Tag: 1 John 4:1

1 John 1:1-4 What Have Your Heard?

1 John 1:1-4 What Have You Heard?

  1. 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;
  2. (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
  3. 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.
  4. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

John was so overwhelmed with the importance of his message that he dispensed with normal salutations and introductions what would normally arrive in such a letter. During the time of the writing of this epistle the church was being influenced with by the acceptance of Gnosticism.

The Gnostics were marked with a philosophy that had a variety of views, one such basic view is that the spirit is good and matter is inherently evil, and the two constantly war against one another.  So then the one who is more knowledgeable or of a strong enough will, could overcome the weaknesses of the flesh. As a result Gnosticism held two major thoughts on Christ.

Docetic Gnosticism held that the humanity of Christ was ethereal, and that he only appeared to have a body. That is that Jesus was just a phantom force, which appeared and had no real physical substance.

Cerinthus Gnosticism held that the man Jesus, the son of Joseph and Mary was not the “Christ” until is was bestowed upon him at his baptism and then the Spirit empowered his ministry, and then it left him before the crucifixion.

Now you may ask, who cares if they believed this?  What does it matter?  Well either view of Jesus in this manner removes the incarnation of Christ, and the atonement of his sacrifice.  The word “incarnation” simply means “the act of being made flesh”.  In other words, Jesus was indeed the Son of God and became man through his divine intervention and as such remained both God and man.

The Gospel of John puts it this way.  “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:1).

If Jesus was not “Christ” from before his birth, through his death, and resurrection then he would have been just a man.  As a man, he could not have escaped the original sin of Adam. Jesus could not have brought atonement because he would have had sin.  It doesn’t matter how enlightened he may have been.  Knowledge does not relieve us of sin, knowledge exposes sin.

You see Adam (man) was created by God.  In fact man was singled out from all of God’s creation to be made in the likeness of God.  As part of this likeness of God man was created with a free will.  When man was created and set in the world he was given dominion over all the earth and man was without sin.  In fact when God finished creation He looked at it and said that it was “good”.

But man rebelled against God, of his own free will, and then sin entered into man, and a curse has since followed man.  Now that man was in sin and darkness, he was separated from God, because God is pure and righteous.  His presence would destroy man.  Romans 5:12 tells us, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered in to the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”.

So you see a man cannot save man, because he is already tainted with sin.  Only God can save man, through a sinless sacrifice that would only be made once, one that could cover all of man’s sin, past, present and future.  There could only be one way to bridge the gap between man (creation) and God (Creator), God would have to provide the sacrifice.  This shows the necessity of God becoming man.

God had compassion on man.  God in his grace, had a plan to redeem man, from the very beginning.

The whole bible from beginning to end is a revelation of God’s plan of salvation in Jesus Christ.  In Genesis 3:15 God tells the serpent that deceived Adam and Eve into rebellion that, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

This is the first prophecy concerning the salvation that would come through Jesus.  There are over 300 prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus in his short life here on earth, and there are still more prophecies yet to be fulfilled upon his return.

The author of this letter claims to be an eye witness to the ministry of Christ.  This makes the author and authority on who Jesus is and what he is doing. We must not ever forget the importance of having a witness.  John is telling his readers of this epistle that the things that they have been taught concerning Jesus is the truth and has been witnesses by them.  The witnesses are in what they have heard, both in the scriptures and in the words of Jesus.

  • Your testimony of what Jesus has done in your life is your witness of the truth of Jesus.
  • No one else can stand up and proclaim what you have seen and what you have heard from God.
  • No one else can explain how the love of Jesus has changed your heart.
  • No one else can explain the release of the guilt and the shame that you have suffered.

There is an old saying that people love to use.  “Who are you to judge me?” This is a true statement.  Who are you?  To many Christians get saved and in their enthusiasm to have others convert, forget that they were once lost and in rebellion.  They forget that it took someone who in genuine concern reached out and connected with them.

And you know how they did that?

  • They shared who they were, and who they are now.
  • They shared how Jesus made that difference and they shared the love that was given to them – freely.

It does not matter how much time we spend in church, Sunday school, or in memorizing bible scriptures.  It doesn’t even matter if we speak in tongues, or if we can heal others at a touch.  What matters is if we can reach out in love.  We have to love others enough to overcome the fear and insecurity of sharing our testimony.

Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one to another.” (John 13:35).  He also said that I speak that which I have heard of the father.  Jesus led by example.

He didn’t talk about things he didn’t know.

  • He talked about things of heaven.
  • He explained the things that pertained to the Kingdom of God.
  • He gave examples and illustrations.
  • He testified of things he knew, that he had seen, and he had heard.

How?

  • Because he is God.
  • He existed before creation.
  • He was the creator.

So what do you know? What have you seen?  What have you heard?

You know the truth

  • Jesus is the Son of God
  • Jesus is faithful
  • Jesus loves you
  • Jesus forgave you
  • Jesus provided atonement for you
  • Jesus released you from your bondage
  • From sexual immortality
  • From lies
  • From disease
  • From the bondage of sin
  • Jesus gave you a choice again
  • You are no longer a slave
  • You have eternal life

These are the things that are in your testimony.  Henry Clay Trumbull (1830-1903) is considered one of God’s pioneers in soul-winning evangelism.  In fact he wrote the first books ever devoted strictly to the principles of personal evangelism.  He was a renowned expositor of scripture, missionary, organizer and lecturer.  He was the editor of the Civil War era publication. “The Sunday School Times”.  He was the author of 38 books in total.  He lectured at Yale University and traveled relentlessly spreading and teaching the gospel.  Yet here is what he said concerning personal evangelism.

“Looking back upon my work in all these years I can see more direct results of good through my individual efforts with individuals that I can know of through all my spoken words to thousands upon thousands of persons in religious assemblies, or all my written words on the pages of periodicals or of books.  Reaching one person at a time is the BEST way of reaching all the world in time.”

When Jesus said no man lights a candle and puts it under a table, but he puts in on top of the table so that all who enter the house can see the light, he was talking about you.  You are the light of Christ!  Don’t put it under a table and hide it!  Tell somebody what Jesus has done for you. –Amen!

2016PastorsAppDay.png

Believe Not Every Spirit

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God:  because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)

John the Apostle warned the early church, that there were false teachers out there in their midst.  There were people who, would mislead the teachings that they had already received.  We have so much out there today, that people who call themselves Christians, try to sell us, that which does not come out of the Bible.  In fact they will put a twist on what is actually in the Bible and use our own ignorance of scripture against us. They will try to tell us that God, the Almighty One is at our beck and call.  That He is just a great djinn in the sky that grants our every wish, or if we just claim it, He will give it. God is not at our beck and call!

God told Job “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.” (Job 38:4)  Again God told Moses, I AM who I AM in the book of Exodus. No sir God is not someone who is just conjured up to give us a new car or a new house.  God is not at our beckoning.

“I am the Lord: that is My name: and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images.” (Isaiah 42:8)

This is the same thing the serpent did to Eve in the Garden of Eden when he tempted her.  He twisted her understanding of what God said verses what He meant. This is nothing new, it was even evident in the times in which the Apostles were still living.  The first epistle of John is believed to have been written between 85 and 100 A.D.  This tells you how long these cults have been around.  Many have just changed their names, but they message or twisting of the truth is the same message as it was thousands of years ago.  These false doctrines were, and are still causing problems in the church today.  Many professing Christians are be led astray by these false doctrines.

John tells us to be discerning.  We should scrutinize and examine every claim that is laid to the spirit.  We as followers of Christ are allowed and expected to use discretion on what someone tells us is scripture. There are organizations that call themselves Christian, and even publish bibles and go door to door giving away their bibles and additional materials that in the heart of their religion, deny the deity of Christ.  There are other religions and schools of thought that say that Jesus, did exist and, and that He was a very good man, and that he was even a prophet, but they deny that He is the Son of God.  They deny the need for His sacrifice.

(2) Hereby know you the Spirit of God:  Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: (3) And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (1 John 4: 2-3)

Christ is a Greek translation for Messiah, the anointed one of God.  Confessing Jesus does not just mean that you acknowledge that He was a good man or just a prophet.  Jesus is the Son of God, thus says the Lord, “This is My beloved Son: hear Him.” (Luke 9:35)  Anyone who comes in the Spirit of God confesses that Jesus is the Son of God.  If they do not, then do not listen to their doctrine.  They are from the antichrist and the Spirit of God is not with them.

Jesus said, “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.”(Matthew 24:11)  So as the scriptures says. Don’t be worried, we have been warned that these things would happen.  Instead we should test every spirit.  How do we test every spirit?  Well we already mentioned it earlier when we mentioned the fall of Eve.  We have to study the scriptures. Be in a constant attitude of prayer, and encourage one another in sound doctrine.

Get yourself into a good church that teaches from the Bible.  A good Bible teaching church will use the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments as its source of exposition.  2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 

We are to be diligent with the Word of God and always reprove everything against the Word of God.  Know what the Lord says about things that are in your life, your community, and your relationships.

“Continue you in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them; (15) And that from  a child you have known the holy scriptures,  which are able to make you wise to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. (16) All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (17) That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished to all good works.” (2 Timothy 3:14-17)