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I apologize if it seems a little chilly in here this morning.

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I understand that one of our furnaces has gone out, and so it will take a little while

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for our body heat to warm up the place, but that's the reason for it.

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Furnaces never go out in the summertime.

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Have you ever noticed that?

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There must be some logical reason behind that, but I haven't figured it out yet.

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I'd like you to open your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 1 as we begin this morning,

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and then we'll turn to John chapter 1.

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Perhaps you read recently in the newspaper that a new scientific satellite was orbited

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with the equipment on board to gather more evidence about the Big Bang Theory.

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Did you read about that?

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Of course, the Big Bang Theory is the theory currently in vogue among scientists as to

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how the universe began.

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There's a problem that they have with the theory, and that is the data being evaluated

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by them is contradictory.

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Some supports the theory, other data argues against it.

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For example, if the theory is true, we are told the scientists would expect to see matter

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scattered in a certain pattern, and yet as they examine the heavens, they find that it's

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curiously clumped together, at least in certain instances.

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That goes against the theory of the Big Bang beginning of the universe.

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So there are problems with the theory.

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Not to mention, of course, the basic problem that they still have to address, and that

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is the problem of origin.

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Where did the matter begin in the first place?

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But actually the real problem faced by the scientific establishment is not inadequate

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information, as helpful as this new satellite may be.

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Rather the problem with the scientific establishment is an inadequate presupposition.

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For their presupposition is that God does not exist.

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The scientific establishment refuses to acknowledge the supernatural.

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God doesn't fit into its formulas.

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That is not an attack against true science, but rather it is a statement which many of

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you recognize as exposing the bias of the scientific establishment against the existence

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of God.

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There's more at stake in all of this, really, than theories and formulas.

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For what is at heart in this presupposition that there is no God is lifestyle.

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The Bible says that men reject God not because they have no evidence that God exists, but

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rather because they want to live their lives their own way without having to be concerned

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about responsibility to a creator.

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In Romans chapter 1, Paul says that much.

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In the first part of verse 28 where he says, and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge

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God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind.

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They did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer.

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That is the position of many, not all, but many in our scientific community.

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Thank God for those scientists who believe in God and who evaluate the data in light

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of that presupposition.

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There are many in our world today who do not see fit any longer to acknowledge God.

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If you look at that in the midst of Romans chapter 1, you find out it's all about lifestyle.

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People wanting to live the way they want to live because, in fact, God has revealed himself

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sufficiently that men might know that there is a God.

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Verse 19, that which is known about God is evident within them.

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That is even those who suppress the truth, verse 18.

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Talking about the conscience, within them, conscience is a finger that points in the

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direction of God.

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For God made it evident to them.

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Here is something external.

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What is that?

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That the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature

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have been clearly seen, being understood through that which has been made, so that they are

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without excuse.

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The Bible says that we sinners are without excuse.

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We may not see fit to acknowledge God, but nonetheless God is, and we are without excuse.

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God is so desired to be known that he has revealed himself not only in the creation

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and in conscience, but in the incarnation of his son.

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That is the logos that we have been looking at in John chapter 1.

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The work of the logos, or the word, is that of revelation.

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Jesus came that we might know God.

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Now I'd like you to turn back to John chapter 1, and we'll read now the text for this morning.

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He was in the beginning with God, verse 2.

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All things came into being by him, and apart from him nothing came into being that has

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come into being.

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Within him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the

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darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

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There are three facts about the word which John gives us in the text that we've just

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read.

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The first fact is this.

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At the logos, the word had the position to reveal God.

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The word says in verse 2, he was in the beginning with God.

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In some sense, verse 2 is a restatement of verse 1.

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Dr. Edwin Bloom puts it this way.

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The word has always been in a relationship with God the Father.

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Christ did not at some point in time come into existence and begin a relationship with

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the Father.

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In eternity past, the Father, God, and the Son, the Word, have always been in a loving

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communion with each other.

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Both Father and Son are God, yet there are not two Gods.

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We talked about that last week as we looked at verse 1 specifically.

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There are three truths about the word which are underscored again in verse 2.

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In fact, truth number 1 is this, that the word is eternal.

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He was in the beginning, or as verse 1 says, in the beginning was the word.

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The tense of the verb is that he always had been in the beginning.

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The beginning is that which denotes what was before creation, that state of eternity that

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existed before there was time and space and matter, before God began his work of Genesis

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1.1.

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Even before God began that creative work, the word was and always had been.

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The word is eternal.

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And then we learn that the word is distinctive, for he was in the beginning with God.

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And again, that's the second statement of verse 1.

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The word was and always had been with God.

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The word is distinctive from God, we put in parenthesis, the Father.

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We can also say distinctly from God, the Holy Spirit.

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The word is not the Father, the word is not the Spirit.

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But the word is God, just as the Father is God and the Spirit is God, the mystery of

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the Trinity.

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But there's a third truth that is restated in verse 2 that is clear in verse 1, and that

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is the word is deity.

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The word is God himself.

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It's not that he is created by God, the word is God.

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Only God himself knows the depth of his own nature and his thoughts.

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Just as no one knows the depth of your nature or your thoughts, but you.

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Not even that closest person in all the world, perhaps your husband or your wife, or your

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dearest friend, your mother, your father.

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No one knows the real you like you know you, because you are aware of your thoughts that

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no one else sees.

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You are aware of your nature, which is not exposed to other people.

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Only God knows the depths of his nature and his thoughts, and therefore only God could

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reveal the truth about himself to mankind.

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And that is why God came in the person of the Son.

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The logos, the thought, the expression of God's thought, the word came that he might

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begin to reveal to us the truth of God that we could not discover on our own.

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What is implicated here about the logos is clearly stated in 1 Corinthians chapter 2

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telling the Holy Spirit and his work of inspiration in giving to us the Bible.

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For it says in verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 2, who among men knows the thoughts of a man

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except the spirit of the man which is in him?

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Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the spirit of God.

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Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from God that

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we might know the things freely given to us by God which things we also speak, says the

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apostle Paul.

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What is he saying here?

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Well he is saying that the Holy Spirit enlightens him, gives him revelation, gives him truth

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about God to speak to the Corinthians and to write to them.

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The spirit of God was in him giving him that truth.

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The spirit of God doesn't do that today.

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He enlightens us, he illuminates us as to what the word says.

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You see the spirit of God was writing through Paul.

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He was revealing new truth about God through Paul.

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He says it must be the spirit of God because only the spirit of God knows the depths of

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God.

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Well basically what John is saying, the same is true of the word.

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The word was with God and because he was with God, because he was God, the word is able

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to express to us the depths of God as he reveals God to us.

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And so he had the position to reveal God.

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He was God himself, not merely a prophet, not merely someone that God sent, not just

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a good example for us, not a man upon whom divinity came at some point in his life, but

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he was God himself.

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And because he was God himself, he was in a position you see, to tell us about the depths

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of God's thoughts and God's nature, and he does.

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Now we see a second fact about the word, this one in verse 3.

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He had the power to reveal God, not only the position, but the power.

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All things came into being by him, and apart from him nothing came into being that has

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come into being.

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God created the universe through his word, that is, Logos.

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Now the son of God, the Logos, did not act independent of the Father and of the Spirit.

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They participated together in the creation.

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There are places in the Bible where God the Father is spoken of as the Creator.

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There are places that point to the Holy Spirit as working in creation, but the Scripture

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makes it clear that it is the Son, or the Logos, or the Word, who was the agent by which

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God created.

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We saw last week in Genesis 1-3, and God said, God spoke, indicating a word, an expression,

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Logos.

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Let there be light, and there was light.

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And so the Word of God, the Logos of God, is the means, is the agent by which he created.

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Now this same truth is spoken in other places in the New Testament.

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I only mention two of them to you quickly.

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One of them is Colossians chapter 1, beginning in verse 16.

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It might be good just to read that verse as a refresher.

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Colossians chapter 1, and in verse 16, regarding again Jesus Christ, it says, For by him all

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things were created.

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What do you mean by all things, Paul?

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Well, both in heaven and on earth.

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Okay, what else?

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Visible and invisible.

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Anything more?

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Well, yes.

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Thrones, dominions, rulers or authorities, all things have been created by him and for

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him.

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In other words, it's his possession.

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And he goes on to say in verse 17, and he is before all things.

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Again his pre-existence mentioned.

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And in him all things hold together.

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What is it that captures the atom so that it does not explode?

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What is that power that keeps it revolving and moving?

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It is the power of the word of God, the logos, Jesus Christ.

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For by him all things were made.

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And for him everything exists.

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And by his power all things hold together that God has created.

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Well, that's some power, isn't it?

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Hebrews chapter 1, verse 2 goes on to talk about this.

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Again Hebrews chapter 11, the first verse or two speaks about it.

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Revelation chapter 3 and verse 14, we find another reference where there it says, He

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is the beginning of the creation of God.

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That fits right in with what the Jehovah's Witnesses say, doesn't it?

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That he's the beginning of the creation of God.

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The only problem is the word beginning there, archaic, doesn't mean the first thing of

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the creation, but it means he is the ruler of the creation.

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He is the origin, he is the source of the creation.

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That's what that word means, Revelation 3, verse 14.

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My point is simply is this, that the word had the power to reveal God because he had

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the power to create the old creation.

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He brought to pass by his work the universe as we see it.

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Could not this same one have the power also to reveal to us God?

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Of course, and that's what he's done.

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The truth about his power in creation is put both positively and negatively to put out

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of mind any other kind of notion about the origin of the universe.

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Notice he says all things came into being by him, that's positive.

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By the way, when it says all things, the language here describes everything by itself.

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It's not just the whole package, but it's everything inside the package.

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It's every individual piece of the creation, that's what he means by all things.

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Every single part of it is included in this statement that it came into being by him.

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Notice that matter is not eternal.

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Matter has not always existed, but it came into being in contrast to the word who always

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was.

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It became at some point.

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The word has continuous existence, but all things began, it came into being.

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The universe began in one event.

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It did not begin through some kind of a process.

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That's why the Big Bang Theory in certain respects seems rather attractive, because

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scientists admit that with one act it was all there.

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But because of their faulty presupposition that there is no God, the theory is flawed.

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But in fact it was one act.

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God spoken, it was there.

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The universe came to pass.

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Harold Tenney said, the action refers to an event rather than a process.

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Negatively he puts it this way, apart from him nothing came into being.

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There is not a single atom anywhere in the whole universe that owes its existence to

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anything or anyone but Jesus Christ.

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Nothing came into being apart from him that came into being.

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So as the Logos, the Son was the agent of creation.

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Just as he fully participated in bringing into being the physical universe, which reveals

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something of the glory of God, so he has the power and the authority to reveal the fullness

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of God's nature by his coming into the world.

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The Logos has the position to reveal God because he is God.

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He has the power to reveal God.

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And thirdly, he has the property to reveal God.

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The word property is used in many different ways.

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One of those ways is that it means a characteristic quality, a trait or an attribute of someone

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or something.

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Most frequently we use it in the sense of the properties of a chemical compound.

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It's used in science a great deal.

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Properties.

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Well what are the properties?

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The characteristic qualities of the word.

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Well John tells us in verses four and five that they are two.

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Life and light.

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In him was life, says John.

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In him was, always had been, from eternity, life.

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That word life means self-existence.

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It means that his life is different than ours.

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Because our life had a beginning.

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Our life is a derived life.

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Father and father are involved in giving us life.

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We derive our existence from them.

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But not so with the word.

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In him always had been life.

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Self-existent life.

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He does not depend upon anything for his existence.

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He is life itself.

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It may be hard to get your mind around, but it's an important concept.

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Jesus repeated this a number of times in various ways through the Gospel of John.

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Do you remember where he illustrated it the most dramatically?

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Only John tells us about the incident.

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There at the grave of Lazarus in chapter 11, where just before he brought back to life

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Lazarus, he made the statement, I am the resurrection and the what?

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The life.

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On the evening before his own passion, as he met with his disciples in the upper room,

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he said to them, I am the way, the truth, and the what?

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The life.

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Self-existent life is the property of the logos.

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That is a characteristic of logos.

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Always has been life itself.

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And as life, he has the right and the power to make alive.

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He did so with Adam and Eve in the beginning of the creation.

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And through them, by the miracle of conception, all of us derive our life from him.

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He gave our multi-fold grandparents life.

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He gave them life.

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And gave them the power through conception to pass it on from generation to generation

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to generation.

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He has the power to give life, because he is life itself.

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And John goes on to say, and the life, talking about the life of the word, was the light

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of men.

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And so we have a second property, or characteristic of the logos.

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Not only is the logos life, but the logos is light.

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The logos gives illumination to the minds of people to recognize the work of God in

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the world.

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That light is sorely needed because of the moral and spiritual darkness that exists in

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the world.

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Darkness that is characterized by evil, hatred, and deceit.

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Christ's life brought goodness, love, and truth.

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And as his life brought that into the world, the evil of the world was exposed.

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The condition of man's heart could be seen.

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The life was the light of men.

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And John goes on to say, and the light shines.

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Notice present tense there.

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It's not a verb like the rest of those earlier in these verses.

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The light is now shining, he says.

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Where?

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In the darkness.

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The darkness of this world.

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The world was plunged into darkness, wasn't it, back in Genesis chapter 3, where it records

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00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:07,080
the fall of Adam and Eve into sin.

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The light went out at that point.

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However, in that same context, God promised the seed of the woman would come and would

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00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:24,440
crush the head of the serpent, though the serpent would bruise the heel of the seed

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of the woman.

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00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:32,100
That is what is called the proto-evangelium.

305
00:27:32,100 --> 00:27:37,680
That is the first announcement of the gospel.

306
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The good news that though man had fallen, God was going to redeem.

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Though man by his disobedience had been separated from God, that God was going to restore and

308
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reconcile.

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00:27:54,680 --> 00:28:03,680
And so right there when darkness first fell, there was a little pinhole of light that burst

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through the darkness.

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And every time that God gave an additional promise or prophecy or picture or type of

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Christ throughout the Old Testament, the darkness was punctured once more by a pinhole of light.

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Until finally, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son.

314
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And suddenly the darkness that had been punctured with these pinholes of promises and prophecies,

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suddenly that darkness was dispelled by the presence of the light itself, as though the

316
00:28:54,200 --> 00:29:02,040
sun had suddenly risen upon a morally and spiritually darkened humanity.

317
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And John says the light is now shining in the darkness.

318
00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:16,200
Well, this is not like physical darkness, for when the light of the sun comes up in

319
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:21,840
the day, physical darkness flees, it's gone.

320
00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:25,360
Moral darkness is different.

321
00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:30,400
John says there is still darkness, but the light is shining.

322
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:36,760
And he goes on to say, the darkness did not comprehend it.

323
00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:42,760
Now that word comprehend can be understood in a couple of different ways.

324
00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:50,840
It can mean to seize something, to grasp it, so as to overcome it.

325
00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:59,680
You might think of a wrestler who crouches ready to wrestle the opponent and moves suddenly

326
00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:07,480
to grab ahold of the opponent, so as to throw him onto the mat and pin him, to seize, to

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overcome.

328
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:14,760
Or it can mean to grasp with the mind.

329
00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:25,680
It can mean to understand something, so as to grasp it, to appropriate it for oneself.

330
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:30,120
What this verse is saying may be a combination of both of them.

331
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:37,960
John says the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness was unable to understand

332
00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:41,400
or to overcome it.

333
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:45,640
The verb certainly has the implication that there was a power struggle when the light

334
00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:49,900
shined.

335
00:30:49,900 --> 00:30:56,360
In fact, we might say that three headlines could summarize what is said here and what

336
00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:59,380
is said throughout the Gospel of John.

337
00:30:59,380 --> 00:31:03,480
Because John really likes this theme of light and darkness.

338
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:07,000
If you look through his Gospel, you see him coming back to that theme over and over and

339
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:09,400
over again.

340
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:15,280
Three headlines that summarize what is said here about light and darkness and also throughout

341
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:16,400
the whole Gospel.

342
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:21,240
Title number one, light invades darkness.

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Now if you went ahead to read the story, you would read about the Word becoming flesh.

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Or if you went to one of the other Gospels, you would read about Bethlehem and the birth

345
00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:38,840
of a child, unlike any other child born, of a virgin.

346
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:45,740
Announced as the Son of God, the Savior, the Lord, Christ.

347
00:31:45,740 --> 00:31:49,320
And you would read about his sinless life.

348
00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:50,800
You would read about the miracles.

349
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:57,000
You would read about the words that he spoke.

350
00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:01,400
Light invades darkness.

351
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:03,480
The darkness of Satan.

352
00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:05,480
The darkness of the world system.

353
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:09,680
I want to talk about that tonight a little bit.

354
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:11,240
This idea of the struggle.

355
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,600
I'm going to develop that in a particular way and give you an illustration that comes

356
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:22,560
right out of our congregation that is a startling one.

357
00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:25,040
Light invades darkness.

358
00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:28,820
Did that plant a seed to get you to come back tonight?

359
00:32:28,820 --> 00:32:36,180
Headline number two, darkness resists light.

360
00:32:36,180 --> 00:32:42,040
That's the story that's implicated here and you see it so clearly, don't you?

361
00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:44,440
Darkness resists light.

362
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:49,360
Jesus said, I am the bread of life.

363
00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:51,920
You must eat me.

364
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:59,760
That is, you must appropriate me as you would eat bread so that you might have eternal life.

365
00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:05,200
And the multitudes in their darkness said, what in the world is he talking about that

366
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:08,560
we must eat his flesh?

367
00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:15,320
They did not comprehend the light.

368
00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:21,600
He said, I and the Father are one.

369
00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:27,720
Before Abraham was, I am.

370
00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:33,800
And the darkness in the minds of the religious leaders said, blasphemy.

371
00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:35,920
He's claiming to be God.

372
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:39,440
And the darkness did not comprehend the light.

373
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It resisted it.

374
00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:47,480
And finally that darkness built up its hostility to the light to the point that it put the

375
00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:55,180
light on the cross to kill it.

376
00:33:55,180 --> 00:34:01,800
Headline number three, light conquers darkness.

377
00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:04,160
The resurrection.

378
00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:12,040
Though the darkness poured its hostility upon the light, though it brought all of its power

379
00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:20,400
against the light, ultimately it could not put out the light.

380
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:22,140
Light conquers darkness.

381
00:34:22,140 --> 00:34:25,120
Is that not true in the physical realm?

382
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:34,060
I remember as a kid going after the cows who did not cooperate and come up for the milking

383
00:34:34,060 --> 00:34:39,600
very often by themselves.

384
00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:48,720
Going down to that timber when it was dark was a little frightening for a kid.

385
00:34:48,720 --> 00:34:52,760
But on the east side of our barn, you remember that side, don't you?

386
00:34:52,760 --> 00:35:02,960
The east side of our barn, as if that makes any difference, we had a 100 watt light bulb

387
00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:06,080
and a very simple plain fixture.

388
00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:13,880
And when I turned that light bulb on, I could walk a quarter of a mile away and further

389
00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:18,760
into the darkness of that timber and still have light.

390
00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:23,480
It wasn't much, but it was enough.

391
00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:29,180
It was enough so that I could at least know a little bit of what was around me and where

392
00:35:29,180 --> 00:35:33,560
I was and I could see.

393
00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:36,480
Light conquers darkness.

394
00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:38,900
It doesn't even take much of it.

395
00:35:38,900 --> 00:35:41,040
It pierces darkness.

396
00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:46,600
That's headline number three, light conquers darkness.

397
00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:51,280
As the word brought life and light to the creation, didn't he?

398
00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:55,720
Let there be light.

399
00:35:55,720 --> 00:36:04,260
He breathed into Adam the breath of life and that dust became a living soul, a person.

400
00:36:04,260 --> 00:36:12,780
Just as the Logos brought life and light at the creation, so he brought life and light

401
00:36:12,780 --> 00:36:18,080
at the incarnation that we might know God.

402
00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:19,080
What does this mean?

403
00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:21,720
Well, let me tell you what it means.

404
00:36:21,720 --> 00:36:30,640
It means in the first place that if you have understood and appropriated God's gift of

405
00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:38,040
salvation, it is the grace of God that enables you to do so.

406
00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:44,120
Because you see, our hearts, the heart of every one of us without exception, is darkened

407
00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:47,080
by sin.

408
00:36:47,080 --> 00:37:06,440
Our minds are darkened so that we will not of ourselves comprehend the light, the truth.

409
00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:13,480
And so if we have come to understand and to appropriate the light that is in Jesus Christ,

410
00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:20,480
it is the grace of God that has enabled us to do so, how grateful we ought to be for

411
00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:26,760
that saving grace of God that has so liberated us.

412
00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:32,800
And if today I'm talking to someone whose sense is being drawn to the light, you're

413
00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:33,800
like I was.

414
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:39,960
You're far off in the darkness, but you see the light that is shining.

415
00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:45,200
And though you're in darkness, it's affecting you, and you're seeing a little bit of what

416
00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:50,440
is around you and what your life is like.

417
00:37:50,440 --> 00:38:00,280
And you sense being drawn to that light, understand that that is the grace of God working in you

418
00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:02,120
this morning.

419
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:10,240
And respond to that grace, and come to the light and appropriate the light for yourself.

420
00:38:10,240 --> 00:38:15,280
Come to the fullness of the light that is shining in Jesus Christ and receive him by

421
00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:17,480
faith.

422
00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:26,240
Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.

423
00:38:26,240 --> 00:38:30,680
And so for one to be drawn to the light is the grace of God.

424
00:38:30,680 --> 00:38:31,680
What does it mean?

425
00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:40,880
It means that those who receive the light have the light in them and become themselves

426
00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:43,880
light.

427
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:48,440
Look in John chapter 12 just very quickly.

428
00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:56,760
John 12 verse 35, Jesus speaking says, for a little while longer the light is among you.

429
00:38:56,760 --> 00:39:02,060
Walk while you have the light, that darkness may not overtake you.

430
00:39:02,060 --> 00:39:06,480
He who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes.

431
00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:14,720
While you have the light, believe in the light in order that you may become sons of light.

432
00:39:14,720 --> 00:39:23,040
Those who receive the light have the light in them and become light in a darkened world.

433
00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:32,520
The darkened culture in which we live will not naturally appreciate that light.

434
00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:34,240
It will not.

435
00:39:34,240 --> 00:39:41,400
That's why in John chapter 15 Jesus tells his disciples right up front, the world has

436
00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:47,360
hated me because I have exposed its sin.

437
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:52,440
And the world will hate you for the same reason.

438
00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:57,600
The world does not appreciate exposure.

439
00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:03,760
The culture does not appreciate its evil being brought to the light.

440
00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:09,600
But when you and I trust in Jesus Christ we become light.

441
00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:11,520
We're sons of light.

442
00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:16,160
And wherever we go there's the light of Christ.

443
00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:22,240
And as we bring that illumination of Christ to our world there will be some by God's grace

444
00:40:22,240 --> 00:40:33,120
who will be drawn toward it, but many more will reject it and may even express hostility

445
00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:39,440
toward it as it did toward the light of the world, Jesus Christ.

446
00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:42,320
But that's our job, that's why we're here.

447
00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:47,360
And I plead with you this morning to allow nothing to compromise the light that is in

448
00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:51,000
you if you're a Christian.

449
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:57,200
Allow nothing to become a bushel over your light.

450
00:40:57,200 --> 00:41:00,720
But let that little light of yours shine.

451
00:41:00,720 --> 00:41:02,900
Let it shine.

452
00:41:02,900 --> 00:41:07,520
Let it shine.

453
00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:11,420
So that others may be drawn to Christ.

454
00:41:11,420 --> 00:41:15,720
You and I are to make a difference in our culture, that's why God has put us here.

455
00:41:15,720 --> 00:41:19,720
And we want to bridge into our culture.

456
00:41:19,720 --> 00:41:25,840
Not seeking to be offensive, not wanting in any way to create hostility, but recognizing

457
00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:30,440
it may come as a natural response of darkness to light.

458
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:37,000
But we want to bridge into our culture, to touch people where they are hurting, where

459
00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:42,920
they are down, where they are deep into darkness, so that we can bring the light there and God

460
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:49,920
may use that testimony, that witness of you and me in that darkness to bring others to

461
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:50,920
Jesus.

462
00:41:50,920 --> 00:41:53,280
That's what this means.

463
00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:59,600
The word came that we might know God and the word is in you and in me today, making us

464
00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:08,640
light that he might use our lives, that he might use our witness to bring others to the

465
00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:10,080
knowledge of God.

466
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:12,800
Oh, let's be light.

467
00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:19,800
And let's hold our light up high and all around and let it shine.

468
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:22,680
Let it shine.

469
00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:24,680
Let's pray.

470
00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:35,600
Oh Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Father, log us.

471
00:42:35,600 --> 00:42:39,760
Thank you for coming into the world.

472
00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:47,960
Coming into the world with your life and your light that we might know God.

473
00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:55,880
Thank you for by your sovereign grace drawing us to that light so that we might become the

474
00:42:55,880 --> 00:43:01,120
sons of light by believing.

475
00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:05,560
Make us, I pray, effective as your lights in this world.

476
00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:15,480
Or deliver us from compromise of life that would cause our light to be dimmed.

477
00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:22,760
But may we burn more brightly even as the age grows more dark.

478
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:31,640
Use us to pierce the darkness and to make a difference for Jesus' sake.

479
00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:35,800
In his name we pray, amen.