1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,840 I find my understanding limited. 2 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:12,400 That is due to my perspective as a created being, as a temporal creature, looking at 3 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:18,360 words that reveal the infinite God to me. 4 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:23,200 John begins his Gospel in a rather unique way. 5 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:26,080 Each of the writers does, for that matter. 6 00:00:26,080 --> 00:00:33,120 Matthew begins with a genealogy, connecting Jesus with the Old Testament, tracing his 7 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:41,040 lineage to David and Abraham, because he wants to present Jesus as the King of Israel who 8 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:45,080 has the right to reign. 9 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:52,280 Mark on the other hand begins simply, opening with the ministry of John the Baptist, for 10 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:56,840 he presents Jesus as the servant, the servant of the Lord. 11 00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:00,960 For a servant, a genealogy is unnecessary, not important. 12 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,520 It's what he does that counts. 13 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:11,880 Luke begins by dedicating his Gospel to the intended recipient, one Theophilus, to whom 14 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:14,640 he also wrote the book of Acts. 15 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:22,080 But then immediately he begins a narration, recording for us the prophecy and fulfillment 16 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:24,860 of John the Baptist's birth. 17 00:01:24,860 --> 00:01:29,960 He then moves right into the narrative telling of the prophecy and fulfillment of the birth 18 00:01:29,960 --> 00:01:32,200 of Jesus. 19 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:42,640 You see this physician, Luke, wants to tell us about the true humanity of Jesus. 20 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:45,460 John takes another tact altogether. 21 00:01:45,460 --> 00:01:52,400 He begins with a prologue, a statement that comes before his narration. 22 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:56,640 It's the first 18 verses of the first chapter. 23 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:02,280 John's prologue is a theological statement. 24 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:08,880 You see, John wants us to understand who this Jesus is that he is going to present. 25 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:16,520 And so he introduces him by telling us that he is true deity, and in light of that, we 26 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:24,240 can understand why he says what he does and why he does what he does, as John records 27 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:26,440 it. 28 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:31,740 The subject of the prologue is the logos. 29 00:02:31,740 --> 00:02:38,000 That is a Greek word spelled in the English logos. 30 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,640 Logos was a common Greek word in that day. 31 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:49,520 Logos meant a thought and also the expression of that thought. 32 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:53,760 The logos is a message which is communicated. 33 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:58,240 It is a word which is spoken. 34 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:06,360 The term logos was found in Greek philosophy as well as in Jewish wisdom literature. 35 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:11,160 It's rather difficult to get a handle on what the logos was to the Greeks because they changed 36 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,080 the meaning of it so frequently. 37 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:24,280 But basically the logos to the Greek was an abstract bit of logic. 38 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:28,720 In fact you can see the word logic in the word logos. 39 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:31,240 That's where we get the word. 40 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:34,240 To the Greek the logos was intelligence. 41 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:42,480 It was reason which the Greek felt was the eternal order behind things as they are. 42 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:48,800 We might say it this way, to the Greek the logos was the cosmic principle that ties everything 43 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:49,800 together. 44 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:56,440 Cicero put it this way, logos is the soul of the world. 45 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:06,160 It pervades the universe as honey fills the honeycomb and links time with eternity. 46 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,960 The Hebrews also had a concept of logos. 47 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:12,600 It was different than that of the Greek. 48 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,380 It had a theological meaning. 49 00:04:15,380 --> 00:04:21,120 To the Hebrew the logos was the word of God. 50 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:27,880 The idea was in the logos that this is God in action. 51 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:32,420 The logos to the Hebrew had personality in it. 52 00:04:32,420 --> 00:04:41,300 It was not just some abstract bit of logic, but to the Hebrew the logos had personality 53 00:04:41,300 --> 00:04:43,580 to it. 54 00:04:43,580 --> 00:04:45,580 It was God. 55 00:04:45,580 --> 00:04:52,640 And by his word, his logos, God acted as they sought. 56 00:04:52,640 --> 00:05:00,100 For example they see God acting by his word in the creation. 57 00:05:00,100 --> 00:05:05,360 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 58 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:10,220 And the earth was without form and void. 59 00:05:10,220 --> 00:05:12,280 And darkness was on the surface of the waters. 60 00:05:12,280 --> 00:05:17,080 And the spirit of God was moving on the surface of the waters. 61 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:19,920 Then verse 3 begins by saying what? 62 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:22,720 Then what? 63 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:26,080 God what? 64 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:28,120 Said. 65 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:29,120 God spoke. 66 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:32,600 There's the word. 67 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:38,000 So you see to the Hebrew mind the logos was God in action. 68 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:41,680 God in creation speaking. 69 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,720 The logos doing something. 70 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:49,640 Bringing everything that's in the universe into existence. 71 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:55,560 This is made even more clear in verses like that in Psalm 33 verse 6 where it says that 72 00:05:55,560 --> 00:06:03,280 by his word God created the heavens and the earth. 73 00:06:03,280 --> 00:06:11,800 Then to the Hebrew the logos was also involved in God's revelation of himself. 74 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:20,160 A number of the prophets, the writing prophets made statements like that of Isaiah in chapter 75 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:29,840 38 verse 4 when he says the word of the Lord came unto me saying. 76 00:06:29,840 --> 00:06:31,840 You see what Isaiah is saying there? 77 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:37,640 He's saying God was in action revealing himself as the logos, the word. 78 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:44,360 The word of the Lord came to me saying. 79 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:48,360 So to the Hebrew as he thought of the logos it was God. 80 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:56,920 God doing something in creation, in revelation and also in delivering his people. 81 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:04,360 The psalmist refers to this in Psalm 107 and verse 20 where there he says the word of the 82 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:13,600 Lord delivered the people of God from their captivity. 83 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:18,040 Notice it wasn't one of the prophets who was preaching but there it was the word of 84 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:20,600 the Lord it says who delivered them. 85 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,760 God in action you see. 86 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:27,920 To summarize this, Merrill Tenney puts it this way. 87 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:38,820 To the Hebrew the word of God, the logos, was the self-assertion of the divine personality. 88 00:07:38,820 --> 00:07:48,200 To the Greek the formulation denoted the rational mind that ruled the universe. 89 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:54,280 Now John takes this word that we've been talking about logos. 90 00:07:54,280 --> 00:08:01,160 He chooses it purposely for he wants to communicate something to the whole world. 91 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:06,840 And the whole world at that time had some idea of what logos is. 92 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:11,520 The Greeks had it in their philosophy, the Jews had it in their understanding of the 93 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:13,320 word of the Lord. 94 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:22,640 And so he picks a bridge word that is a word that would bridge into different cultures. 95 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:31,720 He wants to present Jesus Christ as the son of God to all the world. 96 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:35,120 Jewish, Greek, whatever. 97 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:38,320 And so he calls him the logos. 98 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:44,940 When he chooses this word however he gives it a new meaning that is important to understand. 99 00:08:44,940 --> 00:08:49,320 John is not simply drawing upon a word and using it in the context of those who are used 100 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:54,040 to it, but he gives it a brand new meaning and significance. 101 00:08:54,040 --> 00:09:00,600 And he begins that in our text today where he tells us that the logos is a person. 102 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:11,640 A person who not only delivers God's thoughts, but is himself the fullness of God. 103 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:14,740 Do you understand that? 104 00:09:14,740 --> 00:09:21,440 He is saying that the logos is not just one who delivers God's thoughts to man, but he 105 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:26,740 is himself the fullness of all that God is. 106 00:09:26,740 --> 00:09:32,360 So that when he speaks he speaks as God himself. 107 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:38,440 And the message that he delivers reveals God to us. 108 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:44,480 The logos expresses the mind of God and reveals it to man. 109 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:46,440 Here's my basic thesis for this morning. 110 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:57,280 The word, the logos, is presented as the perfect expression of all that God is. 111 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:04,280 Now that being true we must listen closely to what the logos says to us. 112 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:08,560 John makes three statements about the logos in this verse that it's important for us 113 00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:10,600 to understand. 114 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:15,040 The statements are very easily picked out as you look at your verse in your Bible. 115 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:18,680 In the beginning was the word, statement number one. 116 00:10:18,680 --> 00:10:23,360 The word was in the beginning. 117 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:33,000 Now obviously John begins here with an intentional allusion to Genesis chapter one which begins 118 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:38,780 as we quoted earlier, in the beginning God created. 119 00:10:38,780 --> 00:10:45,680 Now John says in the beginning the word was. 120 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:54,240 Just as Genesis one records the old creation, John is suggesting that what he is going to 121 00:10:54,240 --> 00:11:00,440 talk about is the beginning of the new creation. 122 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:07,760 Just as the logos was present in the first creation, the old creation, then God said 123 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:11,600 let there be light and there was light. 124 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:19,640 So he says the logos is the agent of the new creation, the spiritual creation in the heart 125 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:22,360 of man. 126 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:31,520 This phrase in the beginning refers to that which characterizes the beginning of all that 127 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:35,440 is, that is the universe. 128 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:38,840 It's an expression that's worth for us to think about. 129 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:41,440 Again let me quote Dr. Tenney to you. 130 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:49,940 The expression does not refer to a particular moment of time, but assumes a timeless eternity. 131 00:11:49,940 --> 00:12:00,580 In other words, this phrase in the beginning refers to that state that was before time 132 00:12:00,580 --> 00:12:06,480 began with the creation. 133 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:09,580 Can you think back that far? 134 00:12:09,580 --> 00:12:15,440 It's hard enough for us to think of time stopping in the future, for God to take a 135 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:21,360 hold of the pendulum of the clock and stop it and for there to be no more time. 136 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:24,620 That's hard enough for us to grasp. 137 00:12:24,620 --> 00:12:34,040 But to think back the other direction, into the past, beyond the very start of the clock 138 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:43,920 in the first place, before there was time, that's almost impossible for me at least. 139 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:55,960 But what John is saying, when that state existed, that was before time began, in the beginning, 140 00:12:55,960 --> 00:13:00,280 the Word already was. 141 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:02,800 That's what he says. 142 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:13,160 This is a powerful statement and assertion of the eternal nature of the Word. 143 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:21,060 When God created in the beginning, the Word already existed. 144 00:13:21,060 --> 00:13:29,120 This statement totally undercuts that false teaching of the Jehovah's Witnesses that 145 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:35,480 Jesus Christ, the Word, is the first thing that was created. 146 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:43,720 Because what this says is that when God created, the Word already had been. 147 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:47,400 The Word already existed. 148 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:54,760 So far from being the first thing created, actually, He is the creator. 149 00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:57,580 In fact, John says that, doesn't he, in verse 3? 150 00:13:57,580 --> 00:13:59,400 We'll talk about this next week. 151 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:07,400 All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has 152 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:09,760 come into being. 153 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:12,400 So is He the first thing created? 154 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:13,760 Absolutely not. 155 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:14,760 He is the creator. 156 00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:18,640 He is the agent of creation. 157 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:30,720 Dr. F.F. Bruce says, so when heaven and earth were created, there was the Word of God already 158 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:38,440 existing in the closest association with God and partaking of the essence of God. 159 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:46,360 And then he says this, no matter how far back we may try to push our imagination, we can 160 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:55,200 never reach a point at which we could say of the divine Word as Arius did, there was 161 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:59,800 once when He was not. 162 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:05,600 Now Arius may be a new name to many of you, but Arius was one of the first major false 163 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:13,040 teachers within Christendom, early on in church history. 164 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:18,440 And one of his major problems was that he made that statement, there was a time when 165 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:22,560 the Word was not. 166 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:27,320 But that is in direct contradiction to exactly what this verse says. 167 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:36,040 In the beginning, that is when everything started, that we call the universe. 168 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:39,720 The Word already had been. 169 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:45,200 And the tense of the verb means He always had been. 170 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:51,280 So we cannot push our imaginations to the point, as did that false teacher, to say that 171 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:59,700 there was a time when the Word was not, because He always has been. 172 00:15:59,700 --> 00:16:08,400 By the way, the Jehovah's Witnesses are the modern day counterparts to Arius. 173 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:14,720 They fall into the same heresy that we call the Arian heresy, because of their teaching, 174 00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:19,600 denying the eternality of Jesus Christ. 175 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:23,600 Now there's a second statement that John makes. 176 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:27,640 And the Word was with God. 177 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:31,080 The Word was with God, he says. 178 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:40,560 In the beginning, the Word already was, and secondly, the Word was pros God. 179 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:48,400 That word pros, P-R-O-S, as we would write it in the English, is an important preposition. 180 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:50,400 It means toward. 181 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:52,600 The Word was toward God. 182 00:16:52,600 --> 00:17:00,700 The idea is the Word was face to face with God. 183 00:17:00,700 --> 00:17:13,280 And so suddenly John introduces the idea that the Word and God are not identical. 184 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:15,720 How can that be? 185 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:24,240 Well, John is beginning to tell us here that God as He exists, exists in three persons, 186 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:31,240 although John only talks about two in the context of his prologue, the Father and the 187 00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:32,240 Son. 188 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:41,040 He wants us to understand that the Word was with God, we can put in parentheses the Father. 189 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:48,840 The Word, the Son, was face to face with God, the Father. 190 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:53,220 There are two thoughts that come from this phrase. 191 00:17:53,220 --> 00:18:00,840 This phrase that emphasizes the personal relationship between the Word and God. 192 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:09,840 The two thoughts are, number one, intimate communion, and number two, personal distinction. 193 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:13,240 Let's talk about intimate communion for just a moment. 194 00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:20,200 When he says that the Word was face to face with God, he is telling us that there is an 195 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:25,220 intimate communion between these two. 196 00:18:25,220 --> 00:18:33,600 You cannot be more intimate with another person than to be face to face with that individual. 197 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:38,160 If you want to communicate something to another individual, what do you do? 198 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:43,400 You get right into the face of that other person, you look right into the eyes and you 199 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:48,500 say what you want to say. 200 00:18:48,500 --> 00:18:59,420 The Word was face to face with God, and it implies the idea of equality. 201 00:18:59,420 --> 00:19:07,440 The Logos, the Word, the Son of God, whichever phrase you choose to think of for the moment, 202 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:14,080 and God the Father are co-equal. 203 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:16,680 That's John's point. 204 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:24,240 We cannot say, however, they are co-dependent because there is no dependency in God whatsoever 205 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:29,800 in any form or fashion, but there is co-equality. 206 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:40,400 John is telling us very simply that the Word was an intimate fellowship with God as an 207 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:42,240 equal. 208 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:47,640 But there is another thought in that phrase, it is personal distinction. 209 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:55,760 In other words, he is saying that the Logos is not the Father, and the Father is not the 210 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:56,760 Logos. 211 00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:04,000 They are distinctive, equal, but they are separate. 212 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:12,720 They are not the same thing in close communion, but not the same. 213 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:17,300 What John is saying here ties in together with what we call the doctrine of the triunity 214 00:20:17,300 --> 00:20:20,000 of God. 215 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:27,720 That God is one, and yet he reveals himself as eternally existing in three persons, God 216 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:31,160 the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. 217 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:36,760 Again, I say in this context, John is concerned in his explanation only about the first two 218 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:43,440 persons, the Father and the Son, or the Logos, the Word. 219 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:49,560 The Logos eternally existed in relation to the Father. 220 00:20:49,560 --> 00:21:00,160 We can put it this way, and the Word always has been face to face with God. 221 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:08,040 You see, John wants us to understand the uniqueness of this one Jesus Christ, that he is true 222 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:09,040 deity. 223 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:16,120 Now, he makes a third statement that underscores that even more, if that's possible. 224 00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:27,680 For he says, not only was the Word with God, but he says the Word was God. 225 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:34,360 In the original language, the predicate here precedes the subject. 226 00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:39,840 Literally the phrase says, and God was the Word. 227 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:43,580 Now, why does John write it that way? 228 00:21:43,580 --> 00:21:50,440 Because he wants to emphasize the fact that the Word was God, and so he puts that Word 229 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:53,760 first in the phrase. 230 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:58,120 But if we write it into the English, the best way to understand it is just how it is probably 231 00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:03,480 in your translation, as in mine, the Word was God. 232 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:07,320 Then underscore God if you want to, because that's really the thrust of the way that 233 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:08,480 John writes it. 234 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:11,640 The Word was God. 235 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:20,320 He was not merely divine, whatever that may mean, but he himself is deity. 236 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:22,480 He is deity. 237 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:28,320 The Word is not identical with God the first person, or God the Father. 238 00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:34,000 But nonetheless, he says he is of the same essence, or the same being, or the same nature 239 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:36,800 as God. 240 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:44,600 I think it's the New English Bible that puts it this way, what God was, the Word was. 241 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:49,880 That's sort of an understanding of it. 242 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:56,080 B.K. Barrett, in his book The Gospel According to John, says it this way. 243 00:22:56,080 --> 00:23:05,600 John intends that the whole of his gospel shall be read in light of this verse. 244 00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:11,640 The deeds and words of Jesus are the deeds and words of God. 245 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:19,720 If this be not true, the book is blasphemous. 246 00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:28,680 Now as you may know, the Jehovah's Witnesses are slain by this verse. 247 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:33,560 It absolutely destroys their whole theology. 248 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:39,320 And so they have conveniently done their own translation of the Bible called the New World 249 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:42,280 Translation. 250 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:48,640 And in that translation, they do everything that they can, including the breaking of Greek 251 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:59,760 grammar and syntax, in order to pull out of the New Testament the deity of Jesus Christ. 252 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:03,040 And this verse is one that they twist. 253 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:11,120 How they write the verse is, and the Word was a God, as though the Word were one of 254 00:24:11,120 --> 00:24:15,520 many gods. 255 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:22,360 If they really mean that, then they are polytheists, not monotheists. 256 00:24:22,360 --> 00:24:28,200 The Word was a God, is the way they write it, with a small g, in the same sense that 257 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:32,400 all of us, I suppose, can become gods. 258 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:37,360 That same idea would be very acceptable to the New Age movement. 259 00:24:37,360 --> 00:24:42,880 That says all of us have God within, and we can all become God. 260 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:49,160 All we have to do is enlighten the Christ consciousness within us, and we can all become 261 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:52,560 gods like Christ was a God. 262 00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:56,520 I'm sure they would find the New World Translation most acceptable. 263 00:24:56,520 --> 00:25:03,040 Unfortunately, for them, however, that's not what the Bible teaches. 264 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:15,480 The Bible clearly teaches that the Word, the logos, was and always has been deity, God, 265 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:19,600 in a very unique sense. 266 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:21,280 The Word was God. 267 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:27,560 Now, there are some implications for you and for me, if what I've just said is true. 268 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,760 And we need to think about those. 269 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:38,480 If we truly believe that the Word was in the beginning, and that the Word was with God 270 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:48,480 in closest, most intimate communion, and that the Word, in fact, is God Himself, if we truly 271 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:56,480 believe that, and may I say we must, if we would be saved, then there are some implications 272 00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:58,440 for us. 273 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:03,560 The first one is this, a wonderful implication. 274 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:07,560 God has taken the initiative that we might know Him. 275 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,200 Isn't that super? 276 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:17,200 God must do that, you see, for we are finite in the first place. 277 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,120 We are but creatures. 278 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:28,120 The most brilliant amongst us is yet finite. 279 00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:35,120 And not only are we finite, but we are darkened in our understanding by our sin, so that we 280 00:26:35,120 --> 00:26:42,520 do not have the brilliance of Adam, our grandfather. 281 00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:49,800 We do not have the intellectual capacity of Eve, as they were created by God, because 282 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:54,280 you see there is an accumulative effect of sin. 283 00:26:54,280 --> 00:27:01,300 It has darkened our understanding, therefore, because we are finite to begin with and to 284 00:27:01,300 --> 00:27:07,320 complicate things, we are sinners with darkened minds, we could never discover God on our 285 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:08,320 own. 286 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:09,320 Never. 287 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:16,040 Oh, somebody says, but doesn't Romans 1 say that we can see God in the heavens? 288 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:17,040 Yes. 289 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:23,640 It says that God has revealed Himself in the heavens, that we may behold something of His 290 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:28,320 power and His divinity. 291 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:33,120 But what we could see there in the order of the heavens and the majesty of it is never 292 00:27:33,120 --> 00:27:43,080 enough knowledge that we could be saved from it. 293 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:46,600 We cannot discover God on our own. 294 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:52,200 I heard a story a number of years ago about some boys and girls that were at a camp in 295 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:58,600 New England, a liberal Baptist camp, and one of the assignments in the afternoon was that 296 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:05,800 they should go out into the woods surrounding there and see if they could find God somewhere. 297 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:10,560 And so they went out into nature to find God. 298 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:14,740 How sad that the teachers of the camp did not know enough to open the Bible and show 299 00:28:14,740 --> 00:28:17,880 them God. 300 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:24,320 We don't have to go out and look under rocks to find God, because God has taken the initiative 301 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,640 to reveal Himself to us. 302 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:29,680 That's an implication that's important. 303 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:37,640 God desires, you see, to be known, and God desires to be worshipped by His creatures. 304 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:45,200 This being so, there is no knowledge in all of the world that is so important as that 305 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:49,760 which may be known about God. 306 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:53,320 Is it important to study physics, mathematics? 307 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:57,920 Yes, it's important to study those subjects. 308 00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:01,040 Is it important to study medicine? 309 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:03,600 Is it important for every intellectual pursuit? 310 00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:06,520 Well, let's say most of them at least. 311 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:09,880 There are some courses I had in college I wonder about. 312 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:15,240 Yes, knowledge is good and we ought to pursue it, but there is no knowledge in all of the 313 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:26,280 world that surpasses in its importance the knowledge of God. 314 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:35,400 But isn't that the very knowledge that our world today tries to deny? 315 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:40,560 It tries to avoid. 316 00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:46,800 The knowledge of God is the most important study that one can undertake. 317 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:54,000 God has revealed Himself to us through His Son, the Logos, the Word, and just as Jesus 318 00:29:54,000 --> 00:30:00,440 is the living Word, so this is the written Word or Logos of God. 319 00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:05,400 This is where we come to find God. 320 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:11,640 Rather this is where God reveals Himself to us. 321 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:17,920 So as you undertake whatever you're studying, whatever it is you're pursuing in your life, 322 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:25,800 let me urge upon you that study which is above every study, the study of the Word of God, 323 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:30,680 coming to know God who has revealed Himself to us. 324 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:34,200 There's a second implication. 325 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:41,440 Because Jesus is the Logos of the Father, the Word of the Father, to hear Him is to 326 00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:43,920 hear God. 327 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:47,200 Now Jesus Himself said this. 328 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:52,800 Jesus said, I only speak those things that are given to me by my Father. 329 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:56,760 He also said, He who has seen me has seen the Father. 330 00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:00,560 Did the Jews understand what He was saying when He made claims like that? 331 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:01,560 Absolutely. 332 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:05,840 That's why they took up stones to kill Him because they knew that when He made those 333 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:11,760 statements He was claiming to be God Himself and the perfect revelation of God. 334 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:16,200 And they did not want to accept that. 335 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:21,640 But because He is the Logos, the Word of the Father, to hear Him is to hear God. 336 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:25,320 In the Gospel of John, let me show you what that means. 337 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:30,560 Chapter 5 verse 24. 338 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:40,000 Because He is the Logos of God, His words bring life to those who believe. 339 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:42,680 Verse 24, John 5. 340 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:52,560 Truly, truly I say to you, Jesus says, He who hears my word and believes in Him who 341 00:31:52,560 --> 00:32:01,680 sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has already passed out 342 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:03,320 of death into life. 343 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:05,520 Isn't that great news? 344 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:13,560 It means that those of us who believe His words, who receive Him, at that moment of 345 00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:19,880 our faith already pass out of death into life. 346 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:26,240 There is no judgment with respect to our sin beyond that point. 347 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:31,280 For our sins, our death is dealt with at the cross. 348 00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:36,040 But when we believe in Him, we have life. 349 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:43,600 Because He is the Logos of the Father, His word brings life to those who believe. 350 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:46,200 But there is another side to the coin. 351 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:51,440 And I invite you to look at chapter 12 verse 44, again at the words of Jesus, to see a 352 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:58,560 second implication of this. 353 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:04,840 Jesus cried out and said, He who believes in me does not believe in me, but in Him who 354 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:06,440 sent me. 355 00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:12,480 That means does not believe in me only, but also in Him who sent me. 356 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:16,200 And He who beholds me beholds the one who sent me. 357 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:21,960 I have come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in me may not remain 358 00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:23,880 in darkness. 359 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:30,560 And if anyone hears my sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not 360 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:34,360 come to judge the world, but to save the world. 361 00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:43,160 He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has one who judges him. 362 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:49,960 The word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. 363 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:56,320 For I did not speak on my own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent me has given 364 00:33:56,320 --> 00:34:00,640 me commandment what to say and what to speak. 365 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:06,920 And I know that His commandment is eternal life, therefore the things I speak, I speak 366 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:11,080 just as the Father has told me. 367 00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:16,840 Because He is the perfect expression of all that God wants to say, His word brings life 368 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:26,680 to those who believe, and His word brings judgment to those who do not believe. 369 00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:30,240 It works both ways. 370 00:34:30,240 --> 00:34:36,120 The word is like a two-edged sword, one blade on one side and one on another. 371 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:42,680 To those who believe Him and receive Him, life. 372 00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:50,440 To those who reject Him and disobey Him, judgment. 373 00:34:50,440 --> 00:34:57,640 So you see, when we talk about Jesus being the logos of God, this is a very serious subject. 374 00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:04,720 It is one that involves every human being, as we're going to see in the Word next week. 375 00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:11,240 All of us are affected because the Word came, because He is the perfect expression of all 376 00:35:11,240 --> 00:35:13,920 that God is. 377 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:21,240 And because He is that perfect expression of God, we must listen and take heed to what 378 00:35:21,240 --> 00:35:22,240 He says. 379 00:35:22,240 --> 00:35:27,240 Let's bow together. 380 00:35:27,240 --> 00:35:37,880 Actually, there are only two choices that we have with respect to the logos of God. 381 00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:41,400 We can receive or we can reject. 382 00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:46,600 We can believe or we can disobey. 383 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:50,640 And we're responsible for what decision we make. 384 00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:58,040 To reject Jesus Christ is to reject God and to cut oneself off without hope of eternal 385 00:35:58,040 --> 00:35:59,640 life. 386 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:03,120 It means to come into judgment. 387 00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:10,800 It means to pass eventually into the second death, the lake of fire. 388 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:19,920 How important it is then that we choose wisely and choose to believe. 389 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:23,560 If that's a decision you would like to make, you can do it right where you're seated if 390 00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:27,840 you feel that you're ready to do that. 391 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:33,720 If you sense the call of God upon your heart to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to receive 392 00:36:33,720 --> 00:36:42,560 Him as God come in the flesh who paid the price for your sin, you may do that right 393 00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:46,040 there. 394 00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:50,440 If you would like to have someone pray with you or explain something further to you or 395 00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:56,160 to help you with your questions, there's a box you can check on the registration form 396 00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:59,920 asking someone to be in touch with you. 397 00:36:59,920 --> 00:37:05,880 Check that box and we'll be in touch, I promise you, this week. 398 00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:12,200 Lord Jesus, log off so the Father, we worship you. 399 00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:22,000 And because you are the perfect expression of all that God is, being God, our heart's 400 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:26,360 desire is to know you and to obey you. 401 00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:33,600 And we give ourselves to you and all that we are. 402 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:38,640 In Jesus' name, amen. 403 00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:42,400 I think you know the chorus, Oh come let us adore Him. 404 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:45,240 I'd like for us to sing that a cappella. 405 00:37:45,240 --> 00:37:46,240 Sing it with me. 406 00:37:46,240 --> 00:37:53,000 Oh come let us adore Him. 407 00:37:53,000 --> 00:38:00,160 Oh come let us adore Him. 408 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:09,120 Oh come let us adore Him. 409 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:15,520 Christ the Lord. 410 00:38:15,520 --> 00:38:22,160 As I thought about that chorus and the text this morning, several phrases came to mind 411 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:25,640 that I'd like to use right in that chorus. 412 00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:30,120 I'll give you each phrase as we sing it and we'll close it, Christ the Lord, just as we 413 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:31,560 sang it the first time. 414 00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:35,920 The first one goes, He is the Word of God. 415 00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:42,760 He is the Word of God. 416 00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:49,880 He is the Word of God. 417 00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:58,160 He is the Word of God. 418 00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:03,720 Christ the Lord. 419 00:39:03,720 --> 00:39:06,080 He was in the beginning. 420 00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:12,880 He was in the beginning. 421 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:20,080 He was in the beginning. 422 00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:28,440 He was in the beginning. 423 00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:33,360 Christ the Lord. 424 00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:42,980 He was the father of all and was with the father. 425 00:39:42,980 --> 00:39:59,140 He was the father and he was with the father. 426 00:39:59,140 --> 00:40:04,780 Christ the Lord. 427 00:40:04,780 --> 00:40:07,980 And the Word is God Himself. 428 00:40:07,980 --> 00:40:15,100 And the Word is God Himself. 429 00:40:15,100 --> 00:40:22,220 And the Word is God Himself. 430 00:40:22,220 --> 00:40:29,700 And the Word is God Himself. 431 00:40:29,700 --> 00:40:35,540 Christ the Lord. 432 00:40:35,540 --> 00:40:38,420 So I'll obey the Word. 433 00:40:38,420 --> 00:40:45,500 So I'll obey the Word. 434 00:40:45,500 --> 00:40:52,740 So I'll obey the Word. 435 00:40:52,740 --> 00:41:01,140 So I'll obey the Word. 436 00:41:01,140 --> 00:41:08,020 Christ the Lord. 437 00:41:08,020 --> 00:41:11,020 Amen. 438 00:41:11,020 --> 00:41:13,300 We'd like to welcome all of you to the service this morning. 439 00:41:13,300 --> 00:41:19,300 I'm glad that you've come to worship.