Who do you say that I am?

 

 

" ⁶ This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷ For there are three that testify: ⁸ the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement."

I John 5:6-8

 

Good Morning my beloved,

 

We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord. Thank you for joining us today, we're glad to have you here. We are grateful for those of you who have been sharing the ministry website with all of your family and friends. Your faithfulness to share God's Word with others continues to bring about tremendous results. It's reaching more and more of those who desperately need to hear God's Word. With God's blessing, it will continue to reach even more of those that need to hear it. May God richly bless you for helping spread His Word.

I once had someone ask "With so many throughout history who have claimed they were God. How can you be sure which one told the truth? Who can you believe?" To which I responded "The One who rose from the dead!"

 

If the church had invented Jesus’ claims to divinity, they would certainly have been more explicit than they are. However, we have every reason to believe that Jesus did indeed claim something very unique about Himself and His relationship to God, even to the point of identifying Himself with divinity. If in fact, Jesus never claimed to be divine to the extent that is recorded in the Gospels, it is reasonable to expect that the enemies of Jesus, Christianity and the early church would have certainly declared that Jesus never made such claims, however, the skeptics of the first centuries never disputed His claims.

 

For example, Celsus, said that Jesus called Himself the Son of God, but wrongly. Porphyry, one of the most-feared skeptics in the early church, also did not deny Jesus’ claims to divinity, but instead tried to downplay Jesus' deity. Therefore, the argument that Jesus never claimed divinity had not been advanced by skeptics of the time, or lacked adequate credibility that it was unable to be used by even the greatest  skeptics of Christianity.

 

There is no record in first century A.D. that indicates that He never made any such claims for Himself. Furthermore, there are no extant texts from the first century, or even from the century thereafter, that represent Jesus as claiming to be only human or only a prophet. Only much later did critics deny that Jesus had made such claims. Celsus, who is the earliest known pagan critic of Christianity, argued that Jesus did in fact apply the title "Son of God" to Himself. 

 

It is then clear, that the argument that Jesus never claimed to be divine is nothing more than an unsupportable conjecture, against all of the available data that exists. Saying that there is no evidence that Jesus claimed divinity can only be claimed by ignoring the evidence that exists, even by those who opposed Christianity.

 

Let us pray

 

Heavenly Father,

 

Father, we thank You for Your Word, this wonderful truth to remind us that Jesus is who He said He was. Thank You that we hold in our hands, the greatest treasure in the world, the truth as revealed by You. We believe that Jesus is the Son of God, because we believe Your witness by the Holy Spirit at His baptism. We believe that salvation is in only through Him alone.

Lord, we pray that You would deliver any soul who does not believe the truth. Awaken the heart of every person before they are irremediably lost. May we who believe proclaim the truth, witness to the lost, eagerly and anxiously that all may hear and believe the testimony of Your Son, We thank You for the great privilege of truly being Your witnesses. May it all be for Your glory and for Christ's sake. We pray that You would use this message powerfully, mightily to touch the lives of the lost.

In Christ's precious name we pray

Amen

Today's Message: Who do you say that I am?

We are nearing the end of this wonderful epistle and are certainly in no hurry to bring it to conclusion, because there is so much rich truth to be found here. Truth, I believe will have a significant impact on our lives. 

 

There are many people who claim to be the witnesses of God. They claim to be propagating the truth of God,, the truth that God wants to be revealed. However, they emphatically deny the true witness of Jehovah God, and that is that Jesus is the Christ, He is the Son of God, and He is God incarnate. These so called witnesses are liars, because they deny the very truth to which God gives witness in His Word.

They claim that Jesus, who is the Son of God, is nothing more than a human being, a prophet. That He is not a member of the Trinity, because they claim there is no Trinity. Furthermore, they claim that Jesus, the Son of God, did not possess immortality. That He was created, rather than begotten and He was created to die. They deny that Jesus physically, and literally arose from the dead.

 

So, I want to make it very clear that these so called witnesses of God, are not witnesses of the One true Living God, but they are witnesses to the Anti-Christ, the god of this world, they are Satan’s witnesses. If you want a witness from God, you must believe in the truth that God Himself revealed in His Word. And, when you go to God's Word, you’re going to find that what God says is very different from what these so called witnesses of God claim. You're going to find that in order to be in God’s Kingdom, you must believe in Jesus Christ, who is His Son. 

 

This is why none of Jesus’ followers cracked under pressure, or became fed up with the persecutions and admitted that the divinity claims by Jesus were a fabrication, there are no signed confessions, no counterclaims by the Pharisees boasting of the recanting claims of even one single disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus' claims are too clear when rightly understood in the context of the time and place in which they were made. It is only in arrogance that one can say that Jesus' claims to be the Son of God were incorrect.

 

Jesus Himself claimed to be none other than God the Son. No matter how one tries to dispute it, or explain it away, the insurmountable evidence points directly to the truth. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, God incarnate. Having heard the truth, one must now answer Jesus' question for himself; "Who do you say that I am?"

Open with me your Bibles to I John chapter 5. Throughout his epistle, the Apostle John has been addressing the matter of authentic Christianity. False teachers had created confusion in the church, by teaching that contradicted the apostolic witness to Christ. John has repeatedly stated in his letter that true, authentic Christians believe the truth about Jesus Christ, they obey God’s commandments, and they love one another. 

 

This section runs through verses 6 through 12. Today, we will be studying verses 6 through 8. I now invite you to follow along with me, as I read to you verses 6 through 8 of this marvelous epistle, to set the text in our minds, as we prepare our hearts for what the Spirit is saying to each of us. Listen for the voice of our Lord. 

 

"This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement." 

 

The Apostle John was not relaying some inner, subjective vision or philosophy about Jesus Christ. Quite the contrary, he is boldly speaking the truth about his objective, personal experience with Jesus Christ. Allow me to point out, that one cannot be any more objective than seeing, hearing, and touching! Jesus Christ is God’s witness to us through the Apostles who spent three years with Him. Since the true, authentic Christian faith rests on God’s testimony to the person of Jesus Christ, John wants us to have a sure, solid foundation for our faith. 

 

Because it is our faith in Christ that overcomes the world. We must therefore, believe in the true Son of God, the true Christ, Who is the eternal one.It is the anti-Christ that denies the truth, that there is indeed equality between God the Father and God the Son. Therefore, one’s Christology is extremely critical and essential for salvation and for entering the kingdom of God.

 

Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is from God, is of the anti-Christ, which comes from the father of lies, that is none other than Satan himself. 

 

In I John 2:23 he tells us that "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also." You just cannot get any clearer than that! That then, take us back to the very foundation having the right view of Christ is essential to salvation. 

 

That is why John affirms this truth in chapter 3 verse 23, "This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us." 

 

Therefore, understanding and believing the truth about Christ and His redemptive work is absolutely critical for salvation. Believing that Jesus is the Son of God, that He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. This is the witness of God. This is the testimony of God, through His Spirit, concerning His Son, Jesus Christ. In order to receive salvation, in order to receive eternal life, you must believe Jesus Christ to be who God the Father says He is. It all rests on God’s testimony to the person of Jesus Christ. Believing God’s trustworthy witness to His Son gives us a sure foundation for our faith.

 

As someone who has spent a great deal of his time debating Muslims and Islam, I can tell you that the manipulating of biblical verses is rampant among Muslims when they engage in theological discussions pertaining to the biblical account. They love to oppose the deity of Jesus Christ.

 

They love to twist verses such as Numbers 23:19, in an attempt to disprove the divinity doctrine of Jesus Christ, which says "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" First of all, allow me to state the obvious here, you can only become something that you were not previously. In other words, if you become blind, then obviously you were not blind to begin with with. Therefore, the obvious conclusion is that if God became a man, through the person of Jesus Christ, it is simply because He wasn’t so in the past. During the time when Numbers was written, the incarnation hadn’t yet taken place.

 

The verse is merely emphasizing the fact that God does not repent or lie, rather than the idea that He is incapable of becoming a man. Allow me to elaborate by saying because you see a sign that says "No Trespassing," does not mean that you are incapable of trespassing. The reality is if you wanted to, you can just walk right passed it. The reason why you are told you can’t is not because you lack the ability to do so, but because you lack the permission to do so. 

 

Because at the time when Numbers was written God had not become a man, certainly does not imply that God is incapable of becoming a man. God is all powerful and can do anything that He so chooses. By claiming that He cannot, one is limiting God's ability to do as He pleases. 

 

Job 37:5 says that "God thunders with His voice wondrously, Doing great things which we cannot comprehend."  Because God has not done something does not mean He cannot.

 

The Muslim community has much to say about the Apostle Paul, they love to attack his writings. One  such passage is Galatians 3:13-14, in which Paul says " Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

 

They attempt to twist and turn this passage to claim that Paul is calling Jesus "cursed." All one need do is read the full passage in Galatians, it actually says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." 

 

Paul is actually quoting a passage in Deuteronomy which we see that it is referring to capital punishment for sinners. In other words, the man who was to be put to death was "cursed" with a humiliating death. Jesus, on the other hand, took the curse and punishment of sin upon Himself, so that those who would believe in Him don’t have to. Paul was simply highlighting Jesus' mercy by taking upon Himself the punishment for our sin. Furthermore, Jesus, prior to the incarnation, was in complete possession of divine glory and power. If Jesus was not both divine and human, He wouldn’t have been fit to die on the cross, as the sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.

 

Before I mention my next point, allow me to say that just because the Bible mentions a certain event, that it does not mean that God endorses it. That's like claiming that a newspaper endorses rape because it reports a story in which a man raped someone. That brings us to Genesis 19, in which Muslims love to claim that the story of Lot sleeping with both his daughters is a biblical endorsement of incest.

 

In reading the biblical account, we immediately understand that Lot was drunk. Therefore, it is safe to say that this story can serve as a great reason not to become drunk. Furthermore, both biblically and historically speaking, everything following this event of incest has gone horribly wrong. The Ammorites became a pagan people who worshiped the gods Milcom and Molech while the Moabites, which sprang from this event, practiced child sacrifice. 

 

In fact, these two children are the fathers of two nations that have been at odds with and the source of much suffering to Israel through history. So to claim that the God of the Bible, the One True Living God condoned incest rests beyond my greatest imagination and my comprehension.

 

Allow me to then summarize, that the one who does not believe that Jesus Christ is who God said He is, makes God a liar. I would like you to note, that John is elaborating on a single statement that he made in his gospel, John 20:31, "These are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you might have life through His name." The gospel of John, then, is the Father’s witness to His Son, the person of Jesus Christ. 

 

As you will recall, the gospel of John begins with the tremendous statement that "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." The purpose for which John wrote, was for the Father’s witness to the deity of Jesus Christ. 

 

Let's now go to our text, verse 6, "This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not  with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth."

 

The word "martus," which means to bear witness, give evidence, testify, appears in one form or another 168 times in the New Testament. As a footnote, the word martus is from the root of the word "martyr." Because those who gave testimony to the gospel of the truth of God were martyred, the word for witness became the word for martyr. Therefore, the entire New Testament is God’s witness to His Son, Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation is then, the culmination of God’s redemptive purpose and plan for His Son.That is to say, that unquestionably, the greatest testimony ever given to Christ comes from God Himself.

 

In Mark 15:39, when have the witness of the centurion "When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" It was the testimony of God that convinced the centurion. It is not the testimony of men that convinces people, rather it is the testimony of God through His Spirit that convinces those who come to believe. Apart from Holy Spirit, none man come come to saving faith in Christ and the belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

 

All throughout the gospel of John you have God’s witness through the words of Jesus. It was through Him that God the Father bore witness to the truth. In verse 6 of our text, God chooses three witnesses to complete His testimony to His Son.

 

"This is the one who came," refers to Jesus Christ. This introduces the fact of the incarnation. This is then, the divine glorious testimony to the fact of redemptive history. That Jesus Christ was not created when He was born, He only came here into the world when He was born. Being the person that He already was, Who existed eternally, came into the world as God the Son. This is a truth frequently repeated throughout the New Testament.

 

I love the way I John 3:8 states this truth, this marvelous reality, "The Son of God appeared." The Son of God Who eternally existed, appeared. It is imperative that you understand, that His life did not begin at His birth. You have then the witness of Scripture; the Old Testament Scripture. You have the witness of John the Baptist. You have the witness of the disciples.

 

In John 8:14, Jesus said "Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going."

 

Prior to appearing here at His birth, He had been in eternal heavenly glory. By the way, in the Greek New Testament, we find the word "houtos," which is in the emphatic position which emphasizes the exclusivity, the uniqueness, that is to say there is no other. "This is the One who came." This is the affirmation, the testimony of God that Jesus Christ is the One who came and the only One. There is one incarnation of God, Jesus Christ.

 

In verse 6, we see that that testimony is confirmed, by water and blood. And, it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. Now, there are many who have become confused by this passage, determining what is meant by "The one who came by water and blood," I have heard several different interpretations, neither of which there is any God given witness. Therefore, in all of my studies, there is only one way to interpret this passage and that is water refers to the baptism of Christ and blood refers to His death.  These two events, of which the Father gives testimony, that are crucial to having an understanding of the life and ministry of Jesus.

 

At His baptism He was declared by the Father to be His Son, when He said "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." This was not just the beginning of His ministry, but a critical moment in defining it. Though He didn’t have anything to repent of, He identified with sinners, through His baptism. This was defining the reason that He came.

 

At the end of His ministry, His death, having identified with sinners in going into the waters of a baptism of repentance, He fully identified with sinners at the cross by taking their punishment for sin. So, the Father gives testimony at His baptism and testimony at His death, two monumental defining events in the life and ministry of Jesus. 

 

Notice that John said "not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood." When John wrote this, around 90 A.D, it was the end of the century and a serious heresy had already developed which said that Jesus was God’s Son at His baptism but not at the cross. That the Spirit descended on Him at His baptism and then left Him before the cross. That the Spirit who came upon this man at His baptism departed before the cross and the Jesus who was crucified was nothing more than a man. This was part of the developing of Gnosticism, so they denied the full doctrine of the incarnation. They believed that the Spirit could ever take up permanent residence in a human being. 

 

By the way, this is part of what the Jehovah’s Witnesses' claim today. Christ’s Spirit came into Him in the imagery of the dove, He brought the message of God to man, then the Spirit departed and only the man was crucified. In other words, deity left Him before the cross. It was not a death that atoned for our sins at all, it was just another man dying. I want to be very clear here, any heresy, that attempts to destroy or tamper with the death of Christ, the blood of Christ as God bearing the sins of men is satanic. 

 

Jesus Christ did not come into the world, simply to teach us the good things of God and then die as any another man. Jesus came into the world to offer Himself as an atoning sacrifice, satisfying God for us, as payment in full for the sins of the world. Allow me to clarify that, He came to pay the penalty for the sins of the world, meaning those who would believe in Him. If you do not believe in Him, as the Savior of the world, then you must pay for your own sin. And the payment for sin is what? Death! The payment for sin is death. 

 

If Christ did not take His divine nature to the cross, if He wasn’t fully God He could not and did not conquer sin or death for us. To deny this truth that Jesus is the propitiation for sin, is to deny His substitutionary death. Those who pervert this great truth are nothing more than heretics, children of darkness and the father is the devil. 

 

Verses 7 and 8, "For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement." The Spirit, is the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, gives witness from the Father of the Son because He’s the spirit of truth. He’s the agent of revelation, it is the Spirit’s work to reveal. All Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit. Wherever there is the revelation of God, it is from the Holy Spirit.  There are countless numbers of passages throughout the Bible, that tells us that the Holy Spirit is the source of revelation. All throughout the Bible, the Spirit speaks.

 

It is important to note, that in particular, He speaks concerning the Son on behalf of the Father. Literally, everywhere you look in Scripture, you find testimony to Christ, this is the witness of the Holy Spirit. I would like to point out the textual error in the King James and the New King James versions, which reads "For there are three who bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one." 

 

The phrase "in heaven"  through "on earth" are not a part of John’s original letter and therefore, I believe should be omitted. There are in fact,  no Greek manuscripts with this additional phrase before the 15th century. It comes from a marginal comment that was incorporated into the text of an Old Latin 5th century manuscript. The original text is accurately represented in the New American Standard Bible. The witness of the Father at the baptism of Jesus, the witness of the Father at the cross and the events around the cross, and the witness of the Spirit from the Father in all the revelation of truth that has been given. 

 

The Spirit of truth bore witness to Jesus at His baptism, when He identified with sinners, although He Himself did not need to be cleansed. He testified of Jesus throughout His earthly ministry, through His miracles, His teaching, and His obedient life. He bore witness to Jesus as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, initially through John the Baptist’s witness but supremely at the cross. When He confirmed that witness through the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

 

In Closing..

 

For those of you who are not familiar with God’s testimony, you can read it in the New Testament. I encourage you to be careful, though, to read it prayerfully and with a submissive, searching heart, asking God to open your eyes, and the Holy Spirit to reveal to you His truth.

 

If you approach it by demanding proof, you will come away empty handed.  I assure you that God is not in the habit of giving proof to proud sinners. Do not come with preconceived notions of what you believe to be true about Jesus, you don't get to make up your own version of Jesus. You must accept God’s testimony to the Jesus of the Bible. Jesus who is the Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the world as revealed by the Holy Spirit. 

 

Then ask yourself the question that Jesus Himself asked, " Who do you say that I am?" 

 

I pray that you answer with the truth, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

 

May it be so..

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

 

 

 

 

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