If you'd like to follow along,
please turn to 1st John chapter 5 1st John chapter 5 I'm going to begin reading in verse
1 whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And everyone 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. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the
world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. 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. I'm gonna have to stop
right there. I don't have anything new today. They call it so-called high doctrine. I do have a bunch of scriptures,
and I think that's actually better than most of the things I say,
actually all of the things I say. Better than anything I can come
up with. But I do wanna talk about this. I wanna talk about believing
Jesus Christ. We talk a lot about believing
Jesus Christ. Some people might think we go
a little overboard on it. I have a tendency to think we
can't go overboard. You can't preach Christ high
enough, and you can't preach man low enough. But here's the thing. Be honest
with yourselves. I'll take the rap. I'm not dedicated
enough. And this word here says that
if we do all that we can do, we're still unprofitable servants. So the thing is, unbelievers
don't wanna hear about Jesus Christ. And the reason they don't
wanna hear about Jesus Christ is they don't wanna know about
Jesus Christ. They might get the impression
from somewhere that we think believing Jesus Christ is important.
Well, I don't think it's important. I know it's vital, the believing
of Jesus Christ. That's what John's telling us
here. John tells us here, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God. Now, very carefully, let's point
out, there's no room for argument with that statement. It's a flat
statement of fact. If you, and I will put this in,
if you truly believe that Jesus is the Christ of God, you are
born of God. Now we'll knock the negative
out of the way very quickly. You don't believe that Jesus
is the Christ in order to be born of God. That's not what
he's saying. I know that's what's said all
around us. You come to the front, you pray the prayer, and you
get born again. That's not how it works. Not even close. Because if, this is what John's
saying, if you truly believe Jesus is the Christ, you are
already born of God. Mentioned it last week The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God Neither
can he know them for they are spiritually discerned And listen to this folks, I know
the world doesn't understand this but I know I want you to
and I want to Knowing that Jesus is the Christ and is not a natural
thought. That's a thing of the spirit
of God. And the natural man can't know it. Ah, but he's given us
his spirit. I know it's contrary to popular
belief, but that's the truth. Jesus Christ told Nicodemus,
ye must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God. You must be born of the water
and the spirit in order to enter the kingdom of God. And I'll
tell you this, you must be born of God in order to believe that
Jesus is the Christ. That's what John's saying. Because
contrary to popular belief is what we call the truth. Popular belief about the scriptures
is wrong. Dead wrong. and it always has
been dead wrong. I was reading a little article
that somebody reprinted, Tim reprinted his bulletin and it
was from a fella. He was writing about why people
won't have the truth and it was written in 1778. People, the world has never wanted
the truth of God in Jesus Christ. They can't. John is telling us
here, life comes before faith. How important is the believing
that Jesus is the Christ? John three, after. John three, after he told Nicodemus,
you must be born again, after He told him, you must be born
again twice. Our Lord Jesus Christ says this,
in verse 14 of chapter three of John, and as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have, have everlasting life. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. Verse 17, for God sent
not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the
world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light is coming to the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. Verse 15, believe. Verse 16,
believe. Verse 18, believe. And here John tells us, if you
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Jesus is the
Christ, you are born of God. That's how important this is.
He goes on. Well, before I go on, how important
it is, those that don't believe hate the light. Jesus Christ
is the light. You mean they hate Jesus? They
may not hate their Jesus, but they hate this Jesus of the Bible.
They hate the Jesus who is the Christ of God. These are the
words of Christ himself, spoken and written down Then in John
5 and 24, you don't have to turn there because I got a bunch of
them here. He says, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth
my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
death unto life. John 6, 35 says this, and Jesus
said unto them, I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me
shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. And down in John 6, verse 40,
and this is the will of him that sent me, this is the will of
the Father, these are all the words of Christ, that everyone
which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life
and I will raise him up at the last day. If you believe that Jesus is
the Christ, you are born of God. John 647 says this, verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Okay, so you don't believe John
the Apostle, do you believe Jesus Christ? Well trust me, if you
believe one, you're gonna believe the other. If you believe Jesus
Christ, you're gonna believe his apostles. Because John does
go on to say, you know, those that are of God, heareth us. and his spirit will bear witness
with his word. John 7 and 38 says, he that believeth
on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. In John 11, 25 and 26, Jesus said unto her, talking
to Lazarus' sister, Am the resurrection and the life He that believeth
in me though he were dead yet shall he live and Whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die And then he asked the question
Believest thou this Jesus cried and said, this is
John 12, 44. Jesus cried and said, he that believeth on me
believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. You believe the
son, you believe the father. I am come, a light into the world
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And of course, Mark 16, 16, Christ
said this, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
He that believeth not shall be damned. Now the question is,
believing that Jesus is the Christ, do you think it's important?
According to our Lord Jesus Christ himself, it's vital. It's vital. Believing is vital. You must
be born again, and you must believe. You will believe. Because it's
by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Now somebody might ask, what
about election? Because we talk a lot about election
around here. rightly so Well guess what it
says about election 2nd 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13 But we are bound to give thanks
all way to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God
has from the beginning Chosen you to salvation. That's election
God's choice, that's what we're talking about when we talk about
election. We're talking about God's choice. You don't have
a choice. Christ said you did not choose
me, I chose you. But here, God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit,
life, and belief of the truth. Now, is that you believing that
Jesus is the Christ, or is that just you believing the gospel?
Well, the answer is yes. You're gonna believe him, you're
gonna believe his gospel. You're going to hear his gospel
in a way that maybe you had been around sovereign grace churches
and preachers all your life, but you're gonna hear him different.
Because there's a lot of people been raised up in stuff that
don't really believe that Jesus is the Christ. Now there's a
lot of heathen out there in Baptist churches that don't believe that
Jesus is the Christ. But here's the thing. He has
chosen you unto salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth. Believing is vital. Believing
is vital But believing flows from the Son of God In Ephesians
it tells us we believe according to the working of his mighty
power It takes the power of God to
believe that Jesus is the Christ and It takes the work of God to work
in you, not around you, not nearby you, not under you and not above
you, to work in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And listen to this, it's his
good pleasure for his children to believe that Jesus is the
Christ. That's a work of God. And everyone that loves him,
loves him that begat. Those that believe Jesus Christ,
love Jesus Christ. How can you not love the one
who gave himself for you? And everyone that loves him that
begat, loves him that is begotten of him. Believers love their
brethren. And anyone who believes that
Jesus is the Christ, truly, is my brethren. I don't care where
they are, I don't care who they are. Where does this all go? John go back to first John 5 Verse 19 and We know that we
are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness You understand we know that the
whole world lieth in wickedness But The world doesn't know that
the whole world lies in wickedness. You know how I know that's true?
One time, I didn't know that the whole world lied in wickedness. You'll never understand that
the world lies in wickedness until, what? You are born of
God. Until you believe that Jesus
is the Christ. Because up until then, you're
just like the children of wrath, even as others. Now, as believers, we are in
the world, but we are not of the world. But before, we was
just like them. And in it, still. You can see
that the whole world lies in wickedness now, because believers
see the whole world is cursed. And this world is full of sin.
This world is full of unrighteousness. But how do we know? Verse 20,
and we know that the Son of God has 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 and eternal
life. Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. How do we know? The only way
possible to know is that the Son of God has to give you an
understanding. He has given us an understanding.
Luke 24, it says he's given us an understanding of the scriptures. He has given us an understanding
of the scriptures. He has given us an understanding
of himself. It says we know him. that is
true. He's given us an understanding
of the Father. He told us, if you've seen me,
you've seen the Father. If you hear me, you've heard
the Father. I and my Father are one. He has given us an understanding
of the Spirit. Because the Spirit bears witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. How can we know these things?
If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, you are born of God. You are born of God. And what's it mean? I believe
that Jesus is the Christ. I believe he's the Redeemer.
I believe he is the Messiah. I believe he's the scapegoat.
He's the burnt offering. He's the perfect, sinless sacrifice
for sin forever. He's the perfect substitute. He is the Christ of God, and
he is God himself manifest in the flesh. I'm gonna end with this. Believing Jesus Christ is considered
a small thing by the religious world. Believing Jesus Christ
is considered a small thing by the secular world. Because the religious world thinks
believing Jesus is easy, and living for God is hard. They don't have a cart or a horse,
Mason. It's not putting the cart forward, they don't have either
one. The secular world thinks it's foolishness. And it's only
for gullible or stupid people. Or ignorant people, let's be
nice. Guess what, they're both wrong. Because believing Jesus
Christ is no small thing. I got a bit of an article that
Henry wrote. To believe God is no small thing. It is the evidence of a heart
reconciled unto God. It is the proof of our being
weaned from our works and our deeds. Believing God, believing Christ,
it is a clear sign of the true conviction of sin. It is honoring
to Christ, our only Redeemer, It is the essence of true worship,
to believe Christ. And it is the root, the root
of sincere obedience. I believe that. Question is,
do you believe Jesus is the Christ? And I'll add one word, today. Do you believe Jesus is the Christ,
right now? Yesterday's not good enough.
I can tell you that There's lots of people used to believe lots
of things Do you believe Jesus Christ now?
Do you believe Jesus is the Christ now? And here's the thing That's a question for everyone
But if the answer is yes That's a comfort to the people
of God. Because if you truly believe
that Jesus is the Christ, you can know that you are born of
God. It's not a natural thing. It's
the power of God. Because the world will not have
this man to reign over them. They never have and they never
will. And until he got a hold of me,
I never would. But now, that's all I want. That's
all I want. I don't need anything else. I just wish I obeyed better.
But I believe that Jesus is the Christ. Do you? Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
again for this time, this place. Most of all, thankful for your
son, Oh, our Lord, our Savior, our Redeemer, the Lamb of God
slain from before the foundation of the world. Thank you, Lord,
for all you've given to us in your son. Be with Walter as he
comes to preach. Give him the words to say we
need to hear. Let him preach Christ and proclaim
him openly. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.