The Light of the World

Joel Hayworth

Christmas • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Transcript

Introduction

Everyone loves a good hero story. Whether it be the knight in shining armor coming in to save the world from an evil ruler or a brave person standing up for someone less powerful. We love heroes in our culture whether it be in real life or in the comic books. We especially love hero stories on the big screen. Some of the highest grossing movies of all-time have been superhero movies (including 6 of the top 10). We love our superheroes. As a child many kids are asked during their first few days of school who their favorite superhero is and many respond with people like Superman, Batman, Ironman, Captain America, the Flash or the Hulk. As cool as superhero stories are, especially ones that include multiple superheroes like Marvel’s Avengers, if you are truly a fan of the superhero you also take the time to learn the origin story of the hero. For Batman it is said that his parents were killed in front of him and that led him down the path to fight crime in Gotham City. For Ironman he was stranded in the Middle East and about to die before a scientist saved his life, eventually giving him the inspiration to use his situation for the good of humanity by becoming Iron man. We love our stories, we love our superheroes and as Christians we love Jesus Christ above all else. We’ve talked extensively about how He is the hero of Scripture even though there are many “key” figures that come up along the way - they all point towards Christ being the main character. With that said, we know the climax of the story about how Christ defeated evil once and for all at the cross. That is a great truth for us to hold on to, but if you really want to know more about the hero of the Bible, you must look at His origin story in order to better understand who He is and why He had to come. One of the best places to look at the origin story of Jesus Christ is .

The four Gospel accounts tell us many things: they share who Jesus Christ is, they tell of His earthly ministry, they tell of His crucifixion and His resurrection. It is interesting to read different Gospel accounts of certain stories and see how the authors focus on different aspects of the same story. In some instances, one Gospel account completely leaves out a story that is found in another account. Perhaps the most interesting difference between the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) and John is that John focuses a lot on who Jesus Christ is while the synoptics focus extensively on the Kingdom of God and how Jesus is bringing that Kingdom to the earth. John includes many stories that are unique to his Gospel account but the most interesting thing about this Gospel is the way that it starts out. Whereas Matthew, written primarily to the Jews, seeks to explain Jesus’ genealogy. John goes back even further - to Creation! Our text this morning will show us that Christ Jesus is God. He was not created by God. He is not a lesser being nor is He relegated to a lesser power. He is God in human flesh. As Lindsey’s song declared: The Light of the World has come!

John 1:1–18 NASB95

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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. 9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 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 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. 14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ ” 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

You must understand the Son (1-5)

The concept of eternity is extremely difficult for us to discuss because everything that we know exists within the bound of time. It is impossible for us to understand what the “beginning” looked like before the creation of the universe as we know it. What we are told in is that:

Genesis 1:1–3 NASB95

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

Genesis 1:3 NASB95

3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

Genesis

What we find in is that the Word was in the beginning. As we discussed last week, this “word” is not a literal word but it is capitalized in your Bible for a reason. This Word is the 2nd person of the trinity - the Son of God! This is incredible. We believe that God is 3 in person, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Because of those titles, we can emphasize or prioritize the Father above the Son. The danger in doing this is that you can lessen the other part of the trinity. As the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 states, we believe that God is 1 in being and 3 in person. This means that The Father is God, the Son is God and the Spirit is God as well. We might place hierarchy in the persons of the trinity because of the names father and son, but this does not mean that the Son is created by the Father. Far from it! The Son existed in eternity past with the Father. There have been many people who have fought this idea and have taught that Jesus Christ was just a man or that He was created by the Father. tells us a completely different story, church. Our Lord and Savior was there in the beginning. He was with God and He was, is and will always be God!

Christ was more than a teacher, more than a miracle maker, more than a prophet, He is God! Do we understand that, church? Because if we don’t He cannot be our savior. He must be God. He must be perfect. He must be the perfect atoning sacrifice in order to save us from our sins.

We know that God reveals Himself and His truth in His word. Because of this, we know that all Scripture is profitable. As the preacher of Hebrews notes, though, there is no greater revelation of who God is than in the person and work of Jesus Christ! He is the living Word of God. Jesus reveals the will of God. He reveals the mind of God. He exposes the heart of God as AW Pink notes. Let’s think about that for a moment, church. Jesus Christ exposes the heart of God to humanity. What did Christ do for humanity? He loved those the world said were unlovable. He served those the world said were not worthy of being served. He gave His life for sinners who spit in His face. God is a God of love and you can’t look at the work of Christ without seeing the love of God!

If you read the Jehovah’s Witness version of (New World Translation) then you would see a very similar translation with the exception of one little word.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 1

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

In the beginning was the Word,+ and the Word was with God,+ and the Word was a god

Do you see the issues that arise whenever you add the word “a” before God? If you say that Jesus was a god, but not the God then you open yourself up to a can of worms that are not Biblical. John MacArthur notes that, “Confusion about the deity of Christ is inexcusable, because the Biblical teaching regarding it is clear and unmistakable. Jesus Christ is the preexistent Word, who enjoys full face-to-face communion with divine life with the Father, and is Himself God.”

Verse 3 declares that the Logos was not only present in creation but He created all things! John could have simply said that Jesus created the universe, but instead He said absolutely every little thing. Jesus made everything from the 300 foot tall Sequoias to tiny little fish. As tells us, Christ created all of it. That is who Jesus is. He is the eternal Son of God who is the creator. This is essential for us to understand, but we also must understand why Jesus came to the earth.

God’s Word tells us in verses 4-5 that Christ is life and light. This implies that without Christ there is death and darkness. If only there were a passage of Scripture that talked about that very topic…

Ephesians 2:1–3 NASB95

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Death means to be fundamentally separated from life. If you’ve ever been to a funeral then you know the pain associated with the separation of the soul from the body. That is one of the most difficult experiences for many people to endure and understandably so. Loss is difficult! However difficult physical death is, though, spiritual death, having your soul separated from God, is incredibly more difficult. We are quick to express sorrow and sympathy whenever a funeral takes place because the loss is real and painful. Why are we not that quick to express sorrow whenever someone we know is still locked in chains to sin and death? We know that sin separates us from God and we know that and that God will punish our sin. This is not a good situation to be in, but tell us that Christ came to give us life, to reconcile us to God! This is the great news of the Gospel, friends! On the one hand we are sinners and blinded by our sin, but the great news of is that the light has come to rescue us from the dominion of darkness and to transfer us to the kingdom of light.

How do you receive this light? By placing your faith in Jesus Christ as tells us

John 11:25 NASB95

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,

During the Christmas season many people are open to hearing the Christmas story of how Jesus came and was born by a virgin in a tiny town called Bethlehem. Many people can tell that story, but whenever you ask people what a Christian is there is much confusion. Some people say that a Christian is someone who attends any church. Others say that a Christian is a good person. Others say that a Christian is someone who gets baptized or sprinkled. Do you know what a Christian is today? A Christian is someone who was dead in sin but now has received life. A Christian is someone who was cut off from God but now has been reconciled. A Christian is someone who was dead to God but now has been made alive by and for Him.

Why did He come to earth? He came to call people out of the grave and into a relationship with God, through faith in Him. For all who believe in His name. Jesus brought light to those who were lost in darkness. Jesus gave life to those who were dead. The Bible doesn’t say that Jesus gave life to those who were just bad because we know that someone who is bad can change and do something good, but the Bible says that Jesus makes the dead come back to life. If you’re dead, you can’t choose to come back to life. You’re dead. Yet, Scripture says that Jesus brings us, as dead sinners, back to life. Jesus even declared that He is the light of the world in . The news that the Son brought was that you can now experience hope and joy not through your works but through Christ. Sadly, some do not comprehend the Son. They see the light but they do not understand it. Shines in verse 5 is in the present tense, almost to say that the light is shining in the darkness now. The final phrase is in the aorist tense which indicates a completed action. The darkness has done everything it could do, it ran some tests, it schemed some ideas and it tried to outwork the cross but it could not defeat the light!

The light of Christ still shines in this dark world. We must understand the Son in order to understand the light, though. Light for the sake of light does no one a lick of eternal good. However, light from the eternal Word of God illuminates dark eyes and cold hearts to the hope of salvation.

You must respond to the Son (6-13)

In order for this message to help you, though, you must respond to the Son. This choice is not an easy one - preachers often talk about how this is the easiest decision you’ll ever make but that’s simply not true, friends. The choice to follow Christ and to make Him your Lord is a life-defining decision! It means that you’re going to have your entire world turned upside-down! Have you ever made a decision that was life defining? Maybe who you would marry or what job you’d pursue? Those choices are certainly important and have ramifications that will effect your future. is a pretty good example of a life defining choice. Joshua is nearing his end as the leader of Israel and declares that the people must chose who they will serve - he then states that he and his house will serve the Lord.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer made quite the life-defining choice as well. Bonhoeffer was one of the greatest Christian minds of the 20th century and found himself in Germany during the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party. Bonhoeffer struggled with how a Christian should live in a country that was doing the types of things that Germany was doing at this time. Should he leave the country and preach the Gospel elsewhere? Should he stay and stand firm on Scripture? During WWII, Bonhoeffer was arrested for his role in plotting to assassinate Adolf Hitler. 2 years after his arrest, Bonhoeffer at the age of 39 was executed. Bonhoeffer knew that his choice in this matter would define him. Either it would get him killed or it would change his life forever. As Bonhoeffer wrote in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him to come and die.”

Your decision to follow Christ is a life-defining moment, friends, and this is what John told the people regarding the coming Messiah - Jesus. John comes and tells the people that the light is coming and that the people needed to make a decision about this new information. John declares that this light created the world and was in the world, yet people did not receive him.

Jesus made our eyes, yet we refused to see His glory.

Jesus made our ears, yet we refused to listen to His words.

Jesus made our hearts, yet we refused to bow before Him.

Jesus was not just ignored by people, but they did not even receive Him. The Jews rejected their Messiah. Friends, this shows us the fact that this decision is personal. No one else can bring you to salvation or save you. You can’t leave this church today thinking that your good works or church membership or history will save you! You must respond in faith to Christ. Whenever you do this, as verse 12 shows us, you become a child of God. Church, do we deserve this title? Let’s read that wonderful verse again:

John 1:12 NASB95

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,

To those who received Him, He gave them. Only Jesus Christ can make sinners adopted children of the King. This decision defines your life.

During the Christmas season people make many choices - what present to buy a friend or loved one. The Gift of the Magi story is a very popular one that many of you have probably heard. The story notes that a poor couple was trying to find what to buy their spouse on Christmas Eve. Hoping to get the perfect gift, the wife sells her beautiful hair in order to buy her husband a pocked watch chain for his watch. The husband sells his valuable watch in order to buy a set of combs for his wife to use on her hair. The two sacrificed in order to get their spouse a wonderful and thoughtful gift, however the gift is now useless because they had to sell something in order to buy their spouse’s gift.

This time last year Lindsey and I were in a bit of a pickle. Seeing as it was our first Christmas as a married couple, we wanted to find the perfect gift but we didn’t exactly have the funds to purchase the “perfect” gift. You can spend so much time looking for the perfect gift, though, that you can end up frustrating yourself or spending far too much money along the way!

As awesome as it is to receive a gift from a family member or a friend for Christmas, especially the “perfect” gift, it is infinitely greater to receive salvation from the Son of God. That is the greatest gift you can ever receive. You must respond to the gift though - you can’t leave it unwrapped underneath the Christmas tree.

You must see the Hope of the Gospel (14-18)

You have to unwrap this present because it is tangible and right in front of you. The way that we know this to be true is because of verse 14. The Word became flesh. How on earth could God become a man? How do we make sense of the incarnation? How do we make sense of the hypostatic union of Christ (fully God + fully man)? We think it through like this:

If Jesus did not become a man, He could not be tempted: If Jesus was not man, then He could not have experienced temptation. This means that the Son of God can sympathize with us because He knows what it is like to be tempted externally. He knows what we are going through. He knows what it feels like whenever people laugh in our faces or whenever we experience suffering or loss.

If Jesus did not become a man, He could not die: If Jesus did not become a man, we would not have a savior! J.I. Packer notes that, “The crucial significance of the cradle at Bethlehem lies in its place in the sequence of steps down that led of Son of God to the cross of Calvary and we do not understand it until we see it in this context… the taking of manhood by the Son is set before us in a way which shows us how we should ever view it - not simply as a marvel of nature, but rather as a wonder of grace.”

Church, the incarnation is amazing because of why God became a man. It was not because we called and asked Him to. It was not because we are so great and mighty. It was so that He could die for our sin. He renounced His glory and became poor so that through His poverty, we might become rich.

If you are a Christian this morning, you know that beautiful statement to be true in your life. You have experienced blessings and riches that are beyond our wildest imagination due to Jesus Christ coming to the earth and taking on human flesh.

Whenever you read the Old Testament or whenever you listen to some pastors out there, you read or listen to a story and the takeaway might be “I want to be like David” or “I want to be like Moses”. While David, Moses, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Noah, Abraham and Solomon are solid Biblical figures, they fail to be the “role model” that we should strive to look at. They are but a type of the coming hero - Jesus Christ. As John notes in verse 16, Through His fullness, we have all received grace upon grace and that grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ!

The law was a matter of grace as the law helped the people of Israel live a life of obedience. The law was supposed to help the people on this quest of serving the Lord with obedient hearts, however the law could not save the people, it was never meant to do so! The grace of the law was that it pointed people to a coming savior that would bring about a better system. The shadows in the background disappeared and the Savior came shone His light for all to see. He gave grace upon grace.

Friends, it’s all about Jesus. He is our hope. He reveals God to us and grace flows freely from the Son. If God was willing to send His Son to be born as a man and to die as a criminal, do you think that He cares for you? Church, God’s grace is sufficient. His grace will guide you home. Look to the eternal Word for salvation and find hope in His work.

Conclusion

How can you be sure that light will triumph over the darkness?

Verse 4 tells us that “In Him was life and the life was the light of men.” This means that the life of the Son of God is the light of the world. How do we know that the light will triumph? Because it is living light. We know that our lights have an expiration date associated with them. Batteries expire, light bulbs must be replaced and lamps must have electricity. However, the light of the world finds its source in the preexistent Son of God - He will never run dry and He will never grow dark! Furthermore, the light grows and shines deep into the darkness. It consumes the darkness. The darkness is powerless against the light because the light is God Himself! He has an undefeated track record and there isn’t a being in the universe that can stand against Him. He is in control. That should give us hope in the middle of the fight today.

The light and the life is God.

Church, Christ has overcome the world as tells us. Let us be of good cheer and share this message during the days and weeks ahead: Our God is alive. We celebrate His incarnation on Christmas day as the Son of God came down from glory, put on human flesh, lived a perfect life from start to finish, was tempted externally in every possible way, died the death that we deserve, raised from the grave on the 3rd day and ascended back to glory where He intercedes on our behalf before the Father.

Let us go on the offense this Christmas season and tell the world that Christmas is so much more than presents. It’s more than hot chocolate and peanut butter fudge. It’s greater than family and friends. It’s greater than happiness and joy. It’s about Jesus Christ. Immanuel, God with us. He has come and He will come again! Let’s pray.

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