*Note: The recording cut off right before the end of the sermon. An approximation of the end of the sermon can be found below.
And John would have us ask, “Is the Jesus in whom I believe, the Jesus of the Bible?”
But if who Jesus is matters, how is the true Jesus known? Our second sub-point here, how Jesus is known. John uses the word for “testify” or “witness” 10 times in these verses. John points us to three witnesses who testify together about Jesus. There is the water and the blood, which I just talked about. Third, there is the Holy Spirit. The baptism and crucifixion point us back to historical events in the life of Jesus that bear witness to his ministry and work. The Holy Spirit then testifies to this historical work. And he does this in a number of ways. He inspired the God-breathed Scriptures as he enabled the testimony of the Apostles, bringing to remembrance the things Jesus said and did. But he also bears witness within us, as verse 10 says, “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself.” The Holy Spirit enables us to receive God’s testimony to Jesus as true.
John gives us here a number of reasons to accept this testimony. Frist, it comes from three agreeing sources. It is a biblical principle (places like Deuteronomy 19 and 2 Corinthians 13) that evidence is established by two or three witnesses. But most of all, this testimony is received because it is from God himself. Verse 9, “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater.” God has testified concerning his Son by his Spirit. To receive the message about Jesus is to believe God himself. But, to not believe is to disbelieve God himself and even (as verse 10 says) to call God a liar.
But why does all this matter (who Jesus is and all this information about testimonies)? Well, let’s look at our final sub-point, what Jesus gives. Our final two verses, “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” When we receive the testimony of God about Jesus, we aren’t just receiving a set of facts to assent to, we are receiving a person, Jesus himself, and in receiving Jesus, we receive life—eternal life!
This is the gospel to its very core! Life is received in Jesus alone! Life is in the Son of God, Jesus. To have Jesus is to have life, to not have Jesus is to not have life! The goal is not simply obtaining eternal life as its own isolated blessing; instead we receive Jesus Christ, and in receiving him, we receive life! Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life!
And one of the amazing things here is that in this verse eternal life is not merely a future reality. It was in verse 11 given (past tense) to us by God in the Son. And now whoever has the Son has (present tense) life! Our eternal hope of life in Christ is not merely a future dream but a new life received now. The Christian life isn’t lived merely dreaming of one day when we will finally have life while this life is one only of death and struggle. Yes, we won’t be perfected until the day of Christ’s return, but we have life in him even now! This should be a great encouragement to us!
If Christianity seems like an impossible endeavor to you, let me close by reminding you of this. The ultimate question is not, “How perfect have you been lately? Or have you got it all figured out? Or have you accomplished all the necessary spiritual tasks this week?” The ultimate question is, “Do you have Jesus?” If you have him, you have life, if you don’t have him, you don’t have life! And it is when we receive him by faith, that we are then enabled to grow, to obey, to be changed, and to do so with the freedom of receiving God’s commandments not as a to-do list to make ourselves right with God, but instead knowing that through faith God’s commands are not burdensome. When you grow discouraged, when you feel that the Christian life is impossible, look to Jesus, trust in Jesus and in him learn to love, overcome the world, and receive life eternal.
