As we journey from now until Easter, my prayer is that as we go through the book of John together, you're going to see how Jesus upends everything that is bad and makes it right. Jesus brings about the great reversal that we all long for. I think we all know things are not as they should be. I think we all know things are pointed in the wrong direction. And what Christ has come to do is to reverse all that.

And that's why we're here tonight. Amen. Amen. So I know a lot of people are like, Ash Wednesday, pastor, are we becoming Catholic?

No.

Don't worry. Ash Wednesday just provides an opportunity to do something. We're not here to celebrate Ash Wednesday. We're here to celebrate the risen savior.

Amen.

But it is Ash Wednesday. So what's this all about? Let me just share a few things about that. Ash Wednesday is what is known as the start of Lent. Now Lent is the 40 days that is leading up to Easter, not counting Sundays. Now, neither Lent nor Ash Wednesday are biblical mandates.

We're not commanded nor prohibited from celebrating these things. And yes, typically the Catholics own this. But I will confess to you that I think there's something rather helpful about Lent and Ash Wednesday, and it's this. It's the seriousness that it brings to believers

as we think about the resurrection of Jesus. It's the seriousness that it brings to believers as we look towards celebrating Easter. I think we often wanna criticize, like Christmas gets a season, but Easter just gets a day. What Lent

says is no, Lent says Easter gets its own season too. And that's kind of what we want to do here. That's why we wanted to have a worship night here starting at Lent so that over the next 40 days plus Sundays we can look towards and long towards Easter with a seriousness that that is right for what Easter celebrates. The most important event that has ever happened to date, the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

a historical fact that actually happens. If it did not happen, I want to do something else with my life.

But since it did happen,

there is nothing else I want to do with my life. So what's Lent? Now Lent or the Lenten season, there's two theories about its word origin. It either comes from the old English word Lenten, which means the spring or the spring season, or it comes from the old German word that means length in days, which happens during

spring. Either way, Lent is a period that leads us to Easter, starting with Ash Wednesday. We know why it's called Ash Wednesday, because 40 days prior to Easter Sunday, not counting Sundays, means that Lent will always start on a Wednesday. But why the ashes? Well, this goes back to the biblical notion of what ashes represents. All throughout the Old Testament, you'll find people covering themselves in ashes when they go through times of mourning or sadness, like the death of a loved one or a time of repentance or other significant loss or

or mourning when they are going through dark days. Ashes is what's left over after a fire brings devastation. And so ashes was to symbolize, I am in a state of devastation. I'm going through dark days, things are broken. I'm in a place in my life where things are not whole.

Placing ashes on yourself was an Old Testament biblical way to say things are not the way that they should be. If there's one thing that we can all agree on, whatever side of the aisle you are, whatever you believe about this world, one thing we can all agree on is that things could be better than what they are. And we know that because you always You always have a reason to complain. There is always something to complain about, isn't there?

That just reminds us that things are not the way that they should be. Sin has brought brokenness into this world. And so Ash Wednesday, in the tradition that our Catholic friends have of placing ashes on our forehead, was a throwback to this practice. That as we start our journey through Lent, that we recognize things are not the way they should be. But, Ash Wednesday, which reminds us of destruction,

Ash Wednesday also points to the great undestruction of things. The reversal that is to come. That in Easter we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, which is not just the guarantee of our salvation, it's the promise of our own future restoration. Don't get thinking that your salvation ends the moment you die and you get to go to heaven. There's a future

restoration that comes. The gospel is cosmic in its scale, not just personal. Easter is the great reversal of all things, that we can go from ashes to glory. You may be in a moment, in a day or a season of your life where it feels like ashes, like fire has just ravaged your life and all that you have now is to sit in ashes, and maybe some of you are. But you need to understand the gospel will bring about the great reversal, will bring

us back to everything good. And that's what this Easter sermon series is about that we are starting here today The reversal how the gospel brings us back to everything good. There's ashes now, but there's glory to come. Amen With that let me say to you. I'm happy to be here with you here tonight as we celebrate the Lord together My name is Ryan. I'm the lead pastor here at Peace Church If this is your first time here very hearty welcome to you, but for the church family

It's good to be with you to lift up the name of Jesus together. Would you please turn in your Bibles to John chapter 1. If you want to use the Bibles we provided, always happy for you to do that. That's on page 1127. As we journey through Lent over these next number of weeks we'll be using John's Gospel as our guide through this series because as we look at the life of Jesus you're going to see how he brings the great reversal to everything that is bad and wrong in this world.

And actually, we'll talk about this in a little bit, but you found on your seat as you walked in a reading guide as we journey through Lent how you can read reading through John throughout this season. All throughout John's gospel we see Jesus turn mourning to gladness. He turns worry into into worship. And tonight we're going to talk about how he brings darkness into light. And so John's gospel begins by telling us this. And so, for a few moments that we have here tonight, we're going to continue to worship God as we read his word. So if you are able,

would you please stand for the reading of God's word? The gospel of John, chapter one, we will just look at the first four, first five verses tonight. Would you hear God's word? In the beginning was the word, and the word was God, and the word was with God. He was with God in the beginning.

All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Amen.

Would you please remain standing as we say a quick prayer together.

Father, on this Ash Wednesday,

as we remember the world is not yet as it should be, that death and darkness are still part of this world, but we say this and we also say thanks be to our Savior. Death and darkness are coming to an end through the life, death, and resurrection of our faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

Lord God, we are here to worship you and to learn from your word. So please continue to pour out your spirit upon us that we might fully and truly both worship you and learn from you as we grow closer to you.

For it's in Jesus' name that we pray these things. And everyone said, Amen. Amen. Go ahead and have a seat. For the Christian, the state of the world and the brokenness that we experience in our hearts will always be overshadowed, to mix metaphors, by the light of this truth that

Jesus Christ has risen again. And so our main thought here today is simply this, the gospel brings us from darkness to light. And in these opening verses, we're gonna see three critical things that we're gonna walk through together.

Mind you, real quick, John's gospel was not written by John the Baptist, but by John the disciple, John the apostle, someone who was part of Jesus' inner circle, who spent an incredibly close and intimate time with our Lord.

And so the things he has to say, we really need to take note of. And in these opening verses, we're gonna see three critical things. In these first five verses, we're going to see that Jesus is God, He is Creator, and He is Life.

Jesus as God means He's sovereign over all. Jesus as Creator means that He can bring darkness into a...He can bring light into a dark universe. And Jesus as Life means that He is our source and our Savior. They say, they say that the universe is heading towards maximum entropy, that in a trillion trillion years, eventually all light will die out from the universe. And the universe will be left in a cold darkness to ever slowly expand forever into the infinite

black void of eternity. That's what we're told will happen. But we are here tonight because the gospel tells a better story. The darkness will not have hold and darkness will not have final say in this universe. It will be broken by the light of Jesus Christ. So we are coming here to worship him.

The first thing we want to see here tonight is this beautiful, profound, amazing truth that Jesus is God. God our passage starts out John 1 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God he was in the beginning with God now I'll be honest with you when I first became a Christian I had to constantly read this verse ever so slowly because I had a hard time understanding it. It's super confusing

I memorized I didn't memorize that's an overstatement I first read the Bible and when I was real little in the King James, but then in my earlier days and with the NIV But now I've switched in the last 10 years or so into the ESV and so I don't know about you But sometimes my mind goes back to what I remember not what I'm reading. You understand anybody know what I'm talking about Thank you sister one person does okay. Thank you. So if this is one of those passages where it's like, okay ESV what are you saying again? Gotta slow down

Because it's super confusing but it's actually very powerful. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And if that wasn't hard enough, then verse 2 goes on to say, He was in the beginning with God. It's understandable to be confused by this. But there's no misunderstanding on who the Word is.

The Word is not just a combination of letters. The word here specifically is speaking of Jesus Christ. A few verses later, John goes on to say this, that this word, not just an ethereal idea or some sort of philosophy, we get what this word is. John tells us in verse 14, and the word, the word that was with God, the word that was God, became flesh and dwelt among us. And we've seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." Jesus Christ. John is clarifying something critical for us here. That Jesus Christ is God incarnate.

Jesus Christ is God. Jesus never says that He is God. You've probably heard this before, right? True. Jesus is never quoted by saying these words in this order, I am God. Jesus doesn't say that. Do you want to know why? That's way too vague for Jesus. He's going to get far more specific about this. He's not going to leave any question.

See, if Jesus had said, I am God, do you know what we would say today? What God? See, we always want to fish our way around things, rather than just confront the actual truth. Jesus shows that he's God.

In John chapter 8, verse 58, John 8, 58, Jesus says, before Abraham was born, I am. And for those who know your Bibles, I am is God's personal divine name that he reveals to Moses. I am in Hebrew Yahweh. Jesus doesn't just say I am divine. Jesus doesn't just say I am one of the gods that are out there. Jesus says I am the God of the Old Testament. Jesus doesn't just say I am God, he tells us which God he actually is.

Or how about this, in John chapter 10, the crowds are asking Jesus to confirm whether or not he is the Savior. And here's the interaction, John 10 verse 30, Jesus says, I and the Father are one. That's pretty black and white. Notice he doesn't say I am the Father, notice he doesn't say I and the Father are the same thing, he says I and the Father are one

Now English-speaking people may be confused by this but in this time in this context the Jews knew Exactly what Jesus was saying and there was going to be major consequences for this Jesus says I and the Father are one verse 31. It goes on to say the Jews picked up stones to stone him They were ready to kill him on the spot for this. And then Jesus answered them, I've shown you many good works from the Father,

for which of them are you gonna stone me? And the Jews answered him, it is not for good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you being a man, make yourself God.

Anyone who says to you,

the Bible never says that Jesus is God, just prove to you they haven't read the Bible. It is the overwhelming clear teaching of Scripture both from himself and what the Bible says about Jesus that he is God incarnate. He is God with us. He is Emmanuel. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and was God? This is so confusing. Because Jesus is not just the Son of God, He is God the Son, the

second member of the Trinity. And what this means, church, is that in Jesus Christ, we are here not just to honor a great man. We're not here just because Jesus is the most prominent religious leader of all time. We're not here because Jesus was a selfless and sacrificial awesome guy. We're here because Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, God incarnate, which also means that he is creator. The second thing we're gonna look at, verse 3, says, all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that

was made. You've got to read this stuff slowly, my friends. So not only is Christ the Word, He's not just God, He is Creator God. And what did God create with the universe? How did God create the universe? With a Word.

with a word. God created the universe with a word. He said, let there be, let there be lights. God created the universe with a word. And notice, if you've read your Bibles, notice how John 1 feels a lot like Genesis chapter 1.

In fact, let me just put these side by side. Let me read John 1 and then I'll read Genesis 1. You listen real closely right now. Tell me how similar these sound to you John 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God he was in the beginning with God all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made in him

was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness is not overcome it. That's John 1, 1 to 5. Let me read Genesis 1, 1 to 5. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness

God called the light day and he called the darkness night and there was evening and there was morning the first day Do you see the similarities here in the beginning? God God's Word God creates God brings light There's a distinction between light and darkness light overcomes the darkness John is clearly pulling these parallels from Genesis 1 so that his readers even us now today will make no mistake.

Jesus Christ is God.

And that's why we worship him.

If Jesus created all things, then my friends, then you can have hope and rest assured that he will recreate all things. He is the one who will bring about the great reversal. If Jesus is the creator God and he is the one that can bring glory from ashes He can bring new creation from destruction. He can bring darkness

Into he can bring light out of darkness Jesus brings us from death to life That's the last thing we'll look at Because Jesus is life life. Verses 4 and 5 tell us this, in him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not, say it with me,

overcome it. So not only does this Jesus the Creator God bring light into a dark universe, he brings life into a lifeless universe. And darkness and death cannot and will not have the final word. Why? Because Jesus is the word. And I love what the Bible says a few verses later, we already looked at it, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

He came to be with us. And we've seen his glory, full of grace and truth. Jesus became flesh, because the one who lived is himself life. The one who is light brings light to all people.

The other day I saw this video,

and I heard this guy, he was speaking to this younger couple. It's probably a popular video. Some of you have probably seen this. And this guy says to this couple, he's trying to teach them something. He said to them, if I gave you a million dollars, would you be happy? And they were like, oh yeah, we'd be very, very happy. He says, okay, what if I gave you ten million dollars?

How happy would you be? How happy would you be? They said, that would be the best day of our entire lives. He said, okay, how about this? How about, what would you say if I gave you a hundred million dollars, but you don't get to wake up tomorrow morning?

And they said, no deal. He said to them, your life, just waking up tomorrow is worth more to you than a hundred million dollars. Why? Because life is priceless. You are priceless. Your life is priceless.

My friends, Jesus gives us life, meaning he gives us that which is priceless, that has no price. We can't put a value on it, and he freely gives this to us. And even more than life, he gives us life to the full. And even more than life to the full, he gives us eternal life. And even more than eternal life, he gives us eternal life in the presence of God. The greatest possible thing that there is. He is the light of life. He brings light out of darkness.

And the darkness cannot overcome it. I'm going to read that again. Christ brings light from darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. And everyone said, Pastor, what do you mean? Oh, you're going to say amen? You're so much more faithful than me. I'm like, what does that even mean? Pastor, what are you talking about? Listen, that sounds really cool and all, but how does my tomorrow. And let me just say, I think this is why I became a pastor. I heard great things from great preachers, inspiring words, but words that actually

practically, I didn't know how to use them practically. And so I asked questions. I think that's what led me to be a pastor. I would hear things like, for Christ brings light from darkness and the darkness cannot come over overcome it. And everyone around me was saying amen and I'm sitting there going what does that even mean? Like that sounds cool and all but how does that help me? My friends here's what it means. It means that Christ is all-powerful. It

means that Christ is the reason. It means that Christ shines brighter and better than all the other so-called gods and religious leaders. It means that Christ has come to save you. It means you are not worthless. It means your life is not meaningless. Your life has so much value the creator of the universe stepped into his own creation to save you from your own sin. That's what this means. It means you were created by the very one who came to save you. It means you're not left and lost to the darkness of this world, to its brokenness and to its uncertainty,

to its bitterness, division, and hatred. You're not left to that. You're not lost to that. It means that you can know truth. It means you can have hope. It means you can experience God's love.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. What does it mean? Everything. Christ came to bring the great reversal. To bring ash, to bring glory from ashes, to turn darkness into light. And we have this light. The Apostle John could write this because John saw the gospel all the way through. He walked with Christ from the first days. He was

there, he was the only one there, of the disciples on Christ's final day. If there's anyone who has the right to say this, if there's anyone who we can believe, it's John the Apostle. Christ came into this world which he created in order to save it by his own life, death, and resurrection from the dead. And through the gospel, we can have this life, eternal life, everlasting life, because Jesus is God, He is Creator, and He is life.

Because the gospel reminds us that we can be brought from darkness to light. In all God's people said together, Amen. Amen. In all God's people said together, Amen. Amen.

Amen.