John 1:1-8

http://biblehub.com/parallelgospels/Johns_Picture_of_the_Logos.htm

Identity is something that we all seek to discover about ourselves.  We want to know who we are, why we are here and what we are supposed to do with our lives.  Many people who struggle with answering these questions are said to be experiencing an “identity crisis.”  As serious as that may sound, there is another type of identity crisis that is much more serious.  Unfortunately, this second type of identity crisis is even much more wide spread than the first.  This “identity crisis” could be defined as a lack of understanding about the identity of Jesus Christ.  Some want to identify Him as a myth that was invented by men like Cinderella.  Some want to identify Him as an influential historical figure like Gandhi.  Some want to identify Him as a role model worthy of emulating like Mother Teresa.  While a personal identity crisis can leave us confused this identity crisis can condemn men to an eternity in hell.  John begins his Gospel with a poetic but powerful declaration that clearly identifies for us three statements about who Jesus is and what He is doing in the world.

HE IS GOD WHO CAME TO REVEAL GOD TO THE WORLD: John identifies Jesus as the Word.  Jesus is eternal.  From the beginning of all things Jesus simply was.  He is eternally existent.  However, He was not by Himself; He was with God.  This is clearly a reference to two thirds of the Trinity as we see Jesus, God the Son, was with God the Father.  However, it is clearly stated that Jesus was God so there can be no confusion about the identity of Jesus Christ as God.  We cannot identify Jesus as just another important historical figure or as a good man that we should strive to emulate.  The Bible clearly states that Jesus is God and so the only proper response that we can have before God is reverent worship.  One of the reasons that Jesus came to this world was to reveal God to us so that we might know who He is and what He requires of us.  In reality we experience a crisis in our personal identity because we have a crisis in the identity of Jesus.  We cannot understand ourselves in any meaningful way apart from God.  Having a personal and intimate knowledge of who God is, is vital to understanding who I am and what I must do with my life.

HE IS CREATOR WHO CAME TO RESTORE THE WORLD: Jesus was with God and was God from all of eternity so He was obviously present at the beginning of the creation of the world.  It is important to understand the Jesus was not created.  However, Jesus was not only an observant bystander during creation.  Jesus was the active agent of creation.  All that was created came into being through Him.  Jesus is the Creator of the world.  God the Father spoke things into existence through Jesus.  There was nothing that was made apart from Jesus.  We know that the creation was made in perfection by God but unfortunately, sin came into the world and destroyed that perfect quality.  Sin separated man from his Creator so that Jesus had to come into the world in order to reveal Himself to man.  However, man’s sin also had a massive impact on the creation.  The curse on the planet because of man’s sin is clearly evident.  Jesus did not make any drastic changes in creation when He came into the world the first time.  However, He is planning to return to earth and once sin has been dealt with He plans to restore the creation so that it will be better than the original.  Since Jesus is our Creator, we owe our allegiance and obedience to Him.

HE IS SAVIOR WHO CAME TO RESCUE THE WORLD: Jesus is the source of eternal life to all who believe on Him.  Sin plunged this earth into sin, death and darkness.  Jesus came into the world to rescue us from sin, give us eternal life and to remove us from the darkness of sin so that we might life in His glorious light.  Unfortunately, the darkness in which mankind lives is so intense that many do not comprehend who Jesus is and what He came to do for us.  God sent John the Baptist to prepare men for the coming of Christ but even still people did not believe.  God has done many things throughout history in order to prepare the hearts of men for the coming of Christ.  The purpose for all of these revelations about Jesus is to promote belief in the hearts of men.  The means by which God rescues man from sin is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  He wants to give us eternal life.  He wants us to live with Him in the light.  In order for this to happen we much be rescued from our sin by identifying Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and recognizing that His sacrifice on the cross is our only hope for forgiveness and rescue from sin.


APPLICATION: We must identify Jesus as God and worship Him with all of our hearts.  We must identify Jesus as our Creator and obey Him as the supreme authority in our lives.  We must identify Jesus as our Savior and believe that His death and resurrection is the only means by which we can be saved from our sin.  We must be faithful like John the Baptist to testify to others about the identity of Jesus so that they too can comprehend who Jesus is and what He came to do so that they can be saved.

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