Is it possible to really know
that you're born of God? Can a sinner really have that
blessed assurance of which we just sang? Turn with me, if you
will, to the book of 1 John, chapter 5. 1 John, chapter 5. Can I really know? I suppose in the last 46 years,
47 years, I've tried to deal with that question more than
any other because I've been asked it more than any other. How can
I know that I'm a child of God? Is it possible? for a sinner
really to know that he is born of God. John tells us that the
purpose for which he wrote the book of 1 John, look at verse
13, is that you may know that you believe on the Son of God. Yet almost everything I've ever
heard men say in my entire life about the book of 1 John was
designed to teach you not to know. Read what men say about
loving God and loving one another. Read what men say about John's
comments about overcoming the world and faith and try to find
some assurance. I challenge you. Go pick up any
commentary you want to, just almost any of them, and read
them on this book, or hear any sermon you want to hear, even
from otherwise good preachers, on 1 John, and you'll walk away
convinced that you can't know. That's not the purpose for which
the book was written. 1 John was written specifically
that you may know that you believe on the Son of God, and that you
have eternal life. We know God has chosen his people
and his elect shall be saved. We know without question Christ
Jesus has redeemed all God's elect. He bore their sins. He satisfied divine justice for
them. All the redeemed shall be saved.
We know the scriptures are very plain and specific and clear.
Every sinner chosen of God and redeemed by the blood of Christ
shall be born again, called, preserved, and kept in life eternal
by God the Holy Spirit, and at last presented faultless before
the presence of the glory of God Almighty in everlasting salvation. But is it possible to know that
you are one of God's elect? How can I know that my name is
written in heaven in the Lamb's Book of Life? Let's begin here
at 1 John chapter 5 and verse 1. John's laying a foundation
for assurance. And as he lays this foundation
for assurance, this foundation so that you may know that you
have eternal life. He deliberately draws our minds
and our thoughts and our hearts away from ourselves to Christ
our Redeemer. Now that's the first thing to
understand. If you would know that you have eternal life, you've
got to quit looking to you. You've got to quit looking in
here. We were just saying a little bit ago, will your anchor hold?
Do you know what you use an anchor for? You throw it out of the
boat. Otherwise, it's useless. If the
anchor's in the boat, it won't hold a thing. If the anchor's
in the boat, it won't settle the boat in the midst of a storm.
If the anchor's in the boat, it won't keep it from drifting.
But you cast the anchor away. and the anchor takes hold on
a rock, and the rock to which the anchor is attached holds
the boat steady. We have an anchor, Jesus Christ
the forerunner, who is for us entered into glory. And our anchor
is not in our experience, or our feeling, or our works, or
even in our faith. Our anchor is in heaven itself. Christ is our assurance. All
right, 1 John chapter 5, verse 1. Hold your Bibles open and
follow me carefully. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth him
that beget loveth him also that is begotten of him. John's statement
is emphatic and it's crystal clear. Anyone in the world, whosoever,
a friend of mine, Brother Herbert Wilson, years ago, when I was
just a young man, someone asked him one time, said, you folks
don't believe in whosoever will. He said, we do too. We just don't
believe in whosoever won't. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, that means Oscar Bailey or Don Fortner, any Oscar
Bailey or any Don Fortner. You, me, any sinner in all the
world who believes that Jesus is the Christ, you too, right
now. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? Well, I don't know. Yes, you
do. Sure you do. I have no question,
you know. Oh yes. Whosoever believe it,
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Anyone in the world who
believes that Jesus Christ, as He is revealed in the Scriptures,
is the Christ, is born of God. That's exactly what John said
back in chapter 4. Look at this. Hereby, verse 2,
hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is coming to flesh is of God. Well, Brother Don, everybody
confesses that Christ came in the flesh. Oh, no. Lots of people
who use those words deny that Christ came in the flesh. To
confess that Christ came in the flesh is to confess that this
man, Jesus of Nazareth, is himself God incarnate, and that he has
fulfilled everything the scriptures said the Christ would accomplish.
That he has accomplished righteousness by his obedience. Righteousness
which he brings in for the everlasting salvation of his people. That
he has accomplished redemption portrayed in all the scriptures
and prophesied. That he has performed God's salvation. Do you trust Jesus Christ the
Lord as your prophet, your priest, your king, as that one in whom
God is known and revealed, as the Lord your righteousness,
your acceptance before God? Now your faith in Christ, my
faith in Christ, is not the cause of us being born again. He that
believeth is born of God. Our faith in Christ is the result
of our being born again. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. So that faith
in Christ is that which is the evidence of our names being written
in heaven before the world was in the book of life. Our faith
in Christ is the evidence that Christ redeemed us. Faith is
one of those gifts he purchased for his church. Our faith in
Christ is the evidence. We've been called by His grace,
born again by His Spirit, because faith is the fruit of the Spirit. Faith doesn't cause Christ to
redeem us or make His blood effectual. Faith doesn't cause us to become
righteous. It's not the basis of God accepting
us as righteous. Faith doesn't cause us to be
born again. Faith is the fruit and the evidence
of these works of grace. 1 John 5 verse 2. By this we know that we love
the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments. Oh now, if you want to know that
you're born of God, do you love your brethren? Do you love God
and are you obedient? Those are the things that you
must decide. Well, let's try that. Let's try
that. Which of you has ever, by any
deed, demonstrated any kind of an adequate love for God to give
you confidence? Which of you has ever had anything
like love for your brethren that will convince you that you're
born of God. No wonder everybody's running
around with their head between their legs, don't have any idea
what's going on. The fact is, by our love for Christ and our
love for one another, believers identify one another as believers. Paul said to the Thessalonians,
we know your election of God. We know it because of your faith
in Christ and your love to God and your love one to another.
Because your faith works by love. We know you have faith. And we
behold one another's works, and we behold one another's faithfulness,
and we experience one another's love, and thereby know our brethren
by their exercised love and grace and kindness toward us, as they
labor in the cause of Christ for the glory of God in the totality
of their lives. But no believer will ever find
any basis for assurance by looking in his heart and saying, Oh,
how I love Jesus. Oh, how I wish I did. We love
him, yes. We love him because he first
loved us. But in order for me to find assurance there, my love's
got to be perfect. And my obedience has got to be
perfect. Yes, believers love the Savior. Yes, believers are
obedient. Their lives are devoted to Christ.
But we would never think that our love and our obedience is
such, either to one another or to our Redeemer, that our love
and obedience is a basis for confidence and assurance before
God. John is not here making our works
a basis of personal assurance. Rather, he's telling us simply
this, God's people are identified, not to themselves, but by one
another, by their love for God and for his people, demonstrated
in their works. My love for my wife is made manifest
not to me, but to her by the way I behave toward her. And
our love for Christ is made manifest not to ourselves, but to others
by our deeds toward them and toward our Redeemer. Verse 3. for this is the love of God this is the love of God that
we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous
now frankly I don't know whether John is here telling us this
is the love of God in us or this is the love of God manifest in
us that is Is he saying this is the love of God demonstrated
in us and toward us, in that we are taught of God to keep
His commandments? Or is this our love toward God
that we keep His commandments? And the answer, I'm confident,
is both. Yes. The love of God in us causes
us to love Him, and the love of God in us is the manifestation
of His everlasting love for us. His commandments are not grievous. Oh, how love I thy law, David
said. Tell me, child of God, have you
found anything written in this book yet that's irksome to you? Anything here that is a real
bother to you? Anything God's written here that,
well, I wish he hadn't said that. No. His whole word is delightful
to us. Delightful to us. As we experience
it, we rejoice in it. His law, Paul said, I delight
in the law of God after the inward man. His law is not grievous.
How I wish I was completely, personally obedient to it. But
I have an obedience to it that is better and more substantial
and more lasting than personal obedience. I have the obedience
of my Mediator and my Redeemer, the Lord Jesus. And I rejoice
to know that all God has required in His law, He has fulfilled
and I have fulfilled in Him. And the Apostle says as much
in 1 John 3, 23, this is His commandment, that you believe
on the only begotten Son of God. Verse 4, For whatsoever is born
of God overcometh the world. That which is born of God cannot
die. Those who are born of God shall
be triumphant, triumphant over Satan, the god of this world,
triumphant over the lust of their own flesh, triumphant at last
over all the lusts that are in the world. And this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. Oh, he's so strong
in faith. He has such strong faith. And
we tend to think about faith in those terms. That which overcomes the world
is not the exercise of our faith. It's the object of our faith.
Please get hold of this. It's not the exercise of our
faith, it's the object of our faith. We triumph through faith
in Christ who has made us more than conquerors by his almighty
grace. He who triumphed over all things
for us causes us to triumph over all things in him. so that at
last we shall enter into heaven's glory as conquerors by Christ
Jesus the Lord, conquering and prevailing over all things as
kings and rulers over all things because Christ has prevailed
for us. How can I state this so that
you'll understand it? Faith is that which attaches
us to Christ. because he has laid hold of us. And now, in Christ, we triumph
over everything, and hell itself shall be no barrier to us entering
into glory. Indeed, we triumph over the very
gates of hell, because Christ is the Lord, our conqueror, the
captain of our salvation. In verse 1, John said, Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And he assures
us that faith produces both love and good works, but he's drawing
us away from our love and away from our good works, telling
us that our ground of confidence is Christ our Redeemer. It's
not the victory of our love or the holiness of our works or
even the triumph of our faith, but Christ the Lord. John's laying
this foundation of confidence for assurance. is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. I read to the men back
in the office a quotation that's going to be in your bulletin
next week from Richard Sibbes, lived in the 1600s, 15 to 1600s.
He said, it matters not what we are in ourselves, but what we are in Christ, all. Now, Brother Don, you can't tell
people that. That'll open up a can of worms. That'll open
the floodgates to licentiousness and evil. Well, if you take it
and ruin yourself with it, go ahead. But for God's people,
I won't rob them of this great comfort. It matters not what
you are in yourself, but what you are in Christ the
Lord. In yourself, I'll tell you real
quickly what you are. You are sin and hardness and
unbelief and iniquity, and transgression, and corruption, and darkness,
and idolatry, and adultery, and drunkenness, and fornication,
and variance, and envy, and all that evil is in this world is
what you are. That's what you are in yourself.
All but in Christ. If you are in Christ, if God
has given you grace to believe on His Son and you're joined
to Jesus Christ by faith, This is what you are, wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, holiness, holiness, and redemption. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Verse five, who
is it that overcometh the world? Now here's the amen to what I've
been saying. You know what amen means, don't
you? So is it. Barely, barely. Here's the amen to what I've
been saying. Who is it that overcometh the world? He that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. Well, Brother Don, it looks like
The Spirit of God is here telling us that the singular, solitary
basis of assurance is faith in Christ. That's just what it looks like,
doesn't it? That's just what it looks like. You mean when
I feel so dead and empty and lifeless, that doesn't change
my Relationship with God, my standing with God, bless God,
it doesn't. No. You mean when I try to pray
and I can't, that doesn't mean I don't have any faith? No, it
doesn't. No, it doesn't. You mean when
I do the very thing I hate and fail at everything I love? means
I'm not born of God. Oh no, no, no, no, no. He that
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. That's the language
of scripture. Now there are not many things
in this world about which I'm sure. But about this I'm sure. I believe
that Jesus is the Christ. I really do. Do I have strong
faith in him? No. No. And he proves it to me
real often. Does my faith in him show itself
as it ought by good works? No. No. I can fool you pretty good
by what I do. It's amazing how well I behave.
It's just, it's amazing how well I behave in front of you. But I know what's in here. And
better than I know it, God knows what's in here. No, no, my good
works don't prove a thing. They don't prove a thing. My
devotion, no, no. When your devotion is, Nothing. And your heart's full of darkness. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, is born of God. Now, let's see
if there are any infallible, certain, demonstrated proofs
of the things I've been talking about. In this next few verses,
John gives us three irrefutable witnesses to three things. Three
undeniable witnesses to three things. You remember in the law,
here in the Mosaic economy, everything had to be established by two
or three witnesses. To this day, in any court of
law in our land, everything must be established by two or three
witnesses. If it can be established by two
or three witnesses, those two or three witnesses establish
it as a fact that must be accepted. We accept almost anything on
the basis of two or three witnesses. Why, our brilliant scientists
are convinced that on this, what is this, 23rd day of November,
It was about six or eight degrees on our back porch yesterday morning.
They're convinced we're in global warming. And they ain't got a
solitary witness. They don't have any witnesses.
We're convinced. I mean, we're running the world
like we're fixing to burn up. And they don't have any witnesses.
And they talk about faith in Christ being a leap in the dark.
Oh, no, no, no. We we don't have a leap in the
dark. Our faith in Christ is established
upon credible witnesses. First, we believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. You don't really believe that
man. That man who was born at Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. That
man who had a reputation as being a great prophet. That man who
did a lot of good, you don't really believe he's God, do you? Now you don't really believe
God could live in human flesh, do you? Not really, just representatively. You don't really believe he is
God, over all, blessed forever. Oh yes, I do. I certainly do. I hang the hope of my immortal
soul on the fact that Jesus Christ, the man, is God incomprehensible,
eternal Lord of all. I sure do. And either I'm a fool
or I've got good reason for it. One of the two. I'm either an
absolute fool or I've got good reason for it. Look at verse
six. Here are three witnesses to the deity of our Lord Jesus
Christ. This is He which 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. Here are three witnesses
to the fact that Jesus Christ is God come in human flesh. the blood and the spirit. Three
witnesses. Water, as you know in scripture,
is an emblem of the word. Our Lord Jesus said, you are
clean through the word that I have spoken unto you. We are born
again by the washing of regeneration through the word. The word of
God is represented as the cleansing power of water throughout the
scriptures. Our Lord Jesus came according
to the Word of God. He came in fulfillment of that
which was written in Old Testament Scripture. He fulfilled all the
types. Brother Rex just read to us that
picture of Joseph. Great picture of our Lord Jesus. And all the Old Testament events,
all the events of Old Testament history were designed to typify
Him in one way or another. Our Lord Jesus is that ark that
Noah built, and he is that ark that Moses built. He is the tabernacle
and all the furnishings of the tabernacle. He is all that's
represented in the services of the tabernacle and the temple.
He is that one spoken of in all the prophets. He is that one
to whom all the prophets give witness. In fact, no other man
in history could have claimed to be the Christ in accordance
with Old Testament prophets, as I've demonstrated to you countless
times, except this man, Jesus of Nazareth. He fulfilled every
picture and every prophecy. He had to be born at Bethlehem
of Ephrathah. He had to be born at the time
when the lawgiver had departed from Shiloh, just before the
lawgiver departed from Shiloh, while Israel still stood as a
nation. He had to come and be born in this world at the time
of the Jews being ruled in captivity by the Romans. There was no other
time he could possibly come. This Lord Jesus Christ, this
man, our Redeemer, fulfilled the prophets and He fulfilled
the types of the Old Testament Scripture. He came according
to the Word of God. He's the Good Shepherd. He comes in by the Scripture
gate. And He that comes in any other way, He's a thief and a
robber. This is He that came by water,
that is by the Word, and He came by blood. We know that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, because he came by water and by blood. Now, water is used in Scripture
to symbolize the Word of God, and water is used in Scripture
to symbolize and represent the Spirit of God. Our Lord Jesus
spoke of that water that's in you, a living water bubbling
up into everlasting life. The water represents the Spirit
of God and the Word, and there's a reason for that. Because the
Spirit of God never operates apart from the Word of God. The
Spirit of God performs nothing apart from the Word that's written
here. Our Lord Jesus came by water and by blood. He was created in the Virgin's
womb by God the Holy Spirit. And He comes in regeneration
by God the Holy Spirit. And yet, the Spirit of God comes
to us through the sin-atoning blood of our Lord Jesus. Now,
I find it interesting. Last week, a week before last,
I think it was, Shelby and I were reading Robert Hawker on this
sixth verse in his Poor Man's Portions, and he made this observation. He said, the only gospel writer
who records this event, when the soldier took a spear and
shoved it in the Savior's side, forthwith came thereout water
and blood. Now take one like Hawker who
was trained as a medical doctor to catch the significance. He
said only John recorded that. And the spear must have reached
the Savior's heart. There's no other place he could
have made the wound and both water and blood come flowing
from the wound. No other place. What does that
mean? It penetrated our Savior's heart,
that spear did, and that pierced one of God, the Christ of God,
comes to us by water and by blood. That is, he comes in the sin-atoning
sacrifice he made for us, and he comes by the power of his
Spirit into us. so that salvation's accomplished,
both by what Christ did for us at Calvary and His righteousness
being imputed to us in free justification, and by what Christ does for us
and in us in regeneration by the sanctifying of the Spirit,
giving us His righteous nature, making us holy, giving us a new
nature, even Christ formed in us, making us partakers of the
divine nature. Salvation involves both the work
of Christ for us at Calvary and the work of Christ in us by His
Spirit. Turn to Titus chapter 3. Titus chapter 3, verse 3. For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers' lusts and pleasures.
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after
that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy He saved us. How? By the washing of regeneration
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Why does the Spirit of God here
speak of the new birth as regeneration. We were alive in our father Adam,
and we died in our father Adam. But in our father the second
Adam, Christ Jesus the Lord, we're made alive again, regenerated
by the Spirit of God, given new life. And this is by the renewing
of the Holy Ghost. which He shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
All right, let's go back to 1 John 5, 6. This is He that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ. Not by water only, but by water
and blood. Had our Lord Jesus fulfilled
every other type, and every other prophecy. Had he been born of
the Virgin, had he lived in perfect obedience, had he fulfilled every
precept of the law and did not die, nothing would be accomplished
for us. Nothing would be demonstrated
to prove him to be the Christ. He who is the Christ must come
by water and by blood. He must die on our behalf, in
our stead, in our room, as I substitute, accomplishing redemption. And
when he cried, it is finished, and bowed his head and gave up
the ghost. There was a fellow who had been
there from the beginning. I suspect he was in the garden
when they came to arrest the master. And they heard him say,
I am healed. Let these go their way. I suspect
he was in the judgment hall when Pilate said, I find no fault
in him. Behold the man. I suspect he heard Peter cuss
and deny him. I suspect this man was present
and the Lord Jesus was beaten and beaten again, given stripes
above any man so that he would be made to appear vile before
men. I suspect he heard the hissing
and the songs and saw the spit. and probably his was mixed with
the others. And when he heard the Lord Jesus
cry, it's finished, and gave up the ghost after the sun was
darkened and the earth quaked, this was his conclusion. Truly,
this man was the son of God. He came by water and by blood
and we know that he's the Son of God because God the Holy Spirit
bears witness to his deity. It is the Spirit that beareth
witness because the Spirit is truth. The Spirit of God came at his
baptism and bore witness to it. John, this is the one. This is
the one, this cousin of yours that you leaped in your mother's
belly when you met him. This is he, sure enough. See
the Spirit descending on him? On the day of Pentecost, the
Spirit of God is poured out as the inaugural work of King Jesus
sitting on his throne by which the prophecy of Joel is fulfilled.
And Peter said, this is what Joel's talking about. Now we
know the Messiah has come. This is he. And when the sinner
is born of God. By the work of God's Holy Spirit,
planting His Word in the sinner, we're made to know that this
One who was despised by the Jews and crucified by the Romans,
God has exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior,
for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And
so also is the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey
him. The folks can debate and argue
with us all they want to. I'm not much for what's called
Christian apologetics. As a matter of fact, I'm kindly
against it. I'm trying to prove things to
unbelieving people. I gave that up a long time ago.
Why? Because it can't be proved except
by the experience of grace. Now you try to disprove it to
somebody who's had the witness of the Spirit planted in them.
I know that Jesus is the Christ. He's the Son of God. Look at
verse 7. Here are three witnesses to the
accomplishment of redemption by our Savior. 1 John 5 verse
7. This is the one verse in scripture
that plainly, emphatically states the doctrine of Trinity. It is
the one verse in scripture that men keep trying to tear out of
the book. You go to your religious trinket
shop, they call them Christian bookstores, and look for a Bible
that's got this verse in it without any notes saying it ought not
be there. Try to find one. Folks keep trying to rewrite
the scriptures. Why do you have so many translations?
Our forefathers, you know, they were just kind of dumb. They
didn't have enough sense to know you could translate scriptures in
a lot of different ways. No, they weren't so dumb. They
respected the Word. Why do men have so many translations?
I'll tell you exactly why. Because they keep looking for
one that suits them. And so they readjust things to
make it suit them. There's no trouble reading this
book. No trouble reading it. The difficulty is it's easily
understood. Easily understood as far as the
letter of it's concerned. There are three that bear record in
heaven. The Father, the Word, and the
Holy Ghost. And lest I forget to say it or
read it later. And these three are one. One God. The Father, the Word,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. One God. And they bear witness
in heaven. What do they bear witness of? What is it they bear witness
of? Do they bear witness of Christ's
deity? No need for that. Do they bear witness that the
triune God exists in three persons? No need for that. What do they
bear witness of in heaven? They bear witness to the accomplishment
of redemption by the sacrifice of Christ. Redemption's done. How's that? The Father bears
witness in that He accepted the sacrifice. The Son bears witness
in that He bears intercession for us according to the sacrifice.
And the Spirit bears witness in that He convinces God's people
that Christ has accomplished redemption. See Him yonder! He
went back to the Father, and He couldn't go back if redemption
weren't finished. He bears witness of these things. The rent bail. When Christ Cried,
it is finished. The veil in the temple was rent
in vain. And access to God is laid wide
open by the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus, who accomplished
redemption for us. And there, in the holy place,
in the holy of holies, He intercedes for us. And here, in this secret
place in our hearts, the Spirit of God bears witness with us
that we are born of God. How's that? Giving us faith in
Christ. causing us to believe on the
Son of God. You see, when a sinner is born
again, turn to Ephesians 1 for a minute. Ephesians 1. When a
sinner is born again, the Spirit of God reveals to us our acceptance
of God through the sacrifice of Christ. He proclaims to us
salvation accomplished. Ephesians 1, verse 13. Paul said
we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in
Christ. God the Father trusted him as
our surety. In whom ye also trusted. When did you trust? After that
you heard the word of truth. Quite literally there should
be a definite article there. After that you heard the word
of the truth. What's that? The gospel. of your salvation. I heard the gospel many times. Heard it preached plainly. I
heard salvation accomplished many times. I sat in Sunday school
class with the Leroy Pike, with the Lloyd Moore, teaching the
gospel of God's grace crystal clearly. Heard it many times
and never heard anything about the gospel of my salvation. And one day I heard the gospel. And by a wondrous work of grace,
looked away to the crucified Lamb of God and heard the gospel
of my salvation. I heard He redeemed me. He put
away my sin. in whom also, after that ye believed,
having believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Believing Him, God seals to you
all the blessings of grace. And these three are one. Now,
look at verse 8. Here are three witnesses to every
believing sinner's saving interest in Christ. And there are three
that bear witness in the earth, the spirit, the water, that is
the word of God, and the blood. And these three agree in one. Now notice the language. The witnesses to Christ's deity
are first the word, then the blood, then the spirit. The witnesses
to redemption accomplished are first the father who accepted
the sacrifice, then the son who intercedes on basis of the sacrifice,
and then the spirit who bears witness of redemption accomplished.
The witnesses, however, to our saving interest in Christ are
given in this order by divine inspiration. First the spirit,
then the word, then the blood. How come? Well, there's good
reason. I've got to quit. Good reason. We are born again by the Spirit
of God, who takes the Word of God, declaring the Gospel to
us, and declaring the Word in our hearts, sprinkles our hearts
from an evil conscience, with the precious blood of God's darling
Son, reconciling us to God in our hearts. And this is our assurance. Our assurance that Jesus Christ
is God. Our assurance that redemption
is accomplished. And our assurance that we're
His. What's that? He that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ It's born of God. Do you believe? Will you believe? If you do,
if you can, you're born of God. You're born of God. Amen.