All right, if you'll open your
Bibles now to 1 John, chapter 5. We'll take up where we left off Sunday
evening. In verse 13, John says, These things have
I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may
believe on the name of the Son of God." What are these things? Well, back in verse 10 of this
same chapter, he said, He that believeth on the Son of God hath
the witness in himself. And he that believeth not God
hath made him a liar. because he believed it's not
the record that God gave of his son. And this is the record that
God has given us, God has given to us eternal life. And this
life, this spiritual life, this eternal life, this life which
Adam lost in the garden, is in his son. And he that hath the
son hath eternal life. He that believes on Christ, he
that loves Christ. He in whom Christ dwells, he
has life, and he that hath not the Son of God, whatever he may
have, he doesn't have life. Now, these things in verse 13
he wrote to encourage men to believe on
Christ. That's true. Turn to John 20,
verse 31. These things are written to encourage
sinners to receive Christ, to believe Christ, to come to Christ.
As old Brother Barnard used to say, to close with Christ. Well,
he said in John 20, verse 31, but these are written that you
may believe that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus of Nazareth is
the Christ. He's the promised prophet, priest,
and king, the Messiah. He is the Christ, and he is the
Son of God, and that believing, you might have life through his
name, justified by faith. But now, that's not what he's
saying here in our text, that you might believe on Christ,
that you might receive Christ, that you might close with Christ. That's true. But that's not what
he's saying. He's writing to believers who
have already received Christ. Now listen. And he says, these
things have I written unto you that already believe on the name
of the Son of God. You've already embraced the Redeemer. You've already received the Redeemer.
That's the reason I bring this in a prayer meeting service to
believers, because you do believe on the name of the Son of God.
And I've written these things. That you may know you have eternal
life. You have eternal life. He that
believeth on the Son hath now eternal life. Now we are sons
of God. We have eternal life. We're not
going to have it some day. We have eternal life in Christ
Jesus. See that? These things are written
unto you. that believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, that you may know you have eternal life, that you might
have confidence and assurance. My friends, faith comes by hearing
the Word of God. But listen, faith is strengthened
by hearing the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing the Word
of God. We are born of the Spirit of
God and the Word of God. is the agent, the word of God
is the seed. We're born of God, of the spirit
of God and the word of God. Faith comes by hearing the gospel.
But I tell you this, that faith is confirmed and strengthened
and comforted by keeping on hearing the word of God. The same gospel,
the same gospel that saves you is the gospel of the The same
gospel that saved you is the gospel that will give you assurance.
And I have dear friends who are always struggling with assurance
and struggling with this business of confidence and comfort in
Christ, and always seem to be in distress about their interest
in Christ. You know what I'm going to say.
The greatest reason is they are not under a gospel ministry regularly,
weekly, the Lord's Day, prayer meetings, special meetings, Bible
studies, Bible classes. You can't expect to have assurance
when you don't feed on the Word. You can't expect to have physical
health if you don't eat. And you can't expect to have
spiritual confidence and comfort and assurance if you don't feed
on the word. Now, it's your own fault. That's
right. I have no sympathy for people
who are not in the Lord's house on the Lord's day under a competent,
consistent, consecrated preacher of the gospel. I have no sympathy
for them whatsoever. There are preachers preaching
the gospel all over this country, and if a man wants to hear it,
he can hear it. And these things are written
that you may know that you have eternity, that you may have confidence
and comfort in Christ. That's right. And the more you
read this book, and the more you study this book, and the
more you meditate on the things of this book, the more comfort,
confidence, and assurance you're going to have. And the more you
neglect this word, the more trouble you're going to have in your
soul. You can expect it. That's just so. And listen as
he goes on. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know that you have eternal life, and that you may keep on believing
on the name of the Son of God. Don't quit. Keep looking to Christ,
looking to Christ, looking to Christ, coming to Christ. You see, faith is not an isolated
experience. Repentance is not an isolated
experience. A man who knows something about
repentance never says, well, I have repented. He says, I am
repenting. A man who knows something about
faith doesn't say, well, I accepted Jesus. He says, I'm coming to
Christ. I'm looking to Christ every day. Continue. Turn to Colossians
chapter 1. Now listen to this, and remember
these words, to whom coming, as unto a living stone, to whom
coming, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth
so easily beset us, looking, looking, looking to Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith, never taking our eyes off him. What happened to Peter? when
he took his eyes off the Master. Down he went. Is that you, Lord? Yes. Let me come to thee on the
water. Come on. Come on. He stepped out, and he kept his
eyes on Christ, and then he got disturbed about the wind and
the waves and the things about him, and down he went. Lord, save me or I perish. Listen
to Colossians 1, verse 19, it pleased the Father, that in Christ
should all fullness dwell, that's where it is, the fullness of
God, and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him
to reconcile all things under himself, by him, I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you, that were
one time alienated enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet
now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death
to present you wholly unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. There is no period there if you
continue, if you continue in the faith. If you keep coming
to Christ, keep looking to Christ, grounded and settled, and be
not moved away from the hope of the gospel, don't you? To whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of life. Keep on believing. All right,
look back at the text now, verse 14. These things are written that
you that believe, that you may know, the word is our assurance,
that you may believe on the name of the Son of God, keep on believing.
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask
anything according to his will, he heareth us. I've heard messages
from this verse of scripture. And I've heard preachers use
this verse as some kind of foundation by which we can get a car, or
we can get a healing for our bodies, or we can get a job,
or we can get whatever things we ask in his name that we desire
and want, we can get these things. But let's stay with the text. Stay with the text. These things have been written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. You believe
on the name of the Son of God. And you know through the Son
of God, because of the Son of God, you have eternal life. And
that you keep on believing on the name of the Son of God. And
this is the confidence we have concerning him. This is the confidence we have
concerning him, that if we ask anything, what are we asking?
We're asking the most difficult thing, that which is impossible
with men. We're asking the most difficult
thing, we're asking for the greatest gift, we're asking for eternal
life. We're asking what the public
can ask in the temple. What right do we have to call
him Lord, him Father? Because Christ has opened for
us into his presence a new and living way, and we have this
confidence in Christ that he has opened for us a way into
the holiest that we can come boldly into the presence of God,
the throne of grace, and find grace and mercy to help us. in our terrible, sinful, wretched,
fallen condition. Huh? We can have a Father. Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner. Be merciful. Save me. Lord, brought
out my transgressions, as David prayed. Wash me from my iniquities. That's not easy to do. Cleanse
me from my sins. We're asking the most difficult,
the greatest gift. We're asking for life. And we,
verse 14, have, this is the confidence we have in him, that if we ask
this, anything according to his will, he hears us. Well, is this
his will to give life? Turn to Hebrews 10. Is this his
will? Is this his will? Can I hope
to have, can a sinner like you and me, can we hope that God
will give us life? We can if we come in Christ's
name according to his will. Listen to Hebrews 10 verse 9,
Then said I, then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. By which will? We. Guilty sinners, sons of Adam,
fallen creatures are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily
ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sin. But this man, after he'd offered
one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down at the right hand of
God. We have confidence in him who
is at the right hand of God. From henceforth expect him till
his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. That's what I'm asking. Turn to John 6, talking about
this according to his will. What is his will? His will of
redemption that Ananias said to Saul of Tarsus, that you may
know his will, that you may see the just one, that you may know
his will. John 6, listen to verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I don't know why
I was cast out, for I came down from heaven not to do my own
will, but the will of Him that sent me." And here it is, this
is the Father's will, which has sent me. And of all which He
had given me, all which He had given me, I'll lose nothing but
raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of
Him that sent me, that everyone that seeeth the Son and believeth
on Him, may have everlasting life." Brethren,
this is the confidence that we have, not in us, not in our feelings,
not in our profession, not in our deeds, in him. That if we
ask in his name, according to his will of redemption, substitution,
satisfaction, His blood, His offering, He hears us. Isn't that something? That's what He's talking about. That's what He's talking about.
And verse 15 says, And if we know He hears us, since we know
that God hears us in Christ, since we know that only in Christ
will God hear us, Since we know that all the promises of God
are in Christ, yea and amen, since we know that all who are
in Christ shall be gathered together in one at that great day, then whatsoever
we ask, we know we have the petitions that we desire. What do you desire? Everything that I need, that
God demands, that God commands, that God requires of a sinner,
I have in Christ. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. I have everything. Listen, turn
to 1 Corinthians 3. Listen to this. We're talking
about great things. We're not talking about our arthritis being eased up, and
that's fine, but I can do without that. We're not talking about
these fleshly things. I'm talking about big things,
great things, eternal things. In 1 Corinthians 3, verse 21,
"...therefore let no man glory in me, and for all things are
yours." All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apostle, or
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present,
or things to come, all things are yours. and you're Christ,
and Christ is God's. Boy, these things, these mighty,
wonderful, great things are written for you that believe on Him,
that you may know in Him, through Him, by His righteousness and
blood, because of Him you have eternal life. You keep looking
to Him because you know We have this confidence in Him, in no
one else, that what we've asked, we'll receive because it's according
to His will. It's according to His will. And
we know He hears us. He hears us. He hears us. And we have, we know we have
the petition. This is not a shot in the dark.
This is not hoping it'll come along later. This, I have this
petition. I have all spiritual blessings
in Christ right now. I have them. Listen to me. I
have everything I need in Christ. I don't need anything else. He
hath made us meet sufficient to inherit the glory of Christ. God could
call any one of you believers right now and he wouldn't have
to straighten up anything. add anything or distract anything. Because in Christ you've got
everything you need. We have of Him. We have the petitions
we desire of Him. We have everything we need and
let me tell you this, we have everything that's good for us. We don't have some things we
want because they're not good for us and you're not going to
have Paul said, I cried to God three times that this thorn might
be removed from my flesh. And the Lord said, now just be
satisfied with it. I'm not taking it away. In that
way, my grace will be sufficient. But everything that's good for
me, I have. Everything I need, I have. And
everything Almighty God has willed for me, I have in Christ. That's my confidence. And I tell you, there's a whole
lot of things that I pray for God doesn't give. In fact, most of the things
that I ask for never materialize. Can you agree with that? Many of them. Many of them. But I tell you, the ones that
are important are mine in Christ as well. In verse 16, listen to this,
I'll help you with this. If a brother, if any man see
his brother seeing a sin which is not unto
death, he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin
not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I
do not even say you should pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin. All
unrighteousness is deserving of death. But there's a sin not unto death.
And there's a sin not unto death because of two things, the grace
of God and the blood of Christ, or we'd all be dead and in hell. There's a sin not unto death. All sin, all unrighteousness
is sin, and all unrighteousness deserves death. But because of
the grace of God to us, and the mercy of Christ upon us, and
the blood of Christ that cleanseth us, our sins are not unto death. The sins you've committed today,
you're not dead because of Christ. God didn't cut you off and annihilate
you because of the blood of Christ. because of the grace of God,
because we deserve it. The things you've thought since
you've been in this building, that's unrighteousness and that's
sin, but it's not unto death. Why? Because of the grace of
God and the blood of Christ. But there is a sin unto death.
What is it? John Gill said this, the sin
unto death, which is deserving of death and will bring. death,
eternal death, is denying the truth of the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is willfully sinning against
the testimony of the Spirit of God who convinces the world of
sin and glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the sin and the
death, apostasy, denying the gospel. It has to be. It's the
only sin unto death. All manner of sin and blasphemy
shall be forgiven me. But there's just one thing that's
unforgivable. Unbelief. That's it. Unbelief is the sin unto death. John Calvin said this, the sin
unto death, the sin unto death is not a partial fall. David
fell. Peter denied his Lord. lot accompanied
with the worst kind of folks, going through the Word, going
through your own experience. And this sin unto death is not
a partial fall nor a transgression of a single commandment, it's
apostasy by which a person denies that
Jesus Christ is the only substitute and Savior. That's the sin unto
death. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son has what? Hath not life? Death. Death. That's the sin of death. And we pray for everyone. We
pray for ourselves. We pray for one another. We ask
forgiveness for our sins. We ask forgiveness for the sins
of one another. But if a man denies the gospel
and departs from the gospel, He can't be forgiven. Can't be. And listen, listen. He said,
I don't say that you should pray for him. If a man departs from
the gospel and denies Christ, let's don't contend with God's
justice. Let's don't be found contending
against the justice of God in condemning someone. Let's don't
be found trying to be more merciful than our Heavenly Father. He
said, I'll be merciful to whom I will. And the one I choose to pass
by is not your business to get in a conflict with me
on this matter, is it? And that's the reason he said,
I don't say that you should Pray about this. It's apostasy. It's apostasy. That's got to
be what he's saying there. A man see his brother's sin,
any sin, except this one. Any sin. Pray for him. Love him. Restore him. Forgive
him. Pray for him. But when a man
denies the gospel, walks under his feet, the precious
blood of the Son of God, I don't say you should pray for
him. Now, we know, verse 18, listen
to this, we know, stay with the text now, we know that whosoever
is born of God is not going to do this. Sin is not in this regard. We're staying with the same thing
now. Oh, I know, I'm sure this is true. There are two natures, and a
believer has a carnal nature, human nature, and there's no
good in it. The flesh lusteth against the
spirit. The spirit and the flesh war
against one another, contrary to one another. There's no good
in that flesh. In my flesh dwelleth no good thing, Paul says. In
the flesh, no man can please God. But there's a new nature,
a spiritual nature, that's the life of Christ, in which there's
no sin. It's pure holiness, because it's
Christ living in me. Christ in you, the hope of glory,
the Spirit of God. There's no sin in the Spirit
of God, in the Christ of God, in the life of God, in that new
nature. Someday I'm going to die, and
this old nature is going back to the dust from whence it came.
And in this new nature, born of God, begotten of God, I'm
going to go to glory. It's that same nature the Holy
Spirit put within us when He saved us. And I know whosoever
is born of God, sin is not, has no sin. In Christ there is no
sin. And that's true. But what he's saying here is
that that person who's born of God is not going to deny Christ. He's not going to apostatize. He's not going to do it. He's
not going to do it. Whoso is born of God does not
sin the sin unto death. He cannot deny Christ. They will
not fall from the grace of God. They're kept by the grace of
God. But he that's begotten of God, listen, keepeth himself. in the gospel. Turn over there
to the book of Jude a minute. Dale, you read this tonight,
and I was watching there on one verse you read that fits right
in with what I'm saying here. Verse 21 of Jude. Keep yourselves
in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. What did that verse say
over here that I just read in 1 John 5? Whosoever is born of
God does not commit the sin and the death, but he that is begotten
of God keeps himself unto the gospel, true to the gospel, believing
the gospel. You say, but God keeps us. He
keeps us through faith. That's right. He keeps us through
faith, not apart from faith. He keeps us. Let me read you
a passage over here in Jeremiah 32. They're both so. We believe in
preservation. We're preserved by the power
and kept by the power of God. But brethren, we believe the
Bible teaches perseverance. That's the reason our Lord turned
to the disciples and said, Would you go away and go ahead? They said, No. To whom shall
we go? Also, Abraham, God said, Those people that died in faith,
if they had been mindful of that country from which they came
out, they could have gone back. You know what he said in Hebrews?
They could have gone back. But their minds weren't on that
country. They were on that country. They
didn't want to go back. And Jeremiah 32, listen to this. Verse 38, Jeremiah 32, they shall
be my people, I'll be their God. And I'll give them one heart
and one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them
and of their children after them, and I'll make an everlasting
covenant with them, and I'll not turn away from them to do
them good. I'll put my fear in their hearts
that they shall not depart from me." We're not going to leave
him either. He's not going to leave you.
You're not going to leave him. If you do leave him, you never were
in him. That's what John said. You can't.
Brethren, he said, they went out from us because they never
were of us. If they were of us, there ain't
no doubt, they'd still be with us. That's what he's saying here.
I'm not going to leave them, and they're not going to leave
me. And so that's what we're reading over here. There's a
sin unto death. It's apostasy. It's heresy. It's
unbelief. It's denying the gospel. It's
rejecting, turning from Christ. But whosoever is born of God
is not going to do that. But he that is begotten of God
keepeth himself. And that wicked one, who is that?
Satan. That's Satan. Can't touch him. Cannot touch him. Cannot touch him. All right,
I'm going to close and give you two or three things found in
verse 19, 20 and 21. In order to be prepared for this
warfare, and brethren, we're in a war, and our enemy is not
flesh and blood. It's principalities and powers
and rulers of the darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places, that
wicked one. And in order to be prepared for
this warfare, this journey, and it's not going to get any easier.
Young people, listen to me. The trials and the burdens and
the weight and the troubles and the tears are not going to get
any lighter. They're going to get ahead of
you. And you need some help. I need some help. So here it
is. To be prepared for this warfare, to be prepared for those attractions
that draw people away from Christ, away from God, To be prepared
for the trials and difficulties and heartaches ahead, to continue
in the faith, we need to know three things. Verse 19, the first one, and
we know we are of God. We know that we are of God. We
know that we have the gospel, the gospel, the one gospel, the
true gospel. We know we're of God. We know
we're loved of God. We're chosen of God. We're redeemed
by God. We're called by God. We're sons
of God. We're washed in the blood. We
love Him because He loved us. Here in His love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us. And if God be for us, who can
be against us? That's the first thing we need
to know. Embrace that. build upon that, stand upon that,
we are of God in Christ. No one can lay anything to the
charge of God's delay. Who is he that condemned as Christ
the God? Yea, rather is risen again, who
is even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for
us. We are of God. We are of God. Welcome, but we
are of God. Join us, but we are of God. Moses said to his father-in-law,
come with us. We'll do you good because we
are of God. We've got his word. We've got
his message. We've got his gospel. We've got
his grace. We have his son. We are of God. The old man said, no, I'm going
the other way. Well, I can't say God bless you
because God's not that way. He's this way. We are God. You got to know that. Man can't
tell what he doesn't know. Can't trust one whom you do not
know. That's right. Secondly, and this whole world
lies in wickedness. You got to know that. The whole
world about us is under the power of Satan. The whole world, religious,
social, political, the whole world about us is under the dominion
of Satan. He's called the god of this world. So we don't hesitate to separate
ourselves from it. I'm crucified to the world, and
the world to me, because that world lies in the wicked I do not covet their honor. I
do not covet their praise. It's Satan's world. It's not
God's world. I do not fear their enmity. I
do not fear their censor. I do not seek their friendship.
He that would be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
I am of God. You are of God. And that world
out there, religious and otherwise, lies in the wicked one. And I
don't any more covet their friendship than I'd move to Baghdad tonight
and shack up with Shaddam Hussein. Now, that's just plain as I can
make it. They don't mean any more to me out there in that
world than he does. And I would no more join with
them than I'd join with him. We know two things. I know we
are of God, and I know they're not. They belong to the wicked one,
to his servants. We've been translated from this
dark kingdom to the kingdom of God, dear son. Now, here's the
third thing, and here's the real foundation. And we know that
the Son of God is come. My, my, he is come. The Old Testament
says he's coming. John the Baptist said, behold,
there he is. The epistle says He's coming
back, but we know He is come. And He has given us an understanding. He has given us an understanding,
not a head full of doctrine, theory, creeds, catechism. He has given us an understanding
that we may know Him. That is true. And we're in Him that is true.
Even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This, my friends, is the true
God. And this is everlasting life.
If you know those three things, verse 21, you'll keep yourself
from idols, from false gods, from false religions, from traditions,
images, superstitions, religious practices introduced by people
who depart from the Word of God. We know we are God, not because
of what we've done, but because of his grace. It pleased God to make you his
people. You see your calling, brethren,
not many mighty, not many noble, not many wise, but God has chosen
us. We are of God. That world out
there lies in the wicked one. And we know this. This is our
foundation. The Son of God has come. And he has given us, freely by
his grace, the gift of life, understanding that we may know
God. We're in him, in the Son and
in the Father. This is the true God. This is
eternal life. This is life. And this is not
something we're going to have out of Chanda. This is a life
into which we have entered by faith. And the death to the old world
has already taken place. I'm his and he's mine. Jesus
Christ is not a God that you accept and put on the shelf and
come by and wave at Him every year or so and deal Him a little
tip once in a while like you would a waitress or a waiter.
You're a bond slave. You're sold out. You're His. If He moves me to Timbuktu, that's
where I'm moving. I'm His. I belong to Him. It's over. It's been over for
a long time. It's been settled. Don't sit
around and debate about those things. They belong to Christ. This is eternal life, and nothing
else is eternal life. This is it.