John chapter 1. I'm just going
to look at the first five verses here in John chapter 1. Lord
willing, I want to go through the gospel of John. I don't think
we've done that. I think we went through Matthew.
I was trying to think last night of all the books we've gone through.
If you can remember it, write it down and give it to me. I
thought of a lot of them, several of them we went through, but
I thought if I'm missing one here, it doesn't matter if we
go back through it, we will eventually, but I want to go through the
Gospel of John. I think it's very important that
we, as often as we can, go through the Gospels, because in the Gospels
we get to watch the Lord of Glory. Watch how he walks among men.
Watch how he handles sinners. And listen to his conversation. It's listening to God. You're
listening to God. You're watching God Almighty
deal with men. Sinners and hypocrites and Pharisees. I tell you, it's
just like sitting back and watching it. Now, we're going to look here
at the Gospel of John. John's Gospel focuses on the
deity of Christ probably more than all the others. And they focus on his deity,
but not like John. You see, Matthew, when you go
read Matthew, he starts speaking of the Lord in his genealogy. And he gives the genealogy in
his reference to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all those,
and it goes right down to that genealogy. Mark basically speaks
of him in the eyes of looking at someone as a servant. John,
someone said this, someone said, the other three gospels start
looking at Christ from the outside. John looks at him from the inside.
John starts right off the bat with a deity of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now in the first five verses
of this chapter, we see what majesty I like that, Your Majesty. We see the majesty and glory
in this man, Jesus Christ, right from the beginning. It's like
the sun shining in its strength. It's what it's like. And this
is John's writing. You know, John seems to be or
have been the closest of all the disciples and the apostles,
he seems to be the closest to the Lord. He's the one who leaned
upon the Lord's breast. When he writes about him, he
gets right to the very glory of this man, Jesus Christ. Look over in 1 John, look how
he starts that epistle. Listen to this. This is how John
starts his first epistle, 1 John. 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. That's what he's going to talk
about here in the Gospel of John, the Word. Here he calls it the
Word of life. For the life was manifested,
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, revealed to us. And that life that was manifested
is the Word of God. And John starts out with the
eternal existence of the Lord Jesus Christ right from the beginning.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God." What is a Word? You hear me this morning by words. If I don't say anything this
morning, you have no clue what's going on in my mind. I have to
open my mouth and let the words flow out. And you'll understand
what I'm thinking. You'll understand what's in my
mind. Jesus Christ is the Word of God. He is the, as one writer
said, the expression of God. It's interesting, I thought about
this this morning, It's interesting when God said, let us make man
in our likeness and after our image. And one of the very things
He gave to us is the ability to use words, to use a word. And Christ is the Word of God. He's the expression of God. Listen
here in Hebrews 1, 2 and 3. Speaking of Christ, God the Father
hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. He's the
final spokesman. He's that prophet. Whom He hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds.
Nothing exists without Him. We'll see that. Who being the
brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. upholding all things by the word
of His power, when He had by Himself purged us from our sins,
He sat down at the right hand of God. But He's the express
image, He's the expression of God. For God to reveal Himself
to anyone, you're going to have it through the Word, the Word
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the Word is also, it's
not only an expression, it's a revelation. Christ is the revelation
of God. He said to the disciples, He
that has seen me has seen the Father. Show us the Father. You're looking at Him. He's the
expression, He's the revelation of God. And He's all the revelation
of God you and I are ever going to have. He says here in Matthew 11, 27,
all things are delivered unto me of my father, and no man knoweth
the son, but the father, neither knoweth any man the father save
the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. He's the revelation. You cannot
know God apart from Jesus Christ. Now you can know there is a God
by creation. You can know something of His
power, something of His wisdom. But to know God, to know the
fullness of God and His attributes, to know Him as a person, to know
Him, you have to know Him through Jesus Christ. If you want to
study God, study Jesus Christ. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. To learn of Christ is to learn
of God. Now He says, In the beginning, The proper reading of this is,
in beginning, in beginning, in beginning of everything in heaven
and earth, Christ, the Word of God, was already there. Whatever
has a beginning, Christ is there. He's there. He has no beginning.
He's already there. He's the one who has no beginning
of day nor end of life. That's the Son of God. All beginnings
began with Him. All beginnings began with Him.
He is the eternal God. Like over in Genesis 1.1, in
the beginning, God. You know who that is? That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. Right there in Genesis 1.1. And
the Word was with God. It's not saying he was in God,
it says he was with God. This is speaking of a distinct
personality of the Son of God. A.W. Pink says that the word
was here has two meanings in the Greek. In this verse, it
means to exist. In the beginning, he existed
with God. You read that over in Proverbs
8 when he speaks of wisdom. I was by him as one brought up
with him. He existed. In verse 3 and 6, look in verse
3. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not. The word was there, and in verse
6, there was a man. The word there means, here's
what it means. It means came into being. It means came into
being. You see, when it speaks of Christ,
it means existed. When it speaks of John and everything
else, they came into being. Jesus Christ did not come into
being. The Son of God did not come into being. He's always
existed. Always. He's eternal. He's eternal.
Everything else came into being by Him. And it says he was with
God, and this here shows that Christ has a distinct personality
from the Father, even though there's just one God. There's
only one God, but there are three distinct persons in the Godhead.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is written in
1 John 5.7, For there are three that bear record in heaven, the
Father, The Word, and it's capitalized W, and the Holy Ghost, and these
three are one. They are one God. And the Word was with God, or
God was the Word. You know, the old English translation
that was authorized by King Henry VIII has it written, God was
the Word. And then it was changed to, the
Word was God, which is fine. It's a fine translation. But
originally it was translated, God was the Word. He's the Word. There's no denying. Here's what
John is stating here, because everything John has to say after
this, and all the work, all the work, all the work that Christ
will do after this hinges on this. It hinges on this. And there's no denying that Jesus
Christ is God manifest in the flesh. This is extremely important
because of who is hanging or who hung on that cross. Who hung
on that cross? Just a man? God in human flesh. God in a body. A body has thou
prepared me hung on that cross. Why is it so important? Because
the efficacy of all that our Lord did and suffered, even in
His death, hinges, now it hinges, on Him being God. The efficacy of all that He's
doing in heaven right now hinges on Him being God. Let me give
you an example. How can He be with us this morning?
We believe the Lord is present with us. When two or three are
gathered together, they are in the midst of them. How can He
be present with us this morning and at the same time, present
with other local churches throughout the world, except He be God? That's the only way. If He's
just a man, He's confined to that, just like you and I. We're
confined to space. We're confined to a body. We're
confined to a place. He's not because He's God. That's
how he can be, he's omnipresent, he's everywhere. That's how he
can do it. And then the advocacy of his blood hinges on him being
God. The blood of a man, though he be ever so good man, such
a good man, would do us no good and would not make atonement
for our sins unless that man is God. If the blood that flows through
his veins, now listen, If the blood that flows through his
veins is the blood of God, then He can make atonement for
our sins. He can make atonement. Acts 20, 28. Listen to this. Paul says to the church, Take
heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church
of God, to feed the church of God which He hath purchased with
His own blood. Who purchased? God did. God did. What a mystery. What a profound
mystery. And yet what a glorious, glorious
truth that God Almighty in human flesh hung on a cross. and shed
His blood for our sins, to make atonement for them." And Him being God is the reason
He's able to save to the uttermost, then come unto God by Him, seeing
He ever lives to make intercession for them. He's able because of
who He is. He's God. He's the mighty God. He's the mighty God. And this
being so, what reverence and love do Him? What reverence, respect, and
love is due the Lord for He's God. And what comfort it affords
those who believe in Him. I'm trusting God. David said,
God has become my salvation. God's become my salvation. And
what security believers have in Him. If God is my salvation,
no one can destroy that, not even me. And then what boldness
we should have at the throne of grace. Thou shalt call His name Immanuel,
being interpreted, God with us." God is with us and God is for
us. If God be for us, who can be against us? That's what Paul
says in Romans 10. And then John repeats this in
verse 2. And the reason why he repeats
this, the same was in the beginning with God, is to emphasize the
great importance of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know, many believe that the Jehovah's Witnesses, they believe He's
not God. The Mormons believe He's not God. The Jews over there believe He's
not the Messiah, He's not God. But you do. You do. We looked at that blind man.
I think it was last week in chapter 9 of John. Christ said, Do you
believe on the Son of God? Who is He? He said, You're looking
at Him. It's the one talking to you.
He said, I believe. I believe. Isn't that what Philip
asked the eunuch? He believed on the Son of God?
He said, I believe. I believe. I tell you this first
and foremost. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. That Jesus Christ is God manifest
in the flesh. That's who He is. That's who
He is. Now with that foundation, we're
able to learn. If we don't believe that, if
we don't understand that, We don't need to go any further,
because what we're going to learn is not going to be right. Because
you know this, God cannot fail. God cannot fail. Can't do it. And then the Word
here, the Lord Jesus Christ, is said to be the Creator. All
things were made by Him. You notice how it goes from the
Word, and now He speaks of Him as Him. A person. He speaks of
a person. The Word of God is a person,
a real living person. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything that was made. Listen to Colossians
1, in Colossians 1, verse 16-17. For by Him, the Lord Jesus Christ,
by Him, the Word of God, were all things created that are in
heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones or dominions, principalities or powers. All things were created
by Him and for Him." For Him. It's all for Him. And He is before all things.
He existed before all things. And by Him, all things consist,
are held together. By the Word of His power, they
are. They're held together. Can you imagine I mean, this
is how dead people are, because they really don't think about
what they believe. To think that this all started with a big bang,
and all these millions and trillions of stars out there are going
to hold their place. They're going to stay in orbit.
They're going to stay in their place. The Earth is going to stay in
its place. It's not going to break loose and go out into orbit. All that by a big bang. Aren't
you glad that God has made himself known to you and you know that
by the word of his power, all things are held together? I'm
not afraid of a shooting star or a comet or some cosmic disaster. The Lord says, stay right there. And that sun comes up at the
same time every year and every season changes right on time.
You know how it does so? By the word of His power. Remember
that one centurion said, Speak and my servant will be healed.
I believe it's in this gospel. John only records, I think, seven
miracles. And all of them have to do with
His deity because at that time He just spoke and that servant
was healed. He didn't even go to see Him, didn't go to the
house or anything. He just spoke. He just spoke. Only God can do
that. Only God can be a thousand miles
away and say, be healed. Only God can be in heaven. And
who knows? I mean, we're still looking at
the first heaven, aren't we? We're still looking at the, I
guess it's called second heaven, where the stars are. They still can't go out to the
end of that. And the Lord says, live, and you live. Creation is ascribed to the Word,
Jesus Christ. It's another proof of His deity.
His creating all things show us this. It shows His omnipotent
power. Is there anything too hard for
the Lord? When I consider all that God has done and all that
He's created, my little troubles are nothing. Really? My little
problem, my problems are just, they're little. Listen, they
might be big to me, but they're little to Him. Everything's little
to God. He's so great. And then it speaks
of His infinite knowledge. All of this, all that we see,
listen, all that we see came out of His mind. That's amazing. And it speaks of His infinite
wisdom, how He makes all this variety work together in such
harmony. Can you do that? Well, the greatest engineers
in the world can't do that. They can't do it. You get a few hundred
thousand miles, used to you didn't even get more than 50,000 miles
out of a car and you had to overhaul it. He hasn't had to overhaul
anything. Creation is still going on just
like it always has. But what he's saying here, nothing
was done apart from the Word of God. Nothing was done apart
from that man, Jesus Christ. The Trinity never works independently
of each other. Christ said, not my will but
thine be done. God said, let us make man in our image. He
said, let us go down at the Tower of Babel. Let us go down. They
never operate independently of each other because they're one.
And then life in verse 4, life is ascribed to the Word In Him, see the word is a person,
in Him was life. And the light was the light of
men. He's the creator of all things.
He's the life giver. He's the fountain of life to
all things. You know everything has life from Him. Even those
who hate Him. Those who don't believe on Him
have life from Him. Here's responsibility now, here's
human responsibility. He's given, everyone that's come
into this world, he's given them life and light. The law of God's
written on the heart. You can take people that's never
even read a law, ever heard of the law, and they know it's wrong
to murder. They know that's wrong, they
know adultery's wrong. They know stealing is wrong. How they know
that? The law's written on the heart. He's the light that lighteth
every man that cometh into the world. He's given every man and
woman a conscience, and the law's written on it. Now, through much
sinning, we sear it. People can sear their conscience.
But I tell you this, there's enough light given of God in
the heart that it would compel a man or woman to seek the Creator. Go over and read Romans chapter
1. But they don't do it. They don't do it. Because we
love darkness. We love darkness rather than
light. Now the word light here also
speaks of a relationship which Christ is to all men. He's the
light that lighteth every man that comes into the world. Every rational man is morally
enlightened. and accountable to Him who's
given them light. That's where accountability comes
from. He's given you light. He's given
you life. And then we thumb our nose up
at Him and tell Him, go take a hike. In verse 5, and the light shineth. It's still shining. It's shining
here this morning. We're reading the Word of God.
The light is shining this morning. Not all see it. Not everyone
here sees it. Not everyone here even gives
a flip about it. Some do, some don't. Not everyone. This shows how devastating the
fall was. And the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehended it not. But I don't understand. Unless He gives us spiritual
life and light, we won't, because we are steeped in darkness. You
know there's such a thing as dark light? You know there is dark light? If the light in you be darkness,
how great is that darkness? If the light you have is darkness,
How great is it? Man, the light is shining and
man can't see it. He cannot see the light. It's
like that man that was blind from birth. He'd never seen light. He'd never seen what we call
the light of day. He never saw his parents, what they looked
like, or his brothers and sisters, if he had them, and I'm sure
he did. He never knew what a tree looked like. He never knew what
anything looked like. He was blind. But there he sat. There he sat. In the daytime,
when the Lord walked up to him, the light was shining. The sun
was shining. The sunlight was shining. He
didn't know it. I'm sure he could feel its warmth,
but the light was on and he didn't know. He couldn't comprehend
it. Why? He's blind. And that's why people, when they
hear the gospel, it's just like, well, to the Greeks, it's foolishness,
and to the Jews, it's a stumbling block. It's because they're blind. The light's shining, but they
can't comprehend it. There has to be a given a new
mind, a new heart, a new nature. in order to receive truth, in
order to receive the light. That's why it's so foolish when
I hear preachers begging sinners to do something, to do something
for God. They're blind, deaf, and dumb,
and you're going to ask them to do something. I'll tell you what I do. When
I come here and I preach, I pray. This morning, I tell you, this
morning I prayed. I said, Lord, those who are here who do not
believe, enable them to believe. I'm not asking anybody here to
do something for Christ. I'm asking Christ to do something
for you. Because you don't ask a dead man. Now if there's a
casket up here and I ask a man in that casket, man or woman,
dead, if I asked him to get up, you would know I'm crazy. You wouldn't have to think. You'd
know I'm crazy if I'm asking him to get up. That's the same
thing of asking a dead sinner to do something in order to be saved. I'm asking
God to do something for the sinner. Give them life. Give them life. If they have life, they can come
to you. If they have life, they can believe you. If they have
life, they can hear. But if they're dead, well, they're just dead. I have no trouble understanding
what dead means. That's pretty simple. Pretty
simple. It says in John 540 that every
man that comes into the world, he gives them light, but yet
we're taught that they are in darkness and they can't comprehend
the light that's coming to the world. Can't do it. The unregenerate man, until God
saves him, until God saves him, will remain in darkness. And
the gospel will be such a mystery. You who believe when you heard
the gospel and God sent it to you in power, you know what you
said? You may not have said it in the exact word, but you, I
see. I understand. Because God has commanded
the light of the glory of God to shine in your hearts in the
face of Jesus Christ. He's commanded that light to
shine in you. You see, the light's shining
to everyone here this morning. The light's shining to everyone.
But there are some whom God has commanded the light to shine
in them. And you see the light. And that light is a person. It's
the Lord Jesus Christ. What glory and majesty is in
Jesus Christ? And John starts out his gospel
pointing out the deity of Jesus Christ. Because everything after
this hinges on Him being God. That's what it hinges on, Him
being God.