You will be helped this morning to hear God.

If you will look in his word now, take a Bible, turn to the Gospel of John.

The preaching text is the first five verses of the first chapter of John's

Gospel.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, 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.

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

Without any preliminaries, let me say that this is the first of four messages on these 18

verses at the beginning of John's Gospel during Advent and today we're focusing on the first five verses and I think the main thrust of these five verses can be gotten at most effectively by reading them backwards or at least for me to deal with them in reverse.

So I'm going to direct your attention first to verse five.

And it says, the light shines in the darkness

and the darkness has not overcome it.

Now I know that some of your versions, the NIV, the NASV, say has not understood it,

comprehended it.

I think the RSV overcome it is better for this reason.

It can be translated, understood, or comprehended, or apprehended, or overtake or overcome.

The one other place in this gospel where this Greek word is used is in John 12,

verse 35.

And the parallel is so close that it would take extraordinary

contextual constraints on me to give it a different meaning that it has in that verse.

And that verse says, walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you,

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