WEBVTT 00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:02.649 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was 00:00:02.649 --> 00:00:05.910 with God, and the Word was God. He was with God 00:00:05.910 --> 00:00:08.689 in the beginning. All things were created through 00:00:08.689 --> 00:00:12.130 him, and apart from him, not one thing was created 00:00:12.130 --> 00:00:15.949 that had been created. In him was life, and that 00:00:15.949 --> 00:00:18.690 life was the light of men. That light shines 00:00:18.690 --> 00:00:21.149 in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not 00:00:21.149 --> 00:00:24.210 overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose 00:00:24.210 --> 00:00:27.210 name was John. He came as a witness to testify 00:00:27.210 --> 00:00:29.690 about the light so that all might believe through 00:00:29.690 --> 00:00:32.869 him. He was not the light, but he came to testify 00:00:32.869 --> 00:00:35.770 about the light. The true light that gives light 00:00:35.770 --> 00:00:39.289 to everyone was coming into the world. He was 00:00:39.289 --> 00:00:41.310 in the world, and the world was created through 00:00:41.310 --> 00:00:43.850 him, and yet the world did not recognize him. 00:00:44.329 --> 00:00:47.210 He came to his own, and his own people did not 00:00:47.210 --> 00:00:50.049 receive him. But to all who did receive him, 00:00:50.130 --> 00:00:52.270 he gave them the right to be children of God, 00:00:52.390 --> 00:00:55.659 to those who believe in his name. who were born 00:00:55.659 --> 00:00:58.340 not of natural descent or of the will of the 00:00:58.340 --> 00:01:01.859 flesh or of the will of man, but of God. The 00:01:01.859 --> 00:01:04.900 Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed 00:01:04.900 --> 00:01:07.760 his glory, the glory as the one and only Son 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:11.180 from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 00:01:11.180 --> 00:01:13.980 testified concerning him and exclaimed, This 00:01:13.980 --> 00:01:16.760 was the one of whom I said, The one coming after 00:01:16.760 --> 00:01:19.500 me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before 00:01:19.500 --> 00:01:23.099 me. Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace 00:01:23.099 --> 00:01:25.859 from his fullness. For the law was given through 00:01:25.859 --> 00:01:28.719 Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:33.140 No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:35.859 who is himself God and is at the Father's side, 00:01:36.040 --> 00:01:50.019 he has revealed him. You may be seated. All right. 00:01:50.420 --> 00:01:55.799 Well, morning again. Get those little blue Bibles 00:01:55.799 --> 00:02:03.780 out. If you don't have one, grab one. So a lot 00:02:03.780 --> 00:02:06.420 of times you start a book of the Bible, it's 00:02:06.420 --> 00:02:08.900 a huge challenge. And I'm kind of almost overwhelming 00:02:08.900 --> 00:02:11.919 until you get into it. But this one I am super 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:15.000 excited about. And I think it's super timely 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:18.120 for us. Because my experience, I've been here 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:20.659 in Alaska my whole life. And this time of year. 00:02:22.860 --> 00:02:27.400 is usually one of the hardest for us call it 00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:30.400 march madness i call it march madness because 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:33.419 it seems like you get to this point and all of 00:02:33.419 --> 00:02:36.699 our lives start to unravel not all of us at the 00:02:36.699 --> 00:02:41.800 same time hopefully not but here's the reality 00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:46.900 like we live in a broken world don't we and in 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:48.979 this time of year whether it's your marriage 00:02:48.979 --> 00:02:52.840 or your job or You're just tired. You've been 00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:57.639 sick. It's easy to just get in a funk. And I 00:02:57.639 --> 00:02:59.759 think this book's really appropriate for us because 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:01.979 it's going to do something. It's going to take 00:03:01.979 --> 00:03:04.860 our eyes off of our junk, our situation. It's 00:03:04.860 --> 00:03:09.479 going to cast them on Jesus. So it's good timing 00:03:09.479 --> 00:03:13.659 of it. And as we begin our journey through John. 00:03:15.050 --> 00:03:17.849 I want to challenge and encourage you, maybe 00:03:17.849 --> 00:03:20.210 in a way that I have never done. If I could force 00:03:20.210 --> 00:03:25.610 you to soak in this book, to marinate in this 00:03:25.610 --> 00:03:31.270 book like a fat steak, I would. Because I know 00:03:31.270 --> 00:03:35.289 it will change you. Guarantee it. I was talking 00:03:35.289 --> 00:03:38.860 to Brittany. I didn't bother to interview this 00:03:38.860 --> 00:03:40.879 time, but we were talking. I threatened, but 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:42.699 Brittany got up here for the book of Ruth, and 00:03:42.699 --> 00:03:46.120 she read every week. Remember that? Well, whenever 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:48.259 you're like, Zane was getting ready to read, 00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:50.740 and I'm back to reading this passage over and 00:03:50.740 --> 00:03:52.120 over and over and over and over again, because 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:53.439 you don't want to make a mistake when you're 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:57.139 standing up in front of everybody. But one of 00:03:57.139 --> 00:03:59.180 the things that happened as I was talking to 00:03:59.180 --> 00:04:02.000 Brittany about it is, I mean, Ruth is kind of 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:03.939 a hard book to read initially. It's kind of like, 00:04:03.939 --> 00:04:05.719 really, that's a cool story, but what does that 00:04:05.719 --> 00:04:09.650 mean? but how it came alive to you. And I thought 00:04:09.650 --> 00:04:14.469 that was really profound. I guarantee if you 00:04:14.469 --> 00:04:18.350 soak in John, if you read it regularly, if you 00:04:18.350 --> 00:04:20.370 write all over it, everything that sticks out, 00:04:20.430 --> 00:04:23.009 you circle it, highlight it, talk about it, make 00:04:23.009 --> 00:04:25.629 your notes on the side, do whatever you got to 00:04:25.629 --> 00:04:27.870 do to spend a lot of time. And I would even encourage 00:04:27.870 --> 00:04:32.569 you, like, do it every day for a while. Don't 00:04:32.569 --> 00:04:35.350 just wait for where I'm at. read ahead read it 00:04:35.350 --> 00:04:38.370 again read it again and let it soak try to understand 00:04:38.370 --> 00:04:41.769 what it is and if you don't understand it that's 00:04:41.769 --> 00:04:44.910 okay we're going to tackle it verse by verse 00:04:44.910 --> 00:04:47.009 word by word we're going to walk right through 00:04:47.009 --> 00:04:51.449 this thing so um so on the front of your books 00:04:51.449 --> 00:04:57.269 there's of this gospel of john notebook is these 00:04:57.269 --> 00:04:59.990 three words read reflect and respond you see 00:04:59.990 --> 00:05:02.029 that look at the front of your book not the front 00:05:02.029 --> 00:05:04.399 open it the cover like All the way close. See 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:06.319 what it says right in the front? Read, reflect, 00:05:06.439 --> 00:05:08.639 respond. That is what I want us to do in this 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:12.860 series. Read it, reflect on it, talk about it, 00:05:12.899 --> 00:05:16.920 and then respond with your life. See, the Gospel 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:20.079 of John is one of four Gospels. You may know 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:21.620 a lot of this, but I'm just going to help you 00:05:21.620 --> 00:05:24.019 read. I'm going to kind of put it in a place 00:05:24.019 --> 00:05:26.540 that you, oh yeah, that's right. But it's one 00:05:26.540 --> 00:05:29.180 of four Gospels. Each of them presents Christ 00:05:29.180 --> 00:05:33.930 with a distinct emphasis. Okay? So it's important 00:05:33.930 --> 00:05:36.029 to understand, like, Matthew, Mark, and Luke 00:05:36.029 --> 00:05:38.230 are what they call the synoptic gospels, meaning 00:05:38.230 --> 00:05:40.930 their stories are kind of like a timeline of 00:05:40.930 --> 00:05:44.769 Jesus. John doesn't do that. Matthew focuses 00:05:44.769 --> 00:05:51.449 on Jesus' kingship. Mark focuses on Jesus' servanthood. 00:05:52.990 --> 00:05:57.430 Luke focuses on Jesus' manhood. And John focuses 00:05:57.430 --> 00:06:01.529 on Jesus' godhood. Okay, so that's kind of the 00:06:01.529 --> 00:06:10.230 focus of John. Let's pray. We need help with 00:06:10.230 --> 00:06:12.569 this. I need help. You need help understanding 00:06:12.569 --> 00:06:15.290 it. And we just need the Spirit of God to work 00:06:15.290 --> 00:06:17.589 in us. So let's pray. Lord, we come before you 00:06:17.589 --> 00:06:25.490 because we're just dark -hearted sinners in need 00:06:25.490 --> 00:06:30.480 of your grace. And we've got this phenomenal 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:35.920 gospel of John in front of us. Lord, our prayer 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:38.839 is that these words don't just stay flat on the 00:06:38.839 --> 00:06:41.660 page, that by your Spirit you'll make them come 00:06:41.660 --> 00:06:44.699 alive to us and help us to understand and help 00:06:44.699 --> 00:06:49.079 us to transform our very lives. We need you, 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:51.779 Jesus. We need you, Spirit, to do a work in us. 00:06:52.939 --> 00:06:55.420 Lord, give me the words to say today. In your 00:06:55.420 --> 00:07:00.019 name we pray. Amen. Okay, we call these books 00:07:00.019 --> 00:07:05.860 gospels because gospel means good news. So in 00:07:05.860 --> 00:07:07.980 a dark time of the year, guess what? We're going 00:07:07.980 --> 00:07:10.000 to talk about good news. That's what we get to 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:13.379 talk about. So it's good news. So John, who is 00:07:13.379 --> 00:07:16.240 one of Jesus' closest disciples, in fact, John 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:19.139 thinks that's such a good deal, he calls him 00:07:19.139 --> 00:07:23.259 the one Jesus loved. It's kind of weird. But 00:07:23.259 --> 00:07:26.019 John is one of the few disciples that has actually 00:07:26.019 --> 00:07:30.220 not been martyred. He's actually old when he 00:07:30.220 --> 00:07:33.399 writes this, and very old when he writes this 00:07:33.399 --> 00:07:35.240 book, but he's writing because he has really 00:07:35.240 --> 00:07:39.560 good news for us. And we're going to see this, 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:42.000 and I want you to turn up to page 116 in those 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:45.120 little books. Look at John chapter 20, verse 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:48.899 31. It's like at the end of the book. There's 00:07:48.899 --> 00:07:53.040 one more spot, but 20 verse 31 gives us why he's 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:58.439 writing this. He says this in verse 31. But these 00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:01.019 are written so that, underline that. I'm going 00:08:01.019 --> 00:08:02.720 to tell you to underline a lot of stuff because 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:05.019 I want you to highlight that. These are written 00:08:05.019 --> 00:08:07.879 so that you may believe, underline that right 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:11.379 there, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of 00:08:11.379 --> 00:08:17.259 God, and that by believing, you may have life 00:08:17.259 --> 00:08:27.750 in his name. By believing. John is not just writing 00:08:27.750 --> 00:08:31.569 to help us get to heaven. Probably the most read 00:08:31.569 --> 00:08:33.409 book when it comes to people like, you need to 00:08:33.409 --> 00:08:34.970 read the Gospel of John if you want to get to 00:08:34.970 --> 00:08:37.629 heaven. No, John is not about just getting us 00:08:37.629 --> 00:08:39.789 to heaven. John is writing this that we might 00:08:39.789 --> 00:08:45.610 find real life, fullness of life in him. So, 00:08:45.610 --> 00:08:47.730 if that's what he's writing about, let me just 00:08:47.730 --> 00:08:49.909 say this to you. If you are in this room and 00:08:49.909 --> 00:08:56.000 you're a skeptic, John is a book for you. You're 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:59.240 not sure what to think about Christianity. Maybe 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:00.860 you've done this. You've dipped your toe in it 00:09:00.860 --> 00:09:04.539 a few times. John is a book for you. But maybe 00:09:04.539 --> 00:09:06.899 you're new to the faith, like several of us in 00:09:06.899 --> 00:09:10.299 this room. You're new to the faith. You don't 00:09:10.299 --> 00:09:11.860 really know a whole lot. You're trying to learn. 00:09:11.899 --> 00:09:15.600 John is a book for you. Maybe you've been a believer 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:19.279 for many years, a long time. John is a book for 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:21.840 you. And probably more importantly, if you are 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:24.639 a believer and you have... really fallen into 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:29.960 apathy with your faith, John is the book for 00:09:29.960 --> 00:09:32.559 you. So I really want to challenge you. Like, 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:35.159 there's not a person in this room, myself, starting 00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:37.179 with myself, that this book isn't going to be 00:09:37.179 --> 00:09:41.360 important. And so let's jump in and let John's 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:43.850 gospel take us on a journey, all right? Ready? 00:09:43.850 --> 00:09:45.789 We're just going to walk. Like I said, if you 00:09:45.789 --> 00:09:47.529 guys are new around here, we're not going to 00:09:47.529 --> 00:09:50.049 miss anything. We're going right through it, 00:09:50.049 --> 00:09:52.289 one word at a time. Going to walk right through 00:09:52.289 --> 00:09:54.889 it, and it'll be here forever in this book. So 00:09:54.889 --> 00:09:57.409 here we go. Jump, by the way, if you do the math, 00:09:57.509 --> 00:09:59.750 we might be here for a lot of months. But here 00:09:59.750 --> 00:10:04.870 we go. Verses 1 through 18 is a prologue, or 00:10:04.870 --> 00:10:08.990 what I like to call the foyer of the book. Right? 00:10:09.190 --> 00:10:13.759 You ever play laser tag? And you're in, you go 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:15.460 in, you're all geared up, and you play laser 00:10:15.460 --> 00:10:18.679 tag, and you're out in the foyer, right? And 00:10:18.679 --> 00:10:20.679 you go, okay, we're going in. You've got your 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:22.980 teams established, and you don't even know what's 00:10:22.980 --> 00:10:24.500 in there. You've never been into the laser tag. 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:26.679 And you go in, and all of a sudden, you go in, 00:10:26.679 --> 00:10:28.200 the strobe lights are going, the music's going 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:30.720 like this, and you're trying to run around, act 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:32.759 like you're somebody bad, and you're going to 00:10:32.759 --> 00:10:35.460 shoot somebody. And then you get done, you're 00:10:35.460 --> 00:10:39.259 sweating, and you come out to the foyer. The 00:10:39.259 --> 00:10:42.200 foyer kind of is the... prologue of what's going 00:10:42.200 --> 00:10:44.779 to come, but it's also a great place to continue 00:10:44.779 --> 00:10:47.480 to come back to. So these 18 verses that we're 00:10:47.480 --> 00:10:50.419 going to look at are really helpful as you go 00:10:50.419 --> 00:10:52.179 through John to come back and remember these 00:10:52.179 --> 00:10:54.960 18 verses. It's kind of how it's set, and John's 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:57.159 going to start really high level for us. He's 00:10:57.159 --> 00:10:59.360 going to get just way up in the air, and he's 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:01.519 going to say, this is what matters. This is really 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:04.080 important. Here's part of the prologue. The goal 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:07.139 of the prologue is to blow your mind about who 00:11:07.139 --> 00:11:11.509 Jesus is. write that down the goal of the prologue 00:11:11.509 --> 00:11:14.610 is to blow your mind about who jesus is and i 00:11:14.610 --> 00:11:17.590 hope it does by the time we're done he wants 00:11:17.590 --> 00:11:20.509 us to see the number one the greatness of christ 00:11:20.509 --> 00:11:21.830 that's the first thing we're going to look at 00:11:21.830 --> 00:11:26.389 the greatness of who he is okay john chapter 00:11:26.389 --> 00:11:32.230 one verse one says this in the beginning was 00:11:32.230 --> 00:11:35.629 the word and the word was with god and the word 00:11:35.629 --> 00:11:38.909 was god okay Kind of a weird sentence structure, 00:11:39.129 --> 00:11:45.850 the word. John doesn't just first tell it. He 00:11:45.850 --> 00:11:48.029 just tells us first straight up who Jesus is. 00:11:49.070 --> 00:11:51.909 Before there was a beginning, there was Jesus. 00:11:52.750 --> 00:11:54.950 That's how he's saying it. Before there was the 00:11:54.950 --> 00:11:59.110 beginning, before this world existed, there was 00:11:59.110 --> 00:12:02.250 Jesus. There's never been a time when Jesus did 00:12:02.250 --> 00:12:08.009 not exist because the word was. Word is Jesus. 00:12:08.110 --> 00:12:11.309 That's what he's using it for. And so Jesus always 00:12:11.309 --> 00:12:14.169 was. In another way of saying it, it's kind of 00:12:14.169 --> 00:12:16.529 a weird way of saying it, you'd say Jesus always 00:12:16.529 --> 00:12:23.809 was wuzzing. Jesus always was wuzzing. John wants 00:12:23.809 --> 00:12:27.710 us to understand. It's all right, guys. Up here. 00:12:29.429 --> 00:12:33.029 John wants us first to understand that God is 00:12:33.029 --> 00:12:39.379 the center point. of everything he's the center 00:12:39.379 --> 00:12:41.379 point of everything and guys this is our biggest 00:12:41.379 --> 00:12:45.360 problem in life isn't it we don't we lose sight 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:49.039 of who's the center i think i'm the center my 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:51.200 problems are the center my family's the center 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:54.759 my agenda is the center and jonda says no i want 00:12:54.759 --> 00:12:58.659 you to understand how big jesus is and he is 00:12:58.659 --> 00:13:02.519 to be the center point everything so we begin 00:13:02.519 --> 00:13:05.570 with god We don't talk about anything of Jesus. 00:13:05.690 --> 00:13:09.049 A lot of the other gospels start with how Jesus 00:13:09.049 --> 00:13:11.610 was born. This one just starts off saying, oh, 00:13:11.690 --> 00:13:13.330 by the way, this Jesus we're going to talk about, 00:13:13.450 --> 00:13:17.830 boom, he's God. He's the creator of all things. 00:13:19.190 --> 00:13:22.610 He's the word. The word is logos in Greek, okay? 00:13:23.259 --> 00:13:26.720 It means conscious or the force behind all things 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:29.799 that have ever been made. And it's a word that 00:13:29.799 --> 00:13:32.159 we don't even understand totally, but it's driven 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:34.980 by an understanding of Greek philosophy and all 00:13:34.980 --> 00:13:37.440 sorts of things, but it's this idea that everything 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:41.919 starts from the word. And by saying that Jesus 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:46.860 was with God and was God, John establishes the 00:13:46.860 --> 00:13:49.799 idea right there of the Trinity, Father, Son, 00:13:49.860 --> 00:13:51.299 Holy Spirit. We're not going to spend a lot of 00:13:51.299 --> 00:13:53.909 time here right now. But it's this idea that 00:13:53.909 --> 00:13:57.850 one God, three persons in a love relationship 00:13:57.850 --> 00:14:00.570 with each other. Perfect relationship. So right 00:14:00.570 --> 00:14:04.250 out of the chute, he says, Jesus is creator of 00:14:04.250 --> 00:14:08.570 all things. He's God. And he was with God. Trinity. 00:14:09.090 --> 00:14:10.850 Doesn't touch on the Holy Spirit yet. That's 00:14:10.850 --> 00:14:13.090 coming. But this is in the first part. We begin 00:14:13.090 --> 00:14:16.789 to even see that there's a three -in -one picture 00:14:16.789 --> 00:14:19.350 of God. Again, the goal here is to blow your 00:14:19.350 --> 00:14:21.899 mind. Before we ever get into details of who 00:14:21.899 --> 00:14:24.220 Jesus is and what he did, blow your mind. Like, 00:14:24.259 --> 00:14:28.440 who's at the center here? Not Caleb. Not you. 00:14:29.019 --> 00:14:35.100 Jesus. John chapter 1, verse 2. He was with God 00:14:35.100 --> 00:14:37.799 in the beginning, and all things were created 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:42.559 through him. And apart from him, not one thing 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:46.059 was created that has been created. Everything. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:53.600 He says, has been created by Jesus. Sometimes 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:56.460 we separate Jesus and we just say God created 00:14:56.460 --> 00:14:59.779 all things, right? In this situation, he says 00:14:59.779 --> 00:15:03.159 Jesus was right there. This Jesus that walked 00:15:03.159 --> 00:15:04.919 among you, which we're going to get to in a second, 00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:10.299 was the creator of all things. He's the creator 00:15:10.299 --> 00:15:16.500 of the universe. Colossians chapter 1 verse 16 00:15:16.500 --> 00:15:19.279 and 17 says this, for everything was created 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:22.980 in him or by him, in heaven and on earth, the 00:15:22.980 --> 00:15:26.340 visible and the invisible, whether thrones or 00:15:26.340 --> 00:15:29.360 dominions or rulers or authorities, all things 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:33.139 have been created through him and for him, for 00:15:33.139 --> 00:15:38.120 he is before all things, and by him all things 00:15:38.120 --> 00:15:43.419 hold together. Okay, if you don't see Jesus yet, 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:48.460 Maybe you're a little skeptical. You don't see 00:15:48.460 --> 00:15:50.559 Jesus as really the one who created all things. 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:55.100 You're missing all of what the Bible says. The 00:15:55.100 --> 00:15:58.159 Bible is just loaded with Jesus is this kind 00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:01.679 of guy. This is who Jesus is. Colossians just 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:04.620 points us there as one example. The little book 00:16:04.620 --> 00:16:06.940 I've been reading, picked up this last week, 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:09.679 it's called The Gospel Way Catechism, poses this 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:12.700 question, what is the center point of everything? 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:15.580 poses that question. What is the center point 00:16:15.580 --> 00:16:19.820 of everything? And the answer, he says, is God 00:16:19.820 --> 00:16:24.019 is center and point of everything. In him, all 00:16:24.019 --> 00:16:28.000 things come to be and are held together. He has 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:30.759 no rival. And that's what John is trying to do 00:16:30.759 --> 00:16:32.860 right out of the shoes. He's saying, look, nothing 00:16:32.860 --> 00:16:38.039 else in the universe is as important as Jesus. 00:16:38.600 --> 00:16:41.610 He's the center point. God the Father, God the 00:16:41.610 --> 00:16:43.409 Son, and the Holy Spirit. That is the center. 00:16:43.649 --> 00:16:45.669 And I want to swear, he's church, he says, church, 00:16:45.750 --> 00:16:49.429 I want you above everything else to see who is 00:16:49.429 --> 00:16:55.169 most important. Now, as we move to verse 4, we 00:16:55.169 --> 00:17:00.190 take, he takes it one step farther. We're going 00:17:00.190 --> 00:17:02.129 to get to kind of the second point of his greatness. 00:17:02.409 --> 00:17:05.730 The greatness of Christ's love. So we just see, 00:17:05.789 --> 00:17:08.519 first of all, the greatness of who he is. creator 00:17:08.519 --> 00:17:10.720 of all things, can't get much bigger. And then 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:13.539 he's going to hone in on the greatness of his 00:17:13.539 --> 00:17:18.319 love. Look at verse 4. In him was life, and that 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:22.079 life was the light of man. That light shines 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:25.059 in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not 00:17:25.059 --> 00:17:29.960 overcome it. See, in these verses, we are introduced 00:17:29.960 --> 00:17:32.559 to two metaphors that are going to run through 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:34.680 the book of John. We need to remember as we come 00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:37.839 back. Then two of these metaphors, and they describe 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:42.140 what Jesus brings as he steps into our broken 00:17:42.140 --> 00:17:46.299 and jacked up dark world. I was just thinking 00:17:46.299 --> 00:17:49.140 last night, and I was flipping through and watching 00:17:49.140 --> 00:17:51.440 all the stuff that's going on in the war around 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:53.779 the world. We live in a pretty broken world right 00:17:53.779 --> 00:17:57.960 now, don't we? The God of the universe stepped 00:17:57.960 --> 00:18:01.480 into that world. He stepped into that world and 00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:04.680 he says, I've got... I want to show you two different 00:18:04.680 --> 00:18:07.059 things that I bring. It's not the only things, 00:18:07.099 --> 00:18:09.420 but two. I'm going to do it through two metaphors. 00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:16.200 He brings life and he brings light. In Jesus 00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:21.579 is life. If you want real life with purpose and 00:18:21.579 --> 00:18:25.539 with meaning, it is only found in Jesus because 00:18:25.539 --> 00:18:29.119 Jesus is life. It won't be found anywhere else. 00:18:31.789 --> 00:18:35.329 It won't be found in your achievements, how good 00:18:35.329 --> 00:18:37.990 your marriage is, how well your children do. 00:18:40.549 --> 00:18:45.750 It's only found in Jesus, real life. And then 00:18:45.750 --> 00:18:49.069 he says Jesus is light. See, where light goes, 00:18:49.150 --> 00:18:51.890 darkness is dispelled, revealing the true nature 00:18:51.890 --> 00:18:55.890 of life. Like, he says when that light shines 00:18:55.890 --> 00:19:00.740 in the darkness literally means It shines continually 00:19:00.740 --> 00:19:03.500 in the darkness, meaning that Christ is continually 00:19:03.500 --> 00:19:07.380 bombarding every corner of our hearts that are 00:19:07.380 --> 00:19:10.240 of darkness through the work of his Holy Spirit. 00:19:11.740 --> 00:19:15.660 If we're in Christ, if we embrace this light, 00:19:15.900 --> 00:19:19.940 he's penetrating our darkness. That's what he 00:19:19.940 --> 00:19:25.559 does. But sadly, the majority of mankind, according 00:19:25.559 --> 00:19:30.529 to this, reject the light. Look at verse 6, starting 00:19:30.529 --> 00:19:34.369 in verse 6 says, that there is a man sent from 00:19:34.369 --> 00:19:36.029 God whose name was John. By the way, this is 00:19:36.029 --> 00:19:38.250 not John the author, it's John the baptizer, 00:19:38.349 --> 00:19:41.250 the different John. We're going to touch on that 00:19:41.250 --> 00:19:43.950 as we go into the book. He came as a witness 00:19:43.950 --> 00:19:48.750 to testify about the light, so that all might 00:19:48.750 --> 00:19:50.849 believe, underline that. By the way, every time 00:19:50.849 --> 00:19:53.450 you see the word believe in John, underline it, 00:19:53.490 --> 00:19:57.089 okay, as we go through it. All might believe 00:19:57.089 --> 00:20:00.460 through him. He was not the light, that's John, 00:20:00.619 --> 00:20:04.460 but he came to testify about the light. The true 00:20:04.460 --> 00:20:08.079 light that gives light to everyone has come into 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:11.619 the world. Straight up, John the baptizer came 00:20:11.619 --> 00:20:15.140 as a witness to tell as many as he could about 00:20:15.140 --> 00:20:18.539 Jesus, the light, and that Jesus was for all 00:20:18.539 --> 00:20:22.700 people and is today for all people. That's his 00:20:22.700 --> 00:20:28.869 point. Look at verse 9. See, the true light that 00:20:28.869 --> 00:20:32.549 gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 00:20:33.369 --> 00:20:37.769 I mean, the God who made all things has come 00:20:37.769 --> 00:20:41.150 to us. And I could just stop right there. In 00:20:41.150 --> 00:20:46.049 that whole thought, if it's true, if the God 00:20:46.049 --> 00:20:49.569 that made all things really exists, and it's 00:20:49.569 --> 00:20:52.109 true, and he chose to come to you, that ought 00:20:52.109 --> 00:21:00.410 to blow your mind. Why would he do that? Because 00:21:00.410 --> 00:21:03.730 everyone needs a, every one of us need a savior. 00:21:05.630 --> 00:21:11.710 Look at verse 10. He was in the world, and the 00:21:11.710 --> 00:21:15.450 world was created through him, and yet the world 00:21:15.450 --> 00:21:19.730 did not recognize him. He came to his own, and 00:21:19.730 --> 00:21:24.569 his own people did not receive him. Okay, so 00:21:24.569 --> 00:21:27.359 let's just unpack this for a minute. See, the 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:29.539 Jewish Pharisees, which we kind of have a bad 00:21:29.539 --> 00:21:31.400 taste in our mouth about the Pharisees, right? 00:21:31.819 --> 00:21:34.220 Think about what the job of a Pharisee was. You 00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:35.220 ever heard of the Pharisee? You may know what 00:21:35.220 --> 00:21:38.119 I'm talking about. The Jewish leaders that Jesus 00:21:38.119 --> 00:21:40.180 clashed with. If you've read any of the Gospels, 00:21:40.180 --> 00:21:43.099 you see he can clash with these guys. They were 00:21:43.099 --> 00:21:47.339 the religious elite. And the Pharisees, their 00:21:47.339 --> 00:21:51.519 job, they were to be set apart to know God's 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:56.900 Word so well, to know this so well. A lot of 00:21:56.900 --> 00:22:01.660 them had it memorized, most of it. That when 00:22:01.660 --> 00:22:04.720 the Messiah would come, they would know it. That 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:10.700 was their job. Problem is, they fell in love 00:22:10.700 --> 00:22:14.259 with the rules and they missed out on the relationship 00:22:14.259 --> 00:22:20.779 that God was offering. Fell in love with the 00:22:20.779 --> 00:22:25.069 rules. Religion took over. They became, in another 00:22:25.069 --> 00:22:26.950 way of saying it, is that they became the center 00:22:26.950 --> 00:22:31.230 and not God at the center. Which is what John 00:22:31.230 --> 00:22:34.029 starts off by saying, is that God is at the center. 00:22:34.529 --> 00:22:40.170 And so, they missed it. They missed it. See, 00:22:40.289 --> 00:22:43.549 you and I can be in the church. We can be around 00:22:43.549 --> 00:22:47.890 this. You can read your Bible every day and miss 00:22:47.890 --> 00:22:55.819 Jesus. Don't miss Jesus. You belong to him. He 00:22:55.819 --> 00:23:00.920 came after you. The Beatitudes Jesus talks about 00:23:00.920 --> 00:23:04.880 in a couple of the other Gospels is a famous 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:07.720 Sermon on the Mount. Beatitudes start with kind 00:23:07.720 --> 00:23:10.339 of this rising sunshine, sunrise. It kind of 00:23:10.339 --> 00:23:12.579 talks about the process that we need to go through 00:23:12.579 --> 00:23:15.359 as we begin to go, oh, I get God. And the very 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:19.599 beginning of it is what? Blessed are the poor 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:22.700 in spirit. Meaning you look at your life in the 00:23:22.700 --> 00:23:25.619 darkness of your own life and you go, I know 00:23:25.619 --> 00:23:34.279 I can't do this. I'm broken. I'll step aside 00:23:34.279 --> 00:23:37.940 from being the center. In fact, you begin to 00:23:37.940 --> 00:23:40.359 look at your life and go, man, I am so jacked. 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:44.039 See, the Pharisees couldn't do this. They're 00:23:44.039 --> 00:23:46.039 looking at their life going, I'm pretty good. 00:23:48.440 --> 00:23:50.619 One who's poor in spirit looks at their life 00:23:50.619 --> 00:23:54.420 and goes, I'm really honest. I'm not doing that 00:23:54.420 --> 00:23:58.720 good. So I need to be set aside. In fact, I'm 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:01.720 looking at my sin and my brokenness, and it grieves 00:24:01.720 --> 00:24:05.140 me because I know what I'm doing to my Savior. 00:24:06.299 --> 00:24:09.640 And so I mourn over that. So that's the start 00:24:09.640 --> 00:24:17.500 point. Jesus came after you, though. Don't miss 00:24:17.500 --> 00:24:22.799 him. Look at verse 12. But to all who did receive 00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:26.519 him, he gave them the right to be children of 00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:33.259 God. To those who believe in his name, who were 00:24:33.259 --> 00:24:36.720 born not of natural descent, nor of the will 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:39.680 of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. 00:24:40.279 --> 00:24:41.880 Going to come back later and talk about what 00:24:41.880 --> 00:24:44.519 it means to be born again. It means newness in 00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:50.420 Christ, starting over. To receive, when he says 00:24:50.420 --> 00:24:54.319 to receive, to receive is to believe. In the 00:24:54.319 --> 00:24:57.220 gospel, John, believe, when he says believe, 00:24:57.319 --> 00:25:02.859 means to believe in. Okay? Not to believe that. 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:05.279 That's information. To believe that something 00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:07.460 happened, that's information. But to believe 00:25:07.460 --> 00:25:10.880 in the person of Jesus Christ. Now, I need a 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:16.160 chair. So, if I look at this chair, how many 00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:19.369 of you believe? that this chair can hold you. 00:25:20.710 --> 00:25:26.549 Yeah, duh. But to believe in this chair means 00:25:26.549 --> 00:25:30.589 I actually rest in it and I release in it. And 00:25:30.589 --> 00:25:32.650 that's what the difference is. Because I don't 00:25:32.650 --> 00:25:34.970 just believe that. How many of us believe that 00:25:34.970 --> 00:25:37.190 God is good? How many of us believe that, that 00:25:37.190 --> 00:25:40.289 he came to save us, but do you believe in what 00:25:40.289 --> 00:25:44.109 he's done? Is your life saying, that is what 00:25:44.109 --> 00:25:47.329 I put everything into? That's what John's going 00:25:47.329 --> 00:25:51.289 to call us to in this book. To believe in is 00:25:51.289 --> 00:25:57.269 to put trust in it. I know that's hard. Some 00:25:57.269 --> 00:25:59.289 people think it's weak to do that, and I would 00:25:59.289 --> 00:26:03.269 say it's not. It's the other way around. To believe 00:26:03.269 --> 00:26:07.109 in is to put your trust in. Those who received 00:26:07.109 --> 00:26:12.069 the light became children of God. John also had 00:26:12.069 --> 00:26:15.430 this to say in another John, 1 John. which is 00:26:15.430 --> 00:26:19.549 a different book. 1 John 3, verse 1, the first 00:26:19.549 --> 00:26:23.269 part of that verse, he says, see that what great 00:26:23.269 --> 00:26:27.170 love the Father has given to us, that we should 00:26:27.170 --> 00:26:31.269 be called children, or God's children. And we 00:26:31.269 --> 00:26:36.869 are. I love that. And we are. Why? When you put 00:26:36.869 --> 00:26:42.269 your faith in Jesus, he takes over. And you're 00:26:42.269 --> 00:26:47.970 his child. Now, go back to verse 14. And starting 00:26:47.970 --> 00:26:50.789 in verse 14, we begin to see the greatness of 00:26:50.789 --> 00:26:54.529 Christ's grace. So we just have, it starts off, 00:26:54.569 --> 00:26:56.210 we've got the greatness of Christ, and then we 00:26:56.210 --> 00:26:58.990 see the greatness of his love demonstrated toward 00:26:58.990 --> 00:27:01.650 us, and now we see the greatness of his grace. 00:27:02.130 --> 00:27:08.289 And I need to drink. Here we go. In verse 14, 00:27:08.390 --> 00:27:11.650 the word became flesh and dwelt among us. I love 00:27:11.650 --> 00:27:13.829 this verse. This is the coolest verse. The Lord 00:27:13.829 --> 00:27:16.089 became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed 00:27:16.089 --> 00:27:19.750 his glory, the glory as the one and only Son 00:27:19.750 --> 00:27:22.089 from the Father, full of grace and truth. Okay, 00:27:22.190 --> 00:27:25.269 let's unpack this. This verse describes what 00:27:25.269 --> 00:27:29.829 we call incarnation. It's the most remarkable 00:27:29.829 --> 00:27:33.630 miracle. And it's... Really hard to put a metaphor 00:27:33.630 --> 00:27:36.210 to it, but years ago when I did Young Life, we 00:27:36.210 --> 00:27:38.210 always talked about the incarnation, meaning 00:27:38.210 --> 00:27:41.950 God coming to us, putting flesh on, coming one 00:27:41.950 --> 00:27:44.029 of us, hanging out with us, setting up his tent 00:27:44.029 --> 00:27:46.369 with us. And so I used this illustration, and 00:27:46.369 --> 00:27:50.750 I would have a bring in. Sometimes I think I 00:27:50.750 --> 00:27:52.509 should do this all the time, these kind of illustrations, 00:27:52.690 --> 00:27:54.589 because we think high school kids need it. They're 00:27:54.589 --> 00:27:56.089 actually smarter than most of us some half the 00:27:56.089 --> 00:28:00.789 time. But I put in this big bowl with a goldfish. 00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:03.700 Get the big, fattest goldfish I could find. Stick 00:28:03.700 --> 00:28:06.960 in this bowl. And I says, you know what? This 00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:10.579 bowl is like you and me. Or this goldfish. We're 00:28:10.579 --> 00:28:12.079 swimming around there. That's our little world. 00:28:13.220 --> 00:28:15.640 And how crazy is it if I said, you know what? 00:28:15.660 --> 00:28:19.180 I really love this goldfish. I want to dive in. 00:28:19.960 --> 00:28:23.299 But I can yell at this goldfish. But I need to 00:28:23.299 --> 00:28:25.799 actually become a goldfish so the goldfish understands. 00:28:26.460 --> 00:28:28.460 How much I love him. And then I'm going to go 00:28:28.460 --> 00:28:30.619 into that bowl. So it would be like me turning 00:28:30.619 --> 00:28:33.140 into a goldfish and jumping into this bowl. And 00:28:33.140 --> 00:28:35.279 you're going, that's ridiculous. And I'd say, 00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:37.299 yeah, this is ridiculous too. That the God of 00:28:37.299 --> 00:28:39.359 the universe would choose to come and live among 00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:42.839 us. That's exactly what he does. And not only 00:28:42.839 --> 00:28:45.660 does he come and live among us, he came in the 00:28:45.660 --> 00:28:47.900 most poverty way. He became a tiny little goldfish. 00:28:48.819 --> 00:28:52.000 The worst of the wimp is little goldfishes. And 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:53.539 then he would go into the bowl and he says, now 00:28:53.539 --> 00:28:55.319 I'm going to believe I was a perfect goldfish. 00:28:55.930 --> 00:28:58.170 And I'm going to take all of the sin of all the 00:28:58.170 --> 00:28:59.990 other goldfish upon myself. I'm going to suffer 00:28:59.990 --> 00:29:03.250 and die in their place, be crucified for them 00:29:03.250 --> 00:29:08.569 because I love them that much. That's how ridiculous 00:29:08.569 --> 00:29:14.170 this is. The God of the universe says, the word 00:29:14.170 --> 00:29:18.410 became flesh. Wait a minute, he made flesh, right? 00:29:18.990 --> 00:29:24.529 Yep. And what did he do? He dwelt among us. Meaning 00:29:24.529 --> 00:29:31.529 he got in our bowl with us. Hebrews chapter 4 00:29:31.529 --> 00:29:36.150 verse 15 says this. For we do not have a high 00:29:36.150 --> 00:29:40.230 priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. 00:29:41.130 --> 00:29:44.690 But one who has been tempted in every way as 00:29:44.690 --> 00:29:47.130 we are. Yet without sin. What does this mean? 00:29:47.230 --> 00:29:53.150 Jesus knows how you feel. Gets it. He knows how 00:29:53.150 --> 00:29:55.509 you feel. He knows your struggle, March Madness. 00:29:55.589 --> 00:29:57.609 He knows what you're going through right now. 00:29:58.309 --> 00:30:01.430 I get it. He says, I get it. I've walked in your 00:30:01.430 --> 00:30:04.769 shoes. I felt your pain. I know what you're dealing 00:30:04.769 --> 00:30:07.329 with. Oh, and by the way, I created all things. 00:30:07.470 --> 00:30:11.289 I made you. I know you pretty well. He did not 00:30:11.289 --> 00:30:15.130 stay distant, though. He came to us. You and 00:30:15.130 --> 00:30:18.150 I couldn't get out of the bowl to save our lives, 00:30:18.210 --> 00:30:22.720 could we? But he could come in, and he did. He 00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:26.039 moved in, the word here is he moved into the 00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:28.599 neighborhood or he pitched his tent among us. 00:30:29.500 --> 00:30:32.720 Don explains that when Jesus came, became flesh 00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:35.099 and dwelt, pitched his tent, literally what that 00:30:35.099 --> 00:30:39.240 means, in the midst of humanity, man and woman 00:30:39.240 --> 00:30:46.000 saw his glory. Here, characterized as full of 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:48.539 grace and truth. And what we'll see as we work 00:30:48.539 --> 00:30:51.940 our way to the cross of Christ. is that becomes 00:30:51.940 --> 00:30:54.799 bigger and bigger and bigger on display and it 00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:59.079 will be seen most in the cross of Christ. Look 00:30:59.079 --> 00:31:04.240 at verse 15. John testified according to him 00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:07.440 and explained, this was the one I am whom I said, 00:31:07.579 --> 00:31:10.140 the one coming after me ranks ahead of me because 00:31:10.140 --> 00:31:13.000 he existed before me. John is just pleading the 00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:16.420 case again, right? Indeed, we have all received 00:31:16.420 --> 00:31:21.460 grace upon grace from his... Now, that's a verse. 00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:26.819 I want you to circle that grace upon grace. John 00:31:26.819 --> 00:31:31.599 is saying, from the fullness of his grace, what 00:31:31.599 --> 00:31:34.660 is grace? Getting something you don't deserve. 00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:39.259 That's grace, right? From the fullness of his 00:31:39.259 --> 00:31:44.380 grace, we have received one blessing after another. 00:31:45.859 --> 00:31:50.130 Here's how it works. You get grace. followed 00:31:50.130 --> 00:31:55.250 by grace. It's grace upon grace upon grace upon 00:31:55.250 --> 00:31:59.730 grace upon grace upon grace upon grace. It just 00:31:59.730 --> 00:32:04.670 keeps going. That's what you get. Grace is not 00:32:04.670 --> 00:32:08.289 just a one -time thing. You get it all from him. 00:32:08.410 --> 00:32:10.549 This is what this is saying. It's grace upon 00:32:10.549 --> 00:32:14.950 grace upon grace upon grace. John, now look at 00:32:14.950 --> 00:32:18.049 verse 17. For the law was given through Moses. 00:32:18.890 --> 00:32:22.630 Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. This 00:32:22.630 --> 00:32:24.990 reminds us what we looked at in Romans 5, verse 00:32:24.990 --> 00:32:27.690 20. I'll just go there real quick. It says this, 00:32:27.690 --> 00:32:31.829 the law came along to multiply the trespasses. 00:32:31.890 --> 00:32:35.089 What did the law do? It took a magnifying glass 00:32:35.089 --> 00:32:37.609 and said, look how much you cannot accomplish 00:32:37.609 --> 00:32:40.549 perfection. You cannot earn your way to God. 00:32:42.589 --> 00:32:47.109 It shows us that. But where sin multiplied, which 00:32:47.109 --> 00:32:50.579 we see, happening all around us, grace multiplied 00:32:50.579 --> 00:32:56.859 even more. Grace upon grace upon grace. See, 00:32:56.920 --> 00:33:03.200 your sin is not too big for Jesus. Your sin is 00:33:03.200 --> 00:33:05.559 not too big for Jesus. Whatever your sin is right 00:33:05.559 --> 00:33:09.059 now or has been, it's not too big for Jesus. 00:33:09.740 --> 00:33:13.339 There's more than enough grace to cover your 00:33:13.339 --> 00:33:18.740 sin and to give you an overflowing free and victorious 00:33:18.740 --> 00:33:21.660 life. Now, I said at the beginning that this 00:33:21.660 --> 00:33:24.859 gospel is for all of us, right? From the skeptic 00:33:24.859 --> 00:33:28.660 to the apathetic believer. Why? Because grace 00:33:28.660 --> 00:33:36.059 upon grace has been given. And it's given for 00:33:36.059 --> 00:33:40.519 you to experience an overflowing, free and victorious 00:33:40.519 --> 00:33:48.130 life. If you know Jesus, Believe in Jesus. The 00:33:48.130 --> 00:33:52.250 fullness of his grace is yours. But you can know 00:33:52.250 --> 00:33:58.950 that Jesus' grace exists. But do you, have you 00:33:58.950 --> 00:34:02.529 believed in his grace? Meaning, are you trusting 00:34:02.529 --> 00:34:05.349 him for his grace? Because if you do, that grace 00:34:05.349 --> 00:34:10.010 is yours. Grace upon grace. John concludes this 00:34:10.010 --> 00:34:13.150 prologue in verse 18. Remember the foyer. We've 00:34:13.150 --> 00:34:14.610 got to keep coming back to these truths as we 00:34:14.610 --> 00:34:18.260 go through it. Verse 18, no one has ever seen 00:34:18.260 --> 00:34:23.099 God. And the one and only Son, who is himself 00:34:23.099 --> 00:34:28.039 God, and is at the Father's side, has revealed 00:34:28.039 --> 00:34:38.679 him. Where do we see God, church? In Jesus. As 00:34:38.679 --> 00:34:43.260 you look to Jesus, God the Father is revealed. 00:34:44.110 --> 00:34:47.349 And the greatness of Jesus explains the greatness 00:34:47.349 --> 00:34:52.610 of the Father. He didn't just leave us out there 00:34:52.610 --> 00:34:55.550 to say, ooh, this force. He says, I'm coming 00:34:55.550 --> 00:34:58.429 to you in a way that you can understand and you 00:34:58.429 --> 00:35:03.670 can grasp. I'm going to come in human form. And 00:35:03.670 --> 00:35:06.809 I'm going to walk among you, fully God and fully 00:35:06.809 --> 00:35:13.210 man. The Gospel of John wants us to see Jesus 00:35:13.210 --> 00:35:17.150 for, who he is, and to experience Jesus on the 00:35:17.150 --> 00:35:20.389 ground level, to believe in Jesus as the one 00:35:20.389 --> 00:35:21.809 true God. And one of the things John is going 00:35:21.809 --> 00:35:23.949 to do is he's going to go really ground level 00:35:23.949 --> 00:35:26.369 for us. He's going to go right down to the ground 00:35:26.369 --> 00:35:28.269 level. He's going to show us the interactions, 00:35:28.409 --> 00:35:31.590 but all of it is to help us so, yes, I believe. 00:35:33.409 --> 00:35:38.289 And I need this, church. Because even as a pastor, 00:35:38.369 --> 00:35:40.909 even as somebody who preaches, who spends time 00:35:40.909 --> 00:35:44.460 in this, I struggle with my belief. My belief. 00:35:45.500 --> 00:35:55.079 You all do. Help me. The Gospel of the Way Catechism 00:35:55.079 --> 00:35:59.340 book I was telling you about, I just read. When 00:35:59.340 --> 00:36:03.800 asked this question, who is God the Son? Jesus. 00:36:03.960 --> 00:36:07.119 Who is God the Son? Answered it this way. God 00:36:07.119 --> 00:36:12.179 the Son is the eternal word who took on humanity. 00:36:12.980 --> 00:36:17.000 Jesus of Nazareth, Messiah of Israel, and King 00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:20.619 of the world. He is not a life coach or a therapist 00:36:20.619 --> 00:36:24.820 who affirms all your desires, but the great physician 00:36:24.820 --> 00:36:30.360 whose blood heals our sin -sick hearts. That's 00:36:30.360 --> 00:36:36.019 who Jesus is. My hope as we go through John is 00:36:36.019 --> 00:36:38.820 that my eyes and that your eyes will be turned 00:36:38.820 --> 00:36:44.630 to Jesus. that you will experience the fullness 00:36:44.630 --> 00:36:50.389 of his grace, that you will believe in God, the 00:36:50.389 --> 00:36:53.170 God who's come to us in a way that you've never 00:36:53.170 --> 00:36:57.190 believed before, that your life will rest on 00:36:57.190 --> 00:37:01.130 it, that he will be center of your life. To the 00:37:01.130 --> 00:37:04.369 skeptic who might be here today, my hope is that 00:37:04.369 --> 00:37:06.690 you would believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior 00:37:06.690 --> 00:37:11.289 of your life. To the new believer that's here 00:37:11.289 --> 00:37:15.130 today, that Jesus is and that you would begin 00:37:15.130 --> 00:37:18.429 to believe who Jesus is and what he's done will 00:37:18.429 --> 00:37:22.829 capture your whole life. Some of you have stepped 00:37:22.829 --> 00:37:24.610 in, you put your toe in, you believe, but he 00:37:24.610 --> 00:37:26.909 has not yet begun to capture your whole life. 00:37:26.969 --> 00:37:28.969 I pray that as you go through this series that 00:37:28.969 --> 00:37:32.550 the depth of it will just grow deeper. That you 00:37:32.550 --> 00:37:35.710 will not view Jesus according to your ways, but 00:37:35.710 --> 00:37:37.789 that you will surrender your life fully to Jesus. 00:37:38.989 --> 00:37:44.250 For the believer, Whether you've just been doing 00:37:44.250 --> 00:37:46.730 okay or you're apathetic or maybe a little bit 00:37:46.730 --> 00:37:48.369 right now, you're falling asleep off the wheel, 00:37:49.449 --> 00:37:52.510 that Jesus' fire would begin to roar inside of 00:37:52.510 --> 00:37:57.010 you. I'm going to just say this before you. If 00:37:57.010 --> 00:37:59.110 you're in any one of those categories, your prayer 00:37:59.110 --> 00:38:03.590 ought to be, God, Jesus, roar inside of me. Meaning 00:38:03.590 --> 00:38:06.730 a fire. Light the fire, the Jesus fire inside 00:38:06.730 --> 00:38:09.329 of you. That's why I mentioned at the beginning 00:38:09.329 --> 00:38:13.880 how important it is for you to soak. read, marinate 00:38:13.880 --> 00:38:17.199 in John. Because one of the things it'll do is 00:38:17.199 --> 00:38:19.539 the Spirit of God speaks to us through His Word. 00:38:20.380 --> 00:38:22.360 And it'll drive it into your heart. And some 00:38:22.360 --> 00:38:24.179 of you are probably good at memorization. Pick 00:38:24.179 --> 00:38:26.440 verses to memorize. Let's just soak in that. 00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:30.099 Let the richness of it change you. I want the 00:38:30.099 --> 00:38:32.199 band to come up now. And I just want to, as we 00:38:32.199 --> 00:38:39.019 prepare to respond, it really can be summed up 00:38:39.019 --> 00:38:43.739 in these few words. My prayer is that we surrender 00:38:43.739 --> 00:38:48.260 all to Jesus. That's it. We're going to go to 00:38:48.260 --> 00:38:51.599 a time like we do every week where we have communion. 00:38:52.139 --> 00:38:59.980 And as we look at the Lord's Supper, we're looking 00:38:59.980 --> 00:39:04.420 at the central act of grace upon grace. What 00:39:04.420 --> 00:39:07.920 Jesus did. It gives us grace upon grace upon 00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:12.860 grace. Jesus offered his body and his blood as 00:39:12.860 --> 00:39:17.960 the atoning sacrifice for our sins. In John chapter 00:39:17.960 --> 00:39:20.679 6, verse 35, Jesus declared, I am the bread of 00:39:20.679 --> 00:39:26.360 life. I am the one who sustains you and nourishes 00:39:26.360 --> 00:39:32.320 your soul. If you are a follower of Jesus, you've 00:39:32.320 --> 00:39:35.760 said yes to Jesus. When you take that communion, 00:39:35.940 --> 00:39:37.400 you look at it and say, Jesus, you are the one 00:39:37.400 --> 00:39:41.500 who sustains me, who nourishes my soul. That's 00:39:41.500 --> 00:39:43.539 why we do it every week, that you come back to 00:39:43.539 --> 00:39:49.599 that point every time. And then the cup. Matthew 00:39:49.599 --> 00:39:53.599 chapter 26, verse 28 says this, for this is my 00:39:53.599 --> 00:39:57.079 blood. What Jesus said to his disciples, this 00:39:57.079 --> 00:40:00.159 is my blood of the covenant, which is poured 00:40:00.159 --> 00:40:06.980 out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Church, 00:40:07.159 --> 00:40:11.340 as we close today, my encouragement is no matter 00:40:11.340 --> 00:40:16.199 what you're dealing with, get your eyes on Jesus. 00:40:17.119 --> 00:40:22.940 Fix your eyes on Jesus. Run to Jesus. Let's pray. 00:40:27.699 --> 00:40:35.139 Lord, as we come before you, I ask that if there's 00:40:35.139 --> 00:40:37.739 anyone even in this room that has not surrendered, 00:40:37.880 --> 00:40:39.820 put Jesus at the center, that that was where 00:40:39.820 --> 00:40:46.340 we start today. Friends, if that's you in this 00:40:46.340 --> 00:40:48.380 room and you've never surrendered your life fully 00:40:48.380 --> 00:40:52.619 to Jesus, I pray right now where you sit, that 00:40:52.619 --> 00:40:57.059 you would just say, God, I need you. I know I'm 00:40:57.059 --> 00:41:02.300 a sinner. And I know you're the Savior. I don't 00:41:02.300 --> 00:41:08.820 know much else, but I give my life to you. Lord, 00:41:08.920 --> 00:41:13.619 as we become, step into this book, I pray that 00:41:13.619 --> 00:41:17.659 you become so big in us, to us, that we will 00:41:17.659 --> 00:41:23.159 see you, Jesus, for who you are. Change us, transform 00:41:23.159 --> 00:41:30.980 us. We know that we get all of our purpose, sustenance, 00:41:32.429 --> 00:41:34.750 And vision for this life comes from you, Jesus. 00:41:34.969 --> 00:41:37.869 So we go all to you. We run to you today. In 00:41:37.869 --> 00:41:38.489 your name we pray.