God's Testimony and Ours - 1 John 5: 5-8

1:17Because indeed we can give him thanks for all that he has done. Or should I choose that classic text of dedication from Saul of 1 Kings 8, where Solomon Dedicates the temple. And then I got to thinking more. Or what about 1 John 5, verses 5 through 8? We talked about this faith that has overcome the world, and I thought, you know, that would be a very appropriate text to continue in. And guess what? It's the very next text in our sermon series. So I think that's a very good place to start.

2:06And as we do, I'd like for you to begin to think about this question. What is the overarching testimony of your life? We are all testifying to something. Our lives testify to some ultimate principle. What is it? And we testify not just with our mouth, but with our lives. What is the ultimate principle that this church gathering testifies to? When you boil it all down, what is the supreme testimony of our lives? Our lives, our activities on this property are saying something to the world.

2:56Last week, we looked at the faith that has overcome. The world. Look back at 1 John 5, verse 4. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Faith. A faith that has overcome the world. And as we looked last week, the ones who are currently overcoming the world are the ones who have embraced this faith that has overcome the world. Are you overcoming the world according to biblical standards? Then you have already embraced the faith that has overcome the world.

3:43This week, we're going to look into some more specifics about this faith that has overcome the world. Beginning in verse 5, I'm going to read all the way down to verse 12, even though today we'll only talk about verses 5 through 8. 1 John 5, beginning in verse 5. Who is the one who overcomes the world? But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. Not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood. Blood, and the three are in agreement. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater. For the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in Himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because He has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

5:16John Stott adequately summarized this section by saying, The way to eternal life is through faith. And the way to faith is through testimony. The way to eternal life is through faith. That's how. That's how we come to eternal life by coming to Him in faith. But how does one come to faith? Through the testimony of another. That's how we come to faith, specifically through the testimony, through the testimony of God's Spirit. A few minutes ago, we actually sang a theology. Class in hymns. I don't know if you realized it, but they thought it appropriate to sing the songs that we've actually posted out in the foyer. If you'll look, there is the first one that deals with theology proper: holy, holy, holy. Second one deals with Christology, crown him with many crowns. And the third one deals with ecclesiology, the church's one foundation. And all of that is summarized. And of course, we added one. It wasn't on the wall.

6:37Soteriology, right? When I survey the wondrous cross, the richness, these songs really very much encapsulate our faith, the faith that has overcome the world. Well, look at verse 5. Look at what John, the question that he is asking. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Now, in verse 1, the one who is born of God is the one who believes that Jesus is the Christ. And the one who is born of God is the one who is overcoming the world. So there in verse 1, it's the expression, it's the conviction that Jesus is the Christ. God's king, God's Messiah. And here John says it is the Son. It is the one who recognizes that Jesus is the Son of God. So which is it? Oh, it's both. In fact, as we just read in Psalm 2, the Messiah is the Son. The King is his Son, God of God, human of human.

8:00In fact, even in 2 Samuel, as you look at the promise that God makes to David and to his dynasty, in 2 Samuel 7, 14, I will be a father to him, speaking of the offspring. So the king and sonship go hand in hand, and especially as it relates to God's ultimate king. He is the son. Jesus, the one from Nazareth, king, son, and the one who has come to this conviction, this thorough conviction of soul. This is the one who is born again. This is the one who is overcoming the world. Is that you?

8:44Is that the testimony of your life? Or do you make him out to be a liar? Those are the two options that John gives us in this passage. There are those who have come. To this belief, this soul conviction that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of the living God. And there are those who deny him as such and declare God to be a liar, which is you. What is the ultimate principle? What is the very principle that your life testifies to?

9:32Well, look at this verb pattern in verse 6. Actually, verse 5 and 6, 6, this is the one who came by water and the blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. There are a really unique verb pattern happening here. Verse 5, the one who is overcoming is the one who is currently believing that Jesus is the Christ, believing in the one who came. Jesus is the one who came, and it is the Spirit who testifies. So the one who is overcoming the world is the one who is believing in the one who is testifying about the one who came.

10:21So what is the one testifying? What is the one saying about the one who came? Well, that's our task this morning. It is to find out, do we believe God's testimony of Himself or not? It's an interesting situation. This is a courtroom scene, and guess what? You're called to judge the case. You're called to render a verdict. It's God Himself that is testifying, and you are called to judge His testimony. It's a striking situation to be in.

11:05God is the one testifying, and we are the ones judging. But by the way we judge, we judge ourselves. Will we hear God's testimony? Will we hear what He has said concerning His Son? Will we hear that testimony from the words of Scripture? The testimony that has crossed the horizon of this earth and speaks loudly and clearly. The fact that we are even here today speaks, is part of God's testimony to His Son. And we're called to judge the case. But by the way we judge, by the way we hear, we judge ourselves.

11:58Is God a liar? Is his testimony to be received? Well, this morning I want us to look at three aspects of God's testimony to his Son so that we will make sure that we join the ranks of those who believe and are overcoming the world. I'm going to look at the object of God's testimony. We'll look at the means of God's testimony, and then we'll look at the content of God's testimony. First of all, and they're all up there. Sorry, I thought I had looked at the object of God's testimony, and that is Jesus Christ. The object. Look back at verse 6.

12:45This is the one who came by water and the blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. The object of God's testimony is Jesus Christ. This is who he is testifying to, deals with the person of Jesus Christ. Who is the object? Jesus. This is the one who came, Messiah, Son, having come by water and by blood. Now, what does John mean? We enter into one of the most difficult texts in 1 John.

13:31As some commentators suggest, he came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with water only, but with water and with the blood. What in the world is he talking about? Well, there are several different views. There is the view that several commentators, following the path of Luther and Calvin, saw that the water and the blood refer to the sacraments or to the ordinances of the church. The problem with this, if water refers to the ordinance of baptism, then blood has to refer to the Lord's Supper.

14:15And yet, this would be fairly unprecedented because there isn't any language referring to the body here. And as you look at how the Lord's Supper is referred to, it's in the context of blood, yes, but with the body. And so there's no mention of the body here, just the blood. Besides, another problem with this view is that the ordinances themselves are the church's testimony to Christ, not the Father's testimony to Christ. We celebrate the Lord's ordinances, as Russell was saying, usually on the second Lord's Day of each month in the evening service. But it's there that we testify. We testify. As we take of the elements in 1 Corinthians 11, 26, for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So it's a testimony of the church. Individual baptism is a testimony to what has happened in the life of the person who's being baptized.

15:25But another problem with this view is that it is odd to think that Jesus came by, look back, this is the one who came by or through the ordinances when it is he who established the ordinances. The ordinances came out of him. He didn't come through them. And so certainly I would be hesitant to limit water and the blood in this context to the ordinances. Though the ordinance may testify, maybe the water and the blood are testifying through the ordinances. Certainly would not limit it to this. Well, there's another view, second view, and this refers to, some see this, like Augustine and some of the more ancient commentators, they saw this as a reference to the spear that was thrust in Jesus' side and the water and the blood that flowed out.

16:23As John 19, 34, the soldiers pierced his side with a spear. Immediately, blood and water flowed out, and he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. John saying, I saw this, I saw this is what happened. But there's some problems with this. In the context where John saw water and blood flowing out of the side of Jesus, that's John bearing witness to what he saw: the death of Christ on a cross, being pierced. It's not a testimony to what the water and blood are seeing at this moment or what was saying.

17:08And John doesn't provide any commentary in John 19 that he thinks the flow of water and blood are at that moment witnessing to Christ's person and mission. There's no language like that. But the second problem with this is that John's mind seems to be so clearly upon the fact that Jesus really did die according to the prophecy of Zechariah. Zechariah 19:37. And again, another scripture says, They shall look on him whom they pierced. John has got Zechariah on his mind as he's watching the crucifixion. It says, They will look upon him. A fountain will be opened to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They will look upon the one whom they pierced. Speaking of a later date, but certainly John is seeing, they have pierced him. So, John, that's clearly in John's mind there. But it is also a third reason, third problem with this, is that it also seems odd to think that he came by and through the blood and water that came out of his side. How is it that he came through that which came out and through him?

18:28There's a third view. If it's not referring to the ordinances or the spear thrust, then what? Well, many have seen it as a testimony or a reference to his historic baptism and his historic crucifixion. The preposition by, look back, he came by. This is the one who came by or through, it would be maybe even a better transition. The one who came through the water and through the blood. We're looking for an event through which Jesus passed. And it's clear that he had to pass through both physical baptism and physical death. And that baptism meant something. It's not just that he went through the water and went in and out of water, but all that that meant for his life. You remember in Matthew 3, 14. He came to John to be baptized, and John the Baptist said, I have need to be baptized by you. I need your baptism. And that's no state of humility. That's a state of real need. John the Baptist is saying, I need to be baptized by you. You're the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. I need your baptism.

19:52He said with emphasis. We're still working through a lot of this. But it's good to be here, right? But Jesus answered and said to him, Permit it at this time, for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he permitted him. And after being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were open, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lightning upon him. And behold, a voice out of the heavens said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Remember John's baptism? John the baptism. It was water for repentance, wasn't it? Jesus did not need to repent.

20:44He did not need John's baptism. John needed Jesus' baptism, but Jesus didn't need John's baptism, but he went through the water anyway. What was happening? Well, you think about it. Coming into the water, they had to be cleansed. There had to be a basis. Jesus had to enter into the stream of sinful humanity. He had to stand in solidarity with his people in order to save his people. And so the baptism of Christ meant something very different than the baptism of those who come to him to be cleansed. There are those who need to be cleansed, and there is one and only one who can do the cleansing.

21:30Jesus had to be baptized into the stream of sinful humanity. And the word there, well, he had to be baptized. Just as he had to go through the water, he had to go through the historical baptism and all that this touched upon. He also had to pass through death. Blood speaks of the historical death of Jesus on the cross. Blood can also speak of flesh, can also speak of human nature. He had to enter into and identify with his sinful, fallen people in order to walk with them through death. He had to be in solidarity with them in order to save his people from eternal death. He had to go through death for them. He had to go through death through them. Really with them, in a sense. And this all seems to fit well, this interpretation. We're talking about the water, speaking about the historical baptism and all that that implied for Jesus' life, and his historical crucifixion and all that that touched upon and implied as well. He had to go through these.

22:54And this is what fits well with the historical situation, at least what we know about it. There were the false teachers, you remember of John's day? They had a very different view of Jesus. They taught that Jesus was not the Son of God before his baptism. They taught that at the baptism, that's when the Son of God came upon him, and that the Son of God left him before the crucifixion. They couldn't get in their mind that God Himself would come, walk among us, and lay down His life for us. God is pure Spirit. This couldn't happen to Him. So they had a very erroneous view of Jesus, a very different view of Jesus than what John had.

23:44John is saying he came through the water. He was the Son of God before and through the water. And He was Son of God through the water. Blood. Of course, the false teachers might believe at least with the water part. And so I think that's why John stresses what he says here at the end of verse 6. Not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only, but also with the water and the blood. He's stressing something there. There might be some that say, yeah, okay, the Son of God came upon him at his baptism. So in a sense, he came through, but he certainly left before he went to the cross. I think that's what John is stressing here. He came with the water and with the blood. These are historical events involving the water and blood.

24:49And they testify to this person, the object of God's testimony, what he went through for his people, what he went through in solidarity with his people, and what he went through for his people. And it has a much larger sphere than just what we've talked about. Certainly it involves, it is tied to these historic events, but don't just think of it, okay, as he went and was baptized, therefore he's gone through it. No, it's all that that baptism represented, which you do see and hear the testimony of the blood and the water coming out of the ordinances.

25:31But it is certainly, certainly their testimony of what he went through, as depicted in his historic baptism and historic crucifixion. But as you consider this, as you keep walking through this, we've been through John's gospel. We've been in John's letters. We have a good idea of what water and blood mean in John's gospel. You remember in John 1, the water was a means of baptizing. In John 3, it's the means of being born again. Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. In John 4, it is the means to satisfy the human soul. It is the living water that is freely offered. Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst. And in John 7, it is a direct reference to the Spirit of God. John 7:37, Jesus at the last day of the feast, stood up and cried out, saying, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as a spirit, as a scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. And then John's commentary, but this he spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive.

26:54So the Spirit is the water, the metaphor. In John 13 and 15, water is the means of cleansing, both physically and spiritually. You remember, Jesus poured water in John 13, 5, and he began to wash their feet. And then Peter says, You're not ever going to wash my feet. And then Jesus says in John 13:8, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. And he moves beyond just the physical washing to the spiritual cleansing. And in John 15, 3, he says this to the disciples, You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. The word cleanses.

27:44Physical water cleanses dirt. Spiritual water cleanses the soul. You want to know what contaminates the soul? Lies. Believing wrongly about God, believing wrongly about his Christ. This is what defiles. This is the problem with Adam and Eve. At the very beginning, they believed lies. How do you scrub clean a soul? You give them truth. Truth. And Jesus says, You are clean because of the word I spoke to you. And then in John 19, you see the blood and the water flow out.

28:31And I believe John very much has Zechariah in mind. He's already quoted Zechariah in riding on a donkey into Jerusalem. He's already quoted Zechariah 12, 10 when he's looking upon the one whom they pierced. And then right afterwards, Zechariah 13:1, in that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for impurity. It's clearly in John's mind. The king has come in riding on a donkey, has presented himself. They have pierced him. And in that piercing, a fountain has been opened up, a fountain that removes sin and impurity, that removes the guilt of our sin and the contamination of our being.

29:27So when you summarize all this water in John, listen to this. That which is symbolic of cleansing is also symbolic of satisfying all human longings, is also the Spirit of God Himself. The one who cleanses, the one who satisfies, is the Spirit of God Himself. That's the water. And then there's the blood. So much rich background and historic information about the blood. The Old Testament describes several purposes for the blood. The life was in the blood. And blood was the means that God used to distinguish between peoples, Israel and Egypt. Blood was the means of forgiveness, so much so that the writer of Hebrews in 9:22 says, Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness, really, according to the law. Blood was the means of atonement, that is, covering the naked shame of an individual.

30:43Leviticus 17:11, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement. So, the blood is the means of atonement, covering. You go on, and it's the means of access to God, it's the means of fellowship with God, it's the means of life with God. And so, the one who cleanses, the one who sanctifies, is the Spirit of God, and he does so by applying the life of Jesus to the believer: water.

31:30The blood. Well, that's the object. The one who came through water and the blood. Jesus Christ. Next, I want you to see the means of God's testimony. The Holy Spirit. Look back. This is how he testifies to us. It is the Spirit. Look at verse 6. It is the Spirit who testifies because the Spirit is the truth. It is the Spirit who is the one testifying. The Spirit of God, it is the Holy, this is how He is testifying.

32:09An important connection to make here. Look at this. The Spirit is the truth. But if you remember, John 14, 6, Jesus said, I am the way and the truth. So you have in John's thinking, both he makes a statement that Jesus is the truth and the Spirit is the truth. And that is why the Spirit testifies. He testifies to Jesus because Jesus is the truth, and the Spirit can't help but testify, as John's saying, because the Spirit is the truth. That's what truth does. It's like light that shines in the darkness. Truth testifies. That's the nature of truth.

32:58And so it is the Spirit who is testifying. And we need this testimony. God is spirit, and so are we. As Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4, God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. We must have our spirit convinced of the truth of Jesus Christ before we can worship our heavenly Father. Jesus knew that we need an internal witness. See, the sphere of witness, the sphere of worship is more than this metal building. Even as we assemble together under this metal building, we are spiritual beings, and we must have an inner conviction that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, if we're going to worship Him. And that is the way God is worshiped in the sphere of spiritual.

34:05John 14, 16, Jesus says, I will ask the Father, and I will give you another helper, that he may be with you forever. That is the Spirit of truth. The world does not know him, cannot receive him, but you know him because he abides with you and will be in you. We need the Spirit of truth. John 15:26, Jesus said, When the helper comes, whom I will send to you, From the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.

34:38And Jesus knows that we need that internal witness. We need God's Spirit to teach us. That's what He tells His disciples in John 16:13. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak of His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak. In fact, when you come to 1 John 2, verse 27, John says, As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. We have an ultimate teacher, that is the Spirit of God who convicts our souls of the truth of God that has been revealed in the Word of God.

35:28Your Word is truth. Jesus is the truth. The Spirit is truth. You see, we need truth in our inner being. This is what cleanses. Truth. When you take in truth, when you believe truth, this is what cleanses you. This is what renews you. This is what satisfies your soul, specifically the truth about Jesus Christ. That's what John is saying in all of this. It's truth. Spirit of truth. Truth, person of truth, that cleanses, renews, and satisfies. Come to the truth.

36:10Jesus Christ, Son of God. It is the Spirit of God that is testifying to these things. So we've looked at the object of God's testimony. It's Jesus Christ. The means of God's testimony is the Holy Spirit. That is how He testifies to us to convince us internally that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Now I want you to look at the content. The content: Spirit, water, and the blood. Look at verse 7. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and the three are in agreement. Three that testify: Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are in agreement.

37:08It's interesting because at this point, it's like now God is calling witnesses to the stand. It's like God's testimony. Go back to this courtroom. Here you are. You're the judge hearing the evidence. God has the object. He's testifying to Jesus Christ. This is the one who's come through the water and the blood. And he's doing it through the Spirit of God. Now, what exactly is he saying? Well, that's what he says next. Three that testify, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three are in agreement. Now, there is a textual issue here. I won't spend a lot of time on it. But if you're reading the New King James or the King James, you'll recognize there's a statement in there that's a little bit longer. It reads like this: for there are three that bear record in heaven, or there are three that bear record, in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one, and these three that are bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one.

38:14The text that we have before us in the New American Standard or the ESV omits the phrase. Let me just show you up here. Well, I had some lines on there, but I don't anymore. But the words in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one, and these three bear witness in the earth, are not included in some of the earliest Greek. In fact, it doesn't show up in any Greek manuscripts in the text until the 14th century. None of the Greek fathers include this quotation, which Would have been very significant in the Trinitarian debates of the early centuries. Even the early editions of the Vulgate do not include it. Erasmus himself did not include it until the third edition.

39:16Regardless, it doesn't change the emphasis that John is putting here. The emphasis comes at the end of verse 8: the Spirit and the water and the blood. These three are testifying to something, and the three are in agreement as to what specifically they are testifying to. So I want to look at that threefold testimony. The three witnesses, a spirit. Now, the spirit is the personal act of witness. That's the one testifying. We just looked at that. The water and the blood are not separate individuals, but historical realities that say something about the ministry of Christ. Think about, I know we have some police officers here. Maybe, I don't know if you're a detective or whatever, you may, you know what skid marks on a highway tell you? They tell you something, don't they? But they're not personal beings, right? You see skid marks on the highway, you may, it's incredible to me what you can learn from skid marks on a on a highway. You can learn things like how fast a person will. Was going when they applied their brakes, when they saw the potential conflict area. You can learn a whole lot about just some black marks on a pavement. Well, you think about the same way. The water and the blood are not a personal being like the Spirit is, but they are testifying to something. They are testifying to an ordeal, much like skid marks would testify to an ordeal that a person went through.

41:05Breaks. Well, the water and the blood testify to an ordeal that Christ went through. The water testifies to man's need. The blood testifies to God's supply. The water testifies to man's need of cleansing, man's need of life-giving supply. I think we know that, right? We have need of God. If you haven't figured that out yet, be honest. You're a liar or just wait, right? You'll get it. We need God's supply. We need cleansing. We need to be made acceptable before Him. And we need His life-giving supply.

42:00Jesus came by water as the one who will cleanse and as the one who will give life. Blood. The blood testifies to God's supply, to the means which God cleanses and gives life. The blood testifies to man's need. We need cleansing. We need life. Blood testifies to God's supply. He gave his Son, Jesus Christ, to cleanse and to impart his life to us. Agreement. The water testifies to man's need. The blood testifies to God's supply. They are in agreement.

42:50The Spirit uses the witness of the water and the blood through which Jesus passed to convict us, to impress God's truth upon us in a very personal manner. You see, without the ministry of the Holy Spirit, no one would ever be convicted of their need for what Christ has to offer. Do you believe this testimony of God? Do you believe you have a need to be cleansed of your sins? Do you believe you have a need to be made right in God's eyes?

43:31Do you believe you have a need for his life-giving supply? Well, what is the content of God's testimony to you? You need his Son. What is God's testimony to you? You need His forgiveness. You need His life-giving supply. That's God testifying to you through His Spirit. Do you agree with Him? This is what He's saying to you. This is what He's saying to us as a church. We need Jesus to be the dominant theme in our life.

44:31And do you believe? Are you at this moment yielding to the Spirit who is bringing you this testimony? You need Him. He knows you need Him. And that's why God gave Him. So we've looked at the three aspects. God's testimony. Jesus Christ is the object. The means is his Holy Spirit, the content is the testimony, the witness of the Spirit, the water, and the blood. See, the way to eternal life is through faith, and the way to faith is through testimony. You'll never have the faith unless you believe God's testimony about Himself.

45:31This church that meets in this building now is to be a testimony to Jesus Christ. God has revealed the faith that has overcome the world, and we are summoned to judge it and say it is true or it is false. I pray that as long as earth shall endure, that there will be found in this assembly and from this assembly those who are living testimonies to the faith that has overcome the world. That is our ultimate principle. We say it not just with our lips, but with our lives.

46:29We assert. That God is saying the truth. Yes. That's what we are saying. God speaks the truth. Let's pray. Indeed, Father, we come before you recognizing and believing your word is true. Truth specifically concerning your Son, Jesus Christ, that he is both the anointed King, though he is crucified and been gone 2,000 years, we know that he is indeed your King. We indeed know that He is your Son, come in the flesh. We do know that you have given us the highest expression of love, the deepest cleansing that is possible. You have completely cleansed, completely given us new life in your Son, and we rejoice over that. Father, forgive us again where we have lost sight of these truths or have gotten caught up with other principles of life and they have overshadowed this main principle.

48:00Testimony to your Son. Father, as long as time endures, I pray that you would find faith upon this earth and that you would find faith here at this body and through this body, though many generations may pass. Father, that you would indeed find faith upon this earth when you return. In Jesus' name, amen.