Jesus Is The Word Series

INTRODUCTION

• This four-week sermon series will encourage us to explore God’s Word and equip us with basic principles that will help us engage with Scripture and correctly interpret its texts.

• In this series, we will cover topics such as Jesus as the Word of God, the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament, Scripture as God-breathed, and the Bible as a living and active book.

• Today we will explore a beautiful scripture passage found in John 1:1-18.

• John 1:1-18 serves as an introduction to the book of John and is the foundation of all the book contains.

• When reading the Bible, context is vital to truly understanding what the Bible teaches.

• John gives us the context from which we need to know and apprehend so we can understand John's writings properly.

• When asked where to start reading the Bible, I suggest reading John's Gospel.

• God reveals himself to humanity through two primary means: words and actions.

• In the Bible, these mediums of revelation work together and are interconnected.

• For example, God has revealed himself in human history through His mighty deeds and works, and these actions have been recorded and written down in Scripture.

• God also speaks directly to and through prophets in the Bible, which is documented in words within the canon of Scripture.

• But even Scripture was not enough to fully reveal God to us, as John alludes to at the end of his Gospel:

John 21:25 (NET 2nd ed.)

25 There are many other things that Jesus did. If every one of them were written down, I suppose the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

• We just celebrated Christmas, the birth of Jesus, God in the flesh!

• The Word had to become flesh.

• God’s most remarkable and explicit revelation of Himself is found in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

• Christ is the Word of God spoken to the world.

• The incarnation functions as the final and personal revelation of God.

• Today, we will spend some time giving context to who Jesus is and why He came to us in the manner He did.

John 1:1–3 (NET 2nd ed.)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God.

2 The Word was with God in the beginning.

3 All things were created by him, and apart from him, not one thing was created that has been created.

John 1:10 (NET 2nd ed.)

10 He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him.

SERMON

I. Words have purpose.

• There are many different mediums of human communication in the modern world: physical mail, email, phone calls, voice mail, voice messaging, text messaging, and social-media communication.

• It is commonly understood that old-fashioned face-to-face, in-person communication is still the most effective.

• Similarly, God’s face-to-face, in-person revelation of Himself to us in the incarnation was the most effective way for Him to speak to us.

• Email, snail mail, texting, voice mail, voice messaging, and social media communication all involve words.

• The words we use have a purpose.

• Jesus is called THE WORD!

• God sent Him for a reason; God sought to communicate with us in a way we could understand.

• All of us here today speak English.

• I am preaching using the English language.

• I am speaking in a language we can all understand.

• When I was in Italy, I understood little about the Italian language.

• As a result, it was hard for me to understand things.

• Fortunately, I have an intelligent wife who learned some of the language so that we could function.

• Many in Italy could speak English; however, it was not their first language, so it was easier for me but more difficult for them.

• Anyone who has pets knows we do not communicate the same way.

• I can meow at my cats, and who knows what I said.

• When God sent Jesus, the Word, in the flesh, according to S.D. Gordon as he, summarized John 1:14 noted; · "Jesus is God spelling Himself out in language that men can understand." Bruce Demarest, Jesus Christ, The God-Man, p. 41

• God sent Jesus because He wanted to communicate with us so that we could understand Him.

• The concept of the Word(logos) is saturated with meaning for both Jews and Greeks.

• To the Greek philosophers, the logos was the impersonal, abstract principle of reason and order in the universe.

• It was, in some sense, a creative force and also the source of wisdom.