Alright, so we're continuing there in 1 John 4 and look at verse number 6.
It says,
We are of God,
he that knoweth God heareth us,
he that is not of God heareth not us,
he by know we the spirit of truth.
The title for the sermon this afternoon is the spirit of truth.
The spirit of truth.
When you talk about the spirit of truth, what comes to mind?
What is the spirit of truth?
The Holy Spirit.
Yeah, the Holy Spirit of God.
And so knowing this, in fact, what you understand in this whole chapter,
we're kind of determining whether someone is being driven by the spirit of God
or by other spirits.
Because when we begin there in verse number 1, 1 John 4 verse 1, it says,
Beloved, believe not every spirit.
Okay?
So which spirit should we believe?
Should, of course, believe the Holy Spirit.
Well, the Holy Spirit teaches each one of us.
But we're being commanded here not to believe every spirit.
You know, if there's something that I leave with you when I go back to Queensland,
I don't know when I'll be able to travel, I hope I can travel every week like in the past.
But one thing I really want to leave with you over this past year and over that I've been here
is not to believe every spirit.
Okay?
We all know not to believe the mainstream media.
We all know it's full of lies.
We all know there's an agenda.
But one thing that I feel that we're still struggling as a church
is to identify alternative media as a place of lies as well.
We kind of think that just because it's contrary to the lies we hear on the mainstream media,
therefore it must be truth.
No, brethren.
It says here, believe not every spirit.
Meaning that whatever you listen to, whoever you want to build your knowledge and understanding
and trust, you need to determine is this person coming with the right spirit?
Now, first of all, isn't the majority of people not saved?
I mean, if you're not saved, you don't have the Holy Spirit.
So don't assume the person that you listen to that's not saved is going to tell you the truth.
You don't know what spirit they've been influenced by.
Okay?
There are people that fall under the Christian umbrella and they give you what they consider truth.
Yeah, you got to try every spirit.
You need to test those spirits because it keeps going to verse number one.
But try the spirits whether they are of God.
Look at this.
Because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Many false prophets are gone out into the world.
How do you know if I'm a false prophet or a true prophet?
Do you guys know?
Hopefully, try the spirits whether they are of God.
I'm hoping that, you know, now I've been passing this church for over three years.
I'm hoping at some point you've come to realize
the spirit that is being used by, that's using Pastor Kevin to preach God's Word is the Holy Spirit.
It's not some false spirit.
I trust that.
I trust that's the case, okay?
But whoever it is that you listen to, you need to learn to try the spirits.
That means to test the spirit.
You need to figure out who's influencing this guy.
Is he saved?
Is the Holy Spirit speaking through this guy's mouth?
Or is it some other spirit?
Because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
You know, there are many, there are more unsaved false prophets in this world
than there are truly born-again, spirit-filled preachers in this world.
That's just how it is, brethren.
And so you need to be able to identify who's of the truth and who's not.
I'm going to quickly read to you from Proverbs 14, 15, which reads,
The simple believeth every word.
I don't want you to be simple.
What's simple?
Kind of unlearned, okay, without knowledge.
It says the simple believeth every word.
I don't want you to just hear something, you know, and just, I believe it.
Must be true.
One thing I definitely want you guys to get in the habit of
is when you hear something, figure out, do your research.
Is this really true or is it not true?
Because there are so many lies.
We are living in a deceitful, lying world.
It's lie after lie after lie.
And I don't want you to be simple.
I want you to be smart.
I want you to be educated.
I want you to be in touch with the Spirit of God and work out,
Lord, I'm going to investigate and determine whether this is true or not
before I send it out and share it with other people.
It's so important that we do this because simple believeth every word.
I do not want you to be simple.
It keeps going by saying, but the prudent man,
prudent means to be careful, all right?
The prudent man looketh well to his going, okay?
We want to be prudent.
We want to be careful.
We want to make sure that the information that we receive
is true, that we learn to do the research.
Can you please just go back to one chapter there in 1 John 3,
1 John 3, verse 24,
it says,
Brethren, each of us have been given this Holy Spirit of God.
We've all received the Spirit of truth.
You know, we all should be truthers.
But did you know there are lies in the truther movement?
Because the truther movement is not made up of spirit-fuelled,
born-again Christians.
But there's a lot of truth, but there's a lot of lies.
Mainstream media, there's a lot of truth, but there's a lot of lies.
You know what's great about the Bible?
There's a lot of truth and no lies.
It's all truth, okay?
So as long as I stay preaching faithfully the word of God,
you're always going to receive the truth.
You know why this is such an important thing for me?
Like, why is it that when I hear information,
I want to go back and dig in, is this legit or not?
I just want to be annoying to people.
No, you know why?
Because every week, you know, I prepare a sermon,
now I'm preparing four sermons a week,
because I'm preaching twice for New Life, twice for Blessed Hope.
I spend maybe five, six hours, maybe, on a sermon, okay?
Sometimes up to eight.
Sometimes maybe as little as four hours.
Just depends on how much is within the sermon.
But I would say that if all I did was just put down my thoughts,
and as I read the Bible, just put down my thoughts,
I reckon I'd get the sermon done within two hours.
I spend at least 50% or more of my time
making sure that what I'm about to say is true.
That's why.
I go back and fact check.
I go back and compare Scripture with Scripture.
I've got all these references that you don't even hear in my sermon, okay?
I go back and I say, before I even open my mouth,
I want to make sure that I'm telling the people of God the truth.
And I'm scared, brethren.
I've got a fear of God to lie to you,
because you're God's people, you're God's children.
I don't want to stand behind the pulpit and say,
Thus saith the Lord, and lie to you.
I spend most of my time just fact checking,
comparing Scripture to Scripture, reading the context once again.
Am I taking the right application here?
Am I speaking the truth?
That's what I spend most of my time when I prepare a sermon.
And so that's become my norm.
That's become my, you know, just how I operate.
You know, whatever I hear, I'm going to have a critical ear,
and I want to try the spirits.
I want to see whether this is of the spirit of truth,
or whether it's a lie, okay?
Now look, you know, obviously,
I'm not saying that you should get to the point where,
you know, you just come to church,
and you just accept everything I say as the gospel truth.
Because I'm still a man, aren't I?
I can still make mistakes.
I can still say the wrong thing.
I can many times even misspeak.
And as I misspeak, even though I didn't mean to say it like that,
it could come out and cause people to be a little bit confused.
I could still say something wrong, okay?
So I still want you to listen to me with a critical ear.
I don't want you to get to the point where
I'm just going to trust everything the pastor says behind the pulpit.
That's not a good place to be.
But listen, once again, if you've been in this church for some free,
you would have long ago determined whether I'm operating from the spirit truth.
Because what you don't want,
you don't want to be the complete opposite,
where you come to church and all you do is just criticize.
You know, you're just like,
I don't know if your pastor kept saying, it's true.
It's like, well, then you're not going to get anything out of the sermon, okay?
You should have determined a long time ago,
whether I'm a preacher of the truth or whether I'm not.
And if you've determined in your heart,
yes, this is the preacher of the truth,
then I hope you have to have trust and confidence.
You come to church, you're willing to receive what is being preached,
but always just have a little bit of a critical ear.
You know, I've gone to church my whole life and,
you know, most of the times with the pastors I'm under,
yeah, I just, I know they're going to do the best they can.
I know they're going to preach the truth.
But then every now and again, they'll say something,
they'll preach something and I'll be like, oh, that's new.
Oh, I've not thought about it like that before.
Oh, I've never thought of that verse in that way that he used, okay?
And then what have I done after the service?
I'm not going to criticize the pastor.
I've just gone back and done my own research, read it over again.
And boy, if he's right, man, I learned something new.
That's awesome.
All right?
And if he's a little bit wrong, well, it's a little bit wrong.
We can maybe have different views on that.
It's not a big issue.
It's not a major doctrine.
Oh, sometimes I've had to go to the pastor and say,
pastor, look, you said this or that.
I want to understand better.
Can you clarify what did you mean by this or that?
Okay?
So we should still have that, a little bit of a critical ear.
You know, making sure that what we're hearing is the truth,
but we don't want to be so critical that every time you come to church,
you're like, man, I don't know what,
if this pastor is going to say the truth or not, okay?
You should determine a long time ago whether I'm operating
by the spirit or truth or whether I'm not.
Let's keep going.
Verse number two.
He by know ye the spirit of God.
Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.
I used to really struggle with this verse when I was young, okay?
Because it says here every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.
Well, don't the Catholics also teach that Jesus Christ came in the flesh?
Don't the Orthodox teach that as well?
Does that mean they're all operating from the spirit of God?
Are they all sent by God?
Now, one thing that I've learned to understand about this chapter
is that it's not really teaching us,
it's not really pointing to us who the real spirit-filled preachers are,
but rather, as it said in verse number one,
because many false prophets are going into the world,
it's helping us identify the false prophets.
That's kind of the main reason why this chapter exists,
and I'll explain it all to you soon.
Let's keep going. Verse number three.
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God,
and this is the spirit of antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come,
and even now already is it in the world.
Okay, so we know that the antichrist,
this beast in the book of Revelation, will come,
but notice there's already a spirit of antichrist in this world.
Okay, so when people say, you know,
oh man, I think the antichrist is walking this earth right now.
I think we're near the end times.
Like the spirit of antichrist has always been in the world.
There's nothing new.
Okay, you know, I'm not going to get carried away with end times things
because I know what Christ said to me.
He says that in the midst of the week,
when we see the abomination of desolation,
then we'll know we're in the end times.
So until that happens, I'm just going to be,
yeah, I'm going to have an open ear,
I'm going to look around, watch,
but at the end of the day, I'm just going to go,
well, the spirit of antichrist is always here.
I mean, it's nothing new.
You know, even in 2 Thessalonians 2, 7, it says,
for the mystery of iniquity doth already work.
This was in the time of Paul.
Only he who now leteth will let until it be taken out of the way.
The mystery of iniquity, the spirit of antichrist,
was already on the scene at the beginning of the New Testament.
Okay.
Yes, we're getting a little bit closer every day that goes by,
every time there's a change in power and kingdoms.
And you know, people talk about the New World Order.
Yeah, maybe there's a New World Order around the scene.
There's always been New World Orders.
Every time kingdoms rise and fall, there's a New World Order.
It doesn't mean that the next New World Order is the antichrist kingdom though.
There could be another five New World Orders before the antichrist kingdom comes on.
I'm not saying it could be the next one.
I don't know.
Okay, I don't know.
Until I see the abomination of desolation.
But I'm not going to get too carried away because the spirit of antichrist
has already been at work from the very beginning.
Okay.
So we're looking at the spirit of the antichrist.
We're looking at the spirit of lies.
Of course, the spirit of the antichrist is the devil himself.
And also comparing that with the Holy Spirit of God.
Now, can you keep your finger there and go to Mark chapter 1.
Mark chapter 1, verse number 23.
Because I do, granted, these verses that we just read can be difficult.
Okay.
Let me just read.
You turn to Mark 1.23 and I'll read verse number 2 again.
Which says,
Hereby know ye the spirit of God.
Every spirit that confesseth that Christ is come in the flesh is of God.
So does everyone that say that Christ came in the flesh,
does that mean they're of God?
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ come in the flesh is not of God.
And the spirit of the antichrist,
wherever you have heard that it should come,
even now it already is in the world.
All right.
So is this saying that only saved, born again,
spirit-filled people can claim that Christ has come into this world?
Is that what it's saying?
Now, when it says,
He that confesseth Jesus Christ,
if you don't know the word Christ is the word Messiah, or messiahs.
The word Messiah means the holy one or the anointed one.
Okay.
This is Christ.
This is Messiah.
We identify him as Jesus Christ, as Jesus.
He is the Messiah.
But is it only spirit-filled Christians that can say that?
This is why I want you to turn to Mark chapter 1, verse number 23.
Mark chapter 1, verse number 23.
It reads,
And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.
So this unclean spirit is not the Holy Spirit.
You wouldn't call the Holy Spirit unclean, right?
It's a spirit of a devil.
Okay.
And he cried out, saying,
Let us alone.
What have we to do with thee, O Jesus of Nazareth?
So who is this devil acknowledging?
Acknowledging Jesus, right?
Thou come to destroy us?
I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
And Jesus rebuked him, saying,
Hold thy peace and come out of him.
And when the unclean spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voice,
he came out of him.
So the Holy One of God is referencing what?
The Messiah.
You know, Christ, as I said, means Messiah.
It means the anointed one.
The Holy One is the anointed one.
This unclean spirit is identifying Jesus Christ,
basically, Jesus as the Christ,
Jesus as the Messiah, as the Holy One of God.
I mean, these are words that you would hear preachers say.
So what do we learn there?
That even false prophets can testify that Christ has come in the flesh.
Even false prophets can testify that Jesus is the Christ.
So how do we understand this passage?
This is challenging, isn't it?
I think it's challenging.
I think it is challenging.
Okay, I believe I have the answer.
Okay.
Well, number one, there's two ways to look at this.
Number one, it helps us definitely identify false prophets in one sense.
Because if someone says to you, Jesus is not the Christ,
Jesus is not the Messiah,
like what religion in the world believes as a Messiah to come,
but it's not Christ?
It's not Jesus, sorry.
The Jews.
Judaism.
Judaism, okay.
So what do we learn about Judaism?
Is that of the Holy Ghost?
No, it's a spirit of Antichrist, isn't it?
Okay.
If someone says to you that Christ did not come in the flesh,
that immediately helps you identify this is a false prophet.
Okay, this is a false religion.
This is a false prophet.
But it doesn't guarantee that everybody that claims these things are actually saved.
So that's number one.
It helps you identify false prophets.
But the second thing that you need to consider is not to lose the historical context of this book.
Okay.
This is at the beginning of the early church.
Okay.
It's not like the world today where no matter what country you go to,
everyone's heard of Jesus Christ.
Okay.
Jesus has come on the scene.
He's left it up to his disciples, his apostles, his prophets to go out and preach about Jesus Christ.
People are still learning about Christ.
There are many Jews that they weren't even aware that Christ had come
because they were in other places of the world, right?
They didn't have the internet.
They didn't have newspapers.
They didn't have easy access to news like this.
And so you have John, you have the other apostles going through teaching people,
no, the Messiah has come and it's Christ.
Let me teach you about Christ.
Then you would have other Jews on the scene at this point in time saying,
no, this is a lie.
This is not true.
Okay.
And so those that were denying that Christ had come to this earth, yeah,
they would be the spirit of Antichrist.
These Jews were not saved.
And so we can't remove the historical context here because it was a different world, right?
People are starting to learn about Christ.
And if people are saying, no, that's not Jesus,
then you can definitely claim that person to be a spirit of Antichrist.
Okay.
Let's keep going.
Verse number four.
First John took the four verse four.
It reads,
ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them.
So if you're of God, you have overcome who?
The false prophets, the spirit of Antichrist.
Because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible.
I think when I tend to sometimes speak to people in Christians
that are maybe afraid or fearful,
this is probably the verse that I quote the most.
And I remind everyone,
greater is he that is in you, who's in us?
The spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, than he that is in the world.
Who is in the world?
The devil.
Who's the God of the world?
The devil.
The spirit of Antichrist.
We're greater than the devil, brethren, but not in his flesh.
You know, we can overcome the wicked one.
You know, when the devil comes trying to hurt us,
trying to tempt us to sin,
you know, trying to hurt our families, trying to hurt our church,
you know, one of us who has the Holy Spirit of God
is greater than that devil.
Praise God.
Okay?
We don't have to be afraid of,
you know, I'll tell you the truth when I was a teenager,
partly because I went to a Christian, Baptist, charismatic, Pentecostal type church, right?
And sometimes you would hear about the cast of devils
and these things that I found out later on
to all be frauds that were going on, okay?
But I had this kind of fear.
I'm thinking, man, the devil must be so powerful.
Like, how is it that, you know, people come to these churches
and the so-called, you know, they're demonic and they could be.
They could be fueled by some devil.
And then you've got this great charismatic preacher
that pulls out the devil.
Brother Les, you shared a video recently
where the preacher fixes someone's arm.
He got, you know, just a little bit of work.
And, you know, was able to fix someone's arm because it was too short.
You know, it's all make-believe.
It's fake.
It doesn't exist, these things, right?
But I used to be like, man, the devil must be so powerful.
Because that's what these charismatic churches try to make it seem like.
We're just, it's constant war with the devil.
But, you know, we've got the Holy Spirit of God, though.
It's greater than the spirit in the world.
We can overcome the wicked one.
We don't have to be afraid of the devil.
We should be aware of the devil.
We should understand that he goes around
like a lion that goes around...
How does the passage go?
He's a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour.
Sorry, brethren.
That verse, okay?
Yeah, he's a roaring lion.
But you don't have to be afraid of the lion
if you've got the Holy Spirit of God.
Yeah, if you're away from the Lord and you walk in the flesh
and you walk in darkness,
you'll be an easy target for the devil.
But as long as you are faithful to the Lord, abiding in him,
walking in him, having close fellowship with the Lord,
the devil can't do anything to you, brethren.
Really, okay?
And when you sin, it's not because of the devil.
You sin because of the lust of your heart.
Just blame yourself.
Stop blaming the devil, okay?
He's not that powerful, all right?
They can, you know, he's not holding a gun to your head
to make you sin.
You choose to sin, okay?
It's not the devil.
Anyway, it says here,
you have overcome them.
So how have we overcome them?
Yes, by the Spirit of God.
But also, please go to the next chapter, 1 John 5.
Go to 1 John 5, verse 4.
1 John 5, verse 4, which reads,
For whatsoever is born of God,
remember what was born of God,
the flesh, not the spirit.
For whatsoever is born of God,
overcometh the world.
And this is the victory that overcometh the world,
even our faith.
Who is he that overcometh the world?
But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.
Praise God.
If you believe that Jesus is the Son of God,
you've placed your faith on the Son of God,
on his death, fear, and resurrection,
then you have overcome the world.
You have the power to overcome the wicked one.
You can overcome the Spirit of Antichrist.
Okay?
But isn't it interesting that you've got to believe
that Jesus is the Son of God?
Not that I want to go on oneness over and over again,
but then those that claim,
well, Jesus is the Father,
or Jesus is the Holy Spirit,
look, they have not overcome the world.
Again, it hurts me to say these things,
because there are people that I care about
that actually believe these things,
but it proves that they've never been saved.
They don't have the Spirit of God.
They don't have the Spirit of Truth in them.
They've been influenced by other spirits.
This is why we need to test and try
the spirits whether they are of God.
That's what the Bible says.
We are here to testify,
to speak of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
This is what helps us,
or this is what causes us to overcome
the Spirit of Antichrist.
Let's keep going, verse number five.
They are of the world.
Therefore speak they of the world,
and the world heareth them.
You know why the Baptist Church
will never be a megachurch?
You know why we'll never be in the thousands,
in the tens of thousands?
It's because we're not of the world.
We're not of the world, okay?
Yes, the false prophets,
the Spirit of Antichrist,
they are of the world.
They know how to attract the world.
They speak of the world.
You know, they speak about temporal,
carnal things that pleases the flesh.
They're not interested in eternity,
and the world heareth them.
Brethren, you know what they're saying?
The world does not hear me.
If an unsaved person is listening right now,
or online on YouTube,
that they're not saved,
they're not going to understand
a word I'm saying.
They're not going to hear me.
They're going to think I'm just rambling on
about nonsense.
But if you've got the Spirit of God,
you will understand when a preacher
is preaching by the Holy Spirit of God.
Okay, you'll be able to identify that.
You know, I've been to these megachurches.
I remember I was part of a,
I was in a Baptist Union church growing up,
and one, I don't know why,
but the youth group that I was part of,
they said, hey, let's go.
I'm pretty sure it was Hillsong.
I don't know if it was Hillsong 100%,
but I'm pretty sure it was,
or it was a church like Hillsong.
Okay, and I was like,
wow, I've never been.
All right, well, it must be good.
All right, we went there.
It was the rock concert, the rock band.
I'm like, am I in church?
What is this?
It was dark.
I couldn't see my Bible.
I couldn't read my Bible.
Okay, I couldn't see the person next to me
because their faces were dark.
And then eventually,
once, I don't know, the band kept playing,
then you had a whole bunch of young people
go to the front and start dancing,
and there's all these girls in their miniskirts,
and I'm thinking, this is church.
I think this is a nightclub.
Like, if I wanted to go to a nightclub,
I'll go to a nightclub, right?
If I wanted to go to a concert,
I'll go to a concert.
I'd rather go to a worldly, wicked, sinful concert
where I know I'm in disobedience to God
than use God's name and blaspheme him,
you know, using the word and, you know,
bringing all these young people together.
Say, why do we come here?
Why did we come here?
I'd say, we're here to pick up the girls.
Honestly, I don't know.
Like, that was my one experience.
I was like, I'm never going back.
I'm never going to these sinful,
wicked places ever again.
This is not church.
If I want to go to the concert,
I want to go to the clubbing scene,
I'll do that, all right?
I'll do that and I'll happily do it
as disobedience to God.
But I don't want to use God's name
and think I'm doing something righteous
by being part of something like this.
Something so worldly and so wicked.
And so, you know,
I hope this church continues to grow.
I hope Jesus Christ keeps building this church.
But we're not going to do it with worldly tactics, okay?
We're just going to be obedient to God's word.
Let him add, you know,
people leave, people come and go.
That's how the nature of churches, unfortunately.
That's how it is, right?
Fortunately, people come.
Unfortunately, people go, okay?
But that's how it is, brethren.
You know, we just do what is right
and we let the Lord Jesus Christ build his church.
Let's keep going, verse number six.
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.
So we learn just different ways of,
you know, the spirit of antichrist
is also the spirit of error, okay?
So basically, the Bible is saying this.
If you are saved,
you have the ability to determine
whether you're listening to the spirit of truth
or the spirit of error, okay?
You're able to determine.
This is why it's so important as preachers
that we use a lot of Bible
because we know the Bible is true, okay?
The more Bible we use,
the more expound God's word.
You know you're hearing the truth of God's word
and not hearing the spirit of error.
Can you please keep your finger there
and go to John 14?
Go to John chapter 14 and verse number 16.
John 14, 16.
As I said, the title for the sermon today
is Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Truth, okay?
And even though, you know,
1 John chapter 4 doesn't really identify
the spirit of truth as the Holy Spirit.
And again, I've said to you
that in order to understand the book of 1 John,
you really need to understand the book of John, okay?
So we go back to the book of John,
verse number 4, chapter 14, please.
John 14, verse 16.
John 14, 16.
In fact, Jesus Christ spoke a lot
about the spirit of truth, okay?
John 14, 16.
He says,
And I will pray the Father,
and He shall give you another Comforter,
that He may abide with you forever,
even the Spirit of Truth,
whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth Him not,
neither knoweth Him,
but ye know Him,
for He dwelleth with you,
and shall be in you.
We notice there in John 14,
again, the Trinity,
Christ speaking about the Father,
sending another Comforter,
which is the Spirit of Truth, okay?
It's not Jesus Christ.
Christ says it's another Comforter, okay?
The Holy Spirit is not Jesus.
It's another Comforter.
And it's not just the power of God.
Some people think the Holy Spirit
is just the power of God.
No, the Holy Spirit is another person
that makes up the triune nature of God.
Please go to the next chapter.
Go to John 15.
John 15, verse 26.
John 15, verse 26, it says,
But when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father,
even the Spirit of Truth,
which proceedeth from the Father,
He shall testify of me.
What is the job of the Holy Spirit?
To testify of Christ, okay?
Again, I went to the Christian school,
a lot of different people,
Charismatics, Pentecostals,
and they would often say to me,
and yes, I was kind of confused for a while,
they'll say,
all you guys do is talk about Jesus.
You never talk about the Holy Spirit, right?
I mean, you go to the Pentecost churches,
instead of like a cross,
they'll often have like a dove,
or like a fire or something like that.
And they'll say, you know,
this is like a church of the Holy Spirit.
And it's almost like,
what's wrong with Jesus?
The Holy Spirit's coming
to testify of Jesus.
Jesus Christ is the centerpiece
of the whole Bible.
We only have the Holy Spirit
because of Jesus.
We only have access to the Father
because of Jesus.
Yes, the Holy Spirit came not to be,
not to take on the preeminence, okay?
But he's there to point us to Christ.
Go to the next chapter,
John 16, verse 13.
John 16, verse number 13.
John 16, 13.
It says,
Howbeit when he,
the spirit of truth is come,
look at this,
he will guide you into all truth,
but he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak,
and he will show you things to come.
So the Holy Spirit did not come
to reveal some new truths
about himself or about the Bible.
No, the Holy Spirit has come
to reveal to us the same things
that Christ has already taught us
through his word,
to teach us to be that spirit,
to help us understand the difference
between truth and error.
Please be people of the truth.
Don't be people of the truthful movement.
Be people of the truth.
Please, whatever it is that you learn,
that you accept,
that you share,
that you've done your own diligent work,
you've done your own research
to determine whether it's true or not.
And here's the thing,
you're not going to know
until you listen to it.
You're going to have to listen to some lies
and then to determine is this a lie
or is this truth, okay?
We have too much information.
We have YouTube,
we have Bitchute,
we have,
what are some other platforms?
Facebook and TikTok and what else is there?
I don't know.
There are so many platforms
with so many videos,
so many stories,
so many fables,
so many lies,
so many false prophets.
It's a minefield out there, okay?
When you listen to something,
stop and say,
is this the spirit truth?
Now, here's a good thing.
If you find a safe person,
you've increased your chances
that this person's going to speak the truth.
But it still could be false.
Like the safe person still could be a novice.
The safe person might still be prioritizing
their biases and their preferences
over the word of God.
One of the challenges of the pastor is
you've got to be as faithful as you can be
to God's word
and even when it's contrary to my own thinking.
I'm going to say,
you know what?
My thinking then,
if it's contrary to my thinking here, God,
I'm wrong.
And I'll come to church
and I've got to preach the truth,
you know?
And I understand where people
might not like what I'm saying
because I don't necessarily like what I'm saying,
but I'm here to speak the truth.
I want to be used by God.
I want the spirit truth to use me, right?
To teach people God's word.
Back to 1 John 4 verse 7.
1 John 4 verse 7.
Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God,
and everyone that loveth is born of God
and knoweth God.
So as I said to you last week,
another way of knowing that you are saved
is basically whether you have love for the brethren.
Do you love the brethren?
Do you love your brothers and sisters in the Lord?
Once again, we're not always going to get along.
We're not going to always see eye to eye, okay?
But one thing that we should definitely have
is our love for each other.
I want every brother and sister to succeed.
Whether they're part of this church,
whether they're not part of this church,
if they're my brother in the Lord,
I want them to do well.
I want them to do great things
for the kingdom of God.
Let's keep going.
Verse number 8.
Hear that loveth,
hear that loveth not,
knoweth not God.
So if you don't love,
you don't really know God.
What is it saying?
In order to have a greater love,
we need to know God more.
Why?
For God is love.
God is love.
You know, we have these freaks right now.
You know, the LGBT,
the homosexuals, the sodomites,
with their Love is Love campaign.
Love is not love.
They don't have the love of God.
God is love.
You know, the only way we can truly love somebody
is to understand the love of God.
We're commanded to receive the love of God
and to love with the love of God.
We're to love what God loves
and to hate what God hates.
You know what?
If you hate what God hates,
yeah, you love what God loves.
God is love.
You have the true love.
God wants to perfect this love in each one of us.
The love of God.
God is love.
You cannot have love without God.
Yeah, there might be some attraction.
There might be some even feelings of emotions,
but it's not truly the love of God, okay?
You know, husbands,
if you're having marital issues,
you need to get the love of God.
God is love.
Go to God and say,
God, you are of love,
and I want to have the love that you have for me,
and I want to give that to my spouse.
All right?
You want to love your children?
Lord, help me love my children
with the love that you love, Jesus Christ,
your only begotten son.
We need to receive God's love
and to love with the love that God has given us.
That term love is love.
I just looked it up.
You know, it says,
I gave you a definition here online.
It says it's a phrase meaning
that the love expressed by an individual
or couple is valid
regardless of the sexual orientation
or gender identity of their lover or partner.
Rubbish.
Rubbish, yeah.
These freaks, they don't know what love is.
They don't know what love is, okay?
God is love.
Let's keep going.
Verse number nine.
And this was manifested,
the love of God toward us,
because that God sent his only begotten son
into the world that we might live through him.
So God manifested.
He shows his love toward us
by sending his only begotten son to die for us,
to come into this world
that we might live through him.
God wanted to give us life,
life abundant, eternal life.
We can only have that through Jesus Christ
by believing in his sacrifice.
This is very similar to another passage
that we're probably familiar with,
Romans 5-8, which says,
But God commendeth his love toward us
in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
That's an amazing love, okay?
Like I can kind of understand
that God may send his son
for people that love God,
that are trying to live godly.
God goes,
No, I'm going to send my son
while ye were yet sinners,
while you're transgressing my law,
while you don't care about offending me,
God still says I'm going to send my son
and this is how I'm going to manifest
my love to the whole world.
Jesus Christ is the love of God.
His sacrifice is the love of God.
And eternal life is through Jesus Christ.
Verse number 10.
Herein is love.
Not that we loved God,
but that he loved us.
Like we can't say,
Yeah, the reason I got saved
is because I just love God so much.
No, you don't love God.
God loved you.
God sent Jesus.
Praise God and you accepted
that free gift of salvation
and sent his son to be
the propitiation for our sins.
The word propitiation,
a big word again,
it just means to fully satisfy.
Jesus Christ did everything
to fully satisfy the punishment
and the payment for our sins.
I was just talking to someone on the phone
just before the service
and he asked me,
Do we believe in once saved, always saved?
And absolutely we do.
We believe that Christ
did everything necessary.
That salvation is simply by Christ.
And if we say we can still lose our salvation
or we still have to say something like,
Well, we still have to play our part.
We still have to do our works
and try to live godly.
Then you're basically saying that
Christ was not the propitiation for our sins.
That Christ was not enough.
That his blood was not enough.
That his sacrifice was not enough.
Jesus Christ was enough.
It's all we need to be saved.
Salvation is a free gift again.
You can't believe it.
Salvation is just by placing your faith
on the finished work.
That's it.
And then you're saved.
You call upon the name of the Lord
for salvation and he gives it to you.
Salvation is God's love to us.
It's not our love to God.
Now we should love God.
I'm not saying we shouldn't love God.
We ought to love God.
But God has given us a church.
God has given us blessing about this church
and brethren here.
To help us grow in love.
To help us perfect in love.
Okay.
Verse number 11 says
Beloved, if God so loved us
we ought also to love one another.
And you know this is what 1 John
is largely about.
Not just the fellowship with the Father.
Not just fellowship with the Son.
But fellowship with our brethren.
And you know this is the thing.
It's hard to love God.
Because I mean like let's say
let's say about my wife.
You know I'll give you an example.
My wife likes to write in notebooks.
She writes a lot of things
like birthday presents and things.
Anyway I kind of thought you know what
I want to give my wife a nice gift here.
And I found this sort of tablet.
It's not really a tablet
like an app an iPod or anything.
What do you call them?
An iPad.
It's not like that.
It's like a tablet that looks
just like a book.
Looks just like a notebook.
And you can take a pen and write on it.
And it looks like you're writing
like with pencil.
And it feels like you're
writing with pencil right?
It's a little bit expensive.
But I thought you know what?
I love my wife.
This is something that I can give her
because she's always writing.
And then she's losing her books.
This is one place she can have everything.
And I bought her one right?
Just to show her that I love her right?
This is my gift to you.
But how do we kind of love God though?
Like what is that we can do for God exactly?
Because God got everything.
Like does God really need us?
Not really.
You know it's kind of hard to understand.
Now should we love God?
Absolutely.
But it's kind of like how do we do that?
How do we accomplish that?
And again it says in verse number 11
Beloved if God so loved us
we ought also to love one another.
This is really interesting
because I'll quickly read to you
in Matthew 25 verse 40.
It says and the king shall answer
and say unto them
Verily I say unto you
inasmuch as ye have done it unto
one of the least of these my brethren
ye have done it unto me.
You know something that we can do
is more easily than love God
is to love each other.
To help one another.
To bless one another.
To pray for one another.
To show each other that we appreciate
each other's company and fellowship.
And if we do it to one another
we're doing that as unto the Lord God.
That's what's amazing about it right?
You want to love God?
You want to show that you love God?
Well love this church.
Love your brethren.
Love your brothers and sisters in the Lord.
And by doing so you are showing
that you love God.
Let's keep going verse number 12.
No man have seen God at any time.
So that again references the father.
No man has seen the father.
If we love one another
God dwelleth in us
and his love is perfected in us.
Brethren this is what we need to
keep working toward.
We want God's love to be perfected in us.
Meaning that if you are saved
yes you have a measure of God's love in you.
But again there's probably things
that are earthly, sinful,
wicked that you love as well.
Guaranteed you love him
because you still sin.
Guaranteed there's a part of you
that still loves sinful selfish things
because you have the love of the world.
But the father wants to
perfect his love in us.
And again it can't come through his flesh.
It comes by the new man.
That which has been born of God.
But God is constantly doing this work in us
to perfect us in love.
There might be things in the Bible
that you find to be a little bit harsh,
a little bit difficult.
You're thinking I don't know if that's,
is that right?
Does God really feel that way?
But you find that as you mature
and grow in the Lord
as God's love is perfected in you
you'll be like yeah.
That's right.
I love this.
I'm on God's program now.
Even though it makes me feel
uncomfortable in the flesh
but I'm on God's program.
This demonstrates that the father
is perfecting his love within you.
We need to love what God loves.
The more he perfects that
the more you'll love the things that God loves.
Let's keep going verse number 13.
He by know we that we dwell in him
and he in us
because he has given us of his spirit.
So if you're saved
the Holy Spirit of God
should testify in you
whether you are saved or not.
Like I don't live my life
thinking am I saved?
You know wow man
am I really saved these days?
You know if I really mess up in life
and I do you know
I make a big mistake
I'm going through some difficulty
you know I don't any
when I was newly saved
I used to sometimes wonder am I saved?
But not anymore.
Like as I've grown and matured in the Lord
as the love of God has grown in me
and I have the Holy Spirit of God
working my life
I never, never once in my mind
do I think am I really saved?
Maybe I'm not saved today.
Okay this is something
that needs to develop in you
you need to understand
and once again that Christ
is the propitiation for your sins.
Christ has done it all.
If you trust that
there's nothing that you need to do.
Okay nothing that you need to do
but look there's no need
to doubt your salvation.
Okay the Holy Spirit of God
is that which confirms
whether you were saved or not.
Okay and if you say to me
Pastor Kevin I still struggle
with the idea of whether I'm saved or not
then please talk to me after the service.
Okay well sometime during this week
if you're still struggling
I just sometimes I wonder
if I'm saved I don't know
please talk to me after the service
because this should not be the case.
Okay now I do believe
maybe someone that is newer in the faith
or maybe under extreme pressure
you may have some doubts at times.
Okay but generally speaking
the Holy Spirit of God
testifies that we are saved.
You know I don't need to prove it
to anybody that I'm saved
I know I'm saved
because of the Holy Spirit of God
that is within me.
What am I up to brethren?
I've lost my place.
Sorry?
I read verse 13.
Did I read verse 14?
I don't think so.
Okay verse 14.
And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son
to be the Savior of the world.
So once again verse 13 and 14
once again you see the triune nature of God.
He's given us His Spirit
the Father sent the Son
and yes the Father sent the Son.
Christ did not become the Son
at Bethlehem's manger.
He was already the Son of God.
God is Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
The Son was sent.
Sometimes people don't understand this
they think well
if we believe that Jesus Christ
became the Son at Bethlehem's manger
then what about the Father?
If there was no Son
there was no God the Father.
I mean think about that.
Okay there was no Son
there was no Father then
because the Father
obviously He's the Father
because He's got the Son
and He's the Son Jesus Christ
is because He's got a Father.
Let's keep going verse 15.
Whosoever shall confess
that Jesus is the Son of God
God dwelleth in Him
and He in God.
Verse number 16.
And we have known and believed
the love that God have to us.
God is love
and he that dwelleth in love
dwelleth in God
and God in Him.
All right.
So this idea that
you know sorry
and he that dwelleth in God
dwelleth in love
dwelleth in God.
Okay so this dwelleth in love
basically is the main theme
of all of 1st John.
Okay.
But it's mentioned to us
in many different ways.
You know in the previous chapters
that we've gone through
you know you may recall
that some other ways
that this was said is
that we ought to have fellowship
with the Father
and fellowship with the Son.
You know some other ways
it says that we ought to walk in light.
Okay.
Obviously if we walk in light
we are dwelling with God
we are dwelling in love.
Other ways was to keep
His commandments
keep His word
abide in Him
abide in the light
doeth righteousness.
These are all talking
about the same thing
that we abide in the Lord
we stay close
fellowship with God
you know we abide in the light
we do His commandments
we do His will
we stay in His love.
The closer we are to God
the greater ability
God will have
to perfect His love within us.
Verse number 17.
Hearing is our love made perfect
that we
so what is the reason
why does God want to make
our love perfect?
Once again if our love is perfect
we're going to love
the things that God loves
we're going to hate
the things that God hates
if our love is made perfect
in the Father
we're going to be able
to do the commandments
keep His will
walk in His ways.
Why does God
want to perfect this in us?
That we may have boldness
in the day of judgment
because as He is
so are we in this world.
This tells me
that some Christians
when Christ comes back
and we stand before God
in judgment
some of us are going to have
the boldness to go before God
and say God
I'm ready to be judged.
Some other Christians
are not going to have
that boldness
they might even be ashamed
okay
why would they be ashamed?
Because God was never able
to perfect His love within them
God never was able
to complete that
because that person
was far from the Lord
never grew in the Lord
never walked in His way
did not do His commandments
did not ever try to win a soul
to the Lord
or anything like that
these people will be ashamed
at the coming of Christ
but God does not want us
to be like that
He wants us to stand before Him
in judgment
in boldness
keep your finger there
please go to Romans chapter 14
go to Romans chapter 14
let me remind you
judgment day is coming
okay
now if you read your Bibles
you understand the Bible
there are two types of judgments
there's one judgment
for the non-believer
the one that has rejected Christ
the great white throne judgment
okay
that person
you know when God opens the books
they're going to find
that person's name
is not going to be written
in the Lamb's book of life
and they're going to be cast
in hellfire
okay
now we're not going to stand
in that judgment
because we're saved
we're children of God
our names are written
in the Lamb's book of life
okay
but there is another judgment
for the saved
okay
and let's read it together here
in Romans 14 verse 10
Romans 14 verse 10
but why dost thou judge thy brother
or why dost thou set at naught thy brother
for we shall all stand
before the judgment seat of Christ
so we're all going to stand
before the judgment seat of Christ
that is not the same
as the great white throne judgment
that we read about in Revelation
okay
this is the judgment seat of Christ
we're all going to stand before
Reverend
we're all going to stand before Christ one day
he's going to judge us
for what we've done in our life
in our Christian life
are you ready for that?
do you have the boldness?
are you right?
yes I can't wait
I hope so
but I think in honesty
we're probably all like oh man
not yet
I still got some work to do in my life
this is not about salvation
okay this is not about salvation
okay
let's keep going verse 11
for it is written
as I live say for the Lord
every knee shall bow to me
and every tongue shall confess to God
so then every one of us
shall give account of himself to God
wow
are you ready for that?
you know what
I'm going to have to give an account for myself
as the head of my house
I'm going to have to give an account for my family
as the head of this church
on the head of this church
but as the pastor of this church
Christ is the head of the church
but as the pastor of this church
I have to give an account for this church
and the people that are in this church
I don't know if it's all going to happen at the same time
or there's going to be a different way
I don't know exactly brethren
but we're all going to have to stand before
Jesus Christ one day
and he's going to ask us
what did you do for me?
we're not going to stand before him
and confess our sins
it's been taken care of
okay
God's not going to put a big tv screen
as you see in some places
and show you all the wrong sins that you've done
and you're like oh man
I'm sorry God
no you're just saved
your sins have been dealt with
okay
God has not just forgiven our sins
he's forgotten our sins
okay
we're not going to stand before God
in our sinful nature
but he's going to ask us
and ask you know
what did you do for me?
what have you done for me?
what have you accomplished for me?
you know
I've given you eternal life
I've given you the gospel
I've given you blessing up at this church
what have you done for me?
and you know what
if you want to do a lot for the Lord
you need to have the Father's love perfect in you
so you can actually love the things that God loves
do the things that God wants you to do
the more righteous
the more holy you live your life
the more boldness you're going to have
before God in that throne
say God I'm ready to be judged
you know
I want all of us
not just me
I want this whole church
you know
man woman child
to stand before Jesus Christ
and for Christ to say
they are good and faithful servants
imagine those words
they are good and faithful servant
you know what
I mean
if you haven't been good and faithful for him
he's not going to say those words
you'll still go to heaven
but it'd be a little embarrassing
it'd be a little embarrassing at the beginning right
that man
I got eternal life
Jesus Christ suffered for me
God's loved me so much
and I just lived for myself my whole life
I did nothing for the Lord
that'll be a little bit embarrassing
God's going to reward us in heaven
you know the more we do for God in this earth
the greater our riches are in heaven
God says to lay up our treasures in heaven
okay that's what we ought to be laying our treasures in heaven
doing the will of God
let's keep going
1 John 4 verse 18
there is no fear in love
but perfect love casteth out fear
because fear have torment
he that feareth is not made perfect in love
now this fear here
if we understand the context of what we're reading
okay
again
that we're going to stand in the day of judgment of Jesus Christ
this fear isn't like the wrong type of fear
it's not like fearing man or fear in the world
or fear in the devil
this fear that we're reading about here is the fear of God
okay
should we fear the Lord?
absolutely
okay
absolutely
okay
but let's consider that in that sense
there is no fear in love
but perfect love casteth out fear
because fear have torment
he that feareth is not made perfect in love
let me illustrate this from just a father child relationship first
and then you'll understand how this applies with God
so you know when you have children
you don't have to teach them to disobey
you don't have to teach your children how to lie or cheat
they learn it themselves
they're pretty good
they've got the sinful nature
they tap in it pretty early as children right
this is why as parents we're commanded to correct our children
to teach them
to chastise them
all right
and sometimes when you start doing or when you do that
your children will fear mum and dad
so they'll do that which is right
out of fear of getting disciplined
haven't we all been there?
haven't we all done that which is right for our parents
because we're afraid of what they might do to us
how they might
you know even the fear of disappointing our parents
might even come on the scene right
and so yes many times we do that which is right
just out of fear okay
but God wants us to grow from that state
we ought to start with a fear of God yes
but then God wants to perfect his love in us
and when God perfects our love in us
we no longer do things out of fear
okay we do it out of love
you know I've experienced that growing up
yeah I was afraid of the chastisement
afraid of discipline my parents
but at some point I realized man
you know what there's these rules
doing that which is right
is good you know
and I love my parents so much
I don't want them to look at me
and feel like they failed as a parent
you know I'm just going to do that which is right
because I love mum and dad
it's not because of the fear of the rod
or fear of chastisement anymore
it's because love is greater than fear
and you do things out of love
you'll be more effective in your words for God
if you do it out of love than if you do it out of fear
okay
and that's how it ought to be as a Christian
yeah we start with the fear of God
I still have the fear
I have the fear of God right now
in case I make a mistake
but honestly more than fear is a love for God
is a love for God's people
you know the reason I try and study
and get my sermons together
and dedicate the travel from Queensland back and again
is because I love God
you know that's really the main driver
you know the more God perfects his love
you know you're going to be doing things out of love for God
rather than the fear that he'll correct you
you know the Bible says in Hebrews 10 31
it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God
so while God's still perfecting his love in you
yes keep having the fear of God
it's going to help you to do that which is right
but at some point as you continue to grow
you're just going to do it because you love God
you just you're just going to go soul winning
because you just love God
you love Jesus
and you don't want Jesus' sacrifice to go to waste
you want as many people as you can
that can hear it
to have the free will to accept it or reject it
you know you're going to be doing things just out of out of love
let's keep going verse number 19
if we love him sorry
we love him because he first loved us
isn't that true
if a man say I love God and hate of his brother
he is a liar
for he that loveth not his brother whom he have seen
how can he love God whom he have not seen
and this commandment we sorry
and this commandment have we from him
that he who loveth God love his brother also
so in conclusion to this chapter
how much you love your brethren
your brother or sister in the Lord
is a good indicator to show how much you love God
okay some people love God and they're too good for church
you know they're just every church is hopeless
every church is wrong
I'm too holy I just love God too much
they don't love God because they don't love the people of God
you know thank God we have this church
you know I really want this church to have a full-time pastor
I want New Life to have a full-time pastor
I want us to meet in a bigger building
more comfortable
I want the building that we meet in to have a grass area
with a play gym so the kids can go out and play
and that it's fenced and they're protected
they don't just walk out and get hit by a car
you know I wish we had much more you know available to our church
you know but I'd much rather be in this church
with the people of God
with the spirit of God that works in our hearts
to hear the truth of God's word
than be in any church that is without the spirit of God
a church that is without love
or they have the love is love instead of the God is love
you know philosophy in that church
you know I'd much rather be in this small church with you guys
and show you love
and if I can love you guys you know
then this definitely shows that we love God
I want you guys to love God
you know but you can start by loving your brethren
by loving your brothers and sisters in the Lord
for loving the truth
you know loving the truth and hating the lies
so brethren let's end it there
let's go to a word of prayer