1 John 5:6-13
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Today we find ourselves on turn two of our final lap in 1st John.
By the end of today we will be on the back stretch heading towards the finish line.
You can mark this date down as the one and only time I will ever use Nascar to illustrate where we are in on journey through a book of the bible.
We are in the final chapter with just 2 more weeks after today’s message.
We will then celebrate the resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Before spending just two weeks going through 2nd and 3rd John.
Let us go to God’s word together and discover our road map for today.
Open your Bibles or turn them on if that is your preference to 1 John.
1st John is located towards the very back of your Bible, if you hit 2nd, 3rd John, Jude, or Revelation you’ve gone too far.
If you find yourself in Hebrews, James, and Peter, you are almost there.
We will be in the 5th chapter in verses 6-13.
Pastor’s Heart: While you are finding it, let me share my heart with you about why it is important that we have God’s Word before us.
God’s Word is God’s divine revelation to us as believers and the believer’s greatest source of truth, encouragement, and requirements.
Though we have more access to God’s Word than ever before, we find ourselves being more illiterate of God’s Word than ever before.
The reason for my conviction of expository preaching through books of the Bible is so that God’s Word would be illuminated for us by the power of the Spirit.
And that we would learn how we are to read and understand God’s revelation through the Help of the Spirit.
My favorite picture in the past 4 years of preaching was not of some epic hand gesture that was captured, but of a picture taken in the back,
Of everyone looking at their Bibles as we went over a verse together.
So, here is where you come into play. Yes, I have the Scriptures on the Screen,
but I’d really prefer you to be following along with me in whatever way you normally read your Bible.
I have the verses on the Screen in case you get lost or didn’t catch that we transitioned,
But I’d love for your to have God’s Word before you, in front of you, seeing it come to life as we explore it together.
1 John chapter 5, verses 6-13, here are the Inerrant and infallible words of God.
This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
What we will observe this morning in this section of Scripture is as follows:
The Holy Spirit is truth and testifies to the truth of Jesus being the Son of God.
If a person does not testify that Jesus is the Son of God, they are a liar.
Believing in Jesus, the Son of God, brings eternal life.
Already we have journeyed through the most popular verse in this letter and in much of Scripture,
When we discovered the beautiful truth of God is Love.
We have visited my favorite verse in this letter a few weeks ago when we saw in 1 John 4:1 the need to test the spirits.
We concluded that not every spirit is from God, and many pretend to be from God but are there to deceive us.
Today we come to another milestone and that is the most difficult to interpret passage in 1 John.
As one who enjoys expository preaching, these are the days that get you either really excited, or really exhausted.
I found myself bouncing back and forth between both of these emotions this week.
When we seek to understand God’s Word, we must first remember to do it within the context of the section,
then the context of the letter, the context of the New Testament and the Context of the Bible as a whole.
This is very important because, many people will try to argue that we cannot know what the Bible means,
Therefore, we cannot use it as our standard of truth.
Many, even well meaning Christians, will say that the Bible is too difficult to understand, to hard to read, and too daunting to tackle.
Often times, these same well meaning Christians, have never been taught how to read their Bible on one hand,
And on the other hand never committed to learning the Bible.
If we are going to be effective in our participation in God’s story and His Kingdom here on earth, we need to trust in Jesus and know God’s Word.
What do you say we hear about both this morning.
Let’s begin with verse 6 as we seek to Know God’s Word which will lead us into trusting in Jesus.
This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
And here it is, a very difficult passage of Scripture to interpret and one has caused much confusion.
Let’s begin with what makes this difficult.
The issue is what does John mean by water and blood.
John does not clarify these two terms for us, he does not give us the definition or meaning in which way he is using these two terms.
It is as if he expects the reader to already know them.
This very well could be the case.
Meaning that these terms could have been common in their usage during John’s time when speaking about Jesus Christ.
Speaking of Jesus as the one who came from water and blood could have been common knowledge.
The believers of John’s day would have immediately understood what was meant and thus John wouldn’t have had to clarify.
It is like us today talking about football.
Those in the first century would know what a foot is and what a ball is, but wouldn’t know how we are using it in today’s context.
Yet, everyone in here knows what I mean when I say football, well unless you are European but I don’t have time to get into that.
Today, we don’t generally going around talking about Jesus, the Christ, you know, the one who came from water and blood.
There have been many interpretations offered to this text and still uncertainty to its true meaning.
This could cause some to really doubt the Bible.
While we may not know 100% what John means, the options we have do lead to biblical and true statements.
So, what I am going to share with you today are the different possibilities and the conclusions that are indeed true.
Even if I miss the true meaning of blood and water as John was using it, I will not miss John’s point.
So, let’s go over some of the possibilities of what John is speaking of and how they would lead us to true biblical conclusions.
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One possibility is John speaking of the humanity of Jesus in the literal sense? Jesus was born of water with blood.
John could be speaking of Jesus being born and the fluid of birth and that Jesus has blood.
The result and purpose would be to show that Jesus was fully man.
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Some have offered this verse as stating that for us to enter God’s Kingdom we must first be physically born and then Spiritually born.
The result of this interpretation would coincide with the true biblical doctrine of Jesus being fully man.
So this is a true biblical doctrine and wouldn’t bring us to a wrong conclusion, but it is highly unlikely that this would be what John is meaning.
The problem with this argument is that the term water or water breaking we use today was not the term they used for this during Jesus’s time.
There are no records of this event in pregnancy being referred to as water in Jesus’s day.
While it makes since to us, it would not make sense for the them.
So, while you can make an argument for this interpretation and it would come to a true doctrinal belief, it is more than likely not John’s idea.
A second thought Is John speaking of the Sacraments being that Jesus was baptized and the blood is representative of the wine in communion.
We certainly see this phrase of water being used of baptism and we certainly see Jesus using blood to represent communion.
This too, would lead us to a true biblical doctrine and a conclusion that would not contradict God’s Word.
However, it would be strange for John to be referring to the sacraments and only using just one portion of the Sacrament.
Leaving the bread part completely behind and only focusing on the blood or the wine.
So again, a possible interpretation that would keep things biblically accurate, but not likely the case.
Here is a third option is that it is referring to the water and blood that spilled from Jesus during the crucifixion.
But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.
Here we have the same two words, and by John himself, but in a different order.
However, here we also see no explanation of these terms except to verify that Jesus did in fact die and that no bones were broken.
This was to fulfil prophecy of the coming Messiah.
While this is a true event and true words that John personally witnessed, I’m not sure why bringing that part up would be his intent here.
Here is what seems to make the most sense.
John speaking to the Spiritual ministry of Jesus.
Jesus was baptized in water to begin his ministry and died through blood to conclude his earthly ministry.
We see that this also helps us see the Gospel which the assurance in Jesus gives us the assurance of Salvation.
So to be able to see Jesus as the means of our Salvation, who lived perfect life to secure our salvation, and died to obtain our salvation...
This seems to fit the most likely of scenarios that John could be speaking of.
But, let’s just say that none of these 4 interpretations are correct, in this scenario, the point John is trying to make isn’t relying on the definition of blood and water,
The point that John is making is that Jesus is the Son of God.
More specifically, that the Holy Spirit testifies that Jesus is the Son of God.
Regardless of the interpretation of blood and water, it must not take us from the clear, and indisputable point, of the Spirit testifying of Jesus.
We see that John telling us about the blood and the water John declares that Jesus is the Christ.
This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
Christ is not Jesus’s last name it is His title.
It is the greek word for Messiah. Jesus the Messiah and Jesus Christ is the same.
Messiah is the Hebrew, Christ is the greek, of the same meaning.
So, the water and blood are pointing us to Jesus being the Christ, the Son of God.
Next we are going why this is important and how it connects to our first point.
John says that it is the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
Here is how John’s logic is flowing.
The Spirit is the one who will testify, that will illuminate, that will declare to us, Jesus.
Now, the Spirit, being God, is the Truth.
The Father is the truth, the Son is the Truth, the Spirit is the Truth.
Thus, it is the role of the Spirit, to bring forth the truth about the Son.
It’s the role of the Spirit to bring someone spiritually dead to spiritual life through trusting in Christ.
Now, you may agree with this, and you should, because it is what the Bible teaches,
But your actions may show a different story.
Here is what I mean: It is not our smooth talk, or clever illustrations that bring someone from death to life.
It is not our intellect and ability to bring forth great evidences of God that will save someone.
There is only one thing that we can do in order to bring someone to Christ, and that is to share the Gospel.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Thus, it is the Gospel, in which the Spirit works through, that has the power, for salvation.
This is great news and why this ties into our message that the Spirit testifies the truth.
The Spirit works through the proclamation of the Gospel to bring about God’s children to Himself.
God doesn’t need our smooth talk, our staggering intellect, or our witty come backs, to bring someone to Salvation.
God tells us that it is the Gospel that points us to Jesus, that that the Spirit will work through.
Because the Spirit is truth and the Spirit is who testifies of Jesus.
Illustration: Hardness of Heart at the Abortion Clinic, Trusting in Christ,
When it comes to Abortion clinic ministry or family evangelism the means are the same.
We are called to be faithful and we trust what Paul tells us in Romans 1
It is the Gospel, that we have been called to share, in which the Spirit will use to bring about Salvation.
It is God’s Word that has the power, not our clever arguments, or our energy and excitement.
While these man-centered abilities can be used, they do not have the same power as the Gospel and the Spirit.
If I “Convert” someone using my own logic, evidences, and abilities, then I will convert them to my reason, not to my God.
I do not have the ability to Save anyone.
All I have the ability to do, and thus all that I am called to do, is to be faithful, obedient, and declare God using the means He has given us.
The means He has given us is the Gospel of His Son, Jesus.
The one who was born of water and blood in whom the Spirit testifies is the Son of God.
Let’s look at the next verse together, verse 7
For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.
This Spirit is who testifies of the truth of Jesus and that Jesus is the Son of God.
This is our first of three points and the main point John wants us to see in these first 3 verses.
The Spirit is who testifies that Jesus’s ministry began with baptism because the Spirit descended like a dove.
The Spirit is who testifies about the death of Jesus as a great earthquake rips the curtain in the Holy of Holies.
These all agree and proclaim that Jesus is indeed the Son of God.
Even if we are wrong about the meaning of water and blood, we will not be wrong about Jesus being the Son of God.
Now let’s move to our second point next.
If a person does not testify that Jesus is the Son of God, they are a liar.
If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son.
John is setting up his next big point by comparing the testimony of men versus the testimony of God.
John is giving a compare and contrast that should be very easy to see.
Illustration: Imagine a boxing ring.
In one corner we have man, weighing in at 200 lbs standing 6foot 3 inches.
In this corner we have the God of all that ever was and ever will be, weighing in at incalculable and standing above everyone and everything.
It wouldn’t be difficult at all to see who would win and in this case who we should believe.
If only Nascar was a legitimate sport I would have made three sports references in one sermon, which would have been a first as well.
Here’s the point in this verse.
If we readily except the testimony of men, and find no issues believing what we are told from other people,
the testimony we hear from God Himself, by the power of His Spirit, through the Apostle John, is far greater.
Now let’s see the comparison move into our second point.
Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.
Now that we know that we must believe the testimony from the Father, accomplished by the Son, and applied through the Spirit,
We see that those of us who do believe in Jesus, trust in Jesus, rest in Jesus, and look to Jesus,
Those who do this, hold the testimony of the Son of God within.
We have heard the Gospel, we have believed the Gospel, and our gift of faith is placed upon the only one worthy of our faith, Jesus.
Now, John contrasts the believer with the unbeliever, and uses what could be seen as harsh language to do so.
Whoever does not believe God’s testimony, has made themselves into a liar.
Here is the outflowing of John’s argument.
God is truth, God declares the truth of Jesus, Jesus is the Son of God.
Man is not the standard or the truth, man rejects God, Man is a liar.
The reason is that man has not believed in the testimony of God.
Has anyone ever heard of the term presuppositional apologetics?
It is a form of apologetics or witnessing or defending the faith.
It begins with presupposing God as the ultimate standard.
We start with God and work our way down to man, we do not start with man and try to work our way up to God.
John is saying that those who do not believe in the testimony of God are liars and thus we do not start at their understanding and their level.
We start with God and the revelation that everyone, even the unbeliever believes in God.
God has put His law and conscious in every single person, so that people are without excuse.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Paul in Romans is declaring that we do not start with man, we do not start with their lies, we start with God and how everyone knows God exists.
The reason they reject God is because of their unrighteousness and their suppression of the truth.
This is why it is so important for us to witness biblically and why we use the Gospel and a dependance upon the Spirit.
#This Is The Way.
Let’s move to the 3rd and final point, Believing in Jesus, the Son of God, brings eternal life.
And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Third and final point is that believing in Jesus brings us life.
Specifically a purpose and meaning to our life on earth, and a life eternally with God.
This life is found only in the Son.
If we have Jesus, then we have this life, if we do not have Jesus we do not have this life.
Plain and simple.
There is not much to expound here because John writes it so beautifully and so clearly.
This is the testimony of the Father,
This is the testimony of the Son,
This is the testimony of the Spirit.
This is the testimony that I believe in, the testimony that you believe in, and the testimony that we as Confessors of Christ believe in.
This leads us to the entire point that John felt the need to write this letter.
John has already dealt with the need to know Jesus, to know the Gospel, and to believe in Jesus.
Now John wants you to have assurance in your belief.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
We are not to be on the fence about our eternal life.
We are not to be held captive by the thought of our salvation hanging in balance and unsure of which way it will go.
We are to have assurance that we have eternal life.
Not because we have confidence in ourselves, but because we have confidence in Jesus.
Do you have confidence in Jesus.
Do you trust in the finished work of Christ or do you trust in the every day failings of yourself.
If you trust in Christ, believe in Christ, have faith in Christ, seek to imitate and follow Christ, then you are a believer.
If you are a believer and believe in Jesus the son of God, then you have eternal life.
If you have eternal life then we have much to rejoice, much to celebrate, and much to do.
We don’t have things to do because we need to earn something, we have much to do because more people need to have this same assurance.
More people need to have this same freedom,
More people need to know of Jesus.
Which is exactly what we get to be a part of now that we have been rescued, redeemed, ransomed and restored.
We get to do that together, and we get to do that as the Confessors of Christ.
While John gives us with crystal clear clarity the basis for assurance,
He tells us to love other believers, follow the commandments, and to believe in Jesus.
We often wrestle with how that looks and how we display this.
I mean this to encourage you and not overwhelm you:
We will spend a lifetime seeking to discover how this all plays out.
We will spend a lifetime seeking to display the love for other believers.
Our success or failure is not tied into our assurance, because Jesus accomplished our salvation, thus we get to love other believers.
We will spend a lifetime working on following the commandments of Jesus.
Our success or failure is not tied to our assurance, because Jesus accomplished our salvation, thus we get to strive in freedom.
We will spend spend a lifetime believing in the Son of God,
Our success or failure is not tied to our assurance, meaning to what depths we believe, because Jesus accomplished our Salvation, thus we get to rest in Jesus.
It is truly an incredible feeling to know that Jesus is with you, Jesus is for you, and Jesus has saved you.
This journey is now a journey that we live out of the abundant love of God.
When we see this, feel this, know this, and experience this, we will shout for joy that Christ is ours.
We will declare that Christ is the way, We will proclaim the Good news of the Gospel.
We will have the supernatural assurance that the Spirit provides.
Then, there is a chance, that we will see things the way Saint Patrick saw things.
In honor of Saint Patricks day on Friday, I want to close with my favorite writing of his.
“Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.”
May we be encouraged in Jesus, the Son of God, who has won for us our assurance and our faith.
Let us pray.
