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.
C. we see the SURETY. This is the same John that put down his nets and followed Jesus. The one who heard him preach to thousands; saw the miracles and ate with him. He put his head on his chest- watched him breath his last breath on the cross.
John knew that Jesus was the word of life.
You may be uncertain about all that I just said? But I tell you that" today" you can experience the same thing that John did.
You can see Jesus through the window of faith. Hear the sound of faith. Touch him through the feeling of faith. And know him personally with a heart of faith.
#2. He is the GIFT of life V2.
For something to be a gift it has to be free. For a gift to be good it has to be practical, you can use it. For a gift to be great it has to be personal, and given in love. For a gift to be glorious it has to be powerful enough to change your whole life.
The most glorious gift ever given was Jesus. Jn.3:16
It says in that V2 that he was manifested. = Revealed, obvious, or made known.
God's great gift was not hidden! People don't have to go around trying to look for clues to see if they can find Jesus.
When the Pharisees asked Jesus who he was and what he had been up to, he said nothing that I have said, or done has been hidden.
Let’s look into this gift
#A. let's see how you QUALIFY for this gift. All you have to do to be found is to figure out that you’re lost, and then cry out to be rescued.
#B. let's look at the QUANTITY of this gift. He says that verse that it's eternal. Eternity entered into time when God stepped on this earth in the incarnate Christ.
And when a person receives Jesus as their Savior, eternity steps in your heart. At that very moment you receive eternal life. You are Holy Ghost filled, sealed, rescued from hell, and heaven bound.
That ought to bring the saddest, maddest, sickest, depressed, negative church member to their feet and jumping for joy!
#C. there is also a QUALITY with this gift. It's the abundant, abounding, abiding life that we receive from Jesus.
We receive all of his riches in glory the very second we receive him as Savior.
Friend, God's too big for you to hide, grace and mercy is too sweet to be stingy, and a gift like that is too good to keep for ourselves.
John said, “we seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which the father showed us”.
Just like John we need to make sure that we are showing that manifested life to others also.
Telling spiritually dead folks about the life they can have eternally with Jesus is a greatest gift you could ever give to help change somebodies life.
#3. He is the HARMONY of life V3.
Once a person experiences this real-life there will be a natural tendency to start sharing it with others and being around people who are just like you. Birds of a feather flock together. I've seen old crows set off by themselves and squawk. I've seen the hen’s get together in a circle and bawk. I've seen the parrots talk. And I've seen the jaybird's walk. But as Christians we are to soar above all that, and be able to nest together.
He says in that verse that we may have fellowship together. Fellowship means commonality. The fact is that man is born a dirty rotten sinner and a dirty rotten sinner doesn't have anything in common with a holy righteous God. But God in his unchanging, undeniable, unconditional love wants to have fellowship with man. That could only happen through somebody who could be both God and man. SO through his grace he sent his son Jesus who though he was fully God took upon himself a human body and became a man. Then he went to the cross and took upon that body the sins of the world. And through his blood the price was paid in full for our sin.
A path was created, A bridge was built, A road was laid, and A door was open for us to have fellowship with God.
Jesus took upon himself the nature of man, that by faith we may be able to take on the nature of God!
John also said that you might have fellowship with us.
Being right with Jesus shows up in the way we treat others in and out of church. I cannot be wrong with you, and right with him.
Everybody has different likes and dislikes, not everybody in here is the same gender, the same generation, or grew up the same way.
We're not here to be cloned, but we are to have some things in common. We are not looking for uniformity, but there should be unity.
Christian if you have been born again you will have the likeness of Christ.
If you believe in creation, the virgin birth, Jesus’ sinless life, his pure sacrifice, the only Savior, and the second coming. Then we have some things in common.
You show me a fighting church, and I'll show you a church where Jesus is standing at the door knocking but not allowed to come in.
Jesus brings harmony with God and the church.
Jesus is the #1.WORD OF LIFE-- #2.GIFT OF LIFE-- #3. HARMONY OF LIFE; and He is…..
#4. He is the JOY of life V4.
Fellowship is Christ answer to the loneliness of life.
But his joy is the answer to the emptiness and hollowness of life. You can’t be empty of Jesus and full of joy. John says these things we write to you. Do you realize that we hold in our hands the written record of a man who walked, talked, ate, with Jesus?
John was one of the inner circle that was closest to Jesus.
It was John the stood at the foot of the cross and held Jesus mother while he died. It was John the same the empty tomb, and then later saw the resurrected Christ. John had bad things happen & still joyful
John uses the word "joy" just once in this epistle, but the idea of joy runs throughout the entire letter. Joy is not something that we can manufacture ourselves. Joy is not fun. Fun is here today and gone tomorrow. Joy is not happiness. Happiness is dependent on our circumstances, or what happens to us.
(Sin is usually the culprit behind unhappiness). Sin promises joy, but produces sorrow.
Heb.11:25.Says the pleasures of sin are only enjoyed for a season. God's pleasures last forever.
Psalms 16:11 you will show me the path of life: in your presence is the fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Joy is an inner gladness! Joy can’t be bought by you it is birthed by God! The Lord puts it down in your heart and a glad heart shows up with glad behavior.
Ever seen them people smiling all the time when for all practical purposes they have a lot to frown about? Ask them why so happy they’ll say Because I love Jesus!
Joy is not a byproduct of pleasure, position or power, but rather a life centered on Jesus Christ.
In Philippians chapter 4 Paul wrote, "rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice".
Paul didn't write this when he was all pumped up on the last night of youth camp or at a promise keepers rally full of men holding hands and singing kumbaya.
Or at a women's group were you're trying to get over something that happened in your childhood, and get in touch with your inner self. Or an old fashion Holy Ghost filled revival where there’s shaking, singing and shouting, Aunt Norma is wailing, and Uncle Henry his hot lapping around the pews. Paul wrote that from a prison cell.
Here's what I want to ask you. Do you want to go through money problems, marriage problems, midlife crisis, and a messed up society with the joy of the Lord?
Or do you want to go through it alone moping, moaning, and mourning? Which do you prefer? Some folks have no idea how to go through circumstances joyful!
They have been negative and soured up so long they don't know how to be any other way.
Reacting joyful would be a shock to your system, and stun everyone else!
Time to change! You better get some joy here so that you'll know how to react in heaven. In Luke 10.70 disciples set out 2 by 2 and they came back and reported to Jesus rejoicing because the demons were subject to your name.
Jesus said yeah that's really exciting! But don't rejoice over that, but be joyful that your names are written down in heaven. That’s something to rejoice about!! Joy’s not the absence of trouble it’s the presence of Jesus!
Folks if you want joy and you want your joy to be full, then you need to care about the same things that Jesus does.
And Jesus main concern is that every person would be saved by putting their faith in him and get real about life.
