John chapter 5, verse 13 is really the verse
that I want to focus your attention upon. I
believe that verse 13 sort of sums up chapter 5. John says, these things, all
of these things, I guess in the whole epistle, have I written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. I have written not to you, all
of you who just believe, believe something, or to you who have a form of
faith. But I'm writing to you who comprehend,
understand at least to some extent, and genuinely believe on the
name of the Son of God. His name. The name of the Son
of God. His name identifies who He is
and what He did. His name. For example, Isaiah said, under
us a child is born, a son is given. The government shall be upon
his shoulders, and this is his name whereby he shall be called. This is his name. Wonderful. Secret. That's the name that
God took in the Old Testament. Manoah said, what's your name?
He said, wonderful. Jacob said, what's your name?
Secret. Wonderful. Counselor. All wisdom. The mighty God. That's his name,
the mighty God. Is he the mighty God? I'm writing
to you who believe on the name. Wonderful. Counselor. Mighty
God. The everlasting Father. He that has seen me has not just
seen his personal Savior. or reformer, or prophet, he's
seen the Father. No man knows the Father but the
Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him, and to him who sees
the Father in the Son, and the Son who is One, the everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. That's his name. And I'm writing
to you who believe on his name. Jeremiah said a king, the seed
of David, the house of Jesse, the tribe of Judah, the line
of Judah, a king shall reign. And in that day shall Judah be
saved and Jerusalem shall find peace. And his name is not Jesus only. His name is
the Lord, our righteousness. That's who I'm writing to. I'm
not writing to these folks that, like the preacher said, just
settle the matter now, get on your knees there by your television
and say, God, let Jesus come into my heart. I'm talking about
the man who knows his name. I'm writing to him. And the angel said, Joseph, Don't be afraid to take Mary
to be your wife. That holy thing, conceived in
her, is the Son of God. And Joseph, call his name Jesus. His name already is wonderful,
Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, wonderful,
Lord our righteousness. But he's going to clothe himself
in human flesh. And the name by which you call
him in the flesh, in humiliation, is Jesus. But now that means
Immanuel. Immanuel, God with us. Immanuel, God and us. God and us? Yeah, God with us. The God-man. Now I'm writing
to you, who really, honestly, truthfully, in your heart and
soul, lay down your life for it. You really believe on the
name of the Son of God. That you may know, not that you
should even be in doubt, But that you should know and have
confidence and full assurance that you have eternal life. That
you may know, you know, confidence and assurance are essential to
peace. You boys and girls, teacher assigned
you some homework. And you kind of neglect it. And you just don't get the job
done, or you do it halfway, or you do it carelessly, or you
do it in a hurry. How do you go to school that
morning that it all has to be turned in and graded? Trembling. You don't go with peace and confidence
and rest and looking forward to going. You just kind of wait
as long as you can to leave home. Get there, just the bell rings,
and run to the back and sit down and try to hide behind the girl
in front of you, the big haired dude. But boy, when you know, I've
done my work. I've given it all I got. I've
prepared it ahead of time. I'm confident. I know the answers. You leave home early. You dress
up so everybody will recognize you. Walk-in-class warriors,
everybody. First one there. Say, there,
hi, teacher. I got it. Full confidence. That's true in every walk of
life. You can't have peace, joy, and
rest unless you have confidence. Peter said, when the Lord Jesus
said, are you going away? He said, no, sir. I'm not going
away. I believe, and what? And I'm
sure you're the Christ, the Son of the living God. Thou hast
the words of eternal life. No. And then he says, and that
you may keep on believing. Keep on believing. My prayers,
let me tell you something. What I'm talking about this morning,
the miracle of a believer, the making of a believer, a believer
is a miracle. A believer is a miracle. To believe
on Christ is a miracle. Turn to 1 Timothy, chapter 3. For a man or woman to believe on Christ,
a human being, a son of Adam, to believe on Christ is as great
a miracle as God becoming a man. That's what Paul says here in
1 Timothy 3. Faith is not a flippant fad. A careless maneuver. It's a miracle. It's a gift of
God. 1 Timothy 3.16, without controversy, without debate,
without argument, great is the mystery of godliness. What's
that? God was manifest in the flesh.
What's that? God was vindicated, justified
by the Holy Spirit. God was what? Seen of the angels,
ministered to by the angels. The angels ministered to God. when he was in human flesh. They
came and succored him, ministered to him. Preached to the Gentiles,
not to the Jews only, actually preached to the pagan, idolatrous
Gentiles. The Gospels preached to the Gentiles.
Peter said, I don't believe it. Well, it is. That's right, to
the Gentiles. The Gospel of Christ. That the
Gentiles should be fellow heirs. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Folks
used to eat each other. Now, sons of God. That's a miracle. Listen, believed on in the world. Believed. A man, they said, you
can't be God, you're a man. He said he's a son of God. Nail
him to a cross. He's a madman. I believe he is. You do too. That's a miracle.
And received up into glory. There's a man in glory. There's
a man in flesh and bones in glory. That's right. Our forerunner
Jesus Christ left here in flesh, glorified flesh, eating honeycomb
and fish with his disciples. and inviting them to hold his
hand and embrace him and touch him. Touch me! I'm not a spirit. Spirit doesn't have flesh and
bones like me. And in that body of flesh and
bones, glorified flesh, that man, crucified, buried, risen,
glorified, was received by the Father and the angels and the
cherubim And the Father said, sit down at my right hand. I'll
make you enemies at your footstool. And if there's one man up there,
there can be two, and three, and four, and five, and millions.
It's a miracle. It's a miracle. By grace are
you saved through faith. That and out of yourself. It's
the gift of God. It's a miracle that we should
believe. John writes, I'm writing to you
that believe on the name of the Son of God. The name of the Son of God. Who
He is, what He did, why He did it, where He is now, all that's
involved in His eternality and beauty and revelation and incarnation
and crucifixion and burial and resurrection and ascension and
exaltation and second coming and eternal glory. I believe!
Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. Well, I'm writing this
that you can be sure if you believe Him, you have eternal life, and
that you keep on believing. Keep on believing. We're kept
by the power of God. We're never kept in any respect
of the Word by anything we do. We're kept by the power of God,
not without faith, through faith. I believe. I am believing, and
by the grace and mercy of God, I'll keep on believing. And if
I once believed Him, the Son of God, not just got saved, or
got religion, or made a reformation, but I actually believe, I'm sure
He's the Son of God, I'll keep on believing. Now, let's go back to verse 1
and see this making of a man like that, a woman like that,
a miracle. Well, the first verse says they're
born of God. Who's to ever believe this? Who believes this? The Jesus,
Jesus, the lowly Jesus, the man Jesus, the carpenter Jesus, who
said, believe he's the Christ. A man believes that. I'll tell
you about that man. He's born of God. Now, he's not born of God because
he believes that. That's what they teach today. You come down and listen to a
preacher and believe what he says, and then you're born again.
That's backwards. If a man actually believes this
gospel of a crucified, hated, despised, rejected man, that
he's the son of God, he may not believe that, he is born of God. And he's not born of God because
he believes it, he believes it because he's born of God. That's
why he believes it. He hears because he's got ears.
He sees because he's got eyes. He believes because he's got
a regenerated heart. Because God has shined in his
heart to give him light, the knowledge of the glory of God
in that face. Ask the Pharisees, who is that
carpenter? Ask the people of Nazareth, who
is that son of Mary and Joseph? Ask the scribes, who is that
wine-bibber, a gluttonous man? Ask the disciples, who is that?
The Son of God. The Son of God. You see, the
natural birth and the spiritual birth have some things that are
alike. The natural birth and the spiritual
birth, they have similarities. When I'm born the first time,
it's a mystery. Now, I don't care. People may
think it's commonplace, but to me, the conception and development
and birth of a child is a miracle. Microscopic genes and seeds,
and you have a full-grown man or woman with all the faculties
of life. Boy, that's a miracle. And I'll
tell you, when a man is saved, redeemed, when he has life restored,
when he's born of God, that's a miracle. Born of God, born from above,
born of a heavenly Father, Son of God. That's a miracle. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
You hear the sound, but you can't tell whence it cometh or whither
it goeth. Even so, they said, born of God. Another similarity
is that both the natural birth and the spiritual birth produce
life where there was no life. A lady here in the congregation
is looking for a child, and that child will be born very soon.
But that's not going to be a retread or reincarnation. That's going
to be a new person that's never lived before. Life, natural life. And when a person is born into
the Kingdom of God, it's not the old man fixed up, it's a
new man, new life, new creature in Christ, created spiritual
life that that man never had, that woman never had, until God
saved him. That's a miracle. The third similarity
is this. Both births convey characteristics
of the Father. It amazes me, the older I get,
the more I'm like my father. Does that amaze some of you?
I look in the mirror and I say, looking at my dad. The way I
do things is just... My brother and his wife, Du Bois,
and they had a little boy, just a few months old, John Jr. My brother went back into the
service and never ever saw that boy again. His in-laws adopted
him. I never saw him again. From the
time he was a baby, I never saw him again until 21 years old. My brother was in Germany. He
was a colonel in the army, 20 years in the army. This boy,
I was down in Birmingham visiting My mother-in-law and father-in-law
was a knock at the door, and I went to the door, and there
stood my brother. No. My brother was in Germany. There
stood his son, 21 years old, in an Army uniform, a lieutenant
in the Army. And I was astounded. He walked
in the room, and I saw my brother walk in. He opened his mouth,
and my brother spoke. I was stunned. I said, John,
He said, I'm looking for my dad. Could you tell me where I could
find my dad? And I'll tell you, when a man's
born of God, he'll take on the walk, and the
talk, and the character of his father. That's right. I tell you, those genes are more
powerful than yours. His genes. Born of God. And the next similarity, both
births are complete in every part. When that little baby is
born in our congregation next month or whenever it's due, when
it comes out of the womb, it'll have everything it'll ever need.
It'll have every part, just an infant, just a span long, but
it won't ever grow another limb, or eye, or ear, or heart, or
lungs, or kidneys, or bladder, rib, or it's got everything. Oh, everything is very limited
and weak and has to have a lot of help, but it's there. One
day, that little fellow, I've watched him grow up here. I've
gone to the hospital and visited some of you, and now I look at
you and I'm amazed. But you had the same thing down
there. And when a person is born into the family of God, he's
ready for glory. That's right. He has made us
meet sufficient to walk into glory. It doesn't matter whether
you are saved a hundred years or one year, you're not ever
going to have any more acceptance or love of the Father or righteousness
or justification you've got right now. That's right. You grow in
grace, and that body's going to develop. You're going to grow
in faith and love and grow in a little humility. I hope we
do. And some gifts. But it'll be the same person.
Miracle, isn't it? The second verse says, "...and
by this we know that we love the children of God when we love
God." That's another miracle of God. Oh, I know people use
the word love all the time, but their love doesn't last very
long. It turns to hate, spite, neglect, indifference. But this love, this love, Paul
said, is shed abroad in our hearts for the Holy Ghost is the love
of God. Look back over at chapter 4,
verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another. Love is of God. Love is of God. It's a gift of God. It's a life
of God. It's the nature of God. And everyone
that loveth is born of God. Everyone that believeth is born
of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God. He's not born
of God because he loves. He loves because he's born of
God. You see that? Everyone that believeth, he believes
because he's born of God. Everyone that really loves, not
himself, not himself, but loves God and
loves his people, he's born of God and he knows God. That's
a miracle. In verse 8, he that loveth not
knoweth not God. God is love. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us, because God sent His only begotten Son into
the world that we may live through Him. He loved us first. Look
at verse 10. Here is love. Not that we loved
God, but He loved us. He sent His Son to be the propitiation
of our sin. We were born of Him and given
a heart to love. And then look at verse 12, chapter
4. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells
in us. And His love is perfected in
us. You see, He loved us. We were born of Him. And His
love shed abroad in our hearts. And we love one another. Because
God dwells in us. That's why we love, because God
dwells. It's a miracle. It's the presence
of God. Hereby know we that we dwell
in Him, and He in us, because He's given us His Spirit. Whosoever
shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, the Name, God dwells
in him, and he in God. So, the making of a believer,
he's born of God. And he's given the love of God. God dwells in him, and God sheds
abroad his love in him. He loves God, he loves his Word,
he loves his people. He's a person capable of spiritual love, real love.
And then thirdly, verse 3, and this is the love of God, this
is what it produces, that we keep his commandments, and his
commandments are not grievous. His commandments are grievous
to the world. The Word of God, the Law of God,
the commandments of God are grievous and burdensome and hateful to
the world. But they're not to those who
are born of God and who love God. His commandments are not
burdensome, they're not heavy, they're not disagreeable. He
loves them. Now then, let me help you with
this. We have an old nature. Those
who are born of God are still in the flesh. They're still men
and women. We have an old nature. It's a
nature of flesh. We struggle with this nature,
with the motions of sin and the desires of the flesh, lust of
the flesh. And there will always be that
conflict between this new man, this godly man, this holy man,
this man born of God. There will always be that conflict
between that new nature, new man, and that old man. Always
be a conflict, always be a warfare. But listen, the conflict and
the warfare does not arise because we hate the commandments. and
chafed under the commandments. No, that's not it at all. The
warfare and conflict comes from this old man. Not the new man.
It comes from the old man. Listen to Paul as he proves that
in 1 Corinthians or Romans chapter 7. Listen to this. Listen to
what he says here. Romans 7 verse 19. You've got to see this now. Here's
what I'm saying. Every believer born of God, the love of God
in him, he's a new creature, a new person, a spiritual man,
loves God's law. God's law and God's word and
God's commandments are not grievous to him. But that flesh, that
old nature, it's grievous to him. But the conflict is not
over the commandments, it's over this old man. Listen to Paul
here in verse 19. The good that I would do, I would
do good. I do not, but the evil I would
not do. I do. Now, if I do that, I would not.
It's no more I that do it. It's that sin that dwells in
me. It's that old flesh, that old man. I find the love when
I would do good. Evil's present with me. I delight
in the law of God after the inward man. What's Paul saying here? He's saying, I would do good.
100% all the time, I would. I would be perfect all the time
if I could. I delight in the law of God all
the time. But I see, verse 23, another
law, principle in my members, warring against this new nature,
the law of my mind. I would do good. I would be perfect.
I love God. I love His commandments. I hate
sin. It brings me into captivity of
the law of sin, which is in my members, O wretched man that
I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death, from this body of death, this old creature,
this old man? I would do good. I would be perfect. I'll be glad when I wake with
his likeness. I'll be glad when I don't think
sin anymore, entertain the motions of sin, or have any Any thought
of sin, I'll be so glad. Who's going to deliver me? Christ
is. So the culprit, the culprit is
not the new nature. It's the old nature. The rebel, the problem. Commandments
of God are not grievous to believers. Sin's grievous. We don't ever
grieve over the commandments of God. We don't ever grieve
over perfection. We don't ever grieve over holiness.
We don't ever grieve over righteousness. We don't ever grieve over truth.
We love it! But boy, let us say something
wrong with it. Why did I say that? Think something? Why did I think that? Make a
jack donkey of ourselves? Why did I act like that? I hate
that stuff. I hate it. I love the law of
God. This is a miracle. Born of God,
given the love of God, and to actually love, love the holiness
of God, and long to be perfect. That's right. And verse 4 says, And this man,
this making of a believer, He's born of God. He believes on Christ. He loves God. He's born of God.
And he loves God, loves his Lord, loves his Word. He's born of
God. He delights in his commandments.
And he's born of God. And he overcomes the world. Look
at verse 4. Whosoever is born of God overcomes
the world. What does this mean? Well, turn
to John 17 for me. John 17. I want you to see. John
17, verse 15. He overcomes the world. John
17, verse 15. Now, we were born into this world.
Our Lord created this world. He allowed man to fall. He allowed
the world, in His purpose, to get in the shape it's in. He
put us in this world. We were born here fleshly, and
He leaves us in this world. Some of us here live here 90
years, some 80, some 70, 60, 40, 50, whatever. But He leaves
us in this world. He doesn't save us and then take
us home. He leaves us right here. And
that's what He said about His disciples, John 17, 15, I don't
pray. I pray not you should take them
out of the world, but that you should keep them
from the evil one. They're not of this world, even
as I'm not of this world, but they're going to stay in this
world. And I pray while they're here, you'll keep them from Satan,
from the evil one. He left us in this world to be
the lights of the world. Matthew 5. I want you to turn
there. Matthew chapter 5. Matthew 5 verse 13. He leaves us in this world for
a reason. For us and for the world. For
our families and friends and whomever. Verse 13, Matthew 5,
you're the salt of the earth. The salt has lost its savor.
Where should it be salted? It's not good for anything but
to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men. You're the light
of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be
hid. Men don't light a candle and
put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And it gives light
unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before
men that They may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven." The Lord left 13th Street Baptist Church,
the people here and the ministry here, in this town, in this area,
in this country, in this world, for lights to send out this message. Shine before men. That's right.
Make Christ known. Preach the gospel. That's right. Lights of the world. Let me read
you one other from Philippians 2. Don't take them out of the
world. Leave them there to preach, to
pray, to give, to help others, to serve, to labor, to honor
God, to glorify His name. Look at Philippians 2. Verse 13, it's God that worketh
in you. God works in you, both to will
and to do His good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring
and disputing. Listen, that you may before men. Be blameless, not before God,
you're not by what you do, but before men. You may be blameless
and harmless as sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of
a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as lights
in the world. So God leaves us in the world,
but overcome the world. He that is born of God Loves
God, loves His Word, overcomes the world. What does that mean,
preacher? All right. Here's what it is. We have married and have families
and babies and get a job and work and build a house just like
anybody else. We enjoy life. We enjoy our work. We enjoy our homes. We enjoy
our families. We enjoy good food. We enjoy
all these things that God's given us. But how have we overcome
the world? I'll give it to you. We have
no interest in the so-called philosophy and wisdom of this
world. We're not interested. The world
by wisdom knew not God. The wisdom of this world is foolishness.
We're interested in the wisdom of God in Christ. They don't impress us. They don't
intimidate us. We're not interested in their
philosophy and their ways and their wisdom. what they say. This is what we understand. Secondly,
we have no interest in their approval of the world or the
recognition of this world. One word, we labor to be accepted
of Him. Marvel not, my brethren, if the
world hate you. That's all right. That's all
right. We're not looking for their approval.
We're not looking for their recognition. We're not interested in leaving
our names on their buildings, or football stadiums, or gymnasiums,
anywhere. Rejoice at your names written
in heaven. That's overcoming the world.
Thirdly, we have no great interest or anxious care about the materialism
and prosperity of this world. Having food and raiment, we're
content. Oh yes, we enjoy comfort. We enjoy good food. We're not
going to lie about that. We enjoy gracious living. We enjoy comfort. We know how
to abound, and we like to abound. But we never forget, we also
know how to be a base. And it'll be all right. Having
Christ, we have all things. All things. We look upon these
things as a means and not an end. Don't make success, materialism,
the end of your goal. Seek ye the kingdom of God and
His righteousness. And he'll add these things. And
then, fourthly, we have no interest in the honor and fame and glory
of this world. That's important to a lot of
people, to be known on earth. They call it name dropping. Well,
I know so-and-so. I know so-and-so. all to know
Christ and the power of his resurrection to win Christ to be found in
him and the princes of the world and the stars and the famous
people they all die and most of them die like dogs with no
hope of life and I don't want to be like them and I don't want
to run around find a model after them either. Dress like them,
talk like them, follow their music. They're just too bad. No interest in their glory or
honor or fame. And last of all, we're conscious
of the fact that the things connected with this earth, the relationships,
the holdings, whatever, are temporary. They really are. They're temporary. And the relationship that we
have with Him and with one another in Him, that's eternal. That's eternal. And that's the thing that matters.
We've overcome the world. But look at this. Verse 5 asks
this question. I've got to give you this before
I close. Who is He that overcometh the world? He that believeth that Jesus is verily the Son
of God. And this is He that came by water
and blood. Don't look at the making, look
at the maker. How can this man overcome the
world? Well, it's not him that's overcoming
the world, it's Christ in him. Paul said, the life which I now
live, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I. Who is He that overcometh the
world? This is He that overcometh the world, that came by water
and blood. And don't look at me, look at
Him. It's by His grace and His presence that we overcome anything,
that we have anything. The life which I now live, yet
not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live,
I live by the faith of the Son of God, not by my faith in the
Son of God. I live by the faithfulness of
the Son of God. That's how the world's overcome
me, it's in Him. Paul said, I labored more abundantly
than all of you, yet not I, but Christ in me.