Transcription by CastingWords

Good morning, church family. Good morning, good morning, good morning. And good morning to all of you who thought that you were sugar and you might melt and you're watching on TV today and you didn't want to come out in the rain. Just had to throw that little dig in there.

Hey, it's good to see you. It's good to see you. I want to say thank you to everyone who came out last Sunday evening and joined us at the courthouse grounds just to walk and to pray over the facility.

And it was a blessing. We had a couple of other churches come join us as well, too. It was just a really good showing, just being able to give thanks and praise to the Lord.

Please, please keep an eye out on your group me and on the emails because you probably have some information coming out this week from Taylor and from the from the church itself about where we're going in the in the in the days ahead for our children's ministry.

I know all of the kids are in here right now, with the exception of the nursery, but that that's going to change sometime soon.

We're going to try to do some things to begin to minister to the kids and still have that that balance of safety as well, too.

So we're praying through that and just know that there's some more information coming out this week, more than likely.

If you're visiting with us, we want to welcome you and say thanks for hanging out with us.

There's a visitor's information card located in the chair in front of you.

Grab it. Put it in one of the churches here where we collect our offerings for from our home folk.

But we'd love to be able to touch base with you and just just say hey to you and connect with you a little bit.

I think also if you have kids in here or maybe you're an adult and you get bored easily, there's some there's some coloring things in the back.

You're welcome to grab some of those and grab some color.

Jill will pass them out to everyone because she's grabbing one right now for herself.

But I think that's all these and all the announcements really really really need to kind of hit and make and all that good stuff.

And this morning.

Oh, I wish it wasn't raining.

I wish it wasn't raining.

I have, you know, the passage when Jesus, you know, gathers his disciples and says I have longed, I have longed to share this meal with you.

I have longed to get to this point where we get into the gospel of John.

Well over two and a half years I've wanted us to walk through the gospel of John.

It is so exciting.

I mean, the the series is faith to believe.

We really firmly believe that by studying the gospel of John, God will increase our faith.

God will increase.

Give us a faith to believe a stronger belief.

I mean, how many of us could use a little bit deeper faith, a little stronger faith?

I mean, all of us, you know, and I believe that this will bear itself out, bear its weight out in time.

And we'll see the scriptures come alive and Jesus come alive.

I'm so excited about this.

And today's message is entitled, What's in a Word?

What's in a Word?

I think that's right.

What's in a Word?

But I'm like, I told somebody this morning, I think that's why God brought all the rain.

Because for the last few days, I've just been like on fire ready for this morning.

OK, and Shannon told me not to get really close to the stage and speak loudly because I could put germs out there for everyone.

So I'll try to I'll try to holler from here.

OK, but I'm just so excited about the about the message today.

And I pray, I pray, please.

I don't always encourage you to take notes because it's not anything that I have to say, but it's what God has to say through his vessel.

And I pray you take some notes today because we're going to dive into the first five verses of chapter one today.

And it's so powerful, it's so big, it's so simple, and yet it's so deep and profound as well, too.

Now, I'm giving you this huge setup and you'll probably go like, well, that wasn't so great by the time we get to the end of it.

But it was great for me.

That's all I got to say.

God is just stirring my heart as we get into this.

And so what's in a word?

What's in a word?

Statistics show us that the average person spends one-fifth of their life talking.

One-fifth of their life.

You can fill a, you can, an average person can fill a 50-page volume in one day.

So.

That's a lot of talking. And so, so what's the most important word you could ever speak, that a person could speak? What's the most vital word ever? And some have suggested it's the words, I love you, you know? And those, that's, that's very tender, it's very, uh, has some sentimental value, and there's something to that. But if you ask the success gurus, and they, they'll tell you that the six most important words you can say are, I admit that I made a mistake.

The five most important words that you, that you can say are, you did a good job. The four most important words are, what's your opinion? The three most important words are, if you please. Maybe that's where Chick-fil-A gets their my pleasure thing from, I don't know. But the two most important words are, thank you. And the most important word is, you. That's what the success gurus are going to say, okay?

Today I want to talk to you about the world's most important word, and it's not you, okay? John's thesis, John's statement, okay, in these introductory verses of the Gospel of John, it could be said, it's the most important word in the world.

And the most important word in the world is, Jesus. It's Jesus. He calls him, John calls him the word. And he begins kind of very vague in this book, to some of us, and maybe a little obtruse, when he says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

And if we read down a little bit further, we see the identity becomes clear, that in verse 14, the word becomes flesh.

And even in verse 2, the word even, he's even given a personal pronoun, because he says, he says, he was with God in the beginning, all right?

So following John's thinking through the first chapter of the word, and then he, and then he became flesh, and finally down in verse 17, where Jesus is mentioned,

we get the idea that he's speaking about Jesus Christ, and he calls him the word. He calls him the word.

Jesus is the most important word in the world. Now, I'm going to date myself here, because many of you younger folks are not going to know what I'm talking about,

but those of us who are around my age, understand and remember Webster's Dictionary. Some of you don't even know what Webster's Dictionary is,

because you Google everything right now, you just punch it up and draw it up there.

But Noah Webster was a strong believer, and Webster's Dictionary was the original dictionary,

and he would give several definitions of certain words, okay? And he even, in his dictionary, he gives a definition of word in his dictionary,

and it begins predictably. The first one is, the first definition is word. An article, I'm sorry, an articulate or vocal sound,

or combination of articulate and vocal sounds uttered by the human voice and by custom, expressing an idea or ideas,

a single component of human speech or language. Now, that's how we know the term word to be used,

but you keep following the definitions, and Webster says, in the definition of word, he says, Christ.

Christ. And then he says, in Webster's definition, he says, see John chapter 1. See John chapter 1.

Even Noah Webster in the original, now you won't find that in the modern dictionaries that are printed out,

but Noah Webster says that the word, the most important word, is Jesus Christ.

Now, why is that? Why is Jesus the most important word in the world?

Because he's the only guy that can fix the mess. He's the only guy that can fix the mess.

He's the only hope of all humanity and all of history that can fix whatever mess or whatever problems that we have.

The only one. I mean, Peter's going to say in Acts chapter 4 that,

nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men,

which by we must be saved, right?

And then Paul's going to say in Philippians, that at the name of Jesus,

every knee should bow and every tongue should confess.

So let's meet him in these opening verses, and let's see Jesus, the word.

We're going to see him in relation to God.

We're going to see him in relation to the universe and in relation to mankind.

Those are the three things I'll give them to you little by little.

Here this morning, begin in verse 1.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through him.

nuances and particulars about this sentence construction. It's very simple language. And if you've ever taken Greek in seminary or Bible college, they always take you to the Gospel of John first. And that's what they, in the Greek, they want you to begin to dissect it there, because he's the simplest to understand. He writes simple, but his truths are very deep, and his truths are very profound. The first two verses tell us about the word in relation to God.

The word in relation to God. Okay? And it tells us plainly that he has always existed. All right? In the beginning. In the beginning. Those three words should hearken us back to what? Genesis 1. Right? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. But John takes us back before Genesis 1. In the beginning was the word. He doesn't say, in the beginning, the word began. Okay? But in the beginning, the word was. The word was. And it means, it means, was already.

It was already continuing. It was already continuing. So, way back in the beginning, before there was ever a beginning, Jesus Christ existed. And you go, well, wow, I don't understand that. That's hard for me to wrap my mind around. Well, neither do I. You know, get in line. That is a tough thing, you know.

And neither does any intellect. Okay? And I've read a lot of books on this subject. And this is one of those imponderable things.

And let me just say that, though the truth is plain, to understand it as humans is very difficult. Maybe even impossible.

And if you try to approach the gospel of John merely with your intellect, it will be crucified. Okay?

But that's why you have to approach the gospel of John with faith. With faith in your heart.

Because some of the statements that he makes, they sound very simple. They are very deep. And they're very profound.

Now, he calls Jesus the word. In the beginning was the word. And we find out that that's Jesus.

And that seems like just a really odd way to introduce someone, doesn't it?

In the beginning was the word. You know? And it seems very impersonal to call him the word.

So what does this title refer to? Because when you and I hear the word term, we go back to Noah.

My mind immediately goes to Noah's dictionary, Webster's dictionary, and says, well, it's a component of language. Right?

The word. All right? It's a unit of language.

But if you and I were living 2,000 years ago, and we were to read these words, we would get it immediately.

We would understand it immediately. Okay?

Whether you were secular or whether you were religious.

You would understand immediately what was being said.

In the Jewish world, follow me.

In the Jewish world, the Jewish term, word, was pregnant with significance.

Absolutely pregnant with significance.

Because, you see, the Jews explained everything that God did by his word.

Everything that God did by his word.

His word was responsible for everything.

Everything was made through his word.

I mean, how often in the Old Testament do we read,

And the word of the Lord came to such and such.

And the word of the Lord came to...

So, in the Jewish mind, any time God touches a man, he does it through his word.

All right?

And they gave it a term, the word.

Or, memra.

In the Aramaic.

Memra.

And I don't know if you heard of the Targums or not,

But the Targums are the Jewish writings,

Where the Targum is where you would take a portion of the Hebrew Old Testament scripture,

And you would translate it into Aramaic.

All right?

And Aramaic was the language of captivity.

If you ever saw the movie, The Passion of Christ,

That whole movie was done in Aramaic.

It's a dead language now.

Okay?

But that was the language the Jews spoke back then in captivity.

And so, in the Targum, the term is memra.

M-E-M-R-A.

Which means word.

Okay?

And it was the self-expression of God.

The self-expression of God.

Just like an author would give you a word to describe himself.

God expresses himself through his memra.

Through his memra.

But in the Targums, in the Jewish writings,

They would often take the word God out of a sentence,

And put in the term memra, or word,

For the name of God itself.

Because...

Because...

To the Greeks, Also the word is significant. The Greek word there is Logos. Logos. Okay. Word. And to the Greeks, The Greeks noticed that there was order in the universe. That the seasons came and went, Just at the right times. And they always seemed to come around. There was balance. The stars moved in a certain alignment. And there were certain patterns. And the Greeks would say, The reason for this movement, And the reason for all of this stuff, They would explain it, Was Logos.

The word. Some nondescript, Impersonal force, Were ordering, Some sort of ordering principle, Was called the Logos. And that's why philosophers in that time, Like Heraclitus, In 500 BC, Said, It is the omnipresent wisdom, By which all things are steered. Okay. That's what the Greek philosophers would say. So he would say, That there's something floating around out there. That's the term that he would use.

Something that was floating around out there, That has reason, Has mind, And has intelligence, And has justice, And they called it the Logos. The Logos.

And so by using this term, John is taking, Is taking secular, And religious people, And he's embracing them all.

He's embracing them all. He's embracing them all. Sort of putting his arms, Around the world, So to speak.

And he is presenting Jesus to them.

Presenting Jesus to them.

You Greeks, You talk about the word, Some sort of ordering principle.

You Jews, Speak about the expression of God, And the name of God.

I want you both to know, That that is in one body, And his name is Jesus.

John is laying it out there, Right there.

He is the word, Memra, Logos.

He's the word.

And he is the one you guys, Have all been talking about.

Now it says that, And the word was with God, And then the word was God.

Now it's very interesting, That he says with God.

Because it actually means, When you break it down, It actually means,

Face to face.

Face to face.

It's, It's, It's, Prostan Theos.

Prostan, I'm sorry, Prostan Theon.

Prostan Theon.

And it means that Jesus and the Father, Were intimately associated with one another.

They were face to face, In their relationship.

And it speaks of a continuing intimacy.

The word was with God.

Now you have to understand something, Grammatically.

This is the only way that John could express,

What he's expressing about Jesus.

Because he wants to say, That Jesus is separate from the Father.

He's separate from the Father.

The word was with God, But then he says, The word was God.

Now I'll show you how that works.

Some of you didn't want the Greek lessons this morning,

But this is what we'll get into.

Okay?

So, They're not the same person.

They're both God, Or in the Godhead.

But they are individual, And they are separate.

So, Jesus was with God, Face to face, With the Father, In eternity past.

You know, You ever think about that?

Does that not blow your mind?

You know?

In eternity past, Jesus, The Son of God, In face to face, Intimate, Unbroken, Unparalleled, Unmatched fellowship,

With the Father, Until Jesus decided to give it up.

Jesus decided to give it up.

And cooperating with the Father's plan, Okay?

Jesus, In the incarnation, Stepped into our world,

And gave up that face to face, Intimacy, Fellowship, For a time.

For a time.

It says in Philippians, Paul says,

Jesus, Though he did not consider equality with God, Something to be grasped,

Because he was God, Okay?

But he emptied himself, And became a man, A human being.

I mean, if you want to understand, The magnitude of the love of Jesus Christ,

In coming to this world, You just read a little bit further on,

In John, In 17, 5, Jesus prays, And he says,

He prays, He says, The glory that I had with you, Before the world was,

Father, Restore that.

Restore that glory, The glory that we had,

Restore to me, The glory that we had before this world was,

That wonderful relationship, The intimacy that you and me,

Or you and I had, Okay?

I want that back.

I want that back.

I want that back.

All that is God

All that God is

Is in the word

Jesus

All that he is

Now

Pay attention to me on this

Because you have those sweet little people

That will come knock on your door on Saturdays

And they'll carry these pamphlets with you

They're called the Jehovah's Witnesses

And they will come to you

And they'll hand some things out to you

And they have a little trouble with this

In fact they deny this

Because they have a translation called the New World Translation

And where this passage is translated

In the beginning

In the beginning was the word

And the word was with God

And the word was a God

They would translate it a God

And they will say

Well in the Greek

John left out the definite article

Which is true

But they'll say

Which only means that Jesus is a sub-God

And so they translated

In the beginning was the word

The word was with God

And the word was a God

That's a very poor translation that they give

John when he writes this

He leaves out the definite article

The

Okay

And the is the article for the God

Because you see

A lot of times in the Greek

You would say

Hos Theos

Okay

The God

Okay

And John left out the the

In the article

And here's why

Because if John were to say

That Jesus was Hos Theos

He would contradict what he just said

That the word was with God

And so by using the art

By using the article

He would say that Jesus and the Father

Are the same person

So in the Greek

You leave out the definite article

So you transpose the words

To show essence

Or show nature

So it literally reads

Please stick with me on this

It literally reads

And God was the word

And God was the word

Theos in ho theos

Logos

That's how it reads

Theos in ho Logos

Okay

So all that being said

He left it out on purpose

To show that

Yeah

He left it out

The article on purpose

Because they are separate

But they're one

They're separate

But they're one

And so

Look again in verse 2

Again

So simple

Profound terms

But in verse 2

He says

He was in the beginning

With God

He was in the beginning

With God

Friends

Because Jesus Christ

Is God

And the scripture

Bears that out

Plainly to us

In no uncertain terms

To say that

He is anything

Less than God

Is blasphemy

It's blasphemy

And

It's nothing to be

Messed with

In fact

You ought to know this

That cults

And religions

Okay

Will ascribe

Everything under the sun

To Jesus

Except for deity

He was a good guy

He was a great teacher

He was a moral man

He was this

He was that

Everything but God

They won't go that way

Because

Because of that

You and I need to know this

And I need to know this

John

I mean

John was confronted

With the same issues

That we were confronted with

2,000 years ago

Turn with me to

John's epistle

To 2 John

Chapter 7

I mean

Verse 7

There's only one chapter

Blah

For many deceivers

Have gone out

Into the world

Those who do not

Confess the coming

Of Jesus Christ

In the flesh

Such a one

Is a deceiver

And

The antichrist

In other words

They're going to come

To your house

And they're going to

Tell you that

That Jesus isn't

God in a human body

Okay

And you read this

And you think

Man John

Did you have a bad

Apostle day man

Why are you using

Such strict language

It sounds kind of

Harsh on this

But it's because

The Jesus

Of the

Of the new testament

Is God

And to ascribe him

Anything

Anything less than that

Is to make him

Less than who he says

He is

And he

And John keeps going

In the same

Same epistle

Down in verse 10

If anyone comes to you

And does not bring

This teaching

Do not receive him

Into your house

Or give him a greeting

For whoever greets him

Takes part

In his wicked works

Don't even give him

Oh Lord bless you

Wow

That sounds harsh

Doesn't it

That makes me

Really nervous

Because I

You know

I will never

Invite the Jehovah's

Witnesses

Into my house

You're not welcome

Into my house

You're not welcome

You're not welcome

I don't know I don't anymore or literature I don't know I don't believe it I want to receive it Don't receive it You receive it You're participating In the wicked works It tells us That's that's harsh isn't it No it's not harsh To embrace Jesus Christ As anything less than God Is blasphemy It's blasphemy John is Is is is is is is doing that And what it is Is you're ascribing To to a to a to a totally Different gospel It's not the gospel of Jesus Christ

Christ is the gospel of man.

Did I already read this?

You know what?

Let me show you something else.

You know, since we're jumping all over the place,

you know why?

Because we always validate scripture with what?

Galatians, chapter 1.

Same theme.

Paul says,

I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting him

who called you into the grace of Christ

and are turning to a different gospel.

Not that there is another one,

but there are some of you,

there are some who trouble you

and want to distort the gospel of Christ,

but even if we were,

if we or an angel from heaven

should preach to you a gospel contrary

to the one we preach to you,

let him be accursed.

As we have said before,

and so I say again,

if anyone is preaching to you a gospel

contrary to the one you received,

let him be accursed.

You see, God has a special curse

for those who deny the deity

and the Godhead of Jesus Christ.

It's not something to play with, okay?

It's dealing with the very essence

of who he is,

which are matters from here on, okay?

What he does.

And so, in the beginning was the word,

Logos, all right?

And that word was with God

in that close, intimate fellowship

or with God.

He was, and the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

Very, very clear.

Back to 1 John.

I mean, back to John chapter 1.

My apologies.

That was the word in relation to God,

but now let's see the word

in relation to the universe.

Very simple, verse 3.

All things were made through him

and without him was not anything

that was made.

All right?

All things.

How many things were made by him?

All things.

How many things?

All things.

All things.

You know, do you see how simple

John writes in the statement?

He makes the statement first

with the positive

and then with the negative, okay?

And he says that all things

were made, you know, through him.

And then he says,

in the negative,

without him, nothing was made.

Nothing was made.

And so,

so he made what?

He made everything.

He made all things.

The Bible affirms

that the universe was created.

Created by a creator, okay?

And that creator is Jesus Christ.

And this is what it means

to me personally

and to you personally.

If Jesus Christ

is the creator of everything,

that means he is the one

that I can go to

when something breaks down

in my life.

He is the one

that you can go to

when something goes sideways

in your life.

He is the manufacturer.

He is the manufacturer

and if something goes wrong,

he is the first person

that we should go to.

You know, again,

scripture bearing scripture,

turn to Colossians,

you know,

because this chapter sounds,

this sounds an awful lot

like Colossians chapter 1

where Paul is telling us

about agreeing with John

about everything being created.

God is the creator

of everything.

But there is something else

that John leaves out

that Paul informs us of

in verse 14

that in whom we have redemption

and the forgiveness of sins.

But then he says

he is the image

of the invisible God,

the firstborn

over all creation.

Now stop right there.

He says he is the image.

In the Greek,

that is the word icon.

Remember the old cameras,

the icon cameras?

That is where they get

this name from.

He is the image,

okay,

the icon.

The idea is to take

something invisible

and to make it visible.

Something that is,

that is all it is.

It is an image.

And it is like

in photography,

there is something called

the latent image.

And if you take a picture

It has to pass through those chemicals.

You develop the image.

But in digital photography, you have a sensor.

And that light forms an image on the sensor, but you have to digitally convert it in order to see it.

And that's what Jesus did.

When he came into this world, he said, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father.

Simply because Jesus shares the same nature and the same essence as God.

So he is the image of the invisible God, making God visible to us.

He's the firstborn over all creation.

Verse 16, for by him all things were created in heaven and earth.

There's that truth again.

Visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created.

Now watch this.

Through him and what?

For him.

Through him and for him.

So Jesus isn't just the source of creation.

He's the goal of creation.

He's the goal of all of creation, including us.

We were made for him.

Revelation 4.11 says, for your pleasure they exist and were created.

For your pleasure.

God's pleasure.

So Jesus is the goal because everything is ultimately designed and created, what?

To give him glory.

To give him glory.

That at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess for the glory of God.

For the glory of God.

God.

So, let's apply this to you and me simply.

Okay.

If Jesus created me and my purpose in life is to glorify him and I'm made for him.

You know, the question is, am I glorifying him?

Am I really?

Is that my goal in life to please the Lord?

My number one goal.

You can have lots of goals.

But my number one goal in life is your number one goal in life to please the Lord.

I remember as a young Christian, I was really getting my heart set on fire by the Lord.

And I was reading the Beatitudes, Matthew chapter 5.

And I remember reading, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

And one of the men in our group gave me another Bible.

It's called, the gospel, the good news for modern man.

And it read a little bit differently.

That verse said that, happy is the one whose greatest desire is to do what God requires.

And man, it just, for some reason, that just stopped me in my tracks.

And I just began to, I couldn't read anything else.

I began to think, is that really my greatest desire is to do what God requires?

Do I really have that mindset, day in and day out, day out, that my first thing is to do what God requires of me?

And I had to say, no, not really.

And that was really one of the first steps where God began to grow me as a spiritual man and strengthen me.

All right, finally, I want to show you the word in relation to mankind.

Let's see who the word is in relation to mankind.

And let me just say this, that the word in relation to mankind, let me just say something about Jesus here right now, before we read that too.

Jesus illuminates, and Jesus illuminates everyone.

Everyone.

Look at this with me.

Verse 4.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Now, these two verses tell us about the incarnation, right there, okay?

Here's Jesus coming into our world, and here's the world reacting to Jesus coming into it.

All right?

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

And verse 4 says that Jesus is the life of God.

He's the life of God, because it says, in him was life.

In him was life.

And you read that, and you think, well, maybe he's just sort of repeating what he said in verse 3,

because if Jesus is the creator of everything, and so it only makes sense if he's the creator of everything,

then he has to have life in him to do that.

So I get that.

But remember a few weeks ago, the word I told you in the Greek, that word for life is zoe.

I don't think so.

The quality of life that's enjoyed now and forevermore. 44 times in the book of John. John's going to use the term zoe. Life. Life. Life. Everlasting life. And listen, to understand, understand spiritual life, we need to understand spiritual death. Follow me on this. To truly understand the spiritual life, we have to understand spiritual death. It says in Ephesians chapter 2 that you and I, when we were born, get this, when we were born,

we were dead on arrival. We were dead on arrival. You and I were dead on arrival. We were dead in our sins and our trespasses. We were dead. Sort of like a corpse. You know? Anybody seen that movie Weekend with Bernie? Weekend at Bernie's? Whatever. Where they move that dead guy around? It's really far-fetched. But, all that to be, you have a corpse. You can poke a corpse. You can prod a corpse. You can push a corpse. But the corpse is not going to respond. They are dead.

They are not mostly dead. They are all the way dead. Okay? It is a corpse. And so it is with people in the spiritual realm. And the world is populated with dead people all around us.

And you can poke them and you can prod them with the truth of Jesus Christ. But they won't respond unless God does a work in their lives.

Now, does that mean that we just, do we, that means I shouldn't witness it? No, that's not what that means.

We are still called to share the gospel. But don't be so frustrated when their lives don't move because it's only God that does the work.

You are just a messenger.

I have never brought about salvation in anyone's life.

As many times as I have spoken truth and spoken life into them, it's the work of God.

It's the work of God.

So we are dead in our trespasses.

And so Jesus comes into the world to give life, to fix the problem.

And you read that all the way throughout the gospel of John.

And Jesus will say, I've come that you might have life.

And what? More abundantly, that it might overflow.

And he says, and he'll say, but you were not willing to come to me that you would have life.

And then he's going to say, I am the way and the truth and the life.

And he's also going to say, whoever has the sun has life.

And whoever does not have the sun does not have life.

And so in him is life, this quality of life.

And then Jesus comes into our world, that life.

And like light, when it illuminates, it shines.

It goes out from the source.

Light comes from the source and it shines out.

But this little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.

He who has a lamp does not put it under a bushel.

No, he puts it up so the world can see.

But that light has nothing to do with you or me.

The light is Christ in me, the hope of glory.

Jesus came into the world and he is the light.

He is the life of all men, all women.

This is what John is doing.

And just a few short verses, bam, he's body slamming everyone.

In him was life and the life was the light of men.

And the light shines in the darkness.

And the darkness has not overcome it.

Something else, 21 times in the gospel of John, you're going to read the term light.

Light.

Jesus is the light of God.

And that light of God, like I said, it emanates from the source of origin.

Okay?

And so he is the light of God.

And so as Jesus, if he is, and he's coming to the world as light, who did he affect?

Who did he affect as that light?

Everyone.

Everyone.

Look on down at verse 9.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

Every person born has some kind of light that they must act on.

Romans tells us that we are all without excuse for who God is.

Because even creation speaks to God.

This whole world and the whole order and just the human body and the way we breathe and function, this is just happenstance we developed? We evolved from this? From something, some amoeba? Well, why isn't something else crawling out of the woods? It's been enough time. Oh, the woods are, oh, oh, I got it now. I'm standing up erect. I'm a human now, too. It's the most ridiculous thing.

And you want to see the flip side of this? Yeah, I would love to, Curtis. Great. Look at chapter 3, verse 19. And this is the judgment. The light is coming to the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Oh, man. You get that? Is that not so sad? When you think about the cost that Jesus Christ paid to clear the way, to reconcile, to reconcile the world to himself, you think about the cost that Jesus Christ paid for that reconciliation for every single heart and life in this world that has ever had the breath of life.

And most people, by and large, stand around and they go, no thanks. I don't need it. It's good for you. It's a crutch. It's a crutch. That's heartbreaking.

I need a lot of things in life, but I sure don't need a crutch. I can go to the dollar store and get crutches.

I need a way out from my wickedness. I need a way out.

Now, what does that mean when it says, and the darkness has not overcome it, or maybe your version says comprehend it?

It's a difficult word. It's a difficult word to translate, and you have a lot of translations that have taken a stab at it, but the word is katalambano, okay, and it could be translated comprehend.

It could be translated overcome, but to me, a better translation is this, extinguish.

I think that's a really good translation in that they couldn't put it out.

The light has come into the world, and they couldn't put it out.

All of the darkness cannot extinguish the light of that one single match, Jesus Christ.

The darkness of hell cannot put out the light of Christ, though they tried, and all the demons and Satan were probably thrilled when Jesus Christ died on the cross.

But three days later, they got a wake-up call.

Oh my gosh, the light is back, and it's brighter than ever.

How in the wide world of sports did that work?

It's back, and it's brighter than ever.

What is going on?

And now, now, whether it was during Jesus' lifetime, or during your lifetime, in your neighborhood, in your school, in your workplace, whatever,

the light is shining, and the world cannot put it out.

The light is shining, and the world cannot extinguish it.

And what you're going to notice, in these 879 verses of the Gospel of John, with each chapter, with each paragraph, and each line,

the light becomes bigger, the light becomes brighter, it illuminates even more and more, and Jesus becomes bigger, and Jesus is more and more exalted.

His deity and His glory becomes clearer and clearer and clearer and clearer.

Those are the themes within the Gospel of John.

And probably my favorite author, C.S. Lewis, in the Chronicles of Narnia, in the writings, he takes this figure called Aslan the Lion, which represents Jesus Christ.

And there are these three children, and the youngest of which is Lucy.

And Lucy hasn't seen Aslan for a long time.

And she finally sees him, and she looks up at that big, large, wise face.

And Aslan speaks, and he says, welcome, child.

Welcome, child.

And Lucy says, Aslan, you're bigger.

Aslan, you're bigger.

And he replies, he says, that's because you're older.

And Lucy questions, and she says, no, you mean just because you are an Aslan.

Aslan says, no, I am not.

Aslan says, no, you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger than you're bigger

and the knowledge of who Aslin is you're so big Aslin says I've always been this big but as you grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ he gets bigger he gets brighter he gets more beautiful I can't help but to love him more and more this is what John is gonna do for us this is John is gonna illuminate Jesus Christ in such a way we are gonna passionately

fall in love with him over and over and over and over praise be to the glory and honor of God the Father oh folks I can't pour my heart out any more than I pour my heart out today and so with all this we

we learn a little bit more about Jesus today he is eternal in his relationship with God he's he's always existed always has existed he's all powerful in his relationship to the universe why because he created everything he created it all and he's vital in his relationship to mankind because he's the one that

sends that life like light sends that life like light into the dark places and the only question that we have left on the table here this morning is what do we do what do we do with it will we go and speak to the light and say yes I want more I want more more that life I want more that illumination I want more of the knowledge of who you are Jesus Christ

or will our answer simply be frankly I'll catch you when I get all these other things out of the way I'll turn to you when I have a real crisis that's when I'll come to you I'll catch you when I'm 30 man I'm just 20 right now I need to have some fun in my life

I'll catch you when I'll catch you when I'm 30 man I'll catch you when my life gets to be as bad as his or hers

trust me I've I said them all in my early 20s said them all I was so smart had it all figured out

but I had my Damascus Road experience

and I saw Jesus Christ in his full glory and it wrecked me

and he still wrecks me today

and I pray that we never read the gospel to John

with the simplicity and the beauty of the words that he gives us

and let it just be simply a gospel

that's put on a page for us

may the light of Jesus Christ illuminate us in such a way

we see him for who he is

we are changed by that

and we would go into all the nations

and tell others

about this glorious light

whom we know personally

whom we know personally

ho in theos

who is

with God

and who

is God

father we just come before you today

thanking you for

your beautiful son

Jesus Christ

our prayer simply this morning

is that you would enlighten us

with your Holy Spirit

you would empower us

by your Holy Spirit

to take this light

that you have given to each of us

who have trusted

in the name of Jesus

who have turned

from our sinful lives

and take this light and share it

our Lord

our Lord

and obscenely

all

because just as we will discover and walk this path and Jesus Christ continues to illuminate us with his beautiful light we like the disciples will turn and we will say where else would we go only you have the words of life

only you have the words of life

give thanks and praise today in Jesus