Sunday, April 24, 2016

Sermon Notes



   2016.04.24                                      John 1: 14-18
                           Grace and Truth

Good morning everyoneIt`s great to see you… I am glad you are here…. I have Good News for you… His name is Jesus… As many of you know… We are studying verse by verse through the Gospel of John… In the coming weeks we will clearly see Jesus through the eyes of John….
John proclaims that Jesus is the Christ… John wants us to believe in Jesus…  so that we can find forgiveness and mercy… He wants everyone who discovers Jesus… To have their sins forgiven…  So that in repenting and believing in Jesus… We may have life… This is what he wrote in John 20: 30,31
He wants us to Believe the truth and find Grace in the Lord Jesus Christ…
In our text today… He describes Jesus as being full of Grace and Truth… That is Jesus… He is genuine grace and True truth…  In the Word of God we discover that Jesus has revealed Himself to us… And we learn that we are commanded to repent and believe the Gospel… Listen… It is not our wishful thinking about Jesus that will save us… We cannot be fans of Jesus… We must respond to the truth as God has revealed it… That means we must repent and believe the Gospel…
We must Believe the Good News that there is hope…. There is mercy and grace to help us in our darkest deepest times of need… My dear friend and Mentor Vivian Laird often spoke of God´s Grace in his life… When anyone would be blessed or amazed at what he had done in ministry… He would grab them and say…. It´s all Grace…. It´s all God´s Grace… We are going to learn about Grace from our text today…
John´s Gospel is unique… He is writing to make sure that we understand that Jesus is in fact God…  come in the flesh…
In His opening prologue… That is what these first 18 verses are called….  John talks about the nature of Jesus Christ… He introduces Him as the Word… The Memra… the Logos…  This is a metaphor which speaks of Christ as God… revealing Himself to man… and as we saw in
John 1: 1… The Word was with god… And God was the Word… And in Hebrews 1… God has spoken to us through His son…   
Once again as we pick up the text…. John tells us plainly that Jesus is God in the flesh… He is our Savior… redeemer and Messiah…
Is your world falling apart today?… Turn to Jesus… Because He is God…
Jesus… Will restore and repair your broken life… He will pour grace and mercy out on your life today…
look with me at John 1 v14-18…                    
John 1: 14-16               NKJV    slt 2000
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’”16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
14 Und das Wort wurde Fleisch und wohnte unter uns; und wir sahen seine Herrlichkeit, eine Herrlichkeit als des Eingeborenen vom Vater, voller Gnade und Wahrheit.15 Johannes legte Zeugnis ab von ihm, rief und sprach: Dieser war es, von dem ich sagte: Der nach mir kommt, ist vor mir gewesen, denn er war eher als ich.16 Und aus seiner Fülle haben wir alle empfangen Gnade um Gnade.
 Word became flesh… Again, John is focusing on the central truth of Christianity… Jesus is the Logos… the Memra of God… He was present with God in creation… He was with the father from before the foundation of the world… John 17: 5… And He is the Messiah the redeemer… The Savior…
Jesus is God in human flesh…  That is John’s message, that He is God in human flesh… It is the most essential doctrine in the Christian faith…   This truth is what separates Genuine Christianity from the cults and all false world religions…
Today once again  in these early verses… We learn that Jesus is the one… true… eternal God… He  became human… He is Immanuel… God with us…
John spends a lot of time with his great foundational doctrine… Remember… His goal is to testify of the Lord Jesus Christ… He wants us to repent and believe… He starts by declaring that Jesus is truly the GOD MAN
The Eternal Word became human…  The Eternal God becomes a part of His creation… God and man are joined in one person…  
So this is Jesus the God/Man… The Living Word became flesh… And dwelt among us… Jesus tabernacled among us… The Greek word is (skenoo)  It means to pitch your tent... He settled down with us in our world…
How did we know He was God? John gives us three very important statements about Jesus… and they can be condensed to three words…They provide us with clear evidence that Jesus is God...
More proof that Jesus is God!
1 God´s Glory…
2 God´s Grace…
3 God´s perfect reflection
First… the Lord Jesus  Christ displays divine glory...  Look at v 14…
v14a… we beheld His Glory…  John says … And we saw His glory… It is Jesus Glory….. and it is just like God´s Glory… seen in the Lord Jesus Christ… We see His in the miracles and we see it in His Words of Life…. Of course we will also see it on the Mount of Transfiguration… That´s all coming up… You are allowed… I am begging you… Read ahead!...
Discover the Grace of God for yourself! It´s in this book… His name is Jesus… He is the Glory of God revealed to us in Human Flesh…
What is glory? God’s glory is a necessary part His nature… It is who He is… It is the sum of His attributes… It includes His Majesty… His awesomeness… It is associated with His presence… The Glory of the Lord filled the temple… It is associated with unapproachable light… The root word is heavy…
In the old days when we were blown away by something awesome… We used to say…. Wow! That´s heavy… Well my friends God is heavy…. There is nothing heavier… That is the truth… But there is more... the second proof in our text today is Grace
When we ask John if Jesus is God…  the God/Man… God in human flesh…
John says Yes… Of course He is…. We saw His Glory…. It was the same as the Father´s Glory
Look with me at the end of verse 14…
v14b… Full of grace and truth…
in this part we move to our second point…  Jesus the Christ…. The Lord of all creation is the one who is pouring out the Grace of God…
GRACE  
God´s Riches at Christs Expense
Grace is a really big word… It includes so many wonderful truths… It represents the OT word Chesed… The Lord God used it to describe Himself to Moses in Exodus 34: 6-8…  It can be translated as unfailing love and mercy… It is often translated as lovingkindeness… In the New testament the word is Grace…. It appears 156 times…. 4 times in this Gospel… All of them appear in our text today… As we study this Gospel…. We will see Jesus full of Grace and truth on every page… We will see Him demonstrate grace and mercy over and over again… He will show grace to Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman…  the man born blind… The woman taken in Adultery…
Jesus is Showing God´s Chesed… His unfailing love and mercy… in an unlimited unstoppable flood of mercy and forgiveness… To everyone who comes to Him and repents and believes the Gospel…
John says… We have also experienced His glory through His grace and truth…
So Jesus displays God´s glory… And He dispenses God´s grace… This is Proof of His deity…
He is full of grace and truth… look at v15…
v15… in this verse… John the Baptist is again called upon as a witness to the Deity of Christ… He was a great prophet…. He was the last of the Old testament prophets and at the same time… He was the first preacher of the Good news of the Gospel… John was the greatest…. Because he was given the privilege of pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ… The long awaited Messiah…
No other OT prophet had the privilege of seeing Jesus in the flesh… and saying there He is…. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World… look at verse 16…
v16… of His fullness we have all received… in the Greek… You could say… “Grace after grace… grace in the place of grace…. You could say…. Grace on top of grace on top of mercy and lovingkindness…
It is an endless supply of grace and mercy… That is the Grace of God… The Chesed of God… Unfailing love and mercy and forgiveness… All of it freely given to people who do not deserve it… People like me…
I have received Grace that I do not deserve… You see I am a perfect picture and illustration of these verses… I am a trophy of the Grace of god… A damaged and  tarnished one… Thank God… We are not only saved by Grace… But we stand by grace… Our righteousness is the Lord´s not our own… Good thing for us…. None of us has any real righteousness of our own… If you have been coming here for a while… You have heard me say that it is the Word of God that the Holy Spirit uses in our hearts and lives… We see that clearly in  2 Timothy 3:15-17… This book is God´s chosen tool for transforming hearts of stone into genuine living believers… I know this from personal experience… It will soon be 44 years that I have been a Christian… Late one night I was watching TV… In Those days…. There was no Internet or even satellites…. All TV stopped at Midnight. In the USA… at 5 minutes before midnight… the TV station had a short Andacht before shutting down for the night…
On this night there was a young longhaired Hippy dude on the TV… Well He looked like me…. He said the Jesus was real and truly the savoir and redeemer… He said that the bible was true…. He said that anyone could discover the truth by reading the Bible… It is as though the Lord reached out of the TV and touched my heart…. I believed him… The next day… I bought a Bible… I went to my favorite dirty book store and bought a Bible… I knew where they were… They stood in way of going into the dirty book section of the only book store in my small town… This book pointed me to Jesus… I read the Gospel…. And God made it alive… I was transformed… It showed me the grace… mercy and love of God… for a lost sinner… me…
Now at the moment… we are studying the gospel of John…. It would be cool if I told you it was the Gospel of John, but it was not… It was the Gospel of Matthew… I sat down and opened the Bible to the first page of the New Testament… Matt 1: 1… And I read all night… By the time I got to the Sermon on the Mount… I knew that it was all true… I also knew that I would follow Jesus no matter what the cost…
All of this was true even though I had grown up in a Christian home…. I had tried to be a Christian… I had tried to be a good boy… It did not work… I was a faker… So I gave up and pursued the sin that I had tried to hide… I did whatever brought me pleasure… But, in fact… I was not good at sinning… I was a novice… Without even trying…. I was no longer looking for Jesus… But he was looking for me… And Grace exploded into my life… From one day to the next… My whole world was transformed… The Word of God is what the holy Sprit used to point me to Grace and truth…. It showed me Jesus… My Savior and redeemer… That is why I tell you over and over to read your Bibles… Hide the Word of God in your hearts… It what God uses to correct us and equip us too… It can also help to keep us on the Path…
I would love to tell you that I have been walking with Jesus perfectly ever since… But that is not true…
We just looked at verse 16… Grace upon grace…
The Lord has poured Grace upon grace in my life… After years of full time ministry… I slowly began to experiment with sin… I expected the Lord to zap me…. But He didn´t… As time went I the deceitfulness of sin caused me to sin more and more… I grew cold and literally ran from the Lord Just like Jonah… I did not end up in the belly of a great fish… I would up in the belly of a great Mexican Federal Prison… God is His Grace delivered me and sent Genuine believers back into my life… Including one that I had helped to bring to the Lord many years before… On my way back to the Lord…. A man who barely knew me…. Saw how desperately I needed to understand God´s grace…  gave me 2 books…
Why Grace Changes Everything… The personal testimony of Chuck Smith… and the Gospel According to Grace… A Commentary on the Book of Romans by Chuck Smith… The reason that I stand before you today is because of the Grace and Mercy of God for sinners… People like me…
In Romans 5… Paul reminds us that it is in His grace that we stand… God´s grace…. Poured out into our lives by the Lord Jesus for the Glory of God…
 It’s a never ending supply...   Jesus sits in Heaven… He intercedes for us… He is sitting on his Throne at the right hand of the Father… It is called the throne of Grace… Now we can come boldly to the throne of grace… Hebrews 4:16… look at John 1 verse 17,18…
John 1: 17,18                           NKJV
17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
17 Denn das Gesetz wurde durch Mose gegeben; die Gnade und die Wahrheit ist durch Jesus Christus geworden.18 Niemand hat Gott je gesehen; der eingeborene Sohn, der im Schoß des Vaters ist, der hat Aufschluß [über ihn] gegeben.
v17a… For the law was given through Moses… The Law of God is good… It is just and true… The problem with the law is that we cannot keep it… It shows us our sin and rebellion… And even if we manage to keep most of it…. It is only the outward obedience of a proud stubborn… The Law shows us  our pride… as we refuse to repent and cry out for mercy… Because of our sinful hearts… All that we knew under the law was death… And judgment was certain because of our sin and rebellion… but…v17b…
v17b… but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ… Why… How…?
God´s Chesed… His lovingkindness and mercy… God sent a Savior… And We receive grace and mercy and forgiveness… This is the Good News… We recently studied Paul´s letter to the Ephesians… Remember?..
Paul told us about all of the wonderful things we have because we are in Christ look with me at Ephesians 2:4,5…
Ephesians 2: 4,5                NKJV   slt 2000
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved,
4 Gott aber, der reich ist an Erbarmen, hat um seiner großen Liebe willen, mit der er uns geliebt hat, 5 auch uns, die wir tot waren durch die Übertretungen, mit dem Christus lebendig gemacht — aus Gnade seid ihr errettet! —

Why do we receive Grace? Because we deserve it? No...  Because of the Father…. look at the end of verse 5…
v5b… He has made us alive… And it is all grace…  By grace you have been saved… Later in this same chapter… Eph 2:8-10 Paul reminds us that we are saved by Grace through faith… back to John 1…v18…
John 1: 18                           NKJV
18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
18 Niemand hat Gott je gesehen; der eingeborene Sohn, der im Schoß des Vaters ist, der hat Aufschluß [über ihn] gegeben.
v18… No one has seen God at any time… Why? Because He is by nature invisible... There are times when God has appeared in the Burning bush…. As a cloud by day and pillar of Fire by Night… As He led the Children of Israel in the wilderness… He has shown His Glory to Moses and Joshua and others…  but He has no form…. That´s why The Bible says…  No one has seen God at any time… But the Son of God… the Lord Jesus… he has declared Him… The greek word here is (exēgeomai) to declare….  It means to explain… interpret… give the meaning… To open and make clear… To declare or to reveal… So you want to know about God? Look at The Lord Jesus… He displays God´s Glory… He Pours out God´s grace… and Jesus reveals God perfectly…
And so we see Jesus… full of Grace and truth  And when Jesus pours out His grace… He is pouring out God´s grace… Jesus said it clearly… I and the Father are one… What about the OT saints…?
Was Grace Promised in the Old Testament? Yes... It was promised and demonstrated over and over again…   Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord… Everybody ever saved in the history of the world has been saved by God’s grace…
But grace was not fully realized until Christ came and paid His penalty on the cross… The Greek word here is egeneto… It’s from the verb ginomai, “to become,” and it means “came into being… We could read the phrase that way… Grace and truth came into being through Jesus Christ…
God the Father…  knowing that the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world… was applying the grace that Jesus through His death and resurrection… Would provide… Everyone receives grace by faith… Some looking forward to the Lamb of God… And others like us… Looking back at the cross… Where the Lamb of God gave Himself for us…
 Gospel truth tells us that this is the Lord Jesus Christ… the Son of the living God… the God/Man… fully God, fully man… As genuine believers we have all experienced grace in our own lives… 
He poured out His grace upon us in an everlasting stream…. Grace after grace…
Jesus is full of grace and truth… What about us… He has redeemed us and transformed us… But…
Are we full of grace?... Do we show the same patience and grace to others… that we ourselves have received? Are we quick to forgive… Are we showing grace to the people in our lives… Are we pouring grace out on our families? Are we covering our wives and children with grace? Or are we beating them with the law…? Romans 8…v1… says… There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…
v4… That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us… Who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit…
You see… The Grace of God does not nullify the law… look with me at Titus 2…v11,12…
Titus 2: 11, 12        NKJV    slt 2000
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
11 Denn die Gnade Gottes ist erschienen, die heilbringend ist für alle Menschen; 12 sie nimmt uns in Zucht5, damit wir die Gottlosigkeit und die weltlichen Begierden verleugnen und besonnen und gerecht und gottesfürchtig6 leben in der jetzigen Weltzeit,
The Grace of God…. Which we see in Christ Jesus… Brings Salvation to us… It transforms us and it teaches us to deny ourselves… It helps us to live righteously… So that we are able to fulfill the law of God form our hearts… Not only that… We realize something very important…. Important for our families and for the Church… We who have been forgiven… We who have experienced the Grace of God… Must demonstrate the Grace of God in our lives… Look with me at 1 last passage… Peter gives everyone who has received Grace a call to action… 1 Peter 4… v7-11…
1 Peter 4: 7-11    NKJV   slt 2000
7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. 8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” 9 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. 10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 4: 7-11    NKJV   slt 2000
7 Es ist aber nahe gekommen das Ende aller Dinge. So seid nun besonnen und nüchtern zum Gebet. 8 Vor allem aber habt innige Liebe untereinander; denn die Liebe wird eine Menge von Sünden zudecken. 9 Seid gegeneinander gastfreundlich ohne Murren! 10 Dient einander, jeder mit der Gnadengabe, die er empfangen hat, als gute Haushalter der mannigfaltigen Gnade Gottes: 11 Wenn jemand redet, so [rede er es] als Aussprüche Gottes; wenn jemand dient, so [tue er es] aus der Kraft, die Gott darreicht, damit in allem Gott verherrlicht wird durch Jesus Christus. Ihm sei die Herrlichkeit und die Macht von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit! Amen.
Look at this list…
Grace in Action
1 Serious and Watchful prayer…
2 Fervent love for each other… It covers sin…
3 Be gracious and hospitable…
4 No grumbling and complaining…
5 Minister to one another…
Conclusion
v10… serve and minister as Good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God…
v11… So that God is Glorified…
Grace brings responsibilities… The Lord Jesus who provided our redemption expects us to pass on the grace and love and mercy that we have received… We talk to each other… Not about each other…. We are patient and kind to each other…. We forgive each other from the heart… We are quick to confess our sin and pride… We do the things on this list… We stop pretending to be perfect….
I gave up on trying to be a good boy… I was surprised by the Grace of God even though I knew that I did not deserve it… That was John Newton´s story… He wrote Amazing Grace… He was a godless man… A slave trader… He knew that he did not deserve to be forgiven… But he began to pray and to study… He was surprised by the grace and mercy of God… He not only wrote this song… He became a pastor… He was different from the pastors of his day… He did not pretend to be perfect…. A Saint waiting to fly away… He told the truth about His past… He confessed his sin and pride and selfishness… By doing that… he magnified the Grace of God… Grace and truth fit together perfectly… We tell the truth about ourselves… We experience and reflect the Grace of God in our lives…. We become Channels of Grace to all the people the Lord puts in our lives…. Our own families and friends and co workers…
I know that many of you have similar stories… I have sat in this very building as you have poured out your hearts…  about growing up in very conservative churches…
Broken hearts and lives…  Shamed by sin and pride…
We have received the fullness of God´s grace… Have you… What are you waiting for… Today is the day… Let´s pray…

Sunday, April 10, 2016



2016.04.10                    John 1: 1-3
          In The Beginning was the Word
Good Morning! I am glad you are here… I have Good News for you!... His name is Jesus…  This morning we begin our study of the Gospel of John… John called himself the disciple that Jesus loved… During the time of Jesus earthly ministry he and his brother James were called the sons of thunderThey were Wild and radical hot heads… hard working fishermen… Ninety percent of the Gospel of John is not found in the Synoptic Gospels… Matthew, Mark and Luke… We need all four Gospels to get a fuller picture of Jesus… Now John had the privilege of knowing what the other gospel writers wrote… I think that is why He focused on Christ’s deity… John also gives us quite a bit of details about Jesus´ final weeks… Some scholars believe that He was related to Jesus…. He also is the one who took care of Jesus´ mother after the resurrection… Those things provided him with an excellent perspective into Jesus ministry… He knew things which the others did not… 
John knew Christ better than any of the others… He leaned on His breast at the Last Supper… John was also known as the theologian of the early church...
John is the one who tells about the seven I am statements of Jesus… They provide us with Deep looks into the Lord Jesus… We see Him proclaim His divinity and reveal His divine purposes… 
This gospel is deeply theological... We will learn a lot about the Lord our God from this book…  That is really all that theology is…. Learning more about the Lord… In some ways… John’s gospel is simple enough for a child… John was very young when he met Jesus… As we study this gospel…We see Jesus through the eyes of the disciple closest to the Lord…
John clearly explains why he wrote his Gospel… John wants his readers to come to genuine faith in Jesus the Messiah and only Savior… He wants them to find Life in Him…  Let´s read it…. John 20: 31…
John 20: 30,31                                 NKJV   slt 2000
30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
30 Noch viele andere Zeichen tat Jesus nun vor seinen Jüngern, die in diesem Buch nicht geschrieben sind. 31 Diese aber sind geschrieben, damit ihr glaubt, daß Jesus der Christus, der Sohn Gottes ist, und damit ihr durch den Glauben Leben habt in seinem Namen.
v31… that believing you might have salvation in His name…
John  proclaims that Jesus is the Christ… John wants us to believe in Jesus so that we can find forgiveness and mercy… He wants everyone who discovers Jesus to have their sins forgiven… You can read the entire gospel in 2 hours… It is a great place to have someone start when they want to know about Jesus… In the coming weeks we will see Jesus through the eyes of John….
He described Jesus as being full of grace and truth… True truth…  To have eternal life, you must believe in the true Christ… Not a misrepresentation of Christ… not the Christ of human philosophy and false religion… but the true Christ… He has revealed Himself… And we are commanded to repent and believe the Gospel… It is not our wishful thinking about Jesus that will save us… We must respond to the truth as God has revealed it…
Jesus is God in the flesh…. Savior… redeemer and Messiah… And that’s exactly what we see in the Gospel of John…
The message of the New Testament… In deed the message of the Old Testament… Is that Jesus is God in the flesh… He is the suffering Servant  the Messiah… Isaiah 52,53… He is nothing other than God… nothing less than God… Jesus is God in the Flesh… Did you know that every cult and false religion denies That Jesus is God… They all refuse to accept this truth… And in so doing plunge themselves into Unbelief and heretical error…
The Bible shows us that Jesus is God…  
It’s everywhere in the New Testament look with me at Hebrews 1… beginnings at v1……
Hebrews 1: 1-3    NKJV    slt 2000
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
1 Nachdem Gott in vergangenen Zeiten vielfältig und auf vielerlei Weise zu den Vätern geredet hat durch die Propheten,
2 hat er in diesen letzten Tagen zu uns geredet durch den Sohn.1 Ihn hat er eingesetzt zum Erben von allem, durch ihn hat er auch die Welten2 geschaffen; 3 dieser ist die Ausstrahlung seiner Herrlichkeit und der Ausdruck3 seines Wesens und trägt alle Dinge durch das Wort seiner Kraft; er hat sich, nachdem er die Reinigung von unseren Sünden durch sich selbst vollbracht hat, zur Rechten der Majestät in der Höhe gesetzt.
This text alone is worth many sermons… It summarizes great truths about Jesus… In these verses we learn that Jesus was active in creation… and that He is God´s revelation in living flesh and spoken word… Jesus holds everything together…. Is your world falling apart today?… Turn to Jesus… He because he is God… Will restore and repair your broken life… The Scripture is filled with proof that Jesus is God…
As we will see… John´s Gospel is unique… He is writing to make sure that we understand that Jesus is in fact God…  come in the flesh… He begins at the Beginning….. look with me at John 1  v1-3…
John 1: 1-3                            NKJV   slt 2000
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
1 Im Anfang war das Wort, und das Wort war bei Gott, und das Wort war Gott. 2 Dieses war im Anfang bei Gott. 3 Alles ist durch dasselbe entstanden; und ohne dasselbe ist auch nicht eines entstanden, was entstanden ist.
Three times in these 2 verses John says the Word… v1a… In the beginning was the Word…
v1b… and the Word was with God…
v1c… and the Word was God…
Why does John use this word… WORD…? Oh I am glad that you asked…. That is a very important question…
The Word is none other than The Lord Jesus Christ… John says… The Word, who is Jesus Christ… is God…  He as God… took on humanity… The infinite becomes finite... The eternal one enters time... The invisible one becomes visible… The Word—He is called “the Word” in verse 14 and three times in verse 1…
I am sure you already know that in the Greek he is using the word Logos... Now the question is: Why did John choose the word Logos? And what did it mean to him?
By using Logos… John is saying Jesus is the very idea and revelation of God…
By using the greek idea of the Divine Logos… He is fitting both Greek and Hebrew thought into one expression of Who Jesus is…  John  was using concepts of God that were being taught by the rabbis of his day… and building on these concepts based on God’s divine revelation…
Jesus Christ the Lord
The Living WORD
Greek Logos…
Hebrew Davar…
Aramaic Memra…
In Hebrew the word for “word” is “Davar”...  In Aramaic it is “Memra”… We talk often about seeing the Big picture as we study the Bible verse by verse...  There is a really big picture in this one verse… 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The scribes and priests were very careful about the Name of God…. They did not want to say the name of God in any ungodly way…
So in the course of time… instead of saying Yahweh… They would substitute YAHWEH…. With the Adonai… Lord…  And when they encountered any appearance of God to men… They would substitute the word… “WORD”... In Hebrew it is Davar…. In Aramaic it is Memra… Aramaic became the Bible study language of the Children of Israel beginning with the time of Ezra and Nehemiah… These translations are called the Targums:.. In the Targums… it is the Memra of JahWeh which lives, speaks, and acts   When John wrote his Gospel… he was fully aware of the use of the word Memra as an appearance of God to men…  
When he wrote in the beginning was the Word he was using the exact theme as the writers of the Targums did when they translated the text into Aramaic... In fact, if he had written in Aramaic, he would have actually used the word, memra… So he was portraying Christ as sharing the nature of God… It fits very well with the greek idea of the Divine Logos… This was also a  concept fully accepted by the Hellenized Jews at the time of Christ…    
Jewish theologians have ascribed six Divine attributes to the Memra… John assigned everyone of these attributes to Jesus in the first chapter of his gospel... The attributes are:
Divine Attributes of MEMRA
1 The Memra is separate from… and yet the same as God (John 1:1-“and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”).
 2 The Memra was the instrument of creation (John 1:3-“All things were made by Him” and John 1:10-“the world was made by him”).
 3 The Memra was the instrument of salvation (John 1:12-“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name”).
 4 The Memra was the visible presence of God or Theophany (John 1:14-“And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us”).
 5 The Memra was the covenant maker (John 1:17-“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”).
 6 The Memra was the revealer of God (John 1:18-“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”).
Philo of Alexandra (AKA Philo Judaeus) was a Jewish philosopher of the early first century… He is known as the Greatest Jewish Philosopher... He was also a Greek philosopher... Philo explained the Theophanies Appearances of God… as the Logos of God to the Greeks… When he did so, he used the Aramaic word Memra…
The writers of the Targums were fully aware of this concept....
As time went on with fewer people knowing Hebrew… The Children of Israel used Translations….  the Targums… the Aramaic translations to study the Word of God… Instead of saying God´s name…. They substituted the word “”WORD… Memra” for the appearance in God in the text…  Especially in the Pre-incarnate appearances of Christ in the OT… “Theophany” is the Theological term for a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ…
They had a biblical basis for doing this to…. Turn with me to Psalm 33…
Psalm 33: 6                     NKJV  slt  2000
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
6 Die Himmel sind durch das Wort des Herrn gemacht, und ihr ganzes Heer durch den Hauch seines Mundes.
John says In the beginning was the Word…  Because that was such a perfect term to use to identify Christ for both Jews and Greeks…  
There was a general philosophical understanding of the Greek term logos…
The philosophers talked about logos as the reality that was active and visible in creation…  
The Jewish people didn’t need an explanation because the phrase “the Word of the Lord” appeared so many times in the Old Testament… The Word of the Lord was simply the revelation of God…
We wouldn’t know anything about God if He didn’t speak…. If He did not reveal Himself we would remain ignorant… That’s why Hebrews 1 begins this way… look again at Hebrews 1… v1-3…
Hebrews 1: 1-3    NKJV    slt 2000
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
1 Nachdem Gott in vergangenen Zeiten vielfältig und auf vielerlei Weise zu den Vätern geredet hat durch die Propheten,2 hat er in diesen letzten Tagen zu uns geredet durch den Sohn. Ihn hat er eingesetzt zum Erben von allem, durch ihn hat er auch die Welten geschaffen; 3 dieser ist die Ausstrahlung seiner Herrlichkeit und der Ausdruck seines Wesens und trägt alle Dinge durch das Wort seiner Kraft; er hat sich, nachdem er die Reinigung von unseren Sünden durch sich selbst vollbracht hat, zur Rechten der Majestät in der Höhe gesetzt.
Just as the Old Testament is the written revelation of God… the New Testament is the account of the incarnate Word in the person Jesus Christ… He is the Living Word… Now God speaks through His Son… and that concept was well established among the Jews… The Word of the Lord came to So-and-so…  You read that all through the Old Testament… The Word of the Lord came often through the prophets… It was the will of God demonstrated and communicated through verbal Revelation…
So the Word of the Lord… is God speaking to people… There’s no greater  manifestation of that than Jesus Christ... He is God speaking to us… If you want to hear from God… you can read the Old Testament… You will hear what God said… But if you want the fullest revelation of God… The express image of God speaking to us today…  We go to the New Testament… because God has most fully spoken to us in Christ…
God speaks in Christ most clearly, most fully and savingly…
Sometimes Muslims will say…. Did Jesus really say that he was God?… The Answer from the Gospel of John alone is ….YES…. Over and over again….
Back to John 1… v1…  
John 1: 1                            NKJV   slt 2000
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  
1 Im Anfang war das Wort, und das Wort war bei Gott, und das Wort war Gott.
v1… The Word became flesh…“became,” ginomai…  Though he was always God…. He became a man… Jesus enters into His creation and takes on humanity…  
He starts out in a womb and He becomes a child His humanity is genuine…. He is the God Man  He didn’t take on the appearance of humanity or  some illusion of humanity… He actually took on flesh and dwelt among us... Philippians 2… He was made in the likeness of men... He partook of flesh and blood… Hebrews 2:14…
Jesus is the GOD MAN… Paul says this clearly… He said listen… Philosophy is great…. But don´t let anyone trick you with Philosophy… look with me at Colossians 2: 8,9…
Colossians 2: 8,9   NKJV  slt 2000
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
8 Habt acht, daß euch niemand beraubt2 durch die Philosophie und leeren Betrug, gemäß der Überlieferung der Menschen, gemäß den Grundsätzen der Welt und nicht Christus gemäß. 9 Denn in ihm wohnt die ganze Fülle der Gottheit leibhaftig;
 Don´t be deceived… Here is the big picture… Jesus is fully God and fully man…  
that’s John’s message through this book…
 Any assault on His deity is a heresy…
Any assault on His humanity is a heresy…
John takes us through three very important truths in order to demonstrate that Jesus is fully God in human flesh…
There are three things that demonstrate the deity of Christ…
The Deity of Christ
1 His preexistence with God
2 His coexistence with God
3 His self-existence with God
He is pre-existent, co-existent, and self-existent.
John 1…v1…  “In the beginning was the Word,” simple statement… “In the beginning… the beginning of what?
Creation… The beginning of Genesis 1:1… that’s the beginning…

Genesis 1: 1-3                            NKJV   slt 2000
 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
1 Am Anfang schuf Gott Himmel und Erde. 2 Und die Erde war wüst und leer, und es war finster auf der Tiefe; und der Geist Gottes schwebte auf dem Wasser.3 Und Gott sprach: Es werde Licht! Und es ward Licht.
These verses contain the first proof of the Messiah…. The ancient Rabbis taught that the Messiah was present with the Father at creation….
They said that the Spirit of God moving over the face of the waters was the Spirit of the King Messiah… This is exactly what we read in Psalm 33…v6…
Psalm 33: 6   NKJV   slt 2000
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
6 Die Himmel sind durch das Wort des Herrn gemacht, und ihr ganzes Heer durch den Hauch2 seines Mundes.
The Memra…. The Word was already existing… That is to say the Word who is none other than the Son of God… Jesus Christ.. was already in existence when God created everything that exists…  Jesus was the one who said let there be light… No wonder he would later say…. I am the light of the world… John 8:12…
Back to John 1…v1…
John 1: 1                            NKJV   slt 2000
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  
1 Im Anfang war das Wort, und das Wort war bei Gott, und das Wort war Gott.
This is a very important statement… John affirms His preexistence... He existed before the beginning of everything that exists… He was already existing… It’s the imperfect tense of the “to be” verb, the verb eimi… The imperfect tense means continuously… He was continuously existing already when the beginning began…
 He didn’t begin with the beginning… He’s not a part of the creation… He’s not a created being… He’s an already existing being… You have heard of the Big Bang Theory right? What do you think…. Good for Christians  or not so good for Christians…?  Well according to men much much smarter than me…. The overwhelming evidence for the big Bang… Proves that these very scriptures accurately reflect the creation of the universe… The theory says that there was a time in the distant past when there was nothing… No matter no space no time…. nothing… That´s exactly what the Bible says… Then a singularity… Out of nothing the universe came into being… God said… Let there be light…. and there was light… And the theory goes on to say that Time also began with creation… Time began on the first day when God created… The Word existed before creation and time… God is therefore is outside of time… and therefore is eternal…
At the point that everything began… He already was… describing continuous existence before creation… the eternal pre-existence of the One called the Word… So very important and unmistakably clear…
When Moses wanted to know the name of God… God said, “My name is I AM that I AM… My name is the verb ‘to be…
Over and over in the gospel of John, Jesus will say, “I AM…  the verb “to be”…  He will even say to the Jews, “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58), I AM… Everytime Jesus says I am…. He is saying I am God…  
This is reinforced in John 1 verse 1… “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.”
When the beginning began… He already existed… He existed as God…  
This is very, very important because what it tells us is that not only is He the eternal God, but He is distinct from the eternal God…. This is exactly what the Rabbis said about the Memra… point…
The whole Trinity is involved in creation…    God the Father is the Creator… Yes, the Holy Spirit participates in creation… Genesis 1.. v2… The Holy Spirit is the One who moves over the waters…
But listen again to the explanation of how they work together, from Hebrews 1 that I read you. It simply says this, verse 2, God “has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”
God is the Creator, but the agent of creation that He uses is the Son… the Word
John starts with the fact that when you’re talking about Jesus… you are talking about a pre-existent, eternal God… Jesus was not a part of creation… He is the creator…. The instrument of creation…. All things were made by and for Him… Col 1: 16…
Look at the phrase…  “The Word was God”… theos an ho logos… literally translated… “God was the Word,” This is a Powerful Greek expression...
Jesus in John 17 talks in His prayer to the Father in verse 5… about the glory that He had before the world began… when He was pros ton theon… on equal level with God…
God was the Word… Four words in Greek… These words the clearest… most direct declaration of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ in all four gospels… God was the Word. ..
Everything that exists came into being through Him…
This is proof of His self-existence...   Everything that exists, He made… It all came from Him… He didn’t come from anyone, or anything… Everything came from Him…The Lord God is the creator…. But the  Son of God is the agent by which the creating is done… 1 Corinthians 8:6…
When you’re looking at the Lord Jesus Christ… you’re looking at the one who is Himself life… Late we will hear Him say….  I am the way, the truth, and the life… John 14: 6…
John knows this from personal experience… He can’t look at Christ in any other way… Jesus is life…   
Closing
We are living in dark and difficult times… The darkness can’t extinguish the Good News of the Gospel…
But you must repent and believe it…
Look with me at one more text… John 8: 24,25…
John 8: 24,25                     NKJV   slt 2000
 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”25 Then they said to Him, “Who are You?”And Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.
24 Darum habe ich euch gesagt, daß ihr in euren Sünden sterben werdet; denn wenn ihr nicht glaubt, daß ich es bin, so werdet ihr in euren Sünden sterben. 25 Da sagten sie zu ihm: Wer bist du? Und Jesus sprach zu ihnen: Zuerst das, was ich euch eben sage!
Jesus is on his way to the cross… He continues to call for repentance and genuine faith… He offers Life and forgiveness… to anyone who will cry out to him… He says you must believe that I AM…
If they… if we… refuse to repent and believe… We will die in our sins…
Jesus is the great I Am… The Living Word He is the one described in these opening verses…   Do you believe that Jesus is God in human flesh? That’s the foundation of saving faith... If you don’t believe that, you will die in your sins…  Put your trust in Him…. Receive Him today…. Now… Let´s pray…