WWUTT 388 We Proclaim Also to You?

The Word of God, Salvation, and Growth in Grace

It is by the Word of God that we have been saved, and it is by the Word of God that we grow in this salvation. So let us remain committed to the Word of God and those who delivered it to us when we understand the text.

You're listening to When We Understand The Text, committed to the sound teaching of the Word of God. Find videos and more at our website, www .wutt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. In our continued study of 1 John 1 this week, we're going to read this entire first chapter again. As John says, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life, the life was made manifest, and we have seen it and testified to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.

That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. Let's come back to the beginning here, where John says, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, very similar to the way that he begins his gospel.

John 1 .1, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. But as John says here, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, there's a couple of different ways that this could be interpreted.

It could be interpreted as Christ being the one that was from the beginning, but it could also be John referring to the gospel that was from the beginning, that gospel which we have heard, that gospel which has been proclaimed since Christ became man, took on flesh and dwelt among us, was testified about according to John the Baptist, which John also talks about in his gospel in chapter one, verse six, there was a man sent from God whose name was John.

He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. So this is the gospel that was proclaimed from the beginning, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So this beginning that John begins with in this letter, in 1 John 1 .1, he's talking about the beginning of the gospel, whereas in John 1 .1, not 1 John, but the gospel of John 1 .1, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, is a hearkening back to Genesis 1 .1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

John is pointing out here that Christ was in the beginning with God. It is through Christ that all things have been made, and that's what we go on to read in that context. In the gospel of John, all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. But when we read the context in 1 John, when we're looking at it in 1 John 1 .1, the context is concerning the proclamation of the gospel, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon, which we have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life, the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was made manifest to us.

So John is talking about the beginning of the gospel. We were there from the moment the gospel started to be proclaimed. From the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry, we were there. We heard it. We saw it.

Remember that one of the qualifications for the 12, when you're talking about the closest disciples to Christ, the 12, one of the qualifications for the 12, or a couple of the qualifications, we'll put it that way, is they had to have been present at the baptism of Jesus, and they also had to have witnessed his crucifixion and his resurrection.

Now where am I getting those qualifications from? Where am I getting that from? Well, it's in Acts chapter 1. So let's turn there. Let's go to Acts chapter 1. So here in the second half of Acts 1, a disciple is needing to be chosen to replace Judas among the 12.

So right now, the apostles are 11, not 12. They're needing that main circle of 12, okay? So they're picking somebody to replace Judas and consider the qualifications for that replacement. This is beginning in verse 12.

They returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon, the zealot and Judas, the son of James.

All these were with all these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and his brothers. In those days, Peter stood up among the brothers.

The company of persons was in all about 120. So you're talking 120 that are in this upper room, but the main 12 are named and there are the main 11 are named and one needs to be named to replace the position of Judas so that they remain 12.

So verse 16, Peter says, brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.

Now, this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle of the field and all his bowels gushed out and it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the field was called in their own language, Akkodama, that is field of blood, for it is written in the book of Psalms, may his camp become desolate and let there be no one to dwell in it and let another take his take his office, which is Psalm 109, eight.

So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us. One of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.

And they put forward to Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called justice and Matthias. So these are the men who qualified to take Judas's place. And again, what were the qualifications? They had to have been present at the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist.

So having heard the word of God from heaven, who said, this is my beloved son and whom I am well pleased. They had to have been present on that day. And they also had to have been present on the Mount Olivet when Jesus was taken up from them into heaven.

So they were a witness to his baptism and to his resurrection. These were the qualifications necessary for a person who was going to be numbered among the twelve. And there were two men there that qualified Matthias and Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called justice.

So they cast a lot between these two men and the lot fell on Matthias and he became the man who replaced Judas. So these were the qualifications among the twelve. And there were there were multiple disciples who were present at these events.

One of the things that we tend to think about when it concerning the baptism of Jesus was there were only twelve guys there that witnessed these things or those who were present on the hill when Jesus ascended into heaven.

There was only the eleven apostles. No, there were actually many others. It says in first Corinthians 15 that that Jesus appeared to more than 500 brothers between his resurrection and his ascension. So there was probably over 100 people who were on Mount Olivet that saw Jesus ascending into heaven, including his own mother, Mary.

120 are there at the upper room when it is being decided who is going to replace Judas. So you have a pretty substantial group of people who are believers in Christ and had witnessed these things even on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and they began to speak in tongues and then went throughout Jerusalem, proclaiming the gospel in everyone's own language.

So there were many who were witness to these things, not the way that we often depicted in movies or we tell of it in our stories, where it's just 11 or 12 guys that are there observing these things. So Matthias and Justice were among those that were present that had been there at the day of Christ's baptism to the day of his ascension into heaven.

John Mark, who wrote the Gospel of Mark, he was in the Garden of Gethsemane. He's described as the man who ran away so fast he shed his robed and ran off. He de-robed himself and ran away naked. You only find that account given in the Gospel of Mark.

And so he was even present, though he was not named among the 12. So there were many who were witnesses to these things, but here were the qualifications to those who were numbered among the 12 in particular.

And John, who of course was among the 12, says of himself that he looked upon and touched with his own hands concerning the word of life. The life was made manifest and we have seen it and we testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.

So John is proclaiming of himself among the 12. We were eyewitnesses to his majesty. We saw this from the beginning, the gospel that was proclaimed first by John the Baptist and then was witnessed by all of us from the time of his baptism in the Jordan River to his ascension into heaven.

We were there. And so this is coming from an eyewitness, the gospel that is being proclaimed, that which was from the beginning. And we are testimony to it from the beginning that it was proclaimed. And so where he says here, that which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.

This is like the beginning and the end of John's gospel almost. He talks about John the Baptist being a witness to the light and then we have a reference even to their time with Jesus in the upper room at the end of Christ's earthly ministry.

In John 17, when Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted his eyes up to heaven and he said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son that the son may glorify you since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given to him.

And this is eternal life that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. Here's verse five, and now Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

One of the things that I mentioned yesterday is that if you commit yourself to reading the book of first John, and you read this regularly over and over again, all five chapters of first John, every day for 30 days, then you do it again for another 30 days, then you do it again for another 30 days.

You will have such a grasp of the theology that he presents here. The gospel of John itself will be illuminated to you all the more. And here you have that even within these first four verses, suggestions into some of the deep theology that we see concerning Christ in the gospel of John, even the prayer, the high priestly prayer that Jesus prays in John chapter 17.

Glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. Excuse me. And here even John says the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the father and was made manifest to us.

And of course, that is in reference to the ministry of Jesus Christ, that which we have heard, we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ, because as Jesus talked about in John chapter six, no one can come to me unless the father draws him and I will raise him up on the last day.

And it is the son who also reveals to us the father. So we have fellowship with the father and with the son, all those who are in Christ Jesus. And then John says in verse four, and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

Now, I talked about this yesterday, but one of the things that I didn't mention is that your translation may say and we are writing these things so that your joy may be complete. Or perhaps you have it written in your footnotes that it could be either your or our and biblical scholars have combed over these texts and tried to come to a consensus as to whether this should be read as your or our.

And nobody can come to an agreement or come to an absolute conclusion as to how this should be read. But it really doesn't matter. It doesn't make any difference whether we are reading verse four as our joy may be complete or your joy may be complete.

As a pastor, whenever I am preaching from the word of God, which is the only way to preach, by the way, whenever I am preaching to my congregation, I am doing it with two objectives that your joy may be complete and that my joy may be complete.

And all of this, of course, is to the glory of God. That is that is not to dismiss that objective at all, but it is for your joy and it is for my joy. It is for your joy so that you may be built up in the body of Christ to maturity, clinging fast to the head who is Christ Jesus, from whom the whole body knit and joined together grows with a growth that is from God.

Paul talking about this in Ephesians chapter four, verses 11 through 16. So that's your joy may be complete. I teach this for your joy so that you grow in maturity in Christ Jesus to the to the knowledge of the glory of God.

I also do this for my joy, because as you grow in maturity, so it is building up the entire body of which I am a part. And so, therefore, I also benefit by your maturity. And so as you rejoice all the more in Christ because of a gospel that was proclaimed by me, according to the teaching of the word of God, then I also rejoice with you as your joy grows all the more.

Makes sense. OK, so so my preaching is both for your joy and it is for my joy. Therefore, it is so that our joy may be complete. And this is all to the glory of God. So so one way or the other, our joy is is being complete.

Whether I am preaching for your joy or for my joy, it is our rejoicing all the more in God, our Savior, who saved us. And we know of this salvation because of the gospel of Jesus Christ that was delivered to us through the prophets and the apostles.

And again, this comes back to Ephesians four. And I keep repeating this over and over again. I'm just going to read it. Ephesians 4 11. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped. When each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

And Paul had said to the Ephesians that he was he was writing for their joy and also that he was rejoicing and hearing about the maturity and the growth that was happening in the Ephesian church. So the same is true for the apostle Paul.

He is writing to them for their joy and so that his joy may be complete. We see Paul make that statement several times also to the Philippians. And so the same application can be made for 1 John 1, 4.

We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. We are writing these things so that your joy may be complete. Either way, we are all rejoicing together as the body of Christ, watching the body grow in maturity, grow in number as members are being added to turning from sin and rejoicing in the declaration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

All of these things only happen through the proclamation of God's word. Those who turn from sin and darkness into life and the light of Christ and those who grow all the more in maturity and their understanding of God and his son, Jesus Christ.

These things happen through the proclamation of God's word. We are saved and we grow in that salvation by the word of God. So let us remain committed all the more to the testimony of this word and fall under the submission, fall in submission under the authority of the apostles who delivered to us this word.

That's what it means in Ephesians 4, 11, when it says that God gave the the apostles and the prophets. The prophets are the ones who wrote the Old Testament. The apostles are the ones who wrote the New Testament.

So we as the church are still under their authority even today. Paul said previously in Ephesians chapter 2 that it is on the foundation of the apostles that Christ built his church on a foundation of the of the prophets and the apostles.

What the prophets proclaimed was going to happen and then Jesus fulfilled and then continued to to teach his commands through the apostles themselves who spoke the very word of God. So we as the church are still under the authority of the prophets who wrote the Old Testament and the apostles who wrote the New Testament because what they spoke was the very word of God, the Bible, which is our authority.

And the whole church is to be submissive to that. So as we listen to the proclamation of this word, let us grow all the more in our knowledge of God. And you are committed to that word when you listen to programs like this.

And it doesn't mean that that I'm the only boat floating out there that is that is testifying the true word of God. There are many Bible programs out there that do just what I am doing, that read the word of God and give you the expositional teaching of God's word, expository preaching.

I am thankful that you've chosen this program and that you've chosen to be with me every day as we continue to study the word of God and come to know it more. I am grateful for that because there are a lot of good programs out there, but I'm grateful that you have selected this one.

So this is as far as we're going to go in our study of 1st John for this week. Tomorrow we resume our Old Testament study in 2nd Samuel, and then we'll respond to questions from listeners on Friday. So continue to join with me as we study these things together.

Let's have a quick word of prayer. Our great God, we thank you so much for the salvation that has been given to us in Christ, for your Holy Spirit that has come into us and has given us a mind to be able to understand and discern what it is that's being spoken to us by the word of God.

May we remain faithful to this and submissive to the authority that is being proclaimed through the Bible, your Holy Word. In the name of Christ we pray.

Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.