 Chapter five, we're going to be looking tonight at verses six through thirteen. First John chapter five verses six through thirteen. I'll begin reading here at verse six and I'll read to verse, I'll read to verse thirteen. I'll just read the whole passage beginning at verse six. This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not only by water but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. And these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood. And these three agree as one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater, for this is the witness of God which he has testified of his son. He who believes in the Son of God has a witness in himself. He who does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of his son. This is the testimony that God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I've 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. So John had just made it clear that Christians are to be known by their love. You see, God is love, he has said, and we love him for what he has done for us. We know that he first loved us and as a knowledge or a recognition or an evidence that we understand that, we know that he loved us. Well, we love others because he has first loved us. And I was mentioning to you last time we're together that Christian love is shown by sacrifice as well as service. In 1 John, we saw this in chapter 3 at verse 16. John had said, by this we know love because he laid down his life for us. We also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Christian love is shown by sacrifice and service. So our own sense of an assurance of salvation rests heavily on our love for other people. Again, in 1 John chapter 3, verse 14, he had written, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brother and he who does not love his brother abides in death. So this love for one another reveals that we understand, we understand that God is our father and that we are family. That means that love for God and love for our family of faith is united. It's inseparable. Now we see that in verse one of this chapter, in verse five here, chapter five, verse one, it says, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone who loves him who begot also loves him who is begotten of him. So believing in the true Christ is what has saved us. Again, in 1 John 4.15, whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God. So abiding in God ignites and fuels our service to him and our service to other people. And our love for him produces a desire, a desire within us to keep his commands. One of his commands is to love one another and he had said this isn't a burden, it's actually a joy. So as believers, we know his commands benefit our lives. We know that his commands give us direction on how to please him. We know that he supplies us with the power to keep them and the fruit of all of this is that we can overcome the world, he had said, by our faith. In Romans 8.37 through 39, Paul had said, nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. I'm persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So what is it that gives to us the ability to overcome the world, our faith? We trust the Lord in these things. So in Christ we partake in his victory over the world. Remember, 1 John 4.4 made it very clear that the one who overcame the world dwells in us. Now, I'm gonna lay a little further foundation here. At this point we need to remember that John has stressed two very basic things. One, he has stressed that to be saved. We need to confess the true Christ. In 1 John 2, verse 22, he said it like this. He said, who's a liar? But he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. He's anti Christ who denies the father and the son. And secondly, he had stressed that Jesus is God's son, but Jesus is God incarnate. Again, in 1 John 4, verse two, by this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Now, I mentioned this to you, but let me say it again. This was really important because at that time there was a philosophic group that was beginning to infiltrate the church. We know that as I've mentioned to you that the Gospel of John as well as the epistles were written in an argument against the Gnostic heresy that was entering into the church at that time. And the Gnostics denied the incarnation. They denied that God who is spirit could take upon himself flesh. And so this is very important. If you take notes, you might wanna remember this. You may even wanna write this down. But the incarnation is one of the cardinal, most important doctrines of our faith. In John chapter one, verse one, it reads very simply, in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God. In verse 14 of chapter one, the word became flesh, dwelt among us, we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. In the beginning was the word, the word became flesh. The word was with God, the word was God. God took upon himself human flesh. That's called the incarnation. In Latin, it's very similar to the Spanish incarnate, in flesh, in meat. And so the incarnation is simply speaking about God taken upon himself human flesh. It's called the incarnation. And that's a very important thing for us as believers to understand. And I'm gonna develop this with you as we go through this. The writer of Hebrews wrote concerning this. In Hebrews one, seven and eight, he said of the angels, he says who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. But to the son, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. Your throne, he said, O God is forever and ever. Paul, when he wrote to the Colossians in chapter one, verse 19, said this, God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, all his fullness to dwell in Jesus Christ. In Colossians two, verse nine, he said, in Christ, all the fullness of the deity or the Godhead lives in bodily form. In Titus two, 13, we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ. First Timothy three, 16, without controversy, greatest a mystery of godliness, God was manifested in the flesh. Romans nine, verse five, Christ, who is God over all forever praised. So that is a cardinal doctrine. I've talked to people, so have you, who have said, well, I believe in Jesus, I just don't believe he's God. And so the Bible says that's not possible. You cannot have a relationship with God if you don't know who Jesus Christ is. Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. The Gnostics were denying that and that's why John is writing. Now, in the following verses, the verses we're about to look at, there are various witnesses that testify who Jesus is. We have the witness of the water and the blood, we have the witness of the spirit, we have the witness of heaven, and we have the witness of the experience of eternal life. And each of these serve as witnesses concerning God, Son, Jesus. Now, in verse five, John asked, who overcomes the world but he who believes in Jesus? Well, in verse six he continues. He says in verse six, this is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. Not only by water, but by water and blood. And it's the spirit who bears witness because the spirit is truth. So again, John is dealing with Gnostics. They insist that Jesus couldn't have been God. Again, they thought spirit and matter could not operate together because matter is evil and spirit is good. So the Christ spirit came upon Jesus at baptism they would teach, but the Christ spirit left him at the crucifixion. They would say, that's why Jesus said, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? So the Gnostics said, see the Christ spirit departed and the human Jesus was on that cross. Well, when it speaks concerning these witnesses, I wanna develop this. He speaks of the water and the blood. This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. So he speaks first of the water and blood. Water and blood commentators have stated is really a term that would pretty much speak of the totality of his mission from his birth to his death. Some say that the water and blood speaks of the birth, but water and blood would speak of his death on the cross. Now, water and blood, when he speaks of this, would speak of his death as he finished his mission. Once again, this would be proof to the Gnostics that Jesus Christ actually died. So when it speaks of water and blood, that makes us remember something found in John 19, 34 and 35. Remember, Jesus is on the cross. And as he's hanging on the cross, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, that would be John. And his testimony's true. He knows that he tells the truth and he testifies so that you also may believe. Water and blood. Not only the totality of his ministry from his birth to his death, but it would include his death specifically when water and blood poured out of his side when it was pierced by that spear. Now, why is that important? Well, it's by the blood of Christ that we're cleansed and justified. And Romans 5, verse nine, Paul said it like this. He says, we have now been justified by his blood. How much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? John speaks of the witness of the spirit. Now, in John 16, 8, Jesus spoke of the spirit and said that the spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. So the spirit brings conviction and because you were convicted, you came to faith in Jesus Christ. Nobody gets saved if you're not convicted by the spirit. Nobody has a relationship with Christ that is real if you have not experienced conviction. Conviction is where the Holy Spirit is basically convincing you of your sin and your need for salvation. It isn't condemnation. It's conviction when our church first began and we were meeting in a small place called Central School in Ontario by what used to be the Bob's Big Boy off of Euclid. I gave a study and at the end of the study I was standing visiting with people and I'll never forget this person who came up to me and said to me, you know, I don't go to this church normally and they mentioned the church that they go to. I normally go to this church but I thought I would just come and visit you today. I said, well, it's nice to have you, nice. They said, you know, I'll never forget. You know, sometimes I just need condemnation and I thought, I'm feeling all bad. I'm thinking, did I condemn you? So I said, shut up, stupid. Now you can feel, no. I felt like, what? Did I condemn you? How did that? I really got, and I've comforted myself, maybe lied to myself for the years because I think that what they meant to say is conviction. That's what I think because condemnation is not of the Lord. God does not bring, there's therefore now no condemnation for those who were in Christ Jesus. Condemnation is not something a believer is gonna experience. Conviction, that's something different. And so the conviction of the Holy Spirit sometimes can be so intense that you almost, you can almost feel this person speaking to me and you can even get mad because it feels like it's a personal attack on you when in fact the Holy Spirit is simply opening your heart for you to see it. This is what's really inside of you. You see, a lot of us have collected friends who are a lot worse than us so that when we feel convicted, we can say, but at least I'm not as bad. Sometimes we hire them. Conviction. It's the Holy Spirit who brings conviction. It's the Holy Spirit that does the work of regeneration. It's the Holy Spirit that does the work of renewing. In Titus 3.5, not by worse of righteousness which we've done, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. It's the Spirit who assures us that we belong to God. Romans 8.16, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And so these witnesses all work together bearing witness and confirming the ministry of Jesus Christ. In verse seven, he continues and he says, for there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit and these three are one. Now, these three bear witness, why is that important? Well, according to Jewish law, a matter is established by the testimony of three witnesses. In 2 Corinthians, Paul made reference to this in chapter 13, verse one, every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. So with this in mind, John says there is testimony to Jesus in heaven. He says the testimony of the Father. Remember at the baptism where Jesus was being baptized, Matthew 3.17 and the Father said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, that is the testimony of the Father. The Word is also a title of Jesus Christ. I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father by me is a testimony of the Word. The Word, Jesus, the Son, who is saying that this is how you come to faith and that's again a testimony of heaven. You have the spirit, I mentioned this a moment ago, but it's the spirit who convicts. But according to John 15, 26, when the helper comes, Jesus said, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify of me. And so John is saying these three are one in essence and they give one testimony concerning Jesus. In verse eight, there are three that bear witness on earth, the spirit, the water and the blood. Now working together, they testify of his saving work as is found in scripture. In 1 Corinthians 1.18, the message of the cross, the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. You know what that means. Perhaps the first time you ever heard the preaching of the Word, the statement of the gospel, it was foolishness. You thought, oh come on, please. You're asking me to believe that somebody who existed, you say existed 2,000 years ago, that he took my sin as if I'm a sinner. He took my sin upon him and you believe that he died and he was buried and that he came back to life. Really, come on now, you know, please. It's foolishness, it's imbecilic, it makes no sense. It has no logic to it, but it's the preaching of the cross that is necessary for us to hear what the cross represents and how come there is a cross for us by the conviction of the Holy Spirit to agree with God, to confess. To confess means to say the same thing, homo ligueo. It speaks of saying the same thing. I'm simply agreeing with God. I'm confessing he's right, I'm wrong. That's confession. You're right, I'm wrong. Before, that was a foolish message, but now I see through the conviction of the Spirit that it applies to me. You see, the saving work of Jesus Christ here on earth is revealed by the Gospel. The Gospel is preached, the Spirit brings conviction and the Spirit is bearing witness that Jesus is the Son of God. Now, when you're speaking concerning that again, he says that there are three that bear witness on earth, Spirit, Water and Blood. These three agree as one. Again, Water would speak of the outward sign of regeneration. It would speak of the washing. Not that you're saved by the washing of the flesh because water baptism doesn't save you, but water baptism is an open confession that you've been saved. And so somebody has asked in the past, more than once I've heard this, are we saved by baptism? And I say, no, you are not baptized to be saved. You're baptized because you are saved. It's a demonstration. After this book, we'll conclude prayerfully next week. I plan on taking you through Romans. It's gonna take a while to do that. But when we get to Romans chapter six, which should be about two years from now. When we get to Romans chapter six, you'll see the picture of death, burial and resurrection that is found in water baptism. And many of you have heard that, many of you already know that, but we'll look at that carefully because when you are water baptized, it's a symbol of your death and your burial as well as your resurrection. You go down into the water as if you're entering into a grave, we call it a water grave, and then you come out as a symbol of new life. So the saving work of Christ is revealed in the gospel. The Holy Spirit working brings conviction, bearing witness that Jesus is the Son of God. The water would speak of our being washed in baptism, celebrating the reality of our salvation. And the blood obviously speaks of his death on the cross, which provided salvation. In verse nine, if we receive the witness of man, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God, which he has testified of his son. So if we receive the witness of men, okay, so in a court of law, some of you are very familiar with this. In the court of law, as I look around, there's a lot of ex-criminals. In a court of law, men can testify and can be believed, they can be referred to as a credible witness. So in court, a man can be looked at as being credible. But he's saying God's witness is greater. Why? Because God cannot be deceived and neither does he deceive others. Men can be deceived. There's probably more than just a few over the years of people who were able through a good lawyer to deceive a jury to believe that they're innocent. More than just a few. And because men can be deceived, but God can't. And God doesn't deceive anybody. Now, some say, and I wanna develop this for a moment, I was thinking about this as I was preparing the study and it may be, and I'm looking at the time because we have communion. Oh well, I'm gonna say this in a hypothetical way. I'm not asking for a response from you, but I want you to think about it because I wanna show you something. First, I wanna say God cannot be deceived neither does he deceive. But there are those who say, and I understand why, but there are those who say, well, God can do anything. And I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand, but I think a lot of us in this room would probably just quickly would say, well, yeah, of course, nothing shall be impossible with God. God can do anything, right? So we can say that. But is that true? Is that true? Can God do everything? And the answer to that biblically, and I could give you a lot of, I only gave you, I'm gonna give you a few, there are some things that he can't do. There are some things that he can't do. Now, before you get up and run out saying, heretic, heretic, hear me out. Did you know he doesn't sleep? God doesn't take naps. God doesn't sleep eight hours. God never slumbers nor sleeps. Bible makes it very clear. Psalm 121, verse four. He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. God doesn't sleep. So that's something he doesn't do. God doesn't get tired. Isaiah 40, 28, do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary. His understanding, no one can fathom. So God doesn't sleep. God doesn't get tired. God can't approve of sin. Now, back at 113, the first portion of that scripture, your eyes are too pure to look upon, to regard or approve. Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil. You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. God doesn't lie. Hebrews 618. God did this so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us and may be greatly encouraged. So because God can't lie, his witness is greater and more trustworthy. Now in verse 10, he who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. He who does not believe God has made him, he who does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of his son. He who believes in the Son of God has a witness in himself. This is something that is very important. I want to spend a moment with you on this. How do I know that I'm saved? My mom used to say it like this. She used to say, I know that I know that I know. And I say, you don't know. No, she'd say, I know that I know that I know. What are you referring to? You can know by experience. You can have an inner witness, a sense of the spirit who bears witness with your spirit that you were a child of God. And that comes through an actual, a genuine personal belief and relationship with Jesus Christ. Saving faith in Christ produces the internal witness of the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8, verse nine, you however are controlled not by the flesh, but by the spirit. If the spirit of God lives in you, anyone who doesn't have the spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ. There is an internal witness. There have been times when my heart has been accusing me, but John has already said, God is greater than your heart. He knows all things. I haven't been saved by emotion. Maybe someone needs to hear this, perhaps not in this room, maybe watching online. I was not saved by emotion. I am not saved because I feel saved. I have put my faith in a fact and the feelings have followed the faith and the fact. And that's how it's working. I was not saved by feeling because if I were saved by feeling, my feelings change day by day. But what doesn't change is him and the Holy Spirit working in me. And the Holy Spirit bears witness with my spirit that I belong to him. And the enemy may whisper and he does so with various voices in various ways that I'm not worthy to be called his son. And I will be in agreement with that. No, I'm not. I am not worthy to be called your son. Like the prodigal who had formulated a plan as to how he was gonna get back in his father's good graces. And in that plan he had said, I'll just say this to him. I'm not worthy to be called your son. And when he did that in Luke 15, when he had done that, the prodigal was actually formulating a plan to somehow get in his father's good graces so he could be restored to the things that he had left behind, collect some and leave again. So he had, what shall I do? This is what I shall do. I will say, and he has a whole plan. But when he goes and he's coming down the road and he sees his father running up the road, he was broken. Now why was he broken? Because in the Middle Eastern culture, a son who had cause shame to the father would have been put on trial by a group of elders. And they would have made a decision to cast him out of the village. He was not to return. And if he returned, he could be put to death. But the father is standing there looking every day, all day for his son to return. And then the Bible says, and this is the only time you ever see God run, the Bible says that when the father saw him, while he was yet a far off, he gathered up his robe, which is a picture of humiliation because an elder, an older man in that society would never gather up the robe because that was humiliating. It's a picture of the incarnation that Jesus was humiliated voluntarily. He lifted up his robe and he ran and he put his arms to embrace him. Why? Because if the people who had judged this kid to be worthy of not only being kicked out, but perhaps even put to death, the father covered him. And that's what Jesus did for you. That's a whole picture of the prodigal. He covered you. He ran for you. And in doing that, you have life. And that's something you know. That's something the Holy Spirit bears witness with in mind. And so he says in verse 10, the one who doesn't believe God has made God, he has made God a liar. In other words, the one rejecting God's witness is guilty. They're guilty of the sin of blasphemy, they're rejecting the testimony of God and are blaspheming the Holy Spirit. You see, you can be forgiven of all manner of sin, but the one sin you cannot be forgiven of, Jesus said, is blaspheming the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit convicts and you reject it, there is no place for salvation with you because you rejected the only way you could have a relationship with God when you rejected the gospel and Jesus Christ as a result of that. So he is saying that God is a liar, which in fact is blasphemy and thus he won't be forgiven. Now we'll close very quickly here in verses 11 through 13, we can tie that together. This is the testimony that God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son. He who has the son has life. He who does not have the son of God does not have life. Then he goes on to say this, these things I've 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. This is our testimony. God has given us eternal life. When we began, I mentioned to you that there are various reasons John wrote this letter. First John chapter one verse four tells us these things we write to you that your joy may be full. First John two verse one, my little children these things I write to you so that you may not sin. First John two 26, these things I've written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. So he was writing for these reasons, his fourth purpose is to provide us with the assurance of salvation. God has chosen us. God has redeemed us. God has forgiven us. God has justified us. God has adopted us. God has sealed us with his Holy Spirit. And all of this work on our behalf provides assurance. Numbers 2319, beautiful scripture. God is not a man that he should lie or a son of man that he should change his mind. Has he said it and will he not do it? Has he spoken? Will he not fulfill it? God can be trusted. You can have 100% assurance that you're right with God and you're going to heaven. You can know that. That's why he wrote this. He says these things he's writing. Those who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life or are certain you have a relationship with God and that life is in his Son. And if you have that Son, he said you have life. You have it. It's a present tense experience. We have been born again. God so loved the world, the Bible says that he gave us only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3 36, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. John 5 24, most assuredly I say to you he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life. You have it if you're born again. Your conscience may accuse you. Your heart may accuse you. Your friends may accuse you. Your wife or your husband may accuse you. Your children may accuse you. There's a lot of things that'll accuse you. But if you've given your heart to Jesus Christ he doesn't accuse you. You have a relationship with him. And that to me is extremely, extremely important. And the life we have is not just length of days. I was sharing with the group the other day and I'll close with a couple of thoughts. I was sharing with some guys the other day. I said, you know when you're young you wanna live forever. You just wanna keep going forever. You wanna keep, yeah, yeah. When you're young at a certain point when you used to jump out of bed, now you roll. When you hit the ground running, now you just hit the ground. There are so many things that happen in a long life. You know, a lot of blessings of course. But there are other things and a lot of us are already understand this. And again, I'm not gonna belabor this but this is something the Lord has been speaking to my heart recently. There is a lot of gain in living on earth with a long life of course. You have your children if you're married. You have your grandbabies if you can. Those are all blessings. But you also go through a lot of loss. You lose friends. You lose parents. You lose a lot. You go through aches and agonies over time. You just do. Without Jesus, I wouldn't make it. And I know that. But I thank God because he's not saying just a length of days in terms of oh, you can live to be 100, 120. Who wants to live that long? I don't. Not on earth. Eternal life speaks not just of eternity itself but of quality. It's referred to as age-abiding life. It's a life that has fellowship. This is eternal life, Jesus said. I'll say it like this. That they may know the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. John 17.3. That is age-abiding life. It's a fellowship with God that continues through eternity. And fellowship with one another. So that's why it's important for us to get along now. Because you're gonna be together for a long time. It's a quality of life that we have. And we can know that. And we can have an assurance. How can I have an assurance? Because I've received Christ. Because the Spirit convicted me. Because I've been born again. And how do I have confidence in my life? I walk with the Lord. I make a habit of following Him, of reading His word of prayer and the fellowship and the other things. These all provide assurance. And so John is saying you can know this. I've written this 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. When you confess and when you repent, God by His Spirit gives you assurance. And Father, we thank you so much for the blessing.