Sovereign Grace Bible Church
These are the sermons and teachings of Sovereign Grace Bible Church in Biggsville, Illinois. We exist to fulfill the Great Commission through the Great Commandment within Gospel Community.
Sovereign Grace Bible Church
The Word of Life: Encountering Jesus Through John's Testimony (1 John 1:1-5)
What does it mean to keep our eyes fixed on Christ? In this exploration of 1 John 1:1-4, we dive into the apostle John's powerful opening to his first epistle—a passage that skips traditional greetings and jumps straight into profound theological truth.
John begins by establishing his credibility as an eyewitness to Jesus Christ, the "Word of Life." Unlike philosophical concepts or mythological figures, Jesus was someone the apostles had physically seen, heard, and touched. This emphasis on Christ's tangible reality serves as a powerful refutation against early heresies that denied Jesus's humanity while affirming his eternal nature as one who "was from the beginning."
The message becomes deeply personal as we confront a challenging truth: our relationship with God cannot be separated from our relationship with His people. "To have fellowship with Jesus Christ is to have fellowship with the people He sent with His message." This counters our culture's individualistic spirituality that often claims to love Jesus while rejecting His church.
Perhaps most convicting is the sermon's examination of what brings us true joy. John writes so that "our joy may be complete"—a joy that comes not from personal achievement but from seeing fellow believers grow in their faith. Like parents who find greater delight in their children's successes than their own, spiritual maturity is marked by rejoicing when others become more Christlike.
Are you struggling to believe Jesus is truly enough? Do you find yourself thinking Christianity would work better if you just tried harder? This message reminds us that "Jesus plus nothing still equals everything." Your greatest need isn't more effort but deeper fellowship with Christ and His people.
Join us as we explore how keeping our eyes fixed on Christ transforms every aspect of our lives and creates the authentic community we all deeply need.
Alright, go ahead and turn with me in your Bibles to the book of 1 John. We will be in the book of 1 John on Sunday mornings, going verse by verse through it, trying to understand what God has said and what we must do in light of it. 1 John is unique if we're going to give an introduction, in a sense because it does not start off as most letters in the New Testament start off. When you read most of the letters in the New Testament, it's Paul to the church in Thessalonica grace and peace to you from God, our Savior, jesus Christ. And it's this long kind of introductory. It's a nicety, right, like someone could just give you a high five when they see you or they could say hey, it's good to see you. Like, how are you doing? Very different. 1 John is different than even 2 John and 3 John in that there's no greeting. So what we can understand from that is that this is more of like a theological work that was written for the church, and so John is looking to a specific people and is seeking to love them by explaining truth to them in a document that can be kept and is meant to be kept and studied over time.
Speaker 1:1 John 1, verses 1-4,. John has a couple of main points he's seeking to prove, but one of the biggest things he wants us to do is to keep our eyes fixed on Christ. What does that mean? What does that look like? How do we know All those things? We will understand as we go through God's word, verse by verse. Please read with me God's holy word. Please read with me God's holy word. That 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 testified to it and proclaimed 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.
Speaker 1:Our text will break down into the following outline I actually changed the word on verse one, so Patrick will have the wrong one. Sorry, but verse one will be the proof, verse two will be the presence, and verses three and four will be the purpose. We'll begin with verse one, which John is seeking to prove a point. He's seeking to show us this past reality. He says that 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.
Speaker 1:Now, if you're anything like me, you read that and you're like that says words. I'm not sure what all those words mean exactly, because it looks like a five-year-old was like yeah, I know how to write a sentence and it just is like a bunch of these clauses put together. What I want you to do is actually to look at the text almost backwards and see that all of these, these four to five points, are seeking to describe the word of life, one of the things we don't understand in American context, because you and I were taught when you build a sentence, you put subject and then verb and you can have some other stuff, whatever those are. In Greek, importance of a word is shown. The significance of the word is shown by the order it's in in the sentence. So the most important word is the first word in the sentence, and so what we see from this is that, first off, again, there's no introduction, there's no like warm-up here of any kind.
Speaker 1:John just immediately wants to prove a point and he's saying the word of life, this word. Let me explain to you how big of a deal this is. He says number one the word of life is that which was from the beginning. This is not the beginning of time, but it's actually the concept of before even time existed. The word of life is a term that is used to describe Jesus Christ, his person, his work and also, very importantly, his message, the gospel, the good news. And he's saying this word of life is not new. And he'll say those things throughout the epistle. He'll say a new commandment I give you, but it's actually not new. You know you're supposed to be loving each other. New, you know you're supposed to be loving each other.
Speaker 1:And here we have a similar concept where he's saying this word of life, this Jesus Christ, we're talking about this man, the Messiah. He's not just anybody. This message isn't just for some people. This message is not a time-sensitive situation. It is from the very beginning. God exists outside of time. Thus his gospel reigns even before time began. He says the word of life is from the beginning.
Speaker 1:Number two, the word of life is that which we have heard. What is he seeking to do here? Well, kind of like what we had with jason there, he's trying to prove a point of witnessing, of testifying. You see, it's very easy in in the world for people to say, well, jesus, like, there's no way he had a physical body, right, because he's god and god is god and he's not a human. So thus, logically, he could not have had a body, he couldn't have actually been there, and so he either has to be not all God or he wasn't all man. And John will attack this fervently. Throughout the text he says no, no, not only was Jesus from the beginning, but, number two, he was heard by us. Who's the we he's talking about? He's talking about the disciples. He's writing this with apostolic authority and saying we, as a unit, we lived with him, we breathed with him, we died with him. But we heard this message from him. Right, it's very different.
Speaker 1:You grew up, you may have, when you were growing up, you may have played that game, the phone tag game or whatever it's called, and we like go up and down the row and, like Jason has, like like the elephant is purple, and by the time it gets all the way up here, it's like the red Ringo is riding and you're like, how did we? What happened? And there's like this giant miscommunication through whispers where we finally get to the end, and it's different. How does that happen? Well, it's because we're all human, we're all finite and fickle. So John wants you to know the truth. He's about to tell you this man, jesus, the Messiah, the one who's going to save the world. We heard him. We heard this truth from him directly. Very different, right Again.
Speaker 1:We've talked about this before with an illustration with kids. You have a kid go outside and say, hey, can you tell the others to come inside? And they go outside. They try to boss them around like you need to come inside. And kids are like, no, like we're not doing that. What's wrong? Well, they've come from the wrong authority source here. They've sought to throw their own weight around and they realized I got none. And so what do they do? Then? Round two, mom said to come in and all of a sudden then we have movement.
Speaker 1:In a similar sense, john's saying this isn't me, like I'm not going on my own authority, like, listen to me, the gospel's true. He's like no, no, no, no, no. The man himself told me I'm quoting Jesus effectively and saying Jesus said the word of life, which was from the beginning, which we have heard. Next, which we have seen with our eyes. Again, this is pushing against the concept that Jesus had some sort of ethereal wisp of a body that didn't actually exist and was just kind of a figment of people's imagination. He says no, no, no, no. Not only did we hear him, but we actually saw him with our eyes. And this word for see here in the Greek means to witness something with your eyes, so like if you're like driving by and you saw someone kick a deer or something you'd be like I saw that, but you were driving by, so it's not a long look, because we witnessed this. Then he goes further and says which we looked upon and have touched with our hands Now in the English, we're like redundant, our hands. Now in the English, we're like redundant, like I get it. You saw and then you looked and no, no, no.
Speaker 1:In the Greek, these are two very different words. The first one is to witness something, to see it happen. The second one is to look with intent. Think about how I look at my wife when I miss her all day, Okay. Or how you look at ice cream at the end of the day, or sugary cereal, whatever is your fix, okay? This this intimate, in-depth look.
Speaker 1:They gazed intently for years at the man, the legend himself, jesus christ, and said we were watching to see if it was a magic trick. We were watching to see if it was a magic trick. We were waiting to see the thing behind the curtain. And lo and behold, after years he not only proved to be true from our direct sight over years, but he even died for it and we saw that too. And he goes even further and have touched with our hands. He's effectively going to the courthouse and is saying judge, I know he exists because I seen him, smelled him, saw him and touched him. He was there, I promise. Here's a picture.
Speaker 1:He is seeking with all of his might, at the beginning of this letter, to drive forward the fact that the word of life, jesus Christ, is not a figment of someone's imagination. He's not a fairy tale or some dream. He is not like the Greek gods who are up there that maybe will happen something. He is nothing like anything anyone has ever seen before. And John is about to rock their world with Jesus.
Speaker 1:He goes on to verse two and he seeks to explain the presence of Christ. He says the life this is Jesus. Christ was made manifest. That is the. In the Greek, that word means to appear or to reveal something. It's the idea that Jesus again is from the beginning. He is God, and yet there is a moment in time where he is revealed in a very specific way.
Speaker 1:Think of it in a similar concept to whenever someone has, like a we're pregnant announcement. Technically speaking, that was happening beforehand, you just didn't know it. Then it announced and you're like, oh, you have a baby. Cool, like I didn't know that Jesus was always before. But there's a specific moment that John's pointing to where he became the God man and he says and we have three verbs seen it, testified to it and proclaimed to you.
Speaker 1:Why does that matter? It's a very easy order of operations here. He says, okay, this Jesus Christ, the one who is the answer to everything. We saw him ourselves. We are testifying to that truth at the point of death and we're just some lowly fishermen. We got nothing riding on this. No one's got like a get-rich-quick scheme for dying for Jesus. Okay, but number three, this testimony, we now proclaim it to you.
Speaker 1:To you, the ultimate reason that Jesus came was to save sinners from the debt that they deserved to pay. And Jesus Christ has given the keys of the kingdom to you and he said go forth, tell people this truth. And John is doing that. He's saying the disciples, we are the beginning, we're starting it out, and if you're a first-generation Christian, you can really empathize with that concept of like it's just us, ain't nobody, there's no backup. Yet we're building the backup. There is no backup, but we're hoping that the next generation will have backup. We'll be their backup. We'll die in the meantime.
Speaker 1:The disciples were the ultimate first men in on D-Day. They gave their lives, had very little support immediately. Very little mature Christians, as there were none when they first started. Immediately. Very little mature christians, as there were none when they first started. And yet they willingly went to their deaths and in the meantime, ministered with all of their souls to god's people. He says the life was made manifest. We saw it, we testified to it and proclaimed to you the first two verbs. There are a complete verb, like something has happened and it's finished. We saw it, we witnessed it, and now the proclaim is this active verb, and we're in the ongoing now of telling you this life, giving truth.
Speaker 1:What are we telling you? We're telling you about the eternal life, and this is not eternal in the sense of time. You and I can get that very mixed up, like thousands of years, like I don't know about you, but thousands of years with a backache would be terrible. No, thank you, I don't want that. We're talking about eternal life in the idea, the concept that it is unimaginably better than this finite living that we have now, that we only get a glimpse of it whenever heaven's described and says there will be no more pain anymore, no more tears, and there will be only joy and love and peace, no friction, no failure. No fear you and I can. Peace, no friction, no failure. No fear you. And I can't even imagine that. Yeah, I got nothing. I have no idea what you're talking about, but it sounds good. I'll sign up for that. Whatever that is, it is the eternal life. But what is eternal life? Again, we've said this before A heaven without Jesus is hell. Jesus is everything. Colossians, in a nutshell, tells you this Jesus plus nothing still equals everything. Jesus is heaven. He is all we need.
Speaker 1:And the worst part of the Christian life is when I don't believe that. It's when I give in to the fear and say, no, jesus didn't think about this. Like he doesn't have in-laws okay, like Jesus didn't think about this. He doesn't have scary neighbors okay, like Jesus didn't think about this, he wasn't as busy as I am. Okay, he didn't have scary neighbors okay, like he just didn't think he wasn't as busy as I am. Okay, he didn't have to peer pressure. He'd have to pay bills. Okay, like I got bills. He doesn't under stand.
Speaker 1:The worst part of the christian life is when we don't believe on a day-by-day basis that jesus actually is the eternal, that he is all we need, that if you went the whole day without sleep or food or water and you had Jesus, that he would be still enough in that moment. Now I'm not telling you go live like a monk and like get rid of all your stuff, get some crummy bread and some bad water and just tear it up and live nowhere. Get some crummy bread and some bad water and just tear it up and live nowhere. It's not what I'm saying, what I am trying to get you to understand, though, is that when it says Jesus is the eternal life, there's no qualifiers there. It's not like he's mostly the eternal life, but donuts. Like he is the eternal life but like you got to get some entertainment sometime. I mean like church is boring, like he's no.
Speaker 1:Jesus is everything, and when I give in to anything else, I am failing not him, but me. I can't do it, I can't believe this enough. I am guaranteed to fail at this on Tuesday, even though I was reminded of it on Sunday. But Jesus is enough, and in the midst of my suffering, in the midst of my sin, he is still enough. He is on the throne, he reigns, he's got this. He is on the throne, he reigns, he's got this. Stop holding on to it. He is the eternal life continuing, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. He's trying to connect moments here. He's number one, trying to say okay, my Jewish friends, I understand that you believe in God the Father, but this Jesus the Christ, the one who is to save the world, he who is from the beginning, is with the Father.
Speaker 1:It's again reminiscent of 1 John, chapter 1, verse 1, which makes sense because John wrote both of them, where he says In the beginning was Jesus and Jesus was God and Jesus was with God, and the human mind goes no, that doesn't work. You see, 1 plus 1 equals 2, so there has to be at least at some point in time. We have to admit our humility a little bit and say god's ways are higher than mine, like if I. If I started talking to a neuroscientist and they were talking to me about this fling, whatever thingy, and they were like you know what I'm talking about, I would say no, I have literally no idea what you're talking about.
Speaker 1:Sean talks to me about a directional bore and I I'm like it must be a mole, it must be like a trained mole that goes down and goes somewhere else. Or he's talking about the machine and I'm like I have no idea. I'm willing to admit that. But the human mind's like but God couldn't be bigger than what I'm thinking. Like God must fit within the box of what I understand, like I don't know organic chemistry for the life of me and if someone said something I'd probably believe them.
Speaker 1:But when God himself says Jesus is God, god, the Father is God, the Holy Spirit is God and they are one, my mind says no, sorry, I don't believe you. I have more faith in the contractor helping me out with my house than that. It makes no sense. But we shouldn't be surprised because you and I are covered in this fickle, finite flesh that daily seeks to trip us up. It says no, no, no, go for your own glory, believe in yourself. And you, no, no, no, go for your own glory, believe in yourself. And you're like no, don't do that. Like the older people, look at the younger people. Like no, I've been there, don't do that.
Speaker 1:Jesus was with the Father and was made manifest to the world. He came into the world when he didn't have to. I need you to understand that, that when it says that he was made manifest to us, that this wasn't a requirement of Jesus, at no point in time was Jesus looking at his daily like organizer and was like you know what? I really got to get down there? Like I got to get down there, I got to put a human body on and we got to make this work. I got to be the incarnation and I got to suffer and die for these people. Or else God is perfectly satisfied within himself. He has no needs, he has no, wants, he is everything.
Speaker 1:And the greatest example we could get even close to with that is you with, like your children, maybe, or if you had little children with you, and you take them out to the restaurant and you're like, obviously I'm going to pay for this because you guys are children, and they're like, well, but dad, like who's going to pay for you? You're like, obviously I'm going to pay for this because you guys are children and they're like, well, but dad, like who's going to pay for you? You're like me, like I'm going to pay for me, and we don't look at the child-father relationship and are like, yeah, you know that's not fair. Like those kids should be pulling their weight. Like pork chop costs like 12 bucks now. Like we never look at it that way and yet we can look at the gospel that way. And we're like I think either Jesus needed us or like he needs us to work harder. Like that could, that could be it. Maybe that's the. That's the next level. Right At first you're like a, a non-believer, who's like God needs me.
Speaker 1:A non-believer who's like God needs me, he wants me, I'm everything to him and one day I'll come, not today. And then you get to the next level, where you're actually a believer. God has saved you and made you new, and you still got the ankling of that. And so, instead of that, it sounds like yeah, I just got to try harder. I think if I just really start beating myself up and just pushing myself, I'll get there. Jesus needs me to do better. So I'm going to kick it into third gear.
Speaker 1:I am upgrading my Christianity and it's like okay, have you read Galatians? Paul says are you so foolish that what you started in the spirit you're now trying to complete in the flesh? And that's everybody, that's more than everybody. That's everybody Like. Everybody is like I can do it, and Jesus is like you didn't do anything. I did it. What are you talking about? It's like this was a free gift. God promises to finish the work. God's got this. You don't, and that's the best news you've heard all day. That's the best news you've heard all day.
Speaker 1:We go to our last section, which is the purpose, verses three and four. John says that which we have seen and heard. We go to our last section, which is the purpose, verses 3 and 4. John says that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you. So he's again summarizing here and it's saying this Jesus, we are preaching him to you.
Speaker 1:Why, again, it says so? That this is like a purpose clause. Think of it like. It says so that this is like a purpose clause. Think of it like in order that the equation here is we do this and it equals you two may have fellowship with us. And you're like that's out of order. Ok, people need to go to Jesus, not Jesus' people. Right, you go to Jesus first and then you go to Jesus' people. Because that's how we actually think about it nowadays is like that people need to get right with Jesus and then they become a part of the church. And it's like no, no, no, no. You're missing the point here. Look what he says. He says so that you two may have fellowship with us, and then he says and indeed, our fellowship, the us, is with the Father and with his Son, jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:What is John seeking to communicate here? Because and again this goes against all of the anti-church narrative of our day I believe in Jesus, but I don't need to go to church. This is literally Bible verse that goes against that. Are you ready To have fellowship with Jesus? Christ is to have fellowship with the people he sent with his message. I want you to think of this concept you and I are ambassadors for Christ. We represent him, we carry his message. It is impossible to receive that truth without having received the person delivering it. Think of it this way If I had to give you a message and the power's out and the cell tower's out, everything's gone wrong.
Speaker 1:And I sent my wife to you and I said, hey, can you deliver this message to so-and-so? And she knocks on the door and you open the door and you're like, oh, what do you want? And I got a message from Dan. Can I come in? No, you can't come in. But what's the message? We got some awkward tension. Well, dan wanted to say that everything's good and we're in a good spot. Don't worry about it, you're good to go. Oh great, yeah, me and Dan are good. Well, what about us? Well, yeah, I don't really care about you. Now, how do you think I'm going to feel if I sent my wife to you to tell you that we're relationally good and what you did was you ignored her, you didn't have any relational sensitivity to her, and you shut the door on her, shoot her out quickly? Do you think you and I would have a good relationship? Probably not.
Speaker 1:To have a good relationship with God is to have a good relationship with his people. It is impossible I'm going to say that word it's impossible as a Christian, to be in a healthy relationship with God where you're growing in your faith outside of his people. Why? Because God said so. That is, his means of grace is gathering with the saints. And you and I struggle every week with believing in the ordinary means of grace, with believing that the time spent reading my Bible actually makes an impact, with believing that my prayer time does matter, with believing that it does matter who I talk to on a weekly basis, who I spend time with, who I share a meal with. It is so easy to give into the temptation to make light of these things, but God's word says we want you to hear the message of the gospel so that you will join us, as we are already joined to Christ. We are one, we're one body. So it makes no sense to start off with the gospel divided Like yeah, welcome to Christianity. You're not invited over here. Welcome to Christianity. Go figure it out, tiger. We believe in you. That makes no sense.
Speaker 1:And yet we often act as though a Sunday service is just one of five options on a Sunday. I mean, is it Labor Day weekend? Like? Come on now, like the fish are calling me. There's a grill that has to be manned. I am that man.
Speaker 1:We have these competing priorities, and this is why we struggle. This is why we give in to sin. This is why we fail so often. It's because we don't realize that a triple braided rope is much stronger than a tiny little piece by itself. You need each other in a similar way, not the same way in a similar way to how you need Christ, Because Christ ministers to your soul in and through his people. Primarily. That's why a Sunday service is so important. That's why we read the Bible together, that's why we pray together, that's why we sing together, that's why we serve together.
Speaker 1:You know what's way easier, though, is serving by yourself, like going to do a job, like I'm just going to do this by myself. Like nope, everyone, leave me alone, I'll get it done. Because what happens as soon as you add just one more person? There's this relational communication piece that none of us like. They're like. Now I'm going to make a decision on if the shingle goes there or there, or I have to talk to you about this or you might get upset. Shingle goes there or there, we have to talk to you about this, like, or you might get upset. Now we have two shingles here and I wanted it there, and we have this tension and we say that's good. That tension makes you both more like christ.
Speaker 1:Because the reality is, you can't escape tension in this world. You can't escape the fact that you still have sin within you, and so does your pastor and the elders and every person in this room. We need each other. We need to be dependent and to admit our desperate need for dependency. He says Indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, jesus Christ. These are synonymous in His head. Jesus is God, god is Jesus. They are one and the same.
Speaker 1:Verse 4, though we get to the climax here. He says and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. I want you to think about again how we, sinfully, from an American standpoint, would normally read that. Let's say I made you a meal, make you some delicious chicken, alfredo, and you're like this is so good, thank you so much. And I'm like don't worry, I made it, so my joy would be good. You'd be like I'm thankful for the pasta, but I'm questioning our relationship currently. Are you a narcissist a little bit? Yeah, it makes sense, like the the sentence originally. When we first read it we're like, yeah, that doesn't look good, that's a bad look, pastor. Why, would John say and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. Well, he gives four reasons throughout the letter why he is writing the letter. So it's helpful to connect them all together. The letter so it's helpful to connect them all together.
Speaker 1:In chapter 2, verse 1, we read my little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. Okay, so we see that our joy being complete, the writer's joy, the disciple's joy being complete, is also a part of helping Christians to not sin. That sounds a little less selfish. Okay, helping Christians to not sin, that sounds a little less selfish. Okay. 226 has to do with being deceived. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. So he's writing this. One of the purposes of writing this letter is so that you are not deceived. Well, that doesn't sound selfish. Here's the best one. End of the book, chapter 5, verse 13. And this is really the nutshell 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.
Speaker 1:There's a strange form of relationship when you're a parent where you begin to have almost more joy in the successes of your children than you do yourself. As you see the next generation succeeding, it's better than you winning. You're like, yeah, we did it. You're like, well, you actually didn't do it, mom, but kind of. But we get this part where we're just so joy-filled that they're succeeding. That's the joy he's talking about. It's this overwhelming sense that guess what. You listen to me, you listen to these words, you do what God says and guess what's going to happen. You will sin less, you will not be deceived as often and you will know you will be assured of your salvation. And that will give me a joy I can't describe.
Speaker 1:As we look at 1 John going forward, I want you to consider just this one question. The four reasons that were listed out, we're at the first one right now. How much can you identify with John's statement here? Is your joy made complete when you see other Christians who you've poured your life into, who are changing, who are miraculously, degree by degree, becoming more like Christ. Is that the joy of your heart, or is something else the joy of your heart?
Speaker 1:Will you pray with me, father?
Speaker 1:We come before you and we ask, lord, that you would help us in our weakness to keep our eyes and our hearts and our minds fixed on you. Lord. We ask that you would give us wisdom and discernment, that we would be able to look at our lives and open our lives to those who are closest to us, those who are around us, and say when you look at the joy in my life, how much of it comes from those who are in the faith, who are in this family, succeeding in the Christian life? Do I get more joy out of physical things in this world than the spiritual realities that are so much greater? Lord, help us to be a community to live life together. One of the things that we see here in this text is a shared life and, lord, we wish for this church to be defined by that, that we would not only have a shared life with Christ, but that we would live life on life with each other, through the dirty, through the misunderstandings, through the disappointments, lord, help us please. In Jesus' name. We pray amen.
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