The Gospel Of John # 4 John the Baptist’s Message and the coming of the eternal ‘Word’ into the World

John the Baptist’s Message
John 1: 6-8, 15

John the Baptist was the first prophet to appear in Israel for 400 years and was considered by Jesus to be the greatest man who had ever lived, up to that time
Matthew 11: 11 ‘I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist’.

John the Baptist was a great man because he surrendered himself to the will of God and exalted Jesus Christ
John 3: 30 ‘He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less’

John the Baptist was sent by God to testify about the light, the eternal ‘Word’ Who was coming into the World; that is of course, Jesus Christ

John the Baptist’s testimony was powerful, thousands of people came to hear him, from all over Israel
Isaiah 40: 1-5, Malachi 3: 1, John 1: 26-28, Matthew 3: 5-6

Some of John the Baptist’s followers went on to become Jesus disciples, including ‘the disciple Jesus loved’ – John, the author of this Gospel

John 1: 35-37 (this the author of this Gospel’s first anonymous reference to himself)

The coming of the eternal ‘Word’ into the World
John 1: 9-14

Do you remember last time I was saying that words are important because they reveal and explain truth?

9 the word, ‘world’, is a very important word in the Gospel of John
John uses the word, ‘world’ 99 times throughout his 5 Books of the New Testament

The word ‘world’ has more than just one meaning, it has many meanings

Here in verse 9 it means the world we live in

Here in verse 9 it says, the eternal ‘Word’ was coming into the world giving light to everyone

That doesn’t that mean that everyone in the World will be saved

John goes on to say in verse 10 that although Jesus came into the world He created (our blue planet), the ‘world’ didn’t recognize Him

Here in verse 10, the word, ‘world’, means, the world of unbelieving people
John 7: 7 ‘The world (the world of unbelieving people) can’t hate you, but it does hate Me because I accuse it of doing evil’.
John 17: 9 ‘My prayer is not for the world (the world of unbelieving people), but for those You have given Me, because they belong to You’.

11 John goes on to say that even His own people, the Jews, the people of Israel, rejected Him
John 5: 39-40

12-13 However. To those who did believe in Jesus and accepted Him, God would give them the right to become children of God

Children who are ‘reborn’ according to the will of God
13 (NKJV) ‘who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of (the will of) God’

Ephesians 2:8-9 8 ‘God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it’.

14 At last the identity of the eternal ‘Word’ is revealed to us

Look again at the last phrase ‘and we have seen His glory’

The eternal ‘Word’, the Creator, entered time and Creation, becoming visible, in human form, to reveal God to Man (Mankind)
Philippians 2: 7, Colossians 2: 9,

Colossians 1: 15 ‘Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation’

Dear friends, in conclusion, believing that Jesus Christ is God, is essential to our salvation

Jesus said John 8: 24 ‘unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.’

So, Who did Jesus claim to be?

The Jewish people, who generally rejected Christ, knew exactly Who Jesus claimed to be, and that’s why they attempted to kill Him
John 5: 18, John 8: 56-59, John 10: 31-33

Are you saved? Do believe that Jesus is God? – Let’s pray together

The Gospel of John # 3 – the eternal Word

The Gospel of John has a very simple Outline

John 1: 1 – John 1: 18
Introduction: which tells us that the eternal ‘Word’ of God is Jesus Christ who came into the World

John 1: 19 – John 20: 31
Middle: describes Jesus ministry to the public (Graphic) and private (Graphic) ministry to the disciples, Jesus death, burial and resurrection and John’s purpose in writing his Gospel

John 21: 1-25
Conclusion: in which Jesus brings His earthly ministry with His disciples to an end

Although the Gospel of John is very simple in its Outline it is considered by Bible scholars to be the greatest Book in all the Bible and the very highest level of theological understanding because it was authored by the closest observer of Christ’s life and ministry – ‘the disciple Jesus loved’, John

As Mount Everest towers over and above all other mountains in the world – the Gospel of John towers over and above all other Books of the Bible

Now, if you were planning to climb Mt. Everest, where would you begin climbing?

But, when we begin the Gospel of John, we don’t start at the bottom, we start at the top, the summit, the very highest level of all theological understanding

While the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) begin with Jesus family history, his birth in an animal stable in Bethlehem and the first days of His ministry,

John starts his Gospel in eternity – We are introduced to the eternal ‘Word’ of God, Jesus Christ in all His glory and majesty, Creator of the Universe and the Light and Life to Mankind

John 1: 1-5 The eternal ‘Word’

Before we go on and learn about the eternal ‘Word’, let me say a few things about the importance of words

Words are important because they reveal and explain truth to us

In our ‘Western’ culture, 50 years ago, it was accepted that words reveal and explain truth (‘modern’ era)/truth era)

But, over the last 50 years our ‘Western’ culture has declined so much that it is now not accepted that words reveal and explain truth (‘post-modern’ era/post-truth era)

Today our ‘Western’ culture says “What you perceive to be true is true for you, and what someone else perceives to be true is equally valid and true for them”

Example with Graphics: 50 years ago, if a baby was born a boy, it was considered true, to call it a boy (gender is determined by xy chromosomes and ‘plumbing’)

But, today, if a baby is born a boy (gender is determined by xy chromosomes and ‘plumbing’), if its parents perceive it to be a girl, then it is valid and true for them to call the baby boy, a girl!

In our post-modern/post-truth ‘Western’ culture, words are losing their meaning

Sadly, this kind of ‘post-modern’/post-truth thinking has even invaded Christian thinking!

When it comes to the Word of God, have you ever heard Christians say something like this – “What does this Bible verse mean to you”?
Example: John 1: 1

This is ‘post-modern’/post-truth thinking

The correct question to ask is: “What does this Bible verse mean”?

As we come to the Word of God today, let us all be reminded of Proverbs 30: 5a ‘Every word that God speaks is true’

Here are 3 truths we learn about the eternal ‘Word’

The eternal ‘Word’ is God John 1: 1-2
This is the simplest, clearest and most accurate statement in all the Bible that the eternal ‘Word’, Jesus Christ, is God
John 1: 14 & 18

The eternal ‘Word’ is God, not a god, a created being, but, the One, True, Sovereign God Who has always existed
John 8: 24, Galatians 1: 7-9

The eternal ‘Word’ created all things John 1: 3
The eternal ‘Word’, Jesus Christ, created all things in the Universe, seen and unseen including invisible spiritual beings (like angels), and, the very greatest of His creations, Man (Mankind) who He made in His own image and likeness
Genesis 1: 26-27, Genesis 2: 7, Colossians 1: 16, Hebrews 1: 2

Although God made Man (Mankind) in His own image and likeness, full of Life and Light, Man (Mankind) sinned against God and descended into spiritual darkness and death Genesis 3

The eternal ‘Word’ brings Life and Light to those living in spiritual darkness
John 1: 4-5
The eternal ‘Word’ is the source of Life and Light

And to those who receive that Life and Light they are rewarded with salvation and eternal Life

But to those who reject that Life and Light they are condemned to remain in spiritual darkness, forever separated from the love of God
John 8: 12, Romans 1: 18-21

At the conclusion of Jesus public ministry, He said this:
John 12: 46-48 46 ‘I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in Me will no longer remain in the dark. 47 I will not judge those who hear Me but don’t obey Me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. 48 But all who reject Me and My message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken’.

The Gospel Of John # 2 – ‘the disciple Jesus loved’ (Part 2)

Last time we were saying that if we are to understand the Gospel of John, first, we need to learn something about the Author – ‘the disciple Jesus loved’

‘The disciple Jesus loved’ never names himself in his Gospel, he prefers to remain anonymous – but, we can be sure it was John, Jesus cousin and closest disciple

John was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and younger brother of James

He was a fisherman in his family business located somewhere near Bethsaida in Galilee

Let’s read John’s first anonymous reference to himself
John 1: 35-40
(From being a disciple of John the Baptist to becoming a disciple of Jesus)

After Jesus death, burial and resurrection, John became a prominent leader in the Jerusalem Church Acts 1: 13, 3: 1, 4: 13, 8: 14-17

According to tradition, John ends his ministry in Ephesus, dying there about the age of 90-100 close to the year 100 AD

Let’s learn more about John’s character – “what was he like as a person”?

John was an ‘extremist’

Now, today, the idea of being an ‘extremist’ is seen as a bad thing

We associate the word ‘extremist’ with Islam and white supremacy
Graphics:

But the idea of being an ‘extremist’ can be a good thing

John was an ‘extremist’ – he was extreme in his loyalty to Jesus, and that’s a good thing!

John was so extreme in his loyalty to Christ that at one time he wanted to call down ‘fire from Heaven’ to destroy a whole community of people who refused to host Jesus in their village
Luke 9: 51-56

Some Bible versions expand verses 55-56
‘But Jesus turned and corrected them for what they had said. “The Son of Man did not come to kill people, but to save them.”’

John would have made a great Old Testament prophet like Elijah, who said of himself in 1 Kings 19: 10, ‘I’ve been very passionate for the Lord God Almighty’

It was Elijah who called down fire from Heaven to destroy the false prophets of Baal 1 Kings 18

At another time, it was John who asked Jesus permission to stop a person using the Name of Jesus to caste out demons because that person was not part of their Group Luke 9: 49

And at another time, along with his brother James, it was John who asked Jesus if he could sit next to Him in Heaven when Jesus would sit upon His glorious throne
Mark 10: 37

As you can see, John loved Jesus, and was ‘extreme’ in his loyalty to Christ!

Later in his ministry, John, ‘the disciple Jesus loved’ became known as ‘the Apostle of love’

John was the author of 5 Books in the New Testament; The Gospel of John, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John and Revelation
(the most prolific author of the New Testament second only to the Apostle Paul)

Here’s an example from one of John’s letters to the Churches

1 John 4: 7-10 7 ‘Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. 10 This is real love — not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins’.

The Gospel of John is very different to the other 3 Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke

Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the synoptic Gospels

Syn = together, optic = see, together see

Unlike the 3 synoptic Gospels, John does not record:

Jesus genealogy (family history), His birth, His baptism, His temptation, His casting out of demons from the sick, Jesus teaching using parables, Jesus transfiguration, His teaching about the Lord’s Supper, Jesus prayers of anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal and arrest, and The Gospel of John does not include Jesus ascension into Heaven

John is very clear about his purpose in writing his Gospel

It was to serve as a revelation of truth about Who Jesus is, and, about the way of salvation John 20: 30-31

As we go through the Gospel of John together, my prayer for you is this:

If you are not yet ‘born again’ (John 3: 3): that in coming to know Jesus Christ personally, you will receive salvation

If you are already ‘born again’ (John 3: 3): that you will become an ‘extreme’ Christian; not extreme to the point of calling down fire from Heaven upon unbelievers, but ‘extreme’ in your love for Christ and His people

Jesus reminds us that the greatest commandment is to: “love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-39

Now, that’s ‘extreme’!