Christian, You Are Victorious Over The World Because You Believe God’s Testimony (1 John 5:5-12)
Last week we ended by discussing the victory we have over the world, which is our faith. Now, John is going to dive deep into this idea and expose the wrong views of the heretics at the same time here in 1 John 5:5-12.
I find John’s response to the situation to be far removed from what people do today. John didn’t tell them to search their feelings to see whether they were a believer. What did he do?
He looked at them and said, “God has given you the testimony of who His Son is and what He did. Trust in Christ.” What is the victory over the world? Our faith.
C.S. Lewis wrote a book called, “The Screwtape Letters” in which he imagines a veteran demon mentoring another demon in the ways of tempting humans. The veteran demon states that “the horror of The Same Old Thing” is very effective at derailing humans. According to Screwtape, the veteran demon, it is “one of the most valuable passions we have produced in the human heart.” (C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, Chapter 25)
I have long been afraid that rather than look to the old, old story of our faith, that people of our day and time will always be searching for what is new and what is novel. People will oftentimes go to church and mistake fog machines and light shows for the real deal. We don’t look for the new and the novel. We don’t chase after emotional experiences. We rest in the “old, old story” of “our faith”. And those who do so are victorious.
Christian, You Are The Victor (1 John 5:5)
John begins with a rhetorical question that is intended to really drive home a point that John was making at the end of the last sermon. Who is it that has overcome the world? “the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:5 ESV) The person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God has overcome the world. They are the ones who find God’s commandments to not be burdensome, because they have been born again (1 John 5:4). It is they who love God and love their brothers and sisters in Christ (1 John 5:1-3). It is the person who believes that Jesus is who the Apostles said He was that has overcome the world.
The Christian is the victor over the world. We are told that we are being left behind and are losing in this society. We are being told that Christianity is falling to the wayside as more and more people choose to be no religion at all. Over and over we are hearing that we are weak and about to be crushed by the world. And we shake our fist in defiance and say “No!”
It is not the person that claims a different faith that is the victor. It is not the person who claims that we’re a bunch of closed-minded bigots because we take the words of Christ literally and hold to what the Church has held to for 1000’s of years who is the victor. It is the person who believes the testimony of the Apostles who is the victor over the world.
So, live as if you are victorious. Why should you approach life and our church’s life with a defeatist attitude? Why should we act as if things can never change?
You are victorious over the world. How are you handling the sin in your life? He just said that the commandments are not burdensome. Are you fighting them? Or are you living life as if your pet sin is just stuck with you on a ball and chain tied to your leg for the rest of your life? You’re not a slave to sin anymore. You are not a prisoner to the ways of this world. You have been rescued by finished work of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit in the New Birth. Now, go forth as a victor in this world.
Why are we scared to do the right thing? And why do we allow that fear to paralyze us? Go forth triumphantly into the world, for you are a victor through the finished work of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Why are we afraid to share the gospel with our neighbors, friends and family? What does it matter if you get rejected? You are a victor in this life whether they like your message or not.
Christian, what are you? You are a victor because you have believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And now, John will explain again who Jesus is.
God Has Told Us Who Jesus Is (1 John 5:6-10)
God the Son took on human flesh and was always both God and man throughout His entire life. The heretics taught that Jesus became who He was only after His baptism and before His death. They did not believe that He really died on the cross either but only appeared to do so. But here John wants to directly assault the beliefs of the heretics and say that Jesus was always the Son of God. God the Son took on human flesh in the womb of Mary, really died, and really rose from the grave. He is still embodied and seated at the right hand of God.
Now, this gives us some clarity in thinking through a text whose meaning has been debated for a long time.
“This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ, not by the water only but by the water and the blood.” (1 John 5:6a ESV)
Jesus was always God and man. He was the perfect Godman when He was baptized. And He was the perfect Godman when He died on the cross, where He really did die on the cross. From womb to now Jesus is that perfect Godman.
God the Son took on human flesh when He was born of the Virgin Mary. God made flesh lived on this Earth among people, as the perfect Godman. He was made human but still God. He lived a perfect life, accomplishing all righteousness. And He died on the cross where He paid the full punishment for sin on behalf of all who would ever believe. And three days later, Jesus rose from the grave having accomplished our right standing with God and conquered the power of sin and death. And He was 100% God and 100% man, as He remains even now.
John now states that the Holy Spirit testifies of the truth of this (1 John 5:6). And the reason for this is that “the Spirit is the truth” (1 John 5:6 ESV). The Holy Spirit testifies to the truth of who Jesus is and what He accomplished. When we consider all that was discussed in the passage last week, we find an incredible linking of the two ideas. God the Holy Spirit has causes us to believe rightly about who Jesus is through the new birth (1 John 5:1). Now He is stating that the Holy Spirit comes forth as a witness to testify to who Jesus is.
Now, John states that God has brought forth three witnesses to the truth of who Jesus is. The three witnesses are: the water, or Jesus’s baptism, the blood, or Jesus’s death, and the Holy Spirit testifying to the truth of who Jesus is. This may seem strange at first, but when we ponder these events it is quite plain what John is saying. At Jesus’s baptism the miraculous occurred.
“And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:32-34 ESV)
The Holy Spirit landed upon Jesus and testified to Jesus’s being the Son of God at Jesus’s baptism.
And then at the death of Christ we see the second testimony that John brings to bare.
“But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness–his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth–that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” (John 19:33-37 ESV)
Here, John witnesses the other people having their bones broken and not Jesus’s and understands when the water and the blood flow out of Him that it fulfilled Psalm 34:20 and Zechariah 12:10. He understood that the soldiers deciding not to break Jesus’s legs, but rather to piece Him with a spear was no accident. For John it was a second testimony to who Jesus was.
And now, added to these two events is the work of the Holy Spirit who testifies to every believer who Jesus is.
All three of these witnesses agree. John is saying that God has brought forth three witnesses that state that the heretics are wrong and he and the other Apostles are right. The three witnesses agree. They corroborate each other’s testimony.
Furthermore, John wants us to know that we receive the testimony of people every day. Every day we hear from people and believe what they say. But this is different. In this case, God Himself has borne witness concerning who Jesus is. And we are obligated to believe this message.
The person who believes this testimony, that God the Son took on human flesh and accomplished our salvation for us has that testimony in their self. They have eternal life. They are part of that fellowship with God and with the Apostles that John discussed at the beginning of 1 John. But the person who does not believe is calling God a liar (1 John 5:10).
Why would John say that the person who does not believe is calling God a liar?
Well, the reason is quite simple really. It is “because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning His son” (1 John 5:10b ESV) God has brought forth irrefutable testimony of who Jesus was. And He has gone to the trouble of giving us the three witnesses that John mentions here. And so, the one not believing God’s testimony is calling God a liar.
Unbelief is not neutral. God has testified to the facts of who Jesus is and the one who rejects that is calling God a liar.
Our culture tends to think of faith as something you can choose to do, or not to do and it really doesn’t matter what you decide. “Believe, don’t believe, that’s not what matters, go be yourself!” is something I have heard people say over and over. And I’m sure you have too. But that is not how God thinks of belief and unbelief.
You have been confronted with the truth of Jesus Christ. Will you trust in Him or will you not? If you believe God’s testimony, then trust in Him. If you do not believe what God has testified concerning Jesus, then call Him a liar. There is no middle ground. God has testified as to who Jesus is. Do you believe what He has said?
The One Who Believes Has Eternal Life (1 John 5:11-12)
The person who believes the testimony that God has given concerning Jesus has eternal life. What is eternal life? Jesus answered that question in the Gospel of John.
“And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent.” (John 17:3 ESV)
Those who have trusted God’s testimony about who Jesus is has eternal life and the one who does not believe that testimony does not. The one who believes has fellowship with God that was accomplished through the finished work of Christ.
John does not beat around the bush here. He gets right to the point. God has testified concerning His Son and those who believe, or trust in that message that He delivered to us through the Apostles and through those three witnesses has fellowship with Him. Those who do not believe that do not have life.
God is God and we are creatures. God is righteous and we fell into sin. God has made one way for us to be brought into His fellowship again and it is through what He testified concerning His Son.
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 ESV)
Conclusion
We oftentimes feel defeated and not very victorious. But here John tells us that it is we who are the victorious ones. It is the person who has believed God’s testimony concerning His Son that has fellowship with Him and thus the victory.
What is it that you believe today? God has testified concerning His Son. Do you believe what He has said? Have you trusted in Christ?
R. Dwain Minor