40 The Water Blood and Spirit

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Amen. Please turn in your Bibles once again to the epistle of 1st
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John. 1st John chapter 5. We'll be reading verses 1 to 8 this morning, focusing on verses 6 to 8.
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1st John chapter 5, beginning in verse 1, hear now the inspired word of God.
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Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And whoever loves the
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Father loves the child born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love
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God and observe his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.
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For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.
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Who is one who overcomes the world? But he who believes that Jesus is the
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Son of God. This is the one who came by the water and blood, Jesus Christ.
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Not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the
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Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three are in agreement.
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Let's pray. Father, once again as we prepare to look into your word, we ask that you would clear our minds and our hearts to receive what you have to say to us this morning, and in so doing that we would come to know you more, and that everyone who hears would be able to confess that Jesus is the
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Christ, the Son of the living God. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
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Please be seated. According to the
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Guinness Book of World Records, a Bollywood actor holds the record for taking the most selfies in three minutes, 184.
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Guinness also lists many other interesting records, the most socks put on one foot in 30 seconds, 28.
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The most Smarties eaten in one minute using chopsticks while blindfolded, that's 20.
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And how about the fastest time to find all the letters of the alphabet in a can of alphabet soup, three minutes and 21 seconds.
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But besides these somewhat bizarre world records, Guinness does keep the records of noteworthy events, athletic events, fastest times for certain races, etc.
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Business first, historical and political events as well. In fact, the
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Guinness Book of World Records database contains over 65 ,000 active record titles.
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And the publishers take their records extremely seriously, even the ones that we may laugh at.
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To show you how seriously they take it, here's an excerpt from their website talking about the qualifications for getting into the
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Book of World Records. It says this, to be listed in the Guinness World Records, a record attempt must meet the following key criteria.
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It must be measurable, breakable, standardized, and verifiable. Meaning the achievement needs to be quantifiable, capable of being surpassed by someone else, performed consistently across different locations, and provable with concrete evidence.
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The last one is what struck my notes.
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Provable with concrete evidence. That usually includes some sort of credible witness or witnesses who are not biased in any way who can attest to the facts that this record was in fact broken.
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But it's not just for the Guinness Book of World Records. There's a general principle in life that important events, important documents need to be verified.
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For example, many documents need witnesses to the signatures on it.
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And some, even official witnesses like a notary public, certain papers and documents you have to have notarized.
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Our legal system requires witnesses to be sworn in with an oath that has consequences if violated.
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They swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth under the penalty of perjury.
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But this is also a biblical principle. The most important events in the history of the world were not done in secret, but with accompanying proofs.
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What I'm talking about is the ministry of Christ. Jesus was crucified and died on the cross, a public, verifiable, historical event.
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The proof that he died, he was buried three days and three nights. And then he rose from the dead.
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Again, verifiable. How do we know this? Because the proof was that he was seen by numerous people on numerous occasions, as many as 500 people at one time.
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We even see this in our salvation. Well, we must come to Christ by faith alone.
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It's not blind faith. It's not an unreasonable faith.
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In fact, remember where we are in our text. We spend weeks examining the role of faith in the life of the
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Christian. You cannot take faith out of the equation, for without faith it's impossible to please
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God. It is by faith that the Christian overcomes the world. That is, as we saw last week, the
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Christian can have significant victory over sin in this world, in the here and now.
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Now, that being said, I repeat that our faith is not blind.
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It's not unreasonable. In fact, it's an informed faith, an intelligent faith based upon the truth as revealed in the
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Word of God. That's one of the major reasons why the whole chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews, that's why it's in the
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Scripture. It's not there just to give us some historical data, but there's a reason.
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As you and I read the exploits of these men and women, we are encouraged and strengthened in our faith to persevere in the battle against evil just as they persevered.
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They are, in fact, witnesses to the grace of God, the mercy of God, and the goodness of God.
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And remember, these are real men and women. These are not mythological personalities. These are men and women who walked this earth and had natures just like us, and they accomplished great things for the kingdom of heaven.
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And this is not just my opinion. The author of Hebrews himself says it very directly in the first two verses of the very next chapter, chapter 12 of Hebrews 11.
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Keeping that chapter in mind, remember that whole list of faithful men and women and their exploits, what they suffered, what they did, what they accomplished.
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And after detailing all those exploits, listen to what the author tells us, where he tells us, why did
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I just give you this list? In Hebrews 12 .1, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside also every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
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Notice chapter 12 begins with that very important word, therefore. In other words, because we have so many witnesses, this is not just one or two people.
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And this is just a sampling of the faithful. I mean, we've got the whole Old Testament, the New Testament, the
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Book of Acts, and then we have even witnesses after that in the history of the church up until the present.
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We have people today who are standing heroically for the kingdom of God. But in chapter 12, it begins with that important word, therefore.
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And we are to be encouraged to continue pressing on in the battle against evil. We are to learn from those witnesses, and we're to learn both from their strengths and their weaknesses.
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Remember our text from the last several sermons, verse 4 of chapter 5.
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Whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.
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But there's an important question that should be asked right now, but faith in what? It's not just mere faith.
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It's not faith in faith. Look at verse 5. Who is the one who overcomes the world?
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But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. This brings us back to one of the main points of John's whole entire epistle.
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Remember, he's writing to encourage the saints to be assured of their faith. Right from the very beginning of the epistle, we've seen that's the underlying theme.
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He wants Christians to know what they believe, and then to know why they know what they believe.
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And one of the essentials that John has explained is that of doctrinal purity, specifically when it comes to the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
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And here he returns to it once again with that one clause, but he who believes that Jesus is the
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Son of God. I don't have to remind you, but I will anyway.
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There are many doctrines that are controversial in the church today. The timing and nature of the millennial kingdom, the role of the law of God in society today, the subjects and method of baptism.
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Don't get me started on that. And that's just to name a couple.
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There are two churches of Jesus Christ that hold differing views of each of those important doctrines.
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And let me be quick to say, what I just listed to you, they're not minor inconsequential doctrines.
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Your view of these doctrines will affect how you live your life in this world. But differing views on those subjects does not require a break in fellowship.
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But differing views, they still are.
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And yet they're still within the bounds of orthodoxy, even those on each side. The fact is, our church is in fellowship with churches holding different views than ours.
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And we have good fellowship with most of them. That being said, as a background, there can be no
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Christian fellowship with someone or some church that denies that Jesus is the
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Son of God. That's a line that we cannot cross. And the reason for that should be rather obvious, because the essence of Christianity is the person and work of Jesus Christ.
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Remember, Jesus is the most unique person that ever lived. He is one of a kind. There will never be another like him, nor could there ever be one like him, because he is the
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God -man, he is truly human and truly God. Our confession of faith addresses this doctrine in some detail.
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And I'm going to quote a small section from Chapter 8 of the
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London Baptist Confession in a few moments. But before I do, I think a few comments are in order.
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Hope Reform Baptist Church is a confessional church, and we promote ourselves as such.
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That means we adhere to the Orthodox creeds. In fact, we make it a practice once a month to recite the
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Apostles' Creed together. And the reasoning is rather simple. In a society that is moving away from the historical
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Christian faith, it's good to be reminded of our core beliefs, and often.
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That's why we also recite a question and answer from Keech's catechism each week for the same reason.
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Why do we recite the catechism questions? Because the world is trying to catechize us.
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So when we come to portions of scriptures such as this, and as pastors of the church, when we come to core doctrines of Christianity, one of the essential doctrines, it's a good practice for us to include in our sermons the confession summary of that essential doctrine, to bring us back to what we believe.
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Let me clarify just one more thing, just for your information.
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And that is the difference between a creed and a confession. A creed is a short, concise statement of beliefs that pretty much stands on its own.
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A confession is usually a longer and more in -depth statement of beliefs with scriptural proofs.
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I'll give you an example of the difference. The Apostles' Creed is two short paragraphs and takes up less than half a page in our hymn book.
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The 1689 London Baptist Confession is 17 pages in our hymn book and has 32 chapters.
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Let me give you just a quick distinction between a creed and a confession. A confession contains doctrine that, as a
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Christian, you should believe. A creed contains doctrines you must believe in order to be a
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Christian. So then, with that as a background, what does our confession say about the person of Jesus Christ?
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And listen carefully, this is not just some theology points that are meant for academics to debate.
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This is necessary for the Christian faith, especially this portion of the
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Son of God. I quote from the London Baptist Confession chapter 8, section 2.
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It says, The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal
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God, the brightness of the Father's glory, of one substance and equal with Him who made the world, who upholds and governs all things
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He has made, did when the fullness of time was come, take upon Him man's nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin, being conceived by the
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Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming down upon her, and the power of the
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Most High overshadowing her, and so was made of a woman of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of Abraham and David, according to the
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Scriptures, so that the two whole, perfect and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition or confusion, which person is very
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God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man.
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Let me just summarize the important points for our purpose this morning. The second person of the
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Trinity, the eternal Son of God, took upon Himself a human nature, complete in every way except for sin, and He did so by the miraculous power of God, and He was conceived in the womb of the
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Virgin Mary, and to fulfill Scripture, Mary was of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, and the lineage of David, and this was necessary for the plan of God to save mankind from their sin.
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Let me just read the conclusion of that paragraph one more time, so that two whole, perfect and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition or confusion, which person is very
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God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man.
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That is the doctrine that John refers to that must be believed in order to be a
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Christian, but that's not all, because beyond the person of Jesus Christ is
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His work. The very reason for the incarnation is the work that God has commissioned
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His Son to do. The reason why the eternal Son of God took upon Himself human flesh was to qualify
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Him for the work of the Christ, and only the joining of the two natures, one human, one divine, into one person could accomplish the purpose of God to save mankind from sin, and every phase of His work on earth was absolutely necessary and essential.
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Jesus spoke clearly to His apostles about the necessity. I'm just going to pause there for a minute, go off my notes.
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You need to understand all of this was necessary. Without this work of Christ, without His coming to earth, without His becoming the
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God -man, every one of us in this room would be utterly doomed. There would be no hope.
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That's why this is such an essential doctrine. So Jesus shows just how necessary this was.
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Remember Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi, when Jesus says, who do you say that I am?
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And Peter responds, you are the Christ, the
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Son of the living God. And then
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He also, in response to that confession, listened to what
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He said in Matthew 16, 21. From that time, Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.
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Notice what He says. He must go. It was necessary. There was no other way.
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Jesus was preparing them for what He was about to take place, and He knew it was going to be hard on them.
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So they didn't, but we see that they didn't really understand yet. In fact, even after His resurrection, they still didn't quite get it.
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Remember on the road to Emmaus, Jesus is talking to two disciples, and they said, we thought that this was the one.
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We didn't, we thought He was, but He died. And Jesus says to them, oh foolish men and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
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And then listen carefully. Was it not necessary for the
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Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? Again, Christ asserts the necessity of His work.
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And then the completion of His work was part of His high priestly prayer. In that heart -rending prayer in John 17, where He's pouring
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His heart out to God before He goes to the cross, He says, I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
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It was done. And then of course, He's hanging on the cross, bleeding, dying, and He says, it is finished.
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This is all included in the belief that Jesus is the Son of God. But His work includes more than the crucifixion and resurrection.
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Now, of course, that is the centerpiece of His work, but His work begins at the incarnation.
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We read from Philippians chapter 2 this morning, speaking of Christ, the
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Apostle Paul says, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied
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Himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men, being found in the appearance as a man.
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He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
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It was necessary. He had to die. And Paul puts it so well.
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The essence of the original language here is Christ didn't think that His Godhood, that His relationship in heaven was something that He needed to cling to and hang on to.
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But He let go and took upon Himself human flesh.
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Can you imagine being God and taking upon yourself the limitations of human flesh?
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I don't think we have a clue. But His work also included living a sinless life.
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That, too, is necessary for His work. And then, of course, the crucifixion itself.
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One of my favorite doctrines, the doctrine of the resurrection, what
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He suffered. And it appeared that He had lost the battle. Even His disciples were dismayed.
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But on that morning, He rose from the grave. And then, even that wasn't finished.
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He ascended into heaven. And that was further proof of the acceptance of His sacrifice as He takes the seat at the right hand of God, which is part of also of the work of Christ.
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He sits in heaven as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, ruling and reigning over all of God's creation as the
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God -Man. Do you realize that the King of the universe is a man?
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That's an amazing thought. He overturned the curse.
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But that's another sermon. And then, one day, He will return.
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And He will complete His work by gathering His church together. There's a portion of the great hymn that I love, talking about the church.
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She waits the consummation of peace forevermore, till with the vision glorious, her longing eyes are blessed, and the great church victorious shall be the church at rest.
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You ever get weary fighting and working for the kingdom of God? Ever get tired of hearing the name of God, the name of Christ, used only as a curse?
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And we fight the battle. We're told to fight the good fight, to finish the course. One day, the church will be at rest.
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In order to be saved, you must believe that Jesus is the
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Son of God. This is so important that the apostle directs us to witnesses, to testify to the truthfulness of these things.
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Look at verse 6 of 1 John 5. This is the
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One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood.
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It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 1
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John 5, verses 6 to 8, is the subject of much controversy within the church.
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And this is true for several reasons. First, there are some textual difficulties as well.
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But it's mostly subject to different interpretations over the symbolism used by the apostle.
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In fact, this is so hotly debated. Listen to the words of Martin Lloyd -Jones, great expositor of the word of the last century.
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He says, Now there can be no question at all but that these three verses are not only the most difficult verses in this epistle, but I think
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I am prepared to say, I tell you, it's the three most difficult verses, in a sense, in the entire
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Bible. Now whether you agree with the doctor or not, it serves us well to approach this text with caution.
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Putting textual criticism aside, and we will not address that this morning, because I don't believe that's fruitful during our time of worship, nor do
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I believe it changes any of the major doctrines. That being said, one of the main controversies in these verses is what
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John means by the water and the blood. Some commentators assert that he's referring to the water and blood, the reference that came out of the side of Jesus on the cross.
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But contextually, I don't see any relationship between the water and the blood and what John is expounding in this epistle.
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It's only the similarity of language that shows any connection at all. And let me remind you again of the three primary principles of hermeneutics.
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Context, context, context. And of course, another primary principle of hermeneutics is the analogy of faith.
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That means scripture interprets scripture. And once again, I see no relationship in other scriptures to the blood and water coming from the side of Jesus to what
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John is talking about. There's no connection with this epistle. What I mean is specifically that I don't see how the water and blood flowing from his side testifies to the fact that Jesus is the
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Christ. And that's the main point of these verses. So the context itself would rule them out.
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Then there's another school of thought that the water and the blood represent the sacraments, baptism in the
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Lord's Supper. This interpretation is more understandable, but I believe still falls short of the context.
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Remember what John's trying to accomplish here. He's giving us an important gospel truth.
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In fact, it's essential to the confession that Jesus is the
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Christ for you to be saved. You must believe that he is the Son of God incarnate.
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And this is so important that he's asserting that there are objective witnesses who testify and agree with one another that Jesus is the
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Christ, the very Son of God. The sacraments of baptism in the Lord's Supper, as important as they are, that's not their primary point.
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They're to remember the sacrifice, but not to prove that he is the Son of God. So here again,
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I think the analogy of faith in the context of this epistle would rule out that interpretation.
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So let's get back to basics. What is the context as we approach this? What is the context of this whole epistle?
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What is John trying to prove? Why did he write this epistle? John was concerned with a major heresy.
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We've looked at this early in our exposition that contradicted the doctrine of the
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Incarnation. In fact, here's a brief outline of the heresy that John was fighting against.
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They put forth that Jesus was a man, a mere mortal.
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When he was baptized by John, the Baptist, by John the Baptist, the eternal
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Christ came upon him and entered into him. From that moment, the eternal Christ was dwelling in the human
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Jesus, and he continued to do so until just before the crucifixion, and then the eternal
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Christ went back to heaven, and it was only the man Jesus who was crucified. Now, you can see how that is not consistent with the
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Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, but that's the context for John's narrative here in Chapter 5.
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So, what does he mean by the water and the blood? I believe the water and the blood stand for his baptism and his crucifixion.
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They symbolize the work of Jesus on earth. His baptism represents the beginning of his public ministry.
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Remember, during his baptism, the Father testifies to the identity of Jesus.
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This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And John the Apostle records the words of John the
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Baptist when Christ came to him. He says, I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven and remained upon him.
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And then that causes him to say, I have seen myself and have testified this is the
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Son of God. Let me bring a couple points to mind, which I believe bear on the text.
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Did you ever notice that in the Gospel of John, he doesn't begin the
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Gospel with the birth of Christ? Ever wonder why is that?
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All the other Gospels, they start with the lineage and the story. Didn't John like the nativity story?
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What does John do instead? He begins, in the beginning was the
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Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. Jesus is
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God. That's how John starts his epistle. And right after that, and the
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Word became flesh, the humanity of Christ. John bypasses the nativity, not because it's unimportant, but for his point, what he's concerned about, the reason he's writing not only his epistle, but writing his
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Gospel, is he is concerned with defending the fact that Jesus is the God -man, the very
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Son of God. And then where was he after he asserts that in his prologue, which we've studied in this church, where does he begin the life of Christ at his baptism?
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The beginning of his earthly ministry. In fact, do you remember the purpose for the
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Gospel of John? We know the purpose for the epistle. Remember the purpose for the
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Gospel of John? John chapter 20, verse 31, but these have been written so that you may believe, believe what?
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That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. In light of the heresies concerning the nature of Christ, John's passion was that the church believe that Jesus is the
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Christ, because it is one of the crucial, foundational doctrines that must be believed if you are a
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Christian. So if that means, if the water symbolizes his beginning his public ministry, the blood therefore should symbolize the crucifixion, the end.
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The shedding of blood means death. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. The purpose of the incarnation was to provide a suitable sacrifice for sin, something that man could never provide on his own.
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So God did. And one of the simplest verses in scripture that every
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Sunday school child learns at one point or another is still, I'm approaching 80, and it's still one of my favorite verses, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
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And these verses in 1 John, which are the subject of such controversy and speculation, we find
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John encapsulating his entire gospel. And he begins with the baptism of Christ and concludes with the events surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection.
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So we have two witnesses, the water and the blood, symbolizing the entire ministry of Jesus.
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But John's not quite finished yet. He introduces a third witness. Look again at verse 6.
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This is one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with water only, but with the water and the blood.
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It is the spirit who testifies because the spirit is the truth. So what does the spirit testify to?
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Well, that's a no -brainer. He testifies to the truthfulness of John's main point.
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What is his main point? Hope everybody got it so far. Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living
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God. And the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. The role of the
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Holy Spirit is so crucial and so important to the ministry of the church. And John knows this and basically says the water and the blood of Jesus testify to the fact that he is the
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Messiah. But if that's not enough, the Holy Spirit also testifies to that fact.
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And just in case you forgot, he's the spirit of truth. To make sure there's no misunderstanding,
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John summarizes for us in verses 7 and 8, for there are three that testify, the spirit, the water, and the blood.
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And no surprise here, the three are in agreement.
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The biblical principle is that on all matters, whether they be legal issues, civil issues, or ecclesiastical issues, when there is a dispute, the matter should be verified by two or three witnesses.
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And in his fight against this particularly heinous theological error, John didn't settle for only two infallible witnesses.
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He appeals to the spirit of truth. And he says, by the way, the spirit, the water, and the blood, they all agree.
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So, if you want to be in the Guinness Book of World Records, find something you can do better than anyone else.
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It's that simple. Even the silly records take time and effort to be the best at, to be the world record holder.
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But remember, you must have credible proof of your accomplishment. That being said,
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God has provided us with all the credible evidence we need to come to believe that Jesus is the
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Christ, the son of the living God. But he accommodates our weakness and provides more credible witnesses to the truth of the gospel, the water, the blood, and the holy spirit of truth.
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If you are in Christ, your future is both secure and assured because he has sent the holy spirit to dwell inside you as an earnest, as a pledge to guarantee that you will be saved to the end.
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If you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, you have heard the gospel once again, believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is
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Lord and you will be saved. Let's pray. You have been listening to the
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Reformed Rookie podcast, where we aim to teach Reformed theology to beginners or rookies. Be sure to look us up on the web at www .reformedrookie
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.com where you will find many more learning tools and aids to help you grow in your understanding of all things
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Reformed. And remember, Semper Reformanda! of the
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Bible. My conscience is captive to the word of God.
40:12
I cannot and I will not recant.
40:19
Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me.