Blessed Assurance Sermon Series (a study of 1 John)

#1 The Foundation for Victorious Living

 

Once upon a time. . . ."

Remember how exciting those words used to be? They were the open door into an exciting world of make-believe, a dream world that helped you forget all the problems of childhood.

Then—pow! You turned a corner one day, and "Once upon a time" became kid stuff. You discovered that life is a battleground, not a playground, and fairy stories were no longer meaningful. You wanted something real.

The search for something real is not new. It has been going on since the beginning of history. Men have looked for reality and satisfaction in wealth, thrills, conquest, power, learning, and even in religion.

There is nothing really wrong with these experiences, except that by themselves they never really satisfy. Wanting something real and finding something real are two different things. Like a child eating cotton candy at the circus, many people who expect to bite into something real end up with a mouthful of nothing. They waste priceless years on empty substitutes for reality.

This is where the Apostle John’s first epistle comes in. Written centuries ago, this letter deals with a theme that is forever up-to-date: the life that is real.

John had discovered that satisfying reality is not to be found in things or thrills, but in a Person—Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Without wasting any time, he tells us about this "living reality" in the first paragraph of his letter.

The foundation of a building is the rock-like certainty to which every dependent part of the building is attached. Without a foundation a building is insecure and short-lived, being at the mercy of every blast of wind and storm.

Life also must have a foundation, a central certainty from which all our uncertainties receive strength and stability. Without such a foundation we are nervous about living and confused about dying; without it our reason for living is misguided and our eternal assurance is in question.

First John 1:1-4 brings before us the essential foundation for victorious living. God intended for every person to be joyful and successful in living. One can be successful in life and a failure in living. Success in life is incidental, but success in living is crucial.

Do not stumble through life, half-believing and half-doubting. Live a full, complete life—a life of service, joy, and spiritual victory. This passage will point you to the only foundation upon which true abundant living can be built.

 

1. THE FULLNESS OF REVELATION (1 John 1:1, 2)

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. {2} The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

The first part of the foundation to which John refers is the divine revelation. No one can face the responsibilities and rigors of life with mean­ing, assurance, and true victory without his life being tied to a foundation which is stronger than life. The Person about whom John speaks is greater than hardships, rebuffs, and death! What a foundation for life! John says, “A supernatural Person from beyond life has come to help us live life.” Eternity has entered time; Deity has touched humanity.

Here at the very beginning of his letter John sets down his right to speak; and it consists in one thing-in personal experience of Christ (verses 2 and 3).

(i)  He says that he has heard Christ.  Long ago Zedekiah had said to Jeremiah:  "Is there any word from the Lord?" (Jeremiah 37:17).  What men are interest in is not someone's opinions and guesses but a word from the Lord.  It was said of one great preacher that first he listened to God and then he spoke to men; and it was said of John Brown of Haddington that, when he preached, he paused ever and again, as if listening for a voice.  The true teacher is the man who has a message from Jesus Christ because he has heard his voice.

(ii)  He says that he has seen Christ.  It is told of Alexander Whyte, the great Scottish preacher, that someone once said to him, "You preached today as if you had come straight from the presence."  And Whyte answered, "Perhaps I did."  We cannot see Christ in the flesh as John did; but we can still see him with the eye of faith.

"And, warm, sweet, tender, even yet A present help is he; And faith has still its Olivet, And love its Galilee."

(iii)  He says that he has gazed on Christ.  What, then, is the difference between seeing Christ and gazing upon him?  In the Greek the verb for to see is horan and it means simply to see with physical sight.  The verb for to gaze is theasthai and it means to gaze at someone or something until something has been grasped of the significance of that person or thing.  So Jesus, speaking to the crowds of John the Baptist, asked:  "What did you go out into the wilderness to see (theasthai)?" (Luke 7:24); and in that word he describes how the crowds flocked out to gaze at John and wonder who and what this man might be.  Speaking of Jesus in the prologue to his gospel, John says, "We beheld his glory" (John 1:14).  The verb is again theasthai and the idea is not that of a passing glance but of a steadfast searching gaze which seeks to discover something of the mystery of Christ.

(iv)  He says that his hands actually touched Christ.  Luke tells of how Jesus came back to his disciples, when he had risen from the dead, and said, "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself:  handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have" (Luke 24:39).  Here John is thinking of those people called the Docetists who were so spiritually-minded that they insisted that Jesus never at any time had a flesh and blood body but was only a phantom in human form.  They refused to believe that God could ever soil himself by taking human flesh and blood upon himself.  John here insists that the Jesus he had known was, in truth, a man amongst men; he felt there was nothing in all the world more dangerous-as we shall see-than to doubt that Jesus was fully man.

The revelation of Jesus is concrete and com­plete. His coming was not obscure and vague, untouchable and unapproachable. John says, “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, . . .” (1:1). Man heard Him, saw Him, and touched Him. Eternal life, the express image of God, lived and walked among us! Is more evidence necessary? How could the revelation be improved?

It is evident he is talking about a person, whom, he says is "from the beginning." This is one of the favorite phrases of the Apostle John "from the beginning." There are at least three "beginnings" in the Bible:

The Bible opens with the phrases, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," {Gen 1:1}. That is the beginning of the material creation, of matter. How far back it goes no one knows. That verse encompasses the very dawn of creation and it is impossible for us to tell how far back it is. Neither science nor Scripture answers. Science suggest it was millions of years ago, and Scripture is quite ready to accommodate that. As Dr. J. Vernon McGee puts it, "you can go back squillions of years and there is still ample room." The first beginning is the beginning of creation.

Now, in the Gospel of John there is another "beginning." That Gospel begins with these words, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," {John 1:1 RSV}. That beginning goes back before creation. That is the unbeginning beginning, the beginning that is eternal. That simply means at the starting point. We humans have to start somewhere in our thinking. We are finite creatures and we must always have a starting point. We have to start with A in order, eventually, to arrive at Z, and it is that A which John is describing in the Gospel. Before there was anything at all, there was the Word. That Word was a Person, and he was with God, and he was God. That is the farthest point backward that we can go.

But now, in this letter, there is still a third beginning, "that which was from the beginning." Here John does not mean either the time of creation or the unbeginning beginning, the timeless beginning. He is referring to a definite matter here for he uses this phrase many times.

One of the great proofs of the validity of this revelation is the content and nature of the revela­tion itself. Could Jesus have been invented? Is it possible for Jesus to be the product of man’s mind? Man’s deeds and accomplishments, though sometimes masterful and amazing, are imperfect. Man cannot create perfection.

Here, however, is a perfect Jesus in a perfect Bible. Before man can discard Jesus he must disprove His perfection. Can you find a flaw in His life? The brightest minds of the ages have surveyed and scrutinized His life, but have found no mistakes. His perfection remains intact.

But a foundation is of no value unless it is used. Base and build your life upon this revela­tion. Life may change—friends may leave us, disease may come, and accidents may occur— but values and purposes when grounded in this revelation will remain unchanged. When you are anchored to the unchangeable, the changes of life will not destroy you.

We tie ourselves to the divine revelation by living by the words of Jesus and His inspired writers and by making His purposes our pur­poses. This is the beginning, the commence­ment. Without this foundation the hard knocks of life will knock us out! Without this foundation the house of life will crumble into the dust.

 

2. THE FULLNESS OF FELLOWSHIP (1 John 1:3)

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ

The blessed fellowship in Christ is the sec­ond part of the foundation for victorious living. Man, a gregarious being, must have fellowship with others. It is essential to his happiness and productivity. The fellowship of which John writes is the highest of all fellowships, the fellowship which is basic to a meaningful life. John says, “What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1:3). Such divine fellowship gives beauty and undergirding to all legitimate human fellowships.

We all have things in common. We share human life in common. Most of us share American citizenship in common. We have many things in common. But John is talking about that unique fellowship which is only the possession of those who share life in Jesus Christ together, who have this different kind of life, this new relationship. This makes them one and that is the basis for the appeal of Scripture to live together in tenderness and love toward one another. Not because we are inherently wonderful people or remarkable personalities, or that we are naturally gracious, kind, loving, and tender all the time -- for at times we are grouchy, scratchy, and irritating to others. But we are still to love one another. That is his point. Why? Because we share life together. We have something in common. We share the life of the Lord Jesus, and therefore we have fellowship with one another.

Ah, but that is not all, and it cannot be all. There is not only the horizontal relationship but that, in turn, depends upon a vertical one. He goes on, "and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." We shall discover, as we go on as Christians, that the horizontal relationship is directly related to the vertical one. If the vertical is not right, the horizontal one will be wrong, and, if it is wrong, it is because something is wrong between us and the Father. If we want to straighten out the horizontal relationship, that of getting along with our fellow Christians and fellow men, we must be sure that the vertical one is straight. Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Now fellowship there means exactly the same thing it means elsewhere. It means having things in common. Here we come to the most remarkable thing about Christian life, communion, or fellowship with Christ. It really takes two English words to bring out what this really means. There is, first of all, a partnership, i.e., the sharing of mutual interests, mutual resources, mutual labor together. God and I, working together, a partnership. All that I have is put at his disposal. Well, what do I have? I have me. I have my mind, my body. True, these are gifts of God, but they are put at my disposal to do with as I please. That is what I have, and now I put them at his disposal. When I do I discover something most remarkable. Everything that he is, is put at my disposal. Is that not marvelous? The greatness of God, the wisdom, the power, the glory of his might -- all is made available to me, when I make myself available to him. This is the great secret of fellowship.

The fellowship mentioned in verse 3 is two-pronged, a fellowship which reaches up to God and His Son and out to God’s family members. It is at once a heavenly and earthly fellowship. Fellowship with God lifts us above the trivial plans and designs of this world; fellowship with God’s family gives us strength and purpose when the temporary relationships of life dissolve.

Someone has said that fellowship is two fel­lows in a ship. Although this definition is simple and comical, it does suggest two elemental char­acteristics of the word: togetherness and enter­prise. Fellowship implies unity of thought and activity. It is joint participation in a common venture. The fellowship of which John speaks is joint participation in God’s eternal purpose with God and His church.

In his book The Sensation of Being Somebody, Robert Wagner breaks down the meaning of self-esteem. He contends self-esteem is based upon three personal, deep-down beliefs: self-worth, belongingness, and productivity. Fel­lowship in Christ provides all three of these beliefs. What God has done for each of us at the cross creates in us a beautiful sense of worth. Walking with God in daily Christian living further conveys true worth and value to us. When we are part of God’s family we have belongingness. What could be more solidifying to life than being a member of an eternal fam­ily? Fellowship with God also means productiv­ity as His purpose becomes ours.

Two responses must be made to the fellow­ship presented in this passage. First, appropria­tion is necessary. Fellowship may be available, but it must be appropriated. We enter it by faith (John 8:24), repentance of sin (Acts 17:30), con­fession of Jesus (Romans 10:10), and baptism into Christ (Acts 22:16). Second, appreciation should naturally overflow from our hearts. What an opportunity! What a blessing!

This spiritual fellowship is so basic to victo­rious living that unless it is at the very center of our lives our reach for happiness will always fail. Abundant living cannot be predicated upon temporary relationships.

 

3. THE FULLNESS OF JOY (1 John 1:4)

We write this to make our joy complete.

Victorious living is also based upon Chris­tian joy. Joy is the inner singing of the soul of the Christian. It is a Bible-based, deep-settled peace regarding the big issues of life. John says, “And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete” (1:4).

Joy springs from a response and a relation­ship, our response to the revelation of God and our relationship with God. John’s statement makes three implications regarding joy. He im­plies the reality of joy. Early Christians had it; we can have it too. It is not an elusive quality to always be reached for but never quite grasped. Second, he implies the basis of joy. Joy flows from Jesus dwelling in the heart. Joy does not dwell where eternal hope does not exist. Third, he implies the beauty of joy. John wrote this letter to bring joy. Joy is a desirable quality that is worth every effort and sacrifice made to receive it.

Anchored to the eternal and based upon God’s revelation, the Christian’s joy is full and complete. It is grounded in a perfect revelation and springs from a relationship with the eternal, almighty God.

Someone was asked to paint a picture of peace. In response, he did not paint a picture of a beautiful oasis where no problems existed or a sunlit meadow where not even an insect was flying. He painted a bird serenely nestled in his nest, a nest embedded in a strong, powerful limb which was overhanging a raging waterfall. The bird was at peace amid the din of noise, the violently rushing water, and the danger on ev­ery side. Is this not a portrayal of joy too? Joy is not the happiness of a no-problem life; it is the inner confidence we have from God when life is vicious, violent, and vehement. Joy is the flag which flies over the castle of our lives when the Prince of Peace is in residence there.

But, mark it, joy is not a peripheral thing. It can only exist in the very center of your being. If at the very core of your consciousness you do not have a Bible-based, deep-settled peace regard­ing the big issues of life, you do not have joy. You may have a kind of happiness, but not joy.

If you have true joy, you can handle life. If you do not have joy, your life will be plagued by fear, misery, and distortion.

Ask yourself: “Do I have Scripture-grounded confidence about life’s major decisions?” If you must say no, you must settle the joy question at once by coming to God in gospel obedience or coming back to God in restoration to your first love.

DEEPER STUDY -- (1:4) Joy (chara): an inner gladness; a deep seated pleasure. It is a depth of assurance and confidence that ignites a cheerful heart. It is a cheerful heart that leads to cheerful behavior.

Several things need to be said about the believer’s joy.

1. Joy is divine. It is possessed and given only by God. Its roots are not in earthly or material things or cheap triumphs. It is the joy of the Holy Spirit, a joy based in the Lord. It is His very own joy (John 15:11; Acts 13:52; Romans 14:17; Galatians 5:22; 1 Thes. 1:6).

2. Joy does not depend on circumstances or happiness. Happiness depends upon happenings, but the joy that God implants in the believer’s heart overrides all, even the matters of life and death (Psalm 5:11; 2 Cor. 6:10; 2 Cor. 7:4).

3. Joy springs from faith (Romans 15:13; Phil. 1:25; 2 Tim. 1:4; cp. Matthew 2:10).

4. Joy of future reward makes and keeps one faithful (Matthew 25:21, 23; Acts 20:24; Hebrews 12:2).

 

The source of the believer’s joy is severalfold.

1. The fellowship of the Father and His Son brings joy (1 John 1:3-4).

2. Victory over sin, death, and hell brings joy (John 14:28; John 16:20-22).

3. Repentance brings joy (Luke 15:7, 10).

4. The hope of glory brings joy (Romans 14:17; Hebrews 12:2; 1 Peter 4:13).

5. The Lord’s Word—the revelations, commandments, and promises which He made—brings joy (John 15:11).

6. The commandments of Christ and the will of God bring joy. Obeying and doing a good job stirs joy within the believer’s heart (John 15:11; John 17:13; Acts 13:52).

7. Prayer brings joy (John 16:24).

8. The presence and fellowship of believers brings joy (1 John 1:3-4).

9. Converts bring joy (Luke 15:5; Phil. 4:1; 1 Thes. 2:19-20).

10. Hearing that others walk in the truth brings joy (3 John 4).

11. Giving brings joy (2 Cor. 8:2; Hebrews 10:34).

 

CONCLUSION

The joyful, abundant life must be built upon the right foundation. The foundation implied by these four verses is a three-part foundation that is steady and sure: the revelation of Jesus, fel­lowship with God, and the fullness of joy.

Do not miss the order. Revelation, relation­ships, rejoicing! The proper response to the rev­elation brings fellowship with God and true fellowship produces joy.

Suppose your arm is broken in an accident. You go to a doctor for help but he says, “What you need is happiness. Let me tell you a joke! We must get you laughing again.” Arms are not mended by jokes! The doctor has everything out of order. Your health must come before your happiness. The arm must be set, the cast must be worn, and discomfort must be experienced until good health in the arm returns. Good health must, of necessity, come first.

When life is broken by sin a joke will not bring joy. The soul must be mended and the relationship with God restored. Once God’s rev­elation has been honored and fellowship with God and His people regained, joy will follow.

Victorious living can be yours but it must be built upon the proper foundation. How about you? Are you seeking a joyful, abundant life? God invites you to His way, His life, and His joy.