[0:00] 1 John chapter 5, verse 6 through 12. If you are there, would you please stand with me as we honor the reading of God's word together.
[0:27] ! This is He who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. Not by the water only, but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
[0:41] For there are three that testify, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that He has borne concerning His Son.
[0:57] Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in Himself. Whoever does not believe God has made Him a liar, because He has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning His Son.
[1:09] 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 does not have life.
[1:22] May God add a blessing to the reading of His word. Would you please be seated? In John 18, Jesus is being questioned by Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea.
[1:37] Jesus is before Pilate because the Jewish leaders desired His death. And to achieve that goal, they needed Roman approval.
[1:48] So after arresting Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, they hauled Him away to the house of the high priest and held mock trials to formulate charges that they could present to Pilate early that same morning.
[2:06] Now, it's important to understand that the Jews hated the Romans. They were under Roman occupation and Roman rule, and they despised that.
[2:21] They hated Pilate's presence in their holy city, especially as they were about to celebrate the Passover, a day which marks God's delivering them from Egyptian oppression.
[2:39] Pilate normally stationed himself in the nearby city of Caesarea, but he made sure to be in Jerusalem during the Passover to suppress any thoughts, any ideas, or attempts to riot against Rome's presence in that region.
[2:59] But as much as the Jews hated Gentiles, as much as they hated Rome, as much as they hated Pilate, they hated Jesus more.
[3:13] They were willing to befriend an enemy to put an end to Jesus' ministry once and for all. Why did they so desperately seek Jesus' death?
[3:27] I think Jesus summarized it well in John 7, 7, where there He was talking to His brothers who had yet to come to faith in Him. They would later after His resurrection.
[3:38] But He said to them, The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil. Jesus testified to the truth about humanity.
[3:50] He testified to the reality of our sinfulness, and the reality of how our sinfulness separates us from our holy Creator.
[4:03] And people didn't like that. Why didn't they like it? Well, Jesus explained in one place in John 3, 19 through 20. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
[4:21] For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. The Bible says that people are born with a sin nature and a desire to sin.
[4:35] Instead of agreeing with God about what He says sin is, they refuse to come to the light. They reject Him as the source and as the author of truth, choosing instead to cling tightly to their definition of sin, their definition of what is good and what is evil, taking it upon themselves to redefine what those things mean.
[5:09] Jesus never sinned. He never said anything that wasn't true. He never testified to anything that was false.
[5:20] All of His miracles affirmed His testimony that He is the Son of God and the Messiah. But, Jesus was not the Messiah.
[5:39] He was not the God that sinful people wanted. They desired a different kind of Messiah, a different kind of God, a different definition of truth.
[5:52] They rejected Jesus. They rejected His testimony about Himself. They rejected Jesus' testimony about themselves, and they sought to shut His mouth by shutting His dead body in a tomb.
[6:10] But again, to accomplish their goal, they needed both the assistance and the approval of Rome.
[6:21] Now, let's jump back ahead to John 18. There it says, They led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters.
[6:32] It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover. Now, here John is showing the irony of this situation, the hypocrisy of these men who were diligent to maintain external appearances so that they could keep their religious customs while ignoring the exceedingly worse internal defilement of their hearts as they were seeking to put Jesus to death.
[7:03] In verse 29 of John 18, it says, So Pilate went outside to them and said, What accusation do you bring against this man? They answered him, If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.
[7:18] The good that Jesus did, they defined as evil. Then after a little back and forth, Pilate brought Jesus inside to question him.
[7:30] And his line of questioning centered around the Jewish leader's claims that Jesus said he is the king of the Jews. Why would Pilate, a Roman, a Gentile, care about that?
[7:45] Well, Roman history is a bloody history. The Romans shed blood to gain power and to maintain power.
[7:56] They had a history of civil wars, different men vying to be Caesar, vying to be king, which resulted in the death of many Romans.
[8:08] Jesus lived on earth during a time called the Pax Romana, that means the peace of Rome, a time when the Romans sought to maintain political stability and economic prosperity.
[8:20] With all in agreement that there is one king, there is one Caesar. So anyone who challenged Rome's rule or Rome's Caesar was a potential threat, and any potential threat to that, they took very seriously, especially in Judea, where people were known to riot and revolt.
[8:43] So Pilate starts asking Jesus questions about his being the king of the Jews. And Jesus explains that his kingdom is not of this world. Let's pick up their conversation in John 18, 37 through 38.
[8:58] Then Pilate said to him, so you are a king. Jesus answered, you say that I am a king? For this purpose, I was born, and for this purpose, I have come into the world, and this is what I want you to see, to bear witness to the truth, to bear witness to the truth.
[9:19] Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. And Pilate said to him, what is truth? Pilate wasn't asking Jesus to answer that question.
[9:34] His question is asked rhetorically. It's asked cynically. In a way, Pilate was ahead of his time. He would fit right in in our day and age that no one has a monopoly on truth.
[9:51] No one has the same definition of truth. There is no absolute truth. Even though that statement is expressed absolutely. Here is the thing that I want you to see.
[10:06] All the external evidence available to Pilate that day pointed in one direction. The trustworthiness of Jesus' testimony.
[10:20] After questioning Jesus, Pilate told the Jewish leaders and the mob they assembled that he found him not guilty, that he found no guilt in him. He tried to reason with them.
[10:32] He presented Barabbas to them as an option. Hey, you can have Jesus go or Barabbas, this guy we know is guilty of the things that he did.
[10:44] But that didn't work. Matthew recalls additional evidence that Pilate was aware of that likewise pointed to the trustworthiness of Jesus' testimony in Matthew 27, 18 through 19.
[11:01] For he, Pilate, knew that it was out of envy that they, that's the Jewish leaders, had delivered him up and him as Jesus. Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him in a dream.
[11:21] However, the external evidence did not lead Pilate to return to Jesus and ask him sincerely, what is truth?
[11:39] Ultimately, Pilate rejects Jesus' testimony. He rejects him as a witness to the truth. The truth for Pilate on this day was that Jesus was a major inconvenience.
[11:56] Matthew 27, 24 says, so when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and he washed his hands before the crowd, saying, I am innocent of this man's blood.
[12:10] See to it yourself. Externally, Pilate, like the Jews who brought Jesus to him, thought he was doing the right thing.
[12:24] He believed that politically and socially the best thing that he could do was reject Jesus and move on with his life. Like all of us, Pilate will appear before Jesus at the final judgment.
[12:42] And as I mentioned last week, the most important question any of us will ever answer is the one Jesus asked his disciples.
[12:57] Who do you say that I am? Remember Peter's response to that question, Matthew 16, 16 through 17.
[13:09] Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the Son of God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
[13:24] Peter did not arrive at this conclusion on his own. God revealed it to him. And in verse 18, Jesus adds, and I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
[13:40] As I shared last week, in the Greek, Peter is petros, a word for a small stone. While Jesus' word rock, petra, was used to describe a boulder or a rocky mountain peak.
[13:55] This was Jesus using a play on words. He is saying that while Peter would be instrumental in building his church, the church would be founded on the truth expressed in his confession.
[14:10] The confession of the true church of Jesus Christ is that he is the Christ. He is the son of the living God. The confession, that confession, that testimony is the focus of this section of John's epistle.
[14:30] It's the reason why he wrote this letter to testify to the reality of who Jesus is. In 1 John 5, 13, he says, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
[14:50] And so again, the key word in this passage is the word testify, which appears several times in this passage.
[15:01] The root of the Greek word translated as testify in Greek is martis. Martis is the root of our English word martyr. A Christian martyr is someone who has died because of their testimony that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
[15:19] That is the testimony of the Bible. Jesus is the Christ. He is the Son of the living God. God, that testimony serves as the foundation of his church.
[15:34] And it is the testimony that he has commanded his church to proclaim. No matter how inconvenient it may be for you to share it. No matter how inconvenient it may be for someone else to hear it.
[15:50] So the main idea for this morning's sermon, again, the same as last week, this is the second part, you must believe the testimony of God that Jesus is his Son to have eternal life.
[16:11] John is presenting the evidence. He's presenting the testimony concerning Jesus, that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is the one, that he is the only one through whom sinful people are saved, forgiven, justified, and receive eternal life.
[16:33] Why does this matter? If you're an unbeliever this morning, we are so glad and thankful that the Lord has brought you here to worship with us and to hear his word.
[16:46] because this question, why does this matter, is of extreme importance for you because it concerns your eternity.
[16:59] hell is a real place. Jesus preached about it more than he preached about heaven. It's a place reserved for Satan, for demons, and for all those who ultimately reject him, who reject his gospel, who reject his testimony.
[17:17] In John 14, Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one, no one comes to the Father except through me.
[17:33] Jesus is the way, the only way for sinners to have peace with God. No one gets into heaven apart from faith in him.
[17:45] You must believe the testimony of God that Jesus is his son to have eternal life. Believer, this is important for you as well because this is the truth that you and I are commanded to testify to both individually when we are at work or when you're at work or at home or in your community and collectively this is the truth we testify to when we worship.
[18:14] You must believe the testimony of God that Jesus is his son to have eternal life. This is the foundational truth upon which our church, upon which the church rests.
[18:29] A building without a foundation will crumble. A building on a cracked foundation will eventually fall apart. Like the churches John wrote to, there are wolves disguised in sheep's clothing who seek to infiltrate the church, who seek to fracture our foundational truths.
[18:56] You must know what you believe and you must know why you believe it. We are commanded to testify to the truth of the gospel and we are likewise commanded to be diligent in guarding it.
[19:10] So there are three evidences here in our passage today that validate the testimony of Jesus Christ and the reality that you must believe in him, the son of God to have eternal life.
[19:22] Now the first evidence is the external evidence. The external evidence. Verses six through eight. There is so much external evidence to unpack in these few verses that it took the entire sermon last week to cover them all and it wasn't a short sermon either.
[19:47] So I'll refer you to our website, to our Facebook page, to our YouTube channel where there the sermon is posted and I encourage you to watch it. But I am going to provide a brief recap.
[20:00] When John says in verse six, this is he who came by the water and the blood, Jesus Christ, not by the water only but by the blood and the water, he is referring to two events that bracket Jesus' public ministry.
[20:13] The first, his baptism. The second, his crucifixion. The testimony of scripture, the testimony of the Bible and those who witnessed these events is that at Jesus' baptism and crucifixion, God the Father made it evident that Jesus is his divine son.
[20:33] At his baptism, the audible voice of the Father was heard declaring, this is my beloved son. The Holy Spirit's presence manifested at that moment as well, descending on Jesus, anointing him, setting him aside, empowering him for his ministry.
[20:52] During Jesus' crucifixion, the land was immersed in supernatural darkness. There was a violent, rock-shattering earthquake. The 60-foot-high, four-inch-thick curtain in the temple that separated God's holy presence from sinful humanity was torn from the top to bottom in two.
[21:11] All of this was accompanied by a preview of the final resurrection. One of the thieves next to Jesus who was dying alongside of him said to him, turned to him in faith and was saved.
[21:24] A Roman centurion who was there at the foot of the cross overseeing all of these things declared in terror. Surely, this was the Son of God.
[21:35] John adds in the rest of verse 6, and the Spirit is the one who testifies because the Spirit is the Spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity.
[21:46] He doesn't have a version of the truth. As God, he is the author and source of truth. Throughout Jesus' ministry, the Holy Spirit was testifying through his words and through his actions that he is, in fact, who he says that he is, the Son of God, that he must be believed in to have eternal life.
[22:10] And John concludes the external evidence that proves the truthfulness of this testimony by saying, for there are three that testify, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree.
[22:24] Staying true to himself, God fulfilled what he commanded in the Old Testament, that the truth of a claim must be established by two or three witnesses.
[22:35] So in summary, God the Father provided substantial and overwhelming external evidence that Jesus was more than a mere man, that he was more than a good teacher, that he was more than a morally respectable person, but that he is the divine Son of God who lived sinlessly, who died sacrificially, and who rose victoriously to save us from the consequences of our sins.
[23:10] That's the external evidence. Now in verses 9 through 10, John presents us with the next piece of evidence that validates the testimony that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and the reality that you must believe in him to have eternal life.
[23:27] So we looked at the external evidence, now he points us to look at the internal evidence. The internal evidence. Beginning of verse 9, again John says, if we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater.
[23:44] in everyday affairs of life, in the everyday affairs of your life, you receive and accept the testimony of people.
[23:59] On Friday, I went with Danny, my wife, to have one of the tires on her car fixed. Last weekend, her car dinged, and a message appeared on the dashboard that notified her that the pressure in one of her tires was low.
[24:22] So she, look, we accept not only the testimony of people, but we accept the testimony of machines. And maybe we shouldn't do that as much as we do.
[24:34] Anyway, she called me and she told me about that and my response wasn't, you know, how can we be sure that your car isn't lying to us?
[24:49] Maybe it's playing a game or a trick on us. No, I told her to air it up and to keep an eye on it. Well, throughout the week, the pressure slowly went down.
[25:01] The external evidence indicated something wrong with that back tire. So we took it and we had it fixed. We sat down. A guy at the shop took the car, drove it in to the garage, and after a while he came out with the ticket.
[25:21] And Danny asked if there was a nail in the tire. He said there was and that they had patched it. And we believed his testimony. I didn't say, sir, how can we be sure that you did in fact fix the tire?
[25:39] How can I be sure that you didn't just drive the car in and do nothing and make us pay you for work that you didn't do? How can I be sure that as we drive home, this back tire isn't going to explode and kill us?
[25:58] You receive the testimony of people all the time. when you meet someone and they tell you what they do for a living and where they live or where they were born. You don't ask to see their driver's license.
[26:11] You don't ask to see a copy of their pay stub to verify their place of employment. Now there are some things that are really important where you might seek additional testimony from people like a doctor's diagnosis for example or their plan on how they're going to treat you through surgery or medicine.
[26:31] You'll get a second testimony, a second opinion. In the end though, you will accept someone's testimony. You do this every day.
[26:43] We dress ourselves according to what people tell us the weather is going to be like for that day. And sometimes people get it wrong. In the case of the weather, men and women, they get it wrong a lot.
[26:55] Sometimes people lie. people are fallible creatures. But that hasn't stopped you from accepting the testimony of people.
[27:09] And so John here is arguing from the lesser to the greater. If you receive and accept the testimony of fallible people on a regular basis, how much more should you accept the testimony of your infallible creator, God.
[27:32] In the rest of verse 9, John says, for this is the testimony of God that he has born concerning his son. So to summarize John's argument to this point, God the Father has provided unique and sufficient external evidence that Jesus is his son.
[27:48] And this evidence demands a response from each and every one of us. there is no neutral position. There is no neutral ground upon which to stand.
[28:01] There is no rinsing of your hands like Pilate and declaring your own innocence. In fact, to not believe that Jesus is the son of God is not to believe God.
[28:18] In that case, John says in the rest of verse 10, whoever does not believe God, whoever does not believe his testimony has made him a liar because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his son.
[28:38] To reject Jesus as God's son is equivalent to charging God with perjury. it's that simple.
[28:51] Charles Spurgeon said, God is to be believed if all men contradict him. Let God be true and every man a liar.
[29:02] One word of God ought to sweep away 10,000 words of men, whether they be philosophers of today or sages of antiquity. God's word is against them all, for he knows infallibly.
[29:15] Of his own son he knows as none else can. Of our condition before him he knows. Of the way to pardon us he knows there is nothing in God that could lead him to error or make a mistake.
[29:29] And it were blasphemy to suppose that he would mislead us. It were an insult to him such as we may not venture to penetrate for a moment to suppose that he would willfully mislead his pure creatures by a proclamation of mercy which meant nothing or by presenting them a Christ who could not redeem them.
[29:52] The gospel with God for its witness cannot be false. Whatever may be the witness against it the witness of God is greater. He concludes we must believe the witness of God.
[30:06] In John 5 Jesus talked about the father's witness to him and the father who sent me has himself born witness about me. His voice you have never heard his form you have never seen and you do not have his word abiding in you for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.
[30:26] You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life and it is they that bear witness. It is they that testify about me yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
[30:39] I believe the words of Jesus. I believe the testimony of the father about him.
[30:55] Do you have you come to know him? Do you know him? In the beginning of verse 10 John says whoever believes in the son of God has the testimony in himself.
[31:12] So here John turns our focus inward to the internal evidence, to the internal witness, the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit who dwells in the hearts of those whom God has saved.
[31:27] Paul talks about that in Romans 8, 16-17. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children than heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
[31:45] The evidence of a truly saved person is spiritual transformation. The fruit of the Spirit is there.
[31:58] Maybe it grieves you that there's not more fruit than there is, but it's there. you're willing to suffer with Christ, you're willing to suffer for Christ, to be mocked, to be teased, to be ridiculed, and potentially worse, because you know for certain the external testimony, the external evidence, has captivated your heart.
[32:30] you believe it. In Romans 10, 9-10, Paul adds, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
[32:48] For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. when you heard the gospel, when the Holy Spirit revealed the truth of this testimony to you, realizing your sinfulness, recognizing your desperate need to be reconciled to God, seeing in Jesus the only way for you to be forgiven, it changed you.
[33:27] And that change, that confession, it's stuck with you. But notice John doesn't say believed in the past tense, he says believes in the present tense.
[33:47] He's leading us to examine our hearts right now, asking, what do you believe today?
[33:58] Who are you hoping in right now? Has the external evidence become an internal reality within you?
[34:09] Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? If your trust is in Jesus, if your hope is in Jesus, if you believe that he is the Son of God who died to save you and who rose to give you eternal life, if that's what you believe, then rest assured, John says, the Bible says, you have eternal life.
[34:33] Some people know the exact date and the exact moment they were saved. I don't. I don't know.
[34:45] But what I do know right now is what I have known for a very long time. That Jesus is my Lord and Savior and that is a reality, that is a truth that I know.
[35:02] in my mind, in my heart, in my soul. People can deny it, but I know.
[35:14] I know. And I hope you do too. I've shared this story with you before, but it's worth sharing again.
[35:26] My best friend in college was not a believer. And I was not a good Christian witness to him. Those were my prodigal son days.
[35:38] We lived in an apartment with another one of our friends our sophomore year of college. This was 2003. One night was odd because usually on the weekends, you know, we had people coming in and out, our friends and whatnot.
[35:52] But this night we were by ourselves. And we decided, you know what, let's go hang out in the garage. church. And while we were out there, the subject of God came up.
[36:05] And again, my friend did not believe. And so we kind of walked through the external evidence. He asked his questions and I tried my best to answer those questions.
[36:19] I asked his questions and he did his best to answer my questions. And finally I said to him, his name was Joey. Joey. I looked him in the eyes and I said, Joey, there's a lot of things that I don't know.
[36:33] But one thing I do know is that there is a God and that Jesus Christ is his son. I know it's true.
[36:46] You know, we go on, finish college, move away, get married, have kids. He was not saved. He was that night.
[36:57] But every time we would get together, he would say something like, hey, I remember that night in the garage. It was just really a time that just always continues to stick out in my memories when I think of you or college.
[37:14] In 2018, again, we had kind of lost touch a little bit, his wife reached out to mine and she told her, tell Mike, that Joey and I are going to be baptized this Easter.
[37:36] Again, we had moved to different places. I didn't have his phone number anymore. My phone number had changed, but we were friends on Facebook. So I sent him a message on Facebook, just, man, I thank God, so happy.
[37:50] You're my best friend. now you're my brother in Christ. I praise God for what he's done for you. And I went back and looked at it yesterday, that message. I want to read a portion of what he said to me.
[38:04] He said, the honesty that you spoke with that night in our garage at the apartment has always stuck with me.
[38:19] One of my favorite nights. Shannon showed me a video a few months ago of you preaching at your church in Oklahoma. So awesome.
[38:30] I'm proud of you. from one sinner to another. From one sinner sharing the goods of salvation to another in need of receiving it.
[38:47] God saved my friend. I've shared before that one of my favorite things to do as a pastor is to meet with people who want to join our church.
[39:03] And I love hearing them share their testimonies of how they were saved. And they'll share those testimonies through tears and with smiles. It's one of the best parts of my job is to hear the stories about how God has saved sinners and brought them to faith in Jesus Christ, His Son.
[39:27] The external evidence is powerful. But the internal evidence, the confident reality of who you are in Christ, no one can change that.
[39:41] No one can change that. They can doubt it, but that doesn't make it any less true. Now the third evidence, the empirical evidence.
[39:56] The evidence is 11 and 12. And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life.
[40:09] And this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son does not have life. And by empirical evidence, I mean the sum total of the evidence.
[40:22] both what you observe externally and what that evidence has communicated to you internally. The testimony is what you've heard, it's what you've seen, it's what you've experienced.
[40:37] Collectively, if you've received this testimony, you know that you have life in Christ. All the evidence has been given and your verdict is yes, Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
[40:51] He died to save me. He rose to give me eternal life. I want to share another long Spurgeon quote with you because I just couldn't say it better.
[41:04] He's talking about the gospel here. He's talking about all of this evidence here. And specifically here he's addressing, I think, unbelievers. Let me first of all say a word or two about the way in which we are saved, the modus operandi of salvation as we find it described in the scriptures.
[41:29] Here it is in a nutshell. We have all broken God's law and we are justly condemned on account of it. God in infinite mercy desiring to save the sons of men has given his Son Jesus to stand in the place of as many as believe in him.
[41:48] Jesus became the substitute of his people and suffered in their stead and for them the debt of punishment due to God was paid by Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary.
[41:59] All who believe in him are thereby cleared before the bar of divine judgment. Now the Lord has revealed this great fact in his world. Here it is in this inspired book, the full statement of it, to this effect that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and that whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ has eternal life.
[42:25] That is God's testimony. He goes on, all we have to do in order to realize the result of Christ's passion is simply to believe the testimony of God concerning it and rest upon it.
[42:38] The argument runs thus, Christ saves those who trust him. I trust him and therefore I am saved. Jesus Christ suffered for the sins of his people.
[42:50] His people are known by their believing in him. I believe in him, therefore he died for my sins and my sins are blotted out. This is the summary of the transaction.
[43:01] God's testimony concerning his son is at first believed simply because God says so and for no other reason. And then there grows up in the soul other evidence not necessary to faith but very strengthening to it.
[43:15] Evidence which springs up in the soul as a result of faith and is the witness referred to in our text. He that believes has the witness in himself.
[43:27] How do we adjust to what we have heard? Well it's the same again as last week. Testify to the truth that you have received.
[43:40] Testify to the truth that you have received. Have you received the testimony? Do you have this testimony in yourself?
[43:55] I know it's true. As I said last week Jesus hasn't made a difference in my life.
[44:09] Jesus has made the difference in my life. life. And he has brought you here to hear this word, his testimony.
[44:22] Have you received it? If you've received it then testify to it. Our world is in need of Christians who know what they believe.
[44:38] You know I think it's important to point them to all the external evidence that is out there. But what they also need to hear is what God has done for you. This is who I was.
[44:49] And then I was saved. And this is who I am now. Praise God. They need to hear your story. They need to hear your testimony. God wants you, commands you to give it.
[45:06] If you've received the testimony then testify to it. If you have not received it. that is what God is calling you to hear and receive today.
[45:18] What is truth? The answer is Jesus. Jesus is the truth. And that's where it starts.
[45:32] Just acknowledging your need internally there is something wrong. understanding that in Jesus there is answers.
[45:47] He is the answer. He is the way as he said. He is the truth as he testified to. He is the life. Eternal life. Comes through him and no other.
[46:01] father. And I tell you as I told my friend that night there is a lot of things that I don't know. There is a lot of things I don't know.
[46:14] But one thing I do know. One thing that I am absolutely 100% certain of is that Jesus Christ is the son of God who came who lived sinlessly and who died on the cross for my sins.
[46:32] For sinners. He endured the shame. He bore the wrath of God in my place. Because that is the only way a sinner like me could ever be saved.
[46:45] And on the third day he rose again. And I am telling you that truth, that promise has completely and totally changed my life. As Christians we still have bad times.
[46:57] We still go through very hard things. But I couldn't imagine going through those things or living in this world without that promise, without that truth.
[47:11] That Jesus has paid it all. That Jesus has come. That Jesus is coming back. Those hard times aren't as hard.
[47:23] Those difficult things aren't as difficult because I know for me and the good times even, they're not as good as that day comes. For me, for those who are in Christ, the best is yet to come.
[47:35] Until that day we testify and we do so in love and with compassion because we want people to know what God has opened our eyes and our hearts to receive and to know.
[47:49] Receive the testimony. Testify to it. Let's pray. Lord, we are thankful for this day, thankful for the truth that you have revealed to us in your word, that you have revealed to us in your Son.
[48:09] God, if it were not for you, if it were not your doing, we would all be without hope. But Lord, in your love and your grace, you sent Jesus Christ, your only Son, to live the sinless life that was required that none of us could come close to being able to provide for ourselves, who willingly died on the cross, substituting his life for sinners that they would receive his righteousness in its place.
[48:43] God, I pray that we as your people would see and understand your command that what you've done for us, what you've done to us, that's something that needs to be shared.
[48:58] God, I pray that we would share it. And I pray that people would see the sincerity in our proclamation salvation, and that Lord, through your doing, you would open their eyes to the truth, that they likewise would know how wonderful it is to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
[49:18] We ask these things in his name. amen. Amen.