Chapter one. First John chapter one. I. I plan to. Look and consider. A portion of this passage this
morning and then Lord willing. The last. part tonight, but I'd
like to read the first chapter of 1 John 1. Let's have a word of prayer before
we begin. Our Heavenly Father, we're indeed
thankful that you've granted us another time that we can come
together and we assemble this morning, we realize, by your
grace by your good pleasure that you've given this time. We pray that you would even now
prepare our hearts to hear. We pray that you would bless
the reading of your word, that you would bless the preaching
and the hearing of your word. We pray, Lord, for those that
are among us that are sick. We pray that according to Your
good providence and will and pleasure that You would heal
them in accordance with Your mercy and grace. We pray, Father,
for those that have lost members of their family and loved ones.
We pray that You'd comfort them. We pray that You would cause
us again to remember, Father, that you are the one who holds
life and death in your hand. We pray now that you would even
bless the continuance of this service for Christ's sake. Amen. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have 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 under you that
ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is
with the father and with his son Jesus Christ. These things
right we under you that your joy may be full. This then is
the message which we have heard of him and declare under you
that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we
say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we
lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as
he is in the light and we have fellowship one with another and
the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Let's take our
hymnals again and turn to 483. If there's anything that a believer needs. It's comfort. The Lord told Isaiah, comfort
you, comfort you, my people. Comfort them. If he knew that
we didn't need comfort, he wouldn't have said that. struggles. He struggles in this
life. He struggles warring within himself. Greatest struggles. I know folks
think about the outward struggles in this life of trials, and I
understand that. I know that. But I'm telling
you, a believer, it's one. I heard Brother Barnard said
one time that somewhere between absolute despair in seeing himself
in total ecstasy somewhere in there. I think that's probably
right. He struggles. He sees within
himself inconsistencies, but he knows. He knows that God is
sufficient. God's grace is sufficient. That's
what the Lord told Paul. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. And he said, I besought the Lord
thrice. Now, whether that meant three
times or whether it meant over and over and over, I don't know.
I've read it where men said it meant this, it meant that. Well,
whatever it meant, the Lord told him, he said, my grace is sufficient. This morning, I would like to
just look at something that is of great comfort to me. writes in 1 John 1, he said,
that which was from the beginning. You know, a believer finds all
of his security, all of his hope, all of his trust, all of his
joy in Him who is eternal. The eternal God, Deuteronomy
33, 27, is thy refuge. Now, this morning, you that know
Him, I'm talking about know Him effectually. Know Him by grace
that God Almighty has given you a heart after Christ, a longing,
a hungering, a thirsting after Him. That hungering and thirsting
is by the grace of God. Man, by nature, hungers after
everything but God. He hungers after wealth. He hungers
after stuff, things, mess, and stuff. That's all. Temporal things. Fills his barns, and then after
his barns are as full as they can possibly be, he said this,
I know what I'll do. I'll just tear these down and
build me some more. Build some bigger ones, because I need them.
God Almighty gives His people a hunger and a thirst after Him. And that hungering and thirsting,
it hurts. If you've ever been hungry, I
mean really hungry, or you've been thirsty, I'm talking about
a slaking thirst. I mean, I get hungry just enough,
Jeff, just enough, Mealtime, I just start getting there. You
know, I say, well, I'm really hungry. Well, I'll tell you this,
if I ever get hungry, really hungry, and I know what it feels
like to hurt, to hurt for hunger, then I'd say, I'm hungry. I don't
think I've ever really been hungry. I don't think I ever have, but
have I ever hungered and thirsted after Him? If I have, it's by
God's grace. Eternal God, that which was from
the beginning. Only in Him who is eternal can
we speak of eternal life. I don't want to start with something
or somebody that's new. I don't want to hear anything
new. I'll tell you what will really throw a flag up to a believer. If you'd hear me preaching something,
If you'd hear Brother Scott preaching something that you've never heard
before, you'd say, well, wait a minute. That which was from
the beginning. I want to hear that which I've
heard and that which I've heard and that which I've heard. Tell
me again one message. I want you to tell me about Christ. Tell me about Him. That which
was from the beginning before Abraham was in time. The Lord said, I am. I need Him who is from the beginning,
the everlasting Son, the eternal God, the eternal surety, that
which we have heard, that which was from the beginning, which
we've heard. John says, I've heard Him. I heard Him preach. I heard Him speak, that which
was from the beginning, which we have heard, the eternal Word
Himself, God Almighty. But John said, I heard Him. We
heard Him. Some of us heard Him. And some
of you have heard Him. Some of you heard Him, that which
we have heard. I heard Him. A believer hears
the gospel. And when Almighty God gives them
ears to hear, it's just like this. Did you hear that? Did
you hear that? An unbeliever says, I hear what?
A believer says, I heard Him. I've heard Him. I've had ears
to hear that which we've heard, that which we've seen. Now look
this up. I want you to notice something.
John says in that first verse, he says, that which was from
the beginning, which we have heard and which we've seen with
our eyes and which we've looked upon. It almost looks like he
said the same thing, didn't it? That which we've seen with our
eyes and which we've looked upon. I looked those two words up,
and it's not going to be a surprising thing to you. Those two words
are different. They mean two entirely different
things. John said, we've heard him. I
heard him. I heard him. I had corporal ears
to hear. I heard him, but I also heard
him. But then he says, we've seen him with our eyes. And that
word seen right there means right here. These things right here. I saw him. But you know, a lot
of people saw him. A lot of people looked on him.
We've seen him. But then John says, we looked
upon him, that which we have looked upon. That word there,
looked, means something entirely different than the word seen
with our eyes. We beheld him by faith. That's
what we saw. We perceived him. You ever had
somebody tell you something, they're trying to explain something
to you, a teacher, a mathematical problem, you know? And she writes
this thing on the board. And then you see it, you're looking
at it, but you just don't see it. But then all of a sudden
you see it. I remember these little things
that came out with these posters and it was computer generated
stuff and it looked like blurry stuff and it just, you know,
the caption on the bottom would say that this is what's in that
thing, you know, and I'd look and look and I couldn't see it.
I'm looking at it. But all of a sudden, there it
was. And you know, after I'd see that thing one time, I could
see it every time. Every time I'd see it. There
it was. John said, that which we've heard to be seen with our
eyes. But we looked on him. We beheld
him. Someone asked me one time something
about art, an artist. I told him, I said, here's the
difference in a person that's an artist and a person that's
not an artist. A person that's not an artist, looks at it, sees
it. You know, he looks at it, but
an artist truly looks at it and sees it. He sees it. He sees
how face, you know, how the eyes are in the middle part of the
head, and they're not really up here at the top, you know.
And he sees, he beholds, you know, a man looks at a human
being and he said, how big is a hand compared to a man's face? And you think the hand's always
Smaller. Hands have got to be smaller
than the face, you know, but it's not. An artist looks at
it and sees it. John said, we saw Him, but we
looked on Him, and we beheld Him. The Word that was made flesh,
that which was from the beginning, which we heard and we seen with
our eyes, we looked upon. And our hands have handled of
the Word of life. Now, do you remember when the
Lord Jesus Christ was walking, there was a woman that was there
that had an issue of blood. And the Lord was on His way to
see a man whose daughter was sick. And as He was walking along,
and the Scripture says that the press was there, people just,
you know, He was walking and they touched Him, you know. And all of a sudden He stopped. And he said, who touched me? And the disciple said, what do
you mean, who touched you? I mean, a lot of people have
touched you. He said, no. He said, somebody
touched me. He said, virtue has gone out
of me. And there he looked and he saw
the woman that had the issue of blood. When John says here,
we saw him, we heard him, we looked on him, and our hands
have handled of the Word of Life. Turn with me back to Luke 24. Luke 24, starting in verse 36. Our Lord has risen from the dead. Luke 24, 36. It says, And as
they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and
said unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified
and frightened and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he
said unto them, Why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in
your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet,
that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have." He said unto
them, they were afraid, they were frightened, he had been
crucified, and here he was, the risen Lord, resurrected out of
the grave. God had raised him from the dead.
And he said to them, he said, look at me, look at me. He said,
look at me, look at my hands, look at my feet, look at my side. He said, handle me, touch me.
And John said, I touched Him. He said, I am here to bear witness
to you. I was there. I saw Him with my
eyes, but I looked on Him. And by faith, Almighty God gave
me faith to believe that's Him. There is the Christ. I touched
Him. I handled Him. Our hands, He
said, have handled of the Word of life. He's real. He's alive. The resurrected Lord. Handling Him was God Almighty's
mercy, John said, to allow us comfort and joy and assurance. He's alive. John 14, 19, our
Lord says, because I live, because I live, Because I have resurrected. Because I am out of the grave.
God has raised Him from the dead. Because I live, ye also shall
live. Resurrected. That means those
that were crucified with Him, those that were buried with Him,
they came out with Him. It is appointed unto man once
to die. John said, That which was from
the beginning, Almighty God, the Eternal God, in the beginning,
the Word, that Word made flesh. John said, I saw Him. I looked
on Him. I perceived Him. By God's grace,
He gave me eyes to see and ears to hear. And he said, I handled
Him. I touched Him. By faith, I knew. That's Him. That's what He said.
We've handled of the Word of life. I confess that's who He
is. Who do men say that I am? Jeremiah. Some of them said this prophet,
that prophet. Who do you say I am? Who do you say? Peter says,
You're the Christ. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. And he said, Peter, flesh and
blood did not reveal that to you. But my Father which is in
heaven, Peter says, I mean, John says in verse 2, for the life
was manifested, the fountain of life, original life, eternal
life, who was the living but invisible God in fullness of
time manifested Himself in human nature. The life was manifested. And then he says, and we've seen
it, The life was manifested. You know, I began to think in
that the life was manifested, and I began to think John 3,
16, that blessed passage of Scripture, John 3, 16, that man by nature
wants to believe that God Almighty has sent His only begotten Son
into this world. John 3, 16 says, For God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And I know that there are many
that stand in pulpits and say, claiming John 3, 16 to be their
great, as Mr. Spurgeon said one time, their
great gun. Their great line of defense,
this is their great gun. And Mr. Spurgeon said, he said,
I'll tell you this, he says that gun was not forged in their foundry. And he said that day that he
preached, he said, I aim to turn it on them. John 3, 16 says this,
Almighty God so loved the world. That word world there means mankind,
the order of man. God so loved the order of mankind
that he gave his only begotten son. There's an order of man,
an order of four-footed beasts, an order of birds, an order of
fish, angels. God so loved the order of man. What did he do? He gave his only
begotten son. But then they'll say, but it
says God so loved the world. God so loved the world. That
means everybody. Well, let me ask you this. If
it means everybody, for whom was our Lord praying in John
17 when He said, I pray not for the world, but for them that
you gave Me out of the world? That's who I'm praying for. John 3.16 says, God so loved
the order of man that He sent His only begotten Son, and I'm
telling you, out of every nation and kindred and tribe and tongue,
God's got a people that's in the world, born in Adam, just
like everybody else, and God so loved them, His elect. He
has sent the Lord Jesus Christ that the order of man perish
not. If God Almighty would not have
sent the Lord Jesus Christ, the order of man has no hope. In Adam, all die. I've given
this illustration to some of you, and I'll give it again.
I think it bears repeating. You take a huge arena, big old
strong fence, man his purpose that he's going to save the order
of four-footed beast. So he gets him a couple of camels,
and he gets him a couple of elephants, and he gets him a couple of cows,
and a couple of horses, and he gets him two of every kind of
four-footed beast. And he puts them in that arena
right there. And they can't get out. He puts them, hems them
up to them. But all the other four-footed
beasts that were left out there were destroyed. That man preserved
the order of four-footed beasts. He saved them. He preserved them.
Almighty God everlastingly loved the people. And out of this world,
out of this human race, He chose the people. That's what Ephesians
1 says. He chose the people. He let,
chose them in Christ. The potter, the clay. The clay, the potter. The potter
has the right to do what he will with his own. So he chose the
people. He said, I have a right to make
one vessel under honor and another vessel under dishonor. And so
he chose out of every nation. out of the world, out of mankind,
He chose a people. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world to redeem those that the Father had given Him
from the foundation of the world. John says, that life, eternal
life, everlasting life, life Himself. The Lord said, I am
the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. And verse 2 says,
that life, the life, was manifested. That life was in this world. He walked among us, manifested. The Word, the glory of Almighty
God demanded it. He was manifested. Isaiah 7,
verse 14 says, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and shall call his name Immanuel. God prophesied that it was going
to be so. The glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
was beheld in it. A child was born, a son was given,
and the government shall be upon His shoulder." The government
shall be upon His. He is the Almighty God, Almighty
in heaven and earth. All power is given unto Him. He rules. He rules. He rules. That's what Nebuchadnezzar
says. He rules in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth. I hear these men that
stand in these pulpits and preach a little g God that they claim
is trying to do all that he possibly can, trying to do what he will. And he is no God, the God that
they're preaching. I'm telling you, the God of this
Bible is God Almighty. And He does what He will, and
He'll do whatever He wants to with you and whatever He wants
to with me. And He's going to do it to His
honor and glory and to His praise that in the ages to come, if
He shows forth grace and mercy to one, it's going to be in the
ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace
in His Son. And if He allows a man or a woman
to go on and do whatever they want to do, He's going to allow
them to do it to display His justice. He's God, and He does
that which is right. He's right. He rules. He rules in the hearts of His
people. They're willing in the day of His power. He subdues
His enemies and their enemies. He supplies them with all spiritual
blessings in Himself, in the Lord Jesus Christ, His name. is wonderful. His name is wonderful. I looked the word up. Wonderful.
You know what it means? A miracle. That's what it means.
A miracle. His name is wonderful. Wonderful. In Judges 13, the word that is
found in Judges, there's a word in there that is called, describing
our Lord, it's called secret. I want to read that to you. Judges
13. Judges 13. In verse 17, just listen to this,
Judges 13, 17. The scripture says, And Manoah
said unto the angel of the Lord, What is thy name? That when thy
sayings come to pass, we may do thee honor. And the angel
of the Lord said unto him, This is the Lord himself he's speaking
to. The angel of the Lord said unto
him, Why askest thou thus after my name? Seeing it is, in verse
18, it says, secret. Why do you ask my name? My name
is secret. That word secret there is interpreted
wonderful. My name is wonderful. How do
we describe Him? He is wonderful. Christ who is
wonderful has manifested the secret counsel of Almighty God
in the glorifying of Himself. in the redemption of His people. That which is unable to be known,
secret. How do you know? How do you know?
How would you know? How would I know the eternal
counsel of Almighty God unless that which is secret would be
manifested? John says the life, eternal life,
was manifested and we have seen it. We have seen it. Who is He? He's the counselor, that's what
Isaiah 9 says, to advise, to resolve. The counselor in nature,
the counselor in providence, the counselor in grace, the mighty
God with power to lay down His life and power to take it again,
mighty in the redemption of His sheep, mighty to keep them from
falling. Isaiah says He's the everlasting
Father, the everlasting Father. I looked that up too. actually
interpreted the Lord of Eternity, the Lord of Eternity. That is
to say, he who has the government on his shoulders has it forever. And he who has it forever is
the God-man who ever liveth. John says he was manifested. We saw him, Prince of Peace,
for he has reconciled his people. back to God by His own blood. John says, that life I'm talking
about was manifested, and we've seen it. Three times now, in
verse 3, he says again, that which we've seen and heard. Three
times John is set forth as a certain witness to hearing and seeing
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 3 says, that which we have
seen and heard Declare we unto you. This is what we do. We declare
the gospel. This is a declaration. I've heard
men say this is asking an invitation. The gospel is declared. Go into
all the world and preach the gospel. This is the gospel. Almighty God from all eternity
chose His people in Christ Christ came into this world, came into
this world as the servant, made Himself of no reputation, humbled
Himself. Almighty God Himself, God, humbled
Himself, humbled Himself, meek, meek. Remember what we looked
at that word meek the other day? That word is submissive, submissive. Submissive to God Almighty's
will. I come to do Thy will. The will
of God. My meat, Christ said, is to do
His will. His will. Meekness. Bowing to
God's good providence. If Almighty God has placed you
in the situation that you're in right now, meekness. He says,
Lord, it's you. It's the Lord. Let Him do what
seems right in His sight. It's God. It's God. He orders
the steps of His people. Here was Christ, and John said
a third time, we've seen Him, we've heard Him, and we declare
this unto you, that ye also, he said, and here's the two reasons
that John says we declare it unto you. Number one, in verse
three, that ye also may have fellowship with us. Now let me
ask you something. You think John was talking about
us here having fellowship John and the group back there. I can't
have fellowship with John. We declared that you might have
fellowship with us, John said. We have fellowship with him.
And here, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years later,
we have fellowship with him. Our fellowship is with him. That's what he said. Next verse
says, and truly our fellowships with the father and his son,
Jesus Christ, that you might have fellowship with us and our
fellowships in Him. Oh, I realize that as believers,
you know, believers have fellowship together, but where is our fellowship? Our fellowships in Christ. Look
at John 17, the high priestly prayer of our Lord. John 17 and verse 21. John 17, 21. And here's our blessed
Savior as He prays. He's praying in verse 21, John
17, 21, that they all... Who? Who is that? Well, it's
the same ones that he prayed for in verse 9 when he says,
I pray for them. Who? Those that you had given
me out of the world. Those, he said. That I'm praying
for, verse 20, that they all may be one as thou, Father, art
in me and I in thee, that they also may be one with us, that
the world may believe that Thou hast sent me." That they may
be one as we are one. That our fellowship be in Him
alone. A believer knows what God has
taught him, and he declares it. He sets it forth. He knows that
God alone has done something for him. Almighty God is going
to do something for His sheep. He's going to call them out.
And then secondly, John says, this is the reason we're declaring
unto you. Number one, verse 3 said that ye may have fellowship with
us. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. I'm
telling you, he said, this is the way it is. I'm declaring
unto you. He's alive. The Word, the everlasting, that
which was from the beginning, the eternal Word came to this
world. John said, I saw Him and I saw
Him. I touched him, I handled him,
resurrected Christ. I touched him. But let me ask
you this. Did John have any more assurance,
believing by faith then than you would now by faith? Same
faith. The faith of God's elect. God's
faith. Gift of God. That which we've
seen, we want you to have fellowship. We declare unto you that you
have fellowship. And then secondly, he said in
verse 4, this is the second reason I declare these things unto you.
These things write we unto you that your joy may be full. That your joy may be full. Now that word joy right there
means this, calm, delight. You know, I think of the word
joy, and I kind of, the first word that comes to my mind when
I think of joy, I think of happy. Happy, you know. That may manifest
itself like that, but I'll tell you this, a person may have some
joy and not really be happy. Now, there's times that we go
through some things that are just hard. They're tough. There's things of this world
that Almighty God graciously allows us to go through. And
as far as the flesh is concerned, they're grievous. But let me
ask you this, does that remove the believer's calm delight in
knowing my Father, my Lord, does all things well? David said,
you dealt well with me. It's good. It's good that I've
been afflicted. Now, some of you know something
about that. You know something about that.
You know what it's like to suffer. You know what it's like to hurt.
You know what it's like. You felt it. You've been there. And if you hadn't been there,
you don't know it, as I said a few weeks ago. But I'm going to tell
you something. If you know something about being able to rest and
to have some peace and to have some comfort, not that you see
it in yourself. I'm not saying that. But I'm
telling you, we're not talking about ourselves. I'm talking
about Him. That your joy, that your calm
delight may be full. Full. Well, here again, there
is another word that needs just a minute's explanation. That
it may be full. That word full means fulfilled. Fulfilled. That your calm delight
may be fulfilled, may come to its expectancy. Back in John
17. Lord's priestly prayer again,
I want you to turn back. You need to look at this, and
I'm going to stop in just a second. John 17 and verse 13. John 17, 13. The Lord says, And now come I to
thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they, that
is, his elect, might have my joy fulfilled in themselves,
same thing, that there might be a fulfillment of His joy. What joy is that? Well, the Lord
said, for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross. The joy, the delight of His heart
was the glorifying of His Father. in the redemption of His people.
That was His joy. And for that joy that was set
before Him, He set His face like a flint to the cross and endured
the cross. These things, He said, I am coming
to you and these things I speak that they might have My joy fulfilled. John says back in that fourth
verse, he says, these things we write unto you that your joy,
that your calm delight may be fulfilled. There may be a fulfillment. I'll tell you this, a believer
whose joy is fulfilled, he rejoices. That's what he does. He rejoices
in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. That's what
the psalmist said. Rejoice in the Lord. And again
I say, rejoice. A believer rejoices in his grace,
knowing that it's sufficient for all things. He rejoices. in the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ, imputed, charged to Him, for by it, justified
before Almighty God. He rejoices in His love, which
is everlasting, never fails. He loves His people. He never
changes. He rejoices in that. And He rejoices
in God's providence by which all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are of the called according
to His purpose and that he rejoiced in his intercession even now. He intercedes. He forever intercedes. He ever liveth to intercede. And he rejoices that his name
is written in heaven, that Almighty God was before the foundation
of the world. Write his name in the book of
life, Christ Himself. He rejoices. John says these
things, right way under you, that your joy, your calm, peaceful
delight might be fulfilled. God Almighty is going to fulfill
His joy in His people. They're going to behold Him by
faith. They're going to see Him. They're going to see Him with
a new eye by faith. They're going to behold Him.
They're going to know He is. And they'll rest in Him. They'll
find comfort in Him. In the midst of whatever happens,
John says, I write these things to you that your joy might be
full. Well, I'm going to stop right
there.