Let's look together for a few
minutes tonight in the Gospel of John chapter 1. John chapter 1. And we'll spend a few minutes
looking at verse number 1 through 5. But before reading the scripture
here, the Bible, God's inspired Word. His revelation to mankind
begins, in the beginning, God created the heaven, the heavens,
and the earth. You know, in Psalms, we just
read a few minutes ago, what always catches our eyes, that
his mercy endureth forever, right, believers? But the psalmist there
praises the Lord for his creation. He says, by wisdom, he made the
heavens. He stretched out the earth above the waters. He made
great lights, the sun to rule by day and the moon and the stars
to rule by night. For his mercy, entereth forever."
There was a time, and I want to speak a couple minutes here
about some things that are well above my ability to understand.
But there was a time, if we can call it that, when God, in the
unity of his nature, though subsisting equally in three divine persons,
dwelt alone. There is a time when God, God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, they dwelt
alone. A time when there was no heaven,
You say, was there a time when there was no heaven? Yes, He
created the heavens and the earth. God created heaven as a place
for Him to manifest His glory to His people. That's part of
the creation, the heavens. There was a time when there were
no angels, there was no universe, there was no earth, there was
no creation, there was nothing but God. That's beyond our ability to
grasp, isn't it? A time when there was nothing
but God, not for a day or a year or a century, but from everlasting,
from eternity. It's wonderful, isn't it, how
suddenly, suddenly God appears on the scene. Here's God, he's
existed for all eternity, and then suddenly
he appears on the scene for us. He says, let there be light,
and there was light. You know, as we read here in
John 1, 1 through 5, God, through the four gospel narratives, he
chose to reveal the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he reveals
his life from, I would say, from four different angles. Now, not
exclusively, it's not that, like in Matthew, the things that Matthew
focuses on, it's not at the expense of the other truths about the
Lord Jesus Christ, but there's a truth that he really focuses
on. And Matthew, in the Gospel of
Matthew, it's the Lord Jesus Christ as a son of David. Right? The son of David, the promised
Messiah, the king of the Jews. And as you read through the gospel
of Matthew, that comes out over and over again. In the gospel
of Mark, he reveals the Lord Jesus Christ as the perfect servant
of Jehovah. Have you ever noticed in the
Gospel of Mark, from the very, I mean, from the get-go, from
the beginning to the end, it's the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect
servant of Jehovah, verse after verse, chapter after chapter. Luke focuses on the humanity
of the Savior. So Matthew focuses on the fact
that he's the son of David, which means he came through that lineage
of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and David of the tribe of Judah. But Luke focuses on the humanity
of the Savior, that he's not only the son of God, but that
he's also the son of man. And then the strong and undeniable
theme of the gospel of John. Those of you here tonight, you
know this. What is the undeniable theme
of the gospel of John? It's the deity, the deity of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That yes, he is the son of man,
but he also is the son of God. John doesn't waste any time at
the start on this focus area. Notice verse one. In the beginning
was the Word. And the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and the life was the light of men. and the light shineth
in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Notice verse one, in the beginning. It's actually, that word thee
is added by the translators. It's actually in beginning, in
beginning, I believe that refers to something, like I said earlier,
it's beyond the possible understanding of the human mind. Why? Because
for us, everything is time bound. Isn't that true? Everything,
there's a beginning and a middle and an end, but not with God.
In beginning, that is in eternity. Before all things were created
in beginning, it speaks of that time when God dwelt alone. I challenge you this week, sit
down and read these first five verses and ask God, the Holy
Spirit, to speak to you. It's amazing, it's amazing how
much, how much about God is packed into these five verses. If you
only had these five verses in the word of God, You wouldn't
know everything you needed to know, but you would learn a lot
about who the Lord Jesus Christ is, that he's God. We are taught in this verse that
in eternity, notice, in beginning was the Word. Was the Word. You see, there never was a time
when the Word, the second person in the Trinity, there never was
a time when the Word did not exist. He's God, right? The Son of God. And He's existed, like I said earlier, we cannot
even begin to describe it, but from all eternity. No beginning,
no middle, no end. Eternal. In the beginning was
the Word. And notice, in the Word was with
God. Words in the scripture, they're
all significant. It doesn't say that in the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with the Father. It says that in the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God. God, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and notice, and the Word was, what? God. The Word was God. The title, The Word for the Eternal
Son of God, it tells us much about Him. Tells us much about
Him, the Word. I want to share with you just
a few thoughts that I gleaned reading in Arthur Pink's book
on the gospel of John. He said, first of all, he said,
a word is a medium of manifestation. What did he mean by that? Imagine
that right now I have a thought in my mind, or you have a thought
in your mind, but I cannot know what you're thinking Unless you
put that thought in the words. I can look at you and I can imagine
that you're thinking of one thing, but unless you put that thought
into words, there's no way that I can know. The word, you see,
it's a medium of manifestations. Words make objective, unseen
thoughts. As the word, the Lord Jesus Christ
has made manifest the invisible God. He's told out, he's manifested
God. He's told out the will and the
heart of God. Friends, how else could we have
known the will and the heart of God? Unless through the word
he would have manifested to us. We couldn't have. No more than
I can know your thoughts or you can know mine. He said, secondly,
that a word is a means of revelation. And the Lord Jesus Christ, we
talked about this Sunday night when I brought the message Sunday
night. The Lord Jesus Christ reveals the attributes and the
perfections of God. And he tells them out perfectly.
He's a means of revelation, the word, his power. Read through
the gospels, see the power of God. Lazarus. Lazarus had been dead a few days
already. And the Lord Jesus, and imagine
that scene, all these people weeping and sorrowful, and even
the Lord Jesus, we're told, wept. And he saw the awful effects
of sin on this world and on humanity. Jesus wept, it says, but you
remember, Lazarus, come forth. What happened? Lazarus came forth. Why? Because he's God. When God
speaks, things happen, right? In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. We see not only the power of
God, we see his wisdom. We see the wisdom of God and
the Lord Jesus, how God can be perfectly holy and just, and
yet justify the ungodly. Where is that revealed? Only
in the word, the Lord Jesus. We see his holiness. We see the
holiness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. That God, when the Lord
Jesus hung upon the cross, bearing our sins, believers, that God
forsook him. God turned his back on his well,
lovely, beloved son. Why? Because he's holy. How do
we know that? We know that because of the word.
in his grace. By creation, we can know that
God is powerful, but by creation, we cannot know that God is gracious.
We see suffering all around us, don't we? For the law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. For you
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ tonight? The apostle wrote to believers,
for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, although he
was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor that you, through
his poverty, might be made rich. How do we know that God is gracious?
Because of the word. That's the only way. In the Lord Jesus Christ, God
is fully, listen, in the Lord Jesus Christ, we don't need, my dad gave me a volume of books,
he's been kinda clearing out his office back there a little
bit, and he gave me a volume of books by John Newton, and
I've been kinda slowly working my way through that, but he was
talking about the Christian's library. What was necessary in
a Christian's library? You know what, he only had one
book that he said was necessary in the Christian's library. Which
book is that? This one right here? That was
the only book. It was the only book he said
was necessary. It doesn't mean that there's not other good books. It was only one necessary. And
then he talked about the book of God's providence, the book
of creation, the book of God's providence, and the book of God's
dealings with man. As we see what goes on around
us with people. He said that was the only thing
that a believer really needed in his library. And you know
what? I think he's right. That's the only thing that's
necessary. There's some other things that are nice to have.
But, and what he was encouraging this person to do is to study
the scripture. Study the scripture. That's where
the word is revealed. Word, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, if we would enjoy a fuller knowledge of God, do you want
to have a fuller knowledge of God? I think, I think you do. That's why you're here. That's
why you're here tonight. You would like to have a fuller
knowledge of God. I would also. How can we have
a fuller knowledge of God? Only by knowing more of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Word. He is the revelation of God.
If we would know more about God, if we would know God better,
then we should study the Lord Jesus Christ, because it's only
in him and through him that God can be known. Now, notice verse
two, and I'll be brief on these other verses. This same word, the same, was
in the beginning with God. So when there was no time, The
word already was. And I know that's, I'm not a
theologian. I know, I'm sure I say a lot
of things in the wrong way. But the key takeaway from that
verse is the Lord Jesus Christ, when there was no one but God,
he was. Isn't that what it says? The
same was in the beginning with God. And my friends, That is all critical. There is a lot of things that
we can maybe not agree on and still walk in fellowship. But
the fact that the Lord Jesus is God is not one of the things
that we can disagree on and still walk in fellowship. I think John describes that as
the spirit of antichrist. Right? We can't walk in fellowship
if someone doesn't believe that the Lord Jesus is God. Listen,
the only way he can be of any help to us is if he's God. You know, the fact that he's
a descendant of Abraham, if he be not God, cannot help us. The
fact that he was a wonderful servant of Jehovah, if he's not
God, he cannot help us. Isn't that true? The fact that
he was the kindest, most gracious, most wonderful man to ever walk
upon this earth. And that's true. If he is not
God, he cannot help us. The only reason that he can be
our savior is because of who he is, that he's God manifest
in the flesh. Unless he be God, his blood would
have no worth. It would not be any more worthy
than our blood. It could not put away one sin.
You see, this is this is all critical. The Lord Jesus, the
same was in the beginning with God. Verse three, all things
were made by him. And without him was not anything
made that was made. Without Him, nothing that has
ever been created was created. He, the Word, is the creator
of all. He created all. We learn that
He is the eternal God and that He was in the beginning. Right? He was in the beginning. So we
learned that he was God and that he was in the beginning. He's
described in the Old Testament as he whose goings forth have
been from old. How old? From everlasting. We learned that he is the omnipotent,
all powerful God and that without him was not anything created
that was created. Scripture says, by the word of
the Lord, all capital letters, by the word of Jehovah were the
heavens made. And our verse tells us here that
all things were made by him, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one
who, in verse 14, we're told the word was made flesh. Notice verse four. In him was
life, and the life was the light of
men. In him was life, and the life
was the life of men. The Lord Jesus, he's the giver
of life. He's the giver of all life. The Lord Jesus, he's the
giver of all life. Human life, yes. Vegetative life? Yes. All life. In him was life. And the life was the light of
man. What does that mean? That means
that there's no life apart from him. Spiritual life? Physical
life? All life. There's no life apart
from the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus told Martha, he
said, I am, what'd he say? I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believes in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth
in me, he shall never die. Believest thou this? And I asked
you tonight, do we believe this? That the Lord Jesus, the word,
that all life is in him? that he's the resurrection and
the life? There's no life apart from that faith in him. How different,
how different is the Lord Jesus Christ than how this world speaks of
him? How different is he than we even
have the faith and the understanding to even begin to enter into? He's God, right? People, every
show, it's hard to even watch TV. Every single show, it's like,
you know, Jesus this and Jesus that. And people, they're blind. They're blind. They don't understand
that the very breath with which they're taking his name in vain
is a breath that he has given them. He's the giver of all life. That means he's a giver of every
breath. Since I've said that, you've
taken a few breaths. The Lord Jesus gave those to
you. He gave those to me. That's what
the scripture teaches. That's very different than the
world's understanding, isn't it? very different than most
religious understanding of who he is. Now notice verse five,
and I'll stop. And the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehendeth it not. The truth is that apart
from the new birth, unless God the Holy Spirit in mercy and
grace comes to us and gives us life, gives us light, opens our
eyes to see who the Lord Jesus Christ is. We cannot grasp it. We cannot obtain it. We cannot.
That's what it says. And the light shineth in darkness. the darkness comprehendeth it
not, apprehends it not. The Lord Jesus, the biggest atheist
that's walking upon the face of this earth today, right at
this very second, the Lord Jesus has given that person breath
and life. But the light that says, and
the darkness, it comprehends it not. Just how blind are we? We're so blind that the light
was walking in this world and someone had to point him out.
Hey, there's the light. There's the light. Why would
that be necessary? That's just how dark we are by
nature. If we tonight can see, I didn't
share with you anything that you haven't heard before tonight,
but if you tonight, if you can see just this, that Jesus is
the Son of God. He's the Word of God who has
been from all eternity. Then you have reason to praise
God tonight. Majority of humanity cannot see
that. They cannot comprehend it. They
cannot apprehend it. Praise God for his mercy. Amen.
Amen. Amen. Brother Bill, if you would.