Christ Before All

Amen. Well, it is a joy to open up God's Word with you this morning as we begin a new series in the Gospel of John.

And I hope that many of you grabbed one of those scripture journals on your way in. That's not just for today.

Lord willing, we're going to walk through this entire gospel together over the coming months.

And our hope is that you will fill those things up with notes and observations and applications to your life

as we study this gospel together.

So let's open up our Bibles now to the book of John.

The book of John. If you are using the Bible in the pew back in front of you,

if you didn't bring your own Bible, there's a Bible under your seat.

And you can find this passage on page 833 of that Bible there.

We always tell everyone who comes that you're going to need your Bible open.

We're going to be talking from the Word of God this morning.

So have your Bibles open to page 833.

And we'll begin this morning with John chapter 1 verses 1 through 5.

John 1:1–5

Follow with me as I read.

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.

In Him was life.

And the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness.

And the darkness has not overcome it.

Would you please pray with me?

Lord, as we open up this gospel this morning,

as we open up Your Word,

we pray simply again that You would speak through the preaching of Your Word,

that it would land on fertile soil this morning as we look to Christ.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, a proper introduction goes a long way.

I grew up just south of the city of Atlanta, Georgia.

And so naturally, Chick-fil-A was just a normal part of life for us.

But in my hometown, we had the extra blessing of being able to be a part of some of Truett Cathy's

additional unique food experiments.

So there was, of course, Chick-fil-A's everywhere.

But we also had the Chick-fil-A Dwarf House.

I don't know if you've ever heard of this.

You can get a breakfast buffet.

You can even order a hamburger or a steak, believe it or not, at the Chick-fil-A Dwarf House.

There was a restaurant called Truett's Luau.

Only one in the entire world.

Well, Truett's Luau, where you can go get Hawaiian-themed dishes.

You can get waffle fries and fish tacos at Truett's Luau.

But I will never forget when Truett Cathy opened up his pizza restaurant in my hometown.

It's called Upscale Pizza.

So just dream with me for a minute at the prospect of getting a pepperoni pizza with Chick-fil-A service

and then finishing it off with a Chick-fil-A milkshake.

It was absolutely incredible.

Well, I was going to meet some of my friends for the grand opening of Upscale Pizza,

and it just so happened that I had had Chick-fil-A for lunch.

And so I emptied the trash out from my car, gathered it up, walked up to the front door,

threw my bag in the trash can.

There was an elderly man there holding the door open for us as we went in,

and we locked eyes, and he complimented me on my trash.

He said, a Chick-fil-A man.

I like to see that.

And of course, I was polite enough.

I thanked him for opening the door for me, but I didn't think much of it.

Went inside, sat down, ordered my food.

And it wasn't until after we finished, after we had sat for about an hour having a good time together,

after the old man at the door had long gone,

before the waitress came and cleared our table and asked us if we had had a chance to meet Mr. Truett Cathy.

I said, no, I don't think so.

Where was he?

And she said, well, he was at the door, holding the door open as new customers came into his new restaurant.

And as you can imagine, my heart just sank.

I had passed right by him and not even noticed.

The man who had perfected the chicken sandwich didn't invent it, only perfected it.

He was a celebrity in my hometown.

And at that moment, I just wished that someone would have given me a proper introduction.

I wish that somebody, anybody would have prepared me beforehand, told me who he was,

that someone would have prepared me for that encounter so that I could respond to him appropriately

and give him the respect and the admiration and the gratitude that he deserved.

Well, as we begin our time in the Gospel of John this morning,

the Apostle John, the disciple whom Jesus loved,

he wants to make sure that all of us are given a proper introduction to Jesus.

He doesn't want us to do as so many people do and just pass right by him without recognizing who he really is.

He wants us to know and to consider who Jesus is so that we might respond to him appropriately.

In fact, that's exactly why he wrote this book.

John tells us in chapter 20, verse 31 of the book of John.

In chapter 20, verse 31, this is his purpose statement for the book.

He says in chapter 20, verse 31, he's written this book,

so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,

and that by believing you may have life in his name.

See, he wants to introduce us this morning to Jesus.

And what we're going to see in verses 1 through 5 of this introduction this morning

is that Christ Jesus is before all.

Christ is before all.

And because he is who he is, because he is before all,

we owe him everything.

So what we're going to see this morning is three ways Christ is before all.

If you're a note taker, we always encourage our people to take notes.

This helps us to follow along with the sermon this morning if you have a pen and paper.

There are three ways that Christ is before all.

First, you see, Christ is before all in time.

He is before all in time.

He's before all temporally.

So there's four gospel accounts in the Bible.

There's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

And out of the four, John is the weird one.

He's kind of the oddball.

The first three, they call them the synoptic gospels.

And that's because although they do have their own unique flavors,

they often tell similar stories in similar order in similar ways.

But then you get to this oddball John, and his gospel account is totally unique.

But his gospel is often called the spiritual gospel.

Kent Hughes, he says that Matthew emphasizes his kingship.

Mark emphasizes his servanthood.

Luke emphasizes his manhood.

And John emphasizes his godhood.

And we see some of that spiritual bent to the gospel of John here in the beginning,

where Matthew and Luke both generally start with the birth of Christ.

And Mark starts at the beginning of Jesus' ministry.

John goes all the way back to the beginning of the beginning.

And he says, as far back as you can imagine, as far back as we can trace the origin of all things,

this person that I'm introducing you to here, he was there.

So right off the bat, we're seeing that this man, Jesus, is not like anything else or anyone else in all of creation.

He is before all of it.

He is utterly unique.

And he points us to that uniqueness of Jesus by calling him the Word.

Look there to verse 1 with me.

John says here in verse 1, he says,

In the beginning was the Word.

John is cluing us in here to the identity, the unique identity of Jesus.

He calls him the Word.

What does this tell us about who Jesus is?

Well, the Word, we see here, does not have a beginning.

He was there in the beginning.

He's not a part of creation.

Verse 3 tells us everything that was made was made through him.

He was there in the beginning.

And as you hear this, if you're familiar with the Bible,

your mind ought to immediately jump back to the beginning of the Bible in Genesis.

Genesis chapter 1, it starts the exact same way.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

If you're familiar with this, it says,

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

And as the story goes on, we see that the way God creates all things,

it's not with tools or materials.

He creates all things.

He says, how?

With his Word.

That he speaks and it comes into existence.

He says, let there be fish and animals and creeping things,

and there they are.

He says, let there be trees and flowers and plants and shrubs and bushes,

and there they are.

He created all things by his Word.

The Word of God is his creative instrument.

It's his vehicle for creating all things.

And so John is intentionally drawing our minds there back to Genesis

to say that this Word, this life-giving Word of God has a name,

and his name is Jesus.

All things were made through him.

Isn't this what we saw last Sunday evening from the book of Colossians?

For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

All things were created through him and for him.

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

See, the eternal Word of God creates all things.

He is before all things.

But you know what else it does?

The Word of God also reveals.

The Word of God creates, and the Word of God reveals.

And really, this is how all words work, isn't it?

When you and I speak in a very real way, we are communicating who we are.

And so if you want to know what I think, what I feel, what I'm like,

if you want to know who I am, just spend some time listening to me speak,

listening to my words, and I'll tell you.

And of course, you and I do this imperfectly.

We often speak without thinking.

We misspeak.

We say things that we don't really mean, but not so with God.

God's Word perfectly communicates God's heart.

God does not misspeak.

God's Word perfectly communicates God's will.

God's Word perfectly communicates who God is.

And ever since he spoke the world into existence,

God has been sending forth his Word from heaven down to earth

through prophets, through angels, through visions,

through this inspired Word of God that we hold in our hands this morning

to communicate who he is.

But John says something unique here, doesn't he?

He says that this man, Jesus,

who I'm introducing you to this morning,

is the Word of God.

In other words, he says that he has been with Jesus,

and he's convinced that this man is the perfect,

the ultimate communication of who God is.

Everything about him, not just what he says,

but who he is.

He is the eternal Word of God,

sent forth from heaven down to earth.

And he and he alone perfectly communicates who God is

in a way that can be heard, yes,

but now also seen.

And touched and known and believed.

He's telling us the one who was before all in time,

stepped into time and into history,

the creator of all entered into creation to reveal God.

So if you want to know what God is like,

look to Jesus.

You look to the Word.

The author of Hebrews, he says something similar.

We read this passage this morning in Hebrews chapter 1.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

He says,

Long ago, at many times and in many ways,

God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,

but in these last days,

he has spoken to us by his Son,

whom he appointed the heir of all things,

through whom also he created the world.

He is the radiance of the glory of God

and the exact imprint of his nature.

And he upholds the universe by the Word of his power.

See, Jesus, John wants us to know he's unlike anyone you've ever met before.

This is the eternal Word of God.

When you trace all things back to their beginning,

Jesus was there.

All things are from him,

so he deserves the credit and the glory.

When you wonder how all things got here,

it is through Jesus.

All things were made through him,

so he deserves the wonder and the admiration

and the praise of your heart.

When you wonder why all things exist,

it is all for Jesus.

All things in heaven and on earth,

even you and me were made for him.

So he deserves your entire self.

For from him and through him and to him

are all things.

To him be the glory forever.

But he's not just before all things in time.

Second, we see he is before all things in being.

He is before all things in being.

Look there again to verse 1.

And brace yourself,

because this is going to get maybe a little confusing,

but we're going to do this together, I promise.

Verse 1, John says,

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

So we're talking about Jesus here.

So John says,

In the beginning was Jesus.

Jesus was with God.

Jesus was God.

Jesus was in the beginning with God.

Not only was Jesus before all things in time,

he is before all things in being.

This passage is some of the richest language

that we have concerning what we call the Godhead,

the Trinity.

And it is also a theological minefield.

And the early church often would go back

and refer to this passage over and over and over and over again

to refute several heretical teachings about who God is.

We sing the song often,

Holy, Holy, Holy.

I know you know this song.

What does it say?

God in what?

God in three persons.

Blessed Trinity.

That's correct theology.

Not three gods,

one God.

Not one person,

three persons.

Not one God showing up in three different ways

at three different times

in three different modes.

It's one holy God

in three distinct persons.

God the Father,

God the Son,

God the Holy Spirit.

And you may not think that this matters too much for you.

Let me tell you something.

This matters more than you can possibly imagine.

It matters how you think about God,

how you think about the person of Jesus,

because right understanding of God

breeds right response to God.

If we're going to rightly respond to who God is,

we have to understand correctly who he is.

So John here,

he says,

this Jesus,

who I'm introducing you to,

is before all things

because he is before all things in being.

He is God in the flesh.

I see at least three essential facts

about the Trinity here

that we need to get.

Three essential facts about the Trinity.

From the beginning,

the Godhead has been clearly distinct,

perfectly one,

and happily together.

I'll say that again.

From the very beginning,

the Godhead has been clearly distinct,

perfectly one,

and happily together.

All of this in just two verses

packed into John's introduction here.

We see the persons of the Godhead

are clearly distinct.

What does he say?

In the beginning was the Word,

that's Jesus,

and Jesus was with God.

There are two distinct persons

represented here.

The Word, who is Jesus,

and God,

meaning God the Father.

They are distinct.

And so they do different things.

God the Father did not come

into the world as a baby.

Jesus did that.

God the Father did not die on the cross.

Jesus, the Son of God,

did that.

God the Father did not rise up from the grave.

Jesus did that.

So we see they are clearly distinct.

But then he goes on to say

that they are perfectly one.

And here's where our minds can't totally comprehend.

The Word was God.

God, they are distinct in person,

yet in some way that goes beyond our comprehension,

these distinct persons are perfectly one in essence.

And we need to try to track here

because John is telling us

what is probably the most important thing to know

about who Jesus is.

That he's not just another teacher,

not just another religious figure,

he's not just a good moral example,

he's not just another leader,

he's not just another prophet,

he is God.

I wonder if any of you have ever had a Jehovah's Witness

come knock on your door.

Most normal people either politely tell them

they're not interested

or pretend like they're not home.

I am not a normal person.

So I love when they come to my door

and it's my goal when they come knocking on my door

to show them what John is showing us

right here,

that Jesus,

this man Jesus,

is God.

The Jehovah's Witnesses,

of course,

they disagree strongly

with what I'm saying here.

They do not believe

that Jesus is equal with God the Father.

They believe that God created Jesus.

And so in their false translation of the Bible,

you can look this up,

they have a false translation

that throws everything off

with just one letter.

Their version of John chapter 1,

John 1 · chapter mention

it goes like this.

It says,

in the beginning was the Word,

the Word was with God,

and the Word was a God.

You see the difference?

That one additional letter

is an eternity of difference.

when I was in seminary,

we had to learn the basics

of biblical translation,

learn how to read and understand

and translate biblical Greek,

and I knew just enough to be dangerous.

And in God's wise providence,

we lived in an apartment complex

right next door

to the Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall.

And as you can imagine,

they came knocking on our door,

and immediately I sprung up off the couch

and ran to the door,

opened it up,

invite them in.

Come on,

let's sit down and talk.

And they were excited,

surprised,

excited,

but not for long.

Because I was prepared

to show them

and to make this

the main piece

of our conversation,

to not let them get around

this fact

that the Word was not a God,

the Word was God.

This is John's whole point here.

If you miss this,

you miss the entire gospel.

He doesn't just speak

the words of God.

He doesn't just look like God.

He doesn't just sound like God.

He doesn't just remind us of God.

He is God in the flesh.

And if He's not God,

take Him or leave Him.

Who cares?

But if He is who John says He is,

we had better pay attention.

And unless you know Him as He is,

and love Him as He is,

and trust Him as He is,

you cannot know God.

John says in verse 18,

if you look down on your page,

no one has ever seen God,

but the only God

who is at the Father's side,

He has made Him known.

See, if this man, Jesus,

is just another teacher,

we might listen to Him,

we might reject Him,

we might appreciate Him,

we might not.

But if He is God,

we'd better pay attention.

There's a third essential fact

about the Trinity that we see here,

and it's that from the beginning,

they have been happily together.

Happily together.

Twice here,

John tells us that Christ,

the Word was with God.

He was in the beginning with God,

and the Word here in English,

it can't really do it justice,

but it communicates a sort of movement

towards one another.

So from the beginning of all eternity,

God has existed within Himself

in perfect, all-satisfying community.

Have you ever thought about this?

That God the Father has always enjoyed

the infinite depth of perfect,

all-satisfying relationship

with God the Son,

and God the Spirit,

which tells us

that for whatever reason,

God chose to create the world,

whatever reason He chose to create me,

and to create you,

it was not because He needed us

in order to be satisfied.

He did not create all things

in order to fill a void in Himself.

He doesn't seek out relationship

in order to fill a need

from all time.

He has been totally,

perfectly satisfied

in community within Himself.

So why did He make you?

Why did He make me?

Why did He make anything at all?

Many reasons.

Here's one.

One reason God made you

is so that He might draw you in,

that He might share

in this perfect, limitless,

all-satisfying relationship

that can only be found in God,

that He might share that with you

for the rest of eternity.

You know, that's why Christ came.

The Word of God became flesh

and dwelt among us,

stepped into His own creation

in order to redeem it,

in order to bring us

into fellowship with God Himself

through His blood,

in order to share with you

and with me

the limitless depth

of intimate knowledge of God

for the rest of eternity,

that He would share with us

His unending goodness.

Which, church, is the third

and final way.

Christ is above

and before all.

Christ is before all,

third,

in goodness.

Look there to verse 4.

John says,

In Him was life,

and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness has not overcome it.

R.C. Sproul rightly, I think,

observes that

this is the exact opposite description

of the world in which we live,

isn't it?

And when you look around the world

at all the wickedness all around us,

it's obvious, isn't it?

I don't have to tell you,

our world is not characterized

by life and light.

It is characterized by death

and darkness.

Things are not as they should be.

You read the news,

you see the headlines,

you see the stories.

This world is a mess.

This world is in darkness.

But it's not just darkness out there.

We need to realize

that there is darkness

in you

and in me

that ought to tell us

that something is not quite right

with us.

Things are not the way

they should be with us.

Every one of us says things

and does things

we ought not to say and do.

If our thoughts were made visible,

we'd be ashamed.

All of this,

the Bible tells us,

is the disastrous result of sin.

It is sin.

It's that rebellion against God

that brings the curse of death.

And it is sin

that corrupts

and stains

and darkens everything.

And it is sin

that blinds us

to the truth

and the glory of God.

And until this sin problem

is dealt with

in each one of us,

none of us can enter

into fellowship

with God.

So where do we turn?

John tells us

we must turn

to the one

in whom there is

life

and light.

To the word

who creates

and who

reveals.

To the one

who is before

all

in goodness.

What does

Jesus say

in John chapter 8?

John 8 · chapter mention

He says,

I am the light

of the world.

Whoever follows me

will not walk

in darkness

but will have

the light

of life.

Think back again

to Genesis 1.

In the beginning

God created

the heavens

and the earth

and the earth

was without form

and void

and darkness

was over the face

of the deep

and the spirit of God

was hovering

over the face

of the waters

and God said what?

Let there be

light.

And there was light.

And God saw

that the light

was good

and separated

the light

from the darkness

and Paul picks up

on this theme

in 2 Corinthians

and he says

for God

who said

let light shine

out of darkness

has shown

in our hearts

to give us

the light

of the knowledge

of the glory

of God

in the face

of Jesus Christ.

Are you tracking

here?

He says

that same

light

shining

darkness

defeating

life giving

power

of God

that we see

in the beginning

of all things

in Genesis

happens in you

and happens in me

when we are

given eyes

to see

the goodness

of God

in the person

of Jesus Christ

and love him

for who he is

and know him

and worship him

for who he is.

the light's

come on

and we are

able to see

we are made

alive

to the goodness

of Christ

we are brought

out of darkness

and into his

marvelous light

out of spiritual

death

and into his

perfect

eternal life

that is what it

means to be

a Christian

is that by the

grace of God

we see

by the light

of Christ

that he is

good

that he alone

is God

and that he alone

is worthy

of your worship

it's to enjoy

fellowship

with God

through faith

in his life

giving word

you want to know

why Christians

worship Jesus

not just

respect him

or

admire him

but

worship him

it's because

we have tasted

and seen

that he is good

by the grace

of God

we have

realized

that in him

and in him

alone

there is life

and there is

light

well even as

John introduces

us

this morning

to the most

glorious man

in the history

of the world

he can't help

but give the ending

away

can he

he says

the light

has come

into the world

and the darkness

has not

overcome it

the darkness

cannot

overcome it

not for a lack

of trying

when Christ

was born

the enemy

raged

and sought

to destroy

him

he sent

Herod

and his

minions

to kill

him

but the

darkness

could not

overcome

him

and Christ

was tempted

and tried

in every way

as we are

yet without

sin

the darkness

could not

overcome

him

he never

sinned

when Christ

suffered

and died

upon the cross

it looked

for a moment

as if

the darkness

had won

you remember

the story

what happened

the whole

the whole

earth

for three

hours

the land

was covered

with

darkness

but we know

the end

of that story

don't we

Christ

didn't

remain

in the grave

the darkness

did not

overcome

he rose

up from

the grave

and he

conquered

sin

and death

and darkness

for any

who would

come to

him

in faith

and as we

look around

the world

and see

the effects

of sin

all around

us

know this

for certain

it may

look

for a

moment

as if

darkness

has

prevailed

but one

day

he's promised

he will

come

again

and finally

put an end

to all the

sin

all the

death

all the

darkness

in all

the universe

and Christ

will triumph

over the

darkness

but church

the good

news is

if you

know this

man

Jesus

we don't

have to

wait

if you

know this

man

if you've

met

Jesus

he can

put an

end to

your sin

right now

there is

no darkness

in this

room

there's no

darkness

in your

heart

there's no

darkness

in all

the universe

that can

triumph

over the

goodness

of Christ

so as we

close the

application

for us

here in

this

introduction

to this

man

Jesus

Christ

is

would you

turn to

him

would you

look to

him

for the

first time

or for the

thousandth

time

would you

turn to

him

what sin

is there

in your

heart

that needs

to be

brought

into the

light

this morning

what are

you

turning to

to give

you the

life

and the

light

that only

Christ

Jesus

can

provide

would you

turn to

him

again

and again

and again

and again

and taste

and see

that he

is

good

church a

proper

introduction

makes all

the difference

doesn't

it

John

knew

Jesus

Christ

personally

he was

an eyewitness

to the

things that

we'll study

about

through this

gospel

he was

was eating

with Jesus

sitting with

Jesus

he was there

at the cross

and there

at the

empty

tomb

if this

man is

who

John

claims

he is

he

deserves

much

more

than just

our

passing

attention

and when

you come

face to

face

with

with

who

this

man

is

we

have

to

recognize

Christ

Jesus

demands

not

only

your

respect

but

your

life

and not

just

your

casual

acknowledgement

but

your

deepest

sincerest

devotion

he

deserves

not

only

your

attention

but

your

worship

let's

pray

Lord

Jesus

you are

good

above all

and you've

shown us

in your

word

today

that in

you

and in

you

alone

there

is

life

and

there

is

light

we pray

father

father

if there

are

any

here

who

have

not

received

the

life

of

Christ

would

you

now

open

their

eyes

to

see

and

Lord

if there

are

any

here

who

are

struggling

with

sin

discouraged

feels

like the

darkness

is

overcoming

father

would

they

turn

to

Christ

and

know

that

the

darkness

can

never

prevail

against

him

Lord

we

ask

now

in

all

things

that

you

would

be

exalted

and

that

we

would

be

changed

further

and

further

into

your

likeness

we

pray

this

in

Jesus

name

amen