THE WORD REVEALED

A REAL EVENT

Text: 1 John 1: 1-4

1 John 1:1–4 (NASB95)

Introduction, The Incarnate Word

1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—

2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—

3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

I. Introduction: In this short passage John tells of his experience with Jesus. He explains how it is revealed to mankind and shows us an example to follow as we seek to relate our experience to others.

John, in this passage gives us a great experience, an example set and an exhortation given. So let’s look at this real life experience John had, that is the revelation of Jesus on earth! John doesn’t stop there, he gives us a beautiful example of what to do with this good news and that is to relate it to others. On April 6, 2016 my name changed. For years I had been son, dad, Jim and even babe. People at work call me James. But on this date, I would become Pop. You see, this was the day my first grandchild was born. We had spent 9 months thinking about this day, we had considered boy or girl, early or late and we even had one of those parties where the people who guessed right wore pink and the losers all wore blue. All that excitement meant nothing when she was born and I was able to experience what being a grandparent meant. She was beautiful, perfect and she was my daughter’s daughter. As I held her it was a reminder of how precious life is. It was one of the most real moments in my life. Now my question is, do you think I told anyone? Well yea. I told everyone and so too we see John having a real-life impactful event and he could not help to relate it to others.

II. Main Idea: The Christ event was a real event that was revealed to us and should be related to people.

III. Major Point 1: The word was REAL John first starts by telling of his experience.

A. Explanation (1 Sentence)—First, John tells us of his real-life experience with Christ.

a. Look at the words John uses: heard, seen, looked upon,

B. Illustration (1 Sentence) — Working with their current pastor.

a. So, I am a preacher’s kid. My father pastored churches from here in Webster County to Quitman County. His first church to serve in was Cumberland Baptist just south of here. So, guess what, I love to use people I know as examples. One of my vivid memories was that crazy guy walking across my front yard in Greenwood, MS laughing and cutting up, from his blue Ford pickup he had parked on the side of the road. Yes, it was your pastor. He was there to help me move. If I tell you I have known him for 30 years you would expect me to have some tangible stories that I could tell you. I can. I could tell you stories about him as a American History teacher, as a brother in Christ to my dad, I dated his daughter so I was over at his house a lot so I could tell you stories about the love and consistency he had in life with his family. I could tell you about the time we all went to Algoma and his wife asked him to watch her purse as she went to get her plate. He pulled his hat down and stared at that purse the entire time she was gone, and we laughed and laughed at him. I can tell you that he extended grace to me when I drove a Big Red Three-wheeler into his back glass of that same blue Ford that came to haul my stuff from the delta to the hills.

IV. Major Point 2: The Word was REVEALED John continues by telling us what was revealed, or better said Who was revealed to us.

So, we must ask ourselves what was revealed. Was it a great example to follow? Was it a wise teacher? How about the Messiah as foretold in the OT. Was he a philosopher or the leader of a radical movement?

Here is what the world says. MissionInsite.

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Here is what our text says about who He was.

He was from the beginning. Remember this from John’s Gospel. Jesus predates anything created. In order to be from the beginning there is only one choice. He is part of the Trinity. He is God.

Remember our first point? HE was here in bodily form. Again to John’s Gospel. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

He is eternal life.

He was with the Father and manifested to us. He predated time.

In Him and through Him, fellowship with the Father is available.

A. Illustration (1 Sentence) —you existed before you came in the door. You predate this event and hopefully you will post date this event too. You revealed yourself to us when you walked through the door.

B. Application (1 Sentence) —So was it with Jesus. His predating existed forever in the past and will forever exist in the future. He is infinite with the Father.

V. Major Point 3: The Word was RELATED John now shows us an example to follow by relating the experience he had to the people who would listen to him.

A. Explanation (1 Sentence) —Here we see John going past the point of living in a different way because of his experience with Jesus. We see him sharing that good news as we should.

B. Application (1 Sentence) —we too should not depend on our lives to share the good news.

C. So what does that look like? How do we tell those around us?

John tells us. LOVE the word agape is used 45 times in this letter. It is only 5 Chapters long but this word is used over and over and over.

We are to love people and no greater way to show love than to tell someone about Christ. That is why I am here today.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN LOST IN THE WOODS.

VI. Conclusion: The Word was REALIZED John realized who He was and it was through this realization he was able to gain fellowship with the Father. Have you realized this in your own life? Are you relating this message of hope to those around you that need this in their lives?

So my first questions is have you come to know this real life man revealed to us from the Father? This event was as real as my new baby granddaughter. Just like her, he too, has made an impact on my life and he can yours too. I have related Him to you this morning and now you must realize that Jesus is your only hope for salvation.

Do you know Him this morning? We can put our faith on this real life event and therefore we can put our faith in what He accomplished while He was here. He died and rose as payment for our sins and we can have fellowship with the Father through Him and Him alone by coming to Him in repentance. Won’t you come to Jesus today?

For those of us that are followers of Christ, are you relating this good news to the people around you? I know everyone that meets me finds out pretty quick about my granddaughters. We should do the same with our faith in Christ.