The Testimony of God (1 John 5:5–12) from South Woods Baptist Church on Vimeo.

“What happened?” the police officer might ask––lights spinning––as he comes upon the fender bender at Saddle Creek. “Who hit first?” the parent might ask––head spinning––as he or she comes upon two metaphorical fender benders in the hallway. Oftentimes, “he said, she said” makes these impossible judgment calls. Other times, however, an outsider saw the incident. Therefore, they can corroborate the testimony of one of the witnesses.

Hearing the same particulars of a story from multiple sources moves speculations toward facts. Corroboration makes the tale more believable, in fact. Back in October of 2009, four members from South Woods went on a mission trip to Central Asia. We bounced from city to city handing out copies of the Scriptures, sipping cay, and learning from workers in that region. Unfortunately, right before we were headed back to the airport to fly back, one of the guys noticed he’d left his ID at a previous stop. So, late at night, we drove back toward that location. It was late, and because the alleyways were too tight for a vehicle, we got as close as we could and two of the guys jumped out to go retrieve the ID. While they moved, quickly and quietly through these dark alleys, they looked over and saw the strangest thing. Two young boys were sitting beside a cat, and in this feline’s mouth was a lit cigarette. This was not necessarily something you see everyday.

I hope you don’t assume this, but if I’m just telling a tall–one, ask Pastor Phil later on about the Turkish alley cat. He was one of the guys fetching the ID. Or you could call our former beloved deacon Chuck, who moved to Atlanta a few years ago. He was with Pastor Phil. Or you could ask Jim if that’s the story those two guys were doubled–over laughing about when they made it back to the van.

We believe all kinds of things because multiple people attest to the truth of it. I wasn’t in Philly in 1776, but I’m fairly certain the United States was born then. I wasn’t here in 1987, but I’ve heard from reliable sources that’s when this church was started.

We believe human testimony, nearly every day. This is not a recent phenomenon, of course. John argues from the greater to the lesser in our text, pointing us to the testimony of God.

Last week’s text ended, “This is the victory that has overcome the world––our faith.” This week’s text moves from the birth of our faith to the object of our faith, so we might be even more certain of it. John Stott summarizes our passage better than I could. He writes, “The way to life is faith, and the way to faith is testimony.”[1]

1. Testimony makes faith plausible

In short, all faith is not created equal.

When I was in college, studying music, I took two semesters of Music History. My professor, probably the most winsome in the building, was educated at Yale, played in the Nashville Symphony, and gave some of the most entertaining lectures you could ever imagine on the history of music. He had students, including myself, eating out of his hand on a potentially boring topic.

If you study music history, however, you can’t evade religious realities. Bach and Psalm singing won’t allow it. Composers brought religious matters to the forefront regularly in this class, so one day my professor addressed it at my public university. He simply said, “I don’t care what you believe, but you better believe something.” The students continued to eat out of his hand.

But that’s faith in faith. John makes plain in our text the necessity of having faith in certain objective realities. v. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? The way the question is worded assumes that most don’t overcome the world.[2] However, while the world has a decent record, it’s not undefeated. The way to overcome the world and it’s passing desires is to believe something about Jesus, that is, He is the Son of God. John asks, “Is[...]