1 JOHN 5:1-13 RESULTS OF BEING BORN AGAIN2010 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 John 5:1-13 Results Of Being Born Again

We're here in 1 John chapter 5 this morning and

Covering the first half of the chapter. Next week we'll finish up the last half, as long as Jesus doesn't come back between now and then. And I'm looking forward to moving on and continuing as we go verse by verse, chapter by chapter, through the Bible together. As we're looking at chapter 5 of 1 John, much of what we will look at today as well as next week are things that John has already discussed.

He's kind of recapping his letter here in chapter 5 and kind of touching on those subjects and summarizing the conclusions of them that we dealt with all throughout the epistle. And so if it seems familiar or sounds familiar to you as we're going through this together, it's because he's

Reemphasizing or reiterating that which He has already proclaimed. And as we look at these things, we can understand that, well, these are really core to us as Christians. They're really part of the basic understanding of what Christ has done for us. And

and the new life that we have in Christ. And so it's worth repeating and it's worth reexamining and it's worth reminding ourselves and each other those things that God has done for us and in our lives.

And so this morning as we look at verses 1 through 13, we're looking at the results of being born again. This is what happens in your life as a result of having new life in Christ, where once we were spiritually dead, now we've been given new life. There's been a rebirth spiritually, and we're Christians. We're walking with God, and these are the things that take place as a result of that.

And so we find the first point this morning in verses 1 through 3. There's four points I want to share with you this morning as we look at the results of being born again. The first point is that believers love God's children. Look at verse 1 with me. It says, Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And whoever loves Him who begot also loves Him who is begotten of Him.

John starts out here in chapter 5 telling us that believers, those who are born again, love God's children. He talks about being born of God. Now this is familiar language to us because he's been using this phrase and this type of terminology throughout his epistle. But we also see it back in the gospel that John wrote in John chapter 3.

where Jesus there introduces this idea of being born again. There in John chapter 3, he's having a discussion with a man named Nicodemus.

And Nicodemus comes to Jesus and he's telling Jesus, you know, hey, you're a good teacher and we know that you're from God because no one could do all these things that you're doing if you weren't from God. But Nicodemus is confused. He has some questions. He's not quite sure really what to do. And so Jesus is explaining to him how to get to heaven.

And he tells them this in John chapter 3 verse 3. He says, Jesus tells Nicodemus, You can be very sure of this thing. This statement that I'm about to make, you can rest solid on this. This is a sure statement.

Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God, Jesus says. There's a need, he goes on later in John chapter 3 to say, you must be born again. Jesus here is declaring that it's vital, that it's important that we be born again.

Now, as you talk about being born again, you might be a little confused, and Nicodemus was for sure. And so he asked Jesus, well, how could I be born again? I mean, do you really expect me to go back into my mother's womb so that I can come out and be born again?

is that what you're talking about? That doesn't make any sense, Jesus. And Jesus went on to explain to Nicodemus that he's not talking about a physical birth, but a spiritual birth. And it's called being born again because you were born once already, that was physically, and everyone who is here today was born. That's how you got here. But there's a spiritual birth that needs to take place.

There's a spiritual life that needs to begin. When we begin in this world, our spirit is dead. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 2 that we are dead in our trespasses and sins, but then God has come in and he's regenerated us. He's given us new life. He's given us a spiritual birth.

And so John here in verse 1 is saying that whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born again. They've been born of God. They've been given new spiritual life in Jesus. And how do we become born again?

No, we don't enter back into the mother's womb. No, we don't do a list of good deeds or a lot of good works. No, what we do, John says, is we believe. He says, whoever believes...

That Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Believing in Jesus results in being born again. When we believe that Jesus is the Christ, we are born again. That is what God calls us to do. That is the primary thing that God desires from us, that we would believe in Jesus. In John chapter 6, some people came to Jesus and they told Jesus that,

We want to do the works of God. And then they ask, but what are those works? We want to do God's work. We want to do the works of God, but we just don't know what they are. So can you tell us what the works of God are that we could do them? And Jesus responded in John 6, verse 29. He says, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent. The work of God...

is not what we might normally consider work. The work of God is to believe in the one that God sent, which is Jesus Christ. The work of God is to believe in Jesus. And John says, whoever believes is born of God. Whoever believes, he says, that Jesus is the Christ.

Now to say that Jesus is the Christ, you know, Christ is not just a part of Jesus' name. The word Christ is the Old Testament word Messiah. It's the word that means Savior. It's the word that means Anointed One. It's saying that Jesus is the fulfillment of those promises that God...

And so he says,

Whoever receives Jesus as that Savior is born of God. And so it leads us then to ask the question, do you believe that Jesus is the Savior that God sent? Do you believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world? When we talk about the word believe, it's important to understand it's more than just an intellectual acknowledgment.

It's more than just with your mind acknowledging that Jesus existed or that Jesus was sent from God. To believe is to acknowledge that truth with your whole life, not just your mind. It's to receive that truth and to base your life upon that truth. Is your life based on the fact that Jesus is the Savior that God sent?

Is that what your life is based upon, founded upon, centered around? Is that the core of your life, that Jesus is the Savior that God sent? That's what it means to believe. The one who believes, the one who receives Jesus in that place in their life, John says, that person is born of God. That person is born again.

And now we get to see the results of that. Here's the results of being born again. He says, and everyone who loves Him, who begot, also loves Him who is begotten of Him. So you receive Jesus, you love God. John says the result is you will also love those who are begotten of God. That is, believers love God's children.

You were born again. You were begotten of God. And as a result, you love others who are begotten of God. Everyone who loves God, John says, loves those who've been born again by God. It's a call for Christians to

This is something that's been predominant throughout this letter. It was also something that Jesus emphasized in John 13, 35. He says that the world will know that we're His disciples by our love for one another. The way that we love for one another, the way that we love one another, is something that should be noteworthy.

But it's not something that happens naturally. It's something that happens supernaturally as a result of being born again. That's what John is saying. Christians love one another. Because we love God, we love His children. We love those who are His. Now how would you feel if you're a parent and someone comes up to you and says, I love you so much, but I can't stand your kids.

Would you like that? No, God doesn't like that either. He doesn't accept that. If you love God, you love His children. Everyone who loves God loves His children. That's what John says. Verse 2. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. And so we know that we love God by this, he says. Here's how we know. I'm sorry. We know that we love the children of God by this. And

And all throughout John's epistle, he's been giving us, you know, by this we know. Here's how you know. He's been giving us the proofs or the evidence. Not so much that we could go and show someone else, look, you know, I love God. But so that we can rest assured in our own hearts and not be shaken and not be freaked out in our faith and to know God really has done a work and I really have right relationship with Him. And so here's how we can know that we love the children of God. Kind of follow the progression.

A believer is born again and loves God and that means they also love God's children. So how can I know that I love God's children so that I know that I love God, so that I know that I've been born again, so that I know I'm a believer? You get the point here? He says, look, these are all entwined together. To believe in Jesus is also to be born again, it's also to love God and it's to love one another.

So how do you know that you love one another? So that you can know that you're born again, that you have right relationship with God. If we know that we love God's children, then we know that we're born again. That's his point here. So how do we know that? He says, when we love God and keep his commandments. We know that we love God's children when we love God and keep his commandments.

The thing that is best for your family is for you to love God and keep His commandments. That's what they need the most. More than anything else, they need you to love God and keep His commandments. So if you love your family, this is what you will do for them on their behalf. You will love God and you will keep His commandments. Sometimes we feel pressure sometimes.

Like perhaps we don't love others if we're not willing to compromise in certain areas. We feel pressure to kind of give in in certain situations and to compromise what God has said because we fear perhaps, you know, they won't think that we love them. But the reality is, the best way to demonstrate your love, the way that love is really shown, what love really is, is for you to love God and keep His commandments.

To compromise God's commandments out of love for someone else is not actually love for them. To love God and keep His commandments is how you know that you love the children of God. So if you love your family, you will love God and keep His commandments on their behalf, for them, for their sake. What is best for your co-workers is for you to love God and keep His commandments.

And the thing that's best for your neighbors is for you to love God and keep His commandments. John is saying here, these things are intertwined. They're all connected. We need to love God and we need to be obedient to Him because that's what's best for those around us. That's what's best for those that we come in contact with. When will we recognize that our lives really do affect the people around us?

What will it take for us to finally realize that what we do and how we live and the way that we walk with God really does impact the people that are close to us, the people that are around us, the people that we come in contact with. That's what John is saying. Our relationship with God, our love for Him and our obedience to Him has an impact on those around us.

David Guzik puts it this way. He says, He says, He says, He says,

It impacts others around us. We don't just harm ourselves and that's what we always tell ourselves. Especially if it's some area where we just are involving ourselves in sin and we think, hey, I have it under control. It's just this little area. It's only affecting me. Those are all lies that we tell ourselves.

But the reality is, we don't just harm ourselves. We harm others around us. We harm our brothers and sisters. We harm the body of Christ. And Guzik goes on to say, this damage is done at the very least. The least amount of damage is that we hold back the body of Christ from growing and from becoming that which God has called us to.

Ephesians chapter 4 declares to us in verse 16 that the body of Christ grows and matures as each member does its share. All of us are members of the body of Christ. We're part of the body of Christ. And as we do our part, as we walk with God and are obedient to Him, as we do our share, the body as a whole grows. And when we are not doing our part,

Well, it's holding back. It's affecting the rest of the body of Christ. And so if we love God's children, if we love the body of Christ and want what's best for them, if we love others in our lives, John says, well, we will be loving God and keeping His commandments. When we love God, when we keep His commands, when we are obedient to Him, then that's when we know that we're loving His children. Verse 3,

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. Again, he says, look, this is the love of God. This is what loving God looks like. We keep his commands. Jesus told us in John chapter 14, verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. We're to be obedient to God.

We cannot say that we love God, although we can make the claim that it's not true if we say that we love God, but we live in disobedience to Him. Our life demonstrates that we don't actually love God.

Loving God is keeping His commandments. And His commandments, He says, are not burdensome. That word burdensome, it's the idea of being grievous or weighty. You know, it doesn't just weigh you down and make you miserable and, oh man, I can have a really good life, but I have to be obedient to God, you know. Like, what a bummer, man. Like, this is terrible. No, no, no. His commandments are not burdensome. They're not grievous. No, they're a joy.

It's a joy to be obedient to God, to bring Him pleasure because you love Him, because you want to bring Him pleasure. You want to be pleasing to Him. And He also empowers us to be obedient to Him. He helps us. And so His commandments are not burdensome.

John says, look, this is the result of us being born again. We love God. We obey God. And that's how we know that we're loving God's children, that we're doing what's best for them. And we want that because believers love the children of God. Well, the second point we find this morning in the passage is in verse 4 and 5. And it's that believers overcome the world. Believers overcome the world. Look at verse 4.

He says, for whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Whoever is born of God, he says, overcomes the world. Believers overcome the world. Has the world got you down? Have you been beaten up and bloodied by the world? Have you felt just...

trodden over that they just kinda kicked you around has the world got you down because believers overcome the world this is something incredible to consider Jesus told us in John chapter 16 that we would have tribulation in the world we're gonna have trouble we're gonna have difficulty and pain and affliction it's going to happen Jesus said in John 16:33 in the world you have tribulation but be of good cheer

He says, I have overcome the world. And part of me wants to say, well, good for you, Jesus. You overcame the world. What about me? I have tribulation. But Jesus says, be of good cheer. Why should I be of good cheer? Because Jesus overcame the world. We are united with Christ by believing in him. Guess what? Whoever is born of God overcomes the world. Jesus overcame and we overcome by faith in him.

He says, this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. The victory is found by faith in Jesus Christ. He overcame the world, but He's not the only one. Whoever is born of God overcomes the world. If you are born again, you overcome the world. Now when we're talking about world, we're not talking about the physical planet, but we're talking about the world system. It's a world system that's ruled by Satan.

And the world system is designed on purpose to deceive and to keep people from God. We'll see that next week as we finish off chapter 5 where John says that the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.

The whole world is being led astray. The world system is designed. It's not by accident that this nation continues to walk farther and farther from God. That's not just, you know, well, I guess it just happened, you know. No, this is by design. It's by design. The world system is the way that it is to keep people from realizing what God has done for them and receiving the free gift of eternal life that God offers to us in His Son, Jesus Christ.

John dealt with the subject of the world in chapter 2. In 1 John 2, verse 16, he says, All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. John says, look, this is what the world consists of. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. These three things...

or what the world system is based upon. And it's these three things that keep people from coming to God. It's these three things that even though some might acknowledge that Jesus existed, or even though some might know the truth, these three things keep them from embracing that truth, from embracing Jesus Christ, because they're too wound up and caught up in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

That's what the world system is based upon. And it's by design to keep people from knowing God, from receiving the salvation that God offers. But those who have been born of God, they've been set free. They've overcome. They've been delivered from that system. They're no longer bound by that system. They're no longer blinded by the deception that the enemy has laid out. We've been set free.

We've been victorious. He says, this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. You see, we've accomplished victory. We've won already. Because by faith, we've believed God at His word. That's what faith is. And our eyes have been opened and we see the truth.

The reality of the destruction of sin. The reality of the judgment that is to come. And the reality of the life that is found in Jesus Christ. And so we have overcome

We've been delivered from this world system. We've been set free, not bound to it, not deceived by it any longer by faith, by believing what God has said and receiving His gift to us. Believing God at His word has brought us out of the deception where we once were blind, now we see we have overcome. Verse 5,

Who is he who overcomes the world? But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. So again, it's about faith in Jesus Christ. The one who overcomes is the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. The one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God is the one who's born again. And he's the one who loves God and keeps his commands and loves God's children and has overcome the world. This is the result of being born again.

We've been delivered and set free from this world system. But we're still here. We're still in the world. As we often say, we're in the world but not of the world. Why are we still here? I liken this, in my mind, I just had this visual of a river that's headed towards a waterfall. Maybe you could think of Niagara Falls. There's this rushing water. There's this mighty force. There's people in the water going over the cliff

Certain destruction, certain death. That's what life is like. Here we are, we're in a big river and it's headed for a cliff. The end is near. And those, well, who are not saved, there's certain destruction, certain death for them. Judgment. But in this visual in my head, if you'll follow along my imagination, there's a helicopter overhead. And the helicopter is thrown down a line and I've tied the line around myself and I've secured myself. I've overcome.

Even if I continue down the river and go off the waterfall, I'm safe, I'm secure, I'm set because I'm tied to this helicopter that has laid down the line for me. But I'm still here in the water. I'm tied off, I'm secure, I've overcome, but I'm still here in the water because there's others who are headed for destruction. And I'm still here in the water to reach out, to try to give them the opportunity to be secure, to save themselves, to prepare themselves,

So they don't enter into that certain death. That's what this world is like. There's still pressures around us. Just like if you're in that river and you're tied off. There's still pressures around us. We've overcome. We're safe. We have victory by faith in Jesus Christ. There's still pressures around us. But there's people here. You ever wonder why Jesus just doesn't rapture us right when we get saved? Because there's still people that are headed towards destruction. And God is offering them a line. He says, look,

You can be safe. You can be saved. You don't have to drown. You don't have to die. You can have life in me. And so we're still here fighting the flow, resisting the current, trying to reach out to those who will receive the salvation that God offers. Believers have overcome the world. We've been set free, but we're here to reach out to those who are around us that they would not go off the cliff into destruction.

So point number one, believers love God's children. Number two, believers overcome the world. Number three, we find in verses 6 through 10, and it's that believers bear witness. Believers bear witness. Look at verse 6 with me. He says, 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. Now, here in verse 6, as well as verse 7 and 8, we're going to kind of take some side routes here, do a couple of side notes, and then we'll get back to the results of being born again, because there's a couple of things that we need to talk about, and some things that are discussed when it comes to verses 6, 7, and 8 of 1 John chapter 5.

The first thing that really causes a lot of dispute or discussion is here in verse 6 where John is referring to the water and the blood. He says, this is he who came by water and blood. Water and blood. What does it mean that Jesus came by water and blood? And this has been a subject of discussion and dispute by scholars for, well, probably ever since the day that John wrote it. When

wondering what does the water represent and what does the blood represent? And there's lots of various interpretations and approaches to this. I'm not going to get into them. I encourage you, if you'd like to, you can dig in on your own. And if you have strong feelings about that, you can keep that to yourself. No, I'm just kidding. I'll give you the two kind of basic ones that make the most sense from my perspective. First is the water...

baptism. Jesus was baptized. He entered in there at that point to three and a half years of ministry and then the blood would represent his death.

He died upon the cross, His blood was shed. And so there are those who suggest and believe that baptism is represented here by the water. He came by baptism and He came by death. And that's what is offered to us in Jesus Christ in salvation. The second opinion, which is the one that I tend to lean towards, is that the water actually represents Jesus' birth. And

and the blood continues to represent his death. I think blood representing his death is pretty universal throughout all of the different opinions. But water representing his birth makes a lot of sense because it would then speak to the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the fact that Jesus, being God, became man. It highlights the fact that Jesus is God, but he also...

man, that he was a human being.

Now you and I today, we often discuss the deity of Jesus Christ and we deal with that extensively as we come across it in the Word of God. We highlight and remind ourselves that Jesus Christ is God and it's an important point today because there's much false doctrine that is around us that teaches that Jesus is not God. And so it's something that's applicable and pertinent to us. In John's day,

It was kind of the opposite though. The false teachers of John's day were saying that Jesus was God, but that he was not human. It's known as Gnosticism and there is various forms of it. We've talked about it here and there throughout the letter. And so the big dispute was not whether or not Jesus was God, but the big dispute was those false teachers saying that Jesus was not man.

And so the doctrine that was facing the believers at that time was that Jesus was not a human being, but that he was only God, and so then he didn't actually die and those types of things. And so the fact that Jesus came by water representing his birth makes a lot of sense. It's his incarnation. It's the fact that Jesus, although he is God and he has always existed, he became man when he was born of the Virgin Mary.

In John chapter 3, again, Jesus is there talking to Nicodemus about being born again. And he's talking about, you know, being born the first time, the traditional way we think about when we talk about being born, the physical birth, and then being born again, a spiritual birth. And in John chapter 3, verse 5, Jesus says, "...most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

And so he says there's these two births, the natural, the physical, and then the spiritual. He refers to the physical as being born of water. And so again, it makes a lot of sense for this water to be referring to Jesus' birth and a reference to his incarnation, although he is God becoming man.

And then, of course, the blood represents his death, the death of Jesus Christ, the fact that he was obedient to the point of death. He shed his blood for us upon the cross. Now, to kind of sum this up, I think what John says next makes the point for me. He says, not only by water, but by water and blood.

And so here's the point that John is making. He says if you remove one of these elements, the water or the blood, then Jesus is no longer the Savior. If you remove the incarnation, if you remove the humanity of Jesus Christ, He's no longer the Savior. Because what we needed was a substitute, someone who would...

take the penalty, the punishment for our sin on our behalf. And so if Jesus did not become man, if he did not come by water, we could not be saved because the judgment for our sin would still be due and we would have to pay it. And the only way for us to pay it is for us to spend eternity in hell. And so we would have no savior.

We would not have salvation. We could not see the kingdom of God if Jesus did not become man. If you remove the blood also, if you take Jesus off of the cross and say he didn't die, well again, that removes from us that opportunity of salvation. He's not the Savior. It had to be both. He had to be God and become man and he had to die upon the cross. That was what was necessary for us to be saved.

He goes on there in verse 6 and he says, It is the Spirit who bears witness because the Spirit is truth. And the Spirit bears witness to this. In speaking to us about the virgin birth, in speaking to us about the fact that Jesus is God, in speaking to us about His crucifixion, the Spirit bears witness, the Spirit confirms that this indeed is the case, that Jesus is the Savior.

The role of the Spirit is to bear witness. We see that in John chapter 15 verse 26 and we'll deal with that a little bit more as we go forward in the passage. So that's kind of the first thing. Again, you can spend some more time, dig into it, have fun with it. There's a lot of different discussions and whichever you hold to, it doesn't actually impact your salvation. You can just have some fun researching it and spending time in the Word of God.

Now as we move on to verses 7 and 8, it's a whole different subject now. We're dealing with a whole different discussion, a whole different dispute. And so let's jump in here in verse 7 and 8. It says, For there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree as one.

Now, verses 7 and 8 stand out, and we're dealing with them, because they've long been discussed and debated by scholars as to what form these two verses should have. It's referred to as the Johannine comma, or John's comma. It's the fact that some Greek manuscripts have written

The entire verses that I just read and some Greek manuscripts have just a portion of what I just read. So if you have the English Standard Version or the New International Version or the New American Standard Bible or the New Living Translation, those versions go upon, base themselves upon the Greek manuscripts that do not have

the full portion that I just read. So for example, the English Standard Version says this in 1 John 5, 7 and 8. For there are three that testify, verse 8, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. So those Greek manuscripts eliminate the Father, the Word, the Holy Spirit, these three are one, and there are three that bear witness on earth. And so it just reads, there's three that bear witness, it's the Spirit, the water and the blood.

The King James Version, the New King James Version, of course, that's what I'm reading from, they include it. And so that's why the whole verses are there listed in the Bible. And so here's the discussion. Do the full version of the verses, you know, is that what's supposed to be there? Or is it supposed to be the shorter version? Which one is right? Which one is the original?

The theory that is presented is that a scribe wrote kind of in the side note or the margins of the text and said,

Throughout the years, later on it was copied and they didn't know it was a margin, you know, a side note by a scribe. They thought it was part of the text and so then, you know, it got included as the scribe was copying the passage. Just like you write, you know, notes in your margin and then maybe if someone was copying your Bible and you go, oh, well, I guess maybe that's supposed to be in there. So they kind of insert it in there. That's the idea that perhaps that happened. It's, you know, held by some and not held by others. And so, you know,

And so scholars go back and forth. Should it be in there? Should it not be in there? The point is made that the oldest manuscripts...

don't have the rest of the verses as the New King James reads it. The oldest manuscripts support the English Standard Version or the NIV rendering of it. But there is evidence for it as well. And so some of the Greek manuscripts do have it. Almost all of the Latin manuscripts have it. And they date similar dates early, early like the Greek manuscripts.

There's a couple of church fathers from around 200 AD that quote these verses in the entirety as we have it in the New King James Version. And so you have your pros, you have your, you know, against, and they go back and forth and they keep going around in circles and probably will do so until Jesus returns. Now, having gone through all that and looked at that, here's what I think is really ultimately the end result, what really is important, right?

What the full verse says is accurate and consistent with the rest of Scripture. So if you include all of the words that are listed there in verse 7 and 8, and even though it's not in all the manuscripts, let's just say hypothetically for fun, let's just include it.

Now, does anything it says contradict what God has revealed in the rest of His Word? No. It's in line, it's consistent with the rest of the Scripture. Here, of course, you see a good quick snapshot of the triune nature of God, but this is not what the triune nature of God rests upon. The triune nature of God is not taught only here in verse 7, and that's disputed. No, the reality is the whole Bible teaches it. It doesn't change...

whether it's in or whether it's out. You don't lose some type of doctrine by removing it and you don't gain some type of doctrine by adding it. And so ultimately, I think, well, it's kind of a moot point. You throw it in if you want, throw it out if you want. It doesn't really matter because the end result is still the same. We still have those same teachings and those teachings that are in here are not inconsistent with the rest of Scripture.

So John says there's three that bear witness in heaven and there's three that bear witness on earth. The Father, the Word, the Holy Spirit in heaven, they bear witness, they testify of Jesus. And then on earth, there's three that bear witness. The Spirit, the water, and the blood. Moving along. Verse 9. 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.

And so he says, if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. Now, to be sure, we do receive the witness of men. In general, speaking of us as human beings, we receive the witness of men. You can just see, or you can see that by just looking at how so many readily believe what someone says over what we find in the scriptures.

Throughout the years, you know, there's always been disputes about whether or not the Bible is real, whether or not it's valid, whether or not you can trust it. And maybe, you know, looking at these things as I'm sharing, you know, the different manuscripts have a little bit of differences. Maybe that's kind of where you're at today. Like, oh, I don't know if I could trust this stuff.

I want to point out something really quick and then we'll continue on. David Guzik puts it this way. Hey, if it makes you a little bit nervous that, you know, some manuscripts have verse 7 and some don't, you know, have to kind of read it a little bit differently. If that makes you nervous, he said you should know that there's only at the most 50 passages in the New Testament that have some type of question like that attached to them.

And if you think, wow, 50, that's kind of a lot. I'm kind of scared now, even more than I was before. He says, well, let me rephrase it. He says, no more than one one-thousandth of the New Testament has any question at all.

So the only part of the New Testament that has questions is one one-thousandth of the entire scriptures that we have before us in the New Testament. And if you look at the one one-thousandth of our whole New Testament that has questions, it's just like what we saw here in verse 7 and 8. It doesn't add to...

In saying that in addition to it teaches something else. And it doesn't take away from. Because it's taught throughout the scriptures. What is already there. And so of all of those questions. Really again there's nothing new. And there's nothing that would be taken away. There's nothing that would be added. And so we can rest assured. And yet.

Throughout history, man has readily received the witness and testimony of man, who is fallible, who makes all kinds of mistakes, instead of God, and paying attention to His Word, which has been proven reliable. And so we as human beings, we take the opinions and the ideas of philosophers seriously,

over the Word of God. And we take the opinions and the ideas of the experts and the graduates and the scholars and the doctors and we receive their word over the Word of God instead of the Word of God. Those superstars that are there. And we take their word. We receive what they have to say but we won't listen to God.

Throughout the years, men have tried to prove that the Bible is false and completely wrong. And so they've looked at different areas and they said, well, there's no Hittite nation in the archaeological record and so the Bible is false and you can't believe it. And at the time as it was brought out, there were those, even Christians, who heard that, they received that, they said, oh no, we can't believe the Bible. What are we going to do? How do we know that our faith is real?

But as time went on, of course, then the scholars had to amend their statement. Oh, wait. There was a Hittite nation. Okay, never mind. There was no Pontius Pilate. That we know for sure.

And then a little bit later, oh wait, there was a Pontius Pilate. But in the meantime, there are those, oh no, they say there's no Pontius Pilate. I don't know if we can believe God. I don't know if we have salvation. There were those who were shaken in their faith. Some who walked away as a result of these questions. The experts say there's no such thing. It's not possible that there was a global flood. And that freaks some Christians out because we receive the witness of men.

Sometimes we get freaked out about evolution because we receive the witness of men over the witness of God. And so he says, look, if we receive the witness of men, I think it's pretty clear, we do receive the witness of men. He says, the witness of God is greater. So if we pay attention to men, we listen to what they have to say, and they're fallible and they make mistakes, they contradict God all the time and then are proven wrong, the witness of God is greater. He is 100% accurate. He always tells the truth.

And he has full understanding of all things. So the witness of God is greater. It's his witness that we ought to be paying attention to, not the witness of man. And what is the witness of God? What is it that God has declared? What is his testimony? He's testified of his son. He's testified of Jesus Christ. He's testified that Jesus is the Savior that he sent. Since we receive the witness of men, even more so we should receive the witness of God.

Verse 10, 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. So I told you we'd get back to the point. What's the point? Point three is believers bear witness. We see that here in verse 10. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself.

We bear witness to what God is bearing witness to, to what the Holy Spirit is bearing witness to, to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Savior, that He came by water and by blood. We bear witness of His incarnation with our new birth and our new life in Christ. We bear witness of His death upon the cross with our death to ourself, to our sinful nature, to the world. We bear witness.

He says, He says,

So the one who believes Jesus or believes in Jesus, receives Jesus, they become the witness of God. We testify of His birth, His death, and the Holy Spirit. But the one who says, no, I don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah. I don't believe that He's the Savior. I don't believe that He's the way to eternal life. I think there's other ways. I think there's lots of roads. I think this and I think that. Whoever rejects Jesus Christ as the Savior, he says, he who does not believe has made God a liar.

The person who says there's another way, the person who says it's not Jesus, the person who says I don't believe that is looking God in the face and saying, you're a liar. Calling God a liar because they reject God's witness. They reject God's testimony that Jesus is the Savior, that life is found in His name. If you don't believe that Jesus is the Savior, you are calling God a liar.

Let's finish this up. Verse 11, we find the fourth point. Believers have life is the point. And it says in verse 11, and this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. God has given us eternal life. As believers in Jesus, we have life. This is the testimony that God is proclaiming. Life is found in Jesus Christ.

Eternal life speaks both of quality and quantity. Eternal, that's the duration. That's how long it is. That's the quantity of the life that God has given to us. It's forever. It's a long time. It's not going to end. That's the life that God promises to us. Life that lasts forever. But it's not just...

existence. There's a couple words for life in the Greek language. You studied biology in school. It's based on the Greek word bio. And that means to live. It's the idea of something that exists. It's living. It's breathing. It has life. And that's an appropriate word for life. But that's not the word that John uses. John doesn't say, look, you're going to have eternal existence. You're going to be there. You're not going to be very happy about it. But you're going to exist forever. And he says,

He says, no, you're going to have eternal life. It's the idea of quality of life, an exciting and abundant life like Jesus promised. And it made me think of the book of Ecclesiastes. Remember where Solomon, he sets himself to pursue and find fulfillment for his life under the sun without putting God in the picture.

And he chases after this, he chases after that, he fulfills every desire and wish and dream that he could ever have. And at the end, he's miserable, he's empty, he says vanity of vanities, everything is vanity, life is meaningless, it's worthless. He was completely miserable because that's what life is like without God. That's what life is like without Jesus Christ.

Life without the Son is vanity and you are miserable. And you can be successful and popular and have all kinds of things that are glamorous in this world and you might fool a lot of people, but you know that you're miserable. You know that you're empty without Jesus. God is proclaiming life. Not just existence, but life. Fulfilling, satisfying, enjoying life.

Jesus said in John 10.10 that he came to give us life more abundantly. Verse 12. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. This is what God is proclaiming. I'm giving you life and this life is found in Jesus. If you have Jesus, you have the life. If you don't have Jesus, you don't have life. And that's the reality. And I think we as Christians need to remember that.

Sometimes we get bummed out and discouraged by the things that happen to us in this world. But don't forget that we have life. We have eternal life. And it started already. As we believed in Jesus, eternal life began. We have that new life. We've been set free. We're victorious. We have fulfillment and satisfaction in Jesus Christ. We have the abundant life that God has promised in Jesus Christ. Don't forget that. But also, you know, if you're miserable and empty...

It's because you don't have Jesus. And Jesus is the life that God has provided. Verse 13. He says, Here John says, Do you know that you have eternal life?

Do you know that you're tied off so if you go off the cliff, you're safe, you're secure, you're not going to fall? Do you know that when you enter into eternity, you're going to be with God in heaven? John says, I'm writing this to you because I want you to know that. That it shouldn't be a doubt, it shouldn't be a question, it shouldn't be, well, I hope so. He says, I want you to know that. And you can know it by looking at the results of being born again. You can know it by looking at your life and realizing, wow, I do have new life in Christ.

And I love God's children. And I've overcome the world and I bear witness. And I have that abundant life that Jesus promised. And I know that I have that eternal life. He also goes on to say, he says, I've written these things that you may continue to believe in the name of Son of God. He wrote it so that we would continue to believe and that we would know that we have life. And so this morning, I encourage you, continue to believe in Jesus. You overcome by faith. You have victory.

Life in Jesus. You're born again by faith in Jesus Christ. Continue to believe and know that you have eternal life in Him. And if you don't know that you have eternal life in Him, then today is the perfect opportunity. It's the right time to get right. To know that you have that eternal life. To receive this Savior that God has sent. The man, Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

God, I pray that you would help us. Those who know you, Lord, those who have believed, help us, God, to continue not to waver in our faith, not to walk backwards, not to backslide, but, Lord, to continue to trust in you. For those, Lord, who are shaken, who are scared, Lord, they're not sure about their salvation, I pray, Lord, that you would help them to know that they have eternal life by the evidences that you've given to us this morning, by looking at the results of being born again.

And Lord, if there are those who have never received you, Lord, they're miserable. They're empty. Lord, we know it. They know it. I pray, Lord, that you would help them. Lord, remove the blinders that the enemy in this world has placed there. God, that they might be free to receive the gift of life that you offer to us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.