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[0:00] If you know what I mean. Going to need some release forms. We are in 1 John chapter 2 this morning. 1 John all the way to the back of your Bible.

[0:13] The General Epistles. 1 John chapter 2. And I'd like to read a portion of this chapter with you.

[0:26] Beginning in verse number 18. 1 John chapter 2 verse 18 through 28. 1 John chapter 2 verse 18.

[0:46] The Bible says, Little children, it is the last time. And as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time.

[0:59] They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

[1:13] I've not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son.

[1:27] Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father.

[1:43] And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things I have written unto you concerning them that seduce you, but the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you.

[1:55] And ye need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

[2:14] Now, this epistle, five chapters long, John writes this with such assurance and such certainty in these five chapters, the word no that we read repeatedly, whether you caught it or not, shows up over 33 times in one form or another.

[2:32] And that really just makes good sense about the Christian life, because in the Christian life, it's full of certainty. It's absolutely full of certainty, the Christian life is.

[2:45] The world, in the world, and in this life, there's not a lot of certainty. You may know one thing, you're going to die, but you don't know what shall be on the morrow. But with the word of God, there's a whole host of things that we can know, and that we can stand on, and have pure certainty and confidence in.

[3:05] And John writes of some of those things here in this passage. In verse number 20, he said, you have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. This unction he refers to later as an anointing in verse number 27.

[3:20] And this is not a Pentecostal passage to talk about some supernatural thing going on here, but it's describing something, a knowledge. And I admit and understand these general epistles will have future application to somebody, to the Jewish remnant in the future.

[3:38] But when John writes to me, he writes about a knowledge that I can have based on the Spirit of God within me. And in verse 27, it says in there that he teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie.

[3:52] When a man's lost, a woman's lost, there's some things you don't know. That when you get saved, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, Paul says. You get to see some things, and you see things differently now, and you perceive things that just you were blinded to, really, before.

[4:11] And you can even see it in other people. You can see decisions they make based on just how they feel, their own lust. And you can say, well, that's a wrong, that's a bad choice. You're not thinking of eternity.

[4:21] You're not thinking of heaven and hell. You're just based upon how you feel today. And a knowledge comes, thanks to the Holy Spirit, and thanks to God dwelling inside of you, and knowledge comes, and through understanding and reading this scripture, knowledge grows and grows inside.

[4:38] And there's some things that I want to speak on this morning from this passage here that you need to know. Some things that you need to know. And I didn't say some things you can know because you have a Bible. And I'm not saying some things you should know.

[4:51] It'll help you. No, I'm saying there's some things you need to know. You need to know. You shouldn't go through this life as a Christian. If you're saved by the grace of God and washed in His blood, you should not go through this life not knowing certain things.

[5:04] And I want to point three of these out this morning out of this passage we read. It's just things you can't do without in the Christian life. I'm not talking about lost people. I'm talking about saved people.

[5:16] Need to know. Verse number 25. The Bible says, And this is the promise that He hath promised us even eternal life.

[5:26] You need to know. You need to know this. That God has promised eternal life to us. John says. To us.

[5:37] In verse number 19, He describes some folks that went out from us. They were not of us. There's a difference between them and us. And when John writes to believers, he writes that God has promised eternal life to us.

[5:55] To us. Look at chapter 5. Not just that He promised it, you can know that you have it. Some things you need to know and one of them is that you have eternal life.

[6:09] In 1 John chapter 5, begin in verse number 11, And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life. He promised it to us.

[6:21] No, here He says He's given it to us and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. What kind of life? Eternal life.

[6:31] And he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Verse 13, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. You're believers, aren't you?

[6:42] That ye may know that ye have eternal life. That's present tense. I have. I possess eternal life.

[6:53] The Bible says I can know it. He says God promised it to me. No, He says God gave it to me. And if I have the Son of God, I have eternal life because life is in His Son.

[7:06] If you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have the Son of God. But what you need to know is that you have eternal life. I'm not talking about you need to know it so you don't go to hell.

[7:19] I'm talking to Christians, you need to know it that you stand where you live and breathe. You have eternal life. You're not going to hell. It's not happening to me.

[7:30] No matter what I do, no matter what I say or how I change my mind or drift with the wind as I may in the future, I have it. I possess it.

[7:40] And I can't lose it. I've passed from death unto life. In Romans chapter 8, the Bible says, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

[7:53] If you don't have the Spirit of God, if you don't have the Spirit of Christ, Paul calls it, or John says, the Son, if you don't have it, you won't have that bearing witness on the inside of you that you are the child of God.

[8:06] You won't know that feeling, that movement. And it's not such a feeling that I would ever put my soul on, a feeling. I put it on the record, verse number 11.

[8:17] This is the record. I put it on what's written. The witness of God from verse 9. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. And we receive the witness of men every time we turn on the news, and every time we pick up our phones, we receive the witness of men, what they're saying takes place.

[8:35] Did you hear with the governors how much money he's going to give away? Yeah, we receive that witness, and we spread it, but the witness of God is greater. And what is that? The record is that he has given to us eternal life, and we can know it.

[8:50] We can know it. You know, there's religions on this globe that call God a liar. They say, you cannot know that you have eternal life, but my Bible says I can know that I have eternal life, so let God be true, and every man, religion, anything you put up, a liar.

[9:11] Let them all be liars. I'll take the word of God instead of some man's opinion or religion. Let God be true. There's religions that teach that if you claim to have eternal life or to be what we call saved, that that's presuming upon the grace of God, and that's a sin.

[9:29] They've titled it the sin of presumption. Why not? Just make up a name for it. But I'll just stick with the scripture. I know that I have eternal life. Look at John chapter 3 and verse number 14.

[9:44] John writes with such assurance and such certainty. Verse 14, we know that we have passed from death unto life. 1 John 3, 14.

[9:57] Back in his gospel, John wrote something. He's quoting Jesus Christ. He was with him and he wrote the words of Christ in John 5, 24 where John writes, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Jesus speaking, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life.

[10:23] That's the words of Jesus Christ. If you believe on him, you've passed from death unto life. John says and he recalls later in his life, he's like, I heard his word and I believed on him that sent him and I have everlasting life and I'll not come into the condemnation and I've passed from death unto life because of that.

[10:42] So then he later writes, little children, verse number 14, as I read in chapter 3, we know that we've passed from death unto life. We know we have. Christ said it would happen and Christ said we would have eternal life and we know we've got it.

[10:58] John writes with that assurance. In chapter 5, look at chapter 5, 1 John 5, verse 20. 1 John 5, 20, and we know that the Son of God has come and hath given us an understanding.

[11:18] There's us again and we know. We know that the Son of God has come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son, Jesus Christ.

[11:31] That sounds a little like the Apostle Paul being in Christ to them that are in Christ, the saints that are in Christ. Paul, John writes about being in him and somebody that's in him can know that they have eternal life.

[11:46] He's given to us an understanding. Now, you need to know that you have eternal life. Why? Why do I need to know that? Just so I feel good today?

[11:57] So I have, so I can have peace in my heart? No. There's a better reason, a greater reason, I believe. Because as you're saved, you're called to live a life pleasing to God and unto good works.

[12:09] You won't do anything for Jesus Christ in your life if you don't know that you're saved. You won't do a thing. You say, well, I'll try to show God that I'll be more apt to do good works because I, no, that's not how it works.

[12:25] You, if you know you're saved, you know that you have it. I'm speaking of telling others about it. You're not going to witness to somebody if you don't. Let me give you an example of this.

[12:37] This is kind of wild to me because I, when it happened, I was a teenager and at home, I think it was just one of the summer days and my mom was at home with myself, my sisters, and a knock came on the door.

[12:50] And it was kind of rare to have somebody knocking on our door. And so she went to the door and there's a man and he, you could see through the door window, a car pulled up in the driveway, he came, knocked on our door and he's got some, some equipment there with him, didn't really see what it was.

[13:06] And he said, ma'am, I'd like to, to vacuum your floor for free. I was like, what is this guy talking about? This is weird. Shut the door.

[13:19] No, he said, I'd like to show you how good this vacuum cleaner is. See, I was like, this is a traveling vacuum salesman in my life.

[13:29] I can't believe it. I thought this was prehistoric stuff, but no, there's a real traveling vacuum salesman. I was, I was excited. I just couldn't believe it. This guy actually drives a car with vacuums and knocks on doors and he goes door to door and he's just out there beating the streets trying to sell a vacuum.

[13:46] I think it was a Kirby if I'm right. That's just the name that stands out in my mind. Maybe I'm wrong. But he got in the door. She let him in and what he said was vacuum your floor with your vacuum cleaner.

[13:56] Let's move the furniture. Let's do it right. So we did. We did. We moved the furniture. I'm moving furniture with him and he, she gets her vacuum sweeper out and cleans the floor up and he says, all right, now watch this.

[14:09] And he gets his stuff out, sets it up, hooks it up, plugs it in, takes a little, a cleaning pad and sticks it inside the chute there and then goes to town and didn't go very far but he said, are you ready?

[14:20] And he pulled out and it was filthy. And my mom, she's not dumb. She knew what was going to happen and I was like, gasp!

[14:30] And so he's like, that's, and he put a new pad in and vacuumed over another spot. Just filthy. Proving to us that our vacuum cleaner is not getting the job done. Proving that we need this one and so on and so forth.

[14:42] And so, we appreciated him stopping and thanked him for the clean rug and told him we'd think about it or whatever, whatever you say. But you know why that vacuum, why that guy drove and knocked on our door and came because, you know why he said, vacuum your floor first?

[15:00] He knows that his vacuum cleaner can suck the snot out of that carpet. He knows that it's got it. You know, he's got full assurance, full confidence.

[15:13] But you know what, a Christian that doesn't have that assurance, that thinks they're saved, that not sure I don't feel, I know I sinned, and doesn't know that they're saved, they're not going to go knocking on somebody's door.

[15:25] They're not going to go doing things like, they're not going to tell people about having eternal life when they're not positive they've got it themselves. They're not going to do something like that for God because they don't have that confidence. You need to have that confidence.

[15:37] You need to know that you're saved so that you can tell somebody what they need. There's two reasons why Christians, why children of God, two reasons why they don't know that they're saved.

[15:52] Number one is because they're living in their flesh. That is, they're walking in the old man and the old man's not saved. And so as they're living in the flesh and fulfilling the lust of the flesh, they know sin, they feel sin, they're in sin, and they've heard that they're saved and that they called upon the name of the Lord, prayed that prayer, and so they think but they're not sure because they're walking in a dead man, they're living in a lost man and he doesn't feel saved, he doesn't feel clean.

[16:22] And so they're not sure if they're saved. Teenagers all the time get away from their life and from their friends, they go to a camp or something, they get under conviction and now they're not sure if they're saved because they know they've sinned, they know what they've done, they're just not sure, did I mean it, did I pray, and they struggle with it.

[16:40] It's one of the reasons just because they're living in the flesh and that man is not saved and he never will be saved and so that's why they don't feel saved. The other reason is, and this is probably the biggest, the biggest reason why Christians don't know that they have eternal lives because they don't know their Bible.

[17:00] They don't know what God said about eternal life, about possessing, about being in Christ, about receiving His righteousness, about the two natures. They don't know it.

[17:12] They're lost, they're confused, they know they've been led to the Lord or led to pray a prayer from somebody but never then learned from the scriptures the operation of salvation, what takes place.

[17:25] Paul very theologically lays it out, justification, sanctification. He lays out the doctrines of reconciliation and there's so much to teach on and study about salvation.

[17:37] It can be simple and it can be deep and so many Christians don't know their Bible. They don't know what God said and therefore they have no assurance of their salvation. They go by a feeling.

[17:49] They go by how they felt today, yesterday. I felt good when I was in church but now that I'm out in the world and I'm back to doing some things I shouldn't, they're just not sure. Christian, you need to rely on what God said.

[18:03] You need to rely on the Word of God. You have it, you need to know it. Let me just take you here, I'll be quick, go to Ephesians chapter 1, this is worth looking at. Ephesians gives us a little sequence of events regarding your salvation, what God said about your soul.

[18:31] Ephesians 1, and we could go other places here but this will suffice. Ephesians 1, notice in verse 13, verse 12 ends by talking about who first trusted in Christ.

[18:45] Somebody's trusted in Christ. And it says, in whom ye also trusted, after that, after that, so this is, something happens to be first, ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.

[18:59] Step 1 is you hear the word of truth, you hear the gospel presented. What is the gospel? How that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, that he was buried and rose again the third day.

[19:12] He's alive, he paid for your sins. You heard the word of truth. Now continuing the verse, in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.

[19:24] So if you put the order together, it's, ye hear the gospel, ye believe, in whom also after that ye believed. You're believing in a person, in whom.

[19:36] You're believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. Not just believing the gospel fact. It says earlier, ye trusted. So you're trusting the person for your salvation.

[19:48] And after that, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. You're sealed. And if you want to look at chapter 4 quickly, notice chapter 4, that sealing is not until you sin.

[20:02] That sealing is until a future day. Verse 30, it says, And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

[20:13] And we now have time, but that's a future day when God, Christ returns and our bodies are redeemed. We're changed to be like Him. God seals us with His Spirit.

[20:24] And in this passage, even in chapter 1, it's an earnest or a down payment of what He's going to do in the future. It's in essence a promise or a pledge to you. By putting His Spirit in you and placing you in Christ, there's a sequence of events and you can trust the Scriptures and you can know that you have eternal life.

[20:45] I'll give you a few thoughts on how I know I'm saved. And just a few thoughts here. Number one is that I understand what it is to have burdens taken, the burden of sin removed, to not walk around feeling like I'm such a sinner, I'm such a sinner, God's a holy God.

[21:04] That's gone. I'm not saying I haven't sinned, but that burden is gone. It's been lifted, completely lifted, lifted, to where even though I know when I sin and I know when I'm out of fellowship with God, I still don't have that weight of guilt that I need to get saved again.

[21:22] I need to get right. I still know I'm a child of God. That burden's been gone. I don't have much in this life, but I have joy. And that didn't come from pleasures of worldliness.

[21:32] That doesn't come from money. Where'd that joy come from? It came from somebody living inside of me. Somebody put something in me and it wasn't me.

[21:44] It was God. I've seen the Lord lead me in my life. I've known His voice and He's spoken to me from the scriptures and in my heart and I've followed through with it and seen it work out right and seen things behind me crash and burn and think, thank you God, I'll keep following that voice and that direction.

[22:04] I know I'm saved because the word of God thrills my soul. It does something to me. It gets inside of me and it stirs me on the inside.

[22:15] It does something that nothing else can do. There's no other pleasure in this life that can get as deep as the scriptures. We were able to go to a Dodger game the other night and it was a great time.

[22:28] We had a fun time cheering on the Dodgers, watching them win and there was just a, there was an element of joy to that. It was fun. It was thrilling and there's moments in the game with a big home run that we were out of our seats cheering and high-fiving and just had a blast.

[22:42] But I've only got this deep. That got a little bit in there. It was fun. We had great memories. We want to go again. We want to do it again, experience it again and spend $45 on popcorn and a soda.

[22:59] But we had a great time. But you know what? You can take all that away. This book gets deeper. It gets deeper and I can't explain it but to say that I know it's alive, I know it's real, it speaks to me, it thrills me.

[23:14] That is not evidence of a lost man. I know I'm saved because this holy book is changing me. I know I'm saved because God deals with me about my sin.

[23:27] Who else would do that? Who else would deal with me about living better, living right, little things, things that the world would never think is wrong.

[23:37] I know. That's God. I've got to move on back in 1 John chapter 2. First of all, you need to know that you have eternal life, that you possess it today.

[23:51] Chapter 2, look at verse number 18. Something else you need to know. Little children, it is the last time.

[24:04] And as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time. Paul refers to the last days.

[24:17] And that's a study in the Bible that goes a little deeper than just that statement. There's a few things to know about that but I may just be broad with it. is you need to know, you need to know this, not just you should know, you need to know that you're living in the last days of the church age.

[24:35] That it's coming to a head. And I'm not a prophet, I'm not going to put a date on it, but it's the last days. As Paul writes, John wrote more about that.

[24:48] And there's some things I want you to just, I'll fast forward through some of this, but the condition of the church in the last days. If we were to read from Revelation 3 about that church that typifies the last days, that they're neither cold nor hot, they're lukewarm.

[25:06] In the passage in Revelation 3, verse 15 and 16, you could study it sometime, in verse 17, you find out that they're just a bunch of professors, a bunch of fakers with a form of godliness.

[25:19] They're lazy and comfortable. They're content with need of nothing. They're complacent because you can't heat them up and fire them up. And they're deceived. They're deceived.

[25:30] It says in Revelation 3, verse 17, thou knowest not what they really are. That they're cold, that they're miserable, naked. There's a profession. Look at 1 John chapter 2 in verse 6.

[25:44] He that saith, professes, he that saith, he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. But in the last days of the church, there's apostasy, there's a falling away from the truth.

[25:59] There's believers that aren't walking as he walked or as they say they walk. And it's something that I could spend a lot of time on, but we've got to go for the sake of time.

[26:10] The second thought here from 1 John chapter 2 being the last days is not just the condition of the church and how they're falling away from truth and from righteousness and claiming to be okay, but they're not at all.

[26:23] It's not just the condition of the church, but the condition of the world. Come to 2 Timothy with me, chapter 3, and watch what Paul warns believers about how things are going to be.

[26:36] 2 Timothy chapter 3, look at verse 1, this know also that in the last days perilous times shall come.

[26:53] Now I want you to just mark that thought in your mind, perilous times shall come. What's perilous? You run that word in the Bible, you see that Paul was in perils of his own countrymen, in perils of waters.

[27:09] That's a reference to the afflictions and the persecutions that he faced in preaching and administering the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost, in perils of the deep, in perils of robbers.

[27:25] I mean, those are the perils that Paul faced. Now he's telling and warning the church that perilous times are coming. And why is that? Well, men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous. He just describes how they're going to fall away from righteousness in verse 5, having a form of godliness.

[27:42] And because of that, these times are coming. But look in the context of what he says. Verse number 10. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, which persecutions I endured.

[28:01] But out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The perilous times that are coming that Paul warns about aren't just because, aren't just about being disobedient to parents in verse 2 or unthankful or unholy.

[28:20] That's not perilous. That's sad. That's a falling away. But the result of that is they're going to start persecuting believers, people that stand for the truth and for righteousness and for the word of God and say, you know, aren't afraid.

[28:35] Don't beat around the bush. Don't tiptoe on every topic. Somebody that pronounces the truth, well, that's not going to work. And the days are coming when it's either shut up or get tossed in jail.

[28:48] Fit in or get out. Perilous times are coming according to the scriptures. And it's not just talking about the hearts of men. It's talking about the condition of life for believers.

[28:59] Dangerous times. Times of persecution. And we don't, we kind of just like, yeah, because we are going to have a barbecue. We don't quite understand what it's like to have to sneak into a home to worship God and how we can pray and sing but keep it down a little bit because the neighbors can't hear us.

[29:22] We have no idea what that's like. If you think it was persecution because the state of California told you you can't have church or worship in person, that's not persecution.

[29:35] That's not there. It's not here yet. It's not in America. But I don't know and I, God knows I don't want to see it. I don't want to have to be put, put my money where my mouth is. I don't want to be put to the test but if push comes to shove, God, give me the grace to stand for you and for what's right.

[29:51] like the martyrs have of the past. I don't want that and I don't want to talk that about myself like I'm, I don't want that. I don't want that at all. I'm just like you. I want to be comfortable.

[30:03] I want to be free. But perilous times are coming and you need to know, you need to know about this. You need to be prepared for this so that when you face it, you don't just flop and fall right in line with the Christians, with the ones that claim, that profess but don't walk according to the word of God.

[30:26] The push has kind of come to shove one day and if you ever read in that book, you see in Jeremiah, in Zephaniah, you see it in Zechariah, God makes the statement that it is determined to make a full end of all nations.

[30:44] For some reason, we're so stuck here that think that, yeah, it's all those nations. It's all the other nations, not the red, white, and blue. But that red, white, and blue is going to fall right in line with everything else.

[30:58] They're going to give in and they're going to go. I mean, you've been around long enough. You've seen policies get adjusted all one direction.

[31:09] They're just slowly, surely drifting and going one direction and it's going to happen. You need to know you're in the last days you need to know who's not going to stand for the Lord Jesus Christ.

[31:21] It's those lukewarm Christians. You need to know what's happening. But praise the Lord, one day it'll be over and that'll be done, the last days. Let's move on, 1 John chapter 2 again.

[31:33] You need to know you have eternal life. I'm trying to rush now. You need to know that you're living in the last days. And one more thing that you need to know. In 1 John chapter 2 and verse 21, John says, I've not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it and that no lie is of the truth.

[32:00] Two times in that verse he says, the truth and the truth. And there's one thing about the truth is that there's no lie of the truth.

[32:12] Jesus Christ said, sanctify them through thy truth. Praying to the Father, thy truth. Thy word is truth. If you have the word of God, you have the truth.

[32:26] If you have the word of God, then there's no lie of the truth. Look at 1 John chapter 1 and just consider this about God.

[32:41] In chapter 1 verse 4, these things write we unto you that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

[32:57] Let me ask you a question. How much darkness is in God? How much? None.

[33:08] No darkness at all. He's light, pure. Matter of fact, chapter 3, chapter 3 verse 3 says, every man that hath hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure.

[33:22] Jesus Christ is pure. In him is no darkness at all. Every word of God, the Bible says, is pure.

[33:34] How much corruption is in Jesus Christ? If he's pure, how much corruption is there in him? None. So why would God allow or accept there to be corruptions or lies or darkness in his word?

[33:54] Why would God why would his word not be held to the same standard as he is? Well, it is. To him, it is. His word is pure.

[34:05] There is no darkness in his truth. The word of God is likened to light. Just, it happens to be. What a coincidence. If it's truth, there's no lie.

[34:19] If it's God's, there's no darkness. None. Something you need to know. is that the word of God exists today as he promised.

[34:30] It exists and it exists pure. It exists unadulterated, incorruptible, just like him. No darkness at all. No lies. Just pure truth.

[34:42] And you need to know where you can find it. You need to know where you can not just think about it. You need to know where you can hope in your hand. Where you can walk the streets of this world with the truth of God in your hand.

[35:00] There's a big difference between we believe the Bible and I have the words of God. There's a big difference between God gave us his word in the originals and it was all perfect to 2021 I can read the words of God with complete confidence that they are faithful.

[35:24] That they are the truth. You need to know this. You need to know this more than you realize. You need to know it. There's some people that don't know it. There's some people that think it's up for debate.

[35:37] There's some people that, there's some Christians and some believers they believe the Lord Jesus Christ for their soul but when it comes to his words now they don't see it as an issue. I'm not the one you might think this you might really think this you come here and you think this is all you ever talk about?

[35:54] This is all you ever preach about? The King James Bible? The truth is no probably more than I want to I guess just because it feels like there's a need for it more and more.

[36:07] It's not my in my heart to just stand here and harp on such a thing but you need to know it. You need to know it. Not for this church not to not to get behind me.

[36:20] I don't want you to get behind me. I went to a Bible school and what I was taught and and not just taught intellectually but what I learned and got down inside of me was that when I leave that school I leave with the authority under my shoulder.

[36:40] I walk out into the world to minister for Jesus Christ with my authority right here. My authority is not a stamp I got put on my hand from my school.

[36:52] It's not a flag of my instructor. I don't look back to them or to anybody and say what do I do now? Or if you believe it then I follow it. It's right there.

[37:03] I left with it. They gave me a Bible. They taught me to believe the Bible to follow the scriptures to read and study and allow it to teach me rather than going to somebody else.

[37:18] It's been it was back in the late 1800s when it really kind of started going and got some momentum and traveled into the 1900s where somewhere fallen sinful man decided that they needed to change the scriptures that they needed to update the scriptures that they needed to change words and give it to us in a different a different way a different way of reading perhaps or we found some manuscripts that they're old so we think they're better but any honest scholar that looked at it said garbage.

[37:54] Matter of fact where'd you find it? Oh you found it in a garbage can. Take a hint. It's garbage. And it was. But scholars said no no no let me see that. Let me see that.

[38:05] I think we can do something with that. And they did something. They changed what God had given us. They used it to try to make an attempt to change the words of God.

[38:16] There's somebody behind it. I believe with all my heart Satan's largest assault today on the church is not terrorism it's not pornography it's not alcohol it's attacking the words of God it's replacing the words of God putting it in your hands and making you believe that you've got something better.

[38:38] He started in Genesis 3 doing that didn't he? Isn't that the first thing he did was attack the words of God? Thou shalt die ye shall not surely die.

[38:51] Yea hath God said did God say this? What's the word of God Eve? It's not true. It should say this. And he changed it. The issue is final authority and I'll finish here very quickly.

[39:04] It's final authority. What is my final authority? If there's a mistake in a book that calls itself the word of God that calls itself holy bible it's got a mistake in it it's corruptible.

[39:20] It's not the word of God. I grew up and I even was talking with one this week telling this very thought here that I grew up hearing and learning the bible and knowing these truths but there came a point where I had to know for me.

[39:36] I can't swallow what my dad or mom preached or my preacher preached I had to know for me because if I'm going to be a man and go out into my life and make my way then I need to know what I believe and where I stand and it's not just going to be where he stood.

[39:53] It might be. It might turn out to be. But I needed to know I needed to know why I believe this book. And if you have an honest and sincere heart and you want to know about it God will reveal it to you.

[40:10] He's not going to hide it from you. But if you're going to come to it with a stumbling block as the bible calls it in your heart about it you think you know more you think you've got some light already then he'll let you follow that light and see where it leads you.

[40:27] He'll let you follow that but I recommend Christian that you need to know that this King James Bible is the pure preserved words of God for the last days.

[40:43] You'll never find a book that's better. You ask any literary critic saved lost they'll say that book. I got material that I've studied and printed out over the years they call it a monument of the English prose that book.

[40:59] And my faith isn't in intellectuals it's not in scholars it never will be it's just in the book the words of God that he promised and he fulfilled and he's faithful and in him is no darkness at all.

[41:14] He promised me eternal life and I have it. He also promised me that he'd preserve his words forever and I believe I have them. I do. You need to know that.

[41:26] You need to know that. You'll be confused. You'll never have certainty about the scriptures. You'll pick up a Bible somewhere and you'll get reading and then you'll come across a spot there'll be a note saying that shouldn't be there.

[41:39] You'll come across a spot it should be this word and now you don't have any certainty. You don't have any knowledge that this is the truth. You won't know what it is. You might as well just toss it then.

[41:51] You'll never know for sure. So let's be dismissed here. I've got to quit here. John writes with certainty there's some things that we can know there's some things we should know these are some things this morning that we need to know.

[42:05] You need to know that you're saved. You need to have your faith in the scriptures on that. You need to know based on the Bible that you're born again. Hell is not a it's not something to play with.

[42:18] You don't want to die hoping. You don't want to do that. I don't know everybody in here. I don't know your soul. So I don't know if you're going to heaven or hell. I don't know if the young people or the eldest in here.

[42:30] I don't know your background but one thing I know is that you can know that you have eternal life. You can know what the Bible says. You can trust God. You can trust in the person of Jesus Christ and what he did for you.

[42:45] Let's pray together. Lord as we come to an end this morning of this time of the day Father I pray that what we read and thought on this morning would get deep inside of us that it would bear fruit that we would go through this life with such confidence that you enable such confidence because of what that book teaches because of what you said.

[43:06] Lord may our faith rest in the word of God and not in man. Paul said that his preaching was with the spirit and it was in the power of God and Lord that's what I want in my heart and my life.

[43:20] Lord may anybody in here that's riding the fence on any of these thoughts or issues I pray that you give them a heart to seek after the truth and to want to know it and to want to get it settled.

[43:31] I don't want to argue with anybody and I don't care to but God the peace that comes from knowing the truth it's worth it and so Lord I pray that we not only know it that we live it that we fall in love with your words I pray for anybody in here that's doubting their salvation if they don't have full assurance of faith Lord may they not leave here not knowing for sure.

[43:56] Before we're dismissed and before we stand and sing while your heads are bowed I want to just make this comment I'm not going to ask anything of you except I'm going to be around for a couple hours today and I sure would appreciate if there's something about this stuff this morning that doesn't either you're not certain on or just doesn't sit well with you or maybe you're just not sure that you're saved let's talk about it let's just let's sit down privately in my office and I'll open up the Bible that's all I'll open up is the Word of God and just see what the Word of God says and we can talk about it from there only there that's up to you if you need to discuss whether you're saved or not if you need to talk more about this book and whether it's something you can submit to I'm here to help you and I want to do that so I'll leave that ball on your court let's stand together and we're going to sing hymn number 471

[44:57]  Love Found a Way 471 please join me in standing wedding photos