1 John, if you'll turn to 1 John. If you were going to study theology,
the ancient languages, if they were going to study Greek in
school or college, the books they would study from would be
John, the writings of John. So he is so plain. and so simple
and so hard to misunderstand. It's hard to misunderstand what
this man wrote. He said, you claim to have fellowship
with God and walk in darkness. You don't know the truth. You
claim to love God and don't love your brother. You're a liar.
You say you have no sins. You confess them. Confess your
sins. He'll forgive you. You say you
don't have any. You're a liar. Just so plain, down through this book.
And then he uses this terminology, so positive, I know, we know,
we know. Let's read four verses together. First chapter, first four verses. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes. We saw
it. Which we've looked upon and our
hands have handled the word of life. The word of God made flesh. God manifest in the flesh. God's Christ, salvation, the
God man. For the life was manifested,
and we've seen it, and bear witness and show unto you that eternal
life which was with the Father and was manifest, thank God,
unto us. That which we've seen and heard
declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with
us And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son, Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto
you, that your joy may be full. That your joy may be full. No
man has joy without intermission. No man has happiness without
sorrow, as long as we dwell in this fleshly body. But there
is fullness of joy in knowing that we've seen Him, we've heard
Him, and we know Him. There is fullness of joy. Peter
said, you've never seen Him. And though now you see Him not,
you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, rejoicing
in knowing the Lord. Now look at the fifth chapter,
if you will. John, 1 John chapter 5. Look at verse 19. Verse 19. And we know that we are of God. I was thinking about this this
morning before I came. I've had two ruptured disc, upper and lower
back surgeries. I've had brain surgery. I've had open heart bypass surgery,
five bypasses. And I'm old, and I'm tired, and
I'm fat, and I'm ugly too, but that doesn't matter much. Sometimes
I wake up at night with a funny feeling in my heart, pain. And
I don't know whether to get the nitroglycerin or whether to go
to the doctor. So far, I've just taken some
deep breaths and gone back to sleep. Now, I tell you, at my
age and my health, I feel like that shortly I must
put off this tabernacle. And if I don't know anything
else, I want to know that I'm of God,
because that's everything. In my condition, waking up like
I do, in the condition I am health-wise, if I didn't know that I know
that I know Him, I'd be scared to death. I must know. And this man loves to use that
word, know. We know. We know. We know over
and over. We know. And that's what I'd
like for you to know. I'd like for you to know that
you've passed from death unto life. I'd like for you to know,
you to know, that you're of God. Nobody else can tell you. God
has to tell you. God has to confirm it. But I want you to know. I want to know. I want to know. I want to know that heaven shall
be, shall be my eternal home. I don't care where it is. I want to be with Christ and
be like Him forever. I want to be rid of my sin, every
trace and taint of it, forever. And that's what heaven is, being
with Christ, being like Christ, conformed to His image. And I want His certainty, this
certainty. I want to live with this certainty.
Not if I strive hard enough and long enough, that I'm faithful enough till
I draw my last breath, because that'll never be. How much is
enough? But because I'm accepted of God
in the Beloved. Ephesians chapter 1. Accepted of God in Christ. Me. this old dead dog sinner,
accepted of God, approved of God, reconciled to God, a friend
of God, a child of God, accepted of God in Christ. Oh, if you're here this morning
and that's your position, blessed art thou, Simon Barjot, I tell
you, blessed art thou, blessed art thou. Flesh and blood didn't
give it to you nor reveal it to you, but the Father, the Father. Accepted of God in the Beloved
by God's free grace, God's purpose of grace. Just think about that a moment.
Brother Mahan was preaching the other night on TV, Thursday night.
And he said there, he read something, he said there ought to be a Selah
after that. And Selah in the Psalms literally means wait,
pause. Think about that a while. Accepted
and a beloved. If you know who you are and what
you are, how you appear by nature before God, to be accepted and
approved of God in the beloved. That's an amazing thing. He snatched
us out of the kingdom of Satan and translated us into the kingdom
of His dear Son. Oh, oh, oh, what blessedness. When a man comes to see his sin
and his guilt and his condemnation, he must He'll strive till he
finds eternal life, finds eternal life in Christ. He'll find deliverance, forgiveness
of sin, reconciliation. It's all in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he wants to know that he's
found it and know that he has it. know that he's found it,
know that he has it, knows that he's of God. He's in the world
still, but he's no longer of the world. He still has a citizenship in
some place down here, but his real citizenship is up there. Philippians 3, 20 and 21. Our
citizenship is in heaven. From which we look for the Savior.
Who's going to come and get us and change our vile bodies. And
we'll be without sin forever. Without sin forever. I want to
know that I have it. Know that I found it. Know that
it's mine. Know that I'm of God. In the
world, but no longer of the world. Not temporarily, but abiding
in Him forever. Not dependent upon me. I wouldn't
have any hope if my hope was upon me. But my hope is upon
one the Holy Ghost described, one who's mighty to save. Who's
able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by Him.
That's who I hope in. That's my hope. It's my trust. I want it to be yours. I want it to be yours. Now I
want you to look with me at just a few verses here in John. Just
read them together and not make much comment, but I want us to
read them together. Chapter 2, verses 3 through 5. Hereby we do know that we know Him. And by the
way, knowing Him, that's everlasting life. John 17, 2 and 3, thus
giving Him all power over all flesh. that he might give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is it. This
is life. No question about it. This is
life. That they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou sent. You know God. You have eternal
life. Hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. Our churches, Baptists especially,
I guess, are filled with people. That's what I know most about.
filled with people who've made a profession and joined the church
and been baptized and have seldom, seldom ever come to have no living
interest, no abiding interest in God, in His Word, in His people,
in His gospel, in His ministry. And this man says here, we know,
hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. We live according to His Word.
We live by His Word. No man keeps it perfectly. We
all mess up so badly. But that's what he goes by. He's governed not by external
things, but he's governed by the Word of God, the glory of
God. And if he isn't, he doesn't know
God. He's deceived. Some preacher patted him on the
head too quick. and said, you're saved. Only God can say you're
saved. Only God. Jeremiah two or three
times said, these false prophets, they say peace, peace, and they
don't have any peace. They heal the daughter, the wound
of the daughter of my people slightly. They put band-aids
on cancer. They see a little conviction,
they get them into the church. not letting God work it out.
Paul said, we can plant, we can water, but only God, only God
can save a man. Only God can give the increase. Verse 4, He that saith, I know
him, And keepeth not his commandments, he's just a liar, and the truth's
not in him. That's how this man writes. So
plain, so simple, so clear. Oh, I know God, I love God, I
made my decision, I did this, I did that. Do you keep his commandments? Oh no, I don't go to church anymore.
I've kind of gotten away from the Lord. You never did get to
the Lord. That's a problem. Whoso keepeth his word in him
verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we're in
Christ and Christ dwells in us. What is the hope of eternal life?
Christ in you. Colossians 1.27. Christ in here
is the hope of glory. Not that I walked an aisle. Not
that I repeated some so-called sinner's prayer. Not that I confessed
something or professed something. Christ in you. Paul said examine
yourself whether you be in the faith. Don't you know that unless
Christ dwells in you, you're reprobates? Examine yourself. whether you be in the faith. I'm not going to read any more
of these. The time is getting away from me. Let's turn back
to chapter 5 and verse 19. Let's look at this just a few
minutes. Chapter 5 and verse 19. My purpose this morning was
to comfort, not to cause you to question, but to comfort.
but comfort often comes out of questioning according to the
Word of God. Verse 19, chapter 5, we know
that whatsoever is born of God, now that's verse 18, we know
that we are of God, and this 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 true God. And this. is eternal life. God hath given us an understanding,
and we know these things. We know these things. And we must know these things.
We know that we are of God. Oh, if I only knew one thing
this morning, one thing as I lie down at night in the bed, if
I only knew one thing for certain, that I know God, that I'm born
of God, that I love God. Oh, wouldn't that be wonderful?
What else matters? When you're going out to meet
God, what else matters? All of our money in that day
will be like waste paper. It won't mean a thing to you.
Be like if you give a child two years old, give him a hundred
dollar bill, he'll play with it just like he does a sheet
of paper from Sears Road Book Catalog, just nothing. And that's
the way it'll be when we see God. Stand before God. If I only knew. But I'll tell
you this, this is the Word of God. One is either of God or
he's still of the world. You can't have it both ways. One either has his affection
set on God and things above or on this world. And this same
writer said, if you love the world, the love of God is not
in you. It's not in you. If you love this world, sister,
this world, the love of God's not yet found a place in your
heart. One is either of God or of the world. There are no neutrals
and no in-betweens. You're either for God or you're
against him. Christ said, he's not with me, he's against me.
He that gathereth not with me scattereth. You can't have it
both ways. Everyone here this morning sitting
in your pew, you're either for him or you're against him. One or the other. You're either saved or you're
lost. You're either heaven bound or bound for hell. One or the other. We know that we're of God. When can a man know that he's
of God? Well, I'm going to point out
two or three things. You can read these verses. Read through
this book and you'll see that word, we know. We know. Hereby
we know. Hereby we perceive. Hereby we
know. You see that so many times. Read through it at your own leisure. When can a sinner join with John
and say, we know that we're of God. We know that. When can I
say that with God to back me up through His Word? The first
thing may sound strange to you, but look at verse 19. We know
that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. There has been a change in your
eyes, in your ears, in your understanding, in your heart. You understand
spiritual things. Now you see spiritual things.
Paul said, we look not at things which are seen, but things which
are not seen. All things you can see are temporary,
but things which are not seen are eternal. That's what we look
at. Our hearts are set on things
above, things that we haven't seen except through faith, through
the Word. And we know that this whole world
lieth in wickedness. When we know that this whole
world lieth in wickedness, we have come to see what this world is, what we are. We have been brought face to
face with what we are and what this world is. And in our hearts
there rose up the cry of like John Bunyan in Pilgrim Progress,
life, life, eternal life, fleeing the city of destruction. And
that's what we did in our hearts, fleeing to Christ. laying hold
of Christ, wrapping our arms around Christ. When we've come
face to face with our sin, the sin in us, the sin in this whole
natural world, and God's taught us that, God's opened our eyes
there, and we know, we know that we're of God. We know that we've
passed from death unto life. We love God, we love the brethren.
Our hearts are fixed on things above. 1 Corinthians 2.14, we
now understand spiritual things. Again, when we know that the Son of
God has come, Everybody talks about it, sings
about it, Christmas time especially, glory to God, the Son of God's
come and all these things. But when it's real, true and
real, we know that God Almighty, who is the Son, He's God Almighty
too, He's God, came down here, and became one of us. Made of
a woman, made under the law. He was up there, he came down
here. And now, he's up there, down here
too. He's God, he's everywhere. God manifests in the flesh. With that controversy, Paul said,
great is the mystery of godliness. God. God. Almighty God. Eternal God. Unchangeable God. Was manifest
in the flesh. To live in the flesh. 33 and a half years to die in
the flesh. Made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death. To satisfy God for us sinners. You know what
God requires of us? Perfection. Perfect heart obedience. Perfect heart love. Perfect heart
worship. And we can never provide it but Christ did for us. That's
the gospel. Christ lived and died for others. Every morning when He awoke,
it was with sinners on His mind and on His heart and on His shoulders
and on the breastplate. Carried us with Him in His mind
and heart. He was taking every step, every
breath He breathed. It was for us! He wasn't living
for himself. Spurgeon said, and I repeat,
told you this several times, he said, the only selfless person
who ever lived. We're all selfish. He was selfless. He gave himself in all the fullness
of what he was. gave Himself for us to live for,
die for, and now, right now in glory, right now, He's seated
at the right hand of the Majesty on high, praying, making intercession for you who believe, for us. He ever lives to make intercession. for us. When we know that the Son of
God has come. Look at chapter 4 and verse 1. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits whether they are of God, because many false
prophets are going out into the world. Hereby know we the Spirit
of God, Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh is of God. You've looked that babe over, and you saw him as Almighty God
in human flesh. The world around him saw him
as just another creature man, male child. But you saw him. God come down, the great condescension
and stoop of God to come from the highest glory to become one
of us, to be born in a stable. Born in a... Kids are born in
nurseries and hospitals and he was born in a stable. Straw for his bed and cobwebs
for his curtains. Who is that poor child? God Almighty,
He's the one who made this world. Is that real to you? God manifests in the flesh to
live and die and satisfy God for helpless sinners. The substitute
for sinners. The surety for sinners. Our hope. Our hope. Again, another point. When God has given us an understanding
to know Him spiritually, truly, intimately, Everybody in the
world, everybody in America, in a way, they think they know
God. They talk about Jesus and they
ride Him on their bumpers and on their churches and on their toilets as you go up and down
the turnpike. When God has given us an understanding,
That's the only way you can ever be saved. God has given us an
understanding. Paul put it like this. You've
read of his experience. You're familiar with it. He's
going down to Damascus Road and God turned on the light and he
fell in the dust. And he talked about it in 2 Corinthians
chapter 4 and verse 6. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Paul said, though I have known
Him after the flesh no more, I have seen Him as who He is,
God-man, God in human flesh. Paul said in 1 Corinthians Chapter 2. He said, these rulers
and leaders of the Jews, had they known it, had they but known,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. That's how we see Him. He's not
just a little sissy, wimpy Jesus. He's God Almighty. Unchangeably
God, forever God, but He became one of us. Joined to us forever
to save us from our sins. Oh, we sure couldn't save ourselves.
He demands perfection and even the Apostle Paul said, in me,
that is in my flesh, there's no perfection, there's nothing
good. John chapter 1. Same thing. When God has given us an understanding. The Bible says He was in the
world, He made the world, the world didn't know Him. They received Him not. And He
came to His own. He was prophesied, predicted
to come to the Jewish people. He came to His own. He came to
the Jews. Born a Jew, and they received Him not. But as many
as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born."
That's why they believed on his name, they were born. Not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh. nor of the will of man. They were actually, actually,
truly born of God by the Holy Ghost. Born of God. Of His own will beget he us with
the word of truth. Born of God. And the next words
out of John's mouth are these, and we beheld His glory. The
glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. The God-man. God manifest in
the flesh. We saw who He was. Old John pointed
his finger and said, that's the Lamb of God. That's the Messiah. That's that prophet. That's the
Lamb of God. Take away the sin of the world.
He's the God-man. when God has given us an understanding. Verse 20, we know that the Son
of God has come, and we know that He has given us an understanding
that we may know Him, Him that is true. God gave us this understanding. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, the
natural man, all of us by nature, The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, but their foolishness unto him
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And until he has the Spirit of
God, he never receiveth them. He never sees them, never understands
them, never rejoices in them. He hath come and hath given us
an understanding. We know Him. We are in Him. We
have life. We have life. And a sinner can say we know
that we're of God when by the grace of God we actually believe
Him. We're so full of unbelief, that
sin which doth so easily beset us. But we do believe. We believe Him. And we trust Him. And in Him is all of our confidence. In Christ. In Christ. When we know Him and have Him
and are in Him by the Spirit and grace of God. 2 Timothy 1.12,
the Apostle Paul said this. Listen to these words of construction
carefully. I know. Everybody today talked
about Jesus, but he said, I know whom. I don't just believe some things
about Him, I know Him. I know whom I have believed.
And I'm persuaded that He's able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. We can say that we are of God
when we trust the Son. When we can say like Philippians
3, 3, when Paul said, we're the circumcision, worship God in
the spirit, we rejoice in Christ Jesus, and we don't have any
confidence in this flesh. My flesh or yours, I don't have
any confidence. All my trust is in Him who is
the God-man, who's able to say, who's faithful to say. Let me show you one of them.
First John. Turn back to chapter 2. There's believing and then there's
really believing. I was a little kid. We'd see somebody with a big
fancy car. We lived back out in the country.
We lived outside the river. We see somebody with a big fancy
car and fancy clothes. Now that's living. The difference
between living and living. Living and just existing. The
difference between believing and really believing. 1 John
2, 18. Little children, Now read this as if he were talking
to you today. Here he is. It is the last time,
and as we have heard that antichrists will come even now, are there
many antichrists whereby we know, we know that we live in the last time, the
last days, because there are many antichrists. And this was
written in the first century. How many do you think there are
today? As things have waxed worse and worse and worse. They went out from us, but they
were not of us. If they'd been of us, they would
no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they
might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But boy,
this is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, sovereign grace of
God. But you, each of you here this
morning who's been born of God, you have an unction from the
Holy One, and you know all things. What does that mean? It means
you know, you have sufficient knowledge, you have the quality
of knowledge that you can never be deceived. These Antichrists,
they're just everywhere. And they've gone out from us
and they take others with them. They start their own churches
and big organizations, but not with you. Because you know the
truth. And I've not written you because
you don't know the truth, but because you know the truth and
that you know that no lies are the truth. These people who left
are liars and deceivers, charlatans. Verse 27. The anointing which you have
received of him abideth in you, and you need not that any man
teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and
is truth, and is no lie, and even as he hath taught you, you
shall abide in him." Oh! This word anointing here in verse
27 and the word unction in verse 20 are the exact same word. You have an anointing. You have
an unction from the Holy One. And that unction The Holy One
is Christ, and that unction is the Spirit of God, God the Spirit,
dwelling in you, and you'll never be deceived. Because you know
the truth, and you know that no lies are the truth. That's
what He's saying. I've given you a few points this
morning. There are several. Look through this book. Read
this book at home. Read it this afternoon. Sit down in your own
chair and read it and see what it says. We know, we know, we
know. And how plain this man writes.
But these points that I made this morning, such men and women
can biblically say, we're of God and we know it. When we talk
about what God teaches in this book, it's not just words. It's
real. It's where we live. We live under
the influence of the word of God. We're governed by the spirit
and grace of God through the word. Our lives. We know it. We are of God. The Lord is my shepherd. Not just something we quote and
say on Christmas is a pretty thing to say. It's true. We know it and we feel it. The
Lord is my shepherd. When I had that big brain tumor
back in 1990, 1989, surgery in 1990, January 2, And that was my tomb, it wasn't
yours, it was mine. Ordained of God for my good and
His glory. He's my shepherd. He wouldn't permit me to have
that which is not good for me. He makes all things work together
for good to them who love God, them who are the called according
to His purpose. He's my shepherd. For not only
that, He's my God, my priest, my sacrifice. All I need to stand
before God fully accepted and approved is Christ. And He's mine through
faith in His name. He that seeth the Son believeth
on Him hath everlasting life. He is my all-sufficient Savior. He's my trust. Dear lost souls
here this morning, look not to yourself and to your sin, but
look to Christ, the Savior of sinners. You look to yourself,
you'll never be saved. But if you look to Christ, you'll
see the remedy for all that self is indebted to God. exceeding sinfulness of sin in
us. But He is life, the way, the
truth, the life. There is none other name unto
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
thou shalt be saved. David, let's have a hymn, please.
May God bless these words to every heart. and give you comfort. We need to know that we know
that we know.