This goes well with one of the
points Greg closed with. Our God was able to turn the
darkest hour we've ever seen and turn it into the only light.
We'll start in verse 19. Matthew 6, 19. Lay not up for yourselves treasure
upon the earth. where moth and rust doth corrupt.
Moths eat garments, rust corrupts silver and gold. Garments are
often a picture of our righteousness, and gold and silver are what
we make payment with. This is sin and iniquity, and
where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is
the eye. If therefore thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be
evil, Thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore
the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our Father in heaven, Lord, we
ask that you would cause us especially in this hour to look to the person
of your son, but Lord, cause that not to be the limitation
we ask that you would point our eyes to Christ at all times. I ask that you'd cause us not
to set our affections on the temporal things of this world.
Lord, there's nothing here for us. We ask that you would reserve a place in your kingdom
for each of your sheep, as we know you will. We ask that all
things be done according to thy will. I ask that you'd keep your
hand on Ann and Those that are close to her,
Lord, we all are in need of a physician, a friend, a savior. We ask that you would be that
to each of us. It's in Christ's name we pray,
amen. Turn now, if you would, in your
hardback hymnal to hymn 175, and we'll stand again. you Standing on the promises of Christ
my King, through eternal ages let His praises ring. Glory in the highest I will shout
and sing, standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that
cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises
of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ
the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love's strong cord, Overcoming
daily with the Spirit's sword, Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises I cannot
fall, Listening every moment to the Spirit's call, Resting
in my Savior as my all in all, Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Be seated, please. Thank you, Adam. Would you like
to open your Bibles with me to John chapter 3, the Gospel of
John, the third chapter, John chapter 3. You know, the scripture says,
thinking about that hymn we just sang, that all the promises of
God, all the promises of God are yea and amen in him. And that means that the promises
of God are yes, yay, and amen, sure, in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. So when we sing standing on the
promises, we're really talking about standing on Christ. He
is the rock on which we stand. And we look to him as the fulfillment
of all the promises of God. I've titled this message, What
Is It To Do Truth? What Is It To Do Truth? And I hope the answer to this
question will glorify Christ and will give hope and comfort
to the hearts of his people. And I hope that someone who's
never known what it means to do truth that the Lord might
reveal himself as the truth and enable you to rest your hope
in him? Because the short answer to that
question is that is what it is to do truth, to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, who himself is the truth of God. Let's read
our verses together. We're in John chapter 3 beginning
of verse 18. He that believeth on him is not
condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Now that verse actually is connected to verse 17. For God sent not
his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world
through him might be saved. You and I come into this world
already condemned. We're born under the law. The law condemns, that's what
it does. The Lord Jesus in John chapter
five, verse 45, said to those Pharisees who were trusting their
law keeping for the hope of their salvation. He said to them, do
not think that I will accuse you to the father. I'm not going
to accuse you to the father. You have one that accuses you,
even Moses, whom ye trust. And that's exactly what the Lord's
telling Nicodemus here in John chapter 3. I did not come to
condemn the world, the world's already condemned. The world
was condemned when Adam sinned. The Bible says in Adam all died. God put our father Adam under
a law. And God told Adam, in the day
in which you eat of the fruit, you shall surely die. The penalty
for breaking God's law is death. And Adam died and we died in
him. So that all of the prodigy of
Adam, which you and I are, there's only one that was born into this
world that did not come after the seed of Adam. That's why
it was necessary for Mary to be conceived of the Holy Ghost.
She did not receive the seed of a man. She received the Spirit
of God, the seed of God. And the Lord Jesus is called
that seed. The scripture says, I speak not
of seeds, but of seed. That's Christ. And he's the only
one that came into this world without sin. You and I, We died
in our father Adam, we're born dead, and the Lord Jesus is saying,
I didn't come to the world to condemn the world, the world's
already condemned. I came to the world to save the world,
to save those who are condemned already by the law. And so he
says to those Pharisees, don't think that I came to condemn
you, you already have one to condemn you, Moses, the one whom
you trust. Moses' name is used as a picture
of the law. And if you remember your Old
Testament history, Moses could not lead the children of Israel
across the Jordan into the Promised Land. Moses had to die on the
east side of the Jordan. Joshua was the one to lead the
children of Israel into the Promised Land. And there we have a picture
of God saying to me and you, the law can't save you. The law
has to die on the other side of the river. You, the only Christ,
Joshua's name means the same exact thing that Jesus means,
Jehovah saves. Jehovah saves and he's the only
one that can bring you safely across the river of death into
the promised land. Now he's saying, in verse 18,
we'll read again, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but
he that believeth not is condemned already because he has not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Romans chapter three, verse 28
says, a man is justified by faith. without the deeds of the law. Without the deeds of the law.
To be justified means to be able to stand in the presence of a
holy God without sin. Who can stand in the presence
of an almighty, holy God and be accepted in his presence?
This Bible answers that question. They that have clean hands and
a pure heart. Now the hand is a picture of
what we do in our flesh. It's a picture of our sin, our
works. The heart, God looks upon the heart. How can I have clean
hands? How can the things that I do
be pure in the sight of God? And how can I have a clean heart? I can only have that in Christ.
Because He's the only one that has clean hands and a pure heart.
And we must be found in Him. Found in Him. Not having our
own righteousness which is of the law. The law condemns. The Lord said, I did not come
to... You condemned already. did not come to destroy the law.
I came to fulfill it. He's the only one that satisfied
the demands of God's law. A man is justified before God
by faith. Faith is not a decision. Faith is not my contribution
to salvation. Faith is a work of grace that
the Lord puts in my new heart when he gives me a clean heart,
when he gives me a heart after God. That's what David's called,
a man after God's own heart. And we have a new nature in Christ. And that new nature is a nature
of faith. Looking and resting in and relying
upon believing on the Lord Jesus for all of our righteousness
before God. We have no righteousness outside
of him. Romans chapter three, verse 31 says, do we make void
the law through faith? Do we make void the law through
faith? God forbid we establish the law. The law is established. for what
it is, holy, just, and good. It is established through faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. God's law is holy. God's law
cannot make me holy. God's law is just. God's law cannot justify me.
God's law is good. God's law cannot add an ounce
of goodness to who I am. So do we make void the law through
faith? No, we establish the law. We
look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what it is to
do truth. As our only righteousness before
God, he's the one who kept the law. He's the holy one of Israel. He's the one who justifies us
in the sight of God. And he is our goodness before
God. Moses was on Mount Sinai, the
mountain of the law. And God said to Moses, I'm gonna
cause my goodness to pass before thee. And the Lord said to that
rich young ruler, when he said, good master, what must I do to
inherit eternal life? This rich young ruler was looking
for something to do, to earn favor with God, to justify him
in the sight of God. And the Lord Jesus said to the
rich young ruler, why callest thou me good? There's no good
to God. Do you realize in calling me good that you are acknowledging
who I am? There's none good but God. Paul said, in me that is in my
flesh dwelleth no good thing. The Lord Jesus Christ is all
of my goodness before God and all of my acceptance before God.
And that's what our Lord's saying to Nicodemus. I did not come
to condemn the world, I came to save the world. The world's
already condemned. You're born into this world under
the law, under the condemnation of the law, under the curse of
the law, under the demands of the law. And we will die in that
condition lest the Lord gives us faith in Christ. And I want you to notice, In
verse 18, he that believeth on him is not condemned. Sometimes we speak of being a
mercy beggar and we are. But here's the glorious truth,
our God delights in showing mercy and his mercy is great. and able to save to the uttermost,
he's not reluctant to give his mercy. And so let's be careful
because calling ourselves beggars for mercy could very quickly
turn into a work. It could very quickly turn into
an idea that, well, you know, God's reluctant to show mercy
and he will only show it depending upon how sincere and persevering
I am in begging for mercy. We've all been confronted with
beggars before. And I've had times when I, my
heart went out. I mean, most of the time, no,
but my heart went out and I just, you know, yeah, what can I do
to help? He didn't say, if you beg and
you plead and you show that you're truly repentant and sorrowful,
that you'll be saved. He said, believe. Believe. Look to, rest in, rely upon,
depend upon the Lord Jesus. Believe God. Well, how do I know if I believe?
Well, let's read the rest of these verses. Verse 19, and this is the condemnation,
that light is coming to the world and men loved darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. Now, some might read that and
think, well, men won't come to Christ because they're engaged
in behavior that they're not ready to give up yet. Be careful,
be careful because that suggests that there has to be a turning
from sin before I can turn to Christ, there has to be a cleaning
up of my life before I can be saved, that's not what the Lord's
saying. Light has come, this is the condemnation,
Light has come into the world but men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. Let's read on. For everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his
deeds should be reproved or exposed for what they are. You see, brethren, my friends,
it's not a man's sin that keeps him from Christ. It's his righteousness. It's his righteousness. Men will
not believe the gospel because they believe that something that
they have done is less than evil. Something that they have performed,
something, some prayer they pray, some decision that they've made,
some work that they have, or the potential of it thereof,
that they are capable of presenting themselves in the presence of
a holy God based on something that they've done. They will
not believe. They will not believe that everything
that they've ever done and everything that they are in the sight of
a holy God is evil. They will not believe that. They hold on to something. That's
why I say it's men's righteousness that keeps them from Christ. And that's what the Lord's saying.
Light has come into the world. This is the condemnation. This
is God speaking condemnation to the world. He sent light into
the world. That's the Lord Jesus. He's the
light of the world. But men loved darkness rather than light because
their deeds were evil. And everyone that doeth evil,
hateth the light. Men hate the gospel. Because
it exposes them for what they are. Sinners. Sinners. That's why men hate the gospel.
That's why they hate Christ. It reproves us for what we are. But, he that doeth truth. That's the title of this message.
He that doeth truth. What is it to do truth? What
is it to do truth? He that doeth truth cometh to
the light, that his deeds may be made manifest
that they are wrought in God. Lord, whatever righteousness
I have, you wrought them. And they were wrought not by
me for God, they were wrought in God. We come to the light because
our deeds have been exposed by the light for what they are,
evil, everything about us. And we confess by doing the truth
that whatever deeds of righteousness that we have before God are wrought
in God. They're accomplished in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That all of my righteousness
is filthy rags before God and that He is all of my righteousness
before God. That's what it is to do truth
and men won't do truth. They won't do it for one reason. They're holding on to their own
righteousness in hopes that they'll be able to present something
in the presence of a holy God that will give them acceptance
before God. Well, I've never murdered anybody.
I'm not as bad as that person. You know, maybe there is a hell,
but not for people like me. Yes. Yes, there is. Yes, there is. For people like
you and people like me, there is a hell. And the Lord says,
I didn't come to condemn the world. The world's already condemned.
I came to save the world. You're under the condemnation
of the law. To be condemned means to be judged
guilty before God and to be cut off. That's what it means. The Lord says light is coming
into the world, but men love darkness. They love their sin. They love their righteousness. And they would not come to the
light. Because the light reproves them, it exposes them, it uncovers
their righteousness for what it is, iniquity, sin. When the Lord Jesus appeared
to Isaiah the prophet, Isaiah said, woe is me, I'm undone. I'm undone, I'm a man of unclean
lips and I live in the midst of a people of unclean lips.
Mine eyes have seen the king, I'm a dead man. And the Lord
took a coal from off the altar and touched it on his lips. What's
that a picture of? Well, the Lord Jesus is our altar
and the fiery wrath of God's justice fell upon him at Calvary's
cross. How close is he? The scripture
says, close as your lips for he that confesses. We're
confessing that all our righteousness is wrought in God. Wrought in God. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians,
there's another. passage that teaches the same
wonderful truth. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 10. 2 Thessalonians chapter
2, verse 10. And with all deceivableness You
see, those who trust in their own righteousness for the hope
of their salvation. You say, well, I'm trusting in
Christ, but I'm trusting, you know, I made a decision to accept
him. No, you're trusting in yourself. Trusting in yourself, been deceived. with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish because they received not the love of the
truth that they might be saved." They wouldn't receive the love
of the truth that they might be saved. They were deceived
by their unrighteousness thinking that their unrighteousness was
righteousness. That's what it is to be deceived. And for this God, verse 11, and
for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they
should believe a lie. The self-righteous, they believe. You ever been to a funeral where
the person deceased was declared to be in hell? I've never been
to one. Never been to a single one. Now,
everybody's going to heaven. God sent them a strong delusion
that they should believe a lie. Men believe their delusion. Men
believe. that their righteousness will
favor them acceptance with God. They believe it. And they will
die believing it. And you and I are men. And we'll do it. We'll do it. Who maketh thee to differ? What do you have that you did
not receive? And a man can receive nothing
unless it be given to him from heaven. And if you received it
from heaven as a free gift, then why do you boast as if you earned
it? No, Lord, you're going to have
to give me faith. Verse 12, that they might all
be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. That doesn't mean that they were
pleasuring their flesh in all the sins of the world and all
the things that men do. It means that they were taking
pleasure in their unrighteousness, deceived in their thinking that
it was righteousness. And that's what the Lord is saying
to Nicodemus. How do I know that I believe? God's given me a love for the
truth. They receive not the love of
the truth. What is the truth? And what is it that other men
hate? Number one, all of my righteousness, the
best thing that I've ever done, man at his very best state is
altogether vanity. If God judged me for the best
prayer I've ever prayed, if he judged me for the most selfless,
sacrificial deed I've ever performed or the kindest word I've ever
spoken, I would go to hell for it. That's what men hate. They do not believe themselves
to be a sinner. When God gives you faith in Christ,
You love the fact that God has made you a sinner because now
you're not looking to yourself for the hope of your salvation.
Before you were a sinner, you were taking false hope in something
that you were, something you had done. And with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness, because they had no love for the truth, God
sent them a strong delusion that they should believe the lie. But here the Lord says, he that cometh to the light, doeth
truth, have a love for the truth. Preacher, here's what the child
of God who has a love for the truth would say right now. Thank you once again for reminding
me that I'm nothing but sin. I love that because there's a
part of me that's always looking for something to hang its hopes
on other than Christ. There's a part of me that's always
trying to think, well, if I would just do better, I could have
a better standing with God. And I need to be reminded that
the Lord Jesus is my only standing with God and that I am completely
sinful before him. Oh, I can be deceived by my unrighteousness. But God's given me a love for
the truth, a love for the truth. What else do men hate? The hate of God who is absolutely
sovereign. They hate that. We'll not have
that man reign over us. The hate of God who holds the
destiny of their immortal soul in His hand and takes from them all the hope of making any difference in their salvation.
I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. Whom I will, I will
harden. It is not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth. It is of God that showeth mercy. He reigns sovereign. He is the
potter and we are the clay. And he has the sovereign right
to make from the same lump of clay, some vessels of honor and
some of dishonor. And no man can say unto him,
what doest thou? And God's people love it that
way. We have a love for the truth.
This is what it is to do truth. We do truth when God gives us
the grace to love Christ, to rest in him, to believe on him
and to rejoice that he is sovereign. Because we know that if he depended
upon us to make any contribution whatsoever to our salvation,
we would mess it up. We'd mess it up. We wouldn't
do it right. Oh, I love a God. who reigns
sovereign, not only in creation and in providence, but most importantly,
in salvation. A God who of his own will and
purpose chose a people before the foundation of the world.
God, had you not chosen a people, no one would have chosen you.
We love election. We love sovereignty. Why? Because it's the only open door
that there is to heaven. If God didn't elect a people
and if God didn't sovereignly choose a people according to
his own will and purpose, no one would be saved, especially
me. And that's the voice of every
believer. Lord, I wouldn't have come to you. You see, this is the truth that
we do when the light of the gospel shines in our hearts in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ and this is the evidence that God
has given us faith. They that doeth truth come to
the light and confess that their deeds of righteousness were wrought
in God. That's our confession. What else is there that men hate?
Limited atonement. Men hate that. That when the Lord Jesus went
to Calvary's cross, He went with the names of those,
as our high priest, just as Aaron wore the names of the tribes
of Israel on his breastplate, the Lord Jesus Christ went to
the cross with the names of those that his father had chosen written
on his heart. And he died successfully and
effectually for them. We call it an atonement, an atonement,
a making us right with God, a covering of our sin that was limited to
God's elect. And the world has no love for
that truth. Why do we love it? Why do we
love it? Because if it was otherwise,
if it was otherwise, then there's something else that has to be
done in order for those whom the Lord died for to be saved.
There's something else that has to be done. And I would have
to do it. And I love the truth of effectual
redemption. I love the truth of limited atonement. I love the truth that when the
Lord Jesus bowed His mighty head on Calvary's cross and cried,
it is finished, that everything that God required for the salvation
of His elect was actually accomplished in that moment of time. And the
Lord Jesus Christ accomplished it by Himself. any other work of atonement that
he performed other than that. You see, there's no salvation
apart from limited atonement. There's no salvation apart from
particular redemption, from sovereign election. There's no salvation.
People say, well, these are just debatable doctrines that Christians
can... No, they're not. This is the
gospel. and because they had no love for the truth. This is
what it is to do truth. This is what it is to do truth.
And I'm asking you and I'm asking myself, am I doing truth? And
if I am doing truth, what is the truth that I'm doing? And
how did I do it? Oh Lord. You put into my heart
a love for the truth. I love total depravity. I love
unconditional election. I love that you didn't look down
through the quarters of time and see if I would believe on
you before you decided to elect me. No, you elected me according
to your own sovereign will and purpose. There would be no hope
of my salvation if it was any other way. I love the fact that
when Christ died on Calvary's cross, that he actually successfully
atoned for my sins by himself and there was nothing else for
me to do to contribute to his completed work. I love it. Lord, I love total depravity.
was dead in my trespasses and sins and as a dead man I was
unable to see I was unable to believe Lord you had to make
me alive before I could before I could believe but because they had no love
of the truth and here's the contrast you either
love the truth or you don't love the truth either you Do truth, and come
to light, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, or you don't. Turn with me to 1 John 1, please,
1 John 1. Verse 6, if we say that we have
fellowship with Him, every religious people and most
irreligious people will say that they know God or that they have
some fellowship with God. If we say that we have fellowship
with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light,
as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and
the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us of all sin. What is it to walk in the light?
It's to believe on Christ. That's what it is. Turn me over
just a couple of pages to chapter 3 of 1 John. Chapter 3 of 1 John. This is what it is to do truth. The only way that we can do truth
is if God shines the light of the gospel in our hearts and
reveals to us the truth. The truth of who we are, sinners,
unable to do anything to save ourselves. The truth of who he
is, a sovereign, omnipotent God who has the right and the power
to save. A God who actually accomplished
the salvation of His people at Calvary's Cross. The truth of
how it is that God is pleased to save sinners, not by our righteousness
which we have done. 1 John 3 At verse 18, my little children,
let us not live, I'm sorry, let us not love in word, neither
in tongue, but indeed and in truth. And hereby we know that
we are of the truth. Oh, the Lord's going to tell
us now how it is that I can know whether I am of the truth, whether
I am doing truth, and shall assure our hearts before
him. For if our hearts condemn us,
God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things. Beloved,
if our hearts condemn us not, then we have confidence toward
God. I want confidence toward God. I want you to have confidence
toward God. I want a heart that doesn't condemn
me. I want to come to the light. I want to do truth. I want to
confess that my deeds were wrought in God and that I had nothing
to do with them. And whatsoever we ask, We receive
of him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are
pleasing in his sight. Oh, now wait a minute, preacher.
This goes against everything you've just been preaching. I've got to keep the commandments
of God? I thought the commandments of God could only condemn me. I thought
I couldn't keep God's law. I thought the Lord Jesus was
the only one that ever kept the law of God. Now he says, keep his commandments and do
those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his
commandment, that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus
Christ, and love one another as he has commanded us. If by God's grace you are doing
truth and you love the truth, you love what God has revealed
in His Word about yourself, about Himself and about how He saves
sinners, you love it. You don't want it to be any other
way. Any other message of salvation robs you of your hope. You love
that. And you are looking singularly
to the Lord Jesus for all of your acceptance before God. I know something about you. I know something about you if that's
true. You love everyone who has had that same experience and
makes that same confession. You love your brethren. Let not a man say that I love
God and hate his brother, for how can a man love him whom he
has not seen if he hates him who he does see? You see, there's
no, this is the commandment that you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and you love your brethren as God has commanded. By this,
the world will know that you are my disciples for your love
for one another. You didn't just decide you'd
fall in love with the believers, you didn't just... No, God put
in your heart a love for the brethren. And you understand, you have
some understanding of how rare this is and how few of us there
are and how necessary it is for you to have fellowship one with
the other. This is what it is to do truth. Oh, is our love as it ought to
be? No, not toward God or toward one
another. This is what the Lord's put in
your heart. He'll grow us in his grace and the knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Heavenly Father, thank you.
Thank you for rotting in us by your grace of righteousness in
the person of thy dear son that we could not produce. Thank you
for putting in our hearts a love for your gospel and for one another. Lord, thank you for this table
and for the simplicity of it. And we ask, Lord, now that you
would bless it to the faith and encouragement of your children. We pray it in Christ's name. Adam, 224, let's stand together,
number 224. I know not why God's wondrous
grace to me he hath made known, Nor why unworthy Christ in love
redeemed me for his own. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded That he is able to keep that which I've committed
Unto him against that day I know not how this saving faith to
me he did impart Nor how believing in His Word
Brought peace within my heart. But I know whom I have believed,
And am persuaded that He is able To keep that which I've committed
Unto Him against that day. I know not how the Spirit moves
convincing men of sin. Revealing Jesus through the Word,
creating faith in Him. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that He is able To keep that which I've committed
unto Him against that day. I know not what of good or ill
may be reserved for me. Of weary ways or golden days
before his face I see, But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. I know not when my Lord may come
at night or noonday fair, nor if I'll walk the vale with Him
or meet Him in the air. But I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. Be seated, please. Before we
observe the Lord's table,