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It 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.
And that which we have seen and heard declare we unto 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 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 cleanseth us from all sin. If we say and 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 us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not enough at the close of our brothers. At best he read first. John 54. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.
And this is the victory that overcometh the world.
Even our faith.
And in the second chapter you've referred to the young men who are strong.
Because the Word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. It takes strength to be an overcomer.
And I believe this first chapter gives us the way of getting that strength because it takes up the subject of communion.
We have eaten a meal at noon.
In the strength of that we are.
Walking around here and we have communed with.
Together in material things to get strength for a physical woman.
Now for a walk or a sail through a storm of life we were singing about, we have got to have strength and it comes from the word of God and we get it through the apostles.
We get through the apostles what they got directly from Christ.
And that is the beginning that John is writing about here. It's Christ down here on earth as a man amongst men that they saw, they they felt, they touched, and they looked upon him. And now the apostles are conveying that about Christ to us. And we've got to get it if we're going to have strength to be overcomers.
Just faith with an abstract way that amounts to anything. The very next verse you read the 5th chapter on read verse five. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? The Gospel of John ends with many other things did Jesus which are not written in this book.
But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ.
The Son of God and that believing you might have life through his name. So the faith of the Christian is that Jesus is the Son of God. What did the world do to him? The world despised him and cast him out and rejected him. And we believe that he is the Son of God. That is our faith that overcomes the world because the world is that system of things which has hated him.
And we believe that he is the Son of God. So this gives the victory over the world. Why should we desire anything that that system of things which has rejected and cast out of this world, the one that we believe to be the Son of God? Why should we desire that? That's what gives the victory over this world, isn't it? The faith that we have that he is?
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The Son of God, and this is what John brings out in his writing. So.
So beautifully that he is the Christ, the Son of God.
The first verse is really the basis of the believers hope. It's this precious verse. That second one is the life of the believer. It's eternal, but that which was from the beginning of the word of life.
It's wonderful that the Lord here has given us something that would relate to us and what we can take in. He became a man. That was this beginning when the eternal Son of God became a man. This, this portion is really God's testimony, the testimony of the Father in Son. But we have the other beginning.
In in first in in John's Gospel. That's of course.
Eternity. It's the eternal Son. But there of course He reveals the Father, as in the 18th verse of John One. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father. He had declared it so it said in the beginning was the Word. That doesn't mean there was a beginning when He started.
It means we have to have something that we can relate to.
We only can think in the measure of time and space, and so the Word always was. It was with God before anything was made and all things were made by Him. But here we have the beginning of Him as a man, and how precious that is.
Course, we have that beginning in Genesis which is creation. So God gives us these things that we can really lay hold of. We can take it in, perhaps not fully understand it because here he is a man. And yet as you get in the third chapter of John, this precious verse.
The Lord speaking verse 13 No man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven.
Even the Son of man, which is in heaven.
So we have one here that they could, and they did see, and they heard him, and they handled him. He was very mad, and yet he never ceased being the eternal Son of God.
It's it's helpful to see that the the Gospel of John begins with the the eternity of his person in the beginning was the word in the beginning when whenever a beginning began.
Whatever anything that had a beginning came into existence, the Word was. He did not begin, He always was. John 11 is the eternal past. But John 114 says, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glorious of an only begotten with the Father, full of grace and truth. The Word became flesh. Well, that's where the Epistle of John begins. It begins with the Word become flesh.
And it's called. The expression that he uses is that which was from the beginning.
From that point in time when he came into this world of his own creation and became a man, That's proven by the rest of the verse, he says, which we have heard.
Which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled. All of these things were true. When he was down here as a man in this world, they saw, they heard him, they saw him, they contemplated him, they looked at him, and they even touched him and handled him. The word of life.
John's Gospel and this epistle we're reading.
Both begin with light. It's light that makes manifest.
And in John's Gospel, he was always there with the Father.
And the eternity, the past. But he came.
And he came as light into a dark place.
And it had to be in order for God to communicate.
With us God, in his love and in his purposes.
And wanted us. He wanted children in the glory. How was he going to get them? He had to come out in light.
And the light makes manifest, and it may manifest of course our guilt and our lust condition. But then Christ came into the world and brought love to light reveals. And what it has revealed is that God is love and in his love he has.
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Wrought redemptions work. Salvation's work is completed.
So that we can be brought into God's family, saved by grace through faith.
In a finished work and become his children so that what God is doing is making himself known as light and as love and one who wanted a family. He had one son whom he loved.
And who was ever perfect? And he wanted children like him, and he gets them.
He gets children like Christ. We're going to be like Christ.
Morally in absolute perfection when recording that glory.
But he has wrought now to save us from our sins. He tests us through this light. We go through storms and we have conflict and there is a necessity to overcome and how are we going to do it Through the word of God, through communion and getting what the apostles have passed on to us back in the eighth of Isaiah bind up the testimony sealed the law among my.
Disciples.
Through the word, through the testimony, I believe that's a prophecy that refers to.
Pentecost in particular, but in the prayer of the Lord in the 17th of John, he tells about it definitely. Let's notice in John 17 where the Lord was in prayer to the Father.
And especially about his disciples who were also apostles, at least the.
Special ones were.
But he has a prayer for others besides, he was praying for you if you're a believer that day. Me too very precious to see this in John 17 verse 20. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word. That's the word of the apostle. Now Pentecost, it says they continued steadfastly and the apostles doctrine. That's what they thought. That's their writings. That's the.
That we have in our hands, and that brings us into the apostles fellowship. And we're going to see that there are three fellowships here, and they have to be entered into in sequence in the order in which they aren't here. First of all, there's the fellowship with the apostles or communion with the apostles, which comes through practicing their teaching, their doctrine.
Bill, would you say those remarks you made about knowledge that isn't that controls us or keeps us or?
Carry that on and repeat that, please, because it's choice.
Well, I just was saying that it is not how much we know the number, but how much we walk and what we do know. We all have certain capacity and if we have a certain amount of truth and we walk in it, then God gives us more and that makes us an overcomer. But walking in what we have is what we really need, isn't it?
But if we don't walk in what we have, then we lose it. And that's what the Lord meant when he said to him in half shall be given, but unto him that hath not even that he hath shall be taken away from him. And So what we have in our heads doesn't keep us, it's what we walk in. Isn't it very important? And we can't get into the apostles fellowship.
Apart from knowing something intellectually what it is, but practicing it not just not knowledge, not enough. You have to obey the doctor.
And then we have fellowship with them. And immediately that brings us into fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And then there's a little space before we get into fellowship with our brethren. I just mentioned this to start, that these three fellowships are very, very important and you and I have to enter into them in that order. We have to get the teaching the.
Light the doctrine of the Apostles and obey it, practice it, enjoy it.
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And then we are immediately in fellowship with the apostles, and immediately then we are in fellowship with the Father, with the Son, Jesus Christ. And then there is the.
Walking.
Where the light puts us so that we can be together as we are this afternoon to bring us into that third fellowship.
And in order for us to enter into that fellowship, the eternal Son of God became a man. We should dwell a little on that first verse. It is so exceedingly precious. I was thinking in contrast with this verse of the book of Esther, where even the queen did not dare to enter the King's presence.
Unless she was hidden.
And if he didn't hold out the golden scepter to her, it would have meant death. Those kings were not accessible. They were not approachable. They were way off and above and unreachable by the masses. But what do we read of this one? Who is eternal life? Who is God over all, blessed forever?
John says we heard him.
It wasn't just a voice speaking from heaven. It wasn't just a Once Upon a time.
Utterance that they heard or maybe a few times, but he was here. He was actually here down here in a in a man as a man in this world, speaking amongst them, moving in and out amongst them. It says they not only did they hear him, but they saw him. They they saw him with their eyes and this wasn't just a vision.
That appeared once and then.
Was gone, but they looked upon him with their eyes. They contemplated him, as Mr. Darby puts it.
They, they fixed their eyes upon him. He was here, the most accessible man that ever walked this scene to the poorest and the most wretched. And then the last expression, they, they.
Handled him with their hands. Well, that was unthinkable for a mighty monarch being who he was. The infiniteness of the grace that we have in that verse.
That knowing who He is, the very expression of life, the very word of life, the One who was that eternal life, that with the Father, He came so near to us. He was heard, He was seen, He was looked upon, He was handled by the likes of us sinners. That's infinite grace in itself, isn't it?
That He would come to to such a place of nearness to us, that he might bring us into this fellowship that our brethren have been talking about, that we might know him.
And enjoy him.
What do you think? That this was their Creator and the Creator of everything, and the Sustainer of all life, and the One in whom was the dominions of heaven when He was here. All power in Him, all judgment committed to Him, Everything centers in Him, and yet He walked with them. He lived with them as a man.
It's a beautiful thing, isn't it, that they were able to tell here that they saw him?
They heard him, and we hear him now. How wonderful it is. We hear Him speaking to us. That's the preciousness of the Word of God. When the Spirit of God, who makes nothing of Himself but all of Christ, is able to function and operate here today in our midst, we hear Him.
And this is so precious. He's the one that gave us this beginning of life and then this eternal life. And it's lovely the way it is brought out in his prayer. This is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. That's not a definition. That's in essence of what life eternal is, to know God is Father and know Jesus Christ.
Savior and Lord, life eternal. It's so beautiful, and that's really what's brought out here. And without that, you cannot have this fellowship we're speaking about. None of the fellowships that we're speaking about here can be yours. You may be here, you may feel like you're among us, but you do not enter into that precious fellowship which only comes if you have life eternal. He is the word of life. He's the source of life.
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And the only way we could receive it is by and through his death for us. That's it. But you know, when he, even when he came back in Luke 2024 and presented himself to the apostles, and showed them his hands and his side, it says in 37 And he said, Peace be unto you. It says they were.
Terrified. Supposedly seen a spirit? He's still the man.
He is still the man Christ Jesus. He will always be that man for us. These truths are so precious, as our brother said, Just to dwell a moment on that first verse and grasp in your heart who this is that we're Speaking of and there and John is telling us about.
Eternal life is the life of the family of God, and So what we have in the Gospel of John is eternal life manifested in the person of the Lord Jesus.
Basically what we have in the Epistle of John is that same eternal life that was manifested in the life of the Lord Jesus, manifested now in the life of those who are children in the family of God. And so it's really wonderful, brethren, to take that first verse and those little short phrases. We have heard him, we have seen him, we have looked upon him.
We have handled.
And it seems to be an ever increasing nearness to hear something and maybe still a distance.
To see something still maybe a little closer, but still maybe at a distance, to contemplate it has to be a little bit nearer.
To handle something that has to be very, very near. And to get into the Gospels and to contemplate the Lord Jesus, to hear Him, to see him, to contemplate him, the perfection of his character, and how he passed through all the vicissitudes of life, circled by his enemies. But they could never find a family in Him. And now we can.
Brethren, that's the life that is our life in the family of God. This is the same life that we possess. Really enjoyed contrasting this first verse with the story of the Good Samaritan. When that poor man fell among thieves, it says the priest came down and he saw him and passed by.
It uses one of those verbs that we have in the first verse.
And then it says.
A Levite came, and when he was at the place, he looked upon him. It's the next verb that it uses there. But then it says a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. He came so close that that poor wounded man could actually handle him. And God has come so close to us.
In the person of the Lord Jesus and a desire for our fellowship, brethren, that the apostles could actually say our hands have handled him the word of life.
Jesus came.
Read in the second of Hebrews, that he passed angels by, and laid hold of the seed of Abraham.
And we read in the eighth of Romans that God sending his own Son.
And the likeness of sinful flesh. And that is as close as the Son of God could come to humanity in our state without being contaminated by our nature. That Holy One that was born of the Virgin was made in the likeness of our own sinful flesh in order that he might do what the law was incompetent to do, and that is produced fruit demand.
And so he came as the sin, offering to bring us to God and to bring us into this life.
Of which he himself is the perfect expression.
You mentioned how near the apostles were when they handled him, but think how near John was when he leaned on his bosom. Isn't that precious to have the heartbeat right to the closest spot in the precious Lords affections? John was there so he's the one that could say rightfully children keep yourself some idols. He was at the place where an idol can't come in between.
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Himself and this one who gave him life. Thinking of that about gone leaning on Jesus breast at supper time. The nearness of the apostle John and he's the one that's writing this epistle. I heard some choice remarks at a conference many years ago.
About the absolute perfection.
The sinlessness of God's Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
As they are brought out in Scripture, John writes in the plural. Here we.
That's the apostles. He would include Peter.
Paul and others with him that knew.
And saw and touched and handled the Lord. Paul comes in special.
Has been caught up to the 3rd heaven.
And seeing the Lord, we believe more than once.
But the way that this truth of the perfection.
Of the Lord Jesus was expressed this way that the apostle.
Of schooling, of learning. The one that was brought up the feet of Gamaliel wrote about Jesus. He knew no sin. Now that's second Corinthians 5 if you want to look at the verse.
2nd Corinthians 5 and the last verse says whole writing to the Corinthians. He hath made him to be sin, for us to knew no sin.
That we might be made the righteousness of God. That is, Paul the man of learning, says he knew no sin. Or as Peter the one of action.
He wrote about Jesus and says he did no sin.
But when it came to saying in him is no sin.
Especially is this Apostle John, and it's in our third.
A chapter I believe here. Yes, first John 3.
John goes on in his intimacy of seeing and touching and knowing, handling the word of life, leaning on his breast at supper time. He writes in verse five. First, John 35. You know that he hath, He was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. It's just beautiful the way God brings truth out through the apostles.
And we ought to learn it and appreciate it and enjoy it.
That verse that just wanted to make a few comments on the verse that you was talking about in Romans 8, three. It's such a profound verse. It says God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. It does not say God sending his own son in sinful flesh. Couldn't say that.
It couldn't say God sending his own Son in the likeness of flesh.
Couldn't say that. No, He was true flesh, but he was not sinful flesh. He was that holy one. And so the precision of Scripture, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. He was the Holy One of God. And that's what we're considering here in this first verse.
Of our chapter to think that the holiest man that was ever here.
Was the most accessible of all men, the most approachable?
Marvelous. These were very close to him, but what about us today?
You know, there was one that was at a very intimate, close relationship with the Lord Mary of Bethany, but she was at his feet. She was at his feet taking in His word. She was at his feet making requests for her loved one. She's at his feet, always adoring him and offering up praise to him. Worship. And we have that privilege.
And you know, it does say in Hebrews 2 we see Jesus.
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But it's that place at his feet where we can just take in his word. And that's the thing. He identifies himself in that sense with those that take that position. I was thinking of the way it's described in in Isaiah 5715, because we're really speaking about Himself here. For thus says the high and lofty one that inhabited eternity.
Whose name is holy? I dwell in the high and Holy place with him.
Also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, to revive the heart of the contrite ones. And so he said of Mary. She has.
She has done a good work.
It shall never be taken from her. So that's what we have the privilege of now. We can't touch him and handle him, but we can be at his feet. We can feed on himself. We can know more of him by the Spirit of God.
And it's wonderful, isn't it, that we have this privilege. The tendency with us is when we become strangers, we take a position of aloofness and inaccessibility. That was never the Lord Jesus. He was the heavenly stranger, the most separated man that ever walked this scene, the holiest of all, and yet the most accessible to put those.
Two qualities together is only found in perfection in the person of the Sun.
I'd like to respond to Brother Baumann's question. What about us by directing our attention to chapter 2, verse eight. Again, a new commandment I write unto you. Which thing is true in him and in you? So, as it's been pointed out, we have the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, that eternal life. Which thing is true?
In Him and in you, so that in the day of judgment we have boldness, because as he is.
So are we in this present world, so as to us?
We are as near to God as His precious Son. So near, so near. I could not bear be or in the person of His Son. I'm as near as He. So it's true in him and in us, by the grace of God. Our brother Clem pointed out that it is feeding upon him that is contemplating the Son of God as He was as a man here below.
That enables these moral features to be displayed in US and if those moral features are to be displayed in US.
And I say this to my own heart. We must deny ourselves.
And as the Apostle Paul tells us, to bruise under our body.
That the life also of Jesus might be manifested in this mortal body. But those features can, by the Spirit of God, be reproduced in US, beloved, as we contemplate Him, as we see Him in the Gospels, as a man. Here below we have an object that elevates our hearts above this poor scene, and gives us a plain in which to function, that enables in our own feeble capacity, the moral.
Christ to be displayed in US, and we have those exemplified.
In Steven lay not this sin to their charge, the life of Christ, of the Spirit of Christ, producing in that man the feelings of the Lord Jesus Christ, to forgive his enemies that were putting him to death. Paul pleading for those who forsook him, and not make the accountable, so that yes, they should be displayed in US, and the only way they can be is as we behold him.
In the word of God.
Those features are formed in us and we are translated into His image, glory to glory.
If we would look at first Peter two, we would see just that as to those moral features and moral traits that Peter writes about which were seen in Jesus. And then we can go to 2nd Corinthians 6 and find out what were exhorted, how those moral traits and features ought to be seen in US. But Peter writes about the blessed Lord.
And says in one Peter 221 even hereunto where ye called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps. Then you get the statement of Peters who did no sin. Peter said he did not sin. Peter was a man of action. He said Jesus did not sin that holy one. Neither was GAIL found in his mouth.
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Who when he was reviled, reviled not again?
When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him. That judgeth righteously.
Then he goes on, bears our sins. Now if we look in 2nd Corinthians 6, there's a series of chapters here in Second Corinthians that the Spirit of God gives us the ministry in chapter 3 and he gives us the minister in chapter 4. And he gives us the motives that activate the minister in chapter 5, and it gives us the moral traits of the minister in chapter 6. And that's what we're talking about.
And the first one swats me down like swatting the fly. Let's look at it.
A minister is just a servant, and we're called to be ministers, we're called to be serviced. So that's what it says in Second Corinthians 64. But in all things, approving ourselves as ministers of God, that's what you are. That's what I am, a servant of God. We're left here as children in the family.
To represent Christ.
To be children of God, what's the first thing in much patience?
In much patience, I went by on these billboards on one of the denominational.
Churches, buildings in front of it, and it said patience is.
Life'll hardest lesson for me, it's life's longest. It's going to last as long as I'm here.
In much patience, but these things are practical. We need to look at our precious Savior and learn.
How perfect he was. Have him before us to have the motive to follow him.
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. In Colossians one. What is patience? Patience is power under control.
In Colossians one verse, well, I'll read from verse 9 for this, 'cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will, and all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.
Being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Here's the verse.
Strengthened with all might, with all power, according to his glorious power. For what unto all patience and long-suffering, with joyfulness. That's the power of God, takes more power to be patient and submissive.
Than it does to fly off the handle.
That's power under control, isn't it? Control of the Spirit of God that was Christ.
As mentioned earlier too, about feeding and the importance of it. And I just feel that we need, dear brethren, those of us who are younger really applies to us all, to know more what it means to feed on Christ. It's so easy to pick up the Bible and read a chapter.
Everyday lives and rush off to work but feeding.
Eating is something that takes time. I put a bite in my mouth. I don't swallow it directly, but I spend time with that food in my mouth, chewing it and getting the savor of it, enjoying it. And I think it's so important, was mentioned in the address. It's not what we know. What we've taken in, a knowledge that is going to affect our lives is what we enjoy in the depths of our soul.
So it's when that food passes on into my body, it actually becomes part of Maine. It is absorbed through the stomach into the body, the whole body, and it becomes part of me. And so when we get into the Gospels, we really need to stop to hear him. We can hear him, brethren, to see him, to contemplate him.
And I really believe, although not in a physical sense, there's a sense we can get so close we can actually handle.
Of the word of life. It is a spiritual experience that we need to.
Have everyone of us, but it doesn't come in our hurried ways of life. We need to be quiet, we need to sit in His presence. We need to put our busy activities to one side and feed on Him. The Old Testament there were three kinds of food that were mentioned for the people of God. It was the Passover in the land of Egypt, the manna in the desert and in the.
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Land of Canaan, the old corn of the land, it all is Christ, Christ and death is the Passover Christ in this humiliation.
Down here is the manna and Christ in his glory as the old corn of the land.
In all those ways we need to feed on him, but especially I believe it is as the manna that we need to contemplate him in the Gospels as he passed through the circumstances of life to contemplate it. Look at it. It's not study of the Word of God that's going to bring the truth of God home to the soul. It's the meditation of the Word of God.
Steady seems to indicate the effort of the human mind to.
Understand something, but the human mind cannot understand by its own effort the truth of God. But it is meditation in meditation that the Spirit of God can bring home these things to our soul, to savor them, to enjoy them in the soul. Then it's going to form our character. Then it's going to be become part of us.
What we're speaking about here in this first verse.
Truth, God not only cleaned in the field, but she beat out that which she gleaned and she had an EFF of it which is 10 times more than was needed for one of the sacrifices in Leviticus and she was able to take that which she beat out. She made it good for herself into the city and show it to her mother-in-law and share it. Lovely is when she said where hast thou gleaned? She didn't tell her where the field.
Located. The man's name is Boaz. So we feed on Christ, but we don't just read the word of God as he was saying. We beat it out. We make it good to our own souls. And then it will not only be noticeable that we've been with Christ as it was with those disciples. They took knowledge of them. They've been with Jesus, and we'll have something to share to them.
It's also very interesting is to rule.
Having beat out Anifa.
When she took her place at the feet of Boaz on the threshing floor, he gave her exactly twice what she had beaten out.
Check the weights and measures in the dictionary, you'll see that the amount that he gave her was exactly twice what she beat out. So he will richly reward every thought of meditation that we spend every moment we spend twofold and feeding upon him.
First one or chapter verse one, the latter part of the verse, it says the word of life. I'm sure there's a rich treasure in that expression, the word of life.
And it would seem to me that verse two of our chapter is an explanation of that expression.
What do my brethren think about that? That's right. The life was manifested in the apostles got it, and they wrote it down for us, so we ought to get it.
It's the same life of Christ. We have that life, it's eternal. And we have a life right now that has never had a beginning and will never have an end. It's eternal. I don't explain it, I don't understand it, but I'm sure enjoying it. And that's what we have. It's the life of Christ. And a beautiful thing is our brother was telling how they described him as the sinless one, holy, which he is.
But notice in chapter 3 and verse nine, and this is very important to grasp. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him. He cannot sin because he's born of God. This principle is true for each one of us who have the life of Christ. That life cannot sin.
It can only please God.
Now it's marvelous that we have that life later on. It tells us faithfully that we sin. But that's not that life. That's his old nature that we still have in activity. But it's wonderful, brethren, that we have that life and as long as we allow the Spirit to have His way and that life to be manifested.
00:45:13
There'll be no sin. There'll be no sin. It's a wonderful thought.
That we have that.
Wonder if we could turn to that little book of Ruth. It's been mentioned and there's two times that Ruth got counsel there that I think are very important for all of us here in this room today and all who are exposed to the truth that the.
Apostles have left for us where the Spirit of God is allowed the liberty to teach of Christ.
Him that was from the beginning, and it's very simple, the two warnings, the two admonitions in Ruth chapter 2.
And verse eight, it's Boaz himself who talks to Ruth and he says, hearest thou not my daughter, go not to glean in another field.
Either go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens.
The teaching seems to me that Christ himself is telling me.
You stay in my pasture.
Where?
My truth is held and known and there are companions there. Now that was Boaz, which answers in the type to Christ telling me that and the same chapter it's Naomi in verse 22.
The mother-in-law, Naomi said unto Ruth, her daughter-in-law. It is good, my daughter, that I'll go out.
With his maidens that they meet thee not in any other field. She as the mother-in-law.
Knowing Ruth, her daughter-in-law personally counsels her, too. Don't let yourself be found.
In any other field, stay where you are.
Now that's the kind of counsel we ought to have for ourselves personally. As to the truth, you'll never find anything but where it is.
And the truth is unique. If you don't have.
The truth as such, you've lost something.
And the practice of it is the only way that you can hold it. So the apostles doctrine comes through the apostles. And when we obey it, as we've been hearing, then we get into the apostles fellowship. And there are lots of mixed up fields and Christendom today where they have a little truth, but they don't have the truth as such.
At least I see it that way. I think the Council is important.
I'd like to read in connection with your thoughts, Clem Colossians 2 verse eight. I think it applies here. Other fields young people can can spend their time and their energies and their intellect in other fields than the word of God, the field of Christ where we're going to get the wisdom that he gives. And there are many, many religions in this world religious systems that.
One can get mixed up in other fields. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. Philosophy, the world's wisdom, its way of thinking, its way of viewing things, its way of analyzing things. Let's not glean in that field.
They deceit, man's religion, man's religious thoughts, man's way of viewing things, all all giving place to the first man, all assuming the fundamental fallacy that there's good in man and that we can make it on our own efforts. Don't glean in those fields. Don't read those books, don't occupy your mind in those fields, but glean in the field of Christ.
The tradition of men, the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
But I just thought of that verse in connection with what you were saying. I think another portion that's always helpful is Second Kings chapter 4.
With Elisha.
It's a nice type of Christ as we have him now in grace coming on instead of Elijah character. But in verse 38, Elijah came again unto Gilgal, the place of the cutting off of flesh, and it's a very important place. He was out there, but there was a dearth in the land. And you know that happens sometimes. There's a leanness and it may be because of our state of soul collectively.
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Or maybe because of a problem individually in the assembly. But there was a dearth in the land the sons of the prophets were sitting before.
Elijah, they knew where to go, the man of God, and he said unto his servant, said on the great pot, and seethed potties for the sons of the prophets. This was time for the great pot. When we really looked to the Lord, we need the great plot. You could use small vessels other times, but when you're getting fed by the Lord, the Spirit of God in the Word, we need the great pot.
Fill the vessels to the brim.
Flowing. That's the thought. And then it said he gave them directions, he said.
At the middle of the verse.
Set on the great pot and seize pottage. He told him exactly what to do. Verse 39 one went out into the field. This wasn't his field. This wasn't his instructions. If we're going to get fed by the word of God, brethren, it's going to have to be according to the Spirit of God, the Lord's way, the Lord's mind, and that's all. He went out to gather herbs and found a wild vine.
And gathered their wild gourds, his lap full. I'll tell you when you go out.
Into the field, and that's Moab. It's really religious Christendom.
You don't have any trouble getting it. You will get a lap full and it's very easy. You can sit down. You have to, to get a lap full. You don't have to work to get it. It's all there. And so he got a lap full and then it says he shred, he came and shred them into the pot of pottage and they knew them not. You know, it's solemn. Sometimes it comes in unawares, but if it's from the field, if it's from out there.
It's no good. It isn't going to help at all.
So they poured out, and it came to pass as they were eating of the pot each, they cried out and said, thou man of God, death in the pot, not poison, death in the pot. And they could not eat. And the lovely part of it is, it wasn't one that discerned this. They discerned it. Isn't that lovely? How's the truth preserved among us, brethren?
It's by each one who's in dweller the Spirit of God.
Let one speak and the others judge, and I believe it's beautiful here. They discerned it. But he said bring meal. That's Christ and the way we have him presented now in our epistle as the mayor, the man, the meal, perfect and everything. And he cast it in the pot and he said pour out for the people, they may eat. There was no harm. I believe the words evil in the margin at least, maybe in J&D.
There was number evil in the pot. Well, brethren, anything you're going to get from another place then from the place where the Lord is, is not going to be helpful. It's going to be harmful in that plot. It'll add something that isn't correct or isn't right and could end up death. And I was thinking of that, you know, what is this death if we have eternal life?
Well, you know, there's the young among us, there's the children.
And how solemn when you think it could be death in that sense. But those of us that are alive in Christ, we can't lose our soul, but we can lose our life. I believe the thought of death there speaks both ways. At any rate, he went out into the field, and he gathered of the field a lat full and put it in rather deceitfully. It comes in that way. There was Mr.
Wonderful revelation.
Of God and the Old Testament wasn't there, but it wasn't until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in person.
That the life was manifested. And so that's what we're considering, isn't it? And I was wondering, Brother Chuck, your thought was to.
Take up the 1St chapter and this reading meeting. Would you have any suggestions as to how we might be able to progress to the end of the chapter? I'd kind of given that thought up.
I didn't think we were going to make it, but if this is so precious, I don't know. As though we should go faster.
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We could move on a little bit before moving.
Say a word as to manifestation.
That life was manifested. The nature of the word itself demands.
That the theme displayed exists before it was made known what it was.
So this eternal life existed in Christ in the sun, and being manifested, it came to be known what it was before it came. When He was sent as Son, He brought with Him the manifestation of what He was there, and as that eternal life has been communicated to us and His coming.
You have to manifest what is. You can't manifest what is not.
I was thinking of first four of these things right beyond you that your joy may be full. That lovely is the only source of joy. The only source of true joy is himself, that life, Christ. And he said I would that my joy be in you and your joy be full. But you know, we ask ourselves what was his joy? And I love it as it brought out in Hebrews 12 who for the joy set before him.
Endured the cross.
Despising the shame, what joy could he find in that awful cross?
Well, it was the joy of obedience, doing His Father's will. And you know, that's the beautiful truth here. This is the joy we can have. The more we know of Him, the more we seek to please Him in everything we do and say, in all our way. That's the thought our brother was bringing out his address, and that's the joy. That'll be a joy that the world knows nothing about, nor can they.
But it's a testimony. It's a real testimony.
Connection with what was said about the manifestation, the word word or the title of the Lord Jesus word is really the expression, isn't it? And I think it's an important thing. It's a very simple thing. John speaks in very simple words, but very profound. It's the expression. I may have a thought in my heart that nobody knows what I'm thinking until I express that in words.
And so Jesus.
Is the word of God. He is the full expression of all that God is.
We have the full revelation of God now and the person of the Lord Jesus.
The word of life manifest is the expression of life, the word of life.
What life really is.
What true life is, is found in Him and only in Him. Isn't it? Without Him you don't have life. There is no life either. Hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. There is no life apart from Him. He is.
The word of life, I just want to mention in verse three, says that which we have seen and heard. Declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us.
Well, that's the apostles. And what was their fellowship? Truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
That their fellowship was with the father and the Son. We have fellowship with them. So we have fellowship too with the father and the Son.
There has been an interpretation of that verse that would rob us of that, I believe.
The force of the verse is that we have fellowship with the Father and the Son.
Because we have eternal life. That's what that life is all about, isn't it?
Very clear in First Corinthians one and verse nine, and very precious two. First Corinthians 19 says God is faithful.
By whom you were called under the fellowship of his Son, that's the Father, Jesus Christ our Lord. So that's what the Corinthians were called to. That's what every professing believer, if we take the greeting of this salutation, the beginning here is called to.
Do we get into it? We are called to enjoy the Father and the Son in communion through the Apostles doctrine and Apostles fellowship, and that's what produces the fullness of joy in that fourth verse. You can't get anything anymore wonderful than this fellowship to think that you and I as mortals can enjoy common thoughts with God.
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Knowing his Father and talk about his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior.
Does that make you happy? Does that fill your soul? It certainly does. I think it's so important, like you mentioned earlier, the order of fellowship in this chapter. So often we speak about getting together and having a nice time of fellowship, but I think it's if we're going to understand fellowship like it is presented in this chapter, which is a normal condition in the family of God. Sometimes we lose a brethren, but.
It is the normal thing to be in fellowship.
But still to realize that fellowship with the Father and the Son on the ground of the fellowship of the apostles comes first. And I can talk about having a great time of fellowship with one another, but if I'm not really in fellowship with the Father and the Son, this second part is just a mere form.
That is not going to last very long.
So we need to cultivate fellowship with a father and a son on the ground of the fellowship of the apostles, which was based on the doctrine of the apostles. It's really an important order to consider. You know, it's one thing to enjoy the truth for its sake and perhaps and to speak of it and have fellowship in the.
Speaking about that truth, but even truth itself, if it doesn't lead me to Christ, will not keep me.
And so I like your remark earlier, Brother Bob, about studying the Bible. We don't quite get that expression in Scripture. Not that the Bible shouldn't be much read, but it should be read with the Lord and with Him is the object of it. And so we get the same expression. Here is what we get in the Lord's upper room ministry, that your joy might be full.
Our brother Harry Hayhoe used to say not half full, brethren full.
Well, there's only one that can fill our hearts, and that is that Blessed One Himself. And that revelation has been given to us in order that our joy might be full. And it's really only Himself ultimately that can fill our hearts, isn't it? It seems that when God made man in the garden and placed him in the Garden of Eden that.
God came down in the cool of the day, and it must have been.
That God the Creator and man the creature walked side by side in fellowship.
Because we have hearts, brethren, that cannot be satisfied with anything except Christ and fellowship with God. We've been made that way and we can't be satisfied apart from that fellowship that I think it's so important to see that.
Here in this verse 4.
That.
Our joy may be full. We have lost that fellowship. Man lost that fellowship. Adam sinned, and that distance came in between.
He and God, he ran. God did not go away. God came seeking, but the distance came in. And when God restores something, he always restores it in a far superior way than it was before, and so now.
We are not brought back into fellowship with God on the ground of creator creature. We are brought back into fellowship now on the ground of father and son your remarks brother Bob and naturally take us to the precious blood of Christ and I've been enjoying the.
The Order of this Chapter The first thing we hear about in this chapter is the life.
Manifested and then we come to verse five and we see that God is light, and we're brought face to face with the fact that God is light and in him there is no darkness. Well, the natural tendency of our sinful hearts would say, well, how can I have any part then with this God, the God whose life has been manifested and the God whose light?
How can I as a Sinner?
Have any part with a God like that? And so the precious order of this chapter is just beautiful. And then we're introduced to the 7th verse that we're walking in the light, but we're not afraid anymore. The light doesn't scare us now because it says we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ.
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His Son cleanses us from all sins.
So the order of this chapter is very beautiful, life light. And then the precious blood of Christ to set us at liberty to enjoy all the other truths that this chapter presents. And if it were not for the value of the precious blood of Christ, and if it were not for the atoning work of our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross, his death.
His glorious resurrection, if it were not for that.
We could have no part or fellowship in these things we've been talking about. So let's let's think about and thank God over and over again for the precious blood of Christ.
Notice three times in this chapter. Verse six, if we say that we have fellowship with him. Verse eight, if we say that we have no sin. Verse 10, if we say that we have not sinned.
Israel expressions of profession and he tests those.
Expressions of profession. First, he says, if we say that we have fellowship with him with whom? With the God who is light, with the God who has given us his very own life nature, that we might have fellowship with him, but he is light. There's no darkness in him. Absolute purity, essential holiness, light and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
So there's the testing of that profession.
We say we have fellowship with him whose light and we walk in darkness.
That, of course, is one who doesn't know him, is still walking in darkness, and he's just a liar and does not the truth, walking in darkness and walking in the light.
At least in John's ministry, he does not refer to a practical state, but rather to our state as either part of the family of God or still part of the family of this world, the family of the devil. And so a walk in darkness is not what I might do as a Christian, nor as a walk in the light what I might do. But every believer is in the light, isn't he?
It supposes a condition into which we have been brought.
Or in the case of one in darkness supposedly remaining in that condition in which he was naturally. And those things in John's ministry are, are not, shall I say, Gray areas. They're either black or white. I think we have that life or we do not have it. And we're either in that condition of darkness or we're walking in the light, one or the other. The 8th and 10th verse at the end of each one brings that out so clearly.
Truth is not in us. That's one who is not real, not a believer. The Word is not in us. His Word is not in us. So it's very clear. It's not Speaking of one who belongs or who has life on those verses. But we wouldn't want to overlook verse 9 where there is failure on one who has life, provision is made that restoration to fellowship can be enjoyed.
And all we have to do is come to God and confess our sin.
And he is faithful and just to cleanse us from all our sins, from all unrighteousness. Your vision is made. We don't have to ask for forgiveness.
We have forgiveness. Isn't that wonderful? It's just a confession of what we've done, keeping a short account. An upright man. That's really what that is. An upright man is one who keeps a short account with the Lord. We have forgiveness.
It would be foolish not to confess it. He knows it. You can't hide anything from God. The only way is just to confess it. It's a beautiful thing when the light does come home to the conscience and we get it all out into the open, brethren, if there's any that here this afternoon that have anything hidden in their lives.
We can just say you're only robbing yourself worst of all.
Of fellowship with the Lord and when you get that out, even though it may be shameful.
If you have something hidden there, it's not the character of a child of God to have things hidden. And if you try to hide things in the light, you're going to only make yourself that much more conspicuous. I love the testimony of the Samaritan woman who, after the light had shone into her conscience and revealed to her what kind of life she was living.
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She went right back into the city and told those men.
Come see a man that told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?
There was number need to hide anything. There was number way she could her conscience was in the light and what liberty this gives and we need to.
When sin does come in, to get it out into the open, to recognize it. And that's what we have in the eighth verse and the 10th verse, to recognize the sin and then to confess it. It's so important for confession. So often we try to cover it over just kind of sideline it.
And we rob ourselves of a lot of joy. And if that's the case this afternoon, if there is not fullness of joy.
It's because there's some hidden pockets, perhaps in my life, perhaps in yours.
That we need to get out into the light, recognize it, and then to confess it. Notice it doesn't say if we confess our CNC is merciful and gracious to forgive us our sins. That's true, but it doesn't say that. It says He is faithful and just. To whom is He faithful and just? To the person of Christ who has accomplished a work that has so glorified God.
That when we just confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive it. The work has already been accomplished that has put it away.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. And so we just have to confess it, and we have the assurance of the forgiveness, and more than that, the cleansing from all unrighteousness.