A Daily Walk

John Randall: The witnesses. We have the word of God. We have the baptism of Christ. We have the death of Christ. Of course, we have the resurrection of Christ. We have the work of the Holy Spirit. All of these things testify to us concerning who Jesus is and what He has done.

Guest (Male): Hi there, friend. Glad you could make it as we present A Daily Walk. Pastor John Randall is on the final leg of a journey through 1 John. And in chapter 5, you might say we're entering God's courtroom. We'll be considering whether or not the ministry of Jesus is valid.

Witnesses are brought to the stand, and this evidence demands a verdict. You'll be left with undeniable proof that Jesus is the Son of God, Savior of the world. Will you receive or reject Him? Here's Pastor John calling our first witness to the stand.

John Randall: 1 John chapter 5, picking up in verse 6 today with a message entitled, "The Witness of Heaven." 1 John chapter 5, beginning in verse 6, if you'd follow along.

"This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth."

I always feel uneasy when I get a postcard in the mail that says I have to report for jury duty. There's never a good time for jury duty. Still, if you don't appear, it says on the back of that thing like you're going to be in trouble. So you have to take it seriously.

And so reluctantly, you go to the courthouse and you wait until your name is called. And then they take you into that courtroom and it's wow, we're in a courtroom. And you wait to find out if you're going to be picked as a juror.

And I was called as a potential juror for a man who was caught hosting fights between roosters. That's where roosters, if you don't know, they get in a ring and if you bet on the right one and he wins, then you win. I was told after first service, I've never been to one of those, and they're illegal. So that's why I haven't gone. But they apparently put razor blades on the talons of these roosters. It's terrible. It's a terrible thing. I had no idea.

But the point was, they start asking who can be a juror on this trial. And it was amazing to me how many people tried to make up excuses to avoid being on the jury. And I was thinking it, I just didn't verbalize it, but there were some elaborate stories. In fact, one lady, they would come up with these stories and it's amazing how the discernment of the judge could see through it and say, "No, that doesn't, you just stay put." People were like, "Ugh."

But there was a guy that I actually became friends with while we were waiting around. And like me, he was hoping not to get chosen. And when the judge called his name, he made up this crazy story about something like, I don't recall what it was, his love for roosters or at one time he worked on a farm or he owned them.

But it was like this whole story and he claimed he would be biased, the man was already guilty, and he would not be fit to sit on the jury, to be one of the selections. And the judge believed it. And he was dismissed from the courtroom. And as he was walking out, he looked over at me, he smiled, and he winked as if to say, "Beat that."

However, I could not be dishonest and I was chosen. Thankfully, the trial was dismissed the next day. But if you do serve on a jury, you get to see how the judicial system works and you're sitting there in a courtroom and witnesses are called to the stand. And the outcome of the trial so often depends on the testimony of the witnesses. In other words, witnesses matter because the truth relies on who's speaking and the testimony that they provide.

Well, here in 1 John chapter 5, the Apostle John takes us into God's courtroom where he calls witnesses to the stand. You see, the first-century church faced challenges similar to the ones we face today. And one of the main opponents John was confronting was a group known as the Gnostics.

And the Gnostics taught a very dangerous and heretical doctrine that denied the atoning work of Jesus on the cross. And seeing that the church was on the front lines of a spiritual battle with their faith, the Apostle John reminded them of some crucial facts and witnesses to the truth that would strengthen their position and help them to stand firm.

Now, the word "witness" appears several times in the section of this letter. And the root word for witness is the Greek word martys. And it means one who remembers, or one who knows something by recollection and can tell us about it. A witness is a person who recalls and can describe what they have observed. It's also the root word where we get our English word for "martyr." And it's used 168 times in the New Testament.

Now, when it comes to the evidence for the deity of Jesus, His atoning work on the cross, and His resurrection, we can immediately point to the witness number one, the witness of the Word. That is the Bible, the Scriptures.

Now, many of you already know this, but let me remind you that the Bible is a collection of 66 books written by over 40 human authors over approximately 1,500 years of time from three different continents from three different languages.

And the authors consisted of kings and fishermen and priests and government officials and farmers and shepherds and doctors. But despite the diversity among its authors and the distance between them by years and geographic location, there is this sense of consistency and unity that runs from cover to cover with common themes that are also found within it.

For example, the Bible is divided into two parts. You have the Old Testament and you have the New Testament. And Jesus is the central figure in all of the Scriptures. The whole book emphasizes and points to Him. The Old Testament, it predicts His coming and paves the road for His entrance into the world through prophetic Scriptures. In the New Testament, it describes His coming and His work to bring salvation and redemption to mankind.

Jesus is more than a historical figure. In fact, He's more than just a man. He is God, and He was God in the flesh, and His coming was the most significant event in world history. God Himself became a man to give us a clear and understandable picture of who He is.

In the New Testament, you find the Gospels provide clear evidence of the life and ministry of Jesus. The book of Acts clearly shows Jesus' ongoing work through the early church. The Epistles serve as a witness to the ministry of Christ, and the book of Revelation is the climax of God's redemptive plan for mankind.

In the book of John chapter 5, verse 39, Jesus said it this way concerning the Scriptures. He said, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think that you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me."

The Word of God is a clear, undeniable witness. But John will point to other witnesses as well, because the critics were asking these kinds of questions. Why should I believe that Jesus is God? Why should I believe that He is the second person of the Trinity?

If you look at verse 6, the Apostle John, like a defense attorney, now gives us the second witness as he refers to the witness of the water and the blood. The witness of the water and blood. Verse 6, "This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood."

Jesus was not a created being. He was God when He came and He remains God. In the Gospel of John, John said it this way, John chapter 1, in verse 1. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."

In chapter 1, verse 14, John said, "And the Word," that is Jesus, "became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

So Jesus came. That is a witness in itself, but John adds how He came. He came by water and by blood. It's rather an interesting phrase, isn't it? Coming by water and blood. Many have said that the next few verses here in 1 John are the most challenging passages in the entire epistle.

What does John mean when he says that He came by witness of water and blood? Let me present a couple of suggestions that people have offered. One suggestion is that the water and blood symbolize Jesus' death on the cross.

Because you remember that after Jesus died, John was at the foot of the cross, watching Jesus crucified, and after Jesus had expired, after He died, a soldier came and took a javelin and thrust it up through His side, the Bible says, and what came out? Blood and water. And therefore, there are those that say the blood and the water that John refers to here must have been referring to what happened there at the cross when He was pierced.

The second suggestion is that the water refers to baptism and the blood would actually refer to communion. But that doesn't appear to have any real connection to the witness of the Father regarding the Son.

But a third perspective, and this is the one that I personally lean toward and many scholars do as well, and that is this: that the water refers to Jesus' baptism and the blood signifies His death on the cross. Both of these events in the life and ministry of Jesus served as a key witness to the world, helping people to understand His life and ministry.

First of all, the water at His baptism. When Jesus went to the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist, He didn't go to be baptized because of His sins. Jesus was sinless. He went to be baptized to identify with sinners.

In fact, when He came to the water, John tried to stop Jesus from being baptized. He said, "I should be baptized by You. This doesn't seem right." Jesus said, "John, it's fitting to fulfill all righteousness." And so there John baptized Jesus.

When Jesus went under the water, when He came back up from the water, the Bible says that the Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove. And the Bible then declares that the Father spoke audibly there at the Jordan and testified, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." The testimony of the Father. He couldn't hold it back, he just declared it, testified. Where? At the water, the beginning of Jesus' ministry.

But it wasn't just the witness of the water, but also, John adds, of blood, which would refer to His death. At His death, Jesus hung upon the cross, dying for the sins of the world. Jesus, who is God in human flesh, paid the penalty for His creation in order that we could be redeemed. He identified with sinners at His baptism, but He took upon Himself the penalty that sinners deserve at His death.

Several events occurred at the crucifixion that would serve as evidence. Can you think of a few? First of all, darkness that covered the land. The Bible tells us in Matthew chapter 27, in verse 45, "From the sixth hour darkness fell upon the land until the ninth hour." That was certainly a witness at Christ's death.

Another witness was that of the veil in the temple was torn. Matthew chapter 27, verse 51 says, "The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom." God ripped the veil, if you would, opening up a door into where the Ark of the Covenant sat.

Another testimony on the day of His death: the Bible says that the graves were opened. This one is pretty amazing to me because it says in Matthew 27 around verse 51, it says the earth shook and the rocks were split, and the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep, meaning died, were raised and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

Could you just for a moment put yourself in that context? What would that be like? We just buried Grandma like three months ago and suddenly you're like, "Gram Gram?" Like there she is. Like what are you doing here? "I don't know, I just the grave opened and I'm here. What's for breakfast?" I mean, we thought you would make it. I mean, this whole thing is just amazing to me what happened.

So overwhelming was God's miraculous testimony to Jesus that a hardened Roman centurion declared and witnessed in fear, "Truly this was the Son of God." These events in Jesus' life, His baptism, the water, and His death, the blood, serve as clear witnesses. That is why John says it again. Notice this, don't miss it, in verse 6. "Not only by water, but by water and blood."

Why do you suppose that John would say that a second time? Was he just trying to be redundant, make a point? John mentions this a second time because of the heresy that was circulating. The Gnostics were claiming that Jesus was God's Son at His baptism, ah, but He wasn't His Son on the cross.

The false teachers claimed that Christ's spirit descended on Him at His baptism, but it left Him before the cross, implying that Jesus came through water and that Christ's spirit also came through the water, but not blood. And what would that mean?

It would mean that His baptism showed He was the anointed of God, but the Jesus who was baptized was different from the Jesus who hung on the cross. They said the spirit departed from Him. That's completely false. And furthermore, denying Jesus' incarnation of being fully God and fully man and His substitutionary death, if that were true, what the Gnostics were saying, then that weakens the entire foundation of our salvation.

Jesus could not reconcile us to God if He were not fully God and fully man. If He weren't, He could not conquer sin and death on our behalf. But the Bible says it very clear, folks, and take comfort in this, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21. It says, "He became sin who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." John refutes that false teaching by emphasizing He came by water and, to be clear, also by blood.

The presentation of the witnesses. We have the Word, we have the water, the blood. But John highlights another witness which is the Holy Spirit of God. The witness of the Holy Spirit. Look at verse 6. "And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth."

During Jesus' ministry, He reached a point where He revealed to His disciples the full scope of His redemptive mission. He informed them of His death, of His resurrection, and His eventual ascension. But when the disciples first learned about these upcoming events, they were worried and troubled at the thought of Jesus not being with them.

How can you have a king that's dead and still have a kingdom? It just didn't make sense. They could not understand what He was saying. And if they did understand what He was saying, they would have been at the graveside on the third day waiting for the stone to be rolled away. They didn't understand it. They couldn't comprehend it.

To comfort His discouraged disciples, Jesus made them a promise. And the promise had to do with the coming of the person of the Holy Spirit. You remember in John chapter 14, Jesus said this to His disciples in verse 16.

He said, "I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit," it says, "of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and He will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."

Jesus then said a second time, John 14, verse 26, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name," what's He going to do? Here's what the Holy Spirit is going to do for you. "He will teach you all things, and He'll bring to remembrance all the things that I said to you."

Again, this time, John chapter 15. It says, "When the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will," notice the word, "testify." He'll be a witness. "He will testify," of who? "Of Me," Jesus said.

And finally, John chapter 16, Jesus said it again. "When the Spirit, not if but when the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak of His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will tell you of things to come. He will glorify Me, He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you."

So here the promise is, there's a witness that you're going to have, the witness of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is declaring, the Spirit is testifying, the Spirit is glorifying, bringing back to all remembrance, guiding into all truth. The Holy Spirit is the greatest witness of all.

In fact, in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul said it this way in verse 10. He said, "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit," notice this, "searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God."

So the Spirit of God knows the things of God, takes those things and testifies and brings them to our awareness. The witnesses. We have the Word of God, we have the baptism of Christ, we have the death of Christ, of course, we have the resurrection of Christ, we have the work of the Holy Spirit. All of these things testify to us concerning who Jesus is and what He has done.

Guest (Male): Well, now that you've been presented the clear witnesses from God, will you believe and receive it? We'll think that through with Pastor John Randall in just a minute.

Today on A Daily Walk, we heard a message called "The Witness of Heaven." Maybe you can think of someone that really needs to hear this. They've been asking for proof that Jesus is who He claimed to be. You can either direct them to adailywalk.org or to our app.

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Here in the month of May, we've picked out a resource we think moms will benefit a great deal from. It's "A Mom After God's Own Heart: 10 Ways to Love Your Children," authored by Elizabeth George.

She writes, "God has put you in a unique situation where you have tremendous influence in the lives of others. Be a mom after God's heart. Help your children, no matter what their ages, experience God's love, God's blessings, and God's provisions."

We're making it available for the cost of $12. Ordering is really easy online at adailywalk.org, or just call 877-242-0828. Please remember us in your prayers and your giving to the Lord. We want to help as many people as possible in their daily walk through the teaching of God's Word. And you can help to make that possible through either a one-time gift or ongoing monthly support.

Donations can be made online rather easily at adailywalk.org, or call 877-242-0828. Okay, let's get back to our message.

John Randall: The witnesses that God has presented, we have now the opportunity either to receive it or to reject it. We have a decision to make.

The argument that John presents, he says, listen, you receive the witness of men every day. And man is fallible. So why wouldn't you receive the witness of the infallible God? Think about it. You receive witness from people every day, from mankind.

Find out, hey listen, you should eat salmon. It's really good for you. And so you're like, "Okay, we're getting salmon." And then a year later, you find out you shouldn't eat that because there was a lot of mercury in it. So unless it's freshwater, caught—I mean, all these things, you take the witness of man and you run with it, and then you find out.

Doesn't that bother anybody else when they tell you to eat it and then they say you can't eat it? It drives me nuts. Now I've got all these problems because I thought you said I was supposed to. I took the witness of man. It's fallible. They're still figuring stuff out.

I think we've learned over the last several years not to take the witness of man without checking it. Fact-checker has a whole new meaning. I would say who checks the fact-checker? We do.

So we take man's witness. They say, "Hey listen, it's going to rain outside." Well, we better get an umbrella. Whose witness is that? The meteorologist? We always listen. "Hey listen, there's going to be traffic. There's a guy flying in a copter. He said there's traffic on the five, you might want to reroute."

And so what do you do? You take the witness and you reroute. We believe the witness of people. John says, why won't you believe and receive the witness of God? God is the one testifying here. We're not talking about people here. We're talking about the living God is testifying. That's the argument that is presented here by John.

Guest (Male): So, how about it, friend? Will you receive and believe these compelling witnesses of heaven? We hope and pray that you will, and join us next time when Pastor John will finish this message on A Daily Walk. This program is brought to you by Calvary South OC and made possible through your generous support.