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The Word - Meeting Jesus In John 1 Pt. 2 · Time with God with John North

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  Speaker 1: Good morning. All this week, at this time each weekday morning,
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  Speaker 1: we're meeting Jesus. We're going to the apostle John's account
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus' life and his introduction of Jesus in just
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  Speaker 1: the first few verses of the Gospel of John, and
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  Speaker 1: we're seeing who Jesus is. Yesterday we looked at the
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  Speaker 1: phrase in the beginning that Jesus was there when everything
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  Speaker 1: in this universe began.
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  Speaker 1: Today I promised I would answer the question, if God
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  Speaker 1: is so far beyond us, does that mean He is unknowable?
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  Speaker 1: Can God really be known? Well, the remainder of the
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  Speaker 1: first sentence of John's book answers that question.
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  Speaker 1: In the beginning, John says was the Word. Well, why
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  Speaker 1: the Word? The first thought that comes to my mind
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  Speaker 1: is communication. John calls Jesus the Word, and Jesus is
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  Speaker 1: God communicating Himself to us. God is not silent. He's
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  Speaker 1: not distant.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't just start the world spinning and now sitting
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  Speaker 1: back to see what happens. No, he's involved. He speaks.
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  Speaker 1: The final verse of John's introduction of Jesus, verse 18,
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  Speaker 1: says no one has ever seen God. The only God, Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: who is at the Father's side. He has made Him known.
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  Speaker 1: Do you get it? Jesus coming into our world is
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  Speaker 1: God saying, I want you to know me. I don't
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  Speaker 1: want to be distant. I don't want to be unknowable.
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  Speaker 1: I want you to know me. But there's still more
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  Speaker 1: packed into John's use of the word word for Jesus here.
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  Speaker 1: The Greek word translated word is the word logos.
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  Speaker 1: Uh, many people misunderstand the meaning of logos or the word.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of even Bible commentators assume that John got
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  Speaker 1: the idea of Lagos from Greek philosophy, but John's readers
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  Speaker 1: would for sure have heard something quite different from that.
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  Speaker 1: You need to know that the Old Testament had already
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  Speaker 1: been translated from Hebrew into Greek, the language most people
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  Speaker 1: spoke in that day.
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  Speaker 1: And this translation called the Septuagint had become the Bible
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  Speaker 1: that most Greek-speaking Jews read.
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  Speaker 1: So John's readers wouldn't have primarily heard the philosophers. They
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  Speaker 1: would have heard the opening words of Genesis echoing in
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  Speaker 1: their minds. Jesus, as the word meant what the Old
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  Speaker 1: Testament meant when it talked about the word of God.
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  Speaker 1: In the Old Testament, God's word is never mere information.
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  Speaker 1: His word acts.
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  Speaker 1: What he speaks he accomplishes, right? God said, Let there
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  Speaker 1: be light, and there was light.
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  Speaker 1: The Old Testament uses the word around three different themes.
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  Speaker 1: First of all, God's word is creative. In Genesis 1,
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  Speaker 1: God speaks and what He says comes into being. Secondly,
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  Speaker 1: God's word is authoritative. That is, God reveals what God
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  Speaker 1: expects from His people. And thirdly, God's word is redemptive.
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  Speaker 1: He tells them so often there's.
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  Speaker 1: judgement coming because of the way you've been living, but
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  Speaker 1: always put together with that is the offer of redemption.
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  Speaker 1: Return to me, repent, go my way, not the way
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  Speaker 1: you're going, and I will restore you. So when John
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  Speaker 1: calls Jesus the word, he isn't saying that Jesus brought
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  Speaker 1: a message from God. What he's saying is that Jesus
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  Speaker 1: is the message.
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  Speaker 1: He didn't just bring God's word. He is God's word.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is God's self-revelation. If you want to know what
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  Speaker 1: God is like, look at Jesus. Here's the thing, you
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  Speaker 1: personally can know God.
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  Speaker 1: He's speaking to you right now through Jesus through what
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  Speaker 1: the Bible tells us about Him. He's calling out to you, saying,
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  Speaker 1: This is who I am. This is what I've done.
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  Speaker 1: This is the kind of relationship I want with you.
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  Speaker 1: This is the redemption I am inviting you to. Let
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  Speaker 1: me ask you, are you listening to His word? Well,
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow I want to answer the question.
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  Speaker 1: What kind of relationship with God does Jesus bring us into?
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  Speaker 1: I'm John North.
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  Speaker 2: To go deeper in your faith, visit AFCI.com.au.