(Text Only)
Title: An Encouraging Reminder
As the holiday season draws closer, I’d like to offer a word of encouragement from John this morning.
- The Trump Card
John writes in verse 9: “IF we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.”
What is John saying? He’s saying: “Look, if we are apt to believe the testimony of a man, how could we deny the testimony of God?”
The reason for this, as John states, is that the witness of God is greater than the witness of man. John has built this letter, and in many ways, staked his spiritual reputation on the idea that HE has personally seen Jesus, HE has personally touched Jesus. But John admits that even that is a limited testimony because it’s from man.
Now John appeals to a greater testimony than even he could give.
And that appeal comes down to one idea: belief.
Look at verse 10 with me: “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself.”
So what John is arguing for is quite simple, and quite profound at the same time. John tells us that God’s witness is superior to man’s witness, and God’s witness reveals itself to us in our hearts. Either we accept that witness, making us believers. Or we deny that witness, and make God a liar, as John says later in verse 10.
So the “trump card” that John lays is that it all comes back to our Lord of the Rings question: “What does your heart tell you?”
Point/Application: When you are swayed by the testimony of man, when you are unsure of your faith, go to a quiet place, and be honest with your own answer as you ask yourself: Do I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?
- A Simple Truth
(read vv. 11-12)
The next thing John does is remind his audience of an essential tenant of the Christian faith: That God has given us eternal life through his son. He who has the son has eternal life, and he who does not have his son, does not.
There are countless verses that point to the exclusivity of Jesus Christ as the only redeemer of man before a Just God, probably the most famous are the words of Christ himself when he says in John’s gospel 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John obviously has not forgotten the words of Jesus because he reiterates that thought perfectly when he calm and concisely sates “he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” John’s not rubbing it in, he’s not being mean, or belligerent, he’s simply stating an absolute fact of our faith: There is one way to heaven. One.
Point/Application:
Now, most of the time that we state that fact we do so for one of two reasons:
- To scare the lost.
- To motivate the saved to preach to the lost.
But I think there is another reason that John is reminding his audience of this truth: To remind and encourage them of their glorious future. And that is our third point today.
- That You May Know…
(read v. 13)
John closes the thought by telling us why he’s reminded us of the eternal witness of God in our hearts and the reward that awaits for those who believe, it is “so that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”
The key word their, without question, is “continue.” John knows they believe, he wants to encourage them to “finish the race because their is a crown laid up for me” to borrow a phrase from Paul.
John wants to spur on, to encourage his flock by gently reminding them what it is they are working toward.
(Ben building the house and running wire in 2005 on xmas day with Al, b/c that was the only “window” between the framing and dry walling that I could get it done.)
I just kept thinking of the finished product, I just kept telling myself it was all worth it for the prize that lay ahead.
Point/Application
When you are tempted to sin with the world, remember WHO you answer to.
When you are away from your family, your friends, and your church because you are in the mission field and you are homesick, depressed, and fatigued, remember WHAT you are working toward.
When your body is failing you, when your eyesight, your flexibility, your strength are not what they used to be. When you are tired because you climbed the stairs, and frustrated because you can’t play with the kids like you’d want to, remember WHERE we are going.
When you are tithing 10% to your church, and also supporting local missionaries like Jamie, when you are taking money that everyone around you would claim is rightly yours to do with as you please, remember WHY God has given to you in the first place.
And finally, when you are feeling good about yourself, when you are comfortable, blessed, and even good with personal disciplines, remember HOW you were saved.
(pray)