Living to Believe God.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] We had a great time last week at our picnic. [0:03] If you were able to come out, the weather turned out to be rather beautiful for the [0:08] day, and I endured third degree burns on my face most of the week. [0:13] No accident, it was just the sun and I have red hair. [0:16] So that’s just my lot in life. [0:19] I didn’t put on any sunscreen because of the clouds and then the Lord chose to make me

[0:24] pay for it. [0:26] If you want to know where we’re going over the next few weeks, this week and next week [0:29] we’re going to be finishing up 1 John, going through chapter 5 towards the end of it next [0:34] week. [0:35] And then for the month of July, we’re going to have a series called Big Sea Little Sea, [0:40] which is about the local church and God’s plan to take redemption to the world through

[0:47] His church. [0:47] And we’re going to cover a lot of things about how the Big Sea, which is the universal [0:53] church is grown through the Little Sea, which is the local church, which we’re a part of [0:58] here at Village Church and we’re going to cover church membership. [1:01] We’re going to cover the most scary thing that any of you probably think about church [1:05] discipline on the third week.

[1:07] Now one of the reasons we’re going to be doing this series is really to unpack what we believe [1:13] as a staff here at Village Church about the local church as well as to lead us up to, [1:19] which July 27th, which is a Saturday morning, we’re going to have a three hour membership [1:24] matters class that morning. [1:27] And what’s going to be important that day is over the past year, we as a staff, we [1:33] as elders and those who volunteer with us have been really praying through what membership

[1:39] means at Village Church. [1:41] What does it mean to be a member? [1:42] How are we going to go through membership? [1:44] How are we going to teach membership? [1:46] How are we going to really push the Bible and biblical living into the lives of people [1:52] here at Village Church?

[1:53] And that’s something that we’re going to start really unfolding on Saturday morning, [1:57] July 27th. [1:59] And what we want it to be is a day that those of you who call Village Church home, this [2:04] is going to be the first time that we have any semblance of what is a membership class [2:08] here at Village Church. [2:09] And it’s just going to be a one time thing for three hours.

[2:12] And even if you are a covenant member here at Village Church, what we’re really doing [2:16] is we’re going to really kind of reboot all of our memberships. [2:20] We’re going to come back together and you can say after that, man, I had no idea you [2:25] guys thought that I’m out of here. [2:26] And you can just, you know, give us your membership covenant back. [2:29] I don’t know.

[2:30] But for those of you who really are curious and you really want to be at home here in [2:35] the village and you really just want to know more, it’s going to be a great morning for [2:38] that. [2:38] We’re going to cover our doctrine. [2:40] I’m going to spend about an hour unpacking what we believe. [2:43] And before that, go onto our website.

[2:45] We have a brief doctrinal statement on there, but we also have a PDF form on there that [2:52] you can click on. [2:53] You can see really extended statements about what we believe as a church, what the elders [2:58] believe, what we believe as a church. [3:01] And we’re also going to cover things like mission. [3:03] What’s our mission?

[3:04] Why is our mission statement worded the way that it is? [3:06] What is our core values? [3:08] Why did we form those? [3:10] What is our philosophy of ministry? [3:11] What matters to us as a church? [3:13] And we’re just going to spend a few hours unpacking that for everybody.

[3:17] There will be child care and there also will be towards the last part of that morning [3:21] we’re going to have some Q&A time so that when we say something wrong or we say something [3:27] that kind of sparks a question in your mind, you have some time to really ask us those [3:33] questions. [3:34] And so we’re going to try to do this once every quarter. [3:39] And this one’s going to be the first one.

[3:41] And so I just want to invite you, make every effort that you can on Saturday morning, [3:46] July 27th to be here for that. [3:48] And really the month of July we’re going to be preaching through that. [3:51] So really make every effort to be here on those Sunday mornings as well. [3:55] Join me right now in prayer. [3:58] Father, we come before you this morning humbled by your gospel.

[4:04] The reality that in our sin you redeem us. [4:09] Through the perfect righteousness, the perfect sacrifice, and the perfect resurrection of [4:14] your Son Jesus Christ. [4:16] This morning as we come to your word I pray that you would soften our hearts. [4:21] That you would speak through me, that you would speak to us as your body this morning. [4:27] Lord, I pray this morning that we would leave here changed by your word as must be our

[4:35] hope every time we read your word.

[4:40] Lord, may you be our God today and may we be the people who bring you glory through [4:45] our actions as well as our attitudes. [4:48] In the name of Jesus Christ I pray, amen. [4:51] If you have your Bibles, and I hope you do, open them up to 1 John chapter 5. [4:56] We’re going to cover from verse 6 through verse 12 this morning. [4:59] I just want to start by reading the entire passage and then we’re going to unpack it slowly.

[5:07] 1 John 5.6 reads this way. [5:11] This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. [5:17] Not by the water only, but by the water and the blood. [5:20] The Spirit is the one who testifies because the Spirit is the truth. [5:24] For there are three that testify, the Spirit and the water and the blood. [5:30] And these three agree.

[5:32] If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater. [5:38] For this is the testimony of God that he has born concerning his Son. [5:42] Whoever believes in the Son has the testimony in himself. [5:46] Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed in the testimony [5:51] that God has born concerning his Son. [5:53] And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life.

[5:59] And this life is in his Son. [6:01] Whoever has the Son has life. [6:05] Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

[6:11] When we’re forming a system of belief where our lives are concerned, [6:18] when we’re forming a vision for why we’re here on earth, [6:21] there are many competing voices that would lead us to really pour our lives into many [6:27] different things. [6:28] Pour our dreams into many different things. [6:30] Pour our goals, our families, our efforts, our actions, our attitudes into many different

[6:38] things. [6:39] And the reality is that as we walk through this life, many of us have a vision that we’re [6:45] just going to do the best that we can with what we’ve got. [6:48] And we’re going to go after the most fame, the most comfort, the most material possessions [6:55] that we can. [6:56] And we’re just going to do the best we can with the wisdom that we’ve got and hope it

[7:00] works out.

[7:03] And what this passage is going to teach us this morning is that that is not how God would [7:08] have us go through life. [7:11] That God himself has testified to us. [7:14] He has borne a witness into this world and has given us a truer vision for life than [7:21] we ourselves could come up with on our own. [7:25] And we are not left directionless by ultimate authority.

[7:30] But instead, God has given us objective truth as to how we can form a working vision for [7:40] life. [7:41] That we as a people can live a life in which we know what God has said and then after that [7:49] he gives us the strength, he gives us the power, but also the responsibility to live [7:56] a life believing God above everything else. [8:02] Because there are many competing voices that would convince us otherwise.

[8:08] That would convince us to pour our lives into many different things that ultimately fall [8:14] short of what God has done in the gospel. [8:19] The end of 1 John, these past, the last two sections that we’re going to cover this week [8:24] and next week are two of my favorite passages in this entire book. [8:28] Because what John is going to do is he is going to begin to summarize everything that [8:33] he has unpacked for the last four and a half chapters and give objective evidence as to

[8:41] what it means for everything that we do in life. [8:45] In our actions, in our beliefs, but also in the actions. [8:51] How will forgiveness change the way that you live life? [8:56] How will the reality that Jesus is an advocate who is for you change the way that you live? [9:02] How will the anointing of the Holy Spirit really shape you and begin to mold you into [9:08] a transformed reality that you never thought was possible for you to live in your life?

[9:15] And ultimately how will the relationships as well as the dreams that we have in our [9:20] lives be changed when they encounter the truth of the gospel of Jesus? [9:25] Because this is a book that is concerned primarily with two things. [9:31] Your life and your love. [9:34] And John’s goal then is to teach you how both of those are radically changed by who Jesus is. [9:43] He begins this section though with some words and some phrases that really can confuse us

[9:48] and can really bring us to a place where like I have no idea what he’s talking about. [9:52] How do water and blood witness to anything? [9:56] It’s a very strange way to say something to say the least. [10:01] But what he’s saying here ultimately is that everything that you do in life is based on your [10:07] belief about something. And what he’s doing here is he’s defending belief in Jesus Christ as the [10:15] Son of God and forgiveness of sins and your life then in God. And what he’s saying here in this very

[10:21] first part and then we’re going to unpack it. Point number one this morning is that the gospel [10:25] is true because of who Jesus is and what he has done. He begins by giving us two different [10:33] witnesses as he calls it and that is the water and the blood. And what I want to deal with first is [10:38] the water and then I want to unpack the blood. The water has really been kind of debated over the past [10:46] 2,000 years of church history. The blood only a little bit but the water even more than that. [10:51] And the water really has two primary references here. The first one is the birth of Jesus Christ.

[11:00] When you were talking about birth and I’m going to really try not to get too graphic here [11:05] but if you’re a mother or a father and you’ve ever been in a hospital room when your child is [11:10] born or in a bathtub I don’t know maybe you did it differently than I did. But there’s always these [11:18] phrases that we use even in medicine about water. The water breaks and that is kind of the [11:24] sustenance that’s been dealing with the baby for about nine months and that sustenance is taken away [11:29] and the baby is birthed through the birth canal and we’re born in water. The scripture is more

[11:35] remarking about here. But the water is a witness to who Jesus is because of the virgin birth. [11:42] What John is reckoning us to is what Jesus says himself in John chapter 3 when he unpacks what [11:48] it means to be born again to the Pharisee Nicodemus. And when he’s unpacking this he’s [11:54] pointing back to the miraculous birth that he himself experienced through Mary. No one else [12:00] has experienced a birth quite like Jesus Christ has. Jesus had an earthly mother but he did not [12:07] have an earthly father. So when he was born to Mary in his birth it was a miraculous birth

[12:14] that could only possibly point to one thing and that’s what Isaiah 714 gives us when it says [12:20] that a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a child and then in Matthew chapter 1 verse 23 [12:25] when Matthew records the revealed prophecy of this through Jesus Christ that Mary herself is [12:32] this virgin that would conceive and bear Jesus Christ. So later in this text when John writes [12:38] that God himself has born a witness concerning this that verbiage is not accidental but rather [12:46] it is referring back to the virgin birth of Jesus which shows that he is God. No one else has been

[12:53] born that way. This is a complete reversal of our understanding of biological birth for someone to [13:00] have an earthly father but rather the Holy Spirit himself conceived and brought forth Jesus. So when [13:07] he speaks of the witness of the water he’s speaking of a testimony that Jesus is God. Secondly he’s [13:13] speaking of the baptism of Jesus. That when Jesus goes to John the Baptist and he says I need to be [13:19] baptized John’s reaction that this is an amazing request from Jesus is because John the Baptist [13:25] knows that this is God and he says God I am not even worthy to unlace the sandals on your feet.

[13:33] How could I baptize you? And so Jesus convinces him and they go in the water and John baptizes [13:39] him and Jesus is lifted up out of the water and the dove which is the Holy Spirit descends upon [13:45] him and the father from heaven says in Matthew chapter 3 if I could get that up on the screen [13:50] the father says this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And so when he speaks of the [13:58] testimony and when he speaks of the witness of water he is referring to who Jesus is as God. [14:06] But then secondly he uses the testimony of the blood. The blood is a witness of Jesus’s atonement

[14:16] for sin. Point number two this morning is that Jesus sacrifice is a testimony of redemption [14:23] that is certain. As much as Jesus was God he was also human. The witness of blood is the witness [14:32] of his humanity. But the question then is begged. Why would God lower himself to become part of his [14:44] creation? This is the infinite God the one who has always existed. He is eternal. He spoke the [14:52] world into existence and John is testifying here throughout this entire book that this eternal God [14:58] actually came and became a human being in order to save sinners. But why would he do that? And

[15:06] when he references the blood he is referencing the humanity of Jesus that he had a physical body [15:13] but he is also referencing the purpose for which Jesus came. And in that purpose what we see [15:21] is the redemption of sin that God himself loved humanity enough to the point where he wanted to [15:29] come and redeem us for our sin. The blood speaks of his death on the cross. The cross was not an [15:35] accident or a failure of his mission but rather what Jesus was born to accomplish. Acts chapter [15:42] 8 says that not chapter 8 acts somewhere says sometimes when you know things get a little

[15:49] boggled up in here acts somewhere says that Jesus handed himself over as was predetermined before [15:56] the foundations of the earth to be crucified. It’s very tricky sometimes we look at the [16:02] crucifixion and we say oh what failure it was that we killed Jesus and we did our sin did but [16:09] Jesus lovingly and willfully gave himself over into the hands of Pontius Pilate over into the [16:16] hands of those centurions over into the hands of those who ridiculed him mocked him beat him [16:22] scourged him and then ultimately nailed him on the tree to die because of the great love for which

[16:29] he had for us. The blood of Jesus testifies to the great love that God would have for you and I [16:37] worthless sinners in our eyes compared to the great righteousness of God and in his love desired [16:43] to redeem us for his ultimate glory so that we could worship him forever. And so the blood of [16:50] Jesus is not an accident it is not something that we look at and we despise because it was a failure [16:56] but rather it is something that we look at and mourn because of our sin but hold up in great [17:01] reverence and glory and celebration because God desired to do it in order to save us. Colossians

[17:09] chapter 1 actually testifies that Jesus in his full deity the fact that he is God wanted to [17:18] reconcile us to himself and he does that through his blood on the cross that he came to make the [17:26] sacrifice for sin. That God came to redeem us on the cross and Jesus took the punishment that we [17:35] deserve onto himself. But the question is why was punishment even necessary? Why is a testimony or a [17:43] witness from blood even necessary? It seems violent it seems corrupt. That’s because any time wrong [17:50] is done there is a part of the image of God in us that screams out for justice. Whenever we see a

[17:58] child murdered or whenever we see money stolen or whenever we see a great travesty done in this life [18:03] it cries out inside of us that there must be justice because that is something that a holy God [18:09] desires in his perfection there is no place for sin and so when wrong is done there is a necessity [18:16] for justice and your sin is no different your sin requires justice because you have broken God’s [18:26] law that he has made clear from eternity past that in a perfect righteous and holy God’s presence [18:34] sin is unacceptable so you and I deserve punishment from God we deserve to be condemned

[18:46] out of his presence forever because you and I are completely impure in his sight but in his great [18:54] mercy rather than condemn us rather than pour his wrath on us for eternity in hell Jesus comes [19:04] and he takes our place Jesus willfully says I will endure the shame I will endure the wrath [19:13] on your behalf and on the cross what we see is the perfect son of God shedding perfect blood [19:23] for you and for me he bled and died and when he did this he made the atonement sacrifice that was [19:30] necessary for our sin and we must never tire of reflecting on this Hebrews chapter 9 verse 14

[19:38] puts it this way how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered [19:44] himself without blemish to God purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God [19:53] I deserve to die but the blood of Jesus testifies that the debt of my sin has been paid [20:00] and I am in the prison of sin no longer I am completely cleansed I am completely purified [20:08] not because of something that I have done but because of everything that God has done on my [20:13] behalf and now I can actually live to serve that God because my account is made clean by Jesus

[20:20] his righteousness has been counted towards me and my sin has been counted towards him [20:25] this is what is meant in theology by penal substitutionary atonement that we had a debt [20:31] of justice that we owe to God and Jesus came took our place and endured the penalty of sin [20:37] which completely atoned for it and gives us forgiveness there is simply nothing greater [20:43] in life than this to reflect on that amazing reality we must continuously come back to the [20:54] atonement we must never move past it but always remind ourselves of who we are in light of who

[21:01] God is and his great love for us if we are to have any hope of living a life with a vision [21:09] that is me believing God above any other witness that he testifies to my certain redemption [21:20] through him and him alone but there is a third witness and that witness then in the text [21:29] is the spirit of God we note that in the end of chapter 6 he says in the spirit is the one who [21:37] testifies because the spirit is the truth and so what he is doing is he is putting the spirit [21:43] over top of these other two witnesses because if you’ll note that in the birth of Jesus we see

[21:49] through scripture that the Holy Spirit bore him we see that on the cross it’s the Holy Spirit that [21:56] empowers him and then ultimately it’s the Holy Spirit that gives him strength for resurrection [22:01] and then ultimately he says it is the spirit inside of us that will testify to the truth [22:08] of who Jesus is look in John chapter 3 verse 5 Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus here and he says [22:17] truly truly I say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom [22:27] of God there’s a direct parallel between these two passages because what Jesus is speaking to

[22:33] Nicodemus here is the reality that his righteousness is not sufficient and that in order to be in the [22:40] life of the kingdom of God he himself must be born of what Jesus is doing what he’s saying is that he [22:49] must have the life of God that we must be born again through the water and the spirit and we [22:55] must experience real change Titus chapter 3 verse 5 echoes this speaking of the washing and renewal [23:02] which comes from the spirit look at it he saved us Paul says of Jesus not because of works done [23:08] by us in righteousness but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal

[23:16] of the Holy Spirit what he’s saying is that the virgin birth that Jesus has that the picture that [23:22] happens in the baptism of Jesus they do not simply serve to show us who Jesus is but they also serve [23:30] to show us what must happen to us in order to experience the life that God has for us [23:38] everything must change he’s so extreme to this that he actually makes the statement that we [23:45] must actually go through something that seems like we’re being born all over again that everything [23:53] in us is going to be renewed every vision that we ever have every purpose that we ever thought we

[24:00] existed for everything because before we lived lives of sin Ephesians chapter 2 says that we were [24:06] actually dead in our sin unable to do anything that would please God but in Jesus when that sin [24:15] is taken away and we actually come to life and see God for who he really is everything changes [24:27] this is what is meant by transformation and the Holy Spirit that when Jesus comes to us when we have [24:36] faith when we are redeemed God the Spirit the same one that rose Jesus from the dead comes into our [24:45] life and actually lives in us he washes over us in regeneration to give us a new direction to give us

[24:55] a new life to give us a new vision that’s unlike anything that we can experience apart from God [25:05] how though do we have the life of God in paying our debt of sin and overcoming death Jesus brings [25:11] the life of the Holy Spirit that anointed him in his baptism to us and this is the witness that [25:19] gives us eternal life Romans chapter 8 verse 16 says that in our lives in our hearts the Spirit [25:28] himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and so what he moves towards there [25:37] is this interesting reality that he’s showing all of these objective truths that we see in history

[25:44] these tangible realities that Jesus is God and he says but what’s even greater than the external [25:53] reality is going to be the internal reality of what happens inside of you because of what Jesus [26:02] has done and note what he says next in first John 5 verse 9 he says if we receive the testimony of [26:13] men the testimony of God is greater for this is the testimony of God that he has born concerning [26:23] his son verse 10 whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony where in himself whoever [26:34] does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed in the testimony that God has

[26:39] concerning his son he’s saying in there that the greatest evidence that you’re going to experience [26:45] in your life is the testimony that God actually does inside of you through the great change that [26:52] this testimony is going to make in you that the life of God in Jesus is going to be ultimate reality [26:59] to you and the reality then is that the gospel is trustworthy point three because of God’s authority [27:05] over everything he starts this section when he says the testimony that’s happening inside of you [27:12] is trustworthy but he starts verse 9 and he says that when you have the testimony of two or three

[27:21] men you believe it referencing the book of Deuteronomy where it actually says that when [27:29] you have the testimony of two or three witnesses it’s something that’s to be believed is true [27:34] he’s laying out how to actually enforce the law and the reality when you have a few people [27:41] testifying to the exact same thing it’s probably trustworthy but then note what he says he says [27:47] you would believe three people that you know if they came to you and said something’s true [27:53] you’d agree with it if you trust them he says understand that if that is what you’re basing

[28:00] your choices on if that is what you’re basing eyewitness testimony on how much greater than [28:06] is the testimony of God than men that’s why he gives three witnesses the spirit the water [28:17] the blood he says God has done everything to show you the truth of what you need to believe [28:27] concerning Jesus Christ gives you the virgin birth never happened before he gives you his death on [28:39] the cross that no one can lay a claim to sin against Jesus and yet he’s still crucified [28:50] for our behalf what was his great sin that he was crucified for proclaiming that he is God

[29:02] thirdly the resurrection from the dead

[29:06] no one else has done this no one else can under their own power rise physically [29:13] from the dead and yet many will say these witnesses they’re good but I need more I need [29:24] more proof I need more evidence and what John is saying here when he says the testimony of God [29:31] must be greater is that God himself has come and born witness concerning his son Jesus that he is [29:40] the redeemer he is the one to whom your hope must go to him and in him alone is salvation [29:48] and you say give me something else and what John’s saying there is anything else and anyone else

[29:54] that could give you better evidence than that would then be God if God himself is not enough [30:02] then your heart is hard and you do not have faith the fact that you would say God your witness [30:16] is not enough is you saying God I want to see someone greater than you and John’s point is [30:27] friend there’s no one greater than God he is the greatest he is the holiest he is the most perfect [30:37] and what you’re looking for doesn’t exist because in him and him alone is righteousness God is [30:46] greater than everything therefore his testimony is to be trusted above all others because of that

[30:59] we must trust God above even ourselves look in first Corinthians chapter 2 first Corinthians [31:09] 2 verses 12 through 14 read this way now we have received not the spirit of the world but the [31:17] spirit who is from God that we might understand the things freely given us by God and we impart [31:24] this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the spirit interpreting spiritual [31:31] truths to those who are spiritual note verse 14 the natural person does not accept the things of [31:38] spirit of God for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are

[31:45] spiritually discerned even for those of us who have come to faith in Jesus Christ there is until [31:53] we experience life in the kingdom of God in which God brings us to himself completely eradicates our [31:59] sin completely eradicates any struggle from inside of us makes us completely whole completely [32:04] perfect in his presence until then there’s going to be a struggle inside of you there’s going to [32:08] be a tension between sin and righteousness and there is a natural man that will attempt to defy [32:17] the truth of God defy the vision of God and that natural man is sin what he’s saying there is is

[32:26] that those who do not know God cannot possibly comprehend the work of the Holy Spirit DL Moody [32:33] once said that attempting to read the scriptures without the Holy Spirit is attempting to avoid [32:39] rainfall without an umbrella he’s saying you simply cannot do it because the natural person [32:45] is completely saturated in sin and we need the power of the spirit to give us the message of God [32:53] and so in this reality we must understand that there is going to be a natural person inside of [32:58] struggling and fighting and warring against that which the spirit would reveal to us is true

[33:04] and the problems that you experience in your relationship with God are not about God [33:09] but rather they are about the temptation that takes place inside of you to distrust God [33:14] and I want to talk about four areas that the natural person will fight against us in the [33:19] first area that we see in first John is guilt we struggle with guilt not believing that we are [33:28] good enough for God look at first John chapter 1 verse 7 there at the very beginning he writes [33:35] but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood

[33:41] of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin do you see that objective truth there that when you come [33:50] into relationship with God and he transforms your life he changes you he cleanses you from all sin [34:01] the term that’s used there means all sin there’s no sin that’s left over there’s no guilt that’s in [34:10] your life where God is concerned you are cleansed completely and so when the voice of guilt and sin [34:17] come into your life he’s saying you must trust the testimony of the spirit you must trust the [34:24] testimony of the water you must trust the testimony of the blood God is not counting your sin against

[34:31] you so stop counting it against yourself oftentimes we disqualify ourselves from being used by [34:40] God because of testimonies that happen inside of us that are not from the voice of God [34:46] from the voice of ourselves giving us guilt giving us shame putting baggage on our shoulders [34:54] you’re not good enough God doesn’t love you God can’t use you you’re not smart enough who do [35:01] you think you are why in the world do you think Jesus recruited fishermen and publicans to be [35:09] his disciples and revolutionize the world through the gospel of Jesus to give us some encouragement

[35:15] is what I believe is that God can use them maybe he can use us but what’s greater is is that it’s [35:25] not about us it’s about the power of the spirit inside of us he says do not depend on the natural [35:32] man rather depend on the spiritual man depend on the anointing of the holy spirit that he talks [35:37] about in chapters three and chapters four of first John that God has given you freely he says [35:42] don’t just follow me under your own strength you’re going to fail that’s why I’ve anointed you with [35:47] the power of the spirit the eternal God that’s always existed the one who rose Jesus up from the

[35:53] dead the one that empowered him to do miracles in this world he’s saying you have my power live by [35:59] it for my glory do not believe that God cannot use a sinner such as you I can say that with [36:08] great confidence because he uses a sinner such as me and throughout history he’s used great sinners [36:15] to bring himself glory but here’s the reality they didn’t find their identity in sin they found [36:22] their identity in the one that God has born concerning his son Jesus Christ that Jesus [36:31] is good enough Jesus is righteous enough Jesus is powerful enough so depend on Jesus to obey God

[36:40] when you depend on yourself you’re left with nothing but worthless effort that leaves you at [36:45] the end of the day exhausted and questioning whether or not you’re a failure at life [36:50] under my own strength I’m a great failure when I depend on me I’m exhausted when I depend on God [36:58] I’m righteous when I depend on God I can obey his mission I can live for something greater [37:06] than myself I can live for something that is greater than this world friends I really hone [37:13] in on this guilt thing because I believe it is what is stopping some of you from experiencing

[37:18] the life that God has for you the cross of Jesus Christ says your debt has been paid your sin has [37:28] been vanquished you’ve been cleansed you’ve been regenerated you’ve been washed by the blood of [37:33] the lamb and you’ve been made whole into the life of the Holy Spirit to build his church [37:39] and when you choose lesser visions and lesser goals it’s because you’re not trusting the [37:47] testimony of God on your behalf all right the other natural man that will rise up in us is the [37:55] false view of self-authority this is what will happen inside of you when you say I believe God

[38:03] so long as he agrees with me has that ever happened you ever struggle with that you know what you [38:12] do but you know that it doesn’t agree with God’s mission in your life you know it’s kind of [38:18] contrary to scripture and you say I think I’ve got a little more wisdom here I think I know me [38:23] a little bit better than maybe God does this is a lie friends this text says if you’re going to [38:32] trust the testimony of men how much greater can you trust the testimony of God what that’s saying [38:37] is don’t trust the testimony of yourself better than you trust the testimony of God you are who

[38:42] God says you are and you must do what God says you must do and it’ll give you the strength to do [38:48] it so when you say oh what a burden it is to have to obey God what the text says there in verses 9 [38:55] and 10 is that you’re actually calling God a liar you’re saying God I’m smarter than you God I know [39:03] more than you and you would never dare if you’re a follower of Jesus you would never dare speak [39:09] that would you but friend you would dare act that way many of us are struggling through life [39:19] from one disappointment to the next and we’re living unfulfilled struggling in many things and

[39:24] most of it is because we are exerting self-authority over ourselves and authority only belongs to God

[39:32] and that is what the testimony of the spirit testifies to us that we should believe God above [39:38] believing ourselves therefore our self-authority is illegitimate it’s sinful at best we must repent [39:44] of that and trust God also the natural man will have false conceptions of love but a lie to us [39:52] and say well you know what if they really loved me they would accept me for who I am all the [39:57] pimples all the thorns all the wrongs all the sins how dare they tell me I need to change

[40:06] friends that’s not love that’s hate and this world has given us a false definition of what love [40:12] is the gospel cries out that we constantly must change by God’s grace I will experience changing [40:19] it closer to God until the day that I die and I see him face to face and if that’s true biblically [40:25] then friend you must too continue to grow continue to change continue to repent until the day you die [40:33] and that is what first john 3 16 means when it says that he laid his life down for us that’s what [40:39] first john chapter 4 means when it says that we must realize that God is love that is giving him

[40:46] the authority then to define love through the power of the cross which is a great agent of change [40:51] in our lives and screams out to us that love will always bring you closer to obedience to God [40:58] and so when those whom love you come into your life and beg of you to repent of sin and beg of [41:05] you to get closer to obedience to God and beg of you to live the mission and beg of you to come [41:11] into community and beg of you to be a missionary for Jesus Christ and beg of you to truly repent [41:16] of sin so that you can love others those are the people that love you and that voice inside of you

[41:23] that says well I’ve changed enough for this year I’m just going to do my own thing for you [41:27] the rest of the year and if they love me they’ll accept me that is the voice of the natural man [41:32] that is denying the testimony of the spirit in your life finally we see

[41:40] that our purpose must change that often many of us believe that we have a more righteous purpose [41:48] than even God himself has and that living the vision of the gospel in this world may be good [41:53] for some other people but I God has something else for me that’s not true

[42:02] finally this morning to believe God is to allow him to define life and love

[42:09] started out this morning by saying that there’s two main ingredients about ourselves that we see [42:15] at the end of first John and that is that this is a book that’s all about God changing our life [42:19] and it’s all about God changing our love that to believe the gospel is to accept God’s authority [42:26] over ourselves verse 11 the scripture says and this is the testimony that God gave us [42:35] eternal life excuse me and this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life and this life is [42:42] in his son whoever has the son has life whoever does not have the son does not have life

[42:52] John is beginning to book in this letter to the church he’s coming to a conclusion and therefore [42:58] starting to summarize what he’s been discussing so far by showing the impact for us first we see [43:05] that Jesus came to redeem life in this book and throughout the New Testament we see the phrase [43:11] eternal life over and over and over we see this phrase used above our vision for what life is [43:19] being and what Jesus is doing and what the the apostles are doing when they write the New Testament [43:24] what they’re doing is they’re setting one above the other they’re saying that life in the here

[43:30] and now needs to be defined by eternal life that anything that matters now ultimately [43:41] is something that will matter always in eternal life so what he’s doing is he’s saying that [43:48] everything in life must ultimately come to Jesus and then go through him in faith that Jesus has [43:56] more for us than we have for ourselves many of us struggle to see the relevance of the testimony of [44:03] Jesus because we do not live lives where faith in him really has any value we’re not entering [44:10] environments where faith is even necessary we’re not exercising our redemption but rather

[44:15] just going along with this world friends this too makes God a liar you cannot follow God in theory [44:24] and not follow him in practice the witness of God demands a life lived with dependence upon [44:30] him as being truthful [44:35] love always points to God as well where’s love in this redemption is what love is all about [44:47] we must saturate everything around us with the love of Jesus to give others hope we must redefine [44:55] what we believe love is and what this world constantly barrages us with

[45:01] as saying this is what love really is just you be you just go after your own happiness [45:09] your happiness is above everything else the gospel doesn’t give us that reality the gospel [45:18] gives us gives us the reality that what Jesus did was for the hope of others in knowing God [45:24] so if you truly want joy which is always greater than happiness friends you will follow after Jesus [45:33] so that others may also follow after Jesus as well this is what we saw in first John 1 3 through 4 [45:41] let me ask you something as we close how’s the witness of God and Jesus affecting your life

[45:48] how’s the witness of God and Jesus affecting your relationships [45:53] is there real forgiveness coming out of you from the spirit of God [45:58] or are you living lives of constant resentment towards others and maybe even resentment towards [46:03] yourself what in your relationships shows the spirit’s witness in your life [46:11] is it all about you or is it all about giving people God the witness of God must affect all [46:20] if we want to love we’ve got to believe God above everything else you must have Jesus to have life

[46:32] he closes he says something that’s [46:35] very hard he says something great first he says whoever has the sun has life [46:43] but then he warns us he’s fighting our definition of love here he’s saying whoever does not have [46:51] the sun does not have life i believe he’s directly referencing John chapter 3 in this section [47:03] in John chapter 3 verses 17 and 18 Jesus says it this way

[47:10] this is for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that [47:15] the world might be saved through him whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does [47:21] not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God

[47:30] John means to drive us towards Jesus constantly John means to drive into our lives that it is all [47:39] about Jesus and without Jesus you have nothing there’s nothing greater that you can give your [47:47] life to there’s nothing greater that you can pursue in effort there’s nothing greater that [47:52] you can expel your actions towards than Jesus Christ in this great gospel that he gives us [47:58] to save our lives and the lives of those around us through our witness [48:04] because friend if we believe that those who do not have Jesus do not have life and will be

[48:11] condemned as Jesus himself says they will it is not loving to keep that away from them [48:20] it is not loving to point them towards anything else and what i mean by that is that is through [48:26] our words as well as our actions so as the band comes up i want to ask you this morning

[48:34] God has come to give you life God has come to give you transformation God has come to give you

[48:44] himself along with so much more there’s nothing greater that you can live for [48:52] I love that John uses the testimony of the water and the blood

[48:58] because what he also gives us in our lives is a testimony of water and blood for our redemption [49:04] doesn’t he when we’re baptized we enter into the life of God it represents the washing of

[49:15] the blood of God and we do this every week at village church that when we come and we take [49:26] the bread when we come and we take the cup what we’re doing is is we are testifying to one another [49:33] about our mutual belief that Jesus is the son of God who died for our sin and rose to give us new [49:44] life the Holy Spirit is active in our lives that he is moving us closer and closer in relationship [49:55] with God and worship of him in every day of our lives that we are a people on a journey that those [50:02] who do not believe in Jesus are not on because we believe that God came we believe that God forgives

[50:13] and in a moment I’m going to invite you to one of the six stations around here to proclaim [50:20] your belief that you want to live believing God [50:28] and maybe you’re in here and you say I don’t believe God but I want to I need Jesus

[50:38] friend today is the day of salvation for you that you can begin a relationship with God today [50:47] that will endure with you through eternity in heaven and if that’s you this morning [50:56] I’m going to ask that you don’t come to the table you don’t partake in communion because [51:00] because you can’t testify that you believe that it’s not that I think you’re a less than [51:04] it’s that I don’t want you to lie I want this to be a place where you can be honest where you can [51:11] be truthful where you can be who you are and hope in Jesus for your redemption and if that’s you

[51:19] this morning I want you to trust Jesus I’d love to talk to you about it I’ll be over here there [51:25] will be some in the foyer that would love to have a conversation with you I’d love to pray with you [51:29] I’d love to tell you what it means to trust in Jesus the truth is you don’t need me

[51:36] you simply need to trust in God for the redemption of your sins today and he’ll change your life

[51:45] forever confess your sins trust in Jesus when you’re ready come