The Link to Eternal Life - 1 John 5: 9-12

2:17This question deals with a very fundamental issue that Christianity addresses. How do we enjoy life? How do we enjoy that eternal life that God gives? Jesus said he came to give life and give it more abundantly. How do we come into that abundant life? How do we get there? And the answers given to us in our text. In fact, John Stott's summary, or John Stott provides a statement that is a good summary on this statement. The way to eternal life is through faith.

3:01The way to faith is through testimony. So, the way to eternal life is through faith. But how do we come into faith? Well, that's through testimony. You have to accept the testimony of somebody else. You have to have some kind of truth to believe. And that truth comes through testimony. So, we're in this courtroom dynamic situation, and God has summoned you, and He has summoned me to hear His testimony about His Son. In fact, I would say it like this: life is about hearing God's testimony and deciding to accept it or reject it, and then living accordingly. That's what life's about: hearing God's testimony. Whether that testimony comes through the general revelation that is all around us in creation, we see God's creation, we see the rain falling even now, we see His faithfulness. We see a lot about God in creation. We know a lot about God just internally. We know that there's a right and wrong, a standard. We know there's part of that is the image, the imprint of God upon our being. We bear His image.

4:30All that's general revelation, but then there's also that special revelation where God has testified very specifically about His Son. And so life is about hearing that testimony. As we go through, we hear God, we hear His Word, His truth is pressing in all around us, and then we have to decide whether or not to accept His testimony about His Son or reject it. And the life that we live comes out of that reception or rejection of God's testimony concerning His Son. And so then our testimony becomes whether or not we think God has spoken the truth. What is the testimony of your life? Do you believe that God speaks the truth, or do you believe that God is a liar? Your life tells the story. Specifically, how you are related to Jesus Christ tells the story, whether or not you believe God tells the truth or God is a liar.

5:43We just read he came by the water and the blood. The water testifies to man's need of God's cleansing and his life-giving supply. We need to be cleansed from our sins, but we also need to. Be infused with some kind of life principle, right? We need to be infused with life. We need cleansing and we need life. The blood testifies to how God cleanses and how He gives life. And the Spirit of God uses the witnesses of the water and the blood to convict us of our need for Him and to bring us to a point to receive what Jesus has to offer. Are you at a point in your life where you want to receive what Jesus has to offer? If so, if your heart is crying out, yes, I want what Jesus has to offer, God is at work. God has already been at work in your life. You are brought to this point because of God.

6:50Recently, I saw a story about a dog, a dog on the side of the road. It was a really a pathetic situation. The dog was pretty much lost all its hair. It looked like this brown, sunburnt dog with all kinds of skin problems, all kinds of lesions, and it was a mangy dog, and he was curled up in a little ball on the side of the highway. It's like he had totally given up on life. Cars were going by and just really no movement. At all. He was just, well, one compassionate soul had mercy on this dog and went out to rescue the dog. And he had to catch him in a net because the dog wasn't ready to go.

7:47Scared of the compassionate caregiver. But this caregiver picked up the dog, began to nurse him back to health. But in order for this dog to be nursed back to health, the dog had to calm down. The dog had to begin to trust the caregiver. He had to stop trying to bite the caregiver and simply receive what the caregiver had to give. Well, in a similar fashion, mankind is like this dog, only mankind is pictured in the Bible as dead, already dead, without hope, without life.

8:39And if it were not for the compassionate, caregiving God that would stop and take pity upon humanity, take pity upon us, and begin to nurse us back to health, we would never know what life is. We would never know how to live. God knows what we need. God knows what he needs, what we need. And he knows how to give it. We are spiritual beings. We're not just flesh and blood. We are spiritual beings. And how do you strengthen a downcast, broken soul, lost soul? Well, God knows how.

9:25And so it's important that we receive what God has to give. What has God given? Well, God has given a testimony to his son. God has given testimony to his son. We've already seen in this passage: those who receive God's testimony are born of God. If you receive God's testimony about Jesus Christ, you are born of God. Verse 1: Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And the one who has received God's testimony is also the one who is currently overcoming the world. Look at verse 4: for whatever is born of God overcomes the world, or is overcoming the world. And also, so the one who has received God's testimony of his Son, or born again, is currently overcoming the world, and according to verse 1, 11 is enjoying eternal life. And this is, and the testimony of God is this, that God has given us eternal life.

10:42Life. All this comes to where John is taking all of his writings to eternal life. How do you and I come into this eternal life? Well, the link to eternal life is faith. Faith in what God has said. It's like we've got this courtroom scene. God has summoned you. He is going to lay the evidence. He is going to provide his testimony to you about who Jesus is and why Jesus is sent. Because God knows what you need. And those who receive his testimony, born again, overcome the world, and are currently right now enjoying eternal life. And that is why John can say, we know that the darkness is passing away. The light, the true light, is already shining. So the link to eternal life is faith. And so I want to spend some time this morning. I want you to see this link to eternal life so that you will treasure God's testimony about his Son. God has given His testimony about His Son. You and I need to take in the testimony and keep taking in the testimony. Testimony, God's testimony about his son. It is the link to eternal life.

12:07And so, I'm going to do this in three thought movements. John takes us through three thought movements and shows us this link to eternal life. So, we'll just pick up in verse 9 and walk through these verses. First of all, God's testimony is greater than man's. God's testimony is greater than man's. Look at verse 9. 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.

12:46Do you receive that? How many times he used the word testimony there? Four times in this one verse, seven times in this whole passage that we'll be looking at. The word for testimony or witness, it's the idea of a witness coming to the stand to witness on behalf of something in a courtroom setting. And so he witnesses. And the witness, it's the word martyr. It's where we get martyr from, one who goes and makes a claim about who God is or testifies to him.

13:23So the idea to receive, look at this. If we receive his testimony, if you hear, God's testimony and you believe God, that is equivalent to accepting God's testimony, to receiving God's testimony. It's to take in. So if we receive, if we are taking in God's testimony, or if we are taking in man's testimony, certainly God's testimony is greater. So the opposite would be to throw out a testimony. Either God is testifying to Christ, to his Christ, and you have that prerogative of do you accept that testimony or do you cast it out? And what John is saying is, look, if we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is far greater.

14:18It's a general principle, right? If we value human testimony, and we do, we should certainly value God's testimony much more. You see, today there are many witnesses to Jesus, right? Many human witnesses to Jesus. Lots of thoughts out there about who Jesus is. There's the thought that he's a myth. There is the thought that he is an illegitimate son, historical figure, but greatly different from what we find in Scripture. Then there are those who might be a little more charitable to Jesus and say, well, he is a good teacher.

15:00There are those who would even say he's a prophet, even though he claimed to be God himself, which no prophet does, unless he be the son of God, right? But God's testimony is greater than all of these. God has something to say about his son. Look back at verse 9. For the testimony of God is this. So here, he's telling you, John, this is what God is saying. The testimony of God is this, that he has testified concerning his son. He has testified. He has gone on record saying something about his son.

15:49God's witness concerns his son. It's a matter of eternal record. God, it's like God has, it's like a sworn testimony that it forever becomes a matter of permanent record. That's the way we have in our court hearings, right? That when a person gives his testimony or her testimony, a court reporter records the testimony, marks it down, and then it becomes a matter of permanent record. And so the court reporter, think about how that works, a court reporter becomes the one writing down the testimony. And the court reporter, the document, then becomes the testimony to the testimony itself. If you've been through any kind of litigation, you know, most of the time is spent reading these depositions or reading these reports or these sworn testimonies. And that's what the judge is to do: read these testimonies and then decide the case.

16:54I mean, even we keep the minutes of our meetings here in our church business meetings, and then those minutes become the record of the meeting itself. And so the court reporter, if you think about in this courtroom scene, the court reporter can only record what he or she witnesses. And the judge decides the case based upon these witnesses. Well, think about what John has done in his gospel and in these letters. John has written down the testimony of God.

17:30For John, God's testimony involved both his ear witness and his eyes. He saw, he walked with God. He also had the testimony of Scripture. So he knew what Messiah was to be like, what he was to come to do. He had long heard about that God would raise up a prophet, and that much like Moses, and that God would expect people to listen to him. John knew all this. Then he saw Christ himself. He saw the perfections of God in Christ. He saw his power. He heard his wisdom. He saw his compassion. And he came to believe this is indeed God's Son. Jesus is God's Christ. Jesus is God's Son, the branch who is Yahweh Himself coming to the world. Now, for us, Jesus isn't walking around like he was with John. John had eyewitnesses. For us, God's testimony involves ear witnesses. We hear what the scripture has to say.

18:49We are moved by the internal witness of the Holy Spirit. These are the witnesses we have, the internal witness of the Spirit who witnesses to the truth in what is recorded in Scripture and exalts Christ, the Son of God. So you can think of John as like a court reporter bringing us a testimony. But we're not dependent upon John's testimony alone. God has given us many court reporters, right? There's John, the apostle. There's the other New Testament writers. There's the Old Testament witnesses. God has. Provided in Scripture many witnesses that articulate a thorough and consistent testimony about Jesus. We have a thorough and consistent testimony about Jesus on the pages of Scripture. That is the witness. So we have John's testimony. So think about what is preaching? What am I doing up here right now? I am testifying to what John testified, and John is testifying to God's testimony. So, you can say it like this: preaching is a testimony to a testimony to a testimony. I testify, and that's really what the purpose of a preacher or teacher is to do, is to testify to what God's word says.

20:21And yet, John's testimony isn't, he didn't dream this up, he's testifying to what God's testimony is. And so, in all of this, this is the way God distributes truth about himself. And all of this leads us to one goal: that you and I should receive God's witness concerning his son. And for John, the evidence was overwhelming. And he wants us to come to the same conclusion as himself. This is why he says in chapter 1, verse 1: what was from the beginning, what we have heard. What we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of life. And the life was manifested, and we have seen and testified and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. And he's saying, Look, what we've seen, what we've heard, we're testifying to you because God really has walked among us. And in him is eternal life, and he has given us this life.

21:28And so John writes it out. And he's saying, Look, this witness that he is bearing to is God's witness. It is not his witness to himself, it is his witness to what he saw, touched, and that witness comes down to us today. So the first link to eternal life is to understand that God's testimony about Jesus is greater than ours. Listen to what God says about Jesus. Don't let others tell you about Jesus. Let God, through His Word, tell you about Jesus. That's the first link to eternal life.

22:15Second, receiving God's testimony is receiving His Son. Receiving God's testimony is receiving His Son. Look back at verse 10. 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. So John describes two responses to God's testimony. And you and I are in one of these categories. There are those who believe God's testimony. The one who is believing, the one currently believing, the one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Notice the emphatic location of God's testimony. The one who is believing in the Son of God has the testimony in himself, has God's testimony in himself.

23:23We take it in by faith, just like as you take in something by eating, and you take it into the body, or you drink something in, you take it into the body. Faith, when you believe what God has said about Jesus Christ, that testimony has now come inside and is internalized. In fact, at the beginning of John's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 11, John says these words. He came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him. In other words, he came to the Jewish nation. And the Jewish nation did not receive him. But as many as received him, that is, as many as who really did accept who he was, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name.

24:16So the one who receives him is the one who is believing in his name. The name, the Son of God, the name. The one who has received him is the one who has believed in his name. And then John goes on to say this in verse 13: who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. When one accepts Jesus, one is born again. One must be born again. And it coincides with this acceptance of Jesus. Receiving God's testimony is receiving the Son Himself. When God says, this is Jesus the Christ, this is the Son of the living God. When that conviction takes hold in your heart, it can only get there because you have been born again.

25:22Because you have received God's testimony. You don't believe that God is a liar. You accept His testimony about Jesus Christ. And then that testimony is part of you. It's internalized. This is John's theology, how one is born again. When you receive him, you see, God has testified that Jesus is the king of humanity, he is the Son of God. And yes, he died on a cross, he knew what he was doing, he is king. He came out of the grave, he is king.

26:02And when you accept, okay, this king knows what he's doing, even as we look around the world, we see things in decay, and we see a swell of evil in our own times, we're led to think sometimes, okay, well, who is in control of all this, right? No, he knows what he's doing. And every generation that has followed Christ comes to understand Jesus really does know what he's doing. His disciples had a hard time getting the cross, but they came to, oh, he knows what he's doing, even in the darkest hour. And any time is no different. He is God's anointed king over humanity, and when you receive him, it is equivalent to coronating him as Lord in your heart.

26:53We often use this word, accepting Jesus. We use that word a lot, and it's very biblical. I think sometimes we. We cheapen it, though, as somehow it's some sort of intellectual assent. No, no, that is not in John's mind at all. When you accept Jesus, you are accepting who God says Jesus is. You are coronating Him king in your own heart. That's what's in John's mind. It implies believing. Accepting Jesus implies believing God's testimony of Jesus. Have you accepted God's testimony about Jesus?

27:32If you have, you're born again. And John is writing to you so that you may know you have eternal life. Because receiving God's testimony is receiving His Son. And there are those who believe God's testimony, but then there are those who do not believe God's testimony. Look back. 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. Those who reject Jesus as God's Son reject God's testimony. That's plain and simple. And it's not that they just throw doubt upon the Son, they openly declare God a liar. When you reject Jesus, you are rejecting God's testimony about Jesus. Tell me, has anybody else risen from the dead? There's not even a contender on the religious landscape.

28:30Of the religious leaders around the world, there isn't even one that's bold enough to say, Yeah, crucify me, and in three days I'll rise again. There's not a contender. And yet, those who reject Jesus Christ reject God's testimony. You know, it was the serpent in the wilderness, I mean, not in the wilderness, the serpent in the garden that first rejected God's testimony, right? Has God really said? It was the serpent who enticed Adam and Eve to do the same.

29:11And it was the serpent's sin in the garden that amounted to calling God a liar. It's interesting that rejection in verse 10 is defined as not believing. Look at the last part, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his son. We like to think, well, there's neutral. There's those who believe, those who don't believe, and then there's those neutral ones. There isn't in John's mind. Rejection is defined by not believing. If you are not believing in who Jesus is, who God says Jesus is, you have rejected God Himself.

30:02And those who call God a liar cut themselves off from God. Listen, as long as you think God is a liar, as long as you are biting the hand that is trying to give you life, you will never come to know life. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit really boils down to this settled disposition that God is a liar. And if you will not listen to God, there is no hope for you. But for everyone who will listen to God, there's life.

30:46Will you let God tell you who Jesus is and not listen to who the world says Jesus is? Let Scripture tell you who Jesus is. Listen, it's God's prerogative to tell us, to reveal himself to us how he wants to. God is. God is. And God has chosen to make himself known. Therefore, God provides sufficient testimony to himself so that we can properly relate to him. Right? God is. God knows us. God knows himself. He knows how to communicate to us. He knows how to reveal himself to us. us and we should accept his self-disclosure. Who says that God cannot walk among us? Who are we to say, God, no, you need to reveal yourself to me in a different way? You neither really know yourself, you really know God, don't know God. So how in the world can we start dictating to God to tell him how to reveal himself to us? He knows himself and he has revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Who are we to think that we should contradict it? In fact, we don't have the prerogative to wish or to demand or to make God come up with some other way to testify to himself. He has testified to himself. And we can accept it or we can reject it.

32:25He knows himself. He knows us. He knows how to communicate and he knows how, what we need. And so he's given us his son. That is his testimony. And John sees it as a sufficient testimony. God's testimony is more than sufficient to condemn those who do not believe it. So unbelief isn't some tragedy that happens to some unsuspecting victim. Unbelief is a deplorable Sin. It's suppressing that which is clear, choosing to believe that which is a lie. Unbelief is something that is a gross sin, something to be deplored.

33:22Everything that has happened in the created order, everything that's happened in the history of the world, in the Jewish nation itself, look at the Jewish nation's history, look at the life of Jesus, look at the testimony of his apostles, look at what's been recorded in Scripture, look at the ongoing witness of the Holy Spirit, both general revelation and special revelation, all of this leaves mankind without a legitimate reason to reject God's testimony concerning Jesus Christ. Unbelief is an unexcusable sin, and yet God has mercy even upon those who are caught up in the trap of their own making.

34:10Third, receiving his Son is receiving eternal life. So think about the link to eternal life. God's testimony is greater than man's. We must let God define Christ for us, not man's testimony. Receiving God's testimony is receiving his Son. And receiving his son is receiving eternal life. Do you see the link between God's testimony to receiving his son and eternal life? Look back at verse 11. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son. Remember, he said that earlier in verse 9, and the testimony of God is this. The testimony is this, that God has given us his Son, or that God has testified to his Son, right? Verse 9, the testimony of God is this, that he has testified concerning his Son. And here in verse 11, he gives us further testimony. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Now, look at the emphatic location of eternal life. Notice in verse 10, the emphatic location of God's testimony in himself. The one who believes God's testimony, that testimony then comes in himself, right? The location is, and now when one receives God's testimony, one receives God's Son. And now in verse 11, the one who receives his Son receives eternal life because eternal life is in his Son. Do you see the link? God's testimony. The one who receives God's testimony receives his Son. The one who receives his Son receives eternal life because this life is in his Son.

36:01Yes, God sent and gave his son. And yet, here the emphasis is not upon the son, but upon eternal life. Eternal life is in the son. That's where the emphasis is. That's where John's gospel leads to this eternal life. That's where John's letter is going to end up, at eternal life. So the Christ is the life giver. Jesus is the life giver. And he's more than a political ruler. Jesus is more than the supreme example of goodness. Oh, he's that.

36:45He's also more than the supreme, unstained image of God. He is certainly that. But what John is saying here is that he is the very life of God himself. In him was life. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. In him was life. When we're talking about Jesus, it's the Son of God. We're talking about the very life of God Himself. So when a person receives Jesus Christ, the Son of God, he or she receives eternal life.

37:26In order to give us life, God has to give us his son. From the very beginning, the fall of man, God's set to give us life. And in order to give us life, he would raise one up who would crush the head of the serpent. You know, my wife likes for me to eat vitamins. So she buys a bunch of vitamins. You know, vitamins don't really taste all that good, right? If you just take the raw vitamins and put them in your mouth, the minerals are going to taste awful. So you know what they do? They put them in gummy bears, don't they? So if you get a vitamin and they've got a bunch of gummy bears, you can just sit there and eat gummy bears all day, right? An overdose on vitamins, if you're not careful, right?

38:27Gummy vitamins. Well, think about, in a sense, that you can make a connection to why we receive Christ. Life is in the person of Jesus Christ. And as we receive Jesus Christ, we receive the life that God has to give. In order to give us life, he had to give us his son. And when you accept his son, you accept the life. And to accept the son, you must accept God's testimony. So the one Who accepts God's testimony is the one who receives His Son, who is the one who receives eternal life. That's the link. That's why we preach Jesus. That's why we say, come to Jesus, accept him, let him in your heart, let him come in.

39:18Agree with God on who Jesus is, and life comes in. That's our message. That's what takes that mangy little dog. It gives him life. You see, life is not an impersonal force, but a personal being. Life is sharing the life of God with God. Jesus has made us shareholders in the very life of God Himself. And so the inevitable consequence, look back at verse 12 of accepting or rejecting Jesus naturally follows. He who has the Son has life.

40:06He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. The life that God has is in His Son. The life of God Himself is in His Son. And so if you reject Him, if you reject God's testimony, if you reject God's Son, you do not have the life in you. Just as if I reject the vitamins, right? I do not have their supply. Well, it naturally follows that those who reject God's testimony concerning Jesus cut themselves off from God forever. There are organized religions, Islam being one of them, that will not see that God has a son at all. There are many other world religions who deny the superiority, the place of the Son of God, and they cut themselves off from the life of God forever.

41:16If you do not receive God's testimony about his Son, you make God a liar and you cut yourself off from the life of God forever. That is why we call upon you to accept Jesus. Accept God's testimony concerning Jesus. But rejecting Jesus is rejecting God. However, when you accept Jesus, you become shareholders in the very life of God. Well, I wanted you this morning to see the link between us and eternal life so that you would trust. Treasure God's testimony about His Son. Let God's testimony about Jesus become precious to you. Let God's testimony shape you.

42:19You know that dog I was telling you about, pretty much given up hope. The dog had to stop trying to bite his caregiver. Some of us just need to quit fighting with God and just allow him reign over our lives. It was neat to watch when the dog did finally calm down and begin to trust in his compassionate caregiver. The dog all of a sudden would allow the caregiver to touch him. And a big moment was when the dog actually received water from the hand of the caregiver and then food. And it wasn't long before this dog had all of his hair back. And it was a beautiful white dog. I thought it was a brown dog, sunburnt with all these sores. And it was this beautiful white dog, smiling, wagging its tail, its health restored.

43:24You see, we're spiritual beings. God knows what we need. Look for something solid. We need something to build our lives upon. We need something stable. God knows this. We need the Son of God. We need to settle once and for all that God loves us, that He has made a way to accept us. We need that. I say this just as I have watched people grow up. One of the most devastating things to a young child is when parents get divorced.

44:13And the reason is because a child is looking for something solid, something to build a life upon. And when dad doesn't love mom, or mom doesn't trust dad, or whatever, and it leads to an instability in the home because in the child saying, well, what is solid? What is sure? We're spiritual beings. We need a solid foundation. And God has given us that solid foundation in Jesus Christ. He says, I love you. I have made a way for your sin. And I love you to the highest degree you can possibly imagine. You can trust me.

44:49Let that take hold in your soul. And all of a sudden, spiritual health begins to return. Right? God has gone on record saying something about his son. The water and the blood speak of historical events through which Jesus passed in order to cleanse and renew his people. The miracles that we read about, the voice from heaven at Jesus' baptism, the torn veil, the empty tomb, the eyewitnesses of his resurrection, the eyewitnesses of his ascension, all testify that by his sacrifice, Jesus has brought eternal life of God into the hearts of his people.

45:37This is the testimony of God's testimony. Well, the Spirit continues to speak through the historical events of the gospel to bring people to Christ. Will you let God's testimony of Jesus come into your heart? You can do so today. And if you have, continue to do so. Don't cut yourself off from ever, forever, from God. He has testified to both that Jesus is Lord and He is Savior. What do you say? Let your life demonstrate your confession. You've heard God's confession. You've heard God's confession. God's testimony. What is yours? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the truth that is revealed in Scripture to us. We thank you for how you, our compassionate caregiver, has sought us out.

46:48You have given yourself. You have provided a way that we can be justified and clean in your sight because you desire to share your life with us. Father, we thank you for these truths. And may you be our Lord and our God. Forgive us where we have made you to be a liar. Forgive us, forgive those who've walked with you for many years and yet we still seem to be so half-hearted in receiving your truth. Father, please have your way with us this morning. In Jesus' name, amen.