The British playwright George Brenner Shaw had a radio show and On his radio show what he would do was once a week on the BBC He would he would explain some obscurity about the English language. There's still shows an NPR to that effect today Some little eccentricity about English. What do you have a show and what she talked about the letter S and how that there are only two words in the English language where the letter S makes the Sound instead of S.H. You just get the word S But he didn't say what the words were. He just said there are only two words So a couple days later he got a I rate letter From a woman who was an English teacher some 30 years and she said dear Mr. Shaw You are incorrect, sir. There is only one word where S makes the Sound and that is the word sugar. I correct you To which he replied with he replied with a postcard that simply said this madam. Are you sure?
Sugar and sure Now I just wanted to tell that joke because the whole point of this the series we've been doing is that question. Are you sure? Are you sure? How do you know? How do you become a person who has real spiritual confidence so that when it comes to the matters of faith? Of knowing where you stand with God you can honestly say without being you know cocky or Self-righteous but in a true whole hearted and Trusting way with God's say I know where I stand with him We say the Apostle John has written this letter With this very idea in mind. I think I've told you some 45 times. He says in this little short letter. We know we know you can know I remember the context. He is a leader. He probably lived at this point in the city of Ephesus That's an Asia Minor. What's turkey now and and and and from that great city was a port city then From that city John exercised a ministry over a lot of churches is one of the people who had been Wanted to use this disciples. It was a very important leader, but a Disaster there had been a meltdown in the church and And the meltdown was there was a significant group of people who had come to Basically they changed the story about Jesus and saw a way to create a Religion really of enlightenment Very much old age new age kind of thinking sort of saying you know Jesus is a great teacher who who opens you know once you know and have our understanding Then you're enlightened and we don't have to talk about things like ethics and about the crucifixion and all that stuff That doesn't matter what you need is the knowledge the secret knowledge And John's point is that if you fiddle with the basic truth of about Jesus You will lose any confidence or any security to really have a relationship with God Now some of you may remember I'm gonna work off of an illustration. I gave you a couple months ago. I think now The latter because when it comes to the idea of a spiritual life or spiritual quest What you'll hear from a lot of people and there's probably some of you here who would agree with this you would say, you know What really matters in the whole area of religion is what? Sincereity that when it comes to your religious beliefs when it comes to thinking through a matters of faith What matters that you're sincere? It doesn't really matter what you believe just that you're sincere and you may remember I use the illustration of a ladder of two ladders one ladder that is you know We dug out of the attic and the termites have been at work on it and it's gotten damp and it's turning the sawdust all right It's a it's a very shaky ladder The other is made of aluminum. It's brand new. It's got the guarantee, you know the seal of home depot on it, right? No, it's not it's not going anywhere. All right, so The point of this is when it comes to ultimate reality One is more important, frankly, your sincerity wholehearted commitment and effort Or what it is you're actually hanging on to And hopefully the comments, you know the common sense of general sense which we've all come together is frankly the ladder It's extremely important. It's not just a matter of its sincerity or a commitment You can make sure you're committing yourself to something. It's actually going to hold you something that's really there Now the Apostle John in these verses we just read basically says listen It's a work with my analogy of the ladder. He says basically You don't you want to know what the ladder is you want to know what you've got to get your feet into your hands into what you've got to hold on to It's eternal life through Christ It's being what he calls in verse one there being born of God and Sharing eternal life through Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit and what he says about it is this And I'm going to read you something this may have caught you off guard when you first heard it But let me read what he says everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God So it's by believing this message about Jesus. He says there's actually a new life that comes into you It's it's actually God's life through his Holy Spirit that it enables you if you will to lay hold of it By believing he says that you lay hold of the ladder that will never let that will never fail you All right, but then he says There are three things Oh, I wonder what my three points of the sermon will be there are three things That testify that is that give you a sense of certainty as you hang on Now they sound really obscure and they're in verse seven and I'm sure this may be one of those people The people who've read this for years have thought. I don't know where he's going with that Look at verse seven for there are three that testify the spirit the water and the blood and The three are in agreement Any questions Right, you know, it's kind of obscure to us. What does he mean now? I want you to think of three runs of the ladder of eternal life of being born into a new life in Christ He says there are three things that speak you need to hear them and in hearing them believe and grant hold The first one he calls the testimony of the spirit All right persuasion. How are you persuaded of anything? How are you persuaded of anything? Can I just say something to you? It's different for different ones of us isn't it as you come to certainty about different things in your life Whatever it is, you know, whether you're going to be in the stock market whether you rent or buy or how you vote You know all these things we work through is an incredible mystery how a person becomes persuaded some people are more emotional Some people are more intellectual some people are more relational. We all work through a different maze Is it true to the way things are right down to do I like it? I don't believe that because I don't like it. You know, we're all different when it comes to persuasion However, there is something when it comes to faith Truth faith that we will have in common and it is this that faith is personal it is that is it is a truth you receive from someone you come to know and love and That's what he calls the testimony of the spirit if you will Imagine this being the footing you get on the ladder of faith the first place you put your foot on is knowing that This is just some intellectual quest. You won't get there just by asking hard questions though you need to ask them But that what you receive by coming to Christ is actually learning to trust and a God who loves you And it is the Holy Spirit God spirit who has been sent by Jesus into the world to come into your life So that you begin to see the truth so that you begin to understand it so that you begin to You know begin to see how the dots connect and you begin to see that there's really a loving God Leading you see us Lewis like to talk about how you know no one expects to hear a bump in the hallway when nobody's supposed to be there And in the in spiritual questing that's that there's always that moment where you realize that you weren't the one who started this thing There's really someone in the hallway. He's really there. He knows you. He loves you All right, so the first run on the ladder is to understand that coming to faith and growing in faith It's first of all personal. It's the Holy Spirit who will be speaking who will be giving ear and enabling you to hear these things Now then we get into things are a little more obscure the water First run after you get your foot up there. You put your hand on the next run the testimony of faith The water and what does that mean? Now let me read you. There are really two things together We're gonna do these two runs together and then I'm gonna do a little application on what it means to hang on to these things Look at verse six He's talking about Jesus and he says this is the one who came by water and blood Jesus Christ He did not come by water only but by water and blood It is the spirit who testifies because the spirit is the truth for there are three that testify the water The spirit the water and the blood and the three are in agreement Okay, here goes. What does that mean? All right, the spirit remember at the end of the chapter where John says listen This is God telling you these things if you reject him you're crawling God a liar. All right First of all, it's personal you have to get the deal with God personally the spirit speaks Then secondly he talks about the water and now let me tell you a little bit about a little bit about what we know about Ethicists and what the meltdown was in these churches so that there was a secession movement kind of a new religion born I read this was a church father writing around the middle of the second century and he said that at the time John was an Ethicist there was a teacher named serenthus or keranthus Serenthus we'll call him that it sounds better serenthus and what serenthus taught was this and this is fairly well documented He taught that there was a difference between Jesus of Nazareth who lived and taught and died and the Christ the anointed teacher the the spirit being the Christ and Basically what happened was you had this this lowly guy in Jesus of Nazareth and That is baptism the Christ came down sort of, you know channeled down and Got inside it, you know and then just before his death because the spirit being wouldn't want to go through something horrible in a Necessary like a crucifixion he left him So what you have around Jesus baptism and his crucifixion and resurrection are the battle lines of this new Heresy that's emerged in the church about who Jesus is So what scholars believe and I think it's quite it makes a lot of sense and it's the only thing I've ever heard Frankly that does make sense and understanding this text is that what you have is sort of the war cry of The church about Jesus to say we hold to the water in the blood What does that mean? What does it mean to hold on to the run of the water is talking about the water of Jesus baptism? listen whenever Jesus was baptized when John the baptizer poured the water on him anointed him with the water and then the spirit came down and Anointed him right with power. This was Jesus being set apart first of all this the water means two things Jesus is the Messiah Because if that moment Jesus begins his ministry as Messiah which is a word that means anointed one the Christ and did you notice you can get the context here from what John effort actually writes everyone This is verse one every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is Born of God you need to believe that Jesus is the anointed one the Messiah that is the one whom God has given a special job to and the old Testament a Prophet was anointed if God gave him a special job or a king was anointed if God gave him a special job right and and the Special job that Jesus is being given at his baptism John is saying this is Jesus of Nazareth who is God who took up Flash and at that moment the father invested him and anointed him with the calling and that calling was to be the Lord of History the Lord of the universe and the Redeemer of the world the Messiah and If you have eternal life the only way you will ever get your hands on that wrong is if you begin to believe that Jesus of Nazareth who was anointed by the father with the water that day as a Messiah is God's provision for my life You've got a hole to the testimony of the waters that makes sense He had a hole to the testimony of water. Jesus is the Messiah There's a second dimension of that too which you see in verse five because if you remember Jesus baptism When he was called a Messiah when he was anointed to begin his ministry What happened was the the heavens open the voice of God spoke and said this is my beloved son and whom I am well Please listen to him and the spirit this could be part of the testimony of the spirit the Holy Spirit to send it as a dove and publicly there of a Claimed and affirmed Jesus Christ as the Messiah and the Son of God and that is the second part you get in verse five Follow with me there in chapter five verse five Who is it that overcomes the world only who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This idea here is this How is how is it that you become a person of faith of confident faith? You you believe the testimony of the scriptures you put your feet on the testimony of the Spirit and The first thing you begin to realize is Jesus is the one who God anointed as his provision for my life He is the Messiah and you begin to see the supernatural Dimension he's not just a guy who did a great job. He's the eternal Son of God And do you see how John describes what that son shit looks like look at the end of the chapter where he says in verse 12 I mean verse 11 this is the testimony God has given us eternal life and the life is in the Son. He who has the Son has life Do you see what John is saying there? He's saying listen when you believe in Jesus In the same way that Jesus has this Eternical eternal mystical relationship with the father If he's not the son in some sense of sexual reproduction in which the father is prior to him They're both eternal God but in the sense that the life of the father is somehow in the Son and That same sense, you know, I you can't Penetrate too deeply into what that mystery is but it's practical when it means what he's saying is listen You could have a solid faith because that is the life The life of the Holy Spirit the life the father shares with the Son That's the life that comes into you when you believe That's the testimony of the water. Do you see how water is a good code word or what Jesus was anointed to be for you your Messiah God's provision and And then there's the third round the blood You probably know where that's going right? It's talking about the crucifixion. Jesus didn't lead you know the Christ the great spiritual and a lightener He didn't leave the Son the whole point is that God himself went to the cross and What John is trying to say though the rallying cry of the early Christians? It still has to be our rallying cry is to say listen the only way you'll ever have spiritual confidence and certainly the only way you'll ever know Life that's God's life and therefore eternal life is if you listen to him put your feet on that rung If you receive Jesus as your Messiah and you know, he died for me Don't you see how the faith makes you solid what John is saying is there was a There was a life giving birth when Jesus began his ministry and There was a death killing death When he went to the cross for you and Someone who was a Christian who says they're born of God If somebody who very simply says I hold on to these Jesus has done it all for me When he went to the cross he was judged in my place and there is no judgment for me anymore I am forgiven completely and who I am now I am in him now Let me finish with quick Application, how do you know you're on the ladder? So that somehow makes me think of being off the wagon but on the on the wagon on the ladder How do you know you're spiritually, you know on the wagon and on the ladder? How do you know your feet and your hands are holding to the three testimonies the spirit of the water and the blood? Well John actually says there's three things will be happening in your life If you really have this eternal life in you, let me do them quickly First of all John says you'll be in love with a new family Look at what he says there every a verse verse everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone who loves the Father Loves his child as well In other words if you're Christian you're going to love if you know God you're gonna love Jesus because Jesus is his child But then he doesn't stop does he and this is how we know that we love the children of God In other words, he puts that into the context of the family of God Which is all of chapter four that we went through several a month or so ago was about this that there's a new family you have What he's saying is if you're truly holding to the ladder all right if you're living your life of the testimony of the spirit and the water and the blood Then there's a new reality in your life, and that is your fellow Christians Bring a whole new dimension of Who your family is That this is sociologically very significant because most of us tend to go by tribe culture political affiliation this sort of thing Or the you know, we like to buddy up with the people who've been our friends forever. That's the world What John is saying is no, there's a whole new idea of family and that is anybody who knows Jesus is your family and You begin to think that way and feel it way and act that way I spent one of the weeks of my vacation. We went back to New York City and I preached at the church that I was the founding pastor of in Grinch Village and it was an amazing experience because on the one hand, I was reunited with some of my closest friends and ministry Partners in the world people who went through a church plant together, you know, we're bonded But as bondage you can get it like to kill this um And yet the church was full of people I Had never laid eyes on and yet we embraced and We we talked and we became fast friends why so many of this because we're family I don't even didn't know you to know you're my family. That's what the mystery and the wonder of the church is He says listen, you're holding to this ladder. Guess what? No matter where you go. You meet another Christian. You're part of a new family Not only that There's a new freedom in your life Look at what he says there not only do you have the love of the children of God, but the second part of verse two That you also know That you love the children of God because if you love God you carry out his commands verse three This is love for God to obey his commands and his commands are not burdensome Listen John refuses to say to separate any of these things love for God is love for his child Jesus is love for his Family your brothers and sisters your new family and it's love for his way his commands And what he says that if you if you're really holding the ladder if you're really standing there What he says is his commands are not burdensome to you And this doesn't mean you're not tempted or you don't send he began his letter by saying you're lying if you say you don't All right But what he says is this they're not burdensome to you You know you pass your church along and if you begin to realize This is not a group of perfect people there are people probably here today who are thinking about ending their marriage There are people here who maybe thinking of ending their life There may be people here who are tempted with with things you never thought you'd be tempted with and You're leading a double life. There's something really horrible that you're finally you're hanging on to some level But let me say something to you if you're on the ladder if you truly lay hold of Christ You have within you the life to enable you to obey To follow he's given that to you That's the gift of believing and knowing eternal life John Newton put it this way a Child of God's commands are no more burdensome to a child of God than wings are to a bird You know, I love that image of a bird. You know, you can't imagine a bird going. Oh, I could just get rid of these wings No, as the bird the wings of them will you to fly and if he's saying that if listen if you really lay hold of his life friends Then following God in your life honoring him by choosing to forgive someone that it's hard to forgive or choosing to do something You don't want to do but you know guys following me to do it to reconcile with somebody you don't want to reconcile with you Can't do it because his life is in you to enable you to do it And lastly listen, there's a new family. There's a new freedom and finally there's a new fearlessness Look at what he says in verse 4 Everyone born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that has overcome the world even our faith Who is it that overcomes the world? Only who believes that he who believes that Jesus is the son of God listen if you're standing on the the testimony of the spirit the water and the blood You actually are now God's instrument to overcome the world You say what listen? You want to have a life of spiritual significance? Would you like to be God's instrument of something great in your family or in your profession? Or in God's purposes in the world do you want to be his instruments? Listen what do the great the martyrs the missionaries the people who changed the world what do they all have in common? brilliance spending time with the missionaries Wonderful nice people spending time with pastors listen. What do they have in common? They hold the ladder They know their God's instrument they know the life is in them and they're willing to believe that God because you're now part of his body because you're part of Jesus You're actually the way he acts and you're willing to be fearless and bold even though you know you're standing You know your weakness. That's what every great Christian in the history of the church has had in common Part of my my vacation reading was C.S. Lewis's space trilogy If you don't know what it's it's sort of like the Chronicles of Narnia meets Star Trek But there's a great image. I don't want to close with this of a of Dr. Ransom Who's a space traveler for Jesus? You know C.S. Lewis, but the Maladil who is the the space name for Jesus Thin Dr. Ransom on an interplanar territory journey to Venus Peralundra and when he gets to Venus why when he lands there he realizes why he's been sent that this is a newly created world and There's another Adam and Eve and the devil has arrived in a fierce strong man To try to tempt and destroy that world and cause it to fall just like amput in our world and When Ransom realizes this he absolutely panics because he realizes that Maladil Jesus has sent him there to be his Instrument to kill this vicious beast the unmanned he's called Now you gotta understand he's a pasty skinny Cambridge linguistics professor and He's absolutely freaking out because he sees his little pasty skinny body And he's realizing you know God should have provided something to save the world and finally he realizes he's told Don't you understand you're in Maladil's body his blood covers your sins You're the plan And once he gets over his horror at the cosmic divine sense of humor That he is the one skinny tasty Cambridge boy college boy is the one who's supposed to you know take on Andre the giant There's a great scene After he begins to fight and he just gets to the daylight speak out of him He finally sees the beast one last time and he picks up a rock and he starts running and he says In the name of the father and the son and the Holy Spirit here goes I mean a man he says the name of the father son of the Holy Spirit here goes listen Are you there are you holding the ladder enough? Are you are your feet firm enough to say whatever significance you have for me God Whatever calling you have on my life In the name of the father and son the Holy Spirit here goes