John 1

Slide 1 The special witness of John the Baptist

Slide 2 JOHN 1:1-18

Slide 3
Why Four Gospels? Three called synoptic which means similar, written from Galilee following the third year of Jesus ministry.

Slide 4
Matt- written primary to a Jewish audience, he quotes the Old Testament in order to show Jesus’s fulfillment of it.

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Mark- many historians and theologians believe to have been written from Peter’s eyewitness account to a much broader audience. Mark portrays Jesus as the servant of The Lord unto the people.

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Luke- is a master historian compiling and gathering first hand reports from numerous eyewitness accounts. Mary the mother of Jesus and provides not only information about the birth of Jesus but also John the Baptist. Luke presents to us Jesus as the sinless son of God.

Slide 7
Finally we have the gospel of John in which we see Jesus as the eternal son equal to God. Reading all four gospels gives us a very thorough look at the ministry of Jesus.

Slide 8
Matthew, Mark, and Luke begin with the (birth of Jesus); John begins (with the birth of time)
He begins with three words found in only one other book of the Bible (Genesis) as we have seen, “in the beginning”

Slide 9
There are many things we would have no account of would it not be for John’s gospel. Matt-Mark-Luke record one Passover where John records three.

Slide 10
Jn 2John tells us of Jesus first miracle in Cana Jn 3 God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son.
Jn 3 You must be born again Nicodemus,
Jn 4 The conversation with the woman at the well.
Jn 5 Jesus heals the man at the pool of Bethesda after lying there 38 years
Jn 6 Jesus tells us he is the true bread that comes down from heaven.
Jn 7 Jesus tells us that out of our being will flow rivers of living water.
Jn 8 Jesus tells us about the woman caught in adultery.
Jn 9 The blind man healed from birth.
Jn 10 Jesus is the good shepherd and his sheep hear his voice.
Jn 11 we would not know about Lazarus being raised from the dead.
Jn 12 unless a grain fall to the earth and die it will not bear fruit, foretelling of his death burial and resurrection.
Jn 13 only in Johns gospel do we know of the washing of the disciple’s feet.

Slide 11
OT Prophets Foretold of John the Baptist.
Isaiah 40:3 “A voice of one calling in the desert Prepare the way of the Lord.” 400 hundred years of silence between OT and N T
John’s arrival is often counted a new dispensation or period of time.

Slide 12
John, was a man sent from God?
John was a man sent on a very special mission. To bear witness to (The Light- The Light of the World ) that men might believe in the coming messiah.

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Although it made little sense to Elizabeth and Zechariah God knew just when John needed to be born as Christ Jesus’s precursor. Elizabeth was old and had been infertile for a very long time.

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Luke 1:41
Yet when pregnant and receiving Mary as Mary announced her pregnancy with Jesus the Bible says John leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Slide 15
John grew up with clear direction and strong in spirit. Normally the first born was named after the father, but the angle Gabriel had foretold of John’s conception and revealed his mission.
Luke 1:63

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Remember Zechariah was mute but inscribed on tablet “His name is John” the Bible says that immediately his mouth was open and he began praising God. And spoke over the child saying that he would go before the Lord and prepare the way for him.
Luke 1:76,77
That he would give the people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins by
repentance.

Slide 17
John was a great man, but he was not the light.
John’s sole purpose on earth, was to witness, and to bear testimony to the light of the world.
His purpose stands as a dynamic example for every believer. He was born with a specific purpose and timing in history.

Slide 18
The purpose of the believer is to bear the same witness as John. The term Witness was a very important term. This was a term all Jews were very familiar with.
When a business deal was to be struck between individuals a witness was required to solidify the transaction. A wedding required the attendance and signatures of two witnesses.

Slide 19
Jesus Christ is the light of the world.
John was a man sent from God, sent on a very special mission
The word sent the phrase from God means he was not only sent from God, but from the very heart of God, he was only a man, but a man of high calling and commission of enormous responsibility and accountability.
He was sent forth as an ambassador from God, prepare the Way of the Lord ,who is the embodiment of God’s glorious Grace.

Slide 20
The message is that a servant of God is not left on his own to think up a message he is not dependent upon

his own reason or thoughts and ideas.
The purpose of this man’s witness is clearly stated that through Christ all men might believe. John’s purpose was not to start or be the organizer to minister to build some program around the synagogue or temple.
his purpose was to lead men to believe in the light he witnessed, and proclaim the light, so that all men might believe in Jesus.
John was sent to bring focus, that people would see their sin, and their need for repentance, which would lead them to their need for a savior.

Slide 21
The servant of God has one primary purpose to lead man to believe in Jesus, the light of the world. John was a great man,
Jesus himself said of John among those born of women. There is not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist, but he was not the light Matthew 11:11. The impact of humility of John was striking, the example he set for every servant of God.

Slide 22
No matter how great the ministry of a man may be in the eyes of men, that man’s ministry is eclipsed by the greatness of John.

Yet John said the throngs of his (Jesus) sandals I am not worthy to untie.

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John 1:8-9 Jesus Christ was the light, the true light. His mission was to give light to everyone to all that would receive.

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Yet he was tragically rejected by the world the very world he created. He came to his own people, but they did not accept him but instead rejected him.

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However, Jesus was wonderfully received by some who believed and became the sons of God. The source of becoming a child of God is a new birth, this not of man it was and is of God.

Slide 26
We read in John 15 APART FROM ME YOU CAN DO “NO-THING”! However We read in Philippians
THROUGH ME YOU CAN DO ALL THINGS!
Big difference in nothing and all things.
THE DIFFERENCE IS THROUGH JESUS!!

Slide 27
I want to close leaving you with this thought
John wrote this gospel 60 years after Jesus’s
Assent ion He had an opportunity to read all the other gospels. He had experienced his face to face encounter with Jesus during the three years of his ministry.
However now after sixty years of daily encounters with Jesus he now had a much stronger experiential relationship.

Slide 28
As he looks back at his time in the upper room where he writes of his head lying on the bosom of Jesus listening intently to every word our lord spoke; his realization and revelation of Jesus as he begins the book of Revelation with “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” has now come to a epiphany for him.

Slide 29
Now when John makes the statement “The disciple Jesus loved” takes on a completely experiential context as it must for you and I, as we continue to meet with Jesus in a growing relationship.
TAKING TO HEART JESUS’S WORDS
“IT IS FINISHED”

Slide 30
Everything that needed to be done for man to have a right relationship with God the Father
Has now been done! Through Jesus Christ the Son! It’s now up to you and I to believe and receive. Amen.