Proof Upon Proof

1 John 5.1-21

Sermon by Dr Peter Masters

The message of personal salvation and eternal life obtained through Christ naturally provokes the question – Is it true? It seems too good to be true. Here is a review of its credibility, its effectiveness, and the many proofs experienced by those who trust it.

‘And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.’

And my subject is very simply ‘proof upon proof’ this evening. Well here is a great contrast between verse 19 and verse 20. We know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness. And then verse 20, and we know that the Son of God is come. And these verses sum up the varying human condition. Well without God, life ultimately is a tragedy. But with Christ, not because of our merit, but because of what he has done for human souls, it becomes a triumph, an eternal triumph. Without God, life ultimately is misery, taken over all. But with God and with salvation, it is happiness. Without him, it’s bondage, enchained to appetites and to sin and to material things. But with Christ, it’s a life of true liberty, a life without God of labour and effort and striving, a life with the God of grace.

What a tremendous term. All the greatest blessings and eternal blessings. Communion with God and heaven come freely without charge to those who believe in him. Without God, it’s a life of ignorance. And with God, it’s a life of tremendous knowledge and understanding. The Christian life is the opposite of what some people would have us believe.

Without God, certainly when I was a youngster, I believed the lie that without God, I would have freedom, moral freedom. I could do whatever I wanted. I could have mental freedom, intellectual freedom, if you like. Oh, I didn’t realise. There’s no intellectual freedom outside a relationship with God. The world has very little to say on the deep things and the great things, the spiritual things, the eternal issues of life. There’s no freedom when the page is blank, when there’s no knowledge to explore, nothing to take in. Everything is explained in material terms. That’s being bound.