The Best Is Yet To Come

Below is an excerpt from the sermon...
If you have your Bibles, would you open them, please, to the book of John? John chapter number 1, and we’ll start there in just a moment. Let me also read one verse toward the end of John, and then we’ll jump right into the message. John is a wonderful book. I’ll give you some of the background in just a second. But in John 20:31, this is the theme verse of this entire book, and it says, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” So that’s the entire theme of the gospel of John — “believing.” That word is mentioned many, many times. And “believe” does not mean believing in; it means to put all your trust in. For instance, I look at the chair and I say, “I believe it will hold me.” I really don’t believe that until I try it out. And so, when a person receives Christ, we hear the Good News, we hear He died for us and rose again, we hear He’ll save us if we ask Him, but we really don’t believe it until the moment we ask Him. And so that word “believe” is repeated a lot.
Let’s pray. We’ll give a little background, then we’ll get into the message here. Father, bless this brief time we have. Help us in Jesus’ name, Amen.
The book of John, humanly speaking, was written by the Apostle John. Twelve disciples Jesus had. John was one of the inner three — Peter, James, and John. He’s one of the ones who were on top of the mountain when Moses and Elijah appeared. He had a lot of closeness with Jesus. He’s the one we believe, during the Last Supper, he leaned on Jesus’ chest and asked, “Is it I?” That’s the one who sat by Jesus during the meal. Later on, he’s used of God to write the books St. John, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and Revelation. It’s interesting, John said this in his Gospel — “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” He never mentioned his name when he referred to himself. He said, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” You know me, the one that Jesus loves. And I like that. I think John felt like Jesus’ favorite, and I found this in life: when you believe someone loves you, you’ll go the extra mile for them. So, no wonder John was the only of the twelve disciples standing at the cross during the crucifixion… because he was the one who Jesus loved. He also was one of the ones who came to the empty tomb because he knew that Jesus loved him.
And I just want to say this by way of introduction this morning: trials make us doubt the love of God. If God loved me, why am I going through this? If He really cared, how come this? But John never questioned the love of God. And let me just say it again (You’ve heard it 1,000 times.): God loves you. He loves you personally. He loves you unconditionally. I was speaking to someone recently, and they just kind of felt like they had failed. I said before I hung up on the phone, “I just want to say it: Nothing you can do can make God love you any less. He loves you.” And he loves you as well.
So, here’s the book of John. What’s this book all about? It goes higher than any of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke. Jesus is king, Jesus is servant, Jesus is man. In the book of John, Jesus in every scripture is pointing toward the fact that He’s God. He wasn’t just a good man. He wasn’t just a prophet. He was God in human flesh.
Now, with that in mind, let’s look at the introduction to the book for a moment. We’re in John chapter 1. We’ll just kind of see some background. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…” So, that word “Word” is referring to Jesus Christ. He’s saying he’s always been. In the beginning was the Word. He is the one who made everything, then years later came to the Earth for 33.5 years in a human body. That word “Word” means this: “express.” So, someone says, you know, I just can’t “express” myself. Some people might express themselves by art, but we all express ourselves by what we say. Our words. You want to know what someone’s thinking? Listen to them talk out. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So, God up in Heaven says you’re wondering what I’m like. Let me just come to the earth in a human body and live in front of you for 33 years, and let me just express myself. So, there’s one description of Jesus there, the Word.
And then we see a little bit further in John 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” And before the verse before that in John 1:8 “He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.” So, not only is Jesus called the Word, then he’s called the light.
Two attributes of light: One, light produces life. No light, no life. There’s got to be light. Plants require light to grow. They’ve got to have light. Light produces life. And that’s what Jesus produces in us.
Not only that, but light reveals. So, you’re in a dark house, you can’t see anything until you turn on a light or a flashlight. When Jesus came, His life was light in a dark world. So, he began revealing what people were really like. And ofttimes, people did not like that. You know, there’s a reason some nightclubs turn the lights really low… so you can’t see how filthy they are when the bright lights come on. You ever been to a movie theater and all of a sudden, the cinema is over and they turn the lights and your eyes hurt? Why? Because our eyes get used to that darkness.
And so, Jesus is called the Word, He’s called the Light, and then later on in this chapter, John the Baptist refers to him as the Lamb. In John 1:36 “And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!” The lamb, of course, was a sacrifice pointing to the sacrificial death of God’s Son who would die to pay for the sins of the world.
And so, those are the descriptions. He said He came to express, He came to reveal, and He came to die on that cross. So that’s the introduction to this.
Now look down, if you will, in chapter 2, and here’s what we’re going to dwell on. It’s the first miracle of Jesus.