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THE TEACHINGS OF CHRIST

 

John’s Prologue (3)

John 1:1-18

Victor M. Eskew

 

 

III.     THE REACTION TO THE WORD (John 1:10-13)

 

A.     Rejection (John 1:10-11)

1.       His Creatures (John 1:10)

 

He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

 

a.       Jesus came into the world as a real human being.

1)       He declared Himself to be the Son of God.

2)       He proved Himself to be the Son of God through His miracles.

b.      Even though He created mankind, the world knew Him not.

1)       The world did not comprehend, that is, they did not understand who Jesus was.

2)       Pilate, a representative of the world, did not comprehend the Christ, even though he had written over the cross the words:  “The King of the Jews” (Matt. 27:37; I Cor. 2:8).

 

Which none of the princes of this world knew for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

 

2.       His Culture (John 1:11)

 

He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

 

a.       “His own” refer to His own people, culture, and nationality.

1)       Jesus was of the lineage of Abraham and of David (Matt. 1:1).

 

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

 

2)       Jesus was brought to the temple and presented to the Lord after His birth (Luke 2:22-23).

3)       Galatians 4:4

 

But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.

 

b.      His own rejected Him.

1)       His own brothers in the flesh rejected Him (John 7:5).

 

For neither did his brethren believe in him.

 

2)       The Jewish leaders rejected Him.

a)       “The chief priests, that were in a particular manner his own (for the Levites were God’s tribe), were ring-leaders in this contempt placed upon him” (e-sword, Henry).

b)      Matthew 27:1

 

When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of all the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.

 

3)       The Jewish people rejected Him (Acts 2:22).

4)       Judas rejected Him (Matt. 26:14-16).

5)       Peter rejected Him (Matt. 26:69-75).

6)       All the disciples forsook Him (Mark 14:50).

c.       A summary verse from the prophet Isaiah (Isa. 53:3)

 

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:  we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

 

B.     Reception (John 1:12-13)

1.       Reception involves belief (John 1:12).

 

But as many as receive him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

 

a.       Belief in the claims of Jesus is essential to salvation (John 8:24).

b.      Those who believe are given the “power” to become the sons of God

1)       Power

a)       Strong (1849):  (in the sense of ability), privilege, force, capacity, freedom

b)      Thayer:  power of choice, power of authority or right

2)       Faith opens the door to the other conditions of salvation.  Faith also propels an individual to complete the other conditions of salvation.

2.       Reception involves birth (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.

 

a.       The ways that man is usually born are not under consideration because this is not a physical birth.

1)       Blood – descent from special people (i.e., Abraham)

2)       Flesh – natural birth

3)       Will of man – adoption

b.      …but by the will of God

1)       We are begotten by the will of God, that is, the Word of God.

a.       James 1:18

 

Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

b.      I Peter 1:23

 

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

 

1)       The word of God was revealed by the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 1:9-11).  Therefore, to be born of the Word of God is to be born of the Spirit (John 3:5).

2)       The Word of God also commands man to be baptized in water for the remission of sins.  This is what it means to be born of water (John 3:5; Rom. 6:3-4; Tit. 3:5).