God's Promise

Idea: Since God has testified, you may know that you have eternal life, and you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

Intro: In verses 6-9, John called the church to believe in Jesus based on the rule that the truth of a matter may be established on the strength of 2 or 3 witnesses. In this light John sites the Spirit, the water and the blood as witnesses; something like credentials, or proofs of J's person and work.

Next John cites the character of God's witness in order to give weight to his message of assurance of salvation. I'll briefly consider the character of God's witness, then concentrate on the substance of that message, which is that since God has testified, you may know that you have eternal life, and you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

1. God has testified
2. The substance of the message