Now, here in John chapter 1,
the Gospel of John chapter 1, we have the Deity of the Lord
Jesus Christ set forth right from the beginning. Now, I titled
this message, The Word of God Was Made Flesh. The Word of God
was made flesh. And this Word that was from the
beginning is Jesus Christ. The person spoken of here in
this chapter, right from the beginning, is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And what John does, he does not
set him forth right from the beginning as a son of man, but
as a son of God. This is the Son of God. That's
what he's talking about. He sets forth His deity. In the
beginning was the Word. John sets forth the eternality
of Jesus Christ. Christ as God is eternal. He has no beginning of days nor
end of life. He is the eternal God. As it
is written in Isaiah 9, 6, it is written, Unto us a child is
born, unto us a son is given. The child is born. The manhood
of Christ was created. It's real. He had a real soul,
a real body, real spirit. He's a man. He's a man in every
way. Yet that man is the living God. He is the living God. The Son is given. The Son was
not created. He is the eternal God. I tell
you this, if He's not God, He can do us no good. If Jesus Christ
is not God Almighty in the flesh, the salvation that you and I
stand in need of, He can't do anything for us. Only God can
save us. Only God can save from sin. No
one else, nothing else can save us from sin. Only God can do
that. We see here that the sun is set
forth before time. He created time. The Son of God
created time. But He Himself is not created.
He's eternal. As far back as we can go, in
the beginning, and in the Greek it just says, in beginning. It
just says, in beginning. When was that? I don't know.
Wherever, whenever. If He's speaking of creation,
there's the Lord. If He's speaking of eternity,
there He is. He's eternal. And the Word was
with God. This tells of His distinct personality
in the Trinity. It does not say that He was in
God. It says He was with God, equal
with God. It says on Philippians that He
thought it not robbery that the Lord Jesus Christ, though He
was a servant, He thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. Now it would be robbery. for me to claim equality with
God. I'm a creation of God. Jesus Christ is His equal. He
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. It doesn't say
He was in God, He was with God. In Matthew 28, 19, our Lord said
this, "'Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Three
distinct persons. There are three distinct persons
in the Godhead. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. Yet there is only one God. There
is only one God. You know, the Greeks believed
in many gods. If you study anything about Greek
culture, they had many gods. They always spoke of the gods.
But you and I know that there's only one. There's only one true
living God. And He's manifested Himself through
Jesus Christ. Now I know we cannot comprehend
this, but we can believe it. We can believe God. I was thinking of this. We can't
comprehend ourselves. We are body, soul, and spirit. Now you can see me standing here.
You see a body, you see a man standing here. I am made up of
body, soul, and spirit. Yet what do you see? You see
one person. You see one person standing here.
There's a Father, there's a Son, and the Holy Spirit. And yet
there's only one God. One God. And then this also shows
His fellowship. His fellowship with the Father.
Turn over to Proverbs 8. He was with God. This shows union,
this shows fellowship. In Proverbs chapter 8, let me
get there. He's called wisdom there in that
chapter. But it's speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. In Proverbs chapter 8, look in
verse 22. The Lord, and that's Jehovah, capital L-O-R-D, the
self-existing One, Possessed me in the beginning of his way,
before his works of old, I was set up from everlasting, from
the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths,
I was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. Well, as yet he had not made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there. I was
there. When He set a compass upon the
face of the depth, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened
the foundations of the deep, when He gave to the sea His decree
that the water should not pass His commandment, when He appointed
the foundations of the earth, then I was by Him as one brought
up with Him. I was His equal. That's what
He said. I was His equal. And I was daily His delight,
rejoicing always before Him. The Word in the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Or
as it reads in the original, or God was the Word. Jesus Christ
is the God of heaven and earth. This is what John is establishing
right from the beginning. He is a God spoken of in Genesis
1.1, in the beginning God. In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth. Now notice here the statement,
was the Word. The Word was in the beginning.
The Word was with God. The Word was God. A.W. Pink had some thoughts on this
that I thought were good. He said, what is a Word? What
is a Word? A Word is an expression of a
thought. It's the expression of a thought.
If I stood here this morning, If I stood here for 40 minutes
and not say a word, you would have no idea what I'm thinking.
You would not have a clue as to what I'm thinking until I
speak, until my thoughts are put into a word. Then you can
say, I see, I understand, I know what you're saying. Jesus Christ
is the Word of God. He is, listen, He is the expression
of God. He's the expression of God. Listen
to Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 and 2. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
or spoken unto us in his Son, in Son, in the person of his
Son, he spoken to us, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
and by whom also he made the worlds. And then John 1.18, No
man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. The Word has declared God. He has come and spoken. And His
message is that God is light. We can see it over in 1 John.
He has declared God. Until then, until Christ speaks,
We cannot know God. It's impossible. We cannot know
God. Not until He speaks. We'll see
this here in a little bit because He's the life and He's the light.
And until He gives us life and light, spiritually, we cannot
know God. Until the Word speaks to us and
grants us light and life, we cannot know God. And then a Word
is the way we communicate with one another. Christ is the way
that God communicates with us. That's the only way. Savingly,
that is the only way God communicates with us, is through His Son Jesus
Christ. God never speaks apart from the
Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said this, as I hear,
I speak. That's why I've said so many
times that the Lord Jesus Christ never spoke an idle word, because
when He spoke, that's the Word of God speaking. That's the Word
of God. When He opened His mouth to speak,
that's God speaking. That's the Word of God. That's
the Word of God speaking to us. And then a word is a revelation
of a thought. It's a revelation of a thought.
Until the Word of God speaks, until Christ speaks, we cannot
know the mind of God. How do you and I know the will
of God? Because the Son of God has come and given us an understanding. That's why it says over in 1
John 5, He's given us an understanding. He has spoken and He's given
us an understanding. Listen 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." Now it says here in verse 2,
the same was in the beginning with God. The same Word. The Word that was in the beginning,
the same that was with God. But I want you to notice something
here. that word was used in the first two verses
means, in the Greek, it means exist. That's what he's saying. In the beginning, the word exists
with God. Now if you look in verse 6, it
says, There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The
word was there in the Greek means to bring into being. It's a different
meaning. You see, Christ that was with
God, He was in the beginning, He was with God, and He was God,
means He exists. Speaking of His eternality. But
you and I, He brought us into being. He's our Creator. He's our Creator. Now John gives
another proof of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ in verse
3. All things were made by Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made." The Trinity, He tells us here, never works
apart from each other. They never work independently
of each other. They work together. But He also
is showing here His power only God can create. Only God can
create something out of nothing. You and I have to take something
to make something. We have to put it together. But
He just spoke and it came into being. This shows His omnipotent
power. He spoke everything into existence. He didn't take a measure of this
and a measure of that and then make this. That which was, and
this is incomprehensible, but that which was in His mind, that
which was in the mind of God, He spoke it into existence. And
it became. It came into being. And in this
statement, we also see His infinite knowledge. All that we see was
in His mind. He never learned from anyone.
You know, it's amazing. When you look at creation, when
you look at ourselves, look at yourself, all of this was in
His mind. I can't even put it into words.
His knowledge is infinite. but it also shows His infinite
wisdom. Could you make such variety in creation, in the universe,
work in such harmony? The wisdom of God in all that
He has made and what it's working toward, what He's bringing it
to an end and the conclusion of it, is to glorify His Son. All that's going on today, all
that has gone on, All the wars and all the action and stuff
that has taken place on this earth is driving to one end.
And that's for the eternal glory of Jesus Christ and a people
that's going to be made just like Him. The only reason for your existence
is Jesus Christ. You know that? You and I don't
exist for ourselves. God did not make us for us. All
things were made by Him and for Him. Now what He does with me,
it's His sovereign will. It's His sovereign will. Now we see here in verse 4, we
see all life and light comes from the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Word of God. In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men. John is telling us here, this
is important. He's telling us here that Jesus
Christ is the life giver to all men. I did not get my life, my natural
life, the life you and I live on this earth, the natural life
we have, the reasoning skills and all this human life, that
didn't come from my mother and father. That came from Him, Christ. You know, the Scripture says
when we die, the body goes back to the ground and the spirit
goes back to God who gave it. God is the one who gives us life. I mean, even the natural life
he's talking about here. This is life used in its widest
sense. All creature life has come from
the Lord Jesus Christ. All human life has come from
the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to Acts 17. Paul writes
this, that they should seek after the Lord, if happily they might
feel after Him and find Him, though He be not far from every
one of us. For in Him, in who? Jesus Christ. We live and move
and have our being and our existence. As certain also of your own poets
have said, for we are also His offspring. In Him we live and
move and have our being. We don't exist apart from Him.
No one exists apart from Jesus Christ. Here in this verse, John
is not only speaking of spiritual life, he's speaking of natural
life. The natural life that we have, it came from Christ, who
is the life. Life, listen, life must come
from life. It doesn't come from any other
source. It comes from life. But notice also that this life
was the light of men. It's the light of men. Now listen
to me. Here is where all men and women
receive their responsibility. Not only do we have life, we
have light. Every man, every woman, every
child that comes into this world has been given moral enlightenment. They have a conscience. You can
go to the darkest part of this earth, I mean, where they have
all kind of just religion, I mean, just in the dark, uneducated,
in the dark. They know it's wrong to steal.
Don't they? They know it's wrong to commit
murder. They know it's wrong to commit adultery. They know
that. How do they know that? They know it by the light that
God has given them. You know, the law, the scripture
says, is written on the heart of every person. Every person
has light. Every person has a moral. They've
been born into this world. They have moral enlightenment.
They have that. Man can reason. The reason we
can reason is that God has given us light. Man has a conscience. Look over
in John 8. You know the story here where
they brought this adulterous woman and threw her down at the
feet of Christ to see if He would stone her. And He said, you that
are without sin, you cast the first stone. And it says in verse
9, And they which heard it being convicted by their own conscience. Well, where did that come from?
came from the light. That light that was given to
them. And Christ is that light. He's given them light. And they
went out one by one, beginning at the elders. They're being
convicted by their conscience. It's written over here, look
in verse 9 of John chapter 1. That was the true light Speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ, which lighteth every man that cometh
into the world. No man, no person has an excuse
not to seek after God. There is enough light given that
we would... Here's the fact, look, the fact
that I have life would instruct me to say, where
did this come from? But because of sin and darkness,
we turn away from the light. That's how you get to evolution
and all this other stuff. It's because we love darkness,
we turn from the light. But we have enough light in us
to turn to God, to seek after Him. There's enough in creation,
we can see in creation, and we know there's a Creator. There's
enough light in creation to say, I'd like to know who created
that. I'd like to know who created it. God has given us light. He's
lighted every man that's come into the world. Animals don't
have this kind of light. They don't have this kind of
conscience. They don't have that. But we do. And we are responsible
to act on that light. And then all spiritual life and
light comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. If we know God, it's
because we're born of God. We're born of the Spirit. That
which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. And all the light that
we have of God, who He is, how He can save me and be a just
God, that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ who is the light. John says in verse 5, And the
light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it
not. It overcame it not. Or it could
not comprehend the light. I couldn't understand. That's
another one of the meanings. He's the light, which is proof
of His deity. It says in 1 John 1 verse 5,
This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare
unto you that God is light, that God is light, and in Him is no
darkness at all. But because of sin, Man turns
away from this light to darkness because he loves darkness rather
than light. In John 3.19, and this is the judgment that
the light has come into the world. Here's the judgment. When we
think of judgment, when men and women are brought into judgment
and God cast them into the lake of fire, we think of all kind
of what we call vices and sinful. The worst of all is this. You
know what? Here's the worst. Here's the pinnacle. Here's the
pinnacle of all sins. Light has come into the world. And we love darkness rather than
the light. The One that created us, the
One that gave us life, we love darkness more than we love the
light. Then man by sin, now listen,
man by sin can sear his own conscience. As it says over in 1 Timothy,
We turn from the light to darkness, and because of sin, we can see
our own conscience to the point where we can't even have a right
judgment. We can't even have a right judgment. Listen to Romans 1 in verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who
hold to truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them." That light is in them. They've
been given light. They've been enlightened. "'For
God has showed it to them, for the invisible things of Him from
the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made.'" You can look at creation and
understand there's a Creator. as a Creator, even His eternal
power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. This light
that is given to every person that comes into the world, He
lighteth every man that comes into the world, leaves him without
excuse. The very fact you and I have
life leaves us without excuse, because He's given it to us.
Because, listen, that when they knew God, They glorified Him
not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools, and they changed the glory of the incorruptible
God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed
beasts, and creeping things. They turned away from that light
and turned to darkness. And then the man started using
his imagination of God instead of seeking after God, the One
who created all things, the One who had given us life. They turned away from Him. And when that light shined in
the darkness, it says the darkness comprehended it not. A couple
meanings here. It overcame it not. It overcame
it not. The darkness didn't drive out
the light. In the beginning, God said, let there be what?
Light. But before that, there was darkness
that covered the face of the deep. When God, in the beginning,
He commanded light, that darkness did not engulf the light. It
didn't put out the light. But here's another meaning for
it, is the darkness, the darkness of men, the darkness of our nature,
we can't comprehend it. That's why in 1 Corinthians it
says the Greeks call it foolishness. They call the gospel we preach
foolishness. Why? They can't comprehend it. But let me show you something
over in Ephesians chapter 3. In Ephesians chapter 3, let me get over there. In Ephesians chapter 3, let me show you something that jumped
out at me. I had not seen this before. It says that the light
shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Look in verse 17. That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to what? Comprehend. What the darkness
could not comprehend, God, through giving me and you spiritual life,
we can now comprehend. may be able to comprehend with
all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and heighth,
and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that
you might be filled with all the fullness of God." What the darkness cannot comprehend,
and they call it foolishness, you, you who believe, you can
comprehend it now. You can comprehend something
of God. God has given us an understanding of who He is, how He can be a
just God and save us, that He's bringing us to glory. We are
going to stand before Him, His presence spotless, without blemish,
and we understand how that's going to happen. We understand
it because He has made us children of light. You are the light of
the world, the Lord said. You're children of light. And
because of this, you and I can comprehend something of God.
We can comprehend how God can be God and have anything to do
with us. You can tell a blind man the
sun's shining all day. You can take him outside and
let him feel the warmth of it. But if he's totally blind, he
can't tell that there is any light. I heard Henry tell this story.
He's talking about a girl that was blind, a little girl, she
was blind. But they had come up with this surgery to where
they could restore her sight. So she took, the mother took
her to that doctor. He did an operation. And then
after the operation, he took her outside. They took her outside
and they took the bandages off. And at first, she didn't say
a word. Her mother thought the surgery
was a failure. And then tears began to roll down her face.
And she said to her mother, why didn't you tell me it was so
beautiful? She said, because you were blind. You couldn't
see it. Until God gives us sight, we
cannot see the beauty of Jesus Christ. We can't see the glory
of God in the face of Christ until God gives us sight, and
we can see the light. Turn over to 2 Corinthians. This
is what I'm going to preach from in the next service, Lord willing.
2 Corinthians chapter 4. Look in verse 3, But if our gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, that are perishing,
in whom the God of this world hath blinded the mind of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your
servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts. to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. That's why you and I can see
God's glory and understand how God can be God and save us. And now John turns in verse 6, he turns here to the witness.
of the light, John the Baptist. He said, there was a man sent
from God whose name was John. God has never left Himself without
a witness. First of all, He's given life,
He's given light, which witnessed to His existence. Then He sent
a witness, John the Baptist, a forerunner. When God's pleased
to save a sinner, I can tell you this, He's going to send
that sinner a preacher. And that preacher is going to
preach Christ. Christ is going to be that man's message. The
light is going to be that man's message. And he says here, and
he gives us John's calling, which is the calling of every preacher
in verse 7. The same came for a witness to
bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe.
That's the only business I have, is to bear witness of the light,
to stand week after week and preach the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherever I find Him in the Scriptures
is to set Him forth before you. Now he says here that John was
not that light, but that he might bear witness
of the light. I'm not that light. As believers, we are not the
light as far as saving light Christ is. We don't have any light in ourselves.
We derive our light from the Lord Jesus Christ who is the
light. It's like the moon has no light of itself. It reflects
the sun's light. If I have any light at all, it's
Christ shining through me. It's Him shining through me. John was a witness concerning
the light that was the true light which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world. He gives every one life and light. But then there's that special
light, that spiritual light that He gives. He's the true light,
the original light, the supreme light. He reveals God. And every
man whom He saves, every man, every woman whom He saves, He
gives them this light, this spiritual light. But here's a sad revelation in
verse 10. He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came to
His own creation, and they didn't know Him. They didn't know Him. Isn't that sad? That is so sad. With all the
glory of creation and our very existence, He came into the world,
and the world didn't even recognize Him. And He came to His own,
but here in verse 11, it doesn't say He came to His own and His
own knew Him not, it said they received Him not. He came to
His own people, He came to all those things that pointed to
Him, all the pictures and the types, all those things that
spoke of Him, and the Jews said, No! No, we're not going to have
You. You're not the Messiah. You can't
be the Messiah. He didn't look like what they
expected Him to look like. We know you. You're the carpenter's
son. They wouldn't receive Him. But
all is not lost. All is not lost. God's going
to have a people. God's going to have a people.
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. as many as received Him, as many
as believed Him, as many as received Him as the Son of God." That's
what that eunuch said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. We receive Him as He revealed
in the Scriptures. We receive Him as the Messiah,
the Savior, the sent offering. Just exactly as the Scripture
sets Him forth, that's how we receive Him. That's how we believe
on Him. And to them He gave power or
the right. I have the right to become the
Son of God through faith in Christ. I have a God-given right. But
notice this, 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. Which were born. It's evident. It's evident. If you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, you've been born of God. You are a son
of God. You're His. "...which were born,
not of blood..." That's not of my parents. Because my parents
may be believers does not mean that I'm going to be a believer,
that God owes me salvation. I know kids. I know people that
have believing parents. They don't believe at all, and
some have died in unbelief, who have believing parents. It's
not of blood. It's of the sovereign will of God. It's nor of the
will of the flesh. It's not because you willed it.
That does away with my free will, doesn't it? It's not because
I willed it. That's not why God saved me.
Nor of the will of man, but of God. The will of God. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." John
is saying here that he and the other apostles beheld His glory. We are witnesses also. He said
we're witnesses. This Word that John's been speaking
of was made flesh. He became a man. God became a
man. He really did. God became a man
that he might keep his own law in the stead of a multitude of
sinners, die the death they deserve, and rise again for their justification.
You comprehend that. You understand it. You have some
understanding of it. As it says in 1 Timothy 3.16,
Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Turn over to John chapter 20.
Let me finish with this. John chapter 20. John chapter 20. Look in verse, let me see if
I got the right one, verse 30. I'm sorry, I'm in Acts chapter
20. I knew something wasn't reading
right. John chapter 20 verse 31, But these are written, that
ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and
that believing ye might have life through His name. Not just the natural life that
He gives to all men, but spiritual life. Listen, the life of God.
The life of God. Our Father, bless Your Word.
Enable us to receive nourishment from it. Enable us, Father, to
to truly believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to follow after
him. Thank you for him. In his name
we pray, and amen.