Grace Church exists to glorify our Heavenly Father by
 continually making more disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

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Testimony Time 1 John 5:6-13 Get Real: A Study of 1 John Sermon #22 During a murder trial the defense attorney was cross-examining the local pathologist. Here's the dialogue: Attorney: “Before you signed the death certificate had you taken the pulse?” Coroner: “No.” Attorney: “Did you listen to the heart?” Coroner: “No.” Attorney: “Did you check for breathing?” Coroner: “No.” Attorney: “So when you signed the death certificate, you weren't sure the man was dead, were you?” Coroner: “Well, let me put it this way. The man's brain was sitting in a jar on my desk, but I suppose it's possible he could be out there practicing law somewhere.”   The term trial of the century is periodically thrown around by the media. The Scopes Monkey trial, the Lindbergh kidnapping trial, the Nuremberg Trials and even the O.J. Simpson murder trial were all dubbed the trial of the century. While there may be debate as to which was the trial of the century, there’s no debate as to what’s the trial of the ages. It’s the trial of Jesus Christ, a trial that still continues. And what’s at stake is whether or not Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God. From John’s day to today the authenticity and validity of Christ’s claims are questioned and attacked.   During the 4th century Arius began to argue that Jesus Christ was not God but a mere creature. While Arius conceded that He was no ordinary creature, He was, he argued, the greatest of all creatures, a kind of median being between Creator and creature…but certainly not God. He was not eternal and there was a time when He did not exist. This heresy threatened the life of the church for some thirty years and God raised up the great Athanasius to combat it. What we know today as the Nicene Creed is the result of this controversy.   In John’s day there were those who taught that Jesus was just a man on whom “the Christ” had come when He was baptized and then “the Christ” left Him when He was on the cross. Thus, Jesus died like any other human being. So whose voice, whose witnesses and whose testimony do we heed?   1 John 5:6-13 (p. 864) is a courtroom scene. Court is in session and it’s Testimony Time. This is a very difficult passage with various interpretations of what this means.  Of the 16 uses of the word group “testify/testimony” in John’s letters, nine of them appear in this passage. The question driving this passage is what testimony should be listened to, what testimony should be given authority.   In this trial of the ages the Deity of Christ is being deliberated. You can almost hear John slamming the gavel down and calling court into session. He asks, “Is Jesus the Son of God?” One by one witnesses are called to the stand to testify in the defense of Christ. Two Facts seem to leap from the verses in this passage: God has provided us with reliable witnesses of who Jesus is, vss. 6-9 and Believing God’s witnesses to who His Son is gives us a certain foundation for our faith, vss. 10-13. 1. God has provided us with reliable witnesses of who Jesus is, vss. 6-9. A little girl began to learn all of the traditional fairy tales, like Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the Three Little Pigs. Her Mom and Dad taught her the familiar Bible stories as well. This little girl’s mind was like a sponge, absorbing everything she heard. One day though her mother read the Bible to her. The passage was Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” When she finished reading the verse she asked her little daughter, “If Jesus is knocking at your heart’s door, will you open and let Him in?” Without a moment’s hesitation the tyke responded, “Not by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin.”   That doesn’t surprise us with a child. Sometimes a child can’t discern the difference between fact or fiction. Do you remember when you discovered that some of the characters you thought existed as a child actually didn’t…like Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy? Was it a little disappointing? Did you think that someone had been pulling the wool over your eyes? That’s the way it is for many people and many wonder if when it comes to who Jesus is…when it comes to salvation, do they have the truth? Or have they been fed some fairy tale? John wants us to know that there is reliable testimony that enables us to tell the difference between fact and fiction.   Writing of verses 6-8, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones states “Now there can be no question at all but that these three verses are not only the most difficult verses in this epistle, but I think…that they are the three most difficult verses, in a sense, in the entire Bible!” While I believe there are other verses that are more difficult than these, like Hebrews 6:4-6, his point is well taken. These are difficult verses so you’re going to have to pay attention this morning, if you’re going to understand this. This is not familiar turf for most of us. First of all…   a) There is a textual problem. The textual problem is that the KJV renders vss. 7-8, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.” It’s certain that the phrase beginning with “in heaven” through “on earth” are not a part of John's original letter and should be omitted. There are no Greek manuscripts with this additional phrase before the 15th century. It comes from a marginal comment that was incorporated into the text of an Old Latin 5th century manuscript. Erasmus added these words because of pressure brought on him by the Catholic Church. The original text is accurately represented in the New American Standard Bible and the New International Version and does not have these.   b) There is an Interpretive Problem. But the more difficult problem is to determine what John means by his reference to “the water and the blood” (v. 6) and to “the Spirit and the water and the blood” (v. 8). The obscurity of this reference is no doubt due to the fact that the first readers of John’s letter were so familiar with this terminology that John did not feel it was necessary to explain what he meant. His wording is a kind of verbal shorthand, intended merely to recall to John’s readers the exposition of these themes that they had previously heard from his lips.   It’s certain too that John is establishing the historical factualness of the incarnation and earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, and citing God’s testimony to substantiate it. You may recall that in the Old Testament a point is confirmed in a court of law by the testimony of two or three witnesses. Here John brings forth three witnesses that agree that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he seems to be refuting the false teachers by using expressions that were already very familiar to his readers yet today are very unfamiliar to us. That’s why there is such difficulty interpreting these verses. There are four main interpretations of what this passage means. Please bear with me while we get a little technical…   1) The water and the blood as a symbolic reference to the sacraments of baptism and communion. This was Luther's and other Reformer’s view. This view is unlikely for two reasons. First, while water may well stand for baptism, blood would be an unusual symbol for the Lord's Supper. John would not likely omit a reference to Christ's body if he meant the Lord's Supper. Second, John says that Jesus came by water and blood, which points to His past historical coming, not to any ongoing spiritual coming through the Lord’s Table.     2) The water and the blood are reference to the water and blood that flowed from Jesus’ side at the crucifixion. Others link this passage with John 19:34-35 where John testifies of the blood and water that flowed from the spear wound in Jesus' side. Augustine and other early church fathers held this view. At first glance it seems logical since John wrote both passages. Both texts emphasize the water and the blood, and both emphasize the idea of testimony. But the similarities are not so close upon further examination. In 1 John Jesus came by water and blood, whereas in the Gospel, it was blood and water that came out of Jesus. In 1 John, the water and blood bear witness to Jesus, but in the Gospel, John bears witness to the blood and water. In 1 John the water and blood seem to bear witness to Jesus' divine-human person, but in the Gospel, the blood and water bear witness to Jesus' human death, and perhaps to the salvation provided by it.   3) The water and the blood refer to the Old Testament rites of purification and blood sacrifice which Jesus Christ fulfilled in His earthly ministry. Spurgeon held this view and explains, “By the terms 'water' and 'blood' we understand the purifying and the pardoning effects of Christ's work for His people.” While this is true on a secondary level, it doesn’t seem likely that that was John's primary meaning. John is defending the deity of Christ. He’s setting forth facts that establish God's testimony to the person and work of Jesus Christ as historically revealed. While Jesus' person and work do cleanse us from sin and pardon us, those are not the historic facts to which John is directing his readers here in order to refute the heretics.   4) The water and the blood refer to Jesus’ baptism at the onset of His ministry and the blood as a reference to His death on the cross. This is the most satisfactory interpretation. It seems to fit the best in light of the context. In these verses John is emphasizing the historical foundations of the faith. Both Jesus’ baptism and the cross are historic events that bear witness to Jesus' divine-human person. At each of these events the Father intervened in a miraculous way to bear testimony to His Son. At Jesus' baptism the Spirit descended on Him as a dove and the voice from heaven declared, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased." At His crucifixion the sky was darkened, the earth quaked, numerous resurrections took place and the veil in the Temple was torn from top to bottom.   This interpretation also fits with what we know of the historical setting of 1 John. The Cerenthian Gnostics, whom John refutes throughout the letter, taught that Jesus was a mere man upon whom "the Christ" descended at His baptism and from whom "the Christ" departed before His death. These false teachers could not conceive of how a divine Savior could have died on the cross. To refute this serious heresy John shows that Jesus was the Christ (God's Anointed) before His baptism, where that fact was authenticated by the Spirit. The word "came" implies Jesus came to earth from heaven. Since the Gnostics agreed Jesus was the Christ at His baptism, John adds "not with the water only, but with the water and the blood." What he’s saying is that Jesus was the Christ during and after His crucifixion. Then John adds "It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement." As mentioned, the Holy Spirit bore witness to Jesus at His baptism and at His death.   John's point is that God has borne witness to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit of truth bore witness to Jesus at His baptism, when He identified with sinners, although He Himself did not need to be cleansed. He testified of Jesus throughout His earthly ministry, through His miracles, His teaching, and His obedient life. He bore witness to Jesus as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, initially through John the Baptist's witness but supremely at the cross. And He confirmed that witness through the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The Spirit bore further witness when, in fulfillment of Jesus' promise, He descended on the Church at the Day of Pentecost. He further affirmed the witness to Jesus through the miracles that the Apostles performed and we have that witness in our New Testaments.   John's point is that God's threefold witness to His Son -- the Spirit, the water, and the blood -- is trustworthy. In a court of law truth is established when numerous witnesses say the same thing and when those witnesses are shown to have credible character. John demonstrates that these three witnesses all agree, and they’re not just the testimony of men but of God Himself. Thus John argues (5:9), "If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son."   Every day you and I trust the testimony of fallen men, who are fallible at best. We couldn’t deposit money in a bank, ride in a car, buy food at the grocery store, take an aspirin for a headache, or do any of the many things we do in our daily lives if we did not trust the witness of men. John is simply saying, "If you trust in men every day, can't you trust what God has testified concerning His Son?" Now if you’ve grown up in a Bible-believing church, it’s easy to yawn at this and think: “So what?”   There’s a theological war going on and we’re in a battle for truth. Contemporary theological trends are ready to dispense with the sacrifice of Christ while trying somehow to keep Christianity itself. Finding the cross to be an embarrassment, a mythological fable perhaps, some have sought a Christology emptied of any sacrificial soteriology.   Let me give just one illustration. The World Council of Churches sponsored a conference just a few years ago. It was also underwritten by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 2,200 people from 49 states and 27 countries filled the Minneapolis Convention Center to "reimage" God. This conference called for a "Second Reformation" that would begin radical theological surgery on the Church's belief systems. Essentially the conference developed a new anchor for truth. The foundation for Christian theology would no longer be the historic events of salvation recorded in the Bible. The star of the show, instead, was Sophia (Wisdom) —a long-suppressed feature of the biblical tradition, which resides principally within the female psyche. To the re-imagers, Sophia never takes a historic, particularistic form, but appears in many ways and in many spiritual traditions. South Dakota Indian tribal dances and Zulu rituals are equal contributors for theological reflection. The conference program was explicit: Sophia is the place in us where the entire universe resides. For a multicultural, therapeutic society like ours, this is religion made-to-order. Self-discovery is the platform for divine revelation.   What’s most important to note is that in this “church” setting, historic Christology was totally dismantled. The target of the conferees was the cross. They claimed Christian soteriology promoted violence. A father killing his son is a formula for child abuse. One speaker, Delores Williams, did not disguise her convictions at all, “I don't think we need a theory of atonement at all. I don't think we need folks hanging on crosses and blood dripping and weird stuff…We just need to listen to the god within.”   Now these were people from mainline churches, people whose lives were nurtured in Christian settings and they were willing to utterly dispense with traditional Christology. Heresy doesn’t just orbit at the periphery of the church. The barbarians are not simply at the gate, they’ve entered the church foyer. Just this week I received an invitation from an area minister inviting our church to participate in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. What’s meant by unity is a discarding of the fundamentals and orthodoxy. John though urges us that "the blood," the cross, must remain central to all we are and to all that we preach and teach. 2. Believing God's witnesses to who His Son is gives us a certain foundation for our faith, vss. 10-13. You may have heard about a man who fell off a cliff. He managed to grab a tree limb on the way down and held on for dear life. Then he yelled, "Is anyone up there?" He heard a thundering voice say, "I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?" The man said, "Yes, Lord, I believe. I believe with all my heart. But I can’t hang on much longer." "That’s all right. If you really believe you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Just let go of the branch." There was a moment of silence. Then, the man looked up and said, "Is anyone else up there?"   Most of us have had times like that. We’ve wondered if anyone was up there, if we can really trust God. We’ve had times when we’ve had our doubts. Times when we’ve wanted to ask, "Is Christianity really true? Does God hear my prayers? Do I have enough faith?"   An unbeliever once said to D. L. Moody, “But Mr. Moody, I can’t believe.” “Young man,” replied Moody, “Whom can’t you believe?” To tell God that we don’t or can’t believe what He says betrays a desperate state of our souls. The word “know” occurs some twenty-five times in John’s brief letter, six of them here in this last chapter. The Apostle now outlines three benefits of believing God's testimony to His Son and one danger of disbelieving that testimony.   a) Believing God's testimony gives us an inner witness, “Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart” (v. 10a). If we believe in Jesus as the Son of God, we have the testimony in ourselves. John is alluding to the inner witness of the 3rd person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to the truth regarding Jesus Christ. The Reformers called this the Testimonium Spiritus Sancti Internum. The external witness is the objective testimony of the New Testament, through the apostles, to the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. That’s the primary foundation that shows that Christianity is not some mental illusion, but as Spurgeon affirms, this inward witness involves the “wondrous sense of change which comes over the believer,” the “wondrous power which goes with the Word of God,” and the “deep feeling of peace which comes to us through believing in Jesus.” When you believe this testimony about Christ,  it’s because God has changed your heart and you’ve become a new creature in Him. You were dead in your sins, now you’re alive to God in Christ. You were blind to the truth of God's Word, now you see. You were a rebellious God-hater, now you’re an obedient God-lover. When you believe, you have this inner witness in yourself, God’s Spirit indwells you.   The present tense of believes indicates that the author is not thinking of some passing confidence but of a faith which is a continuing experience. It’s also not just intellectual assent. To believe “in” is to place confidence in that person and to commit oneself to him. The person who believes “in Christ” is trusting Christ for his/her salvation and the Spirit affirms within them that they have this saving faith.   b) Not believing God's witnesses means that we are calling God a liar and we are lifeless, “Anyone who does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son...who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (vss.10bc, 12b). It’s a very serious thing to reject God's testimony about His Son. Such unbelief makes God out to be a liar! Unbelief is a sin to be deplored. It’s hideousness lies in the fact that it contradicts the word of the one true God and thus attributes falsehood to Him.   Have you ever been called a liar? No one likes to be called a liar, especially in the context of trying to help someone. If I offered a street person a check for $100 and he grabbed me by the lapel and said, "Prove to me that this check is good," I'd have good reason to take my check back and leave him to his misery. If he ripped my check in two and threw it back at me, he would not experience the blessing I offered him. When a critic angrily says, "Prove to me that Jesus is the Son of God and I'll believe," he’s doing far worse than tearing up my check. He’s calling the only true God a liar. He’s trampling on the gift of God's Son, who would forgive all his sins if he would receive Him.   God has given more than sufficient testimony of His Son. If you receive that external testimony God will give you the additional inner testimony that He is true. If you reject His external testimony, you will also lack the internal witness. Friend, you reject God’s Word at your own peril in that it is impossible to have eternal life without having Christ. Your eternal destiny is at stake!    c) Believing God's witness to who His Son is gives us eternal life, “And this is the testimony: 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” (vss. 11-12).   A young man was thinking about receiving Jesus as his personal Savior and he said, “I’m not sure I can pay the price of what it takes to become a Christian.” The man witnessing to him said, “Have you ever considered what it costs not to become a Christian?”   This concept of life or “eternal life” dominates the thought of 1 John.  The letter begins (1:2) and ends (5:20) with references to it. In our passage (vs. 13) John’s stated purpose was to give believers assurance of possessing it. Eternal life is the center to which every idea in 1 John is more or less directly related.   Scripture never gives us a formal definition of eternal life. Robert Law calls it the “conscious participation in the highest good for which man is made.” Eternal is that which has neither beginning nor end, which is not subject to change and decay, which is above time, Barclay defines eternal life as “nothing less than the life of God Himself.” Eternal life then is not merely endless life, though it is that, but it’s vastly more than that. It’s a certain kind of life, a life only possessed by those who have been united to God through faith in Christ. It’s life, therefore, which death cannot destroy.   Three great affirmations are made concerning this life. First, it’s a divine gift. God gave to us eternal life. It’s not a reward for merit; it’s a free bounty from the hand of God. Second, this life is a present possession. “He who has the Son has life.” Third, it’s in God's Son, “and this life is in His Son.” Jesus Christ is everything. If you have Him, you have eternal life. If you don't have Him, you don’t have the life. As someone has said, "Christianity is Christ!" All of God's promises are yes in Him (2 Cor. 1:20). All that God offers us He offers in Jesus Christ. He’s the only sure, solid foundation for our faith.   The most important question in the world is the one Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" (Matt. 16:15). Peter's answer, inspired by God, is the only correct one (Matt. 16:16), "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Friend, do you believe this testimony that God has given about His Son? If so, you have eternal life. If not, you do not have the life and you will perish if you do not repent and believe!   d) Believing God's witness to who His Son is gives us a sure foundation so that we can know that we have eternal life, v. 13. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”   Next time you’re in an airport notice the difference between passengers who have confirmed tickets and those on standby. Those who have confirmed tickets are relaxed, confident and expectant. Those on standby hang around the ticket counter, they pace and smoke, pace and smoke, pace and smoke…all because of uncertainty. God offers us freedom from the burden of uncertainty. We can know for sure where we stand with God.   “These things” refers to the entire letter. The Apostle has written this letter so that his little children will not be unsettled by false teachers. If they believe in the name (the person) of the Son of God, then they can know that they have eternal life. The Apostle doesn't want us to hope so but to know so. You can know because God's testimony about His Son is trustworthy. Your faith must rest in Jesus Christ alone, not in anything or anyone else. If your faith is in Christ, then you have the inner witness of His Spirit that you’re a child of God. You have the evidence in your life that He’s changed your heart. You now believe the truth about Jesus. You obey God's commandments. You love God and others.   This is the 9th and last occurrence of the verb “believe” in 1 John. Again it presents a Christ-centered faith as essential to true Christianity. The stated aim of the Gospel of John is evangelistic. John 20:31 says, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” but this letter was written to give assurance to believers, to confirm the faith of those who already knew Christ, “so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Conclusion: When it comes to salvation, many believers are looking for a feeling and they’ve reversed what Scripture says.   Many of those who are lost have the idea that they can be saved only when they feel like being saved. They say, “You know I was in a church one time and I really felt moved. I didn't do anything about it, and I don't feel like that now, but if I ever feel like that again, then…” My friend, God is under no obligation to give you any kind of feelings that you want to have in order to be saved. If you could determine the kind of feelings you must have to be saved, in essence you would be setting up the terms of salvation. The way God puts it is not feelings, faith, and then facts. No, God's order is facts, faith, and then feelings. You’re not saved because you feel good. You’re not saved because you feel saved. No, you must come to God God's way. You have to come to God on His basis.   Pastor Jerry Vines once asked a man, "How do you know you are saved?" And the man answered, "Oh, I know because when I got saved I did back flips and I felt whoopty-doopties in my heart and I got this tingling feeling all over." Vines then said, “I am not making fun of that, but you are not saved because you feel good. If you know you are saved, however, you can certainly feel good about that.”   In other words believing is the root and feeling is the fruit. We must always keep them in the proper order. The Holy Spirit bears witness to the Son; that’s the historical witness. Then, the Spirit bears witness in the saint; that’s the experiential witness.   How can a couple prove in a court of law that they’re married? They can know beyond the shadow of a doubt that they are married because there is a record. It’s written down. How do I know I am saved? It’s not because I preach. It’s not because I try to win people to Christ. Instead God’s Word is the record. God wrote it. It’s eternal and It will never change. A record is a surety.   Sir James Simpson, the discoverer of chloroform, was dying. A friend came to him and said, "Sir James, what are your speculations?" He replied, "Speculations? I do not have any speculations. 'I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day.'"   The Holy Spirit bears witness to the Son of God; He bears witness in the saint; and He bears witness through the Scriptures. We can know that we’re saved and on our way to heaven. We have this testimony from the courts of heaven, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Friend, do you know that you have eternal life?