I'm reading this morning from
the Gospel of John, John's Gospel, Chapter 1. In this Gospel, the
first 14 verses declare who Jesus Christ really is, what God's
Word says about Jesus Christ. It says that He is God, as much
God as the Father is. In the beginning, verse 1 says,
was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. Verse
14 says the Word was made flesh. That is speaking of Jesus Christ,
that He is God, very God of very God. There are denominations
that go door to door, such as Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses,
to try to disprove, to try to tell everyone that Jesus Christ
is not God. He himself said in John 8, 24,
if you believe not that I am, you shall die in your sins. That
name, I am, is the very name that Moses heard from God saying. Tell them, I Am hath sent you."
Jesus Christ is God. We cannot fully understand this,
how God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are three
persons and yet one, but we believe it. God's people believe it.
Jesus Christ made this world. It says that in verse 10, He
was in the world, the world was made by Him, the world knew Him
not. He's not just the Son of God.
He is God. Verse 2 says, The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were made by Him.
Without Him was not anything made that was made. Speaking
of Jesus Christ, He's the Creator. In Him was life, verse 4 says. The life was the light of men.
He is life. People say this all the time.
God is a part of my life. Jesus is a big part of my life.
Well, those people don't know God because it says, in Him was
life. If we have life, we are a part
of His life, not He, ours. He is life. In Him we live and
move and have our very being. The God in whose hands our breath
is and all our ways, Scripture says. Verse 5 says, the light
shineth in darkness. The darkness comprehended it
not. Jesus Christ said, I am the light of the world. He came
into this dark world, this world full of sin. He said in chapter
3, this is condemnation, that light has come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil. And everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. That is Jesus Christ, the light.
Well, it begins in verse 6, another paragraph by saying, 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 through him might
believe. John was sent by God. A man was
sent by God to bear witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. A man,
mind you. God's preachers, God's prophets,
God's apostles, God's evangelists, pastors, and teachers are all
men according to Scripture. Any woman who declares herself
to be so is a false prophet. God didn't send her. It was a
man sent from God. His name was John. Now he is
called in Scriptures the forerunner. Malachi says the messenger who
will prepare the way of the Lord. They came asking John who he
was, asking him for his credentials, asking where he went to school,
what his name was, what his degrees were, and he said, I'm just a
voice. Just a voice. A man who is sent
from God does not seek his own glory. He seeks the glory of
Him that sent him. Our Lord said of John, though,
what do you go out to see, a prophet? He said, I say, more than a prophet.
He said, there is none greater than John the Baptist. Yet, he
that is least in the kingdom is greater than he. In other
words, Every single prophet, preacher, pastor, teacher that
comes, a voice sent by God is a great blessing to mankind. Thank God He sent me a man to
preach to me the Gospel. I am just like that Ethiopian
eunuch whom the Lord sent Philip to preach to. That eunuch, when
asked if he understood the Scriptures he was reading, he said, How
can I except some man show me? And that's what Romans says.
How shall they hear without a preacher? And 1 Corinthians 1.21 says it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. Ephesians 4, when
Christ ascended on high, he gave gifts unto men, some prophets,
some apostles, some evangelists, pastors, and teachers. The greatest
gift that God can give to people is a preacher of the gospel.
And that is, speaking of Christ, the unspeakable gift. Well, there
was a man sent from God whose name was John. He was a witness
to bear witness of the light. Now, what is a witness? A witness
is one who swears to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth, so help me God." That's what you will have to
do if you are called to be a witness in a court of law. Well, a witness
is one who has seen something, who has heard something. A true
witness will tell what he's seen and what he's heard. Well, how
do you know a true witness of God, a man sent from God, since
there are so many false prophets out there in the world? How do
you know? A true prophet sent by God. Well, let me read to you from
Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4, when they came
to Peter and said they threatened him, quit preaching in the name
of this Jesus of Nazareth, that he's the Christ, that he's God
Almighty, quit preaching that. And Peter and John answered in
Acts 4, 19, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken
unto you more than unto God, judge ye. But we cannot but speak
the things we've seen and heard. So that's what Peter did. Everywhere
he went, everywhere he preached, he preached Christ. That's what
John did. Everywhere he went, he preached
Christ. When they came to John the Baptist,
who was baptizing on the River Jordan, he said, Behold the Lamb
of God. In 2 Peter chapter 1, Peter said
this, he said, We have not followed cunningly devised fables when
we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We were eyewitnesses of His majesty. Paul said this. Paul, everywhere
he preached, he preached Christ and Him crucified. In 1 Corinthians
2, verse 2, Paul said, I am determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is how you know a man sent
from God. He cannot help but speak the
things he's seen and heard. And if he's seen Christ, that's
who he'll preach. Why don't preachers preach Christ
all the time these days? Why don't preachers stand up
and declare the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, but rather
preach social issues and morality and law and so forth? Because
they haven't heard His voice. They haven't seen His glory. And this is what John goes on
to say. We beheld His glory. We heard
His voice. We beheld His glory. If you ever
look into the sun, and you can't look into it very long, but if
you ever look at the sun, when you glance away from it, you'll
see sunspots before your eyes. Everywhere you look, those sunspots
will be at the center of your vision. Well, that's how it is
when someone truly sees Christ, beholds His glory. They will
not see any glory in anything or anyone else except Jesus Christ. Everything will be seen in light
of Jesus Christ, the Son of Righteousness, the Son of God. Yea, God manifests
in the flesh. It goes on to read in verse 8,
He was not that light, John, but was sent to bear witness
of that light. That was the true light which lighteth every man
that cometh into the world. That light. That light. Talking about Jesus Christ. He
said, I am the light. Just as He said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. I am the light. That true light. There is no light And whenever
Scripture speaks of light, it's speaking of knowledge and understanding. You cannot see anything without
light. In darkness, you can't see anything. You can't see good, evil. You
can't see nets, pits, traps, the enemy. You can't see yourself
except with light. Well, no man knows and understands
the truth except in light of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. There is no light. There is no
understanding apart from Jesus Christ. You don't understand
the world, creation. You don't understand salvation,
anything. You don't understand God's Word
apart from Jesus Christ. Listen to Matthew 6. The Lord
says this, The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thy
eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. In other
words, if you see Christ, the wisdom of God, the power of God,
the Creator, the righteousness of God, the salvation of God.
If you see Him, it's all full of light. You have understanding
of the reason for the existence of all things, of what salvation
is, of who God is. But, verse 23, he says, if thine
eye be evil, the whole body shall be full of darkness. If the light
that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! He
said to some Pharisees one time who said that they could see,
he said, because you say you see, your sin remained. He said
if you were blind, you would have no sin. Do you understand
what that means? In other words, unless we see
Christ, we are blind to everything, to ourselves, to who God is,
to what salvation is. When we see Christ, in light
of Christ, we will see ourselves to be naked, miserable, wretched,
poor, blind sinners before God in need of Jesus Christ to save
us, to reveal God to us, to save us from our sins. And when we
see Him, when we believe Him, our sins are gone. That's what
it means to be blind and have no sense, to understand that
you're blind and only have eyesight in light of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Listen to David in Psalm 36. He said, With thee as the fountain
of life, in thy light we see light. Well, verse 10 says, in
verse John 1, He was in the world. The world was made by Him. The
world knew Him not. He came unto His own, His creatures
that is. His own received Him not. But
as many as received Him, to them gave He the power, the right,
the privilege to become the sons of God. Even to them that believe
on His name as received Him. It doesn't say accept. It says
receive like a glass It doesn't accept water, it receives it.
It's a recipient. It doesn't have the power to
accept or reject. It's a recipient. And so this
goes on to say that these people who received him, these believers,
were born not of blood, not Jews or whatever, nor the will of
the flesh, they didn't decide to be born, nor the will of man,
but of God, born of God, born of His Spirit, born of the incorruptible
Word, born again by God through the preaching of the gospel.
And it goes on to say, this 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. The only bodily manifestation,
the only bodily presence of God the Creator, Jesus Christ. Amen.