Well, right at the start, I want
to thank you all so much for your warmth, for your generosity,
for your welcome. It's great to be here with you.
You know, the way friendships go in the world, they can easily
fade. You know, time goes by and you
forget what people are like and you do different things and you
have different things in mind. You know, those of you that I
know from 13 years ago, 13 years, and yet when we talk it's just
like it's not been five minutes since we last saw each other.
And this is what the gospel does, and it's great. We're from different
cultures, we speak the same language, they say. We speak English. But we're two people separated
by a common language. When we were coming over here,
we stood in the queue at the airport. What was one of those?
Oh, in line, in line, in line. We came over here for a fortnight.
I don't know if you know what one of those is. We came for
two weeks. That's a fortnight, 14 nights. When we put the luggage
in the car, we put it in the boot of the car. And when anything
goes wrong with the car, we lift the bonnet to see what the engine's
doing underneath it. So we've got differences. Today
is the 4th of May. If any of you want an explanation
why the 4th of May 2013 is much more logical than May 4th 2013,
I'll tell you later, but we won't waste time now. And just different
things, like for example, you'll say to me, you all, when you're
only talking to me, there's only one of me, you all, where's the
rest of them? And we pronounce things differently.
So you talk about Iraq and I talk about Iraq. You talk, you say,
I know I'm going to get this wrong. I can't do this. And Mindy
loves it when I say I can't do this and I can't help it. It's just the way I speak. This
is the way we speak. There are differences, and there
are differences in religion as well between our two societies. I actually corrected Don Faulkner
over in England at the conference over there, because he made a
statement in one of his messages that America and England are
exactly the same in one respect about religion, and when it was
my turn I got up and I said, no they're not, they're really
quite different. They're two different societies. I'll tell
you what I mean. Over here, if you were to stop
and ask anybody in the street that walked by you just a random
sample of people and you talked about born again or being born
of God I would think that whilst most of those people you would
talk to wouldn't really know the true meaning of it most of
them would be familiar with the term most of them might say from
some experience in the past that they regarded themselves as born
again if you did that over in Britain They'd think that you
were seriously mentally deranged. They would think that there's
something seriously wrong with you. Britain is an absolutely
godless society. Born of God. What does it really
mean? In one society, totally off the agenda, in this society
over here, used too glibly. What does it mean? Well, I want
you to turn with me to 1 John, John's first epistle, chapter
5, and I want to look at the first few verses with you. And
the title of the message is the first two words of that chapter. Whosoever believeth. Whosoever
believeth. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. What does it mean to be born
of God? The scripture tells us. Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And isn't this
the Arminian free will religionists Proof text, they say, whosoever,
I remember when I first heard the doctrines of grace, talking
to people about it, and they always come back with this, but
it says, whosoever, whosoever, whosoever, anyone, everyone,
is their philosophy, their creed. Anyone or everyone in the world,
without exception, who decides of their own free will to believe,
is born of God. That's the way they interpret
it. Is the gospel a free offer? Is the gospel a free offer to
all people without exception? Or is it rather the declaration
of promised, accomplished, finished salvation from God to his elect? And is it declared publicly in
preaching? Yes it is, in all the world,
wherever doors are opened. Because it's Christ who opens
doors, he tells them in the letters to the churches in Revelation.
If he opens a door, no man can shut it. And if he closes a door,
no man can open it. Wherever he opens a door, There,
that message is preached to whoever will listen with hearing ears,
and who are they? The ones whom the Holy Spirit
gives those hearing ears to, and awakens them, and quickens
them. And because of that, the religious world accuses us of
hyper-Calvinism. The orthodox, the orthodox Reformed
world accuses us of hyper-Calvinism, and accuses us of antinomianism
that always goes with it. No. Do you believe that Jesus
is the Christ? This is what the text says. Do
you believe Jesus is the Christ? If you do, you are born of God. If you do, you are counted, as
we were thinking yesterday evening, you are counted among the seed
of Israel. So I want to look at what is
it to believe that? What is it? How does this true
belief evidence itself? And what is the guarantee that
comes out of that true belief? What is it to believe that Jesus
is the Christ? Well most people believe, I mean
even the completely irreligious, even the godless, even those
who don't believe in God probably will acknowledge that there was
a man in history called Jesus who was around at the time of
the Romans in Palestine in those days 2,000 years ago. I think
in Britain we have at our top universities, Oxford and Cambridge,
and each of them has a professor, and I'll give you what the real
meaning of his title is. He's professor of godlessness.
He's professor of proving to everybody that they don't need
God. They've got two of these professors at the top universities.
But even they would acknowledge, probably, that there's a man
called Jesus who existed 2,000 years ago. So this belief is
not just assent. to a historical fact. It's not
just saying, OK, I agree with that. I agree with that proposition.
Somebody like that existed. But it's belief that Jesus is
the Christ. That this man, who existed, that
he is the Christ. As Paul was arguing in Acts 17,
verse 3, his What he was trying to do always
was to convince them that this Jesus whom I preach unto you,
this man, Jesus of Nazareth, is the Christ. Jesus the man,
the son of Mary, the one who lived in Nazareth and grew up
as a carpenter's son, this man is the Christ, is the Messiah,
is the Son of God. And you might say, well, don't
even religious folks say that they believe that? even Jehovah's
Witnesses. I've talked to them on the doorstep
and they would tick that box. Yeah, they say that. But we have
to beware of counterfeits. There is so much that looks on
the surface so plausible. So you have to look more deeply.
We're told that Jesus told us that deceptions would come, so
much so that it would deceive even the elect if that were possible.
But it isn't possible. It isn't possible. But we have
to be careful. I was once walking in a street
in London and a very poor looking woman came up to me and she held
out this gold ring. And it looked like an impressive
lump of gold. And she said, I'll sell you it very cheaply. She
was from Eastern Europe, and she said she'd sell it very cheaply.
And I said, no, no, you go to a jeweller's, if you want to
turn it, or people that buy gold. And no, no, she insisted, she
insisted that I took it. and I said I don't want it, I
really do not want it and no she wouldn't she wouldn't have
my refusal and she forced it into my hand and ran off down
the street so I was left with this gold ring and I looked at
it and it had hallmarks on it, it looked like the real deal
so I put it in my pocket and later that day when I got home
I went to the jewellers when I got off the train and the jeweller
looked at it and he put his eyepiece on and gave it a really close
examination then he went out back Two minutes later he came
out with it, holding it up, smiling, with a green liquid on the top
of it that was fizzing and bubbling, because it wasn't gold. He almost fooled him, and that's
the case with so much in religion. So much is a deception, and we
have to really examine what people are saying. We need to look carefully.
They say that they believe that Jesus is the Christ, but in saying
that, get underneath and find out what do they really mean
when they say that. Do they, for example, believe
this? Do they believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Lord's anointed
of the second psalm? Psalm 2 verse 2. Is this man
the Lord's anointed? Is this man God's appointed substitute
for the salvation of his people? Is this man the federal head
of his people? The Israel of God, the seed of
Israel. Is this man the federal head
of those people? Is this man this man? who when
you looked at him, looked just like any other man. He even looked
as if he'd had a rougher time. They told him when he was 30
years old, you're not yet 50 years old. This man who had no
comeliness that we should desire him, is this man the one who
came for sinners, to save sinners, to make them the righteousness
of God in him, by him satisfying the law, by him satisfying justice,
by the union of these people with him. Is this who it is? Is this the one that Daniel spoke
of? When in chapter 9, 24 and 25,
he talked about Messiah the Prince coming. Is this Jesus of Nazareth,
Messiah the Prince, who would come? Because he's going to do
very, very special things. Messiah the Prince is going to
finish transgression. He's going to bring an end of
sin. He's going to bring reconciliation
for iniquity. He's going to bring in everlasting
righteousness. He's going to be cut off, but
not for himself, but for his people, to make an end of sacrifice. by his one offering of sin. His one offering of sin. Is this
the one? Is Jesus the Christ? Do you believe
that Jesus is the Christ? As John says in the previous
chapter, at the start of the previous chapter, chapter 4 verses
1 to 3, he says test the spirits, try them. whether they be of
God. Do they say, do you believe that
this man is the Christ promised in the Old Testament? That's
what it means. So many people read those verses at the start
of chapter 4 and they say, oh yeah, I believe that. You go
around the churches that you see all around here and you ask
people, they say, yeah, I believe that Jesus is the Christ, yeah.
No, is this man, Jesus of Nazareth, the one that everything that
speaks of Christ in the Old Testament, he's the one that fulfills it?
He's that one who was promised, who came. Is this who it is?
Do they say, this man is the Christ? Jesus said that he was. Our Lord Jesus Christ said this,
didn't he, in Luke 24. He, with those disciples on the
Emmaus road, he expounded to them, he opened in all the Scriptures
to them the things concerning himself. The things concerning
himself. All the Scriptures. You search
the Scriptures, for in them you think that you have eternal life.
And you do, in the Scriptures. These are they that speak of
me. all the scriptures, the law of
Moses it says in Luke, the prophets, the Psalms concerning himself. What do they say? That fallen
Adam and Eve were clothed by God with the skins of a slain
animal. What's he saying? Christ is coming.
Christ is coming. Is this one? Is Jesus the Christ? Is he the one that came to fulfill
that? Abel was accepted before God because he brought a lamb,
whereas Cain brought the fruits of his own works. And what's
he pointing to? Christ. We must have a lamb.
We must have a lamb. Is this one who came the lamb
that God said we must have to be right with him? Noah, in the
Ark, bore the wrath of God's judgment against sin. He bore
it in the safety of the Ark, hidden in that Ark. And what's
that talking about? Christ? Is this man Jesus of
Nazareth, the Christ who was pictured there in the Ark of
God, in the flood? God provided himself a sacrifice
in the place of Isaac. Is that speaking of Christ and
of saying that Christ must come? And is this man Jesus of Nazareth,
the Christ who is promised, the Passover lamb, the day of atonement? I was talking to Todd earlier,
I was thinking about the day of atonement, how the New Testament
is always clearer and more explicitly. You know, there are places in
the Old Testament like the Day of Atonement tells us how precisely
the atonement must be fulfilled by Christ to achieve the salvation
of his people. Israel alone was saved. Israel
alone was pictured in, as we saw, I think I mentioned it last
night, it was only Israel's sins that was symbolically placed
on the head of the scapegoat. Speaking of Christ's particular
redemption, of his particular people, it's a particular people
he came for. He says, comfort my people. His
name was to be called Jesus because he will save his people from
their sins. He won't make it possible for
everybody if they want to. He will save his people from
their sins, Israel alone. And the tabernacle, the temple,
the priesthood, the Ark of the Covenant, they're all pointing
to Christ and the gospel of his grace. Is this man, Jesus of
Nazareth, the Christ? Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Is he the sin-bearing substitute
that the Old Testament scriptures speak of? in the Psalms where
he talks about bearing the sins of his people, Christ the man
redeeming his people. If Jesus of Nazareth, this one,
Christ come in the flesh, is he the one who made propitiation
for his particular people, who redeemed his particular people,
who paid the sin debt and cleared the sin debt of his people by
his shed blood on their behalf? And people at the time of his
birth were waiting. They knew what the scriptures
were promising. One's coming to accomplish salvation. Is he here yet? You know the
wise men who came from the East. I like to believe that those
wise men back in the East, in Babylon, in Chaldea, had read
those prophecies of Daniel, and they'd been working it out, and
God's Spirit had been showing it to them. And they'd been saying,
it's about now, it must be about now. Look, what's... And God
showed them, and they came expecting Him to come. And Simeon at the
temple, and Anna, they were waiting. These people, it wasn't some
surprise to them. They were waiting for these things
to be fulfilled, these Old Testament scriptures. This is belief. that
Jesus is the Christ. And most, I don't know what it's
like here, you probably tell me it's much worse than I think,
but in Britain most orthodox looking reformed Christianity
doesn't believe that, or at least not all of that, and if you leave
any bit out you've destroyed it. So how can you distinguish
real belief, true belief, because it isn't a case that whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and I ask you
a question, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? Yes, I do.
Okay, you're born of God, and off you go and you just live
your life with no regard to him whatsoever. No, it's not just
doctrinal head knowledge, it's not just saying, yes, I mentally
assent to that. Look what it says in verse 1.
Let's work down some of these verses. And everyone that loveth
him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. Belief, true belief, produces
love. It produces love for the God
who begat. The one who is born of God is
born not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. And God begat. the ones that
believe, and it produces love in the one who is begotten of
God. Love for God who begot them,
and love for Christ who is the only begotten Son of God. And
love for Him, because Peter tells us, to you who believe, He is
precious. Love for Him. And not only love
for Him, but love for others who are begotten of God. Love
for the brethren, love for one another. And verse 2 and 3, by
this we know that we love the children of God, when we love
God and keep his commandments, for this is the love of God,
that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not
grievous. This is belief that produces a response, it's not
passive. We keep his commandments. We're
not talking here about the Mosaic Law. That's a grievous, a grievous
commandment. Acts 15 verse 10, Peter tells
them that the Mosaic Law, which some were trying to impose on
the believers, was a yoke which neither our fathers nor we were
able to bear. Christ has borne it for his people.
Christ has fulfilled all righteousness perfectly. The commandment he's
talking about is what John writes in chapter 3 of this epistle,
and verse 23. And this is his commandment.
You want to know what his commandment is? Just ask him, it's there.
This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name
of his Son, Jesus Christ. This is it. Believe on his son.
We read it in John 8. Believe on his son. On the name
of his son Jesus Christ. Love one another as he gave us
commandment. This is what he's talking about.
That's the commandment he's talking about. Christ, in John chapter
6, verses 28 and 29, what must we do that we do the work of
God? Jesus said unto them, this is the work of God, this is the
work of God, that you believe. It's God who causes that belief.
But this is the work of God that you believe on him that he sent. Believe. And what's the law? It's the law of Christ. It's
gospel precepts. It's that law. That's what it
is. It's the royal law that James speaks about. As Galatians 5.14
says, For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. That isn't a grievous commandment. It's not grievous to the one
that's born of God. Verses 4 and 5, For whatsoever
is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. Overcoming the world, through
this belief, being born of God and overcoming the world, overcoming
Satan and all of his devices, all of those things that are
in the world. You know, Paul writes about them in Romans 7,
when, as a believer, he says, O wretched man that I am! When
I want to do good, I don't. When I want not to do bad, that's
what I do. The flesh does the opposite of
what I want it to do. I've got this war going on within,
as Galatians says, the flesh and the spirit warring against
one another, and these are contrary to one another. but overcoming
the world. When he says, O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
He goes straight on to say, I thank God. It's by the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ that I live in this flesh. I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ lives in me. And he makes us, as Romans 8
tells us, more than conquerors. in him who loved us overcoming
the world more than conquerors by faith in Christ Hebrews 11
verses 33 and 34 talks about some of the saints of old and
how it says who through faith subdued kingdoms overcame the
world wrought righteousness obtained promises we heard from Todd last
night the difference between the Old Testament account of
Lot and the New Testament account but through faith overcame those
things, subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises,
stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire,
escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong.
What do we read in Isaiah 45 verse 24? In the Lord I have
righteousness and strength. In the Lord, out of weakness
were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the
armies of aliens, overcame the world. He that has the faith
of God's elect knows God. And how do we know him? By faith.
Believing that Jesus is the Christ. He that believes, whosoever believes
that Jesus is the Christ and is strong in the Lord to overcome
the world. Strong in the Lord to overcome
the world, to overcome the temptations and the attacks and the distractions
of Satan. Strong to do exploits in him.
Exploits that the natural man, that the flesh in and of itself,
flees away from. That the child of God, the one
who is born of God, overcomes the world. These are the marks
of truly believing that Jesus is the Christ, of being born
of God. Verse 6 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. Let's be sure what we're
talking about here. Are we talking about the right
Christ? Are we identifying the right one? Not the idolatrous
figment of our imagination. This is the one who came by water
and blood. What's this talking about? In
Christ's coming, there is complete ceremonial cleansing, there is
sanctification, there is justification in His coming. The Old Testament
pictures in the temple of the sacrifices involved a lot of
water, involved a lot of washing, ceremonial washing and cleansing.
And then there was the blood of the animal sacrifices. And
all this is speaking of the sanctification and justification that is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. when he died on the cross and
the spear pierced his side out came water and blood Not just
the one or the other, water and blood came out. It's perfectly
feasible anatomically that water and blood would come out because
of the way the body is made. But isn't it showing? Isn't it
graphically saying? He's fulfilling everything that
those Old Testament temples, sacrifices and ceremonial washings
and sanctifications and the blood being shed for propitiation,
all of that was in Him. It was fulfilled in Him. It was
completed. It was finished in Him. He accomplished
it completely. This is the Christ that we're
talking about. Water and blood. Let's be sure we're talking about
the right one. And it's the Spirit that bears witness. The Spirit's
testimony to the Sonship of Jesus, that he is the Christ. The Spirit
bears witness of this. He did, the Spirit did, at his
baptism when he came down in the form of a dove and the voice
came from heaven saying this is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased. But the one who truly believes
that Jesus is the Christ and is born of God, the one who truly
believes, we read in verse 10, just look down there, He that
believeth on the Son of God hath this witness in himself. We have this witness in ourself.
And then there's a bit about witnesses in verses 7 and 8.
You know, these verses are two amongst many that are mutilated
by the translators of the modern versions of the scriptures. These
two verses are either left out altogether or they're twisted
and bent because of the particular disbelief of those that translate
these modern versions. And that's why it's good to stick
to this version. Verse 7, there are three that
bear record in heaven, the Father, The Word and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one. And there are three that bear
witness in the earth, the Spirit and the water and the blood.
There are witnesses. We read about witnesses in John
8. Witnesses, heavenly witnesses to the truth of what Christ was
saying. And here John tells us again, writing to these people,
there are three heavenly witnesses to the eternal sonship of Christ,
to the truth of the eternal sonship of Christ. And if you believe
you have these three heavenly witnesses testifying to you that
this is true, that Jesus is the Christ, and that you're born
of God because you believe that, the Father testifies to Jesus
being the Christ. at his baptism, at the transfiguration,
the voice came from heaven, this is my beloved son, hear ye him.
The word, Christ himself, Christ, the word who became flesh, he
testifies to his being the Christ. He is the spoken word and in
his miracles he testified to the fact that he is the Christ,
the Son of God. The Holy Ghost testifies that
he is the Christ. Jesus told them, John 16 verse
15, the Holy Spirit will take of mine and show it to you. He
comes and he testifies. We have this heavenly witness.
The triune God, the three persons of the triune God agree in heaven. The written word reveals that
heavenly agreement. We know about it. How can we
know about it? The truth has come down from heaven. We have
it in the word. He's revealed it. The word reveals
that heavenly agreement. True believers have that heavenly
witness, we read in verse 10, we have that witness in ourselves,
in themselves. Verse 8, the three earthly witnesses,
there are three earthly witnesses, three that bear witness in the
earth, the spirit and the water and the blood, and these three
are in agreement, they agree in one, the spirit. I think As
much as I admire the translators of the King James Version, I
think they got it wrong when they put a capital S on spirit,
because I don't really believe that this is the Holy Spirit
of God. We've talked about him in the
previous verse. I think this is the spirit that
is put, the spirit of the new man that the Holy Spirit puts
within the believer on believing, on regeneration. It's the new
man born in the child of God at regeneration. As Peter says
that Believers have become partakers of the divine nature. John 3
verse 6 says, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. This
is the spirit in the man that is born of the Spirit of God.
And this is the thing that shows the true difference between the
mere professor of belief, the mere professor of religion, and
the true child of God. You see, a professor of belief,
even belief in Christ, might be intelligent, might be knowledgeable,
know lots of doctrine, might be a member of the church, might
be able to preach that which sounds so much like the truth.
But without that unsinning principle of the spirit that the Holy Spirit
of God plants within, without that, it's not true. It's not true. Look at verse
18. Verse 18, we know that whosoever
is born of God sinneth not. That's that new man, that's the
spirit that God puts within. That one sins not, with that
principle within, with that pure gold principle within. The spirit
of God in the believer, warring with the flesh, we read in Song
of Solomon that the believer is like a camp of two armies.
And true believers know what that means. You know that experience,
that there are two armies within, in the one person. The one which
is the army of the flesh and the other which is the army of
the spirit. And they're contrary to one another. And that spirit
That spirit here witnesses to the true believer that Jesus
is the Christ. This is that which is pure gold,
sitting in amongst all the corruption of the flesh. J.C. Philpott gave an illustration
which I thought was very good. He said that his sister lost
her wedding ring, her gold wedding ring, in a strawberry patch in
her garden, and they just couldn't find it. And about six months
later, when the strawberries had all died down, and the leaves
had rotted away, and it was into the autumn, and things were decaying,
and there was all decay and corruption all around, and she went to that
strawberry patch, and there was the gold ring, sitting there,
shining away. Everything else had corrupted,
but the gold ring was still there, uncorrupted. And that's the spirit
that the Holy Spirit puts within. That spirit witnesses on earth
to the truth that Jesus is the Christ and that you are born
of God. Secondly, the water. This is the influence of the
Holy Spirit on earth, in the believer. He's the comforter
that Christ said he would send. He's the presence of God within. God said, we'll come and make
our abode with the child of God. taking the things of Christ,
showing them to us. He's that fountain of living
water that Jesus spoke of in John 7, 38. He that believeth
on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. But this he spake, what's he
talking about? He tells us straight away. This he spake of the Spirit,
which they that believe on him should receive. This is the spirit
that bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
And the mere professor of religion doesn't have that witness within,
doesn't have that fountain of living waters within. That's
the second witness upon the earth. And then there's the blood. The
blood. What's this about? The atonement. the blood that was shed at Calvary,
physically, really, in time. We know the scripture tells us
that we're justified in Christ from all eternity, in the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, but he must come,
a body must be prepared, he must come in time, he must stand in
the place of his people as a real man. Real human blood must be
paid as the price for sin. And it must be the blood of the
infinite Son of God. The pure, perfect blood of the
Son of God. And that blood speaks. We know
it happened. He died there at Calvary. In
our space-time existence, He died 2,000 years ago at Calvary
and shed His blood. And that blood and that knowledge
of that and that witness of that blood, it purges the conscience.
It purges the conscience. It speaks peace in the soul.
You know, when Satan, the accuser of the brethren, comes, it speaks
peace in the soul. It confirms the grace of God
in our hearts. It says, as we again saw last
night, it says, as Romans 8 says, Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Christ has died. The blood has
been shed. The blood has been shed. It confirms
redemption with precious blood. It's an objective fact. The blood
was shed. It's the witness on earth. It's
independent of how we feel about it. The blood was shed. It's
an independent witness. The spirit, the water, the blood. These witnesses, the heavenly
witnesses, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the
earthly witnesses, the spirit of the new man within, the water
of the influence of the Holy Spirit within the believer, and
the blood that we can look at objectively in time, they speak
and they confirm to the true child of God the truth of God
and of Christ. The truth that Jesus is the Christ. That's what they confirm. And
only by these witnesses is anyone enabled to believe that Jesus
is the Christ. It's not of themselves, it's
not of their own will, it's not of their own intellect, because
the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God.
He can't know them, they're foolishness to him. No, it's by the witnesses
that God provides that we believe. And it's only received by grace
and through faith. And where does that come from?
Even that's not of yourselves. That is the gift of God. Whose
witness will you believe? Look at verse 9. If we receive
the witness of men, because men have all sorts of theories, The
witness of God is greater, for this is the witness of God which
he has testified in his Son. Do we believe the witness of
the world? We know what the world says, we know what false religion
says. Do we believe the witness of fleshly reason? We're surrounded
by it all the time, every day in the media, everywhere we're
assaulted by the reason of the flesh, the reason of godlessness. Do we believe the witness of
corrupted religion and false religion and idolatry? Or do
we believe the witness of God because we have it here clearly
in the pages of scripture? The witness of God is greater.
This is God's witness to his people. This is God's witness
to the seed of Israel. Verse 10. He that truly believes,
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. This is God's witness to his
people. He that truly believes has this witness within himself.
And this is a great witness that God gives his people. But unbelief
Unbelief is tantamount to accusing God of lying, just as Satan did
in the beginning. Has God said? Has He really said
that? Do we believe that? And the world
is full of unbelief, a world of unbelief. Because of unbelief
of God's record concerning His Son, that Jesus Christ came in
the flesh, we're making God a liar, if that's what we say. This is
saying Jesus, the man, is the promised Messiah of Old Testament
revelation. And what is the record of God?
At the end of verse 10, he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son, and this is the record that God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in his Son. This is the record, verse
11. This is the fixed decree of God. This is the done deal, as it
were. This is the accomplished objective.
He's given it to us. To whom? To us. Who are the us?
It's always good to ask who are the us. Look down in verse 13.
These things have I written unto you that believe. This is the
us. This is the record He's given
to us, you who have believed. He's given eternal life and that
life is in His Son. As His Son said, I am come that
they might have life and have it more abundantly. Verse 12,
there's a great divide. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. But there's a great divide. He
that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. This is a binary condition. You know in a computer down at
the lowest level, things are either on or they're off. There's
no state in between. They're not nearly on, they're
not nearly off. They're absolutely on or off. And that's what this
is saying. It's a one or the other state. You either have
the sun, in which case you have life. Or if you have not the
son of God, you have not life. Belief that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the Christ of Scripture come in the flesh that is proof that
you are born of God and you love God who begat and you love his
Christ and his people and it gives you victory over the world
victory over the world and you're confident in the witnesses that
God has given and you trust God's record of Christ And you know,
in trusting, that we have eternal life. That's a blessed state
to be in, isn't it? We live in a world of such uncertainty. What a blessed, glorious state
to be in. To know that we have eternal
life. To know that we're counted among
the Israel of God, who are justified in the Lord. Now that's a bit
different to the Arminian's interpretation of whosoever believeth.