Turning the wheel back to 1 John. 1 John. Here's the title of my message,
here's the subject. The Gospel, a Declaration of
Certainty. The Gospel, a Declaration of
Certainty. That's exactly what John says
here in chapter 1. In verse 3, is where he mentions
it first. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you. That's important, isn't it? And
then he repeats it back on down, just a couple of verses in verse
five. This then is the message which we have heard of him and
declare unto you. As I pointed out in the reading,
John speaks so matter-of-factly, doesn't he? I mean, you can look
at this all day long. You can study it from any angle
you want to. You won't find any hint of doubt,
any uncertainty about the message that John speaks of, the message
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He's absolutely certain about
the things that he writes. And why wouldn't he be? Why wouldn't
he be? I mean, he tells us that one
who gave him the message, he says that this message, this
declaration was given to him by God himself. God called John,
Jesus Christ. God in the flesh called John
and the other disciples. That makes it certain. Does it
not? That gives this message its validity. John, where did you get your
marching orders? Who gives you this authority?
Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, sent us into the world to preach
the gospel unto every creature. This is not a matter of John's
opinion. This is not speculation. John says he was given this message
Several weeks ago, probably not that long, I was sitting out
back here under the carport having my coffee. Just do it every morning,
sometimes before daylight. Well, it wasn't daylight then
on this occasion, but my neighbor walked over. He had him a cup
of coffee. I guess he saw me from his back porch. He introduced
himself and we chatted a little bit. He said, how did you, what
made you decide to be a minister? And I said, God? He said, hmm. Of course, I mean that. And he
kept asking questions. And finally, I said, look, I
didn't go to a seminary. I didn't go to one of those.
God called me to preach the gospel. And it's still a marvel to me.
And I hope I'm sincere when I tell you this, that there are a heapsight
better preachers than me, but there's not a better gospel.
There's none of them who preach the gospel. this declaration
of certain grace and mercy. This is the gospel God committed
to John and the others and other men called by God to preach this
gospel. God said, don't take this honor
upon yourself. You'd better not do it. You'd
better not do it. And this certain declaration,
this message, this gospel is all about God's Son. We read
that. John said, this is what the gospel
is. This is what we're declaring.
This is what God told us to declare, the message of His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And every one of the apostles,
every preacher after the apostles, every preacher up to this day,
if they've been called of God, that's what they preach, Jesus
Christ. They don't want anything else.
They don't want to hear anything else. As a matter of fact, they
won't tolerate anything else, and they shouldn't. That's what
Paul said, didn't he? In Romans chapter 1, remember?
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle. Separated
under what? Social reform? Political justice? Separated unto the gospel of
God. Concerning his son, Jesus Christ
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh, and declared to be the son of God with power according
to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead.
His resurrection proved everything he said, that he was everything
he claimed to be. If he wasn't, he'd still be in
the grave. By whom we have received grace. By whom, not what. By whom we have received grace
and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations
for his name. among whom also you are the called
of Jesus Christ, by whom we have received grace," Paul wrote.
Salvation is all of grace. Oh, Larry, you're going to harp
on that again. Everybody knows that. I beg your
pardon. I hope you don't believe that
lie. You ask the average church member that's coming out of the
big Baptist or the big Methodist or all this other hodgepodge
around this, what grace is, and I will guarantee you they'll
talk about their works. They'll talk about their works.
Grace is giving everybody a chance. Grace is God saying, you take
the first step and I'll take the rest. That's not grace. That's
not grace. And that won't do me any good.
For by grace are you saved through faith. And that's not yours. What's he talking about? The
grace, the faith, or the salvation? All three of them. All three
of them are not of yourselves. It's the grace of God, not of
works. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. When you hear a man boasting
what he did for God, you hear a man boasting about allowing
God to come into his heart, you can just mark it down. That man
doesn't have a clue who he is, or who God is, or what grace
is, or what salvation is, or what sin is. He's just clueless.
No, a real sinner, made so, made so by the grace of God. He knows
that saving grace only comes through one man, the God-man. The God-man, that man that God
himself has appointed, his own son, the only name given under
heaven whereby we must be saved. If not, we won't be saved at
all. That's just the fact, Billy.
That's just how it is. Can you read that any other way?
Can you read these verses or any other verses in God's word
and see anything other than salvation by grace through the Lord Jesus
Christ? One poem put it this way. I like this. It took a miracle
to put the stars in place. It took a miracle to put the
moon in space. But when God saved my soul, cleansed
and made me whole, that took a miracle. of God's mighty saving
love and grace. Oh, glory to His name. Jesus
Christ didn't come here to set up a kingdom. That's another
point, isn't it? Most professing Christians, you proved me wrong and I apologize,
but most professing Christians ask them, why did Jesus Christ
come? Why did He even come here? Why
did God send His Son made of a woman, made under the law?
Why did He take that heavy yoke of honoring God's law in His
life and then suffering the penalty of it in His death? Why did He
do that? Most of them would say, because
God loves us. Because God loves us. And they'll
quote John 3, 16. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son. And that would be true. But that's
not the whole truth. I would ask the question, why
did God require the death of his son? Yes, he loves his people
with an everlasting love, but if it's only a matter of love,
why couldn't God just say, I love you and I forgive you, and we'll
forget about the crucifixion, the life and death of my son.
Oh, justice demanded payment. When justice called for payment,
it was more than I could give. Oh, but mercy smiled upon me
through the person of his dear son saying, I forget, Jesus Christ
didn't come down here to set up an earthly kingdom. Isn't
it amazing how many people still believe that? His disciples,
even the very last time when they ascended Mount Olivet and
Jesus Christ was about to give them their marching orders before
he ascended back to the glory he had with the Father before
the world was ever created, they were still wondering, are you
going to set up the kingdom? Is now the time? Is now the time
you're going to bring us out from under the bondage of this
Roman yoke? Are you going to set up an earthly
kingdom and we're going to have prominent places in that kingdom?
And Jesus Christ said in words as plainly as you could put them,
It's not for you to know. And people get rich writing books
and they say, well, we do know. We figured it out. We know when
he's coming. It's such a date. And all these
fools are proven to be liars because it doesn't happen. Because
Christ said, you don't know. It's none of your business. When
the Son of God shall return, he told the disciples, wait for
the promise of the Father. He didn't come down here to make
the world a better place in which to live. Did you know that? Well,
if he did, he's doing a bad job. Because it's getting worse and
worse all the time. That's not why he came. He came
here sent by his father, he came here to call out of Adam's fallen
race a people for his name's sake. The same people that God
Almighty put into his hands before the world began. He entrusted
them into the hands of his son. Jesus Christ became responsible
for those people. Call his name Jesus. Joseph,
this is why he's coming. This is why he's entering this
world from the womb of a virgin. Call his name Jesus or Joshua
or Savior. He shall save his people from
their sins. How about that, Billy? Now, I
think I'd rather hear that than about social reform. or political justice and all
this other nonsense. We can afford, as John does here,
he strives under inspiration of God's Holy Spirit, being dictated
to write what he writes by God's Holy Spirit. John, write this. Write this. Yes, John was doing
the writing, but he was like the pen in my hand. The pen doesn't
get credit for what I write. God said, John, write this. It's
got to be crystal clear. I don't want no mistakes on this
point. Too much is at stake. We can't afford to be ambiguous
about the gospel of Christ, to give an uncertain sound. There's
just too much at stake. It pleased God by preaching,
not just preaching, but preaching the gospel to save those that
believe. Paul said in Romans 10 and 1,
you remember this? You can look at it if you like.
Romans 10 and 1. Oh, give me a heart, a compassion,
a concern for my brethren like Paul had. Did anybody write more
about sovereignty than Paul? Did anybody understand better
election than Paul? Even Peter said Paul writes about
some things hard to be understood. Oh, but it didn't. It did not
in the least affect or hinder Paul's compassion for the lost.
Romans 10 and 1, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. That they might be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God. That describes my family. I'll
take the stand in their defense as far as this is concerned.
They've got a zeal for God. There's no question about that.
I mean, right now they're gathered, they've got a zeal for God, they're
going through their religious hoops, they've got a zeal for
God. But this is also true about them. It's not according to knowledge.
God didn't tell them to do that. God didn't require that. And
Paul says the reason they do that is this, they're ignorant
of God's righteousness. That's why God thinks people
think God will accept the works of their filthy hands. from a filthy heart because they
think God's like them. They think he has no higher standard
than themselves. Paul said, they're ignorant of
God's righteousness. And that's why they go about
to establish their own righteousness. They can't do it. It's a self-righteousness. And God says, it's filthy rice.
Get it out of my sight. Paul was no dried-eyed, unfeeling,
uncaring, cold-hearted theologian. No, he was not. I ran across
some of them, Billy. It'll be okay with me if I never
have company with them again. Men can sit and talk about the
five points of Calvinism. They can talk about it from daylight
to dark. And they're so cold-hearted,
hard-hearted. It's just words. It's just doctrine. Paul said, I have a compassion. My brethren, my fellow Jews,
they're blind. They're lost. They're going to
hell. They're going to hell. In chapter
9, he said, I'm telling you the truth. Chapter 9 of Romans 1,
I lie not. My conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Ghost that I have a great heaviness and
continual sorrow in my heart. Well, Paul, don't you know they're
elect? If they're elect, they'll be saved. If they're not elect,
there's nothing you can do. No, no, that's cold-hearted theology,
Paul. No, no. Paul went on down to
the same chapter and spoke brilliantly about election, but he said,
I still have a great heaviness. and continue with sorrow in my
heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ
for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh." In another
place, Paul said, I have made all things to all men, that I
might by all means save some. Again in Romans, Paul said, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? Romans 10, 13,
and 14. And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be saint? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, that bring
glad tidings of good things. We just sang a hymn. We began
our service by singing. one of Don's hymns on page 61
of the Songs of Grace book. Here's another one on page 41.
Here's the message, go proclaim it. What shall I cry, the preacher
said, what shall I proclaim to men? What will strip the haunty
sinner and expose his inward sin? What will comfort the sad
mourner and give peace that will abide? Here's the message, go
proclaim it. Jesus, Jesus, crucify. That's what we'll do. Yes, there's
hope for helpless sinners. Look, behold your God and live.
God incarnate died for sinners. Trust him and your soul shall
live. Christ ascended up to heaven and sent down the Holy Ghost.
He is able, he is able to say to the uttermost. And for all who trust our Savior,
still the message is the same. Look to Jesus, look to Jesus.
Find all comfort in his name. All God's children will bear
witness to that. He is greater than your troubles.
He's the great almighty God. Trust Him. He will not forget
you. He has bought you by His blood. Notice, if you will, here
in chapter one of the first epistle of John, two or three key words. I think it will help us understand
this epistle, the importance of it and what John's saying.
The first word is that. That's the very first word in
the epistle, isn't it? That. That which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the
word of life. The best commentary I can give
on that is wow. That's about the best I can do.
I mean, I read that and I just think, wow. The blessing, the
majesty, of what John was privileged to see. That is what John also
wrote in his gospel, didn't he? Very same thing, remember that?
He said, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word is with
God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him that were made, and without
Him was not anything made. In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men. And that Word, that expression
of God, the very essence of God, was made flesh, God incarnate,
the word, the eternal word, was clothed in flesh and dwelt among
us. Again, wow. And notice again
here in 1 John 1, he uses that word a second time in verse 3.
That again, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto
you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship
is with the Father and with his son, Jesus Christ. Once again,
this sounds much like the Gospel of John, doesn't it? Near the close of that Gospel,
John wrote, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence
of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these
are written that ye may believe that Jesus Christ, that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have
life through his name. that John speaks of here, that
he plainly identifies what he's talking about, who he's talking
about. That was not a theory to John, was it? That was not
a theory. That's not what John's talking
about. John is not giving us his opinion. That wasn't John's
opinion. That which was from the beginning,
that which we have heard, that which our eyes have seen, that
which we have looked upon, we didn't take a casual glance and
hurry back. We didn't give Him just the leftovers
of our time. We sat at His feet. We sat at
His feet. We beheld Him. We beheld Him. We were like sponges just soaking
it up in the presence of His majesty and glory. We beheld.
We saw the Son of God and we handled Him. We touched him. I know he was here in the flesh.
I touched him. We handled the word of life. Man, oh my soul, my soul. That's who John declared. That
same one, that same one. When the fullness of the time
was come, sent forth his son, made of the woman, made under
the law. That's him. That's him. That's the son of
God. That's what the Baptist said, didn't he? I think John
possibly, it doesn't identify him as the other disciple, but
he was standing with Andrew one day. They were disciples of John
the Baptist. And Jesus Christ walks by. John
knew who he was. He had baptized him. And he says
to Andrew and this other disciple, I think it was John, but he said,
behold, the Lamb of God. And John followed him. And he
followed him. And he followed him. And he just,
he's done followed him on into glory. He just followed the great
shepherd of the sheep. John wrote about that, didn't
he, in his gospel. This is that one who said to
God who sent him, Sacrifice and offering you have no pleasure
in. They're just types. They're just shadows. They can't
take away sin. Therefore I say, I come to do
your will, O God. That's him. That's him. Only
he could. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. once forever accomplished. And that is the one who cried
with a loud voice after he had trod the winepress of the wrath
of God alone. That one that John is speaking
of here, his subject, Jesus Christ cried out, it is finished. I wish I could emphasize that. I don't know how to illustrate
that. Billy, I just, it is finished. Do you hear that? Do you hear
that? Do you know it's still reverberating? The echo of that
glorious proclamation is still reverberating through the halls
of the heaven itself. It is finished! And all the angels
are still saying, my soul, I want to know about that. I want to
look into that. I don't understand that the Son of God put away
sin, and He did it successfully, and after He did it, He said,
it's done. It's a done deal. It's finished. Glory to His name.
And we hear that glorious news and sit like, not so long. It
is finished. Glory to His name. And that is
the same one. who not by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own precious blood, he entered in one time
into the holy place, having obtained, past tense, eternal redemption
for us." Why? And people would rather go...
That's why these pews are empty. Because people would rather go
and sit down and hear a fellow talk about a possibility of redemption. Be told that Judas was redeemed
just as much as Peter. What a lot of good it did him.
And they think that's good news? They think that glorifies God?
That makes Jesus Christ a failure. And that makes God so unjust
that he'll turn around and punish me for the same sins he punished
his son for. How is that fair? How is that?
That's a monster. That's not God. Oh, but what
gives me comfort? What will enable me to lie back
there tonight? With this sweet, glorious comfort,
the thought of it going through my mind and heart, Jesus loved
me and he gave himself for me. He's the propitiation for my
sins. That means I'm not going to hell. That means I'm accepted
and to be loved. That means that the wrath of
God doesn't abide on me. It abodes on him. There's no
condemnation in me. There never will be. I'm in Christ
Jesus. Glory to his name. Those who
John declared, that one rather who John declared, and that's
the second key word. John says, look at verse 3, look
at it again. Verse 3 here in 1 John 1, that
which we have seen and heard we declare, we declare unto you. Again in verse 5, this then is
the message which we have heard of him and we declare, circle
declare, unto you. the beloved physician, Paul's
traveling companion, and the gospel that God enabled him to
write. He wrote to his friend, Theopolis,
and he says, for as much as many have taken in hand to set forth
in order a declaration of those things, Luke 1 and 1, which are
most assuredly believed among us, that thou mayest know, know,
That's what John says over and over. It may be used more than
any other word in his epistle. No, no, no. Luke is of the same
mind, and ye may know the certainty of those things wherein thou
hast been instructed. Until the day Luke went on the
right, he picks up this same story in Acts chapter 1, when
he says, The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, talking
about his gospel. Of all that Jesus began to both
to do and to teach, until the day in which he was taken up,
after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments
unto the apostles whom he had chosen." And what was that commandment? Go into all the world and declare,
preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they did that
wherever they went, wherever they went. Soon after Pentecost,
the Pharisees' feathers were ruffled. because the disciples
were preaching, the apostles, the Lord's preachers, were telling
everybody that Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, that those Pharisees
and Sadducees, the religious authorities, the elite, they
thought he was an imposter. And here come the disciples saying,
he wasn't an imposter. Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. He was the Christ. He's a rose. He wrote, and we've seen him.
Oh, that upset the authorities, didn't it? They called him on
the carpet again and again and again, threatened him, beat him,
impressed him, and said, now, we'll let you go on this condition.
You don't preach in that name anymore. You're trying to bring
this death upon us. You're trying to stir up the
people. They said, I'll tell you, we'll turn you loose. But
don't you preach in that name anymore. Remember what Peter
said? Is this the same man that said,
I don't know the man? Is this the same apostle that
in the, when a little maid shook her fang on his face and said,
you were with him, and he cursed and said, I don't know him, but
look at him now. He tells the Pharisees, he tells the Sanhedrin,
should we obey you or should we obey God? You tell me, you
be the judge. We cannot help but speak the
things which we have seen and heard." And soon as they turned
them loose, they went back out preaching and declaring the Lord
Jesus Christ. Both publicly and in the temple,
in every private house, no matter where they were, they preached
Jesus Christ. I like what old Robert Hawker
said on this. He said, the Lord Jesus was within
both text and sermon. They found enough in Him for
endless discourse. It never got old. This glorious
gospel that concerns God's Son never got old to them. John tells
us again in verse 5 here that they got their marching orders
from their commander-in-chief. I looked that up real quick,
you know, with these internet and stuff. You just hit highlight
something and it'll tell you about it. Commander-in-chief,
one definition is this. a head of state or an officer
in supreme command of a country's armed forces. Wow, that sounds
like somebody. Jesus Christ is somebody. He's everybody. The captain of
our salvation is not in the White House. No, he's in God's house. He's overseeing and ruling everything
and everyone. God said to Moses, I will raise
up a prophet like unto you, him shall ye hear. Jesus Christ doesn't
sit in the oval office. He sits in that office of prophet,
priest, and king that God Almighty entrusted to him. Christ is the
one who gave the command to his followers in Matthew 28. All
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Do you hear that? Do you really believe that? I
sometimes ask, Larry, do you believe that? Do you believe
when you preach the gospel that it's the power of God and the
salvation? Do you really believe that or are you just going through
the motions? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is really able to
save to the uttermost? Do you really believe that Jesus
Christ can bring your four brothers down just as easily as he brought
you down? Do you believe that? If you do,
then why don't you witness to it? Why don't you preach the
glorious gospel? Why don't you expect great things
from your great God? Oh, Larry of little faith, the
captain of my salvation says, from his throne of majesty and
grace and power, all power is given unto me. Go ye therefore,
therefore, therefore, if you really believe this, if you really
believe all power is given unto me, go ye therefore and teach
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Go. It's the first word of the
Great Commission. Go. Go. Don't stand around speculating. Don't stand around debating about
when I'm coming back. He told him on Mount Olivet,
quit doing that. Quit doing that. What is it,
if you know, tell me, after service, what is it about prophecy that
so intrigues people? Can you tell me that? People
who hate God will sit down and talk about prophecy. People who
don't know Jesus Christ from a goose will sit down and talk
about the signs of His coming. What is it about prophecy? I
think it's because God says, that's closed to you. You don't
know the day. You don't know the hour. And
because we don't know it, just like when you were Your children
are little. You tell them, don't touch something. That's the exact
thing they're going to go to. You can have everything but that.
Leave that alone. Stay away from that hot stove.
That's exactly where they're going to go. Prophecy. Prophecy. I told you that time
about going to a dry cleaner's when I lived back in West Virginia
to pick up my clothes. It was right next to a liquor
store. And when I came out, there was a wino standing there. And
he hit me up for $1 or $2. And I said, now, buddy, listen.
I mean, I didn't have too much to spare. I didn't have nothing
to spare in those days. But I said, I know what you're
going to do. You're going to go right next door here and buy you some
whiskey, or buy you some wine, some Mad Dog 2020 or something. What's the matter with you? He
said, you talk like a preacher. You a preacher? I said, well,
I'm a preacher. He said, let me tell you what I think about
the Lord's coming. He said, I think it's close,
don't you? That's just the way folks are.
And I tell you what, these so-called prophets are making millions
and millions and millions of dollars off poor people talking
about signs of the times. Signs of the times. Oh, don't
you think, who's 666? Ooh, who's 666? Ooh, I've got
to figure out who's 666. You can know. It's not possible. Not possible. But if you can
know the date, the day, the hour, the second, If you knew right
now in truth, which we can, I'm just trying to make a point,
that Jesus Christ was coming back in the clouds with power
and great glory. If you knew that was happening
right now, and you knew that, it'd been revealed to you. If
you don't know who Jesus Christ is, you're going to go to hell.
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you can understand
all prophecy. Oh, how strange. How strange. The Lord says go. Remember those four lepers? The
Lord calls the Syrian army to flee the camp. These four leopards
were setting in the city, starving like everybody else, because
they'd been surrounded. They were starving. They looked
at each other and said, you know what? What are we doing here?
If we stay here in this city, we're going to starve. We're
going to die. Let's just go surrender to the Syrians. And the worst
thing they can do is kill us. It'd be better than starving
to death. Put an end to this misery. Little did they know
that God had caused that army to flee. And they went into the
camp, these four lepers. Nobody's around. As they go,
they see armor and shields and everything. That army just threw
off everything and got out of there. Time to get out of Dodge.
They went into one tent and another, just a buffet, a buffet. Man, they gathered up gold and
silver and just stuffed themselves, then went to another tent, same
thing again. And then they said, wait a minute. This is just not right. They
forgot where they were before. They forgot about those poor,
starving loved ones back in that city. And one said, we do not
wail. This is a day of glad tidings,
and we hold our peace. Brothers and sisters in Christ,
are we guilty of that? We call the gospel glad tidings.
We say that we love the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How
long has it been since you told anybody about it? How long has
it been since you handed them a tract? How long has it been
since you invited anyone here to hear the gospel of grace?
How long has it been since you told them, well, these messages
are, Bobby uploads every message on Free Grace Radio. How long
has it been since you told anybody about that? This is a day of
glad tidings, and we hold our peace. Jesus Christ says, go.
Go. Here's the last word. Here's
the last word. And it's used three times. John
says, fellowship. Fellowship. He uses it twice
in verse three. Fellowship. These things. Verse three, that which we have
seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship
with us. And our fellowship is with the
Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Verse six, here's the
negative side. If we say that we have fellowship
with him, and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth. John seems to be saying rather
plainly that it's not enough to say we know God, but everybody
does. John says here if our walk doesn't
bear witness to your talk, you're lying to yourself and lying to
everybody around you. Most professing Christians today
fall into that category. They say they have fellowship
with God, and their walk. That means the way you live your
life, your heart, ambitions, your goals, what occupies your
thoughts, what consumes most of your time. Is it Christ or
the world? If it's the world, that's because
that's where your heart is. We lie and do not the truth.
Again, that's where most professing Christians fit. They're in that
category. I had a fellow used to come,
well he didn't come very often, I preached one morning from 1
Corinthians 2 and 2, Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing
among you, say, Jesus Christ, am crucified. I hardly could
say three words until, amen, amen, amen, hallelujah, glory
to God, wonderful message, amen, amen, amen. And he even posted
something on Free Grace, made a racist comment. I think that's
the last time I've seen him. 10 or 12 years ago. If we say
we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and
do not the truth. Turn to chapter 5 and we'll get
done. We're going to wrap this up. Turn to chapter 5. And notice
here again, John is speaking with the same plainness, the
same certainty. Nothing ambiguous about his message. He concludes it just as he began
it, talking about the declaration of the glorious gospel, that
message that declares God's Son. Look at verse 11 here in chapter
5. And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath the doctrine hath life. He that hath the five points
hath life. No, he that hath the Son hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Again
and again John writes, O that you may know. Look at verse 13. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know. I want you to know that you have eternal life, and just
keep doing what you're doing, and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God. Oh, I love John's dogmatism,
don't you? I love his dogmatism. The old
hymn writer says, I love to tell the story. For those who know
it best, they seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like
the rest. And when in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new
song will be the old, old story that I have loved so long. Everybody's
heard of Charles Spurgeon, haven't you? Everybody's heard of old
Spurgeon. About everybody knows the story.
I've probably told you it so many times you're bored with
it. But 15-year-old Spurgeon makes
his way through that snowstorm. He can't only walk through it
that wintery morning. And he can't get to where he's
going, the Baptist church, so he ducks down an alley to a primitive
Methodist church. The pastor didn't even show up
that morning. Some fella stood up and he turned to Isaiah 45
and said, look unto me and me ye saved all the ends of the
earth for I am God and there is none else. And Spurgeon said
he looked and the fetters fell off. And that great burden like
Pilgrim was carrying, it rolled away. And Spurgeon said he looked
and he saw the sinner substitute and he said, I could have looked
my eyes out. I could have looked. He said he left that little chapel
that morning and it was still snowing and he wanted to tell
every snowflake falling from the sky what God had done for
his soul. Even on his tomb in Norwood Cemetery
outside of London, there's that verse, look unto me and be ye
saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none
else. There's also this inscribed. When this poor lisping, stammering
tongue lies silent in the grave, then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. Yes, we've all heard of Charles
Haddon Spurgeon. Preachers quote him. About every
preacher quotes him. They hate the gospel that he
preached, but they'll still quote him. Everybody's heard of him.
Let me ask you this. I bet you don't know the name
of that man that stood up that morning and read that verse from
Isaiah 45, do you? Bet you don't know his name.
I don't either. I don't think nobody does. Oh,
maybe 20 years after that, a lot of people came forward claiming
to be that man, but nobody knows who that man is. I don't, you
don't, nobody knows. But God. But God. We never know
what God may do. You know that? I mean, how could
that man know when he got up Spurgeon said he could hardly
read that man. But he thought, well, half a dozen people. I'll
try to give them something before I send them home. And he said,
look unto me and be ye saved. And he looked at this 15 year
old boy and said, young man, you look miserable. Why don't
you just look? Why don't you just look? This
virgin looked. Became one of the greatest preachers
the world has ever known. There's no way that man could
have known that. or we never know what God may do. Look at
verse 20 here, and we're done. 1 John 5 and 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. Thank God. Billy, thank God. for the gift of His Son, our
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you. Thank you for
your attention.