All right, now, when we read
a book about history, let's say you're reading a book about World
War I. And somebody in that book who
has a first-hand experience who was there is writing about their
experience and telling you what they saw and what they heard. We read that and we don't question
it because it's a witness who was obviously there. They obviously
saw it. They heard it. And so we take
that as an eyewitness account and we don't question it. Why
wouldn't we receive eyewitness accounts from eyewitnesses recorded
in God's Word? Why wouldn't we receive those
without question? You see, not only are they eyewitnesses
of what transpired, but they also are inspired by God to write
what they write. So it's a double witness. It's
a witness of Christ by the person who saw and heard Christ Himself,
and it's a witness of God who's giving them the word to write.
For you who don't believe, would it help you if you heard an eyewitness
account of somebody who saw Christ and heard Christ speak and walked
with Christ? Would that help you to hear the
Word of God and cease questioning the Word of God and to truly
receive what's spoken? The one writing this epistle,
1 John, He is an eyewitness. John the son of Zebedee is an
eyewitness. John was an eyewitness and also
he was inspired by the Holy Spirit of God to write these words.
So what he is saying here is you can take this for certain. This is true. This is true. Look at what he says in verse
1. 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 unto you. 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 might be full. Now listen carefully. If God
saves you, it's going to be through the declaration of faithful witnesses. Christ came and He spoke to John
and He called John and He gave John faith in Christ. And He
sent John forth and John declared what he had seen and heard. He
declared as a faithful witness Christ. He preached this life
we're talking about here. And God gave this life to some
of those to whom John preached. And some of those to whom John
preached, God raised up to be faithful men to preach the gospel. And through their preaching,
God gave this life to some. And they declared this life to
others. And on and on it went to us who
are here tonight. Now listen carefully to what
I'm about to say to you who do not yet believe. All of us here,
who have been given this life. We are all here now witnesses
and together. I am just the mouthpiece, but
we are all here together declaring to you who do not believe. We
are declaring unto you what we have seen with the eye of faith,
what we have heard with the eye of faith, What we know to be
so. And here's our message. This
is our message. Now listen carefully. Eternal
life is the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is eternal God. Eternal life is the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
and therefore He is the life. He is eternal life. Doctrine,
the word doctrine means teaching. It's what I do every time I stand
here to preach. I'm teaching. Doctrine is good. It's useful. We should learn
doctrine. We should learn depravity. what that is, and the doctrine
of election, and particular redemption, and irresistible effectual calling,
or regeneration. We should learn doctrine, but
if we're saved, if we're saved, it's going to be because eternal
life is having the Son of God. Eternal life is having the Son
of God. Some people listen to scriptures
and you can tell that they've been trained to listen for key
words that we use when we preach, when we teach. Key words that
are fundamental in our doctrine. Depravity, perseverance, particular redemption. And as long as they hear those
words, they're fine. But I wonder if you ask them,
what was really preached? Who was preached? Would there be a heart there
for Christ of that doctrine? I said to you during the conference,
I could take a clicker and some treats and I could teach my dog
to respond to the word election. That wouldn't be any problem.
Just like you teach your dog to answer when you say, sit. It wouldn't be any problem. You
could teach men doctrine. But eternal life is having the
Son of God. Christ is life. And that's who
I want you to know. I want you to know Christ. 1
John 5.11 says, this is the record. that God has given to us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Now, first of all, get this simple
declaration, but I want you to get this. The Lord Jesus Christ
is God. The Lord Jesus Christ, the man
who walked this earth over 2,000 years ago, is God. He is God
who existed as God's Son before the world was made. That's what
John declares here. Look at verse 1. He says, that
which was from the beginning. He's talking about Christ. That
which was from the beginning. And then look, he says, of the
Word of Life. And then he says in verse 2,
that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested
unto us. That which was from beginning,
the Word of Life, that eternal life which was with the Father
is Christ. That's Christ. And what he's
declaring here is that Christ is eternal God. He is eternal God. He says here
that Christ is from the beginning. He's from the beginning. That
means from before the earth was made. It means from before anything
was created. The Bible begins, the first verse
in the Bible begins, In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth. That was the beginning of creation.
But what John's talking about here is the beginning that came
before the beginning of creation. He's talking about eternity before
anything was made. Go back to John chapter 1. John
chapter 1. In the beginning was the Word. That capital W-O-R-D is speaking
of Christ. In the beginning was the Word. And look at the next phrase.
And the Word was with God. Now look at the next one. And
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. And then after that, came Genesis
1-1 and we get to verse 3, and all things were made by Him. You see that? The first that
He's talking about here is the beginning when there was just
the Word. The Son of God with God. And
that Word was God. Christ is God. And He existed
then before the world was made. He existed with the Father. Before
He possessed a human body, Christ existed as the Son of God. Now,
for a believer this may seem like, that may seem elementary,
but that's important to know because you'd be surprised how
many times I've heard folks say things about they don't understand
how Christ was only born 2000 years ago, how then was He from
the beginning? Because He is God. And that's
what John's declaring here. He's God. He is the Word, the
eternal Word. He's the existing Son of God,
the everlasting Jehovah, the eternal I Am. Look at Proverbs
8. Proverbs chapter 8. Wisdom is being personified and
we know from Scripture that Christ is wisdom. And look what He says
here. Proverbs 8 verse 22, The Lord
possessed me in the beginning of His way before His works of
old. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning or ever the earth was. And then if you want
to turn there in Micah 5, He's talking about Christ coming and
being born in Bethlehem. And he describes Christ this
way in Micah 5.2, he says, His goings forth have been from of
old, from everlasting. Everlasting is a way of saying
that He's eternal with neither beginning nor ending. That's
really difficult for us to understand because we do everything based
on time. And God does nothing based on
time. He's eternal. He's eternal. When were God's elect chosen?
Turn over to Ephesians chapter 1. God's elect were chosen where
and when? Where were God's elect chosen
and when were they chosen? Look here, Ephesians 1.3, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. There's where and when. in heavenly
places in Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world." So you see, Christ is God. He was there with God and was
God before anything was made. He is the eternal God. So John
is bearing witness to us right off the bat here in this epistle
that Christ is God. Christ is the Word of Life. Now,
you know, you hear people say, well, Christ is alive. Well,
He indeed ever lives to make intercession. But it's far, far
more than that. Christ is Himself Life. He is Life. He is Life. He's God and He was God before
anything was made. Now, listen to this carefully. That same God, that same Word
of Life who was with God before anything was made, was made flesh
and dwelt among us. That same God was made flesh
and dwelt among us. Now back in 1 John 1.1, look
at what John said. 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. That word manifested means He
came openly before all for all to see, for all to hear. John even touched Him. John laid
upon His breast when they ate the Lord's table. He said, the
life was manifested. This is that life that was from
the beginning. The life was manifested. And
we have seen and we bear witness and we show unto you that eternal
life which was with the Father and
was manifested unto us. You wouldn't normally think of
speaking of life that way, would you? We've seen life. We've touched
life. We've heard life. And that life
that was with the Father, that life was manifested to us and
we've seen Him and we bear witness of that eternal life. He's talking
about a person. He's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. John is saying that the word
of life which was from eternity was made flesh, the life was
manifested, the eternal life which was the Father was manifested
unto us. Now back there in John 1, In
verse 14 it says this, And the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. John says, when we
heard Jesus Christ speak, we heard the Word of life speak. When we saw the Lord Jesus Christ
walk among us and we handled the Lord Jesus Christ, we saw
and we handled God. That's what he's saying. Scripture
says God's Spirit, God's invisible. You can't see God. But Christ
is the fullness of the Godhead in a body. And John says, when
we heard Him and we saw Him and we handled Him, we saw and heard
and handled God. That's an astounding statement.
We saw God. John sat there at that Lord's
table that night and leaned upon the breast of God. Isn't that amazing? A sinner leaned upon the breast
of God. And He wasn't the only witness.
There was eleven other apostles besides Him, not counting Judas. And there was a whole bunch of
other disciples that Christ called. And these are all witnesses who
saw Christ and heard Christ in person. Why is He called the
Word of Life? Why does he call Him the Word
of Life? He's called the Word of Life
because He is eternal God and God is life. Eternal God is life. Even the unbeliever, folks, those
of you sitting here tonight who don't believe God, it's because
of Him that you have physical life. He is life. It's because of Him
that all things have life. And He's the only One who can
give unto His people eternal life. He is that life. And He's God. Listen, Hebrews
1.8 says, Unto the Son, capital S-O-N, Unto the Son, He saith,
Thy throne, O God. is forever and ever. A scepter
of righteousness is a scepter of thy kingdom. So this one who
came down, this one who was made flesh is that one who was eternal,
that one who is the word of life, that one who was with God when
there was nothing that existed but God. He was made flesh and
dwelt among us. Don't ask me to explain to you
how He was made flesh. I couldn't begin to tell you.
Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. But now here's the question.
Why was He manifest in the flesh? Why did He come in the flesh? Well, go to John 10. He tells us. He says here in verse 10, that
He came to give Himself under the justice of the law and place
of His people so that He might give life to His fallen elect
people. Look here. The thief cometh not
but for to steal and to kill and destroy. This is Christ speaking. I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the
good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. His elect sheep are often referred
to in Scripture as the world. They are often called the world.
because we're scattered throughout the world. We like sheep have
gone our own way and we're scattered throughout the world. And the
reason the gospel is going forth is He's gathering out His elect
from the world. And so we're often called in
Scripture, the world. Because you can't tell God's
elect from the world. But He knows those that are His.
Go with me to 2 Corinthians 5. Here's why He came. See, we offended God. We sinned
against God. And so we're scattered throughout
all the world. And God came for the purpose
of reconciling His people to Himself. Gathering us out from
the world to Himself. Look here, 2 Corinthians 5.19.
God was in Christ. That means God, that means Christ
is God. God was in Christ. Reconciling
the world, that is His sheep. He just said, I lay down my life
for the sheep. That's who the world are. That
qualifies the world, doesn't it? That limits who the world
is to His sheep. He said, I give my life for the
sheep. He was reconciling His sheep scattered all over this
world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, not
charging them with their trespasses. How could he do that? Look at
verse 21. For he hath made him sin for
us who knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. That's why He came. He came to
reconcile His people. He came to make it so that God
will not impute sin trespasses to His elect. And the way that
God will not impute our sin to us is we have to have no sin
to impute. That's the only way God will
not impute sin to a sinner is He has to have no sin to impute.
And how could we be brought to have no sin to impute unto us? Because He hath made Christ,
God in human flesh, sin for us. This One who knew no sin. This
One who did no sin. This One who did not even sin
when He was made sin. He didn't willingly transgress
against God, He was made to bear the sin of His people. So that
by Him going to the cross and laying down His life for His
sheep, He made all His people the righteousness of God in Him. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. So by the obedience of one, shall
many be made righteous. And when you're righteous, It
means you don't have any sin. You can't have sin and be righteous. If you're righteous, you don't
have sin. Understand what we're talking
about here. We're not talking about how you and I see it and
how it is in our flesh. We're talking about before the
judgment seat of the holy and just judge of heaven and earth.
We're talking about before His bar, coming before Him in His
courtroom, before Him in this matter of us being lawbreakers
now has been settled because Christ took all the sin of all
His people so that He was made to be the only one God looked
to. The only one God looked to. And
God numbered Him with the transgressors because He bore the sin of His
people. And therefore, being just and holy, God did what justice
demanded. He forsook Him. Turned away from
Him on the cross. because he's holy. Christ cried
out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And he said,
for thou art holy. And he said, and I am a worm
and no man. I have problems even saying that,
because that's my Redeemer. That's the holy, harmless, undefiled
Savior, God in human flesh. But He said it. We need to understand
the Psalms, brethren, and read the Psalms as what they are. The Psalms are the Word of our
Lord Jesus Christ in some way. We may not be able to see it,
but this whole book is concerning Him. And that's Him crying out. That whole psalm is Him crying
out. And what He's doing there is
He's declaring to you and me, to ignorant sinners like us,
He's declaring to us the righteousness of God. The devil is so crafty. The devil wants men to renounce
Christ being made sin. and makes men think that's going
to be so honorable to do that because they want to protect
the glory of our Redeemer. But the glory of our Redeemer
was that He came to manifest God's righteousness. And that's
the first and foremost thing on the cross, is God's righteousness. How that God will by no means
clear the guilty That's what He was declaring. And how that
the only way God could be just and the justifier is to make
His Son to bear our sin and satisfy divine justice by being made
a curse for us and redeem us from that curse. And that's what
Christ was declaring in Psalm 22. This is why you've forsaken
Me. But you see, brethren, God is
so just and He's so thorough in His judgment that because
Christ made His people the righteousness of God by His obedience, that's
what that was on the cross. That was the holy spotless Lamb
of God obediently presenting Himself to the Father who made
Him sin for us that He might judge Him in our stead. And by
His obedience, we have been made the righteousness of God in Him. So we have no sin before God's
holy law. And God says, I will not impute
sin where sin does not exist. If they're not bearing sin, I
will not impute sin to them. What does Romans 5.13 say? Sin
is not imputed when there is no law. If there is no law, that
means no law has been broken. And if no law has been broken,
God will not impute sin. Believer, this is the good news
because of what Christ did for us. God says, of you and me,
no law has been broken. That's what it means when He
will not impute sin. I'm preaching Sunday's message
for you. This is what imputation is. Imputation
is not imputing to somebody something they're not. Imputation is accounting
somebody what they are. And listen to this. Go with me
to Galatians 4.4. Here's why Christ came. He came and took
human flesh and was made a curse for His people so that He could
redeem us from under the law so that God could send forth
the Spirit of His Son into our hearts and bring us into communion
with God as His adopted sons and daughters. That's why He
did it. Look here, Galatians 4.4, When
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Oh, so
God did this so that He could make us to be His sons. No. No, no. He did it that we might
receive the adoption of sons. Remember, He adopted us back
there in eternity. That's what Ephesians 1 says.
And He predestinated us unto the time when we would receive
that adoption. And look at the next word, verse
6. And because you are sons, Because you already are sons.
That dead sinner there who doesn't even know what's taking place,
because he is a son and Christ has redeemed him already. God
has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying,
Abba, Father. And that's the first time you
start crying out, Father, Father. Abba means Papa. you start crying
out, Papa, Papa, Father, Father, for the first time. Wherefore,
because God did this, thou art no more a servant, but a son,
and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. That means everything that belongs
to Christ, our elder brother, belongs to you who are His. Everything. Everything. So lastly, why was
John declaring this? Why do we together here that
believe the Lord, why do we preach Jesus Christ the Word of Life?
Why are we here tonight bearing witness to you who don't believe
yet? Why are we declaring this to you? 1 John 1 verse 3, That
which we have 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. and these things write
we unto you that your joy may be full. We bear witness to you
who do not yet believe that ye also may have fellowship with
us. John's desire is the desire of
every believer here for you who do not believe. Our chief desire,
if we could give you anything we want, want to give you. Our
chief thing we want you to have above anything else in the world
is that you may have fellowship with us. Oh, well, I gather here
with you all the time and I visit with you and we talk and carry
on. Isn't that fellowship? No. That's
not fellowship. Fellowship is far more than gathering
and visiting together with believers. John says, truly our fellowship
is with God our Father and with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Fellowships being inseparably united with Christ, by Christ
the life abiding in you. That's what fellowship is. Christ
said, The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they
may be one. Even as we are one, Father, I
in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. That's what we're talking about.
fellowships to have the light of Christ in spirit and in truth
and to be cleansed of all our sins by the blood of Christ.
Look at verse 7. If we walk in the light as He's
in the light, that means if we are in the light, if He's brought
us out of darkness into light, if He's taught us the truth in
spirit and in truth and we're believing on Christ now, we have
fellowship one with another. We have fellowship with God our
Father and He has fellowship with us now in Christ Jesus. And the blood of Jesus Christ
His Son cleanseth us from all sin. Read it and get it in your
heart here. Truly our fellowship is with
God our Father and with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. We're
just saying the church is one foundation. Is Jesus Christ her
Lord? She is His new creation by the
water and the word. And then the second verse says,
elect from every nation yet one over all the earth. Her charter
of salvation, one Lord, one faith, one birth, one holy name she
blesses, partakes one holy food, To one hope she presses with
every grace endued. Our fellowship is with God our
Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. And we preach this word because
if He gives you life, if Christ the life enters in and He gives
you life, your joy will be full. You will have fullness of joy.
There is no joy except being in union with God the Father
in our Lord Jesus Christ. There is where joy is. Having
Christ is where joy is. Being robed in His righteousness.
Joy is to be a partaker of Christ and all His blessings. Joy is
to be one with the Father, one with the Son. That's joy. It's to know the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge that you might be filled with all
the fullness of God. I will greatly rejoice, Isaiah
said. Isaiah 61 10, I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
has covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom
decks himself with ornaments and a bride adorns herself with
jewels. That's why we preach. We want
you to have this joy. Listen to this. Tell me, there's
no, nothing could be greater joy than this. Romans 4, 7. Blessed, that means happy, that
means full of joy. Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed, happy and full
of joy is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Go with me to Habakkuk 3, I'm
going to end with this. Now there's a lot of people looking
for joy in all kind of different ways and different things and
one of the favorites of mankind is money. People think if I just
get a little more money, I'll be happy. You've been saying
that since the first penny you ever made and still not got enough
to be happy. Listen to this. Remember back
in 2008 when the stock market crashed, And you saw all these people
that, you know, the day before they had all this joy because
they had all this money. And then the day after, all their
joy vanished because their money vanished. But you know what a
believer has? He has joy, Scripture says, no
man can take away this joy. Here's what Scripture says, Habakkuk
3.17. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit
be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the
field shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the
fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. What did all that
mean? It means when the stock market crashes. That's what it
means. When the stock market crashes
and your house gets blown down and your car gets wrecked and
you tore up from the floor up, you don't have nothing. Yet,
I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God's my strength. He'll
make my feet like Han's feet. He'll make me to walk upon mine
high places. That's why we preach this message. We want you to have this union
with Christ. We want you to be forgiven of
all sins. This is what the psalmist said,
bless the Lord, oh my soul, forget not all his benefits. Here's
what this joy is, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth
all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who
crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfied
thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like
the eagles. That's the one true joy there
is. to be united in sweet communion, unbreakable and separable unity
with God our Father in Christ the Lord. That's joy. That's
joy. And that will never be taken
from His people. Peter said, in whom though now
you see Him not, yet believing. How do I have this joy? Believing. Believing. Believing on the Lord. whom though now you see Him not,
yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory,
receiving right now the end of your faith. You already have
it. You already have what you're
going to have when you get to the end of your faith. What is
it? The salvation of your souls. You have that. We have that. Because Christ is life and if
you have life, if you have Christ, you have eternal life. So next time you don't want to
come and you fussing and you thinking with mom and dad, well,
why do we have to always go there? Why do we always have to go?
He is just going to preach the same thing to us. We have already
preached it. Why do we have to go there? That's
why. We are bearing witness to you. because we want you to have fellowship
with us. We want your fellowship to be
in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ so that your joy
will be full and will never be taken away. I pray that it be
God's will upon some of these lost souls. Amen.