The Light That Shineth In Darkness

“The Light That Shineth in Darkness” is a sermon about the ultimate revelation of God; when the Light, the fulness of the Godhead, came in human form so that mankind could be saved.

Key verses:
John 1:1-14
Genesis 1:1-5

I am going to invite you to turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of John chapter one and to share with you a little bit of introduction. A couple of weeks ago, we spoke about Hannukah here and that was appropriate. Hannukah is also called the Feast of Dedication. And then we also noted that Hannukah is also called the Feast of Lights. I want to talk to you this morning about when the light shined in the darkness.

I asked you to take your Bible and look at John 1:5. Eventually, we will read verses 1 through 14. To begin with, let’s just look at verse five:

John 1:5: “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

Defining Light

So, we are talking about light this morning. There are different types of light and different types of darkness. Merriam-Webster dictionary gives us some help on this. If you look “light” up in the dictionary you’re going to find multiple definitions. I am not going to try to give you all of them, it would take too long. But here are just eight of the many uses of the word.

Number one, something that makes vision possible. If you don’t have light, you cannot see anything. I don’t know if you have ever been in a situation of total darkness where there is absolutely no light. I have a couple of times and I’ll tell you it’s a strange feeling. It really is, you cannot see anything. If you touched your palm to your nose, you could not see your fingers. I mean there is no light, you cannot see anything at all. So, light is something that makes vision possible.

Number two, it is electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength. And that’s true. We talk about the speed of light. Somebody was just talking to me the other day about if we could travel to other universes. First of all, I am not totally convinced that there are other universes. There are other galaxies but that is all part of the same universe. But I said, “No, I don’t think so.”

He said, “Why?” Well, the next nearest galaxy, I just read this the other day, I think is 190 light-years away. What that means is you have to travel 186,000 miles per second for 190 years to get there. I don’t think anybody can do that, folks. I really don’t just because you could not live long enough. What if it didn’t take that long? What if it only took 150 years to get there? Still, will you live long enough to get there? No, probably not. So, are there other galaxies? Of course. And are there stars and planets out there? But I think some of them, many of them, most of them are probably beyond our reach.

I talked to this person, and they said, “Well, do you think we will ever go to other planets here?” I said, “Yea, I think so, but I don’t know that.” It looks likely. But think about it. One of the nearest planets to us is the planet Mars and we’ve already put several spacecraft on Mars.

But did you know that to get to the planet Mars takes six months? Now, you are going to take six months to get there and then it would take six months to get back, so that’s one year. Then how long are you going to stay when you are there? Are you going to go up, spend the day, and go back? I wouldn’t think so. It’s been estimated that it would be a two-year mission just to send somebody to Mars and get them back. Is that going to happen? I certainly am not going to stand here and tell you it is not going to happen. I think it is a good possibility it will. But we talk about light and light is electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength.

And then there is another use of the word “light” – number three – is to set fire to something. You are going to light the fire. Number four is to illuminate a path or area – that is a lighted path you are going down or a lighted street. The word “light” can be used to mean to weigh less or to cause to weigh less, so we are going to lighten the load. Or, to reduce the intensity of color so it is not as dark as it was before – we’ve lightened the color. Or, to make something clear or to soften it. But the number eight definition and this is the one I want you to think about this morning – the eighth definition of light is truth. Truth. That is what we just read about in John one:

John 1:5: “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

Actually, I think all of these definitions are incorporated in what we are going to read here in John chapter one. But the eighth one, truth, is the primary one you’ll find in this chapter.

Inspired Word of God

Now, all of the Bible is the inspired Word of God. What does that mean? It means God inspired men to write the book. A man on an occasion said to me that the Bible was written by men. I said, “Yes, it was written by Israeli men.” A lot of people don’t stop to think about that but that’s a fact. He seemed taken aback by that. He wasn’t aware of that fact, but it’s true.

Where did the men get the words? Well, they just made them up. If they did, they were pretty incredible writers because you have all these different books in the Bible, 66 of them are in our English Bible. They were written over a period of centuries, and they all harmonize perfectly together. That is quite an accomplishment for 40 or more different writers to do over that period of time. The Bible is the inspired Word of God. God gave the men words to write, told them what to write, and they wrote them.

All of the Bible is God’s Word. It is all worthy of our time and reading. Now is probably a good time to tell you. A lot of folks do this. Try to read the Bible in one year and you can do that. Many people have done it, it is very possible to do. How do you do that? Well, you get a schedule; you can schedule it yourself. Or, you may say you don’t know how to make a schedule. If you use a computer, you can look up online how to read the Bible through one year. You’ll find many of them out there.

Some of them combine reading from the Old Testament with a few chapters of the New Testament and that’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with that. Or if you just want to start in Genesis and read through the book of Revelation, all you have to do is read four chapters a day and you’ll do it. Read four chapters every day and you’ll get there. Now, some chapters are longer, and some are shorter. You’ll find some of them are very short. Some books are only one chapter long. But if you read four chapters a day you will read through the Bible in one year. You’ll do it and it has been done many times.

I taught through the entire Bible. It took me 20 years to do that. Having said that, it doesn’t mean that I know everything there is to know in there, or that I have taught everything that is in there. It means I have gone through every chapter of the Bible but that, again, took about 20 years.

But there are some chapters worth coming back to, over and over, and over. The first chapter of John is one of those. And we can come back to it and read that chapter that we read before, and we get something new from it. So, I want you to consider with me this morning the light that shineth in the darkness.

The True Light

Look at the first two verses.

John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John 1:2: “The same was in the beginning with God.”

“In the beginning” – what beginning was that? Well, in Genesis 1:1-5, it says:

Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

And you have to stop and ask yourself, “The beginning of what?” Well, the Hebrew indicates that this is the absolute beginning. It is the first of its kind. It is the beginning of all beginnings. That is to say, the beginning of everything. It was at a time when there was no time. It was in a place where there was no place as we understand it. When all that existed was God and there was no one and nothing else.

“I don’t get that preacher. I don’t understand that.” I’m not sure I totally understand it. I accept it. “How can you accept something like that?” Well, we have to have a beginning point somewhere, don’t we? So, I am willing to accept this because it makes perfect sense. So, before there was time, before there were galaxies and stars and planets as we talked about, before there was a universe and before there was anything and everything that our finite minds can imagine, there was God.

And God did something. God created the heaven and the earth. “Created” – the word means shaped, formed, fashioned like a person would take a lump of clay and mold it. In the Latin, it says He created ex nihilo – that means out of nothing. God created the heaven and the earth. This planet and its atmosphere were born.

In the second verse of Genesis chapter one, it says:

Genesis 1:2: “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

“And the earth was without form, and void” – that is as we said before, like a lump of clay that needs to be molded and shaped. “And darkness was on the face of the deep” – so, we know that there was an ocean there. We know there was water there and darkness covered the face of the deep.

Then it says the Spirit of God hovered or moved over the face of the waters. That is a very important concept to understand. The Spirit of God moved over the waters or again, literally hovered over the waters. Apparently, the earth was not a spirit first, it was a lump like the clay in the potter’s hand, but there was water, and there was depth to the sea that was, and there was darkness.

Genesis 1:3: “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”

And God said, God spoke, God commanded, “Let there be light” – in every sense of the word such as the ability to see the light of day, dawn, morning, lightning, the light of a lamp, or other sources, the light of life, the light of prosperity, the light of instruction, the light of wisdom, the light of illumination, the light of Jehovah, the Savior. Let there be light. And there was light. Light entered the world at the sound of God’s voice, at the speaking of His commandment. God’s word was given, and light came. Now hold on to that concept, we are going to come back to it. In the fourth verse of Genesis one it says:

Genesis 1:4: “And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”

It was as God had intended it to be. There was nothing contaminated. It was pure and clean. And God separated the light from the darkness. Darkness as we know, the definition of darkness is the absence of light. It’s where there is no light.

Genesis 1:5: “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”

The beginning.

The Word

“Well, that’s nice, preacher, but what does that have to do with John chapter one which was written many, many centuries later?” Well, it starts with the same words, “In the beginning.” What beginning is this speaking about? The same beginning. The same beginning as in Genesis 1:1. The beginning of everything that we know and relate to. The beginning of creation. The beginning that Moses wrote about. The absolute beginning. The first of its kind.

It says, “In the beginning was the Word,” the first cause, the first declaration and commandment of God, the truth. Note that it does not say, “In the beginning was a word.” It doesn’t say “a” word, it says “the” Word. This is a particular statement that is made. This is a particular word that was spoken. This was a particular word that existed.

And notice something else in verse one, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” The Word was with God. If you notice the verse, you will notice that “Word” is capitalized there. The reason it is capitalized is that it is not just a noun, it is a pronoun. It represents a living being. So, in the beginning, was the Word, the living Word, and the Word was with God. Oh, so, here was God, and here was the Word. Wait, look at the next statement, “and the Word was God.” There is a grammatical equivalence here. In verse two:

John 1:2: “The same was in the beginning with God.”

The Word was God, coexisting with God. As Paul wrote:

Philippians 2:5: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”

Philippians 2:6: “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:”

And as Jesus said:

John 10:30: “I and my Father are one.”

So, in verse two it says:

John 1:2: “The same was in the beginning with God.”

The Word in verse one, the same, not another, the same Word was with God, Theos, translated as Elohim, Jehovah together. Elohim, the one who is God, who is many but one, and Jehovah, the one who is the Savior of mankind. And then in verse three:

John 1:3: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

“All things were made by him”- all things were made by who? We read the creation story which said:

Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

And here, we are told:

John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

And so, we are told in verse three that “all things are made by him.” All things were made by the Word. “You said God created ex nihilo, out of nothing. How did He create?” Well, He spoke things into existence. He commanded and it appeared. It happened.

“Well, preacher, I’m not sure I could buy that.” OK, so what is the other explanation for what happened? I’m going to tell you there are others, this isn’t the only one. But one of the other prominent explanations for the beginning of everything is this. Before there was time, there was gas. Now, we are not told where the gas came from, but there was gas. And the gas without any physical forces being present yet began to swirl and somehow centrifugal force came into play and the gas as it swirled compacted. It compacted and compacted into a tight ball and the pressure of that compaction was so enormous that it exploded and there was a universe.

Folks, I like the Bible explanation better, that we have an intelligent designer and not just one great cosmic accident. You and I are here by design, and we are not accidents. We didn’t just happen. We are here with a purpose, and we live our life on purpose. So, again in verse three:

John 1:3: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

This is the one who is the Word.

John 1:4: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

He is the source of life.

Genesis 2:7: “And the LORD God [Jehovah, Elohim] formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Then that brings us back to verse five where we began this morning.

John 1:5: “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

So, in verse three is the source of life but in verse four he is the source of light, and in verse five, the source of light. And the light of the truth of God in bodily form entered into the sin-darkened world – the dark night in which lost mankind stumbles day after day.

We have problems in the world. Can I share a news flash with you? The world always has problems. No, not like today. If you study history, you are going to find that there have been periods very much like today. “You’re saying we are not near the end?” I’m not saying that. I’m saying things we are experiencing people have experienced before. That’s what I’m saying. If you go back through history, you’ll understand that.

So, we need light, and we need light so that we can see and so we can understand and so we can comprehend. Look at what it says:

John 1:5: “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”

The darkness of secrecy, the darkness of ignorance, the darkness of rebellion, the darkness of moral depravity. The darkness did not comprehend the light. The darkness could not understand the light, could not relate to the light. The darkness could not grasp, could not connect with the light. As Jesus, himself, would later say:

John3:19: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

A Witness of the Light

Verses six through eight tells of a different person.

John 1:6: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.”

Now, this is a man, a human being like other men. So, when it says he was sent from God it does not mean that he was an angel that came down from Heaven or anything of that sort. If we go to Luke chapter one, we read about the birth of this man. He was born by natural means. But he was sent on a mission from God. He had a life’s purpose. And you have a life’s purpose. Yours would not be the same as his but you have one. You have a reason for existing. You have a reason for living, you have value to your existence. And this man’s name is John. A very common name, John. What was his mission? Verse seven says:

John 1:7: “The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.”

What is a witness? A witness is someone who testifies to that which he or she knows. That which they know to be true because they were there and experienced things or saw things.

I read something the other day, and someone said, “Do you have any proof of what happened?” And the response was, “We have the best proof that we could have, an eyewitness.” Well, that is good proof, isn’t it? “I was there when it happened. I saw what happened. I heard what happened. I experienced it. I can tell you all about it.”

“The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light.” Note, “Light” is capitalized there, again, referring to a person – not just a concept or an entity, but a person.

John 1:7: “The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.”

So, the light shined in the darkness, the Light of the truth of God in bodily form. The Light that guides us. Darkness does not comprehend it. But John comes as a witness of the Light and his goal was that all men might come to believe.

Now, this is not the John who writes this book that we call the Gospel of John. Two different Johns – John was a common name in those days just as it is today. How many of you know anybody named John? Raise your hand. Alright, how many of you know more than one person named John? Okay, pretty much all of us do. It’s the same way then. We’re talking about two different men with the same name.

This one we would call John the Baptist. The fellow who wrote the book here is John the apostle. They were of different ages, they were born in different cities at different times, they had different missions, and yet, they had the same mission. John the Baptist came as a witness of the Light. John the apostle records all of this for us, and he too was a witness with firsthand knowledge to testify what he knew to be absolutely true.

But in verse eight, John is very careful to tell us that John the Baptist was not that Light. He is not the Light. He is not the Light that came into the world. He was a messenger. He was sent to prepare the way for the Light that was to come:

John 1:8: “He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.”

The Ultimate Revelation of God

Verse nine says:

John 1:9: “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”

What a tremendous statement. The true Light that lighteth every man possible for every man to see. “Well, preacher, there are people born not able to see.” And that is true. But we are not only speaking about physical sight here, we are speaking about being able to see and understand and know truth. And this one who is the Light came and even gave the light of vision to many people. I’d encourage you to read the Gospel of Luke chapter four for more information on that, it will help you understand it tremendously.

John 1:9: “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”

Does every person have a revelation of God? Yes. The French philosopher and scientist, Blaise Pascal, said this, that inside every human being is a vacuum that only God can fill. There is truth to that. We all know there is something that exists that is greater than we are. We all know there is something greater than mankind altogether. What we must do is find the one who can fill that gap, who can fill that vacuum. The ultimate revelation of God is found in Jesus Christ.

When I was a little boy going to Sunday School, I did not know God at that time. I didn’t know much about God; I believed there was a God, but didn’t know God, and didn’t know how to know God. And I remember going to Sunday School. There was a church within walking distance of the house where we lived at the time. I suppose it was a block away and probably not even that far. So, we’d walk over there and go to Sunday School.

They gave us a little book I remember so well about that size, and it was yellow, a paperback booklet and the title of it was “Do You Want to Know God?” I thought yeah, I’d like to know God. So, they used that little book to teach us for a quarter in Sunday School, for three months. And what the little booklet said was that if you want to know God, get to know Jesus, because if you get to know Jesus, you’ll get to know God. That’s exactly right. That’s exactly the truth. So, if you want to know God, Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God. Get to know Jesus Christ and then you get to know God. Look at verse nine again:

John 1:9: “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”

John 1:10: “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.”

“He” – the Light – “was in the world, and the world was made by him.” He’s the Creator, – and watch the next phrase – “and the world knew him not.”

There is a song, I don’t think I heard it this year, usually hear it this time of year called “Sweet Little Jesus Boy”. Does anyone know that song? You know what it says? “We didn’t know who you were.” That’s exactly what it says right here. He was in the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not.

A young man asked me a few years ago, “If this God of yours is real, why doesn’t he come to earth and show himself?” And I said to the young man, “He did.” He thought about it a moment and he said, “You’re talking about Jesus.” I said, “Yes, I am.” He did come to the earth and show himself.

John 1:10: “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.”

As sad as that is, the Creator of all things was in this world. The revelation of Elohim, the God who is many but one, was here. Jehovah, the Lord God himself, was in the world. Some of the saddest words ever written are these, “and the world knew him not.” He was here. But even the very Light of life, in the presence of Him who is the Word, they didn’t see Him for who He was. They didn’t acknowledge Him for who He is. The Light shined in the darkness; the darkness comprehended it not. That’s not the end of the story. Thank God it isn’t. The next phrase says:

John 1:11: “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”

“He came unto his own.” What does that mean? It means He came to His own people. He came to the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He came to the house and lineage of David. He came to the tribe of Judah. He came to His own people. “Preacher, are you saying Jesus is Jewish?” That’s exactly what I’m saying. There’s no question about it. He came to the people of Israel.

The Lord spoke to King Solomon when the first temple was dedicated. And He said this:

2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

God’s people, the people of Israel. Jesus is born in Bethlehem, Bethlehem of Judea. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he, Joseph, was of the house and lineage of David.

And so, it says that the Light came to His own. In Matthew 18:54-58, we have a perfect illustration of this. It says:

Matthew 18:54: “And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?”

Matthew 18:55: “Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?”

Matthew 18:56: “And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?”

Matthew 18:57: “And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.”

Matthew 18:58: “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

Believe on His Name

I call your attention back to verse seven, referring to John:

John 1:7: “The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.”

That’s the key to it all: Believe. That brings us to verse twelve. I quote this verse often because of the great truth that’s in it. Look at verse twelve:

John 1:12: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

“But” – it is an amazing thing. You read through the Bible and that little word “B-U-T” has such significance. You come to the book of Romans for example and in chapter five it says:

Romans 5:8: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Then you go to chapter six and it says this:

Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Isn’t it amazing? God gives that little word “but”. And we come back to verse eleven:

John 1:11: “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”

John 1:12: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

“But as many as received him” – there were those who did receive Him. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power” – there are many different kinds of power. There’s energy and there is also the power of authority and that’s the power that is meant here.

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,” – isn’t that something, to be granted the authority to become a child of God. It’s almost as if we are being adopted to God’s family, isn’t it? That’s exactly what the Bible teaches. We can be adopted into the family of God. How do we do that?

A man spoke here years ago from Miami, and he had a ministry there, he was helping people who wanted to adopt children, children who had been put up for adoption. He worked with the families on both sides. He helped people get together and helped them be able to adopt children, a wonderful ministry.

We can be adopted into God’s family. How do I do that? It took a great deal of paperwork in this man’s ministry that he had to help a couple be able to adopt a child. But the process here is far simpler than that.

Look at verse 12 again. “But as many as received him” – what does that mean to receive Him? It means to acknowledge Him, to believe Him, to accept Him for who He is, to put your faith and trust in Him.

John 1:12: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

Have you ever stopped and wondered what is it that God wants from you? Here I am living my life and maybe you are early in your life, maybe you are in the middle of your life, maybe you are towards the end, but we are all here living our lives. Do you ever wonder what it’s all about? Do you ever wonder, “What does God have for me and how can I know?”

I’ll tell you what God wants from you. It’s not your money. “I thought you preachers are all about money.” Well, no. It’s not what it’s about. It isn’t really what we preachers are about that counts. What is God about? What He wants from you is not your money.

What He wants from you is your belief. What He wants from you is your faith. Do you know the Bible says without faith it is impossible to please God? You can’t do it without faith. He wants you to believe Him. He wants you to put your trust in Him. He wants you to commit yourself to Him by faith. So, again, it says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God” – the children of God, even to them that do what?  Believe on his name. Then in verse 13, it says:

John 1:13: “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

“Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,” – not a physical birth; “nor of the will of man” – not something that mankind wanted to do or invented or contrived; but of God. As Jesus would say to Nicodemus:

John 3:6: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.”

John 3:7: “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”

You hear that phrase these days. People talk about it, “Are you a born-again Christian?” And some people say yes, and some people say no. President Ronald Reagan was asked that question. Somebody asked him, “Sir, are you a born-again man?” His answer was this, he said, “We don’t use that term in my church.” That’s sad. That’s sad that they do not use that term in that church because Jesus used that term, Peter used that term. It’s a very biblical term to use. And what does that mean? “That which is born of the flesh is flesh” is physical birth and “that which is born of the Spirit” is spiritual birth.

The Godhead See

So, we find the Light came into the world and the world did not comprehend because the world was in darkness and liked the darkness. But the Light comes so that we can have a new birth, so we can have a spiritual birth. Everybody who is present this morning and everybody listening today has had a physical birth. There is no question about that. If not, we wouldn’t be looking at you. But you must have a spiritual birth.

I learned this as a very young man, “If you are born only once, you will die twice. But if you are born twice, you will only die once.” You must be born again. We must have the new birth. We must be born of the Spirit. The hymn writer says, “Born from the Spirit with Light from above into His family divine.”

So, in verse 14 and we’ll conclude there:

John 1:14: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

It says, “And the Word” – that same Word that was with God, the Word that was God, the Creator of the universe. And the Word became flesh; God became flesh:

Philippians 2:7: “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:”

Philippians 2:8: “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

And again:

Colossians 2:9: “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

That’s an important statement, such an important statement. Because some people will say to you as some people have said to me, “Do you believe in the Trinity?” I do. “Well, you know that word ‘Trinity’ is not in the Bible.” I did know that. If you read the Bible cover to cover you will never find the word “Trinity” in it. A lot of terms that we use that you don’t find in the Bible don’t mean the concept isn’t there, it means that word isn’t there.

For example, the rapture. We talk about the rapture. If you read your Bible, you won’t find the word “rapture” there, but you will find the concept of the rapture there. Where do you find it? Many places. “Well, give me a couple.” Okay, let’s do John 14, 1 Corinthians 15, and 2 Thessalonians 2, 1 Thessalonians 4, that’s just a few. You go to Revelation 4, and you go to others.

The truth of the matter is the concept is there. And while the word “Trinity” does not appear in the Bible there’s another word that does and I just read it to you a moment ago. Let me give it to you again:

Colossians 2:9: “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

That word “Godhead” is the same concept as Trinity. That is the Bible word for Trinity. If you were looking for it you just found it, Colossians 2:9. In Jesus Christ lives all the fulness of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in bodily form, bodily.

And so, it says in verse 14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,” – lived among us. And John says, “and we beheld his glory,” – we heard about His glory sung just a little bit ago, “(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

The same writer, John, says (paraphrasing), “that which we have seen, which we have heard, which our hands have handled of the Word of life.” Do you know what he is saying? He is saying He was here, we saw Him, we heard Him, we touched Him. He wasn’t an imaginary character, He wasn’t a myth, He wasn’t a legend. He was here, we saw Him, we heard Him, we touched Him, we ate with Him, we walked with Him, we slept with Him, we lived with Him. He was here.

John 8:12: “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

John 14:7: “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from “henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

John 14:8: “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.”

I love that. Do you know what Philip is saying? (paraphrasing) “I want to see God, can you show me God? I want to see God.” Listen to the answer:

John 14:9: “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”

(paraphrasing) “Philip, don’t you know me? Don’t you know who I am? You’ve seen me, you’ve seen God.” That’s why it says, Jesus, himself said, “For God so loved the world” – that’s you and me, “that he gave his only begotten Son” – there is none other like Him, “that whosoever” – anybody “believeth in him should not perish” – shall not experience eternal death, “but have everlasting life.”

Receive Everlasting Life

So, the question then becomes, have you received Him? Have you believed in Him? Have you come to that point in your life? If you haven’t, the great news is you can and there’s no better time than right now to do that. You open your heart, and you call on Him, you put your faith and trust in Him, and you do it today.

Now, if you have received Him and believed in Him, are you like John, a witness so that others can believe in Him? If you haven’t, do it right now. Put your faith and trust in the Light that shineth in the darkness, in the one which all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily, the Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. Will you trust Him? Jesus came as we sang earlier, born to die. He came to pay for our sins at the cross. He died for my sin, for yours. He didn’t stay dead. He rose from the grave. He said:

Revelation 1:18: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

He said (paraphrasing), “he that believes on me has everlasting life.” He didn’t say he who goes to church. He didn’t say he who goes through a ritual. He didn’t say he who lives the best life he can. He said, “He that believes on me has everlasting life.” Will you receive Him?

Let’s pray. Father, we thank you so much that we can call you our Heavenly Father. Thank you so much for Jesus who loved us and gave himself for us. Thank for the Light that shineth in the darkness. Lord, at this Christmastime, this time of year, we take time to celebrate the Savior who came. We are thankful for the baby in the manger, but we are thankful for the man who went to the cross, and for the one who rose from the dead with a guarantee of forgiveness and new life.

Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. I want to ask you a couple of questions very quickly and we are finished this morning. Number one, when the day comes that you take your last breath, you close your eyes for the final time, and you come and stand before the Creator, King of the universe, if He were to say to you, “Why should I allow you to live in my Heaven?” what would you be able to say to Him? Would you say, “I tried the best I could?”

Or would you be able to say, “I realize, like every other human being, I’ve sinned, I’ve violated the Word of God. I’ve violated the will of God. And I’m guilty. But I also realize that the Light shines in the darkness, that the Savior came and on the cross, He paid for my sin, all of it. And He told me to trust Him to forgive me and to save my soul and to give me everlasting life and I have. That’s why I’m here.” I believe the Lord would say to you, “Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

But if you are not sure about that. “Preacher, that sounds good to me, but I don’t honestly know I understand it.” Friend, I’ve been exactly where you are. I was in that same place. It sounded good to me, but I didn’t really understand. Somebody sat down and took a Bible carefully and in just a moment or two, showed me what the Bible had to say about how to trust Jesus and to forgive my sins, save my soul, and give me everlasting life. I would like to do that for you if you just give me the opportunity, I’m not asking for a lot of time. We are talking about a matter of minutes just to show you what the Bible has to say and then you make your own decision. It’s that simple.

So, we are going to sing a hymn of invitation. If you are here in person or you’re listening online and you say, “I’d like to know how to be saved.” Would you please give me the opportunity to take the Bible one-on-one, show you what it has to say so you can trust Jesus as your Savior?

“Well, preacher, I’m not sure I can do that.” Well then, do this. Right where you sit open your heart and call on Him. The Bible says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Call on Him and say, “Lord, I don’t know all about it. I don’t understand everything, but I believe. I believe that you love me. I believe that you paid for my sins a the cross. And I am trusting you to forgive me. I believe you are alive today and I am trusting you to save me. I am trusting you to give me a home to live with you forever. Thank you, Lord Jesus.”

Maybe you prayed that prayer, maybe you didn’t, but you still can. It is not essential that you have those exact words. God knows your heart. He knows what you need. You call on Him to forgive you and save you and He will. He’s promised to do it.

Maybe you are here this morning and say, “Preacher, if I needed to, I could tell you the time, I could show you the place where the Lord saved me.” That’s wonderful. Has God spoken to you in another way? Maybe nothing we’ve said this morning, but you know the Lord has spoken to your heart. What is it that the Lord would have you to do? What is that decision you need to make? There’s no better time than the present. Will you make that decision right now? Father, bless and move in this invitation time we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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