Do You Believe? (part 2)
Believing the Witness About Christ
1 John 5
1 John 5:6-8
I started last week by asking a couple of questions: How do you know that you really believe in God? How can we look at others and see if they truly believe? We are continuing in our series entitled “Do You Believe.” I explained that in chapter 5 of 1 John there were four tests to see if you truly believe in God. Last week we looked and found the first test to be “Are you Born Again” and we found out how to tell if you are born again. Today we are going to look at Test # 2, which is found in vv. 6-8; Believing the Witness about Christ and we again find out if we do believe by looking at 3 points.
1. The mission of Jesus Christ (v.6a) This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood.
a. This may seem like a strange way to state the mission of Christ. That He came by the water, His baptism, and by the blood, His death on the cross; but to understand we need to go back to last week for a second and look at verse 5. (v.5) Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Here in verse 6 John is declaring that Jesus is the Christ beyond any shadow of a doubt.
b. Both acts; His baptism and His death declare Him to be the Son of God and are extremely important.
i. His baptism is a great witness to His to this claim. It also was the beginning of His ministry upon the earth. The spirit of God alighted upon Jesus as a dove. Remember that John was to be the forerunner of the messiah, in order to point to the messiah John had to be sure of who he was. So God told John that he would give him a sign. Let’s go back to scripture for a moment. John 1:32-34: And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
ii. The Voice of God declared Him to be the Son of God at His baptism. Matthew, Mark and Luke all testify that the voice of Gad called Jesus “His Son.”
1. Matthew 3:17: And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
2. Mark 1:11: Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
3. Luke 3:22: And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
iii. The blood of Jesus, His death upon the Cross, also declares him to be the son of God. It is by His death that the cost of ours sins have been paid for.
1. Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Since Jesus took our sins upon Himself and died to pay the price for them, sin has been removed from us. Only the Son of God could do this. Only the Son of God could die for our sin. Why? Because only God is perfect; and he can only accept perfection. He could only accept a spotless and an acceptable sacrifice. That is the whole reason why Jesus had to come to the earth. A sinful man, no matter how righteous wouldn’t do. The point is that His blood; his death upon the cross declares Him to be the Son of God. This is what witness after witness in scripture declares:
2. Matthew 26:28: For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
3. Acts 20:28: Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
4. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
5. Hebrews 9:14: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
6. 1 Peter 1:18-19: Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
2. The Witness of the Holy Spirit (v.6b): And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.
a. It is the Spirit of God that bears witness to Christ, this is the gospel (the Good News), this is the TRUTH about what happened in the scene of Human history.
b. God sent His son to save the world
c. Jesus the carpenter’s son from Nazareth is actually the Son of God. He lived a sinless life walking the earth as a man. He was perfect, just as the Father is perfect and therefore was the perfect sacrifice for or sins. What do we mean by “perfect sacrifice?” He is the only sacrifice that any of us will ever need. He died once for all sin.
d. The Spirit of God is truth. He is not able to do anything but bear witness to the truth. Jesus promised that the Spirit of God would come and bear witness to the truth.
i. John 14:16-17: And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
ii. John 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”
e. How does the Spirit bear witness to the world? Scripture gives us 12 ways that the Spirit witnesses to the World.
i. By convicting the world of sin, Jesus’ righteousness and judgment.
1. John 16:7-11: Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
ii. The Holy Spirit testifies by quickening, giving life to, whoever is willing to believe in Jesus as the Christ.
1. John 6:63: It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
2. 2 Corinthians 3:6: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
iii. The Holy Spirit bears witness by giving us assurance of our salvation.
1. Ephesians 1:13-14: n Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
2. 1 John 3:24: Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
iv. He bears witness in the heart of every believer, assuring us that we are the children of God.
1. Romans 8:16-17: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
2. Galatians 4:6: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
v. He teaches us about Christ
1. John 14:26: But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
vi. The Sprit lives within us and makes our bodies a holy temple for God
1. 1 Corinthians 3:16: Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
2. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
vii. He shows us things to come
1. John 16:13: However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
viii. The Holy Spirit witnesses by giving us the power to witness.
1. Acts 1:8: But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
ix. The Holy Spirit proclaims the things of God through the believers.
1. 1 Corinthians 2:12-13: Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
2. Luke 12:11-12: “Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
x. The Holy Spirit witnesses by leading and guiding the believers
1. John 16:13: However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
xi. The Spirit witnesses by choosing us for ministry and gifting us for that ministry.
1. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11: There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
xii. The Spirit witnesses by quickening the mortal bodies of believers at death.
1. Romans 8:11: But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
3. The witnesses of heaven. There are three persons in heaven that bear witness to the fact that Jesus is the Christ.
a. First there is the Father.
i. He bore witness at the baptism of Christ.
1. Matthew 3:17: And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
ii. He gave to Christ the Holy Spirit without measure so that He could speak the word of God.
1. John 3:34: For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.
iii. He proclaims Jesus the very Son of God by enabling Him to do the works of God.
1. John 10:37-38: If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”
iv. He proclaimed Christ His Son by causing His glory to shine through Jesus at the transfiguration.
1. Matthew 17:5: While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”
v. He proclaimed Christ His Son by raising Him from the Dead.
1. Romans 1:4: …and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
b. There is the witness of the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The Word refers to Christ himself as declared by John in both his gospel and epistles:
i. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
ii. 1 John 1:1: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life.
c. The third, the witness of the Holy Spirit we have already discussed in detail earlier in this message.
