Do bear before the nation Thy
true life as of old. O teach thy wandering pilgrims
By this their path to trace, Till clouds and darkness hidden
They see thee face to face. Thank you. John 1, John chapter
1. It was just a little over two
years ago that we started studying this book. But I was just reading it again
the other day and I'm struck with these words. I know this
is a favorite passage of some, It's glorious. It's just glorious.
I thought, we need to look at this again. And I personally
was blessed, so blessed, struck with, as I was reading this,
just struck with the Word and how it speaks of Christ the Word
and this Word, the actual Bible that we have. And I was just
so filled with thanks that we not only have this book, but
we know who it's speaking of. And Christ is called the Word.
You know, there's a passage that says He's magnified His Word
above all His name. You ever thought about that?
That's a deep verse. But His Word. We can't see him, but we can
read about him. And sure enough, this time that
I'm reading, I can see him. Can't you? With the eye of faith,
I just see him. We can't hear him. He doesn't
speak out loud. There are many reasons for that. We've gone into those reasons.
But he's written a book. We can't hear his voice. He doesn't
speak out loud to us. Doesn't He speak through His
Word? Those who know Him, He does, doesn't He? Not always.
You wish He'd speak to you more, but most of the time it's our
fault. You hurry in. But sometimes it's
just as if He spoke out loud to you through His Word. You see, this book is not a book
of facts. It's not a book of Jewish history.
It's His. It's His Word. It's His voice. When Christ said, My sheep hear
My voice. Well, sister, He only lived here
for 33 years, and He only spoke publicly for 3 years. And some
people back then got to hear His voice. But before then and
after then, we haven't heard His voice. But He said, My sheep
hear My voice. Didn't He? And this is his voice. If you want to read a blessed
psalm, read Psalm 29. It's about the voice of the Lord. The voice of the Lord makes the
hinds to calve, gives birth, breaketh the cedars, hard heart,
and on and on it goes. The voice of the Lord, let me
read a couple of that to you. It's just the Word of God. It's full of majesty. You really
want to read something wonderful, I put an excerpt of it in our
bulletin. William Huntington, it's in that book, did you get
that book? William Huntington wrote a long article on the Word of God. It's
just marvelous. It brings out things that are
just marvelous. The Word of God. And this Word,
it's not just the book. It's not just the Bible, it's
not just printed words, doctrines to follow and teachings. It's
person. It says the Word was made flesh. That's what it says in verse
14. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The Bible personified
the Word made flesh. He walked among us. Well, I'm
just struck by this. His Word is how we're born of
Him. We're born of the Word. James
said this, of His own will begat He us, not man's will, it says
here in verse 12, but the will of God. Or in verse 13. Of His own will begat He us through
the Word Truth. What's truth? Christ said, I'm
the truth. I didn't know Christ, I knew
the truth. But I didn't know Christ until
he spoke to me through the truth. You know the truth, not know
Christ. A man can preach the truth, not know Christ. Peter said this, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, man's seed, but incorruptible, the
Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Our Lord, it's
incorruptible seed. It's called the living Word,
isn't it? It doesn't return void. Seed. Some of you plant gardens and
you have seed in a bag, corn or beans or whatever it is. And
I've had seeds for years. Haven't you? Kept seeds in a
dry place for years, because if you put any water to them,
they're going to sprout. Isn't that a good illustration? But I've had them for years,
and I thought, they ain't no good. Hold on now. No, there's
life in that seed. It's amazing, isn't it? Isn't
that amazing? Who made the seed? Why'd they
make it? It's a picture. It's a type.
It's His Word. Now, it's not just the Word. No, it's Christ. He's called
the seed. The promised seed. You'll see His seed. It says we're born again. It's His
seed. It's planted in dead hearts,
dead ground, breathed on by the Holy Spirit, watered, and a new
person lives. His Word is how we're born of
Him. His Word is how we're born by
Him, carried by Him. Born by Him, carried by Him.
His Word, Christ, and His Word carries us, cradles us, nurtures
us, nurses us, comforts us, teaches us, instructs us. It's how we
overcome. Like a father telling his children,
it's okay, be in a good chair, it's okay. All right, look at it, verse
1. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word
was God. The same was in the beginning with God. In the beginning,
in creation, God said, God said, let there be light, didn't He?
First thing, let there be light. You remember Brother Darwin Pruitt
preaching? This is going to be a similar
message, but different. Same, but different. Different
texts. He began in Genesis 1. I'm beginning
in John 1. It's the same message. It's the
exact same message. Isn't it? In the beginning, in
Genesis 1, God created the heavens and earth. Who's God? Jesus Christ
is. That what it says? That's what
it says here. All things were made by Him. Verse 3. Without
Him was not anything made that was made. He is God. He was God. Always was, always is, always
will be. It's the same. Yesterday, today
and forever. Colossians 1, all things were
made by Him. Without Him was not anything. That's John 1. But Colossians 1 says that all
things were made by Him and for Him. By Him all things consist. Who? Who? Jesus Christ. You see,
believing the deity of Christ won't save you. But when He reveals
Himself to you and you find out that He's your Lord, He's your
God, He's your life, He's your everything. Now a person, a person
to trust in, a person to walk with, a person to believe in,
a person to listen to, a person to follow, a person to depend
on, a person, not a doctor, a person. That's why it's called the Word,
the Word was made flesh. A word is an expression of the
person. The word, you don't know what
I'm thinking unless I express myself, unless I declare myself. Well, no man's seen God. God
didn't speak out loud. God never did speak out loud
to the people, did He? But God, who in sundry times,
in divers manners, spake unto the fathers. He did speak to
some men. Spake unto the fathers by the
prophets. In these last days, spoken unto
us by His Son, God did walk this planet. God did speak out loud. But since He's gone, He's back
to heaven, and God does not speak out loud, He wrote a book. He wrote a book that we may have,
that we may read, that we may hear read. And miraculously,
mysteriously, amazingly, wonderfully, Marvelously, this is how he speaks. This is how he speaks. And the
reason, one reason he does this is so that no maverick, no fellow
over here saying, God told me this, God said, God's speaking
through me. No, He's not. If they speak not
according to this Word, there's no light in them. God said of the false prophets,
He said, They speak a vision of their own heart, not from
My Word. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God. The Word was God. The same was
in the beginning. God said, let there be light.
First thing, didn't He? Let there be light. He purposed. Why did He have light? Why did
He create light? Why was light created? Because life is following.
He's going to create life. And life can't walk in darkness. Can't walk with God in darkness.
He's going to create light. As for His glory, what glory?
He's going to create life. Wait, just wait. He turned the
light on. Now look what I'm going to make.
Life. That's why light exists. This is the light of His Word. And it also creates life. God brings us out of darkness
into His marvelous light. brings us out of death into life.
Kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son, the
Son of Righteousness. And when life comes, it comes
when the light is turned on. Hey, I'm going to quote it, John. God. God who caused the light
to shine out of darkness. God in the beginning said, let
there be light. God, the same God. Christ said,
My sheep hear My voice. The same God one day through
the preaching of, through the shining of the light, the truth. God who caused the light to shine
out of darkness has shined in our heart, our dark heart to
give the light, the knowledge, the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Life again. New life. New life. Let there be light. Let there
be life. What was it, you know, after God created light, then
He created a world for what? Why did He create the world?
For His glory, yes. He created it for man. He created
it for man to inhabit. For man to live there and enjoy
and eat and drink and enjoy God while he's eating and drinking.
and joy in God in this glorious world that He made. It's His
kingdom, as it were. That's why He made it for man.
Well, God's got a new kingdom. And He's created a new race of
beings called Christians. In Christ. Christ in them. And
we're going to eat and drink and wine. Put that joy in. New habitation. New earth. New
heavens. New earth. But he made this world before
he made man, didn't he? Well, he went to prepare a kingdom
for us, didn't he? That's what Christ said. I go
to prepare a place for you. I've got a kingdom all set up.
It was all set up before man got here. Before Abel died, it was waiting
on him, the kingdom of God. So God made this earth and he
said, God said now, after he made the
animals and everything, got everything all ready, then what did he say?
Let us make man. Not let us create an environment
where man can make himself or get born, be born, give himself
life. We'll create a good test tube
environment and everything's just right. If the stars align,
maybe there'll be life. Let us make man. It is he that has made us, not
we ourselves, which were born, not of the will of the flesh,
but of God. This new creature, this believer,
this child of God, He had nothing to do with His creation. Let us make man. What's he going
to look like? In our image. God doesn't have an image of
the Spirit. Yes, He does. His image is Jesus Christ. He's
the express image of God, okay? Whom He did foreknow, He did
predestinate to be what? Conformed to His image. Are you
with me? Some of you. You are. Are you
with me? Isn't that amazing? Let us make man in our image,
alright? In the new birth, the new creation,
this is what he said. Let's take this man who is without
form and void. I'm going to make him a new creature.
Now the old man is not, you know, he's dead, he's gone. But a new
creature. And he does it by the Word. Does
it by the seed. Plants a seed. If you would ask
You know, that God purposed to create man, no one who's religious
would deny that, would they? That God purposed to make man.
No one who's religious, or fundamental religious, would deny that. They all say God created, they
all believe that Genesis came, that God purposed it. It wouldn't
happen if God hadn't predestined and purposed it. Well, God purposed
to make a people. God purposed a kingdom, purposed
everything in it, so where did all the things ensure in it?
But a whole lot of people deny that. God's people don't. None of God's people do. They
don't deny that. They go all in. You ask any living person, ask
any living person how they came into existence. How'd you get
here? Only an absolute nut would say,
I made myself. I did this. Oh, my parents were
there, but you know, I let them be my parents. They couldn't have been if I
hadn't let them. Well, you're stupid. What kind of idiot are
you? Well, that which is flesh is
flesh. If you can't do that which is living, well, that's spirit. You can't see God, don't know
God. Flesh and blood can't inherit
the kingdom of God. This is what our Lord said to
Nicodemus. He said, you're a teacher, an
Israelite, you don't know the fundamentals of the faith, the
basics of truth, that man doesn't make himself the first time and
he can't make himself the second time. That you can't give birth
to yourself the first time, you can't give birth spiritually
to yourself the second time. You must be born from above. Isn't that what it says? That's
what he said. He said it to him twice. To Nicodemus. He didn't argue with him. He
just said, you must be born again. You ask any living person, spiritually
living person, you ask anybody who has life, how did you come
to know Christ? He revealed himself to me. How is it you know the truth?
I wasn't looking for him. Our sister sang that hymn, didn't
she? I don't know what happened, but I know this. It was grace. Ask Saul of Tarsus, a religious,
thought he knew God. He didn't know God. He knew the
law. He thought he knew everything. He didn't know anything. Thought
he was something. He was nothing. When God commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, Paul didn't see the light. The
light saw him. Paul didn't accept the light.
The light accepted him. The light shone round about him.
Now come on, Paul. You've got to quit believing
that old... I didn't know you. Who are you?
I'm Jesus, whom you thought you could do with as you will. Now
you're going to do what I will." And he is on his knees, blinded. The Holy Spirit sends it. This
is what God does. Every one of God's people, you
ask them, ask them, they'll all say, God must have chose me because
I wasn't even interested in Him. I know this, that if Christ hadn't
died for my sins on Calvary's tree, I'd go split hell right
over, still to this day. The Holy Spirit, I wouldn't know
the truth if He doesn't teach me and show me. Like that blind
man, John 9, remember the story of the blind man? How did he
receive his sight? The Lord found him. The Lord
found him. The Lord came to him. There are
lots of blind people in Israel at that day. And he came and
found this man. And he told his disciples, he
said, who said that this man was born blind? His parents or him? He said,
neither. And so he said, I did this for my glory. I came. I'm
going to give him light and eyes for my glory. I've chosen him. This is one of my chosen. Watch
this. Just watch this. Go show John again. The blind
received their sight. And he took from his mouth and
anointed his eyes, and you know what? That man who was blind,
all of a sudden, sees for the first time in his life. What
did he see, brother? What was the first thing he saw, brother?
What was the first thing he saw? Jesus Christ. How did you receive your sight,
they said? You know you're born blind. How is it you now see?
A man did it. He did it. It had nothing to do with it.
You ask any of God's people that now see and hear and believe,
they'll say, I hear now. Once I wouldn't, I couldn't.
I now see. I once wouldn't and I couldn't.
I now believe. I once wouldn't and I couldn't.
I now love. Once what I hated and rejected,
but now I love it. Why? Grace. Great. Look in our text here. It says, verse 4, in Him was
life, and the light was the light of men, and the light shineth
in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. You see,
in Him was life. People that say things like this,
God's a big part of my life, they're dead. You don't have life. Either hath
not the Son, hath not life. You don't have it in yourself.
You don't have it until the Lord gives you life. He said, The
time has come, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God, and I give them life. I am come that they
might have life. Not offer life. Give life. Give
life. And this life is in His Son.
Light is Christ. Light and life. Immortality is
in Christ. The darkness, I don't understand.
The darkness comprehended it not. I do. Do you? No, we don't fully,
completely understand everything, but we know this much. Like the
man in John 9, I once was blind, and now I see. Well, you see,
that God is God, man is dead, and Jesus Christ is all. Is that
too simple? But read on. There was a man
sent from God, whose name was John. Alright? The darkness comprehended
it not. So how is the darkness going
to comprehend? God sends a man, a preacher,
whose name was John. He came for a witness, to bear
witness of the light. Pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. to lighten our darkness. Preaching what? On what? He came to bear witness
of the Light, capital L, which is Jesus Christ. That all men
through Him might believe, through Christ might believe, through
the preaching he might believe. Verse 8, he was not that light,
John. I can't give light. I've often
thought this. I've often felt this way. Oh,
I wish I could give ears to hear. I wish I could give life. No,
I don't even. I'd take glory in it. Right? I can't. So this just
keeps me begging the Lord to do it. I know men can't have
light and life unless the Lord gives them life. So I don't beg
them. I don't beg them to believe. I don't beg them to come. I don't
beg them to do something. They're dead. And I can't do
it. I know that. I know that this
gospel is the power of God, but no matter how I preach it, I
can't make it effectual. But He can. He must. So I beg
Him, Lord, turn the light on. This is light. Turn it on. This
is power. Make it effectual. This is your
voice. Speak, Lord. All I can do is
just say what You said. But would You say it? Would you say it? I think about
every one of your children and grandchildren all the time, nearly
every day. I want them to hear, I want them
to hear. Time is short, and I want them
to hear. I can't make them hear, but He that made the ear can. And so I beg Him, Lord please,
this is how you say it. This is what you told me to do.
This is how you said that the blind received their sight and
the deaf received ears to hear. This is how the heart is broken
over sin. This is how you make yourself known. But I can't make
you known, Lord, please. And He does. Every now and then. Every now and then. I'm not the light. That's what I'm trying to say.
He's alive. Verse 10, He was in the world.
The world was made by Him. The world knew Him not. He came
unto His own. His own received Him not. People,
old and young in this room, every one of you, you know you're not
your own. The Lord Jesus Christ owns you.
He's yours. You're in His hands. You belong
to Him. You're not a free moral agent
to go out there and do it. No, sir. You belong to him. He
made you and you belong to him. And he can do with you what he
will. He can make a vessel of honor
or a vessel of dishonor. Can he? Hath not the potter the
power over the clay? We're not our own. Not our own. He was in the world, he came
to his own, and his own received him not. The gospel came to me
for years, through my preacher, for years. It came to me, and
I didn't receive it. I said, just as soon as I get
old enough, I'm out of here. Right? Right, Kelly? You did
the same thing. He heard it. I'm out of here. And I cannot
preach the gospel without these two words. I cannot tell my story
without these two words. And I'm never tired of saying
them. But God, I know He must have chosen me
because I didn't want anything to do with Him. And why He want anything to do
with me? I don't know, but I do know this.
It's His glory. It's His mercy. It's His grace,
His great love. Ah! Behold what manner of love
that the Father hath bestowed upon me, that I should be called
a son of God. It sure doesn't appear right
now what we shall be. But I believe He has revealed.
I believe He has chosen. I believe He has set His love
on me. Why? Because He revealed Christ
to me. In me, not just to me, in me. Well, this is what it says, as
many as received Him, verse 12, as many as received Him. It doesn't
say accepted, does it? And there's a reason. I don't
know what these other versions say. I don't think I've looked
at that verse. They may say accept. That is a total denial of the
truth. Accepted. is used in Ephesians
1, it says, accepted in the beloved, that God accepts us. We're the
ones up for acceptance or rejection. Not God. We've already rejected
Him. That's what Isaiah 53 says. We all despised and rejected
Him. Everybody that doesn't believe
has rejected Him. Rejected the truth, rejected
Christ. Now, He's not offering His Son,
would you please accept Him? It doesn't say that in the Bible
anywhere. No where does it say accept Him as your personal Savior.
If you've done that, you don't know the Lord. Because what will
happen when the truth opens your eyes to what you really are and
who He really is, you'll hit your knees and you'll wonder,
there's no way He's going to accept me. You'll think, I know
He's Lord now. I know. What's He going to do
with me? I just believe He's going to
damn me the way He's going to do. And that's exactly what I deserve. But God. Then you hear the Gospel. It says, I've accepted you. How? In the Beloved. In Christ. Because of what Christ
did. Receiving, and I've showed you
this many times, but it's so simple. The difference between
accepting is something has the power to accept it or reject
it. Right? That's accept it. You
know, here's something, will you take this and you say, no,
I reject it. Or, yeah, I'll take it. And you
have he quickened who were dead. A dead thing can't accept anything,
but it can receive it. They can receive it. We're empty
vessels. Dead. Look at verse 16. Of His fullness have all we received. Not accepted. Received. We're receivers. Are you with
me? We're receivers. As many as received
Him. What have we received? Him! Life! See, to them He gave power to
become the sons of God, to them that believe on His name. Why
do they believe on His name? They received it. By grace you say, through faith,
and it's not of yourself. It's a gift. You received it. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from God. That's as plain as the nose on
your face. We've received it, which were born. They were born,
he said, not of blood, not because you're Abraham C., not of the
will of the flesh, not because your mother prayed you through,
nor the will of man, not because you decided to have him, accept
him, but of God. One day, God, who caused the
light to shine, sent the Word, and you were an empty vessel,
and he sent the Word and said, receive life. He lived. He accepted. He received. Receivers. And this Word, this
is what we're speaking of, what he's speaking of, the Scriptures,
the Word, the truth, was made flesh. Jesus Christ is the Word. and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth." John bear witness of it and said,
this is He, this is He, this is He. Brethren, if you look
at this book, it just says in every, almost every line, all
the way through, He, Him, His, He, Him, His, He, Him, His, His,
Him, His, He, He, He. Look at every page, every chapter,
every, He, and He did this, and He said this, and He did that. He's God. It's all about Him.
It's His book. It's a Him book. Everything created
for His glory. The Son. It's Him. To show forth
Him. The sky. It's a tabernacle for
Him. The trees. He is the tree of life. The flowers.
He's the lily of the valley. The water. He's the water of
life. The bread. He's the bread from heaven. Wine. He's precious
blood. The house. The tabernacle. He is the house. He's the foundation. He's the
door. He's the window. It's Him. Christ is all. And buddy, when he opened your
eye, now you see, Christ, been born of God. And of his fullness,
verse 16, have we received grace for grace. His grace, he received
grace. Grace for grace. His gifts, he
gave himself to God for us. And now we receive him, that
unspeakable gift. The law, given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Oh, man. What a passage. What a passage. In the beginning
was the Word. Let's sing a closing hymn, brother
John.