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Guide us, O thou gracious Savior, 276.
Bread of Heaven.
Jesus now and evermore.
Where there's no man, forbidding hours would be allow us to meet in this way. We thank Thee indeed, that we could have the scriptures open. And this day we just ask Thee that Thou would guide us to a passage that would be suited to the audience that is here. As we have sung this prayer, Him to Thee, Lord Jesus, that would guide us and treat us. We ask Thee and Thee that Thou would provide a portion for our souls. Something will be uplifting in heavenly.
00:05:13
Something would take our hearts upward, and so we just asked it to direct us to a chapter that would be suitable for this occasion. And may our hearts be ministered to and encouraged in the pathway.
Pray that each and everyone would get something in this day from Thy precious Word and from Thyself, our God.
We ask this in the name of thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
Call.
Like to suggest that we could read first John chapter one and we have 4 readings. Perhaps we can get into chapter 2 as well.
My suggestion brother and I'm.
Open if someone else has something else as well.
I think it'd be profitable, Bob.
First John, chapter one.
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, of the word of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it. And bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us.
And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things right we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.
And the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son from all sin, if we say that we have no sin.
We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive, forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We say that we have not sinned. We make Him a liar, and His word is not in US.
Ministry is about the family of God.
And in Paul's ministry, we get adoption or being brought into sonship.
But in John's ministry, it's being born into the family of God, so that it is a matter of the very life that we share when we are born again.
00:10:15
In John's Gospel chapter one and verse 12 it tells us.
As many as received him.
To them gave he power to become the sons of God.
Even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, that's the way we were born the first time, but of God.
None of us decided to be born the first time. That was the decision of our parents.
And really, none of us decided to be born the second time. That was by the will of God. Yes, we may have made a decision, but it was because of the will of God. And I think it is helpful to see that. So it's being born into God's family. And somebody has said, and I really must say it has helped me, that John's gospel is eternal life seen in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
John's epistle is eternal life as manifested in the ones that are born into God's family, His children. So that helps as we consider this portion, I believe.
Could I ask a question, and I don't want this to be too involved, but when we're born again, that we can be born again and not sealed with the spirit, but it seems like in John they are sealed of the spirit. So how does that work? You have an answer to that. It's more than just being born again, isn't it? Uh, seems.
John 3 when the Lord Jesus is talking to Nicodemus.
He says in verse 8, The wind blows where it listeth, and thou hears the sound thereof, but can't not tell when it come and whither it going. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.
Is that an answer, brother?
OK.
Wasn't quite what I was thinking about, but.
Go ahead and expand brother. I appreciate it. Well, I I was I was thinking that you know, a person could be born again even in the Old Testament, but they weren't sealed with the spirit. But here it is talking about children. But these seem to be and they are have fellowship with the Lord, so they are sealed with the spirit. I just that's bothered me. I've enjoyed in connection with what the Lord Jesus said in John 10. He said I am come that you might have life.
But he didn't stop there because, as you say, they had life in the Old Testament. But he said that you might have it more abundantly. And that's why I believe it's never referred to as eternal life in connection with the Old Testament Saints. Because in Christianity, John brings us into a place where we have the full enjoyment of what we have. And that's the difference, isn't it? We have full enjoyment of that life.
We have the understanding of it. And why? Because it's all been manifest in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us. And that's really the opening 2 verses of our chapter. It brings before us God manifesting in Christ, coming in flesh, because all Christian truth really begins there. It begins with Christ manifest in the flesh. That's the beginning.
Of all Christian truth. And that's why it's important to really understand, take up and understand John's ministry so that we not only now are the possessors of divine life. I say again, they had life in the Old Testament, but now we are the possessors of what the New Testament calls eternal life. And we have been brought into a position where we can walk in the full enjoyment and power of that life that we have been given. Is that what you had in mind?
00:15:00
I, I think so. That's a good answer. I'm thankful for that. I think it's important to see that they are seeing in this epistle in the full Christian position from the side of things, from as the family of God, which has already been pointed out. You'll see in chapters 3 in the last words of that chapter, which is.
Verse 24 that he draws in us by the spirit which he has given us.
Then in chapter 4 it says in verse 13 hereby know we that we dwell in him and he and us because He has given us His Spirit. There's a couple of references in the show that they have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. So they're in the full Christian position in the family of God. He's not viewing new birth here as being that initial work of God in his soul rather than one who has been.
Communicating.
Eternal life is, uh, maybe we should, uh, mention what it is. And in John 17 and verse three, we have the Lord Jesus in his high priestly prayer saying.
This is eternal life.
That they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. That's why the Saints in the Old Testament really didn't have it until there was the complete revelation of who God is in the person of the Lord Jesus and that came with his coming into this world. So the beginning, like you say, Jim, in this.
Chapter is the beginning of the manifestation of eternal life and the person of the Lord Jesus when He was here. We have beginnings mentioned in four books of the Bible in the very first verses.
In Genesis one it was the beginning of creation, and John Gospel chapter one in the beginning was the word. That is perhaps the beginning because beginning denotes time that goes back farther. In other words, when there was any time to be calculated, he was already there. It's eternity and he was there from eternity. But this beginning is the beginning.
Of the manifestation of eternal life in the person of the Lord Jesus.
If you go back to John's Gospel chapter 8, I'd like to connect this verse with verse 25.
Then said they unto him, Who are thou?
And Jesus said unto them, Even the same that I said unto you.
From the beginning there it is the same context as we have in our verse.
What a wonderful thing, brethren, that we have been brought into the complete revelation of the knowledge of God in the person of the Lord Jesus. You know what impresses me? We live in a culture that is.
Humanistic, man centered and always thinking about yourself. That is not eternal life. Eternal life has its focus on the other direction to the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonderful thing that we can say that we have been brought into the knowledge of the true God and His Son Jesus Christ.
So the apostle Paul develops or gives us the counsels of God, but this has already been alluded to. John gives us the nature of God. And so the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. That's John one. But at the end of the Lord's pathway they said, Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. And he said, Have I been so long time with you, and hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hast seen me, that hast seen the Father? And so in his pathway here as the Word, he completely he gave complete.
Expression as to who God was, the nature of God, and that's again a very important concept or principle to get a hold of in our souls. As you say, they didn't know God in the same way in the Old Testament. They knew Him as the Almighty. They knew him as someone who was up there in heaven and so on, and someone who was controlling things to a certain extent and working in and with different people, but not in the same way that we know Him in Christianity.
00:20:12
And that's why I believe, or at least one reason why in John's gospel, he's introduced to us as the Word. And here again in our epistle, what do words do? They express concepts or thoughts. We speak words in a meeting like this to bring out the truth of God's word. And hopefully we speak clear and simple so that the thoughts of Scripture can be expressed so that the Spirit of God can apply them to each of our hearts and consciences and give us knowledge of these things. We use words.
To give expression, if I come and describe somebody to you, maybe you've never seen that person, but you might through my words. If I can describe that person accurately, you might have a very good mental image of who that person is that I'm talking about, though you've never seen them or a photograph of them. Well, the Lord Jesus came as the Word, and He gave full expression to who God is, to who God was, to the very nature of God, so that it's fully revealed. There is nothing more to be revealed.
As to the nature of God than what has already been revealed and manifest in the person of the Lord Jesus being made flesh and dwelling here on earth. And isn't that some reason why that in 90 John was the last apostle and things were coming in that attacked the person of Christ. Yeah, Gnosticism. And so a little maybe background of that would help. It's his help to me in understanding these books. What they really.
Uh, are.
Aiming at straightening out as Christians as to the person of Christ. Colossians 2. I believe in Gnosticism was that, uh, only the spirit and the soul were, uh, pure and the body, of course, was evil. Dave, maybe you could give us a little. So, so we might say, uh, it's been said that in Paul we have the dispensations. In other words, Paul is going to show what man is, how man is lost. We think of Romans.
And the place of Israel in Scripture and the setting aside of Israel and how God has used that to reveal the mystery that was hidden in God from ages and generations, and what God purposes to do both through the church and through Israel. But with John, you have what God manifests in the dispensations. Not only do we have the dispensations of God, but we have what He has chosen to manifest or display, and that is all centered in the person of the Lord Jesus.
In both his heavenly and earthly glory. So to come to your question, what would the enemy, what would the heart of man seek to touch in order to undermine the dispensations? And what God would display? He would seek to touch the person of Christ in one way or another. So the Gnostics come in where you have the minds of men, both Jews and Gentiles, who play with the Old Testament scriptures and and.
Add some of the Greek or Persian philosophy to it, and they come up with something that completely undermines the person of Christ, whatever it might be. It's a big subject and there's a lot that people can read on it if they're interested. But the point is, is that the enemy uses it to undermine that one who is to be the display of all of God's glory, the Lord Jesus.
That he really didn't have a human body. That's one aspect of it, yeah. And that's probably what he takes up here. So. So in that standpoint, we might say that the Scriptures show him to be, as it's been said, very God and very man. He is the Son Incarnate.
That can't be said of any other person who's ever lived.
The eternal Son of God.
And whatever the false teachings might be, they will undermine some aspect of him, His deity, His sinless humanity. We call that the impeccability of Christ. Not only did he not sin, but he did not have a nature that was capable of sinning. Because if a person is going to sin, even if they don't, if we say they could sin, that means they must have something within themselves that was capable of producing sin.
00:25:02
We don't have that in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have it in each one of us, but not in him.
That's so important to be clear as to his person, because that's the very foundation of our faith, isn't it? And that's why the enemy attacks that. So how important it is to be clear as to who he is. And that's always been the work of the enemy to bring doubt as to two things, the written word of God and then the person of Christ, the word that we have here. And it's very interesting in that connection that the first recorded words of Satan in the Old Testament are.
Half, God said immediately, trying to raise a doubt in the mind of Eve. Had God really said that?
That's the spoken word. And the first recorded words of Satan in the New Testament are, if thou be the Son of God, immediately trying to raise the doubt even in the mind of the Lord Jesus. Was He really who He said He was? And so it shows how Satan is bent on the attack of the spoken word, the written word that we have, but also the person of the Lord Jesus. And brethren, we need to tenaciously hold on to the truth of the eternal eternity of His person.
It is vital and He safeguards it here. He speaks of the Word being manifest and we've seen and we've handled and contemplated and so on, which was with the Father, how careful the Spirit of God is to guard this truth. And if sometimes said, and I'll just repeat it, I know you've often heard me say this, that when it has to do with the Lord Jesus as the Son of God coming into this world, He's never born into this world.
He was born as a as a man, but as the Son he's always sent or given. Let me give you just an example. When Isaiah gave his prophecy as to the coming of Christ, he said two things unto us. A child is born, that's his humanity. He was born in Bethlehem's Manger, took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of man. As Dave said, he came in incarnation. But then immediately the Spirit of God adds.
Unto us the Son is not born, but given, guarding the eternity of His person. I've never had any sons. I could never send a Son to help you out in a situation or to be with you in a difficulty, because I don't have a Son. But God had a son from a past eternity, and in the fullness of time He sent Him. The Father sent the Son. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Those are simple statements, but they're full of precious truth. That is, you say is the foundation.
Of Christian, uh, Christian principle.
The only way that the world can speak of the beginning, they put a time frame on it.
And by doing that, they come to the point where they say there is no.
Because.
When they start putting big numbers into the world or into their expression.
No matter how big the numbers of years or days is.
They come to an end, they can't go any further. So what is the answer of God?
God says the glory of God was the same. Psalm 19.
The heavens declared the glory of God. So what God says, go outside and look up into heaven and then figure out who made all these things that you see when you stand outside and look into heaven where God even ha has a lost man to fly up to and and to stand on the moon and look into the glory of God from that.
The vision point out and he can't find a beginning.
So they have to go back to the sinusoidal. There's no other way.
So that it maybe brings up a point Jim had alluded to as well and mentioned a few moments ago. We have three revelations in Scripture. We might say we have the revelation of the natural world. Romans chapter one. There was some testimony that the natural world rendered to the mind of man.
00:30:17
And then we have the written revelation of God, which began in the Old Testament times with Moses or the book of Job or whatever it might have been, but was gathered together and uh, and then added with the New Testament in New Testament days, we have the full written revelation of God, which gives us a testimony as to the natural creation of God.
And then we have the personal revelation of God in the person of Christ. So in these three things, each, each ascending, of course, the the written revelation of God is the final authority as to the personal revelation of God. And I think when we look at those things, it's good to emphasize here in these opening verses, you know, this is not just some storybook. This is not pie in the sky. This is a person. This is the man.
Who laid his breast on the Lord Jesus in humiliation. And he says that that which was from the beginning. That's the beginning of the Christian testimony when when Christ came into the world as these different beginnings have been mentioned. This is not the past eternity, but this is the one who was the word in that to use that expression. It's a human expression, a past eternity. He was always there is now manifested in the flesh in manhood.
The word became flesh, and he can say.
We have heard they heard His voice. They were there with him, they saw him. They were together with him in those three 3 1/2 years of His ministry here below. They heard him, they saw him. Their hands have handled concerning the word of life. This just wasn't another person. This one that they were with was the word of life. This was the personal revelation of God here in manhood.
And can only not say that this was a very thing that was being attacked, that he did not have a real human body. And so that's narcissism. The body is wicked. Only the spirit and soul is that to be preserved. And so there were two aspects of that. That was that it didn't make any difference what you did with your body. And so in First Corinthians 5, you find a man who is sinning, you know greatly because it didn't make any difference what you did with your body. The other group felt that it hindered you from really being spiritual. So you flagellated your body.
But nevertheless the the thought was that.
He didn't. He couldn't have had a real body because that was evil and it was sick. So you have here, he says this first. He says that which was from the beginning, which we have heard.
He heard him. They had seen him.
Looked upon him and our hands have handled in Colossians he says the fullness of the godhead dwelt in him bodily bodily and so I, I it was uh, this is uh, something I was just reading some of the richest ministry that I've ever read and the man who wrote that said that Christ.
As the Son of God never became anything, he became man in condition. He never took humanity into his person. The Son of God was the Son of God, and he never became anything else. That's heresy, isn't it? That's he didn't have a real body. Then he put it on like a coat.
That's a denial of the incarnation of the Son of God.
It's interesting if you look up the word incarnation in a secular dictionary. I looked it up one time in Webster's dictionary and at first it kind of shocked me. And then I realized what else could it be? This is what the dictionary says. Incarnation, Christ come in human form. Is that interesting that even in secular dictionary they will, because as you say, no one else has ever come into this world in the same way no one ever else has ever come into this, onto this planet earth.
In, in in carnation.
And so the Lord, I believe too, before He went back to heaven in resurrection, anticipating that these things would be falsely taught or that there would be false teaching as to His person. What did He do in the upper room? He not only ate before them, but He said, handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bone, as you see me have. He had, He had a body that wasn't subject to physical hindrances. It's true. He could come and stand in the midst of them.
00:35:23
When the doors were shut for fear of the Jews, but then he confirms to them that it was a real body, a spirit hath not flesh and bone as you see me have, brethren, it can't be any plainer than that. And when we try to start reasoning it out, we're going to get confused. And the problem has been over the centuries. We try by human reasoning to dissect the person of the of Christ. Take it at face value from the Word and when we speak of the person of Christ.
We we will never go wrong as long as we stick to the language of Scripture. When we try to bring in our own reasoning and thoughts, then we're going to get tangled with false teaching and doctrine.
So we have 4 phrases here in verse one that speak of historical evidence. It was not like Dave said up high in the sky, it was reality. Things that actually happened here that were witness to by witnesses chosen by God. And so the first one is that which we have heard.
And I'd like to think in all these.
Evidences that gets closer and closer.
To hear something, you might hear it something at quite a distance. To see something, it might have to be a little bit closer. To look up on it or to contemplate it, you have to get a little closer yet. And then to handle it, you have to be right there. And so it gets closer and closer. And every time they got closer.
It was an evidence to the reality of what we're talking about. I find it so extremely beautiful to trace those words in their use. Uh, go back to John's gospel chapter one, uh, to see those, the 2nd and the 3rd, the that which we have seen and that which we have looked upon, John's gospel chapter one, a verse that we often quote in verse 29.
The next day, John. This is John the Baptist, of course.
Seeth Jesus coming into him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Now verse uh 35 again the next day after John stood in two of his disciples and looking upon Jesus, contemplating him.
As he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God.
So seeing is one thing, you might get a glimpse of somebody in the street and you say I saw that person today, but looking upon or contemplating is more detained.
Oh, brethren, somebody has said. I really have enjoyed the thought.
One look to Jesus saves the soul. Every after look is the power of Christian living.
Or to contemplate him.
In all His glory, here is our God. We can know Him.
We have heard him, we have seen him, we have looked upon him and we actually got so close that we handled him.
This wonderfully beautiful brethren, this is, uh, testified by witnesses. This is no cunningly devised fable. As Peter said, it is reality. This is what actually happened. And so when we go into the Gospels.
That's where we can not only see him, but contemplate him. No, brethren, the more we look at Him, to contemplate something or to look on him takes more time.
But when we see the perfection of his person and meditate on it, oh, the wealth there is, and the beauty of it, brethren, this is.
Our Savior. This is eternal life, what we are contemplating.
00:40:02
And it takes the focus off ourselves, doesn't it? I've often thought of it in connection with the Bride and the Song of Solomon. When she begins to be awakened by the bridegroom, what does she, what does she do? She begins to be occupied with his qualities and glories. And when you read through that dialogue, you find that the more she's occupied with the qualities and glories of her bridegroom, the less she becomes occupied with herself. And yet there's no doubt at the end of it that her affections and appreciation of himself had deepened.
Her love was no doubt deeper than it had been at the beginning, but there was no mention of that. She just simply says he is altogether lovely, but we might raise the question. We've never had the privilege like John and others.
Of seeing the Lord Jesus walking physically here in this world. When I was younger, I used to sit and think, wouldn't it have been wonderful to see the Lord Jesus here in this world? To see him when he spoke to the multitudes, got alone with souls, was down by the seashore up on the mountainside. Must have been wonderful for Peter, James and John to be on the mount of Transfiguration and have that little vision of the coming glory and so on. Well, none of us in this room, of course, have ever had that privilege like John and others had.
But you alluded to it, Bob, and I think it's good for us in a practical way to consider you and I have an even greater privilege. We have the privilege of, by faith, looking up and being occupied with the man where he is now, not where he was, not here on planet Earth. Yes, it's good to trace him through the Gospel. I, I, I believe it's helpful to read a little in the Gospels every opportunity, every chance we get. And he's left us that example and so on. But brethren, to look up.
And be occupied with the man in the glory, I say, is a far, far greater privilege.
Than even John had and writes about here, and he's no less real to the eye of faith than he was when John said we have seen him and we have contemplated him. Let's go to just for a moment, to 2nd Corinthians chapter 3, because there we get the exhortation for you and for me.
And again, Christianity sets us in relationship with Christ where he is now, not where he was, but where He is. That's what Christianity is. It sets us in relationship with the glorified man at the right hand of God. But just notice something in the end of the third chapter of Second Corinthians, verse 18. But we all with open face, beholding us in a glass, the glory of the Lord. Or I'll read this in another translation.
Looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled faith are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. When we were growing up, we used to sing that hymn. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. And I believe that that's perhaps the verse that him writer was thinking of when he wrote that.
Because, brethren, what we need is to be occupied with the person, the glories of Christ.
Where he is now. And that's going to eclipse everything else. That's going to cause us to put a proper perspective on the things of this world, its hopes and goals and aspirations, and also to draw us away from ourselves so we're not so occupied with ourselves and what we are and, and and so on. That's only going to discourage us. But to be like John, occupied.
With the glories of the person of Christ, John saw him here. We have the great privilege of seeing him there, and He's there. The veil's been removed for us. When Moses came out from the presence of the Lord, they couldn't look on him.
His face shone, He had to veil his face. The veil's been removed from for us. We can turn our eyes and look full in his wonderful face. Don't, don't think that John had a better privilege than we do. Wonderful as it is. And it's recorded here for our learning. So I don't want to take away from our portion, but to encourage our hearts that we can be occupied with this same person. It's, uh, looks often times, uh, scripture finds no difficulty with the confusion of attributes.
You know, here you find that he says our hands have handled the man Christ Jesus, the word of life. That's that's deity. So you get the same thing Paul could say the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me that that when you look on the cross, it's a man. No, it's the Son of God. So it's a scripture finds no difficulty with these confusion of attributes because it was all in one man. They're true. They're true of the they're true of the one person Christ, 2 natures and one person.
00:45:35
So the hymn writer put it this way, Vern, His glory is not only God S Son in manhood, He had his full part, and the union of both joined in one form, the fountain of love in his heart. And and John at John's gospel starts out the very same way. If we reason about these things, then we'll go astray. But brother said, he said the more intelligent a man is, the more apartment he is to go astray if he trusts in it. And that's true when you start trying to reason it out with your head.
The scripture is what's the truth, but just look how he turns Gnosticism on his head. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And the same was beginning with God.
All things were made by him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And then you go over and we've seen these things before, but it says, uh, the 14th verse. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
So.
Uh, you find that the Son of Man, which is in heaven? Don't you mean the Son of God? No, it's just one person.
In the beginning was a word. That's how it starts. And if you want to get any further, then you got to go to the woman's seat. How does the seat get into the woman and the woman? Nobody ever has been able to figure that out, and nobody ever dared to ask Mary how it came about.
Just as much as nobody ever dared to find the body of the Lord Jesus after his resurrection. Nobody.
Not even those enemies of him. They would go as far as they were. Let's see the body of Jesus, he said. He was resurrected.
He is there, but how did he get there? We never found the body. Well, they haven't even tried to look for it.
So what's man going to do then? How? How much further can he he go? He can.
One more scripture and then second John and the seventh verse. I think this is.
Are many deceivers are entered into the world and confess not that Jesus Christ is come in flesh humanity.
So, so I might, might ask this question and, and, uh, it's very important what we've been taking up the incarnation of the person of Christ. But you know, sometimes we, we talk about these things and perhaps push that in front of you. Oh, I'm sorry. OK, Perhaps there's a, there, there's a Christian you, you.
Use. You say that this is an attack by Satan against the person.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ as a man and being Incarnate.
He may just say, well, I don't understand what's the importance of that? I don't get it. And I think I think that it's beautiful that we understand that this is an attack, but we don't always understand how it affects us. If he didn't come in the flesh. So maybe somebody could address that very thing. What's the consequences, if indeed with this?
With these Gnostics, you're saying, and it was true. What does it mean for you as a Christian?
Well, I think the first thing is, is was there a real man that bore your sins on the cross?
It's impossible for a spirit to bear your sins. He had to be a man. The other thing is, is that he rose from the dead and he's ascended on high and there's a man who wears our nature on the throne. These are these are foundational things for us as Christians. If it's not true, if he didn't come in the flesh.
00:50:17
Then none of us are saved. None of us have a hope. We we might as well have stayed home this weekend. So this is a this is a very important thing to take up. We're children of God.
We are identified with Christ, that risen man, and we enjoy the same privileges he does.
Remove the fact that he came in the flesh and none of it's true. We've lost it all. So I just say that there's a there's a real foundational importance to what it means to us if we don't address this question and believe it, that Jesus Christ, God's Son, came in the flesh. He's altogether God and he's all together. Man. You don't understand it and I don't understand it.
But we believe it's true and that everything that the Word of God teaches about him, about Jesus Christ, come in the flesh, is a revelation of God about him. And to touch on what the brother here said, the body of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul had such confidence in the bodily resurrection of Christ that he could say in first Corinthians 15, if you can produce the dead body of Jesus Christ.
I will give up my faith because he says your faith is vain, you have no hope. You are no different from a worldly man if Christ did not raise, if he was not raised from the dead. And that means bodily, physically, as we have here.
I'd like to read a verse in Matthew Chapter 11 as to the person of the Lord Jesus that I think is helpful. At least it has been so to my own soul and the Lord Jesus is speaking in verse 27 says all things are delivered unto me by of my Father.
And no man knoweth the sun.
But the father?
Neither, nor any man the father.
Save the son.
And he to whomsoever the son will reveal him.
So the person of the father is known.
But it never says that about the sun, the mystery how God could be fully God.
And at the same time, fully man is a mystery that our minds, our human minds cannot comprehend. It's not revealed. The Father knows it, but it never says that it's revealed. And so it's best, like it's been said, if we can just relate to the scriptures and keep close to the scriptures.
Remember, Brother Clem Buchanan said. We are only correct in the measure that we keep close to the very words of Scripture, and I think that is very important.
Just in connection with his body too. Not to belabor it, but it was a body capable of death.
And He bore our sins in his own body on the tree He laid down his life. But it was not a body that was, shall I say, subject to death or corruption. You know, it wouldn't have mattered how long. I wanna say this very carefully. It wouldn't have mattered how long the Lord had lain in the grave. His body would have never seen corruption. It was, he was, it was according to the Old Testament prophecies, the length of time. But he had a body, unlike Lazarus. They said, behold, he stinks.
After four days, if I want again, I want to say this carefully. If the Lord had lain in the grave four days, they couldn't have said that.
His body was He would not suffer His holy One to see corruption, and so again it was He was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion of as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death. Even the death of the Cross. He said of His life, No man takes it from me. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. No one else could have ever said that, or ever has been able to say that. So He had a body.
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Flash and as as we've been saying in incarnation, a a real body and a real body and resurrection. But again, it was a body that was well, it was capable of death, was not subject to death and corruption. Again, very important to understand. And brother, he's got the same body today as a glorified man. And that's the person we're going to see. We're going to see the Lord Jesus and we're gonna have bodies of glory like unto his body of glory.
So we might put it this way in connection with what Jim is saying. And I like that verse that he quoted. No man taketh his life from him.
The Lord Jesus.
The man Christ Jesus was capable of dying. He came to die.
But he was not under the necessity of death.
We are, but he was not.
And that was one reason he came as a man, because man can die. God, as God cannot die. He's immortal. That is why the Lord Jesus said the Son of Man must be lifted up. To come back to your question, there would be no Redeemer.
Did did we not have the man Christ Jesus and the work that he accomplished?
And his resurrection and ascension. We would be out of a Redeemer, wouldn't we?
The scripture says that holy thing Speaking of the Lord Jesus.
So if he could have sinned, then he would have had to have a body that could decay, isn't that right? So it puts everything in question about His holy nature.
Being being sinless more than sinless, being holy. And if he could have sinned and he's the same man now.
There's a possibility he still could. That's blasphemy. That's absolute blasphemy. And that is one shaky ground on which to base any kind of eternal salvation or security for, for, uh, for eternity, brethren, far be the thought. And I say again, if, if, if someone comes along and says, well, the Lord could have sinned, but didn't sin say, but what about as a man now, are you basing your security on one who still could? Thank God? The Scripture is very clear and John is the one.
Who goes even beyond what Paul and Peter say about that? Paul said he knew no sin. Peter said he did no sin. But don't stop there. John says later on in this epistle, in him was no sin. John gets right to the nature, gets right to the heart of the matter and says not only did he know no Sinner, not only did he do no sin, but in him perfect sinless humanity in the person of Christ.
Amen. And there's so many, uh, there's so many people out there who have a lot of good ministry, but I was shocked to hear that one that many people read is Max Lucado and he believes that Christ could have sinned, you know, so there's.
Billy Graham believes that Christ could have sinned. So we can't just go by what men say. It has to be according to Scripture. This is God's word.
The second verse says for the life was manifest and we have seen it. So that was personal experience wasn't and then he said and bear witness. That's public testimony and then it says and show unto you that eternal life that was they proclaimed it, which was with the Father.
For all eternity this was a relationship with the Father and the Son, and was manifest unto us.
That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that you may have fellowship with us, with divine being.
Now you can't get beyond that. That's the greatest privilege in the world.
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And again, the deaf dictionary definition of the word manifest, I enjoyed. It says to clearly show I've enjoyed that. And all through John's ministry. You have that, don't you? The love of God manifests through the giving of his Son here. It's the life and so on. It's been clearly shown. Do we need any further revelation? No, we have it all here. And I just say as a warning because again, these things are springing up.
In Christian circles, people who come along and tell you they have fresh revelation and light as to the person of Christ, it's a red light right there. It's all been given to us. We can have fresh enjoyment of it, as I trust we are this morning in taking up these verses, but there is no revelation given. John was the last of the writers. There was no revelation given beyond Paul as to the councils of God and the Church of God. Paul, John writes later, as we've been said.
But he is simply bringing before us that which has already been clearly shown.
In the manifestation of Christ as the as the living Word here in this world.
And there's nothing beyond that. Don't let anybody fool you or tell you differ. I was at Walla Walla as a young man, and I think the man's name was Mueller.
Someone who would know him, but I I remember what he told me. He said, Son, God has given you what he has that rejoices his heart to rejoice your heart.
Communion with the the father and the son. The same thing that the father finds enjoyment in, he's given us to enjoy too. That was a quite a remarkable statement.
That's what we get in verse 3, isn't it? That which we have seen and heard. Declare we unto you. This is what we have. The apostle is speaking in the plural. So it's not only him, but the other apostles who were witnesses of the Lord Jesus. They have written it out. They've declared it unto us, that ye also may have fellowship with us. That's the fellowship of the apostles.
But it doesn't end there, and truly, our fellowship is with the Father.
And with his Son Jesus Christ. So that's what you're mentioning, Brother Vern, that he's given it to us so that we might enjoy it as well. Just to think, brethren, this question of fellowship and it occurs, this word fellowship occurs four times in this chapter. This is the first two times it speaks of it in verse 3.
But we can have fellowship with God and with the Lord Jesus Christ.
With God as Father and with the Lord Jesus Christ. Wonderful, extremely wonderful privilege to do that.
I just give you the other thing that the man said, you know, this is wonderful too. He said there will be a day, Son, when the Spirit of God fills you with Christ and you will never be unfilled again. I'm looking forward to that day.
In verse seven we have fellowship one with another.
And it's a real challenge to me, brother, in that that is a very something we enjoy, especially at meetings like this. That is not first. What is first is fellowship with the father and with his son. And oh, has it been the case this morning before we came that we consciously enjoyed that fellowship with the father and with his son then when we meet together as a result.
There will be fellowship between us as well, but fellowship one with another, as sweet as it is, is not first. It's fellowship with the Father and with the Son and his Son. The basis of what we have in the Scriptures often like to connect it to with that verse we often use in Acts chapter 2. They continued steadfastly in the apostles.
Doctrine.
And fellowship. What is the fellowship based on the doctrines?
What the apostles have shown us is the basis so that we too can enjoy that fellowship with the Father and with the Son.
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It's really illustrated with the prodigal when he returned in Luke's gospel, because amongst the other things that were bestowed upon him, he was brought into a banquet where the father sat down with the son and they fed on the fatted calf. The calf would.
See what, Ernie? Christ wouldn't it? Yeah, Yeah. But that's the point I want to make that that the calf would speak of of Christ and the Father, of course, speaks of God the Father. And so that he was brought into that place of relationship. And it was based on the death of an innocent victim. And that's another reason why the Lord Jesus had to come in incarnation as a man and go to the cross. There are sins in his own body on the tree.
Rise bodily from the dead, and as a man, return bodily to the Father's right hand, to the Father's house, so that we could be brought into a place of fellowship and relationship with the Father and the Son, and as a result, with one another like never before. The Old Testament Saints, you know, there was a sense that they knew God as their Father. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, my Father, Thou art the guide to my youth. Malachi says. Is there not one God and Father of us all? And so on.
They knew him in a relationship as creator were all the offspring of God, it says in Acts 17. But they never were brought into the relationship that the prodigal enjoyed over the fatted calf. A picture of Christ, as Ernie says. And it, you know, it's interesting in that story that both of those sons were sons of the father. They both were the sons of the father, but the older son never came in to enjoy the relationship.
That the repentant prodigal was brought, came in to enjoy, never did the older son, as far as we read, feed on the fatted calf a picture of Christ and the work of atonement? He could have, but he never did. So this is what is brought before us. So the question was raised earlier, why was it necessary for Christ to come bodily into this world? Well, this third verse begins a section here that tells us why. Another reason why.
We could never have been brought into fellowship with divine persons in the way we have been brought apart from the Lord Jesus coming God manifest in the flesh. The older son said. These many years do I serve thee. And the younger Son, when he came back, he had in his mind to say.
That make me one of thy hired servants. But God is not looking for more servants. She's looking for sons.
That can sit down at his table, that can enjoy fellowship with him. That wonderful. It's a joy to serve the Lord, but it's a result of enjoying first that fellowship at his table.
When I say that the first verse, yes.
And our hands have hindered off the words of life.
Now that has that has to mean eternal life.
Riveted means eternal life then all those who believed in the Lord Jesus.
They wouldn't have a place.
To go after death.
And it goes on like that. Then the second goes that eternal life, it says.
That this was eternal life, I often thought of the Word of God. That would have been easier to understand than to say the word of life.
But that includes eternal life. That's why it is so important that it is of life instead of God.
And and then the the the we have a explanation there when he says and show unto you the eternal right, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto you.
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So this is all from eternity. It's not just this life here on the earth that we get. We get eternal life.
That's what makes it so precious that we have a place to go after that.
Could you somebody read that scripture in John 17? This is eternal life that you might know the uh, the only true God in Jesus Christ and thou sent. So this is far beyond what the Old Testament Saints had. They were they were born again, but they weren't indwelt with the Spirit of God. They did. We have the same life and so we can enjoy these things and that's why we can enjoy it with each other because we have the same life in US. So it's all based upon that.
The highest Christian privilege that you can have is what we possess right now. So it's a fact we have. We've been brought into fellowship with the Father, we've been brought into fellowship with his Son, and we have been brought into fellowship with one another. As a result, the practical side of it is very different. But those three things in John's Gospel and John's epistle chapter one, are, are facts. They're not something that's based on the practical side. There's plenty of other Scriptures.
That show us that sometimes we don't enjoy the practical side of our fellowship. But I say again, the fact in this chapter is we are brought into fellowship with the Father, we're brought into fellowship with the Son, and as a result we are brought into fellowship with one another. I believe our time has run out.
261 Thou, holy one, who knew no sin, God made him sin for us. 261.
Yeah, his gracious life.
Through the water, shorts in the way.
Read a couple scriptures in closing.
Hebrews chapter one.
Hebrews chapter one.
Gone to at sundry times, and in diverse manners speak in time passed on to the Fathers by the prophets at in these last days.
Spoken unto us in Son.
Appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world.
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Through being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
The second chapter also.
Verse 14. Hebrews 214. For as much than as the children are, are shakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him.
That had the power of death, that is the devil and deliver them, who through fear of death for all their lifetime subject to *******. For verily he took not on him.
The nature of angels.
But he took on him the seed.
Of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoove him to be made light unto his brethren.
That he might be merciful and faithful high priest and things pertaining to God make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted or tried, he is able to succor them that are tempted.
Yes, thanks.
Our God and Father, we thank Thee for what thou hast done in giving thine only God, Son, to be our Savior. We thank Thee, Lord Jesus, for thy love and obedience to the Father. My willingness to come into this scene take on manhood.
Here to walk, uh, humbly and, uh, suffer the trials of the wing.
We thank thee that I was willing to be made sin and endure godson.
Yes, and and so we just thank thee that we could be reminded of these things this morning, the incarnation Lord Jesus and all that has been done. So we just commend us for the rest of this day and the meetings to follow to to thy care.
Our God and Father Amen us now and ask in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.