I'm not going to try this morning
to preach to you so much as to talk to you. I want you to take
your Bibles and open them to the book of 1 John. That's the
little epistle at the end of the New Testament. 1 John 5,
verse 20. And my subject today is this,
understanding, understanding the way of life. John said in
1 John 5, 20, And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath
given us an understanding. He has come and 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 is the true God,
and this is eternal life. Now, my friends, you cannot work
your way to heaven. The Bible establishes that very
positively and very clearly. We're not justified by works
of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy. Paul said, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith and not by the works of the law.
You cannot work your way to heaven. There's no way that you can work
your way into the presence of God. And then you cannot buy
your way to God. The scripture says the gift of
God is eternal life. The gift of God. Christ is God's
unspeakable gift. And the scripture says come without
money, without price. Come by wine and milk. Without
money, without price. You cannot buy your way to God
with your tithes and offerings. or with your deeds, or with your
great programs. It's impossible. And then you
cannot shout your way to God. Now you listen to me. You cannot
sing and shout your way to God. There's got to be a righteousness
established before God, and there's got to be a sin offering, for
without the shedding of blood, there's no remission for sin.
So, whatever effort you're putting forth, there's no way to work
your way to God, or earn your way to God, or buy your way to
God, or ignore the teachings of the Word of God, and sing
and shout your way to God, but there is a way to fellowship
with God, and that's what I want to talk about this morning. Understanding,
not just with the heart, but with the mind. God works, I know
repentance is a heart work, and faith is a heart work. And believing
God is a heart work. The scripture said, if thou shalt
believe in thine heart, for with a heart man believeth unto righteousness. I know that. But God does not
work apart from the mind. And that's what our text tells
us. We know that the Son of God is come and has given us an understanding
that we may know, that we may know Him that is true. Now, the
writer of Hebrews said in chapter one, God who at sundry times
and in different manners spake to our fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken to us." He had spoken to us by
his Son. Now this is what I'm saying,
he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Will you hear? You're not going to hear God
unless you hear Christ. You're not going to know God
unless you know Christ. The Son of God has come and given
us an understanding that we may know Him that is true. You're
not going to know God unless you know Christ. You're not going
to believe God. With saving faith, unless you
believe Christ, you're not going to be able to worship God unless
you worship Christ. And it's impossible to honor
the Father and not honor the Son. In 1 John 5, verse 11, this
same writer says this. This is the record. that God
hath given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son, in his
Son Jesus Christ. And he that hath the Son of God
hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you might
know that you have eternal life, and that you might believe on
the name of the Son of God. John Flable once pointed out
four important truths. I think there are four of the
most important truths that can be given to our heroes. Listen carefully to them. First
of all, he said, everything that God has for me, every spiritual
blessing, every spiritual gift is in Christ. Our Lord said that. He said, I am the vine, you're
the branches. Without me, you can do nothing. I am the vine,
you are the branches. In Ephesians 1.3, the Lord said,
God hath blessed us. with all spiritual blessings
in the heavenlies in Christ. Everything that God has for the
sinner is in Christ. These mercies and blessings of
God, secondly, are mine only by a living union with Christ.
Everything that God has for the sinner is in Christ, and the
only way that I can participate in and partake of these blessings
is to be joined with Christ in God. That's what the scripture
says. Listen. In Him dwelleth all the fullness, all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily in Christ, and you are complete in Him as
you are in Christ. Of God are you in Christ Jesus,
are you in Christ who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. You see how clear it is? Everything
God has for us spiritually is in Christ. Heavenly blessings
in Christ. And they're mine through and
by a living union with Christ. Not a union with a church, not
a union with a preacher, not a union with an organization,
but a living union with Christ. And that union is brought to
pass by faith. By faith. Now, this living union
with Christ is ours by faith. That's what it says about Abraham.
He believed God. He believed God. And it was counted
to him for righteousness. If you can believe God, if you
can believe, all things are possible to them that believe. If you
read the 11th chapter of Hebrews and learn the secret of all of
the believers in the Old Testament, the secret of every believer
is in Hebrews 11. Listen to it. Just part of it.
By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain. How? By faith. By faith, Enoch walked
with God. By faith, Noah built an ark and
saved his house. By faith, Abraham was called
unto a land that he should later receive for an inheritance. By
faith, Moses chose the way of God, esteeming the reproaches
of Christ, greater riches and all the treasures of Egypt. And
then when it tells about all these people, it says, these
all died in faith. In faith. You see what I'm saying?
Everything God has for the believer, every spiritual blessing, He
has vested in Christ. He has put it in Christ. He has
accomplished it by Christ. And these blessings become ours
only as we are in the vine. Separated from the divine Christ
Jesus, we're only like dead branches withered and dry and fit for
the burning. And this saving relationship, this living union,
is brought to pass by faith, by believing on Christ. Now listen,
this is what I'm getting to. And this faith comes by hearing
the Word. Hearing. He that hath ears to
hear, let him hear. He that heareth my word and believeth
on him that sent me hath life. He that seeth the Son, and believeth
on him hath life." We're going to have to hear some truth. That's
the reason I say it's not accomplished, the way to God is not accomplished
by activity, and religious works, and religious ceremonies, and
by religious requirements, and by singing and shouting, and
a good time was had by all. It comes through an understanding,
an understanding. This faith in Christ, which brings
a man into a living union with Christ, only comes by hearing
and believing the Word of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. There was an Ethiopian
eunuch, a very influential and wealthy man, who was a treasurer
of the of the country of Ethiopia had been to Jerusalem to worship.
And he was on his way back home, riding in a chariot, reading
the Word of God. And God sent a preacher to him
by the name of Philip. And Philip was walking alongside
the chariot, observing this man reading the Scriptures, holding
the Scriptures in his hand, reading them, reading Isaiah chapter
53. And Philip looked up at him and
he said, Do you understand? Do you understand what you're
reading? And the man said, How can I except
some man show me? So Philip got up in the chariot
and sat down beside him. This is what I'm doing this morning.
I'm just bringing this message to you as you pull your chair
up and listen to me talk to you about understanding the way of
life. And Philip got up and sat down beside him. and began at
the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus Christ. And that's
what I'm trying to do, and this is my point. And I'll stress
it over and over again, over and over again. We're going to
have to have some understanding of who God is, who Christ is,
what sin is, and what is included in this matter of saving a sinner
and presenting him holy and faultless in the presence of God. I know
Romans 10, 13 says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. I know that's so. Salvation is
in that name. I know there's none other name
unto heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. I know that. God has given him a name above
every name. But my friend, you're faced with
four tremendous questions right after Paul wrote those words.
I know he said, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. But listen to these next four
questions. How are they going to call on him in whom they've
not believed? And how are they going to believe
in him of whom they've not heard? And how are they going to hear
without a preacher? And how are they going to preach except God
sends them? Now those are the four questions
there that I'm dealing with in this message. There's going to
have to be some kind of understanding of the way of life. A man cannot
walk in a way that he does not see. He cannot walk in a way
that he does not comprehend. He cannot walk in a way that
he does not, to some extent, understand. And that's what our
text is saying. The Son of God is come and has
given us an understanding that we may know him that is true,
and that we're in him that is true, and this is the true God,
and this is eternal life." How are they going to hear without
a preacher? You say, do we have a preacher? Yes, sir, we have
the greatest preacher. We have that prophet and that
preacher called his beloved son. He said, this is my beloved son,
you hear him. You hear him. God hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son. Are you prepared to hear
from the Son of God today? Well, I hope that you are, because
I'm going to go through some of the writings in the book of
John, and I'm going to tell you what the preacher, what the prophet,
that prophet, what that prophet said, what that preacher said.
This is my beloved Son. Hear Him. Hear Him with the ears. Hear Him with the understanding.
Hear Him with the heart, but you cannot believe what you do
not to some degree understand." Now, that's exactly right. All
right, what did He say? First of all, He said this. The
Lord Jesus Christ said this. He said, I and my Father are
one. Now, let that sink in. He said,
I and my Father are one. One day the disciples said to
Him, show us the Father. Just show us the Father, and
we'll be satisfied. He said, if I've been so long
time with you and you don't know me, he that hath seen me hath
seen my Father. He said, you believe in God,
believe also in me. I and my Father want preacher
in plain everyday language so that everybody listening to you
can understand what are you getting at, what are you saying, what
are you implying. I'm saying that the man who was
born of Mary in Bethlehem's manger, who lived and worked in the carpentry
shop of Joseph, who walked the streets of Galilee and Judea
and Capernaum and Nazareth, who went about doing good, who died
on a cross, was buried and rose again, is God Almighty in human
flesh. He's the God who created the
worlds, threw them into space, and in Him and by Him all things
consist. And for His glory all things
are created. I don't understand all that is
taught in the subject, the Trinity. I just know that it's so. And
I know the Father and the Son and the Spirit are one. Here,
O Israel, the Lord our God is one God. And yet three. Three
in one. And the revelation of God is
Christ. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself. In Isaiah 9, 6, the prophet said,
His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. I and my Father are
one. Now, these people to whom he
said that understood what he was saying, because they took
up stones to stone him. And he said, Many good works
have I done among you, for which of these do you stone me? They
said, We're not stoning you for doing good works, but because
you're a man and you say you're God. They understood what he
was saying. And this is what he's saying.
Hear ye him. This is my Son. Hear him. The
Son of God is come and has given us an understanding that we may
know him that is true, and that we're in him that is true, even
in his Son, Jesus Christ. And this is the true God, and
this is eternal. Do you understand me? Jesus of
Nazareth is God incarnate. in the flesh, God reconciling
the world unto himself. All right, let's go to the next
one. He said this, He said this, I am come that they might have
life, spiritual life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
I am come that they might have life. He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life, life, and shall never come into condemnation.
He that believeth on the Son shall live. He's passed from
death unto life. Because I live, ye shall live.
Christ is our life. Do you hear what I'm saying?
I'm saying out of Christ is nothing but death. He is life. Out of
Christ is death. Eternal death, spiritual death,
all kinds of death. Christ is the light. Out of Christ
is darkness, complete darkness. Christ is love. Out of Christ
is hatred, enmity, malice. Jesus Christ is our life. That's what Scripture says. He
is our life. And without Him we're dead, twice dead, plucked
up by the roots, have no hope of ever living again. He is life. God Almighty vested life in Christ,
and he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the
Son of God shall never see life. All right, he said this. I'm
not come to condemn the world. I'm not come to condemn the world,
but that the world through me might be saved. Our Lord Jesus
Christ didn't come to condemn us. We stood condemned. We were
condemned in Adam. That's what he's saying. I didn't
come to condemn the world. My coming doesn't condemn the
world. My gospel doesn't condemn the world. My message doesn't
condemn the world. The world stands condemned. In
Adam we die. In Christ we're made alive. By
man came death. By Christ came the resurrection. That's what the angel said to
Joseph, said, Mary's going to bring forth the Son. You call
his name Jesus, for he shall save. He shall save, not damn. Adam's sin damned us. Our sin
damned us. Christ's righteousness and Christ's
death saves us. He shall save his people from
their sins. He said, I'm not come to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Sinners, the Son
of Man is come to seek and to save. That's His mission, to
save. Paul said, He's come into the
world to save sinners of whom I'm chief. He didn't come to
condemn. He came to save. He came to a world already condemned.
He came to a people already condemned, children of wrath, even as others.
In Him is life. He said, I am the resurrection
and the life. And then notice what else he
said. Will you hear him? Will you hear him? This is my
son. Hear him. God speaks to us by
the Son. He said this, I have not come
to destroy the law. He didn't come to whittle God's
law down, to make it less effective, to make it less strict. He came
not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. To fulfill it. He came in the flesh. Subject
to the law, listen to Galatians 4, verse 4 and 5. In the fullness
of time, God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made in the
flesh, under the law, to redeem them that were born under the
law. Jesus Christ didn't come to set the law aside. Somebody's
got the bright idea some years ago that in the Old Testament,
God saved men by keeping the law. Of course, there wasn't
many of them saved, you know. And now that Jesus Christ has come,
God set the law aside. You know, we're no longer saved
by law. We're now saved by grace. That's the biggest bunch of foolishness
anybody's ever tried to put over on the American public. God never
has saved men by law. It's always been by grace. God
never has redeemed people by obedience to the law. It's always
been by the mercy of God through Jesus Christ and through the
blood sacrifice. All those types in the Old Testament
point to the cross. Everybody saved prior to the
cross was saved by looking to the cross, and everybody after
the death of Christ is saved by looking back to the death
of Christ. And these men brought these sacrifices as a picture
and type and a symbol of their dependence upon a redeeming God
in Christ Jesus. The law must be fulfilled. Christ
didn't come to destroy it. He was tempted in all points
as we are yet without sin. He fulfilled every jot and tittle
of the law, imputing to us a perfect legal standing before God and
before the law. By one man's disobedience, we
were made sinners. By another man's obedience, we
were made righteous. And now God can justify and sanctify
and redeem us without dishonoring His holy law. That's what Christ
said. I didn't come to destroy the
law. I didn't come to set the law aside. I didn't come to ignore
the law. He was made of a woman, made
under the law. God, in sending Christ, didn't
substitute for the law. He fulfilled it. He didn't figure
out a way around the law. He figured out a way straight
through it, by perfect obedience to it. You see what I'm saying?
Christ is our representative, and He did what we couldn't do.
That's what He's saying. I didn't come to destroy the
law. They kept saying, he's got no
use for the law, he heals on the Sabbath, he's trying to destroy
Moses' law, he's trying to pervert the people and teach them that
Moses' law is not binding. Moses' law was binding on Christ
and he fulfilled every word of it, every requirement of it.
And then he said this, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. Out there in the wilderness of sin, the people murmuring
against God and rebelling against God as we have, were bitten by
the fiery serpents under the judgment and condemnation of
God. And Moses came to God and cried for relief. He cried for
deliverance. He cried for a way of salvation.
And God told him to make a serpent of brass, just like those fiery
serpents that had bitten the people. and lifted up on a pole,
and whosoever would look would live. And that's the picture
of Christ, our sacrifice, our sin offering. We've been bitten
by the serpents of sin. We're under the death and condemnation
of sin. And Christ came in the likeness
of sinful flesh, in the likeness of that which condemns us. And
he was lifted up on a cross between heaven and earth and crucified
between two thieves under the judgment and wrath of God for
our sins. And God says, look and live.
Look, look sinner, look to Christ and live. Look, not work, look. Not give, look. Not earn your
way, look. Not be worthy, look. Look out
of your helplessness. Look out of your disease. Look
out of your darkness. Look out of your death. Look
to Christ and live. I tell you this, even as the
law of God requires a perfect obedience, the justice of God
says that sin must be punished. And Christ was punished in our
stead. That's substitution. Substitution. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And by His stripes
we're healed. By His stripes we're healed. There's a fountain filled with
blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath
that flood, lose all their guilty stains. Do you understand? Do
you understand? The Son of God has come and has
given us an understanding. You can't shout your way to heaven
now. You can't feel your way to heaven. You can't sing your
way to heaven. You can't work or buy your way. There's got
to be some understanding, got to be some judgment, some discernment,
got to be some understanding. What do you believe, and why
do you believe it, and on what authority do you believe it?
You see what I'm saying? What did he say? Listen, he said
this. Destroy this temple and in three
days, I'll raise it up. Yes, he died and he was buried
but he arose again and those blessed women came to the tomb
on that on that Sunday morning that first day of the week and
the stone was rolled away and they were They were startled
and astonished and the angel said to them. Why why do you
seek the living among the dead? We have a living Lord. We have
a living Savior. We have a living Sovereign. He's
not dead. He's not on a cross. You needn't
wear that crucifix. That's not the Son of God. He's
not hanging on a cross. He's not in a casket. He's not
in a tomb. He's in glory, exalted to the
right hand of the Majesty on high. He said, I live. Because
He lives, we live. Christ be not risen. There's
no resurrection of the dead. And then He said this. He said,
you hear Him? I go to prepare a place for you,
and if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again." He's
coming again. The angel said when he was caught
up in the clouds there on the mountain and the disciples were
standing around, the angel said to them, you men of Galilee,
why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which
is caught up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner
as you've seen him go. Yes, he's coming back. Yes, he
is. He's coming back. He's coming
back. He went away, but not to stay.
He's coming back again. He promised that he would. And
then he said this. He said, you go into all the
world and preach this gospel. We've got to preach the truth.
We're going to have to quit hollering, believe, believe, believe, and
start telling people what to believe, whom to believe. Paul
said, I know whom I have believed. Do you know something about Christ?
Do you know something about his sacrifice? Do you know something
about his obedience, his righteousness? Do you have some understanding
of what I'm talking about this morning? You cannot intelligently
believe what you do not understand to some degree. And that's what
I'm saying. How are they going to call on
Him in whom they've not believed? And how are they going to believe
on Him of whom they've not heard? And how are they going to hear
without a preacher? And God's preacher is God's Son. In these
last days, He's spoken to us by His Son.