SPEAKER_00 0:07

Crossroads Church, how many of you know that there is life and death in the power of the tongue? And that what we proclaim, y'all can go ahead. That what we proclaim, we can proclaim as followers of Jesus with absolute certainty because of his promises. We're not just singing songs that feel good or sound cool or are entertaining. We're actually collectively as a choir raising our voices as a declaration. When we talk about in the mighty name of Jesus, I want us to understand what this declaration looks like. In Psalm 121, a song of sense makes this declaration: I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth, the author, the perfector of all creation, of all things for all time. He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not sleep. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. A double down, a double down that he is always aware. The Lord is your keeper, the Lord is your shade in your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil, he will keep your life. The Lord will keep you going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. The Lord is not only your keeper, but he's a promise keeper. And so as we sing with declaration, knowing that the tongue holds the power of life and death, we need to speak life this morning. And we're gonna do this again together as a declaration, not just going through the motions, not just coming together to sing, but to declare, to declare the promises of the Lord and understand that He holds the power of life and death, and He knows our comings and goings, and He doesn't sleep, He doesn't slumber, and He's not surprised, He's sovereign. Let's sing, church.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

In the mighty name of Jesus, Web Calling on the power of death, where it's after you're gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

Hey, give two or three high fives before you sit down. Tell your neighbor you're glad to see him. Go ahead. Give some high fives. Shout out your neighbor. Shout out your neighbor. Have a seat. Have a seat. Welcome to Crossroads Church. Welcome to summer. Welcome to the first Sunday in June. We are so glad you're here. Whether you are joining us here in person or you're a part of our online community, or maybe you're part of one of our other campuses. I love that you're here. And especially today, if you're here for the first time, I want to welcome you. My name is Andrew, and I'm the lead pastor, and we're so grateful to have the privilege to get to worship our risen King and our Savior together today. Go ahead and get your Bibles and turn now to the New Testament book of John. I'll explain. If you don't have a Bible, raise your hand. We want to give you, to get you a Bible. We want a Bible in every single hand. We'd love to have the written word of God in your hand. Raise your hand, let them know you'd like a Bible. The Bible that they bring you is your Bible. When you leave today, take it with you. And when you come back next week, bring it with you. One of our core values here as a church, we know our purpose, why we exist, to be a church, to be a community where people encounter Christ, where we equip Christians and where we engage community. A part of equipping Christians or preparing the saints for the ministries, we care deeply about biblical literacy. We celebrate a lot of things here at Crossroads as we should, because he is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise. And God is doing a miraculous work here. But one of the things that I am most excited about, church, we have given in seven months, we have given out almost 1,800 Bibles. That right there, praise God. We want the written word of God in every single hand. Turn with me to the New Testament book of John, if you're not familiar with it, find it at the beginning of your Bible in the table of contents. It's in the New Testament. We're gonna kick off a brand new series that's gonna take us all throughout the summer before we pick back up and conclude our series that we've been in in the Old Testament book of Joshua. Today we're gonna be in John chapter 1, and we're gonna look at verses 1 through 18 together. Now, in a little bit, we're also gonna jump all the way to the very back, John chapter 20, and we're gonna read verse 30 and 31 together, but we're gonna begin in John chapter 1 and verse 1 through 18. Which 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 men. The light shines over the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe in him. He was not the light, but he came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, his own people, and they didn't receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, in the mighty name of Jesus, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory. Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him and cried out, This is the one of whom I said, he goes or he comes after me, uh ranks before me because he was before me. Far from his fullness, we have all received, for from his fullness we've all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. This is the word of the Lord. Father, your word is both active and it is alive. And I pray that it would come alive in and through us this morning. As we read your word, Lord, I pray that your transformation would come. I pray that you would transform the way we see, the way we think, the way we interact with your word, and the way we act in our lives. God, I pray that you would move in a special way this morning. Give us all that we need in this moment to focus, to fix our eyes, our affections, and our attentions on you. Lord, again, as we come together as one church, I pray for all the other churches in and around and throughout our community whose pastors are going to preach a God-centered, gospel-focused message. Would you anoint their lips? Would you touch the hearts of the people, that collectively we would see our communities come to know you? Father, I pray now that the words of my mouth and meditation of our hearts would be received as a gift, holy and pleasing to you alone, the author and perfecter of our faith. And the whole church said, Amen. In the 15th century, the introduction of what we now know as the five W's came into existence. From the 15th century and into the 19th century, it was adopted as a literary tool, as a device for understanding a concept or an idea to build on hypothesis in a variety of ways. Five different ways. Today it's been adapted over time and it's used as a journalistic tool. It's also used by law enforcement officers in other various fields. It's the five W's. And it teaches us to ask and to answer and to analyze these five things. Who, what, where, when, and why. There's a sixth or an additional, but it's not a W, it's actually an H, it's how. This literary device, this tool, teaches us to ask, to answer, and to analyze information so that we can formulate a greater understanding or an idea that it moves from ethereal or hypothetical and into factual as something that is concrete, which then informs why we believe what we believe. This is actually an apologetics tool. If you're not familiar with the term apologetics, I know it sounds a lot like saying you're sorry. It's actually not bad at all. Apologetics is simply knowing what you believe, why you believe what you believe, and being able to defend it or articulate it. The five W is a great tool that helps us understand apologetically what we believe, why we believe what we believe, and how to present it. Who, what, where, when, and why. We're gonna use this tool throughout the summer as we investigate something that I have been sharing with our church family for several months, which is this principal concept. Here's what I present to you formally. Informally, I've talked about it in passing, but formally today I present to you that who we are, our identity, our very existence, the DNA, the mitochondria, the fibers of who we are is informed by whose we are, and that leads us to how we live our lives. As followers of Jesus, when we say that we are Christians, that word Christian has become a catch-all as a religious explanation for some iteration of Protestantism. There are others who use the term as well that are not followers of Jesus, but they would align with the idea or the religious part of the word Christian. There's kind of a broad umbrella. For us, the word Christian literally means Christ I am or Christ in me. Another way of looking at it would be a little Christ. Not that we are God or that we are Christ, that's not at all what I'm intending to say, but that as Christ is alive in us, we become more and more like Christ, aligned with Christ as Christ lives through us. Who we are is informed by whose we are, and it influences how we live our lives. If you believe that this morning, that who we are is informed by whose we are and must influence how we live our lives, say amen. That is what we are going to be studying over the next three months together through the gospel of John. Now, what is the gospel? That's a great question. There's two ways of looking at the gospel. The gospel as a singular idea is the good news, the Yuan Gellion. It presents the life of Jesus, the promises of Jesus. It teaches us whose we are, and there's actually four major components to the gospel. The four major components begin with incarnation. How the God man stepped into time in human form through the person of Jesus. This is incarnation. How the word became flesh and dwelt among us from incarnation, the gospel leads to the crucifixion, where a sinless God of the universe in all humanity will submit willingly to be our propitiation, our saving sacrifice, our atonement once and for all for all who would believe. This is the crucifixion. He dies a Roman death. It is a capital punishment, a form of death that is the most egregious, reserved for the worst kind of criminal. From the crucifixion, the gospel leads us to the resurrection. What we celebrate in what we call on our calendar Easter or Resurrection Sunday, three days after Jesus' death and burial in a borrowed tomb. He conquers death, establishing true life and eternal life once and for all. So the gospel leads from incarnation to crucifixion and to resurrection, and ultimately, and here is the principal purpose of the relationship that we as humanity experience with God, and that is the word restoration. That is the fourth major part or component of the gospel. In fact, did you know that all 66 books of the Bible, 39 books of the Old Testament, 27 books in the New Testament, all have one meta-narrative. If you're unfamiliar with that term meta-narrative, it means a common thread or a theme across all 66 books. There are sub-themes, there are other things that are covered, but the meta-narrative, the main point, if you will, of the entire Bible is restoration. Beginning in Genesis 3 and carrying all the way through to the last dot and tittle of Revelation, we see that the purpose is restoration. And those are the four major components of the gospel: incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and restoration. That's the gospel. When we think about the gospels in a plural form, what it's referring to are four specific authors or books in the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These are gospel writers who, in their own way, present the same truths of the four major components: incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and restoration. Each one has a unique author, each one has a unique audience. For Matthew, he was one of Jesus' chosen followers. He was one of the original twelve disciples. A tax collector, Jesus calls him out of his daily grind and his uh his lifestyle and into holiness and into a right relationship. Matthew experiences all the teachings of Jesus, and in fact, the majority of Matthew's gospel is going to be about parables, the things that Jesus teaches using allegory to communicate a theme or a promise or a precept, something that we have to hold on to. Matthew's audience is largely Jewish. That's his heritage, that's his background, those are his people. And so as he writes, he's writing with the Jewish people in mind. That'll come into play here in a little bit. Mark's gospel is unique. John Mark is actually not one of the original twelve. He is a companion, a close friend of Peter. He is with Peter and he's learning from Peter's vantage point all that Peter, as the disciple of Jesus, one of the first two chosen, Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, he is writing down, he's dictating as a historian all that he is hearing. His audience is largely Roman. Peter will live out his last days in Rome. He'll be crucified in Rome. He'll be hung upside down because he doesn't believe that he is worthy to be killed in the same manner as Christ. So Mark's audience is largely Roman. Luke's audience, now Luke is a physician. He's a Grecian physician and he's a historian. He's a smart guy. All that he communicates is actually to a Gentile audience, and he uses facts and science and evidences to provide his explanation of the gospel. Those are, those three gospels together are called the Synoptic Gospels. Synoptic means same sight or of same view. They're looking at things with a little bit of nuance, but they're looking at it primarily from the same perspective. Matthew's gospel is very similar to Mark. In fact, about 90% of what you see in Mark's gospel, you see in Matthew's gospel, and about 50% from Luke's Gospel. You see that they are very symbiotic, they're amoebic, they are interwoven together, unique but the same. Those are the synoptic gospels. John's Gospel is very unique. John's Gospel doesn't have any kind of genealogy. John's Gospel is the only gospel that doesn't record a single parable. There is no allegory pointing to a greater purpose or understanding. John is the most concise and the most poignant, the most purpose-filled presentation of the gospel of all the four. And the reason that he writes the way he does is because his audience is a much larger audience. He's not writing to Jews or to Romans or to Gentiles, it's a collective of everyone. John is also writing his gospel some 90 years after Jesus' ministry. He is writing from a long time of perspective. And as he shares, one of the things that makes John's gospel so dynamic is what we call a triad of seven. If you got a journal today when you came in, you're gonna want to have this with you every week. I tell you all the time, this is this is your field guide. It's got explanations, it's got a whole bunch of great resources, it's got a space for you each week to take sermon notes and follow along. It's got a space for you to do daily devotions, it's got a space for you to take into your life groups and to share your observations and to learn from others. Guys, I cannot implore you enough. We don't do this for an intellectual exercise. We have an amazing team in our spiritual formations team that work diligently to put this together for you as a resource because we care about biblical literacy. We don't want you just to hear the word, we want you to adopt the word and become doers of the word. So please, if you didn't get a field journal, the seven journal on your way in, make sure you pick one up on your way out. If they're not being handed out by the ushers, you can grab one at our next steps center on your way out this morning. As you think about the idea here of the different gospels, I want to share with you the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is a triad of seven. There are seven miracles, there are seven messages, and there are seven I am statements. Now, in this series, we're only gonna cover seven miracles and seven messages. And the reason that we're gonna cover these is because I believe that who we are is informed by whose we are and influences how we live our life. But in order for us to know whose we are, we've gotta see. We've got to ask who, what, where, when, what, how, all the things. We've got to we've got to lean in. Every miracle, write this down, I've said it before, but I want you to see with your own eyes. Every miracle of Jesus is only intended to substantiate the message. Every single person that Jesus healed, this side of eternity, still died. The healing wasn't actually about the physical healing, it points to so much more. Every miracle substantiates the message. One of the beautiful things that I love about Jesus is that more often than not, he'll actually address our physical needs before our spiritual needs. We we establish this understanding, this idea, this relationship with Jesus. He meets us where we're at, but he doesn't leave us there. And so the Gospel of John is this triad of seven, seven miracles, seven messages, and seven I am statements. In this series, we're gonna cover the miracles and the messages. I want to set up the entire book of John with a graphic for you. And it's simply this prologue plus presentation equals purpose. Write that down. Prologue plus presentation equals purpose. The very beginning of the book of John, John 1, which we're gonna study today, the 18 verses together, it's the prologue. I want you to think about it as setting the stage. It's making sure that before you go out to that barbecue, it's the volleyball nets set up, the barbecue's been set out, the propane tank is full, all the foods prepared, and you have everything in place before the event happens. That's the prologue. John's gonna set the stage for the rest of the book. The presentation is the establishment of everything that happens. That's at that family barbecue, that's when you show up and eat. That's when you show up. That's when the cops are calling on you because you're too loud. That's all actually occurs. And when you understand that the way John writes this, prologue plus presentation equals purpose, what I hope to see. If you ask me, Pastor, what is the one principle, idea, or concept you have for me in this series? It is this that you know your purpose. Because when you know your purpose, you'll live on purpose with a purpose and for his purpose. Oh, that's not even in my notes. That right there, that's good. Somebody write that down, Kate. I need to make sure I remember that. Purpose. The more you know your purpose, you can live on purpose with purpose for his purpose. I'm not kidding, write that down. We're gonna see the prologue, but actually, I want to start at the end. I want us to see the presentation. With your finger in John chapter 1, I want you to turn to John chapter 20. Now there's 21 chapters in John, but this is the very end of it. John chapter 20. We're just gonna read verse 30 and 31 together. This is gonna be the the presentation. Listen to what John says. After the seven miracles, the seven messages, and the seven I am statements. Here's what John has to say about it in John 20, verses 30 and 31. Now Jesus did many other signs. Those are the miracles in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe whose you are, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you, who you are, may have life in his name. John chapter 20, verse 30 and 31 is the culmination of everything I believe about whose we are, informing who we are, and influencing how we live our lives. That's the presentation. Prologue plus presentation equals purpose, and we are gonna get into the prologue right now so by the end we can recap two principal ideas of what I believe our purpose is. Are you ready? Okay, I've got a lot more energy than you do this morning. Man, here we go. Let's get into it this morning. In the beginning, in the beginning is creation language. Remember, I told you that Matthew's gospel is to the Jews, Mark's gospel is to the Greeks, Luke's gospel is to, or excuse me, to the Romans, Luke's gospel is to the Greeks, John's Gospels to a collective. One thing that they're all enamored with is creation. This is creation language. You're gonna see the philosophers and the Stoics, you're gonna see the legal minds, you're gonna see all kinds of minds coalescing together around this one idea, creation. And what I love immediately is that though John doesn't establish a genealogy, a whole bunch of begats, where Mary begat Jesus and James. That's not what this is. He establishes even before Genesis language, Genesis 1.1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. This is a masterclass in how to get people's attention. In the beginning, people are enamored with creation. He is using creation language. In the beginning, God created, okay, you got my attention. In the beginning, what? In the beginning was the word. Now, the way that was is spelled out. I'm not gonna get into the weeds on all of this stuff together today because this is gonna be 30,000-foot flyover that's gonna lead us into the next three months. But there are a couple of things I want to talk about. The way that the etymology of that word was represents not only historically the way things happened, but also is used interchangeably with is. Real time. That it happened and is happening. In the beginning was, God was, God is the word. That word we're gonna ah, see here, I go with weeds. 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. That's a double negative, showing that everything in creation comes from a creator. Intelligent design, that it wasn't a mistake, that it didn't just happen. Just for fun yesterday, I was toying around with artificial intelligence. And I said, using science and the Bible, is there an argument that refutes the claims that we were some cosmic gases that collided? I think I said cosmic fart, that collided and that we were made from goo and that I'm uh my primal ancestors are apes. That one makes a little more sense, but the idea that these gases, and here's even the thing, like anyway, do you know that AI literally says, and I use two different sources, Gemini and ChatGPT, both said that science, history, geology, and the Bible all point and are all consistent with intelligent design. Don't don't take my word for it. Go research it. Look at it yourself. This double negative, when he says it, and without him was not anything that was made, is saying, listen, you you have to understand that that there is nothing outside of scope or time, that God is the creator of all things. He is the author, the perfecter, and the sustainer of all things. And verse 4, in him was life. Remember what I said about that word? How it's interchangeable, was and is, was life and is life. And the life was the light of men. This word light is gonna come up nine times in these 18 verses. And it's gonna be used throughout the book of John, it's gonna be used throughout the Gospels, it's gonna be used throughout the New Testament. The light refers to Jesus in large part. Understand this that there is a motif that takes place between light and life, and darkness and death. So as we're reading this, understand that John's audience, they know that they are well versed with this motif of life, death, light, and darkness. This is why the apostle Paul says, for what do light and darkness or life and death have in common? Absolutely nothing. This is why he cautions us to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Not that we can't be friends with, not that we shouldn't share our faith with, not that we can't be friendly and neighborly to other people, but who influences and who informs our life. We cannot be unequally yoked with unbelievers because bad company corrupts good morals. What do life and death, light and darkness, God and Satan have in common? This right here, this motif, is being introduced. And so now think about the audience, think about hearing this. You're in the middle of wherever you are at in the collective of a group like this, and it's being read out loud. The language, creation, in the beginning, light, darkness. Nothing was made that wasn't made by him. All these things are are just captivating the minds. Verse 5: the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There is a word, and it's actually literally word, that is used multiple times here. Word. There are two ways to approach the word. Anytime you're reading in the Bible, the word and its lower case, what it's referring to is the written revelation. For the Jewish audience, the word referred to the Torah, the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. The law or the law of Moses, the Mosaic Law. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and it was so important to the Jewish audience that before age 13, which even today culturally it's when you have your bar mitzvah and your bar mitzvah, before age 13, the law was so important to them that they would memorize every single word of those five books. Not the least of which are the 613 laws, 365 prohibitions, things that you can't do, 248 expectations, things that you must do. For them, the the Jewish audience, Matthew's audience, when they see this word, they are deeply connected to it, and they see it as authoritative. They see it as what gives them life. They're not just guardrails, it is the lifeline by which they are informed and influenced in how they live their lives. For a Greek audience, that word, word, it actually represents to the Stoics and the philosophers ideologies, uh, principal understandings of ethereal things that come together and guide. These are guiding thoughts or guiding principles. John knows his audience and he speaks in one word, the word, that captivates both camps. Anytime we see the word, and it's written with the lowercase W, it's referring to the Bible. The 66 book collection. Anytime we see the word capitalized, it's a proper pronoun and it's referring to Jesus. I want us to think about that for a moment. In the beginning was, was, and is the word. The word was with God, the word was God. What John does in this gospel presentation, leading people from incarnation, which, by the way, the book of John, it is an incarnational book. It teaches us about the incarnation in a way that Matthew's gospel, Mark's gospel, and Luke's gospel do not. In this, we understand incarnation, which will lead to crucifixion, to resurrection, and ultimately to restoration. The minds of the hearers are captured and captivated. They're not just interested or intrigued, they are overcome with this understanding. Wait a minute. Jesus was before time? Jesus is the creator. Jesus is the author, the perfecter. He holds all things together. I want us to understand what's actually being said here. That word in the original language is where we get the word logos. Lagos. And it literally means that all things come together. The Lagos. This is across all of its uses, ties together what we think, what we say, what's real, so that the words don't just describe reality, they expose it and shape it. I want to read that again. The Lagos across all uses ties together what we think, what we say, what is real, so that the words don't just describe reality, they expose it and shape it. Who, what, where, when, why? That's why we're doing this series. The prologue is Jesus is life. He is the author, the perfector, the creator, the curator, the sustainer of life. Okay? Now John says, I'm not just gonna tell you, I'm gonna show you. Prove it. As we continue from here, verse 6. There was a man, he was sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light. There it is again. That all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. It's really important that John is creating this distinction because everybody was desperate for knowledge, everybody was desperate for power, everybody was desperate for authority across all different people groups. They wanted to idolize, memorialize, and even worship created things. What John is establishing here is not himself, but John the Baptizer, or John the Baptist is appointed by God, not to be worshipped, but to point people to the one who is worthy of our worship. He is a herald, he is an ambassador, he is there with a message, and John sets the stage to say, listen, you all need to be aware of this. Pay attention to this. You know about this, verse 9, the true light, not the phony, not the fraud, not the fake, which gives light to everyone. That word right there would have been earth shattering for people. For the Jews, it was specific to them. For the Greeks and the Romans, they were desperate for what the Jews had, and there was this reckoning that they were having to wrestle with. And here, John declares that this light was given to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him. Going back to creation language. This is going to introduce what is known as a Trinitarian theology. There are a lot of examples people have tried to come up with to explain Trinitarian theology over the years. Unfortunately, all of them fall short because it really is conceptually supernatural and something that is in hard entirely to grasp. We get working definitions and understandings, and I'm not mad. I want to caution you. There's a thing called modalism. It's a way that you believe about the Trinity, Father God, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and how they interchange. And I've seen a lot of different examples. Somebody would use water as an example of explaining the Trinity that with water you have the same element in three parts: you have liquid, you have ice, and you have mist. Okay? The problem is that all it's the same element, but they're three distinct things. And when you approach the Trinity like that, you don't really understand the nature of God in three persons. Another example would be an egg. With an egg, you've got the shell, you've got the white, and you've got the yoke. Same problem exists, modalism. In concept, I can appreciate that it's the same thing in three different parts, but it really isn't. I think we have to understand that God is the Father, God is Jesus, the Son, God is the Spirit, but but the Father isn't the Son, the Son isn't the Father, the Son isn't the Holy Spirit, they are all three one and the same, yet have distinctive parts. And you they don't they don't come and go. We don't fall into one and out of another. So as we study this, understand that while the word Trinity is never used in the Bible, there are evidences of the Trinity from the very beginning of the Bible. Go back to Genesis 1. In the beginning, God created, and the Spirit was over the waters. The Spirit is mentioned at the very beginning. Genesis 1. And not only that, but we see Jesus. You see the example right away from Genesis 1. And now here again, John 1, where we understand this, we can behold uh uh this this this primary principle concept of the Trinity. And again, I don't have time to get into the weeds on this. I would love to, but we're gonna catch up later on throughout the series. He was in the world, verse 10, but the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. Isn't that tragic? Oh, I want to show you this. Verse 11. He came to his own, his own people didn't receive him. That's the nature of the human heart. It goes all the way back to Genesis 3, the fall of man. That in our hard-heartedness, in our stubbornness, and our brokenness and our faults and our failures, innately, when we're born, we're born into sin. And that's why it's impossible for us to see the Father without the Holy Spirit illuminating our minds and allowing us to respond. And Jesus came to his own people and they rejected him. Jesus said, A prophet isn't welcome in his own town. He came to his own and his own people didn't receive him. But now listen, verse 12, this this word but is probably the most fundamentally impactful word in the entire collection of verses here. But this is pivotal for you and me, but to all who did receive him, for all who did receive him, who believed in his name. Now there's two things that are happening here. One is an intellect, two is a relational aspect of it. Who did receive him, that's relational, who believed in him, that's intellectual in his name. He gave the right to become children of God, relationships, it's a right relationship. Who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Because I want us to understand when I say things like we need a right relationship with Jesus, not just head knowledge, but uh a right relationship, this is where it comes from. Romans 10, 9 and 10 says that we believe in our hearts and we confess with our mouths. We believe in our hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we confess with our mouth that God raised him from the dead. Then you will be saved, for it's by these two things, not one over the other, both and we need intellect and relationship. But here's the caveat. You have to hear me say this relationship without intellect means you don't know whose you are. Intellect without relationship means you're just puffing yourself up. You need both. That's why we care so much about biblical literacy here. Not just head knowledge, but applied knowledge. We want to live it out. Verse 14 to the end. And the word became flesh. That's the incarnation. That God came to us in human form, descended the heavenly staircase, and entered earth's living room. He became flesh and he dwelt among us. This is the principal understanding of Jesus' 33 years of life and ministry here on earth. He dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory. This is a testimony language. This is John saying, look, I'm not just telling you what I've heard, what I've read about, what I've researched, what I've studied. He is saying, I have witnessed this with my own eyes. That's one of the most powerful things about the gospel, is when you understand that there were countless witnesses, 500 recorded, but countless others who witnessed Jesus after the resurrection, who, even according to historians, take take the Bible out of the equation. Just go to historical evidences like Josephus, and you're gonna see that there through historians that there are these accounts of the interactions with Jesus Christ. John is saying, in testimonial language, this is this is courtroom language. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? What did you see on the night that? Dot dot dot. It's a personal testimony. John is saying, let me explain to you what we have seen. Glory as only the Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. You need both and or excuse me, both, yeah, not either or. Verse 15. John bore witness about him and cried out, John the baptizer, and cried out, This was he of whom I said, he who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me. Verse 16. For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. Highlight that, circle that, underline that, italicize that, understand grace. Let me give it to you this way. Write this down as an acrostic. Grace stands for God's redemption or restoration at Christ's expense. God's redemption, or if you prefer the word restoration, both apply at Christ's expense. This is undeserved, unmerited favor. You can't earn it, you can't buy it, you can't barter for it, you can't take it. It is a gift of God. This is where we see in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. We are saved by grace, God's redemption or restoration at Christ's expense through faith. Romans 10, 9, and 10, believe in your heart, confess through your mouth. We are saved by grace through faith, not by works. Why? So that appropriate attribution, God gets all the glory. Grace upon grace. Let me explain this to you. If you understand etymology and language, what John is doing here is simultaneously, he's teaching a principle while making a point. Do you know the word in this Karen Kai Karis? It is grace upon grace. What he's saying is, like a wave. As soon as one is pulled down by one wave, as they come up to resurface, the next wave hits them. As they resurface, the next wave hits them. It just keeps coming. August 1997. On the heels of graduating, that means this year I'll have been out of high school 30 years. Oh my word. I am old, and some of you are dust. We were at the Oregon Coast, Highway 101. My family and I, we were out, and there's a long story how it happened. My dad thought it would be a good idea. He was close to a sea lion, like within 10 yards of a sea lion. That's from me to the front row. And he thought it would be cool to swim toward a sea lion who eats seals, for the record. While he's swimming, there's a double tie. That we didn't even realize was there because of the coral reefs underneath. And he got caught up in a double tide and was pulled out over a hundred yards off the shoreline. That summer I had learned to be a lifeguard in a pool. So I started to swim toward him and we both got caught. I didn't realize that when you're caught in a double tide or in the ocean, you don't swim back, you swim to the side and allow the current to take you. But even then it was a double riptide. It was wild. Can I just tell you that it took everything I could to swim to the top, take a breath to have another wave hit me, boom, and suck me right back down to black where I couldn't see. Swim to the top, breath, and another wave hit me. The Coast Guard had to come and get us, pulled us out of the water. On top of it, we had hypothermia because organs cold. And my dad's allergic to bees and got stung once we resurfaced. Wild story. You can't make this up. Here's the funniest part about the whole thing. I don't know, it's kind of funny now. My mom, four foot-nine little lady, took pictures of everything. 35 millimeter camera, right? She's taking pictures of us drowning until she realizes. I promise you, I didn't plan on telling this story, otherwise, I would have pulled up a picture. And then all of a sudden she realizes we're dying. And watching her little four foot-9 legs take off toward the house to call 911 was wild. When I think about wave after wave, the grace of God crashing down over me. I'm overcome with gratitude. His grace, God's redemption or restoration at Christ's expense, coming down over me again and again. I messed up and it comes over me. I had a bad thought and it came over me. I got angry when I was driving and it came over me. I got angry when I was driving and it came over me. I got angry when I was driving and it came over. Grace after grace after grace after grace. I had that intrusive thought. I doubted. Like the centurion who said, Lord, I believe yet. Help my unbelief. Grace after grace. You can't outrun his grace. Because when you have Christ in you, you experience grace upon grace. Amen. Full of grace. Verse 17 for the law was given through Moses. Now, before we get antsy about the law and how hard it must have been to abide by 613 laws, understand what a gift that would have been. It created guidelines, principles, and best practices for a relationship with God. It was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. Exodus 33 is the closest where Moses wants to negotiate, and even God says, Look, you just can't. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to let you go up on the side of the mountain, turn your face away from me. I'm going to pass by. Moses, just even seeing a glimpse on the back end, like out of his periphery, he comes down off the mountain. And you know what people saw? His face was lit up, like illuminate, wild. No one has ever seen God. God, the only Son, who is the Father's side, he has made him known. That right there, that's why we're doing this series seven. We're doing this series seven so that we can understand who we are in light of whose we are and allow all that we say and do to be informed by our faith. That's why we're doing this series. This might be the most important series we ever do as a church. This might be the most important series we ever do as a church. Can I invite you to invite people every week? We're going to share the gospel in unprecedented ways starting next week. I promise you, you're going to want to be here next week. Can I share two kind of thoughts as we wrap up? I'm going to read these to you, they're going to come up on the screen. Two things about this series and about today's message. The identity conclusion. Who, what, where, when, why. The identity conclusion, whose we are, changes who we are. That's the identity conclusion. That who we are changes whose we are. John 1 makes one thing unavoidable. Jesus is not just a concept to consider, he is the eternal word who became flesh. The logos. So the real question is not just what do you believe, but who are you building your life around? If Jesus is the word, then he is not only the message, we are the response. Our lives are the response. And the second reality is this: the gospel reality. Grace, God's redemption or restoration at Christ's expense is not information, it's invasion. It's invasion. The gospel is not just an idea to understand, but a reality that entered history. The word became flesh full of grace, God's redemption and restoration at Christ's expense and truth. So we don't just study Jesus, we surrender to him. Because grace didn't stay distant, it moved in. It invaded us. And we don't just study, we surrender. That's why this series matters. It's not just about religious curiosity, it's about clarity. When we understand the signs and wonders, when we understand the miracles and the messages of Jesus in John, we begin to see clearly who God is, who we are, and what life is actually for. Because when you know Jesus, you know who he is, you finally understand who you are in light of whose you are. In Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 49:44

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