1 John, once again, chapter 3, 1 John chapter number 3, and we'll start, we'll pick it up around verse 16. I think we covered some of this last week, but I want to make that the foundation of the rest. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, But indeed, and in truth, and hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemneth us, God is greater than our heart knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemneth us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment, And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given us. If you want to look at this, this is the barometer of love tonight. In other words, this is how to tell the character, the quality of love that's in your heart. It's all by loving your brother. We know this starts out from verse one, how we were adopted, and that shows the manner of love the father had for us, that he would adopt us into his family, adopt us as willful, vile sinners, into his family and make us join heirs with Jesus Christ who died for us. Adoption is an incredible thing, isn't it? Adoption is where someone has no family, has no hope, has no background, really has no stability, and God puts you into his family. That's just an incredible truth. a wonderful thing and he says that's what manner of love that he behold what manner of love uh the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of god that is the benchmark of love isn't it but in verse 5 it speaks of forgiveness you know that he was manifested to take away our sins in him is no sin he didn't sin but he took away our sins he gives us forgiveness doesn't he verse 14 we know that we have passed from death into life because we love the brother, and he that loveth not his brother abideth in death." That is, that mark of loving our brother is a consideration for them. I didn't intend this, but it's been partially the theme of all three messages today, that you love your brothers. That is, when you consider them, you seek their good. And remember, Hebrews tells us that. Consider one another to provoke to love and a good works. Now, when you're kids, you consider one another to provoke them. And you notice as two kids together, they figure out a way to provoke each other. Many times one of them is more of the active provoker, the other one's the provokee, but kids do that, isn't it? Instead, we're supposed to be the opposite of that. We consider one another to provoke to love and to good works, to encourage to love and to good works, and that is actually because God lives within us. We seek their good just like Christ did, and it's a sacrifice. That's why we start in verse 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." That's a sacrifice. Lives given for others. Our lives would be given for others. But He, while we were sinners, yes, He redeemed us, didn't He? He takes us as sinners, but we are called upon to lay our lives down for our friends. And He laid His life down for sinners that we might be brethren. That's really an incredible thing. The state of love in your heart, the state of affection, the state of consideration, that is a tremendous barometer of our love, isn't it? And let's pray and we'll go on. Father, would you bless our time? Lord, there are some burdens on our hearts, Father, with the loss of one and yet the blessing of the new life that came in. Lord, would you just bless us and lay that the cares of this world aside for a few moments and speak to us from your word. Lord, we thank you for this apostle of love who has this recurring theme that we are blessed with so many wondrous eternal things here in this life that we can enjoy them now and not have to wait for heaven to enjoy the plenty that you give us and you promise to us. Lord, just bless us today and help us to look into our own hearts individually to see how they stand before you in Jesus name. Amen. Well, I don't know, I don't like the word barometer of love, but that's what this is talking about, isn't it? This is how you can know you're a born of God, when you have love for the brethren. Now, that kind of suggests that not everyone will you get along with. It says, as much as lies within you, live at peace with all men. But it says that the love for the brethren, and the love for the brethren doesn't have to be necessarily all warm and fuzzy all the time. Jesus loves us, and he does for us what is best for us, doesn't he? That's why the Bible speaks of this principle, though it doesn't come out this way. It is, you consider one another. Now I lost my train of thought. We say it to our kids all the time. That is that you are doing what is best for them, and that's what really love is. The barometer of love is, first of all, this, a compassion for the brethren. Now, we know that's based on the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. Jesus gave his life for us. Now, when you see someone who passes from this realm into the next one, it's not a lot of fun. It's not something you look forward to or nothing like that. But imagine Jesus bearing the sins of all the world. and He became sin for us. He tasted death for every man, as we've looked at many times. He tasted death for every man. Sometimes people die in the most horrible ways. Sometimes people die in their sleep. Sometimes people die just suddenly. Sometimes it's long and drawn out. But death is a fact of our life, isn't it? And Jesus tasted death for every man, not just those that trust Him. Jesus died for us, and that's the benchmark of showing our love for the brethren by reflecting Jesus' love for us while we were sinners. He died for us that we might be sons and brothers to Jesus Christ. This is This is the very most that he can do for the brethren, isn't it? He died for us, died for us. Well, what about us in service? It's not just sentiment, it's not just words, it's actions. Hey, there are people that say, yes, intellectually, I love you, but it's not displayed in actions, is it? That's not love for one another. Jesus, God loves us while we're sinners. That means he has affection for us when we're not lovable. He died for us and adopts us into His family and then instills His love in us by the Holy Spirit of God, and it expects from us a service. It's not just sentiment, it's action. In verse 17, But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? How in the world can you say, God's love is within me? when I care nothing and nothing, in no way do I aid or relieve the brethren when it's in the power of my hands to do so. So we see in Jesus' sacrifice, he did the most he could do for the brethren, and the very minimum that the brethren can do one for the other is this, that we live our lives considering them. What you can do, it's not ignoring their needs, but by the presence of God's love in you, you see the need, and as you're able to, you help people with their needs. Now, this isn't welfare. This is just being considerate one of another, isn't it? but by the presence of God's love in you, you supply some needs. Many times that need is supplied anonymously. Many times that need is supplied just verbally with some words of encouragement. But when you think about that in Hebrews, go back to Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10, this is something more and more lost on our generation today. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 24, let us consider one another to provoke and to love, and to good works, and then speaks about the assembling of ourselves together. Let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works. How would you provoke someone to love? Well, I can tell you this. The Bible says we love him because he first loved us. When we show our affection, our consideration, our love for someone else, that's going to, it might be the thing that makes their day. It might be the thing that just fills the need of their heart that no one else knows about. And it's amazing that God would put it on your heart to do so. But it's not just love, it's the good works as well. It's the good works as well. You supply a need. It's the least we can do for our brethren. Is that what we do for our brothers and sisters of our natural family, isn't it? We try to help one another with our needs. what builds up the body of believers, quite like each one of us considering the others, to provoke to love and good works. But this is all in sincerity. It's not just lip service, but it's in truth. That means we're aware of what's going on around us. We're aware of that. seek to be a blessing as much as we can one to the other, doesn't it? Now, that's not just saying that we should die broke. I don't think it means that at all. I've seen some people say, well, that means that people shouldn't accumulate money. Your Bible tells you that you will lay up for your children, not children laying up for us. So it can't be saying that. What it's saying is that we help because we can see from the government's mess that people happily get onto an entitlement mentality. That's not what it's talking about. It's just being a blessing one to another. When someone comes and just encourages you when you're down or someone notices that you're down or someone just has a special song in their heart and it blesses you and they don't even know about it. It is what kind of a blessing we are one for another. And you notice in Hebrews 10, it says, forsake not the assembling of ourselves together. Isn't it funny that that's getting more common all the time? more common all the time that people just decide that they'll go to church as they need it, and yet we're supposed to go so much the more as we see the day approaching. It doesn't take a brilliant man to see that the day is approaching, that the end of our age is upon us, because in fact, the Bible says these are the last times, and that was 2,000 years ago. It's so much closer today, isn't it? And you see the unrest all over the Middle East, all over the world. In fact, there are two or three different places where where war is either imminent or it's going on right now all over this world, which affects everything else in this world, doesn't it? It affects everything. I mean, if you believe the Washington establishment, they say that our inflation is because of Ukraine. Well, Ukraine does affect us, doesn't it? If it's just oil, if it's just our supply to them. And Israel, that problem. Most likely Taiwan, that problem. All those things, they affect all of us. And what does it do? It drains America's resources, doesn't it? You know what we do? We just encourage each other. We encourage each other. It's like the worse it gets, the closer he comes, isn't it? Isn't that just the right way to look at it? Now, I don't want to see suffering and pain and all that stuff, but my life is hid with Christ in God. I don't want it any other way. I don't want it any other way. So we serve him. We have compassion and sincerity and in truth, not with lip service, but by being aware and intentionally aware to be a blessing to other people. But look at verse 21. We're a little ahead of ourselves here. It says, Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. So you see compassion for the brethren. but then you seek confidence toward God. That's a perfect song, has a perfect background for the song we sang, How Long Has It Been. How long has it been? You know, people can go for months, even years, and God's Word doesn't speak to their hearts. And if you think that's because we've gotten to a level of maturity that sin's not so rampant, that's probably evidence that sin is even more rampant than we're aware of. Otherwise, Romans 7 wouldn't be in the Bible. Unfortunately, there are sins you commit, but there are sins that you omit as well. I always think of Samuel saying, God forbid that I should sin against him by ceasing to pray for you. You have a hard day. It's nice knowing people are praying for you, isn't it? It's nice to know that people will think about you and call you and check on you. and just care one for the other, and that should be normal for believers, shouldn't it? The foundation for our assurance is that we follow these truths, that we love genuinely. We care one for the other. We are a family together, and we demonstrate that by our compassion one for the other. God implants his love. when his love is inside, then we see the needs of others. Sometimes that need is a word of encouragement. Sometimes that need is a bag of groceries. Sometimes that, it could be all kinds of different things, couldn't it? But we see the needs of others and that's the foundation of our assurance. When we've done all we can do, then we know. Who was it I was reading about? Oh yeah, his brother Boyle over in Spokane. They came back from the military, I think in Italy. They came back from the military and decided they were going to go to college at Tennessee Temple back in the 60s or early 70s. They were going to go to college at Tennessee Temple and they got there and between them they knew they had like $7. And so they got to the first service. This young married couple, they get to the first service and they have an offering plate passed and Brother Boyle puts the $7 in the offering plate. And she says, honey, what are you doing? That's all we have. We're here where God wants us and he'll provide. And strangely enough, God did just exactly that. You can read accounts of that all the time. It's not a bad thing to be watching your pennies. Not a bad thing. Not always comfortable, but it gives us assurance knowing that we do what we can do and God does the difference. Makes up the difference, doesn't he? And that gives you confidence. This doesn't tell us it gives us wealth. It gives us confidence. Now, unfortunately, there are times you'll pray for something you'll pray for an awful long time, it seems like, and it doesn't seem like God answers, I'm familiar with that. but you keep on praying. The devil wants you to quit, so you give up. And if you quit for months on end, and then God does provide what you prayed for, really how much confidence boost does that give to you? Well, I guess I should quit praying, then God'll take care of it. No, you just want God to move in your heart, speak to you every day, and you fellowship with him every day. Just look back over them. over the day? What did you talk about? What did you as a couple talk about? What did you with your friends talk about? What was important to you? Do you think that there's anything unimportant to God? Anything unimportant? It tells us to pour out our burdens to Him. Lord this is a real burden to me. This is something really bothering me. And we're to we're to lay our burdens before him we come boldly to him. And God speaks to your heart sometimes sometimes that you'll you'll see a need for someone else and then you realize well I could meet that need and you meet the need. And I've heard lots of testimonies about that as well. See, we see the needs of others. We see that confidence is self-perpetuating. Why is that? This whole book is written for our confidence. And the reason I say self-perpetuating, 513 of 1 John, these things have I written to you, the whole book of 1 John, I've written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God. It was written to believers. that you may know that you have eternal life. Do you understand what you're missing when you don't believe in eternal security? Now, the clever ones will say, well, I can't sin and lose my salvation, but just as I received Christ, I can reject him later. You mean you wake up some morning and say, you know, hell looks better all the time? That doesn't make any sense, does it? What God wants for us is to know that we're going to heaven when we die. And you know what's the last part of that? And that you may believe in the name of the Son of God. I thought it started that way. These things have I written to you to believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know and believe on the name of the Son of God. That confidence brings you right back to Jesus Christ. What sin could you commit that He hasn't forgiven you for? Or what sin has He forgiven you for that He decides to add back to your ledger? It is to give us confidence in our walk with Him. That confidence is something special and precious to children, isn't it? They need to have that security of being at home, that security of a stable home, a happy home. And what does that do? It gives them the ability to go out in this world and make mistakes. And when they make a mistake, they might be knocked down, but they get back up. The Bible says the righteous man falls seven times and gets up again. But the wicked fall into mischief, don't they? We have the strength to get back up in Jesus. We see it self-perpetuating. Assured hearts before Him. He wants our hearts to be filled with certainty. That's a wonderful God, isn't it? But, you know, it goes beyond that even. It says, look at verse 19, Hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. What He wants from us is our conscience to be assured. Now, yes, His Spirit dwells within us. Yes, we can see His loves within us because we have love for the brethren. And your heart breaks sometimes for people and there's nothing you can do because they won't do what the Bible says. You don't compensate for someone's rebellion. But man, the security of conscience. What did Paul say when he was called before the judges? I've lived in all good conscience from that day till this. You know what that means? I don't think he was being a smart aleck. I think what he was being was he was showing them he was a sincere man. He was sincerely wrong before he met Jesus. Now he's sincerely right. But he lived by a conscience that was not seared, was not afflicted, which is what we can do, isn't it? That is a conscience of truth. Verse 19, Hereby we know that we are of the truth. That conscience is dictated by truth, it says, and it is the conviction of heart. I'll tell you, I'll tell you, when we sing that song, How Long Has It Been, it's a sad thing that People can go for days, weeks, even months on end, and God doesn't speak to them through His Word. God doesn't speak to them through the preaching of the Word of God. What in the world would contribute to that? Sometimes we let our environment determine our happiness and contentment. It's easy for all of us to do that, isn't it? Because we don't have things the way we want. We're not content. You don't want to be that way. How often is it going to be the way we want? Why in the world would God let Paul write the epistle of joy from a Roman prison? Why would he let him write that? That doesn't make any sense, does it? Except that that joy that comes from Jesus is spiritual. It's not subject to our environment, to the outside, is it? We have convictions of heart. If you ignore them, If you ignore them, you're in trouble. But remember, here in verses 19 and 20, Hereby we know that we are the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. That's a really good verse for eternal security. If your heart condemns you, isn't that what Paul was saying? I know in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. His conscience tells him that his flesh is prone to wander. But God knows the condition of your heart, doesn't he? God knows the condition of your heart. Nora turned on a thing of two pianos playing today. He says, it's not my kind of music. She said, it's not my kind of music. And these two people were playing the piano and they were so musical. I hated them. One would be playing a piano, and I said, hon, can you tell what key it is by hearing it? And she says, not always, it takes me. Well, the other would sit down and just look for a second, listen for a second, and then he'd just start playing. And they're not playing with music. In fact, there's no music in front of them. They're playing together, and I could sit and listen to that for hours on end. And then I got to thinking, how wonderful heaven's gonna be. Isn't it going to be wonderful where music will be the order of the day? In heaven, we see this. They sing the song of the lamb, I think it is, in Revelation 5. They're going to be singing and rejoicing in joy in heaven, and I'll probably be able to play the piano if there is one. Now really, that's pretty neat, isn't it? Who in the world would think of the piano? I remember working on stage. We had harpsichords there too. I actually ordered plans to build one. I think it'd be fun to build a harpsichord. A piano is a harp that you hit the strings with a hammer. A harpsichord is the same thing with a keyboard that plucks the strings. That's why they sound slightly different. And Bach always wrote stuff for harpsichords. Okay, there are two instruments that are great together. Do you realize that God blessed us so much by giving some people a musical ability that's just incredible? And the rest of us get to enjoy it. We get to enjoy that music, singing not the world's songs because our song is different, but sing the songs of Zion. So we have a security of conscience. And you see it's based on truth, but in verse 21, beloved, if our heart condemn us not. The first one, if our heart condemns us, God knows better. But if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. You know, the way to come before God with confidence in your prayer life is knowing that all the accounts are settled before God. That's not maintaining or securing your salvation. What it is is enjoying and, if you will, exploiting the fellowship you have with your Savior. Isn't it great to enjoy the fellowship with Jesus? You can be alone in your room and a verse will strike you and it'll just bless your soul. It happens to me and I call someone and share it with them. Sometimes you'll look at a verse and it reminds you of someone you share that verse with them and it's a blessing to them. When our conscience doesn't condemn us, then we have confidence toward God. Lord, let me bring this to you. Let me bring this to you. Think about this. Jesus, after the resurrection, was sitting there with the disciples. And the Bible says the one that was leaning on Jesus' breast, which would be John, Peter motions to him and says, hey, ask him a question. Ask him a question. Isn't that what sweet fellowship really is? Where, well, it's what your kids do. Your kids say, okay, now, who's the one to ask dad if we can do this? I think all kids do that. Who's the one that asks dad? Or should we ask mom first? and you just figure out which one has the best chance of getting your will. Well, Peter's motioning to John to ask Jesus something, and Jesus says, hey, if this is my will, then what's that to you? You serve God. That is the comfort and the confidence of just taking a request before him. How many times is it that what would really be a blessing to you wouldn't even move the meter on some people. That's not right or wrong. That's just the way it is. That's just the way it is. But we have the power of purity then when you know your conscience is right before God. When you come to your Bible, to read your Bible each day, God, please touch my heart and speak to me about the things that I should change or could change. when it comes to hearing the preaching of the word of God, God touch my heart today. You know what we would naturally say, and there's some truth to it? I am so frazzled, I'm so tired, I'm so weary. But you know the wonderful thing about being weary is that your resistance wears down too. Why do you suppose they had week-long meetings in the old days, sometimes for six weeks? Well, they didn't have TVs. piped into every home, and folks would come out for a social event where they'd hear the preaching of the Word of God, and by the time they got so tired at the end of those meetings, then the decisions they knew they should make, they ran out of excuses for it, and God moved in their hearts. That happens. That happens. It takes effort to say no. Oh, but that's effort misplaced, isn't it? Say yes to Jesus. It's the power of confidence in prayer. You avoid sin, but when you stumble, you confess it quickly. That is the love in action. And what it does is it gives us assurance in prayer, doesn't it? That God's dealing with my heart. Hey, David had times when he said heaven seemed silent, didn't he? that it just seems like heaven seems silent. When you have a record of God hearing you and answering your prayers specifically, even when heaven seems silent, you're able to keep going. Folks, there's more than enough to discourage us today. More than enough. More than enough to see our country going the wrong direction. More than enough to see churches struggling. More than enough seeing young people not wanting to go to church. More than enough seeing parents fighting with their teenagers because they don't want to go to church. There's all kinds of stuff. You better make sure that your conscience is right before God, isn't it? Shouldn't you? That you have done business with God each and every day. And God has spoken to you personally. You read his word and a verse will strike you today that won't strike you next week. Why? It's a living book. The Holy Spirit's alive within you. And this is all about not just the love of the brethren that God imparts to us. This is a walk with God that gives us confidence. He wants us to be confident. He wants us to be confident. In our day, they like to trot in front of you some celebrity athlete that's huge, and he tells you all about his walk with God. But they're not the ones that make, usually not the ones that make the difference. You know what makes the difference? It's that little guy that doesn't quit. Because everyone has the temptation to quit or to back off. And that one that just keeps on keeping on. That's what you want, isn't it? You want faithfulness because that's what God honors. This is very interesting as well. Look at 2 Timothy. No, I want 1 John 2, just a page back, verse 28. Now notice what it says, Now little children abide in him, that when he shall appear, oh, we love that thought, don't we? He could come tonight or early in the morning when the sun pokes its head up over the mountains. At his appearing, We may have confidence and not be ashamed before him it is coming. That means it's possible to be ashamed when he comes back for us at his appearing. Why would you be ashamed? Because God's told you what to do and you've refused to do it, or you've neglected to do it. Or because, God, you know what's right and you haven't done it, you've been indulging in sin. Wouldn't it be awful to be ashamed at his coming? You know, if you're ashamed of his coming, then you wouldn't receive him with the joy you could receive him with, isn't it? You'd be hiding. Find some great big guy and be behind him. Right? Jonathan sent me a picture of two sheriff's deputies. One was a big guy, makes me look like Twiggy. great big guy and behind him was this little guy with his hand on his back shooting around him. That's what it looks like, I think, when Jesus comes and you're ashamed of His coming. Man, I don't want to be ashamed of His coming. and the natural tendency of sin, the natural downward trend that we have in our hearts and our lives. I don't want to be ashamed of this coming. I want to be found faithful, don't you? It's more difficult all the time to be faithful, but I want to be found faithful. I want to be found with confidence in my prayer life, confidence that he's dealing with me, and love is appearing. You're not going to love His appearing if you're not ready, will you? You see, you can be ashamed of His appearing. And that's at His appearing. Man, I wouldn't want to be taken out of a place where the lost are predominant and you're indulging in things that a Christian has no business doing. I wouldn't want Him to come then. There are places I won't go because I don't want to be surprised that He's coming if I'm in there. even if I'm not indulging in them. When I go to a new town, I look for a Bible-believing Baptist church. That's the crowd I want to be around. That's the crowd I want to be around. You confess quickly. That gives you the power of confidence in prayer. Now, look at the last two verses. This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. That's simple, isn't it? Two things. We should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ. Really, of the 10 commandments, the first four have everything to do with our walk with God, with vertical. Our walk with God, and now it's reiterated here, this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. That is, God the Father's Son, Jesus Christ. It's right back there to our theology. And then, to love one another. That's the last six commandments, that we love one another. That we love one another. It's getting less and less common for people, even in an earthly family, to have fellowship one with the other. You hear about families that are just broken apart. Don't let it be yours. Don't let it be yours. The commandment is to believe on his name. Believe on his name. Remember the day of your salvation? I mentioned that this morning, Steve and I talking about that. Remember the day of your salvation? Wasn't that a great day? Remember the day of salvation of someone you led to Christ? Wasn't that a great day? Wasn't that a great day? But believe on his name? That's salvation, but it's also prayer, isn't it? You pray to get saved, and then when you got saved, you're a new creature and you desperately need to grow, you desperately need to be fed, you desperately need direction, and you bow before him in prayer and sometimes you'll say, dear Father, dear God, and there'll be a long pause because you don't even know where to start. Why? The Bible says there are times when you don't even know what to pray for as you ought. Then the Holy Spirit intercedes and says, this is what he means. Isn't that a blessing? This is what he needs to say. We don't hear the Holy Spirit saying that, but our Father does. He not only saved us and lets Jesus intercede for us. There's one God and one mediator between God and man, the man in Christ, Jesus, but he implants his spirit in us and the love of the Spirit within us. That we have confidence and then that we will have confidence in prayer and power in prayer. This passage talks about having what your request is. Many passages speak that way. What about believing on his name in service? Believing on his name in service. Now you're seeing the cults accommodating the lost more and more all the time. Now they're cults. but to fill up the auditorium. And now I've seen some videos of some of the famous preachers showing the falsehood. I remember seeing Joel Osteen. You might have seen this. Joel Osteen, he was asked, do Muslims get saved the same? Can they be saved? And he couldn't even give an answer. Well, I'm not familiar with that. He had a chance to tell them the gospel. And he might have looked funny, that's why he didn't say it. Or maybe he didn't even know what he was talking about. I don't know. Probably that. But are Muslims going to be in heaven? Well, I'm not that familiar with their doctrine. I am. I don't even have to be very familiar, because my Bible says, Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name unto heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. I understand that. So you believe on His name and you serve Him, don't you? And you promote Him as the Savior. He's the Savior of our souls, isn't He? But He's the completer of our lives and the inspirer of our purpose. He inspires us to purpose in this life. He directs our steps by His Spirit, leads us into truth by His Spirit. You believe on His name. and there's no name like His name. Isn't it a sad thing, and you know the devil's in it, that people curse with the name of my Savior? They never curse by Allah, but Allah's not a god. I met, actually, a Muslim downtown, we were street preaching a few years ago, and he got out of his car, and he didn't look like a Muslim, but I gave him a track and spoke to him, and he said, oh, well, I'm a Muslim. He said, I think we're the same. I said, I don't think so. I don't think so. And I did my best to give him a testimony of the gospel, which is what we should do. We believe on his name. In verse 24, well, the last part of verse 23, believe on the name of the Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment. Just love one another. Just love each other. That's an awareness of each other, willingness to sacrifice for each other. And it's evidence of faith of the new creature, isn't it? And then 24, he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. Now, that's not legalism. That's not work salvation. That's not keeping your salvation or maintaining your salvation. It's no different than a godly couple growing together in the Lord. Hey, some things are not right or wrong, are they? You say, well, that sounds like heresy. Listen, listen. My wife sometimes apologizes for, well, I want you to hear this piano, but I know it's not your kind of music. And it's not bad music. Not bad music. I don't care for bad music. But even amongst Christian music, I don't care much for a lot of it. I typically don't like contemporary Christian music. That doesn't make it all wrong. But you know, you know, We love each other, and what we're doing in obedience is that we become more like Him. I want to love the things that my Savior loves, just as I want to enjoy the things my wife enjoys. I see these little gizmos here and there, how to wind yarn. I've never thought about winding yarn into a ball. How many of you men have ever thought about winding yarn into a ball? You have, Steve? Yeah, I figured that. I figured that. There's nothing wrong with it. I'm not particularly interested, but if that's what my wife likes, I'm going to be interested in it. That's not so that we can stay married. If it is, there's something wrong with you, okay, or someone. I just want to love the things she loves. She wants to love the things I love. That's what our walk with the Lord is. Find out what Jesus loves and love those things. and have fellowship over the things that are important to him. Think about neglecting church today. The Bible says, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. The benchmark of a husband loving his wife is Jesus' love for the church. And he gave himself for that church, which is consistent with his passage. He gave Himself for it. So it's the certainty of His presence that encourages us to obedience, isn't it? But the last part of verse 24, And hereby we know that He abideth in us by the Spirit which He hath given us. We have obedience to testify of His presence. We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God. to testify as well. He guides us. He corrects us. He leads us from error. And the thing to remember is this, in the walk with the Lord, he doesn't compel you to do things, does he? Sometimes it seems like that God puts a burden on your heart like the prophets in the Old Testament. And even as Jeremiah said, well, I got so sick of them, I just quit speaking. But God's word was a fire in my bones. He wants us to serve Him willingly. He wants us to serve willingly. And folks, there are seasons in our walk with the Lord. Some seasons are dry times, maybe the hottest summer. And some seasons are springtime all over again, or autumn, when the beauty is just striking. And some of them are cold and seemingly indifferent in what we do. We walk with Him in all those seasons. And we do so by doing what pleases Him. And He certainly gives us handfuls of purpose. I use that from the book of Ruth many times. Handfuls of purpose. Sometimes God gives you a blessing intentionally. You didn't even ask for it. In Ruth's case, she was just trying to collect enough wheat, grain, to exist, for her and her mother-in-law to exist. And Boaz told his servants, you just leave some handfuls of purpose for her, big piles, so she doesn't have to work hard for it. Isn't that what God does for you? Does it bother you when you haven't won someone to Jesus in a while? It bothers me. Sometimes God gives handfuls of, I mean, I've talked for hours with some people and they don't make a profession of faith or they'll agree that they're lost and the Bible says they're lost, they need to get saved, but they won't do anything about it. Other times you open the Bible and they fall just right off the tree. Why? Someone else has already sowed the word of life to them. Someone else has already provided them the way. They know the way of salvation and you get to reap a harvest when you didn't do much to bring it about. That's a handful of purpose, isn't it? God's good to us just because he's a good God. You do the same thing to your kids. You do the same thing for your kids. Sometimes you just want to be a blessing to them. whatever you can or can't do, or your wife, you want to be a blessing to them because the Bible says that each one seeks to please the other. You just want to be a blessing to them. And all that builds confidence toward God, gives us promises in prayer, makes us a testimony that's wise in this world, keeps us from being ashamed of His coming, and really We don't have to look just at the destination, which is heaven. We can enjoy each step of the way, can't we? To have God answer your prayers, man, that's a blessing. Don't have to wait for heaven for that. To see God save someone, won't even be able to see that in heaven. To share the gospel with someone who's never heard it, won't be able to do that in heaven. But you can do it now. Be a blessing to someone. And this is all to give us confidence in our walk with God. What a blessing that is. Let's pray.