What's in a name?

This morning we are going to begin looking at the book of John and in order to do so we need to look at some more names of Christ.

As we see in John 1: God’s Glory is here!

God’s glory came in the person of His son.

John’s Gospel is written differently than the other Gospels. The other Gospels are an account of happenings of Jesus and the disciples. The book of John goes into the meaning of these events.

The major theme of the book of John is Jesus Christ is the Son of God - commit to him - give your life to Him & eternal life is yours. There are 7 names I want to take time to highlight today and as we do ask the Lord to use these names to speak to your heart.

Prayer: Holy Spirit ignite the conversation of our spirit right now and show us who Jesus is. Give a clear and powerful vision of Jesus and a fresh glimpse of new direction in our lives today.

In the first chapter of John he records 7 names and titles of Jesus that identify Him as eternal God.

The Word - John 1:1-3, 14

John 1:1–3 NIV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

John 1:14 NIV

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus Christ is the eternal Word and He existed from the beginning. He did not have a beginning as a creature but because He is eternal. He is God and was with God.

When the earth came into existance Jesus was there. The Holy Spirit was there. God was there. The whole Trinity was present.

John 8:58 NLT

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!”

Jesus Christ is the creative word. There is a parallel between:

John 1:1 and Gen. 1:1

Genesis 1:1 NLT

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

John 1:1 NLT

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The new creation and the old creation. God created the world through His word. God created all things through Jesus Christ, which is evidence that Jesus is not a created being He is eternal God.

In John 1:3

John 1:3 NKJV

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

In this verse we see the verb “was made” is the perfect tense in the Greek which shows us this was a completed act. Creation is finished and not an ongoing process. Creation is not a process it is a finished product.

The incarnate word is another aspect we think about at Christmas. Jesus was not a phantom spirit when He ministered at work nor was his body an illusion. The disciples had personal experiences with Jesus which convinced them of the reality of the body of Christ. John makes clear the diety of Christ though great emphasis but he also made sure we know that Jesus was God in flesh and was subject to being human. Fully God and fully human.

Throughout the book of John he notes that Jesus was thirtsy, weary, groaned within, in pain, openly wept, bled, and died.

The word was made flesh through the miracle of the virgin birth. He took on the the form of man and was sinless but He identified with us in every aspect from birth to death.

Jesus Christ came with fullness of grace and truth and this fullness is available to all who trust Him.

The Light - John 1:4-13

Life is a key theme in John’s gospel and is used 36 times. The essentials for human life is:

Air

Water

Food

Light

Jesus is all of these. He is the light of life and the light of the world.

He is the Sun of righteousness! He gives the breath of life, as well as the water of life.

Jesus is the living bread of life that came down from heaven.

He not only has life, gives life, but He is life!

The recurring themes in John’s gospel is light and darkness. God is light which satan is the power of darkness. People either love light or the darkness and this love is controlled by their actions.

Those who believe in Jesus Christ as the sons of light (John 12:35-36)

Just as the first creatoin began with the words “Let there be light!” so to does the fresh start in giving your heart to Christ begin with the entrance of light into the heart of a new believer.

The coming of Jesus into the world was the dawning of a new day for sinful humanity. The light of heaven entered the world.

Those who do not know Christ should welcome the light. But there are those today blind in the darkness of sin and need to realize that they need the light of Jesus Christ.

John points out that there is a spiritual birth from God, not a physical birth that depends on human nature. Friend this morning please embrace the light of Jesus.

The light is still shining. Have you personally received the light and become a child of God?

The Son of God - John 1: 15-28, 49

John the baptist is one of the most important persons in the New Testament. He is mentioned at least 89 times. John had the special privilege of introducing Jesus to the nation of Israel. He also had the difficult task of preparing the nation to receive its Messiah.

He called them to repent of their sins and to prove that repentence by being baptized and then living changed lives.

John summarized what John the baptist said about Jesus this way:

1. Jesus is eternal John 1:15

John 1:15 NIV

(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ”)

He is referrning to the fact that Jesus existed before being born on the earth.

2. Jesus has fullness of Grace and Truth John 1:16-17

John 1:16–17 NIV

Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Grace is God’s favor and kindness bestowed on those who do not deserve it and it cannot be earned. God deals with according to grace and truth - if He dealth with us only by truth we would not survive.

John 1:17 talks about how each sacrifice under the law of Moses was an expression of the grace of God but the law also revealed God’s truth.

But in Jesus Christ grace and truth reach their fullness.

We are saved by Grace:

Ephesians 2:8–9 NIV

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

we also live by grace:

1 Corinthians 15:10 NIV

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

and depend on God’s grace in all that we do.

We can receive one grace after another for He giveth more grace.

James 4:6 NIV

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

John 1:17 John hinted to a who new order that came in that replaced the Mosaic system.

Jesus Christ reveals God to us:

As his essence - God is invisible

Please can see God revealed in nature & might works of History but they cannot see God Himself.

Jesus reveals God to us for He is the image of the invisble God and the express image of his person.

Jesus Christ explains God to us and interprets Him for us. We simply cannot understand God apart from knowing His Son, Jesus Christ.

Lamb of God - John 1:29-34

The people of Israel were familiar with Lambs for sacrifices. At Passover each family had to have a lamb and during the year, two lambs a day were sacrificed at the temple altar, plus all the other lambs brought for personal sacrifices. Those lambs were brought by people to people but here God’s lamb was given by God to humanity.

Those lambs brought by the people could not take away sin, but the lamb of God can take away sin. This lamb shed His blood for the whole world!

There is an important point to note about John’s baptism and Jesus as the lamb of God. In the New Testament - baptism was done by immersion. It is the picutre of death, burial, and resurrection.

When John the baptist baptized Jesus, Jesus and John were picturing the baptism Jesus would endure on the cross when He would die as the sacrificial lamb of God.

Isaiah 53:7 NIV

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

Luke 12:50 NIV

But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!

It would be through death, burial and resurrection that the lamb of God would fulfill all righteousness.

Matthew 3:15 NIV

Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

God the Father made it clear to John just who Jesus is by sending the spirit like a dove to light on Him. What a beautiful picture of the Trinity and the importance of water baptism!

The Messiah - John 1:35-42

Andrew had no sermons recorded but he certainly preached the greatest sermon by his actions as a personal soul winnder. He told Simon of the great witness when he declared to Him “ We have found the Messiah!”.

Messiah us a Hebrew word that means “anointed” and the Greek equivalent is “Christ”.

To the Jews is was the same as “Son of God”

When Jews spoke about their Messiah they were thinking of the king who would come to deliver them and establish the kingdom.

There was some confusion among the Jewish teachers of what the Messiah would do.

Some thought he would be a suffering sacrifice, some thought a splendid King. Jesus had to explain to his followers that the cross had to come before the crown, that He must suffer before entering into His glory.

Whether or not Jesus was the Messiah was a crucial problem that challenged the Jews in that day.

Simon’s interview with Jesus changed his life. It also gave him a new name Cephas in Aramaic or Peter in the Greek both mean “a rock”.

Andrew and John trusted Christ through the faithful preach of John the baptist. Peter and James came to Christ because of the compassionate personal work of their brothers.

Jesus won Philip over personally and then Philip witnessed to Nathaniel and brought Him to Jesus. Each persons experience is different because God uses various means to bring people to the Savior. The important thing is that we trust Christ and then seek to bring others to Him.

King of Israel - John 1: 43-49

King of Israel would be a similar title to Messiah or Anointed one for the kings were always God’s anointed one. At one point in His ministry the crowds wanted to make Jesus King but He refused them. He did present Himself as King.

John 18:33–37 NIV

Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?” “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

The Son of Man - John 1:50-51

Son of man was one of our Lord’s favorite titles for Himself and it is used 83 times in the Gospels and at least 13 times in the book of John.

The title speaks of him as diety and humanity. Fully God and Fully man.

Daniel 7:13 NIV

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.

this verse presents the son of man in a definite messianic setting and Jesus used the title in the same way.

As the son of man Jesus is the living link between heaven and earth.

John 14:6 NIV

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus reminds is in the gospel that He came down from heaven.

Jesus of Nazareth is God in the flesh. When Philip called him “the son of Joseph” he was not denying Jesus’ virgin birth or divine nature. The was merely His legal identification. A Jewish person was identified according to who his father was.

The witness of this entire chapter is clear - Jesus of Nazareth is God come in the flesh! God is here!

This morning I pray that you will allow Jesus Christ to work in your mind and heart. Be honest before him about your desires and fears.

Let Him have His way in your life and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you and use you going forward. Allow Him to speak to you openly, listen for His voice and clear direction.

Ask the Holy Spirit this week to continue to reveal truth to you from what we have shared this morning.

Lord have your way in us. Direct our steps this week and in this new year. Thank you that you are here!