Bearing Witness of the Light

INTRODUCTION

Please take your Bible and turn to John chapter one

We are looking today at the second message in our series “The Word Revealed”

Last week we saw “The Eternal Word” and looked at verses 1-5

Today were looking at “Bearing Witness of the Light” found in verses 6-13

John 1:6–13 LSB

6 There was a man having been sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the Light, but he came to bear witness about the Light. 9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to what was His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Today we are introduced to a preacher

His name is John the Baptist

Jesus said of Him, “…among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Mat.11:1)

He came to prepare the way for the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ

As we are introduced to him in John’s gospel, John moves with an “abrupt change of subject from the exalted Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal, self-existent creator God (vv.1-5), to a mere man sent from God” (John MacArthur, John 1-11, 28)

Not everyone received His message

The same is true when Jesus came preaching

The same is true today

Some receive and some reject

Those that receive become children of God

Those that reject are the enemies of God who will spend eternity in hell as Luke 16:19-31 illustrates

As we look at John 1:6-13 we will see four things: the appearance of John the Baptist (vv.6-9), the rejection of Christ (vv.10-11) the reception of Christ (v.12) and the meaning of the new birth (v.13)

First let’s see the appearance of John the Baptist (vv.6-9)…

The Appearance of John the Baptist (vv.6-9)

Verse 6 says, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.”

“There was” is actually ‘There appeared’ indicating the shift from the heavenly Word to His earthly herald

After describing the Word who was God, John turned to the one who announced that the Word was God” (MacArthur, 28-9)

He gives us…

His Name (v.6)

“John”

“The name ‘John’ always refers to John the Baptist in this gospel, never to the apostle John

The writer of this gospel calls him merely, ‘John’ without using the phrase ‘the Baptist,’ unlike the other gospels which use the additional description to identify him” (John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible) (Matthew 3:1; Mark 6:14; Luke 9:18-20)

John tells us…

His Mission (vv.6-9)

He was sent “from God” (v.6a)

“Sent” Gr.apostello, means, “to send, to commission, to send as an authoritative personal representative” (Fritz Rienecker, The Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament, 218)

Isaiah spoke of his coming as the forerunner of Christ

Isa.40:3 says, “ The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

When Malachi closed his prophecy, he spoke of an Elijah-like prophet who would come before the Day of the Lord

Mal.3:5-6 says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

Jesus said in Mark 9:13 “13 “But I say to you that Elijah has indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him.””

Matthew 17:10–13 “10 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 11 And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; 12 but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.”

The angel told Zacharias that this prophecy referred to his son John - Lk.1:15-17 says, “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

He had a miraculous birth because his parents were old and never had children

Lk.1:7 tells us that they “had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.”

The angel repeats this to Mary in verse 36: “Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.”

John was the first true prophet to appear in Israel in 400 years

The years between the Old and New Testament were considered the “silent” years

There were no prophets and no word from God but then John appears preaching the kingdom

Mat.14:5 tells us that all the people “counted him as a prophet.”

He was sent to bear witness of Christ (vv.7-9)

The apostle John clearly identifies the mission of John the Baptist in verse 7: “This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.”

The word “witness” is used here in both its noun and verb form

The noun is marturia, the verb, martureo

Both “are words related to fact, not opinion, as in the courtroom setting

The terms are used predominantly in the New Testament by the apostle John (77 out of their 113 occurrences are in John’s gospel, epistles, or Revelation)” (MacArthur, 31)

The verb (martureo) is translated “to testify” in the NASB and “to bear witness” in the LSB

John came “to testify to the fact that Jesus was truly the Light of the world, so that all people might put their trust in Him” (William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary)

John “is the first of eight witnesses that appear in John’s gospel; the others are the Father (5:37), Jesus’ words (8:18) and works (5:36; 10:25), the Old Testament Scriptures (5:39), some of those who met Him (4:29), the disciples (15:27; 19:35; 21:24), and the Holy Spirit (15:26)” (MacArthur, 31)

John was not the Christ or “the Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.”

When “the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to him, they asked him, ‘Who are you?’ (v.19). He said, “I am not the Christ” (v.20) but “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness; make straight the way of the Lord” (v.23; cf., Isa.40:3)

He bore witness of Him in 1:29 when he called Him “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

John’s message was a call to repent (Mat.3:1) and to “believe in the Son” the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn.3:31-36)

When Jesus came into the world He gave light to every man (v.9) but every man did not receive it

We see that in verses 10-11 as John talks about…

The Rejection of Jesus Christ (vv.10-11)

John says, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.”

He was in the world and the world did not know Him (v.10)

“That John the Baptist had to point out the true Light graphically illustrates the world’s blindness, for only blind people cannot see the light” (MacArthur, 32)

They did not know Him in a saving way

Many could not accept that Jesus was the Messiah

They said, “Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?" And they were offended at Him” (Mk.6:3)

Even His brothers didn’t believe until after His resurrection

John 7:1-5 says, “After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. 2 Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. 3 His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. 4 For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world." 5 For even His brothers did not believe in Him.”

Jesus gives the reason why they did not know Him in a saving way:

First…

Because they did not have His Word abiding in them

Jn.5:37–40 says, “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. 39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”

Second…

Because they did not believe He was the Messiah

Jn.6:35-36 says, “And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.”

Third…

Because the Father did not give them to Him

Jn.6:37-40 says, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Fourth…

Because the Father did not grant them the privilege to come to Him

Jn.6:65 says, “And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”

Fifth…

Because they are not His sheep

Jn.10:26-30 says, “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. 30 I and My Father are one.”

Sixth…

Paul says the reason why someone does not receive Him is because they are dead

2 Cor.4:3-4 says they have been blinded by the god of this world. It says, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

Ephesians 2:1-7

“As a result of Adam’s transgression, men are born in sin and by nature are spiritually dead; therefore, if they are to become God’s children and enter His kingdom, they must be born anew of the Spirit” (David Steele, The Five Points of Calvinism, 20).

Ralph Venning said, “Sin has degraded man and made him a beast. It is true, he has the shape of a man, but, alas! he is degenerated into a bestial and beastly nature.... It would be better to be a beast than to be like a beast, living and dying like one. It would be better to be Balaam’s ass than such an ass as Balaam himself was. (The Golden Treasury of Puritan Quotations).

Well did Joseph Alleine say, “O miserable man, what a deformed monster has sin made you! God made you ‘little lower than the angels’; sin has made you little better than the devils” (The Golden Treasury of Puritan Quotations).

This is why…

He came to His own and His own did not receive Him (v.11)

“His own” has two possible references: (1) The world He created in general or (2) the people of Israel (Jews)

Paul gives evidence of the world’s rejection of Jesus in Romans 1:18-32 and we see the human race spiralling into sin

Paul also gives evidence of the Jews rejection of Jesus

He told the Thessalonians in 1 Thess.2:14-15, “For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men.”

John gives evidence of the Jews rejection of Jesus

In John 5:1-18 after Jesus healed a sick man they persecuted Him and “sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath” (v.16) and because He said that “God was His Father, making Himself equal with God” (v.18)

In John 6:26-66, after He told them He was the Bread of Life and that unless they eat His flesh and drink His blood they have no life in themself, many said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” (v.60)

In John 7:14-38 they rejected Him as He taught in the Temple

The New Testament is filled with people who rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah. “The theme of rejection will be repeated throughout John’s gospel” (MacArthur, 34).

John continues in verses 12-13 by switching from those who reject Jesus to those who receive Jesus…

The Receiving of Jesus Christ (vv.12-13)

John says, “But as many as received Him”

Receiving Jesus is more than acknowledging Him

It’s committing your life to Him

The word John uses for “received” in verse 12 is the word he used in verse 11 except for in verse 11 it has the preposition para with it (paralambano) which means “take to one’s side” or “welcome” (Rienecker)

In verse 12, he uses it without the preposition (lambano) to refer to the idea of taking possession of

In verse 11 they did not “receive, take to one’s side” or “welcome” (Rienecker) but in verse 12 they did “take hold of,” “obtain,” or “grasp.”

Their receiving Christ was “more than mere intellectual acknowledgment” (MacArthur), it involved a commitment of their lives.

Receiving and believing are essentially the same except receiving helps us to understand what it means to believe

In John 2:23-25 John says, “23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, beholding His signs which He was doing. 24 But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, 25 and because He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man for He Himself knew what was in man.”

Their belief was only intellectual assent; it wasn’t a commitment of their lives

The interesting thing about verse 24 is the word “entrusting” or “commit” (NKJV)

This is the word pisteuo translated “believed” in verse 23 as well as in John 3:16

It is not referring to intellectual knowledge alone but is encompassing the entire person whereby he commits or becomes loyal to the object of his belief

In Romans 4:13-25 Paul uses Abraham as an example of what it means to believe

By doing that, Paul is showing that Abraham’s faith has always been by trusting God’s promise, not by law or works

In Romans 4:13–25, Paul highlights that Abraham believed God could do the humanly impossible—giving life to the “dead” (his body, Sarah’s womb)—and that this God-centered confidence was “credited” to him as righteousness

Because Abraham was counted righteous before circumcision and before the law, he becomes the father of all who believe, Jew and Gentile alike

Paul then applies this to Christians: righteousness is likewise credited to all who believe in the God who raised Jesus from the dead, the promised offspring delivered for sins and raised for justification

In Hebrews 11:13, it sums up the lives of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abram and Sarah by saying, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” (NKJV)

Receiving Christ then is more than acknowledging Him; it is committing your life to Him by being “fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform” (Rom.4:21, NASB)

When you’re “fully assured,” you are embracing and confessing it

John MacArthur says in his book The Gospel According to Jesus, “Salvation is a gift, but it is appropriated through a faith that goes beyond merely understanding and assenting to the truth. Demons have that kind of ‘faith’ (James 2:19). True believers are characterized by faith that is as repulsed by the life of sin as it is attracted to the mercy of the Savior. Drawn to Christ, they are drawn away from everything else” (38).

The end of the verse defines what he means by the word “received.”

He says, “even to those who believe in His name.”

Receiving Christ is the call of the gospel

The call to Jesus is a call to the full assurance of the gospel

He says at the end of verse 12, “who believe in His name.”

“‘His name’ refers to the totality of Christ’s being, all that He is and does...Saving faith accepts Jesus in all that Scripture reveals about Him” (John MacArthur, John 1-11, 35)

We must also understand that…

The call to come to jesus includes repentance from sin

The word “repent” is the Greek word metanoia which “literally means ‘to think after.’

It implies a change of mind” and “a recognition of one’s utter sinfulness and a turning from self and sin to God” (John MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus, 38).

Joseph Thayer, in his Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, says, “Repentance is the change of mind of those who have begun to abhor their errors and misdeeds, and have determined to enter upon a better course of life, so that it embraces both a recognition of sin and sorrow for it and hearty amendment, the tokens and effects of which are good deeds” (406).

Metanoia demands a radical conversion, a transformation of nature, a definitive turning from evil, a resolute turning to God in total obedience

Matthew 3:7–8 “7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance;”

Acts 17:30–31 “30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now commanding men that everyone everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He determined, having furnished proof to all by raising Him from the dead.””

Thomas Brooks said, “To repent of sin is as great a work of grace as not to sin.”

John ends this section by stating emphatically that…

The Meaning of the New Birth (v.13)

John says in verse 12, “To them He gave the right to become the children of God.” And then in verse 13, “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

This is a reference to our adoption

“He gave the right to become children of God.”

The word “right” is exousia which is translated “power” and “authority” in the New Testament. It is translated “authority” in John’s gospel (Jn.5:27; 10:18; 17:2; 19:10, 11)

Romans 8:15 “15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!””

“Those who receive Jesus, the Word, receive full authority to claim the exalted title of ‘God’s children’” (John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible)

This is based on God’s sovereign choice

John 6:37 “37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never cast out.”

John 6:44 “44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:63 “63 “The Spirit is the One who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

Ephesians 1:4 “4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love,”

Ephesians 2:8–9 “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not of works, so that no one may boast.”

Philippians 1:29–30 “29 For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30 having the same struggle which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.”

Salvation is not a human work (v.13)

John is clear to state that those whom are given the right to become the children of God were not born “of blood or of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

It is not “of blood” (v.13a)

This is in the plural so it should read “of bloods.”

This is a reference to the “blood of [the] father and mother” (Rienecker) and refers to “human origin” (Martin)

John is saying that salvation is not of any human origin or “natural descent” (Walvoord)

A person does not become a Christian by natural birth or “through having Christian parents” (Believer’s Bible Commentary)

It is not “of the will of the flesh” (v.13b)

In other words, it’s not of personal desire

Just because a person desires salvation does not make it happen any more than having Christian parents

Romans 9:16 “16 So then it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy.”

James 1:18 “18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.”

This is showing that the new birth springs from God’s will not ours

It is not “of the will of man” (v.13c)

“No other man can save a person. A preacher, for instance, may be very anxious to see a certain person born again, but he does not have the power to produce this marvelous birth” (William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary).

In Acts 16:31 Paul told the Philippians jailer, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

From that verse some teach it to mean “household” salvation but Luke says in the next verse, “And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house.”

You’re not saved through someone else’s conversion

Each individual is called to repent and believe in the gospel

It is “of God” (v.13d)

God is the cause of the new birth

You have to be “born again” or “born of God” (Jn.3:3)

1 Peter 1:3 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

1 Peter 1:23 “23 for you have been born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”

1 John 2:29 “29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who does righteousness has been born of Him.”

1 John 3:9 “9 Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.”

1 John 4:7 “7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”

1 John 5:1 “1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the One who gives new birth loves also the one who has been born of Him.”

1 John 5:4 “4 For everything that has been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the overcoming that has overcome the world—our faith.”

1 John 5:18 “18 We know that no one who has been born of God sins; but He who was begotten of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.”

CONCLUSION

Are you “born of God?”

Or are you one who thinks you can be saved by your parent’s faith or because you wanted to be saved so you prayed a prayer for salvation

John’s point is all the world is in darkness and when Jesus came into the world as the Light, they wanted to put it out

Receiving Him is based on a sovereign work of the Father

If you are sensing your need to repent and believe in Christ, then that is a work of God

Jesus said in John 6:29, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

Charles Spurgeon said, “I do chose God most freely, most fully, but it must be because of some previous work in my heart, changing that heart; for my unrenewed heart would have never chosen Him” (Nuggets of God, compiled by George Burch, 35).

I am here to pray and help you to understand what the Scriptures teach about salvation

If God has been working on your heart in this area or any other, I will be here for you

Let’s pray