It's good to see you here. If
you'll take your Bibles and turn back with me to 1 John chapter
5. 1 John chapter 5. Our text will be found in verse
11. And this is the record. that God hath given us eternal
life. And this life is in His Son. The record of God. The title of the message this
morning, The Record of God. We know that this record is the
record of God. In verse 10, it tells us, He
that believeth on the Son of God hath this 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. The record of God. Now listen
to me, if any of you will ever be wise, You must not believe
everything you hear. That's just so. Unless something
has a witness, unless something has evidence, a witness to it,
don't believe it. Don't believe it. There are many
things that we were taught as children and we believe them
because of the people that told us. Our parents that we loved,
our grandparents, some friend of ours told us something and
we took it and said, well, that's true. Obviously, because they
said it. And many of those things aren't. We found out as we've gotten
older that those things were not true. They were made up,
fabricated, passed down from one generation to the next. Don't
believe something just because millions of people believe it.
There was a time when most of the whole world believed the
world was flat. It sounds ridiculous to us who
have seen pictures from space, who have traveled extensively
to any degree, that the world is not flat. No one has fallen
off the earth. But why did they believe it?
Because the people they respected told them so. But yet, when Columbus
sailed west, they realized that, hey, you're not falling off the
world here. You're not going to fall off. Yet the truth was that the world
was always round, no matter what millions of people believed.
Truth is a very stubborn thing. Truth is a stubborn thing. It
never changes. We know that our society is obviously
changing. We know that this world constantly
changes. But one thing about truth is
it never changes. Truth cannot be changed by time
nor by the beliefs of men. And yet here in front of you
is a record. that must be believed. Here in your hands, you have
the record not of men, but the record of God. You have a witness
of God. And you should believe it. And
it should be believed by all men. It is a record that has
many witnesses. One thing about God, when He
says something, it has to be true, because God is true, because
God cannot lie, and everything God says is true. Now, God could
have said it once, and it would have been true forever. But yet
God, in His great mercy, condescends to us who are low degree, and
He gives us a record, not of one time, not of one speaking,
but He gives us a record of His testimony. A record of His Word
for us to read. And He's given us witnesses of
this. Evidence of His truth that cannot
be changed. This. is the record of God. The Bible is the record of God. This Bible that we have is a
great record of history. There is no doubt about that.
That is true. That is true and cannot be disputed. I love the way the Bible is nothing
like mythology. Mythology just gives you flowery
words and But the Bible is rooted in time. It's rooted by dates
and periods. If you would read the Old Testament
at any small length, you would see that the prophets always
give a time and date to their prophecies. Because it was rooted
in time. They were witnesses of this.
At that particular time, God revealed something to them. This
book has witnesses and was written by men. There is no doubt that
this book was written by men. I don't doubt that. Anyone that
says that is a knock against the Word of God being the record
of God is foolish. This book was written of men,
I don't deny that. I know the Apostle Paul wrote most of the
New Testament. We know that Daniel wrote Daniel.
Moses wrote the five first books of the Bible that we have. Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. We know that. That's
simple. It was written by men. But we
know this, that these men wrote as they were moved, inspired
by God, the Holy Spirit. This book is true. Not because
it was written by Paul, but because Paul wrote as he was moved by
the Spirit of God to write. We know that Moses was true because
God moved him to write these books. Peter tells us this in
2 Peter. Chapter 1 and verse 20, knowing this first,
that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake, as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. That's a pretty big statement,
isn't it? How do you know that Moses was
moved by the Spirit? How do you know Daniel was moved
by the Spirit of God? I'll tell you this, we know this
by many signs and wonders that were done. We know this because
their prophecies were accurate, even to the times they were accurate. If you were to Look at Moses. How do we know he was the prophet
of God? Well, God revealed that to them pretty quick when those
men rose up against Him, didn't He? And the earth opened up and
swallowed them. We know that. We know that Moses
led the people out of Egypt and the sea was parted for them. I'll tell you what, Pharaoh knew,
didn't he? Pharaoh knew. It may have been
at that last split second, but he knew Moses was the man of
God. He was inspired of God. Daniel.
Think about the vision of Daniel. This had come to me the first
thing. Daniel, when he had interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzar concerning
the image, concerning the statue of gold, the statue of silver
and bronze and iron and iron mixed with clay, Most people, when they see that,
can't help but see that this is a futuristic prophecy of the
kingdoms of the world. Babylonian kingdom, the Medes
and the Persians, the Grecian kingdom, the kingdom of brass,
the kingdom of iron, the Roman kingdom, and that the last, the
iron mixed with clay, was the Roman kingdom and its corruption. And what caused all the kingdoms
of the world to collapse? It was a stone. A precious stone. A precious cornerstone,
not made with hands, that was thrown at the feet of the image
and destroyed the image and the rock. became an exceeding great
mountain. Jesus Christ, the Rock, is He
not the exceeding great mountain of God's Church? Yes, He is.
He is the foundation of the Church of God. See the accuracy of God's
Word. These men were writing as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit. This is the record of God. This is the record of God and
it's true. This is God's record and it was witnessed of men. But the witness of God is greater
than the witness of men. I know that there are many people
who believe this book to be the inspired word of God and have
no hope. You can believe this is the record
of God. You can believe this inspired Word of God. You can
believe that Paul wrote by inspiration. You can believe that Matthew
wrote by inspiration, that Moses wrote by inspiration. You can
believe all that in your head. But do you have this witness
in your heart? Do you know this is the record
of God because you have been born again of the Spirit of God? Do you know the record of God? The witness of God in me testifies
of the validity of this book. I don't care what other men think.
I really don't. I don't care if they brought
me a set of bones. and they can DNA prove and say,
well, these are the bones of Jesus. See, I've proven it. You're a liar because the Word
of God tells me He's risen from the dead. And I have this witness,
not by men, but of God Himself. I remember someone saying this,
that he had lost his grandparent, his grandpa, and he loved his
grandpa. But he knew this, that even if
his grandpa were to come back and tell him, even if he would
arise from the dead and stand before him and tell him, what
you believe is a lie, that he would deny his grandfather. He would deny him. I don't care
if there's millions rose from the dead and were telling me
that this is false. They all are liars, because God
has testified this in my heart, that this is God's record. This is God's record. Let God
be true, and every man a liar. God is true, and He's testified
this to me in my heart, that this is the record of God. I
know this. The record of God. in all its
history, in all its prophecy, and by the mouth of all its witnesses,
I know this, that the record of God testifies of only one
person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is the sum of all God's
testimony. This book, this book, You remember
the Pharisees. I guarantee you they knew this
Old Testament better than you or I ever could. They spent their
whole life from their youth memorizing Scripture. They could cite to you every
word of the Old Testament in any portion. These men were great
scholars. They were very learned men. And
they believe this to be the record of God. Yet, Jesus said to them,
search the Scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life. But they, the Scriptures, are
they that testify of Me. If anyone goes to the Scriptures,
you must see Christ, or it is of no value at all. God testifies
only of His Son. The record of God is the testimony
of Jesus Christ. Look at this in verse 9 of our
text. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is
greater. For this is the witness of God,
which He hath testified of His Son. You can search the Word of God
for rules on how to live, and you'll find them. You can search
the Word of God for financial rules to guide your life, and
you will find them. You can find precepts. You can
find certain things that would be beneficial to you to listen
to. Proverbs is a great book. If
you want just skimming through Proverbs, if you just listen
to it, you're going to find some earthly wisdom in there. You're
going to find some wisdom that would do you good. Even if you try to live by this
book, if you cannot see Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as of
some substance and object of this book, then you are lost. You do not have eternal life.
The whole purpose of this book is to testify that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God. Remember on the road to Emmaus
when our Lord Jesus Christ spoke to His disciples, He said, O
fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have witnessed,
have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
and entered into His rest? And where did He go? Where did
He go to find the truth concerning the suffering of Christ and His
resurrection? It's beginning at Moses. And all the prophets, He expounded
unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning what? Himself. One thing about this flesh is
it likes to hear about itself. Doesn't it? I remember reading the Psalms
and I did this for a purpose because I wanted to find some
comfort for me. And so I went to the Psalms and
I just started trying to find me. That comfort only lasts a
little bit and then it just goes away. A little bit and it goes
away. Go to the Psalms and look for
Christ if you want to find some comfort. This book, if you're not trying
to find and see Christ, you're missing the whole purpose of
the book. God gave this whole record because
of His Son. It testifies of only one man,
and that man is not you, that man is not me, that man is Christ. Christ Jesus, the Son of God. What does God reveal concerning
His Son? If this is the record of God,
and God has spent over 5,000 years pointing people to His
Son, testifying of His Son, what does He say about His Son? Don't
you think that's important to know? I got a call this week. A woman speaking to me about
her trouble. Difficulties. And these were
serious troubles. These were not superficial things. These were very deep and hurtful
things that had happened to her. And she says that she was going
to be baptized. And I asked her a very simple
question. What think you of Christ? What do you think of Christ?
And there was no answer. I thought within myself, what
in the world are you getting baptized for, if you don't know who Christ
is? What think you of Christ? Who is He? Who is He? Because if God testifies
of Him, then don't you think you should know who He is? I'll tell you this, if you are
to have eternal life, I know you know, you must know who He
is. You must. Who is He? Well, first
of all, He is God manifest in the flesh. That's who Jesus is. The Son of God is Jesus Christ
manifest. God manifest in the flesh. In John chapter 8, verse 24,
He said, If you believe not that I am, You shall die in your sins. Listen to me. If you do not believe
that Jesus Christ is God of very God, you will die in your sins. That is plain speech. Is it not? Jesus Christ is God. We see this in verse 7 very plainly. For there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one. This is the blessed triune God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
yet one God. Now, can you explain that to
me? No, and neither can I explain
it fully to you. But yet it is so, because God
hath borne record of it many times. At the baptism of our Lord Jesus,
what was there? The Lord Jesus was there. The
Spirit descended upon Him like a dove, and the voice of the
Father spoke from heaven. These three bear witness, and
they bear witness that they are God. God the Father is God, God
the Son is God, and God the Holy Spirit is God. Yet one God. Not
three gods, one God. One in will, purpose, desire. This is the record of God that declares it was God the
Father who chose a people for Himself. This is the record of
God. That God chose a people for Himself
that He would love, that He would adore, that He would shed His
grace upon them, that He would give His mercy to them and love
them from eternity. And God the Son, they were accepted
in Him before the world began. Go to Ephesians chapter 1. Read the blessed account with
me in Ephesians chapter 1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, in Christ, according as He has
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him, in love having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good
pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace,
wherein By His grace and for His praise, wherein He hath made
us accepted, Where are we accepted? How is it that we are accepted
in the Beloved? When? Before the world began. I was accepted in Christ. You who believe on Christ, who
know and bear the record of God within yourself, you have this
assurance that before there was a world, God gave you to His
Son and you were accepted. This is not my word. This is
God's word. I could not tell you that with
any assurance if God himself had not told you that. Has God told you that? What a
blessing. What a relief. What a joy. to know that God bears witness.
God the Father bears witness of His election. And God the
Son not bore witness of this great feat of grace when He came
into this world. When God the Son came into this
world and became a man, He bore witness of God's election. Because all that the Father gave
the Son shall come to the Son. and not one of them will be lost.
Not one of them. What a lie this world has perpetuated
in saying that God loves all men without exception. That is
not true. God loves His elect. And all the elect of God were
given to the Lord Jesus Christ. And He loved His elect that were
given to Him. And He died for that elect people
alone. And He saved them from their
sins. And He rose again for their justification. And not one of them will be lost.
Jesus died for no one in hell. If he died for one person in
hell, Jesus is a failure and the record of God is tainted.
That's just not so. Let's go and see this. Go to
John chapter 6. I can show you many places, but
John chapter 6 is good. John chapter 6, let's begin at
verse 36. This is God's record. This is
not my record. Here it is. Here's the record
of God. Do you believe this is the record
of God? And is this record? John chapter 6 and verse 36. But I said unto you that you
also have seen Me and believed not. Oh, that the Father giveth
Me. shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out, for I came down from
heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that
of all which He hath given me I should lose..." How many? Nothing. Nothing. but should raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him shall have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the
last day." This is the assurance that the Father chose a people,
gave them to His Son. His Son says, I'll lose none
of them. And I know this, that everyone that He died for will
come and believe on Him. This is a sure thing. It's not
a gamble. I remember some idiot who says
he calls himself a preacher, but he said that Christ was gambling
for the souls of his saints. What a blasphemy! What a lie! He was not gambling for anything.
Christ died for his people and they are sure of heaven. Sure
of it. And everyone who He died for
will come. There is no question. This is
the will of God that they should come. And He should lose nothing,
nothing, nothing, nothing, but raise it up again at the last
day. This is God's record. Not my record. It's God's record. And how will they come? This
is the work of God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is sent into
this world to testify of the record of God. To testify of
God's election. To testify of Jesus Christ's
righteousness, His death, and His resurrection. That's what
it says next in our text. Go back. Look at that. It says
in verse 8, there are three that bear witness in the earth, the
Spirit, the water, and the blood. And these three agree only in
one. The Spirit, the water, and the
blood. The Spirit of God. that moved these men to write
the Scriptures for us is the same Spirit of God that moves
men to faith, that creates in us a new nature. Natural man cannot understand
the witness of God. The natural man cannot by any
means know Jesus Christ. Jesus tells them plainly in John
8.43, He said, You cannot hear My word. He tells those Pharisees,
He said, You understand My speech? Am I speaking the proper language
to you? Yeah. They understood every word
He said. But yet, He said, You cannot
hear My word. This is because of the depravity
of man. That God would give us a true
sense of ourselves is how we grow in grace. God gives us a
truer sense of our own nature. As we grow in the grace and knowledge
of Christ, we begin to see that we are sinners! And I knew two months ago that
I was a sinner, but I know I'm a sinner more now than I was
two months ago. Not that I was any greater sinner
then or now, but I'm just getting a revelation of what I am. The
holiness of God becomes brighter. Not that God is more holy by
my knowledge, but I begin to see more of God's holiness. And
then I begin to see more of my own sin nature. And then I begin
to see what great things God has done for me in Christ. How
great His sacrifice was. How great His offering was to
take away all my sins. This is growing in grace. A natural
man. Jesus said, you will not come
to Me that you might have life. Man is not willing to come to
Christ. Even because man cannot come to Christ. No man can come
unto Me except the Father which has sent Me, draw him. And this drawing, This drawing
is by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one that
gives life and testifies to us of Jesus Christ. Jesus said this. This is not an option. You must be born again. Nicodemus said, how is that possible? He said, you must be born of
the Spirit of God. God has to give you life for
this record to mean anything to you. And when God gives us life, He
also gives us the witness of water and blood. Look at verse
6. And this is He that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water
and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is truth. He came by water. Can you imagine John? there at the foot of the cross,
do you not think that when that Roman soldier pierced the side
of Jesus, that that image stuck into his mind? And how that the
water and the blood poured out from his side, and that centurion
said, truly, this is the Son of God. Water and blood. Water signifies life. You know
why this planet is so blessed? It's because it has water. Water is life. Without water,
there is no life. When the Spirit comes, He brings
the water of life. Isn't that what Ezekiel 47 is
all about? The water? It said, Whithersoever
the water went, there was life. And whithersoever the Spirit
goes, there is life. Where's he going? I don't know.
Where'd he come from? I don't know. But he goes where
he wants to. I know you and I try to track
his... try to trace him out. We can. I know he's come by here. Wind bloweth where it listeth.
You can hear the sound, you can see the effects, but you can't
tell where it's coming or where it's going. And I know this,
wherever the Spirit is, there are effects. And what is the
effect? Faith in the blood. Life always comes with faith. And faith comes with life. These
two can never be apart. If you believe in Christ, you
have life. And you have life because you
believe in Christ. Both of these things are true.
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Water and blood. We believe that
His blood cleanseth us from all sin. Well, that's a bold statement. How do you know? It's the record
of God. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 14,
by His one offering. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. He hath perfected. Perfected. How long? Forever. His one sacrifice perfected
me forever. And you who believe, He has perfected
you forever. This is the record of God. This is God's record. And all these three, the Spirit,
the water, the blood, they all testify that Jesus is the Son
of God. Only God could provide a perfect
righteousness and only God could provide a perfect sacrifice,
but only man could represent man. Only a man could represent
us. This is why God was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, and obeyed His law perfectly, and died for
our sins, and rose again for our justification. Because we
needed a representative man, and Jesus is that man. Jesus
is that representative. He has done these things. Not
that He is going to do. He has done it! It's finished. Salvation is accomplished. This
is the record of God. that the Son of God was made
prophet, priest, and king. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Do you believe on the Son of
God? We don't believe in a Savior
that made salvation possible. We believe in a Savior who accomplished
salvation. You believe that? Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God is born. How? By God. By the will of God. You're born
of God. And you, who believe, this is
God's promise to you. Look at your text again. This
is the record of God, that God hath given to us eternal life. You and I know something about
life, but what's this matter of eternal life? How long is
eternal life? It's eternal. That's how long it is. It's eternal. It never ends. Jesus said He came to save His
sheep. He came to get His sheep. And
He says, I give unto them eternal life. And no man, no man is able
to pluck them out of My hand. For the Father which gave them
Me is greater than all, and they are in My hand, I am in the Father's
hand, and no man is going to take us out. Now, if that is
not assurance, I don't know what is. Believer, God's record says that
we have, already have, eternal life. If you got life today, then it
wouldn't be eternal. It would have a starting point.
But I have eternal life. My life began from eternity and
is going to eternity. Because my eternal life is in
the Son, Jesus Christ. And this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life.
Do you have the Son? If you have the Son, you have
life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. Are you missing the Son? Have you not believed the record
God has given? Then you have not life. These
things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God, that you may know." Don't leave here without knowing.
Do you believe the Son of God? Have you believed on the record
that God has given concerning His Son? Salvation accomplished,
finished. then you have life. That you may know you have eternal
life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
You that believe, keep on believing. That's what he's saying. These
things I've written to you that believe, and I write them so
that you keep on believing. The just shall live by faith.
How do we begin this? That God gave us grace to believe,
and by faith we believed on the Son of God, and we've seen that
God has given us life in His Son, and we keep on seeing our
life is in the Son. Salvation's finished. No more
work to be done. Rest. Rest. Rest in God's record. Don't look to your faith. Your
faith is weak and feeble and ready to collapse. Believe on the object of your
faith. And you have believed the record
of God. Only God can give that to you.
I pray that He does. Give it to me. We stand and will be dismissed
in prayer.