First John chapter 5. First John
chapter 5. Read down through verse 10. 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 commandment 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, 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, Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water and
blood. And it 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 beareth
witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood,
and these three agree in one. If we receive the witness of
man, 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 of his Son." I like what Gary said about that song.
I remember singing that one time somewhere and Scott Richardson
got up And he quoted that, you know, happy all the day long. He said, we just as well preach
a lot, sing one. I said, you know, we sing a lot.
And whoever's done it that night, so it's gone. Oh, boy. Let me say this for our start
preaching. There's a schedule out on the work schedule for
the conference out on the four-year table, and it's blank. So when
you can Do whatever you need to do, and when you can do it,
you fill in the blank. Fill in the blank. And it's out
there on the table, so nurseries and kitchen workers and things
like that. And you fill in the blank when you can, and when
you feel like it, you'll be able to do some things. The title
of my message this evening is found there in verse 5. Who is he that overcometh the
world? but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. That's my subject tonight, title
of my message, Jesus is the Son of God. You know, John said over
here in chapter 4 and verse 15, whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in him. And if we believe that Jesus
is the Son of God, how can we be sure that he's the Son of
God? who bears witness to Him being the Son of God. Where do
we get our faith from to believe that He's the Son of God that
overcomes the world? Because this is what He said,
this is the victory that overcometh the world, our faith. And who
is He that overcometh the world? He that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. And then John goes on to tell
us how we can know that he's the Son of God. Gives us the
witness how that the Spirit of God in heaven and earth and all
the things that took place to our Lord Jesus Christ on this
earth bears witness to who he is. And that's what he says,
whoever sover cometh the world but he that believeth Jesus is
the Son of God. And listen, and then he's going
to talk about who he is. He's talking about his person
and how he came into this world. This is he that came. This is
He that came, and He came as no one else ever came into this
world. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when He
came into this world, the Son of God, when He came into this
world, nobody else ever come into the world like He did. You
got the book of the generation of Adam, die, die, die. The book of the generation of
Jesus Christ, live, live, live. And beloved, The law came by
Moses, given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Grace and truth came by this
blessed man, by this Son of God. And He's the only one designated
the seat of the woman. Nobody else has ever been the
seat of a woman, but He's the seat of the woman. And He came,
and this is what He came to do. He came to be the Savior of the
world. God sent Him into the world, and He came. God sent
Him to be our propitiation, and He came. God sent Him to put
away our sin, and He came. God sent Him to become a man,
and He came. He came into this world. He came
into this world. And then look what it says, He
came by, this is He that came by water and blood? By water
and blood. Listen, you know, there's two
things about this water and blood. And this water, and I'm gonna
talk about those first before I talk about the blood. But He
came by water, and two things here is His baptism, and then
the water that flowed from His riven side when He was on the
cross. But now look over in Matthew 3, and this is what He says,
you know, this is He that came by water. This is He that came
by water. And our Lord Jesus Christ, He's
entering into His public ministry here. He had been living in Galilee
and Nazareth, and He had been working in His dad's carpenter
shop, but He came by water. Look what it says in verse 13
of Matthew 3. Our Lord Jesus Christ, up to
this time, had been in obscurity as far as the world was concerned.
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized
of him. But John forbade him, saying,
I have need for you to baptize me, and you come to me. He saw
the superiority, the glory, he saw the power, the purity of
the Son of God right then and there. And our Lord answering
said unto him, Suffer it, cause it, allow it to be so now. for
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered
him, that he allowed it to happen. 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
sang, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. So
this water came by water, it came by baptism. And this is
how he entered into his public ministry. And then it says, you
know, he told John there in verse 15, it becometh us. It becometh
us. What became him? You know, he
is righteous. He said he's going to fulfill
all righteousness. He is righteous himself. He's holy himself. He's
sinless himself. But it became us. Paul said such
a high priest became us. It's necessary for him to do
this. What would become us? You know, you hear people say,
well, that's not very becoming. And then other people say, that
really becomes you. Well, what becomes us and what
becomes Christ? As we become believers in what
became of Christ, it becomes us, John, you and I. It becomes
us. And then he says this, to fulfill
all righteousness. Well, how can he fulfill righteousness
when he is already righteous? I'm going to tell you two or
three things here if I can. How did it become him? Why was
it necessary? First of all, he humbled himself. The first public thing he did
when he come into baptism, he humbled himself. He made himself
of no reputation right here. John said, listen, I need you
to baptize me. I don't need to be baptizing
you. And our Lord Jesus made Himself with no reputation. He
emptied Himself right there. He emptied Himself of all rights
and all power and submitted Himself to an ordinance that you and
I have too. But He humbled Himself, first
thing. And then He says to fulfill all righteousness. The Lord Jesus
said, I came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill
them. And when it says here, fulfill
all righteousness, I'm going to say first and foremost, the
reason he did this was to identify with us. We're the one that needs
righteousness, not him. But he came to fulfill all righteousness. He did this to identify with
his people. And here's the first thing. Only
sinners, only sinners come to be baptized. Only people who
want to make a confession of their inability and their need
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Only sinners come to be baptized.
Christ was no sinner. Christ was holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate than sinners. But the Scriptures tells us that
He was numbered with the transgressors and that He was numbered with
His people. So what we did, He did exactly
what you and I have to go through, and He did it to identify with.
Our baptism, when we are baptized, is the answer of a good conscience
in the sight of God. When we have a good conscience
that we are believers, and we've trusted Christ for our whole
salvation, and we know Christ and we believe Christ, we obey
Christ, and He said, He that believeth and is baptized, shall
be saved." So we are baptized because we have an answer of
a good conscience before God. Well, how are we going to confess
that good conscience before God? We go into the water and we're
buried And we're dipped under the water and we rise up and
we come out and walk in newness of life. We identify with the
life, the death, the burial, the burial and resurrection of
our Lord Jesus Christ. But our Lord Jesus Christ already
had a sinless conscience, a perfect conscience. So he was identified
with us and our needs and he's going to fulfill all righteousness.
And thus I already said, it was a figure of what He would do
for His people, that He would die for His people. That's what
baptism is, a figure of death, a figure of burial, and a figure
of life, a resurrection. And our Lord Jesus Christ so
identified with us that He did that. He don't need righteousness,
but we do, we do. And then look what, you know,
and over here, back over in our text, look what it says. And
it was the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is
truth. What did the Father say? What did the Holy Spirit do when
He came? The Holy Spirit came, I was reading somebody today,
He said He come like a bird, just like a bird hovering over
Him, like the Holy Ghost did when He hovered over the creation.
He said this bird came just in the form of a bird so they could
be seen. So you know the Spirit of God
can't be seen. the wind blows where it wishes,
so is the Spirit of God. And so we don't see it so that
people could see that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that the Holy
Spirit bore witness to it and He came down. So as an evident
token that this is the Son of God, John said, He said, Whosoever
seeth the Spirit come upon him, that's the Son of God. And so
the Holy Ghost come down on him in the form of a dove and a bird
and then that bird just lit on him and just And he was filled
with the Holy Ghost from that day forward, without measure.
And then God Himself, that's the Spirit that bears witness,
then God Himself, the Father, spake from heaven. This is the
three now. There's the Son, there's the
Father, and there's the Spirit. And the Spirit bore witness,
and God the Father Himself says, this John heard it and other
people there heard it. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. And Christ was starting on his
public ministry at that time. And when he starts your public
ministry, you know, like the priest and all through the Old
Testament, you have water and blood, water and blood, water,
wash and blood, wash and blood. The first thing the priest did
when he went into the tabernacle, he washed his hands and he washed
his feet. When they were anointed to the priesthood, the first
thing they done is they washed them all over. worked them with water. And then
they took blood, and they put blood on their ear, blood on
their thumb, and blood on their toe to show them that their life
was consecrated to God. They're anointed with oil, and
then blood on their ear so God speak to their ear, blood on
their thumb, they're going to labor in the ministry, and blood
on their toe, they're going to walk according to righteousness. And those are the things that
he talks about. oh listen and then he says that
back over here in our text and he says this is he that came
by water and blood verse 6 even Jesus Christ not by water only
but water and blood and it's the spirit because bearers witness
why because the spirit is true Can the Spirit ever tell us anything
but truth? He's called the Spirit of truth.
Our Lord Jesus Christ called Him when He, the Spirit of truth,
is God. Is God the God of truth? Is our
Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the truth? Well, then the Holy
Spirit is the truth. So anything He says, anything
He speaks, anything He bears witness to is truth. He can't
bear witness to nothing else but truth because He is truth.
No, listen, I tell you, our Lord said it. He said, He's born of
the Spirit, and the Spirit bears witness. Then He says, the Holy
Spirit of truth, the third person of the Godhead, the Trinity,
bears witness. And this is another thing that
He does. Now, He bears witness to the truth. He bore witness
to the Son of Christ being the Son of God. And He bears witness
to every child of God who Jesus Christ is. He bears witness to
us that He is the Son of God, that He came, that man that came
into this world was the Son of God. Not a son of God, not one
of the sons of God, but the only Son of God. the only begotten
Son of God. And so the Holy Ghost, when he
comes to us, he bears witness to every child of God that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God and that our faith has a sure foundation. and we have confidence before
God because what the Spirit bears witness to when we go to God
what whose name do we go in we go in his son's name when we
speak to God we speak to him in the son's name and John may
emphatically stated he that believeth that Jesus Christ is the son
of God God dwells in him and I know that people say well that's
just that's just common sense no it ain't common sense No,
no it ain't. You know how many people in this
world, how many preachers will preach last Sunday and preach
tonight and preach next Sunday and they will not identify Jesus
Christ as the Son of God, the Only Begotten Son of God and
how He came into this world and why He came into this world and
who bore witness to it? Most folks say, well, I made
a profession. I went to the altar and I raised
my hand and I've done this and I've done that. But beloved,
the Holy Ghost witnesses to us that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. That's why in the world they
wanted to kill Him. That's why they stoned Him. That's
why they tried to run Him out of town. He says, because you
blasphemous saying that you are the Son of God. That was blasphemous
to them. And that's our salvation. What
they hated, we love. Because you understand when you
say Jesus Christ is the Son of God, you're talking about somebody
that was in eternity. And He came. And He was God when
He left heaven, and He was God when He got here. But He became
something He never was before. He became a man. But that nevertheless
negated the fact that He was the Son of God. No other human,
no other person even, oh my, and he came. He came. And then look what it says. He
came by blood. He came by water, came by the
baptism, fulfilled all righteousness, to identify with us, to make
himself of no reputation. But he also came by blood, blood. Oh, listen, he fulfilled every
ceremonial law, everything that every priest ever did. And beloved,
he came here and the Holy Spirit bears witness that his blood
is the only blood that ever cleansed from sin. That's what the Holy
Spirit bears witness to us, ain't it? He bore witness that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God when he was on the cross, that he
came by blood, not by the blood of bulls and goats, but by his
own blood, he entered in once into the holy place and obtained
eternal redemption for us. He put an end to the law and
all the sacrifices of the law. He put an end to every lamb being
shed and the blood being shed. He put an end to every goat,
every sacrifice, every heifer, every bullock, everything that
was ever offered. He put an end to them. And that's
what the Spirit bears witness to, that Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, came by blood. Oh, the blood and its effects.
Look in Matthew 27. Oh, this blood, this is what
the Spirit bears witness to us. He bears witness that this blood
is the Son of God's blood. First and foremost, it satisfied
God. He'd done something for God.
Matthew 27.50. That's, you know, the Holy Ghost
and the Holy Spirit. He witnessed to Christ's baptism
in the water, and then He said, He also comes by blood. He come
to shed blood. By the shedding of blood, without
the shedding of blood, no remission of sin. And that blood is what
sanctifies, that blood is what cleanses you. But look what he
said here in Matthew 25, 2750. Jesus when he'd cried with a
loud voice Yielded up the ghost and look what happened now. This
is what we're talking about This is what the Holy Ghost bore witness
to and behold the veil of the temples ran in top to the bottom
That veil was over four inches thick four inches thick 15 foot
high and 30 foot wide or 30 foot high and 15 foot wide I forget
which one it is. But anyway It was it It didn't
have a seam in it. Split right down the middle.
You know what that showed? There's a new and a living way
into the holiest of holy by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look what else it said. And
the earth did quake and the rocks rent. Who in the world is this
that caused such commotion in the world when he died? The Holy
Ghost bearing witness to some things here. And the graves were
open. Listen, our Lord Jesus Christ, even the folks in the
graves, the graves were open and many bodies of the saints
which slept, got up, walked around town. People saw them. I was such power in this blessed
blood when he shed it that even the dead had to get out of the
grave. And came out of the graves after his resurrection and went
into the holy city and appeared to many. Now listen to this.
Now when the centurion and they that were with him, Watching
Jesus saw the earthquake and those things which were done.
They feared greatly Say truly Truly, this was the Son of God
This was the Son of God. Oh my Feared greatly and said
this truly is the Son of God Now back over here in verse 7
of 1st. John 5 So we're talking about
that Jesus is the Son of God. That's what the water and the
blood testifies to. And that's what the water and
the blood and the Spirit bears witness because Spirit is truth,
that Jesus is the Son of God. That's what He bears witness
to. And then they said in verse 7, There are three that bear
record in heaven. Oh my, we're leaving the earth
now, we're in heaven. Who bears witness to Christ being
on the earth? The Father does in heaven, ain't
that what it says? The Father. We just heard Him
say. How many times did our Lord,
did the Father, twice the Father spoke to the Lord Jesus Christ,
if I'm not mistaken, by an audible voice, by an audible voice. And
He said, Father, I know that you always hear me, but for those
that are around me, There are three that bear record in heaven.
They got a record up there. They witness to this. That's
what the record means. They bear witness to this, the
record in heaven. The Father, the Word, that's
capitalized, that's the title of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. The Father and the Word
by which, the Father who created, the Word by which He created,
and the Holy Ghost who made everybody understand what He did create.
And these three are one. Now how do you have three persons,
distinct persons, become one person? I don't know, but they
do. You know how they're one? They're
all three holy. They're all three sinless. They
all three do the same exact thing. The Father sent Christ to be
the Savior, the propitiation, and He came. The Word was made
flesh and sent to dwell among us, and we beheld His glory.
That's the witness from heaven. And then the Holy Ghost, He is
the one who takes the things of Christ and shows them unto
us, so they have one goal, is to save God's elect through the
work of that record from heaven. God Himself from heaven bears
witness to this. Or he said, this is my beloved
son. John heard him. Everybody heard
him. And it wasn't like that voice
that you hear it in that movie, The Ten Commandments, you know,
this great big booming voice. I don't think it was like that
at all. I think it was a wonderful voice. I think it was a sweet
voice. I think it was a glorious voice. Because he said, first
thing he says, this is my beloved. Oh, I think he was the most wonderful,
gracious, loving. Have you ever grabbed one of
your children when you're the father and just hug them and
talk about how much you love them? When my grandson was graduating
the other day, Duke, just every few minutes, he'd just start
squawking. He'd just start squawking. Because he'd know this life is
going to change from here on out. And boy, he just, you know,
it's the only child he had and he loves him. Well, you imagine
the father looking down on his son. He's entering into his ministry. He's gonna go out and do what
God sent him to do. And the father says, this is
my beloved son. This is my beloved son. I'm so
well pleased in him. I'm well, well pleased in him.
And old John said, no wonder I told you you need to be baptized
in me. Oh my. And so these three are
one. They all have the same purpose.
They all have the same will. They all have the same message.
They are one in holiness, in righteousness, in power. One
don't have more power than the other one. They all have the
same power. And they all have the same purpose.
They all have the same thing. And then look what it says here.
And then in verse 8, look what it says. Here's another. There
are three that bear record in heaven. The Father, The Word
that was made flesh by which God created the world and everything
that was in it. And the Holy Ghost who went out
and did the work. The Spirit of God brooded upon
the water. The Spirit of God broods on our
heart. And He does it with the Word sent by the Father. And then here's another three.
There's three in heaven and there are three that bear witness in
the earth. Three. Talk about the Trinity. Oh, these
two verses talk about the Trinity. For there are three that bear
record, and there are three that bear witness in the earth." Now
we're talking about what happens here on this earth. Our Lord
Jesus Christ was on the earth. He came to this world. He came
to this earth. There's three times, you know,
I think it's in John 1, 10, 12, 11, somewhere in there, it says,
He was in the world. That means He has come down to
this earth. The world was made by Him, that's the cosmos, He
made this whole world. And then the world, that's the
people, received Him not. Three different worlds in one
verse of Scripture. And our Lord said, now here,
there's three that bear witness in the earth. Oh my, I'm interested
in what they bear witness to on earth. This is where I'm at.
I'm on the earth, I'm here on the earth. And oh listen, the
Spirit, The Holy Spirit bears witness on this earth. Ain't
that right? He bears witness on this earth.
He bears witness to the truth. He bears witness to Christ. He
bears witness to man's sinfulness. He bears witness to, when He
has come, He'll convince the world of righteousness, of sin,
of righteousness, and unbelief because they believe not on Me,
of judgment to come because they believe not on Me. And then He
says this, there are three that bear with the Spirit, the Spirit
and the water and the blood. Now, in John 19.34, this is when
he talks about the Spirit bears witness on the earth. And this
is what's happened on the earth here too. In John 19.34, this
is that other mention of the water and the blood. This is
where he came by water and blood both. This is another mention
of that. And this of course is what our
Lord Jesus Christ came to do. John 1934 look what he says,
you know he the spirit bears witness to this and The water
and the blood bear witness. These are things on the earth
that it bears witness to And they come to the Lord Jesus Christ
and found that he is already dead in verse 33 But one of the
soldiers with a spear pierced his side and forthwith came there
out blood and water They testified, the Spirit testified that Jesus
Christ was the Son of God on the cross. Water to purifies
us just like under the law and blood to make atonement and put
away all our sin. And in God's purpose both water
and blood flowed from the side of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
the Holy Spirit, back over in John 5 with me, the Holy Spirit
bears witness. How does he bear witness? Now
on the earth, you know how he bears witness? Through this word
right here. By the foolishness of preaching.
By the word right here, right now. There was a fella come see
me three or four months ago. He was in trouble. He was in
trouble. I'd been talking to him quite a bit and he went to
another church and his son was a minister in another church
here in town. But he came to me, he was really
in trouble because, you know, he had asked me questions, and
I'd answer the questions as honestly as I possibly could. And he came
to talk to me. I gave him some messages on CD. I took some of those CDs out
there. I said, take these, listen to them. He's on the road a lot,
and I said, listen. He said, yeah, I'll listen to
them. I said, boy, I'll see you. I ain't seen him since. till
today. You know what happens? As quick
as somebody starts hearing the truth, somebody intervenes and
starts telling them, I'd stay away from that fella. I'd stay
away from that truth. I'd stay away from that. I wouldn't
believe that. You know you're not that bad a person because
that's all they could talk about is what they done, what they's
doing, what they's doing. But do you know when the Holy
Ghost comes to make us know something? Do you know why blood and water
came out of Christ's side? Do you know why Christ was crucified?
Why he's called the Son of God? Because we desperately, desperately,
desperately need it saving. And only the blood of the Son
of God could save us from our sin. And only the water that
come from that side and in the Word can wash us from the filthiness
of our flesh. When He does that through the
Gospels, our Lord took water and washed the disciples' feet.
You know, He said, you're clean everywhere but your feet. And
that's what the gospel does for it, the water of the word. And
all beloved, the Holy Spirit, he bears witness through the
word of God that the whole, the whole of our salvation, the whole
of our salvation is found only in Christ. Everything they had
under the law, they had water and they had blood, and we got
them both in Jesus Christ. The law demanded righteousness,
Jesus Christ brought righteousness, the Son of God brought. And all
the blood of bulls and goats never put away one sin, Christ's
blood put it all away once and for all. And the earthly, look
what it says here now, the spirit, the water, and the blood, and
these three agree in one. They are one, and these all three
agree. The Spirit, the water, and the
blood, they all agree on this earth that this Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. I'm going to show you one other
verse of Scripture, and then I'm going to quit. And I'm going
to quit. Over in 1 Thessalonians chapter
1. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Oh, they agree. The water, and the blood, and
the Spirit, they all agree in one. And that's on this earth.
That's on this earth. Look in verse 4, 1 Thessalonians
5, 1, excuse me, 1 Thessalonians 1, 4. Knowing brethren, beloved,
your election of God. How did he know? How did he know?
How did they come to know that they were God's elect? Who told
them? How did they come to know that?
Our gospel came not unto you in word only, But it did come
in word, but also in power. This is what he's witnessing
to. And in the Holy Ghost, Holy Ghost more witness to our election,
to Christ lived dying for us. And he came in much assurances.
Oh, he gave witness to our hearts, gave witness to our conscience,
gave witness to the water, gave witness to the blood, gave witness
to the record in heaven and in much assurance. And oh, beloved,
don't the gospel do that? Don't it give you assurance?
When you hear about them all, they all, the Father, the Word,
and the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the Spirit, all
are one, and then they all agree in one. And that's this, that
Jesus is the Son of God. And a man, if you believe that,
and God put that in your heart, God put that in your heart, ain't
nothing in the world can ever take that away. Nothing. You
can face God with that knowledge. You can come to God with that
knowing. I'm coming in God's blessed son's name. If he's beloved
of the father, then I want to love him too. Father loves him,
I want to love him. Oh, amen. Oh, our father. Oh, our father in the blessed,
blessed name of your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you
for these wonderful, precious truths, making us understand
something about the water, the blood, and the spirit, teaches
us, instructs us, and bears witness to us. And even does it here
on this earth. The spirit bears witness to what
our Lord did on this earth and what he accomplished. Our Father,
thank you for allowing us to meet here tonight. Thank you
for allowing us to speak of your blessed, precious son. the one
you love, the son of your love, blessed be your holy name. Amen
and amen.