There are a lot of things we wouldn't know unless God told us. That's something we all need to learn, that if we're going to know anything about God, we have to learn it from God. God cannot be known by our own reasoning. And you can't find out anything about God by reading the daily papers. There is no human being who can tell you about God. But God has been pleased to tell us about himself. One of the strong words in the first epistle of John is the word, no. K-N-O-W. You know. I find it to help to me anyway, whenever I go through a book, to notice the words that reoccur very often. Sometimes you'll find a little clue to the subject of the book. For instance, in the first epistle of John, the word love occurs thirty-three times. The whole book of the Corian only has the word love in it three times. That's a distinguishing feature of Christianity. distinguishing feature of the story of God and his thoughts toward us is love. Well, the word no occurs many, many times in this epistle. I don't, I'm not suggesting it should be purely mechanical in your studies, but after all there are certain mechanics of study. One of them is to find out what it's all about. You've got to find out what God said before you can find out what he meant. And if you'll go through a book and notice these recurring words, you'll get some idea what it's all about. The first epistle of John then is written to satisfy our minds as well as our hearts. There are certain things that we can know, and we need to know. Now we know from history that at the close of the first century and into the second century, there was a terrible heresy being taught, making real inroads in among the Christians. upsetting the Christians of the first and second centuries, and it's known as Gnosticism from the Greek word for knowledge. They claimed that they had a sort of super knowledge, but they had something that Christianity couldn't supply. It's all right to learn what little you could out of the Bible, but if you really want to know, if you really want to get a deeper insight into things, come to us and our philosophy will help you into a deeper knowledge. Paul and his letter to the Colossians does a great deal to combat Gnosticism, and I believe that John's epistle. has some things that are intended to help people to see that the answer to their problem lies not in the reasonings of men, not in science, whether true or false science. True science could only have to do with the physical world about it, or we'll say the universe about it. True science could only have to do with the things which can be determined by our five senses. But Gnosticism overstep that and by the means of philosophy claim to be able to give us some things, some deep knowledge. And John in his epistle repeatedly tells these people, if you want to know, you'll have to know it from God. God will tell you these things. God's Word will tell you these things. You can know these things only through the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to manifest God. Now, I don't know how many there are, but I found at least seven. manifestations in the first epistle of John. I'm not going to take them all up tonight. Maybe I was just looking for seven. Maybe they're eight. Maybe I stretched one and made two out of them. Maybe they're only six. But you read them and look them up sometime yourself. Many manifestations, things which God reveals to us, things which God shows us, which we could not know otherwise. First of all, in the first chapter, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life. For the word, for the life, was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. Now not only did the Lord Jesus come to show us the Father. Remember one of his disciples said, show us the Father and we'll be satisfied. Oh, no you wouldn't. That isn't nearly enough. There's a great deal to know besides to know the Father. And he knew that we needed to know a great deal more. than to have the Father manifested to us. However, he did manifest the Father to us. You and I would never know God as our Father except through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And through the Savior he can become our God and Father. He is not the God and Father of all. but he may become your God and Father through the Lord Jesus Christ, who very wonderfully came down to share him with us. But we're also told here that through the Lord Jesus was manifested the life of God. You and I couldn't know real life apart from the Savior, or I know the world talks about seeing life, getting out and enjoying life, and young people are enamored of the wall of things in the world which they think are life. I have a little lesson that I use for the boys and girls sometimes in which I show a very attractive, I got this from E.J. Pace. I beg, pardon, stole everything I have. From E.J. Pace, one of his cartoons, he shows a very beautiful woman Oh, she's all dressed up attractively. And then he shows that back of the mask is a grinning skeleton. And I sometimes present this to the boys and girls. Oh, it looks so nice on the outside. My, you see all the bright light. And you say, don't they have a wonderful time? They get out and have so much fun. Oh, I'd like to do that, too. A preacher whom I know allowed a man to put a TV set in his home on trial, and he came home about the second or third day, and his little girl, who was six years old, said, Daddy, why don't we get some beer to drink? It looks so good. He said, I couldn't tell that salesman quick enough. Come and get that wretched thing. I don't want my children to think that the world... of sin and wickedness is good and that this is life. Why, this isn't life. This is death under a disguise of life. If you want to know life, you'll have to know Christ. There's no other way of knowing real life. He manifested life. But there's something more than that. We're called here in this same book, and I want you to read it with me in chapter four and verse nine. In this was manifested the love of God toward us. Now it's one thing to tell a person that you love them, and it's another thing to manifest that love. Tomorrow morning, Lord willing, I'd like to take this up for Christians. There's an awful lot of lip love, an awful lot of love that's just taught. There's an awful lot of fained love of the brethren when the Lord exhorts us to unfained love of the brethren. But I'd like to say to you that God's love is not a fained love. It's not a pretended love. The love of God is real. Now, how do we know the love of God? Always say we see it in nature. No, we don't, anything of the kind. You'll never see the love of God in nature. The first chapter of Romans tells us that the things which may be seen from creation are the power of God and his Godhead. But you will not know the love of God from creation. The fact of the matter is, if you look at creation and see how that every bit of life lives on something else, it's just kill and be killed, you'd wonder if there was any love back of the whole program. The answer to that, according to the Eighth of Romans, is that creation, nature is all out of joy. When the Lord reigns, there will be nothing that will kill or hurt or destroy in all of God's wonderful kingdom. You're not going to learn the love of God from creation. Don't tell anybody that you can go out for a walk in the woods or go play golf on Sunday morning and meet with God just as well as you can, those who listen to his Bible being read. It isn't so. The love of God is manifested and only manifested in this way. In this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. The great proof of the love of God is that He gave up His Son for you. Now I have two sons. And now they're both married, so I have two daughters. But I'll tell you, I wouldn't give either one of those sons for the best man who ever lived, nor for all the men who ever lived. I couldn't do it. I simply couldn't bring myself to do it. God had one son, and he gave him up for you. He not only gave him up to come away for a while, He gave him up to the death of the cross. He not only gave him up to the death of the cross, but he gave him up to be made sin. He gave up his son to be blamed for all the wretched things that you and I have done. Think of that. All those terrible sins of which you and I have been guilty. God gave up his son to suffer in our place. If that doesn't prove the love of God to you, what kind of proof do you need? Please don't ever judge the love of God by your circumstances. As somebody put it, judge your circumstances by the love of God. Don't ever question the love of God. Christians do that sometimes, you know. I've heard people say they wonder if God really loves them. People who profess to be saved... These questions come to our minds. Settle those questions once and for all by a look at Calvary. The love of God has been manifested. But something else has been manifested in First John, and that is sin. Right manifests whatever is not right. And so, in the fifth verse, this then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. John has something else to say about this in his Gospel in the third chapter. I'd like to read this to you. For everyone that do is evil, hate is the light, Neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved. And the margin says, Discovered. Light discovers evil. When God turned the light on in the first chapter of Genesis, in the process of recreation, that light discovered the terrible mess the world was in. It isn't a pleasant process. When we talk about soul trouble, we mean just exactly that. If there never was any conviction of sin in your life, there probably was never any conversion to God. We preach repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, says the Bible. And if there's never been any real repentance of sin, there probably has never been any real conversion to God. Now, mind you, I'm not talking about how sorry you feel, for repentance does not necessarily mean sorrow. Sorrow accompanies it. Sorrow often works repentance. But repentance is getting a right idea about sin and turning from it in repulsion. Is sin repulsive to you? Well, it ought to be. It's a wretched thing. Young people don't ever be attracted by sin. I've lived long enough to see the sordid side of life. I've lived long enough to see what sin can do. I've been in the police stations many, many times and watched the miserable faces of young people who are all fouled up with the law. I've sat in the judge's chambers when he was having private hearings for juvenile delinquents. There's nothing attractive about sin when you begin to reap a truth. It's a terrible thing. If you look at it in the light of God's word, you'll not be attracted to it. Don't tell me that God is trying to rob you of something good when he's trying to separate you from your sin. They'll take you down to hell. That's what they'll do. And if you're a Christian, those sins won't take you to hell, but they'll take you to where you think you're in hell. Those sins will make you so utterly miserable. Sin against God can drag you down to where you wish you were dead. You wish you'd never been born. Don't you let the devil trick you into following the course of sin. Light manifest sin. in all its horrible reality. But there's something more than that. I want you to look at chapter three and verse five. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin. Do you know this? Do you know that the Lord Jesus was manifested to take away your sins? Take them away. When you get to where you want to get rid of them, you'll be glad to hear this. This is good news for sinners convicted of sin. It's good news that the Son of God was manifested to take away our sins. Do you know the joy of having your sins taken away? I'm not now talking about emotion. I'm talking about knowing facts. The emotion accompanies that, of course. If I owed a terrible debt, I'd feel badly about it. Then if my debt was paid, I'd feel wonderful about it. But the way I feel wouldn't have anything to do with a debt, nor with it being paid. That's a byproduct. The thing is I know that I have a debt because I've received a bill for it, and I remember buying the stuff, and I know that I'm in debt. Those are facts, and I feel terrible because they're true. Then when that debt is paid, I know it's paid because I've got a receipt, and because I know that the debt is paid, therefore I'm glad about it. Now let's don't get the two mixed up. How do we know our sins forgiven? Well, how did David know it? David wrote a wonderful song about this, the Thirty Second Psalm. Every Christian loves the Thirty Second Psalm. Oh, the blessedness, sins forgiven, iniquities forgiven, sins covered. That's the way the Psalm starts out. It's a wonderful song of praise to the Lord. How did he know it? Well, the Lord sent a messenger to David one day, and he said to him, David, you're the man. You've sinned against God. And then David acknowledged his sin, and the same man had a message from God to David, and he said, your sins are forgiven. Now, how did David know that his sins were forgiven? because he had a message from God. That's how I know. That's how you know, if you know it. We don't know it by how we feel. We don't know it because the preacher said so, or the priest, or the rabbi. We don't know it because of some peculiar emotions we have. We know it because God says it. The Son of God was manifested. The Lord Jesus was manifested to take away sin. He came here for that purpose. He was shown to us. He's revealed to us. He says to the Galatians, He's placarded before you. He's put right up on a billboard. This thing is spread in front of your face. You couldn't miss it. He was manifested to take away our sin. Did he ever take yours away? Well, if he did, you're glad. You may express it one way. I may express it another. My father was a very emotional man. He took the day off the next day after he was saved, went around, told all of his people. And his sister said to him, Willie, the rate you're going, you'll be in an insane asylum in six months. You're acting ridiculous about this. My mother, on the other hand, who was a very solid old Dutch woman, Never told anybody for a week. Somebody said to her, well, Julie, when are you going to trust the Savior? Well, she said, I trusted him last Sunday night. Well, I said, why in the world didn't you tell us? She said, nobody asked me. She wasn't very excited about it, but her sins were forgiven, just the same as her husband. It isn't how you feel about it. Some people feel very, very happy. I remember Mr. O'Brien telling us about a man who was very emotional about these things, and his business friends were embarrassed because he's liable to shout out Hallelujah, and he had a voice that was across between a foghorn and a cement mixer, and he's just liable to say at any place in the world, it didn't make a better difference to him. And one of his friends saw him come into his business office one day, and he thought, oh, my goodness, alive, what do I do? I've got other clients in here. And well, he saw a book there on physical geography, and he picked that up and handed it to him. He thought that'll keep him quiet. I won't give him a Bible. I'll give him that until I can get to him. And he said he hadn't been out there in the outer office five minutes until he heard, well, praise the Lord. Oh, he said he's had it again. And after a while, he got through with the other clients and called him in, and he said, Now tell me, what in the world did you find in that physical geography to make you shout like that? Well, he said, I knew it was a wonderful thing to have my sins forgiven and cast into the depths of the sea. But I just read in there that there are places where the sea is seven miles deep and it may be deeper. Hallelujah, he said. The Lord put my sins out of sight. Maybe if you felt the load of your sins a little bit, you'd want them put out of sight. I want to tell you tonight, if there is an anxious soul here, the Son of God was manifested to take away our sin. Are there great many more manifestations here in this book? I don't think I'm going to talk about any of the rest of them. I think I'm going to leave you with just these thoughts of the Savior. The Lord Jesus has been manifested. What does that mean? It means He's been shown to us. He came down to this world, and this thing was not done in a corner. Everybody knew about it. Not only the world that centered around Jerusalem, but Paul thought to it that it was known in a good many other parts of the world, and so did some of the rest of the apostles. I don't know how true it is, but they tell us that Thomas journeyed as far as the British Isles before his death. Could be. Some of them got over into the African continent. We know that. The Apostle Paul himself carried the gospel into Europe. In the sixteenth of the Acts, you have the first preaching of the gospel across into Europe. The gospel spread over the whole world, very likely in the very first century. But not only so, God caused it to be written down and preserved to us in written form. So that we have the whole story. of the gospel. Not only so, but the Spirit of God was sent into this world and he might repreach the story of the suffering and death of our Savior to successive generations. Not only so, but God has raised up men in every generation who love the Lord Jesus and who can't keep what they have, and who ought to tell it to others. and the gospel has reached even to our very doors. I'm so glad that a man came to our town, and our town doesn't even exist anymore. I went there the last time I was in that part of the country just to see where I was born. And all I found was two houses. sitting across on the crossroads just across from each other, and I went to one of those houses and I said, I'm looking for the town of Darby. And the lady said, well, you're here. And I looked around, I thought, well, I'm certainly not much impressed. This is where I first saw the light of day, and I told her so. And I told her that who my mother was, why she says I knew Julianne ever since we were girls together. I was there when you was born, she said. And so I said I found the right place. Here's even one who remembers about it. I'm glad somebody brought a tent to that little town. His name was John Moffitt. He was a little crippled Scotchman. God sent him all the way over from Scotland and sent him to that little mining camp with a tent. And he preached the gospel there and my father, who was a... bought a ill performer and had no interest in spiritual things much at all, was attracted to the singing and went down and heard the gospel. And he was saved a month before I was born, so that I had the privilege of being born in a Christian home, pretty tight squeak, but we made it. He was saved a month before I was born. How thankful I am that the Son of God was manifested, not simply at Calvary, but by the preaching of successive generations until it's been brought to our very doors. I want to tell you something. Tremendous responsibility goes with that, because you're responsible for what you know. He who knew his Lord's will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes. I remember hearing a man say, I'd rather go to hell from the middle of Africa as a Hottentot than from enlightened America. Why, is there any difference? Of course there's a difference. There are degrees of punishment, just the same as there are degrees of rewards in heaven. And you who have been raised in Christian home, you boys and girls who have heard the gospel all your lives, who could tell me as much about it as I can tell you, and reject the Lord Jesus, and are lost, you've got a tremendous responsibility. You men who have Christian wives, you women who have Christian husbands, you people who have Christian neighbors, you people who are called on by Christian pastors and teachers and evangelists who are trying to help you with the gospel, You people who receive the Bible into your home, and maybe don't read it. I think it was D.L. Moody who said there's enough dust on most people's Bibles to write the word damnation. And that's exactly what it'll amount to. But you and I have tremendous responsibility because the Son of God has been manifested to take away our sins. Has he taken away yours? When you say, what do I do? You do just this, as many as received him. To them gave you the right to become the children of God. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is announced to you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things. God expects you to receive the Lord Jesus. He expects you to take his word for these things. He expects you to be willing to let him take your sins away. He expects you to hate those sins enough to want them taken away. He expects you to allow him to save you. There isn't anything you can do. A man said to a friend of mine, you mean to save it? All I have to do is just sit here and fold my arms and let God save me. Well, he said, you're still adding something to the Word of God. He didn't tell you to fold your arm. He just told you to let him save you. Are you willing to do it? If you were a sick man, you couldn't help the doctor. The doctor would have to do the job. If you were drowning, you couldn't help the lifesaver. I taught swimming for two and a half years in the YMCA and I served as a lifeguard in a number of summers. That's one of the biggest jobs you've got when you try to pull somebody out of the water is to get them to quit helping you. We use all kinds of holes to keep them away from us, to keep them from helping us. They want to climb on our shoulders and put us in the bottom. They're so frantic as they think they've got to do something. What you have to do is to reduce them to a point of helplessness so you can save them. There's only one thing you can do, and that's let the Lord Jesus take away your sin. I pray you'll be willing to do it tonight. Our last study together in the first epistle of John for believers. Some of our friends are here for the weekend only, and this is our one ministry meeting of the weekend. I should like to compress as much as we can into this short time this morning. Because I feel that we have just started on First John, and I'm sure Father Tatum feels the same about some of the subjects he