Here’s one for you to think about. There was a preacher who worked hard on his sermon all week and then typed it up on Saturday night. During the night, his dog got into his office and, wouldn’t you know it, chewed his sermon up. He didn’t notice it until it was time to go to church. When he got in the pulpit, he said, “I had a nice sermon prepared for you this morning, but my dog chewed it up. So I’m going to have to rely on the inspiration of the Lord today, but I promise to do better next Sunday.” (Think about that)
The Lord is my inspiration and I know that he is yours as well. Isn’t it wonderful what happens when we allow the Lord to work through us instead of us trying to get the Lord to follow our plans?
Today we are going to take a test that proves that we really believe in God. Our Scripture passage comes from 1 John 5: 6-8. This morning’s message is actually part I of believing the testimony of Jesus Christ: that He is the Son of God. This message actually comes from our Sunday night Bible study that we have been in for the last three years. Tonight, we will pick up from where this leaves off.
So I need you to ask yourself right now: Is Jesus the Christ, the true Messiah, the promised Messiah of the Old Testament? Is Jesus Christ really the Savior of men, the one sent by God to save us and to give us life?
If a person believes these witnesses, then he believes in God. God has given us witness after witness that He sent His Son into this world to save us. So we are without excuse if we reject the witnesses of Jesus Christ. Our task is to receive the testimony of Jesus and to believe it. So today we look at three things:
1. There is the mission of Jesus Christ.
2. There is the testimony of the Holy Spirit.
3. There is the testimony of heaven.
First, let’s see if we can take a closer look at verse six. This verse can be confusing at first glance. READ verse 6. This may seem like a strange way to express the mission of Jesus Christ. He came by water [His baptism], and blood [His death].
Let’s look at His baptism first. The baptism of Jesus is a great witness that shows us that He was the Son of God. It launched His mission upon earth. There were two things that happened at Jesus’ baptism that were most unusual.
1. The Spirit of God came upon Christ in the form of dove. Remember that the Bible tells us that John the Baptist was to be the forerunner of the Messiah. In order to point to the Messiah, John had to know who the Messiah was and to know beyond any question. Therefore, God told John that He would give him a sign, the sign of a dove. God would come upon His Son in the form of a dove. By this sign, John would know the Messiah.
Turn back to the Gospel of John 1: 32-34. READ. Notice how emphatic John is. He says, “I have seen and I can testify that this is the Son of God.” It was at Jesus’ baptism that the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove and a voice from heaven was heard saying, “This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
2. So not only was Jesus’ baptism a great witness, but the voice of God proclaimed Jesus to be the Son of God. Matthew testifies that God’s voice called Jesus Christ His Son. (Matt. 3:17) Mark testifies that God’s voice called Jesus Christ His Son. (Mrk 1:11) And Luke testifies that God’s voice called Jesus Christ His Son. (Luke 3:22)
Not only does the baptism of Jesus declare Him to be the Son of God, but the blood of Jesus Christ, His death on the cross, declares Him to be the Son of God. Only the Son of God could do what Jesus did when He died for man’s sins. He bore our sins upon that cross. He took our judgment and suffered the punishment for us. And through His death we are able to stand before God being free of sin. And we see this witness time and again throughout Scripture.
And it saddens me that there are still so many people in this world who refuse to even listen to the Gospel story. So many still refuse to read the account of what Jesus did for them.
Elizabeth Barrett married the famous poet Robert Browning. When she did, her parents disowned her. She did all she could do to reconcile but her parents still disowned her. She and her husband settled far from home in Florence, Italy. Elizabeth loved her mother and father and still she tried to reconcile.
Several times a month she wrote expressive, loving letters. After 10 years without any response, finally, a package came from her parents. It was a happy moment for Elizabeth as she opened it. But inside she found all of the letters she had sent—unopened.
Like her husband, Elizabeth was a poet and her letters of reconciliation were eloquent. They have been called some of the most beautiful and expressive in all English literature. But her parents never read them. Jesus Christ, like Elizabeth, went to extreme measures in a reconciliation attempt. He died so sinful men could be reconciled to God. It breaks His heart that many refuse to even read the letter of Calvary’s love. (PAUSE)
We also see from verse 6 that there is the testimony of the Holy Spirit that declares Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. That is what the gospel is.
• We know that God sent His Son into the world to save man from sin and death and condemnation.
• We know that Jesus lived a sinless life, that He was the Perfect and Ideal Man, and that He freed man from sin when He died on the cross.
• But note: we have to do something. We have to believe in God’s Son. Unless we honor Him by believing in Him, God won’t accept us. That means that we stand condemned by God and will never be allowed to live with Him.
You say, “I believe all this. I just wish everyone else did. So how can God get men to listen? How can He stir men to believe in Christ?” Well, there is only one way.
God must put His Spirit upon earth to work within the hearts of men. And that is the point of what is said in verse 6 when it says, “It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.”
That’s exactly what Jesus was saying when He said, “that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (Jn 14:17)
And helping to spread that truth needs to be our focus. You know, I say it a lot, I pray it a lot; that we need to keep focused on God. I say and pray that for a reason.
Those of you who wear glasses can relate to this. If you lose your glasses you lose your focus. When you lose your focus you’re not sure where it is you are going. In the same way we need to keep focused on God and His truth.
A store in Dallas sells nothing but water. Building a business on the sale of something most people can get for almost nothing is quite an achievement. This store is successful because it focuses on one product. Their shelves are lined with all kinds of water: Distilled, purified, spring, artesian, normally filtered, extra-filtered, naturally carbonated, artificially carbonated, deionized, mineral, demineralized, flavored, imported or local.
The problem with many churches is not that they lack commitment of resources; too often they lack focus. Churches need to understand that they have a focus, and that focus should be bringing the good news of Jesus to a lost world. That is the truth.
So verse 6 says that the Spirit testifies. How does the Spirit testify and bear witness in the world? Well there are a number of ways that the Spirit testifies. The Spirit testifies:
• By giving life to a person when that person is willing to believe in Christ.
“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” (Jn 6:63)
• By giving the believer assurance and guaranteeing his salvation. Ephesians 1: 13-14 reminds us, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance, until the redemption of those who are God’s possession. . .”
• By bearing witness with the heart of believers, assuring them that they are children of God. How do you know that you’re saved? You just know. How do you just know? The Holy Spirit assures you of it.
• By giving believers the power to witness. Remember when Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) So many of you have testified that when the opportunity to witness came, you began speaking as if it were someone else. You quoted Scripture you didn’t even know you knew. You shared the plan of salvation without realizing you even knew that. How did you do that? The Holy Spirit filled you and gave you that power.
• By leading and guiding the believer. Paul wrote in Romans 8:14, “Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”
• The Holy Spirit testifies by choosing believers for special ministry and gifting them for that ministry. I want you to look around you. All around you are people whom God has called and gifted them for particular ministries. Some can teach, some can preach, some work with children, some with youth, some have the gift of administration, discernment, evangelism, encouragement, faith, giving, hospitality, knowledge, leadership, mercy, prophecy, and shepherding.
We are a church of people that the Holy Spirit has filled and has chosen for ministries. And every one of us needs to be cognizant of what Jesus told us when He said, “You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. . .”
All of these are ways that the Holy Spirit testifies and bears witness in the world.
READ verses 7-8. Notice that these three witnesses all agree. They have only one message that they declare—Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And that is the only way we are ever going to overcome and conquer the sin and death and condemnation of this world. Believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is the only way man can ever dwell with God.
You say, “Yeah! But I already know this stuff. There’s no doubt in my mind that Jesus is the Son of God. Why have you spent a whole sermon telling us that we need to testify that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?”
There’s the answer—because we need to testify. We have heard how Jesus’ baptism and death on the cross is a witness to us that He is the Son of God. We have heard how the Holy Spirit bears witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now we need to bear witness of the same. The world will never know about Jesus until Christians tell them.
I close with this cute story. A little girl strolled into S/S class one Sunday morning. Her hands were dirty, her dress was soiled, and there was a curious dirty ring around her neck. Her teacher asked her how she had gotten so dirty so early in the morning.
She explained that on her way to S/S, a neighbor boy asked her to blow up his swimming pool. She blew and blew until she had enough air to make the rubber wall stand up. Then, the boy picked up the hose and started filling the pool.
The little girl asked him why he didn’t come to Sunday school with her. He told her. “No, I want to play in my pool.” Then, with her pretty blue eyes looking straight toward the teacher, the girl said, “I pulled the stopper out of the air hole and let the air out so the pool would go down, because if he didn’t come to Sunday school with me, I didn’t want God to blame me for it!”
That was a strong testimony of what she believed. We, too, have a strong testimony. We need to share that testimony with the world.
So if you are behaving as a believer should behave, you shouldn’t be ashamed of the Gospel. You should be willing to share your testimony whenever the occasion arises—testifying to what Jesus has done for you since you became a child of God.
You should be willing to talk about Jesus anytime anyone asks.
If you believe in God THROUGH His Son Jesus Christ, then behave like a believer and let your life show proof of your salvation.
But if you don’t know Christ personally, if you have never asked Him to be your Savior, then you don’t believe in God. You say to me, “You can’t say that about me. I believe in God.” I say to you, “So do the demons, and the Bible says that they tremble knowing God’s power over them.”
Remember the children’s sermon last Sunday. We can’t say we know Jesus just by talking about Him or listening to stories about Him. We can’t say we know Jesus because we believe in God and God sent Jesus to earth for us. I said that we must believe in Jesus by faith. The Bible says “we are saved by grace, through faith, and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast.”
Boasting that you are saved because you believe in God is no different than saying your work is done in getting to heaven because you have stated that you believe in God. That’s believing in your works and the Bible just told us we are not saved by our works. We are saved by God’s grace through our faith in Jesus Christ.
If you have never trusted in Jesus to be your Savior then you are not saved. You are lost. And if you were to die right now you would go to hell. That’s so blunt, yet it’s so true. And my job as God’s call on my life, is to tell you so.
It is also my responsibility to let you know that you have an opportunity to change your current unsaved status and to become a child of God. You do that by:
1. Admitting that you are a sinner.
2. Placing your faith in Jesus Christ.
3. And surrendering to Him as Lord of your life.
Won’t you just ask Him. Ask Him to be your Savior. Just bow your head from where you are and say, “Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner. I place my faith in You. Please come into my heart and into my life.”
And at that point, if you are sincere, you shall become a child of the King—a Christian—saved by God’s grace—knowing with certainty that you are saved from the pits of hell—that you are lost no more—and that if you died at this very moment, you would see Jesus face-to-face.
That choice is yours. So what will it be?
