I've been thinking on a few verses this morning. I've seen this conversation or statement that was made, I guess it was yesterday, the day before yesterday, talking about the necessity of preaching in salvation. Was there a need for a preacher the gospel to be preached so that somebody might be able to be saved. Of course, we've talked about that before here. I think we are all here that hold to the truth, believe that salvation doesn't come by our believing and it doesn't come by gospel being preached. And that by any means, and I want to go on record of saying this, that that by no means discredits the preaching of the gospel. I'm not saying that there isn't no necessity for the preaching of the gospel in the purpose for which it's given to us. The preaching of the gospel isn't to save people in the legal sense. The preaching of the gospel is to save us in an experiential sense. It's to save us from the wrong thinking about salvation and about righteousness, about the testimony of Christ and what he has done. The preaching of the gospel is to declare the good news of a already finished salvation, an already wrapped up and done salvation. The gospel is to declare to those who have been given faith, to declare unto them their salvation and how it was accomplished. That's what the gospel is. That's what the preaching of the gospel is. It's for the encouragement of the believer. It's for the edification, the building up of the believer. It's for the continual reminder of the believer to keep these thoughts in front of their head. I think it was Peter, maybe, that wrote that, you know, I want to bring this to your remembrance. It's to bring to our remembrance. And that's because the old Adamic man wants to continue to cling on to his self-righteousness. Now the damning man wars with that man on the inside that knows that righteousness only comes from Christ alone, but that old man wants to continue to dig out his own righteousness by his own works, by his own self-righteous clothing whenever we've been given a white robe of righteousness in Christ Jesus. And so the gospel being preached or the believing and hearing the gospel isn't what saves us. We are already saved, thus we believe. And so the gospel or the understanding of the gospel comes because we've already been saved. And if you want to say you saved in the sense of being born from above, because I know there's a connotation to that. A lot of people say, you know, that I was saved back in 19 whatever, you know, They're talking about when they believe they were born again. Now, some people have a date in mind and they can say I was born again on this date. I'm not that confident of when I was, so I don't know. I don't know when I was born again. I can't say when I was given life. I know whenever I felt a strong conversion from wrong thinking to right thinking, I know a time when God overwhelmingly put into my mind that what I had been thinking was wrong, but even to that point, leading up to that, truth was coming precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little. I began growing in grace and knowledge. So whenever that life began, I don't know, I can't say, I'm confident in that, whether it was from the time I was born, as some in the Bible are said to have had, or whether it was sometime in time that the Lord brought that in, that life in, or whether the life has always been there, and there's just this development, because whenever we talk about, when we talk about using the whole picture that Jesus used of a conception and a birth, those are two separate things. A conception is when life begins, and a birth is when it's made manifest. There is a child that is conceived and that conception is when that life begins, whenever that seed of the man and the egg of the woman comes together, then that life begins there, but that child is never brought forth or manifested as a child until it's birthed. So the giving of life and the manifesting outwardly of that life comes after a time of development. And so we are in a time of development. And then once that child is born, there continues to be development in all of our life. I'm 51 years old, about to be 52 here in a couple weeks. I'm 52 years old, going on, developing, still developing. I'm developing right into my grave, but I'm developing, you know, these gray hairs. It's in my beard and my hair, you know, these wrinkles and easily bruised arms. These are developments in my physical body. I'm still developing from who I was conceived in and who I will be whenever I die. I continue to develop. Well, as the child of grace, we still are being developed into who we are. Now, that doesn't change the nature of who we are in Christ Jesus. That inward man is true holiness and righteousness. It is without sin and it is born from above. It's a new creation. But there is a development in that. And that development is a process of learning. Well, whenever one is born from above, and they are given life, that life begins to develop. And because of that life that has already been given, there begins to be in that development process, fruits of that life. And we see in the Scriptures, the fruits of that life is faith. We see faith as the fruit of the Spirit. We begin to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We begin to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. We begin to repent of our unrighteousness. And we begin to trust in Christ's righteousness. We are given the gifts of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness. Those are the things that are being worked in us by the Holy Spirit. Those are the fruits of this life that has been given to us. And so, this may be an odd passage for us to go to prove the fact that it isn't the preaching of the gospel that gives us life, but it is the fact that we believe shows forth we've already been given life, therefore that life preceded any preaching, any gospel, anything that we read. Now again, I'm not taking any importance away from the gospel. If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't be here right now doing what we're doing here. But we need to understand biblically where life comes from and how it is given. The life is given sovereignly by God, by the power of God. The power of God, the good news of the Gospel is that it is God who gives life. Because we are all in darkness. The natural man, the Adamic man is in darkness. We are dead in trespasses and sins. That means we are in spiritual darkness. We are dead to anything spiritual. We have no sensitivity to spiritual things. We cannot produce spiritual things. We cannot receive spiritual things. We cannot comprehend spiritual things, and there's a plethora of verses we could go to that I don't have time to go to all those, but we know those verses. You know, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. We know these verses. But we are in darkness. The Adamic man is in darkness. And unless there is light given to him, then he cannot receive those things. He cannot perceive those things. The preaching of those things can't do anything. A preacher can preach the Gospel. A person can read the Gospel all day long and it not have any effect on them. As a matter of fact, we see people all over the world that are in churches, or what they call churches today, that are hearing people read the Bible, preaching messages, giving speeches, whatever they are, and there is no effect. I've seen people myself, even in Sovereign Grace circles, that have their whole entire life grew up under Sovereign Grace preaching, true Sovereign Grace preaching, and have heard it, and have heard it, and have parented it, parented it, reconveyed it to others, stood for it, matter of fact, and they have gone away, and they have left the faith, they have left even belief in God at all, become debaucherous as debaucherous can be and yet the preaching of that gospel they heard over and over and over again and at some point for a period of time even seemed to have embraced that but yet that had no effect to them. They are now walking in darkness and that walking in darkness proves that there never was really light there. I got to thinking about this in this first part of John. Let's go ahead and read that. John chapter 1, and I'm going to start reading in verse 1. And while the first 2-3 verses are very important, I'm mainly wanting to get down a little bit further, but I'm going to start at verse 1 just for our context. It says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Now we're talking about Jesus Christ here. I think we're all Pretty plain about that. Verse 14 down there tells us very clearly that this is who we're talking about. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Full of grace and truth. Now, key on to that phrase, full of grace and truth. We're going to get to that, Lord willing, eventually. But we're talking about Jesus here. The context is Jesus. John is beginning his Gospel with Jesus. Listen, John was given by God to write this by the Holy Spirit. All Scripture is given by inspiration, right? And John began to write about the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospels are the good news of Jesus Christ. And as we learned the last couple of weeks, all the Word of God is about Jesus Christ. So whether it's the gospels, or whether it's the epistles, or whether it's the apocryphal prophetic verses, or whether it's the historical passages, or whether it's the poetic passages, whatever the case might be, it's all about Jesus. And John begins here with Jesus, and he says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God, So that tells me that Jesus predated all things. He was before all things. And it says right here in verse 3, all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. So Jesus is the one who made everything. Now here we go in verse 4. In him, that's Jesus, was life. Now let's just stop for a minute and grasp the greatness of what this is talking about. It may seem insignificant, but grasp, if you would, the greatness of what is being seen here. In Christ is life. There is no life outside of Christ. Because everything that was made was made by Him. So that tree out there It has life in it. Everything that is in that tree, as far as that natural life is concerned, came from Christ. He created it. And He gave it a life, a natural life of a tree. Those birds that's out there flying around, they have been given life and they have no life apart from Jesus Christ giving life in their bird state life. sitting in here in the floor. He has life. And that life came from Jesus. Outside of Christ and him giving life, that dog doesn't have any life. We have a natural life that we gained from wherever we were born of Adam. That life that God breathed into the nostrils of Adam and he became a living soul, that life, every man that comes into the world, and that includes women, men in general, generically, all men have life in a natural way. Christ has given us life. And if he says no life, we would cease to exist. The moment that he removes that natural life, our natural bodies die. And that's because all things consist because of him. I think that's what Colossians says. that by him all things consist, or is held together, is kept going, is put together, he has created all things. But it says that all things were made by him, and without him was not anything that was made, and in him was life, and the life, and the life, and the life was the light of men. I've heard it said, and I've heard this verse used to say, because especially down in verse 9, it says, that was the true light which lighted every man that cometh into the world. That verse there is used by especially Methodists and people like that who believe that there is a light that is within every man, this little flicker, as small as it may be, that can, in some way, reach out, in some sort of religious form, reach out and do something spiritually. And they use this phrase right here. I've even heard it among Southern Baptists that said, there you go, God has revealed Himself to every man. He has lit every man. Therefore, every man has the ability to choose or to choose otherwise because they have been given this life. They know. They've been given to know the Gospel and everything. But brethren, again, we have to take these verses in context with other verses in the Bible that say just the opposite. And I think we'll see that in our passages today. But he says here that in him was light, and the light was the light of men. Now, I was pondering on this verse and thinking about it, and I pray that I'm not speaking in error here or taking this out of context or taking this in the wrong direction. At least I feel that it is founded in other places of Scripture that I hope that the Lord will enable me to bring forth today. I think this is not talking about everyone everywhere, but it is specifically talking to those who are of Christ, the elect of God, those who have been put into the world, but that are not of the world. He says that in Him was life and the life was the light of men. The only ones who receive the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, or the light of the knowledge of the Father in the face of Jesus Christ, are those who are His. Because He has said that He has hid it from some, but has revealed it to others. What is this phrase, the light of men, whenever it says that we have been given light, what does that mean? What is that talking about? It means illumination. It means revealing something. Sometimes I may have to come in here in the living room in the middle of the night for something and I come in and all the lights are turned out and there's nothing here. I mean, it's dark. You can't see nothing. Well, you walk in here and there's a couch. There's a couch and there's a chair. There's a TV and there's a bookshelf. All that's here, but you don't see it. But whenever you turn the light on, the light illuminates what is already there. The light gives record or bears testimony or makes manifest of what is already there. So the light comes because something that is already there or to reveal something that is already there. Now here we see that in Him was life and the life was the light of men. Now, going back to thinking about this topic of is it the gospel being preached that gives people life? Well, how can it be? It says here that the life is the light of men. It's the life that is given first that becomes the light of men. The thing that reveals the truth, and I think we'll see that that's the context, The light that reveals the truth comes because of the life. The life has to be present for light to be able to reveal. The Word of God cannot give light. Look if you would at 2 Timothy. Chapter 1, verses 9 and 10, we read these often. It says, Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest, or brought to life, if you would. What is being brought to light? Our salvation. The work of God being given to us. The grace that has been given to us. But is now being made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light. See, the light is shedding light, if you would. on the life and immortality that was already given to us in Christ. Now, I don't think I'm taking that out of context or reading into that something that's not there. I'm trying to take that at face value and I'm hoping that I'm speaking the truth. It says here that Christ, who has abolished death, hath brought life and immortality That means that the fact of one having life and immortality is being brought to light, being made manifest, being revealed to show forth by the Gospel, through the Gospel. See, the Gospel is not the one that is giving life and immortality. But the Gospel is the one that is bringing life and immortality, manifesting that it has already been given to us. The Gospel is telling us the good news that, guess what, child of grace, you have been given life. You have been graced with the grace of life. Life is a grace of God. Eternal life is a grace of God. Faith is a grace of God. Belief is a grace of God. Repentance is a grace of God. And that is given to us because of the grace of God. It is a grace given in grace. So we see here the Gospel cannot be the instrument or cannot be the effectual way that someone has been given life because the Gospel is the one that is manifesting or bringing to light the fact of an already given grace, if you see that in verse 9, the grace that was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began. The life was given to us, the grace was given to us, the salvation was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Christ coming and His death, His resurrection, His giving of life to us is being manifested by the declaration of the good news. That's what the word gospel means, the good news. The good news, what is good news? Well, good news is telling forth something, reporting something, right? It's a report about something. If I go down and buy a newspaper today, I guess they still have newspapers, I haven't seen one in a long time other than jump flyers, but I guess they still have the Tulsa, I mean the Tulsa World or the Joplin Globe. That's a newspaper. What's that newspaper for? To report on things. It's giving a report on what's going on around here. That's what the Gospel is. The Gospel is a report of something. To report something. The Gospel is there to bear testimony of something. Right? So it is the testimony. So if we go back to John, it says, In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The life being given to us is where the light comes in. It can't come in until there's first life. Life enters in when life is given to us. Excuse me, light comes in when life is given to us. And it says, and the light shineth in darkness. Now here's where I get, I don't think that verse 4 and verse 9 are talking about every man everywhere. Because here we see the contradiction as it would seem. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. Notice before I go on to verse 5, notice it doesn't say it was the light of all men. Now in verse 9 it does say that the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Someone will say, well yeah, but verse 9 says every man that cometh into the world. Now that could mean every man head for head. If that's true, then that means Jesus Christ has given life to every man that cometh into the world. That means every man, woman, child, every person who is ever born into this world has been given the life. And what does the Bible say? It says in verse, well, I think it's in another verse that we'll look at here in just a minute. Yeah. I'm going to put a pause on that thought there. But it says here that it is the light of men. It doesn't say all men. It just says of men. And verse 9, while we can say that is the light of every man, we must look and see, does the Bible teach that? And if not, is there another connotation that can be given to that verse that is in harmony with the rest of Scripture? And I think we'll find that. But look if you would, verse five I think gives us a little bit of glimpse of this. It says, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Now, he's not talking about darkness as just some, I don't even know the word to use for that, in some sort of a abstract thing. He says the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. So whatever he's talking about in darkness has to have the ability to comprehend. So he's not talking about the absence of light as far as me turning the lights out in this living room. He's talking about something else. Now, Matthew chapter 6 and verse 23, if you want to turn there, it might give us a little clue. Matthew 6 and verse 23. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? Now that almost sounds like a contradiction or an oxymoron. If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is thy darkness? Wait a minute, isn't light and darkness opposites? Doesn't everyone tell us that darkness is just absence of light? That there is no really true, that there is a true darkness, that darkness is just absence of light. And that whenever light comes on, the darkness flees. There's no darkness. Okay? But it says here, if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? What's he talking about there? How can there be light in you but it be dark? It means understanding. Again, if the understanding that is in you be darkness, if the comprehension that is in you be darkness, if the knowledge that is in you be darkness, how great is that Darkness. See, we're talking about light being given, or understanding being given, the revelation being given, okay? And so here Jesus is saying, if thy eye be evil, if who you are, the eye is the light of the soul, it reflects or shows who the person is. If the eye be evil, And we know that the Bible says that all men are sinful, all men, that everything that we do are evil continually, that our heart is desperately wicked above all things. We are evil. We are evil people. Therefore, if the eye be evil, the whole body shall be full of darkness. If who we are is darkness, then that's all we are is darkness and how great that darkness is. And so Jesus here is saying, if therefore the light that is in here, the understanding or the knowledge or what you perceive is darkness, how great that darkness is. Look over into John chapter 3. In the discourse with Nicodemus, Jesus said this in verse 17, For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him, latch on to that, that the world through Him might be saved. Now, back in John chapter 1, it says in verse 7, There came a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through Him might believe. So it's through Christ who is the light. And that light comes by way of the life. Jesus is the light. He is the testimony. Does not the Bible say that Christ is the one who makes the Father known? That Jesus is the one who bears testimony? to who the Father is. The Bible says that all three witnesses of God, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, are three record bearers, are testifiers of who God is, and they're found in Christ Jesus. They're one. And He is the fullness of the Godhead, bodily, so Christ is the fullness of all who God is, and He is the one that shines, His face is the one who shines the testimony of God. So what we know as the children of God know about Christ, or excuse me, about God, is found in the face of Christ. So to know the testimony or the life, what's revealed to us, our understanding of God and His salvation, it comes through the face of Jesus Christ. So if our I be evil, great is the darkness that is in us. So if the light that we have is void and is in darkness, then we're going to continue in darkness. We're going to continue looking at ourselves as the righteous ones. We're going to continue to see, not the testimony of God, but we're going to see our own testimony in Adam. That we can be as God. We can do what we want to do and be pleasing to God by our own efforts, by our own righteousness. But he says here, back in John chapter 3, he says, verse 18, he that believeth on him is not condemned. But he that believeth not is condemned already. because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds be reproved. So they don't come to Christ, they don't believe on Christ, and this is talking about, he compares this, this doing evil and this doing truth, he compares that to believing and not believing. Coming and not coming. Those who don't believe and they don't come, do that because their deeds are evil. They're darkness. They're in darkness. They love darkness. They don't love the lie. Why? Because when they come to the lie and what the testimony of the lie says, the testimony of the lie says there are none good, no not one. The testimony of the lie says that all of our righteousness are filthy rags. The lie tells us that there is righteousness found in only one person and that's Jesus Christ. The lie tells us that we are deserving of sin and that all men are sinners. for all of sin come short of the glory of God, and that God will not acquit the wicked, and that we cannot do anything to gain God's favor, that we are completely enabled and unable to keep the law of God, And so the light gives testimony to that as who we are and gives testimony that in Christ Jesus is life and that only He can keep the law of God. Only He has righteousness and unless He gives you that righteousness, you will continue in your darkness or your wickedness or your unrighteous or self-righteousness. You will continue in that. And so those who are in darkness don't want to go to that light because that light tells them that what they're doing is not good enough. and they think their righteousness is good enough. Why? Because they've not been given light to see that their righteousness is not good enough. They're continuing to believe upon themselves. They're continuing to not trust in Christ, but to trust in their own will, their own efforts, their own duty, their own works of righteousness. And so he says right here, that's why they're condemned already, because they're evil, they're in darkness. They have no light. And they're condemned because they cannot see the light. And they won't come to the light. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light. You want to know why people hate the gospel of imputed righteousness alone? You want to know why people hate sovereign grace? Right here. because Sovereign Grace puts the death blow to their righteousness. The Gospel of Sovereign Grace puts the death blow to your efforts, including your efforts to get people saved. Sovereign Grace puts the death blow to that. You preachers that are out there thinking that you're saving people by your preaching, Sovereign Grace puts the death blow to that. Salvation is found in no other. There's no other name given among men by which men may be saved. And that's Jesus Christ. And it's not you doing it for Jesus Christ. It's Jesus Christ who's going out and He builds His church. He gives life. He grants repentance. He gives the knowledge and the understanding. He is the one who bears record of who God is. He is the one who has the beautiful feet that brings the good news, who is carrying the everlasting gospel to the four corners of the world. He's the one who is doing that, brethren. It is not you or I or anybody else. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are wrought in God. See, the difference between the two is the one person doesn't want to come to the light because he loves what he is doing and has faith in what he does and doesn't want to come to the light that tells him he can't do it. However, the one who is, what does it say here, who doeth truth, and I would push to say, and I could be corrected on this, but this doeth truth means to believe because the comparison here is between believing and not believing, between coming and not coming, those that doeth truth, or believeth, cometh to the light." They have no problem coming to the light. Why? Because they know that their deeds are wrought in God. They have no problem. They know that everything that has been done for them on their behalf was wrought in God and Christ Jesus. They have no... The Bible says that we have We have boldness to boldly come before the throne of God. Why? Because we have an advocate, one who stands in our place, who has done all the deeds for us, who stands in our place, whose name is above our head, whose righteous robes are being clothed upon us. We come because we have been clothed in His righteousness, and we're not coming in our own works and our own righteousness. So I believe this is talking about, this life that is being talked about, this life is given to us so that the illumination or the revelation or the testimony that is being made manifest to the children of grace is that we might know that we are sinners and are in need of Christ and the testimony of what Christ has done is given to us to believe and we are given to believe it by Him. Look if you would at 1 John chapter 1. In verse 5 it says, This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you that God is light. Wait a minute, I thought it said Jesus was light. one and the same person, brother. Jesus is God and there is no other. That God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. There's that phrase again. Do it the truth, do not the truth. So what is doing the truth or what is walking in darkness? Walking in darkness is continuing to walk without the light of the knowledge of our sinfulness, to continue to walk in our self-righteousness of we think that we can be accepted of God, that we can be received of God because of anything that we do. That our religious efforts are being accepted by God. That our religious walk is a walk that is pleasing to Him. But he says here, he says, If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness or continue to walk in our self-righteousness, continue to walk apart from the testimony of Christ, we lie and do not the truth. So to me it seems that walking in the truth or doing the truth is believing on what Christ has said, the testimony that Christ has given. is to believe what is being said about us and about God. To believe about who we are in Adam and what we are in Christ. Who we are in Adam is sin and darkness. But what we are in Christ is righteous, holy, and without blame. And if we walk or doeth the truth, We walk in the light of that. But it says, but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. Does that mean that Jesus will cleanse us from all sin if we start believing that? Is that what that's saying? No, I don't believe so. I believe He's talking about in our conscience. If we walk in the light, if we believe the testimony, if we trust in the testimony, if we are walking in the light, the light of the testimony of Christ and His finished work on our behalf, if we are walking in that light, then we have fellowship one with the other. And what happens? The content of that light, the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing us from all of our sin, giving us a righteousness that we didn't merit or earn ourselves, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. See, that's what believing the light is. That's what walking in the light is. That's what doing the truth is. It's to believe and to trust and to walk in the blood of Jesus that cleanses us of every sin. I'm not eradicating my sin by doing more righteousness. I'm not eradicating sin and pleasing God by doing more religious things. The means of grace are not saving me. The means of grace are not keeping me. The work of God is keeping me. The means of grace, the Word of God, the witness of the Spirit, the preaching of the Gospel, those things are telling me what God is doing by His power, but them and of themselves are not the catalyst that is keeping me and doing these things for me. The power of God is. And if we walk in the light of the testimony of what Christ has done, that the blood of Jesus Christ is cleansed from all of our sin, we won't be deceiving ourselves. Whenever we say we have fellowship with God, when we say we have fellowship with the brethren, and that would say, love God, love your brethren, that's the great commandment that Jesus has given us. If we say that we have fellowship with God and fellowship with the brethren, yet try to walk in our own righteousness, then we're deceiving ourselves. Because those who are made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ don't listen and look to that testimony. They don't look to the testimony of do, they believe the testimony of done. And he says here, if we walk in the light, as He's in the light, we have fellowship one with another, the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, We deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. What is sin? It's a transgression of the law. So that means that you have not kept the law. Right? To transgress the law means you have not kept the law. So by implication, what we see here is that sin is man's attempt to keep the law and cannot keep the law, yet he believes that his fellowship with God and with the brethren is in his continual trying to keep the law. You want to know what an antinomian is? An antinomian isn't one who says that we're under grace and not under law anymore and has done away with the law and all. That's not the true antinomian. The true antinomian is the one who thinks that he is keeping the law. But He cannot keep the law. It says here, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. Those who are self-righteous believe that they are gradually, little bit by little bit, becoming more and more without sin. Don't take my word for it. Look into it yourself. Brother Larry and his wife can attest to that. They've come out of movements that that was their main gospel. Their main gospel was holiness and being holy and providing your own holiness and righteousness. They believed. Listen, brethren, people think that they become less and less sinful the more they mature in the faith. The longer they're on the road, The more they apply the means of grace, they become less and less sinful. Listen. If you sin in one, you have sinned in them all. It isn't about I've kept five and missed five. It's not that I've kept 20 and missed 700. Okay? It's not about that. If you can't keep them all, you've sinned. If you can't keep it all, You cannot please God. So your sin is not only transgressing the law of God, but your sin is thinking that your righteousness comes by you trying to please God, by your sinful trying to please God. I don't think that came out right, but I hope you understand what I mean by that. See, the sin, singular, is the fact that we're trying to gain righteousness by doing something we can't do. The sins are the culmination of the sin of self-righteousness. The sin of self-righteousness says you can do. Therefore, you try to do and you commit sins because every time you try to do, you transgress the law of God because the flesh profits nothing and it cannot keep the law of God. It cannot do anything that is pleasing to God. Everything it puts its hands to is sin. The flesh profits nothing. And if you think that you can do something in your flesh to profit, that is sin. And to walk in the understanding that what you do in the flesh is making an acceptance before God or a keeping with God, is sin, you're walking in darkness. And here it says, if you say you have fellowship with God and fellowship with the brethren, and yet you continue to walk in that darkness, that you have not been made aware that you are completely sin and can do nothing, then you deceive yourselves and the truth is not in you. You're not doing the truth. Because the truth isn't in you. You can't do the truth. You can't walk in truth because the truth is not in you. If the truth is in you, I am the way, the truth, and the life. If the truth is in you, Christ is in you, the life is in you, it's going to give light to the fact that you cannot do. So if you are walking that you can do, then the truth is not in you. The life is not in you. You do not have light. You are not walking in light. but says, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His truth is not in us. Notice the progression in this. In verse 8, He says, if we say that we have no sin, that's present tense, present perfect, that we have, meaning we don't have now and we ain't going to have in the future, if we have no sin, We deceive ourselves. If there comes a point in your life where you believe that you have quit doing some sin, you deceive yourselves. In verse 10 it says, and if you say that you have not sinned, to those who say, well, I've never sinned, then you have made Him, God, a liar and His Word is not in us, in you. in us, anybody that would say that. Now there may be some that say that they've never sinned. I know that the religious leaders, whenever Jesus accused them of stuff, they said, we don't have anything to worry about. We are Abraham's seed. We don't have need of salvation because we are of Abraham's seed. That is almost as if saying, We don't have any sin. We can't sin because we're Abraham's seed. And you know what is ironic about that statement? That is exactly true. Not in them and the anti-type, or in the type, but in the anti-type. The true Israel of God cannot sin because they are the true children of Abraham. The spiritual seed cannot sin. The physical seed, all it can do is sin. Anyway, that's off the beaten path here. So if we say we have no sin, we have made him a liar. Go back to John chapter 1. The same came, excuse me, and the light that shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. So the darkness here It's not talking about the absence of light necessarily as part of an abstract thing. It's talking about those who continue to walk after Adam. Those who continue to walk after self-righteousness. In their self-righteousness. It says, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. Now, again, we've seen in John chapter 3, he said, for God said, not his Son in the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Okay? Through him that all men, through him, might believe. Now, again, we've got to keep in context what all the Scripture says. Not all men believe. Not all men have been given light. As a matter of fact, remember what I said a while ago. Jesus prayed to the Father. Father, I thank Thee, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and Thou have revealed them unto babes. So we know that there are some that this is being revealed on. We know the Bible teaches that God has sent the Spirit to harden their heart and to blind their eyes and to stop up their ears so they cannot believe. and be converted. They cannot see the truth and understand it. God has sent this upon certain men that have not been chosen of Him and His purpose before the foundation of the world by His grace. So we know the Bible teaches that there is a whole group of people that will not be given light. So we know this cannot be through the explicit verses of Scripture. This cannot mean every man that has ever been born. Verse 8, he was not that light, John the Baptist, was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which lighted every man that cometh into the world. So if we see here, every man that cometh into the world, I can only surmise from the explicit verses that is talking about the ones who believe on Him. And the ones who believe on Him are the ones that He has given life to because that life brings the light, the testimony of Christ, and it also brings the fruit, the belief, the repentance. It says, He was in the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own and His own received Him not. And here it is. This is why I believe that verse 9 is talking about people of God. But, in contrast, He came into the world, light came into the world, but the world received it not. The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. But as many as received Him, Now you can look, that word received is not an active thing on their part, it's a passive thing on their part. As many that has obtained, that's what Peter, the word Peter used, for we have obtained. Those who have obtained life faith, those who have obtained eternal life, that is a passive thing. That is something that is given to us outside of us, and it is not a work of ours. It's something that is given to us. It says, but as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. The word even there is in italics, they put that in to make the flow sound better, but to them that believe on his name, it's just a reiteration of what was before that, to become the sons of God, who are the sons of God, them that believe on his name. This is not talking about two separate people, the sons of God and those who believe on His name. He's talking about the same people. He's reiterating the fact. Those who are the sons of God are those who believe on His name. By the way, verse 13, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And it says here, verse 14, And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father. Now, look what it says here, full of grace and truth. Now, I told you while ago to kind of latch on to that here in a minute. We're going to talk about it. John bare witness of Him, and cried, saying, This was He of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. And of His fullness." Now what did it say here was His fullness over here? Grace and truth. See, Jesus, the only begotten of the Father, was full of grace and truth. And in verse 16 it says, "...and of His fullness have all we received." So from His grace and of His truth, we've all received. It comes from Him. And grace for grace. There's that phrase I was using earlier. And grace for grace. We have received grace for every grace that God gives us. Remember I was saying a while ago that we have the overarching grace in the fact that God has chosen us before the foundation of the world, and in grace, that was back in 2 Timothy 1-9, that in the purpose of God, that in His purpose and grace, that He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our work, But His purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus, but is now being made manifest. What is now being made manifest? The fact that we have been given this grace, this love of God, this grace of God, this electing love of God. And in being given this electing love of God, given this position of having light and life in us, we receive every grace. So in the giving of grace, we receive every grace that has been given to us. I would equate that with all the spiritual blessings that God has given to us. Every spiritual blessing that God has given us in heavenly places is graces that God gives us. He gives us the grace of life, the grace of faith, the grace of belief, the grace of perseverance. Of His fullness have we all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but what? Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. See, this isn't about the law. The law doesn't bring this. The preaching of the law doesn't bring this. The incessant trying to keep the law does not bring this. But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared this. Jesus is the one who declares the Father. Jesus is the one who hath declared who God is and has declared everything that God has done. I would liken that to where Jesus has taken the scroll and has unraveled the scroll that God has given to Him and He's the only one worthy to unravel that and to declare who God is and to bring forth the purpose of God, the declaration of God through all eternity, from eternity to eternity, that Jesus Christ is the one who has made God known in the flesh, and that in Him is life, and that through His life and His life only, men receive life. And the only ones that receive that light are the ones who have been given to Him by the Father. And there's probably other verses that I'm not thinking of that we could probably go to. But we definitely know that in John chapter 6, a people was given to Christ. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I will know why he is cast out, for I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will that has sent me, that all of which he hath given me, I shall lose nothing, but shall raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Brethren, if we've been given light or understanding to believe, whenever that Gospel is preached and we're given to believe it, it isn't the Gospel Word itself, it isn't the preacher himself that has made that possible, it is the life of Christ that has already been existing because you have already been saved, that is existing within you, that is bringing that life and immortality to light. That preacher, that gospel you're reading, is only making manifest what was already there. And we declare that if it's there, it's there not by any means of man, it's by the grace and truth that has been given in Jesus Christ. If there's any conveyance of truth, it's by Jesus Christ. I can't convey truth to you. I've said that many times. You guys have heard that, said that, we believe that here. That any conveyance of truth is not by the man, it's by the Spirit of God who teaches His people. That is by the Lord Jesus Christ. Alright, that's all I have this morning. Does anybody have any comments? Father, we thank you for all that you've done. Thank you for your son, Jesus Christ. Thank you for the light that has been given to us. If we have it, Lord, we know that it truly came from you. Lord, we pray that we would never boast in our own efforts, in our own work, in our own righteousness, in our own religious zeal. Lord, that we might truly be given to us the inadequacy that we have in Adam. the inability that we have of righteousness and that we should walk in the light of the righteousness that has been procured for us in the man Jesus Christ, who is our king, our priest, our father, who is our Lord and Savior, who is our advocate, our representative. We look to him and him alone for all that is pleasing to God. We look to him and him alone for acceptance. And we pray, Lord, that we have been accepted in the Lord. Thank you again for all that you've given us. And thank you for the Word of God, which bears testimony of Christ and all that he has done on our behalf. And Father, we thank you for the people of God who have been blessed to fellowship in this truth. Lord, we just pray that you might continue to guide us and direct us in your Word, that you might continue to grow us in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. that you might keep us, Lord, as we leave this place, bring us back together to be your will. And Lord, we just thank you for all that you've done through him. It's in his name that we pray.