Light and Life

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It is customary in this service to keep the lights dimmed, which makes it very difficult for you to open your
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Bibles. So I will say, if you would like to open your
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Bibles and read in the darkness, you can. But if not, the words of tonight's message will be on the screen for you to read.
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So we're going to actually continue the message that I began this morning, because it all ties in together as to what we are doing when we celebrate
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Christmas. One of the most well -known and beloved songs of Christmastime is the song,
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Hark the Herald Angels Sing. We sang it as one of our songs for tonight.
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In the third verse of that song, it says, Hail the heaven -born
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Prince of Peace! Hail the Son of Righteousness!
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Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings.
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Last week in our music preparation time, I made a mistake.
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And I said, wait a minute, that says Son, S -U -N.
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Shouldn't that say Son, S -O -N? Because in my mind, I was thinking Son of Righteousness, Son of God, just naturally.
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And so I didn't think in my mind, it just didn't register to me.
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And I didn't remember that it is using the word Son, S -U -N, because it's quoting an
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Old Testament passage from the book of Malachi. The book of Malachi chapter 4 says,
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But for you who fear my name, the Son, S -U -N, the
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Son of Righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. So that phrase,
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Hail the heaven -born Prince of Peace! Hail the Son of Righteousness! is in fact using the word
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Son there, S -U -N, because it is a reminder of the light, the glorious light of God that shines upon those who trust in Him.
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It's a reminder of His refugence, His glory, His power, which is exposed in light.
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What we're going to read for our text this evening, what John tells us about Jesus Christ.
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John reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world.
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He is life, in Him is life, and that life is the light of men.
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So let's read the text, beginning at verse 1. John's Gospel begins,
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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
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Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
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In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
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The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
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May God add His blessing to the reading of His Word as we pray. Father, I thank You for Your Word.
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I thank You that even now, You give us the opportunity to look at Your Word afresh, and be reminded of the blessing that You have in fact revealed
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Yourself through Your Son, Jesus Christ. I pray as we talk about Your Word tonight, as we celebrate this time of year where we are reminded of the birth of the
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Christ child, and moreover reminded of the Incarnation, Lord, that we would be moved.
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That we would be moved toward greater faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, that we would be moved toward repentance of sin.
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That we would be moved toward growing in our sanctification.
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And Lord, for those who do not know Christ, that they would be given life and light.
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And Lord, that You would change them for the sake of Your Son, and for their eternal good.
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And we pray this in Jesus' name, and for His sake. Amen. This morning, if you were not here, and I know some of you were not, we looked at the first three verses of John's Gospel, but really we only looked at the first verse.
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Time got away, as it often does. And as we were examining
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John 1 -1, we got wrapped up in what it says about the Word being God, and the
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Word being with God, the Word being in the beginning. And all of those things were just so overwhelming.
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I walked away encouraged, because so many of you said that you were encouraged by the message, and that was a blessing to me.
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And as I was thinking about tonight, I just was rolling it over my head. What do I do? Do I just continue on?
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Do I go to what I originally intended to preach? Do I try to preach the whole text? Or do I simply abbreviate and...
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I said tonight was going to be a shorter service. As I laugh, haha.
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But it is intended to be a shorter service, because tonight is a night for reflection, it's a night for devotion.
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I don't plan to preach for the hour that I normally preach. But I do want to begin where we left off this morning.
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You'll remember what it says in John's opening. Speaking of the
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Lord Jesus Christ, calling Him the Word, or in Greek, the Logos. It says, in the beginning was the
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Word. And the Word was with God. And the
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Word was God. Later, John identifies who this Word is. It says, the
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Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We don't have to wonder, we don't have to try to investigate and figure out what
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He means. He tells us directly what He means, by who He is referring to. He is referring to Jesus Christ.
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He is the Word. He was in the beginning. He was with God.
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And He was God. That is John's opening verse.
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But then we get to verse 2. And John essentially repeats, in verses 2 and 3,
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John essentially repeats what he says in verse 1. So in verse 1 it says, in the beginning was the
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Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. Verse 2 he says, He was in the beginning with God.
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Now why would John reiterate what he has already said?
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Why would John essentially repeat the same phrase again? Because now what he's doing, in verse 2, is he is assigning the logos to a person.
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As I said this morning, in Greek culture the logos was not personal.
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In Greek culture the logos was the idea of rationality, of logic, of truth, of structure.
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That was how they understood the logos. They did not understand the logos as a person.
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They understood the logos as a force that binds all things together and gives order and rationality to all things.
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And John says, in the beginning was the logos. And the logos was with God. And the logos was
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God. And at that point all Greek speakers could say, yes, we agree. The logos is divine.
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The logos is with the divine. And the logos has been here since the beginning. We agree.
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But then John stabs at that idea and he says, He was in the beginning, not it.
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He uses this personal pronoun to identify the logos as a person.
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Not just an idea. Not just a force. Not just a rationality or some other thing.
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But a person. He was with God in the beginning.
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So, John is identifying the logos as a person. This, again, is not just repeating what he has said.
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Even though it is repetition, it's adding to what he has said. And then he says these words in verse 3.
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Some of the most miraculous and I would say some of the most pointed words in all of scripture. It says in verse 3,
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All things were made through him. And without him was not anything made that was made.
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Notice here the positive and the negative.
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All things were made through him. That's a positive statement. And not anything made that was made was not made by him.
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That's negative. If you've ever read a theological confession.
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From perhaps maybe the Westminster Confession or the 1689 Confession. Or even some of the other confessions down through the ages.
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Often times it will have an affirmation and a denial. We believe this, we don't believe that.
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We affirm this, we deny that. Because there is a need to be clear in our theological definitions.
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And John is being absolutely clear. All things were made through him.
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Do you understand? Everything you see around you is a creation of Almighty God.
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And it was through the Logos, it was through Jesus, the word. That God made that thing.
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We can say without hesitation. Jesus Christ is the creator of the world.
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Jesus Christ is the creator of the universe. Jesus Christ is my creator.
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Which makes it even more amazing when I step back and I say. This Logos, this word became flesh.
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He dwelt among us. The very one who formed the world walked on the world.
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The very one who created the earth set his feet on the earth. This is why when he was here he was not bound by earthly things.
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He was not bound by the elements. He could walk on the water. He was not bound by sickness.
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He could cast it out. He was not bound by demonic activity. He could speak it out and he could cast it out.
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He was not bound by the wind and the waves. When he is in the boat with the other disciples and the disciples say. Lord we are perishing.
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He says peace be still and it silences. Because he has that authority.
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Because he is the creator. You know what the root of the word authority is?
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Author. Because Jesus is the author of creation.
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He has the authority to do with creation what he wills. And he does.
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Later in John's Gospel we are going to read he goes to a wedding. And they run out of wine.
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And Jesus takes the water that is in the six water pots. And he creates in the water the elements necessary for wine.
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He doesn't go out and pick grapes from a vine. He doesn't come and put those grapes into a sack and press the juice.
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And allow it to ferment. But in an instant he takes plain water.
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And he causes it to become wine. Because he is the author of all creation.
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He has authority over all creation. And can do with creation what he wills.
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When Pilate has Jesus in his room.
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And he says don't you know that I have authority over you? Jesus said you would have no authority over me.
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Were it not given to you from above. And if I so chose I could call down legions of angels to come to my rescue.
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Who has authority? Pilate or Christ? It is Christ who is Lord. It is
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Christ who has all authority. So when John says all things were made through him.
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We must take a moment to step back and understand the great weight and power of that idea.
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But then the negative. We said there is the positive. All things were made through him.
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And then the negative. And without him was not anything made that was made.
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Why the repetition? Why is John going through such effort to stress these points?
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Because he does not want us to miss this fact. The one that we are talking about is the creator of all.
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All things are made through him. And without him nothing was made that was made.
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Hear this right now. There are those who believe
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Jesus himself is created. That is not true. Jesus himself is creator.
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There is only two categories. And the categories are creator and creation.
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There is no Venn diagram that puts a third circle in the middle. Where Jesus resides as some type of creator creation hybrid.
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No. Jesus Christ is creator.
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All things were made through him. And without him was not anything made that was made.
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And so we go to Colossians. And Colossians says almost this very thing.
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It says for by him, speaking of Jesus, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, thrones and dominions, rulers and authorities.
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All things were created through him. But notice this. And for him.
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You realize not only is Jesus Christ our creator, but Jesus Christ is the one for whom we were made.
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We were made to glorify him. There is a lot of selfishness in the world.
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Amen? A lot of people, a lot of theologies are very selfish. Because a lot of theologies focus on what
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God does for us. They focus on God being at our beck and call.
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God does what we command. I have even heard these guys on television. I give
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God authority in my life. I give God power in my life. You don't give God any authority.
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He already has it. You don't get to give God power.
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He already has it. The very purpose we exist is to simply glorify him.
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All things were made through him and for him. And I love this verse.
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It's in Colossians 1 .17. He is before all things. Again, echoing John's gospel that says he is before all things.
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He is creator. And in him all things hold together. Have you thought about that?
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That your very life is bound by Jesus Christ and is held together by him.
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Friends, when it says all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made.
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Those affirmations again are reiterating John 1 .1. John 1 .1 says in the beginning was the word.
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John 1 .2 says he was in the beginning with God. John 1 .1 says in the beginning was the word.
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The word was with God and the word was God. When you get to verse 3 and he says all things were made through him.
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That's saying the same thing. It's saying that he's God. It's saying that he's creator. It's saying that he's the one that made all things.
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The world does not believe Jesus is God. The world laughs at that.
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The world will say Jesus is a good teacher. The world will say Jesus is a nice man.
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They will say Jesus is a powerful prophet. They will say Jesus did many good things. Jesus is a good example.
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But the world will deny that Jesus is God in the flesh. And that's the reason why the world remains in darkness.
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Because notice verse 4. In him was life and that life was the light of men.
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You see when Jesus creates from the beginning.
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He creates life. Because he has life in himself. Jesus gives life.
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Because he is life. He didn't get life.
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He didn't become life. He didn't grow into life. He is life.
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The word here is Zoe. There's another Greek word bios. And we're familiar with the word bios.
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Because it's where we get the word biology. And we think about that kind of life. Biological life is the kind of life we think of that's very earthy.
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Our biology. But Zoe is real life.
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Remember when Adam was made. God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
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And what happened when he ate of the fruit of the tree? He received death.
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But Jesus comes. And he comes for what reason? To give life.
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Because he is life. And he says this is the reason that I come. That you may have life in my name.
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How is it that Jesus can claim such power?
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Because he's creator. The reason why he can claim to be life and to give life is because he's the one who created life.
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Life comes through him. And that life, his life, is the light of men.
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You understand that Jesus came into a dark world and was a bright light.
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When Jesus came into the world, his light was so powerful and so amazing.
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Even though it be veiled in flesh. Note what we sing, veiled in flesh. And yet it was still so amazing that everywhere he went and everyone he talked to and everyone he touched was overwhelmed by who he was.
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By that light. If you take a room that's completely dark and you turn on one small light, eventually that light will take the whole room.
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Jesus came into the world. Born of a virgin. Came into the world as the light of the world.
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And through him, that light spread. That light began to go out into the world.
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Do you realize how fast Christianity, the faith of Jesus Christ, spread through the known world?
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When it was introduced by a peasant from Nazareth.
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Jesus was the light and that light spread.
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By the fourth century, Christianity which had been persecuted,
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Christianity which had been hated, Christianity which had been illegal. By the fourth century,
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Christianity was the religion of the empire. That is an amazing, remember those who took the history class with me.
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The third century, a time of great persecution. But the fourth century, we went from the edge of the sword to the tip of the spear.
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In less than a hundred years, the light shined in the darkness. It spread and changed the world.
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Beloved, this is what verse 5 is saying. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it.
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Now there is debate over what that word overcome means. Some translations say comprehend.
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Katalambano is the Greek and it can be translated comprehend. But it can also be translated overcome.
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So what would it mean if it meant comprehend? The light shines in the darkness but the darkness does not comprehend it.
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Well, if that's what it means, what it's saying is that when Christ came into the world, this dark world did not understand him.
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Certainly that's true. But if it means overcome, and I tend to think overcome is the idea.
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Christ's light came into the world and as dark as this world was, it could not conquer the light.
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Christ's light cannot be conquered by our darkness. His light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it.
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So beloved, tonight, as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the
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Christmas season, as we prepare ourselves on this Wednesday to have a time of celebration with our family, may it be that we not forget that the reason why we celebrate is that light has come into the world through the person of Jesus Christ and those who trust in him become the light of the world because his light becomes our light.
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Did he not say to his disciples, you are the light of the world because we have him in us.
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One quick story and I'll close. When I was 19 years old,
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I fell into a time of darkness that was unlike anything
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I had ever experienced. I grew up in church, as many of you know
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I grew up in this church. I was married in this church. I was here when this building was built.
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But when I was 19 years old, it became painfully obvious that I did not know
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God. That I did not know Jesus. And even though all those years
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I would have called myself a Christian, I was not a Christian. And the darkness that overwhelmed my heart in that moment of realization was the most incredibly dark time that I remember in my life.
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I've never felt so lost. I've never felt so undone.
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I've never felt, and I know this may sound so almost childish to think about, but you've seen those cartoons with the little cloud that follows?
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That's how I felt. I just had this darkness that was over me because I knew that if I were to close my eyes and never open them again here, that I had no hope.
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And there's a tremendous sense of darkness that comes when there is no hope. But by God's mercy, the gospel came into my heart like a light.
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And that light of the promise of God, that whosoever believes in the
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Son of God will have eternal life, that light drove out the darkness.
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That light gave me hope. So tonight
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I ask you, do you know this Jesus who we are reading about?
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Maybe you know the story of the nativity. Maybe you've seen the plays and the stories being told.
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Maybe you've read the Bible where it talks about the baby in the manger and the wise men and the shepherds and all of those things are wonderful.
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But do you know who that child is? There's a song
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I sang in high school. I was in chorus. This child is wonderful, marvelous.
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This child is Emmanuel, God with us.
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I sang it, didn't know what it meant. But I know now because the light of the gospel came into my heart and gave me life.
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And it can do the same for you. If you have never believed on the
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Lord Jesus Christ, if you are still in darkness tonight, the
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Bible says to you, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
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So I encourage you, if you are in darkness, turn from your unbelief and run to the light.
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In Him is life and that life is the light of men.
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Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the opportunity to preach your word tonight.
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And I pray that this message would fall on ears that need to hear it.
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And Lord, if there are those here who have never trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ and who are still in darkness, that the light of the gospel would pierce their heart and take the darkness and cast it out.
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Lord, we know that sin does bring darkness. But your gospel cleanses us from all sin.
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So I pray for those who do not believe that they would believe tonight. And for those who do believe that they would celebrate the light.
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In Jesus' name, amen. We're going to now stand together.
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We're going to sing Silent Night. And as we sing, we'll take out our candles and hold them up, celebrating the light of Christ.