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Behold Your God
12 Plays2 days ago
John 1:1-18
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Transcript
Celebrating Life and Sharing the Gospel
00:00:00
Speaker
I said I want to share something that happened to me this this weekend. I had the great pleasure of doing a celebration of life. It was beautiful for those of you who know Charles King Jr. A talented man, renaissance man, gifted, talented beyond means. And his sister Martha came and said, would you be so great to come and and do a celebration of life for him. and She was adamant.
00:00:29
Speaker
She said there will be people there that don't know Jesus. And so I i really want the gospel message to be part of that service. And so,
00:00:39
Speaker
as any good preacher would do, I took that opportunity to to lay down the gospel message. And the first part of that service was all about Charles, and the second part was indeed a gospel message. And with any gospel message, you provide some level of invitation.
00:00:54
Speaker
for if there was somebody so moved that they would come forward. I said, I'll simply be in the back. I'll wait wait for you as
Questioning the Gospel Message
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Speaker
long as possible. Well, this young lady came up to me and she let me know that she was originally from Cameron and that she had moved to New York so that she could get some culture.
00:01:12
Speaker
And now she's back at Cameron. And she said, I just want to ask you because something you said piqued a question in me. And i oh I said, well, sister, bring it on. I'm ready for you.
00:01:23
Speaker
She said, why is it that you had to ruin a really good celebration of life with Charles with this Jesus stuff?
00:01:33
Speaker
Now, Alan Patterson was there standing next to me. And like any great funeral director, he just kind of started scooting to the side.
00:01:42
Speaker
I saw he was a physical demonstration of what I was feeling in my soul. Here I was ready prepared full on to give this lady an explanation of who Jesus was and yet she was unwilling to hear it. And I thought even after a back and forth she had told me her first husband was Jewish, her second husband was Hindu, and the boyfriend she has now is Buddhist.
00:02:05
Speaker
Exactly, brother. I said, ugh. I didn't even know what to say. I said, well, that's interesting.
00:02:12
Speaker
and I paused and i said, well don't you want to see Charles who is in heaven right now? don't If you really did love him, don't you want to see him? Don't you want to be with him for all eternity? She said, well I know I'll see him. said, not according to God's word.
00:02:27
Speaker
I said, because you haven't made that decision. There's two eternal destinations. I want to be real clear. That's what I told her. And in is for as gracious as I tried to be, she was unwilling to hear and And I thought to myself, since then, I came home and I told Kim, and she said, how'd it go? I said, well, i thought it went really well until the very end. And I said, and then I felt shaken. in in In my soul a little bit.
00:02:49
Speaker
Sad for this lady because she didn't get it. She had all these preconceived ideas about who Jesus was or who he wasn't. She heard other stories from other people about who Jesus was and who he wasn't. She had obviously some church hurt is the common term we use now. She had some devastation in church life at some point in her her journey, she basically didn't want anything to do with Jesus. And I thought to myself, brothers sisters, this is how many people still see Jesus today.
00:03:15
Speaker
they They bring all this luggage that they're dragging with them of who who they think Jesus is.
00:03:22
Speaker
They either think he's a taskmaster, Church is all about the rules, what you can and cannot do. Or the other end the spectrum, they just think Jesus is great guy, this friend, he's my homie.
00:03:35
Speaker
It's all grace, it's all love, it's all mercy. And they fail to realize that there is a tension purposely put in the Bible, that he is full of grace and mercy, but he also requires obedience. And it's this dual side of Jesus that we need to be real careful with. Perhaps you're here this morning and and you're wondering to yourself, who is Jesus really? Well, brothers and sisters, we step into the Gospel of John, John makes it super clear.
00:04:04
Speaker
There's no doubts when we get out of the Gospel of John exactly who Jesus is. He says if you want to understand Jesus, the lights at some point have to come on in your life.
00:04:15
Speaker
You have to realize who he is. And when you do, it radically changes everything in
Introducing the Gospel of John
00:04:21
Speaker
your life. So this morning, I don't simply want you to see Jesus, but I want you to behold God.
00:04:30
Speaker
Gospel of John, if you will, turn with me.
00:04:35
Speaker
My lovely wife reminds me from time to time, not everybody is a Bible scholar. So she said, take in baby steps. As new people come to the church, we don't really know exactly where you're at biblically, so I want to go small steps. Those of you who are light years ahead of this, just bear with me.
00:04:50
Speaker
This will be a refresher course for you. Four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And everybody said? Okay, whew, that was close. Four Gospels, right? Matthew, Mark, and Luke are are together. They're considered the synoptic gospels, meaning they have a similar syn, C-S-Y-N, synoptic, meaning a similar view or a tied together view of similar events from different perspectives.
00:05:15
Speaker
Matthew is all about the kingship of Jesus. Mark is all about the suffering s servant. Luke is all about Jesus as man, the humanity of Jesus. And John is all about the deity of Jesus.
00:05:28
Speaker
Jesus is God, and I want to get this right off the bat. John 20, 30 through 31, you guys will find that on the slide deck for me.
00:05:40
Speaker
I love it in the Bible when there's a purpose statement. Ladies, you know when we did our Bible study, and i I said as you go through your studying methodology, you want to know every time you come into a book, what's the main purpose statement? What is John trying to get at in in all that he teaches?
00:05:55
Speaker
What lens is he teaching through? And it is simply this. It says the disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs. So there are many things recorded.
00:06:06
Speaker
Other places, but John says in his gospel there's one thing that you must know, and that is verse 31, please, that it is written that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power in his name.
00:06:24
Speaker
That is the summary message. And is simply this. Jesus is God. Repeat after me. Jesus is God.
00:06:34
Speaker
Now, anytime we jump into a new book, and I love ah Brother Ronnie, said, oh, we're going to be here a long time. I said, amen, brother, we are. We're going to be here. That's why you got this this little black book. I hope you use it. The church has bought this for your use. Please please read along with it.
00:06:50
Speaker
It is in the, is this the ESV? I forget which copy this one is. I think it is. I will be preaching out of the NLT as I normally do, just because I think it's a little bit easier to listen to.
00:07:02
Speaker
I will also talk about the NASB today, as well as the ESB. I'm going to cover a lot of bases today, just so we're all clear. The Gospel of John is written by John, the apostle, sometime between 85 and 95 when he was in Ephesus.
00:07:17
Speaker
Soon after he writes this, he's exiled. to Patmos, where he writes the book of Revelation. So to just kind of understand this is where we are. he He starts gospel unlike the other gospels, right? Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they talk about genealogy, or they start in a location like Bethlehem.
00:07:36
Speaker
John says, I'm not even going anywhere there. I'm going to start completely different. I'm going to all the way back in eternity past. And I'm going to show you who Jesus really is.
00:07:49
Speaker
John 1, 1 and following says this. In the beginning, the Word already existed. The Word was with God and the Word was God.
00:08:04
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He existed in the beginning with God. Here is the ESV. And the Word, this is ah sorry, this yeah this is the ESV.
00:08:15
Speaker
And the Word became human. Oh, sorry, I jumped one head. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
00:08:28
Speaker
When the first century Christian would hear this gospel being read, just that very first part, in the beginning, would have told them something. They would have listened, they would oh yeah, I remember this.
00:08:38
Speaker
This is referring back to... Genesis 1-1, which starts this exact same way, in the beginning, right? Moses was very purposefully putting that in there, saying in the beginning there was one God, the God of Israel.
00:08:53
Speaker
Remember, Moses was living in a polytheistic world where they believed in lots of gods. So Moses' point in Genesis 1-1 was to say, there's only one God, not all these gods.
00:09:04
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There's one God, it's the God of Israel. Now John is picking this up and he too is saying, in the beginning. But in the beginning there was the Word. Who was the Word, you may ask? Well, simply look down to verse 14 with me.
00:09:17
Speaker
Verse 14 says, the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness, and we have seen his glory, the glory of The Father's one and only Son.
00:09:31
Speaker
Before creation was the Word, the Logos. Jesus. God in human form. Always been.
00:09:42
Speaker
Why is that important? Well, because some people will tell you god was or Jesus was created. That God the Father created Jesus. Brothers and sisters, that's unbiblical. John 1.1 is very clear.
00:09:53
Speaker
He says, before creation... The Logos was. Before time, the Logos existed. He became flesh. God stepping down out of heaven into the person, into our time, into our space, in the in our world as the person of Jesus.
00:10:11
Speaker
He's always existed. He is uncreated.
00:10:17
Speaker
Verse 18. No one has ever seen God but the unique one who is himself God. is near to the Father's heart. He has revealed God to us.
00:10:30
Speaker
Distinct.
00:10:33
Speaker
God the Son is not God the Father. They're distinct, but they're also one and the same.
00:10:40
Speaker
Not like God, not close to God. He is God. Jesus is God. Why is that important? Because you'll hear this at some point in your journey.
00:10:55
Speaker
And when you open the door, there'll be two people on the other side of that door. And they'll have a Bible. And they'll want to tell you, hey, we're the LDS.
00:11:07
Speaker
And we're here to tell you something about who Jesus is. And i can I can tell you very quickly, brothers sisters, for those of you who get annoyed by this, this is your opportunity to witness to these people.
00:11:19
Speaker
You simply need to point them to John 1.1. and say, can you explain John 1, 1, or let me read it to you? Because what they believe is that Jesus, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit are all three separate.
00:11:32
Speaker
They're all individuals. That means there's three gods. So they're just like the Hindus, and they're just like anybody else who believes in multiple gods. Do you see the difference?
00:11:43
Speaker
Okay. It's very important that we get this. Jesus is God. He has stepped down out of heaven. He's preexisted for all time and eternity past. And at this time, he steps out and he steps down in the person.
00:11:57
Speaker
ah like I like Beck says he's wrapped himself in in human skin. That's a great way to think of it, right? god we We can't see God, but we look at Jesus and that's that's the representation of God.
00:12:09
Speaker
I thought about that like ways you as you FaceTime your grandkids or you talk to them over the phone when they're little. They said, we have we have one grandson who's in California, and when we first got a chance to talk, you know they were describing, well, he looks like this, and he's got the dark hair, he's got you know my daughter's eyes, but he looks more like the son-in-law.
00:12:30
Speaker
I thought, this is great, but until you really see that person, that child in person, you oh yeah, he really does look. You can see the jawline. You can see.
00:12:41
Speaker
Face to face means something that's completely different.
00:12:55
Speaker
to face when they saw Jesus. Is that not amazing? Yes.
00:13:00
Speaker
So let's think about this this morning. If Jesus is truly God, and he is, that means he's the author of life. Everything that has been created, he is the one who created If that's the truth, he's not just somebody you can add onto your life.
00:13:15
Speaker
Like I'm just gonna go about my life and I'm gonna add him on, I put as an accessory. Because I think when I spoke to this young lady the other day who was adamant about not wanting to hear anything about Jesus,
00:13:29
Speaker
She said, I take a little bit Judaism. I take a little bit of Hinduism. I'll take a little bit of the best parts, she said, the best parts of Buddhism. Which I was thinking in the back of my mind, what what are the best parts of each one of those?
00:13:46
Speaker
But it was like something she wanted to add on to her life. But I thought, if Jesus truly is God, and he really is the author of all creation, we can't simply just add him on to our life.
00:13:56
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He is life.
00:14:01
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I think too often we tend to treat Jesus just as something secondary. That when we need something, we go right to him and we add him on. Lord, I need you right now. I sure hope you're here.
00:14:13
Speaker
But if he is truly God and he is truly the author of life, then everything that you and I do must depend on him. Everything must come from him. Look at verse 3.
00:14:26
Speaker
God created everything through him and nothing was created except through him.
The Emptiness Without Christ
00:14:30
Speaker
The word gave life to everything that was created and his life brought light to the world. That light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it.
00:14:40
Speaker
All things were made through him. That means the ground you walk on, the air you breathe, that car you drive, that heartbeat in your chest, everything, all of it comes from him.
00:14:52
Speaker
He is lock He is the source, I put here. He's the light. He's the light of men. And I like this. The darkness can't overcome it. And the New Living Translation says can't extinguish it. Can't put it out.
00:15:07
Speaker
You ever been sitting in your house and the lights start to flicker? You go, oh no. Right? Because that's a sign right before the power goes out. Power goes out, you're sitting in complete darkness.
00:15:18
Speaker
No TV. gets quiet real quick in your house, don't it? No music, no lights, no heat, no AC, and the worst yet, no internet.
00:15:31
Speaker
Oh no. You realize just how dependent you are on that source of power, just like that. Brothers sisters, that's life without Christ.
00:15:46
Speaker
I was reminded of that when I spoke to that lady. I thought to myself, boy, house how sad she must feel, how lost she must feel. while i'm While in my chest, I felt like my heart beating faster because I thought to myself, she's not getting it.
00:16:02
Speaker
And I told her, there's there's don't you realize there's just two places you're going to live forever? She said, i don't want to hear any of that. I said, but it doesn't matter if you want to hear it. It's still true.
00:16:15
Speaker
Brothers sisters, we can go through the motions like this lady was doing. We can sit here in church Sunday after Sunday. We can keep up the routine. But something is always off because we've never meant to live life disconnected from the source. And when we do, we feel it.
00:16:32
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There's something, a hole, a void in us that just can't be filled any other way.
00:16:40
Speaker
And here's the tragedy, and this is where I kind of when I sat in my truck driving home after that event, I just kind of shook my head and I thought, Lord, you came to us, you came to us in the person of Jesus. You've shown us this light.
00:16:53
Speaker
You've shown us the way. And there's just people who are just going to refuse it. Look with me, verse 6. says, God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony.
00:17:10
Speaker
John himself was not the light. He was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone who was coming into the world. The light came into the world,
00:17:24
Speaker
John the Baptist, or JB, as I like to call him. He was simply the messenger. He wasn't the message. He was the messenger. There's one to come.
00:17:37
Speaker
And he's going to come into this world, the very world that he created, but look, it says the world didn't recognize him.
00:17:46
Speaker
He came to his own, and yet they didn't recognize him. He's the source of life. He is the creator. He's the one who created them, and they didn't recognize Let that sink in for a minute. But if you're somebody who stars or underlines or marks or highlights verse 12, but all who believe him and accept him,
00:18:09
Speaker
not everyone who understood everything and got it all right, not everyone who cleans himself up first, everyone who believes him and accepts him, who believe on him, he gave the right to become children of God.
00:18:25
Speaker
And they are reborn, verse 13 says. Not with a physical birth resulting resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
00:18:37
Speaker
The hard truth is, which this young lady didn't want to hear or couldn't hear, is that you must accept and believe on Jesus.
00:18:48
Speaker
What does that mean today for those of you who sat in these pews decades now?
00:18:56
Speaker
Because that's what that's what this fine lady told me. She said, a young man, because she asked me, she said, how long have you been here? i said, well, three years. I feel like I'm a camera knight already. I think she could tell just by my last name I wasn't. but She said, I know how this place is.
00:19:16
Speaker
had to leave, go to New York, figure it all out. And I thought, that that that lady just spoke... Smoked truth you right there to me. If you can find truth in New York and not here in Cambridge, there's a problem.
00:19:27
Speaker
But I didn't say that to her. She said, I didn't need Jesus back then. and She says, I don't need Jesus right now. She literally told me that. My heart just broke for her. But it's a hard truth that you and I come in contact with every day. There are people who know about Jesus or know a lot about him, but they don't know him.
00:19:49
Speaker
You know, often tell this story when I was growing up. I loved basketball as a kid. I thought I was gonna play basketball because of my genetic disposition, height, and athleticism. I thought basketball, NBA is in my... I hear some chuckles out there.
00:20:05
Speaker
had pictures of Michael Jordan, bar none the the greatest basketball player ever. If you think it's LeBron James, we'll have a long talk after server.
00:20:16
Speaker
I had pictures of this guy up. I knew stats. I knew everything. But if I had met him in person, he wouldn't know me. See, I knew a lot about Michael Jordan, but I didn't know Michael Jordan. That's the difference, friend. There's a lot of people who sit in these pews Sunday after Sunday, decade after decade, and hear all these sermons about who Jesus is, but they they don't know him. They've never surrendered their life because that's what it takes to believe on him, to accept him. It takes surrender.
00:20:45
Speaker
So let me ask you this morning. Do you know a lot about Jesus or do you know him? Have you believed on him? Have you trusted in him as your Lord and Savior? Have you surrendered your life to him? That means everything in your life.
00:20:58
Speaker
Your relationship with your spouse. Your relationship with your soon-to-be spouse.
Jesus in Daily Life and Marriage
00:21:06
Speaker
I was reminded as I did that wedding last night, I just thought to myself, boy, they're just at the cusp of this thing.
00:21:13
Speaker
Smiles, laughing with each other. staring each other in their eyes as they were dancing. thought, isn't that just the most beautiful thing, these big moments in life? But as I prayed over them, i said, you know, this marriage journey that you're on isn't about these big moments. It's about those little itty-bitty, everyday, ordinary things that you walk along with your spouse.
00:21:38
Speaker
Jesus is in the middle of that, and and he is in the middle of that marriage, I believe.
00:21:45
Speaker
If, brothers and sisters, you believe that that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, that he stepped here on this earth, he is the creator of everything, he's given life, and he's called us to respond to him,
00:22:01
Speaker
have we done that? Have we truly done that?
00:22:07
Speaker
Have you received him? Because if if you have done that, your life should reflect that decision. So how do we apply these truths today?
00:22:17
Speaker
I'm just going to tell you what. I'm going to give you an insight into Pastoral old Ministry 101. I look right up at the clock up there, and ah it's 1130. And if I hit 1130 and we're in the application portion, brothers sisters, we're beating the Methodists to lunch.
00:22:33
Speaker
We're right on schedule.
00:22:39
Speaker
How can we stop treating Jesus as somebody we've just always known about and start treating him as somebody we can't live without? It's a question I wrestle with all week. That's really what, Jesus is the Son of God, what do we do what do we do with that this week? how do How does that affect our lives? Well, first thing I put is we have to, I believe, move beyond familiarity. We've got to move beyond these preconceived ideas.
00:23:05
Speaker
For some of you, that's what your parents have been telling you who Jesus is all along. It's not something personal to you yet. It's something you've grown up with. Perhaps it's another church that you've come with and you've dragged some preconceived ideas from that church of who you think Jesus is.
00:23:23
Speaker
Maybe you think, hey, it's okay for me to sin all week and then I'm just going to go confess that on Saturday night and Sunday I'm all good to go. That's a preconceived idea that you're dragging along with you.
00:23:37
Speaker
I put, perhaps we need to stop settling for the way we think Jesus always has been. And maybe really start challenging ourselves to see him differently. To know him intimately.
00:23:51
Speaker
So that we can be alongside our youth and go out and proclaim Jesus to the masses and say, I know him personally. Because that's the only way evangelism really works, by the way.
00:24:02
Speaker
You young folks, some of you older folks, as you get out in the community and you start being asked these tough questions about Jesus, you won't ever be an effective evangelist if you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus.
00:24:14
Speaker
They'll see right through you. We've got to be real careful with becoming too familiar. Familiar with our Bible stories. Familiar with where we sit in church.
00:24:24
Speaker
Familiar with our routines. Matter of fact, I put, sometimes our routines can be quite dangerous. Familiarity can be quite dangerous. Perhaps it's time to shake things up. Do some real soul searching.
00:24:39
Speaker
And I just put here, if you're not following Jesus, you know you're not following Jesus. And you're not fooling anybody. Don't fool yourself.
00:24:49
Speaker
We need to stop relying on ourselves and start relying on God. That's that first step in surrendering. Lord, I'm going to give over everything in my life, all parts of my life to you. I want you to come in and take control. The beautiful thing of that, brothers sisters, if I could just pastorally love on you for just a second, he is already in control of your life.
00:25:07
Speaker
Receiving him and believing him means you're just realizing that truth. He's already in control of your life. He's been in control of your life all this time. You need to start realizing that.
00:25:19
Speaker
You were never meant to be in charge of your own life. So beyond moving beyond familiarity, we need to turn from self-reliance and we need start relying fully on Jesus. You were never meant to generate your own light. He is the source of light. He is the source of life. He is the creator. You are the created. You need to get that straight in your head.
00:25:39
Speaker
You need to lay it down. You need to let go of that control. You need to let him be in charge. Matter of fact, he's already in charge. You need to give it all to him.
00:25:50
Speaker
Not halfway, not occasionally, not on Sunday, every day, completely. So here's the challenge this week. What does this look like in your life and my life?
Understanding Jesus Through John 1
00:26:02
Speaker
I'll just put, take 10 minutes, 10 minutes. Each day, read John chapter one. Just this week, John chapter one. Read it slowly and pray about it.
00:26:14
Speaker
It's a simple prayer like this. Jesus, show me who you really are. Help me respond. Jesus, show me who you really are as you read John chapter 1 each day.
00:26:27
Speaker
By the way, you can read chapter 1 in under 10 minutes. I know because I did it. And I read slow because I read slow. Some of you are speed readers.
00:26:43
Speaker
I don't want to make this assumption, but I'm going to just throw this out there as I wrap this up today. Some of you may be like that lady that I ran into this weekend, dragging on these suitcase luggage of preconceived ideas of who Jesus is, walking around in the dark, making assumptions, blaming other people, missing out what's really going on.
00:27:09
Speaker
For some of you today, I believe that light has been turned on. That switch has been turned on. Maybe Jesus is not that way. Maybe there's a different Jesus. Well, brothers and sisters, if that's you today, as we walk through the Gospel of John, it's going to be real clear who biblical Jesus is. And I put a ah note to myself, and I always do this, and this, once again, is just a little insight into my mind. It's It's a symbol I write in my notes that says, I'm not real sure if I want to say this.
00:27:41
Speaker
But it's in my mind and I feel like, is it on my heart I'm going to say it? I feel like there's not a lot of people preaching biblical Jesus these days.
00:27:52
Speaker
Because biblical Jesus is uncomfortable sometimes. And as we walk through the Gospel John, you'll you'll see that. But it's really going to force you and I to look in the mirror. We're going to see who Jesus is, and we're going to see who we are in light of that reality.