The Word part 1

Well, take your Bible this morning and turn with me to the Gospel of John, John chapter 1. Now, I think last week I probably tricked you by asking you to go to John chapter 20 and our first message in this series, but this morning we're going to start in John chapter 1 and we're going to be in that first couple of verses of the Gospel of John. Now, you know that we are in our series in the Gospel of John, verse by verse through the Gospel of John and last week I told you that we were going to borrow a title from the Bible commentator, Warren Wiersby.

Warren Wiersby calls this book Christ the Son of God and he basically goes on to say, "Believe and live." That's the title of this series. We're going to hold on to that because I believe that that explains the theme of the book. So we're going to carry that series title. We're going to carry that theme all the way through the book of John. And each verse and each chapter and each portion of scripture will illustrate and explain to us and show us Christ the Son of God and then John's going to call us to believe and to believe and have true life. Now, I said earlier last week we had an introductory message.

Now I had three goals with that message. The first goal was just an overview of the book of John. Now I did not want to give you an extensive overview. It would take us way too long. But I wanted you to see some truths about the Gospel of John, maybe that you've not seen before, and ask you some questions to just try to help you get your hands around the Gospel of John. We saw that John is different from Matthew, Mark, and Luke's account. John is not part of the synoptics. It is a different giving or an account of the life of Christ.

Now we also looked at who wrote the book, who the book was written to, what the book was about, and what the purpose. All of that was overview to help us get started. Now, second, we saw the theme. We saw the theme verse in John chapter 20, verse 31. I don't know if you write in your Bible, but if you do, I would like for you to write that verse at the beginning of the Gospel of John. Write that as the theme verse, it's at the title at the beginning of my Bible right here, because I do write in this Bible. John chapter 20, verse 31 is the theme.

John explains the whole idea behind the book in that verse when he said, "But these things have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." What is he saying? I'm proving to you that he is the Christ. Christ is deity. That is the major theme. And then if you would believe in you might have life. Now the third goal was John's purpose. Remember I explained to you that he was apologetic.

Apologetic in that he was making a case for Christ to get into the realm of apologetics, means to use information to systematically arrange information to declare a stated position. That's what John's doing. He's giving information, this first-hand account to make the case for Christ, the Son of God. And then also we saw that he's evangelistic. That's why he said, what in that theme verse, that you may believe that you may have life in Christ. He is evangelistic. Now I said all this to refresh our memory, but to bring us to my purpose. Remember at the end of the message, I told you that I had two purposes.

All throughout this Gospel, I want to edify you. What that simply means is to encourage you, to help you grow in the faith. Those of us who were born again, we should grow in the faith. We should grow in the grace and knowledge of the living Lord Jesus. That's edification. Then my second purpose is to evangelize. Many of you have lost loved ones, and God would equip you through this Gospel to be able to witness to those lost loved ones. That's evangelization. There are people among us at times, or I believe much of the time, people among us who were lost and without Christ. And John's purpose was to evangelize. What?

I write these things that you might believe and have life. Remember I borrowed a little information from the old Bible commentator, A.W. Pink, when he said that his desire in writing his commentary was to edify those who were members of the household of faith. I just borrowed that word edify. So as we dive into these verses, I want you to remember those words. I want to see you edified. I want to see you grow in the faith. I want to see you grow in Christ Jesus and be different after we get through the book. But then I also want to see evangelization, because this should evangelize those around us and equip us all to that task.

Now this morning we're going to turn our attention to the verses. We're going to turn our attention to chapter one starting in verse one. Now truthfully this morning we're only going to be in verses one and two, but the portion of scripture that goes together is verses one through five. I'm going to break them down in a part one and a part two. But I'm going to wait just a minute to give you these verses and also give you the title of the message, but I want to say one more thing to introduce the text.

It is important for us to see that these verses, verses one through five, but not just verses one through five, verses one through eighteen are what Bible commentators call the prologue to the book of John. Some of you might say, "What in the world is a prologue?" A prologue is a separate introductory section of a literary work. Many of you when you read a book you will see the introduction and there will be a prologue. What is that prologue for? It is to introduce the reader to that particular literary work. And that's exactly, now notice what John chapter one verses one through eighteen are.

It is considered the prologue or the introduction to the book of John. Now what is the meaning of this? Now listen close. If you and I do not get the introduction, then we will miss the entire book. I've never seen this before or the importance of this before in my study this week, in my six or seven resources that I consider in this particular gospel right here, four of the six or seven resources brought this to the surface.

And I just began to see the importance of this because if you don't get the introduction, you will not get truth that you must have in your heart that will carry you all the way through the book of John that will enable you to understand John's message. So right away, the very first word and the very first verses, John is extremely serious. So let's look at the text before us. Chapter one verse one, John says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Now I'm going to stop there this morning, but verses three through five really go together.

So I'm going to read those, he says, all things came into being by him and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. Verse four, in him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. Was too much there material for us to dive into all of these verses, but we're going to look at verses one through two and we're really going to look at the first main truth out of these verses. And I'm going to go ahead and give you the title of the message. The title of the message this morning is the word part one.

Now you'll notice I've given you the truths that come from verses one through three. First, God is preeminent. That's the only subject we're going to look at this morning. And then next week we're going to look at God is creator and God is life. It's very simplistic, but yet very rich, very powerful. And like I said, there is a lot that God wants to teach us before we can understand the rest of the book. So I trust that you're taking notes. I hope that you are. So we see truth. Number one, God is preeminent. God is preeminent. Let me go back to the verses, verses one through two.

He says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God in the word was God He was in the beginning with God. And we're just going to camp out in those two verses this morning and I'm going to give you several truths that I want you to write down and take down for your own study and for your own growth. Now in getting our mind going with this, these verses, I want to say it like this. You've heard people say that everything has a beginning and has an end. You've heard phrases like that, but thrown around. Well I want to tell you that's just not so. Temporal things do have a beginning and have an end.

But what we see here is the word tells us that God is pre-existent. He has existed for always. Time cannot contain God. We make the mistake of looking at God through the eyes of time while God cannot be contained by time. I've said this to you before, I'm a little bit of a student of history. As a matter of fact in college when I took electives, I took history classes just because I enjoyed them. Some of you might say, wow, that's mighty boring.

But you know when we study history, we have the habit of looking back at a particular historical event and we see the timeline of those historical events and it helps us understand what has taken place in a particular event that we might be studying. Maybe it's World War I or World War II. I don't know, maybe it's something like that. We study the beginning and we study the end. But see, we make the mistake of looking at God the way we look at human history. But yet John obliterates that by saying what? God has pre-existed.

So I want to show you some things out of this verse that will help us understand this verse and what John wants us to see. First, I want you to notice a time. First, notice a time. I want you to see that the text says the beginning two times. What does it say? "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was with God. He was in the beginning with God." Those two verses give this in the beginning. Any translation that's before me this morning, the New American, English Standard, King James say the same thing. So that tells me, the text tells me that we must notice time.

Now this word beginning can have several meanings in the original language. It can mean source or origin or it can mean rule or authority. But here John is referring to the beginning of creation found in Genesis 1. John's definition is source or origin. So what is he saying? In the beginning, going back to the source or to the origin. What does he say? The Word was with God. John is referring to this creation account of Genesis chapter 1. Now you don't have to turn there, but I want to read you what that says. Many of you are familiar with it, but I went back and read it last night. What does it say? Genesis 1.

"In the beginning, God created." The same words. Genesis 1.1. "In the beginning." John 1.1. "In the beginning." John is referring to this creation account. But John is saying so much more. John is calling us back to that time of Genesis 1. But John is saying God was before Genesis 1.1. What is he saying? When God started the timetable of time. When God started the timeline of time. God was there and God was before he started time. So what you can do if you want to write in your Bible in Genesis 1.1. Right before Genesis 1.1 you can say God was there. Before God stepped out from eternity and he started time, God was there.

That's the time that John is giving us. I like to give you quotations sometimes that help illustrate truth. I like what Vincent's word study says. It says, "This beginning had no beginning." His eternal existence is already expressed. God had no beginning. Another Bible commentator said it like this. John 1.1 precedes the making of all things in Genesis 1.3. Another words, God was there in Genesis 1.1 but he preceded that. Why? Because he was in the beginning. He was there before it ever began. And I want you to notice the time. Second, I want you to notice the Word. Notice the Word.

Again, I want you to go back to the text and I want you to see three times this Word in all caps is used in any translation that's before you. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Notice its repetition. This Word, Word. And this Word, Word being repetitive in here causes us to notice what John is saying. Now in the original language, I'm not, you know that I'm not, don't make it a habit of quoting the original language. But this is an original Greek word that some of you have run across in your study. But in the original, this word is logos. And this word is logos.

Now remember last week I told you about that John had two different audiences. There was the Gentile audience and the Jewish audience. Both of the audiences would have perked up and listened when John uses this word, Word or Logos. Now let me explain what I mean. To the Gentile Greeks that received this letter in their philosophy and in their education and in their higher thinking, they had an idea of some creative force.

They didn't believe in a creator like the Jews did, but they had in their mind and in Greek thought, they had an idea of a creative force, one that created the universe, but that creative force was impersonal and had no real relationship to humanity. But within this creative force, they believed was a source of wisdom and that is what they were doing. That is what they were searching for in their philosophy and in their high learning because they were very learned people. The Greeks were. They had used this word logos in their teaching. So when John uses this word, they stand up, they perk up and they say, we know what that word is.

But yet for them, it was a description of an impersonal wise creative force that had no real relationship to man. But remember the Jews, the Jews were reading this letter as well. And the Jews had a use for this word in the old Testament. And this word word in the old Testament was referred to so many times in the scripture when the scripture said and the word of the Lord came all throughout the scripture. Just take the story of Abraham when God revealed himself to Abraham and he made that covenant with Abraham all throughout that covenant agreement. What do we see? And the word of the Lord came to Abraham. The word of the Lord came.

The word of the Lord came. So when the Jews heard that word, they perked up and they listened up and they said, wait a minute, we know that word too. But yet they were mistaken, just like the Greeks. So when the readers heard this word, they perked up and he says in the beginning was the word. But see, the Gentiles thought it was one thing and the Jews thought it was another, but as John progresses, he's going to show them. Let me tell you what the word is. John is saying, let me tell you what the word is if you continue. So third, I want you to notice where the word was. Notice where the word was. Go back to the text.

In the beginning, we know that that predates creation. Was the word. This word was not what the Greeks and the Jews thought. And the word was with God. Notice where the word was. Now the text is very simple. All the translations say the very same thing. John is adding another layer to the argument, to the case that he's making. Remember I told you he's extremely apologetic. He's making a case for Christ and he's adding another layer to this argument or this statement that he's making. He is saying that this word was with God. Now in the original language, John gives a vivid picture that needs to be seen.

Sometimes as a man who preaches and teaches the word of God, we need help with the original language. He's not a preacher, you know, or a teacher who gets bogged down in the original language. I know guys that do that and sometimes they can lose us all. I'm afraid I think some of them, they just like to show off that they've got a lot of education. But we must get in the original language at times to see what the original writer had to say. And the original language gives us a vivid picture of what John is trying to say. I ran across a couple of commentators that help us understand this. John MacArthur is one of them.

He says that phrase means more than merely that the word existed with God. It gives us the picture of two personal beings facing one another and engaging in intelligent discourse. Vincent's word study helps us. He says John's statement is that the divine word not only abode with the Father from all eternity, but was in a living active relation of communion with him. I like what AW Pink says. He says this tells of his separate personality. He was not in God, but with God. That helps us understand why Jesus, when he was on earth, could speak to the Father in such a loving heavenly way because it wasn't just that he was with God.

He was with God, just like MacArthur says. It is a picture of two personal beings facing one another, engaging one another in an intelligent discourse. What do we see? That's where the word was. Now you notice how it gets layer upon layer, layer upon layer. So what I want you to see in that is there's intimacy, there's communion, and there is intelligent discourse. So we see time, God predated time. We see the word. We see that the word isn't what the Gentiles thought nor what the Jews thought, and now we see where the word was. Notice the fourth truth I want you to see. Notice who the word is. Who the word is.

Go back to the text, "In the beginning, that which predates Genesis, was the word, and the word was God." That intimate, loving relationship. And the word was God. We must notice who the word is. Now this is very simplistic in the language, and all of the translations that I refer to have the same thing before you. Now this last portion of verse one, this is very important. We must not skip over it. We must not read it hastily. Because if we do not understand the true meaning of this text, we can fall off the cliff of heresy.

This translation in the original, the exact translation was, "The word was God." But we must notice some things about the construction of the language. Listen. Some argue because of the language used with God that it is not God, but less than God. Let me say that again. Some critique the text and they say that because of the language used with this word God, that it is not God, but less than God, are God-like qualities. But that is not the language. The language says God. That's one of the mistakes that some make.

They will de-emphasize God and they say, "Well, this was God-like qualities." Another thing is although the subject is the word, if you go back to the text, what is he saying? And the word was God. Obviously, the subject is the word, but in the original language, it reads, "The word was," and then there is an emphasis on God. The language does not identify the person, but notice what it says. The word was with God. Now why am I taking some time here? This is where heresy comes from and some of you are familiar with this because you have met some people who are called Jehovah's Witnesses.

The Jehovah's Witnesses make the mistake in interpreting this verse wrong. What do they say? They say it like this. In the beginning, the word was and the word was with God and the word was a God. They de-emphasize God. Thus, they produce a heresy because what they produce is a faulty Christology. And what I want you to see is it is important for us to understand every nut and every bolt and every word and every phrase because if you don't understand it properly, the word was with God, then what will happen is it will be a de-emphasization of who God really is. And look, remember the context. John's readers were in a terrible predicament.

The people there in the Ephesian church and in those areas were fighting what? Heresies that attack the person of Christ. Heresies that attack the Christology that John is giving. That's why John is making the case. Let me tell you who the word is because right off the bat, he is establishing a proper Christology. And look, all the cults, all the cults, they attack Christ and his deity. The fifth truth I want us to see, I want us to notice who was with God. This is found in verse 2. It says he was in the beginning with God. Now the only variation in the translations that you read, the King James says the same was in the beginning with God.

John here tells us who the word is. It is he. This is Christ. Truthfully, this is very much a repeat of verse 1, but again, John is revealing who the word is. It is Jesus because what is he doing? He is establishing who Christ is and his goal is to do this. I'm not going to tell you he's a teacher. I'm not going to tell you he's a prophet. I'm going to tell you that he is God in the flesh. And in the beginning, he is establishing the deity of Christ, the Godhood of Christ. And I want you to see who was with God. It is none other than Christ. So what we see is Christ was preexistent and Christ was with God. So go back to the verse.

Go back to verse 1. In the beginning was the word. Who is the word? That's Christ. The word was with God. Who is the word? That's Christ. And the word was God. What do we see? You keep going. He and the new American has it correct with he. He was in the beginning with God. So notice the truth. Layer upon layer upon layer. First what do we see? The time. God is preexistent. Now we see the word. Now we see where the word was. The word was with God. And now we see who the word is. And now we see the word was with God from the beginning. And that is none other than the living Lord Jesus.

Now as I move from the text, I want to give you several key truths that come from these verses that help us understand the text so we will be proper and correct when we venture through the book. And I hope you write these down. Number one, proper Christology or a proper understanding of who Christ is is crucial. If one fails to understand these two verses, they are free falling into heresy because if you alter the God of the scripture, if you alter God the Father and God the Son, then you bring upon yourself and other people heresy. That is exactly what the Jehovah's Witnesses have done. Now I really want you to take notice of this.

The Jehovah's Witnesses have put out their own translation. They did it years ago. It's called the New World Translation. And what do they do? They alter Christ. They do not present Him as Christ deity. So we must understand proper Christology. Number two, these key truths, here we have some of the crucial teaching of the Trinity. Many of you have wondered where the teaching of the Trinity comes from. Well you might say, "Well, Brother Chris, I don't see that word 'Trinity' anywhere in verses 1 through 2, even on down to verses 1 through 5." No, you won't find that word, but you will find some of the crucial teaching of the Trinity.

Because what do you have? You have God the Father and you have God the Son. They are distinct persons. Go back to the text. "In the beginning was the Word," that's Jesus, "and the Word was with God." Two distinct personalities. But what do we see? "And the Word was God." So what do we see? We see this seeming contradiction. God is God the Father. Jesus is Jesus the Son. But yet they are separate personalities, but yet they are one. What is that? That is crucial teaching about what theologians call the Trinity. And notice, I did not say all of the crucial teaching because John doesn't give us the teaching on the Holy Spirit yet.

John completes his teaching on the Trinity when he gives us the work of the Holy Spirit later in the book. So what do I want you to see? Proper Christology is important, but then when we get into the book, you must understand the Godhead. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They are separate, but yet they are one. A seeming contradiction in our eyes, but yet we accept it by faith because it is taught in the Scripture. And any group that attacks that, what is that? Heresy. Lies. And the third thing I want us to see, these are key truths to take us through this book.

Proper Christology, the beginnings of the teaching of the Trinity, and the third truth I want you to see is we must see this as part of the prologue. You might say, "Well, preacher, there's that funny word again." Remember the prologue. The prologue is a separate introductory section of material. John gives us an introduction to the book, verses 1 through 18. What is John doing? John is saying, "I want you to get these truths right. I'm going to correct error. I don't know what you've been influenced by.

I'm going to give you truths that are elementary, verses 1 through 18." And basically what he's saying is, "When you get them and you digest them and you know them and you got them in your pocket, then we can dive into the book." And just like it was important for them, it is important for you and it is important for me. Because look, when we understand verses 1 through 18, we have the basics to get all that God wants to give us through the gospel of John and the remaining teaching. Another Bible commentator that I ran across said it like this. John intends that the whole of his gospel shall be read in the light of these verses.

The deeds and the words of Jesus are the deeds and the words of God. If this be not true, the book is blasphemous. What is this writer saying? If John's not accurate in what he is saying in verses 1 and 2, then the whole book is a farce because the whole book is about Christ. Now as I close, I want to try to make some good application.

You know me, I want to try to answer that age-old question, "So what?" I was talking to one of the men of the church this week and I was talking about my preaching and teaching and I said to him, "I always want to answer the question, 'So what?'" And you might say, "What does that mean?" When I get through preaching, you've got to be able to answer that, "So what?" So what does it mean to me? Listen, if I take the word and I teach it so high and so lofty and I never bring it down to your life and how it will affect you, then I've not done my job. So what? What does this mean for you? What does this mean for us?

See, for us who are Christian, when we begin to see a fresh and a new, maybe in a way in which we never have, who God really is, it begins to sink into us. It begins to open up our minds to the truth that it was God who came and suffered and bled and died. It was God the Father who chose to do this for us. It helps us to see Christ exalted. Christ wasn't just a prophet. Christ wasn't just a sacrifice. Christ didn't just die on the cross for you and for me. No, Christ was God. And any time we exalt Christ, it edifies us. It grows us. And you know what? It might just change our prayer life.

It might just change how we worship and how we view the Word. It might just change everything about us because the more we see of Christ, the more we see of ourselves. The more we see of Christ, the more we reflect on the fact that He did die for us, a dirty, low-down rotten rebel. See, that will edify us and grow us. But see, the other so what is this? There are some people among us, they're not redeemed. They're not blood-bought. They've never been born from above, which we will learn about in John 3. And see, for them is, this so what? So what? I can't get in on it. I don't know this God you're talking about.

It's something obscure and off in a distance. But yet it could be that God is drawing you here to this place to hear this teaching through the Gospel of John about Christ Jesus to draw you to the Savior, thus fulfilling John's evangelistic desire. Because the Gospel of John will teach us, Jesus said, "If I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto myself." That's the evangelistic strategy to reach the world. Oh yes, we go out and we touch people. We do things, deeds of kindness. We love on people, administer to people. But see, listen, if we lift up Christ, He will draw them.

So the so what at the end of the message is, for us who are Christian, it should change us, cause our worship to be different. It should grow us, but then those who are lost and without Christ, it should show them their great need for this wonderful Son of God who did come. So what do we see? The title of the message. The title of the message this morning is the word, part one. There's so much to learn here. And next week we're going to continue with verses three through five. And we're going to get a full glimpse of the word, the word, the word. Let's pray. I want you to bow your head and close your eyes.

If you would, just ask the Lord to help you as we really get started in this book.