Isn't it interesting how many lies people believe about things without ever investigating the truth? It's easy for us to see something on TV or on the web or on a paper and believe, and because it aligns well with what we believe, we believe it. And our seamers say it seems true, and we buy it. Our world is preaching the message that the Bible is not a reliable historical document. It's an assumption anymore, at least it seems to be. But all the evidence proves, if you really look into the evidence, that it is reliable. Our world says it's full of contradictions. But when we look at it like you'd look at normal human communication, it isn't. Our world says that science proves that we have evolved from a single cell to human beings by random choice. But science does not actually prove that. A leap of faith must be taken. We could go on and on. I've watched many videos of apologists as they invite questions from people. And it's very interesting to see what the questioners assume without ever checking the facts. That's not completely true of every time, but it's extremely normal. They assume what they believe is true because of the propaganda that they're seeing and listening to and reading. Well, the wonderful thing about Christianity is that we're never required to take some mystical leap of faith, accepting things that have no proof or validity. The Bible appeals to reality. It appeals to actual time and space proof. It appeals to fact-based arguments. And our documents are couched in historical narratives with historical timestamps. It's not some mystic in a cave coming down to the ignorant to reveal to us stuff that we're supposed to believe just because he says it's true. Our text this morning is an appeal to believing truth. It's an appeal to evidence. It's an appeal to the rational. But it is not devoid of our subjective experience either. John has just been speaking about overcoming the world. And the only way to overcome the world is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. This is foundational. It's vital. It is impossible for us to overcome the world if we do not have an accurate faith about who Jesus Christ is. A belief in just the existence of some historical figure called Jesus will grant us no supernatural power, The demons are certain Christ exists. They've seen him. Many people like the idea of this human, Jesus Christ, but we need more than that. We've got to have more than that. And that's why John delves into what he does. You and I need to know that this Jesus was born on this planet as the Son of God. We must have that. But John transitions here to more clarity. about who this Jesus, the Son of God, really is. Our understanding cannot be limited by just seeing Jesus as being born of God. We must understand the full picture. We must see him as Jesus, the Christ. In verse 6, we see that. We must see him as the Messiah, and that with a full understanding of what Messiah really is. We can understand our text this way. John is trying to hammer down proper theology about the person of Christ because it is foundational to living an overcoming life. Verses six through eight, we see the testimony of Jesus Christ and his person. This is the outline. Verses six through eight, the testimony of Jesus Christ and his person. Verses nine to 10, reasons why we should accept the testimony. 9 and 10, reasons why we should accept the testimony, and verses 11 and 12, the consequences of accepting the testimony. Verses 11 and 12, the consequences of accepting the testimony. Now, the first thing we need to look at is the reliability of the text. Most of the older texts do not contain the words from verse 7 after the words bear witness, to verse eight, where it begins the Spirit. It looks like it was added by Roman Catholic scribes who wanted to emphasize their understanding of the Trinity. Like in the end of the book of Mark, it does not violate my conscience to skip those texts because they do not appear to be authentic. I don't say that because I think I have any right to pick and choose what scripture to believe. That's a dangerous thing. But I do it because sincere scholars who are greatly concerned about the accuracy of Scripture themselves believe that these are later additions to the original text. This is how the English Standard Version, which is a very accurate translation, just based on a different manuscript, has it quoted. 1 John 5, 6 through 8 in the East, the English Standard Version. This is He who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by the water only, but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree." So anyway, you can see what's left out there. We're going to limit our study of the passage to the parts that are not suspect. So here in verses 6 through 8, is the New King James without the questionable text in it. And it's basically, this is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the spirit who bears witness because the spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness, the spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree as one. Now, when we look at the text, we see a reference to bearing witness. Twice. We see the words bearing witness twice and the oneness of that witness once. What we're looking at is proof. In Jewish law, it required two witnesses to verify any fact. So the Jewish mind would have understood the importance of this. John is essentially making a legal bonafide proof of the Christness of Jesus. He is proving that Jesus was not just a man whom God had visited. Jesus was the God-man, the Jesus and the Christ at the same time. Now, what does this mean, water and blood? Water and blood. I looked at several explanations, but I believe the best one is in keeping with the context and what John is trying to accomplish. John is seeking to provide proof that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. So, what would have to do with water and blood that would best prove that Jesus was this God-man? First, water is probably a reference to Christ's baptism. Let's look at that in Matthew 3, 13-17. Matthew 3, 13-17. It says, And Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and you're coming to me. But Jesus answered and said to him, permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he allowed him. 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 alighting upon him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Now, the million dollar question in this is why did Jesus see the need to be baptized? Why did Jesus see the need to be baptized? And now we need to keep in mind that John's was a baptism of repentance. It was not the same baptism as a believer in Christ's baptism. This was a baptism to show the repentance of sin. So Christ was sinless. Why did he not only allow himself to be baptized, but he demanded that it be so? The only clue we have in the passage is what Jesus said. He said, permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. The question then becomes, how is a sinless man being baptized as a symbol for repentance of sin fulfilling righteousness. Isaiah 53 says, Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. We see in Isaiah that Christ was numbered with the transgressors. He was, was his baptism by John one of the ways that Christ was identifying with sinners that he was destined to save? That's how most scholars understand it. Jesus was taking upon himself our likeness. He was identifying with us and he was being identified as one of us. We need to repent and he was joining in that with us even though he did not need to repent this identification with us was the beginning of his ministry to us and look what this water symbolism was greeted with by his father you want you know some proof a voice from heaven said this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased and then the spirit of god descended upon him Can you think of a better evidence, a better testimony, a better witness of who Christ was than this? I mean, generally, when a voice comes out from heaven, which is not something they had probably ever heard before, and it's very clear in what it says, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, it'd be hard to miss that significance. So that's probably what the water was being referred to. Okay, verse six again, this is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not only by water, but by water and blood. So what is the blood? Most people agree that that's the crucifixion. That's where Christ not only identified with us, but he took upon himself the full weight of our human condition. He became a sinner for us. Now, we need to keep in mind all of the prophecies that were fulfilled in that event. There are lots of the Old Testament prophecies that foretold what Christ the Messiah would do. Remember, the Old Testament was written by the Holy Spirit. It foretold that he had to suffer. It foretold that he would die, how he would die, where he would die. This is a proof of the highest degree. Things happened to Christ and did not happen to Christ that were out of his human power to cause or prevent. For instance, his garments were bet on. He could not have caused that. And his legs were not broken. He could not have prevented that if he were just a human man. The evidence is overwhelming. I'm just touching the surface, but the evidence is overwhelming for how the Holy Spirit spoke in the Old Testament and was fulfilled in the new. The blood is a powerful evidence of Jesus being the Christ. The spirit empowered the words being written that prophesied the death of the Messiah, and he fulfilled every one of them. Can you imagine a better witness? If you're trying to prove something, can you imagine a better witness? But then look at the power of God that accompanied that event. The curtain in the temple was ripped from top to bottom. Can you imagine what the people who were responsible for fixing that tear must have thought as they assessed the damage? There was an earthquake. Dead people came back to life. There was darkness. And then wonders of wonders, Christ rose from the dead, just like the prophecy said would happen. And none of this happened in a vacuum. This is the beautiful part. None of this happened in a vacuum. All of it was witnessed by human beings. This was all the kind of proofs that hold up in courts. And even when Paul, I think it was Paul spoke, he said there's 500 of these people who saw this stuff and some of them are still alive. You can go ask them if you want. It was verifiable proof. It was a witness to the first degree. Sometimes Sometimes take the time to read about the Islam religion. It has nothing like this, yet millions of people believe it with no evidence. Well, we're not expected to do something like that. The most logical and inquiring minds can come to Christ and find a full verification of the facts. So we go back to verse six, and we'll paraphrase it. It's always a helpful thing. If you ever want to see if you understand a passage, try and paraphrase it. Put it in your own words. If you can't, you probably don't understand it, so keep going back to it until you can. If you can, it means that you have a firm understanding of something. It doesn't necessarily mean that you understand it properly, but it does mean that you have something clear in your head. Here's my paraphrase. This is Jesus, who is the Christ, who displayed his messiahship through his baptism and through his crucifixion. And the Spirit testified both by the way that both of those events fulfilled prophecy, prophecy that was authored by the Holy Spirit, and by the power of the Spirit portrayed at both of those events. If we had nothing but those two events, it should be enough proof. And it's the Spirit who bears witness of these things, because truth is what the Spirit is all about. So at the end of the day, the Holy Spirit, the baptism of Christ, and the crucifixion of Christ are all telling the same story. They're all verifying the fact that Jesus is the Christ. It's a loose paraphrase, but it includes what I believe, but it was helpful for me. Now, why should we believe all this? Verse 9 and 10, 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. He who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of his son. Okay, why believe? Well, in legal matters, we believe two people when their witnesses agree. But here we have three ways in which God's witness agrees. And no God believer really thinks that God is capable of lying. So if God witnesses three times, three ways, that is far better than three human witnesses. And John is saying, the baptism of Jesus accompanied by God's confirmation that he is the Christ. And the crucifixion of Christ, accompanied by God's confirmation that Jesus is the Christ, beats any other kind of witness. That's the supreme proof. But this is all external truth. It's all external proof. This external proof has to come first. We must know that there is verifiable evidence before we go further. Now, it doesn't always happen that way in our lives. Sometimes we come to Christ experientially and learn this stuff later. A lot of times we learn this stuff, and then we come to Christ. But there has to be reason behind the decisions that we are making. Or at some point, we're going to say, this doesn't make any sense, and we'll walk away. Christianity is not a sucker's religion. It is not like all the other world religions and cults. It's not like the cult of humanism or evolutionism. It is verifiable with evidence. But this is quickly followed by another kind of evidence to those who believe, and this external evidence is followed by internal evidence. Verse 10, he who believes in the Son of God has to witness in himself. This has not always been a strong suit in my life, and maybe some of you are like me in that. The external evidence was far more comforting to me at first than the internal evidence. But even now, I cannot deny the fact that many times when I quietly sit before the Word of God, that something spiritual happens. The printed words on that page come alive with meaning in my soul, in my experience. They become relevant to the world I live in. They convict me of sin. They direct my path. I don't know how many times I've come away with an idea of that which I should do that I did not have before I sat down to read. I think that's a common experience. I hope so. As I act in belief that Jesus is my savior, Jesus is my all in all, things happen that I cannot explain rationally. I experience them. I would think that that's true for all believers. We have the witness in us. There is something about us that is supernatural. We are being moved upon from something that is not us. There are probably a million ways of describing it, but we know that God is at work in our hearts. Isn't that an amazing encouragement? An amazing affirmation? Does that not give us the internal evidence that is very different than the external evidence? It relies upon the external objective evidence to affirm that we're sane, we're not delusional, there is truth, there are facts, but it comforts us because we know and feel that it's different than who we would have been if Christ had not come into our lives. We would have no reason to feel this way if Christ did not come into our lives. Now with all his comfort comes an opposite harsh truth followed on his heels. He who does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of his son. Okay, do we get this? When God goes out of his way to provide proof of his work in our world, when he verifies the work that his son has done, when he provides expert witnesses and the witness is proclaimed clearly, What is the logical conclusion of a person who hears all that witness and does not believe it? That person must, by logic, be proclaiming the witness a liar. I was in a conversation with an associate of mine recently, and I proclaimed something that I was convinced of. It had nothing to do with Scripture. It was just a personal conviction. And he told me that, frankly, he did not believe me. Now, it wasn't difficult for me to parse that out. I didn't have to think about that deeply and consider what he said and ponder what that must logically mean. His lack of belief of something that I proclaimed clearly and declared, his lack of belief of that declared I'm a liar. I may be deceiving myself or I may be knowingly deceiving him, but his statement concluded that I was deceiving. one way or the other. Here's a truth that should stop us in our tracks. When we oppose acting in belief upon the promises of God, we are in danger of actively calling God a liar. Now there are proofs that we need to investigate. We need to be sure that we understand. Things like that, there's a process to go through. But when we knowingly say, I don't care, I don't believe it. we're in danger of calling God a liar. We don't really like to see it so cut and dried. We wanna say, this is a weakness of mine or proclivity or a quirk. When we refuse to orient our beliefs to the promises of God, we are actively calling God a liar. In this instance, Any excuses that we may have aren't going to hold much weight. Either he has provided this proof or he has not. Either he has laid out these claims or we can decide that we just don't want to believe him. God is telling the truth or he is lying. and how we respond exhibits what we believe about God. In our text, God is talking about his affirmation of his son, but the principle is logically applicable to everything to which God has testified. Where in our lives do we call God a liar? It's not too hard to spot. Where do we fret? Where do we get angry at our circumstances? Where do we refuse to submit our decisions to God's commands? Where do we buck his authority in our life? God has testified, God has witnessed, God has spoken, God has said something. But frankly, sometimes we think we know better. Logically, that's the most absurd state to be in. But just as in the appeal of the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve were drawn to, what does reason have to do with it? The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life rarely have their foundation in solid reason. It's just flesh. And flesh always calls God a liar. Flesh always calls God a liar, or it remakes God in our own image. Where are we calling God a liar in our lives? Now, what happens when we trust God's testimony? What's the outcome? verses 11 and 12, and this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son does not have life. That's what happens when we believe that Jesus is the Christ. If we buy into the proof, if we believe what God has said, if we believe the testimony of God and the witness of God, That's not just an intellectual belief. This is like believing the ice is thick enough to hold you to the degree where you confidently walk out on that ice without a fear of falling through. That's what true belief in the God-man Christ is like. It is a complete confidence in his ability to carry us, carry through with his promises. When we believe in Jesus Christ with real belief, we experience this new life. It is more than intellectual. We know that we are different. We know that there is life in us that we were not born with. I like how our brother Jones puts it. Do you know God? I do not ask you if you say your prayers. Do you know that he has loved you with an everlasting love? Do you know that he is yours? Can you say, my God? Do you know he is your father? If you know Christ, You know God, for you know Jesus whom he has sent. You are full of a new life. Christ liveth in me. Can you say that? To be a Christian is not merely to hold certain Christian philosophies. It is more than that. You are able to say, I am a new man or woman. I am not what I was. I, yet not I. God is dwelling in me. Can you see how this is more than a set of beliefs? It's certainly more than a new set of chosen behaviors. It is a miracle of God in a fallen human being. It is a miracle of life that draws us into a new life pursuit. We now find ourselves wanting one more thing than anything else. We want to please our savior. And we look forward to being with him in such a way that it releases us from all the other draws that would have previously owned us. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. Let's close in prayer. Lord, we thank you for your word and we thank you for the clarity that it gives us. We thank you for the proof that you went out of your way to provide for us.