Let us turn tonight in our Bibles
to 1st John. 1st John chapter 1, and the title
of my message this evening will be Fellowship and Joy. Fellowship
and Joy. We're going to look at the first
four verses in this chapter. but I believe I'll read all 10
as we begin. 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 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. 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. I want to begin
tonight to bring several messages to us, God willing, from this
first letter that John wrote. You know the scriptures, the
New Testament scriptures, have been divided into four divisions. The four gospels and the book
of Acts form one division. Then the letters or epistles
of Paul And then the general epistles, and last of all, the
apocalypse, the revelation. But the seven epistles are letters
which are called general. The reason that they are called
general, and this is one, and if your Bible, if the format
you have in your Bible is like mine, you see at the top of the
page, the first epistle, general of John. And the reason these
letters were called general letters, general epistles, is because
they were not at first directed to any one church, any local
church. But in reality, as you think
about this, in reality, all of the New Testament, especially
the officials, all are general in the sense that they are all
for all of God's people. All the letters of John, all
the letters of Peter, Jude, Paul, all the letters are for all of
God's people. And I'm sure that all of us here
this evening have heard this division of the Bible entire. The Old Testament, the message
is someone is coming. The Gospels, that someone has
come. And then the remainder of the
New Testament, that someone is coming again. And as we think
about that, that last part of the Bible, that someone, someone
is coming again. That's what the angel told the
disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ when they witnessed his ascension
that day from the Mount of Olives when he ascended back to heaven,
the angel said, you men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into
heaven? This same Jesus, this same Jesus,
think about that. This same Jesus, this Jesus we
read about in the New Testament. This same Jesus, he shall come
again, which is taken from you into heaven, shall so come in
like manner as you have seen him go into heaven. This same
Jesus, this one who loved his people and gave himself for them. But before we look at the text
tonight and only the first four verses, I want to say a few words
about the human author. Now we know that it is right
to say that John, the apostle John, wrote this letter, but
it is equally right to say that God wrote this letter, because
this is part of the all scripture that is given by inspiration
of God. And I want you to turn back to
2 Timothy just a moment. and 2nd Timothy chapter 3 and
see what Paul told Timothy about the scriptures. 2nd Timothy chapter 3 and verse
15. And that from a child, you know
that Timothy's father was not a believer. He was a Greek. He
was not a believer, but Timothy had a mother and grandmother
who did believe in the Lord and love Christ. And as we see here,
they took it upon themselves to teach Timothy as a child,
the scriptures, because he says, and from a child now has known
the Holy scriptures. Now, the only part of the scriptures,
that they had was the Old Testament. That's all. That was the Holy
Scriptures that Eunice and Lois, I believe her name was, that's
the only part of the scripture they had was the Old Testament,
part of the Bible. And yet the Apostle Paul said
that was sufficient, that was enough to make a person wise
unto salvation. And what a responsibility do
parents have concerning their children and the Word of God?
I was speaking with a brother just recently, and he told me,
he's an older man now, Cliff Heller, I'll just tell you his
name, but he told me, he said, we emphasize with our children
the Scripture. We taught them the Scriptures. And that's so important, isn't
it? for parents. Don't expect the
Sunday school teacher to take care of that for you or anyone
else. That's the responsibility of
a parent to train up their child in the way that he should go.
With the word of God that when he is old, he will not depart
therefrom. But the scriptures, here's my
point. The scriptures, Paul said, which are able to make thee wise
unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. So
the Old Testament scriptures spoke of Christ. That's all the
scriptures they had. And yet Paul says that was enough.
That was sufficient to make Timothy wise unto salvation through Christ
Jesus, through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. There's only
ever been, but one gospel message hasn't there from the very beginning. Even though it was, someone is
coming, the Messiah, the promised one, the seed of the woman's
coming. And through faith in him and
his work of salvation, through faith in him, the scriptures
are able to make a person wise unto salvation. I was looking
at Ezekiel 37 the other day. And you know the story there
when God took, in a vision, in a vision, He took the prophet
Ezekiel out there into that valley and it was full of dry bones.
They'd been there for a long time, dry bones. And they were dead. There was
no life whatsoever. They was bleached white from
the sun. But I notice there's two things
that God used in bringing those bones to life. First of all,
He told Ezekiel, prophesy unto these bones, now listen, the
word of the Lord. What is that? The gospel. Prophesy
unto these bones the word of the Lord. And there was some
movement, there was some noise, but there was no life. what was
needed, the Spirit of God. And God, the Holy Spirit, uses
His Word, the written Word of God, the preached Gospel of Jesus
Christ, in calling and saving His people. What do we know about John? I
said I wanted to say a few words about the author of this epistle.
What do we know about John? Well, I'm sure there's much we
know, but I want to point out just a few things. First of all,
we know that he was born of God. We know that. You say, how do
you know that? Look back with me to John chapter
1, the gospel of John chapter 1. In John chapter 1, Beginning
with verse 10, and this is John writing, he was in the world,
that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He was in the world. And the world was made by him
and the world knew him not. Here's the creator of the world
walking in his world, but the world did not know him, did not
recognize him. did not recognize him as creator,
as God. Now notice, he came unto his
own and his own received him not. Now, who are his own in
that verse? He came unto his own. It's a
nation of Israel, the Jewish nation. Later in Romans chapter
15, Paul reminds us He says, now I say that Jesus Christ,
now listen, was a minister of the circumcision for the truth
of God to confirm the promise made unto the fathers. In other
words, the preaching ministry of our Lord when he was here
was to the Jews. He was a minister to the circumcision. And of course, circumcision there
means the Jewish people. He came unto his own, to the
Jewish people, and they received him not. But to as many as received
him," notice the next verse, but to as many as received him,
well John was one of them. This man who's writing this gospel
here in the letter we're looking at, John was one of those who
received him. To as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name." Now notice, which were born. Those who received him, those
who believed on his name, and John was one of them, was born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God." That's the first thing we know, that I point
out, we know about John. He was born of God. He was born
of God. And John wrote probably more
than any other New Testament writer about the new birth. The
new birth. As he recorded that that interview
that Nicodemus had with the Lord Jesus Christ when the Lord told
him clearly, emphatically, except a man be born again, he cannot
enter, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Here's something else we know.
We know that he did not refer to himself by name in this gospel
that he wrote. This fourth gospel, the gospel
of John. He never referred to himself by name. He refers to
himself often as that other disciple. And you see that especially when
Mary, Mary Magdalene, to whom the Lord appeared the day he
came forth out of the grave. He appeared unto Mary Magdalene
first, told her to go to his disciples and tell them that
he was alive. And she went to them and to Peter
and John and that other disciple. Peter and that other disciples.
I believe it's four or five times there in John chapter 20 when
John is speaking about himself being the one who outran Peter.
The one who didn't go into the tomb at first, but then later
did go into the tomb, but he always refers to himself, not
by name, but always as that other disciple. And then he refers to himself
also as the disciple whom Jesus loved. I just believe he never
got over that. Don't you? to think that He would
love me, that He would love you. And this love didn't begin yesterday. If He loves us tonight, He loved
us from old eternity. From before there ever was a
star shining in the firmament, He loved you if He loves you
tonight. The disciple whom Jesus loved. How amazing! How amazing is that,
that the Lord Jesus Christ would love someone like me? The disciple
whom Jesus loved. A third thing, we know that Jesus
called him his friend. Now think about that, Jesus called
him his friend. Look with me in John 15. The Gospel of John, chapter 15. And verse 15, our Lord is here speaking to
his 12 disciples. Henceforth, I call you not servants
for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I have called
you friends. For all things that I've heard
of my father, I have made known unto you. When the Lord Jesus
Christ calls John his friend, and he calls you his friend if
you're one of his children tonight. What a privilege, right? What
a great thing to think that we call him our friend. There's
a friend that sticketh closer than a brother, and we know that
as reference to Jesus Christ our Lord. But it's no great thing
for us to call him our friend, but for him to call us his friends. That's something else, isn't
it? Sure it is. And here's another thing that
I wanted to mention. We know that he was at the cross
when Jesus died. Look in John 19. He was at the
cross when Jesus died. Beginning in verse 25, we read
now, there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's
sister, Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus
therefore saw his mother and the disciples standing by, there
it is again, he doesn't refer to himself by name. He saw the
Lord Jesus from the cross, saw his mother and the disciples
standing by, whom he loved, He saith unto his mother, Woman,
behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple,
to John, behold thy mother. And from that hour, that disciple
took her unto his own home. And one other thing I wanted
to mention that we know about John, if you look down into that
same chapter, chapter 19, to 34 and 35, John saw the blood and water
come out of the side of Christ. But one of the soldiers with
a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood
and water. Now listen, and he that saw it
bear record. In other words, John is saying,
I know this is so because I saw it. I'm giving My witness, my
testimony, I'm bearing record to this. He that saw it bear
record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith
true, that in order that you might believe. Blood and water,
John saw come out of the side of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
look back to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5. And verse 6, verse 5 ends, that Jesus is the
Son of God. This is He that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ. Not by water only, but by water
and blood. Now let's consider for the remainder
of our time these four verses. 1 John 1, let's read them once
again, verses 1 through 4. 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, 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. John, you see, gives two reasons,
two important reasons, I would say, for writing this letter.
It was that those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, in
truth, Not just those who pretend, but those who sincerely believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, that they might
have fellowship and that their joy might be full. How will anyone
have fellowship with God? How will any fallen son of Adam,
and we are all fallen sons of Adam, How will any fallen son
of Adam have fellowship with the thrice holy God? And how
shall our joy be full? How's that possible? Well, it's
only possible by the work of the one he speaks of here in
these four verses. First, notice he says, we might
have fellowship. Now, that word which is translated
fellowship is also translated communion in the Apostle Paul's
letter. Communion. Communion speaks of
union, doesn't it? Commonality, union, that we might
have fellowship with the Father. As I looked at this passage,
I could not help but think of the great difference The great
difference, the great contrast between the old and the new covenant
dispensations. I want you to, I know I'm having
you turn to a number of scriptures, but keep your place here, but
look back just a few pages to Hebrews chapter 12. The great
contrast between the old covenant dispensation and the new covenant
dispensation. in Hebrews chapter 12 and beginning
with verse 18. Now this is when the nation of
Israel came out of Egypt and came to Mount Sinai and God made
the covenant with them. Remember the Ten Commandments
were placed in the what? The Ark of the Covenant. Made a covenant with them. But
notice what we read took place, verse 18. Paul, the apostle,
says, for you are not come unto the mount that might be touched.
They actually came to Mount Sinai. And you could touch that mountain.
You could go up on it. You could climb up on it. Moses
did. And it burned with fire. It was
all on fire. And under blackness. You say,
how's that possible? I don't have to explain how it's
possible. I just believe it is. How can you have fire and have
darkness? I can't explain that. I know
there's fire in hell, and yet it is eternal darkness. We don't have to explain these
things. We believe it because God says it. And when God came
down on that mountain, Mount Sinai, He came down in fire,
and our God is a consuming fire. And unto blackness, and darkness,
and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words,
which voice they that heard entreated, that the word should not be spoken
to them any more, for they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast or
an animal touched the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust
through with a dart, And so terrible was the sight that Moses said,
I exceedingly fear and quake. That old covenant dispensation,
what does that sound like? It sounds like fear and distance,
doesn't it? Fear, they were afraid and they
had to keep their distance. If they touched or went up on
that mountain, they would die. Fear and distance. But now notice what follows this
new covenant dispensation. But you are come unto Mount Zion. That's a spiritual mountain,
isn't it? Cannot be physically touched like that Mount Sinai. And you are come unto the city
of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of angels. to the General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge
of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to
Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. What does this covenant speak
of? That old covenant, I said it
spoke of distance and fear. This new covenant dispensation
speaks of what? Fellowship and nearness, peace,
peace. And it's all through, now notice,
it's all through the mediator. And to Jesus, the mediator of
the new covenant. In the Old Testament, you know
this, in the book of Job, he said, oh, that there was a dazeman
betwixt us. And what he meant was, oh, that
there was one who could put his hand upon God and put his hand
upon me, that there was one who went between, a mediator. That's what we need, and that's
what God has provided in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice in our text here, in 1
John 1, that the apostle speaks of the word of life. You see that at the end of verse
1, of the word of life, and then in verse 2, the life, and then
later in verse 2, eternal life. So he's speaking of a person,
a person who is called life, the word of life, and eternal
life. A person, he says, that which
was from the beginning, a person who was in the beginning, but
had no beginning himself. Who is He speaking of? And this
is the way He begins His gospel. You're very familiar with this,
John chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. This one
that John here calls the word of life, life, eternal life,
is the Son of God, is the eternal Son of God. Turn to another place, look back
to Acts. Let me point us in this direction,
Acts chapter 17. In Acts chapter 17, we'll just
break into this message of the apostle Paul preaching in Athens
to people who worshiped an unknown God. But in verse 24, we read,
God, this one that he's preaching, God that made the world and all
things therein, saying that he is Lord of heaven, and earth
dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worship
with men's hands, as though he needed anything. Now notice,
seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things. All life, all life he gives. No one, no creature, has life
apart from Him, the eternal Son of God who is one with the Father
and with the Holy Spirit. A preacher I know, a pastor told
me recently, he was in a grocery store early one morning and this
man came in and he took the name of Jesus Christ in a very vain
way. You know how some people do that.
It's like cursing. using Jesus Christ. And this
pastor said, Sir, do you realize that you just took the name of
the man, of the one who gives you your life? That every breath
that you breathe, he gives to you and you are using his name
in a way of cursing? And of course the man was taken
aback, of course. He didn't expect anyone to speak
to him like that. But oh, isn't it important that
all of us be reminded that all life, our physical life, I said
Sunday in the message, there's three kinds of life. There's
physical life, there's spiritual life, and there's eternal life.
And the Lord Jesus Christ, as God, He's the one who gives us
our life, our breath. We know that. How is it, and John says, I'm
writing that you might have fellowship with God. How is it that a fallen,
sinful individual can have fellowship with a God who says He will by
no means clear the guilty? How is that possible? It's only
possible through the person and work of this one, this mediator,
this one who is both God and man. He has two natures. He's the eternal son of God,
but he is also man, but he's one person. He's not two persons. He's one person. It is only through
him. that we may have fellowship with
the Father. Now there's so many scriptures,
I don't have time, and I know I don't need to take a lot more
time, but I was thinking of this in the Song of Solomon, the bride,
speaking of her beloved, who is a picture of the bridegroom,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the bride is the church. And they
ask her, what is our beloved more than another beloved? What's so special? In other words,
what's so special about your beloved? What's so special about
the Lord Jesus Christ? And this is the way she answered.
She said, my beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest of 10,000. Now when she said he is white
and ready, what is she saying? He is God and man. On the Mount of Transfiguration,
you remember his face did shine as the sun and his garments because
of the glory. It says that his garments were
whiter than any fuller could white them. As God, he is holy. perfectly holy, but as ruddy,
he's man. And that's the same word that's
used in Genesis chapter one, when God made man, made him red
from the red earth, he made man. What's your beloved? Why is he
so special? because he's white and red. He's
both God and man. He's that daysman between God
and man. He's that one mediator between
God and man. And to think that it is through
him, through his person, and through his work, his work of
redemption, we have fellowship with God. We have communion with
God. And then very briefly, that we
might have our joy full. John says, I'm writing for these
two reasons, that we might have fellowship with, he says with
us, that is with the apostles. And we have fellowship with them
as God's children. We have fellowship with all,
communion with God's children. Some are already in heaven, some
on earth. And with our father, we all have
the same father, those who are redeemed by the blood of Christ
and the Lord Jesus Christ. We have fellowship with him.
We have communion with Him. He's not some historical figure
that we just think about every once in a while. No, He's alive,
and we are alive in Him. He is eternal life. Look there in 1 John 5, verse
11. In 1 John 5 and verse 11, the
scripture says, and this is the record that God hath given to
us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He is eternal
life, and He that hath the Son. How do we have the Son? By faith. We have faith in Him, and His
Spirit dwells in us. He that hath the Son hath life,
what kind of life? Spiritual life and eternal life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Oh, we might have fellowship
with him. And lastly, that we might have
our joy full. You know, joy and happiness are
two different things. Now sometimes people confuse
the two. Joy and happiness are two different
things. Happiness depends upon your happenstances,
your circumstances. Joy, according to the definition
of this word, joy is a calm delight, a calm delight. It is the fruit
of the spirit. No wonder the apostle Paul wrote,
rejoice in the Lord. Our joy is increased as we keep
our focus upon Christ. He was made flesh, as this scripture
tells us, that he might bring us to God, that we might have
a relationship with him. And our joy is increased and
it's constant as we keep our eyes upon him. When we get our
eyes off of Christ, and our joy, that calm, calm, delight, seems
to wane, seems to wane. I tell you, we're living in a
world listen, and you know, this is so we're living in a very
unusual time. Some of us have been in this
world for quite a few years. And I believe all of us older
folks would say, we've never seen it like it is right now.
I mean, things are bad. That's all you can say. But we
can have joy. Why? Because Christ is our joy. And He doesn't change. He's the
same yesterday, today, and forever. And if we'll just keep our eyes
and our faith and our heart focused upon Him, Instead of the circumstances,
circumstances, they cause us not to be happy, not to have
happiness, but Christ, he's the one who gives us joy. He is our joy. Joy is a fruit
of the spirit, isn't it? And God, the Holy Spirit, lives
in his people. Now, one day, let me close with
this, one day, When we are called home, we're
going to experience this. In thy presence, this is what
the Lord said in Psalm 16, in thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand are pleasures
forevermore. I think a number of you read
Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening. Did you read this past
last few days? I forget which day it was. There
shall be no more crying. Isn't that thrilling to think
about? There shall be no more crying. Everything that causes us to
cry in this world will be behind us, everything. There shall be
pleasures forevermore with the Lord. I trust the Lord will bless
this message to all of us here this evening.