This morning's sermon was an unusual one in that our text really was the book of 1 John. As I introduce the entirety of this letter, going through it and showing you the three, what we call, tests or evidences that the Holy Spirit is at work in you unto the assurance of your salvation. Remember, from this morning, John tells us very plainly, near the end of this epistle, his purpose in writing it. He writes it to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that you might know that you have everlasting life. That's his purpose of writing. Of course, we saw in the majority text, it continues, that you may continue to believe in his name, because assurance aids and abets us, and perseverance. and persevering in believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. We also noted this morning a contrast between John's purpose in the epistle and that of the gospel. His purpose in the epistle is to strengthen believers and to the end that you may have the assurance of your salvation, whereas the purpose of the gospel is evangelistic. He wrote it that the readers might believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and by believing might have life in His name. The two go hand-in-hand, the Gospel and the Epistle. The Gospel first unto evangelism, and then once you are evangelized and you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then the Epistle aids us in our quest for assurance. This is something you should seek. It is good for your soul to find the assurance of salvation. We spent the rest of the time this morning going through those three recurring in John's epistle evidences that are at work in you when God the Holy Spirit is sanctifying you inside. Well, now we come to the preface. The text that we read this morning but skipped over entirely as we went to the rest of the epistle to try and explain what the epistle is teaching. But the preface is precious. John took great effort, and you could tell he put a great deal of thought under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as he wrote both the preface to his epistle and also the prologue to his gospel. When you read the preface to the epistle, if you know the gospel, and most all of us know the gospel, probably better than we do the epistle, it rings in your ear. As you read the preface of the epistle, the gospel The prologue to the gospel rings in your ear. So we're going to go back and forth tonight between the preface to the epistle and the prologue to the gospel and let them enrich each other as we see them. I want to step away just to tell you what John accomplishes in the preface. This hope, this assurance. that he is trying to encourage in us in this epistle is rooted and grounded in the historic events of all historic events. That is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, His incarnation, and His work. That is the event of events. And John demonstrates to that in the very beginning in the preface. Look at how he begins. the epistle, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled concerning the word of life. Note the words, that which is from the beginning. John doesn't waste words. If you hear a phrase or you hear a word and you hear it being repeated again and again and again, In John's literature, his gospel, his epistles, the book of Revelation to John, pay careful attention. He does it with purpose. He begins here, that which was from the beginning. You can turn over a little bit further. In fact, it's chapter 2, verse 7. We read this, Rev and I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The Old Commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. You see that phrase, from the beginning. You can turn the page again in chapter 2, verse 13. I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. Look again at verse 14. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. Why does John keep using this expression from the beginning, or this word, beginning. Do you hear in your mind, when you hear that, does something come to your mind? You say, that sounds familiar. The language of beginning, the beginning of John's epistle, sounds familiar. It takes you back to the gospel, doesn't it? How does the gospel begin? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Is that the only thing he reminds you of? No, you know already, don't you? John has purpose when he uses this language. When he writes the epistle, he wants you to think about the gospel. When he writes his gospel, he wants you to think about the beginning of the Bible. He wants you to think about Genesis chapter 1. Our scripture reading this morning was Genesis chapter 1, verse 1, then John chapter 1, verses 1-5. That was our scripture reading that we had. Not the text, but the scripture reading, because all of these are tied together. When John wrote his gospel, he said, in the beginning was the Word, because he wanted you to be thinking about what Moses wrote. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And now he comes to this epistle, that which was from the beginning. That which was from the beginning. And what is that which is from the beginning? He tells us, that which is from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled concerning the word of life. Again, when you begin to read the epistle, it's like when you begin to read the gospel. You think, there's something very profound here, but what is he talking about? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Why does he begin with that which is from the beginning? And then concludes it by saying, concerning the Word of life. Is he talking about a that? Is he talking about an it? Or is he talking about a he? Is he talking about a person? Is God the Son a word? A word is an it, ordinarily the way we think. And yet, as you read the Gospel, you realize when he says, in the beginning was the Word, he's not talking about some philosophical thing that's out there or some ideal that's out there. He's not talking about what we mean by a Word, but he's talking about the very revelation of God that comes in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you get that when you get to verse 14. And the Word became flesh. and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." The eternal Word is Jesus. That which is from the beginning in the Epistle is Jesus. The Word of Life in the Epistle is Jesus. The Word is logos. It's the same as it is in the Gospel. In the beginning was the Word. Now, concerning the Word of Life, There's no question about it, the connection between the Gospel and the Epistle. The Gospel is about Jesus. The Epistle is about Jesus. Our hope is rooted in this historic event, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It must be rooted and grounded in that history, this one called the Logos, the Word, this one called the Logos of Life, the Word of Life. When John has seen, handled, touched, heard, He has come. He is the one that we declare. Your hope is built on Him and His Word. When John says, in the beginning was the Word, he wants us to be thinking about Genesis. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. What John is saying is, one of the great historical events in history is creation. There was a time when there was only God, not what we call creation. Creation didn't exist. Only God existed from all eternity. There was a time when God called into existence creation by the Word of His power. He spoke it into existence. He created it in six days, as we read in Genesis chapter one. And he declared, every day, and it is good, and it is good, and it is good, and it is very good. What a great, significant event this is in history, the beginning of history with creation. John is saying, oh, there's another event in history that transcends that first event. It is the reason for the first event, the creation of history, the creation of the world itself. It is the manifestation of the second event, which is the great event that supersedes all events. It is the revelation of the Word made flesh, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the most crucial event in all of history. In fact, in all of eternity, because it's grounded in eternity. That which was from the beginning. Actually, He is that which was from before there was a beginning. We know that from the Gospel. In the beginning was the Word. Not in the beginning God spoke the Word, or in the beginning God created the Word, but in the beginning was the Word. The prologue to the gospel tells us of the eternality of the Son of the Word. He has always existed. But in God's purpose and plan, the three persons that God had, the plan of redemption, we call it the covenant of redemption. Are you familiar with that language? Some don't like the word covenant. Dr. Smith refers to the word the Council of Peace. I don't care what you call it, the Covenant of Redemption, the Council of Peace, whatever you want to call it, it's something that existed. It is a purpose and plan, and the three persons that God had from all eternity to manifest the glory of God, and the glory of God's grace, and the salvation of the elect in history. It begins when God cremates the heavens and the earth in six days. But it comes to its climax, its consummation, in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, His incarnation. Because in that covenant of redemption, or in that council of peace, God the Word, or as we also call Him, God the Son, agreed in the fullness of time, I will take on human flesh. I will become a man. That is mystery of mysteries. If you think the Trinity is a mystery, that you can't get your mind around, try the Incarnation. Our hope is rooted and grounded in this mystery of mysteries. You can sense it in John, that which was from the beginning. The word of life which is from the beginning. The one who has existed from the beginning. We have heard. We heard his voice. He spoke. That which was from the beginning. One was always existing. We heard him. This is something we're going to learn in this epistle. John is full of Jesus. John is full of Jesus. He remembers every word that Jesus spoke to him. You can tell it as you read the gospel, as you read the epistles. He is full of Jesus. He heard He is testifying to things he heard with his own ears. Jesus came as the prophet. God told Moses, I'm going to send another prophet like you. Who is that prophet? Was it Elijah? I mean, this is the beginning of the prophetic office, Elijah. But it can't be Elijah, can it? You know why it can't be Elijah? Because a double portion of the Spirit was put on Elisha! A double portion that was on Elijah was put on Elisha, which makes Elisha in a sense greater than Elijah! Of course you've got a little of John the Baptist and Jesus going on there in typology as well. No, it's not Elijah. It's not Elisha. Is it Isaiah? Is it Jeremiah? Is it one of the prophets? That's what the people said. when Jesus asked his disciples, who do men say I the son of man am? Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, some say Isaiah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets? Is the prophet that Moses was told will come who is like you? Is it Joshua? Is it Elijah? Is it Elisha? Is it Isaiah? Is it Jeremiah? Is it Ezekiel? Is it Daniel? Is it Malachi? No. Is it John the Baptist? No. He said, I'm just a voice that cries in the wilderness. I'm not able to take off the sandals from his feet. I'm not even able to wash his feet. Don't look to me. I'm not the Messiah. Well, the one coming after me is greater than me. I baptize with water. It's just water. He baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire. He looked at him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is priest. He is prophet. He is king. He is the son of David, made flesh. He is. the one prophesied that would come. He is the prophet. And John says, I've heard Him with my own ears. I have heard His Word. He speaks the Word of God. His Word is the revelation of God. What comes from His lips is the Gospel that comes from God. And our faith is rooted and grounded in that. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes. We've seen Him. Remember, He's also addressing this heresy, we mentioned it briefly this morning, of docetism, this Greek pseudo-Christian philosophy and theology that would develop that would say that matter is evil and spirit is good, therefore Jesus couldn't have had a body. He is God, but He's not man. John says, such a teaching is of the Antichrist. This is the spirit of Antichrist in the world? That's not the true Christ. The true Christ is the one who came in the flesh. It's rooted and grounded in history. I've seen him with my own eyes. I've heard him with my own ears. It's important that we recognize how it's grounded in history. You know what liberal theology does, don't you? Liberal theology severs the supposed Christian message or Christian story from history. Liberal theologians, did you know they love the Bible? They love to study the Bible. They love the story. They love the myth. They love the myth, the story, you know, and the spiritual virtues of the story and of the myth. It's all about the story. It's all about the myth. It doesn't matter whether Jesus actually even lived. It was to such a blend that I said this morning, Dr. Gerstner brought charges who said, I love Jesus, but denied his deity. Christianity is rooted and grounded in history. It's not some esoteric philosophy. It's not a list of virtues. It's not ideals. It is a religion that is grounded in the revelation of God in history, and the history of people, and in the history of a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son. It's rooted. It's grounded there. You separate from history, you cut the jungling. It's not Christianity any longer. It bleeds out into nothingness. Christianity is the only religion that's rooted and grounded in history this way, because it's the only true religion. The historicity of Jesus cannot be questioned. He is who the apostles say He is. And John is saying, that which was from the beginning, I've heard Him. That which is from the beginning, I have seen Him. That which is from the beginning, look at what He says. We have looked upon Him. It can be translated, we have beheld Him. It's the very same Greek word that's used in John chapter 1, verse 14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. That's what the Word means. Remember when God's people lived in tents in the time of wilderness? Remember when God lived in a tent in the tabernacle? The tent of meaning? We've read about it tonight. during the wilderness wanderings? This has much to say for God's people living together, yes in wilderness, but living together with the presence of God in their midst, in tabernacles. And God himself, tabernacle, pitched his tent with his people in the tent of meeting, in the tabernacle. But now in history, In the fullness of time, God has tabernacled among men, not in a tent made of canvas, but in flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And John says, I've heard Him. John says, I've seen Him. John says, I have beheld Him. We have beheld Him. Just like He said in the prologue of the Gospel. He is the One who is the Word from the beginning. He is the One who is from the beginning with God. Remember that from the prologue of the gospel? In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. Do you know any Greek at all? If you look in the Greek language, you have a very unusual construction, an unusual preposition is chosen to be translated. by our Englishman, with. With doesn't really get to the full meaning of the preposition. Usually, cross is translated to or towards. But try to put that in English. In the beginning was the word, and the word was to God. Or the word was towards God. Repeat it later. The same was in the beginning, to God or towards God. It doesn't make sense. to our minds in English, until you think about what he's saying. The Word was towards the Father. The Word was, as it were, in face-to-face with the Father. The Word was, from all eternity, as it was, in intimate, eternal communion, sweet fellowship, union, and oneness with the Father from all of eternity. That's what John is teaching us. And just in case we haven't gotten it, and the Word was God Himself. I know those people that knock on your doors. Mentioned some of them this morning in the sermon. I said, no, no, no, you're mistranslating that. Let me give you a little ammunition that you can use with your neighbors who knock on your doors with watchtowers in their hands. What they would tell you is this, that in the Greek language there's no article with theion in that verse. And you know what the article is in English. You adults may not, but the children probably know. What is the definite article in English? People under 18 can answer if you would like. The people over 18 may not remember. What is the definite article in English? Don't be bashful. Okay, if you're over 18, you can answer if you know. The. That's the definite article. What is the indefinite article in English? The indefinite article. And there are two words according to what the first letter is of the word that follows as a little hint. They are a and an. A and an. Those are the indefinite articles. The is the definite article. Well, here's something you need to know about Greek that your Jehovah's Witnesses neighbors don't know. There is no such thing as an indefinite article in the Greek language. They don't have a word for a or an. They only have the definite article, which is translated the. So how do you know, when you're reading in the Greek, whether you should supply an indefinite article or not? The context tells you. And they will say it should be translated in the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God. Little g. Because there's no definite article, which means it should be translated with the indefinite article. Here's what you need to do. Take them to verse 6. OK, little lesson here and how to witness to witness. OK, how to witness to witness. Take him to verse six. Hold your hand a little bit. You know, you've got to know when to show your hand. You can play a little poker in this witness. OK, hold your hand. Don't show them everything at first, but take them to verse six and just ask them the question. In verse six, the first John, I mean, John chapter one, let me turn back to it. So, I can look at it myself. Okay. There was a man sent from God. His name was John. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. Ask them. Is that Jehovah? And say Jehovah. They like for you to say Jehovah. They're Jehovah's Witnesses. Well, they're really not. They're Jehovah's false witnesses. Say Jehovah. There was a man sent from God His name was John. Did Jehovah send John? Ask them that question. They will tell you yes. Here's your next question. Is there an article before Theon in verse 6? They don't know. Of course, you don't know either, but I'm about to tell you. There's not. It could be translated, there's a man sent from a god whose name was John. But they've already told you, now that's Jehovah. There's no article there. And yet you translate it, there was a man sent from God, the God, Jehovah God, whose name was John. Why do you translate it this way here, but you don't do that earlier in the text? And then what you say to them is, look, now linguistically, you are correct. It can be translated a god in either place. The context has to tell you. But you've already proven that you also realize that sometimes the word theon doesn't have the article, and it's clearly talking about Jehovah God. So why do you say it's not in verse one? And you say, because you got them shaken. We didn't know that. And you say, now let's look at the text again. In the beginning was the Word. Not in the beginning God spoke the Word. Not in the beginning God created the Word. Not in the beginning the Word came into existence. In the beginning was the Word. John is telling us the Word is eternal. What is eternal on the God? Nothing created. And the Word was with God, and you can bring out your cross. The Word was to God, towards God, in face-to-faceness with God. Unless you don't understand it yet, you've been wrong all along. Your teachers have taught you wrong. They've taught you a lie. The Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. And then you say, all things were made through Him. Without Him was not anything made that was made. Then you take them back to Genesis 1. It says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. But John says, the Word created all things. So what does that mean? The Word is God. The Word is Jehovah. And what John is saying is, we've heard Him. We've seen Him. We've beheld Him. We've handled Him. We've touched Him. Let's see how well you remember sermons that you've heard recently. Can you go back as far as a month? Remember the sermon I preached from Revelation chapter 1, a month ago? The lampstand? Is that ringing a bell? The kids are saying, sure, we remember. I can see them nodding their heads. Remember what John did when he saw the Lord Jesus in all of his exalted resurrection and ascended glory. He fainted dead away. Remember what Jesus did. He put his right hand on him and said, don't be afraid, John. It's me. I am the first and the last. I am everything. I have said I am. But it's me. John says we have handled him. We have embraced him. We have touched him. I reclined at his right side in the supper when he said this is my body. This is my blood. My head was at his bosom. The disciple whom Jesus loved. He has come. We have heard Him. We have seen Him. We have beheld Him. We have handled Him. He has come. He is the Word of Life. He is the Logos of Life. Remember the prologue of John's Gospel. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, he says in the prologue. There's so They're so together, the prologue and the preface, you can't take them apart. And it was light, and the light was the light of men. Here he says, concerning the Word of Life. Who is the Word of Life? The Word of Life is the Lord Jesus Christ, the one we've heard, the one we've seen, the one we've beheld, the one we've handled. The Word of Life was manifested. He repeated, we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father, it was manifested to us. The eternal life that we're talking to you about in this epistle, what I'm writing to you about, that you would have assurance that you have eternal life, has come in the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's rooted and grounded in Him. The whole of the epistle is. It's to this to which John testifies. That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. When you come to know this One that He is testifying, that He has heard, He has seen, He has held, and He has handled. When you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, you have fellowship with Him and with other believers we have here. He says, we have fellowship with the Father, we have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, we have fellowship, communion, union with the Father, with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. That is what you have. That is what is yours. And he writes these things that your joy may be full. And when you hear this message, doesn't it just fill your heart with joy? Let me see some smiles on your face. Your heart is full of joy. To know that in the fullness of time, this one who was from the beginning, he came. He didn't just come, he died. He was raised from the dead. for eyewitnesses who saw this, John himself who declared it to us. We hear their testimony, we believe, we enter into fellowship with them and all who believe, and in fellowship with the Father and with the Son. The byproduct of that is joy. Joy that is full. This is the Gospel. Jesus was crucified. for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised again from the dead according to the scriptures. This is our hope. My prayer is as we study carefully this epistle, that it will strengthen you and that assurance of your salvation and unto the perseverance of your faith And again, my prayer is that if there are any who are gathering here regularly who are unregenerate, even though you may appear to be and you may think you are and everyone else is, this epistle will demonstrate to you that you are not, that you would be converted. and that your joy may be full in our fellowship with the rest of us and with the Father. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word and for this preface and for the epistle and for the prologue of the gospel for how rich they are. For Jesus, that in the fullness of time you came, thee of it, The fruit of your work when you came is that we have fellowship with you and with the Father and with one another, that our joy is made complete. Lord Jesus, thank you for coming and for not leaving us in our sins to face the Father's wrath, which we deserve. But instead to elevate and exalt us in salvation. Thank you for the gospel, in Jesus' name. Amen.