Today’s passage: 1 John 5:6-12
Helpful thoughts:
- One of the false teachings that the Apostle John was combating was the idea that the Spirit of God came on Jesus at His baptism but left him prior to the crucifixion. It was a way of saying that Jesus came close to becoming the Messiah but failed in His death and therefore was NOT the savior after all. John shares a three fold testimony to show this was not true. All three give evidence that Jesus is God the Son:
- The water – At Jesus’ baptism, God gave witness. (Matthew 3:16-17)
- The blood – At Jesus’ death, God gave witness. (Matthew 27:50-54)
- The Spirit – Throughout Jesus’ ministry and even after His ascension, The Spirit gave witness. (Acts 2)
- Everyone who does not believe that Jesus is the Christ, born in the flesh, died for our sin, risen from the dead, and rightful Lord is actively calling God a liar.
- We tend to think of many people as being “Good people”. But the truth is, “No one is righteous, no not one…no one does good.” (Romans 3:10-12) That includes Christians! We did not get saved because we were good people! We all need salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ alone.
- “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:15)
Questions to consider:
- When you here the message of the Gospel, what do you have to think and do in order to NOT be saved?
- We often feel like the burden of proof rests on us in evangelism. Is that true? What do we need to say in order to take the Gospel to people? Is it really as hard as we make it seem in our minds?