John chapter 1, 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 came into being through Him. And apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it." If you have a New American Standard or a King James, the word there is comprehended. There came a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. There was the true light, which coming into the world enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Lord, we pray for understanding of this glorious passage. In the opening verses of John's Gospel, he declared and affirmed, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that the man they had known and followed as Jesus of Nazareth, who had preached the coming of the kingdom in Galilee and in Judea, who had healed many and cast out demons, who had been wrongly convicted of crimes against God and man, who had been handed over by the Jews to the Romans, and who was brutally tortured and murdered on a cross, He was in truth the eternal Son of God, who had come into the created world in human flesh, that this same Son of God was in the beginning with God, and is in fact God Himself, the Creator of all things. Now, John calls the sun here by the title of the logos or the word. The logos we saw last week in the ancient world, this idea was thought of as all of the wisdom and knowledge of the deity. John now shows us that this logos containing all the wisdom and knowledge of the deity is actually a person. an eternal person who became a human being and through whom God has revealed Himself to humanity and saved sinners. So, while Jesus Christ is indeed our Savior by His death on the cross, He's also God's revelation of Himself to humanity. In Jesus Christ, the logos, all the purposes, plans, and promises of God are revealed to humanity. And in Him, those plans and purposes have been accomplished. So as we proceed to our passage this morning, let's remember the main purpose that John gives us for writing his gospel. He stated it in chapter 20, verse 31. He says, these things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life, life in his name, and life Spiritual life is what Christ brought into the world. Look, everybody who was in the world was already physically alive when He came. He brought spiritual life. And folks, this morning, as last week, John again is going to lead us into some very deep and profound mysteries of God. These are things that we cannot fully comprehend. Eternity, life itself. So let's read again verse 4. In Him was life, and the life was the light of man. This means that from all eternity, life itself resided in the Son, the Logos. Not only were wisdom and knowledge hidden in Him, but life itself was hidden in this man they killed on the cross. He is the source, the origin of life. Now what kind of life is John speaking about here? Physical life? Spiritual life? Both? It's true that both physical and spiritual life have their source in the Lagos. And John has just told us that all things were made through Him. Everything we see. So some might infer from that that John is speaking here of all created things, of all physical life. But see, John says here that the life of which he is now speaking was the light of men. So while we know that in Christ all things were created, when we read on in John's Gospel, and when we see how this Word is translated, that's translated life in the New Testament, we see that John is speaking about something else here. John is speaking about spiritual life. Let me show you how we know this. I put some of these in your Scripture sheet. The word here for life, zoe, Z-O-E, is used 135 times in the New Testament. And in all but a very few instances, it speaks clearly of heavenly spiritual life. In the Gospels, every time it's used except once, and that in Luke, it speaks of everlasting spiritual life. In John's Gospel and in 1 John, the term zoe, life, is used 54 times. And all 54 times, at least all 53 other than this one, it speaks of eternal spiritual life as it does here. Never a physical life. This is the life that was lost by Adam's sin in the garden. Adam died that day. On the day you eat of it, you will surely die. Well, he was physically still alive, as was Eve, but he spiritually died. Look at John 6.33 and we'll get an idea. The bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. Well, there's already people physically living in the world. Same thing in verse 53. Truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourself. Verse 63, it is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words I've spoken to you are spirit and life. Remember, he's speaking to people physically alive, but he's talking about giving them life. He's talking about spiritual life. Acts 11, 18, when they heard this, Peter speaking about when he went to Cornelius' house, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, Well, then God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life. spiritual life. And of course, John 11, 25, sums it all up for us. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies. You see, that's a different kind of life. In Acts 3, 15, Peter calls Jesus the prince of life. So in the Son is spiritual life. Life is inherent in His very essence. John 6, 35, I am the bread of life. I'm the resurrection and the life. 1 John 5, 12, He who has the Son has life. You see what we're talking about here, what John's telling us. John declares that the life of which he's speaking now is the light of man. Remember what occurred in the garden. Adam and Eve were created spiritually alive. They knew God. They were in communion and in fellowship with God, their Creator. Theirs was a state of pure joy, joy in the light. And their sin, their rebellion against God's authority cast them and all humanity, all who would descend from them into darkness. As they were thrown out of the garden, as they were thrown off the estate, so were the descendants thrown off the estate. Adam and all his descendants died spiritually, every one of them. Communion with God was lost. Spiritual life was lost. And mankind then went on to build a world apart from the light of divine knowledge. Mankind had his own ideas. Augustine called it the city of man. Scripture often calls it Babylon. mankind, building a world without divine truth. The whole world was in darkness. David described the condition of humanity in Psalm 14. And you might notice Psalm 53 repeats word for word the very same passages. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They're corrupt. They've committed abominable deeds. There's no one who does good. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of man. Why? To see if there's any who understand, who seek after God. But they've all turned aside. Together they have become corrupt. There's no one who does good, not even one. Paul picks up this language and quotes from it in Romans 3 in describing still the condition and the state of mankind. Romans 3, 9. Both Jews and Greeks, he said, are all under sin. All. There's none righteous, not even one. There's none who understands. And he quotes from Psalms 14 and 53. It was a sad condition. But 2,000 years after Adam's sin, God called Abraham. Then He called Moses. And the light, the truth and righteousness of God began to be proclaimed, but only to a people who He created in a barren couple, a special people created in Abraham and Sarai, people of Israel. But now, John says, the Logos, has come into the world. And with him, the light of the true knowledge of God was proclaimed to all men." That's what happened when Christ came into the world. And in the Logos, the eternal Son of God was life, spiritual life, the one thing that was missing in the whole world, the one thing that could reverse and repair what had been lost in the garden. Life had to come in to undo the curse. It was the spiritual life that was the light that would pierce and penetrate the darkness of the fallen world and overcome it. And it's the divine light emanating from spiritual life, the very life of God that illuminates sinners, that overcomes darkness, and gives sinners understanding of spiritual matters. That's why we can understand things, because Christ came. It's by this light. that we come to know and understand the thing we need the most, the way of salvation, the way back to God from the darkness. This was a light unlike any other. Folks, on their own, we could do nothing to free ourselves from the darkness. Men could do nothing to free themselves from the darkness. Whatever men devised and still devise, it's futile. They cannot overcome the darkness and restore themselves to spiritual life on their own. But, verse 5, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. For 4,000 years, Nothing could overcome the darkness until the light came. Remember something, John is writing about 50 years after the saving work of Christ on the cross. And now he could look back, the Holy Spirit bringing all things to his memory now. and explaining the work of Christ to him. And John could see the incredible victory of the Logos over the darkness. Now, we have a translation issue here. The word I have translated, overcome, is in the New American Standard, which I use, and the King James, and some other translations, it's rendered comprehend or apprehend or understand. And the word here, katalambano, sometimes does mean comprehend or apprehend or understand. And if this word is translated comprehend or apprehend, the meaning of the verse is still quite consistent with all the rest of Scripture. Those in darkness, it would therefore say, did not and today still do not comprehend Christ. They did not take hold of Christ when He came. All of that is true. As John writes in verse 10, he was in the world, but the world did not know him. Verse 11, John says, Jesus came to his own, the Jewish people, and they did not receive him. So there are some very good reasons and justifications which support those translations of this word. But I believe that in the context of this passage, Those translations miss the point here. And that the English Standard Version and others are correct here. The fact of Jesus being rejected in His first advent is undeniable. But John is speaking about something of greater significance here. His point is that after 4,000 years of dominance in the world, the darkness was finally overcome. It was defeated. And it was a defeat from which it would never recover this light. The darkness could not overcome. The curse of Eden was reversed by the very one by whom all things had been made, and whom were hidden all these treasures of wisdom and knowledge." John is speaking here of the reversal of the curse that had been on mankind for 4,000 years. And he is declaring that the light, the truth, has won the victory over darkness. Remember, before Jesus came, as the fallen world lay in near total darkness, some were grasping at every straw. We see this in Isaiah every week, don't we? Trying to seek God's favor, even forgiveness. Some even offering their own children on the high places to imaginary gods that don't even exist. Throughout those 4,000 years, as today, many others weren't even seeking redemption. But all those means of regaining the favor of God and fellowship with Him were futile. There was and is only one true hope of restoration, and that could only be accomplished by the light coming into the world, by the one Isaiah called the servant of the Lord. The shining of the light in the darkness was a hostile takeover of the territory, the world that was held by the darkness. This light shines forth from the eternal, unconquerable life of the eternal Lagos. Remember, this is spiritual warfare, folks. What we see here is spiritual life and the light of truth, knowledge, and wisdom joined together. In Christ, after centuries of darkness, light came into the fallen world. And where divine life is, there divine light is. Light emanates from life. And true light can only emanate from life. And the gospel says, and John is telling us that this mysterious hidden power we call life is in Jesus Christ. That's where it is. Life is an attribute of His very essence. Christ was not just a man. In Him is life itself. And the light that comes forth from Him is divine truth itself. That's the light that John's talking about. The life that is in the Logos came to light up the world and the souls of sinful men. So you see, there was more to His coming than His death. He brought spiritual life to sinners who were spiritually dead. Divine truth has come into the world, and it came into the world in the person of Christ. It didn't come in the person of Plato or Darwin or Al Gore or anybody else. It's not scientific speculation or philosophy. It's not humanist. It's not based on mere human observation. The truth is that the Son, the Word of God, is the light of truth. and knowledge. We come to know God one way and one way only, in the person of Jesus Christ. Look at 2 Corinthians 4, 6. God has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, where? In the face of Jesus Christ. So the light of which John speaks here is in its very essence truth. Truth is what the world was missing. Truth is what the unbelieving world is missing right now. The truth of God's will, His purposes for His creation, His plans for the future and all eternity. We know all these things because of Christ and because we believe in Him. That's the only way we know these things. As the sun lights up the physical world, And if it didn't, we would all perish in darkness. Without the Logos and His saving light, we would all perish in spiritual darkness, without knowledge. So, if anyone says that heavenly truth is found anywhere other than in Christ, he is in error. Anyone says that truth and life are found anywhere other than the Word of God, he is in error. The person speaking that error is denying his own Creator. Well, John's narrative now turns to the one who had announced the arrival of the servant of the Lord, the Messiah. There came a man sent from God whose name was John. Now God had foretold the coming of John through his prophets. Isaiah 43, a voice is calling, Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness. Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Malachi 3.1, Behold, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. Matthew and Mark. told us in their Gospels that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of those two prophecies I just read. And it's likely that this John the Baptist was known to John the Apostle's readers. We see John doesn't present any history of the Baptist or of his baptizing in the river. Because John wants to draw his reader's attention at this point to two things in particular about the Baptist. And they are these. He was sent from God. You realize how easily we can read over that verse? He was sent from God. He was sent from God. And he was sent from God to deliver a message from God. And this was a very special message, wasn't it? Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He came as a witness to testify about the light. Why? So that all might believe in Him, through Him. He was not the light, but He came to testify about the light. He was sent by God to testify that the light of divine truth had come into the world. That was John's commission from God. And John the Apostle says that the Baptist came as a witness. The Greek word here is marturion. That refers to the testimony of what a person has actually seen or heard or experienced. Well, how does John the Baptist witness to these things? Well, we see in verse 33 that the Baptist had received revelation from God. Look what it says here. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. There's God's message, part of God's message to John the Baptist. And then in verses 15 and 30, it's clear that God had communicated to John, who was born five to six months before Jesus, that Jesus the Logos existed before John. How would John know that? But John says twice, He existed before me. This is stunning news, since Luke's gospel makes it clear John was born five to six months before Jesus. In Luke 1, we also have the history of the conception and gestation and birth of John. There we also learn that John's birth had been announced by God, was miraculously brought about by God. In fact, Luke records that John was named by God and was filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother's womb. God had a very specific purpose in sending the Baptist to announce the coming of the Messiah. And it's the same purpose that the apostle had in writing his gospel, that all might believe through him. This is John's purpose. And this should be our purpose in life, that people come to believe through what we say and how we live. This is John's first use of the word belief. But look at the progression now that we can see from spiritual life to light, the truth, to belief, to saving faith. Revival of the spirit of a sinner. Illumination by the light. Divine truth embodied in Jesus. Now shining forth in faith. In a new creation of God. And not only in the new creation's thoughts, but in His words and in His works. Saving faith, folks, is not a blind trust in something. It's the evidence. It's the proof of things we cannot see. Of divine truths. This is what faith is. It shows us these divine truths. The faith that saves a sinner includes the light of knowledge, agreement to that knowledge, and the surrender of one's will to that belief. So John the Baptist was God's human instrument, God's witness through whom people would come to know and believe in the servant that God had sent into the world, the logos, the light, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. All words which describe the same person. And the apostle had something else to teach us concerning the light here. He says in verse 9, there was the true light, which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. What's he saying here? Well, the true light, who was in the beginning, in whom was life, which life is the light of men, was now coming into the world, he says. But John says here that the true light enlightens every man. Now it's clear from Scripture that every man does not receive the light which leads to eternal life. Jesus Himself made that clear, that all who reject Him will be cast where? To the lake of fire, into outer darkness. So what is John's meaning here? Well here John is speaking about a different function of the light. He's speaking of an enlightenment that every man receives from the light. Isn't it amazing, by the way, that the brilliant men of the 18th and 19th centuries, who turned away from God and made up their own fantasies about eternal truths, refer to that time as the Enlightenment. That time, when you see enlightenment, 18th century, it's the darkness. What's John talking about here? He's speaking of enlightenment that every man does receive from the light. And we learn here that the logos gives the light of reason to every human. It's that light. He's talking about the light that distinguishes humans from animals. It's the ability to think, to meditate, to reason, to worship God. It includes the ability to create works of art and music and literature. This is a universal light. All men are entirely dependent on this light, by the way. And the one who came into the world in the time of John the Baptist was the very same one who gave mankind all of these gifts which mark the human race. And, you know, think about it. He asks us to remember Him by a piece of bread, by a piece of bread. There's a purpose, though, in God imparting this light to the minds of all men. Let's remember the purpose for which mankind was created. Why did God make mankind? He made mankind for the purpose of fellowship and communion with Himself. That's why. And so, man was equipped with that light which was necessary to know God and to have communion with Him. So we see that in the Logos is not only the light of truth and the light of reason, but all such knowledge as is necessary to know, love, and worship our Creator. So why doesn't everybody worship our Creator? Why doesn't everybody love God? Paul writes about this, and he shows us. that God has given every person enough light to be responsible for His own moral standing before Him. He's planted this knowledge in man through general revelation in creation and conscience. Look at Romans chapter 1. In verse 19 he says, "...that which is known about God is evident within them, but they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. God made that which is known about Him evident to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." You see, no one has any excuse before God. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks. But they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. This is the darkness of the fallen world. This was the whole world apart from Christ. So it's obvious from Romans 1 that this general revelation does not produce salvation in every man. It either leads one to repentance and the saving light of Christ, or it leads one to condemnation for rejecting Him. You know, the ability to reason is a wonderful gift given by God only to humans. But when reason is separated from divine truth, it cannot function properly. It cannot come to right conclusions because what is fed into the mind is not true. It would be as if someone gave us a spaceship and we tried to operate it without any instructions from the builder. And so it's only by the light of saving truth fed into our minds, found only through faith in the gospel of Christ, that a person can know truth and be saved. Well, John concludes this portion of the passage. He was in the world, the world was made through him, and yet the world did not know him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. You know, the term the world has different meanings in John. Here it plainly refers not to the physical world or to this planet. It says the world did not know Him. So it refers to all mankind. But think about this. Humanity, the very creature God had made in His own image for the purpose of fellowship with Him, no longer recognized Him. He came into the world and the world didn't recognize Him. In verse 11, as for the people to whom He came, the Jewish people, to whom and through whom He had spoken for 1,500 years, through whom He was born, they did not receive Him. They did not receive Him. The world doesn't know Him. His own people don't receive Him. They rejected Him with great hostility, and they demanded that He be executed on a cross, even though they were His special people to whom He'd given the Scriptures that testified and told them about His coming. We've seen this throughout Isaiah. I want to give us an understanding of the magnitude of their sin in rejecting Christ. Look at Deuteronomy 26, 18. Look what the Lord says through Moses. The Lord has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments. and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made for praise, fame, and honor, and that you shall be a consecrated people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken." Look at the heart of God for this people He's created. And for centuries, God spoke to them and only to them. Look at Jeremiah 7, 25. Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all my servants, the prophets, daily rising early and sending them. He kept sending the prophets to them. And though Israel rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lagos, the light of the world, the eternal Son of God in human flesh, our Lord left us with no uncertainty, no room for doubt as to who He is and what we must do to be saved from the darkness. We must believe in, trust in, and follow Him. Chapter 8 of this Gospel, John records words Jesus spoke. Verse 12, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. In the end, folks, the only thing that matters is how did we respond to the call of Jesus, to come to Him, to trust in Him? Did we witness to others about Him? This is our commission now. The Baptist is long gone from the scene. The Apostle John is gone. It's our commission now. And yes, it's Christ-like to seek, to comfort the suffering, to give food and clothing to those who have little. And we should be doing those things. But we have to tell the world, all those still in darkness, about the light, the truth that has come into the world, about the death He suffered for sinners, about the truth He brought from heaven. Remember this, all who have not come to Christ are this moment remaining in that same sad, darkened, condemned condition. So what the apostle has witnessed to us in these verses, we must witness to others. There's nobody else to tell them. If no one does, how will they believe? If no one told us, how would we have believed? So I believe we have work to do. And by the power of God, let us go forward to that work. Heavenly Father, these truths are in so many ways too great for us, too large for our comprehension. But Lord, we know the truth that we need to know. We know the truth that saves. We know who You are. We know who Jesus is. We know where life originated. We know how things end. And so, Lord, our desire is that You make us effective witnesses of these great eternal truths. That by Your Spirit, we could be Your instruments to bring people into this light and to the knowledge of the truth You've given us in Your Son, in whose name we pray. Amen.