Let's read verses 4 through 10.
1 John 5. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh
the world. Now this is the victory that
overcometh the world. Our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. This is he. He came by water
and blood. Jesus Christ. Not by water only,
but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit, the Holy
Spirit, that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost. These three are one. 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. 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. This is a clear declaration of
the truth, of the Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit. But this is not a proof text. The Bible wasn't written as proof
text. Look at verse 13. These things
have I written unto you that believe. on the name of the Son
of God. Faith is a gift of God according
to His working power. I keep saying this, but we're
not indoctrinated into the Kingdom. We're not educated in the Kingdom.
We don't just come to an understanding. We don't come to a knowledge
of the doctrines of grace. Christ comes to us. The Spirit
of God comes to us and gives new birth and it's miraculous.
It's powerful. We come to know a person and
then all the doctrines It begins to be very clear in light of
this person. No proof text. God doesn't prove
himself to man. God reveals himself. He makes himself known. These
things are written unto you that believe. Why did the disciples
believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God? He made himself
known. And so they believed everything,
you see. And they were not going to be overcome by the world.
Why? Because Christ revealed himself to them, made himself
known to them. It's not a head, they knew a
person. They believed in their heart. And all this goes together, we've
already looked at verses 4 and 5, but it all goes together,
it's all vitally connected, every verse. Verse 5, who is he that
overcometh the world? He's talking about not being
overcome by the world, not in love with it, not following it, not perishing
with it. Our Lord said of his people in
his prayer, my people are not of this world. And he said, I
don't pray for the world, I pray for them. One time he told Peter,
I pray that your faith fail not. What was Peter's faith? It was
him. He believed Christ. I believe, we believe and are
sure thou art the Christ. You have words of life. And he
said, I've chosen you. Not being overcome by the world,
not being in love with it, is not being your life, the world
is not your life, not following it, not perishing with it. Who
is he that overcometh the world? He that believeth, I mean really
knoweth and believeth in his heart that God came down. John 1, go back to 1 John, John
is going to end where he began with telling us who Christ is.
Next to the last verse in 1 John is, We know the Son of God has
come and given us an understanding that we might know Him. It is
true. John chapter 1, the Gospel of John, the same John wrote
this, and it says, In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with
God, the Word was God. And we've seen so clearly how
that Christ is the Word, the Word is Christ. The Bible is not just a book
about things, it's Christ, it's Him. The Word was made flesh. The Bible is a person, the truth,
the way to God, the truth, life. And it says, verse 3, all things
were made by and without Him was not anything made that was
made. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. The
light shineth in darkness, darkness comprehended not. In verse 14,
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. John, in his epistle,
go back to 1 John, he said life was manifested, the Word of life,
we've handled, we've handled the Word. John was talking about
a person, not a book. Those who have life understand
what I'm saying. Right? In our text it says, on
down, it says, He that hath the Son. Not just a knowledge of
Him or a belief in Him, but hath the Son. Life! It's really not
something you can explain. You can't explain the new birth.
You can't do it. You can't even really explain
what happened to you. Dr. Blandner, I know this was
blind, I see. I know who did it. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. Again, one of our ladies asked
for a memory verse. And I gave her one. Immediately,
I thought, well, 1 Corinthians 1.30. Memorize that. That Christ
is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, All of God's people know this.
They may not be able to quote that verse, but they know that
Jesus Christ is their wisdom. And when they see that Christ
is wisdom, wisdom from above, the wisdom of the world becomes
foolish. And they're not going to be overcome
by it. They're not going to fall by
it. When you hear wisdom that is cry, you're not going to listen
to all these other voices. You're not going to hear. No one is going to convince you
otherwise. Nothing anybody says or nothing that happens is going
to destroy your faith. Nothing. Because your faith is
a person. And he is your wisdom, righteousness. Well, that's not my text. But
it is my time. You will not be overcome. If
God gives you this faith, and it's life is what it is, reveals
Christ in you, you will not be overcome by this world. Nothing
that happens to you in this world will destroy you. Your sins,
though they If they trouble you, you will not be overcome. Because you trust in a person. You grow to know something about
his sovereign power. You grow to know something about
his mercy. He's too merciful to let his
people perish. You know something about his
love. He loves His people more than we could possibly love our
own. So, who is He that overcometh? Alright, now verse 6 tells us, this is He that came by water
and blood. Who is this? I believe in Jesus. Well, oh my! He is so much more
than just Jesus. We are going to talk about Mary in the
next message. Mary, after he was born and grew
up, she wrongly called him son every now and then. After a while,
she is never going to think of him again as her son. That all served its purpose.
But now she's going to finally come to realize that this is
God. This wasn't my baby boy. This
is God. And he just chose me as a vessel
to bring him into this world. Jesus, he's so much more. This is he. When John, in 1 John
1, tried to describe him, he's called
him that. That, which was what was in the
beginning. That, which we've heard and handled. That word, that life, that life,
the life was manifested. So this is he that came, verse
6, by water and blood, by water and blood, that came in the flesh.
Chapter 4, verse 3, every spirit or preacher that confesses or
preaches that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. You remember
that? We looked at that very carefully. Every spirit that
confesses not. Every spirit that confesses that
He is come in the flesh. We looked at that very carefully,
didn't we? What did that mean? Well, this
is He that came. He was before He came. He didn't
begin. at Bethlehem. He had no beginning. This is the eternal God. Eternal
Son, which is both. I don't understand. I don't either.
But that's who He is. This is He that came by water
and blood. Oh, brother, do you know how
much this book talks about water and blood? The creation began
with water. I told many, I said, this book,
the truth just grows. It just grows like a sponge. You fill it with water, it just
keeps growing until you think, I can't do this. It's too big,
like the ocean. There was a man who saw the Pacific
Ocean for the first time. Poor fellow, ignorant fellow,
he came across the Pacific Ocean. He said, hmm, not as big as I
thought it was. Maybe he didn't get that. He
couldn't see. How much of it could he see? Only what he could see. Do you
know how vast that ocean is? Do you know how deep it is? Not
as deep as I thought it was. There's a place in the ocean
that's deeper than Mount Everest. Seven miles! Oh, the depth of
the riches. The knowledge of God. His ways
pass by in that. Who is this? Jesus. He came by water. I was going
to have you turn Genesis chapter 1, 1 through 3. The first three
chapters mentions water, water, water. The face of the water.
The Spirit of God moved on the face of the water. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth, and the world was without form and
void, and water, and God spoke, and the Spirit of God moved on
the face of the water, and then there was a division between
the waters in heaven and the waters on earth, and water, water,
water. What's that talking about? Water?
It's all about Christ in the volume of the book. Water. Why does this planet have life
on it and no other planet has it? Water. He that hath the sun hath
light. Water. Water. Water was a divider
between the heaven and the earth, a separator. There was a parting
of the water. The Lord made the dry land appear,
a parting of the water. The land was revealed by the
parting of the water. Would you like to expound on
that a little bit? It's not expoundable. A flood
came. God destroyed this world by water. Who's going to destroy this world?
Christ is. But Peter said there were eight
souls saved by water. Then you go over to Exodus where
the children of Israel, they all passed through the Red Sea. That's water. and blood. And the waters were a wall unto
them, but the Egyptians were destroyed.
Water, water, water. But there's one you've got to
see, if you've never seen it. Exodus 17. All right? Water, the water of creation.
And then there's the water of life. What did our Lord call
Himself? The water. When He revealed Himself
to that woman at the well, it was by water. He said, He that
hath this water that I shall give, there'll be a well springing,
water of life springing up. Exodus 17, Christ is the water
of life. He that hath the Son hath life. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. What's that? It's not of what?
It's who? It's Christ. The water, alright? The children of Israel were murmuring,
complaining, Exodus 17. A bunch of no-good sinners, and
they said, we're thirsty. We're gonna die of thirst. We
need water. Verse 2, the people that chide
with Moses, give us water that we may drink. Moses said, why
chide with me? Why do you tempt the Lord? The
people thirsted there for water. The people murmured against Moses. Just like Christ, when Christ
the water of life came, Christ the rock came, the people murmured. They didn't believe him. So Moses,
verse 4, cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto
this people? They were almost ready to stone me. And the Lord
said unto Moses, Go before the people. Moses is Christ here. The rock
is Christ. The water is Christ. Go on before
the people. Take with thee the elders of
Israel and thy rod. That's Christ. It's his word.
Smite the river that you smote the river with. It's part of
the river with that rod. Read on. Take in thine hand and
go. Behold, I will stand there before
thee on the rock. And thou shalt smite the rock. And there shall come water out
of it. Christ is the smitten rock. Christ crucified. When Christ
hung on that cross and he died, a soldier came by. John 19, go
over there, that's where this is saying, John chapter 19. A
soldier came by with a spear, pierced his side, made a cleft
in that rock, his ribbon side, and out of it came water and
blood. Christ, the water of life. Christ,
by His death, we live. So Christ is the water of life,
smitten rock, and all through the Old Testament, John 19, look
at this. It says in, here it is, verse
31. The Jews, because it was preparation,
the body should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day.
That Sabbath day was a high day. Salt Pilate, their legs might
be broken if they might be taken away. They came as soldiers and
broke the leg of the first. And they walked around Christ
to the other and broke his legs. When they came to Jesus, they
saw that he was dead already, they'd break not his legs. Why? Because God said not a bone of
him should be broken. That the scriptures might be
fulfilled, okay? But they came to him, and in verse 34, one
of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith
there came out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record,
and the record is true. He knoweth that he saith it true,
that ye might believe. And these things were done that
the scripture might be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken,
and again another scripture, they shall look on him whom they
pierced. And many, many, many, many other scriptures which talks
about Christ, His blood, and His sanctification and justification. Blood and water. Throughout the
Old Testament, I was going to have you turn to another place.
Water is used in all the sacrifices, all the ceremonies, all the types,
all the pictures, all the shadows. Water, water, water, everywhere,
water. One in particular, in the tabernacle there was a vessel
called a laver of brass, and his feet were solid brass. You remember hearing that? This is he whose feet are like
brass. It was a laver of water. And
the high priest and his sons were all purified by that water. They were all to come to that
laver of water to be washed by that water. There was no other
place to wash. No other water that would cleanse
them and purify them that God would accept. And they all, the
high priest, Christ said, for their sakes I sanctify myself. that they also might be sanctified,
John 17. And he said, sanctify them through
thy truth. Ephesians 5.26, the Holy Spirit
washes his people with water, the water of the word, which
is Christ. All the way through it, all of
the oblations, all of the sacrifices, all the ceremonies, water, water,
water, water, water. One time the Pharisees, you know,
they were very careful to wash their hands, but they weren't
cleaning off the true filth. They weren't cleaning off the
true filth, their hands. Our Lord said they're whited
sepulchers. And they cleaned the outside
of the cup, and the inside was full of extortion and excess.
And our Lord said to His disciples, you're clean. He said, you're clean. Why, Lord? Peter said, oh Lord,
don't wash my feet. Wash me all over. He said, you're
clean. Why? Because I said so. I'm the Word. Because I came to make you clean. I came to be your sanctification. I came to be your justification. He is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Out of his side came justification
and sanctification. You don't sanctify yourself,
Christ does. You don't justify yourself, it's
not your faith. Christ's faith doesn't justify
us, Christ does. Faith in Christ is proof that
he's justified. Justification and sanctification
came out of his side. came out of Christ and Him crucified,
blood, by His righteousness, we are declared righteous, we
are made holy, spotless, unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight,
because the Spirit of God has taken the righteousness of Christ
and clothed us with it, sanctified it. And justification, sin has
to be paid for. Sin has to be paid for. The wages
of sin is death. The soul that sinneth will surely
die. The life of the flesh is in the
blood. Blood's got to be shed. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. Somebody's got to die. Who shall
lay anything in the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. On the basis of what, oh God? Christ. His perfect righteousness
imputed. Who is he that condemneth? Christ
died. Justification is sanctification.
Let these sayings sink down deep in your heart, in your ear. And
so that's what came out of Christ. All right, go back to our text
in 1 John 5. This is he that came by water
and blood, Jesus Christ. A man and the God-man, the Messiah. God and man. Man, to fulfill
the law for man. God, to satisfy justice. God can't die. A man must. Man can't satisfy. Only God can. The God-man did it. Substitution,
satisfaction. This is the gospel in two words.
Substitution, satisfaction. These two are in one. All right? Came not by water only. but by
water and blood. Water and blood. Christ came
to live, didn't he? I don't know that Mary, if she
gave birth like a natural child, give birth if there was water.
I feel pretty confident that happened. Or water broke. But
I've said so many times, she didn't give him life. But maybe
as a picture, maybe that happened. But he came as a man. When we're
born into this world, we're born in water. Isn't that a good thing? He that hath life came out of
water. And it is blood. Not by water, Christ came not
only to live, but to die. To shed his blood. Christ not
only came to live, born a man to live, But he came to die as
a sacrifice. To this end, Christ came. Christ
said, what shall I say? Father, deliver me from this
hour. This is why I came. To die. Water and blood. Not by water
only, but by blood. And, verse 6, it is the Spirit
that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. What does
the Spirit bear witness of? Christ. He's called the Spirit
of Christ. Our Lord, in John 14, John 16,
He says, it's expedient that I go. If I don't go, a comforter
will not come. Whom I shall send unto you is
the Spirit of truth. Our Lord said, He will take the
things of mine and show them unto you. He'll lead you and
guide you into all truth, Christ said. Christ said, I'm the truth.
Wherever the Spirit is, He takes the things of Christ and shows
them to people. The Spirit of God doesn't make
people talk like an idiot. He makes them talk about Christ. And He does give them an unknown
language. He gives them a language of sanctification,
justification, redemption, propitiation. Words that you never knew, never
cared to learn. And now you do. Substitution. Christ, a new language. The language
of Christians is the language of Christ. The Spirit of God,
He bears witness of Christ, the truth. Alright? Even the Father bears witness.
We're going to see that. There are three that bear witness,
the record, in heaven. They bear record in heaven. Look
down at verse 11. This is the record. God hath given to us. Oh, I'm
reserving that verse for a message all by itself. This is the record. There are
three that bear record in heaven. Right now, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost. We're going to see what we have
seen in Revelation. He had a name on His side, the
Word. There He sits at the right hand
of the Majesty on high. The Father, you can't see the
Father, He's there. And He's with the Father. What
about the Holy Spirit? He's there too. What do they
bear record of? What do they bear record of?
That one sitting on the throne. And it's only one you see. There's
only one we'll ever see. The only one we'll ever see is
Jesus Christ, the Son. But there are three that are
there. And bear record of Him. And these
three are one, verse 7, these three are one. That means, oh,
there's so much there. They're one in essence, they're
one in power, they're one in glory, they're one in purpose. Listen to it. They're one in
purpose. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
What is God's purpose? Here it is. He's made known unto
us, His people. Ephesians 1, 9. He's made known
unto His people the mystery of His will according to His good
pleasure which He purposed in Himself. Here it is. Here's the
purpose of God. Here's the reason for all things.
The reason for the existence of planet Earth and the stars
and the sun and the moon and a kingdom. It's all about this.
Jesus Christ. That in the dispensation of the
fullness of times He might gather together in one. These three are one. One in glory, one in essence,
one in power, one in purpose. What's that? To the praise of
the glory of His grace, His Son. That's why God did all this.
This is what the Holy Spirit bears record of. He might gather
together in one all things in Christ that are in heaven and
are on earth, even in Him. What's it all about? Him. Him. I haven't scratched his dirt.
Christ is all. Amen. These three are one. You could spend an eternity on
that one verse. Mercy. There are three that bear
witness in the earth. Spirit. Spirit of God is in this
earth. And the water. And the blood. And these three agree in one. There are three that bear record,
witness in the earth. What is the Holy Spirit bearing
witness of to people on this earth? Everyone in glory, everyone
in heaven clearly sees. There He is. Life. There He is. God, right there
He sits. We can't see Him. The Holy Spirit
bears witness. With who? His people. Our Lord said, you know Him. He's with you. The world can't
see Him. Didn't He say that? The world
doesn't know Him. But He's with you. You know Him. How do we
know Him? How do we know He's with us?
He takes the things of Christ. Isn't this wonderful? And if you're a child of God,
if you're born of God, He's given you an understanding to know
it's all about one. And you're in Him. What have we got to worry about? Man, it's your kind of glory
here, isn't it? And these three agree in one. Now, he very simply said in verse
9, if we receive the witness of men, Paul said to the Corinthians,
you suffer fools gladly. That poor Corinthian bunch, They
were listening to, it's just like modern America, the world
today. They were listening to everything.
So many people had so much to say and none of them worth hearing.
Vain words, opinions. Everybody's got an opinion, just
like a certain part of our anatomy. Everybody's got one. And you keep revealing it and
you'll show what you are. that has the truth, the way,
life. This is why Paul said, let God
be true and every man a liar. If that man is not speaking of
Jesus Christ, don't listen to him. A fool hath said no God. speak about God, about Christ,
we're a fool. I don't care if they've got a
hundred degrees after their name. If we receive the witness of
man, the witness of God is greater. What witness is that? The heavens
declare His glory. The firmament showeth His handiwork. Day in the day others speak.
Night after night, there's no language where this voice is
not heard. What is the voice? Jesus Christ lives, the Son of
God. Oh, bless God He's revealed the Son
of God. And he says, this is the witness
of God. Do you see that in verse 9? Which
he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness
in himself. Brethren, do you? Everybody says
they believe in Jesus. Do you believe on Him? Is all
your hope, Everything you are, your family, everything, your
future, all that you are and have, if you cast all your care,
your sins, your hope of eternity on Him, the head of the sacrifice,
you have life. And you have this witness in
yourself. The Spirit of God is bearing
witness with your spirit that you're a son of God. He that
believeth not God now, And Lady Moliere, he believeth not the
record that God gave of his son. Somebody was telling me yesterday
they were getting ready to deal with or talk to a man who's an
agnostic or whatever, you know, a worldly wise man and you want
to talk to him about, and he's a spiritualist. That's what this,
they called him a spiritualist. You heard people talk about,
oh, he's a spiritual person. She's a spiritual person. Oh,
so spiritual. If they don't know Jesus Christ, they're carnal.
Ain't nothing but carnal. They call people spiritual that
sit cross-legged on their rooftop, you know, and gaze at their navel.
I did that for a long time. I did that, cross-legged gazing
at my navel. You know what I saw? Lent. He that hath the Son, he that
knows Christ. A spiritual person. The Spirit of God takes the things
of Christ, and here's what I was getting ready to say, is that
the whole world, everything that we believe, has to do with Jesus Christ.
Okay? History cannot deny that he came,
that he existed. Cannot deny it. The calendar.
Everybody, whether they want to or not, are forced to acknowledge
that there was a man named Jesus that walked this earth 2,000
years ago. The calendar. Time is measured by before he
came and after he came. I don't like that. Well, there
it is. I like what Pilate said. They said, don't write that.
Don't write he's the king of the Jews. Write he said so. Pilate
said, what I've written, I've written. And he wrote it in three
languages. The dominant languages of all
the earth. Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. For everybody to see.
This is the king of the Jews. He's not my king. Yes, he is.
And he's not because you accept him. He just is. The whole world, they cannot
deny that the Son of God came. Cannot deny it. They tried to
do away with this. They tried to do away with all
that was said by him. Can't do it. They tried to destroy
it. Can't do it. Why? Why can't they
destroy this book? Because it's a person. There
was an old evil king, Jehoiachom, that Jeremiah, every time Jeremiah
wrote something, he'd tear it up and throw it in the fire.
And then God would say, write another one. Forever, oh Lord, thy word is
settled in heaven. A book? A person. The living
word. Write another one. Or better
note, write another one. You're not going to destroy the
truth because the truth is a person. You can't deny that he came.
You can't deny what he said. And what you're just going to
have to do is, what you're just going to have to finally say
is, well, I don't believe him. I think he's a liar. I believe man. I believe myself. I don't take God at his word.
I don't take this book. I think Jesus Christ was an imposter. Life is up to me. You're going
to see about that. Real soon. See, it's all about
a person. And everybody's going to have
to face this person. Bless God if he's revealed himself
to you. If you get the thought of this
person, you hit your knees. Yeah.