The Certainty of God's Witness

Well welcome

How has everyone’s week been?

Don’t you love having snow in April!

So we are almost there

We have literally been chewing our way

Through this book

And so we are in the second to last sermon

Of our series here in 1 John

I don’t know about you

And I know I say this a lot

but I have truly enjoyed this book

I think in part because its so applicational

But I also think because it is so relatable

To modern times

Meaning John is combating the attitude

Of hatred in the church

False doctrines in the church

False beliefs

And yet he’s also confirming

The love of God

The understanding of being a child of God

The assurance of salvation

And our promise of rest in Jesus

And so next time will be the last sermon in 1 John

I really want to do a quick review

Of what we have gone over

In that last sermon

To really try and cement

What we have learned.

So that should be

The Sunday of the 24th

And I really hope you all can make it

And next week

We are actually going to take a break from 1 John

Because why? It’s Easter

And so yes we are holding Easter service

So I hope you all can come

But either way let’s get back to 1 John

So one of the things

I really want you all to get out this book

Is to begin to understand

The battle that the New Testament writers

Really had to go through

When it comes to false doctrine

In fact you’re gonna see it here today

John is gonna attempt to refute

Some of the heretical beliefs

Or heretical doctrines

That were attempting

To invade church teachings

Back in the early days of the church

And what’s significant

Is that this is not too far fetched

from what’s going on in modern times

In fact if you just look around a bit

You’ll find dozens of false prophets

Dozens of false ministries

Dozens of teachings

That distort

From the truth

That distract from what is real

And johns one main focus

Throughout his writing

Is to lead you to the truth

And it’s interesting

Because

If you look for it

In some of the biggest churches

In some of the most profound ministries

Throughout the United States

And the world

You will find pastors

You’ll hear sermons

That sound legit

That sound like the truth

But they are tweaked just enough

To fool even the best of us

A good example

Might be in some of the prosperity churches of modern times

Pastors will stand up on stage

Promoting a false view on Christ

A false view on humanity

But sound absolutely legit

And one of the most famous

And easiest ways to get away with this

Is to teach what we call

The little God doctrine

Now while this is mostly promoted through word of faith movements

This is where a pastor will say

Since you’re a child a God

You have all the power

All the authority

All the sovereignty that God has

And That Christ had

Since you’re a child of God

You yourself are a mini version of God

In fact, since you have the Holy Spirit

You can actually use His power

In a sense, once you become a believer

You become like God

And while this is attractive

And while they preach it and teach it

In a way that can fool even the best of us

It’s doctrines like this

That can lead entire congregations

Believing they hold the power to all creation

That they simply need to name it

Claim it

And it will be there’s.

That if they just believe enough

That if they just have enough faith

That if they just give enough money over too God

That anything and everything within their hearts desire

Will be theirs.

And the real danger

The real tragedy

Is that when they aren’t healed

Or when they run into financial difficulties

Or when they lose a family member

They lose all faith

They lose all hope

They lose all trust in God

Why?

Because they feel God has cursed them

And yet the Bible never promises

Never guarantees

An easy life

A life free of financial worry

A life free of sickness

Not once

In fact the Bible provides a great deal of comfort

When we go through these trying times

But never once guarantees

You won’t go though those tough times

And what you’ll find in today’s sermon

Is an attempt by John to refute another false belief

Another attempt at an attack

On the divinity

Of Christ.

And when you realize

That if you attack the divinity of Christ

You attack the very core doctrine

of the Cross

So today I want us to look at three things

The reality of false doctrines

The truth of understanding and trusting the scriptures

The reality of Jesus as the only answer to be with the Father

So if you would please open your bibles

Up to 1 John 5

1 John 5:6–12 NLT

And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony. So we have these three witnesses—the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree. Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son. All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son. And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.

So one of the things that

I really enjoy about John‘s letter here

Is that he’s comparing

The different cultish type religions of his day

And you’d never get this by simply reading this passage

In fact most would read this

And just say ok, I don’t get that one

Let’s move on

But the passage that we’re about to go over today

Not only gives validation of the faith

but it also is an attempt at destroying the various arguments

against the divinity of Christ like we just discussed.

And what I love about this

is that it is so relatable to today

Because nearly everywhere you look

You see an attack on the validity

Of Christianity

On the truth of what we believe

And yet John here in these six verses

Puts up a defense of the faith

Against certain men

That were determined to destroy

The very core of what we believe

Because the reality is

Only God in the person of Jesus

Could have ever been the spotless lamb

Only Jesus qualified to take away our sins

So if you take away the divinity of Christ

You have just invalidated the entire faith

Literally the entire belief is predicated on this one issue

See how big this is?

And I know your looking at me like I’m crazy

But trust me on this

And try to stick me here

Because this stuff is thick

So let’s just read this again

Lets just read verse 6 again out of the NLT

Because I know this is very confusing stuff right

“And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony.”

1 John 5:6 NLT

So what is John saying here

Two points

First and foremost

That Christ baptism and his crucifixion,

(water and blood)

Are the very heart and soul

Of Christ’s ministry

Here on earth.

In fact those two are the very validation

Of who he is

Not only that

But they are VALIDATED THROUGH THE SPIRIT WHO IS THE TRUTH

Thats the key phrase right there

That can get very confusing

So get this

These two, water and blood, are the pivotal points

That lead to the very testimony

Which was

Approved by the Father at his baptism (water)

Approved the Father at his crucifixion (Blood)

And as seen in the Scriptures through prophetic fulfillment

As validation this is the messiah

And the fulfillment of everything the Father has promised

Let me explain

Because the Holy Spirit is the key figure here

And I know I’m probably confusing you to death

I know this is tough stuff here

Some argue,

This is the hardest passage in the Bible

So hang on it’s important but hard I know

There are two predominant opinions on this

One goes like this

If you study prophecy

Then you understand

That Christ’s ministry

Christs purpose

Christ’s very existence

Was prophesied throughout

The Old Testament

In other-words throughout the OT

There was a savior who was going to come

And correct what happened in the Garden

But prophecy

As written down in the OT Scriptures

Would identify who this individual would be

Now if we believe that the Bible

That the Old Testament was written

By the Holy Spirit,

Through men of God

Then we understand that the very words

The very prophetic, future predicting words

In the OT

That would be the witness

To the identity of the Messiah

Allowing us to recognize

The promised Messiah

Keeping in mind

These prophecies were written down by God through the Holy Spirit

In the Scriptures as the witness or spirit of truth, verse 6

Are now fulfilled in Christ

Proving Jesus is the Messiah

Therefore validating the testimony of the Spirit

As truth

Or better yet, and let me wrap this up for you

Jesus

Who’s ministry began

At the approval of the Father in His baptism

And even more in his obedience

At the cross

Is Confirmed as truth

Through the witness of Spirit

In both prophecy and fulfillment of prophecy

As is seen and written down in the Scriptures

Everyone ok?

Now the second interpretation falls more in line with an internal understanding

Or an internal feeling that is given by the Spirit of God

And through Scripture

Its a less objective view but it still works

And this ones a lot easier.

One commentator put it like this.

The Spirit speaks through the Word of God convicting the heart of the individual…

In other-words through the reading of the word, the Spirit reveals the truth.

Good example might be

You ever met that person that just became a believer

The Scriptures just seem to come to life to them

That is the evidence of Spirit speaking through the Word of God

To the individual

And so through the testimony of the Spirit

The Christian instinctively knows the truth

But also objectively

Through the fulfillment of prophetic Scripture

The believer can also be confident in the witness of the truth

Make sense

So I’ll be honest

I hold to both opinions

Objective and subjective

Because I think each view

Holds its own weight in Scripture

But really think on this

Why does this even matter

Because Johns entire argument here

Believe it or not

Refutes the very claims

Of multiple religious beliefs

Not only in his day

But in modern times as well

The Divinity of Christ

The truth of who Jesus is

Has been argued

And hotly debated for 2,000 years

And today we have nearly 4 billion believers in Jesus

And yet each has their own view on him

Some say he’s a prophet

Some say he’s an angel

Others say he’s a created being

Others say he was only a man empowered by the spirit of God

And so on and so on

Johns point here is the very same point he has made through this book

Jesus is divine! Jesus is God

And like we talked about at the beginning

How you view Jesus

Determines what you have faith in

You know I’m not sure if you know of my faith journey

But one thing I love to tell people

Is that I am skeptic

I am a doubting Thomas

I need that validation

I need that bit of truth that tells me what I believe is real

I require that bit of objective truth

And what John does here,

In a very complicated way

He gives me that objective truth

And then backs it up with Scripture

With prophecy

With the Witness of all three

And the deeper you go

The more you understand about the Bible

The more you realize how sound Johns arguments here is

I think if there is anything I want you to take away from here today,

You believe in a faith that is objectively true

That is proven

Validated

To be real

That can hold it’s own against critics

And is shown to be the origins of divine revelation

Isn’t that beautiful

Ok one final point and then we will get out of here

The exclusivity of Christ

Verse number 10

1 John 5:10 NLT

All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.

How many of you remember in basic when a drill sergeant would ask you

Maybe even trick you into calling him a liar.

You remember that, how freaked out you would get

In sense this is what John doin here

John is saying

I have given you everything you need to believe

I have proven my case

I have shown you in the life of Jesus

In the truth of the Scriptures

Through the validation of prophecy

Through the validation of the Trinity in Verse 7

And yet you still don’t believe in Him

God the father

Sent His only Son to die on a cross

For your sin

And when you look at Him,

When you look at the cross and deny

The very truth of His gift to mankind

The truth of Jesus

I pray for you, I really do.

Because look at verse 11

You begin to see the exclusivity of Christ

The reality that there is only one way

Thats the entire point of verse 11

1 John 5:11 NLT

And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

How many of us know

Friends and family members

Who down right know the truth

But just straight up refuse to accept it

Refuse to accept God’s gift of eternal life

I pray for you, I really do

Because when you look at certain passages

Such as this

The reality that Jesus is the only way

Its irrefutable

Guys maybe you have never made that decision to follow Christ

Maybe you have never dedicated your life over to Christ

Maybe you know friends and family members that don’t know Christ

Look there is no better time than the present

We serve a God

That is not fictional

That is not from the imagination of someones mind

We serve a loving, holy, pure and righteous God

Who sent His only son to be the answer to your sin

If you have never made that decision before

If you just have questions,

I encourage to come talk to me

Let me pray with you.

One final passage and we’ll get out of here

1 John 5:12–13 NKJV

He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

Jesus is the only way folks

Turn to him

Accept Him

Lets close in prayer

Numbers 6:24–26 NLT

‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’