The Bible says the child of God has a "know-so" salvation. We can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are a child of God. John speaks about the witness of the Holy Spirit, who assures God's children they belong to Him. First of all, the Holy Spirit bears witness:
1. To The Son - vs. 6-7
"But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you."
- John 16:13-15 (NIV)
A. The Holy Spirit bears witness to the Lord's coming for us.
The Spirit witnesses to the fact that Jesus is God come in human flesh to make Himself to known as we could never know Him, and to do for what us what we could never do for ourselves, pay the price for our sin.
John combated the Cerenthian heresy when he wrote this letter and his Gospel, which said Jesus was only a man. But at His baptism, the eternal Christ came upon Him, and was with Him until the crucifixion, where the Christ was withdrawn, so that Jesus died as a mere man. Jesus came by "water and blood," alluding to the beginning and end of His ministry. Jesus' ministry started with His baptism. The Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove, and the Father said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). John says Jesus came by blood - a reference to the cross. The point is, Jesus was just as much the Christ when He died on the cross as when He was baptized. He never ceased to be the Christ, the eternal Son of God.
Jesus was God before His birth (John 1:1); Jesus was God at His birth (John 1:14); Jesus was God at His baptism; Jesus was God on the cross; Jesus was God in His resurrection; & Jesus is God for all eternity! God was intimately involved in the sacrifice of Calvary!
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst."
- 1 Timothy 1:15 (NIV)
The Spirit testifies that the cross was no accident or "plan B"; it was the primary purpose of God coming in human form through Jesus!
B. The Holy Spirit bears witness to the Lord's commitment to us.
In John 19:34, says water and blood came from the wound in Jesus' side after His death. Why was this? Jesus was scourged prior to His crucifixion. The whip, or flagrum, consisted of braided leather strips with metal balls and pieces of bone woven into the braids. The balls caused deep bruising. The pieces of bone cut the flesh. The cuts exposed skeletal muscles, veins, sinews, and bowels of the victim. Beating were often so severe, victims wouldn't survive.
Those who did survive often went into hypovolemic shock, due to low blood volume. The heart would race to pump blood that wasn't there; the victim would collapse or faint due to low blood pressure; the kidneys would shut down to preserve body fluids; and they would experience extreme thirst as the body sought to replenish lost fluids. Scripture indicates Jesus experienced hypovolemic shock as a result of being flogged.
The sustained rapid heartbeat caused by hypovolemic shock would cause pericardial effusion, that is, fluid would gather in the sack around the heart. This is why, after Jesus died and a soldier thrust a spear through His side, that blood and water came out.
Now, in light of the terrible physical suffering Jesus endured, suffering that often took the life of others, how was it that He was able to make it to Calvary? What motivated Him? It was His mission.
"Still, it’s what GOD had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from it - life, life, and more life. And GOD’s plan will deeply prosper through him. " - Isaiah 53:10 (The Message)
“The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.” - John 10:17-18 (NLT)
What motivated Jesus to get to Calvary was a divine appointment - an appointment set by the Father to be met in order to make it possible for us to have forgiveness of sin and a personal relationship with the God of the universe. An appointment to pay the price for our sins.
Only after He had finished paying the price for sin did Jesus declared, "tetelestai," "it is finished," "paid in full;" and only after He could declare the price for sin fully paid, did He breathe His last. The water and blood speak of His commitment to keep His appointment with our sin, to complete His divine mission, and accomplish the Father's will.
Secondly, the Holy Spirit bears witness . . .
2. In The Saint - vs. 9-12
The Spirit bears witness to the Son to convince us that our salvation is sufficient; and He bears witness in the saint to convince us that our salvation is sure.
I've shared about the zeal of John Wesley. Strangely enough, it wasn't all of the work he did for God that gave him assurance of salvation.
In his early years, Wesley lacked assurance of his salvation. He had a masters degree from Oxford, and was ordained by the Church of England. In school, he did social ministry. When school was over, he served as a missionary chaplain in the Georgia colony. On his trip to America, he saw assurance in the Moravian believers among whom he traveled. In a storm, they didn't panic, but had assurance he lacked. Wesley became friends with a Moravian minister named Spangenberg. They had long talks about assurance. Assurance didn't come to Wesley, though, while he served in the Georgia colony.
Assurance came to Wesley a year or more after he returned to London. Wesley went to a small group meeting on Aldergate Street. A man read from Luther's preface to his commentary in Romans. After which, Wesley, stood and testified that his heart had been "strangely warmed."
Where did Wesley gain assurance? The same place John mentions here. In his heart through the presence of the Holy Spirit. As Paul said:
"The Spirit himself speaks to our spirits and makes us sure that we are God’s children." - Romans 8:16 (Easy to Read)
Finally, the Holy Spirit bears witness . . .
3. Through The Scriptures - v. 13
The Spirit bears witness to the Son to convince us that our salvation is sufficient; He bears witness in the saint to convince us that our
salvation is sure; and he bears witness through the Scriptures to convince us that our salvation is supreme.
Eternal life refers to the fact that the life we have in Christ is one that counts for eternity! John says that eternal life is ours NOW! It's not something we hope to inherit one day; it is something we possess today. Through God's Word, we learn how to walk in the reality of the eternal life that is ours and gain assurance of our salvation.
"His divine power has given us everything we need to experience life and to reflect God’s true nature through the knowledge of the One who called us by His glory and virtue. Through these things, we have received God’s great and valuable promises, so we might escape the corruption of worldly desires and share in the divine nature. God took the first step to rescue us from this corrupt world. He has granted us His power, revealed to us true knowledge, and spoken to us great promises. He has done all this for a reason: that we might participate in His own nature and reflect His own life. But we are not passive observers of God’s saving actions. We must receive His grace, grow in knowledge, and join Him in this work of redemption. To achieve this, you will need to add virtue to your faith, and then knowledge to your virtue; to knowledge, add discipline; to discipline, add endurance; to endurance, add godliness; to godliness, add
affection for others as sisters and brothers; and to affection, at last, add love. For if you possess these traits and multiply them, then you will never be ineffective or unproductive in your relationship with our Lord Jesus the Anointed; but if you don’t have these qualities, then you will be nearsighted and blind, forgetting that your past sins have been washed away. Therefore, brothers and sisters, work that much harder to confirm that God has called you and claimed you. If you do this, then you will never fall along the way; and you can be sure that you will be richly welcomed into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King." - 2 Peter 1:3-11 (The
Voice)
Conclusion: I once heard about a believer so plagued with doubts about his salvation, that he slept each night with one foot one the floor, so if he woke up and thought he was about to die, he might be able to kneel one last time to pray to sinner's prayer.
God doesn't want us to live that way. He wants us to rest assured that we are His; and He has given us His Spirit, who bears witness to the Son to convince us that our salvation is sufficient; He bears witness in the saint to convince us that our salvation is sure; and he bears witness through the Scriptures to convince us that our salvation is supreme.
