The Testimony of God

Introduction

What does it take for you to believe someone? Credentials? Experience? Evidence? The age of the internet is interesting because there has never been a time in history where it is so easy to learn so much and also to learn so many lies, and a lot of it depends on who you decide to listen to and who you decide to doubt. A wise person probably takes a balance of all three of those standards alone with a healthy dose of common sense when deciding who to believe. Someone who is not as wise will either believe anything they are told, decide to only hold beliefs that confirm their own bias, or call someone who has is telling the truth a liar for the feeling of pride that they know better.

People do the same thing with God. Although our culture is big into “fact checks” they rarely check the God of truth as a source and often doubt him for the sake of their own ego. One of the defining marks of a Christian, even the defining mark, is a willingness to believe God due to his unmatched credentials. He is God after all. This belief, especially concerning who Jesus Christ is and what he accomplished, is used by John to separate those who truly have eternal life from those who do not.

The Testimony from God: Whoever has the Son has Life and Whoever does Not have the Son does Not have Life

Last week we talked about the victory our faith has in Christ over the world because Christ has overcome the world. We know we have this victory if we are in Christ, which is evidenced by loving obedience to God, sacrificial love for each other, and a right understanding of who Jesus is and what he did.

Our text here focuses on the statement John made in verse 5. It answers the following questions:

What does it mean to believe that Jesus is the son of God?

By what testimony do we believe these things?

What does it mean to believe that Jesus is the Son of God? The Content of the Testimony: vs 11. Eternal life is found in Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God sent to give eternal life to his people. Jesus is the center of theology and the key to knowing God. Theology is important because if we don’t know Christ rightly, we cannot know God. If we don’t believe he is who Scripture says he is, than we are not born of God, do not have victory over the world, and do not have eternal life. However, we live in a world full of false prophets and teachers who have all kinds of different ideas of who Jesus is and therefore what the Gospel is. How can we know that the Jesus we worship is the “right” Jesus and that we have eternal life?

The Testimony of the Son and the Spirit

So who is this Jesus Christ in whom we believe and have victory and eternal life? John’s answer to this assumed question is both strange and interesting: “he who came by water and blood.” He than offers a clarification that doesn’t really clear anything up for us, “not by water only but by water and the blood.” What does John mean by this?

John uses water to refer to the Spiritual life that Jesus brought through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in his people.

John 3:5 ESV

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

and again when he’s talking to the woman at the well, Jesus refers to the work of the Spirit this way,

John 4:10 ESV

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

Why does John use ‘water’ as a reference to the Spirit? Because in the prophets, especially in the book of Ezekiel, represents spiritual life and fruitfulness that comes from the presence of God. In Ezekiel 47 this life is symbolized as a river running out of the Temple, out of the presence of God, and pouring into the land of the people of God. And this is how Ezekiel describes the effect of this river of water from the presence of God,

Ezekiel 47:12 ESV

And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”

Jesus describes his ministry the Gospel of John 7:37-39

John 7:37–39 ESV

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Jesus came in water because he came giving the sweet streams of living water to those who believe, and that stream is established by the work of the Spirit in their hearts producing the fruits of love and obedience in their hearts. This is the first witness of the testimony of who Jesus is. Those who believe the true Gospel have recieved this living water, and its presence becomes a witness of the truth that Jesus is the Son of God.

“Not water only, but water and blood.” Referring to the fleshly incarnation of Christ as well as his literal death on the cross. Jesus blood not only cleanses us of sin, it legitimizes the Gospel he preached and we preach.

We must believe that Jesus came in the flesh (1 John 4:2)

We must understand the atoning work of Christ on the cross.

We must be willing to partake in the suffering of Christ because of what we know was won by his blood.

The testimony of three undeniable witnesses are the basis of our faith that Jesus is the Son of God.

1 John 5:7–8 ESV

For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.

We talked about the witness of the Spiritual life in Christ and now in us, and the testimony of Christ’s blood which forgives our sins, but what about the third testimony, that of the Spirit? Wasn’t he in the testimony of the water?

In verse 6, the testimony of the Spirit is identified as the truth. The Spirit takes two roles here. He is the Spirit of truth, revealing to us the truth of who Jesus is, and he is the water, the power to walk in the truth and thus show it to be the truth. So you could say the three witnesses of the person of Jesus Christ are his work on the cross, the revelation of that truth through revealed Scripture, and the Spirit’s work in our hearts as that truth is put into practice.

9: The testimony of these three witnesses is greater than any testimony of men. Who bears a greater testimony, God or men?

Verse 10: This is interesting. “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe in God has made him a liar.”

If you believe in Christ, these three witnesses bear witness in yourself.

The blood of Christ because your sins are forgiven

The water because by the Spirit we are changed into the image of Christ

The Spirit because he has revealed to us the truth of who Jesus is

Doubting the Testimony

But if someone does not believe in the Son and all that the Gospel says about him, they make God a liar. There is no more arrogant or ignorant statement possible than to say that God is a liar. This is what happens when the testimony is doubted, either by an outright rejection of the truth or a more subtle subversion of the truth with false doctrine. Whether they are dispute the very existence of God or they are sowing the seeds of doubt on doctrines such as the Trinity or Justification by faith alone, they are calling God a liar. There are two reasons way such doubting is foolish.

Doubting is Illogical

God, who defines truth, cannot lie. His subjective opinion is our objective reality.

Doubting someone who is much more knowledgeable at something than you are is foolish.

Doubting something because your like your idea better is foolish.

Doubting is Immoral

All sin and wickedness is ultimately based on not believing God.

Calling God a liar is a lie, and makes us guilty of the sin of bearing false witness

The pride of calling God a liar is immoral and will spill into pride towards how we treat other people.

Conclusion