The first epistle of the Apostle John.
And then when you find the first epistle,
when you turn to the last chapter in
that epistle, the fifth chapter of 1 John,
as we enter into a special study in
our service tonight.
John, you'll remember, was the beloved disciple of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
The man who wrote 1 John is the
same man who wrote the Gospel of John,
and also 2 John and 3 John, and
finally the book of Revelation.
Some people have had an idea that the
Apostle John wrote the largest part of the
New Testament Scriptures.
That doesn't happen to be true.
The man who wrote the largest part of
the New Testament Scriptures was Luke, the man
who wrote the third Gospel.
When you put together all that Luke wrote,
you discover that Luke wrote more in the
New Testament than any other writer.
John comes next.
The fifth chapter of 1 John, and I
want you to look, if you will, at
verse 9.
Before I say anything, I want to read
a few of these verses, commencing with verse
9 of the last chapter of 1 John.
If we receive the witness of men, the
witness of God is greater.
For this is the witness of God.
Which he hath testified of Christ.
Keep in mind, if you will, that word
witness.
It occurs again and again.
It occurs twice, three times, in this verse
that I've just read.
The one word witness.
Three times in verse 9.
Now verse 10.
He that believeth on the Son of God
hath the witness.
There's the word again.
The witness in himself.
He that believeth not God hath made him
a liar, because he believeth not the record
that God gave of his Son.
And this is the record.
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 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 ye may know that ye
have eternal life.
That's as far as I'm going to read
tonight.
And I want you to look with me,
if you will, at these verses.
Verse 10 reads like this.
He that believeth on the Son of God
hath the witness in himself.
There you have the word witness again.
He that believeth not God hath made him
a liar, because he believeth not the record
that God gave of his Son.
That word record occurs two or three times
in this passage as well.
And this is the record or the testimony
that God hath given to us eternal life.
Let me commence tonight with the word God
in the 11th verse.
The very first word in that statement is
the word God.
Everything begins with God.
He was the one who created the universe.
He was the one who provided redemption.
He was the one who gave his Son.
And so we read, God hath given to
us eternal life.
Given.
Eternal life is a gift.
The great mistake that men make today around
the entire world is in thinking that salvation
is of works and that only those who
are good enough and those who work hard
enough will ever obtain God's salvation.
Now God makes it very, very clear in
his word that salvation is not of works.
Again and again and again you have that
statement.
Salvation is not of works.
The Apostle Paul especially emphasizes that fact.
And in this statement you have the words,
God hath given.
Salvation is a gift.
And not until you realize that the salvation
that you have has come to you as
a gift will you realize and appreciate the
greatness and the wonder of God's salvation.
Salvation is not of works.
Salvation is a gift.
The gift of God.
God hath given to us, speaking of men
and women, ordinary men and women, to us
eternal life.
Everlasting life.
Eternal life emphasizes the quality of the life.
Everlasting emphasizes the length of the life.
The life that is given to us by
God is everlasting.
It never ends.
Never again will we experience death.
There will be no death.
Life is everlasting in Jesus Christ.
Here the word used is eternal.
The quality of the life.
Not only is it everlasting, but there is
a special quality to it.
It's a special kind of life.
And God calls it here eternal life.
God hath given to us eternal life.
Now there are only the two.
There's eternal life.
There's eternal death.
Only the two.
And every man, every woman, every boy and
every girl, on the face of this earth,
having reached the age of responsibility, has either
eternal life or eternal death.
One or the other.
And John, who writes to Christians, for his
entire epistle is addressed to the people of
God, to the children of God.
John declares that God's children have or possess
eternal life.
The very opposite to eternal death.
God hath given to us eternal life.
Now where do we get it?
Where do we find it?
Where is this eternal life?
Look at the next statement in the verse.
And this life, this eternal life, is in
His Son.
That's where eternal life is.
It originates in Jesus Christ.
He possessed it, first of all.
He has always had eternal life.
And He has eternal life today.
Eternal life is in Christ.
This life is in His Son.
Suppose I let this piece of paper here
that I hold in my hand, suppose I
let it represent eternal life.
This is what you want.
This is what you are seeking.
This is what you must have if you
are going to be saved.
If you are going to go to heaven,
you must possess eternal life.
And here it is, represented by this sheet
of paper in my hand.
What does God say now?
Look at it carefully.
God has given to us eternal life.
There it is, the gift of God.
God has given it eternal life.
And this life, this eternal life, is in
His Son.
As I take this piece of paper representing
eternal life, and place it in this Bible,
which could represent the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, God has given to us
eternal life.
There it is.
This life is in His Son.
Therefore, how are you going to get it?
Can you get it apart from Jesus Christ?
Does it exist anywhere else?
Is there any other place that you can
obtain it?
Or is the only place that you can
get it in Christ?
Because that's the only place it is.
This life, this eternal life, is in His
Son.
And again and again and again, the Apostle
John makes it clear and plain that Jesus
Christ was indeed and is indeed the Son
of the living God.
Again and again, God, again and again, John
makes that clear in his Gospel.
In the third chapter, the sixteenth verse, it
is made very clear, very plain, that Jesus
Christ was the Son of God and is
the Son of God.
Now, God has placed eternal life in His
Son.
He doesn't say to you, seek eternal life,
take eternal life, accept eternal life.
What God says to you is this, take
my Son, accept my Son, receive my Son.
And if you will receive God's Son, Jesus
Christ, you will automatically receive eternal life because
that life is in God's Son.
Therefore, you need not worry about eternal life.
There's no need to ask yourself the question,
have I eternal life?
How can I get it?
Where is it?
How can I find it?
How can I get hold of it?
God says it's in His Son.
This life is in His Son.
Therefore, he that hath the Son hath life.
If you have the Son, if you have
Jesus Christ, then you have eternal life.
And then the following is true, and he
that hath not the Son of God hath
not life.
If the only place in the world where
eternal life can be found is in Christ,
the Son of God, then if you do
not possess Jesus Christ, you do not possess
eternal life.
That's what makes Christianity different from all the
other religions in the world.
You may have Buddhism, but Christ is not
in Buddhism.
You may have Mohammedanism, but Christ is not
in Mohammedanism.
You may have Confucianism, but Christ is not
in Confucianism.
You may have Judaism, but Christ is not
in Judaism.
Christ is in one place and one place
only.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whom God
has given eternal life, is in him and
in no one else but Christ.
If Christ is not in Buddhism, if Christ
is not in Mohammedanism, if Christ is not
in Buddhism, then you do not have him.
You cannot get him.
And if you do not have him, then
he is not your savior.
You have never passed out of death into
life.
You are not a Christian.
And that's why there is no salvation in
Buddhism or Confucianism or Mohammedanism or Judaism, because
Christ, the Son of God, is not to
be found in any of those religions.
Therefore, what's the use of getting any one
of those religions if Christ is not in
them?
And that's what God says when he speaks
about his Son.
God has given to us eternal life, and
this life, this eternal life, is in his
Son.
And then in verse 12, here's the conclusion.
He that hath the Son, not the one
who knows about the Son, not the one
who has a knowledge of the Son, but
he that actually has the Son, he that
hath the Son hath life.
I said a moment ago, this Bible represents
the Son of God.
This folder represents eternal life.
The Bible says eternal life is in Christ,
in the Son.
Therefore, if it is in the Son and
nowhere else in the world or in the
universe, then unless I can get the Son
and possess the Son and have the Son
and receive the Son, Jesus Christ, I cannot
receive life.
But the very moment I open my heart
and receive Jesus Christ as my own personal
Savior, that very moment I receive life.
You know, of course, that I did that
when I was 16 years of age.
I didn't know anything about eternal life, not
a thing.
But I'd heard about Christ.
Dr. Torrey had preached Christ.
He urged us to receive Christ.
I didn't know that I was going to
get life when I got Christ.
I never knew that.
But I went to the basement of Massey
Hall, and there I did just one thing.
I opened my heart to Jesus Christ and
received him as my own personal Savior.
Then I found out much later that something
else had happened in that moment.
I discovered that not only had I received
Jesus Christ but I had also received eternal
life.
When I left Toronto, went back to the
old Embro railway station where my father was
the station agent, I went back not only
with Jesus Christ in my heart, but I
went back with eternal life.
I didn't realize it.
I didn't know it at the time, but
I discovered it later that in receiving Jesus
Christ, I had received eternal life.
He that hath the Son hath life, and
he that hath not the Son of God...
Here's the other side now, the negative side.
You have the positive side.
Here's the negative.
He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life.
All the questions I have to ask anyone
is this.
Have you the Son of God?
Is Jesus Christ your Savior?
If you have, you have life, eternal life.
But if you do not have the Son
of God, you do not have life.
Now that brings us to the conclusion of
the matter, the summary.
Why did John write his epistle?
Why was it he wrote it?
Look, if you will, at the 13th verse.
These things, these things I've been discussing, these
things I've been talking to you about tonight,
these things preceding in the verses just before
the 13th, these things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the
Son of God, that ye may, K-N
-O-W, know that ye have eternal life.
Everything centers in eternal life, and eternal life
centers in Jesus Christ.
If I have Jesus Christ, I have eternal
life.
If I do not have Jesus Christ, I
do not have eternal life.
These things have I written.
He doesn't say these happy feelings have I
given.
And I'm afraid more people are trusting in
their happy feelings than they are in the
things that have been written.
So many people depend upon their feelings.
If they get up in the morning feeling
fine, then they're saved.
If they get up in the morning feeling
miserable and downhearted, then they're lost.
They have to get saved all over again,
which is impossible.
They depend upon their feelings instead of upon
the Word of God.
And it's the written Word of God.
That's why this book is so important, more
important than any other book on the face
of the earth.
These things have I written unto you, not
these happy feelings have I given you.
Never mind your feelings.
Pay but little attention to your feelings.
Your feelings will take care of themselves just
so long as you believe the written Word.
These things have I written unto you that
believe.
See, he's not writing to sinners.
He's not writing to the unsaved.
He's writing to believers.
He's writing to Christians.
He's writing to those who have believed.
These things have I written unto you that
believe on the name of the Son of
God.
He doesn't say, I've written these things unto
those of you who have eternal life.
That's true.
But he puts it this way, on the
name of the Son of God.
Why?
That ye may, K-N-O-W, know.
Not that ye may hope.
Not that ye may guess.
Not that ye may think.
John comes out plainly and says that ye
may know.
K-N-O-W spells know.
Knowledge.
Assurance.
That ye may know that ye have eternal
life.
And he ends his statement with the words,
eternal life.
He wants you to know that you have
eternal life.
That's the way he closes his statement.
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.
Now it's important to know, if you don't
know yourself that you've got eternal life, you're
not going to offer eternal life to anybody
else.
You're not going to try to persuade someone
else as to the value of eternal life.
Unless you yourself know that you have, actually
that you have eternal life, you're not going
to be interested in recommending eternal life to
anybody else.
But if you know positively that you have
eternal life, then you're going to recommend it
to everyone to whom God leads you to
speak.
That ye may know that ye have eternal
life.
Now the hymn that expresses the thought that
I've been presenting tonight is number 26.
I know whom I have believed.
I'm not hoping.
I'm not guessing.
I'm not thinking.
I know whom I have believed.
And when I come to the chorus, I
know whom I have believed and am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day.
I know.
I'm going to ask you to turn to
hymn number 26, if you will.
I'm going to ask you to sing the
first two verses and then the last verse.
And pay attention to every word, if you
will, as you sing.
We'll stand together and sing number 26, the
first two and last verse.