John – Believe in Jesus and live! Part 13
Wrap up
“It is finished”
------ In the beginning------
He spoke
And
Galaxies whirled into place
He spoke
And
The stars, moon and sun lit the sky
He spoke
And
Planets began their orbits
He spoke again
And
The water, land and sky
Was filled with life
Plants and animals of all sorts and all sizes
Running
Swimming
Growing
And
Multiplying
Words
Words of life
Again he spoke
And man and woman were formed
In his image
Thinking
Breathing
Loving
Human life
Words of love
And
Words of glory
Eternal
Infinite
Majestic
Unlimited
All powerful
All knowing
All loving
In the beginning was the word
The living
Loving word of
God
He is
Jesus Christ
And
He is
He was
And always has and will be
Then some years later
In Love
God came in the flesh to an
Insignificant speck of a planet called earth
The mighty creator
Became part of his creation
Flesh and bone
He was limited by time and space
He was susceptible to sickness
Injuries
Temptations
Persecutions
Aging
And yes
Even
Death
But love
Love
Pure love
Made him come
You see
He had to come
His creation
Man
Needed him
He --Man
His creation
Had made such a mess out of things
So
The word
Jesus Christ
God in the flesh
The spotless lamb
The sinless one
Left heaven
And came to earth
On a rescue mission
He came to save humanity
He came
To pay the payment of the worlds sin
He came To
Save all who would listen
He came to save
All who would believe
He came to show love
And to give the gift of eternal life
Restoration
Redemption
Forgiveness
He is the word
The living
Breathing
Living
Word of God
In the flesh
He is Jesus
The Savior
The Messiah
And that church
Is the truth
The absolute truth
We have been studying John for about three months now
And with
Each sermon and bible study
It has been my prayer that
We see Jesus as that truth
The living breathing truth
John wrote so that all who read or heard his words might believe in Jesus and have life
Eternal life
Abundant life
Life to the full
Life in fellowship with God
Just as God had planned from creation
From before creation
John’s is not a history of Jesus
It is not a history of Christianity
It is not a biography of Jesus’ life
But instead John
The Apostle John
The Apostle that Jesus loved
One of the sons of thunder
Writes so that we may live by believing in Jesus Christ
John showed us Jesus’ true identify in the opening lines of his gospel
John 1:1-4
“In the beginning the word already existed”
Not created
Not brought in existence by birth
But already he existed
Before creation
“The word was with God”
Right there with him
From the beginning
God the Father
God the Son
God the Holy Spirit
“And the word was God”
Was God
Is God
Always has been God
And always will be God
“He existed in the beginning with God”
Not born
Not created
Existed
From the beginning
“God created everything through him
And nothing was created except through Him”
Nothing or no one was created without him
No evolution
No big bang
Just a word
Just a word from the Word
“And the word gave live to everything that was created”
And
“His life brought light in the darkness”
The light shines in the darkness
And the darkness can never extinguish it
Jesus Christ
The light of the world
The living
Breathing creator of the world
Came to earth to be the light that was missing in this evil world
He came to shine the light
Be the light
But
The world did not know him
It did not recognize him
You see
The world preferred the darkness
So
The world rejected him
That is tragic
But there is good news
The whole world did not reject him
You see
John tells us that there is hope
There is hope
Because all who did recognize him
And all who will recognize him
All who believe him
And
Accept him
Are reborn
They have received the right
By believing
By accepting
To become children of God
Just as he had planned
Reborn
Not a physical rebirth
But a spiritual rebirth
A new start- a reride in cowboy terms
Becoming a new creation
So the word became human
Flesh
Muscle on bone
Blood and nerves
Flesh
He became flesh
Human
And He lived among us
Right here with us
John in his gospel shows us seven signs of Jesus’ true identity
We have studied each of them
He showed us these
Signs so that we might believe
That all who see – allow themselves to see----might believe
He turned the water to wine
Healed the officials son with just a word
Healed the man crippled from birth at the pool
Fed thousands of people with just a few fish and loaves on the side of a mountain
Walked on the water
Restored sight
Raised the dead
All signs
Wonderful
Amazing
Miracles
So that all who saw ----might believe and live!
John recorded Jesus’ words when he said
“I am”
Before Abraham was – “I am”
“I am”
From before creation
Then John records Jesus’ words
As he tells us and shows us his true identify
Jesus is
The word
The Lamb of God
The only son
The bread
The living water
The vine
The light
The gate
The good shepherd
The way the truth and the life
And the resurrection and the life
In these statements he reaffirms his pre existence
Confirms for all who will see and believe that he is who he says he is
But John
saves the best and greatest signs for last
John as a living eyewitness
Shows us the cross
He shows us the plan of salvation
The plan that had been started before Genesis 1
The plan that started before God spoke
Before the rocks
Before the water
Before humanity
Before it all
Then John shows us the resurrection
They put our Lord in the ground
Dead in the ground
In a cold tomb
But 3 days later
Just as he had promised
Just as the prophets had written about centuries earlier
Jesus walked right out of there
The stone was rolled back
Not to let Jesus out
But
To let us in
To let us have access to Jesus
To let us see
To let us believe’
And to let us live by that belief
Jesus Christ
Our Lord
Our savior
Our redeemer
Loved us
So he came
He loved us
So he lived
He loved us
So he died
He loved us so he rose again
He loves us
So he is coming back for us
He loved us
To make a way for us to be restored
John writes so that we might believe
so that we can live because of that belief
Jesus did many things while he was here
So many things that there is no possible way to record it all
He did many things after he was resurrected
And
He has plans for many things yet to come
But
John writes these words and these signs as evidence
True evidence
Overwhelming evidence
That Jesus is who he says he is
And he will do what he says he will do
Jesus Christ
Is the way
The truth
And the life
And no one
No one
No one
Can get to heaven any other way
He is the only way
That is Grace
Let me tell you about the grace of Jesus
The amazing grace of Jesus
Another Apostle
The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians Chapter 2 verse 8-9
About his grace
“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Grace by God
A gift from God
Though Belief in
Jesus Christ
Not by works
Not by deeds
Not by money or things
Not by baptism
Church membership
Grace
That you can’t earn
Grace
That you can’t buy
Grace that you can’t inherit
But
Grace
That is absolutely free for the taking
For those
That-----
That -------
What------
Do what?????
Believe
Believe
Place their trust in Jesus for salvation
Trust in him for life!!!
Nothing you can do will make Jesus love you more than he already does
Nothing you can do will make him love you less
The bible says all who confess Jesus as savior will be saved
All means all
“It is finished “Jesus said on the cross
Everything required for salvation has been completed
No more sacrifices needed
No more works
Everything for redemption has been completed
Everything for restoration had been completed
Everything for forgiveness has been completed
All you have to do is reach out and accept that gift
I asked the band to sing a song today because it hits the heart of this message
“What will wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
What will make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
How precious is the flow?
That makes me white as snow
No other fount I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus”
Close from the heart
Pray
