Once again this morning, join
me in the book of 1 John, and let us read the first four verses
to start with. It says, 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 she also may have fellowship
with us and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his
son jesus christ and these things right we unto you that your joy
may be full We're going to call this time this morning, or this
portion, looking at verse number three, the word declared. The
word declared. And again, John says, 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, that which we have
seen and heard we declare unto you." And that is the, I guess, the watchword or phrase
of all of the scriptures that God has given to us is those
men that God called on to write the scriptures that we have,
they wrote and said those things that God said and that they told
them to write and to record and declare, those things that they
heard from Him above. And there's a lot of passages
we've been looking at as we've been in all of the Old Testament
books, but as we're in Judges now, thus saith the Lord is repeated
a lot of times. And that's the parenthesis or
subtitle of all the scripture we have is, thus saith the Lord. And it has to be that way. It must be that way. All that
we have to deal with is what the scripture have to say and
as the Lord reveals it to his people. And that which they saw
and heard, he says, that we've handled. that He was in their
presence. And He was in verse 1 and 2,
John speaking of God the Son in the flesh as man, and speaking
of Him as the Son of God from everlasting, the Creator. So
they handled with Him the Word of God, the gospel itself, the mediator,
the true God, true man in the flesh. As we mentioned before,
in time past, the prophets of old and the forefathers that
we have record of, very few instances that God was with them in a physical
form. There were some forms that we
see that they saw manifested not many times as
a man. A couple of times that we have
record of that that it speaks of, and we believe that it was
the pre-incarnate Lord that met with Jacob and others in that
sense as a physical person, as a man, and that it was Himself
pre-incarnate. And that was who they were declaring,
who John declared as that one, that one that they had. We can
only declare that which we have seen and heard. We can't give
that which we do not have. I'm sure teachers that have been
substitute teachers and actually were given an academic class
of some kind that they weren't versed in, they had to read the
textbook, I'm sure. And it's hard to teach and train
somebody in something that you don't know. I've worked with
people in the field that I worked with that thought they knew some
things, and they had to have somebody that knew talk to them
about things, because they weren't going to get it. Can't give that
what you have. All we have is the Word of God,
about the Word of God, capital W. and the gospel is that word
of God. We can't give the true sense
of it. if we've not been born from above or had that revealed
to us from above. It's hard to place into words
if you have been. It's hard to sometimes phrase
those things that we know in language that we can understand
and describe. It's indescribable as we saw
that word, ineffable. joy that is given to God's people.
It's indescribable in human words, it means. That's what that word
means. Have to have been given eyes to see and ears to hear.
Now, sometimes we have very eyes that are like slits and we barely
see sometimes. And sometimes it's hard. The
hearing is hard. We pray for clear sight and hearing
and those things that the scriptures have to say, but we do have those
things. Turn to the book of Luke chapter
24, and We've been to the book of Luke
in chapter 24 particularly a number of times, but here for a particular
thought in verses-we're familiar with the setting here-but verses
Luke 24 starting with verse 25. the Lord speaking to the two
on the road to Emmaus, and it says, He said unto them, O fools,
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into
his glory? And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the
things concerning himself. Now, in all the prophets and
in all the scriptures concerning himself. That's a pretty good
clue as to what somebody asks the question or the question
comes up, what does the scripture speak of? It speaks of Him. And
as it says here that He expounded to them in all the scriptures
the things concerning Himself. And He expounded those things
as no one else could do. And He shows us in part sometimes,
sometimes more clearly than others, different things that the scriptures
have to say. But He Himself expounded unto
them in all the Scriptures. And whatever else we may see,
we see as we were in Leviticus, in different places, a lot about
the religious life they had and things that were to be done in
the religious manner, and the sacrifices, and the things that
they were to go about and do. in their religious life, but
those were pictures speaking of Christ himself. There were
those that saw that, that he revealed that to what those sacrifices
are about, but the majority of them, it was their religious
life and they went about their business and they did those things.
There was a particular sacrifice that was given that probably
not many did, and I can't recall what it was called, but if there
was anything that was lacking or done unwittingly, I think
it says, that they did this, and probably not much of that
sacrifice was taken and done. there was those that God had
of His own that did understand, that He did show that this was
not just a religious duty to obligation religiously to do,
but that it actually was a picture of who they stood in, how if
they had righteousness before God, how that righteousness came
about, and it wasn't just by the doing of those religious
things. It's not just religious things,
and there's some places that have, and how they do their services
I guess is fine, but there was a place where we lived when we
were kids that they started having early church on Sundays so that
they could get that out of the way and go water skiing or whatever
they want to do on Sundays, and got the religious time put in. Now, I'm sure there were those
that that may have saw more than that, you know, as a convenience,
but those things speak of Christ,
and that's what He Himself revealed. And the Spirit was given to all
the prophets to speak which was taught and revealed to them of
our Lord and Savior. And His name and some of those
terms may not appear as they do in other places, but that's
who it's speaking of. And it's been said before, a
simplified version of the Old and New Testaments is the Old
Testament, someone's coming. Someone's coming and not just
someone is coming but someone's coming to do it to do something
Someone's coming to provide that sacrifice that that God is required
and the New Testament Someone is here. Someone's here and Someone's
coming again. And that's then that's who we
that's who we Declared that's who we declare whenever the word
is opened. He should that is what is to be declared And they
only wrote and spoke what God Almighty moved them to do, to
say, we must, when seeking the truth of the scripture by God's
guidance, dig in the word and see what is there. When we approach
a passage, I've tried before just studying real hard. Sometimes
that doesn't get you very far except memorizing the words of
it. You might understand the English language of it. But we've
got to at times be in the Word. Pray God, reveal those things
to us, and then sometimes just meditate on those things that
we have. Ruminate on those things. I like that word. Or sit under your vine somewhere
and just think on these things. There's time and place for that,
and that God uses those times and places also to clarify and
show us some things. Turn to 2 Peter, if you would,
please, with me. Join me in the book of 2 Peter. 2 Peter 1. Starting with the first verse
of 2 Peter 1, it says, Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
according as his divine power hath given unto us all things
that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him
that hath called us to glory and virtue. whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust." A couple of things here
before we read a little bit farther on in this chapter, that it says
here, that have obtained, those that have obtained like precious
faith through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ,
be peace and grace and peace multiplied unto you through the
knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. As this, his divine
power hath given unto us these things, all things that pertain
through life and godliness, through the knowledge of him, that it
called us to glory and virtue. And several times here in these
three verses, it speaks about the knowledge of Him. There's
more than just the reading verses that mention Him of that. It's just not the knowledge,
the human knowledge, but how God reveals Himself to His people
that it says here, have obtained, in verse 1, obtained like precious
faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. And that have obtained like precious
faith is not something that has been worked for or gathered over
time or these things. That obtaining like precious
faith is given to His people. at his time and his place and
his direction, that he opens blind eyes and deaf ears, and
that here, and it says it a couple times, through the knowledge
of God, and of our Lord Jesus, Jesus
our Lord, that there's knowledge that's gained from the Word.
I think God's people should get to be familiar with the Word,
both how it's laid out and familiar in that way, but also the knowledge
of Him that's only gotten by being in the Word and by the
Spirit uses that. Those things don't come just
by out in God's nature, and they'll come to us. He uses things, and
we enjoy those things, but that knowledge is from what the gospel
says, from what the scriptures say, and what the Spirit reveals
in us through those things. And continuing on a bit in 2
Peter, Chapter 1 here, it says, it says, besides just verse 5,
giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue
knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and
to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness,
and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you
and abound, they make that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." And these things, knowledge and these other virtues
and things are virtues of His, His virtues that we see. Try
working on temperance. Try working on brotherly kindness.
Try working on a lot of things that are virtues like this. Have
you ever had any New Year's resolutions, even very good ones? Some, you
know, once in a while we can carry those off for a while,
but usually the list I have is very short and it's not in mind
very long sometimes. And it's not, these aren't things
to work on that we can, but they're, these are all gained I think
as God gives us grace in Him, and it says, gives us these things,
nor will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of
Him. And I think God's people have to know and have to be versed
in what the Scriptures say, but they have to be taught of God. He has to be the teacher in us
of these things. And that's the only way of any
value from them. And then skip down just for a
little bit in verse 16 of the same chapter, 1 of 2 Peter. And speaking of, and remember
declaring that word that they had been literally with, and
spiritually revealed some things besides physically. Verse 16
says, For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when
we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. for he received
from God the Father honor and glory. When there came such a
voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. We
have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well
that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place,
until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing
this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private
interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost." And this this God has to place
this in us, that He has to cause us to believe this. He has to
put that in us, that His Word was not just somebody's thoughts
on religion. And there are those that think
that God gave the prophets, or God gave Paul kind of the outline,
thumbnail sketch of what He wanted, and they filled in the blanks.
I don't believe that for a minute. Now, some of their personalities
probably show through. Some of their writings have a
different character about them, but it was all given of God to
them. I don't believe they were in
a trance when they were doing this. I think God spoke to them
clearly. They understood what he was saying
to them to put down and record, or to speak as Moses and those
that spoke for God. They were speaking what God said,
and the same that it says that holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost. And I think that that has to
be, or we have no ground to start with seeking the knowledge of
who our Lord is and who he is to his people. And then, It says, verse 21 again, directly
from God. This is not via somebody else
or secondhand that they spoke. They spoke directly as God spoke
to them. And that's what John is saying
here in 1 John. They're declaring that they were
witness of, and I think more than just physical witness of,
because there was those in their midst that had physical knowledge
of him, right along, but to no avail. It didn't mean life to
them. There were those that he could
be in a crowd with, and that woman who touched the hem of
his robe, He could be in a dense crowd
and maybe no one not reveal himself in any way, shape, or form to
any of them, but those that he would, they were given that knowledge
and given that faith and that belief that they had. Peter says that, to us who have
obtained like precious faith, according as His power was given
us in all things that pertain to life and godliness." And all
that pertains to those things, and
all else that we have, and it says, he said twice as we looked
in that other passage here, and there in Second Peter, that through the
knowledge of him, and again, I can't stress enough, I guess,
that it's not man's physical knowledge of him, but the knowledge
that only he can give. The book of Proverbs talks about
wisdom, and there's a lot of wise sayings in that book that
are simply wise sayings. But the bulk of that, speaking
of that, is a characteristic of the one who is wisdom, of
our Lord Himself, is that wisdom. It's not just, now there's some
things it speaks about that have been taken. Don't lend anything,
or don't borrow anything, or don't beat your children unnecessarily. There's a lot of things that
it's spoken of but the wisdom they're speaking of is the wisdom
with a capital W on high that we have. And people often go
to Proverbs and cite Proverbs as cute little sayings about
something that never related to who it's speaking about. And
I'm sure that the Lord, when He expounded to them, probably
spent a little time in in Proverbs with those two as well, but it
has to be from above. In 2 Thessalonians-turn back
to the book of 2 Thessalonians with me-these are not secret
passages by any means that we're looking at today. There They're readily available in
anyone who has the word. And if we hold it on our hands
is one thing. If we spend time in it, that's
another thing. If he reveals a little bit of light to us,
that's a wonderful thing. Second Thessalonians in the second
chapter, excuse me, Second Thessalonians chapter two, And I'd like to
start with verse 13 and read down a little bit. It says, But we are bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions you have been taught, whether by word
or our epistle. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort
your hearts and establish you in every good word and work."
And up here above where it says here, Whereunto, standing in our Lord,
and chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit,
it says, and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory, and then he says in verse
15, Brethren, stand fast, hold the traditions that ye have been
taught, whether by word or our epistle." And a couple of things
here. He says, our gospel. It's not
another gospel or their version of the gospel, but the gospel
that was given to them of God that is spoken unto them in the
same down here in verse 15, that says, Hold fast the traditions
which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle. He's
not speaking of their religious teachings, not their religious
traditions, not the traditions of the elders, but the traditions
of the fathers of old that were given those things, the Scriptures
we have by God. Those things hold fast. In a
couple of places, Paul says, I'm going to keep you constantly
in reminding me of these things. Remind you what the scripture
says and what that is, the gospel, that which we declare unto you
is that Christ, that gospel. And Second Corinthians, while we're
in the neighborhood, turn to Second Corinthians with me, please. A couple of places in 2 Corinthians. Don't lose 1 Corinthians,
because we're going to be there, too. 2 Corinthians 4, starting
with verse 5. It said, for we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. Now, several things said here,
not ourselves. They weren't teaching their teaching.
They were teaching the Lord Himself. But here, the God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ." That which we know of the glory of God,
of the Father, as it says in John that the Lord says Himself,
if you've known Me, you've known the Father, you've seen the Father.
And here where it says, the light shined out of darkness, it shined
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ." And then in the passage that
says, in him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now that's
a sentence to get figured out in your mind what
that all not only says in language what it means, and that is the sum and substance of the Scripture,
is our Lord and Savior, and how we see any knowledge of the glory
of God is in Him, and through Him, and the preaching of His
Word. And then in 1 Corinthians, In 1 Corinthians, it says, a few verses here. It says, moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which
also you have received and wherein you stand. by which also ye are
saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye
have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. and that he
was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After that he was seen
of above five hundred brethren, of whom the greater part remain
unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. But up here I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he
was buried, and that he rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures." And as Paul is saying there, he was delivering
that which he was given. He had to know that. It's just
it's just not the same reading words of it without knowing what
you're reading or that having been revealed to you some, having
your eyes open some about who we are and hear that as it speaks
about that he died for our sins, that he was buried, that he rose
again, these things according to the scriptures and That's where we have to stand
in. But Paul's saying he didn't just surmise these things. He didn't just surmise these
things. John wasn't just surmising some things to say and relating
an antidote about something. But these things that were delivered
to them, they delivered. That which was delivered unto
you, first of all, which I received, and received of Christ. It wasn't
received of, and by the Spirit. It wasn't received of some other
person, but of God. When he asked the one disciple,
who do you say I am? And he said, he believes you're
the the Son of God. And he said, flesh and blood
didn't reveal this to you, but my father. These things aren't revealed
by flesh and blood, and it can be brought out, it can be read,
it can be compared with other scriptures, but the Lord Himself
has to reveal these things to us as that. I've tried delivering things
I didn't have any of before, and it is not a good thing on
either for the for me or for anyone else at the at the time.
Turn to Acts and I just about the Acts chapter 17 and I was well into today's thoughts
on this and a few things that I happened to see a note that
I put down, and I wondered why I put it down, and I went to
it. But Acts chapter 17, starting with verse 22, it says, Paul's in Athens on
Mars Hill, and they've got a bunch of altars to different gods. And
Paul says to them, Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and
said, ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too
superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld
your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, to the
unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare
I unto you. And he goes on to speak that,
but here in religion, generally in religion,
and it could be in, oh, Baptist churches even, you know, that
we think of as the ones maybe. This could be, this message could
be preached anywhere, any pulpit. to the unknown God. That which
you think you have, let me tell you about the true God. Let me
tell you about the true one, and that is the, must declare
the true God, and must be that one, the true God only. And turn to Galatians, and we're
gonna, we're gonna get to the end of today for time,
but in Galatians, Chapter 1. I'm going to read
the first 12 verses of Galatians chapter 1 as it relates to 1
John saying, this we declare unto you. Paul, an apostle, not
of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father,
who raised him from the dead, and all the brethren which are
with me unto the churches of Galatia. Grace be to you and
peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who
gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this
present evil world according to the will of God our Father,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Verse six, I marveled
that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the
grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another
gospel, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert
the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed, as we said before. So I say now again, if any man
preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received,
let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men or
God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men, I should
not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ." And we're going to stop that, but continue yourself
on that. But here, a couple of things,
and we looked at this as we were in Jude about the perverting
of the gospel. And here, it's not another gospel,
it says, and some would trouble you and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. Anything that adds to or takes
away from, as the book of Revelation said, that is not to be acceptable. And the perversion of the gospel
of Christ does not have to deny him outwardly as far as saying
that he's not God or those type of things. But it's pretty subtle. It's like the serpent said, did
he really? Oh, you're not going to really die. When it says it
is not of works, of any kind of works can be added to that
robe of righteousness. It means no works of ours. No works of any kind can be added
to that. And that word of life that was
declared in 1 John, that's what we must declare. And I'm going
to read one verse in 1 John and we're done. In the last chapter
of 1 John, chapter 5, chapter 5 and verse 20, It says, And we know that the
Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding that
we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true,
even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. And that's what was declared,
and that's what must be declared. And all of our standing, and
that's be that one, that word of life. And with that, we'll
take another look next time. Thank you.