The Word of Life

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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Thank you for remaining standing and turn to the first epistle of John 1st

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John and chapter 1 this is

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God's holy and infallible word That which was from the beginning

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Which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes Which we have looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the word of life the life was

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Manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you That eternal life with which was with the father and was manifested to us

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That which we have seen and heard we declare to you That you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son

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Jesus Christ and These things we write to you that your joy

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May be full This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all

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If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness We lie and do not practice the truth

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But if we walk in the light as he is in the light We have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin

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If we say that we have no sin We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us

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If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness

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If we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us

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The Lord be pleased with our Consideration of his word. Please pray with me.

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Oh Lord Jesus we Ascribe majesty to your holy name for you are the eternal word of God Come in the flesh

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We thank you Oh Lord that you have procured and secured our salvation

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You have crushed the enemies of sin and death and Satan and you have made us your people alive

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And in this we rejoice Lord I pray that you would allow our hearts to soar heavenward with holy affections when we consider

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Who Christ is? We ask Holy Spirit that you would supply both light and heat and we ask all this in Jesus name

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Amen Please be seated I'm excited to start a new book with you and over the next several weeks

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Preaching it. I will be supplying more introductory and thematic

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Information today. We're going to jump right into it. There's two things that I want to point out to you

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The first is this When we read just now in first John chapter 1.

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I want you to look again at verse 4 We're not going to be preaching on verse 4 today But we see a clear purpose in John's writing here in chapter 1

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He's writing these things that our joy might be full Now that's encouraging to me because I want to experience the fullness of joy.

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I think you do too and a great overarching theme within John is assurance of salvation if you or someone you know

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Has struggled with assurance of salvation in Christ first John is a tremendous antidote to that fear

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John so characteristically seems to be completely engulfed entrenched enamored with the eternality of Christ and in this

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Beginning part of chapter 1 we have a message that sounds a lot like his gospel in The first chapter in the prologue to the gospel of John He's going to argue here that that Jesus Christ is the eternal

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Son of God the eternal word the the embodiment the personification of divine wisdom

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And this is going to be needful because of the error that resides within The first thing

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I'd like us to do is I'd like us to take up the hymnal and turn to page 846

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I'd like us together as part of the sermon to recite the second

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Paragraph the larger section of the Nicene Creed This is going to serve us well when we consider

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Who Christ is? the Christological controversies of the early church have their root here in first John There are those who would deny that Jesus Christ would come in the flesh

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The denial of Jesus Christ coming in the flesh means there can be no salvation

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If Christ the Living God the second person of the Trinity does not come in the flesh we would not be saved

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So John is very eager to to quench out this error and the

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Nicene Creed is going to help us articulate The person of Christ, let's read it together as a congregation beginning with and and in one

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Lord Jesus Christ The only begotten Son of God begotten of his father before all worlds

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God of God light of light very God of very God Begotten not made being of one substance with the

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Father by whom all things were made Salvation came down from heaven was incarnate by the

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Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man Was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate rose again according to the scriptures

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Send it into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father and he shall come again with glory

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Judge both the living and the dead whose kingdom shall have no end.

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Thank you Would you look and turn over to chapter 2?

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I'm going to identify the error That John seems to be writing again, at least in the first part of the epistle look at verse 18 and following this is why

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I believe he starts His epistle in much the same way that he starts his gospel.

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It says little children It is the last hour

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And as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming Even now many

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Antichrists have come by which we know that it is the last hour

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They went out from us But they were not of us

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For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest

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That none of them were of us But you have an anointing from the

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Holy One and you know all things. I Have not written to you because you do not know the truth but because you know it and There is no lie that no lie is of the truth

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Who is a liar? But he who denies that Jesus is the

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Christ He is Antichrist who denies the

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Father and the Son Whoever denies the

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Son does not have the Father either He who acknowledges the

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Son Has the Father also To deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh

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May be hearkening back in hopes of a an Old Testament Judaism John says that you don't know the

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Father The Jews today who claim to know the God of Abraham Do not know the

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God of Abraham if they do not know the Son The great challenge in every generation is for us to get

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Christ right to have a biblically informed and defined doctrine of Christ Let's look at it again beginning at verse 1

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It says that which was from the beginning Children, I want you many of you may have learned this it came to my mind a couple of days ago

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When you're learning numbers, they sometimes teach you about the number line. Have you seen that?

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Do you remember that parents? And it has arrows going in both directions the beginning in the beginning and providentially today

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We were reading in Genesis chapter 1 that could be the first dot on the number line

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But there's an arrow pointing in the other direction And in the middle of that number line there could be another dot and that would be the arrival the incarnation of the

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Lord Jesus Christ That would be the dot in the middle and the third dot

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Would be the dot of the last day the great judgment the last day of the world as we know it

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And the consummation of Christ's kingdom and there's an arrow going beyond it The straight number line has two arrows and what

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John is saying here very clearly is before the first dot Before when

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Jameson read Genesis 1 1 before there was a Genesis 1 1 there was an eternal word of God the second person of the

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Trinity the Lord Jesus Christ that Divine logos, which was from the beginning and here's the part that is so startling

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John says We the Apostles the early disciples the early followers of Christ We have heard his voice

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We have seen him with our own eyes We Have looked upon him our hands have laid hold of him and and handled him the divine logos the the truth

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Has been revealed in the person of Christ I'd like you to turn back with me to John's gospel in John chapter 1 another side observation,

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I think it's Interesting that John is so taken with Christ in his

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Divinity big theme in his gospel, but also in his eternality in the past When the

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Sun was shining as Jameson read chapter 1 and the night is falling There is the accounting of what we understand to be time

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And before there was time as we know it there was a a second person of the

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Trinity himself very God of very God begotten not made

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It says in his gospel beginning at verse 1 in the beginning was the word the logos and The word the logos was with God and here's the startling revelation and the word the logos was

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God He was in the beginning with God All things were made through him

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Without him nothing was made that was made We often think about that creation account of being about God the

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Father and maybe the Spirit But we forget that Jesus Was an agent the agent of creation.

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I Want you to contemplate that for a moment? The divine word of God Existing in eternity past The one whom we read about in John's gospel and epistle

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This one this second person of the Trinity He was present and he is the agent the operator when it comes to creation

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This one is going to rescue his creatures from their soul death

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He's going to come in the flesh to make them right with God.

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It's absolutely amazing to consider What Christ has done?

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the great sculptor the great fabricator the great maker comes to retrieve and rescue his creation from Destruction in our text the idea of word and life are so Strongly linked and this is consistent in John's gospel it says in verse 4 and him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it

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There was a man sent from God whose name was John this man came for a witness

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To bear witness of the light that all through him might believe he was not that light

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But was sent to bear witness of that light This was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

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I want you to pause here He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him

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He came to his own in his own did not receive him this refers to of course

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Israel But as many as received him to them he gave the right to become children of God To those who believe in his name who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man

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But of God John continues and The word became flesh

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And dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory is of the only begotten of the

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Father full of grace and truth John bore witness of him and cried out saying this was he of whom

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I said he who comes after me is preferred before me for he was Before me

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And of his fullness we have all Received and grace for grace for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ No one has seen

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God at any time the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the

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Father? Has declared him Now let's go back to our text

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And first John we cannot be

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Unmoved About these things John says this idea the reason the divine wisdom the divine truth is not an ethereal concept but is corporeal

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Truth and wisdom and divinity and humanity reside in one person the

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Lord Jesus Christ Invariably the question about what the word means

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Has to be answered the last half of last part of verse 1 of 1st

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John the word the logos Makes salvation possible

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If there is no divine word if there's no incarnate word as I stated at the outset there can be no salvation to deny that Jesus comes in the flesh

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Or to deny that he is himself divine removes the possibility of a person's salvation

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He must be divine he must be human he must come in the flesh or we are still in our sins

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The father and the son are Inseparable they are one

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God not two One is not lower or lesser than the other the son is not a creation of the father

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But has always existed with the father and is co -equal with him children

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I Want you to imagine and understand and lay hold of there was no time

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When he was not We think about Jesus coming in the middle of that timeline that dot in the middle in the incarnation

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But he exists on the other side of the arrow on both sides of the arrow

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Before he came in the flesh. He was still the eternal word. He was still the second person of the

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Trinity John and his great wisdom teaches us

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That the divine wisdom the divine truth the word the logos

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Has Come in the flesh logos appears about 330 times in the

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New Testament and It's a concept word in the

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Bible, which is symbolic of the nature and function of Jesus Christ And it's also used to refer to the revelation of God in the world

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But usually in its ordinary sense, it's translated word or speech or utterance or message

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But I'm here today to tell you that divine truth divine wisdom terminates in the person of Jesus Christ We can esteem the philosophers and all their contributions

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We can listen to guys on the podcast today who aren't Christian who affirm masculinity or something like that, but until we acknowledge the source and origin the

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Revealer of truth to be Jesus Christ. We lack wisdom divine truth and wisdom

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Find their resolution. They find their source. They find their origin in the person of Jesus Christ, it's not merely ethereal

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It's not wispy it's not airy it's not floating in the atmosphere amongst the nebula

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Truth resides in a person the Lord Jesus Christ The truth is tangible

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The the truth is Holdable The truth is accessible

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God in his great love for us has brought the truth to bear in the person of Jesus Christ The word the eternal word has an entire book written about him the truth of the revelation of the canon of Scripture is the articulation of the person and work of the

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Lord Jesus Christ You remember his discussion with the disciples on the road to Emmaus Beginning at Moses.

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He taught them all the ways in which the scripture was about him and reveals him the word is used in this way that God speaks the creation into Existence it's very interesting because this speech this divine logos is identified as a person

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Jesus is the creator Jesus is the Redeemer the whole world belongs to him for everything

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Consists and finds their value and connection to him. He holds it all together

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How could we reject? His incarnation How could we reject his?

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divinity Well The logos and its standard meaning

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Designates very simply a word a Speech The act of speaking its reference there in Acts chapter 7 with Stephen and his speech

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The second instance logos and its special meeting there's a standard meaning a word a speech the act of speaking and there's a secondary more special meaning it refers to special revelation of God to his people

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The divine logos is God's special revelation to his people

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But here and in John's Gospel we find the third and most unique meeting and It's really confined to these two sections of scripture with an illusion again in John in Revelation 19

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Logos and its most unique and perfect sense personifies the revelation of God as Jesus the

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Messiah You and I there's probably no

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New Testament subject that is more controversial than what does the logos mean?

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We can be enamored with the idea of the logos But we have to get the message that John is conveying to us

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We need to be enamored not with the varied uses of the logos But we need to be enamored with the person the word himself the

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Lord Jesus Christ That needs to be what captivates our greatest interest

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John says I Know him. I've heard him

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I've seen him with my own eyes I've looked upon him

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My hands have handled and touched him This is the word of life this chapter introduces again the idea that Jesus is the word the word that existed prior to creation the word that only exists in connection with God the the word that is himself

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God and the word that became human by putting on flesh and dwelt among us and Who possessed a glory that can only be described as?

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the glory of God John is an interesting figure.

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He is the youngest of the disciples He seems to be the one who was in closest proximity to Jesus Relationally, and I think he followed him around very closely

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He's present to see a lot of miraculous things in the life of Jesus But but what's most striking to me is on the day of crucifixion

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John himself stood at the foot of the cross And Jesus commanded him to look after his mother

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Mary and John is an eyewitness Not only to the ministry and life of Jesus But the crucifixion

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The other disciples aren't there but but John is there He's the first of the disciples.

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You'll remember from the Easter season. He's the first of the disciples to see the empty tomb

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Seems fitting that he would be the one to receive the apocalyptic vision of the end of all things in Revelation John is consumed with the idea of the eternality of the

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Son of God the divine nature of Christ, which is perfectly united to his human nature and the hypostatic union existing not as a bifurcated person but one person who is fully

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God and fully man and the only possible source of life in Revelation 19 the returning

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Messiah again authored penned by John is called the

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Word of God in reference to both his person and work as The one who has been long awaited and revealed and also the one who is the revealer

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The one who makes himself known Christ shows us the father.

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He allows us to peer into the Godhead He himself is the revelation of history

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He's the the great subject matter of the Holy Scriptures. He is the one who holds it all together

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It all belongs to him and he's also the one who reveals the truth

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In the Septuagint the Greek translation of the Old Testament It's regularly used this word logos to specify the

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Word of the Lord Places like Isaiah 1 10 and this of course relates to the special proclamation of God in the world

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It refers broadly to the dynamic active communication of God's purpose and plan to his people what we may be most interesting is

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And in the Old Testament, there's not a direct

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Personification of the logos the closest approximation we get to it is found in Proverbs 8 where wisdom is personified

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This of course leads some to believe this is a precursor to the unique technical use of logos and John's New Testament writings.

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I Like to see continuity between the Old Covenant and the new but oh the rapturous delight of the revelation of the

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Word of God Bursting onto the scene in the incarnation The Jewish mind cannot conceive in its natural sense of God and man in one person

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It causes their heads to spin But at that time the centerpiece of human history

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Jesus Christ comes in the flesh born of a virgin Lives a sinless life perishes on the cross bearing your guilt and shame.

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He rises again on the third day He's seen by many witnesses and 40 days later.

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He ascends to the father on high Returning to his throne in his home

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We've thought too little of the word of life

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We've thought too little of the eternal Logos of God Much of what

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John says about the logos Was found in the

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Jewish literature about Divine wisdom. This would be extra biblical literature the idea of a person of personified wisdom

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Was beginning to circulate more frequently in anticipation, I believe of the arrival of Jesus Christ the

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Word of the Lord D .a.

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Carson said God's Word logos and the

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Old Testament is his powerful self -expression and creation revelation and salvation and the personification of that word

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Makes it suitable for him to apply it as a title to God's ultimate self -disclosure

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The person of his own son Brethren, the gospel is a person

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It's Christ the good news isn't that there's just salvation in the world

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The good news is there's salvation in Christ in Christ alone Truth is not floating in the air like ether

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It's corporeal it's bodily it's personal it dwells and resides and and finds its terminus in Christ Jesus Who himself is the only way of salvation?

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The source the author the creator the the substance of truth is also the word of Of life, let's look at the last part of verse 2 of 1st

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John The life was Manifested Jesus Christ has been revealed

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John again Affirms it with great credibility his witness his testimony.

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We have seen we bear witness And declare to you that eternal life

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Which was with the father It was manifested to us

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That which we have seen and heard We declare to you that you may have fellowship with us

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And truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son

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Jesus Christ and these things we write to you that your joy may be full

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Christian today, are you? properly reveling and rejoicing

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That you have been united to the word Are you looking for truth out there?

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somewhere other than the person of Christ Everything else is a delusion

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The Lord has created an orderly world The enemies of God want to believe lies and propagate and promote them

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He created men and women male and female think of the perversions of that idea

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He says there is no salvation to be found apart for himself and the humanist manifesto

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Says there is no God who can save us. We must save ourselves The Battle lines are clearly drawn.

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It's black and it's white. It's right or it's wrong it's the truth the way the life in Christ and everything else

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John is going to teach us That we have assurance of God's love because we've been united To the word himself

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Is there a more compelling? Drama in the universe and the creator himself comes and rescues his creation for uncertain death that the divine husband rejoices to Recover his wayward wife and to bring her in to draw her to himself

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This is how John starts his first epistle

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Today I ask you are you filled with joy knowing Christ you ought to be

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May the Lord be pleased to have John help us Achieve that in let's pray together.

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Oh Lord we again acknowledge your preeminence over all things

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You are The divine word the word made flesh

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The Lord we thank you for Revealing yourself to us bringing us in We pray now.

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Oh Lord that that we would see this concept of your Incarnation your flesh and your blood and and all of the implications as we approach the table

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And that this will be glorifying

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To you we ask this all in Jesus name. Amen To leave you with a

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Word from the book of Hebrews I want you to think about these points in history.

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There's going there's a speaking the world into existence There's a a last day

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Declaration the arrival of the king Hebrews 1 says

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God who at various times In various ways spoke in time passed by the prophets

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Has in these last days spoken to us By his son whom he appointed heir of all things through whom also he made the worlds

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Who being the brightness of his glory in the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power

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When he had by himself purged our sins Sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high