Here is one of John's key determining factors to identify true Christians. When someone claims to

be a Christian, we are instructed here to examine the character of their love life. For they're in

lies the proof of their claim.

Welcome to Grace to You. On today's broadcast, John MacArthur continues a series of landmark

sermons from his decades of pulpit ministry titled The New Testament Beginning to End. Today's

lesson is from first John and it focuses on the love that should characterize your life if you're a

follower of Christ. But before we begin today's lesson, John, it's hard to believe you began

preaching more than 50 years ago. In the early days of your ministry, your messages didn't even reach

beyond the walls of your home church, but today anyone with internet access can download your sermons

from gty.org. So as you look at how this ministry has grown, I'm wondering what's been the most

unexpected way the Lord has used this ministry. Yeah, I actually began preaching if you added all

up 60 years ago when I was very, very young. And yeah, in the early days of my ministry, I preach

sermons thankfully that weren't recorded because they should have died when they were spoken. They

should have evaporated into the air and never been heard again, but you have to start somewhere.

But when I got to the place where I was preaching something that was true and helpful and useful,

recording had become available. How wonderful is that? And today, anyone anywhere on the planet

can download my sermons from gty.org. Just think about that. This ministry has grown and grown over

the years. And I've preached messages that are available on the grace to you website. And they're

being downloaded all over the planet. And it's pretty remarkable. The word of God is not bound by time.

It is not bound by culture. It is not bound by geography and particularly in the world in which we

live. That is a shocking reality to me. Who would have ever dreamed of this? Certainly not me.

Yeah, thank you, John. And friend, thanks for what you do to support this ministry. Thank you for

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