JOHN 1:15-18 | OVERCOME BY JESUS

JOHN 1:15-18 | OVERCOME BY JESUS

ILLUSTRATION: I loved basketball in high school

It was my passion.

I had the privilege of playing on my high school basketball team as the starting point guard at Owen Valley High School in Spencer, IN

We were the Patriots, and growing up in a small town, Friday nights during December through March were designated for high school basketball games.

We would prepare all week getting ready for that big event on Friday night.

In Indiana, usually there were two games on Friday nights: either the junior varsity, or the girls varsity, and then we would play in the main event for the night.

Usually about the end of the third quarter we would make our way down the hallway to the entrance on the far end of the gym.

We would wait there and go through some pregame routines awaiting the end of the other game.

When that game would finally come to an end, the cheerleaders would bring out the big hoop with paper covering it, and then the pep band would start to play.

And after their first line, we would come bursting through the hoop to the cheers of the home crowd and the boos of the visiting fans.

My heart would be racing, the adrenaline would be pumping.

I can still feel it like it was yesterday and that was nearly 20 years ago.

In that moment, we were overcome with pride for our team… and we couldn’t hold it in.

EXPLANATION: John, the disciple of Christ, has penned the first 14 verses of the start of this book.

Some experts believe that John actually circled back after finishing his book and penned the first 18 verses of the first chapter.

Whether they are right our not, we will never know, but we do know that John is reflecting back on his time he had with Jesus.

Decades had passed when John penned his Gospel, and as he is reflecting back, he has written one of the most memorable entries to start any book in the entire Bible.

And now as he comes to the end of the first 18 verses, it’s almost as if he can’t contain himself any more.

You see, up until verse 17, John dances around the subject of who he is referring to.

Now it’s clear Who it is he has been talking about based on the rest of Scripture

But when John penned these words, he didn’t have the rest of the Bible sitting beside him for reference.

In fact, a complete copy of the entire word of God as we know it today didn’t come for centuries later.

So as John is writing his anticipation is building as he somewhat cryptically mentions “The Word” and “The Light” and the “One who made the world”

But as he comes to v.17, John is bursting at the scenes as for the first time in his book, he mention the name above every name.

The name who the whole book is about.

He finished v.17 with that name, “Jesus Christ”

APPLICATION: Friend, I just have to tell you… today’s message, it’s all about Jesus.

Sometimes after church we will ask our kids what they learned today, and they will say, “We learned about Jesus”

And what are you supposed to say as a parent.

“No, Jesus isn’t the answer we are looking for.”

I’ve often thought, why didn’t I just write the name of Jesus on tests in high school when I didn’t know the answer.

What was the teacher going to say, “Jesus isn’t the answer.”

Friend, if someone asks you today after the service what the message was about, I guess you could just say, “it was all about Jesus.”

Now I hope you take away a few more details than that, but todays message is all about Jesus.

Because that is what John’s writing here was all about.

He came to the end of his prelude to the rest of his book, and he couldn’t hold it in any more, and he just says, “I’ve got to tell you what it’s all about… it’s all about Jesus!”

So for a few minutes, let’s just be overcome like John was, and let’s bathe in the truth’s of Who Jesus is and what He did.

V.15, JESUS’S CREDIBILITY

John 1:15 KJV 1900

John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

EXPLANATION: John once again reflects on what he clearly believed was one of the most powerful attributes that proved the deity of Christ… His eternality.

John has already mentioned Jesus’s eternality and power of creation twice in the first 14 verses, and now he once again calls on this powerful truth.

But this time he quotes it from the mouth of the final OT prophet, John the Baptist.

The birth of John the Baptist is found over in the Gospel of Luke.

Before the story of Christ’s birth, Luke records the story of the birth of Jesus’s earthly cousin, John the Baptist.

Luke 1:5–7 KJV 1900

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.

They were old and unable to have kids.

But an angels appears to Zacharias and tells him they would have a Son and they would name him John.

Zacharias doesn’t believe this is possible at first and because of his unbelief, he is told that he wouldn’t be able to talk until the baby arrived.

About 6 months after Elisabeth conceives, her cousin finds out she is expecting as well.

And her cousin is none other than a little woman named Mary.

Now John the disciples reflects back on the words that John the Baptist said during his earthly ministry

John testified that Jesus Christ, while born after him, had actually preceded him!

And listen, this wasn’t like one of those things where you’re actually younger than your wife, but you tell everyone you were born before.

No, Jesus had existed before John the Baptist was born… how?

Because Jesus Christ is eternal!

It reflects back on where John started in v.1

John 1:1–3 KJV 1900

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.

Colossians 1:17 KJV 1900

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

In Revelation 1, John would state in the first first that this was the revelation of Jesus Christ.

And it is Jesus speaking in v.8 when He says, Revelation 1:8

Revelation 1:8 KJV 1900

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Throughout the rest of his Gospel, John would repeat this attribute of the eternality of Christ as one of his favorite defenses of the proof of the deity of Christ.

It was the ultimate proof from John’s perspective, that Jesus Christ is God in flesh.

And because of Who Jesus is, you can mark down that what He said is true!

ILLUSTRATION: One of the curses of all the technology we have today is that everything requires a password to access things.

When we first got married, Tressa and I decided on a password that would be the password we used for everything.

But as time went on things got more complicated as they then wanted us to add numbers to the password

So our passwords began to change

And then they decided you needed a special character with passwords

So it changed again

And now some want you to use only special special characters.

And all of this is frustrating to me as I try to remember passwords

I even downloaded an app to keep all of my passwords only to forget the password to access that.

But I think the most frustrating part of all of it, is when I get a notification that I’ve had a password too long and now I have to update it to a new password.

But to do that I have to verify the old password through an email account that I don’t remember the password for!

I both appreciate and hate all of the verification.

APPLICATION: Church, you don’t need a password or verification process to determine if what God said is true.

You can mark it down, every word in this book is true!

Because it’s God’s Word!

And when God makes a promise in this book you can take it to the bank… because of the credibility of the One Who gave it to us!

This is the Word of God and you can trust it!

John was overcome because of the credibility of the message that he was recording.

Not a message from himself, but a message from an eternal Christ!

V.16-17, JESUS’S FULLNESS

John 1:16–17 KJV 1900

And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

EXPLANATION: The word “fullness” John uses in v.16 means completeness.

It has the picture of being totally content.

And John tells the reason for this total contentment and completeness.

It’s because of the grace upon grace that Jesus has given to us.

You see back in the OT Moses was on mount Sinai when he received the law from the hand of God

The purpose of the law was to show man’s sinfulness and God’s holiness.

It pointed toward the need of a sacrifice that was necessary to pay for the sinfulness of man.

And so for centuries sacrifices were offered to open the access to a relationship with a perfectly holy God.

But everything changed when Jesus came.

Jesus came, full of grace and truth as we saw last week, and became the necessary sacrifice to pay for your sinfulness and my sinfulness once and for all!

And He offers grace that extends beyond the temporary grace that an OT sacrifice could offer.

He gives grace that abounds in the life of the believers.

His grace is sufficient to pay for your sins for salvation!

Paul said it this way in Romans 5:19-20

Romans 5:19–20 KJV 1900

For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

Jesus Christ death on the cross is enough to pay for you sins!

When He died He cried out “it is finished” and He meant it!

Friend, there is nothing more you need to do to obtain salvation than to trust in what Christ already did for you!

But that isn’t the end of His grace.

The picture of “grace for grace” is the idea of grace on top of grace on top of grace.

Why does that matter?

Because not only is God’s grace enough for the salvation of your eternal soul… it is also enough for your daily life.

ILLUSTRATION: Paul had what he described as a “thorn in the flesh”

Now, we don’t know what that was.

Physical illness

Maybe it was a person in his life.

The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:7-8

2 Corinthians 12:7–8 KJV 1900

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

Paul struggled with this thorn in the flesh and he asked God to take it away.

But God’s answer wasn’t to take it away.

1 Corinthians 12:9–10 KJV 1900

To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

Paul found that God was giving him an opportunity to discover that the grace of Christ was more than enough to make it through his struggle.

APPLICATION: And friend can I encourage you, God’s grace will be enough.

Could it be that God’s answer to your struggle may not be the answer you were expecting.

It could be that God’s answer is that He is going to give you the grace you need to get through it!

We don’t like to hear that… we want to hear about God’s deliverance.

But sometimes God says “I’m going to allow you to experience my grace in a way that most people never get to experience it.”

And when we come to the place like Paul, that we are willing to accept God’s grace as the answer to our problem, and choose instead to rejoice in Christ through the struggle, it’s then you discover the fulness of Christ that John talks about.

EXPLANATION: When we walked through the book of James a few years ago, we found ourselves in the wonderful promises of James 1:2-4

James 1:2–4 KJV 1900

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

James writes that we should have JOY in the midst of various trials and struggles.

How can we do that?

He goes on to tell us that the trying and testing of our faith works in our patience or contentment.

And when it’s finished we will be “perfect and entire”

The word “perfect” there means complete… full!

And then he says, “lacking nothing”

It means “wanting nothing”

It’s a picture of complete peace

It’s a picture of just taking a deep breath and then just letting it our and letting go.

It’s the place you find yourself when you discover, Jesus’s abounding grace in your life is enough.

And that’s a hard thing to describe.

ILLUSTRATION: It’s like trying to describe to you the taste of Dr. Pepper.

I could tell you about the burn and the sweetness and try to explain the flavor.

But if I really want you to understand what a Dr. Pepper is, the best thing I can do is just to let you try it.

To experience it for youself!

APPLICATION: There are some of you here this morning, that as I talk about the abounding grace and reaching that place of peace and completeness, you get it.

You understand.

Why? Because you’ve experienced it!

And if someone hasn’t experienced it, all I can say it God’s grace is enough… and it can make you complete.

And as the psalmist penned Psalm 34:8

Psalm 34:8 KJV 1900

O taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

JOHN WAS OVERCOME BY JESUS’S CREDIBILITY, JESUS’S FULNESS

V.18, JESUS’S DECLARATION

John 1:18 KJV 1900

No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

EXPLANATION: As John reflects back on things and on the book he either was about to write or had just finished, he wraps up his introduction with a reflection about Christ.

Since the Garden, no man had seen God with their eyes.

Through the OT, people had glimpses in various situations, but no one got a full picture of God.

Until Jesus came… and now, Jesus was back in heaven, but while He was on this earth, He spent His life doing something that John now is left overcome by.

Jesus declared God with His life.

The word declare is from a Greek work “exogeomai” or the root that we get our English word “Exegete” or “Exegesis” from.

The word means “to make fully known, to expose completely”

ILLUSTRATION: When I was in Bible college we were top that the proper way to develop a message was Exegesis not Eisegesis.

Eisegesis means to put into while Exegesis means to pull out of.

I have been in services where a speaker gets up and takes a word out of the context of a verse and spends the whole message preaching a message out of context and making applications that have nothing to do with the passage.

I’m thankful that some of my early year messages aren’t recorded online, because I have no doubt I would be guilty of that very thing in some of them.

Today, when I prepare a message a large portion of my study is spent asking the question what did this mean in it’s original context.

Considering who it was written to, why it was written, who did the writing, when did they write it amongst other questions.

Because when I stand up here on Sunday, I want to accurately and truthfully preach to you a message as close to from the heart of God as possible!

EXPLANATION: When Jesus was on the earth, Jesus spent His life Exegeting Who God is.

Every place He went, every word He spoke, every miracle He committed gives insight into Who God is!

The life of Jesus declared, made fully known, Who God is!

APPLICATION: You know, Jesus is our ultimate example.

The very purpose of our lives is to replicate and conform to the image of Christ.

And if Christ spent His life declaring God… wouldn’t it make sense that should be purpose of our lives as well.

That no matter where I go or what I do, I should be seeking to point others to God?

EXPLANATION: Hebrews 5:2, is one of those verses I often point to because it is such a profound verse.

The Bible tells us Hebrews 5:2

Hebrews 5:2 KJV 1900

Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.

You see Jesus Christ left the glories of heaven and came to sinful earth and He gave His life on the cross.

He went out of His way, to put Himself in your way, that you would see God.

APPLICATION: Friend, when is the last time you went out of your way, to put yourself in someone else’s way, that they would see Christ?

CONCLUSION

You know, when something grips us, overcomes us… our heart are captivated by it

We talk about it, we think about it, it dictates our lives to some extent.

ILLUSTRATION: In just a few weeks this will be on full display.

Hunting season is just around the corner and many of our conversations will be filled with discussing sightings, shots, or spots that are just up from “no-tell’em creek”

We will rearrange our lives, our work schedules, so we can go into the mountains and chase elk all across the country.

Why do we do that?

It would be easier and oftentimes, less expensive to just buy meat from a rancher or from the grocery store.

People do it because they love it… and it overcomes them.

APPLICATION: Friend, when is the last time you were overcome with Jesus?

The reality that you can trust this Book because Jesus is credible.

You can experience complete fulfillment because of the grace of Christ.

The responsibility to declare Jesus to others because that is the example He left for us!

Could it be that we don’t do it because we just haven’t been overcome by Jesus.

The reality of what He has done for us doesn’t move us the way it should.

What if today wasn’t just another Sunday… what if today, as we have lifted up Christ, you allowed yourself to stop worrying about what is coming next in your day and instead become captivated by One Who is worthy of your attention!

This morning, would you ask God to help you to be like John was… and become Overcome with Jesus!