As John draws this short letter to a close, I am amazed by the manner in which his intensity builds. He increasingly, uses the phrase, we know. His task has been to call the church back to foundational things. The effectiveness of this series of sermons is based on our response to a very important question: How has the inspired Word of God called us back to our foundation?
Unlike the society in which we live, a true mark of a Christian is the certainty we have when it comes to foundational truths about God. While we may not know everything, we do know certain things. In fact, we voice them forthrightly, without any sense of shame or hesitation. There are foundational truths of the Christian faith that are as secure as the fact that the Sun appears first in the East and puts us to bed at night when it disappears in the West.
Philip Wylie says that Americans are becoming a “nothing” people, “a generation of zeroes,” because we do not believe anything.
As self-responsibility within our society has atrophied, what sort of a nation have we become? One social critic, Philip Wylie, has de¬veloped the idea that we are be¬coming a nation of nonpersons, engaging in "nothing education," "nothing readership," "nothing citizenship," "nothing art," and "nothing music." He describes our society as a "generation of zeros," produced by an educational sys¬tem which avoids the creation of any "trauma" for the individual student, from which all competi¬tion, all discipline, and all possi¬bility of low grades have been re¬moved from the student’s path. He cites television as the creator of a generation of nothing read¬ers. He cites the current student population who all too often are for nothing and who often assume no role or responsibility in their society except that of criticism and nihilism as nothing citizens and eventually nothing persons. He finds the total absence of crea¬tivity in much of modern art as a demonstration of nothing art and levels much the same charge against modern music. He cites the noninvolvement of the mem¬bers of our society, people who are unwilling in case after case to offer aid or even call the police in times of crisis, as for example in the Kew Gardens, N. Y. mur¬der of a woman, witnessed by some thirty-eight people who did not want to become "involved." (Philip Wylie, "Generation of Zeros," This Week Magazine, Feb. 5, 1967.)
We have been told by the self-appointed philosophers of our day that no statement can be absolute truth. Their self-refuting statement backs them into a corner because we can conclude, using their logic, that their statement is false; therefore, we can believe certain things.
These individuals accuse believers of exercising what they call “blind faith”–faith without any basis in fact. Condescendingly they quip, “I would love to believe like you do, but I simply cannot.” The implication is that they cannot divorce their will from reason and act unreasonably.
I John climaxes with the suspense that is characteristic of courtroom drama–something that continues to fascinate people. We are fascinated by the arguments of the prosecutors and defense lawyers. Yet, a critical piece to the courtroom scene is the variability of the witnesses called upon to testify.
So it was in the trial of Dr. Sam Shepherd, a doctor accused of killing his wife, John T. Scopes, a science teacher indicated and found guilty of teaching evolution in Tennessee, and the famous O.J. Simpson trial.
Near the end of the first century in the Roman province of Asia various testimonies about the person of Jesus were circulated. Various forms of Gnosticism are still circulated today. Again and again witnesses are called upon to verify the humanity and divinity of Jesus.
John is inspired to let us know that belief in Jesus Christ is not disassociated from reason. In our text, he gives us three good reasons for believing. Ray Stedman says, “The whole genius of the Christian faith is that it rests upon facts.” What are these facts?
1. Acts of God in history.
2. Incontrovertible movements of God which cannot be explained away or dismissed by a mere wave of the hand.
3. Truths which are imbedded in the hearts of those who belong to the human race.
In the verses we are going to explore this morning we will see each of these testimonies bearing witness to the authenticity of the call to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. The witnesses upon who John bases his case are trustworthy.
I. THE HISTORICITY OF JESUS CHRIST IS A TESTIMONY OF GOD’S REDEMPTIVE PLAN
This 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. 1 John 5:6
John calls upon three witnesses, two are external and historical and the other is internal and personal. The key is that they agree.
First the historical. John wants to assure the church that the message of Jesus Christ is historical truism–not some fantastic sounding myth fabricated by the apostles.
“This is HE who came...” (????? ho elthon) The Greek construction refers to a definite historical event. Can we know outside the Gospels?
• Josephus, Jewish historian in Antiquities of the Jews (AD 93) wrote about the historicity of Jesus
• Pliny and Tacitus, Roman writers, made numerous references to the historical Jesus
There are many literary pieces that were unequaled in their testimonies to the historical Jesus.
“This is the one,” the eternal Son of God and the One who made his appearance on earth. These are the facts upon which our faith is built.
The symbol of water and blood appear to be a reference to the baptism and death of Jesus. There are various interpretations of this passage:
• Many reformers say the water is a reference to the ordinance of baptism and the blood a reference to the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. Water is a symbol of baptism but blood does not signify the Lord’s Supper
• Some view this as a reference to the spear thrust into the side of Jesus, from which blood and water flowed
• “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.” John 19:34
Water and blood represent historical experiences through which Jesus passed and bore witness to his divine-human person. Here water is a reference to his baptism and the blood to his death. (Bryson, p. 126)
John has kept his message simple and I believe he has not changed it at this point. Remember the Gnostics said that, at most, divinity came upon Jesus at his baptism but departed before the cross. John is saying, “No, no, no.” The One who came from heaven passed through water and blood.
The first witness says, “look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
II. THE DIVINE TESTIMONY OF GOD AFFIRMS JESUS CHRIST
7 For there are three that testify:
8 the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.
9 We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. John 5:7-9
Keep in mind that Scripture affirms the unity of the three witnesses. In addition to the historical witness, John points us toward the divine witness. What does the divine witness tell us?
God’s testimony tells us He gave his Son.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. John 17:1-5
Modern translations omit text (:7) as found in the King James Version; no manuscripts prior to the 15th Century have the line: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one.” This creates no problem, whether you leave the text there are not–all scholars agree that John is establishing the verity of Jesus Christ as affirmed by divine representation. Holy Spirit testifies to Jesus Christ.
This is the role of Holy Spirit, not to make an entity to himself–Holy Spirit always points us to Jesus. One of the fallacies of modern Christianity is making a religion that centers solely upon Holy Spirit. Listen to your religious vocabulary, if it puts the focus entirely upon Holy Spirit instead of Jesus, something is wrong. Holy Spirit bears witness to Jesus. Holy Spirit affirms the birth, life, death, resurrection and abiding presence of Jesus.
When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.” John 15:26
"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all 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.
14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” John 16:12
The divine witness by Holy Spirit tells us the truth about Jesus. The Gnostics could not agree about Jesus. Many human testimonies cannot agree upon Jesus’ identity and efficacious nature. Yet, Scripture clearly draws our attention to the fact that the divine witness–the Spirit, the water, and the blood– are in perfect agreement.
What do they agree on? That which John has made very clear! Christ died for our sins–he was an atoning sacrifice for us!
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10
He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him; with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5
The external witnesses have spoken. The historicity of Jesus is as much a part of the landscape of society as the Statue of Liberty who stands with the victorious torch thrust heavenward!
The divine witness by which God has revealed his purposes is irrefutable–those who argue against the centrality of Jesus Christ alone for salvation break themselves against the truth of all truth. I cannot understand why so many people insist upon struggling against the fact of Jesus Christ. The best they can do is beg to subjective assertions to disprove a truth proclaimed in Scripture whereby history and divinity bear witness to its verity.
III. THE INNER TESTIMONY TO ETERNAL LIFE THAT IS FOUND IN JESUS CHRIST
Here in lies the key–we must do something with the external truth of Jesus and His redeeming death on the cross–it has to become living reality within our lives!
10 Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:10ff
Here is the existential question that we all must answer: Based upon the verity of Jesus Christ, do you know that you have eternal life?
John is not talking about a nebulous, all-encompassing, generic spiritual experience. He says, “Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart.” (:10) “Believes”( ? p?ste??? pisteuo {pist-yoo'-o})—the (one) believing—means to “join life.” When we open our life to God, Jesus’ life is joined with our life. The authenticated experience of Jesus becomes a transforming part of our lives.
Though I cannot spend much time on this, I want us to understand something very critical. William James, in a very famous book, The Varieties of Religious Experience, says that people experience God in many ways; however, he says the common denominator in each genuine experience is to believe, to open life to God. When we do this we have the witness of Jesus Christ in our heart.
Non-believers do not have that inner witness. Are you more prone to put focus on doubt than verity? Do you delight in raising more questions about the centrality of Jesus’ atoning death than affirming it effectual power? Do you spend more time criticizing the proclamation of the necessity for people to be born again than pointing people to the gift of salvation? Do you struggle with spending time with God–in prayer, Bible study, and corporate worship?
Let me be candid, if these are things with which you struggle, it is because you have held the gospel of Jesus at a distance. Harold Bryson says,
“Refusing to believe means one refuses to experience the power of Christ. Failure to open one’s life to the living Lord means one considers God to be false. The non-believer does not have the witness of experience.” (P. 129, 30)
The Gnostics could not say with John the Baptist, “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” Can you?
Faith is not based upon feelings! Faith is based upon the historical and divine proclamation that Jesus is the one and only source of eternal life.
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12
Faith is that personal experience whereby a person who is divided and consciously wrong and unhappy…
? Receives grace,
? Gains assurance, and
? Based upon the acknowledgment and confession Jesus, gains at-one-ment with God, self and others.
William James writes in Lecture ix of The Varieties of Religious Experience about conversion as follows:
To be converted, to be regenerated, to receive grace, to experience religion, to gain an assurance, are so many phrases which denote the process, gradual or sudden, by which a self hitherto divided, and consciously wrong inferior and unhappy, becomes unified and consciously right superior and happy, in consequence of its firmer hold upon religious realities. This at least is what conversion signifies in general terms, whether or not we believe that a direct divine operation is needed to bring such a moral change about.
CONCLUSION
John’s message is powerful: Believe in Jesus as God incarnate and let him reign supremely in your life and you will have that inner witness that is supported by history and divine truth.
Most of the problems of our world would be solved if people would only believe.
The head of a mental hospital in London once told Billy Graham, “Half of our patients could be immediately dismissed if they could obtain somehow the assurance of forgiveness.”
Gary Yontef (“Gestalt Therapy Theory of Change) says,
However, often the shame has the meaning of the person not being acceptable, lovable, and/or worthwhile as a person; often the guilt creates an unreasonable limitation on behavior. This becomes a significant barrier to awareness, self-acceptance, experimentation, movement toward wholeness, transparency to self, and so forth. In some cases the person gets caught in a shame-guilt bind. If the person does the behavior (e.g., acts assertively) he or she feels guilty; or if the person does not do the behavior (e.g., does not act assertively) she/he feels inadequate, i.e., ashamed. One question that arises for the psychotherapist is how a person can be helped to change without giving or confirming the person’s sense that they are bad, not enough, not acceptable, defective? How can people whose change toward increasing wholeness is interfered with by excessive guilt, shame, anxiety, or depression be worked with without confirming that the person is indeed defective?
By not believing in Jesus people rob themselves of quality life. They have to act like nothing is wrong or they wander through life lost, confused, and without purpose. People need abundant life. Life that is adventurous, full, meaningful, and relevant. For the person that has Jesus has life, because the Son of God is life.
Dr. H. A. Ironside used to tell of a man who had great doubts about whether or not he was a Christian. He had been troubled by certain theorists who said that God only elected certain individuals to be saved; if you were not of the elect there was no chance for you. The perfectly proper Biblical truth of election had been distorted to extreme proportions, and he felt that there was no way that he could know whether or not he was among the elect.
One day he went home after hearing a sermon on the verse, "As many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God. He that believes on the Son has eternal life," {cf, John 1:12, 3:36}. He got down on his knees and said, "Now, Father, I want to settle this question. Show me whether I have eternal life, or not." And opening his Bible, his eyes fell on these verses, "He who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne to his Son." He said in his prayer, "Father, I don't want to make you a liar and it says here that if I don't believe the testimony that you give about the son I'm making you a liar. Now I don't want to do that. What is the testimony?" And he read the next part, "This is the testimony," and he stopped right there. He was so overwrought that he put his thumb over the rest of the verse and said, "Lord, it says here that if I don't believe the testimony that you gave concerning your Son, I'm making you a liar, and I don't want to make you a liar. I believe that I've got what that testimony is right under my thumb here, and I'm going to take my thumb off and read it, and Lord, help me to believe it, because I don't want to make you a liar."
With great trepidation he raised his thumb and read, ". . . that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." All of a sudden it came home to him. John makes it so clear, "He who has received the Son has the life; and he who has not received the Son has not the life." No matter what else he may have, no matter how religious he may be, if he has not received the Son he does not have life. He entered into peace and became a preacher of this great truth.
Ray Stedman, “Why do We Believe?” p. 5
Can you say with certainty that you have acknowledged and confessed the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior–is there an inner witness to His abiding presence in your life?
Open your heart to the inspection of the Spirit of God. Does He see the Son at the center of your life? Does he see you yielding to Him? Does he see fruit that is being produced by his redeeming power? Remember what Scripture says, “He that has the Son has life; he that does not have the Son of God does not have life.” Does the Spirit of God see exuberant life flowing as a spring welling up within your soul?
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. John 7:37-39
If not, will you pray this simple prayer.
O Lord, grant us this precious moment whereby we may open to your sweet precious knock upon the door of our heart as you extend an invitation for us to open the door of our lives and allow you to come into our hearts.
