Good evening everyone, so good
to be here tonight. The name of the message is, Do
You Know? Do You Know? Now we know that there's nothing
new under the sun. We know that because the scripture
declares that. And beloved man has not changed
from the times of the Apostle John until now. We just have new additions to
our lives. We have electronics and other things. Some are useful
and some not so useful. And we know that amidst the world
that we live in, we can come to church and hear about our
wonderful, merciful Savior. Know this, that our brothers
and sisters of the past struggle with the same sins that we struggle
with. They struggle with the same sins that we struggle with. And they would only find solace
in the same one who we find solace in, and that is the Lord Jesus
Christ. In the comfort of knowing, as
John brings forth in this epistle, that the born-again, blood-washed
believer can know that we have eternal life. We can know that
we have eternal life, and that eternal life is in Christ. Let's read the context of our
text tonight. Let's turn to 1 John 5, and we'll
start at verse 13 of chapter 5. Our verses will be verses
18 to 21, but I'd like to read this for context. These things
have I written unto you that believe, on the name of the Son
of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that
ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." So we see, again,
that this epistle is written to God's born-again, blood-washed
people. And this is the confidence that
we have in Him, and note the word, we. That brings together
the unity of all the elect, of all the ages. We. The apostle
was writing to the saints, and we can read this tonight, and
it includes us, who are God's people. This is the confidence
that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to
His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He hears
us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of Him. If any man see his brother sin,
sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give
him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto
death. I do not say that he shall pray
for it. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not unto
death. And here's our text tonight from
verses 18 to 21. We know that whosoever is born
of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself.
and that wicked one touches him not. And we know that we are
of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. 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. Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. Amen. So all through this book we've
seen, as we've studied this book, we've seen John bringing before
us contrasts. He brings these contrasts before
the believer. God who is light and man who
lives in darkness, dwells in darkness until we're born again.
And the only way we see the contrast that in our natural state we
have no fellowship with God, but the way that we have fellowship
with God is in and through Christ Jesus our Lord. only through
him. He's contrasted the differences
between the believer in Christ, the true believer in Christ,
and the false professor, or just a lost sinner. And it's the grace
of God alone. Think of this, do you know, do
you know, I said the answer before I asked
the question, do you know the only difference between a safe
sinner and a lost? The only difference. is the grace
of God. That's the only difference between
a saved sinner and a lost sinner, is the grace of God, beloved.
The grace of God in Christ. Because think of what the scripture
says, who made you to differ? And what do you have that you
didn't receive, right? So the only difference between a saved
man or woman and a lost man or woman is the grace of God in
Christ, beloved. That God had mercy on us. God
had mercy on us. And we know, we've seen in this
book, that the believer, by God's regeneration, by regeneration
of the Holy Spirit of God and God-given faith, that the Christian,
the believer in Christ, believes the record that God has given.
We saw that in this chapter. We believe it. There was a time
when we didn't believe the record. Now we believe the record and
we rejoice in the record that God gives of His Son. Whether
it be in the Old Testament or in the New. whether it be in
types and shadows and pictures, or whether it be in the substance
when we read the New Testament of Christ himself. We rejoice
and we believe the record. We believe what God says in his
word, in his word. And the unbeliever does not.
The unbeliever doesn't believe the record that God has given
us in this book. You know why? Because it's spiritually
discerned. It's spiritually discerned, beloved.
So we see then that the only one, very clearly, the only one
who makes us to differ, the only one that makes the difference
between an unbeliever and a believer is God. The grace of God in Christ. The grace of God in Christ. Now
John has used the word we know. He uses the words we know 11
times in this epistle. 11 times in this epistle. Let's go look at some of these.
Turn, if you would, to chapter 2. 11 times in this one little
book he used the words, we know. 1 John 2, verse 3. And hereby we
do know that we know him, we know, if we keep his commandments. Then look at verse 18. Little
children, It is the last time, as you have heard, that Antichrist
shall come even now. Are there many Antichrists whereby
we know that it is the last time? Same two words, we know, same
Greek word. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God and it doth not yet appear, 1 John 3, 2, 1 John 3, 2. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is. Again, we know. Verse 14, chapter
3, we know, we know that we have passed from death into life because
we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother
abideth in death. Verse 19, and hereby we know,
we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before
him Verse 24, and he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in
him, and he in him, and hereby we know that he abideth in us
by the spirit which he hath given us. Now turn to chapter five,
chapter five. Look at verse two. This is 11
times, again, this is usual. We're looking at all 11 times
here. Verse two, by this we know that we love the children of
God, when we love God and keep his commandments. Verse 15, and
if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have
petitions that we desired of him. See the repetitiveness here? Verse 18, we know that whosoever
is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth
himself, and that wicked one touches him not. Verse 19, and
we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
verse 20, and we know that the Son of God has come and has 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. So we see then all through this
blessed epistle, all through this blessed epistle, the beloved
disciple John is bringing forth some things that we as believers
know. We know. We know these things. The born-again
child of God knows these things. And what assurance does this
give us, the believer? Because knowing these things
isn't based upon our intellect. It's based upon the revelation
of God. It's He who has shown us these things. It's He who
has revealed Himself in the Scriptures to us. And again, we're taught
by the Holy Spirit of God. And again, what assurance we
can find knowing that we have eternal life in and through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing that it's not based upon
us. Knowing it's based only upon what Christ has done. It's He
who has saved us by His grace. And knowing this too, that the
Lord Jesus Christ is the one true God. He's the Word incarnate,
beloved. He's the Word made flesh, and
eternal life is only in Him, and we as believers know this.
There was a time when we didn't know these things. But now we
know them. What do we do? We rejoice. We
rejoice. We give them all the glory, beloved.
Take note that John in verses 18 and 19 here, he brings forth
the universal depravity of man. Again, he contrasts the believer
with the unbeliever. Once again, we see that John
is using a contrast again to show the difference. And remember
that this is all by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. Look
at verses 18 and 19. We know that whosoever is born
of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself,
and the wicked one touches him not. Here's the contrast, and
we know that we are of God, and look at this, here's the contrast.
And the whole world lieth in wickedness. There's the universal
depravity of man right there before us. The whole world lieth
in wickedness. Now remember, too, the context
of this text. John has just been talking about
the sin unto death. A lot of people take verse 18
and they just rip it right out of context. And they say, sinless
perfectionist people like to use this verse and say, Oh, see,
the believer don't sin never again. No, that's not what it
says. And the context of this verse
again is about John is talking about the sin and death, beloved.
He's talking about the sin and the death. We saw that in the
verses before. So that's the context. Brother Jim James brought
that up marvelously in a message I heard from him. The context
is always bringing forth, we always have to go to the context
and not let some people rip a verse out of context. What is the context? Well, the context is that they're
talking about the sin of death. They're talking about those who
are regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God here, by the grace and
power of God. They're made partaker of the
divine nature, and we have every grace implanted in us, right? And again, the context must be
kept with the words, sinneth not. The believer does not sin
the sin unto death, right? Nor do they live in sin, and
neither are they under the power and dominion of sin. but we do
not live without it, do we? Do we live without sin? No, we
struggle with sin, don't we? Every single day. So the context of this is talking
about the sin unto death, beloved. And that's so important to be
looking at as we study the scripture verse by verse. We are no longer
under the power and dominion of sin, but we do not live without
it. We struggle every single day.
We are saved sinners who have been saved from the guilt of
sin and the power and dominion of sin, but we're not saved from
the presence of sin, are we? No, not yet, amen, not yet. But one day we will be. One day
we will be. Praise God, we'll be. We're escaped the presence of
sin, it'll no longer plague us like it does here in this world
when we go home to be with the Lord in glory. And we see in
the text here that those who John's writing to again are all
begotten of God. They're born again by God, the
Holy Spirit, regenerated by His almighty power. And you know
what? We're restrained from sin. Think
of if the Lord didn't restrain us, even as saved believers.
Think of if the Lord didn't restrain us from our sin, what would happen?
I don't even want to think about it. He restrains us, beloved. He restrains us from seeing.
If we're left to ourselves, we're gone out in the pasture. And we know that, because what
does a sheep do left to themselves? It is wander off. Off they go. And who comes and fetches them?
The shepherd, yeah, the shepherd comes and gets them. They're
just wandering out there, not even knowing they're lost. Well,
oh my. So left of ourselves, we'd sin
just like everyone else, and probably even worse, but for
the restraining hand of God that keeps us from sinning the sin
unto death, beloved. And it keeps us from the governing
power of sin, Beloved, we are kept by the power of God. Again,
in the context of this portion, we know that those who are regenerated
by the grace and power of God, the Holy Spirit, who have Christ
formed in them, partakers of the divine nature, they do not
sin, the sin unto death, which is apostasy, Brother Henry Mann
brings forth. Apostasy or denial of the gospel. Denial of the gospel, of substitution
and free grace. They do not fall away from the
grace of God. And again, I can't stress this
enough, this is all by the power of God. Because left to ourselves,
we'd be in a heap of trouble. The faith of Christ, our faith is in Christ alone. We're kept in the fear of God
by the Holy Spirit of God. And we are not led away by Satan,
nor do we surrender to the deadly wound of Satan. Again, we know
that all true believers sin, else why would we be taught?
If we didn't sin anymore, why would we be taught, forgive us
our sin? Why would John write in the first
chapter If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves that the truth is not in us. If we confess our
sin, because we're still sinners, we're saved, but we're still
sinners. Verse 9, if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Even though we know all our sins are forgiven, we still confess
our sin, don't we? We still mourn over our sin before
our great God. We do. But the context of this
is that we do not commit the sin unto death. And we are instructed again in
1 John 1, we're instructed to confess our sins in the blood
of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
But true believers in Christ, true believers in Christ never
deny Christ. They never deny His person. They never deny His work of redemption. And the fact that we are bankrupt
sinners and cannot save ourselves. True believers in Christ never
deny His work. Never deny His complete atoning
work on the cross. Where our sins were placed upon
Him and He bore them all for us. The sinless, spotless Lamb
of God. Bore them all away, beloved.
Hallelujah, what a Savior. Bore them all away. They're gone.
Washed clean in the precious blood of Christ. Oh my. Never
forget that it is Christ who continually keeps us, continually
keeps us, continually sustains the believer. All through this
life we are kept by the power of God. Do you know we're even
kept before we're saved? Isn't that amazing? When I look back at my life, The only way I couldn't say I
didn't destroy myself is by the grace of God. By the grace of
God in Christ. My. Oh, He keeps His people, beloved.
He keeps them before they're saved, and He keeps them after
they're saved, and He takes them home to glory, where they'll
be with Him forever. He preserves us. So we see that John is finishing
this epistle. What's he doing? He's finishing
this epistle by bringing the believer back to the foundations
of our faith. Who's the foundation of our faith?
The Lord Jesus Christ. He's bringing us right back to
the foundation of our faith. Again though, John brings forth
some things that the believer knows. We saw earlier that there's
a repetition of the phrase, we know, in this book, which we
looked at in chapter two, three, and five. And it's a declaration
of the assurance of the believer. It's a declaration of the assurance
of the believer. And we have seen how John, again,
is persistent in this declaration of assurance, isn't he? We know,
we know these things. We know these things. And they
bring the believer great joy and great assurance. And we know
that God's people need comfort. We do, don't we? We do. Every
one of us. We need comfort. We need assurance as we go through
this world. As we struggle with sin in our
lives. As we struggle with ourselves. As we struggle with ourselves.
John's writing this wonderful letter and using this phrase
and reputation Again, in verse 13 of this chapter, it states,
so those who believe on Christ can know that ye have eternal
life, that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. My, so what assurance this brings
the believer in Christ. We know that this assurance is
realized in spiritual knowledge. It's only found in those who
have been born from above, beloved, born of God. Let's read verses 18 and 19 again
together. We know that whosoever is born
of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself,
and that wicked one toucheth him not. And we know that we
are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. Note again
how John uses the collective word for all of God's elect with
the word we. Notice that? The collective word,
we. It's all of God's elect. It's
all of God's elect. We who are born again of God,
we know that apart from the spiritual birth, apart from being born
again, that there's no spiritual understanding. We know that,
don't we? We know that from the state we were in before the Lord
saved us, and we know that as we grow into grace and knowledge
and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, we know that any spiritual knowledge
we obtain comes from our great God. It's He who has taught us. See, we can't boast in anything,
can we? And we know that there's no spiritual understanding or
ability to perceive anything of a spiritual nature without
being born again. So natural man has no ability. That's why the scripture says
that natural man cannot understand the scriptures. Because they're
natural. But when you're born again in
the Holy Spirit of God, The Holy Spirit is the one who authored
these words, beloved. This book is a spiritual book.
And only through being born again and having any spiritual understanding,
all comes from God. All comes from God. And we know
that with the new birth comes what? Spiritual life. And what
else? Spiritual understanding. Spiritual understanding. of all
things necessary to perceiving that salvation, for the salvation
of the soul, we are taught by God, the Holy Spirit, that salvation's
of the Lord. Natural man will not receive
that. They will not receive that at all. Because it wounds their
pride. It wounds their pride. But the
believer, weeping but low, beloved, We've been bought low by the
Holy Spirit of God. We're in the dust. And we look
to our exalted sovereign King and we beg for mercy, don't we? Now we have an understanding
of who He is, spiritually. And we have an understanding
spiritually of who we are. And that's when we're in awe
of how can He have mercy upon me? But He does. He does. And the only thing that
makes us to differ is the grace of God in Christ, beloved. The
grace of God. And we see this bought forth.
Turn, if you would, to chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. We see this
even bought forth over here in chapter 2. John's talking about antichrist
and he brings forth that the believer has an unction from
the Holy Spirit of God. Beloved, we're taught of God,
the Holy Spirit, the things of Christ. We're taught of God the
Holy Spirit the things of Christ look at verses 19 to 21 here
They went out from us, but they were not of us for if they had
been of us They would no doubt have continued with us, but they
went out that they might be made manifest That they were not all
of us but ye Remember, he's writing to born
again believers, the elect of God. Ye, again that talks about
the whole collective, doesn't it? All who are born again. Ye have an unction from the Holy
One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because
ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is
of the truth. We know the truth of salvation
in and through Christ alone, don't we? We know that. We've been taught that by God,
the Holy Spirit, that salvation is in Christ and Christ alone
and beloved by the decree, by the will and by the power of
God. Our great God has by the gospel
and through the Holy Spirit of God, given his elect faith to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to lay hold on Christ, to lay
hold on eternal life. Why? Because they believe the
gospel. They've been given faith to believe
the Gospel, to look to Christ. And as a result of that, they
have eternal life. And it's not based on us at all. Hallelujah. It's all based upon
the finished, complete, perfect, atoning work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And these believing ones cannot
sin the sin that is unto death, beloved. That's contextually
what's happening when John's writing this. They cannot sin
the sin unto death. Even though they sin, their sin
is not unto death. They do not apostatize from the
gospel. They do not apostatize from the
gospel. They've already died to sin,
beloved, because of the death of their substitute, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who's their advocate with the Father. Oh, my little
children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not.
And if any man sin, we have an advocate. Praise God, we have
an advocate. What's his name? 1 John 2.1. We have an advocate with the
Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. That's his name. The righteous. We're all unrighteous. Ungodly. He is the perfect, sinless Lamb
of God who died for us. Died for His people. And we have
an advocate, beloved, with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins
only, but also for the sins of the whole world. What a Savior. What a Redeemer. Now let's go
back to 1 John 5. Look at verse 19. We see in verse
19 that the believer in Christ knows that they are of God. know
that we've been born again, saved and redeemed, all by the power
and might of the Holy Spirit of God, and they know the whole
world lies in wickedness. I remember a time talking to
a friend of mine when I was in religion, and after I'd come
out of religion, after the Lord saved me, and I said to him,
I said, well, I was lost when you knew me. And he said, that's
not true. You knew all this doctrine, you
knew all this, you were a five-point Calvinist. And I said, yeah,
I know I was. But I was lost. No, no, you weren't. I said,
my dear brother, and he at that time had come out of what we
were into and professed Christ. And I said, my dear brother,
only I can know if I was saved or lost. And I know I was lost, but now
I know I'm saved by the grace of God. Look at this, and we know that
we are of God, the Scripture says here in verse 19. And the
whole world lieth in wickedness. Now some would say that this
confidence in Christ is attributed to our pride, but we know that
it's not based upon anything in ourselves, is it? The confidence
that we have in an assurance of salvation is only in and through
Christ Jesus our Lord. We have no confidence in the
flesh, Paul wrote. Not at all. This assurance, this
confidence comes from outside ourselves, beloved. It comes
from outside ourselves. It comes from our great God,
who's what? Who's given us an understanding
of who He is, of what we are, of who Christ is, of why He came
here, and where He is now. Now, too, remember that while
we're on this earth, we see through a glass darkly, beloved. But
then, face to face, when we see Him in glory face to face, we
just see through a glass darkly. It is Christ and Christ alone
who is our complete confidence. He's our complete confidence.
So we see here in the Scripture, too, in verse 19, it doesn't
even address the assurance of the believer. Rather, it addresses,
in the latter part of this verse, the total depravity of mankind. It brings forth the inability
of man to comprehend God because of his greatness and his vastness. But yet, from this verse, what
assurance the believer can glean still from this verse? Because
we know these things to be true. How? Because God's revealed them
to us. By the Holy Spirit. He's revealed
Christ to us. Look at this. And we know that
we are of God. We know we're born again. Look
at this. This is something we didn't know
before. And the whole world lieth in wickedness. We didn't know that before the
Lord saved us. Now we do. Now we do. Beloved God, we know that the
finite, we humans, can never truly comprehend the infinite.
Jehovah, our great God. But John in our text is not speaking
of comprehending the infinite, but rather knowing God as He
has revealed Himself to us in the scriptures. The believer knows God and the
things that John has been bringing forth only because our great
God has revealed them to us. Turn if you would to John chapter
17. John chapter 17. Our Lord's high
priestly prayer. John 17. How do we know that the Lord's
revealed these things to us? John 17 verses 1-6. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said father the hours come Glorify
thy son that thy son also may glorify thee As thou has given
him power over all flesh He will supreme And he should give eternal
life to as many as thou has given him Look at verse three here, this
is key here. And this is life eternal that they might know
thee. He's revealed himself to us. By the power of the Holy Spirit
of God. Know thee what the only true God and Jesus Christ himself,
he's speaking of whom thou has sent. Our verse says our verse
says there and that we that we We know God. Let's go back there, in verse
19, and we know that we are of God. See how it ties in there
with John 17, 3? And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the
earth, I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do, And
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifest
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world, thine
they were in eternity, and thou gavest them to me in eternity,
and they have kept thy word by the power of the Holy Spirit
of God, preserved by our great God. In verse 3 there of John
chapter 17, in our Lord's Highly Priestly Prayer, notice the singularity
of the revelation. It is to know God in the capacity
of the sure salvation of the elect. Look at this. And this
is life eternal. The believer in Christ knows
that eternal life is only in Christ. That's been revealed
to us by God the Holy Spirit. and also that they might know
Thee, the only true God, the Father, Jehovah, and Jesus Christ,
whom Thou hast sent, the second person of the Trinity, the Word
of God, sent by God, to be a propitiation, remember we read in 1 John, to
be a propitiation for our sins. We know, we know that our salvations
are the Lord. We know that the salvation of
the elect is sure in Christ. And we know that our Lord Jesus
Christ has glorified the Father by His life, by His death, and
by His resurrection, beloved. And so we see here, let's go
back to verse 19 of 1 John 5, and we know that we are of God
and the whole world lieth in wickedness. Again, this is a
statement of distinction. This is a statement of contrast
between God's elect and between the world who lies in wickedness. And we know that we are of God,
again, written to God's people, and here's the contrast, and
the whole world lieth in wickedness. And we were there at one time.
But God has saved us by His grace and bought us out of that. Praise
His holy name. And so we see again, all through
this epistle, John has been bringing forth contrasts before us. Light
and darkness, Antichrist and Christ, false believers and true
believers, eternal life, eternal death. Now he contrasts here,
believers and unbelievers. We know we're of God. It's his work. Salvation's of
the Lord. And we know that the whole world
lies in darkness. We pray for him, don't we? We
don't know who God's sheep are. He knows who they are, who are
still lost and dead in trespasses and sins. And we were once, we
who believe, were once in that state. So we pray for people we know. We pray for the communities that
we live in. We pray for our friends and our families. I'll read John 17, 3 again. John 17, let's go back. I'm just going to read that quick.
You don't have to turn there. I'm going to read it quick here.
John 17, 3 again. And this is life eternal that
they might know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
Thou hast sent. My, and then our text says, and
we know that we are of God the whole world, life and wickedness.
And then look at verse 20, and we know that the Son of God has
come and has 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. How does a believer know these
things? How do we know that we are of God? And how do we know
that the whole world lies in wickedness? Well, verse 20 again
brings forth another wonderful declaration of the assurance
of the believer in Christ. We see the answer to the question
of how do we know these things? It's because Christ has come
and has given us an understanding. Look at verse 20. And think of
this too. He does not give an understanding
to everyone. But He gives an understanding
to those who the Father gave Him in eternity. His sheep. And we just praise His name that
we're part of that number, don't we? Look here in verse 20. And
we know, again, this is something the believer knows, and we know
that the Son of God has come. We know He's come. We believe
He's come. We know He's gone again. He's resurrected. We know
He's coming again, too, don't we? We know that. But look at
this. He's come and has given us an understanding. Otherwise,
we'd be groping around in the dark still, beloved. What has He given us an understanding
of? 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. Listen to these words in Colossians chapter 2. And in
the book of Hebrews as well. Colossians 2.2. That their hearts
may be comforted being knit together in love unto all the riches of
the full assurance of understanding. In the acknowledgement of the
mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. Notice there,
full assurance of understanding. Hebrews 10, verse 22. Let us
draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. How
do we get full assurance of faith, beloved? Only in Christ. Only
in Christ. Having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. So we
see then that verse 20 here in 1 John is a declaration of assurance,
beloved. John brings forth that the reason
that we know that the Son of God has come is that He's given
us an understanding of that. That He's revealed that to we
who are His people. There's people who deny that
Christ ever even came. Even though He's a historic figure.
Jophesus wrote of Him. He was a Jewish historian. He wrote of Him. Others wrote
of Him. And yet some people just deny
He even came here to this earth. But we know, not only do we know
He came, we know who He was. God incarnated in the flesh.
He's given us an understanding, hasn't He? He's revealed Himself
to us. And notice the statement, the
Son of God has come. This speaks of His incarnation.
This speaks of Him leaving the glories and splendors of heaven
and coming to this world to redeem His people from their sins. And
in doing so, giving us an understanding by the Holy Spirit of God that
He really did come. And despite people saying, I
don't believe that, we just keep on trusting the Lord, don't we?
By God-given faith. We just keep trusting the Lord.
So the Son of God has come, speaks of His incarnation, and the fact
that He did come. And note the words, hath given.
Weiss, the Greek scholar, brings forth that in the Greek this
is in the perfect tense. It means, has given with the
result that the gift is the permanent possession of the recipient.
He's given us a permanent possession of understanding. We who are
His people. Oh my. He's given His people
an understanding. This verse here brings forth
also the one true God and the fact that eternal life is only
in and through Him. The Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnated
in the flesh. Let's read verse 20 again. And
we know that the Son of God has come. He came to this earth,
that speaks of His incarnation, and has given us an understanding
by the Holy Spirit of God, that we may know Him that is true."
See, without an understanding of who He is, without a revelation
of God, we will never know who Christ is. We will never know who He is.
But the Scripture here declares, and what assurance a believer
can find here, that we may know Him that is true. and are in Him. That is true. Even in His Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God in eternal life. So we see Christ's coming
was by intent and design. We already know that, don't we?
It was planned and purposed and decreed and executed by the will
and purpose of God. His coming was not generic, as
one commentator said, in any way. He did not come to make
something possible, did He? No, He came to save His people
from their sins. And He did it. And it wasn't
some sort of universal offer of redemption, was it? No, He
came to save His sheep. He came to save His people from
their sins. He came to save His people. And
we see in this verse before us, He came to give us, that we may
know who He is, to give us an understanding of who He is. That
we may know the one true God, beloved. that we may know the
one true God. And He's given this understanding
to His elect by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. And it
comes to us through the preaching of the gospel, doesn't it? And John here defines how they
know. This is a miracle of God, beloved. That people who have no ability
to know God, no ability to know spiritual things, that are dead
in trespasses and sins, are born again by the Holy Spirit of God,
are given an understanding of the things of Christ and of God,
what He did, what He planned, what He purposed, and the fact
that Christ is God incarnated in the flesh, and He came here
to save His people from their sins, and He accomplished that
salvation completely by Himself, and that salvation is of the
Lord from beginning to end, It's a miracle of God that we even
know these things, beloved. There's no possibility of such
an understanding by the natural man because this knowledge is
spiritual, beloved. This knowledge is spiritual.
Only the Holy Spirit can reveal these truths to us. And this is why it's such a wonder
to the elect of God. that He would reveal these precious
truths to me, the sinner says? To me? So the wonder of the Gospel is
that the elect realize that they may know God. And we know that
only a born again person can understand such a wonder. Now the second phrase in this
verse brings forth that the believer is in Christ. And this is true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ, this is the true God in eternal
life. Look at the latter part, and
we know that the Son of God has come and has 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. Beloved God, we who are the born-again
people of God are in Christ. He's the head and we're the body.
You know who put us there? God. God. He gave us to Christ in eternity.
So marvel at the assurance and hope that the believer can find
in these verses that we looked at tonight. What hope the believer
has in Christ. He's the object of God-given
faith. And it's God who's given us an
understanding. God the Son's given us an understanding
of Himself through the power of the Holy Spirit of God. And we know that we are of God
because we know that we're in Christ. Scripture says we're
crucified with Christ, nevertheless we live. Again, He's the head and we're
the body. And if we know Christ, we know God. Because Christ is
God. Christ is God. He's God incarnated
in the flesh. He's God revealed, beloved. He's
God revealed. Beloved of God, this Jesus Christ
is the true God. Not a God, but the one true God.
He is God-knowing, and the result of knowing God is eternal life,
which we see brought forth in the latter part of that verse,
but turn if you would to John chapter 10, verse 27 to 29. John
chapter 10, verse 27 to 29. Look at this. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my
hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no
man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." Oh my. Now let's read verse 21 to close
this wonderful book. Verse 21. 1st John chapter 5
verse 21 it says here. Little children keep yourselves
from idols. Amen. Again this is written to all
of God's people. John gives us a final exhortation
in light of all that he's written. In light of all the contrasts
that we've seen in this book. the believers to keep ourselves
from idols. John again has constantly been bringing forth contrasts
all through this epistle and he closes with this statement
here. And we know that anyone or anything for salvation other
than Christ is God in eternal life. Anything other than Christ
is idolatry. You make anything else a savior
other than Christ? And it's adultery, including
yourself. People say, well, I got saved.
No. The believer says, the Lord saved me. I didn't have anything
to do with it other than being a receiver of the grace and mercy
of God. The Lord saved me. It's Him. He did it. So this is an exhortation, beloved,
for the child of God to keep ourselves from false gods, from
anyone and anything that would occupy the place in your heart
due to God. Again, I'll say that again. This
is an exhortation to keep yourselves from false gods, from anyone
and anything that would occupy the place in your heart due to
God. Keep yourselves from traditions,
superstitions, images, religious practices, observances as a means
of salvation, which are introduced by those who so-called call themselves
Christians. Beloved, if these things are
not according to the scripture, and if they do not glorify God,
then keep yourselves from them. That's what John's telling us.
That's what John's telling us. Praise be to God that God has
given us an understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ.