Let us look in our Bibles tonight
to 1 John chapter 1. I want to read all of the chapter,
but we'll only be looking tonight at verses 5 through 10. 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 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. 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. This then is the message which
we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and
in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light,
as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all
sin. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make him a liar and his word is not in us. The title of my
message tonight is The Message. The Message. Notice the words
of the Apostle John in verse five. when he said, this then
is the message. Now I want us to think back to
what we considered last time in the first four verses. Men
call what we have in these first four verses, the doctrine of
the incarnation, the incarnation, the eternal son of God, who is
spirit. God is spirit. The eternal Son
of God was made flesh and dwelt among us. That's so clear in
the Spanish translation of the scripture. The word, el verbo,
was made flesh. Se hizo, he made himself, is
the way that reads. He made himself flesh, or he
became a man. He took and, how did he do that?
he took into union with his eternal person, that body which was prepared
him by God the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary. And John declares
that he who is spirit became flesh, became a man, so that
we could see him with our eyes. You cannot see a spirit But he
became flesh that they might see him, they might hear him,
and yes, he even tells us that they handled him, they touched
him. Remember when he appeared to
his disciples after his resurrection the second time, at least the
first time Thomas was not with them and he told them, even the
first time he told them Touch me, for spirit hath not flesh
and blood. He was a man that could be touched,
that could be seen, that could be heard, the Savior. And this is what the gospel is. To believe the gospel is to believe
the message that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now that's what Peter confessed,
and the Lord Jesus told him, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona,
because flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven. And that's another reason that
we say from the word of God that salvation comes by revelation. It doesn't come by a decision. Man makes a decision. You know,
we hear that, have heard it for years, the hour of decision. No, no. Salvation comes by revelation. And that's one reason the gospel
is so offensive to the natural man. One of the reasons. That's
not the only reason. But that's one of the reasons
the gospel comes by revelation. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
God-man. the God-man. God's justice, for
a sinner to be saved, God's justice had to be satisfied, and it had
to be satisfied in the nature which had offended God's justice. He had to be made flesh in order
that he might suffer and die. He must be God to give value
to his suffering. What value does suffering, bleeding,
and dying have if he's only a man? If he's only a man and not God-man? No, he must be God to satisfy,
but he must be man to suffer. We know that's what the scriptures
teach. And we have this statement by
the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20, which is truly an amazing
statement. that he made to the elders of
the church at Ephesus when he said this, that Christ purchased
the church with the blood of God. The blood of God. In other words, there's such
a union between his deity and his humanity that what is said
of one may be true of the other. Because he's one person. We know
God doesn't have blood to bleed, but because he became man and
he's a God man, he purchased the church. He purchased you.
If you're one of his children tonight, we're not redeemed with
corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ as of a lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Yes. He purchased the church
with his own blood. You know, there's two things,
and I emphasize one of these much more than I do the other,
that he had to be God to give efficacy, to give value to his
blood. We know that. But think about
this. He also had to be God to sustain the weight of the sin which was
set upon him, which was made to meet upon him. A man, I don't
care how strong he might be, Hercules, Atlas, I don't care
how physically strong a man may be, to have the weight of the
sins of his people laid upon him, He had to be God in order
to sustain that weight. That weight was so great, remember
that in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before he was crucified,
the cup which the Father gave him to drink no doubt contained
the sins of his people, but the scripture in Luke tells us that
his sweat was as great drops of blood. The pressure, the weight,
that was laid upon Him, caused His body to sweat blood. He had to be God. And I'm so
thankful tonight that God's revealed that to me. I know you are too,
if He has revealed that to you. And there's not a question, there's
not a doubt in my mind that Jesus is the eternal Son of God. John said in verse 2 that he
was manifested, and why was he manifested? He was manifested
by being made flesh. You could see him, you could
hear him, you could touch him, but why was he manifested? Well,
look in chapter 3 here in 1 John and verse 5. The apostle said,
and you know that he was manifested. Why? to take away our sins. Thank God, he was manifested
to take away our sins. John the Baptist, you know, pointed
to him and declared, behold, the Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of the world. And you know, we understand what
he meant by the sin of the world, that he is the only Lamb of God. He was not the Lamb of God to
take away only the sins of the Israelites, but he is the Lamb
of God that takes away the sins of his chosen people among Jews
and Gentiles. Now, I want us to go on here,
and I want us to consider two questions. The title is, The
Message. My first question is, John, who
gave you your message? Notice he said, this then is
the message. Well, John, who gave you this
message? Which we have heard of him. Where did you get your message,
John? We heard this message from Him. And if you trace that back,
the antecedent to that has to be God's Son. In verse 3, Him
got the Son, His Son, Jesus Christ. John received the message from
the Lord Jesus Christ who had called him to be His disciple. Look back with me to Matthew
chapter 4. John was one of the earliest
of the disciples, it seems, at least, who was called to follow
Christ. In Matthew chapter 4, verse 18,
we read about the calling of these four disciples. Matthew chapter 4 and beginning
in verse 18. And Jesus, walking by the sea
of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew,
his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, follow
me and I will make you fishers of men. and they straightway
left their nets and followed him. And going on from thence,
he saw other two brethren, James, the son of Zebedee, and John,
this is John, John, his brother, in a ship with Zebedee, their
father, mending their nets, and he called them, and they immediately
left the ship and their father and followed him. For over three
years, most people say three and a half years, from the time
the Lord Jesus was baptized to the time he was crucified, his
public ministry. And during those three and a
half years, John was with him. He followed him. He heard him
teaching. He saw him working miracles. He witnessed that. And then if
you turn to John chapter 14, The gospel of John chapter 14,
the night before our Lord was crucified, notice this promise
that he made to his disciples. And John was one of them. Most
people believe that John was the youngest of the disciples
that our Lord called. And tradition tells us he was
the last of the 12 to die. and he died at a very old age.
But here in John 14 in verse 26, our Lord speaking to the
11 disciples, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in my name. Now notice this, he shall teach
you all things. He shall teach you all things.
and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have
said unto you." And it's truly amazing when you read what took
place on the day of Pentecost when God the Holy Spirit was
poured out upon his church. And even though it is Peter whose
words are recorded But he wasn't alone because all the disciples
stood up with him. But we have the words of Peter
recorded, and it's amazing to see how that Peter's mind was
opened up to the Word of God, to the Old Testament. I mean,
during the Gospels, many times the disciples, it seemed like
they were what we would call very slow learners. And they
were, just like us. But when the Holy Spirit was
poured out upon them, the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures,
that's all they had, was opened up unto them in such a way that
Peter was able to say, this is that which the prophet Joel had
spoken. How immediately the things which
the Lord had taught them, maybe they had not registered in their
minds over those three and a half years, But when the Holy Spirit
came upon them, he taught them all things, and brought the things
which the Lord had taught them back to their minds. Peter said, God hath made that
same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. So that's my first question. I have one more question, but
that first question is, John, where did you get your message?
You said this is the message. Well, where did you get that
message? From Him. From Him. Who? The Lord Jesus
Christ. This is the message. The second
question is simply this. What is the message? John, what
is the message? Well, here it is in very plain,
simple language. God is light. This is the message. You still have your Bible open
there to 1 John 1. This then is the message which
we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light. Now, I see that statement there
like a foundational truth which helps us to understand everything
else that is mentioned here in this chapter, this first chapter
of 1 John. And by that, I mean, why was
the incarnation of the eternal Son of God necessary? Why was
it necessary that the Son of God become flesh and dwell among
us? Because God is light. And all men by nature are guilty
of sin. In order for us to have fellowship
with God who is light, the incarnation was not a, it was, it was absolutely
necessary. There would be no fellowship
with God for any of us or any other man. If the Lord God had
not become flesh. and did his work of saving his
people on the cross. Now, what is meant by God is
light? Now, later in this official,
John will tell us God is love. But first of all, this is the
message, and we see the love of God here, don't we? The fact
that God sent his son, that he became flesh. What is that? But
a manifestation, a demonstration of the love of God. But the message
John said is simply this, God is light. What does that mean? Well, in the scriptures, light
is an emblem of purity and holiness. Light in the scriptures and the
word of God stands as an emblem of purity and holiness. God is light. God is perfectly, absolutely
pure and holy, both in his nature and also in all of his works. Scriptures reveal unto us that
even the holy angels, the holy angels, those that have never
sinned, even the holy angels, pure and holy as they are, but
in the presence of God, what do they do? They cover their
faces. They cover their faces. Why?
Because of the holiness, the purity. God is light. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy
6 and verse 16 concerning the Lord, he said, who only hath
immortality. You say, well, we're immortal.
We have an immortal soul. Yes, but he only hath immortality
in the sense that we have immortality because he has given it unto
us. But he is eternal. He's the eternal
one. who only hath immortality, now
listen, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto. No man can approach unto him
who is light because of his holiness and because all other creatures
are impurity. who only hath immortality dwelling
in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath
seen. No man hath seen. Remember our
Lord told Philip, I believe it was, Philip said, show us the
Father and it sufficeth us. Philip, have I been so long time
with you? And hast thou not known me? He
that hath seen me hath seen the Father. No man, no mortal man could approach
unto this light, this pureness, this holiness that is true of
God. In the book of Habakkuk, that
prophecy, one of the minor prophets, he said this about God. He said,
Thou art of pure eyes than to behold iniquity. That's one of
the things that us preachers sometimes have said, four things
that God cannot do. Three of those in the scripture,
God cannot lie, God cannot change, God cannot deny himself, and
God cannot look upon iniquity. He's a pure eyes and to behold,
iniquity. And then you notice, John said,
this is the message God is like, and then he adds to that and
there is no darkness in him. And in him is no darkness at
all. And I like to think of that as
when you, some of us at least have done a little carpenter
work and we've driven a nail through a board and maybe nailed
it onto another board and then we go to the backside and turn
that nail over. I think they call that cinching
it. I mean, you know, if the nail's just driven through, you
can pull it out pretty easy, but if it's bent on the other
side, it's not so easy to get out. And when John says, God
is light, and in him is no darkness at all. And I believe that especially
is added by John because He would have us to know that not only
is God pure in Himself, light, but all of His works, all of
His works are pure, are holy. Some men would like to charge
God with sin, but God is not the author of sin, neither can
He be tempted with sin. There's no darkness in Him at
all. may be laid at the door of man. We became sinners by our father
Adam sinning as our representative and as our head. And we certainly
cannot blame God for the fact that we come into this world
as sinners because God is light and in him is no darkness at
all. Light is also an emblem of knowledge
in the Word of God. Not only does light speak of
purity, but light also is an emblem of knowledge. And God,
we know, has perfect knowledge. We use that word omniscient.
He knows all things. He has perfect knowledge of all
creatures, of all creation, animate and inanimate things. He has
knowledge of everything. In fact, the Apostle James said,
known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
He not only knows all things that are, but all things that
could be. He knows all things. God is light. He has perfect knowledge. And we sometimes see that darkness
and light are the same to him. We could turn out all the lights
in this building and we couldn't see our hand in front of our
face. God could. Makes no difference,
darkness or light, God knows all things. They're the same
to Him. He knows all things, no one or
anything may be hidden from Him. You know, men love darkness. The Lord Jesus Christ said, and
why do men love darkness? Because their deeds are evil. We try to light up our building,
don't we, outside at night. Try to deter criminals from doing
damage to the building. Sometimes, no doubt, it has helped,
but sometimes even that doesn't help. But light is a natural
deterrent. Most crimes, I would imagine,
are committed in the dark. But God sees. Man may be not
able to see, but God sees. And so light is an emblem of
purity. Light is an emblem of knowledge. And number three, light is also
an emblem in the scriptures of happiness and prosperity. Happiness and prosperity. Nothing can make God miserable.
We can be made miserable pretty easy, can't we? Really. We can just get up in the morning
sometimes and for no reason at all, we just feel miserable.
We just feel miserable. Down in the dumps. Melancholy
or whatever term we want to use. Depressed. God can never be anything
but happy. In fact, when we read he is the
blessed God, that could be called or translated he is a happy God. Light is a symbol of happiness
and prosperity. Nothing can make him miserable
and no adversity, no adversity can overcome him to cause him
to be disappointed. We may be disappointed, as I
said, just like being discouraged very easily, but God is never
disappointed. Sometimes people want to picture
God as though you or I have disappointed Him. He knew us and knew all
about us from before the foundation of the world, and even so, set
His love upon us, chose us, redeemed us with His precious blood, knowing
full well everything about us, every sin, every fault, every
discouragement, but He still loved us. God is never disappointed. Now, I want us to consider these
four things in this passage here. The message is, John said, the
message is God is light. So number one, the message is
that those professing faith in Christ, but walk in darkness,
have no fellowship with God. Notice that in verse six. And
remember above this, he said, the reason that he was manifested
was that we might have fellowship that we might have communion
with God, but the message is that those who profess faith
in Christ but walk in darkness, they don't have any fellowship
with God. If we say that we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. He does not the truth, does not
act truly. Okay, here's someone who professes. Here's someone who professes
to have communion with the Father through his son, but he walks
in darkness. What about that? He's a liar. He has no fellowship with God. Now, if you turn over to Revelation
chapter two, John, the apostle, We know that he was a minister,
a pastor, a preacher in Ephesus. And some believe that already this doctrine, this letter
he wrote, the Lord sent to the church at Ephesus in chapter
two. Notice it says, unto the angel
of the church at Ephesus. I'm not going to take the time
to read all of it, but look down to verse six. The Lord commended
them, saying, But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of
the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Now what was the doctrine
of the Nicolaitans? The doctrine was evidently that
it doesn't matter how a believer lives, that he's free to live
a sinful life, that nothing he does now is sinful. No, John says, if a man professes
to have fellowship with him, that's what he says, we say that
we have fellowship with him, but we walk in darkness, we lie
and do not the truth. The message is that those who
not only profess but possess Christ by faith, that is, are
in union with Christ and walk in the light, we do have fellowship
with God. Verse 7, but if we walk in the
light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and that one with another is us with God the Father. We have
fellowship. with Him if we walk in the light. We not only profess faith in
Christ, but we possess Christ in our hearts, Christ in us,
the hope of glory. The commentators, the writers,
they all point this out. We may be in the light as God
is in the light for quality, but not for equality. In fact,
just recently, if you read Spurgeon's Morning and Evening, he commented
on this verse, I think it may have been yesterday, and he said,
we are to have the same light and are as truly to have it and
walk in it as God does, though as for equality with God and
holiness and purity, that must be left until we cross the Jordan
and enter into the perfection of the most high. To walk in
the light is to walk in the truth. Here's the third thing about
this message. The message is that God sent
his son to save sinners. That's the message. Anyone who
says that they have not sinned, notice that in verse 10. If we
say that we have not sinned, just as well as those who say
we have no sin, they are clearly deceived. They deceive themselves,
and the truth is not in them. Who is the truth? The Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father. And any person
who denies that he has sinned, have sinned, and has sinned,
yes, even today, is deceived. He's deceived himself. Not only
that. But they call God a liar. They
call God a liar because from the beginning of the Bible to
the end of the Bible, God's uniform testimony to everyone is that
all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And
we never in this life, as long as we are here, having a new
nature, yes, but still that old nature remaining, we never live
above sin in this world. That's one of the blessings we
look forward to in heaven, isn't it? And the last thing, the message
is, and I love this and I know you do as well, the message is
that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanseth from all
sin. That's the message. If you ever had a stain in a
piece of clothing and you found it impossible, I mean impossible
to get that stain out, you tried Clorox and maybe some gasoline
even, and you could not get the stain out. Sin is such a stain
on man's nature. And John Gill said, this stain
of sin, it's original, it's natural, it's universal, and it is internal. Our souls are stained with sin. No amount of ceremonies. Men
come up with all kinds of rituals and ceremonies and religious
things to do, you know. I want to take this stain out.
And all the praying in the world. will not take this stain out.
All the blood which was sacrificed on the altars, the Jewish altars,
would not remove this stain. There's only one agent that removes
this stain. And thank God it does. The blood
of Jesus Christ, his son, God's son, cleanseth us from all iniquity. God opened up that fountain.
He opened up that fountain, and it was opened up for sin and
for uncleanness. And the Lord Jesus, He is that
fountain. And His blood cleanses deeper
at Him that we used to hear sung, deeper than the stain has gone. The blood of Jesus Christ reaches
deeper than the stain has gone. And you know, His blood, was
shed now a little over 2,000 years ago, but remember this,
his blood flowed backward and forward. What do I mean? I mean backward to the first
sinner who was ever cleansed, who was ever saved. The blood
of Jesus Christ cleansed him until the last sinner that God
is going to save, the last one of his chosen people that he's
going to call, It's been the same blood all along the centuries,
and there is no other that cleanseth from all sin. What a fountain, what a fountain
filled with His blood. May the Lord bless this word
to all of us here tonight.