Series: 1 John
Week: 22
Passage: 1 John 5:6-9
Title: Three Evidences that Jesus is the Son of God
Focus: Truth of Christ as Messiah
OPENING STORY: A young American engineer was sent to Ireland by his company to work in a new electronics plant. It was a two-year assignment that he had accepted because it would enable him to earn enough to marry his long-time girlfriend. She had a job near her home in Tennessee, and their plan was to pool their resources and put a down payment on a house when he returned. They corresponded often, but as the lonely weeks went by, she began expressing doubts that he was being true to her. The young man wrote to his sweetheart, declaring with some passion that he was paying absolutely no attention to the local girls. "I admit," he wrote, "that sometimes I'm tempted. But I fight it. I'm keeping myself for you."
In the next week’s mail, the engineer received a package. It contained a note from his girl and a harmonica. "I'm sending this to you," she wrote, "so you can learn to play it and have something to take your mind off those girls." The engineer replied, "Thanks for the harmonica. I'm practicing on it every night and thinking of you." At the end of his two-year stint, the engineer was transferred back to company headquarters. He took the first plane to Tennessee to be reunited with his girl. Her whole family was with her, but as he rushed forward to embrace her, she held up a restraining hand and said sternly, "Just hold on there a minute, Billy Bob. Before any serious kissin' and huggin' gets started here, let me hear you play that harmonica!"
INTRODUCTION: As Christians we also want hard evidence that affirms our faith. Much like the girl’s question we also ask Jesus for evidence that He is real when we meet Him face to face. In the closing chapter of John he writes to us giving evidence to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. This morning we will seek to uncover a few more pieces of evidence from God that Jesus is the Son of God.
SCRIPTURE: “This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son.” 1 John 5:6-9
TITLE: Three Evidences that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:6-9)
Evidence #1: Jesus Earthly Ministry and Death (1 John 5:7a)
• Explanation: John says, “This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood.” (5:7) Jesus earthly ministry and death point us to the fact that He is the Son of God is we study those two elements correctly:
o The Issue of Water:
• Water Shows God’s Goodness: Water is symbolical of God’s blessing and of spiritual refreshment (Psalm 23:2; Isaiah 32:2; 35:6–7).
• Example: Rainfall is a sign of God’s favor and goodness.
• Water points out a Spiritual Need: Jesus is baptized in water to show us God’s goodness and provision for us in offering His Son. (Psalm 42:1)
• Water can lead one to repentance.
• OT: Priests were washed at their sanctification (Exodus 29:4) and the OT tabernacle was a constant reminder of the need for cleansing in the approach to God (Exodus 30:18–21).
• NT: John’s baptism in water was a sign of repentance and seen as a cleansing initiation into Christ while Jesus himself told the women at the well if she would have asked she would have received “living water” from Jesus (John 4:10).
• Water can either bring death or life.
• OT Examples: The Flood and the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea. The general fear of the sea and deep waters expressed in Psalms (18:16; 32:6; 46:3) indicate that water could in God’s hands be an instrument of judgment.
• NT Examples: Acceptance of Jesus (baptism of the Holy Spirit – symbolized in water baptism) either leads us to heaven (Acts 16:30-31) or hell (Romans 10:10)
o The Issue of Blood: To parallel water bringing death or life, blood in the bible also pointed to either life or to death.
• OT - Blood is more often used in the sense of death by violence than in any other sense.
• NT – Blood is used in the same way. The “blood of Christ” is understood to John’s audience to be the atoning death (make amends) for the believer and can be used a defense when encountering heretics.
• Matt 26:28 – “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
• Acts 20:28 – “Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.”
• Romans 3:25 – “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”
• Romans 5:9 – “We have now been justified by his blood.”
• Ephesians 1:7 – “In him we have redemption through his blood.”
• Colossians 1:20 – “Making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
• Hebrews 9:12 – “He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.”
• Hebrews 13:12 – “And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his blood.”
o COMMENTARY NOTE: Remember, Cerinthus taught that the Spirit descended on the man Jesus at His baptism and left Him before His crucifixion. Cerinthus denied that one Person, Jesus Christ, came by both water and blood (two things John uses as a defense showing them false and contrary to the true testimony of the Holy Spirit.
• Illustration: A small boy who was consistently late coming home from school. His parents warned him one day that he must be home on time that afternoon, but nevertheless he arrived later than ever. His mother met him at the door and said nothing. At dinner that night, the boy looked at his plate. There was a slice of bread and a glass of water. He looked at his father's full plate and then at his father, but his father remained silent. The boy was crushed. The father waited for the full impact to sink in, then quietly took the boy's plate and placed it in front of himself. He took his own plate of meat and potatoes, put it in front of the boy, and smiled at his son. When that boy grew to be a man, he said, "All my life I've known what God is like by what my father did that night."
• Application: The water and the blood are the exchange for God the Father to His children through His Son Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God. We see this…
o At the glory shown at the transfiguration (John witnessed the event)”
• John 1:14 “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
o By His Works (Jesus miracles and teachings):
• John 5:17 “In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”
o At the Resurrection (Prophecy revealed)
• John 2:19 “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
Evidence #2: The Spirit Bears Witness that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:6b-8)
• Explanation: John continues, “The Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.” (5:6b-8). In order to understand just how the Spirit testifies to us the truth about Jesus, we must understand two factors of our present human condition.
1. We are internally corrupted: There is sin within ourselves that must somehow be “washed” away.
i. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
ii. 1 Corinthians 6:11 “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
2. We are externally corrupted: This sinful condition physically separates God from us and the only reconciliation can be received though the blood of Jesus.
• Isaiah 59:2 “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”
• Psalm 51:2 “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”
• Illustration: There are lots of cattle farmers around here, and, every once in a while, a cow wanders off and gets lost . . . Ask a farmer how a cow gets lost, and chances are he will reply, 'Well, the cow starts nibbling on a tuft of green grass, and when it finishes, it looks ahead to the next tuft of green grass and starts nibbling on that one, and then it nibbles on a tuft of grass right next to a hole in the fence. It then sees another tuft of green grass on the other side of the fence, so it nibbles on that one and then goes on to the next tuft. The next thing you know, the cow has nibbled itself into being lost."
• Application: So John, how does our present condition lead us to understand how the Holy Spirit points us as sinful humans back to Christ? We as a church are in the process of nibbling their way to being lost but the Spirit constantly points us back to truth. We must be aware to not keep moving from one sinful activity to another but more focus on the truths presented: The Holy Spirit bears witness to us at the start of Jesus ministry all the way to His earthly Ministry and even past that to the Saints who believe in His name! Look at the progression…
o At the Virgin birth (Start)
• Luke 1:35 ““The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”
o In being visible appearance at Jesus’ baptism (Before)
• Luke 3:22 “The Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
o By having power over the forces of Darkness (During)
• Matthew 12:28 “It is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
o The receiving of the Holy Spirit after the Death (After/Today)
• John 38-39 “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
• “No matter how much the Gospel is preached, no one accepts it unless the Spirit is present” – Martin Luther
Evidence #3: God the Father Bears Witness that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:9)
• Explanation: John concludes, “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son.” (5:9). We have been given the Spirit, we have been baptized to identify with Christ and understand the blood of Jesus has sealed us until the day of redemption which all comes from God the Father.
o God the Father bears witness of His Son Jesus:
• In Jesus Baptism
• Matthew 3:17 “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
• In the Transfiguration
• Matthew 17:5 “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
• At the death of Christ
• Matthew 27:54 “Surely he was the Son of God!”
• Illustration:
• Application: We have been given hard evidence from the testimonies of men who witnessed the actions of Jesus first hand. We have read and evaluated their assumptions and conclusions that Jesus is the very Son of God. These witnesses are powerful. Now we must acknowledge that it is our turn to give testimony that Jesus Christ is the very Son of God. This is evidence of the undeniable truth for the world to know near and far that Jesus is the Son of God.
CONCLUSION: Three evidences that Jesus is the Son of God.
1. Jesus Earthly Ministry and Death (1 John 5:7a)
2. The Spirit Bears Witness that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:6b-8)
3. God the Father Bears Witness that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:9)
Trust Christ and take what you know to the world!
