Shall we turn in the word of God
to the first epistle of John and commence
our study in the will of the Lord
this week on the precious truth that it
contains particularly for the blessing of God's people
and incidentally I'm sure there will be ministry
in the gospel of God's grace for any
who know not the stadium.
I would like to read the first four
verses by way of introduction to this epistle.
Where John has written by the Holy Spirit
these wonderful words, 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 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 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.
May God bless the hearing and reading of
his word, we very humbly but very earnestly
pray it will be by the power and
in the power of the Holy Spirit we
shall enjoy together the ministry of the precious
truth that this epistle contains.
I'm sure that there must be necessarily a
background that we approach this epistle upon.
As we think of the writings of John
the apostle, particularly do we think of his
great gospel that he has written, and within
that gospel how he has revealed to us
that every person and deity of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
And how in his epistle he goes on
to reveal not only the deity of the
Lord Jesus, but particularly the incarnated life of
the Lord Jesus when he was here below.
John has a very unique ministry.
I often think of the precious fact that
when you look at the epistles that you
find in your New Testament you have three
great lines of truth.
You have what we can call and do
call church truth, and for all pertaining to
church truth we must be indebted to the
beloved apostle Paul, to whom God instrumentally has
given to us all that we should know
in relation to the truth of the church.
Then we have what can be called kingdom
truth.
Now kingdom truth is not a New Testament
truth merely at all.
Kingdom truth is an Old Testament truth as
well as new, and perhaps one of the
oldest presentations of truth in the word of
God from the beginning to the end.
Presenting to us that coming glory of kingdom
that will yet be when our savior will
be king of kings and lord of lords
over the earth.
And then we have what we can call
Christ truth.
Relative to the person of Christ himself, and
I believe particularly John in a very unique
way presents to us, there's no other narrative
writer in the New Testament, the person of
Christ.
You begin the reading of his gospel and
you find him introducing that gospel by a
presentation of that blessed one as the eternal
word, who before time ever began was in
the beginning, and the word was with God
and the word was God.
The very opening of the chapter 1 presents
to us the glorious eternal character of the
son of God as the eternal word.
And John cannot begin to write without presenting
the greatness of the person of the son
of God.
In like manner you have it in relation
to his epistle.
The very introductory words that we read in
verses 1, 2 and 3 present to us
the person of Christ who is the word
of life, who is the incarnate word of
life, and in the glory of his incarnation
he presents the blessed person of the son.
You have very similarly in the book of
the revelations.
John cannot begin to write without presenting the
judicial glory of the beloved son of God
as son of man, who is to be
the judge of all the earth as you
read the opening chapter of the revelation.
John brings you immediately face to face with
the person of the son of God, with
the person of the son of man, with
the person of the coming judge of all
the earth, that blessed person.
It thrills the heart, it blesses the soul
to be occupied with Christ, and surely we
must and we do confess that was John's
blessed joy, to enjoy the person of Christ
and he seems to have enjoyed it perhaps
above all others.
When you look at his gospel, the subject
of his great gospel is the son of
God, presenting that blessed one in all the
glory of his deity, and the manifestation of
his person when within this world God manifests
in the flesh.
When you look at the epistles of John,
the epistle particularly is occupied with the father
and his family, and you may divide the
epistle into two great divisions.
In chapters one and two you have the
family and the father together.
The father with his family, and the responsibilities
regarding the fellowship, the communion, not only the
relationship but better and greater still the communion
of the family with the father, and the
father and his family are presented in the
first two chapters.
The last part of the epistle chapter three
through five present the family and their responsibilities
within the world.
For the greatness of realizing and the importance
of realizing, we who are in the family
of God, we have a great responsibility to
represent our father within this world.
Now it might be well also before we
go into our chapter immediately, to consider the
meaning of what it is to be a
child of God and in relationship to God
as father.
There are only five or six references in
the Old Testament to the title father in
relation to God, and they are usually in
its creatorial relationship.
They have nothing at all in particular to
bring before us the intimacy of relationship as
a child with the father.
But nevertheless God revealed himself in the Old
Testament, but there's a great deal of study
that we could follow and many of you
may have done so.
To realize the revelation of God in the
Old Testament.
Let me just give you three examples which
will suffice that we may understand the meaning
of it.
God revealed himself by the various names that
he gave of himself and spoke of himself
to his dear children.
By way of example Abraham in chapter 17
of Genesis in verse 1.
God said to Abraham, walk thou before me,
I am the almighty God, walk thou before
me and be thou perfect.
And to Abraham he presented himself as the
omnipotent God, the almighty one.
Later on in the book of Exodus chapter
3 when Moses was before the burning bush
and the God of glory appeared unto him
and commissioned him to go and deliver his
people Israel.
Moses said what shall I say to them
when they ask who sent me?
And God said tell them I am that
I am.
And once again God revealed himself not as
the omnipotent one but as the eternal everlasting
I am the self-existent one.
Later on in chapter 6 of the book
of Exodus God told Moses I've revealed myself
to Abraham Isaac and Jacob but I've never
revealed myself as Jehovah to them and now
I'm going to reveal myself as Jehovah to
my people Israel.
Which was the redemptive name of God to
his earthly people and a precious name of
great meaning as well as multiple meaning in
the old testament scriptures.
Now these were revelations of God.
Omnipotent, the eternal character of his being, the
eternal one and Jehovah the redemptive one for
Israel.
But may I point out to you God
never could be revealed as father until the
son of God came.
You remember the words of John in chapter
1 verse 14 as well as verse 18.
Verse 18 particularly may I quote no man
has seen God in any time but the
only begotten son who is in the big
in the bosom of the father.
He hath revealed him, he hath made him
known, he hath manifested him.
It was not until the son came the
one whose heart filled the bosom of the
father.
The one in whose bosom the son was
the delight of the father.
Not until that son came who knew the
father's heart could the heart of the father
be revealed.
Let me quote to you very carefully Matthew
11 and verse 27.
The words of the Lord Jesus when he
said no man knoweth the son but the
father.
Now just pause for a moment reflect on
them.
No man knoweth the son but the father.
And we cannot enlarge upon that nor qualify
it.
The complete knowledge of what the son is
only the father knows.
But then the Savior went on to declare
neither knoweth any man the father but the
son.
And he to whom the son will reveal
him.
Only the coming of the son of God
incarnate was it ever made possible that the
father in the intimacy, the greatness, the infinitude
of his blessed fatherly heart of affection could
ever be revealed.
You may have noted very carefully in your
study of John's gospel that all the way
through it approximately 120 times the father is
mentioned.
For by the manifestation of the son incarnate
it was the father whom the son revealed.
How did he reveal that father when he
was here?
He revealed him by the words which he
spoke.
He revealed him by the works which he
performed.
All the thoughts, all the words, all the
work the blessed son of God did when
he was upon the earth in the days
of his earthly flesh and ministry.
Were the outpouring and the revelation of the
well could he say it did to Philip.
When Philip said Lord show us the father.
And it suffices us Philip have I been
so long time with you yet sayest thou
to me show us the father.
He that hath seen me hath seen the
father.
My beloved let me repeat.
It is only by the life and the
death and the resurrection of that blessed son
of God in the days of his flesh.
The father in all of his character and
please let me state may I impress it
upon you.
Whatever name God takes and reveals it is
a reference and it is an unfolding of
the character that that name implies.
Whether the omnipotent one, whether the omniscient one,
the eternal one, whether Jehovah it is the
meaning of his character and his being that
it communicates.
And take that precious name and may I
say it with joy it is the most
precious name that any person can address God
with.
Father how precious, how much do we enjoy,
how great is our intimacy with this priceless
privilege.
When the savior could say I am the
way the truth and the life no man
come upon to the father.
But by me I believe some of the
happiest words that fell from the lips of
the Lord Jesus when spoken by him on
the day of his resurrection.
When to Mary he said in chapter 20.
Go to my brethren tell them I ascend
unto my father and your father.
Unto my God and your God.
O beloved he brought us to the father.
In case there may be one person who
cannot address God as father in that relationship
as his child.
May I state very briefly and quickly how
to become a child of the father.
Let me quote John chapter 1 verse 12
and 13.
But as many as received him the father's
son to them gave he the right the
privilege the authority to be called the sons
of the children of God even to them
that were born not of blood nor the
will manner of the flesh but of God.
It is through faith in Christ we become
children of God.
As Paul well declared in Galatians 3 26.
For we are all the children of God
through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Beloved we humbly and earnestly pray that every
one of you can say to the glory
of God to the happiness of your soul.
Thank God I can call him father.
How precious are the words of Paul in
Galatians 4 6.
God has sent forth the spirit of his
son into your heart whereby ye cry Abba.
That blessed Aramaic word of dearest intimacy.
Abba.
Father.
Oh may I repeat it.
You have only three times the expression Abba
in your New Testament.
You know well that it was the son
in the garden in the agony of Gethsemane
who cried out of his heart to that
dearest of all to him.
Abba.
Father.
If it be possible let this cup pass
from me.
And then you have in Romans 8 the
precious truth that you and I can indeed
say Abba.
Father.
And Galatians 4 6.
That God has sent forth the spirit of
his son into your heart whereby ye cry
Abba.
Father.
May I say that the gateway to the
epistle of John in its precious truth that
it conveys is this.
To tell us what it means to have
fellowship with the father.
Fellowship into which we have been brought with
the father as well as with his son.
What an honor.
What a priceless privilege.
But let's go to our chapter immediately.
I wanted to know that John begins this
precious truth of the chapter as he speaks
of the Lord Jesus being manifested.
And please note the opening words.
That which was from the beginning.
Now John is not referring to Genesis 1
1.
Neither is John referring to John gospel chapter
1 verse 1.
John 1 1 takes you back further than
Genesis 1 1.
In the beginning was the word and the
word was with God and the word was
God John wrote in his gospel.
And it goes back into the eternal past.
But if you look at the family.
And if you look at the fellowship of
the family with the father.
He goes back to the beginning of that
blessed manifestation when the son became flesh.
Read Luke's gospel.
And if you look at the introduction, the
opening words of Luke's gospel.
Luke takes us back to the beginning.
And he places the birth.
Yes, the conception and the birth and the
early days and the manhood of the Lord
Jesus.
And John refers to that manifestation of the
son of God in his incarnate body.
That which was from the beginning.
And note the proof of it.
Which we have heard.
Which we have seen.
Which we have seen with our eyes.
Which we have looked upon and our hands
have handled of the word of life.
John is not penetrating back into the eternal
past.
He could not penetrate with his ears, with
his eyes and with his hands.
To that eternal past.
Nor even to the beginning of creation.
But oh, he is speaking a precious truth.
And he is speaking to convey to you
and to me the blessedness of it, that
it was to him and to his fellow
companion apostles.
We heard him.
There's no question of doubt the first time
John heard his voice.
You may read in John 1.
When the Baptist said, behold the Lamb of
God.
Which taketh away the sin of the world.
Behold the Lamb of God.
And John with his companion Andrew followed him.
And Jesus saw them and said, Whom seek
ye?
Rabbi, where dwellest thou?
He said, come and see.
And so they heard him.
They saw him.
They not only heard him in the days
of his flesh.
They not only saw him in the days
of his flesh in that blessed incarnate form.
We gazed upon him.
We looked intently upon him.
And then we handled him.
What reverent words are these?
Suggesting the priceless privilege of the one who
is the word of life.
The one who is eternal life.
The one who came from the Father is
eternal son.
And took upon him that human form.
We heard his voice.
We saw him.
We gazed with intent upon him.
And we had the privilege of handling him.
Oh I think of those priceless words following
his resurrection.
As he appeared in the midst of the
disciples.
And they were struck with fear and terror.
Supposing they had seen a spirit.
Handle me and see.
A spirit hath not flesh and blood as
ye see me have.
Flesh and bones as ye see me have.
And oh beloved the privilege.
Please may I say.
What John is conveying is what he and
his companion apostles heard, saw, gazed intently upon.
And then at the blessed privilege of even
handling.
And knowing in intimacy the blessed one.
Who was eternal God.
But manifest in the flesh.
Now you might say and I might say.
How could we ever do that?
Beloved please let me suggest how.
True.
We could not.
We have not been with him in the
days of his flesh.
As children we used to sing a hymn.
Concerning his earthly life.
And usually the refrain ended I would like
to have been with him then.
Oh no.
Not possible.
But beloved let me say.
We have the record of that life.
There on the pages of divine inspiration.
The manifestation of that human life of our
Lord Jesus is written.
And the beloved apostles have written it out
in full.
And you and I.
We can hear his voice.
You and I.
Can gaze upon him with our eyes.
You and I can be more intently considering
who he is.
What he was.
In the days of his pilgrimage.
From the manger to the cross and beyond
his post resurrection day ministry.
And you and I.
Oh may I say it lovingly.
You and I can handle him.
Do you ever notice in the book of
Leviticus.
At the consecration of the high priest and
the fellow priest.
Aaron and his sons.
That Moses took of that which was upon
the altar.
And he filled the hands of Aaron and
his sons.
With all that spoke to the heart of
God of Christ.
And the word consecration in the old testament
means.
In the Hebrew meaning.
The filling of the hands.
Oh how I pray that as I come
here today.
And through the week and the will of
the Lord.
My hands will be filled with Christ for
you.
To minister him to your heart.
This is part of the fellowship.
And John.
Is seeking to impart the preciousness and the
truth of it.
But read on.
As he goes on to say.
Our hands have handled the word of life.
For the life was manifested.
Please let me repeat with emphasis.
It's the manifestation in an incarnate form.
Of the son of God.
In a body of flesh.
That life which was eternal life.
Who was the word of life.
Was manifested.
We have seen it.
And we bear witness.
And show unto you that eternal life.
Which was with the father and was manifested
unto us.
My the glory of that blessed one.
I think of the words of John again
in John one fourteen.
The word was made flesh.
And dwelt amongst us full of grace and
truth.
And we beheld his glory.
The glory is of the only begotten of
the father.
Now beloved may I repeat again.
John realized.
And the apostles all realized.
Through that life.
The heart.
The greatness.
The glory of the father.
Was revealed.
And then he goes on to declare in
verse three repeating it.
That which we have seen and heard.
Declare we unto you.
You know something particularly.
He does not say that which you heard.
He omits the word first of all.
That which we have seen and heard declare
we unto you.
For they had heard.
For may I repeat again.
The epistle of John is a family letter.
It is written to the family of God.
And to the family of God particularly.
Many texts can be used in making the
gospel clear and plain we know.
But the whole letter is written to the
family.
And John says this is the purpose for
our writing.
This is the purpose for bringing it to
you.
Not only to present to you the incarnate
son of God as we know he was.
But here is the purpose in verse three
and four.
As he says that ye also may have
fellowship.
With us.
Meaning with himself and the companion apostles.
May I point out to you something precious
in Acts two and verse forty two.
Remember the very first day of Pentecost when
those converts confessed the Lord.
We read in verse forty two they continue
steadfastly in what?
The apostles doctrine.
And next fellowship.
And then the breaking of bread and bread.
Fellowship.
My beloved may I say we need to
get back to some Pentecostal fellowship.
And you know that I am not inferring
the speaking in tongues.
We need to get back to the fellowship
that God through his son brought us into.
To his son.
To his father.
Our fellowship said John is with the father.
And with his son.
Jesus Christ.
What's the fellowship the father enjoys?
What's the fellowship that the son enjoys?
Beloved I cannot say anything greater to you
than this.
The fellowship of the father's heart is his
delight in his beloved son.
This is my beloved son.
In whom is all my delight.
Hear ye him.
And oh that we may realize.
Where does the father find his fellowship?
He finds it in all of his complete
delight in the person of his beloved son.
Where should I find it?
My beloved may I say very very earnestly
in such days as we now live in.
This is what we need.
To strengthen and to balance our souls and
our hearts and our lives and our consciences
in the midst of all that we're surrounded
with.
To know we should permit nothing to harm.
To break.
To sever the fellowship which we have been
brought into with the father and his son.
The father finds his delight in the son.
Where does the son find his delight?
You find his delight is in the father.
And you and I by grace divine fellow
believer have been brought into that fellowship.
To enjoy fellowship with the father.
To enjoy fellowship with the son.
Many times I hear some of my brethren
say what fellowship do you belong to?
Well I hope you belong to this one.
I'm not interested in anything better than this.
There is nothing better.
Oh my fellow believer.
My fellow believer.
There's nothing that can sever the relationship.
But there can be much as we can
learn and will learn that may mar the
fellowship.
Then what John in his purpose as he
writes says before us is this.
Our fellowship which we the apostles have enjoyed
is with the father and with his son
Jesus Christ.
Now note the fourth verse as he goes
on to say.
I said and these things write we unto
you that your joy may be full.
Beloved may I point out.
Would you remember the words of the psalmist
in chapter sixteen verse eleven those precious closing
words.
In thy presence is fullness of joy and
at thy right hand there are pleasures forever
more.
And may I state in closing that I
fully believe and I say it with confidence
and I say it pleading with my own
conscience and my own soul.
In the days in which we are now
living how we need to realize we have
been brought where we can still have our
joy and find it where the apostles found
it too.
In fellowship with the father and with his
son Jesus Christ.
How did we get into this fellowship?
There's only one way.
We've gone into it through life in Christ.
Please may I say the basis of this
fellowship is not L-I-G-H-T.
It's life through this meaning to life.
But the basis of fellowship with the father
please may I say the youngest child in
the family.
The oldest child in the family.
The oldest believer to the youngest believer.
Because of life in Christ they're in this
fellowship and that fellowship with the father and
with his son we should be enjoying.
Delighting in where the father's heart delights.
In his son.
Delighting where the son of God delights.
In his father.
What a fellowship.
Now may I say to you it's a
big one.
It takes in every child of God.
And God grants that we today who are
his children may surely say Lord help me
day by day to maintain to enjoy my
fellowship with thee and with the son.
His faithful communion shall we pray.
Father we have to say in the words
of another how thou could think so well
of me and be the God thou art.
His darkness to my intellect but it's sunshine
to my heart.
That thou didst bring to this earth sending
him the son of thy love life eternal
for us to bring us to thyself.
Let me close our meditation.
We pray that every child of God will
separate from this gathering.
Breathing those precious words of intimate relationship in
the joy of their souls.
Lifting their heart up and saying I'm a
father.
We adore thee.
And grant that as the week continued we
shall enjoy fellowship with the father and with
his son.
For we ask it in our savior's precious
and worthy name.
Amen.