Would you turn back to 1 John
chapter 4 verse 14, you're going to have to bear with me, I'm
going to be coughing. 1 John chapter 4 verse 14. And
we have seen and do testify. We've seen something. And this
is what we're bearing witness to and testifying of. And here
it is. That the father sent the son. The savior. Of the world. Don't you love that title to
our Redeemer? The savior. Of the world. He didn't send him to be the
savior of the world. He sent him the savior of the
world. Now notice the order. John says,
we've seen and do testify. You can't testify of that which
you have not personally seen, can you? Somebody says, well,
here's what somebody told me. Hold up. What have you seen?
not what somebody told you. What can you actually bear witness
to? If all I have is something that
somebody else has told me, I don't really have anything to testify
of. I can't give testimony. So this comes first. What we've
seen, we testify of. And if I've seen something, oh,
may God give me the grace to bear testimony of it. What we've
really seen, we are to testify of. Now, John is speaking as
an eyewitness. Turn with me to 1 John 1, verse
1. That which was from the beginning,
he's speaking of the eternal Christ, that which was from the
beginning, which we have heard. which we have seen with our eyes.
He's speaking as an eyewitness. Which we have looked upon and
our hands have handled of the word of life. For the life. Don't you love the way John calls
the life of Christ, the life? The life. The life. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. The life was manifested. And we have seen and bear witness
and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father
and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with
us. And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son, Jesus Christ. Now, John was speaking as an
eyewitness. You know, he was with him every
day for three years. And most people think that he was a teenager,
and I believe probably he was. I think that's glorious to think
about, this young man, 17 or 18 years old, following the Lord
Jesus Christ wherever he went. This is the one who called himself
that disciple that Jesus loved. This is the one who laid his
head in the bosom of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he spoke as
an eyewitness. But did you know that You and
I can bear witness just as powerfully as a faith witness. Not an eyewitness
because I haven't seen Christ physically, but I can bear witness
as a faith witness because we walk by faith. and not by sight. And a faith witness in some respects
sees more powerfully than an eyewitness because he sees by
faith. What you see by faith is more
clear than what you see by sight. Actually, it's more real. Let
me show you this in the scripture. Turn back to 2 Peter chapter
1. You see what we see by faith,
we see by the power of the Spirit of God, don't we? If I have faith,
it's because God gave it to me. If I have faith, it comes from
the Word of God. It's believing the Word of God.
And this is actually more powerful than anything I see by sight.
Now look what Peter says in verse 16 of 2 Peter chapter 1. For
we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but
we were eyewitnesses of his majesty just like John was in the first
part of 1 John. We were eyewitnesses. We saw
this. We experienced this. We were
there when this happened. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from
that excellent glory. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. And he's talking about the transfiguration.
They saw this physically when the Lord was transfigured before
them and his deity burst through his humanity and his face shined
above the brightness of the sun. They experienced this. Can you
imagine seeing something like that? They were there. Now look
what he says. And this voice, verse 18, which
came from heaven, we heard. When we were with him in the
Holy Mount, we have also a more sure word of prophecy. This book, where into you do
well that you take heed as into a light that shineth in a dark
place into the day dawn and the day star rise in your hearts,
knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation. Well, here's what I think it
means. Here's what it means to me. It means what it means, whether
it means that way to you or me or not. It's no private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So this thing of a faith witness,
it comes from the Word of God. It comes from the Spirit of God
revealing what the Word of God is saying. And it's more powerful
than being an eyewitness. I believe that. Now in John chapter six, would
you turn with me there? John chapter six. Verse 40. John 6, 40. And this is the will
of him that sent me. Remember, we're talking about,
this is what we're giving testimony of, that the Father sent the
Son. This is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which
seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Now understand
this, I've not seen the Lord physically, and neither have
you. That's not what he's talking
about when he's talking about seeing the Son. He's not talking
about a physical sight. But I see who he is. He's God the Son. He's the God-man. He's the man Christ Jesus. I see the Son. I see who he is. I see, I see what he did. Hebrews 1.3 says, when he had
by himself purged our sins. I see what he did. He accomplished
my salvation. He accomplished the salvation
of everybody he died for without any help from them. I see where
he is right now. I don't see it physically, but
I know right now he's seated at the right hand of the Father,
ruling and reigning in control of everybody and everything as
Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And he is representing all of
his people as their great high priest. Now I see that. You see
that? I see who he is. I see what he did. and I see where he is right now. Now, all who see him, see who
he is and see what he did and where he is right now, they all
do this. They believe on him. When you
see, you will believe. Now, if you don't believe, you've
never seen. But all who see him, who he is,
what he did, where he is. I love the simplicity of that.
They all believe on Him. Now, how did these people come
to see? The inevitable result of seeing
is believing. How did I come to see? Turn with
me. You're in John. Turn to John
9. Verse 39. And Jesus said, for judgment
I am come into this world. Now let's remember what we're
giving testimony to. The father sent the son to be
the savior of the world. Now he tells why he came into
this world. He said for judgment I'm coming
to this world that they would see not might see and they would
see might be made blind. Now who is this person that sees
not. It's the person who does not
see any reason in themselves as to why God would save them. And that's exactly what that
means. The person who sees not is the person who cannot look
within themselves and see any reason why God would have anything
to do with them. They're like Peter, depart from
me, I'm a sinful man, oh Lord. That's the person who's gonna
see. And that person who can see,
I can see why God would save me, I fill in the blank, whatever
it is, I this, I that, I can see why God would save me, that
person is made blind. One sees, one is made blind. Now verse 40, and some of the
Pharisees which were with him heard these words and said unto
him, are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, if you
were blind, you should have no sin. But you say we see, therefore
your sin remaineth. Now there's two kinds of people.
Those who have no sin. and those who sin remains. And
everybody who cannot see in themselves, I'm talking about right now,
everybody who cannot see in themselves why God would have mercy on them,
they can't see any reason in themselves, that person has no
sin. And the person who can see why
God would have mercy on them, Their sin remains. And what a horrible thing to
think about. Oh, I want to be in this group who has no sin.
Because if I'm in Christ, I have no sin. Not simply that I'm forgiven,
but I have no sin. He put it all away. There's nothing
for me to be condemned for. But if I'm somebody who thinks
I can see, my sin remains. Now, the witness is called to
the stand. Tell us what you've seen. Back to our text in 1 John
4, the witness is called to the stand, tell us what you've seen.
We've seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son, the
Savior of the world. Now, notice first, there's no
mention in this testimony about self. No mention about experience. No mention about anything that
has anything to do with what he's bearing witness to. I'm
not going to talk about myself. Now a dead giveaway that somebody
is a false witness is they're talking about themselves. That's
a dead giveaway. But John, what does he bear witness
to? That the Father sent the Son,
the Savior of the world. Now that's the testimony. The
Father sent the Son, the Savior of the world. Turn with me back
to John chapter 6 for a moment. John chapter 6, verse 28. Then said they unto
him, what shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto
them, this is the work of God. that you believe on him whom
he has sent. Now did you catch that? Not simply
that you believe, but that you believe on him whom he has sent. Now here's the question, what
did God his father send him to do? To be an example? To make salvation possible? to
make salvation available to us if we do our part? Is that what
the Father sent him to do? Now look in the same chapter
in verse 38. For I came down from heaven, not to do my own
will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's
will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me. That's talking about the elect. All that he hath given me, I
should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day. And this is the will of him that
sent me that everyone would see it the son and believe it on
him may have everlasting life and I'll raise him up at the
last day. Now, what I'm to believe on him whom he has sent, what
did he send him to do? How many sermons do I go without
quoting the scripture? Thou shalt call his name Jesus.
For he shall save his people from their sins. Did he do it? Did he do it? thank his holy
name every one of his people were saved from their sins he
said in John chapter 17 verse 4 I've glorified with thee on
the earth I finished the work thou gave it's me to do what
was the work he gave him to do to save his people from their
sins and what joy there is in that I'm saved from my sins because
he saved me from my sins well what about the sins you commit
I'm saved from them I'm saved from them all of them all of
them, every single one of them. He did what He came to do. We
believe that He did what the Father sent Him to do. John chapter
17 verse 2 and 3, Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that
He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.
And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. There's such
an emphasis of this in the Word of God, God sending the Son. Now turn with me to Luke chapter
4. Now this is when the Lord, early
in His public ministry, He comes back to Nazareth. And everybody
had heard about all the miracles that he had been performing,
and they were excited about coming to hear him and see what he's
going to have to say. They were all gathered to hear him. And
we read in verse 16, and he came to Nazareth where he had been
brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue
on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah, And when he opened the book,
he found the place where it was written. Now he's going to tell
us what he was sent to do. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to
preach deliverance to the captives. This is what I was sent to do.
And recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Now this is what the Father sent him to do. I love the simplicity
of this. First, to preach the gospel to
the poor. Do you know it's only the poor, those who have nothing
to recommend them to God, that hear the gospel as gospel. Blessed
are the poor in spirit. He sent me to preach the gospel
to folks who have nothing. That's what the poor are. And
then he says next, he sent me to heal the brokenhearted. Now what is this broken heart
he's speaking of? A heart that doesn't work. If
something's broken, what's that mean? It doesn't work. What do
you do with a broken clock? Throw it away. A broken vase? Throw it away. It's no good.
It doesn't work. A broken and a contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise. And he came to heal the brokenhearted."
And then it says in verse 18, to preach deliverance to the
captives. Now what's a captive? A captive
is in jail. If the door is open, he can walk
out. He's not captive. But if he is stuck, he can't
get out, he came to preach deliverance to that one who is captive to
their sin. Deliverance. And he came for
recovering of sight to the blind, those who can't see, why God
would Accept them. He came to give them the sight
to understand why I would for Christ's sake. That's why the
Father sent him. And then it says, to set at liberty
is set free them that are bruised, crushed. To set them free. The
gospel is so freeing. What is liberty? You don't have
to do anything. If you have something you've
got to pay, there's no liberty. But if you don't have to do anything,
Christ did it all, how that sets you free. That's the only liberty
I know anything about, is where all that God requires of me,
He looks to His Son for. And then in verse 19, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. And that's a reference to that
year, the year of God's favor, the year of jubilee. Now, I love
the year of Jubilee. I think it's so interesting.
There's four things that took place. You can read about it in Leviticus,
and it gives great detail. But every 50 years, you'd have
what's called the year of Jubilee, and a silver trumpet would be
blown to usher it in. And in this year, if you're in
debt, your debt was canceled. Can you imagine Do you owe any
money? Can you imagine if all of a sudden,
just at the blowing of that trumpet, all your money that you owe is
canceled, set free, debt paid? What you lost, let's say you
lost something and it was taken from you, it was restored. And
if you were a slave, You were sold into slavery because you
couldn't pay your debts. When that silver trumpet sounded,
you were set free. Can you imagine how that must
have felt to these people? And the land was given a year's
rest, a year's vacation. Everything you lost was restored.
Your debts were canceled. The land was given a year rest
and if you were a slave you were set free. Now can you imagine
how you must have felt when that silver trumpet sounded? There's
only one problem. There's no examples in the scripture
of the year of Jubilee ever being observed. Not one example. Did they observe it? Well, we
don't have any examples of it. And you know, the Lord even told
the people, you'll be prospered. You don't have to worry. Don't
in your wicked heart say it's the year of Jubilee. I don't
want to loan somebody something because I know I'm not going
to get it back. The Lord said you'll be prospered. But there's not
one example of the year of Jubilee ever being observed. And I kind
of understand that. If somebody owed me a bunch of
money, I wouldn't want the year of Jubilee. Would you? I don't
think anybody would, but the only folks who rejoiced in Jubilee
were the folks who owed. The folks who were owed, they
did not rejoice in this glorious time. But look what the Lord
says in verse 20, and he closed the book. And he gave it again
to the minister and sat down, and the eyes of all them that
were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto
them, this day is this scripture fulfilled. Jubilee, I meant,
it's fulfilled in me. What a blessing to testify that
the father sent the son the Savior of the world. Now that's who
He is. He's the Savior of the world. And I love this title of our
Lord. He's called in Revelation chapter 13 verse 8, the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. And that means that
before there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior. And He was
the Savior of the world. Now, I've got to say this. Because preachers use verses
like this to prove their error. See, he's the Savior of the world.
That means he's the Savior of all men without exception. That
means that he loves all men without exception. That means that he
died for all men without exception. Wants to save all men without
exception, because there he is, the Savior of the world, according
to John 3, 16. God so loved the world. And we
love his title as the Savior of the world, but I don't want
to use that to teach error. And that is what many people
do when they talk about him being the savior of the world. That
means he came to save everybody. Now listen to me. If he did come
to save everybody, he failed. Is that so? If he did come to
save everybody, that means what he did isn't enough. There's
something you need to do in order to make it work. So when we're
saying that he's the savior of the world, I love that. that
title, he is the savior of the world. But I don't want to use
that to teach something that actually ends up teaching salvation
by works. And that's what so many people do. I don't want
to do that. But thank God he is the savior of the world. But if it means all men without
exception, I mean salvation is by works. If he died for all
men and some of those men that he died for are not saved, that
means their salvation is dependent on something they do and not
what he did. And that takes away the very
hope of the gospel. Now turn to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. Verse 14, and as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness. You know the story. Snakes were
coming in, biting the children of Israel. And I know what I
would have done if that would have been the case. I would have
been looking at the ground trying to make sure no snakes get to me.
I sure wouldn't be looking up at the brazen serpent, I'd be
seeing what I could do to avoid those snakes. But what did the
Lord tell Moses to do? You lift up that serpent on the
pole, and whoever looks, looks, beholds faith in Christ. Whoever
looked, everyone that was bitten looked, and everyone that looked
lived. Now that's the gospel, isn't
it? And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Now here's
the reason behind all this. For God so loved the world. that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into
the world to condemn the world that was already condemned, but
that the world through him might be saved." The Savior the world."
Don't you like that title of our Lord? The Savior of the world. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 1.
Now, if this is not your favorite verse of Scripture, it ought
to be. It ought to be. Let's look what
it says, 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 15. This is a faithful saying. This is something that you can
rely on. It's utterly faithful. And it's
worthy of all acceptation. Everybody ought to jump for joy
and embrace this. It's the greatest thing they've
ever heard. And here it is that Christ Jesus
came in to the world. Remember, he's the savior of
the world. And why did he come? Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Who did he come to save? Sinners. I've given this definition of
sin so many times, but I've added something to it. So I'm going
to say something a little bit differently. Now, what is a sinner? It says he came to save sinners.
A sinner is the one who commits the sin. I've heard people say, God loves
the sinner, but he hates the sin. Now, wait a minute. God
doesn't put sins into hell. He puts the ones who commit them
into hell. The sinner is the one who commits
the sin. Now, Christ Jesus came into the
world to save, not to condemn, but to save sinners. Now, what
is a sinner? Well, first of all, a sinner
is somebody who all they do is commit sin. They cannot not sin. And this is something I need
to always say when I talk about what a sinner is. A sinner always
blames only himself for his sin. He doesn't blame God's sovereignty.
He blames himself. My sin is all my fault. I take complete responsibility
for my sin. It's not somebody else's fault.
It is my fault. A sinner is someone who cannot
sit in judgment upon anybody for anything. They really believe
that about themselves. They believe themselves to be
the chief of sinners and they have no claim on God. They can't
say, God, you need to save me because I know No claims on God. If he passes me by, if he saves
everybody in this room and passes me by and sends me to hell, just
and holy is his name. I don't have any claims on him.
Now, would that be you? Would that be you? All you do is sin? And you hate yourself because
you can make an admission like that and it doesn't bother you
any more than it does. All you do is sin. You cannot not sin.
You own that all your sin is all your fault. It's not caused
by somebody else. It's all your fault. You take
full responsibility for it. You can't sit in judgment on
anybody. And if God passed you by, just
and holy is his name. Are you a sinner? Christ came to save you. For sure. Because he came into
the world to save sinners. Now, if that description does
not fit you, I can't say that he came to save you. I don't
know. I hope he did. I hope he teaches you that you're
a sinner. I hope he teaches me that I'm
a sinner. I hope these are not just words that I know that I
don't really know anything about. But I do know this, God's word
says Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and that's
exactly what he did. And when he said it is finished,
every sinner he came to save was saved, completely outside
of their personal subjective experience by what he did. He came into the world to save
sinners. And you can't, I love what Paul
says next. Look at verse 15. This is a faithful
saying, and it's worthy of all acceptation. Everybody ought
to rejoice in this, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners of whom I am the chief. You say, I'm the worst man to
ever live. Well, Paul said he was. Paul said he was, but what do
I learn from that? You can't be too bad to be saved.
You can be too good, but you can't be too bad. And look what
he said in verse 16. How be it for this cause I obtain
mercy, the chief of sinners obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus
Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him. life everlasting. Look in 1 John chapter 4, 1 John chapter 4, remember this
is our testimony. This is what, if we've seen something,
this is what we're going to bear witness to, this is what we're
going to testify that the Father sent the Son, the Savior of the
world. Now look here in 1 John chapter
4 beginning in verse 9, In this was manifested the love
of God toward us, the us being everybody he sent his son for. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten son
into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son, the propitiation of our sins. Now here's love. He sent His
Son. Isn't that what we're bearing
witness to? The Father sent the Son. And how is it that He saves
us from our sins? He's the propitiation. Now, that's
a foreign sounding word, I realize. It's not used every day. Here's
what the word means, a sin removing sacrifice. He sent his son, the sin removing. This is how he loves. Here's
what love is. It's not that we love God, but
that he loved us and gave up his son to be the sin removing
sacrifice. I got one other scripture I want
us to look at. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5. Now this is what we bear witness
to. Verse 18. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 18, and all
things are of God. What things? Well, in the immediate
context, we know all things are of God in the sense that he's
in control of everything and he's sovereign over everything
and there's nothing that happens that happens without him. We
know that. But in the immediate context,
he says in verse 17, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. Now that's of God. Who's the
only one who can create? God. If any man be in Christ,
he's a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and have given
to us the ministry of reconciliation." Now in this thing of reconciliation
if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death
of his son it was accomplished by what he did and that's our
message. Now All things are of God who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and given to us the ministry
of reconciliation to wit, or namely, here's what it is, that
God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. We didn't do anything to make
reconciliation, God did. And here's how, by not imputing
their trespasses unto them. I don't know of anything more
precious to me than thinking about the fact that everything
that I may think about myself, it's true and worse than I think
it is. And here's my hope, God didn't
impute it to me. That's all my hope. Everything
about me is true. Everything about you is true.
There isn't anybody in here you think I've thought this awful
thing. I've done this awful thing. I
am this awful person. All those things are true. All
those things are true. But here's the hope. God didn't
charge you with it. Well how could that be right.
If I did it. How can that be right. Well,
let's go on reading. To wit that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them. And he hath committed unto us the word, the message
of reconciliation. Verse 20, now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us. We pray you, in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God. Now, I wish I knew how to preach
on that the right way. I don't. I wish I did. Paul says we're
ambassadors of Christ. We're his messengers. We're representing him. And this
thing of God beseeching the sinner, I'm just amazed by that. We're ambassadors, we're beseeching
you as though God did beseech you by us. That's amazing to
think of the glorious God beseeching a sinner, isn't it? But here
it says he does. He does. You be reconciled to
God. Now here's how he didn't impute
my sins to me. For he, God, hath made him, the
Lord Jesus Christ, sin for us. That sin that God didn't impute
to me, Christ took it on and it became his and he became guilty
of it. And God was the one who did this.
And if God can do it, it's done. Of course he did it. This is
the very heart and soul of the gospel, for he hath made him
to be sin for us who knew no sin. He never sinned in his person
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. My sin became his sin. He bore it. in his own body on
the tree. And his righteousness is my righteousness. Now that's the message we have
for this world. The Lord did say, as the Father
sent me, so have I sent you. What did the Father send him
to do? To be the Savior of the world. And every believer is
to be involved in this. This is the reason you're here.
to be involved in the proclamation of this message, the identification
with this message, Christ the Father sending the Son as the
Savior of the world. Now the only hope this world
has is that Christ is the Savior of the world. And I don't want
to be hesitant to use that title for him, I know because of the
way people have abused the use of the word world it's almost
like we're afraid to use John 3 16 or something like that because
of the way it's misunderstood. But be that as it may he is the
savior of the world and we rejoice in him being the savior of the
world. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that you
sent your son, the savior of the world, Lord, our savior. How we thank you for our savior. How we thank you that he came
to save his people from their sins. And how we thank you that
he did just that. Lord, truly we give thanks. Lord, ask in Christ's name that
you would be pleased to bless this message according to your
will for your glory. In Christ's name we pray and
for his sake, amen. We got Mitch.