Pencoed Am Sun. 20 Aug. 06.
PLACE: PENCOED AOG. DATE: AM SUN. 20TH AUG. 2006.
TEXT: JOHN 1:1-3. THEME: CHRIST, THE ETERNAL WORD.
INTRODUCTION: READING: JOHN 1:1-5
“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 nothing was made that was made.”
It was a great day in our history when a man first walked on the moon, when a man travelled from the earth to the moon. But the Bible declares that a far greater event took place two thousand years ago. When God left the heavens to come to this world, when God walked on the face of the earth in the Person of Jesus Christ,
John opens his Gospel with the most profound passage in the entire Bible. This passage is the climax of Scripture. It is this fact: That Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is...
A. The Word of God
B. The Creator of Life
C. The Very Being and Essence of Life.
The importance of this truth lies at the very foundation of life, for they determine a man’s destiny. If Jesus Christ is the Word of God, then men must hear and understand that Word or else be lost forever.
1ST POINT: CHRIST IS THE WORD OF GOD, VERSES 1-2.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God”.
The opening words of this Gospel bear a striking parallel with the opening words of Genesis. John’s own particular revelation is to show that the Word existed before creation. This is understood in the opening words “In the beginning was the Word.” Although the verb is used in the past tense, the idea is of permanence. The “Word” that now is, was in existence, before the world began.
The verb “Was” is used three times with different meanings in this verse:
1. The Word’s Pre-Existence “Was the Word.”
The term pre-existence refers to the idea of a body having a heavenly existence before its earthly existence. It is the manifestation of God to those without Him. The word “was” is the Greek is so often used for deity. It means “to be or I am.” “To be” means unbroken existence, without beginning or origin.
2. The Word’s Relationship.
“Was with God.” Having a conscious personal existence distinct from God the Father, but inseparable from Him and associated with Him. Christ was co-existent with the Father. He was and is face to face with God forever. The word “with” has the idea of both being with and acting toward. Jesus Christ (the Word) was both with God and acting with God.
3. The Word’s Announcement.
“Was God.” In substance and essence GOD; or was possessed of divinity. Thus, each of these brief statements goes together with each other, if this verse is correctly understood, it helps clarify the doctrine of the Trinity.
The Word is eternal; the Word is in relationship to God (the Father); and the Word is God. John was saying that: “When a man sees Christ, he sees a Person who is of the very substance and character of God in all of His perfect being.
The testimony of John was that Jesus Christ was the Word, self-existent and eternal, the Supreme Majesty of the universe who owes His existence to no one.
2ND POINT: CHRIST IS THE CREATOR OF LIFE, VERSE 3.
“All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made”.
In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God is presented as speaking the creation into existence. God speaks the word and it happens: heaven and earth, ocean and stream, trees and grass, birds and fish, animals and humans. The Word was with God. All things were made by Him, without Him was not any thing made that was made, from the highest angel to the meanest worm. Everything, seen and unseen, was called into being by God’s spoken word.
Here, John presents God as speaking salvation into existence. This time God’s word takes on human form and enters history in the person of Jesus. Everything broken and fallen, sinful and diseased, called into salvation by God’s spoken word.
CONCLISON:
God is far, far beyond anyone we could have ever dreamed. He is loving and caring, full of goodness and truth. God loves and is working and moving toward a perfect kingdom that will be filled with people who choose to love and worship, and to live and work for Him.