Matt Chandler - God-Given Belief

Well, good morning! It’s good to see you. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and grab those. We’ll be back in John Chapter One. We were in John Chapter One last weekend, we’ll be in John Chapter One this weekend, and we’ll be in John Chapter One next weekend. Then we’ll be in John Chapter One the weekend after that. After that, I’m not quite sure, but we will more than likely finish Chapter One. And if you think, «Oh my gosh, there are 26 chapters,» it’ll be fine, alright? It’ll be fine. There are certain parts that will move faster than just John One.

In the first 18 verses of John’s Gospel, you basically have a prologue that tells us all we are about to read in a more distilled way. I want to remind you, if you weren’t here last week, that John is not holding his cards close to his chest. In the other synoptic Gospels, you might get a genealogy or the story of Elizabeth finding out that she would have a child, but it’s not until later in the book that you find out that Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ, the light of the world. John, however, is too eager for you to know who Jesus is, so right out of the gate, he says, «In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.» John is clearly stating, «Hey, the Son of God, the Promised One, the Messiah—yeah, the one who is eternal, co-eternal with the Father—that’s Jesus.»

So, Jesus has not only always been or been co-eternal with the Father; the Son of God has eternal nature, but the person of Jesus is the Son of God putting on flesh and dwelling among us. Then Jesus in the flesh resurrected, reigns, and rules forever alongside God the Father. I should have charted that so you could see it more clearly, but that’s what the training programs are for. You should hop into that; it’ll bless you.

Now, Jesus, as the creator of all things, helps us understand our existential angst because we have been created by Jesus for Jesus, right? It makes sense why we can’t seem to fully be satisfied with anything else in creation because we have not been made by our work for our work, by our spouse for our spouse, by our friends for our friends, by our money for our money, or by our position for our position. We have been created by Jesus for Jesus, and our souls will never find rest until they find rest in Him.

See what I’m saying? John comes out strong; he’s not presenting a genealogy, which is awesome in and of itself, but John isn’t wasting any time. He is a passionate, aggressive man, saying that in the coming of the Word, in the coming of Jesus Christ and the incarnation of the Son of God, a light has shone in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it. We talked about what good news that is when we think about the darkness arrayed against Jesus Christ on His cross. You had the power of sin and death—I would say that’s formidable. You had Satan and demonic principalities and powers, the power of the secular government, the Roman Empire, and the power of the religious establishment, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. You even had the power of foolish, failing disciples. But when Christ rose from the grave, a light shone in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

If you were here last week, we actually wrote in our Bibles, and we’ll do it again today. It’s not sacrilegious; you’re okay. You’re not adding to the text. You don’t have to worry about quoting that passage in Revelation and being destroyed. The word «shine» is the first place in the Gospel of John that we encounter our first present tense, ongoing action word—"shines.» So, we circled the «s» because it’s not like at the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the light shone, and now you and I are in a lot of trouble. It shone, and it continues to shine all the way up to today.

So if the darkness in your life is related to sin and death, a light has shone in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it. If the darkness in your life today is tied to Satan and demonic principalities and curses, then a light has shone in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it. If the darkness in your life is due to some sort of secular scheme against you, then a light has shone in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it. If it’s religious, a light has shone in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it.

And look at me, if it’s your personal failures as a disciple—anyone face-to-face with some of that this week? A light has shone in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it. So, we get to dive into why that is and how that is for this whole study, but John doesn’t back off from this intensity; he actually ratchets it up from here. So, let’s look at this together. John Chapter One, we’re going to start in verse six and go through verse 13 for today: «There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness…»