John | Chapter 1

The Gospel of John

“The Portrait of Perfection”

Theme: Jesus: “The portrait of perfection”

Key verse: 14:8-9 “Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

Outline:

I. 1:1-18 Picture perfect

            a. 1:1-5 Who is Jesus?

            b. 1:6-13 Who knows?

            c. 1:14-18 Who has believed?

II. 1:19-12:50 Public portraits (Seven signs in His public ministry)

            a. 1:19-2:11 New joy

            b. 2:12-4:54 New hope

            c. 5:1-47 New freedom

            d. 6:1-71 New Sustenance

                        1. 6:1-14, 22-71 New food (6:35 First of seven truths)

                        2. 6:15-21 New support        

            c. 7:1-9:41 New light (Second truth 8:12)

            e. 10:1-12:50 New life (Third, fourth and fifth truths)

                        1. 10:7 Gate of life

                        2. 10:11 Guide of life

                        3. 11:25 Giver of life

III. 13:1-17:26 Private photos

            a. 13:1-14:15 Prophecies (sixth truth 14:6 one direction)

            b. 14:16-16:33 Promises (seventh truth 15:5 abiding promise)

            c. 17:1-26 Prayers

IV. 18:1-21:25 Complete picture

            a. 18:1-19:42 The passion

            b. 20:1-31 The resurrection

            c. 21:1-25 The commission

The Gospel of John

“The Portrait of Perfection”

I. 1:1-18 Picture perfect

a. 1:1-5 Who is Jesus?

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 1-3 Without Him nothing

III. Vs. 4-5 In Him is life and light

Intro.

This study is both for the “seeker” as well as the “searcher” but John uses only around six hundred different words in his vocabulary which would be about equivalent to around a six year olds vocabulary yet his is the most profound of the all the gospels. But why the need for four gospels? The ancient Christian writer Origen said, “there are not four gospels, but one four-fold gospel.” Each gospel presents a different perspective on the life of Jesus, and we need all four to get the full picture. Matthew reveals Jesus as prophesized King, Mark shows Him as the Servant of God, Luke in His humanity and John in His deity but it takes all four to get His true picture.

Now this brings up an interesting point as we all say if I could just have walked with Jesus seen Him heard Him it would be so much easier to believe. There is always an attempt by man to try to come up with a physical description of Jesus, we have all seen the paintings and sketches of all types yet there is no mention of what he looked like any where in the N.T. Every so often people will see His portrait in the bark of wood or moldy cheese and hundreds and thousands will flock to it to get a glimpse of Him. Now I personally always question this seeing that there is no photograph, not one drawing, why you won’t even find any words describing His physical appearance so just how do they know that the picture on the moldy cheese looks like Jesus? To further the mystery as to why John doesn’t offer any physical description is his words concerning the compilation of this gospel and it’s importance to salvation as he writes in chapter 20:30-31 that, “truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” It is this same John who testifies in his first letter concerning Jesus saying that “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life”. Clearly on a personal note John was forever impacted by what his physical senses observed, so why not describe what he heard, looked upon and handled? Could it be that this is what John does? Consider if you will that John will offer us not a physical description but rather a character description by describing seven signs of his ministry and seven truths He proclaimed about Himself and the outcome will be that we will all see Jesus the “Portrait of Perfection”.

Vs. 1-3 Without Him nothing

Vs. 1 We start with what many call the prolog or summation of the entire book (verses 1-18), this gospel has been called “a pool in which a child may wade and an elephant can swim” as it is simple in its stories but so profound in its theological truths that even the greatest skeptics have been converted by its words. John starts out with a three fold declaration:

• In the beginning was the Word
• And the Word was with God
• And the Word was God

The Gospel with the words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word” a very similar opening to the Bible itself. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). John does not say “at the beginning or from the beginning” but “IN the beginning”, the Word preceded the “beginning”. So John says, “When the beginning began, the Word was already there”. John has not immediately identified the “Word” he will do so gradually like peeling the layers of an onion and the first truth he wants us to understand is that the “Word” predates time or creation as He was there before anything was. The Word is “Logos” in the Greek and with the use of the word “was” in the imperfect tells us that John is not trying to speak of the origin of God but rather His continuous existence contrasted with verse 14 where John writes “became” flesh which speaks of the “coming into being” of that which had always been, or the eternal entering time, space and matter. 

The Greeks had developed a philosophy from Plato that was built upon the assumption that the “Logos” the Word was the foundation of the world. The idea was that behind everything was “perfect thought” but the Jews took this thought still farther as they said behind “perfect thought” must be a “perfect thinker”. Now John expands this by saying that perfect thought and perfect thinker must not just be a philosophy but rather a “Perfect Person” hence the use of personal pronouns. The word God here is “Elohim” which speaks of three or more and its use here suggests that John is thinking in terms of the tri-unity of God.   

Hey saints these are amazing statements and every word is a brush stroke of a master artist. You see the word Logos in the Greek means “to collect, to place words side by side, to speak and to express an opinion” The Word reveals the heart and mind of the person speaking and as such Jesus reveals the heart and mind of God. A word is composed of letters and Jesus is according to Rev. 1:11 the “Alpha and Omega” which is the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet so Jesus is God’s last word to mankind, John reveals that Jesus is the “Eternal Word” “Creative Word” “Essential Word”. But what is a word? Well a word is an audible expression of a thought, now you have all said “I know what you are thinking” but in truth thoughts remain just that until they are put into words. In 1 Cor. 2:16 Paul asks, “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” and then Paul answers his own question by saying, “But we have the mind of Christ.” When Jesus was among us as a man he expressed what was going on in the mind of God, He told us the thoughts of God, He was God’s utterance on earth, unveiling to us what Paul calls “the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory” (1 Cor. 2:7). People often think that they create their own reality but the truth is they always start with what God thinks and then manipulate that into their own reality. Ultimately only what God thought came into reality and in the end it will be what He thought all along that will come to pass. As God thought about a universe, a solar system, an earth all sprang into being just as He thought. Then God thought about everything we see around us what we see, smell, hear, taste and touch so all came into being. Look around and you will see that what exists are the thoughts of God, now John declares that those thoughts of God put into words is none other then Jesus. It is important that we understand the distinction as thoughts are not words but they are always going to be exactly what we thought so too in the Godhead there is distinction with unity. In Psalm 138:2 we read “You have magnified Your word above all Your name” it is because through his Word His thoughts are made known and not by just knowing someone’s name.  

Next John takes on the concept that “And the Word was with God” which carries two powerful truths:

1. That the “Word” existed eternally with God
2. And that the “Word” was in perfect fellowship with God in equality and intimacy they were face to face with each other

So here is what John is saying: There is a Being known as the Word and this Being is God, because He is eternal yet this Being called the Word does not encompass all that God is as God the Father is a distinct Person from the Word as we are told that “the Word was with God” I can not be “with” my self I can only be with someone else. 

Then we come to the last of this three fold declaration “And the Word was God”. Now Jehovah’s Witness translation “New World Translation” reads like this: “In the beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.” And in saying it this way they seek to deny the teaching that Jesus is God. Now in fairness they translate it this way with a little “G” because they say that there is not article in the Greek in that sentence but there are numerous times in the N.T. where it appears the same as it does here in John 1:1 and every other time they translate it God not “a god”. To further bolster their mistranslation they quote two Greek authorities to make it sound as if they agree. One of them Dr. Mantey demanded that his name be removed from the book the other so called “scholar” is a occult-practicing spiritist, and not a scholar of Biblical Greek. The bulk of Greek scholars call “New World Translation” A GROSSLY MISLEADING TRANSLATION. In fact the authority they quote as agreeing with them writes, “It is neither scholarly nor reasonable to translate John 1:1 ‘the Word was a god.’ But of all the scholars in the world, so far as we know, none have translated this verse as Jehovah’s Witnesses have done.” (Dr. Julius R. Mantey). Noted Greek scholar Dr. William Barclay calls this translation of John 1:1 “The deliberate distortion of truth and intellectually dishonest.”  So John declares that Jesus was in the beginning with God again makes the point that the Father is distinct from the Son, and the Son distinct from the Father so we see that they are equally God, yet they are separate Persons.

John declares three truths about Jesus:

1. “In the beginning was the Word”: Eternal
2. “The Word was with God”: Equal
3. “The Word was God”: Essential          

In Deut. 6:4 we are told “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!” The word for “One” in the Hebrew is a compound unity meaning one cluster or 1x1x1 which is still One.

Vs.2 Here we are given the origin of the “Word” as “He was in the beginning with God”. John now links to gather the pre-existence of the Word with that of God the point being that the Word has always been God and this phrase is directly prior to the creative acts is show His involvement in creation is not as being created Himself and then set to the task of creating but rather that He was never created He is instead the creator!

Vs. 3 The words, “Was made” is in the perfect tense in the Greek which means that creation is a finished product not a work in progress. There are four essentials to life and John declares that Jesus is all of these:

• Light: John 8:12 Jesus is the light of life
• Breath: John 3:8 Jesus is the breath of life
• Water: John 4:10 Jesus is the water of life
• Food: John 6:35 Jesus is the bread of Life   

The Word created all created things as Paul says in Colossians 1:16 “by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” Just for a moment consider the phrase “All things were made” John does not use the word “Cosmos” as he does to speak of the world in verse 10 speaking of the universe but instead he uses the word which is greater “every thing” not just the physical universe but what Paul proclaims in the Col. 1:16 “all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers”. There is nothing that has ever been or ever will be that was not created by the word. Now why is that important? Well I suggest to you in light of our science fiction world that seems obsessed with aliens for outer space this would include them and so if there is intelligent life out there I fully expect their first words to us to be “Praise Jesus!” Further more the Words creative ability is described in the use of the word “made” or “becoming” and not in a state of “being made” and such there was no effort in the creative word. If you and I sent down to create something we put forth all our energy to do so, not so with the Word the audible thought of God He simply caused that which had never been prior to BE! Now we have the words “By Him” and as such we see the Word is the agent in creation. In Hebrews 1:2 we are told that “in these last days did speak to us in a Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He did make the ages” He placed time into being Christian He built the clock, so our sphere of existence “time space and matter” all His work. Then we are told that “without Him nothing was made that was made” and in saying this John dispels two false teachings:

1. First that matter is eternal: Matter is clearly not eternal as it was made.
2. Second hat angels had a share in creation: Clearly this phrase excludes there work in the creative process, not even one thing John declares.

In every cell of your body there is over 3 billion letters of code 1 a trillion atoms and people are trying to unlock the digital code in language and as such researchers are being forced to abandoned chance theories of life. The number of atoms in a single breath is 10 to the 21^st power. When you take a deep breath you just breathed over 10 million molecules that Jesus breathed. The lining of our skins shed every two to three weeks and over our life times we will shed off over 40 pounds of skin, now you know why old coaches weigh more!

Vs. 4-5 In Him is life and light

Vs. 4 The Word is the source of all life and the Greek word is “zoe” which means “the life principle”, not “bios” just biological life. The Word not only creates life here we are told that He sustains all life. Jesus is the atomic glue that holds together the elements of the atom. Now in Stanford University there a Linear accelerator which is a great atom-smasher, which takes energy that is developed at the beginning of a great tunnel and increases its speed constantly until it approaches the speed of light so that the energy particles smash into a target of an atom at the end. And Heb 1:3 “upholding all things by the word of His power”.

In Col 1:17 we are told that “in Him all things consist”, now perhaps you are thinking, “Why does this matter pastor?” Well consider the Jesus’ words in John 10:27-29 where He says concerning you and I “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 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.” Oh dear saint put your insecurity into His hands as Paul wrote of this in Rom. 8:35-39 saying “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” He’s gotcha!!!! So the Word does not merely contain life and light He is life and light and apart from Him there would be no life and light. John  loves these two words life “Zoe” and light “Phos” as they appear in this gospel 36 and 23 times. Interesting to me that in the Greek John makes this statement “the life was the light of men” interchangeable with “the light was the life of men” physicists find in electricity the same two things “light and power” And Jesus in 8:12 would call Himself the “light of the world”.

Vs. 5 Finally John declares that the problem with mankind is not from lack of consistency from the “light” as he says the “light shines in the darkness” and the word “shines” means keeps on consistently shining. The light was shining in the darkness, the darkness could not put it out or extinguish it try as they might to put out the “Light of the Word” man kind has not been able to snuff out the flame. The longer I live the more I see satan and the world system trying to put out the light of the WORD but as Jesus will say in chapter 3:19 “this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”    

Man kind is so prone to blame God for the darkness of life, so apt to curse Him for the darkness and death that are always lurking about but it is not God, not the Word which shines its brightness like “light house” into the dark fog of human existence. The fact that we are born with a fear of both darkness and death speaks to this. Ah but hear the words of psalm 139:12 “the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.” Then in Paul’s words in 1 Cor 15:55 “O Death, where is your sting?” Even though the darkness of human heart would not allow illumination it didn’t keep the light from shining.  

b. 1:6-13 Who Knows?

“The Sounds of Silence”

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 6-9 Say what we see

III. Vs. 10-13 Becoming God’s kids

Intro.

Last week John showed his readers that Jesus was eternal, equal and essential with God yet a distinct person. He is the Word, the expression of the mind and heart of the Father, the creator in who we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). What’s more remarkable is that God desires for us to know Him, to have a relationship by shinning His light into a dark world. We are so proud of our technologies and achievements, our learning and education we tend to think with every succeeding generation that we are evolving into a state of perfection but history reveals with every succeeding generation man’s in humanity to their fellow kind is growing more wicked. How can this be? Well we are in the dark! 

In the 70’s Simon and Garfunkel wrote a song called “The Sounds of Silence” where one the lyrics said “Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again.” That’s an accurate description of the world we live in today isn’t it? The whole purpose of John’s gospel is to bring people to a faith in Jesus Christ. In chapter 20:30-31 he comes right and says, “Many other things did Jesus which are not written: But these things are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Son of God; and by believing have life in His name” He hand selected events that would lead people to the truth so that people who life in darkness would become what they previously weren’t “children of God”.

Vs. 6-9 Say what we see

Vs. 6-9 John left us last week with a puzzling question as to why the world did not see the light and life of men, the Word (verses 5). He then gave the answer by saying the problem did not lie with the light but rather in man’s attempt to extinguish the light. Paul tells us in Romans 10:17 that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” In the 14^th and 15^th verses right above this Paul asked two questions “how shall they hear without a preacher?” “how shall they preach unless they are sent?” That is the purpose of John the Baptist not to be the light but to bear witness of the Light. It seems as though the Apostle John is anticipating his readers questions as to why they didn’t receive the “Word” perhaps it was that no one heard of the light? So here we are told of John the Baptist whose sole purpose was to come to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. John the Baptists ministry was to “make clear” the light. The “Light” of the world was shining directly into the hearts of men but they were blinded by it but not John he saw clearly what mankind had closed their eyes to and his ministry was to speak about what he saw. It is interesting that John means the “grace of God” so God sent His grace to tell of His grace! In Luke 3:4 quoting from Isa. 40:3 we are told that there would be a “voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God”, John was “The voice of one crying in the wilderness” you don’t see a voice you can only hear it, John didn’t come to be seen he came to herald the only One to be seen. That is one of the pitfalls of ministry as the flesh has a constant desire to be seen and thought well of but that us not what we are called to be we are called to speak of the Light and Life of the world. John came to give mankind the A,B,C’s or the Word. ABC’s?

• Admit your need
• Believe in Jesus
• Change your behavior

That pretty much sums up John the Baptists ministry preparing the hearts of the people.

It is a difficult thing for us to grasp that the One that hung upon the cross for our sins was the very one that formed the tree that He hung on! The One who had been sinned against became divine grace that He might deliver those who put their trust in Him.

John was to be a witness and a witness does not tell of things he thinks, his opinions and speculations he speaks of what he knows. The word “witness” is a key word in John’s gospel he uses it as a noun 14 times and as a verb 33 times and it is what we are called to do “bare witness in our life and words”. Paul said it best in 1 Cor. 2:2 where he said “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Notice that in verse 9 John says, “that was the true light” there are a lot of false lights that flicker on the scene but only one true light.

Hey saint’s that’s our job, to first open our own eyes to the person and work of Jesus and then to speak about what we see to those who are unwilling to open their own eyes. John makes sure that his readers don’t mingle the message with the messenger by clearly announcing that John the Baptist was not the “Light” his calling was to simply speak of what he saw. I’m afraid that far too many of us pastor types have forgotten our role to speak of what we see. There are far too many entertainers whose message can not be heard about the light because they want to be the star! James issued a warning saying “let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” There is a real danger as we break open the Word that what we put forth becomes “our message” instead of opening our eyes to see the “Word” and (His message). Let every teacher, preacher and worshipper heed this exhortation “we are not important” only Him whom we have seen! On the front of this pulpit I have placed a reminder for myself John 12:23 it simply reads “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.” This hour that we are gathered together is not to show you how great I am, not so you can be amazed by the musicians, not so you can hear of all the wonderful programs that we have in this church it is the “Hour where we proclaim Jesus’ greatness” and the day that we forget that is day we all should go out to look for a church that has not forgotten that! Why tell us this pastor? Because of what John has said in verse 4 and verse 7 namely that the life is in the Word and that transformation WILL occur for all who have come to trust in the Word of life. In fact John loves the word “believe” so much that he uses it over 100 times in these 21 chapters, nine times more than all the other gospel writers. There is a true sense in which I can be guilty of the greatest form of malpractice if I take away from the only “Life Giver” and rob people of the opportunity to become saved. That is John’s statement in verse 9 “the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” If I by my behavior or by my time in the pulpit take people’s eyes off of the “True light” according to Rom. 2:22-24 I become an obstruction, a hindrance to the “True Light” and my calling to speak of what I have seen is now causing others to not see. Oh how I need the prayers of the saints as Paul said in Col. 4:3 that they should “pray also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ”. So then saints it is our invisibility in conjunction with His visibility and we must be ever aware that it can never be our visibility as such it will cause His invisibility!  

Vs. 10-13 Becoming God’s kids

Vs. 10-13 It is interesting to note the subtleties of verse 11 as John writes “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” The first time in this verse “His own” is translated in the Greek it refers to creation as it in the neutered tense and second time it refers to humanity as it is in the masculine tense. What this tells us is that John is saying that when Jesus came into His creation the wind and seas obeyed Him, the mountains were ready to have a “rock concert” the only part of His creation that didn’t receive Him was the very one that was created in His image. Paul says concerning this in Roman 1:25 that mankind “exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator”. How can the statement of John’s in verse 10 be? The Word (God the Son) came into the very world He created, to the creatures made in His image, and they did not know Him? Well this verse reveals to us the depth of how far human nature has fallen as clearly we have fallen so far that we can no longer see the Light and Life of men. The Bible says in Psalm 19:1 says that “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.” Then Paul writes in Rom. 1:18-20 “men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse”. In the above two verses we see mankind’s refusal to recognize the “Word” prior to His incarnation, so based upon verse 11 we are told that He came into that which He alone created. What this speaks to me is that our God wants to be known, He wants people to know Him, and He desires a relationship with those created in His own image. So the Word which created all things came into that which He created, to mankind, to God’s chosen people, to His own city, His own family and they didn’t receive Him in the Greek that is they didn’t “welcome Him”. They didn’t invite Him into the very lives that He himself created. According to Zech 13:6 when Jesus comes back “one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’” You see He came to His own people and His did not receive Him. If you have ever been estranged from your children or from family you know of the heartache of this statement, God has given you a glimpse into the realm of the Holy rejection as you are walking where He as walked in our very own hearts at one time.

            Ah but “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” In contrast to those who rejected Him we have those who did receive Him as He gave them the unique privilege to become what they were not prior, children of God. The word “receive” means to “take up as in an embrace” in other words John is not speaking of mere intellectual agreement or some philosophical abstract truth, He is talking of ownership of this Truth. Now this phrase “children of God” goes much deeper than mere offspring of His creation in which all mankind is, instead it carries the idea of recreation into a living relationship with God. And John says just how such recreation is accomplished which he expounds upon it further in verse 13 “by placing our sole trust upon the person and work of Jesus”. Thirty Five times John will tell his readers to put their trust in or on Jesus and in verse 13 he explains just what that means by telling us three things it doesn’t mean: “Who were born”

1. “Not of blood”: It’s not a birthright! That means, not by inheritance, not by human ancestry. You cannot get into the kingdom of God, or be born into the family of God, by being raised in a Christian home. You can be a member of a family where every one except you is a follower of Christ, but that doesn’t make you a Christian. You can attend a Christian school and spend all your life involved in Christian activities, but until you are born again you are not a Christian. You are not saved by Christian parents or Christian grandparents or by being born in a Christian country. Just because you were born into a Christian home, with parents that went to church and read the Bible too you every day doesn’t make someone a child of God. The Jews claimed in 8:39 that they “are the children of Abraham” to which Jesus responded “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.” And what was the work of Abraham? Paul elaborated on this in Gal. 3:6-7 saying “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” 
2. “Nor of the will of the flesh”: Not by religious practice! Here the idea is that we or not saved be simply going to church reading our bible, all of which is good. Sometimes you will asked someone if they are saved and they will immediately tell you which Church they attend, but salvation is not just by attending Church.  Paul proclaimed before King Agrippa in Acts 26:19 that “they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.” The author of Hebrews calls religion “dead works”. You can not determine yourself to be a Christian. It’s not possible to talk yourself into being a Christian or study Christians and just act like them, join a church and sing their songs. What makes someone a Christian is not the externals it’s “not of the will of the flesh”.
3. “Nor of the will of man”: Not by self effort! Our good works or effort can not cause regeneration of a life. There has been nothing more damning placed upon mankind then the thought that our “goodness” saves us. The truth is if our personal goodness can save us then the “Word” becoming flesh and dwelling among us, taking on the likeness of fallen man and paying the price for our sin was a terrible injustice to Jesus. Paul said in 1 Tim 1:15 “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” The truth of the matter Jesus can only save “sinners” thank God I qualify! Our “New birth” can not be appointed by the efforts of others. No religious official can declare you a Christian, no certificate or membership affiliation can affirm it. You cannot become a Christian by a ceremony or by reciting a creed, neither does it matter if you sit a certain way have water sprinkled on you or be dunked head long into water those do not make you a Christian.

So just how is it accomplished? John in a simple three word phrase tells us; “But of God”! Here than is the only way you and I can be born into the family it is “of God”! Paul stated it this way in Eph. 2:8 “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God”. It is by Him that we “became what we were not prior, children of God”. Every human being came into existence through birth it is the only way we come into the world no other way. So too becoming God’s children it has to come by way of birth, “new birth”. We simply aren’t massed produced, cookie cutter creature now we are created one at a time so too “new birth” we are birthed one at a time. 

These words tell us it is all by God, beyond any and all human effort, cleverness or manipulation. John already spoke of this in verse 12 when he said “To all who received him” did you notice that he didn’t merely say “believe in him”. Many people say, “I believe in Christ, I believe that he lived, that he died and rose again. I believe he was who he said he was.” James wrote in 2:19 “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe; and tremble!” The simple acknowledgement of the truths regarding Jesus does not make any one a Christian. It is when you receive him, when you yield to him, when you surrender to his Lordship that you become a Christian. In John’s first letter he wrote “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” Notice the way John put it “He who has the Son has life!” Let us just suppose that I had a medical condition that required me to take a medicine without which I would cease to live. Now I could know the truth of this I could even have in my possession the medicine but unless I ingested of it all the prescribed way I would die. You see mere knowledge of my need and even having the remedy on my possession would not save me.

Hey saints it’s for this express reason that we need to realize the purpose of our gathering together. Far too many times God’s people forget what we are here for; we are not here as attorney’s to debate in order to convince a jury. We are not here as entertainers to make sure we are moved by the performance. No, we are here to bear witness of the Light. I have never saved anyone, never changed a heart and I never will at best I can introduce you to the only One that can the Word of Life!

c. 1:14-18 Who has believed?

“Word among us”

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 14-15 God made visible in the flesh

III. Vs. 16-18 The fullness of grace and truth

Intro.

Just who is Jesus? This week we have been told that he was just a man who had a family and they have the names on 10 bone boxes or ossuaries to prove it and are speaking of extracting the “DNA of God”. A leading Hebrew University archeologist Leah DiSegni a Jewish Israeli has said, “It’s a pity people are so easily fooled and more ready to believe in fables than in reality”. She went on to say that she didn’t think that the film makers James Cameron and Simcha Jabobovici believed the theory themselves but were just out to make money. The tomb was actually discovered in 1980, 27 years ago, by archeologist professor Amos Kloner. His comments about the soon to be released film called “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” do to air on the discovery channel on March 4^th were published in the Jerusalem Post where he stated, “It makes a great story for a TV film but it’s completely impossible. It’s nonsense.” Then we have the Mormon’s claim concerning Jesus “as we are so once was God as God is we will become”. To the even more bizarre a while back actress and New Age guru Shirley McClain had every one in a packed auditorium light a candle to illustrate that people are “divine lights” just as Jesus and others had discovered about themselves. So she had everyone in the auditorium light their candle and all the house lights were turned off as they basked in the glow of their own “divine light” but what she hadn’t anticipated was that soon after her proclamation that the heat from the candles would set off the fire sprinkler system, not only extinguishing all the candles but showing that her idea was pardon the pun “all wet”. When it comes to Jesus people would always rather believe the ridiculous than the miraculous. But John was an eyewitness and in these verses he is going to tells just who Jesus really is.  

Vs. 14-15 God made visible in the flesh

Vs. 14 Paul spoke to Timothy in 1 Tim 3:16 “great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.” The author of Hebrews opens his letter by saying “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high”, that is what we are looking at in John’s words.   

These words of John would have blown the minds of both Greeks and Jewish readers hearing that the Word became flesh. You see the Greeks viewed their gods such as Zeus and Hermes as mere super-men and in no way equal to the Logos or thought of God so to the Greeks John says, “The Logos the expression of the very thought of God who made everything seen and unseen, became flesh.” Now the Jews had such a high view of God He was out of reach. In Exodus 20 after the giving of the commandments and the thundering and lighting they said to Moses “You talk to Him!” God was the One who had parted the sea, feed them with manna from heaven and water from a rock that He would become flesh and make His home among them relationally blew their minds. John in the 14^th verse gives us five remarkable truths concerning the incarnation:  

1. Fully Man “The Word became flesh ”. John is not saying that the eternal, equal and essential “Logos” came and entered a man or dwelt in a man or filled a man but literally “became flesh”, He did not merely posses a man He became a man, that which is divine in nature became fully human. That is Paul’s testimony as well in Philip. 2:5-8 where he proclaims “Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”  John gives us his version of the nativity as the word “Became” is in the tense that means “of His own will” so we have the virgin birth form the perspective of Jesus.
2. God with us: Next John says that He “dwelt among us” the word here is “tabernacled among us” today we would say He pitched His tent next to us. In Ex 26:14 we are told that Moses was instructed to take a “covering of ram skins dyed red for the tent” then in chapter 40:34 “the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle” Jesus was the fulfillment of this as He was the “Lamb of God” and His blood stained skin was illuminated as the glory of the Lord filling His earthly tent. The tent of the tabernacle was plain on the outside but on the interior was lined with precious silver, gold, jewels and fine linens as the glory of God would be inside the tent that was a pattern of what Jesus was while on earth. Of further interest to me is that Jesus was most likely born during the fall as Shepherds were out with their flocks which would have been during the time of the “Feast of Tabernacles” where the Jews would camp out as pilgrims as did their ancestors on their way to the promised land from Egypt it was the most joyous of the feasts of Israel. Hey saints think of the symbolism of this as Jesus came and Tabernacled among us leading us out of the world through the wilderness of life with great joy as we are heading for the promised land. Now we are told in Matt. 17:2 that on the Mount of transfiguration some of that glory leaked out so people saw Him as he truly is God the Son.  
3. Light of the world: Then John speaks as an eye witness saying “we beheld His glory” which gives us this great picture of what James would speak of in 2:1 saying that Jesus Christ is “the Lord of glory”. If you have ever gone out camping and placed a flash light or a lantern in your tent at night and then walked outside your tent then you have a picture of what Jesus was as He “pitched His tent among us” as the “light of men” (verse 4) when His glory illuminated the darkness of fallen humanity.
4. Lord of glory: “The glory as of the only begotten of the Father”: The phrase in the Greek is “only born of the Father” which refers to the eternal relationship that existed prior to the incarnation. Why does this matter? Well remember here that John’s context is that of beholding the “Glory of the Lord” and here what he is declaring is that such glory is a shared glory with the Father. That is what Jesus will say to Philip after he said, “Show us the Father” in John 14:8-11 “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” and “I am in the Father and the Father in Me”. 
5. Portrait of perfection:  “Full of grace and truth”: This two word description is how John describes the glory of God. Grace is best defined by the acrostic poem:  God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense “G-R-A-C-E” or if you will grace is love giving itself. Truth is the manifestation of all that is real and so we see Jesus was full of both grace and truth. He was the ultimate revelation of what is real in life; and he is the fullest expression of love giving itself, pouring out, reaching out to others. It is what John revealed in verse 4 concerning life and light, what is life if not love giving of it’s self? What is light if not truth manifesting all that is real? Have you ever said, “I wish I had more light on this situation”? You are asking for more truth and we are told that in Jesus is ALL love giving it’s self, ALL truth showing what is real, and that tells me that you won’t find Him lacking in either of these categories. Some folks are very truthful but show very little grace and being around them you feel as though you never measure up to their standards. Others are very gracious but not very truthful and they make you feel good but they tend to be on the flakey side. Ah but Jesus John say’s was neither “hard” nor “flakey” He spoke the truth in Love so that we “may grow up in all things into Him” (Eph. 4:15).

Vs. 15 The apostle brings John the Baptist back into this by saying that John’s witness was that Jesus was the “glory of the Lord”. In Matt. 3:11 the apostle John was there when John the Baptist said, “He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.” Again the English lacks the clarity of the Greek as John heard the Baptist declare Jesus superiority proclaiming Him God and not just a man as he. Then the further quote, “This one who comes after me in time was before me in time. He was indeed my first. (That is the literal expression used.) “The one who came before me preceded me in time.” How can “He who came after me be before me?” It is a question that the apostle wanted us to search out the answer too and it is one that he had already said as Jesus shared the glory of the Father. In Micah 5 we have this prophecy that says “Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” That is what John the Baptist is referring too here.

Vs. 16-18 The fullness of grace and truth

Vs. 16 John says that “Love giving of its self” is of an endless supply especially when put next to the “law given through Moses”. “Grace for Grace”, a supply that is new every time you need “God’s love giving of its self” in the person of Jesus. And when don’t we need God’s Love? Here aloud the words of Paul in Rom. 8:33-35 “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” I can’t tell you how thankful I am to the Lord that He continues to offer me:

• His grace and not His condemnation!
• His intercession not just a pointing finger at all my faults!
• His arms of love instead of His doghouse!            

David wrote of such in psalm 139:7-12 “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me; Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.” We can not exhaust the grace of God. We can’t? Paul wrote in Rom 5:20 “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more”, who thank God for that truth as at times I’ve felt that my flesh has pushed God to the limit and beyond but not so He as ample supply for you and I. I’m thinking that there is more here today that need to hear this than just me!

Vs. 17 The law elicits the consciousness of sin and our need for redemption as Paul stated in Gal 3:24-25 “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” The law did its job bringing us to grace and truth through Jesus Christ. In Gal 3:2-3 Paul writes “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” There was grace under the law as seen in the sacrifice of each animal and there was truth but the fullness of these is only found in Jesus. Here we are given two dispensations, the law given by Moses, which continues on but has reached its fulfillment in the grace and truth of Jesus. There was truth in the law and grace was present in the temple sacrifices but they were only a shadow of which Jesus is the fullness of. John uses the name Jesus 256 times more than any other gospel Matt. 172, Mark 95, and Luke 100 times.      

The law was brought forth high on a hill as the mountain shook and the sky darkened as lighting and thunder roared and when it was brought forth 3000 people died according Ex 32:28. Ah but when grace and truth came forward it did so quietly in a manger and when the spirit came down 3000 were saved. The law kills but Jesus gives life! There are a great many times I’m afraid that either by my actions or words I’m attempting to be made “perfect by the flesh” instead of trusting in Jesus Christ to whom “grace and truth” came through.

Vs. 18 Have you ever asked, “I wish I knew God better?” If you would want to know God better than all you need to do is get better acquainted with Jesus. What does it mean that “no one has seen God at any time” didn’t Adam, Abraham, Moses, Ezekiel, Daniel and Isaiah? What John is saying that there vision of His invisibility is limited His fullness can only be seen in the words and works of Jesus and the longer we walk with Him the more we will see of Him. You see Jesus is the only visible declaration of the unseen God and that is what Paul declares in Col. 1:15 saying that Jesus “is the image of the invisible God”. So in Jesus we have seen the character and nature of the unseen Father in both His words and works. The words “only begotten” means unique one of a kind and that with the word “declared” tells us the Word explained by His presence who God is. The Word of God in human flesh where the Glory of God dwelled revealed the unseen Father to all of humanity. Interesting to me is the word “declared” in the Greek is where we get our word “expound” so then Jesus taught us the Father, He expound to us all that the Father is. Hey saints that is we need when we open the Word a further revelation of “grace and truth”!      

II. 1:19-12:50 Public portraits (Seven signs in His public ministry)

a. 1:19-2:11 New joy

John 1:19-34

“Highway to heaven”

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 19-28 Highway man

III. Vs. 29-34 Cure not containment

Intro.

The apostle moves on from his summation to seven proofs as seen in the words and works of Jesus. But First he is going to address this mysterious person already mentioned in verse 6 and verse 15, John the Baptist. In Luke 7:28 Jesus said of John the Baptist that “among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist”. Yet in John 10:41 we are told that “John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man (Jesus) were true.” Then in Luke 16:16 Jesus said “The law and the prophets were until John.” John is the only one of the prophets who longed to look into that which they were speaking of and did, yet Jesus said in the rest of the verse in Luke 7:28 “he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” We shall look not so much at the man but upon his mission which is given to us in these 16 verses.  

Vs. 19-28 Highway man

Vs. 19-21 John gives us the setting as to the inquiry “when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”” John had no pedigree; no papers and we are told that he had already rebuffed the religious leader’s questions by calling them a “Brood of vipers” in Matt. 3:7. Now more time has elapsed (at least 6 weeks) and great numbers were coming out to him and people wanted to know just who he was as his popularity was growing. But in the Greek the question of these religious leaders was not so much a question as it was a statement “Who do you think you are?” John was a maverick and his words and actions were stirring folks up, why he was calling the Jews to repentance and even publicly immersing them in water “Who told him he could do that, that’s not part of our traditions”. What follows is John’s threefold statement of who he is not this is followed not with an explanation of who he is but rather what he is doing. 

Now you will notice with each of these three questions a declining response by John. First he “confessed, he did not deny, but he confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah”, then we are told when asked about being Elijah he responded “I am not” and final when asked if he is The Prophet he says, “No”.  What that suggests to me is a declining interest in answering the question as to his identity. Let me just make an observation on human nature based upon this and it is simply this; we are over concerned with “who people are”. When someone becomes popular everybody wants to come around to know “who they are” and here is my response, “who cares”? John gave them no fodder for the tabloids but rather he just spoke of what he was doing. I’m going to like hanging around John the Baptist in heaven as he always seems to be on target, he is never drawn into the “important people trivia game”. Instead he is like the ink on paper as his only purpose is to give hue to the word. John’s life is all about purpose and not importance and I believe personally we would all live much happier lives if we were more like John and not caught up in our self importance but consumed with God’s purpose! The truth is that those who are consumed with God’s purpose and not their self importance are the ones people remember in this life anyway! 

1. “He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.“” John is emphatic here saying, “I am not the Christ”.  He wanted to make “It perfectly clear”; as Richard Nixon was found of saying, that he was not the promised Messiah. There were probably rumors flying around that had gotten back to John and he was not going to have any of that talk. Notice that the apostle Johns says that John the Baptist “confessed, he did not deny, but he confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah” The repeated word “confessed” sandwiching the phrase “did not deny” is clearly emphasizing the fact that John the Baptist was not vague when it came to him not being the Messiah.
2. “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” Why did they wonder if he was Elijah? Well I think there are several reasons. First there was that prophetic word back in the final verse of the Old Testament written 400 years earlier in Mal 4:5-6 “I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers”. There was coming a prophet who would have a special ministry like Elijah of “turning the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to the fathers” that is a ministry of calling a rebellious nation back to God. Elijah was a rugged, fearless man who called down judgment upon the people so when people heard John, with his fearless message they began asking, “Is this Elijah?” The second thing that seemed to bring about the comparison was John’s appearance as we are told in 2 Kings 1:8 that apparently Elijah was “A hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist.” And in Matt. 3:4 John “was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.” It seems as though there was a similarity between the lives and looks of the two that drew the comparison. Hey pastor why did Jesus say in Matt. 17:12-13, “I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished….and the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist”? Well in Luke 1:17 we are given the answer as the angel Gabriel spoke to John’s father Zechariah saying that his son to be born son was to, “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.”. John’s ministry was like Elijah’s as he went before Jesus in the spirit and the power of Elijah but he was not Elijah.
3. “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”” Well they thought if you aren’t the messiah and you aren’t the Elijah are you “The Prophet”? You see they remembered that Moses had said in Deut. 18:15 that “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear” so they thought well maybe John is “the Prophet”? And with simply clarity John says, “No”.

John the Baptist’s father Zachariah was from the priestly tribe so John could have said, “I’m the son of a priest, I had a miraculous birth” but he didn’t do that. There are only a handful of people who say they are the Christ audibly but based upon Jesus’ words in John 15:5 where He says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing”, there are a bunch of us at times act as if we can do something without Him.

            No matter what this delegation did John the Baptist continued not to be interested in talking about himself. It’s cool to realize that Jesus will always be standing with you no matter what group you find yourself in if you are talking to other about Him but the moment we take the attention off of Jesus we won’t sense His presence. Hey saints that is the same with you and me we are not to draw attention towards ourselves but are rather to draw attention towards Jesus. Who are you John was the question and John answered I’m a voice, a Highway man! 

Vs. 22-23 So finally in a tone of frustration they say “Who are you….What do you say about yourself?” These fellows who came out to John the Baptist did so with a statement “Who do you think you are!” Ah but in three quick answers from John they have been reduced “We need an answer to those who sent us”, “Help us out John give us something”, they pleaded. There is a lesson here that we all can learn from and that is a lesson of importance, John continued saying, “I’m not important but let me tell ya who is!” 

John the Baptist quotes from Isaiah 40:3 not concerning who he is but rather what he is called to do. “I’m the advance man of the great King”. John who was a man filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb and had learned of what he was called to do in that passage of scripture. John says of himself, “I’m just a highway builder, working for department of transportation”. Now It’s important here to see that John saw himself not building a Highway in the desert for men to get to God but rather for God to have entrance to the dry places of the human heart. Now if you go to Isaiah in the 40^th chapter verse 4 we are told how a highway is to be built “Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough places smooth”. If you and I were to talk to engineers (Highway builders) today and quote them this verse they would say, “Yep that’s what we do!” “We fill in the low spots, level out the high spots, straighten out the crooked places and smooth out the rough road!” Hey folk’s this is still the way repentance works in the human heart.

• You see if you feel worthless, depressed, that your life is meaningless well then you are in a valley and God’s way into your dry heart is to lift you out of the valley.
• Now if you are proud and self-sufficient, thinking that you are able to deal with your own life apart from God then the dry way into your heart is get you down off of your “High horse of a mountain”.
• If you are dealing with life in a crooked manner bending the rules to fit your life in your business or in your relationships with other people then God’s way into your dry heart it to straighten you out.
• Maybe the way you deal with your life is by being rough over other people as it’s easier to fix others then deal with the person in the mirror. Well God’s way into the dryness of your life is to smooth those things out.

Only God knows the “road conditions” of your heart but He will meet you right where you are at and He will always choose the right highway that will allow Him to come to you.

Vs. 24-25 The apostle John adds that these questions were coming from the Pharisees from the self righteous and they wanted to know what the significance of baptism in light of the fact that he wasn’t the Messiah, Elijah or the prophet. The Jews had a form of baptism through ceremonial washings but this full immersion was reserved for Gentiles who wanted to become Jews. Now notice that John doesn’t answer their question as to “why” but speaks of a greater baptism by a greater person. In the Greek it is clear that John the Baptist is contrasting what he has done with what Jesus will do and as such is saying “I’m dealing only with the externals”. Now skip down to verse 28 as the Apostle John tells us that “These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.” Bethabara is the right name not Bethany which is up on a hill not by a stream. The name means the “house of the ford” (no not the car) but the “place of passage”. To the Jews this was very significant spot as it was where the Israelites entered the promise land under Joshua. Now you put it all together and you get the picture that John the Baptists ministry was preparing peoples dry hearts for Heaven “the promise land” and the Highway was the way of repentance from “valley’s, mountains, crooked ways and rough spots” so that Joshua (another way of saying Jesus) could come into their hearts and lead them to the promised land, heaven. “You want to know who I am”, John said, “I’ll tell you what I’m about and tell you who He is.”   

Vs. 26-28 After telling them what his ministry was John the Baptist goes on to speak of Jesus. The phrase “But there stands One among you” is in the present continuous in the Greek which means that Jesus was actually standing in the midst of the crowd when he said this. Now this is important when compared with the other gospels as it reveals that this all took place around six weeks after Jesus had been baptized by John in the Jordan River which is what we will see in verse 32 as the apostle John recorded what was said by John the Baptist the following day. According to the other gospels right after Jesus’ baptism by John (spoken in the past by John in verse 32) Jesus left to go into the desert for forty days and forty nights being continually tempted by the devil. All of which had taken place before the Pharisees had sent their delegation to question John the Baptist and by the time they came Jesus had come and was now standing in the crowd. Can you just imaging everyone looking around trying to see who it was that was standing among them whom they didn’t know? That’s always the case though isn’t it? We spend most of our lives right next to Jesus and because our hearts and lives are in a desert we never realize that He stands right at the door of our hearts knocking desiring to have a relationship with us.

            Untying a sandal strap was the job of the lowest servant and John is saying that position is too good for him. Among the Rabbis they would have disciples who were to show their hunger to learn by doing what ever the Rabbi said but so this wouldn’t get abused there was something that a Rabbi couldn’t ask his student to do and that was to untie his sandal and here John says I’m not good enough to do this for my Rabbi.   

Vs. 29-34 Cure not containment

Vs. 29-30 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Hear the words of John the Baptist prior to the baptism of Jesus in Matt. 3:11-12 as he spoke concerning Jesus saying, “His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Then the baptism and the dove lighting upon Jesus head and John’s confession in verse 31 “I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel” and Jesus immediately went out into the wilderness for 40 days and has come back and John must have thought of those scriptures and now says, “Behold the Lamb of God”.

This phrase to the Jews was huge for since the beginning they had practiced the sacrificial death and the shedding of blood of an innocent one to cover their guilt and sin. All down through time God’s people had known about the sacrificial lamb, they knew of God’s provision in the garden for Adam and Eve, they knew of Abel’s offering that was accepted, they knew of God’s substitution for Abraham on the very hill where one day Jesus would be sacrificed, they knew of the pet lambs blood that was sprinkled on the door posts in the sign of a cross so the angel of death would Passover. They knew of the daily sacrifices and the season of Passover but on that day at that very statement “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” that which the author of Hebrews in 8:5 calls the “copy and shadow of the heavenly things” appeared! It is what Paul spoke of in Col. 2:17 all those events for thousands of years were merely “a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” and right at that very moment the shadow passed as the substance stood before them. This is by the way the first time in the New Testament that the word lamb is used in the Bible and the first time the word lamb was used in the Bible in the Old Testament was in Genesis 22 where we were told by Abraham at the inquiry of Isaac “God will provide Himself, a lamb” not “God will provide a lamb for Himself”. So for all that time the scholars wanted to know “Where was the Lamb provided for Abraham” as God provided a ram in the thicket that day and here John answers the inquiry “Behold the Lamb of God”!

There is often a miss quotation of this verse that John the Baptist spoke and it is in adding a letter, we often say that John said “sins” of the world but he did not, he said “sin” of the world, singular not plural. Had John said sins he would have been speaking of the effects of a cause but not the cause its self and as such we would have had no cure only containment. Like a person who has a tumor in their brain may take a pain killer to stop the pain but it offers no cure. But Jesus came not just to contain the effects of our sins but cure the cause of it! Paul said it this way in 2 Cor. 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The prophet Isaiah, makes the same proclamation in 53:5 saying, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” Read that last phrase again “by His stripes we are healed”, “healed” my friends not just coping with, made to feel better, to lesson the symptoms of but cured! And in that one letter we have the truth that Jesus didn’t just atone for all our acts of sin, He died for what we were by nature sinners! Do you not now want to know Him who has done this for you in your stead? In Hebrews 10:4 we are told that “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.”  The author of Hebrews says, “these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year can’t, make those who approach perfect for if they did they would have ceased offering them”. There for when “He came into the world…through the offering of His body…offered one sacrifice for sins forever”. That is what John the Baptist meant when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.

Vs. 31-33 Here recorded for us is the commencement of Jesus ministry which began at his baptism when the Spirit of God fell on Him and He was identified with fallen man and the heavenly God. In the Old Testament we are told that both the priest as well as the sacrifice had to be washed and this is the only time where we see the Priest as the sacrifice being prepared for the sacrifice.

Vs. 34  John the Baptist is the first of ten times in John’s gospel that the phrase “son of God” will appear and it will be said or implied by seven different people:

• John the Baptist 1:34
• Nathanael 1:49
• Jesus 3:18, 5:25, 10:36, 11:4 (5 times Jesus uses it of Himself)
• Man born blind 9:35-38 (implied, said by Jesus)
• Martha 11:27
• Jews before Pilate 19:7
• Apostle John 20:31   

John 1:35-51

“What do you seek?”

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 35-42 What are you looking for?

III. Vs. 43-51 The answer

Intro.

Most scholars feel that the apostle John is around 15 years of age at the time of the events recorded here, yet when John wrote this he was 90. Look for a moment at verse 39 as John wrote down the very hour of day that this took place. Seventy five years have passed and John can still remember the very hour in which he and Andrew first met Jesus. What that tells us is that John’s encounter with Jesus was unforgettable as we are further told that they “remained with Him that day”. John heard those words; “Behold the Lamb of God” then 75 years later according to Revelation 5 he would see the “Lamb of God” in heaven while on the Island of Patmos. Simply put nothing had happened in 75 years to lessen John’s opinion of Who he meet that day. No tomb of bones, no hidden picture in a painting, no new fictional book by Judas. Friends John had been sentenced to death for his testimony concerning that encounter 75 years earlier had there been any doubt, any other reasoning for his decision to follow Jesus that day I’m convinced John would have never maintained his witness. 

What we have recorded for us in these 17 verses is the calling of the first six disciples. They are not what you would think that would shake the known world in 70 years in fact they look far more like the dirty dozen. They are ordinary men with the same concerns that people to day have yet each of the six recorded here come away forever changed by there meeting. It is my prayer that each here today would come away forever changed by their meeting with Him this day as well.

Vs. 35-42 What are you looking for?

Vs. 35-37 John tells us that Jesus began with two men who had already been in training under John the Baptist. It is clear from that account that John the Baptist intended these two disciples to leave him and join Jesus. In Chapter 3:20 John the Baptist will say, “He must increase, but I must decrease” it appears that John understood that once the Messiah appeared his own ministry would fade away. Men had followed John and now he indicates to them that it is time for them to follow the One he came to announce. 

John the Baptist wasn’t trying to hold men unto him self, his purpose wasn’t to build a group around himself. Far too often this happens in ministries and in churches where a person is trying to draw a group around themselves. Not so with John, he was seeking to point men to Jesus, he did not care about gathering disciples after himself. He was perfectly satisfied to have these disciples leave his circle and follow Jesus. It fulfilled his ministry; it did not take away from it. What a great example that ought to be to us not to draw people to our church but to push people to Jesus. It is easy to fall into this isn’t it? Hey saints it is our responsibility to make sure that we are not drawing people to our personalities, our opinions but always be pushing them to Jesus.   

Have you ever wondered about why John introduces Jesus as the Lamb of God again after having already done so in verse 29? It may not make sense to us gentiles but it would to Jews as they were familiar with the sin offering and John understood that the first problem that people have to settle with God is the problem of sin. The only real access we have to the Living God is through the doorway of forgiveness of sin. When we are ready to deal with our sin and to bring it to God, then we have an open door into the Kingdom of God. We will never find Jesus until we find him as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” That is how John announces him, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” So the first time John the Baptist utters these words they were in reference to Jesus’ mission and this time (a day latter) it was a reference to His ministry and as such it is an invitation to join Jesus. But my mind wonders of those who heard the same words that Andrew and the apostle John did and yet did not leave him and follow Jesus. There are a lot of folks like this aren’t there? People who have had their hearts stirred, been challenged yet are unwilling to take the next step even when they are being told by the person they are following to do so. There are churches full of folks like that, perhaps some even sitting here this morning who hear me speak of the “Lamb of God” yet do not “follow Jesus” now I’m glad you’re here this morning but why not today, this very moment decide to follow Jesus?          

Vs. 38-42 We are told in verse 40 that one of these two that followed Jesus that day was Andrew who was Simon Peter’s brother but who was the other disciple? Well when one considers that in this gospel John never speaks of himself it is almost universally accepted that the other disciple is none other than John himself. 

But what fascinates me more than this unmentioned disciple is Jesus’ question to the two of them; “What do you seek?” These are the first words of Jesus in this gospel as well as His public ministry and they are in a form of a question. These four words cut to the heart of it don’t they? I mean Jesus didn’t ask “Who do you seek?” that would have made sense but “What do you seek?” Have you ever pondered that at some time in your life? “Why am I here?” “What do I really want out of life?” This question is so penetrating that even the framers of our constitution put the quest of it in the preamble saying that we all had the right for the “pursuit of happiness” and there have been folks involved in that “pursuit” but never seem to find it. On vacation we stopped in San Juan Puerto Rico where the guy that first discovered the Island was in search of the “Fountain of Youth” he was on just such a quest.   

I suggest to you that most people never arrive at the “whom”, because they are in a never ending rat race of “what” they can plug into their lives to get what they want out of life. “What do you seek” a job, a spouse, health, more friends, “If I just had this, or that then I’d be happy, then my life would have meaning”. The truth is most of us never have the means by which we can pursue the “the what” we simple lack the resources to do so but their was one fellow that had it all and even wrote down that there never was a “what” that could bring any meaning to life, Solomon. Here is was a guy who had it all and sat out on the quest seeking the meaning of life in all the “P’s”. The “P’s”? Yeh you know “possessions, pleasures, power and prestige” only to declare that in the end all of it was “vanity and grasping for the wind”. You know what you have in you hand after grasping for the wind? Why you have nothing! Have you ever noticed that in your own life that the pursuit of something turns to nothing once something became everything? Look out at the “Who’s who of today as tomorrow they will just be the, Who?” At the very end of the book of Ecclesiastes as Solomon tells us the conclusion of his pursuit in chapter 12:13 as he writes for all “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.” This reminds me of a fellow who was walking through a cemetery one day and came across a very interesting exhortation writing on a tombstone it read, “Remember, friend, as you walk by as you are now so once was I, and as I am now, you to shall be, so prepare for death and follow me.” Underneath those engraved word were hand written ones that replied, “To follow you I’m not content until I know which way you went!” So you see Jesus is asking them to define their purpose and goals “what do you seek”, what are you pursuing to find meaning and happiness in you life? Many come to Jesus with hopes that adding a little of Him to their lives will help them obtain the “what” they are seeking. It is always good to ask ourselves “What do I have in mind, am I seeking Jesus so that I can get “what” I want?”    

We are not told which of them responded but we are told how they responded. “Rabbi, where are You staying?” Did you get that? Jesus asked them “what they sought” and one of them responded not with a what answer but clumsily with a who answer, “We aren’t seeking a what to the meaning of life we are seeking a who and we think it might be You!” “We want to make our home with you.” And where was Jesus home? Well He would later say, “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air of nests but the Son of man has no where to lay His head.” Jesus was homeless and He was inviting them to be as He was. He saints this is not our home and if we are coming to Him in order to benefit our worldly existence then we are there for the wrong reasons. All of the promises of God are wrapped up in a Person not in a different situation, God never creates joy from new and better circumstances He creates new circumstances by giving you Joy.

Jesus invited John and Andrew to be a part of His life He didn’t live a private life He invited people to live with Him. Friends there can be no “Come and see” by Jesus until we have first come to the conclusion that the purpose and meaning of life is not in a what but in a Who. Jesus’ answer is an invitation to investigation isn’t it? They took Jesus up on the invitation and stayed with Him the rest of the day and what they heard and saw kept their attention and convinced them enough to seek out others. The Greek reading of this says that Andrew was “first” to find his brother which suggests that John went to find his brother as well and that Andrew found Simon Peter before John found James. All four of them were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee and had probably traveled those 70 miles to bring their fish to market in Jerusalem.

Andrew had only one message, “We have found the Messiah” (verse 41) and that was enough to get Simon Peter to come with him. So in one afternoon Andrew and John had come to the conclusion that they had found the mean of life the One in whom all of History had pointed towards. And even more remarkable to me is that Peter went with his brother to see for himself. Did you know that this is what evangelism is all about? It is simply telling folks what that you have found the person who hung the stars in the sky and put the color on the pedals of flowers and that He is the reason for life giving them the same invitation to investigation that Jesus gave you. It is the nature of Christian experience that those who enjoy the experience desire to share their experience with others.   

Literally verse 42 reads, He looked down into Peter and said “You are….then He said….You shall be”. Oh how wonderful that our Lord pears down into what we are and says, “I know who you are ah but I also know what you shall be.” That is what Paul spoke of to the Philippians in 1:6 saying, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”. When Jesus saw Peter He said, “I know you, you are shifting sand but also know what you will be”. Those of you who are builders know that you can’t build much of anything on shifting sand but you can on a rock and that is what Jesus can do for a heart that trusts in Him. He can cause that which no one can build upon or count on to become “rock” solid. Jesus saw what Simon Peter was a person “easily influenced by what others are saying and doing around him.” Ah but Jesus didn’t stop with what Peter was He saw what he would be an anchor a “rock” a steadying influence for all around him.

Vs. 43-51 The answer

Vs. 43-44 There is nothing dramatic recorded about the call of Philip as Jesus simply says “Follow Me”, and Philip does. Bethsaida was on the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee  near the area where Jesus fed the five thousand men plus the women and children, it is the hometown of Peter and Andrew (verse 44). Now that’s interesting to me as Bethsaida is a barren place yet it will a place where God will feed those in need. In my life it always seems to be in the barrenness places where there is nothing outwardly to suggest the presence of God that He will bring forth a feast for others.  

Notice that it says that Jesus found Philip not that Philip found Jesus and that Philip was from the same city as was Andrew, Peter, John and James yet they did not go and get Philip. Have you ever felt like Philip you are always being left out of the loop? Here these two have just met the most exciting person ever and they simply didn’t get Philip in fact this is the only recorded action of Philip as the other gospels just mention his name. I suppose that Philip was vote most forgettable in his high school year book but he wasn’t forgotten by Jesus. He will appear later in this gospel dealing with loaves and fishes, when gentiles wish to see Jesus and final with the question about seeing the Father and appears to me that Philip is a thinker but a bit on the shy side so Jesus has to go and get him and with a two words statement invites him by saying, “Follow Me”. How simple this is we want every thing put in place and Jesus says it is rather simple “Follow Me” and it will be put in the proper place in the proper time. That is so often my problem like Peter I lose focus on Jesus and get my eyes on the wind’s and the waves and begin to sink when all I need to do is simply “Follow Him”.

Philip finds Nathanael and proclaims that they had found Jesus instead of Jesus finding him. That’s the way we are though isn’t it Jesus does all the work and invites us to investigate and then we see for ourselves that He was worth finding. Ah but to Nathanael all of Philips words concerning Jesus being the fulfillment of all that Moses, the Law and the Prophets wrote was lost when Philip gave Jesus’ home town, Nazareth. With this, Nathanael prejudices himself against Jesus. If Jesus comes from Nazareth, that is all Nathanael cares to know about Him! Nathanael was from a larger city right over the hill Cana of Galilee where the next chapter will take us. Today the roles are reversed as Nazareth in the larger town and Cana is a small village but it was the opposite then. Don’t pass by the skepticism of Nathanael as he may question Jesus being all that Philip said he was but at least he went to see for himself. I don’t have a problem with skeptic’s only dishonest ones who say, “Oh Jesus Isn’t who you say He is they found his bones in a tomb and I’ve read the fictional book of Judas who says it was a all a scam”. So the dishonest skeptic will take the word of fictional writers and those out to make a buck without any investigation on your own that makes a person a scoffer not a skeptic. Look at Philip’s response to Nathanael’s prejudice “come and see”, I like that response as a way of handling those who have prejudices against Jesus. Instead of arguing against Nathanael’s prejudice, Phillip simply invites him to meet Jesus for himself.

Now as soon as Jesus saw him He responded very interestingly saying, “Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” Now that’s and interesting play on words as the word “deceit” in the Greek would be used as the name for Jacob and Israel was the covenant name given to Jacob by God. So Jesus tells Nathanael Ah here is one who is ruled by God instead of one who is ruled by self. And don’t you love Nathanael’s response “How do you know me?” “I’m Israel in whom there is no Jacob! Nothing false about me, nothing hidden.” Now Jesus used a Rabbinical here saying that He saw him “under the fig tree” as that term was used of a person who was meditating and studying a portion of scripture. You see many make the miracle of this passage that Jesus saw Nathanael under a fig tree but the miracle is that Jesus saw what Nathanael was studying under the fig tree and referred to it by calling him an Israelite in who there was no Jacob. That is why Nathanael responses the way he dose saying, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” And then in verse 51 Jesus tells Nathanael that the very portion he was looking (Genesis 28:12) at was speaking of Jesus saying “I’m the link that bridges heaven and earth, I’m the latter by which people can come into the kingdom of heaven.”     

The title “Son of man” is the favorite description of Jesus about Himself as it is used 83 times in the gospels and 13 times in John’s gospel. The idea behind this phrase is not “the perfect man, the ideal man or the common man”, it is a reference to Daniel 7:13-14, where the King of Glory coming to judge the world is called the Son of Man. Jesus used this title often because in His day, it was a Messianic title free from political and nationalistic sentiment. When a Jewish person of that time heard “King” or “Christ” they often thought of a political or military savior so Jesus emphasized another term that didn’t have those connotations.  

So by the end of the 4^th day Jesus had six men who trust in Him but they didn’t immediately forsake all and follow Him as that would come a year latter that He will say to them “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matt. 4:19-20) Is that not interesting that the immediate was proceeded by a year of preparation before they were ready to “immediately leave their nets and follow Him.”? In Luke 9:62 Jesus told one fellow “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Yet we can clearly see that there may be some time before a heart is ready to put their hand on that plow but once they have they can not take it off.

As we look this section we are shown four ways of coming to Jesus:

• Andrew and John came to Jesus because of the preaching of John the Baptist.
• Peter and James came to Jesus because of the witness of their brothers.
• Phillip came to Jesus as a result of the direct call of Jesus.
• Nathaniel came to Jesus as he overcame personal prejudices by a personal encounter with Jesus.

But each of them found the answer to what their hearts longed for in Jesus. We often put too much upon how a person enters into a relationship with Jesus and not enough on how they finish.