1 John chapter 5. Let's read verses
7 through 12. 1 John 5, 7 through 12. There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these
three are one. And there are three that bear
witness in earth, the Spirit, Holy Spirit, and the water, and
the blood. And these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God,
which he hath testified, or borne witness of his Son. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. Spirit of God is
in him or her. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. And this is the record. That
God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Now the Lord is clearly telling
us here what eternal life is. Who has it? I want to know. Don't you? In the next verse,
it says, these things are written unto you that believe that you
may know. I want to know. You know, it's a good sign if
you want to know. Certainly, if you hunger and
thirst and want this life, you already have it. Maybe you don't
even know it. But that's a sign of life. I
want to know, I want to have assurance that I'm in Him. These two verses, verses 11 and
12, very plain, very simple. The Lord's truth, God's word
is so simple yet profound. Most of these words, I think
there's 19 words in this, 36 words I think, I counted them,
I forgot, in these two verses, all of them but three or four
are one-syllable words. You couldn't say anything plainer
or simpler that a child could at least understand in their
head. All right, verse 11 says, this is the record, this is the
testimony of God, this is the witness, this is what God has
written down and duly recorded, written down, the record, from
the very beginning, that God hath given to us, we want to
see who us are, eternal life. And this life, this life, we're
talking about eternal life, spiritual life. Life of God. There are
three kinds of life. Plant life, animal life, and
spiritual life. This life, spiritual life, is
in His Son. It's in His Son. All right? He
says this is the record. Verse 7, we've already looked
at that. There are three that bear record in heaven, right
now, in heaven. Father, the Word, and the Holy
Ghost. These three are one. One in purpose,
one in power, one in essence, one in purpose and will and mind
and covenant. Ephesians 1, we've already seen
this, but turn there and I want you to mark Ephesians 1. We will
come back there and see who us is. Is that good English? Who
us are. Ephesians 1, but here's the purpose
that God made before time began. We're talking about the will,
the mind, the covenant that God ordained and purposed. Verse
10 and verse 9, He made this known unto us. He's made this
known unto some people, His people. Here it is, verse 10, that in
the dispensation of the fullness of times, when it's all over,
when it's all said and done, He's going to gather together
in one, all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth, even
in Him. Creation, everything, the whole,
all of time and eternity, everything God did and purposed has to do
with His Son. That's why He made the worlds
for the glory of His Son. That's why He made a a people,
a kingdom to praise his son and to enjoy his son and be like
him. Barnard, I just like that old man. He
said God loved his son so much that one morning he said, I want
to have a bunch of boys just like him. Well, it's very simple,
but it's true. God predestined the people to
be conformed to the image of his son. That's what salvation's
all about. Verse seven, there's three that
bear record in heaven. And this is the testimony of
the triune God, all right? And as we saw last Sunday, we're
not gonna see the Father. We won't see the Spirit. God
is the Spirit, so is the Holy Spirit. That's a great mystery,
but we are gonna see the Son. He's God too, just like the Father,
just like the Holy Spirit. He's the one. He's the one. And the Lord purposed it that
throughout all eternity, we're going to praise the Son. And
he that honoreth the Son, honoreth the Father. That's the way God
had it. All right. Purpose. All right, look at verse nine. It says there are three, verse
eight, there are three that bear witness in earth. Three that
bear witness in the earth. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
the water, and the blood. And these three agree in one
right now on earth. And what we are doing right now,
hopefully, The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God is bearing
witness with us. Our Lord said, the Holy Spirit,
the Spirit of Truth, He said this to His people, to His disciples,
I'm going to send Him to you. I'm leaving to sit on the throne,
to reign, to rule until it's time for me to come back. But
I'm sending the Holy Spirit. The world can't see Him. The
world doesn't know Him. The world doesn't believe Him.
But you do, He said. You know Him. He's with you.
How did the Lord say that he would bear witness with our spirit? First John 14 and 16, he said,
he's the comforter, the spirit of truth. He'll come and he'll
bring to remembrance all things that I have said. He'll take
the things of mine and show them to you. He's going to show you,
bear witness of, reveal things to you from the word about me. and gonna give you comfort in
me, peace in me, joy in Christ. That's what the Spirit does.
The Spirit, that's the witness that He bears. Alright, it says
here, the water and the blood, what's that? That's Christ crucified. We can't say that too much, can
we? This is what the church is all
about. This is why the church exists. He purchased with his
own blood. Water and blood, justification,
sanctification, it's all in Christ. We saw that, didn't we? It all
came out of the side of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to scriptures. And Christ said, except you eat
my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part in me. But he
said, he that eateth the flesh and drinketh the blood of the
Son of God That's life. So, and this really is the sign
of life. He that hath the Son, a man gets
up every Sunday and just preaches Christ. If Christ is your life,
you rejoice. He preaches Christ crucified
and some may say, we've heard that before, let's go on to something
else. No, we eat that and drink that and live off of Him. Paul
said, the life I live now in the flesh, I live by the faith
of the Son of God who loved me. He said, I'm crucified with Christ.
He said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of my
Lord Jesus Christ. Do you understand that? Sure
you do. Those that have life do. Paul said to him, I'm determined.
He came to Corinth, that place that was full of politics and
sports and arts and crafts. It was a beautiful place, lots
to see, sights to see. He said, I don't need to see
any of this. He said, what you need to see
is what I have seen. Christ's high and lifted up.
He said, I'm determined not to know anything among you. I'm
not going to discuss the wisdom of this world. That's 1 Corinthians
1. And this is 1 Corinthians 2,
he said. All the wisdom of this world is nothing to me. I'm determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That man has life. It's the life
of God in the soul of man. What is it? Christ. He that hath
the Son hath life. Getting way ahead of myself,
but that's fine. Got to Christ real quick, didn't
we? Reminds me of an old, my dad
used to tell this illustration. A young preacher got up and preached
a sermon and he got finished and came down to an older preacher
and asked him, what'd you think of my sermon? He said, oh, it's
a good sermon, good, well-spoken and good elocution and your illustrations
were good and all that. And he said, it really wasn't
a very good sermon at all. And the young man said, why? He said, you didn't preach Christ. He said, Christ wasn't in the
text. That old fellow said, Christ
is in every text. It's the job of the preacher
to get to him as fast as you can to find him and preach him. Christ said, if I be lifted up,
I will draw all men unto me. What is heaven all about? Christ. Everybody there is taken up with,
enamored with, in admiration of, in love with, just thrilled
to be with Jesus Christ. What I'm saying right now, does
this spark a note in you? You must have life. That's what
this means. As I said, way ahead of myself.
All right, 1 John 5. He that believeth. Verse 10. On the Son of God. On the Son
of God. Everybody says they believe in Jesus. Jesus. He says, he
that believeth on the Son of God. Most believe in a historical
character named Jesus, a gentle Jesus, meek and mild, a healer,
the miracle worker, the good man, the example, God's people. fall at the feet of the Son of
the Most High God in fear. These disciples, remember Luke
8, when they saw the Lord still, those raging waves and that wind,
told to wind, it says they feared greatly. And what manner of man
is this? They all knew this is no mere
man. This is God come to earth. They had life. The Son of God
had come and given them an understanding that they might know Him that
is true and they're in Him. They were with Him in the boat,
weren't they? They sure were glad He was God. Because they
reached their destination. Why? Him. He that believeth on the Son
of God. Brethren, I don't say this boastfully. I say this in praise and honor
and glory to our Lord. I believe on the Son of God.
Do you? I do. I do. There was a time I didn't. Brethren,
there was a time I didn't care. And there's some in here that
don't right now. And I'm hoping and praying that the God of Heaven
will speak to them. He doesn't have to. We don't
deserve it for Him to. But God. There was a time I just didn't
care. I didn't believe on Him. I believed everything about Him.
I knew the doctrine in my head as a child, but I didn't believe
on Him. All right, it says here, he that does has the witness
in himself. What? The Spirit of God. He that
believeth not God hath made him a liar. Called God a liar. Made Jesus Christ a liar. He
believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. Psalm 19
talks about two books that bear record of the Son. Creation,
the whole creation, the heavens declare His glory. Whose glory?
The Son. He goes on to talk about, he
put a tabernacle for the sun, for all of earth to see, heaven
and earth to see the sun. A tabernacle, who's like a strong
man come to run a race. Who's that? Jesus Christ. Heavens declare His glory, the
firmament showeth His handiwork. Day under day, there's no language
on earth that doesn't see this, that God has made to the praise
of the glory of His Son. And without excuse, His power is eternal. God had
it clearly seen in the creation and things that are made. And
then he talks about a book that God wrote, Psalm 19, a book,
the law of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord, the statutes of
the Lord. What is it all about? In the
volume of the book, it is written of Christ, to bear witness of
Christ. Alright, so it says, he that
believeth not the record is calling God a liar. And he that believeth
not is just a blind fool. A fool that said no God. And
as we said last week, everything we believe of God, of life, of
eternal life, salvation, all these things that we're looking
into this morning, is all based on the Lord Jesus Christ, this
one who came. He's given, the son of God has
come and given us this day. We believe everything because
he came, he spoke, he did this, he did that, and that's why we
believe him. And those that don't are calling
Jesus Christ a liar. You know what God's people say?
Let him be true and every man lie. This is the only one that
can't lie. He said, I am the truth. We believe
him. I believe him. By his grace. There's a pro football quarterback
named Aaron Rodgers. I don't know if any of you saw
this recently. But he was interviewed. His parents were, or are, so-called
Christians. Anyway, they interviewed him
and he began to tell what he really believed about religion.
He said, I don't believe any of it. I believe all this talk
about heaven and hell is just nonsense. It's a crutch people
need and all this talk about being saved and having Jesus
and being saved. No, he said, I don't believe
any of that. And he's just saying what most
people think, you know? Most people think that. But you
know what he's doing? He's calling Jesus Christ a liar. There's one thing absolutely
certain that all flesh is going to find out. And they're going
to stand before him someday. How do you know that? Because
Christ came. But here's the thing, he has
to reveal himself to you. We don't believe facts. We believe
a person. This is why you don't come to
a knowledge of the doctrines of grace. You come to Christ. You come to know a person. My
dad used to always say that. You don't come to Christ through
doctrine. You come to doctrine through
Christ. You know, Saul of Tarsus. He didn't believe in Jesus. He
didn't believe any of this. He was a good Bible-believing
man, though, when he thought, thought he knew God. He didn't.
And one day, he thought, I'm going to put, do away with this
myth, this fable about this God-man coming down. I'm going to do
away with this. One day, the God-man came to him. He says,
oh, Now you will do what I say you will. And he was on his knees,
on his face wasn't he? He called him the Lord. So he
that believeth not calls him a liar. All right, verse 11.
These words are so simple yet so clear. This is the record. This is the book, the written
book. This is the testimony, this is the witness of God, this
is what God has spoken, what God has written, this is it. This is the record. That God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
Let's just take each short phrase on its own, okay? It's a very
clear description of salvation that God hath given. How do you get eternal life?
You accept Jesus, you receive, you exercise. No. God hath given. The wages of sin is death. The
gift of God is eternal life. Do you, you had a son, okay,
a baby. Did you offer it life? How absurd
can you get? Now, son, I want you to, would
you please accept this life? You gave it life. It owes its
life to you. If it's born, if it has life,
he knows it. If that child is born, he knows, I didn't do this. And so it is with all that are
born of God. Doctrine knows life. If you have life, you know who
gave it to you. If not, you think you had something to do with
it. and you hath he quickened who were dead. Lazarus, how did
you get life? He called me forth out of death
into his life. Same with all of God's people.
God hath given. Life is not an offer. Life is
an act of God. Life is a supernatural gift,
the work of God, born of God. Many scoff at this. They hear
all this talk about being born again, born again. Who said that?
Who said, who's the one who first said you must be born again?
Who was it? Jesus Christ. John chapter three. To a religious
man that thought he knew God. And Christ is the one that said
you must be born again. You're not born again. Or you'd
know this. You'd know me. You wouldn't be
questioning me. You wouldn't be asking me what
you're arguing with me, gamesaying with me. You'd be on your knees
right now, asking me for mercy. If you knew God. But you don't.
You must be born from above. You must be born again. Born
of God. He said, how? If you're ever born again, you
won't ask how. All right, look at the next line.
God hath given to us. Who's the us? I want to know,
don't you? What's your favorite passage
in all the Bible? Ephesians 1. It's one of the 400,333. Ephesians
1, go over there. Can you read it too many times,
Ephesians 1? You men sometimes choose to read
this in the study and we all think that we ought to read that
every time. Ephesians 1, look at it. Who's
us? Who's us here? Ephesians 1, 1. Paul, an apostle by the will
of God, apostle of Christ, to the saints, sanctified ones,
in Christ, at Ephesus, to the faithful in Christ. How do you
get in Christ? 1 Corinthians 1, 30. Of God,
are you in Christ? Born of God, put in Christ. Grace
to you, peace, grace, every gift, every gift necessary for life
of God cometh from above. And peace, peace with God, peace
of heart, peace of mind, peace among yourselves, peace that
the world doesn't give and the world can't take away, peace
that passes understanding. Where's it come from? God our
Father. and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us. Who's the
us? Keep going. With all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Do you really believe
that Christ is the greatest blessing of all? Do you believe that?
You're an us. All right, how does it start?
Where did this purpose, this will, this mind, this salvation,
this glorious thing called the gospel, where did it start? Verse
four, according as he had chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. That's the election, isn't it?
That's the election. Do you like that? Who loves that? Us. Ask Simon Peter. Ask Andrew,
ask James, ask John. Boats, nets, the world, their
father, their business was their life. They were really dead.
And Christ came by one day and chose them. There were many boats
out in that harbor, okay? He chose them. He said, Simon,
Andrew, follow me. They all believed this. That's
why Peter said right out of his mouth, first thing, 1 Peter 1,
elect. Saul of Tarsus knew if he hadn't chosen me, I'd perish. Chosen. This is where it all
started. He chose me. That's us. Do you believe that? You love
that. I don't mean just believe it. I mean love it. According
to him, he's chosen us before. When did he do it? Did he choose
you after you believed? No. That's ridiculous. Why would he choose you then?
You've chosen yourself. No, He had to choose you to believe.
Accordingly, He's chosen us before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy without blame. You want to be holy without blame
before Him in love. He did this in love to His people. Behold what manner of love. Read
on, verse 5. Having predestinated us. What
do you think about predestination? That the very hairs of your head
are numbered. What do you think about that? I'm sure glad. He said that to his disciples. He said, not a hair of your head
will fall to the ground. Now, in your patience, possess
your soul. Believe me. Trust me. I'm your God. There is none else. Predestinated. Everything about us. Everything
that happens to us. As his adopted children, by Jesus
Christ, to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
Why did he do this? Because he did. Verse six, to
the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us,
accepted us in the beloved. That's on our side out there,
isn't it? Doesn't that sum up what we preach and what we believe
and our testimony? He accepted us. Now isn't that the exact opposite
of what religion is saying today? Who maketh us to differ? Most of the religious world is...
You read the article by Brother Worthen in the Bulletin this
morning. He said they got it so backward, 100% backward, 180
degrees. They got God outside wanting
man, wanting Him, wanting man to let Him in. It's the other
way around. But God... came to us one day
and revealed himself to us. Revealed the truth, revealed
that you're on the outside. That you're the one on trial
here, not me. That you're the one that needs
to be accepted. And you're not acceptable in
yourself. You have no redeeming qualities. Somebody's gonna have
to redeem you by his own precious blood. You're not redeemed with
corruptible things such as silver and gold or your vain conversation
received by tradition of your elders or the religion that you
were once in. God came to you one day in the truth of the gospel
and made you to know if you're accepted by God, it's all because
of Jesus Christ. 100%. If you get into God's heaven,
this is what the Spirit of God bears witness. If you get into
God's heaven, it's going to be by one person, Jesus Christ. Do you know how few people do
that? I know that with all my heart.
Because I know something about God's holiness. I know something
about myself. I know something about myself
that if he hadn't chosen me, I wouldn't have chosen him. If
he left me alone right now for a minute, I'd be the next devil. with salvations of the Lord.
And it's not by works of righteousness which I have done. I don't have
any. They're filthy rags, Isaiah 64.6. God the Spirit comes to every
single one of His people and reveals these things to them.
Not doctrine. It's reality. It's life. It's a person. It's a knowledge
of a person. It's a knowledge of yourself. I'm out of time. Go back to the
text. I knew I'd get stuck in Ephesians
1 there. What a place to stick. We could all, we'd love to stay
there. Verse 10, this is the record
God hath given to us. His people has chosen eternal
life. He said, I give unto them eternal
life, Christ said. This life is in His Son. As the
father hath life in himself, even so hath he given to the
son to have life in himself. The father quickeneth whom he
will, the son quickeneth whom he will. He is life. John wrote this. Life was manifested. The word of life came. Life. The one in whose hands our breath
is. Who? Jesus. Jesus. He's not just a man. He's the God in whose hands our
breath is. and all our ways. And I'm glad. I'm so glad. My life is in His
hands. My times are in Thy hand. My
God, I want them there. Don't you? God hath given to
us eternal life. This is not just the duration
of it, it's the quality of it. Spiritual life. a life more abundant
than this. Our Lord one time said, a man's
life consisteth not in the things which he possesses, but in righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy God. Do you understand anything
about this, that righteousness? You're going to a place wherein
dwelleth righteousness. And he puts this in the heart
of all of God's people before they go there. Righteousness. What is righteousness? It's a
person. He is our righteousness, and
he's the righteous one. We want to be just like him.
I want to be like him. David said, I'm going to see
thy face. I'm going to behold thy face
in righteousness. It's Psalm 17, 15. I'll behold thy face
in righteousness. And he said, I'll be satisfied.
And not until then. When I awake with thy likeness. I want to be where he is. I want
to be just like him with the people just like him. God's people
are not of this world. And the things and the people
of this world, they grow more and more put out with it. We're going to see the demoniac
in the next message. Now the Lord clothed him, put
him in his right mind, sat him at the feet of Christ. He said,
I don't want to leave here. Let me go with you and your people.
I don't want to go back to that demon-possessed place in the
tombs. I want to stay right here." Christ
said, no, go home and tell what I've done for you. So it is with God's people. Well, I'm going to have to save
verse 12 for another message. But this life is in his son. I was going to turn to John 5,
6, 10, on and on it goes, Hebrew. But we see a little bit, don't
we? And a few words. And that's enough
right there. Enough has been said to bear
witness with our spirit. If the Spirit of God is born
witness of the things of Christ to you and you rejoice, as we
said, those three marks of true believers, they worship God in
spirit, they rejoice in Jesus Christ. If you rejoice in what
you've heard so far, you have life. He that hath son, We'll
go into that a little more next time, what it means to have a
son. Okay. We could just wheel right there.
I know it. Yeah, I want to know. That tells us how we might know. He that hath the Son hath life. That's a whole message right
there. Yes it is. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Hi. It's a comforting passage, isn't
it? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Verse thirteen says,
these things are written that you might know. Those that to
those that believe us. He keeps bearing witness with
our spirit, and I'm so thankful. We sing that song, leave, I'll
leave, me not alone, us not alone. Son of God hath come and given
us And I understand that. Made us to differ like
the children of Israel because there's blood on that door. Let's go ahead. Good morning. Let's all stand
and turn to number 168. 168.