The Testimony of Scripture
Text: 1 Jn. 1:1-4
Introduction
1. Illustration: "The Bible...is the one supreme source of revelation of the meaning of life, the nature of God and spiritual nature and needs of men. It is the only guide of life which really leads the spirit in the way of peace and salvation. America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture." --Woodrow Wilson
2. The Bible is the most reliable book you will ever read because:
a. You can trust the testimony of Scripture.
b. You can trust who the testimony of who Scripture is about.
c. You can trust what Scripture does.
Proposition: The entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is the testimony of how God restored sinful man through His Son Jesus Christ.
Transition: First...
I. You Can Trust the Testimony of Scripture (1)
A. From the Beginning
1. John begins this letter by referring to "That which was from the beginning..."
a. By observing the rest of the paragraph we can see that it wasn’t a "that" which he was talking about, but rather a who.
b. The opening of this letter is every reminiscient of the opening of his gospel when he says "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
c. It is clear that John is referring to the person of Jesus Christ.
2. Why can we trust what John says about Jesus? John tells us we can trust what he says about Jesus because He is the one "which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled..."
a. Some people in John’s time were doubting the testimony that he and the other apostles had given about Jesus.
b. However, their testimony was reliable because they had heard him with their ears, seen him with their eyes, and touched him with their hands.
c. His testimony could be trusted because he was there!
3. Notice that John’s words are emphatic: "we HAVE heard...we HAVE seem...our hands HAVE handled."
a. He leaves no doubt that he was an eyewitness to Jesus coming to earth in the flesh.
b. He was there when Jesus did miracles.
c. He was there when Jesus healed the lame, deaf, and blind.
d. He was there when Jesus raised people from the dead.
e. He was there when Jesus died, and was there to see him alive again when he rose from the grave.
4. Notice also that John’s words are in the perfect tense.
a. The words and deeds of Jesus, though witnessed these many years ago are still present with the writer. - New International Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM
b. His testimony is reliable, and the effect of Jesus on his life was still fresh.
5. He says that his testimony is "concerning the Word of life."
a. John’s use of the Word is a good title for the Son who both created the universe with God and then came to earth to be the perfect expression of God to humanity.
b. Not only is Jesus Christ "the Word," he is the Word of life--of spiritual life.
c. People may be physically alive but spiritually dead. Jesus, however, as the express image of God himself, gives both spiritual life and eternal life to all who believe in him.
B. Eye Witness Accounts
1. Illustration: What if we had each person that witnessed the resurrected Lord come up here this morning and talk for 15 minutes giving a testimony to what they saw.
If we listened to the testimony of all the people that Jesus appeared to, we would be here all day, and all night, and Monday and Monday night and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and sometime early Friday morning they would just be wrapping up the testimony.
It would take over 128 strait hours just to hear, for 15 minutes each, the testimony of those that saw the Lord after he rose.
2. We can trust the Bible because those who wrote its words were there, and the words they wrote are true.
3. We can trust the Bible because the things written in it are not:
a. Made up
b. Thought up
c. Conjured up
4. We can trust the Bible because it was written by trustworthy men. They gave up:
a. Their jobs
b. Their families
c. Their friends, and
d. Their lives to defend it
5. The Bible is not a book of myths or stories, but it is the word of God about the Word of God.
Transition: Second...
II. You Can Trust the Testimony of Scripture is About (2)
A. Manifested to Us
1. As you read John’s letter, you will discover that he enjoys using certain words, and that the word "manifest" is one of them. "And the life was manifested" (1 John 1:2), he says.
a. When manifest (emphanisô) is used in the sense of an unveiling or revelation, it suggests that a new thing has come to light, that something never known by man before is made known. —Practical Word Studies in the New Testament
b. This life was not hidden so that we have to search for it and find it. No, it was manifested—revealed openly! —Bible Exposition Commentary - New Testament
2. Once again John makes the point that he was there: "and we have seen, and bear witness..."
a. The repeated emphasis on personal experience — seeing and testifying what was revealed to us — is not just a way to shore up his defense of the Incarnation.
b. John’s authority rests in what he knows to be true because he has touched it (Burge, NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: The Letters of John, 54).
3. John tells us the reason for his writing by saying "and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us..."
a. John’s main purpose in writing is that people may know that they can have eternal life in Jesus Christ.
b. The entire unifying theme of the Bible is that because of our sin we deserve eternal death, but because God loved us so much, He sent His Son, Jesus, to die in our place so that we could have eternal life.
c. 1 Jn. 5:13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
4. He, the other disciples, and thousands of other people had indeed "seen" Jesus.
a. John’s work during the many years since Jesus’ ascension had been to testify and announce to everyone that Jesus is the one who is eternal life.
b. Because Christ is eternal life, those who trust in him also have eternal life.
B. Life in Christ
1. Illustration: Someone has said, "Living life is building a bridge into eternity." The world’s religions require mankind to build his own bridge with his own resources. Christianity, on the other hand, provides the bridge. Not only that, the Builder of that bridge will journey with you to ensure that you get to your eternal home safely.
2. If you could put the message of the Bible in one word that word would be "life."
3. The Bible is not just some religious book filled with a bunch or regulations that you have to follow or die.
4. The Bible is not just a book of do’s and don’ts.
5. The Bible is God’s declaration to man that if we will believe in Jesus Christ we will have eternal life.
Transition: Third...
III. You Can Trust What Scripture Does (3-4)
A. That You Also May Have Fellowship
1. In verses 3 and 4, John describes what happens when we understand and accept the message of the gospel.
2. He says "that you also may have fellowship with us..."
a. This word fellowship is an important one in the vocabulary of a Christian. It simply means "to have in common."
b. As sinners, men have nothing in common with the holy God.
c. But God in His grace sent Christ to have something in common with men. Christ took on Himself a human body and became a man.
d. Then He went to the cross and took on that body the sins of the world.
e. Because He paid the price for our sins, the way is open for God to forgive us and take us into His family.—Bible Exposition Commentary - New Testament
3. John also says about this fellowship "and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ."
a. The truth is that God created us to have fellowship with Him.
b. However, because of sin that fellowship was severed.
c. But the Bible declares that we can have that fellowship restored because of what Jesus did on the cross.
4. When the disciples were regenerated by the Holy Spirit, they actually entered into fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
a. Having been brought into this living union, the apostles became the new initiators--introducing this fellowship to others and encouraging them to enter into fellowship with them.
b. They spent the rest of their lives declaring to the world that this fellowship with God was possible to all who believe.
5. Not only can we have God’s fellowship, but we can also have His joy. John says "And these things we write to you that your joy may be full."
a. Just as the proclamation of the Good News was for others to join the fellowship, so John was writing these things to encourage the readers’ participation in both the fellowship and the joy that he (John) and the other believers were experiencing.
b. Proclamation produces fellowship; fellowship produces joy.
B. Joy
1. Illustration: As a third-century man was anticipating death, he penned these last words to a friend: "It’s a bad world, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people are the Christians--and I am one of them."
2. The message of the Bible creates fellowship.
a. Fellowship with God
b. Fellowship with one another
3. That fellowship creates joy - real joy!
a. Not joy based on feelings or circumstances.
b. Not joy based on money or possessions.
c. Not joy based on power or fame.
d. But joy knowing that you name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
4. Rev. 21:26-27 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Transition: You always have reason for joy as long as your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Conclusion
1. We can trust:
a. The testimony of Scripture
b. Because of who it is about
c. Because of what it does
2. We can trust that it is true because it was written by eyewitnesses.
3. We can trust that it is true because it produces joy if we receive it.
4. Read it; study it; memorize it, because you can trust it.
