We'll be continuing our study
there. We started a new study last week
in 1 John. We looked at the first verse
and tonight we'll be looking at verse 2 and a little bit of
verse 3, but we'll be just touching on verse 3 a little bit. But
let's read the first four verses so that we get the context of
our verses. 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 manifest, 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 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, that your
joy may be full. Last week we looked at verse
one of this wonderful book, where we saw that the word of life,
which is Christ Jesus our Lord, who is the word of God, was from
the beginning, which speaks of his eternality. We see that in
this verse, that which was from the beginning. Then we consider
the Word of Life became a man. And we see that in the phrase,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled. Then we consider
how the Lord is called the Word of Life, again bringing forth
the deity of Christ. So right away in this In this
first verse, John has set forth the eternality of Christ. He
set forth the fact that he is the word of God, who was with
God and was God. And he has set forth that he
is God incarnated in the flesh. And he has also set forth that
he is the word of life. And life comes from him, both
natural life and spiritual life. It all comes from him. It all
comes from him. So let's read verses one to four
again. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, in our hands have handled of the word of life.
For the life was manifested. 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 ye also may have fellowship with
us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with
his Son, Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto
you, that your joy may be full. Now take note, beloved, in verse
two, the apostle is not just an eyewitness. We see that in
verses one, two, but he's also an ear witness. And we see that
in verses one and three. He's an eyewitness and an ear
witness of who Christ is and of the things that he done. It says, for the life was manifested
and we have seen it. There's the eyewitness and we
bear witness and show unto you eternal life which was with the
Father and was manifested unto us. And then we see in verse
3, that which we have heard, there's the ear witness, we declare
unto you. That which we have seen, the
scripture here says, they looked upon him, beloved. Now we look
by faith to Christ. They actually beheld him. They beheld him like we behold
one another. They saw him face to face and
they heard him. They personally, as one commentator
said, personally and audibly heard him. They saw him speak
and they heard him. They heard him speak personally.
And John says, declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship
with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with
the Son, Jesus Christ. And remember, John was one of
the three, John, Peter, and James, who saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration. Not all the apostles had this
privilege, but John did. John did. All the apostles heard his words,
And they saw how they were accompanied by power, by the power of God. And they saw how this proved
that he was God. Turn, if you would, to the gospel
of John, the gospel of John. You might want to keep your finger
there because we're going to be going back and forth to the gospel
of John a little bit tonight. Gospel of John chapter 20, chapter
20. And we'll look at verse 31, and
we'll see that John has written the gospel that you might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, and that believing you might have
life through his name. Look at John 20, 31. But these
are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his
name. Again, but these are written
that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing ye might have life through his name. Now let's
go back to 1 John and we'll see that verses 2 and 3 convey this
same thought. 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 manifest unto us, that
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. that ye
also may have fellowship with us. And who has fellowship together? Believers, don't they? Those
who believe on Christ. We have fellowship, one with
another, and we have fellowship with God through Christ Jesus
our Lord. That ye also may have fellowship
with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son, Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John, The apostle
is bringing forth the deity of Christ, the deity of Christ. He also brought forth the humanity
of Christ, but his focus in the Gospel of John was the deity
of Christ, was the deity of Christ. Now we see John opening this
book by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and he sets forth both
the deity of Christ in verse 1 and the humanity of Christ,
and he's continuing to set forth the humanity of Christ in verse
two as well. And verse three. Note it says, for the life was
manifest 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 speaks of the incarnation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. 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 the Son Jesus
Christ. So he's setting forth the humanity
of Christ. And we saw last week that John
is combating two Gnostic errors, two Gnostic errors, which had
sprung up. And in combating those errors,
he's bringing forth the humanity and the deity of Christ. He brings
forth the humanity of Christ and the fact that he has seen
and heard him, that he's seen and heard him. He touched him.
And now he bears witness to this truth. He bears witness to this
truth. Now remember, one of the Gnostic
errors was they said that he was just but a phantom, that
he didn't have a real body. He was just a phantom. So John's
combating that, that error that's already sprung up within the
church. And he's saying, when false teachers come in, and he's
saying, he was real. He was really a man. I saw him,
and I heard him. And we know he laid his head
upon his breast, too. We know that. So he's bringing
forth the humanity of Christ. He's also, though, as we note
in the first verse, he's masterfully brought forth the deity of Christ,
too, that he was from the beginning. He was from the beginning. So
he bears witness now to the truth. He says, for the life was manifested,
and we have seen it, and bear witness. Bear witness. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
5. Who was manifested? Well, we
know from verse 1, the word of life, the one spoken of in verse
1. And we know that's the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is life itself. He's the fountain of life. this
fourth in his gospel in chapter 5, that to his people he is life. He raises us from our natural
state, right, which is what? Dead in trespasses and sins.
And he gives us life, beloved. He gives us life. Look at this
in John 5, verses 25 to 29. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Well,
beloved, that happens when we're born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. We hear the voice of the shepherd. We hear the voice
of the shepherd. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. And we were dead, beloved. We
were dead in trespasses and sins. Look at this. For as the father
hath life in himself, so hath he given to the son to have life
in himself. And hath given him, look at this,
authority to execute judgment also, because he is the son of
man. The Lord has all authority, beloved,
in heaven and in earth. Marvel not at this, for the hour
is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice,
there's the general resurrection, and shall come forth, they that
have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done
evil unto the resurrection of damnation. But that life spoken
of there in verse 25, and they that hear shall live, That's
when we are made alive, beloved. That's when we're born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. The dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God and live. Oh my, oh my. So what is the
life that he gives to his people? The answer is every kind of,
every kind. He's God incarnate in the flesh.
He's the author and giver of our natural life. He's the author
and giver of our natural life. He's the creator of all things.
Second, he's the author of our spiritual life. We saw that in
verse 25 there, which is written in the scriptures. The dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. They live. Third, he gives us resurrection
life. We see that also in John 5. Marvel not at this, for the
hour is coming in which all that are in the grace shall hear his
voice and shall come forth. They that have done good unto
the resurrection of life. So he's all our life, beloved,
all the way around. He's the word of God incarnate.
He's the giver of life. And remember, let us always remember
that he's absolutely independent of everyone. He's the cause and author and
giver of life in every sense, in every sense. He's the creator. He's God over all. He's the living
God. He's the word of God. The second
person of the Trinity, who was from all eternity. He was invisible, but in the
fullness of time, he has manifested in human nature. That's what
we're reading about tonight. He became a man. The Word of
God. Fully God, and yet fully man.
And his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice, let's go
back to our text, John bears witness of who he is. John bears
witness of who he is. For the life was manifested,
there is the incarnation, 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. Again, they were both eyewitnesses
and earwitnesses of the word of God, the word of life, who
became flesh and dwelt among us. They knew the truth of his
incarnation, They saw him. They heard him. Therefore, think
of this, they have a faithful record, don't they? In order,
according to the law, in order to be found guilty, if you have
a witness come up against you, they have to be an eyewitness,
don't they? It can't be hearsay that puts you, it has to be an
eyewitness. The apostles were eyewitnesses,
beloved. And then they had the privilege
of going and preaching about him. And there was other people
who were eyewitnesses of him, too. But John is talking here
about the apostles. Oh, they have a faithful record,
beloved, of who he is, of his deity, and also of his humanity. They witnessed the miracles which
he performed. They saw him do them. They saw
him do these miracles which proved his deity. He reached down and took Peter's
hand when Peter was sinking in the water, and they were walking
on water. They saw him come up from the
bottom of the ship and just say, be still. And the storm that
was raging was absolutely still. They saw Lazarus raised from
the grave. They were eyewitnesses, beloved,
and earwitnesses. They were there when he said,
Lazarus, come forth. They saw that. And it must have filled them
with awe. It must have filled them with
awe, beloved. Turn, if you would, to John chapter 1, John the Baptist
even testified, bear witness of who Christ was. Look at this
in John chapter one, verses 29 to 34. Now we see in our text
there, for the life was manifest and we have seen it and bear
witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the
Father and was manifest unto us. Look what John the Baptist
said in verses 29 to 34. The next day, John, what? Seeth Jesus. He saw him, beloved. He saw him with his eyes. coming unto him and said, behold,
the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. Beloved, he takes away all the
sins of all the elect, of all the ages. He's the perfect, spotless
Lamb of God. And John bears witness, he testifies
of this, doesn't he? This is he of whom I said, after
me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before
me. He's from eternity. He's the word of God incarnate. And I knew him not, but that
he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore am I come baptizing
him with water. John bear record, saying, I saw
the Spirit descended from heaven. like a dove, and it abode upon
him. And I knew him not. But he that sent me to baptize
with water, the same said unto me, upon whom now shall see the
Spirit ascending, and remaineth on him the same as he which baptizes
with the Holy Ghost. And I saw on bare record that
this is the Son of God. Excuse me. John the Baptist did
The same as the apostle over in 1 John, he bear record. He bear record of who Christ
was. He said, this is the Son of God. This is the Lamb of God.
This is the Lamb of God, the eternal Son of God, who being
sent in the fullness of time had assumed human nature, in
which he became subject to all ordinances, and he had the Spirit
without measure bestowed upon him. And John is here proclaiming,
This is Christ the Messiah. This is the Messiah. He's bearing
witness. He's bearing witness of who he is. Let's go back to
our text quickly there in 1 John 1, look at verse 2 again. For
the life was manifested. Now again, that's a continuation
from the first verse which says, our hands have handled 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. Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the one true God. Turn, if you would, to 1 John
5.20. Just a few chapters over. John pens this over in chapter
20 of, or chapter 5, I'm sorry, chapter 5, verse 20 of this wondrous
book. Look at this. And we know that
the Son of God has come. They know. They know, beloved. They saw him. They heard him.
And hath given us an understanding. Look at that. If he doesn't give
us an understanding, we don't have a clue who he is. Very plainly. Given us an understanding. If
you have an understanding of who Christ was, praise God. Give
him all the glory, beloved. Because not everybody has that
understanding. Look at this. What's the understanding? That
we may know him that is true. We know him. We know him. He's
our savior. He's the Lord of glory. He's
the Messiah. He's the Lamb of God. And we
are in him. Remember, he's the vine. We're
the branches. We're in him that is true. He
said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. Even in the Son,
Jesus Christ, this is the true God in eternal life. Did you
catch that little phrase at the end there? This is the true God
in eternal life. The Lord Jesus Christ is God,
and eternal life is only in Him. Neither is there salvation in
any other, no other, no other than Christ. Why? Because He's
the true God. He's the word of God incarnate.
He's the word of life manifested, the scripture says, is what we're
looking at tonight. And John saw Him and heard Him, He's called
the Word of Life because he has everlasting life in himself.
In himself. He's the living God. He's the
eternal one. He's eternal life for his people.
And eternal life only comes through him. Not only the purpose and
promise of it are in him, but eternal life itself. Because
He has the power to bestow it upon whomever He chooses. And we know that He gives it
to those whom the Father has given Him. My, this is the God of the Bible. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
17. John chapter 17. He proclaims this precious truth
over in John chapter 17, in His great high priestly prayer. Look
at this in John 17, verses 1 to 3. These words spake Jesus. Now
remember, John is an eyewitness. These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee, as thou has given
him power over all flesh. That's the God of the Bible.
That's our Savior. He's not waiting in bringing
his hands, he has all power. He has all power. That's what
the scripture is plainly declaring. This is wonderful news for a
sinner who can't save himself. This is wondrous. The one who
can save me is the one who has all power, and praise God he
has. As thou has given him power over all flesh, what? That he
should give what? Eternal life. Remember? Remember
our text? For life was manifest, 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. Look
at this. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. My. And then it says, for this
is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Oh. Beloved, he is the
source of eternal life because he's God. He's the giver of eternal
life. And let us never forget that
eternal life is what? It's a gift from God, isn't it?
Not owing to any merits of man, not owing to any merits of the
receiver, all we deserve is condemnation. That's all we deserve. But God
gives us eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
no merit in man's works. The promise of eternal life is
all in Christ. It's all in Christ, beloved.
It's wonderful. And this is what John's bringing
forth. This is what he's bringing forth here. He came into this
world to die for his people. Why? That they may have eternal
life, that their sins may be forgiven, and that they may have
eternal life. He obtained eternal salvation
for us. The sinless one dying for sinners. Paying everything, as you've
often heard me say, that God demanded that we might live. And then when we depart out of
this world, we who believe, we get to spend eternity with the
one who purchased our souls. The one who that eternal life
comes from. It's marvelous, it's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Came into
this world to die for his people that they may have eternal life.
And he has obtained eternal salvation for his people. And it all comes
through his blood and righteousness. It's the only way it comes to
us. Turn, if you would, to Acts chapter 3. Excuse me, Acts chapter
3. We'll read verses 13 to 15. Look at this. We see here that
our Lord is called the Prince of Life. We see in 1 John he's
called the Word of Life. Here we're gonna see that he's
called the Prince of Life. Acts 3.13 to 15. The God of Abraham
and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified
his son, whom ye delivered up, speaking of the Jews, and denied
him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let
him go. but he denied the Holy One, that's speaking of Christ,
and the just, he's sinless, he's perfect, and desired a murderer
to be granted unto you. They cried, crucify him, crucify
him with Christ, and they cried to release Barabbas, and killed,
what, what's his title here? The Prince of Life, whom God
hath raised from the dead, Whereof, look at this, we are witnesses.
They're witnesses. They saw him. They actually saw
him and heard him. The same way they saw him and
heard him when he was on this earth, in what the commentators
say is humility, because he humbled himself and became a man. They
saw him and heard him. And after he was raised from
the dead, they saw him and heard him. My goodness. So they're witnesses of his incarnation,
and they're witnesses of his resurrection, beloved. Oh my. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. And again, we see back forth
here that he's the author of life. He's the prince of life.
We know that he's the author of natural and spiritual life,
and he's the author of eternal life. He's the living God. He
has life in himself. And as a man, he had such power
over his life as no man ever had, and they crucified the Lord
of glory. They crucified him. His death
is laid to them because it was at their request, and they condemned
him, and Pilate delivered him to his soldiers to crucify him.
But let us never forget that this all happened according to
determined counsel and foreknowledge of God. And our Lord willingly
went to that cross to redeem each one of us who's born again.
Willingly. to redeem his people from their
sins. Let's go back to our text again. It says, and we're seeing
again how John again brings forth the eternality of the word of
life who was manifest. Note in the latter part of the
verse it says, excuse me, which was with the father and was manifested
unto us. So again, he's bringing forth
the eternality of Christ. This phrase is expressive again
of his eternal existence. as the Word, as the Word, the
Son of God, one with His Father, speaks of His relation to Him,
and also speaks of Christ's oneness in nature with the Father, and
His equality with Him, and His personal distinction, though,
from Him. You get the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
and the three are one. But they're distinct. So John again brings forth that
he was an eyewitness Again, an ear witness to the fact that
the beloved Son of God, who was with the Father in all of eternity,
who is life itself, who is the fountain of eternal life, who
is the cause, author, and giver of life, was manifested in human
flesh. And he also brings forth the
fact that he has come that we might have life. If we were not regenerated, we'd
still be dead in trespasses and sins. He'd come that we might have
a life, beloved. He purchased that life for us
with His own blood. My, what a Savior. What a Redeemer. What a Redeemer. Let's look at
verse three, and we see here John brings forth this precious
truth again that he's seen him and heard him. Again, he's battling
the Gnostic error, which said the Lord was like a phantom with
no real body. So he brings forth for the third
time that he's seen and heard him, and that he was a real man,
and yet God incarnate in the flesh, that which we have seen
and heard. Declare we unto you. And remember,
they saw and heard him. So they're declaring who they
saw and heard. We, by faith, look to Christ.
I, by faith, declare Christ. But they actually saw him, and
they actually heard him. 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. So note John declares Christ
here. He's declaring Christ. He's a
faithful witness of Christ, who is the sum and substance of the
gospel. Christ is the sum and substance
of the gospel. He is the sum and substance of
this book. It speaks of him. It speaks of him. The gospel
preacher doesn't get up and talk about ourselves. We get up and
talk about Christ. We proclaim Christ and him crucified.
He is the only Savior. And we proclaim that. And we
will until the Lord takes our breath away. He declares him to be the true
God in eternal life. God over all, blessed forever.
Turn, if you would, to Psalm 66. We see here again, he's proclaimed
him as truly man, made of a woman, made under the law. The only
mediator between God and man. Look at this in Psalm 66. Verses
16 to 20. Come and hear all ye that fear
God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. That's
what the believer does. Psalm 66. Verses 16, come and
hear all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he had done
for my soul. The preacher gets up and proclaims Christ. We proclaim
what Christ has done for us. Every believer proclaims what
Christ has done for us. We declare that, don't we? We
declare about our Savior. What he's done for my soul. What's
he done for your soul? Oh, he saved my soul. He redeemed
my soul. All my sins are forgiven. all
because of what he's done, all because of what Christ has done.
I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But
verily God hath heard me. Oh, he hears the cry of a poor
sinner. Cry not to him for mercy. He hath attended to the voice
of my prayer. Remember the two men, and one said, well, Thankful
I'm not like that publican over there. I do this, and I do that,
and I do all these things. Remember him? So full of self-righteousness. And I love the cry of the publican,
the prayer of the publican. God be merciful to me. He couldn't
even lift his head up. God be merciful to me. Think of that in light of here.
But verily God hath heard me. He hath attended to the voice
of my Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, oh
my, nor his mercy for me. He'll not turn away anyone who
comes to Christ. Oh my. Christ is prophet, priest,
and king for his people. He alone is our savior, our redeemer. And John is declaring the greatness
and the excellency of his salvation. Of his salvation. And that salvation's
only found in Christ. Nowhere else. Now only one way
to the Father. And that's through Christ. Christ
is the only suitable Savior for sinners, beloved. He's the only
suitable Savior for sinners. He's God incarnated in the flesh. And what precious promises are
found in Him. Again, all spiritual blessings
are found in Him. He's full of grace and truth.
He's full of grace and truth. And He alone receives eternal
glory in heaven. And who does He receive eternal
glory from? From the ones He's given eternal
life. and they will praise him for eternity for what he's done
for them. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. Oh, to receive all the glory,
honor, and power. We give him all the praise, beloved.
We give him all the praise because of what he's done for us. It's
Christ who died as the substitute of his people. It's he who has,
again, obtained eternal salvation for them by the sacrifice of
himself on Calvary's cross. He was the one who paid all that
God demanded for the sins of his people. Look at our text again. 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. John is laying
down, beloved, a solid foundation, that true Fellowship with God
is only through the God-man mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. True fellowship
with God is only through the one who is God incarnate in the
flesh. If we are to have fellowship
with the Father, then we must have fellowship with the Son.
We must. That's why we always believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to Him. Don't look to the
preacher. Don't look to one another. Look
to Christ. Look to Christ alone. So John's
laying the foundation for the rest of the epistle, too. He's
gonna come forth, and there's a lot about fellowship in this
epistle, too. There's a lot about fellowship.
And take note that the words we and our have a reference to
the apostles, have a reference to the apostles. That which was
from the beginning, which we, that's the apostles, have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes, again speaking of the apostles,
in our hands have handled 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, again speaking of the apostles. That which we have
seen, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with
us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with
the Son, Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto
you, that your joy may be full. And remember, we look to the
Lord by faith. We look through the eyes of faith.
And we declare the one we look to, don't we? We declare what
he's done for us. But again, they saw him, and
they heard him, beloved. So those words are in reference
to the apostles in John. He's speaking, as one commentator
said, he's speaking in their name as well as his, as well
as his. Now there were others who had
seen the Lord in his humanity, but they were not called to be
public witnesses as the 12 were. They preached and proclaimed
Christ. Now the believer, again, by faith, we see Christ, and
we have fellowship with God through Christ, but the ones that that
John is speaking about here, saw and heard and touched him. Now the Christian today, we hear
the voice of the shepherd through the word of God, through the
word of God. And in hearing we live, we live. God gives us hearing ears and
eye, see and eyes to look to Christ. We're born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. We now have an understanding.
Remember what John wrote in chapter five? We now have an understanding
that we didn't have before. That's from God. That's from
the Lord. Oh, it's wonderful. But they, again, they saw the
shepherd. They heard the shepherd. Oh, but of God, we hear his voice
too, again, through the preaching of the word. God himself, humbled himself
and became a man. And he was manifested to them.
He was manifested to them. He was fully God and yet fully
man. No, they didn't keep the truth
about Christ secret either, did they? They didn't keep it secret. They proclaim this wonderful
truth of salvation. This is what God's people do.
We proclaim who he is. Look at, 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 the
Son, Jesus Christ. It's said in the book of Acts
in chapter four, verse 20, of Peter and John when they were
brought forth before the high priest, it said this, for we
cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. They
couldn't keep quiet, beloved. And the believer can't keep quiet.
Oh, Scott Richardson used to say, eventually it leaks out
of us. I like that. We can't keep quiet, can we?
Oh my. And John declares that he's writing
that he also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship
is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Beloved, this fellowship is in
hearing, seeing, and handling of Christ in the spiritual sense.
Again, we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God, and we look
to Christ alone for salvation. And we enjoy the same privileges
in Christ as the apostles did, didn't we? We do. We're all saved
by grace through faith. We all look to Christ. We're
looking to Christ by faith. They saw him, but we're looking
They look to Him by faith too, beloved. And we're partaking with them
in this wondrous salvation. This wondrous salvation in Christ
and all the blessings that come with it. Marvel at it, beloved,
if you're born again. Marvel at this precious, precious
truth. We'll conclude here tonight.
Lord willing, next week we'll look more in depth about the
fellowship that the believer has with God in Christ. And as
always, we'll give God all the glory. Heavenly Father, we thank
Thee for the time that we could spend in Thy Word, O Lord. We thank Thee, Lord Jesus, knowing the fact that You left
all, You left the heaven You were manifested in the flesh,
Lord Jesus, fully God and fully man. You came here to die and
bleed, to redeem your people, to live the perfect life we never
could, and you did it all willingly, Lord, that we might have eternal
life. Oh, Lord, we pray that there's
one who will hear this message that does not know thee, O Lord,
we pray that if it's Thy will to give them life, that they
might be born again in the Holy Spirit of God, just as we who
believe are born again by Thy Holy Spirit, and You granted
us life, eternal life. We're all going to die, O Lord,
but we who believe have eternal life, and we will be with Thee
for eternity, and we marvel We who are your people marvel at
this wondrous truth, that the Lord of glory himself was manifested
to take away all our sins. Glory to you, Lord. Honor and
praise to thee. And it's in your name we pray. Amen. Let's sing closing hymn.