the book of 1 John. One of the purposes of the book of 1 John is to give us understanding in a matter of assurance that we may know, that we might know, that we can know, And he says this over and over again. We know that we know him. If we know him, this is the confidence that we have. The book of 1 John is a book about assurance. So why is it so few people have assurance? A lot of people live in doubt. A lot of people are skeptical. The work of righteousness shall be peace, that's Isaiah 32, 17. The effect of righteousness, this is what he said, is quietness and assurance forever. That quietness of the soul and the assurance that comes with knowing Jesus. In 1 John chapter three, He gives us some understanding of this assurance, but he also gives us understanding of why many don't have this assurance. He tells us in this matter of sin, why people are so confused, why people do not walk in the assurance that only Christ can give. And he deals with it doctrinally. I want to do that tonight. We'll slow down a little bit from where we've been the last couple of nights. But I want to deal with this matter of the assurance of faith. In verse 1 of 1 John 3, Beloved, let me start in 1 John chapter 3 instead. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. What manner of love is that? Well, that we should be called the sons of God. That's love. That is taking that which was not fit to be called His Son and making us fit to be called His Son. That's love. That is the law of the servant. That is the law of Jarrah and his servant. And we see that we become the sons of God. God titles us the sons of God. There's so many things that accompany that. It's not just the inheritance, although the inheritance is marvelous. It is not just the things that are to come, although they are wonderful things, but that it's in this world we can be called the sons of God. In this day in which we live, we can be called the sons of God. He is our heavenly father. We are his children, those of us that are saved by the grace of God. And it's love that God would even allow us to be called his children. And I don't know about you, I don't let other people call me daddy, that's just me. Amen, forgive me for, maybe that's weird to you, but normally if your children would come up and hug me and say daddy, that'd be a weird thing. I let my little girl come up and hug me and call me daddy. You know why? Because she's my daughter. and I bestowed that love upon her because she is my daughter. She gets love that your children don't get. She gets love and attention and affection that your children aren't gonna get from me. I'll be kind to your children, I'll love your children, but it's a different love between a daddy and his children. And so he tells us this is the love that God has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Now, again, is that in the literal? Well, they know us in the sense of who we are as people. We do business with people, work with people, interact with people. But spiritually, they do not acknowledge us as the sons of God. Have you ever gone to the convenience store and the clerk look at you and say, here comes one of God's children. I mean, do they acknowledge that? No, the world knoweth us not. You ever go to the library and check out a book and the librarian says, whoo, glory to God, this is one of the children of God. No, it doesn't work that way because they knew him not, therefore they know us not. But in the household of faith, we acknowledge one another, we hold we are the sons of God. That's the promise that God has given us. That's the love that God has bestowed upon us that we're his children. And the Bible says that the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. They love it. Now are we the sons of God. This isn't for a thing to come. This isn't about historically. This is not a future tense. Now we are the sons of God. And because we are the sons of God, there's a promise to every one of his children. He says it this, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. Well, we're the sons of God, right? So what are we gonna be when we appear? He said, we don't know what we're gonna be. But we do know this. This is a promise, when we see Him, what's gonna happen? We're gonna see Him like He is. When He shall appear, we shall be like Him. Now the world doesn't understand that. The Lord doesn't say, even now, we are the sons of God. Even now, we are the sons of God. But again, what John is writing here, he's beginning to set the stage for these verses to come. He's telling us we're the sons of God. He's telling us, it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but when we see Him, we shall see Him as He is. We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. We're going to be like Him when we see Him. But then he goes on and tells us why we're not like him now. By the way, if you are like him now, please share that with me. He says when we see him, there's a physical being that we shall see. We will see him in all of his glory. We will see the face of Almighty God. And we will not die. This is what he said. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure. What is that hope? Well, Titus said it's the blessed hope, and it's twofold that, and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. What is that blessed hope? Well, it's the redemption of this body. That we, in this frail body, shall see Him as He is. We're gonna see Him as He is. Our frail body will see Him, and we're gonna find out this, we're gonna be like Him. That is the blessed hope. And, that's why the word and is there, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. See, Paul said it on this wise, we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. We're going to be changed. That is the blessed hope. This body will no longer exist in its present stage. This low, low body will no longer be occupied in its present condition. The dead in Christ shall rise first. We which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them in the air. Clouds, I always get that backwards. That's in the clouds. And so shall we meet the Lord in the air, so shall we ever be with the Lord. What he's saying here is this body is gonna be resurrected. This body is going to be changed. This body is not going to be the same as what it is. Why? Because we are the sons of God. He's going to make us like He is. He's going to change this vile body. That is the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. I didn't want to get bogged down in that. In verse 4, whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law." He kind of changes gears on us. He tells us this vile body, this flesh, is going to leave one day, and it's going to be changed, it's going to be redeemed, it will sin no more. But then he tells us, whosoever committeth sin is a transgressor of the law. For sin is the transgression of the law. Now here's where I want to deal with this matter of doubt, the lack of assurance. Why people don't know if they're saved or if they're lost? And ye know, and this is something we do know, that are saved, that he was manifested to take away our sins. Jesus Christ was manifested that we could know him and for this purpose, to take away our sins. There's a lot of people that live in doubt, and this is where they doubt. Has he taken away my sins? Has he really washed me from my sin? Am I clean in Christ? Has Jesus Christ washed you from your sins? Are you freed from the burden of sin, the bondage of sin, the judgment of sin? Are you free? In this Jesus Christ was manifested. He came to his own, his own received him not. To them gave he power, gave them power to become the sons of God. To who? Them that believe on his name. The power is not in us, the power is in Him. He was manifested to take away our sins. In fact, He is the propitiation for our sins, John told us a chapter prior. Not for our sins only, but the sins of the whole world. So in this, it was manifested that Christ should take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. He took our sins on Himself. He is that great high priest. He bore in His body, He bore our iniquities, He bore our sin in His body on the cross, died for our sin, but in Him is no sin. That is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that hath made me free from the law of sin and of death. That's Romans 8 and 2. Why? Because He is the Christ. He's the Son of God, the Lamb of God. He is God in flesh. That is the Christ, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior. And in Him is no sin. Only Christ could take away our sin and yet not bear our sins anymore. Now, in Him is, listen, present tense, is no sin. He is sinless. Can I say this? He has always been sinless. When that high priest would take that offering, and he would eat that offering, and he and, of course, Aaron and his sons would ingest that offering, it was the sin sacrifice. It was an offering for sin. But those priests could take that offering and they could eat that offering in the holy place. It was because of this one thing, I believe they could eat it, because upon their forehead they bore a mitre of pure gold and it simply said, holiness to the Lord. And under holiness, the priests could take that offering in themselves. Under holiness, they could bear the sins of Israel in their body. That is a picture of things to come. Jesus Christ, who was holy, could bear in His body, could bear our sins, and bear our iniquities, and He bore them in His body on the cross of Calvary, but yet without sin. Now that's doctrine. In his doctrine, it's important to understand that he bore our sins in his body. He bore them because he loved us. He was manifest that he might do that for us, that he might take away our sins. You see, he was wounded for our transgressions. That wound is that open sore. That's that open blood. A wound is an open place that bleeds, and the blood comes forth. He was wounded for our iniquities. Or see, he was bruised, rather, for our iniquities. The bruising is that blood under the skin. So he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. What are the stripes? That's that whip that brought the blood to the surface of the skin. That's that whip that flayed His back and the blood came forth. So when you see His wounded, that's the blood. When He was bruised, that's that blood under the skin. When He was scourged with the whip, He was whipped upon His back. With His stripes we are healed. That's the blood that took away our sin. Now, there's a lot of discussion. Let me just take the doctrine quick on that. There's a lot of discussion over those stripes. A lot of people think you're pneumonia and you're heart attacks and they plead the blood over sickness. But I want to say this, I want to be clear about this. The diseases of Egypt were on the children of Israel. They brought those diseases of Egypt because of sin. And the Lord said, if I'll be your God, I'll be to you a father, you can be to me a son. But he said, if you do not honor me, do not obey my commandments, the diseases of Egypt will be upon you. And they had leprosy and they had diseases. Asa was diseased in his feet. Others had diseases in the private parts. Others were destroyed. They were the diseases of Egypt upon the children of Israel. That's why he told the children of Israel prophetically, with his stripes, we are healed. God took the diseases of Egypt off the children of Israel when he bore them in his body. That is the sicknesses of the children of Israel. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. That's the chastisement of our peace. It was upon Jesus Christ and with his stripes We are healed. That's the blood of Jesus Christ. So three times we see the blood purging us and washing us from sin. And we see that under the miter of the high priest, holiness under the Lord. Jesus Christ is holy. He's always been holy. He always will be holy. Only the Christ, only the Messiah, only the Lamb of God that take away the sin of the world, only He could bear your sins in His body. No one else could. but he bore our sins, yet without sin. The word made, in the connotation, the understanding that things were made of God. There are things that only God could make. When the fullness of the time was come, Galatians 4 and 4. When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman. He's made under the law. Why, that we that are under the law might receive the adoption of sons. He made him. Now, let me just clarify that real quick, just in case people get skeptical about that kind of thing. God took something that never existed in the history of humankind. God took his son, his only beloved son, his only begotten son, and made him of a woman. Now, don't get caught up in Pentecostal doctrine. When the Holy Ghost overshadowed Mary, the Bible said that which is in her is of the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ bears the DNA of his father. I just want to be clear about that. That blood that was shed on Calvary is the blood of God. Why is it important to understand that? Because people try to make him half God, half man. People try to say that God took a completed embryo and put that in the woman and it's all God, but yet, prophetically, she had to be of the house of David. The bloodline of man had to be through the house of David. It wasn't through Solomon's bloodline, it was through Nathan's bloodline. And God kept that bloodline intact through Mary. But it's the Holy Ghost that overshadowed her. It's the Holy Ghost that overshadowed her. And that which was in her womb was of the Holy Ghost. Why? Because He was the Christ. He was the Lord Jesus Christ. He was our coming King. He was our coming Messiah. All of Israel should have been looking for Him, should have been longing for Him. Yet when He did come, they acknowledged Him not as God. And so now John is writing, trying to get us to understand why he's the Christ, that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Why? Because he's God. You realize all the cults balk at that. You think the world doesn't understand? You go tell people that Jesus is God. Go around and tell them Jesus is God. By the way, those that don't believe that he's God will never be saved until they believe that he's God. You can make a little prayer, a little profession, repeat the prayer, do whatever you want to do, unless you believe he is God, you'll die in your sins and you'll go to hell. It was manifested for this purpose to take away our sins. I don't want to get bogged down in all this, we're just kind of stuck here, but let me move on. Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not. You want to stop there and go home? Let's just dismiss. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. Why do people doubt? Because they sin. They sin. And they read verses like this and they go, well, I don't think I'm saved. I don't know if I'm saved. Why? Because they've sinned. You know why people live in doubt? They don't have any peace, they don't have any joy, they don't have assurance of faith, because they really don't know whether or not they're in Christ. They really don't know if they're in Him. Why? Because they doubt. How do you know you're in Christ? Because you have assurance. The Scriptures tell you. The Word bears record in your heart, the Spirit bears witness with your spirit, so why do we doubt? Because there's people that really just don't know. That's not a slight, that's not a slam, that's not a slander. They commit sin, and then they go and they wonder, they say, am I really saved? How can I know? And invariably, what do most people do? They run to the most obvious form of communication available. They run to somebody else. And ask them for advice. They ask them for counsel. Rather than running to the one that knows their needs and knows the very thoughts and the intents of the heart. So I want to burrow down these verses a little bit. May the Lord please help us tonight. But I wanna look at this, whoso abideth in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteous is righteous, even as he is righteous. Are you righteous? If he's in you, he's righteous. Little children, do you know this? And he says, he that commits sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the beginning. Where's the beginning? Here's when Satan, Lucifer, on high, said, I will be like the most high God. Why? He was puffed up with his riches. He saw his riches, he saw what he had, he saw all that God had given him. He said, I will be like the most high God. That's sinning from the beginning. God cast he and one third of the angels out of heaven because of that sin. That's why the love of money is the root of all evil. His riches are what puffed him up. He said, look what I've obtained. I can be like the most high God. I will sit in the throne of God. I will sit in the seat of God. And the love of money, therefore, because in the beginning, Satan sinned, the devil sinned, and in the beginning, the love of money was the root of all evil. What's changed? Men in control of their own destiny without faith, what's the one thing they display to prove what they are? Money. Prosperity. Wealth. What's the one thing people flash around to try to convince you what kind of person they are? Come on now, don't dry up on me. Money. Because I have, I must be okay. Look how God's, the prosperity gospel is not unique to charismatics. Because I have, therefore this must be the blessings of God upon me. Well, that's what the devil said in the beginning. He was also a liar from the beginning because he came and he told Eve and he basically contradicted the word of God and said, that's not what God said. So he was a liar from the beginning. He was also a murderer from the beginning. Why? Because he knew that if Eve took that fruit and had him with her, that they would die. He said, surely God has not said thou shalt die. If you eat of the tree of life, you'll not die. What did they do? They ate of the tree of life and they died. They didn't die that day, they died inside. They died in the inward man. They died spiritually. So he was a murderer from the beginning. He was a liar from the beginning. We know that. So Jesus Christ was manifest. That means he was revealed to man. He was brought to life. He was given to man. He was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. So what does God have to do to destroy the works of the devil? He has to overthrow our lust. He has to overthrow our covetousness. He has to overthrow our love of money. Why is it easier for a rich or for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man enter into the kingdom of heaven? Because his riches are what's puffed him up. It's the root of all evil. Because I have, therefore I must be. Because I obtained, therefore I must be alright. I want more, I want more, I want more, but yet there's no peace. Christ was manifested to take this away. He was manifest to overthrow this working order. He was manifest to help us understand money does not drive us. It's faith that ought to drive us. It's trust in Christ that ought to drive us. It's believing the word of God ought to be the motivating factor in everything that we do. But it's not. So because it's not, what do we do? That whatsoever is not of faith is sin. So we got all this figured out. We got all these things worked out, how we're gonna survive, how we're gonna make it. We got a plan. I'm gonna get back to the message, bear with me. Some of you need to hang out over there and sweat a little bit. Up in one of these northern states here not long back, they built an obstacle course for the family camp. And I'm 47 years old. And my body's just beat down from just the years of abuse and sports and wrestling and everything else. And I just don't feel like beating myself up. I don't feel like crawling into the dining hall the next day, I'll just be honest with you. And one of these young men, you know, he weighs about 120 pounds soaking wet. And you know, he's gung-ho. He's the one that built the office. He's just gung-ho in this thing. Just gung-ho. He's like, I mean, he's just brother. And he says, Brother McVeigh, you need to do that. You need to prove to yourself that you can do that. And I just started laughing. I didn't mean to mock. I started laughing. I said, I don't need to prove anything to anybody. And he said, brother, you realize it's a challenge to you, and then when you get a time, you better your time, and you can really prove to yourself that you can, it's a spiritual truth there, brother, you can better yourself. I just said this, I said, what about my friend Mike Church? He said, what do you mean? I think you all know Brother Mike Church, don't you? I said, oh, he's been in a wheelchair since 1983. You can see his countenance just kind of fell. Okay, okay, he just walked away. You realize that mindset has permeated most churches? That mindset, that thinking, let's just better ourselves. Let's try to challenge ourselves. Let's try to really prove our prowess. Listen, they think that physical strength equates to spiritual strength. They think the physical appearance equates to a spiritual appearance. They think that the outward somehow identifies what we are inwardly. But can I say to you the inward things of God, the work of God on the inside was manifested in us that it can overthrow the works of the devil. Listen, we don't need our physical strength, we need spiritual strength. We don't need our physical appearance, we need a spiritual appearance. Listen, it's not in the flesh and bone, the power of these hands. It's not in the volume of the voice or the manifestation of outward things. It's in a demonstration of the power of God! We've lost sight of that! Why do people doubt? There's so many of them just trusting what they're doing to get them through. I know lost people who are good givers. I know lost people will give you anything you need and wouldn't hesitate to help you out. And if they die tonight, they'll go to hell without Christ. I know lost people bestowed their goods upon the poor. I know lost people that donate their time to the poor. They're gonna die without Christ. You know why? Because they've never believed the word. Let me go on through this. Whosoever is born of God, now look at this. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him. And he cannot sin because he is born of God. Now here's where it gets hard on people. Here's where people really start to struggle. I've sinned, am I saved? I've sinned, how could I be born of God? Well, verse two is explaining it to us. Verse three is explaining it to us. Verse four is explaining it to us. We are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that we shall appear. We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Your flesh hasn't been born of God. Your outward's not been born of God. But I sure hope your inward man has. Your flesh isn't saved. What Abraham, according to the flesh, hath found, what did he find? The righteousness of God. What was the righteousness of God imputed to? The soul of Abraham? No, faith was imputed to the soul of Abraham. What was righteousness imputed to? His flesh. Why is Christ's righteousness imputed to us? because of our flesh. We've been made a new creature. He's washed us internally. He's cleansed us. The blood of Jesus Christ has washed us. But what's wrong is we're sitting here in this flesh. And your flesh hasn't been born of God. So when we see him as he is, we'll be like him. What does that mean? This flesh will be redeemed. This corruptible shall put on incorruption. This mortal shall put on immortality. Then shall come to pass this saying, death is swallowed up in victory. Victory will be complete. So why do people struggle with that? Why do people struggle with doubt? Because they have trouble discerning if what they're doing is outward or inward. So John wrote this little book to help us to identify whether it's outward or whether it's inward. The preacher and I were talking today about this idea that so many people have changed outwardly to conform, but that outward can never reach the internal. But the internal change, guaranteed, it'll reach the outward. God changed you from the inside out. When you've been born a God in here, it begins to reflect out here. I didn't stop cussing the day I got saved, but I did start noticing the day I got saved. I didn't stop smoking the day I got saved, but it sure did bother me. Brother Sammy Allen, Trinity Baptist Church, Secaim, Pennsylvania. He gets a pen. Anybody got a pen? Quickly, anybody got a pen? I'll borrow your pen. Thank you, I'm gonna smoke this, I hope you don't mind. He says, I'm gonna tell you how to get victory over cigarettes. In everything, you know by that, in everything! He said, give thanks, for this is the will of God. He said, Father, I wanna thank you for this fine cigarette. And he just goes on praying. He said, for the stained teeth, for the hacking cough, for the asthma. And he just goes on down. I mean, he said, for the stench in my car, for my clothes smelling. He just goes, I want to thank you for this fine cigarette. He mentioned that to Udland. About a third of the church crawled under the pews. Thank you, ma'am. But then he made a great statement. He said, that doesn't mean you're not saved. He said, but you sure aren't walking in victory. Well, I wish somebody had told me that when I first got saved. There's a lot of things I'd have quit right away when I got saved. But can I say this, there were some things that changed immediately. I never, now this is just me, don't get all bloated, I never touched another drop of liquor, never. Not one time. I had maybe five beers. One time, we're fishing the creek for smallmouth bass. We were floating down tubes, and a fella inadvertently opens the water jug and lets creek water in. Only thing he had left was like two beers in the cooler. He said, you want one? I've been out there in the sun for five hours. I kind of caved in. I said, I'll take one. I've been saved about a year. I said, I'll take one. I just drank it as fast as I could, tried not to notice it, sat there and shook my head, and I just said, Lord, I'll never do that again. You say, drink beer? No. Right down the creek was somebody that was. Amen. Amen. But immediately, immediately, there's things that changed in my life. And can I say any person that's saved in here, there's things that God changed immediately. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. What is that creature? Where is the creature? Outwardly? No, it's inwardly. And whosoever commit a sin is of the devil. Can I say this? That man in here doesn't commit sin. Because he's born of God. Hallelujah. He's been born from on high. And he doesn't commit sin because God has birthed the inward man in Tim McVeigh. He's changed him. And can I say, if you're saved and you have the witness of the Spirit, and your witness bears witness to the Spirit of God, that inward change, that inward peace, it will give you assurance. The problem is, a lot of folks go out and they do something, and by the way, I heard a preacher one time, I had to correct it, and he was an older man, and I just felt like I needed to, I did it as carefully as I could, and everybody got mad at me anyway. But he said, you're capable of doing anything. He said, anything. Now that you're saying that you could have done when you were lost, and I was going, oh, no, no, no, no, no. Did you know you hate your brother, you're a murderer? And he said no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Come on now, don't dry up on me because I told you the truth. You can't commit murder if you're saved. You can't hate your brother if you're saved. Because he said we know, we know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. That's why you meet these people that are so bitter and full of hatred, they hate their family, they hate their parents, they hate their children, yet they love Jesus, they're liars, every one of them. You can't have hatred in your heart and be a child of God. You know why? Because when he moves on the inside, hatred has to flee. You know why? Because the love of God, listen, the love of God has been manifested in you. It was manifested to take away our sins. It was manifested in this, the love of God was manifested, that we are the sons of God. And because he first loved us, we love him, and we love him, we obey his commandments. And he said, if you love your neighbor, if you love your neighbor, obey my commandments. How do we know we love our neighbor? Because he said, because you obey my commandments. And his commandments are not grievous. Not the child of God. You'll love your neighbor because you love him. You obey his commandments, you'll love your neighbor. It's that simple. So many people just have hatred. When he talks over there in Ephesians, he talks about those things to put off, those things that you put on. You know, he doesn't deal with the outward. He's talking about the inward things. Wrath, what is wrath? Wrath is a company, it's that burning, heated anger. Doesn't stop see anger is a flash anger is a point you lose your temper. You're getting angry through it So you don't wrath is wrath is a continuation of anger. You can't let it go. It burns inside of you He said he said Put it off. Let it cease You know why cuz it's inward nobody can see that he said let off the Sun go down on your what wrath why because it's inward nobody can see that and It's heated. You'll wake up in the morning burning in that wrath if you let your son go down in your wrath. Child of God lets it cease. Then he said also of this, he talks about seditions, heresies, and then he said malice. Now can I just say this? I'm not trying to give some weird kind of testimony. When I was a lost man, I was malicious to people. I liked hurting people. But I was a sneaky devil about it. I wasn't the guy you wanted to mess with, because I wouldn't do it to your face. Well, that has no place in the child of God's life. Being malicious is wounding, hurting people willfully, because you just have a problem with them. So you do little sneaky things when you think nobody's around, and you do things that are going to hurt them. You know what people do to preachers? They don't want to say anything to the preachers. They're usually scared of the preachers, so they hurt his wife. They're malicious to his wife. They're malicious to the preacher's children. They do little things with malice in their hearts. Has no place in the child of God's life. Put it off. There's inward things, there's places people can't see. Most people are worried about changing the outward things, the things that men look upon, because they don't want people to think ill of them, but they're not concerned what God thinks about them. And God looks upon the heart. And God wants your inside to change. God wants you inwardly to change. I can't imagine the agony of being in the church for all these years, and just having this outward form, but never having peace on the inside. But I've known people been in church for 20, 25, 30, we talked to a preacher about a preacher the other night, for 40 plus years been in church, and the agony of never knowing Christ, never having peace, always an outward form, but never inwardly. The agony, the misery, the suffering, So John writes this precious, marvelous little book under the direction of the Holy Ghost of God, and he does it to give us that assurance. You see, if you sin inwardly, he said, you've not been born of God. If that's you and who you are and what you are, and that's never been changed, See, the work of the flesh, he doesn't excuse it. You know, people, I hear people sometimes, they say all the time, say, well, I'm just feeling flesh today. Well, you realize that Jesus Christ died so that we don't have to be fleshy? Because the Bible said he condemned sin of the flesh. That's no excuse. And then people say, well, I just feel carnal today. Well, then Paul tells us, just a couple of verses before, that to be carnally minded is enmity with God. People are going, I'm an enemy of God's today. I mean, I wish we'd be that honest. We'd have a whole lot less hypocrisy if people just come clean and go, you know, I'm an enemy of God's today. You know what, I'm just irritable and I'm just being myself. I could care less about the Lord. I could care less about the people of God, the things around me. I'm selfish, I'm self-centered. I'm absolutely God's enemy today. They'd at least be that honest. But instead they go, I'm just carnal today. Or people say, you have to excuse my carnal ways. And I always think, well, God doesn't. Why am I gonna excuse your carnal ways? God's not excusing your carnal ways. He said it'd be carnally mine that is death. So why would I excuse it? You see, what happens is people don't have that peace because they never had that inward peace. They go through the emotion, that worldly sorrow that worketh repentance, or godly sorrow that worketh repentance to salvation, but the sorrow of the world worketh death, and they go through that worldly sorrow, and they're still dead on the inside. Because they've never experienced the change that comes with the new birth. Jesus Christ witnesses you on the inside. The scripture rings true on the inside. It's not intellectual. It's spiritual. How does his spirit bear witness with our spirit that we're the sons of God? It was the Holy Ghost. with the Word of God. As the Word of God is preached, as the Word of God is taught, as the Word of God is read, the Holy Ghost takes the written Word and He takes that written Word and He uses that living Word to prick you on the inside where God has resided and God has put His Word and those two began to bear witness one with another. That's why the children of God, when they do sin and they find out they sin, it's why they're miserable. It's why they can't cope with it. They can't hardly deal with it. When they do know they've sinned. A lot of times they don't even realize what they've done. They lose that fellowship with the Lord. They can't figure out why they're so dead with God and why they're so cold and why it seems like no prayers get through and they have no life with Christ. It's because that sin is separated between them and God. That's not being carnal. It's because of unconfessed sin. Our role, as a child of God, is find out why we're doing what we're doing. So then comes into play this simple statement, examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. To who, me? Well, I've had to try to prove themselves to me. I mean, as an evangelist, you travel, it's amazing. People are spiritual giants when you're around. I mean, I've met people that when they, if they had a part of the Red Sea, they would have parted the whole way to the core of the earth. You don't have to prove it to me. You have to prove it to God. You have to prove it to yourself. Am I in the faith? Prove your own selves. Find out for yourself. Is this Christ the Bible in me? Is this living word on the inside of me? Do I do what I do because I just operate according to my outward, my flesh, my being, my body? Or is this something on the inside that controls me? That's why I can't get victory. Why can't I stop? Because it could be there's nothing on the inside to stop you. The fear of man brings a snare. When you're worried about what people think and you change for people, one of the snares that you may never see that you didn't change for God, you changed for somebody else. I tell my wife all the time, and I do mean this, I'll say, we're the McVeighs, we don't care what people think. You know why? Because if I lived my life worrying about what people think, I wouldn't live my life. I've had people over the years try to tell me how to run a ministry and how to be an evangelist, how not to be an evangelist. I've had naysayers, I mean I've had dozens over the years tell me I probably shouldn't be an evangelist. I shouldn't be this, I shouldn't be that. You know, when I first started out by the bell, when I first met you all, I mean, there's been all the time just saying, brother, you know, you just, you're probably not gonna make it. You need to just settle down and get you a church. Well, 13 years ago, they were telling me that, and it's been a long time since they told me that, but I just, I heeded their advice. I said, I'm probably not gonna make it, but you know what? Lord, if you put me in this, you'll get me through this. We just kept plugging along. Some of you in here need to just block out the voices of other people. Let me just go ahead, while we're here, we hit the stump in the field. Let's go ahead and drop the plow in there for a little while. Some of you just tell your family to shut up and leave you alone. You probably should sugarcoat that. How do I sugarcoat that one, honey? If you're saved with the good grace of God, your family has no business in your personal life with Christ. It'd be a cold day for my family, keeps me out of church. You listening? Real cold day. My family doesn't keep me out of church. They learned a long time ago, they always plan this family reunion Sunday afternoons. I say, well, have fun. There's a lot of people just need to get the family button out of their life. My wife and I know a lady right now who's been in and out, and this isn't a slight on her at all, we love this dear lady. She's been in and out the last couple years out of the mental hospital. somebody in her family told her family, if you tell this family secret and gets out, it's going to destroy our family. You need to keep your mouth shut. And it was a secret so dark and so ugly that she had to keep her mouth shut and drove to have a nervous breakdown. You know, I told her husband sitting in McDonald's. I said, you tell that man to butt out of your family. I said, if your wife wants to talk about it, she can go shout it from the rooftop. That's your family. She can go talk about it. He can deal with his problems. You deal with your, I told him, I said, you don't let your wife keep quiet about this. Tell her, tell her, talk about it. wouldn't talk about it, end up back in the hospital. You know why? People trying to please their families rather than trying to please God. That fear of man bringeth a snare. That fear of man bringeth a snare. My mom corrected me one time. She came to hear me preach, and she made a comment about my preaching. I said, Mom, you're my mom, and I love you, but don't you ever correct my preaching again. You think I didn't do that, you call her and ask her. She ain't been to hear me preach since. That's on her, not me. People say, well, you drove your mom off. No, my mom drove herself off. I love my mom. You ask my wife, I love her. I got a good relationship with my mom. She won't come hear me preach. I'm surprised she came to our wedding. I didn't mean to get into all that. Hey, man. Sometimes you just plow and the horse kicks up. You got to plow some things up. Do you have that peace? Do you have that inward witness? Do you have that inward assurance? You know, I've been in services like this, and this is one of the things that just tears me up. I got a preacher friend of mine who preaches a whole series of messages on it. You get a service like this, and God's trying to There's liberty in the service. You may not sense it. You might be too hurt or too mad, but there's liberty in the service. That means the spirit of the Lord's here. This is what he says. He says, you're telling me you're sitting in the service and the Holy Ghost is having his way in the service. The word of God's being preached and the devil's making you doubt. The devil's so strong he's overthrowing the word of God. But yet I go to services and I hear all the time, I hear pastors saying, oh, that's just the devil trying to make you doubt. Is the Word of God being preached? Spirit of God bearing witness with the Word of God tonight? That's not the devil making you doubt then. That's the Holy Ghost trying to get a hold of you. He entered into a strong man's house, and the spoil is good, except he first binds the strong man. You're telling me the word of God's gonna be bound by Satan? I know people that live in doubt. Preach a friend of mine, he's a friend of mine. He told him, he said it from the pulpit one time. He said, there's many times that I go through times I doubt that I'm saved. Pastor friend of his got up the same meeting a couple nights later and said, I don't believe Brother so-and-so is saved. And he called him on the phone, he just said, Brother, did you tell people you didn't think I was saved? He said, well, you said the same thing, why can't I say it? Amen. He said, I doubt sometimes I'm saved. This pastor, I doubt he's saved then. People got all offended by that. Well, he said it himself, I doubt I'm saved. I heard a preacher this year, he mentioned a big shot, 2,000 member church, and this guy got up in one of the major camp meetings in the United States, and he said, I live with doubt all the time because I've gone through years of doubt. And this man got up, and the pastor got up, he said, the great, this man said, the great, and he named, he said, he doubts, so why shouldn't you doubt? That's exactly what he said. I wanted to preach so bad. So he doubts I should doubt because another man lives in doubt, I should doubt? How many times can we excuse it away, and walk it, and still doubt, and still doubt, and still doubt, and not have assurance when God wants us to have that assurance? I'm gonna tell you why, because that assurance only comes by faith. That's why. Without faith, it's impossible to please Him. For He's a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. When I got saved, I wanted assurance. I wanted assurance. You know what the Lord did? He gave me assurance. He didn't give it to me because I wanted it. He gave it to me because I'm his child. The work of righteousness shall be peace. The effect of righteousness shall be quietness and assurance forever. Why is there no peace? The fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace. Why is there no peace? Could it be that, as Betsy Casciola three years ago said, could it be that I'm lost? Could it be that I'm lost. Four months later, the Lord saved her. She's from Pennsylvania, currently resides in New York. Her husband's under conviction. Last I saw, I mentioned the other night, her husband's still under conviction. Raised in church, song leader in church, Sunday school teacher, ordained for ministry. Could it be I'm lost? Could it be that's why I don't have peace? Could it be that I'm not saved? I read a testimony of a pastor, 1960s. He got saved, I think it was in 68. He's a Southern Baptist preacher in Arkansas. That very thought occurred to him one day. He got under Spirit-filled preaching. Could I be lost? And he said this, he said, in 33 years, of being raised in church. He said, I never one time asked myself that question, could I be lost? I met a missionary friend of mine, you all may know Brother John Mick, I don't know how many of you know him. He's in prisons in West Virginia, been there for many, many years. 1972, Association of Methodist Pastors, state of West Virginia. They all got together and said, you know, we'll have a big conference. We'll invite in a special speaker. They went and got the Washington Redskins chaplain to come speak to all the Methodist preachers. Well, the mix of what they didn't know was that in 1972, the Washington Redskins chaplain was a spirit-filled black Baptist preacher from Washington, D.C. And he said that black man walked in that conference hall in West Virginia. He said he was the only black face in the house. And he got up in the pulpit, he said, I'm black, and I'm Baptist, and you're white, and you're Methodist, but I'm gonna tell you the truth. Brother Mick said he got saved that day. Another man who's just passed away a couple years ago got saved in that same meeting with a black Baptist preacher, Washington Redskins chaplain, bunch of Methodist preachers sitting there. You know what his testimony was? Could I be lost? Could I be lost? When I got saved in 1997, I was riding in my car when I got saved. But a man had shown me kindness. I was at Thomas Road Baptist Church that morning. A man had shown me an act of kindness. I hadn't been to church in a long, probably the first Baptist church I ever went to. I had been a priest in King Jay's Bible for probably six, seven years. I was in Iceland, went to a little chapel, and they had a little effeminate sissy, him and his wife would take turns speaking, they'd play these little ditty songs on the keyboard. It made me sick, I quit going, I couldn't, as a lost man, I couldn't stomach that trash. Jesus loves you, do-do-do-do-do, you know. But it made me an act of kindness, I couldn't escape from it. Here I was, he gave me something and then said, you just send me some money later on for it. I'm going, yeah, right. I'm like, nobody does that for me. And he said, no, I want you to take it. He gave me his address. I still got his address in my house. I got it in my filing cabinet. He said, you just send me the check. And I remember thinking to myself, you know what? I need to pay this guy. I don't pay anybody else, but I need to pay him. And on the way home, this is one thing I kept wrestling with. And I was trying to figure out why he would trust me. And it dawned on me. I was just like him. I was one of those people, Christians. That's what God used to convict me. And I'm one of them. That's why he trusted me, because I'm a Christian. And the whole way home, I'm wrestling back and forth with that. And finally the Holy Ghost turned up that he said, you're not one of them. And I said, no, I'm one of them. And he ripped the cover off my life and showed me what I was. I was self-indulgent, wretched, vile sinner. And God let me see a look at my life and what I was. And can I say to that, listen, I'm not even a Calvinist, but at that point for me, for me, I'm not a Calvinist, it was irresistible grace at that point. When God showed me what I was, I wanted to run to the cross. When God revealed my lost condition, I had no place to flee to but Calvary. And man, I made a beeline to the cross right there that day. I knew I was lost. I knew I had no hope. I knew I had no help. I knew that there was nothing outside of Jesus Christ would change me. I got gloriously saved in my car that day. I said I felt like it was irresistible grace. Don't confuse me, don't misquote me. He was wooing me, drawing me. When I saw what I was, I turned. But see, he changed me in here. He changed me on the inside. I couldn't do what I used to do. I couldn't be what I used to be. God put a lot, me and I didn't get through this. I wanted to get about five more verses and we didn't get close, but God put that love in me. He overthrew the work of the devil. What was the work of the devil in my life? Hatred, malice, destruction. Boy, I hated people. I hated people. So you know what he did? He made me love him. You say, by commandment? No, he put it in me. He put it inside of me. And whenever I didn't obey it, he'd show me. When I, today, if I don't obey it, he shows me. God took that hatred and put love in my heart. The love of God in my heart. And I wanna say he wants to do that for you. He wants to give you that peace. He wants to give you that assurance. Can I say this, grandpas, grandmas, parents alike, don't give your children assurance. It's not yours to give. Don't you ever look at your children and tell them you think they're saved. Pastors, you don't ever look at people and tell them you think they're saved. I've been sitting in services and people have shocked me. Getting up out of their pew, walking down to the altar. I'm sitting there going, I wonder why they're at the altar. All of a sudden they jump up, tears run down their face, rejoicing. God just saved me. We're in Oxford, North Carolina, not too long ago. Sitting there in church, I was preaching on a Friday night, about half dead. They're preaching, not the people, they're preaching. Man raised his hand. I was trying to ignore him, he's just antsy, he's just bouncing on the pew. The second I paused, he said, jumped up and said, I need to get saved! I said, go ahead. Just kept on going. He got up and testified how God had been drawing him, wooing him, pricking him in the heart. He got saved. You see, it's not peculiar or unusual to me. I believe God's in the business of saving sinners. The problem is because we're not seeing it much today, it's become the unusual, it's become the peculiar. We let people off the hook with these little professions and then they have no peace, they have no assurance, they have no rest with God. We've let them off the hook because they've named the name of Christ. They made their profession. They got in the water. They put the name on the roll. But there's no peace. Lady in New York told her pastor, she would get so angry with Tim McVeigh preaching. Now, she'd only get mad at her pastor, she'd cuss him out in the foyer. I said, she'd cuss him out in the foyer. She tried to cuss me out one time. She's the meanest woman I've ever met. I'm not making this up. The meanest woman I've ever known. You can ask my wife. She tried to cuss me out one time. I told her to shut her mouth. She kind of gave me that evil eye. Spent six years preaching to her. I personally spent six years preaching to her. Preached probably 50 messages to her. Her pastor spent eight years preaching to her. He probably preached 500 messages to her. I made one little comment preaching. I just simply said this. I said, the reason you don't love is because you've never been loved. Just made a flipping comment. She got in a car, went about 300 yards up the road, pulled over on the highway on the side of 305, called her pastor at midnight that night, just squalling on the phone, just puking out the wretchedness of an awful, wicked life. Said, God just saved me. Next time I saw her at church, probably six months after that, she's sitting on the front row, smiling, happy, full of joy, full of peace. And you know what she told us? She said, for eight years, I sat there in church thinking I was okay. But knowing full well, I never had peace. I never had peace. Her son, I think 17 now, so two years ago, he was 15 years old. That same, six months later, he got up and testified in service. He said this. He said, I wanna thank the Lord my mom got saved. He said, my house is a different place now. And then he said this, I want you all to pray that I get saved too. I said, amen, Josh, we'll pray for you. Amen, Josh, we'll pray for you. See what salvation did in hers, it put an interest in somebody else. If your salvation doesn't put an interest in somebody else, I don't got a lot of use for it. Don't get offended by that. If your salvation doesn't put an interest in somebody else, it's not much good. Do you have that piece? Do you have that assurance? Do you have that inward witness? Boy, I was gonna get into more of this, I just didn't get there, the Lord knows. Has he ever thrown the work of the devil in your life? Does Satan still have control of your life? Has he ever thrown that work of hatred in your life? Every lost person hates. You say, how do you know that? They have evil deeds. They won't come to the light. Why? Because their deeds are evil. He told us that. When you were lost, the reason you were lost is you wouldn't come to Christ. Why? Because you thought your deeds were better than his. You thought your work was better than his. You thought your profession was better than him. Why won't people come to Christ today? They think what they have is better than him. They despise a Christ who would make them humble themselves, make them throw in the towel, make them give their life to him. They despise him. I'll tell you another story real quick. I promise it won't be long. I don't mean to tell these stories. I'm just trying to be real sensitive. I really am trying to be sensitive. I'm not a senseless preacher, I don't think. If I am, just don't tell me. My friend by the name of Dale Morey, I met him when he was lost. He got saved the October after I met him. So probably four months after I met him, he got saved. He was on his third wife, children by multiple wives, life destroyed, bones and teeth destroyed by crystal meth. He was a gangbanger in prison. He was a security for a Latino gang. He got in Buffalo prison and they hooked him up with the gang and so for protection. And in his testimony, he'll talk about how God got him out of the gang and they didn't kill him, which is a miracle. And when Buzz Dale got saved, Everybody in town knew he got saved. You couldn't hide it. But he told me just recently, he's been saved at least eight, maybe nine years now, he told me just recently, he said, the thing is, he goes, so many people know the change, they see the change in my life. He says, but the problem is, my family will not see the change. He said, my brother says, you're still the same person you always were. He said, my sister says, you're still the same person. His own mother says, Dale, I've seen some change in you, but you're not all you think you are. Now, this is a guy, he had hate tattooed on his knuckles. And he went and he got Dale and love tattooed over top of hate. And the next time I saw him after he got saved, he goes, look, brother, look, look. He showed me his knuckles and said, Dale, love. And I thought, well, it's better than hate, amen. But he made a great statement. He said, I just can't convince some people that what took place in me is real. And I told him, I said, brother Dale, they don't want to believe it. They wanna think they're better than you. They wanna think because of all you have done and all your past, they wanna think they're better than you. And I feel that way in my own life with people. There's people I've gone to church with, I know they think they're better than me. But there's people I've gone to church with too that probably need Christ. I'm the least of all men here tonight. I did everything I could to destroy myself in sin, destroy my life in sin. But God showed me mercy and God showed me tender kindness and faith. I hope there's nobody you think you're better than. I hope there's nobody in this church you think you're better than. It could be that's what's gonna send you to hell. Oh, wretched man that I am, who should deliver me from the body of this death? for the ballot, I think I'm done.