This morning I don't have a sermon
for you. I have a message. And no, that's
not right either. I have THE message. This morning I have for you THE
message. I endeavor every service to bring
you THE message. I want you to turn with me to
two different passages of Scripture. John chapter 1 and 1 John chapter
1, both written by John, the beloved disciple. So put your
marker in one and hold your finger in the other, however you desire
to do it. Because in the beginning of this message, the message,
I'm going to go back and forth comparing the two relatively
quickly. So let me I'll give you a moment
to do that. John chapter 1 and 1 John chapter
1. Sometimes it's very difficult
for me to think that I have been preaching now, or taking a stab
at it anyway, 35 years, and it really blows my mind, if I can
use that terminology, that I have now been pastoring for almost
16 years, counting our time in Texas. And over the years, there
have been some that have accused me of preaching the same message
over and over to those I say thank you. Thank
you because there is only one message. Some in our day preach a lot
of different things. They preach what men must do
to be saved. They preach on how folks ought
to live in order to be redeemed. They preach man's good work and
man's good morality as the means to being saved. but they don't
preach the message, not the message. They preach a message, but not
the message. Now, John, in the very beginning
of his first epistle, look first with me at 1 John 1, verse one. He said, that which was from
the beginning. In the beginning, God, Genesis 1.1.
In the beginning was the Word, capital L, John 1-1. In the beginning
was God. He created all things. In the
beginning was the Word, capital W, Jesus Christ. Now look at
John 1-1. It says in verse 1, In the beginning,
He, the Word, Jesus Christ, was with God, and He was God. Verse three says that all things
were made by Him without Him, was not anything made that was
made. So we see John's first words
in his gospel narrative and also in his first epistle is Jesus
Christ is God, He's God the Son, no less God than God the Father,
who created everything. He has the preeminence. We ought
to give thought to Him. John was one of the eyewitnesses
of the Lord Jesus back in 1 John 1. John said, Jesus Christ is God
who created all things. And he adds, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and
our hands have handled of the Word," capital W, excuse me,
Word of Life. Jesus Christ is the revealed
Word of God. He became flesh and blood and
dwelt among us. God did. Isn't that something? The One who made, the One who
created everything, came and dwelt in this world that He made. He subjected Himself under the
law that He gave. Why? To save His people from
their sin. Faithful saying, worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save who? Sinners, His people who are all
sinners. I never get tired of reading
that verse, thinking about it. John said, we've heard Him firsthand. Have you? Now, I'm not talking
about hearing an audible voice. A lot of people hear audible
voices today, but it's not the Lord's voice they hear. He said, we have with our own
eyes have seen Him. Have you? I'm not talking about
looking on Him in a vision or something, that kind of nonsense. But have you seen Him with the
eyes of faith? John said, we've literally touched
Him and handled Him. Have you? Have you? He's the Word of Life. That little
word, Thee, there means that there is no other. Some of the
most important words in the Scripture are little words like Thee. He
is Thee, Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is of Thee, Lord. He is the Word of God in the
flesh. No other. This is the message. There is no other message. John said in 1 John, or excuse
me, John 1, verse 14, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us and we beheld His glory, the glory. There is no other
glory. of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth." Before the world was ever created, before
God ever spoke this world into existence, Jesus Christ, the
Word, was with God, and He was the Word, and He was God. He's the Word, and He's God.
He's the Lord. There is no other. 1 John 2 tells us for the life. Now listen, there is no other
life. The life was manifested, Jesus Christ, who is life, and
we've seen it. Seen what? Life! John said when
we saw Christ, we saw life. And we bear witness and we show
unto you that eternal life, who is Jesus Christ, which was with
the Father. There is no other Father. and
was manifested unto us. This One who is God is the Word
of Life. He's the only Word of Life. He
was with God, and He was God, and He made all things. You know,
it sounds like He's the only One that can help me. Nothing was made. Nothing was
created that He Himself did not make. He was manifested. He appeared.
He was manifestly declared. Remember John the Baptist? He said, Behold the Lamb of God.
He's pointing to Him. He's manifested in the flesh.
Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world, His
people in this world. He was manifestly declared. What
was declared concerning Him? That He's life. He's life. Eternal life. Everlasting life. He, Christ, whose life was made
and manifest. That word made is very important. You know what it means? It means
caused. If something's manifested and caused, then someone had
to manifest and cause it. Right? It didn't just pop out
of nowhere. Someone caused it to be seen
in evidence. Who? God. The only one who can. No one else can. No one else
can manifest this. Jesus Christ was caused to be
seen. John said this life was manifested,
made to be seen by some, not all. Only God can manifest it. Only God can create sight. Only
God can give light. Only God can give life. Only
God can cause something to be seen. John said, we've seen it. We've seen, what have you seen,
John? Life. Life personified in a man. Not any man, the God man. Which was of the Father. That's where salvation began,
of the Father. Salvation's of the Lord God.
It was the Father who made some to see it. It was the Father
who manifested unto them. John said, we bear witness that
what we've seen is true, and we've shown this eternal life
unto you. Have you seen it? We've declared to you who Christ
is, John said. I can honestly, with a clear
conscience, say unto you this morning that in the 12 years
that I've been your pastor, I have endeavored to show you who life
is. It's Jesus Christ. Christ was with the Father and
manifested to us. The eternal, everlasting life
is in a person. I want you to see that. It's
in a person. And that person is Jesus Christ.
Now back in John chapter 1, we see that in verse 4. In Him,
Christ was life. And this life, Christ, was the
light of me. And he says the light shined
in darkness, but darkness comprehended it not. Listen, darkness couldn't
comprehend it. The word comprehend in verse
4 means receive. The dead couldn't receive it.
The dead cannot receive anything. That's why we're in darkness,
we're dead. The dead were in darkness. Can
a dead man see? Can a dead man comprehend? Can
a dead man understand anything? Someone says, I received Jesus.
You couldn't until God gave you light and life because you were
dead in darkness. Men who are in darkness can't
comprehend and understand anything. God has to manifest it. And He
does so by giving you life so that you can see. That's what
Paul said. He wrote, but when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
His grace to reveal His Son in me. that I might preach Him among
the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." The
Lord Jesus told Peter, He said, flesh and blood didn't reveal
this to you. Peter said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And the Lord Jesus, the Son of
the living God said, flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you.
The preacher didn't reveal that to you. The priest didn't reveal
that to you. The first Baptist church didn't reveal that to
you. God did. God did. You can't preach, truly
preach, an unrevealed Christ. Now, did you hear me? He's got
to reveal Christ to you when he's preached. God has to reveal
Christ to us. We can't receive an unrevealed
Christ. How did God bring about this
revelation? Well, here in John 1, verse 6,
the Gospel of John, he said, there was a man sent from God. That's how he reveals it. There's
only one way Jesus Christ can be manifest and revealed to sinners.
God sends a preacher. Just as he sent John. And these
preachers, these true servants, these true messengers, are sent
from God. I remember in 19... Well, we
moved here in 1989, but right at the first of 1990, Brother
Maurice was fixing to have a tumor removed from his pituitary gland. And several of us got together
one evening for dinner. I think it was at Shoney's. I
believe it was Shoney's then. And I was a young believer. And
Larry and Brother Maurice were Talking and I remember saying
to him, you know, I just don't understand that there's just
so many things. I don't understand. I didn't understand what they
were talking about. And. I'll never forget what. My pastor
told me he said, well, if God ever sends you to preach, he'll
make it known to you, you'll reveal it to you. And now I know some things. Because
God sent me. God taught me. God revealed it
to me. You see, friends, preaching is the means that God uses to
manifest and make those who are in darkness. I can't reiterate
that enough. We are by nature in darkness. We're dead in trespasses and
sin. We're unable to see light and
life. John wasn't that light. John
the Baptist was in that light. That's what John said. He bore
witness of that light. Don't put any trust in the preacher.
Put your trust in the Lord whom the preacher preaches. All who God gave to Christ before
the foundation of the world, through Him, through John the
Baptist, might believe. John 1, 7. That's who that's
talking about. Not by John, not in John, but
through John. We're just vessels. It comes in and it goes out.
I only wish that I could, as I said in the first hour, preach
Christ the way He ought to be preached. I only wish. So many
times, I'm so frustrated after I preach because I said, I wish
I could have told that the same way I received it, with clarity
and with compassion. We're just not able. But it comes
through us. That's the means God uses. By
the foolishness of preaching, what the world calls foolishness,
it pleases the Lord to save His people through preaching. The means of preaching. John wasn't that light. He was
a servant sent to bear witness of the light that all God's people,
all men through Him might believe. And all not being all in the
world, but God's chosen in Christ. Nowhere in the Bible Does it
say that God loved everyone in the world? It doesn't. I can't
find it. It doesn't say anywhere that
He desires to save them all. God so loved the world that He
gave Christ, His only begotten Son, that whosoever, whosoever
who, whosoever in the world believes in Him, the Lord Jesus Christ,
should not perish but have everlasting life. Who's gonna have everlasting
life? Those who believe in Him, whosoever
they might be. Christ is the light and the life. Now back in 1 John 1, verse 3. That which we have seen and heard,
declare we unto you. That's what preaching is. that
you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship
is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these
things write we unto you that your joy may be full." Now, verse
five, this then is the message. This is the message which we
have heard of Him and declare unto you that God is light and
in Him is no darkness at all. This then is the message. There's
only one message. Where did John hear the message?
From the same place we do. We've heard it from Him, Jesus
Christ, that all those that are saved say that they're taught
of God, because that's who taught them. The preacher might point
them to the place, in God's Word, but it's God that teaches us.
It's God that reveals Christ to us. What is that message? John here says that God is light,
and in Him is no darkness at all. Now that means that God
as light has no darkness at all, and that He's opposed to sin.
That's our darkness. See, and that means that God
requires absolute perfection and will accept no less than
pure holiness. God is light and in him is no
darkness. God requires what we can't provide. God, Christ provides for us all
that God requires. That's the message. In Him is
no darkness, only light and life. He's all our righteousness. He's
all our sanctification. In Him alone we are accepted.
In Him alone we have fellowship with God. Look at verse six here
in 1 John. Verse six. If we say that we
have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and
do not the truth. Now listen, that word fellowship
in this verse is talking about participation with God. It means to have communion with
God. I like the definition I've heard
Brother Paul Mahan give. He said, fellowship is fellas
in the same ship. Well, that's good. It's to say
that we have communication with God, communion, communication.
And if we walk in darkness, we lie and we don't tell or know
the truth. If we say we have been a fiction
with God, we're lying. If we say that we benefit from
the gift of God, and yet do not trust Christ fully and completely,
who is the light and life, and who put away our sin by the sacrifice
of himself, then we're still walking in darkness, we lie,
and we remain in darkness. That word fellowship means intercourse. Now that word intercourse means
communion. It means to have dealings with
God. That's what fellowship is. That word intercourse was never
used to be something sexual until the 18th century. It always has
meant, especially in the Scriptures, communion. sharing, exchanging
intimate thoughts and feelings. That's what we have with the
Lord Jesus. It meant an emotional, mental
exchange and experience. It's talking about spiritual
fellowship. In verse three, John said, we
declare, we preach unto you that you might have fellowship with
us. that you might participate, that you might have communion
with us for truly our fellowship, our intercourse, our intimacy
and thought and feelings and heartfelt exchanges are with
God and with His Son. Do you have such a relationship?
This is the message that we've heard of Him. We heard it from
the Old Testament prophets. We heard it in the New Testament
from John the Baptist. We heard it from Christ himself.
We heard it from Paul. We heard it from John. We heard
it from all the apostles. We heard the message, the only
true message. And friends, I don't wanna hear
any other message. I just don't, I don't wanna hear
any, I don't wanna preach any other message. Because it's THE
message. Turn over a couple pages to 1
John chapter 3, and look at verse 5. And we know that He, Christ,
was manifested, why? To take away our sins. And in
him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot
sin because he's born of God. You can't sin, child of God,
because Christ in you is the hope of glory. Not what you've
done, if you could be saved by what you've done and you can
be lost by what you do or don't do. Whosoever is born of God,
verse nine, doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him,
and he cannot sin because he's born of God. And in this, the
children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil.
Whosoever doeth not righteousness, not of God, neither he that loveth
not his brother. For this is what the message,
that you've heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one and slew his brother,
and wherefore he slew him, wherefore slew he him, because his own
works were evil and his brother's righteous." What does the story of Cain and
Abel really tell us? Have you ever really thought
about it? We've talked about it. What is the message that
Cain and Abel gives us? Cain brought an offering for
forgiveness by the work of his own hands. Abel brought a blood
sacrifice, picturing the sacrifice of another, and that being the
Lord Jesus Christ. who is the one offering for sin.
And the scripture is so clear. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. There is no forgiveness. There
is no atonement. No atonement for sin, none. This
is the message. not by works of righteousness
as which we have done, but according to His, God's mercy and God's
grace, He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost. How were we washed in regeneration?
By the shedding of Christ's blood. That's how. How did the Holy
Ghost renew us? By the shedding of Christ's blood.
That is the message. Not by works of righteousness
that you've done, that I've done, but according to God's mercy.
He said, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. He saved us,
not we ourselves. It's He that hath made us. Made
us what? Perfectly holy and righteous as His people. We're saved by
grace alone. That's all my plea. Christ died
for all His own and Christ died for me. His Spirit bears witness
with my spirit that's so. Not by works that we can boast
in. Let me tell you, if it was, we'd be boasting. And we would
demand all the glory. Instead of crying, not unto us,
O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. Know ye
that the Lord, he's God. It's he that made us and not
we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
The Lord Jesus is God, ain't it? David said he made us and
he created us physically and he made us and created us spiritually. We have no ability or power to
create anything. We have no ability to give ourselves
life. Everyone in the world belongs
to God as their creator. but only His people, His chosen
people, are made His sheep by the power and purpose of His
to give them life and spiritual birth. The same power it took to create
the world, transform it from its void, formless, and dark
state, is the same power it took to shed the light of the gospel
into these dead hearts. Isn't that good? That's so good. Jesus Christ is the gospel for
God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God. We're in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is
the gospel, he is the message. John who wrote three epistles
that bear his name said, this then is the message. That man, John, as you know,
survived all the other apostles. He was the last one living. And
they banished him to the Isle of Patmos. All the other disciples,
apostles, were martyred. And it was there on the Isle
of Patmos that the Lord appeared to him and gave him the book
of Revelation as we know it. But that book is called the Revelation
of Jesus Christ. It's about him. You know, and
people can come up with all their, Latter-day prophecies and Armageddon
and all that. But that book's about Him. It's
the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's the only message. It's the
gospel message. And that's just what it is. It's
a revelation of Christ. There's only one message because
there's not any difference in any of us. Now listen to me.
We don't have one message for the church house and another
message for the prison house. The jailhouse. No, it's the same
message. We don't have one message for
the wealthy and the educated and another for the poor and
needy. It's the same message. It is
THE message. Matter of fact, THE message is
for all who are poor and needy spiritually. I don't care how
much money you have. I don't care how many degrees
you've got. If you don't know Christ, you're
lost. You're condemned. Speaking of the Gentiles, Peter
said, God, which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving
them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us. How are we saved? The same way. God doesn't save
one sinner this way and another sinner that way. He saves them
the same way. And Peter added, and put no difference
between us and men. No difference. Same message.
purifying their hearts by faith. God saves all by this one message,
as I said, and I mean to be repetitive. This is not a message, this is
the message. This is the message that we've
heard of him. This is the message that we have
declared about him. This is the message that we've
declared to you. There's one God and one Lord, just one. There's one faith and one body.
There's one church and one mediator. There's only one way that leads
to life. We don't take away from this
message, and we don't add to this message. To do so is to
be cursed. We preach Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. That's it. One message. Nothing
more, nothing less, and nothing else. All have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. All men and women need a substitute
and a Savior. And again, verse 5 in 1 John
1, this then is the message which we've heard of Him, and declare
unto you that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.
God is light, friends. He's holiness. He's truth. He's
righteousness. He's justice. And you and I are
darkness, unholy, false. unrighteous and lawless. And
that's our dilemma. That is why we must have THE
message. In order to be with God, in order
to be reconciled to God, you've got to be as perfect as God.
Well, that's not fair. No, it's right and just. You have to be perfectly holy
and righteous. God won't accept nothing else. This is the message
we've heard of Him. The message concerns a person,
Him. John said, I touched Him. I touched
Him. I laid my head upon His chest.
I heard His heartbeat. The heartbeat of God. But it
wasn't John touching Him that saved Him. It was Christ touching
John that did. It was Christ touching you that
saved you. This message is about Christ. This message is about
who Christ is. John said, God is light and Him
is no darkness. God is holy. God is pure. God
is, He is, ever presently is. Christ is of such purity that
His eyes cannot so much as look upon iniquity. So perfectly holy
is God that the angels cover their faces before Him. God is
light and the Father of light, in whom there is no variableness
or shadow of turning, no changing with God. He's the same yesterday,
today, and forever. God can never be less than what
He is. Holy, just, and righteous is
His way. His works are truth. and his
way's judgment, and those who walk in pride, he is able to
abase Daniel 437. Paul said, we were enlightened
in the enemies in our own minds by wicked works, yet now hath
he reconciled. Who did he reconcile? Wretched,
no good, depraved, self-righteous sinners. That's good news if you're one
of those. Does that word depraved offend you? I mean, the first
time I heard it, it offended me. Well, I'm not depraved. I changed my mind. God changed
my mind. I didn't change it, God changed
it. The word depraved means to be immoral and wicked. We are
totally so. That's what John Calvin... John
Calvin didn't preach the gospel, but he had five good points.
And the first one was, we're totally, completely, wholly depraved. All of us. Everyone by nature
is. That'll make some folks angry.
They're not a believer. Because they know it to be so.
Don't you know it to be so? Don't you? You know it to be
so. That's who Christ came to reconcile.
Reconcile means to be restored. Reconcile means to settle differences. Reconciliation is an appeasement.
Reconciliation is a satisfaction of justice between the offending
party and the one who is offended. You and I have offended God.
Our sin is against Him and Him only. Psalm 51.4. And what usually
happens when someone offends us? Oh, we get angry. We get
our feelings hurt and we usually get angry. Does God not have
the right to be angry with us? So much so that the Scripture
says He's angry with the wicked every day. But with those whom
Christ reconciles unto Himself, He will not always chide. That
means He's not going to always scold and rebuke you. Neither
will He keep His anger forever. There's forgiveness with Thee. Oh Lord, there's forgiveness
with thee. This is the message. All that the Father gave to Christ
will come to Him with no fear. Why? Because He will in no wise
cast them out. I don't worry about standing
before God in judgment because He's promised. He's promised. He made a covenant that everything
is good between us. For his anger endureth but a
moment, and his favor is life. Weeping and affliction may endure
for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Psalm 35. To his
people, the Lord said in Isaiah 57 and 16, for I will not contend,
I will not chide and rebuke forever, neither will I always be angry.
Robb. Why? Because those who are in
Christ have been made, made, made, made the wisdom of God,
the righteousness of God, sanctification and redemption for the glory
of God. I'm unacceptable. God made me
acceptable. How does Jehovah justly do that? To the praise and the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved. He
makes me acceptable only in Christ. Friends, that's the message.
That's the message. He makes me just like Christ. He conforms me to the image of
His Son. He makes me just like Him. Perfect, holy, righteous in every
way. No flesh is going to glory in
Christ's presence because He gets all the glory because He
did all the saving. Religion tells us that we've
got to be good to be saved. My parents told me all my life,
you need to be a good boy. But the Lord Jesus said, I came
not to call the righteous the good, but sinners to repentance. Paul wrote, for when we were
yet without strength and due time, Christ died for who? The
ungodly. But God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet what? Sinners. Christ died for
us. That's the message. Brother Mahan
told me years ago that in the message, there must contain the
subject of three things. God is holy. Man is a wretched
sinner. How can a depraved sinner and
a holy God be reconciled? You tell those three things and
you've preached the gospel. God's holy. He can by no means
clear the guilty. Man is unholy and can by no means
make himself acceptable. And only Christ can make unholy
men and women holy in order for God to accept them. That's it. That's the message. That's the
gospel. Well, I hope and pray that this
message, the message, The gospel message has answered that last
question for you. How can they be reconciled? So
I'll leave you with two words to ponder. Substitution. Satisfaction. God is satisfied
with Christ, our substitute. And that is the message, the
only message, the gospel message. God is satisfied with Christ.
And if I'm in Him, He's satisfied with me.