John chapter 1. I keep hearing something buzzing,
beeping. Do you all hear it? I just thought I was hearing things. Look here in verse 14, I want
to deal with this subject today. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now, beloved, there's much in
life that's mysterious. Much in life that's mysterious.
Lots of questions that are not answered. But those that God has given
faith to don't have to have an answer for everything. They don't. They don't have to have an answer
for everything. Those in God's given faith, they are content
for God to govern this world as it pleases Him. They're content for God to govern
their lives as it pleases Him. And they're content to submit
to His Word and His will. His Word and His will. And the
subject I'm dealing with today, the Word made flesh dwelling
among us, the Word that I'm dealing with today, here's one that faith
receives but the mind finds so mysterious that the word, and
you notice it's capitalized, that word's capitalized. That
tells us about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's one of his titles,
is the word. He was the word by which God
did everything. And then he was the living word
made manifest. And it's the word, I mean, that
is a mysterious thing when you think about it. God himself coming
down made flesh. This holy ground as Moses stood
on holy ground before the burning bush. We're standing on holy
ground right here. And this is a mysterious thing.
It says the word was made flesh. The word was made flesh. Look
back up there in verse one. Look what he says. Now we're
talking about the word. You see that word's capitalized.
In the beginning was the word. The word was in the very beginning,
that same word. The Word that was in the beginning
was made flesh. Watch this. And then the Word
was with God. God and the Word were together
in the beginning. And then it goes on to say this Word
was God. Was God. Now, you tell me If
it's not mysterious. Huh? And oh, listen to this. The same
was in the beginning with God. That Word was. And listen to
this about what He says about the Word. All things were made
by Him. By who? By the Word. And without Him was not anything
that was made. There's nothing that's in this
world that was not made. An angel? Christ made Him. We talked about how great God
is? We don't have a clue. But one
of these days we're going to find out to some degree. But
oh my soul, listen, in Him was life. In this Word was life. If life, I mean all my life come
from this Word. There's not life in this universe
that did not come from this Word. And then he turns around and
he says, and this life is the light. If you have any light
in this world, this Word gave you that light or that revelation.
And that's what I'm talking about. What a mysterious incarnation.
The Word was made flesh. And the Word who was God with
God and was God appears in the likeness of sinful, sinful flesh. And listen now, Christ as the
Word could not be seen. Christ just as the Word could
not be seen. They didn't see Him in the creation.
He was in the beginning. You couldn't see Him. and flesh alone if he had just
been a man just flesh alone he could not be heard but you take
the word that was God with God and was God and you make him
flesh then he can both be seen and he can be heard now we can see him and now we
can hear him You see the flesh, just a man, without the living
word, has no message. If Christ was just a man, the
flesh without the living word has no message. There's no virtue
for the sins of men. But what a mystery! And Paul
said this without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness.
What was this mystery? What was so great about it? God
was manifested in the flesh. Not only that, but he is seen
of angels. Justified in the Spirit. Believed on in the world. And this is what we're talking
about. Flesh and the Word becoming united. That Living Word. That Word that created this world. That Word that was God. That
Word was with God. Became united. That's as mysterious
as explaining the Trinity. How do you have one God, but
three persons? Well, we're going to learn one
of these days. And I tell you the scriptures
tells us he took not on him the nature of angels. Angels were
elect. Angels were eternal. But there's
not an angel that Christ did not himself make. That's why
the angels adore him and worship him. But he took upon himself
the seed of Abraham. You remember when God said to
Abraham, In thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed.
What seed was he talking about? The Lord Jesus Christ. That was the seed of Abraham.
That's the only way every nation could be blessed. And oh, what
a mystery of grace. The Word was made flesh. Made flesh. And oh my, what a
mystery of incarnation. And then look at the humiliation.
It's a profound humiliation for our Lord Jesus Christ. And the
Word was made flesh. That's humiliation. That's humiliation. And then look what it says, and
He dwelt among us. He come down here and dwelt among
us. Tabernacle among us. The Word
that was God and with God that was in the beginning with God.
He come down here when He made flesh to do what? To live among
us. Dwell among us. It wasn't Gabriel
who came down and gave the message and went right back. It wasn't
Michael who came down and declared something and went right back.
When the Lord Jesus Christ was made flesh and come down here,
He come down here to stay. He come down here to live. He
come down here to dwell. Voluntarily. This is an amazing
thing to me. Voluntarily. took upon himself
humanity, a body, flesh, that could bleed, that could get hungry,
that could get tired, that got weary and had to sleep. God, who neither slumbers nor
sleep, our Lord Jesus Christ, got tired and slept. Oh my, and he identified himself
with flesh. Identified with him. And once
he became a man, and became flesh, and became a man, and became
human, he will always, always be human. He is always God, but he had
never been a man. He had always been the Word,
the Eternal Word, but He had never been a man. And so that Eternal Word that
can't be seen, So he can be seen and God can
be heard and salvation can be accomplished. He became a man. And he's still a man. But bless
his holy name. He sits in glory now. And I tell you God he came down
and dwelt with Israel in the pillar of a cloud By day he went
before him, by night he was a flaming fire behind him that he tabernacled
with Israel in the wilderness. But our Lord Jesus Christ has
humbled himself to take the common form of sinful flesh and come
down here and dwell among men." Huh? What a humiliation! Humble himself God is pure spirit
and he's taking flesh and a living among a sinful humanity. There's
not a person that he come in contact with that wasn't sinful. Not a soul that he come in contact
with that wasn't sinful and he lived among. And he come to live
among wicked, wicked humanity. breathing this old foul air,
hearing the words and thoughts and blasphemies from the lips
of men. Oh, what a humiliation. And in men, for Christ to humble
himself, to take this humiliation on him, to become a man, to be
humiliated like that. To look into men's hearts and
know what they was thinking. To look in men's minds and know
what they was thinking. To sit down and eat with men
and women who were so sinful What humiliation. And you know
what? He did it for the joy that was
set before Him. And you know what else? He did
that willingly. He did that willingly. And then
look, in Him was the revelation of God. Look what it says in
verse 18. What it says here in verse 18. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, capitalized
again, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
Him. Oh my! When it says He was in
the bosom of the Father, what does that mean? What does that
mean? You know, I often write people
and I say, you know, my heart's for you. And it is, my heart's
for you. My heart's for you, not just
my thoughts, my heart. But our Lord Jesus Christ was
in the heart of God. And you know we have to use human
language to, but he was in God's heart. David talked about what
was in your heart, what was in God's heart. He was in the heart
of the Father. Oh my, in the very heart of God. So when he came to this earth,
he could actually tell him out because he knew him. Knew him like no one else knows
him. Dwelt with he who is invisible,
who is pure spirit. He come and declared him. And
here's what he declared about him. Not he come to declare the
Father, not as men thought he was. All the Jews thought he
was. One God, they knew that. Not as men thought he was. Not
he come down here to declare him out, not as men hoped he
was. Not as they wanted him to be. But come to tell him out as he
really is. Well, how did He do it? In His
blessed person. The life of our Lord was the
immortal, eternal, and invisible God whom no man has seen, can
now see, and be told in the blessed person of His Son. Oh my, the eternal, immortal,
and invisible God. Unto Him be glory both now and
forever. And I tell you, God dwells in
a light that no man can approach unto. But now we can approach Him.
How? Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Look with me over in Colossians. Let's look together in Colossians.
Chapter 1. You know, and God, the fullness, the fullness
of God, the fullness of God Himself, dwelt in the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look what is said here in verse
13, talking about Christ. who hath delivered us, saved
us from the power of darkness, told you in him was light, and
hath translated us into the kingdom. And look what it says in the
margin, in the son of his love, huh? In whom we have redemption
through his blood, deeper than the stain is gone, even the forgiveness
of sins. But now listen, this is what
I want you to see. Talking about Christ who is the image of the
invisible God. Is the image of the invisible
God. Now you know, you can look at a picture and
it will give you an image of somebody. But if you want to see the image
of God, I see you, I see your image. I see your person. And people have children, you
know, and they have children and say, boy, look, just like
their daddy. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ,
God, who nobody's ever seen, He was the image of God Almighty. When you looked at Him, you saw
God. How do you explain that? I don't
know, but you believe it. That's what I told you. I said
faith. And look what it is. He's the firstborn of every creature. He's the one that caused all
creatures to first exist. That's what he's talking about.
It wasn't like he was the firstborn. He's the only begotten Son of
God. But he's the firstborn. He's the one that caused all
creatures and all things to exist. Now listen to this. I love this
right here. For by Him were all things created. Oh, wait a minute,
all things, yeah, anything in heaven? Created by Him. Anything on earth? Yeah. Visible? Yeah, everything you
can see. And everything that's invisible?
Oh, there's things we can't see. And there's thrones, if anybody
on a throne? Christ put him there. Has anybody
got dominion from sea to shining sea? He's got dominion over it. Any principalities in this world?
Any powers? Everything was created by Him.
And I tell you what, and for Him. And oh my. Now you tell me, that's a mouthful,
ain't it? That's a mouthful. That's a mouthful. Now I want you to also look with
me over in Matthew 11. I have such a hard time dealing
with things like this. But look at Matthew 11, talking
about the revelation of God. No man's seen any God at any
time. Nobody's ever seen God at any
time. The only begotten Son, He has
declared Him, come and told Him that. Look in verse 27, Matthew 11,
27. Look what our master said, all
things are delivered unto me and my father. That means me
and you, the heavens and the earth, all things that's in the
heaven and earth and everywhere else, Christ delivered, God delivered
everything into his son's hands. And listen to this, and no man
knows the son, but the father. Neither knows any man, the father,
only the son. And nobody can know the Father
or the Son unless they reveal Him. And let me go back and tell
you what that means. No one knows the Son save the
Father. And nobody knows the Father,
only the Son. And He, to Whomsoever the Son
wills to reveal Him. Now what this is telling us is
only God His Father knows The Lord Jesus Christ as He really
is. Huh? He knows His glory. He's seen His glory. The Father
knows the Son. Oh, how He knows the Son. He knows the glory of His Son.
He knows the character of His Son. He knows the blessedness
of His Son. He knows the merit of His Son.
He knows the Son like no one else knows the Son. And only
the Son, only the Son can make us to know who the Father is. Nobody else can make us know
who the Father is. Only the Son can do that. And
you know who He gives it to? He said, whom He will. and said, whom he will. Ain't
that right? He gives a perfect declaration
of God the Father. Seven times our Lord Jesus Christ
said, I am. I am. Seven times. And twice
they picked up stones to stone him because he said, I am. They
understood clearly what it mean when he says, I am. And I tell
you, only the Holy Ghost is able to make a man capable, now listen
to me, capable of receiving and enjoying this blessed revelation
of the Father and the Son. I rejoice in it and I enjoy it. Oh how I enjoy God. I enjoy His
presence. I enjoy His knowledge. I enjoy
His word. I enjoy His gospel. I enjoy His salvation. I enjoy
His grace. I mean we enjoy everything there
is about Him. I mean, I enjoy it, don't you?
We find something we really enjoy, we'll just go after it, you know.
Well, I tell you what, there's nothing like enjoying God. Huh? I really enjoy Him. And I know
you do too. And how was we made capable of
that? through the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, Father, I have manifested
thy name unto them that you gave me. And you know what? And they
believed. They believed. that I came out
from you. We believed it. Oh my. I tell you, bless His holy name.
And let's go back over here to John. Just look at this. Now back down in verse 4, the
word was met flesh. And what did this and any dwelt
among us? You know this word was made flesh
and dwelt among us. Look what it says about him.
Full of grace and full of truth. Full of grace and full of truth.
This word that was made flesh brought salvation. That's what
I'm saying. He was full of grace and full
of truth. And it says down there in verse
17, for the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. David said in Psalm 45,
he said, grace is poured in to thy lips. And you know it says
he's full of grace, full of grace, full of it, full of grace. You
know it takes the fullness of grace The fullness of grace to
save sinners. The fullness of grace to save
sinners. Now what do I mean by that? I
mean it took grace, chooses, grace, bought us, Grace come
and sought us out. Grace come and saved us. And grace is going to keep us. And grace is going to take us
home one of these days. It takes the fullness of grace
to save us every day. I've got a little bit of... You know people say if I can
just... Listen, God don't have grace by little bits. He says
the foyer is full of grace. Wouldn't you love to be pumped
full of grace? Just full of it. Well that's
what Christ was and He's what it takes to save us is the fullness
of His grace. And there's such a fullness of
grace in Him that He can save the lowest, the sorriest, the
miserablest, the blackest, the miserablest person that ever
lived on this world. He can save them. And I'll tell
you what else, not only that, but He saves the most. that can be saved. Do you know
how many He saved? A multitude that no man can number. That's how much fullness and
grace is in Him. And here's the thing about it.
When we get there, it's just going to be us and Christ by
ourselves. It was like Moses and Elijah
on a mountain. They were there along with Christ.
And we'll be there with Christ by ourselves. It won't matter
who else is there as long as He's there. And we'll be with
Him by ourselves. That's how full our Lord Jesus
Christ is. That He can make Himself full
to each and every one of us and all of us in His presence. Like it's just nobody but us
and Him. Your mind can't get it? You say
it? But how do you? As old Scott
said, how do you explain that? Can't. Oh my. And then it says here, but full
of grace and full of truth. Now let me tell you something
here. Grace does not come at the expense or sacrifice of truth. God is righteous, God is holy,
God is just. So how did He give grace to us
in the fullness of grace? Look at Psalm 85 and I'll see
if I can explain it, give you just an idea of what we're talking
about. You know, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. But grace reigns. How does it
reign? Through righteousness. Through
righteousness. Look what he says. There in verse 10. Mercy and
truth are met together. Oh my. God's truth says the soul
that sinneth it shall die. Oh that's true. That's true.
But mercy stands up with truth. and said, listen, I know a way. I know a way. Wisdom says, I
know a way that I can give you grace and uphold truth at the
same time. Watch what happens now. Righteousness,
God's righteousness, and the Lord Jesus Christ came here to
satisfy and uphold that truth of God and magnify and make it
honorable and that righteousness and peace in the blessed Son
of God kiss one another. Huh? And then grace comes out
in all its fullness. Can you see it? Can you see that? Oh my! Oh the wisdom of God! the wisdom of God that grace
and truth came together in His blessed Son. I'm telling you,
look what it says there in verse 16. And of His fullness all we
receive grace for grace. Grace is the one that divides
grace. Without grace there would have
been no grace. Now how do you explain that?
Where did grace start? in Christ before the foundation
of the world. When will it end? Never. Never. Never. And oh my, not only did grace
come forth from our blessed master, but truth also came forth from
his lips when he said, I'm the way, that's truth. I'm the life, that's truth. No man comes unto the Father,
but by me, that's the truth. Except you believe I'm he, you'll
die in your sins, that's the truth. But he also said this,
the truth, know the truth and the truth will set you free. And blessed are they whom the
Son sets free. Now listen to it. Whom the Son
sets free. How free is He? He's free indeed. Oh, full truth, full truth. Grace, full grace. Both came
with our Lord Jesus Christ. And then look what a blessed,
blessed testimony. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. Now listen to this. And we beheld
His glory. Beheld His glory. Oh my. And I tell you what, and of His
fullness we have received. You see, Do you ever remember
when you first saw the Lord Jesus Christ? When Dion came here to
church one day and tell me when the Lord had done something for
her, she came in to study back there and she said, she said,
Donny, she said, the Lord saved me and I can't tell you how,
how, how, how, how, how great He is, how big He is. That's
what she said. She just couldn't put it into
words. Well, that's what we say. How
do we put it into words when we talk about seeing our Lord
Jesus Christ? I see His glory! Oh, what glory
is in Him! Is there anything in this world
that you've ever seen that's anything close to Him? What glory! Oh! Just to see Him, that's glory. We see the glory of His person.
We see the glory of His sovereignty. And you know how many times He said,
I will, I will, I will. And here's the one thing that
I think is the most blessed will that we'll hear in his word.
He said, Father, I will, that they whom thou givest me shall
be with me, and what else did he say? And shall behold my glory. Oh, that's a will I want to,
oh, that's going to be accomplished, huh? And oh, we see the glory
of his power. Oh, the glory of His power? You
know what power has manifested to save us? The glory of His
character, sinless? His compassion? His wisdom? The glory of being God? The glory
of His sinless humanity? Our Lord said, blessed are the
eyes which you see and blessed are the ears which hear. Oh my! And we see the glory of His effectual
atonement that when our Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself everyone
for whom He gave Himself for is going to be saved. His blood
is effectual. Effectual. And then look what
a wonderful, wonderful, blessed possession we have. Look up there
in verse 16. What a wonderful possession we
have. And of His fullness have we all
received. And of His fullness. How full is He? How full is our Lord? Of His
fullness. have all we received in grace
for grace. If you ever figure out how fool
he is, that's what we got. How fool is he? The world dwells
in him and the universe dwells in him. The earth and the Lord's
fullness, all power, whatever the fullness
of His power is, whatever the fullness of His grace is, whatever
the fullness of His salvation is, whatever the fullness of
His death is, whatever the fullness of His blood, whatever the fullness
of His righteousness, whatever the fullness of His justification,
whatever fullness is in Christ is ours. We received it. The fullness of all that he did,
we got it. Huh? You know the ocean, I've
used this illustration before. I could take this glass to the
ocean. And I could dip it in the ocean.
And it'd be lost in that ocean. And I could pull it up and it'd
be plump full of the ocean. And yet, we ain't took nothing
out of that ocean or away from it. Well, Christ puts us in Himself,
bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, and we're in Him, and we have all that He has,
and all that He did, and then when we come out, we're full of Him, and we ain't
took nothing from Him. We take nothing away from His
glory, or His power, or His majesty. You jump in the ocean to see
how much of it you can take away. Just dive into Christ to see
how much you can give. That's what I'm talking about.
You know when you jump in the ocean, you're fully in the ocean. In Christ, we're fully in Christ.
And yet He's as full of fullness and glory as He was at the beginning.
I told you faith has to receive
this. This poor old carnal mind can't get it. But boy, faith
sure finds joy in it, don't it? Oh my. He's the blessed bread
that fills us. He's the blessed water that quenches
our thirst. He's the light that took away
the darkness. It's like Joseph's brethren,
when they first saw him, they said, oh my, he's going to destroy
us now. And then Joseph said, go get
your father and bring him down here. And everything I got is
yours. And I tell you what, our Lord
Jesus Christ, everything he's got is ours. Everything he is,
is ours. Everything he did is ours. And this glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ is the glory of grace given, the glory of truth revealed,
and yet there's a glory yet to see, there's a glory yet to receive,
and a fullness yet to receive. If we've got it now, imagine
what's going to be then. Told you at the outset, only
faith can receive this. But oh my, what a blessed sight
to see. Amen. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we humble ourselves in your presence.
So taken up with you this morning, our minds are just full, souls
are full, hearts are full. Full of you, oh Lord. A vision's filled with you this
morning, and it's so rare for our vision to be filled with
you. And Lord, we thank you for it, bless you for it, praise
you for it. And we pray that you'd be pleased
to open the heart of these saints, these sinners that's never been
saved by your grace. Our Father, these young folks
that's among us, these young men and young women, the older
ones that's among us that don't know Christ. Oh, Father. Oh, Father, reveal Your Father,
Your Son to them, and Son, reveal Your Father to them. And we ask
it in Your holy and blessed name. Amen. Amen. What's it? Is it majestic sweetness that
brings forth the royal... Let me see. It's 52 or 54. All hail the power, yeah. 42.
Let's stand together and sing this. Jesus' name let angels prostrate
fall. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown Him Lord. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown Him Lord. Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race,
ye ransomed from the fall. Hail Him who saves you by His
grace, and crown Him Bring forth the fruit by His
grace and crown Him Lord of all Let every kindred, every tribe,
own this terrestrial barn He's only one worthy. To Him all majesty I strive and It's what we're going to do one
of these days. Oh that with yonder sacred throne we at his feet
may fall. We'll join the everlasting throne
and crown him glorious. And cry