1 John 5: Faith That Overcomes

1 John 5 opens with a statement so clean you almost want to argue with it: if you believe Jesus is the Christ, you’ve been born of God. We take that seriously, because it is either the most freeing news you can hear or the most confronting line you can’t ignore. From the jump, we talk about overcoming the world and why John ties victory to faith, not to personality, performance, or pretending life doesn’t hurt. 

From there the chapter gets into deep waters: the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the bigger idea of God’s testimony about his Son. We connect those lines to the cross, to what it means to have the testimony “within yourself,” and to the difference between head knowledge and the Holy Spirit bearing witness to your spirit. We also get honest about apologetics. We value good reason, but we’ve both seen how arguments collapse when someone is crushed by grief, fear, or a real crisis. A living relationship with Jesus carries people when logic runs out. 

We wrap with assurance of eternal life, confidence in prayer according to God’s will, the hard sayings about sin, and John’s blunt final warning: guard yourself from idols.

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Transcript

Welcome And 1 John Recap

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Everybody, welcome to another WoeFo Yo podcast with C Dub and Bones. Last two episodes we covered 1 John 1 and 2, and then our last episode was 1 John 3 and 4. And in the interest of just keeping the time there, we decided to just make another episode out of 1 John 5. 1 John 5, 1. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. How simple is that?

SPEAKER_03 0:53

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. The end. Go home. Drop the mic.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

And that's episode. That's our last episode. Yeah. And everyone who loves the Father loves the child born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God. When we love God and follow his commandments, for this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Even our faith.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

NIV says the same way, even our faith.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Yeah. Yeah. Let's see. I amplified say everyone who's everyone is born of God is victorious and overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has conquered and overcome the world. Our continuing, persistent faith in Jesus, the Son of God. Persistent. That makes you shut. Imagine that. So man, it's like grace and discipline. It's the best of both worlds.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

I can't help but hear John Hagee right there.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Give him praise and glory.

SPEAKER_03 2:10

Give him glory in the house of God. Yeah. Oh man. I digress. Go ahead.

Spirit Water Blood And Testimony

SPEAKER_00 2:19

I got it on the highest authority that Hillary Clinton is antichrist. Verdict's still out. Oh, goodness. I had no self-harming tendencies, let it just be said. At the time of this podcast. All right. In all seriousness, back to verse five. 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 it because the Spirit is the truth. Man, now John's getting in deep waters here, man. Yeah, yeah. He starts letting it rip. Yeah. He's talking about keep a simple relationship, keep a simple relationship. Now these waters are going to get deep. For there are three that testify the spirit and the water and the blood. 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. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. What I find interesting here, John's John's one that has been there. He's been there and heard God testify of his son at the River Jordan while he's getting baptized. He's heard God testify on the mount of transfiguration. This is my beloved son. Hear ye him. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. This is somebody who's witnessed the testimony of the Father firsthand. Yeah. If we receive the testimony, people the testimony of God is greater. For the testimony of God is this that he has testified concerning his son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

Then what he says has this testimony in his heart.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Like that. See what the good old Amplified says. The one who believes Son of God adheres and trusts in him and relies confidently on him as Savior has the testimony within himself because he can speak authoritatively about Christ from his own personal experience. That's what Wo FO Yo is all about, right there. There we go. The one who does not believe God in this way has made him out to be a liar because he has not believed in the evidence that God has given regarding his son.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Yeah. I like that. It's in your heart. Yeah. Again.

SPEAKER_03 5:16

It's in you. It's inside of you.

Apologetics Versus Knowing Jesus

SPEAKER_00 5:17

Yeah, it's something that you know. Yeah. And this is one of the things that there's a place for it, but but I get down on it quite a bit. Apologetics, apologetics, apologetics, apologetics. Hey, it's great that you can reason. Now, if you have somebody that knows within their knower that this is true, and they're and they're operating out of that grace and God's given it to them, then hey, amen. But you can make an idol out of apologetics. That's kind of what we've always got down on. You're going apologetics, apologetics, apologetics. And let me just tell you, the the person with the bad health diagnosis, you know, the person who's dealing with the kid that's walked away from the Lord, the person that's going through it, uh, they don't give a shit about your apologetics. Right. What they need is a personal relationship with Jesus.

unknown 6:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

They need intervention within their situation. They need comfort within their situation. Right. Uh, even if it's saying, hey, you know, you're this is something you're going to have to go through. And the Lord will do that sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 6:35

Yeah, the issue with the apologetics is that it's uh it's all about logic and reasoning. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Therefore, it it exists in the mind, will, and the emotion. Yeah. And and there, don't get me wrong, the mind, will, and emotions are part of man. Yes, they are. But it has no capacity for faith. No.

unknown 6:57

No.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

It'll get you so far. Faith is lost in sight.

Pressure, Suffering, And Being Shaped

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Very good. I like that. Faith is believing without seeing. Jesus said, Blessed are those who believe without having seen. This is the testimony of this that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son, and the one who has the son has a life. The one who does not have the son of God does not have the life. You know, I was listening to a guy, I couldn't tell you his name. Had something on in the background. Good interview. Dude's at from uh Africa. I think he lives over around Virginia now. Was talking about some different experiences he had. Because you become a Christian in Africa. The supernatural is a very real thing. And he was talking about kingdom, he was talking about dominion, he was talking about authority. He said, one of the things they don't teach in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he said, he said, the word of faith movement, and don't get me wrong, I learned a lot of good things in the word of faith movement, uh, and had to unlearn a lot of other things. And he goes, if all you do is claim, claim, claim, and you're going to expect instant victory every time, whenever there's a situation, then God will never perfect you into what He's called you to be. Where does it say that you're gonna like it? Where does it say that that's gonna feel good? Right. Right.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

Yeah, we know that we are in Him and He is in us because He has given us His Spirit. So not because the day is good. Uh so yeah, we we really need to get away from the the feel-good gospel. Uh which there are parts. I mean, there's there's a lot of the gospel that'll make you jump and shout and hoot and holler.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Man, if you have a prayer that that's an earnest prayer that gets answered, yeah. You if you don't jump and if you don't jump and shout, then you know I kind of question it. Yeah. You know, sometimes you might just be breaking down over relief. I get that. But but if you if you don't even bother to give thanks when a prayer is answered, yeah, I don't know what to do with you. We ain't we ain't hanging out in the same company.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

You know, so so so there is rejoicing, but but when your day has gone bad and everything's gone to hell in a handbasket, and you got your head in your hands and you're balling, and now you're you're wanting to blame God, uh that's a different, that's a different story.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

Uh that's that's a different place. Um, and that's really that that's when your spiritual oil light has come on. And uh and your engine lights on and saying, hey, uh, we got problems. Um, and that's really when we need to be calling on the name of the Lord. That's when we really need to be uh, you know, seeking shelter beneath his wings and and and and all that stuff that uh we read in the Psalms and whatever it takes for you to get in that place too. Um because that that's where that's where God uh tests your metal, right there. That's where he sees um just how well iron has been sharpened by other iron is uh in those those hard days. The only easy day was yesterday, and he'll put you in a situation real quick uh to to bring that point home. Um and he does it for our own good. That's that's what's hard to understand. Uh he does it for our own good and for his glory. I don't understand that. Well, um not for your punishment, uh, but for your good, your own good and his glory. I don't I don't I don't know that.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Uh I think I think it has a lot to do with the same concept of developing muscle memory, of developing muscles. Yeah, you know, it's the no pain, no gain. The thing is, you're being shaped into something greater than what you are right now, and it's just not going to be a process. Any kind of shaping, uh even if it's something as simple as a cowboy hat, you ever seen somebody get their cowboy hat shaped? You know, they used to do it at the state fair. And if you've ever seen any videos where they make make the Stetsons and stuff down in Texas, and um man, they'll take the felt and all that, but then what are they doing? They're applying steam and pressure, steam and pressure. And now, you the harder things are, the more heat and more pressure you're adding. You know, you get the metal, yeah, they're stamping that sucker. Uh, it reminds me of Philippians 2 8, talking about Jesus, Paul is. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Death on a cross.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Uh there's there's nothing feel-good about that.

SPEAKER_03 12:21

I was talking about the crucifixion yesterday, as a matter of fact. And um one thing that impressed upon me, and I never I had never thought about this, had never occurred to me before. Um but everything about the crucifixion, everything about the death of Jesus on the cross was predestined. It was foreordained, it was from from the from the time that God spoke creation into existence, it knew there was going to be the cross. Um, so with that in mind, that means that man, by the time we see the crucifixion, the Romans had perfected crucifixion. They they had it down to a science. They knew how long it should take you uh to die on a cross. They know how to make it last longer, uh, they knew how to speed it up, they had it perfected. So God had put the Romans in place and allowed crucifixion to be perfected for that one day, for his son to hang on a cross. And that just really, really laid hard on my on my spirit yesterday, thinking about all that and how how God uses the things that are not sightly, that are not not very nice to look at sometimes, and and he still uses that horrible stuff. And and of course, God doesn't plan anything because he knows everything from the instant uh that he that he knows it. But um I just have to think that the Romans were probably gonna do that anyway. Uh and he was able, he he uses that uh for his glory. Yeah, one of the most horrible things on the planet.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Heard a his heard a historian say the Romans did not invent crucifixion, but they perfected it.

SPEAKER_03 14:23

Yeah. Yeah. I think it was Persians. I think. You're probably right. They sure got good at it.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Yeah, but but it definitely the the Roman Romans had that suck stuff down to a science. And for the express purpose of punishing as long as they could before you died and making it as painful. Yep. As it could, to prove a point.

SPEAKER_03 14:55

So I and I only say that because I have to remind myself when my day is going horrible, when my week is going horribly wrong, and everything is coming down and and crushing me under its weight, I have to remind myself that it's not God punishing me, uh, it's God perfecting me. Uh and that's that's a hard concept to grasp hold of sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

So well, one of the things that um we've done, you know, military was big on it, uh, tactical operations big on it. Um couple other things I've seen have been big on it. But but you have buddy system. Buddy system, the power of being able to motivate somebody on. Yeah. That if they're going through it, I can go through it. Well, I ain't gonna be the one to drop out and leave these jokers. You know, especially when you've been through it. And you know, even Jesus, you know, took the help of Simon of Cyrene and help help him carry his cross. But there's something about seeing something like uh like a passion of the Christ that gives a visual representation of how brutal that thing was. That when you think you've got it hard because you got a hangnail, or you know, you you thought you had your savings built up and the tire went flat, or stubby toe. Yeah, or but I was gonna do this. And the Lord says, you know, they could use that money more than you could. Right. And so some things have to wait. I mean, they don't have to. You don't have to be obedient. True. But some sometimes when you're obedient, you like to play that pity party. Just talking from experience, and then you look at something like that, and you go, Yeah, that ain't nothing.

SPEAKER_02 17:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:04

It uh just a dropping a bucket, ain't that big a deal.

Prayer Confidence And Eternal Life

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Yeah, ain't no problem for a high step up. Yeah. Yep. Verse 13. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence. There's that word again. This is the confidence which we have before him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we have asked from him. If anyone sees his brother or sister committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death. I am not saying that he should ask about that. All unrighteousness is sin. There is a sin not leading to death. So John's laying out some distinctions here. Verse 18. We know that no one who has been born of God sins, but he who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true, and we are in him who is true. His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

Little children, guard yourselves from idols. Like that little tag on there. Oh, and by the way, Columbo. Oh, one more thing. One more thing.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Keep yourself from idols. These are deep waters as well. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there there's there's an old nice discussion of what's a sin leading to death and what's a sin not leading to death.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Yeah. That's hard. That's hard discussions. That is.

SPEAKER_03 19:19

Yeah, he gets uh he keeps this this letter pretty simple until the end. And and I I like that writing style. He didn't he didn't open up and uh put everything up front and say, you know, and jump in into the deep end up front. Um he exercised some restraint and patience to set a good foundation and simplicity, and then really gets into the hard stuff at the end and said, Oh, yeah, by the way, this is well, he's giving you something to chew on as the letter's concluded. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

I mean, he's he's confirming, he's reassuring, he's encouraging, and then he starts getting into yeah, all right, since since the letter's getting read in, let me give you some things to mull over. Let you know what this is right here? This stuff right here is strong meat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:14

If we didn't have chapter five, we could have come to the end of chapter four and and and said, Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I knew that. That was pretty good stuff. Feeling good about ourselves. Yeah. But chapter five makes you makes you take a second look. Uh, and it it makes you to me, it makes you hold on to the first chapters a little bit, a little bit harder. It makes you grasp on them just a little bit more and hold them a little bit tighter. Um because you have to have those first four chapters uh if you want to survive that last one, uh, so to speak, because um, well, it's they're foundational.

Trinity Text Debate And Deep Study

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Yeah. A couple other deep water things here. When we go back to verse five, who's the one that overcomes the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Plain and simple. Here's where the waters get deep. This is the one who came out, this is the one who came by water and blood. Jesus Christ, not with water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies because the Spirit is truth. Now, when Jesus has given up the ghost, what does the Roman soldier do? What does the centurion do? Lances him with the spear, what comes out?

SPEAKER_01 21:36

Blood and water. Blood and water. Blood is life. But water is emblematic of the spirit. So he's saying this this death is complete.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

This death is is deep. This death is Complete. And so he goes, it records it. He goes into Hades. He goes into hell. He goes and preaches to departed spirits. But he's resurrected by the Spirit of Holiness.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Yeah, that verse eight.

SPEAKER_03 22:18

Um, well, actually, verse seven, there are three that bear record in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. Verse 3 or 1. And then verse 8, there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood. And these three agree in one. Tell you what, there is that, those two verses right there are still a hot topic uh in inside denominational circles. There are folks that are argue that will argue all day long and all night long over what the the spirit, the water, and the blood is.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

Well, here, check this out, too. Um he's saying we have three that bear witness in heaven.

SPEAKER_03 23:05

The King James uses uh testify, uh, bears record in heaven and bears witness on earth. The NIV does not use heaven and earth. And there's a footnote. Yeah, there's a footnote. Uh it's important to read the footnotes. It says late manuscripts of the Vulgate uh testify in heaven, the Father and the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one, and there are three that testify on the earth. And um that's not found in any Greek manuscript before the 16th century century. That's why it's in some translations and not in others.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

So as he's saying, if we go to the King James, three that testify in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit. Right. But then he said, There's three that testify on the earth, uh, the spirit, the blood, and water. Think about this.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

Paul said, In him dwells the fullness of the Godhead body.

SPEAKER_03 24:21

Yep. And I think all he's trying to do is is showing that is show that there's um the trinity in heaven, and then there's the the trinity, the that very same trinity here on earth, and this is what it is. Right, this is uh the the embodiment of it right here.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Yeah, even here's the thing about us, we're a trinity as well, right? Even though we're one. First Thessalonians 5 23. Pray the pray that the Lord sanctify you wholly, spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless. Right. I pray your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 24 says, Faithful is he who calls you, who also will do it.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

So you're a tripart being. If we're made in his image, we are we're triune being just like God is.

SPEAKER_03 25:26

Um once again, John starts getting into the hard stuff, and it's uh I think it's hard inside the soul, inside that mind, will, and emotion, inside that part of the man, inside that part of our triune uh body. Uh but in spirit, uh it's it's not really that difficult. No, you know it. You know it, because the Holy Spirit is bearing witness to your spirit, and your spirit is recognizing the Holy Spirit's witness. It it's not it's not difficult. Uh, I guess a good way to say it is you just know that you know that you know. And that's that's about sometimes that's all you can say.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

Yeah. There's there's no real way to uh to analyze that or to um to put that in in eloquent speech or anything else like that. So and that's that right there is probably the biggest difference between um that type of revelatory uh exposition uh or revelatory reading versus apologetics.

Revelation, Symbols, And Living Truth

SPEAKER_00 26:38

Yeah. Uh one of the things that that happens in here is John leaves this thing up for you to search out. He he's giving you he's giving you a treasure map here and is prodding you along after encouraging you, and after you get, oh, you know this, you know this, hey, you know this too. And by the way, here's this. And you should know this too. And it's it's like giving somebody a treasure map. Now you got to start digging for it. Right. Now you gotta see what parts in this map correspond to these landmarks here. See if you can find out where this is, see if you can find out what the intent was, see if you can decipher. Oh, was there a hidden message here? Because this same thing that he's doing right here at the end is what he's doing all throughout the book of Revelation. Right. Right. Uh there's there are some people that have gone, oh my God, look, the book of Revelation has meaning upon meaning upon meaning. Um, it is, I will say it like this, and this is might not be the most theologically sound way to do it. The fact that it's a revelation or an apocalypse, which means revealing, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ, there's there's encoding in it. Right. There's now what one of the things that that you should do is uh I was looking in it, we might make a discussion out of this, is you know, just one of the little things that talked about. Well, do the stars mean angels, and that's up for debate. If you read the first chapter in the apocalypse, it says the seven stars in his hand or seven angels. Yeah, there's really oh man, how about that?

SPEAKER_03 28:29

Yeah, you know, yeah. A lot of folks will talk about how um symbolic the language is in the book of Revelation, and and some of it is, but there's a lot of it's just very literal, uh, and there's that very literal, and um almost well, all of it uh scripture uses scripture to define itself, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

Uh and and here and here's the thing could it be true both? It it could be true literally, and it can have a deeper spiritual meaning behind it. And then the then there's always the question that I throw in there oh man, great, you learned a spiritual truth. Now, how do you apply it? Yeah, can you apply it? Or is it just something that you know, or is it something that God's gonna go, well, okay, you think you know this, but I'm gonna cause you to go through some experiences where this solidifies into who you are.

SPEAKER_03 29:31

Right. Right. Now it's gonna become part of your identity, it's gonna be part of your Christian DNA. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

And the thing is, a lot of times that if you don't have those experiences, then it's something that uh we we use the term today on the range, perishable skill.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

Now, if if you go through the fire and that truth, you you know without a doubt because you have had to experience some things to solidify that truth that God put in you, it's not a perishable skill anymore. Right. It's ingrained in your very spiritual DNA. Yeah. Can't nobody tell you different.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

Yep. Yeah. And that's that's uh one of the big differences, and once again, between the things that uh have been revealed to you by the Holy Spirit uh into your spirit versus what you read and you simply understand it uh because of your intelligence, because you you have the capacity to to read and understand. Um and there's a lot of stuff in the scripture. You can you can read the Bible and you'll be able to understand it uh logically uh in a lot of places, but it's that that revelatory knowledge that Jesus wants you to have, that um that the Holy Spirit speaks into your spirit, and now no one can shake you off of. Because here's the thing uh an intellectual argument, the next person that comes along with a better argument will be able to shake you. Uh but a revelatory experience, no one's gonna shake you off that. No one will shake you off that. No one will be able to make you deny Jesus, you know. Talk about sometimes in the in the end times, talk about uh that uh folks would be deceived, you know, even the elected, even the elect would be possible. If possible. Okay. Well, here's the thing: you're you're not gonna be deceived, because the word says if possible, uh, but all that stuff that has been revealed to you by the Holy Spirit, you're not gonna be shaken off of it. Um it's it's revealed into your spirit and it's been uh ingrained into your spiritual DNA through living experience. Um you don't, you know, the next Johnny come lately doesn't come along and give you a better argument. That doesn't, it doesn't work like that.

Relationship Confidence Experience And Closing

SPEAKER_00 32:08

No, not at all. As a matter of fact, I would say that's the three words you take away from this whole first letter of John. Three words relationship, confidence, and experience. Right.

SPEAKER_03 32:21

Exactly. And that is what the Lord is trying to pass on to us. That's what John is trying to show us. That's what the Lord's trying to pass on to us through the comforter, the Holy Spirit. Um, and with those things, you know, you're just not going to be shaken when someone has a has a different argument or someone um beats you with an intellectual uh debate or something like that. Because, man, uh a person with experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument. Burden with arguments, that's right. Don't be afraid to get in the Bible and read it for yourself. Um, because our experience, you get in there and read the Bible, and next thing you know, the Lord starts causing you to live it out too. So amen. That's not a bad thing. Bofoyo.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

Everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at wofoyo.org. Or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Audible, or even check us out on YouTube. Remember, folks, if you're going to grow, you got a wofoyo. Get in the word for yourself.