if you would turn to John chapter
1. Now, if you're a missionary who preaches
the free and sovereign grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, you
find that You don't have many friends. And in fact, there have
been times when it seems that everyone's forsaken us. Remember
early on in the work that the Lord called us to, we were in
that place. And like Paul at the end of his ministry,
a remarkable situation, wasn't it, for the Apostle Paul that
at the close of his ministry he made this statement, for all
have forsaken me. But you know what? Those times
are really the best of times. Because like Paul learned, you
only need one friend. He said, all have forsaken me,
but the Lord stood with me. And that's a great thing to know,
isn't it? It's a great thing to know by
experience. That's the only friend I need. But I'm thankful this morning. I'm honored this morning to call
Don a friend, a good friend. We're thankful to be here. We're
thankful for you here in the church in Danville. I think I
can call you my friends, and many others that are here. What
an honor that is for us. And so this morning, as I again
have this blessed privilege to preach the gospel, I'd like to
tell you something about this person, my Savior. That's really
all I hope to accomplish this morning. This is all I want to
do, that at the end of this message that you would know a little
bit more of Christ. Here in John 1, let's just begin
there in John 1 in verse 1, and I'll read through to verse 14.
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 nothing
was 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 did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from
God whose name was John. This man came for a witness to
bear witness of the light that all through him might believe.
He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that
light. That was the true light which gives light to every man
who comes into the world. He was in the world, and the
world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He
came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But as many
as received him, to them he gave the right to become the children
of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God. And the word became 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. Now, there are some portions
of scripture that are so big, so wonderful, so glorious, so
rich, that when we come to a text like this, it takes our breath
away. In a spiritual sense, it's like
coming to the edge of the Grand Canyon for the first time. So
immense is the grandeur. So wonderful is the sight. It's
impossible to take it all in, or like standing in the base
of the Yosemite Valley, dwarfed by that monolithic rock, which
is El Capitan, marveling at the spectacular waterfalls and the
beauty of his creation, which surrounds you everywhere. And
the text before us, in a spiritual sense, is this is such as this. The word became 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. This verse is packed
with truth, packed with big truth, great truth, overwhelming truth. This verse is full of grace,
full of truth. When we stand before revelations
such as this, we become aware of our littleness, our foolishness,
our insignificance, our weakness. I preached the substance of this
message just a few weeks ago, and when I finished and sat down,
I felt that I had totally failed in expounding the truth that
is found in this one verse. Why? Because I had. Who can expound
the depths of the truth that are found in a verse like this? Why? Because I'm so small and
he's so big. We'll never be able, even in
glory, to fully comprehend the excellency, the super abounding
excellency of this person. We're like Daniel in that vision
of the glorious man in Daniel chapter 10. Don't turn there,
I'll just read it to you. We read there that Daniel says,
I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed
in linen, whose waist was girded with the gold of Uphaz. His body
was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning,
his eyes like torches of fire. His arms and his feet were like
burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the
voice of a multitude. And I, Daniel alone, saw the
vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision.
But a great terror fell upon them, so they fled to hide themselves. Therefore, I was left alone when
I saw this great vision, and no strength remained in me. My
vigor was turned to frailty in me, and I retained no strength."
So awesome is this vision of this glorious man that when this
man speaks, Daniel is overwhelmed. All strength left him. His breath
left him. He became speechless. Well, the disciples looked upon
this same man. Not in a vision, but rather lived
with him, spoke with him, held him in their hands. When God
was made man, what was He like? Well, here's the answer. The
Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Oh, beloved, may the Lord grant
us grace today to see something of the glory of this great person.
May we learn something of the fullness which is His alone.
And may we see something of His grace and His truth. The Apostle
John tells us here, the Word became flesh. The Word. This verse is full of statements
of enormous importance. There's a verse heavy with truth.
The Word. The Eternal Word. The person
who is with God. That person who is God Himself. He's made flesh. Jesus of Nazareth
is God made man. He is equal with God, eternally
coexistent with God, one in substance, one in nature, one in purpose,
one in wisdom, one in strength. The word was God. The beloved son is eternally
in the bosom of the father. in perfect unity and harmony
and fellowship together. Read, look there in verse 18. As such, he's this unique person
who alone is qualified to reveal the father. Verse 18. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten son who is
in the bosom of the father, he has declared him. The Word became flesh. God became man to reveal himself
to us, to speak to us, to declare God to us. Turn over to John
chapter 17. Now this name alone, the Word,
the Word is packed with meaning. It's packed with grace. It's
packed with truth. has come to speak to us. He's the Word. God has come to
speak to us, to commune with us, to reveal Himself to sinful
men. Look there in verse 6 of John
chapter 17. And this is what Christ prays.
This is what the Lord prays to His Father. He says, I have manifested
Your name to the men whom you have given me out of this world.
He's manifested his name. Well, what does he mean by that?
I have manifested your name. It means to reveal God, who he
is, what he's like, what he does, his character, his person. You
remember before Moses went up on the mountain and he said to
the Lord, This is what Moses said, this is what his great
desire was, please show me your glory. And the Lord said to him,
I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim
the name of the Lord. But the Lord told him, you cannot
see my face for no man has seen my face and lives. And the Lord
said, here is a place for me and you'll stand on this rock.
And so it shall be that when my glory passes by, that I'll
put you in the cleft of the rock and I'll cover you with my hand
while I pass by. Cover him with his hand. What
is that? Not a hand like this, is it?
This is a hand that holds all things. and sustains all things, the
Creator, this hand that created all things that are seen and
unseen, the heavens and the earth and all things in them, the hand
that moves every small speck of dust, moves every single galaxy. This is the hand. Why? Why this
hand? Why this hand to cover Moses
as the glory of the Lord passed by? Because it's only this hand
of such awesome, almighty, omnipotent power that can shield from this
glory, this glory of God. And so he passes by, and he said,
then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but
my face shall not be seen. And so, as you know, Moses went
out that mount, Mount Sinai, and the Lord descended in a cloud
and stood with him there. and proclaimed the name of the
Lord. Well, what is that? What is it
to manifest the name of the Lord? Well, here he's going to tell
us. He says, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering
and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing
the guilty. Jesus manifests the name of God. He is full of truth about God,
so full of truth that he is the truth, isn't he? Turn back a
few pages to John chapter 14, and we see that this is an important
theme of John's gospel. Look there in beginning in verse 5. And here
we read, Thomas said to him, Lord, after hearing that Jesus
had said that he was going to go away, and the disciples were
troubled and concerned, and Thomas says, Lord, we do not know where
you are going. How can we know the way? And
Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me. If you had known me, you would
have known my father also. And from now on, you know him
and have seen him.' And Philip said to him, Lord, show us the
father, and it is sufficient for us." See, Philip might not
have known many things. His understanding might have
been weak. But he did know this, didn't he? He knew that to know
God was sufficient. Lord, show us the Father, and
it is sufficient for us. And Jesus said to him, have I
been so long a time with you, Philip, and yet you have not
known me? He who has seen me has seen the
Father. Not the back of the Father. Not
just a glimpse after the glory has passed by. He who has seen
me has seen the Father. The knowledge of the glory of
God is found in the face of Jesus Christ. Turn back then to John chapter
1. And there, John continues to speak to us. He says, the
word was made flesh and dwelt among us. This word dwelt can
just as correctly be translated tabernacled. The word tabernacled
among us, the word tented among us. And some think this has reference to his
body. We think of a tent in our day
and age, we think of a tent as a temporary shelter, don't we?
That's what we use a tent for. And so there are some who think
that this refers to his body and that his body was for just
a brief time. Transient in nature, a temporary
body of short duration. This body which was prepared
was to pass away. But our Savior is still the Word
made flesh. In heaven, he has a glorified
human body, a man, a sinless man, a glorified man, a man who
is God. A man occupies the throne of
heaven. He became flesh. He is flesh. He will always be flesh. He took
our nature upon himself in order that he might keep it. Forever! The sovereign God is man. Well then, what does this mean?
The word became flesh and tabernacled among us. To John and to every
Israelite, this would immediately call to mind the tabernacle in
the wilderness. The tabernacle, as you know,
is a very intricate tent made according to the pattern given
by God himself. This tabernacle dwelt with the
people of Israel for a period of about 40 years, a whole generation. Now, what was significant about
this tent? The tabernacle consisted of two
rooms, a veil A curtain of scarlet, purple, and blue separated one
room from another. And on this veil were embroidered
these fierce creatures, the cherubim, to signal that this was no ordinary
place. This was a place of reverence,
of fear, of awe. They guarded the holy of holies. Only one person, the high priest,
was ever allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, and that only
once a year, and then only after all the ritual cleansings to
typify separation, to typify cleanness, purity, spotlessness,
holiness. Why? Because God was there. God is present everywhere, isn't
he? He's present today with us in a special way, according to
his promise. But he's present in Danville.
He's present in Kentucky. He's present everywhere in the
United States. He's present in New Guinea, where
my father is at the moment. There's no place where God is
not present, actively present. As we said, he is sustaining
all things, moving all things according to his perfect purpose.
That's what it means to be present. Well, he's present everywhere,
but God chose to reveal himself as present among the people of
Israel in a special way in the tabernacle. In this holy place
above the mercy seat, which was on the ark between the wings
of the cherubim that overshadowed the mercy seat, God appeared
in a cloud, a strange shimmering pillar of light, a manifestation
of the presence of God, the glory of God, the Shekinah glory. The
God who transcends space and time chose to reveal himself
present in this unusual way in this particular place and time.
The tabernacle was a place of mystery, a place of awe, a place
of glory, a place where God was uniquely present. And it was all covered with a
tent. Glory, but glory veiled. And the same is true with Jesus
our Lord. The Lord Jesus lived among us
not for a short period of time, but for the space of about 33
years, a whole generation. He lived an entire lifetime among
men. He dwelt among us. Like the tabernacle
of old, God focused his glory into a single point of time and
space. In this person was all the fullness
of God, all the magnificence, all the grandeur, all the glory of the eternal
almighty God. But it was veiled in human flesh. Veiled in flesh that God had
seen. Hail the incarnate deity. Like the tabernacle of old, the
glory of God was present in a single place in the person of his only
begotten son. The word became flesh and dwelt
among us." And John says, and we beheld his glory. We beheld. They continually beheld
his glory. They didn't glimpse his glory
as Moses did. They didn't look on His glory
for just a short period of time. They continually beheld His glory. Glory veiled in human flesh,
yes, but glory revealed nonetheless. Glory, how can it be explained? Words fail. Glory is something
that is felt. Glory is experienced. Glory has this heavy quality
to it. There's weight, there's this
overwhelming element to it. It's something that's beyond
the realm of humanity. The glory of God is the splendor
of God shining out and making his greatness known. From the time that Jesus was
just a boy, men marveled at him. They said, who can this man be?
They said, never a man spoke like this man. They were astonished. Keep that in mind as you read
through, particularly the Gospels, and see how often statements
like these are made. Glory radiated from his being
in all that he spoke and in all of his actions. Not one word out of place. Think
of that. Not his entire lifetime. Not
one inordinate affection. A perfect being. All that he spoke and all that
he did were full of grace, full of truth, full of kindness, full
of goodness, full of mercy, full of love. When he heals the paralytic
that was let down through the roof, we read that they were
all amazed and glorified God and were filled with fear, saying,
we have seen strange things today. He commands the winds and the
waves to be quiet. And they shut up. And they were
afraid. And marveled, saying to one another,
who can this be? For he commands the winds and
the water, and they obey him. He walks upon the water. The
law of gravity is overruled. And he went up into the boat,
and the disciples, and the wind ceased, and the disciples were
greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure. And marveled. We beheld his glory, says John. He takes a few loaves of bread
and fish and creates food for 5,000 men. He rules over the
natural realm. He takes the water and turns
it to wine. Aged wine, the best wine. Years
of aging in just an instant of time. He rules over time. He cleanses the leper. He makes
the lame to walk. He heals a woman with the issue
of blood. He heals all. He heals all. There is a couple of great verses
at the end of Mark chapter 6. Look at those later. But when
Jesus and his disciples had crossed over the sea and come to the
land of Gennesaret, we read there that when They came out of the
boat. Immediately, the people recognized
him, ran throughout the whole surrounding region, and began
to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they
heard he was. Wherever he entered, into villages,
cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might just touch the border of his
garment." And now listen. Listen, if you're here today and don't
know Christ, listen, listen to this. And as many as touched
him were made well. As many as touched him were made
well. It didn't matter whether one
touched him. or a hundred touched him. As many as touched him were
made well. It didn't matter what the sickness,
what the disease, as many as touched him were made well. He
rules over sickness and disease. All sickness, all disease. And
not only does he rule over sickness, he rules over death. He meets
the widow of Nain as they carry her son out to bury him. And
he says to him, this dead body. Young man, I say to you, arise. And he who is dead sat up and
began to speak. He casts out demons, demonstrating
that he not only reigns over sickness, death, and the realm
of nature, but he reigns over the spiritual realm as well.
You remember when he was casting out spirits, and the multitudes
were amazed. But the Pharisees said he cast
out demons by the power of Beelzebub. And then Jesus answered and made
this great statement, gave this great illustration. He says, if I cast out demons
by the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon
you. If I cast out demons effortlessly, surely the kingdom of God has
come upon you. Jesus is the one who is stronger
than the strong man armed. He's stronger than the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons
of disobedience. He comes upon him, he overcomes
him, and he takes from him all of the armor in which he trusts.
and divides his spoils. The kingdom of God has come.
The king has come. Jesus reigns. The disciples beheld his glory
in his teaching, in his understanding, in his miracles, in his character. But there's more to the glory
of God. The glory of God above all has to do with his holiness.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 6. Keep your place here in John.
Let's just look at this well-known passage there in Isaiah chapter
6. To be confronted with the glory
of His holiness is an experience which overwhelms. It confounds,
it strikes men speechless. The prophet Isaiah is confronted with his vision
of the glory of God here in this great chapter. And we read, Isaiah
writes, he says, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw
the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. and the train
of his robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim, each
one had six wings, with two he covered his face." So glorious
is this sight that they cover their face that they not see
the glory of this holiness of God. And with two he covered
his feet. And with two he flew, flew in
the service of this Lord, this great Lord. And one cried to
another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The
whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the doors were
shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was
filled with smoke. And then I said, woe is me. Woe is me, for I am undone, because
I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. Why? Why is he undone? Why this cry of woe? For my eyes
have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. When confronted with
the splendor, the majesty, and the glory of the holiness of
God, Isaiah was laid prostrate. He was overwhelmed. He cried,
woe is me, for I am undone. The weight, the overbearing weight
of his holiness fell sinful man. It crushes him, and he's undone. The Lord Jesus Christ manifested
the glory of God throughout His entire life. The disciples beheld
this quality. They beheld His glory. John continues there, back in
John 1, he says, we beheld His glory as of the only begotten
Son of the Father. In the beginning was the Word.
John began his gospel in this way, didn't he? In the beginning
was the Word. The Word did not begin at the
beginning. He always was. The stress here is not upon the
idea of begotten, but upon the idea of the uniqueness of this
person. He is singular. He is the only
begotten of the Father. He's special. No other person
relates to the Father in quite the same way. We're called sons of God, aren't
we? But we're made sons. We're sons
by adoption. We don't share the same nature
as this Son does, the same nature of God. Jesus is the Son. He's
not made the Son. He was the Son eternally with
the Father, of the same substance as the Father. He not only was
with God, He was God. Glory is His right. Glory is
His due. And His Father gave it to Him
liberally. And we see that portrayed before
us in that great transfiguration upon the mountain, don't we? Jesus was honored with glory
in the sight of His disciples. He was transfigured before them.
His face shone like the sun and His clothes became white as light. The human flesh no longer masked
this burning and shining glory within. The glory transformed
the human nature, and the human nature became part of that radiant
glory. And a bright cloud overshadowed
them, and the father spoke. And he says, this is my beloved
son. in whom I am well pleased, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father. But above all, the disciples
beheld his glory on the cross of Calvary. This is a strange
thing, an enigma, a paradox. When you think about the cross,
it would seem that Jesus was anything but glorified. Here
he is, a man despised and rejected, betrayed by his own disciple,
falsely accused, scourged, mocked, spit upon, derided, nailed to
a tree. Well, what glory is there in
that? It would seem that the father
poured out anything but glory upon his son. Punishment was
given. Indignation was given. Wrath
was given. How can it be that at the very
time the son was forsaken by God, he was glorified? Turn to John chapter 12. Perhaps you doubt me. Let's see.
John chapter 12 and verse 23, look there. Jesus speaks to his disciples
and he says, the hour has come that the Son of Man
should be glorified. And he gives this illustration.
He says, most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat
falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies,
it produces much grain. And there's no question that
he's referring to his death here. Look down in verse 27. He says, now my soul is troubled. What could trouble the soul of
God? Now my soul is troubled, and
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to
this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then
a voice came from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and
will glorify it again. The Son of Man was glorified
in pain, glorified in anguish, glorified in suffering, How? How? Well, God is glorified when
His character is revealed. And there's no place that the
character of God is more fully revealed than at the cross of
Calvary. At the cross, the glory of God
is crystallized. The glory of God is concentrated.
The glory of God is focused in this one person, the person of
His Son. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
5. We looked at that last night.
2 Corinthians chapter 5. It's at the cross that God chose
to most fully display his attributes. We might say that all things
meet together at the cross. The cross is central to the entire
revelation of God. Let's begin there in verse 18. Verse 18, now all things are
of God, all things. But here he's speaking particularly
about this glorious work of redemption accomplished by Christ. All things,
all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through
Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
That is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself,
not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to
us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore
you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God, for he made him who knew
no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness
of God in him." What a wonderful verse, isn't
it? What a wonderful verse. put aside any thoughts you might
have, and just consider, what does this verse mean to you? It's a weighty verse. Again,
it's a verse heavy with grace, heavy with truth, full of glory. He was made sin for us. He was made sin not by anything
inherent in Him. He was made sin not by commission. He knew no sin. He was made sin
because, as Isaiah says, the Father laid upon Him the iniquity
of us all. Our sin became His sin. He became
sin for us. And He freely and willingly accepted
this sin, our sin, to be his own, such that before the judgment
seat of God, this sin became really and truly his sin. He did this to bear our sin,
to be justly condemned for our sin, to become a curse for our
sin, and to suffer the punishment for our sin. Well, what is the punishment
for your sin and my sin? It's an eternity in hell. We cannot comprehend this, but
we can get an idea by recognizing that hell is the very antithesis
of heaven. Everything that heaven is, hell
is not. Hell is lacking every good thing,
not even one drop. Hell is no love, no kindness,
no mercy, no truth, no peace, no joy, no holiness, no righteousness,
total alienation from God. It's a place of anguish, agony,
torment, terror, horror, anger, lies, and every evil thing. For
how long? Forever! Well, what does that mean? It
means that time has no meaning. After a hundred million years,
the time hasn't been shortened. forever still remains to satisfy
justice. Do you understand that Christ
bore that for you and for me if you were given to him by the
Father? Do you understand that? I know
I don't, but I know I can try. an eternity of suffering in hell
to satisfy justice and put away our sin, to bring in an everlasting
righteousness for you and for me. He was made to be sin for
us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. But where is this greatest aspect
of His glory? This was the hour, the dark hour,
the Holy One of God was made sin. This was the hour, the grim
hour, the Prince of Life died. Where is the glory of His holiness? Well, let's let the Apostle John,
the beloved Apostle, answer that. We'll finish up there. Turn to
1 John 1. 1 John 1. And we read there, beginning
in verse 3, verse 3, that which
was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which our eyes have looked upon and our
hands have handled concerning the word of life. It's very Similar, isn't it,
to the beginning of John's gospel? Here he's telling us that which
was from the beginning. This was their experience. They
heard him. They saw him with their eyes.
They touched him with their hands. Concerning the word of life,
this life was revealed to them. the life was manifest and we
have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life
which was with the Father and was manifested to us." And this
is what he says, having seen Him, having beheld the glory
as of the only begotten Son from the time of His ministry until
the time they saw Him taken up, this is what he says, this is
what we learn, this is the message then that we declare to you. He says, This is the message
which we have heard from Him and declared to you, that God
is light and in Him is no darkness at all. The beloved disciple
in writing of Christ says, God is light and in Him is no darkness
at all. Christ was made to be sin, yet
in Him there was no darkness. No darkness. no darkness at all. In his soul, there was not one
flicker of evil, not one shadow of sin, not one stain of unrighteousness,
nothing. All the purity and perfection
of his holiness. In Hebrews chapter one in the
beginning, We read that Christ by himself purged our sins by
being made a sin and a curse for us. And as he's doing that, he was
the brightness of his father's glory and the express image of
his person. He could not cease to be God.
This is the essence of the divine nature in all His perfections. He is essentially, invariably,
incomprehensibly light, purity, and holiness. God is light, and
in Him is no darkness at all. This is what John declares to
us. How can we comprehend? But this is the declaration to
us. We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. All the glory of God
met together on this day of the cross in the person of His beloved
Son. The cross is all glorious. merciful glory, pardoning glory,
high priestly glory, sacrificial glory, atoning glory, redeeming
glory, wise glory, powerful glory, justifying glory, transforming
glory, forgiving glory, good glory, truthful glory, gracious
glory. The cross is all glorious. in the beauty of His holiness. Beloved, we, we behold His glory,
the glory as of the only begun Son of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Amen.