Next this evening will be 1st
John chapter 2 verses 21 through 27. 1st John chapter 2, 21 through
27. The wise man Solomon gave this
admonition in Proverbs 23, verse 23. By the truth sell it not. Buy the truth and sell it not. My subject tonight is don't sell
it. Don't sell it. Let's read our
text beginning at first John two twenty-one. I have written unto you, I have
not written unto you because you know not the truth but because
you know it. and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar? But he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ, he is antichrist, that denieth the
father and the son. Whosoever denieth the son, the
same hath not the father. But he that acknowledgeth the
son hath the father also. Let that therefore abide in you,
which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which you
have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also
shall continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the
promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto
you concerning them which seduce you. But the anointing which
ye have received of him abideth in you. And ye need not that
any man teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth
you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it
hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. Now, many things distinguish
the believer from the unbeliever. Believers are distinguished from
unbelievers in many, many ways in Scripture. But here, the Apostle
John writes by divine inspiration and tells us of this one distinction
that is almost altogether ignored by the world around us and by
the professed Church of Christ. What is this by which John distinguishes
the believer from the unbeliever? The believer knows the truth. The believer knows the truth. The unbeliever does not know
the truth. The believer knows the truth. The unbeliever does not know
the truth. All true believers know him who
is the truth. The unregenerate may know about
the truth. They may know the truth academically
and intellectually. In his head, the unbeliever has
some knowledge of facts and truth. No question about that. But he
doesn't know the truth. John speaks in verse 20 of that
unction by which we know all things. And this is the truth
that he's talking about. The believer, you remember, knows
all things intuitively from within. The believer, being born of God
and taught of God, knows in his heart the truth. It is written
on his heart by the finger of God. The unbeliever does not
and cannot know the truth unless God, the Holy Spirit, writes
it on his heart. The believer knows the truth.
In Hosea chapter 4, a distinction is clearly drawn by God between
the righteous and the wicked, the believing and the unbelieving. The Lord God said this is his
controversy with the children of Israel. There is no truth,
nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. That's God's controversy. There should have been. They
had the law of truth. They had the prophets of truth.
They had the pictures of truth, but they didn't know the truth.
They had no knowledge of truth. You remember Pilate asked our
Lord Jesus, what is truth? Here's one of the mightiest leaders
in the world in his day and he asked the Lord Jesus What is
truth? Acknowledging he didn't know
he didn't know he should have known The Lord Jesus who is the
truth was standing in front of him and they told him the truth
Any of our Lord's disciples any of those women who followed him
any of those loaded fishermen who followed him could easily
have told pilot the truth, but he did not know the truth and
Still, there are some in this world who know the truth. They're
so firmly persuaded in their hearts of the truth that many
have died for it. Every man, every woman, every
child, no matter their academic background, no matter their mental
abilities or their lack of academics or their lack of mental abilities.
Every man, every woman, every child who knows God He knows
the truth. He knows it by that special unction
that is given by God the Holy Spirit. What is truth? I'll tell
you what it is. Truth is the gospel of Christ,
the truth. Truth is Christ Himself. The truth is the revelation of
God in His Son, given to us by His Word, given to us by the
gospel of the grace of God. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. There's no such thing. There
is no such thing as salvation apart from knowledge of the truth. I do not suggest. I do not believe
that you arrive at salvation and you arrive at Christ by your
learning. I am telling you, you cannot
know Christ and not know the truth. God's people are taught
of God. Those who know the truth in their
hearts are saved. Those who know it not are lost. The wicked turn from the truth. The believer loves the truth
and receives the love of the truth. The wicked receive not
the truth. The believer is sanctified by
the truth. The children of God receive the
truth as the fruit of the Spirit in them. They meditate upon it. They walk in the truth. They
rejoice in the truth. They obey the truth. And they
abide in the truth. They abide in the truth. The gospel of God's free grace
in Christ is the truth which we bind about our necks And it
is that which is written upon the tables of our hearts. Gospel
truth is described as a girdle to give strength to our loins,
a breastplate to protect us, and a fountain to purify us.
Never was there a wiser, more needful admonition than that
which Solomon gave us in Proverbs 23. Buy the truth and sell it
not. Buy the truth. and sell it not. Likewise, merchants, we must
secure the genuine article, not a fake. The truth, not something that
resembles the truth, not part of the truth, but the truth.
It's not enough to look at it and admire it. We must, without
money and without price, buy the truth, believing on the Lord
Jesus. Bless God, there are many who
are convinced of the value of the truth. So much so that they
consider nothing too valuable to give for the truth. Yes, we
buy it without money and without price. But those who buy the
truth without money and without price count not their lives dear
unto themselves. Moses bought the truth, preferring
it to all the riches of Egypt. Paul gave up all his rich heritage,
as he describes it in Philippians chapter 3, that he might have
the truth. The believing Hebrews took joyfully
the spoiling of their goods that they might buy the truth. And
the ancient martyrs loved not their lives unto death for the
truth's sake. Most of you, I'm persuaded, have
bought the truth. You believe God. We bought it
without money and without price, but would gladly give anything
for it. It's ours simply by believing on the son of God. Now, don't
sell it. Well, pastor, is it possible
for a person to have the truth and sell it? No, no, that's not
possible. That's not possible. But there
are many who appear for a while to know and walk and abide in
the truth. Who for one reason or another
give it up and sell the truth to the ruin of their immortal
souls. Those are the ones John described
in verse 19. They went out from us because
they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us unto this day. Judas,
Lot's wife, Demas, Diotrephes, all are names that speak of those
who seem to make a fair bid for the truth, who seem to begin
well, who seem to know the truth, who seem to walk in truth. But
each of them, for one reason or another, sold the truth. They sold the truth like Esau,
for nothing but a pot of beans. Buy the truth and sell it not. Now, do I know the truth? Settle that question, my friends.
Make certain that you know the truth. The truth is Jesus Christ. The truth is the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Make certain that you know the
truth. And if God has given you faith
in Christ, make certain that you abide in the truth, sell
it not. Let me give you three statements
from these verses we've read in 1st John 2. First, understand
this. If we are truly born again, we
know the truth. And I realize that is a matter
of great controversy in this age. And I want you to be clear
in your understanding. If you are born of God, Don Renere,
you know the truth. If I'm born of God, I know the
truth. If you don't know the truth,
you're not born of God. Number two, as the children of
God, we must steadfastly abide in the truth. We must hold fast
the truth. And number three, All of God's
elect are kept in the truth All right. Here's the first thing
If we're truly born again We know the truth. Let's see if
this what this book says here verse 21. I Have not written
unto you because you know, not the truth John said I'm not writing
to you because you don't know the truth But because you know
it I'm writing to you, my disciples, I'm writing to you, church and
people of God, because you know the truth. You know the truth.
And that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ. who is a liar, but that person
who denies that Jesus of Nazareth actually fulfilled all that Jehovah's
righteous servant was said must that was said that he must fulfill
before he came into this world. Those who deny that Christ Jesus
fulfilled all that God said in his law and prophets that the
Christ would fulfill. He's a liar. He denies the truth.
Look at this. He's anti-Christ. He's anti-Christ. That denieth the father and the
son. You can't deny one without denying
the other. You can't have one without having
the other. You can't reject the one without having the other.
Verse 23. Whosoever denieth the son, the same hath not the father. But he that acknowledgeth the
son hath the father also. If a person has received the
spirit of Christ, if he's been renewed, born again by the grace
of God, if he is indeed a child of God, he knows the truth. God is spirit. And they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. For the lens had dealt with that
Sunday morning. And the Father seeketh such to worship Him. He seeks people to worship Him
in spirit and in truth. We are the circumcision. We are
the true people of God. We are truly born of God. We've
been circumcised in our hearts by that circumcision made without
hands. We are God's covenant people, evidenced by this fact. We worship God in the spirit. have no confidence in the flesh,
and rejoice in Christ Jesus. We are firmly persuaded of gospel
truth, the truth which we know is a living, personal, powerful
thing. It is Jesus Christ himself. With Paul, the believer says,
I know whom I have believed. I know whom I had belief. Looking at Denise right now.
I don't expect Denise to know all the various arguments between
Calvinists and Armenians and Baptists and Presbyterians and
Catholics and Methodists. It doesn't matter. You don't
need to know. You don't need to know. You don't
need to know. But I know who I had belief. And every believer acknowledges
that and knows it. And I am persuaded, I stand convinced
that he whom I have believed is able, he and he alone is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him, my everlasting soul,
my life, my very being committed to him. He'll keep it unto the
great day. After reading this epistle, many
might have thought Concerning John as he writes to them if
you were to get such an epistle from me after I've been away
for some time and we hadn't had any Correspondence hadn't had
any contact with each other and I tell you about folks who went
out from us And they weren't out of us if they've been of
us They would no doubt have continued with us to this day many Antichrist
are going out into the world You might begin to think well
brother Don must be concerned about whether or not I know the
truth. He must think that I have been
deceived. John is writing this epistle
and he assures his disciples, I'm writing to you because I
know you know the truth. His purpose here is to reaffirm
to give confidence to God's people with regard to the truth so that
you're not shaken and tossed about to and fro with every wind
of doctrine. God's people who know the truth,
we struggle with doubts and we have questions. People often
say to me, I just, I'm ashamed to have questions about so many
things. Me too. Me too. We have questions that confuse
us, questions that we don't have the answers for. And John says,
I want you to know, you know the truth, you who believe on
the Son of God. How can I emphasize this enough? He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, he's born of God. John writes then to assure us
concerning the truth. And here are two things that
John asserts. We know the truth. We know the
truth. We know God, the father of truth. We know Christ, the embodiment
and revelation of truth. We know God, the Holy Spirit,
the spirit of truth. We know this word is the word
of truth. The gospel by which this word
is preached to us is the message of truth. We know the truth. And for another thing, John says,
all who are born of God, all who are born again, know that
there's no mixture of truth and error in the gospel. Everyone
knows, everyone knows that any flagrant contradictory statements,
any flagrant denial of the things written in scripture is not truth. But the children of God have
the mind of Christ. Hold your hands here in 1 John
and turn back to 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians 2. Those who are born of God and
taught of God have the mind of Christ. David, we've been made
partakers of the divine nature. We have an unction from the Holy
One, the Spirit of God, in us. We have been anointed by Christ
with His Spirit and we're taught of God. Look at this, 1 Corinthians
2.14. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things. That word,
Bob, is he discerns all things. He discerns all. He knows the
difference between light and dark. He knows the difference
between bitter and sweet. He knows the difference between
evil and good. He knows the difference between truth and error. He judgeth
all things, yet he himself is judged. That is, he is understood
or discerned of no man. So that the believer is a person
who knows all things spiritual, he knows all things needful for
his soul, and he is understood by no one. He's understood by
no one. Read on. For who hath known the
mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor? But we have
the mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ. Now frequently, a lie is so mixed
with an element of truth that it's deceitful and difficult
to identify. But we know that nothing false,
nothing deceptive is of the truth. Any compromise or any part gospel
is not of Christ, the truth. Look at the next phrase in our
text, verse 22. Who is a liar? But he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ. He is antichrist that denieth
the father and the son. We're plainly told here that
anyone who denies the person and work of Christ is a liar. Now mark these words. It's time
to quit trying to be charitable toward men who robbed Christ
of his glory and would destroy your soul. Time to quit trying
to be charitable. I remember back many years ago,
I was attending what they called a Theological Society. I was still in college. And I
made the mistake of having my friend, Brother Harry Graham,
to speak one day. And it was right in the midst of people
struggling with Pentecostal nonsense. The Charismatics had not quite
gotten as acceptable as they are today. Most people still
looked at them as heretics, as they rightly should. And the
fellow who spoke before Harry, I don't even remember who he
was now. He was, yes I do, just remember. Anyway, he's not important. He said that we have to love
our brethren. And as they got up behind him,
he said, you're gonna love your way right out of the truth and
right out of the kingdom of God. You cannot embrace error and
walk in truth. It can't be done. It can't be
done. Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, is God's anointed. He is the Messiah. He is that
one spoken of throughout the scriptures. He's the Christ. He fulfilled all the scriptures
say that Christ must fulfill. Now, to deny that is to deny
the whole Godhead and to deny the whole gospel. To deny that
Jesus Christ actually did accomplish what the Christ, the Messiah,
was said to come to accomplish. to deny the Godhead and to deny
the gospel. John speaks plainly here. There
are many that already crept into the church in his day and there
are many in our day who deny our Lord's deity, deny his saving
kingship as Lord, deny that he is indeed Lord and Deny the perfection
and the efficacy of his substitutionary atonement. Deny the power, the
efficacy of his grace. To deny any of his offices, to
deny any of his work, is to deny him and the Father also. For
he and the Father are one. The difference between a true
believer and the unbelieving hypocrite is in their heart attitude
regarding Christ. Whosoever denieth the Son, the
same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son
hath the Father also. There is a very strong push among
many to accept Russellites, Jehovah's Witnesses, as Christian. Now,
frankly, you just won't accept them except in Arminian. But
Russellites openly deny that Jesus Christ is God. There is
a huge push among many in what's called Christian circles to accept
Mormonism as Christian. Mormonism openly denies that
Jesus Christ is God. Now they claim to believe, claim
to be the Church of Jesus Christ, and the Latter-day Saints. How
much more open can you be than that? How much more can a man
confess Christ than that? They deny that Christ is God. But that's not all. The whole
religious world that denies the efficacy of Christ's finished
work denies that Christ is God, as blatantly as do the Mormons
or the Russellites, and must not be looked upon as Christian.
The chief characteristics of every or characteristic of every
unbeliever is just this he denies Christ I Have folks I've been
confronted with this all my life as a believer And I have folks
get upset folks are going to hear this get upset. I'll get
letters. I'll get telephone calls. I'll get nasty things posted
on the internet, but just go ahead and write and scream away.
Nothing's going to change. Nothing's going to change. Well,
but how can you say that that person is not saved? Look at
what they do. Look at what they do. Look at
their good works. They dress right. They don't
cuss. They don't lose their temper.
They pray, they sacrifice, they give, they work, they go to the
mission field. Look at the change that's happened
to them. Religion can do a lot of things
to a fellow. And no religion can do a lot
of things to a fellow. But those who do not know God
have this one thing in common. They deny that Jesus is the Christ. They deny the person and work
of our Redeemer. Deny his Godhead by denying the
efficacy of his blood atonement and his saving grace. Here's
the essential character of every true believer. He acknowledges
and confesses that Jesus is the Christ. This is what it means. We believe the testimony God
gave concerning his son. We trust Christ, his blood as
our only cleansing from sin, his righteousness as our only
righteousness before God. That's all. That's all. None
else. We believe and we trust his saving
efficacy as our savior. That is to declare that He has
saved us, is saving us, and shall save us. And that all He saves,
saved by His grace, cannot possibly perish. If Christ Jesus is indeed
Lord, if He is indeed God, Isaiah 42 verse 4, He shall not fail. Larry Brown, anybody, anybody
who declares Christ to be a failure, declares Christ is not God. Why
is that so hard for folks to understand? Why is that so difficult
for folks to understand? It would not shock anyone for
me to stand here and tell you that if a man denies that Christ
was virgin born, If a man denies that Christ was born from the
womb of the Virgin Mary without the aid of a man, they would
say, well, that man's lost. How come? Because to deny his
virgin birth is to deny his deity. To deny the efficacy of his work
is to deny his deity. We believe that Jesus is the
Christ. We believe him who is our Savior and bow to him who
is our Lord. The believer, knowing the truth,
bows to Christ. He bows to Christ. People have
this notion that you can talk folks into making a profession
of faith, and then they may go for a long time and never trust
Christ as their Lord and submit to Christ as their Lord. And
then finally, after they've had so many disappointments and so
many pains and difficulties, they finally say, OK, I'll let
you be Lord. Rex, salvation begins with bowing
to Christ as Lord. Read Luke chapter 14. It begins
with bowing to Christ as Lord. The first thing you know about
God is he sits on a throne and you bow to him. That's where
Isaiah saw him. That's where Daniel saw him.
And if you've ever seen him, that's where you saw him. I pressed
the question one more time. Do you know the truth? Are you
firmly persuaded in your heart that Jesus is the Christ? Those
who are truly God's children know and acknowledge the truth.
Now, here's the second thing. We have this word of admonition.
If we are truly the children of God, we must steadfastly hold
to the truth. Look at verse 24. Let that therefore
abide in you which you have heard from the beginning. Don't move an hair's breadth. Don't move an hair's breadth.
If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain
in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that
he hath promised us even eternal life. Those who have received the gospel
of Christ must hold it fast, never departing from it. Back
in the office a little bit ago, Brother Lindsey Campbell read
Hebrews chapter one and concluded it, chapter two, verse one. Turn
back there, look at it. We recognize that God's people
are preserved in Christ. His sheep shall never perish.
We understand that. But you must abide in the truth. Hebrews chapter
2 verse 1. Therefore, we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at
any time we should let them slip. Hold fast the truth. Hold it fast, lest with your
loose grip it slips from your hand, or you don't. For if the
word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience
received a just recompensive reward, how shall we escape if
we neglect so great salvation, this great salvation which at
the first Began to be spoken by the Lord by the Lord Jesus
and was confirmed unto us by those that heard him the Apostles
God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and
with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to
his will don't don't Don't neglect this salvation which has been
revealed to you by Jesus Christ, confirmed to you in the book
of God by signs and wonders from heaven as Joel said it would
be. Don't let this slip. Continue
in the truth. Paul said to the Corinthians,
I preached unto you, I declared to you that which I also first
preached unto you, which also you have received and wherein
you stand. by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory,
if you hold fast what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain. We must hold to the old paths,
abide in the truth of the gospel. These were the things that we
learned in the beginning. These were the things we were
taught of God in the beginning. How is it that you first came
to Christ? How is it you first received
Christ? How did you first come to, well,
Brother Don, I came with nothing in my hands, nothing to offer
God, a helpless, guilty, filthy, vile, doomed, damned, Hell-bent,
hell-deserving sinner, trusting Christ alone. Now listen to me. Alan Kibbe, as you therefore
have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Keep coming to God just like
that. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.
Come to God. Continually come to God as a
sinner in need of mercy offering nothing to God But Jesus Christ
his blood and his righteousness and God accepts you for Christ's
sake but Most people outgrow that very quickly and they start
adding to Christ's righteousness their own and adding to Christ's
atonement, their works, and adding to Christ's power, their power,
and adding to Christ's goodness, their goodness. Let us not be
so foolish, but continue steadfast in the faith. Turn back to Hebrews
chapter 3. Only those who remain in the
gospel and in whom the gospel remains are truly in Christ. If that which you have heard
from the beginning shall remain in you, you also shall continue
in the Son and in the Father. Now, look here at Hebrews chapter
3. This is what God says. Verse
6, Christ is a son over his own house, whose house we are, if,
if. We're his house, if. We hold
fast the confidence and the rejoicing firm unto the end. Look at verse
14. We are made partakers of Christ,
made partakers of the divine nature. We really are born of
God if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto
the end. We're saved, saved by the gospel
if We keep in memory, hold fast what I preached unto you, unless
you have believed in vain. Now this is our assurance before
God. We continue as we began. We continue as we began. One of the old preachers greatly
used of God. William Romaine had been struggling
with this matter of assurance because his heart was so cold,
so callous, so indifferent. He felt it's been so long since
God has spoken to him or he to God. And he went to hear someone else
preach the gospel of the grace of God. And his heart broke quickly
and God spoke to him. And his soul was again filled
with confidence. He said, because I am not moved
away from the hope of the gospel. I am not moved away from this
hope. I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all. And Jesus Christ is my all in
all. I am a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. He is my all in all
things. He is my all in all my salvation. He is my all in all my sanctification. He is my all in all my atonement. He is my all in all my righteousness. He is my all in all. Be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel. Now, here's the third thing.
Here's the third thing. Look at verses 26 and 27. God's people all know the truth
and we abide in the truth. We hold the truth. And thirdly,
It is promised to those who continue in the truth, who continue in
the gospel, that they have eternal life. This is the promise that
he hath promised us, even eternal life, promised in Christ before
the world began. Now look at verse 26 and 27 and
see this. All God's elect shall be kept
in the truth. These things have I written unto
you. concerning them that seduce you, these preachers who would
turn you away from the mystery of the gospel, who would turn
you away from the simplicity of Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
them that would seduce you. But the anointing which you have
received of Him abideth in you. And you need not that any man
teach you But as the same anointing, remember now this is the same
word as unction, back up in verse 20. The same anointing, the same
unction, teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is
no lie. And even as it hath taught you,
you shall abide in Him. In Him. You see, the anointing
is God the Holy Spirit, who shed abroad the love of Christ in
you. giving you the knowledge of the truth. who is the seal
with which you're sealed unto the day of redemption by which
God seals to you all the promises and blessings of God when the
spirit when the unction comes and gives you life causes you
to believe on Christ by faith in Christ immediately all covenant
blessings are sealed to you and God says I'm your God and you're
my child sealed to you by the Holy Spirit and being sealed
to you you are sealed in the truth so that it is the truth
itself which keeps us. We're kept by the truth. Kept by the truth. Now walk in
the truth. Continue in the truth. How do
you do that? Believe in the truth. hearing the word of truth continually. How often has it been so with
you? You come to the house of God
and you're downcast and doubtful and God speaks by his word. Some of you said to me, it's
like the Lord saved me all over again. Isn't it though? Isn't
it though? by the truth. We are kept and
preserved by the truth of God written on our hearts and ministered
to our hearts by the spirit of God through the preaching of
the word and the worship of our God. Oh, may God now make you
to know the truth and give us grace to abide in the truth and
walk in the truth. trusting Christ the Lord. Amen.