God puts things together because what was the first, Brother Lyle, did you, okay, there you are. What's the first few words of that song? Guilty as charged, okay. It's kind of a courtroom kind of feel, you know, the song. He pardoned and all that mercy, you know, and that's what we have here tonight in 1 John 5, the supreme court of heaven. The supreme court of heaven. 1 John 5. Boy, that's just amazing how God puts things together and confirming His hand. Listen, folks, if we're just on our own, trying to do our own things best we can, we're in for a world of hurt. We're in trouble. But I'm thankful that God is concerned about the small things of our life. God's concerned about all the details, and He delights in showing Himself omnipotent and omniscient and compassionate and all these kinds of things. So that tells me that there's a reason for you being here as we look at this passage here in 1 John chapter 5. Look please in verse number 6. The Bible says, 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. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one. 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. 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. And this is the record that God has given to us, eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Read with me aloud verse 12. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. That's where we're headed. Nineteen words, one-syllable words that even a child can understand. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God Hath not life. That's where we're headed. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you so very much for the music that our hearts have enjoyed. Lord, our toes may have tapped. The smile might be on our face. And Lord, just like we hear the storm going on outside of us, And Lord, you've given us a safe place to meet. I'm thankful when the storms of life are raging that you'll stand by us and you'll shelter us in your wings. And Lord, I pray that you would minister to our hearts here tonight, meet with us in a very special way. Thank you for what you're going to do. I depend solely and completely upon you. In Jesus' name, I ask these things. Amen. In verse number six, we have an opening statement. If you are in a court of law, I don't know if you got your court training from Perry Mason or Matlock or who you got your legal training from. We may have some lawyers here or pre-law people or something like that, or might have some paralegals in here. But usually in a court of law, whenever a case is presented, there's an opening statement. introductory statement. And we have here in verse 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. This kind of sums up where this passage is going. It's an introduction, and it doesn't really define it all. We'll define it in a moment. But we think of this water and blood. What is it talking about here? And you'll see that the water is making a reference to the baptism of Christ, the beginning of his ministry, whenever he actually began to fulfill the redemption plan, fulfilling the prophecies and presenting the Father and all of this. Thirty years of obscurity, he walked on planet Earth. Thirty years of silence. 30 years of no miracles, as far as we're told. The Bible says that the marriage, wedding, Cana of Galilee was the first miracle that he performed. It's interesting to me, and this is just Sears imagination, okay? But it's interesting to me that the mother of Jesus, Mary, whenever he walked up and they were trying to figure out what to do and everything, she simply said, do whatever he says. Just do whatever he says. That's interesting to me. So I don't know, I'm not gonna venture a guess of what happened in those silent years, but I would say this, that both Joseph and Mary knew who Jesus was from the inception. Before the conception, they knew that Jesus was gonna be the Son of God that was entering the earth in through the body and the person of Mary and was going to be that virgin that Isaiah talked about. Well, the Bible goes on to tell us here in verse number 7 that there's a witness stand, you might say. Imagine with me this courtroom in heaven, Supreme Court, by the way. I'm thankful for our nation. I'm thankful for our government. I'm thankful for the separation of powers. I'm thankful for the executive office and the legislative branch and the judicial branch. And each one should be doing what they're supposed to do according to the Constitution. Each one of them are supposed to. You'll find the Supreme Court is supposed to adjudicate problems and difficulties. They're not supposed to be laying down, I'm running a rabbit trail. They're not supposed to be laying down law. They're not supposed to be making law. That's supposed to be the legislative branch that's making law. But we have everyone wanting to make law, you know? And that wasn't the case. But I'm thankful for these branches. And the Supreme Court, I have not been in the actual Supreme Court. I've been in where the Supreme Court came from, the years ago where they had it. I have not been in the in the chambers of the Supreme Court today. But there in D.C., I've been in there where some of the old justices of yesteryear, where they sat and things. It's an amazing thing, but they're the law of our land, but they're not the law of mankind. And there's a Supreme Court, there's a great white throne, and that is the law of mankind, Jesus Christ. He is the judge of all the earth. But if you imagine with me a courtroom setting, you usually have a judge and you usually have a witness stand. And so we have here in verse number seven, there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. So imagine with me, and I want to be very careful, I don't want to be in any way irreverent or blasphemous or anything like that, but the Bible tells us that that there are three bearing record in heaven. One is the Father. How does the Father bear witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? I give you this thought, jot down this reference, John 10, 37. Jesus said that the things that He did, the miracles He performed, He did those in the power of the Father. He did those as the will of the Father did through Him. And so, God the Father gave Him power, endorsed Jesus Christ, the Son of God, by enabling Him to do these things that were miraculous before all the people. So, the miracles. I jot down this reference, Matthew 17, 5. This is the passage where Jesus is on the Mount of Transfiguration. And the Heavenly Father allowed Jesus Christ to exhibit and to radiate the glory that he has with the Father before time began. And they saw just a little glimpse of his glory. And so the Father, once again, he gave his credence to that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And then Romans chapter 1 verse 4, the Bible says that Jesus was resurrected from the dead with power, Romans 1 verse 4. And he was resurrected by the power of the Father. God spoke and God gives record that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God. And then it says here, the Word, the Father and the Word. John 1 says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Now, I understand the word logos. I understand, you know, that's referring to the whole system of knowledge and what people were searching for, the answers to life and all that kind of thing. The Greeks were looking for that. They were looking for word, truth. That's why Pilate said, what is truth? Who's got the real answer? And he was looking at truth. I am the way, the truth, and the life. He was looking at him. He is the word. As the word, he is the expression of God the Father. 1 John chapter 1 and verse 1, and you might want to jot down that reference. The Bible says that that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, seen with our eyes, we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life. the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. Turn with me, if you would, please, to John chapter one, the gospel of John chapter one. The scene here is the Jordan River, and John the Baptist is giving testimony, and we find here in verse 31, as John the Baptist is giving testimony about Jesus. John 1 31 says, and I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water." Look at me for a moment. The greatest purpose for John the Baptist was to announce the Messiah, to prepare the way for the Lord. That was his greatest purpose in life. I don't know what your greatest purpose in life might be. I tend to think, I've said this before, I tend to think that in God's great scheme of plan for this world, I believe that God has many purposes for our life, but it is highly possible that God has one particular thing for you to do in his great plan that will reach and impact many people. John the Baptist, although he preached, repent for the kingdom of heaven is in hand, although he baptized a lot of people, his main job in existence was to point to Jesus and say, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. That was his main line of his life. He didn't know at the time, perhaps, And you may not know at the time when something is happening, you may not know that that is the purpose for your existence as far as God's concerned. But that was the purpose of John the Baptist's existence. Read on verse 32. And John bear record saying, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it abode upon him. And I knew him not. But he that sent me to baptize with water, the same sent unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same as he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God. So the Holy Spirit in a visible form. We find the Holy Spirit in a visible form only twice that I'm aware of. Once here and once at Pentecost. We see the Holy Spirit being manifested in a visible way. And somehow, it wasn't a bird, it wasn't even a dove, but it was as graceful and as pure as a dove, okay? You find the Bible says, like a dove. And so a lot of people use the symbol of a dove to represent the Holy Spirit. I'm not saying that's bad. I'm not saying that's bad at all, okay? But understand it wasn't a bird that flew down his shoulder and, oh, yeah, I must be, you know, be careful about that. Be careful about thinking that Uncle Joe comes to visit us in the form of a doe, you know, or something, you know. Be careful about that. That borders on reincarnation, okay? And be cautious about it. It could be that God likes to encourage us and bless us with certain things and reminders of certain people in our lives. And that's not a bad thing. That's fine. That's fine. But the Holy Spirit, as graceful and as pure as a dove, rested upon him. And when he saw that, the Heavenly Father, who told him, who you see that happening to, he is the Anointed One, he is the Messiah. I give unto him the Spirit of God without measure, the Bible says. And so the Holy Spirit, three testimonies, three records in heaven, And so we have those testimonies. Let's read on. Back in 1 John 5, verse 8. We're still in the courtroom. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree in one. All of them are unanimous in who Jesus is. They all give the same record. The Bible says that three witness in earth, the Spirit. The Bible says the ministry of the Spirit. Amongst the church, we find that he gifts believers, he enables us, he leads us. We can list out, he gives us boldness to witness, all these things for believers. But as far as in the earth, in the world, Jesus said, In John chapter 15, I believe it is, the Bible says that the Spirit of God, His ministry, is to convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. And as He convicts us of sin, as He speaks to our hearts in the world, He points to Jesus. He points to Him as a Savior of the world. I encourage you to think about this. I mentioned Mary a few moments ago. We need to be cautious as Christians. I am very thankful that God found a vessel to place Jesus into this world through. I'm thankful for that. But Mary is not divinity. Mary is not divine. We do not pray to Mary. And I give you this, I encourage you to jot down this reference, Luke 147. When you're talking with someone, make sure that you, if they're kind of hooked on this thing of the divinity of Mary, Luke 147 says, Mary is speaking here, it says, my heart rejoiced in God, my Savior. Mary needed a Savior. She needed a Savior. So, in other words, she's a sinner just like you and me, okay? And God worked a great miracle through her and the virgin birth and all of that and the Spirit of God rest upon her and bring forth this son and all that kind of thing. But in the final analysis, she's a sinner and needs to be saved by grace just like you and me. Three witnesses on earth, the spirit, we've already mentioned the spirit of baptism, and then the water. The water. Well, we're getting a lot of water today, aren't we, tonight? That's good. At my house, I hope we're getting it there, too, because I need it on our grass and things. The water. Think about the baptism of Christ. What happened besides the spirit of God descending on Jesus? What else happened? Anyone remember? The Bible says that there was a voice from heaven and God the Father said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. I mean, if that's the only indication whatsoever that we have of that Jesus was a son of God, that should be enough. That should be enough. When God speaks from heaven, you know, whoa, what is this? How did God speak to Noah? I mean, he had a conversation with Noah. He told him how to build the ark. He told him the specifications of it. He spoke to him. He spoke with Enoch. He spoke with Adam in the garden in the cool of the day, in the evening. He would commune with Adam. I don't believe that what they heard there at the baptism of Jesus at the Jordan River was just that thunder that we just heard. Now, we do find in Acts chapter nine, In Acts chapter 9, we do find when Saul of Tarsus was struck down by the great light, he's on his way to arrest Christians. We do find that Jesus is speaking directly to Saul of Tarsus. And as he speaks and has a conversation, the people around him, the men around him, the soldiers and everyone traveling with him, they saw the bright light. And they heard Saul answering vocally with this conversation, but they did not hear that other voice, or they did not understand what was being said. But here at the Jordan River, this was an announcement, just as it was there on the Mount Transfiguration. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. The water and then the blood, the blood that was shed on Calvary, the fulfillment, of every prophecy that was given in the Old Testament. Isaiah 53, boy, what a great study, and just reading over slowly Isaiah chapter 53. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. Folks, if we're healed physically, we just need to be healed again and again and again and again and again. The healing that he's talking about is the healing of the disease of sin. And I'm thankful that God can heal us physically. I'm thankful for that. But Lazarus, he had to die all over again. The lepers that were healed, I praise God for the healing and the skin that was restored, but my friend, they died of something. We do need a purpose to serve. We need a purpose to... I was reading about Bear Bryant. Coach Bear Bryant. I think it was over 25 or 30 years that he coached for his alma mater there in Alabama. Jokingly, he said this to newspaper reporters. They were saying, you know, you've been coaching for so long, and are you ever going to retire? And he jokingly said, he said, if I ever retire, I'll probably die of a heart attack a month later. I mean, this is recorded. Well, he retired after his last game. He retired in December, and in less than 30 days, he keeled over the heart attack 30 days later. Less than a month, 29 days later. We need a purpose to live for. We need something to invest our life into, and that person is Jesus Christ. We find here that there's this courtroom scene, and let's read on in verse number nine. 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. Could you imagine with me just a moment a litigator, an attorney, after all these witnesses are presented and all this testimony and record is presented. And he says something like this, we've been in this courtroom before and we've made judgments and decisions based on evidence and based on witness and testimony and records and all that. And if you accept the witness that men bring, then why won't you believe God's witness? His witness is impeachable. We read on in verse number 10, he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He said, now you know the truth yourself, don't you? Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The Spirit of God is telling you within your heart, he that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. You can choose to say, no, Jesus is not the Son of God. You can choose to do that, but number one, you're making God a liar, and you are lying to yourself of what God has already said in your heart. Tell yourself a lie long enough and loud enough and even you'll begin to believe it after a while. Self-deceived. That's a danger. It's a danger. I'm hastening, I'm hurrying. Look at verse 11. Here we have the concluding statement, okay? You got a jury over there trying to make a decision. So here's the concluding statement of the lawyer, verse 11. And this is the record that God has given to us, eternal life, and this life is in his son. He sums it all up. Said Jesus is who he said he is. Jesus is the son of God. And he gives you life eternal. He just sums it all up. And this is his concluding statement. With that, the jury goes out to decide. The jury goes out every time that you hand someone a gospel tract. It's their responsibility then. You give them the truth every time that you witness for the Lord Jesus and tell that loved one that God loved him so much that he sent Jesus to die on the cross for him. If they'll just come to him as a sinner in need of a savior, he'll forgive your sins, save your soul, take you to heaven when you die. There's some of you who do that at your place of business. There's some of you who do that in your neighborhood. You tell people every chance you get about Jesus Christ. When they leave, guess what? The jury is going out to deliberate on what you said. Now, I'm imagining in my mind's eye that the jury comes back. The jury has weighed and sifted through all the evidence, and they come back and they hand their finding, they hand it in, the judge looks at it, nods his head, hands it back to the leader of the jury, and here's what it says. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. There it is. It's simple. We've agreed that life is found in Jesus Christ. We're surrounded by death. So in verse 13, here's what it means to you and me. As a result, that's okay. That's all right. I've had some things happen. You know what one time I did? I'm not losing my mind. One time I was checking the live stream, someone texted me saying the live stream was messing up. I was sitting right over there, Pastor Reynolds was preaching. And I turned the volume down on my phone, I thought. And so I wanted to check and see, you know, what was going on with the live stream. And so I had it on my phone there and all of a sudden, You know, the live stream came on, and boy, did it come on. You know, and the pastor was preaching. I don't know if he heard me or not. Anyway, so that's all right. It happens. Here's where it comes down to you and me, okay? This verse, and we're done. Verse 13, these things have I written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe in the name of the Son of God. It's gone through the Supreme Court of heaven. It's gone down through. He that hath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. That's the bottom line. So if you believe in Jesus Christ as your only Lord and Savior, he's your only hope of heaven, that you're a sinner and you're dependent upon God's grace, the shed blood of Jesus Christ at Calvary, his death barrel, his resurrection, that you may know that you have eternal life. Now, do people doubt their salvation? Yes. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. This may be a help to you. I'm going to give you reasons why people doubt, okay? These are some causes for doubts. The first reason is you may not be saved. Really, you may not be saved. It could be that God is knocking on your heart's door and said, you joined a church and you thought that was it. Or you grew up in a Christian home and you thought that you got your ticket punched. And you may think this is doubt when it's really the conviction of the Lord Jesus in your heart by the power of the Spirit and He's saying, come home, come home. You may not be saved. But number two, you may doubt your salvation because of misinformation. Because you were taught things that were not true in the Word of God. It may be from someone that you trusted, looked up to, loved, cherished, someone that was a spiritual giant in your mind, and they said, you know, hey, listen, you can be truly saved and born again in the family of God, and then you can lose that salvation. Hebrews 6, I encourage you, if you're a student of the word of God, get into Hebrews chapter 6, and you'll find something. you'll find that if we can lose our salvation, if we can, Hebrews 6 teaches that Jesus would have to come back all over again and die and shed blood again because the first time didn't take. That's what Hebrews 6 is teaching. Okay, so we know that that's foolish. He said it is finished. John chapter 10, verses 28 through 30. The Bible tells us Jesus is talking. He says that we're in Jesus' hand. Jesus is in God's hand. No one is able to pluck him out of our Father's hand. So, do Christians sometimes live like lost people? Sadly, yes. If they continue on in that kind of lifestyle without chastisement, then they're just faking it. They're lying. If they can live in a consistent lifestyle of wickedness and sin and not have God's chastisement upon them, then they're illegitimate, the Bible says in Hebrews. Okay? They're faking it. They're just acting. They're not saved. Didn't lose their salvation. They just never had it. Okay. Some people doubt their salvation because of poor memory. I'm feeling that more and more all the time. Do you remember Pastor Reynolds baptizing some dear lady a few years ago? He led her to the Lord, and she had brain cancer. And do you remember whenever he baptized her, he said to her, he said, now, there'll come a day, they tell me, the doctors tell me, there'll come a day that you may not remember being baptized. There'll come a day that you may not remember me. There may come a day that you may not remember asking Jesus Christ to come into your heart and your life. And he said to her this, I remember, he said it publicly, right there in the baptistry, he said, but I want you to know something, Jesus will always remember you. Okay? So there are times that things will leave someone's memory, but folks, it is recorded in heaven, in the Lamb's book of life, when someone trusts Christ as their Lord and Savior. So another cause, another cause for doubting is other people's testimony. What I mean by that is this. Sometimes people get up and they have one of these glorious, glowing testimonies of how they got saved and the experience that God brought them through and all that kind of thing. And I'm not saying that's bad. I mean, it's a marvelous thing. Saul of Tarsus, who can compare with that? I mean, did you have a bright, shining light that knocked you down on the road? Did you hear the voice of Jesus speaking from heaven to you? No, no, I never saw that. I never saw a bright light, never heard any angels, never heard the voice of God, you know, in an audible format. But I knew that I was a sinner, and I knew the Holy Spirit was convicting me. And I was just six years old, but I was afraid to leave that church that night. Sure as the world, my luck would be on the way home we'd be in a car wreck. And if I pushed away salvation when I understood it, I knew I would spend eternity in hell, and I didn't want to leave that church without knowing Christ. Okay? Now, folks, there are some people that don't have some kind of, you know, exciting testimony. You don't have to have an exciting testimony. You have to have a saving faith in Jesus Christ. That's what you have to have. Some people doubt their salvation because of subsiding emotions. I just don't feel anymore. I wonder if I'm still saved. Let me ask you something. In your marriage, you ever feel more in love than other times? Emotions are fickle. Okay? You know why else, last, why else some people doubt their salvation? Because of lack of spiritual growth. Lack of spiritual growth. You'll find in, I believe it's 2 Peter. No, excuse me. Yeah, it is 2 Peter. In 2 Peter chapter one. He gives a list. Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and knowledge temperance, and temperance patience, patience godliness, and godliness brotherly kindness, and brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Lack of spiritual growth can cause a person to think, and by the way, Lack of spiritual growth, we ought to be kicked in the seat of the pants. Well, how do you grow, preacher? Read the Bible. Pray every day. Tell others about Jesus. Serve Him. Read the Bible. Pray every day. Tell others about Jesus. Serve Him. Read the Bible. That's how we grow. It's not difficult, not rocket science. You don't have to be a genius. Let's stand together, please. Lord Jesus, I pray now that you would help us to realize that you have taken care of all the hard part of salvation, all the hard part of the Christian life. And Lord, you expect very little of us in return, and yet sometimes we're not willing to give you even the little. You give us 90% and you say 10% is yours. I pray that we would look at our time and our life in the same way. Lord, we would give you the honor due unto your name, to serve you with a humble heart, to thank you for your grace and not presume upon your forgiveness. But Lord, to stand in reverential fear of your holiness. You'd have every right to toss us out of the boat. You'd have every right to do that, but you promised that you wouldn't. So, Lord, may we not take that liberty as a cause to the flesh, but, Lord, to serve you with joy and happiness and peace in our heart. And, Lord, thank you that this is settled in heaven. The supreme court of heaven has ruled And, Lord, I pray that every person in here has Jesus and has life. Our heads are bowed. Our eyes are closed. I don't know what God is doing in your heart here today. Maybe you just want to rejoice in the fact that you're saved on your way to heaven, to thank Him for your forgiveness, and to ask Him for cleansing. You know we need to have our feet washed from time to time. We need to come to him as we're walking through a wicked, dirty world. Say, Lord, I've been in the mud puddle today. I said something I shouldn't have said. I thought some things that were wrong and hateful. Lord, I did something that you told me not to do. Lord, cleanse me, I pray. Forgive me and make me fresh in my fellowship with you. Why don't you just bow your head right now and just ask God to turn the searchlight of His love into your heart. Heavenly Father, we're going to sing a song of invitation in a moment, and I pray that as we do, would you minister to our hearts, Lord? Draw us close unto thyself. I pray in Jesus' name. Sing it together. I have decided. If God's told you to come forward, I invite you to come right now and obey Him. If God's told you to do something, maybe go to someone here in this place and say, I should have done something. I should have asked your forgiveness. I shouldn't have said this. I invite you to do that. right with God, right with our fellow man. Sing the next verse. Though no one join me, though no one join me, still I will follow. Though no one join me, still I will follow. Will you follow him? If you won't follow him now, you may not follow him tomorrow. If God's moved upon your heart, you come on, join these, join these. The world behind me, the cross before me. Sing it now. The world behind me, the cross before me. The world behind me. The world behind me. The cross before me. No turning back. No turning back. Lord Jesus, I thank you for what you're doing in our hearts. I thank you for your presence. I do sense that you're ministering here in our midst. Lord, it's in spite of the preaching, but it's because of your word and the power of your spirit. And Lord, I pray now that you would continue to charge us with the direction that you'd have us go, with the ability to obey you. And Lord, may you give us a love for one another that's from heaven. Thank you so much for all that you're doing. I pray now that folks will see an opportunity this week to tell someone about Jesus. Lord, we thank you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.