Alba 5-19-2024
DON'T DOUBT IT!
I John 1:1-4
The following statements were taken from official documents, newspapers and magazines widely read during their day. Listen to what the "authorities" had to say:
1840 - "Anyone traveling at the speed of thirty miles per hour would surely suffocate."
1878 - "Electric lights are unworthy of serious attention."
1901 - "No possible combination can be united into a practical machine by which men shall fly."
1926 - (from a scientist) "This foolish idea of shooting at the moon is basically impossible."
1930 - (another scientist) "To harness the energy locked up in matter is impossible."
All of the people who said these things were proven wrong. They were proven wrong because reality set in. Once people experienced and survived fast speeds, electric light, airplanes, space flights and saw the power of nuclear fission, everything changed. The experience proved what before was thought to be impossible could actually be true.
But it can be hard to convince some people. Like doubting Thomas, they say, “I won't believe it until I see it!” Even then you can't convince some people. As they say, “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” The scribes and Pharisees had Jesus right in front of them, but they would not believe that He was the Messiah.
Except for Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, the doubters didn't take the time or the effort to examine the evidence as to the reality of Jesus' claim to be the “I Am”. That's why the apostle John, nearly 60 years after Jesus walked on this earth, wrote his letter to the churches. He wanted to give witness to the truth about Jesus. And he provides all we need and more to put to rest any false ideas about who Jesus is. John doesn't want anyone to have doubts about the person and deity of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
So I John 1:1-4 says this: “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.”
In the original Greek language, these four verses are contained in one sentence. There is what seems to be some repetition in these verses, but John wants to drive home his message so that no one could mistake or misrepresent what he is saying. That Jesus is real. He walked on this earth. He gave Himself as a sacrifice for our sins.
1.Don't doubt it! Because, he says: We Heard Him
John is saying that he was there as Jesus spoke to the multitudes and in the personal conversations Jesus had with the apostles. They heard Him speak! They did not get the word second hand. They didn’t read His words in a book. They heard Him speak with their own ears and hearts! They heard Him say to the questioning Jews, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
They heard Him say to Nicodemus “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” They heard Him say “Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” They heard Him say, “The hour is coming when all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth, the good to the resurrection of life and the evil to the resurrection of condemnation.”
They heard Him say, “The bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They heard Him say, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” They heard Him say, “For if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” They heard Him say, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” They heard Him say, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
They heard Him say, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” They heard Him say, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” They heard Him say, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”
Don't you wish you could have been there to hear what Jesus was saying. That's why scripture is so important. In the Bible we have the words of Jesus recorded, and we can play them back again and again by reading from this wonderful book. By the way, Jesus didn't speak in red tones. A red letter Bible is simply a way to help us be aware of the words that Jesus actually spoke.
Jesus said that sheep know their shepherd's voice and will follow when he calls. We need to be listening to Jesus so that we don't wander away and get lost. We need to hear the words of Jesus so that other voices will not distract us from the safety of His sheepfold.
Jesus promised the apostles that the Holy Spirit would remind them of the things he told them. What they wrote down, they were not getting second, third or fourth hand. They heard Jesus speak, and the Holy Spirit helped them to remember what He said. So now we also can “hear” the words of Jesus. Don't doubt it! The evidence for our faith is solid. The information we have is from direct sources. John not only heard Jesus words, he is able to say:
2. Don't Doubt It! Because We Saw Him.
John comes to us as an eyewitness to the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. If it was a court proceeding, the best witness a prosecution could have would be an eyewitness. Unless of course that witness is already a proven liar and convicted of perjury. But John is none of those. He is a man who gave up his life profession to follow the One who he knew to be the Son of God.
If seeing is believing, by spending three years with Jesus in close fellowship during His ministry on this earth, the apostles saw plenty. They saw Him with their own eyes. They saw the Spirit descend on Him like a dove at His baptism. They saw Him heal withered hands and straighten crooked backs. They saw Him cure fevers and cleanse lepers. They saw Him cast out demons and denounce diseases.
They saw Him erase blindness and open closed ears. They saw Him return speech to tongues unable to speak. They saw His glory unveiled on the Mount of Transfiguration. They saw Him destroy scientific hypothesis by walking on water. They saw Him correct blindness without laser surgery. They saw Him get money to pay taxes out of the mouth of a fish.
They saw Him command the wind and the sea! They saw Him open a restaurant on the hillside and feed a multitude. They saw Him enter into sick rooms, stop funerals, and call the dead out of the grave. They saw Him, and seeing Him, they saw God! When Jesus told the apostles in the gospel of John chapter fourteen: 7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”
They had seen all these things that Jesus had done. He is telling them that what they have seen is all the proof that they need to know who He is for sure. And, we can see Jesus through their eyes. The god of this world has blinded many, but the light of the gospel shines through to any and all who will take a serious look.
What mere man has done what Jesus did? And He did it all out in the open where those who were watching could not deny what they saw. The apostle Peter confirms what John says in these verses. In II Peter 1:16-18 he combats any doubt a person may have about Jesus.
In II Peter 1:16-18 he says, “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”
Peter says we heard the voice of God and we are eyewitnesses of the majesty of the One and Only, Jesus of Nazareth, the only begotten Son of God. So, don't doubt it! And if that is not enough, John says:
3. Don't Doubt It! Because We Touched Him.
There is greater significance to that statement than it may first appear. Even in that first century of Christianity, false ideas were developing about Jesus and the nature of God. The devil has a way of turning anything good and true into something false. There were those who taught that the material world, and all that is in it is evil. And only the spiritual part of it could be good.
Well it is true that there is a lot of evil in this world, but this idea held by the Gnostics led to strange and false teaching about Jesus. They believed that since the material world, including our bodies, are inherently evil, then a holy God could not come down to this earth in a real human body.
Therefore, to them Jesus was just a spirit that looked like it had a physical form. The problem here is that idea makes the sacrifice that Jesus offered on the cross to take the penalty for our sins a figment of our imagination. John won't have it! He says, “We touched Him!” Jesus was real. Yes, He is deity, the divine Son of God. But He had a body just as you and I do. Jesus endured the pain of the cross just like any other man. But even more so. Because He not only had nails driven into His hands and feet, He also bore your sins and mine when He was on that cross. And it was a heavy load.
And then, this same Jesus, though buried three days, came out of that tomb alive. And if that is hard to believe, you share some doubts with Thomas who said, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). He demanded proof.
So when Jesus came to them again He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas was able to hear, see and touch the risen Christ. And, when he did it says, “Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:27) So if you share his doubts, you should also share his acceptance of the reality of the death, burial and resurrection in the person of Jesus Christ.
Without a real sacrifice, and without a perfect sacrifice (which is found only in Jesus), we would not have salvation from our sins. That is why when John tells us that they had touched the Word of Life is so important. In John's gospel, John 1:14, he tells us “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
We have a Savior! It is Jesus Christ. He who was from the beginning is the same yesterday, today and forever. And everyone of us need Him. I am not sure if you are aware or not, but I have a sin problem. In fact, so do you. The Bible makes it clear that we all have a problem with sin! (Romans 3:23) We do bad stuff - all the time! But praise God, Jesus came to take care of our sin problem. You need Him! I need Him! Don't doubt it!
Life is only found in Jesus. There is no other way to receive eternal life except through Jesus. Remember in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked the Father if there was another way to save people. There was no other way. If the Father allowed His Son to die because there was no other way, then what makes us think He would make an exception and offer a different way for you and me other than through Jesus?
It is when you and I accept that truth and act on it that we are able to have real fellowship with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. It is when we yield in obedient faith to the Lordship of Jesus in our lives that we will have joy, a joy that is full, complete and forever.
You know there’s not a lot of joy in this old world. Did you ever hear anybody singing songs about how glorious it is to be lost? You know, we sing these wonderful songs about going to Heaven — “When we all get to Heaven.” You don’t hear any lost people getting together singing with joy “When we all get to Hell.” No, there is no joy there.
Look at verse four. It says, “And these things write we to you, that your joy may be full.” He didn’t say that you may have one-fourth joy. And he’s not talking about one-half joy. Jesus Christ gives plumb full joy so that our joy may be full.
If you know that you have committed yourself to Christ and that your sins are forgiven, and that He is preparing a place in heaven for you, you will no doubt have joy in the presence of the Lord.
John preached about Jesus because he had tell about Jesus. He was driven to do this because he loved Jesus so much. He was sharing all of this because… it gave him joy.
John is sharing something he knows is true. Because he had heard, seen, and touched the One who came to save us.
Don't doubt it!
CLOSE:
A young boy, the child of missionaries, had been in school in the States for one year. His parents had stayed on the field. At Christmas time, the principal of the school was visiting the boy in his room, trying to cheer him up. “Son,” he asked, “what would you like to have most for Christmas?”
The boy looked for a long time at the framed picture of his father on his desk and remembered that he was in a far-off land. Then the boy said quietly, “I would like for my father to step out of that picture frame!”
Jesus Christ, through His incarnation, “stepped out” into this world. Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Because of that, you and I can have it. Don't doubt it!
