Let me read my text. John 1.1
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 the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was
a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a
witness, to bear witness of the light that all men through him
might believe. He was not that light that was
sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was
in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew
him not. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. But 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 were born not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. And 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. There's
much more in there than I can possibly do. We'll just look
at the first few verses today. But I want us to be reminded
again, I quoted that verse from John 20, that these things are
written that you might believe. We might believe there are so
many things that we don't understand, but we believe. We have no notion
of what it is for God to be three in one. We have no notion of
the physics of all of what's involved in creation, let alone
the physics of what's involved in resurrection. There are so
many things which we hold by faith. But we've looked at John 17 and
that prayer and those petitions of the Lord Jesus Christ and
he wants for there to be union and communion and mutual indwelling
of he with his people as he and his father are one. But I want
us to continually be reminded of several things as we go through
John's gospel. The question that the Lord asked
of Peter. He didn't say, do you know about
me? Do you know who I am? What was
that great question that John's Gospel finishes with? The purpose of coming and seeing
and abiding is to know Him and to have eternal life in Him.
For those who have eternal life in Him, love Him. That's my prayer
for us, that the Lord would be the one who speaks to us, that
the Lord would be the one who causes his son to be exalted
and that those petitions that we read and will continue to
look at in John 17 are fulfilled in us and fulfilled amongst us. What a glorious beginning. 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. And what a glorious declaration
of God's self-sufficiency, and what a glorious declaration of
our dependence. And of course your mind, no doubt,
is drawn as John wishes you to be drawn back to Genesis 1. And
he is echoing the words of Genesis 1, isn't it? In the beginning
God, in the beginning God at the foundation of absolutely
everything is God. In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and
void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit
of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said, and
God said, let there be light. See, in that original creation,
there was light before there was a creation. The only way
we'll understand and see the glory of God is for him to shine
light. And so it's not only here we
read it in 1 John at the beginning of our service, but in Revelation,
in John's writings, this is something that captivates him in so many
ways. He speaks of the God of peace. God for peace, the Alpha and
the Omega. He speaks of grace and peace
from him who was, which is, and which was, and which is to come.
In verse 8 he speaks, he says, I'm the Alpha and the Omega.
He's all the alphabet. He's all the alphabet. He's the
beginning and the end and he's every other letter in between.
The beginning, I'm the Alpha Ending. He says in verse 11 of
Revelation, I'm the offering, Omega, the first and the last.
The first and the last, the beginning. in the beginning. Genesis starts
with the beginning and goes in this direction towards creation,
so it's moving in our time. John in John's Gospel says in
the beginning and he goes back to what was before the beginning. Not that Genesis is not saying
that, but it's not saying it in the same way that John's saying
it. In the beginning in the beginning was that word is a word of existence
always in existence in the beginning it speaks it speaks of creation
coming from nothing that God alone is the one who creates
and it's never ever our job and it's not the Bible's intention
at one moment ever to try and explain that or to Creation is its own testimony,
and your conscience tells you so. Our God created, in the beginning,
God. Now obviously this word beginning
needs at the very beginning of the Gospel to have some understanding
in our minds. And it's not obviously a reference
to God's beginning. From everlasting to everlasting
thou art God. God is infinite. God is eternal. God has no beginning. God has
no end. It is a reference to the events
that occurred prior to the foundation of the world. You might remember
from Psalm 2, it says, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. So this day, it's beginning,
it's the beginning, it's like the beginning, isn't it? It is
when the decree concerning redemption, it's when the eternal covenant
promises, that transaction that we just sang about, came into
existence. See, the reality is, that once
we go back from the beginning of time, we're delving into a
realm about which we have absolutely no idea, and you have to express
ignorance at the very beginning of it. Because God was, and God
transacted things in that beginning, and how you want to lay any particular
timeline to a place where there was no time is just God is God, and He's bigger than
us. God is God. And we ought not
be concerned so much about how little we know, as extraordinarily
thankful to God about how much He has revealed to us. And all
that we know, and all we'll ever know, with any meaning whatsoever,
is what He chooses to reveal to us. as covenant transactions. We
read about them in John 17, didn't we? It was part of the Lord's
prayer as he went to the cross. He says, you've given them to
me. All that are yours you've given to me and all that I have
is what you have given me. He's speaking about that eternal
covenant when he entered into that transaction where the Father
gave him a people, gave him a bride, and the Lord Jesus Christ stood
up as a surety. And at that moment, at that moment
is the surety. He took absolute and full responsibility
for all of their sin and for all of their righteousness before
God. He is the surety. He is the surety. The first time this word surety
is used, and you can read about it in Hebrews 7, 22, and in many,
many other places, it is the covenant. The covenant is a person.
This covenant in Isaiah 49 and Isaiah 42 is a person, but he's
a surety. Where you have a surety, things
are sure. Your salvation and my salvation
are as sure as our surety is. Judah, who represents the Lord
Jesus Christ as the first one referred to as the surety in
the scripture. He says, Send the land with me,
and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die. Genesis
43.8. Both we and thou, and also our
little ones, I will be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou
require him. If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever. Our God is everlasting. Our glorious Redeemer as the
Son of God is everlasting, and the Holy Spirit is everlasting.
But he is declared at this time in the beginning, in John 1.14,
it says, And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and
we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father. That's a reference, as the word
beginning is, is a reference to the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ in his office and his character as the mediator, as
the redeemer, as the reconciler, as the saviour of his people. beginning is the commencing.
In a sense it's that glorious commissioning of the Lord Jesus
Christ as the mediator. He was foreordained from the
foundation of the world. He was one with the Father God,
blessed forever. He was one in union with his
bride, his church and his sheep. And he's there to communicate
to them grace and peace and love, and he does it particularly personally,
and he does it purposely, and he does it powerfully. But in
this transaction, before the foundation of the world, is the lamb slain, it says, from
the foundation of the world. The lamb that was slain from
the foundation of the world. Embedded in this word beginning
is this transaction and these covenant arrangements, but embedded
in it is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ as our representative
and our substitute, our redeemer, our sin bearer, our wrath bearer
before God. It was done. He took on flesh. It says he was made flesh. This one who was the Word. He
had an eternal everlasting existence. And his name is called the Word. The first name of the Lord Jesus
Christ that John brings us to is the Word. He's the one who
speaks, and he speaks existence into reality. He's the one that
by his speaking reveals the mind and purpose and the character
of God. See, unless God speaks, there
is no light. Unless God speaks, there is no
life. It's only by revelation do we
understand anything of God. There is another phrase that's
related to the beginning. As I said earlier, I don't know
how, when there is no time, you can differentiate these things. But nevertheless, the other phrase
that is used so regularly in the scriptures is the foundation
of the world. foundation of the world. John
is wanting us to go back and see these things before the foundation
of the world. We read it in John 17, didn't
we? John 17, 24. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory which thou hast given me. For thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world. He prayed that he would
have the glory and I love the way he speaks of it in John 17
in his prayer. You listen to it again, it's
remarkable, the language is extraordinary. He says in verse five of John
17, and our father glorify thou me, with thine own self, with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was." Before the world was. See, before
the foundation of the world, in these covenant arrangements
that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
entered into, there was, according to Matthew 25, a kingdom prepared
from the foundation of the world. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
was shed from the foundation of the world, according to Revelation,
but the blood of the saints, it says, the blood of Luke 1150
for the blood of all the prophets which was shed. Ephesians 1 is that glorious
passage which speaks of all of those multitude blessings that
we have in God. Hebrews 4 verse 3 says the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. I love the sureness
of all of these things and the comprehensiveness of it. We read
that verse in 2 Timothy 1 regularly because it is so powerful and
poignant and speaks so wonderfully of the glories of our salvation
and it's secure. If it was secure in eternity,
then I can't mess it up, brothers and sisters. If it was secure
and finished in eternity, then my sins and my failings and my
weakness and my lack of understanding of things and my lack of obedience
in the things that I ought to do, all of what has transpired
is done and finished. And I can go into the presence
of God with joy as a sinner. That's the joy that John wanted
the people, the brethren, to have. 1 Timothy 1, we read them
often, doesn't he? God, you'll suffer afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God. You have suffered,
all of you children of God have suffered afflictions according
to the power of God. If you suffer afflictions, then
God has brought those afflictions. of having this foundation, isn't
it? Because everything goes back to the foundation. Everything
that ever exists and everything that ever unfolds in all of this
universe is always on that foundation. We live in an age where that
foundation has been destroyed and the root cause of that destruction
is in the false Gospels that actually deny these things in
so many ways and deny the glory and the character of our God.
But let's go back and listen to what God says. You'll suffer
these afflictions. Verse nine of 1 Timothy 1. It's interesting, I heard a reformed
man, the longer you spend around reformed people, the more you're
concerned about them. I was around a reformed man once and he said
that holy calling is us being holy. Us being holy. Listen to what it says. He's
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works. And
there he was saying it was our works. The very word of God contradicts
the legalism and self-righteousness of all sorts. It's a holy calling,
not according to our works. Not according to our works. Aren't
you thankful it's not according to your works? Dear, oh dear,
I am. And the longer I go on, the more
aware I am of the depth of my sin and the depth of my need
for a savior. I think that's what growing in
grace and truth's all about. to grow in grace is not to grow
in holiness, to grow in grace is to grow in neediness, to grow
in the reality of who you are, but also the glorious reality
of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. He saved us, he saved us,
when did he save us? When did he call us? According,
according to his own purpose and grace. which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. So these are these transactions,
aren't they? The transactions that involve
this covenant surety before the foundation of the world. We don't
have time to read Ephesians 1, but if you don't find Ephesians
1 the most delightful exposition of all the glories of redeeming
love and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all is to the praise of the glory
of His grace. You were chosen, chosen before
the foundation of the world. You were blessed with all spiritual
blessings in Christ before the foundation. You were predestinated. You were loved. You were adopted. You were accepted in the beloved. You were redeemed. You were brought back from the
fall in which you participated. You're sanctified. You're known. And you know Him. You have an
inheritance. You're called and you're sealed. It's all in Christ. It's all
in Christ. God the Father is the fountain
of all grace. God the Blessed Son is the medium
of all grace and God the Holy Spirit takes these things of
the Lord Jesus Christ and he applies them and affectionately
sprinkles the blood of that slain lamb upon the hearts of his people. was the word it's called he's
called the word of life in John 5 7 it's part of the record isn't
there three that their record in heaven look at this at the
end of their service the father the word and the Holy Ghost the
word speak I reveal what's in my mind
and so do you when God speaks he reveals what's in him he reveals
his thoughts he reveals his desires he reveals what with us. They spoke to each other. Don't you recall? The Father
speaks to the Son and the Son speaks to the Father. We've just
read that glorious prayer where they speak to each other. It
is the means by which we communicate. The Word simply is deity expressing
itself. John says it again in verse 18,
he says, no man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
Him. He declares Him. He's the brightness, I love what
Hebrews 1 says, isn't he? He's the brightness of his glory,
and the express image of his person. See, God's, and Hebrews
1 goes on to say, doesn't he? The God in sundry times, in a
diverse manner spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by son. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
word of creation, is the word of communication, is the word
of manifestation, and is the final word, the last word that
God has to say to this fallen world, is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's appointed heir of all things
and by whom he made the world. A glorious word. He is the word
of God. He's God's final word. His judgement of us is based
on our response to what he says. Deuteronomy 18 promises a prophet. A prophet that will come into
this world and you'll hear that prophet. You'll hear that prophet
in two ways. You'll hear him to the prophet
of your eternal soul. or you'll reject his word to
your everlasting condemnation. A prophet will come into this
world. In Acts 3, Peter says, they shall
hear him. God's people shall hear him. The Lord Jesus, in many places,
says that his word will judge you. He is the Word of God, the
glorious Word of God. Your relationship with Him is
revealed in many ways, and you know it for yourselves, brothers
and sisters. Your relationship with Him is
in many ways revealed by your relationship with His Word. You
love Him. You love His Word. So the Word of God The Word of
God is the Holy Scriptures. It's God-breathed, God-inspired
scriptures. The Word of God is the Living
Word. Hebrews describes the Word of God in exactly the same terms
you'd describe the Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 4, the Word
of God is quick, is alive. Is the Lord Jesus Christ alive?
And powerful. The Lord Jesus Christ is powerful,
the word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is sharper
than any two-edged sword. The Lord Jesus Christ, piercing
even to dividing a son to soul and spirit and the joints and
marrows. The Lord Jesus Christ, the word of God, is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. God sees all. The Word of God is the title
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have read on many occasions
this glorious description of him in Revelation chapter 19
verse 11. I saw heaven open and behold
a white horse. And we know this is pictural
language. And he that sat upon him is called faithful and true
and in righteousness doth he judge and make war. His eyes
were as a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns and
he had a name written that no man knew but he himself and he
was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood in his name. He goes out in triumph in this
world as the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word was with God. The Word
existed in the presence of God. The Word was with God. It's an
extraordinary description, isn't it? Because it means face to
face with God. So here we have John expressing
the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is both one with His Father
and perfectly in union and communion with His Father. was with God. It means face to
face, it means also to be And it also has the indication
of being in motion. This eternal covenant agreement
was setting in place all of what transpires in all of the rest
of history for the glory of God and for the redemption of his
people. These rules over all things that he might come and
reveal himself in saving mercy to his people. The word was with
God. See, before there was a world,
there was a God. Before there was a world, there
was a God. And the God had glory, one with
the other. And God had love, one with the
other. And God had no need. He was lacking
nothing. The fact that he creates, and communion and fellowship
that they had would be expanded and embrace us who were there
in the most remarkable way. We were the gift, as John 17
says, we were the gift of God the Father. There was to be a marriage, and
in the beginning there was a betrothal. The word was with God. One of the things that I think
is so significant in this exaltation at the very beginning of John's
Gospel is that the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ in all
of his pre-incarnate glory is there to show us who he is, but
also to reveal to us and to cause us to know the extraordinary
condescension that he had. The extraordinary depths, the
extraordinary heights from which he came into this world to be
made sin, to be made before Herod as nothing. To the glory of our
salvation and the wonder of our salvation is wrapped up in the
glory of his person. The extraordinary sinfulness
of our sin is exposed in the extraordinary condescension of
the Son that He might come down here and live amongst us in all
of our humanity to suffer all that He did. We must, as we go
through John's Gospel again and again, back to the cross, because
all of this, the great place where he was be glorified, that's
what he says in his prayer, isn't it? Glorify me. Where's he going
to get glory? He's going to be glorified in
the cross, isn't he? Where all of the glorious attributes
of God, where the word as a revealer reveals the character of God
in ways that could not be revealed in any other way. The only way we know the depths
of love is at the cross, the depths of grace, the depths of
mercy, the love of God, that breadth and height and width
that Paul spoke of. All of it is revealed in the
Lord Jesus Christ, the extraordinary holiness of God. the extraordinary justice of
God. See, all is manifest by a word,
and all of the glory of the word is revealed ultimately in the
cross and in his resurrection. See, the word was God. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. All you'll ever see of God is
him. That's what he says to Philip.
Philip says, show us the Father and I'll be happy. I'll be satisfied. Yes, Philip, you've been with
me so long, Philip. If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. Now, under Thomas cried out,
and he said, my Lord and my God. God has made this same Jesus
whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. is God manifest in
the flesh. He's an annual God with us. He is, in the words of Isaiah
9, the mighty God. As Paul said in 1 Timothy 3.16,
without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God
was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh.
Jesus Christ is God. Don't you like That means that everything that
wriggles in this world, wriggles because he allows it to wriggle.
This world is sustained and maintained by him. We've been, this world,
this Western world, all this world has been ravaged by this
virus. Do you know how big, how big
a container you need to contain all of the coronavirus in the
world? economies and all sorts of other
things sent people into all sorts of that much that much God by
sending that much into this world. Hebrews 1 says he upholds that
the only reason the sun shining the only reason is sitting here
is And in fact, in the original,
it says the Word was with God, was face to face, facing toward
God in union and communion with Him. And then it says, and God
was the Word. God was the Word. And the same,
the same was in the beginning with God. John's repetitions are not just
idle repetitions. He writes with the most beautiful
simplicity, and I pray that you might pray with me that as we
go through John's Gospel, the Lord would allow us to just delight
in the simplicity of what is said in the Word of God, and
that we might, as John prayed and said in 1 John 1, that our
joy might be complete. Our joy might be complete. All
things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that
was made. He is the Word. He is with God. He is God Himself. He is the
same. He is in the beginning with God.
And He is the Creator of all things. All things are created
by Him. All things are created for Him.
All things are created for His It's created in a ruler. Nothing
is out of control, brothers and sisters in Christ. Nothing is
out of control. Everything is going exactly according
to that eternal covenant which is ordered and sure in every
detail. I want us to finish by looking
at 1 John 5. I just might turn there a little
bit. It's another declaration of this
word. The word is now finished, his work is come. He's done his
work on Calvary's cross. He's done his work of redemption
of his people. He's done his work of living
before God, before the law of God and perfect holy righteousness
before God that he might be the perfect sacrifice for sins. And he goes gloriously back into
heaven. He says in verse 7, and now,
right now, right now, brothers and sisters, right now, for there
are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. These three are
one. It's a record, isn't there? They're
bearing record in heaven now. What are they bearing record
of right now as we sit here in 2021 in a little old hall in
our unknown to this world? What are they bearing record
of? Are they bearing record of the
fact that Jesus is God? Are they bearing record that
Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God? That's not what they're bearing
record of. There's a record being born in heaven right now for
every one of God's children. Go down to verse 11, we'll see
what the record is. 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. It's a record, isn't it? The Father bears record of His
Son. Redemption is accomplished. It's finished. The debt is paid
in full. The Son of God has come back
triumphantly into heaven, bearing those wounds and bearing his
people. And the record is that he's a
successful substitute. The surety has done his work.
The mediator is accepted into heaven and all of the children
of God, all of those ones that he gave to him in eternity, and
all of those ones that the Lord Jesus Christ entered into their
covenant with, blubber that words graced graced
in the beloved God the Sun right now is bearing record in heaven
his wounded presence right right now he says that he's meeting
with us because he's gathered us together he also says that
he's interceding for us in heaven he's advocating for us isn't "'My little children,' says John
in 1 John 2, "'these things write I unto you, that you sin not,
"'and if any man sin.'" He's not excluding the possibility
of sin one little tiny bit. "'And if any man sin, we have
an Advocate with the Father.'" We don't lose an Advocate with
the Father because of our sin. We have an Advocate with the
Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. He has, there is a record in
heaven, and they bear witness to it in heaven.
The record is that His righteousness is the righteous representative
to us. God is satisfied in our substitute. Satisfaction and substitution. The Holy Spirit bears record
in heaven by effectually applying the blood to the hearts and the
consciences of those who are loved and called of God. Listen
to verse 10 of our text in 1 John 5 where we're looking. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. There is a witness that God bears
in the hearts of his people. Do you believe? believing you know that your
sins are gone, that you have eternal life in him. As John
the Baptist says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world. God's gift to us is eternal life. There's lots of giving in John's
Gospel and lots of receiving. Every time God gives, the recipients
receive. The recipients receive. The Holy
Spirit bears witness. He affectionately applies the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to the hearts. And he comforts
his people with his words. But the words that we are reading
and the promises that I'm recording for you here are not my words. They are the very words of God. The words of God, our Saviour. For your faithfulness to your
word, we praise you, Heavenly Father, that you have seen fit
in sovereign grace and mercy, which was given us in your Son
before the foundation of the world, that you have come and
shone a light into the darkness of our hearts. and taking away
our heart of stone and giving us a heart of flesh that can
believe your son, that can be moved by your son, that can love
your son, that can look to your son on
Calvary's tree and his shed blood and his broken body and find
there a heavenly father in all of his our peace with you, our reconciliation
with you, that as he was with God in the beginning, we can
be with God. Indwelt by him, us dwelling in
him, and him dwelling in us. the grace, grant us the peace
of believing. Cause us, our Father, to look
to your Son and Him crucified, to keep looking, to believe,
and keep on believing. We pray these things, Heavenly
Father, for the glory of your dear and precious Son, in whose
name we pray, in whose very being we come into your presence, our
Father.