Good morning everyone. It's a beautiful day for
worship. I'm thankful to have everyone
who's here today, all of our regulars to the faithful, and
we're excited to see our visitors who are here today.
You're honored guest, and we hope that you'll come back
anytime that you have opportunity.
And we pray that God will be glorified today.
As I was thinking this morning about my part in this worship
service, I was thinking about how is God worshipped when we
study his word? And as I was thinking about
that, I thought about the people who have gone on before me,
whether it's a parent or a grandparent, especially those
who have now passed. I think about the greatest way
to honor someone who has passed is to continue to teach the
things that they taught you because that's that's what you
have and that's what is meaningful and valuable both to
them and to you. And this morning as we study, I
hope God is worshipped because we're going to be relaying the
things that Jesus taught and that he left on this earth.
And I hope that there is, I think there is.
And I hope he, he senses no greater honor from us, that we
would want to change our minds to think the way he does, and
that we would amplify his truths above everything we might think
this morning. And so I pray that he is
worshipped and honored through our study.
And we're in first John and we're in chapter 5 today.
So if you want to turn your Bibles there, we're going to be
in first John 5 most of the time we're on Lesson 7.
So this is 7 of I believe 8. We'll be able to finish on the
next one through this letter to and 1st John.
And if you haven't been here for this, this letter is a letter of
encouragement and a letter of assurance.
And it's a kind of a, a bird's eye view of faith.
And it's a bird's eye view of our Christian walk.
And it gives us so much encouragement in this book.
And it's written to people who are already Christians.
And yeah, we've already talked about the reasons he wrote this
book. And, and, and all these reasons
are to solidify and ground the Christian and to give them
assurance and peace and confidence in what God has for
them. So if you have not read this
book, I recommend you go through and read the first four
chapters. And we're just going to get a
running start from chapter 4 where we left off before we read
there. No one has seen God at any time.
If we love one another, God abides in US and His love has
been perfected in US. And I'm starting here because I
want to clarify something that we talked about last week about
His love being perfected in US. Verse 13 says by this we know
that we abide in Him and He and us because He has given us of
His Spirit. Verse 17 goes on to say love has
been perfected among us in this that we may have boldness in the
day of judgement. So as we were talking about
those verses, I spent some time talking about what it means to
have a love that is perfected in you and me.
And I think as I was thinking about how I said it, I might
have communicated more of a portrayal of love than really
what I was intending to. It is absolutely true that that
we portray God's love in a more complete sense when we become
perfected in love. But I think the maybe what's
even bigger and even more impactful in this passage here
is that whatever this is, it creates boldness in US and
confidence and judgement. And it's not just about showing
things to others. Maybe the bigger point here is
that living full of love gives ourselves confidence that we are
in Him, but it also teaches our heart what it means to love.
So yes, portraying it's important, but if we're going to
have confidence in judgement, having love that is perfected
teaches our hearts what it means to love.
Because how could you and I ever wrap our minds around God saving
us if we don't develop a love toward others?
They would even reflect that if that love is in our not in our
hearts, it's probably not going to seem like it's possible.
And so part of having love fully matured and perfected, it helps
our hearts comprehend the kind of love that would show grace.
We might think we're fine or I'm good enough, God will accept me.
But it's not until our heart becomes exposed to through an
experience of learning it through others and how we love
others that we will ever be able to comprehend how God can love
us that way. I hope that was clear, but I
wanted to emphasize it today. So it's not so much a garment we
wear as it is something injected into our veins that courses
through everything. So love is not a garment that we
put on and people see and it's nice.
It's it's something that is everything inside of us so that
when we view God, we see him through this lens.
So that when we look at ourselves, we see, we see
ourselves through the lens of God's love and that we will see
others through the lens of love like God does.
And absolutely it's true that we do demonstrate that to others
and that's vital. But I wanted to clarify that.
And I think this point is echoed in the Sermon on the Mount where
as Frank pointed out, the greatest F, the greatest effect
of praying for enemies is the change that makes inside of us.
And so the point being there, things really change for us when
we develop the love that God has for us, because as he is, so are
we in the world. There is No Fear in love, but
perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment.
But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
There it is again that that you can't really have true peace
from your fears until you understand love completely.
And I, I, I'm not saying any of us completely do, but we're
becoming more perfected in it. Hopefully.
Verse 19. We love him because he first
loved us. If someone says I love God and
hates his brother, he's a liar for he does not love his brother
whom he has seen. How can he love God whom he has
not seen? So here's the running start and
this commandment we have from him that he who loves God must
love his brother also. OK first the first verse of
first John 5, the last chapter of this letter.
He says whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of
God and everyone who loves him, who begot who, who did the, the
creating, you might say, also loves him who is begotten of
him. So you're starting to probably
feel like this is repetitive, right?
That's circular reason. He's coming back through some of
the same topics. But the point here is that there
is a close connection between those who are God's people and
those for between God himself, the one who begot and God's
people. So if if you love God, then I
should love you. That's his point there.
How I feel when people are good to Charlie is a different
feeling that I can explain. And I felt it when, you know, if
there was someone from from school who came to church with
me or who was converted and, and the people at church showed them
love. It was such a great feeling to
know that there were people who loved me, who transferred that
love to them and showed them love.
I can only imagine how God feels because if we love God, he says
it should be natural that we love those who God has begotten,
who those who are begotten of God.
If we really love God, we can't help but love his people.
Verse 2 By this we know that we love the children of God.
So if you wonder if if I really want to love God and portray
that and if I want to be assured in my Christianity because by
knowing that I love the children of God, how do you do that?
And as you think how you might show love to the children of
God, maybe there's certain things that pop to your mind.
There certainly are things that pop into my mind as I think of
how I could show love to the children of God.
Is it a specific act, a deed, He says when we love God and keep
his commandments. So there's this unbreakable
triangle happening between us, God and others.
And I think we are very confident in understanding that
that love that we show towards God is in following his word.
We've established that throughout this letter that we
love God by following his word and keeping his commandments.
And we could see how others we need to show God that same love
in following his commandments. But the unbreakable third piece
to this is that we actually show love to others when we obey God,
when we follow God's commands. OK, so the question might be,
well, what commands? Well, before I get into that,
the first primary point is we cannot separate love for others
from God's commands. And some people want to make it
like, yeah, obeying a lot of the stuff in the Bible is kind of
kind of rules as legals. It's it's legalism if you focus
on the rules too much. But in God's Word, you can't
separate his commandments from love because the New Testament
is called the law of liberty. And if God gives us a law to
follow, it's going to be good for him and it's going to be
good for us, and it's going to be good for everyone around us.
So what kinds of of commandments is he talking about?
Well, let's start with the obvious.
Being generous and showing generosity or doing good deeds
for people is obviously a way that we can follow God's
commandments and show love to God's people.
I think we all get that. And you think about Acts 2 when
they had all things in common, they were sharing with one
another, selling their land, and doing things for one another.
It's beautiful. That's what God intends.
But does it stop there? What about things like how we
dress? I'm not talking about Sunday
morning. I'm not talking about how how
nice your clothes are. I'm talking about what we wear
as it relates to a covering in Galatians 6 and other passages.
It talks about this idea of lasciviousness that might cause
someone else to lust or cause someone else to incite sexual
desire or show things that we should not be showing.
Now, how does that command relate to showing love for my
brethren? Well, some people might say that
is not my job to dress modestly so that that man or that woman
can control themselves. It's their job to control
themselves. They shouldn't be looking at it.
If it's if it tempts them or if it shows, makes them feel
feelings of lust, that's on them.
But the Bible talks about the way we dress and the way we
conduct ourselves. It is their job to control
themselves, but it is the other party's responsibility to help
them control themselves. Because if we're going to follow
God's commands in a way that will show love toward our
brethren, how can we possibly do that with our dress and if it
does not uphold the other person who might be tempted?
So our dress, I think you could absolutely say plays into how we
show love to God and others at the same time.
What about romantic relationships and specifically
before marriage? If I'm think that I'm in love
with someone before before I get married and or if someone thinks
they're in love, if we do things outside of the the bonds of
marriage that are sexual in nature, that creates a
relationship that is sinful before God.
And how could we ever say we love them if we were creating
sin in them and in us? So by obeying God's commands to
wait until marriage, we are showing them love.
And we are showing God's love by obeying God's command.
You think about homosexuality almost the same line of
reasoning. If you really care for someone,
you will not engage in a homosexual relationship because
you know what's going to doom their soul.
It is a way of showing love to them to follow God's commands,
even if it might not seem right to us.
There's a way that seems right to the man, but it's end
thereof, the ways of death. The Bible says relationships can
make and break our lives. To be willingly, to willingly
take someone else into sin in our relationships.
How could you ever show love to them by engaging in that way?
And as you think about marriage, how can I show love to someone
in marriage? Think you can think about any
possible scripture about marriage in the Bible.
Every scripture about marriage from God's commands is intended
to help us show love to that person.
So I think we can see the commands of love and marriage,
but what about worship? So we're we're still talking
about how does me falling God's commands show love to my
brethren? How is that how I show love to
them? What about worship in first
Corinthians chapter 14, he's describing several different
factors that go into their worship and he says all these
things are done for edification. So if you don't think that the
way we worship matters and I'm not saying anything specific.
I'm saying if you're considering the way we worship, you read
scripture. He says this is reason is for
edification, whether it's the whether it's the clarity and how
many people speak or when they speak or how they speak.
You read about that all in First Corinthians.
Anything about that is to build people up.
That's what edification means. So if we're not following God's
commands for how we're to worship, we're not building
people up the way God has intended us to be building them
up. What about singing?
Do you think God's commands are on singing have anything to do
with showing love to other people?
Reads Colossians 316. Let the word of Christ dwell in
you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord.
So yes, the grace is in our hearts to God, but we're
teaching and admonishing each other.
So in our worship, in our singing, if we don't do that, we
are missing an opportunity to show love to our brethren by
teaching and admonishing them. What about communion?
Do you think communion is an opportunity for us to show love
toward one another and following God's command?
Well, in first Corinthians 11, it says for an eating, each one
takes his own supper ahead of others and one is hungry and
another is drunk and and he goes on to say, and they shame those
who have nothing. So he's starting here by
correcting how they were doing communion saying here's how you
went wrong. Now, if we were to mess up
communion in some way, it might be in a different set of
consequences, but this is what the consequences that they had
when they messed up communion. So they messed it up in one way
and it created these consequences.
There's this inequality, there's these people who are receiving
shame because of it. So we don't commune the way God
wants us to commune. People are hindered.
That's not love. Instead, in First Corinthians 8,
he says the bread which we break, is it not the communion
of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one
bread and one body, for we all partake of that one bread.
If you love people, you want them to feel unified and
together in this body. That's Christ's design.
You want them to feel like they're a part of this.
You want them to feel like they are valuable and matter and are
important to us and to God. And it says that the way we
commune conveys that unity to one another.
So I'd say the way we commune, the way we bought obey God's
commands matters is to how we show love toward God and people.
What about the hair in First Corinthians 11 says, but every
woman who prays or prophecies with her head uncovered
dishonors her head. That's a study for another time.
But as you see here, it says throughout that passage, her
head is man. And so there is a dishonouring
when there is a when there is, the hair is not handled the way
God says to handle it. And now you might ask, what is
what are we supposed to do with the hair?
That's a study for another time. I hope you'll read 1st
Corinthians 11. But however we handle the hair
shows respect or disrespect to someone else as the head.
So what we're seeing is everything Gods has commanded
us. I just thought of some random
stuff. Does this apply to me loving my
brother? And so far everything has a
connection to loving each other. What about church discipline?
What about when someone is in the wrong?
And there's a lot of wisdom to be had and a lot of nuance to
these situations. But can I show love to someone
by showing by by the church having discipline and the church
taking action? In First Corinthians 5, you read
of a situation where somebody was doing some bad stuff and
living in sin and everybody was just OK with it.
Paul came in to correct that, and he later comes back and
wants to assure them that the purpose of doing that is to
restore that person. The purpose of correcting and
disciplining from the church and giving some, hey, you've got to
get this, this can't happen anymore.
This is not good. The purpose of doing that kind
of discipline is to save their souls.
So, so far everything we could think of leads back to loving
each other and loving God. Jesus said it this way when he
was asked in Matthew 22, Teacher, which is the greatest
commandment in the law, He replied, love the Lord with God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind. This is the first and greatest
commandment and the second is like it.
Love your neighbor as yourself, love God, love people, right?
Verse 40, all the law and the prophets hang on these two
commandments. People try to pull the
scriptures apart and say this is love, this is laws.
God says I'm wise, I know what I'm doing, follow me and you
will love each other better. You will love me better.
May we never try to peace out God's law because just because
we don't see how it matters, just because it we don't see how
this teaching matters or this Scripture matters, doesn't mean
it doesn't hold a vital role in God's plan for us to show love
to him and to others. So by this we know that we love
the children of God when we love God.
Keep his commandments, He goes on to say, and his commandments
are not burdensome. Have you noticed something about
yourself that I've noticed about myself?
Small things can seem really hard sometimes, and big things
can sometimes not seem like that big of a deal.
We're weird that way. I am at least.
So I need to watch out for how I look at God in His commands
because my gauge is not very good.
There's a comedian some of you have heard of who does a skit
all about this, and his comments are about how people always use
the phrase that's the worst, as if the things that we're talking
about are really the worst. And the comment he uses is, you
know, when you when you're stuck by yourself waiting outside the
mall for your friends to get there in a first world country
with stuff inside that you can never, you never need anything.
We say things that are really ridiculous when you think about
it, like all that's the worst thing that can happen or it's so
bad. It's so frustrating.
And, and I have things in my life that do that to me all the
time where I develop a mentality in daily life.
There's some things become burdens that don't need to be
burdens. But what's really burdensome,
it's not God's. It's not God's commands.
What's burdensome is internal restraint.
Frank talked about this often. Serving God without restraint is
actually good for us because the burdens come when we try to hold
back and we feel that strain against ourselves to do what God
has commanded. So the internal factor about
pulling back is what can cause a strain, but also external
persecution. So if you are trying to do
better and somebody's pulling back against you, sure, that's
that's a burden, but that's not God's command.
These things show up when we follow God's commands often
times. But God's commands are not the
problem. Sin is what creates new burdens
for us and for others. It creates new burdens and ways
that we can never foresee happening.
God's way relieves burdens for us and for others.
And sometimes, or oftentimes you might even say it doesn't seem
that way. Oftentimes what looks good right
now and seems like it's going to be relief from a burden ends up
creating new problems later. But we can't see that right in
front of us and we have to at some point surrender in faith as
he's going to tell us in a minute.
Faith says God, I don't see how this is good right now, but I
trust you enough to obey you and I believe it's going to be best
for me and the people involved. I've been in situations where I
did not want to address somebody, but I knew God was God
was calling me through his word and through and, and through his
teachings to, to respond to that person and to and to reach out
to them in some way. And lo and behold, it fixed the
relationship in ways I thought I never would have and developed a
bond that I never thought could have happened.
When we follow God, even when we don't see it, that is faith and
that is going to relieve burdens.
And we by God's grace can adapt to anything.
Isn't that the context of what Paul says in Philippians?
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Isn't that the actual context where when you want to do God's
will, you can do it and you can change your mind and your
attitude to do it in a way that will go be good for you and for
everyone? We can change.
Things that seem hard don't have to always seem hard.
You're going to have new challenges, but those things
will become easier as you progress.
Sometimes they come back up. But I can do all things through
Christ who strengthens me. And so as we would be called by
God to repent and to change our life in any number of ways that
you or I might need to change our life, may we be willing to
repent of a mindset that would think that God's ways are
burdens. God's ways are not burdens.
And I have to change my mind if I think that way.
Verse 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.
It's not a burden there overcomes the world, and this is
the victory that has overcome the world.
Our faith. Faith is the only thing in this
world that can drive the kind of things that it does.
You look at Job in the Old Testament, a man who suffered
beyond anything I can imagine, maybe more than anyone has
suffered outside of Jesus. I don't know, but he lost
everything. He lost his family, his health,
his wealth. He lost it all and yet his faith
held on. It overcame the world.
What else but faith could take people who are in their 70s and
80s, who has held them on their whole life, to sustain you and
strengthen you through everything you've been through
and to still have a smile on your face?
Faith only. Nothing is like it for the new
Christian that gives them the strength to pry away and that
God's strength would pry away them from the sin that they were
living in. Sins claws run deep in US.
What else besides faith could make that happen?
Faith is the victory that has overcome the world, as we often
see verse five. Who is he who overcomes the
world? As you think about that, who do
you think the person is who has overcome the world?
I don't know about you. There might be people you think
of that have done pretty well in their life.
Maybe you picture someone who is overcome by by their business
prowess or maybe their political prowess and they've risen to
great heights and great wealth. Maybe they have everything this
world could ever offer them, you might say.
And by some standards, maybe you think of athletes who, hey, it's
not all about the money, it's about victory, it's about
winning, it's about overcoming. And it's sports, man.
You can't, you can't beat Tom Brady for that.
Maybe you think about climbing Mount Everest if you're into the
outdoors like I am, that's I don't care about the money as
much. But if I were to to climb the
tallest mountains in the world, or if I was going to explore
some of the greatest things the world has to see, that's
overcoming the world in some sense.
But the hard reality is this isn't what it seems.
Maybe you think about scientists and great thinkers or great
business people. You think about Robert
Oppenheimer, the great scientist who who is making leaps and
bounds. But then his work led to the
atomic bombs, the nuclear weapons being used.
You think about men like Cornelius Vanderbilt, who built
the railroad system, who built this country from the ground up.
In many ways, his railroads became pretty obsolete not long
after he built them. Most things you talk to Tom
Brady, and he was said it in interviews when he won his first
Super Bowl. He said, this is kind of like
this is it that that was it. That was the peak you you hear
from people who climb Mount Everest and it's like, well,
well, now what peak now what mountain am I going to climb
now? Now I need to do this one and
this one and this one all in the same month or in the same year.
And there's always these heights to climb.
There's always a new peak. Well, yeah, you're a climber,
but can you, can you dive? There's always a new horizon.
There's always more wealth. And really, all these things
require sacrifice of something else that is so valuable.
These people will tell you they'll cry when they talk about
the sacrifice it took to get there.
So overcoming the world. My grandpa used to say if you
only do one thing, you better be good at it.
That's pretty humbling because a lot of times people get pretty
puffed up about how good they are at their job or something
they do well, Yeah, that's, that's all you do.
Will Rogers said everyone is ignorant only on different
subjects. The point is, something is
always sacrificed, and you know that better than I do.
Something is always sacrificed when you think you're reaching
some greatness and the peak is not what it seems.
So who is he? Whoever comes the world, that's
the question that's still in front of us.
We've thought about maybe someone from every area of life.
Here's the Bibles. Well, we have all these
advancements and yet we as Americans are overweight,
disconnected, unhealthy, depressed, too busy, and we have
pandemics that still happen. So we're not overcoming the
world. Whoever it is, it's not us.
We are not overcoming the world, but who has?
Who has overcome the world? But he who believes that Jesus
is the Son of God, the phrase he who believes is not thinking.
Oh yeah, I know God exists. The word believe if you read
after any commentator, is the force to obey my belief, if it
is real, propels me and pushes me and drives me to trust God.
Whatever trust means to rely upon God and to commit to God.
If I tell my wife I love her or I'm with her and I don't trust
in her and rely on her and commit to her, that means
nothing to her. Jesus says even the demons
believe in tremble. So a mental ascent.
Yeah. God, I I think you're real.
That's that's good. That is not what he's talking
about here. He is talking about he who
believes, who will trust and real trust says, God, I'll trust
you with whatever you want me to do.
I'll follow you wherever you want me to go.
That's trust, that's belief. Now he's going to start a little
conversation about about the testimony of God and the things
that are proof. And we have to remember the
context of what he's saying here.
So he's been defending in this letter.
He's been defending the faith and what Jesus did against
people who would detract people who'd say, oh, Jesus didn't
really come. He didn't really come in the
flesh. That's not real.
He's been defending about those things.
So that's the context for what he says Next, verse 6.
This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not only by
water, but by water and blood. Now blood, you might say, has
one perspective. You think about Jesus's blood he
shed on the cross. Maybe there's some more in there
we'll talk about, but there are some different points to be made
about the water. And the most commonly held and,
and maybe the most obvious way that this is true is in the
waters of baptism. Jesus came by the waters of
baptism and it was, it was his moment where things were
changing and his ministry was beginning.
And as you think about people who would detract from this
really happening, Jesus, when he was baptized, solidified and
spoke and and confirmed that I am here on earth to do this
work. I'm fully in, I'm fully
invested, I'm immersed in it, and I'm here to do the Father's
will on earth. And by being baptized, Jesus
came by water and he confirmed that he did what he said he did,
and the Holy Spirit says that he did.
He was invested fully here and fully human.
Now some people might make a point and, and I don't, I
wouldn't say I think this is not true, but maybe it's not as
commonly believed about this passage.
But some might say this waters is talking about the waters of
the womb, that Jesus came by the waters of the womb and by the
blood of death. And so that is the proof that he
was here and was real among us by his birth and by his death.
But I think the cool part is those things are both true and
water has both a physical truth. Jesus came and he was here by
the waters of birth and a spiritual component where he was
baptized and immersed and he was real in that sense and
committed. But just like it, the blood does
have then a physical and a spiritual component.
Jesus lived in flesh and blood. He had the blood in his veins.
He wasn't a hologram. He had the blood in his veins
that we have, but also the spiritual component.
He came and he sacrificed and he bled and it was a real thing
that he did. That's what the writers trying
to convince us of. Jesus came by water and blood.
This is true. This is real and it is the
Spirit who bears witness because the Spirit is truth.
The Spirit of God tells us that this is true, for there are
three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.
There's a discussion to be had about this passage if you are
curious about it, we can talk later.
This passage is all, all these things are true in this
statement, but there is a conversation to be had that
maybe you'll be interested in later, but we don't have time to
go into it now. Verse 8 And there are three that
bear witness. Some translations include the
phrase on earth, some do not for some of the same reasons.
Verse 8. And there are three that bear
witness on earth. So if you look in the Bible
throughout the Word of God, two or three witnesses is required
to establish a testimony. So if you're going to say
something, it needs to be backed up in the Bible, oftentimes by
two or three at least. And we read about that in
Deuteronomy 1719, Matthew 8, Second Corinthians 13.
And the Bible holds to that standard.
There are three that bear witness on earth.
The Spirit. First of all, the spirit is the
primary witness and he's going to say in a minute, if you
believe people, how much you believe God.
The Spirit of God conveyed through miracles, through mighty
powerful works. The Bible says the things that
are are in there. So the Spirit is witness to
Jesus work. But also the Spirit of God
taught the truths of the Bible. The Spirit of God gave us the
Word. So the Spirit first of all bears
witness that Jesus is real and he did what he said he did.
Secondly, we have the water, and that's what we just talked
about. Jesus.
The water proved his divine and human mission and the blood.
Now, we've already talked about the blood, but this is
interesting when you consider it in light of the statement about
the witness, the one saying standing up and saying, hey, I
can witness to this. I can say that this is true.
The blood says this. How so?
Well, in Genesis chapter 4, we read about the situation where
Abel was murdered by his brother Cain.
And the Bible says that Abel's blood cries out from the ground.
So Abel's blood testified of something.
It spoke of something. What did it say?
Abel's blood said, evil's been done, vengeance is required,
Something needs to be done because this is wrong.
His blood spoke in a sense, and it demanded justice happen.
But what about Hebrews 12? Hebrews 12 we studied not too
long ago says that the blood of Jesus speaks better things than
that of Abel. So if you remember, what did the
blood of Jesus say? The blood of Jesus, unlike
Abel's blood that spoke vengeance and justice, the blood
of Jesus spoke of a sacrifice. It spoke of peace, salvation and
redemption. So as we think about these 3,
the bear witness, the blood is the witness that Jesus came, He
died and he sacrificed for redemption and for salvation.
Verse 9 we're almost done here if we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater for this is the witness
of God, which we which he has testified of his son.
It's silly to think that we would take our witness and
people's claims above God. That's what he's saying believe
God. If you're going to if you're
going to believe people believe God.
He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself.
So this whole time we've been talking about the spirit that is
witnessed, the blood, the water. We've talked about in chapter 1,
the writer said that which was from the beginning, we've heard,
we've seen, our eyes have seen, we've looked upon him, our hands
have handled, we've touched him. The word of life, He said we are
witnesses of that, that life was manifest and we bear witness.
So, so far we have the disciples, their witness, who
are testifying that this is true.
They've seen it, they've heard it, they've touched it.
And then you have the Spirit of God, you have the water, you
have the blood, all these witnesses.
And he includes you and me in that list.
He says he who believes you're a witness too, You are one who
could stand up if there was a court case and say, I believe.
And I can tell you that this is true because of faith.
And we have this witness. We are another person standing
as witness to Jesus Christ. He who does not believe God has
made him a liar. Now again, that that belief is
the force to obey. So when we don't follow God,
whether it's through, I don't think you're right, God, or
maybe it's practical application to our life, we make God a liar.
God's work is front and center in creation.
As Romans clearly lays out for us.
There is no claim for ignorance, innocence, or disinterest in the
work of God. You either believe with force or
you call God a liar. I call God a liar.
There's no in between. That's the hard reality because
he has not believed the testimony that God has given of
His Son. So if God in all his great and
masterful works stood up and made the claims and did the
things that he did, and we look at that and say him, OK, I
really don't think that applies to me.
You're not want to do that. We're rejecting the testimony of
God Himself. And this is His testimony that
God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
I can understand rejecting a testimony that is like eating
nails. But how about this testimony
that people reject that sometimes maybe I reject through
my actions. God's given you eternal life.
Why in the world would I reject that?
And this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life.
He who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
If you're here today without the life, without the Son, you're
dead. There's no life in your body.
These things I've written to you who believe in the name of the
Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life and
that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
He's trying to hold these people up and to hold them.
Look at the witnesses. How could you look at this stand
of witnesses if you're in a court case and look at all the
people who have come up and testified one after another and
say, Nope. The writer is hoping that you'll
see this long list of witnesses and say, OK, I'm in here.
I'm in here for the long run. And we're going to finish next
week as to maybe some concluding thoughts as to what to do with
that that belief and what to do with that appreciation.
But as we close here today, I just want to read the words of
this song that to me are a response to this great message.
Is it for me, dear Savior? Thy glory and thy rest for me,
so weak and sinful, Oh, shall I be so blessed.
Oh Savior, my Redeemer, what can I but adore and magnify and
praise Thee, and love Thee evermore?
Is it for me Thy welcome, Thy gracious enter in for me.
Thy come You blessed for me, so full of sin.
Oh Savior, precious Savior, my heart's at Thy feet.
I bless Thee and I love thee, and thee I long to meet.
I'll be with thee forever. Never grieve Thee more.
Dear Savior, I must praise Thee and love Thee evermore.
There's only one response to this call.
I can, I can Amen those things. I am not someone who I can see
deserving. That is it really for me and it
is for you. And maybe you're not taking
advantage of it right now, but that doesn't mean it's not for
you. He says you who believe in the
name of the Son of God. So that's anybody who would
believe, who would respond with force on that belief and come to
Him with everything you have and every faith that you would put
in Him. If you haven't done that, you
can start by hearing the word of God as we've already done today,
believing on Him according to Mark 16 and 16, repenting
according to Acts 238, where I'm going to change my mind and
whatever God calls me to change my mind in whatever He's asking
me to do, sure, I'll repent. And confessing that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God according to Romans 10/9 and 10.
We can't get this salvation by our own goodness or by any other
savior out there who might claim this only in Jesus.
And we're baptized for the remission of sins according to
Mark 16 and 16. Maybe you've done this, and
maybe you need the prayers of the church.
The good news is that it continues to be good news for
people who have fallen and have failed, like all of us have.
The Bible says that the blood of Jesus continually cleanses us
and we can draw great strength from one another in our prayers.
And, and we have example in the Bible where someone said, hey, I
don't feel like I can pray for myself.
And they prayed together. And so we're happy to take care
of that. If you want to pray together
this morning, or if you need to start your walk, please come
forward while we stand and sing the song of invitation.