Now, if you would, let's open
our Bibles to the book of 1 John chapter 5. We're going to look
at the last verses of the last chapter of 1 John. Now, I've
entitled this message this morning, Three Things We Know. Three Things We Know. The whole
book of 1 John, this short epistle, has been concerned, the Apostle
John, rather, has been concerned about what we as Christians,
true Christians, can know for certain. Years and years and years ago,
I was studying some of what they call the science of apologetics,
and what that is, that's not apologizing for the faith, but
what it is is defending the faith. And I read of an old Catholic
priest who come up with an idea His name was Pascal. He came
up with an idea that he felt like that would convince atheists
to believe in God. And basically what he said was
this. He said, he said, well, he said, you got to look at it
like a gamble. He said, if you believe in, if
you believe in God and you're right, then what have you got
to lose? But if you don't believe in God
and you're wrong, then you're in trouble. And they call that
Pascal's wager. Well, one thing is for certain,
and that's this. Faith in Christ, believing the
gospel and salvation is not a gamble. It's not a throw of the dice.
I mean, we're not just, as the old Irishman said, paying your
money and taking our choice. That's not what we're doing.
If we truly rest in the Lord Jesus Christ, there are things
that we know for certain. And that's what 1 John has been
concerned with. He began this letter with the
certainty of his firsthand eyewitness testimony of Jesus Christ. He
said, I know these things are true because I saw them. John
the Apostle, along with others, saw. the ministry of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They saw the miracles that He
performed. They saw Him heal the sick, give
sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf. They saw Him enabling
the lame to walk. They saw Him calm the storm. They saw Him feed the 5,000 with
a few loaves and fishes. They saw Him raise Lazarus from
the dead. They saw Him on the cross as
He died on that cross. They saw Him buried and they
saw Him resurrected from the dead. They sat down with the
resurrected Lord as He taught them how to preach the gospel
of God's grace in Christ from the Old Testament. They saw Him
ascend unto heaven. to be seated at the right hand
of his father. He said, I know these things are true because
I was there, I saw them, and I believe what he says here.
I know it for certain. And several times in the book
of 1 John here, he talked about how we know, we know, that term
know, I think it's used about 36 times throughout this short
epistle in five chapters. In chapter 2 and verse 3, this
statement is made. Listen to it. And hereby we do
know that we know Him, that is, we know Christ, if we keep His
commandments. Somebody says, what does that
mean? That means if you believe in Him and follow Him. That doesn't
mean keeping the law for salvation. He never commanded anyone to
do that. Did you know that? The Lord Jesus Christ never commanded
any sinner to try to keep the law in order to be saved. In
fact, he forbid that. He said that was dead works.
But he said, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I'll give you rest. He said, look unto me. In the
book of 1 John chapter 3 and verse 14, he makes this statement.
He says, we know that we have passed from death unto life because
we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. That's the unity, the fellowship.
The love that binds God's people together in the gospel, in the
truth. So here in chapter 5, he sums
it all up. He started out, look at verse
2 of chapter 5. He says, by this we know that
we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments.
What is that? Following Christ. resting in
Christ for all of salvation. That's not a sinner trying to
work his way into God's favor. If you're trying to work your
way into God's favor, if you're trying to earn your salvation
and your rewards, you don't love God. Because whatever God will
reward you based upon your works, He's not the true and living
God. He's an idol. We'll talk about that. It's following
Christ. He says, for this is the love
of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments aren't grievous.
They're not a burden. That's why Christ said, my yoke
is easy, my burden is light. He doesn't demand of His children,
of His church, of His sheep, that they earn their way into
His favor and blessings. He says, I give unto them eternal
life. It's a gift that He earned, and
that He gives freely, and we believe it. Look at verse 13
of chapter 5. He says, These things have I
written on you that believe on the name of the Son of God. Do
you believe on him? He says that you may know that
you have eternal life. You may know for certain based
upon irrefutable evidence. That's what that means. What
evidence is there? Well, there's the word of God.
There's the Holy Spirit who implants that word within our hearts and
testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God. And
then there's the fellowship and love of brethren, and he says,
and that you may continue to believe on the name of the Son
of God. He sums it up right there, doesn't he? Look at verse 15.
He says, and if we know that he hear us, how do we know that
God hears us? Pray unto God through the Son. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men. Who? The man, Christ Jesus. Don't
pray through Mary. Don't pray to the saints. Don't
pray through me. Don't pray through anyone. Pray
through Christ, the high priest. And when you pray in the name
of Christ, you can be assured that God hears you. And he says
we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him, and he
qualified that back up in verse 14. That is, according to his
will. Somebody says, well, God didn't answer me. Well, he may
have. The answer just may be no. So God, God treats his children
just like we treat our children. I know when my boys were growing
up, I knew what was best for them more than they did. Well,
God always knows what's best for us more than we do. But we
know this now. In verse 19, he says, and we
know that we are of God. That's one of the things we know
that we're going to talk about here. Verse 18, we know that
whosoever is born of God sinneth not. What does that mean? We'll
look at it. Verse 20, and we know that the Son of God is come
and has given us an understanding. Now, this is emphasized in the
light of false teachers and false professors who claimed that they
knew better than believers. Back over in chapter 2 and verse
26, he wrote this, he says, these things are by written unto you
concerning them that seduce you. They're trying to draw you away.
What are they doing? They're trying to draw believers
away from Christ. They're trying to draw Christians
away from the truth. They're trying to get them to
either compromise or deny the truth of the gospel of God's
grace. And I want to tell you something
now, that spirit is really prevalent in our day. A lot of religion
today that comes in the name of Christianity calls themselves
followers of Christ, but they deny the doctrine of Christ.
That's what the whole book of 2 John is about. We'll start
that next week, Lord. Well, just one chapter. That's
what that's about. People coming in saying that
they're your Christian brother. Would you receive them with the
hand of fellowship? Would you promote them and support
them in their ministry? But they deny the doctrine of
Christ. And that's what's going on here.
They're trying to seduce Christians to compromise or to deny the
truth. And that's a real problem. As
the days wind down, getting closer to the Lord's return, that's
going to be more and more prevalent to where this is what's happening.
Now, Paul teaches this in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. He said that false
professions of Christianity, false churches, will more than
outnumber, double, triple, quadruple the true churches of the Lord
Jesus Christ, where the gospel is preached, where the Word of
God is preached. That's why you don't hear much preaching out
of this book today. You'll hear a lot of stories
and illustrations. And you'll go out laughing and
talk about how entertained you were that day. And boy, can't
he? Isn't he a speaker? You'll hear a lot of psychology.
You'll hear a lot of that. How to have your best life now. My goodness. My best life now? Let's ask some of you people
who are in your 80s. Are you having your best life
now? And I'm not being flippant here now. This life is a burden to the
true believer. This book says, And if this is
our best life, you know what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15?
If this is our best life, basically, we're of all men most miserable. I'm all for living life to the
fullest and being the best we can be within the parameters
of the Word of God and what's honoring to Him and good for
us. But my friend, this is not our best life. Now, it's not. But you see, this is the issue.
The people that were trying to draw them away, to get them to
compromise the gospel or to deny the truth, they had a claim of
knowledge. They said, we know some things.
We know some things. But their knowledge was deadly.
Their knowledge was even idolatry. That's why he closes out this
book in verse 21. Look at it. A lot of commentators
will come here and they say, that verse just comes out of
nowhere. Well, no, it doesn't. It fits right in with what John's
teaching. He says, little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. It fits right with what
John's doing here. Here's these people, they come
along, they say they know more than we know. They've got a knowledge
that God has given them above the knowledge that we have from
His Word, and they're trying to draw us away from the truth
of Christ, from our rest and our assurance in Christ, get
us to compromise or deny the truth, And here's what John is
saying to them. Listen to me. Your only alternative
to Christ is idolatry. And that's death. If anyone can
draw you away from the truth of the gospel of God's grace
in Christ and how He saves sinners by His grace, then all you go
into is idolatry. You never were saved to begin
with, John says. Isn't that right? You never knew
Him. You think you know more now.
So he says they left Christ, they left the truth. The only
alternative is idolatry because of what we know we must be on
guard against idolatry. Why must we be on guard against
idolatry? Because we know better. We know
the difference between the true and living God and an idol. So
beware of them, John is saying. Test them by the things we know.
as we're taught by the Spirit of God in God's Word. We know
with a certain positive knowledge, based on strong, irrefutable
testimony and evidence given by God the Holy Spirit through
His Word and in the Lord Jesus Christ to His people. Now, he
says, we know, we know, we know. Well, let me tell you this about
what we know. Let me give you these three things
first. Number one, if we know anything,
It's because God taught us. It's a gift of God. In the book
of John chapter 6 and verse 44, the Lord, after talking about
all that the Father had given him, would come to him, and him
that cometh to him he would in no wise cast out. He says this
in verse 44 of John 6, he says, No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him
up again at the last day. And then he says, It is written
in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath
heard. Now if you hear, that means God
has given you spiritual ears. And every man that hath learned
of the Father. not only learned who the Father
is through Christ, but also been taught of the Father, he said,
they come unto me. So if you don't come unto Christ,
what does it mean? It means you don't have ears
to hear and it means you've not been taught. So if you know anything
savingly, it's because you've been taught of God. Secondly,
if we know anything, we know in part. Paul spoke of that in
1 Corinthians 13. We see through a glass darkly.
We know some things because God has taught us. but we know in
part. And you know, I look at it this
way, the half has never been told. You go through the scriptures
and you study, and then you go back through them again and you
find out more than you knew before, and it just keeps on building,
doesn't it? I've told you a hundred times about the two West Virginia
Farmers who went to see the ocean before they died, and they stand
there on the shore, and one fellow said, look how big that thing
is, and the other one said, man, that's just the top of it. And
that's the way it is with us. We've just seen the top of it.
We'll never get to the depth of it in this life, but we do
know. And then thirdly, all that we
know in salvation is in the person and finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. In John 17, verse 3, he said in his high priestly
prayer, this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Paul wrote
in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2, For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. In
Philippians 3, verse 10, his prayer was, O that I may know
Him, Christ. and the power of his resurrection,
which is the fruit of his death on the cross, and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death."
Everything in eternity and time centers on Jesus Christ and him
crucified. So if we know anything savingly,
we know it in Christ. Well, what do we know then? Well,
look at this. Look at verse 18. We know that all who are born
of God, all who are born again by the Spirit, are eternally
safe and secure in Christ. I know that. Every sinner here
today that has been born of the Spirit, born again, Christ said
you must be born again. Every sinner here today who has
been born of God, born from above, begotten again by the word of
truth, you are eternally safe and secure in Christ. That's
what he's saying in verse 18. Look at it. We know that whosoever
is born of God sinneth not. But he that is begotten of God
keepeth himself, and that wicked one, that is Satan, toucheth
him not. That's what that's teaching.
Some say, well, you mean once saved, always saved? Well, if
you want to put it that way, that's fine. That's good. You
mean the eternal security of the believer? Yes. Or the eternal
security of the saved? Yes. Another way of putting it
is the doctrine of preservation of the saints. But we know this,
John says. We know. That's not a debate.
People call themselves Christians, arguing over that. John says,
we know. We know for sure and certain,
based on irrefutable evidence and testimony, that those who
are born again are eternally safe and secure in Christ. They've
been chosen by God. And He didn't choose them because
they were deserving. You say, well, what if they don't
earn it? They never did earn it. Can't earn it now. They never
will earn it. You say, well, what if they don't
keep on keepin' on? Well, if they don't keep on keepin'
on, it's because they haven't been born again. That's what
the Scripture teaches. But we know this. They've been
born again by the Spirit. They're begotten of God. They're
eternally secure. He chose them. They were redeemed
by the blood of Christ. Now, what is the payment price
of salvation? Now, think about this now. What
is the payment price of salvation? Is it the blood of Christ plus
something you do? Because if it is, let me tell
you something, there is no salvation. If the payment price of salvation
is the blood of Christ plus what you do or what I do, there will
be no salvation. Because I want to tell you something,
we'll all fail if that's the case. He didn't fail, but we
did, and we will. But the Scripture says this,
back up here in 1 John 1, it says in verse 7, if we walk in
the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. So we've been redeemed by
the blood of Christ. And then we've been regenerated,
born again, by the Holy Spirit who indwells his people. and
implants that word in their hearts, their minds, affections, and
will indelibly. Now, somebody said, well, what
does that mean? Now, go back to verse 18 of chapter 5. It
says, we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not. Now,
remember now, John, back over in 1 John chapter 1, he made
this statement in verse 7 or verse 8. He said, if we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. He
says in verse 9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful just
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Now, that is not cleansing based on confession. That is confessing
that the cleansing is based on the blood of Christ. And then
he says in verse 10, if we say that we've not sinned, we make
him a liar and his word is not in us. And then over here, he
says, he that is born of God sinneth not. Now, is that a contradiction?
No, it's not a contradiction at all. He's not talking about
the same thing here. What's he talking about, sinneth
not? He's talking about sin unto death. Now, I preached on that
last week, and if I went into that today, we'd be here till
dinner time. And I know you don't want that,
so I'm going to urge you who have not heard that message,
get the tape of last Sunday morning's message. Not because I'm such
a great preacher. I'm just trying to give you some
information from the Scriptures. When John speaks of sinning not
here, he's talking about a sin, the sin unto death or sin unto
death, not a or the sin, but sin unto death. And what is he
talking about? He's talking about apostasy.
He's talking about falling away from the faith. He's talking
about a person who claims to believe the truth one day and
then turns around and just denies the faith totally. And he's saying here, if you've
been born again by the Spirit, you will not fall away from the
faith. You will not apostatize. You
will not come to a point in your life where you will totally turn
against Christ and deny Him as those who left in 1 John 2. Now look at 1 John 2. Look at
verse 18. And here's the context of it. You see, we're all sinners. I've
said it a thousand times, there's only two types of people on this
earth. There are sinners lost in their sins and sinners saved
by the grace of God. And that's it. There are sinners
who have no Savior, no mediator, and there are sinners who have
Christ as their advocate. But now a person can have a profession
of faith in Christ without having the grace of God. It's nothing
but profession. And they're like the stony ground
here. You remember in the parable of the sower and the seed? The
stony ground here received it immediately for a time, enjoyed
in it for a time, but then when persecution came over the Word,
he left. Or the thorny ground here, the cares of the world
took him away. Well, what happens? What happens
in the case of people who you think are Christians, but then
you find out that they've denied the faith? They totally turn
away from Christ. Well, he says in verse 18 here,
or verse 19, he says, they went out from us, but they were not
of us. Did you hear that? For if they
had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us.
Why? Because whatsoever is born of
God sinneth not. That is, he does not fall away
from the faith. That's what John's talking about
over there. He says that, but they went out that they might
be made manifest that they were not all of us. All that they
revealed when they went out is that they were never born again
to begin with. They were never saved. My friend,
if you're saved by the grace of God, grace will keep you.
Back over there in Psalm 56, I had Brother Joe read earlier. He says there in the last verse,
verse 13, "...for thou hast delivered my soul from death. Wilt not
thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in
the light of the living?" You mean God saved me from death,
but He won't keep me? That doesn't make sense. If God
saves you by His grace, He'll keep you by His grace. And that's
what he's talking about. Now, he said back up there over
in 1 John 5, 17, there is sin unto death and there's sin not
unto death. But that sin unto death is not
committed by those who are born of God. Now, all believers sin,
which means we have to fight sin in a way of grace. We have
to war against the flesh and the world. But our sins are covered
by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He died for our sins
on the cross. He paid the debt in full. He
drank damnation dry. And His death for our sins on
the cross means this. We cannot sin unto death. Now,
we'll sin, but not unto death. Why? Because our substitute died. Our Savior died. Our surety died
that we might live. Now, he says here in verse 18,
he says, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself. That
is a poor translation of that verse out of the original language.
Let me give you the sense of it. What he's saying is here,
we know that God's children do not sin unto death, for God's
Son holds them securely. That's what that verse means.
And the evil one cannot grasp, when he says he can't touch,
that word touch means he cannot grasp and hold on to him so as
to make him his captive. Now, he doesn't mean that we're
completely isolated from Satan's assault. Satan can assault us.
Satan can charge us. Satan can bother us. We're told
in the Scriptures to prepare and not be ignorant of his devices
and his wiles. We're told to put on the whole
armor of God, to stand against his wiles. He can tempt us. He can sift us like wheat. under
God's permission, but he cannot lay hold of one of God's children
so as to make that child his captive for the rest of their
lives unto death. He cannot do it. And the reason
he cannot do it, and the reason we cannot fall unto eternal death,
is because Christ saves us and keeps us. Paul wrote of it in
Philippians 1, verse 6, he said, being confident of this very
thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it until the day of Jesus Christ. God begun it, he'll perform it,
he'll complete it. Philippians 2, verse 12, he says,
"'Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in
my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.'" In Jude 24, he says, "...now
unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present
you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
who to the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty,
dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen." We know. We know. Here's the second one.
Look at verse 19. We know that all who are safe
and secure in Christ are of God. He says in verse 19, he says,
and we know that we are of God. Who's the we there? We who have
been born of God. We who have been chosen of God.
We who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. We who have
been justified before a holy God based on not what we do for
him, but based upon the righteousness of his son. We who have been
born again by the spirit. We are of God. And then he says,
in the whole world lieth in the wickedness, or in the wicked
one. What's he saying here? Well, all who are safe and secure
in Christ are of God. That is, it means this, salvation
is of the Lord all the way. In its beginning, in its middle,
and in its culmination, even in the final glory, it's of the
Lord. There's not one point in my life as a sinner saved by
grace, that it's conditioned on me. It's all conditioned on
Christ. And He fulfilled it. He saves me. He keeps me. He'll
bring me to glory. How do you know that? I'll tell
you how I know it. Salvation is by grace. That means it's
a gift of God. All of it. All of grace. Not part of grace, but all of
grace. The new birth is of God. Born
again. Look over at John 1. Turn to
the Gospel of John, chapter 1. Listen to this. Now, Christ said
in John 3, you must be born again. That's a necessity. That's a
requirement. Isn't that right? He said, if
you're not born again, you can't see or enter the kingdom of heaven. But look at John 1 and verse
11, talking about the coming of Christ into the world. It
says, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Now that's the condition of man
by nature. We will not receive Christ. But
look at verse 12. But as many as received him,
now there's some who receive him. It says, to them gave he
power. Now that word power there is
not enablement. That word power there is a right
or a privilege. It is saying here, if you receive
Christ, you have the right to be called a child of God, a son
of God. He says, to become a son of God,
that means to be called. Even to them that believe on
his name. Now look at verse 13. Which were born, not of blood. That means you didn't get it
from your mom or your daddy, or your grandmom or granddaddy.
It didn't come through earthly lineage. The reason he said that
is because that's what the Jews thought. We're Abraham's seed,
they would say. Well, you didn't get it by being
born into the physical family of Abraham. You didn't get it
by being born into the Baptist church and being put on the cradle
row. You didn't get it by being baptized as a baby. There's no
such thing in the New Testament, baptizing babies. That's why
I told a fellow one time, he was trying to convince me to
be a baby baptizer, and I said, well, I've got one main problem
with it. And he said, what? And I said, it's not in the Bible. But anyway, It doesn't come through
earthly, family, heritage, or pedigree. So it's not of blood. Nor of the will of the flesh.
It doesn't come because you will it so, or I will it so. Some
people say, well, you exercise your free will, and then as a
result, God gives you life. No, sir. It's not of the will
of the flesh. And then he says it's nor of
the will of man. It doesn't come from the will
of others. A lot of people say, well, if I can just get 100 people
to pray for this fellow, then I know God will save him. No,
that's not the way it works either. It's not of any of those things.
Who is it of? Which were born of God. Look at it in verse 13. They
were born of God. The Bible says, for we are his
workmanship, Ephesians 2.10, which were created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them. Good works is not the cause of
our salvation. It's not the cause of our justification. It's not the cause of our preservation. Good works is the evidence, the
fruit of the grace of God to save us, justify us, and preserve
us based on the blood and righteousness of Christ. Grace is the cause. What Christ did in His obedience
unto death, His suffering unto death, is the cause and the ground
of our whole salvation. Go back to 1 John 5 now. You
see, it's grace that makes us to differ. Not anything in us,
not anything done by us. Paul said, but by the grace of
God I am what I am. He told the Corinthians, he said,
Who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that
thou didst not receive? If I have anything in salvation,
I received it as a gift from God by His grace through Christ. And look here in verse 19, he
says, We know that we're of God, and the whole world lieth in
the wicked one. That's literally the wicked one. There's only
two communities on this earth. I know we like to think of so
many communities. We like to harbor our prejudices
and be proud of who we are, but really there's only two communities.
There are those who are of God and those who lie in the clutches
of the wicked one. And that's it. One is grasped by Christ, the
other is grasped by Satan. That's what he's saying. And
when he says, the whole world lieth in the wickedness, now
somebody says, well, now that's the whole world? That's all who
are without Christ. Isn't that right? That's the
world in opposition to Christ. And the picture here is not of
frantic captives desperately trying to escape this depraved
tyrant named Satan. It's not like you've got a bunch
of people there who are trapped and are trying to get out. Notice
it says, the whole world lieth in the wicked one. They're lying
quietly and willingly in his evil clutches. What's the problem? Who in the world would lie quietly
and willingly in Satan's clutches? I'll tell you who. The world
whom he has blinded. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
4. The world that Satan has blinded. The world that he has deceived. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 3. Listen
to this. Here's the problem. Here's how
you can know if you're lying in the wicked one, if you're
lying quietly and peacefully, comfortably in the wicked one,
deceived and blind, or if you're lying in the person and work
of Christ, if you're clutched by Him. And He will not let go.
He said, no man shall pluck them out of my Father's hand. John
chapter 10. He won't let you go. You see,
our salvation is sure not because of our hold on Him, but it's
because of His hold on us. Isn't that right? But look at
2 Corinthians 4 and verse 3. But if our gospel, that's the
good news of salvation by God's grace in Christ, if it's hid,
it's hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world
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. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ." Those who do not believe this
gospel are lying in the wicked one, lying down in his dead pasture. That's what it is. Those who
are in Christ are lying in the green pastures of his glory and
his grace and his word. And that's the problem. There
is a way out. Christ and him crucified. He
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. Peter said, there's none other
name given among men whereby we must be saved. Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. But those who are blinded and
deceived by Satan, who are lying in his clutches, don't want Christ.
They don't want real grace. They want grace plus. They want
Christ's work plus what they do. They want their own way, and
they're satisfied with it. Satan's got a hold on them. They
can get them a t-shirt that says, life is good. and wear it around town. Life is good, but they're deceived. Your best life now, but they're
deceived. And in contrast to the world,
believers are of God. They've been rescued and set
free by God's grace in Christ. They've been translated, the
Scripture says in Colossians 1, out of the kingdom of darkness
and into the kingdom of God's dear Son, not because They just,
not because they're better than those who are deceived, it's
because God shined the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We now belong to and serve a
new master. He gave us new life so that in
every sense we're of God. So our lives are now Christ-centered
and focused on him. And we should be asking God to
take every one of our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ.
Now, we know. And then look at verse 20. Here's
the third one. We know that this is all true because of the glorious
person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It all centers
on Him, in Him. It's all founded upon Him. It
all leads to His glory. Look at verse 20. And we know
that the Son of God is come. and hath given us an understanding
that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that
is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God
in eternal life. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians
2, verse 14, the natural man understandeth not, receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
to him. He has no interest in them. Neither can he know them. But
the Son of God has come and given His people an understanding,
a saving understanding. We understand some things. We
understand who we are, our sinfulness and our depravity, our wretchedness,
our impotence, that we cannot be saved or kept or rewarded
based upon our best efforts to keep the law. We understand our
need of God's mercy and grace. That's what I need. If you're
a sinner who needs salvation, you need mercy. Don't come up
there and say, God, look at what I've done. Give me what I deserve.
You need mercy. You need grace. Come like the
public and God be merciful to me, the sinner. That's what we
need. Mercy. And here we need Christ
because that's where all mercy and grace is in Him. Christ has
come to redeem us. Christ comes to regenerate us.
This understanding must be given. It's not in us by nature. And
this understanding is in the knowledge of Christ. It's all
about Him. How do we run the race? Well,
it's a race of grace, and we run it looking unto Jesus, the
author and the what? Finisher of our faith. How do
we know that we're going to come to glory? We're resting in Him
who's already in glory. He's seated at the right hand
of God. And if you're resting in Him, if you're following Him,
you could no more lose that salvation than He could be brought down
out of heaven and crucified again. His blood and His righteousness
is powerful enough to save you and to keep you and to bring
you to glory. Well, John ends at verse 21.
Little children, keep yourself from idols. He just mentioned
the true God. This is the true God. An idol
is anything less than the true God. The church is the church
of the living God, not a dead God, not a false God. An idol
is anything that occupies the place that is due only unto God,
for Christ is God. Idolatry was prevalent in John's
day, and it is prevalent in our day. Idolaters make up their
own gods to suit their own thoughts, their own imaginations, desires,
and preferences, and most times it ends up being the great God
Self. I'll do what I want. I'll do
as I please. I'll judge what's best for me. And you know who they're identifying
with when they say that? Adam in the fall, taking sides
with Satan against God. They do not submit to the God
who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ through the Scriptures.
And in the most basic sense, an idol is any view of God that
is not according to His Word. And let me say this, and close.
My friend, if you claim to know Christ, you better search these
Scriptures to know that you have the true Christ. There are counterfeits.
And to leave Him is to go back into idolatry. Let me close with
an example. of what I'm talking about today.
A local paper, not our local paper, but it was in a bigger
city, a big city out in the Midwest, I think it was Chicago, ran an
article about a church in their town that is celebrating its
100th anniversary as a church. And they interviewed the pastor,
and they recorded it in the local paper. They said the pastor said
that the church, quote, has a heart for the compassion of Jesus Christ,
as well as for the justice for which he stood. And he went on
to say, he said, we strive to be an open and inclusive congregation,
welcoming everyone equally and without judgment, end quote. And then the article went on
to show what the pastor meant by that. Now, that sounds good,
doesn't it? We want to welcome everybody. But here's what he
meant by that. He made it clear that he meant
welcoming those of every sexual orientation and those of every
theological perspective, no matter what. We don't even deal in doctrine,
the man said. If you claim to be a worshipper
of God, it doesn't matter who you are, what you do, what you
believe, come on. Now, let me tell you something
about that church. They're worshipping an idol, a Jesus of their own
imagination, not the Christ revealed in this Word. They're idolaters. You say, well, that's pretty
harsh. Well, that's what God's Word says. Isn't that right?
My friend, What is doctrine? What is truth but that which
identifies and distinguishes our Savior from counterfeits? If you love Christ, if you know
Him and trust in Him, you'll love the truth about Him. If
someone were to come along and say to you, introduce himself,
say, I know your daddy. And he was the biggest thief
in Ashland, Kentucky. You couldn't trust him as far
as you could spit into a hurricane. Now, how many of you would agree
that they're talking about your daddy? Well, I know this, they wouldn't
be talking about my daddy if that's how they knew him. Because
that's not my daddy. He didn't do that. He wasn't
like that. I mean, he had his faults, but he wasn't like that.
And that's the way it is about our Heavenly Father. That's the
way it is about our Savior. When men stand up and lie on
our Savior, Say things about him that aren't true. They're
not talking about my Savior. They're talking about an idol.
So little children, he says. Guard yourself. That's what that
word keeps me. Guard yourself from idols. All right. We're going to sing
the closing hymn. Hymn number 40. Great is thy faithfulness. Hymn number 40.