God Manifested His Word To Be Proclaimed, Shared, And Enjoyed Series

GOD MANIFESTED HIS WORD TO BE PROCLAIMED, SHARED, & ENJOYED

1 John 1:1-4

I am humbled and honored to be here this morning presenting God’s Word to you this morning. The text we will be looking at this morning is from John’s first letter. First John is my favorite book in the Bible; it is the one book that I go to when I am struggling in my walk with God. I am very excited to be able to share with you some of the things written by The Apostle of Love, this simple yet complex letter has helped me greatly in my life and I just hope and pray that as I present it to you that The Holy Spirit will fill you with the same joy and peace it gives me.

Many of us have read and some of us have probably studied all of or portions of First John, but allow me to introduce this little book to you again.

First John is widely recommended to new Christians as one of their first books of the Bible to read. I recommend it often myself.

The reason I recommend it to new believers is because this book contains the basics of the Christians life, and that is why I have so aptly named this expositional series “Back to the Basics.” I also recommend it to dear friends of mine that are struggling because I believe that every one of us, regardless of our spiritual maturity, need to take a refresher course in the basics. The central theme of the letter is how our faith is manifested in love. The word love is mentioned 55 times in this little k. Why does John focus so much on Love, he knew the importance of love in a Christian’s life? He was there when Jesus replied to the question what is the greatest commandment. (Matt 22:37-40; Jesus replied: “`Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with your entire mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.")

The reason John writes this book is clearly stated in chapter 1 verse 4, “to make our joy complete.”

Let us look into how John is going to help us in his First letter. As I stated before the text we will be looking at this morning is 1 John 1:1-4.

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The title of my message this morning is GOD MANIFESTED HIS WORD TO BE PROCLAIMED, SHARED, & ENJOYED. This is a 3 point sermon, the first point “The Proclaiming”, is found in Vv 1 and 2. What is the message that The Apostle John is proclaiming? The Gospel! “That which was from the beginning”, all John is stating here is that he is proclaiming the same message as has always been. This is not a new or innovative concept, from the beginning of what? The beginning is God, in the gospel of John 1:1 this same apostle wrote “In the beginning was the Word,” this same message just like God has never changed.

The gospel is not man made and definitely not controlled. This same Good News was in place from the beginning.

With all the watered down, law-burdened, flesh driven, so called “gospel” messages out there now and in John’s time of writing this letter, it is very important for us to understand what “The Gospel” is. More often than not we Christians make the mistake of assuming that “the Gospel” message is for the lost, but I must object to that thought. The message that saved us is the same one that sustains that salvation.

John uses three verbs to back up his eyewitness of what he proclaims. He heard it, looked at it, and he touched it.

We all know what kind of power and eyewitness holds in court. As a matter of fact many cases are decided not by physical evidence but by a reputable eyewitness. As much evidence as the prosecution had on O.J. Simpson, that did not help the prosecution in the criminal trial, but if they would have had one good, trustworthy witness to back up the evidence I believe that he would have been found guilty, and he Juice would be spending the rest of his life in a different type of recreation yard, today.

John could have left it at heard and seen, but he didn’t. Why? People have heard the Word of God for centuries, beginning with Adam. But they didn’t heed the word. People have seen God’s manifestation but they didn’t accept it. One of John’s fellow disciples saw what Jesus was like, he saw his miracles, and he saw God in the flesh and did not take hold of it. Of course you all know who I am talking about Judas Iscariot. The reason that John goes on to the third verb, “touched it,” is very simple he wanted us to not only know what it has done for him, but he wants us to know what it can do for you and I. The Word of Life touched him and he took hold of it. It was his life. It dictated everything he did. He wasn’t perfect at it, but he didn’t let his imperfection get in the way of the perfect message of “The Gospel.” Why did he proclaim this message, even though his life was in jeopardy every time he did? There are four reasons why John proclaimed the gospel first he was commanded to do so by the author of the message. Acts 1:8b and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."