A Message by Pastor Michael Palmer
Given to
February 21, 2010
Jesus: Creator, Life and Light
to a World in Desperate Need
John 1:3-9
I.
ALL THINGS WERE MADE THROUGH HIM
There are all kinds of belief
systems that try to separate God from creation. (Even make creation evil)
Gnosticism (one of those “systems”) was present in John’s day. His comments
here refute this separation and in fact show that Jesus is the agent of
creation.
1.
Created-Out
of Nothing– Ex Nihilo
God Himself and His Son (The Word)
are behind all creation.
2.
This
World rightly belongs to God!
II.
JESUS IS LIFE-
This is speaking of spiritual
life, the very essence of God– God’s life. Mankind is in desperate need of
this life.
In the gospel of John the word
life occurs more than thirty-five times and the verb to live (to have life)
occurs more than fifteen times.
See John 20:31, John 5:40, John
10:10, John 10:28, John 14:6
1. Life is opposite
of death, Destruction and condemnation
Man has brought this on himself, the wages of sin is death! God sent His son
to give those who believe eternal life. The life Jesus brings is a strong
contrast to what is present in the world.
2. Jesus
IS The Giver of Real Life
3. This
Life is Eternal
A. In Duration – Eternal life lasts forever
and cannot be ended or lost. If you
could lose it (i.e. lose salvation), then you didn’t have eternal life to start
with.
B. A Godly Quality – This is the life
of God Himself imparted to the believer. Jesus offers us HIMSELF! A fantastic new quality of life given by God
alone.
No person will ever know true
peace until he/she knows the Giver of Life, Jesus! Jesus alone will satisfy the
yearning of our soul.
III.
JESUS IS THE LIGHT OF ALL
MANKIND
1. Jesus brings light which puts chaos to
flight!
Jesus brought order to
creation when He said “let there be light”. He is the only person who
can bring order to your life! Left to ourselves we are at the mercy of our
passions and fears.
2. The light that Jesus brings is a revealing
light
It is a condemning
light because men loved the darkness rather than the light; they hated the
light lest their deeds be exposed. (John 3:19, 20) The light Jesus brings always shows things as
they really are! It strips away our protective covering, our hiding, our
half-truths and it lays bare our character and the true state of our heart.
We never see ourselves until we
see ourselves through the eyes and the light of Jesus. Jesus “and His light”
drives us to the end of ourselves enabling us to come to Him in utter release
of our will to Him.
3.
THE LIGHT THAT JESUS BRINGS IS A
GUIDING LIGHT
Jesus takes us out of darkness
into the light enabling us to see where we are going. Without Jesus we
are like men in a deep forest in the middle of the night with no moonlight!
With Jesus the way is made clear. To know Jesus is to let Him (His Word, His
Spirit, His people) guide you in all of your life.
IV.
JESUS IS THE LIGHT THAT SHINES IN
A HOSTILE DARKNESS
1.
THE DARKNESS IS HOSTILE TO
THE LIGHT
Sinning man loves the darkness and
hates the light, because the light reveals too many things.
2.
THE DARKNESS STANDS FOR THE
NATURAL SPHERE OF ALL THOSE WHO HATE THE LIGHT–THE GOOD, ETC.
3.
THE DARKNESS ALSO REPRESENTS A
WILLFULL IGNORANCE WHICH REFUSES THE LIGHT OF JESUS
John sometimes used
darkness symbolically (John 6:17, John 13:30)
Willful ignorance is
not really ignorance. Deep down all
people know what the issue is—having to answer or be responsible to someone
other than themselves! Loving the darkness is loving
to be in control of yourself (which is really slavery!).
V.
THE DARKNESS WILL NEVER COMPREHEND
THE LIGHT OR PUT OUT THE LIGHT!
Three
meanings of the word “comprehend” in verse 5:
1.
The
darkness never understood the light.
2.
The
darkness never overcame the light (never destroy).
3.
The
darkness never will extinguish the light.
VI.
JOHN WAS A TESTIMONY TO THE LIGHT
THAT ALL MIGHT BELIEVE
What a great thing to say about
John! Can that be said about us?
To believe in Jesus means to take
Jesus at His word, accept His commandments as absolutely binding and to believe
without question that what He says is always true (Barclay, p. 44). To believe
is to trust His death was a sacrifice for your sin and His resurrection
is God’s validation that He accepts Jesus’ payment for you. All that is left is
for you to give your life to Him today and receive eternal LIFE and the LIGHT
of all mankind—JESUS!