Who is Jesus Christ? John 1:1-18 – Bible study
Who is Jesus Christ? Message # 2
John 1:1-18
by Cooper Abrams
- Introduction:
Illus: In the jungles of South American was a remoteprimitive tribe of Indians that had little or no contact with the outsideworld. They lived hard lives and difficult lives. Many of their children died before reaching one year old. Theirlife expectancy was only 35 years. If a person reached theage of forty they were considered very old.
The government triedto reach them, but they killed any stranger that came into their land. Because they were so savage no one would venture into their area.
Yet, a missionary named Jim Ellott, learned about them and had a deep burden to carry the Gospel to them. It was a hard and dangerous under taking, yet Jim Ellott knew they needed to hear of their Creator and God. There were several attempts made, and them they went in on foot to try and make contact with the primitive people. After not hearing from them for sometime an exposdition was sent in to try and see what had happened. They found Jim Ellott and his companions all slain beside a river. They people they went in to help had murdered them.
Later his wife wasable to return with the help of a native girl from the village, and intime some of the very natives who had killed her husband came to JesusChrist and were saved.
In a much greater way,Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior came to earth to help us. To free us from sin and death and He too was rejected and they nailed Himto a cross and crucified Him. How tragic that our Creator cameto earth, and yet most of mankind even today will not accept His help orHis great offer of salvation and rather remain in their sins, lost wastingtheir lives to in time die and spend an eternity in hell forever separatedfrom their loving God and Savior. Willing being blind to thehelp that is but a prayer away.
Last week we saw that fromthe Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden, God promised a Savior. Down through the ages the men looked to the day when He would appear. We saw that from Abraham and the beginning of Nation of Israel that God promised that from Abraham’s seed would come the Savior and “all the nations of the earth would be blessed.”
And almost 2000 yearsago the Messiah, the Christ, Jesus was born to a virgin, in a little townnear Jerusalem called Bethlehem. His birth was prophesied for centuriesand His coming fulfilled over 300 prophesies which even foretold the townHe would be born in, the year, that He would be born of a virgin, of thetribe of Judah. His birth was proclaimed by angelsand in Matthew 1:23, His name is proclaimed as “Emmanuel” meaning “God withus.”
Last week we lookedat John chapters 7-8, and saw clearly that Jesus proclaimed thatHe was God. His birth, life, message, miracles and death proved withoutdoubt that He was the promised One, the Savior of the Word. Jesus Christ was Almighty God, incarnate in Flesh. He was whollyGod and wholly man.
John stated the purposeof this Gospel in John 20:31.
“Butthese are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, theSon of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
John deals with thenature and person of Jesus Christ. God in the Book of John establishesthe deity of Christ and who He is.
A. John establishes who Jesus is in theTitles that John uses to describe Jesus Christ:
1. John 1:1, Jesus is called the “Word.”
2. John 1:29, the”Lamb of God”
3. John 1:41, the”Messiah”
4. John 1:49, the”Son of God” and the “King of Israel.”
5. John 4:42, the “Savior of the world.”
6. John 20:28, “Lord and . . .God”
B. John establishes the deity of JesusChrist by recording ten times that Jesus specifically referred toHimself as “I AM” which is the title only of Jehovah God Himself. (John 6:35, 8:12, 10:7, 9, 11, 14, 11:25, 14:6, ,15:1, 5)
C. Let us now look at John 1 and see whatit tells us of who Jesus Christ is. Pleasenote that the verb used is not “was” but “is” because He is our livingSavior, who now stands at the right hand of God making intercession forall who will believe in Him and receive Him as their Lord and Savior.
I. Jesus Christ was God before the World Began. John1:1.
A. There is not stronger statement in theBible than this verse.
1. In the beginning. This means the beginning of time and the beginning of the world.
2. At the beginningof time…Jesus Christ was.
B. The verse refers to Jesus Christ as the”Word.”
1. The Greekword is “logos.”
2. The wordrefers to truth, revelation and the wisdom of God. It refers to the source of the truth…the Person from which the truth comes.
3. Youcannot separate Jesus Christ from Truth because He is Truth, He is the Word of God.
4. The “Logos”was with God and was God. This attests the Trinity, God the Father,God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit who are One God.
C. The verse further says that”the Word was God.”
1. There is notarticle before “theos” in Greek grammar indicate that “God” is the predicate.
2. The questionthat is raised is not who is God, but who is the “Word” because the “Word”is the subject.
3. The Sentencesays the Word was God. This is an emphatic statement. Who ever is the Word is God.
4. In John 1:14,God tells us that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheldHis glory. Clearly this is a reference only to Jesus Christ.
5. In verse 18,John makes the point that although no man has ever seen God Himself whois spirit, we Jesus and thus see God incarnate in flesh or in human form.
D. John 1:2, restates and repeats that Jesuswas with God which refers to the Trinity.
II. Jesus Christ is proclaimed to be the Creator.
A. Note again John 1:3. “All thingswere made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
1. The verb “wasmade” means “came into being.”
2. It is significantbecause it literally means “it came into being out of nothing.”
3. This singleverse refutes every form of evolution.
4. In our earlymessage we saw that “Elohim” which is the plural name for God is used in Genesis 1 and 2. This gives further evidence of the Trinity.
5. It is the Logos from which the Creation came. He God is the source.
B. Hebrews 1:3, 10, proclaim Christ as theCreator.
“Who being the brightness of his glory, andthe express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word ofhis power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the righthand of the Majesty on high; . . .And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hastlaid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thinehands:”
C. Colossians 1:-15-17, “Who is theimage of the invisible God, the first born of every creature: Forby him were all things created, that are in heaven, and 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 isbefore all things, and by him all things consist.”
D. Jesus Christ is God and thus Heis our Creator.
1. Literally,verse threes is saying that “apart from Jesus Christ not one thing cameinto existence and exists today.”
2. It is JesusChrist who at this moment holds and powers the Universe. All thingsexist through Him.
III. In Jesus Christ is Life, and the Life was the Light of Men. John 4:4. Life came from Jesus Christ.
A. Evolution teaches thatlife came from inert matter. In someprimeval soup, the right minerals came together and lifewas begun. They tell us that it will be possible in time for man through science to figure out the method and proper ingredients and life will be made in a test tube.
B. However, God says that life camefrom the LOGOS or Jesus Christ. Note it says “inhim was life.”
ILLUS: Take a dead body of anything that was alive and let it die. What ever caused the death of the living beingcould be repaired immediately, but life does not return to the body. Life is not in matter, but in God, Jesus Christ who created life.
C. Jesus Christ is the Creator ofSpiritual Life V.4
1. “And the lifewas the light of men.”
2. In theGarden, God formed the earth which He made
from man. After forming the earth, the first thingcreated on it was light. God brought light to dispelthe darkness.
3. Jesus calledHimself the Light of the World.
John 8:12, “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light ofthe world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall havethe light of life.”
John 9:5, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light ofthe world.”
John 12:46, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoeverbelieveth on me should not abide in darkness.”
4. Jesus madethe contrast between darkness and light. This brings us the nextpoint.
IV. Jesus Christ overcame the Darkness of Sin. John 1:5.
A. The light shined in the darkness andthe darkness “comprehended” it not. The word is “kata-lamb-an-o”which means to “apprehend.”
1. In otherwords, darkness did not “lay hold of” or overcome, overwhelmor overpower the light. Jesus Christ overcame thesin of the world
2. John1:9, explains that this was the true light that lighteth everyman that comes into the world.
B. This stresses the contrast between truespiritual light of Jesus Christ and the false substitute that isoffered by the Devil.
1. Men have from the beginningof sin entering the world tried to offer a substitute for the true light.
2. Yet, all men’s efforts are but feeblecopies.
C. The Jesus Christ the Creator and Sustainerof life came into the world, but the world knew Him not. John 1:10.
1. Verse 11,says He came to His own and His own did not receive him.
2. Romans 1:18-20.READ. Verse 20, says that “The invisible things of him fromthe creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the thingsthat are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so they are withoutexcuse.”
3. Because ofsin and man’s love of sin, man has rejected God’s truth. John 3:19.
V. The Good News. John 1:12-14.
A. No matter how much the world rejectsChrist, He remains the Savior.
1. Remember Verse5? The darkness did not apprehend or overcome the light.
2. Jesus Christcame into the world and died for the sins of the world that He might offergrace to all who will believe and accept His offer of mercy.
B. Verse 12, says He gave the power to becomethe sons of God to all that believe on His name.
1. As alwaysthe God makes it clear that salvation is not that which can be earned ormerited by any man. Man cannot save himself, and Godknowing that came to earth, took human from and walked among us. He willingly went to the cross and took all our sins in His own body.
2. God gave mana will, made him in His own image and took all man’s failure’s upon Himselfand suffered for our disobedience.
C. Jesus Christ was the Only Begotten ofthe Father.
Conclusion:
1. There are two basis types of people in the world today.
ONE: Those who reject Jesus Christ and refuse to place theirbelief and trust in Him.
TWO: There are those who do believe. Who welcome the GoodNews that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, to forgiventheir sins, give them eternal life.
2. These truths presented to us from God, through John thegreatest truths on earth. Man came be saved from sinand go to heaven when he dies.
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