Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God, and every one that loveth him
that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we
know that we love the children of God. When we love God and
keep His commandments, for this is the love of God, that we keep
His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous, they're not
hard, they're not burdensome, they're not heavy. For whatsoever
is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory
that overcometh the world, our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. This is he that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water
and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is truth. There are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one. And there are three that bear
witness in earth, the Spirit, 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 hath 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, eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Look with me back here at 1 John,
and I'm going to deal with these three verses, 9 through 11. God
help me, I'll deal with these three verses. I dealt with three
verses last week. Hopefully we can deal with three
this week. If we receive the witness of man, 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 hath 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
has given to us eternal life. And this life is in his son. It's a blessing, such a great
blessing, that God gave us his word. He gives us something to
believe. When he says back up there, who
is he that overcometh the world, the victor that overcometh the
world, even our faith. And everything after that deals
with that overcoming faith. What we actually believe. And
God gave us His Word. And His Word is forever settled
in heaven. We don't have to trust opinions
of men. The thoughts of men. Don't have
to trust in tradition. We've got God's blessed Word.
And that's what He talks about receiving witnesses. Believing
a witness. And as he talks about faith that
overcomes the world, back up there in verse 4, and then this
faith that overcomes the world is that he believes that Jesus
is the Son of God. And then he gave us all these
witnesses of Christ being the Son of God. So he continues talking
about faith that overcomes the world. This faith is the witness
that we have that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. that that
Jesus of Nazareth who they said blasphemous because he said he
makes himself God well he was God the Son of God and then it
says there in verse 6 he came who came that infant that was
born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger was the Son of God who
came that 12 year old that his mother and father left behind
for three days before they came back and found him, was confounded
the wise men of his day, twelve years old. That man who was baptized
of John is the one who came. That one that came is the one
that the father bore witness to and the spirit bears witness
to because the spirit is truth. And then he talks about three
that bear record in heaven, and three that bear record on earth.
And so he talks about the witnesses. There are three, the witness.
There are three that bear witness in the earth. So then he comes
on to say about this witness, bearing witness. Now this is
continual about faith. If we receive the witness of
men. If we receive the witness of men. And that's what John
said. God's made witness. The Holy
Ghost made witness. The Word made witness. The Father
made witness. John made witness. And if we
receive the witness of men, credible men, honest men. If you're ever
in a trial, you're ever in a trial. I was in a trial years ago and
then I was on the grand jury for a while. And you receive
witnesses and you hear witnesses. And these witnesses get up and
they make these testimonies. And they testify. And you make
a decision on whether you're going to find guilty or innocent
based on witnesses. Men witnessing to what they've
seen and what they've heard. Well, that's what the Scriptures
tells us. Now, you keep drawing and look over in Deuteronomy
with me in chapter 17. Deuteronomy, that's the fifth
book of the Bible. Look here in chapter 17 with
me in verse 6. As you know, our Lord Jesus Christ
said it's written in the law that at the mouth of two or three
witnesses every word should be established. And that's the way
it is here in Deuteronomy 17, 6. If we receive the witness
of men, And we do. We couldn't live in this world
without receiving the witness of men. When we talk to one another
and we say we're going to do something for one another, we
bear witness to what we're going to do. And it would be a miserable
world to live in if you couldn't take a man at his word and couldn't
have the witness of a man about a particular subject or something
that's going on. But here in verse 6, look what
it says. Deuteronomy 17 6 at the mouth of two or three witnesses
shall he that is worthy of death be put to death but listen this
but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death
and we had three witnesses over there three witnesses in heaven
three witnesses on the earth now look over in Deuteronomy
19 verse 18 look what he says here now And
the judges shall make diligent inquisition, question them very
thoroughly. inquire diligently and behold
if the witness be a false witness and hath testified falsely against
his brother then shall you do unto him as he has thought to
have done unto his brother so shalt thou put the evil from
among you so you see there's a true witness and false witness
if we receive the witness of men credible witnesses back over
in John look what he goes on to say If we receive the witness
of men, and we do, but look what he says, if that man's witness
is good, and you'll believe it, you'll find it credible, you'll
find it honest, you make decisions based on witnesses that they
have. Then he says, then for the witness of God is greater. Oh, if you receive the witness
of a man, how much greater is the witness of God? And oh, look
what he says about the witness of God. It's so much greater
because this is what God witnesses to. For this is the witness of
God which he hath testified of his son. So God, he says, this
is the witness of God. God had a testimony too. God
testified to something. God bore witness to something.
It was God who testified at His baptism that Jesus is the Christ,
His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased. It was God who
provided that evidence that at the baptism the Spirit of God
would come upon Him. It was God Himself who bore witness
to the blood, and then we sung it tonight, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. It was God who bore witness to
the blood of His Son's death on the cross. It was God who
did all this and gave evidence that His Son, that He was His
Son by raising Him from the dead. So this is God's witness. And
I tell you the Holy Spirit bears witness to it. It's the God's
testimony and it's the truth of God and it's His Word. Who
read here Sunday night? You read Sunday night, didn't
you? And he read over there in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And
Paul said, I declare unto you. What did he declare? The testimony
of God. The testimony of God. I'm going
to tell you what God said. And that's why he's saying here
God has something to testify to. Not just a man. Not just
an imagination. Not just a myth or something.
It was God who bore witness to His Son. It was God who testified
about His Son. So, oh my soul, if you're going
to believe what a man says, if God says something, my soul,
how much quicker and easier it is to believe God than a man.
David said in his haste, all men are liars. This is the witness of God which
he hath testified of his Son. And then he says, listen to this
in verse 10. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. And I'll deal with that here
in a minute. But why should I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Why
should I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? because we have
all these witnesses and I'll tell you there's an objective
truth that God bore witness this word bears witness preaching
bears witness and then when you have this objective witness and
you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God that Jesus
of Nazareth is the Son of God and you believe that then God
turns around and bears witness in your heart. He puts the Holy
Spirit in you and your heart bears witness to what the truth
that God's taught you. So God bears witness and then
He comes and puts His Spirit in your heart and your heart
bears witness. If you believe on Jesus Christ,
that's what He's saying here. He that believeth on the Son
of God has to witness in himself that he's a believer. I don't know if you're a believer.
You're the only one that knows whether you're a believer or
not. I've got good hope for you and I've got a good hope for
me. But the fact is, you're the one, your soul is the one that
has to bear witness to whether I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. And I tell you what, you know,
when you start hearing Him being talked about, you're talking
about setting your own fire. Stirring up your heart, stirring
up your soul. It'll certainly do it. But look over here. You
see, God told us this is His Son, His Beloved Son. Look in
John chapter 5, verse 31. Talking about witnesses here.
John 5, 31. Well, the question is, why should
you believe, but why shouldn't you believe? God's gave plenty,
plenty of evidence. God's bore plenty of witness.
God's the one Himself that spoke about His Son twice. God went
for over 400 years and never said a word. Over 400 years and
never said a word. Malachi, when God was through
and Malachi spoke His last words, God never uttered a word. Not
through a prophet. Not through anybody. For over
400 years. And then when his son was going
to come into this world, he sent an angel to declare that this
Jesus was going to be the Lord, that that child that was going
to be born was going to be the Son of God, only Son of God. God sent that witness. And I
tell you, when he came and started his ministry, God bore witness
to his, entered into his ministry. And then look what our Lord said
here. Talking about witnesses now. and has a witness in himself. If I bear witness of myself,
my witness is not true. We hate for somebody to go around
bragging about themselves, boasting in themselves, what they've done,
what they've accomplished. That's what the Lord is saying
to you. If I go around bearing witness to myself, then my witness
is not true. Not true. If a man's gotta be
telling something about himself all the time, listen, that's
what he says. If I bear witness, but he says, listen, there's
another that bears witness of me. I don't bear witness of myself,
but there's somebody else that does. And I know that the witness
which he witnesses of me is true. He witnesses, somebody else witnesses
about me and to me. You sit under John and he bore,
bear witness under the truth. The truth. But now listen to
this, even though it was John. He said, but I received not testimony
from men. But these things I say that you
might be saved, that you might have this witness in yourself.
Now watch what he goes on. John was a burning and a shining
light, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. Oh, you thought John was something,
but he's gone now, and now you don't rejoice in him anymore.
But I have greater witness than that of John. Oh, greater witness? If we receive witness of men,
greater is the witness of God. Now here's the witness. For the
first witness, greater witness than that of John, the works
which your Father hath given me to finish. The same works
do bear witness of me. All the works of raising the
dead, cleansing lepers, forgiving sin, giving sight to the blind,
Causing the lame to leave people getting up out of their bed and
walking All of these things our Lord Jesus Christ is the works
that I do they bear witness that I'm the Messiah They bear witness
that I'm the Christ. They bear witness that I'm the
Son of God. I And the works that I do bear
witness of me that the Father has sent me. And then here's
the second witness. And the Father himself, which
has sent me, has borne witness of me. The Father himself bore
witness to me. the father said this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased this is my son listen to what
he has to say and our Lord Jesus said and he's talking now to
unbelievers you have neither heard his voice at any time nor
seen his shape and listen to this and you don't have his word
abiding in you for whom he hath sent you don't believe and here's
the third witness he says search the scriptures The Scriptures
testify of me. The Scripture speaks about me. In them you think you have eternal
life. And the Scriptures testify of
me. So he had three witnesses over there. Had three witnesses.
Three witnesses here in heaven and in earth. So back over in
1 John 5. You see when he said here, He
that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself,
And God told us that this is His Son, His beloved Son. God
bore witness to it. And we have the witness of men
witnessing ourselves. And this is not the testimony
of a man. This is the testimony of God.
This is a revelation from God. And what a blessing it is for
God to reveal to us who Jesus Christ is. And this is not philosophy. This is not something that man
thought up. This is not something that the
imagination come up with. This is not a myth. And the reason
for believing the witnesses is because he testified of his son.
You believe a witness when he testifies. And can God lie? Would God lie? It's impossible
for God to lie. But oh, he goes on to say now,
in verse 10, He that believes on the Son of God, has to witness
it himself. We have this blessed internal
witness of God that we believe God. And that's why our faith
overcomes the world. It's God's testimony, it's the
Son's testimony, and it's the Spirit's testimony. And he says
he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, what is this
faith? What is it that we believe about
our Lord Jesus? Well, we believe that our Lord
Jesus was eternal. But He came in time. That He
was Lord before He got here. That He was God before He got
here. But when He came into this world, He became something He
was not ever before. That He became a man. He took
upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh. And we believe,
beloved, that when He brought, when He came into this world
and He accomplished salvation for us, He brought in an everlasting
righteousness. an eternal righteousness, a righteousness
that God Himself will accept. And that He, not only that, but
He brought justification for all for whom He died and all
who believe. He justified all who believe.
And this faith, this faith that He's talking about is not just
an acceptance of some facts. It's not just an acceptance of
some facts. But boy, when you believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and you have that wisdom, that
witness in yourself, you know that witness when you find out
that Jesus Christ is who He says He is, and you believe God, and
God gives you that witness, you know what you do? You cast yourself
on Him. You cast your whole soul on Him. You give up all reservations. You give up all your righteousness.
You give up all hope in yourself. As one of the brethren read the
other night, He saved us such as poor and needy. And who's
poorer than a sinner? Who's more needy than a sinner? And oh, we come to Him with nothing. The only thing we come to Him
with is our sin. And if He don't take care of
that, we'll die with it. But that's what it means to believe
that Jesus Christ and have that witness in yourself. We come
with sin and uncleanness and helpless and hopeless and so
we throw ourselves on Him. We cast ourselves on Him. We're
like Paul. We know whom we have believed. And we know we've committed unto
Him that which we... until that day we committed everything
to Him. We ain't got nothing that we
want to hold back from Him. That's why Paul says, you know,
Christ in you, that's the hope of glory. He said, I, yet not
I. We live and yet it's not I. Who
is it that lives then? It's Christ in us that lives.
Oh, it's like that man said, oh Lord, I believe, I believe. Help my unbelief. Let me tell
you something. A man don't know he has unbelief
until he believes. You didn't know what unbelief
was until you became a believer. Now ain't that right? That's
all you had until you became a believer is unbelief. And then
God gives you faith and then you say, Lord, I believe. Help
my unbelief. You wouldn't know you had unbelief
if you didn't have belief. And that's what he's saying.
You have the witness in himself. And look what he goes on to say
there in verse 10. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar. Because he believes not the record. The record. What's the record?
Here's the record. This is the record. This is the
record. God recorded this for us. And
oh, to not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, he that
believeth not, God hath made him a liar, because he believeth
not the record that God. You say, oh, I'll receive the
witness of men, but I won't believe God. And you know, beloved, to
not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, a man is guilty, guilty
of the greatest blasphemy. Greatest blasphemy. And what
you're doing is, you see it's God that made this testimony.
It's God that made this record, not men. And it's God that He
says, I don't believe God. I don't believe what God said.
I don't believe the record that God said. I don't believe what
God said concerning His Son. I just don't believe it and I'm
not going to believe it. And so it's God that He doesn't
believe. He's made God who is the God
of truth, the God of infinite truth, infinite holiness, infinite
righteousness. He says, I am not, I don't believe
it. So he says, well, then God's
a liar because I am not going to believe it. Now you're talking
about a frightening thing, a scary thing. A terrible thing is to
think that you turn around and say, well, God's lying. And look
what He said over here in 1 John 1.10. Oh my, to refuse the heavenly
witness God made of His Son? To refuse the testimony that
God made of His Son? Look what He says down in verse
10. If we say, 1 John 1 verse 10, if we say we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. Oh my, to make God a liar? I'm not going to make Him a liar
over sin, because I know what I am. I'll tell you, God's Word
says I'm a sinner. My heart tells me I'm a sinner.
My thoughts tell me I'm a sinner. My actions tell me I'm a sinner.
My conscience tells me I'm a sinner. And anybody that knows me knows
I'm a sinner. So I'm not going to make God
a liar over me not being a sinner. But, this is what it is to believe
God. Little children, I write unto
you that you sin not. But if any man does, we have
an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. So that's what I want to believe.
I know what he says over here, I am. But over here it says what
he's going to do with my sin. And the scripture says if we
confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
And his blood cleanses us from all sin. So I'm not going to
make God a liar over that. And oh, listen. People think
unbelief is not much. But unbelief is saying, I do
not believe God and I'm going to make up that. He's a liar.
That's what you say. Nobody here would say God's a
liar. But every day that you live, without believing on the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's every day you're saying,
I don't believe on the record that God gave of His Son. That's
what you're doing. Wouldn't you all say that's true?
That's what it says right here. That's what it says. That is absolutely frightening.
That is frightening, ain't it? But what happens to men that
goes through their whole life? And if they hear the gospel,
and they hear the truth, and they say, I'm not going to believe
it. What's the end of them going to be? What's the end of them who believe
not the gospel and obey not the gospel? What's the end of them
going to be? Out of darkness. Out of darkness. Oh my, when the lights go out,
I don't care how long you've lived in your house. When the
lights goes out, if you ain't got a light, you'll bump into
everything that you know that's been there. You'll know where
everything in the room is, but you'll still bump into it. Ain't that right? And I tell
you what, when God turns on the light, and He can put you in
that outer darkness out there, And you think it's dark when
you ain't got no lights in your house at one o'clock in the morning,
two o'clock in the morning, and you can't find your way around
with feeling around your own house because you know where
everything's at, but you can't see. That's what it's going to be, not your
darkness. Darkness and darkness and darkness. Oh, my. And then, of course,
he believeth not the record that God gave of his son. But, oh,
listen. Here's what God says the record
is. And this is what Paul said, I testify to. Verse 11. And this is the record. This
is what God recorded for us. That God hath given to us. Do
you notice he said he hath given it to us? That means it's a grace. That means it's a free grace.
That means it's God's sovereign will and it's God's sovereign
person. God, this is the record that God has given to us. What
did He give us? Eternal life. Where's that life
at? In His Son. It means that God took some out
of Adam's fallen race, sons of Adam, and He took some of them
out of Adam's fallen race and out of pure, free grace. By His sovereign will, by His
sovereign power, His sovereign purpose, He gave them eternal
life. And all this life is spiritual.
When He talks about life, it's a spiritual life that He's given
to us. You can't be in Christ and not have spiritual life.
And it's the life of Christ in us. It's God, the life of God
in us. And when He says this life is
in His Son, in Jesus Christ, His Son. And not only did God
promise this salvation, not only did God purpose this salvation,
Not only did our Lord Jesus Christ come and purchase this salvation,
but He said that He has given us this life, given it to us,
and that life is in His Son. And our Lord Jesus said when
He is fixed to go away and leave His apostles and His disciples,
He said, because I live, because I live, Ye shall live also. Now as long as he's alive, we'll
live. You reckon he'll not cease to
live? You know what eternal life is? It's to have the life of God
in you. It's not how long it is, it's the quality of it. It's
the quality of it. Everybody's going to exist eternally
somewhere. But there's an eternal death,
it's said in Revelations. But God gave us eternal life. We've passed from death unto
life, and it's a spiritual life. And oh my, this is, and he that
had this witness, we have this objective witness, God testified,
and then we have that witness. We believe the record, we believe
what God said. And we can't even glory in our
faith because God has given us. God gave it to us. God gave it
to us. Our Father, in the precious name,
precious name, precious, precious name, blessed name of your Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, bless you for this life you've given
us in Him. Bless you for the records you
gave us of Him. You have it in your word. It's written. It's
declared. It's preached. This blessed book
records. It's the record of your son.
Oh, so many records. So many testimonies. So many
truths. It all concerns your son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for the gospel that
concerns him. The gospel that you taught us. The gospel that
has become the gospel of our salvation. After we heard the
word of truth. Father, bless these dear saints.
Encourage them. Lift them up. Strengthen them
in their body. Preserve and keep them until
we can come and worship again. In Christ's holy name we pray.
Amen. Amen. There's a chorus in the
book we ain't sang in a long, long time. It's right on the
very last page. Very, very last page. I'm going
to see if I can remember it. Very, very last page. Every hour
of every day. Right down at the bottom of the
page. I saw that the other day. We just ain't sang no choruses
in a long time. Y'all remember this one? I hope
I can remember. And every moment and in every
way, I'm leaning on Jesus. Let's do it again. Let's do that
again. We gotta get this. I gotta get it right. You all are doing good. of every day and every moment
and in every way I'm leaning on Jesus of my soul. I'm singing