All right, this morning, let's
take our Bibles and turn with me to the book of 1 John 1. 1 John 1. I'd like to consider
the first four verses of this blessed book. John, the apostle of the Lord,
is the one that penned this book, and he said in verse 1, that
which was from the beginning, which we've heard, which we've
seen with our eyes, which we've looked upon, and our hands have
handled of the word of life. For the life was manifested,
and we have seen it. And bear witness and show unto
you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested
unto us. that which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you. And ye 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 a believer finds all of his
security, his hope, his trust, and his joy in the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him who is eternal. And that believer, he doesn't
want to hear anything new. He needs to hear of Him who was
his surety before there was ever a sinner. That believer needs
to hear of Him who everlastingly loved him. Before He was ever
formed in the belly, He who was slain, that is the Lamb, in the
eternal will, eyes, purpose of Almighty God who is just. And that believer needs to hear
of Him who was with the Father, as one brought up with Him, who
was daily His delight. He wants to hear of God Almighty. who never began. And he needs
to be reminded of Him daily. Well, today, the Apostle John,
having walked with the Lord, says in verse 1, that which was
from the beginning. Now we know that here's our hope. who was from the beginning. Now, Deuteronomy 33, 27 says,
the eternal God is thy refuge. And do we not need a refuge?
He said, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he shall
thrust out the enemy from before thee and shall say, destroy them. Now that's the God that we find
hope and comfort in. God Almighty, eternal God. The Lord Jesus Christ said of
Himself, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was,
I am. The Lord, our Lord, is the eternal
Son. Now we believe in the triunity
of our God. We believe in the Three in one. One God, three persons. There
was an eternal Father, an eternal Son, an eternal Spirit, and this
tri-unity of the Godhead is said to be one. One God. Therefore, the Lord is the eternal
Son. There's an eternal Father, there's
an eternal Son. He said of Himself, Proverbs
8.23, I was set up from everlasting from the beginning, or ever the
earth was. So He's the eternal God, the
eternal Son, and He's the eternal sacrifice. Revelation 13, 8,
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him whose names
are not written in the book of life. Every knee is going to
bow. Every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God. So all that dwell on the earth
shall worship. They may not now, but they shall. whose names are not written in
the Book of Life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of
the world. So He's the Eternal God, the
Eternal Son, the Eternal Sacrifice, He's the Eternal God of Creation. John 1.3, All things were made
by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
For all things to be made, By Him, He had to be the maker before
all things were made. So we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the eternal God. But John says, that which was
from the beginning. Now, the Holy Spirit has just
revealed something that took place in time. That which was
from the beginning. When we say beginning, that means
that something started. It wasn't the Lord Jesus. He is the eternal God, but that
which was from the beginning. The Holy Spirit is telling us
that there was something that took place in relationship to
man's perception of it. The beginning of when God Himself
came forth in the tri-unity of His character in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That which was from the beginning
means when the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the glorious
person of Christ Himself was revealed unto man. That's the
only beginning that we can speak of concerning Him. All the fullness
of the Godhead was beheld in Christ bodily in that beginning. John says, that which was from
the beginning, from the commencement of his manifestation as the Son
of God to men. But listen to the wording that
the Spirit of God moved upon John to use. That. That. Which was from the beginning. That glorious That is the Lord
Himself. It's like when the Spirit of
God spoke to Mary, a virgin, and He said, that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. In
Song of Solomon, chapter 3, verses 1 to 3, listen to the words of
the bride when she speaks. She says, by night on my bed,
I sought Him whom my soul loveth. I sought Him, but I found Him
not. I will arise now and go about
the city and the streets and the broad ways. I will seek Him
whom my soul loveth. I sought Him, but I found Him
not. The watchman that go about the city found me, to whom I
said, saw ye him whom my soul loveth? Oh, that blessed him,
that blessed that. When a believer hears of him,
there's no other one that a believer thinks of. It's Christ, it's
the Lord Himself. John says, that which was from
the beginning, now listen to this, which we have heard. the first sense that John reveals
concerning his association with the Lord Jesus. Hearing. That which we've heard. Faith
cometh by hearing. And hearing by the word of God.
What we're doing right now, we're preaching the gospel and men,
women are are hearing. And this is the way. This is
the way God speaks to His people. He speaks through the hearing
of the truth. And that glorious grace of faith
is said to come and come and come. It cometh by hearing the
Word. God Himself who is the Word. The Word made flesh. John said
we heard Him. He said, I actually heard God
speak bodily. But John was using a word here
that it was not merely the Pharisees heard him. Many here were the
natural ear, but the word John uses right here is he said, I
understood him. We understood. We knew who he was when he spoke. We knew. He's truly man. John said we heard God the man
speak. He dwelt among us and we actually
listened to the voice of God who tabernacled among men and
manifested his Godhead bodily. Our corporal ears Heard Him speak
like many did, but with new ears we perceived the revelation of
which He spoke. John said He was not an invisible
voice. He wasn't speaking. The Father
spoke from Heaven. And at His baptism, when He was
on the Mount of Transfiguration, He said, This is My beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. John said we heard Him. We actually heard the voice of
the Lord and we perceived it in our hearts, God speaking.
He says, then, which we have seen with our eyes. We've heard
which we've seen with our eyes. Not only did we hear Him speak,
But we actually saw Him. Our eyes fell upon Him and John
said, I'm telling you, He was here. He was a man residing and
eating and sleeping and going about daily activity on this
earth. We actually beheld Him with our eyes. But then He's
doing the same thing now that He did with the word heard. He
said also, which we've looked upon. It just said we saw him. But again, just like many heard
him, many saw him. Many saw him with corporal eyes,
but there was a difference in the two. The first word seen
means to physically behold. While the words looked upon means
to perceive or to learn by perception and admiration. He said it's
to look upon with a remarkable gaze. So what John is saying
is that it was not merely that we saw Him with our eyes, but
we knew Him. We were vitally aware of who we were looking
at. Just like when Peter, when the
Lord asked the disciples after those disciples of the Lord went
away and walked no more with Him, and the Lord asked His disciples,
will you go away also? And Peter said, Lord, where are
we going to go? We believe you're the Christ.
And then John says concerning the Lord in verse 1, he said,
and our hands have handled, our hands have handled of the word
of life. He said the evidence that he was truly a man was subjected
to another proof. He said the sense of touch. It was not that he had been just
heard with the ear or understood with the heart. We can do that. We have natural ears that hear
the preaching of the gospel. We have new ears that perceive
and hear the truth of God. But John said there was something
else about him. He was not an optical illusion. He wasn't something that didn't
have the appearance of reality. John said we heard him, we saw
him, we understood him. But John said, we touched him. We touched him and we examined
him with the most intense scrutiny. We handled that which could only
be reality. It wasn't an assumed form. John said he was real. John said, I heard him talk.
I understood him. And he said, I touched him. I put my hands on him. He even
invited us to touch him. He said, whenever the frightened
apostles that he appeared to after his resurrection in Luke
24, he told them, he said, behold my hands and my feet. It is myself. And then he said,
handle me. Touch me. and see for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones as you see me have." John says, our
hands have handled of the word of life. That is, he who is life
himself. He's the author of life. He came to restore spiritual
life in his people that were lost in Adam's transgression. John said, we heard him. We saw
Him, we looked upon Him, and we handled Him. Then He said
in verse 2, for the life, the life. You know, the Lord said
of Himself, John 14, 6, He said, I am the way. I am the way. Not but one. I am the truth. Not but one. And He said, I am the life. John said, the life. was manifested,
the only source of life. Nothing exists, nothing grows,
nothing continues without Christ. By all things, they consist by
Him. And John says, the life was manifested,
the fountain of life Himself, who was with the Father eternally,
one who is the cause, the giver of life, physical life, eternal
life. He was manifested in human flesh,
manifested according to God's will, according to the everlasting
covenant of God's grace. That's why He came here. The
Father had chosen a people before the foundation of the world,
entrusted them into the hands of the surety Himself, the Word
of life. And he must finish the work. And John said, we saw him come
into this world glorifying the Father in the redemption and
salvation of God's people and all to the glory of the Father
who is the just God and who is the Savior by the Lord Jesus
Christ. John said he was manifested. by in time. Remember when Isaac
and Abraham went up into the mountain to worship God, the
Lord had told Abraham, he said, I want you to take your son,
your only son, Isaac, and sacrifice him unto me as a burnt offering.
And that mountain upon which Abraham was to sacrifice his
son was beheld after three days. He saw the the mount, the place, and he
went up. And as they were going up, Isaac asked his dad, he said,
my father, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb
for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide. And that word, I looked it up.
Here's what it means. It means we will see Him. It means He will appear. look upon. That's what it means.
It means manifest. God will manifest, provide Himself. God will manifest Himself a Lamb
for a burnt offering. Where is the Lamb? God will appear
as the Lamb. John says, here He is. Here He
is. All that was promised by God
through the voice of Abraham. God will provide. God will manifest.
God will come. And John says the life was manifesting. And he says, and we've seen it.
And we bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which
was with the Father eternally. I was ever before Him. One brought
up with Him and was manifested unto us. That's the same Declaration
that John made in John 1.14, and the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. We beheld His glory, the glory
as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And
then He said in verse 3, that which we've seen and heard. Declare we unto you that ye also
may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Now, here the Apostle
reiterates. What we've announced unto you
is not hearsay. It's not tradition. It's not
something that someone else told us. This glorious Declaration,
John says, that I'm giving unto you was directed by the Spirit
of God and it was given to John that John's people might be joined
together with John in fellowship with Christ. John, that's what
he's saying, that which we've seen and heard declared. Now, that we, that ye also may
have fellowship with us. Here's John the apostle, and
the other apostles, faithful, kept of God apostles, that have
long since gone. The Lord received them unto Himself. But now, John said, I'm telling
you something, through God-breathed words, we might all have fellowship
together. And though John is gone, and
the apostles are gone, even now we still have fellowship with
them. They're in glory, just like those from our midst that
the Lord has been pleased to take. And we have fellowship
with them, though they're with Him, and they behold Him perfectly. But still, our fellowship. And what is the foundation of
our fellowship? What's the bindingness of fellowship
in Christ? Here it is, Amos 3.3. Can two
walk together except they be agreed? What is it that binds
believers together? Their agreement, not only merely
which they do have between themselves, but it's their agreement with
God, agreement with God's Word. I know that we can have no fellowship
whatsoever except we be in agreement with the Lord. I must be in agreement
with Him. Unless I am by faith brought
into an agreement with Him, then I don't have any fellowship with
anybody else that's in agreement with Him. I have to be in agreement
with God's people concerning what the Lord has said concerning
Himself. There's fellowship, John said.
I'm telling you this. For this reason, this is the
reason the Spirit of God moved on my heart to pen these words.
That we might have fellowship with other believers and truly
our fellowship is with the Father. And with His Son, Jesus Christ. Can you imagine having fellowship
with God? And God's Christ. The Lord gives
us an understanding. And the Lord has done something
for His people. He's done something for His people
that they couldn't do for themselves. He's regenerated them and He's
given them a new heart that's in agreement with God. What believer doesn't believe? All believers are in agreement
of this. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
No believer refutes that. Every believer believes that.
Every believer that believes that God looked down and saw
that every imagination, thoughts of every man was only evil continually. And a believer says, I see that. In me, I believe that. Every
believer believes that he can do nothing to save himself. No believer believes that he
is saved by works, by his own works. Every believer is in agreement
When the Lord said, all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me. You know what a believer believes? He said, I believe
God's got a sheep, and that all that the Father's given Him,
they're going to come to Him. And I believe that those that come
to Him by faith, He's not going to cast them out. That's what
I believe. And so, John said, I'm writing this to you, that
you might have fellowship. Our fellowship is with the Father,
And with His Son, Jesus Christ. And then He says in verse 4,
And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. That your joy, that your gladness
may be abounding. That it might be accomplished.
You know, if we're going to be having a joy, We want our joy
to be that which is consistent with the Word of God, and we
want it to abound. We want the Lord to move upon
us, to give us a calm delight, and let us have our joy fulfilled,
that we might rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in His grace which
is sufficient for all things, rejoice in Him whose righteousness
justifies us before God, that we might rejoice in Him whose
love never fails, that we might rejoice that He's finished the
work of our redemption. Isn't that joyful? To think that
Almighty God has finished the work and that there's nothing
else. What else is there for a believer
to do? Nothing. The Lord said it is
finished. He said without me you can do
nothing. And a believer says, Lord, as you say it is, it is. And so John says, I'm writing
unto you that your joy, that your gladness, that your peace,
that your comfort might be fulfilled. God's people rejoice in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And they rejoice as the Lord
told His disciples when they came back and they said, oh,
the devils are in subjection to us. He said, don't rejoice
in that. He said, rejoice in that your
names are written in heaven. John said, I'm writing these
things to you. I'm telling you that I saw him, I heard him,
I touched him. But he said, I'm telling you
that which I tell you that your joy might be full. I pray that
the Lord bless these words to our heart today for Christ's
sake. Amen.