Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us for this Bible teaching program where
I seek to deliver messages strictly from the Word of God and stay
with the Word of God. And so I'm glad you could join
us. And if you'd like to follow along in your Bibles, I'll be
preaching today from the book of 1 John chapter 5. I have two messages. that I wanna preach on this subject.
Here's the title, Salvation and Understanding. Salvation and
Understanding. And this is part one, and I'll
do part two next week. Two messages, and the main verse
that I'll be preaching from is 1 John, chapter five, and verse
20. And it reads this, 1 John 5,
20. It says, and we know Now the we there is referring to
believers. This is the Apostle John writing
to the church and he says, and we know that the Son of God is
come, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, 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 and eternal life. This is the true God and
this is eternal life. What a verse that is. Talking
about salvation and understanding that comes to sinners by revelation
of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and as the one who has accomplished
the redemption, the salvation of his people. And so I want
to talk to you about this, and I'm going to go to a lot of different
verses, and that's why I divided this message up into two parts,
because I want you to really consider these issues. Ask yourself some questions.
Our program, we at Eager Avenue Grace Church, we created Reign
of Grace Media Ministries as an outreach ministry of our church. We are a sovereign grace church
because that's the kind of, there's only one kind of grace, it's
sovereign grace, because God is sovereign and he's the God
of all grace. And we established this ministry
as an outreach ministry to evangelize our area and wherever the Lord
would be pleased to get this program out. So we have it on
this TV station. We are on the internet. You'll
find information flashed up on the screen to show where you
can go to our website. at Eager Avenue Grace Church,
Reign of Grace Media Ministries. And we also offer live streaming,
those of you who, we certainly invite any of you who are able
to come to our worship services on Sunday morning. We have a
Bible study at 10 o'clock and a main worship service at 11
here at Eager Avenue Grace Church. And we invite you to come, but
if you can't, we offer those services. You can watch those
services on the internet, through our website, or you can watch
them live on live streaming. We invite you to do that. But
my point is this, we are an evangelistic group, but we also seek to edify
people. edify, meaning to build up in
the faith, that is, those who watch these programs who are
true believers. You may or may not be one. But
what I urge you to do is to examine yourself, as I examine myself. When I study the scripture, to
me, it is a process of examination. of examining myself. That's what
2 Corinthians 13 and verse 5 says. Examine yourselves, whether you
be in the faith. Do I really believe? And this
is real vital and appropriate to this message. Salvation and
understanding. Ask yourself some questions as
I ask myself, do I really understand God? Who God is? Now, don't get
me wrong. God is so high above us. Infinite God. There are things
we can never understand and grasp. concerning the nature and the
character, the ways of God. His ways are past finding out,
the scripture says. Such knowledge, the knowledge
of the infinite, immutable, sovereign God is too high for us. And so we understand this now,
appropriate to the message, we understand that there are things
about God that we as finite human beings and even those who are
saved by the grace of God and who have been given the understanding
that we cannot understand and grasp. But what I'm talking about
is salvation and understanding. The understanding that is connected
with salvation in a saving knowledge of God through Jesus Christ.
And those are the things that God has revealed. Now, what can
we know and understand about God? We can only know and understand
that which God allows us to know and understand. The Bible talks
about salvation, conversion of a sinner in the new birth, in
many different terms. It's a resurrection from the
dead, it's being given spiritual life, being born again, you must
be born again. And in that process of being
born again, which is a sovereign work of God through the Holy
Spirit, giving a center, imparting life to a center from Christ,
he also says, he teaches us, they shall all be taught of God. God's gonna teach his people.
Now God uses means to do it. He uses the means of His Word.
This is the revealed Word of God. And my goal as I read and
study this Word, and I hope it's your goal, is that you want to
understand these things. Now people look at them and they
read them and they don't understand them, or they confuse them, or
they don't use the proper ways to interpret the Scripture and
come out with all kinds of wild ideas. But let's talk about salvation
and understanding. Look at it again. 1 John 5, 20. And we know that the Son of God
is come. That's Messiah. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it's through Him and by Him
that He hath given us an understanding. Now, who has this understanding? Well, it's the true people of
God, the elect of God, chosen before the foundation of the
world. Those whose names were written in the Lamb's Book of
Life before the foundation of the world. They're not born with
this understanding, nobody is. This understanding is not given
to everybody. Now, some may argue, say, well,
the understanding is given to them, but they reject it. My
friend, if they reject it, I'm gonna show you that now. If they
reject the understanding, you know what that means? They don't
understand it. You know what it literally means
to understand something? It means to stand under it. Here
is a truth that cannot be denied. The Son of God is come. Messiah
has come. That truth is a truth that God's
people stand under. They submit to it. They believe
it. They live by it. Those who reject
it, they may have some head knowledge or something like that, but they
don't understand it. He hath given us an understanding.
This understanding is a gift from God. And it's understanding
that we may know Him that is true, the true Christ, the true
and living God. Do you know God? Now again, there
are things that I cannot grasp about God, His nature, His ways. But I know this, I know that
God is holy. I know that God is a righteous
judge who must hate and punish all sin and sinners who have
no hope. of salvation in themselves. I
know that because the Bible says that. You say, well, I don't
like that. It doesn't matter what you like.
You say, well, I don't agree with that. It doesn't really
matter what you agree. If you don't like it and you don't agree
with it, it means you don't understand it. The Son of God has come and
has given us an understanding that we may know Him that is
true, the true and living God, not an idol. and that we are
in him that is true, we who are in Christ. He said even in his
son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. What he's saying is this, that
if you truly know God, the one true and living God, the God
of the Bible, the God of all grace, then you understand that
you have no hope of salvation No hope of eternal life, no hope
of forgiveness, no hope of righteousness, no hope of glory in heaven, except
that which comes freely, unconditionally to a sinner by God's sovereign
grace. If you know God, you know God
as both a just God and a Savior. You say, well, I just want to
hear about God's love. My friend, You don't understand
some things. You say, I want to hear about
God's love too. But hearing about God's love
apart or in competition with or in denial of God's justice
and God's wrath and God's hatred means no understanding. You see, God is a righteous judge
who must punish all sin, wherever sin is charged, wherever sin
is imputed. He can by no means clear the
guilty. But someone says, well, God is a God of grace. Yes, but
grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. There's no love from God. Now
listen to me. Let me show you what the Bible
teaches. Understand this. There is no love for sinners
apart from Jesus Christ. If you stand before God at judgment
without Christ, without being in Him, even in His Son, Jesus
Christ. That means this, I'm one with
Christ in the eyes of God's law and justice. That means I'm washed
clean from all my sins by the blood of Christ. Christ died
in my stead, in my place, as my surety, having my sins charged
to Him, and I have His righteousness charged to me. imputed to me. That's my ground of salvation.
That's my plea. That's my hope. You see I stand
before God in Christ. Now outside of Christ you will
not experience the love of God. There is no love of God outside
of Christ. All you will experience is the
just hatred of God. Now God's hatred is not like
yours and it's not like mine. It's his wrath against sin. It's
his justice. You say, well, it's not fair
for God to hate everybody. Let me tell you something, for
God to hate anybody, if God hated everybody, it'd be just, we'd
just be getting what we deserve. Well, you say, I don't agree
with that. Well, you don't understand. You don't understand the nature
of God. So yes, let's talk about God's love. Where are you gonna
find God's love? In Christ. Nowhere else. And that's what he's talking
about. Who is God? Do you understand that? Who is
Jesus Christ? Who are you? For example, the
Bible teaches, now listen to me very well here, the Bible
teaches that none of us by nature have this understanding. If you'd
look over in the book of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and
listen to what the scripture teaches concerning this issue. In verse 18, 1 Corinthians 1.18,
it says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it's the power of
God. Now why is it foolishness, the
preaching of the cross? What is the preaching of the
cross? Well, the preaching of the cross is the preaching of
Christ crucified as the one who by his death, as the surety and
substitute of his people, secured their salvation, eternal life,
because of his death, whereupon he brought forth an everlasting
righteousness of infinite value, whereby God is just to justify
the ungodly. Now that's foolishness to those
who are perishing. Now why is it? Because they don't
understand it. Listen to what he says in verse
19. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
He's talking about human wisdom. The wisdom of fallen, sinful,
ignorant, deceived men and women. He said, I'll destroy that wisdom,
that wisdom's foolishness, the wisdom of the wise, and bring
to nothing the understanding of the prudent. The prudent there
are those who judge themselves to be wise in things that they're
ignorant of. They think they have an understanding,
but they don't. That's why we have so much false
religion. Even under the guise of Christianity,
people believe salvation by works in some way, at some stage, to
some degree, salvation conditioned on the sinner. That understanding
is human, it's sinful, it's a lie, and God will destroy it. He'll
bring it to nothing. That's what he's talking about.
But look over at 1 Corinthians 2 just across the page. He says
in verse 9 of 1 Corinthians 2, but as it is written, I hath
not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. In other words, these are things
that are beyond the comprehension of man. Man has never imagined
what God has prepared for those who love God. Now, the Bible
tells us that none of us by nature love God, that if we do love
God, that it's because God first loved us, 1 John 4, 10, here
in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and
sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Do you understand
what propitiation is? It's a sin-bearing sacrifice
that brought satisfaction to the justice of God to secure
and demand the salvation of everyone for whom Christ died. Christ
didn't come here to try to save you if you'd let Him. That's
an understanding that is false. Christ didn't come here to die
for everybody if they'll meet certain conditions. That's work
salvation. But listen, it hasn't even entered
into the heart, the mind, the affection, the will of men, the
things which God has prepared for them that love Him, His people,
His chosen people for whom Christ died, who have been born again
by the Spirit. The love of God has been shed
abroad in their hearts. In verse 10 of 1 Corinthians
2, he says, but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. You see, this understanding comes
by revelation. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. In other words, if you
know God, if you have this understanding that John was speaking of in
1 John 5 20, it's because God the Holy Spirit has revealed
them to you because He knows the very nature, purpose, and
ways of God because He is God. He's the third person of the
Trinity. He says in verse 11, what man knoweth the things of
a man save the spirit of man which is in him. Even so the
things of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God. Man only
knows that which is human. That's what he's saying. I'm
a human being and I'm a sinful human being. By nature I fell
in Adam, ruined by the fall, was born dead in trespasses and
sins. That is void of spiritual life. I had physical life, but I had
no spiritual life. And the only things that I could
know and understand are the things of human beings in a fallen state. But he says, but now the things
of God knoweth no man. Only the Spirit of God knows,
God himself. Verse 12, now we have received
not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God,
that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God. You see that? We have received
not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God.
Now who's he talking about? He's talking about believers
there. True believers, they receive the things of the Spirit of God.
Now, why? Ask yourself this question. Why,
if you claim to be a child of God, if you claim to be a believer,
if you claim to be one who has not received the Spirit of the
world, but you receive the Spirit which is of God, why did you
receive it and someone else didn't? Is it because you're better than
them? I'm sure you wouldn't say that. I hope you would. Was it
because you were less stubborn, less rebellious? You see, that's
what the natural man thinks. That's his understanding. It's
a false understanding. I've received the things of the
Spirit of God, and I'll tell you why. It's only by the sovereign
mercy and grace of God that's it. It's not because I was any
better. Listen, I was just as lost and
spiritually dead as the one who doesn't receive the things of
the Spirit of God. And when you receive the things
of the Spirit of God, what do you know or understand? That
we might know the things which are freely given to us of God. What's freely given? All of salvation,
unconditionally, without a cause. And he says in verse 13, which
things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. We know these things not by man's
wisdom. But by God's revelation, verse
14, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know
them because they are spiritually discerned. They're spiritually
understood, they're spiritually evaluated. The natural man, who's
the natural man? That's all of us as we're born
into this world in sin, dead and trespasses in sin. Verse
15, but he that is spiritual judgeth all things. Yet he himself
is judged of no man for who hath known the mind of the Lord that
he may instruct him. But we have the mind of Christ.
Now what is it to have the mind of Christ? It's to have the revelation
of Jesus Christ and his word sealed in our hearts, our mind,
our affections, and our will. That's the whole issue, you see.
In Romans chapter three, the scripture talks about understanding
of natural man and how we by nature have no understanding.
It says in verse 10 of Romans three, there's none righteous,
no not one. That's a sinner standing before
God by nature. We don't have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law and justice. Verse 11, there's
none that understandeth. That's man by nature. That's
you. That's me as we are naturally born. They are altogether become
unprofitable. You see, our fallen sinful understanding
leads us to seek salvation, not by the grace of God based on
the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, but
our darkened understanding inspires us to seek salvation by our works,
our wills, our decisions, anything but Christ alone. They are together
become unprofitable. That's unprofitable. There's
none that doeth good, no, not one, he says. Verse 11, there's
none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the
way, the way of God. They have their way. There's
a way that seemeth right unto men, but that's the way of death.
They are together become unprofitable. There's none that seeketh after
God. They're gone out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Now that's the natural man's
understanding of these things. Now, how does this understanding
come? Well, go back to our text, 1
John 5 and verse 20. Look at it again. 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
and eternal life. Eternal life. is to know God
as He reveals Himself in His true character through the Lord
Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Redeemer of His people, as
the surety, the substitute, the sin-bearing sacrifice, to know
Christ as the Lord, our righteousness, who by himself as the substitute
and surety of his people died on the cross to put away their
sins and to establish righteousness for his people to demand and
secure their eternal salvation and eternal life. This is, this
is the true God. And this is salvation, this is
eternal life. That's the understanding, and
it comes through the gospel of how God justifies the ungodly. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
that gospel. The power of God and the salvation,
it's not foolishness, it's the preaching of Christ and Him crucified.
For all salvation, it's the preaching of the cross. It's the preaching
of a sovereign God, a just God, a righteous judge, who is also
a loving, merciful Father, gracious Father, but on one ground alone,
not your decision, not my decision, not my will or your will, but
on the ground of Christ's righteousness, freely imputed, all things freely
given, freely imputed, freely charged, accounted to His people,
which they receive by God-given faith, when He makes us willing
in the day of His power to come unto Him. And that's the understanding
that He gives. And it is a gift of God. Sometimes we think that we just
know these things naturally, or if we've been brought up in
some kind of a church, We've heard people quote the Bible
or say certain things, and we just naturally think, well, we
know these things. We just have to get serious about
them and dedicate our life to them, and then that means salvation. And that's not what it is at
all. Now, don't get me wrong. Those who are saved, we are.
If we're saved, we are to dedicate our life to the service and glory
of God Almighty. Love to God, love to our brethren,
love to our neighbor, all of those things. But my friend,
this is an understanding that's given by a sovereign God through
Jesus Christ. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia, 31707. contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.