(Through the Bible) John 1-2 — Chuck Smith

The Gospel of John’s Purpose and Message

So, we turn in our Bibles to the Gospel according to John. The Gospel of John was the last of the Gospels that was written. It was written towards the close of that first century. Written by John for the purpose of convincing people that Jesus is the Christ.

That by believing in him, they might have life in his name. John declares his purpose in writing these books. He said, many other things did Jesus which are not written, but these things were written.

That you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. And by believing have life in his name. So, there is a definite purpose in John's mind as he wrote this book. And because this is the reason for this book, it is the best book to encourage an unbeliever to read.

Because John wrote that they might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. And by believing have life in his name. That's why he wrote it. And he's very up front in telling you why he wrote it.

John’s Gospel Against Early Heresies

And so, it was written to counteract some of the false concepts concerning Jesus Christ. A lot of the heresy that had developed in the very first century. Now, Paul the Apostle warned the Ephesian elders that after I'm gone, I know that there are going to be wolves that are going to come in, not sparing the flock of God, but seeking to draw men after themselves.

And from your own group there will be of those who arise, well, who will even deny our very Lord. And before Paul was gone long from Ephesus, these things were already happening. The false teachers were moving in, perverting the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

A system known as Gnosticism was one of the early systems of belief that permeated the church and began to draw people away into false concepts concerning Jesus Christ. The church wasn't very old before the Arian heresy arose.

The denying of the deity of Jesus Christ, putting him on the level of man. Gnosticism with its concepts of Jesus and really confusing concepts of Jesus. Part divine, part man, and yet sort of a phantom kind of a thing.

They made up stories that as he walked on the sandy beach, he wouldn't leave footprints because he wasn't really real. And their idea was anything that is real is evil. The world is so evil that God could not have created the world.

And so originally there was the pure holy God and emanations went out from this pure holy God. And finally, one of these emanations got so far from God that it no longer knew God. And it was this emanation that created the world.

And thus the world was created by an evil force and everything material is evil. And so Jesus could not have been a man else he would have been evil. So he was a phantom and a lot of weird things. And so John wrote this epistle or this letter, this gospel actually, in order to correct some of those early false teachings that had begun to permeate the church.

Where the Four Gospels Begin

Now, it is interesting that as the writers begin the gospels, they each one picked a different place to begin. And with the gospel of Matthew, he began with the generation or the genealogy of Jesus going back to Abraham.

And when Mark began his gospel, he began it at the baptism of Jesus by John. When Luke began his gospel, he began it with the annunciation to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus.

But when John begins his gospel, he goes clear on back to the very beginning of time, which had no beginning. He goes back even further than Genesis. The book of Genesis is the beginning of creation. In the beginning, God created.

But God existed long before he created. And so Genesis, you go back to the beginning of creation. But before that, God was. God existed. So John goes back to the that infinite, eternal past and declares in the beginning was the word.

The Word, Creation, and the Deity of Christ

Now, the Greeks talked much about the logos. And according to the Greek philosophy, everything preexisted in a thought. Anything that you see existed in thought before it became form. In other words, this pulpit here began with a thought.

Some craftsman had in his mind a design, an idea for a podium. And so he drew it out on a piece of paper, but it was the expression of his thought. And so before anything exists, it has preexisted in a thought.

So to the Greek philosopher, the thought was the origin of things. Well, the Bible takes you one step further back. It said if there was a thought, then there had to be a thinker. Because you can't have a thought without a thinker.

So in the beginning, God. In the beginning was the word. And so it actually goes back even before the thought. You have the existence of the one who thought or the existence of God. So in the beginning, God.

Here in the beginning was the word. He was existing then. And the word was with God. And the word was God. Powerful declaration of the deity of Jesus Christ. So plain, so straight, so forthright that even a little child in reading it could not be confused.

It would take a Jehovah witness to confuse this passage of Scripture. And they did. By the insertion of an article. The. And the word was or a God. But they had to create something that doesn't exist in the original language.

In order to twist this whole thing around. John is starting out with the plain declaration that Jesus, the word, is God. Just as straight and forward, forthright as can be declared. The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by Him. And without Him was not anything made that was made. So now he comes to creation. You see, John goes back before creation. In the beginning, before there was anything. There was the word.

He was with God. He was God. He was in the beginning with God. And then creation. All things were made by Him. In the account in Genesis, we read in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

The word God in Hebrew there is Elohim. Which is a plural form. Now there are those who say, well, the plural form was used for emphasis. But that appears to be an invention. Because God is also referred to as the singular.

And if it is used only for emphasis. Then it would be confusing to use the same term to refer to God in the singular. It is my opinion that when the God L singular is used, that it is a reference to the Father.

That the Elohim is a reference to the triunity of the Godhead. One God existing in three persons. And God said, let us make man in our image and after our likeness. Who was God talking to? In the divine councils there was that creation.

The Father, the Son, and the Spirit in divine counsel. Let us make man in our image after our likeness. Here in John the first chapter, Jesus is ascribed as the creator of all things. Paul, as he is writing to the Colossians concerning the preeminence of Jesus.

Declares that he is not only the creator, but he is the object of creation. By him were all things made and for him. So he is not only the creator, but the object of creation. All things were made by him.

The universe around us and all of its life forms. And without him was not anything made that was made. And in him was life. And the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness. But the darkness comprehended it not or apprehended it not.

Or could not lay hold of it. Jesus said, I am the light of the world. He that cometh unto me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Now, here it is declared that the light shineth in darkness.

This is the reference to the coming of Jesus Christ to the earth. Here he is. The light of the world shining in the darkness, but the darkness does not apprehend it. Now, there was a man who was sent from God whose name was John.

John the Baptist’s Witness to the Light

The same came for a witness. And twice we will read of John's witness. Here in chapter 1, verse 15, John bare witness of him and cried saying, This was he of whom I spake. And then he also testified in verse 34, And I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God.

That's the testimony of John the Baptist concerning Jesus Christ. So, there was a man who was sent from God. His name was John. He came for a witness to bare witness of the light that all men through him might believe.

Now, he, John, was not that light. But was sent to bare witness of that light. And that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world. The world was made by him.

And the world knew him not. Can you grasp that one? Jesus the light. He came to shine in the darkness. The true light. He was in the world. We are already told that all things were made by him. And without him was not anything made that was made.

He was in the world and the world was made by him. And yet, the world knew him not. That is the world of man. It would appear that there were aspects of nature and of the world that did know him. It is interesting that those who were possessed with evil spirits often cried out, We know who you are.

Evidently, the winds and the waves knew who he was. For when he was standing in the little ship and it was about to sink, when he spoke to the wind and the waves and said, Peace be still, they obeyed his voice.

They knew who he was. The rocks evidently knew who he was. Because when the Pharisees were encouraging him to rebuke his disciples on the day of his triumphant entry, he said, I say unto you that if these should hold their peace, these very stones would immediately cry out.

They knew who he was. But it was only the darkened minds of man that failed to recognize him. He was in the world. The world was made by him. And yet, the world knew him not. Evidently, that little donkey knew who he was.

No man had ever ridden on that little donkey before. And yet, I'm sure that when Jesus sat on him, he was just as docile as could be. He knew who he was. Someone has put words in the mouth of that little donkey.

I think it was Cheterton. I don't know if I can recall it or not. It's coming. It's working. The juices are flowing and the circuits are coming together. When fishes flew. And forest walked. And figs grew upon a thorn.

Some moment when the moon was blood, then surely I was born with an ugly face.

And let's see.

No, it isn't. It isn't ugly face. And ears like errant wings. The devil's walking parody of all four-footed things. The ancient outlaw of the earth with stubborn, tattered will. Mock me, scourge me, I am dumb.

But I hold my secrets still. Fools. I also had my day. One fierce day and sweet. I heard the shouts around my ears. And there were palm branches at my feet. The story of the donkey. I missed one line in there.

It's with sickening cry. And something. And ears like errant wings. Sickening cry. I'll get it one of these days. He was in the world. The world was made by him. And the world knew him not. One step further.

Rejection and Reception of the Son of God

He came to his own. And his own received him not. He said, I am come. To the lost sheep. Of the house of Israel. His own. He was their promised Messiah. He came to his own. But they said, we have no king but Caesar.

They said, we will not have this man to rule over us. And his own received him not. And the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled. He was despised and rejected of men. But. Glorious good news. As many as received him.

To them. Gave he the power. The authority. To become the sons of God. Even as many as believed on his name. So here he is. In the beginning with God. The creator of all things. Coming to his creation.

Not being recognized. Not being apprehended. Coming to his own. Not being received. And yet as many as would receive him. And so the gospel of grace. As many as would receive him. To them. He gave the power to become the sons of God.

The son of God. Becoming man. In order that he might make each of us. Sons of God. Who would believe. In his name. Which were born. Not of flesh. Or not of blood. First of all. You cannot become a son of God.

Through physical genealogy. I am not a son of God. Because my parents. Were Christians. My children are not Christians. Because I am a Christian. It's not of blood. It's not something that you can inherit.

From your parents. Or pass on. To your children. This dynamic life. As a child of God. Is not of the will of the flesh. It is not something. That you can set your mind to. And become. That is. I'm going to live.

This new dynamic life. I'm not going to. Walk in darkness anymore. I'm going to live. A generous. Self-sacrificing life. The life that is the ideal. That God has declared for man. You can't do it by the will of the flesh.

Nor is it by the will of man. It isn't by the force or coercion of others. Or the encouragement of others. You cannot come into this new life. Because someone is. Pushing you. Or coercing you into it.

This new birth. Can only come from God. Born of God. As a child of God. So. I was born once. By blood. By the will of the flesh. By the will of man. Here I am. That was my physical birth. But my spiritual birth can't take place that way.

The spiritual birth has to come from God. And so I have been born again. By the spirit of God. The new life. And the word was made flesh. And tabernacled among us. This is of course. The tremendous swing.

Of the pendulum. If you can follow it. In the beginning was the word. He was with God. He was God. He was in the beginning with God. And all things were made by him. The divine. Eternal. Creator. And the word was made flesh.

And he dwelt among us. This tremendous. Downward sweep. From the. Area of the infinity. Into the realm of the finite. From the eternal. Into time. Surely our minds cannot grasp. The scope of this. The disciples.

As years passed. And they had an opportunity. To really reflect upon Jesus. And their. Acquaintance and their relationship to him. I'm certain were more and more amazed. And marveled at what actually transpired.

The Incarnation Reveals the Father

As John begins his first epistle. He begins it much the same way. As he declares. That which was from. The beginning. Which we have seen. Which we have heard. Which we have seen with our eyes. And gazed steadfastly upon.

And our hands have handled. Of the word of life. For that life. Was manifested. And we've seen it. And we bear witness. And show unto you. That eternal life. Which was with the father. And was manifested to us.

John is just reflecting on his relationship with Jesus. That which was from the beginning. Which we have heard. And suddenly they realize. When we heard him talk. We were listening to the voice of God.

When we looked upon him. We were looking upon God. When we touched him. We were touching God. That eternal life. We saw him. We gazed. We touched. Oh, the wonder of it all. And John stands in awe and wonder.

Of that experience that he had had. Jesus said, I and the father are one. When Philip said, Lord, just show us the father and we'll be satisfied. He said, Philip, have I been so long a time with you? Have you not seen me?

He that has seen me. Has seen the father. How sayest thou then? Show us the father. Believest thou not that I am in the father and the father in me? The works that I do, I do not of myself, but the father.

He doeth the works. Now believe me. That I am in the father and the father in me. Or else believe me. For the very works sake. In other words, I've been doing the work of God. I've been showing you the father.

We'll read in a moment. No man has seen God at any time. But the only begotten son, which is in the bosom of the father. He has displayed him. He has made him known. He has declared him. He that hath seen me hath seen the father.

And so do you want to know what God is like? Do you want to know the truth about God? Then you must look at Jesus Christ and study him carefully. For he was God. Manifested in flesh. For the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

In order that he might reveal the father unto man. Because man had developed such wrong concepts of God. God has been maligned and lied against continually by Satan. And even today, Satan continues his work.

So that people have all kinds of grotesque false concepts concerning God. One of the most common phrases in profanity. Is that God would damn certain things or certain people. And you hear it so often.

As though God is just desiring to damn everything and everybody. Nothing could be farther from the truth. God himself, the Bible declares concerning God. He is not willing that any should perish. But that all should come to repentance.

And God cried to Israel and said. Turn ye, turn ye. For why will ye die, saith the Lord? Behold, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Turn ye. People see God as fury and wrath and judgment and fire and thunder.

When in reality, he is a heart that yearns after your love and your fellowship. How people misread the Bible even. In the book of Genesis, when man first fell. And God came into the garden to commune with man.

And Adam hid himself. For he realized that he was naked. And God said, Adam, where art thou? Now we have the words, but we don't have the tone of voice. And that's what people put into their own minds.

The tone of voice. And so often a person in reading that. Puts in that tone of voice of an arresting officer. Holding the gun on the bank robber. Hold your hands up, you know. Blast a hole through you.

Adam, where art thou? But as I read the whole scripture. And I understand God through the whole revelation of himself. I'm convinced that rather than the bark of an arresting officer. To hear the voice correctly, you will hear it.

As the sob of a heartbroken father. Adam, what have you done? Where are you? Just that broken heart of God over the failure of man. And this is what Jesus shows to us as he weeps over Jerusalem. Oh Jerusalem, if you only knew your possibilities.

If you only knew the potentials. If you only knew the things that belong to your peace. But you don't. They're hid from your eyes. And as a result of your ignorance. Devastation is going to come. And we see his chest as it is heaving.

And we hear him as he is sobbing. As he cries over Jerusalem. And the terror that will come because of their blindness. Because of their ignorance. If you only knew, if you only knew. And he weeps as he looks at the city.

And he knows the impending doom. That is coming because of the path that they have chosen. And there you see the heart broken. The broken heart of the heavenly father. As he is weeping over the lost estate of man.

The Incarnation Communicates God’s Love

Jesus came to reveal God. The word became flesh and he dwelled among us. In order that we might know the truth about God. There was a publisher of a newspaper. Who declared himself an agnostic. And yet every year his wife who was a Christian and the children.

Would go to church for the Christmas Eve service. And because it was Christmas Eve and a family celebration. He went yearly with them. As the children would give their recitations in their program. And sing the carols.

But this one particular year he decided that. He wasn't going to make his annual pilgrimage to the church. Because he saw it as an act of hypocrisy. He said I do not believe in the incarnation. I do not believe that Jesus was God in the flesh.

For I don't see any reason why God would have to come in the flesh. And therefore I'm not going to be a hypocrite any longer. I'm not going to church with the family on Christmas. And despite all of the persuasive efforts of the wife.

He could not be dissuaded from his position. And so on Christmas Eve he saw the family leaving in a blizzard. To go to the church to celebrate the Christmas Eve program. As he sat by the fire, got out a book.

And began to just sort of settle in to his reading. Before long a little bird tried to fly into the window. Attracted by the light of the fire inside. And suffering outside in the blizzard. This little bird started flying up against the window.

Beating itself against the window pane. Trying to come inside. And it distracted him from his reading. And he thought well a little bird go away. But it wouldn't. It kept trying to fly in. And so he finally decided well I guess I'll have to do something about it.

And so he went down to the barn. And opened up the door and turned on the light. So that the little bird could be attracted to the light in the barn. Hoping that it would see the light and fly on down.

And find the shelter there in the barn from the blizzard. Walking back up to the house he found the little bird on the outside. Still trying to fly into the window. By now it had begun to bloody itself.

From just flying up against the pane of glass. So he tried to show the bird that there was the light on in the barn. And there was a place down there for it to go. And to get warm and to be sheltered from the storm.

And he started to sort of shoosh at the bird. And swing at it a bit. But the more he did the more frantic the little bird became. In trying to fly into the glass. And began to injure itself even more.

And he found himself talking to the little bird. He said, little bird, I don't hate you. I'm trying to help you. Don't you understand, little bird? I'm your friend. I don't mean you harm. I want to help you.

Poor stupid little bird. Don't you know? And then the thought came into his mind. Oh, if only I could become a bird for a moment. To communicate to this poor little creature. That I don't hate it. I'm trying to help it.

And suddenly the light flashed. God became man because man so misunderstood God. He didn't hate man. He wasn't trying to harm man. He wanted to help man. He went in the house. Got his overcoat and everything.

And headed off for church. Met the family. He saw the reason for the incarnation. That God might communicate to us the truth about himself. That truth that had been lost in the garbled concepts that man had created of God.

Grace, the New Birth, and Fellowship with God

So, the word was made flesh and he dwelt among us. And we, John said, beheld his glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the Father. We are sons of God through faith. But we have been begotten again through our faith.

We've been born again. But there is only one begotten son in the sense that Jesus was begotten of the Father. And we beheld him as the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. Now, John. There was a man sent from God.

His name was John. He wasn't the light. He came to bear witness of the light. And John bear witness of him and cried saying, This is he of whom I speak. He that cometh after me is preferred before me for he was before me.

Now, John was by physical birth a cousin to Jesus. However, John was born before Jesus was born. Probably in about the sixth month of Mary's pregnancy when John was born. So, yet John is saying of him, He is preferred before me for he was before me.

So he is talking about that pre-existence of Jesus prior to his incarnation. And of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Now, when God made man, God made man for fellowship. That was the purpose of God creating you. That he might receive just that praise and glory and all from your fellowship with him. That he might enjoy and just receive that joy and blessing of just fellowshipping with you.

You say, well, that sounds sort of selfish to me. Well, perhaps it was. Nothing I can do about it. That's why God created me. That's the only reason why God created me really that I might have fellowship with.

That's the primary purpose that we might have fellowship with him. Now, if you are not fulfilling that primary purpose of your life, then your life is bound to be empty, unfulfilling and ultimately frustrating because you're not fulfilling the basic purpose for which God created you.

You're not answering to that basic need and necessity in man of worshipping God, fellowshipping with him. But man did not live on this planet long before he broke that fellowship with God by disobedience, sinning against God in his disobeying of the commandment of God.

And the net effect of sin is always that of severing fellowship with God. God's hand is not short that he cannot save. Neither is his ear heavy that he cannot hear. But your sins have separated between you and God.

Sin always has that effect of separating a man from God. God said to Adam, In the day that you eat, you will surely die. That is the death of the consciousness of God within the heart of man. The death of the life of God, that spirit of God and that life of God within man.

It happened. Adam ate and that death took place. That spiritual death. Now, God still longed for fellowship with man, but that fellowship had been severed by man because of man's sin. Now, in order that man might have fellowship with God, something first had to be done about man's sin.

And so God sent Moses. And God gave to Moses the law. The law of the sacrifices. The covering of sin. Making possible the restoration of fellowship with God. And in part of the sacrificial offerings were these offerings that were just fellowship offerings.

The communion offerings, the meal offering in which I just would sit and eat with God and fellowship with God. After the sin offering, then that offering of consecration, the burnt offering, and then the peace offering, the fellowship offering where I just sit down and eat with God and fellowship with Him.

But that could not be until, first of all, the sin offering. I had to take care first of the sin. And so under the law and under Moses, the covenant of God through Moses, there was that provision for the covering of sin so that sinful man could be restored into fellowship with God and could sit and commune and eat with God.

But these offerings of the bulls and goats could not put away sin. All they could do was cover sin and they could point to an offering that God Himself was going to make by which the sin of man could be put away so that the fellowship between man and God could be totally and completely restored.

And so, the law came by Moses. This is not looking at the law in a derogatory sense. This is looking at the law as God intended it as a tool by which man could come into fellowship with God, but an imperfect tool because of man's failure.

Nothing wrong with the law. It was good. It was holy. But man was still sinful. And that's the necessity of year after year the offering of the sacrifices for sin. So God has established now through Jesus Christ a new covenant of grace and truth.

By the law, Moses' covenant with God, but now through Jesus Christ, a new covenant that is established on the grace of God in the truth of Jesus Christ. So, the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Seeing God Through the Son

Now, no man has seen God at any time. Of course, people immediately say, well, what about Moses? When God said to Moses, what would you like? He said, Lord, I'd just like to see you. And God said, you can't see me and live.

But God said, I'll tell you what, you get there in the rocks and I will pass by and then you can see the afterglow. It says the hinder part, but it's actually the afterglow of God having passed by a spot and then Moses looking at the radiation of the afterglow and he became irradiated in looking at that.

His face began to shine so that when he came back to the children of Israel, they couldn't look at his face. They said, cover it, man. You're shining, you know. Can't stand to look at your face. But no man has seen God at any time.

Your physical body just couldn't handle that. It'd be like trying to stand in the sun. You'd be consumed. Now God has promised that the pure in heart shall see him, but not in this body. We're going to have to have a change of body.

Paul said this corruption must put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. One day I expect to see God, but not in this body, in my new body. This body is designed for the earth, of the earth, earthy.

Designed for the environmental conditions of the earth, my new body, far superior. Designed for the heavenly environment. And in that new body, I can behold the face of the Lord and I can sit and worship at his feet.

What a glorious day that will be. So no man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath manifested him, declared him, demonstrated him, brought him forth into full revelation.

He has revealed him to us. And this is the record of John the Baptist when the Jews sent the priests and the Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? John was baptizing, we read, in the wilderness and multitudes of people were going out being attracted by this man.

And so in Jerusalem, the religious leaders got upset. You know, this guy's out there baptizing and we didn't send him out there and he doesn't have our authority. And they sent the priests and Levites out to ask the guy, who are you anyhow?

And this is the record of John. He confessed. And he did not deny. But he confessed, I am not the Messiah. And that was really, who are you? You know, are you saying that you're the Messiah? Are you pretending?

He said, I am not the Messiah. And because the word Christ is Messiah. So, got to remember that. I am not the Messiah. And they asked him, are you then Elijah? Now, the prophecy said that Elijah would first come and turn the hearts of the children to the fathers before the coming of the great day of the Lord.

And so, are you Elijah? The Jews even to the present day at their Passover services or in their home at their Passover celebrations have the chair, the empty chair. The door is open waiting for Elijah.

Are you Elijah? Forerunner of the Messiah. And he said, I am not. Now, this brings confusion to some people because in Matthew's gospel, about the 17th chapter, Jesus talking about John said, this is Elijah, if you're able to receive it.

But John said, I am not. That is, he is not the full, complete fulfillment of the prophecy of Elijah. He came in the spirit and the power of Elijah. Going back to Luke's gospel chapter one, when Gabriel the angel appeared unto Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, as he was ministering during his course in the temple.

And when Zechariah saw the angel standing there at the right side of the altar, he was greatly afraid and he said to Zechariah, fear not. I am Gabriel. I am standing in the presence of God and I've been sent unto thee to let you know that your wife Elizabeth, in her old age, is going to conceive and bear a son.

And thou shalt call his name John. And he shall go forth in the spirit and the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers. And he began to tell him of the ministry of his son John the Baptist.

He'll go forth in the spirit and the power of Elijah. But when they asked John plainly, are you then Elijah? He said, no. And they said, are you that prophet? Now Moses promised, and there shall come a prophet like unto myself and to him shall you give heed.

Are you that prophet that Moses spoke about? And he said, no. Twenty questions. And they then said unto him, then who are you? That we may give an answer to those who have sent us. What do you say of yourself?