John 1:6-34 | Witness to The Light

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸ He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. –John 1:6-8 (ESV)

INTRO:

• John the Baptist
  • A cousin of Jesus.
  • Six months older than Jesus by birth.

John 1:6-34 (ESV)

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸ He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

• John the Baptist’s purpose was to point people to Jesus, so that everyone might believe!

⁹ The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.           

• In John’s writings, light is synonymous with truth and darkness synonymous with lies.
• Truth has a lot of cheap knock offs that come in the name of numerous religions and ideologies. There are a lot of counterfeit truths in this world. There were false Christ’s before Jesus and there have been counterfeits in almost every age since.
• The Jesus of the Bible is the true light! He’s the real deal. We know that claims and accounts that contradict this Jesus are false.

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

• Jesus is before all things; He is creator God through whom all things were made whether visible or invisible (Col 1:15).
• When people receive the real Jesus; when they place their trust in this Jesus, that’s when they become God’s children. We are incapable of becoming God’s children apart from rebirth. We can’t become God’s children without being born again which comes through faith/belief in the true Jesus. Don’t settle for a lesser Jesus.
• TRANSITION: Remember John 1:1? The Word was God.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, 

• Incarnation
• Chili con carne = chili with meat… Incarnation = God with meat….

^14band we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.¹⁵ (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.’”) ¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

• ‘Grace upon grace’. Oh, our need for grace, God’s unmerited favor.
• Jesus is the standard for both grace and truth. Subjective VS objective truth.
• TRANSITION: God is invisible.
  • Col 1:15 –Christ is the image of the invisible God…
  • 1 Tim 1:17- To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

• In Christ, God became flesh/human. Why? So that we could know Him! “
• The disciples said, “Show us the Father“. Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the father”.
• Jesus took on flesh so that we could know God. Apart from Jesus, we cannot know God. If we know the true Jesus, we know God. If we do not know the true Jesus, we do not know God.

¹⁹ And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” ²¹ And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” ²² 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?” ²³ 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.”

Isaiah 40:3 (ESV) ³A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

²⁴ (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) ²⁵ They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”²⁶ John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, ²⁷ even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” ²⁸ These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

• John is saying, “It’s all about Jesus”.

²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

1 Peter 2:24 (ESV) “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

 ³⁰ This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.” ³¹ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” ³² And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. ³³ 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.’³⁴ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

Conclusion:

1. Jesus is the Light
2. If you have received the Light, then let your light shine.
3. If you have not believed in the real Jesus, receive Him by faith and be born again.