We're going to read from God's Word reading tonight from John's
Gospel chapter 1, John's Gospel chapter 1.
We're going to read the first 18 verses, commonly known as the
prologue to the Gospel, the Gospel according to Saint John
chapter 1. We'll read from verse one
reading, of course, from the authorised version.
The words will open screen for those online and pray the Lord
will bless those who join with us through the online streaming
service. Let's hear God's word.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him, and
without Him was not. Anything made that was made.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the
light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it
not. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. The same came for a witness to
bear witness of the light, that all men through him might
believe. He was not that light, but was
sent to bear witness of that Light.
That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh
into the world. He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew him not.
He came unto His own, and His own received Him not, but as
many as received Him. To them give thee power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name,
which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory. The glory is of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John bear witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of
whom I speak. He that cometh after me is
preferred before me, for He was before me, and of His fullness
of all we received, and grace for grace for the law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son which is
in the bosom of the Father, He have declared Him.
Amen. Will no God will stamp with His
own approval and blessing this reading of His own precious and
infallible Word. My text this evening is taken
from John chapter 1 and verse 4. And it says in Him was life and
the life was the light of man and have entitled the theme this
evening. Christ is the Lord of life.
See the apostle John here is led by the Holy Spirit to introduce
the Lord Jesus to us in a very unique and wonderful way.
When you read Matthew's account, when you read Luke, they begin
with the genealogy of Christ in real time, how that Christ was
in the line of David and Abraham and how he was the son of Adam.
But John doesn't begin with a genealogy.
John begins in eternity, and he presents us with a stunning
portrait of who the Lord Jesus really is.
It's interesting when you read the prologue, he doesn't mention
him by name until you come to verse 17.
Look at it there. Look what he says there, for the
law was given by Moses, but great and grace and truth came
by Jesus Christ. John rather than begin with the
story of his birth, John takes us into eternity.
John confronts us with one who coexists with the Father, one
who is Co eternal, one who is Co equal.
And Moses remember began writing in Genesis one-on-one.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Moses confronts us with the majesty and the might of God as
creator and Maker. The word Elohim, from which we
get the English word God, is a plural 9 and of course it
indicates A Trinitarian person. The word Elohim literally means
one who is all powerful in the beginning.
God, What did he do? He created the heavens and the
earth. And in the same way, John One
and One confronts us with the majesty and knight of the Word.
Listen to what he says. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
You see, John wants us to stand in awe of the one who's called
the Word. The Word in the Greek means
Logos, the one who shares the same substance as the Father,
and yet the one who is separate and distinct from the Father,
the one who's the second person of the whole eternity.
As I've said, coequal, coeternal, and coexists.
And this one that was called the Word was involved in creation.
You see, in creation in the beginning, Christ was there.
Christ predates the beginning, and Christ was active.
Look at verse 3. All things were made by him and
without him was not anything made that was made does not tie
into what the apostle tells us there in the book of Colossians.
It says in Colossians 115 who is the image of the invisible God,
the first born of every creature.
The word first born means the source for by Him we're all
things created that are in heaven, that are in earth
visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones or dominions or
principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him, and He is before all things and by Him all
things. Consist is not tremendous.
And over in the book of Hebrews we read in the book of Hebrews
and Hebrews chapters 11 and verse 3, we read through faith.
We understand that the world's were framed by the Word of God
so that things which are seen were not made of things which do
appear. Christ was there in the
beginning. Christ was active.
Christ's service involved the creation of the heavens and the
earth as we know it out of nothing.
It's important that you understand that before he made
the sun, the moon, the stars, before there was one atom in the
material universe, in the beginning, God, and in the
beginning was this trinitarian relationship between Father, Son
and Holy Spirit. And that relationship was more
real and more than than things that are physical and things
that are seen. We asked the question, who is
He? And here's the answer.
He was God manifest in the flesh.
I've told you often from Timothy, it says in first
Timothy 3 and verse 16. It makes a tremendous statement
and without controversy. Great as the mystery of
godliness, God was manifest in the flesh.
The Word manifest here really stands out and it's it's
tremendous to ponder that truth of the manifestation of Christ.
It ties into John 1 and 14. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
It ties into verse 14. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld as glory.
The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth. You see it as critical, it is
foundational not only to the Christian faith but to your
Christian life that you understand and embrace the truth
that Jesus Christ is fully and truly God Incarnate, one of the
old Anglican bishops, Bishop Mole, said.
A saviour, not quite. God is like a bridge broken at
the farther end. You see, if Jesus Christ is not
God in the flesh, then we are still sinners without a Saviour.
If Jesus Christ is only a man, then he died in his own sins,
and we have no hope. But in order to save and
reconcile sinful people to our holy God, Jesus Christ must be
God in human flesh. And John wonderfully presents
and displays in this prologue, John 11 to 18, a unique and
wonderful picture of Christ. Jesus Christ is the eternal
Word. Notice the Word was in existence
never a time the Word was not in existence.
And all heresies in the church usually involve denying the full
deity and true humanity of the Lord Jesus.
And that's where the dual witnesses are wrong.
They follow a man called Arias. In the early centuries.
Jesus Christ is also the second person of the Holy Trinity.
And the Word was with God. With God means a compliment.
With God means a relationship. The Lord Jesus existed in the
closest possible relationship to the Father.
Jesus Christ is truly and fully God, and the Word was God, not a
God as the two witnesses allege. The Greek has no definite
article. It's not.
And the Word was the God it says, and the Word was God, a
distinct person. Jesus Christ is the Word made
flesh. Verse 14.
Jesus Christ is the creator of everything.
Jesus Christ is the one who reveals life.
Jesus Christ is the one who's the light of God to the start
world. Now this is a tremendous
subject. I'm going to go to deal with one
thing tonight and it's this. Christ is the Lord of life.
Look again at verse 4. Very quickly in him was life and
the life was the light of man. Three things very quickly.
Think of the source of all true life.
Jesus Christ is the source of all true life, life physically.
The Bible says in Acts 1728. In Him you move and live and
have your being. Every sail in our body has been
created by His hand. In Psalm 104 and in the verse 30
we read a very interesting statement.
It says in Psalm 104 and in the verse 30, thou sendest forth thy
spirit, they are created. Thou renewest the face of the
earth. See everyone of us have a
birthday, a day we're born. Everyone of us will have a deaf
day. And between us, the journey of
life and in relation to that journey, the life that we live,
we live by the hand of God and the life that we have
physically, Jesus Christ is the source of that life.
Even the breath that the wicked breathe, Even those who live out
a life of immorality and iniquity and idolatry, it's Him
that gives them life. Can't see it, don't believe it,
but it's nevertheless true. All men in Him live, all men in
Him move, all men in Him have their being.
It also is the source of all life material.
He created the universe. We we read in Hebrews 11 verse
three that by faith the heavens, the world's as we know them, are
framed by the word of God. They spoke them into existence.
The life of everything in the world that was made was not made
without Jesus Christ. All things were made by Him and
without Him was not anything made that was made life
spiritually. The Bible teaches that you and I
were dead in trespasses and sins, and you had the quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins.
Ephesians 2 and one. We were blind.
We couldn't see God, our spiritual truth, or even our own
sin. We were diseased.
We had no love and affection for God or the things of God.
What do we need? We needed life.
We were sinners, dead, blind and diseased.
And he comes, and he implants life.
He imparts life. He infuses life in the soul by
the new birth, by His Spirit and the Word.
What about life abundantly? He says, I'm come that you might
have it, you might have life and you might have it more
abundantly. It was coming through Belfast
there at the Short Strand, and there's a string of cars, I
don't know for what reason, And they're all seem to be going
into the Odyssey buildings and there must be something on.
And I was just thinking those people know nothing about life.
They might think they have life, but they don't really, because
abundant life is only found in Christ and life eternally.
Remember what we read here in John chapter 3 and in the verse
18. He that believeth on him has not
condemned, but he that believeth not has condemned already,
because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. In John 3 and 36 we read He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth in Him is He Jesus Christ as the eternally only
begotten Son of God out of His infinite being we can discover
this truth. In Him was life, and no matter
what dimension you think about physical, material, spiritual,
abundant or eternal, that life exists in Him.
In Him is life is not what John says.
John yes, in Him was life. True life is only possible in
him. True life is only enjoyed in a
relationship with him. Life comes from Him to us.
True life is in Him. Without Him we are nothing.
Oh, we might be religious, we might be respectable, we might
reach out a helping hand to someone else, be kind to a
fellow human, be a Good Samaritan.
But those things will not redeem our souls.
Those things will not rescue us from sin's power.
Those things will not reconcile us to God.
Only Christ is the true source of life in all of these areas,
physical, material, spiritual, abundant and eternal.
The source of all true life, John says in him, was life.
I want you to get it. Not only the source of all true
life, but the substance of all true life.
You see John says in Him was life and the life was the light
of man. The word life is used 36 times
in John's gospel. And you see John was fully aware
that the Lord Jesus gave his life for us.
The Lord Jesus is the one who gave us life for us so that we
could live and enjoy life in Him abundantly, spiritually and
eternally, even physically. Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 9
and 15. Thanks beyond the God for his
unspeakable gift. The Lord Jesus is an amazing
gift, wonderful gift. I want you to think for a few
minutes of the purity of His life.
Hebrews 7 talks about Christ as one who is wholly harmless and
separate from sinners. He lived a life of complete
purity. He did no sin.
He knew no sin. In Him is no sin.
He said, Which of you convince of me of sin?
The Father said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well
pleased. He lived his life without sin,
never sinned. In thought, word and deed, He
lived the purity of life. Contrast to us, We are sinners,
we're full of sin, we live in rebellion.
Here's the life that He lived. He lived for us, lived it before
the Father. He said, Which of you convinced
of me of sin? Think of the purpose of his
life. You see, as people about their
life today, they they think of life and they think of it in
this way. What does it mean?
They have life. I want to tell you it's not
about being rich. It's not about having a great
job or being well educated or having power and influence or
living like the king or doing great things and travelling the
world. You see, those things in
themselves are not necessarily wrong, but they do not give us
the true meaning of life. They do not bring lasting
happiness. The secret to life's meaning is
found in a personal relationship with the God who made us.
God loves you tonight in Christ. Romans 5:00 and 8:00 But God
commendeth his love toward us. And while we were yet sinners,
Christ stayed for us. John 3 and 16.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in them should not perish, but have
everlasting life. Eternal life is only found in
Him. And all of us have a sin problem
and God is holy and God cannot and doesn't ignore sin.
And God's answer was to say in Christ, the life, the light of
men into the world, and what was his purpose?
And all the way to Calvary, He who was born of the virgin, he
was born to die. Think of His passion in life and
His cross work as He was kneeled to the tree.
He offered up himself for us. He was our substitute, took our
place. He was our sacrifice.
But this man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down in the right hand of God.
He was our sin bearer. He was wounded for our
transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him.
He was our surety. He paid the debt to the broken
law. He not when He was our
substitute and sacrifice and sin bearer and surety, but he also
was the one who bore the wrath of God for us.
Remember Paul says for he that is God made him, that is Christ
to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. And on the cross his blood
flowed fleeting on the cross He made an atonement.
He wasn't a victim. He was a victor and then his
voluntary sacrifice. He became the victorious Saviour
because think of the power of life.
He took life back. Yes, he died horrible death of
crucifixion, but his death was not the end.
Death could not fully bind him. He he triumphed over sin, hailed
the grave and the devil. He opened a way to heaven.
He's now there as the heavenly man.
He's there now as our representative in glory.
He now lives in the power of an endless life, and He's praying
for us, and by His mighty power He can produce a new life in us.
He can dispense grace and mercy to help in time of need.
Help me Lord, what tremendous words you could pray in your
difficulty, in your peon and your sorrow, whatever that is.
You can turn to this one who had purity of life, who had a
purpose and a mission because God sent him and a mission of
mercy to seek in the sea of that which was lost.
That's why he came and and he had such a passion for life that
he wanted us to live in him so, so he gave up his life unto us.
Remember Paul says the Son of God, he loved me and gave
himself for me as our substitute sacrifice, sin bearer, surety,
and the one who suffered the wrath of God on the tree.
He's gone now to heaven. He's there preparing a place for
us. He makes a pledge and a promise
for those who are in Christ. He says to the Father that they
may be with me where I am. Is that your assurance?
Is that your joy? I want you to think as we close
the secret of all true life, not just the source, not just the
substance, but think of the secret.
You see, Bible believe in Christianity is unique out of
all the religions of the world. They want the children to study
all the religions of the world. But I want to tell you the
religions of the world are not on an equal footing, not on a
par with Bible. Believe in Christianity because
all the religions of the world follow the way of Cain and they
try to do something to please God in meritus favour and God
will be pleased with them. But Christianity is different
because God became man. Emmanuel is God with us, and not
only is he God with us, but in the new birth He's God in US.
He is God for us. And the secret to having God
with us and in US and for us is faith preached in this last
Sunday night. For by grace you see it through
faith and not, not of yourselves, not of works, lest
any man should boast. Sister Cathy, if she's
listening, God bless you. You sent me a wee message just
last night, John 6 and 29. You didn't know what I was
thinking about or preparing for Sunday evening service.
This is what she sent. Jesus answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God. What works God do you want me to
do? This is the work of God that you
believe on him whom he have sent.
And the word believe means to trust and adhere to and rely on.
You see, let me finish. There's many tonight in the
world and they don't believe in God.
They don't believe in existence. They have no interest in the
knowledge of God. They live out their life very
independently of God, lovers of themselves, no thought of sin or
their soul. There's others who say, well,
we're not like that. We're religious people and we we
do believe in God, but we believe in pleasing that God by
our own efforts, by being involved in our religion or or
involved in our church. And we're attempting to work our
way to be accepted by God. And there's many like that in
Ulster tonight and beyond. But there's another group of
people, and they're different because they not only believe
that God exists and accept that all the propositions about the
personal work of Christ, more than that they have come to that
place in their life where they have trusted in Christ alone for
salvation. This is the work of God that you
believe on him whom he have said believe means to trust in, to
adhere to and to rely on. It's like tar.
It sticks. Remember a man in Coleraine
Congregational Church emphasising that out of a big
green Bible that he had and he used to sit it on his lap and
teaches the word of God. And as a young convert, I was
eager to learn. And Brother Raymond Hare, who's
no doubt is in the glory now, he was very faithful in using the
companion Bible and he had the word believe underlined.
And I asked him one day what it really meant.
And he said, well, David is like this.
In the Amplified Bible, it says to trust in, adhere to and rely
on. That's what believing in Jesus
means, and that's the secret to life.
Faith is the key. Abraham believed God, it was
counted unto him for righteousness.
Believed God not only existed, but all the fullness of his
revelation, all the promises in thee and in thy seed shall all
the world be blessed. And that seed was Christ.
And the Lord Jesus said Abraham rejoice to see my day and sought
and was glad he looked by faith to Christ.
Are you looking to Christ? We were singing look, look, look
and live. There is life for a look at the
crucified one. There's life at this moment for
thee. I quote the third verse before
we finish. It's not thy tears or
repentance, nor prayers, but the blood that atones for the soul
on him then believe in a pardon receive for his blood.
Can I make thee quite whole? Christ is the Lord of life.
He's the source of it. All that we could feel the
weight of that in Him was life, the life that we live day by
day. He's the source of that life and
every other area that I've mentioned, and the substance of
that life is in Him. Was life the fullest expression
of it? His person, His purity, his, His
purpose, His passion, His power. It's all here and Him was life.
And here's the secret to this life.
Faith in him, trusting and hearing and relying in Christ.
Which category of people expresses or explains you
tonight? Are you among those that say I
don't believe in God or believe God exists?
No knowledge or desire of the things of God?
Are you amongst those that say I believe but I'm trying to do my
best to please that God and a fall so very far short?
Or have you come to the place where you say I'm trusting alone
in the personal work of Christ to get me to heaven?
I have faith in Him. That's the key.
The Lord bless you this evening. Thank you for coming.
Thank you for listening. And next week in the will of
God, if the Lord spares us, and I trust he does.
We'll look at the second part of this here.
So I divided into two so it wouldn't take up all the time.
Christ is the Lord of life. We'll look at the next subject
next week. Christ is the light of life.
The Lord bless you.