The reader is admonished to read 1John 5:9-13

The witness of God, that is, the record that God has kept and shows to us, is far greater than the testimony of man (v.9) In fact, if we do not believe the record that God has given concerning his Son, Jesus Christ, we make God a liar (v.10).

Far better to let the testimony of every man be false than let God be suspected of lying. Paul is so bold as to say so in Romans 3:4.  If we must make every man a liar, so let it be, in order than God may be true!

But what record shall we trust when it comes to God?  If we trust in our own ability to select the true from the false, then we are not trusting in God, but in ourselves. The Bible says that the way of every man is right in his own eyes, but God weighs the hearts. It also says that there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of that way is death. There are many other records that the Bible contains to show that man’s judgment and man’s abilities fall far short of being able to discern God, much less be capable of doing what God wants us to do. This is the record in the Bible. It is not a flattering witness for man. It is, in fact, a condemning witness. This is why such passages are neglected in typical Sunday sermons. The mind of man loves to be flattered, not revealed.

Why does the mind and heart of man tire of hearing such things?  Don’t we all like to hear good things about ourselves? Why? Much of philosophy and psychology comes from such questioning.  Man’s answers to the question “why pain and sorrow?” are many and varied.  Man’s solution to escape the pain and sorrow becomes a record of failure.  Much pain and sorrow is endured in the quest to escape from it. Many witnesses and records are called.  Many are the courts in which man is tried and many are the attempts to justify him.  Many are the attempts to condemn him. At the end of all of this pain and sorrow comes the final blow: death. Death to all, both rich and poor, wise and foolish, justified and condemned. Is it no wonder the preacher said, “all is vanity?” This is the record the Bible gives in the book of Ecclesiastes.

But we have a greater witness than man.  We have God’s own witness that he has given concerning his only Son.  Although the world lies in sin and death, God is righteous and he is life giving. The Son, Jesus Christ, is the life. The Son, Jesus Christ, is the righteousness. This is the record that God has given us concerning him. The record shows that God is against wicked men on the one hand, but He is for the Son of Man and those who are made righteous by him. God, who cannot lie, promises eternal life to the righteous, and eternal destruction to the wicked.

Man, on the other hand, makes up all sorts of systems to get around the simple promises of God. Doing so, he makes God a liar.

For instance, a popular, but false, view of the love of God calls into question the righteousness or justice of God. “How could a loving God inflict wrath on me even though I go against his commandment?” they say. “What if I am ignorant of the true God; how can he hold me accountable?” they say. “God loves me no matter what I believe or do,” they say. And so forth. They speak about the love of God and bear record that God is love, but their sources for fact on this matter have serious flaws. They quote the Bible where it says, “God is love”, but do not quote it thoroughly. “He who does not love does not know God” is what it says. That means that there are some who do not know God. Jesus said, “Broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there are that go that way; narrow is the way that leads to life and few there are that find it.” This means there are many who do not know God (in comparison to those that do).

To quote a portion of a verse that says God is love and to ignore the first part that plainly acknowledges there are those who do not know God nor do they love, is sign that men are once again up to their lies.  Looking further ahead in 1 John 4 we read “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar…” Men are by nature liars and speak much of the love of God and secretly hate those who really do love God.

They are like Balaam. They have fallen into the error of covetousness. They possess spiritual gifts, they do spiritual exploits, and they feel God and prophesy of him.  But they do not possess eternal life because they do not love. They pretend to love. They make a big show of it. But they do it for pay. “Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.”

Here’s what Balaam had to say about it: “God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent; has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken and will he not make it good?” Balaam may have been blinded by his greed, but his eye could see that there was no way to influence God with sacrifices. “Alas, who can live except God has ordained it?” Numbers 24:23.

"And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life." 1 John  5:11,12.

- Chris Simonson

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