John #2

Do You Believe?
John #2
Pastor Ben Fleming
May 31, 2009

In the year AD 29 – almost every scientific encyclopedia tells us that there was a total solar eclipse. (PHOTO) – it might have looked like this --- this happened at the crucifixion of Christ – Luke 23:44 says “it was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shinning.” – that is how John described the eclipse. Not one scientific website on the history of eclipses disagrees with that event. (BLANK) This summer we are going to experience on Wednesday July 22 a total eclipse (2 PHOTO”S) --- It will be so spectacular it will not happen again until the year 2132. It will last for 6 minutes. The moon will move between the sun and the earth – plunging most of Asia and the western US into daytime darkness. Do you believe that? (Blank) --- I wonder what we are going to hear about this in these coming weeks? People believe what they want to believe - do they not? Even when some miracle or powerful event happens – it does not seem to change people’s beliefs. I have seen a Christian man healed from cancer but it did not change his life – his belief really did nothing for him. John 11 tells us that after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead - a few believed in Jesus but many who saw it happen and smelled the stink went to the religious leaders to complain and they plotted to kill Jesus…….We began the Gospel of John last week – turn to it. If you remember I said that the purpose that John wrote this letter was so that you might believe – he wrote in TURN AROUND SLIDE John 20:31 – “these words have been written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” Do you see what that verse says – that by believing you may have life in His name – it says something about having a certain kind of a life --- it is life in His name – it is a different kind of life than others have around you. It is not something you get when you die --- you begin to experience it when you believe. One result of that belief -- in John 3:18 “ Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” So genuine belief in Jesus means I live a life un condemned. To be condemn means that you live a life under judgment – it means you are guilty or you are unfit for service. But those who believe are not condemned. They are declared not guilty and are fit for service in the kingdom of God. PLEASE STAND AS WE READ 1 -18

Last week ……verse 5 of chapter one. “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” Jesus put it this way in John 3:19 “this is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light.” Is it not the darkness where we hide? Is this not why we come up with excuses to justify what we do? We do not want to face up to what we do and who we are? Over the years I have heard excuse after excuse from good good people to justify their actions done in the dark. It is the churches fault. It is the other persons fault. Recently, kind sweet Julie said to me, she would not think of coming to church because there is a bunch of hypocrites there – she has to deal with them because she is in retailing. But what is Julie hiding? What are some of the people who come to church hiding? Why is Julie content to remain in the darkness? Jesus said – for fear that their deeds would be exposed.

So ---What is your response to the light of Christ in your life? What is your response to the absence of light? You go outside to get some sun – it warms you – you go and get a flash light or a flood light to put light on the darkness. Think about it---- Do you feel ashamed to get undressed in a totally dark room? Most people would say no – but if you flooded the room with a flood light – you will cover up. In verses 6 – 12 John gives three responses to the light of Jesus Christ. On your outline………

Three responses to the Light of Jesus Christ.

1. Believe the testimony of John and be a witness yourself like him. (Vs.6 -8) “There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.” Notice here how there is a shift from the heavenly word to the earthly witness. John the Baptist. Turn in your bible to the last book in the OT – Malachi chp 4 --- the prophet Malachi wrote about an Elijah like prophet who was going to come. He was not writing about a prophet named Elijah but one who would act like him – (4:5) “See – I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He – will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”------John the Baptist was the first true prophet to appear in Israel in 400 years. There was no prophet who spoke the way John spoke – Matthew 3:5-6 says “Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness, saying “repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

John’s mission was not to exalt himself – but it was to witness about the Messiah – he was to testify to the Light. The word witness and testify both relate to fact – and not to opinion. They are terms that are used in a courtroom. John was called the Baptist because he was sent by God to baptize sinners in preparation for the coming of Jesus – but the purpose of John was to bear witness to Jesus so that all might believe through him. People believe in Jesus Christ through the testimony of believers like John. Men and women who have believed are agents of belief but only Jesus Christ is the object of belief. As Paul says in Romans – salvation is always a matter of faith in God… it is always a matter of believing what God has said.

In verse 8 - the apostle John was trying to guard the early church and people following John the Baptist and thinking that he was the Messiah – John wrote “he himself (JOHN) was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

Application: The term light (PHOS) that John wrote down refers to the essence of light. So – John is saying that Jesus is the essence of light or He is the source or origin of it. Does that not flow with the words of Genesis 1:3 – And God said, Let there be light, and there was light” --- God spoke light into existence. So – Jesus is the essence of light – He spoke it into existence. In contrast to that in John 5:35 Jesus said about John the Baptist “John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.” When he spoke about John the Baptist Jesus spoke the word LUCHNOS– it was a word that a greek person would use to refer to a portable lamp. PICK UP LAMP – (LEAVE IT ON) So – if you believe and if I believe – we are portable lamps --- we are not the essence of light – we are portable lamps – we are lamps of the light and we are to shine that light wherever we go. We are present day John the Baptists. We have to stick our lamps into dark places. We do not wait for the darkness to come to us we go to the darkness. One cannot believe that ones belief is real and one does not shine the light– we are only fooling ourselves. Your light might be dim at times – but if the light of Christ has come into you – its there --- we do not hide --- we do not make excuses for it – we do anything and everything to let it shine. Often times our God calls for our lamp to be around other lamps and when those lamps are together they ought to be shining brighter.

On your outline Jesus said:
Matthew 5:14-16 ““You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Apply: So what are you doing to let the light of Christ in you shine out? You just do not walk around shinning – the major way we shine the light of Christ is through our words. We speak – we talk – we communicate. God has put people in our lives to shine Jesus to. They are there but we ignore them and do not talk – I know – I do the same thing as you. Danny and Tracy live right next to me – I am trying to shine the Light of Christ on them. I have thought of taking them some flowers – I can see they love flowers – it would give me the perfect chance to talk to them – but I have not. I am confessing to you to challenge myself to follow through and shine to my next door neighbor. Who are you ignoring? Who do you walk by everyday? Who has God called you to be a John the Baptist to??? Do you have a name??? We can respond to the light of Christ by believing the testimony of John the Baptist and being a witness just like him or we can keep the Light of Christ under a basket. What are you going to do? 2nd response

2. Reject the testimony of Christ (Vs.9 -11) “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” Notice what John says – the true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. The very fact that John had to point out to man the true light tells you that man is basically blind. God puts it right in front of his eyes and man is blind to it.

Romans 1:19 - 20 tells us that God has made what is known about Him plain to them. God has shown His light to man even before He sends Jesus. Verse 20 says “for since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen – being understood from what has been made – so that men are without excuse.” God has shown his life on men through nature – and because of that we are told all men are without excuse. And yet – God is so merciful – He is so gracious ---- He so understands His creation that He sends His very Son – the true light that gives light to every man was coming into the World – He was in it – He walked on what He made and yet the world did not identify Him. They were and are blind. People refuse to come to the light of Jesus Christ because they love their sin and do not want to be exposed to it – they are willfully blind.

John says that the people that God first chose and the people that God sent His sent to first – the Jewish people --did not receive Him. They were blind and they chose to remain blind. Even to today – the Jewish nation as a whole has chosen to harden their hearts to the light of Jesus Christ. People everywhere choose to harden their hearts to the light of Christ. We as a nation are choosing to harden our hearts to the light of Jesus Christ. Jesus put it this way very directly and bluntly……..
SLIDE AND OUTLINE
John 3:19 - 21 “ This is verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

Men reject the light of Jesus Christ because they love the darkness more. If the light of Christ is in me – if the light of Christ is in you – we are attracted to the truth of God. When you walk in the dark and the shadows of darkness as a believer – and you do ---- you are drawn back to the light because of the conviction of the light – the Holy Spirit within you. But Jesus says that spiritual blindness keeps someone from seeing the light and coming to the light. They reject truth. They do not respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. They reject the fact that they are consumed by their sin – they are chained by their sin and they see no need to be released or rescued. They enjoy sin and they enjoy continually walking in sin. They are more comfortable in the darkness. “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light – so that – it may be seen plainly that what he or she has done has been done through God”. This is a testimony. This is baptism. This is confession of your sin not only privately but to other believers. When you come into the light of Christ you are drawn to reflect the work of Christ in your life. What has been done in you – you are drawn to give glory to God to reflect that glory to others. I am called to that --- if you are a believer and you have believed you are called to that – but not all and most likely few will believe and come to that light ---- people are going to reject Jesus and they are rejecting Jesus these days even more boldly. But remember that despite their rejection --- they and all people on the face of this earth will be forced to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. The bible tells us so in…

Philippians 2:9 - 11 “God exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” People will respond to the light of Christ by rejecting him…….. but #3…. People will respond by

3. Receiving and believing the testimony of Christ. (vs. 12-13) “Yet to all who received him. To those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or of a husband’s will, but born of God.”

The NIV began verse 12 with the word yet for the greek word de – it should be the English word but --- the word but is a word that helps to make a dramatic shift. Look again at verse 11 – the world hated Christ – the world rejected Christ – but the world does not frustrate God’s plan – but God makes some come to Him. Even though man is full of wrath and hatred for God – God makes some men come to Him. John wrote down the word lambano for the word receive. Lambano means to take hold of or to grasp or to obtain. It means more than receive. I receive the mail 6 days a week. I brought these flowers to illustrate this. There are two people in this room who deserve these flowers – My wife and my daughter. But I am not going to give the flowers to them. I am going to give them someone who is not related to me -- GIVE THEM --- did you notice that they had to take hold or grasp them – there had to be a response – the hand had to be open --- it had to close around them and keep them – and receive them. Receiving Christ involves more than just an intellectual agreement --- I went to church for 18 years and I agreed about everything about Christ but Christ was not in me --- I did not have the light of Christ in me even though I went to church all the time – sang – memorized scripture and I was a very good teenage boy.

Notice what verse 13 says – “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will but born of God.” Only when you receive Jesus are you born of God. You can be born to Christian parents --- your dad can be an elder or a pastor --- you can have the best credentials behind you but if you are not born of God – you do not have the light of Christ within you. You do not have new life. You do not have eternal life.

Only when a person truly believes that Jesus is the Christ and that He was sent by God and from God to pay the price for their sin and when they say – I believe – I need Christ – I need His salvation – I need to be rescued by Him – only then does salvation happen in their lives. But – and there is that but again.

Salvation – believing is not the work of the person but the work of God. It is God who makes a dead person alive – it is God who makes a blind person see. Look what verse 12 says – God gives them the right to become a child of God. It is God who gives the right – it is God who puts belief in a person. That person does not chose to drum up belief – you can try and convince them all you want but it will only be intellectual belief – not saving belief.

2 Thessalonians 2:13 “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.” I remember in December of 1973 --- I had belief about Jesus and about God and about the bible in my head – I had grown up with it --- as I look back now I can see this verse in my life --- through the sanctifying work of the Spirit --- God was setting me apart --- God was birthing and growing real belief in my life --- belief that would change me and change the course and future of my life. It began all the way back at age 14 when I went to summer camp – but new birth did not begin until that December. Belief in the truth changed my life and continues to change my life.

Application:
1. Who do you know that does not believe in the light of Christ? Who do you know who has not received Christ and become that new person in Christ? Would you pray for them? Would you ask God put belief in them? Would you ask God to bring them alive from the dead?

2. What in your life right now do you need to believe God for? What truth that God has given to us in His Word do you need to believe God for? Many of you know the struggles we have been going through as a family – for me this week the truth I want to believe and I mean experience belief is in

Job 19:7, 25 “Though I cry, I’ve been wronged. I get no response, though I call for help, there is no justice. He has blocked my way so I cannot pass, he has shrouded my paths in darkness. He tears me down on every side till I am gone – he uproots my hope like a tree but I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He will stand upon the earth”. And when my skin is destroyed yet in my flesh I will see God.”

Let us pray……….