Hidden in Plain Sight: The Missing Link

Introduction

Adrian Rogers said this about the writings of John....The Gospel of John was written to Convince Sinners. The Epistles of John were written to Confirm the Saints and then finally the Book of Revelation was written to Comfort the Saints.

The Facts — (Vs. 1-2)

Vs. 1

During this time period there was a false religion brewing called “gnosticism.” The word gnosis means “having knowledge” and these followers of gnosticism believed they had a little extra divine knowledge than the rest of the crowd! You could for all intensive purposes call these folks the know-it-alls!

They were too intellectual to believe that God could've come to earth in human flesh because they believed everything physical and material was evil. So, some believed Jesus was just a human who had been given a divine knowledge and then transferred that knowledge to His disciples through His teachings while others believed that He was simply a false teacher!

And this false religion of gnosticism was infiltrating the 1st century Church so undoubtedly as John begins to pen this first epistle of his, this false religion was at the forefront of his mind!

So, with pen in hand and guidance from the Holy Spirit, John begins to write, what is in my opinion, some of the richest material we have the opportunity of reading and studying today!

He writes to readers who may be on the verge of being swayed by this newfound false religion. He writes to the Christian who is struggling with sin and it’s draw of darkness. He writes to the believer dealing with the tug of the world on their life. He writes to the born again who are struggling with their faith and explains how we can have the rock-ribbed assurance of a know-so salvation and then John finishes by reminding us of the unfailing love of the father.

Anything a person needs, lost, saved or anywhere in between, can be found right here in Johns 1st epistle!

And so he begins this 1st epistle by laying some ground rules; by stating some all important, indisputable facts and starts by saying....

“That which was from the beginning”...

When he says “that” he’s speaking of Jesus. And to say that Jesus was there in the beginning, at the dawn of creation would be to say that Jesus was God, right? So, John begins by stating that Jesus was not just some man with divine knowledge but rather His omniscience come from the very fact that He was God! God in the flesh!

Now, for the gnostics of this day, this would be a direct blow to their belief system as in their minds there was no way that God would lower Himself to the status of man because anything that was material or physical was evil therefore God couldn't be in the flesh!

But this wasn’t John’s first rodeo when it came to claiming the deity of Christ! The fact of the matter is, this was the underlying theme of his entire gospel…the deity of Christ!

John 1:1-4 — 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. John 1:14 — And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt (Greek word for dwelt means to fix one’s tabernacle — He tabernacled, made his tent, his abode, his home) among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John Phillips — Here, in his epistle, when John refers to a "beginning," he wants us to envision One who had an eternal preexistence but who, at a specific moment in time, entered into human life on planet Earth. When any other baby is born, it marks the beginning of a new life but when Jesus was born, it signified something quite different; it marked the coming into this world of a person who had existed from all eternity. The Lord Jesus did not have a beginning. He was!

And this rock solid doctrine that John is teaching here stood in direct opposition to what the false doctrine of gnosticism was trying to make people believe!

He continues on by explaining how he knows what he’s saying is true!

He says we have heard Him, we have seen Him, we have looked (to gaze intently) upon Him, we have touched and handled Him with out own hands! And because we have been with Him through it all we know from whence He came and where He has returned!

There was an incident in Gospel of John that will actually will help give us some more confidence that what John is saying is true! In...

John 14:8-11 — 8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.

And John says, “you know, those were just words but then when He took me, Peter and James on a little further at the mount of transfiguration I heard the Father speak to Him from heaven and I saw with mine own eyes Moses and Elijah standing there speaking with Him and in that very moment His face did shine as the noonday sun!

These things I have seen, I have heard, and with mine own hands I have handled the Word of life!”

“Word of life”...

Warren Wiersbe — Because Christ is to us what our words are to others. Our words reveal to others just what we think and how we feel. Christ reveals to us the mind and heart of God. He is the living means of communication between God and men. To know Jesus Christ is to know God!

Jesus is the visible expression of the invisible God!

Vs. 2

John uses the word “Manifested” — 2x in this one verse. It comes from the Greek word (phaneroō) which means to be seen, disclosed or displayed; to make known, to reveal, to show.

Listen this morning friend, Jesus didn’t come hidden behind closed doors, but rather He was disclosed, He was made known, revealed and ultimately displayed on a cross for all the world to see!

And I’m here to tell you this morning friend, if you say you can’t seem to find Jesus it’s not because He’s hidden Himself from you I can promise you that! If you can’t find Jesus, it’s because you’re not looking for Him, Amen!

Even in His birth, He had an audience, Amen! Man didn’t have time for Him when He was born so all the animals rejoiced at His birth in that lowly little stable in Bethlehem!

The sad part is, many men today still don’t have time for Him! But you want to know something....one day, those folks who don’t have time for Jesus today are gonna wish they had made time, Amen!

But at that point it’s going to be too late!

At that point, when they’ve drawn their last breath and stand before Him on judgement their gonna plead for forgiveness and with those flaming eyes of fire our Lord will say the worst words a person could ever hear, “depart from me I never knew you!”

And at then dear friend, those who didn’t make time for our Lord and Savior on this side will be cast into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth and they will be separated from the only hope they had for eternity!

So the question that needs to be asked this morning is this…how much time do you make for Jesus? Is He an integral part of your life? Could you live without Him or are you living without Him now? If you could live without Him, then you don’t really know Him and if you are living without Him you need to come to know Him!

John says here, “and because we have seen Him, heard Him, touched Him we have no other option but to bear witness of Him! We have no other option but to testify and tell the world who He was, what He came to do, and how He changed our lives! It’s our duty to share this eternal life with the world!

Notice the progression of John’s writing here. In the beginning of the verse here, he says “for the life was manifested” but now at the end of the verse, he calls Jesus the “eternal life!”

Listen friend, when you come to know and believe in Jesus you don’t just gain an extra 10, 20, or 30 years of life…no, you gain eternal life, Amen! Life that never ends!

And just as John and all the other disciples felt it was their duty to bear witness of Christ, who He was, what He came to do and how He changed their lives, it is our duty as well to do the same!

If you’ve been born again from above by putting your trust in Jesus, then you should want to bear witness of Him!

When was the last time you took an opportunity to do that? When was the last time you shared your Lord with someone?

So we see The Facts. Next, let’s look at The Fellowship.

The Fellowship — (Vs. 3)

Declare — “Proclaim”

“Fellowship” — Greek (koinōnia) — communication, communion, having things in common.

1. Fellowship of the Sinner

1 Corinthians 2:14 — But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

John 14:6 — Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

No man can be in fellowship with the Father until he’s in fellowship with the Son, Amen!

Adrian Rogers — if a person is wrong about Jesus it doesn’t matter what they’re right about!

2. Fellowship of the Saint

What was taking place here was that born again believers were getting out of sorts with God and in sorts with the world and it was causing a strain on their fellowship with Him and other believers!

The unborn was drawing the born again away from the one whom they had received their new spiritual birth! And the Bible cautions us against this over in...

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 — Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15  And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

You see, these gnostics were trying to do away with Jesus, the one person that can bring us and the Father into fellowship and the one thing that causes us all to have something in common!

The most miserable man in the world is not the unsaved man but rather the saved man out of fellowship with God.

The Fullness — (Vs. 4)

Martyn Lloyd-Jones — Joy is something very deep and profound, something that affects the whole and entire personality. . . . It comes to this; there is only one thing that can give true joy and that is a contemplation of the Lord Jesus Christ. He satisfies my mind; He satisfies my emotions; He satisfies my every desire. He and His great salvation include the whole personality and nothing less, and in Him I am complete. Joy, in other words, is the response and the reaction of the soul to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. — Swindoll's Living Insights New Testament Commentary