I please God to bless us together
tonight as we once again meditate in his word. And as we mentioned
this morning, having spoken of the eternal state and plight
of unbelievers, by God's help tonight we'll speak of the eternal
state and plight of believers. We commenced our reading this
morning with that verse in John's epistle, the fifth chapter, the
tenth to twelfth verses, which again is appropriate for this
consideration tonight, and I'll just read it again. 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
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." And so, very simply, the Apostle
John shows to us the tremendous difference between those who
are true believers and those who are not. And he commences
with this very powerful statement, that he that believes on the
Son of God hath the witness in himself. And that means that
the Spirit of God has conveyed to those who are believers the
evidence that they are amongst the children of God. And it's
something that surely all of us want to know. It's not something
which can be set aside or cast away, but how important it is
that God may give us, through the Holy Spirit, the witness
in ourselves. that we are those who do believe
on the Son of God. Perhaps we may need some encouragement
and some help to appreciate what that really means. Well, we have
many examples in the Word of God, but perhaps one of the most
helpful ones and well-known ones is the parable that the Lord
Jesus spoke of the Pharisee and the Publican. Now, one of those
was a believer and one of those was an unbeliever. He did not
believe. And the Lord very graciously
expounds the attitude of these two people, and how very different
it was. He speaks of the Pharisee. The
Pharisee was a proud man. He was satisfied with his religion. He was satisfied with the things
that he did in his religion. He was relying upon his own religion,
as it were. He was relying upon his works.
And he wanted everybody to observe him and to see what a great believer
he was. The truth was that in fact he
did not really believe. He just pretended. He just had
a false religion. And on the other hand, the Lord
Jesus speaks about the publican. Well, both of these people were
supposedly praying. But the Pharisee, he prayed with
himself. He didn't pray to God. He prayed
with himself. How different was the publican. And there he was, not to be seen,
standing afar off, convicted in his heart of his true position
before a holy God. And what did he do then? We're
told he smote upon his breast, and his head was hanging down,
and what did he pray? God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Now there were glorious words
of the Saviour. He said, I tell you, this man
went down to his house justified, rather than the other, because
he was a true believer. He was one who knew something
of the sinful condition of his heart. And that's why he had
to pray the very simple but very telling and very effective and
effectual prayer, God be merciful to me a sinner. Well, if you
and I therefore are to be blessed with the witness in ourselves,
that we are praying to the true God, it will be when the Spirit
of God brings us to a condition like that, so that we don't come
full of ourselves, full of our wonderful ability to pray, all
the beautiful phrases we're able to bring forth, but just the
opposite, just simply to pray for God's mercy, recognising
our state before a holy God, God be merciful to me a sinner. So we can therefore believe that
a true believer is one who is shown by the Holy Spirit that
they are a sinner. We can thank God tonight if the
Spirit of God has shown to us that we are a sinner. And not
to just say, well, I do the odd thing wrong, I know. Many people
say that. They will say, well, they're
a sinner, and they have sinned. But they don't realise and don't
recognise how bad they are. The Apostle Paul was a most blessed
man, was he not? No doubt about that, is there?
And yet, what did he claim? He claimed to be the chief of
sinners. Why was that? Because the Holy
Spirit had revealed to him something of his true nature. You see,
it's not just outward sins which convict. They do, but it's inward
sins. It's the things which we think,
the things in our heart, the things that no one else knows
about apart from you and God. those are the sins which weigh
heavy on our heart. Those are the sins really which
make us cry out in this way, God be merciful to me a sinner. So they're not just mere words
of repetition, not just words which we often have to cry, because
the true believer will often have to cry such a prayer It
won't be a one-off. You won't say, well, I prayed
that prayer, and now I move on, now I'm a better Christian. No,
this prayer, I'm sure, will suit the true believer all their life,
because we cannot cease from sin, because of our old nature,
because of the terribleness of sin, because it's in our nature. And we can thank God, therefore,
if he's given us that new nature. and that new nature seeks after
holiness. The old nature is unholy and
therefore there is that battle within. Well that surely is an
evidence of the Spirit's work. Surely that's an evidence of
this word, he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness
in himself. You see it's the witness that
you and I have from God. It's not what other people may
say, well, you're a wonderful Christian and you live a good
life. You'll probably have to shake
your head and say, well, that's not true. The opposite is true. I'm really a great sinner and
I'm really a vile sinner and I'm really one who should indeed
be like the publican and hang their head in shame before a
holy God. well then have we the blessed
witness in our heart that the Spirit of God has come upon us
and moved us so that we are able to confess and let's be clear
it's right to come to a positive view of things with regard to
our eternal state And not just to be unconcerned and pass things
off and say, well, I hope perhaps in time to come the Spirit's
work, my friends, is a powerful work. You won't be able to cast
it off. It will be with you day after
day, night after night, causing you to cry out to Almighty God. How many evidences there are,
are there not, in the Word of God, especially in the Psalms?
You read the Psalms, you want some encouragement to find out
whether you are a believer or not. You read the Psalms, you
read what David expresses and Asaph expresses and Moses expresses,
and you'll have a realisation of what it is to be a true believer,
what it is to experience the battle within the battle of life,
the battle between our new nature and our old nature. And so he
that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. And as we mentioned this morning,
he that believeth not God hath made him a liar. Very simply
because there is that belief in the Word of God. Well, it's
a sad thing if we fall short and if we find we're not one
who believes. what a blessed favourite it is,
and how good it will be, and how soul-strengthened it will
be, and how God-glorifying it will be, if we're able to find
there, in our hearts, that good work of the Holy Spirit, which
is convincing us of our sin. Now, the true believer will not
stay there. Because if the Holy Spirit convicts
us of our sin as a believer, we will want to know that our
sins are forgiven. We'll want to know that our sins
are taken away. Because no unholy thing, no sin
is found in heaven. And therefore, we come to die
we would need to know that we have no sin because Christ has
taken it and Christ has washed it away and it's been paid for
all our sin the price has been paid for our salvation and it's
been paid by the Lord Jesus Christ and this surely then leads us
to this great truth, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He that believeth on the Son
of God. And we will not want to believe. There will be no need to believe
on the Son of God, unless the Spirit of God has convinced us
of our need. And that need is because of our
sin, because we need someone to deliver us someone to save
us, someone to stand in our place and plead our case. And that
great and glorious person is the Lord Jesus Christ. We need, do we not, to be justified. We need to receive Christ's righteousness. You know, it was said of Abraham,
that man of God, that he believed in the Lord. may say well I think
that's true I can understand that. You know what was said
of him and he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him
for righteousness. God counted that for righteousness. God given grace to believe and
Abraham was blessed then with this wonderful favour and he
counted it was counted to him for righteousness. So if God
gives us then that grace to believe, and it is grace, it is a favour,
it is an unmerited favour, it's not something that you and I
can produce ourselves to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We
may think, well that's a very simple thing and surely I can
do that. We need the Holy Spirit's work
to enable us to come to that position and to look to the Lord
Jesus Christ as our only hope of salvation. There's no other
way. Our salvation only comes through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when the Spirit of God leads
us into all truth as it is in Jesus, then we shall observe
and realise and know things which are true, which in our natural
state, our fallen state, although perhaps in theory we understood
the things of God, there had not been the application by the
Spirit to our heart, so that we truly rejoiced in what the
Lord Jesus Christ had done. Because it really meant something
to us. Because in Him was all our hope of salvation. And we had to come and say, my
hope, is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Now that is the gracious effect
of the work of the Holy Spirit directing us to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Isaiah in his prophecy in the
53rd chapter, well known to Many of us, it commences with these
words, who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? What that means is, to who has
the Lord graciously revealed himself as the all-sufficient
Saviour, the one who stood in their place? Now, the 53rd chapter
of Isaiah, It is not something which our nature can assimilate,
our nature can go along with, our nature can understand. We
may know it, of course, because of our intellect, but not, you
see, unless the Holy Spirit of God touches our heart and gives
us the view that in this beautiful chapter we see the description
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we understand perhaps a little
of the cost then of our salvation, the cost to take away our sin. That's why it's open with these
words, who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed. And the Prophet goes on and says,
for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root
out of a dry ground. He has no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. Now in our natural state, before
the Holy Spirit has worked in our hearts, that's just how we
view the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, is that how you view him
tonight? Just like this? as a root out of a dry ground,
nothing, nothing attractive at all. And then we have this description. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and equated with grief. And we hid as it
were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Again, is that our position? Do we have to say, well, I don't
esteem the Lord Jesus Christ, or can we say tonight, I do esteem
what he's done. What an evidence of being a believer. What a wonderful evidence. And
surely he hath borne us griefs and carried our sorrows, yet
we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but he
was wounded for our transgressions. This comes really, doesn't it,
to the centre of the matter. This great and glorious Saviour.
Never underestimate the greatness of God, the eternity of God,
and the wonder that God himself should be wounded for our transgressions,
our sins. He was bruised for our iniquities,
the Chastisement of our peace, was upon him and with his stripes,
we are healed. Fancy. Just think. We need to
be healed. If the Holy Spirit has convinced
us of our sin, it's as though we've got open wounds which need
to be cleansed and need to be healed. And we can't do it ourselves
because we're a sinner, a deep-dyed sinner. To think then that these words
were written to encourage us and to indicate to our innermost
being that we are a believer. To realise, yes, he was wounded
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. And he goes on,
all we like sheep have gone astray. Is that true? view of I wandered
away just like a lost sheep. Gone astray we have turned everyone
to his own ways and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity
of us all. Disobedient we've been. Terrible
to think how we turned our back upon God. How we've been more
concerned of affronting or people than we have about a fronting
God. And so this great and glorious
Saviour had our sins laid upon Him. He was oppressed and He
was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before a shearer's
dung, so He openeth not His mouth. This is the wonderful picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ and what he endured and what he passed
through in order to save our souls, in order that you and
I might be numbered amongst those who are true believers. These
are great and glorious positive evidences of the work of God
in our soul. As such, words as this are suitable
and are attractive to us. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off as the land of the living, 33 years old, cut off. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. He made his grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence,
neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord
to bruise him. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his solemn offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and his pleasure and the pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. And then he says, he
shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. You think of the travail of the
soul of the Lord Jesus Christ, what he endured to save our souls. Oh, my friends, what a cost it
was. Well, does it prove to us that
we have the evidence in our hearts, in our innermost being, the witness
in ourself that the Lord Jesus Christ is my Saviour. We all need to say that. We all
need to come in that very personal and real way and be able to say,
yes, the Lord Jesus Christ is my Saviour. In the third chapter of John,
that well-known chapter of Nicodemus, the Lord speaks and he says,
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. Well, tonight then, is Jesus
Christ your hope and my hope of salvation. There was no other
good enough to pay the price of sin. To pay the price of your
sin and my sin is that where your hope is placed tonight on
what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. It's not what we have done. It's not our works. And the Apostle
was very clear about that. The Apostle Paul You remember,
he went about trying to justify himself. He thought he was doing
a good work. How wrong he was. Perhaps we've
been trying to do a good work. We've had to find how wrong we've
been. That's why the Apostle wrote
to the Galatians and he said, knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ. It's not by our own works. It's
by God-given faith in Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. It is therefore a blessed privilege
and a wonderful favour to be given that grace of faith to
come as a needy sinner, casting all our care upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is able to deliver, he is
willing, he is able. And in John's epistle, In an
earlier chapter we're told and we have known and believed the
love that God hath to us. God is love and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God and God in him. Now just ponder that,
to think. If the Holy Spirit has convinced
us of our sin and we see ourselves and are ashamed of ourselves,
ashamed of our sin, to think then. that this all-glorious
God should have loved us. Nothing attractive naturally
is there perhaps in us to be loved, and especially to be loved
by a pure and holy God. Oh, what love it was! What evidence! Now the truth is this, not that
we loved God, but that God loved us. Because as the Holy Spirit
again draws us to the Saviour, and we see He loved us so much
that He was willing to lay down His life, then the reaction surely
is that we are then drawn in love to Him as we see His great
love to us. It always is that way round.
Christ loved us first. We would never love Christ in
and of ourselves, but as the Holy Spirit reveals to us his
great and glorious love, oh, is our heart not touched that
we believe the love that God hath to us. It's a very humbling
thing, isn't it, to ponder what an evidence it is that we are
a true believer as the Holy Spirit touches our heart. And by that
I mean our heart is softened, we're drawn to the Saviour, we're
willing to read his word, and we want to hear about him. We
love to hear him spoken of and we can join him with a hymn writer
who said, how sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's
ear. Well that's an evidence of the
work of the Spirit of God. as an evidence that we are amongst
those who are a true believer. So tonight, can we say, can we
say how sweet the name of Jesus sounds? When I hear him spoken
of, not in a blasphemous way, but by the saints of God and
by the preachers of the gospel and in the word of God, is his
name a sweet name? If it is, it shows to us His
love. Surely there is then that love
returning unto Him. Of course we have the evidence
in the Word of God of those who were true believers, those who
were wrought upon by the Holy Spirit. You may remember the
occasion of the Philippian jailer. It's an outstanding case, wasn't
he? A jailer converted by God. A jailer taught by the Spirit
of God. And there was Paul and Silas
in that prison. The door was barred nighttime,
singing praises to their God in their great sufferings. honouring
and glorifying their great God. And there was that time and that
night when there was an earthquake and the prison doors opened and
the jailer was about to kill himself and Paul told him to
stop. And then the jailer came in and
said, what must I do to be saved? What had happened in that very
short time? The Spirit of God, the work of the Holy Spirit,
had brought conviction into that man's heart. And he desired to know what he
must do to be saved, what he must do to be a believer. What
did the apostles say? Well-known words, I'm sure. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and thou shalt be saved." Simple
words, powerful words, but my friends, words which are only
operated by the Holy Spirit. What a blessing then if those
words have come from your heart, my heart, because of the Spirit's
work within. Because just as this jailer,
we needed salvation, we needed to be saved. And here was that
word. believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And so he did. And what was the
result? Of course he was baptised. He took up his cross immediately,
didn't put it off. He took up his cross and was
baptised and very similarly of course there was That case with
Philip and the eunuch, you remember. Philip had been directed by the
Spirit of God. It's wonderful, isn't it, to
think how the Spirit of God directed Philip to go all that way and
to join himself to the chariot just at the right moment. And
that is so in our lives today. Circumstances work out just at
the right time. Why? Ordained by God. And as
what he was doing was reading the chapter that we read, the
53rd chapter of Isaiah, he didn't understand it. It's a good thing
to be honest in the sight of God. He was honest. Philip asked him if he understood
and he said, how can I except some man lead me or direct me? And Philip went up and sat in
the chariot and spoke of Jesus in that chapter in Isaiah, what
an effect it had upon him. And you remember, they came to
some water and he said, here is water, what doth hinder me
to be baptised? And what was the word of the
apostle? If thou believest with all thine
heart. The difference was it wasn't
just a theoretical knowledge, It was the work of the Holy Spirit
in his heart. If thou believest with all thine
heart, showing that he was a true believer, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Well, what a blessing
if we tonight can echo those words from our heart and be able
to say, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And again, what was the result?
Well, he was baptised. Well, the apostle Philip baptised
him and he went on his way rejoicing. It is indeed a time of rejoicing
to know The work of the Spirit of God has come and touched our
hearts, directing us to see ourselves as sinners and to look to the
great and glorious Saviour for our salvation. Well, here we
have then some evidence of what true believers are. And we might
then go on to see what is the eternal state and plight or destiny
of true believers. Well, thankfully, it's not to
go to hell. It is to go to that glorious
place of heaven. It is to find indeed the rest
that remaineth. And the apostle, when he wrote
to the Hebrews in the fourth chapter, he says, for we which
have believed, You see, he had confidence. He knew by the Spirit's
work that he did believe. We which have believed do enter
into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall
enter into my rest, although the works were finished from
the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place
of the seventh day, and this wise, and God did rest on the
seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, if they
shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore it remaineth that some
must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached
enter not in because of unbelief. What a blessing it is then if
you and I are favoured to enter into that rest that remaineth. There is a rest, an eternal rest,
that God has provided for his people, and may we not rejoice
in it now. What is it like? What is heaven
like? Well, the Apostle Paul tells
us, he tells us like this, he says, it is written, I hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."
They're not seen, they're not heard, and they don't even enter
into our heart. They're so great, they're so
glorious, they're so wonderful. What a scene it is to look forwards
to, to those who are blessed with this humble belief in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and it's not entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them. It's nothing haphazard. It's prepared. You think of that. What did the Lord Jesus say in
the 14th of John's Gospel? He said, let not your heart be
troubled. Ye believe in God. Believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am there, you may be also." The glory of heaven surely
is to be with the Saviour. the Lord Jesus Christ. Unbelievers
will find no attraction in being found in heaven. It's not a place
they will want to be. And that again is the great separating
and dividing consideration between the unbeliever and the believer.
The unbeliever has no desire after the true heaven. They have
some vague wishy-washy thingies. It's amazingly solemn, really,
how wicked people die and the comments are made, well, now
they're in heaven. They don't realise, in actual fact, they're
in hell, and that for eternity. But what a difference it is to
the people of God, those whom God has called, those who believed,
and they will be found then in glory with the Saviour. Revelation
gives us a little insight into the glory of heaven. We don't
see much. Here we see through a glass,
darkly really. And the Apostle John, he tells
us in the 14th chapter, And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice
of many waters, and as the voice of great thunder. And I heard
the voice of harpers, harping with their harps. Well, perhaps
we know naturally that a harp is a very melodious sound. And
they sung, as it were, a new song before the throne and before
the four beasts and the elders. And no man can learn that song
but the 140 and 4,000 which were redeemed from the earth. And
I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting
gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to every
nation and kindred and tongue and people. And then as we read
together in this 21st chapter and the first four verses, I
saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city
New Jerusalem, coming down from God, out of heaven, prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. And God himself shall be with
them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. And there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying. Neither shall there be any more
pain, for the former things are passed away. Remember, the Lamb, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is all the glory. in Emmanuel's land. And in the
last chapter in Revelation, again the first few verses, and he
showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of
the street of it, and on either side of the river, there was
there the tree of life, which bear twelve manner of fruits,
and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and
his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face,
and his name shall be in their foreheads, and there shall be
no night there, and need no candle, Now the light of the sun, for
the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever
and ever. Well, it's a picture, isn't it,
that our poor minds cannot really understand, to think. No sun,
no moon, no stars, but just the glory of God in that place. No need of any light at all,
and to be with. the gracious and glorious God,
when all will be revealed, the mystery of the Trinity, God the
Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit there in glory,
surrounded with the saints of God, those whom he has redeemed
with his precious blood, those who he has called out of the
darkness of nature into the glorious light of the everlasting Gospel,
those who have been convinced of their sin. Those who have
been led to the Blessed Saviour as the only way of salvation,
those therefore who have lived and died in faith, that faith
given to them by the Holy Spirit of God. So it is indeed a wonderful
prospect, surely for the Church of God, so that when we have
finished our little life on this earth, and of course our life
on this earth We are promised it is and it will be a great
tribulation. But the Lord said, I will bring
you out of great tribulation and we shall wash our robes and
they are made white in the blood of the Lamb. That's why surely
the hymn writer makes those two words when he speaks about the
blood, invaluable blood. without the shedding of blood,
there's no forgiveness of sin, but thank God through that glorious
way of the blood of Christ, there is that way made whereby believers
will enter in to that holy place to be with Christ forever and
ever. Amen.