The Incarnate Word (Christmas Eve service)

The incarnate Word came to this earth to shine His light on us and rescue us from the darkness.

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

• The Incarnate Word
• The Word Was Equal with God
• He Came to His Own
• From Darkness to Light
• Receive the Gift

The Incarnate Word

If you would, open your Bibles if you have a Bible or turn on your phone or your iPad or however you do it these days. And we’re going to look at the Gospel of John. We’re going to talk about the incarnate Word. The incarnate Word. In the Gospel of John, chapter 1, beginning in verse 1, it reads, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John, and this man came for a witness to bear witness to the light that all through him might believe. He, meaning John, was not the light, but was sent to bear witness of that light that was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him but as many as received him To them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believed in his name, who were born out of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. In the Word, this eternal Word that was in the beginning, became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And John bore witness of him in credit saying, this was he, of whom I said that he is preferred before me, for he was before me, and of his fullness we have all received even grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son or the only begotten God, depending on your version, who was in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.” Three things quickly. [audio unclear]

The Word Was Equal with God

when we look at this text is that the Word was equal with God, and so he was not a lesser God, a lesser deity, but he was fully and truly God, but somehow distinct from God. So are there two gods or three gods or four gods? That would be what? Polytheism, right? No, what the Bible teaches is that there is one God and this one God subsists or his substance is such that there are three persons in the one God. And of course, you don’t understand this because no one can understand it. Because God is incomprehensible. He is beyond reason to grasp. If God were easy to understand, then he wouldn’t be God. I haven’t even figured out my wife yet. And we’ve been married 30 years. You know what I mean? We don’t understand many things we think we understand. And we certainly don’t understand God in the depth of his being. So here we have this person called the logus or the word who is with God. In the Greek word there, pros means facing God. He’s looking at God, implying that there’s the relationship here between God and the word, but the word is also God. And as we learn later in scripture, we find out not only is the word God, but there’s another person in this God head called the Spirit, and he also is God. And the Bible teaches that God has a triune nature. And the more you say the Bible, the more you realize that the, the wonderful plan of salvation, which y’all mentioned to you in a moment, is only conceivable possible if God is truly three persons in one. Because you see, God couldn’t die for us if Jesus was God, and there was only one God, then God would die. Well, if God died, the universe would explode. Or should I say implode? It would cease to be, because God holds all things in his hand. He is the power that literally energizes the entire universe. So we have this word, the point. John tells us this word was the one who was also. The creator. All things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made. In other words everything that’s in existence was brought into being by the Lagas. This emphasizes his deity but it also emphasizes something else that John’s getting at here. And it’s what he was getting at a verse 3 and that is this, is that in him was life. In other words, this word was the creator, thus the source of life. This word has life in himself. Now I have life, you have life. Now some of you look like, I’m not sure if you have life right now because you’re really tired and it’s late at night. We all drink a bunch of caffeine before we got here just to be awake. I just drank two sodas real fast, so I’m ready to go. Okay? So, to say he, in him, his life, what John’s really getting at is that this word, he is self-existent. Now I exist, you exist, but our existence is dependent upon God, right? We’re dependent beings. This word was not a dependent being, Because the fountain of life was in himself. Why? Because he is truly God in the full sense of the word. Because only God has independent life. Because God is the source of all life. God is the source of all being. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. Now, John goes on to tell us that men are really in darkness, because he says, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness is not comprehended. Men, men is the generic men, right? Humanity, humankind. I know today if you use the word man or men, some people get offended, like you’re a sexist or something. I’m just using the grammar that’s been used for hundreds of years in English. Mankind, humankind. Women, kind. Children kind. It’s awkward, you know what I mean? The light shines in the darkness. So here God, this word was God, this word was light, this word was life, this word created all things, and yet all of a sudden in verse five, boom, he entered darkness. He didn’t enter light, he entered darkness. Why? Because the world that the word entered was a fallen world. And so John writing here about the word, talking about the word in the beginning, pre-existent eternal word, enters what we call space-time history. But this is a dark history. It is a fallen history. And so John assumes what the Bible refers to as original sin or the fall of mankind. He assumes that men are now living by nature, by their natural birth, he assumes men are living from God. Now they have life, but they have life, which the light of life. What’s the difference? I’ll get to that. They have life, but not the light of life. So then John tells us a man came also named John, this is John the Baptist, who came to bear witness of the light. He was the forerunner of the light. He was chosen by God to declare to this generation that the light had now come, that the Messiah had now come. And so John says that he was a voice in the wilderness, making the way straight for the Lord, preparing people’s hearts that when the light came, they would receive it. When the Messiah came, they might embrace Him truly as the Messiah. So that was John’s mission, to bear witness to the light. So the word was God, the word was eternal, the word was the creator, the Word was self-existent, and then the word came. So why did he come? Let’s look at this, verse nine. That was the true light, meaning that the word was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

He Came to His Own

He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right or the authority or the power to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name, who are born not of blood, or the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. The Word came, the light came into darkness that men might have not just natural life, but that men might have the light of life, that men might have eternal life. Eternal life. You see, John says right here that Jesus came even though he made the world and all in it.

He, let me think about this, Jesus comes, the Word, who we learned is Jesus, he comes and he enters human history and he grows up and he’s ministering to people, he’s teaching and preaching and healing and feeding. And the very people he’s talking to he created. I mean it’s a wild thought. You know what I’m saying? It’s like you know you’re playing with dolls and they come alive. Or you draw a picture and it comes alive. The very beings, persons he made, there he is talking to the very people he made. And what was their response?

He says they did not receive him. Now I think John is not just talking about the world, per se. I think when he says he came into his own, I think here specifically, excuse me, he’s talking about his own people which were the Jewish nation. Because he was or had been predicted for centuries, excuse me, to be the Messiah, that he would come through the Jewish line, that he would be the Jews Messiah, but then ultimately the savior of the world. So it came to his own people, but his own people by and large did not receive him. When you read the gospels, you see how all the leaders except for a handful rejected Jesus. Now there were people that believed, but the nation as a whole did not receive him. But some did, some did. And so John says, But, verse 12, but even though his people Hormally rejected him, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become the children of God to those who believe in his name. And then he says this, who were born, who were born. Now, weren’t they already born? I mean, if they believed in them and received them, they’re already in existence, they’re already born. But it sounds like here, people that are born are getting born, they’re getting born again. What a weird idea, right? Being born again. So go to John three, excuse me, in John chapter three, Chapter three, he actually talks about being born again when he’s talking to Nicodemus who was a Jewish leader. He says in John chapter three verse three to Nicodemus, truly, truly, or most assuredly, or definitely, I say to you, unless born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And of course, if you’ve been a Christian, fairly at the time, this idea of being born again is like, oh yeah, yeah, I know about being born again. So there’s no novelty to the idea. But you have to realize, Nicodemus is thinking, what are you talking about? What do you mean somebody had to be born again? That’s what’s weird. And he’s literally says, we’re gonna go in his mother’s room again? How is that possible? I mean, he’s just, he’s not seeing in what Jesus is getting at, that as he says here in this text, that which is flesh is flesh, but that which is spirit is spirit. By our natural birth, we’re flesh, we’re human. We have natural life and the Bible calls that bias, where we get the word biology. But there’s another word in the Greek for life and that’s the word zoae. And that’s the word that is used for spiritual life or eternal life. So it’s kind of strange, if you’re not familiar with this concept, Maybe you’re not a Christian here tonight. It’s kind of strange because on the one hand, the Bible says we’re alive, but on the other hand it says we’re dead. That’s what a zombie is. It’s like the walking dead. You know what I mean? Sounds like some people I know actually. But what it means is we have natural life. We have bias, we don’t have Zoe. We’re alive in terms of the flesh and things human, but we’re dead in terms of things spiritual. And so we can live in the world by bias, but we cannot commune with God unless we have Zoe. So to be born again means the Holy Spirit of God comes into the heart and quickens the heart in the soul and the spirit of God gives the heart new life, literally, literally, spiritual life. And that life that dwells in the heart is then eternal life. Eternal means not only long, but it’s not just quantitative, it’s qualitative, it’s a certain kind of life. And what the Bible tells us is that This eternal life is the very life of God. That’s what John is getting at here in John 1. He says this, go back to John 1. He says in verse 4, In Him, meaning the Word, was life. And the life was the light of men. Jesus didn’t come to give people natural life. He already did that when He made them. He wanted to give them a different kind of life, a spiritual life, a qualitative change, if you will, in their spiritual condition that they now had eternal life dwelling in them. Listen, my friend, you could be a, church goer your whole life. You could have been taken to church the day you were born. And you could have one foot in the grave and I as I speak because you’re getting up in years. But if you do not have eternal life in your soul, then the the Bible says that you are not a Christian. He said, wait a minute, I’ve been going to church. I know the Bible. I’ve gone to Sunday school. I did this. I’ve been tithing. I was a deacon. Maybe I was an elder. Jesus said, you must be born again. Now let me stress this word, must. He didn’t glared, okay, for you, if you want to be born again, that’s cool, you don’t have to be if you don’t want to be, I’ll let you in too. You can come into Caiman through the back back door, you can come into the front door, you can come into the side door. There’s one door. One door, the door is Jesus. He says, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, the life. No man comes to the Father but through me. To come to Jesus in a true fashion is to come to the fountain of life. And then you receive life, the Zoe life, the eternal life of God into your heart and you’re born again. You’re born anew. Now I’ve shared this with you many times. I’ve had the good fortune of becoming Christian as an adult. So I had a whole bunch of years to sin. I mean, you know, some of the glorify their non-Christian days. I’m not glorifying sin, but I sinned a whole lot. Okay. And I was immersed in the world. I was a child of the world. I was a child of my age. I did everything that I wasn’t supposed to do. And I was in darkness.

From Darkness to Light

And somewhere in my soul, I believe I actually knew I was in darkness. But then when I met Jesus Christ, when I came to the light, I received the life of men.

It was truly going from darkness to light. It was truly going from death to life. Now, if you come to Jesus when you’re young, the change might not seem as dramatic, because you had all those years to live in sin and to live in darkness and to pile all the guilt and all the shame and all the scars and all the wounds that you acquire over all those years. Because when you come to Christ, and after that, you know you’re born again. Because the change is so dramatic. You feel the weight of the guilt of sin lifted off of you. You feel the scales fall from your eyes. You can now see what you could not see before. You’re amazed how the thing that the sin that you loved now repulses you. The thing that you before hated now attracts you. You’re a new creature because you’re born again. Jesus said we must be born again. There are not two kinds of Christians.

[audio unclear] They are not born of God’s Spirit. So how do we know this? Because you look at the life and you’ll learn. I challenge you to read any of the studies that are done on the Church in America. And you will see the Church in America is full of heresy. The Church in America is full of immorality. The Church in America is full of pornography. It’s full of adultery. And I can go down the list. That is not the fruit of the spirit. The flesh is the flesh and that is what the flesh produces. And the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, meekness, kindness, gentleness, longsuffering. The fruit. When a person is born of God’s Spirit, the fruit is there to see. [audio unclear] This is all of us, whether we’re raised in a church or raised in a mosque or raised in a temple, that all of us would have the light.

Receive the Gift

But what does the text say to you? We must receive Him and we must believe on His name. The Hebrew word is salvation. The name Jesus literally means, Savior or God saves, or God, or Yahweh is salvation. And the name implies that this person, this Messiah is God, but is also the Savior. One of the greatest, and I’ll close this, one of the greatest confusions ever, ever embraced by the professing church is that we have to work to be saved.

What does John tell us? That those who believe in his name, verse 12, they were born, what, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of man. In other words, there is nothing human that we do to be born again. We receive him. Faith is a reception is a reception of a gift. It is not buying the gift, it is not wrapping the gift, it is a receiving of what, God is offering. Now I don’t know about you, but I’m probably gonna get it tomorrow. And guess what? I’m gonna receive them. And I’m going to enjoy them. And I’m looking forward to it. I don’t even know if I can sleep tonight. The greatest gift that God has ever given to mankind is the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. That’s what Jesus said for God. So loved the world he gave He’s the only begotten Son, that if you believe in Him, you will not perish but have eternal life. So maybe you, you’re here tonight, you haven’t been to church in years. Maybe you go to church every week. Maybe you go to church every day, I don’t know. But I know this, you must be born again. That means believing, but it means, even more than believing, it means receiving. Believing is a scenting, receiving is embracing. Jesus Christ will do nothing. Let me rephrase it. Jesus Christ will do everything good for you. Everything good for you. I came to Christ 42 years ago, and yes, I’ve had hard days and hard times, but he’s done nothing but good to me. Nothing but good. He wants to change your life and make you brand new. It doesn’t matter whether you’re 18 or 81. You receive him. Yes, Jesus, you’re the Savior. I’m a sinner. Save me. There’s not a magic chant you do. It’s not the words. It’s the disposition of your heart. Do you know, do you know that you’ve sinned? Do you know you need a Savior? If you know that, then you then apply to Jesus.

Jesus, be my Savior. Give him eternal life, and he will. Let’s stand and pray. Dear Lord, Jesus, the Word, the creator, the fountain of life. We thank you that you came. We thank you that you entered darkness that we might receive life. We thank you that you experienced death that we might experience life, eternal life. I pray, Lord, for any here that walked in in darkness, I ask that they will be led into the light. Lord, it’s so simple. As simple as lighting these candles is that simple. If they will just simply receive the gift that you are offering them. They will simply call upon you, Jesus save me, be my savior. You will grant them eternal life. As we celebrate your birth, Lord, make us ever, ever joyful and appreciative of this great gift of eternal life. And we pray in your name, Amen.