Lars Larson Live Stream

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Kids, there we go. Thank you, Mark. And so anyway, the church voted last week to financially assist them in their ministry here, and I communicated that to Jason, and he was obviously very pleased.
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And he's thinking and hoping that maybe it'll be sufficient for him to almost go full -time, maybe just get a one -day -a -week secular job to help support his family.
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I do want to underscore this, lest there be any misunderstanding. You know, they're coming to join our church.
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He's not coming with a position as pastor or elder.
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He's coming as a church member. And so when he arrives and he's among us these next months, he has only the authority of any church member, no more.
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And that's only if and when they join, which I suspect will not be long. But we look forward to their service ministry among us, and so pray for them as they close up shop there in Ohio.
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Let's see, choir rehearsal today after lunch, and then ladies study
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Monday night and Wednesday morning. Ladies, we hope that you take part in that.
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And I think that might be it for announcements. Just to give me a minute to get my mind set right, let's greet one another, shall we?
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Introduce yourself by name if you do not know someone, please. It's on now.
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You got it? Flipped off again. Okay. Yeah, thank you.
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All right, let's come back to our places, please. We'll get started. All right, let's come back to our places.
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We'll get started here, please. Of course, this is a great privilege we have, but also a great responsibility we have as we come into the presence of our
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God to render unto Him the praise that is due
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His name. And so may the Lord help us to have a proper frame of mind, a proper condition of our hearts as we come into the presence of our
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God through Jesus Christ. And so let's pray to that end, please. Pray not only for yourself, maybe someone next to you.
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Pray for us collectively as the professing believers in Christ come to worship our
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God. Our Father, we pray as the sons of Korah did so long ago, as a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants our souls for you,
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O God. Our souls thirst for you, for the living God. And we thank you, our
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God, for this great privilege and yet aware of our great responsibility now as we invoke your presence.
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We thank you, our God, for your promise that you meet with us when we gather together in Jesus' name.
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And so help us, our Lord. We pray that you would bless us with the presence and the power of the
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Holy Spirit to worship you rightly, worship you according to your word, worship you with sincerity from our souls.
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And so give us each grace, our God. And we pray, our God, for anyone here that may be a stranger to Jesus Christ, that you be very merciful and gracious to that soul today.
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And may the Holy Spirit illuminate the truth of the gospel to that person and give the gift of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ for a blessed life now and eternal life in the future.
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We commit all these matters to you, our God, in Jesus' name. Amen. It is good to come into the house of the
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Lord each Lord's Day and worship Him. Our first hymn is
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Hymn 100 in the Red Hymnal. Hymn 100, Revelation 4, verse 8, gives us an interesting little detail.
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God loves to be worshipped in an orderly fashion which He Himself has dictated.
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Day and night they never stop saying, and I've heard it said singing, holy, holy, holy is the
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Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come, and He surely is coming.
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Let's stand and sing holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy,
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Lord God Almighty. Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee.
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Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty,
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God in three Persons, blessed
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Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, all the saints adore
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Thee, casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea, cherubim and seraphim.
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Psalm 96.
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There's a universal aspect to this psalm. All the nations are called upon to sing to the
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Lord, ascribe to the Lord. O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory.
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And so here we read of worship, the worship of our God. Psalm 96. O sing to the
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Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the
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Lord, bless His name. Tell of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations,
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His marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.
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He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols.
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But the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him. Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
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Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples. Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
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Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name. Bring an offering and come into His courts.
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Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. Tremble before Him all the earth. Say among the nations, the
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Lord reigns. Yes, the world is established. It shall never be moved.
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He will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice.
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Let the sea roar and all that fills it. Let the field exult and everything in it.
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And then all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord for He comes. For He comes to judge the earth.
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He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness. God is
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King. Prayer concerns that you'd like to make known?
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Are there any? Yes? Yes. OK.
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All right. John? OK. So John's sister,
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Linda, died last weekend after many, many months of fighting this cancer.
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Any other concerns? Yes, Peter? OK. Yeah, amen.
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Amen. Her first name slips my mind. All right.
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Other concerns? Yes, Maureen, loudly please. Sure. OK. Yeah.
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Yes. Oh, good.
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Amen. OK. Yes. All right.
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Yes, Jane? Yeah, amen.
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Yeah, they had about 20 churches represented. He sent some pictures. You got those, didn't you?
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Oh, all right. Very good. Great. OK. And so he's building a network of Reformed Baptist churches there in Western Kenya.
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And we're having a significant role in that. So wonderful. Yes, Peggy? Yes, thank you.
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Yeah, Miriam is recovering from her hip surgery. She's in rehab and may be home by the end of the week, perhaps.
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And then Marie Herndon fell the other day and broke her hip. And this was a hip that had been basically rebuilt not that many years ago.
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And apparently they don't feel they can do surgery on it. And so she's going to have to go through rehab for numbers of weeks.
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And she's down at Sterling, at the Sterling Rehab. So that's Marie Herndon. Any other concerns?
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Yes, Kevin? Yes. Yes.
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Amen. Yes. OK. All right.
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Any others? Yes, Brenda? Yes. OK.
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Sure. All right. Sometimes I write these down in front of me, and I still miss them as I go through it.
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But you can be assured that we pray for these concerns through the week, and particularly Wednesday evening at prayer meeting.
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Yes, Dave? OK. Yes. Thank you. Tim and Cindy are both ill, quite ill with the flu.
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Anne Bureau had shoulder surgery, right? Has anybody spoken with her? Is she doing all right?
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Does anybody know? Yeah, Barbara? OK. Amen.
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Ron? OK. All right.
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Maureen? Sure. Yes. Yes. Osa's been visiting with us a number of times.
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And she has concerns for her family. And they're in Norway, where they're from, for several weeks.
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Sure. All right. Let's go to our Heavenly Father in prayer, please.
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Our Father, we just read this psalm, Psalm 96, which celebrates the fact that you are our
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God, and that you are the king over all the earth, because you created all things.
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And therefore, our God, it is our desire and our delight to declare your glory among the nations, for marvelous are your works among all the peoples.
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Indeed great are you, greatly to be praised. Splendor and majesty are before you.
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Strength and beauty are in your sanctuary. And yet, our God, we're mindful that we live in a fallen world, a world that goes day after day without any thought of you, certainly not showing you the regard, giving you the glory that you deserve.
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You nevertheless are the almighty king of creation. You are the sovereign God who rules through history.
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And we thank you, our God, that you have purposed to save a people unto yourself and bring them back into a willing submission and relationship with you through your
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Son, Jesus Christ. And as this psalm anticipated a day when justice would be rendered, we know that indeed
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Jesus Christ is coming and coming to judge the earth, and he will judge the world in righteousness and judge all people in faithfulness.
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And we thank you, our God, through faith in Jesus Christ, we know that we will escape condemnation on that day, not because in any way we are deserving of exoneration, but because Jesus Christ came to be our
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Savior, who lived a life of righteousness before you, perfect obedience to your holy law, and then died on a cross,
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Lord, in order to satisfy your justice with regard to our sin. And so,
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Lord, although your judgment is certainly going to come upon this world on that last and final day, we need not fear we who have entrusted ourselves to you,
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Father, through Jesus Christ, but rather we look forward to that day when we will finally be fully delivered from our sin, from the very presence of sin.
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We thank you, our God, you've delivered us already from its penalty. We thank you that you're delivering us from the power of sin in our lives, but we're looking forward to the day when sin will no longer plague us.
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May that day come soon. And we pray, our God, that you would help us to declare your name throughout the nations.
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Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity and ability that you have given us as a congregation in declaring your word,
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Lord, in far off places, South Africa, the Philippines, Kenya, Nigeria, India.
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There are dozens and dozens of churches now that are being planted, and we thank you, our
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God, for our part in that. I want to pray, Lord, for the two pastors in Nigeria that will be receiving
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Bibles from us, perhaps toward the end of this week, to distribute to new converts within their churches.
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Bless your word as it goes forth. We pray for Pastor Andrew in Western Kenya as he follows up,
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Lord, on these churches and pastors, some of which are rather uninformed and simple, and yet full of zeal and desire to serve you.
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Give wisdom and grace to Pastor Andrew as he seeks to mentor these servants of Christ.
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We pray that you would watch over Pastor Prem, Lord, and help him as he supports and directs those many church planters there in Southeast India.
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And we thank you, our God, for the encouraging words that we hear from them and their gratefulness,
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Lord, for the part that you enable us as a church to have in their ministry. Father, we pray for your people that are in need.
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We pray that you would help those who are sick to recover. For Tim and Cindy, Lord, relieve them of their flu symptoms under which they're laboring.
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We pray, our Father, that you would help John Roddy, as I believe he's recovering from cataract surgery this week, as well as for Anne Bureau, as she is recovering from shoulder surgery, which
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I understand is quite painful and it may be some time for full recovery.
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May you continue to help those that are weak, Lord, and need strength. For Margie, Lord, again for Marie, and for Mariam as they recover,
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Lord, from their hip injuries. We pray, our God, for Kevin's dad,
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David, as he might be in the last months of his earthly life. Awaken him to the truth that's in Jesus Christ.
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And we pray, our God, that you would just cast down those vain imaginations, those false hopes that he has in a system of belief that is so errant and help him,
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Lord, to see Jesus Christ alone as the only way of salvation. Help Kevin and his witness to his dad.
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We pray, Lord, for Julie's father, Luigi, who will be having a stress test, and also
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Father for Janice, who apparently has some heart issues, who will be tested.
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Help them to discern their condition. We pray, Lord, for protection for those that are traveling, for Paul and Isaac in Florida, for Bob McDonald traveling to North Carolina this week, for Cheryl returning from Florida, for Susan Levy returning from Baltimore area,
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I believe, and then for my wife, Mary, as she returns on Wednesday. Help these people as they travel and give them safety, safe return.
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I pray, our God, that you would help Bill Smith, Lord, and Brenda as he goes for more tests or biopsy.
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Help the physicians. Help Bill, Lord, have wisdom to know what kind of procedure that he should seek.
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I want to pray for Debbie Legrow, that you help recover her, Lord, from her illness as well.
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We pray for Osa. We thank you, Lord, for her zeal, Lord, his desire to know you and walk with you.
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And we pray for her husband and for her teenage daughter, that you would be merciful to them and help them, protect them in their travels to Norway.
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And we pray you continue to do a work of grace in her life and their lives. I want to pray,
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Lord, for Maureen's grandson, that you protect him, Don's grandson in Scotland. And then may you encourage and help
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Cindy as she recovers from her surgery. We pray that her faith would be increased and that she would receive a measure of comfort and hope as she trusts you.
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We ask our God that you would help those who have received mercy and grace from you to recognize it from your hand.
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And we pray in particular, Lord, for the Brussaux's daughter, that she would see your providence in her life,
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Lord, and be drawn to you. We pray, Lord, that you would help each of us as we give attention to this new study of John's gospel.
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We pray the blessed Holy Spirit would not only inform us, our God, to the truth that's in Jesus Christ, but that our hearts would be stirred and that our wills,
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Lord, would be conformed to your will. And so may the blessed Holy Spirit do a work in our souls.
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We pray, Lord, for those that may be without Christ at this time, maybe with little concern, maybe with great skepticism, but we pray that you would be gracious and merciful and that not one of us here,
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Lord, in any way would stray from Christ or remain aloof from Christ, but that we might embrace him wholly and fully, for we know, our
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God, the life that is available in you is through your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we do pray our
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Father, amen. And our next hymn is also in the
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Red Hymnal, 618, 618. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
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Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your
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Father. Yes, he does care for us. Yes, he does love us. Please stand and let's pray.
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Sing. The sparrow, and I know he watches me.
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His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he cares for me.
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And please be seated. As we take up this morning's offering, please turn to the back of your bulletin and follow along with the words to,
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Here is Love. Well, let's be seated and turn to our
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New Testament reading, which is Luke chapter 16. And in this chapter, we have,
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I think, one of the most terrifying accounts in Scripture, where the Lord Jesus speaks about the rich man and Lazarus after they died, one going to a place of punishment, the other place, a place of peace and rest.
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Some attempt to dismiss this account of our Lord, arguing it's a parable.
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And what they are intending to do by that is somehow strip it of its authority and its literalness.
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That is a vain attempt, by the way, because it's not a parable. It is an account.
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A parable, two points about a parable. A parable commonly does not have persons identified.
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Jesus identifies Lazarus. He identifies a rich man. And then the effort to dismiss it as a parable.
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Parables are not to be viewed as untruth, but rather a parable that Jesus gave is taken from an everyday event that actually takes place.
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And so those who argued it's a parable are really, they're not aware of it, but they're making a claim it's a fable, not a parable.
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And they're wrong in that. All right, Luke 16. He also said to the disciples, there was a rich man who had a manager and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions.
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And he called him and said to him, what is this that I hear about you?
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Turn in the account of your management for you can no longer be manager. And the manager said to himself, what shall
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I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig.
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I'm ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.
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So summoning his master's detours one by one, he said to the first, how much do you owe my master?
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He said 100 measures of oil. He said to him, take your bill, sit down quickly and write 50.
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And then he said to another, and how much do you owe? He said 100 measures of wheat.
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He said to him, take your bill and write 80. The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness, for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.
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I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.
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One who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much. One who is dishonest in very little is also dishonest in much.
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If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?
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And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?
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No servant can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
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You cannot serve God and money. The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things and they ridiculed him.
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And he said to them, You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts, for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
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The law and the prophets were until John, and since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.
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But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the law to become void.
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Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
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And here we have this story before us. And by the way, if you read it carefully, the Lord Jesus dismisses any possible idea of a purgatory.
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There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named
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Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table.
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And moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.
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The rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw
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Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. He called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me.
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Send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.
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But Abraham said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things and Lazarus and like men are bad things.
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But now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you, a great chasm has been fixed in order that those who had passed from here to you may not be able and none may cross from there to us.
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And he said, Then I beg you, Father, to send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
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But Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. He said,
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No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. And he said to him,
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If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.
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Father, we thank you for your Holy Word, the Holy Scriptures, as the
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Lord Jesus presented them here, revealing the way of salvation in Jesus Christ.
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And we know, Lord, that the witness of miracles or even the testimony of something, someone coming back from the dead is not sufficient to bring salvation for you have appointed your word,
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Lord, to be the instrument by which you bring salvation to your people who believe your word, who believe on your son.
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We pray, Lord, that you would cast away any doubts, any challenges that may be in our minds to the veracity of your word, the authority of your word.
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Help us to receive your word, the engrafted word, so that we may be transformed by it.
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Help us, our God, to be better Christians. Help us, our Lord, to understand more fully your will.
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And then give us the grace through the Holy Spirit to do it. For we pray in Jesus' name.
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Amen. And our next hymn is also in the
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Red Hymnal, hymn 234. This is a hymn that was written by Fanny Crosby, who was actually blinded by a doctor who tried to remedy an inflammation in her eyes, but used too much of the remedy and caused blindness for her whole life.
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But she was extremely well known as a hymn writer by presidents and everybody below and in between.
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Lovely song. And I would just like to begin by saying that Luke 24, which you will be soon reading, tells us that Jesus had to explain many things to the disciples as you read through the
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New Testament. In Luke 24 it says, He explained to them, the disciples, and He was
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Jesus, what was said in all the scriptures concerning Himself. See, they didn't know even until the very end.
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Please stand and let's sing. Please be seated.
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Well, let's turn to the first chapter of John's Gospel, please. This morning we begin this new study in the
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Word of God, one which I suspect will occupy our time for many months.
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So it's our intention to preach through the Gospel of John, if the Lord helps us. And looking back, although nearly 44 years in the ministry,
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I never have addressed the entire
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Gospel of John in order, although I've preached certainly from many passages in the
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Gospel. And so this will be the first time for a full, complete series. I'd actually wait and consider doing a topical study of the life of Christ, person of Christ.
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And we may do it sometime in the future. I suspect that would take two years or so.
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But then in considering the Gospel of John, I realized that the primary theme of John's Gospel is his
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Christology, in other words, his doctrine of Christ. And so I thought it would be more fitting to do a verse -by -verse study of this
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Gospel. One once wrote of John's emphasis in his Gospel, the controlling concern of his
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Gospel is Christology. All other theological concerns such as salvation, eschatology,
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Holy Spirit, church, and world are related to the one great theme. And so Christ is at the heart, is at the center of the
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Gospel according to John. I suspect John's Gospel is probably the book of the
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Bible that Christians are most familiar with. Oftentimes when counsel is given to a new
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Christian who asks, where should I begin reading in the Bible? The common response is, begin reading the book of John.
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And I think that's probably a good word of advice. Because Christians generally understand that in John's Gospel you have a very clear setting forth of the deity of Jesus Christ.
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And of course that's a doctrine, a foundational doctrine that's essential to being a true
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Christian. Every new Christian must understand and embrace wholly without reservation the deity as well as the humanity of the
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Lord Jesus. And yet as familiar as the Gospel of John may be to the ordinary
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Christian, I must say the Gospel of John may be one of the most difficult books in the Bible to teach and preach rightly.
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I believe this as I've been considering and preparing for this. And there are several reasons for that, and I want to cite some of these reasons.
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First, although John's writing style is relatively easy to read in Greek as well as in English, for John wrote in shorter sentences and he used vocabulary which is rather simple and straightforward.
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There are other aspects of John's writing that make a verse -by -verse treatment of the Gospel a challenge.
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One of the major difficulties is the preeminence of themes that recur and develop through the course of the
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Gospel. Some of these major themes include prominent recurring words or subjects such as life or eternal life, light and darkness, on having been sent,
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Jesus having been sent from the Father, the developing theme of the Spirit and the Holy Spirit, the idea of Jesus being lifted up.
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These themes undergo development as the Gospel unfolds and as words or themes reemerge throughout the
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Gospel account. Consequently, when studying this Gospel verse -by -verse, when a major theme is introduced, and several are introduced right here in John chapter 1, it's difficult to present that word or that theme in its full meaning with its implications.
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For understanding is only gained through the accumulative information through the unfolding of the
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Gospel. And so the challenge, you know, is in my mind, how do I deal with that when a major theme is introduced and yet I don't have, you know, the time to present it in its fullness.
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And so I suspect as we progress through the Gospel, as I'm giving concern for these theological words and themes, and repeatedly so, that it might become somewhat tedious for you as you listen.
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But repetition is good. And so we'll need patience as we strive to increase our understanding of the nature and dimension of these themes and the implication they have for the
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Gospel as the Gospel unfolds. And so be aware of that. We won't be able to cover everything early on.
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A second somewhat related difficulty in teaching and preaching through the Gospel of John is the manner in which an orderly and organized outline or presentation of the
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Gospel is developed and presented. The style of John is not like Paul. Paul set forth a very reasoned, logical, systematic argument, as it were.
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And so it unfolds and builds on what went before. But the style of John is not like Paul.
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And so whereas Paul developed his letters in a logical, orderly manner, building evidence and argument upon one another,
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John seems to hint of one account and he only expands it or explains it a little later on in his
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Gospel. He hints at what is coming, but it's not real apparent until he treats it later.
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And so an episode will be recounted by John, say, which sets the stage that may later follow in a lengthy teaching session by the
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Savior. One wrote of this, one of the primary reasons why it is difficult to establishing the structure of the
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Gospel of John is because the narrative is crafted with several key themes that are repeatedly handled and developed throughout the progression of the narrative, which makes it possible to suggest all kinds of parallels, connections, and even chiasms.
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I suspect few of you know what chiasms are. We'll try and point some out as we work through the
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Gospel. Here's a third matter that makes the interpretation of the
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Gospel of John difficult. It's commonly recognized that John contains many symbolic words and expressions.
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The commentators of the Gospel are not agreed as to what extent symbolism exists and to what degree symbols are to be detected.
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For example, there's the matter of the sacraments of the Lord's Supper and Baptism. First, some commentators believe that John was not interested at all in the sacraments.
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They hardly mentioned at all in his Gospel. They would argue there's no account of the baptism of Jesus in John's Gospel.
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There is no command in the Gospel to be baptized. There's no institution of the
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Lord's Supper in the extended exposition of the Last Night that our Lord met with his disciples at the
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Last Supper. However, there's another group, there are commentators who see a great deal of symbolism, who argue that baptism and the
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Lord's Supper are repeatedly set forth to the readers of the fourth Gospel. And so, one described this understanding in contrast to the view that the fourth evangelist was not interested in the
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Christian sacraments. There are those who hold that John was profoundly interested in them and that references to the sacraments are scattered through the whole length of the
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Gospel. Oscar Kuhlman's examination of the fourth Gospel led him to the conviction that sacramental allusions partake of the warp and woof of the
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Gospel chiefly through the evangelist's use of symbolism and double meanings. And so, some commentators don't see it anywhere, and some commentators see it everywhere, symbols and how you can understand them.
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And then there's a third group of commentators who hold a somewhat mediating position. Between the two foregoing positions wrote one, there's a majority view that the evangelist valued the two sacraments, baptism,
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Lord's Supper, but as in most other doctrines and elements of the life of the church which he presented, his chief concern was to demonstrate their relation to Christ.
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In his Gospel, therefore, he introduced them in an indirect fashion, but in such a fashion as to highlight their significance for the understanding of Jesus' Redeemer and the believer's total dependence on him for the obtaining of the life to which they bear witness, that is, the sacraments bear witness.
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And so, one can see by these varied opinions that there must be present a measure of symbolism in the words of this
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Gospel, but identification and explanation of these symbols is difficult.
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And I would tend to identify fewer symbols than others might because I know the ease of the danger of falling into reading into the text rather than reading out of the text.
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And one easy avenue into that error is looking for symbols and interpreting their meaning.
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And so I would be a little bit more conservative than probably most. Organizing the
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Gospel of John, like into an outline, poses a difficulty. John's style has resulted in many different attempts, and I've probably looked at maybe eight or ten different outlines in different commentaries this week.
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Some have organized, in fact it's common to organize John's Gospel according to seven major signs. And by the way, the number seven is an idea or theme that is found in a number of places in John's Gospel, and there are seven miracles, or seven signs, and each one sets the stage for a teaching session of Jesus.
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And so some organize the Gospel of John according to these seven signs. Others have organized the
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Gospel of John according to the major discourses within John's Gospel.
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In other words, the verbal teaching, say, of Jesus, or the interaction of Jesus with others.
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And so you have, in some places, extended dialogues between Jesus and his disciples, or Jesus and his detractors.
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And then in other places of John's Gospel you don't have dialogues, but rather you have extended monologues in which
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Jesus is giving a speech. And yet, in spite of that, generally speaking, many
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Johannine scholars, that is, scholars in John's writings, agree that John's Gospel should be divided according to four major sections, and I've listed them.
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The prologue, everybody separates the prologue. A book of signs from chapter 119 through chapter 12, verse 50.
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The book of glory, chapter 13 through 20. That's the Lord with his disciples at the
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Last Supper. And then an epilogue, his post -resurrection appearances. And frankly, at this point,
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I haven't decided what outline to follow. I did obtain a good, rather recently written commentary in which he set forth an outline according to ten major sections.
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I'm not going to read through that, but you have an outline there. We may follow that one, but I don't know. I might try and devise my own.
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As we approach our study of the Gospel of John, we should be aware of the great difference between the
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Gospel of John and the other three Gospels, which are commonly referred to as the synoptic
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Gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the synoptic Gospels, synopsis.
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They are parallel with one another. Mainly they deal with the same events.
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Not exactly, but many of the same events are in all three. And they generally follow the same order in which the events take place.
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And so they're called the synoptic Gospels. When John's Gospel is considered alongside the other three, there are striking dissimilarities.
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For example, there is a difference in geography between John's Gospel and the synoptics.
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Whereas the synoptic Gospels present primarily our Lord's ministry in Galilee up to the north,
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John's Gospel is principally concerned with our Lord's ministry in Judea and the environs around Jerusalem.
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Another point of difference is the presentation of the idea of life or eternal life.
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Life, as well as time in the synoptics, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, is set forth as linear in nature, as a time sequence, as it were.
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For example, eternal life is set forth as the blessed future existence in the unending kingdom of God even on to the ages of come.
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And the full realization of that kingdom will occur when Jesus returns. And so they're looking at history as an unfolding in the future.
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That's the way time is understood. And so in the synoptics, a life of discipleship directs the follower of Christ on a path that leads to and results in eternal life, the narrow path that leads to life.
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But in John's Gospel, life is set forth in a whole different way.
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Eternal life is set forth more in terms of quality rather than unending duration.
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And so for John to know God in Christ Jesus is to have eternal life presently, not to inherit it one day.
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That's the emphasis of the synoptics. But in John's Gospel, eternal life is a present possession of the believer of the child of God.
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For John, eternal life is not something to be inherited, but it's to be experienced and enjoyed presently through knowing
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God and his Son whom he has sent. Now, here's a good description of the distinctive nature of the Gospel of John.
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Now, there is a major difference between the concept of life in the fourth gospel and that in the Old Testament, early
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Jewish literature, and the synoptic gospels. In all these latter writings, life or eternal life is a future hope, since it is life in the kingdom of God that is to come.
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In the fourth gospel, however, it is characteristically the gift of God given in the present time.
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And then lastly, when one compares the content of the synoptics with the
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Gospel of John, it's apparent that John provides a great deal of different and additional information regarding the events in the life and experience of our
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Lord with his disciples. Aside from the accounts of the Passion Week, the arrest and trials and crucifixion, resurrection of Jesus, there is actually only one episode that's common to all four gospels, and that's the feeding of the 5 ,000.
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And so there's a uniqueness of John's gospel in many points that distinguish it from the synoptic gospels.
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There may be an explanation, and I underscore that word may be, an explanation why
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John's gospel is so different in content from the synoptics. Eusebius, who lived during the days of Emperor Constantine, wrote the first church history, the
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Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius. And in this church history, he cited
01:03:30
Clement of Alexandria, who wrote about the composition of the gospels.
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And so here is Eusebius' account of what Clement of Alexandria wrote.
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Again, in the same books, Clement gives the tradition of the earliest presbyters, or elders, as to the order of the gospels in the following manner.
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The gospels containing the genealogies, he says, that would be Matthew and Luke, were written first.
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The gospel, according to Mark, had this occasion. As Peter had preached the word publicly at Rome and declared the gospel by the
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Spirit, many who were present requested that Mark, who had followed him, followed Peter for a long time and remembered his sayings, should write them out.
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And having composed the gospel, he gave it to those who requested it. In other words, this is saying that basically the gospel of Mark is
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Peter's witness, given through Mark. But then, when
01:04:29
Peter learned of this, he neither directly forbade or encouraged it. But last of all, and I put it in bold and italic because he's talking about the gospel of John, last of all,
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John, perceiving that the external facts had been made plain in the gospel, in other words, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, being urged by his friends and inspired by the
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Spirit, he composed a spiritual gospel. And this is the account of Clement, according to Eusebius.
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Now there's reason to read the ecclesiastical history of Eusebius with a measure of caution, but it's an interesting second -hand reference to what
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Clement of Alexandria had asserted, who lived in about A .D.
01:05:09
150 to 215 A .D. What Clement asserted was that John intentionally wrote his gospel in order to address matters that had not been included in the earlier gospels.
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Now I think what might most interest us in this matter is the distinct way in which
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John sets forth the person of Jesus Christ before his readers. Give attention to this.
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Now it's true that each of the four gospels has as its purpose to set forth the person of the Lord Jesus.
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As the promised Messiah that God sent into the world in order to save his people from their sins.
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But there's a distinctiveness of the gospel of John that we should recognize as we commence our study of this book.
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It can be said that the synoptic gospel set forth the person and work of Jesus as he was viewed and perceived by his disciples, or his apostles, as they witnessed and learned and grew in their understanding.
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Over the course of time his closest followers came to understand his deity and the nature of his mission as the
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Messiah, the promised son of David, who would initiate and inaugurate the promised kingdom of God.
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But the perspective of John's gospel is quite different. It's not so much the perspective of the disciple of Jesus who observed and learned from his master, rather John's gospel is a revelation of the inner life of Christ.
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Of his eternal divine nature as well as his temporal human nature. It's a perspective not so much from the viewpoint of the disciples as it is a self -revelation of the son of God himself.
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Even as it is related by the beloved disciple who is of course the apostle John. And so there was a historian not long ago, a guy named
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Collingwood, who explained the unique perspective of John in viewing the person of Jesus set forth in John's gospel.
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I would say that the synoptists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are more concerned with the outside of the events they record even though they record them because they believe that they have a theological or soteriological, in other words salvation, significance.
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John, on the other hand, is concerned with the inside of the events. The synoptists see
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Jesus and his words and actions from the outside through the eyes of the disciples. John enters sympathetically into the mind of Jesus and puts himself in the shoes of Jesus.
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So it's a whole different perspective. These comments led another
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Johannine scholar, in other words a scholar who specializes in John's writings,
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Pollard, to say this, John portrays Jesus as the one who at every point is conscious of his messianic function as a son of God, in other words as a
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Messiah, whose every action, thought, and word are governed by this consciousness. It is not that Jesus of Saint John is any less human than the
01:08:16
Jesus of the synoptics, but it is rather that John penetrates with deeper insight into the inner springs of the personality of Jesus.
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Nor was John's portrait a more highly developed theological interpretation, rather because of his deeper insight he makes explicit what is implicit and for the most part veiled in the synoptics.
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I think this is significant for us. Another described John's perspective and perception in this way, faced by the life and death of Jesus in its general or in its particular details, the fourth evangelist knows that he is confronted by what is infinite and eternal.
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He finds himself standing at a point where all things become well nigh transparent, where he has seen what no eye hath seen.
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It might be reasoned therefore, because of this inside perspective that John presents
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Jesus Christ to his readers, and through the blessing of the Holy Spirit, we have an opportunity to draw closer and delve deeper in our fellowship with the
01:09:25
Son of God through the study of this gospel. Our knowing Jesus Christ can go beyond only knowing about him.
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Our desire and delight should be to truly know him intimately and personally as the blessed
01:09:39
Holy Spirit reveals him through this fourth gospel. And if we commit ourselves to this task of study, we must look to the
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Lord to bless our efforts. We might take to heart the sentiment of an early church father,
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Origen, who is kind of flaky in his manner of interpretation, but he was the earliest one to write a commentary on the gospel of John.
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He wrote, Nobody could perceive the meaning of the fourth gospel who had not leaned on Jesus' breast and taken from Jesus Mary as his own mother.
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And of course what he's saying by that is you cannot understand John's gospel until you put yourself in John's place.
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Being so close to Jesus as laying his head on his breast at the Last Supper, and of course
01:10:24
Jesus entrusted the care of his mother Mary to John, even as he hung up on the cross. And so, as one wrote, it implies the necessity for the discerned reader to enter into the same kind of profound fellowship that the beloved disciple
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John experienced with the Son of God, comparable to that which the evangelist had also predicated upon the son's relationship with the father.
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It is often thought that the gospel, along with the other Johannine writings, that would be 1st, 2nd, 3rd
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John, emanated from the school of John. It is good to recognize that believers may enroll in that school today.
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And so may our Lord grant each of us the blessing of illumination of the Holy Spirit so that we might perceive the reality in the person of Christ, the implications of that reality, and the blessing of knowing him who alone is true and everlasting life.
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And so I would encourage us to be hopeful and anticipate the blessing of God as we make a study of this gospel.
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Well, let's begin to consider the prologue of the gospel, which is the first 18 verses of John chapter 1.
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The opening verses is the prologue to his gospel. It's set forth in 18 verses, and perhaps even though we're only going to address the first 5 verses,
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Lord willing, this morning, it probably would be good to read the entire prologue in context.
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And so here's John 1, 1 -18. In the beginning was the
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Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
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All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
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And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God whose name was
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John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all through him might believe.
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He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
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He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.
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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 the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.
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And the Word became flesh, 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,
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This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of his fullness we have all received grace for grace.
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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 Father, he has declared him.
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Now the translation that we just read was the New King James Version, and I'm reading now the ESV for the Old and New Testament readings, but here is the
01:13:50
New King James Version. We could have read it in another translation, say the
01:13:56
ESV, English Standard Version, or the New Translation, which is quite good, the
01:14:02
Christian Standard Version. But I chose to read the New King James Version, though we may encounter some variations in the readings here and there that we'll need to identify and address the major ones that we encounter.
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Well, there are two reasons for our use of the New King James Version. First, I much prefer the capitalization of pronouns that refer to deity.
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I realize it's become an accepted customary practice to use pronouns of deity, which begin with a lowercase letter, him, he.
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But I find it troubling. Maybe it's just because of my background, you know, the years. Certainly we can better glorify
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God at least through capitalization of his name and of pronouns that refer to him, rather than following customary practices of many today.
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But that's a personal preference. But I also chose the New King James Version because I prefer its sentence structure, which more closely follows the order and pattern of the
01:15:02
Greek text than do many of the more recent, the more modern English translations. Whereas the actual
01:15:08
Greek text used by the newer translations may be more precise and closer to the original writings of Scripture, again, the variants we'll have to address as they arise,
01:15:17
I prefer the sentence style and the structure of the New King James Version, which follow the original
01:15:23
Greek documents better than the new English translations. And what I mean by that is that the newer
01:15:29
English translations, in order to help us as modern English readers to read things more easily, understand them better, the newer
01:15:38
English translation chops up sentences into shorter sentences. And so there was one passage we considered recently,
01:15:47
I think in the NIV it was nine sentences, and in the New King James Version it was three sentences.
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And as you look at the Greek text, it's only in three sentences.
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And so even though the modern English translations are more easily read, and although there are some problems with the variants and whatnot that you have to address, it seems to me that the
01:16:10
New King James Version better reflects the actual sentence structure of the text itself, and so I prefer it.
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We may break down this prologue into smaller units, and so today, again, we hope to address the first five verses.
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We can describe this entire first five verses as the introduction of the
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Word. Next week we'll consider the witness to the Word, but this is the introduction of the
01:16:41
Word. In verses one through five, I want to read these verses again. In the beginning was the
01:16:47
Word, the Word was with God, the Word was 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. In 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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In verse one, we read about in the beginning. John opened his gospel with the words, in the beginning.
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This is a unique opening of this gospel when compared to the other three gospels. The Synoptic Gospels open either with an announcement of the birth of the
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Messiah, such as in Matthew or Luke, or as in Mark, in which we read of the preparatory ministry of John the
01:17:28
Baptist. That's how the Gospel of Mark opens. But John's gospel opens with the words, in the beginning.
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The words that John chose and his placement of them in the first position of this sentence draws the reader to consider the opening words of Genesis.
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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And John wrote, in the beginning was the
01:17:53
Word. John declares that the Word of God was in the beginning. These words serve to place the
01:18:01
Gospel of Jesus Christ within the biblical, historical, and theological context of the entire
01:18:06
Bible. In stating the connection of the Word in the opening of his gospel with the opening of the
01:18:13
Old Testament, John was not only showing the continuity of God at work through Jesus, but he was also declaring that the
01:18:20
Lord Jesus Christ, which he later identifies with the Word, became flesh, is actually the realization, even the fulfillment, of the trajectory of the
01:18:31
Old Testament story. The Bible is a book about Jesus Christ.
01:18:39
But further, the Word that was in the beginning was signaling a new beginning. Just as Genesis 1 -1 signaled the onset of the
01:18:47
Old Creation, so the Word of God in the beginning of John's gospel signals the onset of the
01:18:52
New Creation in Jesus Christ. And a Jewish reader, perhaps even a
01:18:58
Gentile reader in the first century, would have recognized this if he was familiar, if she was familiar, with the opening words of Genesis 1.
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As F .F. Bruce wrote, it's not by accident that the gospel begins with the same phrase as the book of Genesis.
01:19:14
In Genesis 1 -1, in the beginning, introduces the story of the Old Creation. Here it introduces the story of the
01:19:20
New Creation. In both works of creation, the agent is the Word of God. The words in the beginning do not so much speak of the temporal beginning of all things in His creation as it speaks of the origin of all things.
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It originated with the Word of God. The term, therefore, is not referring to the first point in a temporal sequence, but to that which lies beyond time.
01:19:49
The beginning was before creation, and the Word was there in the beginning. John's use of the verb was is also significant.
01:19:59
He wrote, in the beginning was the Word. Here, the verb does not speak of the origin of the
01:20:04
Word in the beginning, for it is a verb that conveys continuance. In the beginning, the
01:20:09
Word was. The Word was already there. The Word was existing before the beginning.
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The Word has no origin, for its existence is beyond time and history. And so, here we have the eternal nature of the
01:20:28
Word of God set before us. And I hope I don't lose people as we talk about some of these
01:20:34
Greek words, but there is some significance. Here, the pre -incarnate Christ is identified as the
01:20:39
Word. The Greek word that John used was logos. Actually, there is a little question mark in your notes.
01:20:48
That should be a little O with an accent over the top. The logos, definite article the.
01:20:55
Although some have tried to provide understanding of this term in the context of Greek or Hellenistic philosophical thought, the logos, the meaning of the word should be drawn from the
01:21:04
Old Testament, the background, rather than Greek philosophical world. True background to John's thought and language is found not in Greek philosophy, but in Hebrew revelation.
01:21:15
The Word of God in the Old Testament denotes God in action, especially in creation, revelation, and deliverance.
01:21:22
Don't look for the meaning of logos in Greek philosophy, but rather in the Old Testament. And so, in the
01:21:29
Jewish worldview, the Word of God was the action of the Creator to bring all things into existence.
01:21:35
In fact, Psalm 336 speaks to this. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
01:21:46
Later in the prologue of John chapter 1, we read that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
01:21:52
This teaches us that the Word of God is the means by which God discloses himself to his creatures.
01:21:59
God desires in his purpose to reveal himself to his people. God is a revealing
01:22:05
God, and he does through his word. The Word of God was in the beginning with God.
01:22:11
Who was God? Reveals God to his people. We next read in verse 1b, and the word was with God.
01:22:22
In order to understand what John was precisely saying, let's again read this clause in context.
01:22:28
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God. The verb was in the second clause actually conveys a different nuance than the was in the first line.
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I don't want to fall there, but the meaning of was sometimes is to be distinguished depending on the context.
01:22:52
What's the difference? Well, the first was, in the beginning was the word, conveys the idea of existence.
01:22:58
The word was there. The second was, the word was with God, conveys his presence.
01:23:05
The word was with God. And so the word was present with God as well as existing with God.
01:23:14
And then the final phrase of verse 1c declares that the word that existed in the beginning, who was with God, was indeed
01:23:20
God. And so John wrote, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.
01:23:26
And so, by the way, this third clause in the
01:23:31
Greek text reads differently in the order of the words in our English translation. And again, please don't get lost here, but it is significant, so I thought
01:23:40
I would mention it. In the Greek, the clause reads, καὶ θεὸς ἐν ὁ λόγος.
01:23:48
Now, that's how the Greek sounds. Literally in English, and God was the word.
01:23:58
Now, if you look closely, you'll see the single letter O, omicron, ha, that little accent over the
01:24:06
O is the H sound, ho, in front of the word logos. And so that letter, ho, is the
01:24:14
Greek word for the definite article the. And so John wrote the word.
01:24:22
Take note of the second word in that clause, theos. You ought to recognize that.
01:24:27
That's the Greek word for God, isn't it? Theos. Like in theology, the study or the love of God, which is a
01:24:35
Greek word for God. And so the Greek word, ho, logos, because it has a definite article, is actually the subject of the clause.
01:24:42
Theos, God, doesn't have that little O in front of it, does it? And so, ho, logos, because it has a definite article, is actually the subject of the clause, even though it's at the end of the sentence.
01:24:59
God, without the definite article, is the predicate word, even though it sits at the beginning of the sentence.
01:25:07
John gave this order of Greek words for emphasis. God was the word.
01:25:13
He's emphasizing that. God was the word, even though the word is the subject, and God was the predicate nominative, the predicate word.
01:25:22
Basically, he's declaring that the word contains all of the attributes and qualities of God, because he is
01:25:27
God. The word is God. Here's a statement that draws together these three clauses of verse one.
01:25:36
John 1 -1 is clearly triadic. In other words, three parts. With each of the three clauses having the same subject, the word.
01:25:47
The same verb was. The three statements taken together are the foundation upon which the message of the gospel rests.
01:25:53
Ever since Chrysostom, the silver -tongued guy, the great preacher of the fourth century, commentators have discussed the three affirmations each clause makes.
01:26:03
We have argued that the word is described in three related ways. The pre -existence of the word. Verse 1A.
01:26:12
The presence of the word. Verse 1B. And the person of the word. In verse 1C.
01:26:19
The three clauses move progressively to define the word in relation to God, with the third clause providing a climactic and qualified statement of the word's participation in or as God.
01:26:30
God must be understood from the outset as the one who speaks. The God who reveals himself.
01:26:37
In a real way, then, the gospel of John begins, Thus saith the Lord. Every word from God, starting from the beginning, has culminated in the definitive word.
01:26:46
The word of God. It's a very definitive and significant statement.
01:26:53
John 1 -1. Let's look at verse 2. He was in the beginning.
01:27:00
We look at verse 2. At a casual look at this verse, one might conclude it only repeats what
01:27:06
John had already stated in verse 1. But not if you look carefully. For where John 1 -1 wrote of the word that John had implied was a person, here in verse 2,
01:27:19
John stated the matter forthrightly. He was in the beginning with God. In verse 1, it was the word.
01:27:25
Verse 2, it's he. He personalizes the word, doesn't he? And John actually uses, in the
01:27:33
Greek text, what's called the demonstrative pronoun, again, for a point of emphasis. He is the word, is what
01:27:39
John is declaring. We also may conclude from these verses that there are at least two persons in the
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Godhead. They are distinguished here as God and the word. Elsewhere, of course, the persons are distinguished as father and son.
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And then the third verse. He was the creator of all things. Verse 3 states, all things were made through him.
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Without him, nothing was made that was made. This verse asserts in two clauses the same truth, that the word was the agent through which all things were created.
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What John was asserting that although God was the creator, his word was the agent through which
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God created all things. Basically, God the father decreed creation, and the word, the eternal son, went and did it.
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He was the agent by which all things came into being. The first clause is stated positively.
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All things were made through him. The second clause is stated negatively. And without him, nothing was made that was made.
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The first clause emphasizes that all things, everything that exists, came into existence through the creative power of the word of God.
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The second clause emphasizes that nothing can exist apart from the power of the word of God that brought it into existence.
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You are here, I'm here, everything is here because of the word of God. By the way, the
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Greek word that John used is the word in English, translated as made. All things were made through him.
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Without him, nothing was made that was made. And this is the same
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Greek word used in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament in many places in Genesis 1.
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God made. And here the word made. There's a parallel there. This word made is used by John repeatedly in John chapter 1.
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What John was doing through the use of this verb was to link the person of the word of God with the transformative power of the
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Lord Jesus, who's going to be manifesting that power throughout the gospel. He's bringing things into existence.
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The word of God, who is with God, is God and will bring a new creation into existence. Again, the idea in the beginning.
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The word brought forth the old creation, the physical creation. The word of God brings forth the new creation, even
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Jesus Christ. Two major ideas conveyed in this verse.
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First, the word of God, in other words, Jesus Christ was not created. Second, all things owe their existence to his creative work.
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He's eternal God. Then verse 3, in him was life.
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In him was life, and the life was the light of men. John used a past tense verb to express this truth.
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In him was life. And the life was the light of men. The clause in him was life means that from all eternity and throughout the entire old dispensation, in other words, all the
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Old Testament, life resided in the word. Here in 1 verse 4, we see the first occurrence of the word life.
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This is one of those words I alluded to earlier. We keep finding this word life, life, eternal life, throughout the gospel of John.
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And increasingly, as we do, it's going to fill out in greater measure of our understanding.
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We can't go into it now. Actually, if you take this word life and you throw in first John, the first epistle of John, the word life occurs 54 times.
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It's an important word in John's gospel. There are occasions when this word is interchanged with the expression eternal life.
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And here John states, in him was life. True life is in Jesus Christ.
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And this is stated elsewhere in the gospel. John 5, 26, for as the Father has life in himself, so he's granted the
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Son to have life in himself. The point of affirming this common life of the Son with the Father is that the
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Son is able to impart life, the life of God from God to his people.
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Everything is centered in Jesus Christ. In John 1, the emphasis is on the life that was in the word, which also gave light to mankind.
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What John was conveying is that not only the word can provide the light of understanding to man regarding the truth about God, but what the evangelist has in mind is the spiritual illumination that dispels the darkness of sin and belief.
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Understanding of God comes to sinners through Christ. When we consider the use of this frequently found word in John's writings, we may conclude it's a reference not merely to physical life, but rather it speaks of spiritual life.
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In him was life, as one wrote. From all this, it would seem to be evident that basically the term life refers to the fullness of God's essence, his glorious attributes, holiness, truth, love, omnipotence, sovereignty.
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This full, blessed life of God is said to have been present in the word, and this from all eternity and throughout the entire old dispensation.
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In him was life. And so even though the life that is in the word is spiritual in nature, nevertheless it's a source of all physical things as well.
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The eternal word of God is a giver and sustainer of life everywhere in God's creation. It's really the same idea that Paul expressed in Colossians 1.
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He, Jesus Christ, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn, in other words the head, over all creation.
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For by him all things were created that are in heaven or on earth, visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
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All things were created through him and for him. Through him is, again, Jesus is the agent of creation.
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God created everything through him and for him, for his purpose. For he is before all things, and in him all things consist.
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Jesus Christ is the source of all life, all existence, all meaning, everything important, everything eternal, everything valuable.
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Then in the second clause of verse 4 we read that this life was the light of men. He mentions life in the first clause, light in the second clause.
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When life is manifested, it's called light. Here John declared that throughout history
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God had manifested through his word what true life is and how it's to be experienced and enjoyed.
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That is, the true life of God is shown forth as light shines forth to all men everywhere. In the next verse we read the fallen man did not comprehend the light that God had revealed to him.
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But here John is declaring that the fault of man's ignorance is not because God had failed to reveal himself.
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What John is saying is something more is needed than just illumination. John will later set forth what is needed, of course, is the new birth, regeneration by the
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Holy Spirit. Illumination alone will not transform anybody. There has to be an inward work of grace so that the word of God becomes relevant and understood in all of its implications.
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And so then we read lastly, verse 3, we read, although the light shines forth, the fallen world does not know him.
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The last verse in this introduction of the prologue is verse 5, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
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Notice carefully the verb tense in this clause, first clause, and the light shines in the darkness.
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He didn't say the light shined in darkness. John changed the tense of the verb from the past tense in verse 4 to the present tense in verse 5.
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The light shines. Not only was the light shining throughout the entire
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Old Testament period, Old Dispensation, it is shining still, for it's a very characteristic of light to shine.
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The darkness refers to the unconverted fallen mankind. Although the life of God and the word has been manifested to the fallen world, the light has shined upon them, the world remained unaffected, for it did not comprehend the light.
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The problem is not with the light. The problem is with mankind. They're enveloped in darkness.
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They're blind. And so this verse suggests several spiritual realities to us.
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First, although God has clearly manifested himself, the life in his name, mankind remains lost and unaffected, oblivious to the light that is shining on them continuously.
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This sentence, verse 5, means that the spiritual light, which Christ, the source of life, offers to man, has always been neglected since the fall, and it's still neglected by unregenerate men.
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What John is declaring is that the light, the understanding of God revealed through the word of God, is basically emanating presently now, and we're bathed in this understanding or this knowledge that's flooding the entire world right now.
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And yet, because of the darkness, the fallen nature of mankind, they just don't see it. They can't see it.
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Darkness has enveloped them. Secondly, fallen man is incapable of seeing the true
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God and the life that emanates from him. Sin has blinded him, so he cannot perceive the light of God's glory that would transform him if he saw it clearly.
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As one wrote, the theme of the perpetual conflict between darkness and light is found throughout it.
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That is John's gospel. It is men's condemnation that they love darkness rather than light.
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Jesus calls on men to follow him so that they do not walk in darkness. They are to walk while they have the light, lest darkness overtake and overcome them.
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He came, a light in the world, so that whoever believes on him may not abide in darkness. Jesus' whole mission was a conflict between light and darkness.
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By the way, there you again have two words introduce light and darkness, and you have them repeated in John's gospel, and the meaning becomes more fully developed and enhanced.
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And that was one man's effort to try to describe that in that paragraph. We might just draw a parallel and contradiction, not contradiction, but difference between Genesis 1 and John 1.
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We might say this spiritual darkness and incapability of perceiving the light of God is in contrast to the first creation.
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We read in Genesis 1, 1, and 1, 2, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep.
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But then God said, Let there be light, and there was light. But in contrast, even though the light of the word of God shines in the darkness of this fallen world, the darkness does not comprehend it.
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Why is this? The natural darkness was dispelled by God creating light, but the spiritual darkness does not comprehend the spiritual light of the word of God.
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We've got a sin problem. What's the difference?
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Why in Genesis 1 did the physical creation, characterized by darkness, all of a sudden see this light?
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And perhaps the answer is in Genesis 1, 3, where we read, After God created and darkness enveloped the world that created, we read,
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The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And it's then that God said, Let there be light, and there was light.
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Only as the word of God illuminates darkness through the work of the Holy Spirit is spiritual darkness dispelled by the light of the word of God, even the light that's in Jesus Christ.
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We stand up here, we preach, we teach, we try to explain these things, and yet I know, unless the
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Holy Spirit turns on your light, you're not going to see it. Perhaps you might perceive me up here as some raving lunatic.
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Where has this guy come from? You know, he's in a whole other world. That may be.
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And that's not going to change for you until the Holy Spirit opens your eyes to see it.
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And when you do, it's glorious. Paul wrote about it in this way,
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Even if our gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the
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God of this age, that would be the devil, has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
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For we don't preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. For it is
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God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, a reference to Genesis 1, who has shown in our hearts to give light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
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It takes the same kind of creative miracle that God caused light to shine in Genesis 1 to enable a sinner to see the glory of God in Jesus Christ.
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But when that person sees it, it's transformative. A few concluding thoughts, and we'll close.
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First, the passage you have just considered underscores the heart of true Christianity, true life, spiritual life, eternal life is in the
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Son of God. Now that might just seem to be a given. Well, who would deny that? But please understand, in Him was life, and the light was the light of men.
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It may seem like a given. Nevertheless, I would argue that the truth is elusive, even impossible to comprehend and experience, apart from the grace of God wrought in the soul by the
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Holy Spirit. The natural state of man, apart from an inward work of God's grace, will not see this spiritual reality.
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Life before God will be seen and assumed to be mediated by God through other means apart from the Son of God.
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And I fear there are many who profess to know Christ as Lord and Savior, but they're not looking to Christ alone for life, and therefore they're not experiencing and enjoying the true life that comes through Him.
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They may look to the Holy Scriptures as their authority. They may order their lives according to the principles they find in the
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Word of God. They may believe themselves to be quite right with God and bless communion with God, but if it's not
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Jesus Christ alone to whom they look for the source of blessing of God's grace, they'll be spiritually impoverished, weak in their ability to live in righteousness, and frustrated with their absence of peace and joy that they know should characterize the people of God.
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Life is in Christ. Paul expressed that I might know
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Him. That should be our goal. Not just know about Him, not just learn what He teaches and what
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He says, not just to do what He commanded. Life is in Him, mediated through the
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Holy Spirit. Every blessing, all blessings of God are mediated by God to us through Jesus Christ alone.
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Secondly, how dependent we are on the sovereign grace of God to reveal Christ to us. Unless God does the work of grace, we'll remain in darkness.
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We must own our spiritual poverty and our helplessness, and know that if we acquire anything from God, if any of His promises are to be realized to us, it's going to be in Christ only, however, as a consequence, as an outworking of the
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Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to us. We are a needy people, and so may the
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Lord give us the Holy Spirit afresh and in a great measure that we might receive these things, see these things, and embrace these things.
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It's Christ alone in whom is life. And then lastly, thirdly, let's look to the
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Word of God, the Holy Scriptures, with the chief desire and delight in finding Christ in its pages.
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Our Lord Jesus rebuked some who studied the Bible without looking for Him, and there are many people that do that.
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You can go down to the Bible bookstore and buy studied Bibles all over the place, you know, the workman's studied
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Bible, the women's studied Bible, the teenage studied Bible, you know, the Bible is about Christ, and if you're not looking for Christ in the
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Bible, you're not going to get Him out of the Bible. Jesus said,
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You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. These are they which testify of me. Apart from seeing
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Christ in the Holy Scriptures, the letter of the Scriptures is a killing letter. People can stand all day long, and they can quote scripture verse after another, but if the life is not emanating through Jesus Christ by the
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Holy Spirit, it's not reality. It's deadening. And that person will not enjoy life, and will not be able to impart life to others, because it's the person of Jesus Christ through whom every blessing of God comes.
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Critically important, because we can lose sight of that very easily, can't we? Father, may the
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Lord help us and bless us as we proceed in this study of John's Gospel. Father, help us, we pray, not only to learn these things, but take them to heart.
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Maybe we've heard them before, long ago, maybe repeatedly, but we pray, our God, that the blessed
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Holy Spirit would once again, Lord, take these truths and illuminate our minds,
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Lord, to the truth that's in Jesus Christ, and stir our hearts with love and affection. Place within us a great longing and desire to know more fully your
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Son, our Father, whom you sent to us. For we see, realize, and confess that all the treasures, all the blessings that you have for your people are bound up in Him.
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For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.