The Season of New Birth
The Light Shines in the Darkness • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
· The Siege of Bastogne, The Battle of the Bulge.
o 101st Airborne Division surrounded. Bravely defending their territory on all sides.
o General Patton mobilized his 3rd Army to come to the relief of the embattled troopers.
o On December 26th, 1944, the 4th Armored Division finally broke through the encirclement.
o However, to this day the survivors of the Siege of Bastogne refuse to acknowledge that they were ever in need of rescue.
· This is a famous, and timely example of no good deed going unpunished.
o Many missionaries have met unfortunate ends at the hands of violent responses to their attempts to preach the good news.
Context
Context
· At this point we see John begin to enter the historical record.
o This is important because, while John is giving a theological explanation of the person and work of Jesus Christ, it isn’t just ideas and concepts about God.
§ John’s theology is rooted and grounded in real historical events.
§ Salvation is about God’s actions in human history to save sinners.
· John’s prologue leads us to an important question. What is the greatest need in the world today?
o If you took a poll, you would likely receive many different answers.
§ Universal brotherhood.
§ Peace.
§ Love.
§ Freedom.
o Movements in recent history have set forth other issues that they consider of paramount importance: Ending world hunger, poverty, racism, climate change, saving the whales.
§ In fact, the save the whales people are fighting against the climate change people because the climate change people’s windmills are killing the whales.
· For John, the answer is that the greatest need that the world has is faith in Jesus Christ.
o That’s why he says his reasons for writing his gospel in John 20:31:
31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
o And God has sent many witnesses to testify to that effect.
The Light of God is Witnessed (1:6-8)
The Light of God is Witnessed (1:6-8)
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
· Witnesses are essential to the integrity of many of our civilization’s most precious systems, such as criminal justice, journalism, and academia.
o Witnesses establish the credibility of claims.
o If there is credibility to a claim, we are constrained by reason to believe the claim.
· John’s gospel provides a great many witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
1. The Father testifies about the Son.
18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”
2. Jesus’s testimony about Himself.
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
3. Jesus’s works in the Father’s name.
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,
4. Scripture’s witness about the Son.
39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
5. Scripture prophesied that John the Baptist would bear witness to the Messiah.
6. The many men and women that encountered Jesus personally and came away changed.
25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
7. Jesus’s disciples
27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
8. The Holy Spirit
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
· John the Baptist’s importance to the gospel is difficult to overestimate.
o He is in all four gospels.
o Each presents a different part of his story, but his mission is always the same. To prepare Israel to receive their King.
o Jesus said of him in John 5:35:
35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
o Many of Jesus’s early disciples were first John’s disciples because of John’s faithful witness to the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)
John 1:29 (ESV)
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
· John the Baptist is not just a forerunner witness of Jesus, he sets an example for us today of how we can be good witnesses of Jesus.
o We are also Jesus’s witnesses, and we can learn from the way that John did it.
o He tended to the content of the Christian message.
§ It wasn’t about proper theological thought.
§ It wasn’t about proper religious practice.
§ It was about the gospel that saves.
· Many of the disciples have distilled this message for us beautifully.
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—
23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.
33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,
2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
There is only one message that leads to salvation, and we must be careful not to drift from it.
· John is also careful about the manner of his witness.
o He was not the light: John understood that it was not about him, and he consistently shines the spotlight on the real Light.
o And for this reason, Jesus says of him,
11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
o Imagine that! Jesus says that John the Baptist is the greatest man who ever lived…we should be careful students of the way he does things.
§ It’s not about us, it’s all about Him.
§ We are completely dependent upon an external source for our effectiveness.
§ As a lamp needs fuel to shine its life, so we need the power and ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit and fellowship with Christ to be effective at making disciples.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
· Finally, John keeps the proper goal of Christian witness.
o “That all might believe through Him”
o We are here to persuade others to believe in Jesus Christ, and so we must do it the right way.
§ Displaying the power and grace of God through our changed lives.
· Respectful
· Loving
· Earnest
· Persistent
· Though we are witnesses to the Light of God who came into the world, John says that the world will not receive the light in the same way.
· First,
The Light of God is Rejected (1:9-11)
The Light of God is Rejected (1:9-11)
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
· John was a light, but he was not the light.
· Jesus is called the truelight.
o This carries the sense of genuineness and realness.
o There may be other lights that we can perceive in the world.
§ Ideas, products, work, etc.
· They may offer some satisfaction for a time, but they can’t satisfy in an eternal sense.
o No idea can transcend Creation.
o No product can serve us completely.
o No work can provide ultimate meaning apart from Christ.
o Jesus is the true Light:
§ He sufficiently reveals everything about God, us, life, and eternity in Himself.
§ He inspires us to become who we are truly meant to be.
· He is the perfect example of Mankind…the new and better Adam.
§ He has the power to change our hearts.
§ He guides us in the righteous path.
· But not everyone who perceives the light of Christ will be saved, and that’s the hard truth about the world.
o Some will turn away from the light.
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
o There are, broadly, two ways that this rejection occurs.
1. The irreligious person rejects Jesus because of the darkness of their hearts.
§ They reject and run away and hide in the darkness, where they can try not to examine their failure.
· Jesus’s light exposes our sin.
2. The religious person loves the darkness because it makes them seem better comparatively.
§ The darkness allows them to seem like a bright light.
§ After all, every candle seems bright until the sun comes up.
o That the Jews rejected Jesus should give us reason for somber reflection.
§ They had an embarrassment of riches.
§ They had the Scriptures, which should have prepared them to receive Christ.
§ But their many blessings were not enough to save them, because they preferred to be the light in the world rather than to point to the true light as John the Baptist did.
· Commentator Richard Phillips makes an expert application from this rejection to our lives:
The Incarnation in the Gospels Light for a Darkened World
Apart from God’s saving grace, we all reject Jesus rather than humble ourselves, confessing and forsaking our sin.
· So, it falls to us to shine Jesus’s light before those in the darkness.
o We have a duty not to allow the works done in darkness to be hidden…we draw them out by the preaching of the gospel and calling people to come into the light and be saved.
· As we do this work, we are bolstered by the knowledge that Jesus’s power overcomes every darkness.
o He makes himself known through us:
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
· But there is great hope for those who do not reject the Light of God shown in Jesus Christ.
The Light of God is Accepted (1:12-13)
The Light of God is Accepted (1:12-13)
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
· Faith is the means by which we receive the light. And adoption is the treasure that we gain.
· Faith is not just a vague idea of a Jesus.
o There are too many Jesus’s who are nothing more than idealized versions of who people think they are; who they wish they were.
· We must have faith in the real Jesus. Jesus as he reveals Himself.
o His person (the Son of God incarnate), His character (active obedience), and His work (redemption).
o We must believe that his work can save us. We must receive the free gift of grace given by the Savior who bore our sins upon the cross.
· When we do, we receive great privileges. “The right to become children of God.”
o We are adopted into the family of God.
o Being considered a part of God’s family means that we have further precious privileges.
1. God’s fatherly love.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
2. God’s gracious care.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
3. God’s loving discipline.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
4. Heirs of eternal glory with Christ.
17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
5. Intimacy with God through prayer.
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
§ A real relationship
· The beauty of this grace is that it is available to all without distinction.
o The only qualification is that we put our trust, our faith, our confidence in Jesus Christ and receive him by faith.
· Our greatest prize is our faith in Christ.
o It’s the greatest gift anyone has ever given…what could be more Christmas than that.
o For only our faith in Jesus Christ will carry us through the many trials we will face in our lives.
§ Only faith in Jesus Christ can comfort us and give us the proper perspective on suffering.
§ Only faith in Jesus Christ can reassure us that we are not alone in the darkness, but that God is near to us through the presence of His Holy Spirit in our hearts.
§ Only faith in Jesus Christ can confirm us so that we know that we will stand justified before God in the day of judgment that is coming for all creation.
o Only through Jesus Christ do we have forgiveness of sins, fellowship with God, and the promise of eternal life.
Conclusion
Conclusion
· In a moment, we will make practice of our faith as we take the Lord’s Supper together.
· As we do, I would commend to you the reality of what Christ’s coming into the world means for us today.
· He is the true light that shines in the darkness…he exposes everything.
o We must not try and hide ourselves from God, as if our sin can be concealed.
o We must not think that we are better than others because we have listened to the Word and do what it says.
o We must remember that we are sons and daughters because of grace.
o We didn’t come to Jesus for salvation; that’s the story of Christmas…he came to us.
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
· John, in the last days of his life, received a vision from His Lord that will shape our time together as we take the Supper.
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Communion
Communion
