Thanks for listening to the latest message from Him We Proclaim. In this encouraging series, Pastor John walks us through the resurrection of Jesus, the reality of eternal life. The grace of baptism, and the unshakable assurance believers have in Christ. I hope you have your copy of Scriptures along. We'll be looking at passages like 1 Corinthians, Luke, 1 John, and more.
To get gospel-centered reminders of God's faithfulness, power, and grace toward His people. Whether you're seeking hope, clarity, or a deeper understanding of the gospel, these sermons are rich with biblical truth and comfort. Let's dive now into today's message called The Message of Life Part 4. All right, back at 1 John. We're going through this great book.
Verse 9, as you have your Bible, is you can just turn back there to the first chapter. First five verses. What? What did the apostles preach? What was the content of their proclamation when the Holy Spirit last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday and the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles?
What did they preach? What was the common theme that they preached? This is what they preach. This is what John says they proclaim: that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Messiah.
To prove that he's the Christ Messiah, the apostles appealed to his resurrection. I'm listening to Peter. He proclaims the gospel on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came. And he has this about Jesus. He says, men of Israel, listen to these.
Words. And he proclaims Christ. He says, Jesus, the Nazarene, God raised him up again. God raised him up again. Putting an end to the agony.
Of death. Listen. Because it was impossible. possible for him to be held in its power. What a statement.
Wouldn't you like to have heard that message? We have glimpses of it here. What a powerful statement. Jesus, he said, as is the Christ. And he's the Christ because he has, God has raised him up again.
God the Father has vindicated him and his work, his completed work. And he says, This is my beloved Son, the Christ, the Messiah, and whom I'm well pleased. Therefore, he has raised him up from the dead, Peter says. Because it was impossible. For him.
Think being held In his power. What a statement. The Apostles in chapter five, verse forty-two. Luke as this, as are the apostles. Every day.
Every day. In the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching. Jesus. as the Christ. The Messiah.
Paul, Luke says in chapter 9, verse 22, the book of Acts. He says, he kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews. By proving, proving that Jesus is. Huh? The Christ.
The Messiah. You came to Corinth. Luke says that Paul devoted himself completely to the word. Listen. And he casts.
Testify to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. Jesus was. The Messiah. So the Holy Spirit comes upon the apostles. And every sermon in the book of Acts records them preaching: Jesus is the Christ.
Jesus is the Messiah. And they proved it because they said, and he has risen from the dead. That proves that he's the Messiah.
Now, here's the question. Why did they labor to prove that Jesus was the Messiah? Why is that important? What is the significance of that? Why is that good news for us today?
You see. Listen to what John says in 1 John, these opening verses. John says in verse 5 here. Look at verse 5. They labored to prove that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ.
Because it's a matter of life. And death. That's why. It's a matter of life. And death.
Look what John says, look at verse 5. This is the message that we have heard. That goes back to verse 1. Where do they hear this? In his post-resurrection appearances.
Look what he says, what was from the beginning. We have heard. When Jesus came back from the dead, we with our ears, we Heard him. He wasn't a ghost. He was flesh and blood back from the dead, and we heard his voice.
And John says, This is the message that we have heard from him and announced to you, proclaimed to you, preached to you. What? Here it is. He says that God is light. And in him, there's no darkness at all, none, no darkness.
Now John is simply giving us Here in verse 5, a summary. of verses one to three. All right. And John says that the apostles were eyewitnesses of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances. What was from the beginning?
What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, we saw him. when he came back from the dead, These are eyewitness testimonies. What? What we haven't looked at, that's like a person who gets very close to somebody and scrutinizes them carefully. We scrutinized him.
We examined him. And he says, we have... Touched him. We touched him. Jesus says, Thomas, look at my hands.
Touch and see, it's me, it's real, it's Jesus. Back from the dead. And John says, this is. The message at life. Look what he says here.
Verse 1, this is the message of life. That we have heard with our ears, that we have seen with our eyes, that we have carefully scrutinized, that we have touched with our hands. This is life. Jesus. The resurrected incarnate Christ.
This is the announcement. This is a message we proclaim to you. Verse 5, John provides the summary of this message of life, and he expresses it with slightly different. Language. But he says, God is, listen, light.
And in him, there's no darkness at all.
So, what is John saying when he says God is light? And there's no darkness. What is he saying? Listen carefully. If you go back to John's gospel, I want you to flip back with me here in a minute.
to John's Gospel. But light and darkness are simple metaphors for life and death. In the first chapter. Of his gospel, verse 4, the Gospel of John, John describes Jesus as this. He says, in him was life.
And the life was the light. Of men. Belief in Jesus as the Christ, John says in chapter 12, verse 46. It's belief in him, it's trust in him, receiving and resting in him. John says it moves a person from darkness, death, to enlighten life.
I have come, Jesus, as light. I have come as light. I have come as life. I have come as life. Into this moral so that it everyone who who believes in me will not remain Darkness.
Death. This is why John and the Apostles labored to prove that Jesus is a resurrected and incarnate Christ. Why? Because he's alive and he's come to give life and to remove people from death. But if he's not the Christ He can do these things.
He can give life. He can't save people from death. But this incredible statement that John makes. He says, God isn't light and there's no darkness at all. Who is he talking about?
He's talking about verses 1 to 3, Jesus. The incarnate risen Christ. Christ. He's saying that Jesus is alive. He's not death.
There's no death in God. There's no death in Jesus. There's only life in him. John is telling us, he says, Jesus is alive. He's resurrected and he's the life giver.
He is light. God is light. Jesus is God. Jesus is light. Jesus is life.
He is a life giver. He is alive. John says, We have seen him alive. And because he's risen from the dead, he gives life to those who trust in him. He takes you from death to life, from light, from darkness to light.
This is good news. This is why Jesus. Peter proclaims that Jesus on the day of Pentecost is the Christ. Why? He says, God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death.
Why? Because it's impossible for him to be held in his power. Here's the question that this begs to be answered. Why is it impossible for Jesus not to be held in the power of death. Why is that impossible?
John says, Because God, because Jesus is light, because He is life. There's no death in him at all. There's no darkness in him at all. There is no death in God. You see, there's just life in him.
And because Jesus is God, John says. Hindo. Life is not death. Jesus reveals to us, John says, this is the message that we have heard from him and that we announce and we proclaim to you. Jesus is alive and he is a life giver.
That's good news, isn't it? But listen, if he's not the Christ, if he's not. The Messiah. He's not that, and he can't give that, you see. But John says it's his resurrection that proves that he is the Christ.
And because he's a Christ, he's God. And because he's God, he has life, he doesn't have death. There's no death. In Jesus. Do you see?
Wow, that's just incredibly good news.
Now, recall this: John, what's the context in this book? John writing to assure his little children of their salvation that they have. Life in Jesus. because they had this Dramatic split that took place in these churches, the fellowship of the churches. All right, and some former church members in these churches, a group of Jews.
Said that Jesus is not the Christ. That's John chapter 2, verse 22. They denied that Jesus, that his identity is the Christ, is the Messiah. And because of this dramatic split that occurred, John's children, he calls them his children, his little children, a term of endearment. They hadn't lost their assurance.
Maybe Jesus is not the Christ. And if he's not the Christ, maybe we don't have life. Maybe we're still in death. And John begins. The very beginning of this letter to assure his little children who have trust in Jesus, who is the resurrected incarnate Christ.
Jesus, little children, be comforted. Jesus isn't light and life. There's no darkness in him. He has delivered you. You have life in his name.
That's what he's telling them. He's comforting them. He's assuring them. Because John chapter 8, verse 12, Jesus says, Listen to this, he says, I am the light. I am the life.
He who follows me will not walk in darkness, death. But will have the light Uh life. And John is assuring his little children that they have. Eternal life because Jesus is the Christ. He is the Messiah.
1 John chapter 5, verses 11 through 13. The testimony is this. that God has given us eternal life. Listen, and this life is in his son. He who has the son has has the life.
And John says, These things I have written to you, who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know, have assurance, be confident. that you have Eternal life. This is Jesus Christ, his Son, the true God, and eternal life. You see, so in contrast, those who reject Jesus as the Christ, these church members. Left the fellowship.
Because Jesus is not the Christ. John says in 1 John verse 11, because they reject Jesus as the Christ, he hasn't. They're in darkness, death. And he says, and they walk in darkness. They will live in death.
What a statement. What a statement. So here's a question. Life and death. All right, how are we supposed to understand the nature of life and death.
What is John talking about? Look back at verse 3 of 1 John. John says, 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. John in verse 3 is.
is describing life. In verse 5, he says, God is light. God is life. What kind of life does he give? What kind of life does Jesus give?
John says in verse 3, he gives. Fellowship. He gives fellowship with each other in the church, and he gives fellowship with the triune God. This is Trinity Sunday. We confess our faith in the triune God.
We'll confess the Athanasian Creed today instead of the Nicene Creed. The Athanasian Creed is huge, but you don't like it. But but but John says What is this life? Life is this. It's coming into fellowship with the triune God, the Father.
with his Son Jesus Christ. That's life. What's the opposite of that? Not having that, that's death. Oh, as I have pointed out.
This life, this fellowship with each other, this fellowship with the triune God. What is this? And I've showed you this before. It's the reversal of Eden. Where fellowship with God and fellowship with each other was lost.
Coming back to the book of Genesis, I want you to see this. You have to see this. Because this is what John is talking about. He's thinking about Genesis here. Genesis chapter 2.
Look at Genesis chapter 2. Look at verses 16 and 17. Because man rebelled against God. Right. This life that God had created us to experience, this.
fellowship with each other, this fellowship with God himself. McCarthy's. Because man fell, life was lost. And death. entered into God's good creation.
God warned Adam and Eve that this would happen. If they broke his commandment. Look at Genesis 2:16 through 17. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, From any tree of the garden, you may eat freely. But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat.
More Listen. and the day that you eat from it. Mm-hmm. Charlie. Die.
Look at Genesis chapter 3, verses 2 and 4. The serpent picks up on this, the devil, right? And he twists God's words. Verse 2. In verse 2 it says, The woman said to the serpent, From the fruit of the trees in our garden of Eden, we may eat.
But from the fruit. Of the tree, which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat. You should not eat from it. or touch it. Or you will die.
And the servant said, woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day that you'll eat from it, your eyes will be opened. And you will be like God, knowing good and evil. And so the the the question that the story raises for us is this, how are we to understand death? God told Adam and Eve In the day that you eat from this tree, you shall surely die.
The serpent picks up on it, he denies it. The woman repeats it. But this story forces us to ask: what does God mean by dying? Because God, you just heard Genesis chapter 2, He promised Adam and Eve that if they break His commandment, What happens? Tragically, they'll die.
And tragically, they broke the commandment. And they died, but here's the thing about the story. I don't know if you picked up on it. It's just glaring for an answer. They broke God's law.
And they died. But they continue to live. They were dead while living. You see that? And so clearly the scriptures teach us that death doesn't just include the cessation of physical life.
It does include that. We'll get to that. But it's More than that. Adam and Eve were still alive. But they died.
They were dead while Alive.
So how how We understand death. Look at Genesis 3, verses 14 through 19. God pronounces a series of curses. And listen carefully. When God pronounces curses, judgment, That describes what it's like to be dead.
That's death. Genesis chapter 3. The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, Cursed are you. That's death. That's death.
Then, verse 17, he says to Adam. Cursed. Is the ground because of you? That's death. And so God begins to pronounce all these curses upon the serpent.
Up on Eve and upon Adam.
So, to receive the judgment of God is to be. brought into a state of death. In addition, the text shows us in Genesis chapter 3 that the consequences that follow the fall depict the state of death. But before the fall, Genesis 1 and 2, what did man experience? Listen carefully.
He experienced life. Not just physical in life. Fellowship with God. fellowship with each other. Adam and Eve had a perfect marriage.
Just like me and Cathy. And it's because of me. You know that's a lie. Um They had a perfect marriage. They had a perfect world.
They had perfect fellowship with God because the... Moses tells us that That after they had sinned, God came walking to them in the cool of the day, you can just think about, wow, the day before, it was just nice and cool. Like yesterday was so hot, right? I was hot the entire day. We had this CrossFit workout with Victoria and all her friends.
And I could not cool down the whole day. I tried and tried and I went to take a shower. I took two showers after my workout, but the water in Florida doesn't get cold. It's just warm. And so that didn't help.
But but God, look at this, before the fall, he came walking to Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. You can just think of a perfect world. Perfect environment. Perfect fellowship. Everybody's happy.
There's confidence, there's joy, there's blessing, there's bliss, there's perfection. Right. God comes walking to them in the cool today, but something has changed. This life was characterized by love and intimacy and trust and assurance and peace and. Look at this, wholeness.
There was a wholeness to the individual. There was a wholeness to creation. And tragically, after man's fall. Life. East of Eden, because Adam and Eve were kicked out of paradise east of Eden, right?
I'm not Ivy. East of Eden is characterized by curse, death. And though they continue to live physically. They're in a state of death. Paradise and life is turned into hell, death.
Fellowship with God. Look at Genesis chapter 3, verses 7 through 10. You have to see this to understand 1 John, because this is exactly what John's talking about. Because in the third chapter of 1 John, John actually goes back to Genesis more and he talks about the story of Cain and Abel. He has this in his mind.
Genesis chapter 3, verses 7 through 10. It's as then the eyes of both of them were open and they knew that they were naked, fully exposed to God in their guilt and sin, nowhere to hide in their shame. Nothing to cover them before God. And he says there's other things. signaled these together made themselves moin covering self-justification the first act of self-justification in the Bible man trying by his actions to make himself right with his creator And it's not good enough.
Verse 8: They heard the sound, Lord God, walking in the garden in the cool of the day. There it is. They heard the sound, da-da-da-da-da-da. And word sound is is word. They heard the word on the Lord.
The man and his wife, when they heard God's own word, when they heard his voice. Listen carefully, hid themselves from the presence of the Lord. Got hard up. Among the trees of the garden, they're hiding behind trees in fear of God. Then more God called Called a man and said to him, Where are you, Adam?
Where are you in relationship to me that you've broken my commandment? How do you stand before me? fully exposed to me. And Adam said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid. Because I was naked, I was fully exposed to my guilt, so I hid myself.
Fellowship with God has been replaced with fear of God. Twice the text said talks about fear. Fear is a Powerful. powerful consequence of a fall. And it's crippling to people.
It's a horrible emotion. It's not to be experienced. God did not design people, creation, his people to be afraid of him. In fellowship with God the day before was sweet. Fellowship that next day.
If fear The blessing of God comes now the curse of God. Peace with God, the judgment of God. Assurance of God's favor with doubt. in anxiety Confidence with God isn't now despair. They're hiding in fear.
That's death. That is death. In addition, fellowship with these others replaced with blame. Hatred. murder and physical death.
Look at Genesis chapter 3, verses 11 through 13. And God said, who told you that you were naked? Who told you that you were exposed before me? You see, if you don't have sin, you can stand before God without fear because there's nothing to be exposed. You see that?
Who told you that you were exposed before me? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?
Now, here it comes. Here comes the Maling game right here. First, first. downfall of the marriage. A perfect marriage becomes a blatant game.
What does Adam say? The man said, the woman whom you gave me. What? She gave it to me from the tree of life, and I ate it. It's her fault.
Boyn. Blame shifting, not taking responsibility. Adam blames his wife. And then, look at this, verse 13. God says, okay.
The Lord God said to the woman, What is this that you have done? Why does she do it? She plays the blame game. She says, the serpent deceived me and I ate. Adam claims his wife.
Eve blames the serpent the devil. Listen carefully. What are Adam and Eve? And what is the serpent? What is the devil?
Creations of God. Who are they ultimately blaming? God. Adam Sane. It's this woman that you gave me.
You see, he's blaming God. He's saying it's the serpent that you created, God. It's. Your fault. Fellowship with God, fellowship with each other.
They're playing the blame game. Genesis chapter 4. What happens to family relationships? What happens to families? It becomes a Jerry Springer show on steroids.
Cain hates his brother Abel so much, he. murders him. Genesis chapter 4. That's death, literally. Genesis chapter 5, as I showed you a couple of weeks ago, Genesis chapter 5, and the most.
tragic chapters in all the Bible. The the repeated phrase And he died and he died and he died and he died and he died. Physical death enters into God's good creation. None of this was supposed to be a part of creation. None of it.
Genesis 1 and 2 is the blueprint. Genesis 1 and 2 is the good creation, the very good creation, God calls it, that He designed for us to experience and to live in. But this mode of existence after the fall is now death. And s life and death are Are broader than just the continuation or cessation of vital size. Death includes, his mode of existence includes.
physical consequences.
Social consequences, relational consequences, that's death. If you want to see a perfect example of death, just turn on cable news. And if that does not make you feel negative and gross and depressed, It should because it's just nothing but negative, negative, negative, negative, negative. It's death. The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 5, he describes the humanity apart from Christ as dead while living.
He says, You are dead in your trespasses and sins. Verse 5, he goes, we were dead in our transgressions. We were alive, but dead. Chapter 2, verse 5 of Ephesians, he says, Those who trust in Christ, he says, when we're dead in our transgressions, God made us alive together. with Christ.
By grace. You have been flaved.
So coming back to first john back to first john as we finish. John is assuring his little children, he's assuring us today. That through faith through faith in Jesus, who is the incarnate resurrected Christ Messiah. Death In its totality, Physical.
social and relational consequences has been defeated forever. You see, that's what he's saying. And life. Eden is back again. Genesis one and two, what God intended for the goal of creation.
is now inaugurated in the resurrection of Jesus, who through his resurrection has set into motion the powers of the age to come. And though now we live in this age of death, this world that is passing away, this world that is filled with hatred, murder, disease, death, dying, decay, all of this. John says, We have been given life through Jesus and we have overcome. And he says in chapter 2 that you have overcome the world that is passing away. We have overcome.
That's good news.
So on this Trinity Sunday, we ask this question as we finish. Who is God? Who is God? Listen to John's answer. God The resurrected incarnate Christ Christ Jesus.
God He is light. He is life. And in him, there's no darkness, there's no death at all. Why is it gone? life.
Why is there no death in God? You ever thought about that? It's because God is a Trinity. That's why. The triene God's mode of existence, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
is life, not death. He hasn't lived forever. Self-satisfied within himself as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. who is just experiencing a life. There's no death in God.
And because God is lied life, He gives life through His resurrected Son. John says, he brings us into fellowship with each other. He brings us into fellowship with the triune God. He reverses the curse of Eden. And also, who is God?
God, because He's a Trinity, is not just life. But because who is God? Because God is a trinity, God isn't love. First chapter four, verses eight through sixteen, God is love. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us, God is love.
God is life. God is love. And because God is life. Because God is love, because he is life, he wants to pour that life of love into you. New thing.
John says, We've come to know and have believed the love that God has for us. What is this love that God has for us? 1 John chapter 4 verses 9 and 10. By this, the love of God was manifested among us, that God the Father has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live. Through him.
He's saying. And this is, and this is love. Not that we haven't loved God. But that he loved us. And sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
He has exhausted his curses, his wrath, his judgment against us forever because Jesus took it upon himself for us on the cross. And John says, We've come to know this love. Jesus manifests God the Father's love to us. We have seen the Father's love. We have heard the Father's love.
We have scrutinized the Father's love. The Father's love, and we bear witnesses, eyewitnesses, that we have seen Him and He's alive, and He wants to give you life. Because he loves you. And he gives you this life through his resurrected son. First on chapter three, verse one.
See? How great a love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God, and such we are. You've seen through faith in the resurrected Christ Messiah. The Father has called us rebels. Us rebels in the garden.
Who have broken his law. He's called us back into fellowship with himself and made us his children. He's made rebels his family, his inheritance. Uh oh. As we finish, at the end of the day.
what all of us desire Puero. All of us had this faint. Fought. Constantly In the back of my mind is this. We want fellowship.
We want life. We want connection with each other. and with God himself. That's what Augustine said. Are restless until they find their rest.
Mm-hmm. Something in all of us longs to go home. That's why when I take my trips to Ireland, And I come back home and my kids say, I just want you to come home, Daddy. When I hear that, I come home, we missed you, Daddy. When I come home.
I stopped. live. And that's what we want. We want life. We want at the end of the day, none of us like to be rejected.
None of us like to be left out. None of us like to be the school kid who gets picked last on the football team. Right. We want to be loved and accepted. We want life.
We want to be delivered from death. What? Life east of Eden. And John says, This is the message. We have heard from him.
The resurrected Messiah. And we uh declare to you God, Jesus, the resurrected incarnate Messiah. His life. And in him there is no death, there's no darkness. And John says, This message of life.
Through faith in Jesus. restores you back, it reverses Eden. And the curse, again, the curse is removed. Once again, blessing is brought. Isn't that beautiful?
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this wonderful, incredible gift, and so help us to have the assurance that. We have life through faith in Christ here today. Comfort our hearts as we go out in this world of death and experience life east of Eden. Comfort our hearts.
Quite at our hearts. Help us to trust in Jesus. The resurrected life giver. And we thank you for this life. In Jesus' name, we pray.
Amen. John Fawnville sends his thanks for listening today. And before we wrap up, can I tell you about an encouraging book you might want to get soon? It's called Hope and Holiness: How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity. You're not alone if you've tried to conquer sexual temptations and tried all the methods available, only to find yourself feeling defeated again.
This book may be just what you're looking for. With his shepherding heart, John shows that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God's provision for the power to live a life of sexual purity. and it's available to every Christian. What I like is the book is available in three convenient ways. paperback, audiobook, or Kindle.
The links are in our podcast descriptions, or just search for Hope and Holiness by John Fawnville on Amazon. to get a copy for you and it's a wonderful book to go through with a small group. Him We Proclaim is a ministry of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida. You can find us at paramountchurch.com. We'll talk again soon.
