Thank you for tuning in to the Covenant Podcast, a podcast dedicated to the teaching and preaching of God's Word. The Covenant Podcast is a ministry of Covenant Baptist Church located in Indianapolis, Indiana. And now, here is today's speaker. I invite you then to begin turning with me to the Gospel of John, the first chapter and the first verse. John chapter 1 verse 1 Want to say a few things by way of introduction before we begin with the scripture We have studied the Gospel of John at times here in the past we have looked at the differences between these four Gospels and we know that Matthew Mark and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels the Gospels that seem to parallel one another very closely. And the Gospel of John is unique and different in that ninety-some percent of what is in the Gospel of John is not in the other three. And that's an important thing for us to understand, that there's a uniqueness to this Gospel of John, and that in these 21 chapters of the Gospel of John, there is within it a constant teaching about the idea of belief and faith. And certainly, belief and faith are captured in Matthew, Mark, and Luke as well, but John seems to emphasize it even more so than the other Gospel writers. In fact, the word believes, believing, belief, all these different versions and variations of the English word, the Greek word that translates into these ideas or these words of belief and believing, occurs ninety-eight times in twenty-one chapters. Ninety-eight times John talks about belief, believing and having faith in God and in Christ. And in John chapter 20, verse 30 and 31, we find the purpose or the reason, we might say, that John wrote this. And the whole point of everything that he had set up to that point He says in John chapter 20 verse 30, and don't have to turn there, I'll read it for you. It says, Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book. But these, he said, these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. why John wrote this gospel. So that you might come to know God. through the Son, Jesus Christ. John is going to make many logical arguments in this book. Throughout these 21 chapters, he just builds on a solid foundation of reason and ration and thought. And despite what many might say, the Bible is built upon reason and logic. It is an irony that today what is considered truth In fact, most of the world today does not even consider there is such a thing as truth, and that by itself is irrational and does not meet the standard even of reason. But John is going to make argument after argument. He's going to give witness after witness that this Jesus is the Son of God, and he's going to make these in some of the most sublime language in all of Scripture, but he's not interested in impressing us with his logic skills. He's not interested in impressing us with his ability to reason. He's not interested in impressing us with his ability to write. He's interested in one thing. He's interested in the readers of his gospel coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ and knowing him personally and having a relationship with him. That is his hope and that is his purpose and may that be the purpose and the hope of every sermon that is given today under the auspices of Christianity. May it be that we desire one thing above all others, and in reality, in some ways, the only thing that God is exalted, and in exalting Him and His Son, people come to know Him. That's the hope. That's the purpose. May that be the purpose of all of us in our own lives. Those of us who are parents of children, may we raise them and may we tell them about this Jesus who we desire for them to know. May it be the goal of every Christian who desires and tries to share the gospel with a friend or a family member or someone who is lost that they're concerned about. May their goal and their point be with John that you may know Christ. That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that by believing, you may have life in His name. Knowing God is John's purpose. Knowing Him. Having a relationship with Him. That is John's purpose. These things are important before we read, and we're just going to read the first five verses here of this first chapter of John. But knowing His goal is important. Why is He writing? Knowing that that is His goal, how does He begin? as I considered and studied this thought and this scripture that God has brought for us today, I noted that Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they begin in different ways than John does. Matthew begins, and he is speaking largely to a Jewish audience, and he begins by providing the genealogy of Jesus Christ, and he ties him back to Abraham. just begins right at the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry with John the Baptist in his preaching. Luke gives us the story of Jesus' birth, and that's where Luke begins. Luke is portraying Jesus as a man. Throughout most of Luke, the thrust of His emphasis seems to be upon the humanity of Christ, that He truly took on Himself humanity and became a man. And Luke begins His gospel then with the birth of Jesus Christ. And Mark, showing us the servant, shows us just his life. And Matthew, as I said, went all the way back to Abraham to show that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah. Writing largely to a Jewish audience to convince them and to show them that this Jesus is the Messiah. But John, John goes back farther than any of them. And John's goal and John's purpose is that people might come to know the Lord, might come to know this one, this Jesus. John's gospel has as its central theme, and it runs throughout its 21 chapters, that Jesus is God. And thus he begins his gospel with God in the beginning. And it reminds us and it causes us to reflect back upon Genesis chapter 1 but we stop and marvel again at, I do, at the at the incredible wisdom of God in the Word of God. He has given us four Gospels, and some may ask the question and have asked the question, why four Gospels? And it's because each of these four represent and highlight and spotlight a different piece and aspect of the Son of God. And if you take any one of them and remove the idea and the concepts presented in them, you will have an incomplete picture of who Jesus really was and who He is. You remove Matthew and you don't get that emphasis about him being the promised Messiah, promised back to Abraham, and then promised even before then through God himself in the garden after man sinned. You remove Mark and you don't see the servanthood and the sacrifice that he made as clearly. You remove Luke and you don't get the idea and the understanding as clearly that he is a man. But we must balance all of these things together. A one-dimensional, or a two-dimensional, or even a three-dimensional view of Christ without all four of these things leads to an imbalanced view of who Jesus is. And when we have an imbalanced view of who Jesus is, we have an imbalanced view of salvation. And that is the danger. That is the danger. When we open our Bibles to the Gospel of John, We find ourselves at the bedrock of the Gospel message. There are foundations. We find ourselves then also gazing up, as it were, at a mountain of truth contained in the simple fact that Jesus Christ is God. As we read the Gospel of John, we find ourselves captivated by the majesty and the authority of the man who is also God. And though the climb is going to take effort and time and commitment we sense the worthiness of the climb and we begin. And with that let us read together John chapter 1 beginning 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 and all things were made through Him Without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life. And the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. John begins here simply by saying that in the beginning was the Word. He says in verse 2 and clarifies that he is talking not about an inanimate thing. He is talking about Jesus. When he refers to Him as Him. And we'll have more to say about that in a moment. But John is the only writer in the New Testament who refers to Jesus as the Word. He's the only one that refers to Him with this inscription or with this title. And at first glance, at first inspection, it might seem to be an odd choice to call Jesus the Word and to refer to Him as the Word, the Logos in the Greek. And it seems odd in our ears to hear it said that way, that referring to Jesus, a person, as the Word. But again, upon closer inspection, We begin to see the divine genius and the divine brilliance in referring to Him with this concept of the Word. When we think about what words are and what their function is, we begin to see why referring to Jesus as the Word is eminently proper. Words rightly understood and rightly spoken, bring clarity, words express ideas, life without words would be life without meaning. If we didn't have the ability to describe or speak to one another, think how different this life would be. And when we remember who the one who created all of this is, and he created us with the ability to communicate, to use words, We begin to see that Jesus is the ultimate word from God. He is the one who Jesus speaks to us through, to, and he is the one who brings to us the reality of what life is all about. Life would in a sense be lifeless without the ability to communicate and to speak. Some might think perhaps that we're overstating the case, but I want you to think with me for just a minute. Just imagine in your mind's eye this thought came as I was preparing. Think of a sunset, maybe the most beautiful sunset you've ever seen. Maybe you were at the beach, maybe you were on vacation somewhere else in the mountains, or maybe you were just driving home one day and the sunset is just, it's just incredible to behold. And it might seem silly, but I want you to think about it for just a minute and have that in your mind's eye. And now I want you to tell me about that sunset without words. It can't be done. It cannot be communicated without words. I think we just heard Albert Moeller last week who said we can't even think to ourselves without words. We think about words and what their meaning is, and their powerful things, and their essential things, and words describe what is true, words describe what is untrue. Words are the labels for the ideas that are at the very root of our existence. And when Jesus is described as the Word, you begin to understand what God is trying to say. that it is through Jesus that the world begins to make sense and that without Him, without the Word, we are left in uncertainty and in darkness and in fear and in no ability to be confident or certain about anything. Words allow us to make sense of the world and of life. God has given us that ability to think within the boundaries of a language that we can communicate with one another. And God has communicated to us through His Word, which is Jesus Christ. And so I tell you today, as being described as the Word, life doesn't make any sense outside of Jesus Christ, because you don't have the Word of God to make sense of it. You don't have the Word of God to put the boundaries around what is real, what is true, and what is not. If you know Him today, I would encourage you to thank Him for communicating to you the Word of Christ. And that when you came to know Him, all of a sudden, things started to make more sense, didn't they? All of a sudden, peace came into your heart. All of a sudden, the things that you were uncertain about, the things that you were burdened about, the things that you didn't know, the confidence you didn't have, the moment that Christ shined in your heart and God communicated to you His Word of Jesus Christ, peace came. Certainty came. Word came. and explained and gave confidence and assurance. If you don't know Him today, I want to encourage you and suggest to you that that thing that you feel that is missing in your life, that explanation for life, That understanding of the sicknesses that come to us in our lives. That understanding of why we suffer. That understanding of why I'm in pain. That understanding of why life doesn't make sense. I would suggest to you today, the reason that you feel that way is because you have not yet heard or understood the Word of God, Jesus Christ. We hope you have enjoyed listening to today's program. Please visit us at www.covenantmbc.com to access our podcast archive and learn more about the ministry of Covenant Baptist Church. Visit us on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com slash Covenant in Indie.