Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow
along in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from 1 John,
chapter five. John's first epistle in the New
Testament, chapter five. And I'm going to begin at verse
nine. The title of the message is God's Record of Truth. God's Record of Truth. And the
apostle John had been inspired by the Holy Spirit To talk about
witnesses, even when he opened up the book of 1 John, he spoke
of how he and some of the apostles were eyewitnesses. He says in
1 John 1.1, 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. And of course,
he's speaking of the fact that these disciples were eyewitnesses
of the life and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and what
he accomplished. John makes it clear that, I'm
not telling you just what I've heard, but what I've seen. And
this was one of the requirements of an apostle. You know, an apostle
is a man who was called of the Lord and gifted with the ability
to preach the gospel, but he's also one who had seen firsthand. He was an eyewitness of the life
of Christ and directly, directly called by Christ. Even the apostle
Paul, could say that, even though he wasn't called until after
the death and the resurrection of Christ. So he makes a case
that we're eyewitnesses of these things that we're telling you
about the gospel. The gospel that they preached
which is the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in the
Lord Jesus Christ, was not something that they had secondhand knowledge
of, but they heard it firsthand from the Lord. And so he says,
we're witnesses. But look in verse nine of 1 John
chapter five. He says, if we receive the witness
of men, and we do, now think about this. but we don't receive
the witness of men upon its own merit. In other words, you're
not to believe what I say just because I said it or just because
I'm a preacher. We don't believe any man or any
woman based upon their own merit. But he says, 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. So we listen to preachers and
evangelists, teachers, only as their words have the authority
of the word of God. Because no matter what I say,
in my words, God's word is greater. And that's why I have to be sure
that what I'm preaching to you is found in this book. This is
God's Word. This actually is the record.
And John is writing this record. Verse 11, he said, this is the
record. We'll get to that. God's record of truth. Isaiah
recognized this in his day. because as he was preaching truth
that God had revealed to him, preaching truth from God to the
people, there were false preachers. And they were talking about their
dreams, their visions, things that they claimed that God had
revealed to them, but to no one else. And Isaiah made this statement,
it's recorded in Isaiah 8 20, to the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word, God's word, God's
law and God's testimony, there's no light in them. You see the
scriptures, Paul talked to Timothy about this. He told him, he said,
you've been taught well in the scriptures by your grandmother
and your mother. And these are the words, the
scriptures, the written word that are able to make you wise
unto salvation because this is God's Word. Now God's Word, when
we think about the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, He is the embodiment
of the Word of God. In fact, He's called the Word.
In John chapter 1, in beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God, that's Christ. John 1, 14, the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Here in 1 John 5 and
verse 7, he says, there are three that bear record in heaven, the
Father, that's God the Father, the Word, and that's God the
Son. and the Holy Ghost, and these
three are one. That's the triune Godhead, the
Trinity. And Christ, the Son of God, who
is the Word of God, is the second person of the Trinity. So Christ
is the Word. He's the incarnate Word. John
1 14, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And then
He is the subject of the written Word. and the preached word. He should be the subject. I know he's the subject of the
written word, but he should be the subject of the preached word.
Whenever you hear a preacher, he ought to be preaching Christ,
not himself, not you. The gospel salvation conditioned
on Christ who fulfilled those conditions and secured the salvation
of all for whom he lived and died, was buried and arose again
the third day. Christ is the Lord, our righteousness. I have no righteousness in myself.
My righteousness is Christ. It's His righteousness imputed,
charged, accounted to me, and that by the grace of God. And
that's what we ought to be preaching. Now, in verse nine of 1 John
5, if we receive the witness of men, that is, if we listen
to these preachers and follow their word, We can only do it
as, we should only do it as they preach God's word because the
witness of God is greater. What God says is greater. I've
often mentioned on this program how I was driving through a particular
town one time and I saw it sign outside of a church, a church
building, and it said, God says it, I believe it, that settles
it. And I thought the first thing
that popped into my head, that's wrong. No, it should read this
way. God said it, that settles it. Whether I believe it or not.
Now I should believe it and I want to believe it. But my believing
doesn't settle the matter. God's word settles the matter. Because God's witness is greater
than the witness of men. So if God says it, that settles
it. Now you believe it, believe it
because God said it. So he says, he says in verse
nine, this is the witness of God, which he had testified of
his son. Now we need to understand right
at the outset here because of the following verses, they've
been perverted so much. He's talking about Christ and
salvation here. And he's talking about it in
light of a tragic situation. And that tragic situation, was
described back in chapter two, when he talked about people,
men and women, who had claimed to be believers, claimed to believe
the gospel, claimed to love Christ, to love His truth, to love His
people, who claimed to be brethren in the faith, but had totally
apostatized from the faith. Now that word apostatize, apostasy,
it means they fall away. They turn their back on the Lord. They turn their back on the truth. The Lord which they claim to
love and seem to love, now they hate and call Him accursed. And that's a tragic thing. That's
a hurtful thing to the people of God. Many of these people
here that John is writing to, whatever church they were in,
they had experienced this, where they had people, they were just
sure were sinners saved by grace, who believed the gospel, but
because of persecution, because of love of the world, because
of whatever, family, friends, they completely turned away. from the church, from the truth,
from the gospel, and hated it, called Christ accursed. Now, how do we view such people? Well, John tells us in 1 John
2, 18 and 19, they went out from us, but he says they never were
of us. He said, had they been of us,
they would no doubt have remained with us, but they went out from
us, that it may be made manifest that they never were of us. You
see people today, and many people in the past, they would look
at somebody like that and they'd say, well, they lost their salvation.
They were saved. I know they were saved, somebody
would tell you, but then they lost it. No, sir, that's not
what the scripture teaches. The scripture teaches that once
a person is saved, they'll remain saved by the grace of God now. And it's because He won't let
us go. And we won't leave Him. We won't
turn our back on Him. We could if He'd let us, but
He won't let us. He which began the good work
in us will perfect it, bring it to its conclusion. Philippians
1.6. When somebody does something
like that, then we're to receive the testimony, the record that
God gives, not what men say. I've heard people say, well,
I know that person will say, but now they're not. What does
God say? Well, God said, if they had been
of us, truly saved, they would have remained with us, but they
never were saved. You see, if the Holy Spirit in
the new birth convinces you of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment, brings you to confess your sins and run to Christ.
Here's three things I can tell you. You cannot ignore it, you
cannot deny it, and you cannot leave it, ever. And I know people
say, well, you're just preaching once saved, always saved. Put
that junk out of your mind. Once God saves you, you will
be saved to the end. I can tell you that, that's God's
record. Because salvation is not conditioned on you and it's
not conditioned on me, it's conditioned on Christ. And Paul said, I know
whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he's able, not
that I'm able, he's able to keep that which I've committed unto
him against that day. And what have I committed unto
him? My whole salvation. So John is writing these words
in light of that tragic situation where people have totally turned
their back on the gospel. And then he's writing these words
too to encourage true believers, truly saved by grace in perseverance. We persevere, continue in the
faith because we're preserved by the grace of God. And one
of the ways that we persevere is by the assurance of salvation
that comes from looking to Christ. And that's why he says, this
is the witness of God in verse nine, which he had testified
of his son. He says, I'm talking about Christ.
I'm not talking about you. Salvation's conditioned on Christ. He fulfilled those conditions.
He put away all my sins. My sins were imputed, charged
to Him, and they cannot be charged to me. And He died for me. There's no condemnation to them
who are in Christ, who believe in Him. We run the race of grace,
looking unto Him, Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.
And nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. So
look at verse 10. He says then, he that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. And what is that
witness? Well, that's the Word of God.
The Holy Spirit has written the Word of God on the hearts of
God's people, and it cannot be removed. Now they can stray. I'm not saying that a true believer
cannot be in doubt sometimes and stray, but God will always
bring him back. I had an old preacher years ago
make this statement. It may sound derogatory to some
people, but I thought it was pretty nice. He said, we're on
God's leash and he won't let us go. Well, thank God we're
on his leash. Don't think that is an insult
to you. It's certainly not to me. I think
about a dog being on a leash and how they'll run away and
you gotta pull them back. Say, well, we're not dogs. You know
the name Caleb back in the Old Testament, Joshua and Caleb?
Caleb means faithful one. There's some people who thinks
it means faithful dog. But we belong to God. And he
won't let us go. And he that believeth on the
Son of God." If you truly believe, not just make a profession, like
those who went out from us, he says, you have this witness in
yourself. It's the Word of God written
on the heart and it cannot be removed. Now it says, he that
believeth not God, verse 10, hath made him a liar. That's
why unbelief is so serious. Somebody said unbelief is the
mother of all sins. And I believe that's true. Because
what God says is true. And if you don't believe it,
if you don't believe what God says, where are you? You're calling Him a liar. If
God says He saves sinners in a particular way, but you say
He saves sinners in another way, then based upon the record that
God has given us, you're calling God a liar. You say, well, I
don't mean to do that. Well, that's what you're doing,
whether you mean to or not. Again, those people, now think
about this, those who are going about trying to earn their salvation
and their blessings by their works, They're living, walking
testimony claiming that God is a liar because God does not save
or bless people by their works. He saves them and blesses them
by his grace based on the work of Christ. And that's the record
that God gave of his son. And he says here in verse 10,
he says, he that believeth not hath made God a liar because
he believeth not the record. that God gave of His Son. God's
record of truth concerning Jesus Christ, His glorious person and
His finished work. What think ye of Christ? Whose
Son is He? He's both God and man. That's
who He is. His name is Emmanuel, God with
us. He's the Word made flesh who
dwelt among us. God manifest in the flesh. And
so that's the record that God gave of His person, the impeccable,
pure, righteous, holy, sinless Christ, the Messiah. He's the
Savior of His people. What's the record that God gave
of the work of Christ? Well, His work is the work of
assurity. That's what God's record says.
That means the sins of God's chosen people, the elect, were
imputed, charged, accounted to Christ. And Christ agreed in
the everlasting covenant of grace before the world began to save
them from their sins by doing what was required. And what was
required? Well, He had to die on the cross
to satisfy the justice of God. And in order to die, He had to
have a sinless human body. That's what the incarnation is
about. God uniting, God the Son uniting
with sinless human flesh, that body that was created for Him
in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. He had to
become incarnate. He had to be made like unto His
brethren without sin. And he had to walk this earth
in strict obedience to the law of God, and then he had to go
to the cross as our substitute. And he had to pay the price,
that's redemption. He paid the price. He redeemed
us by the price of his blood, his death. And based upon that,
he established the only righteousness upon which God could just justify
sinners. And that was indicated by His
resurrection from the dead. And now He ever lives to make
intercession for His people to protect us and bring us to glory. That's the record that God gave
of His Son. Look at verse 11. And this is
the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this
life is in His Son. God's record of truth. This is
the record. Now you understand what's happening
here. John is speaking of salvation through Christ by God's grace.
That's the whole context. And those who left the gospel,
there's no hope for them. Without Christ, there's no hope
for the forgiveness of sins. Without Christ, there's no hope
of righteousness before God. Without Christ, there's no hope
of spiritual and eternal life. This life is in Christ, the risen
Christ, the resurrected Christ. And it's by His righteousness
alone that we have life. Romans 8, 10. This body is dead
because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
And where are we going to find righteousness? Romans 10, 4.
For Christ is the end of the law, the finishing fulfillment
of the law, the perfection of the law, for righteousness to
everyone that believeth. Don't look for righteousness
in yourself. If you find it, that means you're
self-righteous. You see, you remember the parable
of the Pharisee and the publican? Christ spoke that parable to
people who considered themselves righteous in themselves. If you look for righteousness
in yourself, I hope you don't find it. Because that'll bring
you to look for it somewhere else. And if you go by the record
of God, God's record of truth, you'll only find it in Christ.
Can't find it anywhere else. The gospel is the revelation
of the righteousness of God. And that's in Christ. He is the
Lord, my righteousness. So he says, this is the record. This life is in Christ. It's
nowhere else. If you don't believe in Christ,
or if you claim to believe, but then leave him, no life, no spiritual
life, no eternal life, nothing but death and damnation and eternal
destruction, perishing. And so, verse 12, he says, he
that hath the Son hath life. What do you mean if I have the
Son? It's to believe in the Son, be united to the Son, to Christ,
spiritually. You see, God's people have been
united to Christ eternally in the covenant of grace, redemptively
and legally in the death of Christ. But when the Spirit comes and
gives us life in the new birth and brings us to believe in Christ,
we're united to Him spiritually and we have Him as our Savior,
as our Lord, as our forgiveness, as our righteousness, as our
life giver, as our keeper. And it says, and he that hath
not the Son of God hath not life. That's it, that's the record
of God's truth. Look at verse 13. These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God. This is written to believers.
It's not written to unbelievers. Now don't get me wrong, unbelievers,
if you're an unbeliever, read the Bible. And I pray that God
will open your heart, open your mind, reveal Himself to you.
But He says, I'm writing this to you that believe on the name
of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. Now listen, this is the assurance
of salvation, not based on my works. You know, a lot of people,
they gain assurance from looking at themselves. And that's so
wrong. Our assurance comes from looking
to Christ. He says that you may know that
you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of
the Son of God. That's continuing to look to
Christ. My assurance is not based upon
how well I'm doing in my Christian life. My assurance is not based
upon the fact that I gave my heart to Jesus, or accepted Him,
or that I made a decision. That's not my assurance. My assurance
is not in any progress that I make as a human being, morally or
spiritually. My assurance of salvation is
based upon the fact that Jesus Christ alone died for my sins,
put them away, made me righteous in God's sight and is now seated
at the right hand of God in the heavenlies ever living to make
intercession for me." We sing that, you know, you probably
sing it too at your church. If you don't believe what I'm
saying, you should stop singing this song. I quote it all the
time, it's my favorite hymn. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ, the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
You see, I have faith in Christ, and that faith was given to me
of God, but coming through me, With the struggles I have in
the flesh, my faith is not perfect. Assurance should be based on
something that is perfect, something that cannot be contaminated.
And over in the book of Isaiah chapter 32, there's a wonderful
passage of scripture that speaks of this. When it says that, verse
17, he says, and the work of righteousness shall be peace.
and the effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance forever.
Assurance has to be based on righteousness, as we read there
in Isaiah 32, verse 17. Well, where are we gonna find
righteousness? in Christ. This life is in His Son. And
I want you, John says, I want you who believe to know that
you have eternal life and this life is in His Son and believe
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and continue to. Don't
fall away, don't apostatize, but look unto Christ and pray
that God will keep you in the faith. Looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith. That's the issue. God's record
of truth. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.