Okay, John chapter 1. When I study, I have time to
enter into things and thoughts. You know how thoughts can just
roll through your mind? And I have time to sit in there
and let them roll. And I wrote some of them down for
the beginning of this text. It says in verse 15, this text
begins by saying, John bare witness of him and cried. Now that's saying he cried out
aloud. But when I read this, this week,
I thought about John, bear witness of him, and he cried. If any man has a desire to lift
up his voice and preach Christ, it's out of a love for him, it's
out of thankfulness for what he's done for a person, and it's
out of a deep, deep burden for men's souls. We're hated for the truth's sake.
Once I get on the radio, this town is not going to like it.
Not like we do. But what if the Lord saves a
soul? What if the whole town hates me, but God saves one soul? Is it worth going on the radio?
Yeah. Jeremiah was called the weeping
prophet. He physically cried and cried
and cried. I pray and cried that God would
be merciful to Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church. When I had my business,
I was busy. Busy. Go about my day and I was
busy. I didn't have time to think about
a lot of things. And now I do. I have time to think about a
lot of things. I pray that God would be merciful
to this flock. I really do. By God's grace and his strength,
this is not a job to me. I had a job. And this is a calling. This is a calling. I pray that
the Lord would give each one of us a burden for this calling. Each one of us. A burden and
a concern for men's souls. And I believe he has given that
to us. I really do. I pray that he would give us
a burden for our own souls. This is life and death. It's
life and death. You know, we're here again. We
met here on this morning, Sunday morning, and hope and believe
the Lord blessed us. And here we are again. And it's
life and death. That's why we came back over. We say that, but we don't understand
that. We don't understand what we're
saying. We say it's life and death, but we don't enter in
to what we're saying. We don't. We talk about how horrible
it would be if something happened to one of our children. Wouldn't that be horrible? My
girls are gone. Everywhere I go, I'm looking
at my girls, thinking about my girls. I have been since Saturday
afternoon, yesterday afternoon. They're driving back tomorrow.
If something happens to that van on the way back tomorrow,
something happens to one of my girls, oh. We say that, but it's not until
they are actually on the verge of death that a true burden comes
over our soul. I pray that the Lord God would
break a sinner's heart in this community. I pray that the Lord
God would break my heart. I want the Lord to break my heart. I want to cry. I really do. Not
to be emotional. I pray the Lord would break my
heart. I pray the Lord would break your heart. I really do. Because this is life and death.
When He comes to a person, He breaks them. He breaks them. Verse 15 says, John bare witness
of Him and cried. I don't want to just know the
truth about Him. I want to know Him. I want to
know Him. I pray that He knows me. I really
do. I pray that He knows me. I pray
that He knows His flock. Because He said, this is life
eternal. that they might know Thee, the
only true God, in Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." This is
life and death. This is life and death. It says, "'John, bear witness
of him,' and cried, saying, "'This was he of whom I spake. He that
cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before
me.'" John said, I'm going to tell you a mystery. This one
that's coming after me, he was actually way before me. Way before
me. Go over to John 8. John chapter 8. Our Lord said
in verse 56, He said, Your father Abraham,
rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him,
Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. I am. We bear witness of Him. That's all we want to do here.
That's all we want to do is bear witness of Him. We tell people
who He is. You know who He is? I am. I am. I grew up under the truth. My dad was preaching the truth
when I was very young. Very, very young. He might have learned the truth
before I was born. He was a Southern Baptist preacher and then the
Lord caused Darwin Pruitt and some different men to cross his
path and he learned the truth. But I grew up under the truth.
I have always sat in a pew listening to the truth my whole life. There
was never a time that I did not believe He is. Because that's
what my daddy told me. There was never a time that I
did not believe He is. In my head. It's okay, whosoever that was,
it's okay. There was never a time I didn't
believe that. But one day, the Lord Jesus Christ came to my
heart and He pierced me. He broke me. He broke me. I was proud of myself for knowing
what I knew, and one day He came to me and He broke me. With two words. I am. I am. I felt like solitarsis,
I really did. I'm not preaching an experience,
I'm not trying to tell you a day and a time I was saved, none
of that kind of stuff. I'm just telling how great things the
Lord has done for me. Great things. When a person hears
the Lord say, I am, they also hear him say, you are. He says, I am holy, you are a
sinner. He says, I am good, you are evil. He says, I am life, and you are
dead. He says, I am the way, and you
are lost. He says, I am the truth, and
you're a liar. But here's the good news. If
he ever says that to anybody, if he ever says that to you,
if he ever communicates with you at all, he will go on to
say, I am your God and you are my people. I am your father and
you are my child. I am your savior and you are
my friend. I am your redeemer and you are
now free. Free from the law. It's a happy
condition. Our text says, John bear witness
of him and cried saying, this was he of whom I spake, he that
cometh after me is preferred before me for he was before me. And of his fullness have all
we received and grace For grace. Why did we receive grace? For
grace. Just for grace sake. Because
He will. Because He's good. We've received
of His fullness. He said, I am. What? Name something. His glory, His grace, His mercy,
joy, life, peace of His fullness have we received. Verse 17 says,
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. That has been an interesting
verse to me this week. The law was given to Moses. It was not Moses' law. It was God's law. It was given
to Moses. God told Moses to give this law
to other men. So it says, the law was given
by Moses. But grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Grace and truth We're not given
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is grace and truth. The law
was given by Moses, but grace and truth came when Jesus Christ
came. Moses gave God's law, which told
what God demanded of men. Okay. Now, as we turn on this
radio and we hear all these men, some of them are real screamers. And when they say, you gotta,
but you gotta, the law tells us what God demands
of men. The law tells what God expects
men and women to be. The law is holy. The law is just. And if you disobey it, the punishment
is death. Cannot bend it. And there's no
reward for keeping part of it. No reward for keeping part of
it. To break it in any point is to
break the whole thing. The law shows no mercy. We didn't learn anything about
mercy from the law. Not one thing. No mercy at all. When God was giving this law
to Moses, all the children of Israel stood in fear watching
the mountain burn. That's the same fear that comes
over a person when they finally get an understanding of this
law. People in religion, they don't know that. They have no
idea what it says. But here's the question. John
bear witness of Him. Does this law bear a complete
witness of God? It showed what He demanded of
men, didn't it? But does this law bear a complete
witness of God? Does the law tell us all of God's
attributes? I just said our whole purpose
is to tell people who He is. We want to bear witness of Him.
That's all we want to do. Does the law tell us about His
attributes? All of His attributes? No. The
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
The law showed us His justice, but it didn't show us His mercy.
The law showed us His righteousness, but it didn't show us His grace. None of it. Is grace against the law? Does grace say, well, none of
that matters anymore. You don't have to pay attention
to those pages. Is it anti-law? No. It establishes the law. Alright,
now go over with me to Romans 3. Look at verse 23. Romans 3, 23. It says, "...all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." You know what that's
saying? Christ came and revealed to us what grace is. How did He do it? by satisfying
this law for us. That's what that's saying. Look
at verse 31. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish
this law. We holler out, the law is holy,
the law is just, the law is good. And we tell men who Christ is
and what He did. He satisfied the law. He's good,
He's just, He's holy. Grace establishes the law because
the grace of God, the gift of God to sinners is a substitute. That's what the grace of God
is, a substitute. That's what we preach. We preach
a substitute. I couldn't keep the law. Grace
gave me a substitute who could. I was sentenced to die in my
sins and grace gave me a substitute who died for me. The grace of
God is the Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute. Verse 17 says,
the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Thanks be to God, He came. He came. Had our Lord not come,
we would never know the fullness of God. We'd never understand
who God is. We would never fully understand
who God is. We'd never know the grace of
God and the mercy of God. This law shows what's inside
me. That's what the law tells me.
What's inside my heart, sin. Grace shows us what's inside
the heart of God. Love. But God, who is rich in
mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us. The law demands
righteousness from men, and grace brings righteousness to men. The law sentences men to die. Grace brings dead men to life.
The law tells what men must do, and grace tells what Christ has
done. The law gives us a knowledge
of our sin, and grace takes it away, puts it away. Verse 18 says, No man hath seen
God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. He is in
the bosom of the Father. They are at total union. They
are in complete communication. They are the same. And when Christ
came, he declared who God the Father is. So glad he came. So glad he came. Thanks be to God. That's our
hope. Christ came, He revealed the
grace and the mercy and the truth of God. I pray the Lord would teach us
this difference between law and grace. Men struggle with this,
don't they? They struggle with this. Why
does it say, I gotta do, I gotta do, I gotta do? Why do we preach,
you don't have to do, you don't have to do, you don't have to
do? I pray the Lord would teach us
a difference in law and grace. Now because of grace, I pray
the Lord would give me more ability to obey His law. But I don't
need to obey His law to be in His grace. He already did that. I pray the Lord will bless His
word. Let's stand together.