Dean Miller: 1 John chapter 2. Now, the book of 1 John is one of my very favorite books in the Bible. I try to read through the book of 1 John at least once a month. I pick up this book and I read through it and I'll tell you why.

This is a book of assurance. John wrote his gospel, the gospel of John, for this purpose. John said in the Gospel of John that I wrote these things that you might know that Jesus is the Son of God and that you would believe on Him and that in believing you would have life in His name. So the book of John tells you who Jesus Christ is as the Son of God, that He is the way, the truth, the life, that no man can come to the Father but by Him.

John tells you the Gospel and how to be saved. 1 John tells people who are saved how to walk in the assurance of their salvation. Listen, it's vitally important that you know that you're saved. And if you don't know it, you won't grow it. If you don't know you, if you don't know that you're saved and you don't have assurance of your salvation, you will not grow in that salvation as the Lord wants you to grow in that salvation.

And there are many things and many factors that are gonna come into your life that are gonna make you doubt your salvation. When I was growing up, I was born into a pastor's home. When I was born, I was the first baby in our family. I'm the last of six kids.

I was the last of the kids, but I was the first that was born into a Christian home. And when I was born, there was something unique about my birth than all of my brothers and sisters. My dad was in the room when I was born. I was the only baby that he was there when I was born.

As soon as I was born, my dad took me in his arms. He laid me in my mother's arms and my mom and dad prayed and gave me to the Lord. They dedicated themselves to raise me for the Lord. They said, Lord, we want you to have our son.

And my dad prayed a prayer in that delivery room. My dad prayed a prayer that at the moment that Dean can understand the gospel, Lord, we want him to be saved. And I will tell you, I was five years old. I was sitting on the third row right next to my mother.

An evangelist was preaching about the return of Jesus Christ. And he was not preaching about it in a very fearful way. It wasn't like a scary thing, like you're going to be left behind and go to hell. He was preaching the return of Jesus Christ as the blessed hope and this anticipation and expectation to see Jesus, that we were going to rise to see him.

And I remember as a little boy, through the Holy Spirit in that service, I remember my heart being convicted and stirred about the coming of Jesus Christ. And I remember looking up at my mother. My dad was on the platform. I remember looking up at my mother.

My mother was raised in a broken home. She never knew a real dad. My mother's mom, I never got to meet my grandmother on my mom's side. She was killed in a car accident, a drunk driving car accident, way before I was ever born.

My mother's mom was the town drunk. My mom grew up in a very rough home life. She never knew her real dad. My mother had been abused many times as a child.

And when my mom got saved, my mom just fell in love with Jesus. My mother loved Jesus passionately, fervently. She witnessed to everybody. I will just be honest, when I was a teenager, my mom would embarrass the fire out of me.

My mom would stop the whole checkout line at the grocery store to witness to the cashier. She would start talking to people in the line, witnessing to people in the line. My mother was on her deathbed and the doctor came in and told my mother that she wasn't going to be able to leave the hospital. You're not going home.

My mom said, I am going home. He goes, no, you don't understand. You're not going home. She said, no, you don't understand.

I'm going home. We have the whole thing recorded on the phone. We, we, my brothers and sisters and I, we would made a pack that we would record when the doctor came in and gave my mom information so we could share it with the family. So all kind of knew what was going on.

And so my brother was recording when the doctor was telling my mom, you're not going home. And my mom said, sir, I'm going home. This world is not my home. I have a home in heaven and I want you to go with me.

And he said, what do you mean? And she said, well, not right now. She said, but I know where I'm going. And then for 13 minutes on a recording, my mother shared the gospel with that man.

She witnessed to everybody that came in her room. My mother was a passionate, passionate Christian. And I remember my mom's favorite song was an old hymn, I'm a Child of the King. She never knew a real dad.

Her favorite verse was in John chapter 20 when Jesus looked at Mary Magdalene after he rose from the dead and said, Mary, don't touch me. I've not yet ascended to my father and your father. And my mother said, Jesus was assuring Mary who didn't have, she didn't have a good dad in her life. She had been demon possessed and she met Jesus and loved Jesus.

And Jesus was assuring her that she had a father in heaven. And I remember my mother hearing that message about the coming of Christ. I remember seeing the tears of joy roll down her face. She was so excited.

It was like she was waiting for Jesus to come right at that moment. I got home that night. I got in bed. I was five years old.

And I remember looking at the ceiling, wondering if Jesus came tonight, how would I go through that? And then I started thinking, this is just how a little five-year-old brain thinks. How would I go through the ceiling? Would I have to run outside?

And then the Holy Spirit said, what makes you think you're going to go? if jesus came tonight you're not going to go that preacher said tonight that he's only coming for his own you don't belong to him i went into my dad's room my dad was asleep you ever been in those sleeps where you're kind of in between sleep and awake and i was standing over my dad five years old. I remember seeing my dad's eyes like kind of twitching like he like he knew something was off and you're just trying to like something's you know I just don't know and then I'll never forget my dad went and he looked at me and he went ah what are you doing and I said dad I need to be saved and my dad said we'll talk about that in the morning. I said what if you're not here in the morning and my dad got up that night went over to a little chair in his in the corner of his room took his bible out knelt down with me shared the gospel and i trusted jesus christ as my savior that night now as a teenager i will tell you i struggle with a lot of doubt of my salvation and first john became a very important book to me because this book is about knowing in fact in the epistle of 1 John.

Well over 40 times the little word no, K-N-O-W, is mentioned. No, no. In fact, I told you to look at chapter 2. We'll get back there in just a minute.

Look at chapter 5 for just a minute. Look at chapter 5 and verse number 13. These things, John's talking about this epistle, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that you have eternal life. Now his first gospel that he wrote in John, he wrote that we might know that Jesus was the Son of God.

Now he's writing to people who believed on Jesus being the Son of God, that they would know that they have eternal life. Why? That they might believe on the name of the Son of God. Listen, we got saved by faith and we walked by faith.

The same way that you got into the Christian life is the way you grow in the Christian life. You came to believe on Jesus Christ and now you're gonna live this Christian life victoriously because you've learned to believe on Jesus Christ. You're trusting him day by day by day by day. Now listen to me.

If you want to grow your faith, you have to know. You have to know that you're saved. And there's a lot of things that the old devil is going to do in your heart and mind to keep you from knowing. And so I want you to see it today.

We're going to look at a couple of things in 1 John 2. Go back with me to 1 John 2, please. And we're going to look at verse number one. my little children, these things have I written unto you that you sin not. Period.

And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him. All right.

Here's going to tell. Here's how we know that we know him. Here's how we know that we know him. If we keep his commandments, young people, listen very carefully.

There is something that is going to cause you to doubt salvation. There is something that's going to cause you to wonder if you really belong to Jesus Christ, really going to make you wonder if you're saved. It's going to make you always live in a state of wonder and disbelief. And that is when you have known and unconfessed sin in your life.

John is writing this epistle so that we would know that we are little children, that we have been born again, that God is our Father, that Jesus Christ is our dear brother, our Lord, our Savior, and that we've been washed in the blood of Christ and we belong to the family of God and that we have walked in the light as He is in the light and the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, We make him a liar. But if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He said, now I wrote this to you, little children, that you sin not.

If you want to know that you know him, keep his commandments. Walk in righteousness. Listen, live the life of Christ in you. Let Christ live in you.

Keep his commandments. Stay clean. Stay right with the Lord. And he said, there's a reason why I'm telling you that because sin will cause exactly what sin did in Adam's life.

It will cause a separation from God. It will cause you to break your fellowship. You cannot break your relationship. He will be your father and you're a born again child of God, but it will break your fellowship.

You will not be walking in the light. You'll be limping over in the dark, living in sin. Listen, young people, if there is a sin that does so easily beset you and you've got some sin in your life and you've got things that are missing the mark, you've got things that are against God, you're not living up to the Lord's commandments, that sin is going to cause you to doubt. You're gonna walk in an uncertainty because you don't have a good relationship with the Lord.

So what do we do? Look what he says in verse number one. My little children, these things are written unto you that you sin not, period. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

He is the propitiation for our sins. Not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. In other words, anybody can have forgiveness of sin, any sin, anytime, anywhere. So he said, now listen, you're saved and I want you to understand that you're saved and you're walking in the light.

So don't sin. Now if you do sin, you have an attorney with the Father who is Jesus Christ the righteous. And when you do sin, you need to run to him and have him plead your case, come to him with confession, come to the Lord Jesus. And Lord, I shouldn't have thought that.

Lord, I shouldn't have said that. Lord, I just gossiped about that person. Lord, I just told a lie. Lord, I just had a lustful thought.

Lord, that's displeasing to you. That was sin. Oh God, dear Lord, forgive me. We confess that sin.

And Jesus, who was our propitiation, that's the New Testament word for the Old Testament word, mercy seat, where the blood was applied and the covering was made, the atonement was made. He's our atonement. He's our propitiation. He is the one who goes to God and pleads on our behalf and we get forgiveness.

Listen to me. You need to deal with your sin or you will never have assurance of salvation when you're living in an unconfessed state of sin. It will separate you from God. You will do what Adam did.

You will hide from God. You will not have your devotion time. You will not be seeking Him. You know why some Christians don't seek the Lord?

They don't seek the Lord for the same reason that a thief doesn't seek a police officer. You think thieves are out there looking for a police officer? No, they're hiding from the police officer. And there are many believers who don't have their devotion time because they know they're in sin and they don't want to face the Lord.

Listen to me, you come before him and you confess your sin. And here's what he's doing. He's talking about this. Here's your number one enemy.

Your number one enemy is you. Your number one enemy is the flesh. All right. So you live in the flesh.

If you live by the flesh and you fulfill the lust of the flesh, listen, listen, you'll be living in sin. You're gonna miss the mark of God's glory and fellowship with him. And so John is saying, if you wanna know that you know him, confess that sin, get it clean, and then be obedient. Be obedient to the Lord.

Day by day, learn to be obedient. All right, watch this number two. Look down with me in verse number 15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Listen to me. Here's what he's saying. You cannot love the world and love your Father at the same time.

You cannot love what your Father hates and say that you love the Father. I had a guy tell me the other day, he said, yeah, I'm a Christian. I said, well, what church do you go to? I don't go to church.

I hate church. I said, okay, wait a minute, time out. You're a Christian? Yes.

So you believe in Jesus Christ? Yes. Do you love Jesus Christ? I love Jesus Christ.

But you hate the church? Yes. I said, sir, those two things don't compute. If you came to me and said to me, hey, Dean, I love you, but I hate your wife. me and you are gonna have a problem we are not me and you are not gonna have a good relationship if you hate my wife and the bible says that the church is the bride of jesus christ jesus loved the church he gave himself for it he shed his blood for it okay now watch this watch this if you're gonna love what god loves you're gonna walk in a great fellowship with him but if you love what god hates there's gonna be there's no love for him so watch what he says love not the world neither the things that are in the world.

Now he's gonna tell you what that is. Look at verse 16. For all that is in the world. All right, everybody circle the word all.

Somebody tell me out loud, what does all mean? All means, and that's all means. All means all, and that's all all means. So all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.

The world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. All right, everybody look right here for a minute. So now we have enemy number one is the flesh, ourselves, our old nature, and it's prone to sin. And so what do we do?

We have to confess that sin and then learn to walk in obedience to Jesus Christ. Now we come to enemy number two, it's the world. Now, what is the world? All right, let me give this to you very quickly.

In the Bible, there are three worlds, okay? Three worlds. There's the world that God made. We're standing on it.

It's got mountains and oceans and deserts and beautiful flowers and cheese curds. It's amazing. It's amazing. This earth is a beautiful place.

Sometimes I watch the nature channels and stuff and I'll watch these animals and I'm thinking, I cannot believe God made these things. Have you ever seen a platypus? those things are the wildest looking creatures you know they're venomous those things are venomous listen i do not want to die from a platypus that's like the worst way to die how did you die i died i i got i got bit by a platypus how did that thing even catch you it's like a duck porcupine Viper It's the weirdest animal I've ever seen in my life By the way, listen, I've already thought about it Here's how I want to die I don't want to die some weird way And my grandkids are like, hey, how did your grandpa die? Oh, he fell in the shower I want them to be like, hey, how did your grandpa die?

Oh, he flipped his Corvette at 170 miles an hour. He was awesome. Yeah, but he was also blind. He shouldn't have been driving.

But anyway, so the world that God made. Now listen, God made the world. And when he made the world, he made it good. He said, looked at all that he made and he said, it was good.

There's the world that God made. Then John 3, 16, for God so loved the, Well, wait a minute, is that a contradiction that we're not to love the world, but God loves the world? Well, no, God's loving the world. He loves the people.

All right, you're a part. So there's a world that God made. There's a world that God loves. That's you.

Everybody look at the person next to you and say, you're the world that God loves. Now everybody look at the person on the other side of you and say, I'm the world that God loves. Yeah. Listen, you've never met a person that wasn't part of the world that God loves.

God loves the world and gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God loves this world. But wait a minute. There's a world that God made and there's a world that God loves.

There's a third world. There is a world that hates God. And you need to understand this. The word world is the word cosmos, which means an order or a system.

We talk about the cosmopolitan area. It's a big city. It's got businesses and residences and roads and interstates. And it's a system.

It's a cosmos. Girls, when you put on cosmetics, it's an order. What you're really doing is putting your face in order. And we're really glad that you did that. boys I'm sorry that's just the face you were stuck with and you cannot put it in order so cosmos it's an order now listen to me there's a world that hates God there is a system an order that is this world it is a system that is in the world that God loves on the world that God made, and it's a system that hates God.

It has a philosophy. It has a prince. It has everything, everything that arts and entertainment and education and everything has one end, and that is to hate God. Everybody with me so far?

And the Bible tells you not to love that world. Now, how do we know what that world system is? Well, God tells you, all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh. Well, what is that?

That is the desires of our flesh. That is, we're gonna use the word passion or pleasure, okay? Let's use the word pleasure. All that is in the world are pleasures, things to do.

That's our flesh. All that is in the world is the lust of the eyes. That's possessions. things to have and all that is in the world is the pride of life that's positions things to be so listen to me young people all this world system that Satan has this world system that hates God what it operates on is it offers you things to do things to have things to be and as long as Satan can get you desiring things to do pleasures to do things that you can have and things that you can be apart from god those are all ways that that demonstrate demonstrate how to hate god listen listen this is what adam and eve this happened to eve at the garden the devil showed her that tree and said look that tree is good for food she saw that was desired it was it was pleasing to the eyes that's the lust of the flesh. She can eat of this tree and have a pleasure that God didn't give her.

He said, it's also, it's also desire that you, that will make you wise. Oh, she could have something that God didn't let her have. And if you eat of that, you will be as God. She could be something God didn't make her to be.

So all that is in the world were things to have, things to do, and things to be. That's what this world offers you. Listen, that's the battle that you're in today. The battle is, what are you going to do?

Are you going to do the things that please him and let God give you the things? Listen, at his right hand are pleasures forevermore. Serving God is one of the most pleasurable things you'll ever do. It is the most pleasurable thing you'll ever do.

But Satan wants you to find pleasures apart from God. That's the world. There are many things God wants you to have. The Bible says there's no good thing that he'll withhold from them who walk uprightly.

God wants you to have all kinds of wonderful things. But listen, listen, if you go get what you want outside of God, that's part of the world. The Bible says that God has called you, God has saved you, not by works, but by grace. But he has saved you unto works that he has before ordained before the foundation of the world, that you would walk in those works.

God has saved you to be somebody. But if you want to go be somebody outside of God, that's the world. Now listen, young people, the world is always pulling at you with temptations. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, things that you can do and have and be outside of God.

That's the world system. And the world is your enemy. And the Bible says, love not the world. Listen to me, you start living a worldly life and pursuing your own desires, the desires of your flesh, the desires of your life, of your eyes, the desires of your heart to do and to have and to be what God doesn't want you to do and to have and to be.

You're going to walk in doubt. You understand that? It's going to cause you to doubt. Then I'll say the third thing very quickly, and we've got to close.

So you have the flesh, you have the world, and then in chapter 5, all through here in chapter 3 and chapter 4, he begins to talk about the spirit of Antichrist. This is the spirit of Satan who is at work in the world, and I've got to hustle through this very quickly, but here's what he's going to do. This spirit that is in the world will cause a man, will cause a man to feel separated from God. This is a spiritual battle that Satan is gonna do.

He's our enemy. But let me tell you how you overcome him. You overcome him by the record that God gave. Everybody look with me very quickly in 1 John 5 and verse 11.

I have to rush this last point, but I want you to hear it. 1 John 5 and verse 11. And this is the record that God have given unto us eternal life. And this life is in his son. Now he's going to give us 19 one syllable words that even a child can understand.

Now I'm talking about like, this is how you learn how to read. See spot, run, run, spot, run. See spot, see car, see car, spot, see car, hit spot, hit spot, car. See spot be a spot?

Poor spot. Spot man splat. Now, that's how we learn to read with one syllable words. God's going to give you 19 one syllable words that hold your soul between heaven and hell.

Here it is. Verse 12. He that hath the son hath life and he that hath not the son of God hath not life. These things are written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God know.

How do you know that you have the Son of God? All right. I'm glad you asked. Look back up here in verse number four.

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that overcometh the world. Who is that that overcometh the world? The he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.

All right. How many of you have believed on Jesus Christ as the Son of God and you've been saved? All right. Have you overcome the world?

Yes. That means you've overcome the world. You've overcome the flesh and you've overcome Satan. That means that you're going to walk in victory.

You can have victory over those three enemies. Look at verse number five, or verse number six. This is he, speaking of Jesus, that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ. Not by water only, but by water and blood.

Now, what does that mean? This is he that came by water and blood. Everybody look at me for just a minute. Here is the finished work of Jesus Christ.

This is the finished work, water and blood. How do I know that I'm saved? How do I overcome Satan's doubting doubting and deception and temptation to not grow in my faith and not to know that I'm saved. I overcome it by the finished work of Jesus Christ.

He came by water and blood. What does that mean? His blood paid the price, the penalty of my sin, the wages of sin is death. Jesus shed his blood and died.

The water speaks to the purification that Jesus gives me, the sanctification. He saved me with his blood. He sanctified me through his purification. And now listen, I have been saved and sanctified.

I've been set apart. I belong to him. When they pierced Jesus' side, what flowed out of his side? It was so miraculous that the Roman centurion, the Roman soldier that pierced him, fell on his knees and said, truly this man was the son of God.

And there was a water and blood. Mr. Top Lady, who wrote the song Rock of Ages, he captured this so well when he said, see the water and the blood from his wounded side, which flowed, be for sin, the double cure, save from wrath, that's his blood, and make me pure. That's the washing of Jesus Christ.

Listen to me. Listen to me. Young people, you know how I know I'm saved today when Satan is the doubter and the tempter? I know I'm saved because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Everybody say, finished work of Jesus Christ. Say that. You know how I know I'm saved? Because Jesus paid it all.

And what he saved, he keeps saved. I've been saved and I've been cleansed. Number two, watch this. Not only by the finished work, but look at chapter five or six.

And it is the spirit that beareth witness because the spirit is true. Then he's gonna talk about, there are three that bear witness in heaven. Verse number nine, if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. What does this mean?

Okay, watch this, watch this, watch this, watch this. So how do I know I'm saved? The finished work of Christ. Say that.

How do I know I'm saved? Number two, how do I know I'm saved? The faithful witness of the Spirit. The witness of the Spirit.

The Spirit tells me the truth. Spirit tells me and witnesses in me that I'm saved. And he says, if you can believe the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. So what does that mean?

Listen, some of you are like, I don't know if I'm saved. How do I know? I mean, well, the Bible says so. The Holy Spirit witnesses in you.

And if you can believe the witness of men, you say, what does that mean? Okay, how many have ever been to the doctor? How many ever got a prescription? How many ever went and got it filled?

How many ever swallowed the pills? How many of you could understand what was on the bottle? You did not. You don't know what was on that bottle.

It had words. The doctor's handwriting scratched it out, went to the thing. You came and read that. The pharmacist got it.

I'm like, okay, put all this in the bottle here. Take three of these every day. And you did. You didn't know what you were taking.

You just swallowed them down. You know what you took those by? By faith. You believed the witness of man.

Have you ever been on an airplane before? How many of you knew the pilot personally? How many of you knew the mechanics that worked on the plane? How many of you knew that that plane was mechanically sound?

You didn't know. You just got in there and sat down and ate your peanuts. you believe the witness of men how many have ever eaten a taco bell toxic smell yes i love taco bell anyway i love taco bell how many of you how many of you how many of you ever knew if the guy making the food had hepatitis it's very high chances at taco bell but you just walked in there and ordered and they put the food down and you just gobbled it up you believe the witness of men you take the witness of men at face value well listen to me if you can take the witness of men the witness of God is far greater when God says something is so it's so no question no hesitation I believe the witness of God and then watch this very quickly verse number 10 he that believeth on the son of God hath the witness in himself he the believe it not, God has made him a liar because he believes not the record that God gave his son. And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life. And this life is in his son.

Verse number 13, these things have I written unto you. How do I, how do I know I'm saved? The finished work of Jesus Christ. How do I know I'm saved?

The faithful witness of the spirit. And then how do I know I'm saved? Because of the scripture. The forever word of God has been written down.

When I begin to doubt, I open up this book and I go back. What must I do to be saved, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And I say, the Bible settles it. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

I don't have to feel it. I don't have to wonder. I have to trust that what God says in this book and what the spirit of God says in my heart and the finished work of Jesus Christ, give me assurance. And young people, listen to me, when you know it, then you'll grow it.

When you know you're saved, now you can walk forward in assurance and confidence. Listen, but you have to overcome the flesh through obedience. You overcome the world by loving the father and you want what God wants for you. You want what God can give you, what God can make you, what God can do for you, not what the world offers.

And you overcome the tempters, the wicked one and his deception. You overcome through the finished work Christ, the faithful witness of the spirit and through the forever scripture that God gave you, that this is the record. Many years ago, my wife and I had this really weird thing come up in our taxes. And do you know what the IRS wanted us to do?

The IRS wanted us to prove that we were married. It's the weirdest thing. How do you prove that you're married? So I said, come here, babe.

So I took a picture, a selfie of us kissing, sent it to the IRS. Well, that didn't work. I sent him a family picture. That didn't work.

I wanted to send him our wedding video. And like tell him about the music and all the flowers and the whole experience, you know? This is what happened. It was on this, the 12th of January in Florida.

The flowers were this color and it was wonderful. And oh, I had this warm and fuzzy feeling when I kissed her. I know we're married, but they wouldn't accept that either. I had to go to the courthouse and I had to get a copy of our marriage license, an official record, and send it to them.

And they're like, okay, you're married. Now, let me tell you something. You know how I can prove to the devil when temptation comes and I'm not saved? know how I can prove that I'm walking in Christ?

I have an official record. I just give him God's word. So let me tell you what God said about salvation, right? That whosoever, that's me, believeth.

That's what happened on him. That's Jesus shall not perish, but have everlasting life. And I have a record. It doesn't matter how I felt.

It doesn't matter what color the chair was that I knelt down next to with my dad. Doesn't matter all the feelings that I had when I got saved. Listen, I just came to Jesus Christ by faith, put my faith in him. And the Bible says, that's it.

Amen. And young people, if you walk in that victory every single day, get up every day and know and go forward in assurance, you will overcome. You will have confidence and assurance and victory in the Lord Jesus.