to get my money here. You understand what I'm saying? So I've got a lot of, so that's one of my problems too. I spent about six hours on the internet with the IRS this past week. So all those little things that pop up that can change your whole life. But those are all things that come about. But we see then that we're ready for the Antichrist. And yet, as Paul and John warns us repeatedly, he tells us there's gonna be all kinds of confusion out there. Back in 2 Thessalonians that we saw in Sunday school, how there's gonna be a lot of letters that were being written that were saying they were Paul, and Paul said, no, no, that's not me, and that the Antichrist has already come, and all these other things, and all the confusion that is out there. And so we see that that's exactly what's gonna happen. And as we saw, John said that, One of the biggest, one of the most serious things is that they're so deceptive because they were part of us at one time. They went out from us, but they weren't of us. And then he said they really weren't Christians. They had all the markings, or at least the outward show of a Christian, but what was in their heart came out. And they really proved themselves later on to be Christians. But they were. And we see this all through history. And we see it today. Who would have ever thought that we would see the government sponsoring perversion like we see today? but it is actually out there. In fact, we are getting to the point now, folks, did you see it this past week where a lady was getting on the plane and she had her baby in her arms and she was all frustrated and all that and tried to get on and tried to keep the baby quiet and she misgendered the flight attendant and they kicked her off of the plane. I mean, we're getting into some weird days, are we not? I mean, we can't even, I mean, if we can get locked up or if someone wants to be called a girl and they're a guy, we can actually be locked up for that kind of stuff. I mean, we are getting into perilous times, are we not? And so we're there, and the bad thing about it, a lot of it is coming from churches. We talked about the denominations last week, and I read a letter from one of the leading guys in the denomination, major denomination in this country, that is openly espousing this kind of stuff that's going on, and how sad it is to see we got churches right here in this area that are sponsoring perversions. And so, and they went out from us, but they are not of us. And so I have to seriously wonder if a person, and that's what I'm praying for, Lord, there's a lot of good people in some of those churches, and they need to get out of them, because they're not preaching the gospel anymore. And so, now you're gonna have to pardon me, I'm gonna be taking these glasses on and off because of... Well, because of trying to read. But the return of the Lord is mentioned 318 times in 260 chapters of the New Testament. I mean, the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation talks about not only the Lord's first coming, but a second coming. in the things to come, and we call that, the things to come, we call that in theological circles eschatology, doctrine of last things. But it permeates the Bible. The Lord is coming back, folks. Whether you are ready for him or not, or whether you believe it or not, the Lord Jesus is coming back again. And as a Christian, he has promised us that he is coming back for his church. And so when people talk about all this thing, Armageddon, or they talk about the apocalypse, I'm not worried about any of it, because Armageddon's gonna happen about seven years from now if the Lord comes today, because I've read the last chapters. How about you? And so I'm not worried about Armageddon. Am I worried about a nuclear conflagration? Yes. But I'm saying, Lord, if I'd rather see, and I was, as we were looking at this past week on Wednesday night, we talked about, I got into Jeremiah a little bit, but I would rather see, or know, I hope I don't see it, but being wiped out like Sodom and Gomorrah, or nuclear or whatever. Then to watch what Jeremiah watched as he preached to these people and he begged them and he pleaded and he said, you are willfully ignorant and you're committing suicide spiritually. Nebuchadnezzar's out there. And they were saying, no, we can take care of him. We got our aircraft carriers and we got all of these things. And he says, no. And he kept preaching to them and said, your whole heart is sick. You've got to turn back to the Lord. And of course they didn't. And then he watched Nebuchadnezzar destroy the city. And he watched those thousands of people being chained to poles and taken out of the city. And the city burned and all the corpses that were burned. You can imagine the smell and all the, and then he, the Book of Lamentations as he's walking through that destroyed city and he's lamenting over the fact. I would much rather be the preacher who says, you know, the Lord's gonna knock us out with a nuclear bomb than to be a Jeremiah. Do you understand what I'm saying? But we're committing suicide in our country today. And churches are committing suicide today by leaving the gospel. And so this is what John is writing about in this. And of course, nothing is new under the sun because he tells us that the world is careening toward this antichrist that's coming and the antichrists are out there. And he tells us that the Holy Spirit though has anointed us. We have, if you have the Lord Jesus in your heart, That means that you have a spiritual birth. That means that you have had some miracle that we can't quite explain. I've had four kids. I had the privilege of being in the delivery room all four times that my wife and I had children. That was a real blessing. But you know, I found out a lot of things. All the woman has to do is lay up there in bed and the guy's gotta, you know, he's gotta walk around, talk to the nurses. I mean, he's got to worry about the bills and all the rest, and the ladies are sweet. No, but no, I know, we know a little bit different, but it's a harrowing time, but it's a fascinating and a tiring time at the same time. And yet, the thing about, from what I've talked to nurses, they say you never get used to it, it's a miracle. Every time a baby is born, that first breath. Now when I went to the hospital, the doctor spanked my mother, but the doctor spanked my kids whenever, or whatever, and to watch them go, or whatever. And even their different cries. Our daughter was mad. One of our sons was sad. One kid woke up and he didn't know what was going on. But it's just so interesting to watch all those things happen in different venues. And what a blessing it is, but I can't explain it. And the doctors can't. They can't tell you exactly what happens. And so it is with a new birth. And so just keep your finger there in first, we're gonna look, keep your finger there in first John, but turn back to the book of John. And just a little, we wanna see what John tells us in the gospel of John in chapter three. We all know that John 3.16 is what? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. But it's all in the midst of talking to this Pharisee named Nicodemus, and he tells him, something that is, again, factual and is cut and dried. In verse three, he says, Jesus answered and said to him, most surely I say, or verily, verily, I say unto you, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So we see that it is vitally important that a person knows that they have been born again, that they have turned from death to life. And then he goes on in verse five, notice he says, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the spirit. Now of water, we take to mean that of course, when a woman is about ready to have a baby, what happens? Her water breaks or whatever. And so we take that as much because if it's water baptism, then we have a problem in chapter four because we see the woman at the well and all the people of Samaria coming out and getting saved, and Jesus didn't baptize them. So if baptism is a reason for salvation, or the means of salvation, the Lord would have gotten some water out of that well, wouldn't he? And baptized them all, the thief on the cross. We think of a lot of people that were not baptized. Paul said, I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius. I baptized a couple, but that wasn't my job. And so we see that baptism is not marked here, but he is saying, unless one is born of water, natural birth, and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, miracle. And that which is born of the spirit is miracle. He says, do not marvel that I said unto you, you must be born again. So this tells me, folks, it's not your lineage, it's not your birthright, it's not your church, it's not your works. but there has to be a spiritual transformation in your life, whereas we see, and later on he's gonna develop this in chapter 14, where he says, the spirit that comes into your life, and whenever he comes in, you obey him, and you're gonna be, not only with the Holy Spirit, but I will be in your heart, and even my Father will come and make our homes with you. We saw that last week. So folks, does Jesus live in your heart? Yes. The Holy Spirit live in your heart? Yes. Does God the Father live in your heart? Yes. God says that he will make his abode with us because we are part of the family of God. You are a child of God if you know the Lord, but you must be born again. Now, John is talking, as we turn back now to 1 John, he is talking to born again believers. I mean, you can't be a believer unless you're born again, so that's kind of a double entendre or whatever. But the idea there, notice he says now as we've laid the foundation, there's a lot of false Christs, but the Holy Spirit is going to be your teacher. You don't, I mean, once you have the Holy Spirit in your life, don't let anybody try to yank that away from you. And 38 times he says, I want you to know that you're saved. The word know. in two different forms is over 40 times in this book. And God wants you to know that you are a child of God. And he gives us this, he gives us some great indications in verses 28. He says, now little children abide in him that when he appears, we may be, that we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now are we children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. And so we see that there are certain things that children of God are going to know. There are certain things that are going to be active, at least in your experience. And even if you don't know exactly how to put them in perspective or into vocabulary. So first of all, the children of God are going to know that something has happened in their life. There's been a new birth. There's been a change in their lives. Now, many times people don't know exactly when. For instance, I had problems with that all my growing up time. I was in and out of churches. My parents didn't go to church much, and so my uncles and aunts would take us to all these different kinds of churches. And I started going to the church that I call my home church when I was about 14, 13 years old on my own. And many times I'd get up and walk to church. I wasn't a good kid. I just went there because, well, a lot of different reasons, but that's where several people were that I knew. So it was just, but I knew that God was dealing with me in some way. But I look back on when I was eight years old, I went forward and got baptized. Well, I went forward because my brother went forward before and he got a Bible. And so I went forward and I remember them filling out something and I got baptized and whatever. But then I always said that, hey, I was baptized when I was eight years old. Well, when I was 19, God really got a hold of my life. Now, I think I might've been saved during that time. But when I was 19, God really put the double whammy on me. Either you serve me now or you never will. And so I went through and I had to make, Lord, am I saved? And I remember sitting down in a room one day and just on the floor or sitting on my backside and saying, Lord, if I'm not saved, save me now, please. And I don't know when exactly I was saved. But then the issue of baptism comes up after salvation, and I went through the Navy, and I was even in grad school, and this was, I was studying to be a pastor and getting my master's in theology, and I was still wondering about this baptism. So here I was, the president of the graduate class in the school I was going to, and I got baptized because I wanted to make sure I had everything right. So, I mean, I was more mixed up than a termite in a yo-yo, you know, as far as those things are concerned. And so, but I know I'm safe. And folks, that's why I say to people who struggle like that, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. That's what Paul tells us to do, doesn't he? Over in the book of Philippians. And so I know I'm saved. When were you saved? I don't know exactly when, but I could tell you how I was saved. And that was by the blood of Jesus Christ. And so if you had that childhood experience, and many kids will come forward, I'm not sure I got saved back then. Well, what I'm concerned about is when they quit coming. Aren't you? I mean, I want them to, I mean, I want people to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. And at the same time, I'm not wanting them to be scared to death they're unsaved. I want to reassure them that they are. And by the very fact that they're doing that shows me that God's working in their lives. Does that make sense? So, but if I got saved when I was eight years old and you know, I've been, I'm a Christian. That bothers me. And I ran into 70, I ran into 60, 70, 80 year old people who tell me that, and I'm still wondering when I'm standing there by their deathbed, if they know that the Lord Jesus is their savior. Because there's never been any fruit. I'll let God deal with it. But you know, there again, I'm not the judge. And I can't judge the heart. Oh, but pastor, God looks on the heart. Yes, all I can do is look at the outward appearance. And so I'll let God deal with it, and I'm not gonna preach them into hell, and I'm not gonna preach them into heaven. So we see that those are problems that we have today, just like they had back in these days, where he says, now, first of all, you know that you're gonna experience a new birth. And of course, when you've become saved, Christ doesn't just come in and give you a new perspective of life. It wasn't like that singer named B.J. Thomas, who raindrops keep dropping on my head, dropping on my head, what is it, falling on my head, but whatever. But he, you know, after his, he gave testimony. He said, really, my career started going downhill, but this Christian music started coming in. And I found out there was, you know, a lot of, of ways of making money and singing Christian music. And so he became a Christian rock star or whatever. But the testimony that I still question about the man, and I hope he's saved, but he said, I added a new dimension to my life. My friend, you don't add a new dimension to your life whenever you get saved. The Lord comes in and takes over your entire life and you become a new creation. I mean, he starts from the heart out. And it just isn't adding a little bit of Jesus to my life. It isn't, you know, adding a little bit of religion. It's when Jesus Christ comes into your heart, he takes over. If any man be in Christ, he is a whole new creation. All things have passed away, behold, all things become new. Now, there again, I don't know, maybe many people don't know how to give a testimony. I hope he's saved. But there again, he needs to clean up his life a little bit, but so you understand what I'm saying. But we see that in Colossians even, Paul says, then if Christ be raised from the dead, seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God. Because then he goes on and he says, because Christ who is our life, shall appear when he appears. And so Christ is our life. and that we're to seek those things which are above. So whenever you get saved, and when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that word on is a Greek word saying into. It's whenever you believe into Jesus Christ, and that means you're taking everything that he says. When I'm into yoga, or if I'm into history, or if I'm into these things, then people give themselves to that, right? They get into fitness. I mean, they're changing their lives. They get into it. Well, when you accept the Lord Jesus Christ, you're getting into the kingdom of God. You're getting into it. Does that make sense? You're changing your life. Everything about you is changing. So you must be born again. And one of the great instances of that is if there's a hunger and thirst after righteousness, if there's something that is boiling over inside that you can't quite explain, then that means that God is working in your life. If you can just go through life and it doesn't bother you at all, then you better check up on your salvation. And so we see that he says, there's a whole new sense of direction. There's a distinctiveness. There is a sense of difference because therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. We are different now. Things are different now since Jesus came into my heart. And so there is a, and like I said, it might not have been, with many people, they know exactly when they were saved, they could tell you, and boy, and everything changes. Other people, it's a little bit more gradual because they've had to work it out like I did or whatever, but you know you're saved. And you know you're saved because you can't go back into the old ways. I mean, there's been several times after I was saved that I would say, Lord, I'm ready to just give, but he says, what you gonna go back to? And it's like, yeah, that's right. Lord, if heaven's not my home, what will I do? I mean, I've given everything to you. I can't turn back. You know, I'm into you now. And if you're not real, my life's a wreck. Because I've, lock, stock and barrel, Lord, I've given my life to you. Isn't that what we do when we get saved? And so there's a distinctiveness. And I know I'm different than other people. I know I'm different than the other people that are unsaved, because they're doing things that God won't let me do anymore, or that God is telling me not to do. And when I do them, boy, I suffer for it. And so there's a distinctiveness in my life. And this is what he is saying here. Now, if little children abide in him, and when he appears, we will have confidence that we'll not be ashamed at his coming. For we know that he is righteous, and you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of him. Now, the idea there is that, he's talking individually to us, how can we tell other people are saved? It's, there again, it's by what, the fruits they display, by their fruits you shall know them. And if there's no indication of righteousness in their lives, no matter what they say, you can have a doubt as to their salvation. And remember, he's talking in the context, he's talking about a lot of these spiritual leaders that are trying to lead people off and they're actually antichrist. He says, so you can tell, just watch them. And if their lives don't back up their message, then you can be pretty well sure that they are the antichrist or antichrists, or they're just people that call themselves Christians that are not. There's gonna be many that are gonna stand before me one day and say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do all this? And he's gonna say, depart from me for I never knew you. And so one of the things that you want to watch for is distinctive Christianity. If a person says they're saved, then remember the three tests. They're gonna, with no uncertainty, that Jesus Christ is God, the religious test or the spiritual test. They're also going to have an inclination to follow God, a conviction to follow him. That's the moral test. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And so these are things that we're going to do with the Lord Jesus. And then of course the social test is if we really truly are saved, then there's gonna be a natural inclination to want to be around the family of God. We know that we've passed from death and life because we love the brethren. And so there again, it kind of bothers me today because I meet people all the time. Oh yes, I used to go to your church back 30 years ago, but I don't go anymore because somebody did something wrong. Well, nobody should keep you back from fellowship with God and fellowship with believers. And so if that's the case, then you better check up on your salvation if you just hate Christians. And so there again is that, well, I don't go to church because there's a lot of hypocrites. Well, come and join us. We're a bunch of people that just can't meet the standard. It's up there. We try, and I won't ever meet it until I get to heaven. But come on and join with us sinners, and let's see what we can do for a perfect God. Amen, that's all we can do. And so there's a lot of people out there that want to judge us and yet they don't, don't judge me, you know, and yet they are, they don't really want to be called out for their sins. And so we see that he tells us that there's a difference and there's a discretion. And then we see the word no there in the 30th verse, or the 29th verse. He says, if you know that he is righteous, then everyone who practices, excuse me, then you know everyone that practices. It's interesting, he says, you know you are convinced. That's the word, that's one word, hoida, which is a Greek word meaning you intellectually know and you are totally convinced I know he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him. That's, I'm totally convinced that he's able. And so I know it headwise, and it's under conviction, but I also know by experience, and that's the word gnosko. And so I know what God's done in my life, and I know by experience what I've seen in other people's lives, and it makes me wonder whether they're saved or not. Remember what he said? We've got to discern between truth and evil, between the Christ and the Antichrist. So God gives us a spirit of discretion. I call it the spiritual radar. When you sense that maybe something is wrong in someone's life or their message, listen to that radar. Watch and ask God to reveal because sooner or later, they're gonna show their true colors. I've talked about Norman Vincent Peale and then Garner Ted Armstrong, some of those radio personalities. Someone said that they found Peale appalling and Paul appealing. And so there again is he would lead you down this path. What was the guy's name in Crystal Cathedral? Another one of those guys that he just watch him and he brought in all these different people. And the one thing that I cause, I never will forget, I was in a hospital bedroom or the hospital room and the lady was watching. What was the guy's name? I just, I'm sorry, after it was a Sunday, after Thursday night, I'm a little afraid that people might start thinking, no, whatever, having one of those Joe Biden moments or whatever. But what was the guy's name? The Crystal Cathedral out there, out West. But nobody watched it? Good, praise the Lord. But he was very well known back in the 80s and 90s. But after the Challenger, went down or was destroyed. And of course, there was a couple of Buddhists on there. And he had all these stars in and so forth. But he said, you know, we can be assured that all in heaven, even though he was a Buddhist, our theology allows us to say that he's with the Father. Folks, I don't care who says that, I don't care what he has, unless you must be born again. That's what Jesus said, and it doesn't matter what he said. And so we see that we have preachers out. Listen, there's many different ways. We just have the best way. We have Jesus. Other people have Confucius and other people have Buddha. Some people call him Allah. In fact, I was listening to a testimony. of Andre Crouch, who was one of those early CCM guys. And through it all, through it all, we must trust in Jesus and some trust in God, whatever the song was. But I really hit the big time in churches back then. But then that made my mind because I got a hold of his testimony and he was talking about going to churches and disrupting churches with the new modern music coming out and all that. But he said, and that's exactly what he said, he said, some people call him Allah, but we call him Jesus. No, Andre, it's Jesus and Jesus alone. There's no other name given among heaven. And then again, that whole idea that Crystal Cathedral now belongs to the Catholic Church. It's totally sold out. Undercrouch went off into all kinds of other things. I mean, just wait and watch them and they will show their true colors. Now, I don't want to name people that maybe you liked at one time or whatever. I mean, I can get people mad and then they quit listening. I don't want to get you mad. I want you to reason with me. I had a lady one time that my wife, somebody in the back of her, I mentioned somebody like that, and she said, you can actually see the hair on the back of her neck rise up. And I'm going, oh boy. So I try not to name names, and you've heard this one of the few times I've named names in my messages, but they're out there. And there again, I hope that, You know, I don't want any of them to go to hell. I hope they're saved. I hope they will be saved or whatever. But we see that there is a distinctiveness about Christianity. We will, what we believe inside is going to come out and we will be practicing or at least struggling to practice righteousness. There's something that is about a Christian that they want to do right. Amen. I mean, you want to be here. You want to learn the word of God. I mean, you know, there's all kinds of other things out there that frustrate you and you got all kinds of besetting sins and everything, but there's something in there that makes you want you to come back to the Lord. Amen or oh me? Yeah, so if you know the Lord, you know what I'm talking about. I can't explain this to an unsafe person, but I know that it happens in me and I know that it happens in many of you because I've talked to you about it. And so, but I praise the Lord when that happens, when you're struggling, when you fall and you get back up and we walk with the Lord in the light of his word and then we fall again and we get back up and we weep and we, but hey, listen, that's all because I serve a risen savior who's perfect and he knows that I'm not. But there's a distinctiveness about a Christian. They want to do right, they have a hunger to practice righteousness. And that's what John is saying here. And so we see that we have experienced a new birth. There's a life within us. We have a new life. And as a result, we have a whole new nature. And as a result of that, we see that God said, children of God are loved by him. And we see that in verse one, he says, behold, what manner of love. First of all, we see that in Ephesians, Paul tells us that it's not so much that we accepted him, but that he accepted us. We gotta remember that. Yes, why does he accept us? Because we ask him. We saw that in the book of Ruth. Every time we must ask him to come into our heart to save us. But hold I stand at the door and knock, but I won't come in, I won't barge in. But if you'll open the door, I'll come in and sit with you and you with me. But I'm not gonna force you. That's the reason we can't drag people to church and baptize them because, listen, get safe, stupid. We can't do that. That's not gonna work. Now that's what the churches have done in the Middle Ages. That's what Constantine did back whenever he got saved. He marched his whole army down and got him baptized in the river. What did that do for him? Just got him wet, didn't save him. And so we see that churches have tried to get people saved. And if you don't save, we'll burn you at the stake and put all kinds of fear into people. Folks, that's antichrist, that's antichrist, anti-Christian. And so we see that we can't do that, but there's a God in heaven who blessed us. We see he's blessed to be God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings and having predestined us to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ, to him. in love by which he made us accepted into the beloved. Folks, the great thing about it, yes, I accepted the Lord as my Savior. No, the great thing about it is he accepted me. And so God asked me to come and to be saved. And he's given me a new name. Now, a lot of people call themselves Christians, but then John 1 and 12, verse 12, he says, but as many as received him, too many as asked him to come into their hearts. So as many as said, Lord Jesus, here I am, sinner, please come into my heart and save me. Be merciful unto me, a sinner. So as many as received him, to them gave he the right, or gave him the power, as the King James says, gave him the authority. to be called children of God to those that believe in his name. Of course, there's no other name outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe in his character, believe in everything about him. And of course, to as many as received him, to them gave you the power, the authority to be called children of God. There again, a lot of people can call themselves Christians, but only if God calls you a Christian, that's what matters. And so, oh my, there's all kinds of people out there today. And I just, I cringe at some of these politicians, even conservative ones. And they'll talk about loving Jesus. And then there was one person the other day, they were loving Jesus one day and I want to serve the Lord. And because I'm a Christian, then they turned right around and let out a whole sentence of expletives. And I'm going, my word, no wonder we're in trouble. You know, that is not Christianity, folks. She would do God a favor, gave the gender, but guys do it too. But there again, people would do God a favor by not telling anybody they're saved if they're gonna do that. I mean, sometimes it's best for us not to say we're Christians because of the way we're acting. but to him gave us the power to be called. And it's great that God calls us, if God calls you a child, then you're his child. If you call yourself a child and you have no authority, then God calls you a, and a very strong word in King James, a bastard, a person who's illegitimately born. I mean, a person that's not there, is not supposed to be there. And so, but he tells us, that as a result of that God gives us the authority. And you've heard many times I'll talk about, you could say that you're a Detroit Lion or a Green Bay Packer or Chicago Bear, you could put on the uniform, you could go to their ball games or whatever, but until you have that contract signed and your name is on that team, then you're not a Chicago Bear no matter what you say. And unless you have your name written down in heaven, You're not a child of God. Does that make sense? We understand how, we wanna make it crystal clear. And so notice what great love, and this word manner of love literally means a foreign kind of love. You can't really understand what it is. Now, the Greeks used the term agape, love, and it was only the gods could have it. But then look at the gods that they had. They were nothing but a bunch of soap operas going on as you read Greek mythology. But the giving type of love, this love that was godlike, was what Paul and John and the New Testament writers had said, no, these false gods don't have it. But this is the love that is otherworldly, that you can't understand that God gives. And behold what foreign kind of love, the love that is the wonder of it all, we sing songs like that. He says, therefore the world does not know us because they don't know him. The natural man receives not the things of God, Paul tells the Corinthians. But we sing songs like the love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hill. We love songs like that, don't we? Love lifted me. I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore. And so we see all these things where the glove of God that did something for us, who changed us, who stooped down with his wonderful omnipotent hand and rescued a poor sinner and saved him from an eternal hell. You have a God like that? I mean, I can't explain them just like I can't explain the four kids that I was born, that was born in my stead. But I know I have them because I see it. And I know that many of you are Christians because I see it. There's something, you got a new nature. There's something in your life. There's something that makes you want to keep coming back to the Lord. And so it is, what manner of love God has given. And that love won't let us go. He'll never leave us or forsake us. So if you're saved, once saved, always saved, I believe that. But there will always be a change in your life. And you don't want him to let you go. And so I think of that one song that I love to sing. Boy. That... Come thou fount of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing. Calls for songs of loudest praise. Prone to wonder, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. That man left the God he loved. And the story goes that he was in a stagecoach out west. And this lady got on and she started singing that song and he started crying. And she said, why are you crying, sir? And he said, I wrote that song. and he was outside the will of God. But even the songwriters can go, but the Lord won't let you go. And even if you write songs about the love of God, if you're genuinely saved, God's gonna still deal with you about his love. Isn't it interesting how intricate human nature can get with our wonderful God? And so we see that it's a great love. But then children of God are predestined to be like him. Because we see that we have confidence. Beloved, now are we the children of God? And why do we love him? And the only reason we love him is because we respond to his love. We love him because he first loved us. 1 John 2, or 319 actually is gonna be. And so we love him because he first loved us. And you know, interesting how that God talks about the man, and how is a woman to respond to a man? How, what does man have to do first? He's got to love the woman. The Bible never tells the woman to love the man, but the man has to love the woman to give her something to respond to, and then the poor older ladies have to teach the women how to love their husbands. But isn't that interesting? Because he loved us and gave himself for us, but then we have to come to church to learn how, and the church is the bride of Christ, and we have to learn how to love him. And so again, we see that he loved us and we respond to him. And because we are the children of God. And so he's, we have that confidence. And then if that's the case, then he's always conforming us because he tells us if it was not, if it has not been revealed what we shall be, but for who he did foreknow, I don't know what, you know, I don't know what's gonna happen. I don't know what I'm gonna be a week from now, let alone when I get to heaven. I don't, I'm not what I want to be or ought to be, but I praise God I wasn't what I used to be, but I know I'm gonna be something that I'm not now. And so we see that he says, for whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. So that means that we walk in his steps, as John has said earlier, that we might be the firstborn among many brethren. Now the word firstborn doesn't mean it's a position. It's like Joseph was a firstborn and he was the 11th child. But it's the position that God gives to the head of the family. So Jesus Christ, Adam was actually the first creation, but Jesus Christ is considered the firstborn because it's his position. He's the spiritual head. And of course, as a result of that, I, he sticks closer to me than a brother. So, and we call ourselves brethren, and sistren, I guess, sistren, sistren, but whatever, as they say down south. But we're that because we're part of the family of God. We've been accepted into the beloved. And that whole idea of the family of God is explained in Ephesians chapter one through three. So we're part of the church of God, the family of God. But if that's the case, then there's gonna be something that's working in our lives. And that is, as we see that last verse, 1 John 3, verse three, and everyone, that's you and me and everybody else, who has this hope in him purifies himself even or just as he is pure. So what do I want to become? I want to become more like Jesus because I walk in his steps. He's my leader. He's my God. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Aren't you glad of that? He will lead you if he's your shepherd, if he's your brother, if he's your savior, if he's your God. Now, one of the problems that we have today is prophecy. Oh my, people love to get into all what's gonna happen in Russia. I got a magazine this past week, it's a good magazine, but I see them all around Gog and Magog, who's Gog and Magog, Russia's gonna rise up and what's gonna happen to Israel and all these things. Oh, that's fascinating, isn't it? But I have the hope that the Lord's coming back, don't you? But if that's the case, then I'm going to be, there's gonna be something in me that wants to be ready. I'm going to want to be purifying myself. And so I really have a problem there, again, with the radar going off, with those who can tell me all about the three bears or the three bones and the bears on the mouth of Daniel chapter 7 or whatever. And they could tell you all that, but they're not living a pure and holy life or have no inclination to do so. or when I talk to people and they want to tell me about, and they want me to explain prophecy, then I always want to get back to purity. Okay, if you know all this, what is it making you want to do? Well, don't judge me, preacher. No, wait a minute. If you're saved, then God has given you a desire for purity. a frustration because you can't totally reach it, but it's a hunger just to keep striving. But isn't it interesting, that's the paradox of being a Christian, isn't it? You know you're saved and there's a glory to it, but you also know that you don't deserve it. Isn't that the way it is? But that keeps me humble, knowing I don't deserve it, but it keeps me praising him because he gave it. So I can trust him and yet know that I don't deserve it at the same time. That's what keeps the church pure, is that we don't deserve it, but we're trying hard. But one day, we'll see him face to face, and it'll all be all right when we see him, because we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is. It's gonna be a great day, isn't it? My wife, I tell everybody that it's hard to have a perfect marriage after 44 years when only one of us is perfect. Of course, that's a lie. But one day she's gonna see a perfect husband up in heaven. I won't be her husband, I don't know what I'll be. But there again, I don't know what I'll be, but it's gonna be fun, isn't it? It's going to be good to be with the Lord, but do you know him? You must be born again. And if you are born again, these things, these ingredients are going to be in your life. You're going to have a hunger. You're going to be, there's going to be a change. You're going to have a distinct, you're going to start knowing good from evil. And you're going to start spotting those that are the hypocrites or the liars. That's all part of knowing the Lord as your savior. And I'm looking forward to him coming. But if, like I say, I want to be part of that rapture generation, I want to be the person I can walk up to Abraham and say, Abraham, you died after 147 years or whatever, but I never died. That'd be good, wouldn't it? Methuselah, 969 years, and I'm gonna outpace you. I never died. That'd be great, isn't it? But if the Lord doesn't, then I'll meet you in the air. So if you guys stay around, I'll be up there, but I'm coming back down and I'll be with the Lord. and you will be too. So it's gonna be good, isn't it? But let's make sure that we stay hungry, hungry for the Lord, hungry for pleasing him, hungry for wanting to be close to him because he loves us and gave himself for us. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you, Lord, that you have been so good to us without us even realizing it. the great love that you bestowed upon us, the privilege of being called children of God, not on earth possibly, but in heaven. And oh Lord, we pray that others will know him because of what you do through us. And this great, marvelous miracle of the new birth that we can't explain that happened to us, May we watch it as you deliver it to others. Oh, Lord, we want to see others saved and hungry for you. We pray, Lord, that you would give us discernment between good and evil and between good doers and evil doers, from the people who represent you and those people who are the antichrists. Oh, Father, how we pray that we'll do it lovingly, but firmly and assuredly and confidently that we know that we are children of God. For we pray in Jesus' name, amen.