Temple Baptist Church - 8-3-2022
John 1:11-14
Introduction:
A. He (The Word of God; Jehovah God; The Anointed One – Israel’s Christ; Israel’s Messiah; Israel’s Sacrifice; Israel’s Saviour; Israel’s King) came into this world and His people, Israel, rejected Him.
B. Before we become too critical of Israel, let me put this into perspective: in John 1:1-5, we see that 4,000 years have passed since the Lord gave the promise of the “seed of the woman” – a virgin born Messiah – to Adam and Eve.
1. How often do you and I give up on a promise from the Bible after a month, a year, 10 years, 20 years, 30 … years? I remember well when God gave one of our precious ladies a promise from the Bible and over a 20+ year period it become “sort of” a forgotten promise. Yet God in His omniscience and power, brought that promise to pass in a wonderful but unexpected way.
2. Israel has waited 4,000 years for the Christ, the Messiah-The Saviour-The Liberator, to come.
a) God gave that promise to Adam and Eve for mankind – Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
b) God gave that promise to Abraham that Messiah would be a Hebrew, of Jewish ancestry – Genesis 15:1-5 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. (2) And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? (3) And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. (4) And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. (5) And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
c) God gave that promise to Israel that the Messiah would be their King – Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isaiah 9:6-7 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (7) Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
C. So, Israel waited and waited and waited until the Nation of Israel “sat in darkness” of unbelief.
Matthew 4:16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
D. The word “Messiah” – Saviour, Liberator, Leader, Champion, Defender!
1. He was and is the Hope of mankind. The promised Savior!
2. He was and is the Hope of Israel. The promised King!
3. He was and is the Hope of the Church. The Promised Eternal Bridegroom!
E. Israel’s Indictment!
1. Christ Jesus came! John 1:10-11a He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. (11a) He came …
Numbers vary but there are approximately 80 major Messianic prophecies and approximately 270 additional prophecies that Christ fulfilled.
According to the math of probability and statistics, for Christ to fulfill just 8 of the prophecies given in the Bible, the odds would be 1 to the 17th power or 100 quadrillion. That is a 1 with 17 zeros after it! 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000!
HE CAME!! Israel knew the Scriptures yet they rejected Christ.
Acts 3:25-26 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. (26) Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
2. Christ Jesus came the right way: born of a virgin, yet they indicted Him for it.
John 8:39-42 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. (40) But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. (41) Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. (42) Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
3. Christ Jesus came the right time. The wise men knew the time and watched for His star.
Matthew 2:1-2 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, (2) Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
HE CAME!!! Israel should have known!
Luke 19:41-44 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, (42) Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. (43) For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, (44) And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
4. Christ Jesus was rejected by His own people. “He came unto his own and his own received him not!”
Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mark 15:12-14 And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews? (13) And they cried out again, Crucify him. (14) Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.
John 5:39-40 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. (40) And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
Conclusion: Verse 12 says, “But!” Israel should have known! Israel could have known! Israel refused to know!
1. The ultimate price for rejection of Christ remains this day upon the Nation of Israel as she once again sits in darkness in light of the Second Coming of their Messiah. National blindness along with a veil over their hearts when reading or hearing the New Testament along with the Old Testament prophecies concerning Christ Jesus.
2. But this next time he is coming as King instead of a Lamb.
John 1:10-15 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. (11) He came unto his own, and his own received him not. (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: (13) Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (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. (15) John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
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