The Divine Son

Order of Service

• Announcements
• Hymn — Jesus Saves
• Call to Worship — Psalm 96:1-6
• Hymn — Jesus Saves
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon — John 3:16
• Reception of New Members (Bruce Family)
• Prayer for New Members
• Hymn — To God Be the Glory
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Prayer of Dedication
• Hymn — Of the Father's Love Begotten
• Scripture Reading — John 1:1-5
• Sermon
• Hymn — O Splendor of God's Glory Bright
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: The Divine Son

Scripture: John 1:1-5

I. The Divine Word

A. John opens with "in the beginning," deliberately echoing Genesis 1:1, but points back before creation to the eternal Son who was the Word — already existing with God and as God

1. The Word was with God — the Son was in the company of the Father in eternity past (cf. John 1:18)
2. The Word was God — the Son shares in the divine essence and nature (cf. Hebrews 1:2; Philippians 2:6; John 8:58)

B. Logos (Word) carried meaning in Greco-Roman philosophy (wisdom, reason, creative principle), but John grounds the concept in the Hebrew Scriptures

1. In the Old Testament, the word of God was God's self-expression — in creation, in revelation, in law and covenant
2. God's word is inseparable from God himself — as Psalm 119 shows, love for the word is love for God; the Ten Commandments ("ten words") express the immutable character of God written in stone
3. The word of God conveys all God's attributes — holiness, righteousness, omnipotence, omniscience; without God's speech we would know none of these

C. The Son has always been the Father's divine self-expression to mankind

1. In the Old Testament, the Father revealed himself through types, shadows, statutes, and laws pointing to the Son
2. In these last days, God reveals himself through the Word incarnate, so that the Son can say, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father" (John 14:9)
3. To hold the Son close through faith and repentance is to hold the Father close; to depart from the Son is to depart from the Father

II. The Divine Creator and Sustainer

A. The Son is the original Creator (John 1:3)

1. "Without him was not anything made that was made" — not one thing in all creation was made apart from the Son
2. Colossians 1:16 confirms the exhaustive scope: "By him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible"
3. In Genesis 1:2-3, the Spirit hovers over the darkness and void; it is the spoken Word that drives the Spirit into lifeless darkness, bringing light, life, and order

B. The Son is also the Sustainer of all he created (John 1:4)

1. "In him was life" — the Son causes creation and life to continue; he sustains all he made
2. Acts 17:28: "In him we live and move and have our being"
3. Colossians 1:17: "In him all things hold together" — if he withdrew his sustaining hand, all creation would collapse back into void

C. Calvin's insight: because the Son is the source of all original creation life, we should expect him to be the source of redemptive, salvific life as well

1. There is no definition of life outside the Son — therefore he must be the only way, truth, and life
2. The postmodern "coexist" worldview treats exclusivity as the greatest heresy, but John's logic is clear: to deny the Son is to deny life itself
3. In the fullness of time, the one in whom we live, move, and have our being has become our new creation life — "believe in the Son; believe in life"

III. The Divine Light

A. In John 1:4, John narrows from the macro picture of all creation to the image bearer — man

1. This follows the pattern of Genesis 1:26 and Genesis 2, where the creation narrative narrows its focus onto mankind
2. "The life was the light of men" — light here correlates with understanding and wisdom; unlike the animals, mankind has rational faculties, the ability to converse with and respond to God

B. This light has been darkened through sin

1. The Hebrew word for sin means to miss the mark — the light of understanding was given so that man would always aim at the glory of God
2. The Hebrew word for iniquity carries the idea of being bent inward — man was created to be bent outward toward God and his glory, but sin turns man inward toward self
3. All of man's intellectual capacities — reason, understanding, will, affection — are now misdirected away from God's glory toward self

C. John 1:5 — the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not comprehended it (preferring the NASB rendering over the ESV)

1. This fits the context of the whole prologue, especially John 1:9-10: "The world did not know him" — fallen man cannot reason or think his way into salvation
2. Anselm of Canterbury: "I do not seek to understand in order that I might believe, but I believe in order to understand"
3. What is needed is not greater education but a new creation — the Word must speak into the darkness of our fallen hearts, driving the Spirit in to bring supernatural regeneration, just as in the beginning the Word drove the Spirit over the void to bring life and light
4. Call to believe on the Son, receive the Spirit, and live life to its fullest — doing all things to the glory of God