Series: Things That Accompany Salvation
Hebrews 6:9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
Message 14: Sixteen Signs of a True Believer (Part X)
(2 Cor. 5:14; 13:5; 1 Jn. 5:9-13)
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
• “Examine” - peirazo = to test, to scrutinize.
• We are to examine our faith.
• But with what are we to test it?
• We are to examine ourselves by the revealed word of God.
• 28 times in 23 verses John tells us that we can “KNOW” that we are saved!
• We cannot afford to ignore what John, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is telling us!
• There is the danger that we may be “reprobates.”
“reprobate” - to be tested by God and rejected as unapproved, found to be worthless and cast away.
ILLUS: These are the gauges on the dash of your life!
NOTE: These tests are not for you to judge your fellow church member’s salvation. They are to be applied by each person to himself!
REVIEW: Thus far, we have considered:
1. The Companionship Test: Do I demonstrate that I love the fellowship of the Father, the Son and the Saints?
2. The Comfort Test: Am I sensitive to sin?
3. The Cleansing Test: Have I experienced and accepted the forgiveness of God?
4. The Commandments Test: Am I keeping God’s commandments?
5. The Conformity Test: Does my life conform to the will of God?
6. The Conduct Test: Am I doing rightousness?
7. The Coming Test: Am I showing that I am looking forward to the coming of Christ by living in such a way that I would not be embarrassed by His coming? “He that hath this hope ... purifieth himself.”
8. The Conquering Test: Am I winning the battle over habitual sin?
9. The Charity Test: Am I demonstrating by my actions and attitude a genuine love for my brothers and sisters in Christ?
10. The Conscience Test: Am I free from the plague of moral guilt?
11. The Communication Test: Have I experienced true answers to prayer?
12. The Counselor Test: Do I show evidence that the Holy Spirit is present in my life?
13. The Compatibility Test: Have I heard the Word of God in the messages of men?
14. The Constraint Test: Do I love God?
15. The Confession Test: Do I believe that Jesus is the Son of God?
• TODAY: Sign # 16: The Conviction Test: Do I believe God’s record? (1 John 5:10-11)
NOTE: Have Rachel to play “Jesus Loves Me” at the end, while I tell the last story.
I. The Declaration of God’s Record (9,11, 13B)
God’s Record to us today is the Bible.
John, in his day, was a living witness.
A. The Confidence in the Record (5:9)
1 John 5:9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater:
ILLUS: Why will we believe every crackpot about aliens coming, but will not believe that God has come. The Globe could report that Oprah Winfrey gives birth to an alien, but witnesses say Leonard Nimoy is the father, and thousands will buy the paper. Yet they will throw down a free gospel tract!
Deuteronomy 19:15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
• Spouses believe the word of one another.
• Children believe the word of parents and teachers.
• Businessmen believe the word of employers.
• Juries believe the testimony of witnesses.
• God’s witness is greater than all of these, for the content is greater!
B. The Content of the Record (9B, 11)
1. The Person (9B)
9B for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.
• This is why the witness is greater.
• Not only is the testifier great, but the testimony is great.
• It is about God’s Son!
ILLUS: Secretary at a Radio station where I worked could babble about nothing for hours!
2. The Prospect (11A)
11A And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life,
• Man fears death.
• We loathe the nursing home, the cemetery!
• We would give all we have for a few more years.
• John has our attention, for He speaks of life eternal!
3. The Process (11B)
11B and this life is in his Son.
• God has made it so plain that a child can understand!
• Life is in Jesus Christ!
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
II. The Decision about God’s Record (10A&C)
• We nostalgically look back to better days.
• Certainly there is much unbelief today.
• Yet, there has always been unbelief.
• Even before the last apostle died, he saw widespread unbelief.
• There is one decision that all must make!
Matthew 27:22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?
A. Some Receive the Record (10A)
10A He that believeth on the Son of God
• Some believe early, like the children we have led to the Lord in our ministry here.
• Others find faith later in life.
• Others, like Thomas, struggle to believe!
• Yet, whatever our path to faith, it is vital that we arrive!
• May every one of us know that we have believed!
B. Some Reject the Record (10C)
10C he that believeth not God
• Faith is so natural for me.
• I do not have a hard time believing.
• So I have difficulty understanding those with no faith.
• We trust the cook in the kitchen, the pilot on the plane, the doctor in surgery, etc.
• We ought to believe God!
• But it is reality, as Jesus said:
John 5:40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
• Some reject because of lack of any exposure to the gospel.
• Some have been trained to reject Christ.
• Others find their sin too sweet and will not come to Christ lest they forfeit their pleasure.
• Others, have families of faith, were brought up in the Lord’s house, know the facts of the gospel, live clean, moral lives, and yet still, they will not believe.
APPLICATION:
Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
III. The Determination of God’s Record (10, 12)
A. The Destiny of the Faithless (10C&D, 12B)
1. Their Offences (10C&D)
a. They Have Ridiculed the Character of God (10C)
10C he that believeth not God hath made him a liar;
1 John 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
b. They Have Refused the Christ of God (10D)
10D because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
• These are the seducers of chapter 2 who gainsay God’s message of life!
1 John 2:25-27 25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. 26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. 27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
• They have rejected the cumulative witness about Christ. (POSB)
▸ the witness of the life of Christ, His works and words.
▸ the witness of the baptism of Christ.
▸ the witness of the blood, the cross and death, of Jesus Christ.
▸ the witness of the resurrection.
▸ the witness of the Scriptures.
▸ the witness of the Holy Spirit that convicts the human heart.
▸ the witness of believers who have experienced the power of Christ in their lives.
• But some would object that perhaps, they did not mean to offend God.
• God does not accept ignorance of the law as an excuse.
• You cannot escape by making no decision.
• One either believes or he has rejected the Christ!
• Hebrews 10:29 warns against those who “count the blood of the covenant ... and unholy thing.”
2. Their Outcome (12B)
12B and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
John 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
• To lose life is to lose God.
• It is to lose Heaven.
• It is to lose all hope of seeing friends.
• It is to be cast into Hell forever.
ILLUS: You may have heard someone say, “I’ll just party with all my friends in Hell.” My mind goes back to May 16th 1937 at 7:25 pm, the German zeppelin Hindenberg, the largest aircraft ever to fly, exploded while attempting to land in Lakehurst, New Jersey. You’ve seen the video. You’ve heard the commentary. Did you see any parties?
B. The Destiny of the Faithful (10B, 12A, 13)
1. The Faithful Have Assurance of Salvation (10B; 13)
13A These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life,
a. Internal Assurance (10B)
10 He that believeth on the Son of God ... 10B hath the witness in himself:
• When a person believes on the Son of God, God implants the witness of God within him.
• What is that witness?
• It is the Spirit of God Himself.
• The Holy Spirit seals and guarantees the believer, gives him assurance that Jesus Christ has saved him from sin, death, and condemnation and has made him acceptable to God.—Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible - Commentary
Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
b. They Have External Assurance (13B)
13B and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
• The idea is that those who truly believe, will continue to believe!
John 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
2. The Faithful Have Eternal Life (12A)
12 He that hath the Son hath life;
• I have heard it said that, if there were no afterlife, Christianity would be the best approach to this life.
• Certainly the ethics, the charity, the compassion, would make that so.
• But there is an afterlife.
• There are people I want to see.
• And there is a place I don’t want to go.
• Having eternal life makes my eternity glorious!
• There is much wrong with our world, but tears will never come in the next.
• And it’s all because of Jesus.
And it's all because of God's amazing grace!
Because on Calvary's Mountain he took my place!
And someday, some glorious morning,
I shall see him face to face,
All because of God's amazing grace.
CONCLUSION:
• Our focus this morning has been on The Record of God’s Testimony.
• Every one of us could sing that classic children’s song of all times.
1. The Story of “Jesus Loves Me”
Words: Stanza 1, Anna B. Warner, 1860. Stanzas 2-3, David Rutherford McGuire. This hymn first appeared in the novel Say and Seal, by Warner’s sister Susan; she wanted a song for a Sunday School teacher to sing to a dying boy, and asked Anna to write it.
The Rev. Dr. Jacob Chamberlain, who for many years has been working among the Hindus, writes as follows regarding this hymn, long one of the most popular children’s songs in the world: “Many years ago I translated into Telegu the children’s hymn, ‘Jesus loves me’ and taught it to the children of our day-school. Scarcely a week later, as I was going through the narrow streets of the native town on horseback, I heard singing that sounded natural, down a side street. I stopped to listen, cautiously drawing up to the corner, where unobserved I could look down the street and see and hear. And there was a little heathen boy, with heathen men and women standing around him, singing away at the top of his voice: ‘Jesus loves me this I know…’
As he completed the verse some one asked the question: ‘Sonny, where did you learn that song?’ ‘Over at the Missionary School,’ was the answer. ‘Who is that Jesus, and what is the Bible?’ ‘Oh! the Bible is the book from God, they say, to teach us how to get to heaven, and Jesus is the name of the divine Redeemer that came into the world to save us from our sins; that is what the missionaries say.’ ‘Well, the song is a nice one. Come, sing us some more.’ And so the little boy went on—a heathen himself, and singing to the heathen—about Jesus and his love. ‘That is preaching the Gospel by proxy,’ I said to myself, as I turned my pony and rode away, well satisfied to leave my little proxy to tell his interested audience all he himself knew, and sing to them over and over that sweet song of salvation.”
2. The Story of Robert Dick Wilson
Bible students are indebted to Robert Dick Wilson for the masterful work he did in helping to confirm the credibility of the Old Testament.
Robert Dick Wilson was truly a remarkable gentleman. Bible students are indebted to him for the masterful work he did in helping to confirm the credibility of the Old Testament.
Robert Wilson was born in 1856; he graduated from Princeton University at the age of twenty. He went on to earn both a Masters degree and a Ph.D. He then did further post-graduate work in Germany for two years. He was a brilliant language student - when he was still in college he could read his New Testament in nine languages.
Wilson was but twenty-five years of age when he determined that he would invest years of careful study in the text of the Old Testament, so that he could speak with authority as to whether or not it has been preserved in an accurate format.
The body of Old Testament literature was completed by 400 B.C., and yet, prior to 1946 (when the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered), the oldest copies of the Old Testament Scriptures we possessed dated to about the 10th century A.D. There was, therefore, a gap of some 1,200 years between the last of the Old Testament books, and the extant manuscripts.
Could we be sure that the writings at our disposal had been faithfully preserved? After all, even if one is confident that the original Scriptures were inspired of God, that would amount to little if they have been grossly corrupted across the centuries. This was the task, therefore, to which young Wilson dedicated himself. And he was a wonderfully disciplined person.
Based upon the longevity of his immediate ancestors, Robert Wilson estimated that he might live to about seventy years of age. Since he was twenty-five at the time, that would give him about forty-five years remaining to accomplish his goal. Accordingly, he divided his projected remaining years into three periods of fifteen years each. Here is how he would pursue his plan.
For the first fifteen years, he would study every language that had a bearing on the text of the Old Testament. He set himself to the task. During that time he mastered forty-five languages! He not only became an expert in Hebrew, and its kindred tongues, but he learned all the languages into which the Scriptures had been translated down to the year A.D. 600.
During the next fifteen years Wilson dedicated himself to studying the text of the Old Testament itself. He looked at every consonant in the Old Testament text (the Hebrew Old Testament has no vowels) - about one and a quarter million of them. He made a thorough scientific investigation of the Old Testament text, as compared to other writings of antiquity.
Wilson noted that there are twenty-nine ancient, pagan kings of various nations which are mentioned in the Bible. Their names are also found in the writings of their own lands. The names of these kings consist of 195 consonants. He discovered that in the Old Testament, there are only two or three of the letters - of the entire 195 - that are in question as to spelling. By way of contrast, in the secular literature of the same period, the names of those rulers frequently are so garbled that one can scarcely identify the person.
For example, Ptolemy, an ancient writer, drew up a list of eighteen Babylonian kings, and not a one of them is spelled correctly. The text of the Bible was amazingly precise.
Wilson then spent his remaining years writing down the results of his long research. He authored a marvelous book titled, A Scientific Investigation of the Old Testament, in which he confidently affirmed “we are scientifically certain that we have substantially the same [Old Testament] text that was in the possession of Christ and the apostles and, so far as anybody knows, the same as that written by the original composers of the Old Testament documents.”
We ought to be grateful for those who have gone before us, and who have provided us with evidence for the integrity of the biblical text. By the way, Wilson died at the age of seventy-four.
One more thing. I should tell you that it is reported that as Robert Dick Wilson stood to give his conclusions after a life of study, He began his address with these words: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so”!
2 Peter 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
John 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
