Okay, John chapter 1 and verses
1 and 14. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse 14, And
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
his glory. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Most people that study
the scripture, been in church, had the Christian experience
for a while, realize that the Gospel of John puts a strong,
heavy emphasis upon the deity of our Lord. While the other
gospels, he kind of outdoes them in that sense. They give a record
of the earthly ministry of our Lord. But John goes heavy on
the deity of our Lord. And many are of the persuasion
that the reason for that is that errors concerning the person
of Christ had already began to creep in when John wrote his
gospel. And so while all of the other
gospels give a history of the birth, the life, the ministry,
the crucifixion, the death, resurrection, ascension of the Lord, and all
of that. Yet John's gospel highly extols
the deity of our Lord. We might remember what was said
at the wedding. has saved the best wine until
now, and the gospel of John, many believe, being the last
one written, therefore, seals up the divinity of our blessed
Lord. John opens his gospel with a
testimony of the eternality of Christ. In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John Gill put it this way, John
begins his gospel with the divinity of Christ. And in the first five
verses of that book, he establishes the divinity of him. Here are some things that he
puts down. Number one, that he is eternal, everlasting. In the beginning is how the word
is said. Secondly, he gives his union
and association with God. He was with God and was God even
in eternity past. He was not an angel. He was not
the brother of Lucifer as some heretics in our day have taught. He was Jehovah's Fellow as Zechariah
chapter 13 and verse 7 put it. He was very God. He was a partaker of the divine
nature or essence and that for all eternity, everlastingly. And the third thing that we see,
that John gives another evidence of the deity of the Son or the
Word by ascribing to Him the work of creation. And in the
third verse, John chapter 1, you have that. I think that it
is too weak for us to understand from verse 3 that God only made
all things for Christ rather it is saying that he himself
is the creator of all things and the other scripture bear
that out like Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 2 by whom also he
made the world verse 3 of Hebrews 1 upholding all things by the
word of his power John 1 and verse 10. The world was made
by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. There's something here that is
remarkable and we don't want to miss it and yet not get bogged
down with it either because it is a little word and sometimes
we scoot over those and that's the word was as we see it here
in our text. It is some six times in the first
place. four verses of the Gospel of
John, and it is from the same Greek word, for example. It does
not appear to be the same word as in verse 6, in referring to
John, there was a man having been sent from God. That doesn't
seem to be the same word. But was, as it appears under
Christ here, has a different and a deeper meaning. For in
speaking of the Lord's Christ, He uses what Linsky calls a verb,
and the tense here being, quote, durative imperfect, unquote,
which reaches back beyond to the beginning there in verse
one. In the beginning, the word already
was. He was in that timeless, eternal
existence, one with the Father. He was, and we could say that
the word was is He existed, or He subsisted, in other words,
He did not become, for He was, always, has been. When things
such as the world had their beginning, the Word, Christ, the Son, was
already in existence. He subsisted before all things. Colossians 1 and verse 17 with
the meaning of was. Let us see what John tells us
then of the eternal existence of the Word. We're in John 1
and verse 1. In the beginning was the Word,
and the word was with God, and the word was God. And in the
second verse, the same was in the beginning with God. And look
at verse four. In him was life, and the life
was the light of men. While in verse 3 the word was
made has the meaning of through him all things became and without
him did nothing become which is made or has become. He made all things therefore
That's proof that he was before all things it did exist. And
if he made all things, then it is evident that he existed before
all things. John wants to very clearly establish
the deity or the divinity and the eternal Godhood of our blessed
Savior. He calls the Word, he calls him
the Word, and he said the Word was made flesh. Now let's consider the title
which John uses here in referring to Christ the Son. Kind of unique
with John, he uses that word a lot, the word Word in reference
unto Christ. The Word became flesh. This is the title of the Lord
that, as I said, is peculiar to the Apostle John. J.C. Ryle, an old-timer writer, thought
that it was not used by any of the other Old and New Testament
writers. He uses it here, however, in
the Gospel of John, the word was God, the word was made flesh. He uses it in the first epistle
of John, 1 John 1.1, the word of life, 1 John 5.7, the word
in referring to the Savior, Revelation 19 and 13. and his name is called
the Word of God. See it? The name, the Word of
God. Now, the word, his name, is logos,
and in general, it has a rather broad meaning as we look at it
overall, from something said, including even the thought, a
topic expressed, reasoning, we think of it like that, communication,
tiding, speech, so forth and in many places in the New Testament
the word is used in reference to the Word of God that is the
written or the preached Word of God 1st Corinthians 12 verse
8 and the Word of knowledge and the word of life Philippians
2 and verse 16 Titus chapter 1 and verse 9 the faithful word
all of these and dozens of time more are translated from that
word logos that we mentioned a moment ago So we ask ourselves
the question in regard unto this, what is the significance of John
constantly referring to the Lord Jesus as the Word of God? The Word, W-O-R-D. Why no other author does? Why the word is capitalized when
you see it in the writing of John, at least in the King James
Version, and especially In Revelation 19, 13, his name is called the
Word of God, that he is called the personal word of the eternal
God, a special title given to the Son of God. There must be
a reason why John and only John referred to the Son of God as
the Logos. Gordon Clark, in his book, a
very good book, I thought, The Johnnie Logos, is the title,
I think, thought that it could be to warn Gentile Christian
against false forms of the Logos doctrine, and to denial at the
same time, are the pagan religions of the world. Clark also thought
that the best English equivalent for that word is our word logic,
meaning the science of valid reasoning in our language. And we have to hurry along, but
remember, as the Lord is called the word, so has God spoken to
us in his son. Hebrews 1, 1 through 3. He revealed the Father. He came
among man as a spokesman and revealing of the Father. And
He is the very image of the Father we learn in that passage in Hebrew. We're coming now to John 1 and
verse 14. in human history among humanity
appearing to a particular generation of people alive in the world
at that time, being introduced by a man sent from God whose
name was John, John the Baptist, not the author of this gospel,
but John the Baptist. And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father. Now this is in Christianity,
which is known as the incarnation, the incarnation of the Son. not the Father, not the Spirit,
but of the Son. That Christ, the Word, not God
and not the Spirit, took on the form of a man and dwelt or tabernacled
among men. Herein is the essence of Christianity. Take this away and Christianity
becomes but a hollow shell. The Word was made flesh. It became
incarnate. It dwelt, or the Word is literally
tabernacled, the Word of God tabernacled among men in a body. prepared for him particularly
and especially Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 5. So is anyone
surprised therefore that John declares the incarnation but
makes no mention of the manner in which he became flesh? Matthew
does and Luke does. But after all, the premier work
of God with regard to the way of salvation is the incarnation
of the Word in flesh. And yet John omits to tell us
how or the process by which the Word became flesh. Probably this
could be because it was already known. And there were two accounts
of it already, Matthew 1 and in Luke chapter 1. These give
a fuller account of the incarnation and the manner of the conception
of the humanity of our Lord in the womb of the chosen virgin. But to avoid a great heresy we
ought to consider the success of the person of Christ. His being the Son of God and
being as to his humanity sinless and impeccable without sin, not
owing to the vessel used. I mean, his impeccability and
his sinlessness is not to be attributed unto Mary, but Mary
was an ordinary young Jewish maid. She had not been herself
immaculately conceived as is taught by some. She was not sinless
herself as taught by some, nor did she live in perpetual virginity
as taught by some today who worship her. Though being legally married,
and being legally married, but living as brother and sister,
I think that's the position of the Catholic Church of Mary,
that she remained a perpetual virgin all the days of her life. But it was not Mary's virtue
that imparted to the Son of God his impeccability. and saved him from depravity. For he was conceived by the Spirit
of God, having no earthly father in the biological sin, being
born of a woman still, and having true humanity. He was indeed
true man. He was known as a Jew by those
of his generation. Maybe It needs emphasizing that
it was not the whole Godhead that became incarnate. If anybody
thinks along that line, that is an error too. It was the Son. It was that person of the Son
that partook of flesh and blood. And the Son only, not the Father
and not the Spirit. So, let's attempt with our feeble
minds to contemplate what John Owen the Puritan called the nature
or constitution of the person of Jesus Christ, unquote. The word was made flesh. First,
it does not mean that the word was turned into flesh, became
one thing, and ceased to be what it always was. He did not lay
aside his divinity. He did not exchange his divinity
for human nature. He lay aside neither his divine
nature or his divine attribute as we see him in the scripture
exercising them time and time again. though he did veil his
glory to a great extent and function as a true and a real man. But concerning the incarnation,
remember, one, it is surely the crowning work of Almighty God
toward mankind and toward their salvation. And number two, it
is the foundation of the Christian religion. For without it, there
would be no salvation, there would be no gospel, there would
be no good news apart from the incarnation of our Lord. And
the constitution of the person of Christ incarnate is after,
I think, this order, at least partially we can cover it. Number
one, the eternal son assumed true human nature into personal
existence with his divine nature. This was not depraved human nature
that our Lord assumed, neither was it human nature originally
as it stood in Adam. It was in the likeness of sinful
flesh. Romans 8 and 3. Let's be careful. Paul uses that word likeness. The likeness of sinful flesh. The humanity of Christ consisted
in a fleshly body and a human soul. As Scripture is very clear
on that matter, the Lord had a human soul. My soul, he said,
is exceedingly sorrowful unto death, Matthew 26 and verse 38. Secondly, Christ was not two
persons living in one body, but Christ was one person with two
natures, a divine and a human nature. nor were the two natures
merged or amalgamated into one. So he was true God and he was
true man at one and the same time. We call him the God-man
and yet without mixture of the two natures together. Thirdly,
There was formed what is called in theology the hypostatic union. That's a fancy word. The hypostatic
union of the two natures in the one person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I agree with old Puritan Owen
that assumption and the hypostatic union are distinguishable when
we look closely at it in the scripture. And the first thing
in the constitution of the person of Christ is his assumption of
human nature in union with that divine nature. It was the divine
nature that did the assuming and the human nature was that
that was assumed and not vice versa. the point to remember
the humanity which the Sun assumed was not created humanity as Adam
was created full-grown in the garden. The Sun did not Step
into his humanity. He did not partake of flesh and
blood in full statute God might have created him a full body
and a human soul had it pleased him I suppose but he was pleased
to take another way in the incarnation of our Lord and that was that
he be a true seed of the woman as we read in Genesis 3 and verse
15 that he was made of a woman relations 4 and verse 4 that
his humanity be Luke 1 and And verse 42, the fruit of her womb,
for he would get to be flesh. He would have his humanity in
a way as near unto ours as possible and necessary while still remaining
free of any depravity. I'd like to say that again. He
got his humanity in such a way as near as possible and necessary
to ours without any depravity whatsoever, that he would be
born of a woman but have no human father, that he even be born
of a fallen woman and yet be sinless in his nature. for His
purity is not derived from, nor is it dependent upon Mary. His human began with a conception,
as did ours. He would lay in a womb, as did
we. He would grow there by degrees,
as did we all. He would be pushed from the womb
in a bloody birth, as we are all. He would grow into manhood,
And he would grow out, he would enter the world as a babe and
grow into manhood. Luke 2 and verse 7, he would
be a lad of 12. Luke 2 42, then Luke 2 32, 3
and 23, he began to be about 30 years of age. So we see our Lord conceived,
we see a great with child, we see him born, we see him at 12,
we see him at 30 years old in the scripture. And yet all of
this without any sin whatsoever. Even though Paul writes that
in Romans 8 and verse 3 He came in the likeness of sinful man,
yet without any danger of being sinful or becoming sinful, for
as Thomas Goodman wrote in his book, Christ Our Mediator, the
humanity of Christ was exempt from depravity, for it was supernaturally
conceived in the womb of the Virgin, not by generation. He was not begotten, but was
conceived in Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. And as Goodwin
wrote, had he married our nature any farther off, he could not
come close enough to perform the work of mediator and redeemer
of the seed of Abraham. But he did in such a way that
he became our perfect redeemer. He became man that he might have
a body. that he might feel our infirmity
and sympathize with us as our great and grand high priest. So, with that behind us, let's
put in a final passage found Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
5. And the words there, a body,
hast thou prepared me. Now, I've got to make this short
and quick. In Hebrews That chapter verse
5 through verse 10 are a reference from Psalm chapter 40 and verse
6 through verse 8. That is to show how God in Christ
made up the deficiency of the legal sacrifices and yet fully
expiate sin. How did he do that? He prepared
Christ a body in verse 5. not his body, the church, but
his body of flesh that he assumed, having no delight in burnt offerings
and sacrifices for sin, for they were only typical and they were
only temporary as to their use and nature. But God, in the fullness
of time, prepared Christ, the son of body. The margin has it
fitted. God fitted him with a body, and
this was when he came into the world, when he was born of a
virgin into the world, in which body he would do the will of
God. He would perform the will of
God, a body especially designed, fitted, and purposed by God,
in which he would bear our sin, in which he would offer himself
unto God without spot and without blemish whatsoever, and that
this is the proper interpretation of the 40th Psalm is clear from
the application of it in the book of Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews 10 and verse 10, by which
we are sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. Not his body of the church, but
his body that God had prepared for him. He came to do God's
will. God gave him a body suited to
that will, and that was to redeem the children, to become partakers
of flesh and blood, and bring many sons unto glory by that
great sacrifice and death. And the Word was made flesh. dwelt among us. He revealed the
Father to us. None knows the Father except
the Son and vice versa. And the Son, God has spoken to
us in the Son, and the Son has revealed unto us the Father. And God prepared him a body and
The Word was made flesh, dwelt among us, we beheld His glory. And in that body Christ obeyed
in our stead and behalf, that obedience being imputed to the
elect of God. In that body He died, and that
death being our sacrifice for sin and the salvation of our
soul. He gave Himself In that body,
he became flesh. He assumed human nature in union
with the divine, hypothetically, and died a perfect, impeccable,
sinless sacrifice for sin upon the tree that his people might
be saved from their sin by the death that he died, that his
death might be Our life and thank God for it and the work of God. This is a great work This is
the crowning work and if any reject the virgin birth if any
reject the incarnation and the godhood of Jesus Christ then
they have broken the foundation, they have hollowed out Christianity,
taken away its heart and its soul. For Christ is Christianity,
and his person is the foundation of our great salvation.