Being Witnesses of the True Light
John 1:6-13
Intro:
Body:
1A. God sends Christians as witnesses. vv. 6-8
1B. John the Baptist was sent by God.
1C. He was the first true prophet in 400 years.
2C. He was the fulfillment of prophecy. Isaiah 40:3 NKJV The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.
3C. He preached a message of repentance. Matthew 3:1-2 NKJV In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, (2) and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"
NOTE: We are similarly sent by God with a message of repentance: Turn from sin to Christ, and live!
2B. His purpose was to give factual testimony, not opinion.
1C. “Witness” is a term of the court.
2C. We are called to tells the facts of who Jesus is, what He did for mankind, and what He has done for us individually.
3B. God’s purpose was to cause people to believe through his testimony.
NOTE: We are to be agents of belief.
2A. God provides creation as a witness. vv. 9-11
1B. Jesus Christ illuminates every person who comes into the world.
NOTE: “World” is the created order of man and his environment that is in rebellion against our Maker.
1C. God gave the light of creation. Cf Rom. 1:18-21
2C. The world is at enmity against God because He exposes them for what they are. John 3:19-20 NKJV And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (20) For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
2B. Jesus Christ came home to Israel.
1C. Israel was God’s chosen nation.
2C. He Himself was a Jew.
3B. He was rejected by both. Isaiah 65:2-3 NKJV I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts; (3) A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face…
3A. God initiates the result of the witness. vv. 12-13
1B. Receiving and believing make us His children.
1C. Receiving is the idea of accepting and taking hold of Him.
2C. Believing on His name is the trusting Christ in His totality, all that He is and does. (MacArthur)
2B. We cannot become His children by human merit.
1C. “Not of blood” means not of heritage or ethnicity.
2C. “Nor of the will of the flesh” means not from a desire arising in us naturally, in our flesh.
3C. ‘Nor of the will of man) means that not from some other human’s desire for us to be a child of God.
3B. Every time a person becomes a child of God, it is a miracle of God.
1C. He is the originator and caller.
2C. He is the one who performs the transforming miracle of the new birth.
Concl.
