WEBVTT 00:00:00.260 --> 00:00:03.240 If you're with us, join us this morning for a new message series. 00:00:03.760 --> 00:00:04.660 I'm excited you're here. 00:00:04.660 --> 00:00:06.940 We're going to dive into the book of John. 00:00:07.160 --> 00:00:08.400 John chapter one is where we're going to be. 00:00:08.440 --> 00:00:09.540 So give you some time to get there. 00:00:09.540 --> 00:00:14.630 I'm going to give you a little bit of a, of a backdrop as to why we're about to start this series together. 00:00:14.740 --> 00:00:22.200 This series will also mark our start of the connection groups, which we begin next week after, next 00:00:22.300 --> 00:00:22.780 Sunday service. 00:00:22.880 --> 00:00:28.280 That'll begin the week of our connection groups, which I'll invite you to for where to go to get information to sign up for a connection group. 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:32.140 If you're interested in your connection groups, we'll be discussing this topic together. 00:00:32.140 --> 00:00:33.160 Hashtag Jesus. 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:35.830 Here's a few things I hope to accomplish today. 00:00:36.300 --> 00:00:43.340 I want to leave us with a memorable thought as it relates to Christ in our life and how it impacts us, and one of the things we want to encourage you throughout this 00:00:43.340 --> 00:00:50.600 series, if there's a phrase that we state or a thought that we share to go to Twitter, Facebook, whatever, check in Alpine 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:57.680 Bible Church and hashtag or make a statement about what it is that we're teaching today as it relates to Christ, to give you a 00:00:57.740 --> 00:01:01.830 platform to promote, Jesus and what God's doing here? 00:01:02.720 --> 00:01:06.720 with that, here's one of the goals I want to hopefully achieve within us today. 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:14.200 If we walk away from today and you feel driven to come to know Christ more and read about him specifically 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:18.180 in the Gospels this week, I'm going to consider that a victory for us as a church family. 00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:19.660 And here's why. 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:29.280 Probably there's no greater figure that's misunderstood and abused in history and what he stood for than 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:30.140 than Jesus. 00:01:31.800 --> 00:01:39.060 As a matter of fact, last week we heard a great encouragement for us here on Sunday talking about taking up your cross 00:01:39.060 --> 00:01:40.540 and following after him. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:49.560 But you know, one of the thoughts that we carried, coupled with such a statement like that is if it's the wrong Jesus that's propagated, that 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:56.860 becomes a very dangerous statement for us as individuals because we have this thought that we're pursuing this God in worship 00:01:56.860 --> 00:01:59.800 or Christ in honor to him. 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:07.240 And, if it's the wrong Jesus, then the pursuit of taking up our cross and following after him can sometimes be more of 00:02:07.240 --> 00:02:09.900 an abusive statement than anything. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:12.980 For instance, let me just give you an example or a way to think about this. 00:02:13.500 --> 00:02:20.760 If you start studying the biblical Jesus and you start looking at him, you're realizing maybe what someone's telling you about Jesus isn't what Scripture say 00:02:20.760 --> 00:02:21.280 about him. 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:24.200 And then they begin to point the finger like, what's what's wrong with you? 00:02:24.260 --> 00:02:25.980 You know, take up your cross and follow him. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:28.420 Just get in line and do this like you're supposed to. 00:02:30.160 --> 00:02:36.800 And, without a good picture of who Christ is, we can really fall on that path in the wrong way. 00:02:36.820 --> 00:02:39.970 And so what we're going to do in these weeks ahead is we're going to study Jesus. 00:02:40.060 --> 00:02:41.560 We're going to let Jesus speak for himself. 00:02:41.920 --> 00:02:47.380 And as we get out of here on Sunday, my encouragement to you is to pick up the Gospels and like a child. 00:02:49.020 --> 00:02:51.200 Don't come with preconceived ideas. 00:02:51.200 --> 00:02:53.800 Don't let don't speak for Jesus. 00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:55.590 Let Jesus speak for himself. 00:02:56.600 --> 00:03:00.820 And start to read and understand him through who he is. 00:03:00.820 --> 00:03:05.770 I heard a really encouraging, sobering thought just a few weeks ago. 00:03:05.880 --> 00:03:13.140 I had someone just come up to me and share about their relationship to God and their pursuit 00:03:13.140 --> 00:03:14.000 in life. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:21.140 And they just said this, when I was younger, I was I used to go to church, but I never had a real clear picture of Jesus and 00:03:21.140 --> 00:03:21.540 had. 00:03:23.540 --> 00:03:24.540 Had I had that? 00:03:26.420 --> 00:03:28.400 I wouldn't have made the choices that I made in life. 00:03:30.520 --> 00:03:32.600 I just want to know Jesus for who he is. 00:03:34.780 --> 00:03:38.980 The Apostle Paul made that his life goal in Philippians chapter three and verse ten. 00:03:40.040 --> 00:03:42.820 And that I may know him, he said. 00:03:42.820 --> 00:03:48.760 Throughout that chapter, he talks about all the things of this world that he just laid apart for the desire of coming to know Jesus. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:50.820 And so let me just start with this question. 00:03:53.100 --> 00:03:55.230 If you were to introduce Jesus to this world. 00:03:56.720 --> 00:03:59.200 You had a platform in which the world knew that they would. 00:04:00.600 --> 00:04:02.210 Listen to you or be able to be here. 00:04:02.900 --> 00:04:03.690 What you had to say. 00:04:05.420 --> 00:04:09.990 How would you start by broadcasting who Jesus is to the world? 00:04:11.960 --> 00:04:16.899 The apostle John faced that question a couple thousand years ago. 00:04:19.100 --> 00:04:21.980 Knowing that he was about to write a gospel and his gospel. 00:04:22.660 --> 00:04:26.100 John's gospel is considered a gospel that's written to the world. 00:04:28.060 --> 00:04:31.200 Matthew was primarily addressed to the Jews. 00:04:32.420 --> 00:04:36.120 Mark primarily addressed to Roman culture. 00:04:37.080 --> 00:04:44.260 Luke primarily addressed to Greek culture, but John opened the floodgates in his gospel 00:04:44.260 --> 00:04:46.960 in presenting Jesus to the world. 00:04:50.220 --> 00:04:51.080 In Greek culture. 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:56.400 During the time in which John wrote, there was this popular phrase which was coming about in the first century. 00:04:57.960 --> 00:05:05.020 It was a phrase that Stoics used philosophers as they batted this thought around of deity and the forces of deity 00:05:05.020 --> 00:05:06.720 recognized within Greek culture. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:08.520 There were there were multiple gods. 00:05:10.960 --> 00:05:13.040 And this word literally word. 00:05:14.640 --> 00:05:15.460 Began to be used. 00:05:16.820 --> 00:05:20.120 To describe this force that drove all of nature. 00:05:20.620 --> 00:05:27.480 They used this word word w o r d to describe the what governed the laws of nature. 00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:34.740 It was it was a somewhat ambiguous thought, but it was an inclusive thought which described all of their gods, or allowed the opportunity for 00:05:34.740 --> 00:05:40.740 their deities to lie within this force that was recognized as the word which drove life. 00:05:42.960 --> 00:05:43.430 And to the Jews. 00:05:43.760 --> 00:05:48.500 They also used this expression of word within their writings. 00:05:49.760 --> 00:05:53.940 But to the Jew it had a slightly different thought or mentality. 00:05:54.500 --> 00:05:57.980 The Word of God was the expression of God Himself. 00:05:58.020 --> 00:06:00.760 It was the extension through which God made himself known. 00:06:02.300 --> 00:06:08.540 In fact, in Proverbs chapter eight, wisdom is described in such a way that it's a personification of God. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:15.620 When Moses came down with the laws and the commandments from Mount Sinai. 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:22.980 When God wrote his law in Deuteronomy chapter 30 and verse 11, it was seen as God verbally expressing himself to 00:06:22.980 --> 00:06:23.480 the people. 00:06:23.540 --> 00:06:24.860 It was the extension of God. 00:06:26.600 --> 00:06:27.680 In Genesis one. 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:31.020 And when God created it, said, in the beginning God said. 00:06:31.780 --> 00:06:37.940 And throughout chapter one of Genesis over seven times within that passage, God said, and life began. 00:06:37.980 --> 00:06:39.940 His word had power. 00:06:42.380 --> 00:06:43.640 And so when. 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:43.840 John. 00:06:45.420 --> 00:06:48.200 Begins to express this Jesus to the world. 00:06:50.400 --> 00:06:54.240 He says in John chapter one, verse one. 00:06:54.400 --> 00:06:57.050 In the beginning was the word. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:05.360 And it didn't matter what philosophical background you're coming from, Greek culture, Jewish culture, you would begin to read this statement and resonate 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:06.380 with this thought. 00:07:06.580 --> 00:07:13.080 In the beginning was the word yes, yes, John, this is where life and force and everything that's important comes into being. 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:18.680 And then he says in verse 14, if you were just to skip ahead, something very significant about the power of this word. 00:07:18.980 --> 00:07:21.190 And so he says, and the word became flesh. 00:07:23.460 --> 00:07:23.920 And dwelt. 00:07:25.000 --> 00:07:26.960 Among us. 00:07:28.260 --> 00:07:28.880 No longer. 00:07:30.520 --> 00:07:31.520 Was this word? 00:07:31.660 --> 00:07:32.740 Just words. 00:07:35.020 --> 00:07:36.140 It was now living an active. 00:07:38.400 --> 00:07:38.880 In the New Testament. 00:07:39.380 --> 00:07:46.440 The Jewish people, as John opened up this book, would have just loved the thoughts that John shared, because history tells 00:07:46.440 --> 00:07:48.560 us between the Old Testament and the New Testament. 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:55.380 Israel had gone 400 years of silence with no prophetic statement from God and revealing himself to the nation of Israel. 00:07:55.380 --> 00:07:59.380 And they had been used to the prophets declaring God's truth, God's word to them. 00:07:59.720 --> 00:08:01.150 And God has been silent. 00:08:01.840 --> 00:08:06.300 And finally, John, when he opens up the New Testament, he says, God is silent no more. 00:08:08.760 --> 00:08:10.060 The word is being declared. 00:08:12.920 --> 00:08:13.120 So specifically. 00:08:15.780 --> 00:08:21.120 And so intimately that no longer is it just a voice. 00:08:22.840 --> 00:08:24.090 But it has become flesh. 00:08:26.920 --> 00:08:32.460 And John with this statement begins to introduce exactly who this Jesus is. 00:08:32.659 --> 00:08:34.580 And so the first 14 verses. 00:08:35.280 --> 00:08:42.860 John uses these powerful illustrations throughout the gospel that expresses exactly the nature of who this Christ is. 00:08:42.900 --> 00:08:50.060 And so he says, in the beginning was the word in verse one, and the word was with God, meaning a connection and relationship 00:08:50.060 --> 00:08:50.700 to the father. 00:08:51.020 --> 00:08:51.440 And look at this. 00:08:51.820 --> 00:08:53.040 And the word was God. 00:08:54.740 --> 00:08:58.120 The beginning of Genesis chapter one and the beginning of John. 00:08:58.460 --> 00:09:02.720 Chapter one shows these close parallels and describing for us who God is. 00:09:03.240 --> 00:09:08.420 John is not only calling Jesus God, but he is explaining the thought of the Triune God. 00:09:10.040 --> 00:09:13.830 If you were to read Genesis chapter one, you would see that God spoke and creation began. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:19.780 And as God is speaking, the Spirit of God is hovering over the waters while the father speaks things into existence. 00:09:19.820 --> 00:09:26.700 And when you get to verse 26, God says, let us make man in our image in a plurality statement. 00:09:26.700 --> 00:09:33.700 And then in verse 27 he says, in the image of God, he made them both male and female, in the singularity of who he 00:09:33.700 --> 00:09:37.020 is and his identity of God. 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:39.860 And so John says, in the beginning was the word. 00:09:40.060 --> 00:09:44.420 They loved this thought of word, and this word was with God, and this word was God. 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:48.580 He was in the beginning with God, and all things came into being through him. 00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:49.620 Jesus creating. 00:09:49.640 --> 00:09:52.800 And apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being. 00:09:53.040 --> 00:09:55.720 And in him was life, and the life was the light of men. 00:09:56.060 --> 00:09:59.460 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not comprehend it. 00:10:01.340 --> 00:10:08.180 John's second statement parallels parallels well with Colossians chapter one and saying to us that Jesus created all things. 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:17.540 And he goes on further and describes just how significant this is in his creation, that all things are in him. 00:10:17.540 --> 00:10:20.080 That Jesus isn't just about life. 00:10:20.420 --> 00:10:22.480 Jesus is life himself. 00:10:24.120 --> 00:10:29.650 Of all things exist, and all things continue to exist because Jesus allows them to exist. 00:10:29.660 --> 00:10:34.090 He creating all things, not only created it, he is the sustainer of them. 00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:36.700 In him was life. 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:39.840 And the life was the light of men. 00:10:41.980 --> 00:10:42.430 And the light. 00:10:44.420 --> 00:10:47.280 Shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not comprehend it. 00:10:49.100 --> 00:10:50.110 Not only is he life. 00:10:51.680 --> 00:10:53.920 But his life is our light. 00:10:56.180 --> 00:11:01.140 There came one who shared about Jesus's name was John, it says, and John the Baptist. 00:11:01.380 --> 00:11:07.760 Not to be confused with John the Apostle who wrote this book, but it says in verse six, there came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 00:11:08.800 --> 00:11:12.960 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. 00:11:14.520 --> 00:11:17.200 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 00:11:17.420 --> 00:11:21.500 There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 00:11:23.800 --> 00:11:30.860 The statement in which John shares is not just simply one that rests with John, but as others come to know this Jesus, it's 00:11:30.860 --> 00:11:32.610 a statement in which all of us share. 00:11:32.980 --> 00:11:38.310 And so he says in verse ten, and on the light, excuse me, it's not in the passage. 00:11:40.200 --> 00:11:40.940 He was in the world. 00:11:41.080 --> 00:11:41.380 Excuse me? 00:11:41.480 --> 00:11:44.200 He was in the world, and the world was made through him. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:46.060 And the world did not know him. 00:11:47.640 --> 00:11:52.160 He came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him, but as many as received him. 00:11:52.220 --> 00:11:59.300 To them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor 00:11:59.300 --> 00:12:02.880 of the will of man, but of God. 00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:09.500 John says something pretty important about the invitation which Jesus brings in verse 12. 00:12:10.300 --> 00:12:10.940 God isn't a bully. 00:12:13.560 --> 00:12:16.350 God created you for relationship in him. 00:12:17.560 --> 00:12:20.270 God desires for you to have that relationship with him. 00:12:21.820 --> 00:12:25.160 God does not make you have that relationship with him. 00:12:26.860 --> 00:12:28.630 It says in verse 12 that everyone. 00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:31.190 Has a choice. 00:12:33.640 --> 00:12:34.710 What do you do with Jesus? 00:12:36.940 --> 00:12:39.890 But as many as received him. 00:12:40.560 --> 00:12:41.020 To them. 00:12:41.220 --> 00:12:45.280 He gave the right to become the children of God. 00:12:46.560 --> 00:12:50.210 God gives us the opportunity to belong to that which he presented. 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:53.410 To belong to him. 00:12:54.420 --> 00:12:59.440 To experience a life for which we were created and designed to experience was rest in him. 00:13:00.940 --> 00:13:04.790 And so he says to those that receive him. 00:13:06.120 --> 00:13:10.020 Those are his children. 00:13:10.460 --> 00:13:11.410 And the word became flesh. 00:13:13.780 --> 00:13:14.870 And it dwelt among us. 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:22.890 And we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the father, full of grace and truth. 00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:31.380 I want to tell you in the weeks ahead, ahead, we're going to talk about some important statements that are often misunderstood as it relates to Jesus as 00:13:31.380 --> 00:13:35.260 he calls himself the Son of Man, Son of God, only begotten of the father. 00:13:36.140 --> 00:13:43.600 But, John, what he wants us to recognize here is that this flesh, had he has come for us, he has become intimate 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:50.860 to us, that we can understand him more personally relating to him and what he is presenting in his Kingdom, which will ultimately be culminated 00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:53.740 in his death, that we may embrace him and experience life. 00:13:55.820 --> 00:13:57.690 Because he's dying on your behalf. 00:13:59.420 --> 00:14:02.480 And John as he gives this description of what Jesus is like. 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:04.870 I love the summation of his message. 00:14:04.940 --> 00:14:08.720 It's full of grace and full of truth. 00:14:10.760 --> 00:14:12.940 Meaning Jesus has a standard. 00:14:15.140 --> 00:14:22.200 But at the same time, knowing we as people in God's standard can never please God according to a perfect standard, we find 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:27.770 that God's grace is sufficient for us to come to know this God in a personal way. 00:14:32.700 --> 00:14:33.190 In the New Testament. 00:14:37.400 --> 00:14:42.690 Acts chapter two, when Paul shares the very first sermon for the New Testament church. 00:14:44.200 --> 00:14:45.420 He gives this statement about Jesus. 00:14:45.680 --> 00:14:49.230 He said God raised Jesus from the dead and we are all witnesses of this. 00:14:51.500 --> 00:14:52.640 You think this morning? 00:14:52.640 --> 00:14:56.560 Well, how do we know that Jesus even existed? 00:14:57.020 --> 00:15:01.120 How do we how do we know that this isn't just made up? 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:04.660 Or how do we know that he was a real person? 00:15:04.820 --> 00:15:08.630 And even these stories about Christ within the New Testament can be trusted. 00:15:11.260 --> 00:15:14.070 The book of acts when Peter's preaching his first message. 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:21.680 And Luke is recording about this, you'll find this thought shared throughout Scripture that they're not just testifying about 00:15:21.680 --> 00:15:22.360 the statement. 00:15:22.380 --> 00:15:27.000 They're not just proclaiming this thought of Jesus that they've been told to share. 00:15:28.460 --> 00:15:30.500 They're witnesses of it. 00:15:31.340 --> 00:15:37.840 Peter saying, listen, I'm here to tell you about Jesus, who was dead and raised because I saw it. 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:44.120 I'm not just sharing it as some sort of thought in which the Bible communicates, which it does. 00:15:44.580 --> 00:15:48.060 But I'm telling you because I was the person there and experienced it. 00:15:51.720 --> 00:15:53.120 You know, I would agree. 00:15:53.200 --> 00:16:00.000 At some point in our lives, everyone borrows a belief to some extent, right? 00:16:00.340 --> 00:16:01.240 Let me give you an example. 00:16:01.560 --> 00:16:09.040 When you go get your driver's license and you jump on the road, you kind of know there are some rules that you follow, right? 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:15.130 And so you have this intellectual knowledge, having never been behind the wheel, that these rules are what are to be followed. 00:16:15.640 --> 00:16:19.280 And you carry this knowledge onto the road expecting that people would follow this. 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:24.040 And it's not until you get behind the wheel and you start driving the car that you begin to experience that. 00:16:24.180 --> 00:16:28.200 Yes, that yellow line is important, right? 00:16:28.260 --> 00:16:35.580 There are particular thoughts that you borrow as a belief, maybe a product someone's trying to present to you and they'll tell you it'll do this and 00:16:35.580 --> 00:16:43.040 this, and you think, okay, let me just let me, let me experience that for myself and bring it in and see if it's trustworthy, 00:16:43.040 --> 00:16:47.680 if it sells according to the way everything that's presented about it. 00:16:50.760 --> 00:16:53.030 Everyone begins to borrow a belief at some point. 00:16:55.500 --> 00:16:59.730 And Peter sharing this as a message for us to understand. 00:17:02.100 --> 00:17:05.920 But Jesus has come in the flesh and he is the witness of it. 00:17:06.220 --> 00:17:09.730 For us to be able to experience this Christ in our own lives. 00:17:11.880 --> 00:17:14.040 But there is a point in which a belief. 00:17:15.540 --> 00:17:16.770 Goes from an intellectual understanding. 00:17:19.400 --> 00:17:21.220 To a personal embracing with your life. 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:28.540 No longer is it borrowed, but it is a faith, a trust that you've put in. 00:17:30.380 --> 00:17:33.600 One of the things that I'm thankful for. 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:35.240 When it comes to Jesus. 00:17:38.660 --> 00:17:45.660 That when we historically archaeologically study the nature of who Christ 00:17:45.900 --> 00:17:52.960 is within the Bible as it presents itself, Christianity gives ample verification of the truth in 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:54.300 which it proclaims. 00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:04.020 You know, within the world today, there are certain religious pockets of different faiths. 00:18:07.040 --> 00:18:12.280 That what oftentimes makes truth claims is might meaning the thought is might makes right. 00:18:15.180 --> 00:18:20.010 And because it's the group that has momentum in the area, everyone is expected to be a part of that. 00:18:22.260 --> 00:18:23.820 But when it comes to Jesus. 00:18:26.460 --> 00:18:28.300 Might in that sense, isn't what makes right. 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:34.660 The truth of who Christ is to us. 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:42.720 We all have to deal with Jesus, and the Bible presents to us this statement of who Christ is, but not not only 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:43.470 the Bible. 00:18:43.580 --> 00:18:47.540 There are extra sources within history to look at who Jesus is. 00:18:47.540 --> 00:18:48.820 And I'll give you some in just a minute. 00:18:48.840 --> 00:18:50.460 But this is what C.S. 00:18:50.460 --> 00:18:53.160 Lewis wrote about Christ in his book Mere Christianity. 00:18:53.160 --> 00:19:00.480 He said this I am really trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:07.560 say about Jesus, which is, I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim 00:19:07.560 --> 00:19:08.280 to be God. 00:19:09.420 --> 00:19:11.440 This is the one thing we must not say. 00:19:11.860 --> 00:19:17.340 A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. 00:19:18.440 --> 00:19:24.910 He would either be a lunatic on a level with a man who says he's a poached egg, or else he would be the devil of hell. 00:19:26.560 --> 00:19:27.750 You must make your choice. 00:19:29.260 --> 00:19:30.820 You can shut him up for a fool. 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:33.330 You can spit at him and kill him as a demon. 00:19:33.660 --> 00:19:33.660 You. 00:19:33.800 --> 00:19:36.940 You can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. 00:19:37.280 --> 00:19:42.520 But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. 00:19:44.120 --> 00:19:48.190 He has not left that open to us and he did not intend to. 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:51.720 When you read the Gospels. 00:19:53.760 --> 00:19:58.130 And Jesus walks around making the claims that he made before his people. 00:19:59.360 --> 00:20:06.460 You'll see that the often what is remarked in the stand and which is taken that immediately Jesus will make a statement of being 00:20:06.460 --> 00:20:10.660 deity, and they will pick up stones to stone him and kill him. 00:20:12.660 --> 00:20:13.200 And C.S. 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:19.320 Lewis is saying within this passage, listen, Jesus doesn't fall in that middle boundary of just being a good encourager or teacher. 00:20:20.120 --> 00:20:21.960 Jesus is either one or the other. 00:20:22.040 --> 00:20:22.810 He is a lunatic. 00:20:23.500 --> 00:20:27.700 He is the devil himself, or he is Lord God. 00:20:27.860 --> 00:20:30.100 He didn't even leave it open for a middle ground. 00:20:31.660 --> 00:20:36.780 When you look at history within the first few centuries, the Bible isn't the only thing that writes about Jesus. 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:44.080 Cornelius Tacitus, a Roman historian, said this Christus, the founder of the Christian name, was put to death by Pontius Pilate, a procurator 00:20:44.080 --> 00:20:45.750 of Judea in the reign of Tiberius. 00:20:46.300 --> 00:20:53.600 But the pernicious superstition repressed for a time broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief originated by, but 00:20:53.740 --> 00:20:55.260 through the city of Rome also. 00:20:58.440 --> 00:21:02.500 Lucian of Samosata said this the Christians, worship a man to this day. 00:21:02.800 --> 00:21:09.780 The distinguished personage who introduced himself, introduced their novel, writes, and was crucified on that account. 00:21:09.780 --> 00:21:17.000 It was impressed on them by their original lawgiver that they are all brothers from the moment they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece and 00:21:17.080 --> 00:21:19.300 worship the crucified sage. 00:21:23.400 --> 00:21:27.650 Pliny the Younger, who was a Roman ruler, wrote to the emperor Trajan. 00:21:28.040 --> 00:21:31.880 This was during a time of great persecution within Christianity at one point. 00:21:31.960 --> 00:21:38.040 This isn't a statement on here, but at one point Pliny even wrote to the emperor and said, listen, I keep killing these Christians. 00:21:38.040 --> 00:21:39.140 This is an ad lib, by the way. 00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:43.440 I keep killing these Christians, and every time I kill one, it's like two more come out. 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:47.880 And so Pliny writes this to the emperor Trajan. 00:21:47.980 --> 00:21:49.320 I ask them directly if they were Christians. 00:21:50.360 --> 00:21:57.680 Those who persisted, I ordered away those who denied they were or ever have been, had been Christians, and worshipped 00:21:57.740 --> 00:22:00.760 both your image and the image of the gods and cursed Christ. 00:22:00.800 --> 00:22:06.190 So he's saying, listen, the Christians who said they were following Jesus, I sent away probably to death. 00:22:06.340 --> 00:22:10.520 And the ones who denied I made them worship and bow to the Emperor. 00:22:11.820 --> 00:22:12.180 He says. 00:22:12.180 --> 00:22:16.360 They used to gather on a state of day before dawn and sing to Christ as if he were a God. 00:22:17.360 --> 00:22:24.380 All the more I believed it necessary to find out what was the truth from two servant maids, which were called deaconesses by 00:22:24.380 --> 00:22:25.240 means of torture. 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:31.540 Nothing more did I find than than a disgusting, fanatical, fanatical. 00:22:31.540 --> 00:22:31.860 Excuse me. 00:22:31.860 --> 00:22:32.340 Superstition. 00:22:33.500 --> 00:22:37.640 Therefore, I stopped the examination and hastened to consult you. 00:22:39.540 --> 00:22:41.540 So applying, he found out as he keeps killing these people. 00:22:42.180 --> 00:22:45.240 And they're not denying that Jesus was God. 00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:45.740 They were witnesses. 00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:48.480 They some of them had experienced it and were still living. 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:52.460 And so planning just finally got to the place where he didn't even he didn't even know what to do. 00:22:52.460 --> 00:22:55.780 So he was writing the Emperor for advice as they're persecuting the Christian church. 00:22:59.180 --> 00:23:01.680 Flavius Josephus was a Jewish historian from the first century. 00:23:03.220 --> 00:23:10.320 He wrote an extensive book in his Antiquities, and you'll see within this statement that Josephus writes, there are a 00:23:10.360 --> 00:23:11.580 couple of places that are in parentheses. 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:16.020 And so in this statement, there's an early record of what Josephus wrote. 00:23:16.280 --> 00:23:19.230 There's a later record of what Josephus wrote in History Today. 00:23:19.840 --> 00:23:21.700 The later record has what's in parentheses. 00:23:22.080 --> 00:23:22.880 The early record doesn't. 00:23:23.100 --> 00:23:24.880 But this is what Josephus said about Jesus. 00:23:26.520 --> 00:23:33.560 Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a 00:23:33.560 --> 00:23:36.420 teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure. 00:23:37.620 --> 00:23:40.770 He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. 00:23:42.440 --> 00:23:42.440 He was the Christ. 00:23:42.440 --> 00:23:49.460 And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake 00:23:49.460 --> 00:23:49.960 him. 00:23:50.900 --> 00:23:53.280 For he appeared to them alive again the third day. 00:23:54.520 --> 00:23:56.340 As the divine prophets had foretold. 00:23:56.740 --> 00:24:03.880 These and 10,000 other wonderful things concerning him and the tribe of Christians so named for him, are not extinct to 00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:04.590 this day. 00:24:07.660 --> 00:24:10.090 These historical statements I'm just sharing with you this morning. 00:24:11.420 --> 00:24:11.850 The first century. 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:21.440 The remarks from individuals who recognize that those who were witnesses to Jesus and within the first century 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:26.520 of Christ, worshiped Jesus as God. 00:24:27.480 --> 00:24:30.530 This isn't a thought invented later in history. 00:24:31.480 --> 00:24:35.500 This isn't something that man concocted later and called it a Bible. 00:24:35.640 --> 00:24:39.680 The manuscripts of Scripture have preserved since the first century. 00:24:41.600 --> 00:24:48.700 As a matter of fact, if you wanted further validation, there are other people you could read like Celsus and the Babylonian Talmud 00:24:48.700 --> 00:24:52.100 and Gaius, Suetonius and Marlborough. 00:24:52.700 --> 00:24:59.840 And he's a, he's a man that was in jail in 70 AD writing about Israel to his son from inside the jail, 00:24:59.900 --> 00:25:02.230 about his experience as it related to Jesus. 00:25:03.800 --> 00:25:10.790 There's apocryphal gospels, which aren't biblical gospels, but they do record the facts or some of the thoughts of Jesus, I should say. 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:18.840 Early church fathers like Clement of Rome, who came to Christ, Polycarp and Ignatius, who put their faith in Christ, have works 00:25:19.060 --> 00:25:20.960 from the first centuries and writing all about Jesus. 00:25:23.820 --> 00:25:25.350 When the Gospels themselves. 00:25:27.260 --> 00:25:28.060 Write about Christ. 00:25:31.080 --> 00:25:32.300 You know, you read the Old Testament. 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:41.340 In the Old Testament is the foreshadowing, the prophetic statement, the significance of who Jesus is, how all of 00:25:41.620 --> 00:25:46.040 history culminates in who Christ is, and understanding of that. 00:25:46.040 --> 00:25:52.540 How significant it becomes for us to know the word became flesh. 00:25:55.660 --> 00:25:58.830 If the whole Old Testament points to him. 00:26:00.620 --> 00:26:04.300 And the entire New Testament reverts back to him. 00:26:06.600 --> 00:26:08.420 How important is he? 00:26:11.800 --> 00:26:15.910 The Old Testament is the foreshadowing of everything Jesus would be. 00:26:17.020 --> 00:26:24.700 Down to the point of the ceremonies which took place in the temple, reflected everything Jesus would fulfill. 00:26:25.980 --> 00:26:29.450 It was all a symbolic foreshadowing of Christ. 00:26:31.700 --> 00:26:32.690 In the New Testament. 00:26:32.860 --> 00:26:37.240 When you pick up the epistles, it's in light of who Jesus is having placed your faith in him. 00:26:37.660 --> 00:26:45.620 God writes to the church through his apostles and those connected to the apostles and how we're 00:26:45.620 --> 00:26:46.700 to respond in the epistles. 00:26:49.840 --> 00:26:55.580 But, one of the interesting things is in between the Old Testament and the epistles, you find the Gospels. 00:26:58.740 --> 00:27:05.820 In the Bible is 66 manuscripts for us written about about the Lord and the 00:27:06.040 --> 00:27:09.720 significance of who he is in our lives and the Gospels. 00:27:12.140 --> 00:27:15.300 The Gospels carry the slightly different tone than the epistles. 00:27:18.120 --> 00:27:21.980 Matthew, Mark and Luke and John would be the Gospels. 00:27:22.060 --> 00:27:27.160 And after that we find the epistles, and the epistles are for the church. 00:27:28.320 --> 00:27:33.200 The epistles are for those who have come to know Christ and living in him but the Gospels. 00:27:36.360 --> 00:27:38.530 And that's the invitation to the world. 00:27:41.240 --> 00:27:42.910 Come and take a look at the Jesus. 00:27:46.020 --> 00:27:48.560 And the word has become flesh. 00:27:51.240 --> 00:27:58.180 You know, one of the interesting things about the Gospels is when it comes to Jesus's life, you really don't have a whole lot of detail, even described as it relates to Christ. 00:27:58.660 --> 00:28:01.480 This gap of his life really isn't even recorded. 00:28:01.520 --> 00:28:09.220 You have one account of him as a young boy going to the temple with his parents, but really nothing else until he begins his ministry somewhere around the age of 30. 00:28:09.220 --> 00:28:09.640 Why? 00:28:11.180 --> 00:28:17.090 Because the ministry of Jesus leading to the death of Christ. 00:28:18.260 --> 00:28:22.370 That's where the significance of who Christ is culminates for us. 00:28:25.020 --> 00:28:30.060 The Gospel of John especially, is an invitation to the world. 00:28:31.580 --> 00:28:34.060 Come and take a look at this. 00:28:34.120 --> 00:28:35.880 Christ. 00:28:36.380 --> 00:28:39.570 You know, when the Bible was written, there was two forms of the Greek language. 00:28:39.700 --> 00:28:42.580 There was the classical Greek, and there was the Koine Greek. 00:28:44.540 --> 00:28:51.640 You know, one of the one of the reasons that scripture is just, I think, so inviting to everyone in this world, no matter where you are, is 00:28:51.640 --> 00:28:53.880 that the Bible wasn't written in the classical Greek. 00:28:54.020 --> 00:28:57.710 It was written in the Koine Greek, which is which is the common language for everyone. 00:28:57.960 --> 00:29:05.180 And the fact that the Bible was written that way says again to the world that Jesus just wants us to take a look at who 00:29:05.180 --> 00:29:05.780 he is. 00:29:05.820 --> 00:29:12.940 One of the reasons maybe you in your life, if you've come to know Christ, are so encouraged by the Gospels because that is the launching 00:29:12.940 --> 00:29:20.060 pad for you, where everything starts and your relationship with God, and it's just a good place for your soul just to take 00:29:20.280 --> 00:29:27.580 time to set before the presence of God and see how the word became flesh and lived in this world for you, 00:29:27.980 --> 00:29:29.400 dying for your sins. 00:29:31.500 --> 00:29:34.940 When John starts his statement in John one. 00:29:36.700 --> 00:29:40.080 He just wants us to see this invitation of who Christ is. 00:29:42.760 --> 00:29:45.580 Greek culture, Jewish culture, it doesn't matter. 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:51.180 In the beginning was the word and the word became flesh. 00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:53.860 And we had opportunity. 00:29:55.360 --> 00:29:57.200 To behold his glory. 00:29:59.140 --> 00:30:01.130 The Apostle John. 00:30:03.240 --> 00:30:06.830 Very early in chapter one writes about John the Baptist. 00:30:08.500 --> 00:30:12.060 John the Baptist was prophesied as the one who would come in the last book of the Old Testament. 00:30:13.320 --> 00:30:18.320 In the book of Malachi, he would be the forerunner of Jesus, proclaiming the coming of Jesus. 00:30:18.380 --> 00:30:25.500 And so John, now at the end of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, prophetically stating, John the Baptist would come, he 00:30:25.500 --> 00:30:31.820 starts John chapter one, referring to this John the Baptist that would come to reveal the Messiah. 00:30:32.420 --> 00:30:33.780 And John was a prophet. 00:30:33.920 --> 00:30:41.000 400 years Israel had been in this silence, and now God is speaking again in John comes to proclaim the arrival of 00:30:41.160 --> 00:30:43.140 Jesus in the minds of Israel. 00:30:43.520 --> 00:30:47.330 This prophet would have been one in high position, one who should be honored. 00:30:47.460 --> 00:30:51.560 One if you ask the people of Israel, who do you respect among your people? 00:30:51.760 --> 00:30:55.680 They would say the prophets, although they often slaughtered them. 00:30:57.800 --> 00:30:58.400 The prophet. 00:31:01.260 --> 00:31:03.500 John, he would be one to be honored. 00:31:05.200 --> 00:31:09.920 And look what John says about the significance of Jesus. 00:31:11.960 --> 00:31:18.040 John says, it is he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. 00:31:20.380 --> 00:31:27.940 In Israel's mind, John is elevated, but in John's mind, compared to Jesus, the way John describes himself, 00:31:28.280 --> 00:31:34.980 he's saying to us, listen, if there's something you've got to get right in Jesus, it's exactly who Jesus is. 00:31:35.380 --> 00:31:42.740 And so John describes himself in this passage as a slave and not just any slave, the lowest slave within 00:31:42.740 --> 00:31:44.360 a household serving individuals. 00:31:46.460 --> 00:31:53.520 So within a home, if there are multiple slaves, the slave that was considered the lowest on the totem pole and serving in that household had 00:31:53.520 --> 00:31:57.640 the duty of caring for the feet of the individual when they walked into a home. 00:31:58.900 --> 00:32:03.300 And John saying, do you know culturally that position, the way we view it? 00:32:05.400 --> 00:32:06.920 Well, you may be honoring me in your culture. 00:32:09.300 --> 00:32:11.630 But compared to the importance of this Jesus. 00:32:13.700 --> 00:32:15.070 I just want you to get this message. 00:32:17.160 --> 00:32:20.570 I am not worthy to even untie. 00:32:21.960 --> 00:32:22.500 And sandals. 00:32:25.460 --> 00:32:27.140 When Paul carried on his ministry. 00:32:29.180 --> 00:32:36.180 He goes to Corinth and he says this thought for I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him 00:32:36.180 --> 00:32:36.980 crucified. 00:32:40.220 --> 00:32:46.560 Getting this Jesus right is paramount to what the entire Bible shares for us. 00:32:46.720 --> 00:32:49.140 He's just not a piece of our lives. 00:32:49.240 --> 00:32:51.500 He is life itself. 00:32:56.680 --> 00:32:58.600 One of the things I think John's saying to us. 00:33:02.420 --> 00:33:03.880 As if we could just get focused. 00:33:05.800 --> 00:33:13.140 On the powerful thought that he is just expressing in John chapter one over the significance of 00:33:13.140 --> 00:33:14.140 Jesus. 00:33:15.320 --> 00:33:18.880 Nothing can stop you from where God desires to lead you. 00:33:20.120 --> 00:33:25.820 I think what John the Baptist is saying to Israel and Paul to us in passages like this morning. 00:33:27.620 --> 00:33:31.920 You think in this society, Paul's likely speaking to religious people in Corinth. 00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:34.080 There's a lot of religious teaching there. 00:33:34.100 --> 00:33:38.440 You think John the Baptist is certainly speaking to religious leaders? 00:33:41.240 --> 00:33:42.790 As he shares a message for Israel. 00:33:45.600 --> 00:33:47.540 And like most people of religious background. 00:33:49.500 --> 00:33:50.720 And we would often describe it. 00:33:50.760 --> 00:33:51.260 You know, it's good. 00:33:51.600 --> 00:33:52.570 It's a good thing, right? 00:33:52.920 --> 00:33:58.580 I mean, this religion, makes me a good person, therefore, because it makes me a good person. 00:33:58.680 --> 00:33:58.780 There. 00:33:59.450 --> 00:34:00.400 Therefore, it must be true. 00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:03.100 Good makes true right and might makes right. 00:34:03.240 --> 00:34:04.500 And so therefore, it must be. 00:34:05.180 --> 00:34:05.620 Must be right. 00:34:05.940 --> 00:34:07.300 Right. 00:34:08.500 --> 00:34:09.500 I think John saying no. 00:34:11.880 --> 00:34:15.440 I think John's looking into religious culture and he's saying this. 00:34:17.699 --> 00:34:18.679 Men. 00:34:20.280 --> 00:34:20.600 Women. 00:34:23.219 --> 00:34:24.179 Don't let good things. 00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:26.880 Keep you from God things. 00:34:30.120 --> 00:34:31.100 Good isn't godly. 00:34:34.060 --> 00:34:34.980 Good could be godly. 00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:41.000 But it doesn't necessitate it is according to whoever's description of what is good. 00:34:43.699 --> 00:34:47.920 And sometimes in our lives we just settle for good and we stick our head in the sand thinking that's enough. 00:34:48.199 --> 00:34:49.139 But good isn't godly. 00:34:52.400 --> 00:34:55.179 You know, one of the best enemies of great things. 00:34:56.580 --> 00:34:56.980 It's a good things. 00:35:00.180 --> 00:35:04.520 Don't let good things keep you from godly things. 00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:08.600 And the message of who Jesus is. 00:35:10.560 --> 00:35:14.860 An understanding what it means that the word became flesh for you. 00:35:16.740 --> 00:35:23.780 That is the place where God gives you an invitation just to let go of good things and just come to what is godly and grab a hold of 00:35:23.860 --> 00:35:26.880 Jesus as Jesus has been in pursuit of you. 00:35:30.560 --> 00:35:33.300 The most important years in all of human history. 00:35:33.780 --> 00:35:40.360 The most important event in all of human history is unfolding in Christ. 00:35:43.160 --> 00:35:43.620 Hashtag this. 00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:48.540 The word became flesh. 00:35:53.040 --> 00:35:54.880 His pursuit as you. 00:35:56.620 --> 00:36:03.540 That you may understand him and walk with him, that no longer would good things get in the way of godly things. 00:36:03.640 --> 00:36:07.440 But in your life you can grab hold of Jesus and follow him. 00:36:10.180 --> 00:36:11.080 So let me encourage you. 00:36:13.620 --> 00:36:15.390 Take some time this week. 00:36:16.820 --> 00:36:18.220 Let's open up the Gospels. 00:36:20.180 --> 00:36:20.800 Maybe open up. 00:36:21.160 --> 00:36:21.420 John. 00:36:21.460 --> 00:36:25.520 This is the place where John is just presenting to the world exactly who this Jesus is. 00:36:27.640 --> 00:36:28.400 And the weeks ahead. 00:36:30.060 --> 00:36:31.000 We're going to come to know him. 00:36:32.560 --> 00:36:34.140 And not just use a borrowed belief. 00:36:35.500 --> 00:36:41.370 But see how our faith can trust in the one that is the true and biblical Christ.