INTRO.- There are testimonies and there are testimonies. There is God’s testimony and man’s testimony. And there are verbal testimonies and physical testimonies.
ILL.- Mark Hatfield (US Senator from Oregon. He served from January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1997. He is now 87 years old and is a Baptist). Someone said of him: Senator Mark Hatfield told me, and I have also seen him do it, that when he goes to social functions where hard liquor and wines are served, he turns his glass upside down. I have heard the master of ceremonies of a banquet tease him about it but there is no doubt that his testimony and influence against drinking has profound effect.
What a great physical testimony that was! Drinking in moderation may be ok but overall, alcohol has been a damnation to the world. I appreciate anyone who takes a stand against it.
And it’s fine to take a stand against some things, but at the same time we must take a stand “for” some things.
ILL.- Do you remember the LA riots after the Rodney King beating trial? Do you remember the incident? On March 3, 1991, Rodney King and two passengers were driving through the Lake View Terrace neighborhood of Los Angeles. The California Highway Patrol attempted to initiate a traffic stop and a high-speed pursuit ensued with speeds estimated at up to 115 mph through freeways then residential neighborhoods.
When King came to a stop, officers of the C.H.P ordered the occupants under arrest, and after two passengers were placed in the patrol car, another five members of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno, and Rolando Solano attempted to subdue King who came the last from the car.
King was tackled, tasered, heavily beaten with Pr24 batons, and repeatedly pushed down by an officer’s foot. King was under the influence of narcotics at the time of arrest.
The footage of King being beaten by police while lying on the ground became a focus for media attention and a rallying point for activists in Los Angeles and around the United States.
The Los Angeles District Attorney subsequently charged all four police officers with assault and use of excessive force. On April 29, 1992, the seventh day of jury deliberations, the jury acquitted all four officers of assault and acquitted three of the four of using excessive force.
The riots, beginning in the evening after the verdicts, peaked in intensity over the next two days, but ultimately continued for several days. A curfew and deployment of the National Guard began to control the situation; eventually U.S. Army soldiers and United States Marines were ordered to the city to quell disorder as well.
I remember watching the TV news about these riots. One of our national TV companies stopped a woman on the street to interview her and ask her what she thought of the rioting, etc. She said, “What’s the matter with all these crazy people? Don’t they believe in Jesus?”
WHAT A TESTIMONY SHE GAVE! In fact, I’m surprised they even showed it on TV. That woman gave the greatest testimony anyone could have given. She was essentially saying that if all those crazy people believed in Jesus they wouldn’t have been rioting. In fact, if people truly believe in Jesus Christ many crazy and sinful things would stop in this world. AMEN?
There is man’s testimony of what he believes and there is God’s testimony of eternal truth. The only solid and sure testimony that we have in life is from God as given in His Word. On that, we can depend. Scripture is true. Scripture is God’s testimony to us so we can live a faithful and fruitful life in Christ.
PROP.- Our text reveals the testimony of God.
1- God’s testimony - Jesus came by water and blood
2- God’s testimony - The Spirit, water and blood agree
3- God’s testimony - God has given us eternal life
I. GOD’S TESTIMONY - JESUS CAME BY WATER AND BLOOD
6This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
Many people have said, “Blood is thicker than water.” What’s the idea? Some say it means that family relationships are stronger than say a friendship. And I suppose they should be!
ILL.- At one point during a game, the coach said to one of his young players, "Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is?" The little boy nodded in the affirmative.
"Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a team?" The little boy nodded yes.
"So," the coach continued, "when a strike is called, or you’re out at first, you don’t argue or curse or attack the umpire. Do you understand all that?" Again the little boy nodded.
"Good," said the coach. "Now go over there and explain it to your mother." You should stand by your family members as best you can.
6This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood.
On the surface, this is a difficult text. Jesus came by water and blood. What’s the meaning? Is this text talking about the water and blood that came from Christ’s side?
John 19:31-34 “31Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.”
Someone wrote, which I presume is correct: Prior to death, the sustained rapid heartbeat caused by hypovolemic shock also causes fluid to gather in the sack around the heart and around the lungs. This gathering of fluid in the membrane around the heart is called pericardial effusion, and the fluid gathering around the lungs is called pleural effusion. This explains why, after Jesus died and a Roman soldier thrust a spear through Jesus’ side (probably His right side, piercing both the lungs and the heart), blood and water came from His side just as John recorded in his Gospel (John 19:34).
Or is John talking about some other water and blood? Some commentators believe that John was talking about the water of baptism and the blood of Christ.
ILL.- B. W. Johnson of the People’s NT wrote: The water and the blood refer primarily to the baptism that revealed him at the beginning of his earthly ministry and the blood which he shed at its close.
I do believe that both the baptism of Christ and the blood He shed on the cross are vitally important. His baptism didn’t save Him nor us, but He was baptized by John the Baptizer in order to fulfill all righteousness. And we also need to do whatever God asks of us in order to fulfill all righteousness. And baptism is one of those things!
But, of course, as we know it’s the blood of Christ that saves us!
I Peter 1:18-19 “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
Thank God for the water and the blood! Thank God that Jesus came by both! And we, too, come into the kingdom by both! By the blood of Christ, which we contact in baptism when we die to self.
II. GOD’S TESTIMONY - THE SPIRIT, WATER AND BLOOD AGREE
7For there are three that testify: 8the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. 9We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.
The Spirit, the water and the blood. What a threesome!
ILL.- I like the cute story about Tonto and the Lone Ranger as they were riding through a canyon together when all of a sudden both sides were filled with Native American warriors on horses, dressed for battle. The Lone Ranger turned to Tonto and asked, "What are we going to do?" Tonto replied, "What you mean ’we,’ Whiteman?"
When it’s a matter of life or death unity sometimes goes out the window. When it’s thee or me, I choose me!
ILL.- Two employees were chatting. "The boss wants a meeting today at 4:30." "Why does he always have to have them on Friday at 4:30?" "Because people tend to agree with him!"
TGIF. What’s the meaning? Thank God it’s Friday. People are always more agreeable when the work week is over!
I think it’s a good thing to agree with your boss, especially, when your boss is the Lord God. Some earthly bosses may not be right but God is always right. IT PAYS TO AGREE WITH HIM AND HIS WORD!
7For there are three that testify: 8the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
What’s the meaning? I would say that three agree about Jesus, about who He is and what He did.
The water of baptism says of Jesus: Jesus is God’s Son in whom God the Father is pleased.
The blood says of Jesus: Jesus is the lamb of God who gave His life’s blood for the sins of the whole world.
The Spirit says of Jesus: Jesus is God’s Son. His baptism, His ministry, His miracles all testify to His deity. And the Holy Spirit is the author of all scripture, which points to Jesus as the Christ, the son of the living God.
God’s testimony is strong and clear: the Spirit, the water and the blood agree about Jesus. No one should miss the Messiah! Is our testimony strong and clear?
III. GOD’S TESTIMONY - GOD HAS GIVEN US ETERNAL LIFE
9We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.
11And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
That’s strong and clear! It’s all about Jesus. Our salvation is founded in, based on, secured by, and made possible by Jesus alone!
John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
ILL.- Preacher Charles Spurgeon wrote of Noah’s ark: In the morning, when the ark-door was opened, an observer might see a pair of golden eagles in the sky. But glancing downward, one might see creeping along, a pair of snails, a pair of snakes, a pair of worms. There were pairs of creeping creatures as well as pairs of flying creatures. But there was only one entrance for them all. The eagle must come down to enter it, and the worm must crawl up to it.
Ah ha! There it is! ONE DOOR and that’s Jesus. He’s the one door through which we all must enter into the ark of salvation!
ILL.- John Wanamaker, who died in 1922 (At his death his estate was estimated to be $100 million) was one of the country’s greatest merchants. He said: “I have of course made large purchases of property in my lifetime...and the buildings and grounds in which we are now meeting represent a value of approximately twenty million dollars.
“But it was as a boy in the country, at eleven years of age, that I made my biggest purchase. In a little mission Sunday school, I bought from my teacher a small, red, leather Bible. The Bible cost me $2.75—which I paid in small installments as I saved. That was my greatest purchase, for that Bible made me what I am today.”
WHAT A GREAT TESTIMONY FOR THE LORD!
ILL.- Preacher Dwight L. Moody (died in 1899 at age 62) once said: “If all the time I have spent praying for faith was put together it would be months. I thought that someday faith was going to come down and strike me like lightning. But faith did not come.
“Then one day I read in the tenth chapter of Romans, ‘So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.’ I had closed my Bible, and prayed for ‘faith.’ I now opened my Bible and began to read God’s Word, and faith has been growing ever since.” (Romans 10:17)
Again, a great testimony to the truth and power of God and His Word!
ILL.- And Billy Graham said: “In August of 1949, I was so filled with doubts about everything that when I stood to preach and made a statement, I would say to myself: I wonder if that is the truth. I wonder if I can really say that sincerely. My ministry had gone. I then took the Bible up into the high Sierra Nevada mountains in California. I opened it and got on my knees. I pled, ‘Father I cannot understand many things in this Book. I cannot come intellectually all the way, but I accept it by faith to be authoritative, the inspired Word of the living God!’ ”
As Vance Havner said, “I don’t understand everything in the Book but I stand on it.”
9We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.
Man’s testimony is good, but God’s testimony is better and far greater. Man’s verbal testimony is great, but God’s testimony in scripture is better. And God’s testimony seals the deal.
CONCLUSION---------------------
Any testimony that points to Jesus as God’s Son is a good testimony. God’s testimony is clear and strong in scripture. Our testimony can be as well. Jesus Christ is the truth of all truths and we must testify for Him.
