Jesus is the Life and Light of Man Part 1 - John 1:4-5

1:47But some theologians see this portion of Scripture, these 18 verses of Scripture, as some of the most profound Scripture, and some even the most profound portion of Scripture, the most profound verses in all the Scripture. Listen to what a few great minds have said about these 18 verses. One says it like this: These verses, speaking of these 18 verses, express the most profound truth in the universe in the clearest terms. Another says this: the first chapter of John is one of the greatest adventures of the religious thought ever achieved by the mind of man.

2:29Of course, Augustine and Chrysostom see this as obviously a work of God and say it is beyond the power of man to speak as John does in his prologue. That great systematic theologian, John Calvin, who seemed like he could systematize anything, says this as sort of a mental surrender to the profound content contained in John. He says this, these verses say, More than we could ever take in. So we're going to spend some time looking at these 18 verses. In fact, one of the leading commentators that I highly respect, a great scholar, said in his advice to preaching John, he said, preach these 18 verses in one sermon and then move on because there's just so much here and you're going to see these themes over and over again. So I said, okay, I'm going to try to go through it quickly. And I find myself so wrapped up in the profoundness of these 18 verses. In fact, I shared that with my wife last week, and she said, if you had preached through these 18 verses in one sermon, I would have felt cheated.

3:51And so I've been breaking, I'm going to, I've been broken it up into three sections, which now is probably going to end up being four. But the way I see it is the Scripture is the master, and we are the students. And what that means is the scripture defines not only the content of what is expressed, but the time it takes to express it. There's just so much we can take in. There's some profound truths, and there's some limitations that if we're going to let the text be the master, then I think that even dictates the time that it takes. To work through it. And so we're on a journey, a journey to know the mind and heart of God. And we're going to go as fast as we can without skipping over what God would have for us.

4:47Last week we looked at the first three verses. Let's read those. 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. John makes it very clear that the Word, He speaks about the pre-incarnate Christ as the Word, the communication, the self-expression of God. He always existed, and through Him everything came into being. Makes it clear that the Word is, there's a distinction to be made. He was with God, and yet John also makes it clear that there is no distinction. He was God, very God, a very God, and yet distinct within the Godhead. And of course, as the gospel unfolds, you're going to see and understand that the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, all God, very God, a very God, and yet distinct in their persons. This week, I want us to look at the next section of Scripture. I want to read it to you, and then back up and look at just verses. 4 and 5. The next section, verses 4 through 13, John transfers his image from the Word of God to the light of God. He goes from Jesus' the Word of God to Jesus' the life and light of God with a primary emphasis upon the light. Let's just pick it up in verse 4. In him was life, and the light 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.

7:00But 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 the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. It's in these ten verses. Jesus sets forth the light. He'll elaborate much on the light. But before he really goes there, he makes a clear, he draws a clear experience. Expression or makes a clear relationship between the life and light in verse 4. A very important relationship. You need to understand the relationship that the word has to life and light.

7:45In fact, I would say, look back at verse 4. In him was life and the light, and the life was the light of men. Now start separating these words in your mind. We're going to relate them all together because John relates them together. And if you can understand John 4, this verse right here, if you could get your mind around this, you're on your way to really getting to grasp and understanding the whole gospel. This verse, in him was life, and the life was the light of men. And actual word-for-word translation would be, in him life was, and the life was the light of men. Life, in him, life was, and that light was the light.

8:38So he makes this connection between life and light. In fact, we would draw, if you were to write this out, in fact, a good exercise. Now, how many of you kids right now are doodling? How many of you are drawing pictures right now? Oh, there you go. Okay, okay, be honest. Someone's honest. Okay, drawing pictures. I gave my kids this assignment this past week. Draw John 1, verse 4. Draw it. If you're going to doodle in here, start trying to draw this. Look at the text and draw this. Try to get in your mind what, see if you can make a graphic representation of what John is saying here. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. Think about life. In him, life was, and the life was the light. That's like an equal sign. I envision there's an equivalency there, at least to some degree, he's making an equality between life and light.

9:45So think about that equation. If you're a math student or whatever, and if you're reading this, what equation sign do we use, or what sign do we use to say two things are equal? An equal sign. Okay, think about life and light. Equal, okay? Now, or certainly in some sense, equal. Now, where is this life and light to be found? Look back. Where is it? In him. Yes, it's in him. In him, this life and light is. You're starting to get your mind around this. It was interesting because my kids submitted me drawings of. Of how they envision this. I loved one picture, had a picture of a mouth on the side of the page, and all this air kind of being breathed out as breath. And in that, there was life and there were people and there was light. Pretty good. Pretty good. Not too bad. There was another one that drew a stick figure. And in that stick figure, there was this big heart. And the idea was the life and light were in this person. Pretty good. The only thing I commented on that is John is talking more in the abstract. The word hasn't become flesh just yet. So to put it as a stick figure may not quite represent.

11:21The life and light will take upon flesh, but that doesn't get down to verse 14. But you start, so I started thinking about how, how does this work? And this is, and I, and by the way, I want you all to draw a picture if you, anybody, and I'd be happy to look at it and talk about it because it's a good exercise. Get your mind around verse 4. In him was life and light. And the light was the life. And the life was the light of men. So I pictured this circle. If you could draw a circle in your mind and just, or a sphere, let's go with the sphere, okay? And this fear represents the self-expression of God or the Word of God. Maybe you could put sine waves all around it to somehow get speech in there. But think about a sphere, okay? And in that sphere, and that sphere is the word of God. In him, you trace it back. The in him is the word, the word of God, very God of God that he just described. In him there is life, and the life is the light of men. And so I picture this circle, and I picture life in the center of it, and emanating from that life is light, because it is. Life is light, but it's light going out to men, to humanity. So it's this idea that life is. And start getting this understanding. Life is.

12:58Therefore, light comes out because life is. So the word, if you can just get in your mind, the word, very God of very God, and in him life is. And that life is the light of man. And it emanates from him. They are, life and light are intrinsic qualities or possessions of the word. Incidentally, when you see, Start reading about the word and receiving the word in the parable of the soils. This person receives the word, and all of a sudden they come to life, right? Because in the word is life and light.

13:44It's another image, but related. Think about it like this. Okay, we can probably think about the sun. Why does the sun make light? How is it that we've got a sun out there? It's streaming forth light right now. Why? Why? Well, I'll give you a nutshell of what's taking place. The gravity of the sun pulls its mass inward, which creates a lot of pressure. And then this pressure forces atoms of hydrogen to fuse together into these nuclear reactions, like nuclear bombs going off. And the energy gives off light. So because internal in the sun is this process going on, it emanates light. Same is true with God. The word. In the word is life and light.

14:44And because of that, because life is, light is. So the question is: what is life and light? Okay, there's this relationship. But what is life and light? Well, certainly in the context, light is contrasted with darkness, and life is contrasted with darkness. Contrasted with death. Life is that constant existence. We're going to go slow through this. This is why we're only doing two verses today, okay? We want you to get through this and get your mind right. Life has a constant existence because God constantly exists. Life is because God is. God is and life is. God existed, and He said, in the beginning, going back to Genesis 1:1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Because God is, God seeks to express himself, and he expressed himself in creation.

15:42And so even creation itself, even the physical light that we see, is an expression of a spiritual reality. It's a physical manifestation of a spiritual reality. Creation itself is a testament to the living God. So spiritual light or light is truth about the living God. Go back to this illustration. Life is. Therefore, truth or information about that life also exists. And that is the light we see. In other words, God is, life is, and therefore there's true information about that light, that life. And that true information about life is the Light, the light of men.

16:34Because God is, life is, and therefore truth about life also is or exists. And those who do not receive the truth or do not receive the life will never be, who will not receive the light will never be connected to the life. You understand? Because light is the truth about life. And if you do not receive the truth about life, you'll never be connected to the life giver. And that's what John is saying. Darkness is ignorance. In fact, John, look down at verse 10. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

17:19Darkness is ignorance of the truth. So John takes us on this journey to understand life. That's what he does. He takes us on this journey to understand life. And those who receive the light about life will understand life. Those who do not receive the light about life will remain in darkness. So what John wants to do, he wants you to receive his testimony. Because when you receive John's witness about life, you receive the light and you were drawn into union with the lifegiver.

18:00Those who do not receive John's witness do not receive the light and therefore remain separated from the source of light. He's still very abstract. He'll get very concrete here in a minute, but he's talking about the pre-incarnate Christ. He's laying the foundation for you to understand who this was who walked among us, the very self-expression of God in human flesh. John saw the light. He received the light. And he prepares for us to do the same in the following verses. And that's what verses 5 through 13 is about. And I want you to see what John has to say about the light so that you will receive the light.

18:42But of course, we're not going to get through all those verses this morning. We'll look at the next one, though. First thing that John expresses is he teaches us about the function of the light, the function of the light. Look in verse 5. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Light shines. That's what it does. John's vocabulary is very simple. The concepts are very simple. And the function of the light is to shine. The light shines in the darkness. A word for word translation would be, and the light in the darkness is shining. A light? The light in the darkness.

19:26In the realm of the ignorance of the truth about God. God, there is true light, true knowledge, true information shining. What is the spiritual darkness of mankind? Well, it's ignorance, as I've already said, but it's not honest ignorance. It's not merely that. I guess it could include that, but like, okay, we just don't know. It just happened. We need someone to come and tell us. Oh, now I get it. No, it's more diabolical than that. There is an evil ignorance. It's a choice of ignorance. It's a preference of ignorance. It's a rebellious suppression of the knowledge about the living God because a person doesn't want to come and be responsible before the living God. And so there's an ignorance, but there is a rebellion in the ignorance. You see, God is. Therefore, light or knowledge about Him also is. Does that make sense? John already has made that clear: that life is, therefore, light is. However, the God of this age seeks to blind people's minds to the truth. And the darkness seeks to suppress the truth so that true information about the living God isn't received.

20:48It's this conflict between light and darkness. And John is going to develop this throughout his gospel. But this is basically where you, this is earth, where you and I live, the world. There is the God of this age that seeks to suppress the truth and to blind people's minds to the truth. All the time, the light is shining, and it's shining all around, and it shows up in every arena of human existence. Wherever man is, his spiritual darkness accompanies him. I know it's football season, right? Getting close. Everybody getting excited about football. One of the things that I thought was funny or interesting is the number of bowl games there are played these years. I guess there's a lot of money in bowl games. Because I remember years ago, there weren't that many bowl games. I mean, we know the Sugar Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Rose Bowl. We know all those. But listen to some of these other ones just from last year. I really get a kick out of some. The Cactus Bowl. You ever heard of the Cactus Bowl? Now, that sounds a little painful, right? You're getting out there and at these gladiators, these football players going at it in the Cactus Bowl. It sounds like you can get hurt in that one. But then there's also the Cure Bowl, the Curable. So I guess after you play in the Cactus Bowl, you jump over into the Curable. But it just seems like these bowls are named after every facet of our society. There's the famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

22:30There is the Boca Raton Bowl. What is a Boca Raton? Ratmouth. It's what? Ratmouth. Rat mouth. Is that what it is? I think so. Okay, it's a rat mouth bowl. Now, there's a, how would you like to go play that one? There's the GoDaddy bowl. There's the Foster Farms bowl. There's the military bowl. You start to get some images of it. There's the Quick Lane Bowl. There's the, I like this one, Russell Athletic Bowl. Maybe a guy named Russell is involved. Music City Bowl. I like this one. The tax slayer bowl.

23:09Yeah, that sounds like a revolutionary tea party or something, right? But these bowls just seem to cut across this segment of our society. Well, the darkness of mankind manifests itself in every human arena. We can think of the arenas as bowls, if you will. We can think of the religious bowl where the battle of light and dark reigns. In fact, Matt, one of our elders, just last week said after spending some time in John chapter 1, verses 1 through 3, some Mormons came by his door. And so he sat out there and engaged him a long time, primarily because he didn't want them going down the street any further, but engaged them on verses 1 through 3 of John. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.

24:00And he starts saying, you can't, they have a very different view of God. No, no, no, Jesus is not God like that. Pretty much and the Jehovah's Witness same thing. And Matt came back and said, you know, or they were telling him the only thing you need to do is you need to pray and you need to read the Book of Mormon. Well, the problem with the Book of Mormon is that it certainly does not square with the clear revelation that John is giving here.

24:29Joseph Smith has no idea about the God or the Christ that John walked with. Neither does the watchtower. They do not know the Christ of Scripture. They do not know the Christ that John walked with. Because there is this battle of light and dark, and it takes shape in the religious bowl. We could go on, but there is, we could see this battle raging in the philosophy bowl, where all kinds of light-suppressing philosophies are rampant. We could talk about the science bowl, where it always puzzles me how people can interpret data so differently. One person can say, oh, the work of God, and the other one can say, how amazing evolution is.

25:23It's because there's a blindness and light. We could go on and talk about the entertaining. Bowl, the unclean, the clean, the noble, the ignoble. We could talk about the education bowl and the curriculum that we use to teach our children. We could talk about the government, the governmental bowl, and the laws that come out. We could talk about the morality bowl, the right and wrong, but all this, there's the manifestation of this battle of light and darkness. But in all these arenas, it is darkness.

25:59In all these arena, it's the darkness of rebellious minds. And remember this: it is the darkness of rebellious minds that causes otherwise intelligent people to embrace all kinds of nonsense, enact all kinds of irrational laws, teach absurdities and double standards, and pursue all kinds of harmful lusts. It is the darkness that has blinded the minds. But the light is shining. The light shines in the darkness. The function of the light is to shine in the darkness. The truth of the living God is shining, and it has always been shining, and it will continue to shine. Because look back at verse 5, because the darkness has not overcome it.

26:50The darkness has not, cannot, will not overcome it. Now, I have to comment: there is a disagreement. If you're reading in the New Year's, American standard. There's a disagreement among translators as to what John intends by using this Greek term here. That's the Greek term catalobano. And the NIV translates it as understood, King James and the NASB comprehend. And the idea is that they haven't comprehended. They haven't gotten their mind around it. The concept is taking hold of, and they interpret the darkness as being ignorance, and therefore the darkness has not comprehended the light, hasn't gotten their mind around the light. Well, certainly I think that's true, but I think it doesn't catch the force of John's words here. And I do prefer the ESV here, where it speaks more of a willful suppression, a desire to overcome. The darkness seeks to overcome, blind, suppress the truth. But John's making it very clear that it cannot and will not. And I get, and I, what tips me in the is really John 12, 35. John uses this very same verb, and he says this: So Jesus said to them, The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. So a little bit later in the gospel, John. Is going to use this very same term, and it's Jesus saying, walk in the light, or else you're going to be overtaken by the darkness. And that's exactly, and you look at the New American Standard, you look at the King, they translate it in this light, overtake you. But that is the sense. Certainly, they don't comprehend it, they don't understand it, but there is more of a willful suppression.

28:59Darkness could not overtake the light. That's exactly what John is saying. Even though Jesus was crucified, get this. Even though he was crucified, darkness did not prevail. In fact, to the contrary, the death and resurrection of Jesus only intensified the light about the living God. He was crucified. That says so much more about God than we could ever imagine, just in his glory. Him being crucified speaks so much about him, and it speaks so much about us.

29:37He was crucified and his love for us. You know, one of the most amazing miracles in human history is the spread of Christianity during the first couple of centuries. And John witnessed, as we've already seen, much of this. Think about it. How do you get people to follow a crucifix? Crucified Messiah. How do you do it? Everything in the whole Roman crucifixion process was designed to discourage people from being like the crucified. They went to great lengths to make a public display so that no one else would dare be like the one who was crucified.

30:25I mean, there was the pain, there was the agony, there was the mocking, there was the public shame, there was the naked humiliation. And they would even leave the corpse up there so that the birds would come and eat, so that people who knew this person would even be ashamed to look at. And everything within the whole process of Roman execution was to make sure that people wouldn't follow the crucified. And yet, John witnessed it. He saw the truth of God go forth, the light shining, light about the living God. Truth about the living God couldn't be suppressed in the crucifixion. It did the very opposite. It spoke more and volumes about the living God and our relationship with Him and His love for each one of us.

31:23And that truth spread. You see, the function of the light is to shine. And it will keep on shining because the darkness is no match for it. There's so much more that could be said here, but it's important to just stop, come to where we are today, sitting in this room. The light is shining on you. Every single person in this room, the light is shining upon you. Truth is emanating. Light is emanating from the reality that God is.

32:08And the question is: how are you responding? You ask, how, how, how is the light shining on me? Well, first of all, you have the light of creation. All around speaks volumes of the reality that the living God is. And here is his creation, and it speaks volumes about him. But you don't just have the light of creation, you have the light of conscience, the conscience. That conscience, though fallible, still speaks. It's that impartial judge in your mind that bears an imprint of right and wrong, and it slaps the gavel down when you do wrong, and it condemns you. That in itself is light, evidence of the living God.

33:00Third, not only do you have creation and conscience, but you have the completed canon that we are speaking from. You have the light, the clear light, the light that tells us how to interpret all the other lights. And we're reading it. In fact, we're reading it this morning. But fourth, you also have the light of changed lives. Did you see my C's there? You have the light of creation, the light of conscience. You have the light of the completed canon. You have the light of changed lives. I bet you pretty much everybody in here knows somebody who's been changed by the gospel. I'm one of them. I'm one of them. I can tell you the truth. And my parents and my family listen to these sermons, and I can say with the truth, and I can say that the gospel light I have received and it changed me. And I can say that without hypocrisy, because those who knew me know that I have been touched by the light. I heard the preacher speaking on the words of Isaiah, and my heart was strangely warmed. I received the light, and I was instantly connected to the life giver.

34:18You see, the light is shining on you. I'm telling you, John is telling you. He is. I walked with him, talked with him, and let me declare him to you. Remember this old dilapidated barn we had on our farm? You know, the picture is always dark inside, but as time went by, storm came, went, rafters would be fallen off, would fall off, and shafts of light would come through. Listen, I don't care how hard you try, I don't care how hard the darkness seeks to suppress the truth, even in our own depraved times, it cannot shut the light out. And the light will continue to intensify, continue to grow, until the point where everyone will say, we understand that the living God is. There's still coming the coming tribulation. We'll add another seed, the coming tribulation and Christ's return. It'll get to the point, that's another seed, the Christ's return.

35:23The world will not be able to keep suppressing the truth, and all will say, he is. And every knee will bow to the glory of the Father. In fact, I believe one of the torments of hell will be the eternal embarrassment for the lengths that people went to to deny the obvious. Are you denying the obvious today? The light, the function of the light is to shine, and it will keep on shining. It is shining here now.

36:02And you can't keep him out. And the reason is because he is. Respond to the light. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we know that you are. And because that you are, you have communicated yourself. And you've given us light about yourself. That by responding to the light and receiving the light, we are connected to your life. And that is through correct and truth, truth understanding you, Father, that we are drawn to and connected to you. Father, let us not suppress the truth. Father, show us those avenues and areas in our life, Father, where we are denying the obvious.

36:57Father, may we surrender and receive your light in Jesus' name.