Our lesson this morning is in
the Gospel of John, chapter 1, and I don't know how far we'll
get this morning. I hope to get through verse 14,
but I don't know how far we're going to get. I chose this chapter. because it's very special to
me. Back in the mid-seventies, I
was attending a little Baptist church. That's where I first ran into
and heard the gospel of God's sovereign grace. And I come to
see the sovereignty of God, the absolute sovereignty of God. I was confronted with it, solid. That God saves men by the free
gift of His grace and not by their works. And nobody else in the church
had ever heard these things. We'd never heard these things.
And people began to come and ask questions, and they'd come
to me to ask questions about these things, and they'd overhear
me talking to somebody else. And one thing led to another,
and within a few months I was pastoring that old church. And a few months later that all
blew up, and we went back home again to look around, see if
we could find somewhere to go worship God. And I heard a TV
evangelist whose name was Henry Mahan. And we went up there, and I began
to attend services up there, stayed there for several years.
And Henry began what he called a preacher's school. And he asked
if any of us felt like we were inclined to preach, and if we
were, we were welcome to come and sit down in the classes,
and so I did. And he began to send us out kind
of like Ron and Larry do and fill in pulpits here and there.
I came down here and preached for this group when they were
meeting over here at the old KU building. I remember going
over there. And then I went down to Louisiana
in God's providence and began to pastor a church down there.
And after about five or six years, that church had a horrible, just
a horrible split. And I met with some of the folks
there for a while in a motel, and then finally I came up here. And then after several months,
I walked out that back door and I was gone for 12 years. And one day we'd sold a home.
I build homes for a living, and we'd sold a home to some people,
and this fellow was real religious, real religious. I listened to him as he talked
to first one and then another, and I tried to avoid his questions
and comments and things, but he was one of these guys that's
just not going to let you out of this. He's not going to let
you away. He's going to buttonhole you,
get you in a corner, and he did, and when he did, I turned on
him. And I said, no, I don't believe any of those things.
Here's what I believe. And I began to tell him, and
I was amazed after 12 years, I could still remember the doctrines.
I could still go down and say, here's what I believe. I believe
in the absolute sovereignty of God, and I believe in the total
depravity of man. And I went right down the line
with the doctrines, and I was illustrating for him the doctrine
of substitution, and I was using that old illustration by Roland
Hill. And I got to that part where
the Lord stood up behind him and said, I was rolling hill
before the world was created. And I was rolling hill when this
world was plunged into depravity. And I was rolling hill when this
world was destroyed by flood. And when I formed Israel, and
Israel went away in their rebellions and backslidings, I was rolling
heel, and I was rolling heel in the judgment. And I saw for
the first time in my life, I saw that Christ is all. It's not the doctrines of grace,
it's the Christ of grace. It's the Christ of grace. And
I came home, and I was tore all to pieces. You can't even imagine
what kind of shape I was in. But I did know this. I know how
are you going to call on Him in whom you have not heard, and
how are you going to hear without a preacher? So I went in and
got me some clothes together, and I came down here, and I sat
here, and I sat here, and I sat here, and I listened, and I took
notes, and I'd go home and look at them. All these things are
things that I believed most of my life. And I could see that how God
could be just and justifier. And I could see how that salvation
must be by grace. I could see those things. But I wasn't convinced in my
heart that God was willing God was willing to show me these
things, to do these things for me. And one evening, I wanted to
hear the gospel every time it was preached that I could go,
and I think it was on Wednesday evening we decided. I heard Henry
was preaching over at Todd's, and I went over there to hear
him. And I went over there and sat
down, and he got up to preach, chose for his text the prodigal
son. And he preached along, and everything
was going pretty good. And all of a sudden, he came
to that part where the father throwed open his arms and welcomed that son. This was
my son. He put a ring on his finger later.
This was my son. He declared to that boy, Everybody
else knew it. The only one that didn't know
it was the boy. He declared to that boy, you're my son. I love you. I've always loved
you. I came home, opened up this book,
and this book come alive. I understood for the first time
in my life why they call it the living Word. The Word has become
bread to me, food to me. I've got to have it like I've
got to have air, the Word. And I sat down and I read this
first fourteen verses of the book of John. He opened up more
to me. I left the book sitting there
on the pew that I wrote over the past three or four days,
but maybe sometime The Lord will give me opportunity to use all
those things. But I want you to look here in
John chapter 1 at verse 1. And he says, John makes three
declarations. He says, first of all, in the
beginning was the Word. He said, let's go back. Let's
go back. Let's go back past the manger.
past all the ideas, all the Christmas ideas and things that we've got.
Let's go on back past Israel and all the confusion of the
nation of Israel and what it's going to do and why it was picked
and what its pertinence is today. Let's just get on back past the
religion of this world and past the idolatries of this world
and past the first judgment of this world by water. Let's go
on back past the fog. Let's go on back past creation. Let's go on back to the serenity
of eternity in the clearness of the person of God. And there
stands the Word. The Word. The same Word. The
same Words that I'm reading right here this morning. The Word. There's the Word. And then secondly, he says this,
the Word was with God. And what that says to me is this,
it's with God in the harmony of His attributes, in the harmony
of His person. It's with God in the harmony
of His will and His ways. It's with God in the harmony
of all His intentions and His decrees. It's uncompromised. It's unmixed. It's unaffected,
uninfluenced. Here's the word. How often have
you picked up this book and read something in it, and then somebody
else, and you thought you had a pretty clear understanding
of it, and then somebody else says something, and then all
of a sudden you're totally confused. I don't know what, let's go back
there. Let's get on back past the confusion. That's what John's
saying. Let's go back here, and here's
Stanley. with no other influence, unmixed,
is the Word of God. And the Word was with God, in
harmony with God, and then thirdly, he declares the Word was God. That's not something about God.
I knew all about God for twenty years. I've been hearing about
God since I was that big. The Word was God. It was God. Never imagine that the Word of
God, I was talking to a fellow last week and talking to Don
about it, and the Word of God to him is a concept. It's just
a concept of man. And it's evolved with man down
through time. And it's changed and evolved
as man has changed and evolved. That's what he was telling me.
Don't ever imagine that. The Word is God. It's God. It is, and it was, and it always
will be. It's God. And as God, it's unchangeable. Nothing's been added to it or
taken away from it. Nothing's been compromised. The
fall of man didn't take God by surprise, and then God said,
oh, well, I'm going to have to change some things. Oh, no. Oh,
no. It's unchangeable. It's infallible. There are no mistakes in here.
There are no contradictions in here. It's not something that's subject
to time. A fellow told me, he said, well,
that's – I was talking to him about God hath made him to be
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him." And he said, it doesn't say that in the Bible.
And I said, well, sure it does. I said, in fact, it's the very
heart of the Gospel. He said, that's not the heart
of the Gospel. And he said, it doesn't say that in the Word
of God. I said, I think I've got a Bible in my truck. And
I went on and got it out at lunchtime and opened it up. And I said,
see here, it says right here. He said, what are you reading?
Oh, he said, that's the old King James Version. He said, that
old language, he said, it's just confusing. I said, the word you're
confused about is made, M-A-D-E, made. It's as pertinent and as
meaningful today as it was back then. It means the same thing,
made, constructed. The word is infallible, and it's
not subject to time or eternity. It's not subject. And as God,
it must be in harmony with all his perfections. He said, Heaven
and earth will pass away, but my Word, my Word will not pass
away. And then here in verses 3, 4,
and 5, let's read these things. He said, All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. In Him was
life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth
in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." Creation. That's the first thing
this eternal Word did. That's the first of His activities,
creation. The Bible said he spoke and it
was done. He commanded and it stood fast. There it is, by his
Word. And this Word, being eternal,
was not brought about by some activity, by some happening in
time, but according to whatever influence and purpose that God
found in himself in the beginning, he created this world. He created
the world. In Hebrews 11.3 it says, ìBy
faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word
of God, so that the things that are seen were not made of things
which do appear.î How do we understand that? By the Word. In Him was life, and the life was the light of
men. I don't know of any way to define
that verse. I don't know of any way for me to project to you what
God has given me concerning that verse. It's like I was talking
to Don the other night about the new birth. I said, I don't
think there's anything more confusing to men than the new birth. And
the way the Lord dealt with it, He just said, the wind blows
where it wants to. And you can see the effects of
it, but you don't know where it comes from and where it's
going next. That's the birth. That's just a lie. You see, the
Word of God is a person. There is, from my own thinking,
there is the eternal Word, which was with God and was God. That's where God takes us back
to. The eternal Word, the Word is God. And then in time, God, by His Holy Spirit, set
aside certain men, and these men penned what we now call the
Word of God. And then in time, the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us, and we had the incarnate Word. And now we've got the Word preached,
preached in the power of God's Holy Spirit. God's Word is a
person. And in this person is life, all
life, mineral life. Creation came from it. What is
creation? Creation is life. It's life. There's mineral life and animal
life and plant life and human life and eternal life. It's life. All life. He's the light that
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Life. All life
is in Him. It's all in Him. It's a person.
It's not the doctrines and distinctions of theology, it's the life that
gives light. That's what I missed. The life
is in Christ. That's where the life and the
light come from. There's no light apart from life.
We just wander around in darkness. We just wander around dead in
trespasses and sins. We just wander around being influenced
by religion and philosophy science and whatever else this world
can conjure up in their fallen, depraved hearts. That's what
we do. And all of a sudden, God speaks
life. And then this book comes alive.
And His Word becomes alive. It becomes bread. It becomes
food for the soul. It becomes rest. Because you
see, this book is a person. It's the revelation of a person. Creation declares life. Turn over with me to Psalm 19. David said, ìThe heavens declare
the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his
handiwork.î He said, Day unto day utter speech, and night unto
night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language
where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through
all the earth, and the words to the end of the world. In them,
in them, in creation itself hath he set a tabernacle for
the sun. And that sun, he said, is like
a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. and rejoiceth as a strong
man to run a race. His going forth is from the end
of heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it, and there is
nothing hid from the heat thereof." And then he goes on to talk about
the written word. The law of the Lord is perfect,
and so on. It's light. And this light, he
said, shineth in darkness. And the darkness comprehended
it not. He's talking about here the darkness
of human depravity, and the darkness of worldly idolatry, and the
darkness of runaway religion, and the darkness comprehended
at night. He's talking about the light
of creation and the light of the promises of God. The woman
seethed at the very beginning of the fall. He gives his promise,
the woman seethed. And all down through the Scriptures,
He keeps talking about that seed, that seed, that seed. We've got
the light of the promises of God, and the light of all the
examples of the Old Testament, and the light of all the types
and pictures and shadows and patterns and allegories, and
you could just go on and on and on. He said this in Hebrews,
I think it's chapter 10. He said, in sacrifices and burnt
offerings, he said, I found no pleasure. I've got no pleasure
in those things. Then said I, Lo, I come in the
volume of the book. He said, It's written of me.
What's written? I do thy will, O God. I will. But the darkness comprehended
it not. Now, I know some of you. I don't know each one of you
as individuals. I don't know your background, but most of
us grew up in some kind of religion. I grew up in the Nazarene religion.
And my dad, he just wanted to be there every time the door
was open. And we'd go over to the old mission
churches over in Mansfield, Ohio, and he'd set me up on a feed
sack. They'd sit there and preach to the winos and whoever would
come in. I mean, we were there every time
the door was open. And in all that time, from the
time I was seven years old until the time I was old enough to
leave home and join the Navy. In all that time, I never understood
one single thing that they were saying. Not one thing. I was
confused when I left as I was when I started. Totally confused. None of it made any sense. And then when my wife and I joined
that little church, I knew we had problems. I knew we had problems
in our life, and we wanted to get them straightened out, and
we went down to that church, and nothing they said made any
sense. And I thought, well, it's just
you. And they kept telling me, well,
just believe. Just believe. Believe what? Oh, well, just
believe. You'll see. It'll come to you.
It never came to me. And we worked, and we labored.
And we did think, well, God's not going to show you anything
until you act on what He's already showed you. Well, He hasn't showed
me anything. But we tried, and we worked,
and we did this, and we did that, and we understood nothing. Life gives light. The darkness
comprehended it not. And if you want to know why,
look over here in John chapter 3. This whole world loved John 3,
verse 16, but if they had read before it and after it, I think
they could learn something. And down here in verse 19, he
says, And this is condemnation. Well, let's back up to verse
18. He that believeth on him is not condemned. But he that
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation. Here is the judgment. Here's
the judgment. Light has come into the world,
and men love darkness rather than light. Why? Because their
deeds were evil. Their deeds were evil. They love
darkness. Man loves his religion. If you don't think that's true,
you try to take it away from him. It would be like taking
away a fresh bone from a dog. He loves his darkness. And you
start talking to him about God's free grace, and He just wants
you dead. He wants you out of there. Get
away from Me. He looks at you like you're the
devil himself. They love darkness. That's why
they don't comprehend the light. They're in love with the darkness.
It's all they can see. It's all they know. came a man foretold in the Old
Testament. His name was John. He came for
witness. He wasn't the light, but he was
a witness of the light. The Word of God declared that
he'd come. He's the forerunner. Verse 9, that was the true light,
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, talking
about Christ. He was in the world, and the
world was made by him, and the world knew him not. And he came
unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received
him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believed on his name." And that's where I've
been going all morning. This name, you want to know what
this name is? He declares over in Revelation,
John said, I saw him. He was sitting on a white horse.
Part of his name was faithful and true. He knew that part.
But he said he had a name that no man could understand but he
himself. And then he was clothed. John
saw him clothed in a vesture dipped in blood. And then he
saw his name. His name is called the Word of
God. He saw the everlasting Word,
the Word of mercy and grace, truth and justice, All the attributes
of God. He saw that name on that man
with that vesture dipped in blood. That name. And that's what this
book is all about. It's a declaration that somebody's
coming. And that that somebody has come.
And that everything that God has to say to you and to say
to me and to say to this world is said right there in that man.
Everything. And what faith is all about is
when God opens your heart to see that. This is the man. This is the hope. This is the
life. This is the purpose of God. This
is the decrees of God. This is the glory of God. Wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, redemption go on and on and on.
It's all in this man. This man. Who sees it? To as
many as receive him. to as many as received him. To
them gave he the power, the right, the privilege which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God." Thank you.