All right, that's a scriptural, very scriptural
hymn taken from our text tonight, 1 John chapter 5, 1 John chapter
5. And let's read, beginning with
verse 5, down to verse 13. 1 John 5, verses 5 through 13. Who is he that overcometh the
world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
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, the Holy
Spirit, that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. And there are three that bear
record in heaven, Father, Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these
three are one. And there are three that bear
witness in earth, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and the water
and the blood. And these three agree in one. 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. He that believeth on the
Son of God at the 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 that God
hath given to us the eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the
name of the Son of God." Let's pray again. Heavenly Father, in the name
of your only begotten well-beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in
the name which is above every name, the only name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved. the name of our prophet,
priest, and king, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in his name and
through his blood that we call upon you and call you our father. We come tonight giving thanks
for everything, every good and perfect gift that has freely
come to us from you. We receive everything. And we acknowledge your hand
in all that we are and have. We are what we are. We have what
we have. We know what we know by the grace
of God. And we thank you. Especially, Lord, the greatest
and that unspeakable gift of salvation through your son,
the mercy, the love, the grace of God, which we do not deserve,
but freely have through Christ our Lord. So it is in his name,
through faith in him, that we call upon you and give thanks
tonight. Lord, we thank you for your word. Without it, we are
in darkness. a lamp and a light to us. We thank you for it. And we ask
that you would send forth the Word and enlighten our yet dark
minds, Lord. We know very little. We preach in part. We know in
part. And we ask for a revelation of
your truth. Lord, we ask that you would prevent
those outside hindrances tonight, that you keep our minds attentive,
that you would give us ears to hear, but most of all, a receptive
heart. Lord, speak through your word.
This is your power. This is how you speak to the
people. And we ask that you would speak
to us tonight through your Word. Speak not in Word only, but in
power and the Holy Spirit, giving much assurance to all those who
believe Christ. And bear record tonight of thy
Son through thy Holy Spirit and through thy Word. It is in his
name we pray and give thanks and are met here tonight. Amen.
Alright. Let's dive right in. Let's read verses 11 through
13 again. 1 John 5, 11 through 13. This is the record. That God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath
life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. These things have I written to
you that believe on the name of the son of God. That you might
know that you have eternal life. And that you might believe on
the name of the son of God. These things, he said, have I
written unto you that believe. Once again, you need to qualify
when you read God's word, you need to make certain And everyone understands who
this is written for. And it says, God hath given to
us eternal life. It doesn't say, it doesn't mean
every single human being. It says, these things are written
unto you who believe in them. God hath given us believers,
whosoever believe in them. These things that are written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. These
things we're going to look at are written unto you that believe
and that you may know. This is for the assurance, the
comfort, the peace of believers that you may know. Without presumption,
you may know that you have eternal life. That's what it says there.
You may have confidence based on what God has said directly. And he says that you may believe.
That sounds repetitive, doesn't it? But it's not. This is that
you might believe more fully, like the man, the disciple said,
Lord, we believe. OK, all right, the whole epistle
of John, this whole epistle, 1 John, is telling us who Jesus
Christ is. And you remember he began over
in chapter 1 by saying, "...that which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes." The
whole epistle is telling us who Christ is, that. And he goes
on to say He is life. He goes on to say he is light.
He goes on to say he is God's Son, his only Son. God manifests
in the flesh. God came to this earth. Who is
this? God. That's who Christ is. And John said, We have heard
him, and we have seen him, and we have touched him, and we have
beheld him. And he said, Him we declare unto
you. We're declaring him or preaching
him to you, that you also might have fellowship with us, that
you might enter into this fellowship of believers, and that you might
have peace, that you might have joy. That's what he wrote. He said these things. We write
that your joy may be full, rejoicing in him, and that you might have
confidence in believers, that you might have confidence. Now,
to prove something. To prove something or someone
is true. You bring forth witnesses, like
in a court of law. You bring forth witnesses who
tell various things about the one who is in question, if you
will. This is what he is doing here
in chapter five. He's bringing forth witnesses.
You read it with me. He's telling us there are witnesses
who bear witness of who that one who came, named Jesus, really
is. Look at it again. Verse six says,
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 is, the Holy Spirit, capital F, the Holy Spirit that beareth
witness. The Holy Spirit beareth witness
that that one named Jesus is the Christ, Jesus Christ, because
the Spirit is truth. The Spirit beareth witness. All
right? He says, first of all, that he came by water and blood. He's bringing us proof of who
Christ is. Go to Mark, chapter 1, with the
gospel of Mark, chapter 1. Water and blood, he says, Christ
came, not by water only, but by water and blood. Now, what is this talking about?
Mark, chapter 1, and he says the Holy Spirit bears witness
of this. Mark chapter 1, look at beginning with verse 7. John the Baptist was a witness. Isn't that what he said in the
Gospel of John? He says, I saw and bore witness
that this is the Son of God. But here in verse 7 of Mark chapter
1, John came preaching, saying, There cometh one mightier than
I after me, the lachet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop
down and unloot. Now there's a true God-sent man,
the one who bears witness of Christ's glory and honor and
not himself. Remember, John wouldn't even
give his own name. When they asked him of his credentials
and so forth, he wouldn't even tell them his name. He said,
he must be in Christ, I must be Christ. The messenger is not
important, but the Messiah is. He said, there cometh one mightier
than I. I'm not worthy to untie his shoe.
Verse 8, I indeed have baptized you with water, but he shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost. It came to pass in those days
that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized of
John in Jordan. So here comes the Lord Jesus
Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, that he comes to be baptized of John.
You remember John didn't want to baptize him. John said, I
have need to be baptized of you. Christ said, no, it behooves
us to fulfill all righteousness. But Christ came to be baptized
in water. So he went down into the water.
And that's what baptism is. It's immersion. It's not sprinkling.
It's immersion. In verse 10, and straightway
coming up out of the water after he was baptized. John saw the
heavens open and the Holy Spirit like a dove descending upon him,
and there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased." So by water Christ came at his baptism. The Holy Spirit bore witness
that this is indeed the Son of God, and not by water only. Go back to our text. It says,
not by water only, not just in his baptism, but chiefly and
principally by water and blood. Now, he was born of a woman.
There's a couple of ways you can look at this. The Lord was
born of a woman, and whenever a child comes out of the womb,
what comes out first? Water. Water. It's a watery home
that a baby is living in and comes forth out of that water.
Born of water, if you will. And Christ was born of a woman.
He was born a woman, a watery woman, and he was baptized with
water. But he didn't just come to live
as a man. His chief purpose for coming
was to die, to shed his blood on Calvary's cross, to be a substitute
for his people, to be the Lamb's Lamb, to be the Lamb of God who
would take away the sins of his people. He came to die. He came
to shed his blood because this is the Lamb of God. This is God's
Lamb. This is the one that God provided
for his people. This is the Lamb to put away
all sacrifices forever by the sacrifice of himself. That's
why he came. Not by water only, but by water
and especially by blood. That's who he is and that's why
he came. And the Holy Spirit bears witness of this. Not water
only. Now this is significant. Listen
very carefully. He says, not by water only. He makes that
plain. Not by water only, but by water and blood. You remember
the story of Abraham and Isaac going up on the mountain? Abraham
was going to sacrifice Isaac. And Isaac was carrying the wood,
right? And his father Abraham was carrying
the fire. to set the wood on fire. Now
that young man, Isaac, who was twenty-some years old at the
time, he knew that you can't come unto God, a holy God, except
by a blood sacrifice, something that all God's people know. And
they were walking up that mountain, and young Isaac said to his father,
Father? His father said, Here am I. He said, Here's the wood. And
here's the fire. Father, where's the lamb? You can't worship God without a lamb,
without a blood sacrifice. We can't come unto God without
blood. Where's the blood? Where's the
lamb? You remember what Abraham said, that prophetic, wonderfully
prophetic verse? He said, My son, God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering. God will provide. It's God's
length. Christ was a lamb slain before
the foundation of the world, provided by God before there
was ever a sinner. God will provide himself. God,
the lamb, was for God. It wasn't offered to men. Christ
was offered unto God as a substitute. God will provide for himself
the land that he required to absolve us from our sins. And
God will provide himself a land. God was that land. God was in
Christ, reconciling the world to himself. with Isaac of old. Here's the
fire. We've got all this wildfire and
emotion and enthusiasm in the present-day religion today, modern
religion. They've got all the hand-waving and all this and
that and the other. Everybody's so full of wildfire and so forth.
And we've even got water, got baptisms. We've got holy water. You know, Baptists treat baptism
about like Catholics treat their holy water. It's just different
holy water. It's a different denomination.
There's nothing to it in that. I say, where's the blood? At
all this ceremony and so forth, and all this wildfire, where's
the blood? There is no gospel without blood. No gospel without
blood. No remission of sin without the
shedding of blood. And there's no good news for
a guilty sinner except through the shed blood of Christ. Not
by water only. John makes it plain that we know
that. Not by water only, and there's another way to look at
this too. Scriptures are bi-focal, my pastor used to say, still
says, bi-focal. Not by water only, but by water
and blood. Christ is the high priest. of
his people. He's a prophet priest. He's a
great high priest. The high priest in the Old Testament,
there were two things that he used in and around the temple,
basically. Two things that the high priest
had to be concerned with. What were they? Water, and blood. Washing, there's lots of washing
at the fall, and the blood. And these two things stand for
sanctification and justification. And in Christ we have both. Not just sanctification, but
justification. Not by water only, but by water
and blood. All right, in our text it says
now, verse 7, there are three witnesses. Three witnesses in
heaven and earth. Fourth, why are there three witnesses? Because at the mouth of two or
three witnesses a thing is established. What he's doing is establishing
for believers who this was that came. Who Christ is. That you may know that you have
eternal life and that you might believe more fully. I hope that
someone in here tonight will believe more fully after they
leave here than when they came. Even better than that, someone
would believe for the first time who this is. All right, it says
there are three witnesses in heaven and three in earth. Verse
7, there are three that bear record in heaven, Father, Word,
and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. Right now, there are three in
heaven who bear witness of who Jesus Christ is, and what he
did, and who he did it for, and why he came. The Father, the
Word, and the Holy Ghost. The Father, if you remember,
has only spoken out loud twice, well, three times, in the New
Testament. And every time it was concerning
his Son. It was concerning His Son. God
does not speak out loud. No more. And even while Christ was on
the earth, He only spoke three times out loud to the Father
from heaven. And it was all, well, one time it was to the
disciples, and the other two were to His Son Himself. It's all concerning his son,
because that's who the Father bears record of. And what did
he say when God spoke from heaven? What did he say? The only thing
he has to say to human beings, this is my son in whom I'm well
pleased, my only well-beloved son. This is my son in whom I've
bested all things. In whom all salvation is, whom
I have given all things to, all authority, all power over all
flesh, I have given it to him. This is my son. You want to deal
with me, you deal with him. This is my son in whom I'm well
pleased. God never said that about any
other human being but him. Hear him. Hear him. This is my son. God bore record
and God bears record still from heaven. And God has seated him
on the throne right now and bears witness in heaven to the angels.
Under the angels, Hebrews 2, that the angels worship him. In Hebrews 1, it says under the
sun, he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for heaven. So the father
bears record in heaven. And the word, he said, verse
seven. The father, the word, the word bears witness of who
Christ is. The Old Testament, the whole
Old Testament says someone is coming. From Genesis to Malachi,
it bears record of who Christ is. Someone is coming. I wish
we had time to go through those various types. Our young people
are doing it right now in their classes downstairs. But he's
the woman seed that God spoke of in Genesis 3. He's the Passover
lamb. He's the smitten rock. He's the
manna. He's a serpent on a pole, he's
a kinsman redeemer, and on and on we could go, right? The whole
Old Testament says, someone is coming. That's the reason the
Old Testament was written. It's not an old book of Jewish
history, but it's his story. It's all about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because that's all that human beings need to know, is
who Christ is. And the whole Old Testament says,
someone is coming. The four Gospels say, he's here. He came, and the Gospels go into
great detail to tell us who he was, and what he did, and how
he fits the Christ that was prophesied in the Old Testament. And then
the epistles build on that, and the epistles and the revelations
say he's coming again. So the whole Scripture, the Word,
bears witness That this one who came is indeed the Christ, the
Son of the Most High God. It still bears witness of Him.
And the Holy Ghost, verse 7. The Father, the Word, and the
Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost's whole purpose is not to make...
The Holy Ghost's purpose is to bear witness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's called the Spirit of Christ. John's going to go
on here in this chapter to tell us something about a sin that's
under death, of which the Lord called a sin against the Holy
Spirit. And I contend, and I say without
reservation, that much of what goes on today in religion under
the name of the Holy Spirit is not the spirit of Christ at all.
It's another spirit. It's another spirit. The Holy
Spirit's purpose is to bear record of the Lord Jesus Christ. To
point human beings, to point men and women to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Who he is, what he did, where he is now. That's the Holy
Spirit. Our Lord wrote of this, or told
of this, in John 14 through 16, three whole chapters. He tells
a great deal about what the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, will do
when He comes. He said, He'll take the things
of mine and show them unto you. He'll bring to remembrance all
things that I have said. He went on to say He will not
speak of Himself. The Holy Spirit will not bear
record of Himself. People are all the time taken
up with the Spirit, Spirit, Spirit, Spirit. The Spirit doesn't do
that to people. The Holy Spirit has them taken
up with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit has men and women,
appoints men and women to Christ, because He's the Savior. That's
the job of the Holy Spirit, not to make people talk like blooming
idiots, but to make them talk of Christ. To give them knowledge
of and a love for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the Holy
Spirit does. The Holy Ghost bears witness.
He is called the Spirit of Truth. Christ said, what did Christ
say? I am the way, the truth. He's the Spirit of Truth and
he bears record of Jesus Christ. And that preaching, which is
called spiritual, It doesn't have Christ in it, and his blood
and his righteousness is not full of Christ from start to
finish. It's not of the Spirit of God. These three are one. The Father,
the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. They're
one in essence. We call them the triune God.
No, the trinity. They're one in essence. God the
Son is as much God as God the Father. God the Holy Spirit. They're all sovereign, they're
all holy, they're all one. They're one in essence, they're
one in mind, they're one in heart, they're one in purpose, they're
one in will, and they're one in work. What is that? The bear
witness of Christ and his work. Christ who came and his finished
work. Verse 8, And there are three
that bear witness in earth. Three in earth, right now, that
bear witness. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit is
at work in the earth. Now remember what this is all
about. Bearing witness of who Christ
is. That's what this is all about. He's bringing forth the witnesses.
There are three that bear witness, a record in heaven, and there
are three that bear witness right now in the earth. The Holy Spirit,
again. At his baptism, at his death,
and now through the preaching of the gospel. That's what you
read there in 1 Corinthians 1, 21, in that. Please God, that's
a foolish preaching. Preaching of what? The preaching
of Christ crucified. That's what Paul said in that
whole chapter. Though the world calls it foolishness
and weakness and the world wants to hear other things, God says,
this is my son. Hear him. You need to hear of
him. This is what God demands that
we preach. It's what sinners need to hear.
It's what heaven rejoices of. It's what all of heaven is being
taken up with right now. Everybody in heaven right now
is singing unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins
in His own blood. They're not singing about anything
else. It's not just a bunch of emotion. It's rejoicing in the
Lord Jesus Christ. There are three that bear witness
in earth. The Holy Spirit, right now, through the preaching of
the gospel, bears witness of Christ. And the water and the
blood. What's the water? That's the
Word. In Ephesians 5, he says the Holy Spirit washes his church
with the water of his Word. This is the water of God's Word
that we're washed. When Christ said, You're clean,
but you need your feet washed. Remember that in John 13? He
said, You're clean, but you need your feet washed. We're clean
through the blood of Christ. We come in here and we need our
feet bathed in this water of God's blood. And this help. And the blood. Always the blood,
isn't it? Verse 8. Spirit, the water, and
the blood. Always blood. Blood must always be heard and
seen in preaching the gospel. There is no gospel without the
blood. God says, I'll pass over you when I see the blood. So
there's forgiveness of sin with blood. Ours is a bloody religion,
old-fashioned bloody religion. Bloody. And that's fine, because
that's what God demands. The gospel bears witness to God's
people who Christ is. And he goes on to say that we
may know, that we may know. All right? Now, it's being established
like in a court of law. Bring forth the witnesses of
any of you ever been in a court of law and you've been called
upon to testify. But you're called to tell the
whole truth, truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
That's a good already quoted that. I say I am the. Witnesses all bear record of
what he's done. And this is who he is beyond
in a court of law on our. Reasonable doubt. You can still
have reasonable doubt. In other words, based on human
error and based upon our finite understanding, based on the fact
that we don't have omissions. We're just going on the testimony
of witnesses, you see. Everybody that's in there didn't
see it, but you're basing your judgment on these witnesses.
Oh, a reasonable doubt. No, but this is without a shadow
of a doubt. This is that you may know, not
reasonable doubt. Are you with me? Based upon these witnesses, you
shouldn't have any doubt. The spirit is called the spirit
of truth, God who cannot lie. This word, mankind has yet to
disprove one word of it, one jot or tittle of it. They've
tried to get rid of it, and can't. They've tried that they have
burned it over the years, various copies of it, and can't get rid
of it. It keeps coming back. Why? This goes along with what
it says, that word bears record, because the psalmist said, Forever,
O Lord, thy word is settled where? In heaven. He has the master
copy. If you can get to the master
copy, then you can destroy it. Can't. Well, these witnesses are brought
forth that you may know that you have eternal life, those
that believe on his name. And that you may say with the
Apostle Paul, remember what Paul said? He said, I know whom I
have believed, and I'm persuading you. How can you be so sure,
Paul? Same way you can. Same way. I know whom I have believed.
and am persuaded." How persuaded was Paul? He said, I'm ready
to die. And he was. He was martyred.
That's the lead, isn't it? I'm persuaded. Of what, Paul? Of who he is. Who he is. And you may say, with Peter.
Peter said, we know and are sure. Our verse nine says, if we receive
the witness of man, is there anybody you believe without reservation?
Any human being? Sure there are. You've got to
have somebody. You trust your husband, don't
you? Implicitly. He tells you something, you believe it. That's
several people that you trust. You've got to. You've got to
have some degree of trust in people. You trust them. But David
said, all men are liars. Not God. Not God. We believe the witness of men,
he said. The witness of God is greater. The witness of God is
greater, much greater. But this is the witness of God.
He keeps saying this, doesn't he? This is the witness of God,
which he hath testified of his Son. That's why God created the
universe, the Son. He put the Son What psalm is that, John? Tell
me real quick, so I don't have to look it up. Psalm 19, is it?
Where he set the sun and the heavens as a... Yeah, the sun. It's an analogy. In Psalm 19,
God Almighty, he set the sun and the heavens. Why? Is this
just the same life on this earth? Yeah. And all life depends on that
sun, doesn't it? The planet that has sun has life. It doesn't have sun. It doesn't
have life. It's no coincidence, is it? Everything,
the heavens declare His glory. Who's glory? Christ's glory.
What do we need to live on? Sun? Water? All of these things Christ called
himself to do. I am to watch through the trinkets
of nature and earth. He's the Son of Righteousness
who's risen with healing in His hands. He's the bread of life.
All these things. This is the record that God has
given of His Son. Everything bears record of His
Son. Verse 11, I love this. This is the record. God wrote
it down. God wrote it down in a book forever. There's that old—any of you have
ever watched that movie, The Ten Commandments? Pretty good
movie. It's one of the only Hollywood movies that is in close description. And that's because it was written,
what, forty years ago? Men and women had little of fear
of the Lord. But anyway, in that movie, you
remember Pharaoh? Mule Brenner played part of Pharaoh.
Remember that? Remember what he kept saying?
So let it be written, so let it be done. Remember that? The
most powerful king on earth, Pharaoh at the time. Whatever
the law, he said, so let it be written, so let it be done. He kept saying that. He kept
impressing me. And that's what God Almighty
did. God wrote the Lamb's, called the Lamb's Book of Life. The
whole Book of Life is called the Lamb's Book of Life. It's
all about the Lamb and those that are in Him. And God said,
so let it be written, So let it be done. God wrote it before
the world began. He wrote it, and it will be done.
He said, I've spoken it, I'll bring it to pass. I've purposed
it, I'll do it. This is the record. What is it?
That God, now take each word, very slowly, take with, that
God, In the beginning, God. Salvation
is of the Lord. This is God's salvation. It's
not a cooperative effort between us and God. We're the lost ones,
not God. We're the ones who need to find
Him. We're the ones who need to save Him. We're the ones dead
and trespassed and sinned until God, who is life, gives us life.
God. Half. Not might. Not will if, God hath. Given. That's just the record. God hath God. Salvation is of
the Lord. Hath. It's not, God tried everything
he can, now it's up to you. No, God hath given salvation
by grace. Not an offer. It doesn't say,
God hath offered unto us. It says, God hath given, been
bestowed. Who's the us? Verse 13 says,
You that believe. Is that as plain as the nose
on your face? God hath given us, you who believe, believers. God hath given us eternal, eternal, what's eternal? Richard, are you saying once
saved, always saved? Well, if you're saved, yes. Eternal. Christ said, I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish. Eternal means forever.
Eternal also means spiritual life. Christ said life more abundant,
something other than, other than this life, which is not life
at all. We're going to see that in a
moment, what real life is. God hath given to us eternal life. Life. Men and women think they have
life. Oh, I'm living now. Got me this, got me that. Yeah,
it's all going to fade. It's all going to fade. Death. These are called dead things.
The things of this world are called dead things because they're
all rotting, they're all decaying. Whatever we have here will die. It's not life. This is not life.
Whatever goes on, forever, is life. Whatever dies, can die,
is a dead thing. But whatever cannot, will die.
You get that? God has given unto
us eternal life. Well, where is it? What is it?
This life is in His Son. This life is in His Son. This
life is not in the church. This life is not in your profession.
This life is not in the soul winner. This life is in His Son.
This life is not in your work, not in your dedication, consecration.
It's in His Son. Paul says this so many times,
in Christ, in Christ, oh that I might win Christ to be found
in him, in his Son. He that hath the Son, and I've
got to quit, verse 12, he that hath the Son hath life. Now, ah boy, I left out a verse,
didn't I? I wish somebody had, I mean,
if you were paying attention. Verse 10. Verse 10 says, He that
believeth on the Son of God hath to witness in himself. That's
the Holy Spirit. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. I can't pass over that. He that believeth hath
to witness in himself. Faith is the substance of things
hopeful, evidence of things not seen. Faith is proof of life,
the cause of life. It's the proof of life. God has
given unto us life. And Peter said, Oh, you're blessed
whom having not seen you love. Though you haven't
seen him, you believe with joy and unspeakable full of love. And he that believeth has this
witness in himself. He that believeth not is calling
God a liar. Now, what this is all about is
who Christ is, right? We've seen very briefly that
this is what the whole book is about, that this is what the
heavens and the earth and everything God created for, to bear witness
of his Son. Everything's about Christ, the
whole issue. Who God is, what man is, how
man may get to God and know God. What salvation is all about is
in this person named Jesus Christ. What's all about? The one who
came. Who was it, really? Just as some say, General Jesus,
Meek and Mild. A humanitarian who came to heal
people and feed people. He's not much more of a man than
we are, but right now he's pleading with you. He's just a man. Let's forget this whole thing. He's just a man. Paul said this in another place.
He said, we're of all men most miserable. You take up one of
your only days off. Son, you can take your only day
off. I don't want to hear about this man. I want you to do that. Go on out, that's all. Eat, drink,
and be merry. Tomorrow you die. He's just kidding. None of this is true. But now if that one who came
was God... I mean, if God actually walked this planet, came down
here with a purpose, and He spoke, and He hasn't spoken again in
2,000 years, but He has spoken. It behooves us to pay attention
to what He's saying. And this is what God said. He
that hath a Son hath life. He that hath the knowledge of
the Son, who is, hath life, not will have life, hath life. He
who hath the Son, he who hath the need of the Son, all men
will see the need of Him. I went a long time without seeing
the need of Him, just religion. But he that hath the Son, the
need of Him, hath life. He that hath hope in Him, Many people hoping many things,
don't they? God's people, Christians, Christians,
hoping Christ. They hope to see Christ someday,
be with Christ. That's life. He that hath laid
hold of Christ, by faith, that's life. He that hath come to Him,
Here I am, Lord. I have life. He that hath believed
on him hath life. He wouldn't do it himself. He
wouldn't be here. He wouldn't be interested himself
if he didn't have life. He was once dead to himself.
And if you have, then you have life. He says here, now, neither hath
not the Son of God, hath not life. It doesn't matter what
they have. It doesn't matter how much they have. It doesn't
matter who they have. Because you're going to die. Neither hath not the Son.
If we believe, if Christ is truly God, and He is, then this world's in a lot of
trouble. This world's not under the love of God, it's under the
wrath of God. God's not going to destroy a
planet of love that's full of people. And these things He said I've
written unto you that believe, those of you who believe, that
you may know. You believe the witnesses. God, the Holy Spirit, bore witness
with your spirit through the preaching of the gospel, through
the reading of this word, bore witness with your spirit. Can
you not say with Paul, I know who I am? Can you not say with
Peter, other men are saying lots of things about you, but we know
you're the Christ? These things are written unto
you that believe, that you may know you have eternal life. And
that you might believe. I hope you believe me fully now
and in the future. These things are written. All
right. He's going to go on the show. He'll come back Sunday.
We're going to talk about those who don't believe and those who
seem to believe but leave. That's what they're talking about. Apostasy. Freedom. How could
they? Well, come back. Stand with me. Our Heavenly Father, again, in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. We give thanks. We thank you especially for your
Word. This Word is your Word. It's the truth. And we believe
it. And by your grace, by your Spirit,
we thank you for it. It's the greatest gift that we
could have. But most especially, if you reveal it to us. If you
don't reveal it to us, We don't understand it. And if you don't
give us an interest, you don't give us a heart to receive it,
we don't desire it. Milk of God's Word. So, we thank
you, Lord. We believe and help our unbelievers. And we hope and pray that this
message has been for your glory. You have received glory. The
Son has been glorified and your people pointed in Him. It's in
Christ's name we left here tonight. Amen. You're dismissed.