Let's be turning to 1 John, chapter
2. 1 John, chapter 2. The apostle
is continuing to encourage the church here to abide in Christ. There is a truth, brethren. There
is a truth. And the natural man does not
believe that. He doesn't believe that there
is but a truth. Yet when on trial, our Lord,
speaking to Pilate, said that for this cause came I into the
world that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth
heareth my voice. And Pilate replied to that, what
is truth? What is truth? The truth is not
something that the natural man knows. He doesn't know, he doesn't
believe that there is a truth. And yet every heaven born creature,
you that are born from above, You that are born of the Spirit,
you are made to know the truth. You know that there is a truth,
and that you are made to know that truth. You know that truth.
As our Lord said, everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. So there is a truth, and we want
to know that truth. If there is a truth, we want
to know this truth, and the Gospel of John speaks heavily of the
truth of God. The Gospel, which is, we're in
1 John, but the Gospel of John, it's mentioned 22 times in that
book. And only the Psalms has the word
truth in it more, I think 41 times. But all the books that John wrote,
they all speak to, they all contain the truth. John was very, very
concerned that the church, that we would know the truth, and
he recorded the truth so that we would know it. Even in his
other epistles, 2 John and 3 John, small books, one chapter, and
yet I think 2 John has it about four times. and the third one
five or six times in there, that word truth. I'm told, I don't
know if they still do it this way anymore or not, but at one
time, banks, when they were teaching their tellers how to discern
a counterfeit bill, The way they would train the tellers is simply
by giving them nothing but actual real dollar bills. They gave
them the real thing, and that's what they counted all the time
was the real thing, over and over and over again. So that
way, when a false one was slipped in, they would know it, because
all they ever handled was the truth. And that's what John is
doing. He's declaring the truth over
and over and over so that if Antichrist comes, if one who
is Antichrist against the truth and comes to seduce you, you'll
know and say, that doesn't sound like it's glorifying Christ. It may exalt man, it may speak
to the exaltation of man and lifting him up and puffing him
up and turning him away from Christ, but the heaven-born child
of God who has the Spirit of God and knows the truth will
recognize that doesn't sound like Christ. That sounds like
anti-Christ. And so we want to know the truth. And if you ask, well, what's
so important about this truth? What's so necessary? Well, the
Lord tells us in his word, in the Gospel of John, actually,
he tells us that we worship God in spirit and in truth. And God
seeks those who worship him in spirit and in truth. Our Lord,
in the Gospel of John, in chapter four, when he was speaking to
the Samaritan woman at the well, told her the hour cometh and
now is. Right now, the Lord of Heaven
was there in the flesh. He had come in the flesh. It's
the hours now when the true worshipers, there's many that worship God.
a false god. Many that worship, but the true
worshipers, shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Why? For the Father seeketh such
to worship him. That's what he makes creatures
that worship him in spirit and in truth. God is a spirit and
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And so worshiping God in spirit
and truth, those are blessings, those are both Blessings. Those
are ascension gift blessings. And what I mean by that is, after
Christ had accomplished our redemption, when he was returning to the
Father, when he ascended to the Father, he gave gifts unto men. He gave us gifts, whereby we
know him and worship him. And one of those gifts is the
giving of the Holy Spirit, who gives us life, spiritual life. and makes us to hear the gospel,
to hear the voice of Christ in this word, and to follow him,
to have that knowledge. Those are ascension gifts born
out of the redemption that our Lord accomplished. As we've seen
recently, That strong man that Christ defeated, going into his
palace, taking off his armor, defeating his armor that he trusted
in, took the spoils. And these are the spoils which
are divided unto us, brethren. All the spiritual blessings of
God. What we're talking about here,
what it all boils down to, is we're speaking of the new creature. We're speaking of a new birth,
you that are born again of the Spirit of God. Only through that
new birth are we going to know the salvation of God, are we
going to hear His voice and believe Him and follow Him. More so than
just a head knowledge, more so than just being taken up with
some doctrine, we're going to be in love with Christ. because
Christ loved us first. And therefore, we're drawn to
him. We're constrained by his love.
We're drawn to him in the spirit to know him. It pleases him to
make us to know who he is and what he has done. Contrary to
what the world teaches, the world says it's good to be moral. It's
good to go to church. It's good to get some religion.
That's not the focus. The focus is Christ. It isn't
to be religious, it's to know Christ because Christ is our
righteousness and he makes us righteous. He gives us his spirit. He teaches us. He reveals to
us the true and living God so that in him we worship God in
spirit and in truth as the Father wills it. So first, I want us
to know and to see from the scripture that Jesus Christ is the truth. Christ is the truth. All right,
so let's turn over to John, the Gospel of John, chapter one.
Before we dig into our text in 1 John, let's look up some verses
that speak and reveal Christ to us, who is the truth of God. We're gonna worship God in spirit
and in truth. We're gonna see that it's in
Christ that we worship God according to his word. So John chapter
one, verse 14 tells us there that the word was made flesh
and Jesus Christ is the word. The word was made flesh. He was
with God in the beginning and he was with God and he is God. Same was in the beginning with
God. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, right, as He went about doing much good, healing
the people, bearing their infirmities, and revealing the Father to them
through His Word. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. And so Jesus Christ
is the revealed will of God. To know Christ is to know the
will of God for his people. To know that God will be gracious
to a sinful people, that he will deliver them from their sins,
put away their sins, be merciful to their iniquities. To not judge
them according as their sins demand, but judge them in Christ. that he may be just and justifier
of them which come to God, believing in Christ." Come to God in Christ. So Christ is full of grace and
truth. He is the revealed will of God.
And then in John 14, chapter 14, verse 6, you'll know this verse, where
our Lord said to his disciples, I am. the way, the truth, and
the life. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. So, he that is the word of God, who is the Lord
from heaven, robed in flesh, manifested in the flesh to save
his people, who reveals the will of God in grace and truth, full
of grace and truth, tells us here that he himself is the truth. If you would come to God, If
you would come to God, the way is Christ. Christ said, I am
the way. That's how you go to God. That's
how you come to the Father, is through Jesus Christ. If you
would know the Father, Christ said, I'm the truth. I'll reveal
to you the Father. I reveal him to you in truth. If you would worship the Father,
you must be living creatures, spiritually alive creatures.
Christ said, I am the life. Christ is the life. So if you
would come to the Father, it's by Christ the way. If you would
know the Father, it's by Christ the truth. If you would worship
the Father, it's by Christ our life. That's how we know him
and worship him. And so being made new and living
creatures by Christ, that's how believers worship our God in
spirit and in truth. We rejoice in Him. We hear Him.
He is the chief cornerstone. He is the capstone. He is the
precious stone whom the Father has given unto us. And men stumble
over Him and move it out of the way so they can go on in their
religion. not thinking anything of the
fact that they just took that which is precious to the Father,
the one in whom we come to, and pushed him out of the way as
though he's just some other thing, just another piece of religion. John the Baptist, he was the
prophet sent of God to testify of Christ to us. And our Lord
said this to the Jews in John chapter 5, in verse 33, he said,
you sent unto John, And he bare witness unto the truth. And you asked him, you inquired,
who are you? What are you doing here? Why
are you baptizing? And he bore witness to the truth. What truth
did he bear witness to? Look at John chapter 1 again.
Go back to 1, the gospel of John chapter 1, verse 15. John bare witness of him, and
cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, he that cometh
after me is preferred before me, for he was before me." If
Christ is just a man, well, he was born six months after John
the Baptist. He's speaking of Christ, the
Lord of Heaven, robed in flesh. and of his fullness have we all
received, have all we received, and grace for grace, for the
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. This, it's Christ, it's the will
of God that reveals his gracious purpose, the truth of God, to
know the truth of God, it's through Christ. That's why he sent him.
And so John the Baptist is declaring the excellency of Christ to all
others. He's saying this is the one,
the preferred one, this is the one who was spoken of. whom the
prophets testified of, whom Moses testified of, this is the seed
which was promised us in the garden. Here he is, he's come. John answered them, saying, I
baptize with water, this is verse 26, I baptize with water, but
there standeth one among you whom ye know not. And John is talking to many religious
persons. Many people came out to hear
John, including the Pharisees, to see what was going on. And
he's telling the Pharisees, the most religious sect among the
people there, who worshiped God by the law of Moses, having a
form of their own righteousness, not the righteousness of God,
but their own righteousness by the law. And he's telling them,
there's one among you, and you don't know him. And yet Moses
spoke of him, saying, there's a prophet whom the Father will
raise up. Him shall ye hear. Hear him. And here he comes.
He's come now. He's there in the flesh. And
they don't even know him, much like the church today. Many works,
many programs, many seemingly wonderful things, and yet just
dead buildings, whitewashed buildings. without the Word in them, without
the truth in them. They know not Christ. And so
the natural man doesn't know Christ except he be revealed. Even we can't boast of of us
believing him. We can't boast of anything we've
done. It's by the grace of God that
he reveals Christ to us in that new man, giving us a new birth,
giving us his spirit, bringing us under the gospel, making us
to hear that gospel effectually so that I can't even glory in
myself. All my glory is his and I'm happy
to give it to him. Happy for him to take all the
glory and to keep doing what he does. Because if left to myself,
I will fall flat on my face. I will fail. I will come up short.
It's only by the grace of God in Christ that I have anything
to boast in. Him. Him. That's our boast. That's our joy, brethren. Except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So we're
talking about the new birth, the work of Christ that results
from his redemption work on the cross not only obtains the forgiveness
of our sins, not only obtains for us peace with God, but it
accomplishes His redemption. His accomplished redemption reveals
Christ to us. It pleases the Father to make
us to know Him. to really know Him as living
creatures who are His bride, who are His body, who are being
conformed to that heavenly image, the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He declares, by His Spirit,
He declares through the preaching of the word that this Jesus is
the Lamb of God sent to take away the sin of the world. And he accomplished it, that
he accomplished that redemption. And the Spirit takes that word
and reveals Christ to our understanding in the new man. That's the beginning. That's the word we heard at the
beginning, Christ. That he is the Savior. That's
the beginning when we heard the gospel in the new man for the
first time. Continue in that when God gave
you life and light to behold that Christ is loved you and
gave himself for you. Continue in that word, continue
in that and rejoice in that. So we're going to know Christ
if we're his as our personal Lord and Savior. I know that's
a. as our Savior, we're going to
know that He saved me, that He loved me, that He shed His blood
for me. We're going to know that, not
just in an off-to-the-distance religious sense, as a personal
sense that He saved me. He had mercy on me. Now, this
brings us to our text in 1 John, 1 John chapter 2. And he says, he begins in verse
26. These things, he said, have I
written unto you concerning them that seduce you. So John here
has been writing this epistle, telling them of the truth of
Christ, revealing Christ's mercy, whose blood washes us of our
sins, who is a faithful mediator, who is an advocate for us with
the Father, endearing Christ to our hearts. what he's done
and how he's reconciled us. And John is tracing out these
truths for us, reminding us of Christ, what he's done, what
he's accomplished, the importance of these, because there's many
antichrists, there's many false Gospels, there's many liars,
many deceivers, And they'll construct arguments that sound good, but
they turn you away from Christ, from beholding the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ, to turn you from him who said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no man comes to
the Father but by me. We never go past Christ in the
sense that we never outgrow him. We never get so mature that we
don't need him anymore. We continue to live in him, by
him, in his house. This is the house that Christ
built. We never go beyond him. We never mature beyond the one
who saved us. We always need him. We're with
Him forever, forever and ever, for eternal life. And without
this flesh, that's wonderful in the new man. We love that.
We rejoice in that. For there is peace and joy forevermore
in His presence. And so John here is telling us
why he's writing this epistle. It's so that we would recognize
that seducing error by knowing the Word of God. Know the Word
of God. Read this book. The Word is Christ. And this Word, the scriptures,
testify of the Lord Jesus Christ. Read, I encourage you, read the
Word. There's a lot of good things
out there that'll help you go through the Bible in a year.
There's some out there where you can read every chapter at
least once in the year. There's some out there where
if you're a heavier reader, you can read through the Bible in
a year plus the New Testament and the Psalms two times. You
can read it chronologically. You can read it historically
as best as they understand it to be. There's so many ways to
approach it, but know the word. Read the word because this word
reveals Christ to you. It reveals Christ to you. It's
worth your time. More valuable than any other
time that you could spend. Read the Word. And so John wrote
these epistles. He wrote the Gospel of John.
He wrote 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John in Revelation. And so
he's writing down this word so that we would know the scriptures,
plus all the other writers. Was it 44 different writers,
I think, or 40 writers, different authors of the books there? So read the word. Read the word,
because they're all testifying to us of Christ. were encouraged
to know the word. Paul was writing to Timothy in
2 Timothy 3.15. He said, From a child thou hast
known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Read the
word. It's directing you. It's showing
you Christ. Whether you're in the Old Testament
or the New, you're going to see Christ. If you're heaven-born,
the Spirit testifies of Christ. When being tempted, our Lord
said this in Matthew 4.4, it is written, man shall not live
by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God. That's right here recorded for
us in these books. All you need to know of salvation
is right here. Don't get caught up in all the
other books that people talk about online. You don't need
any other book than these right here. This reveals Christ to
you. You will know the truth without
ever even knowing those books existed. Right here, this is
all you need, because it reveals Christ to us. In his high priestly
prayer, our Lord asked the Father to sanctify them through thy
truth. And he said, thy word is truth. We're going to worship the Father
in spirit and truth. Read the word, because it testifies
of him who is the truth, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so John
writes these epistles and all these books concerning them that
seduce you to give us the word. He's just recording the truth
of Christ, who he is and what he accomplished, because this
word provides us with the weapons of our warfare, Paul said. the weapons of our warfare, casting
down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity."
Because our thoughts, our imaginations, go astray. And it brings every
thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Christ. Because this word testifies
of Jesus Christ. That's from 2 Corinthians 10.
Then also Isaiah said, when the enemy shall come in like a flood,
the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. All right, you can picture a
castle being stormed by the enemy. Well, a standard, the flag goes
up and drives that enemy back. What's our standard? The gospel
of Jesus Christ. That's what drives back the enemy
and the accusations and the fiery darts that come against us, the
imaginations, and the strongholds of the enemy are taken down and
destroyed by this word, revealed in Christ and through the gospel.
And so it's recorded, whether you're in Moses, who spoke of
Christ, or you're in the prophets who spoke of Christ, or you're
in the Psalms who spoke of Christ, or the other historical books,
they reveal Christ to us. And it's not this word alone
that saves us, but the Holy Spirit, the giving of the Holy Spirit.
Because I can preach this. What I mean is it's the Holy
Spirit that takes the word and makes it effectual to God's children. Because I can preach the word,
and there can be two people hearing the same word. And to one, it's
made effectual unto them, and they rejoice in it. To another,
they don't hear it. And that one who hears it has
nothing to boast in of themselves except for Christ. We boast in
Christ because he takes the word and makes it effectual in the
hearts of his people. In 1 John 2.27, this is what
he says. But the anointing which ye have
received of him abideth in you, and ye 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 it
hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. So this anointing is
what we read in verse 20, is the unction from the Holy One. that one that we've received.
Again, speaking of that ascension gift of Christ, when He ascended
to the Father, He promised, I'll send you the Comforter. I will
give you My Spirit, and He will reveal all things to you. That's how we know all things. This knowledge of all things
that we know is speaking of spiritual things. right, spiritual things,
the things of the spirit, things that are true concerning our
God, who he is, who we are, and what he's done to save us by
his son, Jesus Christ. And so we've seen that as we've
been going through 1 John here, that we know and understand.
When he says, they that confess that Jesus is the Christ, they're
His. Well, there's a whole wealth
of meaning behind those words testified to in these scriptures,
so that when we say Jesus is the Christ, again, it's not just
some lucky charm words that we're putting together. No, it's with
understanding of who He is, the Lord of glory, the Lord of heaven,
taken upon Him flesh, come to save sinners like us, to put
away our sins, and he accomplished that redemption successfully.
So that all for whom he shed his blood, they hear and believe. They come to a knowledge of these
things, and we rejoice in Christ according to the truth, according
to spirit and truth. And so that's how we know these
things, by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us, taking that
gospel we're preached and manifesting it in the new man, born of his
grace, born of his truth, born of his power, of his resurrection
power. And we read this in John 14.
So back in the gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 17, even the
spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth
him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you. You that are new creatures, born
of his Spirit, it's because the Holy Spirit dwells in you. And
Paul wrote in Romans 8, if we don't have the Spirit of God,
we're none of his. all that are his have the Spirit
of God. John 16, verse 13 and 14. So John 16, how be it when he,
the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth. for he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will
show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." And so through
that preaching of the gospel, The Lord is pleased by his spirit
to make that word effectual to us in the new man, hearing that
word, believing that word, and he takes the things of Christ
and shows them unto you in the new man so that you know the
true and living God and worship him in spirit and in truth, giving
him all the glory. rejoicing in Him, for God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in
our hearts, for to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's how we're gonna know God,
in the face of Jesus Christ. And so that spirit of God, which
is given to you, gives you life, gives you a new birth by the
seed of Christ, so that you hear his word, you hear that gospel
word, and you rejoice in it, you believe him. You hear his
voice and you follow him. And you know who he is, you know
all things, you know that he is the Savior, that he is the
Christ, that he's not just a man, he's the one whom the Father
sent to save me from my sins. He's my Lord and my Savior. And that's worshiping, that's
coming to God in Christ, in spirit and in truth. And so brethren,
we must know Christ like Martha, We are careful and troubled about
many things. We're careful, we're full of
care, and we're troubled about many things. Things in this world,
things in the home, things in business, things in the car,
things, all kinds of things. We're troubled about many things,
even things in religion. troubled about many things. But
one thing is needful, Christ said to Martha. One thing is
needful. And Mary, he said, your sister
Mary, hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken from
her. Though this world trouble us
and take all things away, one thing it cannot touch, one thing
it cannot take from you, is that which is stored in heaven. Christ. It cannot take from you that
which is given to us in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. No thief
can break in. No moth can eat it to tatters. Rust can't destroy it. It cannot
fall apart. It's eternal. It cannot be shaken. It cannot be removed. Christ
is the one thing needful, brethren. And so this is how all the scripture
is bringing us to see this truth, that he is the one thing needful.
It's not just to teach us historical lessons in religious studies.
It's revealing Christ to us. It's to show us Christ. It's
to bring us to Christ. And so to know that Christ is
all, that he's made the most precious to us, the one thing
needful. To you that know this in spirit
and in truth, John says, you don't need that any man teach
you. He's not saying that God didn't give you pastors and teachers.
No, we're helpers of your joy to declare these things, to remind
you of these things, to proclaim the bread of heaven. But in spirit,
you know when it's the spirit. You know when it's the truth
because you know the truth now. you have Christ in you. And so
you hear when it's glorifying Christ versus when it's glorifying
the flesh. And that's what he means. You
know these things. You have the Spirit of God. You
know that when Christ is being testified to and glorified versus
when it's your flesh. But as the same anointing teacheth
you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it
hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." In who? Christ. He keeps bringing it
back to Christ. Abide in Him. He connects the
whole thing to Christ. You shall abide in Him. And you
that continue in Him, you have the Father. All right, verse
28, 1 John 2, 28. And now, little children, abide
in Him. that when he shall appear we
may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. So you that abide in Christ,
who remain in Christ, who continue steadfast in Christ, that word
which you heard at the beginning, you shall not be ashamed at his
coming. For whosoever, Paul says, the
scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. resting wholly upon Christ, casting
all your care upon Him, believing that He is the Christ who accomplished
what He said He came to do and said He did, and believing God
raised Him from the dead, and as He raised Him up, we too shall
be raised up and live forever with Him. Believe Him. You'll not be ashamed. For all
the wickedness of this world that people go after, that you're
letting go, saying, I don't need that. You'll not be ashamed.
You will not be ones that say, I should have just went and partook
of that thing, because there's nothing now. No, there is something. There's life evermore, ever after,
forever and ever. Let this world go. Forget about
it. Pursue Christ. Cast your whole
hope on Christ. Jesus Christ, the hope of glory. He's our hope that God has given
to us. And so continue in him, brethren. And he's the good shepherd. He'll
feed you, nourish you, keep you, provide for you. You know, I
was thinking about that word animal husbandry. You know, I
guess having chickens and stuff. Animal husbandry. As one who
takes care of animals, you're doing your husband, as the husband,
you provide everything for that animal. If they need nourishment,
you provide that nourishment. If they need water, you provide
that water. If they need shelter, you provide
that shelter. Anything that animal needs, as
the husband, you provide it. Christ is the husband. He's the
husband. He's taken up our whole, as our
shorty, he provides everything we need. And that's exactly what
he's doing. Believe him. Trust him. Come
to the Father in Jesus Christ. He is our faithful husband, our
faithful Lord, our faithful friend. Now, 1 John, I'm just gonna close
reading 1 John 2, verses 24 and 25. Let that therefore abide in you,
which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have
heard from the beginning shall remain in you, and ye also shall
continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise
that he hath promised us, even eternal life. Think of that animal husbandry,
that one who promises, I'll do everything for the life of that
animal. Well, Christ says, I'll do everything for the life of
my bride. And you have eternal life, and
you will not come short of that life, because it's for the glory
of his name is all riding on it. You will not come short of
that promise given to us. And so I hope you can see how
the Lord is directing us wholly to Christ by his word and by
his spirit. They both all testify, through
these scriptures that we heard tonight, they testify over and
over how their testimony is to Christ, is to Christ. And you
will not be ashamed, believing God, coming to God in Christ. That's his promise, his word.
Amen.