AN INTRODUCTION TO JESUS
John 1:1-14
THE ETERNAL TIME OF JESUS
V:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
A. We have no idea of when the beginning was.
1. We have to assume it was eternity past.
2. We also have to assume it is the same time as Genesis 1:1
in which God in the beginning created the heavens
and the earth.
3. The Word in Greek is the Logos, the entire body of divine doctrine.
a. Logos is all that God said and didn’t say.
2 Cor 4:18
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For
what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. B. The doctrine the” Word was with God” indicate a difference between the
Word and God.
1. The next doctrine “the Word was God” indicates the Word and God
are the same.
2. These two gives rise to the persons of God. God the Father and God
the Word
a. The same God but different in person.
4. The third doctrine, “He was with God in the beginning”
tells us of the co eternal existence.
a. The Word was not made, the Word was not created,
it always was.
5. The forth doctrine is there, but hid
a. Because you are reading this verses, you have been
drawn by the Holy Spirit.
b. If you have any understanding, it is because of the power
of the Holy Spirit.
c. In the Gospel of John, the writer tell us that to the world
the Word of God is foolishness.
d. The Spirit is also a person of God. Therefore we have the trinity,
the person of God the Father, the person of God The Word (The Son)
and the person of God the Holy Spirit. All three are the same God.C. How do you explain, one God in three persons.
1. A crude example is water, H2O, one part oxygen and 2 parts hydrogen.
2. Water can exist in three forms.
a. It is a liquid at room temperature.
b. It becomes steam at boiling point.
c. It becomes a solid below 32 degrees centigrade.
- Water can not exit in three forms at the same time.
- God exists in three persons at the same time. D. Lets travel a little further with this crude analysis.
- God the Father is everywhere all the time but is thought of
as being at His heavenly throne. - The person of God the Son (the Word), took on human
flesh and dwelled among us, but now seated at the right
hand of the Father. - The person of God the Holy Spirit indwells everyone who
believes in the Son. - Accept the three persons of God by faith and not human logic.
E. The Word is the co creator of the everything that was made. - One God in three persons created everything
- They cannot be separated, but are presented to us with
separate missions which work the same in us.
- God the Father is everywhere all the time but is thought of
THE LIFE, THE LIGHT AND THE WAY OF JESUS
V:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
A. All life begins in Jesus.
1. There is no life without Jesus.
2. Life is more than daily living.
3. Life is in the Word.
4. Life is the Word.
B. Life is the wisdom of the Lord.
- Jesus said man shall not live by bread alone, but every Word of God.
- Physical life is in the blood that flows through the flesh.
- Spiritual life is in the Word that flow according to the Spirit,
in the hearts of every believer. - Without the Word, one does not know how live life fully.
- Since the word is light. One who does not have the Word,
lives in darkness. - With the Word one lives in all the promises of God.
- With the Word one lives in continual hope of the presence and the future.
- Darkness is the absent of the Word which is death.
C. Without the Word, one lives under the influence of Satan. - The influence of Satan is false light which eventually becomes
doom and gloom. - The influence of Satan works to block any view of true light.
- Darkness is the absent of the Word which is death.
THE WITNESS OF JESUS
V:6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
A. From birth, John’s mission was to be a testimony of Jesus.
1. We have all been given the same mission.
2. Like John, God knows our names and have called us to
proclaim the life that is Jesus.
3. We become a living sermon that draws others to Christ.
4. John taught the Word of God that led to the baptism of
repentance.
5. He did not claim to be Jesus, but led others to Him.
B. John prepared the hearts of others to believe in Jesus when
He showed show up in their lives.
1. Since Jesus is the true light, then there must be a false light
2. Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
3. Unfortunately, the false light leads many to their death.
4. But thank God that the true light that influences us, draws us to
our heavenly home.
5. We were predestined for light before the foundation of the world
Ephesians 1:4
THE KNOWLEDGE AND THE UNBELIEF OF JESUS
V:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
Note: The pronoun He is the Greek word ekeinos.
It is a properly of persons, things, times or places.
A. Jesus stepped out of heaven, put on human flesh and became man and
dwelled among us.
- The Father brought His Son down through 42 generations to
be king of kings and Lord of Lords. - Jesus made the world with his power and authority.
- He prophesied His coming starting in Geneses chapter 3
and in the books of Isaiah, Malachi and others. - The Jews had the complete Old Testament 300 years before
His human birth. - The Jewish leaders made known to King Herod at least 2 years after His birth the date and location of His birth from Old Testament prophecies.
- The Jewish leaders failed to see God’s Word as the truth.
B. Rather than believe the miracles they witness by Jesus, the
Chief priest and elders of Israel, mocked Him and degraded Him. - The leaders blinded themselves to His presence by their unbelief.
- The good thing is many of the everyday people were looking for
the coming of the Messiah that they were taught by those who
refused to believe.
- The Jewish leaders failed to see God’s Word as the truth.
THE POWER TO BELIEVE
V:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband\’s will, but born of God.
A. In this text you can see the dynamics of the religious community.
1. The Word was taught by the leaders who didn’t believe the text.
2. Many of those who were taught, believed what was taught by men
who refused to believe.
3. We can see this played out after Jesus first reading of Isaiah in the
Galilean synagogue.
4. He claimed the scripture was fulfilled in their hearing in the
synagogue.
5. They drove him out of town to throw Him down a clift. (Luke 4:28-
33)
B. Jesus provides the opportunity of a new birth through belief in
Him.
1. This new birth is a new creation in Jesus through the power of
the Holy Spirit.
2. You and I have no part in the new creation. It is all Jesus
3. Our job through the Holy Spirit is to receive Jesus as Lord and
Savior.
John 6:43-44
Jesus answered. 44 \"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent
me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. THE PRESENCE OF JESUS IN OUR LIVES
V:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
A. In Matthew 1:20-21 the writer records how Jesus took on human flesh
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in
a dream and said, \"Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary
home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy
Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name
Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.\"
1. Jesus maintained His deity in human form.
2. He was fully God, but also human.
3. He had two separate natures that were not mixed.B. Even though Jesus was in human form, He was full of grace and truth.
1. Grace is favor; there was no room in Him for non favor.
2. His mission is to favor His people with eternal life.
3. He was full of truth.
There was no room in Him for lies and deceptions.
4. He was made man but not by man.
5. He was the only man without sin because He was God.
THANK GOD FOR THR KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS
Rev. M. Mitchell
Asst. Pastor Of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church
5510 West Sam Houston Parkway North
Houston, Texas 77041
