It All Begins with God

The Christian message and life begins not with man, humanity, but with the being of God himself. In fact the Apostle John begins with the One who was in the beginning and with whom he had had physical emotional connection. He is writing about the incarnation of the Word in the person of Jesus the Christ. John's letter to the churches begins at the same place as the Gospel of John! Compare 1 John 1:1-5 with John 1:1-4. He writes of the Word, Life and light. In his letter he adds the eternal life and fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. His climatic statement is- God is Light! At the conclusion of his letter he summarizes in these words, "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true one. We are in the true one—that is, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life." 1 John 5:20 CSV

If we are to understand the gospel, and the Christian life correctly then we must begin at the right place. We must begin with God, the God who is Father and Son, Jesus Christ- the true God who is the Holy, the Light!

Bible Insights with Wayne Conrad
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Transcript

Title:  It All Begins with God!

Date: November 11, 2025

Scripture: 1 John 1:1-5; John 1:1-3

AI TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to Bible Insights with Wayne Conrad. 

God's word is a lamp to our feet and a light on our path. Today's topic, the gospel begins with God. I'm speaking to you today from the epistle of John; we'll call it 1 John. Now, John who wrote the epistle, the letter of John, is also the John who wrote the good news, the gospel account of Jesus that we are familiar with. And when we look at the opening words, the first paragraph of his letter, it very much parallels the first paragraph in his gospel account. So, I want to read it to you and let you see that connection. And then I want to talk to you about God as he is revealed in these verses.

Because the gospel, the good news that we proclaim begins with God. It does not begin with man. It does not begin with man's need. The gospel begins with a person of God himself. It's very important that we have the order right. If you put man and man's needs front and center, then you're going to misinterpret a lot about God. The epistle of John, for instance, speaks about God with some terms. God is light. We'll see that today. It also speaks later in the same letter with God is love. But we can only understand the love of God, how God is love if we first of all understand that God is light. If we reverse those things, we will end up with a messed-up understanding of God and of what God is doing in the world.

God is light. That's what the word of God says. I'll read to you 1 John chapter one. and the first paragraph. Now, ordinarily I read from the English Standard Version, and I will be referring to that and using it some today, but I want to share with you from the New English Translation of the Net Bible, because it does something I think is very important. It helps us understand that the first paragraph is about the proclamation, what Christians are proclaiming. And so it reads; this is what we proclaim to you. What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we've looked at and our hands have touched concerning the word of life. And the life was revealed. And we have seen and testify and announced to you the eternal life that was with the father and was revealed to us. What we have seen and heard we announce to you too, so that you may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. Thus, we're writing these things so that our joy may be complete. Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announced to you. God is light and in him, there is no darkness at all. 

Now, if we look at the ESV, it begins with that which was from the beginning. So all the New English Bible has done is put what we proclaim in front of that, because he gets to that later. He says that which from the beginning, which we'd heard, which we'd seen with our eyes, which we'd looked upon and touched with our hands, that immediately reminds you of what? A who, doesn't it? The what is a who, and the who is Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth.

Now, let's look at the prologue, the first paragraph of the prologue of John's gospel. It reads, 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 man. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome him. So, you can see the parallel. So, what do we proclaim? What is the gospel message? What is the true message that the Christian faith has to proclaim to the world? Well, you have to begin with God. That's actually what he's saying. We must begin with God. And the God we must begin with is the God who was in the beginning with the Father, and that is the Word of Life.

When we look at 1 John 1, this first paragraph, we find that Jesus is referred to, and he is referred to with the following titles, the Word of Life, the Life, and the Eternal Life. That was with the Father and was revealed to us. These are titles that John is using to refer to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we know he's referring to the Lord Jesus Christ because he specifically says so. Listen again to the words. The life was made manifest and we have seen and proclaim to you, testify to you, the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. And that which we've seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, that you may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

So, we begin with God. And we begin with God who's revealed to us as the Father. with the Father from all eternity is the Son, who is here proclaimed to be both in the Gospel of John, the Word, the Word who is with God, and the Word was God, this one became incarnate. And so to become incarnate means that he took to himself humanity. He was born as a human being, a true human being. human being without losing his deity. God cannot lose his deity, but he can take to himself humanity. And that is what he did in the incarnation. The word became flesh. But that flesh is a living, breathing, first century human being of the tribe of Judah. He is a person who is descended genetically from Abraham and from David. He's in this line. This is the one that was born of Mary.

But John is telling us, we have seen with our eyes, we've looked at with our hands and have touched him who is the word of life. So, we've seen the life, the eternal life. So, he's saying that Jesus is the source of eternal life because he is eternal life. And this life, this eternal life, was with the Father. Now the Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the Spirit is eternal, but here he's only speaking about the Father and specifically about the Son. He says of the Son, the eternal life that was with the Father, and that was revealed to us. Now we've seen him and we've heard him. We've heard him with our ears. We've touched him with our hands. We experienced life with him. The word, you see, was a living, breathing word. eating, fellowshipping human being who had real human relationships with his mother, with his disciples, with his friends. And the closest of his friends seems to have been John, the one who wrote the Gospel of John and is writing this letter.

So, his point is, we must begin with God. Our understanding of the Christian experience Our understanding of the gospel and our understanding of Christian life, Christian living, must begin with God. Unless we begin at the right place, we will not end right. The beginning is very important. So, this is the gospel message that we proclaim. We've heard it from him. We've announced it to you.

God is light. And in him, there is no darkness at all. Now, what John is saying is that God is holy. The word light here is holy. It's like holiness. God is the thrice holy one. He is the separate one. He is the one who is the creator, who stands outside of his creation, and yet who is involved in his creation so much so that he became a part of it in Jesus Christ, our Lord. And he became a part of it in order that we might have fellowship with him. 

But we could not have fellowship with him because God is light, because God is holy, but mankind, beginning with the fall of Adam, mankind lives in darkness. Mankind has been alienated and separated from God. Mankind is infected with sin, who sins against God, who does not have fellowship with God, who is living a living death awaiting the condemnation and destruction of the end. 

But God, this holy God who wants to have fellowship with us became incarnate in Jesus Christ. And in this was manifested the love of God. So we begin with God who is the light. And only in that light of that understanding can we understand what it means when it says that God is love. God is love so much so that in order to have a relationship and fellowship with us, he took to himself humanity in his son so that that one who was one of us could bear our sins on the cross. and shed his own blood so that the holy God could establish a just and right relationship with sinful human beings and thus cleanse them of their sins and give them eternal life. And that life is in a relationship with the son that's established through faith. 

Now John began his epistle with God and he ends his epistle in the same way. See, if you don't see the parallel between what he's saying in 1 John 1. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you. God is light. In Him is no darkness at all. But the God who is light, who wants to have fellowship with us, and who's established fellowship with us, and thus we have established fellowship with one another because we are all recipients, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are recipients of the grace and mercy of God. This one is eternal life. To know Jesus Christ is to know the Father. And to know Jesus Christ is to have eternal life. 

1 John 1, chapter five, verse 20. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given to us understanding so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 

So, Jesus is the word of life. And this word of life who is with the Father and was revealed to us in His relationship, with his apostles and those first century Christians who saw him, experienced him, heard him. Christ established fellowship with us, with the body of believers. And the fellowship he established is a fellowship that connects us with the Father. This connection and knowledge of God the Father is when, is if, is with, and in His Son, Jesus Christ. And it's in knowing God through the person of His Son that gives us joy. It's a life of joy. 

And the knowledge of God that's in Jesus Christ This God who is light and in whom there is no darkness works in our lives with whom he's established fellowship through our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And in this fellowship, the blood of Christ continually works to cleanse us from our sins and to enable us to have fellowship with God. 

 The gospel begins with God. The gospel is God in the person of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the gospel of his son, the word of life, results in the experience of true and lasting joy. The joy of knowing God and knowing those who know him. 

This has been Wayne Conrad with Bible Insights.