My message this morning to you
is believing on the Son. That's how John concluded his
message. Like the wise man Solomon in
Ecclesiastes, the very last chapter of that book, chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes,
Solomon said, well now let's just hear the conclusion of the
whole matter. What's it all about? What does
it all boil down to? He said, let's fear God. Let's
fear God, let's worship God, because every work, he says,
is going to come into judgment, whether it be good or evil. And
John says much the same thing, doesn't he? He that has the Son. In chapter 3 of this book of
John, as we said, this was the conclusion of John's ministry. He had said over and over again,
before Christ came on the scene, as he was now doing, Look, if
you will, in chapter 1. Chapter 1. John, before Christ
came that day to the banks of Jordan to be baptized by John,
he told the multitudes, because they were curious about John.
He was an oddity. He was so different from the
Pharisees and the scribes and the doctors of theology. So they
came to be baptized by John, and this is what John told them
in chapter 1, verse 29. The next day, John seeth Jesus
coming unto him and said, Behold the Lamb of God. That's the one
he'd been telling them about. Which taketh away the sin of
the world. Don't you focus on me. Look away
from me, John says. This is the one I've been telling
you about all along. Look, look where I'm looking.
Look where I'm pointing. Behold the Lamb of God. Verse
30 of John 1. This is he of whom I said, After
me. After me cometh a man, oh what
a man, the God man, which is preferred before me. I like what
I read years ago concerning this word preferred means he ranks
higher than I. That may be on the margin of
your Bible. He ranks higher than I. He was before me. He came before
me, preferred before me because he was before me. Again in verse
35 of chapter 1. Again the next day after John
stood and two of his disciples. John didn't have a different
message in private that he had in public. What he said to the
wondering multitude, he said to his last two remaining disciples. And one was Andrew, perhaps the
other was John. But in the next day after John
stood and two of his disciples, And looking up on Jesus as he
walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God. And they left John, as
they should have done, and followed the Lord Jesus Christ. None were
saved. None were ever saved by looking
to John, but by looking to that one John pointed them to over
and over again. In this chapter, we read that.
He that has the bride is the bridegroom. God gives the Spirit
without measure to him. He must increase and I must decrease. And John wraps it all up in this
way. He that has the Son. It's all
about the Son. He that believeth on the Son
have everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life. Then what shall be of those?
The wrath of God abideth at this very moment abideth on them."
The same one who spoke these words 700 years before is the
one John spoke of, the one John pointed to. Remember what the
Lord said in Isaiah 45? 700 years before John's testimony,
the Lord Jesus Christ said, look unto me and be ye saved. You can't be saved otherwise.
It's just not going to happen. Nobody's ever been saved who
didn't look to the Lord Jesus Christ, who didn't come to Jesus
Christ, who didn't like old Simeon, embrace Christ in the arms of
faith. And then he could say, I'm ready
to die. I'm ready to face death. I'm
ready to leave this world and go in the presence of a holy
God, unafraid, unashamed, with a good hope, because I'm believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. The same thing that John said
here. Look unto me and be ye saved. That sounds so plain,
doesn't it? I mean, there's nothing ambiguous
about that. There's nothing dark and mysterious
about that. Look unto me, Christ says, and
be ye saved. Every sinner who's ever had their
eyes open to behold the Son of God is saved. There's no question
about that. Never been one who wasn't. The
only ones who are lost are those who look to something else. or
to someone else, especially to themselves. For I am God, and
there is none else." John's conclusion of the whole matter of salvation,
of eternal life. Now think about those terms.
Salvation, everlasting salvation, eternal life, everlasting glory,
heaven, or everlasting torment in hell will be determined by
this. is dependent upon this and this
alone, again our text. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life. Mommy maybe would tell them they
will, preachers maybe tell them they will, but the Son of God
says they won't. They won't have life, they won't
see life, but the wrath of God abideth on them. I want to by
God's enabling me. because only he can. I want to
preach to you on this all important subject. These words sound so
very much like the words of Jesus Christ himself that he spoke
to his heavenly father just before he went to the garden and was
betrayed. You know where they are, don't
you? John chapter 17. I encourage you just to flip
over a few pages and let's read it together. John chapter 17. Our Lord repeats the very same
thing that John said. Verse 1, These words spake Jesus,
and left up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come. Oh, what an hour! What an hour! He shall redeem his people in
that hour. He shall put away the sin of
his people in that hour. Father, the hour is come, and
glorify thy Son, that thy Son may thy son also may glorify
thee. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him, and this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God, and, because they can't
know the only true God without this, and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. Philip, if you've seen me, you've
seen the Father. And these same words, this same
truth is what the Apostle John, we read from the Gospel of John,
John wrote three epistles, didn't he? In 1 John chapter 5, turn
there if you will as well, John repeats the same thing. Almost
word for word. As our text, as our Lord prayed,
and here in 1 John 5 verse 11, and this is the record. not the
record down here at the courthouse, but the record in heaven, in
the court of heaven. And this is the record that God
has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
That's exactly what John the Baptist said, wasn't it? He that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. These things have I written unto
you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know. that you may know. God wants
his people to know. God wants his people to be assured
of the certainty of their everlasting salvation. It's not up in the
air. It's not a matter of waiting
to see if my good works outweigh my bad works. Oh, no, no. I want
you to know, John says, you have eternal life. You have eternal
life. If you believe on the Son of
God at this very moment, you have eternal life. The life that's
in you, that's been breathed into you by the Spirit of God
is the same life in the Lord Jesus Christ. They're not different.
Think about that. Before that life can end, Jesus
Christ's life would have to end. He's God from everlasting. These
things write unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal
life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
John seems to be saying, just keep doing what you're doing.
You believe, just keep believing. Look again at verse 20, or rather
look at verse 20 in this same chapter of 1 John, chapter 5.
And we know. We know. I like that. I like that. I hear a lot of
people talk about, well, you can't know, you won't know till
you get to heaven. No wonder they're so sad. No
wonder they're miserable. That's not what the scriptures
teach. We know that the Son of God has come and has given us
an understanding that we may know Him that is true. Christ
said, my sheep hear my voice. I know my sheep and they know
me. 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. I think, I don't think I'm mistaken,
as to how God led me to this message, led me to this line
of thought. A few weeks ago, I got word that a lady that I'd
known all my life, I'd known all my life, back in West Virginia. Knew her since I was a little
boy. Went to school with her children. She had died. I'd never known that woman. I
hadn't seen her for years. But I'd never known that woman
to profess anything, nothing at all. But she died. She was
93 years old, 93 years old. I don't know that she ever gave
God Almighty a serious thought. I hope she did. I hadn't seen
her for a while. But in the time I knew her, which was quite a
few years, I never knew that, I never heard anything ever come
out of that woman's mouth about God. Now you think about that.
You think about that. Somebody lives their whole entire
life, 93 years old, and never say anything, think anything
about God, about eternity, about salvation. Isn't that sad? That's
so sad. And then a few weeks before that,
before I got that news, my youngest brother called me. Roger was
with me. We were in that U-Haul hauling stuff down to Sycamore. And my baby brother Jerry was
just crying. I said, I thought for sure he
was going to tell me mom's gone. Mom's 94. Every time I see her,
I think that'll be the last time that she just keeps ticking.
But he said, no, Larry. He told me that his youngest
daughter's husband, his son-in-law, had just been killed. Just an
hour or so, he got the news. He'd been killed. He was going
to work on his motorcycle, and he was hit by a tractor trailer.
He was 29 years old. The state police went to his
wife's house, knocked on the door, and asked, did he have
a tattoo? I guess that's the only way they could Isn't that
something? 29 years old. 29 years old. And his wife, my niece, Erin,
she's now a widow at 27 years old. One was 93 years old and
one was 29 years old, but they both went out to meet God. Just like I'm gonna do. Just
like you're gonna do. I mean, we could put that out
of our mind, we might be uncomfortable with the thought, we may try
to push it aside, but the truth is, every one of us here this
morning, and it would stand true if the place was packed. Every
one of us are going to stand before God. The true God. The true God. The high and holy
God. The righteous God. The glorious
God. The God who won't accept anything
but perfection. Not the God of modern day religion,
not the God of imagination that men have molded out of their
own thinking and their own corrupt thoughts. Oh no, this is what
God charged Israel with. You thought that I was altogether
such a one as yourself. That could have been written
one minute ago. Does that not describe this generation? You listen to most of your loved
ones, your sons, your daughters, your neighbors, about the God
they profess to believe in. It's the God of their imagination.
And this same accusation could be laid at the feet of this generation. God said, you think that I'm
like you. You think I'm like you. But God
said, that's not so, as it is appointed unto men once to die,
after this the judgment. And then we shall meet the just
and holy God. So you can see how important
it is to be reminded of this. The reason I'm bringing this
message, and remember this, remember this, we read in scripture that
the heart, this heart, is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked. Who can know it? Who can know
it? This heart is willingly deceived. It wants to be deceived. It's
not hard to fool. And this is the very thing that
our Lord Jesus Christ warned his disciples about in Matthew
24 when they left the temple for the last time and the Lord
said, you see all these stones that they were so proud of? There
won't be one left upon another. They won't be thrown down. Then
he went out to the Mount of Olives and they came to him in private
and they said, Lord, when shall these things be? That's one question. When shall be the sign of thy
coming? That was another question. And the end of the world? That
was three questions. And the Lord answered them each. And
you know what was on top of the list in his answer? Jesus answered
and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. That was important to him. And
he repeated that over and over and over again in that chapter.
For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall
deceive many. And again, and many false prophets
shall arise and shall deceive many. Yet again, then if any
man shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or there, believe
him not, or there shall arise false Christ and false prophets,
another Jesus, another God, that helpless fellow that can't, that
peanut Jesus. Christ said, don't be deceived.
There shall arise false prophets and shall show great signs and
wonders, miracles, healings, Tongues, blah, blah, blah. In so much that if it were possible,
they should deceive the very, behold, I have told you before. I was reminded again of this
by an article that I read in the bulletin of Calvary Baptist
Church, where Brother Britt Worthen is pastor, where as Father Terry
pastored for so many years. It's actually from a article
from the church in New Caney, Texas that Brother Jack Shanks
pastored. These are Jack's words. He said,
because I baptized some recently, I feel these comments by Rolf
Barnard are very needed. Some of those baptized are very
faithful, while others seem to ignore the church to a large
degree. And he said, Jack said, please read this and consider.
And these were Rolf's words. He said, I believe that Christian
baptism is coming under the authority of the living Lord. Now, how
many professing Christians believe that? I mean, folks say they
claim to know God, to be saved, but I'm not going to be baptized.
I believe the church has no authority, Roth wrote, except as the Lord
delegates authority to it. And I believe that to be baptized
scripturally means to come under the authority of the head of
the church, the Lord Jesus Christ. I actually believe that a person
has not been scripturally baptized unless he understood that in
the act he was publicly identifying himself as being forevermore
under the authority of Jesus Christ and the power delegated
through him to the church. Rolf says, there's not one in
10,000 that understands that. And it certainly has not been
preached as the meaning and significance of baptism. The best way to find
out what kind of bird you are is your reaction to authority. For you have to be utterly not
your own and be at the beckoning call and command of Christ Jesus. That's what baptism is a symbol
of. When someone's baptized, they're
saying, I'm identifying with the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm bearing
the old man, and I'm arising to follow my commander-in-chief
the rest of my days. I'm identifying with this church.
That's how you profess Christ publicly. It's not trotting up
an aisle and making a decision. It's by baptism. And in that
act, you're saying, I am his and he's mine, lock, stock, and
barrel." Rolfe concluded the article this way, when you entered
the baptismal waters, you said, I love Christ. My friend, you
had better keep at it in his church. Now you and I know, there's
no need to pretend otherwise, that there's been people that
come here that I baptized. There were people that used to
come here that Tommy baptized, probably others had baptized,
and we never seen them. Never seen them. Do you think
they meant what baptism really means? Do you think it meant
that to them? No, didn't mean nothing. Didn't mean nothing.
Oh, but when a person is truly brought into a relationship with
Jesus Christ, they arise to walk in newness of life. Paul said,
I used to be a blasphemer. I used to be a persecutor. I
used to be injurious to Christ's body, His church. I was determined
to stamp it out. I hated the name Jesus of Nazareth,
but when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by His grace, I quit doing those things. Paul
said, I am what I am by the grace of God. Grace makes us to differ. And this so-called grace that
a person can have and still doesn't change their life, their behavior,
their thoughts whatsoever, that's a sham. It's a lie. It's a false
hope. This is what Peter exhorted us
to do. Wherefore, the rather brethren, give diligence to make
your calling and your election sure, because if you do these
things, ye shall never fall. I remember hearing a story, I
think Brother Darvin told it when we were preaching together
in Ozarks in Missouri in November at that conference. He told the
story about a pastor in Louisville, Kentucky. His name was Brother
Magruder. I met him many years ago. But
he was getting on an elevator one night, and I think it was
with Brother Henry Mahan. They had been preaching somewhere,
and just before they pushed a button to go up, this guy staggered
on the elevator. He comes staggering in. I mean,
he smelled like a brew. He couldn't hardly stand up.
letting the wall hold him up, and he looked over at Magruder.
He said, hey, Brother Magruder, you remember me? You got me saved
a few years ago. Brother Magruder looked at him
and said, yeah, you look like some of my work. You look like
some of my work. Be sure of your calling, and
you'll be sure of your election. Make your calling and election
sure. Oh, we quoted it a moment ago.
Here's your calling. When it pleased God to call you
by His grace, Paul says, I knew I was elected. How do I know
I'm one of those chosen by God? How do I know I'm one of those
blessed ones that God set His love on before He ever created
the world? Wow, Billy, I, I, amen. Billy said, Can't hardly get
a hold of that. I agree with you, Billy. But
my soul, God loved me with an everlasting love. God chose to
save me before He said, let there be light. He put me into the
hands of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His Son became responsible
for me. He's got the answer for me. How do I know that? How can I
know that? by my calling. If you've been
called by grace, you need not doubt election. That's what Paul
told the believers at Thessalonica, didn't he? Knowing, brethren,
we love your election of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men we were
among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us
and of the Lord. Our calling is the evidence of
our election. There is such a thing as being
assured of our salvation. And oh, what a sweet, sweet thing
that is. I know there are multitudes who
boast of their assurance of salvation and of heaven who really don't
have a lot right to. It's a false hope. It's a false
assurance. How dare I say such a thing?
The Lord did. The Lord did. He taught plainly.
As plain as words could be spoken, not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord. And most of our family, our friends,
our neighbors, that's what, Lord, Lord. He said, not everyone that
says that to me shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
unto thy name? And in thy name have we not cast out devils?
And in thy name done many wonderful works, then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Assurance belongs to those who
have the Son. That's what our text says. And none else. It's true that
whosoever looks to Christ will most certainly be saved with
an everlasting salvation, but no such promise can be claimed
by those multitudes who looked to everything else, every religious
tradition of man. Oh no, we sing and are glad that
it's so. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Oh, Jim James said he could
remember. I read this the other day. it
made me chuckle, it made you too, but speaking about religious
tradition and the things people build their hope of heaven on,
touch not, taste not, wear not, go not, that sort of thing. Tim
was talking about that when he said he remembered way back with
the so-called holiness movement, the women wore black hoes and
black dresses And he said, the men all look, were dressed like
used car salesmen, and the women all dressed like used cars. That's
pretty much the definition of many people's religion, isn't
it? Their whole profession consistent, I don't touch this, I don't wear
that, I won't go there. Paul called that will worship. He said, that's just will worship.
Wherefore, if you be dead, Galatians 2 and 20, If you be there with
Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living
in the world, are you subject to ordinances, touch not, taste
not, handle not, which are all to perish with the using after
the commandments and doctrines of men? Oh, but there is such
a thing. Let me get to that. Such a blessed
reality of knowing whom I have believed and being persuaded. These are scriptural things.
being assured that Jesus Christ is able to keep that which I've
committed unto him against that day. And that sweet assurance
rests not on anything I've ever done. Boy, I'm glad of that. But what he's done on my behalf. Here's the description of a true
believer. And each of these things are
matters of the heart. Matters of the heart. Real grace
is a work in the heart. It's not out here. It's not touch,
not taste, not handle, it's a matter of the heart. True worship, what
we've come here today to do by the grace of God, that's a matter
of the heart. It has nothing to do with the
decor. No, it's a matter of the heart.
It's coming together in that name above every name, filling
our need of Him with the promise, if we do so, He'll be in our
midst. Paul gave a description of a
real believer in Philippians 3, Philippians 3, verse 3, he
says, we are the circumcision. We're the real people of God.
We're God's true Israel, which worship God in the spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Man,
that knocks the halo off of most religious folks' head, doesn't
it? Because they do the very opposite of that. They do trust
in the flesh. Thank God that he gives his people
the blessed assurance that Jesus is mine. Bobby, that's a little
heaven on earth, isn't it? Well, we can lie down tonight.
Yes, we may lie down with a heavy heart. We may lie down with the
tears dripping on our pillow. Oh, but that doesn't change this.
By God's grace, I can look up and say, I am His and He is mine. And nothing can change that.
Thank God for that blessed assurance. A man that lived many years ago,
several hundred years ago, named John Arrowsmith, he wrote this. He said, nothing more inflames
a Christian's love to God than a firm belief of his personal
election from eternity. After he had been enabled to
evidence the writing of his name in heaven by the experience of
a heavenly calling and of a heavenly conversation. When the Spirit
of God, whose proper work it is to assure, as it was the fathers
to elect and the sons to redeem, when the Holy Spirit had written
the law of life in a Christian's heart, and caused him to know
assuredly that his name is in the book of life, he cannot but
melt in the sweet flames of holy affection. I like that, don't
you? Just melt. Just melt. Just bow down before God Almighty
with adoring wonder. Lord, why such love for me? He loved me, my master, the Savior,
and gave himself for me. When that poor outcast leper
came to Jesus Christ, falling down before him and begging him,
begging him, if you will, you can make me clean. Can you just
picture him? He was sincere. He wasn't playing
church, was he? He didn't want a little taste
of religion. He wanted to be cleansed, and he knew only Christ
could. And when Jesus Christ reached down and touched him
and said, I will be thou clean, that leopard knew it. He couldn't
keep quiet about it. We read in Mark 1 that he went
everywhere and ablaze the matter abroad. When that blind beggar
sat by the wayside and he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing
by, he began to cry out at the top of his voice over the Multitude,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And when Jesus Christ,
the light of the world, heard that cry of that one poor blind
beggar, you know what he did. Oh, I love this picture. He stopped
dead in his tracks. He always does. He always does. He delights to show mercy. And
he said, bring him to me. Bring him to me. And they went
and reached down for old Bartimaeus and picked him up in his rags
and said, the master is calling for you. And when he came to
Christ, he said, what do you want? What do you want, Lord,
that I might receive my sight? That's what I want. I want to
see. He said, go that way. Thy faith has made you whole.
And immediately he received his sight and he followed Jesus and
he knew it. He knew it. When the son of God
stood before the tomb of Lazarus, and cried with a loud voice,
Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth.
Lazarus knew that he was alive from the dead. And you who were
dead in trespasses and sins, had he quickened, by grace are
you saved. And by God's grace, we know that
that's so. Maurice Montgomery, Judy's brother,
pastored in Madisonville, Kentucky for many, many years. He's with
the Lord now too. But he wrote this, that those
who truly believe, those who have this precious gift of faith,
Christ is precious. This is the only way I know that
God has given me this faith. The faith which I have will not
permit me to look to, trust in, or rest upon, or live upon, or
have any hope in anyone but Jesus Christ. That's it. True faith
just won't let you do that, won't allow you to do that. And Christ
alone, unto me he is precious. That's what I mean by a true
knowledge of Jesus Christ. I mean this, it is to possess
that faith that always issues in salvation. As Christ said,
this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true
God and Jesus Christ whom thou didst send. Let's read the verse
one more time and we'll wrap this up. John 3 and 36, he that
believeth on the Son, does that describe you? Well, rejoice. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Thus saith
the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Neither
let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory
in his riches. Let him that glorieth glory in
this, that he understandeth and knoweth me. That I am the Lord
which exercise loving kindness and judgment and righteousness
in the earth. For in these things I delight,
saith the Lord. I need no other arguments. I
need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. Look unto me, and me ye say,
for I am God, and there is none else. I want to share this with
you, and I'll close with this. It's an article by Brother Todd
Nyberg from Psalms 16 and 5, which reads this way. The Lord
is the portion of mine inheritance. The Lord is my portion. Todd
wrote, therefore, if I never have what this world considers
to be desirable, If I never have the world's wealth or applause,
that is all right. The Lord is my portion. If my
life does not turn out as I thought it would, and I never make an
impact, the Lord is still my portion. If I am brought to see
that I am nothing, that is not damaging knowledge to me. It
makes me see more clearly that Christ is all. He that has nothing
but the Lord as his portion in reality has everything. Boy,
I need to be reminded of that. He that has nothing but the Lord
as his portion in reality has everything. He who has everything
but Christ in reality has nothing. Blessed is the man who can see
the vanity of this world and rejoice that the Lord is the
portion of my inheritance. Amen. Amen. God bless you.