[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to Expound, our
verse-by-verse study of God's word. Our goal is to expand your
knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the word of God
in a way that is interactive, enjoyable, and congregational. John, Chapter 1. In the Old Testament,
Solomon dedicated the temple. The temple was a symbol of
God's presence upon the earth. As he dedicated the
temple, Father David had saved up the
wherewithal to do it. Solomon built it, and as
he dedicated the temple he asked a very
intriguing question. Listen to his question. All the people of Israel are
gathered there in Jerusalem and then Solomon says, but will
God really dwell on the earth? For behold heaven, and the
heaven of heavens cannot contain you, much less this
temple that I have built. It's a great question. It's a great thing to
ponder as we open up to the Gospel of John. Will God really dwell on earth? Well, we know that
the Tabernacle, and later on the temple,
became those focal points for the presence of the
Lord among his people. God dwelling among his people. People coming to
that central place, seeking the mind and
the will of the Lord. But then we come to
the New Testament. And in the New Testament,
in the person of Jesus, now we really find
God dwelling on earth. We'll see it in John,
Chapter 1, Verse 14 if, God willing,
we get that far. "And the word became
flesh and dwelt among us." "Tabernacled" is
the literal term. "And we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten Son, full of grace and truth." God dwelling on the earth. So significant is
the incarnation, the coming of Christ dwelling,
that it takes not one, but four, different individuals
to write the story of Christ. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I'm often asked, why
are there four gospels? Why not just one grand
gospel, why four? It's because the person
of Jesus is so unique. Not one author can capture,
in beholding his glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. It's as if the Holy Spirit
is the director of a string quartet. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
are playing the instruments. And the Holy Spirit
is the director. And he puts all of
those instruments in beautiful harmony together
so the output, the outcome, is an awesome, awesome score. Beautiful to listen
to, but it takes all four working together. In harmony together, blended
together to get a full picture. Or, if you prefer a
different analogy, it's as if the Holy Spirit is
the director on a film set. And he uses four
different cameras from four different angles
to capture the action. The response of the crowd. The main character's
body language, et cetera. And so we have the Gospel of
Matthew, the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Luke, and
now the Gospel of John, each having a
different emphasis. I love the Gospel of John. We were talking
before the service about the Gospel of John
being the go-to gospel that we usually tell new
believers we want them to read. You see, Matthew's gospel was
written for the Jewish people. And an often-repeated phrase and
word is the word "fulfilled," or "so that it
might be fulfilled." We find that phrase in
the Gospel of Matthew because it's written
for the Jews. To show the Jewish people
that Jesus, this Jesus that is presented in Matthew,
is the fulfillment of the Old Testament predictions
to the Jewish nation. Then we come to
the Gospel of Mark. The Gospel of Mark was
written for a Roman audience. It's a gospel of action. It's short. It's fast. It's about doing. It's about accomplishing. It's about getting the job done. It has the Roman
audience in mind. When we get to the
Gospel of Luke, it's as though he's writing
to a Greek audience. Luke being a gentile physician,
being a little more exact, and a little bit
different in his language and covering a different
angle altogether, speaks about Jesus in
his perfect manhood. He is the Son of Man, that's
how Luke presents him. And to Greek philosophers
the ideal man was often discussed
by their philosophers and in their schools. So Jesus, the perfect man, full
of compassion, full of love. When we get to
the Gospel of John it seems as though
the audience is not the Jews, or just the
Romans, or just the Greeks, it's as though the audience
here is the whole world. And it presents Jesus
probably in the fullest of his character. It speaks of him
as the Son of God. In fact, God himself. As God in a human body. God in human flesh. So in the Gospel of Matthew the
focus is on what Jesus said. We have the great discourses
in Matthew that are presented. In the Gospel of Mark,
we have what Jesus did. It's that rapid action,
short, fast-moving gospel. Words like "immediately"
are employed a lot. He did this, and then
immediately, and then, and then-- it moves quickly. The Gospel of Luke is about how
he felt. And the Gospel of John is about who he was. Or think of it this way,
Matthew, Mark and Luke, which are also called synoptic
gospels, because they're very similar in their approach. John is very different
in his approach. It's as though Matthew,
Mark and Luke are snapshots, but John is a studied portrait. It's a studied portrait. "We beheld his glory, as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." And so you'll notice
that John goes back in his genealogy in
Verse 1, all the way back further than
Matthew, or Mark, or Luke, to the very beginning itself. Like the book of Genesis. In the beginning. In the beginning. "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 nothing
was made that was made. In him was life. And the life was
the light of man. And the light shines
in the darkness, and the darkness did
not comprehend it. There was a man sent from
God whose name was John. This man came for a witness,
to bear witness of the light that all through
him might believe. He was not that
light, but was sent to bear witness of that light." The Gospel of John
was written by John. Very good. Although his name
does not appear as the author of the gospel. He's never introduced
as the writer of the gospel in the gospel. When he begins in
Verse 6 and says "there was a man sent from
God whose name was John," he's speaking about
John the Baptist. Right. So we have John the
Apostle, the author, not mentioned as the
author, writing about, at first, John the Baptist. Just so we get that square
and we get that straight. So if John is not mentioned
as the author of the gospel, how do we know then
that the Gospel of John is indeed the Gospel of John? That's a fair question, right? Would you like the answer? OK. The reason we know
John wrote the gospel is because a guy
in the beginning of the second century, named
Irenaeus, said he wrote it. You go, well, so what? How does he know? Well, Irenaeus was a disciple
of a guy named Polycarp. You say, well, so what? Polycarp was a direct
disciple of John the Apostle. So he would have known and
he would have told Irenaeus. So Irenaeus is the first one
historically that tells us, the guy that wrote this gospel
was none other than John the Apostle. Now he does call himself. He goes by an interesting
title in his own writings. You know what I'm going to
say, some of you, right? He's called "the apostle
whom Jesus loved." He writes that about himself. Then there was "the apostle
whom Jesus loved," you know, I won't say his name, but
it sort of sounds like John. So he says that about himself,
and some people in hearing that think, well, that's
sort of arrogant to say, I'm the one Jesus loved. I don't see it as
arrogant at all. I think it's confident,
not arrogant. You're the disciple
Jesus loved as well, and so am I. When
you can know that and you can personalize it, and
I'm the one that Jesus loved. He loved them all,
but John experienced, on a personal level,
the love of Christ. So he calls himself the
disciple, or the apostle whom Jesus loved. John is part of an inner circle. Peter, James, and John. We find those three. Although he had those
Twelve Apostles, and he had more
disciples beyond that, there seemed to
be a special core of guys that were just closer
to the Lord than the rest. So when Jesus healed
Gyrus's daughter, raised her from the dead, he
brought in with him only Peter, James, and John. When he was transfigured
with Moses and Elijah, he took with him only
Peter, James, and John. In the garden of Gethsemane
during his temptation, he scurried off from
the rest of the crowd just Peter, James, and John. John was the first apostle
at the Tomb of Jesus. He was also at the cross. He stood at the cross. He watched his Savior die. The other disciples had
fled, John alone was there. He was next to
Jesus' mother, Mary. In fact, at the cross,
Jesus entrusted Mary into John's care. "Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother." Then, after the Resurrection,
when the woman said, he's not in that tomb, you guys. He's gone. It says that Peter
and John-- Peter and the other disciple, the
disciple whom Jesus loved-- ran to the tomb, and it says that
John beat Peter to the tomb. I just find it fascinating
that John, again, writes of himself not only is
he the guy whom Jesus loved, but he's the guy who
beat Peter to the tomb. Just saying. It tickles me. "And the other
disciple did outrun Peter," that's how it's put. I'm just a little faster. So he gets to the tomb first. It says he looked
in first, and he was thinking about what he saw. Then it says Peter
went into the tomb, and he sort of
scratched his head like, I can't figure this out. Then it says John went in also,
and he saw, and he believed. So John was not only
the first to the tomb, he was the first to
believe, of the apostles, that Jesus had
risen from the dead. He is one of the
sons of Zebedee. Who is the other son of Zebedee? James. Yeah. James and John were
with their dad, Zebedee, in a fishing business
around the Sea of Galilee. They also happened
to be partners with a couple other
brothers, Peter and Andrew, around the Sea of Galilee. So they were involved
in a fishing business. They were known as
the sons of Zebedee. But Jesus called the sons
of Zebedee by a nickname. Boanerges, or "sons of
thunder," as it's translated. And that is probably
because-- and it's interesting that it was John. James and John, and
the rest of the gang were going toward Jerusalem. They were going through Sumeria. They wanted to stay there. The Sumeritans
wouldn't receive them, because they had set their face
steadfastly toward Jerusalem, and there had been a
long-going animosity between those in Sumeria
and those in Jerusalem. So, because they were
not well-treated, James and John said to Jesus--
listen to their question. I know you know this, some of
you, but for others of you, but for all of us it's
still amazingly humorous. They sincerely asked
him, Lord, would you like us to call fire
down from heaven? And consume this village? Lord, if it's all
the same to you, we'd like to just
nuke these people. Is that OK with you? We just want to like,
we're just going to nuke them into oblivion. And Jesus said, you don't know
what manner of spirit you are. That is not my heart. You don't even know what
you're talking about. The Son of Man came to save
lives, not to destroy lives. So Jesus, it would
seem from that, calls them "sons of thunder." Sons of Zebedee,
sons of thunder. Now why that's a little odd,
and should be interesting to us, is that John has
been dubbed, you know what he's been
called the apostle of? Love. He's been called
the Apostle of Love by how tender he
writes this story. And how tender he
was toward Jesus. And for many reasons that
shows an intimacy and a warmth, and a tenderness in John. And yet, he really seemed
to have a temper, seemed to be short on the fuse. Temperamental. Angry. Impetuous. Some of the things we
typically ascribe to Peter, that was part of James
and John's makeup. But it shows you
how Jesus can change a life in 3 and 1/2 years. To turn men from sons of
thunder to sons who are tender. And to make John
so tender-hearted that he would lay
his head on Jesus' bosom at that Last Supper. And for so many other
reasons, I love the fact that lives can change if
they're willing to hang out with Jesus long enough. And he hung out with
Jesus for his ministry. So we need to go
over these verses and really understand them. And, again, we're in no hurry. I always set my sights high. I always think, oh, we can cover
at least a chapter, maybe two. But at least a chapter. But you're looking
now and thinking that's quite impossible
by this time. But that's OK. Here's the joy of
Wednesday night. We have our time. We do what we do and
we pick it up next time and we go through the gospel. Because we want to get certain
principles and certain verses understood by all. Some of you have read the
Bible, but not all of you have understood it. So let's go through
the Gospel of John now, kind of concept by concept. "In the beginning was
the Word," verse one, "and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God." Now notice this. "He," speaking of
the word, sounds like he's speaking of
an inanimate object. The word, a piece of
conversation, a word. But "he," the word, "he" was,
in the beginning, with God. So Matthew begins the
genealogy of Jesus Christ, do you remember with whom? Who was first in the
genealogical record? Abraham. Luke decides to take the
genealogy of Jesus Christ and go back even further
all the way to Adam. He begins with Adam. That's as far back as you
can get, you would think. But John actually does
him justice taking it all the way back to the very
beginning at the beginning. The point being is Jesus
never wasn't he always was. "In the beginning" sounds like
Genesis 1. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and
the earth." "In the beginning was the Word." Now that sounds strange to be
talking about a human being. A person. An entity. An entity with a human body. A personality. But to call the personality
by the term "the Word." It sounds so mystical. Ethereal. Philosophical. What's with calling
Jesus "the Word?" Why is that? Here's what you need to know. The Jews would sometimes
refer to God as "the Word." The Hebrew word is "Memra." The Greek word is "Logos." And that is because the Jewish
people have such a high respect for God they would
never use his given name in the Old Testament, Yahweh. They wouldn't say, Yahweh said. It was such an ineffable
name, an unpronounceable name, a perfect, holy name. They would either say,
Adonai, or simply say, Hashem, which means "the name." Or sometimes in their
writings, like the targums, which are commentaries on
Old Testament scriptures, they would simply use the
term, Memra, or the Word, as a designation of God Himself. So it was familiar
among the Jews. If you were to
say, the Word, they would think that means God, But also, in that day and
age, among the Greeks, they believed in what they
called the Logos, the Word. And that was a term used
by Greek philosophers. For you see, the
Greeks understood that the world in which we
live has a level of design, it would seem, or at least
predictable patterns. The light begins in the
morning, ends in the evening. There are rotations and
orbits of planets, et cetera. There are seasons. There are lengths of days,
that you can, after a while, observe and thus predict. So then they would ask the
question, what is the source, and what is the origin of
all of this ordered principle in the universe? Why the order? Why the symmetry? Why the predictability? They said, it must
be because there is a first principle,
an ordering principle, they called the Logos. The reason for the
order in the universe, according to Greek
philosophers, is because there existed a Logos, a Word. So appealing to
Jewish listeners, appealing to Greek
listeners-- remember, he's writing for the
world-- in the beginning was the Logos, the ordering
principle, the first cause, God himself. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the
beginning with God. A few years ago, I heard a
knock on my door during the day. And I looked through my
little eye hole in the door to see who it was. I was in my study at the
time, and I walked up, and I looked in there. And I saw two people there
with little green Bibles, green covers, and a little
magazine that said, Awake. So I knew that they were
Jehovah's Witnesses, Jehovah's Christian Witnesses. So I thought, well, this
will be interesting. [LAUGHTER] So I opened the door, and we
began having a conversation. And I'm pretty-- I know where
the conversation is going. I know their lines. I know what they're
going to say. I know what they've
been taught, and I know how they've been discipled. And it finally got to the
point where I brought up John, Chapter 1, verse 1. And they were ready. And one of them said, well,
you know, in the Greek, it says in the
beginning was the Word, and the word was with God,
and the Word was a god. And I looked, and I said,
are you sure about that? Oh yes, well attested to. It is. Well, so this person
showed me his Bible. It said, sure enough, in
the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God,
and the Word was a god. So I asked a couple
of questions. I always like to ask
them, first question, can you provide to me a
list of the translators of the New World Translation,
your translation? And they couldn't do it. And at that time, the
Watchtower Tract Society couldn't and wouldn't provide
a list of their translators, because every time they
do, the translators they quote say, we didn't say that. You're misquoting us. So when they told me that the
Greek says, the Word was a god, it piqued my interest. And I went, and I grabbed
my Greek New Testament out of my office. And I opened it up to
the Gospel of John. I spread it out, and I said,
show me here, in the Greek. Here is a Greek New Testament,
written in the Greek language. Read it. Show me. Now, I'll admit I was being a
little persnickety, a little pesky, a little mischievous. I'm no great Greek scholar. Trust me. But I was, during that
time, taking a Greek class from our resident Greek
scholar, Dr. Steven Collins. And so I was right in
the throes of that. And so I had been
studying that passage. So I said, show me where it is. And they both looked at it
and said, we can't read Greek. So I said, OK. Then let's just go through
the first couple of verses. [SPEAKING GREEK] Right here. [LAUGHTER] And they're going, OK. Now say, now, you'll notice
that last part that I just read, [GREEK] and
you'll notice that there is no direct article
before [GREEK] because-- and the predicate, notice
that the predicate is moved to the front of the sentence,
not typically, in English, to the end of the
sentence, like we do. But notice that
it's moved forward, and it's done that way to
prove a point by the author. The author is trying to show
the essence of something or someone. So it literally reads in
English, [GREEK] or and God was the Word. That's how it is
literally written. And that is because what
John is saying is this. The Word, as to His essential
being and essence, is God. He is, in very nature, God. That's how the Greek
construction goes. The conversation ended
very quickly after that. I tried, actually,
to bring them in, and I tried to go
through other scripture. And I could tell that
one was discipling, and the other one
said, no, no, no, no. We got to go. We got to go. And under their breath, we're
not going to be back, but-- [LAUGHTER] You can rely on this
translation in your English. This is what it says. This is a faithful translation
from the Greek manuscript. And the Word was God. He was in the
beginning with God. All things were
made through Him, and without Him, nothing
was made that was made. In Him was life, and the
life was the light of men. Jesus created all things. He is the Creator. He is the source of life. He comes to the Earth,
but He is the source and the origin of life. Every now and then, science
asks a logical question. And the question is,
if given enough time, can natural processes be
responsible for animate life? If given enough time,
can natural processes be responsible for animate life? And what's interesting
about that is, a few years ago,
the Wistar Institute assembled 50 mathematicians
and biologists for a summer, to analyze that issue. And the concluding
statement, without going through all of their stuff,
just this [? statement, ?] "Based on our understanding
of the laws of chemistry and physics and what we
know about randomness, mathematical randomness,
there is no way that the complexity of life
could just come about." The report goes on to
say, for randomness to be responsible for life is
a mathematical impossibility. No matter how old you
think the universe is, there just is not enough time,
by all the current models, not enough time for randomness
to be responsible for it. And so they came to the William
Paley's idea, the watchmaker idea. He was that guy from the 1700s
who said, if there is design, it shows there's a designer. If there's a watch, you can be
assured there's a watchmaker. It's funny, because I
forgot my watch tonight. But if you see a watch,
how foolish would it be to have you--
anybody have a watch on? OK, so as you look--
is that an Apple Watch? [LAUGHTER] Yeah. Do you like it? Okay.So it has nothing to
do with the [INAUDIBLE]. So what if I were to tell
you about your Apple Watch, hey, I know how that happened. I know how that came about. Millions of years
ago, millions of years ago, there was a collision and
an explosion and rocks flow down a stream, and
they hit each other. And then there was a
volcano, a volcano, that happened and
then more explosions. And over millions of years, just
the right chemicals, silicone, and everything came together,
and out of the ground, oozed that watch. [LAUGHTER] You'd say, you're an idiot. That's stupid. [LAUGHTER] But if I go, millions of years
ago, there was an explosion, and random things happened. And we're here. We go, now, that's
so intelligent. Oh, that is so advanced. No, that's so lame, because
I am much more complex than that little Apple Watch. As cool as that is,
by the way, you and I are just much more complex
and advanced than that. So if there is a
universe, there must be a universe maker because
of the complexity of life within it, just as
if there is a watch, there must be a watchmaker. So that's basically the idea
of the Wistar Institute. But John just tells
us what happened. All things were made
through Him, through Jesus, and without Him, nothing
was made that has been made. "In Him was life, and the
life was the light of men. And the light shines
in the darkness, and the darkness did
not comprehend it." Jesus is the source of life. But are you aware that
when the Bible speaks of life, when the New
Testament speaks of life, it speaks of three
different kinds of life? Today, most people think of
life as just biological life. And the Bible does speak
of that, though very, very sparingly, very rare
to find that word in the New Testament, though
it does speak of it. So there are three words. There is the first word, bios,
B-I-O-S, like bios, biology. And it means physical,
biological life. Heart pumping, lungs
breathing, that's bios. And the Bible does
speak of that. But what's interesting
is the New Testament, though it speaks of
it and uses the word, it uses it in a backhanded,
almost negative way. Jesus spoke about
the thorns that choke out the life of the
seed, the biological life. There is a second usage of
the term life in the Greek New Testament, and that's
the word psuche. Or we would say, psyche, which
sounds a lot like psychology. That's where we get
our term psychology. It means your inert,
mental life, the inner you, the inner satisfaction. Jesus said, if you want
to save your life, psuche, you have to surrender your life. The answer to finding peace
of mind and peace of soul is from surrendering your
life to Jesus Christ. But then there is the
third usage of it. And by far, it takes
the lion's share of all of the usages for life
translated from the Greek New Testament into English. And that's the
Greek word zoe, zoe. Even though in our
language, zoe has been translated
like zoology, zoe is a theological
term that speaks of a quality of life that comes
from God, a quality of life that comes from God. Yes, it will last forever. But even more than just
going on and on and on, it's a quality of life that
begins now and continues throughout all of eternity. New life, new zoe, is the
result of a new birth. Birth brings life,
the new birth. You must be born again. When you are born again, you
get zoe, a quality of life that lasts forever. So in Him was life. He's the origin of
biological life. He's also the source
of inner satisfaction, psychological life. But he's the giver
of everlasting life, eternal life, a quality
of life, abundant life that goes on and on and on. Verse 5 was a verse that I used
to question every time I read it. "And the light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness did
not comprehend it." And I discovered, I'm
not the only one that has trouble with it,
because it's translated a lot of different ways. Sometimes it says, and the
darkness did not overcome it, the darkness did
not apprehend it. Look at it this way. A fog has settled
upon the earth. A fog has come upon Narnia. So everywhere you look,
it's that cold, wintry fog. And Jesus Christ
comes along and is like the flashlight, the
foglight, that dispels the fog. And when people see the
light, they don't get it. They don't apprehend it. And they can't overcome
it, though they would like to overcome it, if they could. Have you ever
turned on the light, when somebody has been in a
dark room for a period of time? Or you open the shutters
early in the morning, and it's bright and sunny. And somebody is fast asleep,
and the first thing they say is, shut that light off. Close those blinds. The light can be
so blinding, all they want to do is eliminate it. They don't get it. They don't apprehend it. They don't want it. "In Him was life, and his
life was the light of men. Light shined in the darkness. The darkness did not comprehend,
apprehend, or overcome it. There was a man sent from
God whose name was John." This is John the baptizer. "This man came for a witness
to bear witness of the light, that all through
him might believe. He was not that
light, but was sent to bear witness of that light." What do we know about
John the Baptist? Well, we know his mom and dad. His dad was a priest
in the temple. His name was Zacharias. His mom's name was Elizabeth. They were childless. They were in their older age. And one day, Zacharias goes
into the temple to burn incense. And there, standing at the
right of the Altar of Incense, is an angel, who
said he was Gabriel. And he said, Zechariah,
you and your wife Elizabeth are going to have a baby. And he's going to be great
in the sight of the Lord. He's going to be filled with
the Holy Spirit from his womb. And he's going to turn
many of the hearts of the people of Israel
back to the Lord their God. He'll turn the
hearts of the fathers to the children and the
children to the fathers. So Zecharias gets a vision
from the angel Gabriel about he and his elder wife
going to have a child. And I love his response to it. If you saw an angel at work,
a bona fide lit-up angel, you probably wouldn't
do what Zacharias did or say what Zacharias said. It will be just so amazing
to you, you just go, what! You tell everybody. And every Christian television
show would want you on. You could write books about it. Some do. But Zecharias says, well,
how do I know that's true? Dude, an angel
shows up, and you're asking that lame question? [LAUGHTER] He said, I'll tell you how. I'm Gabriel, and
you're not going to be able to speak until
he's born, to shut him up. Can you just see, he
goes home that night. His wife says, honey,
you never say anything. [LAUGHTER] Well, he couldn't
speak for months. He had to write things out. And then John was finally born. Now, when Elizabeth, his
wife, was five to six months pregnant, Mary, who
had been conceived by the Holy Spirit in her
womb, went to go visit, because they were cousins,
to visit Elizabeth. And as soon as Mary
came to the door and called out Elizabeth's
name, the Bible says, the babe leaped for
joy in Elizabeth's womb and that that baby was
filled with the Holy Spirit from pregnancy onward. Jesus said he was the
greatest man who ever lived. Because his dad was a
priest, John the Baptist should have been a priest. He would follow in his
father's footsteps. The son of the priest
would become a priest. It's by bloodline. But you see, John was
a little bit different. One day, his wife turned
to her husband and said, sweetheart, have you
noticed John lately? He's wearing camel's hair. His hair is awfully long. And he keeps eating bugs. They fly into the house. He grabs these. He's like-- I don't
know what the deal is. No, I don't know if they had
that conversation or not, but we do know that he did
probably take a Nazarite vow his whole life. He was separated. His hair grew long. He didn't touch anything that
had to do with grapes or wine or the fruit of the vine. He wouldn't touch a dead body
or anything that defiled him. That's how Nazarites lived. So he was completely
separated for God's purpose and didn't want
anything or any activity to contaminate or diminish
his calling and his ability to preach God's message. That was John, John the Baptist. "He was not that
light, but he was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light, which
gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world. The world was made through Him,
and the world did not know Him. He came unto His own, and
His own did not receive Him. But as many as
received Him, to them He gave the right to
become children of God, 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. And the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His
glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." I love the way John writes. I love it. And this reminds me of what
he said in First John, Chapter 1, verse 1, that which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have gazed steadfastly upon and
our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life. Can you imagine
hanging out with Jesus? And after a period
of time, you're going to go, who is this guy? Where does He come from? And then it dawns
on you one day. He knows everything I think. He can do any miracle. He knows what
everybody else thinks. He claims to be the
fulfillment of scripture. He does everything
that I read about God doing in the Old Testament. This guy, I believe this
guy is God in human flesh. And then to say, we
hung out with Him. We heard Him. We scoped Him out. We saw. This is the Word of life. This is the source
of everything, the Memra, the Logos. And the Word became flesh. Now, we know, without a
doubt, that the Word here refers to Jesus, because
the Word became flesh. That's the incarnation. "And dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth. OK. Go back to verse 11. Notice this. He came unto His own, and
His own did not receive him. The first time it says His
own, in the Greek language, it's in the neuter. You know what neuter is, right? It's not masculine. It's not feminine. It's neuter, neutral. The second usage of
His own in that verse is masculine and
refers to people. So it is probably
best translated, He came unto His own
things-- neuter-- and His own people
did not receive Him. That's how many translations
take this spin on it. He came unto His own
things, or His own creation, but His own people
did not receive him. But as many as did
receive Him, He gave them the right to
become children of God. You get the point there? So here's what we discover. The Word, Who made the heavens
and the Earth, becomes flesh. And He comes to
His own creation. And my, how His
creation responds. Water is able to hold Him up,
because He made that water. Oh, I don't understand the
physics; don't need to. The Creator just willed that so. Creation responded
to the Creator. People who are dead
come back to life, because the Creator can do that. He can speak life into them. He has control over
every physical force. The creation, the physical
universe, is responding to Him. He came to His own things. But when it comes
to people, that have a will, their own
volitional capabilities, they did not receive Him. His own people,
the Jewish people, with all of those predictions
made about their Messiah, His own people did not receive. The creation did. They were responsive. But the people of God, who
had the text of scripture and the prophets
who foretold Him, they did not receive
Him, generally. But some did. And that's why it says, "As
many as did receive Him, to them He gave the power"--
or the right or the authority, it could be translated--
"to become children of God, 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. And the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us." Now, I think there's something
else you need to know. And probably things,
then, from now on, when you read things like
this, and First John, Second John, Third
John, are going to make more sense to you. At least I hope. That's the whole purpose of
me studying this and teaching you this. One of the things John
was writing against, when he wrote the
Gospel of John, and First, Second,
and Third John, was, at that time,
a philosophy that was being believed in the
church, called gnosticism. And without explaining
it all to you, let me just say that
part of gnosticism said that Jesus Christ
only seemed to be human. He really wasn't. He was special, and
He seemed to be human. But they had all these stories,
like, when He would walk, He wouldn't leave
footprints in the sand, and all these things that said
He wasn't a real human being, because God, when He created
the world, created emanations. And an emanation was created
that was so far from God, it didn't even know God. They have a whole
hierarchical, weird teaching, weird structure. But they denied
that Jesus Christ had a physical, human body. So what I'm trying
to get you to realize is that the first attack
against Jesus Christ was not an attack on His deity. It was an attack
on His humanity. It's called gnosticism. And one of the reasons John
writes the gospel, as well as the letters-- First,
Second, and Third John-- is to fight against the
error of gnosticism, so much so, that in
First John, he says, whoever does not confess
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not
of God; is antichrist. What John wants you to know
is that this Jesus was God, but He was fully human, as
well as being fully divine. He was undiminished deity
in unprotected humanity. That's how John presents
Him; undiminished deity in a body of
unprotected humanity. He was fully man. He felt things. He wept over things. He had pain that went
through his body. He didn't seem to be
human, he was fully human; fully divine, and fully human. The Word became flesh. "John bore witness of Him"--
this is John the Baptist-- "and cried out, saying,
'This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me
is preferred before me, for He was before me." It goes all the way
back to the beginning. "And of His fullness we have all
received, and grace for grace." I love this new song our worship
team has introduced to us. "Grace After
Grace," I love that. Because that's the idea. It's grace after
grace after grace. It's like the waves of an ocean. One crashes in and then recedes. And as one goes out,
another one comes in. And so it's this free-flowing of
wave after wave of God's grace, unending. It keeps going, generation
after generation. Get a surfboard and ride
the wave of God's grace. I love that. "Of His fullness, we have all
received, and grace after grace after grace. For the law was
given through Moses, but grace and truth came
through Jesus Christ." So now, John begins
to draw a comparison between the law of Moses, the
old covenant, and the free gift of grace, the new covenant. Is there a difference? Tuh. Is there a difference
between night and day? The law demands
righteousness from man. And the covenant of grace gives
righteousness to man from God. The law says, you better
perform your works. Grace says, here is the work of
Jesus Christ, finished, done, can't add to it, can't
subtract from it. It's not your works. It's His work. He lived the perfect life
you could never live. And then He died an atoning
death, your sin upon Him. The law came by Moses,
but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. "No one has seen
God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is
in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. What does that mean, no man
has seen God at any time? It means that no man
in history has ever seen the full,
undiminished glory of God in his total essence. They would love to. Moses prayed for that
in Deuteronomy 33. He said, Lord, I just have
one little, final request. I want to see Your glory. It's quite a prayer. I mean, Moses-- if I'm there,
I'm going, Moses, Moses, you've seen more than I've
seen, and you're not happy? I didn't see a Red Sea open up. You did. I didn't see the Egyptians die
because of all those plagues. You did. I didn't see manna on
the ground every day. You did. I didn't see water
coming out of a rock, Mo. You did. I would think, after all
the incredible, miraculous experiences, you would
say, this is awesome. I've had enough. He goes, I just want to, just,
I would like to see Your glory. God is so tender
with Mo, and He says, you know, Mo, if I let you
do that, you'll just burn up. You'll fry up. No man can see Me and live. No man can see the undiminished
fullness of God in His essence. So God said, I'll pass
before you, and you will see, sort of like the afterglow, the
afterburn, the after effect, of my presence. But you cannot see Me. No man can see me and live. So then Jesus comes along. No man has seen God at any time. But notice the
thought of the verse. "The only begotten Son, Who
is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed Him,"
or declared Him, or shown Him forth. What did Jesus say? If you've seen Me, you
have seen the Father. Philip said, just
like Moses, Lord, all we want, well, just
show us the Father. That's all we want. Again, I go, OK, dude,
you've seen miracles. You've seen Jesus. And you-- no, we just want
to see God the Father. You keep talking
about the Father. Just show Him. Have I been so long a time with
you, you don't know who I am? If you've seen me,
you've seen the Father. I and the Father are one. I understand the prayer. I've been in situations,
oh, Lord, just give me a glimpse of your glory. Just give me a little more. It will get me through the day. It'll get me through
this experience. But see, Jesus comes
along, and He shows us God. And here's, I think, the point. God is aloof and distant
and fuzzy and unclear, until Jesus comes along
and makes Him clear. He comes on the scene, and
when you hear Him speak, that's God talking. When you see Jesus heal
people who are sick, you go, that's God's compassion. He loves people. Look at how he's
treating people. I'm seeing God in action. I'm hearing the
words of God spoken from the lips of this Messiah. He has brought Him forth. And so verse 14 and verse 18
should be brought together. "The Word became flesh
and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory." Verse 18-- "No man has
seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is
in the bosom of the father, He has declared Him." Now this is the
testimony of John. Do you think we're going
to finish this chapter? I think not. "This is the testimony of John. When the Jews sent priests
and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? He confessed and he said,"
well, I'll tell you who I'm not. I'm not the Christ. He knew they were thinking
he must be the Messiah. So I'll tell you who I'm not. I am not the Christ. "And they said, What then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the prophet?" He answered, nope. "Then they said to
him, who are you, that we may give an answer
to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" And he said, I am the great
son of Zacharias the priest. Oh, it doesn't say he said that. But he could've. He said, let me
tell you who I am. I've got credentials. My dad's a priest in the temple. And by the way, I've been
filled with the Holy Spirit since I was in the womb. Let's see, number three, I'm
the greatest man who ever lived. I mean, he had a whole
litany of things, miraculous birth by
my parents, et cetera. He said, "I am," quoting
Isaiah 40, "the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the
way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah has said." I love John the Baptist. Fiery, yes. Fiery, yes, but
I love his heart. He says, I'm not the Word. I'm just the voice. He's the Word. I'm just the voice
declaring the Word. He's the real message. I'm just the messenger. I love that. You have a message. And the message is Jesus. You don't have to make one up. And I love it when
preachers stick with teaching the
Bible, instead of, I've got to make up
something really cool. No you don't. Don't make anything
up, cool or not cool. Just say what the
Bible actually says. Just teach the text
of the Word, and you will discover the text of
the Word, the Word has power. The living Word, Jesus
Christ, has power, and He will use
the written Word. You don't have to make up
something cool and clever to get the gospel hep and
cool, and look at my message. We don't care
about your message. You don't have a message. He is the message. You're just the messenger. And the world is in a mess. And the world in a mess needs
messengers giving the message. And the message isn't you. It's Him. [APPLAUSE] I'm just the voice of one
crying in the wilderness, make straight the
ways of the Lord. I'm the road worker. That's what John says. I'm just the road crew. He's the Way. He's the Path. He's the Road. I'm just the dude
that works the road. I'm pointing, and I'm
getting the road straight. But he's the Road. Walk on it. Follow Him. Serve Him. Make Jesus the message. Keep Jesus the
center of your life. Learn His Word. Learn His Word to you. Take it in. Learn to love it;
the Word, personally as Jesus and the words
that He has provided. "Now, those who were sent
were from the Pharisees. And they asked Him, saying,
why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ,
nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" Dude, you're out
baptizing people, and you're not any
of those people. You're not Elijah the prophet. You're not the Messiah,
and you're not the prophet. That's a very, very
important question. But next week, we'll tell you
why they asked that question, and what the answer
to that issue is. But hey, we've covered
half a chapter. Father, thank you for
the testimony of John, an eyewitness, one
who saw, studied, and heard the Word
of life, the Word Who was from the beginning,
the preexistent One, God the Son, who became the
Son of Man and Son of God to us on this earth. [MUSIC PLAYING] Lord, it says, as
many as received Him, He gave them the power to
become the children of God, to those who would
believe in His name. That's the difference between
the law and the grace. If I just believe that Jesus has
done for me what I could never do for me, but I let Jesus
live His life through me. That's life. Lord, I pray that as we
live our biological life, working with our
psychological life, that they would both be informed
by our eternal, everlasting, age-abiding life. I pray that we would not live
for biological pleasure or even mental satisfaction,
but we would seek first the Kingdom of
God, and all these things would be added to us. Just as Jesus said, if you
lose your life, you'll find it, and if you want
to find real life, you surrender your life, Lord,
we close in a song of surrender to You. We pray, Lord, that
you would take from us, this evening, those cares
that we're dealing with, those struggles, those diseases,
those worries for children, worries for friends, worries
for parents, those things that gnaw at us and nag at us,
those unresolvable conflicts that we have tried, but
been unable to solve. And we surrender it
all to You, that we might enjoy, in our
minds, in our bodies, in our spirits, true
life that comes from You. It's in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. If you've missed any
of our Expound studies, all of our services
and resources are available at Expoundabq.org. [MUSIC PLAYING]
