All right, brethren, if you will,
let's open to 1 John, chapter 5. 1 John, chapter 5. The time of
message this morning is which witness we receive. Which witness we receive. There
in 1 John 5, I've often started saying that, I think it was Scott
Richardson, said that every time the gospel is preached, The comforted
are disturbed and the disturbed are comforted. The same message
that offends someone and cuts them and sends them away is the
same message that comforts His people, secures His people, gives
them assurance. The messenger don't change, the
message don't change, but the way the Spirit uses that will
differ. I pray this morning that He's
given us a message that will do just that, comfort His people.
So here, 1 John 5, verse 6. This is He that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ. Not by the water only, but by
water and blood. And this is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is truth. 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 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 us of His Son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you, that ye believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the
name of the Son of God." And there will be several people
that could listen to this message. And there will be no evidence
for them to believe the gospel that we preach. They may hear
this message and there'll be no facts that can convince them
that this message is true. They may listen to this message
and all the witnesses that are pointing to Christ, those witnesses
will not matter to them. It won't persuade them to believe
that Jesus is the Christ, that He is the Son of God. But somebody
will come along and they can have just this mysterious philosophy,
some strange doctrine, nonsense. I hate to even mention it. There's
aliens coming or you wear special underwear and that's what's in
the world today. That's the things that's out
there and people will grasp a hold of it. No witnesses, no evidence,
no proof. And it's just something that
tickles the ear and they'll grasp a hold of it. But not only that,
but in everyday life, we receive the witness of men. Not just
some slick talker that comes around, some kind of newfangled
message. In our everyday life, we receive
the witness of men concerning history. Kimberly went through
all that for her degree and had to find source documents. It's
one person, one journal, an eyewitness account of what happened hundreds
of years ago. And that counts as a witness.
And we look to that and we agree on it. We're persuaded by it.
The food we eat. I always get tickled seeing it
says, now made with real cheese. Well, what was it made with before?
What did I do before? I believed that that's what it
was and I ate it, didn't I? Somebody put it in a box. I believe
the witness of men. Concerning the medicine we take,
doctor says take this, we take it. We simply believe what men
tell us without looking into these things in great depth.
We just take it on account, on their word. We simply receive
the things as true without having proof that what they tell us
is truly real, that it's validated, it's proof. Let's go to look
at our legal system a little bit this morning. In our legal
system in this country, three things have to take place for
a witness to be accepted. There must be more than one witness. You have to have several witnesses.
It can't be a he said, she said. If you've got one witness going
against you in our court system, it won't hold too much water.
Second, there must be a credible witness. They have to be able
to tell the truth. They gotta have a good character.
And if not, their testimony they have is gonna be picked apart.
Won't hold up. And three, there must be corroborating
witnesses. That means all the witnesses,
those multitude of witnesses, they have to agree. Each testimony
must agree with the other ones, and that verifies the facts.
When these things all agree, then we receive the witness of
men in our courts. We don't doubt it. We don't question
it. We say, well, it must be true.
When these things all agree, we believe their witness to be
true and we receive it. Why then? Why don't we believe the witness
of God? Look here in verse 9 again, 1
John 5, 9. If we receive the witness of
men, We receive all these witnesses in our daily life, in our courts,
in history and everything. 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. What the Lord tells us of
Christ is true. And that's a greater witness
than anything you and I will ever come in contact breathing
on this earth. We should receive the witness
of God because He is greater. This is the witness of God, which
God Himself has testified of His Son, the very thing He's
told us. I hope two things will happen
in this message. I want to comfort the Lord's
people, those of you that believe on Christ, you profess Christ.
He's your all. I want you to be reassured that
indeed, Christ is the Son of God. He is the Christ. The One that came for His people,
and He accomplished what He came to do. And for those of you who
are skeptical, those people that question, that still haven't
come to Christ, haven't come to know Him, have doubts, I want
you to behold how great the witness of God is, which testifies that
the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God. If we receive the
witness of men, the witness of God, is greater. So first, has
God provided two or more witnesses? This was a court. We're putting
this gospel on trial. Has the Lord gave us two or more
witnesses? In the law of God, He requires,
His perfect holy law requires that we have two or more witnesses.
There in Deuteronomy 19 it says, one witness shall not rise up
against a man for any iniquity or for any sin. In any sin that
he sinneth, at the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of
three witnesses shall the matter be established. As God provided more than one
witness to testify that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God, be Christ
the Savior of His people. Well, first off, our master testified
of himself. It says there in verse 6, 1 John
5, 6. This is he that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ. Not by water only, but by water
and blood. And we'll look at more of that
water and blood in a minute. But he testified of himself.
His Word, His miracle proved who He was. Then the second witness,
there is the Holy Spirit in verse 6. And it is the Spirit that
beareth witness. The Spirit beares witness by
speaking through a host of men that He used to record this Word
of God, to write these scriptures. Peter told us, he said, for the
prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but by holy
men of God's spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The
men that penned this book were moved by the Holy Ghost to write
what they wrote. Paul told Timothy, he said, all
Scripture is given by inspiration of God. This isn't a man's thoughts
that he's writing down. It's not good worldly wisdom.
This is the Spirit of God moving people to pen the words he wanted
penned, that he wanted preserved for his people forever. The way
the Spirit of God used men to write this book is a witness
to us. that they were moved by the Holy
Spirit of God. We've looked at this before,
but the men who wrote these books, they didn't know each other.
They lived on separate continents, they lived in separate countries,
they were hundreds of miles apart, wrote in three different languages
over the span of 1600 years. But everything in this book,
everything in these scriptures, has one unified message. How could that be? It's because
they all wrote of the same Spirit of God. They were all moved to
the same Spirit. He gave them the words to write,
and that is the Spirit bearing witness to us that what He said
is true. Men will say, well, prove to
me the Bible is the Word of God. The burden of proof isn't on
the infidel. I'm sorry, it's not on the Lord
to prove it's His Word. It's on the infidel to prove
it's not His Word. Next time somebody asks you, say, well,
prove to me the Bible is the Word of God. Say, prove to me that it
ain't. A whole lot more evidence showing that it is. The Spirit
of God also bore witness when He descended on the Lord Jesus
Christ at His baptism. The Holy Spirit, the man, crossed
Jesus. He spoke like no man has ever spoken. He did things that
no man's ever done before, no man's ever done since. This is
the one way that it is the Spirit that bears witness that He's
the Christ. Now the apostles also. The Spirit
bore witness. The apostles bore witness to
us. They received the ability to
perform miracles in this flesh and they preached the truth.
We've looked at that before. Preaching the truth is a miracle.
The Spirit of God is a source of those miracles and that's
the message that's given. Now this apostolic era is over. We don't perform miracles anymore. That died out with the apostles.
But the Spirit is still the one who gives the words. The Spirit
still gives the message to his preachers and makes it effectual
in the hearts of his people. He's still working. Still does
the work. And the Spirit of God also bears
witness in his people. bears witness in the spirit,
Christ himself, in the apostles, in the word, and in his people,
and you that believe on him. Spirit bears witness with our
spirit that we are the children of God. He testifies in us that
Jesus indeed is the Christ. He's who he said he was. He's
the son of God. He accomplished what he said
he was going to accomplish. For me to believe that is proof
the Spirit is testifying to my spirit that was put in me. Next,
our text there declares where the witnesses of God are. There
are three witnesses in heaven. They're in verse 7, 1 John 5,
7. For there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost.
There are three distinct persons in the Godhead. We do not worship
three separate gods. We worship one God and three
distinct persons. The three persons of the Godhead
are God the Father, God the Son. Here He's called the Word because
He is the revelation of the Godhead. John 1.1 says, In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
We'll see John 1.14 in a little bit. And there is God the Holy
Ghost. God the Holy Spirit. Then there
are texts that declare that God's provided three witnesses in the
earth. He gave three witnesses in heaven, there's three witnesses
in the earth as well. It says there in verse 8, 1 John
5, 8. And there are three that bear
witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood.
And these three agree in one. This is the unified testimony
of the gospel. Through his preachers preaching
the gospel, the Spirit of God bears witness that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of the living God. All our salvation by the
washing of the water of the Word and the sprinkling of the blood
of Jesus Christ on our conscience in regeneration. Now to anyone
who's still doubting, we have here far more witnesses than
two or three. When we have this many witnesses
in a court of law, would we agree with what they said? Would we
listen to them? Would we heed them? So why do we not believe
the testimony of God? If we receive the witnesses of
men, the witness of God is greater. And God's given us all these
witnesses. Here's all these that come forth to prove what He says.
Has He given us credible witnesses? We have several witnesses, more
than two or three. Are they credible? Now in our
court system, in our justice system, the witnesses must be
truthful and of good character. If they're not, they're going
to that cross-examination, and real quick, that testimony is
going to be destroyed. They'll pick it apart, won't
they? So has God gave us credible witnesses? First, God bears witness
by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Christ bore us witness. He is
the truth. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. And no man cometh to the Father
but by me. He's not only truthful. He doesn't
just tell the truth. He is the truth. Second, the
Spirit of God bears witness of Christ. There in verse 6, it
says, "...and it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because
the Spirit is truth." Let's go over to John 16. Christ is the truth and the Spirit
is the truth. John 16, verse 13, "...howbeit
when He, The spirit of truth has come.
He will guide you into all truth. For he spake not of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will
show you things to come. He shall glorify me. For he shall
receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that
the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I that he shall
take of mine and shall show it unto you. That spirit of truth
reveals truth to us. Thirdly, the witness in heaven,
the triune God, He is holy, He is the truth, and He cannot lie. John 1.14 says, And the Word
was made flesh, and He dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. That was testified in Deuteronomy
32. It said, He is the rock. His work is perfect for all His
ways are judgment. A God of truth and without iniquity,
just and right is He. It's a truthful witness. God the Father is a truthful
witness. Christ is a truthful witness. And the Spirit is a
truthful witness. Now the witness in the earth
is the gospel we are born again by, in the Spirit of God, the
incorruptible seed we have in us. David told us here in Psalm
33, ìFor the word of the Lord is right, and all His works are
done in truth.î Whatís done in us, we witness that. James said,
ìOf His own will begat He us in the word of truth.î That Word
He spoke to us. We agree in unison. That's true. What the Lord told us about sin,
that's true. What He told us about His righteousness
that He gives to His people, that's true. He's sovereign in
all things. That's true. He's holy. John
17 says, "...sanctify them through thy truth. Thy Word is truth."
So the witnesses of God that we've seen, there's far more
than what's required. We have a multitude of witnesses.
And they're all true. All of his witnesses are true
because he is true. Now to you who don't believe,
you receive the witnesses of lying, sinful men. Why don't
you believe the truth from the true and living God? If we receive
the witnesses of men, the witness of God is greater because It's
the witness of God, which He hath testified of His Son. The
Lord gave us multiple witnesses. He's given us true, faithful
witnesses. But has He provided corroborating
witnesses? I can spell that. I can't say
it right. Corroborating witnesses. Do they agree? Are they in unison? Do all His witnesses agree? Now,
in a court, the witnesses must agree. Is that the case with
the witnesses that God gives us? Look over to John chapter
19. The Lord Jesus Christ bears witness
by fulfilling the whole word of God. Christ is the fulfillment
of all that is written. We see it by Christ fulfilling
the scriptures even after his spirit had departed from his
body. Look here in John 19, verse 32. Then came the soldiers and
break the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified
with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was
dead already, they break not his legs. But one of the soldiers
with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came out there
blood and water. And he that saw it bare record.
And his record is true, and he knoweth that what he saith is
true, that ye might believe. For these things were done that
the Scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken."
His spirit had already departed. Even in his death, he's fulfilling
the Scriptures. Verse 37, and again, another
Scripture saith, that they shall look upon him whom they pierced. He must be pierced, and he was. Now in all the Word, the water
of the washing declared Christ as our sanctification. And the
blood declared to Christ as our righteousness. He's our redemption.
He purchased us. Christ made His people righteous
by His obedience unto death on the cross. Why would He do that? To fulfill the Scriptures. It
says, without the shedding of blood is no remission of sins. Blood must be shed. So Paul was
telling us there in Romans 3, he said, "...being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood." Blood's required. Christ is our sanctification. He said there in the Scripture,
he said, "...except I wash thee, thou hast no part in me." We
have to be washed. Turn over to Hebrews. We'll look
at a couple different scriptures here in Hebrews. Hebrews chapter
2. Hebrews 2 verse 11. It says, For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he
is not ashamed to call them brethren. That's the reason He's not ashamed
to call His children brethren, His sheep brethren, because they're
sanctified. They're made holy. If it's not
holy, it can't go in His presence. It can't be in front of the Lord.
We have to be made holy. How are we going to get that
way? He said, except I wash you. Washing of the water. Look here
in Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews 10.10. We are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Look down
at verse 14. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. The water and the blood flowed
from his wounded side as scripture said it would. A bone was not
broken in His body as the scripture said it would. That blood redeemed
His people as He said it would. That water that come from His
side made us pure as it said it would. Christ is all in His
people's salvation. Secondly, the Spirit bears witness
with Christ in full agreement that Christ is the salvation
of His people. It says in the Spirit that beareth
witness. All the witnesses of men are
in perfect agreement throughout the Word of God, which is the
Spirit bearing witness with Christ. That Christ is our righteousness.
Christ is our holiness. He's our all. When that veil
in the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, the Spirit
of God recorded it and bore witness that Christ is the way into that
holiest of holies. Because of what he has accomplished,
we now have communion with God the Father. Look over at Matthew
27. The Spirit bore witness by recording this, preserving it
for us. But in this, we see this soldier was made to bear witness. Even the enemies of God are made
to bear witness that Christ is Lord. Look here, Matthew 27,
50. Jesus, when he had cried again
with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold, the veil
of the temple was rent entwined from the top to the bottom, and
the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were
opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. And
he came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into
the holy city, and appeared unto many, multiple witnesses. Now when the centurion and they
that were with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake and those
things that were done they feared greatly saying truly this was
the Son of God. Scriptures say that every knee
shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. You
can bank on it. That's going to happen in that
final day. And then eternal torment will
be knowing Him as God. Knowing Him in His perfect love. Knowing Him completely and being
cast from Him. It's that gnashing of teeth.
Talk about being homesick. Missing your loved ones and it's
just gnawing inside the worm that never dies. Knowing Him
in perfection and be cast from Him. You'll either bow in this
life that He draws you to Him, that Spirit proves these witnesses
in your heart, and you bow to Him now, you confess Him now,
or you'll confess Him after this life's over. But it'll happen. Everyone will confess. Now thirdly,
back in our text there in 1 John. Do the witnesses in heaven all
agree that Christ is the salvation of His people? It says there
in 1 John 5, 7. For there are three that bear record in heaven,
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are
one. Our triune God bore witness in
perfect agreement when He spoke from heaven saying, this is my
beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Triune God testified
in agreement from heaven when He raised Christ from the dead
and He sat down at the right hand of God. Says there in Acts
5, him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince
and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of
sins. And we are his witnesses of these things. And so is also
the Holy Ghost whom God hath given us that obey him. What
did God in three persons testify us in full agreement with each
other when Christ arose from that grave and sat down? What
was He telling us? When He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. That's what
He's testifying to us. Your sins are purged. It's gone. There's no condemnation now.
That's what the three witnesses of heaven tell His people. Do
these witnesses on earth agree? They're in verse 8, verse John
5a. And there are three that bear
witness in the earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood.
And these three agree in one. These three corroborate. They
agree in full agreement that Christ is everything a sinner
like me needs for acceptance of God. There in Hebrews 10, 14 it says,
for by one offering, here's the Spirit's testimony to us on this
earth, for by one offering He hath perfected forever them that
are sanctified, whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us. If we believe that, if we believe
that my offering to God for my sin in Christ was perfect and
it was accepted, that's the Spirit witnessing to us, teaching us
that. Does the water agree? Christ
Jesus loved us and he gave himself for us. Says that he might sanctify
and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word, that
he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish. His sanctification, his setting
apart and making a people holy, it testifies to his glory. It
agrees with the Spirit. And the blood. Hebrews 9 says,
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God? When that Spirit
witnesses in us, we see His blood atonement, the atonement made
to the Father. and our consciences are purged. We depart from our dead, wicked
works, and we serve the living God, the one who has done all
for us. Now, for you that believe, earn
our text, verse John 5. For you that believe Christ, you
that believe God, you that bless Him, here's why, verse 10. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. If you believe Him, that's because
you are a witness. The Spirit's witnessed to you,
that water's been a witness to you, and that blood's witnessed
in you. You're a witness yourself. If you will not receive His testimony,
if you don't accept these witnesses, multitude of witnesses that are
true witnesses, that all agree, look here in verse 10 again.
He that believeth not God hath made him a liar. You're saying
God's lying. I don't believe that. You're
saying the Lord lies. Because He believeth not the
record that God gave of His Son. That's not my record of Christ.
That's the Lord's record He gave. I'll just tell you what He said.
In the faith of all these faithful, true, agreeing witnesses, you
go on calling God a liar by not believing the record that God
has given of His Son. And for both of us, for those
that agree, those witnesses, those that hear the witnesses,
trust them, receive them, and those that don't, look in verse
11. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath
life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life. This is the
Word again to you who believe." There in verse 13. These things
have I written unto you that you believe on the name of the
Son of God. Someone who hasn't just laid
everything at the feet of Christ, have it come to him begging.
This may sound harsh. Oh man, the preacher's getting
on to me. John told us all these things.
that you may believe, those that are His." Go hear this and say,
you know what? There's more than two or three
witnesses, ain't there? Those witnesses, that's the truth.
That's not lying. That's been preserved for us
to see and convince us in our hearts. And every one of those
witnesses, those truthful witnesses, they all agree together. That's
the same message. Keep hearing the same thing every
week. Keep reading the same thing, seeing the same thing in these
scriptures over and over and over again. And John tells us,
these things that are written unto you, that you believe on
the name of the Son of God. You don't believe in a doctrine.
You don't believe in a domination and a man that's talking to you.
Believe in Christ. He is the Son of God and that's
who our belief's in. that you may know that you have
eternal life. If you believe Him, you have
eternal life. And that you may believe on the name of the Son
of God. So we believe on the name of
the Son of God. He makes us. We're faithful. We now have eternal
life. What happens next? We believe
on the name of the Son of God. It doesn't stop. That's how this
pilgrimage began. Beginning, it's continuance,
and it's culmination. It's all looking to Him. As we
hear these witnesses testify together that Christ is all.
He's all of our sanctification. He's all of our righteousness,
all of our wisdom. He's our salvation. I thought that song, what more
can God say to us? Do I need more witnesses? Do
I need more proof He's who He says He is? And him, Ryder said,
how firm a foundation these saints of the Lord has laid for your
faith in His excellent Word. There's a foundation laid for
our faith, for us to believe on, for us to rest in. What more
can He say than to you He hath said? What more does He need
to say? These things that are written
unto you, that you believe on the name of the Son of God, believe
on Him. If you do, you have eternal life and you'll continue to look
to Him and you'll continue to believe on Him and you won't
be ashamed, won't be disappointed. Amen. I hope that's a blessing
to you.