1,126 in your Pew Bible. 1,126. We're reading Luke chapter 24 verses 36 through 53. Luke 24, 36 through 53. Hear the word of our God. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved, for disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate before them. And then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. And then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. and that repentance and forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And we're continually in the temple, blessing God. Amen. Well, brothers and sisters, you've got it easy this morning. You don't even have to turn a page in your Bible. The next scripture reading comes on the very next page, the beginning of the Gospel of John. I'll be reading chapter 1, verses 1 through 18. Again, this is the word. of our God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light but came to bear witness about the light. The true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him and cried out, this was he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. And from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only God, who is at the Father's side. He has made him known. Amen. Again, this is the word of our God. I invite you now to turn in your Bibles to the book of 1 John. We're going to be looking at 1 John chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. You'll find this on page 1301 in your Pew Bible. We're beginning a new sermon series this morning on the book of 1 John. I'll just tell you that 1 John is one of my favorite books in the Bible. It's hard to have favorite books in the Bible, because, of course, all of the Bible is so wonderful. What would we do without the word of God? But since I was a young Christian, this has always been a favorite book of mine. I've never had the opportunity to preach in my time through the book of 1 John, so I'm excited to begin this sermon series this morning. So we're going to begin with John's introduction here to the book, John chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. Hear the word of our God. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes. which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. The life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the father and was made manifest to us. That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be. complete. Again, this is the word of our God. Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask his blessing on the preaching of his word. Our Father, how could we not gather for worship as your people and praise you and thank you for the gift of your word? Father, we thank you for the way in which you have so clearly revealed to us the way of salvation. Lord, we marvel at the way that you have presented Jesus Christ to us so clearly in the pages of Scripture. And now, Lord, we ask as we have opportunity to hear your word proclaimed, Lord, that you would give us ears to hear it and receive it as the word that you have provided for us, and that you would give us the faith to believe it. Father, I pray that you would use me as your instrument in this, and I pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, brothers and sisters, we spent more than six months as a congregation thinking about the Old Testament book of Nehemiah. is a book that takes place before the coming of Christ. It chronicles the events of God's people that took place after the exile. God's people were still looking forward to God's promises of salvation, to the coming of the Messiah. But now, you see, we've got to switch gears. We've got to make a major switch here, because now we're looking at the New Testament book of 1 John. And this book is very different. Its themes are different. Its language is different. 1 John takes place after the coming of Christ. In fact, it's one of the latest books out of all of the books written in the New Testament. It's a letter written to Christians to assure them of their salvation and to encourage them to live in obedience to Jesus Christ. The author of this is the Apostle John, the very disciple of Jesus Christ. Now it's important for me to say that because you may have noticed that the book of 1 John doesn't tell us anywhere who the author actually is. John never actually tells you about himself. He never introduces himself. But brothers and sisters, this is what's important to understand, that the Church, from its very earliest days, has understood and has given credit to John to be the author of this book. And they've done that based on the similarity between the Gospel of John, its language and themes, and the similarity of this letter. This is why, in your English Bibles, this is entitled First John. It's composed by the disciple of Jesus, the Apostle John. Now, brothers and sisters, some preachers, when they begin a new book like we're doing this morning, they'll begin with a sort of introductory sermon, a sermon that gives you the sort of overview of the whole book. And I want to tell you that I'm not going to do that this morning. I think the best way for us to get acquainted with this book, the book of 1 John, is simply for us to jump right in and to get our feet wet. You may have noticed that 1 John doesn't begin like many other New Testament letters. It doesn't begin like the letters of Paul. There's no greeting. John, as I said, doesn't tell you about himself. He doesn't tell you he's the author. He doesn't tell you about his readers. John simply jumps right in and begins to say what he wants to say to those he's writing to. And I'm going to do the same thing this morning. And I'm going to begin with a question, a question that I think is vitally important, a question that I think John himself would want you to consider based on what he says here in the introduction to this book. And the question is this, do you want to have fellowship with God? Let me say that again to you. Do you want, do you want to have fellowship with God? Maybe you've never thought of that exactly put that way. Maybe that's a new concept to you, to have fellowship with God. Or maybe you've actually never thought of your Christian life in that way, that that's the goal of your Christian life, fellowship with God. But this is what John presents to us. This is the question we need to consider. Do you want to have fellowship with God? Brothers and sisters, there's one sense in which all human beings, we could say, on some level recognize their need of this fellowship with God and desire this fellowship with God. Think about it. All religion really flows from the recognition that we cannot find answers to our deepest questions or fulfillment for our deepest longings simply from the material world. You see, we were made as people in the image of God, and that means we were made for God. We were made for relationship with God. You may be familiar with Augustine's famous quote. He said that God made us for himself, and he said that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God. Brothers and sisters, that's true of every single human being. Every human heart is restless until it finds its rest in God. But brothers and sisters, there's another sense in which mankind entirely rejects this idea of fellowship with God. Most people, whether they're religious or whether they're not religious, would say that fellowship with God is something that is entirely impossible. It's ludicrous. It's preposterous. Think about it. The atheist in our world, of course, he would say the fellowship with God is impossible because there's no God. You see, the world is simply governed by natural laws. If you want to find any meaning for yourself in life, you've got to find it on your own terms. You've got to define your own meaning because there's no God. There's no possibility of fellowship with God. But it's not just the atheist who thinks this way. Most people today think that if God exists at all, that we can really know nothing about him with any certainty. You see, we live in an age of skepticism about any sort of objective truth. There might be a God, but we can't really know him. When it comes to spiritual matters, you simply have to figure out what works for you and what will help you to get through life. But brothers and sisters, this is also true of people who are deeply and zealously religious. Think about the religions of the world. The religions of the world don't really view fellowship with God as something that's possible. God exists, they would say, certainly. But he's not a God who has fellowship with us. He's not a God who wants to have fellowship with us. God is someone we have to appease and satisfy. And if we do our religious duty, if we do the things that he says, we hope that just maybe, in the end, God might reward us. But you see that's something very different than the idea of actually having fellowship with God. But brothers and sisters, there's one more level we have to go here. Sadly, even many people who call themselves Christians also don't believe that fellowship with God is really possible or even necessary. Many people treat God simply as a means to an end. God is the means of getting certain gifts and certain blessings. They think that if they go to church, if they tithe their money, if they have enough faith, then God will give them a prosperous life. He'll provide certain comforts and blessings. He'll make them successful. But you see the problem with that? The goal is the gifts of God. It's not God himself. It's God's gifts and blessings. You see, they don't really think that fellowship with God is necessary or fellowship with God is possible. And brothers and sisters, what I hope you understand is this, that in all of these ways, there are voices all around you saying to you that fellowship with God is really impossible. Fellowship with God is unnecessary. Why should you even think that you could have fellowship with God? The whole idea is rather preposterous. But brothers and sisters, John, the Apostle John, says something very different to us in the beginning of this letter. Right from the very beginning, he tells you that fellowship with God is actually possible. You can have fellowship with God. In fact, he says this is the very reason why he's writing this letter. You see, he tells us that this is actually the thing that we need the most and that this is possible, he says, because God himself appeared to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, this is what makes Christianity different from every other religious idea. Almost every other religious idea teaches that you have to somehow work your way up to God. You've got to build this ladder up to God and you build it, this ladder, it's the ladder of your own good works. You build it rung by rung and you have to somehow work your way up to God if you're going to experience anything of the life and blessings of God. But you see, the Bible teaches something almost exactly the opposite, that God wants fellowship with us, that God actually made us for that purpose, and that God himself has come to us to make that possible in the person of Jesus, his own son. As I said earlier to you, this might be a completely new idea to you. Maybe you never really thought of fellowship with God. Maybe you are here this morning and you haven't thought that fellowship with God is really possible. Or maybe you need to be reminded that this is actually the goal and the prize of your Christian life. God has made this possible, that you could have fellowship with him. Brothers and sisters, I say this to you this morning, if you want more fellowship with God, and I pray that you do, I hope that you will hear and listen to what John has to say to us this morning in these verses. John does three things in his introduction to this book in verses one through four, and the one that I want us to think about first is the fact that John, in this introduction, gives us an invitation. John invites you to something, and what he invites you to is to have fellowship with God. It's always helpful when you're gonna begin reading something, a book that somebody gives to you or maybe it's a letter you're sent or an email, if the person who's writing tells you at the very beginning the reason they're writing because then it helps you to understand everything else that follows. If they say, I'm writing to you for this purpose. And brothers and sisters, this is what John does helpfully here at the beginning of 1st John in verses 3 and 4. Listen again to what he says, that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you. And then he says this, so that, this is his reason, so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And then he adds these words, and we are writing these things. And then again, so that your joy, he says, may be complete. You see, if we ask the question, why is John bothering to spend the time to write this letter, it's for this reason. He wants his readers to experience what he has experienced. He wants them to share in his fellowship. He wants them to share in his joy. And what he says is that this fellowship that he has is fellowship with the father, and it's fellowship with his son. You see, John makes it clear. He's not just inviting you to have fellowship with him. John doesn't just want you to hang out with him. John is inviting you into some deeper kind of fellowship. It's fellowship with God himself. Now, you might wonder why John uses the plural here. You may have noticed that. He doesn't say that I proclaim to you. He says we proclaim to you. He doesn't talk about my joy. He says our joy. Why does he do this? Well, most likely, what John's doing here is he's speaking for all of the apostles. He's including himself among all of the apostles. You see, all of them were with Christ, and all of them are proclaiming the same message, you see, that John's proclaiming here to us. And what we get in these opening verses of this letter is this sense of John's enthusiasm and excitement. It's as if he can't contain himself. He wants to tell you something. He has something he wants to share with you. He's bursting with joy here. And what John's telling you is that he's experienced something that is life transforming. It's fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. You see, and now all that he wants to do is he wants to proclaim this to you. He wants to invite you. He wants you to have what he has, to experience what he's experienced. He knows that this is true. He knows that it's possible because he himself has experienced this. And so now he wants you to share in his joy. In fact, John says in verse four that his joy won't even be complete. His joy is lacking unless he can share that joy with others. That's what true joy is, brothers and sisters. If you have true joy, it's something that has to be shared. You can't keep it to yourself. And John can't either. John wants you to have what he has. This is why he's writing to you. This is what I want you to think about this morning. Every time that you turn on your TV and you watch commercials, you're hearing invitations that are in some ways similar to the invitation that John gives us here at the beginning of this letter. I'm told that Americans watch 487 hours of commercials on average each year. That's not the programs with the commercials. That's just the time taken out of the actual commercials. That comes to roughly 20 days out of a year that people spend just watching commercials. Think about that. If you didn't watch commercials, you could get 20 days back. Think of all the things you could do. But this is what I want you to think about. Most of these commercials go like this. There's some sort of celebrity who's telling you about a product that they've experienced. They're telling you that this has brought transformation to their life and happiness, and they want you to have what they have. You need to get this product. Look at what it's done for me, and now you can have the same thing if you just buy this product. It could be some sort of beverage that they drink. And the commercial shows that just having this beverage and they're drinking it, they're so happy. They're smiling and they're saying, if you got this beverage, you'd be this happy too. Or maybe it's a mattress they sleep on and it shows them sleep at night and they're smiling, like they smile in their sleep all night, right? They're so happy while they're sleeping and they wake up and it's like the best day of their life, right? And every day is like that if you have that mattress, right? And you can get that mattress, you just have to buy it and then your life will be like theirs. The ones that get me the most are the car commercials. They don't just sell you a car because it's reliable and it can get from point A to point B, that's why you need a car. No, they sell you a car because it's going to transform your whole life. They show somebody sitting at the steering wheel and as soon as they get in the car, it's like peace and tranquility just settles over them. Brothers and sisters, have you ever experienced peace and tranquility driving a car in New York City? Not on the life of you. But this is the way it's presented. It's going to transform your whole life. They show the kids in the back seat. They're happy and content and quiet. Have your kids ever behaved like that in the car? But if you get this car, this is how it'll be for you. Your whole family life will be transformed, right? All you need to do is get this car. What's the problem with all of this? It's fake. It's a fraud. Brothers and sisters, it's all done before a camera. They sit there and do retake after retake. If the people aren't smiling perfectly, they do it over again until they get just the look they want. They're being paid to say those things to you. Those people might not even use those products in real life. They probably don't even like that beverage that they drink. They may have never even slept on that mattress before. They could care less about it. They're being paid to tell you these things. And brothers and sisters, what I hope you understand, it's just radically different with what John is doing here at the beginning of this gospel. John is not paid to tell you these things. John is not standing in front of a camera. When John tells you here that he wants you to share in this fellowship and in this joy, when he invites you to this, he's telling you that this is something you desperately need because he himself has truly experienced it. You see, the difference is this, that the people on commercials, they're paid to do these things, but the apostles who were proclaiming these things, they suffered and were even killed for proclaiming this message, that there is fellowship with God available in Jesus Christ. And yet John proclaims this to you because he knows that this is true. This is really life transforming. He can't contain himself. He wants you to have what he has because this is the real thing, fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. And brothers and sisters, think for a minute about the claim that John is actually making here. He's saying to you that fellowship with God is possible. I've already told you that most people in the world, if you went up to them and said that you could have fellowship with God, they would think you were nuts, that this is absolutely preposterous. Sure, there may be a God, maybe I've got to do certain things and go to church, but the idea that you could have fellowship with the living God, this is preposterous, and yet this is the very claim that John makes here in this letter. And to understand what John's saying, we really need to understand the meaning of this word fellowship. This is an important and significant word in the New Testament. It's the Greek word koinonia. And what koinonia really describes is a close relationship where there are mutual interests and mutual participation. We could describe koinonia as sharing life together. This is how our life as the church is described in the New Testament. We're to have this kind of fellowship, this shared life together. In fact, in the Greek world, the word koinonia was often used to describe marriage because this was thought of as the deepest of human relationships. Fellowship, deep joint sharing was taking place in marriage. This is what koinonia is all about. But then think, if that's true, if that's what koinonia is, think about what John is saying to you. John is saying that that sort of relationship is possible with God. Think about that. We can understand that this is possible among us as human beings. We're peers. We could live a sort of shared life together. But John is saying that this is possible with God. How can John say something like that? Think about it. God is our creator. We are mere creatures. God is infinite, eternal, invisible. God has unlimited power and wisdom and glory. We are nothing like God. We are not God's peers. How can we, who are so removed from God's level, have fellowship with God? How can John claim that this is actually true? And brothers and sisters, think on top of this, that God is holy and righteous. The Bible says he's glorious in his holiness. We are certainly nothing like that. We are unholy and unrighteous sinners. And how in the world, then, can John say to us that we can have fellowship with God? How can John come to you and say, you can experience what I experienced. You can have fellowship with God. Well, brothers and sisters, John actually tells us here in his introduction how this is possible. It's possible because of and through Jesus Christ. You see, John not only invites us to fellowship, that's the first thing that we've looked at here, but John, the second thing John does here is he presents Jesus Christ to us. It's so interesting that John doesn't begin his introduction here by inviting you to that fellowship. That's where I began. And John gets to that in verses 3 and 4. But before he ever gets there in verses 1 and 2, John begins right away with this letter. He doesn't hesitate. There's no greeting. He begins by presenting Jesus Christ. How is it that it's possible that we who are mere creatures and sinners could have fellowship with God our creator? John makes it clear right from the very beginning. It's because God condescended to come to us and to appear to us and to make himself known to us in the person of Jesus Christ. John begins right away with Jesus. Listen to what John says in verses one and two again. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life, the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. Now, brothers and sisters, these are difficult verses to make sense of. The question we might ask when we read this is exactly what is John telling us here? I said that John is presenting Jesus to us. This is what he's doing right here in these opening verses, but you may have noticed that the name of Jesus is not actually mentioned at all in the first two verses. Where then is John presenting Jesus to us? Well, I think the place to begin to understand these verses is with the phrase at the end of verse one, the phrase word of life. That phrase most likely refers to the gospel, to the message that the apostles were preaching. It was a message of life. But you see what becomes clear here right away is that John is telling us that this message, this gospel, is centered on Jesus Christ and on his work. The reason it's a message of life is because Jesus is that life. You see, when we get to verse two, John begins to use the very word life as a description of Jesus. We could say that he begins to personify this life because the life is Jesus Christ. You see, he says the life was made manifest. It means that the life appeared. And he even speaks of eternal life as a person. He says eternal life was with the Father, right? This is Jesus Christ, the eternal life. You see, what's clear is that John is speaking here about Jesus. You see, what he heard and what he saw and what he touched, and this is what he says in verse one, what he heard and saw and touched was not the gospel. You see, you can't actually touch the gospel. You can hear the gospel, but you can't actually touch the gospel. No, what John tells us is what the gospel is all about. It's about Jesus Christ, the one he's heard, the one he saw, and the one he touched. was none other than Jesus himself. And brothers and sisters, this is so important to understand and to think about the way that John begins here with Jesus Christ. Because what John is telling us here right from the very beginning of this letter is that what we need the most, what's at the very core of Christianity is the person of Jesus Christ. This is where John begins. This is where he points you to right away. You want to have fellowship with God, he points you to Jesus Christ. He doesn't begin by presenting an elaborate system of doctrine and says, if you will adopt this whole system of doctrine, then you can be a Christian. He doesn't begin by presenting you a whole list of rules, and if you follow all these rules, then you can be a Christian. No, John begins with Jesus Christ. John begins by presenting to you the person of Jesus Christ. John begins by saying to you that if you want to have this fellowship with God, it's possible, but it's possible only through Jesus Christ. You see, as I said, John wants you to experience what he has experienced. And you see, what John tells you that he has experienced is Jesus Christ. John wants you to know the one that he knows, and the one that he knows is Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, this is so important to think about the core of Christianity, what the gospel's all about. It's not just a system of doctrine, it's about Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, the church has always gone astray when it has made the focus of its life or its worship or its message something other than Jesus Christ. You see, Christianity is Jesus Christ. The gospel is all about Jesus Christ. What John's saying is what you need and what I need more than anything else is to know Jesus and to have new life in him. This is the message he presents to you. It's Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, John makes some remarkable claims here about Jesus in these opening verses. First of all, John claims that the Jesus that he saw and touched was actually the eternal, preexistent, divine Son of God. In effect, what John says right here at the beginning, this Jesus that I was with, this Jesus was himself God in the flesh. Now, where do we get this? Where do we find this in these verses? Well, think about how John describes Jesus in verse two. He describes him as the eternal life, which was with the Father. You see, not only does he say that Jesus is eternal, and of course, only God is eternal. This can only be true of God. It's not true of any one of us. But he also says that Jesus, the eternal life, was with the Father. What he's saying here is that before Christ ever appeared on this earth, Christ was with the Father. This is what we refer to as the pre-existence of Christ. You see, his existence didn't begin in the manger in Bethlehem. That's where the human nature of Christ existed. But you see, Christ existed as the Son of God long before that. He was with his Father from all eternity before the world was even made. And this is also brought out with the phrase that John uses to begin this whole letter. He says this right from the very beginning. He says, that which was from the beginning. You probably have maybe made the connection yourself that this is a sort of echo of the very words that John begins his gospel with, where he speaks about Jesus as the word. There John says this in his gospel, John chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. He says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. You see, John wants you to know that Christ is the eternal Son of God. Before the world was even created, Christ existed as the Son of God. Long before the manger in Bethlehem, long before even the things that John had witnessed and seen, you see, Christ existed as the eternal Son of God. And if we needed any more proof that John is claiming here that Jesus is God, you can see it in verse 3. When he speaks about our fellowship, he says that our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. You see, John puts Jesus on the very same level as God the Father here. He refers to him as the very Son of God. But brothers and sisters, there's a second claim that John makes here. And this is what's remarkable if you put these two claims together. John is claiming here that Christ, the eternal son of God, appeared in human form. That he became flesh and that he dwelt among us. He says twice in verse two. that Christ was made manifest, that he appeared. He says repeatedly in this introduction that he saw Jesus Christ. He says that he touched this one. He's telling us clearly that Jesus was fully human. And as I said already, that this is a remarkable claim that John is making here. John is claiming that Jesus was fully God and fully man, that he was God in the flesh, that he was human, he was fully human like you and me, and yet at the same time, that he was eternal. And you see, on top of this, John is claiming that the reason that we, who are mere creatures and sinners, can actually have fellowship with God, our creator, is because God himself came to us in the person of Jesus Christ. That God became like us so that we could know him and once again have fellowship with him. Brothers and sisters, think about what John is claiming here. John is claiming that this great distance that exists between us and God, this chasm that exists between us and God because of our own sin, that we can never bridge this chasm. We're kept, because of this chasm, from really knowing God and be able to enter into relationship with Him. And yet John is claiming this, that it's God Himself who bridged this chasm. who came across this distance in the person of Jesus Christ, that he came to you because God wanted to have fellowship with you. God wanted to make this fellowship possible through Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, this is remarkable. John is saying here that not only is fellowship with God possible, but he's telling you that it's possible because God became man. God became like us so that we could know him. And the question we need to ask, the question I think John himself invites us to ask in this introduction is this, why should we believe John? John is making these claims, as I said, that most people would say are preposterous, that you can have fellowship with God. And now he's saying that not only can you have fellowship with God, but you can have fellowship with God because God himself became man in the person of Jesus Christ and came to us to make that fellowship possible. Why should we believe John? Why should we accept his claims? Why would we believe something like this? Well, John actually answers this. He answers this question in his introduction. You see, he doesn't just make an invitation to us. He doesn't just present to us Jesus Christ. But the third thing that John does is he tells us why we should listen to him. He tells us why he has the authority to make the sort of claims that he makes. And the reason John gives for why we should listen to him is because John was an eyewitness of the events of Jesus' life. And John was commissioned by Christ to make this good news possible. You see, John, along with all of the other apostles, lived and walked and talked to Jesus. He makes this clear repeatedly. He says in verse one that he heard, that he saw, that he looked upon, that he touched. What did he touch? He touched Jesus Christ. Why do we know that what John says is true? Because John was there. He's telling us John himself was an eyewitness. You see, it's one thing to hear the words of Jesus. Many people have heard the words of Jesus. There's a sense in which we can even hear the words of Jesus when they're read to us from the scriptures. But John takes it even farther. He doesn't just hear the words of Jesus. He says that he saw Jesus. He was an eyewitness of everything that Jesus did. But if that isn't enough, John takes it even further. He says that he's touched Jesus himself. If there's any doubt that Jesus is truly human, that he was God in the flesh, John says, I know it's true because I even touched him. And you see when John says here that he even touched the Lord Jesus Christ, he's probably thinking about the event that happened after the resurrection, which we've read about this morning when Jesus actually appeared to his disciples. And Jesus himself invited them to touch him. He wanted them to know that it was truly him, that he was truly alive. It wasn't a ghost. It wasn't a figment of their imagination. This was Jesus alive again in the flesh. And what did Jesus say to them then? He said these words, why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your heart? See my hands and my feet that it is I myself. Touch me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. Jesus is saying, it's me in the flesh. Jesus is alive. John is telling you here that he was there. He was there at that moment. He touched Jesus. If you should believe anyone, John is saying, you should believe me. If anyone's gonna tell you about Jesus and the truth about who Jesus was and what he did, I'm the one to tell you because I was there. I'm not hearing this third hand and fourth hand and fifth hand. John says, I was there, I was an eyewitness. But you see, John presses this even further. He says in verse 2 that the life, this is Jesus, was made manifest. And then he says again, he says, we have seen it. And then he adds this, and we testify, he says, to it. Now think about it. This is exactly what a person does in a court of law when they serve as a witness. What happens? They've seen something, possibly a crime. And what do they do? They go before a judge and before a jury and they testify to the very thing that they've seen. And this is exactly the language that John uses here. It's the language of the courtroom. You see, John wants you to know that he is a truthful witness. You see, as we open this book, it's as if John is standing on the witness chair in the courtroom, and we're all gathered around, and John's saying to you, this is my true testimony. This is the truth, and nothing but the truth. I'm telling you about Jesus Christ, that God appeared in the person of Jesus Christ. But you see, John doesn't just see himself as an eyewitness. John also sees himself as a herald and an ambassador and a messenger called to make this good news known. You see, brothers and sisters, the very word apostle actually means messenger. what John was called to do. Verse 2 says that not only has John seen these events, not only does he testify about Jesus Christ, but he goes on to say that he proclaims to you the eternal life. And then in verse 3 he says this, that which we have seen and heard, he says again, we proclaim also to you. When John uses this language of proclaiming here, he's telling us clearly that he views himself as God's messenger. He has been commissioned to tell us the very thing that he's telling us in this letter. You see, the whole reason, brothers and sisters, that Jesus, when he walked on this earth, chose certain disciples, he gathered around himself this band of men and he lived with them and taught them and allowed them to see everything that he did, the very reason that Jesus did this. was because he had planned to commission these men to be his witnesses. You see, this is what he says at the beginning of the book of Acts. He says, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth. You see, Jesus knew that he was gonna leave, and what did he do? He gathered these men around him that he had specially commissioned and empowered to be witnesses to tell the world of the very message that God had come in the person of Jesus Christ. And as we open this letter, this is what John wants you to know. He wants you to know he's not just a truthful eyewitness. John has been divinely commissioned to deliver this message to you, to tell you that Jesus is God and that if you want to have fellowship with God, what you need is Jesus Christ. Well, think for a minute briefly what John experienced as this eyewitness. John heard all of the teaching of Jesus. Think about that. People said that Jesus taught with an authority that no man had. John knew this better than anybody else. John heard Jesus speak about his own death. John heard Jesus say that he would rise again. John heard Jesus say that he came to give his life as a ransom for many. And on top of this, John not only heard, John saw, you see, John saw all of Jesus' miracles. He saw that Jesus had the power to heal. Jesus had power over demons. Jesus even had power over nature. Even the winds and the waves would obey him. John saw all of this. John saw that Jesus even had power over death, that he could raise the dead. This is what he did with Lazarus. John saw Jesus' glory. And brothers and sisters, John knew that no man could do these things, that this was not possible for any man. And you see, John also witnessed Jesus' crucifixion. John was there when they nailed Jesus to the cross. Of course, John came to realize that this was the very plan of God in order to save us from our sins. But it didn't end there. John also saw the empty tomb. You see, he beheld Jesus alive after his resurrection when he was victorious over death. John even touched the risen Christ. After all of this, what John knew was there was only one explanation. There could only be one explanation for all that he had witnessed. The only explanation that fit was that this one, this Jesus, was God in the flesh. that God had appeared to mankind in the person of Jesus Christ, that the very Son of God himself had come to suffer for our sins, that the Son of God rose victorious over death in order to open heaven's door for us and to make fellowship with a holy and righteous God possible, even for notorious sinners like you and me. Brothers and sisters, this is what John proclaims then to you. John says that you can know this same Jesus that he touched, that you can have fellowship with God through him. John says that you can share in his fellowship and that his fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Think about that. What John is saying is that there has never been a person who walked on this earth who was like Jesus Christ. He was entirely unique because he was fully God and fully man. He was the image of the invisible God. And what John's saying to you is that he appeared to bridge the gap between earth and heaven, between sinful man like you and me and a righteous and holy God, so that we could have fellowship with that God, so that you could know your creator and have eternal life in him. Brothers and sisters, I ask you again, do you want to have fellowship with God? Do you want to know the love of God? Do you want to have the life that only God can provide for you? And maybe even more importantly this morning, do you believe that this is even possible? As I said to you at the beginning, so many people around you will tell you that this is absolutely impossible, what John is saying here. You cannot have fellowship with God. John says that you can. And I pray that you would desire this very thing that John presents to you so clearly this morning, that you would want to have fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. I pray that you would listen to John's invitation. I pray that you would believe his eyewitness testimony. And I pray that you would seek the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Our Father, we marvel again at your grace and all that you have provided for us to show us the way of salvation, that you came in the person of Jesus Christ for us, Lord, to bridge the gap between earth and heaven, and that you even raised up apostles like John to so clearly present this word of truth to us so that we too could share in John's fellowship and his joy, fellowship with you through Jesus Christ. Father, I pray that if there is any person in this room this morning that does not know that fellowship, and maybe they know about God or about Jesus, they know about religion, but if they do not know you, if they have not entered into that fellowship with you that is possible through Jesus Christ, Lord, I pray that you would draw them to this Savior. Lord, that you would help them to believe this word of truth against every other voice that the world might be saying, telling them that fellowship with God is impossible. But Father, you alone made it possible. Give us hearts to believe. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen.