That's one of my job requirements.
I can't remember to turn that on. But anyway, the title of
the lesson is The Gospel Test or Faith, Love, and Obedience. And we'll see this as we go along.
Now John brings together faith, love, and obedience in this first
five verses of this chapter. And notice how much importance
John puts on the new birth in faith in these next few verses. Now, he says, whosoever. That's
a broad range, isn't it? You know, this is not a private
organization. The church is not a private club.
It's whosoever. That's why we send the gospel
out. That's why we preach in the communities and we support
missionaries. It's a reason we do it. Whosoever,
I don't know who they are, but God does. Whether one is a Jew
or a Gentile, it makes no difference to God. All belong to Him. God created every race, but there's
only one race. It's the human race. He is made
of one blood, all nations. Now we have our boundaries and
our borders and we have that, but you know God doesn't. God
has no borders. He has no boundaries. And that's
why John said, Whosoever, whether he's a Jew or a Gentile, it's
no difference. God is no respecter of persons.
God will save a people out of every kindred, tribe, tongue,
and nation under heaven. I have brothers and sisters in
Africa. I have brothers and sisters in
Mexico. I have them in China. All across
this world, I have brothers and sisters. We have the same spiritual
DNA, born of God. Born of God. We have the same
spiritual DNA. Who can measure the depth of
the grace and the love of God? It's infinite. It's infinite. And whosoever believeth that
Jesus is the Christ, and if you believe that Jesus is the Christ,
and I'll tell you what that is here in a minute, but if you
believe that He's the Christ, He's the Son of God, my soul,
you and I should rejoice because that is evidence that we are
born of God. We are God's children. We are
His children. One of the results of the new
birth and one of the evidences that I have been born of God,
that you have been born of God, is that you believe the Gospel. Not that you just believe some
facts, but you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a
union between you and Him. There's a real living union between
you and God in Christ. Faith is the result of being
born of God. It's never the cause of it. Before
I heard the gospel, I thought it was the cause of it. I thought
I had to believe and repent and then, God, I would be born again.
No, that's in reverse. Faith and repentance, they are
evidence, they are results of being born of God. That's what
it is. And this person is a partaker of the divine nature. Jesus Christ is formed in this
person. You know, Paul said to the Galatians,
he said, I travail until Christ be formed in you. Until He's
formed in you. And the Holy Spirit dwells in
this person. If there are just two or three
here this morning, that's gathered together in the Lord's name.
He said, there am I in the midst. I'm here. I'm with you in spirit. It says here that this person
is born of God. This person is the partaker,
as I said, of the divine nature. Jesus Christ is formed in this
person and the Holy Spirit dwells in this person. And he believeth
that Jesus is the Christ. Now what does this mean? I said
I'd get to this in a minute. This person that's born of God,
this person that believes that Jesus is the Christ, he believes
or she believes that he is that prophet that Moses said would
come. and we were to hear Him. He is
that prophet who reveals the Father, who reveals the will
of the Father, who reveals the person of the Father. Jesus Christ
said, No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal Him. He's that prophet. that reveals
the mind of God, the will of God, the person of God. It's
through Jesus Christ that we know God. There is no other way
to know God except through Jesus Christ. And then he's that priest
like Melchizedek. He has an unchangeable priesthood. You know, in the Old Testament,
if a person was going to come before God, he had to have some
things. You had to have a sacrifice.
There had to be blood. And there had to be a priest.
You could not come before God without these. And Jesus Christ
is our high priest. He is the one who offered up
himself to God. He didn't offer himself to me.
When Christ died on the cross, it was not an offering to us.
It was an offering to God. And as a high priest, he makes
intercessions for us. He makes, the scripture says,
intercession for the transgressors. That would be me. That would
be me, because I am a transgressor. I know I've broke God's law.
And you, some of you know you have. You know you have. And
we need this priest. We need this priest. We need
one to stand before God and intercede for us. We need that. And then He's that King that
sits upon the holy hill of Zion. He's God's King. He's the King
of kings and Lord of lords. That's what it is to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to believe on Him as He
is revealed in the Word of God. It's not to believe on Him like
I think He is, because I can guarantee you, if it's going
to be like I think He is, that's going to be wrong. But we believe
on Him as He's revealed in the Word of God. You know, Paul said
they will come preaching another Jesus. They'll use His name,
but they will not preach His true character. They'll not truly
preach who He is, what He did, and where He is now. They won't
do that. But when a man believes the Gospel,
when God brings a sinner to believe the Gospel, he believes on the
Lord Jesus Christ that's revealed in this book. Now it says there in verse 1,
And everyone that loveth Him that begat, these are the ones
born of God, loveth Him also that is begotten of Him. Everyone
that loves the Father loves His Son. He loves His Son. And He will
also love all who are born of God. Whoever is born of God loves
everyone born of God. no matter what the nationality
of that person is. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter. We belong, listen, we belong
to another kingdom. We belong to another kingdom. We are one in Christ. It doesn't
matter what nationality a person is of, if that person is a believer,
he and I are of the same kingdom. He and I are of the same nation. It's called the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God. And by this, in verse 2, by this
we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep
His commandments. How do we know that our love
to God is true? Oh, we say, oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, really? Do you really? Oh, how do you love the children
of God? That is more telling of my love to Christ than anything
else, is my love to the brethren. Do you love being here? Now, you know, you know in your
heart, and I know, if I love being around you and you love
being around me, You know the company you love to keep. You
know the company you love to keep. You know it. How do we know that our love
to God is true when we love those born of God? And this is not a human love,
a fleshly love. This is a spiritual love. This
is a love that's of God. It's of God. Love, now listen, he says here
also, and we keep his commandments. Love is our motivation for obedience. We do not obey the Lord out of
a fear of punishment. The Jews did. They looked at
the Word of God, they took the Old Testament, and they looked
at what they were supposed to do, and their service, their
meetings was out of fear, a slavish... There is a fear of God, but not
this slavish fear that God's going to take it out the front
door in a casket if I don't do this or that. That's the wrong
kind of fear. But love is our motivation for
obedience. It's not hard. Now listen, it's
not hard to submit to someone you love. It's not hard. It's not hard. It's not hard
to keep His commandments. It's His teachings. That's what
doctrine is. Doctrine are the teachings of
our Lord. It's not hard to keep the teachings of one you love.
They're right, aren't they? They're right teachings. It's
only right. When I look at the Lord's commandments, they're
only right. And a child of God delights to do the will of their
Father. And that's what it is to keep
His commandment. It's to do His will. It's to seek His will. I woke up this morning at 4 o'clock
or something about this thing of 4 o'clock with me. I don't
know what it is. Maybe North Carolina thing. I
don't know. But I woke up this morning at
four o'clock, and it was on my mind, and that's something I'm
gonna, I don't know, maybe the Lord will develop a message out
of it, but it was on my mind, what is it to walk with God?
Do I, am I walking with God? That's my thought this morning,
am I walking with God? Any walk with God, no walk with
God. I should know what it is to walk
with God if I'm walking with God. But that was on my mind,
but this part of it here is keeping His commandments. That's walking
with God. It's a delight to do that to
the child of God. Not so that we'll be accepted.
Our acceptance, you know this. You've been well taught, you
know this. Our acceptance is in the Lord Jesus Christ. But
we delight, we delight to do our Lord's bidding. What would
you have me to do, Lord? Now that ought to be our attitude
every morning when we get out of bed. Lord, what would you
have me to do this day? Guide me, direct me, and press
upon my heart. Is that what you'd have me to
do? And to do it, listen, with a
good attitude. Do it with a good attitude. Attitude
is everything in service. It's everything in service. For this is the love of God,
that we keep His commandments. This is how we show our love
to God. This is how it's demonstrated. And it just comes out of a believer.
It just comes out of one born of God. Keeping the commandments
of God is evidence of love to God. This shows that love is not in
word only, in profession only, but in deed and in truth. And
our love to God, now listen, our love to God is demonstrated
in the way we treat each other, take care of each other, and
it's demonstrated in that way. That's how it's demonstrated. The believer has a real sense
of God's love to him in Christ, and brethren, that's just going
to be expressed. That's going to be expressed. And it says, "...and His commandments
are not grievous." You know, He has told us not
to forsake the assembling of ourselves together like the manner
of some is over in Hebrews. Is it grievous to come here on
Sundays? Is it grievous to come here on
Wednesdays when you're able to? Is it grievous? It's not grievous,
is it? It was not grievous to drive
to Lexton last week and hear the gospel preached and to be
able to preach and preach the gospel. That was not grievous. What's grievous about love? to love one another. Husbands,
love your wives. What is grievous about that?
Nothing if you do. Nothing if you do. If it's in
you, there's nothing grievous about it. It's not hard, as I said before,
to smitch someone you love. To love one another is not a
grievous task, not a grievous commandment. And it also shows
this, we are in agreement with God. We are in agreement with
God. God commands to be baptized.
Those who believe the gospel, he that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He's given us His table to take. Those two
ordinances, it's not grievous to keep those. It was not grievous
to me and it's not grievous to you who believe when we ask to
be baptized. That was a joy. It was a joy
to be able to be identified with Jesus Christ. And to be able
to take the Lord's supper, the Lord's table, to be able to do
that is a joy. It's a joy. It's not grievous to to do what our Lord tells us
to do. It's not grievous. It's not grievous
to a wife who loves her husband to submit to her husband. Submitting because you're supposed
to is not submitting. That's just not submitting. It's
what I'm supposed to. That's what the Bible says. No,
no, if God has given you a true heart, a true heart, It's a joy
to do that because it's a real submission to Jesus Christ. That's
what it is. It's a submission to Him. God give you a loving husband,
and God give the husband a loving wife. That bulletin I put out
this morning, I got to reading one of Henry's comments, and
I ended up putting the whole thing about husband and wife in there. had contacted me this week is
having a lot of trouble, trouble. She's asked us to pray for her
and a lot of marital trouble. And I thought, well, these things,
you know, they just came together. I put it all in the bulletin.
But it's not hard to submit someone you love and follow someone you
love and be with them, to be with them. For whatsoever, in
verse four, for whatsoever is born of God, there has to be
a new birth from above. There has to be a new nature
given of God that's different from the world. A nature that
is stronger than the one we were born with. Has to be. For whatsoever is born of God,
it's pure, it's holy, it's of God, and it will overcome the
world. As we'll see here. As he says
here, for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. Now, you don't feel like you've
overcome anything, does it? So often it feels to me like
I haven't overcome anything. I feel like I'm being overcome
all the time. That's what it feels like. But
the one who's born of God overcometh the world. He's overcome the
God of this world. Satan has no more claim on you. You're not a child of darkness
anymore. You've been translated from the
kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear Son. That's what
it says in Colossians 1. God has translated you. He has
taken you from the kingdom of darkness, and He's put you into
the kingdom of His dear Son. And you're in it right now, even
though you're sitting right there. You're in it. You're in it. You've overcome the God of this
world, Satan. You've overcome the lust which
is in the world and the lust which is in you. It doesn't say we don't fall,
we don't sin, or we don't stumble from time to time, but it doesn't
dominate us. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. We have God's Word on that. It's
not going to rule over you no more. Not gonna do it. You've overcome the false prophets.
You hear the difference, don't you? You can hear a lie. You can say, there's something
not right about that. Something not right. Or you can just say,
that's not right. That's completely off base. You've
overcome the false prophets who've gone out into the world and the
wicked men of the world. You've overcome the world. The
new man in Christ is stronger than the old man that's in the
world. You've overcome the principles
of the world. The believer and the unbeliever
operate by two totally different principles. They're not the same anymore,
not the same. You've overcome peer pressure
of the world. There's a time when you grow
up in Christ, you just don't have to have what everybody else
has. You don't need it. Just let the world just have
what they have and go on by. I tell you, contentment in Jesus
Christ is priceless. It's priceless. To be able to
let your neighbors go and do what they do and buy what they
buy and go where they go and say, give me Christ. Give me
Christ. Let the world have their play
toys. Let them have it. I want Jesus Christ. Now, if
the Lord gives me what I have, I want to, by God's grace, be
content with it. Put me where He's put me, be
content with it. As long as I have Him. That's what was that, Ziba? I
mean, Mephibosheth. It was Mephibosheth. When the
king came back and Ziba had lied on him, David said, just take
what? Just take these, take the material
things here and just divide them. Mephibosheth said, no, give it
all to Ziba. I have the king. The king has
come back. I have him. You let Ziba have
it all. Oh, Abraham said to Lot, Lot, when him and his herdsmen
were fighting and was kind of getting into it, he said, we
be brethren. That's why he said, I love what
he said. We be brethren. We're not going to fight. We're
brethren. And he stepped back. Here the
patriarch stepped back and said, Lot, Lot's his nephew. What an
uncle. But he stepped back and he said,
Lot, You should look out here and wherever you go, whatever
you want, take it and I'll go the opposite direction. And Lot
took the well-watered plains of Jordan. And after he left, God said,
Abraham, now you lift up your eyes. I'm gonna give you all
this. All of it. The kingdom of God is our interest. Touch not, taste not, handle
not. That's of the world is not interest me no more. That doesn't
interest me. The kingdom of God is our interest,
not the kingdom of men. I hear what goes on in Washington. You can't keep from hearing it.
You see what goes on in the world. You and I know what goes on in
the world. That's not my interest. I tell
you the truth, it's not my interest. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and all these things you need will
be added to you." When the Lord told us to pray, when the disciples
said, teach us how to pray, He said, Thy kingdom come. In that prayer, He said, Thy
kingdom come. God's kingdom is our interest.
It's the interest of God's children. That's my interest. Not the kingdom
of this world. The kingdom of man is just, it's
a kingdom of darkness. It's a kingdom of darkness, fighting,
fussing. That's what it is. Take the world, but give me Jesus
Christ. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Great things are ascribed
to faith in Hebrews 11. Faith is a gift of God, but we
know this, The faith that he's speaking of here that overcomes
the world is the object of faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in
Him, through Him, by Him, that we overcome all things. All things. Who is He? I'm gonna read this
out of the Amplified version. I wrote this down out of the
Amplified. I like this. Who is He that is victorious
over the world? Or who is He that conquers the
world? Paul said, we are more than what?
Conquerors through Him who loved Him. We're more than conquerors.
We don't realize it, but we are. Who is He that conquers the world? But He who believes that Jesus
is the Son of God. The person who believes that
Jesus is the Son of God overcomes the world. You're not going to
drown in it. You're not going to go to hell
with it. You're not going to go to hell with the world. Like
a bran plucked out of the fire. He's taking you out of it. Taking
you out of it. You overcome all opposition.
There's no weapon, God said, and I believe it was in Isaiah,
no weapon formed against you shall prosper. No weapon. I know a situation, I'm not gonna
go ahead and get into it, but I know this, I know two people
one time, I was running a company. And they tried, I didn't even
know it, unbeknownst to me. In my ignorance, I looked like
I was smart. But they were trying to get me
fired. I had no idea what was going on. But in doing that,
they got fired. They got fired. And I was like,
what in the world is going on? And then after all that happened,
was settled down, then it was told to me what was going on. Overcome the world. Overcome
all opposition, all hatred. You overcome all that. All of
it. This is a gospel test. John puts them all three together
here in this chapter. See, he has spoken of love and
faith. He has spoken of obedience and
faith. Here he brings it all together. Love, faith, and obedience. It's evident when these are present,
and they're really present, You have been born of God. You're
God's child. God's child. All right.