Now, if you would turn in your
Bibles to 1 John chapter 5. We sang that hymn just now. Blessed
assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of
God, born of his spirit, washed in his blood. Blessed assurance. For the past several weeks on
Sunday mornings here, I've been dealing with that theme of assurance
of salvation, dealing with issues of assurance. Can we have assurance?
The Bible says, yes, we can and we should, according to God's
word in Christ. And what is this assurance? What
is it all about? Assurance is not something you
look for in and of itself, because there are a lot of people who
have assurance, But their assurance is no more than presumption.
It's a false hope in a false refuge. And we certainly don't
want that. We want a good hope. My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
We want a sure hope. We want the testimony of God
that will give us the comfort and the peace and the assurance
of knowing that when we lay down our heads on the pillar or however
it happens when we leave this world and we stand before a holy
God who must punish sin that that he'll say to us, come in,
my children, come in. Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. That's what he'll say. How do
I know that? How can I be sure of that? How
can I know that my hope is a good hope? Well, over here in 1 John
chapter five, verses 18 through 20, the apostle John, as he was
inspired by the Holy Spirit, has these two words, says these
two words three times. We know, we know, we know. We know. And so the title of
this message is, What We Know in and of Christ. Because that's what he's talking
about. What we know in and of Christ. Now in this chapter,
he's been talking about the assurance of salvation in some form or
another. He talked about the assurance
of eternal life. I want to know that I have eternal
life. He says in verse 12, he says,
he that hath the son hath life. He's talking about spiritual
life there. And he that hath not the son
of God hath not life. In other words, if I have eternal
life, I have Christ who is my life. That means I'm looking
to Christ. I'm resting in Christ. I believe
in Christ. That's a miracle for anybody
to do that. That's a miracle of God's grace.
We're going to talk about knowing that we're born again in just
a moment. Those who believe in Christ and
rest in Him and look to Him, as their whole salvation. The
Lord, our righteousness, our one mediator between God and
men. Those who really do that are
born of God, born of the Spirit. That's why Christ told Nicodemus,
you must be born again or you can't see or enter the kingdom
of heaven. Nobody who is not, a person who
is not born again will not look to Christ and rest in Him. He'll
always be looking somewhere else to somebody else. to something
else. There'll always be something.
And he may claim to believe in Christ, but it'll always be Christ
plus something. Christ plus baptism, Christ plus
tithing, Christ plus my works, some form or another. And it's
that simple now. It's that simple. Somebody says,
well, I believe in Christ, but, but, you've got, when they start
that, you say, No, we're looking to Christ alone. Somebody said,
well, what about obedience? Well, obedience is the fruit
and effect of God's grace in Christ. It's not the cause or
the ground of my salvation. Obedience is necessary for salvation,
but not as the ground of it or the cause of it. It's the fruit
of it. We bear fruit. That's all who
are in Christ, all who have Christ, all who look to Christ. Obedience
and good works are the fruit of the power of God, of Christ
in us. We don't look to our obedience
to make us righteous. We look to Christ. That's what
he's taught. If you have the Son, you have
eternal life, you're looking to Christ for right. We don't
look to our obedience for holiness. My obedience doesn't make me
holy. My obedience is holy in this sense. It's set apart by
the grace of God in Christ, but it's still not perfect. Because
I'm in this flesh. There's a warfare going on within
me, within my mind, within my heart. So we don't look to our
obedience to be righteous or holy, we look to Christ. You
say, well, you keep saying that, preacher. Well, I'm going to
keep saying it as long as the Lord gives me a tongue. To preach,
that's what people aren't doing today. They want psychology,
they want activity, they want ceremony, they want entertainment,
but they don't want Christ. Simple. Now that's right. Keep my kids busy so they won't
get in trouble. Well, that's all right, but I'm
gonna tell you something. If they don't have Christ, they
don't have life. They don't have life. And that's
what he's talking about. Look back at verse 8. He's talking
about three here who bear witness. He says there are three that
bear witness in the earth. What is bearing witness? That's
a testimony of an eyewitness. That's what he's talking about.
Like in a court of law. They call you for a witness because
you're an eyewitness to a crime or you're an alibi for somebody
who's being accused wrongfully. You know because you saw. And
he says, here's the three witnesses, the Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit.
And he says, the water and the blood, and these three agree
in one. Now there's some controversy and commentators over what this
water and the blood mean. And so what he's simply saying
here, I believe, is talking about the ministry of the Spirit to
testify of one thing and one thing alone, and that's the messianic
ministry and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The water
and the blood, we can talk about the water and the blood that
flowed out of his side on Calvary. The water representing cleansing,
the blood representing redemption. It was all, all the work of Christ
to redeem us from our sins and he's simply saying here is that
those three things, the Holy Spirit and the water and the
blood are a testimony that converge in one person and that's the
Lord Jesus Christ. So that if I know and recognize
the work of the Holy Spirit in me, I know this, that I'm not
going to look to anyone or anything else but Christ and Him crucified
and risen again for all salvation. the forgiveness of my sins in
Christ, my redemption by the blood of Christ, my justification
by the righteousness of Christ freely imputed to me, charged
to me, and accounted to me, my sanctification, my holiness,
Christ, and Him crucified and risen, all accomplished by Him. All the blessings of salvation
stand upon the solid rock of Christ, and that's what the Holy
Spirit testifies of. Look at verse 9. He says, if
we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.
It doesn't matter what you say or what I say. It only matters
what God says. Somebody said, well, I know I'm
saved because my heart tells me. It doesn't matter what your
heart tells you. It's what God says. You see,
your heart can tell you a lot of things that aren't true. Do
you know that? Do you believe that? That's right. Jeremiah
17, the heart's deceitful, desperately wicked. Who can know it? So what
do we do? Where's there any hope for me
to be undeceived? Look to the testimony of God.
God's word will not deceive you. God's word will not deceive anybody.
If anybody's deceived, it's because they're deceived in their own
darkness. And so he says the witness of God is greater. You
know a believer, now think about this. Even a believer, can condemn
himself or herself in their own heart. Get to looking within. And you
say, well, have I done everything that I should do today? Well,
let me give you the blanket answer to that right now. No, you haven't.
And no, I haven't. Even if we could say we've done
everything we should do today, the Bible says we're still unprofitable
servants. What does that mean? Does that
mean that it's worthless? No. It means we still cannot
say we earned God's grace or God's mercy. That's what that
means. If I had a perfect day today,
which I'm not going to have, I can already tell. But I can tell you about tomorrow
too. It's not going to be perfect either. But if I were gonna have
a perfect day today, at the end of the day, I still cannot say
to God, God, now I deserve salvation. I've earned it. You see what
I'm saying? Because if I could, I would only
be doing that which I'm required to do as a creature. That which
I'm responsible to do. But you see, we're sinners. And
our only assurance of salvation is to look to Christ. But even
a believer now, you get to looking within and seeing the sinfulness
that still abides within us, and you get to condemning yourself.
And John said this over in chapter three, I believe it was. He said
over here in verse 20 of chapter three, he says, for if our heart
condemn us, And I love this, God is greater than our heart
and he knows all things. If I'm in Christ and looking
to Christ for my whole salvation, I may feel condemned tomorrow
morning, but God is greater than my heart. He knows things about
me that I don't even know about myself. Think about that. And that's what he's saying over
here in 1 John 5. The witness of God is greater. It's greater
than everything. Look at verse 9 again in 1 John
5. For this is the witness of God which he hath testified,
now listen, of his Son. His Son is the Lord Jesus Christ.
You want assurance? Don't look for assurance, look
to Christ. He is our surety. And then he says in verse 10,
he that believeth on the son hath the witness in himself.
That is the witness of the spirit and the witness of the word.
He that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth
not the record. That's the written record that
God gave of his son. You see here, we get an idea
of what it means to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. People talk
about that. It's to not receive the witness
of God. It's actually when you refuse
to receive the witness of God concerning Christ, you're actually
to his face calling God a liar. That's what that says. That's
the blaspheme of the Holy Spirit who's pointing sinners to Christ.
And so to have assurance of salvation, we need both the witness of the
Holy Spirit, but you see a lot of people claim to have the Spirit,
How do we know we have the Holy Spirit? There are deceptive spirits
in the world, the scripture says. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians chapter
11 about those who preach another Jesus by another spirit and another
gospel. How do I know that I'm not, that
feeling or that notion or that assurance in my mind that I have
the Holy Spirit? How do I know that that's not
deceptive? Well, you also have the witness of the word. You
see what I'm saying? You gotta have both. The witness
of the spirit and the witness of the word. He says in verse
one of chapter five, look over here, he says, whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, and that's not just
who he is, but that's what he accomplished, he says, is born
of God, and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also
that is begotten of God. There's the fruit of faith and
love by the Spirit of God, which we know because we believe that
Jesus, Jehovah our Savior, that's what that name means, is the
Christ, is the Messiah who accomplished the great work that the Father
sent Him to do. Now, if He didn't accomplish
it, then it's useless to believe on Him as the Christ. But He
did accomplish it. He did finish it. He said it's
finished. And that's the witness of the Spirit and the Word, you
see. So that when a person rejects
this, he dishonors God, makes God a liar. Look over it, and
then he gives us next the assurance of being heard of God in prayer.
How do I know God hears me when I pray? Two keys. I pray through
Christ, the great high priest, my mediator, and I pray thy will
be done according to God's will. You see, it doesn't say here
that if you're a believer and you pray in the right way, you
have the assurance of getting everything you ask for. That's
not what that verse says. Look at it again. He says here
in verse 14, 1st John 5 he says this is the confidence that we
have in him that is in Christ. There's the first key We pray
to God through Christ any prayer to God without Christ is a useless
prayer, and I'm telling you I know people don't like to hear that
today, but it's so how do I know that I have the testimony of
God's Word and There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He's the advocate
of his people. He ever liveth to make intercession
for his people, the scripture says, based upon his propitiatory
work, his satisfaction to God's justice on the cross. And so
praying to God without Christ is useless. You might as well
be praying in the air, praying to an idol, that's what you're
doing. But it says, and this is the confidence that we have.
And somebody said, well, you mean any sinner who comes to
God and prays for salvation won't be hurt? If he prays to the Christ
of salvation, to God through the Christ of salvation, yes.
And he says in him, that's the first key, that if we ask anything
according to his will, that's the second key, according to
his will, it says he hears us. How do you know God hears you?
Well, I just feel like he does. That's not good enough. That's
deceptive. Feelings come, feelings go. You say, well, I saw a sign
from heaven. That might have been lightning.
It could have been a storm cloud. It could have been anything.
It can be deceptive. How do I know God hears me? Pray
to God through the Son according to his will. How do you know
you're praying according to his will? Simply the way Christ taught
the disciples to pray in Matthew chapter 6. Thy will be done. That's it. You say, well, I don't
know his will and everything. That's right, and you won't.
Because he, see, you're not God's little secretary and you're not
privy to those things. As Brother Jim read, his thoughts
are not our thoughts, his ways are not our ways. That's certainly
true in salvation until he brings us to see his way, which is Christ
and him crucified. But we do have that assurance.
Now, next he deals with the assurance of victory over sin and Satan. And this is where he began talking
about this sin unto death and the sin not unto death. As I
told you last week, I believe the King James translators messed
up a little bit here. Verse 16, he says, if any man
see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, that should
not be a sin, that's just sin. Sinning sin, literally, not unto
death. He shall ask and he shall give
him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto
death. That should be there is sin unto
death, not a sin. You see, that gets people thinking,
well, there's a specific sin that is a mortal sin. And then
there are other sins that aren't mortal sin. Now let me tell you
something. The Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible doesn't
tell you there's a specific sin that's unto death, and then there's
other sins that are not unto death. The Bible teaches this.
Look at verse 17. All unrighteousness is sin, and
there is literally sin not unto death. All unrighteousness is
sin. And here's what the Bible teaches.
All sin deserves death. All sin deserves death. The wages of sin is death. It doesn't say the wages of a
sin is death. It says the wages of sin is death. All sin deserves death. What
is unrighteousness? That's missing the mark. Righteousness
is perfect satisfaction to the law. If you come short, you've
missed it. That's sin. It deserves death.
But there is sin not unto death. There is a remedy for sin. There's salvation for sinners,
that's what he's saying there. Now where is that? It's in Christ,
it's in his blood and righteousness. So what's he saying there? Who
is it that's sinning unto death? Who sins unto death? Any sinner
who doesn't have Christ is sinning unto death, period. And what is that sin not unto
death? It's all sin that was laid upon Christ and he went
to Calvary and died for those sins and put them away. Somebody
says, well, it's the sin of unbelief. Well, what were you before God
saved you? You were an unbeliever. What
do you even have to fight today as a believer? Doubts, legal
fears, Lord, I believe the disciple said, help thou my what? My unbelief. Peter denied the Lord three times,
didn't he? Did he commit the sin unto death?
No, because his sins were covered by the blood of Christ. He said,
preacher, you better be careful. You'll give people an excuse
to sin. They don't need one. Don't come here and tell me I'm
giving you an excuse for sin because you don't need an excuse
to do so. That's just in you naturally.
It's in me naturally. That's so. And so what does he
say here? Look at verse 18. Here's the
first one. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not. But he that is begotten of God
keepeth literally him, not himself. The word is translated himself
here in no time in the New Testament where that word is found is it
translated himself. It's translated him. And he says,
and that wicked one, that's the devil, toucheth him not. What's he talking about here?
He's talking about the assurance of being born of God. We know
that whosoever is born of God sinneth not. What's he talking
about? What is this sin unto death? He's talking about apostasy. Now go back to 1 John 2. He's
talking about a person. This is the context of 1 John
now. He's talking about a person.
who at one time has claimed to be a believer, claimed to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, but then who later on at some point
in time, for whatever reason, turns away from Christ, turns
his back on Christ and the truth, and totally, totally leaves the
gospel, leaves his claim. That's what he's talking about.
That's apostasy. And John says here in verse 18, as I read in
the opening verses, he said, that's a sign that Antichrist,
the spirit of Antichrist is already prevalent in his day. There were
people who claimed to be believers, who claimed to love Christ, to
know Christ, and to believe in Christ, who actually turned around,
left Christ, and called him accursed. And literally went back in the
book of Hebrews, they were doing that, they went back to the law,
they went back to the old covenant, they went back to the ceremonies,
in the Judaism of that day. And they called Christ accursed.
And so he says in verse 19, now here's the testimony of God on
this issue. You know, a lot of people today,
they look at that and they say, well, see there, you can be saved one
day and lost another. Well, now is that God's testimony?
Well, let's look. Verse 19, they went out from
us. We thought they were saved. But
they were not of us. For if they had been of us, if
they had been truly born again, truly saved, they would no doubt
have continued with us. Now that's what John means when
he says over here in verse 18, we know that whosoever is born
of God sinneth not. We know that whosoever is born
of God will not apostatize, will not turn away from it completely
and totally. That doesn't mean that a believer
cannot get away from it for a while. cannot be lax in his zeal and
attendance and all of that, but he will not totally turn his
back on Christ and the truth and reject Christ and call him
a curse. He says, if they had been of
us, they would no doubt have continued with us. If you're
born of God, you have the assurance you will continue in Christ. He said, but they went out, verse
19 of 1 John 2, they went out that they might be made manifest
that they were not all of us. How was it made manifest? How
was it made clear that they were not born again? That they weren't
really of us? They went out from us. They turned their back. They apostatized. They fell away.
But now look at verse 20. But you have an unction. That
word unction is power. and you have it from the Holy
One, you have it from Christ, and you know all things. You're
a know-it-all. What does that mean? Because
you know what? It's true, there's a lot of things
we don't know. Well, let me show you something about this knowledge.
Now John says over here, turn back to 1 John 5, 18. He says,
we know, we know, we know. We know this. Now how do we know
it? We know it from God's testimony.
That if anybody's born of God, born again by the Spirit, born
from above, they sinneth not, they will not fall away, they
will not apostatize, they will continue with us. Why? But he
that is begotten of God keepeth himself. What that actually says,
when he's talking about he that is begotten, he's talking about
Christ there. He's saying this literally, we know that whosoever
is born of God will not apostatize because he that is begotten of
God, that's Christ, the only begotten Son of God, keeps Him. Why is it that I won't fall away?
Because Christ keeps me. Do you believe that? Why won't you fall away if you're
born of God? Christ keeps you. I'll tell you
when he said it, John chapter 10, he said, my sheep hear my
voice, they follow me. He said, I give unto them eternal
life. And he says, no man plucks them
out of my hand. He keeps us. Christ keeps his
people. He's the keeper. He's our savior
and he's our keeper. And therefore, looking to him
is our assurance. He said, My Father which gave
them to Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of My Father's hand. That's so. Philippians chapter
1 and verse 6, he says, He that began the good work in you. Now
what is to begin the good work in you? Alright, that's the new
birth. How do you know you've been born of God? Because you
have been brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead
works and idolatry. That's how you know you've been
born of God. You look to Christ. If you're looking to Christ alone
for all salvation, for all righteousness, for all holiness, for all glory,
for all forgiveness, that's a sign that you've been born of God.
That's a signification. You have eyes to see, ears to
hear. If nothing will satisfy your
soul but the preaching of Christ and Him crucified and risen again,
that's a sign that the Holy Spirit has given you a hunger for the
bread of life. A thirst for the water of life. All of that. And
so he that is begotten of God, born again by the Spirit, through
the Word, who comes to Christ, he will not fall away because
Christ keeps him. And he that began that good work
in you will complete it to the end. God will complete it. He
will complete it. It's God that works in you, both
the will and the do. his good pleasure. That's the
assurance of the new birth. And he says we know it. Now let
me say this quickly. When we talk about what we know,
and that's what we're talking about, knowledge. We're not talking about intellectualism.
This is not just knowledge for the high-minded intellectual
or the deep thinking theologian. This is simple truth. Simple
truth. looking to Christ as the author
and the what? Finisher of our faith. He's my
all and end all. He's everything. All blessings
in Him. All salvation in Him. All righteousness
in Him. All holiness in Him. That's what
it's talking about. And He accomplished it by His
death on the cross. Shedding of His blood and the
establishment of righteousness. This is not intellectualism.
And when we talk about knowledge, we're not talking about what
is in us naturally. This is a knowledge we do not
have until the Spirit of God, by the preaching of the Word,
gives us. That's why it's a gift of God.
We're taught of God. Taught of God. They shall all
be taught of God. John chapter 6. They shall all
know Me, from the least of them to the greatest. It doesn't matter
who they are. So it's not natural. And then
when we speak of this knowledge, we're not talking about perfect
knowledge. Well, does that mean we perfectly
know everything? No, we don't know everything
and we don't even have perfect knowledge of what we do know.
Paul said it in 1 Corinthians 13. He said, we know in part.
We see through a glass darkly. Look at 1 John chapter 3 and
verse 1. Listen to this. He says, behold, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. Now, we who know Christ,
listen to this, we who know our sinfulness and who know the glory
and the power and the mercy and the grace of God in Christ, we
know something about the love of God, don't we? But I'm gonna
tell you something. Now, hang on to this one. We
don't know the half of it. We're like those two farmers
from West Virginia who wanted to see the ocean before they
died, and they finally got there on the Atlantic Ocean. They stood
there on the shore, and one farmer said, man, he said, look how
big this thing is. And the other farmer said, yeah,
but we're just looking at the top of it. The top of it. And that's the way it is with
the love of God. We've just seen the top of it. We know something
about it now because God's taught us. Herein is love. Not that
we love God. It's not an earned love. It's
not a conditional love. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us. And how did he show it and prove
it? He sent his son to be the propitiation, the satisfaction
for our sins. Christ on the cross. He loved
his own until the end. Literally the finishing of the
work. John 13 in verse one. We know something of it. But
we haven't seen the half of it. And he says that we should be
called the sons of God. That we, sinners, undeserving
wretches, that's what we are, deserve and earn nothing but
wrath. That we should be called the sons of God. That's grace. And he says, and therefore the
world knoweth us not. The world, the unbelieving world,
that's just a concept that's just beyond him. I know because
I've been there, and you have too. Because it knew him not. Now look at verse 2. Beloved,
now are we the sons of God. Right now, we don't have to wait
till later, but now. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. But we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
Doesn't yet appear what we shall be. But we know this, when he
comes, we'll see him as he is, and we'll be like him, be made
like him. So it's not perfect knowledge.
And then when we talk about this knowledge, go back to 1 John
5 now. When we talk about this knowledge, we're not talking
about mysticism. It's not some magical knowledge
that you have of your own that you just feel. It's not Gnosticism. You may not have heard that term,
but I've been accused of being a Gnostic. You ever heard that? Sounds like somebody with a sinus
problem. And I've got that. But I'm not
a Gnostic. It comes from a Greek word that
means we know. That's what it means. If you
ever see it in print, it's spelled G-N-O-S-T-I-C. The G is silent. But there was
a group, and John combats these. They're called the Gnostics.
There are all kinds of Gnostics, all kinds of different ones.
But basically, a Gnostic is a person who would say something like
this. They would say, they would say, I know something you don't
know. God has shown it to me, but he
hasn't shown it to you. And if he ever shows it to you,
you'll know it too. And you'll be walking on the
same cloud I am. That's what a Gnostic would do. They're mystics.
They boasted of a knowledge that went beyond the scripture, beyond
what the mere meager common Christian could know. It was a special
knowledge. It was either a knowledge that
they held as individuals or as a group, our circle. And it was
a mystical knowledge. You couldn't point to the simple
teachings of the Word of God and say, there it is. It wasn't
like what Paul said to Timothy several times, this is a faithful
saying worthy of all acceptation. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. Simple, clear, true. Every believer,
the youngest believer here knows that, and the oldest believer
here knows that, and that's your glory, isn't it? God forbid that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The
youngest believer here knows that, and the oldest believer
here knows that. Oh, but now let me tell you about
this Greek word, and that Greek word, and that Hebrew word, and
what it means, and what Dr. So-and-so said, and I've just
seen more than I ever saw. Now listen to me. Now we'll grow
in grace and in knowledge of Christ. There's no doubt about
it. And we'll learn. That's what a disciple is. We're learners.
I learn more about the scriptures every day. But it's not a special
mystical knowledge that God gives only to me. And that if you ever
get it, you'll have to come to me to get it. That's Gnosticism. We're not talking about that
kind of knowledge. That's false. That's fake. That's pride. That's
all it is. We're talking about a knowledge
that God gives to His children. And He gives it to every one
of us. And He doesn't hold it back. And it's all wrapped up
in the person and work of Christ. Look at verse 19 of 1 John 5.
Here's the second we know. We know that we are of God and
the whole world lieth in wickedness or in the wicked one. We know, that's the assurance
that we belong to God. Chosen of God, that's what the
scripture teaches. We're chosen of God, elect before
the foundation of the world. Why did he choose us? Because
it seemed good in his sight. And notice there that Christ,
when he said that in Matthew 11, he didn't say because you
seem good in his sight, or we can't say we seem good in his
sight. He said it seemed good in his sight. God did it because
he'll have mercy upon whom he will, and he'll have compassion
upon whom he will. That's something. How do I know
I'm chosen of God? Well, are you looking to Christ
for your whole salvation? justified in Him. I'm not guilty. I'm a sinner who's not guilty
in God's court of justice. What a reality. How is that possible? Because Christ took my guilt.
He was made sin and died in my place. He drank damnation dry. He took all the wrath that I
deserved and earned and put it away on the cross. He shed His
blood to wash me clean from all my sins. He died to make me righteous
before God. sanctified in Him, set apart
by Him, made holy in Him, born of God, preserved of God. How do I know that I belong to
God? Because my only hope of salvation
now and forever is Christ and Him crucified and risen again.
That's who belongs to God. Who is that wicked one? That's
Satan. Let me show you something about that real quick. Turn to
2 Corinthians 4. This will help you. It's very simple, very plain
here now. Verse 3 of 2 Corinthians 4. You know, people talk about
Satan, the devil, the work of Satan, how to find it out, how
to deal with it and all that. You know, it's not as complicated
as men and women would have you believe in religion. It's very
simple, look here in verse 3. He says, but if our gospel, now
what's the gospel? That's the good news of how God
saves sinners by his grace in Christ Jesus. The one who died
was buried and rose again the third day. The one who put away
my sins by the blood of his cross, the one who made me righteous
by his obedience unto death. That gospel. And if it be hid,
it's hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world,
that's Satan, hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. Look at this now. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, that's the God of creation, hath shined
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ." That's the God of regeneration.
Same God. Have you seen the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in
the person and finished work of Christ? Are you looking to
Him alone for all salvation? You see, that's how I know that
I'm not of the wicked one. I was blinded before, but God
gave me eyes to see. Gave me eyes to see. And then
lastly, in verse 20, he says in 1 John 5, And we know that
the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that
we may know Him that is true. Here's what we understand now,
okay? We know Him that is true. We
know Christ, the true one, the true God, the true man, the true
Messiah, the God man, God in human flesh. We know Him, and
we're in Him, that is true. We are in Christ, even in His
Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. We know what He accomplished
on Calvary in His death. It's our life. How do you know
that? He arose the third day. We know that the Son of God has
come. He came to do a work. He didn't
come here just to walk around and be a good philosopher or
a moralist. He came to die for the sins of
his sheep. He came to die for God's elect
people. And he put away our sins by the
sacrifice of himself. We know his person. We know who
he is. We know his mission, why he came. We know what he accomplished
on our behalf. And he said it. He said it. He
said, this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Now John closes
in verse 21, he says, little children, keep yourselves from
idols. You know what he's saying there?
Now it's Christ who keeps us. And yet we have a responsibility
from the scriptures to persevere in the faith. And so he says,
avoid anything that would hinder you looking to Christ alone and
walking by faith in Him and in obedience to Him. Avoid it. Get
away from it. Don't get around it. All right.