Congregation, with the Lord's help, I hope to preach a few sermons for you on this first epistle of John. Lord willing, I'll be here again in a couple weeks and then a couple months after that, so it'll be a slightly disjointed series, but a series nonetheless on the first epistle of John, the first epistle general. That means it's an epistle, a letter inspired by the Spirit, written by the apostle John to be read in all the churches. It's a letter for the church of all ages and places. And it's a letter that contains certain glorious truths that we find repeated kind of in a cyclical pattern throughout the epistle. which makes it a little difficult to preach on if you're going to do a series. So my hope is this time I'll preach about the introduction to the book of John. And then in the coming services when I'm with you, I hope to preach on those themes that we find, which means you're going to have to read the gospel of this first epistle of John to yourselves. because I don't intend to go through each chapter individually. So it's something you should read and seek the Lord's blessing on prior to these services. But this evening, I hope to preach just on the introduction to this first epistle. And it's something that is really wonderful that we don't have to introduce it ourselves. inspired John to give us his own introduction in the first four verses of John, or the epistle of John. So our theme, our theme this evening is the introduction to the word of life. The introduction to the word of life. And we'll see in the first place, the certainty of that word. The second place, the subject of that word, which I already hinted at, the word of life. And then third, the purpose or goal of the word. So our theme again, for those taking notes, is an introduction to the word of life. We'll see first, the certainty of that word. Second, the subject of that word. And then third, the purpose or the goal of that word. So in these first verses, John emphasizes, by the Spirit's inspiration, the certainty, the certainty of that which he writes about. This gospel message that is contained within 1 John is one of historical fact, something John wants to emphasize for us. It's something that what he writes about is not a cunningly devised fable. It's not the fervent or fevered imaginations of a few Christian zealots. But the message in this first epistle and in the Bible as a whole is something that's based on historical fact. And the first piece of evidence, the main piece that John gives us, is that of eyewitness testimony. If you've ever watched a court proceeding, especially a criminal proceeding, you'll know that in court, one of the most powerful pieces of evidence or forms of evidence that someone can give is eyewitness testimony. Documents and forensic evidence can have its place, but when a person can stand up, say, I saw this, I heard this, I felt this, That is the real, the most powerful form of evidence, and that's exactly what John emphasizes here in these first four verses of 1 John 1. He says three times, in verses one, two, and three, he says that he's writing about that we have seen. He says we have seen with our eyes, he says in verse one. And he says we have seen it in verse two, that which we have seen in verse three. This is something he's seen. He says twice we have heard. You see that in verses one and three. He's writing about that which he has heard. And he also writes that this is something he has, the subject that he's writing about is something he has looked upon. He says that in verse one. It's a slightly different verb in verse one. The point is that John wants to make it abundantly clear to those who read his word or those who hear it that that which he speaks of and writes of is something to be believed because it is a historical fact. He's seen it. that which he speaks of he and the other apostles and many others heard and touched. Indeed, they saw him. They saw Jesus. They heard Jesus. They heard him speak. They spent three years following him, John and the other apostles. They followed him throughout all of Judea and Samaria and Galilee. And they listened to him preach. They heard him preach great swelling discourses like he did on the Sermon on the Mount to thousands of people. They heard him say just a few quiet words like he did to that woman that was caught in adultery when he said, does no man condemn thee? Neither do I, go and sin no more. They watched him, they saw him do extraordinary things like healing the man who was born blind. like feeding thousands with just a few loaves and a few fishes. They saw and heard him when he cried out to Lazarus's body. Lazarus come forth and Lazarus arose from the very dead. and they saw him do very human things like eat and sleep and weep and express emotion. They were there, they heard him, they saw him. They also saw the throngs of people that gathered to follow him. Like that throng of people that crowded the road to Jerusalem and they threw down their coats and they cried out as Jesus rode by, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And they saw him suffer as those same Jews cried out just a short time later, crucify him, crucify him. His blood be on us and on our children. And they watched Jesus as he hung there on that Roman cross. We remember that John talked, or rather, Jesus spoke with John from the cross. Remember, Jesus saw John and Jesus saw his mother Mary standing by the cross. And he said to Mary, woman, behold thy son, and pointed at John. And then he looked at John. He said, behold thy mother. John was there. He watched him bleed. He stood there and watched him suffer. He heard Jesus cry out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He heard Jesus say, it is finished, and into thy hands I commend my spirit. He saw the sun blotted out. He saw the temple veil that was rent. He saw the dead rise from the graves and walk about. And John and the others, Even touched Jesus with their hands. You remember, John is the one that laid on Jesus's breast at dinner. John saw Thomas. Remember, Thomas, after Jesus's resurrection, said, unless I can touch the print of those nails, unless I can put my hand in Jesus's side where that spear went in, I'm not going to believe. And John saw Jesus appear after his resurrection and say, Thomas, put your hand on my hand and feel the print of that nail. Go ahead and thrust your hands into my very side. And be not faithless, but believing. And now John says to the church, right? John says this in an age when people are saying none of it ever happened. They're saying it's all fables. Can you imagine how John would have felt? And now you understand why he emphasizes this and says, what I'm writing about is that which I've seen, I've heard, I've touched it, I've looked upon him. And by the time John wrote this, certainly the gospel had already gone forth. John wrote this, we know, later in life when he was an old man, and most likely he'd already written his own gospel. We know the gospels of Matthew and Mark and Luke were in circulation. And even there, even there, by the way, you see Luke, for example, testifying that what he's writing about is something of which he has had perfect knowledge from the very beginning, he says in Luke chapter one. And in Acts, he also says, that what he's writing about is that which has been delivered unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. So the point being, the point being, that that which we're reading about, that which we're hearing about, this gospel message, this whole word, the facts on which it is based are just that, historical facts. And why does that matter so much? Because maybe there are many, maybe especially the children who, yeah, obviously they're facts. We've heard that our whole lives. And yet, if you are a young person who's in college right now, or if you're in a secular workplace, or you do any real research and reading at a more broad level, you'll know that we're constantly being bombarded with this claim, that what we read here is not historical fact. It sneaks its way into so many messages and so many podcasts and so much literature and so many films and movies. Everything calls into doubt the veracity, the truth of what actually underlies the Bible. Even the attack on the creation account. What does that do besides undermine your confidence in what is written? Because if you can't believe what the first part of the Bible says, how can you believe what the last part of the Bible says? We're assailed by that, and I can speak from experience when I say that those evidence-based arguments against the Bible are hard to deal with, and you certainly can't defend it in your own strength. And yet here in the word, the Lord provides us with multiple eyewitnesses, eyewitness accounts of everything that is written. That is not just John. Again, I already mentioned what Luke said when he wrote Luke, the Gospel of Luke, in Acts. And you can think of what Peter said. Peter says to the elders which are among you, And he emphasizes it again in 2 Peter. Peter says this. We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. They were there, they heard it, they saw it, they saw him. We have also the letters of Paul. Paul emphasizes this as well. He writes, for example, in 1 Corinthians 15 that after the resurrection, certainly a historical event that's hard to believe from a human perspective, Paul doesn't just say, well, believe it because you have to, although he could have. The Lord could just say believe it without having any evidence. But Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 15, that Jesus was seen, not only by the apostles, but also by women, the women who saw him right afterwards, and not only that, but by above, or more than 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto the present. In other words, he's saying if you don't believe it, there's hundreds of people that you can go ask about it, and they'll tell you it did happen. And there are many in our churches who struggle with doubts about the truth of what's in God's word, and that greatly impedes our ability to believe what's in it. And that's not just my own experience, it's not just my own conversations, but it's even Wilhelmus Brockle, just by way of example. The famous Dutch minister from the 1600s wrote that many, many people are tempted with atheism in the church. And a large part of it is because people don't believe what's in here as truth. And yet here it is, the Bible this evening again presents us not just with statements of truth, but evidence of it. Eyewitness testimony is provided to us. And the evidence here is so strong that not even those who are atheists and who openly deny that Jesus is Lord dare to deny the existence of the man Jesus or the existence of the facts around surrounding his ministry. Even the Jews today who hate Jesus, right, he's a great enemy to them. They have to admit that he was real, that he performed miracles. Many even admit he rose from the dead. That eyewitness testimony is just too strong to deny it. But we do have to be careful that we don't confuse historical faith, historical facts, with a true saving faith. We must indeed believe the facts. When the gospel comes to us, it comes into our minds. We do have to know. We do have to know these facts. We do have to believe them as true. But if it just stops here in our heads, it's not enough. It does have to enter our hearts. We do have to have a true saving faith, because we know that even the devils believe that Jesus is Lord, and believing they tremble, and they're not saved. Right? We must also give ourselves wholly and solely to the Lord Jesus. Faith goes further than just a head knowledge, in other words. Faith goes hand-in-hand with repentance, goes hand-in-hand with a sorrow for sins, and it casts the sinner onto Christ. It lays hold of Christ and what He has done. And it involves the head, but it involves also the very soul, the mind, the body. And it rests all of it, all of it, on Christ. Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. We cling to that as our Savior's word. And then faith clings to those promises that God has made. The promise that we read in verse nine tonight. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It's not enough to believe in our heads that he will do those things. We must cast ourselves on that. We rest on his finished work. And that really brings us to our second point, the subject of this word. Because the subject of which we're writing about, the object of our faith. is Christ. John calls him here the word of life. John tells us at the end of verse one that what he's writing about is of, well, I'll start with the beginning. That which was from the beginning, John says, 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. There's the subject. That's the second point. The subject is this word of life. And we know from reading the rest of 1 John, if you take the time to read it, we know from the Gospel of John that the word of life is a name that John uses for Jesus. If you look at the Gospel of John, so the Gospel of John chapter one, he says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. So this word of life is Jesus. And John says of him and his gospel that in him was life, and that life was the light of men. And that life, he says now in this epistle, was manifested. He says in verse two of our text, that life was manifest, that's an old word for revealed. And we have seen it, and we bear witness and show unto you that eternal life. So the subject, as I said, is Jesus. He is the word of life. But there is, in a way, a double meaning there, because he is the word of life, and knowing him, knowing and believing his word, gives life. In other words, the gospel message is about the word of life, and it gives life. It gives life eternal. Knowing him, we read, whom to know is life eternal. Jesus said to Martha in John 11, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? And that's the question we really have to ask ourselves tonight, isn't it? Do we believe this word of life? Do we believe in it? Do we believe in Him? Do we believe Him? Because Jesus also said to the unbelieving Jews in John chapter eight, if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sins. So very plainly, the way of life, the way of death, it's set before us once again, isn't it? As we read this first epistle, or at least the introduction to it. That's really what John is saying in verse two. The life was manifested. It was revealed to us, just like it is to us now. It isn't something that John or anyone else has come up with on their own. It isn't something they discovered by great searching and digging. It was revealed. It was set before them by a gracious God. And it comes, it comes, it continues to be revealed as it comes to us tonight. It's revealed by a God who never had to reveal to us that way of life. It's worth thinking about sometime. You know, God, we say, is completely independent. He doesn't need us. He never had to save us in one sense. Obviously, in His perfect will, He decided to, so there was never really another option. And yet, He doesn't need us to be more glorious. And yet this gracious God comes to us in grace and presents, reveals to us the word of life. It's this God who has come to seek and to save sinners, who offers to us his very Son, this God who says in Ezekiel 33, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? That's the message revealed to the apostles. That's the message that the Holy Spirit brings to us tonight. And I want to emphasize, like I said, it's worth noting that John isn't just saying the way of eternal life is revealed to us, but the eternal life itself. As John says in verse two. It's the eternal life that was with the Father is shown unto you. In other words, Jesus himself, Jesus himself is set before us. That's why we come to church, isn't it? That's why we come, not to hear somebody talk about the Bible, but to have an encounter with the Lord, to once again meet with the Lord. That's the word of life, the eternal life that was revealed to John. It's what the Lord reveals to us tonight. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And no man cometh unto the Father but by him. Believing in him, knowing him, trusting him. That's the reason God has given us his word. And it's the reason God has brought you here tonight. Maybe that sounds a bit dramatic because you're thinking, well, I didn't receive a summons from God. I just came because my parents made me or out of curiosity or because I have to. And yet, we know God is sovereign. God orders all things, he controls all things. He accomplishes his will in spite of, and sometimes even through, the sin of people. He superintends his will, just like Joseph said to his brothers, you meant evil, but God meant it for good. So no matter why you think you came here tonight, the Lord is the one that brought you here. Whether you came with good intentions or evil intentions, I don't know. Whether you came with joy and longing to hear your Savior's voice, whether you came with anger in your heart wishing you could be somewhere else, anywhere else than sitting through another church service, the Lord has brought you here. And he again presents you with the word of life. He presents you with him whom to know is life eternal. He presents you with the Lord Jesus himself, and Jesus is Lord. That's something emphasized here in these first few verses, that Jesus is not just a man, but he is Lord, he is God. John identifies him in verse one as that which was from the beginning, the word of life. And he tells us in verse two that this life was revealed, the life that is revealed to us was with the Father. And he says in verse three that the fellowship with the Father is fellowship with, sorry, it is also fellowship with Jesus Christ, making it clear that they are inseparable. And of course, if you go to John's Gospel, you read those well-known verses in verses one through three of chapter one. In the beginning was the Word, 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. And in John 1, verse 14, we read that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. It's the Lord who presents himself to us tonight, my friends, and that does add a great weight to it, doesn't it? It adds weight to everything, to everything we read. It adds weight to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. It's not just a simple man who died. If it was, we would have much reason to doubt our salvation. Because a man's blood can never atone, can never satisfy an infinite wrath. But an infinite God can satisfy infinite wrath. So when Jesus died, the fact that He is Lord means everything in one sense, because His blood holds an infinite value. It's like we read, the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin. And that's because, yes, He was a man. He had to be a man to suffer on our behalf, but He also had to be God. He had to be the Lord in order to satisfy for our sins, in order to satisfy the wrath of God. And that also then presents us with yet another incentive to draw near to the Lord Jesus, doesn't it? Because he is God. His sacrifice has infinite merit. Will you not then plunge yourself beneath that flood and there lose all your guilty stains, as the hymn says? The blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin. Will you not at least bend your knees, my friend, my friend that doesn't want to be here, who has no interest in the Lord, who is rebelling and can only think about leaving. Will you not at least bend your knees and ask the Lord to melt your hard heart, to open your eyes to the reality of this word, to open your eyes to the subject of this word, Jesus himself. You know, there is enough power in him to melt even the hardest of hearts. Jesus said, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. There's more than enough power for your unbelieving heart, my friend. There's more than enough power to melt even the hardest of hearts with His love. But if you choose to reject Him, again, the fact He's Lord adds great weight to it, doesn't it? You don't just reject a man. You tread underfoot the blood of the Son of God. And if you reject that, if you reject that, what are you going to do when you meet him again as he sits on the throne of judgment? You're gonna see that same word of life. You're gonna see the same eternal Lord Jesus sitting on that throne. And no doubt he's going to be asking, what have you done? What have you done with the word of life that was given unto you? Have you rejected it again? Or have you bowed before it? Now, the real question is, why would you stay away? How could you stay away? He offers life, life to a dead sinner. I know there's a lot of objections. I can't go on my own. I need help in believing. I know. I know. But remember what he said to Lazarus. Lazarus was as dead as anyone ever was, lying in the grave for three days. And he says, Lazarus come forth, and a dead man came forth. He came alive. You can think about Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones. There they were, all these bones. And yet the Lord says, live. And they come alive. How can you stay away from the word of life? How can you not flee to him? How can you not bend your knees? You're not going to be saved because you do these things and because you've done this and done that and felt this. but he saves, the blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin. So flee to him, flee to this Lord Jesus, this word of life, because he offers to take dead sinners, dead sinners, and breathe life into your dead souls. And he offers you communion with him, communion with the Father, which does bring us to our third point. We've seen the certainty of the word, the subject of the word, this word of life, and now we'll see the purpose of the word, What is the purpose? Well, if you look at verse 3, he says that, John says, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that or in order that ye also may have fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. So the first purpose of what he writes is to give fellowship. The underlying Greek word there is one that I don't know why, but for some reason, many people know, koinonia. Koinonia, there's churches and schools named it, and it means communion. It refers to an intimate fellowship. and more than just a friendship or an acquaintance, but an intimacy. And the best word we have for it really is communion. John says these things are written that you might have fellowship or communion with us in the first place. And isn't that remarkable? Because the us he's talking about is the saints. It is the apostles, it is the disciples. It's the children of God. And the communion of the saints You know, really the question is, do we value it that highly? Because if, at least for me, when I read this epistle, and I read that verse, I thought, you know, I would have thought the first purpose of writing is communion with God. And yet John actually says, for the first thing he puts in his list, by the Spirit's inspiration, these things are written, that ye may have fellowship or communion with us. Or these things we declare unto you that you may have fellowship with us. So he's saying that from the first place, the purpose here is to give communion with the saints. And I wonder, again, if we value it that highly, that we would put it at the top of our list, if not very near the top of our list of the blessings that we value, that God's word gives us. Communion with the saints. You know, I know it varies church by church. I can't paint with too broad of a brush. But often, often in our Dutch Reformed North American churches, I find that communion of the saints is really put by the wayside. Part of it, I think, is we have so much wealth and we're so busy making money that we go to our jobs and we work hard all day long and then we come home to these beautiful homes, often that are private and a nice property, and we can just kind of hole up there. We don't really wanna get back out. We don't really want to go to communal events, to midweek events. It's like pulling teeth sometimes to get people to come to midweek church events. Why is that? Certainly, part of the problem is we're not properly valuing the communion of the saints. We don't see it for what it really is. We don't understand how great a blessing it is to be part of the body of Christ. And we don't understand, do we, how important it is to fit together with the other members. We don't see how much we need each other. When the persecution comes, when difficulty comes, when suffering and sickness comes, suddenly, you know what we value? The communion of the saints, the body of Christ. And yet, based on what we're seeing here, we ought to be rebuked if we don't value this. And the Lord's Word does do that. It doesn't just encourage, it also rebukes. It exhorts, it corrects. And if we don't value the communion of saints that highly, we should be rebuked. We should be corrected. We should indeed strive to protect this communion of the saints. We should seek to bear with those who are weak. In other words, bear with those who have behaviors and problems that you just don't understand and you just don't care to deal with. Right? Submit ourselves with lowliness of mind one to another, not seeking to lift ourselves above one another, but again, striving to protect the unity of the saints. Paul says this in Ephesians 4. He beseeches you. He says in Ephesians 4, I, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, I beg you, that you walk worthy of the vocation, the calling, wherewith ye are called. with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring or striving to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. We ought to be striving to protect that precious jewel that is the communion of the saints. These things we declare unto you, that you may have fellowship with us. But John does go further, he doesn't just leave it there because he says, and truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son. And again, we're brought back to that truth then, aren't we? That the gospel message brings us directly into contact with the Lord. It brings us into communion with Him. It's just a remarkable thing to have communion with the Lord. Think about how great the Lord is. He created everything we see. Every person on this earth, there's billions of us. And over the course of history, there's been trillions. And he's created every star, every plant, every little bug you can't see, to the greatest galaxy. He is so much greater than we often realize. Why would he want to have communion with us? Why would he want to have intimate fellowship with us, especially when you consider that we have sinned and rebelled against him? We're so small, he could crush us in a moment. And someday he will, he'll come and he'll melt the elements with a fervent heat. He doesn't have to have communion with us. Isn't it remarkable that the Lord's desire, which is evident from 1 John, is indeed to have communion and intimacy with his people, with sinners. And again, John does emphasize that it's with the Father and the Son. You know, sometimes we maybe can wrap our minds around the fact that Jesus, who became a man, would want to have communion with men. We often see Jesus as the one that's more loving, and we have this view of the Father as some great distant, maybe angry judge sometimes. But that's foolishness. That's foolishness. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. And we read here how the fellowship, the intimate communion, is not just with Jesus, but with the Father. He is a good Father. He is our heavenly Father. John says in John 13, verse 20, he records Jesus who says that, And if you remember from John 12, Philip, John 14 rather, Philip asks, show us the Father and it'll suffice us. He wants to see the Father. And Jesus looks at him and says, have I been with you so long, Philip? And yet hast thou not known me? He that knows me hath seen me, hath seen the Father. Right? There is a distinction within the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit. three different beings within the Trinity, and yet Trinity, and yet they are one. Right? If we have fellowship with one, we have fellowship with the other. And if we have fellowship with the Father, we have fellowship with the Son and with the Spirit. The Father then The father then is not just a distant judge but a loving father who desires to save, who desires, he says in Song of Solomon, oh my dove, let me hear, let me hear thy voice. Do we have that communion? Do we view him that way? I was struck this past week reading something by John Newton and he says that if we are annoyed so much as by the buzzing of a fly, Our Father wants us to bring it to Him. And that sounds almost trite, doesn't it? Why would I bring the things I'm annoyed with? Like the buzzing of a fly to my Father. And yet, there's a truth to it. Our communion, our communion is with the Father and the Son. In fact, Jesus says again in John 14 that if a man loved me, he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. They will dwell. within his people. That's the Lord's promise, to dwell within us. He sends his spirit as well to dwell within us, making us the temple of God. And that, my friends, if felt and tasted, is a feeling and a taste of heaven itself. Because that is, that is heaven, right? To dwell in perfect communion with God and with his people. You see it in Revelation at the very end. The last book John writes, Revelation 22, John gives us a picture of glory that he has seen. And there, what does he see? The throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face. And Paul says, now we see through a glass darkness. But then, but then, face to face. Isn't that a precious promise then? These things, these things we declare unto you that you might have fellowship with us and our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son. That's a purpose of God writing his word to us, to give us communion with him. And if you do not value it, What attraction does heaven hold for you exactly? Because that is, again, heaven, communion, perfect communion with God and with each other. If you do not value that here, what about heaven attracts you other than maybe a freedom from pain, from sin? That's the Lord's, one of the purposes here. That's something to think about when you consider the state of your heart towards your fellow believers and the state of your heart toward coming to church to meet with the Lord. And again, that's what's presented to us. I know, I know it can be hard to see that sometimes. I've sat in church myself many a times and I get fixated sometimes on the way this minister talks and the annoying mannerisms of this or my mind is struggling to think through some problem I've had during the week, right? And you just don't see, you don't hear the voice of the Lord. You don't see the beauty of gathering together with the saints to worship and meet with the Lord. Pray, my friends, that our eyes would be more open to that day in and day out. But he doesn't just give us this for the sake of communion, but he also says in verse four, and these things we write unto you that your joy may be full. And so that's the other purpose, that our joy might be full. Not just that we would have joy, but a fullness, a fullness of joy. And remember, John didn't make this up. He's inspired to write these words by the Holy Spirit. It reveals to us that the Lord wants his people to have joy. And really, when you think about it, why shouldn't God's people have joy? Think about what God has given us. Think about what he's done for us in Christ. Think of what he promises to us. He sent his son to die for our sins and give us reconciliation with the Father. He gives peace. He says, I'll give you a peace that passes all understanding. He gives us communion with him. He gives us communion with the saints. He gives us freedom from the dominion of sin. He says, I have conquered death. And death holds no more terror for God's people, right? Because the sting of death is sin, and sin has been conquered. It's been removed. The devil has been conquered. Sin shall no longer have dominion over you. And he promises an eternal life of bliss and perfect communion with him. And so we read in Romans 8, verse 32, that he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? So what reason, children of God, do we have for being so down so often? What possible excuse do we have for being so depressed and so complaining so often? I know there are hardships in this life, but God has promised that every hardship will be used for our good. He says he has all grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from his people. Why are we so melancholy? Why are we so fearful? And again, I'm not here casting stones. I often struggle with that same difficulty, and the psalmists do as well. Think about how often the psalmists struggle with feeling alone. Think of Psalm 77. Has God forgotten to be gracious? And yet, in spite of that, if you keep reading the Psalms and if you keep reading God's word, you see how the Lord uses these things. Uses difficulties, he uses pain, he uses suffering, he even uses death itself to bring us closer to him. He uses the death of our loved ones to loose us from this earth and draw us nearer to himself. And he uses our own death, which is often a scary thing, to bring us to him. What reason could we possibly have for not being joyful? And I'm not saying, I'm not saying we should go around with a fake smile plastered on our faces and a quick and easy conversion story and some cliches on our tongues. That's not real anyway, but I am talking about, and John's writing about, a deep-seated joy. A joy that exists and finds its fulfillment in Christ, who is our Savior, who has done everything for us, who gives us every good and perfect gift. There's a joy that we ought to have. And we should do away, we should do away with that false humility that threatens us sometimes. Because it's easy also, especially in our circles, to pretend to be downcast and put on a false humility as if we're more holy because we're more downcast. That's not what God wants for his people. Yes, we do need to repent. We need to repent every day of our lives. And we need to repent often with weeping for our sins. But if we stay there, we're just focused on sin. We're focused on the sinner. We need to lift our eyes up. The Lord says, I've given you these things. This we write unto you, that your joy may be full. Consider that the next time you feel like you're slipping into this dark depression, this place of self-pity. That's not a gift from God. God doesn't give self-pity. He doesn't give us any reason, any reason to feel sorry for ourselves. But rather, as we suffer, he says things like, rejoice when you face trials. Let patience have her perfect work that you might be complete and entire, wanting nothing. He says, count it all joy when you suffer for the sake of the Lord. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. For theirs is the kingdom of God. Every negative thing the Lord uses for good. So we have every reason then, every reason then to be joyful. But of course, that's just the difficulty. We have the reasons, but often not the faith. So yet another reason for us then to bow our knees, to speak to this word of life, to allow him to speak to us, to pray that our eyes might be opened, that our hearts might be enlarged, and that we would indeed experience a joy, a joy that passes our understanding. Peter says that knowing the Lord Jesus, we rejoice with a joy unspeakable, a joy unspeakable and full of glory. So if we lack joy, my friends, seek to know the Lord Jesus better. Ask him, ask him to reveal himself unto us. And if we find ourselves becoming cast down, say with a psalmist of Psalm 42, why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. And remember that these things are written, that your joy might be full.