Sermon Tone Analysis

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to sit at the bedside of any number of believers as they went home to be with the Lord.

It’s always a bittersweet moment.

It is hard to loose the presence of Christians you have loved, ministered to, and fellowshiped with.

On the other hand it is a blessing to walk them up to a door that for most people is very far away, and for some very frightening.

I’ve prayed with them, read Scripture to them, and sung with them.

It’s a joy to see them safely through the door.

The Apostle Paul expressed it this way: /“I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; ... .”/

(Phil.

1:23, NIV).

At those moments I am reminded that nothing, absolutely nothing, is more important than having Christ in one’s life.

Friends, I pray that God’s Holy Spirit helps you understand this morning that nothing is more important than having eternal life.

We’ve just come off of a season that is filled with subtle deceptions.

Summer is a time when we think more about our bodies, for example, because in the summertime people see more of them.

We wonder about whether we have an attractive tan.

We wonder about whether-or-not we look pudgy in the swimming suit.

We think about all the opportunities available to us between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

The deception is that we can actually begin to think these things matter!

When you look in the mirror today to see how your tan is doing or whether your skin is smooth, remember the believers who have experienced the sting of death that they might experience victory over death.

Those things didn't make any difference to them.

One thing mattered: That they had eternal life, because they had the Son.

And he who has the Son has life!

How can you have eternal life?

That is the focus of our text this morning.

!

I. THE CENTRALITY OF JESUS’ ATONING SACRIFICE

* /“This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ.

He did not come by water only, but by water and blood.

And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.

We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.”/ (1 John 5:6–9, NIV84)

#. in verse 12, the Apostle John is crystal clear about the source of eternal life

* /“He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”/

(1 John 5:12, NIV84)

#.

LIFE—Eternal Life in the world to come, and Abundant Life in this world—come by Christ

#. that’s it; end of story

#. this is a hard and unhappy truth: Not everyone who walks this earth will walk the streets of heaven

#. people without the Son may have a pulse, but they don’t have life or an eternal future with their Maker

#. but this passage begs the question: What has Jesus, who is the Christ, done whereby we have life in him?

#. in the preceding section (vv.

1–5), John described the joys and blessings of overcomers, those who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God

#. but the apostle knew that many would ask why they should believe that Jesus is who John claimed Him to be

#.

after all, Israel rejected Him;

* /“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”/

(John 1:11, NIV84)

#. the Apostle supplies the answer in vv.

6-9

#. why should we believe that Jesus is the one who can save us? ...

!! A. JESUS CAME BY WATER AND BLOOD

#. the One in v. 6 obviously points to Jesus Christ

#. he is the One—the one and only Son who has been with God the Father for all eternity

#. the noun’s position at the head of the sentence stresses Christ’s uniqueness

#. this One and no other “one” is God the Son, who came into the world

#.

Jesus Christ’s life did not begin when He was born; He has existed from all eternity

* /"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning.”/

(John 1:1–2, NIV84)

#. this verse speaks of the eternalness of the one whom we call Jesus

#. hence the New Testament speaks of Jesus coming into this world, not of His coming into existence

#. the incarnation of Jesus Christ is the glorious central truth of redemptive history and the foundation of the Christian faith

#. it is to the coming of the Son and to His deity that the Father testifies in 1 John 5:6-13

#. as the aged Apostle John writes these words, I think his mind races back sixty or seventy years to that moment when he stands before the cross watching Jesus die

#. he has heard Jesus cry out It is finished and watched as the last breath flowed out of his lungs and his body went limp

#. moments later a Roman guard, unconvinced that Jesus could have died so quickly, plunges a lance into his side and out flowed “blood and water”

#. we find the account in the Gospel written by the Apostle John

* /“When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”

With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath.

Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down.

The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.

But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true.

He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.”/

(John 19:30–35, NIV84)

#. from a forensic point of view, the blood and water testify to our Lord’s very real death

#. the “water” that John saw was plasma that had built up in the pericardium—the sack that surrounds the heart

#. under the stress of crucifixion, the pericardium filled with fluid and compressed the heart, eventually causing heart failure

#. the plunge of a Roman guard’s spear reveals the awful truth—Jesus is dead

#. the glorious good news for us, however, is revealed in Christ’s resurrection a few days later!

#. but in our morning’s text, the Apostle John stresses the death of Jesus

#. why?

#. some of the heresies that John and the early church had to deal with preached that Jesus was not really flesh and blood, but fully spirit who only appeared to be flesh and blood, and therefore could not have really died as real mortal men do

#.

when the Apostle John writes This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ he is testifying that Jesus really, really died

#. 1st, when Jesus died, he really, really suffered the wrath of God for the sins of God’s Elect

* /“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”/ (Romans 5:8–9, ESV)

#. because of sin, sinners are objects of His [God’s] wrath—prepared for destruction

#. we do lost sinners a huge injustice when we fail to warn them of the wrath of God that hangs over them because of their disbelief

* /“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”/ (John 3:18, ESV)

#. but, by having the son we have been justified by his blood and this saves us from the wrath of God

* /"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”' (Ephesians 2:4–5, ESV)

#. because Jesus was made sin for us, the thing we’ve been saved from is the wrath of God

#. 2nd, when Jesus died, he really, really, shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins

#. during the Last Supper, Jesus took a cup of wine and said it was symbolic of his blood that was soon to be shed at Calvary

* /“for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”/

(Matthew 26:28, ESV)

#.

Jesus came specifically to forgive our sins through his bloody sacrifice

* /“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”/ (Hebrews 1:3, ESV)

* /“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed.”/

(1 Peter 2:24, ESV)