1 John 2:18-27 - Knowing the..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Very good. My dear brother, my dear sister, as I said, I want to speak to you about this very important topic of knowing the truth.

I showed you those two verses in verse 21 and verse 27. And you see clearly there how the apostle John addresses this topic of knowing the truth. In fact, he makes that clear statement there that we know the truth. We have already addressed important topics of this portion of the Scriptures. We have spoken about the spirit of the Antichrist.

We have defined who the Antichrist is and what that spirit is. Also, we have spoken very importantly about the anointing of the Holy Spirit. If you remember, we have said now a couple of times and extensively, I hope, that we have been anointed by the Holy One, as the Apostle mentions in verse 20, and that anointing of the Holy One, the Holy One being the Lord Jesus Christ, the anointing is the Holy Spirit. that every single Christian who, by grace through faith, have come to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and is a genuine believer, has received the Holy Spirit, the anointing from the Lord Jesus Christ who was anointed Himself. The anointing that the Lord Jesus Christ received was a confirmation of His Sonship.

And hence, this anointing that we as Christians receive is also a confirmation of our sonship in the Lord Jesus Christ. So the apostle says that if we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, or if we confess the Lord Jesus Christ better using the words of John, then we have the Father. If we deny the Son, we do not have the Father. If we confess the Son, we have the Father. Then this anointing of the Holy One moves us to confess the Sonship of Christ, and hence we have the Father.

We are sons in the Son, and with the Son we are heirs of everything that the Lord Jesus Christ is heir. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ learned obedience as a son, By virtue of the Spirit of the Son of God in us, we can cry, Abba, Father, in the same way that our Lord Jesus Christ cried to His Father in Gethsemane, the same way that the Lord Jesus Christ prayed to the Father, the same way that the Lord Jesus Christ entrusted Himself to the Father. Because now we have the Spirit of the Son of God in us, and our sonship is not something disconnected, but rather is the sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those two are important topics for this local church to understand the portion of the Scriptures, but that is not the main point of the Apostle. The main point of the Apostle in this portion of the Scripture is to address truth and error.

There was error inside of the church and the Apostle wants to emphasize that we are not to go with the error of the Antichrist or the false teachers, but rather we are to remain or to abide or to stay in the truth. That truth is not only a what, but it's also a who. It is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, more importantly, with the Spirit of Christ in us. That is the truth. We're going to be reading now, my dear brother and sister, from verse 15, chapter 2, all the way through chapter 3, Verse 10, pay careful attention to verses 8-27.

We are addressing this topic of knowing the truth. This is the Word of the Lord. I'm reading from verse 15 from the English Standard Version of the Bible. This is the Word of the Lord. Do not love the world, or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, and the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever. Children, little children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard, that the Antichrist or that Antichrist is coming.

So now many Antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

But you have been anointed by the Holy One. and you all have knowledge, or you know old things. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar? But he who denies that Jesus is the Christ.

This is the Antichrist. He who denies the father and the son. No one who denies the son has the father. Whoever confesses the son has the father also. Therefore, in verse 24, let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.

If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the son and in the father. And this is the promise that he made to us, to you, eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you or seduce you. But the anointing that you receive from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and it's true, and it's no lie, just as it, that is, the anointing has taught you, abide in him or you will abide in him.

Verse 28, And now little children abide in him, so that when he appears, that is the Lord, when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him. because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sin also practices lawlessness.

Sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you.

Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Powerful words. Every time that we read that, right, brethren?

Powerful, very, very powerful words. Brethren, pay attention to those categorical statements. The Apostle makes, as I said before, in verse 21 and verse 27, categorical statements. No room, no space for an option or for something different. It says, I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know the truth.

Speaking to those, from verse 20, who have received the anointing of the Holy One. Every single Christian, according to the apostle John, knows the truth. And not only that, but according to the same apostle and what he says in verse 27, every single Christian has no need to be taught by anyone. But the anointing that every single Christian has in him or herself is sufficient to teach him not some things, but everything. All things we are told there.

Very important statement. How are we going to understand that, my dear brother and sister? If what we're doing here is somehow a teaching exercise, if somehow here we have come to be taught the words of the Lord, yet the Scripture tells us that we have no need of any teacher, that we have no need to be taught. We have an anointing that is the Holy Spirit inside of us that teaches us absolutely all things. Well, my dear brother and sister, the way that we do that is just simply by coming by faith and taking the Scriptures and what they teach and in the context of what they teach and trying to submit ourselves to what the Scriptures teach.

And let me just tell you from the very beginning, lest I fail to communicate properly what I intend to communicate with you. The outcome of this is that the truth, of course, is that Lord Jesus Christ, that the truth that we know as Christians is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And the way that we know the truth is by virtue of the presence of the Spirit of God inside of us. That is, that the Holy Spirit inside of each one of the believers has already taken us to that truth, the Lord Jesus Christ. But from this point onwards, we are in a process of learning the ways of Christ.

And the Father has promised to us in the Holy Spirit that we can know all things because it's God himself the one that teaches us. This process of being taught, this process of being instructed from God happens by faith and in the Scriptures and in the power of the Holy Spirit. in union and in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the only thing that I'm going to be saying with all of these things that I'm going to be sharing with you. I only want to show you, my dear brother and sister, a little bit of depth into that statement that I have made so that you will see from the power of the Scriptures, the glory that it is to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

The glorious privilege and the glorious blessing that it is to be a Christian. The glorious privilege that it is to know the truth, to know the Lord in a world that is surrounded and that is governed by the father of lies. A world that is surrounded by wickedness and righteousness and blackness. A world in which lies prevail. To be a Christian is the greatest privilege.

Not because through the Scriptures or through the Word of God, we're going to be able to discern and to know the ways of the government or men or the companies or this or that, but rather because through the Spirit of Christ, we have the greatest truth and that is that we know Him who has given Himself for us and that we can have a genuine relationship with Him. My goal, my dear brother and sister, is, as I was praying this morning for each one of you, is that at least one of you will see the value of having access to the one who is the source of truth and who knows all things and the one who has promised that will teach us all things. Brethren, we can know all things. all things. In times in which we are, you know, okay to, we agree to disagree, and we are okay to say that we do not know, that we are okay not to know, the scripture says that we have the anointing of the Holy One that teaches us All things, all important doctrines, my dear brother and sister, throughout history, Christians have debated about what is the most important doctrine that Christians hold?

What is the most important teaching that Christians hold? And let me tell you, some people might say that the most important doctrine is the doctrine of the Trinity, to acknowledge that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are God, that each one of them, each one of the persons is God, and that the Trinity is three persons. Or sometimes some people might say that the most important doctrine is the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if the Lord Jesus Christ is not God, then the atonement is not possible and salvation is not possible. And even though people have given many, many answers to that question and to that debate of the most important doctrine of the Christian life, let me submit to you that the doctrine of the Scriptures takes preeminence in the life of every single Christian.

Because if we do not have the Scriptures, if we do not believe in the Scriptures, if we do not submit to the Scriptures and if we do not live and abide in the Scriptures, then we do not know anything about the Trinity. We do not know anything about the atonement. We do not know anything about the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not know anything about the church. The Lord God has revealed Himself primarily in His Son, Jesus Christ, the eternally begotten, and He has been pleased to speak to us through the Scriptures, and the Scriptures inform us of the will of the Lord for His people and for this world.

Hence, the Scriptures take preeminence in the life of each one of the believers. We are not to hold any portion of doctrine or teaching apart from what the Scriptures teach. When men Depart from the authority of the Scriptures. When men question at least one word of the Scriptures, when men dare to question the authority of this book, then let me tell you, my dear brother and sister, you are to run away from that person. Because then the imaginations of men, then the thoughts of men are the ones that are coming to fill the gap to give an answer.

And the only one who can rescue your soul The only one who can heal your soul, the only one who can speak to your soul is the God of this universe through His Word. But even though the Word of God, according to my understanding, and I think the Scripture says so, is the most important doctrine that is to be held. The doctrine of the Scriptures or the Scriptures themselves are absolutely of no value. If the one who has the book in his or her hands does not have the Spirit of God in his or her heart. Then the most important thing is not to have a Bible in our hands.

The most important thing is not to have a book that tells us what the Bible teaches. The most important thing is not to have answers to theological questions. The most important thing is to have the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ genuinely abiding in your heart. Because when you have the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ abiding in your heart, then this book is going to be open to your eyes. Those of you who do not have the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ inside of you and know it, you are completely blind to the truth of God.

You're still under the power of the lies of this world and Satan. Your heart is still in bondage to the darkness of this world. And even though your eyes can observe the ink on this book, and even though your feeble mind can understand the concepts of the words that are written on the pages of this book, the eyes of your heart are completely blinded to the experience of Christ inside of you. Because the most important thing, my dear brother, sister and my dear soul, is not to have it. here, to have it here, and you cannot put it inside of you through your mind, through your efforts and through your dedication and through your mighty efforts of being a good person, a good Christian, a good religious person.

It is impossible for men to attain and to apprehend the things of God apart from the condescension of God coming down in his spirit and renewing your heart and giving you the eyes to see. Because, my dear brother and my dear sister, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks very powerfully of the truth that is found not only in the Scriptures, but the truth that is found in Himself. Have you paid attention to the words that our brother preached through John 8? John 8, verse 31 and verse 32, it says, that if you abide in my word, remember, this is very known among professing Christians, that if you abide in my word, if you abide in my word, the Lord Jesus Christ says, truly, you are my disciples or you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, he says, remember, and the truth shall make you or set you free.

powerful statements that the Lord Jesus Christ himself teaches us there how to know the truth. This is what I want to speak to you about, knowing the truth. And the Lord says in those two verses in 31 and 32 of chapter 8, that if you speaking not only to the disciples and not of the people that were there, but speaking to everyone, that if you abide in my words, You are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Piercing words. The Lord Jesus Christ states two important things there.

The process of how to know the truth. In the first three clauses there, he says that if you abide in his word, you are indeed his disciple and you shall know the truth. In other words, for you to know the truth. You ought to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, Knowing the truth is not something that is accomplished just with the intellect or with the mind.

It is a prerequisite. It is a necessity that if you're going to know the truth, that you are a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who do not follow the Lord Jesus Christ, those who are not disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, they shall not know the truth. But rather, according to the context of that passage, they are in bondage to their father, Satan himself, who has been sinning from the very beginning. And their eyes are sealed, they cannot see, they cannot behold the truth.

Because to know the truth, it is necessary that you will be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you are a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, Then the place to where you belong is the place in which you abide in the word of the Savior. Brethren, this is just as simple as this. Our conscience testified right now of what is the practice of my heart. What is the practice of your mind?

Do you abide in the words of the one whom you profess to be your Lord? Are your affections taken by the words of this Lord Jesus Christ in such a way, not that you visit His words from time to time, not that you are here in His Word from time to time as a religious activity, but rather that you abide in the words of the Lord? Because if you abide in the words of the Lord, you are indeed His disciple. You are indeed disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, when the Spirit of God has come upon you, He has given you the truth of Christ and now you decide to know more of the truth.

And there is no religion, there is no just simply label that can just remove that reality from us or that experience from us. The genuine disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ knows the truth because he's a genuine disciple and also abides in the Word of the Lord. That is the process of knowing the truth. But not only the Lord Jesus Christ speaks about the process of knowing the truth, being a genuine disciple, abiding in His Word, and you shall know the truth, but also speaks about the result of genuinely being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, of genuinely abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ, of genuinely knowing the truth, because he says, and the truth shall set you free. Are you free, my dear soul?

Are you free from darkness? Are you free from your sin? Are you free from these thoughts that you've had all your life? Are you free from secret things? Do you enjoy the freedom that only Jesus Christ can bring?

Do you enjoy the freedom that is found in the mind, in the heart? Has the burden of sin been removed from your heart, from your shoulders? Do you enjoy that freedom? Because it's one thing to sit, you'll be quiet in front of the preacher. Another thing is to be confronted by the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Are you free? Do you understand this word freedom? Not in the dictionary sense, but in the Christian way, in the Christian way that you can say, I had a burden unseen upon my shoulders. But when I came to Christ, the truth set me free. Indeed, when I came to Christ, I believed in Him, and the sin to which I was in bondage, the darkness to which I was in bondage, was indeed removed from me, because I have known this Christ, because I have genuinely experienced this Christ.

Do you know Him in such a way that you can say with the Lord Jesus Christ that you have been set free? It's so easy to speak words, so easy just to utter words and to throw them into the air. It is more difficult and more confronting to check your heart, your soul, your mind, and to indeed see if that which the Scripture says is a reality that is taking place inside of you. Because that is the two-edged sword power of this book, brethren, that the one who is a genuine disciple of the Lord abides in the Word. Food so delicious to the mouth and to the lips and to the tongue, we go and eat it sometimes excessively.

Places that we like and we enjoy, we go and visit them and we travel and go to those places and make the effort and pay, sometimes excessively. People that we want to know, we want to spend time with, we invest and we make the effort to go and be with them and sometimes excessively. Do you put the same effort? Do you put the same passion? Is your heart, your affections driven in such a way that you want to abide in the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Does this Lord of glory capture your affections in the way that other things capture your attention? Because my brother, my dear sister, salvation is not by feelings. But let me tell you that if this Lord of glory has not captured your emotions, let me tell you, your soul is in a very difficult place. Because this is the Creator of heaven and earth and everything that is in them. He gave His life upon the cross to save yours.

You who know your sins, the things that you have done. If this Lord that you call your Lord and Savior does not move your affections more than food and more than places and more than money and more than power, let me tell you, You have not experienced the truth that sets a person free. And of course, the Lord Jesus Christ says more things in that passage there. If you go there to John chapter 8, the Lord does not only speak to us of this truth that sets us free, but the Lord, brethren, gives us the identity, of course, of that truth that sets us free. John chapter 8.

The verses that I quoted were verse 31 and verse 32. It says in verse 32, "...and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you or make you free." You see it there, right, brethren? So what sets me free in verse 32?

The truth. And then the Lord Jesus Christ says, as our brother quoted in his prayer, in verse 86, and then he says, "...so if the Son..." Sets you free. You will be free indeed.

The freedom is given from Christ. It is the Son of God, the one who is truth. When I'm speaking about this freedom, I'm not speaking about anything different than a genuine encounter and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that you either have or do not have. That it either exists in your heart or it does not exist in your heart. That you have either experienced Him and tasted that the Lord is good or you have not.

That you have tasted this liberation, this miraculous freedom that comes from being in Christ or you have not. Because when the Lord sets someone free, that person is free indeed. It's the mighty work of the Lord Jesus Christ. How are we to know the truth? How do we know the truth?

We know the truth, my dear brother, my dear sister, by being a genuine believer, by grace through faith, coming to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, by abiding in his word, which is abiding in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, because truth is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. But the Apostle John in 1 John chapter 2 does not only refer to the truth as being Christ himself only. The Lord Jesus Christ is the truth, of course, and He's the source of truth. But the main concern of the Apostle John in 1 John 2 are those things that are concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, doctrinal truth.

Not only the truth that is personified, that's the word that perhaps you have in English, of Jesus Christ, but the truth of doctrines about the Lord Jesus Christ. A distinction that the same Lord Jesus Christ made throughout His ministry. Come very quickly to John chapter 12 and in John chapter 12 you can see the distinction that the Lord Jesus Christ makes of Him being the truth and also other teachings or doctrines, He calls them things about Christ, that are to be known and are to be understood. It says in verse 25 of chapter 14, you may remember You may remember, brethren, the promise of the Holy Spirit that is to come. In verse 25, it says of chapter 14, "...

these things I have spoken to you while I am still with you." Speaking of His departure, the Lord Jesus Christ. "...but the Helper..." Speaking of the Holy Spirit, right?

"...the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things." and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." Brethren, pay attention to the clear distinction that the Lord Jesus Christ makes here. He does not say that the Helper, the Holy Spirit that is going to be sent in Pentecost is going to remind you of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

Rather, this Holy Spirit is going to teach you all things. The same apostle uses the same vocabulary in chapter 2 about all things or teaching everything he says in chapter 2 in 1 John. So this Holy Spirit will teach you all things and then he distinguishes from that and will bring to remembrance all things that I have said to you. We learn from their brethren that the apostles who had been with the Lord Jesus Christ in His ministry, who had already been taught many things from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, they still had things to learn. I think the preposition they use is yet.

They had things to learn yet. There were things that they were going to learn by and from the Holy Spirit. And it only takes that you go through the book of Acts and then you will see how the Holy Spirit is actually going to reveal to the apostles things that they did not learn from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. So there were doctrines, there were teachings, there were things about Christ and his kingdom that the Holy Spirit was going to teach the disciples on top of the things that the Holy Spirit will remind them of. remembrance of the things that I said.

If you remember also the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28 verse 18 and 19, the Lord says that all authority has been given to Him in heaven and on earth. So He says, go therefore and make disciples of all nations. You remember that, brethren, right? Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe. All things that I commanded you, all things that I gave you, all things that I said to you.

Christians were to learn the things that the Lord Jesus Christ had taught, and Christians were to learn other things that the Holy Spirit was going to instruct them in their lives after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. So truth, my dear brother and sister, is not only the person of Jesus Christ and is not only to spiritualize the truth as coming to the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith. But truth is also seen in doctrinal understanding of things about Christ. And the promise that we have in the Scriptures is not that only we are going to know the person of Jesus Christ, but also that we can know all things. We can know things, brethren.

that everything that the Lord desires to know from the Scriptures, indeed, we can know it. That is His will to reveal to us, to illuminate us in all things. Now, brethren, when you open your eyes and when you see Christendom and when you see Christianity, what you find is division and separation in many important aspects of teaching and doctrine. That is against the testimony of what the Scripture says. The Scripture says that we can know all things.

And if I have a particular view about something and someone else has a particular view about that same something, either both of us are wrong or one is wrong and one is right. The Scripture tells us that through the anointing of the Spirit, we can know all things and that the Spirit of God teaches us all things. How are we going to understand this, brethren? might already help us to say all the things that I want to say. But if you go quickly to 2nd Peter chapter 2, lest I fail to communicate this, you may remember that in 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 3 onwards, the Lord Jesus Christ God says that through His divine power, we have received all things that pertain to life and godliness.

You remember that passage, brethren, that Christians have received? No, most things. No, many of the things that He says that His divine power in verse 3 of chapter 1 of 2 Peter, that His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. And of course, this is through the knowledge of Him. That is that through the knowledge, not only the initial knowledge, but the ongoing fellowship with Christ, We are recipients of all things that pertain to life and godliness.

That is that we are saved through Christ and through Him we can know all things and receive all things that we pertain to life and godliness. And now we are told also in 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, that the Scriptures profit for everything, right? Remember? Everything that is necessary for the person that we will be fully equipped, it says in verse 17, which is the verse that I have in mind. that the Scripture has been given by inspiration of God and is profitable so that the men of God, verse 17, would be fully equipped for every good work.

That is that we, through the Scriptures, can receive all things that pertain to life and godliness, and we can have the revelation, the illumination, whatever word you feel more comfortable with, the desire, the will of God for His church. The question is, then how then do we know the truth? How do we know the truth? In a general sense, I have answered that already, which is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. But let me try to go a little bit deeper into that.

And may the Lord help us to speak of these matters and to not only to speak of these matters, but also to put that into practice in our personal lives. Now, my dear brother, my dear sister, let me just give you a statement there that will help us to understand the thing that I'm just trying to communicate with you. Now, knowing the truth is a spiritual experience of fellowship with Christ. Knowing the truth is a spiritual experience of fellowship with Christ for new covenant believers. that requires faith and the Word of God and results always in understanding, genuine understanding.

Once again, brethren, knowing the truth, knowing the truth is a spiritual experience of fellowship with Christ. spiritual experience, spiritual experience of fellowship with Christ for new covenant, not all covenant, but new covenant believers or members that requires the word of God and faith and results in genuine understanding. That is, let me submit to you, not only the teaching of the Apostle John, but this is the teaching of the New Testament. And I hope I can make that clear to you. First of all, my dear brother and sister, knowing the truth is a spiritual experience of fellowship with Christ.

When I say experience, that means that takes the whole of the person. It's not an experience that is only in the mind. It's not only an intellectual thing that you do, but rather it's a whole experience of fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ and the characteristic of that experience is that it's spiritual in nature. Knowing the truth is not an exercise that you do in the flesh. Knowing the truth, the divine truth that is contained in the Scriptures is not through the many books that you may collect in your library.

It's not the many videos that you can watch of very good pastors. It's not the many resources that you may have and the books that you have read, but it's an individual spiritual experience. of fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. I think that Paul makes that very clear in Ephesians chapter 1. If you come with me, please, to Ephesians chapter 1.

If you remember the powerful passage there in Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1. Brethren, this is perhaps one of the most important things that we ought to understand. We live in times in which either hearing from God has to an extreme over spiritualized in a sense that becomes almost mocking and disrespectful, or the other extreme in which has been mechanized, I see if that is a word, mechanic in a box in such a way that approaching God It's just a simple correct exegesis. That approaching God is just having a good set of commentaries.

That approaching God is having the correct Bible study from a reputable pastor. That approaching God is just simply my disciplines of waking up in the morning and praying a prayer and reading a little bit of Scriptures here and there. That has been just put in a box that we go against what the Scriptures teach. that we go against what the spirit of the Scriptures generally are. And my dear brother and sister, let me tell you, I don't have the words to explain this, and I hope that is with much grace.

But brethren, we live in times in which that professing Western visible church lives in so much darkness that we're not even aware. that we are not even aware of our crooked ways, that we have changed a broken vessel, that we have changed the ways of the Lord for a system that is broken. And we are not even aware of that. We have changed the Scriptures for the wisdom of men. We have changed the Holy Spirit.

for emotions or passions, or we have changed the Holy Spirit for intellectualism, knowing Hebrew and Greek. We have changed the Holy Spirit for simply books and seminaries. We have changed the Holy Spirit for just following this reputable pastor with the tie. We have just changed the things that we have in this book. for things that are man-made, and whatever thing that is made by men is not of the Lord."

And this is what he says in Ephesians chapter 1. This is the apostle. Verse 15. For this reason, in verse 15, brethren, Ephesians chapter 1. For this reason, because they have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Brethren, speaking to Christians, those who have already professed, according to verse 12 and 13, who have already had hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. These people are Christian already and the apostle says to Christians, he's not speaking to other apostles, he's speaking to other Christians, slaves and people who are normal people in the church, that the Father of glory may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him." What had we done in the contemporary Christianity? Change that for unscriptural experiences? Or change that for a good set of commentaries that give me a good exegesis of the passage while I don't know the Savior of the passage?

We have changed, brethren, this spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, verse 18, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened. that you may know, but they know already the truth who is Christ. But he wants them to know more, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? And what is the immeasurable greatness of his powers towards us who believe according to the working of his great mind, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.

Brethren, my dear brother, sister, my dear soul, the desire of the apostle is that these believers will be enlightened, illuminated in such a way that they will increase in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, if our affections, if our emotions, if our feelings, if our heart is not taken by that, If our hearts, our emotions, everything that we are is just reduced down to this square intellectual understanding of Christ. Brethren, the Creator of heaven and earth, knowing the One who died for us, will not transform us and change us, will not drive us to our knees, will not take tears from our eyes, will not move our hearts and souls, brethren, will not change us, will not transform us, will only leave us with the correct words, but with a heart that is wicked and unrighteous. I don't think that that's the teaching of the Scriptures, brethren, because knowing the truth is a spiritual experience of fellowship with Christ. It's not fellowship with doctrines.

It's not carelessly rushing into the book just to get the meaning of something. He's not carelessly just rushing and coming to the book, prayerlessly approaching the book just for the sake of having an answer, of taking one verse here and there. That's why the understanding is shallow. That's why our understanding is shallow. That's why our sermons are shallow.

And we are contempt with that. That's why churches have shallow understanding and preachers are obligated to have shallow messages. So that people will come to and sit in the chairs and will not depart. Brethren, We are to abide in this spiritual experience of fellowship with Christ, who is the one that instructs us in all things. This spiritual experience is for believers of the New Covenant.

It's for believers of the New Covenant. Come to Hebrew chapter 1. And this is one of the most complicated things that I'll try to explain. So, my Lord, help us. Come to Hebrew chapter 1.

This is for believers of the new test, the new covenant. Perhaps let's start in the second Corinthians chapter one. Let's go to second Corinthians chapter one. Brethren, knowing the truth is a spiritual experience of fellowship with Christ. That is the first thing that I said for Ephesians chapter one.

Not in the flesh, not in the mind, but other than the Holy Spirit in us bringing us in fellowship with Christ. That is how our reading of the Scripture should be. That is how our coming to church should be. That is how our meditations in Christ should be. That is how we should live our lives when we think of Him and meditate upon Him.

That is how He should be, brother. He has saved us. He has loved us. He has redeemed us. He has given Himself for us.

If your soul has been going through a season of one year and two years in which you are forcing yourself to read the Scriptures this, and then you are deriving satisfaction because you have managed for the last season to read the Scriptures, pushing yourself. Brethren, there's something very serious with your soul. There's something very serious with your heart and even though many pastors will tell you, wow, it's very good that you're reading the Scriptures every day, that you're forcing yourself, that you're making yourself read the Scriptures. Brethren, if your heart does not experience a genuine desire to come at the feet of Christ, If your soul does not genuinely desire to be in the Word of the Lord, to know Him more, there's something wrong with your heart and with your soul. I'm not saying that every time that we approach the Scriptures, we approach it in the same way.

But if you have been walking in a season, in a long season, that that is your case. that coming to church is not something that you want, that reading the Scriptures is not something that you want, that knowing of Christ is not of your interest and that you're forcing yourself to do it every day and you have managed in the flesh, because you can do that, you know, we can do that in the flesh, to do, to push, to move, to go, to attend in the flesh and you are content that you are doing that. Let me just make you a favor, do you a favor, whatever the verb is. that please pay attention to your soul, because a genuine relationship and fellowship with Christ will set you free. And will even set you free from the desire not to be in the presence of Christ, which is a horrendous sin.

Will liberate you from not desiring the words of the Savior. Will liberate you from desiring the words of someone else or the wisdom of someone else. But now, as I was saying to you, the 2nd thing that I want you to see is that this is a privilege for the believers of the New Testament. Now, let us read here this verse, brethren, in chapter 1, verse 20 of 2nd Corinthians, I think I said. It says, verse 20, "...

for all the promises of God find their yes in Him. That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for His glory." And it is God who established us with you in Christ and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit. My ochre rhythm is just for emphasis. And who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

It says in verse 22, that is God who has anointed us in Christ, has also put His seal, like a king, a seal and given us His Spirit, according to Galatians 4, the Spirit of His Son, in our hearts as a guarantee. The Spirit of God has been given to the people of God in a peculiar and particular way that had never been given before the Lord Jesus Christ. That took place the day of Pentecost. The Lord Jesus Christ was ascended and then the helper was sent to the church. And the Holy Spirit came in a particular way to the New Covenant, to the New Testament, the New Covenant membership of people of God.

Of course, to regenerate them as He had been doing from the old times. Every single person who was generally saved was regenerated by the Holy Spirit. But also, as I explained to you last week, also to be anointed by the Spirit of the anointed Son of God who had to come to this world to live, to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, to obey everything that the Father had given Him, to go and die upon the cross and to also ascend. Now come, please, to Hebrews 1. In Hebrews 1, this is a verse that I have used now, I think a couple of times in the last couple of weeks, to speak to you there, to show you how in other times the way that God spoke to the fathers was through the prophets.

We have quoted that extensively many times. God spoke to the fathers, not to all Israel. God spoke to the fathers, those who were leading Israel through the prophets. That is in the old covenant. But in these last days, that is in the new covenant we have in verse one, remember?

Verse one. God has spoken to us, that is everyone who is a member of the New Covenant and now through the Son. That is that the New Covenant believer has a direct access to the words of God through the revelation of God, who is the Son of God Himself. God has spoken to us through the Son, Jesus Christ, that us is inclusive of all Christians. Every single Christian, by virtue of the presence of the Holy Spirit in them, has direct access to the Father, to the communication of the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember that what I'm trying to communicate to you is how do we know the truth or knowing the truth? And the first thing that I said to you is that knowing the truth is this spiritual experience of fellowship with Christ. That is for the New Testament, New Covenant believer. God speaks to us through the Son. Now, let me tell you that the way that He speaks to us is through the Holy Spirit that now resides in us in a different way than it was for the saints of the Old Testament.

Because now this spirit that is in us is the spirit of the anointed Lord Jesus Christ, who was the Lord Jesus Christ had to come to be anointed and to die and to be vindicated as the Son of God. And this spirit of the vindicated son now is in the believer. I'm not saying that the genuine believers of the old covenant did not have the Holy Spirit. I'm not saying that they were not regenerated or saved in the same way. I'm only saying that the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, the New Covenant Church times, has been given in a different way that now reveals the Father in the person of the Son of God.

And that happened because of the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm explaining this in a terrible way, so let me just try to summarize it and just focus on how I want to explain it. Please pay attention to this. Brethren, we have received the Holy Spirit in this particular way, as a result of the enthroning of the Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father. And this new covenant now is better than the old covenant, because in this new covenant, we now know the Lord.

We don't have anyone. We don't need to be taught by anyone. But everyone who is in the new covenant has been taught from the Lord because the work of the Lord Jesus Christ was finally accepted by the father. And the way that he was finally accepted is by the son sitting at the right hand of the father. And the sitting at the right hand of the Father, brethren, I'm saying here very high things, and the sitting at the right hand of the Father by the Lord Jesus Christ is the result of a ceremony that is started on earth and finished in the heavenly places.

Once again, brethren, the sitting at the right hand of the Father of the Son is the result of a religious ceremony, just as the ceremonies of the high priest in the Old Testament that started on earth at the altar of the cross and finished and culminated, if that is a word that you have in English of finished, ended with the seated at the right hand of the Father by the Son, Jesus Christ. In the old covenant, brethren, in the old covenant, the high priest will come and offer a sacrifice in the altar. And then they will go into the Holy of Holies to make atonement for his and the sins of the people of Israel. And they will have to repeat that and repeat that and repeat that, repeat that continually because they died and because they sinned. The Lord Jesus Christ did exactly the same thing, but He offered a sacrifice at the altar of the cross once for all.

Then when He was ascended, He entered into the heavenly tabernacle to offer Himself as a sacrifice before the Father. The Father accepted and received that sacrifice that it was finished upon the cross. And because He was accepted, He sat down at the right hand of the Father. Let me show you this ceremony from the book of Hebrews. We're going to review three portions of the scriptures, and then you will see it here.

Chapter one, pay attention to this ceremony that started on the earth and finished in the heavenly places. It started upon the cross and then it finished in the tabernacle in the heavenly places. This is a ceremony. It says in chapter one, long time at many times and in many ways, this is Hebrews. God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things. through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power." And then, in a simple statement, this whole teaching of the book of Hebrews is summarized. It says, after making purification for our sins, you see the preposition of time?

After. After making purification for our sins, what happened, brethren? He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, the whole ceremony. by which the Holy Spirit is given to the church and the new covenant established for us, through which we can know all things, summarized in that simple statement. Having made a purge or purification for our sins, after that he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty and High."

Quickly come to Hebrews chapter 12. The author of Hebrews will speak about this extensively, brethren. But these are just so lofty words that he uses that are sometimes difficult to track in what he says. Pay attention to Hebrews chapter 12. This is a verse that we quote very often and that we speak about very often, that speaks exactly of the same reality.

Verse 1 chapter 12. Therefore, you're there in Hebrews chapter 12. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Now pay attention to verse 2. looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.

And then sometimes we just leave it there or in the following statement, who for the joy that was set before Him, the joy that was set before Him, that is the goal, the objective that was set before Him, it says, for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. In Hebrews chapter 1, it says purification for our sins, here He says the cross. despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, who for the joy that was set in front of before him endured the cross, went through the cross and is seated at the right hand of God. The ceremony once again explained there in those two simple steps. In chapter 1, after making purification for our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Father.

We have the same thing in chapter number 12. Go back to chapter 10. I'm just trying just to prove you that that is what the author actually wants to say. Chapter 10. Pay attention now to this one and after that I will show you where in Hebrews this heavenly ceremony is.

Chapter 10, it says in verse 12, speaking once again in time, Hebrews 10, verse 12, you're there, brethren? It says now in verse 12, "...but when Christ Once again, when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting for the time until the enemy should have made a foodstool for his feet. Now here we have more information. The ceremony, once again, is stated in those two steps, the cross and after the cross, we have the sitting down at the right hand of the Father by the Son.

And now that the Son is seated at the right hand of the Father, He's waiting. until all His enemies are made a footstool for His feet." That is what we are told there. From the purification of our sins that happened at the cross, the enduring of the cross, the sacrifice of the cross, to sitting down at the right hand of the Father. This ceremony is explained to us in the previous chapter, in chapter number 9.

Bear with me that if you see this, brethren, I think this is going to help us much. Go to chapter 9, please. Now, the book of Hebrews is very powerful, but let me just say one comment here. In verse one of chapter nine, the author of Hebrews is going to speak about the worship procedures or the worship ways of the Old Testament. It says now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.

That's it. The only thing that he says is that the Old Testament brethren had this place of worship, the tabernacle, and that in that tabernacle, there was a way of ministry. He's going to explain what that way of ministry is to compare it to the ceremony that took place in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the tabernacle was a shadow that had been given to Moses from the heavenly things. And the heavenly things were already that were before priority than the earthly things.

The heavenly things existed before the earthly tabernacle existed. That's why Moses went up the mountain and saw the map or whatever you want to call it, the structure of that tabernacle, because it already was there in the heavenly places. To those heavenly places Christ entered, we're told in verse 11 of the same chapter. Then from verse 2 all the way through verse 10, He explains the ways of the Old Testament. It says, but now, but the comparison with Christ, it says, but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not the earthly one, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, He entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who brought the eternal spirit, offer himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God? This happened in the heavenly tabernacle. Christ Jesus entered and offered himself as the sacrifice, as the high priest. And then the author has summarized and explained this very easily in chapter 8. Bear with me and I finish with this.

This portion, at least. Chapter 8. Pay attention. Now the point in what we are saying is this. In other words, let me now explain to you more easily what I have already said.

Now, the point in what we're saying is this. We have such a high priest, that is the Lord who entered into the tabernacle to offer Himself as sacrifice and His blood. One who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven. This high priest, Christ, it says, not was, not will be, but rather is a minister in the holy places. As a high priest in the Old Testament, Christ in the heavenly places is a minister in the holy places, in the true tent, in the true tabernacle that the Lord set up, not men.

For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, that it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain, but as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is the ministry of a high priest.

But not only a high priest. He's now seated at the right hand of the father. He's king also. But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is much more excellent than the old. as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second." That is, brethren, that when Jesus Christ died upon the cross, was ascended, He was taken up in the clouds, He entered through the gates, He entered as the Lord of glory, He entered into the heavenly tabernacle, He offered Himself as the sacrifice, His blood, and being Himself God, there was no need of repeating that because it was finished, it was finished, completed. And once that was accepted, He sat at the right hand of the Father, and in Him, humanity, of course, in the church, and He's now the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And now he's seated there, he sat down, means that the work is finished, is completed. And because he sat down, he sent the Holy Spirit to his bride as a guarantee of the people that are going to make it until the end, not because they are good or powerful enough, but because he's sitting down at the right hand of the Father, already having finished and concluded everything that was required of men.

So then He sent the Holy Spirit to us, new covenant people, and we received and we established a better covenant that we are told there, in verse 10, if you pay careful attention there, I don't want to continue reading so much. But in verse 10, it says, For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds. I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be my people.

And they shall not teach each one his neighbor. and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord. Why? For they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest. In other times, in the old covenant, God spoke to the fathers through the prophets, and not everyone had access to the knowledge of this God.

But in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son. And this is the glories of this new covenant. That is a covenant of better promises in which we have the fullness of the revelation of God through the Son, Jesus Christ, and the members, the genuine members of this covenant, not the truth, And the truth shall set them free, because they have known the Lord Jesus Christ, they continue to know the Lord Jesus Christ, they continue to be instructed by the Lord Jesus Christ, because knowing the truth is a personal experience of fellowship with Christ, which has been given to the saints of the new covenant, that have the Holy Spirit of the anointing Son of God inside of them, that appoints them to this Lord Jesus Christ, so they can know His ways. They can grow in conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, brethren, I don't have much time.

But brethren, this is through faith and in the words of God. And only see this, what it says in Matthew chapter 13. See and pay attention to what it says in Matthew chapter 13. Speaking of this glorious parable, brethren, of the seeds. Go to Matthew chapter 13 and see it yourself there.

Because knowing the ways of the Lord requires the Word of God, faith, and it produces understanding. Believing the Word of God, receiving the Word of God in good soil is equivalent to understanding the Word of the Lord. Matthew, did I say? Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13, no need for me to continue reading so extensively.

You know, the parable of the sword and the seeds there, and you know, the four types of seed that fall into different grounds. But pay attention to what is said of the one that falls into good soil, verse 23. Are as for what was sown in verse 23, chapter 13, as for what was sown on good soil, This is the one who hears the Word and understands it. The one who hears the Word and understands it. Brethren, understanding something is understanding something.

It's not to be confused about something. It's not to know something, it's not to have doubt about something, because the one who hears the Word... Remember, faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. Now, he who hears the Word and understands it, he indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another 60 and another 30. You can just simply go to John chapter 15, and see how you are to dwell and abide in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And if you abide in the Lord Jesus Christ and his word abides in you, you will bear much fruit. And this will bring glory to the Father, because abiding genuinely on the Lord Jesus Christ is the way to be taught, the way that we learn truth. The way that we obtain the truth of God, the one that sets you free, that transforms you, the one that changes you is a spiritual experience of fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ that has been given to you, not because you're good, but rather because you have the Spirit of Christ inside of you. And He will lead you to all things. He will teach you.

We don't know how to love. He instructs us how to love. And it's not that He instructs us how to love, but explaining what love is and how it should look like, rather by coming upon us with His Holy Spirit. and making us love, moving us into loving as the Lord Jesus Christ loved. The process of learning of the Christian is a process of death.

It's a process of renewing of your selfish, self-centered, wicked, dark mind of yours and of mine, the dying of that for the change of the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ and the ways of the Lord. You cannot know the Lord if you don't spend time with the Lord. You cannot speak like the Lord if you do not know the words of the Lord. You cannot pray like the Lord if you don't pay attention to how the Lord prayed and taught His disciples to pray. You cannot fast, you cannot move, you cannot love, you cannot do if you do not spend time with the Lord.

You cannot preach if you don't pay attention to the preaching of the Lord. You cannot receive the Word if you don't see how He taught the disciples to receive the Word. The only way that we are instructed, the only way that we are taught, the only way that we grow in understanding of the truth is by a spiritual, genuine fellowship with Christ. And that is the only hope that we have to be set free indeed. Otherwise, we're going to spend the rest of our days in morality and in ethical principles and in pure religious activity, trying to purify ourselves a little bit so that when I present myself to my social environment, they will not think bad of me.

They will accept me in this environment and I will be able to be like they are. But brethren, it happens that God sees absolutely the depths of your soul, the depths of your mind, and absolutely everything that you do and have. And what He cares is not about how you look on a Sunday, but rather how your heart looks every single second of your life. And the only way that that can be changed, brethren, is by choosing the good portion. It's a battle of the affections.

Set your mind on things above and not on things of this earth. Set your affections on things above and not on things of this earth. Where Christ Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, it says. Set your mind, your eyes on things above and not on things of this earth." That is where Christ is enthroned.

That is where Christ is governing. That is where Christ is waiting for all His enemies to meet a footstool. That is where Christ Jesus is waiting for the Holy Spirit to take His bride out of this wilderness. A bride that will be purified. A bride that will be made like Him.

A bride that will come out of this wilderness leaning on her beloved. no leaning on emotions, no leaning on feelings, no leaning on systems of men, no leaning on doctrines, no leaning on books, no leaning on those things which are important for us to know certain things, but leaning on her beloved. Song of Solomon chapter 8, verse 6 through 8, "...he will come out of the wilderness leaning on her beloved." Not someone that is strange, not someone that I've heard of Him just from time to time on Sunday, but Her beloved, the true church of Christ is in love with Christ.

Are you in love with Christ? Let us pray, brethren.