What Christmas Promises... Life!

I read the word of God from the first epistle of John chapter one. The first 4 verses.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life.

For the life was manifested, and we have seen it. And bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.

That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us.

And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

May God help us to see in Christ eternal life.

A friend of mine used to say to me each time the Christmas season would arrive, "Why does Christmas have to come at a time when the stores are so crowded?" And yet it's good to know that something that happened 2000 years ago can still create traffic jams in Chicago.

But if a visitor from outer space were to come to Chicago during this season, park his flying saucer out in Grant Park somewhere, and behold what goes on, I wonder if he'd know what it's all about. In fact, I wonder if the people who are pushing and shoving and striving and driving know what it's all about.

There are many people who just don't understand what this Christmas season really means. They have a sentimental view of it and they shed a few tears over a poor little couple that had a little baby and they were rejected.

It might be good for us to go back to those who were there. Let's go back to the apostle John who knew Jesus. Let's go back to the first Epistle of John, which was written by the apostle that we might know Jesus Christ personally and be sure of our salvation, because several times in this little letter the apostle John uses a very important word. It's the word manifested.

In 1 John 1:2, he says that when Jesus came, the life was manifested.

You turn the page over to 1 John 3:5 and you know that He was manifested to take away our sins. And so forgiveness was manifested.

1 John 3:8: For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil. And so victory was manifested.

Over in 1 John 4:9, in this was manifested the love of God toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Love was manifested.

This is what it's all about. Now the first of these manifestations is life. And we read from 1 John 1:1-4. And the keyword in this section is the word life, the word of life. The life was manifested. We show unto you that eternal life.

John is talking here about the manifestation of life. He's talking here about the experience of eternal life.

Now, each one here today and those listening in our radio congregation have experienced physical life, otherwise you wouldn't be here. But John is talking about something much more wonderful, much deeper, much more thrilling, much more exciting. He's talking about the manifestation of God's life.

He's talking about an experience that you and I can have that transcends anything we've ever had before. He's talking about an experience that takes everything that's natural and makes it supernatural, everything that is of our first birth and transforms it by a second birth.

And he tells us in these 4 verses that this experience of life has four stages in it. And I'm wondering today at what stage you are.

Stage #1 - The life was needed, otherwise he never would have come.

Stage #2 - The life was manifested.

Stage #3 - The life was received.

Stage #4 - The life was shared with others.

Those are the four stages of this experience of life that John writes about in 1 John 1:1-4. Let's take these stages one by one and find out where we are.

Stage #1 - The Life Was Needed

Jesus Christ came into this world because there was a need. It cost Him too much to come for any other purpose. Now what was that need?

John does not describe it in detail, but Matthew does. If you go back to the Gospel of Matthew 4:16, this Jewish writer, Levi, Matthew the publican, reaches back into Isaiah 9 and he takes an ancient Old Testament prophecy and he says this tells us what the need was when Jesus came.

Matthew 4:16: "The people who sat in darkness saw a great light and to them who sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up."

The life was needed for three reasons.

Number one, there was darkness. He's talking about people sitting in darkness. Now, in the Bible, darkness never means just the absence of light. When the great city of New York City was plunged into darkness again, that was simply the absence of light. But in the Bible, darkness stands for a realm. It stands for a condition. It stands for a whole way of life. It speaks of ignorance. It speaks of a lack of understanding. The lost world without Christ has no light in it. They don't understand God and the things of God.

The psalmist said they walk on in darkness. And that darkness has nothing to do with education or experience or anything else. A man can have a PhD behind his name and still walk in darkness when it comes to the things of God. The darkness of ignorance, the darkness of bondage. Satan is the god of this age and he has blinded the minds of them that believe not. He's got them in bondage. They're slaves.

They talk a great deal today about freedom. We like to read about Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and those men of Colonial Days who fought for freedom. But let me tell you something, friend, there's no such thing as freedom outside of faith in Jesus Christ.

Oh, I know there are some wonderful Americans that love America and they still don't know Jesus Christ as Savior. And I respect them. But whether they realize it or not, they're slaves. They're in bondage to Satan. They are in bondage to the world, the flesh and the devil and they don't even know it.

But there's something even worse. Not only is there the darkness of ignorance and bondage, but there's the darkness of death. "To them who sat in the region and shadow of death." They sit there not knowing that they're on death row. They're on the way to death. You talk to somebody about death and they say, "Oh, let's talk about something happy."

Romans 5:12 says, "Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned." Death is not the end of life, it's the consequence of sin. The wages of sin is death. And anybody who has not trusted Jesus Christ as his personal savior is already dead. 1 Timothy 5:6 says, "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth." So here is a condition, three-fold darkness, ignorance, bondage, death. That's the description of the darkness.

And then there's a second word, despair. "The people who sat in darkness." They were sitting. They weren't standing. They weren't running around looking for a way out. They were sitting. They were helpless. The Hebrew word here means to settle down. It means to give up. They gave up. No use resisting. No use saying, "Hey, I'm going to try something else." You settle down. You give up.

Despair. How many people today are in despair? We have the prophets of despair screaming at us from the pages of the newspapers and the periodicals. We got the poets of despair. We got the artists of despair, the dramatists of despair. Whether you listen to our music or you read our art or our poetry or our drama, it's all despair. And this is exactly what the Bible describes. Sitting in darkness, region of death, no hope.

And then, thirdly, there's death. "To them who sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up." Death is the consequence of ignorance and bondage.

Now it says, "to them light is sprung up." Who is this light? Well, if you go back to Isaiah chapter 9, you go back to that passage. Matthew quoted Isaiah 9:2: "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined."

Well, who is this light? Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 9:6: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace, there shall be no end."

The light is Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." John the Baptist came to bear witness to the light. "And in him was life and the life was the light of men." "God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

So the life was needed because the world was dark and despairing and dead.

Stage #2 - The Life Was Manifested

But in 1 John 1:2, he says, "For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us."

Manifested. How was the life manifested? Well, 1 John 1:1 tells us. "That which was from the beginning." Now John's not talking about the beginning of creation. He's talking about the beginning of our Lord's ministry. Right at the beginning of His ministry, He manifested Himself to John and Peter and Andrew and James and the rest of them. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard."

John heard Jesus preach. He heard Jesus pray. He heard Jesus teach. John could write these five books because he remembered what Jesus said. Jesus said, "The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you." And John was able to write these five books. "We have heard."

Not only that, "which we have seen with our eyes." And John uses three different words here for seeing. The word here means to look at, to see objectively. Oh yes, I saw Him. I saw Jesus. John could say, "I saw Jesus." And then he uses another word for seeing. "Which we have looked upon." This second word means to look into, to examine, to study.

John not only looked at Jesus, John looked into Jesus. John studied Jesus. John wasn't a passing observer. John was one of the intimate three. Peter, James and John. In that inner circle. He not only was in that inner circle, he was called the disciple whom Jesus loved. Not that Jesus didn't love the rest of them, but there was a very special affection between Jesus and John.

And John says, "I not only looked at Him, but I looked into Him. I studied Him. I got to know Him."

And then he goes further. "Our hands have handled the word of life." After the resurrection, the disciples were frightened. And Jesus said to them, "Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have." And Thomas said, "I won't believe unless I can put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into His side." And Jesus said, "Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless, but believing." And Thomas said, "My Lord and my God."

John and the other disciples had the privilege of handling Jesus. Physical contact with the Son of God. This is how the life was manifested. Jesus came. God became flesh. God became man. The word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

I look at a sunset and I say, "Well, that's beautiful." And somebody says, "That tells you there's a God." Oh, does it? It tells me somebody painted it. It tells me there's a designer. It tells me there's a Creator. But it doesn't tell me that God loves me.

I look at the stars and I say, "My, aren't those beautiful?" And somebody says, "Well, that's what the Bible says. The heavens declare the glory of God." Yes, they do. But they don't tell me that God loves me. They don't tell me that God is interested in me personally.

I could look at creation and I could say, "Well, whoever made this is very powerful and very wise." But I can't see His heart. I can't see His love. But I see Jesus and I see God's heart. I see God's love. "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." "God was manifest in the flesh."

The life was manifested. They heard Him. They saw Him. They looked into Him. They handled Him. And John is saying, "I bear witness. I was there. I saw it. I heard it. I handled it. I'm a witness."

Stage #3 - The Life Was Received

But now comes the important thing. The life was needed. The life was manifested. Now the life must be received. Because you can know all about this and it will do you no good whatsoever.

John doesn't go into detail here about how to receive the life because he's already written about it in his Gospel. John 1:12: "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

How do you receive eternal life? You receive Jesus Christ. Because He is eternal life. 1 John 5:11-12: "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."

When you receive Jesus Christ, you receive life. Because He is the life. "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die."

How do you get this life? You receive Him. "As many as received Him." How do you receive Him? By faith. "Even to them that believe on His name."

When a bride and groom stand at the marriage altar, all of that legal ceremony is simply saying that she's receiving him and he's receiving her. They're becoming one. When you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, you receive Him into your life and you become one with Him. He gives you a new life. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new."

The life is received by faith.

Stage #4 - The Life Was Shared With Others

But then there's the fourth stage. The life is shared with others. Now let me just hurry through this because I must close.

Verse 3: "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."

John is saying, "I saw this. I heard this. I handled this. Now I'm sharing this with you so that you can have fellowship with us. You can have fellowship with the Father and the Son."

The word fellowship there means to have something in common. It's a sharing word. Christians have the joy of sharing the life with others.

Now, you're alive today, physically alive, because your mother and your father shared their life with you. They were a part of that creative miracle that God gives to parents. And if you're a Christian, you're a Christian today because Jesus Christ shared his life with you and somebody came along and told you about it.

And so John is writing here about the life shared with others. Life cannot be kept. Life has to grow. Life has to reach out.

There are multitudes of people who claim to have the life, but they have no burden to share the life. And I wonder if they have the life.

That's what John did. That's what Andrew did. They went out and they shared the life. They said, "We have found him. We want to share joy with you."

Lots of people in this world share misery. I tell you, if you want to share misery, just stop anybody, any place and say, "How are you?" You'll find out.

I picked up a newspaper at the newsstand one morning and said to the gentleman there, "Any good news?" He said, "Is there ever?"

We want to share joy. We want to share fellowship. Lots of people in this world are building little walls around themselves and saying, "Don't get near me. I'm afraid, don't touch me. I'm worried." And the Christian says, "Look, we're reaching out. We want to share fellowship with you. We want to have in common with you what we have in common with the Father and the Son. We're in fellowship with him. You come and be in fellowship with us and let's worship Him and praise Him and serve Him and experience fullness, that your joy might be full."

Lots of people are empty these days. Oh, the emptiness of life. And they're trying to fill up those empty places with entertainment and all of these other things. They don't work, they don't work, and they go from emptiness to emptiness to emptiness.

And we Christians have the joy of going from fullness to fullness to fullness. And of His fullness have all we received, and grace upon grace. And oh how we ought to share this.

The life is shared with others. Now, if you know you have eternal life, are you sharing it with other people?

"I'm a quiet type." That's all right. God isn't going to change your personality, but He will change your purpose so that what you do, you do for the glory of God. Are you sharing the life?

Oh, during this season of the year, how essential it is that we take advantage of the opportunity and share the life.

Now, at what stage of this experience are you this morning? The life needed? Are you in darkness, in death and despair?

The life manifested. Have you seen that in Jesus Christ is the only life? He is the true God. He is eternal life.

The life received. You say, "Pastor, I've never done that." Then do it. Do it today. Receive that life.

"But if I do, what'll happen?" You'll enter into fellowship with life. You'll enter into fellowship with joy. You'll enter into fellowship with forgiveness. Sins washed away. A new life comes in, a new creation. Tremendous power and blessing.

You say, "I've already done that." Good. Then you ought to be at stage 4. The life shared with others. Did anybody learn from us this last week that there was life in this world in Jesus Christ? If not, why not? What were we doing? How busy were we? What was so important that we allowed that despairing, dark and dead man to go by us? And we didn't say, "Hey, Mr., we've got life."

You see, this Christmas, the promise of Christmas, is life. And the promise has always been life. Always.

Is it needed? Yes.

Is it available? Yes.

Eternal life? Where? In Jesus Christ.

What do you do? You receive Him by faith.

He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

Don't you come to me and say, "Hey, pastor, I'm living it up." Oh no, you're not. You're dying it down.

The promise of Christmas is the promise of life. Real life, loving life, joyful life, full life, eternal life, the very life of God.

Through Jesus Christ will you receive that life.

Thank you, Father, that as we meet Jesus Christ in the pages of the Word, we meet life, and that He's all we need, all that we want is in Jesus.

Thank you, Father, that He's available today. That he died for our sins and arose again and returned to glory, sent the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life.

And I pray that today, Father, there will be many here who by faith will receive Jesus Christ and experience life, real life. Not some satanic substitute, not some fleshly counterfeit, not some worldly pretense, but real life, authentic life, enduring life.

O may it be so. We ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.