True faith is centered on God's witness concerning His Son, not on human opinion or feeling. The sermon emphasizes that believing God's report about Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection is the foundational aspect of faith. Genuine faith moves beyond merely hearing a message to actively trusting in the person described. The core lesson is that the object of faith is God Himself, and His witness is greater than any human testimony. The sermon concludes by asserting that eternal life is found solely in God's Son, and believing this witness provides assurance of salvation.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Now, we're going to read in 1 John 5 this morning. Before we read this passage, I'd just like to make an apology. I have been listening to the tapes on the messages on the book of Ruth, and I wanted to check them over as I was filing them away in the cassette form, and I've been listening to them, and I feel that I owe you an apology. I did not realize until I listened to them how much I was falling into possibly the most common mistake that a preacher makes, and that is dropping his voice at the end of a sentence.
I think that's the most common thing. First time I preached in the late Dr. Walter L. Wilson's church in Kansas City, he was quite a young man then, comparatively, and he pointed out to me. And I said, well, Brother Wilson, I'm aware of that, but how do you correct it? Well, he said, what I used to do as a young preacher, I'd write a little note to my myself. And I'd put it up there on the pulpit, keep your voice up. Well, I said, maybe I've gotten around to the stage or I'd have to start writing notes to myself and maybe I'll try then.
But the suggestion did help. But I did not realize until I listened to those tapes how very much I've gotten into that bad habit. I'll try to correct it with my one side of my mouth paralyzed, it is quite a difficult thing for me to speak at all and becomes very, very wearisome. And I'm generally pretty well fatigued by the time I get through a message. And I try to enunciate as clearly as I can in spite of the paralysis, so you'll be able at least to understand what I'm saying.
But I think that that has caused me to that dropped my voice at the end of the sentence, apparently too much. So I hope there's some improvement in the preacher this morning. We'll read in 1 John chapter 5, beginning at verse 9. I want to continue the subject we began last Sunday morning, the subject of faith. I'm doing this for various reasons. But before we say anything further, we will read from verse 9 of 1 John, that's the epistle of John, chapter 5 and verse 9.
If we receive the witness of man, the witness of God is greater, for this is the witness of God, which he hath testified of his son. Now, before I continue the reading, I don't like to break in on it. Let me just say this, that you have three English words here that are exactly the same in the Greek. The word witness, the word testify, and the word record are exactly the same in the original. So you can just take your pick. We know that the translators of our King James Version, they were giving us not only an excellent translation, but they were giving us a very beautiful piece of literature so that the Bible can be read for its literary value alone, although of course there's much more and much greater value than that.
And in giving us this literary gem, naturally they sought to keep from falling into the error of using the same word too frequently, but in succeeding sentences. But while that certainly adds the literary value of it, sometimes it obscures the meaning so that wherever you have in these verses we read, wherever you have the word testimony or testify or witness or record, you could just take your pick of anyone on those three.
They all have the correct meaning. And just to impress on us then, to clarify what God is saying here, I'm going to use the word witness all the way through. So we begin again at verse 9. If we receive the witness of man, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God, which he hath witness of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God. hath the witness in himself, he that believeth not God have made him a liar, because he believeth not the witness that God gave of his Son.
And this is a witness, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that 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 she may know that she have eternal life, and that she may believe on the name of the Son of God. Last week I pointed out to you from a number of scriptures the absolute necessity of faith. And then we looked a little at the nature of faith.
Now I'm not going to go back over that. I want to conserve time. and this morning we begin with the object of faith. Now while it seemed necessary to say a few things regarding the nature of faith because of the different notions that people have and the different teachings that there are regarding faith, yet it is much more important to be clear as to the object of faith it. It is not the analyzing of faith that saves. It is exercising faith in the object, the right object.
Now, we were seeing that faith in its very simplest form, its initial form, is believing a report. Faith come up by hearing, or a report as it is, and a report by the Word of God. So the very simplest aspect of faith, and that with which faith begins in every one of us, is the believing of a message. And of course, you believe that message. or you refuse to do so depending on who is the author of that message.
Then we saw that if that faith is genuine in that message, and if that message has to do with a person, then that faith that began with believing that report will go on to depending on on that person that the report tells you about. Now that is faith. And if one believes the report that God has given concerning his beloved son, really believes it in their heart, they are going to act on it, and they are going to put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, we emphasize the fact that the report that God wants all men everywhere to hear is that Christ died for our things, according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised the third day according to the Scriptures. And if evangelists would spend less time on their appeal and more time on their message, more people will get genuinely saved. An evangelist's message is to preach the evangel, and the evangel is the good news that Christ died for our sins.
He was buried, and he was raised again the third day according to the Scriptures. And if that is preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, God will take care of the results. And so we have that initial aspect of faith, a believing a report. And I say, if our belief of that report is genuine, then we're going to act on it. is said that the late D.L. Moody was meeting in a hotel room with a number of ministers.
They were taking him to task for the simple gospel that he preached, telling men and women that they could be saved by simply but sincerely putting faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, believing the gospel. They said something like this. Now, Brother Moody, do you mean to say that all that is necessary the message of God concerning his beloved Son. He said, absolutely. Well, they said, how could simply believing a message lead you to put your trust in the Savior?
Well, he said, suppose, brethren, while we're sitting here, someone was to burst in the door and say to us, the hotel is on fire. Now he said, what would you do? He said, it would all depend on what he believed the man. If you didn't believe him, you would say, now get out. We're busy. We have no time for jokesters around here. But he said, if someone burst in the door here and said this hotel was on fire, he said, I'd get out right then. And so you see, our faith in a message is going to lead us to action in relation to that message.
Now, when we think of the object of faith, you can see how important it is that we be clear as to whom we are believing. Now, that is one thing that is made abundantly clear and is emphasized. in the Bible, faith, true faith, genuine faith, right faith, is faith in God. That's what we were reading about here. If we receive the witness of man, if reliable men tell us a certain thing, we believe that on the basis of our confidence in their veracity.
And, of course, in their knowledge of what they're talking about. Now, says John, if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. So that if we can believe what a truthful man tells us, would you for one moment tell me that we can't believe what God tells us? Now, see, that's what faith is. In the 27th chapter of the Book of Acts, we have that very interesting account of Paul's shipwright. And you may recall that in that story, at the darkest moment, God sent a message to Paul and he recounted it to the fear-stricken sailors.
And this is what he said. I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me. I think that's a lovely declaration. And yet, what could you expect otherwise? Would you expect Paul to say, now God told me, but I don't believe him? Oh, no, you shall be. You draw back from that. But that's exactly what people are saying when they say they can't believe. You can believe, my friend. Don't let any ultra-Calvinist tell you you can't believe.
You can, but you won't. Do you remember the man who came to our Lord Jesus? And he told him of that need in the family. thou can't do anything, Lord help us. And the Lord threw it right back on him. He said, If thou can't believe, all things are possible to him that believe it. Now the elder Calvinists are very fond of a verse in the epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians, chapter 3 and verse 2, the apostle there says, All men have not faith.
And from that they try to tell us that people do not have faith and you've got to sit and wait until God gives it to you. Now Paul isn't saying that at all. He's asking them to pray for him and his fellow workers that they be delivered from unreasonable man. For he says all men have not faith. In other words, all men are not believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, those who didn't believe were persecuting those who preached the gospel of Christ. But he's not saying that all men do not have faith.
Our Lord Jesus, do you remember when they came and awakened him? The disciples came and awakened him when he was asleep in the hinder part of that ship on the Sea of Galilee. Do you remember him he rebuked them because he said, Why have ye no faith? Now does that mean they didn't believe in him as their Lord and Savior? No, it doesn't mean that at all. And yet he said they'd no faith. They didn't have any faith for the present difficulty and danger that they were in. But so far, as believing in him as their Lord, so far as being what we would call today slaves and Christians, there was no question of that.
But here was the circumstance of danger that they were in, and that they didn't have faith in himself that would enable them to rise above their fear. And so the object of true faith is God. When I have my early morning breakfast on Sunday morning before I go to the radio, I like to reach out on the breakfast table and take our little box of scripture cards and pull a card out. And very often I get a verse for the day that proves a real blessing.
On the one side of ours, which is the bread of life box, on the one side is a scripture verse. On the other side is a little comment or quotation, sometimes a poem, just a verse of a poem. This morning, as I took my little card out, there was this verse on it. All things are possible to him believe. Well, I enjoyed that for a few moments, then I turned it over, and the comment on the back was this, and I thought it was very good, never put a question mark where God puts a period.
Now, if you just think that through, it'll mean very much to you. When God makes a statement, faith does amen. Roman chapter 4 and verse 3 we read, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him the righteous. Here's an old man with an old wife, and here they'd have no children, and God is promising them a son. And it says, Abraham believed God. If he'd gone according to reason, if he'd gone according to experience, if he'd gone according to sight, if he'd gone according to feeling, he wouldn't have believed.
God had said it, and Abram believed it. Abram believed God, and it was found unto him for righteousness. And actually, in the Hebrew there, it could be very correctly translated, for it's the same word, Abraham, Amen's God. Get the picture? God says, Abram, I'm going to give you a son through Sarah. And Abram says, Amen. He simply believes it. Now friends, that is the faith that God wants us to have.
We could go all through the scripture and we'd see that's a question of believing what God has said. That's why I'm continually emphasizing that the Bible is the Word of God, absolutely inerrant, inspired in its every word in the original, accurate in every detail, so that we can rest upon it, we can believe it, we can accept it as the Word of God. God's word behind us as the basis for our faith.
I think you know your Bible well enough to know that we could go on on that theme almost endlessly. It's a question of believing what God has said. Let's look at these verses again. But I would like to move on from them. If we believe the witness of man, witness of God is greater we comment on that for this is a witness of God which he hath witness of his son he that believeth on the son of God hath a witness in himself now it doesn't say has feelings in himself we're talking about the witness that's why I want to change this word and get the same word all the way through.
He's got the witness in himself. Oh, that's right. Well, I feel it's true. If you feel that what God says is true because of your feelings, you're insulting God. You believe what God has said because God has said it. But what does it mean when it says he that believe it on the Son of God have the witness in himself? It simply means that the witness that God has given concerning his son becomes part of him. The truth that's in this Bible is part of me. And 47 years ago, when I crushed the Lord Jesus Christ, a verse that I had known from childhood, I don't know whether I learned it at home or whether I learned it in Sunday school, but I know that I knew Isaiah 53 and 5 from the time I knew anything.
But it was just a verse in the Bible. But that night, when I accepted that as God's message to me, it became part of me. It was in me a living reality that he was wounded for my transgressions, bruised for my iniquity, the chastisement of my peace upon him, and with his I am healed. That was within me. It became part of me. Now this is the witness that is in us. There is a witness to us.
In Romans chapter 8 we have a witness with us. But the witness that is in us is the living word of God coming into our hearts and becoming a very part of us. I'm emphasizing that because that needs to characterize us all through our Christian life then. It's not just reading the Word of God. That's necessary. That's important. But it's the truth that is here on the written page becoming part of me. And then it's real to you.
Let's read on. He that believeth on the Son of God with the witness of himself, he that believeth not God, hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the witness that God gave of his Son. So there's no alternative. You either believe God, or you call him a liar. When you know what he said, and you have his definite statement, calling God a liar when we don't believe what he says. Now, this is a witness. Here's God's witness. This is a witness that God has given to us eternal life.
That's the first part of the witness. So it's been given to us, right? And where is it? This life is in his son. He that hath a son hath life, and he that hath not the son of God hath not life. I think I have a bill in my bill full. Now don't get excited. I'm not going to give you this a way.
I'm going to show it to you. You stay right where you are. But suppose, and knowing me as you do, it's very hard to suppose. But suppose I were going to give you this twenty dollar bill. It would be hard to believe, wouldn't it? Now don't be so loud about that. It might happen, but not likely will. But suppose I were going to give you this twenty dollar I've now looked for him. I'm going to give you this $20 bill. And some of you say, well, how are you going to do it? I'm going to give you this $20 bill in my Bible.
Now, personally, I'd rather far out of give you that $20 bill in my Bible. With all my notes, it's worth at least $100 to me. And I wouldn't sell it for that. But suppose I said I'm... I lost it. Look at it. Suppose I said, now, I'm going to give you that $20 bill in my Bible. And I held my Bible up. Now, how would you get that $20 bill? You'd say, well, I'd go out and take that Bible. That's right. And when you got the Bible, you would get the $20 bill, wouldn't you?
What we're reading, this is the witness that God has given to us eternal life. He said, what's what I want? Where is it? Where can I get it? This life is in his Son, just the same as this bill is in the Bible. This life is in his Son. Now, he that hath the Bible hath the $20 bill. He that hath not the Bible hath not the $20 bill.
He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. And there's only one way that you could get that particular $20 bill. may have one of your own, but the only way you could get that particular $20 bill would be by taking that particular Bible. You could take any other Bible here this morning, and I doubt if you'd find a $20 bill in it. If that's so, just leave your Bible on the few when you go.
But now I doubt if you would find a $20 bill in any other Bible, but there it is. So if you could get that Bible, you'd get my $20 bill. You can accept Muhammad. You can accept Confucius. You can accept Zoroastrian. You can accept all of religious leaders of the past, present, and you'll never get eternal life. Why? This life is in his son. That's God's witness.
God in heaven says, eternal life is in my son. What do you say? I want eternal life more than anything else than except the son. have life that's why I know that I have eternal life because I know that I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior he that hath not the Son of God hath not life all right you've got a lot of things to your credit have you got the Son of God if you haven't no eternal life what's the next verse say these things are things, the very things we've been reading and talking about here, that God has given to us eternal life, that this life is in his Son, that if you have the Son you have life, and if you don't have the Son you don't have life.
All right, what does verse 12, 13 say? These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. You see, the ones who have the Son. They believe on the name of the Son of God. Because you remember what John had previously written in his gospel, chapter 1 and verse 12. As many as received him, to them gave him power to become the sons of God, even to them believe on his name. So receiving is synonymous with believing on his name.
All right. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. Here's a letter from God addressed to a certain person in this congregation this morning. It's got the name on the envelope, you that believe on the name of the Son of God. That's who this message is written. We get mail at our house. Address to my wife, to myself. Sometimes to some of our sons.
We used to live there. Sometimes there's someone here in the assembly that the writer didn't have the address. They sent it care of us. Now when a letter comes in our mailbox, the only letter I have any right to open is a letter addressed to me. the only letter my wife has any right to open is a letter addressed to her here's a letter addressed to you that believe on the name of the son of God and you say that's me that's me I do believe on the son of God as the one who died for me on the cross let's open up the left.
Let's read it. What's he writing? God now, not John, not the preacher, not any church. Here's God sending a witness, a record, a testimony to you if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. That he may know, so you read your letter, that you may know that he has eternal life. How do you know? Because God, sir. Do you need any more than that? Well, I don't. And you won't get any more. Well, there'll be a lot of other things to follow.
And I had planned on talking a little more about faith as it develops in the Christian. But I feel that someone needs to get this for salvation and assurance this morning. salvation is when you accept the Bible with a $20 bill in them. If I may go back to the illustration, it's when you accept the Lord Jesus Christ because eternal life is in him. Assurance is when you believe what God said. God says if you believe, you have. You say, I believe, but I don't have.
And somebody's telling a lie, and you see there you are God, and I'll leave it up to you to decide which one. Why not, my friend, rest on this blessed assurance? Someone had written over their Bible at this 13th verse of 1 John 5 written assurance. That's what it is. His written assurance from God we have eternal life. I hope every one of you will leave with this priceless possession in your heart this morning. Shall we pray? Father in heaven, may thy blessing rest upon thy precious word.
We thank thee for the love that led thee to give thy dear son, and with him to give us eternal life and all spiritual blessings. And we thank thee, Lord, for leading us to trust him. one unbeliever shall leave the service this morning as we pray thy blessing on us in separating in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.