In our study of the first chapter of John, we saw the author under the inspiration of God give a masterful treatise stating the theology of Jesus Christ; that He is God in the flesh, He was with God from the beginning, He is Light and the light of the world, and that He is the Life of men, that is the Creator, the giver and sustainer of life. That was John’s opening argument in his gospel, which is given as an apologetic as well as an evangelistic message, the purpose of which is stated in John 20:31, “but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Then we saw in the remainder of chapter one that John brought forth witnesses to corroborate his claim. The first witness was John the Baptist who declared Jesus is the Son of God and the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And then John brought another group of men forward as witnesses, that being the Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip and Nathanael. Andrew called Him the Messiah, Philip said of Him that He was the One of whom Moses and the Prophets wrote, and Nathanael called Him the Son of God, the King of Israel.

Now beginning in chapter 2, John provides illustrations from the works of Christ which attest to His divinity and His purpose; that He is the Son of God, and the Messiah, that is the Savior of the world. And to do this, John begins with what he calls a sign, or what we would call a miracle. John says in vs.11, that this was the beginning of signs that Jesus did, and they manifested His glory, and because of this sign, His disciples believed in Him.

Now I would point out that His disciples already believed in Him as attested to in chapter one. But this sign increased and strengthened their faith. And that fulfills a spiritual principle found in Luke 19:26, “I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.” In other words, God will build your faith as you follow Him in faith.

Now before we get into the event in detail, I just want to be sure you understand the purpose of signs or miracles in the gospels. Many people mistakenly look at the miracles recorded in scripture and think they are a blueprint for what we can expect to accomplish in our lives. But as we look at the gospels, we see that the miracles are not simply exhibitions of our Lord’s power but they are designed to teach us certain spiritual truth. I have stated before on numerous occasions that all miracles in the gospels are given as a parable to teach a spiritual principle. And we would do well to remember that as we study the scriptures. No where is it taught that Jesus healed everyone, or performed miracles in order to make His life easier or just to remove some difficulty. But miracles serve to illustrate a spiritual principle by means of an earthly parable.

And I like the word John uses rather than using the word miracle. He uses the word sign. We all know what signs are, don’t we? You are driving down the road at night and you see a yellow diamond shaped sign with an image of a leaping deer, you know what that means don’t you? I know what some of you think. “Target practice.” But seriously, we all know it warns us that deer might be on the road ahead. And in the same way a sign as used in this passage points to a person, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. It points ahead to a time when Christ will be manifested to the world, but for now we see a sign signifying that He is Lord.

So we know then that the following miracle is not merely presented as just a happy circumstance that happened 2000 years ago, but that it points to something that will be revealed fully later, it points to a truth about Christ. So as we unpack this account, let’s focus on the principles that God is teaching us through this sign. And there are a number of them here. But first let’s fill in a little background information in order to be able to understand it fully.

The third day establishes the chronology of John as he gives this historical account, after the day mentioned at the end of chapter one when he saw Philip and Philip called Nathanael. There have been two days intervening, when Jesus and the disciples traveled to Cana of Galilee, which was the hometown of Nathanael. So not only Nathanael would have known the groom who was being married in this tiny village, but obviously Jesus did as well, as it says in vs.2 that He and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And it’s likely that since Cana is only about 6 miles from Nazareth, and Jesus’ mother was in attendance and she seems to have direction over the wine and servants, that there is a good possibility that this is the marriage of one of Jesus’ brothers. That is speculation of course, but it accounts for the fact that His mother is in a supervisory role in the marriage over the wine and the servants.

But I would point out that John has deliberately left out such details. They are not really germane to the story or the principle of the story. Many people have read way too much in between the lines of this account and as a result have come up with all sorts of false doctrines, such as the worship of Mary and the intercession of Mary, so that they teach the need to pray to Mary to intercede on their behalf. And nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the event proves that Mary is in need of a Savior just as everyone else is. She is not in a preferred status as evidenced in Jesus addressing her as “woman” rather than mother.

Now just a word about weddings in general in those times. Weddings were the social events of the year in that culture. When people came to a marriage celebration, they came because there had been a betrothal, an engagement period. About a year earlier, the couple had been engaged. That was a legal, binding, contract that could only be broken by divorce. But the marriage wasn’t consummated at this point. It was consummated at the end of the celebration which sometimes lasted for up to a week.

Ancient Jewish weddings were very different from our modern affairs. In western weddings the bride is the prominent figure. When the bride enters, clothed in all her glory, the whole congregation stands and the organ plays, “Here comes the bride! ” and every eye is focused on her. But in ancient Jewish weddings it was the groom that was prominent. He was the one whose coming was anticipated.

So for a year the husband has been preparing a place for his bride. He would have purchased or built a house for his bride and prepared it for them to live in. And during this time he would have been working to pay for the cost of the wedding feast. The bridegroom had full responsibility for all the cost of the wedding which lasted for up to a week and involved the whole village. His job was to get everything ready, and then when everything was ready and the house was built and the house was furnished and all preparations were made and he had demonstrated that he had what it took to care for his bride and to provide for her, he would come take his bride to his house and the celebrations began.

Now I cannot help but see a correlation here in this account of the marriage in Cana to the marriage of Christ and the church as His bride. In Ephesians 5 Paul talks about the church being the bride of Christ and compares His relationship to the human institution of marriage between a man and a woman. Listen to this; Eph. 5:23-32, “For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” Notice that a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh. Is that not an echo of what we read at the beginning of chapter one, that the Word was with God, but the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He became one of us, that He might be joined to us, so that we might become one with God.

So in the marriage of Christ and the church Jesus is the bridegroom and we are the bride of Christ. Jesus calls Himself the bridegroom in Matt. 9:15 “And Jesus said to them, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

So as we understand the symbolism of marriage, Christ became flesh to seek a bride which is His church. He betrothed Himself to her. He has made promises to come again and take us to His home which He said He is preparing for us. And when He comes again, we will join in the celebration of the marriage supper of the Lamb and then we will be like Him and join Him on the throne in His glory to rule and reign and live with Him forever.

Now as we understand that, it helps us to know what Jesus is saying when He responds to His mother’s complaint that they had run out of wine. This was a major faux paus on the part of the bridegroom. He somehow either did not have the means to buy enough wine, or they had more people show up than they had planned for or the party ran a few days longer. And the fact is they couldn’t just run down to the store and pick up a few more bottles. So if one of Jesus’ brothers were getting married, and Mary was the matron of honor so to speak, then the family of Jesus was responsible for getting more wine. Jesus as the eldest son would have had the headship of the family. It is generally agreed upon by most scholars that Joseph was dead by this time and so Jesus would have taken on the responsibility as head of the family.

So Mary says to Jesus, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour is not yet come.” Now there is a lot of commentary on that phrase, “what do I have to do with you,” as well as the fact that He called His mother Woman. First of all, Woman was not a term of disrespect, but a word which signaled a change in relationship between Jesus and Mary. As Jesus began His earthly ministry, He would no longer be bound by familial restraints as head of the household, and as a consequence she would have no more hold over Him in the usual way a mother might have over her son. But even more to the point, as I said earlier, it indicates that she does not have any special privilege as His mother. She would have to come to Christ the same way every other person must come; as a sinner, saved by grace. Even on the cross, as He is obviously full of concern for His mother, He calls her Woman, even as He passes on responsibility for her well being to the Apostle John. So it’s not a disparaging title, but a term designating a change of position, from Son to Savior.

And then to the question of what He said. A better reading might be; “What is that to you and to Me?” In other words, the fact that they don’t have wine, what is that to us? My hour is not yet come.”

Now keep in mind the picture presented here is Christ coming for His church, His bride. He is saying I am not ready to provide the wine at this point of my ministry, because my hour is not yet come. So what is does the wine symbolize? Well, in a few minutes we will be celebrating another supper, the Lord’s Supper. And as you know there are two elements in communion, the wine and the bread. And Jesus quoted by Paul in 1Cor. 11:25 says, “In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” Now when Jesus said that, obviously it could not be His own blood as the Catholics would have us believe, because He had not yet shed His blood. So what was it? It was wine. Wine symbolizes then the blood of Christ which washes away our sins, in which we have forgiveness of our sins. This is the token of the new covenant which Hebrews 9:15 speaks of, which is better than the old covenant which featured the blood of bulls and goats which could never take away sins. But the new covenant in His blood takes away sins and purchases the right to an eternal inheritance.

So Jesus is saying, My hour to die on the cross and shed My blood for the remission of sins is not yet come. He will say the same thing in John 7:30 “So they were seeking to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.” He speaks of His hour in another half a dozen places in John’s gospel. And finally in His priestly prayer before His crucifixion in chapter 17 He prays, “Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son.” Amazing isn’t it? That He equates crucifixion with glory. And why would He say that? Because at that time He purchases the redemption and sanctification of His bride. In that act God destroys the power of sin and death and crushes the head of the serpent, Satan. His death achieves the glory of God. It manifests the glory of Christ and it makes possible the glory of the church, His bride. So then His hour He speaks of is the time when He offers up His life as a sacrifice on the cross for sin, purchasing with His blood the remission of sins for all who believe on Him.

So Jesus says, “I am not ready to be glorified at this point. I am not ready to shed my blood which will be the wine of the new covenant at this hour. That hour is coming, but it is not now.

But somehow Mary understands that He isn’t speaking a rebuke to her, He is speaking metaphorically of His glorification which had been promised her by the angels before His birth. And so she turns to the servants and says “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Mary doesn’t speak much on record in the scriptures, and so we should find what she says very instructive. Our emphasis is not on the words of Mary, or the actions of Mary as an intercessor, but on the Word made flesh. Our obedience and obeisance should be to the words of Christ. The preference is not given to Mary but to Jesus and her instructions indicate that.

So Jesus knowing the need, supplies the abundance. He said He came to give life and that more abundantly. And that is a principle we see here in this sign as well in other places, particularly at the feeding of the multitudes. Jesus does not just supply barely enough, or not quite enough, but supplies grace upon grace. John 1:16 “for of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” This is speaking of His grace of righteousness to cover our sins. We cannot spend all the grace of Christ. Not that we should desire to presume upon the grace of God through licentiousness in continuing to sin, but that regardless of the greatness of our sin, the greatness of our separation from God, He has provided more grace than enough to reconcile us to God.

So Jesus orders the servants to take the six empty water pots and fill them with water. And the servants fill them to the brim. The Bible scholars tell us that this would have been about 120 to 150 gallons of water. That would have provided well over 3000 servings of wine. The significance of that is a measure of His grace; of His fullness, of the abundant supply of righteousness. And then when the servant drew out the water and presented it to the head waiter he was astonished that the bridegroom had saved the best wine for last.

I used to train wine stewards when I was in the hotel restaurant business. And I can assure you that if the wine steward knew it was wine, it was indeed wine. Now it is well known that they watered wine down in those days three parts water to one part wine, so that it was very difficult to get drunk from normal table wine. But it was wine, and furthermore, it was very good wine.

Now a note about the water pots. John says that they were used for ceremonial washings; for the Jewish custom of purification. The Levitical law required certain ceremonial washings in regard to sacrifices and various modes of daily life. But over time the Jews had added customs to the law that far exceeded the intent of the law to imply that the physical cleanliness was a means of spiritual cleanness. As you will remember, the Pharisees condemned the disciples at one point to Jesus because they had not ceremoniously washed their hands before eating. And later on Jesus condemns that sort of external ceremony that does not cleanse the heart of sin. Matt. 23:25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.” So Jesus condemns the ceremonial washings which could never take away spiritual uncleanness.

So as we already alluded to, the old covenant could not take away sins by the blood of bulls and goats, nor could the customs and traditions imposed by the religious leaders take away sins. And let me be even more clear, the ceremony of baptism cannot wash away sins. All of those things are just signs as well, pointing to the blood of Christ which is the only thing that can take away sin.

So what are the principles that we learn from this parable illustrated by a sign? One is that when Christ bestows a blessing it is usually preceded by a command. Secondly, Christ’s commands are not to be questioned, but obeyed. Thirdly, that Christ is the bridegroom that has purchased the redemption of His bride with His blood, for the forgiveness of their sins and to give them an inheritance prepared in heaven. Fourth, that as the wine was more than enough to meet the needs of the party, His grace is more than sufficient for all our sins, that we have received His fullness and grace upon grace. Fifth, that only His blood is sufficient to cleanse us from sin, but that no ceremony has the power to do more than point to Christ. Sixth, that the new covenant is a better covenant, enacted on better promises. And seventh, that He has saved the best for last.

As Heb. 11:39-40 says concerning the patriarchs and heroes of the faith of old, “And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.” We are living in the last days. And God has saved the best for last. We have the complete, perfect revelation of Christ. We have His death, burial, resurrection of Christ and He now stands at the Father’s right hand to make intercession for us. We have all the promises of God made more sure by the written scripture. We have the immeasurable benefit of the Holy Spirit living in us, even as wine in stone water pots. Even as 2Cor. 4:7 says, that “we have this treasure in earthen vessels.” So that by the power of the Spirit within us we might live to the glory of Christ. Our redeemed, transformed lives are able to bring about glory to Christ through His death which is symbolized in the wine of His blood which was shed for us.

Our Lord is able to take the person who recognizes that they fall short of the righteousness required and with his touch make them full of abundant life; to turn their mourning into joy. He will do this with any who will call upon Him, follow Him, and believe in Him. That is why John highlights for us in vs.11, that seeing this sign, “the disciples believed in Him.” I pray that your faith in Christ has been strengthened as well as we understand the significance of this sign; what Christ has done for us and what His purpose is for us as we follow Him.

As we continue in our study of the book of John, I would remind you that John has given a theological treatise, or opening argument in the first 18 verses that is unparalleled in scripture establishing the divinity of Jesus Christ. And then starting in vs. 19 he brought forth his first witness to testify to his premise which is stated in chapter 20vs.11, “but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” That is the purpose of his epistle. To show that Jesus is the Christ, that is the Messiah, and that He is the Son of God, and as a result to illuminate men to the saving knowledge of that truth, so that we might have life, eternal life, in His name.

So as John proceeds to lay out his gospel he first brings John the Baptist to give testimony as to the eternal nature of Jesus, to give testimony that God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit, to testify that Jesus the Christ, that is the Messiah, to testify that Jesus was the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, and to testify that Jesus was the Son of God. That was the testimony of John the Baptist.

Now according to Jewish law, every fact was to be corroborated by two or three witnesses. So starting in vs. 35, John introduces three more testimonials from ordinary common men who would become disciples of Christ. And we are going to look at these men’s testimony. But in the process of hearing their testimony, we will also see revealed the ultimate goal of John which is to show the way of salvation, so that one might have life in Christ. And in the process of showing the way of salvation, we will also see the method of evangelism. So you might break down this passage by saying there are three points that are interwoven in the narrative; the testimony of the disciples presented, the way of salvation presented, and the method of evangelism presented.

Let’s begin with the testimony of the disciples presented and we will see the other two elements interwoven in the process as we go along. The apostle has already introduced John the Baptist and his testimony. But as a means of introducing the next witnesses he says that John the Baptist was standing with two of his disciples when he sees Jesus walking by, and he said, “Behold the Lamb of God,” and his disciples left him and followed Jesus. Now this is a restatement of John the Baptist, having already declared this the previous day as we see in vs.29. But the day before day Jesus was walking towards him, and on this day Jesus is walking away from him. And John’s declaration at this time is to point to Jesus as the one that they should follow. John came to prepare the way for Him who was to come, and when He comes, to point men to follow Him.

Now we know from the other gospels that John came preaching a gospel of repentance. So his disciples had learned his message of sin and repentance and the need to get their hearts right before the coming of the Messiah. So when John the Baptist sees Jesus coming in vs.29, he declares that this is the Messiah, the Lamb of God who will take away their sin. It is one thing to know that you need to repent of your sins, it is another to recognize that Jesus is the Lamb of God appointed by God to be the Savior of the world, the substitute who will bear the penalty of sin that we deserve.

And that is the way of salvation presented. Repent and believe. The two lynch pins of salvation, faith and repentance. Repentance will not save you unless you recognize the One who has the power to forgive your sins, to take away your sins, to bear your sins. And John pointed them to Jesus Christ as the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.

And I just want to point out one Old Testament reference which foretells that Jesus would be the Lamb of God who would be our substitute. There are many illustrations in the OT, particularly the Lamb which took the place of Isaac when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, as well as the Passover Lamb, and the sacrificial lambs used in the temple sacrificial system, but I want to reference a few verses in Isaiah 53:4-7 which attribute this title directly to Christ. “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth…,vs.11, By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.”   There it is; the Lamb of God led to the slaughter, who will take our punishment upon Himself, and who will bear our sins on the cross. What a tremendous picture of our Savior, as the Lamb of God.

Now these two men had been John’s disciples, but now John the Baptist is directing them to become Jesus’ disciples. Only one of the disciples is named here, that being Andrew, but practically all Bible scholars agree that the apostle John is actually the other disciple. His humility keeps him from ever naming himself in his writings, but there are a number of hints that this is John the author himself.

So they left John the Baptist and followed Jesus. And Jesus seeing them following Him turned to them and asked, “What do you seek?” and they answered, “Rabbi, which is translated Teacher, where are You staying?” And this further illustrates the way of salvation. Salvation is marked by following in the footsteps of Christ. 1Peter 2:21-22, 24 says, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; … and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”

Listen, the way of salvation is not merely to acknowledge certain facts about God, or even to claim certain benefits because of what Christ has done, but to become a disciple of Christ, to follow in His footsteps, to be joined to the body, the head of whom is Christ, and so then doing the works of Christ.

And that is seen in the text; they first follow Jesus, calling Him Rabbi, meaning He is their teacher and they will do what He tells them to do, and then they enter into communion/fellowship with Him. They respond to His question of what do you seek, with “Rabbi, where are you staying?” I love that they didn’t see the way of salvation as a once a week visit with Christ, but 24/7 living with Christ. They moved in with Him. To live with Him and He with them. That is the communion we have as believers. Christ in us and we in Christ.

So Jesus says, “Come and you will see.” Now it was the 10^th hour, that is 4pm, and so they stayed with Him that day. They were being taught by Christ now, and it’s a constant, 24/7 experience that will go on for 3 years, and then when He leaves and the Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost, He continues with them forever.   And this is the reality of our salvation. We become one with God because He lives in us. And He is with us constantly, forever, leading us, guiding us, and helping us. Making His word live in us and giving us eternal life. That’s what is involved in becoming saved, it’s becoming disciples. That is the great commission by the way. Not to make converts, but to make disciples. I think there are a lot of people that consider themselves Christians today as opposed to being Muslim, or Atheists. But that is not salvation, nor is it discipleship. We are told to go make disciples. And before we can make a disciple we must first be a disciple, a follower of Christ’s example.

Now finally we come to the first testimony of the disciples, and in the wonderful economy of the scriptures we also see evangelism presented. And this example is especially instructive, for we see that after his experience with Jesus, Andrew goes and finds his brother Peter. And he says, ““We have found the Messiah” and he brought Peter to Jesus. We hear a similar expression often in the church, “leading someone to the Lord.” If we are not careful, we sometimes think of it in terms of us takings someone through steps to salvation. That is not something we can do, nor should we try to do. What we should do is lead someone to Christ. We tell them about Christ. He does the saving. We just make the introduction. We should testify of Him, even as Andrew does to his brother, that he has found the Messiah. And I would just add that our families should be the first people we share the gospel with. Our families are the first frontier of evangelism. That should be natural; if you truly love people you will share the gospel with them. What’s the point of going on a foreign mission trip if we haven’t first evangelized our loved ones here at home?

So Peter comes to Christ. I believe that is a literal and figural statement. To come to Christ is to come in repentance and faith that He is our Savior, our Lord and King. He is the Son of God. And we know that Peter also becomes at that moment a disciple and follows Jesus.

So in response Jesus gives Peter a new name. That is another aspect of salvation. Jesus sees not only who we are, but who we are going to become in Him. And so Jesus gives Peter a name which indicates what he will be. Peter will be a stone, a foundation stone as part of the foundation of the other apostles upon which the church will be built as stated in Eph. 2:20. When you come to Christ He will change your life, He will change your purpose, He will change your desires. He gives you a new name. Rev. 2:17 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.”

Now the next day, Jesus found another man named Philip from Andrew and Peter’s hometown of Bethsaida, and he says to Philip, “follow Me.” This is a familiar expression of Christ, 20 times in the gospels He will say that to someone, “follow Me.” You want to know what salvation looked like in Jesus’ day? He didn’t give an invitation and play 7 stanzas of Just As I Am, have them raise their hand and repeat the sinner’s prayer. He just says “Follow Me.” And they step out in faith, believing in Him, learning of Him, learning who He is and what He says, and being obedient to what He says. That is discipleship and discipleship is equivalent to salvation.

Somewhere between vs.43 and 45 Philip discovers enough to become convinced that Jesus was the Messiah and so he goes to tell Nathaniel. He is referred to most often as Bartholomew. Only John calls him Nathanael. He lived in another little village in that region called Cana at the north end of the Sea of Galilee. And something very special is going to happen in Cana that we will look at in chapter 2. That’s where there’s a wedding and Jesus does His first miracle.

And this is the pattern of evangelism most often laid out in the scripture. I would even suggest that this the normal pattern of evangelism – one on one. One person introducing another to Jesus as Savior, Lord and Messiah. One person leading another to Christ. There are a couple of examples of a few large scale conversions such as the day of Pentecost, but I think they are the exception rather than the rule. We are not going to reach the beach community by outreaches and crusades necessarily, but by individual evangelism, one by one. One person at a time.

Now we see another man’s testimony concerning Jesus; Philip tells Nathanael, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” This testimony again is no less than that Jesus is the Messiah, we have found the Messiah as described in scripture. And he adds that Jesus is from Nazareth, which is a short distance from Cana, and that He was in human terms at least, the son of Joseph.

But I want to point out just one of the many OT references to the Messiah, so that we might get the full intent of what Philip is saying about Jesus being the One, that is the Anointed One, or the Messiah. And especially at this time of year I think this passage is apropos; Isaiah 9:6-7 fleshes out the full magnitude of the title Messiah. And this scripture is the basis for the famous Handel’s Messiah. “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.” Jews who knew this very familiar prophecy would know that the Messiah who was prophesied not only would be King, but He was also Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. That is the full import of the title Messiah or Christ.

Now Nathanael seems to reflect a common prejudice towards Nazareth. I’m not sure why. There was a national prejudice about Galileans in general, and Nazareth in particular. But I’m not sure that it was prejudice that prompted his remark, because Jesus does not rebuke him, but rather commends him for being without guile or deceit. Not a light compliment. But rather it’s a possibility that Nathanael is amazed that someone like the Messiah could come from such a humble place, even a place with such a bad reputation. And we are reminded that this was God’s strategic purpose in demonstrating the extreme humility of Christ, as it says in Phil. 2:7-8 “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Let us not forget that He is our example. And we should walk in His footsteps, humbleness being a foremost characteristic of a disciple of Christ.

Vs.47, Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Now this is an amazing statement. In it Jesus is saying that Nathanael is a true believer from an Old Testament perspective. He is a true Jew which according to Romans 2 is circumcised in his heart. A penitent believer in the true God in whom there is no deceit–no guile, no hypocrisy, no duplicity, no phoniness. Now this is a rare thing in a nation which for the most part had become apostate, that was awash in hypocrisy. But this is how Jesus describes Nathanael.

And Nathanael is surprised that Jesus knew him. It’s probable that Jesus knew his name, but even more surprising is that Jesus knew him. Knew who he was. What kind of man he was. And so Nathanael says, ““How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

Now Bible scholars tell us that the phrase under a fig tree was a Jewish way of referring to a place where one retired to meditate on the scriptures and pray. And so Jesus is saying that He saw him under a fig tree, and He heard his prayers. What a great picture to remind us that God hears every prayer, even silent prayers, even prayers when we think no one sees, no one hears, yet God hears and takes notice. And He responds to our prayers. Nathanael, who Jesus said is a true Israelite would have been looking and praying for the coming of the Messiah, now finds himself standing before Jesus the Messiah in answer to his prayers.

And when Nathanael hears Jesus’ answer, his heart awakens to the truth of God that Jesus must be no less than the King of Israel, that is the Messiah, and the Son of God. Vs.49, Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” He echoes what John the Baptist also said, that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. That title Son of God means nothing less than that Jesus is God. To be the son of something or someone is to have the same nature as them. My son has my nature, my characteristics, but most significantly he is human because I am human. And Christ is God because He is God’s Son. Christ is not an angel, as Hebrews 1:3-6 so eloquently states: “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say, “YOU ARE MY SON,TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU”? And again, “I WILL BE A FATHER TO HIMAND HE SHALL BE A SON TO ME”? And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, “AND LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM.”

So if He is God’s Son, then He is God in human form. Thus the angels worship Him. And He is the exact representation of God’s nature in human flesh.

Then Jesus responds to Nathanael’s faith, and says, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Now some people think that what Jesus was saying referred to the dream of Jacob in Genesis 28:12, where Jacob saw a ladder from earth to heaven, and the angels ascending and descending upon it. They see in that symbolism that Jesus is the ladder, the link, between heaven and earth. That Jesus is the way to God. And that when Nathanael comes to understand that Jesus is the mediator between God and man, it will be an even greater sign than the sign of Jesus seeing him under the fig tree. And I am willing to concede that is a possible explanation. But I think a more obvious explanation is that Jesus is referring to His ascension into heaven after His resurrection. When Jesus ascends into heaven in plain view of 400 witnesses, and the angels of God are there to testify that He is coming again just as He was taken up into heaven, that is the greatest sign that Jesus is God’s Son, and He is sitting at the right hand of the Father on His throne, and all rule and authority have been given unto Him.

And perhaps Jesus Himself alludes to that ascension by referring to Himself by yet another title; the Son of Man. Don’t be misled into thinking that this title is any less divine than others. It refers specifically to Dan 7:13-14, which says “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.” This title of Son of Man then is one that Christ uses of Himself to show affinity with mankind. God became man and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. God so loved man that He Himself became Man that He might be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, so that whosoever believes in Him might have life and have it more abundantly. I pray that you have believed the testimony of the disciples and know Him as your personal Savior, and decided to follow Him and have fellowship with Him. That is the only way to life. And Jesus has provided the way for you to receive eternal life in Him and He in you. I hope that you will receive Him today, if you have not already made that decision.

And if you do know the Lord as your Savior, then I hope that you will be about the Lord’s business, testifying to loved ones and friends that you have found the Savior. Introduce them to the Light of the world. There is no better time to do that than at Christmas. I hope you will fulfill your calling as a disciple and show people Jesus Christ.

The world is a very different place in the 21^st century than it was in the days of our parents. But I am not talking about the obvious advancements in technology and science and so forth that enables our culture to think that we are so much more advanced than previous generations. The difference in our day from our father’s day is that at least in western civilization, man has become more egocentric rather than theocentric.

A good illustration of that is that in our father’s day, young men cheerfully signed up to fight the Nazis, risking and even losing their lives for the sake of God and country. Not everyone was a Christian in those days of course, but there was instilled in people the sense that there were higher ideals worth living for than simply self gratification. Consequently, we look back in history with a sense of awe at what that generation suffered through, and realize that their sacrifices provided the security and prosperity that our nation now enjoys and takes for granted.

On the other hand, the when the pendulum started swinging in the opposite direction post WW2, during a time of unparalleled prosperity that was for the most part the result of winning the war, we see that society lost that sense of chivalry and became increasingly narcissistic and egocentric. That attitude has fostered a philosophy of secular humanism which is the pervasive view today in society.

As a result, politicians pander to such self aggrandizing attitudes, producing a society that increasingly depends upon government entitlements and consequently is contributing to what I think marks the beginning of the end of this great nation. John F. Kennedy’s quote made 50 years ago that we should “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” no longer gets traction in today’s “Me First” culture that asks and keeps demanding special rights for every possible special interest group at the expense of the greater good.

But what is more disconcerting than the trend in the political arena is that the church is pandering to the egocentric trends of the culture as well. The whole focus of the relevant church movement is to find out what appeals to the congregation, and then format the church to meet the expectations of the people. So we end up with messages geared to such topics as fixing your marriage, or straightening out your finances. There is even a popular sermon series out there based on dieting. It’s called the Daniel Plan. Not that there is anything wrong with dieting. Some of us could probably benefit from it, but it is not the ministry of the church to provide a health club or social club or self help classes.

The Apostle John said in vs. 6 that “There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.” So what was the testimony of John the Baptist? Did he come and give messages on love, sex, and marriage? Did he come and give messages on how to resolve family issues? Did he come and give messages about psychotherapy? I’m sure all of that would have been as popular in his day as they are in ours. And there may be a place for these things sometimes. But John saw that the need of his people was much more fundamental than that. Israel had left her first love. Israel had become apostate. Israel was a nation who needed reconciliation and forgiveness from God. So John the Baptist preached theology. He didn’t think that theology was impractical, old fashioned, or irrelevant. He didn’t tickle their ears and give them what they wanted to hear, but he gave them sound theology.

The great thing about the ministry of John the Baptist was that he didn’t pander to the culture. He didn’t worry about being seeker friendly. He spoke about what God told him to speak about. His message was simply repentance, to prepare the people to receive the Messiah, the Son of God.

Sound doctrine is the knowledge that leads to salvation. And once saved sound doctrine produces stability, maturity and spiritual fruit. Paul told Timothy in 2Tim.3:15 that the scriptures gave him the wisdom which leads to salvation through faith.

Now I would remind you that Jesus would say about John the Baptist that among men born of women, there was none greater than John the Baptist. So if we are going to pattern our ministry after someone, then I suggest patterning our ministry after John the Baptist. Personally, I have always identified with John the Baptist. I don’t say that to imply that I am anywhere near his level, of course. But I do identify with a voice crying out in the wilderness. I do believe that the primary message of the gospel is repentance and pointing people to Jesus Christ. I guess I also identify with the idea of a no frills, open air ministry. Not really having a permanent location, especially when we meet out on the beach.

So I want to look at the testimony of John the Baptist that is presented here, and take some points from his ministry which we should apply to our own. And we are going to divide this passage by looking at three points; first what John says he is not, and second, what John says he is, and third, who he says Jesus is. What he is not, what he is, and who Jesus is.

Now to introduce this section let me remind you that the Apostle John has presented a masterful theological treatise, much like the opening statement in a court of law, presenting the facts concerning Christ. Now John brings forth his first witness to corroborate those facts, and illustrate that theology. And his first witness the apostle brings forth is John the Baptist.

So vs.19 says that “This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’”   Now for most of us, there is no more favorite subject matter for which we prefer to talk about than ourselves. Isn’t that so? If the average pastor was asked that question today, he would probably launch into a biographical essay in which he ends up giving a glowing testimony of himself. But not John the Baptist. This was a humble man. Let me tell you something; humility is the hallmark of a true servant of God. Not where you went to seminary, or how big your church might be. But even as Jesus humbled himself, taking the form of a servant. And if we are truly servants, then we should remember that the servant is not greater than his master. We need to be humble, to practice humility if we are going to minister as Christ’s representatives.

And we see that humility illustrated in the answers that John gives to the questions of the religious leaders. As my outline illustrates, he starts out by saying what he is not. What he is not. That is the mark of humility. Peter admonished the men of the church in 1Peter 5:5-6 “You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.” All of you, that is all the men of the church, pastors and all of the church, clothe yourselves with humility.

You know there was another famous prophet who was singled out as being one of the greatest, and that was none other than Moses. And notice what it says about Moses in Numbers 12:3, “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.” Humility is the hallmark of a man or woman of God. Not how charismatic or talented they may be, but how humble they are. That is what God looks at. And that is the person that God will use. He will not share His glory with man.

So what John was not. He answers there question of “Who are you?” with “I am not the Christ.” I believe it was Luke that tells us in his gospel that the religious leaders had been asking, along with many of the multitudes that were coming out to hear him, if John the Baptist could be the Messiah. And so he answers that question; “I am not the Christ.”

Then they ask him, ““What then? Are you Elijah?” And he *said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Notice John goes from a five word answer to a three world answer to a one word answer. I think that indicates that he doesn’t want to talk about himself. He wasn’t in ministry to promote himself, but to promote Jesus Christ. And John knows that very well.

You know I think God hates self promotion. So by extension, I would have to say that God hates facebook. Lord knows that is the most visible form of self promotion in this modern world gone narcissistic and egocentric. And ranked right under that I would have to put this obsession with selfies. Even the very word conjures up self serving. Take 500 digital photos of yourself and pick the most flattering one and put it on facebook. And then do it everyday until you get enough likes to satisfy your ego. I don’t think you would find John the Baptist on facebook if he were alive today. Nor would you find Moses, or Jesus for that matter. Some people might pretend that it is a ministry tool, but I think the fact is most are probably just tools. I’m sorry if that offends somebody. But we can’t do ministry when the primary person we are interested in is ourselves. We need to drop our façade of self righteousness and start speaking the truth to the world, and start caring about others more than ourselves. That’s pretty basic ministry fundamentals.

So John says he is not the Messiah, he is not Elijah, he is not the Prophet, and back in verse 8 we see that he was not the Light. Furthermore, in vs.27, John says “He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” He is saying that he doesn’t even consider himself worthy of the lowest household servant in the kingdom of God, so that he is not worthy of even untying the sandals of Christ. So not only is he not the Christ, he is not even worthy to untie Christ’s shoes. Now that is humility. And yet Jesus says about him that he is the greatest among men. “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you at the proper time.”

Jesus said in Matt. 20:26-28 “It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Now then let’s look at what John testifies about himself. Who John says he is and what he is doing. Vs.22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

First of all, note the contrast John the Baptist makes between himself and Christ. He is not the Word, but he is a voice. The Word exists before him. The word exists in the mind before the voice articulates it. The Word remains once the voice is silent. He just speaks the words of God as God gives him utterance. John would later say “He must increase, but I must decrease.” He understood that it was not his words that had any power to save. But John knew that the Word of God who was God was the only power unto salvation.

I wish we could get hold of that principle today in our churches. We exist merely to give voice to the Word of God. To bear witness of Him. All of the programs and skits and dancing and singing if not giving voice to the word of God are useless and self serving. Those things may attract a crowd, but the only power to save is found in giving voice to the Word.

Then notice that the next question they are concerned about is his practice, his baptism. People are concerned about the externals, aren’t they? What rituals we practice. What ceremonies. What kind of programs you have. Well, John did indeed practice baptism. But the emphasis of the gospel of John is not John the Baptist’s baptism, but on the fact that he was a witness. And that is the emphasis of John the Baptist as well. To point to Christ. Baptism simply prepares people’s hearts to receive Christ through repentance. John’s emphasis is not on the mode or method of baptism as a means of grace, but as a means of repentance. Not focused on the outward sign, but on the heart of man.

So they ask him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” See the problem wasn’t that he was baptizing. Baptism was already practiced among first century Jews as a means of purification. But it was self administered. And the other thing was that it was for Gentiles, not Jews. It was part of the method by which non Jews could become proselytes. They could become accepted into the Jewish faith by becoming washed in water and then going through certain ceremonies and offerings. So for John to be administering baptisms to Jews for repentance was a new teaching that would have attracted criticism.

But again, John deflects attention to his ministry and points to Jesus. Vs. 26 John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” What John was saying was that his baptism was a sign. He did not have power to cleanse or forgive sins. All he could do was use human means to point to a heavenly purpose that would be fulfilled in Christ. It was a sign in the flesh, much the same as the sign in the flesh of circumcision which was given through Moses. So John the Baptist comes with the sign of baptism, and this sign points to Jesus Christ. First by showing their need for a Savior, and then when John baptizes Jesus it points to Him as being the Son of God. So in all aspects, John’s ministry points to Jesus and Jesus alone. Never does it magnify John the Baptist.

Now then the last point, who John testifies that Jesus is. Who John says Jesus is. Vs. 28 These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John says Jesus is the Lamb of God. Now that goes back to what I just said about John’s baptism. The first purpose of baptism is to show us our need for repentance, for forgiveness of sin. And as he is baptizing, which has no power to forgive sin in and of itself, he sees Jesus coming to him and says “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Baptism then has no power to take away sin, but the Lamb of God does take away sin.

Now any Jew would understand the imagery that John is referring to when he says the Lamb of God. First of all, hearing that a Jew would naturally be reminded of their father Abraham when he offered up Isaac on the altar, and was about to slay him as a sacrifice, and God stopped him and provided a ram that was caught in a thorn bush behind him. God provided a substitute. God provided a lamb. That is the first lesson of the Lamb of God. He is our substitute. God placed our sins, our punishment upon Him, so that He died for us, so that we might be made righteous with His righteousness and live.

And that brings up the second point of the Lamb of God that every Jew would think of. And that would have been the Passover Lamb that was slain on the night when God caused all the first born male children in Egypt to die because of the hardness of the Egyptian’s hearts and their refusal to let Israel worship the Lord. So God told His people to take a lamb for every household and slay it and put the blood on the doorposts of their houses so that the angel of death would not strike them. And as they obeyed God’s command and sacrificed the lamb and put the blood on the doorpost of their house, the angel of the Lord passed by and they were saved from death. Now that illustrates the second principle of the Lamb of God, He saves us from death, eternal death.

So first who John says Jesus is, He is the Lamb of God. Secondly, John says Christ is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. As opposed to his baptism with water, Christ will baptize in the Holy Spirit. (and by the way, it is noteworthy that Christ is never recorded as baptizing anyone in water) So John says in Vs. 30 “This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water. John testified saying, ‘I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’”

Now there is a lot in those verses and we don’t have time to unpack everything there. But one thing I want to say that John says it was necessary for him to baptize in order that the Christ might be made known. Now certainly John knew of Jesus before this time. He was his cousin. And though they may not have lived near one another as they were growing up we must imagine that John knew of Him, and perhaps even had met Him or known Him all his life. That is certainly possible but I don’t think that is what John is saying here. What he is saying is that I did not know Him as the Christ, as the Messiah, as the Son of God until it was divinely revealed to me in the baptism. God had spoken to John previously and said He who the Spirit descends upon is the Christ.

So John knew Jesus not by sight, not by human intellect or knowledge, but by divine revelation from the Holy Spirit. And this illustrates an important principle of salvation. God has to open men’s eyes to see that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Remember the famous situation with Peter when Jesus asks, “who do men say that I am?” And Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of God.” And what did Jesus say to that? “Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you Peter, but my Father who is in heaven. (Matt. 16) It takes a divine intervention to open a blind man’s eyes, and we that are in our sins are blind. Jesus said in John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

But it also reveals the two fold nature of salvation; on the one hand there must be a removal of sin, but also a filling of the Holy Spirit. Both are necessary for salvation. One sanctifies you, the other makes you a temple of the Holy Spirit and empowers you to live as a witness to the world in obedience to God. You must be born again of the Spirit of God if you will have the life of God in you.

Then the last statement that John the Baptist testifies as to who Jesus is, is found in vs. 34 “I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.” This is the ultimate witness of John the Baptist. That Jesus is the Christ, that is the Messiah, and He is also the Son of God. He is God in the flesh, the Word made flesh. And John saw the Spirit of God descend and remain on Him just as God said, and he heard the proclamation of God as recorded by Luke in Luke 3:22 when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” This was the witness of John, and this is his testimony, that Jesus is the Son of God.

And of course that testimony correlates perfectly with the Apostle John’s stated purpose for writing this book in John 20:31, “but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Now there are two quick applications that I would point out that makes the believing in Christ efficacious for you. One is to recognize the One whom you do not know. Notice vs.26, John says, “among you stands One whom you do not know.” Some have decided that they do not want to know Him. They have rejected the idea of God and Lord, and so they have rejected the Savior of the world. Knowing God is a decision that everyone must make for themselves. To know the truth about God. Everyone, atheist or believer, starts with a presupposition which is either God exists or He does not exist. That decision comes before all evidence, before all science. There is either a rejection of God or a realization that God is. And based on that presupposition, then man goes about living out either his theology or philosophy.

But knowing God is a choice. And it’s a choice that all of us make. And then the second point of application is that you must receive Him as your Lord and Savior. It is not enough to just believe in God, or even believe that Jesus lived on earth 2000 years ago. It’s necessary to receive Him as your Lord and Savior. You must accept Jesus’ substutionary sacrifice on your behalf, for forgiveness of your sins, and receive the promise of life by the Holy Spirit. If Jesus is truly the Son of God, then there is no alternative but to bow down before Him and plead for His mercy. And Jesus said that to them that call upon Him He will surely save them. In vs. 12 of our text, John says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.”

Today we have heard the testimony of the Apostle John here in this passage before us, who lived with and followed Jesus for 3 years of his life. We have heard the testimony of John the Baptist who heard the voice from heaven declaring that Jesus is the Son of God and saw the Spirit descend in the form of a dove upon Him as was prophesied. We have heard the testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures which present the Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. We have around us the testimony of creation which reveals His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, so that we are without excuse. But most importantly, we have the witness of the Holy Spirit inside us, convicting us, drawing us to Christ, opening our eyes that we might see Him and believe in Him and be saved. I hope if you are here today, and you do not know Him, that you will not reject these faithful witnesses. Jesus came to earth to save those that are lost. All that is necessary is for you to believe in Him and receive Him as your Lord and Savior, and you will have life everlasting. You will come to know Him who is the source of all life and the Light of the world.

There is a lot of sentimentality at Christmas time. For a multitude of reasons, the holiday season evokes a lot of nostalgia, and it plays upon some of our deepest emotions. That is why Christmas is sometimes such a stressful time for many of us. It can seem ironic to wish people a Merry Christmas and yet find yourself almost overcome with sadness.

The solution, of course, is to remember or be reminded of the real meaning of Christmas. But unfortunately, even the Christmas story has become so sentimentalized that the real joy to be found in the advent of Christ is kind of lost due to an over familiarity with the scenes of a manger and the baby Jesus. So as we enter this Christmas season, and consider the incarnation of our Lord, I for one am happy that the Apostle John does not dwell in sentimentalism, but focuses on theology. Because though most people may think theology and doctrine sound dull and uninteresting, I believe that a proper understanding of the truth is the path to true joy.

The truth is that the Christmas story is not just a sentimental story of a baby born in a manger, but it’s the greatest love story ever told. In preparing this message, I thought of trying to find an example of a great love story in order to illustrate this passage, but I ended up discarding every possibility because they could not come close to the magnificence of the story of Jesus coming to earth in human form. Ironically, last night my daughter was watching a modern movie adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. But even though that story is often called the greatest love story of all time, it pales in comparison to the story we have in front of us.

In addition to being a great love story though, vs. 14 represents one of the greatest theological statements in the Bible. This entire prologue of John’s gospel is one magnificent presentation of the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ. So far in our studies, we have seen that the Word was God, the Word was Light, and now today the Word became Flesh.

Now let me try to explain why this statement can be called the greatest love story of all time. But to do that we must go back once again to Genesis, to the creation account. In chapter 1, God said “let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness.” So God made man in the image and likeness of God. He made man spirit, soul and body, a triune being like God Himself. And then in John chapter 1, we see God making Himself in the image of man. “The Word, who was God, became flesh and dwelt among us.”

That in and of itself is a tremendous thought. That the eternal God who existed in the form of the Word, who was life, and was Light, who made all that was made in the universe, became a man. The question is why would the eternal, creator God stoop to become one of His creation?

Well, the answer I would suggest is illustrated in chapter 2 of Genesis, that after God had made man, God declared that it was not good for man to be alone. But after God made that statement, He did something interesting. God caused all the animals of the creation to parade before Adam so that Adam could name them. And in the process, something else was discovered by Adam. Gen.2:20 says, “but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.” Then once Adam realized that fact, then God put him to sleep and took a rib from his side and made woman for man.

Now that scene illustrates a great truth, I believe. I think that it illustrates why God made man to begin with. God existed before creating the heavens and the earth. And we don’t know of all that He created in eternity past, other than that He created the angels. By the way, the Bible doesn’t teach that all angels look alike. We do see that different types of angels were created for many different purposes. So we could speculate on what God might have created beyond what the Bible tells us, but I’m not sure that it would be profitable. However, suffice it to say that when God made trees He did not make just one type of tree, but thousands of types. When God made birds, He made thousands of different types of birds. And the same with all types of His creation; there is a multitude of diversity in each thing that God made. Even with people, there is great diversity. So we can assume that though we call them “angels” there is great diversity in that type of being. So contrary to popular images of angels, it’s not likely that they all look identical. However, the Bible does indicate that the number of angels correlates with the number of stars. Possibly billions of angelic beings. But beyond that we do not know what else God has created.

But what I think God is illustrating with Adam and the animals is that God viewed all of His creation in eternity past, and there was not found anyone suitable for Him. And in a manner of speaking, God decided that it was not good for Him to be alone. So God created man in His image, in His likeness. Another indication of this desire of God for a help mate is that in all of the rest of creation, He merely spoke and they came into being. But with man God bent down and formed man out of the ground with His hands. And then God put His mouth on man’s lips and breathed into him, and man became a living soul.

So creation itself was no less than a great act of love. The same thing is illustrated when God made woman from man. He does not just speak woman into existence, but He takes from Adam’s side a rib, and makes or literally the word is builds woman from that rib. So that woman was a part of man. Now the Bible is resplendent with imagery of the church being the bride of Christ, and Christ being the bridegroom. In chapter 3 of John, John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as His bride. Jesus Himself talks about the kingdom of God as the marriage supper of the Lamb. In Revelation 21 the angel shows John what he calls the bride of Christ, the church, spotless, having no spot or wrinkle, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. But probably the best passage that illustrates this principle is Ephesians 5, which talks about the way a husband must love his wife, and says in vs. 25-32, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” So Paul is saying that human marriage is a picture of Christ’s marriage to the church, the bride of Christ. We are made from His body to be united with Him as one flesh, joined together with Him for eternity.

But looking back at Genesis again, we see that Adam and Eve enjoyed walking with the Lord and communing with God, having fellowship with God. But not long afterwards, they sinned by eating of the forbidden tree. And as God had promised, their spirit died. That part of their being that was in communion with God, that divine spark that they were created with was extinguished as the now sinful bride of God was removed from His holy presence. They were banned from the garden and they no longer were able to be in the light of His glory. Consequently, as their spirit died, their flesh soon followed after. And every offspring of Adam thereafter not only inherited his sinful nature, but he also inherited his mortality. But thank God for 1Cor. 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”

Now that brings us back to our text. Because God did still love the world. Specifically, He loved the human race. And He loves the human race so much that though His holiness and justice requires that man suffers the penalty of his sin by separation from the Life of God, yet His love found a way to satisfy that requirement. And God satisfies His judgment by the most incredible means possible. He becomes one of us. Man could not come to God, he could not bridge the chasm between God and man. He could not climb up to God, so God came down to man. Phl. 2:6-8 “[Jesus] who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. As we were first made in the image of God, so God must be made in man’s image in order to be the representative man who would be able to become man’s substitute, savior and high priest. Now that is love. We cannot imagine a love story to equal that story. If we were to imagine a king becoming a pauper so he could marry a peasant girl that would not come close to Christ’s love for the church. If we were to imagine a man blinding himself in order to be married to a blind bride that still would not rival this story. There is no greater story of love than to consider that the eternal God created man to be like Him, to be His mate, His companion, and then that mate rebelled and sinned against Him, and was expelled from His presence, only to have the same Holy God humble himself to take on sinful flesh so that He might die for His bride as her substitute. It’s beyond our comprehension.

So the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Even so He remains fully man and fully God. The deity of Christ is not diminished by His humanity, nor is His humanity overpowered by His deity. Because as John says, even though we beheld Him in human form, He retained His glory, and He was seen in His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

We need to explain that word glory. What is glory? When I was a kid growing up in an old country church, I used to hear sometimes one of the old timers yell out “glory!” when the preacher would really get them riled up or some singer would do a number. Never knew what it meant, but I it usually managed to snap me awake. Well, I’ll tell you what it means. There is a hint right there in the verse; it’s the word “dwelt”, or skenoo in the Greek. And it means tabernacled. You will remember that the tabernacle was the tent that God designed to house His glory when the children of Israel set out for the Promised Land. God dwelled in the tabernacle, and His shekinah glory indwelled the tent so that it lit up in the nighttime with the light of His presence.

So what John is saying here is that the Word was Light, the Light of the world, and He came into the world, becoming human, one of us, and His shekinah glory tabernacled among us in the human form of Jesus. Now John says we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And one explanation for that statement would be the transfiguration, when Jesus’ glory began to shine out of Him and the Father God rebuked Peter by saying “this is My beloved Son, listen to Him.”

But for even more insight into His glory we need to go back to Exodus 33 and 34, when Moses asked to see God’s glory. And God told Moses in Exo. 33:19-22 “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” Then the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.”

Now in the next chapter we see the Lord put Moses in the cleft of the rock as His glory passed by, but listen how God describes that glory. Not as a blinding light, but with words describing His attributes. Exo. 34:6-7 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

Now that’s incredible isn’t it? We know that there was also a great light because Moses came down from the mountain with a veil over his face because it shown so much the reflected glory of God that the people could not look at him. But when God describes passing His glory by Moses, He doesn’t describe the light, but with words describing His attributes. And what two attributes do we see on parade above all others? Grace and truth. The very same attributes John ascribes here in John 1:14, “and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

So how did John and the disciples primarily see the glory of God revealed in Jesus? By His attributes. He was holy and righteous, full of grace and truth. Though He was fully man, yet He was fully God and manifested the character of God in all that He did. So Christ’s attributes attested to His divinity as clearly as a blazing light from heaven.

Then in vs.15, the apostle also includes the testimony of John the Baptist as to Christ’s divinity. Listen to vs.15: John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” You will remember the in the story of Jesus’ birth, Mary His mother visited Elizabeth who was already pregnant with John. So John was about 6 months older than Jesus. He was born before Jesus, and yet John is saying that Jesus existed before Him, that means that He was preexistent. Eternal. And immortality is another attribute of divinity. And John the Baptist adds that Christ had a higher rank than him. Jesus then was more than a great prophet, He was the Son of God. But the main point that the apostle makes from John’s statement is that Jesus existed before John being eternal in nature.

John continues this great love story in vs16. The eternal God became human flesh and we beheld His glory. So that we might receive that same glory. Vs.16, “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” Now what does this mean? Well let’s start with the word “fullness.” It is really referring back once again to His attributes, all the attributes of God, epitomized by grace and truth. John is saying Christ was fully God.

Paul says the same thing in Col. 2:9, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” So Christ is fully God in human form. But then John says we received that fullness. We received God’s fullness? How does that work? It works because Christ died in our place to satisfy the justice of God, effectively purchasing us to become His bride, the church. That divine spark that was extinguished in the fall of the first Adam, was rekindled in the Light of the second Adam, when we believed on Him and received Him as our Savior, and we were remade in His righteousness, so that now the Spirit of God tabernacles within us. His Light in us gives us the Light of life so that our divine spark in reignited. The Word became flesh so that the glory of God might tabernacle in us. So that we might be like Him.

Eph. 1:22-23 says about the exalted Christ “And He (God) put all things in subjection under His (Christ’s) feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Christ fills us with the fullness of the Spirit of God that we might exhibit the attributes of God to the world and so that we might be conformed to His image, made once more in the likeness of God. That we might become suitable unto Him as a help mate. That we might become His spotless bride.

So John says not only did we receive His fullness, but we received grace upon grace. Never ending grace is certainly one interpretation of that. Grace that never runs out. Grace that is greater than all our sins. But even more to the point, I think it means we not only receive the grace of our salvation, but then we receive the grace of our inheritance; that we shall rule and reign with Christ – as the bride of Christ we will sit on the throne next to Him and share in His glory. That shekinah glory of God that man could not look on and live, one day we shall share with Him. We will receive glory, glory like the glory that He has. 1John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” That is the epitome of the beatific vision, is it not? When we shall live forever in the light of His glory, so that His glory becomes our glory. That is the fullness of joy. And that is our inheritance. That is our future.

Up until that time, John says, “No one has seen God at any time.” God cannot be seen by any man while he is in sinful flesh. But we have seen Jesus, and if we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Father. Vs.18, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” The Greek word is exēgeomai, which means to unfold, or explain. It’s the word we get exegete from, which is the term we use to explain the style of preaching that I use. I attempt to unfold the word of God, explain it, expand it, unpack it. And that is what John says Jesus has done by coming in the flesh. First in vs.17 John says Jesus manifested God. Then in vs.18, Jesus exegetes God. The Word made flesh and dwelt among us, and then we beheld the glory of God in Him and through Him as He exhibited the attributes of God. And all of that is so that we might become like Him, to be united with Him as the church, the bride of Christ.

Well, that is enough for today. But let me leave you with this thought. The beginning of the Christmas season is called advent. But advent did not always mean the birth of Jesus. It simply means the coming of Jesus. And in the first centuries of the celebration of advent, they were looking forward to the imminent return of Christ, not looking back at His birth. I want to leave you this morning looking forward to the coming of Christ for His church, for His bride. That was the purpose of coming as a baby in a manger. To become tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin so that we might become the children of God, the body of Christ, even His church. Jesus is coming again. This time not in a manger but in the clouds. This time not in secret, but at the sound of trumpets. In the fullness of His glory. He is coming for His bride. I hope that He finds you ready to meet Him.

As we are still in the prologue of the book of John, I think it would help us to realize that John is not occupied with merely presenting a biography of Jesus. We are all, I’m sure, more or less familiar with the history of Jesus Christ. So to simply retell the story of Christ’s life on earth would have limited benefit. But what John is presenting in his gospel is doctrine: the facts about Jesus which according to his stated purpose in chapter 20:31, “have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

So as we pointed out last time, John doesn’t start his gospel as a biography might begin – with the birth of Jesus – but he starts with the theology of Jesus; that He was in the beginning with God, and He was God. So in the first five verses, John establishes that in the beginning was God, and God was the Word, and the Word was life and the Word was Light.

Now last time we spent a lot of time talking about the significance of Jesus being called the Word. Today I would like to focus on the stated fact that Jesus, or the Word, was Light. I believe John as well as many other Bible writers give great emphasis to the fact that Christ is the personification of Light. In fact, Jesus Himself frequently applied that designation to Himself. For instance, in John 8:12, “Jesus again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.’”

Interestingly, Jesus there presents the Light as being part of life, which is exactly how John presents it in vs4: “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.” Now in order to understand the connection between life and light which both Jesus and John were speaking of, it’s necessary to once again go back to Genesis chapter one. In the creation account, we have not only a historical, factual record of the beginning of creation, but I believe there is incorporated in the story of creation an allegory which illustrates certain themes of salvation. So look at Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.” So God was in the beginning, before time, existing in three persons who were one God. And we see all three in this passage; God the Father, the Spirit of God and the Word of God.

Now that was day one. God created the heavens and the earth, and they were formless and void, and the Spirit of God moved over them, and God said, or we could say the Word said, “let there be light.” And there was light in the darkness, and the light was good. God doesn’t say the darkness was good, but that the light was good.

But if you look down at day four, in vs.14, you notice that God made the sun and the moon and the stars. So the light that God made in the first day was not light which came from the sun, moon or stars, but light that emanated from somewhere else.   And to add even more mystery, in day three, God made plants and seeds and trees, which sprouted even though there was no sunlight at that time.

So what we can discern from this passage is that God existed in three persons, and the Word was life, creating the heavens and the earth, and the Word became Light, which was the light of the world, and it was a real light emanating from life which caused plants to sprout and life to exist. Science tells us that light is simply a visible form of energy. So you cannot have light without a source of energy, and what the Bible is teaching is that the energy of all life and producing light is none other than the Word of God who was with God and who was God.

So now we can understand the relationship of life and light as John said in vs. 4, “in Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.” Because He was the life, nothing came into being without Him, nothing had life without Him. He is the source of life as Paul said in Acts 17:28, “for in Him we live and move and exist.”

John then is saying that the Word was life, He was the source of all life, He is spiritual life and physical life and God manifested that life as Light. First in creation, and secondly in the Word, and thirdly in salvation.

You don’t need to turn to it, as I’m sure you are all familiar with it, but in the third chapter of Genesis there is recorded the fall of man. God said if you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you will surely die. But we don’t see Adam and Eve fall down dead after biting into the fruit. But what we do see is God removing them from the Garden of Eden. He removed them from His presence and when man was removed from the source of life, the light went out and man died spiritually. That divine spark that man was made with, made in the image and likeness of God was extinguished. And man did surely die. I liken it to a potted plant that sits on your porch which flourishes when it is in the sun, but if you were to put it in your closet it would surely die. It may still look somewhat alive a few days later perhaps, but eventually it would shrivel up and die. And so with man, when he was removed from the Light of life, he shriveled up and died.

That is why God correlates darkness with man’s world without Christ. The scriptures use that description over and over again in both the Old and New Testaments to describe the world that we live in. For example, in the book of Job the world is pictured repeatedly as being in darkness, without understanding, without hope. And that lack of divine understanding is what darkness illustrates. We live in darkness, separated from God and from the life of God. We are lifeless, formless and void, without the light of God. But then God spoke, and said “let there be light, and the light shone in the darkness and separated the darkness, and it was good.”

Now last week we said about vs. 5 that some manuscripts translate the phrase as the darkness could not overpower it, rather than the KJV translation which says the darkness could not comprehend it. And there are merits to the first translation, as I pointed out last week. Light triumphs over darkness. Christ triumphs over darkness, ie, sin, the world, death and Satan. But there is also merit in translating it as comprehend. The darkness does not comprehend it, or apprehend it. And today we want to lean more in that direction because that is the idea presented it the following verses. The Light appears, shines in the darkness, but the world in darkness does not receive the Light, does not understand the Light, and ultimately rejects the Light.

This idea of comprehending the Light is evidenced further by John in vs. 10 and 11; “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.” See, that is saying that the world did not comprehend Him. They saw the Creator of the universe, the source of all life in human form, and did not understand Him, and ultimately rejected Him. Man was in darkness, and though the Light appeared, he did not accept it, did not understand it, and so turned from it to the darkness.

Now man’s lack of comprehension results in God’s compassionate desire to help men to believe in the Light. And to do that He raises up men to testify of the Light. Vs. 6. “There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.” Were it not for the fact that St. John had just said the world did not comprehend the Light, we might wonder at the abruptness of the introduction of John the Baptist. But now we can understand that God sent John in order to bear witness of the Light. To explain the Light.

I think it was Matthew Henry who said, “That is indicative of the severity of the darkness and blindness of men that they needed a witness to the light.” And I agree that man’s depravity has blinded him to be able to see the Light. But I also think his depravity is so great that he rejects the Light because He doesn’t want to be ruled by the light. Back in Genesis 1 God said about the lights of heaven that they were to govern the day and govern the night. And I believe that indicates the contrary nature of man’s fall and of his rebellion. He wants to govern himself. He wants to decide what is right and what is wrong. God said the light is good. Man says I will decide what is good.

In John 3:19-20 Jesus said, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” See, man loves evil, so he loves the darkness. He doesn’t want anyone to be a ruler over him.

That love of darkness reminds me of the old song by Simon and Garfunkel, “The Sound of Silence.” The apostle Paul quoted Greek poets so I guess it’s ok if I quote modern poets. Now I doubt that Simon and Garfunkel intended their song to be meant in the way I understand it, but it’s interesting that the songwriter says, “Hello darkness my old friend…” Man loves darkness. He prefers it, welcomes it. And it’s even more interesting that Paul Simon correlates the sound of silence, the lack of speech as resulting in a darkness of life in which people lived without life, without words. It’s ironic that the great theologian John Calvin translated the Word in John 1 as Speech. Paul Simon describes this darkness as silence where words do not penetrate, though prophets warn of the peril of rejecting it. But the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made. His last two stanzas say; “Fools,” said I, “You do not know. Silence like a cancer grows. Hear my words that I might teach you. Take my arms that I might reach you.” But my words like silent raindrops fell And echoed in the wells of silence. And the people bowed and prayed To the neon god they made. And the sign flashed out its warning In the words that it was forming. And the sign said, “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls And tenement halls And whispered in the sounds of silence.”

Man rejects the light because he loves the deeds of darkness. I was talking with my daughter the other day about society and how the rejection of God’s law produces anarchy. The utter depravity of man is fully exposed when there is no fear of detection or punishment. That’s why when law and order breaks down there is chaos and rioting and looting. When people can act out there basest desires without fear of retribution society can quickly become a terrifying thing. And that is why the scriptures refer to us Christians as being salt and light in the world. The law of God stifles corruption, it acts as guard against anarchy. The light of God’s word drives back the darkness and keeps it from overpowering the creation.

So John was to be a witness of the Light; to testify of the Light. He was the first prophet to appear on the scene in 400 years. He was to prepare the people’s heart to receive the Light. And how did John do that? By preaching, “repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”   Man needed to repent of his evil deeds, his rebellion, his sin in order to receive the Light which leads to life.

Notice though the apostle John makes a point of saying John the Baptist was not the Light, but he was sent to bear witness of the Light. In other words, John the Baptist was one of the lights of heaven, bearing witness of the Light of God, reflecting the Light of God to the world by word and deed. John was like the light of the moon in comparison to the sun. He reflected the Light. He did not have light in and of himself, but he reflected the Light of Christ to the world.

And I want to point out another word in vs.6 that bears mentioning. And that is the word sent. John the Baptist was sent by God to bear witness. John is a model preacher. He was by all accounts a prophet of God. He did not tailor his message to the world. He did not survey the interests of society and then tailor his message to their perceived desires. But he preached a message from God to the world. He did not try to be popular. He did not rise to great prominence in order to have a huge church and draw attention to himself. But he said about Jesus; “He must increase, but I must decrease.” He simply preached the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I was talking with someone the other day about pastoring. And the conversation eventually ran the gamut from sizes of churches, to denominations, to what seminary someone had graduated from, and I said as far as I’m concerned, and I think I can say as far as God is concerned, there are only two characteristics that are important when it comes to pastors. One you have to be born again. I think that eliminates about half of the pastors in the United States right there. And at least half of the other half would be eliminated by the second requirement, which is that you have to be called by God. To use the apostle John’s words, you must be “sent by God.” I’m afraid there are a lot of people in pulpits today that are not sent by God. And it’s apparent because they don’t preach the gospel. If God calls you, then He will equip you. He is the one that gives us the Spirit to empower us, He is the source of our wisdom and discernment. And you can have all the tools and all the books and all the degrees and a huge building and all the acclaim of men but if you have not been called by God to preach the gospel then all those things are not going to be of any benefit to fulfilling the purpose of God. And furthermore, I cannot understand why Christians would want to sit under those pastors, but I guess it goes back to the principle that we love darkness rather than light, because the light exposes our evil deeds.

But whether or not you are called to be a pastor, all Christians are sent to be witnesses of the gospel. Matt. 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

All of us are to bear witness and testify to the Light of the gospel. Romans 10:14-15 says, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

Now though John introduces John the Baptist here, the emphasis is not really on him but on the Light. And so he goes on to say about the Light in vs. 9, “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” Now just as John the Baptist was a minor light, a reflection of Christ, so all the prophets of old were reflections of the light of heaven. And I believe that there was a degree of light that came through the Word given through the prophets, which became the Old Testament scriptures. I also believe that even as Genesis 1 illustrated, there was the light of creation which Paul said in Romans 1 was enough to teach man that there was an eternal God. Paul said in Rom. 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” That was the Light of the world seen through creation that enlightens every man.

But in the next verse Paul says that though they recognized that it was divine light, they rejected it and were plunged into ever greater darkness. Rom. 1:21 “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

Thus we see in Matthew’s gospel a quote from the prophet Isaiah referencing the advent of Christ as being like a great light coming to a people living in darkness. Matt. 4:15-16 “THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI,BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES– “THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT,AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH,UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED.” This great light spoken of by the prophets was none other than the Light of the world. The Light of Life. Jesus Christ.

But as vs.10 and 11 tell us, the Light came into the world that existed through Him, and it did not receive Him. “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.” Paul said virtually the same thing in 1Cor. 2:14, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

Actually, that’s what I think Genesis 1 is indicating when it says after the heavens and the earth was created but they were in darkness, that the Spirit of God moved upon the waters and then the Light appeared. Though the Light has come into the world, it is necessary for the Spirit of God to move on the hearts of men if they are going to receive Christ. Jesus said in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” Now God draws people in many ways, but one way is through the witness and testimony of His people, particularly His preachers. God has ordained that by the foolishness of preaching men would be saved. 1Cor. 1:21 “For since in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

And that leads us to the conclusion of this paragraph concerning the Light of the world, in vs.12-13. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” So this is where the will of man and the sovereignty of God come together. Man is rebellious and depraved, rejecting the rule of his Lord, rejecting the Light of the truth for the sake of loving his own sin and wickedness. But the Light of God persists, piercing the darkness, the Spirit of God moves upon his heart in conjunction with the preaching of the gospel by the witnesses of the Light, and some believe and receive Him and are saved.

There is on the one hand the responsibility of man to respond and receive the Light, and on the other hand the necessity for God to extend unto man the grace to believe the gospel. And the outcome is that man when man believes and receives Christ he is born again, moved from darkness into light, from death to life, reborn spiritually whereas he was previously dead in his trespasses and sins. When we receive the Light, the Light produces life, spiritual life, eternal life. We are made alive with Christ. We are made a new creation. We walk no more in darkness but in life. Eph. 5:8 “for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.”

To those who receive the Light, we are now made children of Light, even children of God. Not by blood, that is by human lineage. Not by heredity. Not by the will of the flesh. That is not by self effort to become righteous. Nor by the will of man, not by the decree of man, the decree of a priest or church or institution. But by the will of God. God is the giver of life, and He gives it to whoever believes in the Son of God, whoever receives Him. To receive Christ as our Savior and our Lord, and as our God. That’s what it means to receive Christ. To know Him, to accept Him and trust Him. To know all that He is, and all that He is to be, to believe it, and then to trust Him. To trust in His atonement for our sin. To trust Him to raise us from the dead. To know that Christ is good, even as God said the light was good. And we can yield completely our lives to the very source of life and then walk in the Light, even as He is in the Light. 1John 1:7, “if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

I will just close by asking one question; have you received the Light of the world? Have you been born again into spiritual life as a child of God? As many as receive Christ, to them God gives the right to be the children of God. That is a promise of life that lies waiting for you to accept, if you will just accept who He is and trust Him with your life. Don’t reject him and stay in the darkness.   Come to the Light.

There is no doubt but that John is the author of the Gospel of John. John was younger than his brother James, who were both known as the Sons of Thunder. And of the 12 disciples, John was the youngest as well. His mother was Salome, who had enquired of the Lord if her sons could sit on either side of His throne when He came into His kingdom. His father was Zebedee, who was a fisherman, and who had passed on his trade to his sons. He would seem to have been a disciple first of all of John the Baptist, but left him and followed Jesus after Christ’s baptism.

Perhaps it was the fact that John was the youngest, or perhaps that he was a relative of the family of Jesus, but for whatever reason, John seemed to have a special relationship with Jesus, describing himself as the “disciple whom Jesus loved.” He seemed to share a special closeness with Christ, being seen as leaning his head upon His shoulder at the Last Supper. That closeness was born out by Christ at his crucifixion, by Jesus committing to him the care of His mother Mary. And just as indicative was the fact that when Jesus separated certain disciples from the rest, He always included John with Peter and James. They constituted Christ’s inner circle.

So without a doubt John was very close to Jesus. He most likely knew Jesus while growing up. But certainly for three years he was with Christ 24/7, eating, sleeping and traveling with Him everywhere He went.

Now as you know there are four gospels in the New Testament. Matthew, Mark and Luke are what are called the synoptic gospels. That means that they shared common themes or incidents in their accounts. But John’s gospel, being written many years later when John was an old man does not follow their pattern. John writes from a completely different perspective and focuses on many things that are not found in the other gospels. For instance, John doesn’t detail the birth of Christ. And there is no mention of parables in John’s gospels, which account for much of the teaching of Christ in the synoptic gospels.

But the best indication of the purpose of John’s gospel is found in his own words, in John 20:30-31, “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” Note that John says the reason for his writing was to show that Jesus was the Messiah, (that is what the word Christ means) and that Jesus was the Son of God, so that you might believe He is the Messiah and the Son of God, and be saved unto eternal life.

Now that purpose is clearly substantiated starting with the first verse of his gospel. And I don’t wish to rush over this point too quickly. Because it would stand to reason that if someone were a close, intimate friend of the One he was writing about, had spent 3 years of living with Him on a day to day basis, it would not be likely that this would be the way in which you would begin His biography by ascribing to Him deity. But in spite of that closeness, yes, even because of that closeness, John begins by declaring the divinity of Jesus Christ in a bold declarative statement. John leaves out the familiar details of Jesus life which reveal His humanity, such as His birth, but focuses on His divinity, His attributes of being God.

So as John begins his prologue, he begins not with the birth of Jesus as would be expected in a biographical book, but he begins in the beginning, in the beginning of Genesis 1:1, and he declares that Jesus existed before creation began. And that is a tremendous thing in light of the fact of his intimate knowledge of the human nature of Christ. Living 24/7 with Christ did not diminish his view of Jesus as God, but it only served to prove it to him, and so his purpose is to establish that for us at the outset, and it will continue to be the theme of all the book.

The fact that John alludes to Genesis 1:1 in his opening statement is fundamental to the doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ. We know that the NT is the best commentary on the OT. Consider then Genesis 1:1, “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and compare that to John 1:1, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”   And what we find is that Genesis 1 is explained by John 1; the eternal existence of God, who God is, what He is like and what was His purpose. In Genesis 1 we see the origin of creation, and all creatures. In John 1 we see the originator of all life and the origin of light. John makes it clear that from the beginning, from the beginning of eternity, the Word existed. Before time, before creation, the Word was. He was not created, but He existed before creation.

So after establishing His eternal nature, John establishes His identity. Not His name but His identity; which is the Word. Perhaps you think that the Word is an ambiguous title, hardly a name for God. In the original Greek the word is logos; which means the word. But the fact is that to both Jews and Greeks it was a familiar way of referring to God.

In the Old Testament, we often see reference to the word of the Lord, or the word of God came to a certain prophet. In the mind of the ancient Jews, the phrase “the word of God” could be used to refer to God Himself. The word of the Lord was synonymous with the will of God, the law of God and the mind of God. And even in the Genesis account of creation, we see the Word of God active in creation, with the phrase, “and God said…” over and over again being the operative agent in creation.

Then among the Greek philosophers, the word logos was the way they described the reason, the thought behind the cosmic power of the universe. They saw the logos as the “Ultimate Reason” that controlled all things, that kept order in the world. Though the translation of the term logos is the simple term word, in the ancient Greek world it meant a lot more than that. Ancient Greek philosophers were concerned with answering the ultimate questions of the universe. They were seeking to find ultimate truth. They debated and argued among themselves in order to find the ultimate reality that lies behind the universe.

Over time, as philosophers such as Plato pondered these questions, they came up with a term to describe this ultimate reality, and the term they came up with was logos. The logos came to be understood as the thought and reason which gave life and meaning to the universe. Within the realm of Greek philosophy, however, this logos was largely understood to be an impersonal force, not a personal being.

But John taps into their understanding of God by saying Jesus is the logos, the eternal God of creation, of order or truth and reason. Rather than an impersonal force, the logos revealed in John’s gospel is a personal being who can be received or rejected by other people as we will see when we come to vs. 11–12. This logos became flesh as a human being and manifested the glory of God to man in v. 14. John explains that Jesus is the personification of the Word. He is a person, not an it, not an impersonal force.

Not only does the logos refer to the identity of God, but obviously it refers to the very words of God. Jesus said in John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” The word of God has been written down for us in the Bible, and it is holy and eternal. As Peter said in 1 Peter 1:25, “The word of the Lord endures forever.” The words of God cannot be separated from the essence of God. That is why Jesus would say, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” God has not only manifested Himself in Jesus, but He has manifested Himself in His word.   He is inseparable from His word, and that is why we can trust His word. His word cannot be broken. His word according to Psalms 12:6, has been refined as silver 7 times. It is pure, it is truth, it is life.

So John alludes to all of the attributes of God in this title, but brings them to life in the person of Christ. So in the beginning was the Word. Then John tells us who exactly the Word is. He says “and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Now that is so important because it lays the groundwork for our doctrine of the trinity. It tells us is that not only is the Logos the eternal God, but He is distinct from the eternal God. And this is where we come to understand that there is one God and yet there are three persons.

Now I cannot explain how that is possible. But the scriptures make it clear that it is so. It is the triune nature of God; to exist in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We see that expressed again in Genesis 1:26, when God said, “let Us make man in Our image.” Plural. In the beginning God created, then the Spirit of God moved across the face of the waters, and then God said. God, Spirit and Logos. Three in One. Jesus is God in the flesh, the Holy Spirit is Jesus in the Spirit. God made visible in the Logos, Jesus made invisible in the Spirit. So then God became flesh in Jesus. Both Peter and Paul refer to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9 and 1 Peter 1:11). John 16:13-14 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.” And then even we become sons of God by the Spirit of Jesus indwelling in the flesh of man (us).

So clearly presented in this verse is the doctrine that the Word was with God, but also that the Word was God. Many false doctrines such as the Mormons or the Jehovah Witnesses reveal their apostasy on this doctrine. They insert the article “a” before God so that Jesus is presented as a god. But according to practically all Greek scholars, that is not a proper rendering of the translation. And even if they were to make that claim, then what do you do with Hebrews 1:1-3 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Or how about Col. 2:9 “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” Or how about the Old Testament, in Isaiah 9:6 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” Or how about Jesus’ own declaration to Philip, when He said, “if you have seen Me you have seen the Father.” Or “I and the Father are One.”

The whole rational of our salvation depends upon God Himself becoming flesh in the person of Christ to become our substitute by dying on the cross and paying the penalty for sin. Only the innocent could pay for the guilty. And only the Holy God could atone for the sins of all the sins of the world. No good man could even atone for one person’s sins other than His own, much less the sins of the world. Christ had to be God in the flesh to buy our redemption. Either Jesus was God or He was an imposter, and worse, a blasphemer and deserved to be crucified. But we believe the Bible, that He was the exact representation of God, existing with God, who was God and yet distinct from God, identified as the Word of God.

Vs.2, “He was in the beginning with God.” Or as the KJV says perhaps more literally, “the same was in the beginning with God.” This same Word not only was coeternal with God and coexistent with God, but was eternally in active communion with Him: “not simply the Word with God, but God with God.” John not only reiterates the fundamental truth for emphasis, but to add emphasis to the fact of their unity.

And then in vs. 3, as we have already noted in Genesis 1, all things God created came into being through Him. “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” God spoke through His Word, and all things that were created came through the Logos. That’s what the author of Hebrews said as well as we just read while ago: “in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” And consider what Paul said in Col. 1:16 “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created through Him and for Him.”

Here is the proof of His self-existence. Everything that exists came into being through Him. That’s a positive declaration, simple, clear evidence, that the Lord Jesus Christ is eternal deity. Everything that exists, He made. It all came from Him. He didn’t come from anyone, or anything. Everything came from Him. 1 Corinthians 8:6 “yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”

Notice that “all things” – that includes us, we were made for Him, we exist for Him. We were made to share His glory, to have intimacy with Him, to walk with Him, to talk with Him, to be the bride of Christ. That is the purpose of creation. Creation was made for man, and man was made for God. Such was the declaration of one of the church’s earliest theologians, Augustine, who said, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” We were made with the spark of divinity, in the likeness of God, in the image of God. All things created were brought into being by simply the spoken word of God. But man was brought into being by the hands of God which formed us out of the clay, and given life by the very lips of God when He breathed into us the breath of life. We were made to be gods, according to Psalm 82:6 , where God says, “You are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” But unfortunately the fall killed that divine spark, and it lay dormant until the Son of God our Creator breathes again in us the Spirit of Life.

And that principle of spiritual life is what John lays the foundation for in vs.4, “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.” That is such a profound statement. “In Him was life.” The word used is not bios, because He’s not just talking about biological life, which is the rudimentary form of life. But the word is zoe, which has to do with spiritual life, the life principle, the reality of life. The Word is the source of life. We already quoted Jesus saying that in John 6:63, “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” And “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Jesus is the source of all life.

Paul said in Acts 17:28 “for in Him we live and move and exist.” Hebrews 1:3 says, He “upholds all things by the word of His power.” Jesus Himself said, “I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly.” He was talking about zoe, the real, spiritual life, even eternal life of which He is the source.

Near Geneva, Switzerland, buried under the ground in a 17 mile wide circular tunnel is what is called the Hadron Collider. And this scientific machine’s purpose is to discover the smallest particles of subatomic matter, in order to find the origin of life. To get these protons to break apart they have to smash these particles together at the speed of light. They have been conducting these experiments for years, and the result is that they continue to discover even more subatomic particles and mysteries upon mysteries in their hope to reveal the source of life. But here in John 1 God declares the source of life and light, which is Jesus Christ, the Logos. He holds all things together.

This life is the light of men, speaking of spiritual light as well as natural light. It isn’t that the Word “contains” life and light; He is life and light. John is connecting life and light. The one who was the life of men became the light of men. The light to lead them out of darkness. In the beginning of creation God said, “Let there be light.” So in the new creation the pre existent source of life is the source of life that illuminates creation. That’s why He came into the world, to shine light into the darkness, to reveal God that we might see the truth of God. Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the Light of the world,” whoever “follows Me will not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Therefore, without Jesus, we are dead and in darkness. When man became separated from God because of the fall he became spiritually dead, he lost his spiritual life, so he became dead and in darkness. He became lost.

But thank God for the last phrase of vs.5, “ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” The KJV says comprehend it. That is an unfortunate translation which is understood to mean that man could not understand the light. But what it should read is the darkness could not overcome it. The light prevailed over the darkness, not the other way around. The light can not lose against the darkness; the darkness will never overcome it.

The darkness refers to the realm of darkness, the realm of Satan, the powers of darkness. Jesus said in the hours before the cross that this hour belongs to the power of darkness. Eph. 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” But the darkness cannot overpower the Light. The Light shines in the darkness. Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. Though all the forces of hell conspired to keep man in darkness, the Light has come into the world so that man might be saved from death and darkness and dwell in the light for eternity.

John has made it abundantly clear concerning the doctrine of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is eternal God, the Word of God made flesh, that we might know God, that we might know the truth and that the truth would be the light by which we come to have life in Him. I hope that you have received Him as your Lord and Savior. That is why He came, to give hope and life to a world lost in darkness. Today light has shown on you. Come to the Light and believe and you will have real life, and have it more abundantly.

So this is the last chapter in the book of Acts. And I really struggled with how we should finish this book. I suppose I could have broken down this series of events and exegeted each one, tried to find a parable or outline in each and preach a sermon. But as I considered it, I could not help but feel that the Holy Spirit was telling us something that was greater than the summary of each individual event. I couldn’t help but wonder how this grand epic of the gospel could just kind of wind down with a series of little events without any preaching, without some new doctrine, and just kind of fade out without coming to a conclusion like we might expect? It felt kind of like the way those movies make you feel that never conclude the story but just leave you hanging at the end, wondering what was going to happen next.

But I don’t think it’s because the Holy Spirit is a bad writer or because He could not figure out how to finish the story so He just fades to black and leaves us to figure out the end on our own. I think the solution is to consider the bigger picture, rather than focus too much on these little vignettes as independent subjects.

And so at some point I found myself asking some questions about what the Spirit was indicating in this passage and the preceding chapters leading up to it.   Like for instance, why at the end of his ministry, not to mention his life, is Paul left to practically fade into obscurity, without seeing` any great harvests of conversions either among pagans or among Jews? Where are all the thousands upon thousands saved in a matter of a few days such as had been the case with Peter in Jerusalem when the church first started?

Why did God use the storm to drive Paul to the shores of a tiny 12 x 20 mile long island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea? Of all places in the world where God could have sent Paul, why is he shipwrecked on Malta, a barbarous island peopled by a few superstitious natives?  This was after all the greatest apostle of Christ. And furthermore, why does God allow his servants to die ignoble deaths alone and practically forgotten by the world?

And as I answered those questions I felt the truth of this passage begin to dawn in my mind. I considered for instance, that all of Christ’s apostles were arrested at some point and spent much time in prison. And all of the apostles save John were eventually martyred and from our perspective died an ignoble death, practically alone, alienated from family and friends, by the hands of brutish men.

But the full answer goes back all the way to the beginning of Acts. As the Christian church was born, there was a great blossoming of fruit and a great harvest of souls, culminating in thousands upon thousands of Jews becoming saved and being added to the church. And great signs and wonders were being performed daily in the church and in Jerusalem, and everyone, Luke tells us, held the first Christians in high esteem and they were well spoken of in the community.

Today when we talk about the characteristics of the first Christian church, that is what we think of, isn’t it? Great crowds, admiring congregations, apostles with tremendous miraculous power, and Christians being well respected in the community.   Sounds like a Joel Osteen or Billy Graham crusade. But that is not an accurate picture of the first century church. And I would go so far as to say that is not an accurate representation of what God’s template for the church truly is. Now we know that to be a fact, because the popularity and profusion of conversions and subsequent church members did not last long. The diaspora began soon after that beginning with the martyrdom of Steven in chapter 7, and in chapter 8 vs.2 it says, “And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” The honeymoon period of the church was over.

Now after that point, the focus of Acts begins to look away from the church at Jerusalem and starts to look at the developing church in Gentile territories. And in those territories we no longer see the mega church example that we see in Jerusalem, but instead we see small house churches. We see the gospel taken to individuals, to families, and small gatherings of believers meeting in rooms and homes. We see the apostles and disciples encountering more and more persecution from both Jews as well as pagan cultures.

Now I have to say that I saw that really for the first time just this week as I was preparing for this message. It wasn’t that I did not know it, but I hadn’t really seen it before in that way. A classic example of not seeing the forest for the trees. And when I saw this I was greatly encouraged. Because to tell you the truth, both the world and the Christian culture seem to equate success as bigger churches and more people. The question of how many members you may have, and how big your organization is, and how fast you are growing, and how many programs you are running, are the ways in which we quantify and validate successful ministries. And if you don’t fit that template then you are left to question the validity of your church.

But what I found when I began to look at this is with the exception of the brief honey moon period when the church at Jerusalem was started, there is not another example of a mega church in the New Testament. And furthermore, there is no record of apostle worship in the Bible either, at least on the level of the admiration and followings of the great “Christian” leaders of today. When you compare the 60,000 people filling up a football stadium to hear Joel Osteen with the ministry of the Apostle Paul then you will see a major discrepancy. When Paul was last in a huge stadium in Ephesus the crowds were calling for his head. They were not lining up to shake his hand and ask him to sign a copy of his latest book.

Now I point this out because I think that what the Holy Spirit is illustrating one last time as He winds up the book of Acts is the template of the church. From a human perspective, this is not the way it’s supposed to look at this point. After all, Paul is the greatest apostle of all of Christ’s apostles. If anyone should have been a mega church pastor it should have been Paul. If anyone should have had a 60,000 member church and dozens of satellite churches streaming live his messages every Sunday it should have been Paul. Furthermore, from the human perspective, if Paul was really God’s man then he wouldn’t have been in chains. He wouldn’t have ended his life in relative obscurity. He would have been elevated to the position of the Cardinal of Europe or something like that with his own disciples serving churches under his supervision. I mean, if Peter supposed to be the Pope, then Paul should have been the Cardinal.

But instead we see a different model acted out in these last chapters of Acts. We see the apostle beleaguered by constant harassment, chased from town to town, ridiculed by the elite in not only the intellectual world but the religious world. We see him stoned, beaten, imprisoned. We don’t see him lauded by the media, hosted on the Today Show, appearing on the television talk shows, but instead having to sneak out of town by being let down from a wall in a basket to escape certain death. We see him being stoned and left for dead. We see him in prison almost more than we see him out of prison. And yet in spite of appearances to the contrary, I would suggest that Paul is the embodiment of the church. In 1Cor.12:28, Paul said that God after God raised Jesus from the dead and He ascended on high, He gave first of all to the church apostles. And in Eph. 2:20 Paul says that the church has been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone. And then again in Eph. 4:11 it says, “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.”

The point I think then is this; that as we look at the events in this last couple of chapters in Acts we see that Paul is the church. He was the foundation of the church. He was traveling with Luke and Aristarchus. And you will remember that Jesus said where two or three are gathered together there I am in the midst. The church is not characterized by buildings or organizations, but by people. And that starts with Christ as the cornerstone, the apostles word as the foundation, and then preachers and teachers building up the body or the church brick by brick, person by person.

I recently had a woman call me who had attended our church during the summer and she is writing a book about churches on the Eastern Shore. She was originally intrigued by the church buildings and started to think about the stories behind them. But when she discovered our church on the beach one Sunday almost by accident, she felt that there was something here that needed to be investigated. And so as Susie and I spent a couple of hours with her, we were able to share how God doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands. But how God’s church is comprised of His people, not characterized by architecture.

Well, how was the church template laid out in Acts? Well, as we look at Paul’s ministry we do not see the thousands upon thousands saved like we saw in the honeymoon period in Jerusalem. Instead we see individual conversions such as the jailer and his family being saved who was in charge of the prison he was incarcerated in. We see him casting out demons from people who were accosting him as he preached. We see him meeting with small groups of people by the riverside, or in the market places or in homes or upper rooms, with some or a few people being converted.   We see Paul having to work with his hands to raise his own money to support his ministry. Paul’s life is one of hardship, persecution, small gatherings of Christians, trials, incarcerations, preaching, and lots and lots of rejections of his gospel. And yet Paul said “be imitators of me.” (1Cor. 11:1)

Now that may sound uninspiring to some people. But personally I find it encouraging. Because there are times when I find myself comparing our ministry with what the Christian culture and the world tells me are the marks of a successful church, and feeling like we keep coming up short. Just the other night I was speaking with someone and they asked what I do, and as I tried to tell them about our church I found myself feeling almost embarrassed because we do not have many of the trappings of what society calls a successful church. And their response didn’t help either. Because they proceeded to tell me about the church that they went to, which happens to be a church of several hundred people and is very popular in the community. And this man said they went to this church because they had a large children’s ministry . Then to add injury to insult, they told me a story about how their pastor and his wife drove up to the middle of Pennsylvania to attend his mother in law’s funeral and how that sealed the deal for them in regards to church membership.

Well, I can’t compete with that. We don’t have a children’s ministry. And I dislike going to hospitals or funerals and to tell you the truth would never even consider driving three hours one way to attend a funeral of a person I didn’t know (even if my car would make it) just so I could seal the deal for someone’s church membership. Besides we don’t even have church membership. So I guess I will never pastor a mega church.

But thankfully, according to the template given to us in Acts, that is not necessarily God’s plan for us anyhow. Paul was the greatest apostle in the New Testament and as we have seen in our recent studies he has been in chains for the last 2 ½ years, under house arrest, never even formerly charged with a crime. But in that time God used Paul to preach to very small audiences, although at times made up of kings and governors and rulers of the Jews. However, those messages were not received, but rejected. For the most part, it would look like from our perspective that those were very unproductive years for Paul. But we are looking at things as they appear outwardly. We don’t know, and perhaps neither did Paul, all the lives that were affected by his messages. What we do know is that God’s ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts like our thoughts. And what often seems like a tragedy to us in a triumph in Christ. Even our Messiah only had a few disciples and He suffered and was crucified before He was exalted in resurrection.

Now the passage illustrates this template of God’s church in a series of small vignettes of Paul’s ministry here in this final passage. And we will look briefly at each of them for additional clues as to the nature of God’s plan for the church as it continues on until the return of Christ. First we see that Paul has endured the storm only to be shipwrecked on the island of Malta. This was a small island, in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, only 12 miles by 20 miles wide. It was a Roman colony, but more than likely populated by a simple, rather superstitious native people.

And it’s interesting to me that God used the storm to bring this great apostle to this tiny island and leave him there for 3 months. Certainly, you would think that God would have used him for greater purposes than that. In fact, there isn’t even a mention that anyone on that island became a Christian. But I cannot help but think that Paul would have laid the seeds for a church there on this island among these simple people. By the way, the word barbarous is the literal word used there in vs.2 and 4 translated as natives in the NASB. Barbarians was a word that was used by the Greeks to denote anyone who did not speak Greek. Paul himself uses the word in Romans 1:14 when he says “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.” It simply means non Greek speaking.

But I think that it can be surmised that Paul did in fact preach the gospel there by the fact that the Holy Spirit enabled him to first of all be healed of a snake bite. That got the attention of the population. And it also is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus in Mark 16:17-18 “These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Now a lot of charismatics have misinterpreted these verses to say this promise includes all believers. But if you look at the context of that passage, Jesus is speaking to the 11 disciples, who would become His apostles. They had not believed Him when He had foretold His resurrection, nor even when the women came to them and reported it. And so Jesus rebukes them and then He commissions them as His apostles saying these are the signs that will accompany His apostles. Those signs of an apostle are born out as well in 2Cor. 12:12 “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.” These were the attesting signs of an apostle, not devises by which we today can attest to our spirituality or serve our personal needs.

And Paul would have used such miraculous powers to proclaim the gospel. That was the whole point of miracles, to confirm the word preached. Paul never used miraculous powers for his own benefit, but only to authenticate the gospel that he was commissioned to preach. So though the text does not say Paul preached, you can be sure he did, attesting to the authenticity of his message with signs and wonders and miracles. So that as the word spread on the island, all who were sick came to him to healed. And though the scripture does not tell us of conversions, tradition does say that a thriving church was started there.

Now this is an example of the mercy and compassion of God, in that He sent His apostle to this remote island especially so that these few natives might hear the gospel. And it would seem from the kindness and the response of the natives that they did respond to the gospel. This small island far from the rest of the world was not forgotten by the Lord, but singled out for a divine appointment by one of Christ’s greatest prophets. Here is the principle; God often uses great men to perform humble tasks in dark places to small audiences.

I’m reminded of the story of Eric Liddel, told in the movie Chariots of Fire, which told how this Olympic athlete became famous for his stand for his faith by not running on Sunday even though that was when his 100 meter race was scheduled to be held. But after some deliberation, he was switched to the 400 meter race later in the week, and consequently won the gold medal in a race he had not prepared for. That made for exciting storylines. But the real story is that afterwards, Eric Liddel accepted a call to be a missionary in China, to a people who never really appreciated his sacrifice or his athleticism.

If modern Christians would have scripted the story, Eric Liddel would have moved onto the Christian conference circuit, heralded as a great example of a successful Christian athlete, and receiving large offerings and speaking to great crowds. He would have written a book about successful Christian athleticism and how you can use it to influence the world. But God had different plans. He sent Eric Liddel to the darkest continent on the planet, to a people that would never appreciate his Olympic gold medals, and Eric Liddel lived out the rest of his days there teaching the word of God. He died in China in 1945 after being incarcerated for the last two years in a prison camp. God’s ways are not our ways.

The next few verses of our text detail the voyage of Paul and the others as they sailed to Rome. And one point of interest is that they met some brethren, that is fellow Christians in Puteoli and they were allowed to stay there 7 days. Notice the providence of God in this. Here are believers in a town where there is no record of having received the gospel, and yet there are already a few Christians there. Again, this is such an out of the way place that Paul would have probably never visited these people under normal circumstances. But God knew that this small band of believers were in this city, and He arranges it so that they will come there, and not only be there for the day, but for seven days. Furthermore, the text says that Paul was allowed to go to them. He stayed with them. This is an extraordinary indication of God’s providence seeing that Paul is a prisoner, and yet the centurion so trusts Paul and is in fact indebted to him so that he gladly allows Paul to stay with his friends. Such an example of how God is concerned about small audiences. This little group of believers are visited by the great apostle and given the benefit of his preaching for 7 days. What a boost that must have been to that little church there, and what an encouragement as well it must have been for Paul to see that the gospel seeds that he had planted elsewhere had blown even to this remote spot.

I was looking at the colors of the trees on our lane yesterday and noticed a young cedar sapling growing in the woods at the end of the lane. And I realized how far it was from the two cedar trees that border our house lot. I don’t know how a seed from those trees made it all the way down to the end of the road, perhaps a bird dropped it there and it found root and grew. But I couldn’t help but think of how Jesus relates the preaching of the gospel to a farmer casting seeds, and some fall on good soil, and some do not get rooted deep and do not produce. But our job is to cast the seed, and let divine winds blow it where God has prepared the soil to receive it.

I think of all the people that come in and out of our church, many times for just a few days or maybe a week at a time. And yet during that time we are able to minister to them and they to us in a special way. Some people we will never see again perhaps this side of heaven. But God uses our church to minister to traveling visitors, and infrequent guests, who hopefully go away refreshed and with a new sense of purpose back to their home communities and perhaps even bringing new life to their churches.

Then note in vs15, it would appear that two different groups of Christians came out to meet Paul as he came near to Rome. You know, Paul was a great apostle, but we must not forget that he was human as well. He became tired, hungry, fatigued, worried and even fearful. Some pious people like to say that being fearful or worried is sinful. But I disagree. I think it just means you are human. There is nothing wrong with being afraid. Courage is not the lack of fear, but the willingness to go on in spite of your fears. Paul had been on a long hard journey. And now he is finally near his destination. He has no idea what is going to happen when he arrives. Only that the Holy Spirit has told him he will stand before Caesar. Where Nero was concerned that usually had a way of not turning out too well for most people. And so I’m sure that Paul was concerned, even a bit fearful as he approached this capital of the world, to be judged by the highest official of the Roman Empire.

Now we can be assured he was fearful, because it says when Paul saw the brethren who came outside the city to meet him that he thanked God and took courage. I cannot tell you the numbers of times that some visitors to our church have given me an opportunity to thank God and be encouraged just at a time when I needed it most.

And the reason that Paul is so encouraged was that these people were the fruit of the gospel to the Romans that he had written years earlier. People that he had never met, but that had read his letter and received it as the gospel of Jesus Christ. No wonder Paul thanked God and was encouraged. That is another characteristic of the template of the church, encouragement. Even as we are reminded in Hebrews 10:24 “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

I remember a few weeks ago really struggling with preparing my message, and when I delivered it I kind of felt deflated, feeling like I wasn’t sure if it had really accomplished anything for the kingdom. And a couple of days later I got an email from a woman telling me how much the message had meant to her, and how it had spoken to a particular need she had. I’m not even sure who this lady is. For some reason, I cannot remember what she looked like or anything about her. But I was encouraged by her note. And I think that every Christian who is serving the Lord has that hope, that something you said to someone about the Lord, or someone you reached out to in Christian kindness, was genuinely moved by your words or your actions. You may not see the fruit of that work in this lifetime, but there will come a day when what you whispered in secret will be shouted from the rooftops. And what was done for Christ will last for eternity and be rewarded in heaven.

Well, Paul finally gets to Rome, he is given his own rented quarters to live in with just a personal guard. That is an exceptional privilege for a prisoner. He is allowed unrestricted access to friends and visitors. But nevertheless he is still a prisoner. And this is really incredible; Paul calls upon the very group of people that are responsible for his incarceration in the first place to come and visit him. It’s almost like he is inviting trouble. The Jews in Rome have not heard about Paul, or of any charges against him. You would think that Paul would have tried to avoid these guys, much less invite them to his house.

But this illustrates another important principle: our spiritual adversaries are not our enemies, but they are our mission field. So Paul invites them to hear the gospel. He explains the gospel from the OT scriptures for 8 to 12 hours and presents them with evidence that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and that He had to die and be resurrected to fulfill God’s plan of salvation.

Luke tells us that some of the Jews were being persuaded by Paul and some weren’t. And that resulted in them having a sharp disagreement and leaving. The idea that some were being persuaded does not necessarily mean that they were saved. I think there was a disagreement, similar to the times when Paul preached to the Jews before and the Pharisees and the Sadducees ended up arguing amongst themselves. The point is though that they left without being saved, as Paul’s parting remarks make plain.

Paul quotes from Isaiah 6:9, saying, ‘GO TO THIS PEOPLE AND SAY, “YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; AND YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, AND WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES; OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT SEE WITH THEIR EYES, AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.”’

I don’t quite understand the compassion of God, but He continues to call His prophets to preach to a people who will not understand, to a people who have hardened their hearts and closed their eyes. But yet that is the commission of the church. Only God can open hearts and open the eyes of the blind. Our job is to preach the gospel, whether or not they will accept it or not.

I will say this, my experience is confirmed by the scriptures in saying that the majority of people will not understand. The majority of people will not be saved. But a few will turn and believe. When I consider the number of people that we have presented the gospel to that were almost persuaded, but eventually went on their way I can easily become discouraged. However, we must not allow small numbers or the lack of results to discourage us as we fulfill the commission of Jesus Christ. The gospel has never been popular, contrary to what we sometimes are told. Christians have always been in the minority. But I can say this with absolute conviction. The kingdoms of the earth rise and fall into obscurity, but the kingdom of God endures forever. Caesar and the Roman Empire have faded away. Ancient Judaism and the temple are no more. But the gospel has endured, and flourished and is still saving souls 2000 years later.

Well the book of Acts concludes without coming to a conclusion. Because the story of the church is not finished. Paul continued for two years there teaching and preaching out of his home to all who would come to him. And that I think is the final part of the church’s template; the consistent preaching and teaching of the word of God in Paul’s house. He would have never had a great crowd. It was a rented home after all and would not have held more than a couple of dozen people at a time. But the church continued. And when Paul eventually met his death, someone else picked up the baton and continued to run the race. That baton has been passed down through the centuries from church to church, from generation to generation. Today we still meet in our homes, and today small groups of Christians meet all around the world, sharing the truth of the gospel to all who will come.

I believe the true church of God is still following that template, doing the same thing that Paul did, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness. The preaching of the word is the hallmark of the church, it’s our purpose, and nothing can stop us except the Lord’s return. Let us be found as faithful as Paul was, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, to be about the purpose of the kingdom of God, never ceasing to preach Jesus Christ.

The story we are looking at today shows a godly man, a man chosen and used by God as an apostle, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, yet who suffers incarceration, deprivation, a nightmarish couple of weeks at sea in the midst of a major nor’easter, and ultimately ends up being shipwrecked and having to swim for land. It’s an amazing account of hardship, but I hope that you will see why the Holy Spirit gives us this story in this passage. I hope to show you that God allows His people to go through storms and even shipwrecks in order to use them for His glory.

Now this principle is contrary to practically everything you will hear today on Christian radio, or on so called Christian television, or from most pulpits in the modern evangelical church which seem to try to seduce people to the gospel by means of the enticement of a better life. And I hope you will not just discard this message as another one of Roy’s rants about how dire everything is. But I hope you will see that this is a Biblical principle that is illustrated over and over again in the Bible. It is not something that only happened in Biblical times, but it is something that happens in our lives as well. So it’s important that we understand that in the last days difficult times will come. I hope you will consider 2Tim. 3:12 which says, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Or as Paul said in Acts 14:22, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”

The point being, that you should not expect that the Christian faith guarantees you a life of comfort and ease and pleasure. Jesus said, “In this world you will have tribulation, but take courage, for I have overcome the world.” Jesus said in Matthew 5 that God causes it to rain on the just and the unjust. So there are going to be storms in your life. They are unavoidable. And sometimes those storms end up causing shipwrecks. Many times they are beyond our ability to avoid either. But what is important is to know that God is with us in the storm, even in the shipwreck, and He will preserve our soul and use it for His glory if we trust in Him.

Now let’s consider something else that’s important to realize right at the beginning of the story, and that is God’s timing. Paul was told by the Lord way back in chapter 23 vs.11, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.” But here is Paul over two years later and he still hasn’t gotten to Rome. He has spent the last two years languishing in prison. A fairly nice prison by most standards of that day, but still a prison nonetheless. Now he’s finally on a ship sailing to Rome, still under guard, and they get caught in this massive storm at sea, and eventually shipwrecked on an island.

And what I think we can take from that is the principle of God’s timing. The Lord said in Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.” God has His own time table. And if we are not careful in considering his timing, we can easily out run God and end up finding ourselves in a mess.

Now I emphasize that because many times Christians come to a point in their life where they want to know God’s will. They may seek God’s counsel in regards to a decision that they are about to make. They want to know God’s will, if He is with them or not, or will bless them or not. And I want to emphasize that we have to be careful about judging things based on human timetables and what seems rational or natural to us. God has His own timing and purposes. It doesn’t mean we don’t plan or strategize, but we should not mistake the seeming silence of God as an indication of a green light. Or neither should we suppose that God is not working simply because we don’t see immediate results. What we have to depend upon is the word of the Lord. In Paul’s case, 2 ½ years later he was still trusting in the word of the Lord that promised he would go to Rome even though it had not come to pass yet.

Remember that Abraham was 75 years old when God promised to raise up a son from him which would result in a great nation coming from his loins, but he was 100 years old when Isaac was born. And in similar fashion, Joseph was 17 when he was taken captive, but 30 when he was elevated to second in command over Egypt.   Thus Hebrews 6 tells us to imitate those patriarchs who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Now if we are going to go through these trials in such as way as to inherit the promises, and avoid the peril, then we must be careful to conduct ourselves according to the will of God, which is admittedly difficult to do as we just described. It’s difficult because God’s will is not always determined according to human intellect or the way we would naturally suppose things to be. So we are given this passage I believe to help establish some principles to guide us as we go through the storms and even shipwrecks of life.

First note that Festus decides that Paul is to go to Rome to stand trial before Caesar, even though he admits that Paul has done no crime. And so he determines that he will go by ship, and puts a Roman centurion in charge of his transport named Julius. The centurion would have had 100 soldiers under his command. And the text tells us that there were other prisoners on the ship as well as the author Luke and Aristarchus who accompanied Paul, so all told there were 276 people on board the ship.

God’s providence allowed for Paul’s doctor as well as his friend, Aristarchus, to travel with him. Though Paul was a prisoner, he had been given special consideration for the last couple of years, and it would seem that continued even aboard the ship. The centurion Julius shows Paul kindness, even allowing him to visit other Christians in Sidon. But notice vs. 3 says he allowed him to receive care. It’s not unlikely that Paul was ill during this time. That would account for Luke and Aristarchus traveling with him. We don’t know what illness Paul had for sure, but we do know that the Galatians were willing to give Paul their very own eyes if possible. So most commentators believe that because of that passage as well as others that Paul had a serious illness in his eyes that limited his vision.

And that is a testament to God’s provision and care for our needs. Though Paul asked three times for God to remove this thorn in his flesh, yet God did not heal Paul, but He did give him a doctor and a companion to help him. 1 Cor. 10:13 promises that “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” I cannot overemphasize the fact that God a human touch to accomplish a divine purpose. God desires to use us to comfort and strengthen and minister to one another.

Now at Sidon they were put on another ship and this is when they start running into trouble.   They already had contrary winds up to this point, but now the wind was really against them. So much so that they finally find themselves forced to land at a port called Fair Havens. Now it’s interesting to note this, because we have already determined that it was God’s will that Paul go to Rome, and yet at every step of the way he is being delayed, the wind was contrary, and they had difficult going.

We have difficulty accepting such circumstances as God’s will, don’t we? I have had similar experiences at 7:30 in the morning with contrary winds and bad weather just before church starts. And I have asked myself many times what God’s will could possibly be in such a case. There have even been times when we had to cancel services because of a storm. I have to admit that at such times I have a hard time accepting that it is God’s will. I tend to think in such times that Satan has won the day and we lost. And yet we know that is not the case in Paul’s situation, even though it goes from bad to worse. Just because it is God’s will does not mean that there will not be opposition or even delay. That’s why we are told to persevere, to endure under trials. Opposition is often more of an indicator of God’s will than fair winds, as we will see in a moment.

By the time they made port and waited for the wind to change it had become an unfavorable season for ship travel. It was after the feast of atonement, sometime in mid October, and in that region the winter was considered a very dangerous time for sea travel. And so Paul, who I think was under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, advises the centurion and the captain that he doesn’t think it’s a good idea to continue on. Paul said, ““Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”

But the centurion, though he favors Paul with some kindness, doesn’t think that Paul knows as much about seafaring as the captain does, and so he disregards Paul’s advice. I get that from time to time myself. I sometimes offer advice to someone in my church about a career choice, or marriage counseling, or financial advice. And many times I think they feel that I don’t really know much about such things so they disregard my advice. They may concede that might be able to teach the Bible, but for practical advice they will go to a trained counselor or advisor and listen to them. I don’t think Paul claimed to be a sea captain, but I do think that he had the immeasurable advantage of the input of the Holy Spirit. And in like manner, I may not be a trained counselor or advisor, but I do have access to the truth of the Holy Spirit and can relate godly principles set forth by Him in the word of God. The Bible is practical advice. It is our guide for daily life. It is sufficient.

Now notice that they disregard Paul’s advice not necessarily because it isn’t sound, but because it’s contrary to their carnal desires. They want to go to a more interesting, more comfortable winter quarters.   And this is the beginning of their trouble and of ours as well: when we turn away from godly counsel in search of counsel which conforms to our desires. Paul would later warn Timothy about people’s tendency to do that in 2Tim. 4:3-5 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

But unfortunately, they failed to follow Paul’s advice. And instead, when a south wind sprung up, thinking that this signaled fair weather and was a good omen, they set sail once again. And of course, Paul is taken on board. The Bible says no man is an island. Your actions affect others. Your decisions about where you will work or live or what you might do affect others. And God will hold you accountable for the way in which your actions affected others. As parents, your leadership affects your children. Our thinking today is too much influenced by pop culture, like the song by the Kinks, which says, “It’s your life, And you can do what you want, Do what you like, But please don’t keep-a me waiting, Please don’t keep-a me waiting, ‘Cause I’m so tired, Tired of waiting, Tired of waiting for you.” So you have on the one hand the declaration that you can do whatever you want to with your life, but on the other hand another declaration of the impatience of waiting. In other words, we want what we want, and we want it now.

So be aware that when you are pursuing something like a job or where to live, or marriage, that we don’t read favorable circumstances as an indication of God’s will. As silly as it sounds, I know of several times when people interpreted a certain cloud formation as a sign from God, or a song they heard on the radio, or the sun came out from behind the clouds, and off they go to the races to do what they had already purposed in their mind to do, and were just looking for an excuse to do it. For example; getting approved for that loan may not be an indication of God’s will.

How do we avoid such mistakes? Simple; seek God’s word and then trust it. Paul’s word was as a prophet of God. And the centurion probably knew by experience that Paul’s word could be trusted as he had been with him in Caesarea for two years. But as Christians we are told we should lean not on our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct our paths.

Well, the fair south wind that signaled good weather for the ship didn’t last long, and a nor’easter sprang up which made making any headway practically impossible. I don’t know how many of you came down to the beach during the recent nor’easter we had a few weeks ago. But if you did you realized the tremendous power of those storms. They are every bit as dangerous as a hurricane, probably even more so in some cases because people aren’t expecting as much destruction as they can create. Ours lasted about 6 or 7 days if I remember correctly. The one in this story lasted 2 weeks. That is a tremendous storm, and quite a long time to be dealing with the effects of such a storm on a ship.

Notice that Luke says that they gave up trying to sail the ship into the wind and allowed the ship to be driven along by the wind. He says the same thing again in vs.17, that they let down the sea anchor after undergirding the ship with cables and let the ship be driven along. I may be stretching it a bit here, but I cannot help but see the connection to a wrong choice leading to a situation in which you are no longer in control, but the situation is controlling you. You find yourself caught up in this maelstrom of activity that is driving you. A good illustration is addiction. I think that people caught in addiction are driven by something, perhaps even demonic presence that is driving them, hurrying them to destruction, not heeding any warnings, actually unable to do anything to stop themselves. They may slow themselves down temporarily by dragging an anchor so to speak, but they are being moved inexorably to destruction.

But it may not be something as obvious as addiction to drugs or alcohol. Maybe it’s a decision you made in your career, and now you find yourself caught up in this rat race that is driving you and controlling you, and ultimately will destroy you either spiritually or physically. Or maybe it’s financial decisions which has obligated you and now controls you. We make such decisions thinking we are utilizing our prerogative for self control, self determination. And for a while we tell ourselves we have it under control. But sooner or later the situation which is not of God ends up controlling us.” Ephesians 2 tells us that Satan has designed the course of this world to control us, by getting us to indulge the desires of the mind and flesh. The course refers to a river bed that controls the swelling river, sweeping everything along in it’s path to a particular end. That is what Satan designed the things of this world to do, to sweep us along in the path of destruction.

I just heard yesterday of an acquaintance of mine that was tempted at work and then caught up in the snare of adultery, and now is suffering the destruction as the truth has become known to his family. Satan tries to convince us that we can make independent choices about our lives with impunity. But it’s a lie and a trap and a snare and often impossible to get out of once he gets you caught up in it.

Well, the storm went from bad to worse. The sun and stars could not be seen, and so the sailors lost track of exactly where they were. For two weeks it was unrelenting wind, waves and rain. Day after day, night after night it continued. One night a few years ago I was tracking a hurricane on NOAA which has buoys strategically placed along the Eastern Seaboard anywhere from 26 to 70 miles or so off shore. These buoys supply real time information regarding wind speed, wave height and so forth. And I’ll never forget seeing this one buoy reading off of Cape Hatteras late at night which was over 50 feet in height and just getting a mental picture in my mind of being out there in waves 5 stories tall in the blackness of the storm and breaking out in a cold sweat. I don’t know how big the waves were during this storm depicted in Acts, but we cannot imagine the fear and despair of being lifted up to these tremendous heights and then crashing down into the depths of the sea as they went over them, wondering every minute if they will make it over the next swell.

Well, you can imagine they couldn’t eat in those conditions. So when they had gotten to the point that they had no more hope of surviving the storm, Paul stands in their midst and addresses them. Now let’s not forget something. There were three Christians on board that ship as well. The centurion and the captain may have brought this on themselves by not heeding Paul’s advice, but God allowed Paul, Luke and Aristarchus to go through this storm with them. And even Paul I think had been terrified by this storm. Acts 27:21-26 Paul said, “Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss. “Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. “For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’ “Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. “But we must run aground on a certain island.”

Notice the words, “God has granted you…” That shows us that Paul had been praying. He may have been frightened, but he answered that fear with prayer. And God responded to his prayer. And when the angel of God spoke to Paul, he reminded him of God’s earlier promise to bring him before Caesar. That is where we find our comfort in the storm, ladies and gentlemen. First we know that we have God on our side. Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.” No matter where we are, no matter what time of night or day, we can pray to God and He hears us. I like the fact that the angel of God was able to appear before Paul in the middle of the night, on a ship in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of a raging nor’easter. The captain of the ship didn’t even know where they were, but the angel of the Lord had no trouble finding Paul. The longer I live the more convinced I am that our prayers are a mighty weapon that God has given us.

And furthermore the angel had said, “God has granted you all those who sail with you.” Paul had been praying that the sailors and soldiers accompanying him would be spared as well as that his own purpose would be accomplished on this trip. God heard his prayer and granted him their lives.

This incident is given to us in order to show us the tremendous power that a man of faith exercises. I wish I could get this across to you today. I have a feeling that none of us, myself included, has any idea of the amount of power God has committed to us through the instrument of prayer. He does such mighty things if we will but ask him. Remember that James 4:2 says, “You have not because you ask not.” God is able to do exceedingly above all that we ask or think. One commentator said that the church is really the secret government of earth, and that it has power to affect the current events which happen around us. We sometimes feel that we are helpless, drifting through our lives, waiting to get to heaven some day. But the Scriptures never portray a Christian that way. He is intimately related to the events happening around him and through God is able to exert great control over them. This is why James also says, “The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” (James 5:16). So God granted this one man, because of his prayer, the lives of the two hundred seventy-five individuals who sailed with him. They were spared because Paul prayed for them. I don’t know about you, but I take comfort in that. If God gave Paul 276 people, then maybe I can count on Him to give me a couple.

And of course the other principle that we should learn from this is that in life’s most difficult circumstances, we can rely on God’s promises. That is really the basis for our faith; the written promises of God. Not faith in our feelings, or faith in our wishes, or faith in the size of our faith, but faith in what God says. Let me remind you of what I spoke of last week. Faith is not just accepting intellectually certain facts or knowledge. Faith is trusting in that knowledge to the point of placing your complete weight upon them. Trusting your life to the facts of the gospel. That is faith. Paul trusted in the word of the Lord. He cast all his care upon the Lord.

Paul was exposed to the same peril as these other men, and yet God strengthened him with His word in the midst of the trial. God didn’t take him out of it. The storm was no less severe for Paul than it was for anyone else. The danger was just as evident, the waves were just as high, the darkness just as intense, the apparent hopelessness just as great. Everything was the same except that God granted to him a promise, a secret knowledge that the others did not possess. He didn’t lessen the trial but he gave an inward reassurance that enabled Paul to trust in God’s deliverance. This is the testimony of the Christian faith. It is a way for you to live and to act and react differently from those around you so as to bring glory to God.

As the story continues, it’s interesting to note that some of the sailors try to escape and Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” I think that indicates that we if we are going to be delivered in these storms then we must commit wholeheartedly to deliverance by God. In other words, we cannot be relying on human wisdom or ingenuity, and at the same time expect God to take care of us if something goes wrong. That is not how God works. We are told to “cast all our care upon Him, for He cares for us.” To trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. Some of the men wanted to go this way, and some that way, but no, Paul said, unless you all commit to the Lord’s way, you cannot be saved.

It reminds me of a popular song a few years back which had a line which said, “I will do down with this ship, I won’t raise my hands in surrender. There will be no white flag upon my door…” James said in James 1:5-8 “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” If God said it, then we need to commit to it, to obey it, and come what may, stay with it. Go down with the ship if necessary believing in a God who can rescue you from the depths of the sea just as surely as he rescued Moses from the sea, or Noah from the sea, or even Jonah from the depths. I will go down with this ship. I won’t surrender my faith to human reason. The worst that can happen to me is that God will have to raise me from the dead.

Well, they do go down with the ship. On the fourteenth day, Paul encourages them to eat something so that they will regain some strength for what is coming. He took bread and broke it and gave thanks to God. There are some who see in that indications of Paul leading the ship in communion but I think it’s simply a picture here of salvation. Paul’s message from God is the basis for their faith. They have to believe Paul and totally commit and trust in his word. And through God’s word Paul promises that not a hair of their head will perish. Paul offering up thanks to God and breaking the bread is a picture of salvation. Jesus is the bread of life that was broken for us, offered up for us, that we might receive eternal life. And in that promise we have hope. So these men were given hope by the faith that Paul proclaimed in God.

And in yet another metaphor of salvation, they throw all the cargo overboard. They throw out their means of making a profit. Everything is committed at that point. They have abandoned all tackle, all extra weight, and even the cargo which was their sole means of making a living. You know, God wants us to surrender everything to him, not only at salvation, but everyday, in every circumstance choose to trust God rather than rely on human resources.

I’ve was looking at the original 12 steps of alcoholics anonymous the other day. And number 3 is “I will make a decision to turn my will and life over to the care of God.” That’s what it AA requires as part of it’s 12 steps to sobriety. Number one is to admit that you are powerless, out of control. Number 2 is to believe that only God can deliver you. And then 3, commit your life and will to the care of God. Total commitment. Full surrender. There was an attractive young mother who attended our Christmas party a couple of years ago who had two beautiful little girls there all dressed up in little dresses. I didn’t really know her at that point, but remember thinking how nice they looked. But I found out later this woman was a heroin addict, and a month or so after our party she abandoned her children to go after the drug again. I lost track of her not long after that. But just yesterday I saw a post she had put on facebook that a friend of mine commented on. And all she wrote was just three words in all caps; GOD I SURRENDER.   Listen, that’s what God requires for everyone, not just addicts. He wants you to surrender everything and trust Him.

Well, that’s exactly what God required in our story. The last thing these guys on board this ship had to throw overboard was themselves. They ran aground as they hit the reef outside the island and the ship began to break up. The soldiers were going to do their customary duty and kill all the prisoners because they were afraid they might escape and they would be held accountable. But the centurion by this point realizes that Paul is to be taken at his word and so he dismisses that order. So some grabbed onto planks and whatever would float, and others who could swim jumped in as well and headed for the beach and by a miracle of God all 276 persons made it safely to shore.

Listen, that is what God’s purpose is in bringing us through these storms and shipwrecks of life. To come to the point of complete dependence upon God. To cast your entire person upon the providence of God. Psalm 55:22 says, “Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” And then to teach us to wait for the Lord. To be patient, to wait for him and not run ahead with our plans. Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.” And Psalm 37:5 “Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

And finally to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, regardless of the situation we find ourselves in believing that He will answer us and hear us. Phil. 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” I have been in many storms and even a few shipwrecks in my life. And I can vouch for the fact that your trust in God will not be ill founded. Cast yourself on the mercy of God and He will sustain you. He will never leave you, nor forsake you. And in that confidence brought about by being in the will of God we are able to pray effectively for one another, pray for our children, pray for the unsaved, and have hope in the promise that God will give us souls, that not one hair of their head will perish. Trust in the Lord, commit your way to Him, for this is the path not only to salvation, but our sanctification, and one day our glorification. So that we might sing the words of this old hymn,

Through many dangers, toils and snares,

we have already come;

‘Tis grace hath brought us safe thus far,

and grace will lead us home.

As you all are aware, yesterday was a major holiday that is celebrated in the United States. Halloween, or as it was once known, All Hallows Eve. Believe it or not, All Hallows Eve was originally a religious holiday. When I was a kid, we just thought of it as a time to dress up in costumes. It was pretty harmless. Unfortunately, today it seems to have gained an association with the dark side that I do not think is beneficial. I won’t go so far as to say that I think that Christians cannot participate in some way, but I would say that we need to be careful with the things with which we associate or in some cases, glorify.

However, how many of you are aware that there was another holiday yesterday as well? Any guesses as to the nature of that holiday? It was Reformation Day. It is celebrated as the day in 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses or objections to certain Roman Catholic practices and doctrine on the door of the church in Wittenberg. His act was credited with the start of the Protestant Reformation.

Luther’s theses began by criticizing the selling of indulgences, which were fees paid to elevate one’s loved one through stages of purgatory. Luther declared that the Pope had no authority over purgatory and that the Catholic doctrine of the merits of the saints had no foundation in the gospel. As the Reformation gathered steam though, the protestant position would eventually incorporate doctrinal changes such as sola scriptura and sola fide; or by scripture alone, and by faith alone.

And it’s important to realize that Reformers made further distinctions when they spoke about faith. They spoke about faith as composed of three elements: in Latin; notitia, assensus, and fiducia. Notitia means the content of faith, or those things that we believe. We place our faith in something, or more appropriately, someone. In order to believe, we must know something about that someone, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Assensus is our conviction that the content of our faith is true. You can know about the Christian faith and yet not believe it to be true. Genuine faith says that the content — the notitia taught by Scripture — is true.

Fiducia refers to personal trust and obedience. Knowing and believing the content of the Christian faith is not enough, for even demons can do that (James 2:19). Faith is only effectual if, knowing about and assenting to the claims of Jesus, one personally trusts in Him alone for salvation. So in order for a man to have true saving faith, he must have all three; knowledge, assent, and trust.

Today we are looking at a man that had a certain degree of faith; primarily knowledge and a degree of assent, but he was lacking the crucial element of trust. Paul himself said that King Herod Agrippa was an expert in all customs and theological questions of Judaism. Paul said in vs.27 that he knew that King Agrippa believed the prophets. That was a reference to the prophetical books of the Old Testament who wrote concerning the Messiah. So he knew the scriptures and he also had a position as king that gave him the authority to ordain who would be high priest in Jerusalem. So we can fairly assume he assented to the facts of the Jewish religion concerning God as the scripture indicated. And yet we can also fairly assume from his answer in vs. 28 that Agrippa did not have saving faith. He said in vs. 28; “In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.” A better possible translation of his answer is “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” He is not a picture of someone who is on the cusp of becoming a Christian, but of someone who is backing away from the possibility. But irregardless of how you translate it, by his own words he admits he is not saved. Almost persuaded, but lost.

And I am afraid that there are many people sitting in evangelical churches like that today. People who have a certain knowledge about the gospel, and have given a degree of assent to the gospel, but they have not trusted the gospel by submission of their lives to Christ’s rule, and therefore they are not actually saved. As I said last Wednesday evening at Bible study, trust is stepping out on the bridge of faith, believing that it will support you. Not just seeing a bridge and thinking that it would probably hold you, but walking out on it. That’s trust.

Just this week, I was reminded of some people that have been in our church at one time or another, but no longer attend regularly. And I found myself questioning, wondering if somehow I had failed to explain the gospel thoroughly enough. Because from my perspective, I have to wonder if some of those people that came regularly for weeks, or months or even years are truly saved. There is very little evidence today to suggest that some of them ever came to a saving knowledge of Christ. And yet I feel that I preach salvation so explicitly and continuously so as to sometimes be offensive and even so people manage to come to church for a while, nod appreciatively from time to time, and then fade away without ever apparently coming to Christ. They may take away enough knowledge about Christianity to feel educated, but never transformed by the truth of the gospel. And that is a tragedy.

And so I want to use this text today to speak to the nature of true Christianity. I want to cause each of you to really examine yourself. If necessary, I want to make you uncomfortable and start asking questions that you really need to be able to answer. And I do all this in hope that perhaps somehow God will open the eyes of the blind. And just let me add this; I was listening to an online seminary lecture the other day and the professor was saying the same thing that I am saying now, but to seminary students. Men that already should have been saved. Men that claimed to be called by God into the ministry. He was urging them to consider the source of their salvation, to make sure of their calling and election. He talked about an occasion when he presented that lecture to seminary students in the past and had someone approach him later and give their heart to God. So please understand something; even preachers, pastors, priests can be unsaved. It’s possible to be very religious, to be a really nice person, to be absolutely sincere, and be lost. Don’t rely on the fact that you have been in church all your life. Don’t rely upon some ritual like baptism or church membership. Don’t rely on some experience that you had in a time of crisis. You need to understand what it means to trust in God. You must be born again into new life in Christ.

Now that is my introduction and much of our time has already gone. I do not plan on exegeting the text today. It is a story, and we read the story. I’m sure you are able to follow a story without me retelling it. But what I do want to do is in light of the text examine what is in fact a Christian. What constitutes salvation? And then I want to look at three examples of why people do not become Christians.

First of all, what constitutes becoming a Christian? Well, the outline to the answer to that question is found in vs.18. Five points to Paul’s message of salvation. Acts 26:18 “to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.” This is the message that Christ gave the apostle to preach to the Jews and Gentiles. This is the whole message of the gospel.

So first of all, there is the need to open the eyes of the blind. There is a need for eye opening truth. Not just knowledge, but truth. It’s possible to be puffed up in knowledge and yet somehow escape knowing the truth. Paul as a Pharisee before conversion had great knowledge of the scriptures and the traditions of Judaism. He studied under Rabbi Gamaliel. That’s was equivalent to having a divinity degree from Yale. Yet Paul equates it with being blind. In fact, God also equated it with blindness, by striking Paul blind on the road to Damascus. A blinding light came down out of heaven as Paul was traveling to persecute Christians and a voice called out to him, “Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting Me?” And Paul had to ask “Who are you Lord?” Paul was so blind that he did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah and was in fact persecuting Him.

This is the primary reason for the people I spoke about earlier that sit in church for extended periods of time, sometimes even years, and yet go away unsaved. They have not had their eyes opened. Paul said in Corinthians that is because the devil has blinded their eyes. 2Cor. 4:3 “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

So the first thing you need your eyes opened to is the truth of the gospel. You need to see it as the truth of God which is essential to life. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.” When Peter confessed that Jesus was the Son of God in Matt. 16, Jesus said, “because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” So it is a miracle of grace by which God opens the eyes of the blind to see the truth.

Secondly it means that you have your eyes opened as to your sinful condition, the repugnancy of your sin, and that it is an affront to God and separates you from God. It means that God shines a light on your sin, through the preaching of the word of God, that causes you to recognize your sinful condition and how desperately you need a Savior. That is the light of the gospel. That God saw man in his depravity and hopelessness and so He provided the means for man’s salvation by the substitution of Jesus Christ, who paid for man’s sin with His blood on the cross that we might be saved. According to John 16:8, the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin. “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” So the Holy Spirit convicts the blind of their sinfulness and need of a Savior.

The second fact of being a Christian according to Paul’s message in vs. 18 is that they have turned from darkness unto light.” If you look down at vs. 20, you will see that Paul summarizes his message by saying, “that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.” Notice that Paul equates repentance as turning. That is what repentance is; turning away from sin. Turning away from deeds of darkness to the light. In the Greek the word translated repentance is metanoia, which means a change of mind. Repentance is described by F.F. Bruce this way, “”Repentance involves a turning with contrition from sin to God; the repentant sinner is in the proper condition to accept the divine forgiveness.”

Notice what Bruce says; repentance is the condition needed to accept forgiveness. It is the plow that breaks up the hard stony ground so that it may receive the seed of new life. Where there is no repentance, no turning away from sin, no contrition, then there is no forgiveness. This I think is very often the culprit with those people that tend to fall away from the church. I have to wonder if they have attempted to establish some sort of relationship to God based as a result of finding themselves in a predicament or crisis at some point in their life. Maybe there was a time when they cried out to God to help them, and maybe God in His compassion did help them. But they failed to understand what Romans 2:4 says, “that the kindness of God leads you to repentance.” So then when the crisis is past, their emotions respond to some new stimuli, and their relationship with God grows cold because they never truly turned away from sin to God and received forgiveness of their sins and a new life in Christ. 1Peter 2:9 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

See, that new life in Christ is the third aspect of Christianity according to Paul. To be transferred from the kingdom of dominion of Satan to the kingdom of God. Now that simply means that you are a citizen of a new King. You live by a new creed, you follow a new constitution. You are no longer ruled by the old passions, no longer ruled by the lusts of the flesh, but you are ruled by the Sovereign of the Universe, the Lord Jehovah, the Almighty God. Instead of being enslaved to sin, you become a servant of the Most High. As Christians we have been called out of the world to live godly lives for the glory of Christ. This is often the most telling evidence of a lack of true salvation. This is where we not only believe, but we trust and obey, forsaking all that was before, and following after that which is new.

As Col. 1:13-14 declares; “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” That brings us to the fourth point of Paul’s message; “that they might receive the forgiveness of sins.” Now forgiveness of sins is first of all purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. That is what makes it possible. God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Now that act of God predicates our forgiveness. But how forgiveness is made efficacious for us is by repentance. Listen to what Peter had to say in two different sermons regarding that principle. In Acts 2:38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Listen to that – how do you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit? Through forgiveness of your sins. The Holy Spirit cannot indwell you until you become holy. And if you don’t have the Holy Spirit then you cannot live holy lives, because He is the strength that God gives us to enable us to live holy lives. Listen, the Holy Spirit is not a feeling or a force field to be experienced. I sometimes hear people talk about feeling the Holy Spirit, that the air was thick with His presence or some such nonsense. As if He is a force to be felt and then you can move in or out of that place. The Holy Spirit is a person who dwells in you, He is the Spirit of Christ who lives in you, if you have been born again by the Spirit, and have been made holy by the transference of your sins to Christ and His righteousness to you.

Peter says again in Acts 3:19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” That’s the new life found in Christ, a new spirit, a new heart, a new life. And all of that comes from forgiveness, which comes from confession and repentance. 1John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Fifthly, Paul says the last affect of being a Christian is receiving an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Christ. Now there is so much in that phrase that I cannot possibly address all of it in this message. But suffice it to say that our inheritance is in heaven. We are promised a citizenship in heaven, reserved for us, when we will receive the reward. Now we received a deposit of that inheritance now – that is the Holy Spirit who has already given us new life, even eternal life. But at the resurrection we will receive the full inheritance. We will be changed into His likeness. We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. Furthermore we will rule and reign with Christ. The church is the bride of Christ, and we will be seated at His right hand as co –inheritors with Him. Pretty amazing stuff.

But there is a practical, earthly application to this as well. We are sanctified, Paul says, by faith. There are two aspects of sanctification. One is positional. We have been set apart at the moment of salvation- our sanctification- which means we have been made holy. But we are also to be holy even as He is holy, that is, sanctified practically by walking in the Spirit, not according to the flesh, so that we might become conformed to the image of Christ. 2Cor. 5:7, 9 “for we walk by faith, not by sight—“ and then vs. 9, “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” And so we walk to please Him in all that we do, knowing that our inheritance includes receiving a reward when we see Him, as described in vs.10; [2Cor. 5:10] “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

Now that is the message Paul received from Jesus directly as a result of His conversion. And he summarizes what our response to that message should be in vs. 20, that they should repent and turn to God, and do the deeds appropriate to repentance. Now that is the response that is necessary for the gospel to be efficacious for you. You can hear that message and agree to it on an intellectual basis. You can acknowledge that it is true. But to be saved you must trust and obey that message. Repent, turn away from your sins, turn to Christ, and do the deeds of repentance. When you respond in that manner, then you are saved according to the gospel, and then there will be no uncertainty as to your salvation. The problem is that this message is rarely preached in most ecclesiastical circles today. But don’t be deceived, this is the gospel, and the gospel hinges on repentance.

Now as Paul wraps up his message, there are people who responded as recorded in the text. The first is that of Festus. Vs. 24, Festus says in a loud voice, ““Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you mad.” Festus leaves little to the imagination as to his thoughts about the gospel. He says it’s lunacy. He recognizes that Paul is a greatly educated man, but he thinks that he has gone crazy in his learning. He has become a fanatic. And the fact that Luke emphasizes that Festus speaks loudly indicates that there must have been a measure of mockery in his response.

The second response is that of King Agrippa. Paul knows that Agrippa is familiar with the story of the gospel. He knows that the King is familiar with the prophecies of the Old Testament. And so Paul says to him, Acts 26:26-27 “For the king knows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? I know that you do.”

And suddenly King Agrippa is put on the spot. It was one thing to listen to Paul speak. It may have thought it a certain measure of entertainment to hear him. He may have been curious about the gospel. But now suddenly the spotlight is upon himself and he is decidedly uncomfortable. He wants to dodge the question. He wants to avoid the light of the gospel. It’s getting much too hot. And so he says in an offhand or even sarcastic way, “Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly?”

And Paul’s response is that he does indeed wish to persuade all of them of the necessity of becoming a Christian. But let’s consider for a moment what stopped Agrippa short of salvation. Why did he almost become a Christian and yet turn away from the gospel in the end? Well there are three possible answers to that question, and they are illustrated by three people that were there that day.

The first stumbling block could have been the person sitting next to him – Bernice. She was his sinful, immoral companion. She was actually his sister and he was reported to be living in an incestuous relationship with her. He probably correctly realized that becoming a Christian would mean losing her and his other immoral friends. He was unwilling to make that sacrifice! How many men and women come short of the kingdom of God because they love someone more than they must love God. Adam chose to love Eve rather than obey God and he forfeited all that God had prepared for him. I know more men that have fallen because of a woman than I can even count. Jesus said in Matt. 10:37 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. That is why it is so important that men especially be the spiritual leader in their homes. Our allegiance must be to God above all else.

Then on the other side of Agrippa sat Festus, the governor. A colleague, a friend, a person of consequence. And someone who thought Paul was crazy. Perhaps Agrippa thought, “I can’t become a Christian! Festus will think I’m crazy too!” And because he wanted the praise of men, he rejected Jesus.

And in front of Agrippa is Paul – a man Voltaire the famous 18^th century philosopher called an ugly little Jew. Paul, a man despised by his contemporaries. A man with the reputation of a trouble maker. No body seemed to like Paul. And furthermore, he was a prisoner. The fact that he was innocent of any crime may not have mattered. Agrippa just sees a man in chains. So Agrippa might possibly say, “Well, if I became a Christian, I might end up in chains like Paul!” Or at least he thought I don’t want to associate with him! He will hurt my reputation. If I want to stay popular then I can’t be associated with people like that.

Spurgeon said, “O that men were wise enough to see that suffering for Christ is honor, that loss for truth is gain, that the truest dignity rests in wearing the chain upon the arm rather than endure the chain upon the soul.”

Well, unfortunately, King Agrippa’s only real legacy to the world was this tragic statement, made famous in the KJV; “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” Such a sad and tragic statement. To have come so close and yet still be so far, and to die without receiving the gift of salvation. King Agrippa’s famous words were the basis for a hymn written years ago which I quoted from last week. And I would remind us of them again this week as we consider the author of those words.

“Almost persuaded” now to believe;“Almost persuaded” Christ to receive; Seems now some soul to say, “Go, Spirit, go Thy way, Some more convenient day on Thee I’ll call.”

Almost persuaded,” harvest is past! “Almost persuaded,” doom comes at last; “Almost” cannot avail; “Almost” is but to fail! Sad, sad that bitter wail— “Almost—but lost!”

I pray that is not a statement that is true of anyone here today. The gospel message is so clear, so simple; repent, turn to God, and do the deeds appropriate to repentance. Forgiveness has already been purchased and is waiting for you to trust and obey.

Be now persuaded, oh, sinner, hear! Be now persuaded, Jesus is near; His voice is pleading still, Turn now with heart and will, Peace will your spirit fill—Oh, turn today!

I don’t know about you, but I think a lot of people have a problem with procrastination. Putting things off. Speaking for myself, it’s one of the few things I am really very good at. I put the “pro” in procrastination. I’ve been working on renovating my bathroom for almost a year now. Maybe longer. I try not to think about it. It makes me feel guilty. I just tell my wife that God is using me to teach her patience. My latest excuse is that I’m waiting for winter when I will need something to do indoors.

But the truth is, I’m just a sorry procrastinator. And while procrastinating on finishing my bathroom renovations may cause some irritation for my wife, there are other things which if we procrastinate in can really get us in trouble. Things like filling up your gas tank (Randy), or filing your taxes, or paying a speeding ticket. Some things you don’t want to procrastinate about.

I heard a fictional story about the devil and a group of his demons who got together to try to figure out some way by which they could deceive as many people as possible, and win the spiritual warfare against God. So Satan said that he would like for someone to volunteer to go to earth and to seek to win the victory for his kingdom. And one of the demons raised his hand to volunteer and the devil said, “Well, what are you going to do?” He said, “Well, I’m going to go to earth and convince them there is no God.” And the devil said, “That won’t work because the glory of God’s creation will convict men that there must be a God.” Another one raised his hand and said, “I will go to earth and convince them that there is no heaven.” And the devil said, “That’s not really a good idea either because God has planted eternity in the hearts of men so that they will hope for heaven.” A few other excuses were offered and summarily rejected and finally one demon then raised his hand, and he said, “I’d like to go.” And the devil said, “Well, what are you going to do?” The demon said, “Well, when I go down to earth, I’m simply going to tell them that there is no hurry.” And the devil said, “That will work! You’ve got the job.” That is the essence of procrastination. That there is no hurry. It’s not that urgent. There is always tomorrow. It’s a strategy that has slain thousands and thousands of people for all of eternity.

Today we are introduced to a man that is a great example of someone that procrastinated and lost out on his greatest opportunity. That man is Felix, a Roman governor to whom Paul has been sent to be tried. This man was quite a sordid character. His name however meant happy. That’s another classic strategy of the devil by the way. The world calling something freedom which ends up trapping you. Calling something fun which kills you. Calling something true which is a lie. Be wary of the devil’s schemes. Anyhow, Felix had been a slave at one point, but his brother’s political connections with the emperor of Rome had resulted in being set free and given political appointments which eventually landed him the job as Pontius Pilate’s replacement as the governor of Judea. He was married to a beautiful Jewish woman named Drusilla who was the daughter of King Herod Agrippa I. Her father murdered the Apostle James. Her great uncle, Herod Antipas, slew John the Baptist. And her great grandfather, Herod the Great, killed all the babes in Jerusalem under 2 years old. She had been married to another king in Syria when she was 15 years old, but Felix seduced her and made her his wife. And Felix had already been married twice before her.

Now Felix as Roman governor is the acting judge of Paul’s case. Paul has been sent to Felix by the Roman commander Lysias in Jerusalem in order to keep Paul from being assassinated by the Jewish leaders. So our story picks up in chapter 24 with Paul’s accusers coming to make their accusations to Felix. It’s interesting to me that the chief priests and members of the Sanhedrin have come on short notice to make their case about Paul, and they hired a Roman lawyer named Tertullus to represent them.   They had their own lawyers, but they hire a Roman lawyer to present their case to a Roman judge. It proves once again my point I made last week concerning the ancient proverb, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Over and over again we see the Jewish religious leaders conspiring with their enemies, the Romans, in order to kill Christians. False religion and politics make strange bedfellows, but it’s something we see presented over and over again.

So Tertullus starts out by flattering Felix in an obvious attempt to butter him up. This illustrates another aspect of false religion. Flattery is associated with false teachers. They tell you what you want to hear in order to take advantage of you. Jude 1:16 says “These [false teachers] are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.” And so we will see that this same man that flattered so effortlessly also lies just as effortlessly. He brings false charges against Paul.

The first charge he brings against Paul is that of sedition. He says, “we have found this man a real pest and a fellow who stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout the world.” The second charge is that of heresy; “a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.” And the third charge was profaning the temple; “he even tried to desecrate the temple.” Now that third charge is interesting in light of the unrest in Israel right now. Just because of an unfounded rumor that Israel is going to try to take over the temple mount the Palestinians have been attacking Jews by dozens of stabbings over the last week or so and the whole region is close to erupting in war. So the temple has always been a subject of tension, and no less so than in the days of Paul. And it was obvious that Felix would understand this being the governor of Judea.

Now I don’t want to belabor the judicial proceedings here. I want to move on to the latter part of the text and talk about Felix’s response to the gospel. But let me summarize quickly what Paul’s defense was, because it left the Jewish leaders and their Roman lawyer speechless, from what we can tell in the text.

First of all, Paul does not lower himself to flattery. Paul is not some servile, fawning servant of the court. Paul is an apostle of Jesus Christ. I love the quote by Charles Spurgeon who said, “if God has called you to be a minister, do not stoop to be a king.” Paul is polite, even courteous as is expected behavior to a judge and especially to a governor. And Paul says what is true and probably the only good thing that can be said of Felix, which is that he had been governor a long time. That was a good thing for Paul, because it meant that Felix had to be familiar with Judaism, had to have some knowledge of Christianity, and would be familiar with Jewish history to some degree.

Then Paul said it had been only twelve days since he arrived in the city of Jerusalem and obviously some of those days have been spent out of Jerusalem in Caesarea. It’s apparent the apostle didn’t have time to raise sedition against the Roman Empire. So the apostle simply pleads there is insufficient time for this charge of sedition. There was no evidence for sedition.

The second thing that he responds to is the charge of heresy. And in verse 14, he says, “But this I admit to you, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets and have hope toward God.” So he points to his worshipping the God of their fathers. He points to his beliefs, his conduct. He says, “I believe all that is written in the law and the prophets; having a hope in God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.” So he says they believe in the same God and trust the same scriptures. And then I love the fact that he throws in there again the statement which cost him getting punched in the face before: I have a clear conscience before God and man.

Boy, I think if the majority of Christians could say that then there would be a different perception by the world in regards to Christianity, would there not? The biggest complaint by the world is that the church is full of hypocrites. People who claim one way and live another way. Paul would tell the church later in one of his epistles, “be imitators of me.” Can we say that as well? Can we say that to our kids, to our wives, husbands, co workers? Imitate me, because I imitate Christ. Well, that should be our goal. We are to be holy and blameless even as He is holy. We are to live godly lives so that we do not bring reproach upon the name of Christ.

The third charge was that of desecrating the temple. And this is the one that had started the riot to begin with which caused Paul to be arrested. So Paul carefully details how he purified himself in accordance with temple laws, how he came to bring alms to his nation, how he brought sacrificial offerings, and that at no time did he instigate a riot or uproar. But the Jews from Asia who had caused the riot were not there at this hearing, and if they had charges to that affect they should have been present to make them. He went on to say that the only thing he had done was to cry out “For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you today.”

So in effect, Paul showed that the charges against him were bogus, they were without warrant, they had no witnesses of any crime. And I believe that his argument fully convinced the judge because the text says that Felix had a more accurate knowledge about The Way. He knew that what Paul believed did not constitute a criminal act. But Felix was not an honorable judge. He was looking at the situation and trying to figure out how he could profit from it. And so he put them off, and said he would wait until Lysias the commander came before making a decision. This was obviously a delaying ploy because Luke said in the last chapter that Lysias had written a detailed letter saying that Paul had done nothing wrong, but their disputes were solely about their religion. So this is the first time we see Felix postponing, procrastinating making a decision, in hopes of making some money off of the deal.

Then Felix orders that Paul be kept in custody, and yet given a certain amount of freedom so that his friends can minister to him. Now that was a unique situation. It’s interesting that God would allow Paul to languish in this sort of relaxed house arrest for two years under the remainder of Felix’s reign. From a human perspective, this must have been the most unproductive time of Paul’s life. Certainly this was a mistake for God to leave this great man in prison when he could have been establishing churches on foreign lands, and preaching to people all around the world. And yet we must believe that in the sovereignty of God this was His plan for Paul, even though God’s purposes were not clear to us.

I have counseled people who are dealing with all sorts of issues in life, from marriage issues to drug addiction, and one constant element that I have to address is the matter of time, of waiting, of dealing with what seems like delays. Time is one of the primary means by which God proves or tests a man or a woman. I do not mean he tests you to see what you will do. But what “ to prove” means is God uses time to sort you out, to refine you, to change you, to enable you to know Him more fully, more intimately. To come to depend solely and fully upon God. And unfortunately, many people fail that test by trying to circumvent it. Young people especially are often in such a rush that they spoil God’s plan. But God uses time to refine us, like a vineyard uses time to refine fine wine.

Dr. F. B. Meyer has written these words: “So often we mistake God, and interpret his delays as denials. What a chapter might be written of God’s delays. It is the mystery of the art of educating human spirits to the finest temper of which they are capable. What searchings of heart, what analyzings of motives, what testings of the Word of God, what upliftings of the soul, ‘searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of God signified.’ All these are associated with these weary days of waiting which are, nevertheless, big with spiritual destiny. But such delays are not God’s final answer to the soul that trusts him.”

We aren’t privy to all that God did in Paul’s life during these two years. But we can be certain that it was not wasted time. The years the field lies fallow produces a better crop in the future. We do know that his letters to the Ephesians, the Colossians, the Philippians, were all written after this. And in Philippians there is a passage which I think grew out of this situation. In the fourth chapter the apostle says, “Not that I complain of want; for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11-13) Undoubtedly, Paul proved this truth while in Caesarea these two years.

One thing we are told concerning this time Paul spent in prison is the procrastination of Felix to the offer of the gospel. It’s interesting to see the contrast between Paul and Felix. Paul has to wait for two years. God uses the time to refine him. It is not wasted time, it’s time invested. But Felix procrastinates for two years. He wastes time. He hears the gospel from one of it’s greatest teachers for 2 years and yet he wastes that opportunity. His procrastination costs him the greatest opportunity of his lifetime.

Well, it says that a few days after putting Paul under house arrest, Felix’s wife Drusilla comes to see Felix, and so he brings Paul out to speak to them together, to hear more about Christianity. I think the text indicates there is a real interest on Felix’s part to learn about faith in Christ. It was said about this Way that it was turning the world upside down. And we can see from Felix’s response that Paul’s message really shook him up.

But let me say something first about what Paul had to say. A lot of people would have looked at this situation as an opportunity to restate your innocence and try to use this private audience to get released from prison. After all, there is a lot more that you could do for the Lord out of prison, or so it would seem. But Paul does not attempt to do that. Or some people might have been more noble and said I will use this as an opportunity to get to know Felix and Drusilla. Make friends with them, relate to them, and maybe if they see how nice I am and what a regular guy I am, then I will be able to introduce them to the gospel later. But Paul doesn’t do that either. Paul uses the opportunity to go right to the basic doctrines of the gospel; righteousness, self control, and the judgment to come. Not exactly how to win friends and influence people. But exactly what was necessary.

You see, Paul had no illusions of the luxury of time. He understood the urgency of the gospel. He knew he was going to eventually go to Rome because the Lord told him. But he didn’t know when or how. All he knew was that right then he had the opportunity to preach the gospel to the governor and his wife and probably a palace full of court attendants. And so Paul preached hellfire and damnation. Not much “just have a relationship with Jesus” in that message. Because Paul knew that unrighteousness cannot have a relationship with God.

So he preached on righteousness. What is that? That is the standard of God. It’s the law of God. The law that condemns us to death. The standard of God’s righteousness that we can never measure up to. He preached on the righteousness which is counted to the believer on the basis of faith. The faith of Abraham which was counted unto him as righteousness. He preached on 2Cor. 5:21 which says, “[God] made [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” He preached that Jesus died on the cross taking our sins upon Him, so that His righteousness could be transferred to us.

And then it says he preached on self control. Wow! I like that. Don’t hear a lot of messages today on self control, do we? What is that mean? I think he is talking about sanctification. “The sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14. And probably threw in a couple for Felix and Drusilla’s benefit about immorality such as 1Thess. 4:3-4 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor.” Bet that went over well. And then to wrap up sanctification he probably closed with Rom. 6:22 “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”

And then Paul wraps up his message with a section on the judgment to come. And maybe Paul quoted Jesus Himself on this one, perhaps Luke 12:2-5 “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. “Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops. “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. “But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!”

Well, after Paul’s message it says Felix trembled in fear. He became frightened and said, “Go away for the present, and when I find time I will summon you.” This was the second time Felix procrastinated. This time he was under conviction. The Holy Spirit obviously shook him up. But Felix says I’m going to wait to a more convenient day.

You know, when a man refuses the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and rejects it, having received the ministry of the Holy Spirit that leads to trembling, when he begins to turn away from it, another thing begins to work in his heart; and that is his heart becomes hardened. And it becomes more and more difficult for an individual who has once received the conviction of the Holy Spirit and rejected it to turn to the Lord.

Not only does he make the tragic mistake of rejecting the Holy Spirit, but his greed springs up and sees this as an opportunity to maybe make some money off of Paul. Perhaps he thinks that the churches will offer to buy his freedom. So he brings Paul out from time to time to hear him more, but the Holy Spirit’s conviction fades away with each rejection until he no longer feels fearful. He no longer feels the trembling in his soul. He imagines that he has a more convenient day still in his future.   And little does he know that he will never get that opportunity again. They say that the same fire that melts wax hardens clay. It is a dangerous thing to reject the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Listen, today is the accepted day of salvation. If you hear this call today, if the Holy Spirit is convicting you today, then it is not too late. Simply call on the name of the Lord in repentance and faith and you will be saved from the wrath to come. We used to sing this old hymn when I was a boy called “Almost Persuaded.” I will close with a couple of verses from that hymn and then we will pray. I hope that you will not wait another day. There is no more convenient day. Today is the acceptable day.

“Almost persuaded” now to believe;“Almost persuaded” Christ to receive; Seems now some soul to say,“Go, Spirit, go Thy way, Some more convenient day on Thee I’ll call.”

Almost persuaded,” harvest is past! “Almost persuaded,” doom comes at last; “Almost” cannot avail;“Almost” is but to fail! Sad, sad that bitter wail—“Almost—but lost!”

Be now persuaded, oh, sinner, hear! Be now persuaded, Jesus is near; His voice is pleading still,Turn now with heart and will, Peace will your spirit fill—Oh, turn today!