Well, I invite you to open your Bible with me this morning to the gospel of John, gospel of John chapter one. We're going to do a short series on the first 14 verses, first 18 verses, excuse me. We're going to be doing that this morning and then tonight and then next Sunday morning and next Sunday evening, Lord willing. And so wonderful, wonderful, rich text of scripture, John chapter one. Just want to say a delight to see Bill Rebecca the daughter word and family with us this morning. It's great to see you guys again and looking forward to catching up John chapter 1. Let's give our attention to God's Word. We'll be looking at the first five verses this morning 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, and 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." Let's ask the Lord's blessing. God in heaven, we thank you for these majestic words and the glorious truth that they convey. And oh, we pray that you would not leave us dead and dumb and blind, insensitive to the wonder of what you've accomplished in Christ Jesus, who is light and life for sinners like us. And so God, I pray that you would let that light shine beautifully this morning through your word, that we would see Jesus and cherish him. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. If you've ever tried to write a paper for school or maybe even a letter to a friend or an email, I suppose nowadays, but it was a message that mattered. You know that the first line is often the very hardest line to write. The first line sort of is going to dictate the rest to come. And of all the books in the Bible, I think that John's first line is the very best of all the books in the Bible. It is just majestic. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It is a powerful opening for this beautiful gospel. It is an opening full of mystery and awe and weighted with meaning. This lets us know right from the beginning that this gospel is not going to be about trivial things. This is about the eternal word of God come to this world. This is about the life of men in a world where all men are born in sin and death. And it's important as we begin to look at these words that we understand John's purpose and intent in writing them. What does John hope to accomplish in this letter? Well, we have the benefit in John's gospel of knowing exactly what he wants to accomplish because he tells us at the end of his letter why he wrote this gospel. John 20, 31, these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. This isn't just checking up, see how you're doing, got a few things I want to share with you. These are issues of ultimate significance. As John is writing this letter, he looks and sees a world in darkness, pitch black darkness. He's most likely writing from Ephesus, where he's helping pastor the church there, the church that Paul had founded. Remember, Ephesus is known for its temple to Diana. It's known for its rampant paganism, and Ephesus is just one part of an empire that is completely lost in darkness. There is no knowledge of God. There's no true worship of God, and so there's no light penetrating the darkness of the world of John's day. There's no life. He sees men and women and boys and girls everywhere who do not know God, who do not understand who they are, and their eternal plight. They're in darkness. And John is writing this gospel then with a deep desire that people, by reading it, meet Jesus. The light of the world. The life of men. And John is writing this so that people can understand who Jesus is, this man from Nazareth, who He actually is. And that by believing in Jesus, they will have life in His name. And so these are words of Ultimate importance. This is all the marbles in a sense. As John writes this, we need to realize that what we do with these words matters more to our destiny in this world and the world to come than anything else. What we do with this truth has ultimate and eternal significance. The promise is that those who hear and see and believe will have life. And so if you are not, if you're in the darkness of unbelief yet today, just know that God has brought you here so that the light of his truth can shine in your life. And you too today can see and hear and believe in Jesus and enter into the light and life of God. If you've been a Christian for a long time, you might think, well, why are we reading this again? Well, because God intends by this truth to deepen our joy in God, to deepen our faith, to renew our love and to stir up our hope. Because we have been blessed, incredibly blessed, to have received light in our darkness and life in Jesus Christ. So John begins his gospel with the question, who is Jesus? Of course, ever since Jesus was born, that is the question, the critical question, who is this man? It's a question that Jesus asked of the disciples, who do people say that I am? And he asked his own disciples, who do you say I am? This is the critical question of our life. The questions that the crowds pondered as they heard Jesus speak with an authority they'd never heard, as they saw Him do miracles they had never imagined were possible. This is the question that people are asking and that John sets out now to unequivocably and clearly, irrefutably answer. From the very first sentence of the book, John wants us to understand who this man is, that Jesus is the Son of God, God Himself come in the flesh. And everything John says in these first few verses is meant then to convey that truth. We're going to look at just the eternal existence of Jesus and the divine nature of Jesus and His divine acts. In the beginning, John says, was the Word. Before there was time, before there was a world, a universe, galaxies, before there were angels, before there was any created thing, there was the Word. Jesus was. When there was God and nothing else, there was Jesus. That's where Jesus was. The Word did not begin when the world began. He already was in the beginning. Of course, it's not true of any other person who's ever lived, right? For every single one of us, there was a time when we were not. We are going to exist forever, but we don't have an eternal past. There was a time when we did not exist at all in any sense, and that's not true of this baby. That's not true of Jesus. He was in the beginning. His divine form, His divine nature, John says, in the beginning was the Word, the Logos. It, of course, would have blown the minds of any person of John's day. They live in sort of a cultural assumption that the Logos, the divine idea spirit, is what's pure, and there's a fundamental separation between the ideal spirit world and the physical world of matter. This is a broken world. It's a corrupt world, decaying world, right? And there's a fundamental divide. There's a line that can't be crossed, and John says, no, it actually was crossed. The divine, Logos, Word, has penetrated that barrier and has entered into the world of matter and men. He's entered into the world of what is corrupt and decaying. In the beginning was the Word, the divine self-expression of God in person. That's Jesus. And there's a wonderful insight into the triune nature of God here because you find there is distinction without separation. Let me explain what I mean. Distinction, the Word was with God. Two distinct things, Word and God. Right? He, Word, was in the beginning with God. There's a distinction made there. But it's without separation. And the Word was God. Distinct, but one. God in two persons, right here, Trinity. I mean, Jesus and the Father. And yet, the One. He is... Jesus is not something other than God. He's not like God. He is God. And that is manifested so wonderfully in what He has done. He, all things, John says, verse 3, all things were made through Him. He's the Creator. The God, right? Genesis 1, God created heavens and the earth in the beginning. The God, spoken of there, right? Jesus created the heavens and the earth. All things were made through Him. Growing up, I always had this I don't know if it was taught to me that way, maybe I just stumbled across it, but my assumption was the Father made it, Jesus redeemed it. That God the Father was the creator of the heavens and the earth, and of course, right? God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Spirit are all involved. And yet in the New Testament, it continually speaks of Jesus as the Creator. If you think of Colossians 1.16, for by Him, Jesus, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. All things were created through Him and for Him. You'll find that throughout the New Testament. You'll find it in the book of Revelation when the angels are worshiping before the throne of God and say, worthy, worthy are you, O Lord. And one of the reasons that Jesus is worthy of worship is because you created all things and by your will they exist and were created. Jesus is the creator, the architect and builder of the universe. Everything that was made is made by Jesus. And to pound the point home, John says, without Him, Jesus was not anything made that has been made. If it exists, it exists because Jesus called it into being. Jesus is the creator of all things. It's a stunning thought that this little baby born to Mary is God the Creator Himself. The Jesus who's laid there in the manger is the architect and creator of the universe. The Jesus who walked this earth in human flesh and form and healed the sick and befriended prostitutes and was crucified on a Roman cross, that man was God. The Jesus who washed the disciples' feet. That was God, Creator God. That's the Jesus John wants to tell us about, the Jesus who is God Himself in flesh. One commentator writes, John intends that the whole of his gospel shall be read in the light of these verses. The deeds and words of Jesus are the deeds and words of God. If this be not truth, the book is blasphemous. It's exactly right. It has to be one or the other. Jesus is either who He said He was and who John proclaims Him to be, or Jesus is a blasphemer, absolutely justly put to death for His own sin of blasphemy. Now, why does this matter? I don't think I've told you probably anything you haven't heard before. But why does it matter that Jesus is God Himself in flesh? Well, for one thing, it's a precious insight into the heart of God. The incarnation you see reveals to us the wonderful truth that God has not abandoned His world, though He has every right to do so. When Adam and Eve fell into sin and every generation of man after them, remember what it says in Genesis, that every thought of man's heart was only evil all the time. That's right before the flood. Every intent and thought of his heart was only evil all the time. At that moment, God would have been absolutely just to wipe out the world as He did and be done with it. But He wasn't done with it, and He's not done with our world. Here we find that the Creator, in infinite mercy and love, came to save this ruined world in the most astonishing way. He came to save it by joining it, by taking on human flesh. and offering up that flesh on a cross. God did that. God did that. If you ever have questions, is God against me? Is God angry with me? Let the incarnation speak to you again and again. God is for us. God is with us in Jesus Christ. God has come to rescue us in Christ. And God in Jesus Christ has started something new, that when John says, in the beginning was the word, he wants us, of course, to think about Genesis 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Jesus did that. And John wants us to see now the coming of Christ as a baby, as a new beginning. The first beginning in Genesis, we have the making of all things. In the second beginning, we have the making of all things new. The redeeming of all things, the restoration of all things, the staggering message of this gospel is that the voice that spoke into the abyss of darkness in Genesis 1 and called forth a universe, that word has now entered into the darkness of this world to call forth a new heaven and a new earth. Jesus says, behold, I am making everything new. Everything new. That's what Christmas means. That's the beauty of God becoming man. And it matters specifically because of what Jesus Christ brings and is for sinful men. Our second point, what Jesus is to men. Notice John says, in Him was life and that life was the light of men. In Him was life. John isn't saying Jesus was alive. He's saying Jesus is. Life, the principle of life, He contains that within Himself. John 5, 26, Jesus says, as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself. Again, in this, Jesus is utterly unique among the children of men. No one in the history of this world could ever say, nor an angel, the angels of heaven. No one can say they have life in themselves. We live, right? But our life can be taken away. We live and we die. But Jesus has life in himself. We have death in ourselves. That sort of inheres to our nature. Jesus has life in himself. The beauty of it is that that life becomes our life. The light of God pouring into our death. There's three Greek words maybe you know for life. There's bios, which is the life of the physical body and natural things. Biology, you get the word from that. There's psuche, refers to life of the soul. It's psychology from that word. But then there's zoe. That's the uncreated eternal life of God himself. The divine life uniquely that inheres to God. And the word that John uses is that one. So Jesus has that life, which we would recognize since he is God, but the wonder is that Jesus came to share that life. So when John speaks about the life that Jesus gives, he's talking about this zoe, the unique life that flows from God. John 10, 10, Jesus says, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. That's why he came, John 10, 27, my sheep hear my voice. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. Jesus is like a fountain of water that's been opened up in the middle of the desert of this world and when people come and drink of him, they come to life. Remember, that's exactly what he told the woman at the well in John chapter 4, a woman who's buried under a life of sin and emptiness and wandering. And yet Jesus comes and offers her life. Life that would be poured out upon her and flow from within her. Jesus says, John 4, 14, whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. That's the glory of Jesus. Can you just imagine? Just imagine that Jesus never came. And there was no well. There was no light. There was no life. All there was is death and darkness and despair. But the Christmas message is that God so loved the world that Jesus, the creator of the world, came into this world that had rebelled against Him, a world that was under the just sentence of death, and Jesus came as life. And that life was the light of men. I love how John writes that, that life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness. The Bible routinely describes this fallen world as a place of darkness, spiritual darkness. Proverbs 4.19, the way of the wicked is like deep darkness. They do not know over what they stumble. Darkness is not just the absence of light, it's the presence of evil, pure positive evil. There's the darkness of unbelief, the darkness of sin, transgression and iniquity, the darkness of despair, the darkness of death. That's the darkness of this world. That's how the Bible describes the world. Spiritual darkness. And people can't see. They're blind in the darkness. But the wonderful promise of Isaiah that's been fulfilled in Christ, Isaiah 9-2, those who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shown. God looked out over the vast, deadly darkness of this lost world and God said, let there be light. And there was light. A baby was born to Mary in Bethlehem. The Son of God had entered into this pitch black night of sin and death. Jesus is the light. And you'll find that theme throughout John's Gospel. John 8, 12, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. He will have the light of life. Jesus says again, John 12, 46, I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. The whole point of Christ coming is that people can come out of the darkness and come into the light and experience the life of God. I love what Stephen Lawson says concerning Jesus as the light. He writes, "'To the darkness of sin, Jesus is the light of holiness. To the darkness of lies, He is the light of truth. To the darkness of ignorance, He is the light of wisdom. To the darkness of despair, He is the light of joy. To the darkness of death, He is the light of life.'" That's our Jesus. The tragedy is that though the light shines, people by nature reject the light. So John says, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. The Greek word there is a little tricky. It means to lay hold of or grasp, and it can be mean to lay hold or grasp to conquer, or it can be to lay hold and grasp in order to understand. I think what John is saying, other translations have it this way, is that the darkness doesn't comprehend the light. It doesn't receive it, there's an opposition to it, but it also, it doesn't understand it, it doesn't grasp it. And that becomes a prominent theme in John's gospel too, this blinded opposition. So you have in John 3, 19, this is the judgment, the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness. The light came and they loved the darkness rather than the light. Why? Because their works were evil. And people flee from the light because their works are evil. They don't want their evil to be exposed. That's human nature. It goes back to Adam in the garden, Adam and Eve hiding. There's something about us that resists the light, but the light still shines. The light still shines. Notice John doesn't say the light shone in the darkness, past tense. Let me tell you about something that happened. He says the light shines in the darkness, present tense. It's shining as John sits there in Ephesus writing his gospel. The light is shining as the truth is being spoken and shared. And the light is shining still today. Ben in Thailand is shining light. Every gospel minister is shining light. Every Christian who speaks of Jesus is shining light. Every time you open your Bible and read this truth, there's light shining. It's what it does, it's what it is. The light of truth. The light of the knowledge of God, the light of love and grace and peace and hope and healing, all of that is found in Jesus. Jesus is the light of the world. And there's no other light. There isn't any other light. It's a stunning thought to me. There's no other light. Christianity isn't just one of the various religions in the world. Christianity claims that there is a man named Jesus who is the light, no other options. The only possible way to escape darkness and sin and death is through Jesus. C.S. Lewis captures that point, I think, powerfully in The Silver Chair, part of the Chronicles of Narnia. A girl named Jill is walking through the forest and she's desperately thirsty and she stumbles upon a stream. To her surprise and joy, there's a beautiful stream not far away. But instead of rushing for the stream, she freezes in fear because right by the stream, there's a huge golden lion resting there and looking at her. And let me just read you from C.S. Lewis. Are you thirsty, said the lion. I'm dying of thirst, said Jill. Then drink, said the lion. May I, could I, would you mind going away while I do, said Jill. The lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious, rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic. "'Will you promise not to do anything to me if I do come?' said Jill. "'I make no promise,' said the lion. Jill was so thirsty now that without realizing it, she had come a step near. "'Do you eat girls?' she said. "'I have swallowed up girls and boys, men, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,' said the lion. It didn't say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it. I dare not come and drink, said Jill. Then you will die of thirst, said the lion. Oh dear, said Jill, coming another step nearer. I suppose I must go and look for another stream then. There is no other stream, said the lion. There is no other stream. in all the universe. There is no other place to go to have words of eternal life. There is no other life. There is no other light. It's all found in Jesus. Jesus says, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the light. No man comes to the Father except by me. He's the only way. but He's a precious and beautiful and sufficient way. There's no better way to come to the Father than by Jesus. As we come with all of our sin and all of our failure and brokenness, we come to one who loved us and gave His life for us. What a beautiful way to come to the Father. Friends, this world can be a very distressing and depressing place. Sin and sickness and failure and hatred and death are all around us. Lies everywhere you look. The darkness seems to be increasingly present in our world, and it's easy to just be depressed. If you are feeding on your news feeds and reading the blogs of angry men and women protesting, it's just going to become your world. It's going to stick to you. You're going to live right in the darkness and in the despair. But see, we have reasons as Christians for incredible joy, right in the midst of the darkness. Because a great light has shone and dawned upon this dreary world, and his name is Jesus, and that light conquers the darkness. The darkness will never, it doesn't understand it, and it will never overcome it. The light will continue to shine. And life will continue to flow to everyone who hears about Jesus and calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that life will never end. And so friends, my encouragement to you this Christmas season is to think about the people in your life who don't have the light and don't know about the life and they're running looking at all these other streams and there's no other stream that can give life. Only Jesus. And would you just pray for them? Just pray. Pray that God would bless your unbelieving friends and neighbors and family workers with life, with light. Just pray he'd open their eyes, help them to see. And then for your own soul and for your family, just call yourself and your loved ones, let's abide in Jesus. Let's drink of Jesus this year. Drink of that stream. Abide in his love, Jesus says. Because out of that, there's gonna come just well, springs of living water. And we become people, as Jesus says to us, you are the light of the world. The church is called now as we reflect the glory of Jesus Christ in the world around us. We can say confidently to anyone we meet, this is light, this is life. Come, believe, and live. May God grant it. Amen. Oh Lord Jesus. These are stunning truths. that we so glibly read and assent to and yet so easily live our life as though it were not true at all. And so our life is defined by despair and apathy and fear, anxiety, complaining. Because we do not see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And we're not abiding in Him, in that light and in that love. And we just confess, Lord, our unbelief as sin. And we ask, oh God, that you'd be merciful to us. Cause your face to shine upon us that we might be saved. Father, I pray this season that the incredible truths of the gospel, the truth of who Jesus is and the glory of him coming to save us would be so rich that it would fill our hearts with joy and peace in believing. And Father, for those who don't believe, who are rejecting the light for fear that they'll be judged and condemned and exposed, oh God, I pray that you would help them to see that in Jesus Christ, this light is full of grace and truth. That there is forgiveness for sinners. There's cleansing from shame. There is freedom from bondage. Father, I pray that you would give us, Lord, the grace by the power of the Holy Spirit to be people who are deeply transformed by the truth of our Savior. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to sing together an old gospel hymn, The Light of the World is Jesus. The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin. Let's celebrate the light. is is is is is Oh Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave