Turn with me to John's Gospel,
chapter 1, if you will. John, chapter 1. We'll read the
first 18 verses. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was
life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth
in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was
a man sent from God whose name was John, John the Baptist. The same came for a witness to
bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe.
He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that
light. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto
His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name. Verse 13 explains why some received
Him, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the
glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth. John, again John the Baptist,
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. Now, our Lord was born six months
after John the Baptist. But what John speaks of here
is Christ being before him as we read in the beginning of the
chapter. He's from eternity. He's the
eternal Word, verse 16. And of His fullness, have we
all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at
any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." You remember
that John, the apostle John, that wrote this gospel, along
with his brother James and Peter, made up what some call the inner
circle when they were with our Lord. Of the 12 apostles, these
three, John, James, Peter, were privileged to see things and
hear things that the others didn't. The very last night of our Lord's
life on earth before his arrest. It was these three alone that
went with the Lord further into the garden as he prayed and sweat
as it were great drops of blood. These three men on another occasion
were the only ones that the Lord Jesus chose to witness what they
did on the Mount of Transfiguration. I want to just read a portion
of that to you. Matthew, Mark, and Luke record
it, but let me read from Luke's account in chapter 9, verse 28
of Luke 9. And it came to pass about eight
days after these sayings that he, that is, Jesus, took Peter
and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray. And
as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered and
his raiment was white and glistering. And behold, there talked with
him two men, which were Moses and Elias, and appeared in glory
and spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were
with him, James and John, were heavy with sleep. And when they
were awake, they saw his glory and the two men that stood with
him. And it came to pass as they departed from him, Peter said
unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make
three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses and one for
Elias, not knowing what he said, caught off guard. While he thus
spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared
as they entered into the cloud. And there came a voice out of
the cloud saying, this is my beloved son, hear him. And when
the voice was passed, Jesus was found alone, without a rival,
without an equal, as John tells us in his gospel. And they kept
it close, that is, James and John and Peter, and told no man
in those days any of those things which they had seen. John the Apostle never forgot
that. Now in his gospel, he tells us
the same thing. In his gospel, Historians generally
agree that John lived longer than any of the other apostles,
that he lived to be an old man. When he wrote this gospel, it
was perhaps 55 to 60 years after what we just read of in Luke
9. But even after all that time,
John tells us in the very first verse what he saw and learned
of on the Mount of Transfiguration, that Jesus Christ is without
an equal. There's none like Him. None as
important as He is. Nothing more needful to my soul,
my eternal destiny. Where I spend eternity depends
entirely upon Him. Could anything be more important
as that? Throughout this chapter, John
mentions briefly other people. We didn't read the entire chapter,
but he mentions Andrew, and Simon Peter and Philip and Nathanael. He even speaks of angels. He
speaks of John the Baptist. He speaks of Moses. But only
briefly, only briefly, and then he points us back to Christ.
For example, when John the Apostle speaks of John the Baptist, he
says, well, John was a witness of the light, but he wasn't the
true light. He wasn't the true light. He
just bore witness. That's the true light. Speaking
of Christ that lighteth every man that cometh into the world,
in verses 6 through 8. And he does the same thing down
in verse 15. Now, in verse 14, this is the Apostle John's testimony. Then briefly he introduces John
the Baptist again and says, he and I agree. He and I agree,
our message is the same. What I say concerning Christ,
that he is indeed the Messiah without a rival, John the Baptist
said the same thing. He was preferred before me, John
the Baptist said. I am not to Christ when he was
asked if he were or not. but he that cometh after me,
that's the Christ." So if you would skip verse 15 and then
go to verse 16, this is the apostle continuing his testimony. It's
not John the Baptist in verse 16, but it's John the apostle
again. He says, concerning Jesus Christ,
there's none like him. And every other one that he mentions
briefly, For example, John the Baptist, he adds a disclaimer. He adds this disclaimer. He's
not the Christ. He does the same thing with Moses
in verse 17. The law was given by Moses. The law was given by Moses. It
was given to him. It didn't come from him. It was
given by God to him. But grace and truth, that wasn't
given to Christ. He is grace and truth. Grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. In other words, John teaches
us, as all the other apostles and writers of Scripture, that
everyone bows before the Lord Jesus Christ. Concerning him,
not John. Not John the Baptist or Moses
or angels do we read words like this. Listen to what Paul says
in Galatians chapter 1. These could only be speaking
of one. In chapter 1 verse 17, Paul wrote,
and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Now who else could he be speaking of? John already told us that
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And Paul says, Amen. Amen. John says, He created all
things. And Paul says, Amen. So it is.
And He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have
the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in Him not angels, not prophets, not apostles, but it pleased
the Father that in Him Christ should all fullness dwell. Verse 27 of the same chapter,
to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you. Christ
in you, the hope of glory. The only hope of glory is Christ
in you. In chapter 2, Paul continues
this same thought and he says, for in him, verse 9 of chapter
2, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Looking upon Jesus Christ, Paul
tells us, as John did likewise, you see all of God that you'll
ever see. Remember what we read? No man
has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is
in the bosom of the Father, He had declared Him. The Lord Jesus
Christ is Himself God. And ye are complete in him, which
is the head of all principality and power. John in his gospel
goes straight to Christ, doesn't he? As we say, he makes a beeline
toward Jesus Christ. I get frustrated sometimes when
I make a call just a week or so ago. I spent, I timed it,
15 minutes on the phone trying to reach a human to ask a question. Press 1, press 2, now press 7. Sorry we didn't understand that,
go back and press 1. John doesn't do that, does he?
He puts his finger right on that which is most important at the
very outset. And he points us, not to himself,
not to John the Baptist, not to Moses, not to angels, not
to any other apostle or prophet, but he points us to the Lamb
of God. John begins with Christ and he
ends with Christ, and he tells us why. Turn, if you will, to
John in this same gospel, the chapter 20, John chapter 20.
He tells us very plainly why he wrote this gospel. Why God
the Holy Spirit inspired him to write the things that he did.
There were a lot of things John tells us that he didn't write.
That God didn't instruct him to record. In John 20 verse 30. And many other signs truly did
Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written
in this book. And we don't need to speculate
about those things that God's not been pleased to reveal. A
lot of theologians waste time doing that. Verse 31, but, but,
these are written, these are written, that ye might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. There is enough in
this gospel, John says, that ye might believe, if God is pleased
to open your eyes, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God. There is sufficient evidence
here. And that believing, this will
be the result. Aren't these sweet words? That
believing, if God is pleased to open your heart and drop in
the precious gift of faith, There's no question you'll believe. You'll
believe. Your eyes will be open. You'll
say, now I see. I once was blind, but now I see. And that believing, you might
have life through His name. That's the issue, is it not?
Is that not the issue? If I'm dead in sins, Louie, I
need life. If I'm in darkness, I need the
light of the glorious gospel of God to shine into my heart. I need the touch of the healing
hand of the great physician. And John directs us to him and
says, can anything be more important? Is anything more important? One
evening this week, walked out and got the mail out of my mailbox,
and perhaps some of you received the same thing that I did, a
brochure in the mail. Very colorful brochure, a poster-like,
once you unfolded it. And it said, in bold lettering,
coming to Silicon Alabama, the end of the world, I thought,
well, Sylacauga, Alabama's in the world. Why do they have to
make a special trip here to tell us that? I mean, we're included.
If that be the case, it would include Sylacauga. But actually,
it said, coming to Sylacauga, Alabama, the end of the world
prophecies. Prophecies. And Dr. So-and-so is going to be somewhere
in Sylacauga for five weeks. Five weeks. Just about every
night. It started, I think, this past
Friday night. And almost every night of those
five weeks, with the exception of a couple, they had the topic
for that particular session. And it said, you will understand
signs of the end, prophecies about the United States, the
Battle of Armageddon, the 12 plagues of Revelation, you'll
understand about the Mark of the Beast, and 666, and Antichrist,
and it went on and on and on. My favorite of all those were
where I came to one and it said, there'll be no meeting this night.
That was my favorite one. But looking at that, and it would
be sad if that was just rarely that you encountered such a thing,
but you hear that on every hand. And honestly, honestly, I'm not
just stretching the truth to prove a point. I looked at the
front of that page, the inside, the backside. Not one time, not
one hint, not one mention whatsoever of the most important question
of all. How can I be just with God? Doctor, can you tell me that?
What does it matter if I understand all prophecy? What does it matter
if I understand about the mark of the beast and all these things?
If I don't know Christ, what in the world difference does
all that nonsense make? What does it matter? Remember
what our Lord told the disciples? The last time he saw them on
the Mount of Transfiguration. I'm sorry, on Mount Olivet. He
said, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."
And they said, Lord, Lord, we're curious about something. Are
you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? You remember what
he said, Joe? He said, you don't need to know
that. That's not your business. He said, you'll receive power
after the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you'll be witnesses
unto me. Go preach the gospel. That's the business of the church.
That's the business of this pastor and every other faithful pastor.
It's to preach the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Period. And those folks who think you
need more, Those preachers, pastors, doctors that think we need something
else, I dare say they must have never seen the Lord Jesus Christ
because if they did, they would understand. There's not a greater
topic. There's not a greater wonder.
We can spend the rest of our lives preaching Him and never
skim the surface of all His glorious merit and worth and value. Oh yes. Can you imagine when
Paul and Silas was in prison that night in Philippi? And we're told in Acts chapter
16 that at midnight, even while they were shackled
and in the inner dungeon, that they sang praises to their God. And there was an earthquake.
And the prison doors flew open. And their shackles fell off.
And the keeper of the prison, who was responsible to guard
them, whose life would be forfeited if anything happened, those prisoners
escaped. He awoke out of his sleep, and
he assumed seeing the prison doors open where they're all
gone, and he drew a sword, was going to kill himself. And Paul
said, don't do that. Don't do that. Do yourself no
harm. And we're told in Acts 16 that
that jailer, that keeper of the prison, came and fell down before
Paul and Silas and said, Paul, let's figure
out who's the mark of the beast. Let's figure out exactly, let's
see if we can pinpoint the date of Christ's return. No, no. You know what was important to
that awakened sinner? You know the one answer he wanted
to this one question? Paul, what must I do to be saved? That's all that matters, brothers
and sisters. And I know we are all, I don't
know what there is about It's intriguing to people. I mean
everybody, I mean you, I could put a sign out there on the road
and I dare say we could probably fill the place if I put a big,
well I'm going to lecture on the Mark of the Beast and blah
blah blah blah. No, no. What must I do to be
saved? The same answer that John gives
us here. He points us to Christ. Let's
read it again. Let's read it again in verse
14. And let's skip verse 15 and just read John's testimony. And
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory
as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, and
of His fullness have we all received, and grace for grace. Isn't that
sweet? The law was given by Moses. Grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. John tells us where grace is. All grace. He tells us of an
endless supply of grace. Fullness of grace, he says. I
want to know that. Don't you, John? That's what
I want to know. That's where I want my attention
and my heart directed to. Where is that supply of grace? Where is that endless supply
for this sinner? Where is there grace that reaches
deeper than the stain of sin has gone to my heart? Where is
there grace that reigns over and above and superabounds beyond
my sin? That's what I want to know. Nothing
else is important. Oh, that I might know Him. I've noticed that churches in
our area, and I suppose nationwide, worldwide, have already started
having their Easter carnivals. And just below the house, there
was a sign, I think it was supposed to happen last night, something
called Agbalusa. Agbalusa. When I was a young
boy caddy at this country club, They would allow us to carry
the doctors' and the lawyers' bags, but after that, they didn't
want us anywhere in sight. But on Sunday afternoon, they
would have Easter egg hunts for the kids, and we would watch
the parents put the eggs out, and then we'd sneak and get them
and eat them. They had an egg balusa, too. And they also had
three crosses out there, just below the house. Brothers and
sisters in Christ, I hope, I hope, You don't come to church to be
entertained. I can stay home to be entertained.
I can stay home and watch television if I want to be entertained.
Oh no, when I come to the Lord's house, when I come to the church,
I want to hear the gospel, the glorious gospel of the blessed
God, which is about His glorious Son. Don't you? I mean, after
a week of trials, Perhaps heartache? Temptation? What's going to help
you? What's going to benefit you?
What's going to lift you up? What's going to give you hope?
What's going to comfort you other than this? Behold the Lamb of
God! He's full of grace. He's full
of glory. There's an endless supply at
the fountain of the Lord Jesus Christ. And John speaks of that. In verse 14, he speaks of the
reality of grace. Verse 16, the reception of grace. Grace received. And in verse
17, again, reminds us of the only place of grace. It came
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 14 again. And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. Dwelt. What manner of man is this? That
word that created all things became man. And he didn't cease
to be God. When he became man, he didn't
cease to be God. He didn't lay aside his deity. It was veiled, yes, but it wasn't
laid aside, never. And his humanity was sinless. He was a real man, but a sinless
man. He became flesh of our flesh
and bone of our bones, just like you are, without sin. And that's a great exception.
And the human and the divine natures remained perfect and
distinct. One didn't cancel out the other.
One nature didn't swallow up the other. He was, as you've
often heard said, but imagine, think of that. He was as much
God as ever, as though he weren't man, and yet he was as much man
as though he weren't God. He was both. The God-man, the
Word made flesh and dwelt. Dwelt. The Word is tabernacled. tabernacled amongst us, like
the tabernacle in the wilderness that pictured Christ. On the
outside, it was a humble-looking thing, but inwardly, it was glorious. And it was God's dwelling place. It's where God met with men.
It's where atonement was made, the only place, the holy place,
the most holy place. where atonement was made for
sin. And everything in there was a
picture, a type, a shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ
was atonement made for sin. In Christ is the only place that
God will meet with a sinner. In Christ, God dwelled fully. He was God. And John says, full
of grace and truth. Look at what Christ brought into
this world. Grace and truth. Grace and truth. Real grace for real sinners. The Lord Jesus is not an imposter. He's not a sham Savior. He's
a real Savior. There's no question about that.
Oh, but where's the real sinner? Where's the real sinner? Christ
saves sinners from all sin and all transgression. But where's
the needy sinner? Where's that one that has nothing
to pay? Where's the sinner? Have you
met one recently? I haven't. Been looking and have
yet to meet one that I'm aware of. A sinner that doesn't depend
upon a decision he made when he was six years old and drug
up front to the church and doesn't have a clue what that was about
then or now. into a profession or went and
was ducked in water and where is the real sinner that has nothing
to pay? The sinner who says all those
things that I once trusted in, like the Apostle Paul said, they're
filthy rags. They need to be cast off and
walked on and stomped on and may fall before the Lord of glory
and beg Him to clothe me in the righteousness of His Son. Is
there anybody here this morning like that? Huh? Anybody that's
lost and you know you're lost, you know you're a sinner, you
know you're undone, and you know in your heart of hearts, if God
Almighty, like we sang a moment ago, commands my soul this hour
to be ushered into His presence, when I soar the world's unknown,
you know you don't have a hope. that all the Lord of Glory can
do is say, depart from me, I never knew you, because you don't know
Christ. You've had a little taste of
religion. Just about everybody has. But you don't know Christ. Here's the good news that John
tells us about. He's a Savior full of grace and
truth. His voice when he walked this
earth was full of grace and truth. Oh, hear him speak. Hear him
speak. Come unto me. Oh, can you hear
the grace? Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. you that labor
and are burdened. Come to me. Come to me. I'll
remove your burden. I'll speak comfort to your soul.
I'll forgive your sins and I'll give you rest. You'll rest in
the sweet assurance that I am yours and you are mine forever. Oh and hear him speak. I'll never
leave you. He gave us songs in the night.
Yes, God's pilgrims in this world have their nights, don't we?
Don't we have our nights? We don't know what a day may
bring forth. And often, we lay our head down
on a pillow and sleep refuses to come. Aching hearts, burdened
hearts, and then He who speaks like never a man spake comes to us in our darkness.
And like a tender heavenly Father, He bends over and whispers in
our ear, I'm never going to leave you. I'm never going to forsake
you. And then we can see it's well
with my soul. It's well with my soul. The psalmist said grace is poured
into his lips. In verse 16, John speaks of the
reception of grace and of his fullness have all we received
and grace for grace. of his fullness, not of his emptiness,
oh no, his fullness, not from his meagerness, no, but from
his fullness. This fountain of grace is always
overflowing for his people. Have all we received, all those
chosen, all those redeemed, all those called, every sinner that
comes to him, And this fountain, John tells us, will never run
dry. Will never run dry. Will never
be turned off. Like for non-payment of your
water bill, be threatened to have it turned
off. The fountain of God's grace will never be turned off because
the bill has been paid in full. by the precious blood of Jesus
Christ. That's why we always find grace
to help in time of need. Our needs, as great as they are,
as overwhelming as we feel they are, our needs can never exhaust
His grace. Isn't that comforting, child
of God? Your need can never exhaust or outweigh His mighty grace. John says, grace for grace. And it could very well read like
this, and grace because of grace. Grace because of grace. We receive
grace because of grace. We receive redeeming grace because
of electing grace. We receive regenerating grace
because of redeeming grace. We receive sanctifying grace
because of regenerating grace. We receive grace in time because
of grace in eternity. The experience of grace because
we were chosen in grace and redeemed by grace. Pardoning grace because
of promised grace. Imparted grace because of imputed
grace. Grace because of grace. Just
keep heaping it up. Grace upon grace. The fullness
of grace because of the freeness of grace. Grace today, grace
tomorrow, John, and grace that's going to take me all the way
to glory. Without limit, how can you measure
fullness? How can you measure the fullness
of his grace? It's not possible. His fullness
is all fullness. By nature, I'm empty. But he's
all fullness. And I'm complete in him. Paul
said, God has made him to be unto us the wisdom and righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. So he that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in thee I find. Last of all, verse 17, the law
was given by Moses. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. The only place of this grace. The apostle draws a contrast
between the law of Moses and the grace that's in Christ. The
law exposes our sin. and condemns our sin, but Christ
brings grace, saying, I freely forgive you all. The law demands
righteousness. Grace gives it. The law sentences
man to death. Grace raises them to life. The law demands what man must
do. Grace tells us what Christ has
already done. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ, period. Period. Nothing else. Through no one else. It ends
with Christ. Grace is in Him alone. Always. Only one God has made. The only one God has made the
dispenser of His grace. He's deposited all grace in Him. It's in Christ Himself. It's
because of who He is that gives virtue and merit to everything
He did and is doing, not the other way around. His atonement
didn't make Him effectual, He made the atonement effectual.
It derives its merit and efficacy from Him. All of His offices
and all of His works derive their value because of Him. Do you
need grace? Salvation? You must have Christ. Grace doesn't run through bloodlines. The popes can't confer it, can
they, Joe? The old goat that stepped out
and the new one that came in, he can't confer grace. Priests
can't do it and preachers can't do it. Churches can't do it,
Baptist churches or Catholic churches, no. Grace came by Jesus
Christ, period. Are you dead? Christ is the life. Are you seeing? Christ is the
righteousness. Are you naked? Christ is clothing. Are you blind? Christ is the
light. Are you weary? Tired? Christ is rest. Are you empty?
Christ is all fullness. Come and find in him. all you
need. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ, always has and always will. What a fountain of grace. The first sinner, the first sinner
who ever drank found all the fullness of grace to pardon and
cleanse his guilty soul. And since that time, There have
been multitudes of sinners that have come to this fountain and
drank and found it just as full as it was when the first sinner
drank from it. Still overflowing, and it shall
continue to do so. His people shall continue to
receive grace because of grace until they're all brought home.
I ask you again. What do you need? What do you
want? A new heart? Repentance? Faith? Assurance? Ho! The hymn writer said, Ho! Ye needy come and welcome. God's
free bounty glorify, true belief and true repentance, every grace
that brings us nigh. Without money, come to Jesus
Christ and buy. Come ye sinner, heavy laden,
lost and ruined by the fall. If you tarry till you're better,
you will never come at all. Not the righteous sinners Jesus
came to call. Before I close, I exhort you. I plead with you. If you don't know Him, don't
go on in your rebellion. Don't die lost. Don't leave this world and stand
before God without Christ, without a substitute. Listen. Listen to the Lord God. Listen
to this word. Therefore, O thou son of man,
speak unto the house of Israel. Thus ye speak, saying, If our
transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in
them, how shall we then live? Say unto them. This is God's
word. Say unto them, as I live, saith
the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but
that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye
from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel? Amen.