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How to Understand God’s Testimony To You About Jesus

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A Letter to the Children (Part 14)

© 2025 C. O. Bishop

1st John 5:6-13

6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.

7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

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.

10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

Introduction:

We have been studying through the first epistle of John, and finally have come to a fairly “cryptic” passage. It actually contains a somewhat “controversial” passage, as well.

The first question, in my mind is, “What is this about the water and the blood?” There are several possibilities, each with its own group of adherents:

  1. Perhaps he means the Water and Blood that both came out of Jesus’s side when the Roman spear pierced Him.
  2. Or, perhaps the Water of His Baptism by John, and the Blood of the Cross.
  3. Or, finally, the Water of the Word. (Jesus fulfilling ALL the prophecies about His birth and life and ministry.) And the actual sacrificial pouring out of His Blood at the Cross.

Two Out of Three, Probably

Undoubtedly, it at least alludes to the first idea. John also said that both water and blood came out, when the spear pierced His chest at His Death.

(John 19:33-35) “33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: 34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. 35 And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.”

Why is that so important? Perhaps because the third possibility is actually the underlying truth. Jesus was and is the Living Word.

He had to fulfill all the prophecies of His Written Word, and He could not stop short of the Cross. He couldn’t just “check all the boxes,” and “touch all the bases.” He couldn’t just “declare Himself King.”

Jesus had to go to the Cross and lay down his life. He specifically shed His blood as final payment on our sin debt. Romans 3:25 specifies that He is the propitiation for our sins, “through faith in His Blood.”

They Pierced Only Jesus: Why?

They could have stabbed the spear into the other two men as well. Possibly they would have seen something similar. But, Jesus laid down His life just in time to avoid thebreaking of His legs. He fulfilled one more prophecy: “They broke none of His bones.”

The Romans did not spear the others, though they were crucified. So the testimony of the Water and the Blood only was about Him.

The Water of the Word

Remember that John also emphasized the Water of the Word, in John 3:5. Jesus said, “except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.”  

Peter agreed, in 1st Peter 1:23. He said, we have been born again “by the Word of God.”

In Ephesians 5:26, Paul said, Jesus cleanses the Church, “…with the washing of water by the Word.”

The Water of the Word is absolutely necessary for salvation. Romans 1:16 says, The Gospel of Christ, being believed in, is the only thing God defines as “The power of God unto Salvation.

So, it was also critically important that Jesus fulfilled His own Word, as well as providing the blood sacrifice for our sins. Both had to be there.

Making it Real

Ultimately, only the Spirit of God can make these truths a working reality in the believer’s life. No amount of mental “imagining” can make the crucifixion or the resurrection a reality in my life. In fact, He says to set aside imagination: we are to accept the engrafted Word, by faith.

Around 1978, I was wrestling with some scriptural idea. I struggled to “reconcile God’s Word with my sense of justice.” (something along those lines)

I remember, it suddenly occurred to me, for the first time, that, “It really doesn’t matter what I think. It only matters what God says!” And I meant it: I accepted His Word, and His authority by faith! And I had peace in my own mind, because the conflicted thoughts ended immediately.

So, the Holy Spirit bore witness to my spirit that the truth of God’s Word overruled all other concerns. The Spirit bore witness, because the Spirit is Truth…just as verse six concludes.

A “Textual Controversy,” and How I Address It:

I warned that there is controversy here. Up until the late 19th century, few people made argument over it. Some obscure scholars debated whether it was “in the original manuscripts.” But, (I hasten to remind you:) We do not have the “original manuscripts.”

So, about 160 years ago, scholars publicized three previously obscure “codices.”

(A “codex” is a book that opens like what we consider “regular books,” as opposed to scrolls, that unroll.) These codices are now famous. In them, (as well as others) that verse is missing. The critics triumphantly declared that verse to have been erroneously added.

The Textus Receptus, from 1516, includes that verse. The older English translations, including everything from the Tyndale Bible, to the Authorized, or King James Version, all still have it. Some of the newer translations include it, but they have a note in the margin declaring that it is of doubtful origin.

Some translations are a little more “sneaky:” They completely leave out verse seven, and then split verse eight, and use the first half of verse eight as “verse seven,” and the last half as “verse eight.”

There are Several Problems With Doing Such Things.

  1. The verse doesn’t say anything that is not also confirmed elsewhere in the Bible: It strongly confirms the truth of the Trinity, stating that the Father, the Word, and the Spirit are One. Why would there be a problem with that? It simply teaches in one verse what the rest of the Bible teaches in many passages.
  • I don’t think I am “wise enough,” personally, to “pick through the Bible” and declare that this verse or that verse should not be there. When there is undeniable, recorded history demonstrating that a passage (or a whole apocryphal book) has been added, so that we know who added it and why they did so, and when…then that is a different matter. But to start revisiting individual verses and passing judgment on them as “suspicious,” I don’t consider myself qualified to make that call…and I don’t particularly trust many of the people who claim that they are so qualified.
  • And, finally, this is the problem that gives me the most pause: When we begin “slicing and dicing” the scripture, telling people that their Bible “is not really God’s Word, in its entirety,” then there is no logical stopping point. People who begin to do that in their own minds will often continue “discarding more and more” until they have nothing left that is worth believing. So, they abandon their faith, and suffer the bitterness of a lost love, and a lost relationship with the God of the Bible.

A Personal Example

My own Dad did exactly that. It began when one of his college professors began posing questions he could not resolve. “So (as he told me) “I decided I just didn’t believe that part of the Bible.” But that led to more and more “exceptions” until (he said) “Finally, the only thing I had left was ‘salvation by faith,’ and without the rest of the Bible, that didn’t make any sense either: So, I dropped that, too!” That is a pretty sad story, isn’t it? And it made a wreckage of his life!

So, I go ahead and teach this as the Word of God, just as I do the rest of the Bible. It confirms the Trinity, and I have no problem with that: The Trinity is taught all through the Word of God, and it is inescapably true, with or without this verse.

What About the Other Three Witnesses?

8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. 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. 10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

If we continue with the idea that the “Water” in this passage refers to the Word of God, then we see that the Holy Spirit, the Word of God and the Shed Blood of Jesus collectively testify of the Grace and Love of God, offered through the Cross. These three witnesses are in complete unity.

In any court, when three witnesses, each unimpeachable on his or her own strength, bear essentially identical testimony, but from three separate perspectives, the court has a fairly solid reason to make a decision: The court chooses to believe the witnesses. This is a pretty common standard for courts, and for any other choice to believe

God’s Three-fold Testimony

But remember that all three of these testimonies are from God! His testimony is greater than human testimony. God testifies to the human race regarding Jesus: The Messiah…God the Son.

John concludes that whoever believes this testimony “has the witness within himself.” If you have placed your personal trust in the Gospel, believing the witness of God, then the Holy Spirit now indwells to and continually confirms the truth of that message. But if you do not believe it, then you should know that you are calling God a liar: He is the source of this testimony, He bore record of Jesus, the Messiah, the Only Begotten Son…You have to choose how to respond.

So, What is the Record?

11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

The Record is simple:

  • God has given Eternal Life to the Human Race
  • That Life is in the Person of His Son.
  • Whoever possesses the Son of God, has the Eternal Life God offered.
  • Whoever does not have the Son of God, does not have the Life.

So…why did John go to such lengths to tell us this simple message?

There are Two Stated Motives:

John said, “These things I have written unto you who believe on the name of the Son of God; “

  • “That you (plural…ye) may know that ye have (present tense) eternal life, and
  • “That ye may (continue to) believe on the Name of the Son of God.”

Think about the importance of this message:

This knowledge, that you have eternal life, is the only protection for your mind, against the slinking, sneaking fear, and distrust, constantly whispering, “What if you are wrong?? You are  a foul sinner: far too corrupt to survive the wrath of God! His Grace cannot reach to you! He will surely reject you now!”

This message, being believed, is the “Helmet of Salvation” required in Ephesians 6:17. If you cannot believe this passage, then you cannot put on the helmet of salvation, as protection for your mind, against the onslaught of Satan’s lies.

If anyone has questions about this security, offered by God, on the basis of Grace, through faith alone, I would be happy to address those questions with you.

Lord Jesus, help us to believe Your Word, and to apply it to our own lives in every area. Teach us to Walk with You by Faith, and to experience Your Joy and Peace as a result.

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Why Don’t I “Give an Invitation?”

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Why Don’t I “Give an Invitation?”

© C. O. Bishop 1/20/2018 Cornell Estates 1/21/2018

John 5:24; 1st John 5:11-13; Romans 3:23; Isaiah 55:1; Revelation 22:17

Introduction:

A month or so ago, I was asked, privately, “Why don’t you give invitations at the end of your sermons?” Well…that’s a good question, and, after some thought, I have decided that it should be answered publicly.

There have been times during the last 40-odd years, when I have asked a person how they became a Christian. They replied with one of the following: “I went forward in church; I raised my hand in a youth-group meeting, I prayed with a missionary who visited our church; I was baptized…” or something along those lines. Notice that every one of those statements began with “I (did something).” Isn’t it perhaps more important that God did something? Were they depending on their prayer, their public confession of sins, or some other action on their own part? I can’t tell. Were they even saved? I have no idea! I can’t see into their heart! I can’t examine the witness of their soul before God. The Holy Spirit is just as invisible to me as He is to everyone else! The real question we all need to answer is “How does God save people? How can we be certain that we have eternal life?”

How can we be saved?

The Philippian Jailer asked this very question in Acts 16:30. He asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” You see, he had the same idea: There must be something God wants us to do in order to earn eternal life! But they answered “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved!” (Believe….)

The people in John chapter five, whom Jesus fed with bread and fish, confronted him in chapter six (John 6:28) asking “What should we do that we might work the works of God?” Jesus answered in verse 29: “This is the Work of God; that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.”

I don’t know how the people in John 6 were responding, but the fellow in Philippi was about to commit suicide, if you remember the story: his life had effectively just ended, had Paul not called out and assured him that all the prisoners were still present. So Paul really could have told him anything, and the man was ready to do it. But instead, Paul and Silas told Him that all God was asking him to do was to believe the Gospel: to place his trust in Jesus as his Savior. He was evidently willing to do, or attempt to do, all the works any person could do. But all he was asked to do was to believe! That is very odd, isn’t it? Why did Paul not “lay on him all the demands of God?” Why did he not quote the Ten Commandments? Or tell him he had to be baptized, at least? (By the way, he and his family actually were baptized after they believed, but that is not what was required of them.)

It seems that believing is at least the “key” response that God is looking for. The Pharisees had lots of good works, but didn’t believe in Jesus as their Messiah. We Gentiles look like total heathens to any orthodox Jew (that’s actually what “Gentile” means!), but God isn’t judging us by our works. He is offering His Grace, on the basis of Faith (believing.) And that is the only way he has ever saved sinners, throughout all history. But what was the second question?

Can I Know that I Have Eternal Life?

I have also been emphatically told, many times, over the years, that “It is impossible to know that you have eternal life.” That, you have to “wait until you die to find out whether you were good enough:” …to find out whether you “made the team.” Or, simply, to find out whether you are “One of the Chosen.” I can’t understand how anyone would be comfortable with that idea, personally.

So, what’s wrong with that idea? Is that really what God says? Does he offer us no more secure hope than that? Let’s see what God actually says about that particular issue. (Remember that Jesus is “God in the flesh.”) So, in John 5:24, Jesus (God in the Flesh) made a very important promise:

“Verily, verily (truly…it’s a promise), I say unto you, he that heareth my words, and believeth on Him who sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

Every word, there, is important: We can see, back in verse 19, that Jesus is the one talking, even if we don’t have a red-letter edition Bible. So the first thing Jesus does, is to assure us that this is really true: That He is making a promise! He says, “Verily, Verily, I say unto you…” It is a personal promise from Jesus! And it has two conditions:

The Conditions

“He that heareth and believeth…” This is a “Whosever will”-type “invitation.” An invitation to what? To “go forward in church”, or to “sign a tract”, or to “make a commitment to Christ?” No! This is an invitation to hear the Gospel, and believe it: to place your personal trust in Jesus as your Savior! Nothing more or less! If I have heard that God is Holy…that I am a sinner…and that Jesus paid the price of my sins at the Cross, I have fulfilled the first of the two conditions. The day I placed my trust in His shed blood for my salvation, and began looking forward to His coming again, I fulfilled the second condition. And, on the basis of those two conditions, Jesus laid out a three-clause promise:

The Clauses

  1. If the two conditions have been met, what does Jesus say is the immediate (not eventual) result? “He that heareth my Word, and believeth on Him that sent me…what?” Does it say they “will have” eternal life? No! It says that this individual, on the basis of having heard the Gospel of Christ and believed, has everlasting life now! This isn’t my opinion: this is the promise of Jesus! The moment I saw the truth; that I was a lost sinner, and that Jesus’ blood at the Cross was God’s only offering for my sin, and I believed; trusting God’s promise for my salvation, then, from that moment on, I have had eternal life! How long is eternal? Silly question, right? But Eternal means everlasting…forever!
  2. What else did Jesus promise? We saw that the first clause of the promise was present tense; but what about the second clause? “…and shall not come into condemnation…” What tense would that be? That’s right! It is future tense! It means I can look into my future as far as forever, and know that God will never condemn me for my sins again! In fact, clear back in Psalm 103:12, He says that he has removed our iniquities from us “as far as the East is from the West”. I think it is great that he said “east from west”, rather than north from south: You can start at the North Pole and go south only until you get to the South Pole. But you can start anywhere, and go East or West forever, and never “get there!” My sins have been eternally removed from my ledger before God, and He will never judge me for my sins. I shall not come unto condemnation. My future is secure.
  3. And the final clause? “…but is passed from death into life.” Some Bibles translate this “…but has crossed over from death into life.” …which is also fine. But the best the English language will give us on this verse is that it is “past tense.” The fact, however, is that the Greek verb is in perfect tense: “a completed action which occurred at some point in the past, with permanent results for the future…” Do you see how important that idea is? It means, “This is a done deal!” It means “You have been born again, and you cannot be un-born again.” It doesn’t lend itself very well to translation in English, unfortunately, but that is the intent.

So…that was Jesus’s promise to anyone willing to hear Him and believe Him. He covered their past, present and future, with a single promise. Do you believe it? On the basis of His promise, then, do you have eternal life?

I could pose a second question: Does God want you to know that you have eternal life? (Notice I am underscoring the word “know”, here…) If He did, wouldn’t He tell us how to know it? Let’s see what He says:

A Parallel Promise

1st John 5:11-13
11And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

So, let’s break this one down as we did the previous promise:

  1. The record (God’s Word) states that God has given (past tense) eternal life to us, and
  2. This eternal life is in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ.
  3. If you have the Son (have received Him by faith), you have eternal life.
  4. If you do not have the Son (have not believed—have not received Him by faith), you do not have eternal life.
  5. The purpose of this being written is that you who believe (trust in) the name of the Son of God (Jesus), may Know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe on the name of the Son of God! That is the purpose-clause of this portion of this document! God wants you to know (now) that you have eternal life!

So, the question we posed a few minutes ago, was “Can I know that I have Eternal life?” According to the two faithful promises we just read, I would have to emphatically state that not only we can know that we have eternal life, but that God wants us to know so! He is not interested in a “hope-so” relationship. This wedding ring on my finger does not mean “I hope I got married 36 years ago, to a wonderful woman who is my best friend today:” It means I KNOW that we were married, and I am not going to forget it!

God gave us his written Word for assurance, so that we have it in writing. He also comes to live in the bodies of believers, on an individual basis, at the moment of salvation: whether I knew it or not, he came to indwell me, in the person of the Holy Spirit, the moment I believed. I may have only learned about it later, but He keeps His Word, and that is also part of His promise. So, with all that background as the foundation, why would I hesitate to give an altar call…to give invitations to “come forward in church,” or anything similar?

Why I Hesitate

When people tell me “I went forward in church when I was twelve,” I begin to ask questions, to find out whether they actually believed the Gospel. I may say, “So, that is when you saw yourself as a lost sinner, needing a Savior?” That doesn’t always go over well! As it happens, some have never seen themselves as a “lost sinner, needing a Savior!” In fact, the idea is repulsive to them: I recently had a young woman adamantly tell me “I am not a bad person!!” OK! As people go, I would say that was a fair assessment. But—does it come up to God’s standard? Let’s see: Romans 3:23 says, “For ALL have sinned and come short of the Glory of God;” (Hmm…)

Sometimes I approach it a different way: I say, “If you were to die today, and God were to ask you ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ what would you say?” I have had answers such as “I have done my best,” “I haven’t done anything really bad,” or, “…maybe I could just squeeze in the door?”  Bu the fact is, the rules were laid down in God’s Word: all are sinners; Jesus paid for all our sins; all those who have received the Son have life; and all those who haven’t do not! If my answer to God is not “Because Jesus died for my sins! He is my only hope!”, then according to God’s Word, I have zero chance of being accepted with God. But if he is my Savior, then, according to His Word, I am already accepted with God. I didn’t make those rules; but quite honestly, they seem more than fair, to me!

So, if I ask someone to come forward and “pray for salvation”, and they do so, they may go away thinking they have “done something” to get eternal life…when the truth is that there is nothing we can do to get eternal life! Jesus did it all at the cross! If they actually came because they believe that Jesus is the full payment for their sins, then the prayer didn’t hurt anything, of course. But if they came because they thought they could win merit thereby, they go away inoculated against the true Gospel. They say “I already did that!” And, sadly, I have had many people tell me just that. But when I ask questions, I find that they have never believed the Gospel! They do not believe that they are a lost sinner. They do not believe that Jesus’s Blood was full payment for their sins personally. And they are resting their hope for eternity on something they did, instead of what Jesus completed at the Cross.

Having seen this so often, and being aware that there is not a single example of an “altar call” or an “invitation”, beyond the “Whosoever will may come…!”, I am hesitant to give people a false hope based on their own actions, when the only true hope is the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But is there an invitation? Yes!

The Invitation of God

So! Having said all that, here is the invitation:

In John 3:16, Jesus said that he came “…that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” That is an invitation to you! How can I say that? Because He said “whosoever!” Had he actually called you by name, here in the Bible, there may be someone else by that same name, and He could have meant them, not you! But He said “Whosoever!” That means He is inviting you to believe, and be saved! Right where you sit, He is asking you to believe in Him, and trust in Him alone for your eternal salvation.

Clear back in the Old Testament, in Isaiah 55:1, the principle was laid down: He said, “Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price!” That must have boggled the minds of those who read it! But He reiterates it in the very last chapter of the Bible. In Revelation 22:17 he says, “And the Spirit and the Bride (the Church) say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life, freely.”

So—the invitation given by the Holy Spirit, is to come to Jesus, the eternal source of living water…the Author of eternal life!

The invitation given by the Church is the same. He says those who hear (That’s us, folks!) should echo that same invitation to those around us: “Come to Jesus. Own Him as your personal Savior! Take the Eternal life that is freely offered to you!” The invitation says “…anyone who is thirsty is to come!” and finally, “Anyone who is willing is to come!” You do have to be willing!

You don’t need me, or a church, or a religious experience of any kind. You need to trust Jesus as your Savior, and learn to walk with Him. This invitation has been there in the Scripture for thousands of years; but each of us are limited, in terms of time. Don’t wait! If you know you need a Savior, then believe in Him, and have eternal life, today.

That is the invitation—it is from God, not me. Answer it as you choose. You alone can choose!

Lord Jesus, help us to see ourselves clearly, so that we can receive your promise, believe your promise, and learn to walk with you. Teach us to extend the invitation to those around us, too.

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