The Word of New Creation

Order of Service

• Announcements
• Opening Hymn — Joy to the World
• Call to Worship — Hebrews 4:14-16
• Hymn — Joy to the World
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin — Isaiah 53
• Assurance of Pardon — Ephesians 1:7
• Hymn — Good Christian Men, Rejoice
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Prayer of Dedication
• Hymn — O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
• Scripture Reading — John 1:1-3, 14
• Prayer
• Sermon
• Hymn — Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed (stanzas 1–2)
• Lord's Supper
• Prayer of Thanksgiving
• Hymn — Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed (stanzas 3–5)
• Benediction — Romans 15:5-6

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Sermon Title: The Word of New Creation

Scripture: John 1:1-3, 14

I. The Word That Is With God

A. John opens with "in the beginning," deliberately echoing Genesis 1:1 to signal that the incarnation marks a new genesis — a new creation

1. The repetition of "and God said" in Genesis 1 shows that creation comes into existence through God's word
2. John adds the personal pronoun he (vv. 2–3), revealing that the Word is not merely a force but a distinct divine person alongside the Father

B. The Greek preposition pros ("with") conveys deep personal communion and relationship between the Father and the Word in eternity past

1. A person's words reveal their character; so God's character is revealed through his Word — through his Son
2. As one commentator states: God is always and can only be Christ-like

C. The Word is the revelation of God throughout all of Scripture

1. Psalm 119 — the psalmist's love for God's law is love for the character of God revealed through his Word, ultimately pointing to Christ
2. Luke 24 — the risen Christ opens Moses and all the prophets to show that all Scripture points to him
3. To know God's Word is to know Christ; to reject Christ is to reject God's Word (John 5:46)

II. The Word That Is God

A. John 1:1 makes two simultaneous claims about the Word

1. The Son is distinct from the Father — he is with God
2. The Son is equal to the Father — he is God; everything said of the Father can be said of the Son

B. This is the orthodox Trinitarian position affirmed at the Council of Nicaea (AD 325): the Son is not the Father, but they are equal in power, glory, and divine being

C. The Son bears the divine name I AM

1. Exodus 3 — God reveals himself to Moses as "I AM WHO I AM"
2. John 8:58 — Jesus declares "Before Abraham was, I am" — claiming the same eternal name
3. It is this I AM — the Son, distinct from the Father — who comes down and becomes flesh

D. The Word is God and therefore possesses the power to create, save, restore, and order

1. God does not create his Word; his Word creates — it is uncreated and eternal
2. Colossians 1:16 — all things were created by, through, and for him
3. Isaiah 40:8 — the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever

E. The doctrine of man depends on the Word being God

1. The most distinctive mark of humanity as image-bearers is rational, intelligible speech — the Greek logos
2. If the Word were created (as Arius and Jehovah's Witnesses claim), human rationality and language would image a creature, not the Creator
3. When we speak, reason, and communicate, we image the Word who is God — the second person of the Trinity

III. The Word That Is God Become Man

A. John 1:14 — "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us"

1. The Word does not cease to be God in order to become man; he adds humanity to himself
2. The eternal Word remains fully God and becomes fully man — two natures in one person

B. "Dwelt" translates the Greek word for tabernacled — a deliberate connection to the Old Testament tabernacle and temple

1. The tabernacle was the portable tent where God made his presence known among Israel in the wilderness
2. The temple succeeded it as the permanent dwelling of God's presence in Jerusalem
3. In John 2 and John 4, Jesus declares himself to be the true temple — the place where man now meets God

C. The heart of the tabernacle/temple was the Holy of Holies, where the ark of the covenant held the Ten Commandments — literally the ten words — God's presence was bound up in his Word

1. Now in Christ, God tabernacles once and for all with his people through the Word made flesh
2. The old covenant mediated God's presence through finite, fallible mediators, types, and shadows — as through a veil
3. In the Son, we see the Father face to face — John 14:9: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father"

D. Application — The Lord's Supper as feeding on the Word made flesh

1. John 6:35 — "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst"
2. We feed on Christ not by a physical or literal transformation of the elements, but by Spirit-wrought faith, spiritually feeding on his body now glorified and interceding in heaven
3. In his gracious condescension, God gives us tangible signs — bread and cup — to draw our hearts upward to our risen King
4. 1 Corinthians 11:23-29 — Paul's institution of the Supper: eat and drink in a worthy manner, discerning the body of Christ, the body of the church, and our own bodies redeemed by Christ
5. This table is for those who have repented of sin and are living in keeping with repentance, trusting Christ as Lord and Savior