I'd like to turn there, 2 John.
Go to Revelation and go back just a few pages and you'll find
2 John. 13 verses, I told the men in the
men's study it was 23. I was off big time, wasn't I?
13 precious words, verses, precious verses from our dear brother,
John. As John is writing to the elect
lady as he mentions it and her children, five times in the first
four verses, the word truth is mentioned. Five, I would remind
us that five is the number of grace. Five times he mentions
the word truth. Everything we believe, everything
that we cleave to, everything that we hope in, in the Lord
Jesus Christ hangs on the fact that he cannot lie and he promised
to redeem. He is the truth of God. He is
the word of God, the incarnate word of God. The word was made
flesh and dwelt among us, the scripture says. He is the embodiment
of truth. Everything that we believe in
and hope to is all about His truth. We live in a world where
there's not a lot of truth, is there? There's a lot of facts. As a matter of fact, there's
no truth outside of Christ. Isn't that true? Not really.
Not true truth. We're talking about spiritual,
eternal truth. The only hope of salvation. That's
the truth. And this is what John is reminding
him of when he refers to the truth five times in the first
four verses. Everything that we believe revolves
around the fact God being true and every man a liar. Every man
a liar. He didn't say some men, not some
women. Every single man born of a woman
and every single woman born of a woman is a liar from birth.
We come from the womb speaking lies the scripture says. You
tell somebody they're a liar, and it's the same everywhere
I've ever lived, they get a little bit red-faced. You callin' me
a liar? I'm gonna tell you. What for? People get angry about being
called a liar, but you know the believer that's been made a sinner
says, truth, Lord, I'm false. Everything about me's false.
Everything about me's full of sin. Thou art truth and grace.
Interestingly enough, we call each other sinners. as if that's
something better than a liar. And it's far worse. It's far
worse than a liar. A sinner is one of the worst
things that a person can know that they are. But it's also
one of the best things if you learn that, because it's not
taught of man, it's taught of God. In seeing his truth, it
reveals two things. You're a sinner. He's the Savior.
That's simple, isn't it? That's not complicated. If I
am shown that I'm a sinner, I'm also shown the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everything we hope in pertaining
to salvation stems from God's glorious truth, from His glorious
truth. And what is His truth? Christ
Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth. Whose truth? God's truth. He's God's, not
my truth, not your truth. He's God's truth. I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man come to the Father but
by me. See, the truth is more than just correct facts. Christ
Jesus is the truth. And as we hear these words this
morning and we look at what our brother John has given us in
the word truth, remember, you could take the word truth out
and put Christ right in there every time. He said how thankful
he is to see that your children are walking in truth. Well, they're
walking in Christ Jesus. See, he is the truth. He is the
truth. John 17 three, the Lord Jesus
said to his father, this is life eternal, that they might know
thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. So
to know the truth is life eternal. That's what the Lord just said.
To know the truth is life eternal. Now, Let's read our text here
before I get too far ahead of myself. 2 John 1, only has one
chapter, but verse 1, the elder unto the elect lady and her children,
whom I love in the truth. And not I only, but also all
they that have known the truth for the truth's sake, which dwelleth
in us and shall be with us forever. Grace be with you, mercy and
peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of the Father in truth and love. I rejoice greatly that
I found of thy children walking in truth as we have received
a commandment from the Father. Stop reading there. This glorious
message that John is declaring is the same message that he declared
of the Lord himself in the gospel of John. And it's the same message,
the same hope that Paul wrote to all the churches. It's the
same hope that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to be
found in the truth, to be found in the person, the Lord Jesus
Christ. All they that know the truth
is for the truth's sake. That's what he said. If you know
the truth, if you're walking in the truth, if you've, if the
Lord has been revealed to you, if the truth has been revealed
to you, it's for the truth's sake, not for your sakes, but
for the truth's sake. And what did the Lord say? You
shall know the truth. And what does that mean? If you
know the truth, the truth shall make you free. And if the spirit
hath made you free, you're free indeed. That tells us two things.
Number one, I've got to have the Lord by his spirit reveal
this truth. And if he reveals this truth,
if I am known of the Lord and he knows me, if I've been made
to know him, I'm free. We're free in Christ Jesus. Knowing
this glorious truth of his gospel is freedom. It is life eternal. If we are to be free, it must
come through and by the truth. If we are going to worship, if
we're going to be enabled to worship, what did the Lord tell
the woman at the well? She told him, we worship in this mountain.
He said, you worship, you don't know not what. The day coming
now is that they that worship God must worship in spirit and
in truth, not in a place. It's worship in the heart, isn't
it? How do we worship? In spirit and in truth. That's the only way we can worship
is in his glorious truth. Title of the message this morning,
what is truth? What is truth? Pilate was interrogating
our Lord. Other men were falsely accusing
our Lord when he was on trial to be, and we know he was crucified,
he was going to be executed ultimately. It was by the providence of God,
the purpose, God's counsel before the world began. But Pilate began
asking him questions and he began He was kind of sarcastic with
the Lord. You remember whenever he spoke
up and said, I have power to crucify you. Remember that? I
have power to crucify you. Talking to God, he said that.
And the Lord said, you have no power at all. You have no power
at all, except it be given to my father. The conversation continued. I want to look at that. Turn
with me to John chapter 18. I want you to see what Pilate
says to the Lord in John chapter 18, verse 37. Hold your place here in second
John. While you're turning I will remind
you that John that wrote 1, 2, and 3 John is the same John that
wrote the very Gospel that you're turning to in John chapter 18.
So when he says truth he knows it's the same truth in 2 John
as it was in the Gospel of John. John chapter 18 verse 37, Pilate
therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered,
Thou sayest, that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for
this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Now here's the truth. Everyone
that is of the truth heareth my voice. Everyone that is of
the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, what is
truth? That's what I've titled this
message. What is true? That's the question. As a man
is literally standing before God, having a conversation with
him, could not see who he was, had no interest in understanding
who he was, had no desire. He had power. He had everything
he needed. He didn't need the Lord Jesus Christ. He asked him
this question, what is truth? The Lord just told him what the
truth is, didn't he? Everyone that is of the truth,
heareth my voice. The Lord literally declared the
very reason that he was born. He said, to this end was I born,
for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness
to the truth. The Lord's, that's the gospel. The Lord's declaring
the gospel to Pilate and Pilate can't hear it. Pilate can't see
that this is, this is God in front of him. He can't, it must
be revealed. The truth is a mystery. It's
past finding out. It's not something that we can
come to the understanding of. We can learn many facts. We can
learn many things, but this glorious truth must be revealed by the
Lord himself. And what is that truth? The Lord
Jesus Christ is God. And all that that means the sovereign
creator of the universe, the one that determined to save his
people, the one that shed his blood to do so, the one that
successfully redeemed them, the one that honored his father in
the covenant of grace. This is, this is who the Lord Jesus Christ
is. Therefore, everyone that is of
the truth. heareth his voice. He tells us the reason he came
to earth. He's the bear witness of his
father's truth. He tells us the reason that he
died so that everyone that's of the truth hears his voice.
It's remarkable. It's also enlightening. I think
it's, I would call it enlightening to see Pilate's response to all
that. What is truth? You can be told the truth. I
can be told the truth of the gospel, but if the Lord doesn't
mix it with faith, isn't that what Paul was talking about when
he said the gospel came to them too, but it did him no good.
It was to no effect because the Lord didn't mix it with faith.
We know we can know the right words. We can know the right
words. We can know the right doctrine.
Understand what I'm saying this morning. We can know many, many
things. But if we don't know the truth, the Lord Jesus Christ,
we know nothing. We know nothing. Lord, give me
your truth. Cause your truth to be revealed.
Now understand in praying that prayer, you're asking the Lord
to show you that you're a liar. That's what you're doing. Whenever
I say, Lord, give me your truth. I got to have your truth. I've
got to have Christ. You're begging, Lord, show me
that I'm a sinner. Show me that I'm the chief sinner. that needed
to be saved. Show me that, Lord. I'll never
see it if you don't show me. I'll justify myself by everybody
else around me. I'll see that I'm not as bad
as this person, and I'm not as bad as that person, and I deserve
better. But Lord, if you show me your
truth, I'll see that I'm the liar, that I've deceived myself,
my own heart. Lord, I've got to have your truth.
Don't let me lie to you or to myself. Cause me to see this
truth. This truth is eternal life. Pilate
said, what is truth? Jesus Christ, our Lord, told
him the truth of who he was. He says, you say I'm a king.
You said for this reason I came into the world, to bear witness
of the truth. It's hard to fathom for me, and
I'm sure it's hard for you to fathom as well, the fact that
everything that proceeded out of the Lord's mouth was perfect
and true. We believe it. We believe it.
But everything that we say, how often are we Think about what
I'm saying here. Everything that we say is tainted
with sin, so even if we're telling a fact, we're still sinning.
As I'm declaring this message to you, if the Lord does not
take this message and wash it in His precious blood, if He
doesn't cleanse me of my sin, then I'm speaking enough sin,
just declaring words right now, to be sent to hell. That's the
truth of it. The very best prayer I've ever
prayed. If the Lord doesn't take that and wash it in his blood,
I'm deserving of hell. Even the very best prayer that
I've prayed. That's how bad we are. But you know the glorious
news of the gospel. You know what the truth is? We
have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who
cleansed his people from their sin. Therefore, we walk in Him. We live in Him. We have our being
in Him. There's our hope. Not what I'm
doing, not what you're doing, but what He has done. What He
has done. Everything that He did was never
tainted with sin. Every word that He spoke was
truth, and it was righteousness, and it was perfection, and it
was honoring to the Father every deed that He did. Well, I need
that substitute. I need that truth. Lord, I see
that everything I do is polluted and everything he did is good.
Give me that truth. The Lord Jesus Christ, lest I
die. See, we can't grasp just like
pilot couldn't grasp. We can't, why can't we grasp
the truth in and of ourself? The Lord told us, no man comes
to the father, but by me. Now in religion, that meant that
you had to make a bus stop at the Lord Jesus before you could
get to the father. That's kind of how it was preached. You have
to go, you have to let him take you the rest of the way you can
kind of get there. But once you get to that point,
he's, you understand what I'm saying? That's not true. It's
silly. That's what nobody's saying is, is if the truth is not revealed
to you, If He doesn't choose to reveal His truth, you can't
come to the Father. It's that simple. He's got to
do it. You can't come to the Father unless the Son has purposed
you to come to the Father in the covenant of grace. You see
what I'm saying? It must be through and by Him.
That's where salvation is, is in the person of Jesus Christ.
It's in His truth. He's completely sovereign. He's
completely holy. We can't approach Him. We need
a substitute. We need a substitute. We need
a mediator. And we have one in this glorious gospel in the person
of Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus, who by himself purged our sin. That's the good
news to the sinner. If you see yourself as the liar
and you see him as truth, there's hope in that. Lord, I'm false,
but you're full of truth and grace. I need that grace. I need that truth. Only by the Lord Jesus Christ
being revealed can we approach the Father. Once the Lord's revealed,
we realize we can't approach that mountain. We can't approach
the Father. He's holy. I was gonna say far
too holy, but that's not the proper way to say that. He's
holy and we're not. We're other. We're zero. Zero
holy. He's all holiness. Do we see
that? He's unapproachable because of what we are by nature. And
the Lord Jesus Christ became a man to be the mediator between
God and man. He became the one that touched
God and was not destroyed because he was sinless. And he touched
man and was never defiled, being the sinless Lamb of God. He is
the only way. He is the only truth. And he
is the only life of his people. We can talk about what we know,
and if you've ever, every one of you have religious friends
or family, you start talking to them and it immediately begins,
this is what I know, this is what I know, this is what I know. And I've talked to some and they're
very, very close to the truth. They're very, very close to the
truth. But the truth is this, it's not what you know and it's
not what I know, it's who. who we know. We've got to know
the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that
day. What did we commit unto him? Well, the Lord laid upon
him the iniquity of us all. That's what was committed to
him on our behalf. We couldn't do it, but the Lord
did it. Are you fully confident that the Lord put away that iniquity,
put away that sin on the cross of Calvary? Yes. By his own blood?
Yes. Yes, every sin that was laid upon him, I'm fully confident
it's been put away. That's his truth that's revealed
that. There's not any work for me to do now to purge myself
of sin. There's not any work I need to
do in order to get better progressively. No, it's finished. There's his
truth, rest. Rest in him. No matter what you know, none
of it will amount to salvation. It's who you know, Christ Jesus
is salvation. All that were given to Christ
in the covenant of grace will come to know him. Will come to
know him the truth. I have friends that are Calvinists.
They're Calvinists. But I am quite confident they
do not know who God is by their confession. They're proud of
their religion. That scares me. That scares me
because my hope is that man is totally depraved and unconditionally
elected by the father and that Christ only died for his people.
And that's his grace is irresistible. He's going to keep his people.
We, that we hold to that. We believe that now we don't talk
much about Calvinism for the simple fact that salvation is
a person. It's not, it's not in an understanding of Tulip. That's, that's not what salvation
is. Salvation is a person. And if we fail to preach the
person and yet we preach the facts, we're failing to preach
the gospel. We've missed it. I've missed
it entirely. If I don't preach Christ and
his simplicity, if I don't, if we don't, if at the end of the
message, his face is not what is shining forth by his grace
and by his spirit, he has to do that. That's not something
we do. He does that. But if that's not the focal point
at the end, if that's not the focal point at the beginning,
if that's not the focal point in the middle, we've missed it.
We've got to have his truth, and he is the truth. It has to
be declared simply. It has to be, and if we don't
do that, we failed to preach Christ Jesus. We failed to preach
his gospel, and we've given the sinner no hope. We've given the
sinner no hope. Somebody said, are you nervous
when you preach? Absolutely. For the simple fact that I've
got to declare the most glorious news in the world that's ever
been given, and I'm but a worm. Now, if I was to tell you right
now, I believe I'm the chief of sinners, and one of you say,
yeah, you are, then I might get aggravated about that. So do
we really believe we're the chief of sinners? You understand what
I'm saying? Yes, I do, but well, my flesh don't like to hear it.
If I tell you that I'm a liar and you agree with me that I'm
a liar, I might get aggravated about that. But when the gospel
is declared, is it not true that whatever the Lord says, we just
say truth, Lord, in full surrender, in full surrender. Lord, I surrender
to your truth. I am nothing and you are everything.
I'm darkness, in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing,
but in you there is life and life eternal, there is everlasting
life. See, it's more than polar opposites, isn't it? That's not
even a good way to put it. The Lord is so high and we are so
low. He is so good, we're so false and wrong. That's his truth. that he really redeemed his people.
And not only did he elevate us from our dead state, but he restored
us to complete oneness with the father. Now we've been made the
very righteousness of God in him by his own blood. That's
what he did. There's the truth that we cling to. I can know a lot of biblical facts.
I can know everything human possibly about God's salvation and still
miss Christ. Lord, give me truth. Give me
Christ the truth. Don't let me have just an understanding
of what truth is. Give me Christ the truth. Cause me to know him. Know as
in, not up here, but know as in the scripture talks about,
and Abraham knew his wife, Sarah. This is a personal matter. This is a knowledge that's intimate. That's what it is. That's what
it is. It's knowing the Lord, him knowing me, and me knowing
him, that's what I've got to have, to be known of him. And if the Lord does that, that's
salvation. To know Christ is salvation,
not know of him, not know that he was born in a manger, not
know that he lived 33 years, not know that he died, not know
that he was resurrected, that's not knowing him. You have to
know him and his truth. How do we do that? Ask him. Cry
out to him. Lord, give us this truth. Cause
me to know you. Moreover, Lord, know me. Search
me and know me. That's what David said in Psalm.
Search me and know me. See if there be any evil within
me. Lord, purge me with hyssop and
I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
That's what Paul was saying when he said, examine yourself, see
if you be in the faith. He's not saying search and see
if you're good enough for God. No, examine and see if there's
anything that you're looking to for your righteousness other
than the truth, the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know the truth?
Well, he said, you shall, if you're his, you'll know the truth
and that truth will make you free. Now, the Lord's uncovered all
the nakedness that we have revealed it to us. We thought as Adam
in the garden, we could sow fig leaves together to cover up ourself.
But then the truth came. What was the truth? Big leaves
ain't good enough. You're going to have to have
the covering of the lamb. You're going to have to have
the blood. There's the truth. You mean I can't do anything
with these hands that's going to help or hurt in salvation? That's right. You got it. Nothing.
Nothing. It's not what you say or what
you do. It's what he's done. It's what he's done. If you find
yourself believing his truth, he did that. He did that. Lord,
cause me to believe your truth. Cause me to believe your truth. What is the truth? Christ Jesus
is the truth of God. Christ Jesus is that truth. He's
who we cry out for. I don't need a better understanding
of biblical facts. I don't need a better understanding
of biblical history. I don't need to go take a class
in seminary to learn more. I need Christ, and you do too. We need him, don't we? I've got
to have him. I've got to know him. It doesn't matter if I know
anything else. Really, it doesn't. If I know
nothing else, I've got to know him. Knowing him is life eternal. He said, all that are of the
truth, hear my voice. How did you become of the truth?
You're born of the truth from above. Not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. You must
be born again. Nicodemus said, how can a man,
when he is old, enter into his mother's womb a second time and
be born? That's foolishness. I don't understand that. You
don't have to understand what being born again means. You have
to know Christ. And if you know Christ, you've
been born again. See, it's that simple. It's all
about him. It's his revelation. It's what he's done. Nicodemus
said, how can you be born when you're old? The Lord said, Nicodemus,
that which is born of flesh is flesh, that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit. You can't choose to be born of
the Spirit, you're spiritually dead. You must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
The wind bloweth wherever it wants to, and you can't tell
whether it comes or whether it goes. Wherever it's purposed,
that's where the wind blows, and you can't control the wind.
So as everyone that is born of the Spirit, when the Lord at
the time appointed before time, says under those dead bones that's
inside of us, that dead, that spiritual man that's dead, he
says, live, becomes alive, becomes alive unto Christ. And he gives
faith. That's the life breath that we just breathe in the truth,
breathe in the Lord Jesus Christ over and over, just looking unto
him. He is our life. And what does the scripture say
about our life? It's hid with Christ in God. See, there's the
truth. It's all about being in Him, being of Him, being by Him,
being for Him, and all for His glory. Understand that if He doesn't
reveal His truth, we'll forever remain blind. We'll forever remain
dead. Do you know why? Paul told us in 1 Corinthians
2, the natural man receiveth not the things of God because
they're foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because
they are spiritually discerned. If you find yourself believing,
you get no glory in it. If I find myself believing, I
get no glory in it because the natural man receiveth not the
things of God. It's gotta come through and by one source, the
truth. The truth's spirit, the Holy
Spirit has got to reveal the truth. He's got to do it. He's
got to do it. The truth is they that are of
the flesh cannot please God. Does that mean I can't please
God with anything that I do? Yes. But Christ did. Christ pleased God in everything
he did. I need a substitute. I need the
truth. I need to be found in the truth,
not having my own righteousness, but having his. See, if the Lord
doesn't seek us out and cause us to believe, we're never going
to believe the truth. Let me give you some examples.
You remember Adam? I just mentioned him a second
ago. Did he seek out God when he had
sinned? Think about that. Did he come
to God the cool of the evening, he knew that the Lord always
came at the cool of the evening, the scripture says, and he walked
with him. But when the voice of God came in the cool of the
evening and cried out, was Adam there begging for mercy? No. What was Adam doing? The same
thing that every man and every woman on the face of the earth
does. When they hear that they are sinners, they But the Lord
has not given faith. When they hear that there is
a God you have to deal with, but they're not given faith.
When they hear that there's a law that has to be kept and they're
not given faith, what do they do? They begin to work. They
sow fig leaves together, which is self-righteousness. They try
to get a covering that's not of God. It's not of the truth.
It's a lie. You can't cover yourself. Remember, nothing we do in the
flesh can please God. They began to cover themselves,
didn't they? They sowed fig leaves together, and the Lord said,
where are you, Adam? I love the way that the Lord makes his people
respond to him. Where are you, Adam? He knew
where he was, he's God. He knew exactly where he was.
He's making Adam say, I'm here. He's making him confess, isn't
he? That's what he does for his people. Where are you? I'm here,
Lord. Lord, I'm here. What happened
after that? You didn't seek me, I sought
you out. Here's your covering, the lamb. Here's what's necessary
to put away your sins, the blood. That's what he does for his people.
That's just one example. What about Abraham? Abraham,
before his name was changed to Abraham, before the promise ever
came to him, his name was Abram. He was an idolater. He was an
idolater. He didn't know who God was. He
was worshiping idols. God came to him and said, get
thee up out of this country. away from your kindred to a place,
I'm gonna show you. Was Abraham seeking God at that
time or did God seek Abraham? God came to where Abraham was.
He told him who he was and said, this is what you're going to
do. It wasn't an option. And what happened? Abraham obeyed.
What about Jacob? Was Jacob seeking God when he
was fleeing from Esau, fear of losing the birth or fear of death
because he stole the birthright? He didn't seek God, did he? No,
he sought, He saw a hiding place outside of the Lord. He was running
away. And what does the Lord do? He came to him that night
in a dream, didn't he? And he ended up wrestling with
the Lord later on, didn't he? The Lord blessed him. The Lord
came to him. The Lord said, no, here's the
truth. Here's what that birthright represents.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the rock that your salvation
must be founded upon, the truth, or you have no salvation. What about Moses, whenever he
had committed murder in Egypt, he was a prince of Egypt, commits
murder, and Pharaoh had it out for him, was gonna kill him.
And Moses fled for his life. He was 40 years old at the time
he left. He fled and went and found a place where Jethro, which
was the priest of Midian, he stayed with him. He herded sheep
on the backside of a desert for 40 years, didn't he? Was he seeking
God? Was he trying to find who God was or begging for mercy
or needing a sub? What was he doing? He was just
herding sheep. He was living day to day. He was raising a
family. And then something miraculous happened. A bush caught on fire,
but it didn't burn. God came to him in that bush
and said, Moses, And Moses said, I'm going to turn aside, and
I'm going to see what this is. Of course you're going to. It's
God. He's going to make you do it. He's going to make you go
to, I've got to see this. Isn't it amazing when the Lord's
revealed his people are, I've got to see him. I've got to see. That's the same you see throughout
all this. Moses turned aside and went, and God revealed to
Moses who he was. Think about the, I'm not even
sure what word to use for Moses whenever he, You can think of
the word and maybe tell me later, but I don't know if it's tenacious
or what. He asked God, what's your name?
He had the, the courage. I don't know the, maybe he was
just scared to death and he just, Lord, what's your name? I don't
know. But, um, they didn't know what his name was. See, that's
Lord. I want to know your name. I want
to know who you are. See, we mentioned this, I think
last Sunday, but when you know a person's name, You know their
character. There's many different people
with my name, but in your mind, as far as I know, I'm the only
person named Caleb Hickman that you know. And so when you think
that name, you think of me. So I want to know him. I want
to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way I can know his
person and his character and everything that he's done is
through the eyes of faith that he must give. He must give. Lord,
I want to know you. And more importantly, I want,
you've got to know me. You've got to know me. Whenever
we stand before him, he says to those that he doesn't, he
said, depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you,
but to those who are his, enter in thou good and faithful servant.
I know you by name. You're my sheep. I've got to
be known of him. But what happened with Moses? Well, The Lord said, first of
all, take your shoes off your feet for the place where on your
stand is holy ground, Moses. You're about to approach a holy
God and you'll die. Take your shoes off your feet,
and he did. That's a picture of having to approach Christ
only by his merits, nothing man-made. That sandal was a false covering
of the feet. No, it has to be completely naked.
You have to be completely exposed if you're coming to him. Can't
hide anything. Can't hide anything. The Lord told him, you're going
to go down to Egypt and you're going to tell Pharaoh to let my people
go. And he said, what is your name? And he said, I am. I am. He is what? He is everything to his people.
He is everything in salvation. He is everything in righteousness.
The I am is our righteous. There's the truth. He is our
righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ, the sovereign I am. He's
everything to his people, and he must be revealed by his sovereign
choice. That doesn't give us an excuse
to sit there and say, well, if I'm gonna believe, then I'll
believe, and if I don't, I don't, and it's up to God, and I'm not
gonna do anything. No, that's presumption. That's presumption. Only those
that cry for mercy have been made to cry for mercy, cry out
for mercy. Only those that come to Christ
have been enabled to come to Christ, come to Christ. Only
those that cry out for truth have seen the truth, know the
truth, come to the truth. We don't just sit there and say,
well, whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen. No, the Lord
said, come unto me, come. He must enable, yes. But he said,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. We must
believe, but he must cause us to believe. Do we see what I'm
saying? Come to Christ. If you can, you
will. And if you can't, you won't. It's that simple. David's another good example
of just that. Did he come to Christ whenever he sinned with
Bathsheba, when he committed murder? Did he cry out for mercy
to God in the nine months to a year that all that sin laid
at his door? No, the Lord never gave him repentance
until what happened? The truth came. David, you're
the man. You're the man. And that knowledge
of him having committed that sin, him being told you're guilty,
drew this confession by repentance. I have sinned against God. That's what the truth does. The
truth leaves us empty. The truth leaves us with nothing
to cleave to but the truth. Because the glorious gospel come
in next when Nathan said, the Lord hath put away your sin,
you shall not die. You shall not die. That's the
hope, isn't it? When you see that you are the
man or the woman that deserves death and yet you hear the glorious
words, the Lord put away your sin. There's rest. There's rest
in that truth. Even the Lord's apostles didn't
seek him. The disciples, they didn't seek him. He said, you
haven't chosen me, I've chosen you. What about Saul on the road
to Damascus? He wasn't interested in anything
about God. He was persecuting the church. He was taking the
letters to execute the believers. But the Lord shone forth the
light from heaven, didn't he? Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
You know, something very interesting is everybody saw the light. Only
one person heard the voice. Everybody saw the bright light.
Everybody, everybody fell in reverence to the bright light.
Only Saul heard the voice. Why? It's an effectual calling
to the Lord's people. He comes to you right where you're
seated. He puts you in the dirt, knocks
you and I off of our high horse and reveals we're the ones persecuting
him. We're the ones that are guilty
of sin. We're the ones deserving of death. The Lord strikes us
blind where that we have no righteousness that we can see anymore other
than the Lord Jesus Christ and his glorious truth. Got to have
him. Paul, no doubt, name was changed
to Paul that day. Lord, no doubt he was thinking,
I see a lot better since you've struck me blind. I see a whole
lot, I no longer see with these eyes, I'm seeing with the eyes
of faith now. You're God and I'm not. That's what the truth
comes down to. Is the Lord giving you the grace
to confess that he is God and you are not? If he's done, it's
an act of grace. If he's done that, it is an act
of grace. I closed my Bible too early.
I actually wanted to show you one more thing in closing. Look
with me here. If the Lord has given you this truth, if the
Lord has revealed this truth to you, look at what, look at what
he says you have, we have in him. Second, John. Verse number three. Grace be with you, mercy and
peace from God, the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the
son of the Father, in truth. And in love, we have grace. The
Lord's given you this truth. You have grace with God. You
have peace with God. You have mercy with God. You
have love. You have the truth. What more?
What more do we need? That's all things in Christ.
You can just sum it up by saying that. It's all things in Christ.
We have grace that's been given to us. Mercy, when we deserve
death, peace with God. Genuine peace with God all through
the Lord Jesus Christ. No one ever comes to the Lord
because they believe they're one of the elect. They come to
Christ because they believe that the chief of sinners, whether
you believe you're elect or not, it's not important. What is important
is, has the Lord showed you he is the truth and you're not?
He's shown you, he's shown me, is he God and I'm not. Is he
the truth? Am I the lie? Is the lie that
I can fix what I am? And is that what I'm believing?
Has he shown us that? So we've got to have the truth.
Question isn't, am I one of God's elect? The question is, can I
find any righteousness before God in myself? When I look in
the mirror, can I find any good thing about me that I want to
present to God as my righteousness? Because if that's the case, we
have not received the truth. But the good news of the gospel,
all they that are of the truth shall hear my voice. They're
going to hear me when I talk to them. Let's pray. Lord, if
you've never spoken to us, speak to us today, we pray. Don't allow
us to become presumptuous in your salvation, but cause us
to be mercy beggars. Only those who cry out, Lord,
are given Christ. You've made it very clear, not
because we obligate you, but because you enable us to do so. Cause us to rest in him, in Christ's
name, amen. Let's take a break.