The Book of John - 5

Introduction: We have arrived at the place where the narrative concerning the book of John begins.

From verses 15 and on we will be dealing with the witnesses presented to us in this first chapter of John.

I. Prologue - The Revelation of the Word 1:1-14

A. The Word vs. 1-5, 9-14

The eternality of the Word. vs. 1a

The co-existence of the Word. vs. 1b-2

The deity of the Word. vs.1c

The Creator God: the Word. v3

5. The Word is life and the Light. v4-9

6. The Word was not recognized by the World. v10

7. The Word was rejected by His own. v11

8. The Word is received by some. v12-13

We have moved from the inconceivable in contemplating our Lord and Savior, the Word, to a direct presentation of the Gospel.

Verse 5 declares for us the dividing line for all of men.

The Bible says, “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” John 1:5

The actual idea of this verse is that the darkness, did not receive or apprehend the light.

The word that is translated as “comprehend” means to grasp or lay hold on. It also indicates this idea of overtaking or defeating.

It is the same truth that we find in John 3:19, 20 “19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”

The Lord spoke about this dividing line in John 5:38-40 where He states, “And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.”

All of this is wrapped up in what we discover in verse 12, which is believing on Him, receiving the Lord Jesus Christ.

The message comes in the book of John comes with this question at every turn, will you believe Him?

As John in introduces the sum of this Gospel record, He is declaring that that there are only two responses to be taken.

And so as we saw last week verse 10 tells us “the world knew him not.”

And we thought about the irony and magnitude of such a statement.

The Creator-God who became man without ceasing to be God was not known by His creatures.

But then it progresses even further, “his own received him not.” v11

At this point in this opening dialogue we are in a miserable state, lost and without hope.

The world did not receive Him, His own covenant people did not receive…the situation is bleak.

But lest we should think that the all hope is gone, we find this wonderful truth concerning the Gospel.

Verse 12 tells us, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”

In this statement is both the inclusiveness of the Gospel, but also the exclusiveness of the Gospel.

The Gospel is available to all.

This is evident by the words stated at the beginning “as many as received him...”

Salvation to man can only be received.

It is a “gift of God” through Jesus Christ our Lord according to Romans 6:23.

It is by the grace of God, through faith that we enter into Salvation. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

The opposite of this is found in man’s religion which carnally assumes we can work to somehow appease God and erase the debt that we owe because of our sin.

This is refuted in this very verse, verse 12.

It is further refuted when we read Romans 11:6 “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”

If Salvation is by God’s grace, then it cannot be by works.

We see further in this verse that the authority or right (that word translated as power) to become the sons of God comes by belief “on his name...”

I want to give three points concerning this matter before we look at verse 13 which spells out that God is the One who saves us.

We understand from this verse that that when we believe on His name we are receiving the Lord Jesus Christ.

AW Pink - “Believing respects Christ as He is exhibited by the Gospel testimony; it is personal acceptance of what God has said concerning His Son. Receiving, views Christ as presented to us as God’s Gift, presented for our acceptance.”

John Philips - “It is not enough to believe that Jesus is a Savior, not enough to believe that Jesus is the Savior. He must become my Savior.”

Notice what the Bible says, “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on His name.”

What does this mean?

Let me give you three statements to think about concerning our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe in who the Lord Jesus Christ is.

(That is, we understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Word incarnate.)

He is the True Light. He is the Lamb of God. He is Immanuel, God with us. He is the only begotten Son of God (uniquely the Son of God). He is the Savior....and He is my Savior.

He is the only way, truth, and life.

Jesus’ precious name tells the story. His name, His earthly name means Jehovah is Savior. That blessed verse in Matthew describes this wonderful name, Matthew 1:20-21 “20 But while he thought on these things [Joseph], behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

We believe His words.

(The Bible tells us that, “the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”)

It is evident that Jesus came for the purpose of seeking and saving man. This is expressed repeatedly in the Scriptures.

He did not just come to display a perfect man, though He is the perfect man, but He came to die for me.

He is fully-God and fully-man.

He states, “I and my father are one.” (John 10:30)

He states, “...Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58)

He states, “...I am the Bread of Life.” (John 6:35)

We believe His works.

All that the Lord Jesus Christ has done, is doing and will do, we believe.

Our faith rests in the Scriptures concerning those things which He has done and will do. His promises we trust.

John 14:9-11 “9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.”

So we see from this, the ray of hope.

And His Light is still shining today.

Men and Women all over this world are still receiving Him as their Lord and Savior.

Just as the Bible has declared man’s responsibility in their response to the True Light, we have a verse here that shows us the operation of God in saving us.

This is shown by three great negative statements and one great positive statement.

Notice what the Bible says in verse 13.

“Which were born, (1)not of blood, (2)nor of the will of the flesh, (3)nor of the will of man, but of God.”

You and I, by believing and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ are born again of God.

The great verbs in verse 12 are believe, receive, and become.

But here we see the result…We are born of God.

The first negative statement shows us that human descent does not turn us into a child of God.

This was the great fallacy of some of the Jews. They believed because they were physically of Abraham’s seed that they did not have to receive the Lord Jesus Christ.

In John 8:39-40 during the heat of one of the confrontations with the Savior we find these words,

John 8:39-40 “39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.”

You have probably heard the same being stated by others today.

It may go something like this, “My dad is or was a preacher.”

“My grandfather took me to church everyday when I was younger.”

“My mom loves the Lord and I went with her to church.”

And while having a godly heritage is certainly a wonderful thing and something we should thank the Lord for, it is God alone who regenerates the sinner when they believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ.

Whether one heritage is godly or not, our Salvation rests on Christ and Christ alone.

The second negative statement shows us that human desire does not turn us into a child of God.

Not amount of wishful thinking will make someone a child of God.

It has been said before, just because you hang out in garage it does not make you a car.

John Philips said it this way, “I might wish I were the child of a millionaire but that does not make me one.”

Many people have the idea that they can will themselves into being born again.

This is not the case. The one and only way to be saved is by believing and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ.

The operation of being born again is something that only God can do.

Titus 3:5 states, “5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”

There are times when people will come among God’s people having not received Jesus Christ as Savior and they may fancy themselves a child of God because they enjoy being around clean and honest people.

But here we see that we are not born again by the will of the flesh.

The third negative statement shows us that human design does not turn us into a child of God.

No amount of human resolve or design can spiritually birth a child of God.

Parents may have there child baptized, but that does not make them a child of God.

A person may live a moral life, perform religious duties, be stedfast at a local church somewhere, but none of those human designs make a new birth.

The Lord Jesus Christ made this clear when He stated to Nicodemus in John 3:5-6 that the new birth is dependent upon the Holy Spirit of God.

“5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

It is a spiritual birth that is required to be a child of God and that birth is “(1)not of blood, (2)nor of the will of the flesh, (3)nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Herein are the two parts concerning this matter of Salvation. There is man’s responsibility to respond to the True Light. Then we have the operation of God where we becomes sons of God by being born of God.

And so understanding this we go on to this last verse in verse 14.

This verse is one of the most profound verses in all of the Bible concerning the incarnation of the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ.

10. The Word was made Flesh.

v14 And the Word was made 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.”

There are in total four positive statements to which we can look to packed in this one verse.

This first is the mystery of the ages. The fact that God became man without ceasing to be God.

The Bible tells us that “the Word was made flesh...”

We are reminded of the words found in the other accounts of Matthew and Luke and realize that the incarnation was through the operation of the Holy Ghost.

In Luke 1:35 the Bible says, “35 And the angel answered and said unto her (Mary), The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

Luke uses 2500 words to tell the story of the incarnation, whereas John uses four.

John Philips -“The birth of the Lord Jesus was unique. When any other child is born into this world, it is the creation of a new personality…But when Jesus was born, it was not the creation of a new personality at all. It was the coming into this world of a person who had existed from all eternity. This was something new in the history of the universe. No wonder the angels awoke slumbering echoes of the Judean hills that night with their anthems of praise.”

What does the Bible mean by saying this, “the Word was made flesh...”

I think Matthew 1:23 describes it best, “23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

The Word became flesh…incarnate which means robed in flesh...

Galatians 4:4-5 “4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

The next salient truth that we find is not only was the Word made flesh, but the Bible says,

“…and dwelt among us...”

We just discussed this in HRSOTB on Thursday, how it is that

In the Old Testament the Lord Jesus Christ was declared prophetically, that is by prophecy, but He was also declared typically.

That is there were objects and people in the Old Testament that foreshadowed in certain ways the coming of the King of Glory.

Here in our text John uses the term σκηνόω skenoo (‘dwelt’) which simply means to take up residence or to live with.

The idea is that the Word by His incarnation tabernacled with us.

And this idea is bore out in the Scriptures when we read about the Tabernacle, that Moses set up in wilderness.

Literally it was the place of meeting with God.

From the outward appearance the Tabernacle was nothing remarkable, for the covering was basic like most tents and whitewashed by the sun.

“The only flash of color was at the gate which gave access to the brazen altar and hinted to the hidden beauties within.” - John Philips

When the tabernacle moved all of the beautiful golden furniture was carefully covered from eyesight from place to place.

“…thus the glory of the Lord Jesus was hidden glory. When he came to “pitch his tent” among us he did not lay aside his deity, but he veiled his glory...” (John Philips)

And so what a remarkable thing to consider, the mystery of the ages, the Word became flesh… He was fully God and fully man. He not only became robed in flesh, but the Bible says “and he dwelt among us...”

Next week we will close out the last of these four statements and consider the beholding of His glory… and the fact that He is full of grace and full of truth.