THE LIVING WORD
Here
is a summary of a speech/sermon I gave on Sept. 12th at an apartment
complex. I am posting this for the reader’s personal enjoyment. Enjoy!
CHRIST: THE LIVING WORD
READ: John 1:1-14 & 1 John 1
There are many things throughout the Scriptures that Christ reveals about Himself. I plan to quote from many different places in Scripture throughout this sermon for the sake of giving those of you who are listening a deeper understanding of our desperate need to be “students of the Word,” and to assure you that the message I bring is not made up. May God’s Spirit fill our hearts with joy as He has chosen to reveal His Son to us, who are simply clay vessels in the hand of the Potter!
Understand that to cover all of the different ways in which Christ reveals Himself throughout the Scriptures would take a series of sermons over a number of days. One could speak of Christ as the Great Shepherd who leads, guides, and protects His sheep as found in passages such as Psalm 23, Isaiah 53, John 10, etc… At least three more sermons could consist in Christ as our Chief Prophet (Master and Teacher), Christ as our High Priest (Mediator and Intercessor), and Christ as our Eternal King (Ruler and Judge). You can probably see where I am going with this. Our primary focus today is, “What is He revealing to us in the text?”
You may notice in these passages that there are many similarities. The Apostle John is calling our attention to the glorious reality of Christ’s revelation of Himself as the Word of Life. He doesn’t call our attention to his own excellent writing skills or the fact that he was one of Jesus’ closest disciples (even as he often referred to himself throughout his gospel as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”), and that is why we should read his books as they are recorded in the Bible. John, through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, is merely the human instrument that God had ordained to write these chapters. He directs all of our attention to the glory of Christ, in all of its fullness.
John takes a different approach through His writing than you perhaps would find in the other gospels (Matthew, Mark & Luke). These men focused mainly on Jesus’ life and works while He walked this earth from the viewpoint of His human nature as “in the flesh.” Notice that John, however, focuses chiefly on Christ with respect to His Divine nature as “Almighty God.” Knowing Him in both His Divine and human natures are important to understanding these passages in John 1 and 1 John 1.
John begins by emphasizing the truth that Christ as the Living Word is “from the beginning…” (vs. 1) To understand this, let us take a brief moment to turn in our Bibles to the creation account given for us in Genesis 1. Here, by the simple 2-letter pronoun “us” in verse 26, God is revealing the One Divine Being of God consisting of different Persons. There we read, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” We find proof in 1 John 5:7 that there are Three Persons in the One Being of God. “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” Going back to Genesis 1, the Triune God is communing with Himself in preparation for the creation of man “in His image…” We see Christ’s presence at Creation as that Word of Life, issuing forth from the mouth of God by Divine authority, as He brings life into existence. More proof of Christ’s presence at Creation is found in Colossians 1:12-17. There we read, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son: In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.”
The Scriptures make an interesting connection between Christ as the “Life-Giver” and Christ as the “Light-Giver.” Jesus Christ, as “Life-Giver,” gave up His life on the cross and rose again to conquer Death, that great and last enemy, in order that we might dwell with God everlastingly in Glory. He sends forth His Spirit to quicken us (make us alive,) who were under the wrath and curse of God because of our sin.
Since the fall of our first father Adam into sin, mankind has been under the curse, and death came upon the whole creation. Thus, we were conceived and born in sin. A clearer picture of our human condition as a result of the fall, and of the work that Christ performs through His Spirit, is recorded for us in Ezekiel 16. This chapter (which I strongly encourage everyone to read in their own personal devotions to better grasp God’s love in spite of our sinful human condition) compares our human condition to that of a child, cast out by the side of the street, lying there in its own blood. No one cared for this child. All this child could do is lie there helplessly. Through the prophet Ezekiel, the LORD is reminding the nation of Israel and us of the tremendous love He has for His children. He gives them life, forms and fashions them, and blesses them with grace. In spite of our constant backsliding and waywardness, the LORD’S love for us never changes, and He declares to us and grants us assurance that He will remember His covenant promises to us.
Our text goes into even greater detail of Christ as the “Light-Giver.” During His earthly ministry, Jesus declared Himself to be the “Light of the World.” God has chosen us in Christ, from before the foundation of the world, to be children of the Light. The Apostle Peter gives testimony to this truth in 1 Peter 2:8 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.”
The Bible often makes a connection between blindness and darkness, and between light and sight. If one is physically blind, the light of day cannot be seen. In most cases, the blind will need someone or something to lead them, and to show them where to go. Such is the case with spiritual blindness as well. One who is spiritually blind needs someone to lead them toward the light of the sacred truth as we have it recorded in the Bible. The psalmist in Psalm 119 tells us in plain language of his experience as he mediates on the Word. He writes in verse 105 of this chapter, “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” We can gather from this that the psalmist understood that apart from Christ, the Living Word, there is only darkness. As a sinner, he acknowledges that all that he has ever known apart from the Word is darkness, and that the only way he can see the path that he must take is by turning to the Word for illumination. On several different occasions throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus cured people who suffered from physical blindness. There is the example in Matthew 20 of two blind men on the way back from Jericho. Another example is mentioned in John 9, where Jesus healed a man that was born blind. The key thing to notice here in John 9 is that Jesus reveals His purpose for coming into this world. In the last few verses of this chapter, Jesus makes known the revelation that He came into the world for judgment, “…that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with Him heard these words, and said unto Him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” Here, Jesus makes known that truth that He came not to call the righteous (those who will trust in their own good work to save them), but sinners (those who recognize their need for a Savior) to repentance. The man who was blind was given not only physical sight, but spiritual sight as well. He was given “eyes of faith” to see his own need, and what Christ was revealing about His work in salvation. The Pharisees stand as those who say that they can see, but actually remain in darkness. In their mind, they were righteous in themselves, and believed that they did not need Jesus.
To drive all of this information closer to home, the question we are left with is this: “Now, what about you?” Have you known this Jesus as your personal Savior? Perhaps, you stand as one who says, “I’m a pretty good person. God should be happy with how well I have served Him. After all, although I am human, I am not half as bad as many others.” I’m here to tell you that if this is your attitude, you have not understood any of what was previously mentioned about Christ’s revelation of Himself, nor have you understood His purpose for coming to this earth. You stand as one who walks in darkness and will remain in darkness to eternity in Hell.
On the other hand, perhaps you’ve experienced a time in your life where you felt undone when you realized that you were a dreadful sinner in desperate need of a Savior? Do you feel a compelling desire to bring your sins before God’s throne in humble confession, knowing that you cannot hide them from the God of Light who penetrates through the darkness of our hearts? Has the Spirit driven you to make the same desperate cry that the blind men had made in Jesus’ day, that your eyes may be opened? Then, and only then, can you have the confidence that He will not cast you out, but will fulfill His promise to receive you as a loving Father who receives His prodigal son or daughter with forgiveness in His voice and a warm, loving embrace. Then, you will enjoy this fellowship of which John speaks of in our text. Only in the way of confession and humble obedience will you know true peace and pardon. It is my prayer that all of you will come to know Jesus as your personal Savior, and may His richest grace and blessing be upon all those who love our Lord in sincerity and truth! Amen!
CHRIST: THE LIVING WORD
READ: John 1:1-14 & 1 John 1
There are many things throughout the Scriptures that Christ reveals about Himself. I plan to quote from many different places in Scripture throughout this sermon for the sake of giving those of you who are listening a deeper understanding of our desperate need to be “students of the Word,” and to assure you that the message I bring is not made up. May God’s Spirit fill our hearts with joy as He has chosen to reveal His Son to us, who are simply clay vessels in the hand of the Potter!
Understand that to cover all of the different ways in which Christ reveals Himself throughout the Scriptures would take a series of sermons over a number of days. One could speak of Christ as the Great Shepherd who leads, guides, and protects His sheep as found in passages such as Psalm 23, Isaiah 53, John 10, etc… At least three more sermons could consist in Christ as our Chief Prophet (Master and Teacher), Christ as our High Priest (Mediator and Intercessor), and Christ as our Eternal King (Ruler and Judge). You can probably see where I am going with this. Our primary focus today is, “What is He revealing to us in the text?”
You may notice in these passages that there are many similarities. The Apostle John is calling our attention to the glorious reality of Christ’s revelation of Himself as the Word of Life. He doesn’t call our attention to his own excellent writing skills or the fact that he was one of Jesus’ closest disciples (even as he often referred to himself throughout his gospel as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”), and that is why we should read his books as they are recorded in the Bible. John, through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, is merely the human instrument that God had ordained to write these chapters. He directs all of our attention to the glory of Christ, in all of its fullness.
John takes a different approach through His writing than you perhaps would find in the other gospels (Matthew, Mark & Luke). These men focused mainly on Jesus’ life and works while He walked this earth from the viewpoint of His human nature as “in the flesh.” Notice that John, however, focuses chiefly on Christ with respect to His Divine nature as “Almighty God.” Knowing Him in both His Divine and human natures are important to understanding these passages in John 1 and 1 John 1.
John begins by emphasizing the truth that Christ as the Living Word is “from the beginning…” (vs. 1) To understand this, let us take a brief moment to turn in our Bibles to the creation account given for us in Genesis 1. Here, by the simple 2-letter pronoun “us” in verse 26, God is revealing the One Divine Being of God consisting of different Persons. There we read, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” We find proof in 1 John 5:7 that there are Three Persons in the One Being of God. “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” Going back to Genesis 1, the Triune God is communing with Himself in preparation for the creation of man “in His image…” We see Christ’s presence at Creation as that Word of Life, issuing forth from the mouth of God by Divine authority, as He brings life into existence. More proof of Christ’s presence at Creation is found in Colossians 1:12-17. There we read, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son: In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.”
The Scriptures make an interesting connection between Christ as the “Life-Giver” and Christ as the “Light-Giver.” Jesus Christ, as “Life-Giver,” gave up His life on the cross and rose again to conquer Death, that great and last enemy, in order that we might dwell with God everlastingly in Glory. He sends forth His Spirit to quicken us (make us alive,) who were under the wrath and curse of God because of our sin.
Since the fall of our first father Adam into sin, mankind has been under the curse, and death came upon the whole creation. Thus, we were conceived and born in sin. A clearer picture of our human condition as a result of the fall, and of the work that Christ performs through His Spirit, is recorded for us in Ezekiel 16. This chapter (which I strongly encourage everyone to read in their own personal devotions to better grasp God’s love in spite of our sinful human condition) compares our human condition to that of a child, cast out by the side of the street, lying there in its own blood. No one cared for this child. All this child could do is lie there helplessly. Through the prophet Ezekiel, the LORD is reminding the nation of Israel and us of the tremendous love He has for His children. He gives them life, forms and fashions them, and blesses them with grace. In spite of our constant backsliding and waywardness, the LORD’S love for us never changes, and He declares to us and grants us assurance that He will remember His covenant promises to us.
Our text goes into even greater detail of Christ as the “Light-Giver.” During His earthly ministry, Jesus declared Himself to be the “Light of the World.” God has chosen us in Christ, from before the foundation of the world, to be children of the Light. The Apostle Peter gives testimony to this truth in 1 Peter 2:8 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.”
The Bible often makes a connection between blindness and darkness, and between light and sight. If one is physically blind, the light of day cannot be seen. In most cases, the blind will need someone or something to lead them, and to show them where to go. Such is the case with spiritual blindness as well. One who is spiritually blind needs someone to lead them toward the light of the sacred truth as we have it recorded in the Bible. The psalmist in Psalm 119 tells us in plain language of his experience as he mediates on the Word. He writes in verse 105 of this chapter, “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” We can gather from this that the psalmist understood that apart from Christ, the Living Word, there is only darkness. As a sinner, he acknowledges that all that he has ever known apart from the Word is darkness, and that the only way he can see the path that he must take is by turning to the Word for illumination. On several different occasions throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus cured people who suffered from physical blindness. There is the example in Matthew 20 of two blind men on the way back from Jericho. Another example is mentioned in John 9, where Jesus healed a man that was born blind. The key thing to notice here in John 9 is that Jesus reveals His purpose for coming into this world. In the last few verses of this chapter, Jesus makes known the revelation that He came into the world for judgment, “…that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with Him heard these words, and said unto Him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” Here, Jesus makes known that truth that He came not to call the righteous (those who will trust in their own good work to save them), but sinners (those who recognize their need for a Savior) to repentance. The man who was blind was given not only physical sight, but spiritual sight as well. He was given “eyes of faith” to see his own need, and what Christ was revealing about His work in salvation. The Pharisees stand as those who say that they can see, but actually remain in darkness. In their mind, they were righteous in themselves, and believed that they did not need Jesus.
To drive all of this information closer to home, the question we are left with is this: “Now, what about you?” Have you known this Jesus as your personal Savior? Perhaps, you stand as one who says, “I’m a pretty good person. God should be happy with how well I have served Him. After all, although I am human, I am not half as bad as many others.” I’m here to tell you that if this is your attitude, you have not understood any of what was previously mentioned about Christ’s revelation of Himself, nor have you understood His purpose for coming to this earth. You stand as one who walks in darkness and will remain in darkness to eternity in Hell.
On the other hand, perhaps you’ve experienced a time in your life where you felt undone when you realized that you were a dreadful sinner in desperate need of a Savior? Do you feel a compelling desire to bring your sins before God’s throne in humble confession, knowing that you cannot hide them from the God of Light who penetrates through the darkness of our hearts? Has the Spirit driven you to make the same desperate cry that the blind men had made in Jesus’ day, that your eyes may be opened? Then, and only then, can you have the confidence that He will not cast you out, but will fulfill His promise to receive you as a loving Father who receives His prodigal son or daughter with forgiveness in His voice and a warm, loving embrace. Then, you will enjoy this fellowship of which John speaks of in our text. Only in the way of confession and humble obedience will you know true peace and pardon. It is my prayer that all of you will come to know Jesus as your personal Savior, and may His richest grace and blessing be upon all those who love our Lord in sincerity and truth! Amen!
posted by Andy Tanis at 5:27 AM
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