0:04 I read the word of God from the first
0:06 Epistle of
0:08 John chapter
0:17 verses that which was from the
0:19 beginning which we have heard which we
0:22 have seen with our
0:24 eyes which we have looked
0:28 upon and our hands have handled of the
0:30 word of life
0:34 for the life was manifested and we have
0:38 seen it and bear witness and show unto
0:42 you that eternal life which was with the
0:45 father and was manifested unto
0:49 us that which we have seen and heard
0:51 declare we unto
0:54 you that ye Also may have fellowship
0:58 with us and truly our fellowship is with
1:02 the father and with his son Jesus
1:07 Christ and these things write we unto
1:09 you that your
1:12 joy may be
1:16 full may God help us to see in
1:26 life a friend of mine used to say to
1:31 me each time the Christmas season would
1:33 arrive why does Christmas have to come
1:41 crowded and yet it's good to know that
1:43 something that happened 2,000 years ago
1:47 can still create traffic jams in
1:50 Chicago but if a visitor from outer
1:52 space were to come to Chicago during this
1:54 this
1:57 season Park his Flying Saucer out in
2:00 Grant Park somewhere
2:07 on I wonder if he'd know what it's all
2:10 about in fact I wonder if the people who
2:14 are pushing and shoving and
2:19 striving and driving know what it's all
2:21 about there are many people who just
2:24 don't understand what this Christmas
2:26 season really means they have a
2:28 Sentimental view of
2:31 it and they sh a few tears over a poor
2:35 little couple that had a little baby
2:39 and they were
2:41 rejected it might be good for us to go
2:43 back to those who were
2:46 there let's go back to the Apostle John
2:49 who knew Jesus let's go back to the
2:52 first Epistle of John which was
2:55 written by the apostle that we might
2:58 know Jesus Christ personally and be sure
3:01 of our salvation
3:03 because several times in this little
3:07 letter the Apostle John uses a very
3:10 important word it's the word
3:13 manifested in chapter 1 of 1 John verse
3:17 2 he says that when Jesus came the life was
3:19 was
3:21 manifested you turn the page over to
3:25 chapter 3 and verse five and ye know
3:28 that he was manifested to take away our sins
3:30 sins
3:33 and so forgiveness was
3:36 manifested in chapter 3 and verse 8 for
3:38 this purpose the Son of God was
3:41 manifested that he might destroy the
3:44 works of the devil and so victory was
3:47 manifested over chapter 4 and verse
3:51 9 in this was manifested the love of God
3:54 toward us that God sent his only
3:56 begotten son into the world that we
3:59 might live through him love was
4:02 manifested this is what it's all
4:04 about now the first of these
4:06 manifestations is
4:11 life and we read from 1 John 1:
4:14 1-4 and the key word in this section is
4:15 the word
4:19 life the word of life the life was
4:22 manifested we show unto you that eternal
4:25 life John is talking here about the
4:28 manifestation of Life he's talking here
4:32 about the experience erience of eternal
4:36 life now each one here today and those
4:38 listening in our radio
4:40 congregation have experienced physical
4:42 life otherwise you wouldn't be
4:45 here but John is talking about something
4:47 much more wonderful much
4:50 deeper much more thrilling much more
4:52 exciting he's talking about the
4:55 manifestation of God's
4:58 life he's talking about an experience
5:00 that you and I can have that
5:02 that
5:05 transcends anything we've ever had
5:07 before he's talking about an experience
5:10 that takes everything that's natural and
5:13 makes it Supernatural everything that is
5:16 of our first birth and transforms it by
5:18 a second
5:22 birth and he tells us in these four
5:24 verses that this
5:27 experience of
5:30 life has four stages in
5:34 it and I'm wondering today at what stage you
5:36 you
5:41 are stage number one the life was needed
5:43 otherwise he never would have come stage
5:46 number two the life was
5:49 manifested stage number three the life
5:53 was received stage number four the life
5:55 was shared with
5:58 others those are the four stages of this
6:00 experience of life that John writes
6:04 about in 1 John chapter 1 the first four
6:07 verses let's take these stages one by
6:10 one and find out where we are stage
6:13 number one the life was
6:17 needed Jesus Christ came into this world
6:19 because there was a
6:23 need it cost him too much to come for
6:27 any other purpose now what was that need
6:30 John does not describe it in detail but
6:32 Matthew does if you go back to the
6:35 gospel of Matthew in chapter
6:38 4 and verse
6:43 16 this Jewish writer Levi Matthew the
6:47 Publican reaches back into Isaiah
6:50 chapter 9 and he takes an ancient Old
6:53 Testament prophecy and he says this
6:58 tells us what the need was when Jesus
7:00 came Matthew chapter
7:03 4 and verse
7:08 16 the people who sat in darkness saw a great
7:09 great
7:13 light and to them who sat in the region
7:19 and shadow of death light is sprung
7:24 up the life was needed for three reasons number
7:25 number
7:30 one there was Darkness
7:31 he's talking about people sitting in
7:35 darkness now in the Bible Darkness never
7:38 means just the absence of
7:41 light when the Great city of New York
7:45 City was plunged Into Darkness again
7:48 that was simply the absence of light but
7:53 in the Bible Darkness stands for a
7:58 realm Darkness stands for a reality a
8:00 spiritual reality the darkness in the
8:08 light when God sent those plagues down
8:11 upon the land of Egypt in moses' day the
8:15 darkness was so thick you could feel it
8:19 three days of darkness upon that land a
8:22 darkness that you breathed a darkness
8:25 that pushed against you it was something
8:27 like trying to swim through Jello it was
8:30 real it was oppress Ive it created
8:33 anxiety and fear and that was the
8:35 condition when Jesus came the world was in
8:42 darkness now darkness in the Bible is a
8:44 picture of sin God is light and in him
8:46 is no Darkness at all darkness is a
8:49 picture of hatred he that loves not his
8:52 brother walks in Darkness Darkness is a
8:54 picture of Satan he's the Prince of
8:57 Darkness Darkness is the picture of hell
8:59 hell is outer darkness and there was
9:03 Darkness this world was enveloped by an
9:06 atmosphere of Darkness satanic Darkness sinful
9:07 sinful
9:10 darkness and people were sitting in
9:15 darkness and then Jesus came to manifest God's
9:16 God's
9:19 life now there is a certain amount of
9:21 life in darkness I recall when we were
9:23 in Mammoth
9:26 Cave and we go down down down and they
9:28 show you these pools and they turn the
9:31 lights off and it's so dark you just
9:34 can't grasp it and the guide said there
9:36 there are forms of life that can live in
9:38 darkness but none of us wants to be one
9:40 of those
9:44 forms none of us wants to be a fungus on
9:47 a cave side none of us wants to be a
9:50 blind fish swimming through cold cave
9:53 Waters we want something more than that
9:56 and when Jesus came he revealed the life
9:58 because the life was needed people were
10:00 in darkness
10:03 and people were in death notice that the
10:06 people who sat in darkness saw a great
10:08 light and to them who sat in the region
10:11 in the shadow of death you see people
10:14 have always been afraid of death and
10:17 rightly so a fear of death is not a
10:20 wrong motive you drive on the right side
10:22 of the street I trust because you're
10:24 afraid to die and you don't want to kill
10:26 anybody else who doesn't want to die
10:28 when I say afraid to die I don't mean
10:30 we're afraid of the experience of death
10:33 we as Christians realize that death for
10:36 us is just the door into the presence of
10:38 God but each one of us does everything
10:42 he can to stay alive we take medicine we
10:44 go to the doctor we're careful about the
10:46 way we do things to stay alive the fear
10:50 of death is not a wrong
10:52 motive but when Jesus came to this earth
10:57 the world was sitting in the shadow of
11:00 death in the confinement of death the
11:04 fear of death had driven men down and
11:07 Satan had taken the fear of death not as
11:10 a tool to build with but as a weapon to
11:13 fight with and he beat people with it
11:15 and people worshiped Satan and people
11:20 turn to all kinds of dirty foul ugly
11:24 sewage to forget the fear of
11:26 death when you read what the world was
11:29 like when Jesus came
11:31 you see our world
11:35 today back in our Lord's day all of the
11:38 great ideas were falling apart the great
11:40 institutions were falling apart there
11:43 had been an invasion of Eastern
11:46 religions and Cults
11:48 mysticism the
11:51 occult and our lord Jesus came because
11:53 life was needed people were sitting in
11:56 darkness and people were sitting in
11:59 death and people were sitting in despair
12:02 and defeat you see Isaiah doesn't use
12:05 the word sat when you read Isaiah's
12:08 prophecy it says the people who walked
12:11 in darkness Matthew says the people who
12:14 sat in darkness what had happened in the
12:19 700 years from Isaiah to Jesus people
12:21 had given
12:24 up they sat down and they said we're in
12:27 total despair there's no hope wherever
12:30 we look there's Darkness wherever we go
12:32 there's death
12:36 despair the life was needed now let me
12:39 say this to you personally do you need
12:42 this life do I speak to someone who says
12:45 I'm in darkness I haven't a single clue
12:48 about things spiritual my mind is dark
12:50 and my heart is dark and I live in the
12:54 dark and I need some life and some
12:56 light that's why Jesus
12:59 came someone is in despair
13:01 and disappointment and you're ready to
13:05 quit someone is worried about death I
13:08 say to you the life was
13:12 needed the second stage praise God the
13:14 life was
13:17 manifested notice the word that he uses
13:25 manufactured the life was manifested
13:29 this word manifest means to reveal that
13:31 which has been
13:34 hidden this word is used of the Sun in
13:38 Greek writings it's dark
13:42 cold and out there somewhere is the Sun
13:45 and then our world gets into the right
13:49 position and the Sun appears now the
13:52 morning does not invent the Sun the dawn
13:55 does not manufacture the Sun the dawn
13:58 reveals the sun when Jesus Christ came
14:01 he was was n inventing life he wasn't
14:04 manufacturing life he was revealing life
14:07 to manifest means to take the invisible
14:10 and make it visible to take the hidden
14:13 and make it open Jesus Christ didn't
14:15 come to confuse people he didn't come to
14:18 bring Darkness he came to bring
14:21 light and the life was
14:24 manifested now what what life was
14:27 manifested the life of
14:33 God you see God is Not only
14:36 light 1 John
14:40 1:5 but God is life when you get to the
14:43 very end of the first Epistle of
14:47 John he says this in verse 20 and we
14:51 know that the Son of God is come and
14:53 hath given us an understanding that we
14:57 may know him that is true and we are in
15:01 him that is true even in his son Jesus
15:06 Christ this is the true God and eternal
15:09 life now if someone comes to you with a
15:12 book and says Jesus Christ is not God
15:16 you show him 1 John 5:20 this is the
15:22 true God and eternal life God is
15:25 life and the life was
15:27 manifested now up till now this life had
15:33 God is
15:46 out of that
15:50 light which no man can approach
15:57 am the
16:00 eternal stepped into the realm of the
16:02 temporal the
16:05 unapproachable approached us now this is a
16:06 a
16:09 miracle if I were God and people treated
16:12 my world and my law the way they had
16:15 treated his world and his law I'd never
16:18 come and visit them and yet they said
16:21 the day spring from on high hath visited
16:25 us the life was manifested now if you
16:28 want to know what kind of life God wants
16:32 you to live look at Jesus
16:35 Christ not the Ten Commandments they are
16:39 good in their place look at Jesus Christ
16:42 Jesus boldly said he that has seen me
16:46 has seen the father have I been so long
16:49 time with you he said to his men and you
16:52 don't know me to look at Jesus Christ
16:56 means to see God and this is the miracle
16:58 of the whole thing the life was
17:01 manifested he stepped out of the picture
17:03 he stepped out of the heavens and he
17:06 said here let me show you what God is
17:09 like and on his lips was one word that
17:11 people would not would not believe
17:15 father father father father I have
17:24 father our lord Jesus during the years
17:26 of his ministry and his Earthly life
17:29 tried to get people to understand that
17:31 God was a loving father who would
17:37 receive they continued to make God a
17:42 religious autocrat a a dictator a tyrant
17:48 else the life was
17:50 manifested what kind of life was it well
17:52 it's eternal life that which was from the
17:54 the
17:57 beginning this eternal life we show unto
18:00 you that eternal life you see God's life
18:03 is eternal life now please don't get
18:08 confused Eternal means the life of God
18:10 doesn't just mean living forever you're
18:13 going to live forever saved or
18:16 unsaved when God created man he created
18:20 man with the kind of
18:22 spiritual nature within that's going to live
18:23 live
18:27 forever that means
18:29 Immortal and whether you're Sav sa D or
18:31 unsaved a child of God or not a child of
18:32 God a Believer or an unbeliever you're
18:34 going to live
18:37 forever either in Heaven or
18:39 Hell either in light or Darkness either
18:43 in love or Eternal hatred and
18:46 conflict he's not talking about that
18:48 he's talking about a quality of life
18:51 that is so marvelous it is God's life in
18:54 US eternal life doesn't just mean living
18:57 forever it means living forever with
19:01 God and means right now living with him
19:04 having fellowship with him the life of
19:07 God in the heart of man a miracle a
19:09 miracle of
19:11 Grace and he manifested this life and
19:14 said oh if you just come come it's
19:17 eternal life a lot of folks have the
19:20 idea Jesus came to repair our old life
19:22 he was a carpenter you
19:24 know and somebody come hobbling up and
19:26 say oh I've made a mess of my life he
19:28 said well let me repair this let me
19:31 replace that oh no salvation is not
19:32 repairing and
19:35 replacing salvation is receiving a whole
19:38 new life it's eternal life now it's not
19:41 only Eternal but it's real it's the real
19:44 thing if you'll excuse the
19:48 phrase John said we saw him he was not a
19:53 phantom a ghost a myth hallucination we
19:58 saw him we studied him we even felt him
20:01 we heard him speak now people hear
20:03 voices and there's nobody
20:07 there but it wasn't that we heard him
20:09 but more than that we saw him more than
20:11 that we scrutinized him more than that
20:14 we actually felt him this thing is real
20:16 our Lord did not come to give us some
20:19 kind of abstraction it's real it's the
20:21 kind of thing you can get your hands
20:24 on and it's
20:26 joyful these things write we unto you
20:29 that your joy may be full there was not
20:32 much joy in the world when Jesus came we
20:35 sing Joy to the World the Lord is come
20:37 there wasn't much joy all of their
20:41 religions were empty shells empty
20:45 husks everything was falling to pieces a
20:47 dark cloud of
20:51 fear was riging over society when Jesus
20:53 came and then the angel appeared and
20:56 said we bring you good tidings of great
21:00 joy it's a joyful life not an easy life
21:04 but a joyful life not a life that is um
21:06 protected from sorrow and pain but a
21:09 joyful life joy in the midst of sorrow and
21:10 and
21:13 pain it's a loving life that you may
21:16 have fellowship with us you see sin
21:19 tears everything apart sin walks into a
21:21 family and wrecks it sin walks into a
21:24 person's life and wrecks it but Jesus
21:26 Christ comes in and there's Fellowship
21:30 having in common a one he puts things
21:33 together and so the life was manifested
21:38 eternal life real life joyful life loving
21:40 loving
21:44 life the third stage is that the life was
21:51 received John said I had an experience
21:54 with Jesus Christ John could never
21:56 forget that day when
22:01 he was standing ing by the Jordan River
22:04 John the Baptist was standing there and
22:08 John the Baptist said to John and Andrew
22:11 Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away
22:12 the sin of the world and they went and
22:14 followed him he said what are you looking
22:16 looking
22:19 for they said Master where do you dwell
22:22 he said come and see and they dwelt with
22:24 him that day and their lives were
22:27 changed they got a hold of reality of Eternity
22:32 and Andrew Saidi think my brother needs
22:34 to know about this and he went and found Peter
22:35 Peter
22:39 sephus Simon brought him to
22:43 Jesus you see the life was
22:45 received they had an experience with the
22:49 Lord Jesus Christ not external but
22:52 internal not something just religious
22:55 something that got on the inside this is
22:59 why in The Gospel of John
23:02 he always links life with something
23:05 internal the Water of Life what do you
23:09 do with water you drink it the bread of
23:12 life what do you do with bread you eat
23:14 it you see the life has to get on the
23:18 inside and they receive that life in his
23:22 gospel John wrote like this he came unto
23:24 his own
23:29 world as the Creator and his own
23:31 people received him
23:35 not but as many as received him to them
23:37 gave he the privilege to become the
23:39 children of God even to them that
23:43 believe on his name to receive is to
23:46 believe to receive him inwardly and so
23:49 the life was
23:52 received now my friend have you received this
23:53 this
23:55 life that's what it's all
23:59 about in order for Jesus Christ
24:01 to give you life he had to
24:04 die in order for Jesus Christ to forgive
24:06 our sins he had to take our sins in
24:10 order for him to impart eternity he had
24:13 to go through the sufferings of
24:17 time and John says that life was
24:19 received how do we receive that life
24:22 today through the word the word tells me
24:26 about the Savior I trust the Savior I
24:29 believe his word the life is is imparted
24:32 he that heareth my word said Jesus and
24:34 believeth on him that sent me hath
24:37 everlasting life shall not come into
24:39 condemnation but has passed from Death
24:48 received the great tragedy today is this
24:50 many people know that the life is
24:54 needed and many more people know that
24:56 the life was
24:58 manifested but not many people want to
25:02 receive it they say yes Jesus did come
25:04 to reveal God's life and to give us
25:07 God's life but but what well I've never
25:09 received it
25:12 why and you can give a long list of
25:14 excuses why you've never receive the
25:17 life but you can't give me one good
25:19 reason why you shouldn't receive the
25:22 life you can talk to me about your job
25:24 and your friends and your family and
25:26 your religious background and your
25:28 problems with the Bible those are
25:32 excuses I say to you why have you not
25:35 received the life in Jesus
25:37 Christ which leads us to the fourth
25:40 stage in this marvelous experience of
25:44 eternal life the life needed
25:49 Darkness death despair the life
25:53 manifested eternal life joyful life real
25:55 life loving
25:58 life the life received like bread like
26:00 like
26:05 water the life shared with others that
26:10 which we have seen and heard declare we
26:13 unto you why that you also may have
26:16 fellowship with us and truly our
26:18 fellowship is with the father and with
26:20 his son Jesus Christ and these things
26:23 declare we unto you that your joy or as
26:27 some versions have it our joy and both
26:30 are true that your joy and our joy might be
26:37 full the life
26:40 shared it's inconceivable that a person
26:42 should possess life and not want to share
26:43 share
26:46 life you are here today because your
26:49 mother and your father shared their life with
26:52 with
26:55 you they were a part of that creative
26:58 miracle that God gives to parents and if
27:01 you're a Christian you're a Christian
27:03 today because Jesus Christ shared his
27:06 life with you and somebody came along
27:08 and told you about it and so John is
27:11 writing here about the life shared with
27:15 others life cannot be kept life has to
27:18 grow life has to reach
27:20 out there are multitudes of people who
27:22 claim to have the life but they have no
27:24 burden to share the life and I wonder if
27:31 that's what John
27:34 did that's what uh Andrew
27:37 did they went out and they shared the
27:40 life they said we have found him we want
27:43 to share Joy with you lots of people in
27:46 this world share misery I tell you if
27:48 you want to share misery just stop
27:51 anybody any place and say how are
27:53 you you'll find
27:56 out I picked up a newspaper at the news
27:58 stand one morning and said to the
28:00 gentleman there any good news he said is there
28:05 ever we want to share
28:08 joy we want to share
28:10 Fellowship lots of people in this world
28:12 are building little walls around
28:13 themselves and saying don't get near me
28:17 I'm afraid don't touch me I'm
28:19 worried and the Christian says look
28:21 we're reaching out we want to share
28:23 fellowship with you we want to have in
28:26 common with you what we have in common
28:28 with the father and the son we're in
28:30 fellowship with him you come and be in
28:32 fellowship with us and let's worship Him
28:34 and praise him and serve him and
28:36 experience fullness that your joy might
28:39 be full lots of people are empty these
28:41 days oh The Emptiness of life and
28:43 they're trying to fill up those empty
28:46 places with entertainment and all of
28:49 these other things they don't
28:52 work they don't work and they go from
28:55 emptiness to emptiness to
28:58 emptiness and we Christians have the joy
29:00 Joy of going from fullness to fullness
29:02 to fullness and of his fullness of all
29:06 we receive and Grace upon Grace and oh
29:11 how we ought to share this the life is
29:13 shared with others now if you know you
29:15 have eternal life are you sharing it
29:17 with other
29:19 people say well I'm the quiet type
29:20 that's all right God isn't going to
29:22 change your personality but he will
29:24 change your
29:26 purpose so that what you do you do for
29:30 the glory of God you sharing the life oh
29:32 during this season of the year how
29:33 essential it is that we take advantage
29:37 of the opportunity and share the life
29:39 now at what stage of this experience are
29:42 you this morning the life needed are you
29:46 in darkness in death and despair the life
29:47 life
29:50 needed the life
29:53 manifested have you seen that in Jesus
29:56 Christ is the only life he is the true
30:05 life the life received you say Pastor
30:09 I've never done that then do it do it
30:12 today receive that life you say but if I
30:15 do what'll happen you'll enter into
30:18 fellowship with life you'll enter into
30:20 fellowship with joy you'll enter into
30:23 fellowship with forgiveness sins washed
30:28 away a new life comes in a new creation
30:31 tremendous power and
30:33 blessing you say I've already done that
30:36 good then you ought to be at stage four
30:39 the life shared with others did anybody
30:42 learn from us this last week that there
30:45 was life in this world in Jesus Christ
30:49 if not why not what were we
30:52 doing how busy were we what was so
30:55 important that we allowed that
30:58 despairing dark and dead man man to go
31:01 by us and we didn't say hey mister we've got
31:08 life you see this Christmas the promise
31:10 of Christmas is life and the promise has
31:18 always is it needed yes is it available
31:22 yes eternal life where in Jesus Christ
31:29 faith he that hath the
31:32 son hath
31:36 life he that hath not the Son of God
31:40 have not
31:42 life and don't you come to me and say
31:44 hey Pastor I'm living it up oh no you're
31:53 down the promise of Christmas is the
31:54 promise of
31:58 life real life
32:03 loving life joyful life full
32:09 life eternal life the very life of
32:13 God through Jesus
32:21 life thank you
32:24 Father that as we meet Jesus Christ in
32:28 the pages of the word we meet life
32:30 and that he's all we need all that we
32:36 Jesus thank you Father that he's available
32:37 available
32:40 today that he died for our sins and
32:43 arose again and returned to Glory sent
32:46 the Holy Spirit the spirit of
32:49 life and I pray that today Father there
32:53 will be many here who by faith will
32:57 receive Jesus Christ and experience life
33:00 real life life not some satanic
33:03 substitute not some fleshly counterfeit
33:08 not some worldly pretense but real life
33:11 authentic life enduring
33:14 life oh may it be
33:17 so we ask it in jesus'
