Good morning, everyone. Beautiful morning this morning. We're enjoying some good weather. I feel good for Doug because he had the week off, and last year when he had the week off, it snowed the entire week and he was so sad, but this week he's happy. So that's good. We're enjoying some nice spring weather.

We're going to be looking at 1 John 1-4 this morning and digging into these verses. Last time we just kind of had an introduction to the book and read these verses, but we're going to be looking into them further as we talked last time about the main intent of this 1st epistle of John to the churches. 

And we found in studying the words of this book, especially in chapter 5 at verse 13, that John's main purpose is to give every believer assurance, assurance of salvation based on faith in Jesus Christ and the manifestation of our salvation by the power of the Holy Spirit living in us and His love poured out through us to others. It's so important to keep this intent and purpose in mind, this overarching theme, as we get into the nitty-gritty of these verses right off the bat here in chapter 1.

I'm not going to lie to you, this 1st chapter is really challenging as to who John is talking to, what he's trying to say, and who he's saying it to. But I think the phrase at the end of verse 4 is interesting and instructive. He writes, "...that your joy may be full." I write these things to you that your joy may be full. 

In the Gospel of John, John wrote that I write these things to you that you may believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But in the letter that we're studying here in 1 John, he writes to those who do believe. I write to you who do believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you may know that you have eternal life. In light of the purpose of the book, the primary audience of the book is believers, really written directly to us. 

And we see secondary purposes or intents in writing that were also meant for us, such as in verse 4, "...that your joy may be full." And in chapter 2, I am writing concerning those who are trying to deceive you. And then in chapter 5, verse 13, "...that we may have assurance." However, there's also running through this book the theme concerning those false teachers within the churches, those who have gone out and are trying to draw away believers from the truth to false teaching. So we tread lightly as we sort through these things.

But the main point is this, John wants us to know. He wants us to know that we have eternal life. And that eternal life began the moment that we turned from idols, turned from trusting in ourselves or our religion, when we turned from idols to serve the living God through faith in Christ alone. And having this assurance, we have the fruit of joy, full joy. We have the desire to know Jesus, to know the truth, His Word, what is right, what is wrong. We are wary of false teachers and false teaching, and we want to become discerning, knowing good from evil. 

Our assurance, based on the promises of God in Christ, is the foundation of our Christian life and fruitfulness. Let me give you an illustration. It's really a contrast between what we're talking about here. When I was growing up, I was taught in my religion that one could never ever know if he had eternal life. You can never know for sure that you're going to heaven. This was the firm teaching of my religion. 

In fact, it was called the sin of presumption, to say that you knew you were going to heaven. And this is what they called a mortal sin. They call it a mortal sin because it killed your salvation. So if you believed that you could know that you were saved, then you were necessarily lost. You were destined for hell, unless you repented of and confessed this sin and performed some sort of penance. 

Now why was it that in this religion, in all religion really, a man cannot know if he is saved? The reason is that in religion, a man's salvation is based on his works, his performance, his participation in rites and rituals and so forth and so on. So here's the problem. You can never know if you have done enough. You can never be sure that you are good enough if indeed you have done enough good to atone for your sins. 

Of course, the entire premise is a lie. You can never know because you can never attain. Because the fact is that we're all sinners, we have all fallen short of the glory of God, and we all deserve God's wrath. And no matter how much good you do, no matter how many religious acts you perform or participate in, you can never escape the fact that you deserve punishment for every sin that you've ever committed. 

So there's no assurance in religion. There's no salvation in religion. There's no life, no word of life, no eternal life in a system of works and rites and rituals meant to earn the favor of God. But there is good news. And it's found here in our text and in the Word of God. I just want to look at the contrast with religion and biblical truth. Good news in Jesus, the word of life, eternal life, and the explanation of John as to how we can know that we have that eternal life.

Look at verse 1 with me. 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, concerning the word of life. The life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. 

That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. On your outline, you'll find four points to frame our study this morning. First, we're going to look at the life. Second, I declare. Third, fellowship. And fourth, full joy.

Well, our first point this morning is the life. And in verse 1, we see John call Jesus the word of life. He says, that life was manifested. We have seen and bear witness and declare to you eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. John often refers to Jesus as the word. And he also refers to Him as the life, eternal life. 

In 1 John 1, John wrote, or in John 1, the Gospel of John, John wrote, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 

And down in verse 14, John tells us that this word became flesh and dwelt among us. John 14, 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to Me except through the Father. In John 17, 3, John wrote, and this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. 

Jesus is the word. He is the life. To know Him is to have eternal life. And in 1 John 1, John tells us that His intent here is to declare that word, that life, that eternal life, to declare, to make manifest to us what He knows. John says he saw the word. He gazed intently, examined Jesus. He lived with Him. He talked with Him. He dined with Him. He handled Him with his own hands. John is an eyewitness. He's an apostle of Jesus Christ. 

He spent three years with Jesus, day and night, witnessing all the wonders and miracles and truth-teaching of His ministry. John knows Jesus Christ, and he is declaring Jesus to us. And the reason is that John wants for every man to know Jesus Christ. He wants every man to have fellowship with Him and with the Father. 

And in a special way, he wants the believers to hold fast to the truth, to that testimony about Jesus, to the gospel. He wants the believers to reject the false teachers and the false doctrine and to turn back to that which they had heard from the beginning, to the gospel which they had heard and believed, to Jesus, to the Word, to the life. And just abide in Him. Have joy in Him. To have assurance in the simplicity of Christ in a one-day-at-a-time abiding faith.

There was a real danger in these churches to which John wrote in his time. And it's really not different than what we see today. John is now in his nineties. He was there from the beginning. He walked with Jesus. He experienced the hardships, the dirty, dusty roads, the crowds, the animosity of the religious leaders, living with Jesus, having nowhere to lay his head. 

He was there for the thrilling miracles, the raising of the dead, the healing of the sick, and the blind, and the lame, and the lepers, and everyone who came to Jesus. How amazing it must have been to hear Jesus teach. John heard His words. He pondered them, searching, trying to understand within the framework of his mind, looking for the kingdom, for political deliverance for Israel, convinced that Jesus was the promised Messiah. 

And John stood there at the foot of the cross with Mary and watched Jesus die, crucified as a criminal. What despair! What confusion! But then the third day, the resurrection, and then Pentecost, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the church was born, and the preaching was powerful, and thousands were coming to faith. What an exciting time! What amazing fruit! 

And now everything came into focus. And everything was clear, what was to be done and what was to come. John lived through all these times. He lived to see the martyrdom of all the apostles, of many, many Christians. He had been arrested, probably beaten and tortured, and eventually banned to the island of Patmos. 

He'd seen the ministry of Jesus. He'd seen the birth of the church, the purity, the fire, the amazing work of God through His saints to save men by the thousands. And now we see in 1 John that the fervor had waned. We're now a few generations past the time of Pentecost, and the church has grown lukewarm as the liberal theology of men has crept in. 

And believers are consumed with the world. And the churches in Asia Minor, specifically Ephesus, where John was an overseer, have left their first love. And there's compromise, and there's worldliness, and John has to be heartbroken and yet filled with love, knowing what the church was and what Christ intended it to be. And he writes with love as a father, but so clearly, so black and white, so dogmatically, with no compromise.

And what he wants the believers of that time and our time and our similar struggles to know and understand is that it's all about Jesus. Jesus is the answer. Jesus is our faith and our salvation, and He is sufficient for our every need. What we need to know is what we do know, Jesus Christ. 

And what John is making clear here at the very beginning of this letter is that he knows Jesus. He has the authority to tell us about Jesus, to tell us what is true and what is a lie and what it is that we need. In verse 3, he says, "...that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you, that your joy may be full." 

That which we have seen and heard, the Word of life, eternal life, Jesus, Him, we declare to you. This was the life and ministry of John right to the very end. And my friends, this is our ministry as well. We are here to declare Jesus. Matthew 28, 19, Jesus said, "...Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." 

2 Corinthians 5, 19, that is that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the Word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. 

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. In John 17, 18, in His high priestly prayer, Jesus said, "...As you sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word." 

That's us. "...That they all may be one as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us." Listen, "...that the world may believe that You sent Me." We are here to declare Jesus Christ, the Word of life, He who is eternal life, that through faith, knowing Jesus, men might be saved. 

The point is fellowship, commonness, partnership in the Gospel. Christ. John says that we have fellowship and that our fellowship is with the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2.13. He says, But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 

And He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near. For through Him, through Jesus, we have access by one Spirit to the Father. My friends, Jesus is the only way to the Father, the only way that a man can have fellowship with God. 

Man in Adam is separated from God because of sin. In Romans 3.10, Paul said, There's none who are righteous, not one. There's none who understands. There's none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become useless or unprofitable. There's none who does good. No, not you either. 

In verse 18, he summarizes and says, There is no fear of God before their eyes. What a commentary on our society and culture today. There is no fear of God before their eyes. And in verse 19, he says, Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. 

Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. Why can I not have assurance in religion? Why can I not have assurance in myself or trusting in the things of this world? Because I can't keep the law. Because the law was given to show me my need for Jesus. Because I can't be good enough. The law shows me that I'm a sinner. 

Fellowship only comes through Christ and what He accomplished on the cross. We cannot establish our own righteousness through works because we are unrighteous. The only way that we can be righteous is to receive the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. And that is what Paul makes clear in Romans 3, beginning at verse 21. 

I'd like for you to just turn to that passage as we make the message clear, the truth about Jesus, what John is declaring. Romans 3, 21. In contrast to all that bad news in the first part of chapter 3, Paul says, But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. 

For there's no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation, a full satisfactory payment by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness in order that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 

Where is boasting then? It's excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. We can only have fellowship with God when the barrier of sin and unrighteousness has been pulled down. Only when my sin is atoned for through Christ's death in my place can I then be justified, and this justification, this righteousness of God imputed to me comes only by faith and only in the Jesus of the Bible.

Down in Romans 4, it says, now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. I love this verse, verse 5, but to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Verse 8, blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. 

John's desire, his life, his ministry was all about men having fellowship with God, being made right with God, and this can only come as believers declare, preach, proclaim the truth about salvation in Jesus Christ. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's difficult to preach the truth. Sometimes it's very difficult to stand for the truth, but no one can be saved unless they hear the truth. 

Faith comes by hearing a message about Jesus, a clear statement of the gospel. That's the only way a man can be saved, and so John makes clear here in these first verses of his epistle that he is an authority. He's the one who knows Jesus and knows the truth, and it is his mission to declare that truth so that men might come to fellowship with God and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 

Now this is true for the man in Adam, the lost man who needs to come to faith, but I think the interesting thing here in 1 John 1 is that I believe John is writing primarily to believers. As believers, we have fellowship with God. The word koinonia translated fellowship means commonness or can be translated partnership. 

We have a commonness with God, with Christ. We are in fellowship because of salvation, and God has called us into common fellowship with one another as well. In 1 Corinthians 1.9, it says, God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. In Titus 1.4, it says, to Titus, a true son in our common faith. 

2 Corinthians 13.14, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and love of God and the communion, that's koinonia, the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. When we believe, we are placed into Christ by the Holy Spirit. We have a commonness, a partnership in the gospel. We have what we could call positional fellowship. We are indeed in Christ. We are in the body. We are in the fellowship of believers. 

The key here is to see that John wants all believers to have fellowship, and that fellowship, that commonness, that partnership is found in the gospel in salvation. John is calling everyone into fellowship with him in the apostolic tradition, the preaching of the truth concerning Jesus, who he is, what he's done. 

And only as the believers affirm this truth and come into line with John and his witness concerning Jesus, can they have commonness and fellowship with the Father and the Son in an experiential or practical way. I think it's much like what we studied in Romans 6. Paul said in Romans 6.2 that we died to sin. This is true of every believer. When Jesus died, we died with Him. 

Every believer died, was buried with Christ, and rose to newness of life with Christ. We see these wonderful, amazing truths in the first 10 verses of Romans 6. These things are true. These things are fact. These things are what God has said is true of every believer. Yet in verse 11, Paul exhorts us to do what? To reckon these things to be true. 

That we are indeed dead to sin, but we are alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Yes, these things are true of everyone in Christ. Yet, there is a volitional choice on our part to continually affirm, recognize, count these facts to be true, and then to live in light of them. This is what John is saying in these first verses here of chapter 1. 

He says, I want your joy to be full. He wants the believers to have fellowship with God the Father, to walk with Him, and step with Him, in agreement with Him, to have commonness and partnership in the word of life so that our joy may be full. 

The Greek word here for joy is kara, and Strong defines this word in this wonderful way, a calm delight. Kara translated here joy means calm delight. Notice John's flow of thought here. He is establishing that he knows what is true. He knows Jesus Christ. He saw Him. He looked intently at Him. He handled Him with his own hands. 

And it is He, Jesus, that John is declaring to us for two reasons: that we may have fellowship with God the Father, and that our joy may be full. I believe John is talking here about a close intimacy, abiding in, walking with God, and therefore walking in closeness and intimacy with one another. 

What I will call experiential, or we could say practical, fellowship. That is that we would exercise our commonness, our partnership in the body, in the gospel, in our salvation, in Christ. John is calling us to focus on Jesus, on the gospel, on declaring the truth that we might have fellowship, that our joy may be full. 

This fellowship is manifest by joy in our hearts and minds, a steady, calm delight. The question here, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is what do you know? What do you know? Do you know that North Korea is not going to cause massive death and devastation in the near future? Do you know that? 

Do you know that Iran is not going to get a nuclear weapon? Do you know that Donald Trump is going to fix our economy? Do you know that you're going to remain healthy? That your finances are going to maintain a sufficient level? Do you know the weather is going to cooperate so that you can get your pasture worked up and planted this spring? 

Will there be drought? Will it never quit raining like it did last summer? Some say the mosquitoes are going to be at a record level this year. I don't listen to those people. What do you know? What do we know? Really, what do we know? I would submit that the man in Adam in this world knows nothing for sure. 

Oh, he's certain that he knows many, many things. But like Vance Havner said, I would rather be sure of a few things than certain of a whole lot of things that just ain't so. What do you know for sure? You see, there were false teachers. John was writing concerning those who were trying to deceive the believers in these churches. 

And these teachers had some really fine-sounding arguments. They had biblical-sounding stuff. Plus, it was really deep and it was really academic. It was plausible. It was attractive. And some were being influenced by this teaching. The false teachers had gone out from the churches, but they were trying to draw away the true believers after themselves. This was a danger then, and it is certainly a danger now. 

Think about all of the worldly false teaching that Christians have been drawn to, have been drawn away from the truth by. We see it everywhere. Men look to everything. They trust in everything. They'll try anything except Jesus, except God's Word. So how is it that we keep ourselves from error, from being taken captive by false teaching and the lies of the world? 

John says, remember what you know. Remember what you heard from the beginning. Remember the Gospel. Remember Jesus. I read an interesting story this week about a soldier in World War II. Some of you maybe have heard this story before. It's titled, Remember. It says, It is gratitude that prompted an old man to visit an old broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida. 

Every Friday night until his death in 1973, he would return walking slowly and slightly stooped with a large bucket of shrimp. The seagulls would flock to this old man and he would feed them from his bucket. Many years before, in October of 1942, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea. 

But there was an unexpected detour which would hurl Captain Eddie into the most harrowing adventure of his life. Somewhere over the South Pacific, the flying fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio and fuel became dangerously low. So the men ditched their plane in the ocean. And for nearly a month, Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water and the weather and the scorching sun. 

They spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed their rafts. The largest raft was 9 by 5, the biggest shark 10 feet long. But all of their enemies at sea, one proved most formidable, starvation. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water, it would take a miracle... to sustain them, and a miracle occurred. 

In Captain Eddie's own words, Cherry, that was the B-17 pilot Captain William Cherry, read the service that afternoon, and we finished with a prayer for deliverance and a hymn of praise. There was some talk, but it tapered off in the oppressive heat. With my hat pulled down over my eyes to keep out some of the glare, I dozed off. Something landed on my head. I knew it was a seagull. 

I don't know how I knew, I just knew. Everyone else knew, too. No one said a word, but peering out from under my hat brim, without moving my head, I could see the expression on their faces. They were staring at that gull. The gull meant food, if I could catch it. And the rest, as they say, is history. 

Captain Eddie caught the gull, its flesh was eaten, its intestines were used for bait to catch fish. The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone seagull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land, offered itself as a sacrifice. You know that Captain Eddie made it, and now you also know that he never forgot. 

Because every Friday evening, about sunset, on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida seacoast, you could see an old man walking, white haired, bushy eyebrows, slightly bent, his bucket filled with shrimp, to feed the seagulls. To remember that one which on a day long past, gave itself without a struggle, like manna in the wilderness. 

My brothers and sisters, Paul talks in 2 Corinthians 11 about the simplicity that is in Christ. Sometimes it seems to me that we like to make things complicated. We like to seek some deeper knowledge. Some 12 step method, some magic cure. Something more than Jesus. That's what the false teachers of John's day were selling. And you know it's what they're selling today as well. 

That you need something more than Jesus. But as John starts this letter, the message that he really wants to get across, the thing that he wants us to get hold of and focus on, is that which we have known from the beginning. It's that which he declares to us. It's the simplicity that is in Christ. 

And only as we learn to preach the Gospel to ourselves, to have our life be a life of gratitude for that selfless sacrifice that Jesus offered on the cross of Calvary. Only as we learn to look to Jesus only. To know that He is sufficient for all things. That He is all we have, but that He is all we need. He is all that we know. Only then can we experience full joy. 

That steady, calm delight. Regardless of all the worries and anxieties and fears in this world. Because perfect love casts out fear. When we know Jesus, we can know peace. We can know calm delight because He is our peace. He is our joy. And He is eternal life. 

John has a lot for store in us in this epistle. But what he wants us to know is that our assurance is wrapped up in the truth of Jesus Christ. Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful that You keep bringing us back to the truth. That You keep pointing us to Jesus Christ. Thank You that we have assurance in Him. Thank You that He is sufficient for all our needs. Thank You that He's our Savior. He's our hope. He's our friend. Help us, Lord, just to be content in Christ and know that He's all that we need. In Jesus' name, amen.