We're reading from John 1. This is very much
a repeat of Genesis 1, but I don't think Michael's
going there this morning, he told me, but we're
in John 1. Verse 1 to 14. This is God's Word.
was not anything made that was made. In him was
life and the life was the light of men. The light
shines in the darkness and the darkness has not
overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose
name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness
about the light that all might believe through
him. He was not the light but came to bear witness
about the light. The true light which gives light
to everyone was coming into the world. He was
in the world and the world was made through him,
yet the world did not know him. He came to his
own and his own people did not receive him. But
to all who did receive him, who believed in his
name, he gave the right to become children of
God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. and the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us and we have seen His glory, glory as the only
Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."
And then we turn to 1 John 1, and that's on page
959, if you have the Pew Bibles, and we're reading
the first four verses. 1 John 1. which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon
and have touched with our hands concerning the
word of life. The life was made manifest and
we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim
to you the eternal life, which was with the Father
and was made manifest to us. That which we have
seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that
you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed
our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things
so that our joy may be complete. This is God's
word and may he add his blessing to the reading
and preaching of that word. Thanks Anton. Good
morning everyone. So it's great to be together
here in Armidale on this beautiful crisp, we
might say, Sunday morning where we have the privilege
to sing together, pray together and hear God's
word in our midst. Now as you may have noticed,
we have new Pew Bibles which are in the ESV translation
and they're in that translation because we'll
be using the ESV from now on to lead our services
and to preach from. And you may have also noticed
that we're starting a new series today. in the
letter of First John, which should be taking
us, God willing, pretty much to the end of the
year. Now, I just wanted to say a couple of things
on this series before we get into the passage
that we have before us this morning. The elders
here at Grace wanted to take you through this
little letter because it's a really... powerful
part of scripture that gets us, the people of
God, to focus in on what is the Christian life.
Hence why the title of this series reflects that
very thing. Now, John, the apostle, he covers
a whole load of subjects in this letter. And
through this series, we want to particularly
focus in on what he has to say about what we
as Christians must believe, how we're to relate
to one another in the church and how we are to
live our faith out in this world. We also want
to take you through this letter because John
deals with issues that are so very important
to us personally, like our assurance of faith
and our identity in the Lord Jesus Christ. In
fact, John pretty much tells us there in chapter
five, verse 13, his purpose for the book. And
listen to these words. He says, I write these
things to you who believe in the name of the
Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal
life. Listen to what our apostle is saying there.
He's written to us, the church, to help us in
our assurance of salvation and to know what we
have in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are a people.
who have at this very moment eternal life because
of our faith in the Son of God. Church, what
our author sets out to achieve here and what
we want to really explore in this series is that
as we come to know and to trust and to live in
light of what Jesus has achieved on behalf of
his people, that we would hopefully become a
more confident and thankful and humble people
who really walk and act differently in this world.
That's what First John is somewhat about and
what we'll be looking at in this series in the
coming months. But before we get into this series
and the text that we have before us this morning,
why don't you join me in praying for what we're
doing here together? Would you please pray with
me? Father God, we are so thankful that we are
able to gather together here in this building
so publicly, that we're able to plan on a series
and ask for you to lead and guide and give us
direction through it. Lord, we are such a privileged
people that we're even able to have pew Bibles
and so much access to your word. These are all
such... wonderful blessings and grace from your
hand. This morning, Lord, as we come to the word,
we would ask that you would teach us by your
Holy Spirit that the Lord Jesus Christ would
be held high among us and that you would have
all the glory. And we ask for this in the name
of Jesus. Amen. One of my mates who has travelled
the world extensively made me aware of something
once, and that's that Australia, in his opinion
at least, is one of the hardest places in the
world to speak to people about the Gospel. He
said that literally anywhere on the face of the
planet that he's gone to go visit, people are
ready to engage, ready to listen, and even argue
about what it is to be saved and justified before
God. But not here in Australia. because for the
most part he reckons Aussies are somewhat prone
to think a similar thing and that's that they're
happy for him and they're happy that his faith
has kind of made him feel like a better person
but they're doing just fine in the way that they're
doing things. Whatever works for you, mate, kind
of thing. My friend gets really frustrated by
that response because at its core it reveals
a fundamental misunderstanding in our culture
about the true nature of the gospel. The gospel
isn't something that's subjective, like a TV
show that you can decide whether is good or bad
based on your personal taste. No, the truth of
the gospel is absolute. which is to say remains
true regardless of whether someone believes it
or not. To put it simply, when it comes to the
truth of the good news of Jesus Christ, whatever
works for you mate, doesn't work at all. And
I mentioned that to you this morning because
the truth of the nature of God, the place of
Jesus in the Christian life and the way of salvation
being somewhat up to the individual was very
much the problem that our apostle here, John,
wrote into this church in first century Ephesus,
which is in modern day Turkey. You see, at some
point, John had written his gospel and it's circulated
quite far and wide but over time there was different
false teachers that had different takes on what
John and the other apostles taught about repentance
and faith and even about the nature of God and
Jesus Christ himself and because Greek philosophy
had a place for different opinions, being relevant
for the individual, whatever works for you kind
of thing. Well, that mindset had somewhat infiltrated
the church. And the danger was Christians could
be carried away by that hashtag my truth mindset,
which would have drastic and eternal consequences
on all who adopted that way of approaching the
gospel. And so John wrote into this problem refuting
false teachers that had married the mission of
Jesus to different Greek philosophies while also
encouraging maturity in the faith that was once
and for all delivered to the saints. That's a
bit of context for this letter. And so with that
in mind, we turn our attention to verse one here.
We read, that which was from the beginning, which
we've heard, which we've seen with our eyes,
which we've looked upon and touched with our
hands concerning the word of life. There's a
couple of things that I want you to see here.
First, look at where John takes our attention
from the get -go. It's to the very beginning,
right? Now as I just read those first few words,
as Anton read them just before, you may have
been thinking to yourself, what exactly is John
talking about here? What was from the beginning?
What does our author have in mind here? Well
if we look at the end of verse one in our text
this morning, John's speaking about the word
of life. Now before we jump to any conclusions
and think that he's only speaking about a message
here, it's clear that John has seen, that he
has looked upon, that he has touched this very
thing that he's speaking about, which he was
able to do, because if you look there in verse
two, it was manifested in this world, which is
to say this thing that he's talking about was
revealed in such a way that he was able to physically
experience it. Church, I think we have a better
understanding of what's going on here when we
understand what he's saying here in light of
John 1. Because our author is actually speaking
about two things simultaneously. Yes, he's talking
about the word of life, which is the gospel,
yet at the very same time, he's speaking about
the word as a person, who as we just heard is
Jesus. They're not contrary things, but one and
the same thing that's been from the beginning
that came into this world which John has heard,
which he has handled and seen. It's one and the
same thing. Think about it like this. Imagine
that you've been speaking to someone and they've
been texting a person. They've read all their
messages, they know the tone, they even understand
the personality behind the words. You might say
that they really have got to know that person,
right? But one day, that person shows up in real
life, they shake their hand, they see the way
that they move, they see the expressions in their
face, and then they hang out with them. They're
no longer just a message on a screen, right?
No, they're a real present and physical person.
I think that's the sort of thing that John is
trying to grapple our minds with here. Just like
how the message and the person behind them are
one and the same thing, John is saying to us
here, Jesus, he is the word of life. He is the
message of the Good News who was from the beginning
with the Father and he existed before he came
to be seen in this world by myself and others
who heard, handled and saw him. And that's the
second thing that I want you to notice here.
I want you to see the language of verse 1. See
how it's all in the plural. that which we've
heard, we've seen, that which we've looked upon.
What's John doing here? Well, what I think he's
doing is he's making sure that we know that he
is united to the other apostles and to the gospel
that they preached. And he's saying in so many
words that it would be wise to listen to us because
we knew Jesus. We saw him, we heard him, we walked
with him, we knew who he was because we were
the ones who were with him when he was here.
It's a style of writing to ensure us that we
can be confident with the words that our apostle
is giving to us here because he's a guy who really
was with Jesus in his earthly ministry and in
his inner circle with the rest of the apostles.
He was part of those people that Jesus personally
chose to speak on his behalf. All this to say
church, John opens his letter with an absolute
left hook in regards to the false teachers that
had made their way into the church there in Ephesus
and were confusing people with this new and approved
Greekified Jesus. He wasn't a recent idea. No,
we see it here. John opens his letter by saying,
Jesus, the word of life already existed in the
beginning with the father. He really did come
into this world and we really did walk and talk
with him. And this Jesus didn't just tell us
the good news. He is the good news. He is the
very Word of God, the very word of life made
flesh. All in all what John is telling us here
is that the gospel isn't a new thing but has
been something, but is something that has always
been. It wasn't invented yesterday or it wasn't
made up by a bunch of guys 2 ,000 years ago there
in Jerusalem. No, it's unchanging and rooted
in eternity because it's rooted in the person
of Jesus Christ. And so the church must be very
aware of anyone who brings us any other teaching.
That's the first thing we see here. The second
thing that John draws our attention to is that
truth and life are found in Jesus. Truth and
life is found in Jesus. I really love how the
ESV shows us what's going on here in the underlining
Greek by their use of dashes. If you have a pubile
you'll see there's a few dashes going on there.
It's like John is explaining to us who Jesus
is and then goes off on this little tangent.
It's a really beautiful thing. It's like explaining
to someone something about the love of your life
that you get really excited about and then as
you're explaining you just need to add in this
extra little detail. because there's just so
many good things to say about that person. That's
somewhat the vibe of what's happening here. John
explains something to us about the word of life,
about Jesus, our Lord, and then he needs to add
in this vital detail about Jesus. Now, unlike
someone who does go off on a tangent and usually
gives superfluous information, that's definitely
not what's going on here. John is saying something
absolutely vital for us to understand because
he's saying to have eternal life and relationship
with God. Well, that is only found in the gospel.
that they proclaim. Listen to how our apostle
puts it here in verse 2. The life was made manifest
and we've seen it and testified to it and proclaim
to you the eternal life which was with the Father
and was made manifest to us. I want you to see
a few things here. First, John reiterates that
the Jesus that the apostles really walked with
was the eternal life who would really come into
our time and space sent from the Father. That
is who they proclaim to us. They proclaim Jesus
who is the eternal life that they saw in the
flesh. That's going to become, that detail is
going to become really important as we go on
in this book and this series. Second, John tells
us that the proclamation of this man and the
message being Jesus and the gospel is of eternal
significance because of its very nature. And
third, because of the very nature of Jesus and
the gospel. John is saying that this is absolute
truth. It's absolute truth for all humanity.
It's from God and thus it's not an optional extra
kind of thing. And so there's a couple of things
that we see straight off the bat in just these
first couple of verses that our apostle gives
to us. First, the gospel wasn't invented by the
apostles but has been from the very beginning
in Jesus who was with the Father and came into
this world. These men, these apostles, they walked
with him. And second, the gospel is of eternal
worth and is absolutely true because of its very
nature that is rooted in the triune God. himself.
The third truth that the church must pay attention
to is found there in verse three and it's John's
explanation as to why he is writing to us and
it's simply this. Like what he and the other
apostles experienced, he wants all of us to experience
that as well. He wants us to experience true
fellowship. Listen to how he says it in verse
three, that which we've seen and heard we proclaim
also to you so that, so that you too may have
fellowship with us. And indeed our fellowship
is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ.
John proclaims this message to us so that we
too may have fellowship. It's an interesting
Greek word he uses here. It means a real lasting,
a real intimate relationship with something that
you have in common. Kind of like a marriage,
but with whom? Well, first of all, Notice it
here in verse 3, he says, with us. With us. That's
really interesting because the stress of that
phrase isn't on having fellowship maybe with
one another like you would naturally think, but
with John and the other apostles. Which is really
quite interesting until we understand the context.
in which our apostle writes into here. You see,
John was speaking into a context where, as we've
seen briefly, individualism in the Christian
life was a real danger for the church, very much
like this day and age for us. And so John is
saying that the Christian life was... never designed
to be a choose your own adventure where one picks
and chooses what seems good and right and true
to them. Like what the false teachers were making
allowance for by marrying Christ to different
Greek philosophies. No, to believe what the apostles
taught about Jesus and to accept the truth of
their teaching To believe it, that is to really
be part of the church that they are the foundation
of. I really think that's what John wants us
to see here. To have fellowship, relationship,
connection, one has to be in fellowship, we might
say, with the apostles by believing and accepting
what they taught about the Jesus that they really
walked. and talked and lived life with. And let
me just say here, brothers and sisters, a church
that is built on the foundation of the apostles
and the prophets, as Paul will put it, is a church
that's committed to the teaching of the apostles
as found in their inspired words to us, as found
in the Bible. That's how we come to have this
fellowship with them and how real disciples of
Jesus are made. Listen to a wonderful American
missionary here, a guy by the name of Paul Washer.
He says, in modern day evangelism, the precious
doctrine of regeneration has been reduced to
nothing more than a human decision to raise one's
hand, walk an aisle, or pray a sinner's prayer.
As a result, the majority of Americans believe
that their born -again disciples, even though
their thoughts, words, and deeds are in continual
contradiction to the nature and the will of God
as revealed in the Bible. Brothers and sisters,
John's goal for the church, for you and me, wasn't
merely to get people to pray a prayer or make
a one -time decision and then go on to then pick
and choose what seems good and right and true
to us. No, his goal is that the people of God
would share in one life together. And that comes
by accepting what the apostles have shared with
us. And that's the second thing that I want you
to see here in verse three, because he doesn't
just leave it here in this natural relationship.
He talks about something supernatural happening
here as well. Notice that the apostles' fellowship
is with God the Father and with his son Jesus
Christ. And so what he's saying is that when
we're brought into fellowship with the apostles,
which is another way of saying accepting and
believing their message, we're also brought into
relationship with God himself. To put it simply,
accepting apostolic doctrine does something supernatural.
It brings us into fellowship with God the Father
and His eternal Son Jesus Christ Himself. That's
why John has written and why the Apostles proclaim
the Gospel to us. It's so that people will come
to experience fellowship and true life with the
Triune God Himself. I want to give you an example
of this. It's not a perfect example, so please
forgive me from the get -go. But it is an example.
Imagine you go to check your mailbox and you
find a hand -delivered envelope sealed with the
royal crest. You open it, inside is a formal
invitation from the King's personal ambassador.
It reads, you sir, you madam, you're invited
to come to dine with the King. All expenses paid,
your place has been prepared, come quickly. Surely
you'd think to yourself that this is a mistake,
that you've done nothing to deserve this kind
of treatment, but because the invite is legitimate
and it's personally addressed to you, you go.
Now imagine this. Imagine that when you get there,
to the palace, you're led straight to the king's
table where he stands to welcome you. You're
not kind of pushed off to the side kind of thing,
but invited to personally sit with him next to
his ambassadors to share laughter, food, and
the same joy as his people. To put it simply,
to sit at the table with them is to sit in fellowship
with him. And it goes further. to accept their
message really is to accept the invite from the
King. That's somewhat what I think John is telling
us here. When we accept the proclamation of the
apostles, their message which is the gospel,
We're not just agreeing to an idea or signing
up to some kind of weird life of religion. No,
we're stepping into a real living fellowship
with God the Father and his son, Jesus Christ,
through the almighty power of the Holy Spirit
at work. The proclamation, the acceptance, The
belief of the gospel has supernatural ramifications.
There's one last thing that I want to draw your
attention to. It's brief, but it's found there
in verse four, and it's what this fellowship,
this relationship, this intimacy produces. Verse
four, and we're writing these things so that
our joy may be complete. Our joy. Our joy, hear
that. When we hear and accept the gospel, the
good news and come into fellowship and relationship
with the living God, we're brought into a life
that's not burdensome or heavy or horrible. But
as our apostle tells us here, is a real delight
and joy. Church, I want you to notice what we've
seen so far. Verse one. The word of life. Verse
three, true fellowship. Verse four, joy. Notice
how our apostle lays it out for us. True gospel
proclamation leads to true fellowship, which
leads to true joy. Let me say that again. True
gospel proclamation. leads to true fellowship,
which leads to true joy. In other words, as the
Bible defines it, joy comes by sharing in the
life that comes from our heavenly father and
is found in his beloved son. And we find joy
in that fellowship as we engage in it with our
brothers and sisters in the church. As we finish
up in these very interesting verses that are
going to open our series, much like John's original
audience, we live in a world that propagates
the whatever works for you message. It's even
crept into the church to a degree. Christians
accept all sorts of teaching that comes through
YouTube and podcasts that tell them that if you
really want to have real joy and fullness and
happiness in this life, then all you have to
do is listen to my secret wisdom, to my teaching,
to buy my book, and even in some cases give money
to my ministry. Then and only then will you find
that real joy and happiness that you've been
after, Christian. But listen to our apostle's
approach here. Listen to his message to us, the
church. He's saying that fullness of joy is found
and always has been found in fellowship with
the living God and with others who are in that
fellowship with him. Brother, sister, if you
are trusting Jesus. If you're fellowshiping with
his people, then you're already a participant
in that joy. This is what brings real and lasting
joy. Not career success, money, fame, relationships
or whatever you might be searching for, but a
life that is rooted in the triune God and experienced
and experienced with those who have responded
to the same proclamation of truth as found in
the teaching of the apostles. Have you accepted
that invitation from the King? If not, then we
love that you're here with us this morning and
I would love to speak to you. straight after
the service about what that might look like.
But for now, why don't we come together and why
don't we pray? Would you please pray with me?
Lord God, we thank you for these words of eternal
life, the good message of the gospel. We ask
that as we sing together, that as we leave as
we fellowship together and then as we leave that
these words wouldn't depart from us quickly that
you by the work of your spirit would plunge them
into our hearts that we would have our eyes raised
to you Lord Jesus that you would change us by
the work of the spirit by the power of the gospel
that we would indeed be a different people in
this world for your glory. And we ask for this
in your name.