Transcript The Gospel of JOHN“The Gospel of Boldness”

The Gospel of JOHN
“The Gospel of Boldness”
Chapter One: “Bold Claims”
Pages 5-14
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Prologue to John’s Gospel – John 1:1-18
 It is a brief “overview” of the entire mission of
Jesus in the world.
 We learn:
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who Jesus was,
what He did for men,
how He was received and, in retrospect,
what was the significance of His time here.
 There are some BOLD CLAIMS made in
opening statements of the book
 Let’s read John 1:1-18
John 1:1-18
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Prologue to John’s Gospel – John 1:1-18
 We will be referring to two Johns in our study
 John, the writer of this book, never mentions
his own name [possibly due to his humility]
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The workbook and presentations will use his name
and it should be obvious when used
 Another John is prominent in the first half of
John’s gospel
 He is John, the baptizer or, “John the Baptist”

John 1:1-18
His name is mentioned 20 times in the book
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Prologue to John’s Gospel – John 1:1-18
 John’s Gospel is to be much more than a
record of one man’s life on earth
 John’s purpose will be:

to generate faith in Jesus’ divine nature, and by
that faith
 to bring eternal salvation to lost sinners
[John 20:30,31]
“And truly Jesus did many other signs in the
presence of His disciples, which are not written in
this book; but these are written that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing you may have life in His name.”
John 1:1-18
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Who was this Man?
1. He was “in the beginning.”
2. He was “the Word.”
3. He was “with God.”
4. He was the “Maker of all things.”
5. He was the “Lifegiver” of all life.
6. He was the single source of light for a
darkened world.
John 1:1-5
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Who was this Man?
1. He was “in the beginning.”
 Both John and Moses began their writings with
“In the beginning”
 This Being of whom John is to write has, in
essence, always been, because He is God!
 But, in form, He has not always been [the same],
because, for a time, He became a man among
men!
John 1:1-5
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Who was this Man?
2. He was “the Word.”
 “…He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and
His name is called The Word of God.” (Rev.19:13)
 Jesus is “the Word” (v.14)
 The “Word” had an existence before the world was
created
 The physical world was created by the word of God
 The spiritual environment was created by the
action of God’s “other Word”
 Jesus is God’s message to man
 Jesus was the Father’s expression of Himself to
mankind
John 1:1-5
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Who was this Man?
3. He was “with God.”
 John’s Gospel will focus on the relationship that
existed between the Father and the Son
 “For there are three that bear witness in heaven:
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and
these three are one.” (1Jn. 5:7)
 It was important that this “separate but equal”
status of Father and Son be established
John 1:1-5
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Who was this Man?
4. He was the “Maker of all things.”
 No greater reason could be offered to skeptical
people to embrace the power of Jesus to save
men than the fact that He had originally created
men and knew completely men’s nature and
needs (John 2:25)
 Paul said of Christ, “For by Him all things were
created that are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created
through Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16)
John 1:1-5
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Who was this Man?
5. He was the “Lifegiver” of all life.
 Originally, God had breathed the breath
of life into man, and man had become a “living”
being (Gen. 2:7)
 Now, by the same divine power, this God could
breathe spiritual life into men and empower them
to live eternally (John 6:51)
 The Word is as responsible for the gift of spiritual
life as the Word was originally responsible for the
gift of physical life.
John 1:1-5
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Who was this Man?
6. He was the single source of light for a
darkened world.
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John 1:1-5
Darkness is indicative of sin and ignorance
“Light” is essential to human life, physical and
spiritual
Jesus’ “light” [truth] could shine to light man’s way
as no other light ever could
This Light cannot be darkened or destroyed
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What did He do?
1. He “became flesh.”
2. He “dwelt among us.”
3. He allowed us to “behold His glory...of grace
and truth.”
4. He brought light to “every man.”
5. He allowed us to “see God” as never before.
John 1:6-9, 14-18
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How was He received?
1. Since creation, sin had entered the world
and had corrupted God’s creation
2. The change in the world resulted in the
creature rejecting its own Creator
3. The Lord’s “own” refused to “receive” the
world’s Savior
John 1:10-13
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How was He received?
4. Some were ready to “receive” the Son
5. Jews were children of God in the flesh, but
not children of God in the spirit
6. A “new birth” would be the only access
offered to all believers for entrance into
salvation and the kingdom of God
John 1:10-13
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The Baptist’s Testimony
 John was a man sent from God (v.6)
 He was sent to bear witness of the Light (v.7)
 John’s work as Jesus’ forerunner was very
BOLD
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Preached about the kingdom’s coming
Baptized the penitent
 He had captured the attention of the Jewish
leadership
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They wanted to know “Who are you?”
John 1:19-28
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The Baptist’s Testimony
 “He confessed...I am not the Christ” (v.20)
 They asked him even more questions
 He said: "I am 'THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING
IN THE WILDERNESS: "MAKE STRAIGHT
THE WAY OF THE LORD," ' as the prophet
Isaiah said." (Isaiah 40:3)
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“I am [only] the voice of one crying in the
wilderness;”
“My message to you is about the way [coming] of
the Lord;”
“Make straight [“direct, right, with reference to
moral transformation”--Vine] the way of the Lord.”
John 1:19-28
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The Baptist’s Testimony
 Then, they asked, “Why do you baptize?”
 John answered them, saying, "I baptize with
water, but there stands One among you
whom you do not know. It is He who, coming
after me, is preferred before me, whose
sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.“ (v.2627)
 The Christ had already come.
 He actually was “standing among them” and
they “did not know” [recognize] Him.
John 1:26-27
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Jesus, the Lamb of God
 The next day (after the delegation from
Jerusalem) John saw Jesus coming toward
him
 John said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world!” (v.29)
 “And I have seen and testified that this is the
Son of God.” (v.34)
 John’s witness is bold and unequivocal
John 1:29-34
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The First Three Disciples
 The Baptist, and two of his disciples, saw
Jesus and said, “ Behold, the Lamb of God”
 One disciple was Andrew (v.40)
 The other was John, the writer of this Gospel
 They followed Jesus to his abode and stayed
with Him that day
 Andrew was excited and wanted to tell his
brother
 Andrew told his brother Simon Peter, “We
have found the Messiah” (v.41)
 Jesus changed Simon’s name to Cephas,
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John 1:35-42
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Philip and Nathaniel
 On the next day, Jesus found Philip and said
to him, “Follow Me”
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His message was simple
Philip was excited and went to tell someone
 Philip found Nathaniel who was somewhat
skeptical of Jesus at first because of his
hometown
 Jesus then displayed some familiarity with
Nathaniel
 Nathaniel then said, “Rabbi, You are the Son
of God! You are the King of Israel!” (v.49)
John 1:43-51
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