I've entitled this message, John's
Reason for Writing. And let's look at this verse
again, verse 13. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know that you have eternal life. and that you might believe on
the name of the Son of God. Now, who is John writing to?
Those who believe on the name of the Son of God. Would that
be you? Why was he writing? That you might know that you
have eternal life. I don't want to be presumptuous
about this, do you? I want to know if I have eternal life. And what do people do that have
eternal life? They believe on the name of the
Son of God. He takes us right back there.
They believe on the name of the Son of God. Now, when John is
writing, he's writing to those who believe on the name of the
Son of God. What's it mean to believe on the name of the Son
of God? Well, the name is the person
behind the name. If I give the name John Doe,
what comes to you? Nothing. There's not a face behind
that name. There's not a person. There's
not a personality. There are not attributes. If
I speak of Mitch Bryant, There's a definite person, you know,
that has certain characteristics and certain attributes. So to
believe on his name is to believe the person behind the name. Now, there is a specific person
behind the name of the son of God that we're called upon to
believe. Most of what goes on under the name of preaching speaks
of a Jesus that is not the one I know. I know it. And when I hear a Jesus preach
that is not the one I know, I know it. It's not him. Turn with me
for a moment to John chapter eight. Verse 24, these words are somewhat
chilling. I said, therefore, unto you that
you shall die in your sins. You know, just that statement
fills me with fear. The thought of dying in my sins. And he tells
these people and you shall die in your sins for if you believe
not that I am. Notice the he is supplied by
the translators and it doesn't really belong there. If you believe
not that I am, you shall die in your sins. Now, this is his
name as God. I am. You remember what the Lord
said to Moses in the burning bush? I am that I am. Now, Only God can say this. He never says I was, never says
I would be, never says I want to be, never says I could be,
never says I used to be. He's always the eternal I am
that I am. And the Lord tells us if you
don't believe that I am, you'll die in your sins. Now this is
His isness. He says, I am holy. I am eternal. I never had a beginning. I am sovereign. My will is always
done. I am all powerful. There's nothing
I lack the power to do. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? I am immutable. I never change. I'm always the
precise same. I am just, justice and judgment
is the habitation of my throne. I am is his isness, it's who
he is, who he reveals himself to be. I'm independent, I have
no needs. Look down at the bottom of this
chapter, chapter eight, verse 56. Your father, Abraham, rejoiced
to see my day. And he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him,
Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Don't you love who he is? as
He reveals Himself in His Word. You know, I believe He's God. I believe He's the Creator. I
believe He's eternal. He never began to be. He's holy. He's altogether other
He's sovereign, I believe this, regarding this man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. His will is always done. I believe
he's absolutely just. I believe he's omnipotent, omnipresent,
omniscient, independent, immutable. I believe his isness. I really do. If you could cut
into my heart and find out what I believe, you'd find out what
I believe concerning him. And not only do I believe who
he is, I am trusting I'm relying on who he is to save me. Now, when I talk about him being
eternal, the only hope this man has is that I've been eternally
united to him and that I've always been in him and I've never been
seen independent of him in any way to any degree. My great desire is to be holy,
to not be a sinner anymore. And the only way I can be holy
is if he makes me holy. Be ye holy for I am holy. You can't be holy unless you
are holy. You can't do things to make yourself holy. I love
that scripture, both he that sanctifies, he that makes holy,
and they who are sanctified, they who are made holy, are all
of one, for the which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren. I need his sovereignty to will
my salvation. I need him to will me to be saved,
just by an act of his will. I need His justice to save me
in a way that I'm justified. That I actually stand before
God without guilt and that I don't have any sin. I'm righteous in
His sight. I'm relying on His omnipotence,
the power of His blood to put away my sins and to give me life. I'm trusting His omnipresence
that He's always here. Always here. Always at the right
hand of the Father. always with me. I can't go anywhere
where he's not. I'm relying on his independence
because if there's anything he needs out of me to save me, I
don't have any hope. I'm relying on his independence,
how he doesn't need contributions from me. I need his immutability
to cause him to keep loving me and never changing. I need him
as he is now. I see what the Bible says concerning
him, the best I can understand it. I believe what the Bible
says concerning him, and I need what the Bible says concerning
him. I need just who this person is to save me, and I'm relying
on him. Now, in the context of this epistle,
look in 1 John, back to 1 John. Chapter one, verse one. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we've looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life.
For the life was manifested and we've seen it and bear witness
and show unto you that eternal life. What is eternal life, Lord
Jesus Christ? There's the best definition of
eternal life I know. It's Him. He is eternal life. I love that. Yes, it's the life
of God in the soul, but more than anything else, it's Jesus
Christ. He is that eternal life, which was with the father and
was manifested to us. Now, I believe that he's the
eternal son. I believe he's God. Look in verse
7. of chapter one, but if we walk
in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanseth
us from all sin. I believe that. I believe that
saving power and efficacy of his blood is such that cleanses
away all my sin. I believe that. Now that's what
I believe. I believe the blood of Jesus
Christ, God's son cleanses us from all sin. Look in verse 1
of chapter 2. My little children, these things
write unto you that you sin not. You know, there's never a reason
to sin. And when you do, if any man or when any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. Now,
I believe He's the advocate. Do you? I believe he's the great
intercessor. I can't get to God, I know that.
But he can, and he can bring me to God as my great high priest. I believe that. And the reason
his advocacy, him being my lawyer and always being successful,
is because of his propitiation. He said, and he is the propitiation
for our sins and not for ours only, but also the sins of the
whole world. What did John say in first John chapter four, verse
10, here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved
us and sent his son to be the propitiation. Now that word,
big word, it means the sin removing sacrifice. Do you believe His advocacy? Do you believe that if He represents
you, you must be saved, the Father won't say no to Him? I believe
that. Look in chapter 4. Verse 2, Hereby know ye the Spirit
of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist,
where if you've heard that it should come, and even now, already
it's in the world. Now listen to the simplicity
of this. Do you believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh?
Do you believe He was, before He came, the eternal God? Did
He actually came in the flesh? bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh, and that He did exactly what He came to do. Thou shalt
call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. He did it. He did it. You know,
I believe that. I believe that with all my heart.
Do you believe this? Do you believe on the name of the Son of God?
Look in 1 John chapter 5. Verse 11, this is what we considered
last time. And this is the record. This
is the testimony that God has given to us eternal life. And
this life is in his son. He that hath the son hath life. He that hath not the son of God
hath not life. Now, there's only one way you
can know if you have the son. You have the son if he's all you
got. If you got anything else, you don't have the son. You see,
the only people who have the son are the people who he's all
they have. I love that pearl of great price,
that man that was searching for pearls when he found the one
pearl of great price. He got rid of everything just
to have that one pearl. What was he known as? A man who
only had one pearl. That's all he had. do you have
the son? Well, you do. If he's all you've
got right now before God, you don't have anything else. You
don't have anything else to plead him only. Now that's what it
is to believe on the name of his son. Now, Believing on the
name of his son, look what he says in verse 13. These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son
of God, that you might know that you have eternal life. Now, the fact of the matter is
we can know that we have eternal life right now. Now, I also know
this, as soon as you start thinking, well, I have eternal life, you're
going to start questioning whether you do. If you're anything like
me, as soon as you think, I have full assurance, really? That
is what comes up in my mind, and I suspect that you're probably
a lot like me. But still, this passage of scripture says we
can know, we can know that we have eternal life. To have eternal
life, first of all, you're gonna have to have God give it to you
and birth you into the kingdom of heaven. To as many as received
him, to them gave you the power to become the sons of God, even
to them which believe on his name, which were born. They were
born, they were birthed. Not of blood, not of the will
of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. God birthed
you and gave you this life. This is a supernatural miracle
of God through the Holy Spirit, born of the Spirit of God. Now to have eternal life, you
have to have been ordained to have eternal life before time
began. Acts chapter 13, verse 48, what's it say? And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed." If you're going to have eternal
life, you're going to have to have been ordained to have eternal
life. But if you're going to have eternal
life, you're literally going to have the life of the Lord
Jesus Christ. His life is eternal life. And that is eternal life. Having Him, being in Him, being
found in Him so that all God sees is the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is eternal life. Now eternal life is the very
life of God in you and you can know you can have it. How can
I know? Now listen real carefully. This
is very important. How can I know personally that
I have eternal life? Is it because I can see victory
over sin in my life? True, I fall, but the bent and
tenor of my life is becoming progressively more holy and more
obedient, and I can see where I'm growing and doing better. Don't let sin defeat me as it
formerly did. And I give God the credit for
this. It's only by His grace, but I can see this progress,
this growth that lets me know I must have eternal life. You
know, those people really say that. There are people that say
that. I tell you what, if that's so,
I'm not saved. Now understand that if that's so, If you can
see truly this growth and this progress and this more victory
over sin and how you're becoming better and progressively more
holy and less sinful and more obedient and having more victory
in your life and your faith is greater and all, if that's real,
if you really are like that, I've missed it altogether. I
have not been saved. Is this kind of thinking scriptural?
That's the big issue. Is this kind of thinking scriptural? Somebody that feels that way
about themselves, did they get that from the Bible? Now, we ought not sin. Amen? We ought not sin. There is no excuse for our sin. But I want us to look what John
says in 1 John chapter 1. Verse 8. If we say that we have
no sin. We deceive ourselves. And the
truth is not in us. There was a preacher that came
by the study this week, and I asked him if he was a sinner. And he
said, well, I used to be, but not now. I said, hold on, buddy.
Hold on. I want you, we'll just clear
everything, I want you to go 10 seconds, I won't say a word,
I want you to go 10 seconds without any kind of sinful thought. The environment's gotta be right,
I don't know where he was coming up to, but still, he couldn't
do it. He couldn't do it. And John tells
us if we say we have no sin, that's right now, present tense,
present tense. We deceive ourselves because
you have, and I have, a very sinful nature at all times. And if we make some kind of claim
other than that, self-deception, lost all credibility. Look at
verse 10. If we say we've not sinned, now
there, that word is a verb. It's a verb, and it's present
tense. Right now, with regard to anything I do, anything I
say, if I say I didn't sin, well, we make him a liar. Because God
says we have. God saw the wickedness of man
was great in the earth and that every imagination and thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. Would that describe a believer?
He's an old man, it is. Sure enough, turn to Romans chapter
7. Now here's a man that has eternal
life, and let's look at his experience. Romans chapter seven, verse 14. For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal. Look at this language, sold under
sin. sold as a slave to sin. Well, how can you be saved if
it's that way with you? Well, let's go on reading. For
that which I do, I allow not. What I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it's good. Now then it's no more
I that do it, but the sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that
in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me. He doesn't say that, does he?
He says, I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that
which I would not, it's no more I that do it, but the sin that
dwelleth in me, I find in a law that when I would do good, evil
is present with me, for I delight in the law of God after the inward
man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the
law of my mind, and listen to these words, bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Oh, wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then with my mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with
the flesh, the law of sin. Now somebody says, but what about
all those exhortations to obedience in the scripture? There's a lot
of them aren't there? What about all those exhortations to obedience
in Scripture? Well, we love them. And we're called upon to obey
them, to put off the old man and put on the new, to manifest
the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. We're called upon to be the man
of the Beatitudes, to be poor in spirit at all times. to mourn
over my sin, to be meek before God, to hunger and thirst after
righteousness, to be merciful, to be pure in heart, to be a
peacemaker, to be persecuted for righteousness sake. We're
called upon to lay aside all malice, guile, hypocrisy, envies,
and evil speakings as newborn babes desiring the sincere milk
of the word that we may grow thereby. Now, those things are
in that man who is described in Romans chapter 7. Turn with
me to Luke chapter 6. And if you're a believer, you
breathe through this. This is what you want. You're
not indifferent about this. Luke chapter 6. Verse 27. But I say unto you
which hear, love your enemies. Do good to them which hate you. Bless them that curse you, and
pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth
thee on the one cheek, offer also the other. And him that
taketh away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also. Give
to every man that asks of thee. And of him that taketh away thy
goods, ask them not again. As you would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if you love them
which love you, what thank have you? What grace have you? For
sinners also love those that love them. And if you do good
to them which do good to you, what thank have you? For sinners
also do even the same. And if you lend to them whom
you hope to receive, what thank have you? What grace have you?
For sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again. But
love your enemies. Don't you want to do that? Do
good and lend, hoping for nothing again. And your reward should
be great, and you should be the children of the highest, for
he is kind unto the unthankful and the evil. Be ye therefore
merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not. Wouldn't
you love to never judge anybody again? Never judge anybody again. Judge not, and you shall not
be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not
be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven.
Give, and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down
and shaken together, and running over shall men give unto your
bosom. For with the same measure that you meet, with all it shall
be measured to you again. Now we're called upon every day
to deny ourselves, aren't we? take up our cross and to follow
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what is the evidence of
eternal life? I've given these exhortations to obedience. We
want to obey them. We see them as beautiful. They
come from God. But is our obedience to these things evidence of eternal
life? No. There's only one evidence of
eternal life. Believing on the name of the
Son of God. And if you can find any other
evidence that you're saved, you've missed the boat. You've missed
it. The only evidence is believing
on the name of the Son of God. Now, do you remember that scripture
I quoted previously? As many as were ordained to eternal
life. What's the next word? Believed. Believed. And let me remind myself
and let me remind you that faith, true saving faith, the product
of eternal life, Believing on his name has absolutely nothing
to do with what you believe about yourself. You believe that? It doesn't
have anything to do with what you think about whether or not
you're saved or whether you're growing or whether you're being
obedient to the commands. Saving faith has nothing to do
with how you view yourself. You may see yourself as warm
spirit. You may be in your first love.
You may be cold like the land. Not lukewarm, but cold, hot.
But still that has no bearing on what faith is. Faith has nothing. Let me repeat this. I want you
to hear it. Faith has nothing to do with what you think about
yourself or your spiritual state. Faith has wholly to do with what
you think of Him. Just forget yourself. Don't figure out whether or not
you're saved. Just forget that. Don't try to
figure out if you're elect. Don't try to figure out if you
have the new birth. Do you believe on the name of
the Son of God? That's the only question. And
look at the way he states this. Back to our text. Verse 13. 1 John chapter 5, these
things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God, that you might know that you have eternal life. And
what do folks do who know they have eternal life? He repeats
himself again, that they may believe on the name of the Son
of God. Now, real simple question. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? Do you believe that He's God's
prophet, the very Word of God? Do you believe that He's that
priest after the order of Melchizedek who has a changeless, eternal
priesthood? And if He brings you before the
Father, you must be saved. Do you believe that He's King
right now? Somebody said to me not long ago, they said, don't
you want to see Christ reign? He's reigning right now. He's
in absolute control of everything and everybody. There's nothing
but wiggles or moves without Him. He reigns! I already see
Him reigning. He's King. Do you believe that
He's the Christ? I mean, in your heart, when God
looks in your heart, does He see someone that really believes
that Jesus is the Christ? Do you believe that He is the
eternal, uncreated Son of God? the creator of the universe is
your only ground of salvation. Him. Him. Nothing else. If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely? Freely means there's nothing
you have to pay. There's nothing you have to be. freely give us
all things. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? God justified them. Who is he
that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Nothing
can be laid to my charge. It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God. That's
my salvation. That's all of it. Nothing can be laid to my charge.
Turn to John chapter 20 for a moment. John chapter 20, I'd like you
to see this. Verse 30. And many other signs truly did
Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written
in this book, But these are written that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you might
have life through his name. I believe. I believe he's the son of God.
I believe He's the Christ. I believe that all things were
made by Him. I believe He's the Word that
was made flesh. I believe that in Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. I believe He's before all things
and by Him all things consist. I believe that. I believe He's
the brightness of God's glory. the express image of his person,
the one who holds all things by the word of his power. I believe
that he by himself purged our sins. I believe that he's the
way. I believe that he's the truth. I believe that he's the
life. I believe this book called the
Bible only has one message, him. You believe that? You believe
that? I believe he's God's lamb. Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sins of the world. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
11. Very important verse. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1. Now faith And faith is believing on the
name of the Son of God. That's what faith means. It's
believing on the name of the Son of God. It's finding your
whole salvation in His name, in His person. You're dependent
upon who He is to save you. Now, faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now, I cannot see my name written
in the Lamb's Book of Life. Well, I'd love to have access
to that book. I know whose name I'd be looking
up first, and it wouldn't be yours. I'd look for you afterwards,
but I'm looking for me first. But I don't have access to the
Lamb's Book of Life. Well, how do you know your name's
in there? Faith. Faith. If you look to Christ,
if you believe on His name, your name is eternally written in
the Lamb's Book of Life. I cannot see that I'm sinless. I believe I am. That's what justification
means. You never sin. Wholly unblameable,
unreprovable in God's sight, without spot, wrinkle, or any
such thing. Now, I can't see that. To the contrary, all I
see is sin. What's the evidence that you're
justified? Faith. Looking, I believe he's
the son of God. You're making things too simple.
Listen, for one thing, I can't make things too simple. For another
thing, the hardest thing you're ever called upon to do is to
look to Christ alone. And for another thing, what else
you got? What else you got? I don't have
anything else. I can't see my holy nature. What's
the evidence you have one? Faith. Turn with me to Luke 22.
Now I want to warn all of us. If you can look at your life
and your conduct and come up with the fact that you must be
saved, I'm happy for you. Well, I'm not. I'm sad for you.
Because that's really the wrong thing. You're not even being
honest. And you're not being scriptural because the scripture
doesn't do that. That's not the scriptural evidence.
Listen, I want to be a trustworthy person. I want to be a moral
person. I want to be all that I'm supposed
to. Am I saying that? But if I can look at any of that
and think, well, I must be saved. Look at the way I'm living. I'd
miss it all together. Now look what the Lord said in
verse 31. Luke 22. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to
have you. And that's literally asked permission. He's asked permission. And isn't
this a glorious thing? Satan can't make a move without
asking permission from the Lord. Can't make a move. Yeah, he's
the devil, but he's God's devil on God's chain doing God's will. That's all he does. That's all
he does. And he's given for the good of
God's people. But Satan hath desired to have
you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee. Think of the Lord praying for
you. What else needs to be said? I
have prayed for you. The Son of God has prayed for
me. I have prayed for thee. What? What? That you don't fall? That you're
able to resist this temptation? That's what we prayed for, isn't
it? He said, I prayed for thee that
thy faith fail not. You see, faith is the chief thing. Above all things, taking the
shield of faith because of what it is. Now, after Peter fell,
and oh, how he fell, he denied he knew the Lord. He played the coward. And there
wasn't any good thing about what he did. It was evil. But the
Lord didn't pray for that not to happen, but he did pray for
his faith to be preserved. Now, I don't have any doubt,
particularly from Mark 16, verse 7, that Peter thought he was
not a believer after this. Remember when the Lord said,
you go tell the disciples and Peter, he pointed out Peter specifically,
you make sure Peter knows this, I go before you. Peter heard
the Lord say, whosoever confessed me before men, him will I confess
before my father, which is in heaven. And whosoever denies
me before men, him will I deny before my father, which is in
heaven. Now, if you would have come up
to Peter and said, Peter, are you saved? Maybe I don't know, probably
not. Peter, are you elect? I doubt it. Peter, do you believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God? Yes. I believe that. I believe that. You see, his
faith did not fail. Everything else failed, and he
needed it. He needed it. It was a blessing to him. One
of the glorious things about the Lord is everything that happens
to us, even the stuff we say, man, I wish that hadn't happened.
I wish that didn't happen. You know, when we think something
like that, we're really stupid. He sent it for our good and his
glory. It's all good. It's all good. But one thing Peter never ceased
to do, he believed that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Now, somebody that does that, they have eternal life. Let's
pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that by almighty, irresistible, invincible grace, Each person
in this room might be enabled to believe on the name of the
Son of God, that we might know we have eternal life, that we
might believe on the name of the Son of God. Lord, how we
thank you for his name, how we thank you for his person, how
we thank you for his salvation. Bless this message for your glory
and our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.