The Witness of the Spirit

Doesn't that feel good just to lift him up? Amen. To feel his presence come into this place as we begin to praise and worship him and he begins to inhabit those praises and Amen. It just feels good in the presence of the Lord. Man, so glad to be here today, man. Among God's people. Thankful for the good saints of God that are here. Faithful saints of God. Good to have the union class with us today. And welcome to Bible class. I mean, this is the fun place. I know. I don't know what y'all do back there, but this is fun. We get into the word of God.

We're going to look at it, and I'm sure you do, too. But, um, looking forward to what God wants to do today. I'm going to read from 1 John chapter 5 verses 5-9. I will be reading from the New American Study Bible this time. So 1 John chapter 5 beginning at verse 5. John writes, "Who is the one who overcomes the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the son of God? This is the one who came by water and blood. Jesus Christ, not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the spirit who testifies because the spirit is truth.

For there are the three that testify, the spirit, the water, and the blood. And these three are in agreement. If we receive the testimony of people, the testimony of God is greater. For the testimony of God is this, that he has testified concerning his son. And you can be seated. for August. Uh we we've been studying all summer looking at uh men and women from the book of Acts. Other than Peter and Paul, we were looking at other characters, if you will, from the book of Acts. But for August, we've got three Sundays. So, I've took picked a short three lesson subject that we're going to study.

And I'm I entitled it the three witnesses. The three witnesses. First John's a fascinating book. Unlike the epistles written by all other New Testament authors, there are no personal names given at all in first John. So the writer doesn't introduce himself. He doesn't address the letter to a church. He doesn't address it to any person or persons. He only refers to himself when he talk. He'll say I or we. And he'll talk to his audience as you or the beloved or little children.

But he never mentions any names at all in those uh in in this epistle which is interesting because we went through uh some of Paul's epistles last week and we noted that there were somewhere around 30 40 different people actually if you include Romans or almost 60 people were mentioned in Paul's letters. Um but there are many similarities of thought between the language of the gospel of John and it's been suggested that the gospel was written first that he wrote the gospel according to John and then many of the themes that he wrote about there in detail.

He picks them up again in this epistle but only in kind of an abbreviated form. It's as if he assumed that he had already read the book of John prior to this discussion and now he only needed to remind them of some of the truths that he had shared without a further explanation. You might say that the gospel provided the theology and went into detail of what he was talking about. But the epistle gives some practical applications to those truths. He just assumes you already know what I'm talking about. So here's the application. Here's where we put this to work in our lives.

So, first John does not address any specific problems uh as Paul would do to Corinthians and to Galatians where he would specifically say, "I've heard this among you and I need to talk to you about it." John doesn't do that. But he does give instruction on a right understanding of living for Jesus and and about Jesus himself. And so, in this way, he claim proclaims truth without a polyimical st slant. In other words, he doesn't argue or or debate about false doctrine.

and he just said, "Here's what's true, and let me tell you how we ought to understand and what we ought to live." And I think paramount to this discussion is a a proclaiming and and John does this uh extensively in this letter proclaiming that Jesus came as flesh and blood, that Jesus came as a man. Now what while not mentioned in this letter this focus makes it clear to us that John was preaching truth in the face of some things that were creeping into the church and that was a gnostic and sometimes a doseic teachings.

Gnosticism sprang up in the late first century among Christians who felt they had special insight into God and so they thought they were in some ways better than everybody else. We we they were mixing philosophy with uh what they knew about Jesus and they were trying to define redefine Jesus if you will with philosophy. In fact, one historian described their ideas as Christianity perverted by learning and speculation. And so they refined gospel really into a philosophy and they put knowledge in the place of what was supposed to be accomplished or accompanied by faith.

So they they felt they were better than everyone else. Generally speaking, narcissism taught that salvation is achieved not by the blood of Jesus, not by the things that we talk about, but by a special knowledge. We have special insight into the things of God. And this knowledge usually dealt with their relationship to the spiritual side. And they minimized anything physical in the physical realm. So, baptism no longer means a whole lot because that's a physical operation.

and and believing that Jesus died on the cross is no longer important because we have this special knowledge of of spiritual things. On the other hand, dosetism got around Jesus' humanity by just denying it all together. So rather than believe that Jesus came in the flesh, they held that Christ was only there in appearance or not reality a man. He just looked like a man. And though he seemed to converse and to eat and to suffer and to die, yet it was merely just an appearance to men, assumed by the son of God for important purposes in regard to man.

He had, according to this view, no real humanity. But though he actually appeared in the world, it was only an assumed form. In other words, more like a theophony or just an appearance of God. Paul no doubt had this heresy in mind when he wrote the familiar words in Colossians. Beware, and this is Colossians 2:8:9, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men and the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." And then the verse we like to quote, and here's why he quoted it, or he wrote it.

For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We like to point to that. Say it's all in Jesus. Yes, it is. But what Paul was pointing out, not so much that it was all in Jesus, but that it was in him bodily. That is very key to this verse because this word translated bodily, soma, if you want to look at the great Greek, that body comes from that Greek word that refers to a physical body, a body that could experience sickness and healing and needs food and clothing and and ultimately can suffer and can die. And so he said all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus bodily.

So he is pointing there to this physical aspect of Jesus' life. Peter affirms with Paul's assessment in first Peter 2:24. He said in his own self he bear our sins in his own body. And it's that same word there on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes we were healed. And so when we look at this, obviously Peter, obviously Paul had faced or or were starting to see some of this creep into the church, but it's left to John to really define it succinctly. In fact, he says in one place they were with us, but they went out from us.

So they we know that this heresy started among Christians, but they left. They went out from them and they were teaching false doctrine. And so John opens first John chapter 1 in verse one with this. That which was from the beginning which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and which our hands have handled or touched of the word of life. For the life was manifest, talking about the word, it was manifest in Jesus Christ. And we have seen it.

We bear witness and we show unto you that eternal that eternal life which was with the father which was manifest unto us. That which we have seen and heard we declare it unto you. It's interesting that John talks about three senses there. He talks about hearing. We heard the words of Jesus. We saw him. We beheld him. We saw him with our own eyes. And we even touched him.

I think that's why in his epistle in fact in two different places it talks about or in his gospel he talks uh after the resurrection that Jesus said touch see feel the side feel the nail prints what he was saying is this is a real person what you have seen and John looks back to that and he said I can testify to that that Jesus Christ was real that which I have seen from the beginning there referring to the beginning of Jesus min ministry we heard it we saw it we touched it. We handled it. We lived with him.

We understood that he is was physically on this earth that Jesus was fresh flesh and blood. I know this is a little bit of an introduction to before we get into it. But but I think it's necessary to grasp the significance of our text to look at that. We will need this before we look at these three witnesses. I have one one other question we need to look at and that is why flesh? Why did that matter? Would it have really mattered if Jesus were just a theophony? In other words, a manifestation of God, kind of like Moses saw as a burning bush. God spoke out of the bush and Moses looked at that.

Would that have been good enough for Jesus to just be a temporary image of God walking around just would did he really have to exist in flesh and blood to purchase salvation? Did he have to come that way? Could he have just been a revelation of of a higher nosis or higher knowledge and still been the savior of mankind? If mankind can can get his mind to understand who I am, then he everything will be at John doesn't really answer those questions because he doesn't argue. He just proclaims truth from what he knew. I like that approach.

In fact, we talked about that about a year ago on a Wednesday night. We talked about what truth was. It's proclaiming what we know from the word of God. Paul hints at it as well as Peter, but it takes the writer of Hebrews, I think, to fully address this question. Hebrews begins with the a very sublime prologue informing us that Jesus is both the express image of the almighty God and that he is heir to all things and that he is going sitting on the throne of of his father. And so although he was made lower than the angels, he obtained a more excellent name than the angels. He was exalted.

In fact, the writer exalts Jesus above all creation in Hebrew Hebrews 1 6 and8 when he says, "And again, when he bringeth his first begotten," talking about Jesus into the world, God says, "Let all the angels of God worship him. And unto the angels he saith, he I make you flames, his angels, spirits, and ministers are flames of fire. But unto the Son, he said, "Thy throne, oh God, as forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom." So he exalts this man, if you will, this one that came in flesh and blood, but he says he is higher than everything else in creation.

And so having shown the complete exaltation of Jesus, he then goes back in chapter 2 and he reminds us that Jesus was flesh and blood, that he was a man. Hebrews 2:9 says this, "But we see Jesus who was made lower than the angels for the suffering of death." That's important because flesh and blood dies or can and will die. For the suffering of death, he crowned him with glory and honor that by he by the grace of God should taste death for all things.

a nosis, an idea, a philosophy, this understanding of God that you think is greater than everybody else, that that those that took that could not taste death for every man. A theophony, a temporary appearance of God, would never suffer death. It would take coming as a man to pay the price for man's sin. And that that is important. Hebrews continues in chapter 2 and verse 16. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels which cannot die, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

Wherefore it behooved him or was important for him to be made like unto his brethren or you and I, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Why was he made like unto his brethren? Why was he made flesh and blood? Why was he like us? The writer gives us three reasons. Number one is that he might be merciful. Aren't you thankful for the mercies of God? But here's the thing. Mercy is often best displayed by those who can relate to what you're going through.

You go through things that nobody else has gone through. you can start talking they'll feel sorry for but but it's hard to extend mercy when you really don't understand but if you've suffered and you've gone through something very similar suddenly that mercy just just has a whole different look for it to it if one has suffered he's able to understand those who suffer in the same way they're able to have that mercy and Jesus mercy is specifically it is directed toward us because he came as a man like you and I. He understands what we go through.

He said in 218, the writer says, "For in that he himself suffer being tempted. He is able to secure, he is able to help, he is to able to reach down them that are tempted." So he was made like us so that he could relate to us. That's important. And the next thing he said, he was not only merciful, but he was faithful in things pertaining to God. While mercy is toward us, mercy is looking at where we are and saying, "I can relate to what you're going through. I know what you're like. I know what what you're what the temptations, how that feels. I know the suffering. I know the pains.

I know loss. I know all those things that you know. And so, I can give mercy unto you. But not only that, at the same time, he was faithful pertaining in the things pertaining to God. That faithfulness was not toward man necessarily. It was faithful to God's plan. It was faithful to his purpose for coming. Philippians 2:8 said this. And he being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself self, he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So he was faithful to fulfill his purpose in coming.

And because of that faithfulness to God's plan, we see the third thing it he did so for reconciliation for the sins of the people. He did what only he could do. He came to show mercy to us. He came to fulfill God's plan. And he did it to reconcile us to God. We who have sinned. He did what only he could do. For he hath made him. 2 Corinthians 5:21. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Aren't you thankful for that? That he came to bear our sins to bring us back to Jesus Christ. So having to to God.

So having estab established the necessity that Jesus had to come that way, I think we're ready to look at the purposes of these three witnesses. John gave witness in the first couple of verses of this epistle. We read those earlier. He said, "I touched. I under did those things. I I I was able to see and to hear and to handle." So I'm giving my testimony. But he points to evidence provided by God himself in this part right here in this text that we read. And so in verse nine he said this.

If we receive the testimony of people, in other words, if you hear my testimony, you hear that yes, I was there. I heard him. I saw him. I touched him. I know that he was real. If we receive that testimony, here's what we know. The testimony of God is greater. The things that God has provided. For the testimony of God is this, that he has testified concerning his son. So how did he do it? Verse seven told us there are three that testifier that witness. The Greek word testify means to be a witness. What proofs does God use for a witness to who Jesus was? He gives us these in verse eight.

He said the spirit and the water and the blood. And these three are in agreement. So we're going to look at all three of these in the next three lessons. Um so this lesson we will start with the spirit. Next lesson we will talk about water and the third the witness of the blood. Jesus entire life was impacted by the spirit. It was woven in everything he did. Indeed the very word Christ or Messiah means the anointed one. Anointed by what? Anointed by the spirit of God. That spirit of God rest on him. While Jesus came as flesh and blood, his life was lived in the power of the spirit.

For people say it this way, all the gifts of the spirit were in him continuously and always operating. All that that spirit that fullness of the godhead bodily dwelt in him. So that spirit was upon him bodily in a physical sense. And because of that this his life was lived in the power of the spirit. Let's look how the spirit dwelt and worked in Jesus Christ and and how it testified of him during his lifetime. And then we will look toward the end of the lesson how it will testify of him today. Uh before Jesus was ever born, it was the spirit actively working.

It was the spirit that came upon Mary. Luke 1:35 says, "The Holy Ghost, that spirit shall come upon you. The power of the most of the highest is going to overshadow thee. Therefore also the holy things which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of God. John's talking about here Jesus being the son of God. Jesus being the son of God. And he looks back. We can look back and see the spirit was the first one that says you're going to be the son of God. Jesus owed his existence to the work of the spirit. It wasn't the work of a man. It was the work of spirit of God.

Paul would say it this way. But when the fullness of time, Galatians 4:4 and5, when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, both made of woman, and made under the law speak of his humanity. They speak of the fact that, yes, he was born human flesh. Yes, that he he was made under the law. So he he was subject to the same law, the same word that that we are subject to. And yet it was God through the spirit that worked through Mary to bring forth Jesus.

So even before he is born, it is the spirit that sets a precedent. It is the spirit that says, "I'm going to raise up Jesus Christ." When Jesus was baptized, it was the spirit that bore witness to who he was. Mark 1:9 through11 records it this way. And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water. He saw the heavens opened and the spirit like a dove descending upon him.

And there was a voice from heaven saying, "Thou art my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." The spirit was testifying, "This is the son of God. This is the one you need to pay attention to. This is the one I am pleased with. This is the one I have put my spirit in. This is the one that is going to save mankind. John the Baptist recalled the scene in first John or in the book of John, the gospel of John chapter 1 and verse 32. And John bear record. So John's testifying saying, "I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove and it abodeed on him. It stayed there. It stayed with him.

And I didn't know him. I knew him not. But he that sent me to baptize. In other words, God had told me, the same said unto me, um, whom you upon whom you shall see the spirit descending and remaining on him, the same as he which is going to baptize with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and I bear record that this is the son of God. So there again, we get a testimony of men, but we also get a testimony of a spirit. The spirit that says, "This is my beloved son." The witness of the spirit was a sure sign. In fact, it was the sign, the only sign really to John to understand, yes, this is the Messiah.

Yes, this is the one. It was that same spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Now, we think of the spirit in all the good ways, right? It's the spirit that gave him power and everything that we'll talk about here in a little bit. But it also was that same spirit that led him into the wilderness. No sooner had he been baptized and no sooner had that spirit descended upon him.

No sooner had the voice said, "This is my beloved son that I am well pleased with." Mark immediately says in 1:12 and 13, "And immediately the spirit drives him into the wilderness and he was there in the wilderness 40 days tempted of Satan." Now you can say, "What's that got to do with a testimony of the spirit?" The point is the spirit sent him there and the spirit was with him. Yes, as flesh and blood, it was difficult not eating for 40 days. It was difficult resisting temptations. It was difficult to do those things. But the spirit was with him.

Upon leaving the wilderness, Luke gives us an interesting insight in chapter 4 and verse 14 and 15. Jesus returned and this is returning from the temptation. Immediately he leaves the wilderness. He returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee. He didn't lose it during the temptation. The spirit that drove him there stayed with him. And when he walked out, he walked out in power of the spirit. And there went out a fame of him throughout all the region roundabout. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. It was through the power of the spirit that Jesus taught the people.

It was by the power of the spirit that was in him that was able to do the great miracles. It was the power of the spirit that could divide loaves and fishes and and come back with more than they started with. It was the power of the spirit that could calm a storm or raise a dead or walk on water. All these things, the power of the spirit. They heard Jesus with the voice of authority. They heard him teaching. They marveled at his saints and said, "He's not like everybody else. There's something about his words.

He speaks as one having authority, someone that knows what he's saying and has the authority to interpret it. And they saw in his miracles the mighty hand of God. But he goes to Nazareth, his hometown. And those that had watched him grow up could not get beyond the fact that this is the little boy that we knew growing up. This is the teenager we saw. This was the young man probably worked in his father's shop. This is the one we knew. They knew him as flesh and blood. The spirit was testifying who Jesus was. But all in na Nazareth, Luke says in verse 4:22, bear witness, bear him witness.

And they wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. So they saw the works of the spirit. They saw the things and had heard of the things he done had done. But their response was, "Isn't this just Joseph's son? Isn't it just another man? No, the spirit was witnessing to them and they could not see it. At his transfiguration, we see again the spirit validating who Jesus was. He takes three of his disciples. He goes up into a high mountain and the Bible says Matthew 17:2, he was transfigured before him. His face did shine as the sun, as raignment, as white as light.

And they woke up from they had been sleeping. and they woke up and they see Jesus there and Moses and Elijah and and and they don't know what to do. And so naturally Peter opens his mouth. Well, let's just build three tabernacles while Peter's yet speaking and blabbering on, you know, and trying trying to we'll figure out how how we're going to do something about this. Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And what happens? A voice comes out of the cloud which said, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him." And when the cloud lifts, it's just Jesus.

Again, the spirit saying, "This is my son." Flesh and blood, yes. But the spirit is testifying who he is. It was immediately following this event that Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 17 verse 9 and verse 12. He said, "As they came down the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man until, now listen to this, the Son of Man be risen again from the dead. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer." Now wait a minute. We just saw him exalted. We just saw him shining so bright we couldn't hardly even look upon him. We saw his countenance completely changed.

It was just like bright light. We saw this shining. this this must be just some spiritual being and Jesus is coming down and said by the way I'm going to have to die. What he was pointing out is I am flesh and blood as you are. The spirit had just testified he was the son of God. Yet Jesus speaks to his disciples words of suffering and death making it clear that he was mortal flesh. Jesus entered Jerusalem for the week of his passion. And you remember the story.

He comes in riding on a cult and people are shouting and praising God and praising him and throwing the palm leaves down and singing hosana. Blessed he that comes in the name of the Lord. And and for a a glimpse of a moment they see him as the one that is going to come to sit on the throne of David. And he's coming. They're praising exalting. This must be the Messiah. This must be the one that is going to throw off the yoke of Rome and all these different things. And yet, while they're praising and they're doing these things, John 12 tells us this.

And Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour is coming that the Son of Man should be glorified." Now, first thought, they probably thought, "That's great. They're going to make him king. He's going to be glorified." But his next words are this: Verily, verily, or of a truth, or a man, a man, I'm telling you, this is what is going to happen. I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it die, it's going to bring forth much fruit. Well, you're the king, the eternal king that's going to sit on the throne of David. How are you going to die?

Again, we see the humanity of Jesus as he anticipated his death. He continued in John 12:27 and8 now is my soul troubled and what shall I say father save me from this hour for but for this cause came I unto this hour that was flesh saying do I really want to go through this I know what is ahead I know what is going to happen I know that I'm going to have to die save me from this hour but no this is what I came for I'm going to be faithful ful to the plan of God.

And when he said that, he said, "Father, glorify thy name." Then came there a voice from heaven saying, "I have glorified it, and I'm going to glorify it again." Another witness of the spirit. The spirit saying, "Don't worry." One final time, he gives witness that the son of man had come. The Bible records, as we just read, once at baptism, once at transfiguration, and once here, right before his crucifixion, a voice called out of heaven. Notice, not one time did the spirit say, "Jesus is not a man. This is me as a theophony.

This is a higher knowledge for you." No, he said, "This is the son of God in whom I'm well pleased." well pleased. No doubt because Jesus was faithful to his purpose. What purpose? Jesus makes it clear to us. Luke 19:10, the son of man has come to do what? Seek and to save that which was lost. That's what I came for. I know there were miracles. I know I've done teaching. I've done but here was my purpose. I came to save you.

Again in Matthew 28 20:28, even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto, I didn't come for that purpose, but I did come to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. This went against any kind of gnostic ideas, any of those kind of ideas, because he said, "I came to die." And die he did. But I'm thankful the story did not end with Jesus' death because all four gospels speak of the resurrection. But I think it's Paul really that recognized the resurrection as the work and the witness of the spirit.

In Romans 8:11, he said, "But if the spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he that raised Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you." Paul's pointing to the fact that yes, he came as a man. He died as a man. He suffered. He suffered pain. He suffered death. But because of the spirit that was in him, it raised him up. And if you have that same spirit in you, one of these days, it's going to raise you up. I'm thankful for the witness of the spirit. I'm thankful it isn't just what you see. I I there was a big movement.

It's gone on for several decades now to looking for the historical Jesus. And they're part of what they're doing is is trying to see him as a man and see beyond the theology that's written about him and look beyond. Let's just let's just reduce it down to a man and what he did. You can't do it because there's a witness of the spirit that accompanied him. And the spirit saying he's more than just a man. Yes, he is flesh and blood. That's how he came. But it's more than that because the spirit witnesses it.

So Paul's words there, if you have that same spirit that is in you, lead us into the next chapter of the spirit's witness. Yes, the spirit raised up Jesus, but here's the thing. That same spirit dwells in us through the Holy Ghost. Aren't you thankful for that? It's It's not a different spirit. it it's not something well I'll use this for Jesus and this for everybody else. It's the same spirit and that spirit is still testifying of Jesus. In John 1 John 5:6 we read it is the spirit who testifies. It's the spirit that gives witness because the spirit is truth.

And so now we begin to see one of the many correlations between John's gospel and his epistle. John, more than any other uh evangelist records Jesus speaking of the spirit that would soon be poured out. And three times in his gospel, he writes of this spirit of truth. Now, he goes in a little more detail in the gospel in in the epistle, he just said, "It's the spirit that testifies. It's that spirit of truth." Well, to get a handle on what he's talking about, go back to John 14:16-18.

Jesus is talking to his disciples and he said,"I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it receiveth him not does not know him but you disciples you know him for he dwells with you and he's going to be in you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you." And in that passage, Jesus makes a clear connection between himself and the spirit. The spirit that had been with him throughout his life would shortly raise him up from the dead.

But notice how he frames the narrative. He said, "You know him." What they knew of the spirit, they only knew through Jesus Christ. Jesus takes it further. He said, "Not only do you know him, but he dwells with you." It's clear here. He's speaking of himself, not some gnostic concept or idea, not of a theophony. He was speaking to them as the man that had walked with them and eaten with them and they had witnessed his miracles and and they had watched him grow weary and they had seen him tired and they had seen him glorified. But what made him unique was he was full of the spirit.

And now he promises them, I'm not just going to dwell with you. He said that spirit of truth shall be in you. concludes, "I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you." As Pentecostals, that ought to excite us. That same spirit that was in him said, "I will be in you." The second reference to the spirit of truth comes in John 15:26. But when he, the comforter, is come, whom I will send unto you from the father, even the spirit of truth which proceedth from the father, he shall testify of me. He shall testify of me.

When the comforter is come, when the Holy Ghost comes whom I'm gonna send, it's going to testify of me. That's just exactly what John said in our text. the spirit would bear witness or testify of Jesus. It's the first witness that he talks about. And in fact, in John 4:es 2 and 3, 1 John 4 2 and 3, John gives us a test. He said, "You need to try spirits." He he had already said, we mentioned that some had went out from them and they were teaching false doctrine. He said, "Let me give you a test hereby know the spirit of God.

Every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that does not confess, confesses not that he has come in the flesh, is not of God. Here's what that says to me. When you get the Holy Ghost, you're going to know who Jesus is because he's going to be living in your heart. We will know. It's a testimony of who he is. You can't be full of the Holy Ghost and deny Jesus. And his third reference, John 16:13 and 14. How be it, when he, the spirit of truth is come, he is going to guide you into all truth.

He will not speak of himself, but whatsoever you he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for you shall receive of mine and shall show it. He shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. He will glorify me. The Holy Ghost will guide us into all truth. I think the wording is interesting. He said the spirit would glorify him. One sure sign that it's a spirit of God living in your heart. Jesus gets the glory. If you're doing it for your glory, that's not the spirit of God working through you.

But when he gets the glory, what the spirit teaches us will come from him because it is his spirit dwelling in him. But here's the final point that we must not miss is that when we have the spirit, we become witnesses of Jesus Christ. That first witness is the spirit. How does it work in our day? Comes real plain to us in Acts 18. But you shall receive power after what? The spirit, the Holy Ghost comes upon you and then what's going to happen? You shall be witnesses. The spirit is still testifying today. And how is it testifying?

It's testifying through men and women that are filled with the Holy Ghost. Now, understand that promise just wasn't for them. You're going to be witnesses because you went through with me for three and a half years and all that. No. Paul said this same promise is on. He said on the day of Pentecost, it's for you. It's for your children. It's for those that are far off. It's for as many as our Lord our God shall call. Yes, the apostles could testify of Jesus because they walked with him for three and a half years.

Yet those of us 2,000 years later can testify him because of what he has done for me and you to testify. The key is to testify in the power of the spirit. Let the Holy Ghost work. You know, you you can debate scripture all you want. You can. But when you begin to testify of what God has done in your life, there's no arguing that point. It was the power of the spirit that caused Peter and John as they're approaching the temple and they see the man to look and said, "We don't have silver and gold, but what we have, we give to you in the name of Jesus Christ.

Rise and walk." That was a testimony of the spirit. What I have, what has been given to me, I'm giving it to you. And in Acts 4:29-31, they prayed, "Now, Lord," they had been threatened. He said, "Behold those. Grant unto my thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word." In other words, that we may witness that we can testify. How? By stretching forth your hand to heal, that signs and wonders may be done by the name of the holy child Jesus. In other words, that the spirit would work. And when they were prayed and when they put themselves in that position, Lord, you work.

you do the miracles. The place was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And here's what happened. They spake the word with boldness. That's a testimony of the spirit. Acts 4:33 with great power gave the apostles witness to the resurrection of Jesus. We're out of time. Stand if you will. Here's what I get from that. It's time for a Holy Ghost fililled church to give witness to the power of Jesus Christ. The spirit in us says, "I want to testify. I want to witness. I want to show this world who Jesus is." That Holy Ghost in us.

And that spirit in us ought to cause us to step out boldly in faith and proclaim who he is and what he can do. The spirit still witnesses, but it does through you and through me. Will you be silent? Will we quench it? Or are we going to say, "Let's go forth and do great exploits." I want the spirit to work in my life. Don't you? It's time to rise up and let the spirit work through you. Let's lift a hand and ask for his help. Lord, it's also plain when we look at your word. Your spirit dwells in us and you have made us witnesses and you testify of who you are, who Jesus is.

Pray God that that power of the Holy Ghost would just get a hold of our lives, would refocus our direction that we can be a mighty witness to this generation. We pray it in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.