Keeping It Real Series

The author of these 3 little epistles along with, the gospel of John, and the book of the REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, is none other than the apostle John.

(Don't confuse him with John the Baptist, this is John the beloved). All of John's writings have specific purposes.

In the gospel of John he centers his writing on presenting Jesus as the God/Man. The key verse is 20:31. The gospel was written that you might believe that Jesus is the son of God, and the Savior of the world.

In the Revelation he reveals him as the righteous ruler who will return as the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings.

In these 3 epistles he presents Jesus as a God who is light, love, and life.

It was important to the apostle John for people to be sure about who Jesus is.

The common phrase in these epistles is "that you may know".

And the most important thing that you need to know this morning is to know him as your personal Lord and Savior.

We are living in times where society is chaotic. Some churches are corrupt, cold, complacent.

And many people are confused about what true Christianity looks like.

We need to get back to what is genuine, (which is the triune God in Genesis 1:1).

We need to get back to what's authentic, (which is the author and finisher of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ).

And instead of a bunch of rehearsed emotional hype, we need to have a real encounter with the Holy Spirit.

GETTING REAL ABOUT LIFE 1 John 1:1-4.

The first thing we need to know is that there's a big diff between existing & living, [and] surviving & thriving; and it all hinges on whether or not you have real life!

I promise you Jesus Christ did not leave heaven, hit Earth, hang on a cross, be heaped with our sin, and go to hell and back, so we could muddle through life, find meaning for our existence, and make a mark in this world before we leave it.

He came that we might have REAL LIFE, and that we may have it more abundantly.

Do you know, if you are living the mundane life or the abundant life?

Get real today! I promise that you cannot get real life until you get real about Jesus.

Let’s look @ 4 things that Jesus is in the life of a believer……

#1. He is the WORD of life V1.

V1. Word of life. You see that capital W? That denotes a part of the Godhead, and in this case it's Jesus the Son. Understand that; He is real and not make-believe. He is deity and not a dream. He is the incarnate God and not an idol. He is a person and not a philosophy.

Child of God you need to get a grip on the fact today that you are not chasing the wind, or buying into a fairytale!

If you are saved it's because you have put your faith in the Son of Man, the Sweet Lamb of God, and the great I AM who, was, is, and is to come! And folks Jesus is real!

John says that which was from the beginning. There are 3 beginnings mentioned in the Bible.

#1. Genesis 1:1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. This is the beginning of the Material World.

When God who was everywhere, come out of nowhere, and created everything out of nothing.

#2. John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word (listen to this) was God.

This is the beginning of The Word. Before it all began Jesus was there. Before there was a here; there was a somewhere and Jesus was there! And even before he spoke way back there, he knew you, and knew that today you would be here!

I've heard some folks try to preach that passage and make reference to the Word as being the Bible. The Bible is the word of truth. Jesus is the word of life!

#3. That which was-in this passage refers to the preaching of the gospel that was centered in Jesus Christ. This is the beginning of the Christian life.

3 things we need to see here.

A. we see the SUBSTANCE. The substance is Jesus, without Christ there are no Christians.

He is the object of our affection the center of our attention and the giver of our redemption.

B. we see the STABILITY. Look how John’s description of Jesus intensifies.

John said, “we heard, seen with our eyes, have looked upon, and our hands have handled him”.

[That word looked up on means to gaze intently, to examine, and scrutinize].

They studied Jesus! If there was anything questionable about Jesus they would've known it.