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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.