Series: 1 John
Title: The Witness of
God
Text: 1 John 5: 5-9
Date: March 14, 2019
Place: SGBC, NJ
1 John 5: 1:
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that
loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 2: By this we know that we love the
children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
God’s commandments are
that we believe on his Son Jesus Christ.
1 John 3: 23: And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the
name of his Son Jesus Christ…
John 6:29: Jesus answered them and said, This is the work
of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
God commanded, “This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” (Mt 17:4-5). When we are born of God, he fitly frames us
together and by him effectually working in each of us, we edify the body in love,
one way, in the unity of the faith.
We love one another
in the context of being united together as the church of God. The only way we can truly love our brethren
born of God is by believing on the Lord Jesus and persevering in faith. “BY
THIS we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his
commandments.”—"And this is his commandment, that we believe on the name
of his Son, Jesus Christ.”
1 John 5: 3:
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his
commandments are not grievous.
Christ said “come unto me, [believe on me] all that ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…for my yoke is [not
grievous] my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” God’s great love
wherewith he first loved us, giving his only begotten Son that we might live
through him, makes believing on Christ a light and easy yoke. We see that John means we love one another by believing
on Christ
1 John 5: 4:
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5: Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that
Jesus is the Son of God?
Our text begins here:
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 it is
the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7:
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the
Holy Ghost: and these three are one. 8: And there are three that bear
witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three
agree in one. 9: 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.
John said in verse 5, “he that overcometh the world, is he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God?” How do we know Jesus is the Son of God? Scripture says, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be
established.” Do we have two or three
witnesses?
Proposition: We know and believe that Jesus is the Son
of God by the witness of God bearing witness within us!
THE WITNESS OF THE LAW
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.
First, we have the
witness of the law. Jesus the Son of God
fulfilled the law of God. By this we
know he is the Son of God, the Christ.
By our first
representative, Adam, all men were given a spiritually dead sin-nature within. The regeneration and sanctification of Christ’s
people is represented by the water which flowed from Christ’ wounded side. In Adam, we broke God’s law. The justification of Christ’s people is
represented by the blood which flowed from Christ’s wounded side. We come into this world with a sin-nature
that is unholy, defiled, corrupt, spiritually dead, which we got from Adam’s
corrupt, sinful seed.
Psalm 51:
5: Behold I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Genesis
6: 5: And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
We come into the
world unrighteous, guilty of transgression, sin and iniquity because we broke
God’s law in Adam. No guilty sinner can
justify himself. We cannot keep God’s
holy law; and even if we could, “by the
deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in [God’s] sight: for by the
law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom 3: 20).
So throughout the old
covenant law two things were necessary to approach God and be accepted of him: water and blood.
Hebrews 9: 19: For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people
according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and
scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, 20: Saying,
This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Aaron and his sons
were priests. They picture Christ’s
people who he makes priests unto God.
When Aaron and his sons were consecrated as God’s priests two things
were in the ceremony: water and blood. By
water they were ceremonially washed, typifying the inward work of sanctification. It typified the work of the Holy Spirit in making
us holy, clean, purified. Christ is the
Sanctification of his people. By blood a substitute lamb was slain in
their place and the blood applied to them, picturing Christ’s blood making a
believer righteous. Christ is the
Righteousness of his people.
Throughout the law, by
the water God declared Christ our Sanctification and by the blood he declared Christ
our Righteousness—1 John 5: 6: This is he
that came by water AND blood, even
Jesus Christ; not by water only, not by water only but by water AND blood.
When Christ is truly made
Sanctification unto us then we know there is no co-effort between Christ and us
to make ourselves holy. Then we know
that Christ is ALL our Holiness/Sanctification AND Christ is ALL our
Righteousness/Justification.
We sing “Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide
myself in thee, Let the WATER AND THE BLOOD, From thy wounded side which
flowed, Be of sin the DOUBLE CURE, SAVE FROM WRATH AND MAKE ME PURE.”
We sing, “Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that will PARDON
AND CLEANSE WITHIN.
We need Christ to be
the double cure. He is our salvation
from the wrath of God and our purity within.
Christ justifies, makes righteous AND by his will Christ sanctified his
people and makes us holy within.
John 19: 30: When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It
is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. 31: The Jews therefore, because it was
the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the
sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day), besought Pilate that their
legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
Here is an example of
why Christ must be made unto us both Sanctification and Righteousness. In the middle of the two tables of the
law—between the commandments toward God and commandments toward man—God gave
the law of the sabbath. It was a day
when men were to rest from all their works. It pictured rest from all the commandments of
the law in Christ our Sabbath Rest.
But due to their unholy,
sinful hearts, the natural Jews rejected Christ the Sabbath for the day. Until Christ is made Sanctification unto us,
this is what all sinners do. Sinners
reject Christ who is both our Righteousness and our Sanctification for their
vain, filthy works of the law. So for
the sake of the sabbath day, these Jews
John 19: 31: besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that
they might be taken away.
When crucified a
person had to push up with his legs to exhale.
So by breaking their legs they would be unable to exhale. They would die quicker so they could get them
off the cross and not break their sabbath day.
John 19: 32: Then came
the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was
crucified with him. 33: But when they came to Jesus, and
saw that he was dead already, they brake NOT his legs: 34: But one of the soldiers with a spear PIERCED HIS SIDE, and forthwith
came there out BLOOD AND WATER. 35: And he that saw it [John] bare
record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye
might believe. 36: For these things were done, that the scripture should be
fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. 37: And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom
they pierced.” (Joh 19:31-37)
That is the scripture
from where Toplady wrote the song I just quoted:
Let the
water AND the blood,
From
thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of
sin the double cure,
Save
from wrath AND make me pure.
So the water represents Christ our
Sanctification and the blood Christ our Righteousness. Christ makes his people righteous outwardly
before the law of God by his righteous obedience unto the death of the cross—without shedding of blood is no remission of
sins. The water declares Christ is
our Sanctification. We must be washed
inwardly. Christ said, “Except I wash thee, thou hast no part in
me.”
THE WITNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
1 John 5: 6:…And it is the Spirit that beareth witness,
because the Spirit is truth…8: And there are three that bear witness in the
earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three are one.
In addition to the
witness of the law, those regenerated have the witness of the Holy Spirit. By the washing of water by the word and by
the blood of Christ sprinkled on our heart in regeneration, the Holy Spirit
bears witness in our hearts that Jesus is indeed the Christ the Son of God. We have the witness within, by the Spirit bearing witness within us. Christ said of the Holy Spirit,
John
16: 13: Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into
all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that
shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come. 14: He shall glorify Me:
for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you.
This is the unction
John spoke of in chapter 2 whereby a believer, born of the Spirit, knows all
things. The Spirit of God convicts and
convinces us within. Christ said, I will
send the Comforter,
John 16: 8: And when he
is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment: 9: Of sin, because
they believe not on me; 10: Of
righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11: Of judgment, because the prince of
this world is judged.
The Spirit convicts us that we are sinners. Only by the Spirit convincing us we have not
believed on Christ will we know and confess to God that we are sinners—"a sinner is a precious thing, the Holy Ghost
has made him so.” He convicts us
that Christ alone is Righteousness—Christ
is made unto us Righteousness. He convicts us that Christ settled
judgment at Calvary when he took away the sin of his people. This is what John spoke about when he said the
Spirit of God reveals God’s love for us and perfects the love of God in us and gives
us faith.
1 John 4: 16: And we have
known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth
in God, and God in him. 17: Herein is our love [God’s love in
us] made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as
he is, so are we in this world. 18:
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath
torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
In Hebrews, we saw how Moses joined the old covenant law to the people
by sprinkling blood and water on them. When
God makes with us the everlasting covenant of grace, Christ sends the Spirit and
washes us with water by word (by the incorruptible seed by the gospel), making
Christ Sanctification unto us—1 John 5:
8: For there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water…
Our Savior gave himself for his church “That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the
word” (Ephesians 5:26). This is when we are born of the incorruptible
seed which by the gospel is preached unto us.
Peter said it is by Christ that we believe, by the Spirit, we are born
again by the incorruptible seed which is preached to us. We are purified,
sanctified, when Christ is made Sanctification unto us by the Holy Spirit in
regeneration. Then we are made to obey
by faith, believing on Christ.
Regeneration is by God’s abundant grace shed on us through the
justifying, sanctifying work of Christ Jesus our Lord.
Titus 3: 5:
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his
mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy
Ghost; 6: Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7:
That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life.
Do you see how united justification and sanctification are?
Hebrews 10: 14: For by one offering he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15: Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us:
The Holy Spirit also applies the blood of Christ making us behold Christ
justified us through shedding his precious blood so that Christ is made Righteousness
unto us—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.
Hebrews 9: 11 But Christ being come an 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; 12 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. 13:
For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the
unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 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?
Brethren, in that day
of his grace, all we know is that we find ourselves believing on Christ:
believing he is indeed all our Righteousness and all our Sanctification. We behold that God is just and the Justifier
because the righteousness of God is revealed in our hearts through the gospel. It is because of the witness,
1 Corinthians 1: 30: But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 31:
That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
Zechariah 13:1: In that day there shall be a
fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for
sin and for uncleanness. [for righteousness and sanctification both in Christ]
For the first time,
we find ourselves willing to plunge into that fountain. We draw near to God in full assurance of
faith casting all our care on Christ!
What has happened?
Hebrews 10: 14: by one
offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15: Whereof the Holy Ghost also
is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 16: This is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their
minds will I write them; 17: And
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18: Now where remission of these is, there is no more
offering for sin.
Oh, what good news!
What does all this make us do? Knowing
God remembers our sins no more and there is no sacrifices to be made by us:
Hebrews 10: 19: Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20: By a new and living way, which he
hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21
And having an high priest over the house of God; 22: 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.
1 John 5: 9: 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.
Amen!