Okay, in the book of 1 John,
chapter 5, and I'd like to read the first
eight verses of chapter 5, and then a portion in chapter 5 of
the book of John, the Gospel of John. 1 John, chapter 5. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth him
that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we
know that we love the children of God, when we love God and
keep his commandments. For this is the love of God,
that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not
grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world,
and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our
faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God? This is He that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water
and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness because the Spirit is true. 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. And then in the book of John,
Gospel of John, also in the fifth chapter, and we'll see how this
ties in in just a bit, but 1 John chapter 5 starting with verse
31. It says, if I bear witness of
myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth
witness of me, and knoweth that the witness, and I know that
the witness which he witness of me is true. You sent unto
John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I received not
testimony from man, but these things I say that ye might be
saved. He was a burning and a shining
light, and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
But I have greater witness than that of John. For the works which
the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear
witness of me that the Father hath sent me. And the Father
himself which hath sent me hath borne witness of me. Ye have
neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And
ye have not his word abiding in you, for whom he hath sent
him ye believe not. Search the scriptures, for in
them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which
testify of me. And then this portion here of
John is speaking to those who believe not, those that again
sought to kill him and questioned and doubted who he
was and didn't know who he was. obviously, and he speaks here
of those which bear witness of him. And verse 39 is very appropriate
to where we're going to be looking. It says, search the scriptures
for India, and you think he have eternal life, and they are they
which testify of me. And you will not come to me,
verse 40, that you might have life. But verse 39, and those
Pharisees were very religious folks as people are
today. And they thought that how they
kept the scriptures and how they saw the scriptures, that as it
says here, you think you have eternal life in them, you think
you have eternal life. And they did not have the witness
of the spirit in them that it was testifying of him, that they,
sought as a religious system and religious thing to do as
all other religion, just religion is, as a system to do that which
you envision would bring you close to God. It doesn't. And here it says, search them,
you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify
of me. And we have to think back over
to Luke chapter 24, when the Lord took them through the whole
scriptures that testified of him. And that's what the scriptures
testify of. And that's the true testimony
of him is from the word and by the spirit that reveals him to us through the
spirit and through the word. And then as we look at that, the ceremonial
law that we see a lot of that we've gone through in the Old
Testament and Hebrews, book of Hebrews expounds and explains
all that. It shows what is needed for men
to approach unto holy God. It's a picture of that. They
were to be continually washed in living water, and we're going
to look at a couple of things about that, and continually offering
blood for sin. John shows us that Christ is
the complete, all-sufficient Savior. In Him is perfect sanctification,
justification, and redemption. And in His crucifixion, out came
water and blood from His side. He only is that fountain that
was open for sin, as we can see in the book of John. And I have to follow a couple of
arrows in my notes because they don't necessarily fall in order.
And another thought that went on that is on the cross, water
and blood flowed, Holy Spirit bearing witness through the word
of God and blood of Christ that the whole of our salvation is
found in Christ. not on any other, not anything
else. And that is the witness of the
scriptures from start to finish, is that there is redemption in
none other, and there's complete redemption in the Savior, in
the true Messiah that was to come. I want to read two verses, or
two little sections at least, in the book of Hebrews for just
a minute. as we look into some of what
the water and the blood and the witness speaks of here. In Hebrews
chapter 10, Hebrews chapter nine to start
with, and then we'll go to chapter 10. Hebrews chapter nine, starting
with verse 10. It's talking here about the priest
who had taken the blood into the Holy of Holies, and he did
it once a year, and could do, and Hebrews is pointing out that
those sacrifices didn't take care of the problem. They were
a picture of taking care of the problem, of the one that, of the Savior
himself. And starting with verse 10, it
says, what stood, Only in meats and drinks and diverse washings
and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation.
But Christ being come in high priest of good things to come
by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,
that is to say not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his
own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. For the blood of bulls and of
goats and the ashes of heifer sprinkling young clean sanctify
to the purifying of the flesh. 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. Here, the difference between
the ceremonial law and the true is that they came time and time
again offering blood and that it didn't fix the problem. It
was a picture of what was necessary, of the blood of the Savior himself
was the only sacrifice that was effectual and is ever effectual.
And then in chapter 10, just a verse in chapter 10 that
says, it's chapter 10 of Hebrews, verse
22, speaking about the true high priest, the true way entering
in with his blood, And verse 22 says, let us draw near with
a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. And the blood in the water that
we're gonna look at several passages on both. But in the, going back
to the temple service for just a minute, the, water, there was
a lot of washings. Both the priests had to wash
time and time again. They had to wash a lot of items.
They had to wash a number of the sacrifices had to be washed
in what they called living water or moving water or not just old
stored water from something. They had a sea that was in the temple there,
that the molten sea or the bronze, big bronze sea, and it was a
big basin, huge basin made out of bronze that was resting on
the back of 12 bulls as a base, this held 12,000 gallons of water. This was supplied with a system
they put in from fountains and from springs and wells to draw
water into this basin. And then there was ten large
lavers for washing and things. And these all, how they got the
water from one to the other, They don't know some of the technical
details of that, but that's what that water was for. And it was
called living water. And for priest washing, sacrifice
washings, and it symbolized the need for inward and outward cleansing
in order to approach unto God. It was a symbol of that. Cleansing
that was needed of sin of the the nature of sin that that that
fallen man has Inward cleansing needed because of the sinful
nature common to men Outward cleansing because of outworking
of sin of just the sinful nature we have in their actions We have
the pictures of what must be done by God by his spirit in
Christ also shown by Washing the unclean, as we saw in Leviticus,
for various issues of being unclean, touching a dead body, touching
something that was near a dead body, looking at a dead body,
the shadow of a dead body, a number of things made the person unclean
that they had to wash. and they were unclean till even,
but they had to wash that. Touching or being near a dead
body or the shadow didn't make them unclean in a physical way
like that. It didn't make them unclean,
but it was still a picture of sin that was constantly there
and constantly a part of men and a part of them. In the sacrifice, the blood part,
we're picturing the only means of atonement for sin. Blood is required for atonement
for sin. The blood that was used in the
sacrifices was merely a picture. And it's not the quantity, but just when they dedicated the
temple, besides all the other sacrifices that constantly went
on, They sacrificed 22,000 oxen and about 120,000 sheep and goats. Well, the idea wasn't just the
volume of a lot of blood just to be doing it, but a picture
that it was a requirement. And it wasn't the volume of the
blood, but it was what blood was really required. It was a
picture of the Lord's blood himself, the only blood that's atonement
for sin. But it was a constant, and I
thought about this many times. Why such a big picture of these
things, of a lot of the water that was used? There was another
big cistern that filled these other things that held about
2 million gallons of water, which is a pretty big cistern to fill
it. And I wondered, why so much of
this? And I think the same reason why
we see in the Old Testament, as in the book of Judges, we
just started another section there about Samson. And it starts
out with, and they did evil on the side of the Lord again. The
picture of sin is so great, it takes a lot of repetition for
the idea and just by the repetition in the teaching doesn't change
the heart, but the picture is so great of the problem that
is so great and that the cure for that is so great. It's not
just a matter of a simple matter to take care of the sin of his
people. It took his blood, it took God's
blood to do that, and it's a, people just say, well, there's
a lot of repetition and I get the idea. Well, do we really
get the idea by just that? I think it's all the same way,
the scripture that, as Christ said to them, search the scriptures. You think that in there's eternal
life, but they are they that testify of me. And the only way
that that testify and that testimony of him comes about is by the
Holy Spirit using the word. And that's the, That's the fact
of the matter, is that teaching and religion doesn't
do it. That's not eternal life. The
witness of God himself through his word in his people that brings
about the new birth, that is that. I think we understand so little
of what the fall really did to men and to ourselves. that we
understand a small, as he shows, a small amount of that, really,
of the whole truth of that. And I think the same way, too,
the small amount of what was really involved in the redemption
of God's people. And we have testimony of that
in the word in different ways. places of the word that speak
directly to that as Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 and several other
places that speak directly to that of what it took. But the mere words of that, if
the spirit doesn't put life there, they're just words on a page
or just words again. And I think, like I said, vast
amounts of both blood and water show how great of the fall, totally
sinful, totally unclean, the law says die and only in and
through Christ we may live. And there's a lot of, we're gonna
touch on some of them, but there's a lot of reference in the scripture
to both blood and to water. And we're gonna look at a few
of those this morning. Turn to the book of John once
more time, book of John chapter 19, chapter 19. And we saw about the water and
the blood, bear witness, and the spirit is the true witness.
And that's what we're gonna call this lesson or this look at this
morning is the true witness, and that is of God through his
spirit in the scripture. But in chapter 19 of John, starting
with verse 33, Jesus been crucified. They come
to see, uh, there was a, uh, a high religious day coming up
that they didn't want to have anybody, you know, it's bad,
bad advertising for your holy day. If you have people being
crucified and they're still there. So they, they want to take care
of that issue. And so in verse 33, it says,
and they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead. They
break, not his legs. Um, But one of the soldiers with
a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came out their blood
and water. And he that saw it bare record,
and his record is true, and he knoweth that he sayeth true that
ye might believe. For these things were done that
the scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken,
and again another scripture said they shall look on him whom they
pierced. The verse particularly that it
says here in verse 34 where it says that forthwith
came there out blood and water. And again, a witness and a testimony
and a picture, and not just a shadow of it, but the reality of that
blood that was needed for our redemption shed by the Redeemer
himself and by the water and the spirit that must be there, must cause and
bring about the new birth as a witness. And then another place
in the book of John, chapter three, chapter three, if you
would. Obviously not an exhaustive study
of what the blood and the water shows in all of Scripture, but
in parts of it at least. In chapter 3 of John, and here he's talking to Nicodemus
in chapter 3 of John, Very, a very good spot to look at what the
new birth is. The Lord himself speaking onto
this in verses five and six, it says, Jesus answered, verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of
the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. In the new birth, by the word
of God, by his spirit is what does work in his people. And
it's not just a head knowledge or belief in a system or a thought,
but what the spirit does in his people. In Ephesians chapter
five, in Ephesians chapter five, And remember, as we go through
these places from time to time and we look at these passages
and we take a portion of them, read what the rest of those portions
have to say. And verify what we're saying,
that the witness we're speaking of and what the scripture says
is what the scripture says and not trying to, as is done oftentimes,
and we have to be careful too, we have a thought and we'll stuff
a verse into that thought that maybe it's, we have to be careful
that we're taking what it says for what it says. But Ephesians
chapter five, and starting with verse, Verse 25, 26, and 27, verse 25
to kind of lead into this thought, it says, husbands, love your
wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for
it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of
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. And here speaking
to the, as it says in verse 26, that might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, and the word as
applied by the spirit in his people, That's the only way that the
new birth comes about and that he might present himself a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it
should be holy and without blemish. And as his people, that are set apart, that are
sanctified in him, and we're gonna look at a verse that shows
that in just a second, that the church is, as it says, spotless
in him. It's spotless, it has been washed
clean, completely clean in him, that that has been accomplished,
and only in him can that be done, and by the word. And I don't
think that's just a catchy phrase, but the testimony that we have
is the testimony we have. We have the written record. And
God takes that written record and bears witness as that verse
that we've quoted several times or many times. His spirit beareth
witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God. It's
the spirit bearing that witness and it says there in 1 John chapter
5, the witness is a true, the spirit is a true witness, the
spirit is the truth. And so it's not external to the
word of God that he works, he uses the word The preaching of
the word, the teaching of the word, the reading of the word,
the spirit uses that word to work in his people. In Colossians, turn to the book
of Colossians, just over just a little bit. Colossians in the first chapter, And the preceding part of this
chapter speaks about who the Lord is and his position and
who he is to the church and the head and substance of the church. And in chapter one, starting
with verse 19, it says, for it pleased the Father
that in him in Christ should all fullness dwell. And having
made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile
all things to himself, by him, I say, whether they be things
in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you wholly and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. speaking about
the blood that was required and that is only required that, as
it says, in the body of his flesh through death present you holy
and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. And that reminds
me of a verse that we, at the end there of the book of Jude
that says that the church is, that he preserves the church
and and presents it to himself a perfect, a spotless bride,
a perfect and clean church, redeemed by himself. And that he is faithful
to do that. In the book of Titus, turn to the book of Titus for
just a little bit here. See what Titus has to say in
chapter three. Titus chapter 3, starting with verse 5, verse
4. Titus 3, verse 4. But after that,
the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared.
not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and
the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ, our Savior. And here again, speaking to the
washing, the cleansing that is only done by him and through
him, and the redemption that we have that it says here, shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, the only
way here. And up above, when it speaks
here in verse five, not of works of righteousness, which we have
done, that there's nothing that we can do that adds to that. And we've seen recently in several
messages and lessons about the, There's no works or no part that
we add to our redemption, our salvation from start to finish.
There are things that works that he says that he has determined
we will do and the outworking of that redemption, but not the
accomplishment of it or the gaining of it. And this works of righteousness,
which we have done, speaks to whatever religious thought or
accomplishment we might feel that is there. There's no religious
ceremony or rite that we accomplish or do that adds to that. As people have seen and have
pointed out and have taught, about baptism or the Lord's Table
as those being a means of part of our salvation, they have nothing
to do with gaining that. They're a great picture of of
our salvation, as it says here, that we have abundantly gotten
through Jesus Christ our Savior, through no effort of our own
or no value of our own. Those are mere pictures of what
He has done. And whenever we have a baptism,
That's a demonstration that God has done in that person a work
that have given him the faith that says is a gift of God by
his grace and not to gain anything by that. It's an outward picture
of that. of that which the person says
God has done in them by his doing. And the Lord's Supper, when we
come to that, those elements of the wine and the bread are
pictures of his body that, as it says, they're broken for us
in that blood that was shed for us. It adds no significance or
no substance to our faith, but it's a great picture of what
he has done to us. It doesn't add anything to us. We enjoy the Lord's Supper as
far as that picture that it shows. It says, do this until he comes
as that reminder of those things, of that blood that was shed for
his people, that body that was broken. And as it says there,
when he was pierced that the water and the blood comes forth
that shows that by his doing and by the spirit, that we are
cleansed and we are redeemed, and not by anything that came
from within of ourselves. In the book of Matthew, in the
book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 3, Matthew chapter 3, speaking of the witness that
we have of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that witness
to who this Jesus was that was amongst them, that he indeed
was the Messiah that was sought for. And there were those that
saw that as the one when he was there to be dedicated, that the one said,
this is the consolation of Israel. There were those that recognize
this. But in Matthew chapter three,
verse 13 and following, it says, Then cometh Jesus from Galilee
to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him,
saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and thou comest to me.
And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now,
for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered
him and baptized him. And Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water. And, lo, the heavens were
opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like
a dove and lighting upon him. And, lo, a voice from heaven
saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." And
here, bearing the witness in in a physical manner there that
they saw of God and the Holy Spirit together with the Son,
saying that this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.
And by that, meaning that this indeed was the Messiah, the one
that was given that role to do and was going to accomplish that.
that role, and this is one of the times when God himself bore
witness in that physical manner that at least John and those
others with him could see and could hear that and bear witness
to that, and that that witness is true. In Hebrews chapter 4, go to the
book of Hebrews one time here. Look at the Hebrews chapter 4. It speaks just before here about
those that did not enter into the promised land. And God said
they are not entering into the promised land because of unbelief
and into his rest. And here in the first couple
of verses of chapter four of Hebrews say, let us therefore
fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest.
Any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was
the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word preached
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that
heard it. And here, a couple of things
come to mind from this that we see in other parts of the scripture
that, first of all, that the gospel, it says the gospel is
preached to those. The gospel was preached, it says,
as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." The spirit has to do the work.
The spirit has to do the work, and that's what he's coming down
to and what it's saying here. It didn't profit them, and that
faith that had to be mixed with it and then that heard it was
that faith that God gives, that gift again of God's faith, We
argue hard enough that somebody will believe it. That's not what's
being spoke about here. It's not that faith wasn't just,
yeah, yeah, I'll believe that. This was the faith that God alone
can give in that, and that's a testimony by the water and
the word that the spirit reveals those things to us, and then,
I'm gonna read just one more spot and we'll carry on within 1 John
next opportunity, but in Revelation chapter seven, Revelation chapter seven. It speaks directly to what we're
speaking about, or what we're looking into. Revelation chapter
seven, start with verse 12, and then we will be done for today, for this time.
It says, verse 12, saying, amen, blessing and glory and wisdom,
thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever
and ever, amen. And one of the elders answers
him to me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes? And
whence came they? And I said unto him, sir, thou
knowest. And he said to me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night
in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more, neither shall the sunlight on them, nor any
heat. For the lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto
living fountains of water, and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. And it says, these are they that
are clothed in the righteousness of God, of the Lord himself. And it says here, he shall lead
them unto fountains of living waters and God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes. and look back to that portion
there that Jesus in the woman at the well speaks about, I'll
give you, that that I give you, the water I give you is living
water, and it shall spring up into fountains of living water
in you. And that is the working of the
Spirit and in his people. And that is the, in 1 John there,
where we read that the Spirit, let me read it so I don't, Next to that, 1st John, chapter
five. And with this, we will close. 1st John, chapter five. Speaking of the Lord himself,
this is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ.
Not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the spirit
that beareth witness because the spirit is true. And the spirit
beareth witness of the Lord through the word. And next time we'll pick this up
on some other thoughts on this. And as the book of John says,
in him be free in free indeed.