As we come to the study of John's Gospel, I would like to remind you of Jesus' parable of the sower and the seed. The seed is the Word of the God; the soil is your heart. What kind of soil are you going to be? Will you be the wayside--where the seed is snatched up by the birds of the air? Will you be stony soil--where the seed only takes root for a short time? Will you be the thorny soil--where the seed is choked by the cares of the world OR will you be the good soil--where the seed takes root and bears much fruit? John Chrysostom, the great 5th century pastor, began his sermons on John by asking this of his congregation. I can find no better words than his:

"Allow us then to sow in good ground; Allow us, that you may draw us the more to you. If any man has thorns [is drawn away by the cares of the world], let him cast the fire of the Spirit amongst them. If any has a hard and stubborn heart, let him by employing the same fire make it soft and yielding. If any by the wayside is trodden down by all kind of thoughts, let him enter into more sheltered places, and not lie exposed for those that want to invade for plunder: that so we may see your cornfields waving with corn. Besides, if we exercise such care as this over ourselves, and if we apply ourselves industriously to this spiritual hearing, if not at once yet by degrees, we shall surely be freed from all the cares of life." (Chrysostom, John 1:1) The Word has the power to change your life! What kind of soil will you be?

This is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you will hear it--and it is planted in your soul, then you will live forever. As Paul says: "faith comes by hearing--and hearing by the Word of God"

1. John's Gospel Begins "In the Beginning" because Jesus Christ IS the Word of God "In the beginning was the Word." What does it mean? Why does John start his gospel in this way? After all, Mark starts with Jesus' public ministry: he wants to show who Jesus was and what he did in his life and death. Matthew starts with Abraham: showing that Jesus is the one who fulfills what God had promised to Israel. Luke starts with Adam--tracing the line of Jesus as the one succeeds where Adam fails But John goes back before Adam. John starts in the Beginning!

What are the first words of the Law? What are the first words of the book of Genesis? "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." How did God create the heavens and the earth? What does it say? And God SAID...let there be light God spoke, and it was so.

"In the beginning was the Word" Before time, before space, before anything was created, "in the beginning was the Word" And the WORD was with God, And the WORD WAS God. HE was in the beginning with God. How could it be otherwise? Is it possible that God could exist without his Word? The Greek word LOGOS--or "word", may also be translated, "reason" or "logic" Is it possible that God could ever have been without his reason. Of course not! For God to have no reason; for God to be speechless!--is unthinkable. That is why John says, "in the beginning was the Word." All things were made by him--as Genesis 1 declares, and without Him nothing was made that was made. Without the Word--without God's speech--nothing has been made.

Let's pause here for a minute; What IS the Word of God? When we say with Hebrews that the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, What do we mean? What IS the Word? There are three answers to that question: 1) The Word is Jesus Christ--the eternal Son of God himself 2) The Word is written in our Bible 3) The Word is proclaimed from the pulpit. Let's look for a moment at how this works. Romans 10:17 declares that "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" What does this mean? What does it mean that the Word of God is living and active? What do you think of when you hear that? Do you think that your Bible is alive? That this book is going to jump up and grab me? Of course not! What does it mean? If you think about the Word as meaning Christ, Scripture, and Preaching, then it makes sense. Think for a moment: Does the Bible, all by itself, change lives? No--a person can read the Bible every day of their life and go to hell. Does Preaching, all by itself, change lives? No--a person can hear the proclamation of the Word every Sunday, and go to hell But does the Word change lives? You betcha! And when I say Word, I mean 1) Jesus Christ, 2) Scripture, and 3) Preaching

How is Jesus the WORD? Think of it this way: Jesus Christ himself IS the Word of God. He is the one who speaks through Scripture. He is the one who speaks through me. And because HE is living and active, his power gives life to his Word as we read it, and as we hear it. When Paul says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, he is saying that you can only believe if the Word opens your eyes and your ears. You can read your Bible all day, but without the Word opening your ears, you will not hear. You can listen to me preach for months and years, but only the WORD can change your heart Only Jesus Christ can save sinners. How is Scripture the WORD? The Bible is the Word because it is the written proclamation of the gospel. Scripture is the Word because it proclaims Christ. It proclaims the WORD If the Word was with God in the beginning, and if the Word was God, then when God himself speaks to us in Scripture, then his speech IS the Word. When you read your Bibles, you are reading God's own proclamation. It is the infallible revelation of the Word. It is the infallible preaching of Christ.

How is Preaching the WORD? After all, Paul didn't say that faith comes by reading, but by HEARING! That's why Paul says, "how shall they believe unless someone preaches to them?" Preaching is the oral proclamation of Christ. It is human speech--and so it is fallible --but it is the proclamation of Christ--who is the Word It is my task to speak to you the very Word of God. In other words, I may not say whatever I want. I must proclaim to you the message that GOD has declared in Christ. I am God's messenger--his herald--announcing HIS tidings--his gospel! Well what IS that gospel?!! After all, that is what John writes for us!

2. John's Gospel begins "In the Beginning" because your salvation depends on the Word being God This is where we are taught the doctrine of eternal generation. Put simply: eternal generation is the doctrine that the Son of God has always been the Son of God. The Father has always been the Father. You fathers, there was a point in time when you became a father. Before that you were NOT a father. Right? But that is NOT the case with God. God has always been Father. He has always been generating the Son. There was no point in time when the Word--the Son-- came into existence; the Son has ALWAYS been the Son of His Father! Why is the doctrine of eternal generation important? Why does it matter? Well, in the early church, there were people who taught that the Son was a creature. (Mormon's and JW's still teach this) they claimed that there was a point before creation, when the Father had existed all by himself. And then he created the Son and the Spirit, and they created the world. But pastors like Athanasius saw that this was heresy! Because if the Son is not eternal, then the Son is not God. And if the Son is not God, then he has not reconciled us to God! Think about it for a minute. If the Son is not God, then that means that he is only an angel--he is only a creature. And that would mean that his death would only reconcile us to the angels- -to creatures! There are two basic problems with that: 1) If we are only reconciled to creatures, then we will never be reconciled to God And the Bible says that we ARE reconciled to God. II Peter 1:4 tells us that through God's great and precious promises, we have been made partakers of the divine nature. How? Because Jesus Christ has united us to himself! But if Jesus Christ isn't God --then he could not have made us partakers of the divine nature! 2) If Jesus is only an angel, then he is no more powerful than Satan. In fact, some of these heretics even taught that Jesus and Satan were brothers. But if Jesus is going to defeat the powers of sin, death and the devil, then he must have sufficient life, righteousness and authority to do so. After all, to defeat sin, he must be the righteous One. To deafeat death, he must have life in himself ("in him was life"). and to defeat the devil, he must have an authority higher than the devil. Yet even the angels in Scripture do not have authority over the devil. Jude tells us that the archangel, Michael, could only rebuke the devil by saying, "the LORD rebuke you" But Jesus speaks as one having authority in himself. He is no mere angel. He is God himself.

3. John's Gospel begins "In the Beginning" because the Word is Life We've seen that the first connection between Genesis and John is God's speech "in the beginning" But what did God say? And God said, "Let there be LIGHT" God SPOKE light into existence. It was the WORD which brought light into being. (v3-4)

Psalm 119 declares that "your Word is lamp unto my feet, and a light to my path" The picture is that God's Word--the Scripture--is a light that points in the direction that we should go. That fits very nicely with what we saw in Deuteronomy about the Law (God's Word): Torah--the word translated "law"--means direction or instruction. So God's Word gives light--it gives direction. But here, John helps us to understand something more: what is the light of men? The light of men is the LIFE that is in the Word. In other words, we see again that true light shines from Christ himself, through the Word written in Scripture, and spoken through preaching, but the SOURCE of light is the LIFE that is in the Son of God. It is THIS light which shines in the darkness. Jesus Christ himself IS the Word of God He IS the light of the World He IS the Life of the World

What does it mean when it says "in him was life?" You and I have life, right? But are YOU life? Of course not! Don't be silly! You and I may have life, but we are not LIFE ITSELF. The Word, John says, had life in himself: "in Him was Life" It's not just saying that he was alive. It's saying that The WORD has life in himself. As Jesus says in John 5:26, "The father has given the Son to have LIFE IN HIMSELF" "He did not say, "had a beginning," but he "was in the beginning"; that little word "was" tells us that the Son is without beginning. Why does this matter? Because only if he has life in himself, can he give life to us!

You know, sometimes we look at this and say "so what?" So what? SO WHAT?!!!!!! This is your savior! This is your Lord. This is Jesus. He is YOUR life He is YOUR light He is the WORD that has penetrated your heart and given you new life and light.

In preparation for this sermon, I read a lot of the early Fathers on John. I read Cyril and Hilary, Athanasius and Chrysostom...and others. One thing which runs through all their preaching, is simply KNOWING CHRIST.

Our application today is that you need to go home this week, and KNOW CHRIST --meditate on THIS Word. It's real easy to get so busy DOING things, that we forget WHO Christ is! I know that I easily get wrapped up with doing things for Christ. Preparing this sermon was good for me! It reminded me that there are times when we need to stop being busy. there are times when we need to set aside our hectic schedules, and simply worship CHRIST. Are you discouraged? Are you weary? Are you frantic with all the things that have to get done? Put all those things aside. Sit down with your wife...your husband...some brother or sister in Christ, and open your Bibles and simply READ the Gospel of John together. Read slowly...read with meaning...don't stop and chat about it...but simply HEAR the Word.

It'll probably take 2-3 hours to read through the whole book, but do that instead of watching a movie tonight! But as you read, look at who Christ is! He is the eternal Son of God. He is the one who for us and our salvation, became a man, and died for our sins. He is the one who was raised from the dead and now sits at the father's right hand.

Let his light and his life penetrate your hearts. In this way you will be like the good soil in which the Word takes root, and bears much fruit.

Copyright © 2003 Peter J. Wallace