As we have learned so far in our study of 1 John, the Apostle John has been teaching us about the nature and essentiality of fellowship. That God did not send Jesus to die on the cross just to save us from hell, but to woo us to intimacy, fellowship, and communion with the living God. And so to this point we have studied the basis of fellowship, which is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And then we saw the proof and progress of fellowship, then the evidence of fellowship, and the process of fellowship, which is maturity. Along

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As we have seen in our study of 1 John so far, John has been writing to the church that they might not only know God, but that they might have fellowship with God. Fellowship is intimacy, it is communion, it is having the life of God and the light of God in you. Fellowship with God is the way to complete joy. It is the way to life, abundant life, even eternal life. And fellowship, John says, produces love for God. That is the result of fellowship; that we come to love God, even as He has loved us.

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  We have been studying the doctrine of fellowship so far in our exposition of 1 John. We have seen that God designed us for fellowship with Him, and He desires fellowship with us. But as we have learned, before we can have fellowship with God, we must first have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus manifested Himself to the world so that we might come to know God. Hebrews 1:3 tells us that “[Jesus] is the radiance of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of [God’s] nature.” But God desires more than just knowledge of Him. He desires fellowship

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If you are a regular here at the Beach Fellowship, then you will know that I do not normally try to accommodate the holidays with topical messages. It is our practice to preach verse by verse, and we are in 1John 2 today by the providence of God. So I hope that will not be discouraging for any visitors that might have come expecting a normal “Easter” message. That being said, however, I do want to make one association from our text at the outset, which has to do with the theme of Easter – that is the resurrection of

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The theme of the first chapter of 1John is how we can have fellowship with God. Last time we saw the basis of fellowship starts with a relationship with Jesus Christ. Without the basis of a relationship, there can be no fellowship. Basically, that means that you must be born again by faith in Christ, trusting Him as your Savior and Lord for the forgiveness of your sins. That relationship is the basis by which you can have fellowship with God. As we turn now to the remainder of the passage, we are going to look further at this principle

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I don’t feel that we need to spend too much time introducing the first epistle of John. Obviously, we have just finished the gospel of John which has taken us over a year and a half, and totaled some 70 sermons. Additionally, we are studying Revelation on Wednesday nights, which of course is written by the Apostle John as well. So we should be well versed with John by now and not need much introduction. But what I want to do is to fill in a few months before the summer season with a short book, and 1John seemed to

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This is the last message I will preach in the book of John. I think, if I counted correctly, today’s sermon is number 70. I didn’t plan it that way, but if it’s true, I think it’s pretty cool we ended up with 70 exactly. The number 70 indicates perfection, by the way. (ha, ha) But seriously, it is with a certain sadness that we finish this book today. There is no more satisfying sermon series in my estimation, than studying one of the gospels. I think we will be beginning the gospel of Mark sometime near the beginning of

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In last week’s sermon, we said that the last section of chapter 20 taught five principles of the gospel. And one of them was the abiding presence of Christ. That is an essential doctrine of the gospel; that Jesus Christ is alive, that though He died on the cross, He arose from the dead, and ever lives to make intercession for us. That’s an important doctrine, because it reveals that Christ has procured two essential things for the Christian life. One; that the death of Jesus Christ provided the payment for the penalty of our sins. But two, His resurrection

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In today’s passage, we are continuing to look at the first day of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. He arose early in the morning on the first day of the week, that is, of course, Sunday. Last week we saw Mary Magdalene and John and Peter’s response to the resurrection. But in presenting the chronology of the events on this most important of days, John does so in such a way as to teach a lesson. He is teaching, in this last section of chapter 20, the gospel, and he does so by showcasing for us the first Sunday church

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