Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Series: The Gospel of John

A Sermon Series by our Pastoral Intern, Paul Lauer.

You Must Be Born Again

About this sermon

Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night, impressed by his signs, and Jesus tells him, ‘Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Like a newborn, no one can cause his own new birth. One must be born of water and the Spirit, and the Spirit alone replaces the heart of stone with a heart of flesh, blowing where he wills like the wind. Believers died and rose with Christ, and they are no longer slaves to sin.

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Sermon transcript

Reading of God’s Word this evening’s passage is from John chapter 3. We will be reading from verse 1 through verse 21. Hear now the word of the Lord. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”

No one has ascended into heaven except the one who has descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in him is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would bless, O Lord, the reading of your Word and the exposition of it. We pray that your Spirit would work in us, that through your Word you would cause us to draw closer to you, that you would cause us to know you more and to love you more. We pray, O Lord, that as we read your Word we would be transformed more and more into the likeness of your Son, Jesus Christ. We pray that you would strengthen me as I expound your Word. I pray that I would speak only that which is true, that it would be an encouragement to your people, Lord.

We pray all this in your Son’s name. Amen. You may be seated. Well, as many of you know, Lord willing, in the not so distant future, my wife and I will be welcoming a little girl into this world. God, in his gracious providence, has seen fit to give unworthy souls a little girl to raise and care for as a child. At this point, our minds are full of thoughts about the birth itself: How painful will this birth be? Will my wife be safe? Will my daughter be safe? Will I faint at the sight of blood?

But the moment that baby is born, these concerns will change drastically. Our minds will be filled with questions about how to care for this newborn child, whom we love so dearly, and yet, this child is completely helpless. I am sure that in the coming months and years, these questions will not go away. But the child will grow, and the child will learn new things.

By God’s grace, we pray that she will grow in her love for her Creator, and will come to know her Savior, and that she will come to take hold of the faith that was passed down to her as her own. Now, spiritual new birth is in some ways similar to physical birth. When the Holy Spirit transforms us and gives us new hearts, we truly are beginning—only at the beginning of understanding the reality around us. And like physical birth, we have no control over when God gives life, and when he takes it.

Likewise, in our passage this evening, Jesus teaches that the Holy Spirit gives new life and transforms us so that we can be welcomed into the kingdom of God. In this passage, Jesus teaches two things, and he teaches these to Nicodemus. This is our outline for the passage this evening. First, you must be born again. Second, you must be born of water and the Spirit. First, you must be born again. Second, you must be born of water and the Spirit. Chapter two ends with the words: “Now when he was in Jerusalem, that is Jesus, at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.”

But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about humanity, for he himself knew what was in man.” Between these two significant interactions between Jesus and the Jews, John includes this brief statement about Jesus and his ability to understand the heart of humanity. Although we do not have time to consider that passage in detail, it is a powerful testimony to the divinity of Jesus. It shows that Jesus did not entrust himself to those who believed in him, because he knew what was truly in their hearts. He knew that their belief was not truly in Jesus as their Savior, but only as a teacher and a miracle worker.

In the very next chapter, for our passage this evening, John gives us an example of one such believer. Let us read verses one through two again. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Nicodemus knew who Jesus was. He had seen the signs, he had witnessed the works, and he had heard Jesus teach. Yet he did not understand the significance of those signs. He saw them only as evidence that Jesus was a great teacher from God. He did not acknowledge Jesus as his Messiah.

There are several unusual aspects to this encounter between Nicodemus and Jesus. First, Nicodemus does not ask Jesus a question. He makes a statement. However, I believe this statement contains an implied question, something like, “We know you are a great teacher, but is that all you are?”

Also, Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, not during the day, not in the morning or afternoon. There is disagreement about why he came at night. Some scholars suggest that because Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin and a leader among the Jews, he was occupied during the day and had no time to meet with Jesus. Therefore, he came at night. Others suggest he came at night because he was afraid to be seen. I believe the second view is more likely. After all, other Jewish leaders had no hesitation in coming to Jesus during the day and speaking with him. But Nicodemus came to Jesus at night.

At that time in history, there were no street lamps and no flashlights. People could not simply call a friend to find out where he was. Jesus had to go and find Nicodemus in the darkness and seek him out in order to speak with him. Furthermore, remember what had just occurred earlier in the chapter. Jesus entered the temple and caused a disturbance among animals and people, creating chaos on one of the most sacred days of the year for the Jews. We do not know exactly how soon after this event the story took place, but it was likely soon after.

And so Nicodemus, understandably, would be worried about how the other leaders would see him if he approached Jesus in a non-aggressive way. Whatever the ultimate reason is that he came at night, what is clear from Nicodemus’ own words is that he was not just physically in the dark, but he was spiritually still in darkness. His question shows, and his statement shows, that he clearly misunderstood Jesus and the Old Testament scriptures. As Jesus says later in the passage, he was a leader of the Jews and yet he did not understand the very scriptures that he had spent decades studying. All that Nicodemus had gleaned from the teachings of Jesus and his wondrous signs was that he was a good teacher and that he was sent by God. Ironically, this kind of thinking resembles many of the interpretations held by people today.

We hear many say, well, Jesus was a good teacher, but he is not actually God. But that is not what Jesus claimed. If all Jesus was, was a good teacher, then in fact, he was not even a good teacher, because that would make him a liar. Because he claimed not just to be a good teacher, but to be the very Son of God. One of the only things that Jesus could not have been was merely a good teacher.

Returning to our text this evening, Jesus’s response is quite peculiar. Let us read verse three again. Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This response seemingly has no connection to what Nicodemus said. Nicodemus wants to know whether he has correctly interpreted the signs of Jesus. But instead of addressing what Nicodemus said, Jesus addresses a completely different matter.

This short interaction gives us insight into the nature of these two men. First, we see that Jesus, as John wrote in chapter two, verse 24, knew what was in man. That is, Jesus could see the heart of Nicodemus, and he perceived the heart of his statement. He perceived the question that was behind his statement. Before Nicodemus even opened his mouth, Jesus already knew exactly what he was going to say and why he said it. Jesus knew what Nicodemus needed to hear in that very moment. And thus, Jesus’ answer, while it does not answer Nicodemus’ exact statement, does answer the heart of the matter.

Jewish leaders and Nicodemus were so focused on these signs. Remember in chapter two, verse 18, the Jews asked for a sign from Jesus to know on what authority he was doing these things. They asked him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Likewise, Nicodemus made everything about these signs. He saw great signs that Jesus was doing, and instead of connecting them with the Old Testament and what John the Baptist was teaching, he merely concluded that Jesus was a good teacher. But Jesus’ response shifts the conversation away from the signs to what those signs point to. And that is salvation that is brought through faith in Jesus. The Jewish leaders and the crowds were so focused on these signs that they were missing the important truth that the signs were pointing to. John writes this in John chapter 12: “When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him. So that the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ‘Lord, who has believed what he heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’ Therefore, they could not believe. Nicodemus had seen the signs and had heard Jesus’ teaching, yet he still did not understand this fundamental issue.”

The fundamental issue with man is not outward cleanliness or outward righteousness, but the inner cleansing of the soul. So Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. This can be translated as either “unless one is born again” or “unless one is born from above.” In either case, the meaning is the same: in order for anyone to enter the kingdom of God, in order for anyone to be saved, it must be a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit from above. It is not about ethnicity. It is not about being Jewish or not Jewish. It is not about race. It is not about one’s sex.

There is nothing in man or in what he can do that can change or gain entry into the heavenly kingdom. According to Jesus, what must happen is a complete transformation of our hearts, of our minds, and of our souls. There must be a complete rebirth of an individual in order for him to be allowed into the kingdom of God.

Every aspect of man is tainted by sin according to the scriptures. Our thoughts wander constantly. Our minds are filled with hateful thoughts. Our minds are filled with judgments against others, greed, lust, coveting, fear, and many other sins. Our hearts and our affections are likewise marked by desires for that which God calls abominable. As Calvin wrote, man’s heart is a factory of idols. We are constantly substituting the worship of our one true eternal God, our Creator, and our blessed Savior Jesus Christ, for that which does not fulfill us, for those things that drag our eyes away from Christ.

There is not one aspect of us that is deserving of God’s mercy. But the point of confessing this, of course, is not to whip ourselves to show how repentant we are. We are not like Luther, who prior to his conversion would whip himself because he felt guilty about his sin. That is not the point.

The reason we confess our sinfulness and the depth of that sin is to acknowledge the reality that we are truly in. We must understand this reality in order to understand the proper remedy. The reality we face as sinful human beings is that there is nothing good in us. We are dead in our trespasses and sins.

We must be made alive in Christ. We are not floating in the ocean waiting for someone to throw us a lifeboat. We are dead at the bottom of the ocean, with no life in us and no hope left. Yet God, in his rich mercy, offered a way for us to be made alive in Christ Jesus. Therefore, the bad news is that humanity lies at the bottom of the ocean, rotting away.

The good news is that through water and the Spirit, there is indeed hope for new birth, and this new birth is possible. This brings us to Jesus’ second statement: you must be born of water and the Spirit. You must be born of water and the Spirit. Please read with me again verses four through eight. Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus appears to take Jesus’ words literally. Whether he truly believed that was what Jesus meant, or whether he was simply asking for clarification, it is clear that he did not understand the spiritual meaning behind Jesus’ words. Once again, this is one of the central themes of the Gospel of John. Jesus’ teaching is not difficult to understand for those who have been given eyes to see and ears to hear. But for those whose hearts have been darkened and whose eyes are blind, it sounds like foolishness.

So naturally, Nicodemus asked, “How can someone who has already been born, especially someone who is old, be born again? Can a person enter their mother’s womb a second time?” Once again, Jesus does not answer Nicodemus’ question directly. Instead, he focuses on explaining what he has already said. Nicodemus is focused on the physical aspects of the signs and on physical birth, but Jesus wants him—and wants us—to see the spiritual realities that these signs represent.

So Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Our situation is so dire that a complete transformation is necessary. Jesus teaches that this transformation, this new birth, is brought about only by the work of the Holy Spirit. There are several different interpretations of these verses. What does it mean that water and the Spirit are necessary? As Calvin wrote, we ought to take the words in the simplest sense of their meaning.

The simplest understanding of Jesus’ words is that he is speaking of baptism and what baptism signifies: the Holy Spirit’s transforming the unbeliever’s heart, removing the heart of stone, and giving a heart of flesh. The Westminster Confession teaches that baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible church, but also as a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life. And this sacrament is, by Christ’s own appointment, to be continued in his church until the end of the world.

Baptism, then, as the Westminster Confession goes on to clarify, does not actually cause regeneration or cleanse from sin. Rather, baptism points to and signifies the spiritual reality of what the Holy Spirit is truly doing in the heart of the believer.

You might be quick to say: if this is speaking of baptism, does that mean that Jesus is requiring us to be baptized in order to be saved? Would that not mean that Jesus is teaching what some call baptismal regeneration? I submit to you that such a reading is unnecessary. Jesus’ emphasis in these verses is not on the outward sign of baptism.

He does in fact mention the water, but only to connect the outward sign of baptism with the inward reality of the Spirit. Remember in chapter 1 when we saw the baptism that John the Baptist gave. John the Baptist’s baptism represented the forgiveness of sins that the believer received through repentance and faith. But it was not the water itself that caused the cleansing. And that is why John says when he sees Jesus: “I baptize with water, but Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit is the one who truly changes the believer’s heart, removing the heart of stone and giving a heart of flesh. Notice in verse eight of our passage this evening that the emphasis is again not on water, but on the Spirit. Jesus says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” The sole basis upon which one enters the kingdom of God is not whether or not he has been baptized, nor is it his own works, but whether or not the Holy Spirit has changed his heart.

This is indeed a sobering and humbling reality for man. We want to believe that we can find peace for ourselves. Man arrogantly believes that the answers to the world’s problems can be solved by spending more money or by discussing these issues. Most destructively, perhaps most relevant to our passage this evening and to the Jewish man speaking with Jesus, man believes that he can earn his way into the kingdom of God. If I just avoid these few major sins, if I just do enough good deeds for those in need, God will see that I am a good person and allow me into his kingdom. But the Scriptures, as we were reminded this morning, do not allow us to believe such things for several reasons.

First, God cannot tolerate even the smallest sin. Not because God is overly strict, but because sin is truly evil and God is truly holy. Therefore, no sin can remain unpunished in the presence of God. Second, the Bible teaches that man’s nature is in far worse condition than even we realize. The Bible teaches that man, prior to being saved, is dead in his trespasses and sins and is incapable of doing what is good. He is incapable of seeking God.

It is not only that our actions are sinful. It is every aspect of our nature—our thoughts, our words, our feelings, our emotions, our desires, and our hearts. Everything about us is tainted by sin. Everything about us is tainted by sin and must be transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

The effects of sin upon humanity are so severe that no part of human nature can stand before a holy God and be considered good. As Pastor Paul Washer once said, salvation must be entirely the work of God. It cannot be 99% God and 1% human, because if even a small part were left to human effort, we would fail in that part as well. We would all be destined for hell. This is precisely why Jesus uses such strong language in our passage.

Reformation is not sufficient for sinful humanity. It is not enough to change one thing here or another thing there. We must be truly and completely transformed in our inner being. There is an old self, an old nature, that must be put to death, and a new self must be born.

The only way this can happen, according to Jesus, is through the work of the Holy Spirit in the unbeliever. This must be so, as John says in verse 6: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” All that sinful humanity can produce is more sin. The flesh of humanity is tainted by sin and cannot produce what is pure and unstained.

Therefore, new birth through the work of the Holy Spirit in us is necessary for humanity to move from a state of sin and misery into the kingdom of God. At this point, if you are an unbeliever, this language may seem unfamiliar, because we tend to believe that we are not as bad as the Scriptures teach. But the truth is that every aspect of us must be transformed by the Holy Spirit. The old self remains until we are glorified. However, the Holy Spirit must change us and grant us a new heart so that we can believe in Christ Jesus.

Now this, of course, does not give you permission to continue living in sin or to ignore the gospel call. Please do not think that because the Holy Spirit must work in you, you can disregard the gospel call. No, today God is calling you to place your faith in Jesus Christ and to rest in His grace. The gospel call is offered to all without discrimination. If you hear that Jesus, the eternal Son of God, has come to this earth, lived a perfect life, and bore your sin upon the cross, believe. Do not turn away today. Rest in this glorious truth. Rest in the promises of God that all who come to Jesus will find rest and eternal life. Turn to Him, even this day, to find rest and comfort in Him.

And for those who already know the Lord, this doctrine of regeneration is one of the most comforting truths for us. Brothers and sisters, the gospel is not merely about Jesus dying for our sins so that we may be forgiven for what we have done. The gospel is also about us being fundamentally different from who we were before we were saved. Although the old self still remains in us, and we still struggle with sin in this life, the glorious truth is that we, you and I, are truly free from the power of sin. Paul writes this in Romans 6: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death. In order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin, for one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we have also lived with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. What a glorious reality this is. The sins you struggle with—the anger, the lust, the anxiety, the hatred, the lack of faith, the addictions, the self-hatred, or whatever else you are struggling with—dear brother or sister, you have died with Christ and have been raised with him into eternal life. Your old self was truly nailed to the cross, and you have been given new life by the work of the Holy Spirit. You are no longer a slave to sin. This does not mean that we will not continue to struggle, but it does mean that, thanks be to God, by his grace and mercy toward us, there is hope that one day you will be freed from this burden, even in this life.

And we can know with absolute confidence that one day the new man will be all that remains, and the old man will fall away. God will glorify you. He will wipe away every tear from your eyes. He will cleanse all sin from you. So that with complete harmony, we can love one another and worship our triune, eternal, blessed Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with one unbroken voice.

And so we pray, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for who you are and what you have done for us. We thank you that you have loved us before the foundation of the world. We thank you that you have chosen us and that you have sent your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to come to this earth to save us from our sins. And we thank you, O Lord, for sending the Holy Spirit so that our hearts and our minds may be transformed, so that we can trust in you, so that we can have a right relationship with you, so that we can worship you once again.

We pray, O Lord, that as we are reminded of these beautiful gospel truths, they would not remain in our hearts only, but as we go forth from this place, they would be upon our lips, so that the gospel may be shared with those who do not know you, so that the gospel may be shared with believers who need encouragement, so that the gospel would be a reminder to us of what you have done for us. And I pray all of this in your Son’s name, amen. Please stand as we sing our closing hymn, hymn 221. Hymn 221, O Light That Knew No Dawn.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

July 5, 2026
Zeal for our Father’s House

About this sermon

‘What would Jesus do?’ cannot mean copying everything Jesus did, because some of his acts belong to him alone as Messiah. At Passover, Jesus makes a whip of cords and drives the merchants and money-changers out of his Father’s house, which they had turned into a marketplace. He fulfills Malachi’s promise that the Lord would suddenly come to his temple to purify it. When the Jews demand a sign, he answers, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,’ speaking of his body, which replaces the temple forever.

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Sermon transcript

The reading of God’s Word. This evening’s passage is from John chapter 2, and we will be reading from verses 13 through 22. You can find this on page 1054 in your pew Bibles. John chapter 2, verses 13 through 22. Hear now the word of the Lord. The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the moneychangers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, along with the sheep and oxen. He poured out the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away. Do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”

His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” And Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken 46 years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scriptures and the word that Jesus had spoken.”

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have preserved your Word for us, and that through your Word we can come to know you and come to know more about your Son, Jesus Christ. We pray, O Lord, that through the Holy Spirit you would strengthen me as I expound your Word this evening. We pray that you would give me the strength to do so and the words to do so faithfully before you. We pray, O Lord, that the Holy Spirit will work in each one of us, that through your Word you would cause us to be more like your Son, Jesus Christ, and that you would cause us to love one another more. And we pray all this in your Son’s name. Amen. You may be seated.

One of the most well-known expressions in the Christian world over the past thirty years is the question, “What would Jesus do?” Many of us have at some point worn T-shirts or bracelets with the letters WWJD written on them, which stands for “What would Jesus do?” This question and slogan are intended to encourage believers to ask themselves, in any given situation, how Jesus would act if He were present in that place.

Interestingly, I learned that the first recorded appearance of this expression in Christian literature was in a sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon in 1891. However, the idea of imitating Christ is a long-standing ethical principle that Christians have followed for many years. Perhaps the most famous expression of this idea is found in the book *The Imitation of Christ*, which some of you may have heard of. More directly relevant to us, the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” Nevertheless, when we consider this widely accepted principle of “What would Jesus do?” it can sometimes be difficult to apply consistently.

Because the reality that many broadly evangelical believers and youth pastors may not emphasize is that Jesus Christ was unique in his role as Messiah in the history of redemption. Jesus Christ came to this earth as the eternal Son of God, to become man, to live a perfect life, and to die on the cross for our sins, only to be raised three days later and ascend to the heavens to intercede on our behalf. In case it is not clear, Jesus’ nature and his role are completely unique in the history of mankind. There are things that Jesus did that we cannot do, and there are things that Jesus did as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy that we should not even attempt to do. So when we consider what Jesus did while he was on this earth, we ought not to think that we are empowered to imitate everything that he did. In many ways, the precise reason why there are so many differing views in our churches today, and there are even some who call themselves modern-day apostles, is precisely because we fail to see and consider the idea that Jesus and the apostles play a completely unique role that no one will ever fill again.

So when we consider the idea of imitating Christ, this is, of course, a good and necessary principle. But we must do so understanding the context in which Jesus said the things that he said and did the things that he did. One such passage that we must understand with discernment is our passage this evening. In our modern times, those who seek to justify their extreme actions or their extreme rhetoric will often go to passages like this, and they claim that they are just following in the footsteps of Jesus.

The problem, of course, is that they are not the Lord of the universe, and the temple is not their Father’s house in the same way that it was Jesus’ Father’s house. When Jesus came to this earth, he was fulfilling the role of Messiah, as prophesied from long ago. This short passage that we will examine this evening is about the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy and the Son of God identifying as the true temple to which the Old Covenant pointed.

We will consider this passage in two parts. First, we will look at Jesus’ zeal for his Father’s house in verses 13 through 17. Second, we will examine the sign that is to come, as described in verses 18 through 22. Let us begin with Jesus’ zeal for his Father’s house in verses 13 through 17.

Since the beginning of the gospel narrative in John, one of the central questions that John has emphasized repeatedly is the question of authority. On what authority did John the Baptist teach? On what authority did John the Baptist baptize? On what authority did Jesus come to preach and to perform miracles? A recurring theme throughout the Gospel of John is that the Jewish leaders continually come to Jesus to challenge and question his authority, in order to avoid confronting the content of his teaching.

In our passage this evening, we again find this familiar theme. Jesus performs a sign, and the Jews immediately respond by asking, “What sign do you show us to justify these actions?” In other words, what authority do you have to do such things? Who authorized you to come here and disrupt the practice of the Passover, which the leaders of the Jews themselves had approved? And what sign do you bring to demonstrate that you have the authority to do such things?

Now, this is actually not a terrible question to ask in theory. If someone walked into our church right now and began overturning tables, we might ask a similar question. The problem, of course, is that these Jewish leaders have completely missed the sign that they themselves are asking for. Jesus had just performed a sign that demonstrated the authority with which he carried out these actions. But what was the sign?

John records for us in our passage this evening that, sometime after the wedding in Cana, when the time for the Passover came, Jesus and his disciples traveled down to Jerusalem to celebrate the Holy Day. This was the first of four times that John records for us the Passover. According to the custom of the Jews in that day, in accordance with the law of Moses, all adult males were required to come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover at the temple. These adult males were required to sacrifice a Passover lamb, both to commemorate the blood of the lamb that covered their houses in Egypt and to serve as a continual reminder of the need for a substitutionary atonement. However, we read that the road to Jerusalem was long and difficult for many of them. For some, it would take days or even weeks to reach Jerusalem. Therefore, bringing oxen and sheep was completely impractical.

So instead, the temple allowed merchants to come to the temple and to sell sheep, pigeons, and oxen so that the Jews would not have to herd animals for days. Likewise, there were money changers who were set up at the temple in order to convert Roman coins into the currency that the temple would accept. This money was then used to pay the yearly temple tax. However, as you can imagine, these merchants were not merely selling animals to worshipers to help them on their journey. They also took advantage of them and sold these animals at excessive prices. In other words, these merchants and sellers exploited those who needed a specific animal or a particular kind of currency, using this need as an opportunity to make money and to defraud these people.

And Jesus saw this, and he responded in a decisive manner. John records that Jesus made a whip of cords and drove all of them out of the temple, along with the sheep and oxen. Jesus used this whip to drive the animals out of the temple. This must have caused considerable chaos. Imagine sheep and cattle running through the courtyard. And considering the large number of Jews who would have been present each year, there must have been hundreds of animals running through the temple. But notice that it was not only the animals that Jesus drove out of the temple. John writes that Jesus drove them all out with the sheep and oxen.

This means that Jesus used the whip to drive out not only the animals, but also the people who were selling the animals. After all, ultimately, what was defiling the temple was not the animals themselves, but the sinful actions of those who were selling the animals.

This is a completely different picture of Jesus than the one portrayed in today’s culture. The Jesus described in our culture is always calm and kind, never speaking harshly, and never condemning anyone. But when we see the full picture of Jesus presented in the gospels, we see that this is not accurate.

Jesus, as we have learned, is the eternal Son of God. He is the same God who in the Old Testament consumed Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire before the Lord. He is the same God revealed in the Old Testament as requiring worship to be conducted with the utmost care and reverence. God is holy, and he requires his people to be holy when they come before his presence. Therefore, such actions were a complete abomination to Jesus.

And John continues, saying that Jesus told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away. Do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Here, Jesus makes an exclusive authority claim: this temple is his Father’s house, and therefore he has the authority to command the merchants to leave. He claimed that this temple is his Father’s house, and thus he could drive out the animals and cause disruption.

Jesus has the authority to tell people how they must act in the house of God because God is his Father. While the Jews were completely astonished by Jesus’s actions, the disciples—though considered uneducated—understood what was happening. They recognized that Jesus was fulfilling the role of the Messiah foretold in ancient prophecy. John records for us that the disciples remembered a passage from the Messianic Psalm we read earlier, Psalm 69. They applied this passage to Jesus, seeing it as fulfilled in him.

They may have also thought of passages like Malachi chapter three, verses one through four, where Malachi prophesies of this very day. Please turn there with me to Malachi chapter three. We will read verses one through four. Malachi chapter three, verses one through four. Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.

And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purify silver. And he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. And they will bring offerings and righteousness to the Lord. Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in the former years.”

Hundreds of years before Jesus came, Malachi prophesied that the Messiah would indeed come to his temple. And that when he did, he would come to purify. The actions that Jesus took in driving out the merchants and money changers were not merely those of an ordinary believer. He was acting in his role as Messiah. This act was in and of itself a sign that pointed to Jesus being that very Messiah.

But the Jewish leaders, as we read, completely missed this sign. They were blinded by their unbelief and had forgotten the very scriptures which they had spent years learning. And thus they responded by saying, “What sign do you show for us to do these things?” These leaders missed the sign right before their eyes and instead asked for another sign to establish the authority by which Jesus did these things. But instead of giving them a sign, Jesus gave them a promise—a promise of a sign that was to come. To the sign to come, the sign to come in verses eighteen through twenty-two.

Now at this point it may be helpful to note that there is a significant discussion among scholars, even today, about how many times Jesus actually cleansed the temple. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, these Gospels record for us that the cleansing of the temple occurred toward the end of Jesus’ ministry. However, John records that it took place at the very beginning of his ministry.

Some explain these differences by arguing that there was only one cleansing of the temple. They suggest that Matthew, Mark, and Luke were focused on the historical timeline, which is why they placed it at the end of Jesus’ ministry. In contrast, John was not concerned with the historical timeline but rather with theological meaning, which is why he placed the event at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. While I do not consider this interpretation impossible, I propose that there is a simpler explanation. That is, there are two accounts because there were in fact two distinct occasions when Jesus cleansed the temple—once at the beginning of his ministry and once at the end.

One of the strongest reasons for understanding these as separate events is the words that John records in verses 19 through 20. Although it is not impossible that the Gospel writers omitted these words, it seems unlikely that none of the other writers would have referenced them, given their significance. Let us read verses 19 through 22 again.

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. And therefore, he was raised from the dead. His disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scriptures and the word that Jesus had spoken. At this time, according to the text, both the Jews and the disciples did not understand Jesus’ words. Jesus is using the imperative verb. In the Greek, he says not “if this temple is destroyed,” but “destroy this temple,” and when you do, I will raise it up on the third day. Once again, this completely goes over the leaders’ heads.

The leaders respond, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” They thought that Jesus was speaking of the physical temple in which they stood. Naturally, they scoffed at the idea that one man could raise up a temple that had taken forty-six years to build. But of course, we know that Jesus is not speaking of the physical temple. As the disciples realized later, Jesus was speaking of his own body and not the physical temple.

Once again, these Jewish rulers had failed to remember the Old Testament prophecies that foretold of the new covenant, which would bring a new temple. And this temple, according to the Old Testament, would be an everlasting temple, where the glory of God would dwell more gloriously, from everlasting to everlasting. The temple in the Old Testament was never meant to be permanent. It merely pointed to the truly permanent temple, which is Jesus Christ.

Paul says this regarding Jesus in Colossians chapter 1. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, and in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all of the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether in heaven or on earth, making peace by the blood of the cross.

In the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant, the glory of God filled the temple, and that showed the people of God that God was truly with them. But now that Jesus has come, the physical building of the temple is no longer necessary. The fullness of the glory of God dwelled in the person of Jesus Christ and walked among men. While the Jewish leaders were concerned about Jesus’ actions in driving out the animals and merchants from the temple, Jesus was focused on this greater sign: the passing away of the temple, to be replaced by the true temple, which is Jesus Christ.

The writer of Hebrews puts it this way, in Hebrews 9, verses 11–14. Please turn there with me to Hebrews 9, verses 11–14. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy place, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The very holy day that these men were celebrating, that is the Passover, was merely a type of the greater lamb of Jesus. The writer of Hebrews is saying not only is Jesus the temple, he is also the means through which the people of God are able to enter the presence of God.

Because it was never about the blood of lambs or goats or pigeons. None of these things actually brought purification from sins. None of these animals that were slaughtered were able to cleanse sinful man so that he could dwell in the presence of their creator. Only the blood of the true Lamb of God, only the blood of the true Passover, which is Jesus Christ, will suffice.

And this sacrifice would be carried out when they destroyed the true temple’s body, and when he took up that body for himself again three days later. When he died on that cross, Jesus took upon himself the sins of you and me. And when he was raised from the dead, we rose with him to newness of life. And by faith, you and I are united to our Savior, such that we too are called the temple of the Holy Spirit. But this temple that we worship in is unlike the temple of the Old Covenant. This temple has no end.

In our union with Christ, we have been given access to all the benefits of His work. We no longer bring sacrifices before the Lord to worship Him, because He has already paid the debt. We no longer rely on physical buildings to worship God, but are blessed with His presence in the corporate body of believers. And we no longer go through a human priest to access the throne of grace, because Jesus Christ is the ultimate and final mediator between man and God. He mediates for us at the right hand of the Father. Thanks be to God that we have access to the throne of grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God that we can worship Him with confidence, knowing that the Savior of the universe accomplished our redemption two thousand years ago. Therefore, we can come before Him this evening to worship Him in grace and in truth. Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we praise You and we worship You for who You are. O Lord, Your grace and Your kindness and Your love for us are immeasurable. O Lord, we cannot even begin to comprehend the grace that You have shown us. O Lord, we were sinners and we were rebels against You, and yet You sent Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth so that we may have new life in You. So that we may once again come before Your throne and worship You, so that we may be restored before Your sight, and so that we may call You Father, so that we may come before You in prayer and in praise.

And so I pray, O Lord, that as we go forth from this place this week, we would remember these truths, that we would remember the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that we would faithfully live before You in thanksgiving for what You have done for us. And we pray all this in Your Son’s name. Amen. Let us stand and sing our closing hymn. Closing Psalm, Psalm 27. Psalm 27, the Lord’s my light. Please stand as we sing Psalm 27.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

June 21, 2026
Christ’s First Sign

About this sermon

Ascetics taught that holiness means denying earthly pleasures, but God made man to enjoy the fruit of his labor as well as to worship. Jesus attends a wedding at Cana, and when the wine runs out, Mary brings the need to him in faith. Jesus acts on his Father’s authority and in his own time, and he turns about 150 gallons of water into the best wine without a word or a touch. That first sign reveals his glory as Creator, and his disciples believe in him, because God gives good gifts in abundance.

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Sermon transcript

For the reading of God’s Word. This morning’s passage is from John chapter 2, and we will be reading from verses 1 through 12. John chapter 2, verses 1 through 12. You can find this on page 1054. Hear now the word of the Lord.

On the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine had run out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.

When the master of the feast tasted the water, now become wine, he did not know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. The master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poorer wine. But you have saved the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and he manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. After this, he went down to Capernaum with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

Let’s pray for the blessing upon the word expounded. Lord, we thank you once again that you have preserved your word for us, and that through your word we can come to know you, that we can know the one true God, and that we can worship you. And we thank you, O Lord, that you provide for us abundantly, and that through your Son, Jesus Christ, we have access to the throne of grace. And I pray, O Lord, that as we read your word and hear it expounded, your Spirit may draw our hearts closer to you, that we may love you more, and that we may love one another more. And I pray all this in your Son’s name, amen. Please be seated.

John Cassian was a well-known ascetic monk of the early church. He once wrote that the primary goal of the solitary monk, and his entire aim, is to be granted, even while still in this body, a reflection of future blessedness, and to begin in this life to experience something of the heavenly life and glory. This, I say, is the goal of all perfection: that the mind, cleansed from all fleshly desires, may be lifted up daily toward spiritual things, until a person’s whole life and every thought of the heart become one continuous prayer.

Asceticism, for those who may not be familiar with the term, is the practice of denying things that are considered to be earthly desires. This could include food and drink beyond what is necessary for health. They denied these things because they believed that they should focus solely on spiritual matters, on prayer, and on meditating on God’s Word. They believed that the things the flesh desires distract us from the true meaning of life, which is to know God.

In a way, this sounds noble at first. We all agree that man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him. Surely the greatest way to live is to deny all distractions in this life and to focus solely on worshiping Him in public and in private. However, this seemingly noble goal is not actually what Scripture calls us to. From the beginning, when God created man good—without sin or defect—He not only gave him work to do, but He also gave him an abundant garden from which he was able to enjoy the fruits of his labor. That is to say, God made man to glorify Him and to enjoy Him, not only in corporate or private worship, but also in working and creating good things, and in enjoying the fruit of the labor that God graciously gave to man.

In the modern Catholic Church, there is still a tendency to view things such as celibacy or abstinence from alcohol and other worldly desires as being more holy or godly than participating in these things. In a sense, of course, we must agree, to some extent, with the ascetics, that there is a danger in abusing these good things from God.

And we see the results of this in our culture today. But the answer is not what they say—that we should avoid all of these good gifts altogether. Rather, we should view these things from a scriptural lens. We should eat and drink in moderation, and do so not merely to fill our physical bodies, but ultimately for the glory of God. When we deny so much of this earthly life and try to reject all the good gifts that God has truly given us, we are missing a great part of what it means to be human. One of the passages that we can find this in is our passage this morning.

Jesus and his disciples are invited to a wedding celebration, the purpose of which is to honor what God established at the beginning of creation between a man and a woman. Jesus does not refuse the invitation, even though participating in such events might seem to distract him from a life of religious devotion. Instead, he attends and not only joins in the celebration but enhances it by turning water into wine, allowing the celebration to continue without interruption. The point of this passage is not that we should spend our time in constant celebration. Rather, it is to show that Jesus rejects strict asceticism and affirms that the good gifts God has given are not to be rejected. The significance of this passage and this miracle, which we are considering this morning, is not only that Jesus provides physical blessings, but that Christ bestows upon the Church, his Bride, the riches of his glorious grace. As Paul writes, according to the riches of his glory, he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being. In our passage this morning, John reveals not only the glory of God in Christ, demonstrated by his power to transform physical matter from water into wine, but also his love for those who trust in him, as he fulfills the request of his mother and gives good gifts in abundance. We will consider our passage this morning by first examining the authority of Jesus, as shown in verses 1 through 5, and then the sign of Jesus, as revealed in verses 6 through 11. Let us now turn to the authority of Jesus in verses 1 through 5. Throughout the history of the church, there have been many extreme allegorical interpretations of our text this morning. If we read the writings of some of the Church Fathers on this passage, for example, they find allegorical meaning in nearly every word.

In more recent times, however, theologians from the Catholic Church have based their doctrine of Mary as co-mediator and co-redeemer on our text this morning. They argue that just as Mary asked Jesus to turn water into wine, and they claim that Jesus did this even though it was not part of his plan, so too can Mary mediate on behalf of sinful mankind and cause Jesus to bring salvation to humanity. We know that such interpretations take allegory to an extreme, but they also completely miss the point of the interaction between Mary and Jesus. The point of this interaction is not the role of Mary, but Jesus’ complete independence from human authority.

Let us read the passage again, from verses 2 through 5. Jesus was also invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” Jesus replied to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother then said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” We are not certain exactly where Cana was located, but it was somewhere in the region of Galilee.

A man and a woman whom Jesus and his mother knew were getting married, and both were invited. Jesus and his disciples went to celebrate the ceremony, commemorating the couple and their solemn vows before the Lord. In those days, Jewish wedding ceremonies lasted much longer than they do today.

And often these wedding festivities would last a whole week. As a side note, as a soon-to-be father of a little girl, I am glad I am in a culture where, even though I am responsible for paying for the wedding, I do not have to pay for the entire week. But back then, according to historians, the groom was responsible for ensuring that the guests were cared for throughout the entire week. One part of caring for the guests was making sure that their wine did not run out.

However, in verse 3 we see that at this particular wedding, the groom had not prepared adequately for the celebration, and at some point during the week, the wine had indeed run out. In our time, this might be equivalent to not having enough food prepared for the wedding reception. Imagine being a bride or groom, and all of these family and friends have come from across America to celebrate your wedding. There is not enough food to feed everyone. For some people, this could cause so much stress that it would ruin the memory of this special day, which you are meant to remember for a lifetime. So Mary, understanding the situation and the stress it would cause, went to Jesus and said simply, “They have no wine.” Jesus replied, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

Here I think Mary shows that she already has some understanding of who Jesus is. She comes to Jesus because she knows that He has the power and authority to resolve the situation and to prevent the groom from experiencing shame. This does not mean that she knew the full extent of Jesus’ glory and power, but she had clear faith in Him.

Jesus’s response to his mother is quite frank. However, I do not think it is rude, as some commentators argue. Some suggest that Jesus was upset and angry with his mother because she was overstepping her role. However, there is nothing to indicate that Jesus would be upset by such a request. It is not as though Mary is acting out of a lack of faith. Mary is acting in faith. She is coming to Christ in faith, asking him to provide for the need. Therefore, Jesus is not being harsh.

He is not short with his mother because he is angry at her, but because he is establishing the authority by which he acts. Jesus says in John 5, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.” The testimony that I have is greater than that of John, for the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, that very work I am doing, and that bears witness about me that the Father has sent me. The Father sent the Son into the world to accomplish the plan of redemption. His work and his signs that he would perform were ordained beforehand by the Father. Thus, in his ministry, Jesus must establish that he is no longer under the authority of his mother. He is no longer at her command, but is independent of her and of any human authority, acting only by the will of his Father in heaven.

And Jesus emphasizes this point when He says, “My hour has not yet come.” This is common language for Jesus, and we can find it in many passages throughout the Gospel of John. Some examples are John 7:30, 8:20, and 12:23. Jesus often uses this expression to indicate that it was not yet time for Him to go to the cross. But here, what He means is simply that it was not yet the appointed time by the Father for Him to perform the miracle. In these words, He is establishing that, as the Word of God, He cannot act according to the timing or request of human beings, but only according to the will of the Father.

And Mary responds in faith. She no longer approaches Jesus with further requests, but instead goes to the servants and tells them, “Do whatever He tells you.” Whether Mary fully understood Jesus’s response or not, she clearly did not regard it as a rebuke for her faithful request, because immediately she returns to the servants and instructs them to obey Him. Mary was not being rebellious against what Jesus said.

Rather, she trusted that her Son would indeed provide in His time. And she acted in faith by placing the servants at Jesus’s command. Mary was practicing what the writer of Lamentations teaches us: “It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” To the soul who seeks, it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. And this should be a great encouragement to us. We pray for things in our lives and do so earnestly. We often pray for the same requests over and over again. And these requests are good and commendable.

But when we do not receive a positive response on the timeline that we expect, we lose hope and despair, thinking that our Savior has not heard us. But this is not the case. As Calvin writes regarding Mary’s exchange with Jesus, whatever the Lord holds us in suspense and delays his aid, he is not therefore asleep. On the contrary, Jesus regulates all his works in such a manner that he does nothing but at the proper time. Because our God is not like the gods of other nations. Our God does not act based on our desires or the whims of man. He does not act because we repeat our prayers over and over again or because we give enough money to the temple. No, our God hears our prayers and answers all of our prayers in his good timing.

And our job is to, like Mary, wait and act in faith, believing that our Savior will indeed provide his children with all the good gifts that they need. And we can be confident and trust in this good timing because of who Jesus is. He is the eternal Son of God who has become man to live a perfect life on our behalf and to die a death on our behalf so that we can be spared from eternal death and dwell with him in eternity. And thus Mary acted in faith, trusting that Jesus would provide. And he did so in abundance, as we will see. And this brings us to the sign of Jesus, the sign of Jesus. Let’s read it once again, verses six through eleven.

Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. And Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.

When the master of the feast tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew, the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have saved the good wine until now.”

This is the first of his signs that Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and he manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. When we looked at the very beginning of John’s gospel several weeks ago, we briefly also considered the purpose statement that John gave for writing the gospel.

By way of reminder, John writes in chapter 20, verse 30: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” In other words, John recorded what Jesus did and the signs that Jesus gave so that those who would come later would have a historical record of his ministry and could believe in Jesus. And John, as we will see as we go through the gospel, records for us seven signs that point us to who Jesus is. And John uses this word “sign” because he wants us to realize that these miracles that Jesus performs are not just a display of his power. Jesus is not merely a great prophet. Rather, his miracles point to a deeper reality about who Christ is. And the first sign that Jesus gives us, that John records for us in the Gospel of John, is in our passage this morning.

It is Jesus turning water into wine. When the appointed time had come, Jesus instructed the servants to take the jars and fill them with water. To give you an idea of the quantity, these jars would have held approximately 600 to 700 bottles of wine. The servants, as the text says, obediently took the jars and filled them with water. Then Jesus told them to take some of the water to the master of the feast, the one in charge of the banquet. When the man overseeing the reception tasted it, the water had already become wine. I want you to notice several things about the account that John records.

First, Jesus did not touch the water or the jars. There was no way he could have switched the water and the wine. Second, the jars were empty, and the servants filled them with fresh water. Therefore, no one can claim that the jars had previously contained wine.

Lastly, the one who tasted the water, the one who tasted the wine, was completely unaware of what Jesus had done. He serves as an independent witness to confirm that the water had truly been transformed into wine. Thus, Jesus transformed the substance of water into a wholly different substance—wine—without touching it and without speaking any words. The only one who possesses such power and authority is the one who created that substance in the first place—the creator of the universe. The eternal God had indeed become a man. And what is the result?

John records for us in verse 11, this is the first of the signs Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and it manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. If you look back at chapter one, towards the end of chapter one, you will see that Jesus had said to Nathaniel just three days earlier, “Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe me? You will see greater things than this.” And sure enough, just three days later, the disciples saw the glory which John spoke about in John chapter one, verse 14—that is, the glory of the Father shining through the Son in this glorious act of turning water into wine.

Now did they understand everything about Jesus at that moment? No, but little by little, John shows us that the disciples’ eyes were being opened. They were gradually coming to understand the identity of who Jesus is. But is this sign that Jesus gave only pointing to his divinity? Or is the sign pointing to something more than his divine power? While much allegory regarding this passage has gone far beyond the text, I submit to you that there is something more going on.

The passage that we read earlier from Isaiah and many other passages in the Old Testament connect the new covenant with the Lord providing new wine and new sustenance for his people. Let us look together at one passage—Jeremiah 31. Please turn there with me to Jeremiah 31, and let us read verses 10 through 14. Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 10 through 14. This is perhaps the most famous passage in the Old Testament foretelling the new covenant through Jesus. Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 10 through 14.

Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the distant lands far away. Say, he who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock. For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from the hands too strong for him.

They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord—over the grain, over the wine and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd. Their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. Then the young women shall rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry, and they shall turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow. I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness.

Throughout the Old Testament, we find this connection between the New Covenant and the imagery of the Lord providing wine and blessings that represent the coming New Covenant. There are several indications in our passage this morning that point to this. First, we see that John draws our attention to the original purpose of the jars of water. He says that they were there because they were used in accordance with the old covenant laws of purification to cleanse the impurity on the outside so that people could participate in the ceremony.

As we saw when we looked at the profession of John the Baptist in the previous chapter, the Messiah has come to do what the ritual purification of the law could not. The law provided ways to clean the outer body, but it could not clean the inner heart. But Christ came to take away not the outer uncleanliness, but the inner sin of man. And he came to take away the sins of the world.

And second, we see that the whole scene is set at a wedding. This is a picture found throughout the scriptures, that Christ is the bridegroom of the church, a picture also found in the very next chapter. Please turn with me to John chapter 3, and we will read verses 25 through 36. Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who is with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.”

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all.

He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God remains on him.”

I do not know about you, but I have been to many weddings, and I have never seen 600 to 700 bottles of wine. Not only was the wine that Jesus produced in great quantity, it was also the best wine. The head waiter, when he tasted it, was surprised, because the wine was so good. He believed it should have been served first, not at the end.

The gifts that Christ bestows upon His people are the best gifts, and they are given in abundance. As John the Baptist says, whoever receives this testimony sets a seal to this, that God is true, for he whom God has seen utters the words of God, for He gives the Spirit in abundance, without measure. The greatest gift that God has given us is eternal life in Him. It is intimate knowledge, worship, communion, and perfect peace in the presence of the throne of His grace.

You and I deserve death. Daily we forget Him and what He has done for us. Daily we seek to fill our hearts with useless idols that only draw us away from our Savior. Yet our Father has seen fit to send His only begotten Son so that we can be free from sin and death. That same Father who chose you, that same Son who chose to redeem you, and that same Holy Spirit who gives without measure and sustains us every day.

He listens to our prayers, and He desires to give us every good gift. So rest in this reality, as Mary did, that the Lord provides in His good pleasure. When the time is right, He provides all that we need. And He provides so much more than we need. He provides in abundance, and He provides what is best for us, what His people truly need.

So come to Him. Come to our Savior. Lay your burdens and your sins at His feet, and trust that you are forgiven, because He has provided the forgiveness for your sins. Trust that He will provide all that you need to live the good life which He has called you to live this week. Let us pray. Lord, we thank You that You have not left us alone. That You have sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, and that You have given us the Holy Spirit in abundance, and that Your Holy Spirit sustains us, convicts us of sin, and leads us to repentance, and gives us the confidence that You do in fact love us, that we are in fact saved. We pray, O Lord, that as we live our lives this week, that we would remember the gospel of Jesus Christ, that while we were yet sinners, You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, that we could have life in abundance in You, that we could once again worship You, that we could communion with You, that we could pray to You, and that You would once again speak to us, care for us, and love us. And we thank You, O Lord, for what You have done for us. And I pray all this in Your Son’s name. Amen. Please rise as we sing our closing hymn, hymn 196. Hymn 196, At the Lamb’s High Feast, we sing. Please rise.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

June 14, 2026
The Testimony of John

About this sermon

Priests and Levites ask John the Baptist who he is, and he says he is neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet, only the voice crying in the wilderness. When he sees Jesus, he declares, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ Abraham’s journey to Moriah pointed to this Lamb, the one God himself would provide. Jesus paid it all, so sinners come to the throne of grace just as they are, and Christ must increase while his witnesses decrease.

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Sermon transcript

Please stand for the reading of God’s Word. This evening’s passage comes from John 1. We will be reading from verses 19 to 34. In the Pew Bible, this is page 1053. John 1, verses 19 to 34. Hear now the word of the Lord. And this is the testimony of John. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you?

He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then, are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And he answered, no. So they said to him, who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. And they asked him, then why are you baptizing if you are neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet? John answered them. I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know.

Even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany, across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.

I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came, baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness. I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.

Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for this word. We thank you that you have sent your only Son, the Lamb of God, to take away the sins of the world. I pray, O Lord, that as we read your Word this evening, the Spirit would work in us—the Spirit which Jesus promised would work in us—so that the Spirit would cause us to become more like your Son, Jesus Christ. May we come to know Him more, to love Him more, and to love one another more. I pray all this in your Son’s name. Amen. You may be seated.

Several weeks ago, we considered John the Baptist and the role he played in preparing the people of God for the coming Messiah. We learned, for example, that the Old Testament prophets did not only prophesy about the coming Messiah, but they also foretold of the coming prophet who would precede the Messiah to prepare the people of God for him. In our passage this evening, we see that one of the primary ways in which John prepared the people of God for the Messiah was by directly identifying him as the Lamb of God, as he does in verse 29. In doing so, John clearly and emphatically distinguished himself—the prophet—from the Messiah.

We will examine this passage in two points, from verses 19 through 28. The Apostle records for us John’s testimony about himself in verses 19 through 28. In verses 29 through 34, we will consider John the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus. First, we will look at John the Baptist’s testimony about himself in verses 19 through 28. Next, in verses 29 through 34, we will consider John the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus.

Several weeks ago, when we considered John the Baptist, we examined in depth the role that John the Baptist played in redemptive history. So this evening, in our passage, much of our focus will be on his confession rather than his identity. John the Baptist’s confession here is one of the greatest confessions made about Jesus prior to his resurrection. It is notable that this confession occurs at the very beginning of Jesus’s ministry.

Before Christ began his ministry, John the Baptist declared to the world that this man is the Messiah. He has come as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This man is the very Son of God. This man will send the Holy Spirit to his people. Of course, this does not mean that John the Baptist had a complete understanding of the doctrine of the atonement, the sonship of Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. But we affirm that the Holy Spirit, through the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, enabled John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, to prepare the covenant people of God for the revelation of the Messiah by declaring the fundamental truths of the gospel: who Jesus is and what he has come to do.

This is an extraordinary testimony that we too must proclaim before all people. Let us now turn to our first point: considering John the Baptist’s testimony about himself. John the Baptist’s testimony about himself. Our account begins in verse 19, when Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites to investigate the claims and actions of John the Baptist. These leaders likely had heard that a man was baptizing Jews in the wilderness, and they sent a delegation to determine by what authority John was performing these baptisms.

The baptisms in and of themselves were not unusual for the Jews at that time. But John’s baptisms were unique for two reasons. First, he was the one performing the baptisms rather than the people baptizing themselves. Second, his baptism was for the forgiveness of sins. As Mark records, John appeared in the wilderness, baptizing and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. When a man or woman came into contact with a dead body, they would purify themselves through ritual washing to remove the uncleanness associated with contact with a corpse. But when John baptized, he was the one initiating and performing the act.

This was no longer about ritual cleanliness. Instead, John was baptizing for inner cleansing, meaning the purification of the inner person from sin that had been committed. The religious leaders of that time were concerned that this man was establishing a new ritual and administering it without the explicit approval or authority of the Jewish leadership. Therefore, they sent a delegation to learn who this man was and by what authority he was baptizing.

Interestingly, this is the only place in any of the four gospels where Levites are mentioned in the gospel narratives. Jesus does refer to the Levites in the parable of the Good Samaritan, but in an actual historical narrative within the gospels, this is the only instance where Levites are mentioned. Later in our passage this evening, they are identified as coming from the Pharisees, meaning they were priests and Levites who belonged to the Pharisaic group. It is noteworthy that John did not say that Pharisees approached him, but instead used the terms “priests” and “Levites.” One reason John may have done this was to present these men as representatives of all Israel. Remember what John the Apostle wrote in verses 9 through 11.

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, and his own people did not receive him. The priests and the Levites were those who knew the Old Testament best. They studied the scriptures and the law and practiced them daily. Yet these men, when they came to hear the one who was prophesied of old, rejected the testimony regarding Jesus. These men refused to accept the prophet of the Lord who was sent to testify about the light. Jesus’ own rejected the testifier and the one whom he testified about. These Jewish leaders were more concerned about the effect that John was having on the crowds than about the truthfulness of the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins. Therefore, these men interrogated him to determine by what authority he was baptizing. They asked him three questions: Are you the Christ? Are you Elijah? And are you the prophet? If he had answered yes to any of these three questions, it would have established, in theory, the authority by which he was baptizing. On the other hand, if John the Baptist had answered yes to any of these, these men would likely have brought him before the courts and tried to convict him of being a false prophet. In other words, these men were not truly seeking to know who he was, but were trying to trap him, as they would later do to Jesus.

But how does John respond to them? John rightly answers that he is not the Christ. And John rightly answers that he is not the prophet referenced in Deuteronomy 18. For both of these titles belong only to Jesus. But why does he deny being Elijah? Does this contradict what Jesus says about John the Baptist? Jesus says that John the Baptist is Elijah. Some commentators argue that John the Baptist denies being Elijah because they understood the reference to mean that he was literally Elijah. Some of the Jews at that time believed that Elijah would rise from the dead and live again.

These commentators suggest that John was saying he was not literally Elijah. This is a plausible interpretation, but I submit to you that there is a better way to understand John’s testimony about himself by considering the rest of verses 24 through 27. As we will see in later chapters, in chapter three, John the Baptist says this to his own disciples:

I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease. He must increase, but I must decrease.

These words of John, later in chapter three, summarize the confession found in our passage this evening. Regarding himself, John confesses: I am not the Christ, I am not Elijah, I am not the prophet. I am merely the voice crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord. Regarding Jesus, on the other hand, he says in verses 26 through 27: I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know. Even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.

If John were to acknowledge that he was in fact Elijah, the conversation would end there, because the priests and the Levites would begin asking him questions about his identity and his authority. But what is John’s role according to John? Now that the Messiah has arrived, the Messiah must increase and John must decrease. He is merely a voice crying out in the wilderness.

What John wants them to focus on, then, is not his identity, but his message. And the message is about one who will come after him, whose sandals he is unworthy to untie. The one whose sandals John is not worthy to untie is greater than he. John is not even worthy to perform the task of a servant who removes his master’s sandal. And so John sees himself as lower than a servant. He is certainly not worthy to be mentioned with the titles of Christ, Elijah, or the prophet. But who is this one? This is the one whom John says he is not worthy to untie the sandal. And this brings us to John’s testimony regarding Jesus.

Let us read once again verses 29 through 34. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.” I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’”

And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. The very next day after John proclaimed both his own inadequacy and the greatness of the one who is to come, Jesus came to that place. And John was able to testify more directly and clearly about the identity of this man. He first identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This is the glorious doctrine of the atonement, clearly stated and applied to Jesus at the very beginning of his ministry.

Many commentators discuss which lamb in the Old Testament John is referring to in this passage. Some say that he is referring to the Passover lamb, and others say that John is referring to Christ as the fulfillment of the sacrificial lambs in the Mosaic law. Still others say that the lamb here refers to the lamb described in Isaiah chapter 53. But I think there is no need to identify a specific passage that John is referring to.

Because all of the lambs in the Old Testament that are used for sacrifice are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ. But I want to examine one passage from the Old Testament. The first lamb in the Old Testament that is presented as a type of Christ is given to us in the story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis chapter 22. Let us turn there now. Genesis chapter 22, and we will read from verses 1 through 14. Genesis 22, verses 1 through 14.

After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, here I am. He said, take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.

So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. He cut the wood for the burnt offering and went to the place that God had told him. On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go over there and worship, and we will come back to you.” And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife.

So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”

And so they went both of them together. And when they came to the place that God had told them, Abraham built the altar there, laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham.” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide.” As it says to this day, “On the Mount of the Lord, it shall be provided.” In this short story that we have just read, we have recorded for us one of the greatest testaments to faith in the Scriptures. Abraham trusted that God would provide a substitute for his son so that he would not have to offer him up. As Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” In the immediate context, we see that God provided a ram as the burnt offering, but ultimately we all know that no mere animal is sufficient to pay for the sins of humanity.

And in the Old Testament, over and over again throughout the Scriptures, the people of God are reminded of this reality as they are continuously required to offer up the blood of lambs. And as we go back to our passage this evening, we are also reminded of Isaac’s words. Isaac asked his father, “My father,” and Abraham said, “Here I am, my son.” And Isaac said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

And John the Baptist in our passage this evening answers emphatically, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” The people of God had been waiting for that Lamb, and behold, the Lamb of God had indeed been provided. And who is this Lamb that God ultimately provided? It is the Lord Himself. Abraham trusted that God would provide a lamb, and that lamb that He did provide for the sins of the world was His only son, Jesus Christ. You see, brothers and sisters, God is not unreasonable. He does not demand from us that which is impossible.

He knows that you and I are all dead in our trespasses and sins, and we cannot atone for our sins. And thus He sends His only begotten Son to live a perfect life, to die for our sins, and to rise from the dead for our salvation. As Paul writes in Romans chapter 5, “But God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more now, we who are reconciled, shall be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through Jesus Christ, through whom we have now been reconciled. We have now received reconciliation.

God sent his only Son to be a propitiation, a payment for our sins, because no other sacrifice would suffice. All men have sinned, and thus it was necessary that the second person of the Trinity become a man, enter into human history, live a perfect life, keep the law of God perfectly, and go to the cross willingly as a payment for your sins and for mine. So that, as Paul says, we can have reconciliation—reconciliation with our Creator and reconciliation with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Turning now to the Gospel of John, John the Baptist testified that Christ came to take away the sins of the world. Does this mean that Jesus died for every single person’s sins? Is that not what John is clearly teaching here? No, we confess that Jesus died only for the sins of his people. So what does John mean when he says that Jesus came to take away the sins of the world?

One of the things you will see as we travel through this gospel is that John loves to use the word “world.” In fact, he uses it 78 times. And he uses it in different ways depending on the context. In this context, when he uses the word “world,” he means it in contrast to Israel. Take a look at verse 31.

John testifies in verse 31, I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel. John the Baptist was sent to Israel and to the household of God to prepare them for the coming Messiah. But Jesus came not only to die for the sins of Israel, but for every people from every tribe, every tongue, every nation, and from every corner of the earth. And this is what it means when it says that Jesus came to take away the sins of the world. And John’s testimony continues in verses 32 through 33. Here John the Baptist is establishing the independence of his testimony.

John says twice that he did not know Jesus. Is he saying that he did not literally know who Jesus was? They were cousins, so it is unlikely that he meant this in a literal sense. What he means is that before the baptism and before the Spirit descended upon Jesus, he did not recognize Jesus’ true identity. In other words, what John is saying is that before John began baptizing and preaching the gospel, Jesus did not meet with his cousin John and arrange a plan for John to testify about him as the Messiah.

Rather, John says that God revealed to him directly and independently about his testimony. Therefore, his testimony is independent and trustworthy regarding Jesus. And John further testifies, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

John’s baptism represented, as we saw, the cleansing of sins for the sinner. But in Christ Jesus, we are not only given the sign, but the thing that it signifies: true forgiveness of sins by the blood of the Lamb. Further, Christ sends the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit works in us. He regenerates us, grants us faith, and sanctifies us so that we can have a right relationship with God. And John ends his testimony with these words, and I have seen and I have borne witness that this is the Son of God.

And here we have the culmination of the testimony of John the Baptist. He came to prepare the way of the Lord, to prepare the way of the Lamb of God who was coming to save his people from their sins. And this same Lamb of God, who was coming to save his people from their sins, would give his people not only the baptism of water, which signifies the cleansing of their sins, but also the actual cleansing from their sins. But who is this man? John alludes to it a little in verse 23 when he calls him Lord. But he comes out and makes it explicit. He is the very Son of God, the only Son of God.

And therefore we see that the Father looked down from heaven. He looked down from heaven in eternity past, and he saw you and me, and he said, I will save these people. And he sent his only Son, the Son of God, so that we would be reconciled to him. Brothers and sisters, we have a God who is delighted in redeeming sinners’ souls. From the very beginning, he revealed his plan to send his only Son as a sacrifice for you and me, so that we would no longer live in sin and misery. He is not a God who stands far off, but a God who is drawn near to us in his Son, Jesus Christ.

And when Jesus ascended to the Father’s right hand, he did not leave us alone. He sent the Holy Spirit, so that he would always be with us, even to the end of the age. If you are struggling this evening with sin and feel that God is far off, know that he is not far off. You must draw near to him. The Father is not holding you at arm’s length, waiting for you to be good enough to come before him. We do not clean ourselves up to come before the throne of grace.

We come to the throne of grace with all of our sin, our shame, and our guilt, and we lay it at the feet of our Savior, knowing that the Lamb of God has truly taken away our sin. Jesus has done it all. He has accomplished salvation for us. As the hymn writer wrote, “I hear the Savior say, Thy strength indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and pray. Find in me thine all in all.” And when before the throne I stand in him complete, Jesus died my soul to save. My lips still repeat, “Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin has left its crimson stain. He has washed it white as snow.” Christ has lived a perfect life and conquered sin and death so that you and I could live freely before the throne of grace.

So as we go forth this day, let us remember this testimony of John the Baptist and the example that he set. May we decrease that Christ may increase. May our testimony, both in word and deed, proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ as clearly as John did. May your words not be a stumbling block for those who do not know God, but lead them to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And may you rest in the reality that the Son of God has indeed paid it all, so that we can confidently and boldly live before the throne of grace, seeking out of gratitude to do all of His good pleasure. Let us pray.

Lord, we thank You for the bold confession of John the Baptist. We thank You for the clear gospel that he proclaimed, that the Son of God was sent by the Father to take on human flesh and to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We thank You, O Lord, that we no longer have mere types and shadows. We no longer look to a literal lamb, but we have the true Lamb of God, Jesus, the Son of God, who has come to this earth, lived on our behalf, and died in our stead to take our sins upon Himself.

We thank you that he has conquered sin and death through his resurrection, and that through the Holy Spirit, this salvation is applied to us. We pray, O Lord, that as we go from here, we would remember this confession, and that we would confess this same confession before all people, so that many through your saints at this church would come to know you. May the confession that the Lamb of God has come to take away the sins of the world be heard throughout this neighborhood and this city. And I pray all of this in your Son’s name, amen. Let’s stand and sing Psalm 98.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

May 31, 2026
The Son’s Revelation of the Father

About this sermon

Many imagine that the God of the Old Testament is harsh while Jesus is loving, and John’s Gospel refutes that idea. From Christ’s fullness his people have received grace in place of grace: the law came through Moses, and grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, and the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has made him known. The Son reveals the Father’s heart of love, and believers now reflect that love to the world.

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Sermon transcript

The reading of God’s word. This evening’s passage is from John, chapter 1, and we will be reading from verses 14 through 18. John, chapter 1, verses 14 through 18. You can find this on page 1053 in the Pew Bibles. John, chapter 1, verses 14 through 18. Hear now the word of the Lord.

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 was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’” For from his fullness we have 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. Let us pray. Lord, I thank You that we are given Your word and that we are able to read it freely and proclaim it freely. I pray, Lord, that as we read Your word this evening and as we hear it proclaimed, You would prepare our hearts, that we would receive it, and that we would receive only the truth. May we be encouraged through Your word to love You more and to love one another more. And I pray, O Lord, once again for this man, Ron, whom Hayden was speaking to. O Lord, we heard that he was taken to the hospital by ambulance. I pray, O Lord, that Your mercy would be upon him, that whatever he is experiencing and going through, You would sustain him. Through this difficult event and through the words of Hayden, I pray that he would come to know You, if he does not know You already, and that he would begin to attend church, and that he would profess You and come to love You. And I pray, Lord, for Your blessing upon Your word as it is expounded this evening. I pray, Lord, that You would keep my mouth to speak only that which is true, that which is encouraging, and that which builds up the saints. And I pray all this in Your Son’s name, amen. You may be seated.

Perhaps one of the most common objections to Christianity that we hear in our culture today is that, to some, it seems as though the character of God has changed between the Old and New Testaments. We often hear people say things like, “You’re only a Christian because you follow the New Testament. No one actually believes the Old Testament.” According to some in our culture, the God of the Old Testament is full of fire and brimstone and hatred, while Jesus in the New Testament is full of love, compassion, and forgiveness. This view of a break between the Old and New Testaments is so common that many who call themselves Christians may subconsciously see a strong disconnect between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament.

A common idea I have heard is that God the Father is strict and harsh, but Jesus is kind and loving. Even in the art produced by Western culture, the Father is often portrayed as an old man with a white beard who appears somewhat grumpy and unapproachable, while Jesus is portrayed as a young, handsome man with outstretched arms, ready to welcome anyone with love. As good Presbyterians, we reject both of these images of God. But I mention this only to highlight that our culture around us often sees a sharp distinction between the character of Jesus and that of God the Father.

Even in our own circles, there is sometimes a danger of viewing too sharp a distinction between the law of the Old Testament and the gospel that we see in the New Testament. In our own minds, we sometimes associate the strict law of Moses with God the Father, while associating the gospel of repentance and forgiveness with Jesus. However, if we read Jesus’s own words, especially in the Gospel of John, no such distinction can be found. Throughout the Gospel of John, one recurring theme is that Jesus proclaims he was sent by the Father, and it is by the Father’s authority that he proclaims the Gospel of forgiveness for sins. One of the things we will see throughout this gospel is that the Pharisees wanted to stone Jesus because he associated himself so closely with the Father. Perhaps the clearest of these passages is our passage this evening. In John chapter one, verses 16 through 18, John teaches us that the fullness of the revelation of God is found in Christ Jesus.

This means that Jesus Christ came to this earth to reveal the will of God the Father and to carry out his plan of redemption, to save the chosen people for the Father. We will consider this theme, this doctrine, by answering two questions. The first question is, what did Jesus reveal? The second question is, who did Jesus reveal?

In verses 16 through 17, we will see the what—that is, the fullness of Jesus’s revelation. From verse 18, we will consider the who—that is, we will see the revelation of the Father, which is the fullness of Jesus’s revelation and the revelation of the Father. Let us now turn to verses 16 and 17, the fullness of Christ’s revelation. John writes in verses 16 through 17: “For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.”

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. At first glance, you may be thinking, when you read this, that I thought we just established that Jesus’s revelation is not opposed to the revelation of the law of Moses. Is John clearly setting the law of Moses against the grace and truth found in Jesus? We will find that this is not the case. But to understand this, we must first examine verse 16.

The first thing we notice when we look at verses 16 through 18 is that John is expressing one unified thought. This thought begins in verse 16 with the word “for,” indicating that John is giving an explanation, an exposition, of the testimony that John the Baptist gave. John the Baptist said, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”

But what does it mean that Jesus out-ranks John the Baptist? Does it mean merely that Jesus was born before John the Baptist? It cannot mean that, because Jesus was born after John the Baptist. Therefore, it is not merely a matter of biological precedence.

So John, the apostle and disciple, then goes on to explain in more detail what John the Baptist meant in verses 16 through 18. He explains that Jesus is greater because he reveals to us the fullness of God’s revelation and reveals to us the Father in fullness. John begins by declaring that from the Son’s fullness, we all receive grace upon grace. This is stated in verse 16. When we read verse 16, we remember what John said in verse 14: that Jesus showed forth the glory of the only begotten Son of God, and that he was full of grace and truth. This means that when Jesus came to this earth as a man, he was characterized by grace and truth. In verse 16, John adds, “And from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace.”

So not only was Christ full of grace and truth, He is the fullness, the standard, and the greatest culmination of grace and truth that has been revealed. The previous revelation was through types and shadows and prophecy, as the author of Hebrews puts it, but in Jesus Christ, according to John, the fullness of grace and truth, the fullness of the gospel, has been revealed to us. When Jesus came to this earth, the promises that were given to the Old Testament saints—Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, and many others—were no longer unclear, nor were they merely types and shadows. Now they are seen and heard with absolute clarity. From this fullness of revelation in Jesus Christ, you and I have received grace. We now receive from the fullness of Christ the grace by which we live, so that our life is sustained entirely by the grace of Christ.

And Paul uses similar language to John in Colossians 2. There he writes, “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea, for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and of the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is in Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” There is similar language that can be found throughout Paul’s letters and throughout the New Testament. This is that Jesus Christ is the culmination of the revelation of God. Paul says that in Christ all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.

And you and I receive these things through union with him. Returning to verse 14 in John chapter one, John writes that we all received grace in place of grace. But what does this mean? Does this mean that through Jesus Christ, the believer is constantly receiving grace, which is renewed each day? Certainly, there is an aspect of this that is true. In our union with Christ, we receive grace renewed each day.

However, this interpretation seems to interrupt the flow of the passage. The main meaning of the word used here in Greek is not “upon.” It is not grace upon grace, although that could be a possible meaning. The primary meaning of the word is “instead of” or “in place of.” Therefore, it could be translated as, “For from his fullness, we have all received grace in place of grace.” At first glance, when translated this way, it seems awkward.

What does it mean that grace can be in place of grace? Once again, we must consider verse 17, which begins with the word “for.” We must ask ourselves: what is the connection between verse 17 and verse 16? The connection is that verse 17 explains the phrase “grace in place of grace.”

What does John mean when he says that, through the fullness of Jesus Christ, we have all received grace in place of grace? He means that the grace and truth revealed in the law of Moses was replaced by the grace and truth revealed in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ’s revelation clarified, confirmed, and made more personal the revelation that already existed in the law of Moses. The law was truly gracious, and the gospel was truly present in the law before the coming of Jesus. But Jesus clarifies. Jesus makes this gospel more real and more clear to us.

So if you understand this verse, then the law is not opposed to the grace and truth found in Jesus Christ, but rather John is highlighting the widening and deepening of the revelation of the gospel in the person of Jesus Christ in redemptive history. The fact that Jesus is not opposed to the law is also clear from other passages in John that we will see in the coming weeks and months. According to Jesus in the Gospel of John, Jesus sees the source of the law as being the same source as his own revelation. He points to the source as being the Father. Therefore, the law is gracious.

The law points us to the coming Redeemer, but it is not the fullness of the revelation of the Redeemer himself. The gospel has always existed, as we have seen before, and the light has always been shining in the darkness. But in Jesus, the fullness of grace and truth, the fullness of the gospel, finds its culmination and realization. Therefore, John is saying to us that Jesus ranks before John the Baptist, not merely because he existed prior to John, but because the revelation of the gospel of grace and truth is given in its fullness through the Son.

Now this is the content of what the Son has revealed to us. Who then is the one to whom the Son has revealed? This brings us to the revelation of the Father. The revelation of the Father in verse 18. In verse 18, John continues: “No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

This is, of course, a difficult passage that many people struggle with, because the question naturally arises: how can John say that no one has ever seen God when there are passages in the Old Testament that indicate the saints at times saw God?

Well, one question that we should always ask when we come to a difficult passage like this, which appears to contradict other passages, is whether we really think that John the disciple, who wrote the Gospel, was unaware of the well-known Old Testament passages that record instances in which someone saw God. The answer, of course, is no. John the disciple was a Jewish man who would have been intimately familiar with the stories of the Old Testament. He would have known about Abraham’s meeting with the Lord. He would have known that Moses saw the glory of God. Furthermore, we see throughout the Gospel of John that John frequently refers to Old Testament passages, which further demonstrates that he knew the Old Testament well.

Therefore, the first thing we can confidently say is that John is not contradicting the Old Testament. But the question still remains: if he is not contradicting it, what does he mean when he says that no one has ever seen God? If you have been attending Dr. Gidley’s morning instruction series, you would have received a more complete explanation of what John does and does not mean. But the first point we can make is that no one has ever seen God in his essence. This is because we believe that God is a spirit, meaning that God does not have a physical body like human beings.

Thus, Moses did not see God’s divine nature directly. Since God, in his true being, is invisible, Moses did not behold God’s essence. Rather, God revealed himself in a way that was suitable for human understanding, meaning that God made himself accessible in a form that Moses could perceive. This was a true manifestation of God’s presence, so that Moses was face-to-face with God.

Not with his nature, but with true revelation that was intimate with God. Yet in his case, since God is spirit and cannot fully be comprehended by his creatures, no one can see God in his essence. Yet in his infinite power and mercy, God has at times revealed himself through visible manifestations, such as the glory that filled the temple or when the Lord revealed himself to Abraham. In these revelations, man does not behold the divine essence itself, but rather a created and accommodated manifestation through which God truly makes himself known to humans. And the ultimate revelation of God, the ultimate revelation of God, is found in the second person of the Trinity becoming a man and walking among his creatures. Thus, the saints of old did not see the essence of God, but they did see and experience a true revelation of God. God truly sought to reveal something and successfully revealed something to humanity.

And John continues: God, the only Son who is at the Father’s side, has made him known. Or more literally, we might translate it as: the only begotten God who is in the Father’s bosom, has made him known. At first, it may be tempting to understand John’s words here as referring to the Son in his glorified state. When John says, who is in the Father’s bosom, this is a present reality. So we might think, oh, this is John speaking of Jesus who is now seated at the right hand of God the Father, and who, in his incarnation, revealed the Father to humanity.

But I think it is more likely that John is not speaking of the glorified God, but rather of the eternal relationship that the Son has with the Father. I say this for two reasons. First, the whole prologue that we have seen up to now never mentions the glorified state of Jesus. Rather, the entire discussion revolves around the eternal Word, who was with the Father, becoming man and revealing God to humanity.

Secondly, we see in other parts of the New Testament, when it speaks of the glorified Christ going to the Father, it ordinarily refers to him as being seated at the right hand of the Father. This language conveys authority, it conveys kingship, and it conveys the exaltation of the Son. But here in John 1, verse 18, John does not say he is seated at the right hand of the Father. Instead, he says, the Son is in the bosom of the Father. This language conveys intimacy and communion.

I think this draws us back to verse one, back to the eternal relationship that the Son, Jesus Christ, had with the Father. The Son, when he became man, did not cease to be God. When the Son became man, his divine nature remained divine. Even in the incarnation, the eternal Son remained as he always was—the one who is in the bosom of the Father. This is because the incarnate Son uniquely lives, according to John, in eternal communion with the Father.

He alone can reveal the Father to us. The Son knows the Father completely, and in the plan of redemption, he is carrying out the will of the Father. Therefore, everything that the Son does, and everything that he has come to do, is to reveal the Father to humanity. As we travel throughout the Gospel of John, this will become clearer and clearer.

Jesus repeatedly appeals to the Father as the source of his actions and words. In John 5, verse 19, for example, Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does also.” And again, in chapter 7, verse 16, Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.”

The point, of course, in these passages and the many other passages in John is that the Father and the Son are completely unified in the revelation of the gospel. Any notion that the Father and the Son are somehow different in how they approach sinful man is completely foreign to the New Testament. The Father is not a domineering, judgmental figure who, in his heart, desires to judge us all but accepts us only because of what Christ has done. Not at all. The Father, in his infinite love and mercy, chose us while we were still sinners and enemies of him. He chose us because he desired to save us from our sin.

In all eternity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit covenanted with one another to save a people, to save us from our sin. The Father then sent the Son, his only begotten Son, to live a perfect life and to die and to rise from the dead for our sins. So that in the fullness of Jesus Christ, we can all receive grace and truth.

Once again, as a reminder, brothers and sisters, we do not have a God who is far off. Our God is in the heavens and he does whatever he pleases. Yet what God has been pleased to do is to send his Son to this earth to fulfill the law of righteousness, to live a perfect life— a life that Adam and every other man after Adam failed to live. To go to the cross as the perfect Lamb of God and to take upon himself our sins so that we can have a right relationship with our Creator. As Isaiah 61:10 says, he has clothed us with garments of salvation. He has covered us with the robe of righteousness. So then, brothers and sisters, draw near to Christ, the Son of God who has made the Father known to us. Draw near to the one who is full of grace and truth.

But notice that Jesus Christ is not just full of arbitrary forgiveness. Jesus is full of grace and truth. This means that when you come to Christ, there is much in your life that you must give up. Jesus does not reveal the Father as an angry, distant God. Neither does He reveal the Father as a soft, passive figure in the sky who accepts anything we do. When we come to Christ, we must give up our sins. We must give up the desires of our flesh and turn to Christ. There is truth. There is a moral standard which God has revealed to humanity through Moses. And this moral standard, Jesus Christ, has kept perfectly. When we are united to Christ, we begin to hate these sins.

Paul writes the following in Colossians chapter two. Please turn there with me to Colossians chapter two. Colossians 2, verses six through seven. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

If we are found in Christ, we must then walk in the fullness of Jesus Christ. We are not to continue in our sins. Paul goes on in verses eight through ten. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

For in him, that is Christ, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. And you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority. In Christ, the fullness of deity dwells. And in turn, you have been filled with Christ, who is the head of all things.

We must reflect our Savior, and we must reflect the love that He has for the lost and the service that He gives to the brethren. Jesus Christ was the ultimate revelation of the Father, and we must in turn reflect our Savior. We must reflect the fruits of the Spirit. It is through the Son that you and I can come to know the Father. And as you go into the world this week, it is through you that people can come into contact with the Son. So as we go out this week, be encouraged that we have a Father in heaven who is full of grace and truth and loves you so much that He sent His only Son to die for you, so that you can walk and worship Him. But also know that as we live our lives in this fallen world, we are to walk in the fullness of Jesus Christ and to reflect the love that Christ has shown to us. So go forth and show the sacrificial, uncompromising, glorious love of Christ that God has shown you. And I pray that through us this week, many would come to know the Son, that they would come to know the love of the Son, and that they would come to worship the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit with us.

Let us pray. Lord, we thank you that you are not a God who is far from us, but one who is near. You are not above us in distance, but present with us in grace. You are all that we are not: perfectly good, perfectly loving, perfectly gracious, perfectly merciful, and perfectly just. And yet, O Lord, you have not left us in our state of sin and misery. You have looked upon us with grace and love, and you have sent your Son, Jesus Christ, so that through him we might come to know you. O Lord, we thank you for the fullness of the revelation of Jesus Christ, that in him we can know you and love you, and that in him we can worship you through his work on the cross. I pray, O Lord, that as we go from here this week, our actions and our words may proclaim the love of Christ that you have shown us. I pray that many will come to know you through us, and that this church will continue to grow. I pray all this in the name of your Son, amen. Let us stand and sing hymn 294, the song of Zachariah. ♪

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

May 17, 2026
God’s Ultimate Self-Revelation

About this sermon

Deists say God never speaks, Islam says God could never become man, and Mormonism says man can become God, and Scripture rejects them all. The eternal Word became flesh, fully God and fully man, and tabernacled among us, as God once dwelt in the tabernacle in Israel’s midst. His people have seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. The transcendent God drew near in his Son, and he sympathizes with our weaknesses.

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Sermon transcript

Our passage is from John chapter 1, and we will be reading from verses 14 through 18. My original plan was to exhort from all four verses, but it’s just going to be from verse 14 tonight. We’ll go through verses 15 through 18 next week, but we’re still going to read all of verses 14 through 18. Hear now the word of the Lord, John chapter one, verses 14 through 18.

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 was he of whom I said, he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. For from his fullness we have 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.

Let’s pray. Oh Lord, we thank you that you have not only given us your written word, but you have given us the word that you have, the second person of the Trinity has come down from heaven and that you have become incarnate, that you have become man so that we can have a perfect sacrifice, so that his righteousness can be imputed to us and so that our sin can be imputed to him, so that we can have eternal life in Jesus Christ. We thank you, O Lord, that we can trust your word. And I pray, O Lord, that your word would be faithfully expounded this evening, and that through your spirit, the hearts of those who are listening would be encouraged, that we would draw closer to the word, that we would love the word more, and that we would love you more. And I pray, O Lord, that through these words, we would also come to love one another more. And I pray all this in your Son’s name, amen. Please be seated.

Thomas Paine, who as many of you may know, one of the most famous deists of history, a deist is someone who believes as my dad likes to say, that there is at least one God. They believe that God exists, but that he is completely distant from creation, that he does not communicate with us through revelation. And Thomas Paine, who was a deist, wrote this. Creation is the Bible of the deist. In creation, the deist reads the handwriting of the creator himself.

The certainty of his existence and the immutability of his power and all the other Bibles and Testaments, meaning the Christian Bible, are to him forgeries. In other words, according to the deists, the only revelation that God has given us regarding himself is a created order. and the created order we observe with our senses and we understand through our reason. So the only thing that God has given us is what we can see around us. Through that, we are left to reason to who God is and what he wants from us. Now the specifics of what the deists believe, not very many people believe anymore.

However, there are still many in our world that believe that the creator, if he does exist, has never directly spoken to creation and to his creatures. Many people, for example, that I’ve spoken to in Japan about the scriptures, scoff at the notion that God would speak to his creatures. Many in our culture would say, after the Enlightenment, that even if a creator had spoken, there would be no way for us to know that it was truly the creator that was speaking. And besides deism, there are other religions, like Islam, for example, that wholeheartedly agree with us that God can and has revealed himself to man through prophets and through written word.

But Islam, like modern Judaism, vigorously rejects any notion that God can condescend and enter into his creation. Such a notion of what theologians, Christian theologians, call the incarnation is blasphemous to their ears because it brings God down to the position of his creatures. According to them, it’s impossible because God is so far beyond his creation. that he cannot come and take a human body. So in a sense, like the deists, the Muslims believe that God is so far above creation that incarnation is impossible. And that there are another kind of religion, such as Mormonism, which does the opposite. Mormonism believes that man is not so different from God.

In fact, Jesus, when he became man, was just that, a man. Jesus then later became God through his obedience to the Father. And their God, the Father, was at one point, according to some of them, merely a man. Like deism, Islam, like deism and, sorry, one day, sorry, the humans, like us, can become like God, according to Mormonism. So many religions, like Deism and Islam, place God so far outside of creation that incarnation is impossible, while others, like Mormonism, drag God down so far that the incarnation is nothing unique. In fact, we can become like Jesus, according to Mormons, and obtain a divine nature.

The scriptures, particularly in John chapter one, verses one through 18, reject both of these notions. According to John chapter one, God is separate and he is above his creation. And yet at the same time, he is not so different that he cannot become incarnate and assume a human nature. On the other hand, the scriptures do not bring God down to the level of his creatures. It does not suggest in any way that man can become divine or that there was ever any change in God’s nature. So then John affirms both the true transcendence of God, that he is above creation, while also affirming that God truly can become incarnate.

The eternal word without collapsing the distinction between creature and creator can become a man. Our passage this evening in verses 14 through 18 is the pinnacle of the prologue of John which we have been studying. All that John has been beautifully laying out for us in the prologue comes to this point in verse 14. The eternal transcendent creator who has always existed and through whom all exists, who is prior and distinct from all things. That one who pre-exists all that exists and is not part of creation has entered into his creation by taking on human flesh. we might say, in more difficult terminology, the transcendent has become imminent.

John is emphasizing two truths in our passage this evening in verse 14. First, the incarnation of the word, and secondly, the fullness of the revelation of God. Or more simply, the incarnation we will look at from the first half of verse 14, and the word tabernacling, the word dwelling with us in the last half of verse 14. Let’s turn now to the first half of verse 14, the incarnation of the word.

John writes in verse 14, 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. These are perhaps some of the most powerful and consequential words that have ever been written in human history. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians that if Christ has not been raised from the dead, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. We might take this one step further back and also say that if the word did not become flesh and dwell among us, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

All of history hinges on this event. If we look back at the history of redemption, Beginning at the beginning, God made man. God covenanted with Adam and offered him life on the condition of perfect obedience to the covenant of works. Yet Adam, as the representative head of all mankind, violated this covenant and sinned. And thus all mankind in Adam sinned with him. And since that time, man has been living and suffering in this sinful world of sin and misery.

The psalmist in Psalm 14 puts it this way. The fool says in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They do abominable deeds, and there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside. Together they have all become corrupt. There is none who does good, not even one. This is to say that after the fall, when God looked down on the earth, there were none who were righteous, and all of his creatures had fallen away from their creator.

Man hated one another, man abused one another, man robbed one another, man murdered one another, and none did good. The age-old question of why bad things happen to good people, the Bible emphatically says, besides to Jesus, no such thing has ever occurred. Man rejected not only fellow man, but they rejected their creator. There was no one who sought their creator, according to the psalmist.

And we see this brought out throughout the Old Testament. As soon as Adam and Eve sin, man devolves into the worst sins imaginable. We see pride, we see murder, we see lust, we see greed, we see hatred, and all manner of twisted sin. And yet, in the midst of this sin, we see that God did not leave man in darkness. As we saw from John 1, verses one through five, the light shined in that darkness.

God still revealed himself to man and he covenanted with him. We see this once again throughout the Old Testament. God covenanted with Noah. He covenanted with Abraham, with Moses, and with David. The pattern then is clear. Man sins, man loves his sins, and he hates God. Yet God did not leave man in their sin, but drew near and made covenant with him. And he set aside a people to be holy, to worship him.

From the beginning of the fall of man, God made a promise that he, through the seed of the woman, he would crush the head of the serpent. As we read in the Old Testament, we see that God, little by little, reveals more and more about this plan of salvation.

We learn that the Messiah will crush the head of the serpent. He will save his people from their sins. He will reign as a righteous king forever. And most importantly, we see that the Messiah will be divine. The Messiah will be God himself in passages like Isaiah chapter nine.

And this brings us then to our passage this evening in verse 14. The word became flesh and he dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father. This is once again the culmination of all of the prophetic verses of the Old Testament.

The eternal word has taken to himself a human body. For the first time since verse one, John returns to using this word, logos, or the word. And in doing so, he draws our eyes back to the first few verses of our chapter. John returns to the word. And so he brings us back to the immediate topic at hand, which is the word. The eternal son of God entering his creation and taking on human flesh. John writes that the Word became flesh.

Now this may seem odd at first because if the Word is God, how can he become a man? Is John saying that God somehow changed, that at one point, God was God, and the next point, God was then man? When Christians profess that the Word became a man, do we mean that the Word ceased to be God? We all know the answer is no, of course not. God can’t stop being God. The Word cannot stop being God. So what does it mean that the Word became flesh?

And here it’s helpful to remind ourselves of some terms that we already know well. In answer to the Westminster Shorter Catechism question 21, We all confess that the only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continues to be God and man in two distinct natures, and one person forever. The two terms that I want us to really focus on are the terms nature and person. We confess that Jesus has two natures, the divine and man, and that he is fully God and also fully man. But we also confess at the same time that he is one person. This is kind of difficult for us to grasp as humans because we’re limited in our understanding of the nature of reality.

But what’s important to understand is that prior to becoming a man, Jesus Prior to being conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary and becoming man, the Word already existed. The person who is given the name Jesus at birth already existed prior to becoming man.

And he existed as God, the second person of the Trinity. He was truly and fully divine as we learned in verses one through five. But at the incarnation, that same God, the same person of the Trinity humbled himself and he took on another nature, a new nature that is a human nature. And in this moment, the divine entered into human history in a way that had never occurred before. The Word, who is infinite and eternal, who is not bound by time, took for himself a human body, and thereby he entered into the finite.”

But notice something, that John does not say that God became flesh. He writes that the second person of the Trinity, the Word, became flesh. I think he does this purposefully because He wants to emphasize that God’s nature has not changed. The Word still possesses his divine nature. He only takes on this second nature. Now, in some sense, we can, of course, say that God became man. Because of course the word is God and he became man so we can say that God can became man. But what John is leading us to believe is that the person of the word is what became man.

His divine nature has not changed. Now all this is complicated. And it makes our head hurt at times, but the point we really need to remember is that when the Word became man, he did not give up his divinity. He was fully God, and at the same time, he was fully man.

So then in verse 14, which is the culmination, the high point of John’s prologue, we see that the eternal God, the second person of the Trinity, who transcends all things and he created all things, has now taken on to himself a nature, a human nature, and thereby has humbled himself and entered his creation. But John goes on, not only has God become man, he also dwells among us. Or more literally, he has tabernacled with us. And this brings us to our second point, the word tabernacles with us. John continues on, the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Now immediately when we hear these words, our minds should be coming back to the Old Testament. Throughout the Old Testament, we see that God’s glory is tied to the fact, tied to him dwelling with his people. In Exodus chapter 25, for example, in verse eight, God commands Israel to make me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst. God desires to dwell with and fellowship with his people. And later in Exodus, we see this moment where it actually occurs. Please turn with me there to Exodus chapter 40. Exodus chapter 40, and we’ll read from verses 33 through 38. Exodus chapter 40, verses 33 through 38.

And he erected the court around the tabernacle and the altar and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tent of the meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of the meeting because the cloud had settled on it. And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and the fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all of their journeys.

We see here that when God dwells with his people, his glory is manifested among them. What an awe-inspiring sight this must have been to witness the glory of God coming to dwell in their midst. Yet as we read in the Old Testament, we see that Israel broke their covenant with God. And the glory of the Lord would end up departing from his people, as we see in the vision of Ezekiel. And yet God promises that one day he would dwell with his people forever, that his glory would be restored, and this time, his glory would never depart. Ezekiel writes this in chapter 37, my dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

This promise is fulfilled in part in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The eternal word becomes flesh and dwells among his people in a uniquely full and personal way. While God had truly dwelt with his people in the tabernacle in the Old Testament, in many ways it was mediated through priests and through Moses. Yet Jesus Christ comes in the flesh in a more personal, in a more full way, brings the glory and the revelation of God. The Son reveals the Father in a direct, in a more personal way, so that in Him, God’s people can encounter God’s presence more immediately than ever before.

But what about God’s glory? In the Old Testament, the description of God’s glory was obvious when it appeared. No one could mistake God’s glory when they saw it. The holiness and the gloriousness of his presence was clear to all who saw it. Yet John writes in verse 14, that we, meaning the disciples and those who believed in him, have seen his glory. Glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. What about this glory?

At this point, We just need to make a short note about the wording here. Most of us, if not all of us, know the Nicene Creed by heart. And the Nicene Creed states that we believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. You may have wondered, where does this language begotten come from? And it comes from passages like this passage, John chapter one, verse 14, and Psalm chapter two.

Now you may be thinking, well, It doesn’t say begotten in our ESV. It says only Son. Well, many of the older translations, if you look them up, will say only begotten. The creed that we profess takes the language from this passage to profess that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God.

But for reasons that we won’t go through right now, modern scholars believe that this wording is translated incorrectly, and that it should be translated as only son instead of only begotten son. The point I want to make It’s not to go through all of that, but just to point out that the wording that we profess and confess week by week comes from this passage that Jesus, the Son of God, has always been the Son of God. That the Father and the Son have always had a Father-Son relationship, and we see that in this passage. The Son has always been in a relationship with the Father.

And when the Son became a man, it says that he revealed the glory that could only come from the Son of God, full of grace and truth. But again, the question arises, if Jesus revealed the glory of God, why couldn’t everyone see it immediately? Everyone in the Old Testament knew where God was by seeing his glory. John says that Jesus has revealed the glory of God. Why can’t We see it. Why couldn’t they see it?

I mean, I think we can answer this from passages like Philippians chapter two. Let’s turn there now. Philippians chapter two, verses six through eight. Philippians two, verses six through eight. I’ll start from verse five. Paul writes, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Paul writes that Jesus emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of man. In other words, the word of God, when he took on human flesh, truly was a man in every sense of the word, such that his divine glory was veiled in his incarnate state so that those who did not believe could not perceive the glory that he had. So how was it, if his glory was veiled, that John and the others were able to behold it?

Well, for those who believe in Jesus, their eyes have been opened and their ears can hear. They can perceive Jesus Christ’s glory. They see his signs and his miracles. Jesus Christ clearly showed the glory of God through his miracles. On the Mount of Transfiguration, probably the most prominent example, three of his disciples, including John, saw the glory more directly. As Matthew writes about the Mount of Transfiguration, this is about Jesus, he was transfigured before them and his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And of course, lastly, in his resurrection, Jesus shined brighter and the glory of God was most clearly seen in his defeat of sin and death.

But all of these things, the miracles, the signs, the prophecy, and the resurrection can only be seen by those who have faith. For those like the Pharisees and Sadducees, oftentimes, when they saw Jesus’s miracles and his wonders, It was a stumbling block for them, and it caused them to hate him even more.

In other words, when John says that Jesus revealed the glory of the only begotten Son, he truly did reveal the glory of God, but it was only seen by those who had faith, who were able to see the truth. And this glory was full of grace and truth, John writes. What this means, we’ll expound a little bit more next week, but for now, the glory of Christ that was brought to this earth was no longer in types and shadows. Jesus brought the fullness of grace and truth. The Old Testament shadows and types gave the saints a veiled vision of the revelation of God and the gospel that Christ would bring to his people. But in Jesus, this truth of the gospel and the grace of God are fully revealed to God’s people.

It is only because of the reality of our words in our passage tonight, that the eternal word of God became man and dwelt among us, that you and I can have life, that we can have truth, that we can have forgiveness, that we can have love, that we can have fellowship and forgiveness with fellow believers. The practical implications for our lives from this passage are countless. The whole rest of the New Testament is bringing out the implications of the incarnation. But let’s just consider a few before ending tonight.

Brothers and sisters, we serve a God who is wholly unlike us. He is perfectly holy. God is perfectly just. God is perfectly loving. God is perfectly wise. There is no sin or no blemish or weakness in our God. He is infinite and he is eternal. He is boundless. And you and I are none of those things.

As Paul says in Ephesians 2, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.” And the two most comforting words to us. We have this bad news. But God, being rich in mercy, because of great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us alive in Christ.

God is holy and we are not. God is infinite and we are not. But the eternal word did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself and became a man. So yes, Our God is greater and so far above creation that we will never fully comprehend him.

But at the same time, he has not left us in our sin and in our misery. He has drawn near to us and he has become a man. He, Jesus, as the author of Hebrews puts it, is a high priest who sympathizes with our weakness because he is a God who actually and truly entered into history. He understands the trials and the difficulties which we go through. So our God is not just far off. He has drawn near to us and he has dwelt with us in his Son, Jesus Christ. So now draw near to your Savior. knows your weaknesses. He knows your temptations. He knows your hurt. He knows the danger that you face. He knows the feelings of hunger and sadness.

There is nothing that you are going through which our God cannot sympathize with. So go to Him, pour out your heart to Him, and trust Him that He is your God, who truly became man, who understands your weaknesses, and who is drawing near to you. Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you and praise you that you are a God who is not like us, and that you are all-powerful, that you are all-glorious, that you are holy, that your love is perfect, that there is no sin, no blemish, no weakness in you. Yet, O Lord, we thank you, O Lord, that you are also gracious and kind toward us. And that while we were yet sinners, you sent your son to die on the cross for our sins. We thank you, oh Lord, that you are a God who has taken on human flesh, that you have become like us so that we can have a perfect lamb who can die on the cross for our sins, who can live a perfect life for us so that we can have the righteousness of Christ.

I pray, oh Lord, that we would not hide this truth this week, but that we would live it out in our lives, that our lives would be marked by a love for you, that those around us would see the love of Christ in us, that we would proclaim it boldly, and that through the gospel, many would come to know you this week. I pray all this in your son’s name, amen. Let’s stand and sing our closing hymn, closing psalm, Psalm 8B. Please stand and sing with Psalm 8B.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

May 10, 2026
Witnessing for the Light

About this sermon

God sent John the Baptist, the promised Elijah, to bear witness to the light, and John was not the light. The true light, Jesus Christ, came into the world, and the world that he made did not know him, and his own people did not receive him. To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Believers are not the light, and they reflect Christ’s light as witnesses in a dark world.

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Sermon transcript

Please stand for the reading of God’s Word. This evening’s passage is from John chapter 1. We’ll be reading verses 1 through 18 once again, but our focus will be on verses 6 through 13. So we’re going to read John chapter 1 verses 1 through 18. Hear now the word of the Lord. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning.

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 in 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 through 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 and his own people did not receive him.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, 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 was he of whom I said, he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. For from his fullness we have 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. Let us pray. Oh Lord, we thank you that you have preserved your word for us, that we have a word that we can trust with absolute certainty. Oh Lord, we thank you that you are a God who speaks to us. through your word. And I pray, O Lord, that as we read your word, and that as it is expounded tonight, that we would be blessed by it, that through the hearing of it, that we would be drawn closer to you, that we would not just learn more about you, but that we would be caused to love you more, and that we would be caused to love our neighbor more. O Lord, I pray that through your word tonight that we would be drawn closer to one another as one body in Jesus Christ. And I pray, O Lord, that you would sustain me, that I would preach only that which is truth, and I pray, O Lord, that it would be a blessing to the people here. In Jesus’s name, amen. You may be seated.

For roughly 400 years, there was no new prophetic revelation given to the people of Israel. That is the corporate body of Israel between the Old and New Testaments. The Messiah who the Israelites learned about in the Old Testament and passages like Daniel chapter seven or Jeremiah 23 was promised to come. But after 400 years without a prophet from God, how would the people know when the Messiah had appeared? When the Messiah came to earth, how would the people know that this was truly the Messiah? Well, one way that they would have known is because the Old Testament revealed to Israel the means, well, one of the means through which they could identify the Messiah.

The last prophet who was raised up by God in the Old Testament, we all know, was the prophet Malachi. Malachi not only prophesied of this coming Messiah, but he also prophesied of this messenger who would come before the Messiah foretelling of his coming. Malachi writes in chapter 4, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of their children to their fathers. And in the New Testament, the gospel writers and other passages help us to see that John the Baptist is the fulfillment of this prophecy of the coming Elijah. And so we see that the very last words of the Old Testament are equipping the saints to know when the Messiah was to appear. They were to be looking for this messenger who was to come, who would bring, who would foretell the coming Messiah, and who would bring back covenant unity to their community.

And this coming prophet would bring a message we see in passages like Malachi 3 that would prepare God’s people for the coming Christ. In passages like we saw in chapter 4 and chapter 3 of Malachi, these prophecies contain both a prophecy of the messenger and of the Messiah. One of the interesting things is that there is a clear distinction between the two in all of these prophecies. The messenger has a distinct role from the Messiah, and his role is to prepare Israel for the arrival of the Messiah.

This in no way diminishes the role of John the Baptist, for as Christ says, among those who are born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Rather, I only mean to highlight this category difference that the Old Testament and the one that he announces.

Likewise, in our passage this evening in John chapter one, verses six through eight, John emphasizes the strong distinction between the light and the witness to the light. John writes, there was a man named John who came to witness about the light, but he was not the light. The point is clear from the Old and New Testaments. The light is unique in all of human history. So unique, in fact, that God sent a witness to prepare God’s people for the coming of the Messiah.

In our passage this evening, John is teaching us through this passage that we are to accept, first, the witness’s testimony regarding the light, and second, that we are to put our trust in the light. Consider this by looking first at the witness to the light, second, the reception of the light, and lastly, the salvation that comes through faith in the light. That is the witness to the light, the reception of the light, and lastly, the salvation that comes through faith in the light.

What is a witness? What role does a witness play in our society? A witness is usually someone who sees an event and can accurately recall what occurred during that event. And we often, in our society, hear this word used in a legal context, where a witness is called to a witness stand in order to testify regarding a crime or some kind of event that he or she had seen.

So some of you, if you haven’t read this passage very carefully, may think it’s a little odd that the Bible calls John a witness. How does this work exactly? How can John be a witness to something that he hasn’t yet experienced? Well, if you look up the word witness, you’ll notice that it can mean more than just recounting something that has already occurred.

As a verb, it can mean to attest to, or to verify, or to validate, meaning that if I witness or testify to something or to someone, it means that I am testifying to the authenticity or the truthfulness of that thing. So when the writer says that, saying that the purpose for which John came, for which John the Baptist came, was to testify to the fact that Jesus truly was the Messiah, that was prophesied of old. But again, how can John the Baptist do so? John gives us the answer. John writes, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. John the Baptist was sent by God.

He was commissioned by God for this very purpose, to prepare the people of God for the coming Messiah, to preach repentance and faith. So his authority, the basis for his testimony, is then the direct revelation of God, and he was a prophet to the people to declare the coming of the Messiah.

Now this, of course, is one of the major distinctions between the light and the one who testifies about the light. The witness can only reflect the light which has been shined upon him. Jesus says this in John 5, verses 35, regarding John the Baptist. This is what he says. He was a burning and a shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. John came prior to Jesus, and he shined as a light in a dark world. But this light did not come from himself. It was derived from the true light, who is Jesus Christ. And John’s witnessing of the coming Messiah brought about light to a dying world because it testified of the true light that was to come.

And John continues, that is John the Apostle continues. He writes, that he did this that all might believe through him. Now does this mean that when John testified that all truly did believe in him? That’s not what the apostle is saying. In the same way, for example, in verse nine, where it says that the light gave light to everyone, John came that all might believe through him.

In other words, the gospel of Jesus Christ is to be preached to everyone. The gospel calls all men, no matter who they are, And here we get something that we will flesh out in later weeks, and that is that John the Baptist is in many ways the last of the Old Testament prophets, and that he is prophesying of this coming Messiah. But in other ways, he bridges the Old and New Covenant because his call to repentance is for all men and women. So then, the witness John the Baptist came to prepare God’s people for the coming Messiah. His job was to identify this Messiah and to point him out to the covenant community.

But how did this covenant people receive the light? And this brings us to our second point, which is the reception of the light. John continues in verses nine through 11. 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 and his own people did not receive him. Once again, what does it mean that the true light which gives light to everyone was coming into the world?

If you read some commentators, especially some of the older commentators, they interpret this to mean that general revelation is given to all men. There is in some sense light given to all men through creation. In the sense that, for example, Romans 1 talks about, where it says that all men are left without excuse because when we look at creation, it is evident that the creator exists. So in that sense, they argue that the light is shining upon all men.

I think this interpretation is a little bit difficult given the context because John is not identifying light as some impersonal revelation through creation. John identifies light as the personal God who has made man in the person Jesus Christ. The light is a person who shines light upon all men. So what does it mean that the light shines upon all men? Well, the first thing that we can definitively say is that it does not mean that all men are saved in a salvific sense. John makes this clear in the very next few verses when he says that the world did not know him and his own people did not receive him. Secondly, I think the key is to remember who the light is.

The light is Jesus himself. Jesus is the light because he comes to man and discloses God himself to man. He is God with us. God came down to this earth and he tabernacled with man. So whether or not the men or the women that Jesus met and interacted with along the way came to saving faith or not, they had indeed been exposed to the light. They had been exposed to the revelation of God.

As John chapter 3 verse 19 states, and this is the judgment, the light has come into the world and the people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. The light shined upon all men, meaning that Jesus interacted with and revealed God to all men and women indiscriminately. Yet there were many in the world who loved the darkness rather than the light and remained in that darkness. John continues in verses 10 and 11. He describes how the Messiah was received. Let’s read it again, verses 10 and 11.

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. This is a stunning indictment upon mankind. John writes that the world whom the light had created did not know him. Now here, the word world here is not meant to be all of creation, rather all of mankind, both Gentiles and Jews. And so in verse 10, John is talking about the world broadly, all mankind, and in verse 11, he describes the reception of Jesus in a more confined sense in the covenant community. And it’s interesting to note the difference between the reception of the broader world and that of the Jews.

John writes that the world did not know him. Here we may think of Pilate’s reaction in which he did not recognize Jesus or the claims that he was making. He saw him as this odd man who was making extraordinary claims. But in the end, he thought that this man posed no threat to him.

Whereas the Jews understood, in some sense, the gravity of the claims that Jesus was making, and they tried to kill him. The Jews did not just know Jesus, they actively rejected him even to the point of desiring to kill him. However, we can say both that Pilate and the Jews, by a passive rejection on Pilate’s part and an active rejection on the Jews’ part, rejected Jesus’ self-disclosure. In the same way, as in the narrative later on, in John chapter one, verse 10 and 11, both the world and the covenant community rejected Jesus.

Now man is prone to think that merely more revelation would lead to belief in God. Atheists often say if they just had more evidence or that if God would just appear to them, they would believe. Yet we see in the incarnation of the word of God and the man Jesus Christ that the world rejected their creator. And if the covenant community who had the Old Testament which foretold of this coming Messiah also did not receive him.

The world had access to the wondrous works of creation. Romans 1 says that everyone knows that there is a creator, and yet they rejected the creator. Paul writes this in Romans 1, for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Paul also writes that the reason why man rejected Christ is not because of the lack of knowledge, but because they love their own unrighteousness and they suppress the truth. John likewise teaches this, that man rejects the light because he loves darkness.

Even Israel, Jesus’ own community did not receive him. For several thousand years, God had prepared Israel for the coming Messiah. Over and over again, God renewed his covenant with her, yet Israel continued in her obstinance. And when the master of the vineyard ultimately sent his son, just like they had rejected the master’s servants, they rejected his son. God even prophesied of this coming messenger, a witness that would testify to the coming Messiah. The witness came, and yet the covenant community still rejected him. How tragic a story is this. God made man. He breathed life into him. He communed with him. But man fell away and rejected him. Yet God did not leave man alone. God patiently and lovingly called man to repentance and trust in him.

For thousands of years, God slowly revealed more and more of himself and the plan of redemption to his people. And he prophesied of this coming Messiah who would bring them out of sin and into light. But the people of Israel fell away from him and continued to pursue false idols. However, once again, God did not leave men to continue in the state. In the culmination of his self-revelation to his creation and to his covenant people, God sent his only son to make himself known to man, to us, while we were dying in our sin. This is the light that came into the world.

God cannot reveal himself any clearer to sinful man. Yet man who he created, who he covenanted with, loved darkness more than they loved the light, and thus they rejected the light. Brothers and sisters, faith in God is not a matter of levels of knowledge or levels of revelation. The world which has not received The Old Testament scriptures, it had not been in covenant community, rejected the fullness of God’s revelation in Christ Jesus. But all the more, those who had special divine revelation in the Old Testament, which repeatedly foretold Christ, rejected him. In fact, in the gospel narrative, those who had this revelation rejected Christ Jesus even more vehemently, seemingly, than those who did not have the Old Testament. The issue is not how much knowledge that one has, but where his heart is. Their hearts were in darkness. Their hearts loved darkness and thus they hated the light and they rejected it.

This same light that shone 2000 years ago still shines today. God has given the gospel of Jesus Christ in his word. He has preserved it for us. And that gospel goes forth into the world as a light shining in darkness. Take hold of this light. Put your trust in the one who is the light and life of man. This brings us to our last point, which is the salvation that comes through faith in light. The salvation that comes through faith in light. Verses 11 and 12, 10 and 11 make it seem very bleak. It seems like everyone has rejected the light. So did all men reject the light? Thankfully, the answer is no. John continues in verses 12 through 13.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, 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. Who are the children of God? John says that the true children of God are not those who descend from Abraham by blood, but those who believe in him, whether Jew or Gentile. Christ’s own covenant community of Israel had rejected Messiah. They were not the true children of God. Jesus expounds on this further in John 8. Please turn there with me. John chapter 8, verses 31 through 47. John 8. Verses 31 through 47. Verse 31.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. They answered him, we are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say that you will become free? Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, but the son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

I know that you are offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my father and you do what you have heard from your father. They answered him, Abraham is our father. And Jesus said to him, if you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works that Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I’ve heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did. They said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God. Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me. For I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.

You are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not in God.” Here, Jesus proclaims, that to be a true child of Abraham and thereby to be a true child of God is to put your faith in Christ and to obey him. Those who rejected Christ and the light did so because they love the darkness and refused to put their trust in the light and to submit to it. But what’s the difference between those who reject the light and those who continue in darkness? John writes this in verse 12 and 13.

He, i.e. Jesus, gave the right to be called children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of men, but of God. It is that the people of the world and the Jews who rejected Christ, oh, is it, I’m sorry, is it that the people of the world and the Jews that rejected Christ were uniquely bad?

Or maybe it’s because their flesh was somehow less, more corrupted than those who accepted him. John says, no. Was it because those who accepted Christ were born of Abraham, or they somehow in and of themselves desired Christ? John says, no. Was it because, it was not because of those things. It’s because, John says, they put their faith in Christ. And those who put their face in Christ are born of God. And those words that he speaks in verse 13 remind us of Jesus’s words to Nicodemus in John 3. There Jesus says to Nicodemus, truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Regeneration precedes faith. John teaches us the same truth regarding regeneration in John chapter one. It requires God to give us new life. God must give us new life for us to be brought from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of life. At that same moment that regeneration occurs, it immediately gives rise to faith, which then unites us to Christ.

And in Christ, we have all the benefits of salvation, including adoption out of the family of darkness and into the family of God. What an amazing truth this is. This is the doctrine of adoption. As we read earlier, adoption, as we confessed earlier, is an act of free grace of God in and for his only son, Jesus Christ, whereby all those who are justified are received into the number of his children and have his name put upon them. The spirit of his son given to them are under his fatherly care and dispensation, admitted to all the liberties and privileges of the sons of God, made heirs of all the promises and fellow heirs with Christ in glory.

Brothers and sisters, you are no longer children of darkness. You are free from the bondages of sin, Satan, and death. You have the name of Jesus. When you become a believer, you are now a member of God’s family and you have a right to all the liberties and the privileges of the sons of God.

What are these liberties and privileges, you might ask? Does this mean that we can now go do whatever we want, as the libertarians might say, as long as we aren’t violating the rights of others. By no means. To have liberty in Christ is to be set free from sin and the power of it. Brothers and sisters, this is indeed a great and immense joy. You may have been struggling with sin for years. This can be discouraging and it can eat away at the very core of your being. But you are not bound to sin. You are no longer in darkness. You truly have been given freedom from all sin and have been given all the privileges of being a child of God.

All the promises, all of the promises in the scriptures are yours. I sometimes come across promises in the scriptures and I think to myself, is that truly for me? And all of these promises are for us. The gospel truths of forgiveness, new life, communion with Christ, true unity with fellow believers, all of these things are yours.

What a privilege it is to be given the name of Christ. So what does this all mean for you and for me? We’ve thought a little bit about the implications of this passage, mainly, that we are adopted into the family of Christ. But what are some of the other implications of our passage this evening?

First, for those who have not professed Christ, there is a light in the darkness where you reside. Despite the many multitudes of ways in which you may dole your conscience and seek to avoid these things that you have done, we know our own sin. We know that we deserve judgment and an almighty God, an almighty and just God will judge us for this sin. We live in a dark place, knowing in our hearts, and yet suppressing that truth by filling our minds with justifications and comparing ourselves to others, thinking that we are good because others are worse.

But there is a way out of this darkness. There is light. There is a path back to a relationship with your creator. There is hope for your broken relationships, and there is hope for your bondage to sin. That hope is the light of Jesus Christ that came into this world to save you from your sins. He died to take the penalty for your sins and he rose again to conquer sin and death. He rose again to give you new life. So put your trust in the light which shines in the darkness. And for those of you who are already sons and daughters of God, For those of you who are children of the Most High, you were purchased by the blood of your Savior, Jesus Christ.

All we have, and it is a great thing indeed, is the light. Now, you should already know this by now, but by way of reminder, you are not the light, but you reflect the light of Christ, just as the witness that John the Baptist gave. Now you are not John the Baptist in the sense that you’re not making the way for the Messiah, but you are like John in that you reflect the light of Christ. You are witness to what Jesus has done in your life, and you are witness to the truthfulness of the scriptures. So go out into this dark world this week. and shine the light of Jesus Christ to this dying world. Testify to the one whom you love and has saved you and bring the gospel to those who are dying in a dark world. Let us pray.

Lord, we thank you that we are no longer in darkness. We thank you that you have sent your light so that we may have life in you. We thank you, O Lord, that in Jesus Christ we have forgiveness, we have justification, we have sanctification, that we are no longer bound to our sins, and that one day we will be glorified. One day we will no longer have any sin in us. We thank you for all of the benefits that are given to us in Christ Jesus through our adoption.

And I pray, O Lord, that as we go from this place today, that we would shine this light, that we would share this gospel truth to those who are dying around us. And I pray, O Lord, for a greater love for you and a greater love for those around us. In Christ’s name we pray, amen. Let’s continue our worship by singing Psalm 27B. Psalm 27B, and we’ll be singing stanzas one through four. One through four, please rise as we sing. Psalm 27B.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

April 19, 2026
The Word who was in the Beginning

About this sermon

John opens his Gospel with the Word who was in the beginning, with God and himself God. The Word is a person, the eternal Son, and he comes from the Old Testament’s word of God that creates, reveals, and saves. All things were made through him, so he himself is no created being, whatever Arians and Jehovah’s Witnesses claim. In him is life, and that life is the light of men, shining in a dark world that no philosophy can light.

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Sermon transcript

for the reading of God’s word. This evening’s passage is from John chapter one, which you can find on page 1053. This evening’s message will be primarily on verses one through five, but in order to get the fuller context, we’re gonna read from verses one through 18. John chapter one, verses one through 18. Hear now the word of the Lord. 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 in 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 through him. He was not the light, but 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, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of 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 was he of him who I said, he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. For from his fullness, we have 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.

Let us pray. Lord, we thank you once again that you have preserved your word for us. That through your word, we can come to know you. And through your revealed will, and through your revealed son, we can come to know you in an intimate way. That once again, because of what your son Jesus Christ has done for us, we can worship you and commune with you. Lord, I pray that as we read your word this evening, that you would use it to draw us closer to you, that you would use it to deepen our understanding of you and our love for you. And I pray, oh Lord, that you would strengthen me, that I would speak clearly and that I would speak only the truth, that these words would be a blessing to your people and that they would be a comfort to them. In Jesus’s name, amen. You may be seated.

Well, this passage this evening from John chapter one is perhaps one of the most important passages that the church historically has referred to when discussing the deity of Christ and the Trinity. As such, much ink has been spilled, analyzing every word and every sentence of this prologue. My goal tonight is not to rehash every argument or to bring out the complete depth of the passage. Because as my systematics professor once said about John 1, you could spend a lifetime studying John chapter 1 and you would still learn something new each time that you return to it. Every sentence in our passage this evening is pregnant with theological and practical significance. Literarily and theologically, this is one of the greatest and most beautifully constructed passages in the New Testament.

John chapter one, verses one through 18, which is the prologue or the introduction of the gospel of John, has within it, even within the introduction, a brief summary of the coming good news, which John is to tell us about the son. In verses one through five, which will be the focus for us this evening, John gives us a brief summary of the gospel of John. And it echoes the purpose statement that he gives in chapter 20, verse 31, where John writes, these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you may have life in him. John shows us in his gospel, according to John, two things. First, that Jesus Christ, the man, is truly God. And second, that he has come into this dark world to be a light and to save his people from their sin. And this will be our outline for this evening’s passage. First, Logos, i.e. the word, the eternal son of God, and secondly, Logos, the word, the light and life of the world. Let’s turn now first to Logos, the eternal son of God, from verses one through three.

If an unbeliever were to read 1 John, John chapter one, the terminology that John uses here would seem quite odd to him. The ESV, which translates the Greek here as Word, would seem quite odd to someone reading it for the first time. In verse one, for example, it says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But what does this mean? What does it mean that the Word was with God and the Word was God? How can a Word be with God?

Well, if you look down at verse 14, which we read, it says this, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father. In other words, this word is not an abstract principle or ideal. This word is a personal being. This word, as we will see later, refers to Jesus. So why does John refer to Jesus as the word? Why not something like the Messiah or the Son or any of the other countless terms that are used to describe Jesus in the New Testament?

I’m sure some of you have heard the explanation that John chapter one is an attempt to meld Greek philosophy with Christian understandings of Jesus. And under this view, they argue that John has been reading or has an understanding of the Greek understanding of the Logos. And from that, he uses that term and applies it to Jesus. The problem with this understanding is that those who argue this, argue that John somehow brings in meaning from the outside.

But this denies the fact that the scriptures are wholly different from other pagan philosophy. And secondly, the other problem is that as the proponents point out, the word logos is everywhere in Greek philosophy of that time. It is so prevalent in fact, that it’s impossible to get any sort of useful unified meaning from the literature. So there’s no need to turn back to these pagan ideas about logos to understand what it means.

Because when John uses the word logos here, he’s not using it from the Greek meaning, but from the meaning used in the Old Testament. We can tell this for certain because what we saw in verse 14. In verse 14, John’s Logos is a personal and an embodied being. But in Greek philosophy, it refers to a impersonal ideal, not a person who became man. So if it’s not from Greek philosophy, where is it from?

The answer is it lies in the Old Testament as so much of the New Testament relies upon. Let’s now look at several of these Old Testament passages together. Please turn with me to Jeremiah chapter one. We’re gonna read from verses four through five. Jeremiah chapter one, verses four through five. Jeremiah chapter one, verses four through five.

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet to the nations. Notice the text here does not say that the Lord came to Jeremiah and said to him, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

No, it says that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. The subject that is doing this action of drawing near to Jeremiah and bringing him this word is the word of God. Meaning that Jeremiah is treating this word as a personal being that acts and draws nears and speaks to his people. Now, if this was a one-off in the Old Testament, you might be justified in seeing it as a metaphorical meaning. that maybe Jeremiah is just using this in a metaphorical sense. But another more pertinent example can be found in Psalm 33. Please turn there with me. Psalm 33, verses four through six. Psalm chapter 33, verses four through six.

For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. But by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth, all their hosts.

He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap, and he puts the deeps in their storehouses. Verse six of this Psalm 33 teaches us exactly what John teaches us in John chapter one. That is that through the word, God made heavens and earth. The agent through which God made the heavens and the earth is the word.

There are many examples just like this that can be found throughout the Old Testament. If you want to do further reading, you can read chapters like Proverbs 8, Psalm 107, and 1 Samuel 3 verse 21. All of these passages reveal something to us, a different aspect about the word in the Old Testament. So then the word logos, the word word in the Old Testament can be understood as the agent or the person through which the father carries out his will, his creation, his revelation and his salvation.

And thus there’s no reason to look to Greek philosophy for an answer because the word already exists in the Old Testament. Now going back to John chapter one, we see John picking up on this theme of the word proceeding from God and being an agent of him. John begins this verse, verse one, by saying, in the beginning was the word. And this of course brings us all back to the creation narrative that we just read. Our scriptures, the Bible, begins with the words, in the beginning was God.

These words are some of the most famous words of the Bible, perhaps outside of John 3.16 and more recently, judge not lest ye be judged. It is clear that this beginning in John refers not to the beginning of the gospel or to any time in existence, rather it refers to a time at the beginning of time.

And that is to say that Jesus existed before time began. When God created heaven and earth, when time itself began, the Word already existed according to verse one. The Word, therefore, is prior to time itself. In other words, the Word, Jesus Christ, is eternal. John goes on.

The Word was with God. So not only was the Word existing prior to time and prior to creation, but He existed in relationship with God. Some translators translate this as the Word was face-to-face with God, meaning that He was in an intimate relationship with God.

So we learn here that the Word did not exist apart from God, but that He existed with God and in communion and fellowship with Him. But this also means that, at least in some sense, the word is separate from God. We’ll explain this a little bit more later. Because how can something exist with something else while also being that thing? So far, we’ve learned that the word existed prior to time itself, and that he is not identical with God, but that he had intimate communion and relationship with God.

And John goes on, he says, the Word was God. But wasn’t the Word with God? How can the Word both be with God and God at the same time? Well, without getting too technical, what the Greek shows us is that John is not saying that the Word is exactly God.

In the same way, for example, in verse 14, when John says that the Word became flesh, it does not mean that the Word makes up all of flesh. It means that Jesus became flesh. He took on the nature of man. And this is clear because there are other human beings besides Jesus. In the same way, the second person of the Trinity, just as he became a man and took on that nature, in verse one, when it says that he was God, it does not mean that he was everything that God is, rather he shared in the same nature as God. So the Word eternally existed and always has been in loving communion with God, while at the same time being God, being a part of, we might say, the Godhead. Many theologians suggest that this latter part of the verse should be translated as, the Word was in His nature God. That is to say that he shared in his essence, in his nature, the same nature as the other persons of the Godhead.

One passage that we can read that hopefully will clear some things up is 1 Corinthians 8. Let’s turn there now. 1 Corinthians 8, verses five and six. We read this this morning, if any of you were here when Dr. Gidley was teaching. 1 Corinthians 8. verses five and six.

Paul writes, For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we exist.

Here Paul proclaims that there is indeed only one God. This is, of course, the same confession that has been brought to us and revealed to us from all of the Old Testament and the New Testaments. There is truly only one God. And yet, according to Paul, there are two persons, the Father, who is the source of all things, and the Son, through whom all that exists came into being. In other words, both in Paul, in 1 Corinthians, and in John, in John 1, they are both teaching that there is only one God. we only worship one God. Yet in God, there are two persons, the Father and the Son, or in John chapter one, the Father and the Word.

And from other passages, we see, of course, that there is a third person, the Holy Spirit. But going back to our chapter this evening, John has established that the Word has always existed, that he is in communion with God, and that he himself is God. John goes on then to establish the fact that this relationship between the Godhead, between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is an eternal relationship. This is what he says in verse two.

He was in the beginning with God. In other words, there’s never been a time when the relationship between the Godhead, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has not been. They have always had communion with one another. and they have always loved one another. They have always had perfect union and perfect communion that is bound in love.

As a side note, one of the strongest arguments outside of exegesis, outside of an exegetical argument for there being a Trinity is that the Bible reveals to us that God is love. If God in his essence is love, How can he love with just one person? For to love requires more than one person. While the Unitarians and Muslims can’t explain this source of love, Christians can. Because in Christianity, God has three persons who from eternity have loved one another. The Father loved the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Son loved the Holy Spirit and the Father, and the Holy Spirit loved the Son and the Father. In order to leave no doubt, John continues in verse three. He writes, all things were made through him and without him was not anything.

Now at this point, it should be clear to you that John is identifying the word as the eternal God. He’s communicated this in several different ways. He has shown that the word has always existed. Only God is eternal. He’s shown that the Word since before time was in communion with God, and this only applies to God. And lastly, he shares that the Word shares in the same essence as God. But John does not leave it there. He continues to show that Jesus was not only in communion, but he actually partook in the creation of this world. In verse three.

Now there are a lot of modern heretical sects which continue to teach things that were once already responded to by the early church. Perhaps the most famous of these is the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, when they read passages like John 1, try to translate it differently than the ESV does. They translate it as, The Word was a God instead of the Word was God. Now, this isn’t the correct translation of the Greek, but we’re not gonna go into that. Without going into the Greek, we can all see that this is not the case.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses want to say that Jesus was a created being, that there was a time when he was not. But according to verse three, it says that all things were created through Jesus. This alone makes it clear that the Word cannot be a created being because all things were created by the Word. But just in case you may have an Arian or a Jehovah’s Witness friend who is unconvinced, John makes this point. Even stronger, he continues, without him was not anything made that was made. Now that’s a little bit confusing when you read it for the first time, but it means that in case there was something that you thought that was created outside of this all, I want to make it clear to you that I really mean all.

All things that were created were created by the word. John makes this clear, that the Word of God, the second person of the Trinity, is the agent through which God created all things that exist. Now what it means in detail that the Word is the agent of creation goes beyond our passage, but the point is this.

The Word existed in eternity past and in perfect communion with the other persons of the Trinity. And He participated in creating all things, the heavens, the mountains, the rivers, the beautiful oceans, and He created you and He created me. So the Word is God. He is one of the persons of the Godhead. And through that Word, all things were created. But what else can this word do?

John goes on in verses four through five to show us what else the word does. Let’s read verses four and five. John writes, in him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And this brings us to Lagos, the light and life of men. This theme, which John introduces here in verses four and five, continue to come out over and over again throughout the gospel of John. And as we work our way through this gospel over the coming year, I want you to take note of how John uses these words. I hope you’ll remember this theme as we come back to it over and over.

John writes in verse four, in him was life, and the life was the light of men. Here John masterfully, beautifully transitions between creation and the new creation. In the word was life, in the sense that he brought life to all things. But not only that, he brings new life to those who are in darkness.

And this brings us to the second half of the purpose statement that John gives in chapter 20, by believing you may have life in him. Throughout John’s writings, having life is intrinsically linked to knowing Christ. One example can be found in 1 John. In 1 John, John writes, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life, the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you eternal life. Another more clear passage can be found in John chapter 17, verse three, where he says, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

The source of life has always been and can be the word. Man has no life without the eternal word breathing life into him. And man will not have new life, man will not have resurrection life unless that same word breathes in eternal life into us. And John goes on. The life was the light of men. Notice that John says that the word was the light of men, meaning that even prior to the incarnation, Jesus was already the light of man. The light has always existed for man to know and to draw close to.

When man sinned in the garden, he was plunged into darkness, and that same darkness exists today. And the only hope that we have as sinful man is the light which Jesus Christ has shown us. And that light is the eternal life that is offered to us in the gospel. The only hope that we have, or that anyone has ever had, is the gospel. It is to know the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ.

From the beginning. When man was plunged into darkness after he sinned, when Adam and Eve felt helpless and hopeless, God did not leave them without hope. He did not leave them without a light to walk through this dark world. God gave Adam and Eve a promise. In Genesis chapter three, he writes, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. The light, though faintly shown in darkness, there was hope for the people of God from the beginning that God would overcome sin, death, and the devil through this seed.

As the Old Testament unfolded, this light became clearer and clearer to God’s people. More and more was revealed about this coming Messiah. Until finally, we find that the light and life that had been prophesied of old has indeed come. The culmination of this light and light, of course, is the word himself coming to this earth.

Christ came to this earth to reveal God to man. He took on human flesh and walked among man. He lived a perfect life and died for our sins on the cross. And by rising from the dead, he conquered sin, death, and Satan. It is in his death and resurrection that we can find new life. Now just like Adam and Eve, and everyone who has lived since then, we live in a dark world. In every age, it seems to be, for those who are living in it, the worst age.

There is much which passes itself off as light and life in our world. There is much that promises us that it is light and life to us. If you listen to those who promote Eastern mysticism or Buddhism or any other ism which promises to solve the fundamental issues of life, they never actually offer true solutions. They offer coping mechanisms that help us to sear our consciences and to dull the pain which has pierced our hearts. But the Word of God, the second person of the Trinity, does not offer half measures. The Word of God brings us new life.

He brings complete foundational and definitive transformation to us who believe in him. He brings us eternal life so that we can be in communion with Him. He doesn’t bring us a life full of pain and suffering separated from the presence of our Creator. He brings us life eternal in the presence of He and the Father in communion with Him. He brings us something that no one else can offer, which is a relationship with our creator.

So let’s take a hold of this light. When the light is shown on us, let us follow it. Let us turn to our Lord. Let us put our trust in the word that has always existed and come to know the one who has given his life for us. Let us put our trust in the one who can truly give us new life. Let us pray.

Lord, we thank you that you have not left us in a state of darkness, that in Christ Jesus you have revealed to us life and light, that in Christ we have eternal life, that through Christ’s work on this earth and on the cross and in his resurrection, we can once again have a relationship with our creator, that we can come before you and we can bring our petitions to you, that we can come to you and we can call you Father. Lord, we thank you for this word, the eternal word that created all things, that gave all things life and gives us new life. I pray, O Lord, that we would no longer walk in darkness, but we would turn to the light and that we would live in it. I pray that you would bless us this week as we go forward from here, that you would strengthen us, that we would continue to walk in the light. In Jesus’ name, amen. Let’s rise and sing hymn 158. All praise to thee, my God, this night. Hymn 158.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

April 5, 2026