Life Over The World (1 John 5:4-13)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:04.040 So please remain standing, if you're able to, and turn your attention to 2 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:15.830 first John Chapter Five. First John Five, we are coming to the end 3 00:00:15.869 --> 00:00:21.780 of this letter now. This passage is sort of brings to the letter to 4 00:00:22.019 --> 00:00:26.140 a conclusion. And then the last verse I'll read, verse thirteen, is 5 00:00:26.260 --> 00:00:30.660 sort of a transition point between the body of the letter and its closing, 6 00:00:30.699 --> 00:00:36.289 which will get to next time. But today the the the end of the 7 00:00:36.570 --> 00:00:41.609 body of John's letter here, from beginning at verse four a through thirteen. 8 00:00:43.009 --> 00:00:46.530 So let's give our attention to it now and and hear the word of God. 9 00:00:47.210 --> 00:00:53.479 First John Five, verse four. For everyone who has been born of 10 00:00:53.640 --> 00:01:00.560 God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that is overcome the world 11 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:07.030 our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes 12 00:01:07.469 --> 00:01:11.590 that Jesus Christ is the son of God. This is he who came by 13 00:01:11.790 --> 00:01:18.269 water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by the water only, but by 14 00:01:18.349 --> 00:01:22.939 the water and the blood, and the spirit is the one who testifies, 15 00:01:23.459 --> 00:01:27.659 because the spirit is the truth, for there are three that testify, the 16 00:01:27.739 --> 00:01:34.409 spirit and the water and the blood. In these three agree. If we 17 00:01:34.609 --> 00:01:38.689 receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this 18 00:01:38.930 --> 00:01:46.010 is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his son. Whoever believes 19 00:01:46.090 --> 00:01:51.480 in the son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe 20 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:56.439 God has made him a liar because he is not believed in the testimony that 21 00:01:56.560 --> 00:02:01.150 God is born concerning his son. And this is the testimony that God gave 22 00:02:01.189 --> 00:02:07.909 us eternal life, and this life is in his son. Whoever has the 23 00:02:07.030 --> 00:02:12.509 son has life, whoever does not have the son of God does not have 24 00:02:12.830 --> 00:02:15.979 life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the 25 00:02:16.099 --> 00:02:23.780 son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. Amen. 26 00:02:23.939 --> 00:02:35.210 You may be seated. You all know that we live busy lives, 27 00:02:36.689 --> 00:02:40.330 and being busy can be a really wonderful thing. It can keep our minds 28 00:02:40.370 --> 00:02:46.280 away from bad things, it can keep us involved in good work. Of 29 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:51.560 course. busyness, though, has a downside to and and that's it. 30 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:57.639 busyness in the sense of just activity or spinning along, and it has a 31 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:02.870 way of making us lose focus on what's important. There was a little book 32 00:03:02.949 --> 00:03:07.990 written a few decades ago and fray a bit, and it's titled. It's 33 00:03:08.069 --> 00:03:12.469 has a title that is often used, is called the tyranny of the urgent. 34 00:03:12.860 --> 00:03:15.860 Perhaps some of you have read that or thought about that before. Right, 35 00:03:16.020 --> 00:03:20.819 the the urgent things of this life, the thing that sort of right 36 00:03:20.939 --> 00:03:24.580 in front of you and is calling for your attention, sometimes tends to crowd 37 00:03:24.620 --> 00:03:30.849 out the things that are important. Urgent things can be kind of a tyrant 38 00:03:30.969 --> 00:03:35.409 and those urgent things are not always as important as they they say they are 39 00:03:36.490 --> 00:03:40.409 right. Maybe you've heard the phrase stop and smell the roses. What does 40 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:46.280 that mean? Well, it means that we should slow down reflect on things 41 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:53.680 that are important, things like beauty, even good smells life, the things 42 00:03:53.719 --> 00:04:00.310 that are around us. Today, we talk about mindfulness or being attentive or 43 00:04:00.509 --> 00:04:05.629 attending to certain things, being present. It's easy to get caught up in 44 00:04:05.990 --> 00:04:10.939 life, right, it's easy to just be busy with things, busy with 45 00:04:11.060 --> 00:04:17.139 ourselves, or even even busy with our sins. To think about stopping and 46 00:04:17.259 --> 00:04:23.740 smelling the roses for a moment, think to remember the important things. Want 47 00:04:23.740 --> 00:04:27.889 to point to another thing in nature for just a second, and the clouds. 48 00:04:29.810 --> 00:04:34.410 There's a UK graphic designer, Gavin pretor penny, who founded the cloud 49 00:04:34.529 --> 00:04:41.120 appreciation society. A little bit of a joke, I think, but he's 50 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:46.040 fairly serious. He gave a Ted talk on it once and I want to 51 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:53.550 quote a little bit from him about clouds. He says it's just that their 52 00:04:53.629 --> 00:05:00.350 beauty is missed because they're so omnipresent. So I don't know commonplace that people 53 00:05:00.389 --> 00:05:03.870 don't notice them. They don't notice the beauty. They don't even notice the 54 00:05:03.949 --> 00:05:06.740 clouds unless they get away in the way of the Sun. They think of 55 00:05:06.779 --> 00:05:11.939 them as annoying, frustrating objects. Then they rush off and do some blue 56 00:05:12.060 --> 00:05:18.220 sky thinking. He continues. But most people, when you stop to ask 57 00:05:18.300 --> 00:05:24.250 them, will admit to harboring a strange sort of fondness for clouds. It's 58 00:05:24.290 --> 00:05:28.810 like a nostalgic fondness, and they make them think of their youth. who 59 00:05:28.850 --> 00:05:32.129 here can't remember thinking of looking and finding shapes in the clouds when they were 60 00:05:32.170 --> 00:05:39.000 kids, you know, when you were masters of daydreaming? It's just that 61 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:44.160 these days, as adults, seem reluctant to allow ourselves the indulgence of just 62 00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:48.759 allowing our imaginations to drift along in the breeze. And Gavin says, I 63 00:05:48.920 --> 00:05:53.750 think that's a pity. I think we should do it perhaps a little bit 64 00:05:53.790 --> 00:05:57.389 more. I think we should be a bit more willing, perhaps to look 65 00:05:57.389 --> 00:06:02.230 at the beautiful sight of the sunlight bursting out from behind the clouds and go 66 00:06:02.430 --> 00:06:08.779 wait a minute, that's two cats dancing the salsa, or seeing the big, 67 00:06:08.980 --> 00:06:13.100 big white puffy one over there, the one over the shopping center that 68 00:06:13.220 --> 00:06:17.850 looks like an abominable snow man going to rob a bank. It's a good 69 00:06:17.930 --> 00:06:23.810 reminder, right, of this freedom that happens when we relax a little bit 70 00:06:23.970 --> 00:06:30.009 and remember what's important, that there are beautiful things in this world, as 71 00:06:30.050 --> 00:06:33.439 a way of thinking about something bigger, and that's his ultimate goal. Will 72 00:06:33.480 --> 00:06:36.759 you could ask this question. Do you take time to stop and smell the 73 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:43.000 roses? Do you take time to look up to notice the clouds, or 74 00:06:43.079 --> 00:06:46.750 maybe call your mom, it's mother's Day right, or thank someone for a 75 00:06:46.790 --> 00:06:53.990 job well done, or do something that you really love? We're always rushing 76 00:06:54.029 --> 00:06:57.149 around to do some kind of blue sky thinking, as he calls it. 77 00:06:57.790 --> 00:07:00.870 The clouds remind us to slow down, to take things in, too, 78 00:07:00.430 --> 00:07:06.740 imagine a little bit. We're not always good at that. Now you're not 79 00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:10.259 going to like what I'm going to say next, and that's because I'm going 80 00:07:10.300 --> 00:07:16.170 to press this point even further, because many people are not only losing focus 81 00:07:16.410 --> 00:07:24.050 on the important thing us, the important things of life, but they're totally 82 00:07:24.129 --> 00:07:30.240 neglecting the really, really important things, the biggest things, the things that 83 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:34.160 don't, you know, just matter in life ten, twenty or thirty years 84 00:07:34.279 --> 00:07:41.199 from now, like saving for retirement or getting enough exercise, but things that 85 00:07:41.399 --> 00:07:50.589 matter for eternity. They don't look up even beyond the clouds. Jesus says 86 00:07:50.589 --> 00:07:55.269 in Mark Eight thirty six. What is it profit a man to gain the 87 00:07:55.509 --> 00:08:03.899 whole world and forfeit his soul? That's why John writes in verse thirteen, 88 00:08:05.540 --> 00:08:09.779 his reason for writing, and he says, I write these things to you 89 00:08:11.019 --> 00:08:13.610 who believe in the name of the son of God, that you may know 90 00:08:15.649 --> 00:08:22.370 that you have eternal life. Eternal Life. That's one of the really, 91 00:08:22.449 --> 00:08:28.040 really big things, isn't it? Life or death? This sort of talk 92 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:33.799 gets us to the heart of everything, the most important things, the things 93 00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:37.960 that matter more than everything else. And here's where the tyranny of the urgent 94 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:45.149 does the most harm, when we allow distractions or even purposefully distract ourselves from 95 00:08:45.190 --> 00:08:50.950 the questions of eternal life and are standing with God. Now, these Christians 96 00:08:50.029 --> 00:08:54.940 that John is writing to are facing this, and John wants them to remember 97 00:08:56.940 --> 00:09:00.659 why it is they have eternal life, how it is they came to have 98 00:09:00.820 --> 00:09:05.580 it and how it is that they will keep it. These are crucial questions, 99 00:09:05.980 --> 00:09:13.610 the most important questions, but too many of us distract ourselves. We 100 00:09:13.730 --> 00:09:18.690 ignore our sins, we pretend God is nothing more than a myth, a 101 00:09:18.850 --> 00:09:24.240 helper in our heads. We do this because we're too busy with other things, 102 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:31.200 because we're too busy with loving our sin, and I think we also 103 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:37.600 do it because we're afraid. We know something about the consequences for bad behavior 104 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:41.750 in this world, the way it destroys our relationships, the way it gets 105 00:09:41.789 --> 00:09:43.870 us in trouble with the law. You could list all kinds of things. 106 00:09:46.269 --> 00:09:50.950 Knowing about the consequences for bad behavior in this world makes the consequences before the 107 00:09:52.190 --> 00:10:01.500 Almighty God on the Day of judgment terrifying, things like eternal pain, constant 108 00:10:01.539 --> 00:10:07.850 agony, the tortures of Hell. Maybe we'd rather just not think about that. 109 00:10:09.049 --> 00:10:13.970 Maybe you even feel that my mere mentioning of it this morning is obnoxious. 110 00:10:13.850 --> 00:10:18.129 But notice this. I'm not beating on the pulpit, I'm not yelling 111 00:10:18.330 --> 00:10:26.279 and screaming fire and brimstone, but maybe it feels like I am simply by 112 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:33.080 talking about these things, our souls get stirred up and anxious, especially if 113 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:37.629 we're not Christians, if we don't know yet what it means to be forgiven, 114 00:10:37.669 --> 00:10:45.190 if we don't yet have certainty about eternal life in Christ when, frankly, 115 00:10:46.149 --> 00:10:50.019 we're nothing, we're just a mess. Maybe I should be pounding the 116 00:10:50.100 --> 00:10:56.419 pulpit, maybe I should be pressing this point and waking you up to the 117 00:10:56.580 --> 00:11:03.740 fact that God is offering to each and every one of us here eternal life, 118 00:11:03.850 --> 00:11:11.169 the forgiveness of our sins, something other than something other than the torments 119 00:11:11.210 --> 00:11:18.320 of Hell. Eternal Life. That's a big thing. That's a really important 120 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:24.440 thing. That's something that we can't deny and we must pay attention to. 121 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:31.000 What does denial get you? Or, let me be very practical, where 122 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:35.429 has denial gotten you? What thing can you point to in your life? 123 00:11:35.509 --> 00:11:39.269 What truth can you point to that you can say, boy, it's really 124 00:11:39.309 --> 00:11:43.029 good. I denied that for about six months, or six years, or 125 00:11:43.070 --> 00:11:48.019 sixty years even. It's a good thing I sort of pressed off thinking about 126 00:11:48.139 --> 00:11:50.940 that. I don't think there's anything like that that any of us can say 127 00:11:52.340 --> 00:11:58.139 when it comes to the truth. The Bible does this thing for us and 128 00:11:58.340 --> 00:12:01.330 that every Sunday at least, when we come together and we worship, it 129 00:12:01.889 --> 00:12:07.730 wakes us up a little bit, tells us to get your head out of 130 00:12:07.889 --> 00:12:11.570 that, your belly button, get your head out of the dirt, get 131 00:12:11.610 --> 00:12:16.080 your head out of this world and look up. Remember, there are important 132 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:24.679 things more important than this world and this time. But John has been saying 133 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:31.830 something more important, or not more important. But in addition to he's saying 134 00:12:31.950 --> 00:12:39.309 something more than just look up. He tells us something in particular, something 135 00:12:39.509 --> 00:12:45.059 really hopeful. If all we ever did, if all the Bible did, 136 00:12:45.059 --> 00:12:48.379 if all I ever did was say here's an important question and then sort of 137 00:12:48.539 --> 00:12:52.779 walked off and went home, we'd all be left with just a conundrum, 138 00:12:52.820 --> 00:12:58.490 in a problem. But the Bible also gives us answers. The Bible also 139 00:12:58.529 --> 00:13:03.409 gives us hope. So I've read to you the last verse. Now let 140 00:13:03.409 --> 00:13:07.370 me read to you again the first verse. Here's the very hopeful thing that 141 00:13:07.450 --> 00:13:15.120 John says. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world, 142 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:22.879 and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Now 143 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:26.350 what does John mean when he says, overcomes the world. Well, you 144 00:13:26.389 --> 00:13:33.350 might remember back to chapter two or he talks about this. For example, 145 00:13:33.429 --> 00:13:37.590 in Verse Fifteen, he says do not love the world or the things in 146 00:13:37.629 --> 00:13:41.980 the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is 147 00:13:41.059 --> 00:13:45.539 not in him, for all that is in the world, the desires of 148 00:13:45.620 --> 00:13:50.419 the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and pride and possessions, is 149 00:13:50.580 --> 00:13:56.289 not from the father but is from the world. So you remember these things 150 00:13:56.370 --> 00:14:01.370 and you know them personally. The desires of the eyes, that desires of 151 00:14:01.450 --> 00:14:05.289 the flesh, pride, of possessions, right, the grasping, the holding. 152 00:14:05.730 --> 00:14:09.559 Maybe that's of good things, right things God has made and given us, 153 00:14:09.639 --> 00:14:18.679 like money or time, a good relationship's food. There's nice things that 154 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:22.200 God is put into the world that are right to have, but not to 155 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:28.509 grab and take hold of and build our lives on, because these things don't 156 00:14:28.549 --> 00:14:33.029 last. Then, of course, there are the sinful things that God has 157 00:14:33.110 --> 00:14:37.029 not given to us to have and enjoy in their right time and play. 158 00:14:39.220 --> 00:14:45.299 Things like we read about in glacians, things like sexual impurity, things like 159 00:14:45.379 --> 00:14:52.460 idolatry, things like anger, murder, dissension, envy. And yet we 160 00:14:52.620 --> 00:14:58.450 grasp at these things too, we find ourselves beholden or, to use a 161 00:14:58.690 --> 00:15:07.090 maybe even a stronger word, enslaved to sin. That's what God sets us 162 00:15:07.090 --> 00:15:13.080 free from. That's the world, the the encroaching and enslaving powers of the 163 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:20.279 world. God sets US free from. He causes us to rise up above 164 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:28.110 them through something called faith. Faith overcomes these things, he says, everyone 165 00:15:28.149 --> 00:15:33.470 who has been born of God overcomes the world and this victory, and this 166 00:15:33.509 --> 00:15:37.899 is the victory that we have, or that has overcome the world our faith, 167 00:15:37.980 --> 00:15:46.820 faith goes up into the heavenly places and takes hold of this eternal salvation 168 00:15:46.860 --> 00:15:52.090 in God. It's takes hold of something that's not in this world. That's 169 00:15:52.129 --> 00:15:56.610 what faith is. It's something that takes hold of something else. It trusts 170 00:15:56.769 --> 00:16:03.169 something else, it grasps it, it receives it. Instead of grasping at 171 00:16:03.210 --> 00:16:07.000 the things of this world and piling our store houses with money or pleasures, 172 00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:18.830 faith takes hold of eternal life, of the innumerable riches of God's blessings, 173 00:16:21.110 --> 00:16:25.269 things which we can never store too much of, up, too much up 174 00:16:25.629 --> 00:16:30.029 of. There we go things that we can pile and pile on without any 175 00:16:30.070 --> 00:16:37.220 worry of ever gaining too much. Things like love or hope, or peace, 176 00:16:37.259 --> 00:16:42.580 or joy, or kindness or goodness or steadfastness, things, if I 177 00:16:42.620 --> 00:16:48.889 can use that word inappropriately for a second, things like God. God doesn't 178 00:16:48.929 --> 00:16:52.090 just give to US love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 179 00:16:52.129 --> 00:16:59.649 gentleness and self control, not just the things of the spirit, but 180 00:16:59.809 --> 00:17:07.359 he also gives us the spirit, the Holy Spirit of God. He gives 181 00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:15.240 to us his son, who we find salvation and we find all of these 182 00:17:15.319 --> 00:17:22.670 blessings not apart from Christ, but in Christ himself. When we grasp hold 183 00:17:22.710 --> 00:17:26.509 of these things by faith, we're not just saying I believe in love, 184 00:17:26.910 --> 00:17:30.619 I believe in joy, I believe in hope, and so on. We're 185 00:17:30.700 --> 00:17:36.660 saying I believe in Jesus will, I take hold of him, I grasp 186 00:17:36.940 --> 00:17:42.099 him. He is my eternal life. And that's exactly what John is saying. 187 00:17:42.539 --> 00:17:47.450 He asked the question in verse five. Who is it that overcomes the 188 00:17:47.529 --> 00:17:55.970 world except the one who believes that Jesus is the son of God? He 189 00:17:56.170 --> 00:18:00.000 grasps Jesus, that's the one who is able to lift up out of the 190 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:04.839 unimportant things, out of the things that seem urgent, are seem important or 191 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:12.630 seem pleasurable, and grasps something that is truly important, forever important and forever 192 00:18:12.829 --> 00:18:21.910 pleasurable. And then he explains to us in a new way, as he 193 00:18:21.990 --> 00:18:26.109 hasn't yet quite done in this letter yet, who this son of God is 194 00:18:27.539 --> 00:18:32.099 in verses six and seven. Who is it that we're grasping hold of? 195 00:18:32.220 --> 00:18:40.299 And he says this is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, 196 00:18:41.730 --> 00:18:45.170 not by water only, but by the water and the blood. Now 197 00:18:45.289 --> 00:18:51.490 what does he mean by this? There are lots of different interpretations of this, 198 00:18:52.410 --> 00:18:56.480 some better than others. I think the best interpretation, the best way 199 00:18:56.519 --> 00:19:00.640 to understand this, is that the water and the blood are symbolically referring to 200 00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:06.960 these two moments in Jesus's life. I'm at the beginning of his life. 201 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:12.150 He was baptized in the waters of Jordan and at that moment the spirit who 202 00:19:12.269 --> 00:19:18.029 is mentioned in this passage came down upon Jesus and anointed him for the ministry 203 00:19:18.109 --> 00:19:22.190 in which he would go forth. and Jesus taught things and did amazing things 204 00:19:22.230 --> 00:19:30.059 over the course of that ministry. That Holy Spirit anointed ministry. As he 205 00:19:30.220 --> 00:19:34.259 received that anointing, as he went out into the world, he did amazing 206 00:19:34.460 --> 00:19:41.130 things, good things, taught things, loved people. But the gospel of 207 00:19:41.170 --> 00:19:47.210 Jesus Christ, the testimony of the good news of God, is more than 208 00:19:47.329 --> 00:19:52.650 that. It's not a, as one person called it, a water only 209 00:19:52.809 --> 00:19:57.200 Gospel. It's a water and blood and that means that Jesus didn't only come 210 00:19:57.799 --> 00:20:04.559 into the world to to do these things, to live this amazing life and 211 00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:10.269 to teach about the Kingdom of God, but he also died for it. 212 00:20:11.509 --> 00:20:17.910 He also shed his blood. That's where everything was leading to. It speaks 213 00:20:18.069 --> 00:20:22.220 both the water in the blood speaks both about the beginning of his ministry and 214 00:20:22.380 --> 00:20:30.859 the end of it. Is Baptism and his cross. These things, these 215 00:20:32.019 --> 00:20:37.609 things are how we understand who Jesus is. Jesus didn't just come into the 216 00:20:37.650 --> 00:20:42.769 world and teach things, didn't come and just do miracles and show love and 217 00:20:42.930 --> 00:20:47.930 all the rest, but he came and that was all leading to a particular 218 00:20:47.970 --> 00:20:53.240 point where he would die, where he would shed his own blood so that 219 00:20:53.559 --> 00:20:59.519 we could have eternal life. As the Bible says, who of us has 220 00:20:59.559 --> 00:21:03.349 a right to eternal life? None of us. None of us can inherit 221 00:21:03.549 --> 00:21:07.670 the Kingdom of God based on our works, based on our works, our 222 00:21:07.829 --> 00:21:17.069 wages of sin is death, punishment, condemnation. But when Jesus died on 223 00:21:17.190 --> 00:21:25.500 the cross, the Bible says that he justifies us through his blood. He 224 00:21:25.700 --> 00:21:30.740 redeems us by the value of his blood. He pays for this ransom, 225 00:21:30.859 --> 00:21:34.609 is another way to think of it. He ransoms us out of this slavery 226 00:21:34.730 --> 00:21:40.009 to sin that we are under. That's what this blood is about. These 227 00:21:40.049 --> 00:21:42.650 things have to go together, and John is making this point, likely because 228 00:21:42.650 --> 00:21:48.519 people are denying this. He's saying that there are there are those that are 229 00:21:48.599 --> 00:21:52.880 teaching that the blood isn't important, and this is just as true today. 230 00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:56.400 There are people that will tell you, yes, God is a good thing, 231 00:21:56.480 --> 00:22:00.470 you've got to have your higher power. They'll tell you, maybe even 232 00:22:00.509 --> 00:22:04.109 that Jesus is a good person. Certainly, he lived in this world. 233 00:22:04.470 --> 00:22:08.230 He did amazing things. You should learn about him, you should find out 234 00:22:08.269 --> 00:22:12.910 some things that he did. You should follow his path. But Christianity, 235 00:22:15.349 --> 00:22:19.700 being in Christ is more than that. It's more than recognizing God is your 236 00:22:19.700 --> 00:22:26.019 higher power. It's even more than recognizing Jesus as a God anointed man. 237 00:22:26.660 --> 00:22:34.970 It's also believing that Jesus came as this God anointed man to die as a 238 00:22:36.289 --> 00:22:45.079 man to save man apart from that, there's no salvation apart from Jesus dying 239 00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:49.920 on the Cross and US receiving the power of his blood. We are required 240 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:56.079 to shed our own blood for our own sins, but God has come into 241 00:22:56.119 --> 00:23:00.470 this world to change that equation, to make a different kind of transaction, 242 00:23:02.470 --> 00:23:08.390 to die in our place. That's who Jesus is. And John goes on 243 00:23:08.549 --> 00:23:14.859 to say this is the work of the spirit. The spirit is the one 244 00:23:14.940 --> 00:23:22.940 who testifies, because the spirit is truth. These things, this water and 245 00:23:22.099 --> 00:23:29.769 this blood, are called the testimony of God. Why? Because God wants 246 00:23:29.970 --> 00:23:36.730 you to know that your faith in Jesus, the foundation of Your Eternal Life, 247 00:23:37.690 --> 00:23:44.400 is founded not upon man made ideas, the things that pastor chelpkas saying, 248 00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:48.119 the things that you might have heard somewhere else. They are founded on 249 00:23:48.279 --> 00:23:55.869 the very word of God. They are founded on the testimony of the spirit. 250 00:23:56.470 --> 00:24:02.109 What greater proof do you want? What more evidence didn't you want? 251 00:24:02.190 --> 00:24:07.349 What more sure hope do you want? We take people at their word all 252 00:24:07.430 --> 00:24:11.660 the time, don't we? A sportscaster says such and such team won by 253 00:24:11.740 --> 00:24:18.339 thirty five points and we go oh great, we celebrate. Maybe even a 254 00:24:18.460 --> 00:24:22.779 construction crew tells you the asphalt is still wet. And so what do you 255 00:24:22.819 --> 00:24:27.210 do? You take another street. You trust their testimony, your wife's, 256 00:24:27.490 --> 00:24:30.289 as the kids need to pick it picked up at thirty, so you go 257 00:24:30.410 --> 00:24:36.809 pick up the kids at thirty. We trust the testimony of people constantly, 258 00:24:36.930 --> 00:24:40.359 every day, all time, maybe even every moment. We're trusting it in 259 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:45.799 some way or another. Will you not believe the testimony of God? People 260 00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:52.799 lie, people make mistakes, people are ignorant. God never lies, God 261 00:24:52.109 --> 00:24:56.750 never makes mistakes, and that's why John says what he says in Verse Nine, 262 00:24:56.230 --> 00:25:00.069 just working way way down here verse nine. If we receive the testimony 263 00:25:00.230 --> 00:25:07.619 of men, the testimony of God is Greater, is it not? For 264 00:25:07.859 --> 00:25:15.339 this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his son. Whoever 265 00:25:15.539 --> 00:25:21.930 believes in the son of God has the testimony in himself. In other words, 266 00:25:21.970 --> 00:25:26.690 when God speaks this word into our lives, it comes into us in 267 00:25:26.849 --> 00:25:30.450 some way, it becomes a part of us, in some way it changes 268 00:25:30.650 --> 00:25:34.880 us, and I think that's true even of the construction crew that tells you 269 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:40.480 not to go down that street. It changes you in a very minor way. 270 00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:42.759 It changes you in a way. You say I'm going this way instead, 271 00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:48.440 I don't want junk all over my car. Your actions, your will, 272 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:56.069 are conformed to this testimony of a construction crew. If that's true, 273 00:25:56.230 --> 00:26:02.750 will we not be conformed and be moved by the very testimony of God when 274 00:26:02.789 --> 00:26:06.859 he has sent his son into the world to be born of a virgin, 275 00:26:07.779 --> 00:26:11.700 to be born under the law, to fulfill the law so that we can 276 00:26:11.700 --> 00:26:14.859 be saved? Are we going to walk away from that and say, I 277 00:26:14.940 --> 00:26:18.329 got other things to do, I got money to me, I got this 278 00:26:18.490 --> 00:26:32.450 show to watch. Will you not believe God? And when we do believe 279 00:26:32.490 --> 00:26:37.279 him, what John is saying here gives us such a solid rock on which 280 00:26:37.319 --> 00:26:45.960 to believe, this foundation that cannot be shaken, the very word of God 281 00:26:47.630 --> 00:26:53.390 that has itself been born into the world in the person of the son and 282 00:26:53.589 --> 00:27:03.740 made powerful by the person of the spirit. That's why he says whoever believes 283 00:27:03.900 --> 00:27:07.380 in the son of God has this testimony in himself, and then the consequences 284 00:27:07.460 --> 00:27:14.140 of this are very strong. Whoever does not believe God has made him a 285 00:27:14.259 --> 00:27:18.690 liar, made him not meaning the God is a liar, but calls him 286 00:27:18.730 --> 00:27:22.369 a liar. You're a liar, we say to God, because he has 287 00:27:22.450 --> 00:27:26.369 not believed the testimony that God has borne concerning his son. People today want 288 00:27:26.369 --> 00:27:33.000 to take Jesus Christ as optional. I think it's optional that God has sent 289 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:37.480 his son into the world, became incarnate, died on a cross out of 290 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:42.359 love to save me from my sins. That's not optional. When a King 291 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:48.109 says this is the law, you will obey, you don't say if I 292 00:27:48.190 --> 00:27:55.029 feel like it, you do, you're going the dungeon. When God speaks 293 00:27:55.190 --> 00:27:57.579 his law, we don't get the choice to say whether or not we take 294 00:27:57.660 --> 00:28:03.259 it. We have to take it. But it's also true of the Gospel. 295 00:28:03.299 --> 00:28:07.339 When God speaks this good news into the world, it's we don't have 296 00:28:07.380 --> 00:28:12.410 an option really to say I choose not to believe. Of course you do 297 00:28:12.569 --> 00:28:15.930 have the option, but when you do that you make God a liar. 298 00:28:17.569 --> 00:28:21.529 You don't end up in some kind of neutral territory like. Well, I'm 299 00:28:21.569 --> 00:28:26.250 still deciding, still thinking about it. I don't know if God is for 300 00:28:26.490 --> 00:28:33.799 me. That's maybe someone else's thing. When God has done these things, 301 00:28:33.160 --> 00:28:37.160 spoken in this way, it's not really optional. You see what I mean? 302 00:28:38.440 --> 00:28:41.990 Of course you have this freedom to choose, but in another way you 303 00:28:41.069 --> 00:28:45.829 don't. You don't have the freedom you don't get to be neutral about this. 304 00:28:47.829 --> 00:28:52.549 You either say yes and on men and I believe and you receive eternal 305 00:28:52.630 --> 00:28:57.259 life or you got or you call God a liar, and you can guess 306 00:28:57.380 --> 00:29:02.940 what the consequences for that are. Those are the options that we are before 307 00:29:03.019 --> 00:29:07.980 us. One extremely good one, given to US freely, one that opens 308 00:29:07.980 --> 00:29:12.849 up the very heavens itself to us, and all we do is believe and 309 00:29:12.970 --> 00:29:21.930 say you are true and thank you and follow him. The other option is 310 00:29:22.009 --> 00:29:25.960 to flip God the Middle Finger, say I don't care and I don't believe 311 00:29:26.039 --> 00:29:32.039 in to walk on our way. That's the choice that we have. Is 312 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:44.670 that really a choice? Denial won't make you happy, but God will. 313 00:29:45.069 --> 00:29:49.430 God will make you happy as you receive his word by faith and all the 314 00:29:49.549 --> 00:29:56.380 benefits that come with that. God tells us that Jesus is death and resurrection 315 00:29:56.859 --> 00:30:03.700 and ascension into the heavenly places were just the beginning, the beginning of the 316 00:30:03.859 --> 00:30:08.049 end, and at this time that we are waiting for his return is a 317 00:30:08.250 --> 00:30:15.329 time for us to receive him, to turn away from our sins, to 318 00:30:15.529 --> 00:30:22.599 come and enjoy and and have this eternal life that John is talking about. 319 00:30:22.599 --> 00:30:33.039 The reason why he's writing, the reason why I'm speaking. But there is 320 00:30:33.160 --> 00:30:41.230 coming an end, that end that so many people fear, a day which 321 00:30:41.269 --> 00:30:44.670 in some ways brings us back to the beginning of the sir, and about 322 00:30:44.829 --> 00:30:49.619 clouds, because the Bible says that at the end, Jesus is one who 323 00:30:49.700 --> 00:30:56.140 is coming on the clouds. Revelation one, seven and every I will see 324 00:30:56.180 --> 00:30:59.220 him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the Earth will 325 00:30:59.420 --> 00:31:06.450 wail on account of him. Even so, men or revelation fourteen, revelation 326 00:31:06.650 --> 00:31:11.210 is the last book of the Bible. Revelation Fourteen, verses fourteen and fifteen 327 00:31:11.289 --> 00:31:17.890 and sixteen, say this about the end, about the last day. Speaking 328 00:31:17.890 --> 00:31:22.240 prophetically, with this vision towards the future, John says, then I looked 329 00:31:22.279 --> 00:31:26.359 and behold a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son 330 00:31:26.440 --> 00:31:29.960 of man, with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in 331 00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:33.190 his hand. And another angel came out of the Temple, calling with a 332 00:31:33.309 --> 00:31:37.589 loud voice to him who sat on the cloud. Put in your sickle and 333 00:31:37.750 --> 00:31:41.789 reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the 334 00:31:41.869 --> 00:31:47.579 Earth is fully ripe. So He who sat on the cloud swung his sickle 335 00:31:47.660 --> 00:31:56.059 across the earth and the Earth was reaped. If you do not have the 336 00:31:56.259 --> 00:32:00.660 son of man, the one who comes riding on the clouds at the end 337 00:32:00.779 --> 00:32:05.490 is your champion, as your king, as your glorious savior, then the 338 00:32:05.609 --> 00:32:10.569 image of him reaping the earth is terrifying and no wonder you deny it and 339 00:32:10.690 --> 00:32:15.680 push it out of your minds and try to ignore that. But if the 340 00:32:15.799 --> 00:32:22.720 image of the one to come to reap the earth is your king, your 341 00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:27.599 beloved, the one who has already given you his spirit, his testimony, 342 00:32:27.799 --> 00:32:31.190 his eternal life, is the one who is reaping so that he can bring 343 00:32:31.470 --> 00:32:37.349 you up and gather you as part of a harvest to the glory of his 344 00:32:37.470 --> 00:32:42.430 name, to be the fruit that he is born in this world, then 345 00:32:42.549 --> 00:32:45.980 the the image of the Lord coming on the clouds is no terror for you. 346 00:32:47.619 --> 00:32:52.740 It is the anticipation and the great joy and the hope of the war 347 00:32:52.940 --> 00:33:00.049 of the world to come, of the eternal life being consummated, of being 348 00:33:00.890 --> 00:33:08.529 blown open, of coming into full flower. When someone lives without faith, 349 00:33:09.329 --> 00:33:15.039 you flip to the end of the Bible and it's a scary thing. But 350 00:33:15.160 --> 00:33:20.559 John says that when we have faith we overcome the world, because our faith 351 00:33:20.640 --> 00:33:25.519 is in Jesus Christ, who has overcome the world, not by the water 352 00:33:25.720 --> 00:33:32.910 only, but also by the blood. Put Your faith in him and you 353 00:33:32.990 --> 00:33:38.150 will be saved from everything. I'm in