Our text will be from chapter
5, verses 10 through 13. 1 John chapter 5. At verse 10, John writes, He
that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. 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,
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 ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the
name of the Son of God. John was probably the youngest
of the twelve apostles that our Lord called. And he lived longer
than all the rest. He was the only one that didn't
die a martyr's death. He died as full of years. But now, when he wrote this epistle,
he's an old man. He writes from personal experience. He writes, Louis, what he knows. Someone asked, I think it was
Brother Scott Richardson sometime years ago, about a certain verse
of scripture. They said, Brother Scott, do
you believe that that's so? And he said, well, I don't know.
I haven't experienced it yet. Haven't experienced it yet. John
the aged, John the old man now, when he writes this epistle,
has experienced God's mercy. He's experienced God's grace. He's experienced God's faithfulness. So he writes those things that
he knows. And as we mentioned in the reading
over and over again throughout these five chapters, he uses
the term little children. My little children, this epistle
is not written to any particular church or any individual, but
to Christians in general, all God's people are God's little
children. Like those here this morning,
this epistle is to us, God's little children, those who are
believers. John writes this epistle, as
we mentioned in the reading, in the same matter-of-fact way
that he wrote the Gospel of John. He writes, did you notice that?
And of course, this is true about God's Word in its entirety. But
John writes with certainty. He's not ambiguous. He doesn't
leave wiggle room for, well, these things might be so or they
might not be so. Well, everyone is entitled to
their opinion, as though man's opinion is on the equal footing
with the Word of God. John doesn't give a clue of such
nonsense as that. He writes with certainty. If
you heard John preach, and I hope this is true of this preacher,
it was certainly true of John. If you heard John preach, you
wouldn't leave wondering What he meant? I wondered what he
meant. Did he mean this or did he mean
something else? We just can't be sure. That wasn't
true in John's preaching. It's not true in his epistles. Turn, if you will, as an example
of this back to his gospel, chapter 1. John chapter 1. As we say,
chapter 1 of his epistle begins much in the same way as chapter
1 of the gospel, that he was inspired by God's Holy Spirit
to write. In John chapter 1, verse 1. So, so plain, so certain, no question
about this. John says, in the beginning was
the Word. Whether man believes it or not,
it doesn't change the fact. John says, this is so. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. What about
evolution? All things were made by him.
What about the teachings of science? All things were made by him,
John said. We're not going to consider any
other alternative. This is how it is. All things
were made by him, and without him was not anything made that
was made. He, the Word, the eternal Word,
that He who alone is the exact image of God, the express image
of God, created all things by the Word of His power. John goes
on and says in verse 4, in Him was life, and the life was the
light of men. Look down at verse 14. And the
Word, that eternal Word, the Word of God, the eternal son
of god. The word was made flesh. Now,
that's a verse that shouldn't be run over quickly. What a wonder this is. I mean,
it's enough within the first four verses to captivate our
thought and our and make us confess, it's beyond me. I can't get much
of a grasp on that, although I believe it. But then we come
down to verse 14 and he says concerning that eternal word,
it was made flesh. It was made flesh. The eternal
Son of God robed himself in flesh, though he was rich beyond our
imagination. Yet He became poor and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And the Word
was made flesh and dwelt, tabernacled is the word, and dwelt among
us and we beheld His glory as the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. Is there any doubt? What John
was saying here. Is there any doubt who the Word
of God is? And what He alone did? And that
that Word was made flesh and dwelt among us? Any doubt about
that? Not with John. not concerning
the Word of God. And we find the same thing here
in his epistle. Look again, if you will. I know
we read it earlier, but look in chapter 1 of 1 John. You see this same certainty,
this same matter of factness. These are matters, John says,
of absolute truth. I would that people today would
approach God's Word with that attitude. that God would give
them grace, because we can't do it otherwise, just to cast
our opinions aside. cast our thoughts aside, and
realize we're approaching the Word of God. It requires our
reverence. It requires our absolute attention. And it requires me bowing down
to it and saying, thus saith the Lord. It must be so, Jeff. It must be. Otherwise, he wouldn't
say so. These are matters of absolute
truth. Again, in chapter 1, verse 1
of 1 John, that which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, we're telling you what
we know. This eternal Word that was made
flesh and tabernacled for a little while among us, we saw Him with
our own eyes. We heard Him with our own ears. We felt Him. We touched Him. Even after He died upon the cross,
He appeared to us and says, touch me and see. It is I. the Son of God. John says, which
we have seen with our eyes, which we have handled, which we have
looked upon, rather, and our eyes have handled the Word of
Life. John says, that's so. That's
so. Oh, what a miracle. What a miracle. What a wonder. What a marvel. God dwelt among men as a man,
as a man, accepting sin. And that is the great exception. A man just like you and just
like me. A man that got hungry, a man
that got thirsty, a man that got tired. Verse 3, and John
says, that which we have seen and heard, speaking of Christ,
declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with
him. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son, Jesus Christ. Verse 5, this then is the message,
here's the message, which we have heard of him, that is Christ,
who said, I'm the truth. This, then, is the message from
Him. And we declare unto you that God is light. God is light. This is what Christ taught. And
in Him is no darkness at all. These are matters, again, I say,
of absolute truth. Amen? Now, look at verse 6. This is absolute truth, too.
There may be folks that don't like to hear it. There may be
folks that try to close their eyes to it. But this is absolute
truth too. If we say we have fellowship
with him, and just about everybody does, don't they? Am I exaggerating
here? Don't most of your relations
say they're believers? Don't most of your neighbors
claim to be believers? Most of the people you work with,
most folks that you encounter, just about everybody claims to
be a believer. Everybody claims to be a Christian. It's popular to say, I'm born
again. Well, John says, if we say that
we have fellowship with him, that we know God, and we walk
in darkness, what's John say? We lie and do not the truth. Walk in darkness. And that doesn't
mean stumbling and falling as Peter did. That's not what it
means. All believers can do that. And
we do do that. And by God's grace, he brings
us back. Peter, when you're converted
again, when I turn you back again, strengthen your brethren. That's
not what the word walk means. It means our way of life. Lester, it means how we live,
how we walk through this world. And I can profess to know God
louder than anybody around me, but if my walk is a walk of darkness,
I'm lying to myself. This is what John says. This
is what John said. If we say we have fellowship
with him and our life is contradictory to that, we can profess with
the loudest voice, I know God. I'm a believer. I'm a Christian. I'm born again, but then my walk,
the way I live, the way I think, my motivation, my desires, my
love, it's all centered in the world of darkness. I'm lying
to myself, John says. I'm deceiving myself. It's not
so, no matter how loudly I may profess. If we say we have fellowship
with him, God, who He has told us already in verse 5 is absolute
light. Him, who calls His people out
of darkness. He calls us out of darkness,
Todd, to follow Him. He calls us out of darkness and
has translated us into the kingdom of His own dear Son. Your children
of light, Paul wrote, walk as children of light. by whom we are made new creatures
in Christ. Consider that. If we say we have
fellowship with him and walk in darkness, John is saying this. If our profession and our practice
don't agree, if they contradict one another, as James said concerning
this very same subject, he asked the question, can such faith
as that save a man? Can that kind of faith save a
man? And the answer is no, because
it's not the genuine thing. It's not true faith. It's a false
profession. John says in very strong terms,
we lie, we lie. And James asks, can such faith
save him? And the answer today is, yes,
it can. James says, no, it can't. John
says, no, it can't. But most today say, oh, yes,
it can. But we'll lose some of our reward.
We make a profession of knowing Christ and yet walk in darkness.
We're not lying. We're just going to lose some
reward. That's not what the book says.
Yes, we can have fellowship with Him and still walk in darkness.
We must be carnal Christians. I know that's another popular
teaching today. There's nothing in the Word to
substantiate that doctrine of a carnal Christian. It's not
in there. The definition of that is this.
A man who has accepted Jesus as Lord, or rather as his Savior,
but has never bowed to him as Lord, someone who professes to
know God, and yet he walks in darkness, he's a carnal Christian. No, he's not. No, he's not. He's
not a Christian at all. John says he's lying. It cannot be. It cannot be. That teaching, that teaching,
the carnal Christian teaching, is the product of, it's the necessary,
it's the necessary consequence of the easy believism of that
other gospel that's being preached today, that's so prevalent today. But note again what John says
in verse 6. If we say we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we will lose some reward. No. No. We lie and do not the truth. We're lying to ourselves. We're
lying to those we make the profession to. We don't know God. And we don't do any such folks. And we probably know folks like
this. I do. Have loved ones. But we don't
do them any favor by going along with the lie. They may pretend
to be believers and walk in darkness. Don't do them the disfavor. Don't do the hurt to their immortal
souls by pretending that it's true. It's not true. And we don't
do them any good by pretending that it is. And we don't honor
our God by pretending that it is either. We don't honor God's
mighty grace by pretending someone can know Him and live their life
in darkness. That's a denial of the gospel
of God's mighty grace. That's exactly what it is. Paul
said, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Any man. God's grace makes him a new creature. And Paul said, behold, All things
are passed away, as Bobby sang a moment ago. Everything's changed. Grace transforms a man. Grace in every case is successful. Everyone that experienced the
grace of God in their heart, Paul says, he's made a new creature
in Christ Jesus. No exceptions. God's Word doesn't
make any exception for anyone. If you don't walk in the light,
follow Christ, don't profess to be a Christian because you're
not. You're not. If you profess to
know God and you're living in darkness, don't claim to be a
child of God. You're not. But notice what he
says in verse 7 of chapter 1 as well. What he says in verse six
is an absolute truth. Oh, but what he says in verse
seven is as well. But, oh, but, thank God for this. Thank God for grace. Thank God
for his transforming, his regenerating, his renewing, his sovereign,
his mighty grace. When it comes to sinners, It
makes a difference. It makes a difference. Trotting
up and out won't make a difference. It'll just give you a false hope.
We don't do that here. We don't have an altar. I invited
a lady to our services here a few weeks ago, our conference here. And she said, I was at that church
years ago. She's a business lady in one
of the stores downtown. She said, I've never been in
a church like that. I said, why is that? I thought she was going
to say because of what the pastor preached, Brother Tommy. The
message, it was so different. You know what she said? That
place doesn't have an altar. It doesn't have an altar. I've
never been in a church that didn't have an altar. Why don't you
have an altar? I said, because we don't offer animal sacrifices.
We don't need one. That's why Christ is our altar. Paul said, we have an altar that
they have no right to eat from that served the tabernacle. Christ
is our altar. He's our sacrifice. He's our
Passover. But if we walk in the light as
he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. We have fellowship
one with another. We together, believers, have
fellowship one with another and with God. Amazing. And the blood. The blood. Not the blood of animal sacrifices.
Oh, but the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son. What does it do? In every case, every time, cleanses
us from all sin. What a Savior. What a Savior. Now, look again, if you will,
in chapter 5 of 1 John. 1 John 5, verse 10. John writes, He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He doesn't need me
to tell him. He doesn't need the assurance
of a soul winner. No. He has the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his son. You see this same distinction
that John makes in this verse throughout the chapter, throughout
the book rather. John makes it throughout this
epistle. Those who believe. and those
who don't. Those who know God and those
who don't. Those who have the witness in
themselves, as he tells us here, and those who don't. And the
witness that John speaks of is the witness of God's Holy Spirit. He bears witness with our spirit
that we are the children of God. Look in chapter 2 of this same
epistle, 1 John chapter 2. Look what he says in verse 20,
and he's talking about the spirit of God. In John 2 verse 20. But ye have an unction from the
Holy One, and ye know all things. Unction. Look down at verse 27.
Here the word anointing is the same word as unction. Here it's
translated anointing, but it's the very same word. But the anointing
which ye have received of him abideth in you. In you. Religion is all out here. Religion is all outward. It appeals to the natural man. Give me a list of do's and don'ts. Give me a list. Give me rules
and regulations. Touch not and taste not and wear
not and go not. Give me that. I can do those
things. That's not salvation. That's
not salvation. That's man-made. John speaks
about He that abideth in you. It's Christ in you. That's the
hope of glory. Nothing I do outside myself. Not all my doing, but his doing. It's Christ in you. And this
is what John speaks of. But the anointing which ye have
received of him abideth in you. And ye need not that any man
teach you. Now, John's not saying here there's
no need of pastors and teachers. That's not what he's saying.
He was teaching them right here, my little children. He's speaking
to them as a pastor at this very time. But what he's saying, man
is not your authority. that anointing, that unction,
the witness of God's Holy Spirit that abides in you, He teaches
you all things and is truth and is no lie, and even as it hath
taught you, ye shall abide in Him. Simply put, John tells us
the grounds of our assurance is Jesus Christ Himself. by the experience of God's grace,
by the Holy Spirit bearing witness. Isn't this what Christ Himself
taught in John 16? He said, the Holy Spirit, when
He has come, the Word of Truth, the Comforter, He shall not speak
of Himself, but He'll take the things of mine and show it unto
you. He'll bear witness of me. He'll testify of me. And this is what John is saying.
The Holy Spirit opens our eyes. To do what? To enable us to do
what? To behold the Lamb of God. That's the reason. That's His
work. He doesn't direct us to look
to ourselves, but to Christ. And then we can sing, blessed
assurance. Jesus is mine. Oh, this is indeed blessed. This
is indeed comforting. Jesus is mine. I am his and he
is mine forever. Oh, only this can give the believer
assurance and hope before the Holy God. Faith looks out of
self, away from self, and trust in Christ alone. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. Our hope is not in
what we do, but what our Lord has done. Faith points without,
not within. Look unto me and be ye saved,
Christ says. Never otherwise. It's not our
love, as John teaches in this epistle. We love him because
he first loved us, absolutely. But that's not our grounds of
assurance. Good works. Believers have them.
That's not our grounds of assurance. Our faith, genuine faith, is
not grounds of assurance. But the object of our faith,
that's what John's telling us. The object of faith, Jesus Christ
himself, the Spirit of God, takes the record of God's Word and
makes it the voice of God in our heart. His Spirit. in the sweet experience of grace,
comes to us, applies the blood of Christ, and whispers, you're
His. You're His. Your sins, which
are many, are all forgiven you. And now briefly, looking at verses
11 through 13, we have three things here. John speaks of what
we have. where we have it in verse 12
and what we know in verse 13. The title of my message is Blessed
Assurance. Blessed Assurance. Oh, what a
blessed thing it is. What a blessed thing it is to
know that I belong to Him. If I do, it is well with my soul. If I'm in Christ, I have everything. I have everything that the holy
God demands. Everything that He requires,
I have it in Christ. Christ is all. Preacher, it sounds
like you're saying that man does nothing, is nothing, can do nothing,
and Christ is all. That's exactly what I'm saying.
That's what God says. Christ is all and we are complete
in him. There's an article in your bulletin
from Romans, or rather on Romans chapter 11 verse 5, where it
speaks of God's election. Even at this present time also,
there is a remnant according to the election of grace. But how can I know? How can I
know? Thank God for that blessed truth. Thank God that he has chosen
a people in Christ before the foundation of the world. Thank
God that he has purposed to save a people. But how can I know
I'm one of those? How can I know I'm chosen? How
can I know that Christ died for me? How can I know that I'm one
of the elect? How is it possible to know? Only
by this. But what John says here, do I
believe? Do I believe on the Son? If so,
John says, we have the witness in ourself. Verse 11, what we
have? God had given to us eternal life. And this is the record that God
had given to us eternal life. And this life is in His Son. Eternal life. God hath given. God. That's a good place to start,
isn't it? God. Don't start with man. God. The gifts and calling of
God, Paul wrote, are without repentance. That means God won't
take them back. God will never repent. He'll
never take back the gift of eternal life. He says, I am God. I change not. Once we're His. We're His forever. Listen to what David said. what he himself said in 2 Samuel
chapter 7. Nathan the prophet came to him
and said, God's going to allow you to do, or rather your ancestor
to do, your offspring, your son, that which will proceed from
your loins to build the house that you want to do. But he's
speaking of not David's fleshly son. He's speaking of David,
the son of God, David's king and David's lord. And in verse
12, When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy
fathers, I will set up thy seat after thee. which shall proceed
out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He, that
is Christ, shall build a house for my name, and I will establish
the throne of his kingdom forever. Verse 16. And thine house and
thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne
shall be established forever. And that's not talking about
Solomon. That's talking about Christ. And here's David's reaction. Here's David's reaction. Then
went King David in and sat before the Lord. When Nathan came to
him with that blessed report of what God would do, David went
in and sat before the Lord and he said, Who am I, O Lord? Who
am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that thou
hast brought me hither to? That's the attitude of a recipient
of God's grace. When a sinner, by God's Holy
Spirit, is made aware of who he is, when he learns of the
Father, of his desperate case, his desperate
need. When God reveals to himself who
he is, we want to think about what we've done. God says the
problem goes beyond that. It goes deeper than that. You
can reform. You can quit doing certain things,
but your need is greater than that. You have need of my mighty
grace. And when God in his grace reveals
to us who we are. And we are made to cry out, O
wretched man that I am. We're made to see our need of
a miracle of God's mighty grace when He strips us bare and we
stand before Him naked. When the cry of His holy law
is shouting in our ears, the soul that sinneth, it must die
and points his finger right at us, it's you. You're the man. Ever been there? Have you ever
been brought love? Has justice ever echoed in your
heart? Day and night, thou art to man. God's justice demands payment
and I don't have anything to pay with. Ever been there? Ever been stripped
and stand before God with nothing? Oh, if you have, If you have,
you can identify with what David says here. You can identify with
his attitude of worship and adoration and praise to his God that comes
to such a sinner as I describe in closing. I'm naked. I'm naked. My righteousness is
filthy rags before God. My decision for Jesus is a filthy
rag. My trotting up to Al and that
decision is a filthy rag. Oh, I'm naked before God. Oh, but He comes. He comes. And He puts on me. He puts on
this sinner that perfect robe that perfect robe of the righteousness
of his own son. Accepted and to be loved. Oh, that blessed experience will
produce this. Who am I, oh Lord God? And what
is my house that thou has brought me hither to? Therefore, thou
art great, O Lord God, for there is none like thee, neither is
there any God beside thee according to all that we have heard with
our ears. And David goes on to say, for
thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, has revealed to thy servant,
saying, I will build thee a house. Therefore, hath thy servant found
in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O Lord God,
thou art that God. and thy words be true, and thou
hast promised this goodness unto thy servant. Therefore, now let
it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue
forever before thee, for thou, O Lord, hast spoken it. And with
thy blessing, let the house of thy servant be blessed forever. Speaking of the Son of God. God had given to us eternal life,
given. Out of his pure, free grace,
God purposed to give some of the fallen sons of Adam eternal
life. Spiritual life that we lost in
Adam. The very life of God. Eternal
life. And where do we have it? This
life is in his son. Nowhere else. God's words concerning
Adam were these. after he created Adam and placed
him in the garden, he said, it's not good that the man should
be alone. You remember that in Genesis
chapter 2? God said, I will make him a helpmeet. And he created all the animals,
made them to pass before Adam, and Adam named every one of them.
But then we read on down in the chapter, there was not found
a helpmeet for Adam. And you know the story, the record. Out of Adam's rib, God created
Eve, and we're told he brought her to the man. And Adam said,
this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. In the everlasting covenant of
God's grace, God willed that his son should have a bride and
be the firstborn of many brethren. And Christ said for them, for
my bride, I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the
will of him that sent me. And this is the will of him that
sent me, of all which he had given me, I should lose none. He became flesh of our flesh
and bone of our bones. He was made like unto us. And
Paul says in Ephesians 5, Christ loved the church and gave himself
for it. He said, we are flesh of his
flesh and bone of his bones. Paul said, this is a great mystery,
but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Remember what
our Lord told his disciples that night before he went to the garden?
Because I live, ye shall live also. Your life comes from me. the head to the body, just as
surely, just as abundantly, just as everlastingly, because I live. The promise of life is in his
son. The purpose of life is in his
son. The purchase of life is in his son. John says, he that
had the son has life. Its beginning was in Christ,
its continuation is in Christ, and its ultimate perfection will
be in Christ. In Christ, we're restored to
life. He said, I'm the resurrection and the life. Paul, in 1 Corinthians
15, said, Christ, the firstfruits, the first to arise from the dead.
Afterwards, they that are Christ at his coming. Our glorious head
first. guarantees the resurrection of
his body, which is the church, whereby we'll cry out, we'll
cry out, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
victory? His life is the life of his church. This union of the members with
Christ their head is an everlasting union, an ever-loving union that
no man, no man can put asunder. He that hath the Son hath life
right now, and through him, because of him, we have a right to enter
into the city, through the gates into the city where we shall
be with God forever. It's no wonder that John wrote
in verse one of chapter three of this epistle, behold, behold,
look. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we shall be called the sons
of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not because it knew him not. Now last of all, verse 13 of
chapter 5, look what John says. He tells us this is the reason
he wrote this epistle. These things have I written unto
you that believe. You that are believers, Christians,
believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that
you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of
the Son of God. John sums it all up, all that
he has written in this one verse. You that believe, have the Son. Having the Son, you have eternal
life. And John says, I want you to
know it. I want you to know it, and I
want you to rejoice in it, and I want you to glorify your God
as you walk through this world believing it. John says just
keep believing, keep looking, keep trusting the Son of God. When I visited Brother Loy yesterday
in the hospital, thought of what Paul wrote in
2 Corinthians after I left his bedside. And I said to myself,
oh, I thank God for this blessed, blessed promise. Paul wrote these
words in 2 Corinthians 4. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. While we look, not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. For we know, we know, John said,
I want you to know. We know if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved, and it's being dissolved, isn't
it? Every day. I told Lester as he
walked by this morning right before service, I said, Lester,
that trip to Danville, 400 miles away, it seems to get longer
every time I make it. He says, that's because we're
getting older. Exactly. This tabernacle is being dissolved,
but we have a building of God, a house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. John said, he that hath the Son
hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life. And in
John chapter 3, his gospel we read, he that hath not the Son
hath not life, but the wrath of God abides on him. That describes some of you. The
wrath of God abides on him. God give you grace. God give
you grace to look to the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved forever. God bless you.