In the Word

Pastor Mike Warren: Chapter 5, and we're going to finish it because next Sunday morning, we're going to have our Christmas message just honoring the Lord for being willing to come and sacrifice himself for a bunch of dumb sheep like us. Can I get an "Amen"? You know, we are stubborn. I was telling the guys on Monday night, when you go to the circus, you see trained lions and tigers and bears. They can train all kinds of creatures. There's even a flea circus. You can train fleas. But you never see a trained sheep because sometimes they're just untrainable.

That's why you see the picture of Jesus carrying the lamb on his shoulders. It's because it kept running away, and he broke its legs and puts it onto the shoulder and heals it up until it learns not to run away. How many have ridden on Jesus' shoulders for a while? Amen. Okay, let's pray and get into the study this morning. Father, we thank you for your word. And as we come into this chapter, and it's all about salvation and knowing—not wishing, not hoping, not maybe, but shall be—we are saved. And we can be assured of that this morning. We can be certain concerning it because of the witness that you've left behind for us.

As John closes out this wonderful epistle and now he comes to just, again, this evidence of salvation and then what it looks like in our lives and the hope and the certainty of it that we can have in our hearts, Lord, speak to us this morning in the mighty name of Jesus. And all God's kids would say, "Amen." Let me start with a question. How many of you in your Christian walk have struggled with the eternal security that you have in Christ Jesus? None of you? Okay, this message is for those people that are watching by livestream and on our radios because you don't struggle with it.

You've never thought at any time in your Christian walk God just gave up on you, that it was the 490th time you sinned and that's it, stick a fork in me, I'm done. How many have ever wrestled with that? Come on, raise your hand. This can be interactive this morning. See, you guys are even ashamed that you wrestled with it because you won't even raise your hands. Listen, we all wrestle with it. You know why we know that we all wrestle with it? Because John has to write concerning it. He has to remove all doubt about it. And there's some things he's going to say to us this morning that should stir in our hearts.

Listen, the Bible says what he began, what he began in you, he will finish. You know, in the Old Testament, it was "do and live." And that's why I'm so glad I wasn't born in the Old Testament. I would have been the poorest guy on the block because every sheep that I ever got my hands on would have to be sacrificed. In fact, even on my way, I'd have to take extra sheep in case somebody's donkey pulled out in front of me, some little gray-haired person, and I'd have to sacrifice another one. But in the New Testament, it's "Jesus did, and we live."

I'm so glad we're under grace. I'm so glad that our salvation is not based on our performance. We're going to see that this morning, not based on your performance. As Paul would say, by the works of the law, no man will be justified before God because we can't do it. We can't keep it. In fact, the law was never given to make a man just. Religious people do that. Again, Paul, when he writes to the church at Galatia, he explains it. He said, "Listen, the law was given to show you that you couldn't keep it." Why then the law? They said, "Because it was a schoolmaster, it was a teacher, it was a mirror that you looked in and you saw your face was dirty, but the mirror doesn't remove the dirt."

How many ladies stood before the mirror this morning when you saw that your hair was a little bit messed up and you needed to fix your face a little bit? And it's okay that you do that. We don't mind. How many took the mirror off the wall and started rubbing your face and rubbing your hair as though the mirror would straighten it out? See, that's what you do when you try to be religious and keep the law. No, when you look into that perfect law of liberty, when you look into that looking glass and you see the reflection of a vile individual, when you're honest—not religious, honest—"I'm a wretch, I'm undone, conceived in sin, born in transgression, I'm broken, and there's nothing I can do about it."

That's all the law was meant to do, to show you that, and then you would cry out to Jesus, the Savior of the world, the sacrificial lamb that doesn't just cover (kopher)—we're not in the New Testament atoned like they were in the Old Testament. Our sins aren't covered. Our sins are removed. And our sins are removed to the degree and to the extent when you are justified by faith in Christ Jesus, he made you just as though you never were a sinner. Wrap your hands around that. And that's how God the Father sees you this morning in the Son. You have become—not shall be, you are—the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus by faith.

And so, let me just read the theme of this chapter to you before we open the chapter, verse 13. And listen, verse 13 is one of those verses you ought to set to memory. If you don't mind underlining and marking up your Bible, do that. If you're a note-taker, put it in your notes this morning: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God." I'm writing to you. How many put their faith in what Jesus Christ has done for you on Calvary's cross? You have believed on the name of the Father. There you go. Watch this: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know."

In the Greek, it's in the emphatic, that there may be a surety, a certainty about this, that you may know that you have—notice the tenses here, not could someday might—that you have. It's in the present tense. You have age-abiding life living in you. You have already been forgiven for all time and eternity. Your name is written down in the book of life in the blood of Jesus Christ, and it cannot be erased. You have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. There's a certainty about it. And the certainty is not upon your performance. See, that's why we struggle with it.

Because even doing our best, we fall in a ditch. How many saw that thing that was on Facebook going around for a while where you see this shepherd and he's pulling this sheep out of this really narrow ditch? He's just stuck. How many have seen that? It was wonderful. I should show it here sometime. He's stuck, and the shepherd comes over and unsticks him, pulls him out of the ditch, sets him on solid ground. He takes off running because he's free, and he jumps in the ditch like 20 feet ahead, right back into the same ditch. Does that sound familiar, Jeffrey? I'm looking that way. You know why we laugh? Because we've all jumped in the ditch time and time again.

And when we're unfaithful and jump in the ditch, guess who's faithful? He'll come and pull you out. He'll keep coming and pulling you out because our salvation is based upon him. And so, John, we looked at the first few verses last week, but let's just look at verse one and then we'll move down to where we left off and we'll pick up there in verse four. "Whosoever believeth..." It doesn't say work, perform. It doesn't say crawl on glass, not ten Hail Marys, nine Our Fathers, not any mantra, no chant, no keeping a certain ethics. It says, "Whosoever," and notice it's a whosoever.

The vilest of sinner is a whosoever. The good person that's lived a good moral life is a whosoever. You see, we all need to come to this point: "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ." He is the Savior of the world. He's the Lamb of God who came to suffer and die to remove the sins of the world. If we believe that he was God eternal, the second person of the Trinity, the eternal Word that took on human form, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died a substitutionary death on Calvary's cross, rose again the third day as the Bible testifies and many men testify, and now is seated at the right hand of the Father ever living to make intercession for you and me—if we believe the gospel message that Jesus is the Christ, he is born of God.

Remember Jesus said you must be born again? Then you're born of God. And then it says this in verse four: "And whosoever is born of God overcometh the world." You're an overcomer. You've already overcome. You've overcome the world. In Revelation chapter 12, I think it's right around verse 11, maybe they have it up there, they put it on the screen. In that text, it says that we, when we get to heaven, it will be said of us that we overcame. How did we overcome? How do we become more than conquerors? How does the devil have no grip on us? How do we make it to heaven? How do we get through this life unscathed? Well, it's going to tell us: by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony—not our actions—that we put our faith in Christ and that we love not our lives. We surrendered it to the lordship of Christ even unto the death. That's how we overcome.

And so he says, "Listen, he..." Here we are in verse four: "For whosoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." Now, people say, "Well, that's easy." Have you ever tried to have faith? It's not easy. In fact, some people came to Jesus one day with his disciples and said, "Good master, what good thing must we do to enter the kingdom of heaven?" And Jesus said, "Believe." And they said, "Well, that's pretty simple." Well, it is glibly spoken, but it is profoundly lived because when you put your faith in Christ and you become a new creature in Christ Jesus, everything changes.

It's not just an ethereal faith, "Oh yeah, I believe that Jesus was God and I believe he came to the earth and died and, you know, and he was a baby in a manger and he rose again and we do the Easter thing, we hunt the eggs and we do all that Santa Claus stuff." No, that's not what it's talking about. You believe in the work and the ministry, the authority of the name and what Jesus accomplished on Calvary's cross. When you put your faith in that, then you are born of the Spirit, you have overcome because of this faith. You know, again, he tells us, you are saved by grace because God is gracious to you. You are saved by grace through faith in that grace. And it's not of yourself. It's a gift. It's a gift that you receive, and it's not of works lest you could boast. It's not about what you have done. It's about what he has done. It's not of works lest you could boast.

But you are his workmanship, his poiema, his work of art. That's what you became when you got saved. You are his work of art, created in Christ Jesus now unto good works. Good works should follow your salvation. Good works don't bring salvation. Good works are the evidence of salvation. You see the difference? So many religions today say, "Well, I know that I'm right with God because of what I do." No, we know that we've been made right with God because of what we do. It doesn't make us right with God. It means we are right. And listen, that's what he was saying here: if you continue in sin as a way of life—he's going to mention it again as he closes out this chapter—and you're okay with that, then you weren't born of the Spirit because something about the Spirit of truth in you changes you.

I can't explain all of it. I've been a Christian now, next year, 50 years. And I can't tell you, I can't explain—there's no words to it—the experience you have when you're born of the Spirit, but you know you're different. How many know that? So your friends ask you, "Well, how do you know you're saved?" "Because I know I am." "Well, how do you know?" "I just know." "Well, how do you know?" "I know that I know!" And then finally you have to get to the point where you have to tell them, "Well, why don't you taste and see, and then you'll understand." I can't explain apple pie to you if you've never had it. I can tell you it's sweet and it's got some spices to it and some cinnamon, and the apples, if they're cooked just right, are not mushy, they're crunchy a little bit. And that just makes you salivate. It just jumps around in your mouth. It puts pounds on your waist. Man, I'm going to tell you. And you keep saying, "Well, what does it taste like?" I just explained it to you. "Yeah, but I don't quite understand." You never will until you eat it.

That's like trying to explain to a blind man what a sunrise looks like. He'll never know until his eyes are opened. And 50 years ago, Jesus opened my eyes. And now I'm trying to explain to other blind men what a sunrise looks like. And so, if you're born again, you know. He's going to tell us that in a few moments.

And then he says this: "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he," speaking of Jesus, "that came by water and by blood." Now, as we read through the next several verses, these are some of the most controversial verses in the Bible. In fact, if you've got an NIV, they just leave them out. If you've got a New American Standard, they mess them up. And so, that's why I believe that if we're going to study the Bible—and I don't care if you read some of these other translations—but if you're going to be a serious student of the Bible, you have to go to a word-for-word translation that comes from Textus Receptus, not the Alexandrian text. And if you're confused about what I just said, I have this all in our doctrines class on our website. You can go look at it: History and Authenticity of the Bible, How We Got the Bible. Your King James or New King James is a word-for-word—that's why sometimes they have to put words in italics there to make the sentence structure seem right—because it is a word-for-word translation from the received text, the accepted text by the early church fathers. It is word-for-word from what Paul wrote and John and those people as they took and got piece together some of the early manuscripts and put together the commentaries that came from the patristic fathers like Polycarp and people. This is how we get the text.

And so if you're reading along with me and you're not in a word-for-word translation, some of these verses won't even be there. But they're controversial verses, that's why they leave them out. What does it mean that Jesus came by water and by blood? Now, understand the context here. John is about to give us testimony of why we can trust the gospel message of Jesus Christ. And it's as though he's bringing us into a courtroom and he's saying, "Now, we are testifying and this is the evidence and this is how you can know and be assured of that what I just told you back in verse 13 is that you can be assured of your salvation. This is the evidence. Our faith has evidence; it has substance to it."

And my best guess, studying over the years, would be this: when Jesus came to be baptized—because he came to fulfill the law for us—and as he entered the water and he was baptized, when he came up, all of those around him heard a voice. And the voice said from heaven, "This is my Son." Can you imagine having been there when Jesus was baptized in Jordan? In fact, John says, "I'm not even worthy to baptize you. I'm not even worthy to loose your sandals." But that the law should be fulfilled, because Jesus had to fulfill all of the law for us when he sacrificed himself so that he could remove our sin. John understood who he was. John said before he came to be baptized, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." This is the Messiah. This is Yeshua Hamashiach. This is Emmanuel. This is God in human form come to sacrifice himself for the sins of the world. And when he baptized him, a voice—and they all heard it—came from heaven and said, "This is my Son." In whom, and in the—it doesn't come out so well in the English, but in the Greek it does—"This is my Son in whom I am already well pleased."

Tremendous message for you and me because if you're a son and daughter of God, it doesn't matter what you do, he's already well pleased with you because you're in relationship with him. And then a dove lit upon him, and that's why we have a dove here. It's the sign of the Holy Spirit coming down and bearing witness to the voice, to the baptism, to the statement, "This is my Son, my only begotten Son, this is the Messiah, this is the Christ, this is the Savior of the world. This is my Son, my only Son that I've sent to this world to become the Lamb, the sacrificial Lamb that'll take away the sins of the world if you put your faith in it."

And so he came by water and then by blood. What do you mean by blood? When he was hanging on a cross, because the Bible says without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. The wages of sin is death. Life is in the blood. Blood has to be shed. You know, we've had people over the years say, "Well, you serve a bloody religion." You bet we do, and I thank God for it because either you shed your blood for your sins or somebody else sheds their blood sacrificially and substitutionarily for your sins. But blood has to be shed. The justice of God has to be met. And the justice of God concerning our sin was met on Calvary's cross when Jesus bled out.

You remember it says there, when a soldier was before him at the cross and at the final, before they broke his legs—because no leg would be broken—they had to take him off the cross because of Sabbath. The soldier, to make sure he was dead, pierced his side with a spear and out came water and blood. Water and blood. His heart had ruptured. And that centurion made a statement, "Surely..." because at midday, the sky grew dark and there was an ominous presence there as the sin of the world was coming upon Jesus. When he breathed his last and said, "Tetelestai, it is finished, paid in full for the sins of the world," an earthquake struck the city. It broke the foundation of the temple and from the top to the bottom, the veil that separated the Holy from the Most Holy was rent.

And this soldier said, "Surely, of a truth, this is the Son of God." He didn't just come by water at baptism or by blood, but by water and—he says—but water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness. You know, you can't come to Jesus unless the Spirit draws you. There's nothing about this that would seem logical to the carnal man. In fact, the Bible says the carnal man understands not the things of God, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But you and I who have the Spirit, we understand all things because the Spirit has revealed those things to us. Have you ever tried to talk to a family member and they're looking at you like you've got three eyes and six arms, like, "What are you talking about?" Well, the god of this world has blinded their eyes, the Bible says, so they cannot see. And that's why you have to pray for them. You have to pray that God would open their eyes because they're just carnal.

See, that's why the Bible says if Satan would have known in crucifying Jesus what he was doing, he'd never done it. But see, even his eyes were blind to what was going to be accomplished on Calvary's cross. Satan actually believed that he defeated the plan of God for salvation when he crucified Jesus. He didn't know that that was the plan all along. That was the plan all along.

And so, if you're here this morning and you don't believe, it's because the god of this world has blinded your eyes. It's because you're trying to see it through a carnal means and through a carnal lens, and these things can only be seen through the Spirit. And here's the cool thing, the Bible says that the Spirit has been sent out into the world to convict men of sin. He's working on you. The problem is not with him working on us, it's a problem of us not listening. You know, the problem with humanity is never with the transmitter because the Holy Spirit is transmitting the message all of the time. The problem's with the receiver.

I thank God that one day in the midst of my chaos, as I was channel surfing—how many have ever channel surfed? How many had those radios with the buttons on them and you'd channel surf? Okay, that's probably old technology. Some of you are going, "What are you talking about?" How many remember 8-track? I think I still have one in my garage somewhere. And then we thought, "Whoa!" when they went to cassette. Man, you could get the 8-track in a smaller little reel-to-reel thing, and then when they went to mini, mini-reel, oh that was so cool, and then they went to these other stuff that I just lost it there. It's time to go back to your 8-track.

But you have to understand, who by searching can understand God to perfection? Your mind cannot understand that. God has to reveal it to you. And he's trying to reveal it to you, but you love this world and you love sin more than you love him, so you refuse to listen. And so one day, he'll break you like he broke me and you'll start channel surfing and you'll hit the right channel and the message will come in loud and clear. "The problem with you, Mike, is your sin. And the problem with sin is you can't overcome it in the flesh. I'm standing at your heart's door and I'm knocking. I've been knocking for a long time. But I've just stayed at the doorstep and I keep knocking. And if you'll open, then I'll come in and I'll clean up the mess. I'll find the junk drawer." How many have junk drawers? Don't raise your hand. Don't raise your hand, sister. "And I'll clean it out. I'll mop your floors, I'll vacuum, I'll clean your carpet, I'll paint your walls. I'll remove the graffiti and the pornography and the hatred and the unforgiveness that's strewn all over your walls on the inside of your heart, and I'll paint over them in my blood. I'll fix you."

And then it says, "Because it is the Spirit that bears witness because the Spirit is truth." It is the Spirit of truth. And that's why, you know, when Jesus went away, he said, "I'm not going to leave you comfortless. I'm going to send the Paracletos, the Holy Spirit. And when he comes, the first thing he's going to do is convict the world of sin. And then he's going to lead those who come to Christ into righteousness. And then he's going to lead us and guide us into truth. And he'll constantly remind us of the coming of Jesus." Now he moves to verse seven, and again, this is still like he's in a courtroom and he's giving you the evidence. He says, "For there are three that bear witness or record in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one." Let me give you the understanding, and if you're a note-taker, please write these down so that you'll have reference. He's saying there are three things that bear witness. And we'll start with the Holy Spirit. And then we're going to go—the Holy Spirit, which convicts us of sin. Then there's the word of God. When we study it, we read it, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God, and then it brings us back into relationship with the Creator because all creation speaks of it.

And so he's saying there are three that bear witness: the Father has sent his Son, the eternal Word. The Word bore witness, the Father bore witness there at the baptism of Jesus, "This is my Son." Jesus bore witness, the eternal Word of the salvation of the Father, and the Holy Ghost makes it real. There is this Trinity that is working on us. Now, when you got saved, did you not understand that? Did it not dawn on you that all the while the Holy Spirit was guiding you and finally you heard the word and faith came by hearing and hearing by the word and it brought you back into relationship with the Father and the Father became really real and the Father's house became really real? And all those things that the Father promised became really real. Amen?

So there's three in heaven, but there's also three on earth. Verse eight. And then if you've got an NIV or if you've got a New World Translation or a Bible from the Alexandrian text, this won't be in there. They just skipped it. "And there are three that bear witness in the earth: the Spirit," who convicts men of sin, we're going to see in a moment, "the water, and the blood, and these three agree in one." So John, as though he is in a court of law and somebody's coming and challenging, "How do you know that you're saved?" he said, "Well, there's three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And there's three that bear witness on earth, and we're going to look at it: it is the Spirit, the water, and the blood." In Romans chapter 8 verse 16—listen carefully—it says, "The Spirit itself beareth witness to our spirit." Capital 'S' Spirit, lowercase 's' spirit, our spirit, that we are the children of God.

Now, again, like I said earlier, I can't explain that. I can do my best to try to describe the aftermath of it, the experience that followed it. But for me to try to tell you on that night, sitting with 30 other hippie kids in a Bible study, all of us unsaved, when that missionary that had retired from South America came home and started that Bible study, when I heard the gospel, the word of God spoken simply, clearly, concisely... and you have to understand, I went to that Bible study stoned because I was on my way home to commit suicide. And I was already well on my way, because I was just going to take all the drugs I had and down them with alcohol and just go to sleep because I just couldn't—I couldn't live anymore. I couldn't bear the pain of this life. I was done.

And earlier in that evening, I cried out in a parking lot, "If there's a God in heaven, make yourself known to me!" and nothing happened. No angel flying through the sky, no one knocking on my window saying, "Don't do it." I concluded there was no God. You talk about the dark night of the soul. And this is all there is, and if this is all there is, I can't do this anymore. It's too painful. And if there's not a purpose for me being here, if there's not something after this, then why? That's logic. That's satanic logic. That's the enemy lying to you.

And so on my way home, I see a friend in a coffee shop. I wanted to stop to say goodbye to him. There's a guy sitting across the table from him talking about Jesus. Next thing I know, I'm in a car going to a Bible study. And I get there and I'm still stoned. I'm three sheets to the wind, as they say. And when that guy began to speak, I sobered up. It was like the first thought I had is, "I got some bad stuff, man. When I get out of here, I'm going to go talk to the guy. He ripped me off." See how carnal we can still be? Not understanding at all that the Holy Spirit sobered me up because he had a message that he wanted to speak into my heart and I couldn't hear in that condition because, by the way, drugs in the Bible come from the Greek word *pharmakeia*, which we get witchcraft from. I was under the influence of a foul spirit and the Lord just dissipated it.

And when I heard that gospel, it's like someone ripped open my heart. I can't explain. It felt like somebody had ripped open my heart and started poking inside in something so deep and so painful, and I couldn't stop it. But I knew it was healing me. And I accepted Jesus right there. Now, I went up and prayed, too. But I was born again right there, and the tears started flowing and they weren't tears of sorrow, they were tears of joy. I had never experienced love or peace or joy before in my entire life, 20 years, until that night.

Now, I just explained to you the experience, but I can't explain to you what happened because I was born of the Spirit. I can try to tell you what I felt, I can try to tell you how I act, I can tell you what I did. In fact, on the way down, I threw out my—I had bought a brand new bottle of Mad Dog 20/20 and a whole six-pack of tall Schlitz malt liquor so that I could chase down the drugs. And my big bag of drugs, all of it went out the window! I knew at that moment I didn't need that stuff anymore. How did I know that? By the Spirit of God. There are three that bear witness in heaven. First, it is the Spirit of God. I knew I was born again. I knew, I knew! I had that thought on the way down: I'm forever ruined for this world because nothing in this world will ever satisfy compared to what I'm just now experiencing.

The second is water. In Ephesians chapter 5 verse 26, it says, "That he might sanctify and cleanse us with the washing of the water by the word." Now, I was born of the Spirit and I knew it. I knew it. But now the next thing is I needed to grow in grace and I needed to grow in knowledge. And as I would read the word, it would wash over me. It washed my filthy brain. It washed away the sexual immorality, it washed away just the hatred, it washed away the bitterness, it washed away the carnality, it washed away literally my desire to live for the world and it put in me, when it cleansed me, a desire to live for the Lord. The washing of the water of the word.

And then thirdly, it says the blood. In Hebrews chapter 10 verses 19 through 22, listen: "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter in to the holiest, the most holy place, before the very ark of the covenant, before the very presence of God." How do we have boldness to enter into that? By the blood of Jesus. By a new and living way, not by the law, not by religion. None of those things. Those things kept us from those places. That's why Jesus rent the veil when he died because it's an invitation! You don't have to go through a system anymore. You can come directly to the Father through Jesus Christ.

You know, the problem with it is people start to sew the veil back up. Every religious system has tried to sew the veil back up and say, "No, you've got to come our way." And Jesus said those are robbers and thieves that say there's any other way to the Father but by me. "I am the only way. I'm the only truth. I'm the only life. Whosoever will go to the Father has to come through me." Jesus said, "I gave you an invitation. I ripped the veil open. I bust the foundations of that religious system and I made access boldly for you to come right into my presence." You don't have to go through a priest or a system. You have a high priest. His name is Jesus.

And so he says this: by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, in the renting of the veil, that is to say, through his flesh, and having a high priest... we have one. And listen, that's why the Bible said don't call anybody on this planet father. You know, I used to go to these—I don't go anymore—but I used to go to these ministerial meetings, ecumenical ministerial meetings. And so the Catholic priests and the nuns would come and then people from the Lutheran church would come with their robes and I would introduce myself: "Pastor Mike Warren, I pastor Calvary Chapel." And the guy would say to me, "Well, I'm Father," and I said, "No, you're not. I'll call you priest, but I'm not going to call you father." Because you're not my father. They would get all offended. "You're not my father. I have a father. You ain't it. You're not even a good stepfather."

No, no, you could be a priest and you can be a pastor—had some of them said they were prophets, but I had to tell them we have a nonprofit organization at our church because we have this, we don't need a prophet. Jesus' already speaking to us through his word. But he said we have a high priest over the house of God. Let us draw near now with a true heart, with full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. There are three that bear witness in earth: it is the Holy Spirit, it is the blood, it is the water.

And these three agree. If we receive now—again, he's still in a court of law—if we receive the witness of men, because in any judicial system, two witnesses will convict you. One eyewitness will convict you. Two eyewitnesses, you're done. You're toast. Eyewitnesses. And so he says, "If you've received the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son." He said when he was baptized, "This is my Son." The voice came from heaven. The dove lit upon him. "This is my Son in whom I'm well pleased."

At the crucifixion, the sky turned dark, the veil was rent, the temple was shattered, and it was a testimony and everyone standing around witnessing it said, "Surely this is the Son of God." Not was, is the Son of God. And then after he raised from the dead, he was seen for 40 days by a multitude of different people, different times, certain of the disciples, all of the disciples, and at one time 500 saw him ascend into heaven. He said to doubting Thomas, "Touch me. It's me."

In fact, here's what you need to know if you're a student of history: there's more evidence of the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ than any other historical event in history. Did you know that? There is more evidence to the resurrection, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ than any other event in human history. And God made it so so that our faith would rest on something that is factual.

And so he goes on to say, "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." Now, I wish that people would know what I know. And sometimes you're trying to share the gospel with them and you're trying to share the word with them, you're trying to explain to them, and it's like their eyes are blind. Again, we're going to see in a few moments their eyes are blind because the god of this world has blinded them and you wonder how is it you can't understand what I understand? Ever had that conversation? "What's wrong with you? Are you deaf? How come—?" But then I have to think back. First 20 years of my life, I was deaf. I was dumb. I was rebellious. I was stiff-necked and hard of heart. I was full of phase. I knew I was right about everything. I wrote a book when I was 19. All about everything by me because that's what I thought I was.

There's more things in this world than I ever comprehended. And it wasn't until the Spirit of truth came in me and my eyes were opened. And then he says this: "He that believeth on the Son hath this witness in himself. He that believeth not God, he has made God a liar." So if you're here, if you're watching by livestream or you're listening and you refuse to believe, what you're calling God is a liar. You're saying that he lied about his Son. And that's a pretty arrogant statement that you think you know everything there is to know about everything that you could say that.

I love—and you can read the story about Einstein—when Einstein was a professor at a university. On the opening day of his university when all the classmates came into the classroom, he asked a question. And there was about 50 kids in there and he said, "Listen, of all the things in the universe that can be known, of all the things in the universe that can be known, amongst you, what percentage do you think collectively you know?" So you understand the question. When you consider the universe and all the mysteries of the universe and all the things the universe contains, how much knowledge do you think you have of the universe collectively in this classroom? And he said, "Come back and tell me next week." Well, they came back and said, "Well, we've thought it and discussed it and we've come to the conclusion of it that we have about 10%." And he says, "Well, you know, you take more to yourself than you ought to. But in the other 90, is there not room for God?"

See, most people don't realize that Einstein was a completer Jew. He believed in God. In fact, when he was dying, he had people sing hymns outside of his room so he could hear them through the window. One of the smartest men in the world was smart enough to know that he wasn't smart enough to know. But by faith, he'd seen enough to know that God is real.

And so by faith... now watch what he says: "And this is the record that God hath given us eternal life." This is how we know that we have this. And the life is in the Son. Why? Because Jesus took on human form, died and suffered for our sins, rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven. Then he says this, what we just started with, verse 13: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know." There should never be a doubt in your mind, that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on Jesus the Son of God.

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. His will is that everybody be saved. His will is that none perish. In fact, when he cries through Ezekiel in the Old Testament to the nation of Israel that had gone astray, he says, "Turn ye, turn ye! Why will you perish?" saith the Lord of hosts. "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost. That was his mission. And he sacrificed his life to procure an absolute pardon for you and me. Now, we got guys giving out pardons today and some of you looking on TV and saying, "Well, how dare he pardon this person? How dare he pardon that person?" Well, I got to thinking, how dare Jesus pardon me? I was as guilty as... can't say it, I don't want to get kicked off YouTube.

And so were you. Guilty. Tried in a court of law, found guilty. And Jesus said, "I pardon them. Pardon." That's what he does. And if we know—I like this—that he hears us, and we do, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petition that we desire. "Lord, I need to be forgiven." Do you know all mental illness today is associated, most clinical psychologists—and my pastor was one of them—is associated just to a few things? One is demonic activity. They've opened their doors to demonic activity, and it's tormenting them and some of them just need to be delivered. But the second most prevalent thing that brings mental illness to people is unforgiveness and bitterness. Unforgiveness and bitterness.

And what is the first thing we need? How many need forgiveness today? You know, here's the deal: our greatest need, our greatest need—think about it—is to be forgiven. Have you ever really messed up and really sinned against somebody and hurt them? And you go and you say, "I'm sorry, forgive me," and had them say, "I'm never forgiving you!" and that guilt and that shame is still laying on you. Or have you ever gone to somebody and you've said the same thing and they said, "You know, brother, sister, I forgive you. Who am I? I've been forgiven so much, who am I to withhold forgiveness from you?" And you feel the weight gone.

See, these are the things that Jesus is talking about. When we ask for forgiveness, he'll give it to us. Now, he's going to talk about because we are saved... and we're going to—he's got a few things he's going to say about how we interact. Who saved us? How did he save us? What did he save us to? And how does our salvation affect other people around us? And then he's going to go through three "I knows" or "we knows" from verse 18 as he concludes this. But watch what he says: "If any man see his brother sin..." We are our brother's keeper. If you see somebody that's doing something that maybe they have a blind spot to and they're trapped in it, he said if you see a brother sin, a sin which is not unto death... Now, I'm going to explain this in a moment.

This is one of the most difficult passages because the key word, if you're a note-taker, is you see a *brother*. See, some people will say if you see somebody who's blasphemed the Holy Spirit, or if they've done this, don't pray for them because he said don't pray for those people. No, it's not what he's talking about here because a brother can't do that. The Bible says if Christ be in you, listen, the Spirit's in you will never say that Jesus is accursed. It can't. We're talking about interaction in the body of Christ. If any man see, because of our salvation, if any man see a brother sin a sin that's not unto death, he shall ask, he shall pray, he shall intercede for that one, and he shall give him life for them that sin not a sin unto death.

Part of the deals, we need to intercede for one another. We need to be praying for one another. We need to be holding each other accountable. We need to go in love and say to our brother, "Hey, listen, what you're doing ain't good. This will mess you up. This will hurt you. Don't do that. Sin will make you stupid. Don't be stupid. I love you." Faithful are the wounds of a friend. And we should be like iron sharpening iron. We should have each other's back. We should protect each other, not in a critical, judgmental way, but you go to somebody and say, "Hey, man, I don't think it's right that you should be going witnessing in the bars. Wait till they come out. And don't even do that because they're too drunk. Wait till they—go bring them breakfast! Hot coffee, sober them up, and share the gospel."

So we have to be careful because we can get blind spots and our brothers help us with that. He says there's a sin unto death. I do not say that you should pray for that person. Now, what exactly is he talking about? He's talking about a brother. And again, I've read to ad nauseam different commentators on this, I've asked the Lord, "What are you saying here?" Certainly it's not blasphemy, which the Bible says is the only sin that can keep you out of heaven, because we're talking about our brother here.

So what could this possibly be? Have you ever run across somebody that loves the Lord with their whole heart, that has some—some sin that has captured them, some life-dominating sin, and no matter how they try, they just can't get over it? And they agonize, they're tormented. I think often of a young man that came here years ago and I can't tell you how many times we sent him to U-Turn for Christ and all these things. He had a drug addiction. This kid loved the Lord with his whole heart. There was no doubt. He would come into my office and he would lay on the carpet and just bawl and beg God, "Deliver me from this! Deliver me from this! I want to be free from this. I love you with all my heart, and yet there's this thing that is..."

And you know, because he just did not have the capacity or capability to appropriate the power God gave him, and he was clean for like six or seven months and fell back into it and died. And we did the memorial service here. And of course, you know, the religious people come in: "He died in his sin." No, he didn't. His salvation was a gift. My Bible says in Philippians 1:6, what God has begun, he finishes. "But he fell back into drugs!" Yeah, he did. And the Lord was merciful to him, and he wasn't going to leave him being tormented any longer, and that thing was a sin unto death, to physically die, but not spiritual death. The Lord took him home.

And there can be things in our life that we can overcome. We're going to see that in a moment. But there are things if they just torment you, they dominate you, you just can't overcome them, the Lord will just take you out. And it's an act of mercy. It's because he loves you. He sees your heart. He sees the despair and the struggle that's in your life. How many have ever read *Pilgrim's Progress* and the Swamp of Despair? You can get caught up in that, and God will say, "I'll pluck you out. I'll take you home." This has to be what it's saying because a brother will not blaspheme. And if you have another conclusion, come talk to me afterwards. Oh no, don't, I'm just going to stay with that one.

In verse 17 says, "But all unrighteousness is sin." So don't get judgy. And there is a sin not unto death. Yeah, we all know that one, don't we? We're all struggling with it. So he says this, and here's the three "I knows" and we'll conclude this morning: "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not." The context in the Greek is we do not habitually practice sin as a way of life without any conviction or concern. If somebody's doing that, they were never born of God. Earlier in this epistle, he says, "Listen, the reason why you can't do that is because his seed remains in you." You're going to be convicted by the Holy Spirit. You might take a detour, but you're going to come back out on the highway.

How many have taken detours? How many are back out on the highway? See, you can't. You can run, as David said, but you can't hide. That's my interpretation when David said, "Where can I go that you're not there?" You can run, but you can't—if you once have been born again, he's not letting go of you. You can take a few detours. But we know that whosoever is born of God does not habitually practice sin, but he that is begotten of God keepeth him. Now, in the English, it almost would seem like you're keeping yourself, and that's not the way it bears out in the Greek. In fact, we have to look at a couple of other verses to understand this. He's saying if you're born of God, God keeps you.

God keeps you. First Peter... they'll put it up on the screen, but you might want to turn in your Bible there. We're almost done with our study this morning. First Peter chapter 1, one of my favorite sections of scripture, verse 4 through 5. And he says this is what we have: "We have an inheritance." Because we're the children of God, we have an inheritance, and this inheritance is incorruptible. You can't mess it up. Now, in an earthly sense, sometimes you can really mess up and you'll get written out of somebody's will. I don't know if any of you have experienced that. If you have, don't raise your hand. But we have an inheritance incorruptible, it's undefiled, it fades not away, it's reserved in heaven for you.

Now, how do we know that? "Who are kept, guarded, protected by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." If you are a follower of Christ, if you're born of the Spirit, he's going to get you from this side to the next. Now, you get to choose how rough the road is. It can be smooth and easy if you're obedient. It can be fraught with these rest stations called outhouses where you get disciplined and then back on the road again. But you'll get there.

And so he is saying, "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself," or actually it's "God keepeth him, and the wicked one toucheth him not." Now here's the second thing we know: "And we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness." It's obvious to that because we are walking in light and they're walking in darkness. We're living for truth and they're living for a lie. There is a marked difference between us and the world.

And here's—and so we understand that. And then verse 20 says, "And we know that the Son of God is come and hath given us understanding that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even the Son." The understanding he's given us is that this world is messed up and they want to mess you up. It's interesting the word he uses here when he talks about the world, the whole world lieth in wickedness. There's two words for wickedness or evil in the Greek. One is *kakos*. That all sounds like wicked, doesn't it? *Kakos*. Well, *kakos* just means something is evil. It's just evil.

But *poneros*, which is this word, is something that's evil but is not satisfied just with being evil. It cannot be satisfied until it makes you evil, until it draws you into its wickedness. And here we're told that God guards us and keeps us so that we can't... the wicked one can't touch us. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Read in Ephesians chapter 1. You know, that word for seal is the same seal that will be put on that imprisonment of Satan for the thousand years, and Satan couldn't break that seal either. This morning, you and I, because of what Jesus Christ did for us, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

What God began in us, we can be assured of he will finish. And this is how we know that we have salvation, because Jesus promised it: whosoever will come to me, I will not turn you away. And if you confess me, then I will save you. I will give you the gift of eternal life. And then he closes out with this: "We know that the Son of God is come and that he's given us understanding that we may know him that is true, that we are in him that is true, even the Son Jesus Christ, that is the true God and he is the only giver"—the idea here—"of eternal life."

Then he just—it's funny how John ends this epistle. I mean, it's not like, "Hey, say hi to this guy," like Paul will say sometimes, "I beseech you, greet that person." You know how he ends it? "Little children, if you're born again, keep yourselves from idols." Amen. And this is how he signs off. But let's just look at verse 13 one more time. Don't ever doubt your salvation because if you do—listen carefully to me this morning as we close—if you do, you're calling God a liar because he has testified if you're in Christ Jesus, you're saved. Have you ever thought of it that way? God said, "I've given you all the evidence. Go back and read chapter 5 of First John." And he says this: "These things have I written unto you that believe." Do you believe? Amen. What do you believe? It's not just that you believe. That you believe on the name... the name is always associated with everything that Jesus did. It's his authority, it's his character, it's his witness, it's his work.

"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know of a certainty, of a surety, that you have presently eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God," which is Jesus. That's why we have Jesus up here. Not that we put Jesus back on the cross, but we want you to see the name that is above every name. The Bible says one day at the mentioning of this name, every knee is going to bow, every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of his Father. The Bible says there's no name given among men in heaven or on earth by which you must be saved other than the name of Jesus, Yeshua, our Messiah, our Savior, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And everyone who cries upon that name, calls out to that name as he's hearing that knocking on his door and opens it up, Jesus said, "You shall be saved. Whosoever believeth in his heart and confesses with his mouth the Lord Jesus Christ shall be—not maybe or could be—shall be saved. And this is the confidence that we have." If we ask anything in his name, he'll do it for us because we know who he is and what he's done. And we know that we're saved.

Our salvation, our justification has nothing to do with our sanctification. Two huge theological terms, but let me just break it down. When you believed in Jesus and you accept that his sacrifice for your life, you were justified. Made just as though you never were a sinner. That's what the blood of Jesus did for you. Then you start this process of sanctification. That's the whole thing in Ephesians chapter 2. Listen: "For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourself, it's a gift. It's the gift of God through Jesus. Not of works, you didn't earn it, God was merciful and gracious, he gave it. He gave you the gift of eternal life." That's justification.

Now sanctification is the next part of that, where it says, "And we are his workmanship." We're like this big lump of clay that became his that got plopped right down on the potter's wheel, and now he is shaping us and he's molding us. We're his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. And they should follow, which he foreordained that you should walk in them. But the good works have nothing to do with the salvation. If you believe that you're saved by your goodness, then you have the tail wagging the dog instead of the dog wagging the tail.

The night I got saved, I was changed. And I wasn't seeking him, he sought me. And after that, my tail started wagging. Whoo! I'm saved. I would walk around for days saying, "I'm saved. I am saved. I am saved. Can you believe it?" And my friends would say, "Saved from what? What happened?" "I'm saved from death, from hell, I'm saved. Can you believe it? A guy like me, saved." Went home to see my parents, walked in the door, first thing I yelled, "I'm saved!" They looked at me like, "Okay, what other trip are you on?" "I'm saved!" 50 years later, I still marvel. I'm saved. I'm going to heaven. I deserve hell, but he gave me heaven. I deserve death, but he gave me life. I deserved that miserable existence that I was living, but he gave me peace, joy, love. I'm saved. And this is how I know: because there's three that bear record in heaven and on earth. And I know that I know that I know. Do you know that you know that you know?

It's hard explaining to some people that don't know, but you know that you know that you know. You know. You know. You know. How many can do that this morning? You know. No doubt in your heart, you know you're saved. Amen? Let's stand, let's get the worship team up. Oh, we got through First John. Only took us four months. We'll try to get through Second and Third John each one a week, we'll try. Get through Jude about two weeks, and then we'll be in Revelation.