Text: John 1:1-18
Title: The credentials of Jesus
Introduction
Last week in the E100 Bible reading challenge we started our first readings from the N.T.
For those of us who read the 5 passages last week…
Did anyone notice that we didn’t start out our N.T readings with a passage on the birth of Christ?
Instead our very first reading in the N.T. was taken from John 1:1-18
Why was that?
What has John 1:1-18 to say to us that would put it first- ahead of the passages on the birth of Christ?
I think John 1:1-18 was chosen for us to read first because in it we are given …
… the credentials of Christ
So we read last week the credentials of Christ first…and then we read the birth of Christ second…
The credentials of Christ first… The birth of Christ second.
I want to suggest my reason why the credentials of Christ might have come before the birth of Christ in the order of the readings.
Whenever you hear about someone’s birth you find yourself asking lots of questions…
This is more so for ladies than for men…
You ask questions like “What’s the baby’s name?” “What’s the baby’s weight”?
But whenever you hear about someone’s credentials…
Instead of having lots of questions you find yourself having lots of answers.
Their credentials will already tell you who they are.
Their credentials should tell you what they have done so far.
Their credentials will even tell you what they are capable of doing in the future.
And which would we rather have about someone?
Would we rather have lots of questions or would we rather have lots of answers?
We would rather have lots of answers!
Would we rather have lots of answers about Jesus or would we rather have lots of questions about Jesus?
We would rather have lots of answers about Jesus for those who have those who have lots of questions about Jesus
And John 1:1-18 is full of answers about Jesus
Here we are told who Jesus really is
Here we are told what Jesus has already done in the past
Here we are told what Jesus wants to do now
First of all we are told exactly who Jesus is
1.He is Eternal – In the beginning was the Word
Jesus has always existed. He existed before the first Christmas. He existed before creation.
Because Jesus is eternal there was never a time that Jesus never existed. He has always been there.
2.He is Divine – and the Word was with God and the Word was God
If Jesus is eternal then it must also be true that Jesus is equal with God.
John tells us that Jesus was with God and that Jesus is also God.
We see throughout the four gospels that whatever God could do Jesus could do also
3.He is Human – The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
God became one of us.
Why? So we could know what God is like.
More importantly it was so God could come and save us from our sins
So Jesus is Eternal, Divine and Human
Then we are told what Jesus has already done in the past
A.He is the Creator of all things (v3)
“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
He made us. He made us so we can come to know him.
Then thirdly we are told what Jesus wants to do for us
1. He wants to give us eternal life
“In him was life.”
Why does he want to give us life? Because without Him we are dead in our sins.
The wages of sin is death
2. He wants to give us light
“and that life was the light of man.
Not only are we dead in our sins we are also blind.
Spiritually blind.
We can’t see that we are dead in our sins.
Sin blinds us so we can’t see the consequences for our sin
Jesus came to give us life. Jesus came to give us light.
3.Jesus came to bring us back to God
“Yet to those who received him, to those who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God.
When sin is killing you and blinding you; you need outside help in order to get back to God.
Jesus is that help. He is the bridge that takes us back to God.
He died for our sins so we don’t have to die for them.
He died in our place so that we could live forever with God in heaven.
Those are the credentials of Jesus
He is eternal. He is Divine. He is Human. He is our Creator. He came to give us life. He came to give us light. He came to bring us back to God.
How do people respond to these credentials of Jesus?
Does everyone respond the very same way after they hear about the credentials of Jesus?
We don’t have to speculate on the answer to this question…
Because John 1:1-18 itself tells us there are different kinds of responses that people have to hearing the credentials of Jesus
First of all
1.There are those who don’t understand the credentials of Jesus
“The Light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” (v5)
Why can’t these people understand who Jesus is?
2 Corinthians 4:4 “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
The devil has blinded their minds so that they cannot understand who Jesus really is.
What does he blind their minds with? He blinds their minds with darkness.
Darkness implies ignorance, error, sin, misery,
Is there are hope for those who don’t understand the credentials of Jesus?
Is there any hope for those who the devil has blinded?
Verse 5 can also be translated a different way
It can also read like this
“The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.”
In other words Jesus is greater than the darkness
Jesus is greater than the devil
If a person really wants understanding of who Jesus really is then no devil can stop that person from receiving it
That’s what the book of proverbs is about.
2.Then there are those who don’t recognize the credentials of Jesus
“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him (v10)
What does it mean to be a person who does not recognize the credentials of Jesus?
It means to be a person who does not know Jesus from personal experience
It means to have never met Jesus for yourself?
You may know about Jesus but you don’t yet know Jesus.
You have never experienced the life of Christ for yourself
You can’t recognize him because you have never experienced him
Illustration: Would you recognize my Dad if you saw him?
Not if you never met him.
Can a person ever go from not recognizing Jesus to recognizing Jesus?
The proof: The road to Emmaus
3.There are those who don’t receive the credentials of Jesus
“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him, (v11)
Those who don’t receive the credentials of Jesus
That’s the nicer way to say it.
Another way to say his own did not receive him is to say his own rejected him.
Why did his own not receive him? Why did his own reject him?
They couldn’t accept his credentials
They couldn’t .accept that he was eternal
They couldn’t accept that he was divine
They couldn’t accept that in him was life…light …the way to the father
We don’t reject Jesus because he is not who he says he is
We reject Jesus because we are not who we say we are
Most people who reject Jesus have never taken the time to check him out.
Luke’s gospel is about a detailed study on the life of Jesus
4.There are those who receive and believe the credentials of Jesus
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
I believe Jesus is who he says he is
I receive who Jesus says he is
I believe it because the bible says it and
I believe it because I have experienced it for myself
I once was all those people John already mentioned
I didn’t understand who Jesus was
I didn’t recognize who Jesus was
I didn’t receive who Jesus was
But in 1988 I received Jesus as my savior. I believed Jesus was who he says he is.
I thought that that was all the types of people who are found in John 1:1-18
But there is a 5th group of people.
It may be the biggest group of people out there.
We heard a lot about this group of people last Sunday
5.There are those who have yet to hear about the credentials of Jesus
Verse 6 -9
There came a man who was sent from God: his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light so that through him all men might believe.”
Believe what?
The credentials of Jesus.
There are people who have never heard about Jesus because nobody has told them yet.
Is that fair? Is that right?
One of the reasons we have been given the light is so that we might share it with others.
Which group do i identify with?
Am I in the group that has yet to understand Jesus for who he really is?
Am I in the group that has yet to recognize or experience Jesus for who he really is?
Am I in the group that has yet to receive Jesus for who he really is?
Am I in the group that has yet to tell others who Jesus really is?
Am I in the group that has received Jesus; believes in Jesus and is telling others about Jesus?
