Let me read the first three verses
to you, and then speak to you about the Word. Alright, John chapter 1, verse
1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. And it says, the same was in
the beginning with God, that all things were made by him and
without him was not anything made that was made. The book starts this way in the
beginning. It's interesting as we look at
the four gospel narratives. Matthew begins with the royal
lineage of Messiah, whereas Mark begins with John the Baptist
announcing the arrival of Messiah. Luke begins with the birth of
John the Baptist, who then, John baptized our Lord Jesus. We get to the Gospel of John,
and he begins with a message that's very different. Because he begins with our Savior's
deity, that is the deity of Messiah. When you look at Matthew, he
has the birth of the Savior. You get to the book of Mark,
there's the baptism of the Savior. You get to Luke, it begins with
the birth of John. Now that fly is going to have
to go. He did. And don't come back. Let me begin again. Matthew begins
with the birth of Messiah. Mark begins with the baptism
of Messiah by John the Baptist. Luke begins with John the Baptist
announcing that he has entered into the world, that his Messiah
is here. He was the forerunner of Messiah. But then we get to John, and
he begins by saying, Messiah is the Creator of all things. In other words, Matthew, Mark,
and Luke, they start by saying, He's in the world. And that's
glorious. It's glorious. But Matthew, Mark,
and Luke, whereas they begin by saying He's in the world,
you get to the Gospel of John, and John says before the world
was ever made, He already existed. In fact, John says He made the
world. He made the world. So we could
say Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they look at the Savior and the
beginning of his ministry in this world in what we call time. Whereas John begins before time
ever began. What John tells us is this, in
the beginning, before the world was made, before God ever set
the clock a-ticking, before anything else existed, There was the Word. There was the Word. The Word
was with God as face-to-face with God. And the Word was in
fact God. And it says this same Word was
in the beginning with God. He was face-to-face. That word
with literally means face-to-face with God. He was there with the
everlasting Father and the everlasting Spirit. Our brother read to us
from the book of Wisdom, the book of Proverbs in chapter 8,
where the Savior said, I was there with Him and I was ever
His delight. We know this, that John writes
to set forth our Savior's deity. There's no question about that.
That's why it says in John chapter 20 and verse 31, these are written,
that is all that's in this book are written, that you might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, He's the Son of God, and that believing
you might have life through His name. The very reason that John
is led of the Spirit to write this, and it's interesting that
John writes this about 50 years after our Lord's crucifixion,
His burial, His resurrection, and His ascension. This is 50
years later. John has outlived all the other
apostles. And he writes this. And the Spirit
of God inspires him to emphasize our Lord's eternality. He emphasizes his Godhead. And yet, he still reminds us
in verse 14 of this. And the Word was made flesh. That One who was from old eternity
with the Father. and with the Spirit, who dwelt
in the serenity of the blessed Trinity. And God was satisfied
and delighted in Himself. That One who is our Savior, the
Eternal Word, He was with the Father and the Spirit way back
before time began. And then He tells us in verse
14, He stepped out of eternity into time. He who is God Almighty,
glorious beyond description, marvelous and wonderful in all
of His ways, having all the attributes and all the perfections of God,
this One who is the Lord of Glory, He came down here and the Scripture
says, He was made flesh and He dwelt or He tabernacled among
us. So John said, and we beheld His
glory, His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
there's His deity, and here's His humanity, and He's full of
grace, and He's full of truth. And so John is led by the Spirit
of God to write, in the beginning was the Word. In the beginning. That's the
way Moses is led of the Spirit to begin the Bible. In the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth. In the beginning of all
things, when the foundations of the earth were laid, in the
beginning of what we call time, we know time had a beginning
and it will have an end. Notice the difference between
Genesis chapter 1 and John chapter 1 though. Moses begins the book
of Genesis, and Genesis means beginning, the book of beginnings.
Moses begins the book of beginnings by saying, in the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth. Moses begins at the beginning
and then he proceeds forward to say what God did after He
began creation. But this man, the Apostle John,
he begins his book also at the beginning, but he doesn't go
forward. He goes backward. He goes backward
before time, and he says, in the beginning was the Word. In
other words, the Word of God, Jesus Christ the Lord, He preceded
time. He is the everlasting God. Remember, it's God's purpose
to show that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the everlasting Son
of God. Micah says this in Micah chapter
5, But thou Bethlehem Ephratah, Though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto
me, God says, unto me. He came for God. He came to offer
the sacrifice that would satisfy God. So that God could be just
and justify the ungodly, He says, He shall come forth unto me,
that is to be the ruler in Israel, now listen to this, whose goings
forth have been of old from everlasting. From everlasting. This is the
eternal Word. You'll notice in the text it
says, in the beginning. It doesn't say from the beginning.
It says in the beginning. If it had said from the beginning,
well that would indicate that the Son of God came into being
at that time. But when it says in the beginning,
that tells us that before God began the beginning, He already
existed. in the beginning. He already
was. He is therefore the everlasting
God. Look over at John chapter 8.
You remember when our Lord is speaking with the leaders of
Israel. John chapter 8. These men who
despised Him. These men who sought to kill
Him. The Savior said to them, go toward the end of the chapter,
John chapter 8 and verse 56. John 8, 56. He said, your father
Abraham rejoiced to see my day or my time. And he saw. He saw. He saw by faith. He saw Christ's day typically. And he saw and was glad. Then
said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old,
and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Before Abraham was, I am." And
they knew exactly what He was declaring. They knew exactly
what He was saying. He was setting forth His eternality. He was setting forth His deity. And we know they understood what
He was saying because of their reaction. Verse 59, Then took
they up stones to cast at Him. But Jesus hid himself and went
out of the temple going through the midst of them and so passed
by. Before Abraham was, I am. I am. Always in the present tense. That's the reason we read in
the book of Hebrews, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, forever. The great I am. Go back to John
chapter 5. John chapter 5. Our Lord has
healed a man at the pool of Bethesda. And He did so on the seventh
day. This is a man who had been laying 38 years. The Savior healed him. He's the
only man who was healed that day. An instance of sovereign
mercy. Distinguishing grace to this
man. There was lots of sick folk there. The very first one who would
get in the water when the angel troubled the water, they'd be
healed. This man was lame. He couldn't
get into the water. He had nobody to put him in the
water. And there he lay in his helpless and hopeless state.
And in that condition, he would remain the rest of his life,
except for the fact that Jesus of Nazareth passed by. And our
Lord sovereignly sought him out, He found him and He showed him
mercy. That sovereign, distinguishing
grace, and that's the only grace the Bible knows anything about.
Sovereign, distinguishing, free grace. And our Lord healed him
on the Sabbath day. And the Jews got upset. The Jewish
leaders got upset. Look at chapter 5 and verse 16. And therefore did the Jews persecute
Jesus. Chapter 5 verse 16. They sought
to slay Him because He had done these things on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father
worketh hitherto and I work. Therefore, the Jews sought the
more to kill him. Because he had not only, number
one, broken the Sabbath, but number two, said also that God
was his father, making himself equal with God. When we say, when the Bible says
that Jesus Christ is the Word, in the beginning was the Word,
here's what the Scripture is saying. He's equal with God because
He is God. And to deny His deity, to deny
that He's God, over all, blessed forever, is to seal your own
doom. Because nobody can save but God
alone. Only God can raise the dead.
Only God could put our sins away. Only God could satisfy God's
justice. And yet, only a man could suffer,
bleed, and die. So the God-man Great is the mystery of godliness. There's no controversy about
this among God's people. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Why? That He could suffer, bleed,
and die, and pay our debt of sin in full. He's the God-man. The reason His death means so
much, the reason it accomplished so much, the reason it put away
our sins and brought in everlasting righteousness is because the
One who died is none other than the Eternal Word. He is the Eternal Word. He is God and man. In the beginning
was the Word. Back here in John chapter 1,
the Apostle John, he carries our thoughts beyond the beginning
of creation. In fact, he goes backwards into
eternity. Back into the bosom of the Father. When there were no angels, when
there was nothing of substance anywhere. There was only God. And even then, the Word was in
the bosom of the Father, equal with the Father in every way.
He had every attribute of God, every perfection of God, and
all the names of God belonged to Him then. He's the everlasting
Word. In the beginning, in the beginning
was the Word. The Word. What happened in the
beginning? It's interesting to just look
up that expression, in the beginning. In the beginning. Look at a couple of references.
Look at Hebrews chapter 1. In the beginning. Hebrews chapter
1. Give you a quick Bible drill
here. In the beginning. Hebrews chapter
1, verse 10. Hebrews chapter 1, verse 10. And thou, Lord. By the way, in this great chapter,
God calls him God. God calls him God. Back up. Let me go back to this. Look at verse 5, For unto which
of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day
have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a
father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth
in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all
the angels of God worship him. Listen, worship is only due to
God alone. Isn't that right? That's what
the Bible teaches. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God, Him only shalt thou serve. And yet God the Father commands
the angels, Worship my Son. Well, He must be God then. Look
at verse 7, And of the angels He said, Who maketh His angels
spirits? And His ministers a flame of
fire. But unto the Son He said, Thy
throne, watch it, O God. called Him God. Thy throne, O
God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even Thy God,
hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. And Thou, Lord, in the beginning, has laid the foundation
of the earth." Still speaking of Christ Jesus. Still speaking
of the Word. In the beginning, He laid the
foundation of the earth. The heavens are the works of
His hands. They shall perish, but the Word
shall remain. They shall all wax old as doth
a garment, and as a vesture thou shalt fold them up, and they
shall be changed. But thou art the same, O Eternal
Word, O Eternal God, O Eternal Son of God, and thy years shall
not fail. But to which of the angels said
he at any time, Set on my right hand, until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. God called him God. In the beginning
he laid the foundations of the earth. Go to Isaiah chapter 46. Isaiah chapter 46 and verse 9. Isaiah chapter 46
verse 9. Remember the former things of
old. For I am God, and there is none
else. I am God, there's none like me.
Declaring the end, when? From the beginning. from ancient
times, the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel
shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. When God made all
of His counsels, when God established all of His purposes, when God
established all of His decrees, the Son of God was there in the
beginning. He was there with Him. Go to
2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Back to the New Testament. 2
Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 13 and 14. When all things were ordained,
He was there. He was there. When all things were predestinated,
and all things are, without exception, For of Him, and through Him,
and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
And when all things were ordained by God, the Word was there. The
Father, the Word, and the Spirit, they were there. Doing the ordaining. Doing the predestinating. Doing
the purposing. And watch this in 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 verse 13. But we're bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Because
God hath from the beginning. Well, what did God do from the
beginning? He's chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit. The Spirit of God gets
on the trail of the lost sheep. And He separates that lost sheep
from the ones that are in the wild and don't care anything,
won't care anything about the Lord. They're not the Lord's
people at all and won't ever be. And He separates them. And He enables them to believe
the truth. Trace it all back to God's electing
grace. Whereunto He called you by our
gospel, verse 14, to the obtaining of the glory, of our Lord Jesus
Christ. In the beginning, before the
earth was made, Christ the Word, in and by whom God the Father
made all things, in and by whom God the Father would reveal Himself
to sinners, the Word was there. In fact, back in our text where
it says, you'll notice the word was. Back in John chapter 1. Look at the word was. Four times in the first two verses.
In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was God. And the
Word was with God. And the Word was God. The same
was in the beginning with God. In other words, what that's saying
is, He existed beforehand. In the beginning. He didn't come
into Existence with all of creation? Why verse 3 tells us all things
were made by Him. All of creation came into existence
due to the incarnate Word, the ever-living Word of God. He spoke
and it came to pass. This is the Word. In the beginning
was the Word. John calls our Lord Jesus Christ
the Word. The Word. That's an expression
used in the New Testament mainly by John. And in this way he identified
Jesus of Nazareth as being the very Christ of God. And yet one
who is distinct from the Father. I can think of a couple of other
passages where he's referred to in the New Testament by being
spoken of as the Word by writers other than John. And one would
be in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 13. Look at Hebrews 4, 12 and
13. Look at Hebrews chapter 4, 12 and 13. Hebrews chapter 4,
starting in verse 12. For the Word of God is quick. The Word of God is quick. It's alive. It's powerful. Sharper
than any two-edged sword. In fact, this Word of God pierces
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. You say, well, that's talking about the written Word.
Well, you know, oftentimes in Scripture you can't discern whether
it's talking about the written Word or the incarnate Word. Because
read on, neither is there any creature that is not manifest
in His sight, that is in the sight of the Word. But all things
are naked and open under the eyes of Him with whom we have
to do. Then the other reference is in
the book of 2 Peter chapter 3, if you want to look at this one.
2 Peter chapter 3. And verse 5, For this they willingly are ignorant
of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the
earth standing out of the water and in the water. The word of
God, by the word of God the heavens of old came into existence. But
it's John who primarily uses this. Look over just a little,
1 John chapter 1. 1 John 1. Verse 1, 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 of Life, the Word of Life. For the Life was manifested,
and we have seen, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal
Life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. Where
was the Word before He came? He was with the Father. And then
He was manifested unto us. Look at 1 John chapter 5 and
verse 7. 1 John chapter 5 and verse 7. For there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one. These three are one. They bear
record in heaven. What do they bear record of?
What do these three bear record of? We say they bear record that
the Word is the eternal God. They don't need to bear record
in heaven that the Word is the eternal God. Everybody in heaven
already knows that. They bear record of this. They
bear record that God has given to His people eternal life which
is given to His people justly on the basis of the blood and
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what they
bear record of. The Father bears record that
redemption has been accomplished by exalting His Son. God the
Son, the Eternal Word, bears record that the work of redemption
is finished by the fact that He is our advocate. As John says
in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 2, My little children, these
things write I unto you that ye sin not. If any man sin, we
have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous. The
fact that He is there in glory bears record that He is our Advocate
and He finished the work that God gave Him to do. And then
God the Holy Spirit bears record of the accomplishment of reconciliation
and redemption by the Word by quickening us by His power and
revealing to us what Christ has already done for us. The Lord
Jesus is the Word of God. In John chapter 19, we read this,
and if you're taking note, it's John chapter 19 verse 13. His
name is called the Word of God. That's His name. He's the Word
of God. He's the final and perfect revelation
of God. Go back to our text quickly.
In the beginning was the Word. This word, W-O-R-D, what does
it mean? What is a word? Well, somebody
said a word is a vehicle of thought. Words convey my ideas. I prepared this message for you
today. I've been looking over it for
several days, of course, but the way that I convey my words,
my thoughts, my desires to you is by way of words. Words. What a fitting name for our Lord. He is God told out. God has conveyed
to us His thoughts, His will, His purpose, His person through
His Son. He's the Word. No wonder the Father said three
times this is recorded. The Father said it's recorded
in Matthew, and in Mark, and in Luke, on the Mount of Transfiguration. This is My beloved Son, and in
all three passages, He says, you hear Him. Hear ye Him. Why? He's the Word. He's the
Word. The only way you'll ever hear
from God is through the Word. And the only way God will ever
receive you is through the Word. See, everything God has to say to
us is through His Word. And everything we have to say
to God must go through the Word. And in the Old Testament, I'm
sure you've noticed many times in the Old Testament, it says,
and the word of the Lord came to so and so. I believe that's saying Christ
Jesus in pre-incarnate form came to them and communicated the
will of God and the words of God. Because I know this, God
will not speak to nor be spoken to by any son or daughter of
Adam except through a mediator. You can write that down. And
the only mediator between God and men is the man Christ Jesus. So in the Old Testament, when
the Word of the Lord, as it says in the book of Genesis, I believe
it's chapter 15, it says, and the Word of the Lord came to
Abraham. That's the eternal Word. That's
Christ. That's Christ. He communicated
the will of God to Abraham. A word is an expression. It's
a means of manifestation. A word is communication. A word
is revelation. What does Christ Jesus do? He
manifests the invisible God. He communicates the love and
the grace and the mercy of the Lord. He reveals the attributes
and the perfections of God. The Word of God then is deity
expressing Himself to us. Therefore, Christ Jesus is called
the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and then it says, and the Word was with God. And I've already
told you that literally means the Word was face to face with
God. That is, He was toward God. As one equal with God. But it means more than that.
It means He was in agreement with God. Alright, here I am preaching
tonight. And I might say something like this, are you with me? I'm not asking you to stand up
here on the platform with me. I know you're not. What I'm asking,
are you in agreement with me? That's another meaning of this
Word. And the Word was with God. He was in agreement with God.
There's the Father, the Word, and the Spirit. They're agreed
in all that they do. In John chapter 10, you remember
when our Lord is talking about the sheep? He says, My sheep
hear My voice and I know them, they follow Me. I give to them
eternal life, they'll never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one. Well, is that just talking about
the oneness of the Trinity? Well, it's certainly talking
about that. But even more, in God's eternal
purpose of grace concerning His sheep and their everlasting safety
and preservation, the Son of God says, I and the Father are
one on their safety. We're in absolute agreement on
this. When God chose a people under
salvation, There was absolute agreement within the trinity.
When the Son of God volunteered to be our surety and our substitute
and our Savior, there was absolute agreement in the Trinity. When
the Spirit of God said He would take the Word of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ and raise dead sinners from their graves and grant unto
them repentance, repentance of their dead works and idolatry
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Trinity was in agreement.
That's what this means. And the Word was with God. Here's
an agreement with God. All of God's purposes, the Word
was there. He was the one who was purposing.
He was the one who was decreeing. But then it says, and the Word
was God. And the Word was God. I tell
you, to me, it's absolutely impossible for anyone to read those words
with any degree of honesty and misunderstand them. The Word was God. John here tells
us that the eternal Word was, is, and ever shall be in His
nature, in His essence, and in His substance, very God of very
God. That's what he tells us. There
is no inferiority of the Word to the Father. He's equal with
God in every way. If He's not God, He can't save
us. And He can't satisfy the Father.
And I know He's God because of verse 3. All things were made
by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
It's such a simple yet powerful statement. It's not confusing. Here's a very positive statement
and a negative statement. Here's the positive statement.
All things were made by Him. But who made all things? The
Word. And here's the negative. Without
Him was not anything made that was made. Everything that exists, He made. He made. I read a story about
a little girl walking with her daddy. The father had been talking to
her about this world belongs to the Lord. He made it all. And she stopped. There's some
wildflowers growing there. She stopped and said, Daddy,
do you think the Lord wouldn't mind if I picked some of His
flowers? It's all His. And we're His by
grace. And the Word is ours. To God
be the glory. Well, let's sing a closing song.
Number 125, Jesus paid it all.