John #1

Northside Church

The Gospel of John

Sept. 12, 2021 RE-LAUNCH

John #1

Good morning,

My name is Jamey Mills, I am the lead pastor here at Northside Church.

Such an honor to be with you all today as we jump into a brand new sermon series on the gospel of John…

The bible has a total of 66 books that God inspired an incredibly diverse group of about 35-40 people to write… over the span of thousands of years…

Gary Habermas… one of the world's leading theologians said that the likelihood of that many books… from that many people… aligning the way the Bible does… is completely not possible without the intervention of the inspiration of God.

History has been incredibly kind to the stability of scripture. We have more copies and fragments of copies of the BIble than of any book in the history of the world… some date back to near the dates they were written… and the accuracy of what we hold in our hands today… compared to the ancient texts… blows both secular and theological scholars away to this day. It’s unheard of.

One of the most powerful statements Gary Habermas makes… is that the leap of faith that Christians make… based on what it is we can physically touch… see… and what we factually know… is not some reckless, brainless, idiodic hope for something better…

It is well documented… history proven… observation about the reality of creation and the signs that exist all around us that speaks to the presence of a loving God, His concern over us, His judgement over sin, and the deep conviction that there is something greater that's found in Him.

39 books make up the OT…

27 Books in the NT

And one of the questions I hear at times is this… what is it that both separates and unifies the O & NT?

And the simple yet important answer to that is… Jesus.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the OT… and the essence of the NT…

And right out of the gate in the NT… starts off with 4 biographies on the life of Jesus…

Matthew… a tax collector whose life was radically changed

Mark… referred to as John Mark… seems to have been brought up in faith. He was a student of Peters… and most scholars believe that John Mark wrote on Peter’s behalf. Only face to face interaction with Jesus may have been fairly embarrassing.

Luke… an educated doctor and one of the listed companions of Paul… Many believe He wrote on behalf of Paul.

And then there is John. a fisherman… So there’s a tax guy, Peter's guy, Paul’s guy… and a fisherman.

He and his brother James were known as the sons of thunder… which has to be one of the coolest nicknames in scripture.

Doubting Thomas… no thanks… Dorcus… I’ll pass

Son of Thunder… yes please… so close to putting this on my business card.

His dad’s name was Zebadee… and maybe it says more about His dad then him?

John was one of the three that were closest to Jesus.

Peter, James and John… In fact

John often refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loves.

.… which helps us understand that His relationship with John… was different. John is an eye witness… he walked with, talked with, was saved by, and gave everything up for… Jesus.

In fact listen to this…

John 19:26–27 NLT

When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.

John 19:26–27 (NLT)

26 When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” 27 And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.

And knowing that, at least for me… causes me to lean in a little… to realize John’s perspective… he is incredibly informed… experiential.

Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the synoptic Gospels, which is a fancy way of saying they have a lot of the same accounts… but there are things that we know about Jesus… things that Jesus did… that we wouldn’t know if not for what God used John to write down.

John wrote John, 1,2,3 John and revelation. So his contribution to scripture is pretty large…

Most scholars agree that John was written sometime between 55 and 90 AD.

So a short time after the life, death, resurrection of Jesus.

And John was writing this during and sort of into an incredibly hard situation.

In 64 AD a huge fire destroyed a huge part of Rome… Nero blamed Christians… which even secular scholars question… and the result was the outright rejection, punishment, and severe persecution of Christians… Eventually leading to the complete destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70…

Some believe that the gold taken from the temple was used to fund the coliseum just a few years later. Thousands of Christians were killed… many believe including Peter and Paul…

Some of the ancient copies of scripture... date this far back… it’s incredible.

And so that’s what John was writing from and into…

And to get a feel for why God had John write… John tells us pretty clearly.

John 20:31 (ESV)

but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John is saying that he wrote these things… these situations, these miracles, these interactions and conversations that Jesus did and had… so that you might experience the reality of who Jesus is… believe in Him… and experience the life that He’s designed for you… planned for you. In fact he uses that idea… to believe over 100 times.

I am incredibly passionate about that… that is in fact… my deepest desire for myself, my wife, my kids… and for you.

If God really has something in mind… When Jesus says in Jn 10:10 that He came to give us real life… and life to the full… we need to understand that even our best ideas… our best efforts… cannot and will not provide what it is that Jesus came to give. Are you experiencing that… living that… Do you want to talk about it…

John wrote that you may have life in understanding the truth about jesus… and check out how he starts this…

John 1:1–5 NLT

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

John 1:1–5 (NLT)

1 In the beginning the Word already existed.

The Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

2 He existed in the beginning with God.

3 God created everything through him,

and nothing was created except through him.

4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,

and his life brought light to everyone.

5 The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness can never extinguish it.

Such an interesting way to communicate…

John starts off the exact same way the book of Genesis does…

And He does that for a reason.

In the beginning… Genesis goes on to talk about how God created it all…

God spoke creation and order into existence by the power of His Word…

He said let there be light and there was…

Let there by life… and there was...

John is showing us this amazing and purposeful connectivity between what the OT clearly teaches and points to… and the reality of who Jesus is.

He says Jesus is “The Word”

It’s an incredible statement.

Just like our words express our hearts and minds… our purposes, intentions and values… John is saying that’s what we have in Jesus. The heart and mind of God expressed to you, about you, and for you…

If we want to know His heart, what He’s like, what He values… Look at Jesus.

culturally… this was an incredible statement.

The word there is LOGOS… and in Jewish culture… It has to do with God’s revelation. We know who God is and what God is like because of his WORD…

John is pointing out that Jesus is the one they’d been waiting for…

That He would bring real hope… real forgiveness… free them from the oppression and captivity that sin brings…

This idea of WORD was huge in secular culture in that day too… it carries the idea of finality… like… the last word… Jesus is the last word, the final say…

John is saying that Jesus is the very revelation of God and that with Him come eternal implications.

And the truth is… everyone that heard John in that moment… and even in our own would have to decide what it is they’d do about Jesus…

It might be a mistake to simply take on the opinion of the culture toward Him… to push it off as if you have all the time in the world… to decide based on what's comfortable or easy… what you think or would prefer... or even based on the failure of His followers like me.

In these 5 short verses, John, the one who was as close to Jesus as anyone was… make these astounding and outrageous claims… that deserve our attention…

That Jesus is God, was there at the beginning, He was with God, He is God, He gave life to everything that was and is and Brings LIGHT to everyone.

Can I ask you an honest question… What makes these claims outrageous? Or… even why do they matter…

If you struggle with it… if you’re not sure what to think about it… know that your not alone, in fact, thats some of what John does… more than any other Gospel, John reveals the struggle that people in that day had wrapping their minds around it… and that's why He shares these things…

John says Jesus brings light.

Light is needed for life… It makes life possible.

It reveals the work of God in us and around us

It provides direction and clarity …

It helps us to see things the way they really are…

Years ago… Albert Einstein said this…

“There is no such thing as darkness, only the absence of light”. - Albert Einstein

And it's interesting because if you look at that quote up, every single person who tryings to dispute it, is only proving his point… but I think it provides some answers for us…

One of those who disputed said this… ask anyone from the holicost… darkness exists…

Einstein's point was… Darkness is what exists when light isn't present…

And I believe that… It’s what reigns in us and even around us apart from the intervention of Jesus in our lives… It is what our sinful nature apart from Jesus produces…

It's why John wrote this…

John 1:10–14 NLT

He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

John 1:10–14 (NLT)

10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

14 So the Word became human (FLESH) and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

Passage…

NOTES…

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