In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes that we are currently living in the last days, which are characterized by difficult times and a lack of love for God. The speaker also highlights the danger of false teachings and the temptation of the world that the church faced during the time this letter was written. The central theme of the letter is fellowship, and the speaker divides it into three parts: an introduction that lays the ground of fellowship, the condition or practice of fellowship, and the importance and value of fellowship. The apostle John, in his closing years, prioritized sharing this central and precious message with the church.

May we look to the Lord in prayer. Lord, as we continue together in thy presence, we ask thee to quicken us again by thy spirit, that we may be able to hear thy voice through thy word. We do praise and thank thee because thy words are light and spirit to us. For unless thou dost speak again through thy written word, they will just be letters to us. So Lord, we ask that as we study thy word together this morning, that we may hear thy still small voice, that by thy spirit we may be transformed, and we may be led into all truth. We would like to see thee through thy written word. We just commit this time into thy hands, and trust thy Holy Spirit's word. In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen. In this session, we would like to study the word of God together. It will be a little different from probably ordinary ministry time, because we hope that everyone who comes to this second session of study, that you will really do some study yourself. It is not expected that I will do all the study, and you will do all the listening. But I hope that you will do some study yourself. So this time we would like to use that short letter of John, the first epistle of John as our study. It is short, but it is very rich, and I do not know how far we can go, but at least I hope that during these few days you will read this letter again and again and again. And read it, meditate upon it, and ask the Lord to speak to you through it. And if we prepare ourselves in this way, when we come together, I believe it will be us studying together, instead of I do all the study. So I do hope that this will be more or less our assignment, that everyone will read 1 John as many times as possible. I remember once three sisters asked our brother Watchman to study the book of Revelation with them. And our brother gave them a requirement, and he said, if you will read the book of Revelation a hundred times, then you will come back and we will study. And these sisters did read a hundred times. Now I will not ask you to read a hundred times, because you will miss your meal and your sleep. But at least I will say without laying down any rule as to how many times, you will read as many times as possible. May we just read the first four verses of the first epistle of John. Chapter 1 from verse 1 through verse 4. That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, that which we contemplated, and our hands handled concerning the word of life. And the life has been manifested, and we have seen and there witnessed and report to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has been manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard, we report to you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship is indeed with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we to you, that your joy may be full. The gospel of John is on life. The first letter of John is on fellowship. You cannot have fellowship without life. But life must be expressed and proven through fellowship. How do we have life? We find in John chapter 20, the apostle John said, he write these things to us, that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And in believing, we may have eternal life through his name. So the way that we come to life is by believing. Believing that Jesus is Christ, the anointed of God. And he is the Son of the living God. And if we believe with our heart, we shall have eternal life through his name. But how is that life to be expressed? How do we know that we have eternal life? What are the evidences that we have eternal life? Can we know that we have eternal life? Are we able to have the assurance of eternal life? And the same apostle said we can. And then you find in first letter of John in chapter 5, he said, I write these things to you, that you may know you have eternal life. You who believe in Jesus as the Son of God. So dear brothers and sisters, we receive eternal life by believing. And we know that we have eternal life. We have the assurance that we have eternal life because we have that fellowship with the Son and with the Father. And that fellowship with the apostles and that fellowship with one another. The first letter of John speaks of fellowship. Now what is fellowship? The very word fellowship means communion, fellowship, communication, participation, partnership, sharing in common. We share what we have together and thus we possess together the same thing. And you find the whole letter of John is trying to help us to see what is fellowship. How do we practice fellowship? What are the conditions of fellowship? And what will happen if we have fellowship? And all these things you'll find in this little letter. Of course if you take this letter up, you'll find in one sense, why do we call this the first letter of John? You know when you write a letter, usually you have someone mentioned there to receive that letter, to address it. And you will have the one who addressed the letter. You will have a place where the letter will be sent. But you do not find any of these in the first letter of John. There is no address, there is no addresser, there is no addressee, there is no name mentioned anywhere in this little letter. And yet we find throughout the letter there is such an intimate relationship between the one who writes it and the people receiving it. You will find there is such a flow of life between the one who writes it and the ones who receive it. It gives you the impression that it is a letter. Even though the one who writes the letter is not mentioned, but we know who he is. Because he cannot be other than the one who writes the Gospel of John. There are such similarities in many respects between the Gospel of John and the first letter. So we do believe that the writer of this letter is the Apostle John. The Holy Spirit used the Apostle John to give us this very lovely letter. As to the time of this letter, we gather that this letter must be written in the last decade of the first century. It is one of the last of the books of the New Testament. It was written at a time when the rest of the Twelve Apostles had passed on. And only the last one of the Twelve, John, was still living. And during his last days we know that he labored in Asia Minor, probably residing in Ephesus. So most probably this letter was written by the Apostle John in the last decade of the first century, and this letter was written to those whom he loved in Asia Minor. And of course not only to those in Asia Minor, but to us today. During the days when John wrote this letter, Jerusalem was already destroyed. The temple was destroyed. The testimony of God upon this earth was upon the shoulder of the Church, the Body of Christ. And the problem with them was not at that time outside persecution. There was no mentioning of persecution in this letter. The problem of the Church at that time was from within. You remember the Apostle Paul. The last time he passed by, he called the elders in Ephesus to come for my repentance. And there you remember how he poured out his heart to the elders there, how he told them that for three years he labored in their midst with many tears. He had not withheld anything from them, but he told them the whole counsel of God, and then he committed them into the grace of God. But he warned them that after he left, there will be grievous woes coming into their midst. And there will be people even from their very midst coming out, trying to mislead the people, trying to draw people away from Christ and unto themselves. Then you remember when he wrote 2nd Timothy, he mentioned the same thing. He said we are in the last days, and the last days are difficult times, when people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, lovers of pleasures, and not lovers of God. And then you find in the same letter to Timothy, he says people will not listen to sound teaching, but they will listen to many teachers that will satisfy their itching ears. So you find when John the Apostle wrote this first letter, it was a time when there were false teachers coming up in the church, and they began to teach false doctrines and false teachings, especially concerning the person and the work of Christ. And it was to correct, it was to strengthen the believers against the false teachings that came up at that time. Then you find the background of this letter. The danger that the church faced at that time concerning the world is not the outside persecution, but rather the subtle temptation of the world. So that formed the background of this little letter. But anyway you'll find the central thought of this whole letter is very positive. It is on this matter of fellowship. This little letter can be roughly divided into three parts. The first part is chapter one from verse one through verse four. It is an introduction, and this introduction lays the ground of fellowship. It is not only introducing the subject of fellowship, but actually in these four verses they give us the very essence of fellowship. And what follows in the letter is but a development of all that has been mentioned in these four verses. So we may call it the ground of fellowship. Then from chapter one verse five through chapter five, verse five, you find the condition or the practice of fellowship. Let us call it the grace of fellowship. The grace of fellowship. And again you'll find in this section, in this part, there are three sections. One is fellowship must be in life. It is from chapter one, verse five, through chapter two, verse 28. Then the second section is fellowship must be in righteousness. From chapter two, verse 29, through chapter four, verse six. And then the third section is fellowship must be in love. And that is from chapter four, verse seven, through chapter five, verse five. So all these you'll find in the second part, the grace of fellowship. And then of course we have the last part. From chapter five, verse six, to the end, verse 21. And this is the conclusion. Then we call it the glory of fellowship. So all together you'll find in this little letter, we find the ground of fellowship, the grace of fellowship, and the glory of fellowship. Now this morning we would like to begin with the first part. This letter is itself a form of fellowship. The apostle John at that time was very aged, probably in his nineties. But there was something burning in his heart. There was something that was very precious to him. And he would like to share with his fellow believers. He would like to share with these people among whom he labored. And in order that he might share what he had in his heart with these people, he wrote them a letter. Remember, when he wrote this letter, he was at his closing years. He didn't have much time left. But there is still much in his heart, much that he has learned, that he wants to pour out, he wants to share with his fellow believers. He cannot afford to make small talks. What he tried to bring out in this letter is of tremendous importance to him. It is of tremendous value to the church. It is not something insignificant. It is the very center of all that he has learned through the years. When he followed the Lord himself for over three years and a half, and afterwards how he served the risen Lord until he came to his closing days. And that's what you will find in this little letter. Sometimes we talk a lot about nonsense. Sometimes we talk a lot about trivial things, small things, that really do not matter too much. But not the Apostle John at his closing years. Time is too precious to him. So we would like to get into his very heart and try to see what is it that is so central and important and precious to him, and that which he tries to share with us, that we too may have it. Now what is it? That which was from the beginning in the gospel of John. You'll find he begins the gospel of John with, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse four, In him was light, and the light was the light of man. Verse fourteen, And the Word became flesh and tabernacle of a man, full of glory, full of grace and truth. That's the way he began the gospel of John. But when he began to write the epistle, he said, That which was from the beginning. Now you notice there is a difference there. In the gospel of John he said, In the beginning was the Word. But in the epistle he said, That which was from the beginning. In the beginning, before time began, there was the Word, the eternal Word. The eternal Word existed before the beginning of time, because he was the beginning. So in the gospel of John actually you'll find, In the beginning was the Word. He shows us the very nature of God. He shows us who God is. He is the beginning of everything. But then when he writes the epistle, he said, That which was from the beginning. He who is the Word already existed. But now you'll find he began to step into time, from the beginning. And the very phrase, From the beginning, speaks of the eternal purpose of God. From the beginning, God has a purpose. And his purpose is concerning his Son. That his Son should be made the heir of all things. And it is with that in view that you'll find it begins. He begins to create. Time and space have their beginning. For that one purpose, that the Son shall be the heir of all things. So that which was from the beginning tells us that our Lord Jesus is the purpose of God. He is from the beginning the purpose of God concerning all things, concerning all creation, and especially concerning the church. And that is what he is. That which we have heard, this means much more than what the apostles heard directly from Jesus. That which we have heard goes back to the Old Testament time. And you'll find in Hebrews chapter 1, God, how God has spoken in the past in many ways and in many parts to our fathers through the prophets. That which we have heard, God through the time in the Old Testament day, through the prophets, he has spoken to us in many parts, pieces and bits, and in many ways. Sometimes he speaks in plain words. Sometimes he speaks in types. Sometimes he speaks in commandments. Sometimes he speaks in parables. You'll find sometimes he speaks in history. But in many ways and in many parts, God has spoken to us, to our fathers. And now in the last days, he speaks to us in his Son. And that is what we have heard. What have we heard? We have heard all the prophets have spoken. We have heard what our Lord Jesus himself has spoken to us. And that is included in that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes. It brings right down to the time of the apostles. The apostles have seen the Lord with their eyes. You remember one day the Lord was passing by. And John the Baptist said, Behold the Lamb of God. And two of his disciples went to follow. And the Lord turned back and said, What do you want? And they said, Where do you live? And the Lord said, Come and see. They saw. They saw and they knew that they had found the Messiah. That which we have seen. It came down to the time of the apostles. That which we contemplated. Many people saw the Lord when he was on earth. He traveled even though in a small area. He traveled in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, in Galilee. And he was seen by many people. Many people have seen him. But they saw only him as the son of a carpenter. They saw only in him as man of Nazareth. But thank God there were those who contemplated. There were those who contemplated him. There were those who perceived in this man of Galilee the Son of God, full of glory. So here you'll find in the gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 14, it is said, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among men. And then in the parenthesis, it is a parenthesis, it says, And we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of and only begotten with the Father. End of the parenthesis. Full of grace and truth. The Word became flesh and dwelt among men. Many men saw him. They realized that he was full of grace and full of truth. But that's all. But thank God you'll find a parenthesis there. There were few, there were some, whose eyes were opened by the Father to see that in this man they saw the glory, the glory as of and only begotten with the Father. And that takes revelation. So here you'll find the apostles. They received such revelation. They not only saw the outward form of Jesus, but they saw in him God, the very God, the Son of God. And our hands handled. After our Lord was raised from the dead, the disciples were in the room, and suddenly the Lord appeared to them. You know they couldn't believe it. Even though they were told that the Lord had risen. And yet it was hard to believe because it had never happened before. For then the Lord stood in their midst and said, Handle me. Handle me. A spirit does not have flesh and bone, but you can handle me, the one who came into this world. The one who died on the cross. Who was buried in the tomb. He is risen. And he could be handled. He is so real, so living. And dear brothers and sisters, you'll find the apostle John said, That which was from the beginning, you start from the very beginning. The purpose. That which we have heard through the ages, up to the time of Christ. That which we have seen with our eyes, the apostles. And we contemplated him. We have received revelation. And that which we have handled, he is risen from the dead. You'll find a whole range concerning what? Concerning the word of life. All these descriptions are concerned with life. With life. With the word of life. Well, in modern idiom you would say, concerning the revelation of life. This life has been revealed. This life is the very one who is from the beginning. This life is that which we have seen, we have heard throughout the ages. This life is the one whom we have seen. This life is the one whom we have contemplated. And this life is the one whom we handle because he is risen from the dead. Dear brothers and sisters, what is it? It is life. It is a person. A living person. Even our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a revelation that is. What the apostle John tried to share with us is not a teaching. Is not a doctrine. Is not a system. Is not a history only. What the John, the apostle John tried to share with us, what is so precious to him, is the life. The life is the Christ. And that is a great revelation. There is no revelation greater than the revelation of life. And this is what he tried to share with us. And you know, verse 2 is in parenthesis. And the life has been manifested and we have seen and bear witness and report to you the eternal life which was with the Father and has been manifested to us. He puts that in parenthesis. Why? Because he wants to show us that he has personal experience of it. This life that he is trying to tell us, a tremendous life, is the life that has been manifested. The Word has become flesh. And we have seen it. And therefore we bear witness and report to you the eternal life. That which was with the Father and has been manifested to us. This life was with the Father. You find a distinct person in the Godhead. And yet you find the unity of the Godhead. This life was with the Father. They are one. And yet this life has been manifested to us. And because it has been manifested and we have seen, we have borne witness to, therefore we can report to you. And then in verse 3 he continues. That which we have seen and heard we report. Now dear brothers and sisters, you cannot report something that you haven't seen and haven't heard. But I do believe that when John says that what we have heard and seen is more than what they have seen and heard with their naked eyes and ears. I believe there is a development here. You may see something. You may hear something. And yet if there is no revelation, if you do not see with your inner eye, if you do not see with your inner ear, hear with your inner ear, no matter how accurately you report, it cannot bring in fellowship. It is death. It is just letter. And the letter kills. But the spirit quickens. I believe that these apostles, they said we have seen and heard. What they mean is we have not only seen and heard with our naked eyes and ears, but we have seen with our inner eyes and we have heard with our inner ears. The Father has revealed the Son in us. And because we have seen and heard in such a way, therefore we can report to you and our report is living and real. And of course, those who hear the report must hear it not only with their ears, not only try to see it with their eyes, but they need to look to the Spirit of God to reveal the Son to them. And then you will find there is a consequence. Something will happen. If the reporting is by revelation and if the hearing is by the Spirit, you know what will happen. But what happens is that we may have fellowship if the Apostle John will hold back what he has seen and heard and will not report to us. He will be enjoying life in such abundance, but we will be poor. He will deprive us of having that life. But thank God, freely received, freely given. You will find these apostles, and especially here the Apostle John, you will find in his heart he is just filled with this life. And here he tries to pour it out to us. And in reporting without withholding it, reporting to us that we may have fellowship. I think there is a principle we need to learn. If you have seen and heard, and in the Spirit, do not hold back. You should report it. You should share it with your brothers and sisters. That we may have fellowship one with another. So here you come, here you find that Apostle John said in the very reporting of what he has seen and heard, fellowship comes into being. And that is our fellowship. We also mentioned this matter of our fellowship. Now what do you mean by fellowship? Well fellowship simply means that you report what you have seen and heard to me, and I report what I have seen and heard to you. And you receive my report, and I receive your report. And as we do that, you find we share in common. And that is fellowship. But the point is, what do we report? What do we receive? What the apostle reports is the life, is Christ as our life. And what do we report? When we share with one another, what is it that we share? Do we share ourselves? Do we share a teaching? Do we share a doctrine? Do we share an experience? Or is it that we share life? We share the life of Christ, the life of Christ that we have seen and heard and have experienced. And dear brothers and sisters, if we learn to share the life, oh what a rich fellowship it will be. And that is the only fellowship that you find in the Bible. And this is the fellowship. This is the fellowship of the apostles. In Acts chapter 2 verse 42, On the day of Pentecost, you remember how the Spirit of God came down upon the hundred and twenty, and they were in spirit, one spirit baptized into one body. Oh what a fellowship. And there you will find three thousand were saved and were baptized. And in verse 42 we are told that they persevered, they continued in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles in prayers and in breaking of bread. Here you find a hundred and twenty. You find three thousand people. They continued in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles. The apostles having fellowship with all these other people. Why? Because the apostles told these people Christ the life. And as they report Christ to these people, they receive Christ. And there you will find they were having the fellowship of the apostles. But the fellowship of the apostles that they try to draw us into is nothing but the outflow of their fellowship with the Father and with the Son. So you find we have to go back to the origin of fellowship. The apostles do not originate the fellowship. The apostles in reporting the life to us, they draw us into their fellowship. But they do not originate the fellowship. Why? Because their fellowship is the outflow of their fellowship with the Father and with the Son. They have fellowship with the Father through the Son. They have fellowship with the Son by the Father. You remember the Lord Jesus says, no one knows the Father but me. And to whomsoever I reveal to them. No one knows the Son but the Father. So here you find the apostles, they are having fellowship with the Father through the Son. And they are having fellowship with the Son by the Father. How the Father revealed the Son to the apostles? So that they may have fellowship with the Son. And how does the Son lead them to the Father? So that they may have fellowship with the Father. Here you find the apostles, they have fellowship with the Father and with the Son. And out of their fellowship with the Father and with the Son, they bring that fellowship to us. That we may have fellowship with them and we may have fellowship with the Father and with the Son. Now remember, the fellowship they bring to us does not stop in them. They are just a candle. The fellowship they bring to us actually is the fellowship with the Father and with the Son. How tragic it will be if our fellowship just stopped with the apostles and do not go further. What is fellowship? When and where do fellowship begin? The apostles said, we have fellowship with the Father and with the Son. O dear brothers and sisters, in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 9 we are told God is faithful. He calls us into the fellowship of His Son, our Lord Jesus. Here you'll find an eternity past. Before there were time and space, there you'll find an eternity past. The Father and the Son, they were having fellowship in the Spirit. There was a fellowship that was the beginning of the fellowship. The fellowship was between the Son and the Father, in the Spirit. Oh, that fellowship, that oneness, that perfection, that harmony. There was no distance between the Father and the Son. There was no shame. There was no shadow. They were in perfect agreement. They were in one, in love, in heart, in soul, in purpose, in everything. Here you'll find in eternity the Father and the Son enjoy their fellowship one with the other in the Spirit. Oh, how the Father enjoyed the Son. How the Son enjoyed the Father. There was never a quarrel between them. There was never any controversy between them. There was perfect harmony. Whatever the Father desires, the Son desires. When the Son thinks of anything, the Father thinks of the same thing. You don't need to talk. And there in the Spirit you'll find there is perfect oneness, perfect harmony. And what life, what love, what pleasure, what joy. Oh, that fellowship in the Godhead. In the Godhead, what satisfaction, what glory. We cannot imagine because that is the origin of the fellowship. It is called the fellowship of God's Son, Jesus Christ. It is the fellowship that our Lord as the Son enjoys with His Father. It is the fellowship that the Father enjoys with His Son. Oh, they are inseparable. They are together. They are one. That is the fellowship, the beginning of fellowship. It is the most exclusive fellowship in the whole universe. And yet the Father, because He loves the Son so much, He says it is not good for man to be alone. I want to give Him a helping. I'm going to create man. I want to give man to my Son to be His helping. He is to be the bridegroom and He will have a bride composed of the man that I've created, that He may not be lonely. Oh, the Father says, I want to give you, give you something. And the Son says, Father, I'm willing in order that your love towards me may be fulfilled, your purpose of giving me a bride may be fulfilled, I'm willing to be that lamb to be slain from the foundation of the world. I'm willing to die for these men to redeem them, that thy purpose may be fulfilled. Oh, dear brothers and sisters here, you'll find in eternity, because the Father and the Son have that heart-to-heart talk in the Spirit. And they are in perfect agreement. And that's how it begins. From the beginning. What fellowship the Father and the Son enjoy one with the other? Not only in eternity past, not only in the purpose. Oh, when God created the world, you'll find the Bible says, when God created the world, the Son was there. Oh, how He rejoiced, how He rejoiced in God's creation. He says, delight is with the Son of Man. He was actually the one who created all these things. They were one in creation. And how in Old Testament times, even though before He came into this world to be man, He appeared again and again as the angel of the Lord to perform the prophetic errand concerning man. And then how He came at the end of time to be born as a babe in Bethlehem. He was willing to empty Himself and to take upon Himself the form of a slave. And He became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Perfect harmony with the Father. And now again and again you'll find the heaven open. God smiled and said, this is my beloved Son in whom is my delight. Perfect harmony. Dear brothers and sisters, God opened that fellowship to the Apostles. Our Lord Jesus came into this world to open the way that man may be drawn into His fellowship with the Father. And He paid such a tremendous price for it. In order that we may be drawn into His fellowship with the Father, He opened the door of that fellowship to the Apostles. And the Apostles were drawn in. They began to enjoy the fellowship with the Son and with the Father. And they were so overjoyed. And they said, we cannot hold back the good news. We have to go out and tell others that others may too come in and join in with us in this fellowship. And that's how the gospel is preached. So dear brothers and sisters, what is the fellowship? The fellowship is not only with the Apostles, but the fellowship is with the Father and with the Son. Dear brothers and sisters, we are called into such. You know, sometimes we say, I belong to this fellowship. I belong to that fellowship. It's too small. There is only one fellowship. The fellowship of the Apostles. The fellowship with the Father and with the Son. That is the only fellowship. And dear brothers and sisters, you know, we are in the most exclusive club, however low in social status we may be, because we have joined the fellowship of God's Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the fellowship we have. Tremendous. This is our calling. And then we have to just finish it in verse 4. What is the result of such fellowship? The result of such fellowship is joy may be full. Joy may be full. You know, our Lord Jesus, His fellowship with the Father is of such nature that His joy is always full, full to the overflowing. Even when on the night of His betrayal, He knew that He was to be betrayed, to be crucified. And His disciples didn't really understand the full meaning of it. But the disciples were overwhelmed with sorrow already. And there you find our Lord Jesus saying, I leave my joy with you. I give my joy to you. Don't be so sorrowful. I'm so joyful. Now brothers and sisters, we must remember that joy is the fruit of the Spirit. It is not just an emotion. It includes emotion, but it is more than that. It is the fruit of the Spirit. Now what is the joy of the Son? The joy of the Son is the Father. The Father and His will. That is the joy of the Son. So long as the Father and His will is done, no matter what happens to the Son, He is full of joy. This is the joy that is before Him. Dear brothers and sisters, if we really are drawn into that fellowship, no matter what happens to us, oh, that fellowship will fill us with joy. The joy of knowing the Father and the Son. The joy of being with our brothers and sisters, to be the bride. That's our joy. Our joy will be filled, full. And that is the result of fellowship. So here in these four verses you'll find the essence of the whole letter is there. And what you'll find following is the development. Our Heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee that Thou hast called us with a high calling, even calling us into the fellowship of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. That which He has with me, oh, what a privilege that we who are outcasts, rebels, sinners, enemies, and yet by Thy grace, through Thy Son, through the Gospel, we are called into such a fellowship. Oh, that we may know this fellowship, we may experience this fellowship, that our days on earth may be like as heaven. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.