The Gospel of John

I. Introduction

The Gospel of John is an incredible book.

The purpose of the book is found John 20:30-31.

John 20:30–31 “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

It is important that John uses the word signs. The signs Jesus did were not to arouse wonder and amazement in our hearts. What Jesus did was to show that He was indeed the Son of God who came in the flesh.

John’s gospel was written to encourage and promote faith in Jesus Christ.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote what are called the Synoptic Gospels. They took a biographical or chronological approach to the life of Jesus. John’s gospel follows more of a theological course.

This is logical if you think about it.

The Gospel of John was written about 30 years after the Synoptic Gospels. It is almost as if John wrote for those who were already familiar with the facts of Jesus’s life and ministry but needed the theological reasons why believing in Jesus Christ was necessary for eternal life as John’s gospel is the only gospel that tells a person specifically how to be saved.

I do not know if you realize this, but I think it important to the understanding of what John wrote. They were all dead. All of the other New Testament writers had been martyred or were dead except for John. His writings are the exclamation points to what else had been said and written about Jesus. It is toward that end that John says that he wrote what he wrote so that you, JP Williams, can believe on Jesus Christ as the Son of God who gives eternal life.

II. The Eternal Word.

John 1:1–3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

John 1:10 “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.”

John establishes that from the very beginning Jesus existed.

Notice what John says. He says in the beginning was the Word. Does that phrase sound familiar?

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

John purposefully links the first verse of his gospel to the first verse in the Bible. He is verifying that Jesus is eternal.

Can I ask you a serious yet important question?

Is Jesus Christ God? _______________

If He is, and He is, His existence is eternal. He was in the beginning. He was before the beginning. As a matter of fact, all three members of the Godhead have always been. If the Trinity has not always been, how can the Trinity be God?

You see the Trinity in action working in unison in the first verses of the Bible.

Genesis 1:1–3 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”

The One who said “Let there be light” was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word was Jesus. It is Jesus who was with God, and it is Jesus who is God.

Because He is the eternal Word, all things were made through Jesus Christ. Without Him, nothing was made. (Colossians 1:15-17)

Colossians 1:15–17 “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

Jesus Christ made all things, and all things consist through Him. How is that phrase by Him all things consist to be defined?

Think of all the constants in the universe. The water cycle, photosynthesis, the nitrogen cycle, the orbit of the earth, the consistency of matter, the consistency of nature, the consistency of science. and the consistency of time are consistent because of Jesus Christ. Water is always going to freeze at 32 degrees. It is constant. Gravity is always going to be. An hour is always going to be 60 minutes, and 60 seconds will always be one minute.

Ecclesiastes 1:4–5 “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.”

Ecclesiastes 1:6–7 “The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.”

Nature is consistent because the Word says that it will be.

Genesis 8:21–22 “And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

This is the most important point in the Bible, and if you can come to grips with this, the rest of the Bible falls into place.

Jesus Christ has always been. He is the Agent of Creation. He holds the Creation together, and it is He who is Sovereign.

Jesus Christ did not come into existence in that manger at Bethlehem. He did not become the Son of God at His baptism. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. It is the absolute, essential, and necessary truth.

Jesus Christ has always been, but He submitted to the Father’s will and entered this world veiled in human flesh in Bethlehem. John goes out of his way to make two critical points. (John 1:14)

John 1:14 “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.”

The first point John makes regards the humanity of Christ. The Word was made flesh. (1 John 1:1-3)

1 John 1:1–2 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)”

1 John 1:3 “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

John describes the “physical” appearance and attributes of Jesus. He says that he had heard Jesus, seen Jesus, looked upon Jesus, and handled Jesus. John leaves no doubt to the humanity of Christ.

The second point John makes regards the glory of Christ.

Matthew 17:1–2 “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.”

Acts 1:9 “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.”

Revelation 1:12–14 “And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;”

Revelation 1:15–17 “And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:”

Revelation 1:18 “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

John witnessed Jesus in the flesh, and John witnessed Jesus in His glory, and John boldly proclaims who Jesus is. Jesus is the Son of God who is God who has always been with God, and will always been, and I personally do not know how you can be saved if you deny that fact.

It is a dangerous theology to attack the deity of Christ, and that is exactly what you are doing if you question John 1:1 and Genesis 1:1.

John wrote his gospel to show that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. It is belief in that fact that leads to salvation. If believing in Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God was not important, why would John make the effort to explain the eternality of Christ?

John established the eternality of Christ in verses 1-3, and verse 14.

III. The True Light. John 1:4-5, 9-13.

John 1:4–5 “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

John 1:9–11 “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”

John 1:12–13 “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: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Boy, Mrs. Sylvia, these verses become a matter of how deep you want to go into God’s Word.

The absolute fact of the matter is this.

God is LIGHT. 1 John 1:5.

1 John 1:5 “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

God is light and in Him there is no darkness. In other words, it is impossible for God to sin. Sin is darkness. God is light. Darkness and light cannot coexist; therefore, God and sin cannot coexist.

Where there is darkness, there is no light. As a matter of fact, the definition of darkness is the absence of all light. For the human being, that means where there is sin, there is no relationship with God. That is what lies at the heart of the human problem.

Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”

It is man’s nature to sin. Because of our nature, mankind cannot, own his own, live in the light. That is why Jesus Christ, the Light, had to come into the world. It is through His Light that I can have a relationship and a fellowship with God.

Think about it logically.

The New Creation began when the Word said Let there be light.

Becoming a new creation through Christ is made possible by the entrance of the light into the heart and soul.

2 Corinthians 4:5–6 “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

The coming of Jesus Christ into the world was the dawning of a new day for sinful humanity. Because of that Light coming into the world, a special privilege has been transferred to each believer, the privilege of becoming a child of God.

John 1:12–13 “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: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

IV. Conclusion

Let me tie this into a neat little package.

Light and darkness cannot coexist. When a Christian sins, is that Christian in the light or darkness?

When a Christian sins, that Christian is in darkness and can have no fellowship with God or other Christians. To stay in the light, to stay in that fellowship, a Christian must acknowledge sin in his or her life and confess it.

I believe that refusal to acknowledge personal sin is the number one problem in churches today, and it leads to the world not seeing the light.

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

1 John 1:5–7 “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

1 John 1:8–10 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

Let me prove it to you by asking a question.

When people in the church talk about sin, whose sin are they quick to mention? The sins of the lost world.

The lost world is already in darkness. Darkness cannot chase away darkness. Christians rarely mention their sins or sins within the church, but those are the sins that block the light from reaching the world.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. AMEN!!!!!