36_First_John_5_9-12_The_Testimony_of_the_Spirit_pt_2

All right, we're going to begin reading today at verse 6. We're in 1 John, chapter 5. And the title of today's lesson is Testimony of the Spirit, Part 2. And I follow Roy's excellent documentation. And Hannah, thank you, Roy, from last week. So verse 5, this is he who came by water and blood. Jesus Christ, not only by water, but by water and blood. And it's this spirit who bears witness, because the spirit is true.

By the way, verse 7 is controversial as to whether it's in most Bibles. So you have to take that with a grain of salt in terms of reading verse 7. But I listened to Macaulay at great length, and he said of all the versions that translations have been given, it's only in a few. And then New King James still has it.

So verse 7, for there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. The controversy has come around the fact that there was a big argument whether the Holy, the Triune God is stated clearly in the Bible. And I guess the people who agree with this felt that this was a necessary verse to put in here, but the original text does not have this verse. But is the Bible any less valuable without it? No. But anyway, verse 3 kind of brings it together in part.

There are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree as one. Okay, you can come back to that if you want, but Roy covered that well last week. Okay, our verses for today are 9 through 12. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.

For this is the witness of God, which he has testified of his Son, He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. And he who does not believe God, it makes him a liar. Because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of his Son. And this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life and this life is in his Son. And he who has the Son has life. And he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. That's pretty strong scripture, right? We'll return to that, but it's a fun topic today and it's one we can learn a lot from.

So let's look at what we already covered last week and I'm going to summarize that kind of in a couple of bullet points and we're going to look at a little scripture. Jesus Christ came earthly born and was baptized, water and by blood, for he died and he shed his precious blood that we might live. So he came with water in terms of his earthly birth and baptism and ultimately He came as blood in terms of the sacrifices that he placed. So somebody turn to Matthew 3, 13-18.

And whoever gets it first, begin reading. Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. But John tried to stop him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me. Jesus answered him, Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he allowed him to be baptized.

After Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And there came a voice from heaven, This is my beloved son. I take delight in him.

Okay, so the water baptism. What does the water baptism signify in terms of the Lord Jesus Christ? Signified the beginning of the ministry. So this is the beginning of what everything else written in scripture in the gospel account stands for. The baptism of the Holy Spirit. We don't know much about his life before that, but the ministry clearly started at his baptism.

Okay, somebody read John 19 first. First, we all know pretty well that somebody pulled back on us. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. Remember, the sacrifice of bulls and goats can never take away sin. It's his blood that can take away sin. So we're finished. It was a done deal.

So there's the emphasis on the water and the blood that Roy Covington writes. Can you hear me now? Yes. All right, good. Well, to summarize what I just said, to summarize the summary, and the verses covered last week dealt with the fact that Christ was earthly born, baptized by water, and died by blood, and shed blood was really for all of us. The latter part of that comment was what the concern was. All right.

And the second summary points, the spirit, the water, and the blood together all bear witness to the truth that we're about. All right, let's continue then. Verse 9, if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater for this is the witness of God that he testified of his son. If we receive present indicative, that means now, then, or today, right now. That means it's factual. We look at this witness of men as factual. So, question for the class, is if here a first class conditional, which means it's presumed to be true, or is this a third class conditional clause, which is probable or hypothetical?

What do you think? What do you think when we listen to people in today's world when we're talking with them? Do we believe them, typically? Don't wax political here. It's hard not to. No, in general, let's say somebody on the radio is saying it's 39 degrees this morning. Are you going to call the weather bureau and find out whether that's an accurate temperature?

I mean, in general, we believe what people tell us, right? So that's the witness amendment related to it. And the answer to that, it's first class condition. You accept it to be true. I mean, even though it may not be, and we kind of, when we talk to one another, we have information, you watch TV, you look at the news, and say, well, that slant on the news, but somebody was murdered. And so there's a lot of truth to this. So you tend to believe the witness of men, don't we?

Especially when they say witness, that means they must have seen something. Right. All right. So we're going to get to that in a little bit more detail. What a true witness is all about. Remember in a courtroom hearsay, evidence is worthless, right? Sure, but if should be maybe... It should be since. Since. Since we received and believe the witness of men, basically, is what they're tending to see. So, what is the witness of men and what is our extension?

I think we just discussed that. You typically believe what people tell you. And, you know, again, I'm not saying every conversation, clearly the political agenda we can question, but in terms of kinds of information that we say is factual, we tend to believe. So, all right. Now, I'm going to bounce that one in.

No matter what it is, whatever this witness is, the witness of God is greater. And why? Why is the witness of God greater? Because God can't lie. All right. But what's the evidence for that? If you had to say one thing about the witness of God in context, look at what we're looking at. What's the verse say? He was a witness. He was there. All right, we're going to return to that, Mike, but hold on to that thought here a second. Because the witness of God is greater. You're not answering the question. This is my beloved son. Thank you.

That's what the scripture says, that he testified of his son. Okay, we're going to boil that down a little bit more detail. That he testified in his son, of his son, is the fact that the witness is greater than men. To testify this perfect tense here, it means something that took place in the past, but that testimony continues and results in one that continues infinitely, including today.

Bob, you know what strikes me is that God has put all his eggs in Christ's death on the cross and his resurrection. Everything about God is in that, and that's what this is telling us. That's the key issue about God. Well, great, Roger. And in fact, I think to answer this question, as Patty has so correctly based on the verse, if there's no resurrection, our faith is dead. I mean, it's absolutely worthless. The whole Bible is worthless if Christ wasn't resurrected from the dead.

And that's where you get into a conversation, sometimes a bit of a discussion, sometimes a little more animated than others. You know, people believe Jesus was a great teacher, a great prophet, all these other kinds of things, but they don't believe, they may even believe in the crucifixion, but the resurrection? And you think of some faiths, quote-unquote, you know, he's still on the cross in many ways. The resurrection is something they don't buy completely in terms of the eternal security we all have, right?

All right, good. So Bengal has an interesting comment. It says, the testimony of the Father, as it were, the basis of the testimony of the Word and of the Holy Spirit, just as the testimony of the Spirit is, as it were, the basis of the testimony of the water and the blood. So in other words, there's a lot of redundant clauses there. But anyway, it makes me turn to Scripture to really clarify this.

And so Matthew 3, 16 and 18, when he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and a lightning upon him. And suddenly a voice came from him saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. And this was read by Jim just a few minutes ago. So his ministry really started here in terms of the water baptism. And we take it from there as part of the testimony that's recorded by John in his first epistle. All right, verse 10.

He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself, and he who does not believe God has made him a liar because he's not believed the testimony that God has given of his Son. He who believes present active, that means us right now. in the Son of God has the witness in Himself. So the same witness that God gave us in His Son is the same witness we have within each of us, and that is greater than the witness of many.

Isn't that an incredible statement? I mean, wow. It's a humbling statement. So he's put, you know, man that, you know, often fails, but he's put that witness within in believing man, which is incredible. Okay, so define what believing in the Son of God indicates, number one. It seems simple, but it's a little more complex at times. And what is our witness?

That's a question. I should have put a question mark there, shouldn't I? Well, Thayer has something to say about that. He says, one who avers. Can anybody tell me what to aver means? I did. I had no idea what to aim or something is. It's the state or the manifest typically in spoken word. One who abers, or can aber, or state a statement of truth, what he himself has seen or heard or knows by other means.

So in other words, so our witness is what? According to that definition that Thayer has given us, whether it be correct or not. Witness of men, right? Well, it's whether you believe what the scripture says. All right. Is that spoken? Or in other ways too? about the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Murray. So you've answered that. I have two verses to share.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. But here's what Roy alluded to, Romans 8, 16. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God. And when we are children of God, that Spirit works in us to not, you know, polish the rust we have in the old man, but ultimately create a whole new life within us.

I like the illustration, punish the rest. If you read today's Hungry Heart, think about the emphasis was not on things we give up when we're saved, but going to what the truth is and things we gain by Christ's life that we have within. The analogy he gives, I'm not sure which commentator it was in Hungry Heart, but he said the nun separates herself from all things of the world. But yet, is she enjoying all the things she has in Christ? And the idea of renouncing things and what you give up is not where our emphasis should be. It's what gain we have in our position and how that impacts our conviction. So this witness, by the way, may be spoken, whereas Hal so often says you may be the only Bible people ever read looking at your life.

Yeah, Wayne? I'm just thinking the new creation of which we are wouldn't have any old things. It would all be new. We wouldn't have anything, it has nothing to give up. Does it? That's really true. Are you thinking eternally or are you thinking even right now? Right now, yeah. By faith, we live that out though. No. Alright. And this is personal isn't it, for each and every one of us. It takes place in some other different way, time scale. John 1, 12.

But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name. Right, so. we all find ourselves very much benefitting. Yes sir, go ahead. Another word you could put in place of right is who gave the privilege or the prerogative to become children of God.

So it's a... Oh, well maybe there's a translation, yeah. Well, if you go to the Greek, you know, the Greek dictionary explains it can be... You put those words in there and it really Brilliant. It is a privilege, isn't it? It is. All right, let's continue. I think this was really instructive to me. I typically do my lessons all Saturday morning and then I kind of ponder. Last night for some reason I thought, I don't have a printed Macaulay version. We don't have a printed Macaulay version. No, we do not.

But I listened to his tape and he came up with something I thought was really, really worthwhile. For an hour or less, I'm going to find my way around that based on what he said. So what Macaulay said is that there are seven lines of evidence to build on in terms of this witness we have about the Lord Jesus Christ, his birth, and his resurrection. So let's go through this very quickly. John 5, 39, I'm going to skip forward to 46 just because of space.

So his first position was the Old Testament, which I found kind of interesting. you search the scriptures this is what Christ is saying now you search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and these are they which testify of me for if you believe Moses this is verse 46 you believe Moses you would believe me for he wrote about me and in that I mean there's a whole section between those verses I just didn't want to put them all there but they lead into the fact when he returns to Moses who the Jewish you know, community really relied on in terms of their Jewish faith in Israel, ultimately interesting. So Old Testament, the first line of evidence.

The second is John the Baptist. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. And this man came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. Second line of evidence, John the Baptist. His statement indicates that Christ was the light to which we all would come to believe in the truth of who the Son of God is. The disciples and apostles are so many examples, but I'm just going to give the words of our Savior where he said, And you also will bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.

So as John kind of stated in the first epistle here, we saw him. We were instructed by him. And remember Paul and his road to Damascus and three years in the wilderness with the Lord Jesus Christ. These are people who experienced him not only by hearing about him, but his personage and seeing his life and seeing his impact. Fourth line of evidence, the words. No, his words. All right, there we have John 8, 14.

Jesus answered and said to them, even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from and where I'm going. So his own words bore witnesses to who he was. God the Father, and there's many examples of this too, but I'm just stating one. I am one who bears witness of myself, that returns to his own words, and the Father who sent me bears witness of me. Okay, so the Lord speaks about himself, who he is, he testifies to the fact that he's his own witness, but now we have God as being the one who sent him to bear witness.

His works, Jesus answered them, and I told you and you don't believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. Okay, so his works. And the final one, we're all here like this, the Holy Spirit. But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify of me.

So isn't that neat the way Macaulay has kind of outlined these seven lines of evidence? And you're a little bit behind and you're all alone. Sorry. I'm reading my handout now. I can't tell whether I need my glasses or not. If you don't want to play the piano, I have another pair of glasses. It's perfectly distanced. Anyway, let's move on, Bob. All right, so I really found this really instructive.

I think we all kind of seek truth, and truth is the Lord Jesus Christ and the Word of God. But to find evidence from a human perspective to cite our truth in terms of a series of things like Old Testament all the way to the Holy Spirit is really documenting that truth. And again, all these verses could be exemplified substantially to make the point. Doesn't that show us why the magnitude of God's witness is just overwhelming?

But man still refuses to say, to bow the knee and say yes. It's amazing. So when you think about, what was a true witness to the Jewish community? Do you remember what that was? Well, first of all, did they have to have two? They had to have two witnesses, number one. And how is a person accounted to be a true witness? They had to have actually been there, right? Yeah, you have to see. This is not hearsay evidence. Somebody told me that somebody did something, doesn't make it, right? So the two witnesses were necessary, so we're thinking here of multiple witnesses as documented by Macaulay.

Let's go ahead and look at this, because he who has not believed the testimony that God has given of his son, okay, ultimately Romans 3, 3, 4, but what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not. Indeed, let God be true, but every man a liar, and this continues to be magnified by the Old Testament. This is Psalm 514, that you may be justified in your word and may overcome when you are judged. So that relates to the lack of belief. And scripture goes on to say, he who does not believe God has made him a liar.

That's pretty strong stuff. The contrast I think here is we reflect on someone who does not believe it's the power of the flesh, the power of the world system, and Satan himself. All those three, you know, contrary pathways that we often relate to one way or the other. Hopefully now indirectly all of these really is the one who calls him a liar.

Barker, the writer then cannot allow that one can profess belief in God as did his opponents and yet reject God's testimony to his own son. I bold this, such rejection cannot be excused on the basis of ignorance. The evidence is too clear and too weighty. Rather, his deliberate unbelief, the character of which, in the end, impugns the very being and character of God.

If Jesus is not God's own Son of the Flesh, then God is no longer the truth. He is a liar. It's all wrapped up in Christ. Yeah, pretty strong. You know, people would not normally call God a liar, but saying that God is not You know, this isn't truth. It is. Well, what does John say in his epistle? What are we also calling these individuals? The strong, strong term.

They're antichrists. I mean, we're thinking of THE antichrist in terms of the end times. But we're talking of the tribulation period, but everyone who's a non-believer is an antichrist. Which wouldn't be a liar at that moment, it'd be an opponent of God.

That's true. But it comes across very subtly, Mike. And we'll see that in the last part of our lesson today in terms of the world system and the way they approach this. with Satan runs the world system. Yeah, boy, and we get caught up in that ourselves sometimes. We have to pause and realize what a citizenship really is. Jim?

You know, in Hodgins, he says the New King James Version should have verse 10 in parentheses, and I checked through about six versions that I have on my phone, and the Homeland Christian Standard Bible puts verse 10 in parentheses, because you can continue the idea from verse 9 right on into 11 and it just transitions perfectly.

Well that same argument is made with verse 7, but that's thought to have been added. I don't know whether what's true or not. Verse 7 speaks the truth of the triune God, right? We don't deny that, but anyway, I didn't see that on verse 10 though. Yeah, from verse 9 to verse 11 there's a kind of So verse 10 is a parenthesis, but it's a very important parenthesis. Okay, good, thanks.

So verse 11, this is the testament that God has given us eternal life and the life is in his Son. This doesn't seem like new information at this point, John, does it? So what then is our basis of having eternal life? First, it's been given, and that's the aorist act of indicative. It's a fact that ultimately remains as true today as it was once given.

And that life is conditional, it's all in His Son. So Romans 6, 3, Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism unto death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. And again, that newness of life is all about Him. It's that life He creates in us. Philippians 121, one of my favorite churches, for me to live is Christ.

What's the other part of that verse? Either way you win. All right. And then we have 1 John 4, 9. In this, the love of God was manifested towards us that God has sent his only begotten into the world that we might live through him. We're talking about a life here. We're not talking about trying to do better. We're talking about a whole new life. Alright, verse 12. He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. Okay? So, he who has the Son has life. Smalley says that the eternal life is qualitative, not quantitative. What do you make of that? What do you think of quality versus quantity? his character. Okay, like, I like that, Mike. What about quantitative? We're talking about being filled with the spirit, right? And being filled with the spirit may be quantitative, but we're not there to measure that he is.

But ultimately, the qualitative nature is our positional truth. We're born again if made him who knew no sin to be made sin for us, then we might be made the righteousness of God in him. I mean, we are perfectly righteous. So the qualitative nature is we have an entirely new life, and that's in him.

Now, quantitative, you know, Mother and I were talking the other day, we went to a service of someone that she knew through her golfing at the club, and so it was a mainline church, which was okay. I mean, you know, there's no question that people are saved in that church. I mean, it was clear from the message that he shared.

But the whole issue is the qualitative nature, when we reach heavenly places, we're all the same in Christ. I mean, we're all positionally in Christ. And whether to measure people's performance in a quantitative sense is not our responsibility. So, it's the highest kind of spiritual and moral life, irrespective of time, which God enables the believer to share in relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hey Bob? Yes, Roy? Yeah, just a verse that might clarify what kind of quality are we talking about? I think John himself writes in his first chapter of the Gospel where he says, in him was life and the life was the light of men. Right. What a quality. Okay, thanks. So what does this life look like? Well, it looks like Christ. Yeah, but is it walking in his shoes? No. No, it's not.

I mean, I think that's really the fault of many people thinking that we're going to try to, you know, basically duplicate the gospel walk of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I think many people, because they haven't been instructed, they don't see the magnitude of what they have. It's just, it's incredible that God, what he has done and what he's placed in each believer, but they don't, many believers don't see that. They're wrapped up in the old man and they never get Above that, it seems like. And where do you think the flaw is in that kind of existence?

I mean, they're all saved. I mean, Margaret, remind me. We're going to see everybody in the kingdom of heaven someday. But, you know, Wayne will, I think, agree with this. It all begins with position, doesn't it? It really, to understand that there is therefore now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. It's more like him walking in our shoes. Yeah, that's good. I like that.

The picture they show us walking next to Christ, that's the wrong picture. Because we can never duplicate. The power of the flesh is not capable of the Christ's life. The Christ's life then is one that's Spirit-led that exemplifies the Lord Jesus Christ.

Alright. He who does not have the Son of God doesn't have life. Hmm. Well, let's look at a couple of verses here. John 3, 36. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides in him. Now, is that wrath? We had a long discussion about it. Is the wrath of God really being displayed today with more natural disasters, more hurricanes, more earthquakes? No, I don't think so. We're talking about the wrath of God at the great judgment seat, are we not? And there we have some understanding scripturally that the non-believer will be judged in some way differently than we who are secure and made righteous eternally. 1 John 2, 22 and 23.

Who is a liar? The he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. He is an antichrist. Here we are. Who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Those are the words of John. This is not the message of men or the witness of men. This is a witness of Scripture. And it makes me kind of come to some thoughts about, notice that here and not before of God is stated and why. Why is the Son of God stated here? He who has the Son has life, does not state that of God, but he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. Because he's one and the same? I don't know. Okay, other thoughts? If we have the Son, we have life, which is life eternal, life now, to live that life.

He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. Why does of God be? Isn't he trying to just re-emphasize that Christ is the Son? I mean, and without If you don't believe that Christ is the Son of God, then you just believe he's a good preacher or a good teacher.

You may believe Jesus existed, but if you don't believe he's the Son of God, Well, and that continues in the verse to be covered next week, verse 13. These things I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. So it's re-emphasized there. I don't know why it's there and not there in the previous days. Previously, he used his son back in verse 9. Okay. He has borne the witness concerning his son. So you have his son versus the Son of God.

So it seems like it's... It's one of these things we could talk about and not necessarily have the best answer. But it made me think a little bit further about this. But do the unsaved know they don't have life? No. In fact, they'll argue with you. So what kinds of things do you think that the unsaved really consider as part of how they know God? Let's say know him, not experientially, but know that he's there.

Well, I've listed a few things and I have them here. I'm a good person. I do good things. A lot of good deeds. I'm religious and there's a tie often to denominations or traditions that make them religious to a lot of, you know, legacy and those things played out in certain denominations. God, I'm pretty well to do. God's blessing me. We have a wonderful God, don't we?

Finally, spiritual experiences. Experiences could be spiritual and they're also experiences of the saved. But often spiritual experiences are not biblically sound, some of them, and ultimately don't save anybody from the ultimate judgment to a curse. Any other thoughts about how the unsaved... They're not walking in God's life, which is the light of men. They're walking in the darkness, which hides that light. Okay, but how do they perceive that, Roy, do you think?

Only by the Holy Spirit revealing it through His radiance through other believers. The Holy Spirit through the Word and through believers and through things He's created, those three things are the testimony of God. And looking at this of God statement, He is the unique Son of God. One of a kind.

I think that might be John's emphasis here. And I'm going to throw out a loud and crazy one here to end the class. You know, with this new telescope, this Jeff, is that what it's called? I think that's the name of it. Anyway, this thing is, you know, uncovering whole new solar systems that we've never seen before. Presumably planets that have the right distance from the sun and people are thinking about life on other planets. What do you think of that one?

One of the things that they're doing is they're reinforcing Einstein's thought that time is not consistent. We have based our measurement of time on the speed of light. but the telescopes are revealing that the speed of light is relative, not fixed. Okay, well we get into the science of all this, but let's think Biblically and scripturally.

Well, aren't they seeing a little more of infinity? You know, this first telescope sees this much of, they look out into space, which is infinite. We have an infinite God. So the first telescope goes this far. The next telescope, Jeff, or whatever, goes that far. They don't, you know, man's telescope cannot see. It's like building a tower to Babel.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Was there another Garden of Eden, do you think, in some other planet? Only if you're a Mormon. Would Christ need to be crucified again? Anyway, I think this is a scientific myth, but all that aside, the world system can think whatever they want. And theoretically, scientifically, in fact, could a planet exist with an accurate atmosphere sufficiently? Yes. I'm sure. Yeah, Jim.

I don't think it matters because we can't Well, there's a truth there too. I'm trying to make you think spiritually. It's just funny how these brilliant people, they can create this device, but it just underlines how great God is. They fail to see that. I totally agree. And not only that, they always leave God out. Scientist never says this is a God. I discovered this. No, God, RNA.

And the essence of God is the way it could be observed. There are sciences based on what can be observed and tested. But it's human wisdom. Exactly. It's his way of looking at it. Well, it's the witness of men, is it not? Exactly. All right. Wayne, final comment. Go ahead. chapter 1 says that it placed him in the heart of man to know that there is a God.

He denies that. He's without excuse. Yeah, he willingly denies that. You know it's right there before him. Right. All right, good. Good interchange, everybody. Mike Poehler, will you close us in prayer for us? Sure. Thank you, Lord, for this fellowship you let us have and your love and just let everybody have a good week this week. joy in Christ. In Christ's name I pray.