Three Witnesses of the Son | 1 John 5:7-9

Let's go ahead and turn now in our Bibles to 1st John chapter 5. 1st

John chapter 5, we're going to read verses 7 through 9. 1st

John 5 verses 7 through 9. For there are three that bear witness, the

Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three are in agreement. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.

For the witness of God is this, that He has borne witness about His Son.

This is God's Word. Amen. So, just as we saw beforehand in verse 6 of this passage, these three witnesses are the same public, publicized, and published events in Christ's life.

Public, publicized, and published events in Christ's life. Namely, His baptism,

Christ's baptism, the water, and the vicarious, propitiatory death of Christ on the cross.

The blood, the shedding of His blood on the cross. As well as, the

Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Truth who is the truth and bears witness to nothing but the truth.

It is the Spirit who bears witness because the Spirit is the truth.

And I love how we providentially sing from the hymn today,

Come Thou Almighty King, Come Holy Comforter, Come Holy Comforter, Thy sacred witness bear in this glad hour.

Amen. I believe this is taken from this verse. And we will see here that it's the same thought that the

Apostle is continuing along. Now, what are these three witnesses attesting to?

What are they in agreement about specifically? What are they in agreement about or bearing witness to?

The answer should be pretty plain from the passage. They all bear witness to something that is true.

To the truth. For one thing, but the truth of what? It is to the truth of the one who came by water and blood.

To the truth of the one who came by water and blood. Like verse 6 tells us.

So then all three witnesses bear witness to and agree with as one with the truth of Jesus.

With the truth of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. The Son of God who came by water and by blood.

Amen. And the witness of God is this. That He has borne witness about His Son.

Verse 9. And the witness is this. That God gave us eternal life.

God the Father. And this life is in His Son. Verse 11.

Amen. Of chapter 5. Notice how many of these verses are...

It's almost like it's the whole counsel of God summarily comprehended in a single verse. It's almost like the gospel in a verse.

They sound very creedal. They're very much like creedal statements. The witness is this.

That God gave us eternal life. And this life is in His Son. Amen. Very much a creedal statement.

The Bible is full of those statements like that. Note also how this verse makes very good sense with the previous ones.

And very clearly flows from one sentence to the next. It very clearly flows.

Whereas, like I covered a couple weeks ago, the

Johannine comma that was added later on interrupts the flow in a sense.

Because 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. And it doesn't really flow as well as the passage here reads.

It's specifically highlighting the water, the blood, and the Spirit. And these three witnesses all agree as one.

And technically, if it was listing out these five witnesses, they would all agree as one.

Not just three agreeing themselves with each other. But they would all agree as one.

So that's just more evidence that you can see how that phrase, that comma was added later on.

And we see how Christ repeatedly taught and bore witness to these things from His own

Heavenly Father, from our Heavenly Father. For example, in His high priestly prayer in John 17.

Turn with me there to the Gospel of John in chapter 17. Where we will read what

Christ prays to His Father in His high priestly prayer. The Gospel of John chapter 17.

Starting in verse 1. Now Jesus spoke these things to His disciples and lifting up His eyes to heaven,

He said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that the

Son may glorify You. Even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom

You have given Him, He may give eternal life. The Son may give eternal life.

And this is eternal life. That they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom

You have sent, His Son. I glorified You on the earth, having finished the work which

You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which

I had with You before the world was. Amen.

Before the world was. So there you see how Arius was wrong, heretically so, because Christ had this glory with the

Father before the world even was. There was not a time ever when the Son was not.

The Son always was, just as the Father always was. They share the same glory.

And another thing here to keep in mind is, notice in verse 4, I glorified

You on the earth, having finished the work which You have given Me to do. This work is Christ's mission, in part, to ransom, to give

His life as a ransom for many. This is pointing to Christ's satisfaction of the first covenant that Adam and Eve broke on our behalf.

It's to the covenant of works that was broken in Adam. And so all die, all are fallen, all are sinners, guilty before God.

And yet Christ, in His own covenant of works, satisfied the terms. He completed the work that God has set

Him out to do, the Father. All of it, perfectly satisfied. It is this thorn crown covenant of redemption.

It is Christ's work, perfectly satisfied in His person and work that He came to do here on the earth.

What a glorious truth that is, that Christ has done for us.

Now, we need to understand here also the marks of a true witness, the characteristics of what a true witness is.

Take note, first of all, I touched on this a couple weeks back as well. Biblically speaking, a witness can be a human person.

It can be also an angelic person. Like we saw last time how the entire heavenly court was singing

God's praises when Christ was born in the Gospels. Or a human person bearing witness in court, for example.

Or bearing witness in church discipline. Even God Himself can bear witness.

And also, the written word bears witness. Remember, Christ's dealings with His enemies especially, or even with others

He was teaching. It is what? It is written. Why did

He quote the word? Because the word bears witness to the truth. The word is the truth, just like we read today in the precious

Psalm 119. The sum of your word is truth.

It is truth. And every one of your righteous judgments is everlasting. Amen. This is why the word, the written word is so important.

But there are other things that can bear witness to the truth as well.

Things, events, and actions can attest to the truth of something as well.

Such as we saw in this very verse. In this passage in 1

John 5, you have the water and the blood. Water and blood are not persons.

They are things. Water and blood. They are synecdoches pointing to events in the life of Christ.

To the baptism of Christ and the death of Christ. Specifically. And they bear witness to something.

They bear witness to His divine sonship and mission. His person.

His divine, truly divine, and truly human person. In 1.

Like the Creed says, Duo Fuseon. One person, two natures.

Dual natures. His life, death, and work of salvation.

His active and passive obedience as it is also referred to. This is the thorn crown.

The same thorn crown. Covenant of redemption. The water and the blood. Turn with me.

Let's turn back over now to the Gospel of John. Once again. And we see Christ highlight this principle for us in chapter 5.

In the Gospel of John chapter 5. Verse 36. Our Lord.

Christ. Proclaims these things. The same things in the

Gospel of John chapter 5. Verse 36. But the witness.

The witness I have is greater than the witness of John. John the

Baptist. For the works. Notice that the works which the

Father has given me to finish. He's pointing to that same covenant of redemption once again.

The very works that I do bear witness about who? About me.

That the Father has sent me. Amen. Now look at this.

This is a powerful statement from Christ once again. A powerful proclamation that has a very creedal tone to it.

It's a very creedal statement. It's summing up the counsel of God. The triune inter -trinitarian counsel of God Himself.

The very works that I do bear witness about me. On the earth. In heaven.

Everywhere. That the Father has indeed sent me. His Son. His Son.

And now this brings us to a very important public service announcement.

And it's very fitting that it is a public service announcement because witnesses often serve publicly.

Serve publicly. A true witness and multiple witnesses are fundamentally important biblical concepts.

To the extent that even God Himself uses them to bear witness about many things including

His Son. Like we have seen repeatedly over and over again. And illustrates them for us.

God Himself illustrates these principles for us all throughout His Word. All throughout

His Word. Let's turn specifically over to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 19.

In Deuteronomy chapter 19 as we exercise the analogies of Scripture and of faith to harmonize the whole counsel of God together.

Deuteronomy chapter 19 verses 15 through 21. This is a very important passage.

Deuteronomy chapter 19 starting in verse 15. A single witness

God says shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity.

Any. Whatsoever. Or any sin which he has committed.

At the mouth of two or three witnesses a matter shall be established instead.

Not one witness but two or three at a minimum. If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before God before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days and the judges shall inquire thoroughly and behold if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely then you shall do to him just as he intended to do to his brother.

Thus you shall purge the evil from among you and the rest will hear and be afraid and will never again do such an evil thing among you.

Thus you shall not show pity. Thus you shall not show pity. Life for life.

Eye for eye. Tooth for tooth. Hand for hand. Foot for foot.

The lex talionis. This is God's word. This is God's law. Wow. This is really strong.

Notice the strong warnings tied to this passage. How seriously

God takes true and false witnesses. Notice also something very important that God does not simply reveal the false witness supernaturally.

He doesn't just give a vision and say hey look he's the false one. But rather establishes rigorous standards of law and order through human means.

Through human means and human judges for vetting them and examining them and judging them.

This is very important because you'll see people wax so spiritual and pious and sound oh God told me this and he showed me that You are out of order when it comes to basic matters of establishing the truth of something.

God uses human means. Human means according to his word and standards.

You need two or three witnesses to establish something. They don't have to be persons per se.

Every time. But they have to attest to the veracity or the truth of whatever it is that you're claiming or whatever it is that is being claimed.

This is extremely important principle that God takes with the utmost seriousness and this same principle in the

Old Testament is repeated and strongly reemphasized in the

New Testament all throughout. Particularly with respect to sin and to church discipline.

Let's turn over now to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18 in the

Gospel of Matthew chapter 18. I want to read from Christ's teaching on the famous passages passage regarding you're a sinning brother.

Matthew chapter 18 verse 15. Now if your brother sins go and show him his fault between you and him alone.

If he listens to you you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you take one or two more with you.

Why? So that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact every matter may be confirmed.

Every claim. Every accusation may be confirmed. And if he refuses to listen to them tell it to the church.

And if he refuses to listen even to the church let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Truly I say to you whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask it shall be done for them by my

Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in my name

I am there there am I in the midst of them. Wow.

So the New Testament God's Word expands upon this principle even further.

Deepening our understanding of how important and fundamental this principle of two or three witnesses is.

So much so that if you agree on the earth about anything that we ask our

Heavenly Father who is in heaven specifically and also here in this context with matters of church discipline and sin where there are two or three gathered it shall be done for them by my

Father who is in heaven. It shall be an Amen. So shall it be written so shall it be done.

For where two or three have gathered in my name there I am in their midst. God is present among those witnesses bearing witness to the truth.

And notice also the principle of compounding witnesses. The more witnesses you have it increases the seriousness of or it bolsters it further bolsters the claims being made.

So that if one witness doesn't listen bring two or three. And if they don't listen to the two or three tell it to the whole church.

It's that idea of compounding witnesses in hopes of establishing and getting the other person to realize that they need to address the situation.

They need to repent whatever the case. Similarly we find this is such a fascinating passage.

Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 13. This is a really amazing connection here that God speaks to us in His Word.

2 Corinthians chapter 13. I'm going to skip around a few verses here to highlight specific points.

I'll start in verse 1. This is the third time I, Paul, am coming to you.

By the mouth of two or three witnesses every matter shall be confirmed.

Every matter. Verse 8. For we can do nothing against the truth.

We can do nothing against the truth but only for the truth. But only for the truth.

And then get this. Look at verse 14. Look at verse 14. For the grace of the

Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the

Holy Spirit be with you all. How many witnesses are there? There are three.

Three witnesses right? The Triune God, the Father, the Son, the

Father, and the Spirit. One, two, and three. It's amazing how this principle is just all throughout the scriptures.

Even within the Triune Godhead, there are three persons in the Godhead. The Lord Jesus Christ, God the

Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. Amen.

So we see that God is so concerned for the truth and nothing but the undiluted truth.

Not a partial truth, which is really an untruth. It's with the truth and the whole truth.

He is the God of all truth. And the sum of His word is truth.

It is the truth. Such that lying by contrast is evil.

The truth is good. God is good. Lying is evil. The devil is the father of lies.

He is evil. Lying is characteristic of wickedness and evil.

And it directly contradicts God's very nature. Because God is the

God of truth. The Spirit is the Spirit of the truth. Jesus Christ says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

And that lying wickedness must be completely purged from the people of God.

It must be judged and purged from the people of God. Both in the

Old and the New Testaments. That is what church discipline is also for.

Lying is very evil. Especially when bearing witness to matters.

When bearing witness to something. It is very serious. Let's turn back over to the

Old Testament now in the book of Leviticus. Leviticus chapter 19 verse 11.

We see the same principle once again highlighted. The book of Leviticus chapter 19 verse 11.

God's word says, You shall not steal. You shall not deal falsely.

Do not deceive or deal falsely, nor lie to one another. There you have it.

Plain as day. And you shall not swear falsely by my name, so as to profane the name of your

God. I am Yahweh. I am Yahweh.

You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired man shall not remain with you overnight until morning.

You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind.

But you shall fear your God. I am Yahweh. You shall do no injustice whatsoever in judgment.

Judging truly, that is. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor defer to the great.

But you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness, in truth. You shall not go about as a slanderer, a reviler, somebody who speaks falsely and wickedly among your people, speaking wicked nonsense against people.

That's like the Apostle John quote says in 3 John, against Diotrephes.

And you shall not stand against the life of your neighbor. I am Yahweh. I am the

Lord, your God. Now, this is such this passage has you see many churches and many

Christians professing believers utterly disregarding these commands from Scripture about honesty and truth, not lying and not bearing false witness.

Especially in places like social media, how people lie.

And lying is not just something that you tell yourself. Lying is also pushing other people's lies.

Somebody else is lying about something or someone and you go and spread it. That's the same basic thing.

And even some it's really something that has made an impact in my life.

Some of the worst hypocrites I've ever met are pastors, leaders, pastors.

Because oftentimes when pastors are not qualified or they become abusive, they abuse their authority, they may feel like they have too much to lose if the truth comes to light.

And so they cover for their sin. They lie. They manipulate. This is exactly what happened with the apostles many times.

This is what happened with diatrophies. Talking wicked nonsense against the apostles. And this is where you find people utterly disregarding that God is a

God of truth. When you lie, you are utterly contrary to God's nature.

The very core of his nature is truth. And I fear for those who claim to be

Christians and lie in these ways haphazardly, without any repentance.

Not that there isn't repentance for those things, but we must, we have to repent. We can't be lying or spreading lies.

We have to be careful to be diligent about investigating claims that people make, especially online.

Especially if they're serious. We can't just be throwing things around. Not finding out whether they're really true or not.

Without having established on the mouth of two or three witnesses. This is so fundamentally important for us as believers in all our dealings and especially in the church.

In the church of God. Now, I'm not saying, of course, that all pastors are lying, rebellious, prideful, arrogant, hypocrites.

But some of them are. And some of them are very famous. Some of them are not famous.

But some of them we know personally. Some of us have had those encounters before. But the reality is that God hates those things.

He hates... This is something we teach our kids from the older Puritan documents and catechisms and such.

From like the New England Primer. Remember kids? Tell no lies.

Hate. Speak the truth. Amen. Now, this is so serious.

So much so that it is even one of the Ten Commandments. No surprise there.

It is one of the very commandments of God. The Decalogue of God.

I love how the Baptist Catechism sums up this whole this commandment. The Ninth Commandment.

Which is the Ninth Commandment? Question 81. And on. The Ninth Commandment is you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. What is required in the Ninth Commandment?

The Ninth Commandment requires the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man.

And of our own neighbor's good name. Especially in witness bearing.

When bearing witness to something. Whether it's sin or an accusation, a crime, whatever it may be.

And the Word of the Word is so powerful when it speaks to these things. I love how Proverbs 14 speaks to this.

This powerful principle that God takes with the uttermost seriousness.

Proverbs 14 very plainly and powerfully says.

A faithful witness will not lie. But a false witness breathes out lies.

He breathes them like the air. It's his nature. And then in verse 25.

A truthful witness delivers souls. But he who breathes out lies is deceitful.

Amen. Those are twin truths there. Amen. Now the

Baptist Catechism continues in question 83. What is forbidden in the ninth commandment?

The ninth commandment forbids whatsoever whatsoever is prejudicial to the truth, is against the truth or injurious to our own or our neighbor's good name.

Whatever is prejudicial against the truth, to the truth or injurious to our own or our neighbor's good name.

Amen. Wow. Very powerful teaching here summed up the whole counsel of God with respect to these matters of truth and lies of being a faithful and true witness just like Christ is the true and faithful witness in the spirit of God and the

Father himself. All faithful and true witnesses of the truth because they are the truth.

Now these biblical principles of true and multiple witnesses are possible only because the

God of truth himself established them. He established these principles just like we saw in Deuteronomy and in Leviticus.

He establishes these procedures to confirm a matter.

God established them. God gave them to us and he revealed them to us in his word.

They are necessary. They are necessary. Okay. They are absolutely necessary for establishing matters with truth, justice, decency and order in various aspects of our life.

They're all interconnected. All of these things are interconnected. Truth, justice, decency and order.

That's exactly what you see laid out in the Old Testament passages that we read. Establishing inquiry, thorough inquiry.

It's thorough inquiry into searching out the veracity of a witness and finding out if they're true or false.

Thorough and multiple witnesses so that there is no opportunity for lies to win the day, to operate or to win the...

to trump the truth of the matter.

They're all checks and balances. These are all... These principles apply in our own lives.

All of our life. Every aspect of our life. Even in our families and in our marriage.

When you get married, what do you have to do to get married? You have to get witnesses.

Right? It's a principle when establishing a covenant, which is what marriage is.

It's not a state contract. It's a covenant between the two and God himself and the witnesses attesting to the qualifications for those individuals getting married.

The man and the woman getting married and being properly qualified to marry. Now, um, this, even with children, right?

Somebody's saying, oh, he hit me, or oh, this... How do you find out? Well, who witnessed it?

What are the witnesses? We have to learn to exercise these principles, even in very practical matters.

The most basic of matters of everyday life. In our church, especially.

And this is something that churches have neglected so often because they don't do church discipline, biblically.

It's uncomfortable. It's controversial. But it's worse when you don't do it.

It's much worse when you don't do it. It's for our good and our benefit to do these things because God is good.

And God gives us these things for our sake so that we can line up with his truth and not with sin and lies.

In our government, obviously, just like the theocratic nation of Israel, God establishes law and order through judges.

The same principles apply today in our government, in our judges, in our courts. Much of that is being...

In much of these courts, the truth is being blasphemed and utterly brought to shame.

But they still... God will still hold everybody accountable to the truth. Everyone at every level, even in our education, even in our study of certain disciplines, like our study of history outside of Scripture.

Scripture already attests to itself because of the Triune God, is the author, like the

Confession says. So we don't have to use something else to bear witness to the truth of Scripture.

That is to undermine Scripture or hold something else above Scripture in authority. We don't do that.

Scripture is our first principle. It is our ultimate truth. That's what Sola Scriptura means.

But anything outside of Scripture that you cannot deduce from Scripture, such as historical matters, the history of certain events, or whatever the case may be, when recounting something that happened, these principles apply in those disciplines as well.

What historical witnesses, eyewitnesses, are there? Even the Gospels exercise the narratives, the historical narratives of Scripture, they practice these principles of eyewitnesses as well.

Very plainly, that's how you do sound historical research and methods.

There's a lot of liberal views of history that have no regard for the truth, no regard for witnesses.

They just regard whatever they want and impose whatever they want in history. And this is what false teachers do all the time.

They impose their agenda on history and rewrite history. They revise history, revisionist history.

That term comes from people who lie. They lie about the past. And in order to protect ourselves from those lies, we need to establish events as much as possible through historical witnesses, reliable, credible witnesses.

This applies to everything, practically everything in our lives.

And God Himself exercises these principles to us and for us, even in Himself.

He is a threefold witness, the threefold triune God of truth. Now, let's turn over back to the

New Testament in 1 Corinthians 14 in verse 37. This is a very important passage as well.

We'll close out with this passage for today. 1

Corinthians 14 verses 37 -40

If anyone Notice the categorical there, the

Apostle Paul. If anyone, anyone, no exceptions, thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, if he thinks himself to know to be an authority in the church of God, let him recognize that the things which

I write to you are the Lord's commandment. But if anyone remains ignorant about this, he is ignored by God.

In other words, if anyone does not recognize this to be God's command, then God does not regard him either.

He is ignored or disregarded by God because he disregards the

Word of God through the Apostle Paul. Therefore, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, to speak the

Word of God and do not forbid to speak in tongues.

But all things, beloved, no exception. There you see again categorical. All things must be done.

It's not a suggestion. Must be done properly and in an orderly manner, decently and orderly, like the

King James says. With decency and order. All things.

And these principles of true witnesses is an expression of that other principle of all things being done properly, decently and orderly in the

Church of God. That is how God is a God of order, of truth and order, love, righteousness, justice, not of confusion and of chaos.

He is a God of order. And this is how you go about establishing order to things.

Let's bring sense and order to this by having witnesses attest to the truth of something so that we can judge orderly and rightly a matter or a situation.

Right? That's what Scripture illustrates, elaborates so plainly all throughout, all throughout in the teachings of God, of Christ, of the

Father, in His law. The whole law is based on this, really this principle.

You couldn't accuse somebody of any sin unless there were two or three witnesses so that the truth would not be blasphemed or slandered or reviled, because to do that is to revile is an attack on God Himself, as we will find out later on in this passage.

To lie or to undermine the truth in any way is to undermine

God Himself and the truth of God. Amen?

This, beloved, is so important that God renews us with the truth.

That's the blessing of the fact that God renews us and saves us by means of the truth of the gospel.

Right? That's what Jesus prayed in His high priestly prayer in John 17. That is precisely what

He prays. This is eternal life that they may know

You, the only true God, the one and only true God, and Jesus Christ whom

You have sent. Amen? The truth of God saves us.

It delivers us from the lies of condemnation and death and the devil.

God's truth establishes order and justice, but it also saves us. That's the beauty of this, how powerful the truth is.

And we are to be therefore God's truth warriors, salt and light in the world, and reflect

His nature by our words, by our character, attesting always to the truth.

Even when we sin, we need to be honest about our sin, our own sin, and to confess the truth of our sin and of the sin of others, rather than bear false witness or lie, beloved.

Because the truth, what did Jesus say? In John chapter 8, one of my favorite passages in Scripture, in John chapter 8, verses 31 and on.

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, if you abide in My word, then you are truly

My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will what?

The truth will set you free. And God's people said,

Amen. Let us bow our heads in prayer. Our precious

Lord and Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your almighty word of truth,

Father God. We thank You for saving us by it. We thank You for giving it to us and sanctifying us also by it,

Lord. Just as Your Son prayed to You in His high priestly prayer to sanctify us in the truth of Your word, because Your word is the truth that saves us and sanctifies us,

Father. We thank You for this teaching from Your word. Help us to absorb it,

Lord, to digest it and internalize it, to take seriously, to acknowledge, and to live in light of the truth of Your word and of bearing witness truthfully.

And to also give us the discernment, Father, when there is false witnesses, when there are lies.

It is so difficult these days. It can be overwhelming in this age of social media and artificial intelligence and all of these things going on,

Father. There's so many lies being spewed out by even professing believers. Lord, we ask that You give us the discernment and the biblical principles from Your word to apply in all of these situations so that we would not believe a lie or push lies ourselves, but to believe the truth and receive the truth and only the truth and to promote the truth in all matters of faith and life,

Father. We thank You, Lord, for Your precious words of truth. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Thank you for listening to the sermons of Thorn Crown Covenant Baptist Church, where the Bible alone and the

Bible in its entirety has applied to all of faith and life. We strive to be biblical, reformed, historic, confessional, loving, discerning

Christians who evangelize, stand firm in, and earnestly contend for the Christian faith.

If you're looking for a church in the El Paso, Texas area, or for more information about our church, sermons, and ministries such as Semper Reformanda Radio and Thorn Crown Network podcasts, please contact us at thorncrownministries .com