“That You Might Believe” - John 1 - June 1st, 2025 - Special Guest Mike Shaver

Heavenly Father, we do thank you for the morning.

We thank you for this chance to come and draw closer to you.

We pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would be the teacher today.

I pray that you would use me as a conduit to say something of value.

If you do not speak through me,

then the likelihood is that not much of value is going to happen.

So the problem is yours, Lord.

We give it to you.

We pray it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Okay, I am going to be in John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

If you'd like to join me there, you can keep me honest.

Because otherwise, you never know.

I can fabricate all kinds of things.

Okay, John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

John is a great book.

It has a lot of interesting things.

One of the things it has is an explanation of why John wrote the book.

John, in chapter 20, starting at verse 30, says the following.

I'm reading out of the New King James.

verse 30.

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

So the purpose of the book is that you may believe.

What are the other?

Well, if there's a purpose like that for this book, what about the others?

You ever wonder why there's four Gospels?

Well, each of them has a different target audience.

Each of them has a different purpose.

The purpose of Matthew was to reassure Jews that Jesus was their king that had been prophesied.

So the book of Matthew, I think I said that right, didn't I?

The book of Matthew is written to present Jesus as king.

In order to do that, Matthew quotes a lot of Old Testament scriptures.

It also was written by a tax collector, and part of his job was taking shorthand.

So here is a guy uniquely equipped to write down word for word what was being said.

So if you want to know what Jesus said, Matthew's a great book.

In Matthew, you barely start off and there's a genealogy.

In the genealogy, it traces Jesus' lineage through his adopted father.

And therefore, there's a legal basis for his claim to be king.

Let's skip Mark for a minute.

We'll come back to him.

Matthew, Mark, Luke.

Luke is a scribe for Paul.

What is the purpose for this book?

Well, it's to reach out to the Greeks and to lay this out methodically.

What happened?

So Matthew is all about what Jesus said.

Mark is about what he did.

It's all action.

It's all action.

Very little dialogue.

Luke is talking about who he was in terms of a man.

Luke was a physician.

He's very interested in Jesus' humanity.

So you get to John.

John begins this way.

In the beginning was the word.

And the word was with God.

And the word was God.

pause.

That is a genealogy of Jesus as God.

So each of these three of the four gospels has a genealogy.

Mark is presented as a servant.

Do you really care what the genealogy of your servant is?

Well, they didn't think the readers of that book were interested in that.

There was no reason to put that in.

So you have four gospels, four different target audience.

Matthew is the Jews.

Mark is the Romans.

Luke is writing to the Greeks.

John is writing to the church.

To reassure them that the sound system is up to speed.

Okay.

In the beginning was the word.

And the word was with God.

And the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

Okay.

The creation.

The reason this is a dear book to me is that I,

it was not a person with deep faith.

I grew up in a Christian home.

I went off to secular college where they washed all that Christianity right out of my head.

And then later in life,

I was in a Bible study with Chuck Smith teaching on magnetic tape, cassette tape.

And he kept dipping into something called apologetics,

which is the arguments for the faith.

And so,

man,

if you're going to believe this,

you've got some hills to climb as a non-believer.

The first one is creation.

Jesus is the creator.

Now that is something that non-believers struggle with because they don't even think there is a creation.

See,

back,

way back when,

18 billion years ago,

there was nothing there.

And then it exploded.

Now that doesn't take faith,

does it?

You have to have time,

space,

energy,

matter,

all present simultaneously

to make any of this happen.

So Jesus,

as the creator,

had to create all of them simultaneously.

If you create matter,

and you don't create the others,

where are you going to put it?

You didn't create any space yet.

If you create space,

what are you going to put in it?

If you create matter and space,

when are you going to put it in there?

You have to have all of them to make any of them useful.

So,

don't all churches believe this?

No.

There's a lot of churches in this day and age that wonder why people don't take Jesus seriously.

Well,

they don't take their scriptures seriously,

because the scriptures clearly teach the creation,

and that Jesus was the creator.

In Colossians 1,

I'll just read it for you.

It's a brief passage.

It reads as follows.

He,

that is Jesus,

is the image of the invisible God,

the firstborn over all creation.

Firstborn means preeminent one.

It's not like he was born first.

It was,

he's the top dog.

For by him,

all things were created that are in heaven and are on the earth,

visible and invisible,

whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.

All things were created through him,

and for him.

And he is before all things,

and in him all things consist.

Well,

then where did Lucifer come from?

He's a created being.

Jesus created him.

He's not a co-equal with Lucifer.

He is God.

There is a church that thinks that they are brothers.

They obviously are not getting this from the Bible.

They also get the idea that there are many gods.

In their book of Abraham,

the word gods,

plural,

is over and over and over and over again.

So in the beginning was the word.

The word was with God,

and the word was God.

That's the,

that's a,

that's a statement of the Trinity.

Within the nature of the one true God,

there are three distinct personalities,

three distinct individuals,

and all three have all the attributes of deity,

and yet they all move in unison.

You think,

wow,

that's,

that's far out there.

Well,

you know,

if God was small enough for you to comprehend it,

he wouldn't be very impressive,

would he?

You know,

I've,

I've grown accustomed to the reality that I got a pea brain,

and I'm going to,

I,

when the Bible tells me something that I have a hard time grasping,

I just take it.

Because I've eaten crow so many times,

there's no reason to do it again.

He was in the beginning with God.

Matter of fact,

he was,

he was the one doing the creating.

Verse three,

all things were made through him and without him,

nothing was made that was made.

So Satan was created.

Now,

when you're thinking of these things in the modern era,

what you sometimes think of is how big the universe is.

Wow.

How did,

why did God create galaxies?

He can't even see.

They're so far out there.

You know,

God must really love stars.

No.

No.

Think,

think,

just if you will,

your impression of what is valuable to God,

to be in terms of what,

what he was willing to die for.

Well,

that's you.

Well,

but you're not as impressive as some star out in the,

in the Orion belt or something.

a star is basically just a big luminous ball of gas.

That's not actually too interesting.

Stars don't worry about whether democracy or the republic is the proper form of government.

They don't worry about right and wrong.

They don't worry about their sin nature.

they just go.

That's it.

Now,

God is an infinite intellect and he names them all because,

hey,

he,

he's got the mental horsepower to do it.

but don't,

don't think that because you are small relative to the cosmos,

that you are small to God.

Now,

he didn't die for,

to,

to save Alpha Centauri.

That's just a big ball of gas.

verse four.

In him was life.

And the life was the light of men.

Okay.

Light.

And it was the light of men.

Light is an interesting metaphor.

It's a figure of speech that covers a lot of territory.

And it survives in our language.

There is an era in history called the enlightenment.

It's right after the dark ages,

which actually weren't that bad.

And the enlightenment wasn't all that good.

But,

the,

the idea was that at the time of the enlightenment,

oh,

they finally figured out all these amazing things.

They were,

they realized they were never going to turn lead into gold.

And they realized,

you know,

science got its birth then at the,

at the universities,

which were made to study the handiwork of God.

so light,

if you've ever been lost in the dark,

you know how valuable light is.

Just a little light can light your way,

get you out of trouble,

keep you from,

keep you from tripping.

God,

God,

Jesus was the light of men.

He provided the direction.

He provided the inspiration.

He illuminates the path.

If we shut off all the lights in this place,

close all the doors,

man,

this is going to be dark.

But you turn on a light.

Wow.

you see all kinds of things.

You can't,

can't see otherwise.

So,

verse five,

and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Okay.

He's,

he's kind of a,

John is kind of a mystical writer here.

What does he mean by that?

The light,

Jesus,

shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.

The world did not comprehend who God was or what he was up to or,

it took him generations and long time to cultivate mankind to where he even had the vocabulary to start dealing with God.

So,

darkness does not see things God's way naturally.

people naturally think all kinds of things because it's the natural mode of,

of human thought.

Deductive reasoning had a college professor in history who pointed out that logic is a way of going wrong methodically.

And that's true.

Just because people think they figured it out doesn't mean they really figured it out.

I have actually,

of all of my high school,

our college text.

I've thrown away all but one.

And I kept it because it was such a hoot.

Because it was so wrong on everything.

And it was,

it was principles of historic and geology.

And I take a pencil and I,

every time they make a new find that contradicts it,

I write it in there because it's a reassurance.

The human knowledge is passing.

The human knowledge is passing.

If you have a 10-year-old textbook,

it's an antique.

If you have a 20-, 30-year-old textbook,

why?

My uncle, when he died, he gave me one of his college textbooks from the 1940s.

And it had page after page on Piltdown Man.

Oh, Piltdown Man.

Oh, we know all about our human ancestry from Piltdown Man.

And he actually drifted from the face because of Piltdown Man,

which was found in Aquarian England.

And finally, in the 1950s,

somebody got to looking at Piltdown Man,

which was two bones,

a jawbone and a skullbone.

He said,

you know there's file marks on this jawbone,

on the teeth?

What is that?

And see, at the time,

you couldn't,

they were too valuable to let people touch.

So you would look at a plaster cast of the bone.

So everybody's studying this plaster cast.

Somebody finally looked at the original and said,

there's something,

something kind of off here.

So they got to looking and they realized,

oh, this is an ape bone.

it had some filing done

so that it would fit onto this skullcap.

The skullcap.

Oh, that's a skullcap of a donkey.

Hmm.

Who pulled this joke on us?

And for how many decades

did people write PhD theses

about our ancestry with Piltdown Man?

Well, there's a whole stream of those.

Six, verse six.

There was a man sent from God

whose name was John.

He was not the light,

but John was set to bear witness of the light.

John.

He's an interesting guy.

And one of the reasons

there's four different gospels

is each one has some different information.

John.

As you breathe through it as a new believer,

you don't notice that necessarily.

John was Jesus's cousin.

Now, that meant John had some inside information

because Mary, when she was pregnant,

went and spent some time with her sister,

who was five months along with John.

So mom could tell you,

yeah, Mary,

you know, we know who the Messiah is

and we know they'll live up around Nazareth somewhere.

But when you have to walk everywhere,

when you're on rough roads

and you're having to walk,

you don't go to a lot of family reunions.

So they didn't see much of each other.

I don't think John necessarily recognized Jesus,

or if he did, it was barely.

But that's an inference on my part.

The bottom line is,

John knew the Messiah had been born.

There were some people that were all shook up

because they thought,

you know, where's God?

He should have made his appearance by now

in response to a prophecy in Genesis.

Well, in point of fact,

the Messiah was amongst them.

He was a little boy.

Give him a few years.

Verse 9,

that was the true light

which gives light to every man

coming into the world.

Okay.

The true light

needs reflected.

We are reflections

of Jesus.

We're as close to Jesus

as people are going to see

until Jesus returns.

And by then,

kind of the die is cast.

You hope they've picked sides by then.

But

you are an ambassador.

You are an ambassador of Jesus.

to your friends and neighbors

and your family.

You are the representation

of who they think Jesus is.

Now,

that kind of loads you

with a little responsibility.

Maybe be a,

you know,

if you're a kid,

clean up your room.

Help mom with the dishes.

I don't know.

Whatever you're doing,

do it to honor God.

Because in honoring God,

you are

revealing God.

Now,

John was just a reflection

of Jesus

as are we.

Tim,

he,

Jesus,

was in the world

and the world

was made through him

and the world

did not know him.

Now,

we think we're great artists

in our time.

No,

we're not.

God creates

the entire known universe.

Everything you know

about reality,

that's his art project.

every,

it encompasses

everybody else's art projects.

And then,

God steps into it

as a human.

Man,

that's a tough trick.

We don't do that.

The world

did not know him

because the world

thinks in different terms.

they were,

the world thinks

in terms of riches

and power

and the luxury

and good looks

and height

and all this stuff.

Saul,

they thought,

oh,

Saul's going to be a great,

great leader.

He is six foot three.

Really?

That'll do it

for you?

Okay.

I made the figure up.

Don't try to look it up.

But you know what I mean.

if you were worldly

and you were saying,

okay,

it's time for Jesus

to be born,

where would you go look?

Well,

you'd look in Rome

or you'd look

in Jerusalem

at least.

You wouldn't look

in some bug-tussled

little town

like Bethlehem

or then up to Nazareth.

Those are not

big deal towns

back in those days.

So the world

didn't know him.

Back in those days,

there was a controversy

among the Jews

because they believed

there might be

two different

Messiahs prophesied.

There's Messiah,

the son of Joseph,

and he's a suffering servant

and he lives his life

to save his brother.

or it could be

Messiah,

the son of David,

and he's going to come

as a king.

The reality is

he's both.

And so they were

so busy looking

for the second coming,

they missed the first

because that sounded

a whole lot more fun

to him,

kicking the Romans out.

Well,

Jesus is bringing us

something way better

than kicking the Romans out

and that is

we're going to

get to heaven.

You think Rome's

a big deal?

Wait till you see

heaven.

So,

Chan,

he was in the world,

the world was made

through him,

the world did not

know him.

He came to his own

and his own

did not receive him.

His own is the Jews

in this instance.

all of these prophecies

to let them know

the view is coming.

There was an expectation

in the air

that the Messiah

could be near.

And yet,

they missed it.

They missed it

because of their own ideas

of what this must be like.

The leadership

missed it,

especially,

because they had

a vested interest.

The vested interest

was they wanted

to retain their place

as respected leaders

in the community.

So,

what are our

expectations of Jesus

when he comes back?

We've all got some.

I hope that we're

blank enough

on the subject

that when he comes back,

we'll take whatever

he's doing

and run with it

and be pleased with it.

There's a lot of people

that have measured it,

thought the first thing

they'll do

is see their mansion

and measure the drapes

and order some better ones.

No.

The first thing

the Lord is liable to do

is put you in charge

of something mundane

to see if you could do it.

Chuck Smith

used to do that.

People would come

to the church

at Costa Mesa

and say,

I'm here

because I want to

do mission work.

I'm here

to be a pastor.

And he turned him over

to a second in command

and he was a military guy

and said,

you're here to serve?

Yes.

Good.

Here's a toothbrush.

Here's some soapy water.

There's the bathroom.

Let me know

when you've got

that one done.

and no,

I'm here to serve.

My kids went

to the Bible college

and saw Chuck Smith

come and go.

He would sometimes

go out there

and teach

and he would pick up

gum wrappers

and police

the parking lot

before he got in

to see the kids

because he truly

was a servant.

Nobody was watching him.

He just

had a servant's heart.

May we all

have servant's hearts.

Okay.

Twelve.

But as many

as received him,

to them

he gave the right

to become children

of God

to those

who believe

in his name.

Notice,

believing in his name,

that kind of is

the boat we're in.

We've never seen him.

There's no pictures

of Jesus.

I've got a coin

minted by the Byzantine Empire

in about 300 A.D.

and it has a picture

of Jesus.

No, they don't.

A lot of us

have seen

those pictures

of Jesus

knocking at the door

and

is that what

he looks like?

Well,

if he's Dutch,

it is.

I don't know

what he's going

to look like

but, you know,

you're going to

check him

for nail prints

in his hands

and, you know,

the fact that

he's coming out

of clouds

is a tip-off.

The Baha'i cult

thinks that

flying in

on a commercial airliner

to Tel Aviv

is close enough.

They said,

see there?

He came in

on a cloud.

Come on.

Your sights

aren't very high.

Start again

at 12.

But as many

as received

and to them

he gave the right

to become children

of God

to those

who believe

in his name

and who were

born not of blood

nor the will

of the flesh

nor the will

of man

but of God.

So,

we are born

not only

bodily.

We are born

bodily.

If you didn't

get here bodily

I want to shake

your hand.

But,

the part that

God is interested

in is the

rebirth

that makes you

aware of the

things of God.

There are a lot

of people who

know a lot

about God

but they

don't really

know God.

They don't

think in terms

that God

would approve

of.

They don't

have faith

in Him.

Part of it

is just

stepping off

the curb

and having

faith.

If you don't

have faith

God's not

going to be

able to do

much for you.

when I was

a young man

and newly

married

and I

finally came

to the Lord

and I realized

that all my

science textbooks

were Bravo

Sierra

if you know

what I mean.

That cost me.

You know,

there's all

that book

learning

that, you know,

I had to start

over and I

was rejoicing

because the reality

that Jesus is a

creator is so

much more

glorious than

He reached down

to a group of

monkeys and

picked out two

and enlightened

them and they

slowly evolved

and, oh,

come on,

there's no glory

and Carl

Sagan

sang it

like it was

a miraculous,

joyous thing.

No, it isn't.

Creation is.

And we live

in this era

that technology

has allowed us

to see

miracles of creation.

There's a palm

scum,

little bitty thing.

You might get

a microscope

to see it

and it has

an indoor-outdoor

electric

rotary motor

with an old

fueled by

banks of

little batteries,

little generators,

electric generators.

You're like,

wow,

I think people

can build

something like that

and it has

babies.

Now,

that's

cool,

that.

We are not

up to the point

of having

self-duplicating

submarines

or something,

so we still

aren't up to

the level

of technology

of pond scum.

That's a

humbling thought.

so,

so let's

enjoy our

privileged position

as ambassadors

of the coming

king.

Let's have

enough faith

to rely on

him to get

us through

the days

and our health

problems

and our

finances

and all

of the rest

of it

and let's

just rejoice

that we

in this

world

have been

lifted out

of the mud

by God,

dusted off

and allowed

to know him

and when he

comes back.

We will

fall on our

faces in

worship.

We hopefully

are worshiping

now,

but I think

from reading

scriptures when

you actually

are in his

presence,

we're all

doing a

face plant

first,

and then he'll

get us up

and shake

our hands

if he wants

to.

So,

let's pray.

Heavenly Father,

we do

thank you.

We thank you,

Lord,

that you

foreknew us.

We thank you,

Lord,

that you

reached into

this world

to touch

us,

to stir

our hearts,

stir our

minds,

and to prepare

us for a

life of service

of him.

May we do

it well,

Lord.

May we do

it so well

that it

touches

our families,

our friends,

our co-workers.

We thank you,

Lord,

for your presence

in our lives.

We pray it all

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.