Introduction to John
John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 2 viewsJesus is the divine Word of God, the creator the world , the very being and essence of life.
Notes
Transcript
My Admiration
My Admiration
As we come to the Gospel of John we are approaching one of the true literary treasures of the Bible. It has been said of John, it is a pool safe enough for a child to wade in and yet deep enough for an elephant to drawn in. This is by far the most spiritual of the four gospel written. Whenever someone asks me where they should begin reading the Bible I always recommend John.
It contains some of the most memorable verses in the Bible. Verses so simple children can recite them yet so profound saints ask they be read at their funerals. Martin Luther wrote, “This is the chief gospel, should a tyrant succeed in destroying the scriptures and only a single copy of the epistle to the Romans and the gospel of John escape, Christianity would be saved.”
This Gospel is different
The moment you begin to read John you become aware of how unique it is. The first three gospels; Matthew, Mark, and Luke concentrated on describing the events in the life of Christ, John wrote about what those events mean, and how the pertain to our life.
This Gospel of John is different because there is no genealogy, no baby in a manger or angels proclaiming His birth. There is no baptism, no temptation, no Transfiguration, no Gethsemane, no lepers, no demoniacs and no parables. There are only a few miracles chosen by John as signs to prove Jesus is the Son of God.
This gospel is different because we have at least ten famous “I Am” statements declaring that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament who spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai. And this Gospel contains teachings from Jesus not found in the other gospels.
John was the last of the four gospels written and It is as though he sat down with the other writings in his hand, and said, “Okay, what did you forget, because that is what I want to say.”
We can be certain, John the disciple of Jesus wrote this gospel, although his name is never mentioned.
We have internal evidence; John 21:24 says it was written by an eyewitness and disciple of Jesus. And we know from the other gospels that Peter, James, and John were the closest disciples to Christ. Yet John is the only one of the three not mentioned here. And when his name would come up, he simply refers to himself in humility as, “the disciple who Jesus loved.”
We have external evidence saying John was the author. Irenaeus, a second century bishop wrote of; Papias and Polycarp, who knew John and claim, he is the author of this gospel. And that claim is supported by other ancient documents as well.
What is interesting to me is; this is the only gospel we have where the author tells us his purpose for writing.
John 20:31 “but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”
John wants you to believe. Not some general idea about Jesus but specifically that He is the Messiah, the Son of God who gives us eternal life.
John uses the word believe 98 times and for John faith means more than acceptance of an idea, it means having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
This book is a treasure meant to teach us that Jesus is the Savior of the world, and by believing in Him we can be saved.
So, lets begin by reading the first five passages of the Gospel of John.
John 1:1–5 (NASB95)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
In our passage this morning we have what many Christian scholars believe was an early church hymn or creed, that was recited as they gathered together to worship.
With just a brief passing over this scripture, and a mild interest in what is being said, you will miss out on the highest of all human concepts. Jesus Christ is; the Word of God, the Creator of the world, and the very being and essence of life.
Those three truths are so important that they must be understood or a person will be forever lost and ignorant of God Himself.
This scripture lays out the foundation for our salvation, and teaches us the divinity of Jesus.
The first thing I want you to see is Jesus relationship to God Vs. 1-3
Here John makes three bold statements about Christ that affirm to us what we already know; Jesus is the incarnate God.
Now it is important to understand, John is fully aware that the punishment for blaspheme is death and he could very well be executed for what he is saying.
But after spending three and a half years with Jesus, John was convinced that He was God and he wanted to share that with the world.
The first statement he makes is that Jesus is eternally God.
He says, “In the beginning was the Word.”
Notice the word, “Word” is capitalized. This is a tittle for Jesus. We learn in Vs. 2 the Word is a person, it says, “He was with God in the beginning.” And we learn in Vs. 14 that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. This can only be referring to the incarnate Son of God. Christ.
Speaking of Christ as the Word; Revelation 19:13 “He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.”
So it is clear that John is referring to Jesus as the Word.
The Greek for “Word” is Logos. And it means more than something spoken or sound of a voice.
To the Greeks Logos was something active and alive. It possessed power and the ability to do something.
And that was important for John because he was writing to a Gentile audience. He couldn’t speak to them about a Messiah or Savior the Jews were expecting to come into the world, they would not have understood that.
But they fully understood the philosophy of the Logos, or the power of God’s Words to create and to act, and that is who John is declaring Jesus to be.
Jesus is the expression of God to mankind. The spoken Word of God and that was something both Jews and Gentiles understood.
John is teaching us an important lesson about evangelism. We have to speak a language the world understands. If you are telling someone about Christ and the difference God has made in your life, Christian cliches wont work, you need to speak in common language not in church speech.
Now that doesn’t mean we water down the message, it means we make the language understandable and that was what John was doing.
But there is more notice the phrase “In the Beginning.” This is an echo of Genesis 1:1 and it refers to the beginning of time and space. It refers to the moment that God created the world.
But notice the little word “was” in our text. It literally means “always has been.” What John is saying is; Jesus was already there in the beginning of time at the creation of the world.
I know this is difficult for us to grasp because we live in the realm of time. All that we see and know has a beginning and an end. But not the Lord. There was never a time when Jesus did not exist.
He wasn’t created in the womb of Mary. He didn’t become the Christ as He lived on the earth, and went to the cross. He is, and has always been eternally God.
Psalm 90:2 “Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”
John makes another bold statement in Vs. 1. He says, Jesus is Equal to God.
“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God.”
It’s clear that there was more than one person present before time began, and John says, “one of those persons was Jesus.” The Word was with God.
The best way for us to understand this are two ideas; accompaniment and relationship. Not only did Jesus exist in eternity but He had the closest possible relationship to the Father.
This verse is evidence for the Trinity. God exists in three distinct persons; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And Jesus has always existed as the second person of the God head.
Another example is when Jesus was baptized. He came up out of the water, the heavens opened and the Spirit descended like a dove and the Father said, “This my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”
There is evidence of the Trinity in the Old Testament. Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.”
The Trinity may be difficult for us to comprehend but it is important for us to understand because it teaches us that Jesus was not an after thought. God’s plan of redemption was not a reaction to our sin, but the remedy.
Jesus was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He always existed in a close personal relationship with the Father, as the beloved Son. He was always God’s plan for the salvation of the world.
John 17:5 ““Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
Then John continues with a third bold statement in Vs. 1, and gets even stronger. He says, Jesus Is Essentially God.
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
In the Greek this reads, “God was Word.”
Now, many people don’t have a problem accepting that Jesus is eternal and that Jesus was present with God in the beginning, but most people, Christians included struggle with the idea that He is essentially God.
In fact, that has been the source of controversy and debate in the church for over two thousand years.
Even the disciples struggled with it. Remember when Phillip, one of the twelve disciples, asked Jesus to show him the Father.
Jesus said, John 14:9 “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father”
When Jesus walked the earth, multitudes believed He could heal them and feed them and they had no problem excepting His blessings, but when He claimed to be the Son of God they wanted to crucify Him.
Today, people still struggle with the identity of Jesus. They say He was a prophet and a good teacher, even a miracle worker but they can’t embrace the idea that He is God.
It is important we understand that John is not teaching us that Jesus is the identical person of the Father. Jesus is His own distinct person. But He is of the very same substance and nature of the Father.
I will give you an example. Technology today has made signatures a thing of the past. When we sign for something today we just scribble our name and it’s accepted, but it didn’t use to be that way.
In the past when you signed for something your signature verified who you were. It was authenticated and compared with the original to determine it was you.
Well that is what Jesus Christ did. He is the authenticated signature of God, who verified God is to mankind. He is the exact image and replica of God, given to the world.
Hebrews 1:3 “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature.”
The word radiance there is the word “apaugasma” and it means just like the rays coming off of the sun are the same substance as the sun, Jesus Christ is the very same substance as God.
The next thing I want to show you in this passage is; Jesus relationship with the world. Vs. 3-5
As the second member of the Trinity, Jesus has a unique relationship with the world.
First of all He is the Creator. John 1:3 “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”
Notice we are given both a positive and a negative; First he states the positive; “All things came into being through Him.” And then we are given a negative; “and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”
John uses this language because he is emphasizing that every specific detail of Creation was made through the Word of God.
All of matter, and energy, everything living and spiritual being. The heavens, the earth, the moon, the stars, and the sky, everything that is came into existence through Jesus Christ.
He was the agent of all of it, the voice and breath of God that brought it all into existence.
For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
It is important for us to see and understand Christ is the Creator for three reasons.
1. it teaches us that God is not some distant landlord that doesn’t care about us and what we are going through. He cares about every detail and every person. The one God used to create the world is the one God used to save the world.
2. The problems we face in the world are not because of God’s attitude toward us, but because of our attitude toward Him. The heart of man is sinful and wicked and we choose sin over living for the Lord.
3. The answer to the worlds problems are not going to be solved by technology, but by turning our hearts back to God and surrendering our lives to Christ. Then and only then can the world be put back in order the way God created it to be.
One day the assembly line in the Ford plant broke down. None of Ford’s men could fix it, so they called in Steinmetz. He tinkered for a few minutes, threw the switch, and it started running again.
A few days later Ford received a bill from Steinmetz for $10,000. Ford wrote back, “Charlie, don’t you think your bill is a little high for just a little tinkering!” Steinmetz sent back a revised bill: “Tinkering—$10. Knowing where to tinker—$9,990.”
Only Jesus knows where the tinkering should be done in our lives to keep us in perfect running order. Christ always knows which screw to turn, which belt to loosen,and how to fix what is broken, because He is the Creator.
Not only is Jesus the Creator of the world but He is the Life and Light of man.
John 1:4 “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”
Throughout John, he uses the terms; light and life, to describe Jesus. These are tittles for Christ as well. And In one sense scripture pictures Jesus as physical light.
He was the blinding light from heaven that knocked the apostle Paul to the ground on the road to Damascus. He was the light of glory to Peter, James, and John on the mount of transfiguration. For us, He will be the only light we need when we get to heaven.
But here in John the emphasis is on the spiritual life. Christ is the life giving light to a dark world.
The thought of Christ as being spiritual light should encourage us, because it speaks of God’s love for us, and His attempt to reach lost people of the world.
Notice the contrast in Vs. 5 John 1:5 “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
Darkness represents the power of Satan over the hearts and minds of people, and Light represents the true knowledge of God in Christ Jesus.
By not “comprehend it” John means the world doesn’t understand it. And because the world don’t understand it, they will be opposed to it.
We see that in the gospels, when Jesus came into the world as a Savior He was rejected and despised by men. But for as many as recieved Him He gave them the right to become the sons of God.
Sadly, the majority of people in the world don’t understand Jesus, and they don’t want to. They don’t want their sins exposed. They would rather live in darkness than know the truth. They are more afraid of giving up their sin than going to hell.
Probably the most compelling Verse is John 3:19 ““This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.”
Let me ask you this; if you were sick and thought you were going to die, wouldn’t you go to the doctor to get a diagnosis and hopefully a cure, that you could live. Well the same thing is true when it comes to the sin in our life. Jesus is the great physician we need to go to to get the cure so we can live.
Conclusion
As we begin our study of the gospel of John, we learn from this scripture the highest of all human concepts; Jesus Christ is; the Word of God, the Creator of the world, and the very being and essence of life.
Those three truths are so important that they must be understood or a person will be forever lost and ignorant of God Himself.
This scripture lays out the foundation for our salvation, and teaches us the divinity of Jesus. He is the second member of the Trinity, and He has unique relationship with God the Father and with the world.
Phillips, J. (2009). Exploring the Gospel of John: An Expository Commentary. Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp.
Cole, S. J. (2017). John. Galaxie Software.
Phillips, R. D. (2014). John (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.; 1st ed., Vols. 1 & 2). P&R Publishing.
Hughes, R. K. (1999). John: that you may believe. Crossway Books.
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (2004). The Gospel according to John. Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible.Thomas Nelson Publishers.
