Sermon
John: Jesus, the Logos - John, the Witness
March 4-5, 2000
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'm going to ask you to join with me in your Bibles. If you're going to use the red pew Bible, its page 713. We're in the third of our lessons on the Gospel of John. So if you're new with us today, you've just joined with us in the early moments, we'll be in this glorious portion of God's word probably for the rest of the year, and maybe even longer because it's so filled with wonderful spiritual truths. Our first Sunday we got acquainted with John the apostle who authored this book and realized that he not only wrote the Gospel of John, but he wrote 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, and he also wrote the book of Revelation. After getting acquainted with John, last week we got a little bit acquainted with the letter, with the gospel itself, and today I would like to start on the almost word for word, phrase by phrase, verse by verse exposition. And over the number of years we have learned that this is the best way to really learn what the Scriptures are trying to teach, and that is just take it a word at a time, a phrase at a time, and I believe that when we're all finished we will all have grown in the knowledge of God's wonderful word. In your Bible I'm going to read the first eight verses of John's Gospel chapter 1.

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 nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

Now John starts his gospel in a very interesting way because he gives to Jesus Christ a title that we're not really familiar with. He calls Him the Word. And you say well how do we know that he's referring to the Word, referring to Jesus? Well look at verse 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, Jesus Christ. So we actually could read verse 1 this way, In the beginning was Christ, and Christ was with God, and Christ was God. Now, the interesting thing, again, if we went back and read that in the Greek it would say, in the beginning was the Logos, because that's the Greek word for Word. And the question that we have is, why did John use that title for Christ quite different than any other writer? Why did he call Christ the Word?

Would you take your notes that I've provided for you and go to page 2? I think it's imperative that we understand why John called Jesus the Word. And about two-thirds of the page down it says, in the beginning was the Word. And I asked the question, what is John seeking to say when he described Jesus as the Word, or as the Logos? Well, in both Greek and Jewish thought there existed the conception of the Word. In the early days of the church most of the converts were Jewish. When John writes his gospel most of the converts were Gentile, and we learned that because John writes his gospel about 50 years after Jesus Christ has ascended back to heaven. And in those 50 years the book of Acts has taken place, Paul has gone to all the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, he has preached the gospel, tens of thousands of people without Jewish ancestry have put their trust and faith in Jesus Christ, and the concept to a Gentile as to the Messiah or the line of David or the kingdom of God, those were foreign to him. And John wants to put divine truth in phrases, in concepts, that a mind taught in Greek philosophy would understand. So he selects this word Logos and gives Jesus that title.

Let's go on with our reading. So under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit John seeks to explain the great truths of the Christian faith, not from the mindset of a Jew, but from that of one taught in Greek philosophy and thought. Now the Greeks had the conception of the Logos. It meant two things to them, word and reason. Now the Jews were entirely familiar with the all-powerful word of God for in Genesis 1:3 it says, God said let there be light. And so when you said to a Jewish person who was trained in Judaism and you used the word God they thought of the God who spoke and when He spoke, the worlds came into existence. The God whose very word was the power that brought everything into existence, and so to speak of God has the Word was very familiar to the Jewish mind. His Bible, the Hebrew Bible, began with the words "In the beginning God", and thus, for the Greek mind to think of verse 3, God said let there be light, the Jewish mind said yes, the God who spoke is the God of the Logos. He's the God of the Word.

Well then the Greek was entirely familiar with the thought of reason. Now he looked at the world and he saw a magnificent order, night followed day, and the years kept their season in unvarying course. But what produces this order? Now that was the search of the philosophers. If you took philosophy in the university or college the 500 years prior to Christ coming, the philosophy dealt with the speculative. They asked questions that weren't really considered very, very practical. But they did say the answer to what keeps this world humming like it does, keeps everything in order, we don't know who it is, we don't know how to explain it, we'll just call him the Logos, and when you read Greek philosophers 500 years and down to the time of Christ, you'll find that word common in the philosophers' vocabulary. I don't know how, I just know there's got to do something. There's got to be someone who makes this world and this universe go on as it does, stars don't run into each other, and the moon and the sun keep about the same distance. There's got to be something that keeps this all in order. And so the Greek philosopher said well that's the Logos, and then they looked at man and said, what is it about man that gives him the power to think, and to reason, and to know? What makes man different than all others of God's creatures, and what makes him a rational, thinking creature? And again the old philosopher said it's just that Logos, the same whatever it is that keeps the world going, is the same that makes man a rational being. And thus it is the mind of God dwelling within a man that makes him a thinking, reasoning being. So John seizes upon that concept and that's what he said. If you were a Greek and you heard the word Logos, this is what he said, Jesus is the Logos. Here's what he's saying, all your lives you have been fascinated by this great guiding, controlling mind of God you have called the Logos. Now that Logos that you've talked about for 500 years came, His name was Jesus. Look at Him and you will see what the mind and the thought of God are like.

Secondly, the Greeks had a concept of two worlds. The world is a world of shadows and copies and unrealities, and then there's the unseen world, and to them that world was real. It was Plato who systematized this way of thinking in his doctrine of form and ideas. He held that in the unseen world there was the perfect pattern of everything, and somewhere there was the perfect pattern of the good and beautiful of which all earthly goodness and earthly beauty are imperfect and inadequate copies. And the great reality is how do you get out of the shadows and you get into reality? It's John answer that that's exactly what Jesus enables us to do. Jesus is reality who came to earth, and as such, Jesus is the real light. Jesus is the real bread. Jesus is the real vine. Jesus belongs to the real judgment, and thus, every action that Jesus did was therefore not only an act in time but it's a window which allows us to see into eternal reality. John said to you folks who've studied your philosophy all your life, if you want to know reality, get to know the Logos, get to know Jesus.

Now let's go back to the text. In the beginning, John says. Now we learned last week that when Moses began the book of Genesis he said; In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Verse 2, and the earth was without form, and void; and darkness covered the face of the earth. Verse 3, and God said, "Let there be light". Thus, Moses commences his narration from the time of God's creative act of the universe and mankind, and moves us down to the redemption of man, because he comes to verse 3:15 and he talks about the prophecy of the coming Christ.

John does something else. John starts at Genesis 1 and he goes this way. He goes back into the beginnings of the beginnings of the beginning. He is saying in the beginning of the beginnings, when there was no beginning, Jesus has always been. It's that answer to that question when our little children ask us, when did God begin? That's hard to answer. Moms and dads all know that. John says in the beginning when there was no beginnings before the beginnings began, Jesus always was. What's he declaring? He's saying that Jesus Christ is eternal, he has always been. In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God. Now that's interesting. Again, if we were reading the Greek, that word with God is a very intimate phrase which describes the closest of relationship. What John is saying is trying to describe that relationship between the Godhead in the Trinity, he is saying that Jesus Christ was face to face with God. That's the Greek phrase. There's no closer relationship. Jesus Christ has always been. He has always been equal, face to face with the Father, and then he makes a statement, so emphatic, and Jesus Christ was God.

And you say Pastor, why did John start this way? Because John is deeply concerned. Into the church, now this is only 50 years after Christ has gone back to heaven, already false teachers had come into the church and the first thing they attacked, and its always true of every false doctrine, the first doctrine they attacked is the doctrine of Jesus Christ. They make Him less than what the Bible teaches Him to be. John says Jesus Christ was God. The old heretics come along and said, no, He was a created god (spell with a small 'g') and that He took on His divinity when He was baptized and lost His divinity at His crucifixion; that's Jesus. No, no. Who taught that? The Gnostics.

John, he's an old man, he's known Jesus. Fifty years of memory of walking with Him, talking with Him. John loved Jesus, and he's seeing the Christ and His divinity, His deity under attack. And so he says, in the beginning Jesus has always been face to face with God. He is God. Now you can see how deep this was on his heart.

Go with me to 1 John. It's page 820 in your Bible. I mean he's getting ready to go back to heaven, remember he's writing and he's 90+ years old. And he's seeing the Christian church already being riddled with false heresy, and look what he says in 1 John chapter 4, page 820 in your Bible. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God; Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. John is saying that person who maintains the biblical teaching that Jesus Christ was the divine Son of God, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died a vicarious death, was put to death, rose again from the dead and ascended back to heaven. That's the doctrine of Christ. And every man that believes that is of God. Watch, he goes on. But every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. Those people who come knocking at your door and want to sell their books, and want to have a Bible study with you, the first verse they'll attack is this one, John 1:1. And they'll tell you that it's spelled with a small 'g' and they'll immediately riddle the whole concept of the deity of Christ. John said they're wrong. Look at he went on further, he said, and this is the spirit of the Antichrist. When those knock at your door, you're having an antichrist knock at your front door ladies and gentlemen. That's what John said.

He didn't, couldn't let go of that one. He wrote another little letter. Look at John 2, 2 John right behind it. He wrote those little letters. Look at verse 7. Can you see this old gentlemen? He loved Jesus. He'd walked with Him. He'd talked with Him. They had ministered together. He said look at; For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. Back again at that heresy. And he said this is a deceiver and they're an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. John is saying hang on, hang on to truth. Don't let the heretics take it away from you. Tenaciously, don't let truth slip away. And every time I talk with you folks and over the years it's been my prayer, Lord Jesus, keep me close to this book so that we never depart into any kind of heresy. May it just be this book and what it says, God's eternal word. John says Hang On tenaciously to truth. Don't let them steal it from you.

Verse 9, whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. I don't care how nice they are. I don't care how religious they are. They don't have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. What do we do? The other night as I was preaching, finished the sermon, a little lady came up to me and said Pastor, I'm just a new Christian. This is my first or second time in church, and she said, I was floored when you read that verse. She said I've been having antichrist teaching in my home, and I'm going home to stop it. Look what John says. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. That's clear, isn't it? I mean John doesn't, you don't have to beat around the bush with John. John said if they don't teach, if they don't believe that Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God, the eternal Son of God, don't you even have been in your house. I had a man come to me after the last service, tears in his eyes, he said Pastor, I have to tell you that most of my family are antichrists, and I grieve over it. That's the definition that John gives to them.

Back to our text in John's Gospel. Look at, John makes it clear. Jesus has always been face to face with God. He is God. Secondly, He was in the beginning with God. Just again, John is reemphasizing. It's not any new truth. John says I just want you to know Jesus Christ has always been a part of the eternal Trinity, face to face with God. Verse 3, All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. Why did John get involved with telling us about Jesus being the creator of all things? We know He is.

Go with me to Colossians. It's page 792 in your Bible, 792. Colossians 1:15. Look at what it says. Page 792, Colossians 1:15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, that's His eternalness, and in Him all things consist. And that's an interesting word. Again, in the original, in Him all things hold together. He is that force that keeps all the atoms together in the universe. Paul says that. He is the one that holds the atoms of this universe together. And He is the head of the body, of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn.

Go with me to Hebrews chapter 1, page 804. Again, the emphasis, John is simply saying what all the Bible has always taught. Look at what it says in Hebrews 1:1-4. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 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. It's clear. It's all the way through the Scripture. Back to John. John says all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

Now here's the things that I think makes the Bible come alive, and that is understanding the why John put verse 3 there. And here's what the problem was. The Gnostics (g-n-o-s-t-i-c), their doctrine: Gnosticism (g-n-o-s-t-i-c-i-s-m), that was the heresy. He's really combating it. Now here's what those Gnostics taught. It's very simple. Matter is evil; spirit is good. The earth is matter therefore it's evil, and a good God wouldn't create an evil world, so God had nothing to do with the world in which we live. Now they went further. In Gnosticism they taught that two things existed at the beginning; there was matter and there was God. You know you're already involved in heresy because God didn't create anything out of something that existed. This world came out of nothing. God said and out of nothing (claps hands) here it is. The Gnostics said, oh no. There was matter. God had to have something to work with, and the matter had been flawed, and it had the seeds of corruption, and therefore it's an evil world. And here's how they explained it. They said what happened in ages past, God sent out emanations. You know when you drop a pebble in the water; you see these little ripples going out. So they say here's what happened, in the ages past, I mean they thought they were really smart, they said God sent out spiritual reverberations, and as these emanations got farther and farther from God they knew less and less about God. Finally about halfway down in the series they're so far from the original God who sent them out, now they know nothing about God and they become against God, and they become evil. And it's these emanations way out here that created the world in which we live. And that doctrine was started to be preached in the early church. And dear old John said that isn't true.

When God said let there be light, when God created, He created out of nothing. There wasn't matter to work with until God created matter. And John said Jesus Christ who is the eternal one, face to face with God, who is God, is the creator of everything we see. Do you see what he's trying to do? He's trying to clear up the heresies in the early church. Verse 4, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. What's he talking about? John is saying that apart from divine life given to mankind through Jesus Christ, all there is is existence. A person who does not know Jesus Christ and has not had the life of Christ, experienced the new birth, all that person does is live and exist in this world. They do not have the ability to reason where they came from, where they're going, why they're here. They are totally devoid of divine direction. That's true. People without faith, people without Jesus Christ, they kind of flounder through life and when it's all over; they don't know where they've been, and they don't know why they were here, and they don't know where they're going.

When you come to Jesus Christ, John is saying, life begins. That's true. When I receive Jesus Christ, Jesus said, I am the way, I am truth, I am life. And He went on to say, I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. You want to start living? You want to start enjoying your reason for being here? You want to start enjoying God's fellowship? Let Jesus Christ pour into your life His life and receive Him as Lord and Savior. And John said, when He comes. He comes as the life, because the Bible tells us that sin has darkened the minds of men. 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4 and 6, sin has blinded the eyes so that we can grasp not the majesty and the glory of Christ. And Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:6, it's through Jesus Christ where the light shines into our heart, and all of a sudden, we begin to understand spiritual dimensions we never understood; why we're here.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:14, the natural man understands not the things of God because they are spiritually understood. He writes, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that love Him. But, verse 11 says, the spirit has revealed them to us. So here's John's point. The Logos, Jesus, who is eternal, face to face with God, created everything and He wants to come into our life, our existence, and bring us life; take us out of our spiritual darkness and open our spiritual eyes so that we can behold His glory and His majesty. That's Jesus, the Logos. Do you remember, John told us why he wrote his gospel, I'm telling you these things so that you will believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that through believing you'll have life. His first five verses. There He is, Christ in all of His majesty and all of His power, who wants to impart unto us life. Believe on Him, receive Him, and live.

Let's pray. Lord Jesus as we study this wonderful gospel we realize with John that it's so easy to be surrounded by false teachings and heresies. The church has always been under attack. But may we tenaciously as John has warned us, may we tenaciously cling to the great truths of our faith, never letting them go. Staying very close to Your Word. Letting it say just exactly what it says, and believing it without compromise. Jesus, we declare that You are the eternal, divine, Son of God, God incarnate in human flesh, creator of all the worlds, giver of light and life to all who will believe. We declare that as our faith, and everybody said, amen. God bless you folks. God bless you.