The Witness of God

November 23, 2025|The Witness of God|1 John 5:6-12

Will Davis

Click here for sermon audio

From the beginning of redemptive history, God has never left humanity without a clear witness to His Son. All throughout the Old Testament from the first promise of a Redeemer in Genesis 3:15, through the prophecies, the sacrificial system, and the writings God continually pointed forward to the coming Messiah.  This is why the Old Testament remains essential to the New Testament church.  We can not simply unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament to do so would be to unhitch ourselves from God’s testimony about who Christ is and how we are to know that He is in fact the Messiah.

John in this very letter has warned the church of those who would seek to lie about who Christ is.  He warned the church in chapter 2:22 that those who deny Christ are liars and not only are the liars but antichrists.  And again he warned the church in chapter 4:3 every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of antichrist…Church lets remember that even the Gentile Christians would have had access to the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. 

Church we need to understand that John’s argument does not begin in the New Testament.

He writes to believers who already understand that God has been giving witness for centuries. 

The Church that John was writing to would be familiar with and know OT passages like:

Genesis 3:15 — the promise of the One who would crush the serpent.  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Isaiah 7:14 — His miraculous birth. Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Micah 5:2 — His birthplace. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

Isaiah 9:6 — His divine identity. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Psalm 22, Isaiah 53 — His suffering and death. 4  Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5  But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

Psalm 16:10 — His resurrection  For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

This is only to name a few places where God bears witness to His son in the Old Testament. 

To dismiss the Old Testament, as something to unhitch from, is foolishness. 

God’s witness of who is son does not begin in the New Testament. 

We cannot claim to love the Son, but deny or ignore what God gives witness to in the Old Testament. 

When Jesus entered the world, that long-promised testimony did not fade; it intensified.

At His baptism the Father declared Him to be His beloved Son, at the cross His blood confirmed His saving mission, and through it all the Holy Spirit continued to testify to His true identity.

In our passage this morning, John brings all these witnesses together and shows that God has given a unified, undeniable testimony about Jesus Christ. Jesus came “by water and blood,” and the Spirit Himself affirms this truth. These witnesses agree perfectly because they come from God, and they reveal that eternal life is found only in His Son.

To reject this testimony whether through unbelief, false teaching, or distorted views of Christ is to reject God Himself.

To receive it is to possess the very life God has given. 

Having reminded us that God has been testifying about His Son from the very beginning, John now shows how that testimony reached its fullest expression in Christ’s baptism, His cross, and the witness of the Spirit.

This brings us to our first point this morning…

I. The Testimony of the Water, the Blood, and the Spirit

1 John 5:6-8 6 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. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.

Now, when we come to this passage, we need to admit that it’s one of those Scriptures that has stirred up some debate over the years, specifically what John means by the water and the blood in verse 6.

Some scholars argue that John is speaking about the sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. But of the three main interpretations, that’s the one I find least convincing. It doesn’t really fit what John is addressing in this letter, nor does it match the false teaching he’s confronting.

A second view connects “water and blood” to John 19:34, where the Roman soldier pierces Jesus’ side and at once there came out blood and water.  Some suggest John is pointing back to that moment as a way to affirm both Jesus’ real death and real resurrection and correct the Docetists,those who denied Christ’s true humanity, false teachings.

But the third interpretation is the one I believe John intends.

In this view, the water refers to Jesus’ baptism, and the blood refers to His death on the cross. 

This makes the most sense in light of the false teaching John was fighting against, those who claimed the divine Christ came upon the man Jesus at His baptism and left before the crucifixion. If that were true, then God did not die for our sins. There is no atonement. No salvation. No gospel.

John wants to make sure the church’s Christology stays right. He wants to anchor them in the truth about who Jesus really is. That’s why we have this triple testimony from the Spirit, the water, and the blood, all pointing to the same reality: Jesus Christ is the Son of God, fully God - fully man.

Look back with me to chapter 5 verse 5, Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

John is not giving us something new; he is reinforcing what the church already knows. Jesus is not partly God. Not temporarily God. Not a spirit who borrowed a body. He is at all times the eternal Son of God.

Just like Pastor JD reminded us last week, our victory is not based on us being greater than the enemy. No we overcome because He who is in us is greater. Jesus’ full deity matters.

Now, to address the false teachers of his day, the Gnostics, the Docetists, and the followers of Cerinthus, John starts by pointing back to the baptism of Jesus.

Why? Turn with me to Matthew 3:16–17 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

What a moment in redemptive history.A public declaration from heaven: The heavens open.The Spirit descends.The Father speaks.And He doesn’t say, This has now become my Son, or My Son is now with this man.He says what? This IS My beloved Son.

That’s the testimony of the water, and it leaves no doubt, Jesus is the eternal Son of God.

And church, these same ancient heretical teachings show up today. Have you ever had Jehovah’s Witnesses come to your door? They deny that Jesus is God and teach He is really Michael the archangel. The heresies of the first century never die; they just change their clothes.

The next witness John gives us is the blood Jesus shed on the cross.The cross is the clearest, loudest declaration of who Jesus is and why He came.

At the cross: Prophecy was fulfilled. Darkness covered the land Matthew 27:45.The earth shook Matthew 27:51.The veil was torn in two Matthew 27:51.And the hardened Roman centurion declared, “Truly this was the Son of God!” Matthew 27:54.

The blood of Christ testifies: Jesus is the Savior. He is the payment for our sins.

John says Jesus came not by the water only but by the water and the blood because some were willing to accept Jesus as a teacher or a spirit-filled man, but not as the Lamb of God whose death atones for sin.

A man named Cerinthus, who was a false teacher during John’s lifetime, taught that the divine Christ descended on the man Jesus at His baptism, left before the crucifixion, and returned after the resurrection. In that teaching, only a regular man died on the cross.

Church, that completely destroys the gospel.If Jesus’ full divinity and humanity did not die for our sins, then we have no Savior.

If Jesus was not divine during His suffering, then His death has no power.If the Son of God did not hang on that cross, then our sins remain on us.

But John says no, the blood is part of the testimony.

At the cross, the fullness of Jesus’ deity and the fullness of His humanity are both present. He is fully God and fully Man, suffering in our place.

To remove the deity of Christ from the cross is to remove the only hope we have.

Church, this is why we hold fast to the cross.

Because without the cross, you may know about Christ, but you will never know the real Christ.  Without the blood shed on the cross our faith would be in vain.

Before we move to the third witness, notice what John is saying in the back half of verse 6.  John adds something here that really makes you stop and think. Look at the second half of verse 6. It’s almost like he’s saying, In case you didn’t catch this, Jesus came by water and by blood. Not by water only, but by water and blood. And you almost want to ask, Why say it like that? Why emphasize it?

It’s as if John is addressing the assumption that some people might try to accept Jesus’ baptism as God’s testimony, but ignore His death. As if God only affirmed Him at his baptism, only called Him His beloved Son there, and then somehow remained silent at the cross.

John is essentially saying, No, don’t make that mistake.

God testified at the water and at the blood. And yes, He says it that strongly because He knew people would try to deny the second part. That’s exactly the point he’s making.

The next witness John points the Church to is the Spirit of truth, who is God’s ongoing witness.  Why does John call Him the “Spirit of truth”? Let me explain this in a simple, straightforward way: the Holy Spirit is the One who reveals. That’s His role within the Trinity. Whenever God makes His will known, whenever truth is revealed, the Spirit is the One bringing that revelation.

Scripture makes this absolutely clear.2 Peter 1:21  says, For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.In other words, every time God spoke through the prophets, the Spirit was the One moving them, guiding them, speaking through them.

You see the same thing in the early church. When Peter stood up in Acts 1:15–16  he said, Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand…Peter understood it, all Scripture came through the Holy Spirit.

And it’s not just those passages; Scripture repeatedly affirms this reality: the Holy Spirit is the source of revelation, the One who brings God’s truth to us. 

John brings all of this together. He shows us three unified witnesses.

First, the Father’s witness at Jesus’ baptism.

Second, the Father’s witness at the cross and everything that happened surrounding His death.

Third, the ongoing witness of the Holy Spirit through the truth God has revealed.

That’s why in verses 7 and 8 he says,  For there are three that testify:  the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.In the Greek, it literally reads, the three are into one, meaning they come together as one unified testimony. Legally, that’s more than enough to establish the truth.  In Deuteronomy 17:6 scripture says that the witness of one is not enough to condemn and man so John says God gives us three unified witnesses that Jesus is fully God and fully man, so that those who believe in the Jesus God testifies about will overcome the world.

John wants the church to clearly see and understand the testimony of God and if they can receive the testimony of men to condemn a man to death then how much more should they put their trust in the testimony of God.  This brings us to our next point this morning: God’s Greater Testimony.

II. God's Greater Testimony

1 John 5:9-12 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. 10 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. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

So after looking at God’s witness and the purpose behind it, the question becomes simple: How should we respond to God’s testimony about His Son?Look again at verse 10,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.

I honestly don’t know how the Apostle John could say this any more seriously or clearly. If you believe in the Son of God, you have the testimony in yourself. What does that mean? It means you take hold of Christ and you don’t let go. You cling to the truth of eternal life in Him. Your faith endures. It lasts. This is exactly what John described earlier in chapter 2. Look back in chapter 2 with me at verse 20-21 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and no lie is of the truth.

Those who truly believe have received eternal life, and because of that anointing, they hold fast to Christ. They remain. They don’t walk away. As John said, those who left the faith didn’t leave because they lost salvation they left because they never had it in chapter 2 verse 19.

So when John says believers have the testimony in themselves, he means this: you heard God’s witness about His Son, you believed it, you embraced it, and you’ve taken hold of it with a grip that will endure your whole life.

But then John gives the other side of it.In verse 10, he says what? Whoever does not believe God, I want us to notice this morning how he shifts the focus. Rejecting Christ is ultimately rejecting God’s testimony about Christ. It’s not just disbelief in Jesus; it’s disbelief in God Himself. And John says that when a person rejects God’s testimony, he has made Him a liar.

This mirrors exactly what John wrote earlier in chapter 1 verse 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar…

If you deny what God says about you, you call Him a liar. And if you deny what God says about His Son, you call Him a liar. Both are blasphemous, but denying God’s witness about His Son is a severe blasphemy.  Why? Because I say so? No, because scripture says so. Numbers 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie and Paul echoes this in Titus 1:2 God, who never lies…

So refusing to believe God’s testimony about Jesus Christ is not a small mistake. It is not an unfortunate misunderstanding. It is the ultimate act of blasphemy to look at the God who cannot lie and accuse Him of lying about His own Son.  And as we approach Christmas is why Saint Nicholas slapped Arius at the counsel of Nicaea.  Arius taught that Jesus was the first created being by God essentially calling God a liar and jolly ole Saint Nick slapped him for it.   This is why unbelief is not something to pity. Scripture does not treat it as a harmless perspective. It is a sin, a damning sin because it declares God to be false. As Paul wrote in Romans 3:4  Let God be true though every one were a liar.

Even if every human being lies, God remains true.

So for a man to lift his small fist to heaven and call God a liar especially when God bears witness to His Son as the Savior, Redeemer, and as Lord of all is the height of rebellion. 

Now church let us not forget that even in the midst of our own great rebellion Christ still died for us lest we become haughty.  At the same time it is so important to understand that there are not multiple paths to God.  To say that there are many ways to heaven is to say that God is a liar.  This is why we must have an urgency to take the gospel to those who are deceived and we must never compromise the truth of the Gospel no matter how offensive it may feel to the unbeliever or those who hope in anything other than Christ alone. 

John could not be more clear than he is in verse 12 “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”This is the only response God calls for. Believe His testimony. Embrace His Son. Take hold of eternal life and never let go.  God does not call for our good works, our tithes, our piety, seeking knowledge, being a good person, being spiritual, or whatever other nonsense people spew.

You really can’t get clearer than that. If you have Christ, you have life. If you don’t have Christ, you don’t have life. There is no middle ground, no alternative path, no good intentions clause, there is no compromise.

But that’s not the message you hear in a lot of the Christian world today. Some even teach that you don’t need to know Jesus, or believe the gospel, or receive Christ by name that as long as you believe there’s some kind of God out there, He will bring you to heaven. And if He doesn’t, they say, God would be unjust.  

But that’s not what God says. That’s calling God a liar. Because God Himself declares, Whoever has the Son has life. And He also declares, Whoever does not have the Son does not have life.

You cannot get wider mercy than that, God gave His own Son. To deny the Son is to deny the only way God has provided for eternal life.  To say that there is another way is to call God a liar and to boast that you know more than the one who spoke all things into being. 

Listen again to John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.If you haven’t received Jesus Christ and believed in His name you have not been saved. Scripture never presents another option.

God has made His testimony unmistakably clear.

He testified all through the Old Testament by the Holy Spirit speaking through the prophets. He testified in the New Testament, John highlights three major moments: At Jesus’ baptism, when the Father publicly affirmed His Son in Matthew 3:16–17. At the cross, through the supernatural signs surrounding His death in Matthew 27:45, 51–54. And through the ongoing witness of the Holy Spirit, who reveals truth and confirms Christ in John 15:26.

Even before Jesus’ birth, the Father was testifying. You see it in the angel’s announcement to Zechariah in Luke 1:13–17, to Mary in Luke 1:30–33, and to Joseph in Matthew 1:20–21. You see the Spirit’s work in Christ’s conception in Luke 1:35. And all throughout His life, Jesus was empowered and led by the Spirit whom the Father sent in Luke 4:1, 14, 18.

God has never been silent. The Father has testified through every stage, Old Testament prophecy, Jesus’ birth, His baptism, His cross, and the Spirit’s ongoing ministry. These three great witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood all agree.

And the conclusion is the same now as it was when John penned these words: If you believe, you take hold of the truth, you embrace Christ, and you receive eternal life. If you refuse to believe, you reject God’s testimony and Scripture says you make God a liar.

It really is this simple 'If you have the Son, you have eternal life. If you do not have the Son, you do not have eternal life.'

Church, when we step back and look at everything John has laid before us, the message is unmistakable: God has not whispered about His Son, He has shouted.

From Genesis to Revelation, from prophecy to fulfillment, from the water to the blood to the witness of the Spirit, God has given a complete, consistent, unmistakable testimony about Jesus Christ.

Every one of those witnesses is saying the same thing:Jesus is My beloved Son.Jesus is the Lamb of God.”Jesus is the Savior.Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only life.

God has left no room for doubt, no space for speculation, no place for alternative paths or competing truths.

The testimony is not vague. It is not optional. It is not unclear. It is God’s own declaration about His own Son, and God cannot lie.

And so John brings us to the unavoidable question:

What will you do with God’s testimony?

Not your emotions, not your background, not your opinions, God’s testimony.

John says, Whoever believes… has the testimony in himself. That means the believer doesn’t just hear the truth; he embraces it, clings to it, and lives by it. He doesn’t drift, doesn’t walk away, doesn’t trade Christ for the world. Why? Because eternal life has taken root within him.

But John also says, Whoever does not believe God has made Him a liar.

Church, there is no softer way to say that. Unbelief is not an intellectual struggle, it is a moral accusation. It is looking at the God who has been faithful for all eternity and saying, You’re not telling the truth about Your Son. Scripture calls that blasphemy, because God never lies Numbers 23:19; Titus 1:2.

This is why there is no such thing as neutral ground with Jesus.

You either receive God’s testimony or you reject it.You either have the Son or you do not.You either have life or you do not.

And so John ends where every faithful preacher must end:

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

There is no clearer verse in the Bible. No shortcuts. No loopholes. No alternate routes. Eternal life is not found in good works, church attendance, spiritual feelings, being a decent person, or believing in “a god” somewhere out there.

Life is in the Son, and only in the Son.

Church, this is why we cling to the gospel with both hands.This is why we refuse to compromise the message to make it softer or more acceptable to the world.This is why we preach Christ crucified.Because He alone is God’s provision, God’s truth, God’s testimony, and God’s gift of eternal life.

And this morning, the same God who testified through the prophets, who thundered from heaven at the Jordan, who shook the earth at Calvary, and who speaks through His Spirit even now, that God calls you to respond.

Have you received the Son?

Not admired Him.

Not respected Him.

Not known about Him.

But truly received Him, believed in His name, trusted His work, surrendered to His Lordship.

Because if you have the Son, you have life that cannot be taken.

But if you do not have the Son, Scripture says you do not have life, no matter what else you possess.

So let us be a people who bow before God’s testimony, who cling to His Son, who stand firm in His truth, and who proclaim to the world: Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and in Him is eternal life.

Church, may we believe it.May we stand on it.And may we never let it go.