I Trust in Jesus (Scripture in NKJV unless otherwise noted)
1 John 5:6-13 This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7 For there are three that bear witness [a]in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of [b]God which He has testified of His Son. 10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has [c]life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, [d]and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
V.7 is not in the oldest manuscripts, but nonetheless the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are One and all agree to the same thing.
“This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.”
John has been emphasizing that Jesus is the promised OT Messiah, the Son of God who stepped foot into humanity as Jesus. John employs legal and binding testimony to ratify his argument.
These Scriptures are highly debated. For our understanding, it is best to take “water” as the baptism of Christ because the false teachers of John’s day believed that the Messiah-ship came upon Jesus at His baptism and not at His birth. The emphasis on His blood indicates that Jesus was Messiah not only in His life but even in His death. The “blood” refers to the shed blood of Christ on the cross. Cerinthus and other false teachers of the first century taught that the Messiah-ship descended on the human Jesus at His baptism and left Him before His crucifixion. John argues against this heresy. HE was always fully God and fully man, from His birth to His death. This knowledge of Him is essential to our saving faith.
Isaiah 43:11 I, even I, am the Lord, And besides Me there is no savior.
“He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.”
In this verse, we come to the experiential witness to the Son of God – the indwelling Holy Spirit in every true believer. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the internal witness to the heart of the true believer. Every truly born again believer has the indwelling Holy Spirit in him. Faith brings the believer a consciousness of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit inwardly witnesses to the truth of salvation. Assurance does not rest on our emotions but an inner witness from the Holy Spirit and it is our trust in the Son of God makes possible the inner witness of the Holy Spirit to our salvation.
Ro 8:16-17, 16 “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
Ga 4:6-7, 6 “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”
John declares his purpose in writing this epistle: to provide God’s people with a Spirit-inspired, authoritative assurance of faith and salvation. Assurance of salvation rests on God’s promise and testimony. It relies on God’s Word, not our works.
Jn 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name…”
Jn 6:47, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.”
Jn 8:24, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
Belief is the basis for salvation, not our merit. Eternal life is a quality and quantity of life that we cannot earn, deserve, or buy. We cannot go to some spiritual supermarket and purchase salvation. If we could purchase it, we could never afford it. The only way we can get eternal life is to have it conferred on us freely. God gives it free of charge.
All the gifts that were given away at the gala were free to you. You did not have to go and buy them, you did not have to pay for shipping or a delivering fee, you did not have to pay tax; once received, you just had to accept it. WE are not going to come and charge you a user’s fee. WE will not hold it over your head. You can choose to never use it and leave it in it’s box. But it was free to you. You even used free money to purchase the free gift.
Ro 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
John’s great emphasis has been on love, but he never wants anyone to believe that we earn salvation by loving others. We are born of God when we put our trust in Jesus and in His saving work on the cross.
“Believe” means to receive God’s promise or accept it. From Strong’s Greek concordance: believe, put in trust with. From pistis; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. Credit; by implication, to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well-being to Christ) — believe(-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with.
No gift can be yours until you receive it. We insult God if we offer Him religion or our own morality in payment for salvation. We also understand that John was not talking about a mere intellectual assent to Jesus being Messiah
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
Instead, he means an active and living trust in and reliance on Jesus as Messiah. This is the faith God requires- a faith that takes God at His Word. I want to reiterate it again- trust in HIM and HIS Word, not in your feelings. It doesn’t matter how you feel about something, it only matters what God says about it.
Here is a list of things we trust in Jesus for:
Trust that Jesus is who HE says He is- there is not an OT God and a NT God- there is ONE God and He manifested Himself to mankind as the Messiah- Jesus Christ
1 Timothy 3:16 16 And without controversy great is the [a]mystery of godliness: God[b] was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.
Trust in His finished work on the cross for MY sins. IT is finished and the works will continue. I have to say this because the Mormons believe His death did not atone for every sin, certain sins have to be atoned for. ERROR. There is no new revelation. There is nothing we can add to His finished work. IT IS DONE.
1 John 2:2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
Trust that through His sacrificial death that I am fully forgiven. You do not have to feel forgiven to know you are forgiven. I felt forgiven for about a month until the enemy came in like a flood. You have to own it by faith. You have to accept it by faith.
Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I am forgiven! Tell the devil where to go when he comes at you with his lies and shame.
Trust that in Christ, I am born again, a new creation. Here is another truth I have had to cling onto in my walk with the Lord. I am not who I used to be. I am not just a recovered somebody. I am a whole new creation.
For most people, they can tell you the moment the HS entered them and they were born again. There is an experiential knowledge associated with being born again. You do feel new. You see things in a new way. I was blind, but now I see. There is a sin knowledge.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
John 3:5-8 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
The blowing wind produces change, even a gentle breeze blows a blade of grass. You can be assured of the indwelling Spirit if you have changed. It does not matter how slow the process, if you have turned from sin and live unto the Lord- you can be assured of the Holy Spirit. If you are becoming more like Him and less like the old you, you can be assured of the Holy Spirit living inside you. If you love more and sin less, you have been born again of the Holy Spirit.
Trust that God CAN and WILL do all He said He would do.
Numbers 23:19 “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? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
John 14:13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
About 12 years ago, I started having dreams and visions of God’s judgment on the US because of the bad condition of the American church. I hate to tell you this, but tough times are coming. If you do not trust Him now, you will not trust Him when the real adversity comes.
Jeremiah 12:5 AMPC [But the Lord rebukes Jeremiah’s impatience, saying] If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? And if [you take to flight] in a land of peace where you feel secure, then what will you do [when you tread the tangled maze of jungle haunted by lions] in the swelling and flooding of the Jordan?
God said HE would take care of you. Trust Him. God said He is your healer, redeemer, deliverer, provider. Believe Him. God said HE would supply all your needs. Believe Him. His Word is absolute truth.
Psalm 103:1-5 Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Lastly, Take God at His Word. HE should only have to tell us once. Trust is an active and living faith. John says, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, [d]and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”
I have assurance as long as I continue trusting Him. Disbelief will quench the Spirit in your life. There are multiple warnings in Scripture in departing from the living God by our disbelief. Do not think disbelief is benign. It is the very thing that cut off Israel. Disbelief is a grave sin. It is in fact telling God He cannot do what He said He would do and HE will not do what He said HE would do.
Our new covenant has greater promises and blessings but also more severe warnings.
Romans 11:16-22 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and [a]fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, [b]goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
Hebrews 3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
Hebrews 3:18-19 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Hebrews 4:2-3 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, [a]not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Every time I disobey God, what it reveals is that I don’t trust Him as I should. There is something faulty in my believing. In the case of the people in the desert that continued to grow and grow until it resulted in full-blown rejection of God and utter disbelief and lack of trust in him. The challenge in Hebrews 4 is to fear that slippery slope. Every time I sin it should be leading me to throw myself on God, fearing that I might fall into stubborn unbelief.
Of course the very act of flinging myself on him for mercy, forgiveness and future hope is one of the main things that prevents me from slipping any further into unbelief, which is why the warning is here.
For real believers the warning is to throw yourself on God, not down the slippery slope. For unbelievers who have some connection with the people of God the warning is to not assume you are OK because you sit in church. If you don’t believe in Jesus as the Scripture says, then you are no better off than the people in the wilderness who claimed a connection to God but who nevertheless hardened their hearts against him.
Anytime you find yourself acting in disbelief, stop and repent. Redirect your mind and heart to our Savior’s Words, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. He is with you in every season and in every storm. Psalm 23. He will take good care of you, no matter what may come. He is our good Heavenly Father and we can trust Him to care for us all the days of our lives until we hear those words, “well done, good and faithful servant”.
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