Well, good morning, everyone. How lovely to see you.
Here's what I'd love you to do. I'd love you to grab your Bible, if you have one, and turn to the Gospel of John.
If you don't have your own Bible with you, you've got two options.
Number one, poke your neighbour or something like that to get the one that's on the pews. You can do that.
Also, if you want to put up your hand, another option is you can get one of these, John's Gospels.
We've got tons of these to give away, but this is going to be really helpful for you to have God's Word open in front of you.
As we start this morning, a new series in the Gospel of John, which I'm really thrilled about.
I promise you as well, just before we start, that my PowerPoint has no cannulars in it.
So hopefully it won't make you too squeamish because I was there saying, get that off the screen.
Here is John's Gospel in at John chapter one.
So here's what happened to me the other day.
I was on the phone to my insurance company.
And after a few pleasantries and a few security checks, the person on the other end of the line said,
Sir, just before we start, I just want to take a moment to read you your rights.
Now, folks, I had no idea that I had so many rights.
And so it got me thinking from there of all the rights that I enjoy in my life.
I'm living in the West.
Are we not the beneficiaries of so many as we live our lives here that people have died for over the years?
Our rights.
I've got so many rights in my life.
And then the question came to my mind.
One that I extend to you to think about as we begin this series.
Whoever you are here today, whatever you think about this God,
what is the greatest right that you have?
You know, go on, give it to you, folks.
What's the right that gets you out of bed in the morning?
What's the right that offers you any kind of hope about what tomorrow might hold?
What's the right that gives you any kind of comfort or purpose in the day?
What's the right that makes your soul sing?
I've been a Christian for 20 years.
And here's why I love coming back to John's gospel.
I read it hundreds of times in my life.
But every time I come back to it, my heart sings.
Do you know why?
Because it wonderfully reminds me of my weariness and my unspectacular life.
I'm a life that feels so mundane all the time.
Doing the same things every day.
Same school runs, same meal, same everything.
It reminds me of my unspectacular looking life.
It reminds me of the greatest right that I have.
And it reminds me of the right, the only right that's going to matter eternally in life.
And it reminds me of the greatest right that any of us here today could ever hope to know.
And we get it here in the opening verses that we're going to read in just a minute of John's gospel.
You know, in our Bibles, we've got four historical accounts of Jesus' life.
We have Matthew, Mark and Luke.
They're often called the synoptic gospels, right?
Synoptic derived from the Greek word syn meaning with, optic meaning sight, right?
Opticians.
So it's commonly believed that Matthew, Mark and Luke come at Jesus with the same sight, right?
You kind of read them and you'll discover a lot of the same material.
But John, here is a man who also wants us to know about Jesus, but who writes from a profoundly different angle.
It's almost as if, and this kind of helped me think about it, right?
Matthew, Mark and Luke, their aim is to show us the face of Jesus.
But John invites us deeper and he wants us to see his heart.
And who better to write this gospel, this man who Jesus invited to come and be not just one of his 12 disciples, but to come and be one of the inner three.
So that means that this man, he saw and he heard things that deeply moved him.
And he writes towards the end of his life, having reflected long and hard on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
And the guy cannot get enough of him.
And so what's his aim?
He writes it, and this is always important in John's gospel.
He says right at the end of his gospel, chapter 20, verse 31.
These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name.
So that's why he's written his gospel.
So that we may have life in his aim.
Life in his name.
That's his aim.
So let's read together from verse 1 of chapter 1.
Again, into this glorious gospel.
John writes this, and hear him reflecting on just how mind-blowing Jesus is.
He writes this,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made.
Without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life.
And that life was the light of all mankind.
The light shines in the darkness.
And the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
Different John.
He came as a witness to testify concerning that light.
So that through him all might believe.
He himself was not the light.
He came only as a witness to the light.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
He was in the world.
And though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
He came to that which was his own.
But his own did not receive him.
Yet, to all who did receive him,
to those who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God.
Children born not of natural descent,
nor of human decision or a husband's will,
but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory.
The glory of the one and only Son,
who came from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John testified concerning him.
He cried out saying,
This is the one I spoke about when I said,
He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.
Out of his fullness,
we have all received grace in the place of grace already given.
For the law was given through Moses.
Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God,
but the one and only Son,
who is himself God
and is in the closest relationship with the Father,
he has made him known.
So as we step through the front door of John's prologue,
the introduction,
again,
this is what helped me.
The prologue functions almost like a hotel foyer.
Right?
You know,
you would go into a hotel
and you would,
in the foyer,
the lounge,
you would get a sense of what's on the walls,
you would get a sense of the color scheme,
you would get a sense of the smells and the sights
that set you up for what the rest of the hotel is going to be like.
Well,
in the foyer of John's gospel,
in the time that we have,
friends,
there's so much we could say here.
Encyclopedias won't even cover this.
Right?
Four pictures are on the wall
by way of a simple structure.
Right?
Here's the first one.
It reads identity.
Who is Jesus?
Love it.
Was it
a sound of music?
What did Julie Andrews,
her character,
say?
Where is it good to begin?
In the beginning.
Right?
Who is Jesus?
The gospel,
other gospel writers,
you see how they go to Bethlehem.
But John takes us way back
into the corridors of eternity
and says,
in the beginning.
Do you see those opening words?
In the beginning.
That's a deliberate echo
of the first words of the Bible.
Genesis 1 reads,
In the beginning,
God created,
the heavens and the earth.
Who is this God?
The God who was there
before anything was.
The God who has always
and will always be.
The God who exists
as a loving community
of Father, Son, and Spirit,
and who has for all eternity
been one God
in three persons.
This God created the world
out of an overflow
of his loving existence
by the power of his word.
Friends,
this should stretch us.
Right?
Should stretch us.
And John says,
in the beginning
was the word.
Greek word there,
logos.
One which the philosophers,
the Greek philosophers
of the day,
but these guys
who are reading this
as the first readers
are steeped in.
Greek philosophers
used that word,
logos,
to talk about the wisdom
and the perfection
by which the world
was made.
And John draws
a massive equal sign
and he says,
the word equals Jesus.
He was with God.
He was God.
This is Jesus.
Now put it in everyday terms,
right?
Have a breath.
Inhale, exhale.
Do you understand
that Jesus is the one
who sustains that breath?
He's the very reason,
friends,
that there is existence,
any kind of existence.
He is the one
who designed
and sustains
the law of gravity.
He is the one
who created
and maintains
the process
of photosynthesis.
He is the one
that makes the birds sing.
He is the one
that wakes the sun
in the morning.
He is the one
that makes the seas calm.
The Jesus
who is the life
and light
of men
and take in the imagery
there,
the life
and the light
of men.
Do you know
when we walk
to school each morning
with the kids,
do you know
when we get a cracking
view of Arthur C?
It was so early
in the morning
and yet every morning
the kids look up
and see the ants
at the top
and they say,
how early does somebody
need to get up
to climb that thing?
Who would get up
that early?
Why would you get up
early to climb
that thing?
Answer,
why would you climb it
that time in the morning?
See the sunshine.
See the sunrise.
Isn't it amazing
that wherever you are
in the world
a sunrise
is one of the most
spectacular things,
breathtaking things
friends,
that you and I
can ever hope to see.
And it's as if
John is saying
just as in Genesis
God spoke
and the light
penetrated the darkness
in a physical sense
it's almost as if
he is saying
with the coming of Jesus
into the world
that we'll think about
in a moment
God was penetrating
our world
and the light
was shining
on the spiritual
darkness.
In the words of
J.C. Ryle
former Bishop
of Liverpool
Christ is to the
souls of men
what the sun
is to the world.
And just like
an inextinguishable
candle
and those things
annoy me like anything
that light
is never going
to be overcome.
Right?
Never going to be
snuffed out.
Never going to put it out.
Identity.
This is who he is.
Second picture
rattling through this
reads tragedy.
On the wall
the foyer
tragedy.
Verse 9
the true light
was coming into
the world.
John masterfully
building the tension
here as we move
towards the theological
climax of this
at verse 14.
Jesus was coming in.
Do you see
notice the downward
movement?
There he is.
That's who he is.
Jesus was coming
into the world.
Now what is it?
Jesus was in the world.
The creator
of all things
wrote himself
into the creature's
world.
And here's the tragedy
end of verse 10
the world did not
know him.
Two senses I think
to that.
First one
the world did not
see his greatness
didn't perceive it.
What is it we spent
the last number of days
doing as a country
paying our respects
to greatness?
We all get it.
Loved it.
David Beckham
Kuhn
for how many hours
of the day?
12 hours,
13 hours along
with hundreds
of people
to honour
greatness.
Some of our
most historic
buildings in this
country,
police escorts
everywhere,
non-stop TV
coverage.
Friends,
we're responding
to greatness.
But contrast
that to how
the world
looked upon
a humble
carpenter
with splinters
in his hands.
A lowly
teacher who
called former
fishermen to
be his students.
A defeated
man who
didn't even
put up a
fight and
was crucified
on a Roman
cross and
he was laid
to rest
in another's
tomb.
The world
did not
recognise him.
Didn't see
his glory.
And not just
the world,
did he have
his fellow
Jews
furnished with
the promises
of God,
called to live
by the law
of God.
They did not
receive him.
The world
did not see
his glory.
It was totally
upside down
to the world's
glory.
There's one
angle on it
but I think
another one
is simply
that the world
just did not
want to know.
Refusing to
see him for
who he truly
is.
You know,
John Piper
writes that
our greatest
problem as
human beings
is not that
we lack
light,
it's that
we love
the dark.
It's our
heart's
disposition.
It's the
light of the
world came in
who did
not want
to know.
And yet,
do you see
that word
yet but
verse 12?
John introduces
us to the
other side
of the
coin,
to what
is on
offer
in
Christ.
And here's
our third
picture,
friends.
It's the
opportunity,
the word
opportunity,
one freely
available to
all those
who believe
in his
name.
Now,
before we
get to
what it
means to
believe in
his name,
see what
John's
doing,
primarily
for his
fellow
Jews.
He's
showing them
that there's
no such
thing as
a spiritual
shoe-in.
Okay?
No one is
adopted into
the family
of God
merely by
being born
into the
right tribe.
Born of
blood.
Or no one
is adopted
into the
family of
God by
being from
good religious
stock or
because they
live a
moral life.
Born of
man.
Adoption is
a privilege
granted to
follow the
language to
all those
who are
born of
God.
In other
words,
only God
can do
this light
shining work
into our
dark hearts.
If you're a
Christian here
today, that's
what's gone
on in your
life.
Yes, you
made a
decision to
follow Christ,
but before
that, God
wrote your
name into
his book
before the
foundation of
the world.
And the
son came
into the
world.
The Holy
Spirit worked
and light
dawned in
your heart.
How do we
know who
are those
people?
We've got to
see that all
those born of
God and all
those who
believe in
his name are
the same
thing.
Those that
recognize him
as the
creator and
us the
creature.
A cracking
conversation
with my
girls in the
car today.
They were
telling me
that we're
all mammals.
Daddy, I
didn't know
we were
mammals.
I said, yes,
we're all
creatures.
Of course, we're
all creatures,
but do you
know what?
Animals aren't
dignified, said
they were made
in the image
of God.
Human beings
are.
We are
creatures, but
friends, we
are made in
the image of
God.
We recognize
that we are
the creature
and he is
the creator.
We understand
that our
unworthiness
before him, a
holy, worthy
God.
People who've
come to see
their unrighteousness
before a
holy God
and in light
of all those
things, stake
it all on
Jesus, right?
His perfect
life, giving
us his
righteousness
that we
could not
earn, his
death where he
became sin for
us, his
resurrection showing
that the price of
paying the penalty
of the offense of
my sin in the
eyes of a holy
God really has
been paid.
And because of
that, what does
God see?
when he looks
at me, when he
looks at you, if
our faith, small
as a mustard
seed, is in what
Christ has done
for us, what does
God see?
Who are we?
Children of God,
precious sons and
daughters of God,
get your head around
that, guys.
Call to share in
the love that the
Father has for all
eternity had for
his Son, to share
in that.
And do you know
what I love?
I was thinking
about this week, I
love that God, my
Father, wants me to
know that that is a
right.
It's not some kind
of coupon, it's not
an opportunity, a
chance to become a
child of God, knowing
that there's an
expiry date at the
end.
Do you know I hate
expiry dates?
You know when you
go into the fridge
for a deep clean, and
you go through the
fridge, and you'll
inevitably find
something that
smells and looks a
bit, what do we
call it, a bit
funky.
Normally brought
to you by the
color green.
What's happened
there?
It's expired.
It's gone off,
hasn't it?
I love that God
wants us to know
that this is a
right.
It's something that's
yours, and a right
that's been given to
us as opposed to
being earned.
Something that cannot
be taken away, that's
yours for life.
Friends, that is
something that I can
build my life upon.
And get this,
whatever's going on
in your life today,
a right is true just
as much on your
worst day.
When you've kicked
the dog, when the
washing didn't get
done, when you fell
out with your spouse
on the way to church,
whatever it is you've
done this morning, a
right is true for you
on your worst day, just
as much as it is on
your best day.
A right is true in
the times when the
future looks rosy, and
life is cushy, and it's
true when the future is
unclear, and life feels
messy.
Brothers and sisters,
here is what I
believe the Lord would
want us to know today.
It's a right that he's
given us.
It's a right that he's
given us.
The Father has not
saved us and placed us
on a probation period
before him to see if
we're worthy enough of
his love.
You know, I hate those
things you've got three
months in your contract
to show if you're good
enough for this job.
It's not how it works
with God.
He's not placed us on
probation period.
Our experience of his
love for us does not
work like performance
related pay.
How often we live our
Christian lives thinking
that that's how it works
with our Father.
Just reflecting on this
in sabbatical, friends,
how often is that the
thing that causes me not
to progress in the
Christian life?
And how often is that
the thing which stifles
my joy in the Christian
life that I forget that
that's who he is?
He's my Father.
Because of my faith in
Christ, he loves me as
he loves his Son.
Oh, how often I allow
the logic, my logic, my
thinking of how it should
work to determine how I
live my life rather than
allowing the voice of my
Father through his words
to tell me how it works
in my life.
You know, the status of
being declared a child of
God with everything that
that entails.
Because of your faith in
Christ, however unimpressive
you think your life is
just now, however wrong
you think you've got it,
friends, know that that
is your right.
And I would have killed
in America.
Amens everywhere.
Oh, friends, I was
thinking about it this week
as we buried our dear
sister and friend,
Doreen, into the ground.
And as I thought, how
unimpressive does this look?
And yet, what did I
picture?
I pictured her going
into the ground and
she's clutching her
right.
It's Lenn, she goes
through her chemo
treatment starting soon.
What is it that can get
her through that?
It's her right that she's
loved by her Father.
They're holding the
right given to them by
their Father that says,
you're my child.
And no power of hell,
no scheme of man,
can ever pluck us from
his hand.
Oh, and here's
best book I read on
sabbatical.
In the words of J.I.
Parker, if you're not
familiar with J.I.
Parker, he's a guy really
to get in touch with.
And his wonderful book,
Knowing God, and I've
got one copy I can give
away at the end of the
service if you come in.
I was going to say fight
me for it, but you don't
fight me for it because I'll
beat you.
Just come and take it,
okay?
J.I.
Parker, and get this in
your heads.
Adoption is the highest
privilege of the gospel.
The traitor is forgiven,
brought in for supper,
and given the family name.
Do you get that?
To be right with God the
judge is a great thing.
And make no mistake that
it is to be right with
our God, but to be loved
and cared for by God the
Father is greater.
And that's only possible
because of our fourth and
final picture.
And it reads mystery.
Verse 14, and here we've
reached not only the
theological center of John's
introduction, but we've
reached the staggering truth
that's right at the heart of
the Christian faith.
And if you aren't with me,
come and with me to verse
14.
The words became flesh.
So Jesus, without for a
moment ceasing to be
everything that John has
just described in verses
one to five, and we've got
to be theologically clear
on that.
He took on a human body.
The eternal became an
embryo.
Rebecca McLaughlin, I was
leading that last night,
as she pointed that out,
and he dwelt with us.
The word dwelt there,
literally he tabernacled
among us.
That's the word there.
He tabernacled among us.
John, very deliberate in the
use of that word.
The tabernacle, the tent,
the place where God had
said that he would be,
as it stood right in the
middle of his Old Testament
people.
John is saying that God's
come to dwell with us
in a fuller way in the
person of Jesus.
Jesus.
Fully God, fully man.
Not 50-50, not 70-30, 100-100.
That really matters.
Fully God, fully man.
Why does that matter?
It matters, friends, because
if he's not fully God, if he's
from the same gene pool as us,
if he is tainted by the same
sin that we are, then he's
unable to live a perfect life
of obedience and worship and
righteousness in the eyes of
the Father.
He'd have no righteousness to
share with us that we might be
right with God.
It matters that he's fully God.
And it matters that he's fully
man.
It matters that he's one of us.
Why?
So that he could represent us
and sympathize with us in all
our weakness and be, and be
stretched by this, be the second
and better Adam who God created
right at the beginning of the
Bible to live in a perfect
relationship with him before
Genesis 3 and sin entered the
equation.
Jesus stands in the place of Adam
as our perfect representative
before the Father.
And because he's that, because
he's fully God, fully man, do you
see the end of verse 18 what that
means?
He makes the Father known.
You know, the first person launched
into space was a Russian man, I
learned this on holiday, called
Yuri Gerdgaren.
I think I've said that right, Yuri
Gerdgaren.
And he joked when he got up to
space, he said, I went up to space
and I didn't see any God.
But see when the Bible talks
about finding God, it's never in
language that suggests that we
somehow need to make our way up
to him.
And I once heard someone say that
we should stop calling it the
enlightenment and start calling it
the endarkenment.
Because what the human heart does
is we try and figure out what God
would be like.
All it does is it just comes up
with idols.
We fashion God into our own
likeness and according to our
fancies.
In other words, this is what we
think God would be like.
But in the Bible, do you see,
friends, it's always the other way
around.
The only way that we can know who
God truly is, is if he reveals
himself first to us.
We derive our understanding of
Christianity because our God is
exactly like Jesus.
We derive our understanding of
Christianity and what God is like
solely by looking at him.
And I say that because I know that
so many of us may well be getting
our info about God and what he's
like from somewhere else.
Okay, perhaps rumors that you've
picked up on the news or impressions
that are given to you by friends or
family or parents or experiences that
you've had of church from years ago.
And listen, I've spoken to enough
people in my time doing this that I
understand that lots of those things
might have deeply hurt you.
You've got to get real about that.
And so here's my invitation to you
this morning.
Is one who would love to walk with
you in your pain and questions.
Friends, if that is right, if Jesus
has come to reveal to us the Father,
here's the question then.
When was the last time that you
looked into Jesus?
Why not allow him to do the talking?
Is you seek to understand who God
truly is and what he's like.
It's a loving invitation.
If you want to take me up on that,
take anyone who's seen up the front
on that, we'd love to explore that
with you.
It's why we do this, so we can get
to know God better.
Because verse 14, what you'll find,
says John, when you look at Jesus,
is a Jesus full of, and take these
two words in, not harshness and
falsity, but grace and truth.
And we need both those things.
Imagine if it was harsh and truth,
we would be so scared.
Imagine if it was grace and falsity,
we wouldn't know where we stand with
him.
Grace and truth.
You will find a Jesus surprisingly
and wonderfully brilliant.
A Jesus in this gospel as we journey
through it, and this is why you've got
to come back in the weeks to come.
A Jesus who will go towards the
outcast.
A Jesus who lifts up the broken.
A Jesus who calls out the hypocrite.
A Jesus who is moved by exploitation.
A Jesus who speaks openly about
heaven and hell.
A Jesus who speaks plainly about the
wickedness that lurks inside of every
human heart.
And a Jesus who will show us that he
loves us more than we ever thought
possible.
because he's come to reveal to us
God the Father.
And so John can say through the eyes
of faith right at the end there,
and this is his invitation to you,
as you look at Jesus as he's recorded
here,
to come and see his glory.
You know, just as we close, friends,
do you want to hear about why they
laughed at me in America?
Of course you want to hear that, right?
As we close, and that's always
cue for, come back in for three,
four minutes, okay?
Here's why they laughed at me in
America.
They laughed at me because I'd never
seen a firefly before.
Ever seen one of these things?
No?
There we go, friends.
There we go.
They laughed because I'd never seen a
firefly before.
So there I was one evening sitting on
the back porch of our host house,
85 degree heat, chatting to friends,
James Taylor playing on in Alexa in
the background, living what I would
call the real American dream, okay?
And all of a sudden, this bug flies
past my line of sight, and it flashes.
And I turned to my host, and I said,
please tell me I'm not the only one
that just saw that bug, because that
thing is on fire.
Please tell me someone else saw that.
And all of a sudden, my eyes are taken
from this one bug that's flashing.
I look at the garden, and the whole
garden is lit up by these bugs.
As they do the resmeric dance, as they
blow my mind, as I thought I'd seen it
all almost in creation.
And I say, guys, listen, how awesome is
that?
And they say, yeah, buddy.
Dude, we see them all the time.
And listen, that thrill for us wore off
a long time ago.
And here's the point.
How easy is it for us to get so familiar
with things that should blow our minds?
Things that should blow our minds.
How awesome is that, friends?
This God, through Christ, has given us
the right to become children of God.
Let me ask you, are you weak in your
affection for Jesus?
Are you growing in your understanding
of who he is?
Or has he become to you just somebody
that you turn up on a Sunday and sing
about and has no relevance for your
everyday life?
This is what this series is about,
friends, because here's what I love
about John.
John is a man.
As you read him, he strikes me as a man
who has never got bored, never ceased
to be thrilled by Jesus of Nazareth.
Let me just say, if you're here and your
affections for your Savior have gone cold,
you need this gospel.
Maybe you're a student here today, and I
just say because it's this Sunday and you
guys are back.
Friends, this is why you need to pick a
church and go to a church.
Don't drift.
Please don't do it.
I've done this for 10 years to see it
happen often enough.
Go to a church and settle, because that
is a place where you're going to grow in
your affections and love for Jesus and
knowledge of who he is.
And if you stop coming to church on a
regular basis since COVID, it's difficult
to come.
Friends, this is why we need to get here,
because this man is glorious.
Here's what John writes at the very last
verse of his gospel.
And hear him say it himself that Jesus
is blowing his mind.
Here's what he's saying.
Jesus did many other things as well.
If every one of them were written down,
I suppose that even the whole world would
not have room for the books that would be
written.
Friends, here is the God who in Christ
offers us the opportunity, the right,
to become children of God.
Let's pray, will we?
Father, I thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for what we were thinking about
there.
That the only way we know what you are like
and who you are is because you are a God
who has revealed yourself to us in creation,
in your words, and most perfectly in your
son.
Father, I pray this morning that by your spirit
dwelling amongst us, Father, that you would
comfort the disturbed.
Lord, those who come at this and say,
this couldn't be true for me.
Father, would you reassure us wonderfully
because of our faith in Jesus
that this is true for us.
And Father, conversely, as comforting the disturbed,
I pray that you would disturb the comfortable.
Lord, those of us here who have grown tired
in the Christian life, Lord, would you encourage us?
Those of us here who maybe don't know this Jesus,
Father, would you convict us of our sin and the
eternal reality ahead of us.
Father, would you help shine the light of the
truth of the gospel into our hearts that we might
behold the glory of this man.
Father, thank you for your love for us.
Lord, help us this week in all the different things
that are going on in our lives.
Father, help us to live in light of the right
that we have because of your wonderful grace to us.
And we pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.