The Power of Agreement Part 2
Scriptures: 1 John 2:19; 5:1-12;
Introduction
Last week I shared the first message on the Power of Agreement. In that message I discussed the situation with the Tower of Babel; what the prophet Amos said and concluded with what Jesus said about what he would do when two or three of us came together. Last week I shared with you the Law of Cause and Effect. As a reminder, the Law of Cause and Effect says; "Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law." Again, I want you to keep this in mind as we go through the message today. Last week I shared with you that I would focus on our need to be in agreement in two areas, agreement with God and with each other. Remember, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish when we come into agreement with God and each other.
I. Coming Into Agreement With God
A couple of weeks ago I preached a message about our need to stop rebelling against God. Whether we have been saved for years or just a few months, at some point in our lives we decided to start walking with God. That decision started us on a road that influenced our decision to be here at Church today. Although we made the decision to follow Christ, there may still be areas in our lives as we discussed Wednesday evening during Bible Study where we may not have yielded to God yet. In the message I preached on rebellion, I shared with you that we must make the decision to stop fighting against God and turn over every aspect our lives to Him. When we can accomplish this, we will begin to walk in full agreement with Him. You may be in agreement with Him on some things, but not everything. This morning I want to go to the foundation of what we must be in agreement with Him. I will start with words from the apostle John who walked with Jesus. The situation the apostle John was addressing in this letter was the false teachings which denied the incarnation (God taking on human form in Jesus). This teaching was evidently held by some of the people who “had been” in the Church but had left the Church as John speaks of them “going out” in the second chapter verse nineteen. He says “They went out from us, but they were not really of us, for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us, but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us.” 1 John 2:19 This teaching was very dangerous because if Christ did not really become a man and did not really die for us, then no atonement has been made for our sins. Because of this, John emphasized the incarnation. This is the first thing we must come into agreement with God on, that Jesus Christ was His Son and part of the Trinity. Turn to 1 John 5:1-12. The fifth chapter starts by saying the following:
“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world; our faith.” 1 John 5:1-4
The first thing we see when reading the first four verses is that everyone who believes that Jesus Christ is God’s Son is actually born of God. And when we are born of God, we love God and those begotten by Him, especially Jesus. But all of this starts with us believing. In order to get into God’s family we must believe. In order for us to come into agreement with God we must believe. There can be no agreement if there is no belief. If we believe then we can agree. If we do not believe then we cannot agree. What is it that we must believe? That Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Once we believe this, we come into agreement with God and enter His family. Have you ever been in a situation where you were asked to agree to something that in your heart you did not believe in? When this happened, was there not a conflict in what your beliefs were versus what you were being asked to do? If we do not fundamentally believe in what we are being asked to do, it is nearly impossible for us to do it with a clear conscience. The law of cause and effect is at work here. If you cannot agree with something it is impossible to believe in it. Therefore if you can agree with something it becomes possible to believe in it. John is saying that we who believe in Jesus Christ are son and daughters of God because the fact that we believe means that we have come into agreement with God.
Now once we believe, something else starts to happen. When we come into God’s family John says that the love that we have for God will be extended to others because we are keeping God’s commandments. When we keep God’s commandments we are in agreement with Him. However, John says that it is impossible to love God and not love His other children. Our love for each other becomes the evidence that we are in agreement with God and are keeping His commandments. But notice the benefit. John says that everyone who is born of God “overcomes the world.” If you want to know how to overcome the world, here it is, be born of God and it is guaranteed. But here is the best part; our faith gives us the victory over the world. I was listening to a sermon that my brother Barry preached on this. In his message he stressed “our faith” and he made it very personal. Do you understand that it is your faith that makes you an overcomer? That is what John was trying to get the people (and us) to understand. When we believe, we start to agree with God. As we agree more and more with God, our faith begins to grow. As our faith grows, we begin to overcome what we face in this world and ultimately when we die for we enter into God’s presence. If we are born of God, our faith enables us to overcome the world. I told you a few months ago and I remind you again that we have no excuses for failing to do what He has enabled us to do. God has equipped us. Finally, John asks the question to confirm what he has already stressed to us, that the one who overcomes the world is the same one who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
I told you earlier that John in this letter was addressing some false teachings that had begun to spread throughout the Church confusing the people. In verse six John begins to explain the agreement between the water, the blood and the Spirit. The water John is referring to is Jesus’ baptism; the blood refers to Jesus’ death and the Spirit to the Holy Spirit. John says in verse eight that these were in agreement and bear witness of Jesus as being the Son of God. Why was this important for John’s audience (and us) to hear and understand? Just as it was in John’s day, there are many people today who do not believe that Jesus was the Son of God. Also, some who believe in Jesus does not really believe everything that is recorded about Him. John went on record to show that there are three witnesses to Christ being the Son of God and these three witnesses, the water, blood and the Holy Spirit, are in agreement.
The first witness was the water. Remember what happened when Jesus was baptized? Matthew 3:16-17 says, “And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and coming upon Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” God confirmed Jesus’ identity right after He was baptized and there were many witnesses to this event. However, because there were so many witnesses, some misinterpreted what they saw and heard. Some heretics believed that at the point when the dove ascended on Jesus and they heard God’s voice say this was His Son, was when the “divine Christ” actually took on the bodily form, He entered the body of Jesus at that moment. Further more they believed that since the divine Christ could not die, He left Jesus body before Jesus died. This is why John was stressing the agreement between the water and the blood. As there was no doubt to the water because there were many witnesses, it was the blood that these heretics struggled with and caused some believing Christians to waver. John brings to the forefront that the water did not stand alone, that the water and the blood went together. Having said this, John brings in the third witness, the Holy Spirit. He states in verse seven “And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.” Johns says that these three, the Spirit, water and blood are all in agreement.
In verse nine John reminds the people that we often believe the witness of men and accept their witness as fact. Based on how we interact with each other, John says that if we can accept the witness of men, we should be able to accept the witness of God because God is greater. God stated that Jesus was His Son, no greater witness could there be. John closes out this part of his letter by stressing that whoever trusts God’s Son has his testimony in his heart which is the Holy Spirit, one of the three witnesses. The Holy Spirit is a witness to the believer’s own spirit. John goes further still and states that anyone who does not believe this has made God a liar. In other words, if you do not accept God’s witness, you’re actually calling God a liar. Think about the impact of this. God has told you key things in His word, things about His Son as well as things about you as a believer. If you do not accept, believe and come into agreement with them, John says you are calling God a liar. It carries the same impact as if you were standing face to face with God, having a conversation with Him, and He telling you something and you say “God, I do not believe you, you are lying.” Nobody in their right mind would ever want to be in this position, yet when John wrote this, that is what he was dealing with. We are not that much different because people call God a liar all the time, even today. What makes this so bad is that Christians call God a liar every time we refuse to accept what He has said about us. God says you’re victorious and you say you’re not. God says you can stop, you say you cannot. Every time we do this, we call God a liar. For the person who is an unbeliever, they take the position of having a permanent view of God that is totally wrong only to die and discover that it was not God who was wrong, but they themselves. In verses eleven and twelve, John brings the point home. He says, “And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” This is the witness that God has given to the world. Accept His Son and you will live, you will have eternal life. If you do not accept His Son, then you will not have eternal life.
This is the first and primary agreement that each of us must individually come to, accepting what God has said about His Son therefore coming into agreement with Him. The problem that may people face is that it is hard to accept something on faith when our intellect tells us something different. It is hard for us to accept that there is a God that has always been who has a Son who has always been. It is hard for us to accept that God’s Son would choose to leave heaven and take up a human body so that He could die for the sins of the world. It is hard to believe that God would send His Son to die for a world that rejects Him. For our finite minds this may not make any sense, yet I am so glad that God did do it. I may not have all of the facts and I may not know all of the history, but what I do know is that I am glad that Jesus came. I am glad that He chose to die for me.
God gave us a gift, but that gift is connected to our coming into agreement with Him concerning His Son Jesus Christ. Remember what I said earlier that it is hard to agree on something that you do not believe in? If you do not believe the reports of Jesus being God’s Son, then you cannot expect to have eternal life. It is that simple. But, if you do believe the report, and you do come into agreement with God and accept His Son, then your future is guaranteed. As a Church, we cannot come into agreement with each other until we have first come into agreement with God individually. Once that agreement has been sealed, we enter into a position where we are able to look beyond ourselves towards the needs of others.
Have you come into agreement with God? Have you accepted His Son outwardly only to have nagging doubts in your heart about His true identity? Have you accepted what God has said about His Son but choose to ignore your responsibility based on your decision. Have you accepted what God has said about you? If your reply is “No” to any of these questions then today is your day. You can start over today. Come into agreement with God and see how everything else will begin to line up. Next week I will close out this series by focusing on how we as believers must come into agreement. May God bless you.
