Living Out A Worthy Testimony Of Christ
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning everyone. My name is Brian Young for those of you who may not know me. I am excited to preach our second to last sermon of the series in 1 John. I hope this series has been encouraging and sanctifying in your relationship with Christ and i hope this morning is as well. With that please join me in a word of prayer.
Good morning everyone. My name is Brian Young for those of you who may not know me. I am excited to preach our second to last sermon of the series in 1 John. I hope this series has been encouraging and sanctifying in your relationship with Christ and i hope this morning is as well. With that please join me in a word of prayer.
What kind of testimony does your life say about Christ? What kind of testimony does your life say about Christ? Maybe your life all about Christ! You can’t help but talk about Christ and what he has done and your known by others as a believer. Maybe you are a new believer and your still figuring out what living out your faith means and thats great! But maybe there are some of you here this morning who say you’re a Christian, or know things about Christ but your life may tell a different story.
What kind of testimony does your life say about Christ? What kind of testimony does your life say about Christ? Maybe your life all about Christ! You can’t help but talk about Christ and what he has done and your known by others as a believer. Maybe you are a new believer and your still figuring out what living out your faith means and thats great! But maybe there are some of you here this morning who say you’re a Christian, or know things about Christ but your life may tell a different story.
Last year i was working as an EMT and i had met a fellow co-worker who said she was a Christian. I was super stoked because Christian EMT’s are very rare to meet and when you’re in an ambulance with someone for 12 hours it really helps if you have at least your faith in common. We worked together as partners on and off for about 3 months. During that time the hospitals we would go to would have some strict rules if you weren’t vaccinated and at that time. We shared that neither of us were vaccinated at the time, and one day we are on a call and she says to me, “If someone at the hospital asks me if i’m vaccinated, i’m just going to lie and say that i am.” I cant remember what i said to her but i remember thinking, how can you just say that? I am not claiming that she isn’t a believer but what i think i can say and what any believer should say is that is a bad testimony that she is demonstrating for Christ. I was just watching the American Gospel a couple of weeks ago and i was just reminded that there are so many people deceived willingly or unwillingly but they are claiming that they are Christians but then they are tarnishing and dirtying the name of Christ by their actions. How can you, and how can i be different from the mainstream of so called evangelicals by how we live our lives as a testimony to the true Christ?
Last year i was working as an EMT and i had met a fellow co-worker who said she was a Christian. I was super stoked because Christian EMT’s are very rare to meet and when you’re in an ambulance with someone for 12 hours it really helps if you have at least your faith in common. We worked together as partners on and off for about 3 months. During that time the hospitals we would go to would have some strict rules if you weren’t vaccinated and at that time. We shared that neither of us were vaccinated at the time, and one day we are on a call and she says to me, “If someone at the hospital asks me if i’m vaccinated, i’m just going to lie and say that i am.” I cant remember what i said to her but i remember thinking, how can you just say that? I am not claiming that she isn’t a believer but what i think i can say and what any believer should say is that is a bad testimony that she is demonstrating for Christ. I was just watching the American Gospel a couple of weeks ago and i was just reminded that there are so many people deceived willingly or unwillingly but they are claiming that they are Christians but then they are tarnishing and dirtying the name of Christ by their actions. How can you, and how can i be different from the mainstream of so called evangelicals by how we live our lives as a testimony to the true Christ?
Our passage this morning with help us answer that question. Please turn in your Bibles to
Our passage this morning with help us answer that question. Please turn in your Bibles to
6 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. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 9 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. 10 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. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
A. The External Testimony of Jesus. V. 6-9
A. The External Testimony of Jesus. V. 6-9
John writes starting in verse 6, “This is he who came by water and blood- Jesus Christ; not only by the water only but by the water and the blood.” You might be sitting there wondering what in the world does that mean? And i was right there with you when i first read this but with a little more studying, it made sense. The most common understanding of what John is saying here is he is referring to Jesus’s Baptism and Death on the Cross.
John writes starting in verse 6, “This is he who came by water and blood- Jesus Christ; not only by the water only but by the water and the blood.” You might be sitting there wondering what in the world does that mean? And i was right there with you when i first read this but with a little more studying, it made sense. The most common understanding of what John is saying here is he is referring to Jesus’s Baptism and Death on the Cross.
John was writing to a church where the heresy of Gnosticism was running rampant. People adopted this thought of dualism where they believed that Jesus was spirit and human. They believed that Jesus would reject his humanity because someone’s physical being was evil. Some people were also saying that Jesus’s spirit left him before he died on the cross. John combats that false thought with saying that he came by water(baptism) and (blood) his death on the cross. This might seem like a small point for John to address but let’s follow the logic if Jesus was just spirit and man and that he ditched his humanity.
John was writing to a church where the heresy of Gnosticism was running rampant. People adopted this thought of dualism where they believed that Jesus was spirit and human. They believed that Jesus would reject his humanity because someone’s physical being was evil. Some people were also saying that Jesus’s spirit left him before he died on the cross. John combats that false thought with saying that he came by water(baptism) and (blood) his death on the cross. This might seem like a small point for John to address but let’s follow the logic if Jesus was just spirit and man and that he ditched his humanity.
If Jesus rejected his humanity before he died on the cross, he would have been a sinner going to die in the place of other sinners. That is blasphemy of the name of Jesus. Jesus was and is the perfect and sinless. Fully God and fully man. He went to the cross sinless, in place of sinners like you and like me, and took on the punishment for our sins upon himself and died a real death on the cross, and this is what John is driving home in this first verse. He is saying that Jesus was a real human person, both God and man in one, and that he was baptized and did die a physical death on the cross, not rejecting his human nature, and in dying on the cross, he paid in full the debt we owed to God, so that we can be right with God. If Jesus didn’t physically die on the cross, sinless, we have salvation from nothing. Because there is no difference than you or i claiming to do the same thing for the world, that is why John stresses this point and that is why we have ought to do the same amongst the people in our world today.
If Jesus rejected his humanity before he died on the cross, he would have been a sinner going to die in the place of other sinners. That is blasphemy of the name of Jesus. Jesus was and is the perfect and sinless. Fully God and fully man. He went to the cross sinless, in place of sinners like you and like me, and took on the punishment for our sins upon himself and died a real death on the cross, and this is what John is driving home in this first verse. He is saying that Jesus was a real human person, both God and man in one, and that he was baptized and did die a physical death on the cross, not rejecting his human nature, and in dying on the cross, he paid in full the debt we owed to God, so that we can be right with God. If Jesus didn’t physically die on the cross, sinless, we have salvation from nothing. Because there is no difference than you or i claiming to do the same thing for the world, that is why John stresses this point and that is why we have ought to do the same amongst the people in our world today.
Some practical ways we can counter false claims about Jesus today is first off being a believer. I can’t tell someone about the true Christ if i don’t first have a relationship with him. How odd would it be if someone asked a random person who doesn’t know you, “Can you tell me what _______ is like”. And they just start saying some wild stuff about you. You would probably feel upset because that person may be saying some things about you that aren’t true. How much more should we hold the name of Christ in right regard to who he truly is.
Some practical ways we can counter false claims about Jesus today is first off being a believer. I can’t tell someone about the true Christ if i don’t first have a relationship with him. How odd would it be if someone asked a random person who doesn’t know you, “Can you tell me what _______ is like”. And they just start saying some wild stuff about you. You would probably feel upset because that person may be saying some things about you that aren’t true. How much more should we hold the name of Christ in right regard to who he truly is.
After having a relationship with him, it is obviously important to know his Word. Praise God that we have his Word so accessible today, learn it and grow in the knowledge and wisdom that God supplies to us when we read it with a pure heart.
After having a relationship with him, it is obviously important to know his Word. Praise God that we have his Word so accessible today, learn it and grow in the knowledge and wisdom that God supplies to us when we read it with a pure heart.
Lastly, if you hear someone say something false about Jesus, don’t go up to them and immediately start attacking him or her, saying you’re a heretic, give me that Bible and snatch it out of their hand. I think a helpful example of this is found in Acts 18:24-28. Apollos is this believer who was passionate about the Scriptures and he decided to preach and teach things of the Bible, but this passage says that he only knew about the Baptism of John(being John the baptist). And Aquila and Priscilla heard him preach and it says “they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” They gently took him aside and just explained to him what the truth is more in depth. Let us be like Aquila and Priscilla being gentle at first with everyone who may say something false about Jesus or just might not know.
Lastly, if you hear someone say something false about Jesus, don’t go up to them and immediately start attacking him or her, saying you’re a heretic, give me that Bible and snatch it out of their hand. I think a helpful example of this is found in Acts 18:24-28. Apollos is this believer who was passionate about the Scriptures and he decided to preach and teach things of the Bible, but this passage says that he only knew about the Baptism of John(being John the baptist). And Aquila and Priscilla heard him preach and it says “they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” They gently took him aside and just explained to him what the truth is more in depth. Let us be like Aquila and Priscilla being gentle at first with everyone who may say something false about Jesus or just might not know.
B. John writes at the end of verse 6 through 9. “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.”
B. John writes at the end of verse 6 through 9. “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.”
John no longer is appealing to his audience on the grounds of an apostle, although that is a powerful testimony in itself. John is now saying that the Spirit testifies to Christ because the Spirit is truth! The third member of the Holy Trinity, God The Spirit shines the heavenly spotlight on John’s words saying that these are true! The Spirit it the third testimony of Jesus’s baptism and death on the cross. At Jesus, baptism the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in the form of a dove, and the dove came and rested upon the shoulder of Jesus, and hearing the voice of the Father saying “This is my beloved Son with whom i am well pleased”. The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, “Romans 8:11, “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also five you life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you”.
John no longer is appealing to his audience on the grounds of an apostle, although that is a powerful testimony in itself. John is now saying that the Spirit testifies to Christ because the Spirit is truth! The third member of the Holy Trinity, God The Spirit shines the heavenly spotlight on John’s words saying that these are true! The Spirit it the third testimony of Jesus’s baptism and death on the cross. At Jesus, baptism the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in the form of a dove, and the dove came and rested upon the shoulder of Jesus, and hearing the voice of the Father saying “This is my beloved Son with whom i am well pleased”. The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, “Romans 8:11, “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also five you life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you”.
The Holy Spirit alone could testify about Christ and that would be enough but John makes a distinction that three testify concerning the Son. Verse 7 and 8 again, “For there are three that testify and the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. John is almost personifying the water and blood as people who testify to Christ, but we can understand them as the events in which the deity of Christ was made clear to all who had understanding, and the Spirit is the third and final testimony of Christ. I mentioned that that Spirit alone would have been more than enough, because he is truth, but God being consistent throughout all of Scripture, gives us three witnesses or testimonies as was custom in the Old Testament Law. Deuteronomy 17:6 says “On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.”
The Holy Spirit alone could testify about Christ and that would be enough but John makes a distinction that three testify concerning the Son. Verse 7 and 8 again, “For there are three that testify and the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. John is almost personifying the water and blood as people who testify to Christ, but we can understand them as the events in which the deity of Christ was made clear to all who had understanding, and the Spirit is the third and final testimony of Christ. I mentioned that that Spirit alone would have been more than enough, because he is truth, but God being consistent throughout all of Scripture, gives us three witnesses or testimonies as was custom in the Old Testament Law. Deuteronomy 17:6 says “On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.”
In order for something to be deemed true, in this case a charge against another person, there had to be at least two witnesses but three was acceptable was well. John recalls back to Old Testament Law because his audience would have understood the weight behind the testimony of Jesus’s baptism, death on the cross, and The Holy Spirit testifying to all of these.
In order for something to be deemed true, in this case a charge against another person, there had to be at least two witnesses but three was acceptable was well. John recalls back to Old Testament Law because his audience would have understood the weight behind the testimony of Jesus’s baptism, death on the cross, and The Holy Spirit testifying to all of these.
How does this relate to us today. I can think of at least two ways we can live this out today. How many of us, when we evangelize or have a Christian conversation with someone who isn’t Christian, feel like we have to do the converting? I know that i personally struggle with that sometimes, i have often thought if i had just been smoother in my presentation of the gospel or if i had just known more, maybe they would have come to Christ. One lesson we can learn about the Spirit testifying about Christ, is that God testifies about himself. The Bible doesn’t need us to prove itself accuracy or authority, it claims and proves it itself. So all we do is we be faithful with how we evangelize and we can have confidence and peace knowing that God testifies about God, all we do is proclaim what is true and let him do the rest.
How does this relate to us today. I can think of at least two ways we can live this out today. How many of us, when we evangelize or have a Christian conversation with someone who isn’t Christian, feel like we have to do the converting? I know that i personally struggle with that sometimes, i have often thought if i had just been smoother in my presentation of the gospel or if i had just known more, maybe they would have come to Christ. One lesson we can learn about the Spirit testifying about Christ, is that God testifies about himself. The Bible doesn’t need us to prove itself accuracy or authority, it claims and proves it itself. So all we do is we be faithful with how we evangelize and we can have confidence and peace knowing that God testifies about God, all we do is proclaim what is true and let him do the rest.
Another way it helps us is by realizing that the Spirit authored the Bible. If the Spirit testifies to Christ and as John said, the Spirit is the truth, we can know that everything he says and writes is truth. We can go to the Bible for every answer to any situation we may be facing. It might not specifically say something pertaining to how do i deal with this illness i have or how do i exactly know which job God wants me to take, but it does offer wisdom and truth that we can apply to any and every situation we may face. As John says in verse 9, the testimony of God is stronger than any testimony of man. God testifies about himself!
Another way it helps us is by realizing that the Spirit authored the Bible. If the Spirit testifies to Christ and as John said, the Spirit is the truth, we can know that everything he says and writes is truth. We can go to the Bible for every answer to any situation we may be facing. It might not specifically say something pertaining to how do i deal with this illness i have or how do i exactly know which job God wants me to take, but it does offer wisdom and truth that we can apply to any and every situation we may face. As John says in verse 9, the testimony of God is stronger than any testimony of man. God testifies about himself!
C. The Internal Testimony
C. The Internal Testimony
John writes in verse 10 through 12, “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe in 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.
John writes in verse 10 through 12, “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe in 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.
God has given us the testimony of Christ within us. I know that might seem kind of hard to understand, but think of your life before you were a Christian and then once you were saved, did things change? When a believer gets saved, he and she is born again to a new life, a spiritual rebirth if you will and your life shouldn’t look the same as before you were saved. That is what we call our testimony is it not? How God saved us from who we once were and has redeemed us in Christ to share the Gospel with others so that they might be saved as well. The testimony that is in us should proclaim Christ is true and he is real in our lives! If someone doesn’t believe in the true Christ that God himself has testified about, John calls them a liar and they do not have the true testimony within them.
God has given us the testimony of Christ within us. I know that might seem kind of hard to understand, but think of your life before you were a Christian and then once you were saved, did things change? When a believer gets saved, he and she is born again to a new life, a spiritual rebirth if you will and your life shouldn’t look the same as before you were saved. That is what we call our testimony is it not? How God saved us from who we once were and has redeemed us in Christ to share the Gospel with others so that they might be saved as well. The testimony that is in us should proclaim Christ is true and he is real in our lives! If someone doesn’t believe in the true Christ that God himself has testified about, John calls them a liar and they do not have the true testimony within them.
How many times have you heard someone say, I only read what Christ says and not what the rest of the Bible says? How many times have you heard someone say, I love Christ but i hate the church, there are so many statements of people claiming to love Christ but hating something else that Christ loves. Christ says in John 17:17 Sanctify them in truth, Your Word is Truth. Christ loves the Bible. Christ’s body is the church 1 Corinthians 12 speaks of the church being the body of Christ and he is the head of the body.
How many times have you heard someone say, I only read what Christ says and not what the rest of the Bible says? How many times have you heard someone say, I love Christ but i hate the church, there are so many statements of people claiming to love Christ but hating something else that Christ loves. Christ says in John 17:17 Sanctify them in truth, Your Word is Truth. Christ loves the Bible. Christ’s body is the church 1 Corinthians 12 speaks of the church being the body of Christ and he is the head of the body.
Believing in the Christ that the Bible testifies about is the right Christ to believe in. There is only one and he is the only way to salvation. John is clear in verse 11 and 12, those who truly know him have eternal life in him and those who don’t know him or who believe a false Christ do not.
Believing in the Christ that the Bible testifies about is the right Christ to believe in. There is only one and he is the only way to salvation. John is clear in verse 11 and 12, those who truly know him have eternal life in him and those who don’t know him or who believe a false Christ do not.
So what kind of testimony does your life say about Christ? Let us all strive to live out a pure and worthy testimony of Christ in our lives, lets pray!
So what kind of testimony does your life say about Christ? Let us all strive to live out a pure and worthy testimony of Christ in our lives, lets pray!
1- Is there someone in your life, who isn’t living a good testimony for Christ? How can you lovingly address them to live a good testimony for Christ?
1- Is there someone in your life, who isn’t living a good testimony for Christ? How can you lovingly address them to live a good testimony for Christ?
2- What are some other reasons why it is important to believe in Jesus’s sinless humanity?
2- What are some other reasons why it is important to believe in Jesus’s sinless humanity?
3- What are some ways Christians can live a good testimony in the workplace?
3- What are some ways Christians can live a good testimony in the workplace?
4- Share prayer requests if you’re comfortable
4- Share prayer requests if you’re comfortable