Turn with me, if you would, to the book of John, the book of John chapter one. Name of the message is the glory of Christ. We'll read two verses, two verses for this time together. First, we'll read John 1 1, John 1 1. It says this, in the beginning was the word and the word was God. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. I'll read that again. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So that's speaking of eternity. God the Father, God the Word, and God the Holy Spirit together in eternity. The three in one.

Now let's read John. Chapter 1, verse 14. Look what this text says. And the Word was made flesh. Remember our first message? God was manifest in the flesh. There it is. It's not up for debate, is it? It's not up for debate. The Word was made flesh. God became a man. God the Word. The Son of God. Became a man.

He's made flesh. bone of our bone, flesh of our 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, in this wonderful verse, we behold the glory of our Saviour. This is the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. truth manifest in the flesh, full of grace, full of truth. The Greek word for praise, the Greek word for praise is opinion or judgment. Beloved we have a different view and a different opinion now of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at that. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

We now have a different opinion. We believe what these words say now, as the born again, blood-washed people of God. There was a time when we didn't believe these words. Now we embrace them. Oh, because we've been given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, do we exercise that faith?

Absolutely. Every day, don't we? Lord, just help me get through this day. Simple words, right? Oh Lord, forgive me. I shouldn't have thought like that about that person. Lord, forgive me for getting mad at that guy that cut me off in the car. Right? Lord, forgive me for my selfishness. My.

The New Testament is a good opinion, if you want to call it that, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. It speaks of Christ. It speaks of what he's done. And our opinion of the New Testament has even changed just as our opinion of the Old Testament has now changed. Now we see Christ all through the Old Testament and we look at the New Testament and it just speaks about Christ. It's wonderful. So we have now learned by the grace of God and being strengthened by God's grace that the Bible testifies of Christ.

That's who it testifies of. Hmm. And we now praise and honor and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. We give him all praise. Now the glory there in the text, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, it means splendor. and brightness as from the moon, sun, and stars. It also means magnificent. Is not our Lord magnificent? He is a magnificent one, isn't he? It also means excellent in preeminence, dignity, grace, and majesty, which only God is worthy of, right? Only God's worthy of those things. You know, Vicki and I were talking about the Olympics and all that. We've been watching some of it.

And some guy finishes second or some guy finishes first, and everybody's getting all excited about him. And Vicki says, you know, he's just a man. Just a sinner like us. But man tends to glorify man. Now, we're excited for him. We love watching that stuff. It's exciting. But you see how much men become the object of worship. My. Same as music. And celebrities, they get vaulted up to these high positions.

They're just men and women. Just like you and I, just a bunch of sinners. The only one who's worthy of praise, the only one who's worthy to be called the majestic one, the preeminent one, the magnificent one, is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. Everybody else, just flesh. My. My, oh, my.

That word grace also refers to kingly majesty. Kingly majesty. Well, Christ is the king of kings. And kingly majesty only really truly belongs to God who is supreme. It also means supreme ruler. God is a supreme ruler. So let us behold the majesty of the Messiah. Let us behold the majesty of the Word of God. Let us behold the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who is full of grace and truth.

In his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. My. What glory we have beheld, beloved. through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we don't see him, we've never seen him face to face, but one day we will. One day we're gonna behold him. We're gonna behold the glory of Christ. Now by faith, we behold him by faith, don't we?

Yeah. Oh, listen to this, for there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. There's only one God. And there's only one mediator between God and man, and that's the man Christ Jesus, God incarnated in the flesh. Behold the glory of Christ's perfect righteousness, as God's people are made righteous through Christ's righteousness, through Christ alone. Listen to this, Romans 5,

9. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so we fell in Adam, we're all made sinners. By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Oh, look at that. What, when we get to heaven? No. No. He made us righteous, beloved. We who believe are as righteous right now as we will be when we get to glory, because we're clothed in his righteousness. That's the wedding garment in Revelation, the pure white wedding garment. That's the best robe that the father says to clothe the prodigal son in. Oh, my. Behold the glory of Christ, his sin-atoning sacrifice. Behold this.

For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Our sins are imputed to Christ. and he fully bears them before the justice and law of God, sinless, and yet bearing our sin. Oh, and then we are, see, see, that by imputation, and then by imputation, we're made the righteousness of God in Christ. Oh my, anyone else tells you that, tells you there's any other way? They're wrong. They're wrong. I don't care who it is. They're wrong. My. And then behold.

Behold that Christ our Lord knew no sin and did no sin. He was perfect before the law of God. And our sins were reckoned to him. And he was identified and numbered with the transgressors. And though he personally had no sin, yet by imputation he bore our sins fully, fully, and died under the wrath of God in our room and place. And it's his precious blood, oh, that redeems our eternal souls. And all this was done. All that suffering through his life, he's weaving the code of righteousness for us by perfectly obeying the law of God. And then he dies as our substitute in our room and place, bearing our sin. The wrath of God that's due us falls upon him. And by the shedding of his blood, we're regained from all our sins. From all our sins, we're justified now. before God in Christ. And with his spotless garments on, we're as holy as God's Son.

That's amazing. Someone said the gospel can be summed up in two words. Two words, right here. Substitution and satisfaction. Two words. Christ was my substitute, dying in my room and place, And God is fully satisfied with that sacrifice. It's absolutely amazing, beloved. And all who come to Christ by faith, by God-given faith, all who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God, given faith to believe on Christ, shall be saved. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. Behold the glory of Christ's sovereign dominion. Romans 14,

9. For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. And then listen to this. Behold the glory of Christ's tender sympathizing humanity. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels. This is Hebrews 2, 16 to 18. Prevarily took not on him the nature of angels, but took on him the seed of Abraham. He became a man. Wherefore, in all things, it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

That's his elect. For in that he himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. He's able to comfort us. He was tempted like us, but yet without sin. He's sinless, he's perfect. Sinless in his life, sinless in his death. Otherwise he can't be anyone's savior. And he can't sin because he's God. My. Behold the glory of Christ's intercession. 1 John 2, verses 1 and 2. This is wonderful. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.

And if any man sin, see it's not a question of whether we will sin, we will sin. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We still sin to our shame. We don't want to go out and willingly sin, do we? But we sin all the time. But we have an advocate.

And what's his name? We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only. He's also for the sins of the whole world, all who will believe on him. Jew and Gentile, all who believe on him.

My, and behold the glory of Christ's preserving love. John 13, John 13 one says, now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, see, he came for a reason. He came for a mission to save his people from their sins. that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And he still loves us in eternity, forever. We're his people. And behold the glory of Christ's final triumph.

Revelation chapter 19, verses 1 to 6. And after these things, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, much people, a people no man can number, saying, hallelujah. Oh, my. You imagine when we sing this song without sin? Oh, saying, hallelujah.

Salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his judgments. For he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Hallelujah! Hallelujah, beloved! Oh my! Hallelujah! And their smoke rose up forever and ever.

And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God. that sat on the throne saying, amen, hallelujah. I love it, hallelujah. Let's give praise and glory to our great God and King. And a voice came out of the throne saying, praise our God, all ye his. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude. And as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a mighty thundering saying, Alleluia! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth! That's our God, beloved. That's our Savior. Oh my! Isn't that wonderful? That's our God.

And so one reason God has so graciously given us grace to behold His glory, is that we might bear his testimony to others. We might tell them the great things the Lord had done for us. And as soon as Isaiah beheld the glory of the Lord, oh my, and his lips still burned from the purging fire of the altar, God said, go tell this people. Beloved, we, beloved God, we We proclaim the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We proclaim the glory of our Saviour. So let us seize upon every opportunity when the Lord opens the door for us to speak about Christ to our lost loved ones, our lost friends, our lost co-workers, people we rub shoulders with out in the world. If the Lord opens the door to let us tell them about Christ, To tell him that he alone is the savior of sinners? Oh my, just tell him how good the Lord's been to you. Tell him what he's done for you. He saved me from all my sins.

And one day we're gonna say, hallelujah! Isn't it wonderful? Oh, have you beheld his glory, listener? Have you beheld his glory? Oh, may God give you grace to behold the glory of God in Christ. To behold the savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, may he give us grace to proclaim the glory of God in Christ to all men. Amen and amen.