Let's open our Bibles tonight
to First John, Chapter 5. First John, Chapter 5. I am often asked, do you really
think that yours is the only true religion? Do you really think yours is
the only True religion. And my answer is always the same. Of course I do. I'm fully convinced
of it. Some of you will recall the first
meeting I had with you here in Danville. I came down to preach
to you over at the, what's the utility, whatever
it's called, Kentucky Utility Building. And I said to you then,
If there is another gospel church in Danville, Kentucky, you go
join up with them. If there's another place in this
county where you can go worship God and hear the gospel of God's
grace, go join up with them. Don't call me as your pastor. Don't move me down here. This
place ain't big enough for two churches of the same kind to
believe in the gospel of God's grace. And you're the smaller
of the two, so go join up with them. And if you call me as your
pastor, I take that as a word from you that there's no other
place where we can go hear from God and hear a man speak for
God and declare to us the gospel of God and worship God. And that's
still the case. That's still the case. Find me
a place in this town where the gospel of God's free grace is
believed and preached unashamedly, and I will urge you to join them
or them to join you, and I'll move somewhere else and preach
the gospel. There's just, the fact stands. The fact just stands. Truth is truth. And error is
error. Truth is truth. And everything
else is heresy. Now, to most people, that seems
terribly hard. That seems harsh and judgmental.
I can't help how it seems to you. That's just fact. That's just fact. Our Lord Jesus
did not say, I am one way, but there are many others. He said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the father, but by me. He did not say, I am a door. He said, I am the door. By me,
if any man enter in, he shall be saved. Neither is there salvation
in any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. If Christianity is true, and
I use that word not at all in the broad sense most people do.
If Christianity, the Christianity taught in this book is true,
than all other religions and all religious philosophies to
the contrary are false. If one religion is as good as
another, so long as it's practiced in sincerity. That sounds so sweet, doesn't
it? If you eat good, it really doesn't
matter if you eat rat poison or if you eat steak, as long
as you eat good. That's kind of insane, isn't it? That's kind
of insane. Folks tell us one religion is
as good as another. As long as both are practiced
in sincerity, if that's the case, then Christianity is the worst
of all religions. For Christianity, as it is revealed
in this book, as it is revealed in this book, Insist there is
only one way of life, one way of faith, one way of salvation,
one way to God, and that's Christ crucified. There's no other way.
There's no other way. Well, how can we know that Christianity
really is true? The answer I will give is not
one that would suit skeptics and infidels and scoffers. That's not my interest. But I
do have an answer I can give from this book, an answer that
will be, I think, edifying to you to consider. I recognize
that we must first understand what Christianity is. It's common
to say that any religious movement that claims the name of Christ
as its founder and teacher and its central message is Christian.
If that's the case, then Papists and Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses
and Adventists and the Campbellites, Churches of Christ, the Quakers,
the Pentecostals, all are Christian. They're all Christian. So long
as we recognize that Christ is central and the Bible is the
Word of God or contains the Word of God or teaches the Word of
God or has something about the Word of God. We'll call this
Christian. This is Christian. Along with
all the Baptist and Methodist and Presbyterians and Anglicans.
Back some years ago, I read that Billy Graham and the Pope were
the two greatest religious leaders of the 20th century. Billy Graham
and the Pope. So we couldn't find two fellows
more different. I beg to differ. You couldn't
find two fellows more alike. The greatest religious leaders
of the 20th century. So obviously we need to find
out what Christianity is. Christianity, as it's simply
stated in the scriptures, is the faith of Jesus Christ. It is the faith of Jesus Christ. the doctrine of Christ, the revelation
of Christ, faith given by Christ, faith in Christ. Christianity
is the faith of Jesus Christ. It is the faith of Jesus Christ,
the heart belief that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God, that
he lived on this earth and shed his blood as a substitutionary
sacrifice for sinners. And by his death at Calvary,
He fulfilled all righteousness, satisfied all justice, finished
all judgment, brought in everlasting righteousness, put away sin,
and saved his people from their sins. Now, tonight, the title
of my message is The Witness of God. Turn with me to 1 John
5. Our text will be verses 6 through
9. Let's begin reading in verse
1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth him
that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we
know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep
his commandments. For this is the love of God,
that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not
grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. Now here's our text. And this
is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ, not
by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that
beareth witness because the Spirit is truth. For there are three
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy
Ghost, and these three are one. And there are three that bear
witness in earth, the spirit, the water, and the blood, and
these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. This is the witness of God which
he hath testified of his son." Brother Darwin called me Earlier
today, we talked for a good long while, he'd been studying the
sweet incense made up by the, according to the incense of the
apothecary, by which the high priest of Israel went into the
Holy of Holies with blood once a year to make atonement for
the people. And he was asking me my thoughts
concerning that incense. That incense waved before the
priest, filling the air in the Holy of Holies, is that which
gave a sweet savor, a sweet smell, to the blood sacrifice offered
upon God's altar, sprinkled upon the mercy seat in the Holy of
Holies. So that as God smelled it, it's
a sweet savor to God. I know it has reference to that.
Because in Ephesians chapter 5 we're told that Christ is a
sweet savor to God who was typified in that sacrifice. Alan would
smell that sweet incense. Blood doesn't smell good. Raw meat doesn't smell good. Blood is repugnant. Raw meat is repugnant. It has a repugnance about it
that we don't care for naturally. But the incense completely consumes
the offensive smell of the blood of the raw meat. And as that
priest goes in with blood in a bowl to sprinkle on the mercy
seat, the incense causes the blood to smell good. Christ made sin for us. Offered to God is acceptable
and sweet to God, and this is God's witness. The incense says
this is acceptable. The incense is that which causes
God's servants, as they preach the gospel, to be a sweet savor
to God. If God sends me to preach to
you, if God sends a man to preach to you, the message he brings
is a sweet savor to God in those who believe and in those who
believe not. It is a sweet, acceptable arraignment
of God because God sends His Word as His witness. Whether
men believe or believe not, His witness stands, and it is a sweet
savor to Him. Here we have John testifying
of God's witness. God's witness given in His Word
God's witness given by his son in his life of obedience upon
the earth. God's witness given by his spirit
to every sinner who believes on the son of God. God's witness
given in the sweet ordinances of the gospel. Let's look at
it together. First, let me talk to you a little
bit about this book one more time. Oh, how we ought to cherish
this book. This is God's word. God's word. I was a bit surprised, I think
I told you this, in studying a couple of years ago, reading
a biography about the founding work at Southern Seminary in
Louisville. J.P. Boyce was the founder. And
Boyce, as far as I know, was a faithful man, believed the
gospel of God's grace. But not everybody involved with
it was. Southern Seminary was established
in Louisville. It was actually established before
the Civil War, but it was established in Louisville after the Civil
War. Had four professors. Four professors. I was shocked
to find out that one of the four, one of the four, the fellow who
taught the ancient literature, did not believe this book is
the inspired word of God. That was at the very beginning.
That was at the very beginning. And yet he was embraced as a
faithful better. He did not believe back in the
1800s. This book's the Word of God.
He was influenced by rational theology out of Germany, and
he succumbed to the reason of man rather than to the revelation
of God. The fact is you cannot prove
the validity of Holy Scripture by any external means. You cannot prove it by history. You cannot prove it by science. You cannot prove it by ancient
records. You cannot prove it by church
creeds. The proof of scripture is in
the scripture as you experience God's grace in the knowledge
of God. We do not subject our faith. Believing men and women do not
subject our faith. to the creeds and confessions
of men, creeds and confessions of the church written by men. We subject all creeds and confessions
and theology to the written revelation of God in his word. Several years
ago, I was attending a meeting in church out here where Brother
Estes was raised. They were getting ready to kick
a preacher out and he asked me to come just to be there. He
was an assistant pastor, youth pastor, something like that.
And I went. I wasn't there to say anything. It wasn't my place
to. I just went to observe the goings on. And they were packed
out. They were packed out. You were
with me, weren't you? She wasn't with me. OK. They
were packed out. And when all said and done, when
all said and done, one of the deacons jumped up in the back
and he had a pile of papers waving them like this. And this is exactly
what it said. This is what we believe. It doesn't matter what that book
says. The fact is, that's what all
folks do who bow to creeds and confessions. They make the Word
of God subject to their confession. They make the Word of God subject
to their creed. not so with God's people. We bow to the revelation of Holy
Scripture so that whatever God teaches in his word, we bow to
it, we believe it, and if we don't understand it, we ask for
grace and wisdom from his spirit to give us understanding. Our
faith rests entirely upon the revelation of God in Holy Scripture. Well, Brother Don, how can you
have that kind of confidence in a book. After all, it's just
a book written by men. How many times have you heard
that? It's just a book. It's a good book, but it's written
by men. Let's see if it is. Let's see if it is. This book
claims to be the writing of God. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. That means either it is or the
book is a fabrication. If it's a fabrication, it's not
a good book. If it's a fabrication claiming
to be the Word of God, it's not a good book, it's a deceitful
book. Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. That's the claim of this book.
Either they wrote what they wrote, according to divine inspiration,
by the dictate of God the Holy Spirit. You've been preaching,
you believe God dictated every word? Every dot on every I, every
cross on every T, every word in every syllable. Yes, sir.
Yes, sir. Each man writing exactly as God the Holy Spirit moved
him to write precisely what he wrote. And there's incredible
evidence that this must be so. This book is the greatest standing
miracle in the universe. Consider a few things. There
was never an order given to anyone to write the book and compile
it. The men who wrote the scriptures
made no concerted effort at all to do so as a group of people. Some time ago I was asked, and
I've been asked to do this on occasion with other things, I
was asked to serve on an editorial board of a new study Bible coming
out. to be published I think this
year or next, and folks asked me to make my contribution to
it. And what they were doing was asking several men that they
thought could have at least similar convictions to write various
things in the study Bible because it's a task one man wouldn't
dare attempt on his own. And so several come together
and make up this study Bible. That's not the way this book
was written. There's no indication anywhere that Moses consulted
with David, or Luke consulted with John, or John consulted
with Matthew, or Mark consulted with Paul. No indication of that
whatsoever. These men wrote by divine inspiration,
and yet they spoke with complete unity about all the same subjects. The formation of this book, I
say, is a miraculous thing, written on two continents, in hundreds
of countries, or in countries hundreds of miles apart, without
any of the convenience of modern communication. No email, no telephone,
no typewriters, nothing of the kind. The Bible was written some
places men wrote while they were in palaces, other places in caves,
other places in wilderness, other places in prison. It was written
in three different languages over a span of 1600 years by
scores of men and testifies one message. It speaks the gospel
of Christ and everything in the book is in perfect harmony. In
perfect harmony. People say, well, there are all
kinds of contradictions in the Bible. I dare you to find me
one. I dare you to find me one. Find
me one. There are historic statements
in scripture that could not have been known but by divine revelation. Men are still trying to figure
out how this earth was made. And one of the great marvels
of science, brilliant, brilliant science, brilliant science, is
that They changed their opinion about every year. Just about
every year. Almost every year since Darwin
first came up with the nutty idea that this sort of just grew out of a worm of some kind,
at best. They changed their opinions concerning
it. How do you know where the world came from? In the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth. Now, I tell you what,
you find something else that makes any sense. I challenge you, find something
else that makes any sense. Well, men evolved. They just
evolved. I told you before, years ago,
Carl Sagan was on Donahue. He was a professor up at Cordell
University of New York. Brilliant, brilliant fellow,
brilliant fellow. He had written a book and was
selling it. And he was on Phil Donahue's show. And when Donahue
was on, I think he came on about 8 or 9 o'clock in the mornings
around here. When I wanted to get my blood boiling, I'd flip
him on. And I was getting dressed, come over here one morning, and
Donahue was on talking to Carl Sagan. And they were talking
about how the earth evolved. And Donahue said to Sagan, he
said, we know that all life came from the water. But how did animals
begin to walk? Now, this is what the scientist
said. I couldn't make this stuff up.
I ain't this smart. This is what the scientist said. He got up
from his chair, Larry, and he said, well, the waters on the
earth began to dry up. And the fishes flopped from waterhole to waterhole,
oh, for several million years till they developed legs and
started walking. There they are. And Donahue said,
oh. I couldn't help but laugh and
they couldn't even hear me. What stupidity. You choose that and
call that brilliance? We know how everything was made. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. I have a dear friend who struggled
somewhat with this. Brilliant lady. She continued
her education long into her 60s. And I had an occasion to write
to her. She still tried to hold on to
some kind of evolutionary notion. I said, I would like for you
to do me a favor. I'm asking a question. I want
some information. You search your textbooks and find every
example you can of evolutionary process where there's a change.
made in an animal, change made in a fish, change made in a bird,
some change that's an improvement. Any change that's an improvement
and let me know what they are. And I didn't hear from her for
nearly six months. And Mark she wrote back and said
there's not any. All the changes are deformities. And they call
that proof of evolution. Fish that soon get to a place
they can't see is an improvement. No, that's a deformity. That's
a deformity. Oh, no, no. We understand that
the heavens were framed by the Word of God. And we understand
that because God's given us faith in Christ. We could not be privy
to the decrees of God. Election, predestination, reprobation,
covenant mercy. We could not know any of those
things. were it not for the fact that
God has revealed them to us in his word. Well, there have been
philosophies that taught those things forever. I beg your pardon. There have been religious philosophies
that taught blind fate and fatalism. There have been religious philosophies
that taught free will and good luck and such as that. But none,
but none, that spoke of definite decrees by a sovereign God ordering
all things after his own will and revealing what they are.
There is about this book an honesty and an integrity that you won't
find in anything else. You won't find it in Koran. You
won't find it in the Book of Mormon. You won't find it in
biographies. The fact that those men who wrote
the book, being inspired by God the Holy Spirit, freely express
their own faults, failures, and sins, and the faults, failures,
and sins of one another is evidence that this book is not a divine
origin. Moses holds Abraham up as an
example of faith. Dave Byrd, you want to know what
it is to believe God? Look at Abraham. Look at Abraham. He was the father of them that
believed. Abraham rejoiced to see my day, the Savior said,
and he believed God. He believed the testimony of
God concerning his son, Jesus Christ, the Lord. He believed
that in him, in that one who would come from Abraham's loins,
God would raise up the woman seed who would crush the serpent's
head and redeem his people. Abraham believed God. Oh, what
an example of faith. Abraham takes his son to Mount
Moriah, gives us by picture an example of Christ's death on
our behalf and his resurrection from the dead. But oh, what an
example of faith, of consecration and devotion to God. And Moses
holds this man Abraham up and says, Abraham was afraid of a
king and said to Sarah, you tell him you're my sister. Abraham hearkened to Sarah and
went in to Hagar and got Ishmael. How do you know that? Because
Moses, inspired of God, wrote with integrity. Noah, oh, what
a remarkable man. What a remarkable man. Noah believed
God and he built an ark to the saving of his house. Noah, preserves
the worship of God amid an apostate world and God preserved his seed
in that man Noah. And Noah, we find him in a drunken
stupor. Well, how could you expect anybody
to pay any attention to a man like that? It's not the man we're
following. It's the man's God and the message
of his God. David, that man after God's own
heart, what greatness he displays, what
majesty as man, what devotion. When David ended his life, God
in heaven mentions three things to his discredit. remarkable man, but he committed
adultery and murder, and it's written right in the book, right
in the book. That same spirit of simple honesty
is demonstrated throughout the Old Testament, the Gospels, and
the Epistles. And then there is an absolute
fulfillment of the prophecies of Old Testament. by our Redeemer. The intricate details of our
Lord's person, His birth, His incarnation, His life, His sufferings
and death, His resurrection and His glory are plainly set forth
in the Old Testament Scriptures. I just read this morning in Micah
5, 2 about Bethlehem Ephrathah. Bethlehem Ephrathah. Messiah is going to be born right
there. Right there. Find me a volume anywhere written
by men that can give detailed prophecy, giving detailed explanation
of things that are going to happen. Now, I know brilliant, brilliant
minds, laughably brilliant folks, just brilliant minds. They'll
sit down and study Nostradamus. And you know, he predicted hundreds of years
ago there was going to be a flash of light in the sky. So he didn't really. That's about
all his prediction comes to. Nothing marvelous about that.
Nothing unusual about that. But open this book. God told
the children of Israel, you're going to Egypt. And you're going
to be down there for 400 years. And on the same day, he brought
them out 400 years later. It's in the book. God said, you're
going to Babylon. The king of Babylon is going
to come. He's going to destroy this city and this nation and
this temple, this house where my name dwells because of your
sin. And 70 years later, There's a
fella named Cyrus gonna come and bring you back to this place
and build again my house. Call him by name. Call him by
name. What? Why is that so important?
This book, written by divine inspiration. The prophets gave
us types and pictures, example after example, typifying the
Lord Jesus, and he fulfilled them all. The fact is, You add
to these things the perfect unity of scripture, testifying the
gospel of Christ. To this man, give all the prophets
witness. The scriptures, from the beginning
to the end, talk continually about one man, one man coming
to bear the sins of many, one man coming, bearing sin, who
will put away sin, that man who bears sin in his body and puts
it away, he's going to rise again the third day, just like Jonah
came out of the belly of hell. And that man, he's going to ascend
up to glory. And that man, he's going to save
his people by his marvelous free grace. And the scriptures bear
it all out, all with perfect uniformity. Every part of the
Bible matching every other part. So I repeat, show me a contradiction. How firm a foundation ye saints
of the Lord is laid for your faith in his excellent word. What more can he say than to
you who have said, to you who for refuge under Jesus have fled. Now let's look just briefly tonight
at these witnesses given 1st John 5 we'll come back to them
in more detail the Lord willing in the weeks to come Here's the
first Witness of God the testimony of the fulfilled law of the verse
6 John been talking to us about the believers confession of faith
We believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, Prophet,
Priest, King, Redeemer and Deliverer, whom God the Father anointed
and sent into this world. Now, he says we know that this
confession is true because he came fulfilling the requirements
of the law. Two things were always required
with regard to all the Old Testament sacrifices. Two things. The washing
of the holy water and the shedding of blood. This is He that came
by water and blood, even Jesus Christ. Not by water only, but
by water and blood. He's talking about sanctification
and justification, regeneration and atonement. Why does John
speak of the washing in sanctification, in regeneration, before the blood,
the atonement. The blood sacrifice comes first. You know that. But we experience
it in just exact different order. You know nothing about the atoning
blood of Christ. You know nothing about the efficacy
of Christ's blood shed at Calvary until you have been born of God
and the blood sprinkled on your conscience. We have the washing
of the water by the word in regeneration and the cleansing of the blood
by which our Savior has put away our sins. And we know that when
Christ died at Calvary, he died in our stead when we are washed
by his spirit, washed by his grace with the sprinkling of
the blood. These two things, water and blood, flowed out of
our Savior's side, and these two things are signified by our
Savior fulfilling the law. And then we have the inward testimony
of God the Holy Spirit, verse 6. And it is the Spirit that
beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. God the Holy
Spirit giving faith in Christ, bears
witness with our spirit that we're gods. God, the Holy Spirit,
gives witness within that we belong to God because he sheds
abroad the love of God into our hearts. He causes us to know
by the experience of his grace the love of God when he gives
us faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Believer, the child of God, Those
born again by God, the Holy Spirit, had the witness in themselves
that Christ is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. Believing on Him, we have witnessed
from God that we are His. The Spirit sheds abroad the love
of God in our hearts and convinces us of God's goodness, mercy,
and love toward us in Christ Jesus. And then in verse 7, We
have the witness of the Holy Trinity. We know the gospel,
the declaration that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. We
know this is true because we have the infallible testimony
of the triune God. There are three that bear record
in heaven, bear record of what? Jesus is the Christ, the father,
the word, he who is the revelation of God and the Holy Ghost. God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And these
three are one. All bearing witness to the fact
that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God, the Savior of
his people. They all bear witness, bear record
in heaven. The father receiving the sacrifice
of the son. The son sitting down at the right
hand of the majesty on high having accomplished redemption for us.
And the spirit bearing testimony from heaven itself into our souls
of the accomplishments of our redeemer. And these three are
one. One God. Now, look at the next
line, verse eight. How can we know that ours is
true faith, that ours is true religion, that our Christianity
is true, John tells us that we have this evidence given to show
the truth of it all, the unified testimony of the gospel. There
are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit and the water
and the blood. And these three agree in one.
Now, there's more to be said to this than I'll get said tonight,
but I've got these three things from John Gill. I'm confident
that he's accurate. He said, the spirit of God, by
the word of the gospel, bears witness that Jesus is the Christ. The spirit of God comes and speaks,
and you hear more than the voice of a man. You hear God speak. And when you hear God speak,
you believe. He bears witness that Jesus is
the Christ. And every believer bears witness
to Christ by their confession of him in believer's baptism. We come to the watery grave. This is how our Lord Jesus fulfilled
all righteousness. He said to John, suffer it, be
so now. to fulfill all righteousness.
You mean his baptism fulfilled righteousness? No. Nobody but some Campbellite fool
would believe that. That's nonsense. No, no, no, no, no, no. But it
pictured the fulfillment of righteousness. And by our baptism, we confess
the same thing. We confess as our Lord did. He
was baptized to John and he declared that by his death and his rising
again, God would pour out his spirit. He was buried in the
water. He was raised up out of the water
and the spirit of God descended on him like a dove. Even so,
we confess that we were crucified with Christ, died with him, were
buried with him, arose with him, and we live in anticipation of
resurrection glory in the Spirit of God, given us as a result
of our union with Christ Jesus, who died in our stead. We've
received the blessing of Abraham, the promise of the Spirit, because
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. God's people bear
witness to Christ as well in the blessed ordinance of the
Lord's Supper We meet here at the Lord's table every Sunday
night Pray for God to give you grace
as you do to do so in remembrance of him Don't don't just eat the
bread and drink the wine cause it's Sunday night time to do
it in remembrance of Him. Our Savior said, as oft as you
eat this bread and drink this cup, you show the Lord's death
to the cup. By the Lord's table, we give
a symbolic confession of all that Christ accomplished for
us in His death as our substitute and the life we now have by faith
in Him. Now, look at verse 9. If we receive the witness of
men, if we receive the witness of men, and we do, we do, I try my best never to receive
rumors. I try my best never to pay attention
to yak. Somebody comes in, you hear what
Malcolm Regina said? No. Did you hear it? Well, no, but
Lindsey told me. Well, that's just a lie. That's
just a lie. Now, I don't pay any attention
to yak. I don't pay any attention to
that. But now, if you saw the fellow committing murder, and
you saw it, that's verified. That's verified. I believe it.
I receive the witness of men, men who actually know what they're
talking about. Yeah, we receive that. In a court,
we receive that. In a court, we do. The witness
of God is greater. Witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God,
which he hath testified of his Son." There it is. There it is. It is. That is, in his word, in our
hearts, in the ordinances of divine worship, we testify redemption
through the blood of Jesus Christ, salvation by his name. Who will
believe our report? He to whom the arm of the Lord
is revealed. Amen.