Let's start with verse 4, the famous verse.
Year of God, little children, and have overcome them,
because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
They are of the world. Therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us.
He that is not of God heareth not us.
Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
You say, John, how do you know the spirit of truth versus the spirit of error?
How do you determine here who is of God and who is not of God?
You say, well that's easy. He said, I'm of God. I'm preaching the word of God.
He that knoweth God heareth us.
He that is not of God heareth not us.
Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Jesus said the same thing to the Pharisees.
He that is of God heareth God's word.
Ye therefore hear them not because you are not of God.
So the people who were saved into the Old Testament, they're still saved.
And when Jesus came, they heard and believed and knew that it was him.
They recognized him as their savior.
Those who were not saved either got saved or rejected him.
That was their choice.
So that's a key doctrine. That's really important.
You may not think it's important, but as you study the Bible,
you see how important that doctrine is.
A lot of people don't get that. They don't understand that.
That when Jesus came, there were a lot of people that were already saved.
Because they're mixed up in dispensationalism as part of it.
But this is a test of salvation right here.
This is the test.
Because people say, how do you know people are really saved or not?
Well, you can never really know for sure that anybody is saved except yourself.
You know you're saved, right?
Because you know that you believe on Christ.
Sometimes it's hard to tell whether other people are saved,
and you're not always going to know.
You can only really go by what they say.
But sometimes you'll look at people and they live a really sinful life,
and you'll say, well, there's no way that person is saved
because I've seen him drinking, or I've seen him with his girlfriend fornicating.
But you know what? That doesn't mean that he's not saved.
Because he could just be a backslidden believer.
He could still be saved.
But you want to know the real test of whether somebody is saved too?
That God is here?
It's when they don't hear God's word.
I mean, when you walk up to somebody,
and they claim to be saved,
and you just show them something really clearly in the Bible,
and they just don't get it.
They don't see it.
It doesn't make any sense to them.
They don't believe it.
You can just show them point blank.
It's the truth.
And they just, oh, I still think it's this other way.
Now, that happened one time.
Maybe that's their little stubborn issue that they don't want to face or something.
But then when you show them something else,
and then when you show them something else,
it just seems like everything you show them,
they're just not getting it.
It's just going straight over there.
And they can hear God's word preach,
and they just don't get it.
They're not saved.
Now, when you can show somebody something,
and they just, they comprehend it,
they get it, they see it,
they read the Bible,
and it makes sense to them,
and they understand it,
that is the proof that they are saved, okay?
And so, basically, when you show,
let me give you an example.
And you may wonder why I'm dwelling on this point,
because this is an important point, okay?
When we're out soul winning,
we don't show everybody everything in the Bible
from Genesis to Revelation, do we?
Well, let me start here with Adam and Eve,
you know, going through that,
and then Cain and Abel,
and then, okay, then there is the flood,
you know, just a couple,
have you got a few more minutes?
Okay, the Tower of Babel,
you know, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,
you know, so then Joseph is sold into slavery.
You know, we don't,
you can't teach them the whole Bible, right?
Nor can you teach them every doctrine of the Bible.
So does a person have to believe
and know and understand
every doctrine of the Bible to be saved?
No, they just have to believe on Jesus Christ.
They just have to believe the gospel, right?
Just that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven
and put all their faith and trust Him
to save them from hell and to take them to heaven,
you know, just the basic death, burial, and resurrection.
But here's the thing.
Let's take, for example, the virgin birth of Christ, right?
Now, Jesus Christ was born of a virgin.
That's an important doctrine, isn't it?
He's not the child of Mary and Joseph, no.
He was born of the virgin, okay,
conceived of the Holy Ghost, okay?
Now, let me ask you something.
Can a person be saved
without even knowing about the virgin birth?
Absolutely, because, you know,
sometimes you just might explain to them,
hey, he was God in the flesh, he died for us.
But you may not have explained
exactly how he was born of a virgin.
They might not have heard that fact, right?
But let me ask you something.
Do you think anybody who's saved
denies the virgin birth of Christ?
No.
Because once they're shown it from the Bible,
they're going to hear God's word.
Okay, now, if I show someone,
let's say Matt here claims to be saved, right?
He says, oh, I'm saved, I believe Jesus Christ.
And I say, hey, did you know Jesus was born of a virgin?
What, really?
Yeah, let me show you right here.
And I show him, like, three verses
that say he's born of a virgin.
And Matt says, I don't believe that.
You think Matt's saved?
I think Matt's saved.
No, I'm just kidding.
But not if he believes that he's not saved.
You're right, I'm just teasing.
Yeah, you're right.
If he said, like, well, no, the virgin birth is false,
he's not saved.
Okay, what about this?
Do we necessarily go into some creation seminar
at every door when we're souling him?
No.
We may not even touch upon that.
But if a person believes on Jesus Christ, right,
maybe they never even thought too much
about evolution versus creation, right?
And maybe they just got saved just by believing on Christ,
and maybe they don't know how old the earth is.
They might think it's still millions of years old.
They just haven't thought about it.
They just don't know about it.
But then what if I say, hey,
did you know that the earth is not millions of years old?
Look at Genesis 1.
See how evolution isn't true
because everything brings forth after its own kind?
You see that?
So wait a minute.
If I show them that, and they say,
no, I still believe in evolution, are they saved?
No.
Because they're rejecting God's word.
They're rejecting the truth because they're not of God,
and they don't hear God's word, okay?
Now, if people get up and say,
yeah, you can be an evolutionist.
I don't believe evolutionists are saved.
No, they're not.
Because they're denying God's word,
and that just shows that they don't believe in any way,
and that it's a lie to them,
and they're calling God a liar,
and therefore they are not of God.
The spirit of God does not dwell in them.
They have made him a liar, and the truth is not in them,
and Jesus Christ is the truth,
and his word is not in us if we call him a liar.
That's what it says in 1 John 1, 8, and 10.
There's more context there,
but the bottom line is that, you know,
we don't have to explain everything to people
when they get saved.
They just have to be trusting Christ,
but the true believer will hear the truth on these issues
when they see it in the Bible,
and not say, oh, I still believe in evolution,
and whatever.
Does everybody comprehend that?
Because I want that really to sink in in understanding,
because that's an important object,
because a lot of people say,
well, all you have to believe in is Jesus.
You can believe in evolution,
and you can believe that, you know,
you can deny the virgin's birth and still be saved.
Well, not if you've heard the word on it.
Not if you've seen it.
You better hear that word,
or else something's wrong with you.
You are not saved.
That's why you don't hear God's word.