Sermon Tone Analysis

Please open to the gospel of John.

I am so pumped to be here this morning, preaching the Word of God.

Its been a hard week or so getting some stuff ready for whats going to happen in the church, and as excited as I am for those things to happen.

I am MORE excited to in the house of the Lord worshiping with you all this morning.

We are starting a series in the book of John, and its going to take some time to work through this amazing gospel.

The gospel of John is my favorite among the four gospels, and I have personally never sat under someone who has preached it.

Im sure most of you know by now I want to preach and teach the full counsel of God.

John is one of 66 books in the bible.

It contains 21 chapters.

Now the gospel of John was written by John the disciple of Jesus Christ.

In this book you will see him often named the disciple whom Jesus loved.

Most manuscripts have two titles of this gospel.

One is either John’s gospel or the gospel according to John.

Most scholars believe this is the youngest gospel it was written last among the four gospels.

Now i believe John’s gospel is the most theological of all the gospel, it discusses so many important doctrines starting in verse 1 all the way through the end.

It’s use of the Old Testament is quite fascinating and we will see that as we study this book.

Now the purpose of this book is the title of this series, and that is five simple words.

So that you may believe.

John says these five important words in John 20:30-31 “30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

One commentator said John asks three important questions.

I want to say these questions and give you some sort answers.

What do we need to believe?

We need to believe that Jesus is the Christ.

What does it mean to believe?

It means to trust, to put one’s faith into something or someone.

Trusting one’s whole-self into Christ and what has accomplished.

Why do we need to believe?

To have eternal life, to have spiritual rebirth, to be saved from sin.

And I believe we will be able to answer each of these questions, and more as we study this life changing book.

That is just a brief into of the gospel, but lets get in the text.

Todays text is going to be John 1:1-5 but i want to read 1:1-18 as we see a powerful intro to this wonderful book.

If you are taking notes this morning, or following on in your bulletin I want you to take note of the main point and its this.

Jesus eternally God who created all things came to bring life and light to a dark world.

Lets unpack this idea.

To unpack that idea I want you to see three things…

Jesus is eternally God.

This great gospel starts with the saying in the beginning was the Word.

This might sound familiar to you.

Because John is using similar language to Genesis 1:1 “1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

And what John is saying is that the Word was in the beginning.

Another gospel the gospel of mark states a similar idea.

Mark 1:1 “1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Mark starts with the ministry of Jesus, but as I saw one man says about this text, John is showing you that the starting point of the gospel can be traced back even farther than that, before the beginning of the entire universe.

Its hard for us in the room often grasp time that we have not lived in.

I love history and learning about all the things that happened throughout it are quite fascinating, however the idea of God being around forever is much harder for me, because I cant really understand in my finite mind what that actually looks like its not a number that can be written on a page like all these historical events.

Most historical events have a date, but the Lord has been around forever, truly incredible.

Now who is this word?

The word is Jesus.

How do we know this well I wanted to read this whole section of scripture earlier so we could see this.

John 1:14 “14 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.”

This Word who became flesh is Jesus.

One man said, “Because this Word, this divine self-expression, existed in the beginning, one might suppose that it was either with God, or nothing less than God himself.

John insists the Word was both.

The Word, he says, was with God.”

So Jesus was not only in the beginning he was with God.

So you see in the text some diversity here.

You see the Word and you see God.

It does not say the word was a god, it says the Word is God.

But whats so important to see is that Word and God are different You begin to see 2 members of the Trinity in just the first two verses.

The Father and the Son.

Jehovah's witnesses would argue that Jesus is a god, of many gods.

That he was created, that he did not exist forever, but this is not the case.

Oneness pentecostals would say that Jesus is just a form of God, and in there eyes there are not three persons.

This is not what the text says.

It says John 1:1-2

Jesus has existed for all eternity and he is God.

And his beginnings show us so much more.

Jesus is creator of all things.

Again we see John use some old testament language.

There is often a misconception about Jesus role in creation, some think wrongly and say he was not present at creation.

But John himself makes it clear that all things are made through him.

Jesus was active in creation.

Jesus physical birth on earth through Mary was not the start of his ministry.

Jesus has been around for all eternity.

This cannot be missed.

If you have ever traveled around the State, Usa, or the world you see so much beauty.

On a mission trip I hiked up this mountain and when I got to the top it was incredible to see the beauty all around me, and just realizing that it was God who created this.

If if you have ever flown in a plane and seen what was below and how different the landscapes are as you travel.

Or if you see the sunrise and sunsets and see the beauty that only God could create.

Or the zoo or other wildlife and see how different each and every animal is, and how God expressed his power in creation, Its easy for us to see, its not just a bunch of randomness that just happened.

It is God who created all these things.

But even better is he created people.

Genesis 1:27

We the human race are created in the image of God.

We are not just randomness but created in his image.

And as creator of all things, He is the one who gives life.

Amazing, listen to a few other scriptures that teach us about him as creator.

Rev 4:11 “11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.””

It the was the will of God that there was creation.

It was the will of God that we exist that this world exists.

And Christ was involved in all of creation.

Another verse.

Heb 1:2 “2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

Jesus created all things.

same that that is said in John.

Another section of scripture that really drives home this idea is, Col 1:16-20 “16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church.

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

So we looked at several passages here, and a good rule in interpreting scripture is letting scripture interpret it self.