Thank you, Brother James. I love those words so much more
than the ones that are in the songbook. And it's more accurate
the way you sung it. Thank you. I want you to go to
the first epistle of John. right toward the end of the New
Testament, and turn to the first chapter, if you would, 1 John
1. And I'm going to read the first four
verses to you, and then endeavor to speak to you on the subject,
Declaration of a Witness. declaration of a witness. That is, John was a personal
witness of our Savior. 1 John chapter 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, capital W. You see that Word of Life speaking
about Christ. And then he puts this in, for
the life was manifested, that is, made to appear, and we have
seen. and bear witness and manifest
or 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 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." Declaration of a witness. What does a witness do? Years ago, it's been probably
35, 38 years, something like that, I was subpoenaed to testify
in court. And I was to testify on behalf
of the government who called me as a witness, being a Baptist
preacher. I have, I think, mentioned to
you before, Nancy had taught at a religious school, and they
did not pay women the same as they paid men. And the federal
government got wind of that, not from us, but from somebody. And the EEOC got involved, and
we had a couple of lawyers that came down representing the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission. They came down from Baltimore,
as I recall, and they talked to us. And they, first of all,
they subpoenaed our tax records. Nancy At that time she was teaching
well She was a teaching in a public school then but before that she
had taught in a private school But even then she was the main
breadwinner because I was pastoring a small church and so they subpoenaed
our tax records which indicated clearly that She was the main
bringer in of wages. And the argument of this religious
school was that they paid men more than women because men were
the breadwinners in the house. And so there were several women
who were single women or widowed women or divorced women either
who had children. And so this case was presented
by the government and they came to visit with us and then they
subpoenaed me because I was a Baptist preacher and had knowledge of
Baptist history. It was a Baptist school where
she taught. They were using that parable
of our Lords in the Gospel of Matthew where it's the parable
of the laborers. which of all things that they
would use in the scriptures to prop up their belief, they used
that. And yet in that parable, it states
that the workers received exactly the same pay no matter how long
they worked, which I thought was a very stupid premise. But anyway, I was subpoenaed. to be a witness because I had
personal knowledge. I had studied Baptist history,
and I knew the historical Baptist position on that particular passage
of Scripture. And so I went into the witness
box. They swore me in. Place your
right hand on the Bible. It's federal court. repeat after me, I solemnly swear
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
so help me God. I do state your name, I did so,
and then they began to ask me questions. I was a witness of
that which I knew. I couldn't tell what I didn't know.
I could only tell what I knew. In fact, I think I've related
this to you during my testimony when I was being questioned by
the government attorneys and the defense attorney, they didn't
even ask me any questions. But as the government attorneys
were asking me questions, the judge interrupted and he said,
I want to ask the preacher something. And he asked me, what is the
Baptist interpretation of that parable of the laborers? And I was very pleased to tell
him. I said, this is the Baptist position on that. It's an accurate
position. And I gave him a brief exposition
of that passage of scripture. The sovereignty of God in giving
to whom he will life everlasting in Christ Jesus. And he gives
to all of his people, no matter when we're converted, he gives
us the same. He gives us life. I was a witness. I told what I knew. And of course, the government
won the case because the church had no real basis for that which
they did. Well, in this passage of Scripture,
John writes as a personal witness of our Savior. He says in verse
3, especially, that which we have seen and heard, that's what
we declare to you. This is the declaration of a
witness. John, what do you have to say? You are an eyewitness of the
Lord Jesus. Now, what do you have to say
about it? And of course, John was the one who laid his head
upon the Savior's bosom. He referred to himself as that
disciple whom Jesus loved. And John was inspired of the
Spirit of God to write that which he knew factually, that which
he knew personally. It was firsthand knowledge that
he had of the Lord Jesus Christ and that salvation that is in,
by, and through him. Now, I believe the Word of God,
all of the Word of God, is indeed the inerrant, inspired Word of
God communicated to holy men of God by the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1 and verse 21 says,
Holy men of God were moved by the Holy Ghost. They were born
along in their thinking, in their minds, and the Spirit of God
indicated to them exactly what to write. I believe in the inspiration
of Scriptures. Now, having said that, not every
writer of Scripture was a personal witness to the things of which
he wrote. Ever thought about that? Not
every writer was a personal witness of the things that he wrote.
Moses wrote about creation, but he wasn't there. He wrote that
God said, let there be light, and there was light, but Moses
wasn't there. Nonetheless, the gift that he
gives us of the writing of Genesis, and Exodus, and Leviticus, and
Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and Psalm 90, and a few of the other
Psalms, and perhaps even the book of Job, there's some question
about that. But all that he wrote was indeed
inspired of God, whether he was a personal witness of those things
or not. It is an accurate record. He
gives an accurate record of creation, of the beginning of the Jewish
nation, of the call of Abraham out of heathen idolatry. He gives an accurate record of
Isaac and Jacob and Joseph, and then an accurate record of the
years that the children of Israel spent in Egyptian bondage, He
tells of his own experience there, how as a baby he was rescued
among the reeds of the river by the daughter of Pharaoh. He talks about his own life.
He gives us autobiographical biography of his own life to
a degree. He talks about the exodus out
of Egyptian bondage by the blood of the Passover lamb. All of
these things he wrote, but he wrote by the inspiration of the
Spirit of God. Whether he actually was a witness
of those things or not, all that he wrote was accurate. You take in the New Testament
the Apostle Paul. He wrote 13, maybe 14 books of
the New Testament. In Ephesians 1, he wrote about
things that happened before there was ever a beginning. He wasn't
there to see. He wasn't there to witness God
the Father choosing a people unto salvation, covenanting them
to the Son of God. He wasn't there when God predestinated
unto the adoption of children, many sons, by the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He wasn't there then. In fact,
He wasn't there as far as we know when our Lord Jesus Christ
died on the cross for sinners. He was not a personal, He was
not an eyewitness of those things, yet His record we know is accurate. Another couple of illustrations.
John Mark. John Mark, he was not with our
Lord nor with his disciples. And yet the book of Mark bears
his name, though he was not a personal eyewitness of the service that
our Lord Jesus rendered as the perfect servant to God, because
that's what John Mark did in the book of Mark. The Spirit
of God led him to write of our Savior as being the perfect servant
of Jehovah. He said, I came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister, and to give my life a ransom for many. That's what John Mark wrote,
but he wasn't an eyewitness, yet his record is certainly accurate. The same with Luke. Luke was
not, he was not one of our Lord's disciples. He was not one of
the 70 disciples, though some people think that he was, but
according to Luke chapter 1 and the second verse, he received
much information from those who were the Savior's disciples.
but his record of the revelation of Gabriel to Mary concerning
the baby that she would give birth to, indeed the birth of
our Lord Jesus Christ, his incarnation, what happened when he was 12
years old, the many miracles that he performed that Luke,
as a physician, had special interest in, and therefore the Spirit
of God, used Luke to write of those many, many healings and
cures that our Lord gave to sick people. Luke wrote of those things,
and you would think, well, he was actually there. Well, the
Spirit of God was there and inspired him what to write. But with the case of John, and
also Simon Peter, Now these men and Matthew, these men were eyewitnesses
of the Savior. In fact, just turn a page or
two back to 2 Peter 1. This is what Peter has to say.
Look at 2 Peter 1. Let's look at verse 16. And he's
speaking here of that day when Peter, James, and John were taken
by the Savior up into the mountain. They beheld his transfiguration. Peter says, 2 Peter 1, 16, For
we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made
known unto you the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ,
but were eyewitnesses We were eyewitnesses of His majesty. I saw His majesty, Peter said,
with my own eyes. All three of us did. James included
and John included, of course. So what John has to say to us
here in 1 John 1 is the declaration of a witness. of a witness, a
personal witness. No more inspired than any other
book of the Word of God. But it is of note to remember
this man wrote exactly what he saw. He was there. He was there. And isn't it interesting so many
times when we are dealing with People who are ignorant of the
things of God, who don't have much instruction in the Bible,
we send them to the gospel of John. Read John's gospel. Read the writings of the beloved
apostle. This is the declaration of a
witness. But you know something? That's the message of every preacher
of the gospel. It's the declaration of somebody
who is witnessed by the gift of the Spirit, not by inspiration
now, but by the gift of the Spirit we have witnessed and wondered
at the glory and the magnificence of the Lord Jesus Christ who's
revealed to us in the Word of God and His substitutionary sacrifice
for sinners. All preachers of the Gospel in
that sense are personal witnesses of His glory. We have seen Him
by faith. We have eyes that have been affected
by the Son of Righteousness. We have eyes for Him. When we
go to the Word of God, we're always looking for Him. We have,
as somebody said, sunburned eyes looking for the Son of Righteousness. We've seen the grandeur of who
He is and of His work of redemption. of his successful death, of his
glorious resurrection, his triumphant entry back into glory. Why is it that some preachers preach the
gospel all the time? Always. You always know, you
always know they're gonna set forth Christ in him, crucified,
buried, risen again, exalted, the only Savior of sinners. You
always know we're gonna be pointed to Christ again, confident of
that. Why is it that some preachers
do that and other preachers, they just hit it every once in
a while? Why is that? Do they have something more important
to speak about? Have you not heard on occasion
some man preach and you think to yourself, he said a lot of
good things and everything he said was true. But he really didn't magnify
the Son of God in his work of redemption. Has that ever happened
to you? Well, it's happened to me before. I've listened to a
man. I say, you know, everything he
said was true. I couldn't take issue with anything
he said. He just didn't say enough. He
just didn't set forth my Savior. What is the problem? You see, it's one thing for us
to have a grasp of the truth. It's another thing for the truth
of God, the glory of the gospel of Christ, to have a grasp on
us. That's different. And when the gospel of the sovereign,
free grace of God that sent us through Jesus Christ, when it
gets a hold of a preacher, He's got to tell that story. He's
got to preach Christ and His substitutionary work. I've heard
men, I'm quite confident that they knew something about the
doctrine of grace. They call it the doctrines of
grace. I don't particularly use that.
I like the doctrine of grace because doctrine singular is
more biblical. But for the sake of argument,
I know that they believe the doctrines of grace. Somehow or
another, I don't think the doctrines of grace got a hold of them. Because if the doctrines of grace
had got a hold of the preacher's heart, he wouldn't be preaching
law, law, law. He'd be preaching grace, grace,
grace to sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, John,
this is his declaration as a witness. Well, John, what do you have
to say? I call you to the witness stand. What do you have to say? Now, you tell us the truth, and
he will. He does. And he says this in
verse 1. That which was from the beginning. The word which can also be translated
whom. That one whom was from the beginning. When the beginning began, He
was there. That's why I asked Matt to read
John chapter 1. And you can re-read it again.
He is the eternal God. He is the eternal God. John said,
we beheld His glory. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. You see, He was before
the apostles. He was before the prophets. He told the Jews before Abraham
was, I am. He was before Adam. In fact,
he wasn't made in the image of Adam. Adam was made in the image
of the God-man. Before the world was ever created,
he was then the great I am. That's who he is. And John says, this is the one
I'm talking about. It's from the beginning. And
he said, which we have heard. Oh, how they heard him. Heard him speak. Never a man
spake like this man. Words of salvation. He said,
the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
John said, I heard those words. Words of everlasting life. He
that believeth on Me is not condemned." We heard Him. We heard His words
of redemptive glory. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that
whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Words of compassion for those who labored helplessly under
the rigid laws that the Jews put upon them. He said, come
unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you
rest. Churches lay rules and laws and
regulations upon people. I worked at a church. We had
put up on the wall was a church covenant. You ever seen that?
Church covenant. One side was the church covenant
and the other side was how many he had in Sunday school and the
offering and all that kind of stuff. We're under the covenant. The church covenant. I'm not
under a church covenant. I'm under the everlasting covenant
of grace. That's the covenant I subscribe
to. The covenant sealed with my Master's
blood. Here's the words of great compassion. Come unto me. Not to the church,
not to the law, not to the Ten Commandments, not to the baptistry,
not to the Lord's service. Come unto me. I'm life. You're
looking in the wrong place. Come to me. I'll give you rest. John said, we've heard Him. We've heard Him. Words of instruction, enter in
at the straight gate. For wide is the gate and broad
is the way that leads to destruction and many there be that go in
there at. Words of warning, beware of false
prophets. John said we heard him. We heard
him. Words of direction, if any man's
thirsty, let him come unto me and drink. Let Him come to me. Preacher,
get out of the way. Church, get out of the way. Denomination,
get out of the way. Personal worker, get out of the
way. Let Him come to me, not to you. You can't help Him. I can help Him and I will help
Him. You just get out of the way.
You declare me and then step aside and watch me work. That's
our business. I'm not here to pester you or
put you back in a corner. I'm here to declare the message
and I'm quite confident. Send you home, the Lord will
do His work. His Word is going to accomplish His purpose in
the thing where to He sends it. John said, we heard, and John
could say this himself. I heard Him say, it is finished. Words from the cross. Redemption
is finished. Salvation is finished. Pardoning
grace is finished. The voice of command, they heard
those words. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel. Be a witness of me. Words of great comfort. I go
to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself. That's where I am. There you
may be also. John said we heard His words. We heard Him after His resurrection
come among us and say, Peace be unto you. Oh, words of peace. And he says, which we have seen
with our eyes. We saw him by ourself. We saw
him in his human nature. We saw him doing all the activities
of life. Eating, drinking, walking, weeping,
sleeping, praying, working miracles, transfigured on the Mount of
Transfiguration. We've seen him with our eyes.
And then he says, we've looked upon him. We have fastened the
eyes of our souls upon him. We saw him by faith to be the
son of God. You see him that way? We see him as that one whom we
need. Do you see him that way? He said, and our hands have handled.
Well, he knew something about touching the Savior. He laid
his head over on his bosom. Simon Peter knew about the touch
of Christ. When he started walking across
a troubled sea and got to looking at the waves and everything,
and man, I'm in water way over my head, he began to sing, Lord,
save me! And I tell you, that hand of
omnipotence reached down and took hold of his hand. Our hands
have handled him. We've touched him. He's touched
us. Oh, to be hugged by the Savior. You know, in the Song of Solomon,
the bride says, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. Do you know anything about that? Christ loving on you. Isn't that
the sweetest thing? The Savior loving on you. We
worship Him and we love Him, but our love is... Hit that name. We can't even mention our love
in the same breath as His love for us. He's loved us with an
everlasting love. The prodigal son said, had his
speech memorized, I'm going home, I'm going to tell my father,
I'm not worthy to be your son, just make me one of your hired
help. And the father comes out and
he starts reciting his speech and the father just grabs him
and gives him a big old bear hug and just keeps on kissing
him on the neck and on the cheek. Oh, that's what I want. I want
Him to kiss me with the kisses of His mouth. Well, who's John talking about?
Well, he says in the last words of verse 1, the Word of Life,
that one you read about in John chapter 1, the Word of Life,
the eternal Word. And it says in verse 2, the life
was manifested, was made known to us. And we've seen and bear
witness. We show unto you. Not eternal
life as a theory or as a doctrine, but eternal life who is somebody. I was listening to the message
by Brother Mahan, which I like to do when I walk. And he made the startling statement.
You may have been there when this was taped. I don't know.
Probably you were. But he said, Jesus is not alive. You remember him saying that?
He said, Jesus is not alive. He said, now don't let me startle
you now. Jesus is not alive. Jesus is life. That's what he
said. He is life. And he gives life. This is the word of life who
was manifested to us, and he manifested life to us. That's the reason we love this
gospel, is because they have spiritual life. John says, we
manifest you that eternal life, who is somebody. Eternal life
is not merely what we have, the quality of it, but the Lord Jesus
is eternal life himself. And so John says in verse three,
so that which we have seen and heard, that's what we declare
to you, that's who we declare to you, that you might have fellowship
with us who also rejoice in Him. And he said, truly, no question
about it, our fellowship was with the Father and with His
Son, Jesus Christ. And he says this in verse four,
and I'm gonna quit with verse four. He says, in these things
write we unto you that your joy may be full. There's no real
joy to be found anywhere else except in the Lord Jesus Christ
and in His gospel. Some of you may remember this
course. Denita remembers all the old courses. They kind of
keep coming back to you, don't they? You learn years and years
ago. I'm so happy and here's the reason why. Jesus took my
burden all away. I'm so happy and here's the reason
why. Not a giddy happiness, but a
soul happiness. Joy in the heart. Christ took
my burden all away. Not a pasted on smile, but a true happiness of the soul.
You know, when I was singing those courses a while ago, we
got that course, Under the Blood of Jesus. How wonderful and how marvelous. We tend to just say the words. We're under the blood of Jesus.
We're safe while the ages roll. We're safe, though the worlds
may crumble, we're safe no matter what happens. Under the blood
of Jesus, I am secure in Him. You see, this is personal testimony,
personal declaration of a witness, John the Apostle. And by the
grace of God, I'm a witness of His glory by faith. I believe several of you are
too. And we rejoice in Him. And we shall do so until that
day when we shall see Him face to face and then sing with all
the saints in glory, worthy is the Lamb who was slain, who has
redeemed us to God by His blood. And we'll worship Him forever
and ever. Let's get our folders again. One more time, and you
know this course. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There's
something about that name. If you need the words, it's page
7 in that black folder.