Well, the Lord has spared us
once again to come together and meet with one another and be
blessed with blessings that the world knows nothing of. We're looking in 1 John chapter
five. 1 John chapter five. We'll read the whole chapter
and then look at a few verses here. Says, whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth
him that beget loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this
we know that we love the children of God. When we love God and
keep his commandments. For this is the love of God that
we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the
world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ,
not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit
that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For 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 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 of his Son. He that believeth on the
Son of God hath the witness in himself. 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
had 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. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the
name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that
we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will,
he heareth us. And if we know that he heareth
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we
desired of him. If any man see his brother sin
a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask and he shall give
unto him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin
unto death. I do not say that he shall pray
for it. All unrighteousness is sin and
there is a sin not unto death. We know that whatsoever is born
of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself,
and that wicked one toucheth him not. And we know that we
are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness, and we know
that the Son of God is come and has given us an understanding
that we may know Him that is true. And we are in Him that
is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God
and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. Amen. Now there's a lot in that
chapter. But it really sums up the gospel. It sums up what it is to be a
child of God. And as John does really throughout
this whole book, he sets forth very profound truths, but that
which is actually very straightforward and very simple. There's nothing
really outside of the realm understanding in a spiritual sense of that
which God has declared. And if I had to say a verse here
that sums up what John has said in this whole book, it would
be verse 11. And he said, This is the record. This is the testimony. This is
the thing that we have declared unto you. This is the truth as
God has set it forth from the beginning unto the end. There is no other message that
we have. This is the record. If you miss
this, you missed it. If you get this, you got it.
This is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and
this life is in his Son. It would be hard to find another
verse in the scripture much more straightforward than that as
to who the people of God are, how they got to be the people
of God, and that which sustains them. This is the record. And so he begins this chapter,
whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now, you know, I guess one of the things that
makes declaring the word of God difficult
in a broad sense of the word is that there's so much error
that has been set forth over time over what the terms that
are in the scripture mean. And the truth of God has been
so watered down in the eyes and minds of men through time as
a normal thing because men have always taken that which God has
set forth and ruined it. You know, there's nothing that
God has put in the earth that man has not trampled upon, that
he has not strayed from, that he has not went aside here and
there. And yet through the midst of
it all, God has preserved his truth in such a way that it's
incontrovertible because it's never changed. The truth of God
never changes. Nothing about the things that
God has set forth in his word are any different today than
they were when he gave the world light. The purpose of God is
the same and the truth of God is the same. And so when he says
here, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of
God. There's a lot of import in that. Now, we live in an age, and of
course man naturally believes, he's born believing, that he
has what's called a free will. Now a lot of people think I talk
about this too much, but I'm telling you, you can't show the
contrast of this too much because it's so ingrained in men to believe
that they are the ones who can control whatever. They believe
they can control their destiny. They believe that they can do
anything they set their mind to. I mean, you know, that's,
we even kinda teach our children that you can do anything you
set your mind to, which that's true. You know, there's an element
of truth in that. But the greater truth is that
unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain at building.
Because he's the one that is the first cause of all events. He's the one who's the sustainer
of all things, and he's the one who brings all things to pass
according to the good pleasure of his will. You know, a phrase
that people ought to use is God intervened in this, that, or
the other. God does never intervene in anything. He is in all things. He doesn't
need to intervene because he's already there. A lot of people
look at what the Lord Jesus Christ did as an intervention. Well,
he intervened and helped man out. No, he didn't intervene
because he determined before he ever created man that he would
redeem him. Now, you know, that's a glorious
thing. We're not gonna get off in the
weeds and consider those things, but it's a glorious truth. And it really comes down to this,
whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now, this is exactly what the
Lord told Nicodemus. He said, Nicodemus, except a
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Whosoever is born of God believeth
Him. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God is born of God. Now a man who's born
of God, that man who is who is awakened out of the deadness
of sin into which he was born in Adam, the natural life in
which he has which man has no ability, he has no way that he
can approach unto God, ever know God, or in any wise have any
understanding of the things of God, unless God, who's rich in
mercy, awakens him and shows him these things. That's the
only way it can happen, and that's what he told Nicodemus. Nicodemus,
except man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
But then he went on to say to Nicodemus in that most widely
quoted verse in all of the scripture, John 3.16, for God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Now, What corrupts that is man's
natural thinking about free will. And so he says, well, see there.
I mean, all that a man's gotta do is just make a free will decision. He says, I believe, and bloody
that's it. In fact, a lot of people honestly
believe that if you just say those words, You don't even have
to fully mean them. I mean, you can just say it.
I mean, if you just basically confess that, if you just say
it, if you just write it down on this card, then, buddy, that's
what believing in Christ is. That's not it. Believing in Christ is the work
of the Spirit of God in the heart of a man who otherwise will not
believe. And whosoever believeth in Jesus
is born of God. That's a fact. Not just who says he believes.
Because as we read in the scripture, there's more to that than just
saying that we do. Because as the work of the Spirit
of God doesn't just end with a man believing. It begins before
that, it causes that, and then he continues. And so believing
in Jesus Christ is not just the initial confession of faith,
but it is in a continual consideration of who he is. See, it's like
Peter said, now Peter You know, he was a man who was up here
and down here and out here and he had to learn a lot of things
and this, but the Lord worked in Peter true faith. And when
all the other, many of the disciples were going away and the Lord
asked Peter, or he asked his disciples, he says, well, y'all
gonna leave? And Peter said, Lord. To whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And that's the place, that's
what believing in Jesus Christ is. It's coming to the end of
the road and being glad that you're at the end of the road.
Now you see a lot of people, they think that Christ is like
the beginning of the road. And now what are we gonna do?
We're gonna go on out here and learn all these other things.
Christ is the sum and substance of the gospel. And that's the
place we're coming to. You see, Job, a good example,
was a man whom the Lord blessed. The Lord gave Job a lot of wisdom.
The Lord spoke of him as a righteous man. He was an upright man. He had more wisdom than his counselors
in many ways. In some ways, he needed to listen
to some of the things they said. But where did the Lord bring
Job? See, he didn't just start with
him, but he brought him to the place where he'd have him to
be. And Job confessed. He said, I've heard of thee by
the hearing of the ear. I thought I knew something. See,
we don't know anything, but yet we know all things. I mean, that's
a glorious thing, is it not? I mean, you can read some of
the testimonies of Job. I mean, the Lord taught him so
much. He said, though the skin worms
destroy my flesh, my body, yet in my flesh I shall see God. He knew that. But you see, the
Lord was bringing him to a greater place, and that was that place
of knowing him. He said, I heard of thee by the
hearing of the ear. He said, all the things that
I thought I knew, I thought I knew. But he said, now mine eye seeth
thee. I hate myself and I repent in
dust and ashes. See, that's the place, that's
what it is to believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever believes
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Because how else can
a man come there? You weren't born there. You might
have been, from your earliest memories, you might have been
confronted with the Word of God. You might have been raised up,
you might have went to Sunday school, you might have had parents
who were faithful to teach you the scriptures and all of these
things. But you didn't Learn who Christ
is. You didn't believe on him until
such time as the Lord opened your eyes to see him. Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, because that's
the only way it happens. Men don't learn the gospel. They have to be shown the gospel.
And the only one that can show a man the gospel is the spirit
of the living God, because when he shows a man who he is, then
the man can say, praise God for the gospel. Because until the
Lord shows a man who he is, he's not gonna believe. Oh, he
might join up, he might do a lot of things, but you know, Believing
in Jesus Christ is abandoning all else. That's our one main
quest. That's the thing we're searching
for. We're going forward with Him. We're designed to know Him. As
Paul said, that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection. I might be acquainted with Him.
That I might not just be a nominal believer, See, I would say that
the vast majority of those who profess faith in Christ, they're
content with just being known as a believer. Oh yeah, yeah,
we're Christians. Oh yeah, we believe all that
stuff. But you see, when a man is made
to believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, that he
is the Christ, then it's no longer just nominal fame. You know, he's not just content,
he wants to know the Lord. He wants to be brought to that
place where Job was brought. That's his desire, to learn of
Him. And every one that loveth him
that beget loveth him also that's begotten of him. Now, what were
the two things that the Lord taught, what did the Lord Jesus
say was the law in a nutshell? He said, thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and thy neighbor
as thyself. And those two things are met
in Christ. They are fulfilled in Christ. They are wrapped up in what it
is to believe in Christ. You cannot believe in Jesus Christ
and hate your brother. You can't despise the people
of God and believe Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ loves his
children. And so that's what he says here.
Everyone that loveth him that begat. If we love him who caused
us to be born again, the one who brought us out of darkness
and into the light, everyone that loves him, that begat, loves
him also that's begotten of him. So we love, if we love him who
begot us, then we love those who he begot as well. Can't be
escaped, it can't be separated. By this we know, he says, that
we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God that
we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. Now what did he say? Over here,
we read it here the other week. What his commandment is that
we believe Jesus Christ. See, all of this is really very
simple. It comes back to what he said,
and this is the record that God has given to us eternal life.
See, this is eternal life. And the love that he loves us
with is the same love that he gives us to love one another
with. Same thing, it's the same work. Now, is it perfected in us yet? No. Sadly, sometimes it doesn't
even hardly seem that it's operable. We find ourselves ashamed of
ourselves. But yet, the Spirit of God, he
doesn't leave us. See, I guess as a young believer,
we're always thinking, that the Lord's gonna, you know, the Lord's
gonna cast us off if we don't, you know, love our brother or
whatever. And he should. But he doesn't. Because it's true love. See,
he doesn't cast us off. And by the grace of God, we don't
cast our brethren off. Because we desire to love them.
And to esteem one another more highly than ourselves, because
that's what it is to really love our brethren, is it not? It's
to not be thinking how much superior we are to them, but how superior
they are to us. Oh, that the Lord might give
us a mind and heart to love one another with pure hearts. That's
what Peter or Paul talked about, love with pure hearts fervently,
passionately, For this is the love of God,
that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not
grievous. A man can't say that he loves God and not keep his
commandments. I mean, you can't say you love
God if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, that Jesus is the Christ,
that he's the Lord. And you can't love one another,
except he works that in you. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh
the world. What is it? Even our faith. Now here again, this is a thing
that is confused, has been made confusing in the eyes of men.
Because many times, the emphasis of what faith is in the minds
of the multitudes, is that it's something that we are bringing
forth. And when he says here that the
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith, oh brother, we're
gonna believe and we're gonna overcome and we're gonna keep
the faith and we're gonna be faithful. That's not our faith. Now, what we say that we're gonna
do, that might be our faith, and how powerful is that? I mean, how powerful is your
faith? You got any confidence in your
faith? Anybody in here think their faith will get them anywhere? What is our faith? Our faith
is Christ. That's our faith. That's the
faith that overcomes the world. It's not us believing strong
enough and we're going to overcome. No, it's that Christ is the one
whom we believe. He's our faith. He's our hope. He's our trust. And we have no
other desire for any other. We're not trying to find out
something else that will enhance that. We just want to know him. We want his work to be that work
that is performed in us. Who is he that overcometh the
world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? See, that's our faith. Fair simple
thing, is it not? Seems. But it's very profound because,
again, it's the work of God. What is it? How do we overcome? Who is he that overcometh but
he that believeth? And how do we believe except
he works that in us? And we hold on to him because
we can't do anything else. See, this is an amazing thing
about the work which God does in his people. It's their concern
that they're gonna fall by the wayside along the way. They often feel like sometimes
maybe they have. But you see the work of God is
in us. It's not by us. It's not through
us. But it's in us by the power of
God. and he will not cast us off,
even though we may cast him off. That song you picked a while
ago, I believe it's the first verse, it says, he'll never leave
us, nor let us quite leave him. You know, sometimes we think
we've left him, but if we belong to him, See, we can't leave him. If we believe not, scripture
says, he remaineth faithful. He's our faith. He's the one
in whom we trust, dear brethren. Our hope is built on nothing
less. than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Our hope is built on nothing
less, and you might put in there or more. See, our hope is built
on nothing less or more than Jesus Christ and his righteousness. That's what it is to believe.
That's the faith that overcomes the world, He that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God. Oh, what a glorious thing it
is to be given such a gift as that. To believe him. Because by nature, we don't.
By nature, we believe in ourself. Whatever other religious thing
we might gather up along the way, the primary thing we believe
in is ourself. Our way is the best way. We want
to do what we want to do, and then we'll worry about consequences
later. But the Lord, who's rich in mercy,
He gathers up His people from the four corners of the earth,
and He brings them all to the same place, and that is to believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. and believing in Him they cannot
perish because He gives them eternal life and this life is
in His Son. See our life is in Christ because
He is our faith. I don't have any hope of being
able to sustain my life. I'm made more aware every day
how I can't sustain my life. I'm wearing out one joint at
a time. I'm on the downhill run. But
the Lord is the one who's our sustainer, our keeper. And I got no confidence whatsoever
that I shall be able to stand firm to the end. I'll fall tomorrow
if the Lord departs from me. I don't believe He will. But
I know that He alone is the one in whom my confidence is. And
that's what it is to believe in Jesus Christ. And that only
comes by the gift of God, because you can't work it up. Nobody
can teach it to you. or give it to you, but the Lord
does. And that's the amazing thing.
May he be ever praised.