Join me, if you would, in John
chapter 1 this morning. In this passage of Scripture,
and we're going to be reading down through verse 14, in this
passage of Scripture, we truly have a wonderful resume of our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have some things about Him
that are declared through everywhere else in Scripture. Now, I'm not
good at resumes. If I had to write a resume about
my pastorate, fired twice, doesn't go over very well. When the Lord
saved me, I was fired. When I was in Klamath Falls at
a religious organization, they fired me because I wouldn't listen
to them. But the Lord has a resume here
that is honorable. In the book of John, chapter
1, we have some wonderful things said about our Savior. And as
we approach this time of year, I thought it would be fitting
because in verse 14 of that chapter, it says this, and the Word was
made flesh. I can't wrap myself around it,
but by the grace of God, I get to believe it. When we read this, we're going
to read this section of scripture, but I'd like us to first turn
to a passage in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Keep your finger right
there and turn with me to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter
2. And it gives us a very important way of looking
at the scriptures. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse
13. Which things also we speak. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse
13. Which things also we speak, not
in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy
Ghost teacheth. comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. So we want to look at this passage
of scripture in the book of John, just like we look at all of the
passages of scripture. We want to go there and look
at it from what the spirit would have us to understand and not
men's wisdom. Men's wisdom will lead us astray,
but the Holy Spirit will always lead us to the truth. To be taught
of God is gracious. gracious of God, to teach people
about God. So let us go back there to the
book of John chapter 1, and we read here in the very beginning,
much like what we read in the book of Genesis chapter 1, in
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. Now this is what is carried in
the original language. This is what is carried when
God, the Holy Spirit, gave it to John to write down. This is
how he intended it to be written, that people would look at this
passage of scripture, and they would see that there is the word,
or the logos that is brought out here, and this is where it
begins, is in the beginning. Now this word beginning never
has the idea of a time that God started. This word has an intention
that from the very beginning there's been this continuous
action by Almighty God through every age. It's hard for us to
measure eternity. I have a favorite term for it,
though, when I found out the old fathers called it old eternity. That's way back there, and we
can't measure it. It's eternal, and we have an
incapacity of measuring eternal things. We can't get our hands
around it because we're so limited, we're so finite, and he is so
infinite. This resume that we have listed
here is in the beginning and it says was. Now that word is
mentioned three times in that verse of scripture. In the beginning
was the word. and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. Now it's interesting that this
has some very significant, important significance when we look at
this verse of Scripture and when we have some idea what the Bible
has to say about the Word, about God, and about eternity. That
this Word, it shares with us that it's, let me find it here. was comes to us from a Greek
word meaning continuous existence, no idea of origin, Greek, God,
or the logos. This means that there has been
continuous activity by God forever. It's not a starting point. It
is a continuous activity by God. So we have a God that was now
in verse continuous in verse two, the same was in the beginning
with God. Now, the Holy Spirit wants us
to grasp again, lay hold of the fact that this one that is being
written about is eternal, that he didn't have a start in Bethlehem. He didn't have a start when he
became incarnate. He had a start in the Godhead,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit from the very beginning
and we use that word without being able to understand it.
He's always had continuous activity. Never a time that he wasn't. How else can we put it? Only
as John did in the beginning was the Word. Not the beginning
of God, because there has been no beginning. Not the beginning
of time, but the very essence of continuality. Now that's how long God has had
an interest in His people. That's how long he has had names
written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. That's how long he has
been a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That's how long
there has been an eternal covenant of grace. That's how long he
has had an interest in doing what is necessary for his people. It's been a continuous activity
of God forever that he has had an interest in saving a people
before he ever created He had an interest in saving a people
from their sins. Before they ever was sin in this
world, he had a sacrifice prepared for sinners. Now, that is just
too big for me to get a hold of. But that's the truth of the
matter. He has had an interest in saving
his people from the very beginning. It goes on to tell us in verse
3, some qualifications of this One that came, the Word, the
Logos, the One that has been with the Father from beginning,
who was God, continuous activity as God, never been a time when
there was not God. We count it as eons, immeasurable. Now notice there in verse 3,
all things were made by Him. This Logos, this Word, and without
Him was not anything made that was made. Now that includes everything
we can see, as far as we can see and beyond. It includes the
earth and all of the systems of this earth. It includes all
of the kingdoms of this earth. The mineral kingdom, the plant
kingdom, the animal kingdom, the star kingdom, the humankind. He has created all things. As it says there, he's made by
him and without him was not anything made that was made. Nothing. You know what? This is going
to go a step further and say that beyond the physical, nothing
has ever been made spiritual without God. He is the first
cause of all spiritual activity. He's the first cause of all physical
activity. He's the first cause of time.
He's the first cause of eons. He's the first cause of all things
that have ever happened. And when it comes to the spiritual
realm, he is the first cause. And if we don't have a salvation
that is based upon him having the first cause in it, we don't
have God's salvation. We have a human salvation. Verse
4, in him was life. In him was life. This is such a statement about
his qualifications, about his resume that he's sharing with
us. He shared this with the world
as it's been proclaimed throughout all ages. This same message was
proclaimed to our brother Abel. and to his brother Cain. This
is the message that was brought to them, that there is a Savior
in Jesus Christ. What does it say in the book
of Genesis chapter 3 verse 15? And I cannot help but think that
those boys' parents repeated this message to them continuously. The seed of the woman, we read
by the very name that was given to that first son that was born,
Cain, that that Eve had some consideration that this is the
one that is going to take care of the problem that we're now
in. Well, she was about 4,000 years too early on that, but
what a thought it was that she had. She knew that someone that
came in the flesh must take care of the problem. And that very
word was carried to the children. And you know what? Abel understood
that. That everything that is made
is made of God. And he is life. His whole spiritual
existence was based upon the life that was imparted to him,
given to him in the new birth. And the life was the light of
men. Now this is physical. Our life is based upon Almighty
God and His giving of physical life. How those two seeds could
come together and bring life is beyond all consideration and
imagination, but it happens just as God ordained it. And when
it comes to spiritual life, God has a purpose in bringing the
gospel and the Holy Spirit together in an individual, and the result
of that is the new birth. And He's done it on purpose,
He will continue to do it on purpose, and when the last one
He purposes to save is saved, this whole world will be wrapped
up like a garment. in him was life, and the life
was the light of men. And verse five, and the light
shineth in darkness. Boy, when we just think about
that, the light, this time of year it's pretty easy to get
up before this daylight. And where we live, now I look
on the on my phone down where my brother lives in southern
Oregon, and they got more daylight than I do, just because of the
way the sun is. But up here, and next Wednesday,
is the shortest day, and so next Thursday, the days start to get
longer. And I say hallelujah. But right
now, it doesn't take much to get up before daylight, and to
see that first light come out of the east. And you know what
happens to the darkness? It runs. The darkness runs away from the
light. And isn't that the truth about
it when it comes to a spiritual explanation of why people, when
the light is brought, does not run to it? The darkness flees. And you know, the same thing
is true. The darkness cannot overpower the light. As much
as men wish they could overpower the light and say, I have more
power than God does in my salvation, once God saves us from our sins,
we realize, I'm thankful I didn't. I would have resisted him all
my life. I would have never had this on
my choice. But God had a choice before the
foundation of the world. And he has purposed that his
light will shine upon each one of his individuals and dispel
the darkness that is in their heart and give them the light.
And that light is life. And that is eternal life that
he gives. The light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehended it not. It can't enjoy it, cannot
appreciate it, cannot think about it in a positive manner, but
it also cannot overcome it, cannot dispel it, cannot shove it aside. I've used a term with a friend
of mine several times. God's never lost a battle, and
he's not going to start today. He's won every battle. Everyone
that's been born into this world under the natural consequences
of sin that Adam brought upon the human race Everyone is opposed
to God by nature Everyone is opposed to his word by nature
and everyone is opposed by his power by nature but by the grace
of God he overcomes our will and saves us by his grace and
when he does that The people rejoice, knowing full well that
I would not have ever bowed, except he caused me to bow before
him in grace. Not long ago I had an 82-year-old
man that I know pretty well, come
to me, and because of some circumstances with friends that have happened,
you know, some friends, the circumstances in their lives, he said, when
I stand before God, I'm gonna tell God, I says, you will not
say a word. Because the Bible says, you will
bow, and every mouth shall be shut. And you know what? That's the truth. In salvation,
we shut our mouth against all of the ideas that we ever had
on how we would save ourselves. And we acknowledge that God saves
his people according to his will and purpose. And when people
stand before God in that day without Christ and without hope
and without God in the world, they will also shut up and bow
before him as Lord and as master. All right. Now, Here in verse
six, we have a man by the name of John. We heard about him this
morning. He's a pretty important guy in the New Testament. He's
been identified in the Old Testament several times. The forerunner. Now this forerunner is like any
gospel preacher. Number one, he's a man. There
was a man. Gospel preachers are men. They
have failures. Don't trust them, but trust the
one they preach about. There was a man sent from God. Now that's who John had his commission
from. That's the greatest and highest
commission that could ever be given. That John was sent from
God. He was a man sent from God. He
was commissioned by God. That makes it so important when
we read through the Old Testament and Jesus said, I sent you prophets
and you stoned them. You kill my prophets that I sent
to you. I sent you gospel preachers and
you stoned them to death and burned them and cut them up and
all sorts of indignities you caused. But it was my man. my
preachers and you know what happened to this man that God commissioned
to come and be the forerunner of the logos come in the flesh
he was murdered by a king for preaching the truth There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. Now he came for a witness, to
bear witness of the light. When given the opportunity, like
most preachers have, He never took the glory on himself because
he understood where salvation come from. He never had a part
in it. He declared the gospel. He declared
this one from the beginning who was the logos, who was the word
that was with God and was God from the beginning. He declared
him and he declared that his salvation is full and free and
that there is no part of us that is involved in it. He preached
this and he preached this because he could not preach about himself. The only thing he could say about
himself and the only thing that he could bring to the table was,
as you and I do, the only thing that we have that we contribute
is our sin, and we have nothing else to contribute. 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. Now what did he preach? He preached
just like we hope to preach that everybody that we ever preach
to could be Jacobs. Now they identified themselves
soon that they weren't. He was out there on the Jordan
River baptizing. He says, you generation of vipers. They identified themselves, at
least at that moment. They didn't show any signs of
being Jacob's. They were still Esau's. And by the way, the Lord does
not save Esau's, trade them into Jacob, turn them into Jacob's,
just like he doesn't take goats and save them and turn them into
sheep. He saves sheep. That was a figure of speech,
forgive me. He said he bore witness of the light. This was the true
light. Now there are other many small
lights. A lot of other little lights.
They're candles. They are not eternal light. We
have a candle lit. Our life is like a candle. It's
lit when we're born. It is extinguished when we die.
Our flesh is going to be buried. Our soul is eternal. So he said
here, that was the true light which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world. Now there is this sense that
God's light, life, comes to everybody, but there is also a sense that
this light, special light, only comes to his elect. And it tells
us here, as it goes on, he came unto his own. And this is what
happened. You would think, with the qualifications,
with the resume that this one has, that everybody would bow
before him and say, I want to be in his crowd. But it tells
us immediately that he came unto his own. Now, a lot of discussion
about that, but I'm inclined to believe he's talking about
the Jews right there. He came unto the nation that
he was born into. He was of the tribe of Judah.
And he dealt with people from the tribe of Levi and all the
other tribes. And he came to them and preached
to them the gospel, just as we heard about this morning. And
nobody wanted to have him. In fact, They all said, we'll
not have this man rule over us. Now the only ones that came are
the ones that were called. And his call is so powerful that
I like to use the term, it's irresistible. He will not be thwarted in this.
He will save all his people from their sins. And then he goes on to say here,
But as many as receive him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." Don't
stop there. It's a colon right there. Don't
stop. We have to go on to the next
verse. This friend of mine that I've been visiting with for now
two years, he wants to stop right there and place it all upon our
belief. Well, we don't have belief. It's
impossible for us to believe. We cannot believe all about God.
by nature. We have to be given. It's a gift
to believe like it is, and it's based on this, which were born
not of blood, not by ancestry, nor by the will of the flesh.
I really would like to have all my children saved, and if I work
hard enough, I can get them there. Ah, no, no, no, no. And then
it says up, nor by the will of man, not by your own will. But of God. Where does our new birth come
from? God. He's the giver of all life. There
is no life outside of that. Now notice verse 14. This is where we were headed.
Verse 14. And the Word. The Word. You know, as we think about this,
God had a purpose. It's written about throughout
the Old Testament. It's written about in the New
Testament. But God had a purpose that he was going to save some
people from their sins. This is an eternal purpose. And
in verse 14, we find out how God intends to do that. This
one that came must come in the flesh. He must have flesh and
blood. We read about him in the book
of Genesis chapter three and verse 15, where it says that
the seed of the woman is going to bruise the head of the serpent. The seed of the woman will bruise
the head of our sin, put sin away for us, was made flesh. Now the Lord appeared many times
in the Old Testament, but he did not appear in the flesh.
I wish I was gonna call Mike what word it is that is used,
it's not used in the Bible, but it's illustrated. The Lord had
appeared many times in the Old Covenant, but not taking on flesh. How did he do that? He appeared
in a spiritual form to Adam. Theophany, there we go, thank
you. He appeared unto Adam. in the cool of the eve. He'd
done that several times. And when he came down that last
time and Adam had sinned and hid himself in the garden with
his wife and covered with fig leaves, the same one came down
that day and said, Adam, where art thou? Now that's not for
God to find out where he was. That's for Adam to find out where
he was. And he was in a bad state. He was in a darkened state. He
was in a fallen state. He was in a terrible state. He
was in an angry state. He was in a state that he was
satisfied with his own fig leaves, and God was required to come
down and take care of the problem by covering him with skins of
animals, a picture of the robe of righteousness. God appeared
to Enoch. Enoch walked with God and was
not, for God took him. He appeared to Noah. Here's the
instructions for the ark. And I'm really upset with the
way things are. You know what? God had purposed
that ark before the foundation of the world. It's not surprising
to God what he found. He had found here that it must
be a picture, a type, and a shadow of the Savior. And you must be
in the ark. And how did they get in? They
went in and he closed the door upon them. How did all the critters
get there? He called them. If he could call
giraffes out of Africa to come to an ark, he can certainly call
you from your pews to himself. He appeared to Abraham. My goodness,
there were some angels that went on towards Sodom and Abraham
is appealing to this one. The Lord that appeared unto him
says, if there are 30, if there are 25, if there's 20, if there's
five, would you spare the city? Well, God knew exactly how many
were going to come out of that city. Four came out, one really
didn't come out. Even though she was outside the
walls, her heart was not out, and she's turned to a pillar
of salt. God appeared unto Jacob. You know, I never find any place
in the scriptures that Esau ever rested, but I find in scriptures
Jacob rested upon a rock, and God appeared unto him. I read
about Moses. God appeared to Moses at the
burning bush. He appeared to Moses several
times during his ministry. He appeared to Joshua. Are you
for us or are you against us are the words of Joshua when
he saw the captain of the Lord's army. He appeared unto Gideon. He appeared unto Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego in that burning, fiery furnace. Other people look
down there and say, didn't you throw in three? There are four
in that furnace. But they never appeared like
he appeared in his incarnation. In some way, God appeared to
them in a form but it was not in the flesh. Here we read about
the word was made flesh. What was the purpose of that?
In all of those other times that he appeared in the Old Testament,
in all of those appearances that he ever mentioned in the Old
Testament, he never had a redemptive work in mind to be completed
at that time. He only had a redemptive work
to be completed in the proper time. Now, Daniel knew about
that time, and some of the prophets knew about that time, but the
time of redemption was prescribed by Almighty God to take place
in a particular time, in a particular place, outside of the walls of
Jerusalem, there would be a crucifixion. This one must have flesh. Now this one that took upon himself
flesh did not take upon himself sinful flesh. That's why we must
have a virgin birth. We must have a birth that is
so different than anybody else. We must have someone who had
a father that's in heaven. And we must have someone who
is a woman, just as God told Eve, the seed of the woman. And God united himself. Now, He didn't become 50-50. In a miraculous way, God became
man, and His name is Immanuel. He had the ability of thirsting
and hungering and being weary, and at the same time walk on
water and calm the seas. He had the ability of going into
a graveyard and visiting with a man that had been confined
there because of his disease of sin. And then he's sitting
and clothed and in his right mind because the all-powerful
God communed to him the new birth. We have the God-man, this one
who came in the flesh, the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us. This is an absolutely essential
part of God's redemptive work because God in himself could
not die for people's sins and man left alone could not die
for his sins. So in the covenant of grace,
the father had chosen a people to save And the Son became the
Savior of the people. And the Holy Spirit said, I will
go find them and bring the gospel to their hearing and give them
the new birth. All of them had their part to
play in our redemption. And the Son of God came down
here. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Hebrews chapter
5. Hebrews chapter 5. This is more than just a little
baby that's going to stay a little baby in a manger. Now, Lord willing,
next week we'd like to say a few words about Luke chapter 2, because
it's a wonderful account of the birth of the Lord Jesus. For
unto you is a Savior born. Alright, in the book of Hebrews
chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 5, Wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, Hebrews chapter 10 verse 5, He saith,
Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not. You know these numbers. The book of Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy is filled with sacrifices. and even in
Joshua's time and in the times of Solomon. Just read a little
bit about the dedication of that temple and the amount of sacrifice
is just mind-boggling. And yet all of those sacrifices
did not take away one sin from God's people. They were a type,
and a shadow, and a picture. But that was it. The blood of
bulls and goats cannot, will not, ever take away sin. But
the blood of Jesus Christ can pay for all the sins of all his
people and present them spotless. Notice this here in Hebrews chapter
10 and verse 5. Wherefore then he cometh into
the world, He saith, sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not,
but a body thou hast prepared me. Now what is that body going
to be used for? Well, we find out for 33 and
a half years, that body was what carried God in the flesh around. He saw what we are. And we saw
what he could do with what we are. We saw, we see him often
healing sick, but he would go into a crowd of hundreds, maybe
thousands, and speak to one person and heal one person out of the
whole host. Other times they brought people
to him and he healed them as they touched him of his garment. We find that as he walked upon
this earth, he was among us just as we are among ourselves here.
He was a man. He is God. And he walked among us. But when
the proper time came, nothing could hold him back from Jerusalem. Nothing could hold him back from
going to the cross on the behalf of his people. That's why he
had a body. That body was going to be used
to suffer immense punishment by God the Father upon His only
begotten Son, and that is how God was going to take care of
sin. He could be just and justifier
at the same time. He would not put sin away. He
would not just put it under the rug. He'd not just put it aside.
It must be paid for. And that's what he did with this
body. Jesus Christ went to the cross. Jesus Christ laid down
his life, a ransom for many. Our sin was placed upon him. 53rd chapter of the book of Isaiah
explains so much about that. The 22nd Psalm explains so much
about that. And then we read in the accounts
in the gospels how this all took place. And Jesus said right up
front, No man takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. That's what he said. No man took
it from him. When he was being prepared for
the cross, he put all of the hosts that came after him with
all those swords and staves, they put them on the ground in
front of him, groveling in the dirt. until he released them
and they took him off. He has tried. You know, I don't
care whether it was a just trial or an unjust trial. That's not
the issue. The issue is Pilate said, I find
no fault in him. Crucify him. We have a lamb,
the spotless lamb of God who had no sin of any kind in him,
but he had going to have sin put on him. this body that thou
hast prepared for me. He came in the flesh, the flesh,
the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory
as of the glory of the only begotten Son of God. We observed it. Glorious Son of God. And on the
cross, he demonstrated the reason he took upon himself flesh. Turn
back with me in the book of Hebrews, if you would, for just a moment.
Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9 Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9 but we
see Jesus Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9 but we see Jesus who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned
with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste
death for every man. And if we read this whole chapter,
we find out who the men are, who the people are. Don't take
it, read on, don't stop there. Well, I remember a little poem
that someone wrote. It talks about Jesus being in
the temple at age 12. Now, when I was in Sunday school,
he was asking the doctor's questions. But you read the scriptures,
and they were asking him questions. It wasn't the other way around.
He's not being informed of a thing. He is informing. At 12 years
age, he knew who he was. The Psalm says, thou didst make
me hope upon my mother's breast. What's he saying? I know why
I'm here. He knew why I was here in his conception. He knew why
I was here before all time. He came to save his people from
their sins. Someone wrote about some of the
questions that were asked. What's your name? And in that
little poem, on my mother's side, my name is Jesus. But on my father's
side, they call me Emmanuel. How old are you? On my mother's
side, I'm 12 years old. But on my father's side, I've
just always been. Where are you from? On my mother's
side, I'm from Bethlehem. But on my father's side, from
New Jerusalem. So what's your plan? On my mother's
side, I'll be crucified. But on my father's side, in three
days I'll rise and sit at my father's side. They shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. The word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. God purposed it for the suffering
of death and it is in that death that all his people shall have
life.