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Jonathan McGuire
Fellowship of the Forgiven • Sermon • Submitted
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· 2 viewsWhat do you know? John begins to wrap up this letter and affirms to the truth that Jesus is Lord and their is Eternal life.
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Have you ever met someone who knows everything?
Yes
Or have you ever met someone that in a conversation constantly tells you that they know before you finish talking. You may be working to explain to your children something and they interrupt with I know.
In the closing verses of John’s letter we have 5 Christian certainties that we can know and live out with confidence.
Through out this letter we have this tension that John is writing to refute false ideas that others have tried to influence this group of people with.
Jesus Christ—He is the One who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the One who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water, and the blood —and these three are in agreement. If we accept the testimony of men, God’s testimony is greater, because it is God’s testimony that He has given about His Son. (The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about His Son.) And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Pray
It is our desire with this series to understand what it means to walk in fellowship with Jesus as being Forgiven by Jesus.
God what is your desire for our lives. How do you want us to live? How do you want us to act? As a Christ follower, what should we believe?
I said before that John throughout the letter has been refuting false teachings. Here in verse 6 we again find John doing this.
Jesus Christ—He is the One who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood. And the Spirit is the One who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water, and the blood —and these three are in agreement.
So what is the false teaching that he is refuting and the truth that He is teaching?
The truth is that Jesus Christ is God
The false teaching was to make the person of Jesus not God. Their desire was to say that Jesus was just a man. Some said Jesus was a religious fanatic, a madman, or perhaps just a Jewish patriot, but we know that Jesus was indeed God.
The false teaching to try and make a lie truth was that Jesus was born not of a virgin and that Joseph and Mary were His parents but he was not God. These false teachers believed that the Spirit of God came on this person of Jesus when he was baptized and that the Spirit of God left this person of Jesus before the death on the cross. They believed that when Jesus cried out and said My God My God why have you forsaken me that at that point the Spirit of God had returned to Heaven.
John’s letter refutes this false teaching. The letter presents three witnesses to prove that Jesus is God.
The first witness is the water.
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. But John tried to stop Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and yet You come to me?”
Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him to be baptized.
After Jesus was baptized, He went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on Him. And there came a voice from heaven:
This is My beloved Son.
I take delight in Him!
God the Father used this baptism to declare that Jesus was indeed His son and that Jesus was God.
The second witness was the blood.
Now some Greeks were among those who went up to worship at the festival. So they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”
Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus replied to them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
“I assure you: Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop. The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me. Where I am, there My servant also will be. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
“Now My soul is troubled. What should I say—Father, save Me from this hour? But that is why I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again!”
The crowd standing there heard it and said it was thunder. Others said that an angel had spoken to Him.
Jesus responded, “This voice came, not for Me, but for you. Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. As for Me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to Myself.” He said this to signify what kind of death He was about to die.
Then the crowd replied to Him, “We have heard from the scripture that the Messiah will remain forever. So how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”
Jesus answered, “The light will be with you only a little longer. Walk while you have the light so that darkness doesn’t overtake you. The one who walks in darkness doesn’t know where he’s going. While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become sons of light.” Jesus said this, then went away and hid from them.
From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over the whole land.
Jesus shouted again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom; the earth quaked and the rocks were split. The tombs were also opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And they came out of the tombs after His resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.
Jesus over and over told them that he would die but they would not understand it. The false teachers tried to make Jesus just a man who had the Spirit of God, but John says through the baptism and through the blood that Jesus was God.
Jesus being God is essential to your faith. Again this truth changes EVERYTHING in our life when we submit to the Lordship of Jesus in our life we change everything.
The third witness is the Spirit.
The Spirit was given to bear witness to Christ
“When the Counselor comes, the One I will send to you from the Father —the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me.
He will glorify Me, because He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you.
Believers strive to understand the role of the Holy Spirit. The major role of the Spirit is to bear witness to Christ.
The Holy Spirit was present at the baptism of Jesus and the death of Jesus but we were not. This same spirit is sent to live inside of you to bear witness to Christ. The Holy Spirit can be trusted.
The Spirit is active now in ministry. We can see the effects of the Spirit’s ministry.
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children,
The Spirit also witnesses to us through the Word of God. When we read God the Spirit speaks to us and teaches us.
“One witness cannot establish any wrongdoing or sin against a person, whatever that person has done. A fact must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
These three witness here in 1 John settle the matter. The water, blood and the Spirit settle it that Jesus is God.
1 John 5: 9-10
9 If we accept the testimony of men, God’s testimony is greater, because it is God’s testimony that He has given about His Son. 10 (The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about His Son.)
The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (1 Jn 5:9–10). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
We receive the witness of men, so why should we reject the witness of God?
People often say, “I wish I could have faith!” But everybody lives by faith! All day long, people trust one another. They trust the doctor and the pharmacist; they trust the cook in the restaurant; they even trust the fellow driving in the other lane on the highway. If we can trust men, why can we not trust God? And not to trust Him is to make Him a liar!
Jesus is God: this is the first Christian certainty, and it is foundational to everything else.
Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 528). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
God gave witness to individual believers. God wanted us to know that He has given us Eternal life.
Eternal Life is a gift and is not something we can earn
My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish —ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
We receive eternal life not only from Christ but in Christ!
Christ wants us to LIVE!
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Ten: What Do You Know for Sure? (1 John 5:6–21)
When Sir James Simpson, the discoverer of chloroform, was on his deathbed, a friend asked him, “Sir, what are your speculations?”
Simpson replied: “Speculations! I have no speculations! ‘For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.’ ”