John 1:1-18

Introduction

Finish the Sentence…

Liberty, Liberty…..(Liberty, Liberty)

For a Great low rate you can get online… (Go to the general and save some time)

BK (have it your way…you rule)

There are also scriptures that are just like this…

For the wages of sin…is death

For God so loved the world… that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life

“In the beginning…”

Genesis 1:1–5 “1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”

This was a verse that any Israelite could finish…

Now turn to John 1…

John 1:1–5 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John, the beloved apostle of Christ, takes what every Israelite knows, and changes the ending to show that Jesus Christ is God.

That’s the whole message of the book. Jesus is God.

When you get to 1 John - his whole point is that Jesus is man.

So Gospel of John (Fully God)

1st Epistle or letter of John (Fully Man)

And John says as much in this Gospel

John 20:30–31 “30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 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.”

It also seems to be John’s goal to fill in the blanks left by the other Gospel writers.

John has a lot of unique material that is only found in his Gospel. And his Gospel is written much later than the other Gospel accounts, so this makes sense. We believe he wrote his Gospel somewhere between 80 and 95 AD.

So what is John saying in the first 5 verses?

Vs.1-5

John 1:1 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

In the beginning was Jesus Christ, he was face to face with God (in communion with God), and he was God.

Ok, is this a different God than Genesis 1:1? No. Because this is also a creation account.

John 1:1–3 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

Not only was the Word in the beginning with God, not only is he God - The creation account that you know… “In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth…” That was him!

That was the Word - that was the Christ - that was Jesus!

John 1:4–5 “4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

In other words - Jesus is the source of all life. All that exists, exists through him.

Hebrews 1:3 “3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power….

He has created everything and everything finds its source in him.

Do you see the light imagery?

This isn’t an accident

It is John using the key words of Genesis 1 to show that Jesus is the source of all that exists - EVEN THE LIGHT!

Vs. 6-8

John 1:6–8 ESV

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.

Before Christ came, there had been 400 years of silence. From the time Malachi was done prophesying to the time Jesus is born - 400 years of no word from God…

But before he begins his ministry - God sends one last prophet to prepare the way of the Lord.

John the Baptist - not to be confused with the Apostle John who is writing this book - John the Baptist came as a witness, a prophet, a forerunner to the one who had been promised since Genesis 3.

John was not the light - he was not the Messiah - but he bore witness of the Messiah.

He was the Moon to the Sun.

He was not the source of light, but simply reflected the light that came from it

He pointed people to the source.

Vs. 9-13

John 1:9–13 “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. 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.”

So think back to Genesis

(9)The one who said let there be light, the source of that light, was about to take a step on the very dirt that he created.

John 1:10 “10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.”

This establishes the problem of Genesis 3.

We’ve seen Genesis 1-2 where God creates the heavens and the earth, and we understand that it was Jesus who did this.

But now that he’s about to step foot on the earth, the world is in a state of rejection. They don’t know him - there is no relationship there - there is no intimacy there.

John 1:11 “11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

The people of God, the people of the promise, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - they did not want him

John 1:12 “12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,”

We’re getting the Gospel message in the first few verses of John

If you were to ask John, “John give me the main thing…”

The first 18 verses of John are John’s summary of what happened.

This is what’s important.

John 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.”

Do you remember what we read in John 20:30–31 “30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 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.”

John said it at the end, but he’s also saying it here.

Jesus is God. He created all things. He came to the earth he created and his people rejected him, but to the ones who believed in HIS name… they became sons of God, they were justified, they were adopted into the family of God.

This wasn’t by birth rite, this wasn’t by the striving of man in his attempt to earn something from this Creator - it was the doing of God alone.

Vs. 14-18

John 1:14 “14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

But God didn’t come down in glory - he didn’t come down with chariots and hosts of angels

God came down and took on flesh

The second person of the Trinity who is fully God took onto himself a second nature - a human nature - a body of flesh.

He took on human limitation in his human nature - he had to eat, drink, sleep, he wept, and he sweated -

He took on our flesh that we might behold his glory

Had Jesus not taken on flesh, we could never have beheld his glory

We are sinful - we were kicked out of the garden and way to him was blocked.

The only way back into fellowship with him was if he came to us.

And he did. In the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And it was all of grace that he took on flesh for us.

He became like us because of grace.

John 1:15 “15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”)”

In other words - when Jesus comes on the scene - “Look at him. That’s the one I’m talking about. He created the world and now he has come into the world. He is more important than me because he was in the beginning.”

John 1:16 “16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”

His fullness -

Jesus is fully God and fully man. We needed the infinite God to take on the wrath of God. We needed the man, Christ Jesus to shed his blood for us. Our redemption required both God and man - and we got it in the person of Jesus Christ.

It was from this fullness, from this union that we received grace upon grace.

John 1:17 “17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Look back at the messages that the prophets have been giving.

Moses is a type of Christ who gives the law, judges the people and guides them into righteousness.

But the Law was given by Moses to be a tutor, or a school master until the reality had come. or until the fulness had come

Galatians 3:23–26 “23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”

Moses brought the law that it might guide us until something better came.

Jesus brought something much better - Grace and Truth

What is that grace and truth?

John 1:18 “18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

God - as Spirit - has never been seen. - But the only God - Jesus Christ, who is at the Father’s right hand, at the Father’s side, he has revealed him to us.

Jesus has revealed to his people - to those who will receive him by faith - he has revealed to us the God from whom we were separated. He has revealed the true God - the covenantally faithful God.

And this is nothing but grace.

Hebrews 1:3 “3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

Because he is God, he has revealed God to us. We have been invited back into the garden by faith.

What was once shut to us has now been opened by the person and work of Jesus Christ, the God-man.