The Savior Who Draws Near

Introduction

Good evening. Tonight, we will be in John 1:1-14. Go ahead and find that in your Bible or in your Bible app.

I remember when Google Earth released. How many of you have played around on Google Earth? So this was when we didn’t have Google Maps or smartphones. You logged onto Google Earth and could zoom in on almost any part of the world. I was 12 years old and was enamored with the whole project. We would get on the computers in the computer lab and start by looking up our houses. Then we’d zoom out and look at the neighborhood. Then our town. Then our state. Then the country. The continent. Then we’d find ourselves all the way zoomed out. The earth was a mere speck.

I remember how small we all felt when we zoomed from our houses all the way to outer space. Compared to the size of the universe, we felt tiny! But here’s the mind-blowing part of all of this: When we read our passage tonight, we will see that Jesus created all of it. Every mountain, every hill, every river, every sea, every star, every planet, every galaxy.

And yet — out of all of that, we see in John 1 that Jesus chose to enter our tiny speck of a planet, to be born among sinners like you and me, to heal and teach and then die and raise again.

Jesus was great. Greater than we can ever imagine. But he came near to save. That’s what we’re looking at tonight.

John 1:1–14 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 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.

Let’s pray:

Father, I am so grateful for your word. I’m thankful that you — the God of the universe — has stooped to make yourself known to us through your Word. What a miracle. Help us now to understand it. Help these students see you in a new light today. If any of them don’t know Christ as Savior, move in them today, convict them of sin, and help them to receive salvation today. Now, O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

Main idea: Though Jesus is higher and greater than we could ever imagine, he loves us enough to draw near to us to save us.

The Greatness of Jesus

As we start out tonight, I want us to take a look at the greatness of Jesus. Look at verse 1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Word is Jesus himself, the Son of God. We often know him as we meet him in the New Testament, right? The one who was born of the virgin Mary in the town of Bethlehem, grew up to be a carpenter in Nazareth, then started his ministry and died and rose and again. That’s what we read about in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. However, in John’s introduction here, we see that the story of Jesus starts pretty far back. In fact, we read here that Jesus was in the beginning, with God the Father, and was God himself.

See, John doesn’t want our view of Jesus to start on the days leading up to his birth, but before creation even happened. So he paints this picture of Christ being eternal. He was in the beginning. The Word — Jesus — existed before time began. He was in the presence of God the Father, and is God himself. What does that mean? It means that the Word is a person of the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). All are God but they are disctinct from each other.

What else do we see about Jesus here? Verse three: “All things were made through im, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” He was not only present in the beginning, but was actively creating the world! He is God. He is eternal. He is creator. Let’s keep moving: Verse 4-5: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” He is the light of the world. He is the one who drives out darkness.

What can we simply and easily conclude from these first few verses? Jesus is great. And that may seem like an understatement. But this greatness is more than what you can fit on a t-shirt or your instagram bio. This is real, unparalleled greatness. Jesus is eternal. Jesus is God. Jesus, alongside the Father and the Spirit, created the world. Jesus is the light of the worold. He is high and lifted up. He reigned in the heavens with the Father. He has all the power. All the glory. All the wisdom. All the knowledge.

Above all, Jesus is supreme. He is worthy of all of our worship. Because of his greatness, there’s not an ounce of praise in the universe that doesn’t belong to God. And when we paint this picutre of Jesus being so great, so awesome, so high, so lifted up; it can be hard to imagine him drawing near to us. But this Creator God, this supreme God, does something totally unexpected: He has all the power in the universe. But let’s look at what he does next.

The Purpose of Jesus

So we just talked about the Jesus is great — eternal, powerful, glorious, creator. And now John is telling us something wild: “He was in the world...” Think about that for a minute. The one who created the world stepped into it. Why? What was Jesus’s purpose?

“The world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.” Imagine building something with your own hands, and have that reject you. That’s what happened to Jesus when he came. He entered the very world he created, and the people he came to save didn’t recognize him. Worse than that, they rejected him. “He came to his own and his own people did not receive him.” Wow. It’s easy to say 2000 years later that we would not have rejected Christ in this way. But let’s not act like we are so different. We chase other things. We ignore God. We want control of our own lives, not surrender to God.

But here’s what makes this so powerful: Even though the world rejected him, he came to earth anyway. Even though the people turned their back, Jesus went forward with his divine resuce mission.

Look at verse 12: “But to all who did receive him, who beleived in his name, he gave the right to become children of God...”

This is an incredible truth. See, Jesus didn’t come to just improve lives. He didn’t come to be a motivational speaker or a spiritual sidekick or to give you a slogan on your shirt. Jesus came to make you new — to give you a new identity. To bring you into God’s very family. Look: “Children of God.” That’s not just a simple phrase. That’s an identity marker. That’s adoption. When you trust in Jesus — when you receive Christ — he gives you a brand-new name. You’re no longer separated from God. You are loved. You are welcomed. You are adopted. You are forgiven. You are secure. You are safe. You experience all the blessings of being in the very family of God. That’s good news!

But let’s keep moving on: “...who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” What does this mean? Becoming a child of God is not something that you can earn or buy or work toward. No! It’s a gift of God. John is making it very clear here: We are not naturally born into God’s family by our parents. It’s not because of who your family is. You also can’t earn it by doing good things or by attending church enough. This happens because of God’s amazing, astounding, unparalleled grace. How do you become a child of God? By his grace. By his initiative. Through his love.

So let’s be real: A lot of us try to build our identity on things that won’t last. I spent my high school and college days trying to build my identity on being the most involved, most popular, and most liked guy in my class. So I did everyting. Sports, band, academic clubs, church. Everything I could cram in. Maybe that’s you. Or maybe it’s how you look. Maybe it’s what you can achieve. Whatever it might be, hear me tonight:

Jesus is offering you something better: A secure, unshakeable identity as a child of God — loved, accepted, and redeemed.

That’s the purpose of Jesus: to come to a broken, sinful world and to take on our sinful rejection, and invite us into a relationship with him. The world didn’t recognize Jesus. He came to give you a new identity — as a child of God. And that identity is received — not earned — by trusting in his name.

So we’ve seen the greatness of Jesus — he’s eternal, he’s powerful, he’s glorious. But now we see his purpose: to come for you. To rescue you. To make you God’s own child. The question, then, is: How does he actually do that? What does the rescue look like? That brings us to our third point: The nearness of Jesus.

The Nearness of Jesus

Think for a minute about the idea of a backstage pass. At most concerts (which are already way expensive), you can purchase an additional VIP package or backstage pass. What’s the point of the backstage pass? You can spend a precious few moments with the performer. You can pay to spend a couple of minutes with the singer. Sometimes, it just means that you stand in a line backstage and they walk by and say hi to you. It’s not personal. They do that night after night and year after year. They don’t really know you. The whole point is for you to pay someone a little more money for privilege of being in their presence. They are so great that people will pay premium money to bask in their presence for a few minutes.

Look at verse 14: “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.”

Jesus didn’t stay far away — he stepped into our world. This great Jesus, the Word who existed before time, who created the world, put on human skin and stepped into this sinful, messy world. This isn’t a backstage pass. We don’t have to pay. Jesus came into our presence. He drew near. He invaded our space.

He didn’t merely shout from the sky. He didn’t wait for us to get something right or clean ourselves up. He came down — into the sin, the pain, and the brokennes of this world. This is what theologians call the incarnation — Jesus became fully human while remaining fully God. He felt hunger. He got tired. He was tempted. He wept. Just like we do.

Jesus didn’t just come near physically, though. He came near personally. He wasn’t distant or untouchable. He came close enough to be known, to be touched, to be betrayed.

See, Jesus came near not just to live, but to die. This is the heart of what we call the gospel, or good news. He didn’t come to be a simply an insprational teach or a good person. He came near so that he could go to the cross.

On the cross, Jesus took the punishment we deserve. He was rejected so that we might be accepted. He was crushed so that we could be healed. He died so that we could live. Isaiah says that He “was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, and by his wounds we are healed.”

This is what grace looks like: undeserved love poured out at the cross. Jesus drew near — not jus to teach us or to hang out with us — but to rescue us by dying for us. We see here that we have seen his glory. Yes we see Jesus’s glory in how he lived but we also see it in the greatest way at the cross and his resurrection. The cross is the ultimate act of nearness.

Romans 5:8 — “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus didn’t wait for us to get it together. He moved first. On the cross, He took our sin, our guilt, our punishment. He died the death we deserved. He drew near so that we who were far from God could be brought near to Him (Ephesians 2:13).

After he died for our sins on the cross, Jesus rose again. And while he drew near once when he came to earth, he is drawing near still today. Through his Spirit, he is still drawing near to us. He is present always with those who believe in him. Once you are a Christian, you cannot sin your way out of God’s presence. He has promised that he will always be present with us, even until the end of time. He is living, active, and with us.

Jesus has invited you to a relationship with him. That’s what makes Christianity different from any other system in the world: We don’t have to come up with a way to go to God. Instead, he comes to us.

Jesus didn’t wait for you to come find him — he finds you. He’s not asking you to climb your way up to him. He has drawn near. And through his drawing near, he offers forgiveness of your sins, hope in a future, peace through all trouble that passes all understanding, and purpose — not from a distance, but up close.

The God who created galaxies came to earth and a lived as a man, among sinners like you and me, died for us, and now lives to be with us.

That’s the Savior who draws near.

Jesus is not only great — he is close.

He became flesh, he suffered and died, and he rose again. And now he invites us to believe in him and be made new.

So we’ve seen the greatness of the eternal Savior, Jesus. We’ve seen his purpose: to make us children of God through faith. And we’ve seen his nearness, that he came to rescue us at the cross.

Now the question is: How will you respond?

Conclusion: The Gospel Invitation

Jesus is greater than we can imagine — the eternal Son of God, Creator, Light of the World. But He is also nearer than we could ever deserve — the Word made flesh, who came to save us through the cross.

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

That’s the offer. That’s the invitation.

Here’s the question: Have you received Him? Not just do you know about Jesus — but have you trusted in Him? Have you believed in His name?

Have you said:

“Jesus, I believe you are who you say you are — God in the flesh, my Savior. I believe you died for my sin and rose again. I want to follow you.”

That’s what it means to become a child of God. You don’t earn it. You don’t work for it. You receive it — by faith.

Call to Respond

If you’ve never trusted Jesus like that — you can do that tonight. There’s no magic formula, but there is a simple response of the heart:

“Jesus, I believe. I want you to save me. I want to follow you.”

Talk to your leader. Pray with someone. Ask your questions. Don’t leave here tonight without really dealing with this.