John 1:1-18; John 3:21; John 18:37; 1John 1:5; 2; Eph 5:1-21
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John 1:1-18 The Word Became Flesh
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome a it.
6There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14The 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.
15(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.’ ”) 16Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
What is the light? It is the truth (the one who hears His voice)
● John 1:1-9a “The light…” - Source of light, radiance (Ex 34:30; Luke 2:9; John 14:9; Col 1:15, 19; Heb 1:3)
○ The manifestation of God’s self-existent life, divine illumination to reveal and impart life - through Christ
■ Having made us, and now (in Christ), having been born again (John 3:3), He creates us (Eph 2) as new creations, new creatures in Christ (John 3:3; Rom 6:4; 2Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15; Eph 4:24; Ps 51:10; Ez 11:19; 18:31; Is 65:17-18; Rev 21:4-5)
● 1John 1:5 “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all”
● John 1:9b “...gives light” - Enlighten, God sharing his life, exposing and overcoming darkness - like the ignorance (prejudice) causes be sin.
○ Inspire and permeate with a feeling or quality - to impregnate - with the light or knowledge of God and His saving intentions
○ (to further) give understanding to
What is it to walk in darkness? To not see
● Ignorance of divine things, is associated with wickedness and the resultant misery
● To walk in moral depravity - in the arrogance that believes it does not need God, His forgiveness, or redemption - it is to stumble over Jesus for lack of perception or light 1Peter 2)
● To not be able to see what is right and just and fair
● When even the light in you is darkness, that is darkness indeed
○ When one is in darkness and yet think that they are in the light, that the darkness they are in is light to them, that is truly dark
○ What does it look like when someone’s (perceived) light is darkness?
■ Self deceived
● Jeremiah 17:9
● James 1:22, 26
■ Self deluded - Prov 14:12; 16:25; Matt 7:21; 25:39; Luke 18:18
● This may very well be the one to whom Jesus is saying “not everyone who says ‘lord, lord…’”, marked by the respondent’s astonishment “...but lord, did we not…?”, or the sheep’s response to the master “when did we see you hungry… and not…?”
John 3:16-21 16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Jesus IS the Light, shines the light, makes in us light, shines through us light - even INTO the darkness
● The darkness of sin
● The darkness of the heart of man
● The darkness of the heart of the believer
What does it look like? It is to detest and despise, to not extend mercy, grace and agape love; it is to hold in contempt others
What is it to walk in the light? It is to be aware and alert to God’s probing - to expose self to Hos word and Spirit
● It is Jesus who “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind” Jeremiah 17:10
○ The motives
○ The thoughts and imaginations of, the reasoning
○ The battle in each - for submission to God’s truth and Spirit
● It is His Spirit that touches, or shines light onto our heart/spirit
○ Confirms its position in grace, by faith
○ Affirms the works as fruit of the heart’s faith as good and acceptable (just, as an act of (God’s) justification - or God’s declaring innocent and now acceptable - both the heart and the heart’s good work (Gal 5)
○ Exposes darkness to bring it into the light - it is WHY TRIALS, TESTS, CONFLICT, these times “shed light on…”
What does that look like - in a very real way? 1John 2
1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Love and Hatred for Fellow Believers
3We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
7Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
9Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister b is still in the darkness. 10Anyone who loves their brother and sister c lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
As Jesus is the light, He has made, created, so us to be the light
Jesus said “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." John 9:5
But then said “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.” Matt 5:14
14“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matt 5:14-16
Eph 5:1-21
