Let's be turning to 1st John
chapter 5. 1st John 5. And our Lord has given to his chosen
elect people eternal life. He's given to his people eternal
life, and that life is in his Son, Jesus Christ. Verse 11 says this. This is the record. This is the
record that God hath given to us. Eternal life. And this life is in his Son. Tonight I want to speak to you
about the record and about the effectual gift and about the
son of life. Those three things will be our
primary things that we look at this evening. So John says that
this is the record. And that word record is also
translated testimony. This is the testimony of God.
If you were in court and you were giving your testimony, it
would be a legal binding testimony. Well, God has given his testimony. This is his record. It's also
translated, especially in this passage, it's translated witness. This is the witness. This is
the witness of God. that he's given to us. Let's
begin first in verse 10, and it says there, He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He has the testimony
of God. He has the record of God in himself. And this witness that reveals
to you the Lord Jesus Christ, it's that he is the Son of God. That's what this witness is testifying
to you. God is testifying to his children
that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, that this Savior
is the Savior, and that this is the Son of God. And so this
witness provides a living hope of God that is wrought in you,
that is worked in you, that is given to you by God, that is
put in you, not of this flesh, but of God, God has given you
this witness. And this hope is the evidence,
the hope that you have in the Lord Jesus Christ, that is the
evidence that God has given unto you eternal life. All right, I want you to understand
that. The hope you have in the Lord Jesus Christ is the evidence
that God has given you eternal life. Someone once said, faith
is eternal life. Faith is salvation. It is life. If you have faith, then you have
salvation, because faith is not of this flesh. And so, this witness
in you, you know, there was a time for many of us who grew up in
religion, not everyone grew up in religion, but even if you
didn't, you probably thought about religion in this way, but
growing up in religion, It's very common and easy to think
that this is my salvation in doing these things, in going
to this church, in getting dressed up, in going with my parents,
or taking myself there, in going through the practices and the
rituals that they did there. Sometimes we would go to the
back of the hymnal, and there was a reading that we would read
back and forth. It had that very liturgical,
I think is the word, for that liturgy in that, and you sang
the hymns, and there was things that I liked about it, of course.
But that's what we thought, many of us thought, this is salvation. This is what I do. And God sees
that I'm a Christian. I'm saying I'm a Christian. God
sees that I'm a Christian practicing these things. And he blesses
me for partaking in these things. This is life. And it's very easy
to think that. Well, when God bears witness
in his child, we see that's not at all how God saves. That's
not salvation. That's not life. That's just
dead letter religion. That's what the world teaches
and tells you, just do this. Just go here, and these are your
people, and this is your network, your social network, and this
is where things are done. And this is how good things are
done to you, doing these things. Well, that's not life. That's
not life, and that's not salvation. And when the Lord gives witness
in your heart, you have no confidence. in religion, in dead letter religion,
the form of religion. That outward form is no longer
your hope. The Lord takes that away. And we see that was just going
through religious exercises. I kept waiting for some power,
for some comfort, for some peace to come to me in doing those
things, and it never came. It never came, because that's
not how we are reconciled to God. That's not how the forgiveness
of sins is obtained. It's all given freely by the
Lord Jesus Christ, not in what you and I do. And so the Lord,
he takes away that deadness. He shows us the deadness of dead
letter religion. He makes us to see that this
isn't saving me. This isn't cutting it. I'm not
finding any peace in these things. I thought I would, and I find
no peace. Whether I was baptized, I found no peace. Whether I partook
of the table, the bread and the wine. I found no peace. When
I went to church, I found no peace. Sometimes I did, but it
quickly left. It was because I was looking,
thinking that that was my salvation. But God was making his children
to know they're sinners. They're sinners. And you can't
wash away your sin and the guilt of your sin with dead-letter
religion. And going through the form, it's
not going to remove the guilt and the shame of your sin. That's
what we hope in naturally, but that's not salvation. God makes
us to know that. And if God makes you to know
that, it's because he purposes to be gracious to you in Christ. And so he makes us to know that
we're sinners. It says in Ezekiel 16 verse 2,
son of man, cause Jerusalem, cause my people, cause my people
which are born from above to know her, by nature, her abominations. He makes us to know that what
we're trusting in is an abomination unto God, it's an offense unto
God because it despises the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. If our
hope is in religion, it's a despising, it's a rejection, it's a denial
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it calls God, as we'll see,
it calls God a liar. And it doesn't believe Christ.
And that's what the Lord does. So he gives us a hunger and a
thirst for him to know his mercy. And he makes us to hunger and
thirst for that because in the flesh we're trusting other things. We're trusting religion and works
and this flesh. And so we're going to know that
we need God to do this. And we're going to cry out to
him and beg him to save us. Where there's no God-wrought
faith, there's only man's will. That's the alternative, is man's
will, man's confidence, man's pride, man's religion, man's
works. It's man. So it's either God
saving you, or it's your own flesh saving you. And we see
this in the second half of verse 10. He that believeth not God
hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that
God gave of his son. He's not believing that record,
that testimony of God. When God gives a testimony, he
gives it in the heart of his child. Otherwise, we're just
hearing the testimony, and we're rejecting it by nature. We're
refusing it. We're stumbling over that stumbling
stone, and we're making God a liar. And therefore, those who make
God a liar must bear the consequences of their own sin. Now let's look
over at what the Apostle John records in the Gospel of John
in John chapter 3. In John chapter 3, and we'll
pick up in verse 17, When you read these two, the
Gospel of John and this Epistle of John, there's a great many
similarities, because John is the author, and the Spirit is
the author of both in John, and you can get a better sense of
what John is saying. So in verse 17, God sent not
a son to the world to condemn the world. Man thinks that by
not believing on Christ, that that's going to condemn him.
Well, he's already condemned. Christ didn't come into the world
to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be
saved were already condemned in Adam. And so those who refuse
Christ, they're just sealing up their condemnation, but they're
already condemned. They were condemned before they
refused Christ. Christ came to deliver his people
from that condemnation in Adam. from the death, that corruption
that we were born into. Verse 18, he that believeth on
him is not condemned. Through faith, through the testimony
of God witnessed in you, that faith in you, that's where we
see our deliverance, that we've been redeemed by God, by Christ. But he that believeth not is
condemned already. because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God." In other words,
his unbelief is the evidence of his condemnation, that God
hath not revealed this, not given him the witness in his heart,
in himself. But he's rejected it, and it's
an evidence that, at least as far as we can see at that time,
he has no part in Christ. Now, we don't know, because we
were ignorant and in darkness, and didn't hear for a long time,
but the Lord eventually drew us out. So we continue to declare,
we continue to encourage, we continue to pray for our loved
ones, but until then, we don't have any comforting word for
them. And this is the condemnation, verse 19. This is the evidence
or the witness of God concerning his son. that light is come into
the world and men love darkness rather than light because their
deeds were evil. And so in Christ's coming, it
testifies of man's wickedness. It reveals the exceeding sinfulness
of sin and that that sin resides in my own heart by nature. It's
what I am in Adam. It's what I am by nature. Just
the fact that Christ came into the world, it shines a light
on the darkness and the sin and death of man. It makes that evident. It's a testimony of God. unto
us. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved." And this is where we would all remain
were it not for God. But God who loved us, right? If it was not for God who loved
his people, we'd all remain in that darkness. And so, but he
that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be
made manifest, that they are wrought in God. In other words,
this is not of man's power, it's not man's wisdom, it's not man's
righteousness, but this is the will and salvation of God being
evidenced and revealed and manifested in his people where he bears
witness. He gives them a record in their
heart. that Jesus is the Son of God,
that he is the Savior. This is the Savior whom the Father
hath sent, Lord, save me by Christ. Wash me in his blood. And that's
the cry he puts in his child. We know that we're sinners. When
we examine ourselves, and the things that I said in the opening,
if you're examining yourself, you're finding no comfort in
your works. And that's good, I'm glad. We
shouldn't find comfort in what we do. Our comfort is found in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the testimony of God,
that he hath washed you in the blood of Christ. And so that's
his testimony. And so God reveals this with
an experimental knowledge of him. And I know sometimes people
don't like that based on their religious experiences, but it
is an experimental knowledge. In other words, the Lord reveals
the truth of this word in our hearts, that I am a sinner, that
I cannot save myself, and that Jesus Christ is the Savior. And
he does bring me through trials and sufferings and sorrows that
make me to see that I have nothing to boast in and how I need the
Lord. I need his salvation. I need
his grace. He does humble his people. We
do experience that. We do experience a sight of our
sin, we experience a sight of the blackness of our own heart,
we experience our folly, that we might experience His grace,
His mercy, His forgiveness, His long-suffering, His kindness,
and just His blessings in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
what's meant by an experiential knowledge of Him, that these
things are not just dead letters. But this word is living by the
Spirit of God, making it effectual in our hearts. So that there
is a true living faith wrought in us. And there's a desire wrought
in us. And we see and are reminded that
without Christ, I can do nothing. And he gives us thorns in the
flesh to humble us. And he brings us low in ourselves.
And he brings us up in Christ. and he rejoices our hearts in
Christ. And when we forget that, He humbles
us again, and brings us low again, and shows us our need of Christ,
and then gives us Christ, and lifts us up. You can see it in
David, in the Psalms. David said, as the heart panteth
after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? You know, outside right now it's
so hot. You know, we have chickens and
we have cats and you look at the chickens and they just walk
around with their mouths gaping. Because I guess that's how they
cool off, right? And you throw some ice cubes
in their water. And you put some ice cubes in
the cat's dish, and they come running up, and then they like
to drink that cool water. Well, the Lord does that. And
he's the one that gives us that cool, refreshing in Christ. And so he allows the heat. He
allows the hard, difficult days to come that we would be reminded
and refreshed in Christ, in Christ. And so this, brethren, is the
record which John has in view, what the Lord works in you. truly,
experientially. What he truly works in you is
that you see this is real. God is living. And he's not pleased
with the dead works of man. He works all things according
to his grace and mercy. And so this is the view that
John has here, the testimony of God wrought in us. And he
said, if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. them that are lost." Now, that's
the record there. So now we look at the gift, the
gift of eternal life. This is the record, verse 11,
that God hath given to us. Eternal life, the gift, right?
So salvation is eternal life, and that life is the gift of
God. What does Romans 6.23 say? For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. It's a gift, brethren, and he's
the giver of that. It's a gift given by God, and
that effectually And I've heard it say that you can refuse a
gift. The child of God does not refuse
this gift. It is given effectually. If you're
not a child of God and you're left to your own selves as Esau,
as Cain, you refuse it because you have no part in it. And you
have no desire or thirst for it. You're dead. You have no
taste for it, no interest in the things of God. But those
who are the Lord's, chosen by Him in eternity and given to
Christ, it's an effectual gift, given with power, glory, and
power of the Lord Jesus Christ, of our God, to make it effectual
in our hearts so that we are delivered from spiritual death. that we are delivered from that
condemnation which is over man. And that's what the Lord is showing,
is that man, by nature, is under the condemnation, under the wrath
of God, and he cannot deliver himself. Even hearing the truth,
he cannot deliver himself. He needs God to save him from
beginning to end. Man does not have a free will. That's the religion of this world,
is free will. Man has a free will. You need
to do better. You need to stop doing the bad
things and start doing the good things for God to save you. That's
the religion of this world, the dead religion of this world,
the damning religion of this world, the hellish religion of
this world. That's death. death cannot save
and so we need this gift and that gift is given effectually
by God John writes God hath given to us right there's an us there's
a people to whom God has given it to he's given to us eternal
life not a general sense like you just put it out there hoping
that you would take it no God God is wise he knows what we
are and the scripture hath concluded all understand so that the faith
of Christ, the hope of that faith, would be given to us. And it's
given to those who believe. In other words, that's the evidence,
that's the record, that's the witness, that's the testimony
of God that he has given it to that one. Because they believe. He didn't give it because they
believe. The evidence is seen in that they believe. Is that
clear? The Lord makes it clear in our
hearts. It's given, and they are sought
out by God. Those that were chosen of him
are sought out by God, for the Father seeketh such to worship
him, not in dead letter, carnal, fleshly ways, but in spirit and
in truth, whereby we are delivered from the shackles of this flesh,
from the law, because we were dead in trespasses and sins.
We're righteous in Christ. We're delivered from that law.
We're delivered from the dominion of sin over this flesh that we
might hear and worship God in spirit and in truth. And so the
Lord has a people and he's gracious to them. He gives that gift of
life to them freely. Graciously, not if you believe
then I can do this, but if you don't believe I can't do this.
That's the idol god of man. God overpowers us. He comes in effectually with
that gift. He does this effectually. Just
like we are the dry bones that Ezekiel preached to in the Valley
of Dry Bones. We are just like them naturally. We are just like them spiritually.
We are dry bones, so dead that our bones are dried out. Dried
out. it says in Ezekiel 37 5, Thus
saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath
to enter into you and ye shall live. I will, God says, and ye
shall. I will cause you to live. I will
cause you to hear. I will cause you to live because
I give life freely to my people. And if I don't, here's the record,
they're under condemnation. You can see the condemnation
because the light has come into the world and they love darkness,
so they refused him. It's the record, it's the testimony
of God showing that here's Christ, perfect, perfect Christ doing
miracles and good and healing and doing wondrous works and
man refused him, both Jew and Gentile. Jews turning him over
to the Gentiles and the Gentiles crucifying him with the clapping
and the cheers of the Jews. It shows the condemnation that
we're in under in Adam. But when God gives the gift of
life, it cannot be refused. And if a man refuses it, Christ
said, ye believe not, because you are not of my sheep. You
weren't given to me by the Father before the foundation of the
world, Ephesians 1.4. That's why you don't believe.
You're not of my sheep. It's a testimony that if God
doesn't do it, you will not believe because you love darkness. But
the chosen of God, they're given the gift of life and they follow
Christ. He said in John 10, verse 27 through 30, my sheep hear
my voice and follow me. They could be as lost as lost
can be. But if they're my sheep, they
will hear my voice, because God will cause them to hear it. He
will bring them under the preaching of the word. He will give them
life, and they shall hear it, and they will follow me. And
what does he say? And I give unto them eternal
life. I give unto them eternal life.
Just like John is saying here, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. God hath given
unto us eternal life. And Christ, the Son of God, is
God. As he goes on to say, my Father,
which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able
to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. God gives you eternal life, Christ
gives you eternal life. They are one brethren. This is
God who in three persons has agreed to save vile wretched
sinners under the condemnation in Adam. Unable to hear. Unable to live. Unable to speak. Unable to get up. Unable to give
ourselves life. Unable to work a righteousness.
And yet He gives eternal life. And you live. And you hear and
follow Christ because that gift is given to you. Otherwise, you
wouldn't believe. And you're struggling because
you look at your own works. You look at your own sin. And
you find no comfort there. But the record is what God has
brought in you, that hope you have in Christ, that knowledge
that I cannot save myself, that God has done this, and he sent
the Son, and Lord, save me, and he's given me a hope in Christ.
That's his work, brethren. And so man has nothing to boast
in. It's a vile lie for man to boast in what he's done, to stand
there and argue against the light of God here, to say that, nope,
he had to do something first or else God cannot do it because
he has a free will. Liar, and you're calling God
a liar, but you're the one that's a liar. That's not the truth.
That cannot save you. It's vile for a man to do that,
because he's calling God a liar. When God shows that it's his
gift, the scriptures say, Ephesians 2, 8 through 10, by grace are
ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Because
man would boast, as we see in the religion of the world, which
boasts of its free will, they call God a liar, and boasts of
what they've done for God. And how they know that they're
a Christian, because I do this, and I did that, and I used to
be this, and now I'm that. That's their hope, their works.
It's their righteousness, and it's dead. And they're calling
God a liar, because he just said, God freely gives it by grace.
If it depended on you first, if grace depended on you first
to believe, then it wouldn't be grace. It would be a payment
for your work, for what you've done. Faith is given to you. It's the life that he's given
to you. So we have nothing to boast of.
It's his work. It's his work. Just as it says
in verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. Because he chose us in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we should be righteous and holy in his
beloved family. in Christ Jesus. If we had a part in it, then
we would have part in the workmanship. I believe in the music industry,
if two people worked on the song, both names get put on the record,
right? Both had a part in the workmanship. Well, it's clear
in the scriptures that there's only one. It is our God. He's the workman. He's the one
who did the masterpiece and gave the salvation. It's all of him. Our name's not on it. We're the
happy recipients of it. in Christ. And so, but of him
are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according
as it's written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Christ is our wisdom. We're not
wise. When a man talks about his free will, it's always attached
to, he did it, and why can't you? It's always judging the
guy who didn't do it. And he's something better because
he did it and you did it. And it always leaks out. It always
comes out that I was wise and you weren't. Well, if you're
wise, that wisdom is Christ's wisdom. And Christ is all your
wisdom. And you're boasting of what Christ has done to save
you, not of what you did to save yourself. So we have the record,
and we have the gift which is given to a people, and it brings
us to that third point, which is the Son of Life, who obtained
this life for us with His own life. This is the record that
God hath given to us, eternal life. And this life is in His
Son. God had to and delighted to send
his son into the world to Christ. laid aside his glory and took
upon him our flesh the likeness of our flesh being born of the
seed of woman by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost and came forth
as a man like you but without sin not born of the corrupt seed
of Adam but but but born of this he's the seed of God I mean he
came forth in flesh the Son of God took upon him flesh brethren
and came in the flesh, and he accomplished all righteousness.
He fulfilled the law perfectly, every jot and every tittle of
it, and worked a perfect righteousness before God which is imputed to
his people, given to his people. And he made sacrifice of his
own self, shedding his blood as the sin-bearing sacrifice
of his people to propitiate the wrath of God which was against
us, to appease him, to satisfy God's wrath which was against
us, and so deliver us from the hand of justice, and translate
us out of that darkness, into the kingdom of His life, of His
light, in that liberty with the sons and daughters of God, the
saints of God, in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
Son of Life, and you live because of Him. And that hope you have,
and the faith you have in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love
you have toward God, and that breathing out, crying for mercy,
Abba Father, as a baby breathes that first cry, That's the witness,
the record, the testimony that God has done that in you, given
you eternal life. and that life is in His Son.
And that's why you look to Him. And that's why you love the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's why you boast of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's why you rejoice in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And you're thankful unto God
for Him. And so this salvation, brethren,
is ours. Verse 12 says, he that hath the
Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. And so this is God's testimony
to you, brethren, that you have life, you that love Christ and
boast of Him and rejoice in Him and are thankful for Him. In
fact, in spite of the fact that you don't have all the accolades
of religion, you don't have all the traditional things of religion
about you, yet you're thankful to be here and to worship your
God because God has given you that record your hearts that
that he has given you life and verse 13 says these things have
I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God
that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may
believe on the name of the Son of God there's a reason Why I don't
focus on your flesh telling you what you need to do, and that
this is how you would know if you were doing this, then you
would know. Because there's no peace in that. There's no comfort
in looking to what you are or aren't doing. We look to Christ. And we preach Him. And I'm so
confident in Christ. to save you to the uttermost
that I preach him." So confident in Christ to save you, to fulfill
his word of promise, apart from the works of the law. Because
when you're doing the law, what are you doing? You're working
under threats And you're chasing something under the law, and
you're running from something under the law. That's going to
get you if you don't keep moving under the law. It's all threats,
and lightnings, and thunderings, and shakings, and fears, and
torments, and judgment. But the alternative is what the
Lord says in the gospel, which is Christ, who promised to fulfill
everything for his people. and assures you of everything,
that He is life. And what you do, the hope you
have, the things you say, the things you do, it's all in hope
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all confidence in Him, and
He's able to teach you and instruct you, to bless your hearts, to
turn you from that thing, or turn you from this thing, and
to put you in this way, and He's able to do it all through the
preaching of the gospel. all through the preaching of
the gospel. And that's why I preach Christ, because I don't think
he's going to fail. I don't believe he's going to
fail in his word. He says, I will, and you shall. And so that's
why we preach Christ, brethren. I pray you bless that word to
your hearts.