What Now?

Introduction

Good morning church. As always it is a blessing to be in the Lord’s house on the Lord’s day. On New Year’s Eve nonetheless.

I hope that whatever we resolve to do in 2024, we would prioritize above all knowing the Lord Jesus Christ more than ever before and pursuing Him in holiness.

This morning is what I hope to be a sort of bow on top of the advent series we’ve been working through. The last four weeks we’ve been covering four glorious truths about the Lord Jesus Christ and His incarnation.

To recap, those have been His presence, and then the 3 offices which He operated and operates in currently: that of prophet, priest, and king.

The title of my sermon is “What Now?” As in, we’ve discussed the last four weeks Christ’s coming (or incarnation) and how He operated and continues to operate presently in 3 major offices. But, what now?

What do we do with these truths? What does Christ coming to be with us as our great prophet, high priest, and King of kings mean for us in our lives as His followers?

Well, in short, one could say it means EVERYTHING, and we could all go home and take a nap.

Instead of that option, we’ll spend our time in the first chapter of 1 John.

Admittedly, our treatment of the text this morning will be a bit of an overview of sorts. There is so much rich and robust truth to be found just in this first chapter that perhaps it would be best preached in 2 or 3 parts. Therefore, this mornings sermon will be perhaps only a glimpse.

Although only a glimpse, I pray that we all glean at least a touch clearer of a picture as to all that Christ’s incarnation means for us.

The incarnation of Christ is a crucial part of THE most glorious truth that there is, the Gospel message.

Church, Christ truly came as TRULY man and TRULY God. He truly came with a purpose, to make us right with the Father, saving us from our sin and the Father’s wrath, through His (Jesus’) death, burial, and resurrection.

So, please turn with me in your Bible’s to 1 John 1, as we’re revealed to, at least in part, an answer to the question: What Now?

Read 1 John 1:1-10

Brief Context

It is historically understood that the apostle John wrote this letter, along with 2 and 3 John, the Gospel account “John”, and the book of Revelation.

A portion of what the apostle John writes in 1 John is to combat specific heresies that were prevalent amongst the church or churches that he was writing to.

Christ Truly Came as Truly God and Truly Man…

1-2: John begins this letter by first testifying to the fact that he and presumably the other apostles actually, physically heard, saw, and touched Jesus in the flesh!

This was to negate the false teaching of his day that Jesus only “appeared” to be human. John clearly advocates for the incarnation of Christ here by testifying that he and others were physically with Jesus and interacted with Him.

If I told you that my wife Kaitlyn and I were staying with her parents right now (as we wait for a house to be flipped for us) and there is the cutest little golden retriever puppy staying with all of us, some of you may not believe me.

Ok, what if I told you this scratch on my arm is from him? Or that I’ve seen him go to the bathroom on the floor more times than I can count? Or that my daughter thinks he’s the cutest little doggy in the world?

Maybe my first hand account wouldn’t satisfy you, but I could bring up my wife and have her testify to Milo’s existence. And my father in law, and so on and so forth.

Beloved, there are a plethora of accounts biblically and historically that support the real existence of Jesus Christ. Much more meaningful than a puppy.

That is what John is doing here, leaning on the testimony of the apostles, who were real men, actually with Jesus, that testified to Jesus being in the flesh!

Verse 2 John uses a word translated “manifest”. What John is saying is that Christ, the word of life, eternally existent with the Father, came humbly as a human.

Christ was with the Father and made manifest to us as a human. Very reminiscent of the language John uses in his gospel account in John 1:1-5

John 1:1–5 ESV

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 any thing 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.

These first two verses remind us that Christ came to earth in human form, emptying Himself not of His divinity, but of His divine rights as God. Must be careful here of modern false teachings…

Therefore…We Have Fellowship

3-4: John continues in verse 3 to reveal a key motivator behind writing this letter to fellow believers: that they may have fellowship with him and others (perhaps the apostles? other believers with him?)

This is for us today as well! That we may have fellowship with the apostles by the inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit, in Christ Jesus!

John further describes this fellowship by describing that his fellowship is with the Father and the His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

What is John saying here? He is writing this letter, testifying about the manifestation of Christ Jesus, God, in the flesh, and all of John’s subsequent remarks throughout the entirety of this letter, so that others (including you, and me) may have communion with each other, community, a relationship. As John Piper states it “sharing something significant in common with each other.”

Admittedly, this is something I lost sight of when preparing this message. Its easy to assume that John is equating fellowship with salvation here. But, we must remember that he is clearly writing to believers in this letter, therefore he couldn’t be referring to salvation.

John must be pointing to a communion, a relationship. This is the essence of the word fellowship that he’s using here.

Therefore, taking this a step further, John states that the fellowship he wants his audience to partake in is grounded in true fellowship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit!

We, believers in Christ, have FELLOWSHIP with the TRINITY!!! We are in intimate relationship with Him, communion with Him! THAT is one major aspect of Christ’s incarnation.

Before moving on, notice John’s pastoral heart in verse 4. His joy, and those with him, their joy will not be complete without others taking part in this fellowship of believers loving and being with their God.

And, consequentially, being in deep fellowship with each other.

You see, we can “do” fellowship. Events, get togethers, hang outs, etc. Although, we must know that if we’re in Christ, we’re positionally IN fellowship with one another, through our fellowship with Christ.

Connecting with each other, being in each others lives is a natural result and reflection of the fellowship that Christ bought for us.

Are you living this out? Do you base your life around this reality? Do we live as though we are in fellowship with one another, in Christ?

If not, we are missing out on great, deep joy.

Therefore…We Now Behold and Walk in the Light

5-6: In verse 5 John now proclaims the message he has heard from the Lord Jesus: God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. That is, God is perfectly holy! No sin nor darkness in Him whatsoever!

Scripture elsewhere uses the word light referring to good and evil, even in reference to God. John himself uses it often:

John 1:5 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John 3:19 “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

We’re given a powerful and beautiful image of God’s holiness in Isaiah 6:1–3 “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!””

Jesus’ message, part of His mission on earth was to reveal to us the holiness of God (who He was and is Himself!). He is the light, pure, untouched, glorious, spectacular, sinless! Behold the only true holy God! Christ Jesus in the flesh!

No. Darkness. At. All. Zero. God is absolutely perfect, from age to age, eternity to eternity. God is light! Behold the true light of the world!

Then in verse 6, John provides us with a call to holiness, as God is holy. See how John juxtaposes fellowship with the Father and walking in darkness; they don’t mix! Why? Because there is NO DARKNESS IN HIM AT ALL.

Faith that is mere lip service with no practice of the truth is DEAD: James 2:26 “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”

If this is true regarding saving faith, how much more true is it of fellowship with our God?!

2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

I can tell you that I love my wife Kaitlyn. That I love everything about her, I’m crazy about her, I love going on dates with getting to know her more and her getting to know me.

But, say you were to dive a little deeper into our marriage and you find out that I never make the effort to come home on time after work, I sit on my phone every time I’m around her, I don’t listen to her, and I never take her out on dates.

Would you not question all that lip service I just gave you? Everything I said earlier is true by the way…but this is how we treat our relationship with Christ!

We say we love Him, that we follow Him, but we spend little to time with Him in the word and in prayer. We don’t actively live for Him, we aren’t conscious of Him in our daily lives, we don’t strive to worship Him day by day, moment by moment.

We must repent! If you’re a follower of Jesus, that statement I just worked through should shake you to your core!

Practice spiritual disciplines daily, that you may draw closer into fellowship with the Lord.

To walk in darkness as John states here is to make progress in so doing something.

Therefore, John is making the clear distinction here that he is talking about a person that is living a life in darkness, not necessarily a temporary backsliding. He is addressing liars.

What does the word practice mean in verse 6? John is conveying the idea of a dedication to the truth, a life committed to living in and for the truth of God.

Fellowship with God is more than simply claiming it for your self. It is God’s regenerating work on a human being, bringing them into fellowship with Himself through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

You see, this is the beauty of Christ’s incarnation and His subsequent revealing to us that God is light: we are now revealed to the holiness of God in Christ, called to come toHim to die to ourselves, be set free from darkness, and commune with Him forever!

Oh, and what a joy it is, to walk in the light, to now know the difference between darkness and light.

To praise the Lord in all His splendor and holiness!

Therefore…Our Sins Are Forgiven By His Cleansing Blood

7-10: We see in verse 7 a contrast to verse 6. Now, a surface level reading of verse 7 may give the appearance that our effort in walking in the light produces our fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleansing us.

Yet, this could not be farther from the truth. We know this for at least two reasons:

1) Verses 8-10 here describe us needing forgiveness from the Lord. We are sin-ridden creatures in need of being saved. Only Christ provides our salvation.

2) Romans 5:6–8 “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Christ died for us at the right time, in order to save us! Only Christ can save, no one else. As much as we’d like to believe it, we can’t even save ourselves.

Paired with this truth is the magnificence of verses 8, 9, and 10. These verses call us as followers of Christ into radical freedom. This is not the same as cheap, hyper-grace where sin is ignored and excused.

This radical freedom is only found in Christ Jesus. Where we come to Him in real, raw, open vulnerability, for the Lord observes everything at all times anyway.

We don’t have to hide and act like we’re perfect any longer or that we have it all together. Rather, we have a great high priest who in fact DOES have it all together. And He paid the ultimate price for our freedom in Him.

We only deceive ourselves by acting perfect. But, if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness!!

God’s faithfulness and just nature is expressed in the New Covenant that Christ came in the incarnation to establish with us.

The promised Messiah has come and His blood has been spilled for our justification before the holy God of the universe.

Hebrews 9:22 “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

This truth of Christ paying the price for us and providing us radical freedom from sin and the wrath of God ties in perfectly with verse 6.

BECAUSE Christ paid our ransom, we are made new by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit through Christ’s blood.

Therefore, now with eyes to see and ears to hear, provided by the Holy Spirit, we DESIRE to walk in the light. We desire holiness, we desire communion with Him, we desire to serve Him and others all our days. For the glory of God.

Verse 10 is a summary of verses 8 and 9. God finds us sinful because in our natural state we desire ourselves over Him. To deny this is to claim that He is a liar.

Conclusion

In summary, Christ truly came as truly God and truly man. Therefore, we can fellowship with the Lord and His people, we can now behold and walk in the light, and our sins are forgiven through Christ’s cleansing blood!

These are not all the results and implications of Christ’s incarnation, but they are crucial ones. Let us live in His glorious light, in fellowship with each through our fellowship with Him, confident in Christ’s finished work on the cross.

PRAY