Again, if you would, take out your Bibles. Let's turn to John chapter 1. And we will today be looking at the first five verses, but for the sake of context, we're going to read the entirety of the chapter, well, through chapter 8, or verse 18, verses 1 through 18. John 1, starting in verse 1 through verse 18. And again, this is God's holy, inspired, and inerrant Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him and cried out, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. For from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. The law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father's side. He has made him know. The grass withers, the flower falls, the Word of our God remains forever. You may be seated. Let's let's pray together. Gracious God and Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you for your word. We're encouraged. As we study these truths. The Gospel. That Jesus came to save sinners. To redeem us and so Father, we pray that these truths may be planted deeply into our hearts that your Gospel bear fruit in us. Prepare our hearts, our minds. To hear. to receive, to believe, and to trust in Christ. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, having concluded our study in Genesis, it's fitting now that we look at the Gospel of John. In Genesis, we had seen the promise of the coming Messiah. And now we look at this Gospel to see the fulfillment of that promise in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so today we look at the first portion of what is known as the prologue of John. I hear the apostle John sets forth many of the themes which will be explored throughout his gospel. Where Matthew and Luke begin their gospel with an account of the birth of Jesus, and of the genealogy of Jesus. In Mark, if you look at his gospel, he begins with the baptism of Jesus. John begins a little differently. He actually goes back a little further. John begins in the beginning. We should say the very beginning. John's gospel opens like this, in the beginning. Now this sounds familiar to us, particularly since we just studied Genesis. This is an echo of the opening verses of Genesis, isn't it? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. You see, the whole of scripture begins with creation. God making all things out of nothing by the word of his power. And now we look at this. Before the beginning, there was a person, our Lord and our God. Creation is the beginning of the cosmos. This, of course, is our beginning as human beings and our world. But before God made all things, there was only the triune God. And so John's gospel opens by magnificently displaying the life of Christ with a focus not only on his humanity, but on his divinity before the world was made. Because our Savior has always been. And there has never been a time when He was not. God the Son was in the beginning with God the Father and God the Spirit. Enjoying infinite delight and blessedness in perfect community together. Really reflecting perfect shalom. Understanding this truth can help you and me to more fully grasp and appreciate the condescending love of Christ for us. For he humbles himself by coming into this world and taking on flesh. So this is all in our minds as we begin John. God, the eternal God condescending himself on our behalf. So John opens his gospel account and immediately he makes clear the divinity of Jesus, the Son of God. And this is a fact which he will continually press throughout his gospel. John makes the case for the identity of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, as the Redeemer, as our Lord and our Savior. This is what John is pressing for us. This is what he wants us to see. And he makes it very clear immediately. In fact, John will tell us later of his purpose. In John chapter 20 and verse 31, he writes this. These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the Messiah. He's the one that's been promised in the Old Testament. That Jesus is the Son of God. And that by believing, you may have life in His name. This is what John is writing about. He wants you to know that Jesus Christ is the son of God. He is the promised Messiah. He's the one that the people have been waiting for. And that by believing on him, you may have life in his name. And so as we read and study and meditate on this gospel, the hope is that we would believe that Jesus is the Christ. That He is the Messiah. That He is the Son of God come in the flesh. And that by faith in Him you might have life in Him. This is John's purpose. This is the purpose of the Gospel. Life. Salvation. In Christ. Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, the very and eternal God who is equal with and of the same substance as the Father. Jesus is fully God and fully man, such that his two natures are, quote, inseparably joined together in one person without conversion, composition, or confusion, end quote. This is what our confession states. Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, to read and to study John's Gospel is to be confronted with the knowledge of the Son of God and to be urged to know Him, to know Jesus Christ, to have faith in Him and life in Him, in His name. This is what this Gospel is all about. And so this is what we will be studying in the coming weeks and months ahead. And so as we dive in now to our text, we begin, as we say, with the beginning. John 1, 1, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Verse 2, he was in the beginning with God. So as we said already, before there was the creation, before there was this cosmos, this universe, this planet which we inhabit, before there was the world, there was the Word of God, which was with God. The Word is eternal with God before all things were created. The Logos, this is the Greek term for the Word, He already existed before the creation of the world. And so again, immediately, John is making it important, and in some sense, a radical assertion right from the get-go. And you see that the word is equated with Christ, and that he has always been from the beginning. Now, note, too, that the word This is an important theme, not only here in John, but actually throughout all of scripture. First of all, we can note that the word is creative. Recall from Genesis that God spoke his creation into existence. God spoke his creation. God said, let there be light and there was light. He spoke into being the plants and the animals. the sun, moon, and stars. He said, let us make man after our own image. And so the word is creative. We can also read in the scriptures that the word of the Lord came to various prophets. The word of the Lord came to Isaiah. The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah or Ezekiel. People were sick or on the brink of death. We read that God sent forth his word and healed them. Psalm 107 verse 20. He sent out his word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction. So the word you see is eternal, is creative, and it's powerful. It was in the beginning with God. before all of creation. And so John makes clear that in the beginning there was the Word who was with God. Now in some sense this is not terribly difficult to understand. God has always been and then he has his Word. However, not only was the Word with God in the beginning, but then John says the Word was God. The Word with God and the word is God. Which is to say that he is the eternal creator, the one true God and yet at the same time distinct. That he is also with God. So he is God and with God. So the word Jesus Christ is here identified as the incarnated member of the Trinity. And so again, what is being set, at least the foundation of the case being made for the full divinity of Jesus Christ. He has existed for all eternity as a distinct person and yet in unity of the divinity. Jesus, therefore, is not created. He has always enjoyed perfect fellowship with the Father. And so immediately we see here some of the crucial components of understanding the doctrine of the Trinity. Christ is being described as the Word of God in two respects. First, Christ reflects perfectly the mind of God. And secondly, he reveals God to men. Which is to say that the word and deeds of Jesus are the words and deeds of God. Christ reflects perfectly the mind of God and reveals God to men. That Jesus Christ perfectly reflects the mind and will of God and reveals that will to men should not be controversial, of course, to a Christian believer But to the world, this would seem to be a radical statement, a strange statement even. But the writer of Hebrews makes a similar point when he says of Christ, in Hebrews chapter one, verse three, he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And so Christ was with God and is God. But not only does Christ, the word of God, reflect the mind of God and reveal God to men, but he is, in fact, himself the creator of all things. Look at verse three. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. So Jesus Christ, the incarnate word of God, is himself the agent of creation. There is nothing in the entirety of the universe which exists without him having made it. Now notice how John strengthens his point by expressing it in both the positive and in the negative. All things were made through him, that's the positive, and without him was not anything made that was made. Anything that was made came from him. There isn't anything that wasn't made. Everything that is is from him. Now often we think about God the Father as being the creator, even as the Son of God is the Savior, but the Son being also the creator is a common theme seen in the New Testament. Now listen for a moment to Colossians chapter 1 verses 16 and 17. It says, For by him all things were created, speaking about Christ. In heaven and earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Hebrews chapter one, verse two. Speaking of the son, being appointed as the heir of all things, and he created the world. To Jesus Christ was in the beginning, from all eternity past with the Father. He is the heir of all things as the new Adam, and he is the instrument by which all things were created. And again, there are two important points which must be stressed. First, Christ himself was not created. This is contrary to the various cults of our day and various errors throughout the centuries. Christ was not created. He has always been. He has always been with the Father and the Spirit. He is eternal. In fact, the use of the imperfect tense in Greek helps us support this idea of his eternality. The second point to be stressed is this. All things which were created came from him. So he himself was not created and all things which were created came from him. Now, this may seem surprising to some, for Jesus Christ is the incarnated member of the Trinity. That is to say that he's the one who took on flesh. And so it seems strange at first glance to consider a man who created the universe, and yet this is what John is driving at. Because Jesus Christ is not just a normal man, is he? He is uniquely the God man. God entered into his creation by taking on the flesh of men, being born of a woman, and yet not by ordinary generation, like you and I. Jesus Christ, the eternal word, being with God, and being himself God, made all things, and then entered into his creation with the purpose of rescuing his creation, that is, bringing life. So the world was created through the word Jesus Christ, but in him was life. Notice the language there in verse four. It is not through him, but rather in him. This may seem like a minor point to you. But this language is used throughout John's gospel. It's also employed in the epistles as well. Life is found in Christ. In Christ. He is the one who saves. Christ is the one who saves. Jesus doesn't simply make salvation available. Jesus actually accomplishes salvation. Now you may understand. I understand what people mean when they say things like, you know, they invited Jesus into their hearts. I'm sure that some of you have employed that language from time to time. What is meant is that we trusted in Christ. But it's not so much that Christ lives in us that we invite him in. He lives with us, although it is true to say that the Spirit most certainly resides in our hearts. But often the language of scripture is to say that we live in Him. Our life is in Christ. We're not simply passing through Jesus as a means of salvation. He is our salvation. Life is found in Christ. Colossians 3. Three and four. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. In Adam, the Scriptures say, all die, but those who are in Christ are made alive. And so this is where John is going. Verse four, in him was life. and says the life was the light of men. Now, again, notice here in verse four, there's two terms. Which are being utilized life and light. These are regularly used terms in Gospel of John, and again, these reflect something of what we saw in the first chapter of Genesis, doesn't it? Life in light. Life and light, by the way, are also universal religious symbols. In John's usage, they are used as a way to focus on the excellencies of the word. In him, there is life, which is to say that those who are found in Christ have life, have true life, have eternal life. And so what is being spoken of here is not merely physical life, though we might speak of that in Genesis. In Genesis we saw light and life speaking about the coming of the physical world. But here what is being spoken of really is spiritual life. Life and life. A life that is characterized as the light of men. That is to say, the one in whom life is found illuminates the spiritual life of men. This light shines forth brightly in the darkness. Darkness of this sinful, fallen, wicked world. What does light do? Light chases away darkness. Spiritual light chases away spiritual darkness. Just as light chases away physical darkness. Just as light chased away the darkness at creation. When God said, let there be light. There was light. Christ came and brought light. For He is light. In John chapter 5, In verse 26 we find something of a parallel. It says, for as the father has life in himself, so he has granted the son also to have life in himself. So here we see an identical relationship between the father and the word and the father and the son and this theme continues throughout this gospel. Both here in Chapter 1 and then in Chapter 5, it is insisted that the Word, who is the Son, share in the self-existing life of God. Later on, we'll read of Jesus' claims. that he is the light of the world and life. John 8, 12, Jesus says, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. You see how this, again, this theme plays out throughout the gospel. John is setting, sort of setting the table for us. As we think about these I am statements of who is Jesus? Life was eternally in Christ and that life is a light which shines in the darkness, in a darkened heart of sinful men, bringing them life and recreation as it were, making us new creatures in him. The lost and cursed sinner, residing in the darkness of his own heart, is made a new creature and has new life. Jesus being the light of the world, you can see that as he comes, what can the darkness do? The darkness is chased away. Throughout the Gospel, John uses these two terms, light and life, to refer to salvation. Here John hints at this connection between creation and the new creation. Christ as the eternal word gives life in himself and he has brought light to the creation and to men. And so as the incarnate word, Christ, in a sense, recreates as he renews the world with newness of life and the light in the hearts of transformed and renewed men. And so there is a physical reality, which then points to this spiritual reality. This is what John is unpacking throughout his gospel. We already have in these first few verses an idea of what the message of his gospel is. The light, which is the light of men, also shines in the darkness and we see that darkness has not overcome it. Verse 5. Now we read in Genesis chapter 1 that in the beginning God made the heavens and the earth. He formed out of nothing all that there is. And he took what was chaos, and he gave it order. Genesis 1-2, the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. This was God calling of the cosmos into being. Matter was spoken into existence, ex nihilo, out of nothing. But then, God began to form the cosmos, beginning with light. God said, let there be light, and there was light. And so imagine this, out of the void of darkness, the chasm, as it were, God spoke and brought forth light. This is what John is referring to in his gospel. What he's doing is he's applying that to spiritual life. This is, by the way, also a hint of what John will describe much more of later on. The chaotic darkness from creation illustrates something of the existence of evil in the world, which is chaotic darkness. This is what we experience in the world Now, sin. Without the light of creation, life wouldn't have been possible or sustainable. We couldn't live without light. Without the light of Jesus Christ, spiritual life would not be possible or sustainable. We could not have life without the light. Christ this is for our spiritual well-being in Christ is life and he is our light we need the light of Christ the world means the light of Christ shining in and exposing our sin darkened hearts bringing to us true spiritual life So the light spoken of here is not merely referencing creation. It's talking about our salvation. It's talking about our recreation. It's becoming new creatures in Christ. It's not possible without Christ. The darkened chaos of sin cannot be overcome but by the light. And it cannot overcome the light. See, light exposes that which is otherwise hidden. When the light comes, that which is in darkness cannot any longer be hidden. It's illuminated. It's brought out into the open. Now you can understand something of the picture of this, can't you? God in Christ is exposing all the things which are wrong in this world. And he set forth to fix it through the shed blood at the cross. apart from the light brought by the Messiah, the incarnate Word, people would default to their love of darkness. Man loves darkness and hates the light. And they do this because their deeds are wicked. Well, the light does make an appearance because they are dark and they hate it. They don't want their wicked deeds to be exposed. This is, by the way, why the world hates Christ. and his church. Because the truth, the light, exposes in painful ways that which resides in darkness. You've maybe experienced this in your own life, haven't you? When the light is shown in the dark parts of your heart. And you think, no, thank you. But you need that light. You need Christ to expose you. Because in that you have forgiveness and restoration. The world hates Christ. They hate to be exposed. And this is seen in the verses which follow which we'll look at in future weeks. It describes the rejection of the Redeemer by men. It is always true that whenever light shines in darkness, darkness cannot overcome it. Darkness is always defeated by the light. Always. No one wants to be exposed for their sins to come out into the open. And yet it is when the light shines which true freedom comes. For it is in the light of Christ that life is found. Christ Jesus' beloved congregation brings life and light. He does this through His death and His resurrection. You know, there's just there's so much here. There's so much here. I feel like we could be here for hours talking about this, but you probably don't want to do that. But we can see Christ is the eternal word who perfectly reflects the mind of God and reveals God's will to man because he is himself God. He has made all things and life is found in him. And that life is light of men. The prologue of John, even looking at these few verses, sets forth for us the excellencies of our Savior Jesus. And John wants to see immediately how Christ turns everything around. He is reversing the fall. Light out of darkness, life out of death. And the world may come against the king, but in the end, the king will prevail, and he is rescuing his people. Beloved, this should be a great encouragement to us. Because you might look at this present world, and look at the state of affairs in our nation. You might look at the state of affairs on our planet. You might look at all this with some measure of discouragement. The world is falling apart. You may have some anxiousness about your life. Perhaps you have financial difficulties, job difficulties, relational difficulties. You might be concerned about the sin and darkness which seem to pervade every corner of this world. Or perhaps you feel the shame of your own sin. You wonder, how could a holy God love me? Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, Do not despair. The light has come and the darkness cannot overcome it. Beloved Father of Jesus Christ, your sins have been forgiven and you no longer need to live in shame. Your guilt has been removed and of this world, Christ is making all his and your enemies a footstool under his feet. You know, the world may seem to be winning, but the King will ultimately prevail. And He will usher in the fullness of His Kingdom, and He will do this in His own timing. It may not be today, it may not even be in your lifetime, but Christ is conquering. And the world will be renewed because the darkness can't overcome the light. So you can hope for what is to come. You can look forward to what is to come. Do not growing weary in doing good. Because Christ himself endured hostility against himself at the hand of sinners so that you and I may not grow weary or faint hearted. So continue to endure beloved. Be born up in Christ, rest in him. First Peter 5.4 says when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Beloved Christ, salvation is sure. And you can rest in him. By faith, let's pray together. Gracious Father in heaven, we are so thankful for all of your. Your blessings, your loving kindness to us. We're thankful that Jesus came to save sinners. We pray, oh God, that we may walk daily in light of that. Walking in your light with great joy, knowing that you are conquering. You are a conquering king. You have conquered our hearts. And you are chasing away the darkness. Help us to trust. Help us not to grow weary and fainthearted. Help us to walk in You and rest in You. Our life in our life. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.