So we turn in our Bibles to the
Gospel according to John.
The Gospel of John was the last of
the Gospels that was written.
It was written towards the close of that
first century, written by John for the purpose
of convincing people that Jesus is the Christ,
that by believing in Him they might have
life in His name.
John declares his purpose in writing these books.
He said, many other things did Jesus which
are not written, but these things were written
that you might believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of the Living God, and
by believing have life in His name.
So there is a definite purpose in John's
mind as he wrote this book.
And because this is the reason for this
book, it is the best book to encourage
an unbeliever to read.
Because John wrote that they might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
Living God, and by believing have life in
His name.
That's why he wrote it.
And he's very upfront in telling you why
he wrote it.
And so it was written to counteract some
of the false concepts concerning Jesus Christ, a
lot of the heresy that had developed in
the very first century.
Now Paul the Apostle warned the Ephesian elders
that after I'm gone, I know that there
are going to be wolves that are going
to come in, not sparing the flock of
God, but seeking to draw men after themselves.
And from your own group there will be
of those who arise who will even deny
our very Lord.
And before Paul was gone long from Ephesus,
these things were already happening.
The false teachers were moving in, perverting the
truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
A system known as Gnosticism was one of
the early systems of belief that permeated the
church and began to draw people away into
false concepts concerning Jesus Christ.
The church wasn't very old before the Arian
heresy arose, the denying of the deity of
Jesus Christ, putting him on the level of
man.
Gnosticism with its concepts of Jesus and really
confusing concepts of Jesus, part divine, part man,
and yet sort of a phantom kind of
a thing.
They made up stories that as he walked
on the sandy beach, he wouldn't leave footprints
because he wasn't really real.
And their idea was anything that is real
is evil.
The world is so evil that God could
not have created the world.
And so originally there was the pure, holy
God and emanations went out from this pure,
holy God.
And finally, one of these emanations got so
far from God that it no longer knew
God.
And it was this emanation that created the
world.
And thus the world was created by an
evil force and everything material is evil.
And so Jesus could not have been a
man else he would have been evil.
So he was a phantom and a lot
of weird things.
And so John wrote this epistle or this
letter, this gospel actually, in order to correct
some of those early false teachings that had
begun to permeate the church.
Now, it is interesting that as the writers
begin the gospels, they each one picked a
different place to begin.
And with the gospel of Matthew, he began
with the generation or the genealogy of Jesus
going back to Abraham.
And when Mark began his gospel, he began
it at the baptism of Jesus by John.
When Luke began his gospel, he began it
with the annunciation to Zacharias, the father of
John the Baptist, the father of Abraham.
And with his gospel, he goes clear on
back to the very beginning of time, which
had no beginning.
He goes back even further than Genesis.
The book of Genesis is the beginning of
creation.
In the beginning, God created.
But God existed long before he created.
And so Genesis, you go back to the
beginning of creation.
But before that, God was.
God existed.
So John goes back to the that infinite,
eternal past and declares in the beginning was
the word.
Now, the Greeks talked much about the Logos.
And according to the Greek philosophy, everything pre
-existed in a thought.
Anything that you see existed in thought before
it became form.
In other words, this pulpit here began with
a thought.
Some craftsman had in his mind a design,
an idea for a podium.
And so he drew it out on a
piece of paper, but it was the expression
of his thought.
And so before anything exists, it has pre
-existed in a thought.
So to the Greek philosopher, the thought was
the origin of things.
Well, the Bible takes you one step further
back.
It said if there was a thought, then
there had to be a thinker because you
can't have a thought without a thinker.
So in the beginning, God in the beginning
was the word.
And so it actually goes back even before
the thought you have the existence of the
one who thought or the existence of God.
So in the beginning, God here in the
beginning was the word.
He was existing then.
And the word was with God.
And the word was God.
Powerful declaration of the deity of Jesus Christ.
So plain, so straight, so forthright that even
a little child in reading it could not
be confused.
It would take a Jehovah witness to confuse
this passage of Scripture.
And they did by the insertion of an
article, the, and the word was or a
God.
But they had to create something that doesn't
exist in the original language in order to
twist this whole thing around.
John is starting out with the plain declaration
that Jesus, the word is God, just as
straight and forward, forthright as can be declared.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him.
And without him was not anything made that
was made.
So now he comes to creation.
You see, John goes back before creation.
In the beginning, before there was anything, there
was the word.
He was with God.
He was God.
He was in the beginning with God and
then creation.
All things were made by him in the
account.
In Genesis, we read in the beginning.
God created the heaven and the earth.
The word God in Hebrew there is Elohim,
which is a plural form.
Now, there are those who say, well, the
plural form was used for emphasis, but that
appears to be an invention because God is
also referred to as the singular.
And if it is used only for emphasis,
then it would be confusing to use the
same term to refer to God in the
singular.
It is my opinion that when the God
L singular is used, that it is a
reference to the father.
That the Elohim is a reference to the
triunity of the Godhead, one God existing in
three persons.
And God said, let us make man in
our image and after our likeness.
Who was God talking to?
In the divine councils, there was that creation.
The father, the son and the spirit and
divine counsel.
Let us make man in our image after
our likeness here in John.
The first chapter, Jesus is ascribed as the
creator of all things.
Paul, as he is writing to the Colossians
concerning the preeminence of Jesus.
He declares that he is not only the
creator, but he is the object of creation.
By him were all things made and for
him.
So, he is not only the creator, but
the object of creation.
All things were made by him.
The universe around us and all of its
life forms.
And without him was not anything made that
was made.
And in him was life.
And the life was the light of men
and the light shineth in darkness.
But the darkness comprehended it not or apprehended
it not or could not lay hold of
it.
Jesus said, I am the light of the
world.
He that cometh unto me shall not walk
in darkness, but shall have the light of
life.
Now, here it is declared that the light
shineth in darkness.
This is the reference to the coming of
Jesus Christ to the earth.
Here he is, the light of the world
shining in the darkness, but the darkness does
not apprehend it.
Now, there was a man who was sent
from God whose name was John.
The same came for a witness.
And twice we will read of John's witness.
Here in chapter 1 verse 15, John bare
witness of him and cried saying, this was
he of whom I speak.
And then he also testified in verse 34.
And I saw and bear record that this
is the son of God.
That's the testimony of John the Baptist concerning
Jesus Christ.
So there was a man who was sent
from God.
His name was John.
He was.
He came for a witness to bear witness
of the light that all men through him
might believe.
Now he, John was not that light, but
was sent to bear witness of that light.
And that was the true light, which light
of every man that cometh into the world.
He was in the world.
The world was made by him and the
world knew him not.
Can you grasp that one?
Jesus, the light.
He came to shine in the darkness, the
true light.
He was in the world.
We are already told that we're already told
that all things were made by him.
And without him was not anything made that
was made.
He was in the world and the world
was made by him.
And yet the world knew him not.
That is the world of man.
It would appear that there were aspects of
nature and of the world that did know
him.
It is interesting that those who were possessed
with evil spirits often cried out, we know
who you are.
Evidently the winds and the waves knew who
he was.
For when he was standing in the little
ship and it was about to sink, when
he spoke to the wind and the waves
and said, peace, be still, they obeyed his
voice.
They knew who he was.
The rocks evidently knew who he was.
Because when the Pharisees were encouraging him to
rebuke his disciples on the day of his
triumphant entry, he said, I say unto you
that if these should hold their peace, these
very stones would immediately cry out.
They knew who he was, but it was
only the darkened minds of man that failed
to recognize him.
He was in the world.
The world was made by him.
And yet the world knew him not.
Evidently that little donkey knew who he was.
No man had ever ridden on that little
donkey before.
And yet I'm sure that when Jesus sat
on him, he was just as docile as
could be.
He knew who he was.
Someone has put words in the mouth of
that little donkey.
I think it was Chedderton.
I don't know if I can recall it
or not.
Yeah, it's coming.
It's working.
It's the juices are flowing and the circuits
are coming together.
When fishes flew and forest walked and figs
grew upon a thorn.
Some moment when the moon was blood, then
surely I was born with an ugly face
and let's see.
No, it isn't.
It isn't ugly face.
Let's see.
And ears like errant wings, the devil's walking
parody of all four footed things.
The ancient outlaw of the earth with stubborn,
tattered will mock me, scourge me.
I am dumb, but I hold my secrets
still fools.
I also had my day, one fierce day
and sweet.
I heard the shouts around my ears and
there were palm branches at my feet.
The story of the donkey, it's, it's, I
missed one line in there.
It's with sickening cry and something and ears
like errant wings, but it's sickening crying.
I'll get it one of these days.
He was in the world.
The world was made by him and the
world knew him not.
One step further, he came to his own
and his own received him not.
He said, I am come to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel, his own.
He was their promised Messiah.
He came to his own, but they said,
we have no King, but Caesar.
They said, we will not have this man
to rule over us.
And his own received him not.
And the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled.
He was despised and rejected of men, but
glorious good news as many as received him
to them, gave he the power, the authority
to become the sons of God, even as
many as believed on his name.
So here he is in the beginning with
God, the creator of all things coming to
his creation, not being recognized, not being apprehended,
coming to his own, not being received.
And yet as many as would receive him.
And so the gospel of grace, as many
as would receive him to them, he gave
the power to become the sons of God,
the son of God becoming man in order
that he might make each of us sons
of God who would believe in his name,
which were born, not of flesh or not
of blood.
First of all, you cannot become a son
of God through physical genealogy.
I am not a son of God because
my parents were Christians.
My children are not Christians because I am
a Christian.
It's not of blood.
It's not something that you can inherit from
your parents or pass on to your children.
This dynamic life as a child of God
is not of the will of the flesh.
It is not something that you can set
your mind to and become.
That is, I'm going to live this new
dynamic life.
I'm not going to walk in darkness anymore.
I'm going to live a generous, self-sacrificing
life, the life that is the ideal that
God has declared for man.
You can't do it by the will of
the flesh, nor is it by the will
of man.
It isn't by the force or coercion of
others or the encouragement of others.
You cannot come into this new life because
someone is pushing you or coercing you into
it.
This new birth can only come from God,
born of God as a child of God.
So, I was born once by blood, by
the will of the flesh, and by the
will of man.
Here I am.
That was my physical birth.
But my spiritual birth can't take place that
way.
The spiritual birth has to come from God.
And so, I have been born again by
the Spirit of God, the new life.
And the Word was made flesh and tabernacled
among us.
This is, of course, the tremendous swing of
the pendulum, if you can follow it.
In the beginning was the Word.
He was with God, He was God.
He was in the beginning with God, and
all things were made by Him, the divine,
eternal Creator.
And the Word was made flesh and He
dwelt among us.
This tremendous downward sweep from the area of
the infinity into the realm of the finite,
from the eternal into time.
Surely our minds cannot grasp the scope of
this.
The disciples, as years passed and they had
an opportunity to really reflect upon Jesus and
their acquaintance and their relationship to Him, I'm
certain were more and more amazed and marveled
at what actually transpired.
As John begins his first epistle, he begins
it much the same way as he declares,
that which was from the beginning, which we
have seen, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes and gazed steadfastly
upon, and our hands have handled of the
Word of life.
For that life was manifested, and we've seen
it, and we bear witness and show unto
you that eternal life, which was with the
Father and was manifested to us.
Now John is just reflecting on his relationship
with Jesus.
That which was from the beginning, which we
have heard, and suddenly they realized when we
heard Him talk, we were listening to the
voice of God.
When we looked upon Him, we were looking
upon God.
When we touched Him, we were touching God.
That eternal life, we saw Him, we gazed,
we touched.
Oh, the wonder of it all.
And John stands in awe and wonder of
that experience that he had had.
Jesus said, I and the Father are one.
When Philip said, Lord, just show us the
Father and we'll be satisfied.
He said, Philip, have I been so long
a time with you?
Have you not seen me?
He that hath seen me hath seen the
Father.
How sayest thou then, show us the Father?
Believest thou not that I am in the
Father and the Father in me?
The works that I do, I do not
of myself, but the Father.
He doeth the works.
Now believe me that I am in the
Father and the Father in me, or else
believe me for the very work's sake.
In other words, I've been doing the work
of God.
I've been showing you the Father.
We'll read in a moment, No man hath
seen God at any time, but the only
begotten Son, which is in the bosom of
the Father.
He has displayed Him.
He has made Him known.
He has declared Him.
He that hath seen me hath seen the
Father.
And so do you want to know what
God is like?
Do you want to know the truth about
God?
Then you must look at Jesus Christ and
study Him carefully, for He was God manifested
in flesh, for the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us, in order that He might
reveal the Father unto man.
Because man had developed such wrong concepts of
God.
God has been maligned and lied against continually
by Satan.
And even today, Satan continues his work so
that people have all kinds of grotesque, false
concepts concerning God.
One of the most common phrases in profanity
is that God would damn certain things or
certain people.
And you hear it so often, as though
God is just desiring to damn everything and
everybody.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
God Himself, the Bible declares concerning God, He
is not willing that any should perish, but
that all should come to repentance.
And God cried to Israel and said, Turn
ye, turn ye, for why will ye die,
saith the Lord?
Behold, I have no pleasure in the death
of the wicked.
Turn ye.
People see God as fury and wrath and
judgment and fire and thunder, when in reality,
He has a heart that yearns after your
love and your fellowship.
How people misread the Bible, even in the
book of Genesis, when man first fell and
God came into the garden to commune with
man and Adam hid himself, for he realized
that he was naked.
And God said, Adam, where art thou?
Now, we have the words, but we don't
have the tone of voice.
And that's what people put into their own
minds, the tone of voice.
And so often a person in reading that
puts in that tone of voice of an
arresting officer holding the gun on the bank
robber.
Hold your hands up, you know, blast a
hole through you.
Adam, where art thou?
But as I read the whole scripture and
I understand God through the whole revelation of
himself, I'm convinced that rather than the bark
of an arresting officer to hear the voice
correctly, you will hear it as the sob
of a heartbroken father.
Adam, what have you done?
Adam, where are you?
Just that broken heart of God over the
failure of man.
And this is what Jesus shows to us
as he weeps over Jerusalem.
Oh, Jerusalem, if you only knew your possibilities,
if you only knew the potentials, if you
only knew the things that belong to your
peace, but you don't, they're hid from your
eyes.
And as the result of your ignorance, devastation
is going to come.
And we see his chest as it is
heaving.
And we hear him as he is sobbing,
as he cries over Jerusalem and the terror
that will come because of their blindness, because
of their ignorance.
If you only knew, if you only knew.
And he weeps as he looks at the
city and he knows the impending doom that
is coming because of the path that they
have chosen.
And there you see the heart broken, the
broken heart of the heavenly father as he
is weeping over the lost estate of man.
Jesus came to reveal God.
The word became flesh and he dwelled among
us in order that we might know the
truth about God.
There was a publisher of a newspaper who
declared himself an agnostic.
And yet every year his wife, who was
a Christian and the children would go to
church for the Christmas Eve service.
And because it was Christmas Eve and a
family celebration, he went yearly with them as
the children would give their recitations and their
program and sing the carols.
But this one particular year he decided that
he wasn't going to make his annual pilgrimage
to the church because he saw it as
an act of hypocrisy.
He said, I do not believe in the
incarnation.
I do not believe that Jesus was God
in the flesh, for I don't see any
reason why God would have to come in
the flesh.
And therefore, I'm not going to be a
hypocrite any longer.
I'm not going to church with a family
on Christmas.
And despite all of the persuasive efforts of
the wife, he could not be dissuaded from
his position.
And so on Christmas Eve, he saw the
family leaving in a blizzard to go to
the church to celebrate the Christmas Eve program.
As he sat by the fire, got out
a book and began to just sort of
settle into his reading.
Before long, a little bird tried to fly
into the window, attracted by the light of
the fire inside and suffering outside in the
blizzard.
This little bird started flying up against the
window, beating itself against the window pane, trying
to come inside.
And it distracted him from his reading and
he thought, well, a little bird go away,
but it wouldn't.
It kept trying to fly in.
And so he finally decided, well, I guess
I'll have to do something about it.
And so he went down to the barn
and opened up the door and turned on
the light so that the little bird could
be attracted to the light in the barn,
hoping that it would see the light and
fly on down and find the shelter there
in the barn from the blizzard.
Walking back up to the house, he found
a little bird on the outside, still trying
to fly into the window.
By now it begun to bloody itself from
just flying up against the pane of glass.
So he tried to show the bird that
there was the light on in the barn
and there was a place down there for
it to go and to get warm and
to be sheltered from the storm.
And he started to sort of shoosh at
the bird and swing at it a bit.
But the more he did, the more frantic
the little bird became in trying to fly
into the glass and began to injure itself
even more.
And he found himself talking to the little
bird.
He said, little bird, I don't hate you.
I'm trying to help you.
Don't you understand, little bird?
I'm your friend.
I don't mean you harm.
I want to help you.
Poor, stupid little bird, don't you know?
And then the thought came into his mind.
Oh, if only I could become a bird
for a moment to communicate to this poor
little creature that I don't hate it.
I'm trying to help it.
And suddenly the light flashed.
God became man because man so misunderstood God.
He didn't hate man.
He wasn't trying to harm man.
He wanted to help man.
He went in the house, got his overcoat
and everything and headed off for church, met
the family.
He saw the reason for the incarnation that
God might communicate to us the truth about
himself, that truth that had been lost in
the garbled concepts that man had created.
Of God.
So the word was made flesh and he
dwelt among us and we, John said, beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father.
We are sons of God through faith, but
we have been begotten again through our faith.
We've been born again, but there is only
one begotten son in the sense that Jesus
was begotten of the father and we beheld
him as the only begotten of the father,
full of grace and truth.
Now, John, there was a man sent from
God.
His name was John.
He wasn't the light.
He came to bear witness of the light
and John bear witness of him and cried
saying, this is he of whom I speak.
He that cometh after me is preferred before
me for he was before me.
Now, John was by physical birth, a cousin
to Jesus.
However, John was born before Jesus was born,
probably in about the sixth month of Mary's
pregnancy when John was born.
So yet John is saying of him, he
is preferred before me for he was before
me.
So he is talking about that pre-existence
of Jesus prior to his incarnation and of
his fullness have all we received and grace
for grace for the law was given by
Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ.
Now, when God made man, God made man
for fellowship, that was the purpose of God
creating you, that he might receive just that
praise and glory and all from your fellowship
with him that he might enjoy and just
receive that, that joy and blessing of just
fellowshipping with you.
You say, well, that sounds sort of selfish
to me.
Well, perhaps it was nothing I can do
about it.
That's why God created me.
That's the only reason why God created me,
really, that I might have fellowship, but that's
the primary purpose that we might have fellowship
with him.
Now, if you are not fulfilling that primary
purpose of your life, then your life is
bound to be empty, unfulfilling, and ultimately frustrating
because you're not fulfilling the basic purpose for
which God created you.
You're not answering to that basic need and
necessity in man of worshipping God, fellowshiping with
him.
But man did not live on this planet
long before he broke that fellowship with God
by disobedience, sinning against God in his disobeying
of the commandment of God.
And the net effect of sin is always
that of severing fellowship with God.
God's hand is not short that he cannot
save, neither is his ear heavy that he
cannot hear, but your sins have separated between
you and God.
Sin always has that effect of separating a
man from God.
God said to Adam, in the day that
you eat, you will surely die.
That is the death of the consciousness of
God within the heart of man, the death
of the life of God, that spirit of
God and that life of God within man.
It happened.
Adam ate and that death took place, that
spiritual death.
Now, God still longed for fellowship with man,
but that fellowship had been severed by man
because of man's sin.
Now, in order that man might have fellowship
with God, something first had to be done
about man's sin.
And so God sent Moses and God gave
to Moses the law of the sacrifices, the
covering of sin, making possible the restoration of
fellowship with God.
And in part of the sacrificial offerings were
these offerings that were just fellowship offerings, the
communion offerings, the meal offering in which I
just would sit and eat with God and
fellowship with God after the sin offering.
Then that offering of consecration, the burnt offering,
and then the peace offering, the fellowship offering,
where I just sit down and eat with
God and fellowship with him.
But that could not be until, first of
all, the sin offering.
I had to take care first of the
sin.
And so under the law and under Moses,
the covenant of God through Moses, there was
that provision for the covering of sin so
that sinful man could be restored into fellowship
with God and could sit and commune and
eat with God.
But these offerings of the bulls and goats
could not put away sin.
All they could do was cover sin and
they could point to an offering that God
himself was going to make by which the
sin of man could be put away so
that the fellowship between man and God could
be totally and completely restored.
And so the law came by Moses.
This is not looking at the law in
a derogatory sense.
This is looking at the law as God
intended it as a tool by which man
could come into fellowship with God, but an
imperfect tool because of man's failure.
Nothing wrong with the law.
It was good.
It was holy.
But man was still sinful.
And that's the necessity of year after year,
the offering of the sacrifices for sin.
So God has established now through Jesus Christ,
a new covenant of grace and truth by
the law, Moses covenant with God, but now
through Jesus Christ, a new covenant, a new
covenant that is established on the grace of
God in the truth of Jesus Christ.
So the law came by Moses, but grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Now, no man has seen God at any
time.
Of course, people immediately say, well, what about
Moses?
When God said to Moses, what would you
like?
He said, Lord, I'd just like to see
you.
And God said, you can't see me and
live.
But God said, I'll tell you what you
get there in the rocks and I will
pass by.
And then you can see the afterglow.
It says the hinder part, but it's actually
the afterglow of God having passed by a
spot.
And then Moses looking at the radiation of
the afterglow and he became irradiated in looking
at that.
His face began to shine so that when
he came back to the children of Israel,
they couldn't look at his face.
They said, cover it, man, you're shining, you
know, can't stand to look at your face.
But no man has seen God at any
time.
Your, your, your physical body just couldn't handle
that.
It'd be like trying to stand in the
sun.
You'd be consumed.
Now, God has promised that the pure in
heart shall see him, but not in this
body.
We're going to have to have a change
of body.
Paul said, this corruption must put on incorruption.
This mortal must put on immortality.
One day I expect to see God, but
not in this body.
In my new body, this body is designed
for the earth of the earth, earthy design
for the environmental conditions of the earth.
My new body far superior design for the
heavenly environment.
And in that new body, I can behold
the face of the Lord and I can
sit and worship at his feet.
What a glorious day that will be.
So no man has seen God at any
time, but the only begotten son, which is
in the bosom of the father, he hath
manifested him, declared him, demonstrated him, brought him
forth into full revelation.
He has revealed him to us.
And this is the record of John the
Baptist.
When the Jews sent the priest and the
Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are
you?
John was baptizing.
We read in the wilderness and multitudes of
people were going out, being attracted by this
man.
And so in Jerusalem, the religious leaders got
upset.
You know, this guy's out there baptizing and
we didn't send him out there and he
doesn't have our authority.
And they sent the priest and Levites out
to ask the guy, who are you anyhow?
And this is the record of John.
He confessed and he did not deny, but
he confessed.
I am not the Messiah.
And that was really, who are you?
You know, are you saying that you're the
Messiah?
He said, I am not the Messiah.
And because the word Christ is Messiah.
So got to remember that I am not
the Messiah.
And they asked him, are you then Elijah?
Now the prophecy said that Elijah would first
come and turn the hearts of the children
to the fathers before the coming of the
great day of the Lord.
And so are you Elijah?
The Jews, even to the present day at
their Passover services or in their home at
their Passover celebrations have the chair, the empty
chair, the door is open.
Waiting for Elijah, are you Elijah forerunner of
the Messiah?
And he said, I am not.
Now this brings confusion to some people because
in Matthew's gospel about the 17th chapter, Jesus
talking about John said, this is Elijah.
If you're able to receive it, but John
said, I am not.
That is, he is not the full, complete
fulfillment of the prophecy of Elijah.
He came in the spirit and the power
of Elijah going back to Luke's gospel chapter
one, when Gabriel, the angel appeared into Zachariah,
the father of John the Baptist, as he
was ministering during his course in the temple.
And when Zachariah saw the angel standing there
at the right side of the altar, he
was greatly afraid.
And he said to Zacharias, fear not.
I am Gabriel.
I am standing in the presence of God.
And I've been sent him to the, to
let you know that your wife, Elizabeth in
her old age is going to conceive and
bear a son.
And that's what call his name, John.
And he shall go forth in the spirit
and the power of Elijah to turn the
hearts of the children to their fathers.
And he began to tell him of the
ministry of his son, John the Baptist.
He'll go forth in the spirit and the
power of Elijah.
But when they asked John plainly, are you
then Elijah?
He said, no.
And they said, are you that prophet now
Moses promised and there shall come a prophet
like unto myself and to him, shall you
give heed?
Are you that prophet that Moses spoke about?
And he said, no.
20 questions.
And they then said unto him, then who
are you?
That we may give an answer to those
who have sent us.
What do you say of yourself?
And he said, I am the voice of
one crying in the wilderness, make straight the
way of the Lord as was predicted by
Isaiah, the prophet.
And they which were sent were of the
Pharisees.
And they asked him and said unto him,
why do you baptize then if you are
not the Messiah or Elijah or the prophet?
And John answered them saying, I baptize with
water, but there is standing one among you
whom you do not know.
He it is who's coming after me is
preferred before me, whose shoe latchet I'm not
unworthy to untie.
Now, these things were done in Bethabara beyond
Jordan, where John was baptizing.
And the next day, John saw Jesus coming
unto him and he said, behold, the lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of
the world.
Oh, what a tremendous statement concerning Jesus, the
lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world.
How did the lamb of God remove the
sin by a sacrificial substitutionary death that was
just deeply embedded in their mind as a
result of their culture and their worship and
their religion?
How then is Jesus to take away the
sin of the world by his substitutionary death?
Behold, the lamb of God that takes away
the sin of the world.
This is he of whom I said after
me, there comes a man which is preferred
before me for he was before me and
I knew him not, but that he should
be made manifest to Israel.
Therefore, I am come baptizing with water.
Now I knew him not.
And then we have a new phrase, but
that he should be made manifest to Israel.
I have come baptizing with water.
That's why I'm here in order that this
man might be made manifest to Israel.
I didn't know he's my cousin.
I didn't realize who he was.
I knew him.
I didn't know who he was.
I didn't know that he was the one.
I know that God sent me to declare,
to declare, prepare you the way of the
Lord, make straight his paths.
But, you know, I didn't know who he
was, but the purpose of my being here
is that he might be made manifest to
Israel.
And I knew him not, but that he
should be made manifest to Israel.
Therefore, I'm come baptizing with water.
And John bear record saying, I saw the
spirit descending from heaven like a dove and
it abode upon him.
And I knew him not, but he that
sent me to baptize with water, the same
said unto me upon whom thou shalt see
the spirit descending and remaining on him.
The same is he which baptizes with the
Holy spirit.
So John said, I didn't know him until
I saw the spirit like a dove coming
and resting upon him.
And I know that the one who told
me to go out and baptize also told
me that the one that you see the
spirit descending and staying upon, that is the
one who is going to baptize with the
Holy spirit.
And so John said, I saw, and I
bear record that this is the son of
God.
John was sent as a witness of the
light.
What is John's witness concerning Jesus Christ?
He is the son of God.
Now, the next day after this, John was
standing with two of his disciples and looking
upon Jesus as he walked, he said, behold,
the lamb of God.
Again, he had said earlier, behold, the lamb
of God that takes away the sin of
the world.
Now he just says, behold, the lamb of
God.
As John is writing the book of revelation,
the book of revelation centers around the lamb
of God to understand the book of revelation.
You've got to see the land and our
first view of the lamb of God, of
course, is, is in the first chapter of
revelation, as he describes Christ in his glory.
But then as he gets into the heavenly
scene, chapter five, when he was weeping, sobbing
convulsively, because no one was found worthy to
take the scroll or loose the seals.
And the, and the elder said unto him,
John, don't sob behold the lion of the
tribe of Judah has prevailed to take the
scroll and loose the seals.
And I turned and I saw him as
a lamb that had been slaughtered.
And he came and he took the scroll
out of the right hand of him that
was sitting upon the throne.
And when he took the scroll out of
the right hand of him sitting upon the
throne, the 24 elders came forth with their
golden vials, full of voters, which are the
prayers of the saints.
And they offered them before the throne of
God.
And they sang a new song saying worthy
is the lamb to take the scroll and
loose the seals for he was slain and
has redeemed us by his blood.
Behold the lamb of God that takes away
the sin of the world.
One day by the grace of God, we'll
be standing in that heavenly scene and we'll
see him as he comes and takes the
scroll and we'll hear there.
Behold the lamb of God who has taken
away our sins, the sin of the world.
So John is now with two of his
disciples and John is saying to his disciples,
they're standing there talking.
He says, behold the lamb of God.
And the two disciples heard what John said
and they followed Jesus.
Now John's testimony of Jesus is, is, Hey,
you know, I'm only a, an attendant to
the bridegroom and I'm honored when the bridegroom
is honored and he must increase, I must
decrease.
So John is now pointing his own disciples
to Jesus.
And one of those disciples happened to be
Andrew, the brother of Peter.
And so these two disciples started to follow
Jesus and Jesus turned and he saw them
following him.
And he said, who are you looking for?
And they said unto him, rabbi, which is
being interpreted master, where do you live?
And Jesus said, come and see.
And they came and saw where he was
living and they stayed with him that day
for it was about the 10th hour.
It was getting late in the afternoon, four
o'clock.
So one of the two, which heard John
speaking and followed him was Andrew, Simon, Peter's
brother.
Now, Andrew, we are not told too much
about these Simon, Peter's brother, but it is
interesting that in the new Testament, we always
find Andrew bringing people to Jesus.
That seemed to be his ministry, just bringing
people to Jesus.
But what a beautiful ministry that is.
It was Andrew who brought the little boy
to Jesus with the five loaves and the
two fish.
Andrew, and you'll see him bringing people to
Jesus.
So Andrew, first of all, found his own
brother, Simon.
And he said unto him, we have found
the Messiah, which is being interpreted the Christ.
So there you see the Christ is Messiah.
And he brought him to Jesus.
And when Jesus beheld him, he said, you're
Simon, the son of Jonah, and you shall
be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a
stone.
You're Simon, you're son of Jonah, but you're
going to be called Cephas, a stone.
The following day, Jesus came forth into the
area of Galilee, and he found Philip.
And he said unto him, follow me.
Now, Philip was of Bethsaida, which was the
same city where Andrew and Peter originated.
Actually, Andrew and Peter evidently moved from Bethsaida
to Capernaum because Peter had a house in
Capernaum where Jesus stayed.
But Bethsaida was probably their hometown on up
about five miles from Capernaum around the Sea
of Galilee and up near where the Jordan
River comes into the Sea of Galilee.
Now, Philip found Nathanael and said unto him,
we have found him of whom Moses in
the law and the prophets did write, Jesus
of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
We've found him.
The one that Moses wrote about, the one
that the prophets have written about, Jesus of
Nazareth.
And Nathanael said unto him, can any good
thing come out of Nazareth?
Philip said unto him, come and see.
Nazareth evidently didn't have too good of a
reputation.
And so Philip's answer was just a good
answer.
You just come and see.
So Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and
he said of him, behold, an Israelite indeed,
and whom is no guile.
You're a straight shooter.
And Nathanael said unto him, how did you
know me?
And Jesus answered and said unto him, before
Philip called you, when you were sitting there
under that fig tree, I saw you.
And Nathanael answered and said unto him, Rabbi,
thou art the son of God.
You're the king of Israel.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, because
I said unto you, I saw you under
the fig tree.
Do you believe?
Stick around.
You're going to see greater things than that.
And he said unto him, verily, verily, I
say unto you, after this, you're going to
see the heaven open and the angels of
God ascending and descending on the son of
man.
Where do we find that in scripture?
The heaven open and the angels ascending and
descending.
Remember when Jacob was running from his brother
Esau and he came to Bethel and he
was tired and he was scared and he
got a pillow, a rock for a pillow
and he went to sleep and he dreamed.
And in his dream, he saw the Lord
of heaven standing at the top of the
ladder and the angels of God were ascending
and descending.
And God spoke to him and said, behold,
I am the Lord, the God of your
fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
And in the morning when Jacob got up,
he said, truly, the Lord is in this
place.
And I knew it not.
Now, Jesus, in essence, is saying I am
the ladder.
I am the access by which man can
come to God.
I'm the one who ties heaven and earth
together.
You're going to see heaven open.
You're going to see the angels of God
ascending and descending upon the son of man.
So the son of man is the ladder
by which heaven is joined to earth.
When one of Job's friends counseled him, look,
man, just get right with God and you'll
be over with your problems.
He said, thanks a lot, you bag of
wind.
You tell me, get right with God.
You think you're helping me?
Who am I that I complete my case
with God?
God is so vast.
I look for him and I don't see
him.
I look to my right.
I look to my left.
I look behind me and I can't see
him.
And he said, there is no days man
between us who can lay his hand on
us both.
God is so vast.
He fills the universe.
I can't see him.
How can I plead my case with him
when I am just so nothing and God
is so great and there's no one between
us that can touch us both?
Heaven is so high.
How can I ascend?
How can I plead my case before God?
But Jesus is the answer to that cry
of Job, the days man who stands between
God and man, who touches God and who
touches me, the days man between us.
He is the ladder that has bridged from
the infinite to the finite, from eternal to
the time.
Now, in the third day, there was a
marriage in Cana of Galilee and the mother
of Jesus was there.
Cana of Galilee is about about oh five,
six miles from Nazareth and it's down.
You're starting from Nazareth.
You come over the top of the hill
from Nazareth and you sort of start down
this valley that ultimately brings you out to
the Sea of Galilee and it's the path
or the road that went from Nazareth to
the Sea of Galilee.
Cana, just a little village there.
And there was a marriage there in Cana
of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was
there and Jesus was invited and his disciples
with him to the marriage.
And when they wanted wine, the mother of
Jesus said unto him, they've run out of
wine.
And Jesus said, what business is that of
mine?
My hour is not yet come.
Woman, what am I to do?
What are you trying to do to me?
You know, my hour is not yet come.
Now, Mary knew more than she was saying.
She had pondered all these things in her
heart and now she began to realize the
full impact of what was happening with this
child that was born of the Holy Spirit
and his mother said to the servants.
Now, it's interesting.
Jesus sort of ignored her in a sense.
Woman, what have I to do with you?
My hour is not yet come.
But Mary said to the servants, whatever he
says for you to do, do it.
And there were there about six water pots.
There were there six water pots of stone
that were these water pots were the type
that they use for the purifying.
So each of them held two or three
firkins a piece and a firkin is about
nine gallons.
So 18 to 27 gallons a piece.
So they're good sized water pots, the kind
that you use for your cleansing ceremonies.
And Jesus said unto them, fill the water
pots with water.
And they filled them up to the brim
and he said unto them, now draw it
out and bear it to the governor of
the feast.
And so they took it to the governor
of the feast.
And when the ruler of the feast had
tasted the water that was made wine and
he knew not its origin from whence it
was, but the servants which drew the water,
they knew the governor of the feast called
the bridegroom.
And he said unto him, every man at
the beginning does set forth good wine.
And when everyone is pretty well drunk, then
he brings out the worse.
But you've kept the best, the best wine
until now.
Now this is the beginning of miracles, which
Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested
forth his glory and his disciples believed on
him.
And after this, he went down to Capernaum,
he and his mother and the brothers and
his disciples, and they continued there not many
days.
So the turning of water into wine, the
beginning of the miracles of Jesus.
And it is interesting to me that it
was at a festive occasion, a marriage feast.
And the first miracle, of course, of Christ
is, is very interesting and perhaps significant to
many.
And the Jews Passover was at hand and
Jesus went up to Jerusalem and he found
in the temple those that sold oxen and
sheep and doves and the changers of money.
And when he had made a scourge of
small cords, he drove them out of the
temple and the sheep and the oxen, and
he poured out the changers money and overthrew
the tables.
I love him.
There are those who try to picture Jesus
as a rather effeminate person, you know, just
the kind who wouldn't swat a fly, just
sort of weak and all, but he was
a man's man.
He came in and when he saw what
was going on in his father's house, he
was upset.
And he took and made a whip and
started cleaning things up, picking the tables and
dumping them over.
And it's interesting, one fellow could do so
much upsetting of that whole thing and yet
they couldn't handle him.
I mean, they just, they had to let
him go.
Why?
Because he was a man's man and they
didn't dare to challenge him.
He said unto them that sold the doves,
take these things out of here.
Make not my father's house, a house of
merchandise.
And his disciples remembered that it was written,
the zeal of thine house has eaten me
up.
Then answered the Jews and said unto him,
what sign do you show us seeing that
you're doing these things?
And he answered the Jews and said unto
them, and Jesus answered and said unto them,
destroy this temple, and in three days, I
will raise it up.
Now, this is an accusation that was brought
against Jesus at his trial.
He said, if we destroyed the temple, he
rebuild it in three days.
Now, they didn't understand what he was talking
about.
He was talking about his body, but they
thought that he was talking about this monstrous
building that Herod had begun to construct for
the Jews.
Herod died before it was ever finished, but
he had drawn the plans and had begun
the construction of this tremendous temple with its
huge stones.
And at this point, when Jesus was about
30 years old, they had been working, building
on it for some 46 years.
And it would take them another 19 years
to complete it.
And there were huge stones, some of them
weighing, according to Josephus, as much as 140
tons.
And so Jesus said, destroy this temple and
I'll build it again in three days.
And they said to him, 46 years was
this temple in building.
And will you rebuild it in three days?
But John tells us he was speaking of
the temple of his body.
Now, after he was risen from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this
unto them and they believed the scripture and
the word which Jesus had said.
Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the
Passover in the feast day, many believed in
his name when they saw the miracles which
he did.
But Jesus did not commit himself unto them
because he knew all men.
And he needed not that any should testify
of man, for he knew what was in
man.
There are many believed in him, but Jesus
did not commit himself to them.
He knew all men.
He knew what was in men.
He knew the fickleness of men.
You didn't have to tell Jesus about people
he already knew.
How many times we tell Jesus all about
ourselves, he already knows.
He needs not that any should testify of
man.
So, we move now into chapter three and
you're going to have a couple of weeks,
three weeks or so to study this one
over, so you ought to really get it
down tight.
Chapters three and four when we come back
to the Gospel of John.
Shall we stand?
Now, I know that some of you want
to know if it was real wine that
Jesus made.
Was it fermented wine or unfermented wine?
Who knows?
You know, you want me to know things
that I don't know.
However, the governor spoke about the type of
wine that they had could make a person
drunk.
And the general procedure was to, you know,
serve your good stuff when everybody's taste buds
are fresh and your minds are real clear.
And then when your mind start getting foggy,
then bring out your junk, you know.
They don't know what they're drinking by then.
I don't know.
I do know that the scripture teaches that
wine is a mocker and that strong drink
is raging.
And he who is deceived by it isn't
wise.
I do know that for an overseer in
the church, they're not to be given to
wine.
A person who has been chosen to the
office of the bishop or the overseer in
the church is not to be given to
wine.
So, all I can do is answer for
myself and I do not and would not
drink wine.
Because of my position.
All things are lawful for me.
But I will not be brought under the
power of any.
I really love the freedom that I have
in Christ.
The freedom to do or, even more important
to me, the freedom not to do.
I'm glad that I'm not bound by something
that, you know, is pulling me down and
tearing me down and I can't get away
from it.
I'm glad that I'm not under the power
of something like that.
Though it might be lawful for me to
do.
If it can bring me under its power
or if it can bring me under its
influence.
Which is a common term.
He's under the influence.
What does it mean?
He's under the power of it.
Now, all things are lawful for me.
But I will not be brought under the
power of anything.
I don't want to be.
I love my freedom too much.
I love having a clear mind.
I like having this freedom that I have.
I think it's absolutely glorious to be so
free in Christ Jesus.
So, as you well know, I don't set
rules for others.
I only encourage you to seek first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness.
Seek it preeminently.
Seek it diligently.
Seek it with all of your heart.
Follow after the Lord.
Don't be deterred by anything.
And may the God of peace and the
God of love keep your minds and your
hearts steadfast in Jesus Christ that you might
grow into that perfect, complete, mature child of
God.
That person that he wants you to be
conformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
Coming into the fullness of the stature of
the measure of the image of Christ.
So, God bless you and God keep you.
And watch over you until we, by his
grace, gather together again to learn and to
worship.