Церковь

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 it, and bear witness, and shew 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. 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.   1 John 1:1-5

 

• Every person when they sit down to write a letter or if a person gets up to preach a sermon has some object in view.

• They wish to produce some sort of effect in the mind’s hearts and lives of those to whom their messages are addressed.

• The author of these 3 epistles does not give his name nor give himself the title.

• But the author is easily identifiable. His style, vocabulary and content point to the same for who wrote the Gospel of John.

• The theologian John Stott points out that all three epistles are found in the earliest Greek manuscripts and there has never been a question about them being Scripture.

• The earliest reference to the three epistles was given by Polycarp about A.D. 155 in his letter to the Philippians.

• There are also quotations taken from these apostles by earlier writers.

• Eusebius verifies that John wrote at least the first two epistles.

• The exact time of writing is uncertain but was probably around A.D. 85 – 90.

• There is no mention of the persecution under Emperor Domitian in A.D. 95, so the letter must like have been written before that date.

• It is thought that all three epistles were written about the same time as first John.

• Second and third John are personal letters to individuals and could have easily accompanied the first letter of John which was addressed to the church.

• First John was written to the church at large.

• First John is called a General Epistle.

• There is no greeting, farewell or personal references that would appeal to the recipients.

• This is actually a wonderful thing because each local church can look upon First John as though it was written to them personally.

• Tradition has it, that the three epistles were written from Ephesus where John pastored during the latter years of his life.

• What was the purpose for John writing? It could be summed up in:

1 John 5:13

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.

• John also wrote to defend the faith and to strengthen the church against false teachers and heretical doctrine.

• John confronted the first stages of the same heresies that Paul often confronted; The beginning stages of Gnosticism.

• Gnosticism said that the human body was evil. This teaching resulted in two different attitudes toward the body and life.

• One group taught that the body needed to be disciplined, controlled and taken care of as much as possible.

• They believed that by controlling the bodies urges and appetites and keeping it fit, the corruption and evil of the body could be mastered more easily.

• The second group taught that what was done to the body really didn’t matter at all, because the body was evil and doomed to death.

• They believed therefore that if a person took care of the spirit, they could eat, drink and be merry and do whatever they wanted with their body.

• Sadly, the same parallel false teaching is still seen today.

• Some focus upon the body and its health as much as possible, they try to overcome evil, which they believe is corruption, disease, aging and dying.

• Others believe they can live as they please, eating and drinking and partying as much as they want. They believe it really doesn’t matter how they live.

• Many believe that they can do their own thing, whenever they want, just believe in God and worship occasionally and do a good deed here and there.

• The truth of the gospel destroys this kind of lifestyle and teaching.

• The human body is not evil.

• Jesus Christ is the image of God who came to earth in the human body. Therefore, the human body could not be evil for God cannot be touched with evil. He is perfect.

• The conclusion is shocking: Since the body is honorable, it means that everything a person does with their body is important to their spiritual welfare.

• We ought to honor God with both our spirit and our body just as Jesus did.

• The apostle Paul instructs us in Romans 12.

Romans 12:1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

• As John begins his first epistle, he jumps right into the great subject he wants to cover.

• What John has to say is of unparalleled importance.

• He wastes no time getting right to the point.

• There is almost an urgency in his writing.

• It was John’s aim to produce fellowship with men and fellowship with God.

• To that end his aim was to set Jesus Christ before them. He wanted to declare Christ.

• If we are Christians, this should be our greatest desire as well? John Testified in Five Ways A. Jesus Christ has always existed.

• This is exactly what he meant with the words. “That which was from the beginning”. V 1a

• Jesus existed before the world was ever created.

• He was living and had always been living.

• He possessed life: The energy of life, the force of life, the very power of life.

• He was the very being and essence of life – He has always been the embodiment of life.

• Life is wrapped up in him.

• The thought is absolutely clear; That from the beginning Jesus Christ was already there.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

• Jesus spoke of his preexistence in his high priestly prayer in John 17.

And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. John 17:5

B. Jesus Christ proved who He is.

• He did this by taking on human flesh, by becoming a man in letting people here, see, look upon and touch him.

1. John and the early believers heard the Son of God.

• One of the great needs of man is having a Word from God that tells us the truth about God and about life.

• Long ago Zedekiah had said to Jeremiah: “Is there any word from the Lord?” Jeremiah 37:17

• What people are interested in, is not someone’s opinions or guesses but a Word from the Lord

• A word that tells us who we are, why we are here and where we are going.

2. John and the early believers saw the Son of God with their own eyes.

“Which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked at.” 1 John 1:1b

• John wants us to know that Jesus Christ was not a ghost or a spirit or phantom.

• Jesus was real; He was actually flesh and blood, - He, the Son of God become a man. As Paul wrote…

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Philippians 2:6-8

• John and others saw him with their eyes. They were eyewitnesses as well as ear witnesses.

• They were witnesses of His life on earth for three years, from his baptism by John the Baptist, to his resurrection from the dead.

• They saw all His powerful and miraculous works.

• They saw Christ’s love for humanity played out before them.

• They not only had seen as in sight, but they looked /they gazed upon Him.

• This literally meant to gaze at something or someone until something has been grasped.

• It is not just simply a passing glance but a steadfast intense searching gaze, which seeks to discover something of the mystery of Christ.

• They were eyewitnesses of His Majesty and declared this truth to us.

2 Peter 1:16

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

3. John and the early believers touched Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

• The word translated touched literally means to grasp after in order to understand, in order to examine closely.

•Jesus said to his disciples…

“Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” Luke 24:39

• The Son of God came to earth becoming a man just like all other men.

• He is Jesus, The Christ, The Messiah, The Savior of the world.

• Jesus was heard, He was seen, and He was touched, by John and the other apostles and many others who believed and followed him.

C. Jesus Christ revealed who he was – The Word of Life.

The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 1 John 1:2

a. Jesus Christ himself is The Word.

• John is saying that in the life of Jesus Christ, God was speaking to the world, speaking and demonstrating just what he wanted to say to mankind.

• This means that God has given us much more than the mere words found in Holy Scripture.

• God has given us Jesus Christ His one and only beloved Son.

• Jesus Christ was the perfect expression of all that God wants man to be.

• Jesus Christ is the Word of Life who came to earth to show us the essence of life that is found in God and in God alone.

• If you want life you must trust and depend upon God for life, because life in all its energy and being exists only in God. b. Jesus Christ himself is the Word of Life, the very message of life, the good news (gospel) of life.

• This means Two things:

1. Jesus revealed life to us.

• Jesus came to earth and showed us the life that was in him.

…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

• Jesus showed us that life is in God and in God alone, and if man wants to really live, he has to put his life into the hands of God. God alone can give man life.

2. Jesus identified with us.

• Jesus made himself available to people, allowing them to use all their physical senses in order to prove that he was really indeed the very Son of God, the Incarnation of Eternal Life.

• Jesus said,

Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. John 5:24

For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. John 6:40

• The gospel is often called the Word of God, The Word of the Lord, The Word of the Kingdom, The Word of the Cross, The Word of Grace, The Word of Salvation, the Word of Truth, The Word of life.

D. Jesus Christ came to earth for the Greatest Purpose.

1. Jesus Christ came that mankind might have Fellowship with God and with His son Jesus Christ and with one another.

• This is the most wonderful declaration, this means that God is not distant from us, disinterested or uncaring.

• It means that God has not left us to fend for ourselves.

• God has revealed himself to us in Jesus and has shown us how deeply he loves and cares for us and wants to fellowship with us.

• Jesus Christ lived and was crucified on a cross and shed his blood so that we don’t have to die. He arose from dead and is alive today in Heaven.

• Just think for a moment; The Son of God came to earth to show us that we can know God personally and have fellowship with Him.

2. Jesus came that our Joy might be full.

• This joy is an inner gladness, a deep-seated pleasure.

• It is a depth of assurance and confidence that ignites a cheerful heart.

3. Joy is Divine, it is possessed and given only by God.

• It is the joy of the Holy Spirit’s presence that is based in the Lord.

• This joy comes from a deep-seated faith in Christ.

• There is also the joy of the future reward, to those who serve Christ faithfully.

E. Jesus Christ preached the most Wonderful Message.

• It included Two Wonderful Things.

1. God is light. What does that mean?

• The glory of his presence beams with the most brilliant light imaginable.

• God dwells in the splendor, glory and brilliance of light.

• God reveals the light of all things – the truth of all things.

• The Lord’s presence does away with darkness and chaos.

• His light wipes out, strips away and erases the darkness.

• Jesus is the light that can save man from the chaos.

• Jesus said…,

I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. John 12:46

2. There is no darkness in God.

• The word darkness describes both the state and works of the person.

• Throughout the New Testament, it symbolized the very opposite of the Christian life. Symbolizing evil and sin, everything that life should not be and everything that a person should not do.

John 3:19-21

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

• When a person is in darkness, it means that they do not see the glory of God in the face of Jesus.

• Darkness stands for Christless life.

• Darkness also stands for the chaos of life without God.

• Darkness stands for the ignorance of life apart from Christ

• Darkness also means being under the influence and the power of Satan.

• Darkness is connected with lovelessness and hate.

• Without God’s light, the world is a chaos in which life has neither order nor sense.

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

• BUT, the Tremendous Testimony of John is that the Son of God has come to earth.

The Light has come. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:4-5

• God is not living off in outer space someplace.

• God has not forgotten us.

• God is not unconcerned or disinterested in the world.

• But God loves and cares for us and has proven it to us in sending His Son into the world.

• This is the glorious testimony of John.

• The simple fact is that if people are ever to find fellowship with one another and fellowship with God and if they are ever to find true joy, they must find them in Jesus Christ

• God’s Son has come into the world and His name is Jesus the Christ (The Anointed One). Jesus The Messiah. Jesus The Savior of the world.

• This is The Greatest Testimony.

• I want to ask you today; Do you have this testimony.

• Is Jesus Christ your Light?

• Have you given your life to him?

 

Word of Life Church New York

Conference of Spiritual Growth (2nd day) Russian translation

Reverend Stephan Hurkens (sermon) 10.26.2019

Interpreter Alex Mirsaidov