Sunday, June 1, 2025 AM
Mike Teel, Pastor
AUTHENTIC FAITH: Is It Real?
FOCAL PASSAGE
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete. —I John 1:1-4
ABOUT THE
1. WHO WAS JOHN?
—Among the Apostles chosen by Jesus were two pairs of bothers – Simon and Andrew, James and John.
—They had been in the fishing business together, with the city of Capernaum as headquarters.
—Three of these men, Simon Peter, James and John, were closer to Jesus than the other apostles.
—John survived (unlike many of the martyred disciples) until an old age and resided at Ephesus.
2. JOHN’S
—The order in which he wrote possibly was… Revelation, the Gospel of John and the three epistles of John.
—The First Epistle, therefore, probably was one of the last book of our New Testament (Written around 90 to 95 AD).
—I John was likely written to a circle of churches which were also addressed in the book of Revelation.
—The occasion for its writing was the rise of a dangerous heresy later known as “Gnosticism.”
—They argued that God could have no direct contact with matter. Hence, they argued that God and man could not have been actually united in Jesus Christ.
—We will see throughout our study; John insisted in the Gospel that “the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14) and this contradicts the denial that Christ was fully divine and fully human.
3. THE
OF FIRST JOHN
—In the letter of I John, John gives several keys as to why the book was written in addition to countering Gnostics.
—One reason is to promote Authentic / Real Joy:
I John 1:4… We write this to make our joy complete.
—Reason two, he writes to give us Authentic / Real Victory:
I John 2:1… My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
—Reason three is to provide Authentic / Real Protection:
I John 2:26… I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.
—Final reason is to provide Authentic / Real Assurance
JESUS IS THE CHRIST OF
—People everywhere are searching for what is real and what is authentic.
—There are too many “knock offs” today. Things that appear to be the authentic thing but are not.
—The book of I John says Jesus is the Real / Authentic thing.
1. THE
REALITY OF JESUS
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.
—I John 1:1-2
—John points out that Jesus Christ is real eternally.
—Jesus has always existed! He is as infinite as God.
—Only a Real / Authentic God is truly eternal.
2. THE
REALITY OF JESUS
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. —I John 1:1-2
—This is not a secondhand account! John had walked with Jesus, sat with Jesus, talked with Jesus, lived with Jesus, and touched Jesus.
—He was not some mystical, ghost-like being, but human, like us who ate, tired, slept, cried, mourned and felt pain!
—This Jesus is not imaginary. Our hands have handled Him.
3. THE
REALITY OF JESUS
—John says I want you to know He was personally real…I John 1:2
—John had a personal relationship with Jesus. For 3 to 31/2 years John absorbed His teachings, watching sight returned, hearing restored, life returned.
—We too can have that personal relationship with Jesus. In fact, that is the very reason He left heaven and came to take on the veil of flesh to live as one of us and defeat sin, to fulfill the law and forgive us our sins.
JESUS IS THE CHRIST OF
3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. —I John 1:3
—John continues to stress the importance of relationships.
—He is saying coming to know Christ brings you into fellowship.
—The word fellowship occurs two times in this verse. Fellowship is a very special word – it is a Greek word that really means to have something in common; it means to partake of something together.
—But for the Christian it means to have the things of Jesus Christ in common.
—It means to enjoy Christ together; to be one in the Lord Jesus Christ with other believers (first test of assurance).
—But there is also a vertical aspect of fellowship.
—It is overwhelming! He is saying that we, little, teeny, insignificant creatures that we are, have eternal fellowship with God the Father. What a Savior!
JESUS IS THE CHRIST OF
1 We write this to make our joy complete. —I John 1:4
—We live in world of “Joy Robbers.” Satan will use anything He can to rob us of the joy God intends for us to experience.
—John is writing to these who have been listening to the “Joy Robbers” called the Gnostics who were saying God did not appear in the flesh in the form of Jesus Christ. And if He did not then our sins are not forgiven because the law has not been fulfilled, and we are all still in our sins… we are therefore left to working our way into heaven, which we know is impossible.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. —Ephesians 2:8-9
—The second test of security is, do you have joy today? Not happiness but joy.
LIVE IT OUT
Is Jesus Christ real (authentic) to you?
Do you know Him eternally, historically and most of all personally?
Are you in fellowship with Jesus today?
Do you have joy in your life?