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John 1 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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0:00Okay, so we're [music] going to start
0:01the Gospel of John here, and if we look
0:03at the Gospels that we've worked through
0:05thus far,
0:07Matthew was the Jewish Gospel. He's
0:10making the case as an early [music]
0:11writer
0:13of how Jesus is the fulfillment of all
0:15the Old Testament prophecies. He anchors
0:18everything Jesus [music] does in the Old
0:20Testament prophecies for a Jew- Jewish
0:22audience.
0:24Mark is one of the earliest Gospels,
0:26[music] and it's the shortest, and it
0:29seems to be
0:31reflective of the teaching of Peter.
0:34It's about action, obedience,
0:36>> [music]
0:36>> and what it takes to get involved in the
0:39work of God like the Apostle Peter did.
0:42Luke is the Gentile [music] Gospel. It
0:46is making the case of Christianity from
0:49an eyewitness perspective.
0:51I was I went and talked to the
0:54eyewitnesses. It's evidence-based.
0:55[music]
0:56It's arguing and explaining even the
0:59Jewish customs to a non-Jewish audience.
1:03Um and it it tells the story [music]
1:05with more detail in many cases than any
1:08of the other Gospels.
1:10John is more different than the other
1:14three Gospels than any of them are from
1:16each other. It's very different.
1:19John is
1:21deeply rooted
1:23in the Old Testament view of God.
1:27[music]
1:28John's name himself means the Lord is
1:31gracious, Yohanan, and
1:34>> [music]
1:34>> he is deeply rooted in the Old Testament
1:37view of God. He starts with in the
1:39beginning
1:40was light, [music] and he talks about
1:41how light was the first utterance of
1:44God, and ties light to So, he's very
1:46much tying his Gospel [music]
1:48to Genesis 1:1,
1:50and describing how in the beginning God
1:54said, and that was light. Well, in the
1:56same way, that creative agency of God,
2:00his final statement was to become a
2:03human being.
2:04John is in a sense of theology. He wants
2:09us to understand
2:11who God is and who Jesus [music] is.
2:14He's not presenting the story. He's more
2:17dealing with the problems that would
2:19have arisen
2:20after people had heard the story many
2:22times. [music]
2:23So, he's giving he's strengthening the
2:25case and he's helping us understand
2:28Christology, how the incarnation, how
2:31God was manifest in
2:32>> [music]
2:32>> Christ. Um
2:35he says that his point of writing in
2:37John chapter 20 verse 31, he says
2:41[music] that his point was so that you
2:42may believe. So, the whole point of his
2:44book is to increase faith among people
2:48who have heard the truth, who have heard
2:49the gospel.
2:51John is um perhaps the most beautifully
2:53written, one of the most beautifully
2:55written books in history.
2:58But, it's perhaps the most beautiful of
2:59all the gospels. His language is just
3:03it's rich. It's full of imagery. It it's
3:06it's poetic. Um it's emotional. So, John
3:11is, like all the other gospels, one of
3:13my favorite. John chapter 1 verse 1.
3:18In the beginning was the word.
3:20And the word was with God.
3:23And the word was God.
3:25And he was in the beginning with God.
3:27All things came into being through him.
3:30And apart from him, nothing came into
3:32being that has come into being.
3:35In him was life. And the life was the
3:38light of men.
3:40And the light shines in the darkness.
3:43And the darkness did not comprehend it.
3:47Some of the most powerful, beautiful
3:49words in any language.
3:53>> [snorts]
3:53>> This idea of
3:55in the beginning was the word is saying
3:57that God's creative agency from the very
4:01beginning was his word.
4:04And there are times where the Bible
4:06speaks of aspects of God's nature
4:09as with him
4:11>> [clears throat]
4:11>> or beside him.
4:13It speaks of this in Proverbs 8.
4:16It says, "Wisdom was at my right hand as
4:19a wise master craftsman."
4:22And it does not entail an additional
4:24person or entity.
4:27It simply is referring to God's creative
4:30word.
4:31And that word that was with God when he
4:33said, "Let there be light." is also the
4:37word that became flesh in the life of
4:39Jesus.
4:41It's the It's the creative agency
4:45of God becoming human flesh, taking on
4:48the tabernacle
4:50of human flesh.
4:52There came a man sent from God whose
4:54name was John. He came as a witness to
4:57testify about the light
4:59so that all might believe through him.
5:01He was not the light, but he came to
5:04testify about the light.
5:07There was the true light which coming
5:09into the world enlightens every man.
5:12He was in the world, and the world was
5:15made through him.
5:17And the world did not know him.
5:20He came to his own, and those who were
5:22his own
5:23did not receive him.
5:25But as many as received him, to them he
5:28gave the right to become children of
5:31God,
5:32even to those who believe in his name.
5:35Who were born not of blood, nor of the
5:37will of the flesh, nor of the will of
5:40man, but of God.
5:43So in this he says that John came to
5:46testify about the light, but he wasn't
5:48the light. The light was Jesus.
5:52And yet, the light shines in the
5:53darkness, and the darkness does not
5:55comprehend it.
5:57He came to his own, and those who were
5:59his own did not receive him. They
6:01rejected the light of God.
6:04Yet, as many as received him, to them he
6:06gave the right, and the word is exousia
6:09in Greek. It means the right, the power,
6:12or the authority to become children of
6:15God,
6:17to those who believe in his name.
6:20To those who accept his authority by
6:23believing in the power of his given
6:26name, the name of Jesus.
6:28Through his name, we have authority.
6:32Through his name, we have the power, the
6:34right to become children of God.
6:37And these are those who were born in a
6:40new way, not of blood or of the will of
6:43flesh, nor of the will of man, which is
6:45how everybody is naturally born.
6:48Those are the markers that describe
6:49every natural birth, but these are born
6:51of God.
6:53These who believe in his name.
6:56And the word became flesh, and dwelt
6:59among us, and we saw his glory, glory as
7:03of the only begotten from the Father,
7:06full of grace and truth.
7:09The word of God, the creative agency of
7:12God, became a human being, became flesh.
7:18Tabernacled itself in our humanity,
7:20robed itself in our mortality,
7:24and dwelt among us,
7:27and we saw his glory.
7:30When God's almighty presence
7:33becomes one with human flesh, we call
7:37that glory.
7:38That is the agency, that is the
7:40principle of glory, the union between
7:44the divine and the human.
7:47Glory as of the only begotten from the
7:49Father, full of grace and truth.
7:53Notice that grace is a substance that we
7:55are filled with, that Jesus was filled
7:58with. It's not a permit, it's not a
8:00legal declaration.
8:02Only grace is a substance, truth is a
8:06substance because both describe the
8:09presence, the spirit of God.
8:12Full of grace and truth.
8:15John testified about him, Jesus, and
8:18cried out saying, "This was he
8:21of whom I said,
8:24he who comes after me has a higher rank
8:26than I, for he existed before me."
8:29For of his fullness
8:32we have all received and grace upon
8:36grace.
8:38So, he was full of grace and truth, but
8:41we're going to receive of that fullness.
8:43We're not going to receive that
8:44fullness, but we're going to receive of
8:46that fullness.
8:48All the fullness of God lived inside of
8:51Jesus. All the unlimited power of the
8:54almighty dwelt in the humanity of
8:57Christ.
8:58And we will receive some of that
9:01in portions according to the measure of
9:04Christ's gift distributed to many
9:08saints, distributed among the body of
9:10Christ, but he received his fullness.
9:14For of his fullness we have all received
9:17and grace upon grace. Every time a
9:21brother receives that a portion of that
9:23fullness that was in Jesus, that's
9:25grace. Every time another receives it,
9:27that's grace. So, it's grace upon grace.
9:31It's the manifold grace of God. It's the
9:34many expressed or the multifaceted
9:37expression of God's grace
9:39in his people,
9:42but in Jesus it was all the fullness.
9:45For the law was given through Moses,
9:47grace and truth were revealed through
9:50Jesus Christ.
9:52No one has seen God at any time.
9:56The only begotten Son of God, who is in
9:58the bosom of the Father, he has
10:00explained him.
10:02>> [clears throat]
10:03>> So, notice that John is speaking
10:07in the present tense,
10:09some 30 years, 40 years after Jesus has
10:13ascended into heaven.
10:15And he makes the statement, "No one has
10:17seen God at any time."
10:20God is spirit.
10:23Jesus was not just spirit, he was fully
10:27human and fully divine.
10:30He was human and in his humanity, he was
10:33God's Son.
10:34But indwelling that humanity was the
10:37almighty, the God who is spirit was
10:40living inside of him.
10:42So, the invisible God was made visible
10:45through the humanity of Jesus Christ.
10:49The early church father,
10:53one generation removed from the Apostle
10:55John, would say, Irenaeus would say,
10:59"The Father is that which is invisible
11:02about the Son,
11:04and the Son is that which is
11:07visible about the Father."
11:10So, what we can see of God is the Son of
11:12God. And what we cannot see of Jesus,
11:16what is invisible, his spirit, is the
11:18Father.
11:20No one has seen God at any time, the
11:22only begotten Son of God, who is in the
11:23bosom of the Father, he has explained
11:26him.
11:27This means he has revealed him, he has
11:30brought him out of obscurity and made
11:32him known.
11:33Jesus
11:35and the whole point of the incarnation
11:37was to reveal the Father to us.
11:41And every
11:43appearance or understanding of God
11:45before Jesus is partial.
11:48God spoke in bits and pieces to our
11:50fathers in times past, but in these last
11:53days he has spoken to us through his
11:55son, whom he appointed heir of all
11:57things. He is the outshining of his
12:01essence, the exact likeness or
12:03representation of his being.
12:06So, Jesus is not the manifestation
12:09of some portion of God. He is the
12:13revelation of the Father.
12:15If we want to know the Father's
12:16character, look at Jesus. His mercy,
12:19look at Jesus. His love, look at Jesus.
12:22Jesus is what is visible of the Father.
12:27No one has seen God at any time.
12:29Everything, every prior understanding
12:33is blindness compared to Jesus.
12:36The Father that was in him was doing the
12:38works, and he came to manifest the
12:40Father. He is the image of the invisible
12:43God.
12:46No one has seen God at any time. Prior
12:48to that, a veil lay over their hearts.
12:51Prior to that, people saw a God of wrath
12:54and a God of anger and a God of justice
12:57and a God of holiness, but a God that
13:00invoked fear because they were seeing
13:02him through his mediated acts, mediated
13:06through the angelic host. But now,
13:09there's going to be one mediator between
13:11man and God, the man Christ Jesus. And
13:14this is going to be the ultimate pure
13:17and the only full revelation of God the
13:20Father. It's not going to be a
13:22revelation of a new entity. It's not
13:24going to be a revelation of a third of
13:26God. It's going to be a revelation of
13:28God the Father.
13:30He is how we understand the heart and
13:33character and face
13:36of Yahweh. He is the glory of God in the
13:38face of Jesus Christ.
13:42This is the testimony of John when the
13:44Jews sent to him priests and Levites
13:46from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are
13:49you?"
13:50And he confessed and did not deny, but
13:52confessed, "I am not the Messiah, the
13:55Christ."
13:57They asked him, "What then? Are you
13:59Elijah?" And he said, "I am not."
14:02"Are you the prophet?" And he answered,
14:04"No."
14:05Then they said to him, "Who are you so
14:08that we may give an answer to those who
14:10sent us? What do you say about
14:12yourself?"
14:14He said,
14:15"I am a voice of one crying in the
14:18wilderness, make straight the way of the
14:21Lord,
14:22as Isaiah the prophet said."
14:25Now they had sent from the Pharisees.
14:28They asked him and said to him, "Why
14:30then are you baptizing if you are not
14:33the Messiah, the Christ, not Elijah, nor
14:37the prophet?"
14:40John's going to answer them here in a
14:41moment.
14:43But John is asked here a blunt question
14:46by a bunch of unbelieving skeptical
14:49people.
14:50"Are you Elijah?" And he answers and
14:52says, "I am not."
14:55And you say, "But Jesus said John was
14:59Elijah."
15:00Why would he tell them, "I am not"?
15:03Because Jesus said, "If you are willing
15:06to believe it,
15:08he was Elijah who was to come."
15:11In other words, if you're not willing to
15:13believe it,
15:14he's nothing.
15:16The question of whether John was the
15:18fulfillment of God's promise or not
15:21pivoted on what was in the hearts of
15:23those seeking.
15:24He wasn't just automatically the
15:26fulfillment. He was the fulfillment if
15:28your heart was right to receive it.
15:31John answered them saying, "I baptize in
15:34water,
15:35but among you stands one whom you do not
15:38know."
15:40Here's the theme that
15:42the writer of the book is bringing to us
15:44here.
15:45He's among his own and his own don't
15:47recognize him.
15:49Among you stands one whom you do not
15:52know.
15:52It is he who comes after me,
15:55the thong of whose sandal I am not
15:57worthy to untie.
15:59These things took place in Bethany
16:01beyond the Jordan, where John was
16:03baptizing.
16:05The next day he saw Jesus coming to him
16:07and said,
16:09"Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away
16:12the sin of the world."
16:15This is he on behalf of whom I said,
16:18"After me comes a man who has a higher
16:20rank than I,
16:22for he existed before me."
16:24John admits, "I did not recognize him,
16:27but so that he might be manifested to
16:30Israel, I came baptizing in water."
16:34So, John is saying, "I was doing a work
16:36among the people,
16:38getting them to turn from their
16:39self-will and the blindness of their
16:42pride.
16:44And if they were coming to repentance
16:46through my ministry,
16:47then they would have the eyes to see
16:50what they would have otherwise
16:52remained blind to,
16:53the Messiah."
16:55If John hadn't come,
16:57Israel would have been entirely blind to
17:00Jesus.
17:01But as it were, because of the work of
17:03repentance,
17:05their eyes would be opened and many
17:06would see.
17:09"I did not recognize him,
17:11but so that he might be manifested to
17:13Israel, I came baptizing in water."
17:17John testified saying, "I have seen the
17:20Spirit descending as a dove out of
17:22heaven,
17:23and he remained upon him. I did not
17:26recognize him,
17:28but he who sent me to baptize in water
17:30said to me, 'He upon whom you see the
17:33Spirit descending and remaining upon
17:35him, this is the one who baptizes in the
17:39Holy Spirit.'
17:40I myself have seen and have testified
17:44that this is the Son of God."
17:47Again, the next day John was standing
17:50with two of his disciples, and he looked
17:52at Jesus as he walked and said, "Behold,
17:55the Lamb of God."
17:57Which just means look.
17:59Look at that. That's the Lamb of God.
18:02And to call him the Lamb is to say that
18:04John knew that he was going to be the
18:06atoning sacrifice.
18:09Lamb is meaningful only as the
18:12forgiveness of God.
18:14The two disciples heard him speak, and
18:16they followed Jesus. So, John spoke a
18:20compliment of Jesus that resulted in
18:22some of his own followers leaving him.
18:24It wasn't about John.
18:27And Jesus turned and saw them following
18:29and said to them, "What do you seek?"
18:32They said to him, "Rabbi," which
18:34translated means teacher, "where are you
18:35staying?"
18:37He said to them, "Come,
18:40and you will see."
18:41So, they came and saw where he was
18:43staying, and they stayed with him that
18:45day, for it was about the 10th hour.
18:48One of the two who heard John speak and
18:50followed him
18:52was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
18:55He found first his own brother Simon and
18:57said to him,
18:58"We have found the Messiah."
19:00Which translated means Christ.
19:04He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at
19:06him and said, "You are Simon, the son of
19:08John. You shall be called Cephas,
19:11which is translated Peter.
19:14The next day he purposed to go into
19:16Galilee
19:18and he found Philip, and Jesus said to
19:20him, "Follow me."
19:22Now Philip was from Bethsaida,
19:25the city of Andrew and Peter.
19:28Philip found Nathanael and said to him,
19:31"We have found him of whom Moses in the
19:33law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus
19:37of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
19:40Nathanael said to him,
19:42"Can any good thing come out of
19:43Nazareth?"
19:45Philip said to him, "Come and see."
19:49So,
19:50when Philip finds Nathanael, he says,
19:53"We have found him of whom Moses in the
19:57law and also the prophets wrote,
20:00Yeshua of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
20:04It was well known to the Jews that the
20:06Messiah would be connected to the son of
20:08Joseph. That was the suffering servant.
20:12But Nathanael says to him, "Can any good
20:14thing come out of Nazareth?"
20:17Nazareth was the Gentile region of
20:21Judea. It was the area deeply influenced
20:24by Gentiles where most of the revolts
20:27were taking place. It was the least
20:29educated. It was the least likely for a
20:32Messiah or a king to come. And they
20:35would have expected that from Bethlehem,
20:37from Judea. They would have expected
20:40that from certain pious regions of
20:43uh Israel, but they would not have
20:45expected anything good coming from
20:48>> [clears throat]
20:48>> Nazareth.
20:49It was a notorious region and it was not
20:53known in a positive light.
20:57But Philip said to him, "Come and see."
20:59Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and
21:01said,
21:02"Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom
21:05there is no deceit.
21:09Nathanael said to him,
21:10"How do you know me?"
21:13Jesus answered and said to him, "Before
21:16Philip called you,
21:18when you were under the fig tree,
21:20I saw you."
21:22Nathanael answered him,
21:24"Rabbi, you are the Son of God. You are
21:28the King of Israel."
21:30Jesus answered and said to him,
21:33"Because I said to you that I saw you
21:35under the fig tree, do you believe?
21:38You will see greater things than these."
21:41And he said to him, "Truly,
21:42[clears throat] truly, I say to you, you
21:45will see the heavens opened and the
21:47angels of God ascending and descending
21:51on the Son of Man."
21:54So,
21:56Nathanael is a skeptic.
21:58He's not jumping at the idea that the
22:02Messiah is a Nazarene.
22:06And so,
22:07Philip tells him to come and see.
22:11Come experience it. He doesn't reason
22:13with Nathanael. He doesn't argue about
22:16scripture.
22:17It's experiential.
22:19Come and experience for yourself.
22:22And when he comes to Jesus,
22:25Jesus says, "Behold, an Israelite
22:27indeed, in whom there is no deceit."
22:31He's saying
22:33a lot. He's saying that there's a lot of
22:35deceit in Israel.
22:38There's a lot of words that don't
22:40correlate to actions.
22:42There's a lot of niceties that cover up
22:46for the
22:47feelings that people actually harbor in
22:49their own hearts.
22:51So, when he sees Nathanael, he sees
22:54someone who is frank, who is honest,
22:58who's not going to play games. And
22:59Nathanael proves it.
23:01He gives him this compliment,
23:03which is pretty uncommon for Jesus among
23:06all of his disciples.
23:09And Nathaniel does not receive it. He
23:11retorts,
23:12"How do you know me?"
23:15And Jesus says, "Before Philip called
23:17you, when you were under the fig tree, I
23:20saw you." We don't know the details,
23:23but Nathaniel must have been having a
23:24very significant moment under that fig
23:27tree.
23:28Was he praying?
23:30Was he saying, "God, I I can't stand
23:33this deceit in Israel. I need an
23:35answer." We don't know.
23:38But somehow,
23:40when he connects
23:41his compliment about being a man without
23:44deceit [music] to his moment under the
23:46fig tree, Nathaniel knows that Jesus
23:49knows
23:50his heart. He feels that he has [music]
23:53read the secrets of his heart. And so,
23:55he acknowledges that you are the son of
23:58God, you are the king of Israel.
24:00And Jesus [music] says,
24:02now he kind of does a Nathaniel on him.
24:04He says, "Because I said to you, I saw
24:07you under the fig tree, do you believe
24:08in me?
24:11You will see greater things than these."
24:14And he said to him, "Truly, I say to
24:16you, you will see the heavens opened."
24:18And this [music] certainly refers to
24:20when Jesus ascends.
24:23Amen.
24:24But the heavens opened refers to more
24:27than that.
24:28He's saying, [music] "You will see
24:31the barrier between heaven and earth
24:34ripped away.
24:36The canopy of control that the devil
24:38exerts through the fear of death on all
24:41those on this earth, [music] it will be
24:43torn
24:45where the blood is shed at the cross.
24:47And there will be this Jacob's ladder of
24:50connection where the body of Christ will
24:53one day stand with his head in heaven
24:56>> [music]
24:56>> and his feet upon the earth.
24:58And the angels of God will be
24:59ministering to the heirs of salvation.
25:02Those same angels that stood on the
25:03Mount of Olives and said, "Why do you
25:06stand here [music] gazing into heaven?
25:08Go
25:09to Jerusalem, where the birth of the
25:11church was going to take place." So,
25:13this is a spiritual [music]
25:14vision
25:15of the union between heaven and earth
25:17that Christ [music] would accomplish
25:19through himself, through his corporate
25:21body, through his
25:22>> [music]
25:22>> his sac-
25:24through his sacrifice on the cross
25:27that opened the door [music] to heaven
25:29for us to enter into the holy place,
25:31which is in heaven itself.
25:34And it also refers to his corporate
25:35body, which is the place of salvation
25:38that he inaugurated.
25:41>> [music]

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