscience over sin
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: and not be wanting to live in that sin, but
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: wanting to do righteousness. So now moving to first John four,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: here's the point from this one, verse thirteen. By this
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: we know that we remain in Him and he in us,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: because He has given us of his spirit. We have
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: as the savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: is the Son of God God remains in him and
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: he in God. So now that is point seven. We
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: we have the Holy Spirit living within us. We know
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: that we are a child of God. And how do
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: you know that you have the Holy Spirit living in you? Well,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: if you can outwardly confess that Jesus is Lord, if
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: you can say, without a shadow of doubt, Jesus is
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: my Lord to somebody who asks you, then you know
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: you have the Holy Spirit living in you, which takes
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: me to a verse in Onese Corinthians twelve, verse three.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: It says, therefore I make known to you that no
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: man speaking by God's spirit, says Jesus is a cursed
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: and no one can say Jesus is Lord, but by
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. So if you can say Jesus is
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: my Lord and believe it, then you know that you
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: have assurance of salvation. So that is point number seven
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: and actually the last point I was presenting for you guys,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: because if you move into the last chapter of First John,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: which is First John five, basically John summarizes how to
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: have assurance of salvation essentially in verses one through three.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: So here's the summary. Whoever believes that Jesus is the
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Christ has been born of God. Whoever loves the Father
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: also loves the child who is born of him. By
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: this we know that we love the children of God
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: when we love God and keep his commandments. For this
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: is loving God that we keep his commandments, and his
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: commandments are not grievous. For whatever is born of God
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: the world your faith. Who is he that overcomes the world,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: but he who believes that Jesus is the son of God.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: So there you go. That is the summary of how
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: we can know we have salvation if we believe that
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Jesus is the Messiah. We have been born of God.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Is what it says. It says, whoever loves the Father
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: also loves the child who are born of him. So
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: that means other Christians other fellow children of God. If
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: we love God, we're also going to love our fellow
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Christians verse two. By this, we know we love the
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: children of God when we love God and keep his commandments.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: And then he also says his commandments are not grievous. So,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: I mean a lot of times people look at Christianity
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: and they're like, there's nothing good going on in Christianity
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: because you just have to deny yourself and submit to God.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: And God is mean and his commandments are really hard.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: But John here says that his commandments are not grievous,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: which means they are not overly difficult. They are a
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: burden in some ways. I mean, even Jesus said, come
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: to me. You know, my yoke is easy and my
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: burden is light. There is a yoke and there is
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: a burden when it comes to Christianity, but the things
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: of the world are a far bigger yoke and a
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: far bigger burden that we have to deal with. In fact,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: one of the things I like to listen to while
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: I'm cleaning, other than music and audiobooks and podcasts and everything,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: I like to listen to people's testimonies. I follow this
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: one page on YouTube called De la Fe Testimonies, and
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: they basically do hour and a half long testimonies of
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: all sorts of people from all different backgrounds. People that
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: were Jehovah's witnesses, people that were Mormons, people that were
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: in the New Age, or witches or atheists. I mean,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: they get all sorts of different backgrounds of people, and
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: these testimonies are just amazing because the one thing that
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: is consistent with all of them is I was in
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: misery before I met Jesus, and now my life is
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: so much easier. I have this joy and this light
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: inside of me. So Jesus doesn't place burdens on our backs.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: He takes burdens from us. His commands are not grievous.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: And that is something I can say in my personal
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: life as well. Before I was really living the Christian life,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: I was so much more miserable and so much more
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: depressed than I am now. So if you're kind of
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: dipping your toes into faith and haven't fully taken that step,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: I really encourage you to do so, because, as Hebrews said,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: going back to our chapter four, today God gives us
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: rest take that step into the faith and enter into
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: that rest. It's really funny how that came all the
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: way back around to Hebrews chapter four. I had no
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: clue how I was going to end this episode, and
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, I'm talking about rest, and
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: then Hebrews four pops back into my brain where it's like,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: oh yeah, Hebrews four was talking about entering into God's rest.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: That is so funny. So just things like that where
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: I believe so deeply that the Bible is connected with
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: itself and it's the truth. I mean, I just believe
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: it so wholeheartedly. Faithful listeners, I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Before we say goodbye, here's another word from a sponsor. Obviously,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: we did not finish talking about Hebrews four because this
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: episode is already getting quite long, and I'm not going
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: to take all of your guys as time today, So
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: we'll talk about the rest of Hebrews four one through
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: seven on Tuesday instead of discussing it today. So I
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: hope you guys tune in on Tuesday for another episode
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: from Hebrews. And I hope you all have been loving
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: the Book of Hebrews as much as I have been
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: so far. This has been my favorite book of the
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: New Testament. I actually went back and listened to an
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: episode I did from Ephesians last year, and in Ephesians,
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: I was like, this is definitely my favorite book of
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: the Bible. Yeah, maybe they're all my favorite. I don't know,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: but I've been loving the Book of Hebrews as well.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: All right, faithful listeners, I'll see all of you guys
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: on Monday, hopefully as we finish up second Chronicles. We're
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: only a couple chapters away from the end, and then
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: we'll be moving into season eleven of this podcast. So
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, have a fantastic and wonderful weekend. If I
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: don't see you guys tomorrow on the Bible Explained on
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Fridays link in description if you want access to that podcast.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: I'll see all of you guys on Monday, six am
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: or whenever you choose to wake up, Happy listening, and
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: God bless. I just want to take a second to
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: me on the I Will Explain podcast. In fact, if
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: you go to life audio dot com, you will find
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.