Take a Good Look at the Lord - Part 1
Series: The Gospel of John
John 1:1-4
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - March 16, 2016
(Revised April 22, 2019)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to John chapter 1, and Lord willing, we will take a good look our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But tonight, we are starting a verse by verse study of the Gospel of John. And a good place to start is with the man God chose to write the unique Gospel that bears his name.
*Stanley Morris tells us that the writer was the Apostle John, the brother of the Apostle James. In Mark 3:17 Jesus nicknamed these brothers the "Sons of Thunder." Their father, Zebedee, owned a prosperous fishing business on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. We can assume it was prosperous, because in Mark 1:20, when James and John answered the Lord's call, "they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants."
*There are different views on the Apostle John's relationship with Jesus before the Lord was baptized by His cousin John the Baptist. John Phillips held that the Apostle John was another cousin of Christ, and that John had almost certainly known Jesus of Nazareth since he was a small boy.
*This view assumes that John's mother, Salome, was the sister of the Virgin Mary. And it is based on comparing the Scriptures which tells us about the women who supported Jesus and those who were at the cross. (See Matthew 27:55-56, Mark 15:40-41 and John 19:25).
*Based on the same Scriptures and a document from one of the early church fathers, Albert Barnes concluded that John was one of the Lord's nephews.
*We can't know their exact relationship for sure, but it reminds us that our Lord was just as human as we are, with an extended family full of cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles. Of course, the Lord also had brothers, sisters, and a human mother. The only difference is that Jesus' Father is Almighty God. And that makes all the difference in the world! (1)
*Jesus and the Apostle John may have known each other very well before the Lord's ministry, possibly even as friends, because Capernaum was very close to Nazareth. We can't be sure about that, but we can be sure that they were very close during Christ's ministry on earth. In fact, John simply described himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (John13:23; 20:2).
*Along with Peter and James, John was chosen by Jesus to be part of an inner circle present for special events. "For example, when Jesus went up into the Mount of Transfiguration, He took with him Peter, James, and John (Matthew 17:1). When Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, Peter, James, and John were the only ones He allowed in the room (Mark 5:37). And Jesus took these same three with Him deeper into the Garden of Gethsemane than He did the others (Mark 14:33). (2)
*Now that we know a little about the man God chose to write the Gospel of John, think about the book. This Gospel is one of a kind. William McDonald explained that "John's Gospel has a unique place in the Bible. It is one of the most famous, and one of the most favorite Bible books of all."
*Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John's Gospel stands alone from Matthew, Mark and Luke. The other three Gospels are called the "synoptic Gospels," because they build on each other and have so much in common. They are "synonym Gospels" so to speak.
*"John gives us fewer details about the Lord's life, but adds long conversations and rich insight into the character of our Lord. The Apostle John could do that, because he began walking with the Lord as a very young man, maybe even in his late teens. And John was still walking with the Lord as a very old man in the Province of Asia." (3)
*J. Vernon McGee tells us that "John's Gospel was the last one written, probably close to 100 AD. All the other Apostles were already home in Heaven. John alone was left, and the Holy Spirit led him to write a different kind of Gospel. Three hundred years later, the great church leader Augustine said that in John's old age, his spiritual understanding was like a soaring eagle. And John's wish for his Gospel was that it would cause our hearts to soar." (4)
*With this background in mind, let's read John 1:1-4. It's a great place to begin taking a good look at our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
MESSAGE:
*One of the most helpful Scriptures for me is Isaiah 26:3. There Isaiah declared to the Lord: "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." God wants us to know that He will keep us in perfect peace, if we will keep our hearts and minds focused on Him.
*Author Corrie ten Boom survived a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, and she gave us this advice: "Keep looking up and kneeling down. Then you can see life from the position of Jesus' victory over your problems. He is willing to make you more than conquerors! Look around and be distressed. Look within and be depressed. Look at Jesus and be at rest." (5)
*It always a good idea to keep our spiritual eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. And tonight's Scripture helps us see Him more clearly.
1. FIRST, WE SEE THAT THE LORD HAD A BIG ROLE IN CREATION.
*Verse 1 says: "In the beginning was the Word." In other words: In the beginning of creation, Jesus already was!
*"In the beginning." Those words take us back to Genesis 1:1, where God's Word says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." God the Son, Jesus Christ was in on that amazing beginning!
*Verse 3 tells us that "all things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." God the Son, Jesus Christ was in on the amazing act of creation, and I love the way Paul put it in Colossians 1:13-16. There God's Word tells us that God the Father has:
13. . . delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
14. In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
15. Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
16. For by him (i.e. by Jesus) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
*Think about the astounding power of Jesus Christ to create the vast and infinite details of our universe! John Phillips put it in perspective by reminding us of the size and scope of the universe.
*Phillips said that out in space, "the distances are so great that a new way to measure was needed, so the astronomers' began using a light-year as their yardstick. That's the distance light travels in one year at about 186,000 miles per second. When we do the math, a light-year is about six trillion miles a year, because that's how far light travels in a year.
*By that measure, our sun in only 8 minutes away, but our Milky Way Galaxy is 100,000 light years across. That means if our sun was the size of a period in your Bible, our one galaxy would be the size of the whole continental United States! And nobody really knows how many galaxies there are in the universe. But a study in 2016 estimated that there are two trillion galaxies in the part of the universe we can see with the best telescopes. Two trillion galaxies!
*Also think about the size of our sun. You may know that a million of our earths could fit inside our sun, but the star Antares could hold 64 million of our suns. And a star in the Hercules constellation could hold 100 million stars like Antares. (6)
*That's just scratching the surface on our incredible, incredible universe, and Jesus made it all! "All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."
2. THIS SCRIPTURE SHOWS US THAT THE LORD HAD A BIG ROLE IN CREATION. IT ALSO SHOWS US THAT THE LORD IS THE REVELATION OF GOD.
*Remember that in vs. 1, John called Jesus "the Word:" "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
*Why does the Bible call Jesus Christ "the Word?" The main reason why is down in verse 18, where John tells us that: "No one has seen God (i.e. no one has seen God the Father) at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." The New Living Translation puts it this way: "No one has ever seen God. But his only Son, who is himself God, is near to the Father's heart; He has told us about Him.
*Jesus Christ is the only perfect, living revelation of God. No one else could ever communicate the essential nature of God like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And this is true because Jesus is the only begotten Son of God.
*Think about how important good communication is in our lives. It's essential in our families, our friendships, and really in every relationship we have.
*Last year the Houston Chronicle reported on an unusual letter to the editor. The man wrote about a storm that knocked out their electricity and internet. He listed all the things that went out at home that day: The TV, their computer, and their surround-sound entertainment system. The man couldn't connect to the internet either with his iPad or his phone. So, he went into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee on his Keurig, but that wasn't working either.
*With nothing else to do, he sat down and began a conversation with his wife. The man closed his letter by saying, "We talked for nearly an hour before the power came back on. She seems like a very nice person." (7)
*Good communication is essential, in our families, our jobs, our church, and especially with God! Thank God that Jesus Christ is the greatest communicator in the whole universe! He is the living Word of God!
[1] And Jesus reveals God's person to us.
*He is the only One who could truly reveal God the Father to us. John's Gospel makes this truth clear in John 1:18, and in other Scriptures as well. For example, in John 3:12-13, Jesus said:
12. "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
13. No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven."
*And in John 6:45-46, Jesus said:
45. "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.
46. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.
*These Scriptures show us that when God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when God sat down for lunch by Abraham's tent in Genesis 18, and when God wrestled all night with Jacob in Genesis 32, it was always the pre-incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ.
*It was also Jesus in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Please listen to part of the story from Daniel 3:
23. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
24. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?'' They answered and said to the king, "True, O king.''
25. "Look!'' he answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.''
*God appeared to people multiple times in the Old Testament. And in all of these Old Testament cases, it was the pre-incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ.
*But the Lord's greatest revelation of God was when He became a man. That's why John 1:14 says this about Jesus: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
[2] Jesus Christ is the living Word of God, who reveals God's person to us. He also reveals God's pardon to us.
*In John 3:16-18, the Lord put it this way:
16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
*Jesus is the living Word of God, who reveals God's person, God's pardon, and so much more to us!
3. THIS SCRIPTURE SHOWS US THAT THE LORD IS THE REVELATION OF GOD. IT ALSO SHOWS US THAT JESUS HAS A UNIQUE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD THE FATHER.
*In vs. 1, John not only says that "the Word was God." He also says that "the Word "was with God." And vs. 2 says that Jesus "was in the beginning with God."
*These simple statements show us that God is in in essence a God of relationship. This eternal relationship exists within the one and only God, because He exists as a Trinity, three persons in one: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
*God began to reveal this crucial truth to us in the very first sentence of the Bible. Genesis 1:1 says "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." But the original word for God there is actually the plural noun for "gods." So the literal translation is: "In the beginning "gods" created the heaven and the earth."
*And in the Old Testament, this plural noun for "gods" is used over 2,000 times for the one true God. Why did God choose to represent Himself with a plural noun? -- Because He was giving us a clue that He exists as three persons in one being.
*Genesis 1:26, gives us another clue, because there we hear God speak to Himself and say: "Let US make man in OUR image. . ." God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are eternal companions with each other in fellowship, love and harmony.
*John 3:35 says, "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand." That shows us a relationship.
*In John 5:20, Jesus said, "The Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel." That shows us a relationship.
*In John 8:29, Jesus said, "He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him." That shows us a relationship too.
*John 17 records Christ's prayer to His Heavenly Father on the night before the cross. Please listen to the Lord in John 17:5. Jesus prayed: "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."
*Then in John 17:24, Jesus prayed: "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world."
*God is a God of relationship. Author Dave Hunt explained that "God did not need to create any beings in order to experience love, communion and fellowship. He is complete in Himself, being three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, separate and distinct, yet at the same time eternally one God. They loved and communed and fellowshipped with each other, and took counsel together before the universe, angels or man were brought into existence." (8)
*Now this is an important truth, because it reveals that God is a loving God who wants companionship. And He created us for companionship with Him. God wants us to know Him, love Him, fellowship with Him, listen to Him, and follow Him.
*Are we doing that? Are we living godly lives? Lots of people think that an ungodly life is being super wicked or taking a stand against God. And certainly, that can be true. But Dr. Donald Potts reminds us that an ungodly life is just leaving God out of our lives. And that's the worst mistake people can ever make.
4. BUT THIS SCRIPTURE SHOWS US THAT JESUS HAS A UNIQUE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD THE FATHER. IT ALSO SHOWS US THAT JESUS IS THE ROOT OF ALL LIFE.
*Verse 4 says this about Jesus: "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." Jesus Christ is the source of all life. His life brings light and life to us.
*But the only way for Jesus to give us life was to give up His life for us. That's what Jesus did on the cross. There could be no relationship with God without the cross of Jesus Christ!
*We see the end result in John 1:12, where God's Word tells us that: "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."
*Christians: We have the power of Jesus' life! And it came from His death. There can be no relationship with God without the cross of Jesus Christ! So, remember what the prophet told God in Isaiah 26:3. "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."
*Put your trust in our Risen Savior, and keep your eyes on Jesus!
(1) Sources:
-EXPLORING THE GOSPELS: JOHN by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "The Divine Life in Essence" - John 1:1-5
-International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - James Orr, M.A., D.D., General Editor - "The Apostle John")
-ALBERT BARNES' NOTES ON THE BIBLE by Albert Barnes - (1798-1870) - "John - Preface to John"
(2) http://dawnbible.com/1957/5709tbs1.htm
(3) Sources:
-Adapted from "Believer's Bible Commentary" by William McDonald - Edited by Arthur Farstad - Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Copyright 1995, 1992, 1990, 1989 - The Gospel According to John - Introduction
-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synoptic_Gospels
(4) Adapted from "Gregory, Key to the Gospels" pp. 285-286 - Source: "Through the Bible with J. Vernon McGee" - John - Introduction)
(5) Sources:
http://www.hefirstlovedus.com/hefirstlovedus/Corrie_ten_Boom
www.geocities.com/trinitytoronto/sermons2005/Pentecost_8A_Jul10-05.htm
(6) Sources:
Adapted from "EXPLORING JOHN" by John Phillips - pp. 18-19
(7) Houston Chronicle, 10/17/16, p. A2 - Source: "In Other Words" - November 2016 #2 produced by Dr. Raymond McHenry - www.iows.net
(8) Adapted from "The Trinity" by Dave Hunt in "The Berean Call" - 10/01/1989
