Let us turn to God's Word and
turning to that passage we were considering last Lord's Day in
the First General Epistle of John. Reading now at chapter
5 and I'll read from verse 7. For
there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And there are
three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and
the blood, and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness
of men, the witness of God is greater, for this is the witness
of God which hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on
the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth
not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the
record that God gave of his Son." As I said last Lord's Day morning,
it's not an easy passage, difficult for us to understand and to interpret
and all of that compounded by the controversy that centers
upon verse 7. As you're aware, it's left out
of so many of the modern versions or perversions which mutilate
the Word of God, but we fall in with those who say that there
is evidence, not only externally, in that the 7th verse is oft
quoted by some of those in the early church, but there's also
some internal evidence in the very grammatical construction
of verses seven and eight. That last clause in verse eight,
these three agree in one. And the definite article is there
before the number one. These three agree in the one
or in that one. There is clearly a reference
to what has been said previously there in the seventh verse is
agreement between the record or the witness in heaven and
the witness here upon the earth. And these were the two things
that we were considering on the last Lord's Day. The heavenly
witness that is spoken of in verse 7 and the earthly witness
that is spoken of in verse 8. And remember that the witness
is to the great truth of the deity and the eternal sonship
of the Lord Jesus. As we see in verse 9, this is
the witness of God which hath testified of His Son. The three in heaven bear testimony
then to the Son of God and that is the sign witness that is born
here upon the earth. Now in the evening last Lord's
Day we were considering then in particular that earthly witness
that spoken of in verse 8. The three that bear witness in
earth. the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three
agree in one. And I said then that we have
to distinguish here this reference to the Spirit in verse eight,
and that's to the Holy Ghost in verse seven. that heavenly
witness to the truth of the deity and the eternal sonship of Christ
was an immediate witness. It was certainly the case by
the Father as we spoke from heaven at the baptizing of Christ, again
in the Mount of Transfiguration, this is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. Now, there was also an immediate
witness by the Spirit there at the baptizing. We are told
how the heavens opened and the Spirit descended upon Him in
the form of a dove. We are told that God giveth not
His Spirit by measure unto the Lord Jesus. He was the Anointed
One and He was anointed to preach the Gospel and we quote from
those words of Isaiah 61 when we see him in the synagogue at
Nazareth after he has been baptized and led of the Spirit into the
wilderness returning in the power of the Spirit It's the Sabbath
day, his custom was to go to the synagogue and the minister
had given him the book of the prophet and he turned there to
Isaiah 61 and read those words, the Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he had anointed me to preach the gospel. The anointed one and the witness
of the Spirit, a direct witness through him. But I said last
week with regards to what he said in verse 8. That is not
an immediate witness. It's really a witness of the
spirit that is mediated now through the words. And interestingly,
Dr. Gill makes a comment that what
is meant by the spirit here is the gospel. which is a testimony
of Christ's person, offices, and grace. And now we see that it was the
Spirit who had moved those holy men, the prophets in the Old
Testament, when they wrote, so that same Spirit was there to
inspire the New Testament apostles. in all their writings, but not
only in their writings but in their preachings. When Paul writes
to the Corinthians he makes mention of the authority for his ministry. He's having to contend for that
because in that church there were those false teachers who
had crept in. And there were many in the church
who were despisers of Paul and he says concerning himself that
God hath made us able ministers of the New Testament not of the
letter but of the Spirit for the letter killeth but the Spirit
giveth life. Oh, they were such a witness
of the Spirit in all the preaching of the apostles. When Paul writes
to the Thessalonians, he reminds them, our gospel came not unto
you in word only, he says, but in power and in the Holy Ghost
and in much assurance. And is there not still that mediated
ministry of the Spirit under the ministry of the Word, the
faithful preaching of the gospel, there is still a witness of the
Spirit in the earth today, in the ordinance of the ministry
and the preaching of the gospel. And then I said that the witness
of the water is to be understood in terms of baptism. We read
how the Lord Jesus came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ,
not by water only but by water and blood there in verse 6. He
came by water. Who was the great forerunner? It was John the Baptist, the
greatest of all the Old Testament prophets. And he is marked out
by that fact that he is the Baptist. He preaches the baptism of repentance. and when the Lord himself comes
to begin his own public ministry he goes to John at the River
Jordan and he submits, he fulfills all righteousness by receiving
John's baptism there is the beginning of his ministry, there is the
witness of the Baptist the witness of the water and so too with
those who are the true disciples of the Lord Jesus, when they
come to saving faith, they are to be baptized. That was the
command that the Lord gave to His apostles when He sends them
out in the Great Commission at the end of Matthew. They are
to go into all the world, they are to preach the Gospel. And
those that believe, they are to be baptized in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. There is a
witnessing of the water. And then there is the witness
of the blood. And I said that that refers us
to the death of the Lord Jesus. He came by water and blood, not
by water only, but by water and blood. If water marks the commencement,
He's baptizing. Our blood marks the conclusion
of it all. Bloody cross. The awful death
of crucifixion. the shedding of that precious
blood. He must be obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. And even there, as he comes to
die in agonies, crucified in weakness, it says. And yet we
see that Roman centurion, that Gentile sinner, that hardened
soldier. And when he witnessed that dreadful
scene, what was his testimony? Truly this was the Son of God. Those are the words of the centurion.
Or there is a witness to his deity even as he comes to die. And of course we can think of
the blood also in terms of our observance of that Holy Supper
of the Lord. Every time we observe that ordinance
in the breaking of bread, in the pouring out of the wine,
or that cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion
of the blood of Christ? And the Lord says, you do show
the Lord's death, you do show the Lord's death, until He comes. There is a witness, a constant
witnessing. And so here, these three that
bear witness in the earth, the spirits, that is the true ministry
of the gospel, the water, baptism, and the bloods the Lords suffer. These are some of the things
that we were considering last Lord's Day. But I said then we
would go on now and consider what he said in verses 9 and
10 with regards to that inward witness. If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. But this is the witness of God
which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the
Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not
God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that
God gave of his Son. All these words The believer
either believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. Doesn't the Lord Jesus himself
say the kingdom of God is within you? It's an inward kingdom,
it's a spiritual kingdom. And again when salvation comes
into the soul of Tarsus who was elect from the foundation of
the world. He says, when he pleased God
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace
to reveal his Son in me. There is an inward witness by
the Spirit. And we see it so strikingly,
you know, at the time of the Reformation. Audubonier, the
great historian of the Protestant Reformation, Speaking of Luther
and Luther's part, how he saw so clearly that the Reformation
was worked out in the very soul of that man. Luther was not so
much a reformer, but Luther in that sense was the Reformation. God worked it out in that man
Saul, and then worked it out subsequently in the history of
Western Europe. That's a remarkable thing. Or
the one that believeth, he as the witness in himself. And it's something I want us
to consider then for a while this evening. First of all, to say something
with regards to the persons of the witness, or the person, and
then secondly, to consider the great purpose in that witness. What does it say here then, in
verse 9? If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God,
which he hath testified of his Son, he that believeth on the
Son of God hath the witness in himself. Notice what he said in verse
9, and we have it twice. It speaks of the witness of God.
It is God's witness. And as we saw last Lord's Day
morning, that witness of God involves all the persons in the
Godhead. It involves all the fullness
of the Trinity. That's the significance of the
seventh verse, the three that bear record in heaven, the Father,
the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And so we can say that this inward
witness involves every one of those divine persons. But then,
having said that, we have to recognize that it is the peculiar
and special work of God the Holy Spirit to make that salvation
that was purposed by the Father that salvation that was then
purchased, procured by God the Son, it is the Spirit who makes
that salvation such a blessed reality in the soul of the sinner. And in that portion that we read,
we see it time and again. Look at what the Apostle says
there in Romans 8.16, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirits that we are the children of God. It is the spirit itself. Now, there's no problem with
regards to that term itself. It doesn't mean that he's not
a person. It's just that spirit is a neuter
noun. And the accuracy of the authorized
version is there. If it was a masculine noun, it
would say the spirit himself. But the translators, you see,
they want to be exact in their translation, and so they render
it itself. But he is a person. There are
other verses of Holy Scripture that make it quite clear, plain,
that he is a person. He is one that can be sinned
against. He is one that can be grieved. He is not an impersonal
force. He is a person. And it's the
Spirit who bears witness with the spirits of believers that
they are the children of God. And so every believer must know
and have the Spirit. He must experience something
of that gracious working, those mighty and effectual and sovereign
operations of the Spirit in his own soul. And that's quite plain,
quite clear. the Spirit bears witness with
our spirit." Again there in Romans, in Romans 8 and verse 9, Paul
writes, "...Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of
God dwelleth in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his." It is so clear in these various
scriptures. You cannot be a true Christian
unless you know something of the Spirit in your heart. It
is there that the Spirit of God comes, it is there that He works. No man can say that Jesus Christ
is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Oh yes, you can utter the words,
you can make the statements, But for the reality of acknowledging
the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord, as Savior, there must be such
a work of the Spirit in the soul, because again we read there in
Romans chapter 8, the carnal mind, the natural mind is enmity
against God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. It's only by the Spirit that
we can acknowledge that Christ is Lord and Saviour. And it's not just what Paul says
there in that 8th chapter of Romans, it's what the Apostle
John is saying in this epistle. Does he not also speak of the
necessity of that great work of the Spirit? Remember his language
back in the 2nd chapter? There at verse 20 he says, ye
have an unction, an anointing from the Holy One and ye know
all things. He's not saying that every person
who has that gracious anointing of the Spirit is an expert in
every area. He is speaking of spiritual things,
the things that concern salvation, the things that are necessary
for the saving of the sinner. Well, it comes by the ministry
of the Spirit again. Look at what He says in verse
27 of that second chapter, "...the anointing which you have received
of Him abideth in you. And ye need not that any man
teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and
is truth, and is no lie. And even as it hath taught you,
ye shall abide in him." How we must recognize and acknowledge
then that it is the peculiar, the special work of the spirits
to bring this inward testimony into the soul of the sinner. We sometimes sing in the language
of the hymn, he now has the witness within. rejoicing in Jesus by
faith, or that faith of the operation of God, that faith that comes
by the Spirit of God. It is that sealing of the Spirit. In the past we've looked at that
great opening chapter of the Ephesian Epistle, and there we
see the wonder of salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. All true Christians, this may
boast, a truth from nature never learned, that Father, Son and
Holy Ghost, to save us all, are all concerned. And how Paul unfolds
it there, in Ephesians 1 verse 3 through to verse 6, he speaks
of the Father making choice of the people. And He has chosen
them in the Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation of the
world. He is predestinated there. And then he goes on at verse
7 through 12 to speak of the work of the Son in whom we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of His grace. It is not the Father nor is it
the Spirit who is incarnate Now, when the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under
the law. It is the Son who comes to be
the Savior of sinners, to do all that is necessary to accomplish
that salvation. But having spoken of the Father,
and then spoken of the work of the Son, he goes on, remember,
in Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, to speak of the sealing of the Spirit,
in whom also after that jubilee he was sealed, he says, with
that Holy Spirit of promise. After the jubilee, he was sealed. But really the believing and
the sealing do come together. There, in that 13th verse of
Ephesians 1, the verb to believe is the main verb. Literally it
says, believing he was sealed. In the very act of believing
he was sealed. They are concurrent. The construction,
as we've said on a previous occasion, is really the same as we find
many times in the Gospel when it says of the Lord Jesus, and
Jesus answering said. The answering is the main verb,
but as he answers he says. And so there in Ephesians 1.13
the believing is the main verb, but in believing there is a sealing. The seal then, is the Spirit
Himself who hath also sealed us and given us the earnest of
the Spirit in our hearts that's what Paul says 2nd Corinthians
chapter 1 and verse 22 as He seals us so we have the
earnest of the Spirit who is there in the heart and so Paul
says we're not to grieve we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit
of God. How we need to be aware of Him,
our very bodies, if we believe, as our temples of the Holy Spirit. Or grieve not the Spirit of God
whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. The hymn writer says, Dost thou
not dwell in all our hearts and seal us heirs of heaven. Those are believers. The Spirit
beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. There is that direct witnessing
by the Spirit in the hearts of believers. The witness of God but in particular the witness
of God the Holy Spirit in all them that believe. But of course we have to recognize
that we're not always enjoying that miniature of the Spirit,
the Spirit of adoption. Why does Paul say grieve not
the Holy Spirit? Because we're prone to grieve,
we're prone to offend. There might be times when we
need, as it were, to be sealed over again and again. We need
those fresh anointings of the Spirit, those fresh teachings
of the Spirit. But it is the Spirit, it is the
person of the Spirit that we are to think of in particular
when we come to consider this truth of the inward witness. He is the one who bears witness
with the believer's spirit that he is a child of God. But having sought to identify
just who the person is who bears this inward witness, I want us
in the second place to consider the great purpose of that witness. What does it say here in verse
10? It speaks of the record that
God gave of his son. You see, the Holy Spirit bears
witness to that record that God has given of His Son. He's speaking at the end of verse
10 of them that don't believe. They don't believe the record
that God gave of His Son. But with those that do believe,
how the Spirit Himself is witnessing to the truth of that record. Now this epistle is written by
John, the same apostle who is the human author of the gospel
that bears his name. And remember the things that
John says there when we come to the end of his gospel in chapter 20. John chapter 20 and verses 13
and 31 he says many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence
of his disciples which are not written in this book but these
are written that she might believe that Jesus is the Christ the
Son of God and that believing he might have
life through his name this record then that we have in John's Gospel,
but it's true of the fourfold Gospel, Matthew, Mark and Luke
also. These things are written that
ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. This
is the very thing that God is witnessing to back in 1 John
chapter 5. The witness that God hath testified
of his Son. It's a true record that has been recorded by those who
were eyewitnesses, even the apostles, and not writing in their own
strength, but writing under the gracious inspiration of the Holy
Spirit. It's a word of truth. The Lord
Jesus says in His great high priestly prayer to His Father,
Thy word is truth. And this is the word. It's a
true word. All those holy men of God in
the Old Testament, they spake as they were moved by the Spirit
of God and these apostles. Here is the purpose of the witness.
The Spirit bears testimony to the word. The word of truth. But when we think of the inward
witness, are we not then to take it a step further does it not
have to do with the fact that that self same spirit is the
one who applies that word brings it into our hearts, brings it
into our souls we have to receive it James says
that we are to with meekness receive the engrafted word that
is able to save the soul It's not enough to have the truth
of God, His Word, before us on the page of Holy Scripture. Thank
God for that. These glorious objective truths
of the Gospel. But we want that Word to enter
into our very souls. We want it to become meat and
drink to us. We want to be those who have
such a living vital knowledge of the Lord Jesus, the very thing
that John speaks of there in that sixth chapter. We want to
eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God, not in some
carnal way. It's not cannibalism that he's
speaking of, it's a spiritual feeding upon the Lord Jesus and
where is it that Christ is revealed? It's the record that God has
given of His Son. And now it must be applied. Now,
with regards to that application, I want to mention two things.
We might say one is more subjective, the other objective. First of
all, there is that conviction of sin that comes, that understanding
of the depth of our sinnership. the awful truth of our total
depravity. The witness, it says, is in himself. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. Now, when it's in himself, surely
this is something that the man is going to feel. It's not just
a matter of it entering into his head and him assenting to
truth. It has entered into the very depths of the man's being.
There's something felt here. True religion is more than notion.
Something must be known and felt. Now, here is the strangeness
of the ways of God when it comes to salvation. What is it that
we feel? Well, we feel our impurity, we
feel our impotence, our incapacity, our insufficiency. We feel all
of these things. God brings us to that where we
are made to see and to acknowledge, to confess that we are lost,
we're deaf in trespasses and in sins. And of course we know
that that is the great purpose of the law of God. We know that
what things whoever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law. that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
become guilty before God. That's where God brings us. Our mouths stopped, what can
we do, what can we say? We're undone. We can do nothing
to save ourselves. We have nothing to plead, no
works of righteousness. We're simply maids. to understand
something about real sinnership before God or it's a witness
that has entered into us that's the law but it's not just that
we need to have some experience of the conviction of sin in the
light of the law we need to know something of the gospel and that's
why those are such remarkable words that we have There, at
the end of Ezekiel 16, it's a great chapter, is it not? I'm sure
you've read through Ezekiel 16, that long chapter. But I like
the way it concludes where God speaks of His covenant. I will
establish my covenant with thee, and thou shalt know that I am
the Lord. Hear His salvation of the Lord. I will, says God. I will establish, thou shalt
know, There's the order you see. It's God's will that is paramount.
It's what God has determined. I will establish my covenant
with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord that thou
mayest remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any
more because of thy shame when I am pacified toward thee for
all that thou hast done, saith the Lord. Now that's not the
law. as we have it in Romans 3.19, where every mouth is stopped
and all the world is guilty. No, here is the mouth closed. Never open thy mouth any more
because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee. It's the
Gospel. Oh, it's the Gospel. It's that
inward witness of the Spirit. It's that great work of the Spirit
in the soul of the sinner. Oh, this 10th verse is so binary. The believer, the unbeliever.
He that believeth on the Son of God hath a witness in himself.
He that believeth not, God hath made him a liar, because he believeth
not the record that God gave of his son. The unbeliever doesn't
believe the record. The believer does. And he does
it not just with a mental ascent, he's had an experience of it.
He has the witness in himself. He has the witness in himself.
He knows what he is. He knows what sin is. Or go back
to the opening chapter, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar. And His Word is not in us. It's
the same one you see. He makes God a liar, this man,
who does not believe. If God's truth is in us, if God's
Word is in us, will be those who will come to acknowledge
our sins, to confess our sinnership. It's not just a form of words. It's not just a scent into certain
doctrines. It's something known in the soul.
The form of words, O Esau-San, can never save us all. The Holy
Ghost must give the wound and make the wounded whole. Oh, he
has the witness in himself. He understands what he is. He
understands something of the depth of seeing. But I said,
not only something subjective here, but also something objective.
And what is the objective? It's to do with the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's the truth of the Lord's
divinity, His deity, that He is the Son of God. This is the witness of God that
he hath testified of his Son. Go back to verse 5, "...who is
he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God." That's the belief. We have to believe that
Jesus is the Son of God. With Peter there, and Caesarea,
Philippi, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And how John is constantly, constantly
contending for these things. Look at what he says again in
chapter 2 verse 22, Who is a liar, but he that denieth of Jesus
is the Christ, He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the
Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father,
but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Oh,
if we acknowledge the Son, we have the Father. If we don't
acknowledge the Son, there is no Father. There can be no Father. It's the truth then of Christ.
the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father, and He is God. O that
Christ is God I can avouch, and for His people cares, since I
have prayed to Him as such, and He has heard my prayers. And how it is the Spirit who
helps us in our prayers, that inward witness of the Spirit.
Why we read it there again in that 8th chapter of Romans? Likewise
the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. We know not what to pray for
as we ought. But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings that cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. All that blessed
work of the Spirit, that inward witness of the Spirit in our
hearts. How we need to know Him and how
we can pray to God that He would grant us that gift. The Lord
Jesus says, if ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto
your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit. to them that ask Him or were
to ask and to ask and to ask and to ask again and again that
we might know that gracious and blessed ministry of the Spirit
no man can say that Jesus Christ is Lord but by the Holy Ghost
or God grant that we might know then that inward witness If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God
which hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. And this is the record that God
has given to us eternal life and this life is in His Son. Oh, the Lord bless His word to
us tonight. Amen.