No Absolutely | 1 John 2:3-6 | March 18 2026

Chapter 2 verses, we're going to get 3 through 6 tonight.

First, Johnny is dance. It's kind of funny.

I was going through my commentaries.

I was telling Faye I was going to, I was going to sit down on

Sunday and just read the commentary on 1st John.

John 2 · chapter mention

Chapter 2. It's A and it's commentary

writing and it's like 16 pages, like an Exodus chapter is a page

and 1/2 chapter 2 of first John is 16 pages.

It's like it's kind of dance. Yeah.

I'm not reading all of that. That isn't going to.

I mean, I could read it, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't retain it

because it's so, so. Yeah.

Anyway, so that it. But that isn't a complaint.

That's just cool, right? That it's, it's fun to go

through it. So Lord, I just lift up this

time together and Lord that you're that you'd be here, Lord,

that you'd be speaking, Lord, that I'd get out of the way and

Lord that that you'd be teaching me as well.

Lord, that you would not only be speaking through me, Lord, but

that you'd be teaching me. And Lord that you'd be in our

midst, Lord, that you just build us up for the week ahead and

that you would guide and direct. I pray this all in Jesus name,

Amen. So verse 3 Now by this we know

that we know him if we keep his commandments.

He who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a

liar and the truth is not in him.

But whoever keeps his word truly the love of God is perfected in

him. By this we know that we are in

him. He who says he abides in him

ought himself also to walk just as he walked and that is so that

start off with verse 3 and it's now by this we know that we know

him if we keep his commandments and that that no is Gonosco and

it's to know absolutely or to know through personal

experience. And that's so some places that

that word is used kind of explain it is Luke 134.

Then Mary said to the Angel, how can this be, since I do not know

a man. So that gives you an idea of

just that that personal experience, right.

But this is like that complete knowing is Mark 529 and this is

the lady with the with the flow of blood.

And after she touches Jesus's the hem of his garment and it

says immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up and she

felt it in her body that she was healed of that affliction.

And that felt is that ganosko. So that's so like she knows,

right? It's a it's an internal knowing.

And in the the the cool thing is, it's a lot of times hard to

find words that do cross this line.

But ganosko and yata, which is the Hebrew word for that that

used as know and it's to know by experience, relationship or

encounter. And another place for one is

another one where Adam knew his wife.

But Ganos goes to know far beyond not just the book level.

It's it's to know, right? It's, it's to experience And how

I explained how I, how I thought that through was.

So we're, we're all older now, but we were, we were all young

at one time and we had friends that had kids and we had

opinions and then we had kids and we had friends that didn't

have kids and they had opinions. And we, you know, in the, in

the, your, your 20s, you know, I've got, I've got kids and, and

I, I will pick on him. He doesn't watch this, so it

doesn't matter. But I had a good friend who he,

he told me my children are never going to eat McDonald's because

I think I was stopping and getting McDonald's French fries

or something for Alexa and they're never going to eat

McDonald's. So because God has a sense of

humor. When he had, he had twins, which

wore him down pretty quickly. But I think from age 3 to 5, one

of his daughters would only eat chicken Nuggets and had an aunt

that would do. But it's what I mean by that is

we can read lots of books about something, but knowing it, being

a parent, you learn how to be a parent, right?

You, you know how to be a parent once you're in being a parent.

And it's not that you're, you're like that.

You don't know everything. But you know what, what this is,

right? I know my child.

And that's that, that's that idea of Genosko or to Yata

something is to absolutely know it, to absolutely understand it.

And that if we go back to it now by this, we know that we know

him if we keep his commandments. So we we know, we, we absolutely

know that we absolutely know him if we're doing what he says.

And then second Chronicles chapter 2, verse 12.

2 Chronicles 2:12

And this is talking about Solomon, it says Harem also

said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who made heaven and

earth. And he he has given King David a

wise son, endowed. And that endowed is that yada

word which is to know absolutely endowed with prudence and

understanding, who will build the temple for the Lord and a

royal house for himself. And now I have sent a skillful

man endowed with understanding Herm, my master Craftsman.

And the idea there is guys, not only not only is knowing him

absolutely a by keeping his commandments, but he he gives us

the power to do that, right. So it's, it's both.

And it's not just that like I know something, it's as I'm

doing His commandments, as I'm following, as I'm listening, He

is giving me that ability to follow and listen better.

And when we gave our lives to Christ, we stepped into him and

he stepped into US. However that you know, it's I

I've heard it, I've heard it explained numerous different

ways of that we're a sponge in in the ocean.

You know, we're, we're, he's in US and we're in him kind of

thing. But this keeping his

commandments is something that is not there's 600 there.

We we think of 10 commandments. And if you've ever had anybody

teach the 10 commandments, like if you've ever listened to

Alistair beg teach them, you can figure out like by halfway

through the first one, you're going to miss all of them.

So you can't get all the the 1st 10, but there's actually like

613 commandments that the Israelites were supposed to

follow rules and regulations. And so is that what it's talking

about when it says keep his commandments It it's not which

is good for us in that, but it's it isn't it is keeping his

commandments is resting in the grace.

That doesn't mean that we then go against the commandments.

It is that we're not looking at those commandments right.

There are rules. So in my house, when my

daughters were in my house, there are rules to be in my

house. You know, you, you close the

doors, you turn off the lights, this kind of stuff.

But the commandments that my, it was, it was me and my daughter's

relationship is what made her my daughter, right?

It, it's that we, we knew each other and those are the

commandments the Lord's thinking about, right?

It's, you got to remember that in the Old Testament, what he

was doing is using, if you, if you go through all the

commandments, you will see Jesus all over him and where he

fulfilled them. But the commandments that we're,

we're aimed at and he, he says it later on, but it's to love

God and love others. But if you look at loving God

and loving others, it is doing all the commandments right.

They they line up with that and he says that, but what we're

trying to do is know him, knowing him, listening to his

leading and by grace through faith, obeying his leading.

And that's the commandments not and not following our fleshly

desires, which is this whole book.

Whenever, whenever God isn't doing something, this whole book

is about people that are following their fleshly desires

and and God reacting to that, right?

That's we can go through it and I can there is, I mean, why is

there divorce? Why are the Israelites, why can

they give a certificate of divorce because of their hard

hearts. Moses gave them the right to do

that so that they wouldn't leave, leave widows, poor and

destitute, right? So it is we are dirt and we are

selfish. So outside of Christ we and

we'll get into that, but outside of Christ we have nothing to

offer. All we have to offer is

following him. Ephesians 21 says, And we're

going Ephesians 2, one through 6.

And it says, And you He made alive, who were dead in trespass

and sin, in which you once walked according to the course

of the world, according to the Prince of the power of the air,

the Spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, Among whom

also we all once conducted ourselves in lust of the flesh,

fulfilling the desires of the flesh of the mind, and were by

nature children of what wrath, just as the others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love, with

which He loved us even when we were dead in trespass, made us

alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and

raised and raised us up together and made us sit together in

heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And if you look at this Paul,

Paul knew the law, Genoskote the law.

He knew it, he understood it and he he understood it had no power

to do anything but to condemn. And and that is, I mean, that is

Paul. That's, you know, the, the

Pharisees, we, we pick on them because they're always, they

always say, if, if there was a, a drama, whenever they came on

stage, everybody would Boo and hiss and Jesus would come on

stage and everybody would cheer, because that's the, the Gospels

and the, and Acts, what we get to see the Pharisees.

But do you understand? They were they were holy men.

They were whitewashed tombs and and unable to do what they were

being, but they were the back to Bible group, right?

They were the guys. If you'd have met him, if I'd

have met him outside of Christ, you'd have said that is a holy

man, right? They were they were those guys.

And Paul all through. Whenever he's talking about his

time as a Pharisee, he didn't, he didn't say I was a hypocrite

in the, in the sense that I was out pretending I was doing all

the things I was supposed to do and they were dead.

And you, and you can see a Pharisee of Pharisees of

Benjamite, He, he was, he was that guy.

And he's like, and I did it and I did it to the best of my

ability. And it was a complete waste.

I, I was completely unable to perform it.

And it's why as you go through why Paul gets, as you go through

the his epistles, he gets pretty animated with people about

trying to serve the law instead of serve the lawmaker, right,

Because that's who we're supposed to be after Galatians

219 through 21 says for though sorry for through the law, for I

through the law died to the law that I might live to God.

I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life

which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of

God who loved me and gave himself for me.

I do not set aside the grace of God.

For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ

died in vain. He said he gets he gets animated

about the law is not where this is at.

It's about Christ and what he did on the cross and his ability

to give us the power to do what he asked us to do.

This life we now live in the flesh.

We live by faith in Christ. And, and guys, in my hardest

times in life, those words are, are words that I, I say under my

breath, you know, I, I, I say, I say things when, when I'm having

a horrid day at work or something.

And I say I can do, do everything as under the Lord and

not to men. And this life I now live in the

flesh. I live by faith in the Son of

God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Because if those two are correct, I got nothing to worry

about. I know the guy in charge and I'm

doing not, not what I think is right, but I'm following him.

And in following him he, he comes in and he does work in my

life with giving me peace and giving me hope, right?

How do I know that? I know?

And this is the joy of life in Christ.

He's alive, right? This isn't I I stand up here

every week and I talk to you about being in your word.

I talk to you about praying. But this is not Buddhism, right?

Don't say that. It isn't a chant.

You don't say the right things. It's not, it's not, it's not

being an in Islam where you get up and you pray five times a day

pointed towards Mecca. We talk to a living God who

wants to talk to you and wants to want you to grow in him.

And here's the thing for everybody out there that wants

to talk about, well, I, I've never heard him.

If you have given your life to the Lord, you have heard from

him. That's bottom line.

The day you gave your life to the Lord, if it was a serious

thing between you and him and you actually gave your life to

the Lord in your heart. You know that you know, first

Corinthians 12/3 says, therefore I make known to you that no one

speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus a curse and no one

can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

That doesn't mean there aren't people out there that are

heretics that are calling Jesus Lord that that means that they

know what they're doing on the if you've had a real, real

conversation, you've heard from the Spirit, right?

It's do you do you know that you know, and for me, like I said, I

didn't have when I got saved, I didn't have a like ultra

spiritual conversion. That was wow, I'm floating in

the no, what happened? The the honest to goodness thing

that happened was I went home and started reading my Bible

like I got saved. I gave my life to the Lord.

I stood up. I, I, I prayed to receive Christ

and when I went home, I started, I started reading and everybody,

everybody thinks that's OK. What A at that point in my life,

at 30 years old, I graduated high school at 18 years old.

And in 12 years I could probably count on one hand how many pages

of text I had read, not books, how many pages.

So for me to go home and start reading chapters of the Bible

was a work God was doing in my life and I and I, whether

anybody else believed it or not wasn't important to me.

I knew that's why I was because I didn't read.

Not only did I not read, I didn't like to read.

So then that I was like, I mean, I went through the Bible.

I went through the Old Testament, which was, you know,

you get to let Leviticus and Numbers and as somebody that

doesn't like to read, that's so, but that was the kind of thing

that he did in my life, right? And I can give you, I can give

you moment after moment in my life that he has spoke to me

directly that he has spoke to me through his word.

We have we, we serve a God that wants to speak to us.

And when he speaks, are we listening?

Because that's the that's the kind of commandments when we're

talking about that, right? My the John 1421 which you guys

have heard dozens of time, which is he who has my commandments

and keeps them. It is he who loves me and he who

loves me. We are loved by my Father and I

will love him and manifest myself to him.

That manifest myself to him is if you if you hear from Jesus

and you do what he says, He has more to say to you.

It's it's no, I mean I, I say it all the time.

It's no different than two kids. One of them wants to learn from

you and does what you ask them to do, and the other one could

care less. You're talking.

Which one are you talking to? Right?

You're, you're going to, and not because you love either one of

them any less, right? It's that I'm this one, I'm this

one. There's fruit in this one's

life. I can, you know, whether that's

teaching them how to, how to hunt or teaching them how to

change spark plugs or a tire or whatever that whatever that

thing is, you're teaching them the, the, the, the student

that's willing to listen and, and do what you said, you're

going to pour more into. It's it's that concept.

Now know that as I'm talking about commandments and and that

it's about what he's saying to us, know that when he's speaking

to us, he will never go against his word, right?

He, he is never going to say go murder that person.

You can lie to that person, go cheat, go steal, go be prideful.

He's not going to say that, right?

Those are that he he's going to lead you in in in loving, loving

him and loving others in those ways right, and that's Matthew

2730302237 is Jesus said to him talking to one of the Pharisees

or lawyer says you shall love the Lord your God with all your

heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as

yourself. On these two commandments hang

all the law and the prophets. And, and the law of the prophets

is, is basically the, the Jewish Old Testament.

And that's that they called, they called Moses's book the

Law, and they had the Law of the Histories and the prophets,

right. So if we are in Christ and we

talk about that, that's our position.

When we gave our life to the Lord, we're in Christ.

That means that we are. Christ is love.

So we are in love, right? We are not.

Christ doesn't have a tank of love that he gives us to give

other people. He is love right now.

He is truth as well, right? So love is is that Jesus, if you

watch him all through his time here, Jesus loved people and

told them the truth. He didn't he didn't love people

and lie to them. He loved people and told them

the truth, which which is something that I would tell you

that we fail in. I think worldwide as a church,

as a the body of Christ of doing, we're either 100% truth

and no love or we're 100% love and no truth.

And the facts are he's 100% of both.

And we're supposed to be telling people the truth in love, right?

And I just, I go back to that the demon possessed guy that I

talked about on Sunday and just remember how much Jesus didn't

go after the guy, but he did cast out the demons, right?

And that is Jesus every time he meets somebody, you know, when

you look at the the woman caught in the very act of adultery is

he didn't, he didn't judge her in the sense that he he didn't

condemn her. He did, he did judge her sin and

said, I don't condemn you either.

Go and sin no more, which means in order for her for him to say

go and sin no more, you were sinning.

Don't send no more. You know that that's that's what

that is. And we, we as, as that's

something we should be not send sniffers, but we should be

having honest conversations with people, right?

Having honest conversations because we serve a God that's

living and big enough to handle, handle anything in their lives.

The whatever. Back when we were having the,

the Y and the guy in the in the women's bathroom, I watched the

whole town council meeting and there was a lady that stood up

right in the middle somewhere. And I mean, I heard they were

both sides. I mean, there was a lot of

conservative Christian right. There was a couple of the left,

but then there was this one lady in this one lady stood up and

she just, she, she stood up and said basically, Jesus is

awesome. My life was a train wreck.

My life was a train wreck. And he met me and he cleaned it

up. And if you're here tonight and

you have a train wreck, he would love to meet you where you are

and clean that up. That's that's who we are guys

that outside of Christ, Nick's a train wreck outside of Christ

phase a train wreck. That's just the facts because

outside of him not in his will not following him we we have

nothing to offer but do we recognize the spirits voice and

that's something I I really want to hit on tonight is because

this is a relationship because we're talking about his

commandments and knowing what they are.

How do we know I'm there there is there is devotional life.

We need to have a devotional life.

We need to be in our word right. We need to be praying.

But do you recognize the spirit's voice right.

And when I when I say that if you look at Acts 16, six, and

this is just that perfect picture of Paul's Paul, Paul and

his traveling companions knew who the Spirit was and knew his

voice. Now when they had gone through

Pergamon or Pagia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden

by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.

After they had come to Messiah, they tried to go in to Pathania,

but the Spirit did not permit them.

So passing by Messiah, they came down to Toros, and a vision

appeared to Paul. In the night a man of Macedonia

stood pleading with him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help

us. Now after he had seen the

vision, immediately he sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that

the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

So the Lord is telling him not to go to Asia and preach the

gospel. Well, that must be the enemy or

the Lord's telling him not to go to Bithynian and preach.

Well, that must be the enemy, but he knew.

But Paul and his companions knew the Spirit's voice, right?

They they knew how to take leading from him.

It isn't just that, hey, we're supposed to go do this thing.

So we're going to push through my story about that is first

time I went to Uganda, didn't know the Spirit's voice thought

I did. We were, we had a, we had a gung

ho group. It was a great time. 18 of us.

We had a we were doing a vacation Bible school and soccer

camp. And it was it was a lot of fun.

And when we first got to Pajuli, Pajuli was the ending of a

government camp and there was bare minimum 1200 kids with very

few adults. And we had a great time.

And our plan was to do the do the soccer camp.

And then we were going to show the Jesus film in a choli that,

you know, when it got dark and there was a storm coming, there

may have been a whole bunch of uneasy feelings that we were all

ignoring because we're doing this for Jesus and it's going to

be fine. We're going to do this for

Jesus. OK, So when it got dark, no, it

wasn't fine. We we had no business being out

there in the dark with 1200 kids that were just like mischievous

kids everywhere. And then add a whole lot of the

enemy that the truly Satan had had control of northern Uganda

for 23 years. And and I say that at a level

that it was for the next after we we retreated in and locked

everything down for the next 4 years.

We did nothing after dark when we went nothing.

Now I can walk around, I can walk around put Julie in the

dark and I'm fine. But it was there was an

oppression that and it wasn't because Jesus was weak.

It was because Nick's not smart and that's there is a knowing

our Lord's voice, right? And, and that takes a lot of

time to us getting quiet. And that was something I can

tell you that as much as we were there on a mission trip and we

were having a lot of fun, we probably did not have a lot of

quiet in our life that day. Nobody got hurt.

It was definitely eye opening and scary.

We could, I could explain it, just know it was definitely a

moment. Rocks were thrown.

There was it was good times. But Paul knew the Spirit's voice

and, and we're supposed to be about that, right?

And like I said, that that has to do with our devotional life.

That has to do with being in your Bible.

That has to do with prayer. That has to do with, with

fellowship and worship and witnessing and, and when you

hear God's voice, right, fun thing about God's voice.

If he's, if he's speaking to you, you got to know the God.

God is specific. He's going to tell you

specifically. And the reason that I'm telling

you he's going to tell you specifically is he wants the

blame. We were kind of joking about

that earlier, but God, it's, it's like with the building,

right? If if we bought the building,

God wants the blame for the building, right?

He wants he wants to be if you look at Gideon, the reason that

the reason that he started with 30,000, shrank down to 10,000

and got down to 300 was because God said no, you still have too

many you'll, you'll claim you did this and that's that's God.

He's if you ask you, if you hear him ask you to do something

ridiculous, that's probably God. No, I'm kidding.

That's I always and then is it something that you can do right?

Is there a he's he's going to ask you to do a step right.

It's when when I got told I was going to build a water line

across Africa, my actionable step was that we're going to go

get my, my passport. That was the next step, right?

Didn't mean I was going to get on a plane to go to Africa, but

I had AI had a next step. And then there was a next step,

which was OK. So now, now we're going to start

paying attention anytime mention anytime somebody mentions

Africa, we're going to we're going to be paying attention to

that. And there was just a process,

right? God, like a good boss, gives

directions for growth, right? He, he wants us to grow.

You know, he wants us to grow at loving him and loving others.

And like I said, is that, you know, that's where we start.

And you don't have to do the day you gave your life to the Lord.

No, without a shadow of a doubt that what he wants you to do is

to love him and love others. That's that's just the facts and

loving. I touched on it, but loving is

doing the best for the other person, not doing the thing that

makes the other person happier right now that isn't love.

That's that's actually a lot of times the opposite of love

right. Watch spoil.

You know, look at spoiled children or other things that

if, if you're not willing to do the hard things with them right

now, they're going to have a, they're going to have a harder

life. And then God always leads us to

hope. And I, I heard, I heard a

definition that I just loved for hope.

That is absolute confidence that produces strength.

We can have hope in the God we serve, right?

Because if he asked me to do it, I don't, I don't have to figure

out how to do it. The next step, you know,

Elizabeth Elliott quote, just do the next thing.

And when I, when I say that is I don't have to figure out how to

build a water line across Africa.

I don't have to figure out how to buy this church.

I don't have to figure that stuff out.

I have to be willing, willing and ready to do anything you

asked me to do in the process of those things, but I don't have

to, I don't have to be the, the point of so we have to do this,

this and this, right? He's, he's got a plan for that.

And I guarantee you, you, I can look at my life and I can tell

you that my ability to plan and his ability to plan, he's way

better at it, right? When I, when I get out in front

with my plan, all that means is I got to go back and go the

other way, right? Because I'm usually ahead of him

when that happens. So I trying to stay behind him

and say, OK, Lord, how do you want to do this?

That's when I went to Uganda and we were less than a month from

going and we had $200.00 of, of guaranteed support.

And my board was a little freaked out and like, what are

you going to do? And I'm like, we're not going to

starve. I didn't know how we were going

to get home because we had plane tickets to go.

I didn't know how we're going to get home.

But I also knew that God wasn't going to send us over there to

starve because there this was an absolute we were supposed to go.

This wasn't, wasn't a guess. This was absolutely we were

supposed to go. And by the time we, we were

getting on the plane to go, our budget that we had figured out

because our board had us figure, I think we needed, I think we

needed $1800 a month and it was all covered.

But it was not my problem, if that makes sense.

And, and I was just talking to my board last night.

That doesn't mean that I don't worry about things because I do,

I try to give it all to the Lord.

But I, I have those moments that I'm like, so I know this is your

problem, but am I doing this right?

And am I doing this wrong? You know, and so, but those are

conversations that I get to have with the living God.

Does that make sense? I mean, we when you're when

you're in any other religion, you don't get to have that

conversation with a living God. You get to have.

I hope I did enough. And Jesus is that now in in

saying that, yeah, he who says I know him and does not keep his

commandments is a liar. And the truth is not in him.

So the simple truth is, if I am in Christ and he gave me clear

direction, either by written word or by conviction, and I

choose to be outside of his direction, it doesn't go well,

there's there is one and and I've taught it numerous times.

My my favorite guy in the Bible is the guy named Uriah the

Hittite, which I could get into. But first Kings 15 five says

because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had

not turned aside from anything that he commanded him all the

days of his life except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

And what did David do in the matter of Uriah the Hittite and

and you can listen to 100 Bible studies and listen to adultery

and murder and manipulation. No, he stuck his fingers in his

ears and went La La, la, La La. I don't want to hear it, Lord,

that's that's the sin. I'm not listening.

I'm not doing it. And that is anything that he can

so it says and had not turned aside from anything that he

commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter

of Uriah the Hittite. And when he got to Uriah the

Hittite, God put David's sinned and we all sin.

David's sin God called him on it in a big neon light and David

tried the cover up game and then and that's James 417.

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to

him it is sin. David knew 100 percent, 100% he

was in the wrong, 100% that he'd been caught, 100% that God said

fix it and he chose to kill Uriah the Hittite instead.

And Fast forward to months down the road that Uriah the

Hittite's dead, Bathsheba's living in the castle, and in

walks Nathan. And Nathan shares a story with

Nathan, the prophet shares a story with David, and David has

another choice. And what David does in Second

Samuel 1213, it says so. So David said to Nathan, I have

sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, the

Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die.

That's the turn David turned and and he was as far as any of us

from the Lord, and then he turned right.

And it isn't that God condemned him to hell in that middle time.

It's that he was outside of the Lord's will for his life.

And he was he was in, he was outside the protection of the

Lord, if that makes sense. He's he when you're out sinning,

God is going to use whatever is needed to get your attention and

the question I guess in in this something that that kind of hit

me. Do we do we have the Nathan's in

our lives that are willing to come and ask us those questions

right, 'cause 'cause that was I always you look at Nathan and

that's not an easy conversation. I'm going to go to David.

You know, the Call Saul killed his thousands, David killed his

10s of thousands, the guy that killed Goliath.

And I've got to go. I got to go confront him and I

got to confront him about his sin.

And do we have those people in our lives that are willing to

have those conversations if they need, if they need to?

And then verse 5. But whoever keeps his word,

truly the love of God is perfected in him by this.

We know that we are in Him and this is the root right?

We our relationship grows as we grow in Christ.

Our know of Christ grows right, but He continues to perfect us.

We will never be perfect, right? There is never going to come a

time this side of heaven that we are perfected, but He will

continue to perfect us. He will continue to refine us,

right? He will continue and and doing

that is, you know, if you ever, if you've ever seen a Crucible,

which is what they heat metal in, it's not a comfortable

place, right? Our job as as believers is not

to get saved and then become comfortable in our lifestyle.

Our our job as believers is to continue to grow in our

relationship with Christ. John 1422 So this is right after

my favorite verse. Judas not Ascarius said to him,

Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not

the world? And Jesus answered and said to

him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will

love him, and we will come to him and make our home with Him.

He who does not love me does not keep my words.

And the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father who

sent me. So are we keeping His word or

not keeping His word, right? That that is a direct, direct

gauge on my love for my Savior, right?

And when I say that I do you make excuses for your sin and I,

and I don't think there's there. I don't think we're in here and

people are, are, are sleeping around and lying and cheating

and stealing. Do you make excuses for your bad

attitude? Do I make excuses for my bad

attitude? Do I make excuses for my pride?

Do you know when somebody cuts me off, whatever that thing is,

do we make, do we say it's OK for me to sin on that thing

because it's how God made me or I, I just want to, or I have the

freedom to do it? Am I, am I just casual about the

things he's asking me not to do? Or am I casual about not doing

the things he is asking me to do?

Right. And we should never be OK not

doing what the Lord is telling me to do.

And I and I say that that means if you read it, if you read it

and you don't, you know, I don't, I don't like that verse.

Figure out if it's you or the verse.

Figure out, figure out if if you don't understand what it said

and it says something different than you understood and OK, now

we're good. Or if it says something that you

completely disagree with, you need to change, right?

And that's important because you'll find that when you and,

and we're going to get into the abiding in the branch and the

vine and all that, but you will find that a tree is not steered

by a branch. A branch is directed by the

tree, right? And John 4 or 15 four, abide in

me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit

of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless

you abide in me. I am the vine, and you are the

branches. He who abides in me and I in Him

bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing.

If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and

is withered, and they gather them and throw them into the

fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words

abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done

for you. By this my father is glorified

that you bear much fruit. So you will be my disciples and

and that that one part in their words, if you if you ask what

you desire, well, if you're abiding in Christ, what you

desire is what he desires. So therefore the answer is yes,

right? That's that is that's how that

goes. If if if what I want is to grow

closer to him and my my all my prayers are focused on that

right is is doing more getting closer following him more than

than his answers are going to be yes and Amen continually right

the going back and we'll read through it real quick starting

in verse 3. Now by this we know that we know

him if we keep his commandments. He who says I know him and does

not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in

him. But whoever keeps his word truly

the love of God is perfected in him by this we know that we are

in him. He who says he abides in him

ought himself also to walk just as he walked.

And the assurance that we get from this is that if we follow,

he will lead us. And, and the truth is, if we

rebel, we are lying to ourselves and the truth is not in US.

And and the the thing with that is God isn't going to leave us

there. Revelation 319 says as many as I

love, I rebuke and chasten, therefore be zealous and repent.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in

to him and dine with him and he with me.

So as we, as we look at those, as we, as we look at those 3

verses or 4 verses, guys, don't, don't dwell on the one that

says, says that if you don't know, if you're not keeping his

commandments, you're a liar and the truth.

And then you hold on the fact that we serve a living God who

can speak to you and can do the work that he's asking me to do

that he's asking you to do. He's giving us the power to do

it. It isn't, it isn't grit your

teeth. Like I said a couple weeks ago,

this isn't about gritting your teeth and reading your Bible and

praying and being in fellowship and worshiping and going out

witnessing. If you are doing that, gritting

your teeth, that is a burden and we and you will burn out.

But if you were reading your Bible because you want to know

the guy that wrote it better, if you are praying because you want

to hear from him and be directed from by him, then he's going to

speak to you. If you are, if you're in

fellowship with his body so that you can that you can build up

those that need built up and be built up by others, right.

If you're worshiping the Lord and and just crying out to him

and just are amazed that we get to serve a living God and and

witnessing. If you're just out sharing with

people who this God is right? If you're doing that stuff with

that heart, then then this is is easy.

But if you're doing it with a works heart, all those same

things are burdensome, burdensome and and you will burn

out, right? So take the assurance from those

4 verses that we can know that we know because we serve a

living God. And Lord, I just thank you for

everybody here, and I thank you for this time and I thank you

that you are here with us, Lord, or two or three are gathered.

But Lord, that you filled us with your spirit.

You feel everybody here that you give us appointments out in the

world to just be speaking to people.

Lord, that you would guide and direct, that you would guide our

thoughts, that you would give us your ears to hear, that you

would give us your words to speak.

And Lord, I pray all this in Jesus name, Amen.