First John 3, 23. I've entitled
this message. This is his commandment. This is his commandment. You remember that the Lord said,
if you love me, keep my commandments. This is his commandment. And I hope I'll be able to follow
the KISS rule in this message. Keep it simple, stupid. That's
what I want to do. I want to keep it as simple as
I possibly can in bringing this message. This is HIS commandment. This is HIS commandment. The Lord warned of those who
worship is vain for they teach the doctrines and commandments
of men. Well, this is not the doctrine
and the commandment of men. This is his commandment, not
some manmade religious rule or regulation. I don't want to have
anything to do with that. Do you? This is His commandment
and this is His commandment. This is His commandment. This is not an offer to you. This is not an invitation. This
is not good advice. This is his commandment to you,
to me. This is his commandment. If I do not take what is offered, I may hurt
myself, but it's not an act of disobedience, is it? If I fail to take good advice,
I may suffer because of not taking that good advice, but not taking
that good advice is not disobedience. If I don't accept an invitation,
I might be missing out on a lot of good from that, but to not
accept an invitation is not an act of disobedience. Now understand,
this is not good advice. This is not an offer. This is
not an invitation. This is his commandment. If I'm commanded to do something,
to not do it is an act of overt disobedience and rebellion. This is his commandment. Now, let me say two things about
this commandment. Number one, if I fail to obey this commandment,
I'll spend eternity in hell. That's a sobering thought, isn't
it? If I fail to obey this commandment, I will spend eternity in hell. And my right and warrant to obey
this command is that it's a commandment. That's my right and warrant to
obey it. It's a commandment. If he commands
me to do something, I've got the right to do that. That's
all that's needed is his commandment. Do I have the right to believe
on his name? Well, you're commanded to. Everybody in this room, you
are commanded to believe on his name. And the ability to do so comes
with the command. Stretch forth thy hand, he said
to the man with the withered hand. He couldn't, it was withered. But he did when Christ commanded
him to do it. You don't need to worry about
not having the ability. The ability comes with the command. Now, what I love about this command,
it puts us all on the same level. The only hope any of us have
is found in believing on his name, that's it. And it also
takes away any room for despair. You can't say, I can't do this
because he commands you to do it. He commands you to do it. This is his commandment to believe
on the name. Now listen to this. This is his
commandment to believe on the name of his son. That's his command. Clear and
simple. to believe on the name of his
son, not believe that you're saved, not believe that you're
one of God's elect, not believe that Christ died for you. I can't
say this often enough in this thing of faith, take yourself
out of the equation. It's not what you think about what you
need to do. This is the command. We believe
on the name of his son. It's not to have a proper sorrow
and remorse with regard to sin. It's not to do something to prepare
yourself to receive grace. It's not to give up this sin
before you're allowed to do it, or start doing this before you're
allowed to do it, the command is very simple. One thing, the
command is for me and you to believe on the name of His Son. Now we're going to get back in
a moment to what it is to believe on the name of His Son, but The
name is the whole person behind the name. Now when you think
of Todd Nyberg, there's a certain person you think of. A certain
person who has certain characteristics. Hopefully you like me. But there's
a certain person you think of. When I mention the name of John
Doe, a blank face comes up. There's
not a person behind that name. When I mention the name of John
Walmsley, everybody knows who he is here. Everybody knows there's
certain things about him that come up that you know. The name
represents the person behind The name, there's a unique person
behind the name of everybody in this room that I know that
only fits you. The person behind the name. And turn with me for a moment
to Exodus chapter 33. You're familiar with this passage
of scripture, verse 18. Moses says during the course
of this prayer, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. Now this is what God says his
glory is. There's not a more significant
passage of scripture in all the word of God than this passage
of scripture. Show me thy glory. and he said I'll make all my
goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious
and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Now what took place
when he proclaimed his name? He didn't just simply Tell what
his name is. Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah. Look in verse five of chapter
34. And the Lord descended in the
cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the
Lord. Now, the name of the Lord is
his attributes. You know, when we preach, we're
to preach the character of God. This is who he is. And this is
exactly what the Lord proclaims at this time. He gives Moses
his attributes when he speaks of his glory. And the Lord passed
by before him and proclaimed, the Lord Jehovah, the Lord God
Jehovah Almighty, all powerful, merciful, and gracious. Isn't that wonderful, that's
the first thing he says about his name? Merciful and gracious. I love that, who is a God like
unto thee, that pardons iniquity, that you all sang there at the
end of chapter seven. Who is a God like him? The first
thing he mentions is merciful and gracious. Long-suffering
and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands. That's a lot of people. Not everybody,
but a whole lot. Keeping mercy for thousands.
Forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. And that will by, now
look at this, that will by no means clear the guilty. Under no circumstance whatsoever
shall he clear somebody who's guilty. Now the only way that
can be understood is in light of the gospel, isn't it? How
he can forgive and be merciful and gracious and yet by no means
clear the guilty. Here's the glory of the gospel.
Christ makes it so that I'm not guilty. That's what justification
is. He makes it to where I'm not
guilty. who will by no means clear the
guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth
generation. And Moses made haste. I'd like to see this, I'd like
to be doing it. Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the
earth and worshiped. Now that is the only response
to hearing his name, worship. In Isaiah 9, verse 6, we read,
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And his name,
and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. Decreer is what that means. It
doesn't mean he gives good advice. It means he counts. His counsel
is all. I will do all my counsel. Wonderful
counselor. The mighty God. The everlasting
father. The prince of peace. That's his
name. Do you believe on his name? Do you believe he's the wonderful
counselor? Do you believe that he is the
mighty God? Do you believe that he's the
everlasting father? Do you believe that he's the
prince of peace? Do you believe that? Do you believe
the government is on his shoulders, that he has all rule and reign? I love this scripture. In Matthew
chapter 121, when the angel came to Joseph, he said, thou shalt
call his name Jesus. There's his name. For he shall
save his people. from their sins. That's his name. Romans chapter 10 verse 13, this
is in the Bible many times. Whosoever, that's one of my favorite words
because I can fit myself into that group. Whosoever, you're
looking at a whosoever. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord. shall be saved. Now, when you
call upon his name, what that means is you're calling upon
his character. You're calling upon his attributes.
You're calling upon who he is. He's sovereign, isn't he? He's
in absolute control of everything. And when I call on his name,
I'm saying, Lord, save me as an act of your sovereign will.
Will my salvation. He's all powerful. Lord, use
Your mighty power through Your omnipotence to save me because
I can't do anything to save myself. He's just. Save me in a way that
honors Your justice. He's gracious. Lord, save me
by Your grace. He's independent. Lord, save
me in such a way where nothing needs to come from me and You
do it all. Lord, save me by Your eternity, Your eternal purpose
that was made before time. Lord, that's what I'm doing when
I'm calling upon His name. It's not just mentioning His
name. It's knowing the person behind that name. Lord, save
me by Your attributes. Save me by who You are. And all
He is is revealed in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love
this Scripture as many as received it. Now, it says in the previous
verse, he came into his own and his own received him not. But
as many as received him, to them gave he the right to be called
the sons of God, even them which believe on his name. And the sentence is not over,
which were born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh,
not of the will of man, but of God. He said to Pharaoh, even
for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in
you and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Now, what is your greatest need?
What's your greatest need? I don't have a hard time answering
that question. My greatest need is to have my
sins forgiven. That's my greatest need. 1 John
2, verse 12 says, forgiveness comes for his namesake. That's the only reason that's
needed, his namesake. Psalm 106 verse 8, nevertheless,
he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his
mighty power known. This is the name that God has
highly exalted. He's given, he's highly exalted
him and given him a name that's above every name that at the
name of Jesus, I love this, that at the name of Jesus, every knee
is going to bow. And every tongue is gonna confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. There's none other name given
under heaven among men whereby we must be saved. John chapter 20 verse 31, but
these things are written that you might believe. that Jesus
is the Christ and that believing, you might have life through his
name. Paul was sent to bear the name of the Lord before the Gentiles,
before the kings, before the people of Israel. That means
he was sent to declare the character of God. That's what the preaching
of the gospel is. It's a declaration of the name
and the character of God. The apostles rejoiced that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. They counted
it a high honor and a blessing. Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's His name. He's the Lord.
He's Jesus. He's the Savior. He's God's Christ.
He's God's anointed prophet. He's the Word of God. He's God's
anointed priest. If he brings you into the Father's
presence, you must be safe. He's God's anointed king. Now to believe on his name means
a whole lot more than to simply believe in his existence. Now
here's what this thing of believing means. First of all, it means
to trust, to rely upon. For instance, His name is Jehovah
Sedkinu, the Lord our righteousness. Now I'm relying on that being
so, that the Lord is my righteousness. That's what I'm relying on. I'm
not looking anywhere else but Him being my righteousness. I don't want to have anything
to do with any other kind of righteousness, but He is, because
I know in reality there's no such thing as any other kind
of righteousness. Our righteousness is earth's filthy rags. I rely
on Him as my righteousness before God. This thing of believing
is described as looking. Now you think about the children
of Israel called upon to look to that brazen serpent. Can you
imagine what a temptation it must have been to look at the
ground with the snakes coming at you? and just looking at those
snakes to see what you could do to avoid them. You'd want
to do whatever you could to avoid those snakes to try to keep from
biting you. But you were not called to look upon the snakes
that were coming at you to bite you. You were called upon to
look to that brazen serpent only. That's it. Look to Christ. That's the answer to everything.
Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's described, this thing of
believing is described in the scripture as resting. resting. You know as soon as I said that
I felt tension come out of my body. Resting. They which have believed
to enter into a rest for he that's entered his rest has ceased from
his own works as God did from his. It's described as coming. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I'll
in no wise cast out. Now, in this thing of coming,
when you come, there's a place you're leaving. If you don't
leave, you never come. You leave salvation by works
in any form when you come to him. You come to him for everything,
to whom coming, as into a living stone. It's described as drinking. If any man thirst, let him come
to me and drink. Now, drinking is not complicated.
You find the only way that you can be satisfied that could quench
your thirst for acceptance before God is the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. If any man thirsts, let him come
to me and drink. And let me say this, it is only
as a sinner that you can believe on his name. Did you know that?
If you see yourself in any other light than that of a sinner,
you can't believe on his name. You're believing on yourself
in some way. The only way you can believe on his name is to
believe on his name as a sinner. Now, I love what Paul said in
Colossians chapter two, verse seven, as you receive Christ
Jesus, the Lord. How'd you receive him? With an empty hand. As a sinner. Nothing more. Needing his favor
and his grace and his kindness. As you receive Christ Jesus the
Lord so walk in him to believe on his name is to reply is to
rely upon who he is to save you. It really is that simple. To
believe on his name is to rely on who he is to save you. I love what Paul said, I know
whom I have believed. I know His power is such. I know
His grace is such. I know His righteousness is such
that He can save me with no help from me. I know that. I know
whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that He is able to
keep that which I've committed to Him against that day. Now, let me remind you once again,
this is His commandment. This is what me and you are commanded
to do, to believe on the name of his son. That's God's commandment
to you. And that's what you better do. That's what I better do. Believe
on the name of his son. He's not giving you some kind
of thing you need to do in order to be saved. Get rid of all that
right now. believe, rely upon the name of
His Son. And whenever you do that, you're
also going to do this. Turn back to our text in 1 John
chapter 3. And this is his commandment,
that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another, as he gave us commandment. He said, this
is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved
you. Now he's talking about love for
the brethren. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
14 for a moment. I didn't make any New Year's
resolutions, not a one. Didn't make any. It's probably
the first time I've not asked you about it. I don't think I
have. You got any resolutions? I always ask her that, you know,
try to guilt her into something, you know, and that's, it's pointless. Pointless, isn't it? I'm not
making any resolutions, but I love what Paul says here. Chapter
14, follow, pursue, make this your aim. Charity. Pursue, follow. Make your aim charity. Let's
see what he's talking about. He says in verse 31 of chapter
12, covet earnestly the best gifts, yet show I unto you a
more excellent way, this way of charity. Though I speak with
the tongues of men of angels and have not charity, I'm become
as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the
gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains
and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,
and have not charity, it profits me nothing. Now here's what charity
does. Charity suffers long. It's long-suffering. And it's
kind. It's not mean-spirited. Charity
envieth not. You can't envy somebody you love.
Charity vaunteth not itself. You ever been around somebody
who's trying to push themselves? They're trying to brag on themselves
and get you to be convinced about how wonderful they are. Love
doesn't do that. It's not puffed up with pride.
It doesn't behave itself unseemly. It's not rude. It seeks not her
own. It seeks the object of its love's
good. It's not easily provoked. It's
not easily offended. It's not touchy. It thinketh
no evil. It doesn't keep record of wrongs
is what that means. It doesn't keep record. It doesn't
keep a list. I know what you did. It rejoices
not in iniquity but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things. And that word means it covers
with silence all things. Love covers a transgression. It believes all things. It hopes
all things. It endures all things. Charity
never Now that's the charity he's saying, make love your aim. Now, love one another, this is
his commandment. Did you know that you can't have
a prophet faith? This term one another is so important in the
New Testament. Love one another as he gave you
commandment. You see, we're sheep in a flock,
aren't we? We're not private sheep. We're
sheep in a flock under the one shepherd and we're members one
of another. This is so mysterious. It's so
glorious. But if you're a believer, you're
a member of the body of Christ. Every believer is a member of
the body of Christ. Now, how close are you to the
members of your body? Well, it's just a little finger
that got cut off. No big deal. You don't feel that
way at all, do you? That little finger is of extreme
importance to me. It's a member of my body. Every part of your body is important
to you. Now, when you, I think of what
Paul said, when you sin against the brethren, and wound their
weak conscience. You sin against Christ. You see, that weak brethren is
united to Christ. That's the body of Christ. The
Lord said, inasmuch as you did it to the least of these, my
brethren, you've done it to me. And inasmuch as you did it not
to the least of these, my brethren, you did it not unto me. Now, one another. Mark 9.50 says,
have peace with one another. Not conflict, but peace. John 13.14, we're told to wash
the feet of one another. And you know that that is not
talking about a service where people get together and wash
each other's feet. Now, if you want to do that,
it's okay. I'm not going to make a big issue
of that. If you want to do it, wash somebody's
feet. But what that's talking about is washing people's feet
in the gospel. You're clean every whit but walking through this
world we get dirty. And we need to hear the gospel
over and over again. Wash one another's feet with
the gospel. Romans 12 10 says be kindly affection
one to another in brotherly love. Now this thing of loving this
thing of loving you're not to love me because I'm lovable. I'm not to love you because you're
lovable. I'm to love you because Christ said to, because you're
a member of his body. It may be that you're called
upon to love somebody that you don't like all that much, but
you love them because they're a member of Christ's body. And that's the only reason that's
needed. Romans 12, 16 says, be of the
same mind, one to another. Romans 14, 13 says, let us not
judge one another anymore. I love that command, don't you?
I love what Paul said in Romans 2, 1 where he says, you're inexcusable,
man, whosoever you are that judges for you, the judge, you do the
same thing. Whatever it is that I judge you for and criticize
you for, I'm guilty of doing the exact same thing. And that
makes it hypocrisy. I love the way the Lord said,
you hypocrite. pull out the beam that's in your own eye first.
Well, is there ever a time when we get them all out so we're
able to, you know, help people out with their splitters? No.
I wish there was, but I heard a preacher talking about that.
He said, the reason Christians have such trouble confronting
other Christians without sin in their lives is because they
got beams in their eyes and they don't feel qualified. Oh, I guess
you do. Let's not judge one another anymore. What a commandment. Romans 14,
19, edify, build up one another. Romans 15 5 be like-minded toward
one another. This is what it is to love one
another. Romans 15 7 says receive one
another as Christ received us. We read where Paul told the Romans
to admonish one another. You know I don't want to be that
person who is so offended when I'm admonished. You see him,
you admonish somebody, and you've lost him. I don't want to be
that person to you. That's so childish. I want to be like David.
Let the righteous smite me. It'll be excellent oil to my
head. Now, don't anybody admonish me
after service. But still, I want to have the
right attitude. Romans. Fifteen-four, salute
one another with a holy kiss. First Corinthians 7, defraud
not one another. Don't rip each other off. Have
good dealings with each other. First Corinthians 12, have the
same care for one another. Galatians 5, 13, by love serve
one another. Galatians 6, 2, bear one another's
burdens. And Paul puts it in Colossians
for bearing one another in love. You know what that means? That
means put up with one another. Put up with one another. There's some things that need
to be forgiven. Most things need to just be overlooked. Just overlook
them. It's not that big a deal. Bear
one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Ephesians 4.32, be ye kind and
tenderhearted, forgiving one another. You know, the most divine
thing, the most God-like thing near you can ever do is to truly
forgive somebody for Christ's sake. Forgive one another. Ephesians 5, 21, submitting to
one another. And Peter says being subject
to one another. Philippians 2, verse 3, esteem
the other as better than yourself. not condescend to be humble,
but actually really believe that other person is a better person
than you, more gracious than you. 1 Thessalonians 5, 15, comfort
one another with these words. Hebrews 10, 24, consider one
another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking
the assembling of yourselves together as the manner some is.
I am to provoke you to love me. and you're to provoke me to love
you, not to irritation, not to being offended, but to love.
James chapter four, verse 11, speak not evil of one another,
brethren. Don't be critical. Grudge not
one another. Don't hold a grudge. James 5.16,
confess your faults to one another. Now that doesn't mean I'm supposed
to tell you what my individual sins are. And don't you tell
me what your individual sins are. That's not talking about
that. But I am to not be a phony around
you. I'm to confess that I am nothing
but a sinner saved by the grace of God. And I'm not going to
pretend to be anything else. Confess your faults one to another.
First Peter 4.9 says use hospitality one to another. And that's what
people do who love one another. This is his commandment. This
is his command. This is not good advice. This
is not an offer to you. This is not an invitation of
any kind. The gospel is not an offer. The gospel is not an invitation. The gospel is not advice. The
gospel is his commandment. This is his commandment that
you believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ. You believe that his name is
all that's needed. You know, you really believe
in the same thing the thief did. Lord, remember me. If you confess me before the
Father, everything is all right because of your great name. This
is his commandment. that we should believe on the
name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave
us commandment. Now that's real simple. That's
real simple. And that is the commandment that
every believer keeps. And if you believe on his name,
you will love one another, as he gave you commandment. And
if you truly love one another, It's because you believe on His
name. This is His commandment. And when the Lord says, if you
love me, keep my commandments, this is what He's talking about.
This is the commandment that believers really do keep. Well,
I've kept the law. Well, if Christ kept the law
for you, you kept the law. But if you're talking about that
independent of his obedience, if you're saying, I kept the
law, you're deceived. You brought the law down to some
human-like level that you don't even know what the law means.
And you're not being honest. I kept the law. I kept it. No,
you didn't. No, you didn't. So if he's saying, keep the commandments
of the law, me and you are in real trouble. Unless it's simply
Christ kept the law for me. When he kept the law, I kept
the law. And that's true. I believe that. That's why I don't say,
I don't try to keep the law. I've kept it. I've kept it. I
stand guiltless before that law. But he's talking about this commandment,
believing on his name and loving one another as he gave us the
commandment. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that by your spirit, you will enable us to keep your commandment
to believe on the name of your son, Jesus Christ, to really
believe that his name is our salvation. And Lord, give us
the grace to love one another as he gave his commandment. Bless
this word for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Matt, come with us in closing
hymn.