I've entitled this message, Understanding. Understanding. I want to have
that, don't you? John says, and we know, verse
20, that the Son of God has come and hath given us an understanding
that we may know him that's true and we're in him. that is true,
even in his son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this
is eternal life. Now John begins this verse with
a statement we see over and over again in this epistle we know. A Christian is someone Who knows? Now, this reference to knowing
is not a reference to knowing you're saved. It's good to know
you're saved. But the only way you'll know
you're saved is by knowing these things. In verse 18, he said,
we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not. Now, don't
you know that whatever is fathered is birthed by God does not sin? You know that. You don't even
question about it. Verse 19, and we know that we
are of God. He is our origin. We come from
him. Our faith comes from him. Our
salvation comes from him. We know that. not from the world,
we're of God. And the whole world lieth in
wickedness. We know that the Son of God has
come. I think of other scriptures.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Now
we know that because we know something about the character
of God. And we know he's almighty, that he controls everything.
And we know. I think of the scripture that's
been on my mind a lot here lately, Romans 7, 14. We know that the
law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Did you know only a believer
can know that? An unbeliever is a stranger to that because
they're a stranger to what sin is, but a believer can say, we
know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Now, this is not what we think.
This is not our opinion. This is not what our church or
denomination believes. This is what we know. He's speaking
as a spokesman for every single believer. We know. We know that the Son of God is
come. We believe and know that He is
the Son of God. Do you believe that? That He
is the Son of God? He's not like God, He is God. He is the uncreated, eternal
creator. He's the second person of the
Blessed Trinity. He's God the Son. He's the one
mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. He is
the Son of God. Oh, there's so much that could
be said about that, but we know. We know He's God the Son. And we know that He's come. We
know the Son of God has come. Look at verse two of chapter
four. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Now there are three things we
say when we make this glorious confession. regarding the Son
of God. He was before he came. We're speaking of him who never
had a beginning point. He's eternal. He was before he
ever came. He's the eternal Son of God. And he came in the flesh. Now, what John was addressing
at this time is Gnosticism. Gnosticism means knowing ones. And they believed that all matter
is evil. Therefore, he couldn't have come
in the flesh because that would have made him evil. Now, if you
start out with the wrong proposition, you'll end up in the wrong place.
Matter's not evil, man's evil. Christ Jesus came in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. There was a time when the eternal
Son of God assumed a body some 2,000 years ago. God was manifest
in the flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. He was before He came. He came
in the flesh. And thank God, whatever it was
He came to do, He did. You believe that? Whatever it
was, he came to do. He did. 1 Timothy 1.15, Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Now, question. Are you a sinner? If you answered that in your
heart in the affirmative, He came to save you. And you know
what? He saved you. He saved you. He saved you. When He said, it
is finished, you were saved completely outside of anything you have
done. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. I love that passage of scripture
in Acts chapter 15, verse 11, where Peter says, we believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be
saved, even as they. Now that is spoken in such a
way as you could just as accurately translate that. We believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we've been saved. We believe through the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're being saved. And we believe through
the Lord Jesus, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we will
be saved. We know that Jesus Christ has
come joy to the world. The Lord has come, let earth
receive her King. Now, Verse 20, and we know that
the Son of God has come and hath given us an understanding. Notice it doesn't say he's taught
us so that we understand. Kind of like the process of learning
something. It doesn't say that at all. He's taught us and little
by little we've come to have more and more light and we understand
More clearly, that's not what it says. It says He has given
us an understanding. We didn't have it until He gave
it to us. And when He gave it to us, we
got it. We have been given this understanding. If you knew the gift of God and
who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, you would have
asked and he would have given you this living water. Now this is a gift, this thing
of understanding. It's not by how smart you are
and how able you are to grasp concepts. This is a gift, the
gift of God given. And the only thing that will
prevent me or you from having it is we're not asking for it.
That's the only thing. You have not because you ask
not. ask and you shall receive. Anybody that's ever asked for
this gift of understanding where they're gonna bow to what God
says, he gives it. It's the gift of his grace. And
if he's given you this understanding, you've got it. The son of God
has come and has given us this understanding. And the word understanding
is most often translated by the word mind. He's given us this
mind that we did not have before. It comes out of that same word
where Paul said to the Corinthians, we have the mind of Christ. Every believer has this mind,
this gift of understanding, this knowledge, this knowing of things.
Now, why did he give us this gift of understanding? Let's
go on reading. And we know that the Son of God
has come and has given us an understanding that we may know
Him. true. That's why we've been given
this gift of understanding that we might know Him that is true. Now I want to know the gospel,
don't you? I want to know the gospel. I want to preach the gospel. Oh, what a desire I have to actually
preach the gospel. And I want to be saved by the
gospel. I want to experience the gospel.
And I want you to be saved by the gospel. Now, when God saves
a man, there is knowledge, a knowledge of him. Remember when Paul said,
brother, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved. For I bear them record, they
have a zeal of God, but not according to what? Knowledge. Not according to knowledge. They're
very religious with regard to the God of the Bible, but they
don't have that saving knowledge that arises from salvation. Now, I think of these scriptures
with regard to this thing of knowledge. God will have all
men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Faith
is called the faith of God's elect. The acknowledging, the
embracing, the recognition, the perception. That's it. Of the truth. Repentance is called
repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth. the knowledge of,
the acknowledging of, the perception of. I want to be able to perceive,
don't you? I want to be able to understand.
I want to have those hearing ears that hears and that knows
when I'm hearing the gospel. The Son of God has come and has
given us an understanding. Now this is seen, first of all,
when you have this understanding, you know God. I don't mean you
know about God. I don't mean you can spout off
all kinds of correct theological propositions concerning God that
you can prove from the scriptures. I mean, you know Him. You know
what that means? That means He knows you. You're
not just dropping names. You know the living God. And how is it that one knows
God? Well, they know His character.
They know His attributes. You know, I know He's all-powerful,
but nothing's too hard for the Lord. I know He's utterly holy
and will not accept sin. I know He's utterly sovereign
and He controls everybody and everything. There's nothing that
He's not the first cause behind. You know, I don't like it when
preachers say He allowed this to happen. More than that, he
caused it to happen. Somebody says, are you making
God the author of evil? You can take that up with him.
He's God. He's God. And whatever he does is right,
just, holy, and true. He's absolutely just. He will
not let sin go unpunished. He's independent. He has no need
to all powers within himself. He's immutable. He can never
change. I know God. And I know when what
I'm hearing is not him. He is the God of the Bible. You know God. And you can hear if it's him. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is. You believe his isness. I love
that. you believe is this. This is
eternal life that they might know thee, the only true God
in Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Now, do you know what always
accompanies a knowledge of God? An understanding of sin. Now, if you don't have this understanding
of sin, you have no knowledge of God. When you have this knowledge
of God, you will have this knowledge of sin. Now, what do I mean by
knowledge of sin? I'm not talking about knowing
it's wrong to break the 10 commandments. It is. Everybody knows that.
An unbeliever knows that. An unbeliever knows it's wrong
to lie, it's wrong to steal, it's wrong to kill. Sexual sin
is wrong. People are brought up knowing
that. But when you know God, you know something about sin
as a nature. Now, what do I mean by that?
I mean, you don't become a thief when you steal. You steal because
you're already a thief. That's your nature. You don't
become a murderer when you murder. You murder because that's what
you are in your heart, a murderer. You don't become guilty of adultery
when you commit the act. You commit the act because you
are an adulterer. You don't become a liar when
you lie. You lie because you're a liar
in your heart. You know something about your
nature. And the only way you can know
that is from a knowledge of the living God. Where there's a knowledge
of God and his character, there is a knowledge, an understanding
of sin. Sin is so bad because it's against
God. Against thee, thee only have I sinned. and done this
evil in thy sight. I like what the prodigal said.
I'm gonna go and say I've sinned against heaven and in thy sight.
He got it right. Sin is against God. It's a nature. You have enough understanding
of your nature to know that your righteousness is as filthy rags. You know that. You know that.
You don't even question about that. You know that because you
know something about your nature. And with this knowledge of the
character of God, and with this knowledge of the nature of sin,
there is a knowledge of yourself. And I mean a knowledge of yourself.
You won't I won't get any arguments with any believer about this.
When you know yourself, you know that you are the chief of sinners. You know that about yourself. Paul said, Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners of whom I used to be chief. He
didn't say it that way, did he? Of whom I am chief. The publican in the temple cried
out, God, be merciful to me. Do something about my sin, I
can't do anything about it. God, be merciful, be propitious,
be a sin-removing sacrifice. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Paul said, oh, wretched man that
I am. Now where there's a true knowledge
of God, and where there's a true understanding of the knowledge
of the nature of sin, there will be a true knowledge of yourself. And if you don't see yourself
in this light, your knowledge of sin is theoretical,
nothing more. When the Lord gives me grace,
to see that I'm the chief of sinners. One thing I realize,
I'm not competent to judge anybody about anything. I am the chief
of sinners. Now with this knowledge of God's
character, with this knowledge of sin and a knowledge of yourself,
there is an understanding. Listen carefully, this is so
important. There is an understanding of the need of righteousness. And what I've already said, You
can deduce from that that you know that you can't produce this
righteousness. A righteousness that God can
accept. A righteousness that is perfect
before God's holy law. Not our corrupt standard of righteousness,
but righteousness, God's righteousness. You understand a need for righteousness. A righteousness that you cannot
produce. Turn with me for a moment to
Romans chapter three. Now, if you have these first
three knowledges, you will know that this righteousness must
be given to you. There's not a more important
passage of Scripture and all the Word of God in this passage
of Scripture. Verse 19. Now we know, there's one of Paul's
knows. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, that saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them to believe, for there's
no difference There's no difference between the best man in the world
and the worst man in the world. All of sin have come short of
the glory of God being justified. Now, remember, if you're justified,
that means you are righteous before God. It's exactly what
that means. It means you've never sinned.
It means you're perfect in God's sight. being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation, a sin removing victim, through
faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare,
I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Him. Jesus, a righteousness
that meets God's standards because it is the very righteousness
of God. Now, for a man to have a true
saving knowledge of God, he's going to have to have some understanding
of substitution. There is no knowledge of God
without some understanding. Son of God has come and has given
us an understanding. There's an understanding of substitution. Now, here's a verse of scripture
that I don't understand, but I understand. Say, what do you mean by that? I don't
know, but here it goes anyway. Second Corinthians chapter five,
verse 21, a very familiar passage of scripture. And this is such
a verse regarding substitution. For he, this is something that
was initiated by God. He hath, this is something he's
actually done. I mean, it's finished. He hath made him to be sin. for us. That's substitution. That's substitution
for us. Who knew no sin, he never sinned
even when he was made sin. He never sinned in his person. He owned it as his. He was guilty
of the commission of it, but he never He was made sin. Now do any of us understand that? No? No. Do we believe it? Yes. Do we understand it? No. He hath made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God. Here's substitution. He was made what I am, that I
might be made what he is, the very righteousness of God. I've given this illustration
in the last year, but it's a good one. There was a missionary who
had been preaching for some months to a tribe and he didn't know
whether he was getting across to him. And he came up to a man
and he said, what am I saying? And the man said, he die or me
died, me die, he died, me no die. Don't you love the simplicity
of that? That is substitution. If he died
for me, if my sin became his sin, and he became guilty of
that sin, you see, when God's wrath came upon him, it's because
he was guilty of that sin. If God punished him when he was
not guilty of that sin, that would take away from the justice
of God. God is just. He was guilty of that sin. Are you saying he committed sin?
Of course not. but he was made sin, that's worse. And God punished him and that
perfect righteousness that he worked out is given to me so
that I am the very righteousness of God. Now, if God has given
you an understanding, you have some understanding of substitution. Now with the knowledge of the
character of God, with the knowledge of sin, with the knowledge of
self, with the knowledge of the need of righteousness, with the
knowledge of substitution, where there is saving knowledge, there
will always be repentance and faith. There will always be repentance
and faith. And understand this about repentance.
People think about repentance, generally the first thing they
think about is, well, you turn from your sin. If you repent, you
turn from your sin. That's not what the word means.
It's as simple as that. That's not what the word means.
And when I use it in that light, I'm not really being scriptural.
Now, turn from your sin. I'm not saying sin is okay in
any way, but that's not what repentance means. It means a
change of mind. You know, I used to believe God
wasn't fair and He was too strict and too holy and too just and
it wasn't right for Him to choose some and pass by others. It wasn't
right for Christ to not die for... I've changed my mind. I've changed my mind. I don't
believe that way anymore. I believe whatever He does is right, just,
holy, good, and true. I'm on the Lord's side. Whatever
He does is right, I'm not on man's side. I'm on the Lord's
side. That's what repentance is. You're on the Lord. You go
from being on man's side to being on the Lord's side. That's repentance. It's taking sides with God. It's agreeing with God. It's
taking sides with God against yourself. Repentance acknowledges
God's holiness and my own sinfulness. And there is a change of mind
regarding sin. I want to be delivered from it.
I want to be holy. I want to be perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ. There's a change of mind. And
you know what the evidence of that change of mind is? You look
to Christ alone. You see, when you repent, you're
afraid to look anywhere but Christ. You really believe that He's
all you have, and He's not going to accept competition with Himself.
He's not going to accept rivals. He's either all in salvation,
or He won't save you. It's that simple. That's what
repentance and faith is. And saving knowledge always is
love. Love for God, love for Christ,
love for how he saves, love for his truth, love for his gospel,
love for his people. Faith in Christ Jesus, circumcision
avails, neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision,
but faith. which worketh by love. Now this
is what happens when God gives an understanding. And we know
the Son of God has come and he's given us an understanding that
we may know him that is true. But look what it says next. I
think this is so interesting. And we know that the Son of God
has come and has given us an understanding that we may know
him that is true and we are in him that is true. Now, when you know Him, this comes along with it. You
know the only hope you have is being in Him. That's it. When you know Him, the only desire
you have is that you might be found in Him. Not having your
own righteousness, which is the law, but that which is through
the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness which is of God
by faith. Now here's what folks who know
him do. They know their only way of acceptance
is simply being found in Christ, knowing that the only way I can
get to the Father is by being in Christ and him bringing me
to the Father. No man comes to the Father but
by me, not pleading me, not beside me, not behind me, but by me. When Christ comes to the Father,
I do too, because I'm in Him. And all God sees, and this is
all I want Him to see, I can say this from the depths of my
heart, all I want Him to see is Jesus Christ, me in Him. Now that is what folks believe
who actually know God and somebody that that's not the greatest
desire of their heart simply to be in Christ. So that's all
God sees somebody that's not like that. They really don't
have any understanding of the character of God and they don't
have any understanding of sin and they don't have any understanding
of the gospel. This is the true God. you hear that? This is the true God and this
is eternal life. This is that life which comes
from God and is eternal. This is the true God knowing
him and being found in him and those two things go together.
If I would dare approach God any other way but in him, I don't
know him. I just don't know him. I'm ignorant
and I don't know myself and I don't know how he saved sinners. But
if I know God, here's my one desire. Oh, that I might be found
in him. Now this is the true God and
this is eternal life. And if a man would dare approach
God any other way than Christ, he doesn't know God, he doesn't
know himself, he has no understanding. But this is the understanding
that God has given us. Knowing Him, the only way we
can come is in Him. And we don't want it any other
way. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for this
understanding that you've given us. Of your character. Of the nature
of sin, of our own personal sinfulness, of our need of a righteousness
that we can't achieve. And this righteousness given
to us through substitution. The glorious work of thy son
on Calvary Street. Lord, how we thank you for the
gift of repentance and faith. Our mind has been changed, and
we've changed our mind, and we look to thy son only. And Lord,
knowing you, our desire is that we might be found in Christ.
Lord, make this word effectual to our hearts according to your
will. In Christ's name we pray.