CRISIS

" A Crisis of Choice " I John 5:10

Have you ever had a crisis on your hands?  The word crisis comes from the Greek krisis which means to separate, in other words a change is coming either for better or worse.  It has been used in medicine as to which way the person is going in his health.  It is a time of danger or trouble.  Have you ever been in the ditch?  Hopefully you are not stuck and  cannot get out...or is the furnace out?  Being out of work is a crisis. 

In I John 5:10 we read about a person in crisis because of a past action of choice.  " The one who does not believe ( present tense) God has made him a liar, BECAUSE HE HAS NOT BELIEVED ( perfect tense here indicating a past crisis of choice ) in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son."  A crisis because of a past action of choice says the Greek scholar Wescott.

John Stott ( the evangelical Anglican and former rector of All Souls Church in London )said in his commentary on I John. " Unbelief is not a misfortune to be pitied; it is a sin to be deplored."  Why should I believe in the Son of God?  People that do not believe are acting of a decision that they have made which was a time of choice, of crisis, and they are not the better for their choice of unbelief.  They have not believed in the "witness" ( Greek martyr) that God has made in His Son. Why should I believe?

I.  God and His Witnesses 5:6  " This is he that came by water and blood.  And it is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is truth."

Way back in the OT we read of the importance of 3 witnesses. Deut 19:15 " a single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed."

  A.  The Water-  . This may mean the baptism of Jesus or the water flowing after the Soldier pierced the side of Jesus at the cross.  Jn 19:33-35 " out came there blood and water."

Matthew 3:15-17 " This is My Son, the Beloved"   after the baptism of Jesus God the Father is speaking here.  John is writing because a false teacher at the time he was writing named Cerinthus taught that Jesus was a mere man and that the CHRIST descended upon Jesus at His baptism and left Him at the Cross.  No, John says.  Jesus was human and He was also divine.  You cannot deny either and have eternal salvation John is saying.

   B.  The Blood- not by water only by the water and the BLOOD.  I John 1:7 reminds us " the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."  John 1:29 " Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world."  John says this of Jesus

    C.  The Spirit is bearing witness.  5:7   There are " three that bear record (witness) in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost":" and these three are one...and there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit and the water and the blood: and these three agree in one."

The Spirit 4:2 of I John " confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh"

I Corinthians 12:3  " no  man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost"

      D.  Agreement.  At the trial of Jesus,  the witnesses did not agree.  Mark 14:56,59  " For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together."   I John 5:9-"  If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which He hath testified of His Son."

5:10 " God gave the witness of His Son" He has borne witness.  " in the perfect tense indicating the abiding validity of God's historical witness to Christ."

" the one who does not believe ( present tense) God has made Him a liar because He has not believed ( perfect tense) in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son ( perfect tense)"

II.  Results of this witness

Eternal life 5:11  " And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life"

In His Son 5:11 " this life is in His Son"

A present possession  5;12 " He that hath the Son has life" Eternal life is to be enjoyed now. Greek word zoe , life .....english word zoology.

   A.  There are those who believe.  5:10  He has the witness in himself.  In other words He has a deeper assurance by the inward witness of the Spirit.  I John 5:13-   "  these things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life"

    B.  there are those who have not believed  5:10 again.

Conclusion-    The one who has not believed has had a crisis of choice, that crisis of choice leading to the present result of not having the life, that is life in His Son, eternal life.  For you that do not believe the crisis continues; God is true and not  a liar.  Are we enjoying eternal life now this morning?  If you are not , get out of crisis now.  Believe the record that God has already given us concerning His Son, Jesus Christ who is alive and risen.