I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 John chapter five. I'm just gonna do a few verses on this subject. Witnesses in heaven and earth. The witness. You know God, in every generation, somewhere on this earth, as long as he is in glory, and waiting for his appointed time to come back. He always has his witness somewhere on earth. May not be in big numbers at any one time, but it's there. God testifying of himself as he reveals himself in and by the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I wanna go back up and read from verse one to get down to my text because this is so infiltrated with the glory of God in Christ as he reveals himself to his people all over the world. Look at verse one. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. That's how we know we're born again. We believeth that Jesus is the Christ. And that's more than just believing certain words. It's believing the truth concerning Christ in his glorious person and his finished work. Who he is, what he did, why he did it, where he is now, all of that. He accomplished redemption for his people. He established a righteousness. that enables God to be both a just God and a savior, and that secures the salvation of all of his sheep, his church, his brethren, his bride, all for whom he died and was buried and arose again.

And why did he do it? He did it for the glory of God. That's why he did it for. He said in the high priestly prayer, he said, Father, glorify thou me with the glory which we had before the world began. And he said, I have glorified you on the earth. Speaking in anticipation of his finished work, he said, I finished the work which you gave me to do. And where is he now? He's not dead. He's not in a tomb. He's in glory. He arose again from the day, from the grave, and he ascended unto the Father, where he now ever lives, sitting at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for us. And that's our security. Our security is Christ the Lord, our righteousness.

It says, and every one that loveth him that begat, that's Christ, loveth him also that is begotten of him." We love one another. We love our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Lord chose his people, his family. He has that right and he's the potter and we're the clay and he brought us together in this place, for example, in this area here, other areas, and brought us together to worship in spirit and in truth. Not to pump up or brag on or make over each other, but to worship the Lord. That's what the scripture says, that the Lord desires those to worship Him in spirit and in truth. We're not here to play church. We're not here to jump up and down and get emotional. And don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to emotion, but probably most things that go on today emotionally are just emotion for emotion's sake. Has no root in the truth. But this is what we're about.

Verse two says, by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. And how do we know we love God? We love his truth. If you don't love the things that the Bible says about God concerning who he is and identify him, you don't love God.

I've told you about a church up in Huntington, West Virginia. Because when we're up in Kentucky, we're right on the border there, and we go up there to eat, and there's a church across the street from it. And they had a sign out that said, the God who hates, we don't love him. Well, you don't love God. And I know people don't like to think that God hate. They think God is all syrupy, romantic love. God is love, but His love is in Christ. And God's hatred is not sinful. It's His wrath and justice against sin. And I love that about Him too. This is the God of the Bible. This is the God who created us.

We can't pick and choose what we like about God or what we love about God. He reveals himself in his glory. He says he hates all workers of iniquity. What's he talking about there? Somebody asked me one time, said, aren't we a worker of iniquity? Well, we're sinners, but when God chose us in Christ, gave us to him, and commissioned Christ to be our righteousness, in our surety, That iniquity is taken away. That's why David said in Psalm 32, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth, chargeth not iniquity. I'm a sinner, but my sins are not charged to me.

How do you know? It says in Romans 8 33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Now God won't charge us with our sins because he charged them to Christ and Christ substituted himself in our place. He doesn't charge us with our sins, not because we're not sinners, because we are. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And the only way that those sins can be removed in a just way by God, who is just in all things, is to put them on the Lord Jesus Christ, impute them to Him, and impute His righteousness to us. So that's how we know.

And it says in verse three, for this is the love of God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not grievous. Talking about His commandments to believe in Him and to follow Him. Not in order to earn or merit our salvation, because that's a burden that we cannot bear. We won't make it. But in a way that honors His grace. Motivated by grace and gratitude and love.

So he says, in verse four, he says, for this is, he says, for whosoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. What is it about our faith that overcomes the world? It's not how strong we believe, even though we should believe strong. Our faith will grow. But it's in whom our faith is. The object of that faith. We overcome the world because Christ, in whom we have faith, overcame the world. And he said that in John 16. He said, in the world you'll have trouble, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. And that's who our faith is in.

See, that's what people don't understand today. They think they have faith in their faith. I know I believe, I know I do this, I know I do. It's in Christ. even little faith in Christ, those that hold on to him and so he says in verse 5, who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. Now, there it is and that's our message. Now, we elaborate on that, we have all kinds of scripture that describes that, it's not just words in religion, it's not just come forward and accept Jesus as your personal Savior, Who is Jesus? What did he do? Why did he do it? Where is he now? All of that. What is faith? What is repentance? All of those things that we say, where we turn to Christ by God-given faith, we don't have it by nature, and we turn away from our works. Turn away from ourselves, that's repentance. Paul illustrated it in Philippians chapter three.

And so he says in verse six, John does, this is He that came by water and blood." Not even Jesus Christ, not by water only but by water and blood. Now John's purpose here is to show that our faith again is in a person, it's not in an object, it's not in religion, it's not in ourselves but it's in a person who is fully warranted and even necessary because the infallible witnesses of who Jesus Christ is and what he's accomplished for us in our salvation.

I think about that. These witnesses provide a sure foundation upon which our faith is being built. Why do I believe what I believe? Well, is it because I feel it? You know, some people say that. I feel it. Some people say, well, I had a dream. Some people say I had an experience, a near-death experience. Those are wrong things to base faith on. Feelings come, feelings go. Feelings can be deceiving.

What is our faith based upon? Our faith is based upon the word of God empowered by the Holy Spirit that drives us to Christ. as he is described and distinguished in the Bible, who he is, what he did, why he did it, where he is now. And that's what provides a sure foundation upon which our faith is built. I believe God's word. That's simple, isn't it?

Now, a lot of people say that, but they deny a lot of God's word. They ignore a lot of God's word. I believe the gospel. What is the gospel? It's the good news. of salvation, final glory, all blessings, conditioned on Christ who fulfilled those conditions and secured the salvation of every one of His sheep, every one of His people.

We know that salvation knowledge is a revelation from God. I can preach it to people, but I can't reveal it to them to their understanding and belief. It takes the Spirit of God to do that. But it's important to know that also our faith is built upon true historical eyewitness testimony. Think about his resurrection, how many people saw it firsthand. So there is a historical reference there, but not alone now. History, even history can deceive us, but not God's history. God tells the truth.

The Apostle John, he's been addressing a matter of authentic Christianity here. Not just, not fake Christianity or false Christianity. False teachers had caused confusion in the church. They had left, taking a number of people with them. They claimed to have secret knowledge about Jesus Christ, but their teaching contradicted the witness in the Word of God.

You know, there's all kinds of people like that today. They claim to know things that others don't know. they don't base their teachings on the Word of God, the written Word of God. So the Apostle John here, he repeatedly shows that true Christians believe the truth as it is in Christ. They obey God's commandments. That doesn't mean they keep the law perfectly. None of us can do that. We're sinners saved by grace and they love one another. They stick together. They don't leave or apostatize. from the faith because God keeps us.

Some believe that water and blood here refers to the water and blood that poured from Christ's side when he was on the cross. You remember that? And they stuck the spear in his side and the water and blood and that would signify the sanctifying and justifying work of Christ in the redemption and the salvation of his people. what that signified. And though it's true that the work of Christ on the cross most certainly is the sanctification setting us apart and justification of all his people, that means our sins are forgiven on the one ground of his blood and we're justified before God based upon his righteousness imputed. The text here says that Christ came by water and blood, meaning that has something to do with how he came. to come from one place to another. And so there are two views on this. One interprets the water as describing the incarnation or his physical birth with Mary. He was conceived in the womb of Mary and describing the water, the water birth. Some think it's the physical birth of Christ and the blood is describing his death on the cross. His death on the cross. And the other claims that water refers to the baptism of Christ as recorded in Matthew 3. Remember, he was baptized. He told John the Baptist, he said, suffer it to be so that we might fulfill all righteousness. And he went down into the water. And then the other believes that his blood on the cross.

But here's the thing. Either way you look at it, it describes both his person and his finished work. And that's the key. right there, however you interpret it historically. Either way, the incarnation and birth, the baptism, the death of Christ were all historical events that bore witness to Jesus as being the one and only true Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of sinners.

And you remember what happened when he was baptized. The Father spoke from heaven. he said this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased hear ye him the spirit descended like a dove so you had the father the son and the holy spirit right there and christ spoke himself and john adds here in verse six he says and it is the spirit that beareth witness because of the spirit of truth the spirit is true

Now, as I stated before, the Holy Spirit bore testimony of the truth of Christ at His baptism, but also in the resurrection from the dead. The Holy Spirit bore further witness when, in the fulfillment of His promise, He descended on the church at the day of Pentecost, and He further affirmed the witness to Jesus through the miracles that the apostles performed, and we have the witness of the New Testament. We have all those events. pointing to one person, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, crucified and raised again from the dead, ascended unto the Father.

Look at verse seven. It says, for there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. The truth concerning Jesus Christ, crucified and arisen in the testimony of the Godhead, all three persons of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit. The word here refers to Christ. Remember in John 1.1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God. In John 1.14, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He's the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. Jesus Christ, He's the living Word. He's the incarnate Word. He's the subject of the written Word and the preached Word. We preach Christ. And that's in the gospel revelation of salvation by God's free and sovereign grace in him.

And he bore witness to himself when he claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of God incarnate. I think about passages of scripture like when he told the Pharisees, and they challenged him. And they said he was not the Messiah, they wouldn't receive him as the Messiah. He wasn't God in human flesh, which he was.

And you remember in John 8, he said, he made this statement. He said, before Abraham was, I am. Isn't that something? Now nobody could make that statement about themselves, but he who is God manifest in the flesh. And nobody could do the work that was required to be done for the salvation of his people except God manifest in the flesh. You see that? If he hadn't been God, he couldn't bring forth the righteousness of God in the gospel. And if he couldn't be man, he could not die. And death is the consequence. The soul that sinneth must surely die. The wages of sin is death. So he had to live a life of righteousness, die the death of righteousness, and he had to be raised again the third day. That's our Savior. That thrills us. All that he did, the Messiah.

He spoke of the witness of the prophets. as seen through John the Baptist and the witness of his father, as seen in scripture. You remember when he told the Pharisees, he said, he said, Moses wrote of me. Now, who could say that but the Messiah? Who could say that, honestly, but God in human flesh? He said, Moses, in whom you trust, meaning the Pharisees trusting in their work, he said, Moses will be your judge. The same law that you think that you're going to be saved by will be your condemnation. That's what he's talking about.

And he says these three are one, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are one in essence and nature of deity, in purpose and will, and in the testimony of Jesus Christ. Yet they are three persons. Now, it's common today for a lot of people who claim to believe the gospel of sovereign grace, but who deny the Trinity. They deny the revelation of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And I think about it, I say, well, who was Christ praying to in John 17? Look over there and I'll show you what I'm talking about. John 17, that's what we call his high priestly prayer. In fact, you'd be better off literally calling this the Lord's Prayer instead of Matthew 6. Matthew 6 is the model prayer where he was teaching his disciples to pray.

But listen to these words. This is John 17, his high priestly prayer. Verse one, it says, these words spoke Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. Now who's he talking to? This is the son speaking to the father. They are one and it's not three gods. And I know this is hard to explain. It's hard to grasp. That's okay. We don't believe in three gods. We believe in one God. There's three witnesses, there's three persons, but it's one God in essence and nature, yet subsisting in three persons, and he's praying. Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate, kneels down and prays to his Heavenly Father.

Verse two says, as thou hast given him power over all flesh. Now, Christ in his deity always had power over all flesh. You remember when he was on earth, he calmed the sea, didn't he? He had power over earth. When he was on earth, he changed water into wine. He had power over these things. He fed thousands of people with a few loaves and fishes. He had that power. That's his deity. You attribute that to his deity. But he could also get hungry, he could also weep, sorrow, and thank God he could also die. That's to be attributed to his humanity. Yet it was an act of his entire person. Now how do you explain all that? We don't. We just accept God as he reveals himself and bow to him.

look here in verse two, as thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give, look at this, give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. He's going to give eternal life to everyone whom the father gave to him. He said it over in John 6 37, all that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. He went on to say, this is the will of him that sent me that of all which he had given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. Verse three, he says, and this is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. He says in verse four, I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. Verse five, now O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Now you can't say that, I can't say that, but Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory can say that and be honest. This is who he is. Look back at first John five and verse eight. And it says, and there are three that bear witness in earth. Now we talked about witnesses in heaven. Now here's witnesses in earth, the spirit and the water and the blood. And these three agree in one.

Well, think about it this way. It's the office and work of God, the Holy spirit, the third person of the Trinity on earth, to testify of the glory of the person and the power of the finished work of Christ. That's what the Holy Spirit's main task is, to reveal the person and work of Christ, to reveal the Father in Christ to God's people. And he's sent into the world by the Father and the Son to apply that salvation that Christ has earned for us. Christ earned it. he gives it to us. We saw that in John 17. He brings us under the preaching of the gospel of Christ and makes that gospel what Romans 1 16 says it is, the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. That's what happens in the new birth. He gives us life from the dead. We're spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, depraved, dark, ignorant, unbending, uncooperative. If left to ourselves, we will not come to Him for salvation but the Spirit comes in power and He gives us new life, new spirit, new heart, new mind. He's the sovereign agent in the new birth to give life to all whom Christ redeemed on the cross.

The water and the blood, that's the same as in John chapter five and verse six. These three are one. These three witnesses all are in agreement that salvation is totally by the sovereign grace of God and based solely upon the blood, the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they don't disagree. There's not denominations in heaven. There's not this kind and that kind and this kind, one who believes this, one who, they all believe the same. And it's right here in the Bible. Jesus Christ crucified and arisen.

And so look at verse nine. If we receive the witness of men, sometimes we do, don't we? But if we receive that, the witness of God is what? Greater. For this is the witness of God, which he hath testified of his son. It comes down to this. Either we believe men or we believe God's word. You can't have both. Man says one thing, God says another. Man gets offended by what God says. God gets offended by what man says when they tell a lie. You know, if the witness Two or three credible men is sufficient for us to believe. Then how much greater is the witness of God, who's testified in so many ways that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the one true Messiah, the only way of righteousness for sinners like us. For this is the witness of God, which he had testified of his Son. And that's infinitely greater than anything any man or woman can say.

if they disagree with this, the Holy Spirit takes the word of God specifically in the gospel message. And it says, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Who gives us those ears to hear? God, the Holy Spirit through Christ. We don't have them by nature. Who gives us eyes to see? The Spirit through Christ. He gets that gospel message. And you know what he does? He implants within our hearts faith in Christ and repentance from dead works. Turns us to Christ and turns us away from ourselves, from the world, from the flesh, from the devil.

And so we have the witness of God externally in his revealed word, the Holy Scriptures, and we have the witness internally of the Spirit. who gives us spiritual life and imparts the word of God in Christ upon our hearts. Isn't that a blessing? I'll tell you, without that witness in heaven and earth, where would we be? We'd be in a mess, wouldn't we?

All right, let's stand and sing hymn number 51, Praise the Savior, ye who know him.