Sermons from the Book of
1 JOHN by Ken Trivette

THE ETERNAL WORD OF LIFE
1 John 1:1-2

 

Other sermons from 1 John

Sharing The Word Of Life (1:1-3)
The Eternal Word Of Life (1:1-2)
What A Fellowship (1:3-7)
If We ... (1:6-10)
A Defense Attorney That Never Lost A Case (2:1-2)
Keeping The Commandments (2:3-6)
How's Your Love Life (2:7-11)
Living For Another World (2:15-17)
Religious Con-artists Pt. 1 (2:18-27)
How To Keep From Being Spiritually Conned Pt. 2 (2:18-27)
How Do You Want To Meet Him? (2:28-29)
The Believer's Past, Present, & Future (3:1-3)
Why A Christian Should Hate Sin (3:4-6)
The Children Of God & The Children Of The Devil Pt.1 (3:7-10)
The Children Of God & The Children Of The Devil (Pt. 2) (3:7-10)
The Timeless Message Of Love (3:11-18)
Secrets To Effective Prayer (3:20-21)
Don't Believe Everything You Hear (4:1-6)
Loving One Another Pt. 1 (4:7-8)
Loving One Another Pt. 2 (4:9-12)
Loving One Another Pt. 3 (4:13-16)
Loving One Another Pt. 4 (4:17-19)
Loving One Another Pt. 5 (4:20-21)
How To Know You're In Love (5:1-3)

This series of sermons is presently being preached and will be added to as available

 

 

In our first study from the Book of 1 John, we looked at our text and our role and responsibility of sharing The Word of Life. Once again, I want us to look at the first two verses of chapter one and in our present study, I want our focus to be not on our sharing our faith, but rather on the “One” whom we share. John calls the "Word of Life" and "Eternal Life" Jesus is the Eternal Word of Life.

Sam Gordon writes, “When you cast your eye down the opening paragraph in John’s epistle, you will be surprised and, presumably, amazed to discover there are no words of introduction! There is not a single word of greeting to anyone, anywhere. There are no niceties of small talk! He wastes no time, he pulls no punches; he launches straight into his subject. This guy can’t wait to start talking about Jesus!” (Living in the Light).

In the beginning let me point out a certain feature about the Book of 1 John. You will find the word "know" some thirty-eight times in the book. You don't go very far in the book before you realize that there are certain things John wants you to know and be certain about.

For one thing, John was us to be biblically sound in the faith. He wants us to know what is doctrinally right and wrong. He has the same desired Paul expressed in Colossians 2:7, that we be, "Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."

In John’s day there were those who held to a theory called “Docetism,” which was an early form of Gnosticism. Docetism came from the word dokeo which means, “I think, I seem, I appear.” Those who held to this docetic view of the Lord Jesus regarded Christ as a spirit. They did not believe or teach that Jesus became man, but was only a spirit, a phantom. In light of this false teaching and others, John wants us to know what is right!

He also wanted us to be personally settled in the faith. He wants the believer to be certain of their salvation and enjoy the assurance they are indeed sons of God.  In John 20:31 we read, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” The Gospel was John was written that we may know how to be saved. We read in 1 John 5:13, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” The book of 1 John was written that we may know that we are saved! As believers, we do not have to hope or wonder whether or not we have been saved. We can sing with Fanny Crosby, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!"

As you read the book of 1 John we that his aim is that we have a faith that is based on and grounded in Divine truth, and asserts that real saving faith is always based on and grounded in Divine truth. To put it another way, John reminds us of the importance of doctrine. 

In our day and time we hear people saying that doctrine is not important. Someone says, "Our doctrines are different, but we are just one big spiritual family." May I say with firmness, doctrine does matter! The truth is, our doctrine must be right if we are to be a member of the family. If your doctrine is not right about what it takes for a person to be saved and how we are saved, then you are not a member of the family of God. For example; if you think that works will save you, then you are sadly mistaken. If a person thinks that they can go to heaven because of how they lived, then they will be among that crowd Jesus spoke of that says, "Lord, Lord" but will not enter the "kingdom of heaven" (Cp. Matt. 7:21). The church is not be a gathering of people in which what they believe is of no importance or meaning. It is to be a place where people believe something (Divine truth) and know what they believe and why they believe it.

 At the very beginning of the Epistle, John drives some theological stakes into the ground as to who Jesus is—some very fundamental truths about the Lord Jesus. He describes the Lord Jesus as, the Word of Life (Vs.1), and the Eternal Life (Vs.2). He tells us that Jesus is the Eternal Word of Life. John is reminding us that it is very important, yea, crucial, that we believe the right things about the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's notice what John wants us to understand about Jesus. First, he speaks of:

1. THE WORD IN THE BEGINNING! (ETERNAL LIFE)

 

  John speaks of the Lord Jesus as the "Eternal Life." In verse one he speaks of the Lord Jesus as, "that which is from the beginning." The "beginning" that John refers to is the commencement or beginning of time as we know it. He is taking us back to the time of creation (Genesis 1). Notice carefully that he does speak of the beginning of the Lord Jesus. He speaks of Jesus as being present at the beginning. He was existing at the beginning.

In the Gospel of John, he had written, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It has been stated that in John 1:1, John takes us to the beginning and looks back into eternity. In 1 John 1:1, he takes us to the beginning and brings us into history. In either case, we see that at the beginning, the Lord Jesus was! Now, what does this say about Jesus? First, it tells us that:

A) JESUS WAS CO-ETERNAL WITH THE FATHER  

Again, I refer to John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word." The "beginning" does not refer to a start but to a state. The word "was" is in the imperfect tense which signifies an action of the past that continues in the present, which means, that in the beginning there was the Word, He is the Word, and will always be the Word. If Jesus was present at the beginning, He was before the beginning. If He was before the beginning, then He is eternal - co-eternal with the Father.

Furthermore, it tells us that:

B) JESUS WAS CO-EXISTENT WITH THE FATHER  

 

John 1:1 not only tells us that Jesus was in the beginning, but also that He "was with God.” The word "with" means, "toward or facing." In the beginning Jesus was face to face with God. When God introduced Himself to mankind in Genesis 1:1, He first revealed Himself as "God" (Elohim). The name is plural which indicates God is more than one. In Genesis 1:26, God said, "Let us make man in our image." Who is "us?" It was God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. God is one in three, three in one. As John said in John 1:2, "The same was in the beginning with God," and in 1 John 1:2: “which was with the Father” Jesus was not only co-eternal with the Father, but also co-existent with the Father.

Thirdly, it tells us that:

C) JESUS WAS CO-EQUAL WITH THE FATHER  

John 1:1 also tells us, “and the Word was God.” Jesus was not the One Who had no beginning, and the One that was face to face with God in eternity, but He was God! Jesus said in John 10:30 “I and my Father are one.” We would say, I and my father are two, because I am not my father, and my father is not me.” But Jesus was able to make such a statement because He is God! The Jehovah Witness translation of the Bible reads, "In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was a God." Jesus was more than a God. He was God! That is why Jesus could say, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9).

There are those who say we worship three Gods; one plus one equals three. My answer to that is  that your math is right, but your theology is wrong; for with Jesus, one plus one equals one! Jesus is the Eternal Word! 

Secondly, John speaks of:

2. THE WORD IN A BODY! (WORD OF LIFE)  

 

 John also calls Jesus the "Word of Life." In verse two he speaks of how the Word of Life was "manifested.” The word means, "to announce, make apparent." The Greek scholar A.T. Robertson states that the tense of the word speaks of making known that which already exists. Again, there was not a beginning of the Lord Jesus, but a manifestation. He existed from eternity past, but was revealed (manifested) to us at a certain point in time. What does this “manifestation” speak of:

A) A Condescension of God  

 

 There was a point in time that God became flesh. We read in John 1:14, "And 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." This condescension (manifesting) is also found in the words of Paul, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men" (Phil. 2:6-7).

The word "likeness" speaks of "that which is made like something or someone else." God became man. He became one of us. He identified Himself with the human race by taking upon Himself a body of flesh. Let me say here that when He took upon Himself the form of man He did not give up the form of God. He did not give up His deity to assume humanity. He was fully God and fully man. He was as much God as though He not man at all, but He was as much man as though He were not God at all. He was not all God and no man, and He was not all man and no God. He was not half God and half man. He was fully God and fully man. He was the God-man.

Secondly, this condescension speaks of:

B) A COMMUNICATION BY GOD

I think of the name and description, "the Word."  The word simply speaks of that which is said. It is by our words that we express our thoughts, feelings, and will. I may be thinking about a certain action, but until I "flesh" that thought in words, you will never know what it is that I am thinking about doing. I may be thinking of how much I love my wife, but until I express those thoughts in words, my wife will never know how I feel.

Jesus as the Word, expresses the mind, heart, and will of God. In Jesus we see God's thoughts toward us. He loves us and in Jesus we see how much He loves us. As one has said, "Jesus is noun of God, the verb of God, and the adjective of God."

John said, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18). No one has seen God in His true essence and the truth is, no man can and live. Yet, in Jesus we have seen the Father, for Jesus has "declared Him." The word "declared" means, "to tell, unfold." Jesus has told us about the Father. He is the Word!

Now, these blessed truths about the Lord Jesus are more than my opinions. They are eternal truths. These are things that cannot be denied about the Lord Jesus. To do so is to deny His deity. Therefore, John wants us to know these things about Jesus! He wants us to know that Jesus is the Word of Life, He is the Eternal Life, therefore, He is the Eternal Word of Life! What A Saviour!